357Harry had stopped listening to Hermione and Ron arguing. He had lost the reason of this week's argument fifteen minutes into the bout. "Guys, can we just go to the library? I need to finish my charms essay."
"Not until Ron apologizes!" Hermione said angrily, crossing her arms.
"Apologize for what?!" came the indignant response.
"You know what!" The sharp-tongued retort restarted the fight, drawing a groan from Harry.
"I'll be in the library," he said, standing and going to the entrance, but they didn't pay much attention to his departure as they continued to argue.
Harry just rolled his eyes and walked out. He never understood why those two argued all the time, and over the smallest thing, this year was especially annoying since he wasn't allowed to follow them into Hogsmeade, and with what had happened with Sirius Black getting into the castle, Harry was now even more on edge then ever. He just sighed and walked into the library. It was close to empty: the only people in it were Madam Pince and a Slytherin girl in his year doing homework. She only gave him a quick glance before continuing her work.
Harry sat down and started looking through his notes and the prompt, and began writing, trying what he could to make the essay appear professional. Slowly, however, he hit a snag. "What was the wand movement…" he mumbled, looking through his notes mindlessly. "Wand movement…wand movement…I didn't…damn…" he looked around, but there was no one to ask other than the Slytherin girl. Harry took a deep breath and said, "Erm…excuse me…um…Daphne right?"
She looked up, trying to find who said her name. "Um…yes?" she asked with a suspicious glance at him.
"Um, I was wondering if you remember the wand movement for the Draconifor spell?"
She continued to look at him like he was crazy, "Um…it's sort of like swish and flick," she said, frowning as she tried to remember, "but with a slight twirl towards the end."
Harry nodded, "Right…thanks." He started writing again, and Daphne went back to her work, every now and then looking up at Harry.
"You're working on the Draconifor spell?" she asked after a short while.
"Yeah," he said, not looking up.
"You do know that's due tomorrow, right?" she asked, running a hand through her hair. "As in, you need at least two feet of parchment or Professor McGonagall is going to kill you."
"Yes, I know," he said, a bit shorter than he meant to, "which is why I'm trying to get it done now."
"How much do you have written?" she asked, putting her book down.
"Uh… Foot and a half. I just can't think of anything else that needs to be in the essay."
She looked down at her book contemplatively, then sighed and walked over. "Let me see what you have."
"Wait, what?" he asked in confusion.
She rolled her eyes, her tone getting sharper. "Let me see your essay. Come on then, I don't bite nor do I have all day."
"I don't know that," he said, "You know, Slytherins and Gryffindors, enemies for life and what not, you might take a chunk out of my arm just to say you did."
She gave a snort and covered her mouth as she started laughing, "I'll try to control myself." Her voice had softened with amusement. Harry smiled a little and held out his parchment. She took it and read over it, muttering as she did.
"It's good," she said, "you definitely hit all the marks…but you haven't discussed why this spell is useful, or practical. You've only covered its history and what it takes to actually cast it. You need to try and explain more of why the spell should be used."
Harry nodded slowly, "I think I get it."
She nodded once. "Good. Then I'll leave you to it." She stood up and walked back to her spot, opening up her book and continuing her work like she hadn't had a full conversation with Harry.
"Um…thank you." Harry said to her, but she didn't respond, so he just continued on his essay. Once he finished, he moved on to his Charms homework. Suddenly, he heard Daphne curse.
"Come on, I know it's in here somewhere." She muttered, flipping through her book.
"What's in where?" Harry asked, making her jump and making Madam Pince shush Harry.
Daphne looked at Harry, as if it were the first time she was noticing him. "Excuse me?" she asked quietly with a glance at Madam Pince, who was now watching them closely.
"Well I heard what you said, and I was wondering what you need help finding."
"Well…I'm trying to find the diet of a Hippogriff, for some extra credit in Care of Magical Creatures."
Harry thought about it. "Insects, birds, small mammals, sometimes worms."
She made a face. "They're supposed to be proud creatures and yet they eat worms."
"I said sometimes," Harry said a little defensively, "when they can't get their normal food, they paw at the ground to look for worms!"
"Be quiet!" Madam Pince hissed, making Harry flinch.
Daphne waited until Madam Pince left to say, "You seem to know a lot about Hippogriffs."
