Chapter 2 - They Meet
Harry listened animatedly while he and Hermione walked down the Grand Staircase to the library that evening, footsteps echoing on the bald stone.
"I wonder what it says?" Hermione said "I didn't realise there were special books on politics and noble houses. I wonder what it's like? Why didn't you bring it with you? Can I borrow it?"
"I told you, no. Neville asked me to keep it between me and him. It's his family's only copy and is apparently very expensive, only given to heirs of Ancient and Noble families."
"But magical government is fascinating!" Hermione replied, eyes wild with enthusiasm, "Harry, the Ancient houses are the ones that vote on the Wizengamot. The Potter house is one of them, you get to help decide on the laws in the Wizarding World."
"Yes, I know, more pressure," Harry said sarcastically.
"It's a big deal, Harry, think of all the progress we could make."
Harry didn't say that he would be the one making the progress, that Hermione wouldn't get a vote at all, but he definitely thought it. He knew how vehement and unbearable she'd gotten with SPEW and she'd surely go on even bigger crusades if she thought you could essentially manipulate Harry's vote.
"I think the book was more about traditions and behaviour than the Wizengamot by the looks of it. Essentially, how to act like Malfoy." Harry replied, trying to put her off the idea.
"Or Neville," Hermione pointed out, "He acts pretty honourably."
"Of course he does, it's Neville, he's great."
"I didn't realise you were that close."
"I realised recently we had a lot more in common than I thought, plus he's really funny, he helped me get out of my funk recently."
"I had noticed, I just didn't want to pressure you to tell me anything."
"Anyway, yeah he follows the traditions I think, you see him doing those weird bows and stuff."
"It's only to Susan really, though, and loads of people bow at her, even Malfoy does it."
"True, it's like she's royalty sometimes. I bet she thinks she's the Queen!"
Harry rolled his eyes in amusement at Hermione's grin at her own joke as they arrived in the library and made their way to a desk to get set up for a study session. Hermione started work on her Transfiguration essay, but tonight Harry was after something else. Something to give him an edge. He needed to believe that Neville was right, that he was destined to find something that would be the key to him beating Voldemort once and for all. But where to start?
He started wandering the aisles of shelves, glancing at subjects indicated by the plaques affixed to the end of each row.
"Magical creatures, no, force-based charms, no matter manipulation charms, inanimate to inanimate transfiguration, no, elemental charms… that could be interesting." he thought. He wandered down the aisle, looking at the titles, finally settling on "Light Manipulation, for Secrecy and Combat, by Helios Lux." He reasoned that if there were curses that were the darkest of dark, then surely spells around light were effective spells that could be able to counter them, right?" Even if not, spells around secrecy and evading detection would surely be helpful.
As he pulled down the heavy book and began flicking through the yellow pages over parchment, he heard a frustrated, but musical voice coming from an alcove at the end of the row. He kinda recognised it, he thought, but he had no idea who it was.
"Who knew Professor Dumbledore would love giving impossible spells to research for homework? How on earth am I meant to understand this stupid theory, it doesn't make sense. It's protego for Merlin's sake! Father said in the last war the Death Eaters wouldn't stop trying to recruit him, and it almost came to blows. If there's anything that seems like it's important to learn, it's this."
"More important than hexing Draco's bit off for touching your sister?"
An adorable laugh preceded a "Yes!"
Harry continued to flick through the book, though more absentmindedly rather than taking anything in. Maybe it was Susan and Hannah? Did Susan have a sister? They were talking about the end-of-year assignment that Dumbledore had set them after all. He'd cancelled all exams after what had happened and asked all the teachers to set summer research projects. Everyone had noticed that these assignments were mainly centred around defending oneself. Either way, he knew the protego charm like the back of his hand. He'd had to learn as many defensive spells as he could this year training for the Tournament.
"Ugh, how did Potter even do it in class? He's such a show-off! It makes no sense, how can something be both solid and not? I bet he's teaching Weasley to do it right now?"
Harry smirked, he would make Susan eat her words here, show her he'd been listening.
"Hey, would you like some…" he started, walking to the end of the row of books, expecting to see a couple of Hufflepuffs at the table that was set in the alcove.
