A/N: This excerpt takes place in the Hospital Wing immediately after the final chapter (pre epilogue) of the main story. The first part is from Daphne's perspective and the second part from Harry's. Thank you as always for the reviews/follows/favorites.

Mission: Impossible

Daphne was grateful for Madam Pomfrey providing the treacle tart and butterbeer. Without the distraction of the food and drink she wasn't sure she could resist the urge to attack Harry once again while they waited for her parents to arrive. Based on the slightly feral look on Harry's face as he dug into the dessert he felt the same way which made it infinitely more difficult.

She had always prided herself on her ability to control her emotions and impulses over the years but that was before encountering Hurricane Potter. She knew she should stop gazing at his eyes...his eyes were her undoing. It was stupid and shallow and it angered her on some level that she could be so affected by something as superficial as someone's eyes. But as she ate the dessert she was utterly helpless. She ate and she gazed.

"Your smile is so pretty," Harry stated awkwardly between bites as he gazed into her eyes.

She momentarily lost herself and subconsciously started inching forward. As she came ever closer she snapped back to her senses, quickly sitting back and levelling him with her best glare. "I refuse to get caught by my parents snogging you so you need to stop saying things like that."

"Sorry," he immediately replied. The easy smile on his face suggested that he wasn't apologetic in the least and it only made her want to kiss him more. Where were her bloody parents? They needed to get here so they could leave as soon as possible.

As if on cue she heard the Hospital Wing doors opening and turned to see her family as well as two very excited house elves quickly bustling into the room. She was unsurprised when her sister broke into a sprint and quickly wrapped her in a fierce hug. It was slightly painful in its intensity and once again she was reminded how much Astoria and Harry were alike. Astoria had always done her best to dutifully follow her lessons on pureblood comportment but when it came to some things...the important things...those lessons were tossed into the rubbish bin and her emotions were unapologetically worn on her sleeve.

"Are you okay?" she asked urgently. "The headmaster said you were fine but are you?"

"I'm fine Tori," she reassured soothingly, wanting to calm her sister's nerves as quickly and efficiently as possible. Emotional stress wasn't good for her. "Harry too."

"I'm sorry," Astoria said as she gripped her tighter. "I'm sorry for always getting mad at you for worrying about me...I get it now. The last few hours have been awful."

Daphne laughed and pulled back to look her sister in the eyes. "It's alright...if you didn't tell me off from time to time I'd be even more worried."

As she watched her sister smile and wipe her face clean of tears she realized the room was oddly quiet and turned to see all eyes were on them. Harry in particular had an odd look of longing on his face as he looked on.

In a flash Astoria had loosened her grip and quickly pounced on Harry. "I can't believe I said you were boring!" she exclaimed as she latched on to him.

It was clear that Astoria had taken Harry by surprise. Daphne laughed as she watched Harry awkwardly put his arms around her sister. "It's okay, I could go for some boring right about now."

"Well then you need to come to our house this summer," Astoria replied as she stood back up.

"It's like living in a library," she said in mock disgust. "You were only there for a few hours...you have no idea how boring of a place it is."

"Ignoring the insult about my home that is an excellent idea, Tori," her mother joined in. "Perhaps you can come and stay for a bit this summer? We'll need to check with your family first as I'm sure they've missed you," she said warmly.

Her mother immediately recognized the discomfort on Harry's face. "Did I say something wrong?"

The one topic she had purposely avoided regarding Harry was his relatives' shoddy treatment as it wasn't her place to share. When she warned her family about Harry's horrible clothing she had simply lied and said his muggle family was poor and Harry did not have access to his inheritance yet.

Daphne quickly jumped in, hoping to save Harry the embarrassment. "Harry's just a bit out of sorts from tonight, Mum. We can-"

"It's all right Daphne," Harry interrupted, turning his gaze back to her mother. "My relatives and I don't get on well. My Aunt and Uncle hate magic and have never really liked me. I can come whenever...they won't care."

Daphne watched her mother's expression morph from confusion to barely contained fury. Eventually her eyes softened and she took the empty seat next to Harry's bedside and placed a hand on his arm.

