"Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as she, Harry, and Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later, Harry and Ron still clutching their bottles of butterbeer.
"That Zacharias bloke's a wart," said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith just discernible in the distance.
"I don't like him much either," admitted Hermione, "but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really - I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny -"
Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his butterbeer bottle, gagged, spraying the amber liquid down his front.
"He's WHAT?" shouted Ron, his ears turning an angry scarlet colour. "She's going out with - my sister's going - what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"
"Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think - well, they're obviously interested in learning defence, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on -"
"When did this - when did she - ?"
"They met at the Yule Ball and finally got together at the end of last year," said Hermione calmly. They had turned into the high street, pausing outside of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of pheasant-feather quills in the window.
"Hmm... I could do with a new quill." She said whilst examining the window with an obvious curiosity. Harry and Ron stopped next to her.
"Which one was Michael Corner?" Ron demanded furiously.
"The dark-haired one," said Hermione.
"I didn't like him," said Ron at once.
"Big surprise," Hermione muttered under her breath.
"But," said Ron, following Hermione along a row of quills in copper pots, "I thought Ginny fancied Harry!"
Hermione looked at him rather pityingly and shook her head. "Ginny used to fancy Harry, but she gave up on him months ago. Not that she doesn't like you, of course," she added kindly to Harry who had been examining a long black-and-gold quill. "Anyway, we have some more things to take care of regarding the lessons..." Hermione murmured, causing Harry and Ron to raise their eye-brows in curiosity.
"What is it Hermione?" Harry said, as he took the initiative and moved her away from the Quill Shop in order to speak more privately.
Hermione huffed in response. "I just don't know. I'm not sure about this Harry,"
"Hermione, you are making me anxious. What is it?" Ron asked with a worry-toned voice.
"Th-there are some more people... Interested in the lessons..." Hermione tried to explain. "But I don't know if we can trust them completely."
"Who are they?" Harry asked impatiently, wanting to just get over with it.
"Hermione, don't tell me they are Slytherins!" Ron added as his earlobes, just beginning to return to their normal colour, turned red once more with anger, causing Hermione to flinch.
"Y-Yes...but wait!" She added before Ron started shouting. "They have never caused trouble and sounded genuinely interested!"
"Yeah, right. They'll be slimy snakes that just want to rat us out to Umbridge!" Ron spat at his friend, his face growing steadily redder as he worked himself up, until Harry grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"Ron, please," he said, his voice sounding more commanding than usual, "I will be the judge of them. As you both said, I'm the teacher here, yes? Then, I will be the one to judge them. If Hermione is on the fence about trusting them and not outright denying them a chance, then I trust her," before sending a reassuring glance towards his other best friend, as she nodded back in appreciation.
In silence, Hermione pointed them towards the fields outside of the Shrieking Shack and they started walking. After a couple of minutes, she spoke again. "He said that he and three girls would want to join. He also reassured me that none of them were Parkinson," delivering the name with a shudder, but kept going nonetheless.
"And who is he, ex-..." Ron's words trailed off as Harry elbowed him weakly, pointing towards a big tree on the edge of the field. Under its foliage, a dark skinned teen with short black hair and three girls - a blonde haired girl their age, a younger black haired girl and an obviously cheery brunette - were lazing about, waiting for the meeting with the Gryffindor trio. Harry recognised three of them - they were Slytherin fifth year students.
"Ah! I thought you wouldn't show up!" The dark skinned teen spoke as they approached. The four Slytherins approached the three Gryffindors, stopping just a few feet away from them. "I mean, I would understand it, given the relationship between our houses. But at any rate, as we've never actually spoken to one another, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Blaise Zabini, pleasure to make your acquaintance," the newly identified Blaise said, as he gave a small, respectful bow towards them.
Harry scanned the other members of the group in front of him, before stopping on Zabini. He narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not make a move to return the greeting. "I was under the impression that you were one of Malfoy's lot?" Harry asked in a quiet tone. Under the - slightly - calm demeanour, his guts felt like they were gnawing themselves as a mixture of irritation, nervousness and some fear waged war inside him at the thought that everything was about to go south.
"We have never been in the same group as that wanker," Blaise responded with a scoff, earning himself a slap to the back of his head courtesy of his blonde companion - the gesture was uncomfortably familiar to Harry, reminding him of Professor Snape's own smacks and yet she somehow had managed to make it look infinitely more dignified than Snape ever did. Blaise sent her an amused - if somewhat put out - look in response as he rubbed his head, acting as if he was hurt - an act that failed miserably as he unsuccessfully fought to suppress his laughter.
"In that case. I am Harry Potter, it's a pleasure," Harry replied slowly, stretching his hand out towards Blaise, who accepted the hand shake with a curious look. Following their handshake, Hermione introduced herself, followed by a very reluctant Ron Weasley. In response, the brunette introduced herself as Tracey Davis (with - as Harry had suspected earlier - an excessive amount of cheeriness), followed by the dark haired girl that sported the name Astoria Greengrass.
The blonde girl was left for last. She didn't introduce herself immediately, but continued to observe everyone with a scrutinising look, as if analysing them. Her posture tried to convey the message that she was of a higher status - her head slightly lifted up giving the impression that she was looking down on them with beautiful blue eyes, with arms crossed under her chest. Her eyes stopped on Harry's own emerald ones.
After nearly a minute of awkward silence, she seemingly came to a decision. Her sapphire eyes strayed from his, looking at everyone before coming back to him. "Weasley, Granger, Potter - it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Daphne Greengrass, Heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass," her words were followed by a respectful curtsy towards the Golden Trio. Unfortunately, the reactions were mixed.
Ron clicked his tongue in annoyance towards her actions as Hermione gained a flushed expression - her mannerisms reminded everyone of Malfoy; an albeit very dignified and pretty Malfoy, but Malfoy nonetheless. Harry, however, was slightly intrigued. Her words and actions were completely new to him. Since his introduction to the magical world five years earlier he had never met a wizard or witch that had given him such an introduction, except for perhaps Malfoy's toxic introduction on the Express.
Her introduction, however, also put a name to the pretty face beyond her real name. She was recognised as the 'Slytherin Ice Queen' by most of their year. He wasn't quite sure why, apart from the fact that she was generally cold against everyone except those closest to her.
There was a rumor that she had once hexed Malfoy last year when he asked her to the Yule Ball, but he wasn't really paying attention. He was busy trying to survive the year.
"Oh great, that's just perfect, a traditionalist," Ron hissed in annoyance, "What's next, Greengrass? Are you going to start spitting at Hermione, calling her a mudblood?"
Daphne's eyes flashed dangerously, as she finally broke eye-contact with Harry. She straightened her posture and shot a freezing glare towards Ron, "I would never utter such a disgraceful word towards anyone, Weasley," she responded bitingly, her tone even colder than her glare.
'No wonder they call her the 'Ice Queen',' Harry mused to himself.
"Oh that's just grand! You say you wouldn't. But we've seen bigots like you say and do worse." Ron retorted, trying to walk up to the Slytherin confrontationally, before he was held back by Harry.
"That is enough Ron," he said, "You have been given no reason to act like this, not yet."
"These stuck up Purebloods have probably never even heard of Muggleborns down in the dun-" Ron was violently cut off by the brunette speaking up.
"I am a Muggleborn, and Daphne is my best friend," Tracey interjected shyly, her voice almost as quiet as a whisper, contrary to the overtly cheerful demeanour that she had been displaying earlier. It worked however, as Ron flushed and took a step back to reconsider his own words, as Hermione smiled kindly to Tracey. "But none of us are here to argue about colours or blood. Just as you want a proper education, so do we. We are also students, neither green cloaks nor snakes change that."
For a single moment, Daphne's cold mask was broken, showing the pride she had for her best friend - the only one who noticed, seemingly being Harry himself. "Tracey is correct. In any rate, we arranged this meeting to discuss the possibility of us participating in your private lessons. So tell us, Potter, who is going to be the teacher of these lessons?" Daphne inquired after everyone had cooled down.
