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Chapter XXX: Valentine's Day

(Neville P.O.V)

"Stupefy!" Neville roared as Michael rolled out of the way of his latest attack. With a wave of Michael wand, a bolt of fire released from the tip and acting quickly Neville held his ground as he muttered, "Aguamenti!"

A jet of water gushed from the tip of his wand, dousing the flame, but the steam from the impact had covered his eyes as instantly, he felt himself flying back as Michael had landed a knockback jinx under the veil of the mist. Still, Neville wasn't done yet as Michael cast fumos to hide his movement Neville whipped his wand in a circle as he roared, "Ventus!"

Their small training room felt like the eyes of a hurricane as the smoke was dispelled, and yet, Michael had disappeared until Neville felt the cold tip of Michael's wand to the back of his neck. He could nearly hear the grin on Michael's face as his friend whispered, "Drop the wand."

But Neville wasn't quite ready to give up, and quickly, he kicked his foot back, sweeping the ground out from under Michael's feet causing his friend to lose balance. He had been hoping for Michael to fall, but he was a quidditch player and his reflexes were fast. Quickly, Michael adjusted his stance and in a roar, he and Michael bellowed, "Expelliarmus!"

Instantly, two strings of glowing red light connected as Neville grit his teeth, taking a step forward as Michael did the same. Of the four matches they had shared today, Michael had been up on him by one, and Neville wanted nothing more than to tie things up. With fortitude, Neville continued pouring his magic through his wand, the magic heating the wood in his hand as his arm began to shake from the strain.

A broad grin rose to Neville's face as he saw his jet of light overpowering his friend, A little longer, he thought to himself desperately as sweat beat down his brow, and then to his immense confusion, Michael flicked his wand up, breaking the connection as with mind-blowing speed, he side-stepped the incoming spell. Before Neville could even get into a position to counter, a bolt of red light struck him in the chest as Michael grunted, "Stupefy!" And with a thud, Neville fell to the ground.

He watched motionlessly as his friend walked over, sweat dripping through his Ravenclaw muscle shirt as he pointed his wand to Neville's chest muttering, "Rennervate," and instantly, Neville felt his body loosen as he reached for Michael's offered hand, pulling himself up with a groan as Michael nodded, "Good match, you're definitely getting better."

"Still couldn't beat you twice though," Neville said unsatisfied with how the duel had ended.

"It was close though," Michael said honestly, "You're stronger than me, that's for sure, I was giving that disarming charm all I had and you were still overpowering me. I was just faster is all, it's something you need to look out for. You may not be all that quick with a wand Nev, but you hit like a truck that's for sure."

"A truck?" Neville asked in confusion.

"Right," Michael said shaking his head, "Pureblood families, a truck is like a big car."

"Why don't they just call it a car?" Neville continued in his query.

"Don't know," Michael said with a shrug, "But one thing's for sure, Harry and I definitely need to get you out into the muggle world more often this summer. I mean, you gotta know a lot about them if you want to get with Hermione and all that."

"W-what?" Neville said blushing heavily, "I- I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right," Michael said with a cheeky grin as Neville playfully shoved him before the two took a seat on one of the benches they had brought in months ago. Neville pressed his water bottle to his lips as he drank quickly, his throat feeling as dry as a desert from exhaustion before he let out a tired sigh.

"Any news on where Harry is?" Neville said in wonder, "He normally doesn't miss any chance to duel us."

"I think he's with Dumbledore right now," Michael said slowly, "Not really sure exactly what kind of special training he's receiving but he's been getting more of it since the Pettigrew thing. I guess it makes sense though seeing as he's a big shot with a lot of enemies and all that."

"Doesn't that make us targets by association?" Neville said as he took another sip from his water bottle.

"I guess," Michael said, moving off the bench onto a couch they had stolen from Filch's office with the help of Fred and George, "Why do you think I've been so insistent on training, I don't want to be dead weight if more dementors of worse comes knocking."

"I've actually been thinking about that," Neville said, "I mean, the last time I saw Harry use the Patronus Charm he could barely make a mist, and now, somehow he made one that killed 100 dementors. I know we probably won't be seeing more dementors in the future as the ministry probably won't want to leave Azkaban even more unguarded than it already is, but it would be nice to have the Patronus Charm in our back pockets."

