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"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean—"
"It's fine, you couldn't have known," she says, waving my concerns away. "On the other hand, we do have an impressive library separate from that. Not as large as Hogwarts, but if you realize that Hogwarts has to stock multiple copies of certain works and lots of works for beginners, our library is not much less impressive. And at our house there's no restricted section." She adds the last with a little smirk.
"No need to rub it in, you tease." I almost said something about Hermione instead, but I have a feeling that would be a rather poor decision.
"Maybe you could see it sometime," she offers.
I stumble a bit, hardly believing my luck. I turn a frown on her. "That would be awesome, but don't get my hopes up. I don't know where I'll end up this summer."
"Hm." I guess my luck doesn't extend that far. After a few moments of silence I glance over and catch her watching me out of the corner of her eye. "How is that going to work out, anyway?"
"This summer? I have no idea."
"Are you going to go back to...wherever you came from? The States? Who is even going to decide that?"
My hesitation is all she needs.
She puffs out her cheeks. "Circe, William. You came over here by yourself? Surely you..." She trails off, abandoning that line of thought. "Do your friends know this?"
"You do," I say, giving her a small smile.
"You know what I mean."
"I do, but I wanted to remind you that you're my friend." I put my arm around her shoulders.
"As if you would let me forget." She rolls her eyes but doesn't go to remove my arm. "So do they know?"
"They don't...I guess it hasn't crossed their minds," I say with a shrug. "Harry's issues are rather more important, and more immediate."
"If you put off dealing with your own in favor of Harry's, I imagine it'll be a long time before you get to yours," she chides.
"Hopefully not," I say softly.
That brings her up short. She tosses my arm off her shoulders and spins to face me, ice-blue eyes blazing. "What are you planning, William?"
I return her gaze steadily. "You know I can't say."
Her arms visibly shake at her sides before she closes her eyes and calms herself. When her eyes open I'm shocked to find them shining slightly.
"Damn you, William. Why can't you just..." She turns her head away and takes a deep breath, then resumes walking.
I fall in beside her but say nothing. "I'm scared for you, William," she admits softly after some moments.
"I'm scared too, when I..." My eyes snap to her in suspicion, but her face is still turned away and partially obscured by her currently straightened, raven-black hair. I sigh, realizing that she has already sussed out this much. "I can separate myself from it when I'm just planning, but..."
She turns back to me, tears threatening even more. "Please, William. Please let me help."
Damn it, how am I supposed to do the smart thing when girls cry at me? I look away from her. "You'll recall that Hermione caught on to the fact that I told you more than they know, when you pointed your wand at me."
She groans slightly. "I said I was sorry about that," she says, a tinge of anger entering her voice. I realize it's anger at herself. "What did you tell her, anyway? I forgot to ask last time."
"I told her what I thought was a rather believable story and then distracted her so she wouldn't think about it too hard."
Her eyes widen. "That's not why you...you know..."
"No, no, that's not when...that happened." I look at her sideways. "I distracted her with something that is not mine to offer."
She furrows her brows, then shakes her head. "We're getting off-track here. Damn you, William, quit changing the subject."
"Actually, this is quite related. I...uh...I'm not quite sure how to say this, but I distracted her with books."
Her perplexed look remains. "Books?"
"A particular library, actually."
"What does that have to do with me helping—?" Suddenly her eyes snap to mine. "Did you actually plan this?"
I smile sheepishly. "Uh, well that is why I stumbled a bit when you said maybe I could see it."
Her throaty laugh catches me off guard. "You never cease to surprise me, William. I'm starting to doubt that you were winging it all those times earlier this year. I think you've been holding back your Slytherin side. So, now that you've invited yourself over, when were you planning on visiting?"
I wince at that. "Sorry, Daphne, I—"
"No, no, William, I said I want to help you, and if your plan is stealing a look at my father's rare collection, then I'm going to help you do it," she says firmly. "When will it be, over the summer? Easter break?"
"I...wouldn't steal a look after what you told me," I argue, "I didn't know your family would have two separate libraries."
"Nonsense, that's almost certainly where you'll find what you're looking for," she says. "So, when?"
I feel my face go flush with embarrassment. "Uh, I was thinking about Easter..."
"Done," she says with a smirk. But it fades at my hesitation. "What's wrong?"
I rack my brain trying to come up with a way to get Hermione invited.
She somehow reads the thought from me. "You weren't planning on coming alone, were you?"
I cringe a bit. "No?"
"And I suppose this is why Hermione's been so nice to me and my sister?" She doesn't sound pleased about that.
"No, that's not it," I say, holding my hands up, "I mean, that thought crossed my mind, but no, I severely doubt it crossed hers. It's Hermione we're talking about here: she doesn't have a devious bone in her body."
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Hey guys if u like the fanfic and want to read ahead by 27+ chapters or just want to support take a visit on my patreon.
(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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