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September 5, 1995
Daphne fell to the ground in an instant. His spell — one of the many that he had sent towards her — had connected, and as a result, she was left on the ground. He sighed and hung his head for a moment when he realised that he'd gotten her, and so he lowered his wand to his legs. His aim was to counter whatever she'd hit him with, and he was fairly certain that he knew just what that spell was.
Unfortunately, as he did so, there was a second, third, and fourth spell that impacted various points across his body. Before he could so much as raise his wand to defend himself, it was ripped from his grasp, he was summoned through the air, and bound at Daphne's feet. Above him, she looked on with a satisfied smile. Her face was flush from exertion, her breathing was deep from the amount of dodging she had done to avoid him, and there were even a few marks across her exposed arms that showed scratches. None of that seemed to matter to her as she looked down at him.
"I win."
Immediately at Daphne's declaration, the sound of clapping graced Harry's ears. Granger, still seated from where she had been observing their fight, was clapping politely as she looked at the pair. When they noticed her and looked towards the girl, she spoke. "That was very fast-paced. I don't believe I've seen the majority of those spells, a few, I recognised as ones not fit for teaching at Hogwarts… how'd you learn them? Is that how most fights tend to go?"
Harry blinked up at Daphne. "Fine. You win. I don't suppose I should have thought that I'd be able to take you — you'll let me up now, right?"
Daphne put a hand on her hip. "I don't know," she said as she brought a hand up to her face, whereupon doing so, she rested a finger against her bottom lip in thought. "There's something to be said about having you subjugated at my feet, though, I suppose it's only fair."
With a wave of her wand, Harry was released from his bondage and immediately, he rose to his feet and took his wand from out of her grasp. As he did so, righting himself and rubbing at his head, Daphne took the chance to speak to Granger, her typically tedious housemate. Harry would recognise that the Muggleborn girl wasn't overly bothersome, not right now.
"Most fights will end in under a minute, and those that don't are quite rare. It's not often you'll be paired against somebody of near-equivalency in most fields of magic, especially combative types. Harry and I have spent a great deal of time together, hence why we lasted as long as we had together, and in fairness to him, he could have gone on longer had I not tricked him," Daphne then stared accusingly at him. "And you, Harry. That spell? Seriously?"
He blinked in response. There were a couple of spells that he had used that would be more problematic, though none were dangerous. Some were more juvenile, others were serious, and a few specific ones were especially childish to use in any sort of bout. In all honesty, he wasn't sure which one she was exactly referencing.
"Which spell?" he asked curiously, at which point, Daphne folded her arms, rolled her eyes and looked back over to Granger.
"We'll clean up for Professor Duncan, the activities for the day are over," she said to the other girl. "If you'd like to attend another lesson and have a fight of your own, you know where to find us, I'm sure."
Granger nodded, and on her face was a flash of hesitance as she made her way towards the exit. When she reached it, she paused and cast a look over her shoulder as she clutched a few books to her chest. "Thank you, Daphne, and thank you, Harry. I've never seen something quite like that before."
Harry responded with a wave, and Daphne nodded politely, the action almost imperceivable. When Granger smiled back at the pair of them and left, the door closed tightly behind her, Daphne turned back to look at Harry.
"I suppose we'll have another participant. You should see about finding a few people from Slytherin, those that aren't under Malfoy's 'charm' — would you please?" Daphne's mention of Malfoy's 'charm' as she'd called it was a reference to his money and the political power that his father had. As for her latter three words, she said them in tandem with stepping towards him and motioning across her entire body.
He looked her over and saw the few holes and scratches across her clothing. Beyond that, on the paleness of her skin, he could very easily make out faint scratches, where blood reached the surface. Bruise-wise, he could see nothing, and after he had her twirl for him, he went to work without so much as a pause. It didn't take very long at all before she was right as rain, and Harry ensured that he too, was free from any minor cuts on his person or clothing.
As Daphne had said, the two then went on to whip their wands throughout the room until all was right. Desks were restored to their proper positions, chairs and the like were sent back to where they belonged, that being with the desks or in the storage closet, and finally, the bits of debris from the pads they had fought atop were banished.
"It seems as if we've completed the clean-up," Daphne commented as the two stood at the exit of the room with the door behind them still closed from when Hermione had left.
Harry shrugged and nodded as he took another look at the room. "Yeah. It looks pretty clean. I guess that's us sorted for the evening here… do you want to raid the kitchens, or do you have something else to do?"
Daphne turned and looked at him, her face expressionless. "What else would I possibly have planned for the evening? You're my boyfriend and the sole resident in my internal hall of best friends."
