"Daphne."
A familiar voice made her look up from her Runes textbook.
She cocked an eyebrow inquiringly at her friend Tracey Davis. Saying Tracey was just a friend would be a disservice. They were more than just friends. They were best of friends, sisters even, she'd say.
They were born to their respective mothers on the same day and Tracey has Greengrass blood from her father's side. They shared a common birthday and pretty much shared everything from their childhood.
"Is the rumour true?" asked Tracey with wide eyes.
"What rumour?"
"The one that claims you are going out with Harry Potter to the Yule Ball!"
"Oh that… That's true." Daphne said waving away as if that was a silly matter.
"It's true! How did you do it?" asked Tracey excitedly.
If there is one thing Daphne could say about her friend is that Tracey acted like an excitable little fairy most of the time. It was a stark contrast to how Daphne would express herself.
"I negotiated."
That brought Tracey from her heightened state of excitement.
"You did what?" Tracey asked her aghast.
"What did you expect? That my heart would flutter because Potter flashed his green eyes at me."
"Well…I hoped something like that to happen. You were obsessed with Potter after all." Tracey pointed out with her smile returning in full force.
"Then you don't know me as well as you might think." said Daphne, slipping into her bed drawing the curtains around her bed in the process.
"Now, that's rude. Give me more details." Tracey hounded her as she rudely slipped into her bed.
"There are no details. I asked him to accompany me for the Ball and he agreed." said Daphne struggling off Tracey's attempts to draw her in into an embarrassing conversation.
Unfortunately, that didn't seem possible. Rather than being discouraged Tracey let out an excited squeal and proceeded to tackle the Runes book out of her hands.
"You asked Harry Potter out! You asked!" Tracey became far more incorrigible and began grappling with Daphne in her excitement. "I knew you were a hopeless romantic in your heart Daphne. It's no wonder you love those muggle novels."
"Shut up!" Daphne snarled as she pushed Tracey away before grabbing her pillow hiding her head underneath.
"Ha! Don't bother with that Daphne. I can see your cheeks are as red as a tomato."
"Go away. Go bother Zabini." Daphne mumbled.
"Blaise is no fun. He is too stoic sometimes." said Tracey as she pulled back her limbs from Daphne. A frown settled on her face. "In all seriousness though. Malfoy is going to be unbearable."
"Since when have we ever feared what that peacock would do?" asked Daphne as she moved the pillow down to quirk her eyebrow at Tracey.
"Only a fool would fear Malfoy but he can be a nuisance. When he was focused on Potter we had less of a headache from that moron." Tracey pouted, thinking of the constant moaning and bitching Malfoy performed in the Slytherin common room as of late.
"I like the way Potter dealt with him and Snape. It was…." Daphne searched for the right word.
"Marvellous?" Tracey supplied.
"No. It was precise. Potter went straight for the jugular. He knew there was no point in complaining endlessly with McGonagall or Dumbledore. He used his fame as a weapon and struck all his enemies down in a single strike. It was art." Daphne said, reminiscing the days after Potter retaliated.
It was indeed an art. An art of wielding power and channelling it with precision. She knew hardly anyone in Hogwarts that think and act like Potter. Potter had constructed an entire persona and tricked the whole Hogwarts populace to think he was an easily riled Gryffindor. When in truth, Potter was a dangerous and vindictive person.
Potter had outmanoeuvred and uprooted the entire Slytherin House on a whim. When Potter was done with his handiwork, only one seventh year prefect remained standing who had the sense to not wear the 'Potter Stinks' badges. Even Daphne had donned the badge to get Malfoy out of her hair. And for that reason she got all her quills painted pink on a morning. She didn't know how Potter did that but she was sure it was a retaliation from Potter.
Likewise, many of the Slytherins encountered some form of retaliation. Those that reported these attacks to Snape never got around to prove that it was Potter. Potter's hands were clean and somehow the Weasley twins were also not involved. She shuddered to think how Potter had reached into her dorms to do as he wished.
She realized Potter was far more dangerous than he looked at that moment.
For Merlin's sake, Malfoy broke his wand twice this year!
Seriously, who breaks their wands?
That's unheard of which brings up the fact that Potter is a highly vindictive person who held himself back all these years for some reason. She wondered why he played the scared anti-social weakling persona for three years. It was one of the mysteries surrounding Potter. With Potter's knowledge of mind arts, it should not be a surprise that he pulled off such a trick. But, she didn't know Potter was proficient in Mind Arts. Now that she thought of it, Potter must have used the Confundus Charm to corner her near the abandoned classroom.
"So, now comes the most important discussion regarding the Yule Ball." said Tracey who was once again thrumming with excitement.
Daphne merely quirked an eyebrow at her friend.
"Dresses!" Tracey squealed and then began to air off suggestion after suggestion making Daphne sigh and go under the pillowcase to hide from her eccentric friend.
XXXXX
"Haha hahaha…hahaha…Oh Harry you are truly making me proud. Taking a Greengrass to the Yule Ball!"
Harry shook his head as Sirius began to laugh again like a hyena.
"Why is taking a Greengrass to the Ball that much of an issue? I get that she is in Slytherin but I know a couple of Gryffindors with Slytherin partners as a date."
Sirius managed to stop his laughter. "Harry, the Greengrass family are the purists of purists. They won't involve themselves with Half-bloods or anyone they consider to be impure. While they have never fallen so low as to join the Death Eaters they are blood purists."
"Hmm… I think you might be looking this the wrong way. Daphne is just a fourteen-year-old girl. Surely, you don't think she is a bigot just because she is born into the Greengrass family?"
"Obviously, she is not one seeing as she asked you out. I just can't reconcile with the fact that Damien Greengrass' daughter has asked James' son for a date." said Sirius, before proceeding to crack up once again.
