32

Chapter XXXII: Harry's Heart

(Harry P.O.V)

Harry awoke with a throbbing headache. His vision was blurred and his body felt dizzy as he rose to his feet and grabbed his bedside table for support. How much magic did I use? Harry thought to himself before with a pop Kreacher appeared to him holding a vial, "Kreacher has brought Master Harry some replenishing potions. Master Harry should rest."

Harry nodded, sitting on his bed as he downed the first of three potions and instantly began to feel a little less strained, "Did you bring any of these to Daphne? I'm sure she's probably feeling it just as bad."

"Miss Greengrass' elf brought her some when Kreacher told him," Kreacher replied forcing the second vial into Harry's hand, "Now drink."

Harry gave the elf a soft smile as he downed the next potion, "Thank you, Kreacher, this helps a lot."

"Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black," The elf nodded handing Harry the last potion.

"Kreacher," Harry spoke after finishing the last potion, "You know that you don't simply have to be my servant, we can be friends."

"Kreacher doesn't like making friends," The elf spoke, "Kreacher lost his friend Master Regulus, Kreacher doesn't want to go through it again."

Harry felt awful for the elf, it was no surprise that serving Sirius was not his preferred lifestyle, but both the elf and his Godfather suffered from a very similar pain, the loss of Sirius' brother, Regulus Black. It was a name that wasn't spoken much in the New House of Black, but Harry knew it was always lingering just below the surface of Sirius and Kreacher's relationship. Still, Harry had decided that for now, it was best to stay silent. And as he thanked Kreacher once more for his service, the elf popped away once more leaving him alone in his dorm space.

Harry turned to his alarm, it was late, approaching midnight and Harry had realized he'd been out for nearly five hours. Slowly, and this time with a lot less strain, he pushed himself out of bed as he stretched himself out, popping multiple joints in his body. He opened his bedside table finding his father's map and with the touch of his wand he spoke, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Instantly, the map sprang to life, and while Harry saw that most of the students were in their dormitories apart from the prefects, there was one dot, sitting all alone at the edge of the astronomy that caused him to smile. As quietly as he could, Harry retrieved his cloak before through the sleeping dorms, he left the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry was very thankful for his cloak and map, along with the muffling charm he placed on his feet, Harry was more invisible than a ghost as he easily walked past those on patrol without suspicion as he headed towards the Astronomy Tower. Due to already being near the top of the castle, it hadn't taken long until Harry had found himself slowly opening the door of the tower and heard the quiet whisper of Daphne call out, "Who's there?"

"Relax Princess," Harry spoke gently removing the cloak and shutting the door behind him, locking it with a flick of his wand, "It's just me."

"An invisibility cloak huh?" Daphne spoke a small smirk on her lips, "You are just full of surprises aren't you?"

"Would you have it any other way?" Harry said with a grin of his own as he approached the beautiful blonde taking a seat beside her as he looked out into the distance, "So, what brings you out to this tower at this hour?"

Daphne smiled as Harry returned it as he wrapped his arm gently around her waist and felt Daphne place her tired head on his shoulders, "I couldn't sleep, I'm exhausted but my heart is still pounding like crazy. It also doesn't help that every time I close my eyes I see Blaise in that horrible state. How could they have done that? What kind of heartless human beings-"

Harry tightened his embrace of his princess as Daphne hiccuped quietly, "All my life," She spoke slowly, "I wanted to be a healer. I wanted to bring people back from the brink of death, to spit in the face of fate that tells me that something has to happen because the powers that be demand it. But when I saw what they were doing to him, I just couldn't understand how people that were supposed to heal a person could cause so much harm."

"People are shitty," Harry said blankly looking at the sky, "I mean, there are good ones out there, but there is plenty of shit; Pettigrew, the Death Eaters, the Unspeakables, Voldemort," Harry felt Daphne flinch and with an apologetic look he spoke, "Sorry, I forgot about the whole 'don't say his name thing' it's a load of bullshit honestly, but still-"

"Anyway," Harry said correcting his course, "Like I said, not every person is shitty, you for example, as much as you try to act like you don't care about anything or anyone care a lot about people. I don't really know why the whole Ice Queen thing exists, but I know the world could use more people like you."

"Harry," Daphne spoke touched by the kindness in his words, "When I first met you, I thought you were a selfish ass. My first impression of you was that you were a lot like Malfoy, a git who had never been told no before and someone who expected the world to roll over and do whatever they wanted." Harry stared softly at Daphne as she continued, "I just wanted to apologize for that, I was really wrong about you."

