Fireman
"You wanted to meet with me, Greengrass?"
He entered the abandoned classroom she wanted to meet in on the fourth floor to find that they weren't alone. A small girl, around Astoria's age, stood next to Daphne. She wore Slytherin robes, and looked very nervous at his presence.
"Potter." Daphne said before he could open his mouth. "This is Madeline Avery, a good friend of Astoria. She would like to speak to you."
Avery. One of Voldemort's men in that graveyard was an Avery. Why does she want to speak to me?
Harry raised a brow expectantly, and the girl swallowed before speaking. "My mother got a divorce, and as a member of House Rookwood she wishes to express her apologies over my… father's actions."
Harry felt the anger he had been holding for so long leak out a bit, and struggled to contain just that small amount.
She reached into her robes and produced a letter which she handed to him. He snorted, taking the letter. "Your father and his friends took turns flaying me alive a couple months ago, I could care less about your family's apologies."
The girl winced, and looked ready to burst into tears. Daphne leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Madeline nodded, before quickly leaving the room. After the door closed Daphne met his eyes and held his gaze.
She stared at him for a long moment before responding. "Where is Malfoy, exactly?"
"In a place no one will find him." Harry replied. "He's dead, if that's what you're asking."
Greengrass nodded. "I know you're responsible for his father dying, and he obviously knew you were the one responsible. Why did you let him live for so long if that's the case?"
Harry mulled over his answer. "Before I answer that, I need to ask you something. Are you going to fight Voldemort?"
"Probably." Daphne let out a loud breath, looking suddenly exhausted.
"That's not an answer."
Daphne laughed bitterly. "How am I supposed to answer that? Do you want me to sit at the Gryffindor table with you tomorrow, Potter? Or maybe I'll join you on your next trip to Malfoy manor."
"So what will you do then?" Harry asked simply.
"I'm one of the best duelists in Britain. Maybe even Europe." Daphne answered instead, her head held high. "I've won nearly two dozen dueling trophies, and am likely the best under-17 duelist in the world. It's inevitable that the Death Eaters will try to recruit me, and my answer to them will be a simple no."
Harry felt his brows raise, he didn't know that piece of information. "Then what? You think they'll leave you alone after you refused them?"
The Slytherin girl sighed. "I don't know, Potter. I could always flee to the continent, or just cast the fidelitus charm and hide. Maybe I'll even join your little group of Mudbloods and Blood traitors to fight."
"What group?" Harry asked, annoyed by her words.
"Your group that's fighting Umbridge." Daphne replied dryly. "You're not as indiscreet as you think, and it's only a matter of time till you're found out."
Harry pushed off her words, vowing to figure out what she was talking about later. "Do you want to duel sometime?"
A strange gleam entered Daphne's eye. "Think you're up to the challenge, Potter?"
She suddenly sent a stinging hex his way, not waiting for his response, and he batted it away. Daphne followed up by a bunch of other inconveniencing spells, all of which she cast silently. She didn't move from her spot, casting the spells as if she knew they would annoy him.
He casually batted aside all of them, and ignored the unimpressed look she gave him. Instead of waiting he swiped his hand and conjured a single flaming blue wolf. It leapt from his wand and charged straight at her.
For once, Daphne looked impressed, and sent a couple curses at it before a blasting curse blew it apart. Instead of disintegrating, the wolf split into two smaller wolves and continued at her. Daphne sneered at his conjurations, and lightning left her wand that destroyed the two.
That was a powerful spell. Harry noted. Daphne looked excited, and pointed her wand at him before launching spells his way again. She didn't hold back as much this time, using spell chains that included dangerous spells.
He was amazed by her casting, in that she was more accurate than anyone he had ever seen bar Voldemort. He deflected two curses but wasn't fast enough to reach the third so had to move out of the way, right into a bone-breaker. He shielded against it, but a gauging spell followed that punched through his shield followed by a blasting curse.
Harry smirked, realizing things were heating up. He began conjuring again, and a wood wall formed in front of him which intercepted the blasting curse. The wall exploded, and he transfigured all the pieces of flying wood into flaming ravens that charged her.
Daphne extinguished them all with a powerful water spell, before transfiguring the water to ice and banishing it all at him. Fire streamed from Harry's want to meet the ice, and it incinerated the flying ice before forming a massive fiery elephant.
The elephant charged her, and managed to hit her with its flaming trunk. Daphne let out a hiss of pain, before a gust of steam left her wand. The steam flowed over the flaming elephant, extinguishing the flames, before heading Harry's way.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the steam, and blue flames left his wand like a flamethrower. It met the steam head on, and the two spells battled for dominance. He saw Daphne holding onto her wand with sweat pouring down her brow on the other side of the room.
He felt his own magic overtaking the spell, and right when it was about to overcome her spell he ripped the steam spell away from her control. He pointed his wand to the side, and the steam and blue fire flew over into a corner of the room before settling in a tornado-like form that he held under his control.
Daphne gave a gasp, resting a hand on her knee as sweat poured from her brow. Harry sent a disarming charm at her, and she barely managed to shield against it.
"That was an impressive spell." Harry observed, extinguishing the flames along with the steam she had conjured.
"I didn't expect you to be so good at conjuration." Daphne said shakily, trying to regain her composure.
"Fair enough." Harry shrugged. "You're better at casting than me, much faster anyways. I guess you just didn't expect me to throw around that much magic."
"Most duels don't include much conjuration. Usually competitors cycle through spell chains until their opponent messes up."
"That steam you conjured was impressive." Harry noted. "What spell was that?"
"Family magic." Daphne replied quickly. "I can tell you more, but only if you tell me about that blue fire spell."
"It's a variant of Fiendfyre." Harry revealed. "I created it to be more controllable, almost like a counter to normal Fiendfyre, but its less destructive as a result."
Daphne actually gaped at him for a moment. "Fiendfyre? Are you mad?"
"If you ever fight Voldemort, you'll find he likes to throw it around a lot." Harry said, sounding bitter. "He likes to overwhelm his opponents with dangerous and destructive magic, usually taking them by suprise with rare dark powerful magic."
Daphne mulled over his answer while looking unsettled. "So I'd have to learn to control Fiendfyre before learning that spell?"
"Probably." Harry shrugged. "It doesn't really fit you though, I've never seen anyone cast as good as you do. Not to mention that mist spell you still haven't told me about."
"It's a spell that's been in my family for a millennia." Daphne revealed. "The books in my library state it was given to us by Morgana LeFay."
Harry's brows lifted at that answer, feeling oddly impressed. "Do you want to duel like this again?"
"Are you kidding?" Daphne asked incredulously. "That was the best duel I've ever had. We're definitely doing this again."