Chapter 11 - Chapter 10

Wanting to dress casual, Harry put on a plain white t-shirt under a grey sweater, with black trousers and plain black trainers. Next, he put on his casual robes, which were solid black with a hood, and were long enough to reach his shin, but had sleeves that ended halfway down his arm. The robes had been created by Dobby, based on the design of the combat robes Harry had worn in the future. He had also added some minor enchantments that would keep them warm, lightweight, and impervious to dirt and water.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed the stubble growing on his chin and face and used a grooming charm to remove it. He stood back and took in his reflection, and he found himself appreciating the sight. With a smirk, he crossed his arms behind his back and surveyed the state of the Chamber's living quarters, making sure it was ready to accommodate him and Daphne for the next several hours. He noticed the Kit-Kat and Crunch bars lying next to the teacups, which meant Dobby must have acquired them during the night.

Today he intended to finish the story of Voldemort today before starting the story of their own lives together. He audibly sighed, wondering to himself how Daphne would react to everything.

He decided it was best not to think about that for now. He picked up his glasses from the desk and called for Dobby to bring him to his bed in the Slytherin dorms. Once he got there, he could tell his dormmates were still asleep by the sounds of their snoring. He snorted at the racket they were making, and with a shake of his head he made his way to the common room.

The events of the previous evening were still fresh in his mind, including the not-so-subtle interrogation by his dormmates regarding the status of his relationship with Daphne. They seemed a little too eager to gossip, which made Harry even less inclined to give them any details. He told them that he and Daphne had just started dating that afternoon, but left it at that. The other boys clearly wanted to know more, but eventually accepted that Harry wasn't in the mood to share.

One of the best parts about getting up early on the weekend was that the common room was usually unoccupied. He sat down in one of the chairs near the fireplace and absently stared into the flames as he considered the next stages of his plans. Recent events had him re-evaluating his strategy, at least in regard to Voldemort.

In particular, he was reconsidering the need to kill Voldemort with witnesses around. The idea had merit, but simply destroying all the Horcruxes and killing the bastard before he could reincorporate would be so easy, almost effortless. The events of yesterday had made the headmaster even more wary of him, which made Harry wonder if the original plan was worth the risk. In order for it to work, the rest of the tournament would need to play out more or less exactly as it had before. If an increasingly suspicious Dumbledore chose to meddle further, who's to say how that could affect events going forward?

Ultimately, he decided against altering his plans. He would need influence in the future if he were to achieve his long-term goals, and what better way than to publicly vanquish a powerful enemy? Dumbledore himself was a prime example of this, having translated the notoriety gained from defeating Grindelwald into becoming arguably the most influential wizard of the age. He decided it might be a good idea to pay Voldemort a visit at Riddle Manor and put him under a Veritas Imperio spell, just to make sure there would be no unexpected complications. He could even save himself a trip and take care of the ring Horcrux on the same night.

After letting his mind wander for bit, his thoughts turned to the Yule Ball. He and Daphne both had everything they needed, and he had to admit he was very much looking forward to it. He was determined to make everything perfect for her, and actually enjoy himself this time around. They still had over a week to go before the event, but time would fly by quickly, especially considering all the time he'd be spending explaining his past to Daphne.

Daphne... He was pleased with how well she was taking everything, especially considering how unbelievable most of it must sound to her. While her discovery of his secret had been a mere accident, she'd allowed him to explain himself, and had chosen to believe his story. He knew he could never lie to her, but she couldn't be sure of that, and yet she was still willing to trust him. Harry decided he needed to give her something more for Christmas beyond the gift he was already planning. She definitely deserved it.

~BREAK~

Daphne woke up gently, the memories of the previous day flooding her as she laid in her bed. She smiled to herself as she thought back to the time spent with her new boyfriend, then frowned when she remembered the inquisition she was subjected to the previous night. She was cornered in her dorm by Tracey, Millie, Pansy, her own sister and two of her friends, two fifth years and a sixth, all of whom decided they absolutely had to know details. She ended up having to tell them all about their lunch date and their first kiss, which made the other girls all sigh wistfully.

Tracey then had to bemoan the money wasted on her newest acquisition, the Persistent Mistletoe that she bought at Zonko's specifically for the two of them. The now-useless mistletoe was supposed to hover above them and prevent them from separating until they kissed.

Daphne got up out of bed and went to take a quick shower. While she was showering, she thought back to everything Harry had told her about his alternate past. Even the hot water wasn't enough to prevent her from shivering at the memory of him dueling Voldemort in the graveyard. For a fourteen-year-old, Harry had been absolutely incredible. Very few could claim to have gone up against the Dark Lord and lived, regardless of their age.

She was really looking forward to hearing the rest of his story. She was especially curious to hear more about how they first got together in his original timeline, and what their relationship together had been like. Then again, she was fairly certain that their story didn't have a happy ending. She thought back to what Harry had said the day before.

"I lost you, and I wasn't able to deal with it..."

The notion that she was destined for an untimely death frightened her, but whatever fear she felt quickly disappeared when she remembered what else he said.

"That's why I worked for years on designing a ritual that would bring me back, all so I could be with you again and prevent it all from happening."

Harry had come back for her. How could she not feel safe with someone who had gone to such great lengths just to protect her? She smiled as she thought back to the memory of their wedding, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and a tear of happiness ran down her cheek. She wasn't sure what to expect from today, but Harry had promised to tell her everything, and she was anxious to get started.

Daphne dried herself off and went back to her room to get dressed. She put on a simple black skirt with a warm green sweater, then threw on her dark green satin winter robes with the sheepskin lining. More than anything, she wanted to be comfortable today. She applied a bit of makeup and put on her shoes, then went down to the common room to wait for Harry.

She was surprised to see that Harry was already there, sitting by the fire and gazing into the flames with a pensive expression. She almost felt like she was interrupting something. The air surrounding him seemed thicker, like she was somehow feeling the magic swirling around him. She would swear that the flames in the fireplace were burning stronger than she had ever seen them.

She took a few steps towards him, and he must have sensed her coming because he instantly turned back to her. His intense look was quickly replaced by a smile, and he stood from his seat and went to give her a good morning kiss on the cheek.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked with a smile, accepting his invitation to sit by his side.

"I did. How about you?" he replied, and she nodded.

"Did your roommates give you any trouble?" he asked.

She scowled and started counting off names with her fingers, "Tracey, Millie, Pansy, Astoria and two of her friends, Isabella Miller and Sophie Marbrand, Grace Steele and Hanna Newborne from fifth year, and a sixth year, Julie Murton." She explained all about how she had to tell the girls what had happened during their date, and how they were now officially a couple.

"Apparently, my sister thinks I'm a very lucky girl."

Harry scoffed at that. "Tell Tori that if anyone's the lucky one, it's me," he said, Daphne raising her eyebrow at the casual use of her sister's nickname.

"What? We were family, remember?"

Daphne chuckled and nodded.

"So, how would you like to do this?" he asked her. "I have everything prepared for our talk downstairs. I suggest we go to breakfast first, then maybe take a quick walk, and then we can go down to the Chamber."

"I can agree to that," she replied, and he rose from his seat and offered her his arm, which she took gladly.

"Are you sure you're fine? With what I told you yesterday, I mean?" he asked her, his expression changing to one of concern. She looked at him and nodded.

"I'll admit, some of it is quite scary. I have no idea what you'll tell me today, but I know I won't like it, especially hearing about how I…" she started, trailing off for a moment before recovering. "…I don't know, I'm nervous, but I know I'll be alright because you're here with me. I feel safe with you, for some reason."

He smiled at her softly and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "If you need something, Daph, please just let me know. You're dealing with this better than I expected, but parts of what I have to tell you will be hard, and I want to make you as comfortable as possible."

She gave him a reassuring smile and they walked out of the common room, sharing a laugh about last night's conversations with their dormmates. They were halfway to the Great Hall when they came across Peeves, who was writing rude messages on the walls with a piece of chalk.

"Potter and Greengrass, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Peeves glided around for a bit repeating his song, then approached Harry with a huge grin on his face.

"The twins have a stash of fireworks hidden on the second floor, near the painting of Anaclet of Sodonia," the poltergeist said, and Harry's lips curled into a vicious grin.

"Can you take it to a secret location? We can use them to set off a wakeup call when the next term begins." Peeves grinned and pretended to consider it.