"Why are you speaking like that? You sound like some sort of nobility. So stiff and formal. Are you a queen?" Harry responded with curiosity and a ghost of a smirk.
"Ice Queen" Blaise quipped, this time getting smacked by Tracey.
Daphne's composure fell again briefly in response to Harry's question, betraying some sort of shocked expression at Harry's reaction. The whole 'Ice Queen' facade was wildly amusing for Harry - he almost saw it as a game, to try and detect Daphne's emotions before she could compose herself.
"I was under the impression that the Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter would be well versed in etiquette..." She murmured, her tone still frosty and her eyes narrowed. "Why is it that you appear lacking, Heir Potter?"
Harry rolled his eyes, "Please don't call me that. Just call me Harry," was his response. Daphne's face didn't waver this time, nor did she respond.
As the other Slytherins glanced at her curiously, Ron and Hermione were both flabbergasted by the whole exchange. An awkward silence hung in the air, with neither side willing to break it as Daphne's eyes bored into Harry's in a frosty glare, as Harry just looked on curious - and slightly amused.
For a moment, he thought he saw some kind of odd warmth in her gaze, softening it, before it disappeared, and he was left wondering whether he had imagined it or not.
Eventually, Hermione coughed into her fist to clear the silence, "You asked who the teacher would be. Well, the teacher would be Harry."
"Potter will teach us?" Astoria responded in obvious shock.
"What could he teach us? We are in the same year for Merlin's sake!" Tracey added, followed by a nod from Zabini.
Daphne, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes as she continued to look at the prospective professor.
"Has the Dark Lord really returned?"
"Yes," Harry responded immediately.
"And you saw him?" The blonde continued.
"Yes."
"And he killed Diggory?"
"Yes." Harry's patience was slowly getting drained.
"And how are you alive?" Daphne asked disbelievingly, as her eyes somehow narrowed even further.
"Because I bought enough time to use the Portkey again."
"How?"
"I-..." Harry visibly and verbally faltered, as if he was in pain - Hermione wincing at his reaction. "I fought him." He responded with fake confidence and it sounded more like a croaking sound instead of words.
"And you actually beat him?" one of Daphne's eyes returned to their normal size, if only to delicately raise an eyebrow. Although she would not show it, his reaction seemingly piqued her curiosity.
"I managed to drag the duel out."
"And how did you do that exactly?"
"Look, I don't care whether you believe me or not." Harry hissed, his patience long since gone. "I don't fucking care if you don't believe me. Merlin knows I've had enough stupid questions thrown at me for one day."
Something almost like a wince passed through Daphne's face at Harry's words.
"I am not here to gather sympathy nor to gather followers. I am only here because Hermione convinced me to act against Umbridge," Harry said before smoothing out his robes, and straightening his back, ready to leave, "if that is all, I have to return to Hogwarts and plan out our short lived venture."
Harry turned around after breaking their staring contest, but quickly noticed that neither Ron nor Hermione had moved to follow him. Turning back, he saw Hermione looking at Daphne with an incredulous look upon her face and Ron seething in anger at her behaviour. Daphne, however, was still looking at him. Finally she spoke, after taking a moment to digest his words.
"Duel me."
Her words met with silence as Harry struggled to respond, with both the Gryffindors and her fellow Slytherins looking at her in shock. Nobody outside of Malfoy and his clique had challenged Harry publicly since the Parseltongue incident in their second year.
"Daphne," whispered the youngest girl, Astoria, Harry thought she'd called herself. "Are you sure about this? I mean, you train with Dad, but you've never actually fought someone outside of the training room?"
"I'll be fine Tori." Daphne reassured her sister.
The silence lingered as the blonde girl awaited her opponent's answer, staring him down all the while. Despite his not-so-friendly feelings towards the Slytherin girl at that point in time, Harry could respect the fact that she had the courage to challenge him to a duel, it was a refreshing change from his regular dealings with Slytherins, who would rather curse him in the back.
"I accept." He finally responded quietly, yet his words were crystal clear in the tense silence. The other teens all moved out of the way, leaving the two duelists enough space to fight without risk of injury to themselves. Both duelists walked up towards each other, stopping several feet apart from one another. Without missing a beat, both wizards lifted their wands to their chest and bowed towards one another, before moving away to start the duel. Despite accepting the Slytherin's challenge, Harry was still nervous about facing her. A product of two conflicting fears. He feared that he would lose, and the blonde girl would humiliate him after the earlier faith of his friends, but also feared that he would seriously harm her in his attempt to defeat her. Choosing to take the more cautious approach, Harry decided to do his best to defeat her whilst only using defensive spells.
The two slowly walked in a circle around one another, eyeing each other up and waiting for the other to strike. Daphne would be the one to ultimately break the stalemate as she fired off a confringo towards the earth beneath his feet. Harry quickly moved out of the way before the ground exploded, dancing out of the way of more curses before they could hit him.
Daphne couldn't help but watch as the dark-haired boy dodged through all of her spells, almost dancing through the field as the ground around him exploded into dirt. With every miss, Daphne felt herself grow angrier and more embarrassed with her performance, although careful not to let it overcome her.
"Sagittae Prodeunt!" Daphne cried out, as arrows fired out from her wand, barely stopped as Harry ripped up a piece of the blasted ground and used it as a shield to block them. "Impedimenta! Flipendo! Ignis Pila!" Daphne fired spell after spell at him, although all for naught as each of them were blocked or dodged. Throughout the entirety of the duel, her composure never faltered once, until a spell finally got through, as a well-cast Reducto finally broke his shield, and a smug look flitted across her face. A look that for some reason, Harry felt was quite attractive.
Harry was actually quite impressed with her repertoire, and felt grateful that she wasn't shying away from using dangerous spells against him. Although they packed a punch, they were all legal spells in official duels. Something he had learnt recently, having become taken with the art of duelling during the Summer, as he read the duelling columns in the Prophet, and then having read up on the sport in a book from the Black Library - one of Sirius' great aunts had been apparently quite the fanatic. It was a sport that Harry hoped to one day experience for himself.
As Daphne revelled in her minor victory, Blaise snorted behind her.
"And he's supposed to be our teacher?" he asked sardonically, causing Ron to glare at him and begin to open his mouth to respond. Harry suddenly flicked his wand towards Ron, and the redhead found himself unable to talk, as his mouth vanished, leaving him mute although nobody except Ron and his opponent noticed. Daphne took the opportunity to capitalise on his distraction as she aimed another spell at him, although not before he could raise another shield to protect himself.
Before she could fire off another spell, the reality of what she had just witnessed began to dawn on Daphne, that this boy, a fifth year, just like herself, had not only managed to silently cast a NEWT level spell, but had been able to cast it on a completely new target between her attacks. Between that display from Harry, and the duel that she was currently having, a realisation began to dawn over her that Harry wasn't even trying, but at best toying with her. And that enraged her.
In a lapse of control, as her anger at being played with overcame her, Daphne narrowed her eyes at her opponent and hissed, "Fight me!" between her casts. Although her constant movement and casts were slowly beginning to exhaust her, she would not stop until her opponent respected her.
Harry, on the other hand, could not help but look at her with a sense of satisfaction. Although he would have preferred that neither she nor the others find out the full extent of his abilities, he preferred this outcome to Ron starting a fight, and distracting further from the duel. Besides, he thought to himself, it had caused the Slytherin to drop her mask. That thought alone made him grin lopsidedly - a grin that unbeknownst to Harry, caused Daphne's heart to skip a beat.
"Don't you dare disrespect our duel, Potter! Fight back!" cried out the belligerent blonde, after regaining her bearings, her voice dripping with irritation and something else, something that Harry couldn't quite identify. The whole group, both Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, bar one, were caught by surprise at her outburst, unable to realise what had riled her so.
