Hi everyone... I'm back after my small hiatus... Here is chapter 86... Enjoy!

Life at Hogwarts was moving forward at a rapid pace, as it always had done. There was so much happening in everyone's lives that it was a surprise the students and staff had time to breathe. While most people's life moved forward, some found themselves revisiting characteristics from their past. All the work and effort they had put into changing themselves, shedding their insecurities, becoming more likeable and so on, was getting reversed instantly.

Daphne considered going back into her shell, the best foot forward. She lived in her own world. She was a pureblood and she used to roam around Hogwarts with a certain swagger. She was always well put together, she knew her way around words and used all of it to great advantage. While she had a quiet demeanour, she always lashed out when she got ticked off. And underneath the quiet demeanour, there was a pulsating set of thoughts that drove her. This, along with her dead stare, earned her a variety of nicknames in the early years at Hogwarts. And then something changed in her.

The steady and quiet life that she led got disrupted when one fine afternoon her eyes fell on a certain someone and instead of getting back to what she was doing, her eyes stuck around, staring at the young boy, while interesting thoughts started brewing inside her. Within a few weeks, the thoughts had brought her from a state of cute-fascination to infatuation. With the same air of confidence that she used to intimidate people, she turned her attention towards grabbing the young boy's attention. The artistic capability she had cultivated came in handy. And slowly, she got near the boy, near his friends, well, some of them at least.

It took a lot of courage, and quite a number of weeks from her part to finally speak with the young boy. And when she did, she felt like a load had been lifted from her shoulders. It was at this moment when she finally spoke with Harry, she also started to shed some of her insecurities and started to change things about herself. It was a journey that had started right then, that had taken her on a journey of pain, happiness and more pain. And now, she found herself back in the shell, protecting herself with her insecurities from the rest of the world. And it was extremely easy to do so. Being open and friendly was the hard part. It took effort and careful consideration before she spoke anything or did anything that could offend someone. Going back into her shell was easy, she had spent years in it, and it very much felt like home.

However, she was having all these thoughts, only a few days after ending whatever she had with Draco. She was soon going to find out that, going back into her shell wasn't going to be as easy as she initially thought. That there were still people around her that wanted her to be part of their life, and that she'd also benefit from having them in hers.

Daphne was mindlessly eating her dinner at the dinner table, in the great hall. She had skipped the duelling club like she had done the previous 2 occasions. Incidentally, the last time she was at the duelling club was also the time she had publicly lashed out at Draco Malfoy.

"Hi..." greeted a voice that broke her out of her thoughts. Daphne glanced up faintly before rolling her eyes at Colin, in dismay. "Haven't seen you around the club for a while now," remarked Colin as he cautiously sat down beside her.

However, the moment Colin sat down, Daphne got up swiftly.

"Daph..." called out Colin, a little strongly. Daphne, upon hearing her name, paused, momentarily. "I know you are hurting... But, don't do this to yourself," he added, a little more confidently. Daphne stood rooted on her spot, a bubble of anger and hurt growing inside her.

"Please talk to me," added Colin.

"What do you want to talk about, Colin? What is there to talk about?" snapped Daphne, as she turned around fiercely.

Colin stared back at Daphne, a little alarmed and confused. "Why are you angry at me? What did I do?" he asked.

"I know why you are here... This is a perfect opportunity for you to shoot your shot, isn't it?" retorted Daphne, sounding furious. "Isn't that what you have always wanted? To build enough trust with me so that eventually, when the right time comes, you can get me into bed with you..." she added and walked away furiously without waiting for any comeback.

Colin stared at Daphne's back as she walked away, shell-shocked. "I have never wanted to..." he whispered to himself.

A few days went by and Daphne found out that, however hard she tried to push people away, some were going to remain right beside her.

This time, Daphne was sitting and sketching under the tree when she heard footsteps approaching her. She turned around and met eyes with Colin.

"What are you doing here, Colin?" she asked, in a dismayed tone.

"Came looking for a friend... Have you seen her by any chance?" retorted Colin, with a straight face.

"I'm not in the mood, Colin... Go away," retorted back Daphne as she tried to focus back on her sketch.

"Oh, so you are only in the mood to angrily lash out at me in front of the entire school, for no apparent reason," chuckled Colin sarcastically.

Daphne glanced at Colin momentarily, before looking away from him. After a few seconds, against his better judgement, Colin made room for himself and sat down beside Daphne. Once again, Daphne glanced at him, this time, her eyes lingering on him for a few more moments, before she forced herself to focus on her sketch.