But it wasn't, it was two Slytherins he'd definitely noticed in the past, but never dared speak to, believing up until hearing the conversation he'd just heard that everyone in their year worshipped Draco Malfoy.
Daphne Greengrass, though, was a name that was seared into the mind of every red-blooded male in her year. Supremely pretty, with long, cascading, waist-long golden hair and the most beautiful bright, blue-grey eyes. Dean once said he could write a sonnet about those eyes, the irises surrounded with a defining, thin, black ring that just made them pop. Her body was to die for, as she'd started developing early and she was the oldest in their year. She already had full, round breasts and while she was still very short, around 5 foot 3, her bottom was widely hailed as the best in the school. Hell, many thought she was the most beautiful girl in the school. No wonder she had such a bitch reputation. Harry had even heard she'd frozen Marcus Flint's bits off just for asking her to Hogsmeade. If that was true, while it seemed unbelievably harsh, Harry had been grateful. Last year the Slytherin quidditch team had lost because of the replacement they'd needed for their last two games.
Tracey Davis was widely known to be her best friend and had a reputation of being formidable, purely because a half-blood managed to be respected in the house of the snakes. Bright and bubbly, tall, with a round but attractive face and thin, mousy brown hair, she was always at her best friend's side and spent a lot of the time spurning off repeated suitors that made their advances on Daphne, though it mostly consisted of her asking if they wanted their bits frozen.
It was Daphne's piercing, calculating eyes though that met Harry's. She raised a beautifully plucked, arched eyebrow and coldly said:
"Yes?"
The two girls were nothing but intimidating, but he'd already started and while he cursed himself for stumbling, his newfound willpower helped him manage to continue what he wanted to say.
"I er...just wondered if you wanted some help with that spell. It took me a while to get it down last year but it was much easier when I understood the theory." Harry's stomach flipped as he looked between the pair.
"And why would you like to help us? Aren't all Slytherin's eeeevil?" Tracey asked, waggling her fingers in the air fake-ominously.
"I don't know," Harry asked, smirking "Are you?"
"Oh definitely," Tracey responded, laughing. Daphne didn't seem to ease into the conversation quite so quickly.
"Me too," Harry replied with a grin.
"Oh come off it," Daphne replied haughtily, "You're Dumbledore's pet, everyone knows that!"
"Am I?" Harry snapped, not knowing where this anger had come from "Even after Dumbledore managed to keep me oh so safe this year."
Daphne raised her eyebrows at him, placing her hands on her lap in a way that he knew he'd gone a little far. Hadn't Neville said to keep his cards close to his chest?
"Sorry," Harry said, "I guess I'm a bit touchy about it. A lot of people think they know me. They do nothing but either hate me, talk about me, or worship me for something I had control over. I'd do anything to not be the Boy Who Lived. I'm just Harry.``
Daphne's features softened. She knew the feeling of being worshipped.
"I'm sorry too." she replied "People assume things about me all the time. It's infuriating."
Tracey's mouth gaped at Daphne's concession, when was the last time Daphne ever apologised to anyone?
"It is," Harry said with a smile.
"I don't know if you should help us though, Draco would have my hide. What if someone sees?" Daphne asked, frowning
"Fuck Draco." Harry said, incredulously "Do you really care what he thinks?"
"No way!" Daphne replied, nostrils flaring "It would just cause me trouble, that's all"
"Ah, but wouldn't the shield charm protect you from that trouble?" Harry answered with a smile.
Tracey burst out laughing. "He's got you there, Daph!"
"I'm not gonna ask again," Harry said, going to turn, "If you don't want my help-"
"We do," Tracey interrupted, looking at her friend, "Don't we?"
Hesitantly, Daphne nodded.
Harry smiled and walked to the desk and sat opposite them. Trying to ignore the intoxicating smell of perfume coming from either of them, he asked "So, where are you up to?"
Daphne took the textbook, turned it around and slid it across the desk. As she leaned forward to point out something in the text Harry couldn't help but steal a glance as the top of her white cotton blouse billowed open slightly to reveal a glimpse of a flawless, pale cleavage. He just hoped she hadn't noticed and deliberately made an effort to place a finger next to hers on the yellowing parchment to show that he was concentrating, which he was trying his best to do, regardless of the slight burgeoning tightening in the trouser region.
