Chapter 4

"Alright, listen up!" shouted Bradley Chambers, the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

The entire team was sitting inside the Ravenclaw locker room, ready to start their first Quidditch match of the season against Gryffindor. Harry sat nervously at his locker. He was already dressed in his blue and black uniform, which had POTTER sewn onto the back. In his hand was a brand-new Nimbus 2000 that he had recently purchased via owl order. Dumbledore had allowed the four first-year players to purchase their own brooms.

Harry looked around at his fellow teammates. In their hands were new Nimbus 2000's as well. Harry had purchased a new broom for every single member of the team. He had plenty of money laying around, so he decided he wanted to give his team the best possible shot at victory.

"This is what we've been training for all year," shouted Bradley. "We know how Gryffindor plays. Their Keeper, Wood, is the best Keeper Gryffindor has seen in a long time. We need to keep the pressure on him," he said, looking at Roger and Harry, who nodded in understanding.

"The three Chasers, Spinnet, Johnson, and Bell, are talented, but they rely too much on the Hawkshead attacking formation. All we need to do is disrupt that from behind, something I am confident we can do with the speed of our new brooms," Bradley continued, grinning at Harry.

"Beaters, keep the pressure on the Chasers while we are disrupting their formation. Page, we will do our best to stop them before they get a shot off, but if they do, don't let anything through. Stretton, we will try to build you a nice comfortable lead before you spot the Snitch."

The various players nodded in understanding of the game plan.

"Good. One last thing. This game is ours to lose. I know we are the better team, so let's get out there and prove that to the rest of Hogwarts!" Bradley shouted, earning cheers from the rest of the team. He stood up and headed towards the door, followed by his teammates. Harry stood up nervously and followed, with Roger just behind him. Finally, they stepped out onto the pitch and into the bright October sunlight. Everyone mounted their brooms and flew towards center pitch, where Madam Hooch and the Gryffindor team were already waiting.

"AND HERE COMES THE RAVENCLAW TEAM!" shouted an extremely loud voice from the stands. Harry recognized the announcer as Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor.

"AT KEEPER, GRANT PAGE! BEATERS, DUNCAN INGLEBEE AND JASON SAMUELS! SEEKER, JEREMY STRETTON! CAPTAIN AND CHASER, BRADLEY CHAMBERS! AND THE YOUNGEST CHASERS IN OVER A CENTURY, ROGER DAVIES AND HARRY POTTER BLACK ROSIER!"

The Ravenclaw student section screamed and cheered as the team was announced, causing Harry to smile slightly. He took his position in between Bradley and Roger, around the center circle. Madam Hooch stood on the pitch with the chest of balls, many feet below them.

"I want a good, clean game," shouted Madam Hooch. "From all of you!"

Harry did not move a muscle, but merely stared intensely at the three female Gryffindor Chasers across from him. Finally, Madam Hooch opened the chest and released the Bludgers and the Snitch. She suddenly blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle straight up in the air.

Immediately, Harry raced forward on his broom and snatched the Quaffle. Directly in front of him was one of the Gryffindor Chasers. Harry immediately rolled upside down in order to narrowly avoid her. As soon as he had cleared her, a Bludger came racing toward him, which he had to roll again to avoid. The pitch was clear in front of him, causing him to race forward at top speed, leaving everyone else behind him.

"POTTER GRABS THE QUAFFLE AND… OH MY! POTTER PERFORMS A DOUBLE SLOTH GRIP ROLL TO AVOID SPINNET AND THE BLUDGER! HE'S GOT A BREAKAWAY! MERLIN, HE'S FAST! IS THAT A NIMBUS 2000 HE HAS?" shouted Lee Jordan from the stands.

Harry tuned it all out as he approached the posts. Instinctively, he sped up even more, pushed himself up onto his broom and jumped forward, off of his broom, into the air as high as he could as his broom kept pace before him. As he soared, he brought his arm back and shot the Quaffle as fast as he could. The Quaffle whizzed through the air and towards the left hoop. The Gryffindor Keeper dove for it but came up far short. Harry's shot was much too fast.

"MERLIN'S BALLS!" exclaimed Lee Jordan from the stands, earning him a smack on the head from Professor McGonagall, who stood beside him. "POTTER JUST PULLED OFF THE CHELMONDISTON CHARGE! 10-0 RAVENCLAW! HOW IN THE WORLD DID HE PULL THAT OFF?"