"I guess we can try to ask Harry to teach us the spell over the summer," Michael said with a shrug, "Astoria claims he's a great teacher, though if Harry believes that is a completely different story, but I'm sure if we twist his arm enough he'll show us how to do it."

"Maybe we should get Astoria to pester him," Neville said with a chuckle, "She's mastered the art of getting what she wants out of Harry."

The two boys laughed as the plans of their summer slowly began getting shaped, and as January turned to February, and with the end of the year exams approaching ever closer, Neville couldn't help but feel thankful that he had friends.

(Harry P.O.V)

Harry sat on the ground of the Headmaster's office, his hands rested knuckle to knuckle like a meditating monk as he took slow, deep breaths. As the plan between him and Daphne to try and save Blaise came closer and closer to fruition, practicing both Occlumency and Legilimency became more important than ever. Unlike before, this time Daphne had given him a book, Mastering the Mind. In the book, it had stated that meditative stances help calm and focus the mind against mental attacks, and seeing as his occlumency skills were far weaker than his legilimency, and knowing how important it was that he master both disciplines as best he could, Harry had decided to give it a try.

Harry could hear his heart pounding softly in his chest as he kept his eyes closed, the soft chirping of Fawkes and the slow pacing of Dumbledore were the only sounds from the outside. With the knowledge and reminder of Voldemort's presence in his head thanks to the agony he felt in the presence of the dark mark, his motivations to master the arts had grown stronger than ever. With his resolve strengthened and with a relaxed presence of mind, he took a deep breath and prepared himself as Dumbledore spoke, "Legilimens."

Instantly, the presence of Dumbledore in his mind was felt as he watched from a bird's eye view as the powerful wizard walked around his twisted mansion mindscape. Harry continued to focus solely on his breathing as he felt Dumbledore's hand rest upon the handle of one of the rooms many doors. Unlike before where Harry was constantly reacting, this time, his mind stilled, the beating of his heart centered him as he watched Dumbledore twist the handle and pull only to face a locked door.

A feeling of pride swelled in Harry's chest as he saw Dumbledore look up at him as if he could see him through his mindscape and smiled, "Very well done, though this is merely a stage above passive legilimency. Let's see how long you can withstand an all-out assault."

Harry nodded as he watched Dumbledore lift his wand. Slowly, he moved his hands into a prayer-like position, and with a deep exhale he prepared for the Old Man's assault. A slash of Dumbledore's wand had caused the whole room to shake as a black mark appeared on the door like a sword had been taken to it. But Harry refused to be rattled taking only another breath and returning his focus to his defense. Another swipe, followed by another calming breath, Harry had lost count of how many attacks Dumbledore had thrown at the door, and Harry wasn't sure how much longer his defense could last. He needed to push the man out of his mind, and focusing hard on the situation, he remembered the conversation he had with Daphne a few days prior…

"Flyboy," Daphne had snapped in his face waking him out of his stupor as he used the advantage of his access to Dumbledore to allow him into the restricted section of the library for more information, "Pay attention, this is important."

"I know," Harry had said with a yawn as he wrapped his arms around Daphne's waist, forcing her head to rest against his chest as he held her close in their privacy, "I heard you, it's just, I'm so tired."

A surprising look of empathy washed over Daphne's face as Harry felt her look up at him, "Sorry," She had said softly, "I know that you were with Dumbledore for hours yesterday and had practice today, I just- I really want to help Blaise and-" She took a breath, stopping her rambling before she spoke once more, "If you want to stop for today, I get it."

"And miss out on my time alone with you, without detective Astoria" Harry had said with a grin, "Not a chance."

Harry watched as Daphne's eyes lit up, a sign that she had remembered something, and with a whisper she spoke, "Dobby." A pop echoed quietly through the room, and Harry watched as a House Elf appeared before them, bowing deeply as it jittered with excitement upon being summoned.

"Dobby is here to help Miss Greeny," The elf had said musically, only to be given a gentle hush by Daphne allowing the elf to realize they were currently in the library after curfew, "Sorry Miss Greeny," Dobby had said softly, "Dobby will be quiet."

"That's alright Dobby," Daphne had spoken before Harry's glance had finally be recognized by her, "Oh right," Daphne had said quietly, "You two haven't met, Harry this is my friend Dobby, and Dobby this is my friend Harry."

"Just a friend Princess," Harry said with a playful smile only to be ribbed gently by Daphne who smirked.

