Hey everyone! I'm back with Chapter 68... Enjoy!

It was a beautiful morning at Hogwarts. Daphne found herself up and about earlier than usual. It was way too early for breakfast and it would have been criminal not to enjoy the morning weather. She had grown a liking for the great picturesque lake of Hogwarts, ever since she had started dating Harry Potter. It provided an unmatched ambience to sit and sketch.

For some particularly unknown reason, her mind was blank. Either that, or it was deep in mumbling over something unbeknownst to her. Or perhaps, it was a very simple case of her enjoying the view, the weather and the calmness. Daphne was scribbling something on the piece of paper she held. She wasn't paying much attention to that either. Yet, if there was anything that could describe her thoughts at that moment, it was that paper. A picture could convey what a thousand words couldn't.

On the left was Colin Creevey. That was the first time he had been featured in one of Daphne's portraits. If he ever found out, he wouldn't stop raving about it for weeks. Colin was different from others. And was a surprisingly nice change of pace for Daphne. A muggle-born with limited knowledge of the wizarding world, but full of heart and life. Daphne found herself gravitating towards the one-year junior.

"This... this is never happening," she remarked, pointing at each other.

"Never say never, beautiful," casually flirted away, Colin.

He was a good friend to have, especially after the way she had ended things with Harry. And thankfully, he was a nice chap. He flirted away with her endlessly, yet never once made things awkward. Others, who tried their chance at her, were too desperate to bear.

She was grateful for the companionship Colin had offered her till then. While there were a few that mocked and insulted her behind her back...

"Can you believe that? Poor guy lost his best friend... and she broke his heart"

"She's such a bitch"

"That was cold-hearted... even for the ice queen"

And some that tried a chance, now that she was no longer with someone romantically. Colin, however, was one of the only two to come up and talk to her, properly.

"I can't believe you did that," remarked Colin, angrily.

"Excuse me?" retorted Daphne, offended.

"You did not just break up with Harry. How could you? And so soon after..."

"Leave me alone... Arse... And mind your own damn business," snapped Daphne and was just about to walk past Colin.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Daphne paused and looked at him, enraged.

"I can't imagine it must have been easy for you," he added.

And Daphne was speechless. She wasn't sure whether he was genuinely being nice, or he was just about to take the piss.

"Would you like to go out sometime? I'll take you to places in the muggle world, you wouldn't have dreamt of..." remarked Colin and watched the fury reappear on Daphne's face. "I'm joking... if you want to be friends with me, get used to it," he added with a chuckle.

"Unbelievable," remarked Daphne, appalled.

And those were the foundations of this friendship.

For the few days that were left in the year, Colin made it a point to show up and make, "small talk" as he called it.

And then in the summer break, while she watched her parents live, terrified of being recruited into the legion of death eaters, his letters, which usually contained some pictures he had taken with his camera, and a flirty note to go with it, kept her sane.

Back to the scribbling.

On the right, was Daphne. They were sitting on a bench. Colin's face was full of expressions, his arms were up in the air, and he had his SLR, a Nikon N90 hanging around his neck. Daphne was looking back at him, with her cheeks red and a shocked expression on her face.

Just a bit away, in the background, was a tall figure walking away from the pair. The gait, the unmistakable sleek white-blonde hair...

Malfoy was beginning to get onto her nerves, more so than ever before. The arrogant, spiteful, bully, rich spoilt brat with angelic grey eyes, a quick witty mouth, smartness and gorgeous looks...

And the thoughts went awry.

It was all Colin's fault, she told herself and continued scribbling.

"I see the way you look at him. Those cold, lustful looks..." chuckled Colin.

"I could cut the tension in 2..." amped up Colin, which earned him an instant stunner from the wand of Daphne Greengrass.

"You have eyes for him... don't you. No wonder you shut me down every time..." remarked Colin and got a stare from Daphne in return.

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy... My my! Don't you have eyes for Hogwarts royalty..." chuckled Colin.

Every time Colin happened to be around Daphne and Draco going at each other's throats, he would make a sensual observation about the pair, which infuriated Daphne, yet made her cheeks burn scarlet.

Colin was just teasing her, trying his best to invoke a reaction from her. There was just no way she could ever have lustful eyes for someone as gorgeous... corrections... someone as arrogant as Draco Malfoy.