The rest of the evening went by in silence.

The routine resumed the following day. After their classes, Daphne escaped the world and went back to her place of peace and quiet. Soon, however, she heard footsteps, it was Colin once again. And once again, the pair spent their entire evening in silence.

That evening, however, was the evening of duelling club. When it started getting a bit dark, Daphne glanced at Colin and sensing her eyes on him, he glanced back at her.

"You are going to be late for the club," remarked Daphne.

"I've decided to skip today," replied Colin and went back to his homework that he had decided to bring with him.

After a few more minutes of silence, Daphne spoke up.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked glancing at him.

"If I'm going to be sitting here in silence, I figured I might as well get some homework done," replied Colin, calmly, as he continued writing.

"No... No, that's not what I meant..." remarked Daphne. "Why are you sitting here with me?" she asked.

"I figured you'd need some company," replied Colin, once again, not even lifting his gaze to look at her.

"I don't need anyone... I just want to be alone," retorted Daphne, though it didn't seem like she believed in what she said.

"Yeah..." sighed Colin and glanced at Daphne. "Nope... I don't think so," he added and went back to his homework.

"It's just better this way... You are good friends with everyone in the group. And I'm sure I'm not wanted there. It just makes sense..." mumbled Daphne.

It took a few seconds for Colin to react to that. But he glanced at her with a confused look. "What does that even mean?" he asked.

Daphne shook her head in response. "Nothing... forget I said anything..." remarked Daphne.

"Okay," retorted Colin and went back to his homework.

After a few more minutes of letting her thoughts fester, Daphne spoke up.

"I apologise for the other day. I shouldn't have snapped at you," she remarked, apologetically. And for the first time that evening, Colin closed his work and turned towards Daphne.

After a few seconds, he spoke up. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Not very well," she replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Colin in response.

Daphne considered her options for a few seconds before replying, "Perhaps not now," she replied. After a few moments, she continued, "Thanks for being with me," she remarked with a faint hint of a smile and gratitude on her face.

And the pair spent the rest of their evening, predominantly in silence.

A couple of weeks went by. Daphne gradually found herself capable of sharing her thoughts and feelings once again, with Colin.

That morning, announcements came in for the next Hogsmeade visit. And as tradition followed, it was arranged on the weekend that fell a few days before Valentine's Day.

"We should do something fun at Hogsmeade," remarked Colin with a beaming smile on his face.

"How about we spend a quiet one, instead?" retorted Daphne.

"I'm planning on lifting your spirits, Miss Greengrass, not dull it down," remarked Colin, with a chuckle.

"I get that... But, let this one go... I don't want to enjoy this one lavishly," replied Daphne, almost in a whisper, as her eyes drifted a few feet away.

Colin followed her eyes and saw them briefly land on Harry. "Fine... Not this one then," replied Colin.

"I don't even want to go to Hogsmeade..." sighed Daphne after a few seconds.

"No, absolutely not... You are not shutting yourself off inside the castle while the rest of the school enjoys its time at the village," retorted Colin.

"I'm not shutting myself off, Colin... It's just too much... I can't..." remarked Daphne, weakly.

"You are not going to be alone, are you? I'll be there... all of us will be there..." replied Colin. "You are not giving any excuses, you are coming to Hogsmeade," he added, strongly.

A week went by and it was finally time for the Hogsmeade visit. As promised, Colin hadn't planned anything extravagant with Daphne, however, there was a small surprise in store.

Everybody was enjoying their time at Hogsmeade. All the popular shops were filled to the brim. It was a nice change of pace for everyone, especially the students who were preparing for their OWLs and NEWTs. The weather was pleasant and it was a perfect day for being outside.

It had been a few hours since they had been at Hogsmeade when it happened. Daphne, Colin and Luna were walking around the village, despite Daphne's preference to stay warm and seated somewhere, just because Colin insisted strongly and Luna seemed to support him.

The trio were walking about when an owl dropped an envelope on Daphne's feet and flew away.

"What..." gasped Daphne and bent down to pick up the envelope.

"Careful..." remarked Luna and earned a stern stare from Colin.

"I'm sure it is safe... What does it say?" asked Colin, sounding curious.