"So Peevesie does all the hard work again? Peevesie should have a reward."

"Fine, I'll get you a box of dung bombs. Two if you..." started Harry, but Peeves interrupted him.

"Peeves promises not to use the bombs on the snakeys. At least not on purpose," he said, putting on his best innocent look.

"That's all I ask," Harry replied, and Peeves gleefully cackled as he glided away.

"You enjoy pranking the dorks too much," she said with a mock sigh, though her smirk betrayed her.

"Daphne, how could you even think I would do such a thing?" Harry said, feigning indignation. "I never said anything about pranking only the dorks."

Daphne smiled and shook her head in amusement. "I don't even want to know."

"That's good, gives you plausible deniability," he replied, and Daphne chuckled.

"I thought you were supposed to be wise and mature," she teased. "Why all the pranking?"

He shrugged.

"I like to think that I am, but I am also a fourteen-year-old boy again. My soul may be older, but I definitely feel different since I've come back in time, like being back in my younger body has affected my personality."

"Besides," he said, a cold smirk creeping onto his face, "There are plenty of people here who are owed revenge for their misdeeds, and the dorks happen to be at the top of my list. Very few of them are innocent. It wouldn't do for me to curse them to death while we're in school, would it?"

Daphne decided she would keep that information to herself, but humoured him by saying, "No, I suppose pranking them will have to suffice for the time being."

Something that had been puzzling her for a while now was Harry's unbridled hate for the Gryffindors. Much of it was justified by the way they'd treated him after his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, but Daphne felt like there was something deeper there, and she wanted to know why. She was almost positive that something else had happened between them that she wasn't yet aware of.

They reached the Great Hall and found that it was still mostly empty, with only a few younger students from other houses there eating breakfast, along with the Beauxbatons champion and some of her friends, and a couple of Durmstrang boys. They paid them no mind and sat face to face at the Slytherin table.

"What do you think will happen now, after yesterday?" Harry asked, filling two cups with tea. Daphne took one and added sugar to hers.

"I don't know, really," she replied, looking up at Harry. "But I do know that all the girls that visited me last night couldn't stop talking about you. Keep in mind that most of them are from neutral families, or at least supposedly neutral. I think your fangirl club grew by a quite a lot last night."

"Joy," he mumbled sarcastically, and Daphne smirked.

"Astoria asked me if they could see the Chamber," Daphne hesitantly revealed. "I told them they had to ask you, but I also warned them that the Chamber is a refuge and not a tourist attraction."

"I see," he replied thoughtfully. "I'd prefer not to bring others down there, but if too many start asking I may not have a choice," he mumbled. "But let's not talk about that now." Harry drew his wand and cast the same silencing ward he had used the previous night.

"I never got a chance to tell you yesterday, but I was able bring my uncles on side and recruit them to help me with the tournament," Harry said. "We were also able to go to Gringotts and claim my lordship," he added, and Daphne saw the Potter family ring momentarily shimmer into existence on his finger. "We were also able to secure evidence of Sirius's innocence, which was relayed to the DMLE, and I expect that soon there will be an official statement about my godfather's fate."

"That's good to hear," she replied, buttering a piece of toast. "But what if the Ministry doesn't act on the evidence?"

"Sirius will be free by the end of the year," Harry said forcefully, and Daphne saw that his eyes were flaring again. "By the end of this school year it will all be done, and we can finally have the life that was denied us."

At first, Daphne wasn't sure if he was just referring to him and his uncles, or if he was including her in that statement. However, her moment of self-doubt was short lived.

"I expect both my uncles will be around quite a bit, and they may even stay with us for a time. Remus is a werewolf who takes his wolfsbane. Is that a problem for you?" he asked her, and she shook her head.

"He's not less of a person for it. As long as he takes his potions, he shouldn't be dangerous, but I won't be in the same room as him the night of the transformation," she replied, and Harry nodded satisfactorily. He could live with that.

"Very well, then," Harry said with a happy smile that reminded her of the Harry from the marriage memory.

"By the way, there was something I meant to ask you before. Who were the lady and child at your side in the memory of our wedding?" asked Daphne.

"Andromeda Tonks née Black, Sirius Black's cousin and my honorary grandmother after the war. The little brat was her grandson Teddy Lupin, my godson. He was the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, both of whom died in the war. Teddy was a Metamorphmagus just like his mother, but luckily didn't inherit any werewolf traits from his father. For all intents and purposes, they were the only family I had left. Apart from you, of course."

"Metamorphmagus?" she asked in surprise, and Harry nodded his head once in confirmation. "Wow, that's an incredibly rare talent," she said, then noticed his expression turn sullen. "What happened?"

"Teddy died," Harry replied flatly. His eyes briefly flared in anger, though it was clearly not directed at her. "I will tell you all about it, of course." She nodded, and they went back to their breakfast. Harry started again.

"Yesterday, I told you about my fifth year, including the Ministry targeting me, Umbridge, and the DA. One thing I forgot to mention was that Umbridge also was installed as the Hogwarts 'High Inquisitor' by the Ministry, which essentially meant she got to inspect all the classes and make edicts forbidding clubs and such, generally making life at school unpleasant.

While the DA was formed in response to Umbridge, you and I had a different club of our own, where we were the only members. I worked with you on DADA, and you taught me about my station in our world, wizarding culture, and formal pureblood protocol. That was when I gave you access to the Chamber, and we were even able to set an alternate password just for you, so you could enter on your own."

"Why not use Dobby?" Daphne asked.

"Back then, I hadn't bonded with Dobby yet. The bonding only occurred in our seventh year, or what should have been our seventh year."

"And what do you mean by that?" she asked, her eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Patience, Ms. Greengrass," he teased, with a wry grin. She huffed at him and nodded, but he could tell she was only half serious about being annoyed.

"Between the two of us, we were able to transform the Chamber into our personal training area. We also started exploring Salazar's library in earnest, and I can assure you, we learned loads from it. Our partnership worked very well. Yesterday you asked me about us, right?" he asked. She nodded with a small blush, and Harry smiled fondly back at her.

"Let it be said that up until that point I was a complete disaster with girls. I'd never even gone on a proper date before. That year, Cho Chang asked me out for Valentine's Day." He scowled a bit as he said it, but not nearly as much as Daphne did, though she remained silent. "I figured she wanted me to be her rebound guy, after Cedric. Well, I said no because I had plans with you," he told her, then added with a small smile, "Plans that were most assuredly NOT a date."

"You'd mentioned a few times that you weren't planning on dating while still in school, but I wanted to spend time with you, so I decided I needed to be a little sneaky to get what I wanted," he said, Daphne hanging on his every word. "We made plans to meet in the Chamber that morning and work on our schoolwork, which we did. We practiced dueling for a bit afterwards, then ended up staying down there and talking for most of the afternoon. After a while we started getting hungry, but I knew that if we went to the Great Hall, we'd have to go our separate ways. So instead, I suggested we go to the kitchens. You agreed, and the house-elves set up a small table for us, and we were able to finally eat together without worrying about being seen. We had a great day together, and after our meal you gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me to keep it up, because our not-date was actually pretty good," he recalled with a smile. "I had a shit-eating grin for days after that," he added, and they both chuckled.

Daphne had been watching Harry's smile slowly get bigger as he recounted the story. While he spoke, she was picturing what he was describing in her mind and happened to agree with her other self's assessment.

"Of course, you knew what I was doing from the very beginning, but you went along with it anyway. I believe your exact words were, 'I'll make a proper Slytherin out of you yet'. You did, by the way." They both smiled at that, then Harry got quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking of what to say next.

"We started getting even closer from that day on," he started, "but nothing actually happened between us until after our OWLS. That was when the Battle of the DOM happened. Sirius died, I blamed myself, and I was a total mess when we got back to school. I don't know exactly how it happened, but somewhere between chewing me out for being stupid and comforting me, you kissed me. We started dating that night."

As nice as it was to hear about their first kiss in Harry's alternate past, Harry's story just raised another, more pressing question.

"What was the Battle of the DOM?"

With a sigh, Harry started explaining, "Before I can fully answer that, we have to go back a bit. First, do you remember me telling you about my mental connection with Voldemort?"

"You mentioned it briefly. That's why Dumbledore wanted you to learn Occlumency, correct?" Daphne replied.