"We were curious why you hadn't written them a letter...it all makes sense now," she softly replied.

"They aren't violent or anything. It's just…I don't like talking about it," was all Harry could manage before trailing off.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by her father.

"Winky, when we return home I'd like you to prepare one of our guest rooms for Harry. He'll be coming home with us once term ends.

The elf's eyes lit up in surprise and joy, turning to Harry. "Is Master Potter wanting to stay with Greenys?"

"Yeah...yeah...that would be great."

"Winky be going now!" she nearly shouted before popping out of sight.

"Or you could just get started now," her father joked, staring bemusedly where the elf had disappeared.

Eventually the family took seats around Harry's bed and Daphne noticed that Dobby had stayed back. She felt bad she had not seen him earlier in the evening and would not let it happen again. "Have a seat Dobby," she said as she waved him over.

Dobby seemed to be vibrating as he did his best to contain his excitement and nervousness and took the offered seat. "All right there, Dobby?" Harry asked.

"Miss Greeny is a great witch," he said quietly.

"I've seen better," Astoria commented with a grin.

"Hermione Granger very good too," Dobby replied with an affirming nod.

"I'm afraid you've missed the point Dobby," Astoria said as she patted his shoulder. "But since you helped these two so much I'll let it go this time."

"Thank you Other Miss Greeny," the elf answered sincerely.

"Uhhh...you're welcome," Astoria replied, utterly confused.

"I'm afraid Dobby doesn't understand your humor dear," her mother helpfully replied.

"He's not the only one," Daphne replied, drawing a laugh from Harry.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed. He was safe. He was safe and coming home with her at the end of term. It had been a really good day.

Thirty minutes later Madam Pomfrey politely reminded her family that they needed their rest and Daphne and Harry were alone once again. Before she could pounce on Harry again another visitor arrived.

"Hello Professor," Harry greeted as she turned around to see Flitwick approaching.

"I will not stay long as I know you need your rest and I do my best to remain on Madam Pomfrey's good side," he said with a chuckle. "The Headmaster stopped by and told me Mr. Potter had a bit of an accident tonight. I just wanted to confirm for myself that you were fine."

Daphne smiled. "Never better."

He nodded and smiled...relief evident on his face. "We didn't chat long as he mentioned there had been a significant positive development in the war and needed to go to the Ministry. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, professor," Daphne replied, beaming.

Relief turned to pride as he nodded his head and made to leave. As he began walking away Harry spoke.

"Thank you professor...for all the help you've given Daphne. You've no idea."

Flitwick smiled. "I typically do not share this sort of thing with students but your mother's seventh year project has always been my favorite to be a part of." He turned his gaze to Daphne. "I believe I now have a new favorite."

Harry had never felt so drained yet he was wide awake. It had been thirty minutes since Madam Pomfrey politely pried Daphne away and pushed her toward her own bed and it was infuriating. So much had happened that night...so many things in his life had fundamentally changed...his mind was a whirl and refused to slow down. Daphne being mere feet away when she could be right there next to him wasn't helping either.

"Daphne" he said quietly in the darkness.

"Yes," he heard in reply.

"Are you asleep?"

"I think the answer to that should be obvious." He could visualize the annoyed expression on Daphne's face and smiled.

"You should come back over here,"

"Harry…" she replied warningly.

"Or I could come over there...I don't mind."

"You are making it very hard to do the right thing," she said wearily. "We could get in trouble."

"We've earned it," he replied. He knew he was right...they had more than earned it. He honestly didn't think she would budge but it was nice talking to her at the very least.

He heard what sounded like muffled cursing and then a small light appeared. He smiled in victory as he watched the small light and his wonderful girlfriend making their way toward his bed. She was smiling despite herself.

She leaned forward and kissed him before sitting down once again. He was hoping that she would have gotten into bed with him but it was something...it was a start.

"As much as I'd love to stay over here tonight we'll get caught. Pomfrey said the beds are warded so she'll know if more than one person is in it and she has spells monitoring us...she'll know if we get...excited."

Harry's intention wasn't to get 'excited' that night...well he wouldn't have minded...but that hadn't been the plan. Having her next to him was enough. It was more than enough.