He grinned stupidly at her usage of the word 'boyfriend' to describe him in addition to 'best friend'.
"Kitchens?"
"Obviously."
And like that, the two were off, and Harry was pleased with how he'd done against her. In truth, he was a bit bothered that he'd gotten distracted enough to let her steal the win from him, and he'd really been looking forward to having her do whatsoever he'd like; Quidditch, rematches of her game, Hogsmeade trips… all of those ideas were out of the window now.
"I don't suppose you're still curious as to what I'd like for my victory?" Daphne inquired as they turned a corner, spying the emptiness of the torch-lit hallway alight with the soft, dancing orange glow.
He side-eyed her as they walked hand-in-hand towards the kitchens, where Dobby would more than likely be present. "What do you want?" he asked tentatively, hesitantly as he looked searchingly at her.
"I'd like to establish mastery over the Patronus Charm, and as I've got plenty a good memory to do so with, I'd like your assistance until I've done so… I suppose there's also the need to mention that I'd like for you to stay with me again over the summer. Though, even if I'd have lost the duel, I believe you would quite readily agree to that condition, isn't that right?" she asked with a smirk as her grasp of his hand tightened.
"That first bit's easy. I promised last year while you helped me to survive that I'd make it up to you and teach you whatever you'd like. As for that second request, I think that could be arranged," Harry slipped his hand from hers, earning a furrowed-brow look from the girl, and then he pulled her into his side.
Needless to say, as they walked and the orange glow of the torches lit them up, they were focused solely on one another. At that moment in time, nothing else mattered save for the presence of the other.
September 13, 1995
"I don't suppose Dobby would readily volunteer to provide refreshments, would he?" Daphne asked as they sat at one of the desks that overlooked the 'duelling club' whilst she tapped its surface with her fingernails. The sound was oddly calming.
Harry scoffed. "He'd be beyond ecstatic. I think he loves you just as much as he loves me if I'm honest with you. That's not very surprising though."
"Please," Daphne said as she rolled her eyes. "You're quite literally his saviour. It was you that he tried to save, you that successfully saved him sans any form of injury, and you that ensured he had a place to go, that being Hogwarts. All I've done is greet him warmly, the same as you."
Harry opened his mouth to respond so that he could tell Daphne that was more than most others did for Dobby, but he stopped when the door to the club was opened… club, Merlin, it was no more than a classroom temporarily repurposed on the condition it was restored when they were finished with it. He wasn't sure why they didn't simply use a classroom out of the way of everybody, where they wouldn't have to turn it back to its original state; he had heard many a time that people often reconfigured the abandoned classrooms to their liking.
"Daphne, Harry," Granger greeted as she entered the classroom quickly, her books clutched to her chest as was usual of her, and the door closing tightly behind her. "You two arrived very early, it isn't due to start for another twenty-two minutes and thirty seconds."
At the girl's near-exact time given, Harry shared a look with Daphne. Granger certainly was an odd one, though often enough, the odd ones were those that seemed to get along best with the couple. Still, it was too early to say that Granger would become a good friend. Her attitude and near-constant state of solitude weren't very promising.
"Professor Duncan appointed us to oversee the class in his stead. He's been given a lot of work to do so that the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts can fall more in line with what the Ministry would like to teach. I suspect he'll be indisposed for quite some time," Daphne finished with a glance back to the door, her intention clear; if Granger wasn't fine with learning from the two that were already present, she was more than welcome to leave.
Granger looked at the floor, the door, a desk, and again, at the pair of them. "I watched the two of you just the other day," she said quietly, shyly, "If you're not opposed to letting me stay and watch, I'd like to do just that."
As he'd done before when Daphne glanced at him, he shrugged. If Granger wanted to watch them, practise with them and eventually teach a spell or two of her own, who was he to complain? She was almost as gifted as Daphne was, and if she were going to work with them, it would work out for him most of all; her attitude in recent times, since last year, had changed to some degree too. Where once she had always felt the need to speak or take partial command of something so that it fits with what she preferred or thought was best, she no longer seemed to do so. That was evident in their last meeting with her, and again now, where she seemed shy despite her typical classroom behaviour.
Maybe she's being picked on by Ron and the others again. It wouldn't be the first time, and even if Daphne's defended her previously, she can only do so much throughout the entirety of Hogwarts. It's about time the other Prefects start pulling their own weight, but Merlin knows that'll never happen.