"Yes, the old man's theory was that backlash from the failed Killing Curse created a connection between us. The truth turned out to be much more sinister, but I'll get to that later. One of the ways the connection manifested was that I would sometimes get visions of whatever Voldemort was doing. As if that wasn't bad enough, whenever I saw a vision, my scar would hurt so badly that I'd almost pass out."

"Not a pleasant experience," he added, at Daphne's horrified expression.

"Right before Christmas, I had a vision of Mr. Weasley being attacked by Voldemort's snake. I managed to alert Dumbledore, who was able to get help to him just in time to save his life. It was because of that incident that he decided I had to learn Occlumency from Snape, though he never bothered explaining why. Had it not been for you, I never would've learned it properly."

"It didn't matter in the end, though," Harry said bitterly.

"Voldemort easily crushed my defences, thanks to the bloody link. He managed to send me a false vision of him torturing Sirius in the Department of Mysteries." Daphne groaned and hid her face in her hands, already able to predict the rest of the story.

"Tell me you bloody didn't," she asked heatedly. Harry looked slightly abashed, but remained silent.

"Well?"

"I'm not going to lie..." he said.

"You bloody fool," she hissed angrily. "What could have possibly possessed you to do something so foolish?"

"Sirius was my last remaining family, along with Remus. I tried to floo call him, but his bastard house-elf answered and told me Sirius wasn't there. I took it the wrong way and..." Harry hesitated, as he wasn't looking forward to telling her the rest of the story, but Daphne's impatient glare persuaded him to just get it over with.

"I got the vision of Sirius being tortured during our History of Magic OWL, which was our last one. I left the Great Hall with the exam unfinished, but my scar hurt so badly that I barely made it without collapsing. I ran outside in a complete panic, determined to get to London and rescue Sirius. Granger talked me into trying to contact him first, so we broke into Umbridge's office and used her floo – that's when his elf lied to me. You probably would've been able to talk some sense into me, but I never found you, and we ended up riding Thestrals to the Ministry."

"Thestrals?" Daphne asked curiously. "And who's we?"

"We'll study Thestrals next year; they're a type of winged horse that can only be seen by those who have witnessed death," Harry explained. "I planned to go alone, but Granger, Longbottom, Weasel, Weaselette, and Luna Lovegood insisted on going with me."

Daphne's irritation at Harry's brashness deflated when she saw the pained look on his face. She took his hand and tried to look at him reassuringly.

"Tell me everything."

He did. He told her how they flew to the Ministry and found the Hall of Prophesy within the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. Daphne was awed by his description of how he and 5 other school children managed to thwart an ambush and hold their own against a dozen Death Eaters.

Harry recounted how the Order of the Phoenix arrived to help, including his godfather. His eyes took on a faraway look as he described how the curse from Bellatrix Lestrange blasted Sirius through the fabled Veil of Death, never to be seen again. Being on the other side of the table, all she could do to comfort him was squeeze his hands and remind him she was there.

He went on to tell her about his failed attempt to cast a Crucio on Bellatrix, and how Voldemort appeared and tried to kill him again, only for Dumbledore to come to the rescue. Hearing that Voldemort actually tried to possess him, only for Harry to fight him off once again, was almost too much for her to take. The Aurors finally showed up, the Minister saw Voldemort with his own eyes, and Harry and the others were sent back to the school.

Harry finished his tale by recounting the scene in the headmaster's office, where Dumbledore revealed the full prophesy to Harry. The prophesy that had been made about Harry before he was even born. The prophesy that had been given directly to Dumbledore himself, who, instead of preparing Harry for his inevitable confrontation with the Dark Lord, decided to leave him in the dark - just because he wanted him to have a childhood?

Daphne couldn't find the words to describe what she was feeling. Maybe she should've expected something like this after seeing the memory of the graveyard, but it was still completely overwhelming. And fact that there was an actual prophecy about Harry was...insane…what else could she possibly say? Just thinking about the prophesy and Dumbledore withholding it from Harry made her furious.

"What was that damn fool playing at?" she hissed, and Harry shook his head.

"What is that damn fool playing at, Daph," Harry corrected. "I gave up trying to understand him a long time ago," he said with a shrug. "Part of me thinks that decades of being the de facto leader of Magical Britain warped his mindset. He genuinely wants to do the right thing, but he keeps too many secrets and often loses sight of the individual when contemplating the big picture. He did try to make up for it by taking a more active role with me in our sixth year."

"That doesn't justify the rest," she snapped.

"No, it doesn't. I never said I forgave him, mind you," he replied with a smirk.

"Good," she replied, letting go of his hands. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"With you? Always," he replied with a grin, which she happily returned. Harry dropped the wards, but before they could stand up and leave, Fleur Delacour approached from behind Harry.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Potter. Could I speak wiz you?"

Harry turned around to see the silvery-blonde Veela looking down at him with a pleasant smile. He scowled as he felt her allure focused on him.

"I did tell you to mind your allure, didn't I?" asked Harry, rising from his seat at the same time as Daphne. "And no, you can't, because I have plans to spend the day with my beautiful girlfriend." Daphne smirked at the gobsmacked look on the French champion's face.

"I know what you're trying to do," Harry said coldly, taking a step towards her. Fleur gulped, though she would be lying if she said she didn't also feel some excitement. "You're looking for a powerful partner, someone who can endure your allure, correct?" Fleur surprised Daphne by nodding in agreement. "Well, I'm not available. Even if I was, what makes you think that I would even give you the time of day after the way you've acted towards me?"

Harry turned away without another word and nodded to Daphne, then they both headed towards the exit, leaving a perplexed Fleur Delacour rooted to the spot.

Once they reached the corridor outside of the Great Hall, Daphne turned back to Harry. "You knew her, didn't you?" she asked, a hint of apprehension in her voice. Harry waved his wand around them again, raising the silencing ward.

"Yes, I knew her. She was a friend of ours for a while, until..." Harry hesitated.

"Tell me," Daphne implored.

"It's in a Veela's nature to seek out powerful mates. They want someone who can withstand their allure, so they can be themselves without turning their partner into a drooling mess. And no, that didn't happen last time - I wasn't this powerful before." Daphne scoffed. No, he wasn't powerful at all...he just won the Triwizard Tournament and survived a duel against Voldemort by pure luck. Idiot.

Ignoring Daphne's sarcastic snort, Harry continued, "She married an Englishman at the beginning of our seventh year, and he seemed to be all she wanted. But then her sister-in-law was an accomplice to a crime and was killed in retribution. Eventually, Fleur's husband and some of his brothers decided they were going to avenge their sister, but instead they all died at the hands of the one they wanted to kill," Harry explained. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that the crime was Daphne's own murder, and that Ginny Weasley was the accomplice. Bill Weasley was slaughtered by the Dark Lord Potter in his failed attempt at revenge, along with his brothers Fred, George, and Percy.

Daphne raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"Fleur had been friends with the victim and refused to excuse her sister-in-law's actions, which was a source of conflict within the family. After her husband's death, she fled to France with her children. I never saw her much after that, but she would be less than polite to me whenever I did."

Daphne considered Harry's story and started to form her own theory, but she decided to wait for more information before drawing any definite conclusions. She nodded and took Harry's hand, then they left the castle and started walking towards the lake.

It was a nice, sunny day, and as warm as one could hope for Scotland in December. They had been quietly enjoying their stroll through the grounds for several minutes, when Daphne suddenly spoke up. "Could you show me the memory?" she asked, startling Harry. "I mean the memory when you and I kissed, after your godfather..."

"Oh, right, that one! Sure, of course," he replied. Daphne noticed he'd looked briefly panicked at her question, something she made a mental note of.

"That was weird," she thought to herself.

"Remind me when we're back in the Chamber, will you?" She nodded, then asked him to continue his story. Harry conjured two comfortable chairs for them, then invited Daphne to sit in one while he sat in the other. He twirled his wand one more time, again raising the privacy wards.

"You know, I don't recognise that spell," Daphne said, having meant to ask about it before.

"No, you wouldn't. It's not something you'd find in any book," Harry replied with a teasing grin. She responded by folding her arms and giving him a critical look.

"And why is that?" she asked, the look on her face making him chuckle.

"Because I invented it myself," he replied, which took her by surprise.

"Really?"

