Hello, here I am for the 4th chapter of Hero of Wizards.
A small note before continuing. I don't know if I'll be able to keep updating back to back like I've done so this week. Uni's been taxing lately haha.
Anyway, I'll do my best.
Several weeks had passed since that night when she and Harry had had detention with Umbridge. The first snow had fallen on the castle grounds, the students had wrapped themselves in warm clothes and used warming charms when their clothes weren't enough. They had not spoken of the moment when they held each other. It could have been interpreted as two friends comforting each other. But not for Daphne, when he had held her in his arms, it had changed something inside her. Of course, she already knew that something was different with Harry. No one had ever made her feel like she could open up like he could. But after holding him, something more had changed, and it scared her.
During the past weeks, they had of course continued their normal classwork, but they had also continued with the D.A. meetings, which were now held twice a week, with Harry helping them improve on spells they had already learned or to introduce them to new spells.
The members were all improving at a fast pace. But none as quickly as Neville, his shielding charm, for example, was the weakest at the beginning, but now after several meetings and practice it was one of the strongest in the D.A.
For a few days after their detention, Daphne, filled with guilt, was distancing herself from Harry. Showing up last at the meetings and leaving first. Tracey had caught on to her act and had confronted her about her stupidity. Harry, on his side, was quite lost too, he had confided in Ron and Hermione about how Daphne had hugged him, how he had held her, and what that had made him feel. Hermione, always understanding, had taken the time to try and sort through those emotions. It was during these talks with his friends that Harry realized how truly he was lacking in emotional maturity. Hermione had assured him it was normal considering his childhood, of course, she didn't have all the information, but with the little he had told her it was enough.
When he saw Daphne distancing herself, he thought of giving her space. He wouldn't go and pressure her, that wasn't like him.
After a week of avoiding him. Daphne had finally come to talk to him. It was after a D.A. meeting and like the first time they had stayed in the room talking and laughing. And for the both of them, it had felt good to speak to one another again.
In the past weeks, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin were the talks of the entire school, walking together with their friends, laughing, and studying together, they were the centre of so many rumours they had lost count. But neither Daphne nor Harry cared. Even Ron had become more open toward Daphne and Tracey, he had moved past his unnational hate of every Slytherin. Well granted he still hated most of them, but in his mind Tracey and Daphne were cool.
It was now the first week of December, Harry woke up as usual, dressed slowly, and took his bag, verifying he had everything he needed for the day, once he was assured, he had everything he slowly made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Not many students were littering the corridors at this hour. Which was normal, Harry was quite the early riser, it wasn't unusual for him to be in the Great Hall before Hermione and Ron.
He sat there munching on his toast as he was reading the second book of spells for Auror. He had finished the first two weeks ago and had asked Sirius to send him the second one.
The Great Hall was starting to fill up with more students by now, Harry looked up to see if he recognized his friends. He saw only Daphne and waved to her.
Strangely she didn't wave back, nor did she head for the Slytherin table. She was coming right at him, with a surprisingly cold face.
"We need to talk." She said coldly at him not even waiting for him to answer as she turned away and walked out of the Great Hall.
Completely surprised at her actions Harry simply furrowed his brows and followed her out.
He followed her into a classroom and closed the door behind him.
"Daphne what's going on?" he asked concerned.
"This was on my bedside table this morning," she started, handing him a letter, "I am really trying to not freak out Harry."
Harry said nothing and simply opened the letter. Inside was a small piece of parchment saying.
Bad things happen to blood traitors and their families.
Turn back to pureblood ways and all will be forgiven.
"Shit," sighed Harry passing his hand in his hair, "do you know who it could be?"
"I don't care about that!" she hissed, and then Harry saw her eyes, they were scared, but not for herself, and he understood, she was trying to keep her composure, "Harry, ever since I read that letter this morning, I have tried to find my sister. Her friends haven't seen her since she left the common room this morning."
"You think something happened to her?"
"I don't know." She said holding her head with her hands, "I promised I'd look after her, please help me find her Harry."
"Of course." He said softly. Harry reached into his bag and took out an empty piece of parchment that he always kept on him. Daphne looking at him was confused.
"How's that going to help us?" she asked a bit snappy.
Harry only smiled in response and put the empty piece of paper on the desk. Then with his wand tapped it gently and spoke.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Daphne looked in wonder as lines of ink appeared on the parchment to form a map. A map of Hogwarts she realized, and there were labels with names and footsteps all over the caste.
