It may come as shocking but I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2

Harry was admired as he had never seen a quicker hexing in his life, and it was quite an effective hexing considering how marred the boys' faces were. He had witnessed the whole scene: the fondling, the leering glances and words and the fastest girl's reaction, so rapid that none of the boys had had the time to think, let alone react.

The girl straightened up her long blond hair behind the ears and the shoulders, a wide sneer appearing on her face while with a haughty tone she addressed the sore gang:

"Well…after all I had the fun I was looking for, and you?"

The gang fled in dribs and drabs among bystanders' laughter and cackles, the humiliation was absolute and the gang's leader, whom Harry barely recognised as Zacharias Smith, glared at the girl with hatred only to flee even more rapidly as soon as the blond witch rose her wand up again.

As it was her turn, the girl reached the food trolley in order to get these longed and troublesome eyes encountered hers just for a fraction of second but Harry couldn't help but notice the blue sapphire of the girl's wasn't certainly an expert in terms of girls and his experience amounted to a painful non-relationship with a girl who cried more than talking and who broke up with him since he wasn't quick enough in labelling Hermione as "ugly", not that he thought that.

Yet, he had to admit that the girl was astonishingly beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful girl he had ever was so focused on admiring her feature that he forgot to look at her house, something he had taken the habit to do with strangers since the last year in which most of students believed him to be was so lost in mulling over his depressing sentimental life that he barely heard the acute voice of Slughorn echoing in the corridor:

"My dear girl!"

At first, seeing the fatty walrus trudging towards her, Daphne had feared that he wanted to devour her, then, as soon as she recognised Horace Slughorn she quailed thinking she had made her house lose point before arriving at , Slughorn had invited an awe-stricken Daphne to a "small lunch" to be held in his wagon with "some friends of his".A mute Daphne had nodded her approval and the professor had passed by, ignoring the increasing glances by other students.

Daphne knew little about Horace Slughorn: her parents hadn't been invited to the Slugclub and for what she knew they had no woe about was up to date about the personality of him and she was aware about the subtlety of Slughorn's behaviour, an attitude she comprehended though. After all, they both were Slytherin and Slughorn was showing one of its most appreciated qualities in behaving that way: cunning.

A quality Daphne respected and admired, probably one of the main reasons why she was put in Slytherin by the Sorting Hat. Be it clear, not that Daphne cared about the lunch or the Slugclub at all; she gave no importance in him and she was perfectly aware that she didn't need his recommendation , she loathed admitting, she was quite proud such a powerful wizard like Slughorn had reckoned her worth being invited to his Slugclub out of her magical skills.

Pansy had been quite sceptical regarding Slughorn, albeit his membership to Slytherin made her like him a little more, but she congratulated with Daphne for giving a lesson to that "Disgusting riff-raff". Millicent had been, as usual, the most serious and thoughtful of them and argued that since Daphne's parents hadn't been members of the Slugclub, then Daphne must have struck him because of her skills. Tracey, as usual, didn't lose time to tittle-tattle asking how badly marred the "horny prats" and, above all, to reveal their names so that she could avenge her friend by taunting them to death.

Afterwards, the banter started to increasingly border on gossip and fashion, consequently both Daphne and Millicent began losing interest in the conversation, whereas Pansy and Tracey were more stirred than ever by the last edition of Witchlamour that Tracey had, Merlin knows how, managed to snare before its publication.

As their chinwag started sounding like a little boring and noisy background, she began to mull over the episode at the all honesty, Daphne remembered little since everything had occurred so fast that she had had no time to thought and her reaction had been her memories, she had a fleeting vision of a boy very similar to Harry Potter and she convinced herself that it must have been their closest encounter in five years.

Slughorn's wagon

The lunch was tremendously boring; not that Daphne had expected it to be fun or entertaining, but at least she had hoped that it would have consisted in something more interesting than listening to "I-go-hunting-with-the-Minister" Cormac's rant or "Gnam slurp I-have-not-met-my-nom nom nom-uncle-for-centuries" Belby's excuse while he wolfed the food like if there was to be a famine soon.

Curiously, she met the famed boy-huntress Ginny Weasley, who happened to have been invited for the same reason Daphne was, that was she hexed Crabbe and Goyle when they insulted and derided her had heard many rumours about the youngest of Weasleys but she hoped half of them not to be true and the other half to be much modified versions, otherwise Daphne had ahead of her a sort of psychopath-horny-skilled witch who was prone to hex whenever you stared at her for more than five seconds.

The other remarkable encounter was with the Boy-who-Lived, the Hero or the Chosen One, the choice up to anyone. Not that Daphne was surprised; it was obvious that like an avid collector Slughorn would have climbed mountains and dried oceans to get his hands on the famed Harry Potter.

The same Harry Potter who appeared even more bored than her, and that was something Daphne reckoned very difficult to achieve in that very wasn't either ugly or handsome, an average boy, perhaps tending more to be cute than hair was tousled and pointed at any direction, like if combing was a mere waste time; his body was far less scrawny than she thought it to be, Quidditch must have good effects on boys she thought.