"Don't push it Flyboy, I'm trying to do something nice for you," Daphne had said softly before turning back towards the elf, "Dobby, can you bring us two cups of Cinnamon Tea please?"

Dobby nodded and with another pop, he vanished causing Harry to chuckle, "He's certainly much more energetic than my House Elf, I didn't actually know you had one Princess?"

"I don't," Daphne had spoken softly, "Dobby, he's not my servant, he's my friend. He's actually a recently freed elf."

"I thought Elves hated being free," Harry had said, "Wait, you said recently freed, who owned him before?"

"The Malfoy's," Daphne had spat out in anger, "They treated him awfully, I swear if I had my way I'd-"

But before Daphne could continue her rant, Dobby had reappeared, two warm cups of Cinnamon tea in his hand happily handing it over to both he and Daphne before apparating away without a chance for either of them to thank the elf. Daphne watched him intently as Harry stared into the tea and Harry couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?"

"Have you ever had cinnamon tea before?" Daphne asked and Harry quickly shook his head, "It's my favorite tea, I kinda just want to see what your reaction to it is."

"You're a strange girl, you know that Princess?" Harry had said with a chuckle but Daphne was unphased as she watched Harry sip the tea. Thankfully, he had enjoyed it immensely which caused Daphne to grin slightly before turning back to book and continuing.

"Now that we have some caffeine in our systems," Daphne had said, "Let's keep going." Harry nodded wrapping his free arm around Daphne once more as she read, "It says here that when defending against Legilimency, the defendant, if skilled enough in Occlumency, can create a protector in their minds, a physical human-like representation of defense that is efficient at removing invaders from a person's psyche."

"Yeah, I've seen that before," Harry confirmed with a nod, "Dumbledore has one of-," But he stopped himself, "Actually, he probably wouldn't be happy if I started sharing his mental defenses. It would be cool to make one though, I imagine it's super hard though."

"Surprisingly," Daphne had spoken, "It doesn't seem like it is, I mean, it says it takes up an immense amount of magic to physically manifest a protector in one's mind, but a person skilled enough in Occlumency should be able to create a protector if their familiarity with the protector is one of absolute trust and care pretty easily. It's a simple as adding the protector to one's mindscape like one add a locked door. However, it does say that focusing on a protector should be the last resort as it weakens all other mental defenses due to the stress it places on the mind."

Focus, Harry had thought to himself, the banging on Dumbledore's spell against his mental door ringing him out of his memory. Once more, Harry closed his eyes and focused solely on his most prized possession, a picture he had received from Sirius of his mother and father dancing on their wedding day. Every detail of his parent's face that he could recall, the differences in their heights, the smiles they bore, Harry focused on all of it until in shock he heard Dumbledore whisper, "Lily and James?"

Harry watched as his two conjured mental protectors placed one hand on each of Dumbledore's shoulders before with a push they forced Dumbledore out of Harry's mind. Instantly, Harry felt Dumbledore stumble backward, catching himself on his desk as Harry, strained from the mental fortitude broke from his meditative stance and collapsed on his back, panting heavily. Dumbledore slowly regained his balance as he approached Harry, the twinkle in his eyes beaming with pride as he nodded causing Harry to smile weakly, "Hey, I finally pushed you out of my head."

Dumbledore nodded, "It was very well done Harry." The old man spoke with a gentle smile, "I certainly wasn't expecting you to be able to project a guardian already. Your progress has been astounding, to say the very least."

Harry chuckled to himself before he let out a tired sigh asking the question he was dreading, "How much of your full power were you using, Professor?"

Harry watched as Dumbledore's face sunk slightly only to nod and answer, "Only twenty-five percent, maybe thirty." Harry clenched his fist in frustration as Dumbledore spoke, "Harry, do not beat yourself up. When we first began our lessons, I was able to breakthrough with only passive legilimency, for someone who isn't a natural Occulemns, you are improving at a remarkable rate."

"I know that," Harry said his fist still clenched in frustration, "But I have to do better than twenty-five percent, I need to be able to stop Voldemort, I can't let him into my head, I can't put everyone at risk because I'm not strong enough."

"Harry you have grown exponentially in such a short time," Dumbledore spoke, "And there is still time left to train. I wouldn't concern yourself with the risk of failure quite yet, do not lose hope, while natural-born Occlumens such as Professor Snape may have the ability to defend even against the most difficult mental attacks with low to moderate difficulty. For people such as you and I Harry, the process takes some time, but I promise you, we will get there. For now, you should rest, I will not have Professor McGonagall complaining to me of you falling asleep in her class on my behalf."