The Ravenclaw section burst into cheers, while the rest of the crowd remained in silence, shocked at the impressive move that Harry had just performed.

The Gryffindor Chasers regrouped quickly and formed the Hawkshead formation, the three of them lumped together in a triangle formation. Harry rapidly approached from behind. He heard Bradley yell, "NOW!" Immediately, he raced forward, in between Johnson and Spinnet, and punched the Quaffle out of Spinnet's hand. The Quaffle soared directly towards Roger, who deftly caught it and raced towards the Gryffindor hoops.

"POTTER BREAKS UP THE FORMATION AND PUNCHES THE BALL TO DAVIES, WHO HAS A BREAKAWAY!" yelled Lee. "DAVIES SHOOTS AND… SCORES! 20-0 RAVENCLAW!"

Harry gave a quick fist pump at seeing his friend score a goal. Roger quickly returned to play defense, settling alongside Harry and Bradley.

The rest of the game continued the same way. The Ravenclaw Chasers, led by Harry's impressive performance, continued to dominate. Time after time, they broke up the Gryffindor Chasers' Hawkshead attacking formation, causing them to lose control of the Quaffle and give up easy points to Ravenclaw. After twenty minutes, the score was 130-10 in favor of Ravenclaw.

Seeing that their strategy wasn't working, the Gryffindor team attempted a new offense, abandoning the Hawkshead formation. At this point, the Ravenclaw Chasers began playing man-to-man defense, playing very physically and attempting to keep the Gryffindors away from the center of pitch and towards the sidelines. The Ravenclaw Beaters pummeled the Gryffindor team, causing numerous errors on the part of the Chasers.

After an hour, the score was 300-30 in favor of Ravenclaw. Harry had already scored 150 points, while Roger had 100 points and Bradley had 50. The entire crowd was in shock at the beating Gryffindor was taking. Their Chasers were thought to be the best at Hogwarts, but two first years were picking them apart.

Finally, the Ravenclaw Seeker, Jeremy Stretton, caught sight of the Snitch and raced after it. The Gryffindor Seeker was on the other side of the pitch, giving Ravenclaw a huge advantage. After several tense moments, Stretton's fingers closed around the Snitch, which he held up to the crowd.

"RAVENCLAW CATCHES THE SNITCH," Lee Jordan commented dejectedly. "RAVENCLAW WINS, 450-30."

The Ravenclaw student section was going crazy, and soon they began chanting, "POTTER, DAVIES, POTTER, DAVIES!"

Harry grinned wildly from atop his broom, glorying in the attention. He pumped his fist into the air in joy, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. The team descended and met at center pitch, where they wildly mobbed and hugged each other.

"That's what I'm talking about!" the captain shouted confidently. "The House Cup is ours this year! There's no stopping us!"

The upperclassmen slapped Harry and Roger on the shoulders and tussled their hair and they all walked back towards the Ravenclaw locker room, brooms slung over their shoulders. They undressed and took long, hot showers, relaxing their tired and sore muscles. Finally, Harry left his shower and got dressed. When everyone was done, they walked out of the locker room together, headed towards the castle.

As Harry walked out, he was shocked to see Draco and Lucretia waiting outside. Behind them stood Lucius Malfoy and a beautiful blonde woman that Harry assumed was his wife, Narcissa.

"Harry!" shouted Draco excitedly. Harry smiled nervously and walked over to the family. When he arrived, Draco promptly punched him on the shoulder.

"Merlin's beard, Harry," Draco exclaimed. "You were a devil out there! How did you pull off the Chelmondiston Charge?"

"Calm yourself, Draco," said Lucius Malfoy with a chuckle.

"Hello, sir," Harry said respectfully as he shook Lucius's hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Hello, Harry," Lucius replied. "Let me introduce you to my beautiful wife, Narcissa," he said, gesturing to the woman at his side. Harry grasped her hand and kissed the back of it.

"It's a pleasure, my lady," he said politely.

"Likewise," Narcissa replied. "You have excellent manners. Draco could learn a thing or two from you."

"Hey!" protested Draco, causing everyone to chuckle.

"I didn't realize you had come to watch the game," Harry said to Lucius.

"I'm glad we did," he replied. "You had an excellent game, Harry. If I am not mistaken, you set the record for most points scored by a Chaser in his first game."

Harry's eyes widened in shock at hearing the fact.