What struck Daphne the most were his eyes: the greenest ones she had ever seen, very similar to a jade stone and she found them to be among the most beautiful ones she had ever looked like they were a vivid and vibrating source of energy, like if a crushing force was about to erupt from them.

"Miss Greengrass?"

The loud call made her shudder as she woke up from her daydreaming and saw everybody around the table staring at her whereas Slughorn had an undecipherable expression on his face: something amid a grin and a smile.

"Y-yes?"

Her voice sounded falsely sure, trying to covering her lack of attention during the dinner and to bring the focus back on others.

"I was telling others Miss Greengrass how you brilliant hexed those dunderheads right to the ground"

"Err…yes"

Daphne didn't know what to was fairly evident that Slughorn wasn't either scolding or deploring her for what she did (nor that he had any reason to furthermore) but she didn't really manage to understand where he wanted to get at.

"Well, I assume you are aware that Miss Weasley here"- and she glanced at the youngest Weasleys who suddenly brought her attention back to Slughorn-"has been noticed out of the same reason of yours"

"Hem…yes"

And with this? The two girls had never talked in four years and none of them seemed intentioned to begin now.

"So, considering how skilled the young Weasley is and…"

He was interrupted by a sarcastic snort by Blaise who tried too late to mask it up.

"It's not like you are that good eh. Remember when you hexed yourself trying to commute your textbooks into pillows?"- said vindictively Daphne without thinking.

Words had come out of her mouth and she was as awe-stricken as others while Blaise had furiously blushed and started glaring down.

Daphne could have sworn to have seen a slightest hint of smirk on Ginny Weasley but before she could confirm, the redhead had made it vanish.

"Ahem, so…what do your parents do as job?"

Slughorn was evidently trying to take the conversation back and out of the rabbit trail, something Daphne was thoroughly grateful for.

"Hem…My dad is a Magic Businessman; he sells both in Great Britain and abroad…. A lot of stuff"

"Oh wait, is he perhaps Aemilius Greengrass who runs the magic roofs building company?"

"That's my uncle, sir"- replied the blonde witch with a smile.

"Well well"- replied Slughorn rubbing his hands off.

"My mother instead is a renowned Private Transfigurationer: basically her job is to perform complex transfigurations for people not able to, lately she has expanded this to Charms as well".

"That's magnificent, very magnificent, I like resourceful people. Oh gosh, it's quite late, isn't it? I guess I'll see you soon Miss Greengrass as I'll be the new Head of Slytherin. Now go and prepare yourself"

The haze was being replaced by the darkness whilst the train was finally reaching Hogwarts; a thin layer of clouds covered the most of the sky and only a weak light made it clear that they were arriving at the school's was sitting in his compartment alongside with Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna, who were all discussing and bantering about everything and anything.

"A Slytherin defended you?"- Ron's voice was incredulous and his scepticism clearly emerged from his tone- "And why should have she done it?"

"She did not defend me, she just replied to that prat, Zabini… they probably had some fight…I don't know"

"Bloody hell… nevertheless she's a Slytherin so…."

"So what Ronald?"- intervened Hermione.

Oh Merlin no, another fight even before starting the school?

Harry snorted and began again to watch their approaching to the station, his eyes and face quite sleepy.

"Why are you defending a Slytherin? They pick on you whenever they can!"

"I am being rational Ronald! While it's true that I dislike most of Slytherin's member, it's also true that I don't know this girl and it logically follows I can't hate someone I don't know"

"Well… you don't really know Crabbe and Goyle do you? How many times have you been speaking to them?"- Snottily replied the red haired boy.

"What has it to do with anything? Of course I strongly dislike them as they never, as you said, lost any occasion to deride and insult me!"

"See? That's my point"

"It makes no sense at all. Their belonging to Slytherin it's not what makes me dislike them! It's their disgusting behaviour!"

"They are Slytherins! They can't be trusted!"

"Who said anything about trusting them? We were just commenting the girl who intervened in Ginny's favour. It was YOU who started all this rant about Slytherin!"- Angrily answered Hermione.

The only answer from Ron was a snort.

The awkward silence was interrupted by the bored and sarcastic voice of Ginny awakening them from their slumber:
"The girl has a name, you know?"- A slight hint of sarcasm could be perceived in her voice.

"Ah? That is?"- replied Hermione and Ron altogether.

"She is Daphne Greengrass, sister of Astoria who's one year younger than me, both Slytherin"- said the redhead girl with a conceited air.

"Is she?"-Asked Hermione, a just perceptible dab of surprise in her voice.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, she is one of the best students of the school, likely the best in Slytherin for her year"

"Slytherin smartass mph"- muttered Ron.

"Am I a Gryffindor smartass then?"- Hermione harrumphed with a clearly palpable rage.

"That's not what I meant you know…."-Ron's words sounded less convincing every second it passed.

Harry wasn't paying any attention, he was used to their fights but had chosen since long not to take any side unless specifically and absolutely their arrival was due a dozen of minutes and they had to end their had already dressed, also to show how much he cared of their stupid bickering, and had just put away the last copy of The Quibbler.