"What the fuck is that?" she breathed lightly.
"That is the Marauder's Map," he grinned at her, "my dad and his friends created it when they were at Hogwarts."
"You can see everyone?"
He made a sound of agreement.
"Everywhere?"
"Except, the chamber of secrets and the room of requirement, yes" he said smugly.
"Okay where is she?" said Daphne muttering to herself while looking at the map.
The pair scoured the map for her sister, they spent more than ten minutes looking through the different floors until they saw her name.
The label for Astoria Greengrass, situated in a secluded room in the east wing of the castle, was not moving. Harry pointed the spot to Daphne and saw her pale. She could be passed for a ghost.
"Daphne, it's okay, the map only shows the names of people that are alive." He reassured her.
She nodded lightly at that. Harry put back the map in his bag and with Daphne in tow ran until they were in front of the door to the room Astoria was in.
Daphne quickly tried to open the door but to no avail, it was locked. She quickly took her wand out and unlocked the door with the Alohomora spell.
Inside the room was bare. Save for a lump on the ground. Harry and Daphne quickly ran up to it and saw one Astoria Greengrass unconscious on the ground. She had been severely beaten. Bruises littered her face, arms, and probably on her body as well. She was bleeding lightly from her face.
Daphne quickly cradled her little sister to her chest, trying to wake her up, but nothing she did seemed to stir her.
"Expecto Patronum!" she heard Harry call and looked behind her to see a huge silvery stag shooting out of his wand. Once the stag was fully formed Harry quickly spoke to it.
"Prongs! Send this message to Madam Pomfrey and bring her back here, 'Madam Pomfrey, a student has been attacked we need you' ".
Not even five minutes later they heard shoes running in the corridor, and Madam Pomfrey following the silver stag entered the room to see Harry Potter, and Daphne Greengrass, the latter was cradling a little girl who turned out to be her little sister.
"What happened here?" she asked.
"Daphne received a threat this morning, and her sister was nowhere to be found, and when we found her, she was here, bloody and beaten."
Poppy Pomfrey, having been a healer for several decades now, was quick to grasp situations and act accordingly. Taking out her wand she conjured a stretcher and placed Astoria on it, she then threw a levitating spell at the stretcher and turned to the two fifth year.
"I will take her to the infirmary, and I will notice the headmaster," she said, then turning to Daphne, "He will probably call your parents in Miss Greengrass." Then she turned away and began to walk to the infirmary as quickly as she could with Astoria floating beside her.
Harry and Daphne were now alone. The silence was heavy between them. They had found her, yes, but they were too late.
"I'm sorry Daphne."
"It's not your fault," she said coldly, tears had fallen from her eyes, but her expression was stony.
"Still if you weren't hanging out with me this wouldn't have happened."
That made her blood boil.
"How can you say that!" she began, "It's not because I hang out with you that she was attacked! It's because of these retarded bastards believing in blood purity!"
"I-well- yes but still." He stammered.
"Want to help Harry?" she asked, "Then help me find these fuckers."
Harry smiled at her and nodded.
"I know a spell that might be useful." He said.
Daphne looked at him, then nodded at him to proceed.
"Appare Vestigium" he called and then turned on himself with golden mist coming out of his wand. The mist engulfed the room and concentrated itself in certain spots. Some were footprints others were focal points.
"Wow." Said Daphne looking around. Harry simply approached one of the focal points and pushed his wand at it. Once he did so, the mist of the focal points moved to outline three students, they couldn't get a look at their faces or see what houses they were in, but by their stature, it looked like three boys. They were dragging with them a fourth person, Astoria, and then the vision ended.
Harry moved to the next focal point and pressed once again his wand on it. As soon as he did, he regretted it. The vision the gold mist was showing them, was the three students, kicking, punching, the form of Astoria who was trying to defend herself by putting her arms in front of her face.
"Bastards!" Daphne growled.
Harry dismissed the vision as soon as he could and watched the footprints on the floor. They were a jumble, but then he saw the three pairs of feet leading out of the rooms.
Gesturing at Daphne to follow him, they followed the traces leading back to the corridor where they arrived at a broom closet. Opening the door they saw one more focal point. Harry hesitated.
"Are you sure you want me to activate it?" He asked Daphne unsurely.