"If I may ask," Lucius continued, "where did your team get those Nimbus 2000's?"

Harry smiled shyly. "I bought them for the team," he admitted.

"Wow," said Lucius. "That must have cost a pretty penny."

Harry shrugged. "I had more than enough," he said plainly.

"I'm a little worried about the Slytherin team," Narcissa admitted, causing Draco to protest again.

"Although Harry is family as well, so I guess I will be happy if Ravenclaw wins the Quidditch Cup too," Lucius said with a smile.

"Thank you for coming," Harry said politely. "I really appreciate it."

"You are very welcome," Narcissa replied. "It was our pleasure. And I am excited to hear that you will be joining us for the Christmas holiday."

Harry nodded. "I am looking forward to it," he replied.

"Well, we don't want to keep you any longer," Lucius said. "Congratulations on the win. We will see you at Christmas."

With that, he shook Harry's hand and guided his family away. Suddenly, Lucretia walked up to him with a demure smile on her face. She leaned forward and gently kissed him on the cheek.

"Congrats, Harry," she said, pulling back. "You were amazing." She then turned around and walked away, joining her family. Harry stood frozen and speechless. He put a hand to his cheek, feeling the spot where she had just kissed him. After several long seconds, he grinned, before jogging towards the castle to catch up to the rest of his teammates.

The entire Ravenclaw house was ecstatic for the rest of the day. When Harry got back to the common room, a huge crowd burst into cheers. A mug of butterbeer was shoved into Harry's hands, which he accepted gratefully. As he made his way through the crowd, dozens of students clapped him on the back in congratulations.

Finally, he spotted Roger on the far side of the common room and made his way over to him.

"Blimey, Harry, this is crazy!" exclaimed Roger. "We're celebrities!"

Harry chuckled. Roger was obviously excited about the attention.

"Just imagine, we have seven more years of this," joked Harry, causing Roger to grin even wider.

The party continued for several hours, until dinner time rolled around. One by one, the students made their way down to the Great Hall, still full of butterbeer.

As Harry and Roger sat down at the Ravenclaw table, Harry glanced around to see the reactions of the rest of the school. The Gryffindors were absolutely despondent. The Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood, had a blank, shell-shocked look on his face. Harry was amused to see that some Gryffindors were actually angry. One first year, a red head named Ron Weasley, was glaring at Harry with rage. Next to him, a know-it-all first year with bushy hair named Hermione Granger was totally oblivious to the drama as she sat reading a book.

The Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables were quieter than usual, with many of the students eyeing Harry and Roger with trepidation. They were anxious about their teams playing Ravenclaw in the future.

At the Hufflepuff table, Harry made eye contact with Susan, who smiled shyly back at him and gave him a thumbs up in congratulations. She was the shyest of his three betrotheds, but the kindest as well. She was slowly but surely becoming more comfortable around him.

As he turned to the Slytherin table, he also made eye contact with Lucretia, who smiled flirtatiously back at him. Harry blushed, still thinking of how she had kissed him on the cheek earlier. His relationship with Lucretia was the strongest of his three betrotheds. She was outgoing and flirtatious. Draco claimed that she was very ambitious and manipulative as well, but Harry had yet to see that side of her, if it even existed.

Daphne, however, refused to even look at him. Harry sighed in frustration. He had gotten off on the right foot with Daphne, especially after helping her in their first transfiguration class. Over the past month, however, she had grown more distant and closed off. She always sat with a brunette first year named Tracey Davis, who seemed to be her best friend. With Harry, however, she became cold and distant. Harry was worried and had no idea why the sudden change had occurred. He knew he needed to confront her and see what had gone wrong, but he was still reluctant to do so.

After dinner ended, Harry headed to the library to do some revising. He had been accepted into the accelerated program a little over a week ago, and his first-year exams were coming up in another week. Harry was working hard to make sure he finished all of the material by then.

The following night, Harry headed towards the defense against the dark arts classroom to meet with Professor Quirrell. Even though it was a Sunday, Harry had been studying most of the day. Every night, Harry would meet with a different one of his professors to appraise them of his progress over the past week. He enjoyed the personal time with his professors; it was a perk of the accelerated program. Tonight, he would be meeting with Professor Quirrell for the first time.

