"For you, I'd do anything."
Harry moves his hand from Daphne's and places it on the side of her face, running his thumb over her cheek.
"Harry, I think -" Daphne begins, pressing her face into Harry's hand.
"I know," Harry interrupts, closing the distance between them once more and pressing his lips to hers.
A breathy giggle glides towards the entwined pair from a nearby bush, prompting Harry to jump back from Daphne, face blazing red.
"Shut up Astoria," a voice, belonging to none other than Tracey, hisses from the darkness. "You'll ruin their moment, I've waited weeks for this."
"I think you've already done that," Daphne growls turning her head to glare into the encroaching darkness, the sound of rapidly retreating feet her only answer.
"I'm going to kill her I swear," Daphne mumbles, moving her attention back to a frozen Harry. "Harry, I think we should go back in now."
"Yeah, yeah, you're probably right," Harry responds, scratching the back of his neck.
"Come on," Daphne says, holding her hand out to Harry.
"Wait, wait please I -" Harry begins.
"Harry, if you think you're going to kiss me like that and not be my boyfriend no-one will ever find your body," Daphne interrupts, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
"Brilliant," Harry beams, Daphne rolls her eyes in response tugging on his hand to lead him back towards the ball.
"You owe me another dance, Mr. Potter."
Harry and Daphne pass the rest of the ball in each others arms on the dance floor. Sharing stolen kisses and twirling around oblivious to the word, ignoring the many pointed stares and furious whispers. Soon the final dance of the night is called, met with the collective groans of a student body unwilling to end the night.
"Harry, this has been wonderful," Daphne says, looping her arms around Harry's neck.
"I think we have you to thank for that," Harry chuckles, burying his face into Daphne's gleaming golden hair permeated with the scent of pine needles.
"Mmmmm, there's still time for you to step on my feet yet," Daphne replies, resting her head against Harry's chest and feeling the reverberation of his answering laugh.
"You know, I never thought I'd ever be this happy," Harry confesses under his breath. "It always seemed like…like it was something just out of reach."
"Harry -" Daphne says, looking up at him with soft eyes, "- you deserve to be happy you know. I'm happy too, this has been a dream for me, being here with you."
"I never thought you coming up to me in the library could lead to this," Harry responds, meeting Daphne's sky blue eyes with his own.
"Neither did I. I'd hoped but, well…why would the golden boy of Gryffindor go to the ball with a Slytherin," Daphne sighs.
"Daphne, you're the most beautiful girl here. Why wouldn't I go with you?" Harry asks, tucking a loose strand of hair behind Daphne's ear.
"Good answer, Potter," Daphne replies, leaning up to softly kiss Harry.
The couple continues to dance happily, twirling around in a sea of their peers. Daphne pulls herself flush against Harry as the song nears its end, leaving him wondering how it took him this long to uncover the delectable beauty of Daphne Greengrass. A heady cloud of Daphne's pine needle fragrance does not make this any easier for a rather reactive Harry.
"Someone's a bit warm," Daphne giggles, pulling herself tighter to Harry.
"Someone's a bit forward," Harry retorts, tightening his grip on her waist.
"I don't see you complaining," Daphne says, glancing up into Harry's eyes from beneath her eyelashes.
"I don't think I could," Harry replies, lowering his forehead to hers and gently pressing their lips together.
"Ew, I don't want to see that," Astoria interrupts from where she's dancing with Tracey nearby. Causing Harry to jump back from Daphne a furious blush invading his features.
"Don't look then sister," Daphne grumbles, grabbing the back of Harry's head and bringing their lips together again as the final notes ring out.
"Miss Greengrass, if you are quite finished," Professor McGonagall interrupts walking towards the pair across the rapidly clearing dance floor.
"Yes, Professor?" Harry squeaks, pulling away from Daphne much to her visible protest.
"I wanted to commend you on your exemplary conduct tonight -" Professor McGonagall continues, ignoring Daphne's foot stamp, crossed arms, and pointed look, "- but alas, you have a rather demanding date tonight. Try not to take a detour on your way back to the tower."