"You're welcome to stay and practice with us," Daphne said with finality in her tone as she motioned for the other girl to come over to where they were seated. "You've brought thrice as many books as I have, by the look of it. If you don't mind my asking, Granger — what made you bring so many across such a varied range of topics?"
That seemed to fill Granger's eyes with a passionate fire as she hurried over to where Harry and Daphne were seated. As soon as she was before them, she placed — carefully — the books she'd previously clutched to her chest and then she shrugged off her satchel.
"I brought every book that I'm currently reading from in addition to the standard curriculum in my satchel. I thought that I'd be able to improve by myself as I've been doing, but I've found the further I get into certain fields, especially Defense Against the Dark Arts, the harder it is to progress by yourself. That was why I intended to join the duelling club," Granger pointed at her topmost book. "This book, the Tome and Recollection of Theodman Sylvaranth, is a collection put together by a man that was said to be tutored by Nicholas Flammel, and inside, there are all sorts of wonderful theory and spells from 'an age long since lost' that the Flammel's had managed to save… partially. I'd be very interested in recovering some of those spells, and restoring others that are incomplet— I'm sorry, I don't mean to ramble, you must find that as dreadfully boring as the others."
Harry looked over at Daphne, for as soon as Granger finished, the girl opened her mouth to speak. "You don't need to apologise, and no, history is never boring, and the same could be said about reading, by and large."
"Have either of you read the Tome? Or rather, what's your reason for studying and practising Defense?" Granger asked as she pushed the books — carefully — aside and looked between the two of them.
"Harry," Daphne said with a nod.
He shook his head. "Ladies first."
At that, Daphne looked at him with an expression that looked as if she were attempting to combat the smile that he'd attempted to bring to her face. It worked until he winked at her, at which point she shook her head despite the successful outbreak of said smile. With Harry's victory, Daphne looked back over to Granger.
"My family has always been heavily involved in the subject matter as well as its roots. At a young age and on account of that lineage-based interest, Defense has been a subject I've read, discussed and practised since before my time at Hogwarts," Daphne said and after a pause, she addressed Granger's remark that the girl had made the last time she'd chosen to watch them practice. "It's only thanks to my guardians and the library my home possesses that I've been able to learn and utilise the many spells you saw me use when last Harry and I fought."
"I thought magic couldn't be used outside of Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, perplexed as she leaned forward, even more interested, apparently.
"In a fashion, you'd be correct. Magic can't be used in the Muggle world or incredibly closeby to them for the risk of breaking the foolishly developed Statute of Secrecy — for those far enough away, which by and large happen to be Purebloods, they practice and study whensoever their family decides it's time. In regards to myself, that would be at the age of six," Daphne looked to Harry when she finished, and with a very slight nod, he began to speak lest Hermione bombarded Daphne with questions.
"I had to learn a lot about Defense and the Dark Arts themselves if I wanted to make it out of the tournament, and thanks to Daphne, I was able to do so. Well, at least in Defense — I had to retrieve a slip to the library to check out dozens of other books that would be considered morally grey, hence why they're locked away. In truth, I prefer charms, transfiguration and healing magic," Harry finished with a purposeful look at the satchel on the back of his chair, where a book was poking out titled 'The Prosperous Physician and the one-hundred spells you need to know to be like him'
Yes, it was a rather long-winded title, but it was a very pleasant and informative read.
Hermione nodded nearly a dozen times as her hair — nearly as wild as his own — moved rapidly along with her. "That makes sense. I couldn't imagine how I'd do if I were in your shoes. I tried, and the outcomes my mind pieced together were seldom positive. You were very remarkable, and it's no surprise with Daphne's help you were able to overcome the obstacles. She's very smart."
Daphne had the good manners to dip her head politely, a minor and brilliant as-ever blush dusting her cheeks as she thanked Hermione for the compliment. Afterwards, and before Hermione could go on another rant of sorts, she spoke.
"Our aim for the day was less practical practise and more by way of books so that we might pick a spell we'd like to learn and begin the process of doing so," Daphne said, her words spoken aloud for Hermione's sake. "If you'd like, and if there's one that's complete in your book, we could try and learn one of them."
At Daphne's offer, Hermione's eyes widened almost comically so. Dobby-like would have been an accurate and worthwhile description.
"Really?" the other girl asked, much to Harry's amusement and sadness; the former for her look, the latter for how surprised she seemed that somebody was willing to do something that she wished to do.
Daphne raised a brow, perplexed. "Why not?"
When Harry and Daphne recalled that moment later in their lives, they realised that it was then that Hermione had become almost enamoured with them. It wasn't hard to conclude why that was when one thought about her state of solitude and lack of true friends.