"This bit," she explained "How does the spell let friendly spells through but not unfriendly ones? It says something about presence and nonpresence at the same time, but I have no idea what he's on about. And why does that matter when I'm casting it?"
"Okay," Harry started, making an effort to speak to both of them, not just Daphne, "So…you need to think about it as if you were in a fight, and you cast Protego. You saw it in the class, right, you remember when Dumbledore cast those stinging hexes at me, my shield changed from see-through, to solid?"
Both girls nodded and Harry continued.
"It's about the time when it's see-through. When you cast, your need to shield yourself is based on your understanding of the threat, or who it's coming from. Otherwise, why cast the shield in the first place right? Well when learning the spell, that's where people get stuck. Most charms we cast are based on expecting an immediate result. You cast Wingardium Leviosa, the feather floats immediately, and you can only maintain it on one item at a time. But what if you need to shield from multiple spells at once? You don't want to have to create a shield for each spell. It's why protego is so useful. The size of your shield depends on the magical power of the wizard, some people can only make a shield the size of a dinner plate, most the size of a medieval shield, the bigger the more powerful the wizard."
"But you can cast one twice the size of you!" Tracey interrupted.
"I can," Harry replied with an easy smile and nod at her.
"That's impressive Potter," Daphne said, "I didn't know you had it in you."
Tracey smirked, she knew her friend, a consummate Slytherin, really liked the idea of power. She'd admitted once that she'd had the hots for Oliver Wood at one point when she'd seen him practising for his charms final. He'd been in the grounds, surrounding himself with 3 spheres of different elements, spinning around him at high speed. Tracey thought she found it hot because it meant the guy would be able to protect her, but she didn't dare admit it to Daphne. She hated the idea of being submissive to anyone.
"So were they right then?" Tracey said. "Can you cast a full Patronus? They said you fought a couple of hundred Dementors off last year."
"Oh yeah, Professor Lupin taught me," Harry said proudly before frowning, "I…had to learn it because they made me…"
"Yeah you had a bad time with them I heard," Daphne said, thinking it'd been a long while since she'd had an easy conversation with a boy where she hadn't had an ulterior motive, she was pleased to talk to him about something he was clearly interested in. Her thoughts about this had made her miss his change in expression "It's cause they made you pass out right?" They did for my sister. They said it's something to do with your…"
She paused, going white as she realised what she was saying.
Harry went red, "Your memories, yeah."
Tracey, ever the blabbermouth but endlessly curious and about as sensitive as a rock, couldn't help herself, asking "You mean you remember him? That night? You saw him when you saw the Dementors?"
Harry paused, wondering whether or not to tell them. The girls seemed friendly, and while it might be a bit revealing, at least they might not see him as weak if they knew.
"No, I could hear my screaming mother."
They were all silent. Tracey swallowed and opened her mouth in apology.
"Don't worry about it," Harry said, holding a hand up, "I chose to tell you, but at least you know why I was so motivated. This stuff is important. Where were we?"
Daphne, having found her voice, swallowed and said "You were talking about the size of the shield."
"Ah yes. Okay, so it can be detrimental having a large shield as the more spells hit it, the greater the drain on your magic. That's why the state of the shield is important. You might need to keep a large shield while others cast for you. You don't actually need the intent when you cast the spell. When you simply make the wand movement, you can create your shield and adjust the power you put into it to make whatever sized shield you want."
He tried to say this to both Daphne and Tracey, but at this point, it was only Daphne who was trying to engage with him, Tracey was too busy feeling ashamed of herself and was staring at the desk.
"You can intentionally change the power you put into it?" Daphne asked.
"You can do that with any spell," Harry answered, as though it was obvious.
"How?" she said, sitting up and leaning closer with interest.
"Yep", Harry thought, "That perfume's definitely coming from her."
"That's a whole other thing." He said, "For most people, there's quite a bit of innate control, like when you cast incendio on a candle most people don't automatically burn the whole table. Sometimes, though, you might want to change your power output. After we're done, I'll find you a book I used this year that taught me."
