Almost the entire school was staying for the winter break. Harry had only actually stayed in Hogwarts over the holidays once, and that year most of his friends had.
This though, this would be interesting.
Snape had informed them that the Yule Ball would only be open to fourth years and above. Younger students could still come, but only if they had a partner of appropriate age.
Astoria had looked quite smug at that and had pulled Draco close to her.
"It is not obligatory for you to have a partner, but will be most embarrassing if you do not. More importantly, with partners or without, you are to comport yourselves as I expect from my charges"
Harry had still formally asked Daphne to the ball. It was weird, lying next to her on a couch, hands on her ass, and asking her out.
It was great having that out of the way. A lot of the younger girls were aggressively asking older guys to take them.
One of them even asked Harry if he would take her, and have Daphne go on her own. She even offered to pay him.
"You can dance with her the whole time, please!"
Harry let Daphne have a quiet chat with the girl in her room. After that, he was left alone.
By the day before the Ball, everyone had dates. Crabbe and Goyle, after being pushed by everyone, would be going with Millicent Bulstrode and Alice Harper, respectively.
Blaise was taking Theo's cousin, Morag Plunkett, while Theo was taking Tracey.
Pansy would be going with a Durmstrang guy. Harry didn't really know him. Didn't care, really. He was taking Daphne. She was more than enough for him.
"Holy shit! Look at this!"
Harry leaned over, to see the headline that had so startled Blaise.
" Azkaban escapees spotted near Hogsmeade!" It shouted.
The paper fluttered as he turned the page, hiding the mugshots.
"Merlin" Blaise whispered, tone awed.
"What happened?"
"They tried to kidnap a witch! They were saying how they would Imperio her and send her here!"
"What happened?"
' There's no way they screwed up that badly. Bellatrix might have seemed crazy, but it looks like Rookwood was there, and he seemed fine'
"She got away. By the time Aurors arrived, they were gone. Damn. It says they're gonna be tightening security here. You think they'll send Dementors again?"
"Fuck. I hope not"
Harry looked around the Hall. Most of the people there didn't seem bothered at all, simply continuing to eat breakfast and chat with their friends.
At the head table though, it was a different story entirely. Plenty of worried faces there. And Dumbledore was absent.
' Definitely planned. Brilliant, actually. Make them tighten up security here, bring in Aurors and hit-wizards. Leave everywhere else open. Then when He wants to strike, there'll be far less in His way. Brilliant'
He was still he marveling over the Dark Lord's genius when Snape came up to him.
"Dumbledore wishes to speak with you. In an hour. Licorice Allsorts"
"What?" Daphne asked as Snape walked off.
"That's the password to Dumbledore's office. He always uses sweets as the password"
"What does he want to talk to you about?"
"Probably wants to tell me to be on my guard"
Daphne snorted.
"My feelings exactly"
"Doubtless, you have heard the news by now?"
Dumbledore looked exhausted. His face was more lined than Harry had ever seen it. He tried not to show how much he enjoyed that sight.
"About the escapees?"
"Precisely"
Dumbledore's eyes honed in on Harry, staring intently. He sighed.
"Harry, this will not be easy for you to hear. They were looking for you"
"M-me?"
Dumbledore nodded. "You. Harry, you unseated their master. The rage they must feel towards you-. I must ask you to be exceptionally careful"
"But-me? What do they want me for?"
"I have theories," the aged wizard said quietly, "all of which I hope are wrong. They could simply be trying to do what their master tried, thirteen years ago"
"Kill me," Harry said flatly.
Dumbledore nodded.
"But he's dead! It's over! Why are they still after me?"
"I do not believe Voldemort is dead"
' Fuck. Fuck'
"The only question that remains, is whether or not he has regained a body yet. Harry, they could be planning to use you in a ritual to restore him to physical form. A ritual which would, undoubtedly, end in your death"
Harry tried to look horrified at the very thought.
"I must ask you to be careful. Please. Carry your cloak with you everywhere"
"My-"
"Your invisibility cloak" Dumbledore interrupted, a small smile pulling at his lips. "And I want you to take this as well. Keep it with you at all times"
This turned out to be a thick woolen sock.
Harry simply looked at Dumbledore.
"It's an emergency Portkey. It will only work once. Touch it, and say the word 'help', and you will be immediately transported to my office"
Harry took it carefully and tucked it into his robes.
"I want Professor Snape to teach you a few things. He's been helping you and Mr. Malfoy with your spell practice, hasn't he?"
' Shit! What do I say?'
"Uh, yeah. He has"
"He taught you to perform the Patronus, correct?"
"Yeah"
"Ask him to show you how to use them to send messages. It is a most useful skill to have"
"I will"
"And please, Harry. Stay in company. Within Hogwarts, you should be safe, but if you go to Hogsmeade, do not go alone. Travel in a group. If you're planning on meeting Sirius, have him pick you up from the castle. I cannot overstate the danger"
"I'll be careful, sir"
"Please do"
Harry stood up and hesitated just before turning around.