"We looked up a lot of things on Hippogriffs for Hagrid." Harry said, "for the class, and just in case…he needs it…"
Daphne looked down, "I'm sorry for what's happening to that Hippogriff. What Malfoy did was underhanded and dirty…he knew that insulting that Hippogriff like that would make it attack him, and now he's milking his injury to make it look worse…" She shook her head, voice dropping darkly. "I may not like Hagrid, but that first class really wasn't that bad, at least not until Malfoy did what he did."
Harry watched her, looking for any sign of lying, then shook his head. "It's not your place to apologize for the git."
She gave a small smile, and tried to hide it behind a cough and her hand. "Well, I feel someone has to apologize for the way he acts."
"Why do you hide your smile?" Harry asked curiously.
"What?" she asked in confusion.
"Well, you've laughed and smiled a few times while I've been here, and each time you've hid it behind your hand, or a cough. Why?"
"I just don't particularly like my smile," she said, "or my laugh. I tend to snort when I laugh."
"Oh come, now, it can't be that bad."
She shook her head. "It can be pretty bad."
"How can I know that if you've never laughed in front of me without covering your mouth?"
She rolled her eyes. "What does it matter if today's the only day we ever actually talked? I'm surprised you even knew my name."
"We're the same year. Why wouldn't I know your name?"
"I think you said it a while ago," she said proddingly, "Slytherin, Gryffindor, enemies for life? Any of that ring a bell?"
Harry just gave a snort of his own. "Not too understanding with sarcasm, are you? I don't hate Slytherins."
"Humph. Could've fooled me," she muttered, standing up and collecting her books."Have a good day, and thanks for the help."
As she left Harry shook his head before following her out. "If we're supposed to be enemies then why did you help me?" he asked her as she walked down the empty corridor.
"Because I'm a decent human being," she said dryly.
"Decent human beings don't help me as much as you did today."
She glared at him. "Just drop it, Potter. It was a one time deal - don't expect it to happen again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to my common room." She turned down another corridor and quickened her pace, leaving Harry behind and baffled.
Harry exhaled loudly through his nose and turned around, mumbling to the empty hallway, "Well, at least I got my homework done."
Harry stood ankle deep in the water on the Black Lake, tossing stones across the water. He was trying to get classes and Sirius Black off his mind, and also get rid of the thoughts of a certain Slytherin. Ever since he talked to her he had wanted to try and befriend her, but anytime he saw her she was surrounded by a wall of other Slytherins, who would sneer and throw insults at him anytime he was close, so he had no choice but to steer clear.
"You seem frustrated," someone said from behind him. He turned around and found Daphne sitting with her back against a tree, watching him with curious eyes. A book was in her hands, which she was leafing through absentmindedly.
"Not frustrated," Harry said slowly, "Just, trying to forget a few things." Not even really forget, he reasoned with himself, just not deal with right now.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
He shrugged. "School…dementors…just seems a bit much, doesn't it? Besides, I like to come down here, clear my head for a little while…um, how long have you been sitting there?"
"Since you showed up about fifteen minutes ago," she said, deadpan and looking down at her book. "I have to tell you that I'm not really thrilled about my spot being barged in on by you."
"Well, this is the spot I always come to when I'm stressed or need time to relax," Harry said, "I even carved my initials in the tree."
She looked at the tree, looking it over for the supposed it carved initials. "They're not-" she started before rolling her eyes as Harry ran over and quickly started carving with an old pocket knife.
"Now they are," he said smugly, walking back to the shoreline.
"Well, mine were here first," she said, standing up and motioning to a lower part of the tree where a neat DG was scrawled on the wood in cursive, "and quite professionally, I might add."
"You had to have used magic to do that," he said, looking at them.
"You can't prove that." She turned and sat back down.
He shrugged. "Is there any reason we can't just share the spot?"
She thought about it, mulling the idea for a moment. "No, I don't suppose there is," she said, watching him carefully, "Why? Can't get enough of me?"
"Oh, don't be so full of yourself," Harry said, turning around to hide his blushing face. "I just really like this spot."
"Right," she muttered, standing up again. "What are you doing, anyways?"
"Skipping rocks." He picked up another flat stone.
"Why? What's the point in it?"
"Waste time, mostly. It's also kind of calming."
She watched for a moment as he skipped the rock, before slipping off her shoes and socks and stepping into the water beside Harry. "How do you do it?" she asked hesitantly, as though she wasn't sure she actually wanted to ask.
He picked up a few more stones and handed one to her. "All you have to do is bring your hand back, like this, then you flick your wrist and send it off." He showed her his method a couple times before skipping one of the rocks in his hand.