"You were partially wrong about me," Harry spoke with a shrug, "I can still be a bit of an ass, just not as much as Malfoy. I don't think anyone but a Malfoy can be as big of a dick as another Malfoy."

Daphne chuckled slightly as she gently slapped his arm before turning to face the stars, "Tracey wanted me to thank you by the way. Blaise is going to need a good amount of rehab, but the Medi-Wizards that arrived after you left said that he's going to make a full recovery."

"Well that's good," Harry said with an even smile, "Seeing you and Tracey all mopey really was a bummer."

"Why do you do that?" Daphne spoke, "You make everything seem like it's not a big deal. Even when you do things that were previously thought impossible you simply walk around like it never happened. It was the same thing when you protected Astoria all those months ago. I just don't get it."

"I made a promise to myself a long time ago," Harry spoke, "I was going to make every single one of my enemies pay. Every single person that played a role in my family's death, I want to see them brought to justice. That drive, part of it scares me, sometimes I worry about becoming the type of monster I'm fighting against. That's why, when it comes to my friends, to the people I care about, I'm willing to go so far for them. I do it to remind myself that I'm not like them, I do it to remind myself that I'm not Him."

Harry felt Daphne look deeply into his eyes and in their minds, Harry felt like a hundred conversations had taken place before they broke their glances once more staring up into the starry sky, "I like constellations, I don't know why, but I've always liked stargazing, even when I was a little kid." Harry looked at Daphne with a slight smile, "Months ago, you told me you wanted to get to know the real me, I figure you've done enough to earn that."

"I'm also a terrible cook," Daphne transitioned, "I tried making lunch for Astoria one day and I nearly burned down my father's estate," Harry chuckled a bit as Daphne continued, "I love drawing too, though I haven't had much time to do anything more than doodle this year, you already know that I hate flying, and one time, Tracey took me bowling and I got something called a Turkey which is supposed to be impressive I guess, but honestly Muggle Sports are a bit strange. Also I-"

"Slow down Princess," Harry said with a smile, "I think that's more than enough to start out with, if I already knew everything about you, there'd be nothing left to discover and where is the fun in that?"

Harry felt Daphne's eyes turn up towards him and with a questioning look, she asked, "Why did you keep chasing after me, even when I was so cold to you."

"You looked at me like I was person," Harry spoke honestly, "Granted, not a person you liked very much at first, but it was better than how most girls looked at me, as if I was some kind of prize they could show off to all their friends." Harry then smiled as he spoke, "It also helps that you are mysterious, there's so much about you that I don't know and I want to know more so badly."

"What if you find out something you don't like?" Daphne asked, and for the first time in her life, she was a bit frightened by what his response would be.

"If it's a part of what makes you, you," Harry spoke softly as he pressed his forehead to hers, "I'd say that's highly unlikely."

Daphne felt her heart pounding like it never had before as her body shifted without her knowledge to bring herself closer to Harry as he did the same. Harry grinned slightly as he spoke, "Well, we killed some dementors, saved a soul, anything else on the to-do list Princess?" Daphne smiled as she shook her head gently, her forehead rubbing gently against his as Harry's smile grew, "Well then, if there's nothing left, I'm going to kiss you now."

"What are you waiting for, Flyboy?" Daphne asked with a smirk of her own, "A written invitation?"

But Harry knew better than to respond, and slowly, he leaned in allowing his instincts to take over. Daphne's lips taste of her vanilla lip balm, and they were soft and warm. Harry pushed forward, and this time, Daphne submitted, her head falling back as Harry continued his assault. As if life had sparked into her, or perhaps she had finally realized what was happening, Daphne returned the kiss with vigor, wrapping her arms around his neck as Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her onto his lap to share a deeper closeness.

Harry loved the way Daphne nibbled on his bottom lip, he loved the smoothness he felt through his fingers as his hand tangled her soft golden hair. He loved the way she would tug on his messy bedhead and how her arms tightened their closeness as if in desperation. However, as their lungs slowly reached their limits, both he and Daphne separate looking at each other with soft smiles, "It's a good thing nobody saw that," Harry said with a large grin, "That was most inappropriate."

Daphne chuckled slightly as she rested her head onto his shoulder, "Are you sure you want to do this Harry, I mean, I can be a bit of a cold bitch sometimes and-"

"Daphne," Harry spoke, and he slowly felt Daphne shiver at his calling her by her name, "Go out with me."

It was quiet for a moment, but the tightness in which Daphne held him had made her answer rather clear as she nodded into his shoulder a bit overwhelmed by her tired mind and emotional state, "Okay," Daphne spoke in just above a whisper before Harry felt her adjust her positioning to rest her head just above his beating heart.