September 23, 1995
As had become a routine of sorts, Harry sat with Daphne at their typical seat in their classroom. The pair were waiting for Hermione, and surprisingly, rather than arriving early as the girl usually had, she was very nearly on time. For most others, that would be usual to arrive near the start of the 'class', but for her, on time was late, and late was very late.
"Where do you suppose she's gone?" Harry asked as he looked out of the nearby window, the thunderstorm outside and the rapid, heavy rain that it brought with it unsurprisingly calming.
Daphne turned her attention away from the book she had been leisurely reading, and over to him. "I don't know, and I couldn't begin to guess," she answered as she put a marker in the book and put it back whence it had come, her satchel. "If she's not here soon, we'll begin. There's no point in wasting time."
He shrugged, it was a fair response. "Oh, did you end up having any luck with that other girl? Lovegood, I think you said her name was?"
"Any conversation with Lovegood will tend to go… not at all as you'd suspect it would. She seemed not necessarily opposed to the idea of attending the club so that she might better learn how to handle herself, and yet, as quickly as I'd brought the topic up, she changed it to a creature the likes of which I've never heard mention of before," Daphne's nose twitched, signalling that she was annoyed. "I don't believe we'll be able to rely on her. The thought of doing so doesn't sit well with me — as rude as it is, the nickname of 'Loony' has to have some sort of merit."
"Yeah, you're probably right… say, didn't you have a nickname? Queen something, right? I think it wa—"
"Say it and I'll not kiss you until the start of next year," Daphne said, cutting him off and fixing him with a look that implied she wasn't kidding. It wasn't surprising in the slightest, she did so hate that nickname, and in truth, he wasn't fond of it either. Those that gave it to her were simply angry she didn't pay them the sort of attention they desired.
Harry raised his hands in surrender and cast a quick look at his stopwatch. "We're two minutes away from the start."
"I suppose we'll begin then," Daphne replied, tutting as she did so. "Turn the book to page one hundred and thirty-two, please. I'll withdraw the notes I made for the session — we'll have to base our practice on them until she arrives. If she fails to do so, we might very well have to find a new spell to learn."
That'd be tedious. We've only just started Hermione's.
There wasn't much that could be done if the girl was absent and they lacked a copy of that Sylvaranth bloke's tome. There was an idea, maybe Harry would purchase it for Daphne as a gift. Her initial interest, mild as it was, greatly expanded the more they read from that book and figured out the man's intelligence.
At that specific point, the door to their classroom burst open with an almost explosive quality. Hermione was standing in the doorway, an awkward look on her face, and behind her were three other people.
"Hi," Granger said tentatively, and as she stepped into the room with the others right behind her. "I brought a few friends that were interested."
Harry smiled at Granger, and then at the others when he realised just how nervous Granger seemed to be. He wasn't sure why that was. They had told her she could invite others, in fact, they had urged her to do so. Not only would it give her the chance to make a few friends, potentially real friends, but it would also allow them the chance to see how Granger was with others; that was Daphne's idea too. She knew the girl could be a touch different, and out of curiosity and interest if the girl had changed, requested that she bring one or even a few new peers to the lesson.
After all, a duelling club of three people wasn't really a club, was it?
"You're all welcome to come over and sit with us, we were just getting ready to start — the spell was actually one that Hermione helped pick out," Harry said as he nodded towards where he and Daphne were seated.
At that, Daphne nodded. "Bones, Clover, Smith. Good evening."
Harry silently thanked Daphne. He recognised Susan Bones easily enough, Zacharias Smith too, but the third person, a Ravenclaw girl, he wasn't overly familiar with. He suspected based on her looks that she was a year older, and likely spent time elsewhere in the castle.
All three of their peers returned Daphne's greeting as they followed Hermione over to the circle of seats that were prepared. When they were all seated, and the contents of the lesson were spread for all to see, only then did somebody speak.
"Granger said that Professor Duncan doesn't usually show up and that you two lead the club," Bones said as she looked between Harry and Daphne. "Everybody knows that the two of you know what you're doing. We watched the tournament last year, and we've seen the marks you've earned, Greengrass… why are the two of you taking part in this club if there's not much you could learn from us?"
"Everybody has something they could teach," Harry responded before Daphne could so much as open her mouth.
When he was finished, the aforementioned girl nodded. "Harry's correct. You may not think you have much to offer by way of magic or spells, but everybody, regardless of their knowledge, has something they could teach others. It's simply finding out what that is so that you can share it."