Harry grinned as he pushed himself to his feet heading towards the exit of the Headmaster's chambers before he spoke once more, "Professor Dumbledore, I need a favor."

"What is it, my boy?" Dumbledore spoke.

"Blaise Zabini," Harry spoke softly, "I- Daphne and I, we have a theory about how we can help him, but the unspeakables aren't going to let us through with how closely they restrict all access to him. I was wondering if you could get Daphne and I through."

Suddenly, Harry felt a strange shift in the air as he stared at Dumbledore. He had started to relax around the old man, but Sirius hadn't told him to be wary of the old man for nothing, and as Dumbledore spoke, Harry remembered why, "I may be able to find a way to remove the unspeakables from Zabini's bedside. However, I'm afraid that I myself am also in need of some assistance on a very delicate matter."

While his words betrayed no malicious intent, part of Harry felt a bit uneasy as he asked, "What is it you want?"

"The Order of the Pheonix," Dumbledore spoke, "I'm sure you have been informed by Sirius and Remus that it was an organization that I had led in the first war against Voldemort. With possible war looming once more on the horizon, I would like to be kept in the loop about the groups' activities if the Order is to be reformed. I imagine that Sirius and Remus will be recruiting for the group in due time with Twelve Grimmauld Place as the base of operations. I would simply ask for access to the meeting place of the Order, I assure you that my knowledge on Voldemort and experience with magic would be a great asset in the upcoming conflict."

Harry knew the game at this point, Dumbledore didn't care for simply 'staying in the loop', he wasn't willing to be a random pawn or lesser piece on the chessboard, Dumbledore, despite his soft-spoken demeanor was only happy in one position, the king. Still, Harry needed to old man's guidance, his power was the only realistic benchmark to that of Voldemort's and there was a reason even slightly more important to Harry than that. The sadness he had seen on Daphne's face when discussing Blaise, the sadness that stopped Tracey's smile from reaching her eyes, the slight pinch of guilt that still echoed in his heart that wished that if only he were as powerful as he is now when the Hogsmeade attack had happened Blaise would never have been in his situation in the first place. Slowly, Harry nodded his agreement, and with the smiling figure of Dumbledore permeating in his mind as he left, all Harry could hope for was that Dumbledore was telling the truth about wanting to help him, and not control him.

(Daphne P.O.V)

Daphne had awoken to the beeping of her alarm with more energy than she normally had whenever this day had come around. Valentine's Day, a tradition where instead of just expressing love throughout the year, couples waited for a specific day to shower their significant others with gifts in order to 'show' their partner how much they loved them in units of Galleons.

Still this time, the day felt a bit different, and Daphne couldn't help but wonder if maybe it had anything to do with the raven-haired boy she had been spending more and more time with. While part of her was excited to head up to the great hall, another parted dreaded exactly to what lengths Astoria would go to tease her on this particular day.

However, knowing she couldn't push it off any longer, Daphne climbed out of her bed, before, with a wave of her wand, the bed remade itself. Daphne grabbed her towel as well as her uniform and due to her forcing herself to wake up earlier than any of her roommates, she easily claimed the largest shower and began preparing for the day.

As she turned the faucet off, hearing the continuation of running water from the other showers that had been put into use as more and more students awoke, Daphne quickly got dressed before leaving the lavatory with haste. However, as she returned to the dorms, she found that each of the privacy curtains had been turned back, except one, Tracey's.

Slowly, Daphne approached her friend's curtain as she whispered, "Tracey? Are you feeling okay?" Words didn't echo through the curtain, but the silence was broken by the sound of sobbing tears and breathy gasps. Daphne sat in anguish, feeling unable to do anything to help her best friend as she once again whispered, "Tracey, let me in please."

"I'm fine Daphne," Tracey said, though her voice was so broken she doubted Tracey would have been able to convince a toddler that she wasn't miserable, "Just go get breakfast, I'll meet you in class."

Daphne shook her head as she sat against the wall adjacent to her friend's four-poster taking a breath as she spoke, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm not going to abandon my best friend."