Daphne opened the envelope and read the letter. "It was nice having you around at the Duelling club... We want you to come back as soon as possible," finished reading Daphne, awestruck. "What?" she gasped, surprised and checked the name on the envelope to reveal it was sent by one of her juniors from Hufflepuff she used to spend time with at the duelling club.

"What does it say?" asked Luna, as Colin stared at Daphne with a smile. And just then, a few more envelopes dropped on their feet, all of them addressed to Daphne.

"What is going on?" gasped Daphne, surprised as she handed the first letter to Luna and proceeded to pick up all of the ones lying on her feet. As Daphne opened each one of them and read the contents, her eyes lit up. Every single one was written by someone from the duelling club, who wrote about how much Daphne had helped them there and wanted her to return. As she read every single one of them, she kept handing them to Luna and Colin.

After she was done reading all of them, she turned around to look at Colin and Luna. "I can't believe this," she gasped, happily. "That was so nice of them to..." she began and stared at Colin a little more closely. After a moment, she continued, "Did you have something to do with this?" she asked.

But before Colin could respond, a few more envelopes fell to her feet.

"Oh, God... How many more?" gasped Daphne, shocked as she picked them up from the ground.

"Neville?" read out Daphne, shocked and proceed to read the short and sweet letter Neville had written to her. It was Ron's next and Seamus's after that.

"I can't believe this... I can't..." remarked Daphne, lost for words. The last 3 she had read, all said the same. "We miss having you around".

Just as Daphne finished reading Seamus' letter, her eyes fell on the name on the next note. "Harry," gasped Daphne, surprised. She quickly tore open the envelope and read the letter. "Hi, Daph... Hope you are doing fine. You seem to be a bit secluded these past few weeks. You should know that you have friends around you that you can lean on whenever you want to," read the letter.

Shell-shocked and overwhelmed at what was happening, Daphne opened the final envelope and read the letter. It was short and had just 4 words. "How was the surprise?" it asked. Daphne checked the name on the envelope and instead found a small inscription, "I'm standing right beside you," it said.

Daphne swiftly glanced at Colin and found him chuckling happily. Almost instantly, she grabbed him into a tight hug, her eyes glistening as she did.

"I don't know what to say... This is... I haven't felt this happy in a long long time," she whispered. "Thank you so very much," she added. "You are the best," she finished.

"This is hardly anything," chuckled Colin as he embraced her back.

It was a nice afternoon that followed. Daphne felt overwhelmed for the rest of the day. It was the nicest thing anyone had done for her. As Daphne strolled around Hogsmeade, lost in thoughts about the letters she had received, her eyes fell on Harry, sitting alone. And she decided to go and speak with him.

"Hey," she greeted as she walked over to him.

"Hi, Daphne," greeted back Harry with a simple smile.

"What are you doing here..." she began and paused to look around, "... so far away from the crowd?" she asked.

"Uh... nothing really," replied Harry, a little gloomily.

"Where are Hermione and Ron?" asked Daphne, curiously.

"Hermione is with Cedric at the Three Broomsticks..." replied Harry as he pointed at the pub that was a fair few feet away. "And Ron's with... Dean, Parvathi and Lavender, I think," he added, calmly.

After a few seconds of careful consideration, Daphne walked closer to Harry and sat down beside him.

"Thanks for the letter, by the way," she said. "Meant a lot to me," she added.

"Oh, yeah... You are welcome," replied Harry with a smile. "I meant every word of it," he added.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Daphne continued. "I know what you are thinking about right now," she remarked, finally.

"Well... It's hard not to," retorted Harry, gloomily.

"I can't believe it's been a year..." replied Daphne, mournfully. "Time just flies by, I guess," she added.

"It does," sighed Harry.

"We were sitting together right there," remarked Daphne as she pointed to a place, close to a hundred feet away.

"And I made an excuse to go after someone I saw..." replied Harry.

"Harry... It's not your fault, what happened with John," remarked Daphne.

"I keep trying to tell myself that... Not very easy to do considering that's a lie of course..." retorted Harry.

There was complete silence between the pair for a few seconds. And Harry broke it.

"Enough about me... How are you doing?" asked Harry. "I heard some distasteful rumours about what happened between you and... Draco," he added.

"We did some stupid things..." replied Daphne, blankly. After a few seconds, she continued, "But, I'm doing fine now... A lot better, thanks to Colin," she added.

"That was quite nice what he did for you," remarked Harry.

"Yeah, it was..." replied Daphne, with a smile,

Another silence lasted between the pair, but this time, Daphne broke it quite immediately.