"Do it." She answered curtly.
Harry nodded and slowly pressed on the focal point with his wand. The mist rose once again to show the shadows of the three boys in the broom closet, door ajar, looking into the corridor. Then in the corridor, the mist had taken the form of a young girl, Astoria Greengrass. As soon as the golden shadow of Astoria passed the door, the three boys jumped out of the closet and attacked her. She had fought back, as hard as she could, she managed to claw at one of them and a piece of the mist representing the boy detached itself and flew on the ground a few feet away behind a stone statue. Then one of the boys punched Astoria on the side of the head and her body crumpled. The vision stopped at that.
"Alright," started Daphne looking pensive, "They wait here to ambush Tori, once she's here, they attack her, muggle way, but she's fighting back so they hit her on the head." Harry nodded at her indicating she had everything correct. "Then they drag her to that room and beat her some more. Then someone managed to put a note on my bedside while I was still asleep."
Harry, listening to her, made his way to the stone statue, he had seen a flicker of the mist falling behind it. Looking behind the statue he saw a pendant attached to a chain. He took it with his hand and made his way back to Daphne who was still thinking aloud.
"Daphne, I found this," he said showing her the pendant, "Astoria managed to remove this from one of the attackers."
"Show me." she said holding out her hand, Harry gave her the necklace, Daphne looked at the pendant for five seconds and then her brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, "but if I'm not wrong, this" she gestured to the pendant, "is a house crest."
"That's amazing!" He exclaimed, "If we know which house it is, we can know the identity of one of them!"
"I hope so" she answered lightly, "But as a girl, I was taught to recognize the crest of all families, and I don't recognize this one."
"Oh, so either it's an unknown house, or either it's simply not a house crest."
"Exactly, and I don't want to get my hopes up." She sighed.
"We should go talk to Dumbledore, maybe he knows something?" he said trying to cheer her up, "And even if he doesn't, we can tell him what we discovered."
"Yeah, you're right" she smiled.
Both teens started the trek through the castle to go in the direction of Dumbledore's office. The castle was silent, classes having already started for the morning. Harry and Daphne did not care though. They had things more important to do. They had to get justice for Astoria.
Finally arriving in front of the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office. Daphne slowed down, her brain catching up with her. They couldn't get into the headmaster's office without a teacher, only they knew of the password.
"Harry we can-"
She promptly stopped talking as Harry just stopped in front of the gargoyle.
"Peppermint Toffee"
The gargoyle began moving up, and the stairs started moving up also.
"You were saying?" he looked at her smugly.
"Do you have more surprises about you? Or do you intend to do things like that every week?" said an irritated Daphne.
Harry only laughed and started the ascent to Dumbledore's office. As they went up the stairs, they could hear shouting coming out of the office. Daphne recognizing the voice started to run and barged into the office.
"-Supposed to keep them safe!"
"Mum! Dad!" Daphne shouted once she saw her parents standing in front of Dumbledore.
Her parents turned toward her. Her father, who had been the one shouting at Dumbledore was a tall man, he was broad and intimidating, his hair was light brown, and his eyes were of the same icy blue as Daphne. Her mother was also tall, just like Daphne, she had blonde wavy her that fell a bit lower than her shoulders, she had severe green eyes. It didn't take an expert to see that her parents were well off, her mother was wearing wizarding robes that were layered in different hues of blue, the silk was slightly reflecting the light of the office, proving to be acromantula's silk, the most expansive one that existed. Her father was also well dressed but was so in a black three-piece suit with a forest green shirt.
Daphne threw herself at her parents and they caught her in a hug. Harry thought it was beautiful.
"I'm sorry mum, dad, I couldn't protect her." Daphne said to her parents.
"It's alright love, it's not your fault." Her mom said looking lovingly at her.
"Your mother is right darling, the only one responsible is the one who attacked her." Said her father, he then turned to Dumbledore, "I'm sure the headmaster will do everything in his power to find out who did it."
Dumbledore looked at the family and was about to try and reassure them however he could but was interrupted before he even began.
"Perhaps I can be of help, Mr. Greengrass." Said Harry advancing to stand in front of them.
"And you are?" asked Mr. Greengrass looking confused, what was a Gryffindor doing here?
Daphne untangled herself from her mother and stepped next to Harry. "Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Harry Potter," turning to him, "Harry, those are my parents, Benjamin Greengrass and Charlotte Greengrass."