"Did she really have to interrupt," Daphne grumbles, watching Professor McGonagall retreat towards the entrance hall.
"She means well Daphne," Harry replies, earning himself a pointed glare for his defence of Professor McGonagall.
"Oh alright, come on then," Daphne sighs, grabbing Harry's hand and leading him towards the entrance hall.
"If it isn't the one and only Mr. Potter," Astoria says coyly as Daphne leads Harry into the entrance hall.
"Shut up," Daphne retorts, not even glancing in her sister's direction.
"Oh don't be such a spoilsport," Tracey pouts.
"Don't try Tracey, we don't want to interrupt their snogging," Astoria says, finishing in a stage whisper.
"Alright alright," Tracey concedes, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye and looping her arm through Astoria's.
"Have fun you two!" Astoria calls, turning to leave the hall.
"Don't get stuck in a broom closet on the way back Daphne!" Tracey says over her shoulder as she leads Astoria towards the dungeons, leaving Daphne and Harry alone in the entrance hall.
"You know, that's not such a bad idea," Daphne mumbles under her breath, turning scarlet as Harry's expression betrays that he did in fact hear her.
"As much as I agree, I really don't want to give Snape another excuse to give me detention," Harry responds.
"Right, right yeah," Daphne mumbles, partially hiding her face behind a curtain of hair. "But five minutes? Please?" Daphne pouts, moving her eyes to meet Harry's.
"I can't say no to you can I," Harry sighs, leading Daphne down a deserted corridor and towards an unoccupied broom closet.
Daphne happily skips ahead as their destination becomes clear, throwing the door to the broom closet open and dragging Harry inside by the collar of his dress robes.
"No McGonagall, no sister, no Tracey, just you and me Mr. Potter," Daphne says, closing the door and pressing herself against Harry.
"Just you and me," Harry replies, running his hand through Daphne's hair.
"Shut up and kiss me," Daphne demands.
So Harry does. He leans towards her as best he can when she's pushing him against the back of the closet with all her body weight and meets her lips with his own. Tentatively Harry runs his tongue along Daphne's lower lip. She opens her mouth in response, caressing his tongue with her own, and reaches up to grab hold of the hair on the back of his head applying even more pressure between their lips. After a lifetime Daphne slowly pulls away from Harry. Running her tongue over his bottom lip one last time before resting her forehead against his. Cheeks flushed and chest heaving.
"You're pretty good at that you know," Daphne pants, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath.
"You're not half bad yourself," Harry replies, running his hands over Daphne's soft curves eliciting a slight shiver.
"I don't think five minutes is long enough, do you?" Daphne asks, looking into Harry's eyes from beneath her eyelashes and pressing herself tighter against him.
Instead of answering Harry leans down to capture her lips once again, loosing himself in Daphne's embrace. Much longer than 5 minutes later a dishevelled couple spills out of the broom closet into the blinding torchlight. Harry's soft laughter echos down the corridor.
"Something funny Harry?" Daphne asks, straightening her mussed robes.
"You're beautiful," Harry responds.
"You sure do know how to make a girl feel special," Daphne replies, straightening his crooked tie.
"It's a gift," Harry says, placing a kiss into Daphne's golden hair.
Slowly they begin to make their way back towards the entrance hall, leaning on each other with fingers intertwined alight with a satisfied glow.
"Daphne, -" Harry says, reaching out to cup her cheek "- tonight's been one of the best of my life."
"Really?" Daphne asks, gently nuzzling her face against Harry's hand.
"Yeah," Harry sighs, brushing a lock of hair behind Daphne's ear and leaning down to gently kiss her. "Goodnight, Daphne."
"Goodnight, Harry."
"You're not late enough, I'm severely disappointed," Tracey pouts upon Daphne's return to her dorm room with a particularly stupid grin plastered on her face.
"Shut up Tracey," Astoria says digging her elbow into the girl's ribs. "I want to hear everything."