She tried what he said, but all that happened was the stone plopped into the water. Frustrated already, she let out a small groan.
Harry laughed a little. "Not like that. Let me see." He gave her his last stone and stepped behind her, putting a hand around hers. Daphne blushed a little and kept looking straight ahead, trying to keep an air of professionalism. "Now, bring your hand back." Harry said softly, trying to keep himself focused on showing her how to skip a rock, and not how warm her hand was under his. He guided her hand back carefully. "And then you flick your wrist and-" Together they sent the stone skipping across the lake, it gave three strong hops and then stopped, sinking into the glassy water.
Daphne smiled. "I did it!" she said turning around and looking at Harry, who was grinning back at her. Suddenly, it dawned on her how close they were and she gave a slight cough, stepping away from him, then gave a startled gasp as her foot hit the drop off and she started to fall. Harry, who still had a hold of her hand, pulled her back up, but became unbalanced and fell into the water, drenching himself. Daphne started laughing, not even bothering to cover her mouth as she laughed. Harry just playfully glared at her.
"Think that's funny, do you?" he asked.
"I-I'm sorry," she spluttered, trying to stop laughing. "I-It-it's just, your face!" she started laughing again, "It was so funny!"
Harry smiled. "Your laugh isn't that bad."
Instantly, Daphne covered her mouth, "I…I'm sorry I didn't mean to…" she started, "I mean…it's very improper of me to laugh…"
"Don't worry about it," Harry said, standing back up. "I actually like your laugh. It's…cute."
Daphne blushed a deep crimson. "Um, thank you…" she mumbled. She held her hand out to help him. He took it, then smiled mischievously and pulled her into the water with him, making her gasp at the coldness of the water. She stood back up, pushing Harry deeper into the water. "You prat!" she laughed. "It's cold!"
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," Harry said, standing up in the water and shaking his hair out like a wet dog, making Daphne laugh again. "Thought the water was close to boiling when I fell in, wonder how it got so cold so fast."
"No need to be snippy," Daphne said, walking out of the water and taking her sweater off and putting it on a low hanging branch. She shivered slightly. Harry walked over to where his things were a little ways from the tree and pulled out his sweater.
"Here." He held it out to her.
"I-I'm fine." She shivered again, more violently this time.
"Come on, you're shivering, and if you don't take it, you'll hurt my feelings." Harry said, giving her a hurt look with puppy-dog eyes.
She smiled slightly and took it. "Well, we wouldn't want that, now, would we?" she asked. She looked around then said, "turn around."
"Why?" he asked in confusion.
"Just do it!" she said, swatting at him. He quickly turned around, holding his hands up in defeat. Daphne looked around one more time before quickly unbuttoning her blouse and throwing the sopping wet shirt on the same branch as her sweater. She threw on Harry's sweater, smiling to herself at the warmness. The sweater was slightly too big for her, hanging a little off her shoulders, and the sleeves covered her hands a little. "Alright, turn around."
Harry turned back around. "Any reason why I had to turn around?" he asked.
"I wasn't going to put a dry sweater on over a wet blouse," she said, blushing a little as she talked.
Harry raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the branch that held her blouse and turned slightly red. "Oh, right."
She crossed her arms and sat down against the tree. "It'll take a while for the clothes to dry," she said, not looking at him. "Might as well relax while we wait."
Harry nodded and sat down on her left side. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while, until Harry asked, "Why were you so afraid of me finding your laughter improper?"
"What are you talking about, Potter?" she asked, looking at him.
"I'm talking about when I pointed out your laughter. You froze up, tried to cover it up, and started talking about how improper it was to laugh. What's that about?"
She looked down. "There's nothing about it," she said, "it's simply improper."
"Not very improper to laugh with friends," Harry commented.
"Is that really what we are?" she asked softly, more to herself than him.
"Yes," he said. "At least, I'd like us to be. I mean, I know we don't really know each other…but hey, you have to start somewhere when you want a new friend, right?"
She chewed on her lip for a moment. "I guess you're right…" She looked at him again. He wasn't looking at her, but across the lake, his green eyes scanning the horizon as the sun slowly dipped down. "But…never mind." She looked back down.
"What?" he asked, looking at her.
"It's nothing," she said, "Just…incomplete thoughts trying to form words."