"Nice to meet you both." Harry said extending his hand. Benjamin and Charlotte both shook his hands saying it was nice to meet him.
"Daphne never told us she was friends with a Gryffindor," started her mum looking at Daphne intently, "nevertheless the Harry Potter."
"It was a recent development" Harry answered for Daphne seeing how red she was becoming.
"Excuse my interruption" coughed Dumbledore "but you said you could help find young Astoria's attackers, Harry?"
Harry nodded to the headmaster before pulling the pendant out of his pocket and handing it over to the old man.
"Yes professor, after we called for Madam Pomfrey to take care of Astoria, I used a tracking spell to see if we could find anything, and we found this pendant, we think it might be a house crest."
Dumbledore simply listened to Harry before taking a look at the pendant in his hands.
"I fear you two are right, it does look like a house crest, but I fear I don't recognize it," he sighed, "in any case may I ask what tracking charm you used Harry?"
At this, the parents who had been listening to everything that was being said perked.
"Appare Vestigium sir" Harry answered.
All three adults saw their eyes widen slightly at that.
"That's huh, quite a complicated spell for a fifth-year student." Coughed Benjamin Greengrass.
"Mr Greengrass is right Harry, can you just explain to me what the spell does to be sure we're talking about the same one?"
"He's not lying headmaster, I saw him do it," interjected Daphne, "Gold mist blew out of his wand, and it revealed traces of magic, including footprints and track marks. It even had those points of concentrated mist, where if Harry touched them, it brought a vision of what happened to us."
"Yes, that is an astute description of the charm." Smiled Dumbledore, "Great work Harry for mastering such a difficult charm."
Harry rarely ever felt proud in his life, but being praised for spellwork by Albus freaking Dumbledore was something to be experienced.
"Would you like to take a look, Mr Greengrass," asked Dumbledore, holding the pendant out to the father of Daphne, "I fear my knowledge on house crests is a bit lacking."
Benjamin simply nodded to the headmaster and took the necklace from him. He turned the pendant multiple times, looking at it from all the angles he could. He then turned to his wife.
"Charlotte, I know I saw this once, but for the life of me I can't remember."
His wife took the pendant from him, and it was her turn to inspect it. Her brows furrowed in concentration, much in the same way Daphne did Harry noted, and then a look of recognition passed on her face.
"I recognize it too, that's from the House Osborne." she said.
"Osborne?" said Daphne.
"Yes I remember now," said Benjamin, he turned to Daphne, "You wouldn't know, it used to be a house when your mother and I went to Hogwarts, but they lost their entire fortune, I didn't even know they still had children."
He then turned to Dumbledore "Do you have any students named Osborne?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so, Thomas Osborne, he's a fourth-year Hufflepuff." Sighed the headmaster.
"What!? Hufflepuff?" exclaimed Daphne.
Dumbledore looked at her strangely, "Yes Miss Greengrass, I am quite sure that Mister Osborne is in Hufflepuff."
"No no, it's not that, it's just I knew I had to find Astoria because of a note on my bedside table, only a Slytherin girl could have put it there." She explained.
"Would you care to show me the note?" asked the headmaster gently.
Daphne nodded and took out the note from her pocket, she handed it to the headmaster, who quickly read it.
"I see, I will discuss with Mister Osborne, and find out if he knows anything, maybe he will give us the names of his accomplices."
Benjamin whirled on the old headmaster, "What do you mean discuss? He should be expelled for what he did to my daughter, no leniency."
Dumbledore put out both his hands to placate the towering man, "Now Mr. Greengrass, we have no concrete proof, I will discuss it with the young man, and I will keep you informed as to what I will do after said conversation, in the meantime, innocent until proven guilty."
Scoffing Daphne's father took her mother's hand, and they began to walk to the door of the office, "We shall be in the infirmary with our daughter, but we will not let this rest Dumbledore" he said exiting the office.
Harry turned to give a last smile to the headmaster who smiled back before exiting as well with Daphne in tow.
During the evening, they saw Professor Sprout, the head of the house of Hufflepuff, talk to Thomas Osborne, and then escorted him up the stairs, surely to Dumbledore's office. The next day they saw him with his trunk and other bags going in Hogsmeade direction accompanied by Professor Sprout.
