Chapter Six - Screw Everyone Else
Dumbledore sighed, pacing in his office. His carefully laid plans had been disrupted again. It pained him to think it, but the removal of Greengrass would have been overall beneficial. Sure a student would have died, and he would've felt awful before holding a funeral and expressing his deepest regrets and condolences, but Potter would have been his again. He needed the-boy-who-lived under his thumb, as he had been the previous three years. He'd been making such good progress at subtlety pushing Potter towards the Weasley girl, her mother, Molly, more than happy to help the process. Now though, not only had Greengrass survived, but Potter had actively saved her life. This worried Dumbledore, not only did the boy feel more affection towards her than he had previously thought, but this would also change her view towards him, making her removal all the more difficult yet necessary. Sitting down heavily, Dumbledore scowled at his desk before he began planning once again…
—-
Groggily, Harry's eyes slowly opened. He felt warm and refreshed, taking in the embers glowing in the hearth. Noticing a weight on his shoulder, his eyes flickered down and to the side, seeing Daphne's head resting against him, noting his arm still wrapped around her back. Shifting slightly, Daphne's eyes also began to open, waking to find herself safe in her saviours grasp, it was the first time she'd felt safe in a while. Glancing up at him, she gave a small, shy smile. Slowly, she extracted herself from his hug and got up, stretching a little before sitting back down beside him.
"Thank you for staying with me," she whispered, barely audible. Harry smiled back at her.
"I wasn't going anywhere, you know that," he responded with a shy grin. She leant back in for another hug which he welcomed. As they lay there, something which had been playing on his mind encouraged him to speak. "Daphne, I know you hate water so how- how did they convince you to go into the lake?" Suddenly she pulled back, her face hardening in anger but also worry visible in your eyes.
"I-I wasn't going to tell you, I didn't think you'd take it well…" she started, Harry's eyebrow raising, prompting her to explain. "I- Professor Snape asked me to see him after class, something about knowing I'd been having problems with my housemates and he wanted to help. When I arrived, he said we'd have to wait until Dumbledore arrived. I was annoyed, I didn't want the headmaster there but I just grit my teeth and accepted it. When he arrived he entered and gave me what I thought was a wave, but it was an odd hand movement, a few seconds later I started to feel very drowsy, I could barely keep my eyes open, and then…" her breath hitched, "then I woke up in the water, next to you, you were so pale and everything was so red…" her steadily building sobs cut her off at this point as he pulled her back into a hug. "I thought I'd got you killed," she whispered dejectedly.
"Daphne, it wasn't your fault, it was that manipulative old bastard who was responsible for this, not you," Harry said firmly, trying to keep calm even as his fists clenched in anger at that deceitful old fool, how dare her use wandless magic like that on a student, on her?They sat there in silence, tears rolling down Daphne's face as Harry breathed deeply, trying not to explode with rage and potentially upset the girl further. Eventually, Daphne pulled back and stood from the sofa. Harry looked put out and Daphne gave a small laugh, not her normal, condescending one, more of a shy giggle.
"Come on Harry, classes start soon and we have defence with that mad old nutjob Moody," she sighed, "I'm going to get ready, you should probably do the same," she finished, cocking her head at him with a small smirk before walking off to her room. Harry groaned and walked over to his wardrobe, grabbing a fresh set of robes and quickly dressing before heading to the sink and splashing his face with water, waking himself up fully. He finished getting ready at the same time as Daphne who strode back out into the room.
"You go Harry, I'll head off in a few minutes," she muttered quietly with a hint of sadness. Harry looked at her for a second before shaking his head.
"No, your leaving now as am I," upon seeing her questioning gaze he sighed and continued, "most of my house hates me and they all hate you, most of your house hate you and they all hate me, screw them, they watched me drag my 'treasured possession' - you, out of a lake so who cares what they do or say now?" He finished, voice full of self assurance, Daphne blushed a little before giving a small nod and walking out with him. The journey to their first class was… eventful. The usual sniggers and barbed comments came in a far higher volume than usual, Harry found he didn't really care, ignoring them and making small talk with Daphne about whatever mad thing Moody would might be teaching them today. A group of Slytherin second years started making 'ooh' noises when they saw them before suddenly stopping and scattering at the cold glare Daphne gave them, their little faces paling. Eventually they made it to class and Harry flopped into a seat at the back. He gave a small, involuntary smile as Daphne sat herself beside him. There were a few gasps throughout those already present. The pair ignored them, Harry choosing not to notice the filthy glare Ron was giving him.
"Well look who it is, the pair of traitors, too bad you both survived that lake," came the familiar drawl of Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson, all sniggering dumbly. Harry felt Daphne tense beside him but he gave a wide smile while looking behind the group.