"Sir?" He said, making his voice tremble slightly.
"Yes?"
"Do you think-could we-could we have lessons again? I miss them"
Dumbledore smiled. "I'd love to"
On the day of the Ball, Harry found himself doing up his dress robes with shaking fingers. Around him, everyone seemed to be nervous as well, barely talking.
' What're you so worried about? It's just Daphne!'
They went down to the common room to wait for their dates, and Theo handed out some shots of firewhisky.
"Good for the nerves," he said, as he poured from a hip-flask.
"Why are you so nervous?" Harry asked, "Tracy's chilled"
Theo just blushed.
Right then, the girls started coming down the stairs, into the common room.
He looked up at Daphne, and for a second, his breath caught in his throat.
She was wearing a long, flowing dress that went from silver to a dark grey. It clung to her figure, accentuating her curves. Her hair seemed lighter in color than usual, almost blonde when the light caught it, rather than her usual brown.
Flashes of light reflected from her ears, from earrings nearly too thin to see.
He kept his eyes on her, his mouth slightly open until she was standing right in front of him.
He kissed her.
"You're beautiful," he said when they surfaced.
"You're not too bad looking yourself"
He held his arm out. "Shall we?"
She placed her arm around his. "Why, Mr. Potter, that's a lovely idea"
They left the common room.
At the entrance to the Great Hall, they found a sea of students milling around.
The large, oak doors remained closed.
"Waiting for the champions" was all Warrington would say.
Harry used the opportunity to look around, glancing at the other couples.
He saw Weasley standing next to Luna.
A flash of rage went through him at the sight.
"It upset you, didn't it? What she said"
He sighed, turning back to Daphne.
"Yeah. I wonder sometimes. If I'm a bad person. If my parents-what they would say. If they knew what I was doing"
She was silent for a while.
"So what if you are?" She finally said. "Who cares, as long as you're happy?"
"That's what I tell myself. I just wonder sometimes"
"Well, don't"
He kissed her cheek, her scent filling him as his lips grazed her skin.
"As you command"
"Damn right"
The champions appeared, causing the assembled students to move aside in a ripple.
Fleur was with Roger Davies. Diggory was with Cho Chang.
And Krum. Krum was with Granger.
' She doesn't look so bad. Miracles do happen'
The doors opened as the champions approached, and McGonagall called them aside before ushering everyone in.
It was set up differently than usual. Instead of the normal house tables, it was filled with at least a hundred rounded tables, with candelabras on them. Harry and Daphne sat down, and soon enough Draco and Astoria, Theo And Tracey, Blaise And Morag, and Crabbe and Goyle and their dates joined them.
After everyone sat down, the champions were led into the Hall. Everyone stood up and applauded them.
"Why couldn't they just be let in earlier? Why did we have to come in, sit down, then stand again for them? It's dumb"
"That's just how it is. Have to stoke their egos somehow"
Harry was half expecting Blaise to make a comment to that. But it seemed Morag was having a calming influence on him, for all that he seemed uncomfortable with her.
The meal itself was different from usual. Instead of all the different types of food appearing on the table at once, there were menus next to each seat, and they had to actually order what they wanted (albeit, to the empty plate) for the food to come.
After a while, Dumbledore stood up, and everyone followed his motion to do so. He waved his wand, and the tables were all pushed to the side of the room.
A jab of his wand and a stage appeared, with instruments arranged upon it.
That was when the Weird Sisters walked in.
The champions walked into the center of the room first, as the band strummed up a tune. It didn't take too long for other couples to start joining them.
"Well?" Daphne asked.
"I'm warning you," Harry said, "I've never actually danced before"
"In that case, I'll lead"
They joined the growing crowd, and with Daphne's guidance, Harry placed his one hand on her hip, with the other going to her shoulder.
"Is it a pureblood thing?" Harry asked, "to give your kids dancing lessons?"
"Not really" she replied, pushing him into a turn. "We just have balls, growing up. You pick it up"
He almost lost his footing, and she pulled on his arm to straighten him.
"Not like that," she said, clucking her tongue, "just get into the rhythm"
"It keeps changing!"
"Not really. Oh, you're right. They're fading out this song"
"You know, this isn't like muggle music. It's much more-alive"
"Probably cause the instruments are magical. Although they do use muggle stuff for some of their songs"
"Why?"
"Novelty?" She said, shrugging and almost pushing Harry's hand off of her shoulder.
They danced for a while, speeding up and slowing down as the music changed.
Harry was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying it.
"It's gonna be over Easter break," she said suddenly.
"What?"