Harry entered the classroom that perpetually smelled of garlic. Professor Quirrell was seated at his desk at the front of the classroom, the turban wrapped around his head like always.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter," Quirrell said. Harry was surprised. He had managed to greet him without stuttering.

Maybe he gets nervous in front of crowds, Harry thought to himself.

"Good evening, Professor," Harry said politely. "Thank you for meeting with me."

"It is my pleasure," Quirrell replied. "Because this is our first meeting, why don't you show me how far you have progressed in the material thus far."

Harry nodded and began explaining the concepts he had learned. He was almost done with the entire first year curriculum and would be finishing within the next few days. After Harry was done explaining and demonstrating certain spells, he paused and looked at Quirrell.

Quirrell was staring at him with a look of intense curiosity on his face.

"Very well done," praised Quirrell. He then proceeded to quiz Harry on a few of the principles and concepts he had learned. In addition, he gave pointers on how certain spells could be used in different situations to produce different effects. Harry found it fascinating. Quirrell was much more helpful now than he had ever been during class.

Finally, the meeting ended, and Harry headed out of the classroom after thanking Quirrell. He began walking down the stairs when suddenly, his staircase began to shift. He grabbed the banister for support as the stairs moved. After several moments, it stopped moving and arrived at a strange looking corridor that Harry had never visited. Curious, Harry descended the rest of the stairs to explore the corridor. As he reached the end, however, he suddenly felt the need to turn around and go back to his common room.

Without questioning, he quickly turned around and took a few steps. Before he could go any farther, he suddenly stopped.

Why am I turning around? he thought to himself. He turned back to the corridor and approached it cautiously. As he neared the end, he suddenly felt a very subtle presence of magic in the air. Once again, he was met with the desire to turn around, which he recognized and ignored.

This must be a repelling ward! Harry realized. He had recently read about wards in one of his library books and recognized the effects. Why is there a repelling ward inside the school, though? he asked himself.

Determined, Harry continued forward until he entered the corridor and the effects of the ward had worn off. After he had passed the ward boundaries, it stopped influencing him. He walked cautiously down the corridor, passing numerous open doors, which he ignored. Finally, he came to a closed wooden door. Curious, he tried opening it, only to find it locked.

Even more determined, he pulled out his wand and muttered, "Alohamora!"

The lock clicked open and Harry slowly pushed open the door. It was dark inside, but Harry could make out a huge object in the middle of the room. Suddenly, the object moved, and Harry perceived what it really was: a giant, three-headed dog. Its eyes snapped opened and focused on Harry. It rapidly jumped to its feet and pounced after Harry, growling viciously.

His heart pounding, Harry jumped back and slammed the door shot, reapplying the locking charm. Harry back down the hallway several meters before collapsing against the wall in an attempt to catch his breath.

What in the hell is a giant Cerberus doing in a castle full of children? Harry thought to himself furiously. He replayed the memory in his mind. As he did so, he recognized a detail he had been overlooking: a wooden trap door underneath the dog. It was guarding something, he realized.

A grin began to slowly form on Harry's face. Obviously, the Headmaster was hiding something, and Harry was going to discover what it was. He had placed the repelling ward and the Cerberus there in hopes of warding off intruders, but Harry was not so easily dissuaded. Dumbledore would never see it coming.

For the next week, Harry had no time to explore the mystery further. He was busy revising for his first-year exams. Dumbledore had scheduled all of his tests for Saturday and Sunday. Harry was able to finish all of the material and thanks to his photographic memory, he had little trouble retaining the information. He was confident that he would do extremely well on the theory portions of the exams. Therefore, he spent most of his free time practicing and mastering the practical aspects of each subject.

By the time Saturday arrived, Harry had memorized and mastered every spell, charm, and transfiguration in his textbooks. He was confident that he would perform very well on the exams.

On Saturday morning, Harry woke up early and went to the Charms classroom to meet Professor Flitwick. There, he first completed the theory portion while being monitored by Flitwick, before moving onto the practical portion. Just as Harry had predicted, he sailed through the exam. Flitwick was excited as Harry easily demonstrated each charm. Harry then waited patiently as the professor quickly evaluated his written portion.

"Well done, Mr. Potter!" exclaimed Flitwick. "You have earned an O+! You have proven that you definitely belong in the accelerated program!"

Harry grinned upon hearing of his O+ score. Over the next 2 days, Harry repeated the process with each of his subjects, including Astronomy on Saturday night. It was exhausting, but Harry was ecstatic. He had earned on Outstanding on every single one of his exams. He was proud of himself, but knew he still had a lot of work to do.