Harry smiled down at the Blonde as he tilted her chin up to face him, and for the first time, Harry leaned in and pressed his lips against the girl that was now his princess.

(Astoria P.O.V)

"Harry," Astoria whined, her stomach rumbling desperate for breakfast, "Where are we going? The Great Hall is the other way."

"You don't have to follow me Short-Stack," Harry said with a teasing smile, "I'm not forcing you to come along."

"Yeah," Astoria said with squinted eyes, "But you're doing something strange and mysterious, and I hate mysteries so I have to follow you."

"Then I guess you'll just have to be patient," Harry said with a grin as the two continued down a rather empty corridor.

"This is the way to the Slytherin Common Room," Astoria remarked, "Why are we-"

"Took you long enough to get here Flyboy," Her sister's voice called out.

"Sorry Princess, I picked up a stray," Harry joked as Daphne emerged from the dark hallway, "You know, we don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"Do what?" Astoria asked the curiosity killing her.

"Nope," Daphne said with a slight smile of her own, something Astoria hadn't seen in a while from her older sister, "I need Brown, Patil, and Dunbar to get the message loud and clear."

"Aww," Harry said with a smirk, "You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Daphne said with a growl, "Just… protective."

Before Astoria could even process what had happened, she watched as Harry pressed his lips to her sister and her eyes nearly exploded. Astoria had wanted this outcome for so long, but she still could hardly believe what she was seeing. The smile that grew across her sister's lips as the broke apart left Astoria feeling dumbfounded only to be met with the comical grins of both her sister and Harry as with awe, she spoke, "No way."

"Way," Harry responded playfully to her remark.

"So you guys," Astoria started, "I mean you and Harry, I mean, is this really happening?"

"Yes Short-Stack," Harry said with a grin, "It's happening."

"Wow," Astoria said in shock, "That's great, just, wow."

"I honestly thought there would be a bigger reaction," Daphne said with a smirk, "I'm actually a little offended."

"Sorry," Astoria spoke still bewildered, "I don't think my brain has processed what I just saw happen. You the Ice Queen and him the Golden Boy, you two are now, well, dating."

"That is what I am told," Harry spoke with a grin before Daphne nudged him in the ribs. Astoria stood there, her mind racing in wonder as her heart danced with glee seeing her two favorite people as a couple. It was strange to see Daphne so, well, happy, but Astoria couldn't have been more pleased. She must have just been standing there for a bit too long as soon she felt Harry place his hand atop her head and smile, "Come on Short-Stack, let's get some cool orange juice in you before you're head overheats."

Daphne let out a small chuckle causing Astoria to blow out her cheeks in mock outrage which only incited a bigger laugh out of the two third-years before the three of them began walking towards the dining hall together.

Astoria watched as Harry and Daphne walked in front of them, their hands intertwined. Perhaps it was the uniform, perhaps it was just a lack of attention on her part, but the new runic markings on both Harry and Daphne's wrist was yet another mystery for her to solve. However, her intrigue would have to wait as the three stopped just before the doors of the Great Hall, "How do you want to do this?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I think us walking in holding hands will get the message across to Brown and the other harpies," Daphne spoke with a sinister smirk.

"Harpies?" Harry repeated with a chuckle only to receive a slight smack to his shoulder, "Alright, alright," Harry said smiling with amusement, "But you know what else would get the message across, another tender kiss."

"Keep dreaming Flyboy," Daphne said with a forced down blush, "I'm not big into PDA, if you wanted that, you shoulda chosen Brown."

"Don't even joke about that," Harry said with a shutter, "She's terrifying."

Astoria watched with a playful smile as hand in hand, Harry and Daphne pushed the doors of the Great Hall open and she couldn't help but watch in interest as to what the reaction would be to her sister's subtle statement. I hadn't taken long until Astoria heard Lavender's fork fall onto the plate, as Dunbar and Patil turned red like Astoria had never seen red. Still, despite the love of subtly her sister had, she did love twisting the knife a bit when it came to her enemies, and so as a clear surprise to Harry judging by his facial expression, she kissed his cheek as she let go of his hand causing Harry to grin as he whispered, "I thought you didn't like PDA?"

"I don't," Daphne said, "But seeing Patil look about ready to blow was too enjoyable to resist."

"Are you going to be good by yourself over at the Slytherin table?" Harry asked, "With Tracey and her Dad going to visit Blaise at St. Mungos, you're going to be all alone, you're welcome to sit with your sister and I."

"Thanks, but I'm okay," Daphne said with a grin, "You have some angry fan-girls to deal with and I think it's safer for me if I keep my distance."