"You'll both have to share quite a bit," the girl, Clover, said. "I've mainly studied with my brother, and now that he's graduated, I've plateaued."
The other boy in the group shrugged when the rest looked over at him. "I'm good at chess and transfiguration, and really, I came to learn how to fight."
Harry imagined there would be a lot of work to do with the others, and by Merlin was he right.
October 15, 1995
"Hogsmeade," Daphne said as she stepped out from the carriage, took Harry's hand as she descended to the ground and finally, took a cursory glance around the area. "It seldom changes, isn't that right?"
Harry nodded. With those from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons gone, the shops that had opened to take advantage of the new occupants were, by and large, also gone. There were a couple that stayed and continued to do well for themselves, but it was that very reason that he and Daphne had opted to go to Hogsmeade.
Now, obviously, they would spend a lot of time simply enjoying one another's company by way of food or shopping, but there was an ulterior motive for their day out today. They wished to find and secure a building so that they could utilise it instead of Hogwarts. It wasn't allowed, per se, but they needed more space that didn't need to be cleaned up, especially as their group grew larger and larger.
"How many places did you say we'd be looking at today?" Harry asked, struggling to remember the number she'd given him in the courtyard.
That wasn't his fault. Daphne was dressed up especially well today. Her dress fit her perfectly and made her look as beautiful as was typical, the way she did her hair in a large, single braid that fell down her back was unusual, but not unwelcome.
"You're spacing out, aren't you?" Daphne asked, a satisfied look on her face as she looked at him, her hands placed on her hips.
"No?" he said back to her, his single-word answer sounding as if it were a question even to his own ears.
"What'd I say?" she asked, her look morphing to a smirk as she drew closer to him, her feet all but gliding across the hardened ground. "If you get it right, I'll kiss you."
Harry retreated into his mind as the Lioness neared him. It wasn't as if a kiss from Daphne was rare, far from it, but he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. Every kiss from her was especially precious.
It was a single-digit number, and she said it wouldn't take long… I think.. no, she didn't say two. Was it a few? More than a few?
"Four," he said, only just managing to avoid that word sounding like his previous one.
Daphne snorted, grabbed his hand in hers and started to lead them away, down a side street. "You remembered, or you had a very lucky guess," she said, and then, she paused, turned him to face her, and pressed her lips against his.
Their kiss was gentle and affectionate, and through it, Harry could taste the fruit she'd eaten and the thing that witches put on their lips. Hers complimented the fruit very well, and were they not in public, he wouldn't have minded snogging her for the next hour. Unfortunately, they were out in Hogsmeade, and they had more than a few things in store for the day.
Maybe, just maybe, he could fit a snog in with her in the evening. He reckoned he could get her to agree to that. Especially since the Lioness on the prowl for lips was still at large.
"Come on," Daphne said, her voice unusually subdued as she grabbed his hand and started them off again, this time at a quicker pace. "We have our first showing to get to."
Harry didn't realise what had changed until he looked over his shoulder. There were a group of witches and wizards near to their own age that were very obviously looking at them, and one bloke, noticing Harry's attention, gave him a thumbs up until a witch saw that and slapped his arm. Suddenly, Daphne's embarrassment made sense.
When the two stepped out from the structure they had just walked through, Harry sighed and cast a look above, at the cloud-heavy sky. It had grown darker and the smell of rain was in the air. Before too much longer, another storm would come, and whilst that was nice when one wished to relax, they still had two more places to view and food to eat.
He didn't fancy getting rained on with Daphne, especially when the latter didn't have a jacket. She had assured him she wouldn't need one, for the weather was warm enough for her liking and there had been no mention nor sight of a storm when they'd left.
"Are we headed to the third building, or do you want to mark this as a halfway point and go for lunch?" Harry asked as he grabbed ahold of her hand and began to slowly lead them towards the main road within Hogsmeade.
"It's going to hail soon, you can tell."
Harry blinked. That wasn't Daphne's voice. Together, he and Daphne each looked at the source of the voice, and sure enough, there was a girl they had discussed previously. Her attire was queer, and despite having just spoken to them, she wasn't looking in their general direction. Instead, she was focused on a jar, an empty jar.
"You're probably right, but we have to find someplace to rent for the duelling club — you're still invited, by the way, Luna," Harry said, using her name so that she could understand they were friends, or rather, they could be if she so wished it.
From what he knew about the strange girl, she didn't have many, if even one true friend. In that, she was very similar to Granger, though even Granger seemed to have a few people that she could speak to even if they weren't very close. As far as he knew, all Luna had was family, and at that, only a father; she lacked siblings, a mother, anything really. He could relate to her.