Just then, she saw something. Her thoughts manifested right in front of her eyes. Just a moment ago, he was nowhere to be seen. And yet, here he was. Walking towards her!

"How..." began Daphne, but her words were drowned by the strength with which Draco had pulled her close to him. It had been a while since she had felt these feelings.

"I know how much you want this..." whispered Draco, into her ear, sensually.

"Yes..." gasped Daphne.

Draco pulled her face closer.

And Daphne's eyes opened. Her pupils darted around. She was feeling unusually warm and particularly embarrassed by what she had dreamt.

She woke up and her eyes fell to the nightstand beside her. An incomplete portrait, with fairly distinguishable characters, stared back at her.

There was a gash on his thigh and on his arms. His robes were torn all over and he had bloodied nose and forehead. Harry staggered uncontrollably to the hospital wing. This was the third time he was arriving in such a state to Madam Pomfrey.

And she was understanding enough to make a special provision for him. There was a concealed room inside the hospital wing, specially created for Harry to maintain his ever so increasing set of injuries after his sessions with Professor Benjamin White a secret. Harry's estrangement from Daphne in a romantic capacity was proving to be a blessing in disguise. It would have been so much harder to hide regular injuries without revealing White's training methods.

Harry's performance in class was deteriorating. Initially, the rate was alarming and was an evident cause for suspicion. But Harry had stemmed the flow. Now, his performances were just poor in classes where he couldn't just take it, i.e. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Snape's taunts were at an all-time high. Harry did nothing but take them. Harry realised that Ron and Hermione were hot on his tail. It was proving impossible to hide his drastic change in behaviour, his poor display in classes and quidditch alike, his constant absence from duelling clubs and recurring disappearances. Harry wasn't particularly enjoying his sessions with White. But they were what was needed. Harry was prepared to do anything and everything to bridge the gulf in class between himself and wizards of Voldemort's quality.

While his difficulties with White's sessions contributed to one half of his secretive life, his obsession with the "Advanced Potion Making", the property of Half-Blood Prince contributed to the other half. What started off as an innocent idea to trick Slughorn into spending more quality time with Harry, turned into something entirely different. One glance at it and Harry realised that it was no ordinary book. The owner was quite an expert with Potions. Upon going through a range of instructions across various potions, Harry, one weekend, decided to try them out in a secure location. Harry took the book to the room of requirement. In the few hours he spent there, he created 3 different potions, following Prince's instructions to a tee. And every single one of them turned out to be perfect. Harry wasn't gifted with a knack for ratios and proportions, yet he had just created the finest potions of his life. Ever since that day, Harry had been obsessed with the book.

A small trail of blood followed Harry as he slowly made his way to the hospital wing.

"Harry... what's happened, dear?" exclaimed Poppy the moment her eyes fell on him. She rushed to Harry's aide.

"It's nothing, Madam Pomfrey..." replied Harry, extremely weakly and collapsed on a chair.

"This is unacceptable... Any more of this and he will die in training itself. How can he do this to a 15-year-old..." muttered Poppy under her breath as she helped Harry to his feet and supported him along to his bed in the infirmary.

Harry didn't utter another word that night as he slept through Poppy patching him up and healing his wounds.

Harry woke up late the following morning with a bad headache. He looked around briefly before realising where he was. Slowly, the events of the previous night started coming back to him.

"Harry... how are you feeling dear?" came Poppy's voice and Harry glanced up to see Madam Pomfrey walking closer to him.

"I'm doing well Madam Pomfrey. Just have a bit of a headache," replied Harry with a smile.

"Don't lie, Harry... I know a painful bruise when I see one," retorted Poppy. "And you had a few of them last night," she added as she checked up on him parallelly.

"I'm not lying Madam Pomfrey. I'm genuinely feeling fine," reiterated Harry with a smile. And just then, his eyes fell on the clock. "Oh my God... I'm going to be late for class," he remarked hastily as he got up.

"You are not going to class, today, Mr Potter... I will not allow it," retorted Poppy angrily as Harry readied himself frantically.

"I can't miss classes, Madam Pomfrey. I can't let anyone get suspicious," retorted Harry.

"You are in no state..." began Poppy but saw Harry vigorously shaking his head in instant response.