Astoria was the only one not surprised by her sister's actions. She knew her sister all too well, and if there was one thing that Daphne could not stand, it was disrespect. Not in the etiquette sense of course - although a traditionalist at heart, Daphne would not concern herself with the manners of others, as long as her own were impeccable - but in the chauvinistic one. Daphne could not stand being looked down on by men just because of her sex. Yet, try as she might, Astoria could not understand why Daphne felt disrespected, as Potter seemingly struggled to face her sister.
Eventually, as Daphne continued to fling increasingly dangerous spells towards him, Harry made a decision. He may not know why Daphne wanted to fight him so badly, but he would finally accept her challenge wholeheartedly. Steadying his stance, he let out a loud, spoken stunning spell, followed by several silent disarming charms, slowly walking towards her as he did so. Taken off guard by her opponent's sudden assault, the Slytherin witch just barely managed to raise a shield to block the stunner, but the force of the spell quickly broke the hastily erected Protego, and caused her to stagger, before being hit by his silent disarming spells which had been hidden behind the vivid red stunning spell.
Before any of their witnesses could even start to comprehend the Gryffindor's sudden victory, he found himself rushing forward to catch the Slytherin blonde, who had been thrown off balance by his final spells, and threatened to fall into the snow-laden grass at their feet.
For a moment, he still held the confident and self assured air he exhibited during the duel, but that was slowly ruined as a faint blush started rising upwards from his neck. After setting the blonde back onto her feet, he quickly unwrapped his arm from her waist and took a step backwards. "Are you alright?"
"Never better," she said sarcastically as she straightened her robes. "You duelled well, Potter. You should be proud."
Harry stayed silent for a moment, his eyes darkening. "I have nothing to be proud of," he muttered, before turning around. Daphne's eyes couldn't help but widen at her schoolmate's response. It somehow felt wrong to hear that from him.
If he was as good as she claimed, Cedric might have still been alive. He had made great strides in dealing with the grief of loss, but it still stung sometimes. The only thing he could do was strive to be good enough to never let it happen again.
Harry lowered his gaze to the ground and walked away. Daphne was sharp, no doubt about that. She could notice things and observe people in mere moments. She could see the sad look on Hermione and Ron's faces, taking them in before calmly striding back towards her slightly shocked friends - with the exception of the sadly smiling Tracey - but her eyes never left Harry's back.
She never cared about the 'Boy-Who-Lived' moniker. She was grateful of course that the Dark Lord had been defeated by him as a babe, but every time she looked towards him over the years she simply saw the boy that he was, and the man he was becoming. The honest truth was that she'd like to learn more about the man behind the moniker.
Not wanting to waste anymore time dwelling on her thoughts, Daphne reached out. "Potter!" the girl called, causing the trio to turn and look at her. "I want to join your group," she continued. Her friends briefly looked towards her, before reluctantly nodding in agreement. In response, Harry nodded towards Hermione. The Gryffindor girl walked up to them, and looked over them briefly, before handing over a piece of paper that was almost filled to the brim with signatures - all of them were names that Daphne and her friends recognised. With a slight flicker of amusement, she signed the paper, followed by Blaise, Tracey and Astoria in that order.
Hermione smiled at them, "We will inform you of when the first meeting is but... We have no idea where to host it," the girl admitted sheepishly.
To her surprise, Blaise was the one to give her, one that would end up solving many of their problems. "Have you considered the Room of Requirement?" His words provoked consternated expressions from his group - even from the 'Ice Queen'. In response, he shrugged, "Who else could be trusted with the knowledge if not them?"
"What is the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asked with a very well known glint of curious excitement in her eyes, but quickly reconsidered, "Actually, hold that thought. We should discuss it or we won't get back to Hogwarts in time. Thank you for joining us!" She said in an almost exaggerated cheer, before running back over to her friends.
For one last time, Daphne reached out, "Thank you Potter." Harry turned around and looked at her with an unreadable expression. "For the duel," the blonde added. Harry smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. She could tell - hell, anyone could tell.
"Please, stop calling me Potter," he simply responded before he lost his smile and left with his friends.
"Call me Daphne."
xxx
After meeting with the Gryffindor trio, the four Slythirins slowly meandered their way back to their common room. When they arrived, it was relatively empty - a couple of the younger students were lazing about on the couches, as at the various tables dotted about the room, NEWT level students were busy studying. The Slytherin Common Room was designed to provide plenty of quiet spots where people could gather without being noticed. Daphne's group had claimed one of them in the far corner from the door since the beginning of their third year, besides one of the windows that looked out, into the Black Lake. Despite all the privacy these corners provided, Daphne did not hesitate to put up a muffling charm - something taught to every Slytherin during their first year, by Professor Snape, or one of the prefects - before plopping down on her armchair, followed by the other three members, each claiming one of their own.
Blaise observed the spell as Daphne cast it, noticing how unusually poorly she cast it; something had distracted the young witch, and caused her to miscast the spell, something he corrected with a follow-up Muffliato. "You are completely off, Daph. Were you beaten that badly by Potter?" Blaise inquired, as Astoria observed her older sister with blatant curiosity. The blonde simply huffed and turned her gaze towards the windows that provided the underwater view of the lake. "I believe him, you know," her friends stayed silent at her words, as if confused and unable to make sense of them, something that Daphne could not help but notice, "Pot- Harry. I believe him."
"Well, about which part? The Basilisk? The return of the Dark Lord? That he defeated a hundred Dementors?" Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you honestly believe he did all of that? Even any of it?"
"Yes, Blaise, as a matter of fact I do," Daphne turned her gaze to her friend.
"I can't possibly believe it." Astoria retorted in place of the dark skinned Italian, "They're just more over-exaggerated rumours about the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Then explain to me how he is so strong." Daphne said, straightening her back and shooting a frosty glare towards her sister. "You weren't defending against his spells. His silently cast disarming charms." Her friends remained silent at that. "But maybe you are not convinced. Did you notice what happened to Weasley, Blaise?" The dark skinned man nodded, confused.
"What does that have to do with Potter?" He asked in response.
"Do you know the spell Oscausi?" Blaise shook his head and Daphne continued, "It is a spell that removes someone's mouth. Easily fixed with a simple Finite Incantatem, but it is relatively hard to use properly. Well, that spell was cast silently by Pot- Harry - whilst he was blocking my own spells. Now, are you convinced that he is stronger than me, than all of us?"
Her words met shocked silence. Astoria was openly gaping - completely disregarding their father's teachings - as Tracey stared wide-eyed. Blaise, on the other hand frowned, "How do you-"
"Do you honestly expect me to not keep a close eye upon my sparring partner during a duel?" Daphne interrupted with a raised eyebrow, before standing up. "There is no reason for a fifteen year old student to be that advanced with his spellwork. 'Power like that comes from experience, experience like that comes from hardship'. Astoria, you should know better. These are father's words," Daphne said before finally moving to grab a teapot, charmed to be permanently brewed, that they kept hidden in the corner of their private space, and poured tea for everyone before sitting back down. "My point is, Harry Potter is the way forward this year. He has the knowledge, the skill and the experience - from what we have seen at least. If you still don't want to be part of it, you are free to leave. I, however, will be staying. I honestly want to just learn more about him… his adventures… all of it really. Of course, I'll ask for proof, but still! How often do you meet a basilisk slayer?"
Daphne never felt as her mask started to fail her, under the impression that throughout her speech, she looked as cold and aloof as she ever did. The reality was far from that. Excitement and passion oozed from her expressions, her voice and temper slowly escalating during her speech, until her voice was almost hoarse from exertion. Everyone else, however, noticed. Even some of the other Slytherins saw the emotion that graced the face of the usually implaccable blonde - even though they heard nothing of her rant.
"You are scaring me, Daphne." Astoria quipped with a raised eyebrow. "You have entirely lost your composure," Daphne looked at her in shock, "Are you seriously that shaken by Potter? You are acting like you're infatuated with him ." Her statement provoked chuckles from both Blaise and Tracey, as Daphne opened her mouth to speak for a reply that never came.