Harry nodded. "The spell creates a warded area that's keyed to specific magical signatures. That basically means that when I raise the ward, I key us both into the actual ward structure. Once the ward is up, I can't add anyone else to it, nor can anyone not keyed into it join us. If someone came and sat down in between us, they'll still hear nothing."

Daphne was amazed, but Harry just shrugged.

"I had a lot of free time... I figured I had better do something useful. It was a shame I never shared my knowledge with anyone. I'm hoping it will be different this time, though," he remarked, making eye contact with her as he said it. Daphne understood that he meant her, and she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious, even if she did appreciate his faith in her.

"I would be honoured if you shared your knowledge with me," she said with a small blush.

"And I would be honoured if you'd let me share it with you," he replied with a small smile. Daphne squeezed his hand, and Harry caressed hers with his thumb. He didn't say anything else for some time. He just sat there holding her hand, watching her as if she might disappear at any moment.

"What's wrong?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

"I'm just enjoying this," he replied, the smile reappearing on his face. "Sometimes I can hardly believe that it worked, and that I'm actually here, with you," he said, with obvious emotion in his voice. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye, but Daphne barely saw it.

She wasn't used to this kind of attention. She never thought of herself as being particularly remarkable, yet Harry treated her like she was the most important person in the world to him. "Why? Why do I mean so much to you?" she asked, now looking at the ground.

"Where did magic come from?" Harry asked rhetorically. "No one knows – it just is. Why do I care so much about you? Why are you my everything? I don't know, it just happened – it just is."

"But I'm... I'm me," she said, feeling her eyes start to water. "One month ago, we barely knew each other, but now you've time travelled from the future, we're together, and now you're telling me about your past, which was supposed to be my... our future. You're changing it for the better, I'm sure, but..." She shook her head as she trailed off, wiping the tear from her eye.

"What if I don't become what she was?" Daphne asked timidly. "What if I can never be the person you fell in love with? How can I ever live up to the woman from your memories?

"Do you know what the difference is between you and my future Daphne?" Harry asked, turning to her with serious expression. "Your age," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You can be everything you were in my past life, and more, if that's what you want. It's your choice. It's always our choice, Daph, just like it was my choice to come back to you. I made my decision because even if I failed, I would be happy knowing I tried everything I could to be with you, instead of just accepting our fate and praying we'd be together again in the afterlife."

Daphne held her breath and wiped away another tear, while Harry stood from his chair and looked out over the lake, his arms crossed behind his back.

"You were foolish. You could have died, or disappeared forever," she said, though there wasn't much conviction behind her words.

"True," he replied, turning slightly back to her. "But I had nothing left to lose, and guess what - it worked," he said, turning back to the lake. "And it has been more than worth it."

Daphne jumped up from her chair and threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. He could feel her sobs and held her tightly to him, kissing the top of her head.

"Don't be stupid anymore, please," she mumbled. He didn't reply, he just kept holding her and caressing her back.

"Harry, look at me," she said, pulling back slightly. They gazed into each other's eyes, then they both leaned in and shared their most emotional kiss to date. Daphne rested her head on his chest again, and for a while they just stood by the lake holding each other, until Daphne broke the silence.

"Tell me about your sixth year," she requested, not moving from her spot.

"Over the summer I found out I was named Heir Black by Sirius's will. I also learned that my entrance in the Triwizard Tournament caused me to be legally emancipated, so even though I was only sixteen I was able to claim the titles of both Lord Potter and Lord Black. I kept that a secret, of course, sharing it with only with you and Dumbledore. My name then officially became Harry James Potter-Black."

That caught Daphne by surprise, but she didn't react.

"So, there I was, lord of two houses and once again heralded as a hero, yet I was still being held prisoner at the Dursley's. Eventually, Dumbledore came by and recruited me to help convince an old professor called Slughorn to return to the school. We succeeded, and the old man sent me to the Weasleys for the rest of the summer. I would've rather been with you, of course, but we did exchange letters every day."

"We met up on the train, and let's just say we had an enthusiastic reunion in an empty compartment," he said with a grin. Daphne felt her face flush, but luckily Harry couldn't see it. "We stayed there together for quite a while before going back to rejoin our respective groups. I don't know about you, but when I got back, I was bombarded by questions about where I'd been, though I didn't answer."

"Anyway, when we got back to school, we found out that Snape had been named DADA teacher that year. I had assumed we were recruiting Slughorn for DADA, but as it turns out, Slughorn was actually Snape's Potions teacher."

"Yes, it's a known name," she said, her head still buried in his chest.

"Are you going to stay like that?" he asked.

"Yes. Keep going," she replied.

"Fine... So, you brought it to my attention that Malfoy was acting strangely, and you decided to investigate what he was up to. It was around the same time that I started having special lessons with Dumbledore."

"Better late than never," Daphne mumbled, which made Harry snort. She unburied her face from his chest and asked, "What?"

Harry scowled and said, "We only met once a week, and for the first three months all we did was watch memories about Tom, supposedly to help understand him better." Daphne couldn't believe it.

"Please tell me you're kidding," she asked, but he didn't say anything. "No combat training? No special spells?"

"Nothing like that at all. I did learn a lot about Tom, though. His mother was Merope Gaunt a near-squib who lived in a run-down shack with her brother Morfin and their father Marvolo. She ensnared a local muggle squire with a love potion, then had the brilliant idea to stop giving him the potion after getting pregnant. He immediately left her, of course."

"Merope died during childbirth, and Tom was dumped in a muggle orphanage. Dumbledore himself came to tell him about Hogwarts, and at eleven, Tom was already a pretty scary kid. He was unnaturally cruel for a child, and he had already learned to control his magic, even before he was told that magic was real."

"He came to Hogwarts and was widely considered prodigy. Dumbledore was the only one who was wary of him. As you might expect, he quickly rose to power in Slytherin, especially once he learned he was descended from Salazar himself. I imagine that happened around the time he found the Chamber of Secrets, but I'm not positive."

Knowing what he later became, Daphne thought the tale of young Tom Riddle was somewhat fascinating, and she admitted as much to Harry. "I agree," he answered, "Though we really could've gone through it all in one weekend. Anyhow, it turned out that all that was leading up to the task Dumbledore wanted me to take on. He asked Slughorn for a memory of one of his interactions with Tom, but Slughorn tampered with it because he was ashamed of what it showed. My task was to retrieve the unaltered memory."

"This ought to be good," Daphne mumbled.

"It did not go well…at first. He was already interested in me because of who I was, and with the help of an old note-filled Potions book, I became his best student. I thought that if I could get close to him, I could convince him to give me the memory, but every time I asked about it, he would distance himself from me. I did eventually succeed, but it was all thanks to you."

"Some say Granger is the smartest witch of our age, but they have no idea what you can do, my beautiful, cunning snake," he added with an appreciative smile, making Daphne blush again.

"We were both invited to a party for Slughorn's 'Slug Club', which he held to socialise with influential people and make contacts. We each went alone, but were able to talk to each other during the party, and even danced a few times. Our excuse was that there were no houses that night, only alliances in the making. You can't imagine how ecstatic Slughorn was after hearing that."

"I distracted him while he was showing me around, and you cast a Compulsion Charm on his glass to make sure he would get good and drunk. Between his inebriated state and the help of another Compulsion, convincing him to give me the memory was easy. We made sure he wouldn't be able to remember what happened, then went back and enjoyed the rest of the party."

Daphne wasn't sure whether to be impressed or amused, so she settled on a combination of the two. Harry seemed to know what she was thinking.

"All your plan," he said. "You were tired of seeing me fail, so you decided to help me."

"I knew about your special lessons?" she asked, and Harry nodded.

"Of course, you did. I told you everything," Harry said, and she nodded appreciatively. "The memory, however, revealed a horrible secret. Tell me Daphne, what do you know of Horcruxes?"

Daphne narrowed her eyes.

"I have never heard of such a thing."

"I know," he said with a smirk. "Future you didn't either. Horcrux is the name for an object that houses a part of a person's soul. A wizard can tear his soul by committing murder, and then take advantage of the damage by using a dark ritual to split off a portion of the soul and encase it in an object. As long as the object remains intact, the maker is anchored to the world of the living, even if their body suffers fatal damage. A wizard with a Horcrux is essentially immortal, and Riddle made several."

