Here's what you missed last chapter:

Tracey is sent to the Hospital Wing after an unfortunate incident in her first Quidditch game, but still manages to annoy Daphne when they visit her. With time to kill, Harry eats with Daphne at the Slytherin table and encounters Astoria who clearly didn't believe them when they said they were seeing each other. Harry asks Daphne about the status of their relationship and realise they qualify to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

Chapter 5

"Greengrass's family runs an illicit business."

Harry groaned and let his waffle drop onto his plate, and his glasses seemed to agree for it slid down his nose. "Are you kidding me? You're never going to be on board, are you."

"This is serious! Look." Hermione huffed as she slapped a wad of parchment onto the table, catching a fork and making it fly hazardously across the Great Hall. Harry watched its trajectory, until it hit the back of a first-year Hufflepuff who yelped.

He met Hermione's determined look before shifting his gaze to Ron, who merely gave him a one-armed shrug as he went back to digging into his food. He rolled his eyes. He had recently been questioning himself why he had begged the Sorting Hat to not place him in Slytherin, because recently he had found himself spending a lot of time with Slytherins. Maybe he could've had a greater blast if he wasn't there? And Snape wouldn't have a vendetta against him, everything could've gone more smoothly.

The tiny print and compact tables made Harry's head hurt. "What am I supposed to infer from this?"

"Her family business trades and imports skins and I quote, 'collectibles', from magical creatures. It is mainly run through the UK, but there is also a lot of traffic coming from France and Belgium." Hermione read.

Harry blinked. "So what?"

Hermione rolled up the parchment. "So what?" she echoed incredulously. "It seems very illicit. I'm not sure how much of it is actually legal."

"Oh, for crying out loud. If it wasn't legal, then it wouldn't be registered, and you wouldn't even know about this."

"It's legally registered, yes, but there is more than what initially meets the eye. Most of their, and I quote again, 'valuables', are retrieved from infamously endangered species and are vital ingredients for some very dangerous potions."

"You are reading too much into this. Even if her family business is illicit, it still has nothing to do with Daphne herself."

"It does, because you mentioned she is going to take over the family business when she's older. Who knows what she's like when she's in that position."

"Have you ever, I don't know, fathomed the idea of just speaking to her?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you'll get more insightful information and waste much less time."

"Strangely enough, yes I have," Hermione said sarcastically, knitting her eyebrows. "But have you seen her? She's mean and unapproachable. I cannot manage to make her say more than one sentence to me."

"Skill issue," Ron interjected.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to face Ron. "Oh really? And you have?"

"Yea," Ron said, a small piece of pastry flying out of his mouth as he spoke. "Paired with her in defence years ago. Horrible experience."

Harry pursed his lips. He might have a word with Daphne when he sees her. He knew that Daphne could be a little difficult to speak to, since she was generally quite closed off to other people. However, maybe with Harry there and the proper introductions, it could be done. He might have to make sure Daphne was in a particularly good mood, although it shouldn't be exceedingly difficult since the Basilisk was still untouched in the Chamber of Secrets. That thing alone was probably worth half the Potter fortune. Perhaps he could take her down there for a romantic adventure.

"I don't get it," Harry said. "If she bothered you that much, you should've expressed your dissent before we started going out."

"Ugh, you're starting to speak like her as well," Hermione scrunched her nose in distaste. "You can't blame me for not expecting things to progress so successfully." Then she paused. "Almost too smoothly, in fact. Do you feel she is coercive or pressuring you in any way?"

"No? If anything, she probably looks a bit unsure of herself."

Hermione frowned. "I find that hard to believe."

"Look, don't ask me how, but I am her boyfriend now," Harry said. "So it's not exactly far-fetched to say that I've seen facets of her that you haven't. So far, she seems fine. More than fine. Can't you let it go and trust me to make my own decisions?"

Hermione opened her mouth to reply.

"So you are dating my sister."

Taken aback by this unexpected intrusion, Harry choked on his saliva. The three of them whirled around to the source of the voice.