"I- ... Wha-... That is-..." Daphne choked out, a pink tinge spreading across her cheeks, before quickly coughing to cover up the awkwardness of her predicament. "That is absurd, dear sister. I am merely somewhat excited to learn more about the world outside of the castle walls; You know better than anyone that father kept us under very strict watch, keeping us out of anything even remotely dangerous" Daphne retorted, in an exaggeratedly formal manner, lifting her chin and huffing in indignation. Never mind that none of that was nothing but gross exaggeration. "You have great imagination, but I seriously hope you refrain from showing it to me - you are spouting nonsense!"
"Uh huh," Astoria responded lamely, before standing up, "Just inform me of developments. For now, I have a Potions essay to complete." With a final wave - one that was not returned by the still haughty Daphne - she left for her dorm. Following her, Blaise also bid farewell to the two other fifth years after confirming his own participation.
"You know, I expected you to break sooner than you did. I still can't understand why you decided to approach him like that."
"Oh, shut up Trace. What was I supposed to do? Act all giggly and elated that I got to properly speak to the amazing Harry Potter?"
"No," Tracey said as she yawned. "You could, however, have acted like a normal person."
Daphne simply gave a half-hearted glare before she yawned herself. "Let's just head to bed."
They started walking slowly towards the dorms without sharing another word. Daphne looked onwards with a stern expression, her ice mask donned, as Tracey acted appropriately bubbly and excited for no reason whatsoever.
Image above all else was what was important in the Slytherin Common Room.
xxx
"I honestly cannot believe you two!" Ron yelled, still irritated from their earlier meeting with the Slytherins.
"Quiet down Ron!" Hermione hissed in a whisper.
Harry was silently fiddling with his Transfiguration book, sending quick glances around the library. As per usual on a Hogsmeade weekend, it was empty apart from a scattering of NEWT students.
"This is not a matter where I should stay quiet!" Ron retorted with a whisper. "How could you- Hell, why did you even consider this? They are snakes!"
"Ron, I have already told you. Not all of them are Malfoy! Greengrass is probably the most quiet student in Hogwarts!" Hermione retorted hotly, before looking around warily as if Madame Pince was about to pounce on her for talking.
"All Slytherins are evil, it's an unwritten rule! Traditionalists doubly so!" the redhead exclaimed, his earlobes turning dangerously red during their argument before Harry intervened.
"Ron, am I evil? Am I a dark wizard?" He asked with a cocked head, seemingly clueless. Both Ron and Hermione turned to look at him in bewilderment.
"Of course not mate!"
"Then, why would all Slytherins be bad?" Harry continued, dragging on his clueless facade, but Hermione narrowed her eyes - he was caught.
"You are not a slimy snake mate, there is no comparison."
"That is where you are wrong." Harry dropped his facade, turning to look at his friend seriously. "You see, during the Sorting, I could have gone to Slytherin."
Ron's eyes widened, his mouth agape, as he could only look at his friend in shock. Hermione, surprisingly, simply sighed as if she had expected something like this. Perhaps she even had a similar experience to Harry's; many of their fellow Gryffindors had always wondered why she hadn't been placed in Ravenclaw.
"I begged the Hat to not put me into Slytherin, Ron," Harry continued, "And the hat agreed - after it tried to convince me that I could be great in Slytherin. I could have been in there if I had never met you, Malfoy or Hagrid; not that I regret it. My point is that if I am good and I could have been a Slytherin, then anyone can be good." When he finished, his eyes returned to the book in his hands with some indifference.
Ron tried a few times to respond, but failed miserably - groaning instead. "I fucking-"
"Language Ron!" Hermione hissed, but was ultimately ignored.
"- hope that we don't regret this Harry," the ginger finished and stormed off; probably to the Gryffindor Common Room.
Hermione sighed yet again and sat at the table, across from Harry to read her Transfiguration essay. Several minutes of comfortable silence later, Hermione broke the ice. "Are you alright?" She asked her friend quietly.
"Yeah."
"You don't look alright," the girl responded, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "Talk to me, please? You can't be holding everything inside the whole year, Harry."
Harry shot her an annoyed glare, but spoke anyway. "I don't know how good of a teacher I will prove to be Hermione."
"What do you mean? You floored Greengrass!"
"Yes, but that doesn't exactly translate to teaching abilities!" the boy shot back.
"Just teach them what you know, whatever you feel is correct. As for the duel, you proved that you are more than capable to lead us," she responded calmly.
Harry did not answer, too tired to keep retreading old ground, and resigning himself to being the group's teacher. When Hermione realised that he wouldn't respond she moved away from the topic.
"So... I see you are doing well with Cho," Hermione quipped in a whisper, causing Harry to blush.
"I- I- I don't know what you m-mean," he responded lamely, trying to hide his reddening cheeks.
"Oh come on. She couldn't keep her eyes off of you," she said before adding nonchalantly, "It was more subtle than Greengrass though at least."
Harry's blush slowly faded, courtesy of his thoughts freezing. Whilst he still had a very obvious crush on Cho, Daphne had begun to pique his interest. Everything about her, her character, her mannerisms and her attitude were interesting to him - it was something completely new. Those were Pureblood customs and etiquette? The traditions the Purebloods spoke of? And his father and godfather had both also grown up with those traditions? So far, no one had spoken to him about a subject like that - Sirius pretty much despised anything connecting him to his upbringing, the Weasleys were as far from a traditional Pureblood family as was possible and Hermione was a Muggleborn. Apart from them, no one else seemed to care about things like that either, but it was probably something he would notice more often when he wasn't as sheltered as he currently was, as he had been throughout his Hogwarts years, and he found it fascinating. Above all, he felt the need to learn more about his family - the family that gave birth to him and what it meant to be a Potter.
"Harry? Are you alright?" came Hermione's voice, snapping him back to reality and pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, just distracted is all," he mumbled and stood up. "Look, I'll go back to the common room, I'd like to get some rest."
Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm as he got up to leave. "Are you really alright? Tell me, plea-"
"Just leave me be, Hermione," he hissed at her, shaking his arm free. "Look, I just need to rest. Today was a very long day, alright?"
Not waiting for her to reply, Harry got up from their table and walked away from the bushy-haired witch, as he let out an exhausted sigh.
"Alright..." Hermione whispered, turning back to her essay as he left the library.
x
Despite Harry's sour mood late on Saturday evening, the rest of his weekend had been enough to see his mood soar to new heights of happiness and satisfaction. There were people that believed him; more than that, there were people willing to stand by him.
Harry was not a particularly outgoing young man, but he couldn't help but feel a measure of pride in the awe his newfound allies and students were in over his skills and accomplishments. That one of them was Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, was just enough to tip him over the edge into a state of bliss. The fact he was not treated as lying scum but as an object of admiration instead… he felt oddly happy.
The Slytherins were the icing on the cake; Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zambini, Tracey Davis and Astoria Greengrass were also willing to go against Umbridge and the Ministry. That these Slytherins believed him and were willing to learn from him was not only unprecedented, but extremely satisfying as well. He also could not help but find the elder of the two Greengrass sisters…intriguing, to say the least.
All of that happiness and bliss and pride that had built up in him over the weekend crumbled into dust like they were nothing when he saw the massive sign on the Common Room Notice Board when he got up on Monday morning; Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four.
"Those slimy-"
Before Ron could even start his tirade, he was hit by a silent Silencing Charm and was ushered back up to their dorms. His attempts to protest instant failures as he struggled under Harry's spell. After shoving the redhead into their empty dorm room, the teen wizard cancelled the spell that he had placed on his friend, something that became immediately apparent to Ron as he continued his attempts to speak.
"I told you! We should not have trusted these wannabe Death Eaters!" he seethed, pacing around the room, simply unable to contain his rage and animosity any further. "The moment we saw their puke green scarves - Ahhhh blimey mate!''