"Thank you, but I've been trying to ward off the Nurgles," Luna stood up and smiled at them, a vacant or odd look in her eyes. "You should go to the come-and-go room, it's quite pleasant."
"Where?" Daphne repeated, unsure of what the other girl knew.
Harry was happy she asked, for he too had no idea what the 'come-and-go' room was.
"The come-and-go room," Luna repeated as if the place was common knowledge and they were the strange ones for not having heard about it before. "It's whatever you like. I use it to store my clothes from the Nurgles, they've already stolen far too much from me."
Again, Daphne made to speak, but in an instant, Luna was skipping away down a road and away from the pair that was left watching her as she went. Neither had any clue as to what they should think at that point in time. Luna Lovegood was a very interesting person. Very interesting indeed.
"You've never heard about it, have you?" Daphne asked after she shook her head, her braid hitting his shoulder in the process.
"Never," Harry confirmed, scratching his shoulder where it caused a ticklish feeling to spring up. "I think I know a few people we could ask."
Daphne huffed. "I'm usually the person you ask."
At that, Harry laughed and kissed her cheek. He wasn't sure if she was jealous, teasing him or a mixture of both, but it was cute nonetheless. "You're the person I always ask as long as it's not something Professor Dumbledore has to answer… you know, he's not spoken with me since we returned to Hogwarts. I wonder if I should try and meet with him. We both know it's only a matter of time before something happens."
"I blame Quidditch," Daphne sniffed, her nose raised as they started towards the restaurant nearest to them; it was a small walk away, which meant it was close enough for them to reach before the storm came and whatsoever it would bring started to fall from the sky.
"How's that?"
"You risk your life every time you play that game and you're surprised it consumes the entirety of your luck?" she tutted at him, her thumb rubbing incessantly at the back of his hand as she looked into the sky.
A pensive look came to his face when he registered her words. She wasn't entirely wrong, but what could he do? Quidditch was a skill he'd inherited from his father, and thanks to it, he was fast, very fast, and his reflexes were astounding. As likely as it was that it did, in no small part, consume his luck, the repayment for doing so was well worth it. He knew for a fact that all of his previous encounters, with or without Voldemort, could have gone very differently without the skillset that Quidditch had fostered in him.
"... you'll still come to my games, right?" he couldn't help but ask as the thought festered in his mind.
Daphne looked at him lazily, her neck rolling as she did so. When he saw her expression of incredulousness, he reckoned it had been a stupid question to ask. Still, there was no way he could keep those intrusive thoughts down forever. Sometimes, they won, and when they did, he'd just have to look like an idiot.
Besides, it wouldn't be new to Daphne. She knew what she was getting into when she agreed to date him after having been his friend since their first year.
"It'd take more than a game to keep me away from you, and evidently more than a Basilisk or a Dark Lord," Daphne finally said, and when she finished, she kissed him in the same fashion as they'd done earlier.
Nothing could ever hope to match the sweetness of her actions. Never.
October 16, 1995
"There's nothing here,' Daphne said adamantly as she gestured to the wall where Luna swore they would find a door.
Harry furrowed his brows as he looked at the typical stone wall of Hogwarts. His girlfriend was right, there was nothing but a wall. There didn't seem to be any sort of secretive door or entrance, and when he withdrew his map, the one that his father and friends had made back in their time, there was nothing before them but a wall. He found it incredibly hard to believe that they'd have missed so much as one room in Hogwarts when he considered how many secret passages were present.
"Maybe we're in the wrong spot," Harry said, hazarding a wild guess as to why Luna's assistance ended in nothing. "We could go to the floor below and see if that's the wall she meant. Come to think of it, she never really told us who told her about it, did she?"
Daphne shook her head, silent. It didn't make much to figure out she was mildly peeved, and yet, even then, she didn't put Luna down. There was no 'Loony' remark even if it were nought but the two of them in the hall to hear one if it had been made. There was a reason he really did like, no, love her.
"No. She didn't."
"Do you think it's real?"
"No."
"Why?"
Daphne cocked her head at him at the same time she rested a majority of her weight on her left hip and her hands fell to her hips. "Do you see a door?"
"Fair enough — let's go find her," Harry grabbed Daphne's hand, but before he could take a step in the direction of the stairs, she pulled on him.
"We don't need to find her. Even if your map could lead us straight to her, you're forgetting that our friend could bring her straight to us," Daphne paused and looked at Harry, and when he shrugged, unsure of what she meant, she took matters into her own hands and spoke aloud a name. "Dobby."