With his exams out of the way, Harry finally had time to focus on other things. He had already begun working through the second-year curriculum, knowing that his second-year exams were only two months away.

However, he had more pressing issues on his mind. He had begun research about Cerberuses and how to subdue or defeat one. So far, all he could find was that it was classified as an XXX Creature by the Ministry of Magic. He had seen one reference about music being played in order to subdue and calm down the Cerberus. Harry was eager to test that theory out.

His other pressing concern was the situation with Daphne. She continued with her distant behavior. Several times, he had gone out of his way to try and help her during class, but she refused his help every time. She didn't seem particularly angry or upset with him; rather, she seemed completely indifferent. That was what worried Harry the most.

He had discussed the problem with his three best friends and they were as clueless as him.

"Maybe she just hates you," suggested Roger one day.

"Shut up," Harry replied jokingly.

"Yeah," agreed Draco. "Not everyone is in love with you, Harry."

Harry shook his head in exasperation as he friends continued to tease him. However, he continued to think about how he could get Daphne to open up to him. After a while, he came to the conclusion that he needed to talk to her alone and ask what he had done wrong.

It took him several days to work up the courage, but he finally approached her. It was Halloween, October 31, when he decided to talk to her. They had just finished their Transfiguration lesson and were heading out of the classroom for their next class.

"Daphne!" Harry called from behind, trying to catch up to her. She turned calmly and gave him a cold stare.

"Yes?" she said smoothly.

"Do you think we can talk after class?" Harry said nervously. "There's something I really need to talk to you about."

Daphne continued eyeing him, showing no indication of what she was feeling. Finally, after several long moments, she nodded in assent.

"Thank you," breathed Harry. "Meet me in the abandoned classroom by the defense classroom at 5:00," he said.

Daphne nodded and turned back to her friend Tracey, who had been waiting for her. Together, they walked away, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

The rest of the day passed extremely slowly for Harry, who was anxious for his meeting with Daphne. Finally, his last class let out, and he hurried to the abandoned classroom to wait for Daphne.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Daphne walked in. Harry watched her carefully as she entered.

She really is beautiful, Harry thought to himself. She had long, blonde hair that was currently tied back into a ponytail.

Daphne stopped a few feet short of Harry and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"What did you want to talk about?" she said abruptly. Harry inwardly cringed at her tone of voice.

"Do you want to sit down?" he replied, gesturing to a chair at her side.

"I prefer to stand," she responded.

"Okay," Harry said slowly. "I wanted to ask you what I did wrong to make you mad at me."

Daphne shook her head in exasperation. "What makes you think I am mad at you?" she asked.

"You always seem to be avoiding me," replied Harry. "Whenever I try to talk to you, it is very obvious that you don't want to talk to me."

Daphne chuckled, her first sign of emotion. "So that makes you think I am angry with you?"

"I just thought…" Harry began.

"That just because I am not in love with you like Lucretia and Susan means that I am angry with you? Let me tell you a little secret: I'm not angry with you. I just don't care about you," Daphne retorted.

"I never said that I expected you to be in love with me!" Harry exclaimed.

"But you thought it," Daphne replied. "You think you are perfect and that I should consider myself lucky to be betrothed to you," she said angrily.

"I don't think that!" Harry defended. "Look, I know you're not happy to be stuck in a marriage contract with me. But I am just trying to get to know you and be friends!"

Daphne shook her head angrily at Harry's statement. Despite her earlier claim that she wasn't angry and didn't care, Harry could tell that she was, actually, very angry and did, in fact, care very much. She was so angry that Harry swore he could see tears glinting in her eyes.

"I don't care!" she exclaimed. "Just leave me alone from now on!"

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the classroom, leaving a confused Harry in her wake.

Harry was stunned. What just happened? he thought to himself. He had tried to be nice, but she had exploded on him. He didn't think he was perfect, but it was obvious that Daphne thought he was arrogant. In addition, Harry had the sneaking suspicion that Daphne was jealous of Lucretia and Susan.

Shaking his head, Harry headed out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall, where the Halloween feast was underway. Halloween had always been a sad holiday for Harry because of the death of his parents. However, he was trying to make the best of it. He looked over at the Slytherin table and was unsurprised to see that Daphne had not come to the feast.