The fourth-year Hufflepuff, had apparently, broken down in Dumbledore's office. Thomas had admitted to attacking Astoria, he said he had received a note just like Daphne, telling him what to do, and how to do it. He had no idea where the note had come from, but it was threatening his family.
When the headmaster had asked about the two others who helped him, Thomas promptly fell silent, he would not betray his friends who, same as him, had to act under threat.
He might have been a coward, but he was still a Hufflepuff, Dumbledore knew that whatever he would try would not make him talk. Such loyalty was commendable when it was not used to hurt others.
The headmaster had informed the parents of Daphne and had urged them to go with his decision of punishment, detention until the end of the year with Mr. Filch as Mr. Osborne had been acting under duress.
But Benjamin Greengrass would hear none of it. Someone had attacked his family. He would not be lenient. He would only be satisfied when justice was brought. The Greengrass family was rich, they had a lot of sway in politics, maybe not as much as the Malfoy's but still enough to be taken seriously.
Dumbledore, under pressure from Benjamin Greengrass and the board of governors, had no choice but to expel the young Hufflepuff.
Daphne and Harry had at the end of the day gone to the infirmary to check up on her younger sister.
They were stopped at the entrance by the matron.
"I thought I would see you two today." She began.
"Madam Pomfrey how is she?" asked Daphne as she hadn't been able to see her earlier with her parents. Both, she and Harry had been made to go back to class for the day.
"She's better now, it's good you found her when you did, a few more hours and it could've gone sour," the healer sighed, "see, from outside you can only see bruises and scrapes, those can be dealt with by just a swish of the wand. But your younger sister suffered from head trauma, so many shocks to the head, and there was internal bleeding as well, you both had the right instinct looking for her and calling me." She congratulated them.
"But she'll be alright?" asked Daphne in a small voice filled with worry.
"Yes, don't you worry dear, she just needs to stay in bed, and tomorrow she'll be as good as new." Smiled Madam Pomfrey, "Just be sure to not be too loud when you see her, she has a serious migraine."
"Yes Madam Pomfrey." they echoed.
Harry and Daphne made their way to the infirmary, where they looked for Astoria, it wasn't hard to find her since she was the only one present.
Seeing them coming to her, Astoria simply smirked.
"I was wondering when you'd introduce your boyfriend to me Daph." She teased with a small smile.
Daphne blushed at that, "Even in the hospital you're still annoying," she then made her way to sit on the edge of the bed, where she took her sister's hand in hers and looked at her worriedly, "How do you feel Tori?"
"Like someone who got beat up, I guess." She shrugged but then winced at the movement, "If I had managed to get my wand they wouldn't have stood a chance."
"I'm sure you're right." Smiled Daphne.
Astoria then turned her gaze to Harry who was standing awkwardly at the end of the bed looking at the sisterly interaction. Astoria, compared to Daphne was small, well it was normal as she was two years younger, she had light brown hair, and her eyes were also blue, but a darker hue compared to her sister. She also had small freckles littering her face. All in all, Harry was sure she would grow up to be, like her sister, quite a beauty.
"I'm told it was you who found out who attacked me." Astoria said, "Thank you."
"Daphne helped." He simply said embarrassed.
"Hmh, modesty," Astoria hummed, "quite rare with you lion boys."
"You're awfully blunt." Said Harry smiling.
"Yes, I am in the house of the Raven, we like going straight to the fact. Unlike my sister and her house of cunning."
Daphne sent a small glare at her sister. Astoria had always been smart, but as smart as she was, she was even blunter. And she loved making assumptions based on which house you belonged to.
"I should let you two catch up," said Harry, "It was nice meeting you Astoria, I hope you get better soon." And then turned and walked away.
Astoria simply smiled at the older boy and waved him goodbye, as did her sister, but when she turned to look at Daphne, her sister was still busy looking at Harry's retreating form. A mischievous smile formed itself on the younger sister.
"Not quite what I imagined you would choose as your boyfriend, but I approve."
That pulled Daphne out of her stupor, and she turned to her little sister in annoyance.
"He's only a friend." She growled.
"Suuuuure, and I'm gonna marry Draco Malfoy." said Astoria her voice full of sarcasm.
"What do you know? You're only thirteen." Daphne grinned. She knew that would upset her sister. Astoria never liked being reminded of her young age.
"I know you enough to see that you like him." She replied in a calm that surprised Daphne, usually she would get in a fit having her age reminded to her.