"You're evil," Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"At least you don't have to sit with Malfoy," Daphne replied, an argument to which Astoria had to concede, as bad as Harry's fangirls could be, nothing beat an indignant Malfoy in terms of annoyance.

Harry sighed, "Fair enough," And with one last shared smile between the newly minted couple, Astoria and Harry watched as Daphne walked towards the Slytherin table, before with a gulp Harry turned to face the Gryffindor Table full of girls with daggers in their eyes he whispered, "Alright Short-Stack, protect me."

"You're on your own," She replied with a chuckle as Harry sighed once more.

"Well, here goes nothing." Astoria heard Harry mutter to himself as the two cautiously approached the table of the outraged lioness.

(Harry P.O.V)

As Harry approached the Gryffindor Table, he was met by a strange array of faces. Fred and George looked particularly amused, while Ron simply shrugged in indifference. Harry saw Katie hand over three galleons to Lee with a scowl as Lee smirked in satisfaction. Angelina gave him a look that Harry quickly interpreted as, So long as you don't go easy of Slytherin because of it, I don't care. Wood didn't really seem to bother noticing anything other than the playbook he was reading feverishly in preparation for their game against Hufflepuff next week, and Alicia simply stared at Harry before turning her attention back to Roger Davis.

However, the Harpies, as Daphne had put it didn't look nearly half as amused as Fred and George, or even Ron for that matter. No, they looked pissed, and for some reason, it really irked Harry. They looked at him like they had something they owned stolen from them, and he didn't like that look at all. Still, as Harry took his seat, he soon saw a streak of blue pop down next to him followed by Neville who sat across from him. Harry turned to smirk at his blue-haired friend as he heard Michael say, "You son of a bitch, you actually did it. I can't believe it."

"Pay up, Corner, I told you I could do it," Harry said.

"Do what?" Astoria asked as she watched Corner scowl dropping the ten galleons into Harry's hand.

"Well, you see," Michael said, "Back when lover-boy here was being given the cold shoulder by the Ice Queen, we made a bet saying that Harry was going to fail in his pursuit of her." Michael then frowned, "I really thought I was going to win too, seven months ago she hated you, I have no idea how you pulled that off."

"I don't know Corner," Harry said with a chuckle, "Maybe it was magic."

"Piss off," Corner said with a laugh, "I'm still going to win the Neville bet."

"What Neville bet?" Neville spoke with a bit of concern.

"Don't worry about it," Michael said waving it off causing Neville to look at Harry before Harry simply shrugged leaving Neville completely lost.

However, their shared amusement couldn't last for long, as to Harry's great disappointment, the sound of Lavender's overly sweet voice called out, "Harry-kins, are you feeling alright?"

Harry shuddered slightly at the pet-name as he watched as Ron struggled to swallow his laugh before Harry shook his head turning to Lavender and speaking calmly, "Oh, hey Lavender, yeah, I'm doing fine."

"Perhaps it was more powerful than I thought, she's always been good in potions after all, your face isn't even slightly flushed," Lavender muttered to herself, "I think," She spoke her voice now clear, "That maybe you should go and see Madam Pomfrey, I fear you may have been drugged."

"What leads you to that suspicion," Harry asked focusing his Occlumency to contain his discomfort and annoyance, "Just curious, because I feel fine."

"Well, I mean, I just find it a bit suspicious is all," Lavender spoke before Harry furrowed his brow waiting for her to continue, "It's just, well there are so many beautiful girls in Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw, or even Hufflepuff, girls who like me are kind and sweet. It's just suspicious that the night after Valentine's Day, you show up with that Cold-Hearted Snake, and then you allow her to kiss you, it just seems off."

"I mean, everyone knows that Greengrass a cunning poitioner," Lavender said sweetly, "It's just, with love potions running so rampant this time of year, I'm a bit concerned-"

"Like the one you put into my chocolate box yesterday?" Harry said with a smug grin as he watched Lavender step back in shock, "Look Lav, I appreciate you reaching out, but I'm just not interested in you that way, and I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from accusing my girlfriend of drugging me."

"Clearly she has," Lavender spoke desperately, "I mean look at me, Harry. I'd do anything for you, something must be wrong if you'd pick the cold Ice-Queen bitch over me."

"Back off," Astoria growled in anger, "That's my sister you're talking about."

"He's not under a love potion," Michael continued, "I know you've been living in a fantasy world where you think Harry's madly in love with you and the reason he hasn't asked you out is because he's just shy, but anyone who's actually talked with him can tell you he's been chasing the Ice-Queen this whole year. Do you know any other girls aside from Short-Stack over there that he has a nickname for?"