Astoria was standing behind him, with an expression that he couldn't read that strangely mirrored the one Daphne usually had. Maybe it ran in the family.

"Ay, I'm sorry, but who are you?" Ron said as he twisted his head at an unnatural angle to look up at the petite girl.

"Astoria Greengrass," Astoria said but unlike last time, she didn't offer her hand in greeting. "I'm Daphne's sister. You might know her, she's a Slytherin in your year."

Harry was briefly bewildered as to why Astoria always concatenated that when she explained she was Daphne's sister, but he decided to let it go for now and deem it one of the ways Astoria had in her arsenal to annoy her sister.

"Right, nice to meet you," Hermione said slowly. "Well, we are Harry's friends, I'm Her-"

"Yes, I know who you are," Astoria interjected as a small smile played at her lips. "You are the smart muggleborn that haunts my sister in her dreams. And you," she looked down at Ron, her smile widening to a smirk. She cleared her throat and said in an exaggerated voice, "Red hair and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley."

Harry's jaw dropped as Ron's face turned as red as his hair. He could tell Ron was milliseconds away from lashing out, so Harry quickly held up a hand and said, "Excuse us for a second."

Before anybody could say anything, he grabbed Astoria's arm and hastily pulled her away.

"What is wrong with you?" Harry hissed. "They don't need you tanking their impression of Daphne any further!"

"Come on, harmless joke," Astoria rolled her eyes, but her smile remained playful. "I didn't come up with it, so I take no responsibility."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"But yes, what was that about? I couldn't help but overhear, are you really dating my sister?" Astoria enquired.

"Well yeah," Harry said as he scratched the back of his neck. "She wasn't lying when she said we were seeing each other."

"Wow," Astoria nodded, and Harry even though Astoria was not as intense as Daphne was, she was nonetheless good at remaining unreadable, and by extension intimidating for a person of her size. "That's remarkable."

"I guess," Harry shrugged. "I'm sorry, but does it bother you?"

"No," Astoria shook her head as the smile reappeared on her lips. "Doesn't bother me at all, although I must question your taste in women."

"Excuse me?"

"You're Harry Potter. That automatically qualifies you to date any girl sufficiently close to age as you in this castle. Of all the people at your disposal, you chose… her?"

"Well, attraction works in funny ways?" Harry offered a little helplessly. "I found your sister alluring and I suppose it was mutual. Why, does it bother you?" Harry asked again.

"No," Astoria replied. "In fact, I find it rather amusing. I have wondered on more than one occasion she seems more jumpy than usual."

Harry wasn't sure what to say. His gaze wandered beyond Astoria's shoulder, and he noticed that Malfoy was watching them with a scowl from the Slytherin table.

"I take it that not many people know of your relationship then?" Astoria continued.

"We're not exactly trying to hide it," Harry said. "It's just that people don't infer it from seeing us together or don't tend to believe it when we tell them."

"I suppose that makes sense," she said. "Considering I didn't believe her either when she said. You two really don't have a project you are forced to do together, right?"

Harry shook his head.

"So how come you two have gotten together?" Astoria continued curiously. "Daphne might have mentioned a few times around the house, but I still have never seen you two talk."

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but it's possible that she overheard me when I told my friends that I liked her."

"She what?" Astoria raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate."

Harry never got the chance to, because for the second time in less than ten minutes, his conversation was interrupted.

"Well, isn't this a surprise," Malfoy drawled as he sauntered towards them. "If it isn't Harry Potter himself." As always, the 'p' sound was exceedingly exaggerated. However, strangely enough, Malfoy's attention was quickly drawn away from stimulating Harry's ire when he looked at the girl next to him. "Hello," he said, and the change of tone was immense. It could even pass off as polite. "Draco Malfoy, heir to the ancient and noble house of Malfoy." He extended a hand to which Astoria shook.

"Yes, I know who you are," Astoria replied. "Astoria, unfortunately not the heir to the not as ancient nor noble Greengrass family. I'm Daphne's sister. You might know her, she's in your year."