"I sometimes wonder whether I made the wrong choice..." she remarked and glanced at Harry. Harry stared back at her, confused. After a few seconds, she continued, "It was probably the wrong decision for me and the right one for you," she added, with a chuckle.

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to that and stayed silent instead. Just then, Daphne's eyes fell on two sets of eyes staring at them from far away.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable... I shouldn't have said that last bit. I don't want to disturb what the two of you have going on," remarked Daphne apologetically and got up from her seat. "It was nice talking to you, Harry," she added.

"Yeah... you too," remarked Harry and with that, Daphne walked away from him. Harry glanced at the entrance of the Three Broomsticks and found Hermione and Cedric walking towards him while staring at him.

"We can stay in today, Harry," remarked Hermione and continued, "... if you don't feel like it," she added.

"I'm fine, Hermione... I am going to be gloomy all day, but there's nothing either one of us can do about it," sighed Harry.

"You promise you will be there?" asked Hermione, looking a little worried.

"Yeah, of course... I'll be there by late afternoon," replied Harry. Hermione briefly hugged Harry and with that, she left for Hogsmeade.

It was a pretty underwhelming day for Hermione. None of the things that she usually did at Hogsmeade brought her any joy on this particular day. Perhaps it was this that Cedric noticed when his eyes fell on Hermione.

"Hermione," called out Cedric as he walked over to her at Honeydukes.

"Cedric," exclaimed Hermione with a weak smile.

"What are you doing here, all alone? Where's Harry?" asked Cedric as he gave her a sideways hug.

"Harry is back at the castle. He might come here later," replied Hermione, gloomily.

"Might? What's up?" asked Cedric, surprised. "You don't look very well either, all good?" he added.

"Yeah, I am fine..." replied Hermione unconvincingly.

"Obviously you aren't," chuckled Cedric. "Want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Get me out of here first... I feel like I'll be sick of all the sugar," remarked Hermione with a disgusted face. Cedric wound up his purchases quickly and the pair made their way out of Honeydukes.

"I have to go to the post office," remarked Cedric the moment they walked out.

"I would like a walk... Let's go," replied Hermione and with that, they began their walk.

"So, what's bothering you?" asked Cedric.

"It'll be a year since John's death... in a few days..." sighed Hermione.

"Oh" gasped Cedric.

"Yeah... Last year, we were all in Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day," sighed Hermione.

"And then it all happened..." sighed Cedric along with her. After a few seconds, he continued, "And that's why, Harry isn't here today..." he remarked.

"Well, he said he will be here later in the day. But I doubt it," replied Hermione.

"I can't imagine how tough it must be for him..." remarked Cedric. "For all of you..." he added.

"I didn't want to be here at all, today... But he insisted that I need not be with him, moping around all the while," chuckled Hermione, without much of a laughter behind it.

"Perhaps he needed some time alone?" suggested Cedric.

"He has been having a lot of that, hasn't he?" retorted Hermione. "Sometimes he acts like he is the only one suffering with loss, sadness and everything that comes with it," she added.

"And that drives you mad," added Cedric.

"Should it not?" retorted Hermione, glancing at him.

"You are perfectly entitled to feel the way you do, Hermione... I cannot however judge Harry for the way he's acting," replied Cedric.

"You don't have to be so correct all the time, Diggory. You are not being a good friend at all, do you realise that?" retorted Hermione with the first hint of a smile.

After a few minutes, the pair reached the post office.

"I know exactly what's going to lift your spirits," remarked Cedric.

"What?" asked Hermione, curiously.

"You know how for the past few months you have been asking about the girl I like..." began Cedric.

"Yeah, the one you have been awfully secretive about," chimed in Hermione.

"I suppose I could tell you a few things about her," remarked Cedric with a hint of blush around his cheeks.

"Wait... Really?" asked Hermione, excitedly. "I want to know everything about the girl that got the most sought-after Hogwarts boy to fall for her," she added, chuckling.

Cedric took out his wand and wrapped the sweets he had brought from Honeydukes and a bottle of butterbeer he had gotten from the three broomsticks into a nice sealed package.

"Fl... oor... dela... core..." read out Hermione, struggling to pronounce the name Cedric had written on the package.

"Fleur Delacour," corrected Cedric as he proceeded to write a little note. Once he was done and the package was sent, he turned his attention towards Hermione.

"You are sending her sweets from Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione, perplexed.