Instantly, the house elf appeared before the two of them, his eyes wide, his smile wider and his apron exceptionally free from filth; Hogwarts had standards.
"Harry Potter and Miss Daphne!" the elf greeted animatedly, looking between the two so quickly that his ears flapped about. "You called for Dobby, how can Dobby help his friends?"
Daphne smiled sweetly at Dobby and patted his head with her free hand. "Good evening, Dobby. Harry and I are looking for our friend, Luna Lovegood. We'd like you to ask her about the 'come-and-go room' as she'd called it. We can't find the entrance."
Dobby started to jump and down as he pointed at the wall they were standing in front of. "It's there, the come-and-go room is there," the elf said repeatedly. "Dobby can help you. Dobby could bring you inside."
Harry and Daphne looked at one another when Dobby said that he knew the way. Mayhaps he was the one that told Luna about it. That would have been ironic.
"Please," Daphne said to the elf when Harry remained silent, her tone just as sweet as when she'd made a request. He knew that she meant it too, for with Astoria and the house elves, she acted much the same way. It was another trait of hers on the very long list of traits that he loved that she possessed.
If it grew any longer, he'd need to literally grab a parchment lest he ran out of space in his mind.
Dobby closed his eyes and seemed to pace around before the wall, nearly sprinting, and before their very eyes opened a door. Initially, they thought Dobby had lost his mind, for there was nothing happening whilst he paced back and forth with his eyes closed. However, after a moment's time, a door materialised out of the stone before their very eyes. Daphne seemed as shocked as Harry felt, and with a look exchanged between the two, Harry reached out to stop Dobby in his tracks.
He did so easily, and the elf's eyes snapped open. "Did Dobby help?" he asked hopefully, his big, pleading eyes flicking between Daphne and Harry.
"Without a doubt," Harry confirmed.
Daphne agreed. "You were very helpful, Dobby. Thank you very much — we're lucky to count you among our list of friends. We'd like to visit you this evening in the kitchens and spend some time with you once we're done here."
Dobby preened under the joint praise of Daphne and Harry, and when Daphne essentially rewarded him by saying they would visit that very night, the small house elf went back to bouncing from foot to foot. Apparently, he was so fond of them that the thought of them visiting was enough for him to be beyond ecstatic.
"Dobby's friends with Harry Potter and Miss Daphne. Dobby will tell all of the other elves. Witches and wizards never call us friends!" Dobby hugged the pair thanks to how close they were to one another, one of his slight arms wrapped around each of their legs, and then he vanished.
Thankfully, the door didn't close, though that did present an issue; how did they summon it?
Ah, well, they supposed they could call him again when they needed him. Harry would probably do so that very night so that he could learn from Dobby the many intricacies of the room… assuming he and Daphne didn't discuss it with the elf over their kitchen raid.
"I guess, uh, we just go in, huh?" Harry asked, his eyes still on the door as he stared disbelievingly at where it'd just formed.
In truth, he wasn't sure why he was so surprised. If some twat like Voldemort could return at will, a door coming out of a wall shouldn't have been all that surprising. Not in the slightest.
"I believe so," Daphne agreed, her tone less surprised and more curious, as well as hesitant. Vaguely, he registered from out of the corner of his left eye that her wand was in her hand, and smartly, he mimicked the action.
One could never be too safe. Not now.
She started towards the door ahead of him, and in response, he stayed still, preventing her from advancing thanks to their connected hands. When she felt the resistance, she turned back to look at him, a brow raised and an expectant look upon her face.
"I'll go first," he said to her. "I know, I know, it's better if you do, but what if there's a trap? If I go down, you're the better fighter. You'll be able to make sure I don't get got, yeah?"
"Get got — that's an interesting way of saying get hurt or killed because I used you as bait when I shouldn't have," Daphne deadpanned back to him, unimpressed with his plan.
Harry smiled at her, slowly let go of her hand, and promptly ran into the room. Daphne's noise of indignation and surprise followed him as he burst through the door, her hot on his heels, and together, the two stumbled to the ground in a mix-up of limbs.
When the pair opened their eyes, Daphne was on top of Harry and the door was mostly closed behind them thanks to their many flailing limbs. It was dark, too dark to make out the contents of the room. Daphne and Harry had the same idea, and in sync with one another and despite their position on the ground, their bodies mixed together as they were, they each cast a Lumos.
Their breaths were taken away. The come-and-go room was exactly what they were after.