"Then perhaps he's been under the love potion for longer than we all thought," Lavender tried to argue keeping her voice down in order to remove the eyes of the hall from their conversation."

"Ah yes," Harry spoke, "So either Daphne's been brewing Love-Potions in secret, continuously for more than half a year, and slipping them to me without me noticing, only for her to turn down every single one of my daily advances until she finally agreed to go out with me because she chose an arbitrary time to say yes. In which case, she's a super genius and stealthy as hell, which is pretty hot. Or, and hear me out here Lavender, I really like her, and because I really like her I'm thrilled that she finally agreed to go out with after more than half a year of trying. I know arithmancy isn't one of your electives, but the math isn't hard."

Harry saw Michael smirk as Lavender allowed a look of pure frustration to balloon in her face before marching away in a tizzy. Harry found his eyes look with Daphne who gave a curious stare before Harry simply shrugged causing his princess to smile and shake her head in amusement. Soon, however, with the morning drama covered, breakfast adorned Harry's plate, and with vigor, he ate.

As breakfast came to an end, Harry groaned in misery, his last week had been eventful, to say the least, and because of it, he was running a bit behind on his homework. Plus with Hufflepuff being the most difficult game of the season for his team, he shuddered to think what Wood's practices would be like. Quickly, Harry shook that thought out of his head as he departed from the table with a sigh, "Well, I'm heading to the library to finish that paper Snape assigned, I'll be back in like 400 hours."

"Want some help?" Michael offered.

"I love you mate," Harry said with a smirk, "But somehow I don't think you'll be much help in this situation."

"Fair enough," Michael said with a chuckle as Harry left his friends behind on the lonely walk to the library.

However, it hadn't taken long until he felt the presence of the Blonde-Haired princess following behind him. He smirked as he turned around, "Couldn't stay away Princess?"

"Shut up," Daphne said with an embarrassed look, "I know you haven't had that much time to work on your homework between your practice and helping me with, well, everything. So I figure, the least I can do is help you with your potions essay. Plus, do you even know how to brew the Girding Potion?"

"I could probably figure it out," Harry responded a bit defensively.

"In the day you have to finish your four parchment scroll essay?" Daphne said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Fine, fine," Harry said with a sigh, "You win, but you know, you don't need an excuse to be around me."

"Is it bad that it's just become a habit," Daphne said cautiously.

"We'll work it out," Harry said with a chuckle, "Come on, let's get started."

However, as Harry and Daphne continued to walk down the hall, Harry instantly regretted staring at Daphne for too long as he felt his body bump into a girl, knocking her to the ground, "Sorry," Harry replied, "Let me help you up."

"It's alright," The girl said brushing her red hair out of her amber eyes, "I wasn't watching where I was- oh, it's you, hi."

Harry looked down at the girl that had hurt his friend so badly, but still kept his arm extended helping her up, "So, um," Susan started, "How have you been since the trial?"

"Good," Harry responded a bit awkwardly, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm actually on my way to meet-" Susan started.

"Terry." Harry finished for her.

"Yeah," She responded timidly, "I um, I should get going now."

"Actually," Harry said softly, "Do you have a second, I need to talk to you."

"O-okay," Susan said before Harry slowly walked the red-head away from Daphne into an empty corridor, "Look, Harry, if this is about what happened with Michael, I'm not going to- I don't think I'm going to change my mind."

"I'm not asking you to," Harry spoke calmly, "You hurt him, Susan, really badly, and frankly, I don't know if I can forgive you completely for that. Granted, I don't know everything, but he's my best friend so I've got to stand up for him."

"He was my friend too," Susan spoke, "But after what he did to Terry, and then the lie he told about him cheating on me. It hurt too much, I didn't want to hurt him, really, I didn't. But I couldn't just let things stay the way they were. It wasn't good for either of us."

"It was your decision, Susan, and honestly, it's your choice if you don't want to be friends with Corner or not, I'm not really all that invested in any of that," Harry began, "But your aunt did me a huge favor with Pettigrew so I feel I should at least return it."

"Michael, he didn't lie to you about Terry cheating," Harry continued, he saw that Susan was about to protest, but Harry quickly finished his point, "Corner, he's a lot of things, lazy, easily distracted, a troublemaker, but he's not a liar. You and I both know that and you know that he cared- he cares about you. Just think about it, you know the kind of guy he is, do you honestly think he's jealous enough to beat up someone like Terry for no reason?"

Harry watched as the argument that was forming on her face vanished as she eyed the floor nervously. He gave the red-head a small head nod before departing the corridor and catching up with Daphne once more, "What was that about?"

"A family matter," Harry said softly, "Come on, clocks ticking and I've got a lot of writing to do."