His words were accompanied by the wild flailing of his hands in obvious exasperation, although Harry suspected that even if silent and motionless, he still could have gauged the level of his friend's rage from the colour of his ears, now the colour of a ripe pomegranate.
Harry, for his part, could not speak. He knew his friend was most likely right - the Slytherins were probably the most likely to have told Umbridge about their plans. It was more than a coincidence that Umbridge had executed the Decree just two days after their first meeting. He was a bit disappointed and slightly sad, but he supposed it was called for, Greengrass would probably want revenge after her loss, after all-
"Stop it Ron!" a voice belonging to Hermione hissed, entering their dorm, pulling Harry out of his thoughts and Ron out of his endless tirade. "No one spoke about our plans to Umbridge."
"You are so naive Hermione, not everyone is-"
Hope flared inside of Harry's crestfallen heart. "How do you know?" he asked, interrupting Ron before his friend became unbearably obnoxious about the matter.
"I didn't just give them a regular piece of parchment to sign; I had cast protection spells on it," Hermione responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "If anyone tries to speak about our group, they are first subjected to a Babbling Curse. Then, if someone manages to break the curse, two things happen; first, I am notified; second, their face becomes covered in enough acne to warrant hospitalisation."
Those revelations went someway to calming Ron down, although he still wasn't convinced fully. "I swear those Death Eaters..." his words sounded akin to a spitting sound, something that finally broke Harry's patience for his friend's ranting.
"Shut up Ron!" he hissed impatiently. "Acting like this will get us nowhere. First we need to figure out if this was issued to all of the Houses."
Of course, all of the Houses had been given the same Decree - it had also been posted in the Entrance Hall, besides the doors of the Great Hall. Hermione was understandably on edge during breakfast, trying to reassure everyone, trying to keep their secret 'classmates' calm. The news only got worse after Harry discussed with Angelina the impact the Decree had on Quidditch teams, learning that they too had to get permission from Umbridge to reform. After he finished eating his food, he turned his gaze towards the Slytherin table.
Daphne and Tracey were sitting with their backs to the wall, Blaise and Astoria opposite the duo. They were all silently - and slowly - eating their breakfast, not willing to discuss any matter of particular sensitivity at their table. Daphne's eyes flitted towards Harry, blue connecting with green. As the two students once again found themselves staring at each other, a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, betraying her nervousness about their shaky affair. Somehow, Harry noticed her nervousness, sending a reassuring smile her way before he stood up and left, leaving Daphne staring at him speechless. How did he know that she needed reassurance?
Blaise, ever observing, kicked Daphne's shin, eliciting a hiss of pain from the blonde. She made no protest, however. She knew exactly why he had kicked her and was thankful to him for snapping her out of her trance.
xxx
The rest of the day went about as expected in Harry's interesting life; an injured Hedwig appeared, having been apparently downed by Umbridge - or so Harry suspected - and he skipped History of Magic to get her treated, getting a letter from Sirius in the process telling him that their next conversation would be through the Floo. After leaving Hedwig with Professor Grubbly-Plank, Harry left for Potions, arriving just in time to see Neville almost punch Malfoy. Entering the classroom, they were given the additional surprise of Umbridge, who had chosen to inspect Snape during their lesson.
Oddly enough, despite the presence of his two least favourite teachers, Harry was paying extra attention to class for once, as he followed the recipe for the Strengthening Solution they had been tasked with brewing, producing oddly successful results. If Hermione was surprised by how well he was doing, she didn't let on.
"Now...how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" Umbridge asked Snape, pulling Harry out of his concentration on the Potion - it was almost ready anyway.
"Fourteen years," Snape replied with an unreadable expression. His eyes on Snape, Harry dropped the final ingredient into the potion, and it turned a pleasing azure colour.
"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" Umbridge asked of Snape.
"Yes," said Snape quietly.
"But you were unsuccessful?"
Snape's lip curled. "Obviously."
Umbridge scribbled something on her clipboard with a smug expression. "And you have applied regularly for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"
"Yes," said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. His expression was slowly morphing to one of irritation.
"Do you have any idea-"
"Professor Snape!" Harry interjected, provoking the gazes of everyone inside the classroom. "Would you look over my potion, Sir, since I have finished."
He had no idea what had come over him, that he was willing to pull Snape out of such an awkward position, feeling self-conscious as the eyes of his classmates, and Umbridge, turned to him in unison. Although, for probably the first time in his five years at Hogwarts, he was proud of a potion that he had made.
Snape walked over to his cauldron, narrowed his black eyes as he inspected the contents of it. He inspected the potion extensively and then the table itself for any indication of foul play from Harry's side. When he saw nothing out of place, a mask of disgust was plastered all over his face as he was forced to give Harry full marks.
The reactions of his classmates, so used to see him receiving next to no points for his efforts, were many and varied. They ranged from pride in him to gobsmacked amongst his friends, and irritated and angry amongst Malfoy and his cohort. Umbridge too looked particularly displeased, as if someone had smashed her favourite kitten plate. The rest of the students attending were simply curious about how he had pulled through today's class. The many reactions were not seen by Harry who was contemplating the feeling of success and pride that had overtaken him, whilst savouring the look of irritation upon Snape's face. Harry was happy, although he had no idea why he had paid attention to the lesson this particular time around. It had even felt relatively easy - his mind full of Hermione's past lectures; only the boredom he felt during brewing and his reciprocated hatred for Snape kept him from excelling in the subject.
Next came Divination with an extremely agitated and irate Trelawney - something that Harry could understand, given the reason for her agitation was Umbridge, who was also inspecting her lesson as she had Snape's earlier. DADA was next, dull and boring as always with their teacher. All in all, Harry was certainly relaxed when they headed to their Common Room, taking their usual armchairs near the fireplace.
Nights in the Common Room were usually loud affairs, more often than not caused by Fred and George. As was the case for that night, though Harry could not pay much attention to the hijinks of the twins. His mind was going back to Saturday's revelation of Pureblood customs, as it had frequently since their meeting, and that his family had practised them. Ron was already dozing off, so Hermione was his only option to ask about them.
"Hey, Hermione," he started uncertainly. "You know, I've been thinking - my family were Purebloods, weren't they?"
Hermione's gaze turned to him, obvious curiosity oozing from her expression. She stopped knitting clothes for the elves, as Harry captured her full attention. "Well, you are not a Pureblood as you know, but yes, your family was before your mother and father married."
"So Daphne was correct? The Potters are a Noble and Most Ancient Pureblood House?" Harry asked in a fascinated tone.
"Yes," Hermione nodded. "You know, I have done a tiny bit of research for you. Your family is ancient and Pureblooded, yes. Like all Pureblood families, they practised wizarding traditions and customs. I don't think I can possibly relate to any of it; think of it like the cultural differences between Indian people and Italian people, for example."
Harry nodded positively, already understanding of that. "But if the difference is just that... Hermione, are Pureblood traditions filled with bigotry like Ron claims?"
"I-... I don't know, honestly. Nothing of what I have read indicates anything like that, but most of what we've seen is certainly bigotry. Malfoy, for example and most of the Slytherins," Hermione shuddered at her own words, but kept going, "but we cannot rule out the possibility that there are different approaches to pureblood traditions and ideals. Some might be extremists, yes, but they might be the ones that corrupt the whole affair. Just think, Christianity is not bad by any means, but even that produced the Inquisition," Harry's curious and clueless look provoked a lengthy explanation of the horrors of the Inquisition and their role in the Witch Hunts that had forced Wizardkind into hiding. That discussion somehow led to the Second World War. It helped both of them however better understand the concepts of extremism, supremacism and other notions that divided people the world over.
"Basically, we shouldn't simply judge every single Pureblood witch and wizard based on the actions of a minority or even the majority," Harry concluded and Hermione feverly nodded her head in agreement.
By the time they had finished their enlightening discussion, the common room had emptied out, and they finally had it to themselves. They turned to look at the still sleeping Ron - except he wasn't sleeping. He was just quietly observing them with an obvious fascination and curiosity in his eyes. Hermione narrowed her eyes in response.
