"I thought she would be here by now. She's -" Harry paused, seeing the door begin to open. "Here."
At this everyone turned to look towards the door as Daphne walked in. Her dress was black and silver, made from the finest materials, and fit her perfectly. Harry rushed towards the door to meet her, the whole time wearing a silly grin on his face. As he led Daphne over to the group Hermione let out a small gasp when she finally recognized who Harry's date was. Harry's eyes had not left Daphne since she came in, and she was also smiling brightly at her date.
"You look amazing. I mean, really… uhh… wow." Harry stammered, trying to think of the right thing to say. Apparently what he said was close enough because she gave him a small hug and took his hand as they approached the group. "Everybody, this is Daphne Greengrass…" Harry said and began introducing everyone. The whole time Hermione was looking back and forth at Harry and Daphne with a look of suspicion on her face.
"I wasn't aware that you two knew each other." Hermione stated, practically begging them to explain what was going on.
"Oh yes," Daphne answered, "we've known each other since first year. Isn't that right?" She looked at Harry who nodded in agreement, causing Hermione's look of suspicion to deepen. Harry, seeing what Daphne was doing to Hermione, was trying not to laugh. The rest of the group could feel the tension in the air and was looking at the three a bit nervously.
"That's right. She's been a good friend to me when I've needed it, Hermione, especially this year." Harry replied. Hermione grimaced a bit at his comment, but nodded anyway. Harry was watching her, trying to judge how his friend would react to the revelation. Hermione seemed to be processing the new information, unsure of what to do. Finally, she made her decision.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Hermione said, turning to look directly at Daphne. "I hope that any friend of Harry's could be a friend of mine." Harry smiled, breathing a small sigh of relief. The tension in the room relaxed a little.
"Of course." Daphne answered. "We both know he needs all the friends looking out for him he can get." Harry's smile dropped a little as he noticed the two girls turn his attention towards him and wondered when he had become the focus of the conversation. He looked to Cedric, hoping for a little help but his fellow champion was laughing.
"Right, I tend to do crazy things." Harry said with a shrug. He sensed that though Hermione had accepted his relationship with Daphne, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Daphne, on the other hand, was trying to be friendly because she knew it would make the situation easier on the both of them. He would just have to hope things turned out for the best.
"So you're the one who has been helping Harry with the tournament this whole time." Hermione realized. "He accidently let it slip that someone other than Neville or myself was helping him but would never say who."
"Yeah, she is even the one who suggested trying to talk to the dragon. I thought the idea was nuts." Harry replied.
"But you were the one who went through with it and even let the dragon get close enough to lick you." Daphne reminded him. Harry shrugged and didn't argue with her point. Hermione was watching them interact with each other, trying to determine how close they actually were to each other.
"Harry, what did you say to that dragon?" Cedric asked. "Everyone wanted to know but you never really said anything about it." The question had gotten Krum's attention as well.
"Don't believe that nonsense about me ordering the dragon around. I just pointed out that one of the eggs wasn't real and asked if I could take it." Those who hadn't heard the story laughed, surprised that it worked out as well for him as it did.
"Attention please!" Professor McGonagall called as she walked in the room. She briefly looked at the couples and Harry could see the brief flash of surprise when she saw Daphne at his side. "Now that you are all here we can begin. You will all exit that door which will take you out into the Great Hall. Since this afternoon it has been enlarged and decorated to fit our purposes. Once you are all on the dance floor the music will start and the first dance will begin. When you finish you will be directed to a table at the front of the room where you will all sit together, joined by a few others. Any questions? No? Very well, line up. Ms Delacour, you will be first. Then Mr Diggory, followed by Mr Krum, and finally Mr Potter with Ms Greengrass. Good luck everyone, and do try to have a good time." Professor McGonagall then left out the door she had previously pointed to, leaving it open for the champions and their dates to walk out of. They could all hear the murmuring from the crowd of students that were waiting on the other side of the door, and each felt a little bit nervous though they tried not to show it. As asked, Fleur Delacour and her date walked out first. The awaiting crowd immediately burst into applause which continued as Cedric and Cho linked arms and walked out the door.
"Are you ready for this?" Harry quietly asked Daphne, offering her his arm as he had seen the others do. As he did, Krum and Hermione had entered the Great Hall and loud gasps could be heard in the applause as people realized that the pretty girl in the blue dress was the Gryffindor bookworm.
"Let's go." Daphne said in response as they headed towards the exit. Once into the Great Hall Harry first noticed that it did indeed look a lot bigger than normal. The long tables that were normally there had been removed and replaced with dozens of circular tables that could fit about twelve people each. A dance floor had been erected in front of the stage, and the other three couples were already there waiting on them. Initially, the crowd continued to cheer as Harry and Daphne made their way to the stage. Then people began to notice who Harry's date was and the applause began to lessen as the students began to talk amongst themselves in an excited fashion. By the time they reached the dance floor the clapping had died off completely, and for the most part the talking had stopped as well as people openly stared at the couple.
Harry put an arm around Daphne preparing for the dance to begin and leaned in to whisper to her: "They're speechless. I told you that you looked good." Daphne chuckled at his compliment and made sure they were both in place for the dance. The music began softly, but as the couples began to move it seemed to swell and the tempo increased. Every eye was on the dancing champions, though most were on Harry Potter and his Slytherin date. He could sometimes hear parts of their conversations, most of which referenced articles from the Daily Prophet or the accusation that all Slytherins were evil. The most amusing ones came from the female population who were quite obviously jealous of Daphne. Harry attempted to block out the distractions and focus on what he was doing, desperate not to step on Daphne's toes or make a similar public mistake. So far he was doing a good job, at least he thought so.
Minutes later the dance ended and the crowd began to applaud again. Daphne leaned towards Harry and told him did excellent before they walked over to the table that McGonagall had discussed. Seated there were the other champions and their dates, Professor Dumbledore, Madame Maxine, Igor Karkaroff, and strangely Percy Weasley. Percy motioned for Harry to take a seat next to him but Harry acted like he didn't notice and sat at the other end of the table with Daphne on one side and Hermione on the other. Menus were presented to them and Harry was surprised to see that all he had to do to order was to call out the name of the food and it would appear in front of him. He ordered and was pleased to see his food appear in front of him just as he wanted it to.
During dinner the conversations around the table stayed on what seemed to be safe topics. Percy was apparently here representing Barty Crouch, his boss, who had been feeling ill. Harry noticed that Percy had turned into a blatant brown noser and decided to ignore him for the rest of the evening, glad that he had not taken the seat next to him. Daphne was sitting next to Cho Chang, and the two girls seemed to be getting along nicely. Slytherin and Ravenclaw thankfully did not suffer from the rivalry that Slytherin and Gryffindor did. Harry turned towards Dumbledore and noticed the old professor was looking at him and Daphne with an amused look on his face.
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