"A piece of soul? But that...that's disgusting!" she said. Having been raised in a magical home, she was taught to believe that the soul was sacred, and to tamper with it was a heinous act. "You said several? Then, that means that he survived that night because he had...?" Daphne quickly concluded.

"Voldemort had already made several Horcruxes before that night," Harry nodded. "Slughorn's memory revealed that he intended to split his soul into seven parts, seven being the most powerfully magical number. We believed that he intended to use my death to make his final Horcrux. Fortunately, whatever my mother did saved me and destroyed his body, reducing him to a formless wraith." Daphne was shivering in disgust, but then her eyes suddenly grew wide.

"The diary!" she gasped, and he smiled at her deduction.

"Yes. That was the very first one he created."

"Have you destroyed them all already?" she asked, her voice still filled with disgust. He shook his head.

"We never knew if he felt the destruction of his Horcruxes. I've collected several, but I'm still missing three. I intend collect the rest soon and destroy them all at once, before striking him down once and for all."

"What are they?" she asked, and he started to count them.

"There's the diary, which was destroyed. There's the Gaunt ring; I know where that is, I just haven't had a chance to retrieve it. Hufflepuff's cup is in the Lestrange vault in Gringotts, and I have Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem and Slytherin's locket already in my possession. He even turned his snake Nagini into one, and she's usually with him. The last one was made purely by accident...and was me," Harry said, and Daphne gasped in horror.

"Turns out that extracting a piece of a soul from an item and moving it to another is relatively easy, if you know what to do," Harry said with a smile, caressing a still-shocked Daphne. "One of the first things I did when I came back in time was extract the piece of soul from my scar and move it into one of Dobby's old socks." Daphne was stunned speechless, and just kept looking strangely at Harry.

"But... But..."

"Like I said, I had plenty of spare time and did a lot of research," Harry said, and Daphne huffed.

"You carried a piece of Voldemort's soul with you all this time?"

"In my scar, yes," he replied, pointing at it. Daphne noticed that a faint outline was all she could see of the famous scar. "Without it, the scar is mostly gone. My eyesight even improved a bit, though I still needed to heal myself before I could go without glasses. The Horcrux leeched off of my magic and was the source of the link between Voldemort and me, though neither of us knew it."

"It's gone?" she asked, and he nodded reassuringly.

"I'm storing them in one of the locked containers, which is why I told you not to touch them. Those things are very dangerous - they could even attempt to possess you," he told her, which she accepted, trusting him and his reasons.

"What else, then?" she asked, trying to move the subject off of Horcruxes, which still made her uneasy.

"Well, back then, Dumbledore had the Gaunt ring but was cursed retrieving it. There was a Rotting Curse on the ring that withered his hand and was slowly killing him, all because he was too careless."

Daphne's eyes widened in shock, "Dumbledore was dying?" she asked.

Harry nodded in reply.

"Nothing could be done for him except slow the curse's progression. What else?" he paused, thinking.

"Oh yeah, Malfoy. You figured out that he was regularly visiting the Room of Requirement, but for a long time we weren't able to determine why. That was when my brilliant girlfriend wondered if there was a way to constantly keep tabs on him and figure out how he was using the room. That led to me calling for Dobby, who volunteered to spy on the little shit for us. One month later, we discovered that he was using the room to fix a vanishing cabinet, in order to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts."

"What?" asked Daphne in shock, and Harry's vicious smile made her slightly uneasy.

"We destroyed the cabinet and left the room. Once Malfoy found out, he was so terrified that Voldemort would kill him for his failure that he wouldn't even talk. You told me that he even stopped bossing people around in the common room and just meekly sat around." They both laughed at the thought. "I don't even want to imagine what could've happened if I didn't have your help," Harry added.

"What about your friends?" asked Daphne, and Harry snorted.

"Weasley became Gryffindor's Keeper and started making name for himself, then wound up dating Lavender Brown. Granger was angry at him for that, and angry at me because of the Potions book I mentioned before, since I got better marks than her for once." Daphne scowled.

"And you never would've guessed this, but the bint got herself a boyfriend too."

"And who was able to deal with her?" asked Daphne, seeing that the scowl hadn't left Harry's face.

"Longbottom."

At first, Daphne was shocked, but then she started to laugh while Harry smirked at her reaction.

"The Know-It-All and the Squib?" she laughed.

"Not really a squib," Harry grudgingly admitted, which caught Daphne's attention. "The idiot is using his father's wand, which isn't compatible with him. That, and he has major self-esteem issues. The DA helped him improve considerably during our fifth year, and then he bought a new wand for sixth year. Between that and Granger's tutoring, he became a rising star in our year."

Daphne could almost feel Harry's loathing as he talked about his former housemates. "You had problems with them, didn't you?" she asked, and Harry actually laughed – not the joyful laugh she'd experienced in their time together, but a cold, threatening laugh that promised only pain.

"Oh, you have no idea how much I hate those two pieces of shit. They're both wastes of magic and life, and the world will be a better place when they have neither," Harry admitted, his aura slightly flaring around him. Daphne didn't know how to react to that, aside from looking at him in disbelief while he took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

Daphne thought back to Harry's interactions with the dorks. Harry hated them all, but he was much more aggressive towards Granger and Longbottom, the episode when he summoned Zael coming to mind. She knew there must be something behind it all, and it seemed that she was right, but what was the reason?

"Why?" she asked, and Harry looked back at her with broken eyes.

"Later in the story," Harry almost begged, his voice torn with emotion. Daphne nodded and actually leaned towards him and gave him a soft kiss, which at Harry's encouragement gradually became more intense.

"It was just the two of us, Daph," Harry said after they separated. "Eventually they came to me and offered their help, but by then it was only me and you. I loved it," Harry admitted, and Daphne smiled and kissed him again.

"Carry on with the story," she ordered, and he chuckled.

"Dumbledore asked me to tell my friends everything, saying I would eventually need their help. I agreed to tell them, but like I said before, as far as I was concerned, it was only me and you that mattered. One surprise was that he finally decided to do something useful and work with me on my dueling," he said.

"About bloody time," Daphne grumbled.

"Quite," he agreed. "Near the end of the year, Dumbledore tracked down another Horcrux - Slytherin's locket. He took me with him to retrieve it, and... let's just say it could've gone better. It was in a cave by the seaside, and inside it was a small lake filled with Inferi. We had to take a tiny boat to the small island at the centre, and on it was a stone basin filled with some kind of potion. Dumbledore concluded that someone had to drink the potion in order to get the locket from the basin... He drank it all, and on top of being severely weakened, he was hallucinating to the point where he started talking to his dead sister, and he touched the waters before I could stop him."

Daphne's eyes bulged, but Harry carried on with the story.

"I grabbed the locket and pulled him back, but it was too late. We ran to the boat, but the Inferi were closing in on us and we had to fight."

"How did you make it out of there?" Daphne asked, in a weak voice.

"Flame spells are effective against Inferi. I used as many as I could, along with a few Blasting Curses for good measure, and as weak as he was, Dumbledore still managed to cast a Firestorm, which took care of most of the rest them. We took the boat back to the other shore and left the cave and locked it behind us. We sat there catching our breath and were actually in good spirits…until we realised the Horcrux was a fake."

"All that trouble…?"

"For a fake, yes," Harry said, as Daphne shook her head.

"We came back to Hogwarts, and I brought Dumbledore directly to the hospital wing. He asked me to come back as soon as possible, and to bring everyone who was in on the secret. I went back to get my friends, and you."

"Me? But..." she started, and Harry stopped her.

"You knew everything, and you had even helped me along the way. You were my girlfriend, and I wanted you to be there more than any of them. I was able to convince you to come, and believe me, it was a shock for the others when I walked in with you."

"I can relate," replied Daphne in a whisper, although she was smirking.

"Do you want to see the memory?" Harry asked, and Daphne looked wide eyed at him.

"Sure," she replied with a smirk.

"Then let's get to the Chamber. I need to show you the memory of when we first started dating, too."

Daphne smiled and held the hand he offered to her.

"Dobby!" The elf appeared, and after a quick 'Good Morning Mistress' he grasped each of their hands and popped them into the Chamber.

~BREAK~

Daphne took a look around, and she saw that Dobby had popped them directly into the living quarters.