"Why are you doing this, Harry? Why don't you tell Minerva or Albus about this? Professor White cannot conduct his training sessions with you, like this," remarked Poppy, looking concerned.

"You know I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I only told you because I needed your help getting better... Professor White has his methods and they can get... a bit extreme. But I don't mind it," replied Harry. "As he says... it's for the greater good," he added confidently.

After a few more words of concern from Madam Pomfrey, Harry made his way out of the hospital wing. Harry quickly made his way to the great hall, while his brain began preparing for excuses. Harry made it to the great hall and immediately spotted the table where Ron and Hermione were seated.

"Hey" greeted Harry as he made his way towards the pair. However, he got silence in reply. Both Ron and Hermione ignored Harry and continued with their breakfast.

"Ron... what's up?" asked Harry, enthusiastically. And once again, he got no response. Harry quickly glanced at Hermione and found her instantly taking her gaze away from him.

"Guys... what's going on?" asked Harry, confused.

After failing to elicit any response from his best friends, Harry decided to walk away. Just as he turned around, he heard his name being called out.

"Harry," exclaimed Hermione.

Harry swiftly turned back around to face Hermione. She looked worried, concerned and a little bit angry.

"Hermione... what are you doing?" remarked Ron, in an angry whisper.

"Ron... come on," exclaimed Hermione in response.

"Yes?" retorted Harry.

"Where were you last night, and all morning?" asked Hermione bluntly.

Just as Harry was about to respond, Ron spoke up. "And don't lie that you were in the library... or at the lake... or in the room of requirement," he remarked in a frustrated tone.

Harry stared at Ron blankly. He gave a quick glance to Hermione who was staring back at Harry. He wasn't prepared to be cornered.

After a few seconds of silence, Ron got up from his seat. Hermione slowly followed suit.

"Harry... where have you been?" repeated Ron.

"Mate... let it go," replied Harry, uncomfortably.

"What are you hiding? What's going on with you?" asked Ron as he walked closer to Harry.

"I... uh... was with Professor White," replied Harry. The only way out was to satisfy his friends with as little truth as necessary.

"All night?" retorted Ron, his unwavering gaze directed at Harry.

"Harry? Please?" chimed in Hermione.

"What exactly is he training you in? If anything, you seem to be underperforming ever since you started your sessions with him," remarked Ron.

"I... uh..." began Harry.

And then something happened.

Ron reached out to grab Harry's arm, to force him to talk. However, just as he did, Harry flinched his arm away.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry, alarmed.

"I'm... not doing... anything..." replied Ron, confused by Harry's overreaction.

Hermione however walked over to Harry and took his hands.

"Hermione..." exclaimed Harry, taken aback.

"You're coming with me," retorted Hermione strongly and began dragging him away from the great hall. Ron followed the pair.

"Hermione... where are you taking me?" asked Harry, confused. "We are already getting late for our first class," he added.

Hermione's lack of response indicated how little she cared about missing the class.

Hermione dragged Harry away to a secluded corner and stopped.

"Hermione..." began Harry. But before he could say anything, Hermione began rolling Harry's sleeves up.

Alarmed, Harry pushed Hermione's hand away.

"Harry... don't even think about hiding it," remarked Hermione and gave Ron a quick glance. It seemed Ron had caught up to Hermione's suspicion.

"I'm not hiding anything," retorted Harry angrily.

"I could see your arm shaking... from the moment you flinched away from Ron's grip. Who hurt you, Harry? Was it during your training with Professor White?" replied Hermione, looking concerned.

"Yes... injuries happen all the time. Now, let me go," retorted Harry, angrily and stormed out of there. This time, neither Ron nor Hermione tried stopping Harry.

However, the moment he left, the pair looked at each other. "Injuries happen all the time," remarked Ron, with a worried look.

"Why would you hide something, if it is quite common?" retorted Hermione. And the pair knew that there was more to the story than they were led to believe.

In the couple of days that followed, Harry made it a point to stay away from Ron and Hermione as much as possible. And the way he made it possible was to spend his free time in the room of requirement. Harry had realised that the Prince's book he held contained more knowledge than he had initially thought. It wasn't just the notes of potions and recipes that the Prince scribbled on the book. The Prince had also scratched spells, their incantations and wand movements. There was very little bifurcation between offensive and defensive spells, hence it made understanding them that much more difficult.