Harry looked at her curiously, but didn't push it. He looked back across the lake. Daphne snuck a look at him, and then slowly leaned her head against his shoulder. He looked down at her, but said nothing, instead resting his head atop hers.
"Still don't want to say anything on those incomplete thoughts?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't…maybe I'm waiting…"
"Waiting for what?" he asked.
"A sign?" she said, "something to tell me 'this won't backfire,' or 'this won't seem so sudden."
"Hmm…"
"Do you really see me as a friend?" she asked, "I mean…we only talked twice…one of those times was literally five minutes ago."
"I know…but I became friends with Ron from simply sharing a couple of sweets with him." He smiled at the memory. "I haven't shared any sweets with you, but I think sharing homework and a cold is a close second."
"We do not have colds," she said, and then sneezed, making Harry laugh.
"I think you do, at the very least." He looked up at her blouse. "I think your stuff is dry enough, and I'm not too scared of walking into Hogwarts covered in water."
She looked at him, then nodded, standing up. "Turn back around." Harry complied, going slightly red. Daphne quickly got out of his sweater and put on her blouse, buttoning it up. "Alright," she said, crossing her arms.
Harry turned around. "Well then…guess I'll see you-"
"Tomorrow," she said quickly, "in the morning, after breakfast? Right here?"
Harry blinked then grinned. "Um…sure. Yeah, I can do that."
Daphne smiled back and started walking away.
"Daphne!" Harry said, making her turn around. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw a small dragon fly over - a Norwegian Ridgeback, barely the size of her palm, which it landed on and gave a small roar, butting its head against her thumb. She laughed and looked at Harry, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Is that a good enough sign?" he asked, "or should I try to turn the tree into a dragon?"
She shook her head. "I think this is a good sign." She smiled before turning around and starting to walk again, "See you tomorrow, Harry."
"See you…Daphne…"
Daphne walked into the Slytherin common room, smoothing her blouse out as she did.
"And where've you been?" Pansy asked as she saw the heiress walk in.
"Lake," she said, "dozed off a little. I'm just gonna go ahead and go to bed." She started walking towards the girls' dormitories.
"What's that in your hand?" Millicent asked, standing up.
"What?" she asked, looking down at her hand, that held the now sleeping Norwegian Ridgeback, its tail wrapped around her thumb. "Oh, I conjured this little one up while I was down there." She said, "Just didn't…change him back."
"Well, you better hope it doesn't start breathing fire on our stuff!" Pansy huffed.
"He won't, don't worry," Daphne reassured, walking out again. She went over to her bed and quickly stripped out of her wet clothes and put on her sleepwear, then realized something. The sweater that she had carried in with her wasn't hers. It was Harry's. She picked it up off the floor quickly, looking at it. She looked at the door, and then pulled her night gown off and put the sweater on. It fit her like a short dress. She then put her nightgown into her trunk and got into the bed, making sure her curtains were drawn. She knew that if anyone saw her in a Gryffindor sweater, they wouldn't be too happy, but she didn't care. It was thicker and warmer than hers, and the dungeons were cold this time of the year. She laid down and curled up, looking at the Norwegian Ridgeback as it flew feebly up to the bedpost and curled up on top of it, ready to drop off into sleep.
"G'night." Daphne whispered to the dragon. It, in return, gave a small growl, before closing its eyes. She smiled and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
Harry walked into the common room, a smile on his face.
"There you are," Hermione said with a smile from her spot beside the fireplace. "We were wondering what was keeping you."
"Just relaxing by the lake," Harry said, "lost track of time."
"Well, you're just in time to beat Ron at Chess." Hermione motioned over to the redheaded strategist who was currently beating Dean with a gloomy looking Seamus watching, "He's beaten almost everyone in this room."
"What about Percy?" Harry asked.
"Won't play," Hermione said, "So what do you say? Think you can do it?"
"Yeah…maybe…'
Hermione looked at him, forehead creasing worriedly. "What's wrong?" she asked curiously, "you look…distracted."
"What? No, everything's fine, just…tired. I think I'll just go up to bed…beat Ron another day." Harry walked past the game and up the stairs leading to the boys' dormitory. When he reached his room, he fell onto the bed, not even bothering to change out of his clothes. He rolled over and looked at the ceiling, his thoughts on a certain Slytherin girl. In truth, he wanted to get to sleep as soon as he could so he could wake up and see her the next day, and as he laid there, on the edge of sleep, a single thought came to his mind.
"…she still has my sweater…"