"First thing's first," Harry said, bringing Daphne to the table and picking up the chocolates. "This is a Kit-Kat, and this is a Crunch bar," he said, presenting her with each of them in turn. Daphne smiled at his gesture. "Have a taste and tell me which one you like better, even though I know you'll prefer the Crunch bar."

"And you know this how?" she asked with a smirk, opening the Kit-Kat first just to challenge him.

Harry grinned, then walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "Because it was your favourite, too." Daphne felt a shiver of excitement run through her, and she smiled as Harry kissed her softly before walking over to the Pensieve, already focusing on the memory he wanted to extract.

While he was occupied, Daphne took a bite of the Crunch bar and decided she liked it better, just like Harry said she would. Harry placed the Pensieve on the table with a wave of his wand and beckoned her over.

"The memory is from the night we started dating," he said, extending his hand. "Shall we?" Daphne took his hand, and both teens went into the Pensieve.

———————————

They found themselves the Room of Requirement, which was configured to be a dark training room. Daphne saw an emotional Harry Potter casting spell after spell at a cluster of training dummies, which repeatedly repaired themselves only to destroyed again.

"BOMBARDA!"

The orange light hit the dummy in the chest, completely obliterating it. "Defodio, Confringo, Depulso, Diffindo," he shouted, destroying three more of them. The next training dummy suddenly took the shape of a cackling Bellatrix Lestrange, and Harry's face contorted in rage.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he roared, and the green light slammed into the dummy.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" an angry voice shouted from the entrance of the room, startling both memory Harry and the real Daphne, who was shocked by the spells Harry was using.

"What does it look like?" memory Harry responded, raising his wand to cast another spell. Before he could get the spell off, his wand suddenly flew out of his hand and into memory Daphne's, making Harry turn to glare at her.

"Give me my wand, Daphne," he demanded, but she only glared back at him.

"Where the hell have you been?" she demanded, obviously angry. Memory Harry didn't say anything, he just kept glowering at her.

"Harry, please, I'm concerned about you. You disappeared before the OWL finished and didn't answer my summons. Where have you been?" she asked again, but this time more emotionally. Memory Harry closed his eyes, and Daphne could see tears running down his face.

"He's dead, Daph... He's dead and it's all my fault," he said, breaking down and falling to his knees. Memory Daphne ran to him and held him close while he sobbed.

"Harry, tell me, what's wrong?" she asked again. He told her everything, starting from the moment he had the vision and finishing with the prophecy Dumbledore had finally revealed to him.

Memory Daphne was angry. Maybe even furious.

"You invaded the Ministry of Magic with five other school children, the Department of Mysteries no less, and fought twelve Death Eaters? You survived long enough for reinforcements to arrive and managed to capture eleven of them, and then fought Voldemort and revealed him to the world?" memory Daphne asked, and Harry nodded. "It would be impressive had it not been for just one thing." Memory Harry looked at her quizzically, and both real Harry and Daphne flinched as the slap hit memory Harry.

"What could have possessed you to do something so stupid?" she angrily demanded. "It was clearly a trap, and just because the house-elf told you he wasn't there it didn't mean he had been captured."

"What was I supposed to do? What if it had been true? Was I just supposed to let him be tortured?" memory Harry demanded, and memory Daphne snorted.

"Let's go in underprepared with no plan at all, and jump onto fucking Thestrals with five other unreliable school kids and hope for the best," she drawled sarcastically, and Daphne saw memory Harry flinch. "You should have told me!" she shouted, tears now falling from her eyes. "You could have died!"

"I didn't think, alright," Harry shouted, his tears escaping again. "I was scared that you would convince me not to go. Or worse, that you would want to come." Memory Daphne looked back at him in shock.

"Why?" she asked in an angry tone.

"I couldn't stand it if something happened to you," he whispered. She slapped him again.

"You are a selfish bastard, Potter. You couldn't stand...what about me? What if something had happened to you? How would I deal with it, knowing that there was nothing I could have done, because I wasn't there with you?" Without another word, she grabbed him by his shirt and kissed him for all he was worth, holding him tightly against her. After the initial shock, memory Harry held her tighter and kissed her back. By the time the kissed ended, they were both crying.

"I'm sorry," memory Harry begged, and Daphne looked at him and ran one hand through his hair before kissing him again.

"At least you're not hurt," she said, before noticing her mistake. "Physically, I mean."

"The others are..." he tried to say, but she shut him up with a glare.

"Well, tough luck for them," she growled. "They aren't any of my concern. It wasn't your fault that they were hurt, was it? They wanted to accompany you, even though you said you didn't want them to. People get hurt in wars, Harry, and that's what this is now." The venom behind her words surprised the real Daphne, as did memory Harry's quick agreement. She decided she needed to ask Harry about it later on.

"I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"Let's make one thing clear, Potter. You can't save everyone, and you are not responsible for everyone's choices, only yours." Memory Harry nodded, and she kissed him again. "Now what is this about a prophecy?" Harry recited the prophecy again, and Daphne frowned.

"That idiot knew about it all this time, and instead of preparing you he just let you be? For what? So you could have a fucking childhood? That's it, I'm going to kill him," Daphne spat, clenching her fists in anger.

"That, I wouldn't mind seeing," memory Harry chuckled, earning a stern look from memory Daphne.

"And what's this about love being the power he knows not?" Harry just shrugged, and Daphne huffed and sighed. "It's not your fault," Daphne said again, sitting close to him on the floor.

"I know. He was taunting Bellatrix instead of being serious," Harry said.

"Actually, based on everything you've told me, I think it sounds like he was being very Sirius." Harry snorted at the bad joke, and Daphne actually chuckled.

"What would I do without you, Daph?" he asked.

"You don't want to know," she replied, and rested her head on his shoulder. They remained like that for a while.

"Daph?"

"Mmh?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" memory Harry asked hopefully.

"Yes," she replied, moving even closer. "Besides, I spent too much time training you to let you go to some hussy."

"We wouldn't want that," memory Harry said, and Daphne smiled. The memory ended with one last kiss.

———————————

Harry and Daphne left the Pensieve, and even though she was pleased with what she saw, Daphne was frowning.

"Why all the hate for the dorks?" she asked, sitting on her chair.

"Well, while I never truly forgave the dorks for turning their backs on me fourth year, you never even considered it. According to you, it revealed their stupidity and made them nothing more than blood traitors and scum. You did become somewhat more accepting of them in our sixth year, though," he added.

Daphne nodded.

"I suppose you are aware of the Potter-Longbottom alliance?" she asked, and Harry winced.

"Yeah, I know. That's one of the reasons I despise Longbottom. Besides, can you imagine what his grandmother will do to him when he becomes the one responsible for breaking the alliance?" Harry's vicious grin actually made Daphne chuckle. Harry placed the memory back into his head. "Was it everything you expected?"

"I don't know what I expected," replied Daphne, looking at Harry. "But I liked it."

"I'm glad," he replied, removing another memory from his head.

"What did I mean when I said, my summons?" Daphne asked, and Harry grinned at her.

"Well, your brilliant mind came up with the idea for a bracelet with a Protean Charm embedded, which we always wore hidden under charms so we could secretly send messages to each other. We laughed when the so-called brightest witch of our age came up with the same thing for the DA, only far more rudimentary than our method."

Daphne appreciated the compliment, and almost blushed.

"That was also what inspired me study Ancient Runes with you. It was hard work, but I was able to get my OWL in it by the end of the year. Let's just say it was a surprise to everyone but you."

Daphne nodded again with a smile, which quickly changed to a frown. "Then why aren't you taking Runes now?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"I'll be taking a special exam to evaluate my knowledge in Runes and Arithmancy at the end of December, and then I can change classes. I wasn't allowed to make the change before the exam, at least that's what Snape said."

"And this is the first time I'm hearing about this, why?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Surprise?" he tried, and she shook her head in amusement. Harry then pointed back to the Pensieve, and said, "This is the discussion after Dumbledore and me returned from the Horcrux hunt. Are you ready?" She nodded and held Harry's hand again, and they entered the Pensieve together.

———————————

Daphne saw herself walking through the doors of the hospital wing, along with a weary and very dirty Harry Potter. They walked in stride with one another across the room, ignoring the surprised looks Madam Pomfrey gave them, until they reached Dumbledore's bed, where Weasley, Longbottom, and Granger were already waiting.