The room gave Harry enough targets to practice Prince's spells. Within the first few that Harry tried out, he realised that the spells were quite potent in nature. One lacerated the target dummy's bones, one acted similar to a silencing charm and the other caused the dummy's tongue to affix to the roof of its mouth. Then there were an array of spells that produced various types of liquid from the tip of Harry's wand.

"Spells to attack an opponent with potions?" wondered Harry, curiously.

After a couple of hours, Harry carefully took the textbook and came out of the room of requirement. And for the second time in a few days, Harry was caught red-handed.

The moment he came out, his eyes fell on Hermione's face, a moment later on Ron's face and his heart sank.

"What have you got there?" asked Ron pointing at the book Harry held.

"It's... just a book," replied Harry, clutching it tightly.

"You were studying in the room?" asked Ron, curiously. However, his tone suggested a hint of anger and suspicion.

"I was... yeah," replied Harry.

"Can I have a look?" asked Ron.

"Why?" retorted Harry.

"Why not?" retorted back Ron.

"Harry, what is going on with you? Please let us help you..." remarked Hermione. "The other day... the bruises on your arm. What kind of training is White giving you? You don't even talk to us anymore," she added, walking closer to Harry.

Harry took a few steps backwards cautiously.

"Mate... Are you in trouble? Did White tell you to stay away from us?" asked Ron as he walked closer to Harry. Harry took a few more steps backwards.

"Harry..." began Hermione, however, she found herself interrupted.

"Leave me alone!" yelled Harry and everything went silent for a few seconds.

"I don't have a good feeling about that book," whispered Ron into Hermione's ears.

"That's a big leap, Ron," whispered back Hermione.

"Something's fishy..." whispered Ron.

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione whispering to each other and took a breather.

"This is just a book. I can give this to them and they will realise that it's just a book. And when they have questions about what I was doing in the room, I can easily lie. I'll just make up something about wanting to be alone. But they can't keep asking me questions about White. Nothing I say will make them believe my words other than the actual truth..." thought Harry to himself. "I'll just have to improvise as I go... RON... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Harry's thoughts got interrupted by what he had just seen Ron doing.

"Protego"

Ron tried to catch Harry off-guard but Harry spotted the wand and had his shields up instantly.

"Ron..." exclaimed Hermione, shocked.

A couple of more hits and Harry defended them easily.

"Ron... have you gone mad? This is Harry," exclaimed Hermione trying to stop him.

"Is he? Has anything he has done recently felt like Harry? What's that book with him?" retorted Ron, glancing briefly at Hermione.

And that glance was all the time Harry needed to strike back. Every thought in his head had gone haywire. Not once had he thought, Ron, his best friend, would attack him.

"Stupefy"

"Stupefy"

And Ron was shocked, yet ready with a defence.

"Aguamenti" yelled Harry and a jet of water made its way towards Ron. However, before he could react, Harry cast yet another spell on the water, "Creo Natrium".

Bits of soft, silver-white, thin strips of metal emerged from Harry's wand at soared rapidly towards Ron. Ron who was just about to react to the jet of water saw the metallic strips make contact with the water and explode into flames.

The shock of the explosion threw Ron backwards. Taking the opportunity, Harry pointed his wand at a defenceless Ron and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus".

Ron fell to the floor with a thud.

It all happened so suddenly that Hermione stood rooted at her place. She watched Harry in shock.

"What are you doing, Harry?" she asked with a shake in her voice. Harry walked over to Ron and Hermione. He glanced at her with an apologetic face.

"I'm sorry... I.. didn't... want to," he remarked softly. Harry then glanced at Ron sternly. "I'm giving you detention... Professor McGonagall will let you know the time and place," he said and walked away.

Harry would have taken just a couple of steps when he paused and turned around. He took out his book and held it upright for Hermione to see.

"It's just the potions book," he remarked apologetically and without waiting for her reply, walked away.

Did you like this chapter? Hope you enjoyed it. I tried something different with the first part of the chapter. A little chaotic... A little innocent... Let me know in the reviews, how you found this intermezzo...

Anyway... Happy New Year! Hope 2023 will bring all of you happiness, joy and excitement... Ciao!

PS - And definitely let me know your thoughts on the Ron - Harry face-off... Avoidable, no?