Malfoy nodded, and Harry noticed the subtle way he was puffing his chest out and straightening his back. "Pleasure to meet you. I was wondering how you were doing on this fine day."

"I'm well, thank you," Astoria responded simply. "As far as Mondays go."

"Good," Malfoy nodded. "You witnessed me catching the snitch last week, didn't you?"

"I did indeed."

Malfoy's eyes lit up and started talking eagerly at Astoria about aspects of his performance at the Quidditch match. However, Harry wasn't exactly too eager to witness Malfoy attempting to put his manly charisma on display, so he zoned out of the conversation. He looked back towards the Gryffindor table and to his mild surprise, Ron and Hermione were watching him from afar. One of them still looked a little peeved, while the other looked more contemplative. Harry briefly wondered if he should slip away from the conversation and rejoin his friends, but Astoria was watching him periodically which made him unable to leave.

"If you would like, I could teach you a few tricks on the quidditch pitch when you are free," Malfoy offered.

Harry didn't have the heart to say that Astoria thought Malfoy was a trash seeker and wanted to replace him.

To his surprise, Astoria didn't look completely unopposed to the idea. But even then, she said with a polite smile, "I think I will pass. But thank you for the offer anyhow."

Malfoy was visibly disheartened and for some reason, Tracey's voice appeared in Harry's head. Negative charisma, she'd snigger if she was here. He wondered how she was doing. As far as he knew, she was still in the Hospital wing despite having broken her arm, gotten two rib fractures and a stubbed toe several days ago. Why she still hadn't healed he wasn't sure, so he made a mental note to check on her when the classes finished this afternoon.

He wondered how he was suddenly so surrounded with Slytherins after having not interacted with them much for six years.

As he watched Astoria and Malfoy converse, it was painfully obvious that Daphne hadn't been lying when she said Malfoy had taken a liking towards her sister. He wondered if it was this obvious when he spoke with Daphne. He also thought about the implications of liking somebody two years younger and decided to stop thinking about it when he realised the implications were rather inappropriate.

"But you saw the way I caught the snitch, right–"

"Yes, but it was over two hours into the match–"

"I saved the team and brought Slytherin the glory they deserve–"

"Excuse me."

It wasn't very loudly said, but it was filled with enough conviction that all three of their heads turned around. Half-expecting it to be a professor, Harry saw that it was Daphne instead with a hand on her hip, looking unamused. Or maybe that was just her resting face, but after having spent a decent amount of time Harry surmised it was more likely to be the former.

"What are you doing talking to my sister?" Daphne said, turning her glare onto the blonde boy.

"I was just asking her how she was doing," Malfoy said, matching Daphne's scowl.

"Yeah? What did I say to you?" Daphne raised an eyebrow and Harry remembered why he found her intimidating before. "Do you want me to hex you?"

"Come on, I don't–"

"Scram!"

Malfoy gave Daphne a hard look, filled with a sort of passion in his eyes that made Harry feel that he was no longer the person Malfoy hated the most. "Sorry," he said to Astoria. "I'll see you around."

"Oh, I don't think you will!" Daphne retorted.

For a brief second, Harry thought Malfoy was going to retaliate. But he merely rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering under his breath.

"Protective much?" Astoria tutted when Daphne finally faced them again, after finding Malfoy to be an acceptable distance away.

"I apologise, that was not very polite of me," Daphne said. "However, I am not to blame for finding it rather surprising to see such an unlikely trio conversing when I arrived. What were you doing speaking with Malfoy, anyway?"

"I was speaking with Harry and he came over," Astoria shrugged.

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to give me lessons on how to be a better seeker," she replied.

There was a few seconds of silence and Harry could see the ire brewing.

"That ferret!" Daphne suddenly said, agitated. "That's it, he has expressed desire to surrender his right to reproduce. I swear, I am going to twist–"

Harry put a hand on Daphne's shoulder, making her stop promptly. Their eyes met, and their gaze held for a few seconds. Then a small smile pulled at the corners of Daphne's lips. She was close, and it had been a while since they had seen each other.