"How much have you heard?" she inquired.
"Almost all of it," Ron shrugged. "And before you say anything, I agree. Not all Purebloods are bad. Just look at me, for example. I'm Pureblood and not bad, I'm just not particularly connected to tradition," a stupid grin decorated his face. "Muggle history is weird."
Hermione and Harry's amused looks were shattered when they heard the rustle of the fireplace and saw Sirius' head popping out of it.
"You really should have chosen a better place for your secret meeting Harry, but I have to say; A secret DADA group? Colour me impressed," the pride-filled voice of Sirius was heard before anyone could even greet him.
"How did you know?" Hermione gasped in return, which provoked a chuckle from Sirius.
"The Hog's Head? Really?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I- It was better than the Three Broomsticks!" Hermione protested. "Three Broomsticks is always- "
"Always filled with people, which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got a lot to learn Hermione. But that is not important at the moment. As for your little secret, Mundungus - yes, he was the veiled witch - was the one who overheard you, so it's safe."
The former convict's gaze then shifted to Ron. "I was 'ordered' by your mother that you are not allowed to join a group like that in any shape or form," shaking his head, he interrupted Ron's protests and continued, "I don't expect that to work, and I wouldn't want her threats to work either. Honestly, it is a great idea to teach students the proper way to defend themselves. I know James and I would have done the same if that toad you call a teacher had denied us our 'proper education'."
Harry's chest was filled with inexplicable pride at his godfather's praise.
"Anyway, I meant to ask. Any ideas on its organisation? How and where will you all meet?" Sirius inquired with pure curiosity.
"Well, Blaise told us about some room called the Room of Requirement," Hermione explained and caused Sirius' face to light up.
"But of course! That is the perfect place to hold your meetings! But wait, you mean Zabini? The Slytherin your age?" Sirius' face turned from understanding to worry in a split second.
"Y- Yes... We have four Slytherins in the group," whispered Harry and Sirius looked at him speculatively.
"Names." he demanded.
"Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, and Daphne and Astoria Greengrass," was the answer Harry provided and the room fell to silence as Sirius pondered his words.
"Hmmm...it isn't too bad. The Zabinis come from a line of Italian Purebloods and have few connections in Magical Britain, whilst the Greengrasses are a more neutral-leaning traditionalist family that generally chooses to stay out of the limelight, and I've never heard of a Davis. The current Lord Greengrass, Cyrus, is a good bloke," said Sirius slowly, pondering the four names. A comment from Hermione stating that Tracey was a Muggleborn gave Sirius enough of an explanation and provoked his intrigue. "Well, while the Greengrasses were speculated to have connections to the Dark Lord, Albus assured everyone during the last war that they were not connected to him and that the Greengrasses do not ally with anyone easily. So you should be fine with them. Just - tread carefully. You know how most Slytherins are. They might be good, but there are others in that house too."
The trio nodded in understanding - in truth, Sirius didn't even need to remind them.
"I should be going," the older man added, before being suddenly startled by something. He turned his head towards his left, seemingly staring at the bricks before vanishing completely.
The trio gaped at the flames for a moment, as they saw a stubby, short fingered hand with ugly rings appear, trying to grasp at the ashes where moments before, Sirius' head had been. The trio promptly vanished from the common room, having enough for the day and not wishing to be caught by Umbridge.
xxx
Tuesday had come and gone as calmly as could be expected, as the trio continued to reassure the members of their new group that they would be carrying on. Angelina had narrowly managed to convince Umbridge to allow her to reform the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and they'd had a training session that very night, where after several gruelling hours of training, Harry was hit by an explosion of pain emanating from his scar as he waited for Ron to finish in the showers before they returned to the castle. He and Ron had talked about it on their return trip, and Harry spoke to him about how he felt that somehow - he wasn't sure how - he could somehow feel Voldemort's emotions through the scar. After returning to the castle though, they had to drop it as they were press ganged by Hermione into service.
Before they had finished their evening practice, Angelina had gathered the team together and told them how none of the four school teams would have a Quidditch practice the next night, giving them an ample opportunity for a meeting. After Harry and Ron had told Hermione, the trio had called Dobby and asked him how to enter the Room of Requirement, and after getting ample and explicit details, Hermione had sent them to work. Hermione was talking to Ginny, and getting her help with telling the other Gryffindors to meet them on the seventh floor by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy the next night, as Ron was sent to see if the twins had a way to communicate that information to the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. With there only being four Slytherins in their secret defence group, Hermione had despatched Harry to personally tell them.
Having racked his brains throughout their lessons on Wednesday, Harry eventually ended up slipping a note into the elder Greengrass' bag as he pretended to bump into her. Something which had caused her to give him a small glare with her piercing gaze, something that he could not help but find thrilling for some reason.
Hey, I'm trying to give Ancient Runes a try and I was told you were the best student to help me. Could you spare some time to tutor me? I shall be waiting on the seventh floor at seven o'clock. P.
As soon as he had delivered the note he began to doubt himself. There was no way she would believe that would she? Perhaps by trying to cover his tracks in case the letter fell into the wrong hands, he had ended up writing something too vague. What if she had thought it was part of a trap? How was he supposed to approach her then? There was no way he could visit the dungeons; apart from being a Gryffindor, he also happened to be the Boy-Who-Lived and that came with a nasty reputation these days. There was no hope she would come, it seemed. Those thoughts swarmed Harry's mind as he paced impatiently back and forth along the seventh floor corridor, waiting to see if the four Slytherins would appear.
"Ancient Runes, you say?" the amused voice of Daphne Greengrass chimed right beside him, causing him to jump.
"Ah! Yes! Hi, Daphne, I, uh," he paused for a moment to consider his words before speaking again. "I didn't expect you to come, I thought the note was too vague, I mean, yeah." Inwardly, Harry cursed his inability to form coherent speech and instead just gave her an embarrassed smile.
"Quite the contrary," Daphne giggled. "It was actually quite a Slytherin approach coming from you."
Harry shot an eyebrow high enough to replace his scar. "Uhh...thank you? Anyway, I wanted to inform you that we will be meeting in thirty minutes. In the Room. So, if you could approach the rest of your group..."
"We figured as much," said Daphne with something that resembled a smile, before walking back down the seventh floor corridor. Before Harry could voice his confusion to her response, however, the answer came in the forms of Blaise, Tracey and Astoria entering the corridor.
"I have to say, Potter, I am quite happy that my suggestion was accepted," Blaise chimed after he stopped near Harry, extending an arm for a handshake.
"After a bit of research, it is probably the best place to meet. And please, call me Harry," the raven-haired wizard responded, shaking the extended hand of the dark-skinned Italian.
"Call me Blaise then!" With that, the two boys caught up to the girls, who were already standing in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance.
"Do you want to go in already?" Harry inquired and Daphne cocked her head enough to lock eyes with him.
"I expect that a meeting between the rest of the group and ourselves would not quite be conducive to maintaining its secrecy," she responded with a slight quirk of her lip. "We are slimy Slytherins after all."
Harry looked at her for a moment with an almost prideful glint in his eyes. He was glad that Greengrass and her friends weren't affected by the nickname her house members had been bestowed with. With that, he started pacing in front of the empty wall, exactly three times as Dobby said.
'We need somewhere to learn to fight...' he thought. 'Just give us a place to practise... somewhere they can't find us...'
Blaise tapped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. A massive, polished door had appeared in the previously blank space on the wall. He spared a glance around him; the Slytherins seemed ready for this. So was he.