"Thanks," Daphne said, gratefully, looking into his eyes and smiling at him. How were they so green? Ugh, he could see why so many girls were talking about him, but she wouldn't allow herself to get all giddy over a boy. Besides he was just being nice to her because he only wanted one thing.
"No worries. Right, so here's the important bit…you with us Tracey?" He asked.
This seemed to snap her right out of her daze and she nodded as he smiled encouragingly at her.
"The reason why intent is so important is because the intent is essentially re-added, recast into the spell every time you want to block something. If we were in a classroom I could show you but… when channelling the spell-shield in its neutral state it won't block anything, but when you decide you want to block any given spell it becomes solid to intercept it. The trick is you have to decide when you want to block each one while the spell is cast. This takes up a lot of attention, and holding the shield takes your wand out of the fight while you're holding it up. That's why there's such a demand for Wit-Sharpening Potions by the DMLE. In some combat-Auror squads, they have a dedicated shielding expert."
"So why wasn't I able to cast it?" Tracey asked then, confused.
"Were you trying to cast straight into the solid state, the "protect" state, to defend against something?"
"Well… yeah," she said, biting her lip in annoyance.
"There you go then, it's nothing to be annoyed about, but you need to cast it initially without the intent, the intent is applied when you see the spell and decide to block it."
"So could you cast it and make it solid and then unsolid whenever you want?" Daphne asked, thinking she was finally getting it.
"If spells were coming at you, yeah. The best Shield-Aurors can keep their protego in a neutral state until the last possible moment before the enemy spell strikes it, make it solid, and then bring it back to a neutral state again so their allies can cast the other way. The weird bit is, you can't lie to your wand if you don't perceive any actual threat. There's no impetus for legitimate intent to protect from anything, you could try, but the shield won't change."
"Wow, I think I get it. Thanks." Daphne said gratefully, gave a small smile and then pursed her lips. She wasn't sure about him, there was no way he could be this nice.
"No problem," Harry said, standing to get up, "I'll go grab that other book."
Minutes later he returned and slid "Magical Reserves and Variable Spell Power" by Lucian Variablus across the desk. Daphne and Tracey were packing their things away.
"Here you go," Harry said, smiling.
"Thanks, Potter." Daphne said, "You aren't anything like Malfoy says you are."
"What's that?" Harry asked, curious.
"Full of himself, loves his fame."
"Ha, my fame is the worst, I'd give anything to be invisible sometimes."
Daphne smiled and said "I know what you mean.", but then dropped her expression. This was way too friendly, she was furious with herself at the power this knowledgeable, kind guy seemed to be having over her emotions. The power he was giving to her. He couldn't be this way, she told herself. Harry Potter just wanted what they all wanted, a contract and a way into her knickers.
"You aren't as mean as I've heard you are either." Harry joked.
"I can be if you're being nice just to get in my pants," she said with a warning glare.
"I'm not trying to get into your pants," Harry said evenly, not backing down from their gaze, not that that didn't sound like a great idea, he would have no idea what to do if he did.
"You aren't wearing pants." Tracey pointed out with a grin.
"You're right, I'm not." Daphne said with a laugh, winked saucily, went bright red, and then jumped up with a grin, "Cause…I'm wearing a skirt, see."
Harry, who had gulped at the innuendo, looked everywhere he could. Tracey just stared at Daphne dumbfounded. She'd never said anything like that to a boy, ever.
Harry was just dumbfounded, he'd been stunned stupid as she'd batted her long, mascaraed eyelashes at him for a second, and only her little joke had broken the ice. Did she like him? Daphne? Dare he push here, or would she hex his bits off? Aw, hell, he was a Gryffindor.
"You know if you want me to show you guys the spell we can find a classroom somewhere."
"Sorry Potter, if Malfoy saw us." Tracey replied, "I don't care what he thinks, but he could make life very difficult for us. You might be an heir like he is, and from a higher house, but he has a lot of influence."
Harry sighed in disappointment, the excited feeling that he maybe could've spent more time with these two pretty girls, more time with Daphne the hottest girl he'd ever met, sank in him like a lead balloon.
"Besides, it's a full moon. I've got a late-night Herbology project with Sprout." Daphne said.
"Okay, never mind then," Harry grumbled and moved to leave.