Daphne stayed silent, looking where Harry had exited the infirmary.
"Do you like him?" she heard her sister ask.
"I don't know Tori, he's been a wonderful friend in the past months. He's clueless with girls, maybe he doesn't do it on purpose, but I feel like there's something between us."
Astoria cocked her head to the side humming while she thought about what to say.
"Also, I need to distance myself from him."
Hearing that pulled Astoria out of her reflection.
"What? Why?" asked the younger Greengrass, "You just told me he's a wonderful friend and that you feel like there's something."
"He is and there is Tori, but the reason you've been attacked is because I'm close to him." Sighed the older Greengrass.
"That's bullshit!" she exclaimed, "I won't be used as an excuse for you to stop your friendship with him."
"You don't understand Tori, I don't want you to get hurt."
"It's too late for that Daph, I've already gotten hurt."
"Exactly! I don't want that to happen again!" she said frustrated.
"Then let me join the defence group you all got going!" said Astoria with a smirk.
"What?"
"Yeah, I heard about it, they were looking for members back in October and I thought it would be more of a hassle than anything else at the time. But since I need to be able to defend myself let me join."
"Astoria you understand that this needs to be kept secret?" whispered Daphne frantically, "If Umbridge discovers that Harry is holding these meetings he will be expelled."
"I swear I won't say a thing." Answered Astoria putting her hand on her heart, "So can I join?" she then grinned.
Sighing Daphne looked over at her younger sister, her head covered in bandages.
"I'll ask Harry."
oOo
It had been two weeks since the attack on Astoria Greengrass, two weeks since Thomas Osborne had been expelled. It had made the entire castle gossip. It was not every day that a student would get expelled. Tracey had practically hounded Daphne for details when they had returned to class that day.
Right now, Harry was holding the last meeting of the D.A. before Christmas break. He was happy at what he had accomplished. Most people in the D.A. at the beginning were capable of throwing spells at a dummy, but he had them duel each other to practice on a moving target, of course, at first, they were rubbish at it, but now they seemed to be able to hold their own in a battle.
Harry took out his wand and emitted a whistling sound once again, knowing what that meant all the members assembled around him in a semi-circle. He looked at all the faces and he was happy to say that all of them were eager to listen to what he had to say. He even saw the face of Daphne's sister, she had joined after she exited the infirmary and to say she had surprised him was belittling it. Astoria was truly gifted, she learned like a sponge.
"Right, I want you all to practice a certain sequence of spells that I find useful." He said looking at them, he turned around to face the dummy that was approximately twenty feet away.
"First the disarming charm," He said crying out expelliarmus, the wand on the dummy flew out in his hand, "Now you would think that since he does not have his wand anymore, he is harmless."
Several people nodded.
"That's a mistake, you could either drop the wand and he'd get it back, or anything else." He admonished, "You need to take him out of the fight and concentrate on the next one, make sure that you eliminate the threat."
People gasped and blanched at that, looking at Harry like he had a second head.
"Huuuh, when I say eliminate the threat, I mean like knock him out, not necessarily kill him." He said embarrassedly running his hand through his hair.
The group chuckled lightly, reassured.
"When you disarm them you want to knock them out, but you don't want to miss, so you bring them close like so," he demonstrated by shouting out Accio to the dummy who flew at him, "And then you can finish them as they have no control while they're flying to you, like this." He then aimed his wand at the dummy flying at him and yelled Reducto, the spell shot out from his wand to meet the dummy, which was sent flying back with a part of his torso missing.
People lightly clapped in amazement, and he bowed as a joke to them.
"This sequence is pretty easy as the wand movements, if you practice enough, fall in with each other, so these can be done in quick succession and maybe save your life one day." He said to the group, as they all separated to find a dummy on which to practice on.
Unseen by Harry and the rest of the order, Cho, took out her want while Harry's back was to her and sent a spell to him, the spell didn't seem to have done anything to him, but Cho didn't seem unsatisfied she only went to find herself a dummy to practice on.
During the last hour of the D.A. that evening people continued to practice on the dummies with the spell sequence Harry had showed them.
Usually, Harry would go from person to person to try and correct whatever they were doing wrong, but in the last hour or so he seemed to stick to one side of the room.
Daphne thought it was highly unusual, even more so because the side he stuck to, was the side where Cho Chang was. And she knew that ever since Hermione had told him Cho was flirting with him, he tried to keep his distance from her.