"Why? Did you know the guy?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Know him?" Sirius asked incredulously before letting out a huff. "He was one right prick to us. He was a year above us and when he became a prefect the guy had it for us."
"Let me guess. You pranked him and embarrassed him which made an enemy out of him." Harry asked blandly.
"Well….that's about right." Sirius admitted lamely. "But, the guy never let that pass. We weren't even pranking the fellow. He just fell into the trap Prongs set up for Snivellus."
"I see." Harry shook his head and wondered how many potential enemies he would have just because he was related to the infamous Marauders.
"Now, enough about that. I want to know something else about the Potters." said Harry making Sirius raise an eyebrow.
"What do you want to know?" Sirius asked sitting u in interest.
"I want to know everything that you know. Like what happened to my grandparents, are there any Potters left, do I have any relatives in the wizarding world and most importantly where is my house?"
Sirius took taken back before letting out a sigh.
"You really don't know anything about your family?"
"Duh. Dumbledore made sure he has an ignorant pawn for his games. Well, I don't intend to be his pawn any longer. I mean, he had you locked up in Azkaban to have control over me."
Harry took the lack of reaction from Sirius as a credit to his efforts to erode Sirius' remaining loyalty towards the old coot. It was no difficult task either as all he had to do was reinforce the notion that Dumbledore could have easily given him a trial at any point in time if he really wanted to.
He shook those thoughts away and listened keenly as Sirius explained the history of Potters and all the details that he'd need for the time being.
When Harry came out of the Chamber he was a bit disappointed with what he found out. Although, he should have expected as much, as Sirius was not exactly the type of person interested in his own history much less the history of Potters.
Sirius only knew of the recent generation of Potters. He knew Harry's grandparents and his parents. Outside that, he knew scarcely little about the Potters. At least, Sirius knew far more than he did and what little Sirius knew was somewhat useful.
He hoped that there was a family manor or something that'd be of aid to him. Unfortunately, Voldemort had seen to the destruction of Potter's family home in the last war. This means there are no portraits of old Potters to give him any sort of guidance nor was there any home he could move into this coming summer. It also means he could say goodbye to some obscure piece of magic that'd help him in dealing with Voldemort.
Harry had already checked the Family vault of Potters with Dobby's aid for any secret magical knowledge. Outside of gold, silver, jewellery and some furniture, there was nothing in the Gringott's vault. Then again, it has to be kept in mind that wizards are fiercely protective of their style of magic and they refuse to share that with the Goblins. So, the last place a self-respecting wizard would store their hard-earned knowledge of magic will be in Gringotts.
In the end, he was left with Hogwarts library and Slytherin's book collection to combat Voldemort. In a sense, he was not in a better position but he doubted the Potters held any secret weapon that he could use against Voldemort. He had so far not found an ounce of information about Horcruxes in Hogwarts. Even the Room of Requirement didn't provide him much except for a vague explanation of what they are.
What Harry wanted to know was a sure way to kill Voldemort. The present state of Voldemort presented him with a perfect opportunity to kill the guy once and for all. Hunting down the Horcruxes before the Third task would be impossible. So, a sure way of killing Voldemort or even binding the maniac's spirit would have been an ideal solution.
His only hope now remained in Slytherin's collection of books and scrolls. That's why he decided to let Sirius in on the secret library of Slytherin and charged him with translating the whole thing. A job, Sirius was more than glad to take up as Sirius was getting bored out of his mind by doing nothing inside the Chamber.
Sirius had his concerns regarding the shady magic Slytherin's library held though. Harry had to convince his godfather that Slytherin's library could be the key to unlock secrets surrounding Voldemort's apparent immortality. It took quite a bit of arguing to convince Sirius that this was the only way to kill Voldemort for good instead of waiting indefinitely for a miracle to happen.
He had some plans for swimming in the Room of Requirement and check the Egg whether it held the same clue that he was familiar with from the books. But, he decided to postpone the issue altogether and went straight for Gryffindor common room.
"Fairy wings." he said to the Fat Lady – the password to enter the common room.
"Yes, indeed, dear!" the Fat Lady smiled, straightening herself as she swung open to admit him.
Entering the Common Room he saw Ron and Hermione in the middle of a fierce argument.
"What's up with them?" Harry asked Neville who was a bystander to the crazed argument that was going on.
Instead of Neville, it was Ginny who answered his query.
"Oh, it was initially about those flyers Hermione was distributing to everyone. Now, it's anything and everything." said Ginny.
It looked like she was about to say something but then decided to just give him a leaflet. Looking curiously at the leaflet Harry hummed as he read through the lines. Its heading itself gave him all the information he needed to know anyway.
HOUSE ELF LIBERATION FRONT
Slavery is morally wrong and reprehensible. To subject another sentient being to work for your benefit without compensating the being whether it be a wizard, witch, muggle or a sentient magical creature is equal to using the Imperius curse. The House Elves cook our food, clean our dishes and wash our clothes in Hogwarts. I believe these poor creatures must be given pay for the volume of work they do and must be treated with dignity. Some of these creatures are treated quite horribly by their 'masters'.
If you think as I do then join the House Elf Liberation Front, a group of like-minded individuals that work to ensure fair treatment and wages for House Elves.
"All things considered this is not a bad idea. Her first idea was to force the House Elves to free themselves." said Harry as he reread the leaflet. "What's Ron's problem?"
"Don't know. Harry do you have time for helping me with the Summoning Charm?" asked Neville.
"Sure. Let's find a peaceful corner." said Harry looking at Ron and Hermione who were arguing away. "I don't think even Merlin can perform magic with those two around."
AN:
To read in advance; pat(r) eon. C (O) M/Dragonspectre