As they pushed open the large polished doors, they were greeted with a large and spacious room. Torches were crammed along the wall, as natural seeming light filtered down from skylights similar to the Great Hall's ceiling spaced out along the vaulted roof of the room, giving more than sufficient light to practise by. There were no chairs, instead large silk cushions littered one corner of the room. The left wall was filled with bookcases, slotted in between the torches that lined that side of the wall. Each of them almost overflowed, crammed to the brim with books or artefacts relating to defence. Harry recognised most of the dark arts detectors from the time he had spent in the fake Moody's office the previous year. Harry momentarily thought about target dummies, and to his surprise, a row of twenty target dummies, almost identical to the Death Eaters who had been at the graveyard appeared along the right wall.
"This is beyond satisfactory," Daphne murmured as she approached the cracked Foe-Glass where it was propped up upon one of the bookshelves. Before anyone else could respond, however, Ron and Hermione entered the room with wide eyes and slackened jaws. Tensely they muttered greetings to the Slytherins - although Harry could have sworn that Ron had swallowed a shot of vinegar as he did so - before spreading out to explore the room. Hermione, of course, had immediately rushed to the bookcases and was soon embroiled in a heated debate with Daphne about them.
Just as they all began to settle and explore the room, Ginny, Neville and a couple of other Gryffindors entered the room. Before they could begin to enjoy it though they spotted the Slytherins, and all five of them barring Neville stiffened at the sight.
To everyone's shock, Neville approached Daphne and gave her a polite, yet friendly greeting. "How are you, Daphne? We haven't spoken since the Summer Solstice," he greeted politely, causing everyone - except for Astoria, Harry and Hermione - to almost physically recoil from shock.
Daphne ignored them.
"I'm quite well, Neville. I am very pleased that you are also a part of this group, but I should have expected it; you always were one to jump at the opportunity to serve a just cause," Daphne then giggled, causing people to raise eyebrows. "If only Aunt Augusta could see you now; she wouldn't be complaining that you are 'soft'. Honestly, Aunt Augusta may be brilliant but she really is blind when it comes to you. You were always like this."
Neville blushed at her words, turning away from her to wave at Astoria who waved back at him. Nevertheless, Harry thought that his classmate stood a bit straighter after Daphne's words.
"Since when do you two know each other?" Ron inquired after he had recovered from the shock and both Neville and Daphne turned to look at him.
"Since we were children, basically," said Neville as he smiled at Daphne and saw her return the gesture. "Gran and Uncle Adrian are siblings," his comment met silence and caused him to elaborate with a sigh. "Aunt Arabella and her husband, Adrian, are Uncle Cyrus' parents; Cyrus Greengrass is Daphne's dad," he elaborated. His face formed an expression that showed he was thinking of fond memories. "Uncle Cyrus was my tutor on customs and etiquette; he also gave me sweets behind Gran's back," he said with a bright smile as he poked his belly. It was significantly less than other years, but it still existed. The mood lightened considerably with his speech - even Ron visibly relaxed as everyone giggled, smiling warmly at even the Slytherins.
Over the next half an hour, the room slowly filled as the rest of the group slowly filtered in. The reactions of people towards the Slytherins within their midst ranged from curiosity by some to outright hostility by others, causing Harry to rub his temples in frustration. He could feel a headache beginning to form.
'This will be a long night,' he thought to himself.
Finally, after every member of the group was in attendance and with a mere thought the massive door made a locking sound and disappeared behind the last person to enter the room. The air was so thick with tension that you could cut it with a knife. Harry glanced around the room as he worked up the courage to speak, receiving reassuring smiles from Neville and Hermione - and a nod from Daphne although just that was enough. Harry cleared his throat.
"Well. This is the place we have found for our practices. I- um...believe you'll find it satisfactory," he started.
"It's fantastic!" Cho exclaimed and murmurs of agreement spread across the room. Daphne shot an odd look towards Cho, narrowing her eyes at her exuberance, something that Harry chose to pay little heed to.
"Hey George, isn't this where we hid from Filch?" Fred asked his twin as he looked around the room.
Harry smiled weakly at the twins and continued. "So- Uhhh, I've been thinking about what we should, er, do, for a first meet- " He saw Hermione's raised hand and sighed. "Yes, Hermione?"
"I think we should elect a leader," said Hermione.
Cho Chang made an attempt to speak, yet her thunder was stolen. "Harry should be the leader, naturally," spoke Daphne with a dismissive hand gesture and a calm, unreadable expression. Cho sulked, irritated that she had been interrupted but made no further move to speak.
"And why should that be, Greengrass?" Zacharias Smith sneered at the Slytherin girl.
"Because he obviously knows more about the subject than any of us do," she shot back in a monotone voice and not so much as a twitch in her facial expressions. "None of us can make a case of being more skilled than Potter."
"What a load of shit," the Hufflepuff spat and stood up. "Imagine having a Slytherin as a cheerleader, Potter. Let me prove to everyone that you are not even an inch of what you are made up to be," he continued, drawing his wand. "Come on, Potter, draw your wand!" Smith hissed as the spectators lined up around the walls of the room, as Harry obliged with a sigh.
"Any bets?" George quipped, as Fred conjured a hat.
Daphne rolled her eyes uncharacteristically at the twins' antics before addressing the raven-haired wizard. "Harry, please don't drag it out like Saturday," she said, causing quite a few heads to turn to her, obvious confusion in their expressions.
"Drag it out? He won't even be able to stand after this. If he had even the slightest bit of skill, Diggory wouldn't be dead," Smith spat, causing Cho to cover her mouth with her hand as Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously - doing nothing to hide the green fire that was slowly raging within them.
"Incendio!" the Hufflepuff cried out, opening up with the fire-making spell, a jet of fire streaming from his wand towards Harry. The crowd of witnesses gasped in surprise, shocked that Smith would try to burn his opponent in the duel.
Harry - despite his anger at Zacharias' accusation - resolved not to use silent magic, seeing it as an opportunity to demonstrate what he would be teaching them. Unflinchingly, as the burst of fire approached him he called out "Glacius Maxima."
In response to his spell, an icy wind erupted from the tip of his wand, encircling the flames, capturing them and redirecting them towards his opponent, wrapping around him like a prison of fire and frozen wind.
"Levicorpus," he followed up - a spell Sirius taught him - the spell passing through the firestorm, taking no small amount of pleasure as he saw the Hufflepuff hoisted into the air by his ankle before casting another spell at the now upside down wizard, freezing him in mid-air.
Harry slowly strode across the room towards the frozen Zacharias Smith, undoing the firestorm as he did so, under the shocked gaze of his audience at the efficiency he had shown in subduing the Hufflepuff. He felt that he had done nothing outstanding, the spells he had used were easy enough to learn and use in combat. That was the difference between him and his would-be students though he supposed, they could pass over some spells, simply ignore their existence. He had to learn every spell in every book that he could get his hands on, for one day, one of them might save his life. Even weak spells like the Freezing Charm and Dangling Jinx could be useful in a fight, even against the Death Eaters, distracting them even just for a split second, allowing him to hit them with something harder. Something permanent.
Harry stopped a metre away from Zacharias, cancelling the two spells that had left him frozen in the air, watching as the seething wizard crashed into the ground at his feet. The wizard immediately tried to renew his assault as he got back on his feet, clumsily throwing a stunning spell at Harry that was silently blocked.
"Depulso!" Harry calmly called out, as Smith was launched off his feet and across the room with force. The trip was short-lived as a quick descending charm saw the Badger violently thrown onto the stone floor of the cavernous room once more, the sound of him groaning in pain echoing across its 's wand had long since left his hand during the journey across the room, signalling the end of the duel.
Walking up to the boy, Harry helped him to his feet and made sure he was alright, and was pleased to see he was relatively unhurt apart from a bruised shoulder and hip. The only thing to truly have been hurt was Smith's pride, but it was more than enough to make him respect the Gryffindor wizard. With a look around the room, Harry saw the shocked but excited faces of his students as Fred and George passed a hat filled with silver and gold coins to Daphne, looking smug as she accepted it with a smile.
"Everyone's bet was in favour of you winning, so I decided to spice it up a little," Daphne explained, after noticing Harry's eyes on her. "My bet was that you'd beat Smith five or less spells. I won that bet handily I would say, so thank you for that Harry."