Harry felt it was wrong of her to try something with him as she had lost her boyfriend six months ago, he felt she was trying to hold on to Cedric by attaching herself to him as he had been the last one to see Cedric alive.
Soon the meeting ended, and the members exited the room of requirement. As always Harry watched them leave. He always was the last one out.
Daphne sent a last look his way, he wasn't looking in her direction, and then she also exited the room.
Harry was busying himself, looking at the board they had set up, pictures littered it. But one in particular caught his attention. The picture of Cedric Diggory. In a few days, on Christmas day, it would mark the six-month milestone for his death.
He felt someone's hand on his shoulder and turned slightly to look at who it was. He found Cho there, and in this particular moment she looked like an angel, he had forgotten how beautiful she was.
"Are you thinking about him too Harry?" she asked softly, sliding her hand from his shoulder to his arm.
"Yeah, I feel like it's been longer since it happened."
"Me too" she answered, "Sometimes I just think that if Cedric knew all of this maybe he would still be here today." Her eyes watering.
"Cho, Cedric knew all of this and more," Harry answered looking at her eyes, "He was truly good, but Voldemort… is extremely powerful, I barely escaped with a portkey."
"You're a r-really good teacher, you know," said Cho, with a watery smile. "I've never been able to Stun anything before." $
"Thanks," said Harry awkwardly.
They looked at each other for a long moment. Harry felt a burning desire to run from the room and, at the same time, a complete inability to move his feet.
"Mistletoe," said Cho quietly, pointing at the ceiling over his head.
"Yeah," said Harry.
Cho's face was getting closer to his. Harry had a strong desire to close the gap between them, to feel her lips on his. She looked so great at this moment.
But a tiny part of him stopped him, in the back of his mind, like a distant yell, trying to tell him that something was wrong but he didn't know what.
Cho was getting closer almost kissing him.
Then Harry heard fast steps coming into the room, someone was running toward them, but nothing mattered at this instant but the girl in front of him, she was so close yet so far.
"Petrificus totalus!"
Cho stiffened right away and fell to the floor. Harry turned to see who had cast the spell and he could see Hermione with her wand out, she was accompanied by Daphne, Tracey, and Ron. They all looked wide-eyed at him.
White hot rage filled his inside as he looked at them.
"HERMIONE!" he screamed at her, and she jumped at the sound of his voice, she looked frightened, she had never heard him yell so loud, and even less so at her.
Harry began to walk briskly to her, even pulling his wand out. But even before he had the time to make another step. Daphne had her wand in her wand and called.
"Surgito!"
Harry felt himself stop and something like mist seemed to seep out of his body and concentrated above his head to form a heart before being shattered in the air.
He then fell on his behind to the floor. He felt completely lost, the engulfing anger he had felt not even ten seconds ago was completely out of his body, as well as the want for Cho.
"What?... What happened?" He asked his friends as they came to surround him.
"A compulsion charm Harry." Said Hermione gently.
"You were acting strangely at the end of the meeting, so we waited for you out of the room," explained Ron.
"But you never came out," continued Tracey.
"And when we entered, we saw you and that… slag," seethed Daphne, "almost kissing."
"I knew something was wrong because you told me yourself you didn't like Cho, and I did the first thing that came to my mind, and I hexed her." Said Hermione looking down.
"Oh" simply said Harry getting up, "Thank you, Hermione, I'm sorry if I frightened you." He apologized and she only smiled in answer.
"So, what do we do with her?" asked Ron gesturing to the ravenclaw still on the floor.
"Just wake her up." Harry said.
"Are you sure Harry?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, it's fine."
Hermione once again levelled her wand at Cho, "Finite Incantatem."
Cho at once slackened on the ground but quickly scrambled to her feet and looked at Harry with tears in her eyes.
"Harry! It's not what you think. I swear!" she pleaded to him, she heard Daphne scoff but ignored it.
"You used a compulsion charm on me, just so you could kiss me?" Harry said emotionless.
"You don't understand Harry, I'm so lonely, and I love you so much."
The group reared back at that. Even Harry's eyes had widened.
"Yes, it's true! I love you, and I know it was not the right way, but I couldn't stand it anymore," she explained trying to get closer to him but for every step she took closer to him, Daphne took a step closer to her glowering.
"Can we just forget this?" she asked desperately, "We can try to make this work Harry."
