Daphne
"Don't sully yourself with those with intelligence below yours Daph. Find those whose quality and intelligence is above yours. Stay in their radius and strive to match them until you're looking down on them. There will always be someone above you Daph. You need to rise above them all."
Daphne recited her father's words in her mind every time she met someone new. That day, in Flourish and Blotts, the day she met Harry Potter, even if she didn't know it. Her father's words echoed fiercely in her memories. His words, said to her on his death bed, before the fall of the prestige of her family, before people began to forget the name Greengrass, screamed at her that the boy in front of her would be a key pawn in the rise of her name. For revenge against the Purebloods who carved up her family's treasures, the strange boy picking books ahead of his age, was to be surpassed or used.
When she found out he was Harry Potter, her heart leapt. What better person to choose as a measuring stick?
"You know, you seem to have a strange obsession with dark magic," Daphne commented with raised eyebrows as Harry sat opposite her, hunched, with eyes devouring the small book they had found in the Restricted Section.
"Good magic doesn't have any of the good stuff," he had said to her.
Daphne no longer felt creeped out when he spoke. Rare as it was. His voice was still soft and he spoke with clear enunciations and the sense of danger she first sensed when she met him was still there but she chose to ignore it. She felt like she was beginning to understand and know who Harry Potter was, even though he said nothing about his life nor did he speak about the future. All he cared about was learning magic and he looked down upon those who didn't appreciate magic for what it truly was. He was quite the bookworm.
The Power to do anything you desire; he had whispered one day during a particularly exciting Charms class with the Slytherins.
Flitwick had decided to test the classes' creativity when it came to the levitation charm. Most of the class wondered what he was talking about and came up with feeble answers but then Flitwick showed them the power of the levitation charm. He showed them what a simple charm was capable of in the hands of a master. It was localised application of the charm in a complex fashion. Harry could see hundreds of threads of magic dancing out of the Charms master's wand. It was truly incredible.
He made the entire class dance. Tables, chairs and even the students were at mercy to his wand movements as parts of the furniture and parts of their bodies were unwillingly levitated, dropped, levitated and guided to the sounds of an upbeat piano track that was playing out of an ancient record player.
Harry was stunned. He felt his arms move independent of his will. His body rise, defying the pull of gravity and his eyes could see, hundreds of thin strings of magic streaming out of the Professors wand, pulsating like a living thing as it took control of the entire class like a puppeteer. And all it took was mastery over a first year spell.
The Power to do anything you desire, he whispered in awe.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Halloween
"Potter give you the slip again Daphne?" chortled Tracey Davis.
Daphne sniffed regally and regarded her brunette friend with a glare.
Tracey was a half-blood who was trying her best to fit into the Slytherin world. Her family was not well off like the rest of her housemates and she had latched onto Daphne when the blonde didn't sneer at her with prejudice when her blood status was announced. She was a pleasant girl with a fragile personality that was masked by ambition. She was brought up in the muggle world and was studious girl who had regularly topped her grades. It was the reason Daphne allowed her to be her friend. Tracey gave her a fascinating insight into the muggle world and it was good to have a study partner who actually studied.
The brunette shrank from the glare and chuckled nervously.
"He didn't give me the slip," Daphne huffed, crossing her arms. "He went back to his common room."
"I don't understand why you're so determined to follow him around. Draco says…."
"I don't care to know what Draco says," Daphne interrupted sharply.
"Sorry," muttered Tracey, her brown eyes looking away.
Daphne sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped. Sorry. It's just that Granger girl. She really gets on my nerves!"
The two friends entered the great hall and gasped at the festive atmosphere.
Ghosts were everywhere. The hall was decorated with animated skeletons and floating pumpkins that were breathing fire. Ominous laughter boomed out of nowhere and the entire school was feasting at their house tables. Many were dressed to scare and others, dressed for giggles.
"Coo~ool!" breathed Tracey and Daphne grinned in agreement. It was a brilliant sight to behold.
Daphne's eyes zoomed to the Ravewclaw table and sure enough, there was Harry; carefully slicing the steak on his silver plate.
He has a strange obsession with cutting his food into tiny pieces, Daphne thought.
"Oye! Tracey!"
It was Blaise Zabini. A tall and dark boy from Africa. Daphne liked him. He was cultured and his accent made her blush. He was like an exotic human but he wasn't very bright. Rumour had it his mother was a classic black widow with a record of seven dead husbands and a fortune the size of a mountain. He had coal black eyes that seemed to bore into your soul and his smile was devilish.
He was sitting with Draco and his gang.
Daphne supressed her blush and followed Tracey to their table where Blaise had saved them a place.
"Happy Halloween," he said, his deep voice inflected with cheer.
"Happy Halloween to you too," Tracey said brightly and hugged him.
Daphne supressed a strange feeling of jealously.
"Potter ditched you again huh Greengrass?" Draco commented lazily.