"Harry, where were..." Granger's words died in her mouth as she saw who Harry came in with. Real Daphne pulled Harry to a spot where they could better see everyone's reactions, and she wasn't disappointed. Granger looked absolutely shocked, her mouth still hanging open from where she froze mid-sentence. Longbottom was also surprised, but had half a smirk on his face, and as expected, Weasley's face was turning red as if he was primed to explode. Dumbledore looked half surprised and half amused, his twinkling eyes darting between both memory Harry and memory Daphne.

"She's the one you said you still needed to get?" Weasley shouted, but was quickly silenced with a wave of Harry's wand.

"Now, we are all here because the headmaster asked me to bring you, the only people who I've told about my special lessons with him," Harry said in a serious voice, his gaze mostly focused on Weasley. "We will go no further in this conversation until I have an oath from each you not to say a word to anyone about what we will speak of in here."

"Harry, I hardly think that's necessary," said Dumbledore, looking at Harry with tired eyes.

"With all due respect, Headmaster, it's essential that this be kept secret. Your opinion is appreciated, but I prefer not to leave any loose ends," Harry replied, and Daphne could swear she saw a proud smile briefly cross the ancient man's face.

"I agree," said memory Daphne, holding up her wand. "I, Daphne Persephone Greengrass swear upon my life and magic to keep this meeting a secret, and will not share its contents with anyone, unless given explicit permission by Harry James Potter-Black, so mote it be." A golden light surrounded her, and memory Harry looked at her with a hint of amusement.

"Potter-Black?" Longbottom asked with wide eyes, looking at the both of them.

"Since when are you Potter-Black?" demanded Granger, but Harry was looking at Longbottom and ignored her.

"Do you trust her, Harry?" asked Longbottom, earning himself a glare from the Ice Queen.

"With my life," Harry replied. Dumbledore smiled.

Longbottom looked from memory Daphne to memory Harry, then gave a stiff nod and give the same oath.

"Neville!" shouted Granger, shocked that he had sworn the oath so willingly.

"'Mione, just make the oath," the boy said. Granger huffed to show her disapproval, but relented and gave the oath, though she had to be corrected when she didn't use Harry's proper name. They all turned to face Weasley, and Harry dropped the Silencing Charm.

"She's a slimy Slytherin whore!"

Memory Daphne twitched, but she kept her cool and settled for glaring at the buffoon. Memory Harry, however, immediately pulled his wand on Weasley.

"Harry!" shrieked Granger. Longbottom recoiled slightly at the hostile looks coming from both Harry and Daphne.

"Let's try again, Won-Won. Either make the oath or piss off, I won't give you another chance." Ron shrank under their glares, and having been properly chastised, he gave the oath in a shaky voice. Harry nodded and hissed in Parseltongue to raise some wards around them, everyone but Daphne shuddering at the sound.

"What was that, Harry?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Parseltongue silence wards. More powerful and harder to break than the regular variety," explained Daphne, and everyone turned to her in surprise while Harry finished raising the wards. "Although they don't stop intruders from passing through them," she added.

"But...but that's dark," Granger said, making both real and memory Daphne roll their eyes.

"It's a tool. It's up to you what to do with it," memory Daphne replied with a glare, earning an appreciative smile from the headmaster.

"Well Harry, I can see you have been keeping some secrets. Would you mind making the proper introductions?" Dumbledore asked with a smile, making Harry smirk.

"Daphne Greengrass, meet Albus Dumbledore, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. Everyone, meet Daphne Greengrass, my girlfriend for the past year."

"WHAT?" shouted Weasley, while Granger and Longbottom's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

"A pleasure," memory Daphne smirked, obviously amused by their reactions.

"I see," replied an even more amused headmaster. "Well then, Harry, would you please tell everyone about our evening?"

Harry recounted the entire journey, and by the end of his tale everyone was gaping at him, including real Daphne. It seemed that Harry had given her a very abbreviated version of the story. When he came to the end of the tale, memory Harry opened the locket and revealed the note hidden inside, reading it aloud.

To the Dark Lord

I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

They all looked around at each other, and Daphne noticed her older counterpart appeared deep in thought.

"Any ideas, Headmaster?" asked Harry, and Dumbledore shook his head.

"It most likely is a discontented pureblood, but I am not sure..."

"Braddock, Bainbridge, Baldock, Bhagat, Bhatia, Bishopper, Black, Bletchley, Bole, Boyle, Brody, Bulstrode, Burke..." she said, and everyone looked at her. "Those are a few of the pureblood families that start with a B." Memory Harry had a huge grin.

"That's my witch!" he said, kissing her soundly in front of everyone. The display made his friends gape and Dumbledore chuckle, the latter running through the names Daphne had said in his mind. Real Daphne felt embarrassed.

"Not now, honey," memory Daphne playfully admonished, turning back to Dumbledore and noticing the looks from the other teens. "What? Didn't you pay attention to your Politics classes?" she asked, and Longbottom blushed and Weasley just made a weird face.

"Actually, Ms. Greengrass may have a point. I shall check the Hogwarts registry for a name starting with R and A, and ending with a B." Then Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock.

"Regulus Arcturus Black!?" he wondered aloud.

"Black?" Harry questioned, slightly confused. He looked at Daphne, but the name didn't ring any bells, so she just shrugged.

"Wait, Sirius's Brother? Kreacher!"

The old house-elf appeared before them and immediately scowled. Granger would have started ranting, but Longbottom hit her with a timely Silencing Charm.

"Nasty half-blood master called for Kreacher?" the elf asked with a sneer.

"Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius's brother. How did he die?" asked Harry, and the house-elf immediately stiffened.

"Kreacher doesn't wish to answer filthy half-blood master," the elf replied, and Harry's magic flared.

"I am Lord Black, elf. Answer me!" he demanded, startling the others, but memory Daphne noticed the way the elf was looking at the fake locket, as if he recognised it.

"Harry, stop," she said, and he backed off. She took the locket from Harry and held it up in front of Kreacher. "Do you recognise this, elf?" she asked, and to everyone's surprise, he reluctantly nodded.

"Kreacher, do you know where the Horcrux is?" Harry said, and Kreacher turned to him with a look of disbelief.

"Why does Master wants the nasty thing?" the elf asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"To destroy it," Harry replied, and Kreacher's eyes filled with tears. The elf broke down and started telling them the story of how he helped master Regulus swap the Horcrux with the fake. He described Regulus being dragged underwater by the Inferi, and how Kreacher was able to escape. He told them that Regulus had commanded him to destroy the locket, and he seemed to be in anguish as he admitted that he had so far failed to carry out his master's final order. The group seemed to be completely baffled by the old elf's tale, and the real Daphne was no exception.

"Can you bring it to us, Kreacher?" asked memory Daphne, and the elf looked at her with an odd expression.

"Kreacher can, Mistress," he said before popping away, leaving behind a chuckling Harry, a baffled Daphne, three confused Gryffindors, and one very amused, but hopeful headmaster.

Kreacher came back within moments, carrying the locket.

"Master Regulus wanted it destroyed," the elf said, presenting Harry with the locket. Memory Daphne looked at the elf thoughtfully, then handed him the fake locket.

"You fulfilled your master's last wish, Kreacher. We will destroy it. You can have this one as a memento, if you wish." Kreacher's eyes bulged tearfully, but he nodded and accepted it from Daphne and clutched it to his chest.

"Thank you, Mistress," the elf said reverently.

"Why do you call her mistress?" asked Granger, capturing everyone's attention. Real Daphne was curious about that too. It seemed Dobby hadn't been the first elf to call her that.

"Because Kreacher can feels Master's magic on Mistress," he said, making both memory Harry and Daphne blush furiously. The ordinarily composed headmaster actually burst out laughing, but the others didn't understand what Kreacher meant. "Master, the thief brought in by previous master steals the possessions of the House of Black. What does master want to do?"

Harry was shocked by the house-elf's change in attitude.

"What thief?" Harry asked.

"The one called Dung," the elf said, and Harry's magic flared.

"Seal the house. No one goes in or out without my consent. Retrieve everything, if you can."

"Yes, Master," replied Kreacher, popping away. Harry turned to Dumbledore.

"You better do something about Dung, or he will pay for stealing from my house," Harry threatened. Dumbledore nodded contritely; he was actually shocked, both by the revelation that Mundungus had been stealing from headquarters, and also at Harry's behaviour.

