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Training went on as usual. Daphne and Tracey handled the drills while the rest helped the younger students fix their form or avoid setting their robes on fire. By the time curfew crept close, the room had cleared out, students heading back to their dorms in twos and threes.
Harry tossed the last training pad onto the shelf and stretched. "You staying?" he asked Daphne, who was scribbling something in the duelling log.
She looked up. "Just finishing notes. You doing patrol?"
He nodded, grabbing his coat. "Come on. Le'ts do the north wing then the charms corridor."
They headed out, falling into step without really thinking about it.
"You reckon Sprout is going to push that plant safety campaign again?" Harry asked as they passed the greenhouses.
Daphne snorted. "She nearly hexed Malfoy last time for mocking her posters."
"Serves him right. You don't insult a woman who grows venomous plants for fun."
They kept walking, doing the usual rounds. When they reached the staircase near the seventh floor, Harry gave her a sideways glance. "We are close to the Room."
A few steps and three passes later, the door appeared. They slipped inside.
The room adjusted for them without asking... pillows scattered across a raised platform, a low fire flickering in the corner, and shelves stacked with books neither of them would read tonight. Daphne kicked off her shoes and dropped onto a pillow, leaning back on one elbow.
Harry sat across from her, hands behind his head. "Not bad."
"Could use snacks," Daphne said, glancing around.
Harry chuckled, "Tweak. Sends her majesty some snack please."
A soft pop answered, followed by three floating bowls setting down between them... salted crisps, caramel shortbread squares, and some nut clusters dipped in chocolate.
Daphne gave a small nod of approval, reaching for the squares. "About time. I was starting to consider cannibalism."
Harry smirked. "You would need better meat than me."
"I was thinking Tracey, actually," she said, biting into one of the squares. "More meat on her."
"Brave choice. You try eating her, she might bite back."
They settled in, the low fire crackling behind them. Harry leaned back against a cushion, legs stretched out, hand absently tossing a crisp into his mouth now and then.
Daphne shifted, curling up more comfortably. "You realise you embarrassed half the school tonight."
"Mm," Harry muttered, chewing. "Not my fault they've got the reaction time of a flobberworm."
"You are going to be impossible to deal with after this, aren't you?"
"I was already impossible," he said. "You lot just got used to it."
She tossed a biscuit at him. He caught it mid-air without looking.
"Show off."
Harry gave a short grin. "If you are looking to insult me, you will have to do better."
Daphne stretched her legs out so they knocked lightly against his. Neither moved them. The room had gone quiet again, just the fire's hiss and pop, the rustle of wrappers, and the faint hum of Hogwarts settling for the night.
Then she laughed, "You are dangerous when you are in a good mood."
"I am always dangerous."
"Yeah, but now you are smug about it."
Harry shrugged. "I've earned it."
"Modest, too," she said dryly, finishing the last of the crisps.
Daphne shifted again, chin resting on her hand. "How long do you think we've got before the rest of them start gossiping?"
"They've already started," Harry said without looking over. "Susan asked me this morning if I fancied you."
Daphne blinked. "Did you answer?"
"I told her I wasn't that daft."
A small smile played across her face. "Smart answer."
He glanced sideways. "Am I wrong?"
She didn't answer straight away. Just picked at the edge of the square bowl, then looked over, eyes calm. "Not entirely."
Harry let that sit. He wasn't in a rush. Daphne didn't deal in fluttery blinks or girlish sighs, and he didn't go for overblown declarations. Whatever this was, it worked better without all the fuss.
He sighed, "Are you alright with it? Susan said you talked, but I am not trying to muddy things up."
Daphne rolled her eyes like he just asked if the sky was blue. "You really want to hear it that badly?"
Harry snickered, reaching lazily for another nut. "Emperor likes to be praised."
She snorted and lobbed a pillow at his face. It landed with a satisfying thump, knocking a few crumbs off his robe. He let it hit and didn't even flinch. "Cheers," he said through the fabric.
Daphne stood, clearly ready to grab something from the snack bowl again, but he reached out and caught her wrist. She didn't pull back. Instead, she leaned forward slightly... just enough that her knee bumped his, and now their faces were close. Closer than they'd been all evening.
Harry's voice dropped a touch, casual but with that knowing twist he always had when he was about to start trouble. "Susan mentioned you girls made a kissing order. So," he said, brows up, "who is the lucky one?"
Daphne's lips twitched. "You are not actually asking that."
Harry looked into her blue eyes, found the universe, and himself, reflected back. "You think you are the only ones with feelings? That I don't have them?"
Daphne didn't blink. "I think you are very good at pretending you don't."
He gave a small scoff, lips twitching just a bit. "Yeah, well. Doesn't mean they are not there."
She tilted her head, watching him like she was trying to decide if he was taking the piss or being honest. Probably both. "So what are you saying then?"
"I am saying," Harry leaned closer slightly, "you lot sit around making pacts and talking about kissing orders like you are planning a tea rota. Meanwhile, I am over here wondering if I am the only one who didn't get the memo."
She didn't say anything, watching him get closer.
"Daphne Greengrass," Harry began, not bothering with preamble, "you are the most quietly brilliant, maddeningly composed, and dangerously easy person to fall for I've ever met."
Daphne raised an eyebrow, the corners of her lips twitching. Harry didn't stop.
"You've always been like that... since the first day, on the boat across the lake. Everyone else was either squealing or shaking, and you just sat there. Watching. Like you already had the castle figured out."
She didn't say anything, just tilted her head slightly.
Harry kept going, "Didn't say anything then. Didn't say anything in third year when you covered for me. Or when you clocked that Occlumency excuse I fed you last spring and let it slide anyway. Or when you showed up at the Yule Ball, and still rolled your eyes at me even while dressed like every pure-blood mother's dream."
"I see you. Always have. And if I don't say it now, I will regret it."
He shifted a little closer.
"I like the way you think. The way you fight. The way you will smile politely at someone and then cut his legs out from under him the next breath if it suits you. I am not after someone strong... I've got strength. I want someone I trust. Someone I can build with."
"That is you."
The fire popped behind them. Daphne held his gaze, didn't frown or grin, just looked at him, properly. Her fingers tightened slightly around his, hitch in her breath. "I will always be beside you," she said simply, in her usual seriousness.
He leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against hers, like the space between them was its own little corner of the world. Neither said anything at first. Their eyes closed at nearly the same moment.
"I know I ask too much. I know I can't give my all to you, or to any single one of you," Harry said, whispering. "I know I am selfish. But I don't want to lose you, or any of the others. If it means tension, the odd spat, or things getting messy now and then…"
"I would rather die single," Harry said simply.
Daphne didn't need to prod him for truth. He wasn't the type to dress things up. And all of them, her, Tracey, Susan, the rest, they knew already. That was the whole reason things had worked this long. Because none of them wanted to ruin what they built just to play tug-of-war over someone who wasn't theirs to keep.
She held his gaze, her tone even. "Bit melodramatic, don't you think?"
Harry gave a lopsided grin. "If you would prefer I say I would rather die celibate-"
"Don't push it," she said, though the corner of her mouth curled up.
They stayed like that for a beat. Close enough to share breath. Then she leaned forward.
It wasn't dramatic. No fireworks, no swelling music, no breathless gasps. Just two mouths meeting like they'd known it would happen eventually. A bit awkward, but only in the way that first kisses are supposed to be, a tilt of heads, then they figured out the rhythm and fell into it.
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