"Get off my bed Astoria, and you will not be hearing anything," Daphne retorts.
"Oooo I'll get it out of you just watch me," Astoria says, waving her finger at Daphne.
"Yeah, we saw your little snogging session," Tracey grins, gasping once Daphne's face turns beet red. "Oh my god you actually snogged him!"
"You snogged little Harry Potter!" Astoria gasps.
"I did not snog him!" Daphne protests, burrowing underneath her blankets and covering her face.
"I can't believe it, you have to tell me everything," Astoria demands, planting herself onto the foot of Daphne's bed.
"Come on Daphne, listen to your precious little sister," Tracey says, joining Astoria on the foot of Daphne's bed.
"Go away," Daphne mumbles, barely audible through the mountain of bedding.
" Nope," Astoria responds, popping the p and lying down next to her sister.
"Please," Daphne begs.
"Nope," Tracey replies, lying down on her other side.
"I can't believe you two," Daphne groans. "We didn't even kiss that much -"
"Not that much!" Tracey gasps, "We all saw you on the dance floor."
"Rather sickening display dear sister," Astoria says, nodding her head along with Tracey.
"Daphne!" Pansy screeches, slamming the door to their dorms wide open. "What are you thinking! That's Potter!"
"Stay out of this Parkinson," Tracey growls, jumping up from Daphne's bed and drawing her wand.
"Tracey! She's going out with Potter!" Pansy protests, pointing a shaking finger towards Daphne's blanket covered form. "Potter!"
"Is that a problem for you?" Astoria questions, moving to stand beside Tracey with her wand drawn.
"Stay out of this," Pansy retorts.
Before any more words of vehement protest could leave Pansy's mouth Tracey fired off a silencio followed by a banishing charm. Pushing a red-faced Pansy out into the hall and slamming the door in her face.
"Now that problem is dealt with -" Tracey says, grinning wickedly and turning back to a still huddled Daphne "- why don't you tell us a little bit more about wonder boy?"
"Oh shut up," Daphne groans.
"Harry," Hermione quietly calls from a couch near the smouldering fireplace.
"Hermione, what happened?" Harry asks, seeing the tear tracks lining Hermione's face.
"Ron, he's, he's horrible," Hermione sobs lowly.
"I'm so sorry, Daphne -" Harry begins, reaching out to gently rub Hermione's back.
"No Harry, don't apologise for spending time with Daphne," Hermione interrupts. "At least one of us had a good time tonight."
"Still, I should've been there," Harry responds, casting his eyes down towards the carpeted floor.
"No Harry, it's okay, how did things go with Daphne?" Hermione asks, drawing Harry's eyes to her own.
"Brilliant I guess, pretty sure she's my girlfriend now," Harry replies.
"Pretty sure?" Hermione asks, cocking an eyebrow.
"Well, we went out to the garden, and uh, yeah," Harry mumbles.
"Come on, you have to give me more than that," Hermione giggles, jutting her elbow into Harry's side.
"No no no," Harry stutters.
" Please," Hermione pouts.
"Oh Alright," Harry concedes. "We didn't even kiss that much -"
"Sure thing Harry, I'm not blind you know," Hermione interrupts.
"We didn't," Harry protests despite the betraying blush on his face.
"If you want me to believe that you might want to clean the lipstick off your neck first," Hermione replies reaching out to wipe Harry's jawline.
"Come on," Harry complains, slumping back into the seat next to Hermione.
"Is she a good snogger?" Hermione questions, giggling once Harry's face turns bright red.
"You're going to be the death of me," Harry sighs.
"And leave Daphne all alone I don't think so, seriously how was it?" Hermione asks leaning her elbows on her knees.
"It was fun, probably the most fun I've ever had," Harry responds.
"I'm happy for you, really," Hermione says, gently squeezing Harry's shoulder as she gets up off the couch.
"Yeah, I'm happy too," Harry whispers under his breath, watching Hermione walk up the girl's staircase.