"Now, about this thing," Harry stated. "Should we destroy it?"

"Before we do that, it is possible to use one Horcrux to locate the others?" Daphne asked the headmaster hopefully. His face gave away the answer, though it wasn't the one she wanted to hear.

"I have no idea, Ms. Greengrass. I myself have pondered that question, but sadly, I have been unable to come up with a method."

"Great," she replied, with a hint of sarcasm.

"What, then? Should we just keep it safe for now, or should we just destroy it?" asked Harry, looking between memory Daphne and Dumbledore..

"I have gathered clues in regard to the nature of the Horcruxes. I believe we may destroy it. In the meantime, I'd suggest we keep it in a silk bag, which should reduce the influence of the Horcrux upon us." Harry immediately conjured a red silk bag and dropped the Horcrux into it.

"Too flashy," Daphne mumbled with a sniff, and conjured a green one of her own and placed Harry's bag inside hers. Harry grinned at her, and she stuck her tongue out and flashed him a playful smile. Real Daphne figured it must be an inside joke between the two of them.

"Are you sure we should destroy it now?" Daphne asked Harry. "Wouldn't it make more sense to hang on to it for a while? Maybe we can come up with a way to use it to find the others. Or what if he feels it when we destroy it, what then?" asked Daphne, and Granger looked like she wanted to snap at her for daring to question the headmaster.

"I am sure, Ms. Greengrass," Dumbledore interjected.

Daphne snorted. "As sure as you were when you decided to leave a one-year-old orphan on a magic-hating muggle's doorstep on a November night?" she snapped, making Dumbledore flinch.

"Daph..." said Harry, putting his hands on her shoulders and easing some of her tension.

"If it puts you at ease, Ms. Greengrass, I can promise you that I know of nothing useful we can do with the Horcruxes but destroy them."

Daphne sighed.

"Fiendfyre or basilisk venom, right?" she asked, and Dumbledore nodded while both teens grinned at each other.

"See? I told you it was a good idea to keep a gallon of the venom for ourselves," Daphne said in triumph, making Harry chuckle.

"I'm pretty sure I remember agreeing with you?" he replied, and they both laughed. "Fine, let's go deal with it now. Can you come, Headmaster?" asked Harry, but as curious as he was, Dumbledore didn't feel he was able to join them in his current state.

"Alas, I cannot, but I would like to speak with you about another matter, once you finish your task," Dumbledore said. Harry and Daphne looked at each other and she shrugged.

"I can just go do it myself. You'll join me down there later either way, so..." Daphne said. Harry nodded and kissed her in front of everyone.

"I assume you mean the Chamber of Secrets?" Dumbledore asked curiously. "How will Ms. Greengrass gain entrance, if she's not a Parselmouth?"

"It's not a problem for her," he said, and turned to the other three teens. "Why don't you three make yourselves useful and go with Daph, and make sure she's safe."

"I hardly need anyone's help, Harry," she replied, crossing her arms with the green bag in her hand and a mock pout on her face.

"Indulge me, will you?" he teased. Harry turned to Longbottom and said, "Pretend she's the Lady Potter."

Longbottom nodded immediately and stepped forward with a huge grin on his face, Granger right behind him. Weasley sneered at Daphne but followed the others, after a slight prodding from Dumbledore.

"I can see you've kept your secrets very well, Harry," the headmaster said with a grin. "I must say, I never saw it coming."

"There's a lot of things you never saw coming, Headmaster," Harry replied politely, but with a hint of amusement, which made the old man chuckle.

"True, but if you would indulge my curiosity, how exactly will Ms. Greengrass gain entrance to the Chamber?" he asked again.

"I recorded the Parseltongue password on a memory crystal, which she always carries with her. I also managed to add her magical signature to the ward of the door as added security. All she has to do is touch the door and use the crystal to say the password, and the doors will open for her. It will only work for her, though."

"Very ingenious, indeed. I suppose I should award you house points for it. Twenty points each," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I finally understand the changes I've seen in you since last year, Harry," he continued. "Ms. Greengrass has been a most positive influence on you."

"I like to think so, too."

"Tell me, Harry, would you say you love her?"

"With all my heart, though I don't understand how that's relevant… and please don't mention the prophecy." Dumbledore chuckled at Harry's words.

"Love is a most powerful magic, Harry. I believe that soon you will understand it. However, that is not the reason I wished to speak to you."

"Then what was it?" asked Harry, sitting down and making himself comfortable at Dumbledore's invitation.

"I wish for you to disarm me, Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry just looked the old man as if he had lost his mind.

"You never do anything 'just because', Headmaster. I know you sometimes try to make it seem like you're a bit off, but there's always a reason. What is it you're not telling me?" asked Harry, and Dumbledore laughed.

"Harry, this is not my original wand. This wand is quite powerful, and I believe it may help you in your future endeavours. However, in order to win its loyalty, the wand must be taken from its wielder by force, which is why you must disarm me."

Harry looked back at him strangely. "Have you finally gone insane, sir?" he asked with a frown.

"I believe so, Harry, though quite a long time ago," Dumbledore said gravely.

Harry actually rolled his eyes as he cast the Disarming Charm at a chuckling Dumbledore, and the wand flew out of the headmaster's hand and into his own.

The air swirled around Harry as he felt a rush of power coursing through him. "What... What was that?" the teen asked, looking at Dumbledore with a frightened expression.

"Promise me to keep the wand a secret, Harry. Promise me that you will use it wisely." Harry nodded, and Dumbledore believed he would.

"Sir, what type of wand is this?" asked Harry again.

"Does it matter, Harry? It is a wand, no matter how powerful. As Ms. Greengrass put it so eloquently, it is nothing more than a tool, and it's up to you to decide what to do with it."

"I know you're hiding something else, sir," Harry said, and Dumbledore actually looked sheepish.

"There are some things of which I'm not actually certain, Harry, and I need more time to investigate before I share with you. But for now, off you go. Go and meet your beautiful girlfriend. You're only young once, you know?" Harry smiled, and the memory started to fade.

———————————

Harry and Daphne exited the Pensieve, and Daphne looked curiously at Harry.

"So, what kind of wand was that?" she asked.

"A legendary one. Do you remember The Tale of the Three Brothers?" Harry asked, and Daphne looked at him as if he had grown two heads, but then she paled.

"Merlin, that's the Elder Wand?" she gasped, and Harry nodded. Daphne felt slightly dizzy and collapsed into her chair. "But... it's only a story. The Deathly Hallows are only a story."

"No, they are very real," Harry replied, kneeling at her side to check on her. "At one time, I had all three Hallows. As of right now, Dumbledore has the Elder Wand, Riddle has the Resurrection Stone, even if he doesn't know what it is, and I have the Cloak."

"The Cloak?" Daphne gasped again, and Harry chuckled.

"It has been passed down in my family for generations without losing any of its power. I'd say that's a good indication it's something special, wouldn't you?" Harry asked, and Daphne could only mumble to herself. Her mind was spinning, trying to assimilate the knowledge that her time-travelling boyfriend was in possession of a Hallow, and had been the master of all three in the future.

"What... What was it like? To be the Master of Death?" she asked, her shaky voice betraying her bewilderment.

"I don't know, I never felt any different. Maybe it was a mistake, but I never attempted to fully embrace the power of the Hallows, and just kept them safe. To be honest, I barely used them," he lamented, and Daphne could tell he was feeling regretful.

"Why do you think it was a mistake?" she asked.

"Because if I did, I might have been able to save you," he replied in a whisper, and her heart broke for him. She caressed his face with one hand, then wrapped her arms around him and brought his head to her chest, his shoulders shaking as he silently cried.

"Maybe," she said, trying to channel the wisdom of the older self she had come to admire. "But it doesn't matter now. Not anymore."

They stayed that way for a while, until Harry had fully recovered. It was almost noon, but neither of them was hungry, so they opted to continue with Harry's story.

"What happened after that?" asked Daphne, playing with Harry's hair, which they both seemed to find relaxing.

"You destroyed the Horcrux by dipping it in the venom, Granger threw a fit because we didn't let her go through the library in the Chamber, and then we all came back. We went our separate ways for the night, and nothing else happened until the end of the term."

"What happened then?" asked Daphne, predicting it would be something big.

"Voldemort made his move," Harry replied darkly.