"She is easily fascinated by all the sweets... food that we have here. We have also had numerous fights about which food is the better one... French or ours," replied Cedric, chuckling.

"Fre..." began Hermione. "Ours is good..." she said instead sheepishly.

"Of course, you like French food, why am I not surprised?" sighed Cedric with a smile.

"Hey... what is that supposed to mean?" retorted Hermione and nudged him playfully. "Tell me about her," she added after a few seconds.

"She is the most beautiful person I have ever met... She is caring... funny..." began Cedric and went on to speak for a few minutes about the girl he met when he went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

The pair soon made their way out of the post office and took a long stroll before making their way to three broomsticks. Hermione, meanwhile found the only way she could keep thoughts about John out of her head... talking about Cedric's girlfriend. For the rest of their time together, Cedric happily answered all questions Hermione had about Fleur. How did they meet? What does Fleur do? What is she like? What do her parents do? And so on.

Finally, after a long time spent at the three broomsticks, Hermione and Cedric made their way out. However, the moment they walked out, Cedric exclaimed in surprise.

"That's Harry, right?" exclaimed Cedric pointing to someone sitting quite far away.

Hermione glanced in the direction and instantly recognised him, and also the person he was sitting with. "What's she doing with him?" muttered Hermione under her breath.

"Who?" remarked Cedric as he glanced at Hermione.

"That's Daphne Greengrass..." whispered Hermione, a little annoyed.

"Woah..." gasped Cedric and instantly glanced once again at Hermione. "Woah... Do I sense a tinge of displeasure in your tone?" he retorted.

"No... No... Let's go talk to him," replied Hermione. Just as they were about to make their way to Harry, they saw Daphne get up from her seat and walk away from Harry.

"Hey," remarked Harry as the pair approached him.

"Hi, Harry," greeted Cedric with a smile.

"Hey," greeted Hermione.

"What have you been up to?" asked Harry as he held out his hand towards Hermione.

"I... am going to leave the two of you alone..." remarked Cedric, a little awkwardly. "Bye," he greeted and walked away while Harry and Hermione waved their hands at him.

After a few moments, Hermione glanced at Harry and sat down beside him. "Have you been here a long time?" she asked.

"Uh... No, actually, not... I just came here a short while back," replied Harry.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me?" responded Hermione.

"I saw the two of you talking and figured I'd leave you two to it," replied Harry, calmly.

"What were the two of you talking about?" she asked, curiously.

"Who? Daphne?" remarked Harry, surprised. Hermione nodded in response. "Nothing of note," replied Harry. "Well, she did ask me how I was doing... I don't think there's anybody who hasn't noticed how terrible I look today," he added, with a chuckle. Hermione responded with a brief smile.

After a few moments of silence, Harry spoke up. "Are... you alright?" he asked, a little hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, of course," replied Hermione.

"You don't particularly look fine," remarked Harry, a little concerned. After not receiving a reply for a couple of seconds, Harry continued, "Does this have something to do with Daphne?" he asked. "Do you have a problem with the idea of me being friends with her?" he added.

"Harry... No, of course not," replied Hermione, a little more convincingly. "Did it bother me, seeing the two of you together just now? Yes, a little bit," she continued. "But, I can't and won't decide who you should or shouldn't be friends with..." she added. After a few seconds, she continued, "I don't know why it bothered me... But it did," she finished with a wistful smile.

Harry stared at her for a few seconds, with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. "I'm sorry..." he remarked, finally breaking the silence. "I didn't realise it affected you," he said. Harry moved closer to her and promptly pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek, making her cheeks go red. And the next moment, Harry hugged her and whispered close to her ear, "You'd never have to worry about me... with anybody else..." he remarked.

"I know... Don't be silly, I'm not worried that you'd do something like that..." whispered back Hermione.

"Good," whispered Harry, happily.

And with that, the couple got up and enjoyed the rest of their time in Hogsmeade together.

"I have great respect for you, Mr Ollivander... I consider meeting you a privilege... Your expertise in wand making is a legend after all..."

"Just kill me... and... get it... over with..." came the weak and pained response of Ollivander, lying on the ground, bleeding. "I... don't... know about... the Elder... wand... Or the resurrection... stone," he added.

"Avada Kedavra"

"But you already told me everything I needed to know..."

Well... That's all for this chapter... Hope you enjoyed the different character interactions...

PS - Hopefully, going forward, I'll be posting the chapters far more regularly... So, stay tuned! Ciao!