"My-initiation"
"I'll be there" he promised. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Merlin, you're gonna soak your knickers, aren't you?"
"Probably" she agreed, a smile playing on her lips. It disappeared in a flash. "I'm nervous"
"Why? You can do it"
"I know, it's just-with everyone watching, it's a different story. It's one thing when it was just my father, or when we were practicing on those critters. It'll be another thing altogether with Him there"
"It is different. But in a way, it makes it easier. You just don't have the option of screwing it up"
"Yeah," she said, sounding uncertain.
"Look, babe. You'll be fine. You'll be better than fine. You'll be great"
"I hope so. I think if it goes well…"
"Yeah?"
"I'll be ready"
It took a second for him to figure out what she was talking about. When it clicked, it clicked hard. He almost stopped in the middle of a twirl.
"Yeah?"
"I think so"
He kissed her.
"You're the best"
"I know"
"Harry! Let's swap for dance"
Harry and Daphne stopped and looked at Krum. The Bulgarian was holding out his hand expectantly, with Granger standing behind him.
Daphne nodded at him, shrugging slightly.
"She's all yours. For the moment" he told Krum, who clapped him on the back, laughing.
Granger was far more graceful than he had expected.
"I thought you'd be going with Weasley," he said, making her blush a bit.
"We're not-we're-. Viktor asked me. He says he asked you about me?"
"Yeah"
"I'm surprised. I would have thought you'd have said something horrible"
His grip tightened on her hand for half a second.
"Sorry" he muttered.
"Why do you hate me?" She asked.
' Cause you're an arrogant bitch? And you're friends with Weasley, what more do I need?'
"I don't"
"At least, you did. I understand you and Ron, you guys got off on a really bad start and things just got worse. I can even understand why Malfoy hates me, with his blood supremacy nonsense. But why do you? You're far too sensible to believe in that rubbish"
' This is a brilliant opportunity! Ease her suspicions, say something!'
He couldn't think of anything clever, and so stayed silent for a few minutes, mind speeding along.
It came to him in a flash of inspiration.
' Oh, she'll buy that all right' he thought, internally cackling.
"I guess," he said, trying to sound hesitant and uncertain, "I guess I was jealous of you"
"Jealous? Of me? What-"
"You-you grew up with-with good muggles. I didn't"
She didn't say anything for a few minutes. He lifted his head, to find her staring incredulously at him, spots of pink suffusing her face.
"Good muggles?" She repeated.
"Yeah. Good muggles. They never hated you, did they? Never-never told you that you were a-a freak?"
"Of course not. My parents-"
"Are good muggles. Every other muggle I met wasn't. You got the good ones. I was jealous of that"
"Surely there must have been some-" she started.
"Not one. Not a single muggle who helped me out, who stopped me being-being bullied. They all thought something was wrong with me"
"But-"
' It's working! Look at her face!'
"Hermione," He said, and the oddity of him calling her something other than Granger made her stop mid-sentence.
"I was-I was adopted once," he said, making his voice tremble a bit. "They wanted me to have an exorcism"
' Well, they said they did'
She gasped, looking shocked. "That's horrid, I'm so sorry! What happened?"
' You're so sorry, aren't you? You will be. One day'
"The-the priest said they don't do them anymore. So they took-they took me back to the-the orphanage"
She didn't say anything for a while. They twirled slowly, Harry catching Draco's horrified expression out the corner of his eye.
"I'm sorry you went through all that," she said, sounding sincere. Sounding earnest. "But that's not normal. That's not how normal muggles are. They're just people, like you and me. Some of them are bad, and some are good"
' Bullshit. They're not people'
"I understand that now. But I didn't, not for a long time"
"I'm-"
He was saved from listening to another one of her stupid apologies when Krum strode over.
"She is all your. In one piece"
"Thanks. Granger" he said, nodding to the condescending bitch as he walked away.
He took Daphne's hand, spinning her around.
"How was that?"
"Surprisingly nice. And he's handsome, too"
"Oh, is he now?"
"Are you getting jealous?"
"No. Just means I'll have to work harder," he said, waggling his tongue at her.
She laughed. "Let's find a nice, hidden nook, and you can show me how hard you'll work"
They walked off, sidling out of the Hall.
"So, turns out he's not just big and stupid, he's a half-breed too!"
"What?"
Draco smirked and passed Harry the paper.
"Seriously. You should just take out a subscription"
"Why? I just get yours when you're done"
After a few minutes, he put the paper aside, chuckling.
"That's brilliant"
"You saw your mention?"
"That's what I meant". He picked the paper up and started quoting from it. "As was revealed at the trial for Sirius Black, Rubeus Hagrid was sent by Albus Dumbledore(see page 6 for a fuller recap of the eccentric wizard's strange decisions that night) to pick up Harry Potter from the wreckage of his parents' house. Why Dumbledore thought it was a good idea to send a savage, part human with no children of his own, to collect an infant, remains shrouded in mystery"
He looked over at Draco. "You see what they're doing?"