Fred and George narrowed their eyes at Daphne before talking in their twinned speech.
"I never thought you could act like that-"
"-little snake. Seems the Ice Queen-"
"-isn't made of just ice, after all."
Daphne simply shrugged. "I was under the impression that I was allowed to indulge in such activities?" she asked rhetorically and then addressed the room - after pocketing the money she made from the bet. "So, hands up in favour of Harry being the leader?"
Everyone's hands shot up without hesitation - even Smith's. The sight of their unanimous trust caused a lopsided grin to break out upon his face.
"Right, thanks," he lamely responded to the group in his daze. "So, our les- yes, Hermione," he hissed impatiently as he saw Hermione's hand in the air yet again.
"I believe we ought to have a name," she said brightly without lowering her hand, completely ignoring Harry's ire. "It would make us feel more united and improve our team spirit."
Harry rolled his eyes but let them decide.
"How about the Umbridge Rebellion?" asked Angelina, who had a dreamy expression on her face - looking awfully like Luna as she did so.
"No no, that's stupid," answered Fred and Angelina sent him a death glare which he ignored. "How about the Burn the Ministry Association?"
"That is extremely aggressive," Blaise quipped and Hermione smiled at him in appreciation.
"How about a name that didn't scream our intentions? Something we can use outside of this room, maybe?" said Hermione.
Cho tried to speak, but her thunder was stolen - again - by the Slytherin blonde. "How about the Defence Association? D.A. for short?" spoke Daphne, successfully earning a glare from Cho.
"How about you leave this place snake?" Cho spat. "Why are you four here in the first place? Surely Harry didn't-"
"I did," Harry intervened and Cho turned around to witness his disappointed frown. "They have as much of a right to learn proper Defence as we do. And I will certainly not accept any form of bigotry against anyone in this room. That goes both ways; just as I won't accept abuse from them against any of us, I won't accept abuse from any one of us against them. I believe everyone agrees?" A quick look around proved that everyone was in agreement, if their positive nods were anything to go by.
Cho's face turned red and she sat back down sulking. Whether she wanted to provoke a reaction from anyone - Harry in particular - or she was honestly sulking was anyone's guess.
"So, Defence Association?" Daphne inquired yet again, seemingly unfazed by the Ravenclaw's actions. She was looking at Harry with a weird light in her eyes that Harry couldn't decipher.
Ginny was the first one to answer Daphne. "Yeah, the D.A. sounds nice," she said reluctantly. "But we should give it another meaning; Dumbledore's Army. It's what the ministry fears most, isn't it?"
Her comment provoked a bit of laughter and some amused mumblings of agreement. Hermione also liked it.
"So, all in favour of the D.A.?" the bushy-haired girl asked bossily and all hands shot up once more - except for Cho's as she was still sulking. "That's the majority then!" Hermione continued who stood up and walked to a big notice board on the wall. She pinned the parchment with the signed names and wrote 'DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY' across the top in large letters.
Harry waited for Hermione to sit down again and spoke. "Right. Shall we begin the lesson, then? I believe that the most important spell that a wizard or witch can use is Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm. I know it is basic but I have found it very useful," he explained but paused for a moment to consider his next words. "Expelliarmus was what saved me from Voldemort." Hearing that name aloud caused the entire group to shudder or flinch - only Hermione, who paid no mind and Daphne who simply twitched were the exceptions.
In reality, Daphne was shaken violently by the casual use of the Dark Lord's name, however she would never show that kind of weakness to anyone inside that room.
Harry tried to clear his throat once more, his mouth feeling slightly drier than usual with all of the attention he was getting. "So. I reckon we should split into pairs to train then?"
Everyone in the room stood up and split up into pairs. It was a very odd and slightly nauseating sight for Harry; he had never imagined himself giving orders or direction to anyone. The fact that they were followed immediately was worse somehow. He had come a long way from the small boy living in his Aunt and Uncle's cupboard.
Contrary to his predictions of Neville being left without a partner, Neville paired up with his cousin, Astoria. Blaise and Tracey were already a pair, as was everyone else. His eyes fell on Daphne who was quietly looking at him as she had been left partnerless.
"Uh, you can- umm...practise with me, if that is alright with you." Harry shakily told the blonde and she took the place opposite of him with an amused look. "Right. Everyone, on the count of three. One. Two," he glanced around one last time and saw everyone was ready to begin practising. "Three."
A deafening chorus of "Expelliarmus!" caused him to wince. The sight unfolding right before his eyes was even more chaotic. Blasts of energy slammed into the walls, the air was full of flying wands as several people were flung backwards across the room. Harry frowned. Starting with the basics was for the best it seemed; almost all of those practising suffered from very weak spell-work - apart from some notable exceptions - from wands weakly vibrating in hands to feeble spells that had no effect at all. The sight was proving that Harry would have to follow a very rocky road.
"Expelliarmus!" a female voice close to Harry shouted and he felt his wand getting launched towards Daphne who grabbed it with an expression filled with subtle pride. Not a second later, Neville's cast also launched Astoria's wand from her hand.
"Great work Neville!" Harry shouted and Neville looked at him, beaming with pride. He felt his wand landing on his chest as Daphne threw it at him, and he expertly grabbed it. "You know, you are already quite adept with spell-work. You only used the spell once and it was very successful," said Harry - rather sarcastically - to his sparring partner. For her part, Daphne merely quirked her lip.
"Why don't you help the other pairs?" she inquired and Harry nodded in agreement, leaving her alone to train on a target dummy.
He made a couple of rounds, giving pointers and tips to every pair. Slowly, but surely everyone made great progress. Only Cho continued doing badly, refusing to take Harry's advice to heart, causing him to frown.
Thirty minutes filled with coaching from Harry, Daphne quietly approached the raven-haired boy-turned-teacher and spoke. "I hope you don't intend to keep us past curfew."
At her words, Harry cast a quick Tempus and gasped at the time. He cast an Amplifying Charm on his throat before clearing it, causing everyone to stop casting and turn to look at him. "I believe we have had enough for today. Curfew is up in ten minutes, so we have to hurry. Everyone, great work today."
His words were met with roaring applause, causing him to blush. "Same time next week?" He asked the group.
"No way, I'd say even tomorrow!" said Smith, to the shock of everyone. Even more shockingly, everyone nodded in agreement except for Angelina.
"We also have Quidditch practice guys," she said with a certain sadness in her voice.
"Alright then, the next meeting will take place next Wednesday and we will discuss our plan for more meetings then. Thank you for coming."
Harry, Hermione and Ron let everyone out of the room in groups of three. The last group to leave was Daphne's, the four Slytherins leaving with polite words of farewell and thanks, as the blonde aimed a mysterious smile at Harry, who smiled politely back at her. Eventually, with all of the others gone, the three Gryffindors left, closing the Room of Requirement as they slipped back to their common room..
"That was better than great, Harry!" Ron chattered in excitement as Hermione nodded in agreement.
"I never expected that you would be such a great tutor," Hermione said praisingly, causing Harry to blush - for the thousandth time in one day.
"You are exaggerating," he responded lamely, unable to fully hide his satisfaction and the happiness he felt, provoking laughter from his friends.
During their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry had filtered out Ron and Hermione's constant bickering in favour of watching the Marauder's Map. He was carefully looking over the D.A. members, making sure no one was caught by Filch. Slowly but surely, everyone made their way to their respective common rooms.
His eyes lingered for a moment on Cho's dot on the map, causing him to frown; he never expected such a show of unprovoked hostility from her. It felt disappointing. He shook his head from that train of thought and he continued his observations of the map. Soon enough all of the groups were safely in their rooms, except for the one that had to go to the dungeons.
Harry's eyes landed on Daphne's dot nearing the Slytherin Common Room. As the trio passed the Portrait of the Fat Lady and after one last glance at Daphne's dot, Harry closed the map with a serene smile on his face.