"I apologise for my outburst," Daphne finally said. "I hope I haven't been offensive."

Astoria was watching their interaction curiously, head slightly tilted. "Believe me, if you thought that was offensive then I need to find you help," she said. "It's strange. You two are at the two ends of an incredibly long pole."

"Opposites attract?" Harry offered weakly.

Astoria grimaced. "To this?" she gestured at Daphne. "Are you sure you haven't hit your head?"

"Hey, cut it out!" Daphne snapped. "Your time is done, and you need to mind your own business. You are dismissed."

"Dismissed?" Astoria echoed, amused. "Why, professor Greengrass, I was wondering if I could stay behind for extra cre–"

"Go away!" Daphne barked.

Astoria met Harry's eyes and gave an amused shake of her head before leaving.

Harry looked back at Daphne whose jaw was set and lips slightly pursed. The pink residue of her agitation was still visible on her face as she breathed heavily through her nose.

"You good?" he prodded tentatively.

Daphne looked at Harry and her expression softened. "Yes, of course. I am sorry about that. I am friends with a bunch of clowns. I must admit their antics has driven my blood pressure to unsafe levels."

Harry wasn't sure whether it was appropriate or not, but he couldn't help but burst out laughing. Something about how Daphne phrased her ideas was novel and amusing, whether or not she intended it to be or not.

He stepped in so they were face to face. "I'm sorry that you'll have to deal with me then," he grinned, placing both hands on the sides of Daphne's arms. "You'll find that I can be as much a clown as they are."

Daphne looked down at Harry's hands lightly touching her, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, a smile pulled at her lips. "I suppose I can handle one more."

Harry matched her smile. Her face was quite close, and he could swear she got prettier over the weekend.

A slight nervous feeling clamped over him. "You know, I think it's great that I am getting to know your friends, but I would love to introduce you to my friends as well."

Daphne nodded. "I'm not totally unopposed to that idea."

"Well in that case, they're still there," Harry nodded towards the Gryffindor table and Daphne followed his line of sight. Ron's attention span had run out and he was wolfing away at his food again, but Hermione was still watching them carefully. Harry smiled and waved at her, but Hermione's frown didn't waver. "You see, I don't think they're too fond of us at the moment. Do you want to come have breakfast with us?"

"You meant now?" Daphne asked. "I am not entirely sure about conversing at the Gryffindor table."

"Why not?" Harry said. "I'm sure they won't mind you joining."

"I suspect the conversation to follow would be awkward and uncomfortable."

"As if you're not awkward enough already," Harry teased but Daphne's glare made his smirk turn into a grimace. "Sorry."

"Sitting at the Gryffindor table irks me. I'm afraid I will have to pass at this opportunity."

"Come on," Harry drawled. "I sat with you last week."

"That is because you were to be a Slytherin had you begged not to be sorted elsewhere. I, on the other hand, have no immediate connection anywhere to Gryffindor, apart from you."

"Nothing will go wrong," Harry promised. "I'd really like you to get along with my friends. They think you're a bad influence at the moment."

"I have no desire to win their approval," Daphne said blankly.

"Pretty please?" he pouted.

"Are you–" Daphne narrowed her eyes before she briefly looked confused. After a moment of silence, a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Fine. I'll come with you. Do not ask me why that worked, for I myself have no idea either."

Harry grinned widely. Just maybe Daphne was starting to have a soft spot for him. "Fantastic. Right this way." He hooked his arm around hers and made their way towards their friends.

Halfway through the walk, a sinking feeling suddenly emerged within his stomach, and he was no longer sure if this was a good idea. He looked to the side and could also see that Daphne felt a little uneasy, but she did well to hide it with her classic expressionless face and set jaw.

Ah well, what was the worst that could happen.

"Ron, Hermione, I would like you to introduce you to Daphne," Harry announced as they arrived. "Daphne, these are my friends."

"How do you do?" Daphne said formally as she looked at the pair of Gryffindors.

"How do you do?" Hermione responded, still with a strange decrypting look in her eyes.

"Fine," Ron grumbled.