"Of course," Draco said, sounding affronted.
"It's brilliant" Harry repeated.
"How was the rest of the night? I saw you guys disappear"
"It was great," Harry said, hearing Daphne's moans in his mind. "How was yours?"
"I'd say it was good"
"Did you-"
"We kissed. Merlin, Harry, the rest of us aren't as sex-crazed as you, you know. Some of us are quite satisfied to take things slowly"
Harry brushed it off. "So, how was it? It was the first time, right?"
Draco blushed. "It was good. Better than good. Sweet Salazar, it was amazing"
"Just you wait. It only gets better"
"We'll see. I'm taking her to Hogsmeade today. Why don't you guys meet us?"
"Meeting my godfather there. Actually, he's coming to pick me up from here"
"Ah. Would be awkward to go out with your godfather and your girlfriend"
"Not so much. But I'd rather go with her a different day. When it's just the two of us. Unless idiot acts up again. Then we can play with him again"
Draco shook his head slowly. "I still can't believe you took her with you for that"
"What? She liked it"
Draco carried on shaking his head. "You two deserve each other, you know that?"
"Yeah," Harry said, grinning. "We do"
"So," Sirius asked, putting his butterbeer back on the table and wiping his mouth. "How was the ball?"
"It was pretty fun, actually. But I don't want to go dancing again in a hurry, I can tell you that much"
Sirius groaned in commiseration. "Merlin, my parents used to drag my brother and me to those things"
"Your brother?"
"Regulus. He died"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know"
"Don't feel bad. Not worth it, not for him. He was a Death Eater"
' I'm not worth it either then'
They sat in silence for a bit, Harry trying to think of something to say. He'd already told Sirius all about the first task, and he thought he had done a good job of making it sound dramatic. Especially his description of Krum's maneuvers.
"How's the mind-healer been?"
"You know about that?"
"Legal guardian, remember?" Sirius said with a small smile.
"It's been good. He's helped a lot"
"I know it sucks. But it's important"
"You don't know-sorry" Harry said, looking down, ashamed of his outburst.
"You'd be surprised" Sirius put his arm on Harry's shoulder. "Can I tell you a story?"
"Yeah"
"Your dad and I. We met on the Hogwarts Express. Became friends immediately. But there was another kid there. He made some stupid comments, annoyed us. We hated him from then on"
Harry looked up and caught Sirius' eye.
"You know the feeling, huh?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, it only got worse at Hogwarts. We were in Gryffindor, and he was Slytherin. The rivalry was terrible then, especially with the war brewing. It's funny. Nowadays, it seems so meaningless, House rivalry. But when you're in school, it's everything"
He was silent for a minute, lost in recollection.
"Anyway, as the years passed, it just got worse between us. We'd hex each other, and mock and bully each other. Then-then Moony comes in"
He sighed. "Back then, there was no Wolfsbane Potion. So Madam Pomphrey used to take Remus out to the shrieking shack to transform. There's a tunnel, near the forest, at the Whomping Willow. We eventually figured it out, what was going on. Where he would go. But this other guy, he didn't know. And he was curious. Curious, and so annoying about it. So I told him how to get through the tunnel. I told him he should follow Remus there"
He sighed again.
"He saw Remus transforming. You've got to understand, a werewolf in close confines is seriously dangerous. That kid would have died. But your dad saved him"
"How?"
"I told him what I did. He was horrified. He went after Sn-the kid and dragged him out of there. Risked his life for it, too"
"Wow"
"Yeah. But that's not why I'm telling you this. I'm telling you so you know. I almost killed him. And worse, cause they would have put Remus down. Not executed, that's not what they would have called it. Put him down. Cause of me. So I know a thing or two about doing stupid things when you're angry"
' And when you went after Pettigrew. Remember that? What you left me to?'
Harry just nodded.
Perhaps sensing that this conversation wouldn't go anywhere, Sirius changed the subject.
"Any ideas about the second task? What it's gonna be?"
"Na. They're keeping it secret. Apparently, the champions got given a clue to figure out what it is, so they can't tell us or someone will let them know"
"Guess you'll see then. It's right before Easter break, no?"
"Yeah. A week or two before"
"You'll come to me for the break?" Although he was clearly trying to appear casual, Sirius didn't quite manage to hide his nerves.
Suppressing a sigh, Harry said "Yeah. But it's cool if I spend a few days at Draco's?"
"Not at Daphne's house?"
Harry smirked. "Would be great if her parents would let. Would you let her stay over?"
Sirius seemed to think intently about it.
"Sure. You can stay with me in my room, and I'll have the elf make sure she stays in her room"
"On second thoughts, I'll pass"
"Thought so"