"Oh, good morning Professor Moody," he grinned. Malfoy whipped around with fear in his eyes before realising the ruse and fixing Harry with a filthy glare. Angrily, he stomped off towards the corner followed by his lackeys. Daphne was smiling slightly, he really liked it when she smiled. His cheeks reddened a little once again.
"Hi Harry, good to see you back in class mate," came a cheery voice beside him, he looked up to see the smiling, round face of Neville.
"Cheers Neville, though I might take the hospital wing over whatever lunacy Moody has planned!" Harry retorted with a small laugh. Neville chuckled and glanced over to Daphne, giving her a small nod and smile.
"Longbottom," she uttered curtly, her stony faced mask back as she gave him a sharp nod.
"Umm, Gr-Greengrass," he stuttered before quickly walking over to his table, ignoring the angry stares of Ron, Seamus and Dean.
"You know you really should try to be nicer to my friends or I might not hug you again," Harry whispered in an amused tone. To his surprise Daphne blushed and hung her head a little.
"Sorry, I'll- I'll try," she muttered, Harry's eyes widening a little with how seriously she'd taken his offhand joke. Looking up, they saw Hermione walk in, giving Harry a wide smile as she began to approach, only for it to become a small frown as she spotted Daphne, giving a small huff she changed direction and walked over to her own desk. "Please don't say you want me to be best friends with her?" Daphne chuckled wryly. Harry snorted, trying to contain his laughter.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" An angry tone barked across the room. The class moaned collectively as Moody thumped into view…
—-
Harry was trudging through the corridors, defence had been a rather dull affair with Moody rambling on about different battles and spells favoured by death eaters. The only highlight had been the small smiles he had been exchanging with Daphne. As he strode towards his next lesson, ignoring the volley of stares and whispers, he felt a hand on each shoulder and tensed as he turned.
"Alright Harry," grinned George.
"What's going on? Can you lift you arm yet?" Laughed Fred. Harry gave a grin and relaxed, laughing himself.
"Don't worry guys, full working order so you still have a seeker, despite no quidditch this year" he chuckled. He liked the twins, even with most of the school against him he could rely on them for a laugh. "I would offer to thrash you at the Burrow over Easter but I don't think Ron will be inviting me." He finished with a sigh. The twins expressions noticeably darkened.
"Mate, it's-it's not just that idiot brother of ours," Fred began, upon seeing Harry's quizzical look George continued.
"Mums really upset about it all, she keeps mentioning it in letters, we think," he stopped, expression darkening further.
"We think she's developed this mad fantasy that you and Ginny will end up together, she's taken all this as a rejection of her daughter," Fred finished scowling. Harry looked bewildered.
"How on Earth can she think that, surely she's aware how these contracts bloody work?" Harry sighed exasperated. The twins merely shrugged. "Look I'm busy anyway over Easter, I'll have been added to the Black and Potter family home's wards by then so I'll be checking those out. If you still fancy a bit of quidditch, look out for my owl." The twins brightened up and nodded enthusiastically before walking away.
"Oh and Harry," George called, "don't worry, we'll try our absolute hardest not to hit your crippled shoulder with a bludger!" Harry's laughter joined that of the twins as he continued on his way.
—-
Harry let out a relieved sigh as he entered the library, the days lessons were over, now he could just relax and joke around with Neville a bit. As he made his way to their usual table, he heard voices and groaned. 'Please don't say that ginger idiot is with him' he thought to himself. His eyes widened in shock and amazement as he turned the corner. There were Neville and Daphne, happily comparing notes on their herbology assignments. He sat down besides Daphne giving a bemused chuckle.
"Well isn't this an unusual sight," he laughed. Daphne rolled her eyes while Neville just smiled.
"Hi Harry, Gree- um Daphne and I were just going through our herbology assignments, she really knows her stuff you know, her family are some of the top producers of magical plants in England…" as Neville prattled on excitedly, getting a little lost in his own world, Harry glanced to Daphne and raised an amused eyebrow. She blushed and gave him a small punch in the shoulder.
"Well you said I should try harder with your friends, and I'd much rather him than Granger," she muttered, blushing a little as he chuckled.
"Well I came here to play exploding snap with Neville and make anti-Slytherin jokes," he sniggered. "Maybe now I should just leave you nerds to it?" Neville blushed a bit while Daphne just rolled her eyes and told him to shut up. The next couple of hours were some of the best Harry had experienced since the term had started, they played exploding snap, joked around, Neville kept asking both of them about the lake. Of course, their were plenty of not so subtle insults aimed at a certain red head interspersed throughout their conversation…
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Hi guys, so bit of a shorter chapter with little story progression. I wanted to focus more on the characters mindsets and relationships with each other. Easter is approaching so Harry will get to experience his new homes for the first time!
I also just wanted to thank everyone for the support, all the reviews are what encourage me to keep working on this story and again, any suggestions or recommendations, just let me know!