Daphne looked at them for another moment before she turned to Harry for help, eyes slightly wide.

"Why don't we sit down," Harry said to break the silence that was slowly getting more uncomfortable. He led Daphne to the other side of the table and pulled the bench out. Daphne sat down without question, although judging by how stiffly she was moving it was clear that she didn't feel completely at ease. Harry didn't either, and he had a feeling that his movements were similarly stiff.

Daphne's green tie stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the crowd of red and gold, and it was needless to say that she caught the attention of more than one nearby Gryffindor, although they didn't voice their dissent if they had any.

"I must say this place seems rather… festive," Daphne offered awkwardly as the silence continued to fill well after everybody was well seated, and pretending to look busy fidgeting with your food could only get you so far.

"How so?" Hermione instantly responded, at the same time Ron muttered something along the lines of, "The hell do you mean?"

"Well," Daphne said, pausing to look at Harry with a similar expression as before, slightly wide eyes. "It is rather bustling at this side of the great hall."

Her attempt at making friendly conversation was evidently unreciprocated.

"Yea, that's coz we ain't snakes like you," Ron snarked. Harry looked worriedly at Daphne and could see that the faint deer-in-headlights look was gone from her face and she now looked positively stone cold.

"At least we have dignity, unlike your house full of blood-traitors and mudbloods," she said darkly.

Harry grimaced and knew that he probably fucked up and should've trusted his gut instinct. He raised a hand to try to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand but it had already exploded before he had a chance to intervene.

"Excuse me, who the hell do you think you are–"

"Apologise right now!"

"No," Daphne persisted, shaking her head and even though Harry always thought she was stunning, it might be the angle or the lighting, she looked a little cruel. "I am not going to apologise for the values that my family has instilled within–"

"Daphne," Harry said, placing a hand on her shoulder. His voice came out sterner than he had expected, and for that Daphne paused promptly. "Please."

Daphne looked at Harry for a few moments before her gaze softened and she turned back to the pair. "Very well. I admit my language was not the most sensitive, and I apologise. However, I do not appreciate the provocation, which was uncalled for."

Hermione stared at Daphne hard before she finally said begrudgingly, "Apology accepted."

Ron, however, was evidently still unsatisfied. "What provocation, eh? What 'ave I said that–"

Harry kicked him under the table.

"Fine, wha'ever."

"Good," Harry said. "It's obvious we didn't get to the best start, so we should start again. Daphne, these are my friends, Ron and Hermione. Ron, Hermione, this is my girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass."

There was a slight pause. "How do you do?" Daphne said neutrally, holding out her hand.

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry who only gave them a tired yet pleading look.

"How do you do," Hermione muttered, shaking Daphne's hand. Ron also shook it, but he didn't say anything this time.

The silence started growing again, so Harry nudged Daphne's shoulder. "Ask her a question," he hissed.

Daphne looked at him. "I haven't prepared any," she said blankly.

Harry leaned back. "Are you serious?" he said, unamused.

"Quite. You already know I am not very good at being unserious," Daphne remarked.

Harry sighed and glanced briefly at his two Gryffindor friends who were watching them. "Just ask about, I don't know, school. You can't go wrong with that?" he whispered.

Daphne nodded and regarded the pair. "I hope the recent influx of courseworks haven't been too emotionally taxing on you both."

"Not really."

"What courseworks?"

Daphne looked at Harry again. But with Harry's lack of response, Daphne got the hint and said, "I believe the Charms coursework was due last week."

"It took longer than I wanted but it was okay."

Daphne didn't respond and the air stayed stark and arid. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose.

Man, this was painful.

"I do wonder however," Hermione continued, "how you keep your stellar school record?"

"I do extra credit," Daphne blinked.

"So do I!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Perhaps my exposure to the wizarding world in my upbringing has put me at an advantage."

Hermione huffed and nodded, finding sense in Daphne's answer.

Harry found the conversation incredibly dry and manual, so to speak, but at least they were finally getting somewhere. He made a mental note to not convince Daphne to eat at the Gryffindor table again.