His thoughts had been quite flat and boring, although his excitement for the incoming year was slowly growing, also because it was expected to be a year where nobody thought him to be a psychopath trying to gain fame or make the whole Wizarding world he brought his eyes on his reflexion in the window; he had grown, and quite a lot also, his eyes were dishevelled as usual (by then, Harry had already resigned himself not to even attempt to comb it), his body was much more muscular than it used to be, although it wasn't certainly a body-builder's physic.

He let his thoughts meander, while the landscape was monotone and unchanging and his eyes were getting quite wasn't minimally excited about being viewed as The Chosen One, he had been famous all his life and he certainly wasn't seeking any the other hand, it was certainly better than being fingered as some sort of killer-maniac, perhaps it could also help with girls, couldn't it?

"Hey babe, would you like to experience a Chosen Night?"

No. Bloody Merlin no. He would not have said that phrase not even to give the final straw to Voldemort.

Furthermore, one thought had just dawned on out of miserable experiences with girls:

"So… your name is Daphne eh?"

Slytherin Girls' dormitory

"You-are-awesome!"- Yelled Tracey aloud and cackling-"Giving that asshole what he deserves, ah! Take that you worthless-scumbag-kisser-of-bitches!"

Daphne didn't know whether she was more amused by the insults to Blaise or by the triumphalist expression of Tracey who looked like a Caesar returning to Rome after conquering some Barbarians' land.

"That was definitely a huge blow on his immense self-esteem"-convened Millicent with a stretch of a smile on her face.

Millicent was the living example of "appearances deceive": she was big and muscular, often stronger than most males but she was quite a good person instead. Yes, Millicent had joined that despicable Inquisitorial Squad the last year and only Merlin knows why, considering that Daphne found Umbridge to be one of the most hateful persons on the planet, besides being an utterly incapable teacher.

Yet, Millicent, despite her Umbridge parenthesis, was a true and loyal friend, extremely protective and attached and very fearful of losing somehow was half-way between Pansy and Tracey, possessed the sarcasm and wit of Pansy and the loyalty and genuineness of the be told, she wasn't as solar as Tracey or as partying as Pansy, yet she was honest and had always enjoyed her company, also for the fact that Millicent was probably the most rational person on Earth, maybe even more than Granger.

After roughly half an hour of bantering, they all went to bed and Daphne was enjoying the familiar sensation of drowning into the warmth of her bed's sixth seemed to be the hardest year she was going to have until that moment: N.E.W.T. was dangerously closer than any of them wanted to admit and both her parents repeatedly stressed the necessity to study harder and , Daphne was an excellent student and she was keen to study, although she wasn't anything close to be the know-it-all Granger looked like.

Transfiguration and Charms were her best and favourite subjects and she seemed to have inherited her mother's talents for both, although, contrarily to her mother, she had a slight preference over Transfiguration.

Daphne had a love/hate relationship with Arithmancy: she understood the importance of it and the fact that it was the base of almost all other subjects, yet she wasn't exactly fond of it. She had, unlike Granger, an hard time trying to do her best in the subject and her grades were never as high as someone could expect, she barely managed to get an 'E' last year. All in all, nobody, excluding Granger, was really capable of excelling in the subject, Daphne was anyway one of the best after Granger though.

As for Defence against Dark Arts, Daphne personally hated the theoretical part of it but she fancied doing the practical charms, yet she never shone in it. Beware, she always managed to get her 'E' and once, when dealing with creatures in third year, she got an 'O' from Professor Lupin, whom she easily considered to be the best teacher in the subject, despite all the grins and smirks his clothes provoked in his housemates, notably Malfoy and Nott.

Herbology: absolute hate. Daphne generally loathed doing manual working, let alone getting herself dirty while trying to feed some disgusting, and often potentially deadly, plant, of which only aim was to devour her.

Daphne grinned thinking that, at least, being in Slytherin was an enormous advantage because of Snape, even if she heard rumours about him being that most of times these rumours were only hopes of other non-Slytherin students, Daphne hadn't given much importance to the matter. Potion was probably what she could define "average", as she was really on average, even taking out of the equation Snape's was certainly more skilled than Crabbe and Goyle who would have been able to melt even the school itself down while cooking what could be only with an immense generosity defined a "potion".

History of Magic and Astronomy were in her "hate list": the first because nothing was more boring than listening to Professor Binns about endless wars and uprisings, the latter because Daphne had only one true love in her life: sleeping and Astronomy put itself right between Daphne and her love.

Besides Arithmancy, the other elective she took was Ancient Runes and she was grateful of that since she had been tempted to pick Divination, which revealed to be the stupidest subject in all, Daphne was quite optimistic, sure it was a difficult year but after all she had a brain, she was clever and, above all, she had nowhere else to be at the moment.

Her long yawn warned her that it was time to sleep; she stretched herself, shaping through punches the pillow to the desired form and grabbed her silvery watch to see which hour it was.

The magical light of the watch dazed her and it took some seconds to get her eyes used to the pale and gleaming screen.

"2:34? Bloodiest, damnedest and holiest Merlin!"

She tucked in, diving into the warmth and mentally bemoaned:

"Just 4 hours and half…this year is really beginning well"

And sobbing she fell into dreams.