The curtains slid open, and standing there, her shoulder-length auburn hair a complete mess, and her normally warm brown eyes bloodshot red from tears was her best friend. Tracey had looked worse than she had in weeks, but Daphne supposed with the day acting as an explosive reminder of one's significant other, it made sense that Tracey was struggling. "See," Tracey had said with a shaky voice, "I'm fin-"

But before Tracey could finish her sentence, Daphne rushed her, catching her in a tight hug as she forced the curtains shut once more. Hot tears began streaming down her neck from her friend's cheek and as she rubbed small circles around her friend's back Daphne spoke, "It's okay Trace. Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm sorry," Tracey said in a broken voice, "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Daphne said breaking the hug as she stared at her friend in confusion.

"You- you've been through so much shit this year and I feel like some of it, no, most of it is my fault. I mean, you and Harry got attacked by dementors and a death eater. I've seen you trying to balance trying to save Astoria and Blaise, and I feel like I've been nothing but a burden because I can't even think about what's happening to him without just falling apart and-," Tracey swallowed hard, "I'm sorry Daphne, I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Daphne said firmly hugging her friend once more as she continued, "There's nothing for me to forgive, it's okay Tracey, I'm not upset or angry with you, I understand."

"I just-," Tracey said biting her lip hard in an attempt to try and keep her act together, "I just wish I could see him, I can't even spend today with him in the hospital wing because those unspeakables won't let anyone near their 'work'." Despite her best effort, another tear fell from her eyes as she finished, "I miss him so much, Daphne."

"I miss him too Tracey," Daphne spoke, "But I'm not giving up, I'm going to save him, I promise, I promise I'll bring him back to us, back to you."

(Daphne P.O.V)

Daphne had refused to leave her friend's side for the day except for the two times their classes hadn't added up. She was concerned that either Harry or Astoria would have jumped her, but one look from her and a quick glance at Tracey had caused Harry to nod subtly during breakfast in understanding and Daphne felt very thankful for how perceptive the boy was as he gently placed his hand on Astoria's shoulder, shaking his head softly to stop her.

All that said, it still didn't help much that there were couples snogging around every corner and the atrocious smell of witches weekly perfumes filled every hallway in droves. Honestly, Daphne couldn't wait for the day to be over because apart from Tracey who was barely keeping it together, she had to keep her head cool as she watched Harry become the unwilling recipient of no-doubt a sizable amount of love-potioned sweets. Daphne couldn't help herself from concocting a list in her head of witches that were getting far too close to Harry for her comfort; Patil, Brown, Brocklehurst, Dunbar. Daphne hadn't considered herself the jealous type but seeing girls throw themselves at Harry despite his obvious un-interest was really frustrating.

Figuring that with classes now finished and the dinner bell only a couple hours away, Daphne had taken Tracey out to the lake and away from all the 'love' that was taking place in the castle. The large tree resting on the bank of the lake was large enough for the two of them to rest side by side comfortably as the chirping of birds cut through the chilly February air.

The two of them sat there, saying nothing, to Daphne there was nothing needed to be said, but it was Tracey that had broken the silence, "I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry you had to waste all of Valentine's Day with me."

A small grin grew on Daphne's face, "It wasn't a waste Tracey, it's been a while since we spent any time together."

"Still," Tracey said softly, "I know you'd have rather spent today with Harry, I mean, you two are-,"

"That's enough of that," Daphne spoke, "If you want to thank me for staying with you then I guess I can accept that, but don't you dare apologize for something as stupid as taking away my time with Harry. You're my sister Tracey, you were there for me when nobody else was, we're family and family comes first."

Daphne watched as her friend sat in silence before the winter sun began to set creating a beautiful orange glow along the surface of the still lake. Tracey furiously wiped her eyes as she whispered in a voice just high enough for Daphne to hear it, "Thank you."

"Always," Daphne responded simply.

The sky had darkened as a cool chill filled the now sunless sky, a slight tremble overtook Daphne's body as she motioned to stand, helping Tracey to her feet. The omnipresence of the light gale winds was broken as Daphne heard a familiar voice call out, "Hey Princess, Tracey, glad I found you."

Daphne watched in confusion as she saw Harry tuck a piece of parchment into his pocket before standing there, a flutter with nervous jitters, "Harry?" Daphne asked in confusion, "What are you-"

"I made a deal with Dumbledore," Harry said, "He's got the unspeakables out of the hospital wing, which means-"

"It's time," Daphne finished with a nod.

"Time for what?" Tracey asked.

"Time to save Blaise."