"Okay, good," Harry said. "Hermione, you voiced a few concerns earlier about Daphne's family business. Wouldn't this be a very good time to ask her, now that she's here?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "Your family trades in 'collectibles' from magical creatures, don't they?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'collectibles', but you would otherwise be correct," Daphne responded.

"Well, I have done some research on the trade of such items, and I would like to ask you about the legality and validity of it all," she frowned.

"Why, are you questioning if my family runs an illicit business?" Daphne narrowed her eyes.

Harry subconsciously slid closer to Daphne in case he would need to calm the table down again. If he remembered correctly, the last time these two had interacted was when Hermione was drunk and had called Daphne a bitch to her face.

"I'm not saying it is illegal," Hermione said. "I am wondering how exactly your family comes to obtain these collectibles."

"My family purchases skins and hides from various sources, to which we sell to the general public."

"And how reliable are your sources, exactly?"

"You would be better off bringing this matter to my father, if you would like to know."

"But you are taking over the family business. Shouldn't you have an idea–"

"I reiterate that if you would like to know more, you should bring it up with my father."

Hermione piped down a little petulantly. She didn't ask any more follow-up questions and Ron didn't seem interested in speaking to Daphne in the first place anyway, so they started to speak to each other.

The buzz of chatter resumed around them, and Daphne took that time to levitate a nearby teapot to pour some tea.

"How do you put up with them. Your friends are incredibly boring," Daphne deadpanned as she mixed a little bit of milk into her tea.

Harry jerked his head to his friends, worried they had heard. They were still talking about whatever they were talking about.

"Don't say that," Harry admonished. "But I suppose it was too long a shot for you to be friends with them."

"Astute observation. I can never see myself befriending a Gryffindor anyway. You are different," Daphne suddenly said, as if reading Harry's mind. "Since you were to be a Slytherin. So you are actually more like a Slytherin dressed up in unfortunate colours."

"Well, even though that could've gone better, at least we tried."

Daphne nodded and a few moments of silence followed, to which was filled with Harry finishing off his breakfast. When he was finishing off his hash-brown, he suddenly remembered what he had thought about earlier.

"Hey, Daphne?"

Daphne stopped sipping her tea and looked at him. "Yes?"

He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Does your family trade basilisks, by any chance?"

Daphne also leaned in, and Harry couldn't help but notice that she was close enough that her hair was lightly resting against his shoulder. "Not at the moment," she responded. "It is something we can trade, although due to its scarcity we haven't traded it for a few generations. Why do you ask?"

"Well, what would you say if I told you I know where we might find a basilisk?"

Daphne stilled and she narrowed her eyes. "I would say that I find that hard to believe. What exactly have you been up to?"

"Nothing," Harry said. "It just so happens that a basilisk was in this school a couple of years ago and it should still be there since it's in a very remote location," he smiled.

Daphne was quiet for a few moments as she stared at Harry, trying to decipher him. Then her eyes widened. "The chamber of secrets."

Harry grinned. "Exactly. Want to go there sometime?"

"And harvest the basilisk?"

"Why not? I heard it is very valuable."

"Yes," Daphne nodded eagerly. "Of course. My father would be overjoyed when he hears about this. Although I am rather hesitant, since neither I nor my family have a claim."

"That's no problem, since I have no use for it anyway."

"But it's very valuable," Daphne frowned. "Why don't we make a business agreement, in that case. I propose that we share forty percent of our profits to you."

Harry shrugged. "Sure."

Daphne frowned. "Sure? What do you mean, sure?"

"It means I'm agreeing?"

"No!" Daphne said emphatically. "Do you want to get scammed? That was my first offer. You never accept the first offer."

"Look, I'm too young and naïve to be playing these games," Harry smiled. "Let's figure out if we can even get the basilisk out of there first, and then we can deal with the logistics."

"Fine," Daphne said. "But you are lucky you have me, because you have a lot to learn."

As always, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. I don't plan on making this story too long, so it will likely terminate after their second date. Let me know what you think I hope to see you for the next :)