October 19, 1995
Harry and Daphne were waiting for their next duelling club session, and this time around — for the first time yet — they would be holding it in the come-and-go room. Hermione, Susan, Zacharias and Olivia were all unaware of the change of location. They had simply been told they would meet where Harry and Daphne were currently standing.
That being high in Hogwarts, before a wall with nothing all that close to them. When pressed for information, Harry and Daphne each had said that the others would find out why they changed locations when next they met. Neither wished to give anything away.
"This was a lot of walking," Oliva — Clover — said, the girl breathing deeply as she rested her hands on her knees.
Hermione, Daphne and Harry all looked at the Ravenclaw girl in surprise. She wasn't out of shape, she was quite lithe, actually. Perhaps the most slender of the group, and yet, she was most definitely the least in shape when compared to the other three that were present. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have the occasional fitness class. Harry would see what Daphne thought about that when the others were gone.
"We'll be seated soon enough," Harry said politely before the thought struck him to summon a chair for the girl. Before he could do that, however, the echoing of footsteps from the direction of the stairs alerted them to the arrival of others. Whilst that could be just about anybody, due to the evening time and the fact that they were well out of the way of everything else, Harry reckoned it was Zach and Susan.
He was partially right.
Susan had arrived, only without Zach and with a sour expression on her face. "Zach won't be coming," she said when she drew closer to the group. 'He wasn't fond of reading or studying. When you said it was a duelling club, he seemed to think that meant only duelling rather than other forms of advancement."
Harry snorted, and Daphne rolled her eyes. The latter ultimately spoke. "We'll enter, then."
She closed her eyes, concentrated, and took a few steps near the wall. The other three girls watched her curiously, and from the back of the group where Harry now found himself, he couldn't help but smirk. They had no idea how wicked the secret they'd found was.
As before, it took a few seconds to form, but he heard it before he saw it. There were gasps from two of the three, the other was still huffing and puffing.
"How'd you find this?"
"What's on the other side of the door?"
"...chair, please."
Hermione, Susan, and Olivia all spoke at the same time, and when Harry picked up Olivia's words, he silently laughed. How could he not?
Daphne answered Susan's question as she pushed open the door. "We'll find out presently, won't we?" and like that, she entered first, showing the others that it was safe. Hermione could have been compared to a spell with how quickly she entered the room, and after her, Olivia stumbled through.
"You coming, Susan?" Harry asked as he watched the girl stare at where the door had materialised. Merlin, even he had to admit it was mind-boggling and very cool, and he'd seen it thrice now.
Susan rubbed at her eyes, looked at the door, and then she looked over at Harry. "Yeah. Sorry. I thought I'd gone mad for a second," and like that, she entered the room with Harry right behind her, and when he was inside, he closed the door behind them whilst he heard the girls speaking in amazement at the content of the room.
There were practise dummies and chairs, mirrors and smaller targets, covers of all types, soft mats the likes of which the duelling room had… there was just about everything one could want sans refreshments and potions. That, thankfully, was resolved by Daphne. Well, the latter, that was. She had brought a few potions with her, very few, and only in the event of an emergency would they be used.
As for refreshments, Dobby had insisted that he pack them whatever they desired, and that was why Harry had his satchel and an older spare from his second year before he learned that he needed more space.
"This… this isn't on the Hogwarts map," Hermione said, those being the first words he heard when he joined the group.
Of course. Leave it to Granger to state something like that.
"It's not on any map of Hogwarts," Daphne said, a knowing look sent Harry's way before she continued. "As far as we can tell, it's not meant to be here. Somebody created it somehow, and with no small amount of magic built into the very stones we're standing on. It's very impressive."
"Very impressive," Olivia agreed, her breath now restored thanks to the large, fabric-covered chair she was seated on. "If only there were records of its creation. Could you imagine if you could hide a room like that in your home?"
Again, Harry and Daphne shared a look. The two knew that wasn't the limit of the room — that meaning the door — but they wouldn't reveal that to the others yet. That wasn't out of a sense of superiority nor any feeling of possessiveness, but they simply didn't know enough about its limitations. For all they knew, the room was as dangerous as it was helpful in the hands of the wrong person.
"It'd be perfect," Susan answered.
"I'd be able to build a large collection of books safe from thieves," Olivia said with a huff; Harry reckoned there was a story there.
Daphne clapped her hands together, and Harry, in response, moved to stand by her side as they looked at the other three members of their now five-person club. "Let's not squander the time we have," she said as she motioned towards a separate portion of the room, where a large table protected by a wall sat tucked away. "It's time we begin."