Daphne grit her teeth and glared at him. She didn't say anything and sat between Tracey and Millicent Bulstrode.
"I don't get what you see in him," Draco said. "He's got to be the most anti-social freak in the entire school! Not to mention that creepy voice."
Draco envisioned Daphne as his future wife. Her family was from a long line of purebloods and her most of their fortune was absorbed by the Malfoy's some years ago. Overhearing his father talk about their acquisition proudly made Draco believe that having Daphne as a wife would make his father proud.
"It's his mind that interests me Malfoy," she said coldly. "If you took a moment to stop admiring yourself, you'd see what a powerful wizard he is."
Draco reddened and sneered. "I could take him," he boasted.
Daphne snorted. "I'll like to be there to see it then."
"How about a wager than," Draco said.
The group around them looked in interest.
"I will challenge Potter to a duel and if I win you come to Malfoy Manor for our Christmas Ball."
Daphne shrugged. She was okay with that.
"And you'll have to be my date," he added with a smirk.
Daphne glowered. She was beautiful and she knew it; her mother said so all the time. She wasn't oblivious to the eyes that lingered on her and they made her nervous and wary. Although she doubted Draco understood puberty.
"And if you lose?" she asked acidly.
"I won't," he said confidently.
"What if you do," she pressed.
"Name your terms," Malfoy said grandly.
Daphne pondered for a moment before the answer struck her. Malfoy had been bragging about his dad's dark arts library the other day. He had mentioned having books that could never be found anywhere else in the world.
The beautiful golden haired girl grinned evilly. "If Harry wins, both he and I get to come to your Christmas Ball and we get access to your library!"
Draco paled. "Are you crazy? My Dad would kill me!"
"I thought you were confident of victory," she said smugly.
Draco scowled. His pride wouldn't let him say no. "Alright," he barked unhappily.
"Swear it," Daphne demanded. "Swear it on the Pride of the Malfoy's!"
Pansy gasped. "Draco don't!" she said in her high pitched annoying voice.
"I swear to honour our terms on the Pride of the Malfoy's and I demand Daphne Greengrass do the same," he said with narrowed eyes.
"I swear to honour our terms," Daphne said simply. She then leaned back with a happy smile and relished the idea of giving Harry the news. Maybe then he would begin to open up to her a bit more.
Pansy on the other hand looked horrified. She would never forget those terrible green eyes staring at her with undisguised amusement at her near death experience.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The next day, when Daphne dressed and came down to the common room, the room was abuzz with excitement and rumours. Apparently after Quirrell had arrived with news of a Troll loose in the castle, the troll had attacked a student, Quirrell was dead and Harry Potter had been involved.
Daphne's heart leapt with anxiety when she heard that.
"What happened?" she asked worriedly to the burly third year.
An ugly visage turned to her and grey eyes looked at her with what she recognised as attraction.
Daphne supressed her shudder, she was just eleven for god sake! She ignored his eyes and looked at him bravely.
"Apparently Potter had left the great hall before Quirrell turned up and ran into the troll near the fourth floor girl's bathroom," he said, trying his best to sound suave. "He saw the troll attacking a Griff first year and then blew the trolls brains out with a single spell!"
"And Quirrell?" she breathed. Where did the Professor fit into all this? How did he die!
"Quirrell tried to stop the troll as well but was crushed."
Whether the third year oaf wanted to or not, there was a tone of awe in his voice. A troll was listed as a dangerous species in the book of monsters for a reason after all.
"No, no, no," interrupted another girl. "I heard he apparated into the Troll's stomach and blew his guts out from the inside! Quirrell was nearby and got killed by flying guts!"
Daphne stopped listening and walked out of the common room quickly. Stupidity was beginning to rein its ugly head and she had to get out of there before it affected her. She had to find Harry.
It was still early in the morning, just 7:30, and she hoped Harry would be there.
She literally ran to the great hall and to her immense relief he was actually there. There were many students who were staring at him and barely controlling their desire to question him and they steamed with jealousy when she slid into the seat next to him and ignored the hostile stares from the rest of the Ravenclaw table.
"Good morning," she said brightly.
Harry graced her with a glance and went back to neatly cutting his omelette into fine pieces.
"I hear you took on a troll last night. Care to share some details?"
As usual he didn't respond. But she was used to that now.
The table lost their hostility and listened with baited breath. Everybody wanted to hear the tale from the horse's mouth.
"Come on Harry. Give me something," Daphne said with a huff. "It's not every day a first year battles a troll! Were you hurt?"
There was a pulse of something.
A dangerous chill began to emanate from Harry and Daphne gulped. Maybe it was a bad idea to question the moody boy so early in the morning?
"Or maybe I'll just talk later," she said warily and as quick as she came. She left.
Hollow green eyes stared at her retreating form. Contemplating once again, whether the strange bond the golden hair girl had formed with him was worth keeping. He decided to ponder over the matter after breakfast.