"We came up with a way to end the bloody dark lord, he exclaimed in frustration, "surely we can figure out a way to do this." Suddenly he had an idea.

"You said that she would know if more than one person is in a bed...what if we put two beds together?"

"And each of us could get close but make sure we stay on our own bed," Daphne continued his thought. Harry's heart soared. They were doing this.

"The mattresses might not stay together though...we could use a sticking charm!" Harry whispered excitedly.

"It's no good," Daphne said dejectedly. "Astoria said Pomfrey checks the wands in the morning for any spells cast overnight. She'll figure out for sure why we cast those spells."

"Really?" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

"How did you not know that? As much as you're in here I would think you'd have her routine memorized."

"She always confiscates my wand right away," Harry answered grudgingly. Pomfrey knew him too well.

Daphne chuckled before a smile came over her face. It was clear she had come up with something. "Dobby!" she whispered.

The elf popped into the room. "Miss Greeny called for Dobby?" he asked hopefully.

"Harry and I were wondering if you could levitate those two beds next to each other and cast a charm to make sure the mattresses stick together."

"Dobby will do it but only if Harry Potter promises to be a responsible wizard."

Harry heard Daphne's snort and felt his face warm. "Why are you only worried about me? What about Daphne?"

"Dobby works in castle full of young wizards. It is all most young wizards talk about. Dobby knows things. Harry Potter is a great wizard but Dobby knows all young wizards think with other wand."

Daphne let out a laugh before quickly clamping a hand over her mouth. As he watched her shoulders bobbing in silent mirth Harry pondered the fact that he was being lectured about sex from Dobby.

"Don't worry Dobby, all we want to do is talk and sleep. I promise to be a good boy."

Dobby nodded his head and with a snap of his fingers the two beds were in place. It was all Harry could do not to yell in triumph but he refrained. He didn't want to alert Pomfrey and he didn't want to confirm Dobby's suspicion that he had zero self control.

"Can you wake us up at 5:30?" he quietly asked. Pomfrey's normal rounds started at 6:00 and that would give them more than enough time. With a smile and a nod Dobby popped out of sight.

As they slid into the makeshift double bed he wrapped an arm around Daphne and buried his face against her shoulder. "We make a good team," he whispered contentedly. He instantly relaxed and realized Dobby had nothing to worry about as he would be asleep very soon. This was everything. This was home.

Just before he slipped away he was roused back to semi-consciousness.

"Harry?"

"Mmmmm?"

"I'm sorry about earlier...about your relatives. I didn't think you would want me to tell them."

"It's all right," he reassured her. To his astonishment he wasn't lying. He trusted them.

"Now that we've succeeded I hadn't planned on going back there anyway. As awful as the house my godfather left me is I'd have stayed there if I had to." He was so tired now but he didn't mind staying awake to talk to Daphne. Not at all.

"Is it that run down?" she asked.

"It's not totally awful...if it had a good cleaning out it would be fine and we'd made a good start of it. The only problem is the house elf is not fond of his master so he chooses not to do much." This was nice...just talking about mindless things. He could get used to it.

"I can help you sort out your elf if you'd like," Daphne replied, the tone in her voice making it clear how excited she was to help bring Kreacher in line. At that moment he actually felt a little sorry for the elf. He had no clue what was coming.

"Okay...thank you."

"Harry?"

"Mmmm," he murmured, drifting off once again.

"Do you remember how I said I wasn't ready for sex yet?"

"Yes," he replied, wondering why she had made such a radical change in topic. There was no way she could be worried he was going to try anything tonight. He was too tired and this wasn't the place.

"I was thinking...your birthday's coming up…"

"Right," he said, becoming more interested.

"I think I'll be ready by then...but I don't want to try it at my parents' house," she continued cautiously.

Harry was fully awake now, all thoughts of sleep forgotten as his sole focus was on the beautiful creature next to him and his birthday. He'd never been fond of them in the past but suddenly he loved birthdays.

"If you could get your house cleaned up in time I think it would be the perfect place to celebrate."

"Kreacher! Dobby!"