The group of friends looked at Harry with bated breath, would he fall for her ruse, they couldn't see his face.
"You want us to try?" he asked softly at her.
"Yes Harry, we would be good to one another." She smiled at him.
"Relationships require trust," he said coldly, "and after today you lost every chance at gaining my trust."
Her face fell, she had never seen Harry so cold, his face was grave, and he looked at her so harshly, that she felt tears coming up to her eyes.
He continued, "You will give me your D.A. coin and never come back. Do you understand?"
She nodded meekly, now fully crying.
"And you will never speak of it to anyone, or we will make you regret it." Added Daphne as coldly as her friend.
Hearing her Cho felt anger rapidly building in her stomach and she turned to the offending blonde.
"It's all your fault you Slytherin bitch!" she yelled at her, "Harry was supposed to be with me! But since you came to the D.A. meeting, he only had eyes for you! I won't let you hurt him!" taking out her wand and aiming at Daphne.
Harry quickly pulled himself between the two girls and quickly grabbed Cho's wrist.
"The only one who has hurt me here today is you Cho," he said coldly, his hand gripping her wrist so tightly she made a sound of pain, "Give me your coin and fuck off."
Cho having no other choice quickly took her coin with her free hand and gave it to Harry who released her, she then sprinted out of the room bawling.
The group stayed silent trying to come to terms with what had just happened. The first to break the silence was none other than Ron.
"You really know how to handle girls Harry." He joked with a sly grin.
Harry chuckled at his friend, only Ron could make him laugh at such moments.
The group had gone to the Great Hall for dinner after what had happened with Cho in the Room of Requirement. Once there they couldn't find Cho anywhere which was expected. Harry was mad at Cho for trying to force him that way, but it seemed that Hermione, Tracey, and Daphne were even madder than him. He had asked them to calm down, nothing had happened in the end, and he was okay. That had been a mistake as their ire was now on him for his lack of concern in the matter.
After dinner, they all went back to their common room. Harry, barring certain things that had happened, like detention with Umbridge and the Cho incident as Ron had now taken a liking to call it, was happy with his semester here in Hogwarts.
He had made some new friends; he had helped a lot of his classmates to learn defence and in doing so they all started to put their trust in him concerning the event of the third task last year.
He had been able to do so without getting into any more trouble with the toad and hoped to do so until the end of the year. After all, every time he disrobed, he saw the scars on his hand and wrist.
He had wished a good night to his friends wanting for tomorrow to arrive as quickly as possible. Tomorrow he would finally go back to Grimmauld Place for Christmas, he would see Sirius again.
Not long after he had gone to bed he felt sleep take him slowly.
And his dreams started soon after…
Harry longed to bite the man ... but he had to resist the impulse. . .. He had more important things to do. . .. But the man stirred ... a silvery cloak fell from his legs as he sprang to his feet; and Harry saw his vivid, blurred outline towering over him, saw a wand drawn from a belt. . . He had no choice. . .. He rose high off the ground and struck once, twice, three times, sinking his fangs deep into the man's flesh, feeling his ribs splinter under his jaws, feeling the warm rush of blood. . . The man screamed in pain ... then he fell silent. . . He slumped backward against the wall. . . Blood splattered on the floor. . . His forehead hurt terribly. . .. It hurt like it was going to burst. . ..
"Harry! HARRY!" He opened his eyes.
Every inch of his body was covered in icy sweat; his bedcovers were twisted all around him like a straitjacket; he felt as though a white-hot poker was being applied to his forehead.
"Harry!" Ron was standing over him looking extremely frightened.
There were more figures at the foot of Harry's bed. He clutched his head in his hands; the pain was blinding him. He rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.
"He's really ill," said a scared voice. "Should we call someone?"
"Harry! Harry!" He had to tell Ron, he needed to tell him. Taking great gulps of air, Harry pushed himself up in bed, willing himself not to throw up again, the pain half-blinding him.
"Your dad," he panted, his chest heaving. "Your dad's . . . been attacked. . .."
So, this is the end of this chapter, I have to admit I had no idea how to go about Harry's dream so I must say I took a page out of JKR's books ;)
Hope you all liked it.
I also wanted to clarify a small something, someone in the reviews pointed out that electronics didn't work at Hogwarts.
I know. But that's the great thing with fan fiction, I can do whatever I want ahahahhaah.