"But you can call me, Daphne, if you like," she called at him.
Wow, that was a big thing with Purebloods, even Harry knew that. Permission to use first names was a sign of friendship. He guessed he could settle for that, it was a shame, though.
"It's Harry to you too, then, both of you" Harry added.
"Tracey," the taller girl said "Thanks again Harry, we'll see you later."
"I hope so, it's a shame we couldn't hang out more."
"Don't push it, Harry," Daphne said, her eyes displaying the cold frost that she was known for as she thought she would regret giving first name permissions to a guy who didn't understand the word no, "I said I wasn't interested."
"Hey, I'm not pressuring you," Harry said, holding his hands up to concede. Wow, this girl was touchy.
"It's okay Harry, Daphne just has a lot of boys chasing her, people get a bit…pushy."
Harry nodded with understanding.
"I'm sorry, like I said, I won't push," he replied.
"Don't worry about it," Tracey said "Besides, it's a full moon. We've got a late-night Herbology project with Sprout."
"I didn't know you liked herbology," Harry said, nodding towards Daphne, trying to keep looking at her eyes as in her standoffish stance she had her arms folded underneath her breasts.
"Why do you care? Is it any of your business what I like? Why are you still pushing?" she snarked.
"I'm not! You just gave me permission to use your name. That indicates friendship. As a friend, I thought it would be good to maybe take an interest in your interests as that's what friends do, don't they? What's indicated to you at any point in this conversation that I was interested in you in that way? I just thought if you liked Herbology then I thought you might know my friend Neville, it's his favourite subject and he's pretty much an expert, maybe he could've helped you with your project."
It was Daphne's turn to look at her feet now. He'd been nothing but friendly and pleasant to her. He was right, he hadn't flirted with her, even though she'd noticed him sneak a quick look down at her boobs when she'd leaned forward to point out where she was up to in their textbook. Who could blame him though? He was a red-blooded male and even she knew that they were very good boobs, Millicent had told her so and she'd stolen a muggle porn magazine from Terry Higgs's trunk. That didn't mean he was romantically interested in her.
Hell, she'd been the one who had implied she hadn't been wearing any knickers! Why had she done that? Why had she been the one that flirted? So what if he was friendly and powerful and knowledgeable and he'd spoken to Tracey and engaged her just as much as she had Daphne, which no one ever did? Why had she snapped at him? Still, she couldn't apologise, give him the power, though a little voice in her head said "Yeah but you would like him to overpower you, wouldn't you? He's already making butterflies go in your stomach right now." Deliberately ignoring it, she just tried to continue the conversation, to show they wouldn't end things on this unfriendly level.
"Heir Longbottom. I'm aware of him," she said, with a nod, and then with a smirk and a nudge at her friend, "Tracey is very aware of him."
Eyes wide, Tracey exclaimed, "Get lost!" In a volume that made the well-known "shhhh" of Madam Pince find its way to where they were.
"What?" Daphne said, continuing the wind up "Didn't I hear you tell Millicent you'd like to get him into a broom cupboard"
Tracey, boiled over in embarrassment, clenching and unclenching her fist and went to open her mouth to reply, but Harry beat her to the punch.
"Ohh really?" Harry interjected, mirth in his eyes and a quick glance at smirking Daphne "I could tell him you like him if you like. Introduce you?"
"Don't you dare!" Tracey snapped with a glare.
"Ah so you don't like him, I'll tell him you don't like him then," he answered with a grin.
"Uh…er…I didn't say that."
"Okay," Harry said, making out that he'd ended the joke "So I won't.
"Promise?" Tracey said, nervously. Truth be told she knew Harry about as much as Daphne did, and that wasn't a lot.
"I promise I definitely won't not never keep quiet about how you might or might not want to take a ride on Neville's broomstick. Bye!"
With that, Harry made a hasty escape, and judging by the raucous laughter from Daphne and Tracey's frustrated gasp and shout after him it seemed like he'd left it on good terms with the pair. What he didn't hear Daphne ask Tracey though was:
"Why do you think he wasn't interested in me?"
He got back to the desk and looked down at his chosen text and was presented with a dilemma. How on earth was he meant to concentrate on this text when he could see the blue of her eyes every time he closed his?