He sat down next to Roger and began eating, trying to ignore Roger's questioning look. They were about halfway through the feast when suddenly Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall.

"Troll!" he exclaimed nervously. "Th-there's a troll in the dungeon. Thought you should know."

With that, he fell forward and fainted on the stone floor. Immediately, the Great Hall erupted into chaos.

"Silence!" boomed Dumbledore from the head table. "Prefects, please lead your houses back to the common room. Professors, with me!"

Students began pushing and shoving to follow their prefects out of the Great Hall. All of a sudden, a chill gripped Harry's heart. Daphne wasn't at the feast, and he was willing to bet she was in the dungeons somewhere, ignorant of the troll's presence.

He forcefully pushed his way through the crowd and ran down to the dungeons. He was just arriving when he heard a girl's scream and a loud crash. Harry immediately sprinted towards the source of the scream. He arrived at the girl's bathroom, where a giant troll had smashed down the wall with its huge wooden club. Inside, Harry could see Daphne, huddled inside one of the stalls. She was holding one of her arms and it looked like she was injured.

Harry dashed into the bathroom as the troll lifted its club, preparing for another strike. Harry reached Daphne and pulled her out of the stall just as the troll smashed the empty stall. Unfortunately, the troll now stood between the two first years and the bathroom exit.

Harry backed his way into the corner and guided Daphne behind him, trying to protect her from the troll as much as possible. He drew his wand and racked his brain, trying to think of any spell that he could use. He could feel Daphne shaking and crying behind him.

Suddenly, he looked at the troll's giant wooden club and had an idea. The club reminded him of the matchstick he had transfigured into a needle during his first transfiguration lesson. It was much bigger and would require a lot more power, but it was his best shot.

Waving his wand, he summoned all the power he could and transfigured the wooden club into a massive sword. He staggered at the loss of magic he suddenly experienced. The transfiguration, however, was successful. Using the last magic in his system, he shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The metal sword rose from the troll's hand. Harry quickly guided it in front of the troll and with a sudden flick of his wand, thrust it through the troll's torso. The troll gave a pained groan, staggered, and collapsed to the floor, dead.

Harry dropped to one knee, struggling to stay conscious amidst his magical exhaustion. Summoning all his willpower and strength, he stood back up and turned to Daphne.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"I think my arm's broken," Daphne said, trying to control her sobs.

Just then, Dumbledore and several professors burst into the bathroom. They saw the troll, dead on the floor with giant sword protruding from its back. They looked at Daphne and Harry with questioning eyes.

"What happened here?" McGonagall demanded. "Why aren't you two back in your common rooms?"

"It was my fault," Harry said quickly, looking at Daphne. "Daphne and I had an argument before dinner, and she didn't come to the feast. I realized she didn't know about the troll, so I came looking for her. When I found her, the troll was already here, attacking her. I had to kill it to protect her."

"You killed the troll?" Dumbledore asked, his eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Yes, sir," Harry said. "I transfigured its club into a sword."

Just then, he stumbled a little bit, still trying to maintain consciousness.

Professor Flitwick was immediately at his side, holding him up.

"It appears you are on the brink of magical exhaustion," Flitwick said. "We need to get you to the infirmary."

"I'm okay!" Harry insisted. "Daphne's the one who's injured!"

The professors turned to look at Daphne, finally noticing her injured arm. Flitwick rushed to her side, examining her arm.

"Let's get you both to the infirmary," he said, guiding them both to the exit. "Fifty points to Ravenclaw for your actions."

Harry was too tired to respond. He could barely keep his eyes open. By some miracle, he was able to make it all the way to the infirmary without passing out. He lay down on one of the beds while Madam Pomfrey began tending to Daphne. After a few minutes, she handed him a potion.

"Drink this," she said. "It's a Pepper Up Potion. You'll feel much better."

Nodding, Harry slowly downed the potion. Immediately, he felt his energy increase and he no longer drifted on the brink of unconsciousness. His eyes, however, were still heavy from exhaustion. He turned on his side and watched Madam Pomfrey work on Daphne. After several minutes, she stepped back and addressed them.

"You will both be fine," she said reassuringly. "But I want you both to stay overnight so I can be sure."

Harry nodded, not in any mood to get out of the bed.

"Miss Greengrass, the Headmaster has summoned your parents. They will be here shortly to see you," Madam Pomfrey said. That got Harry's attention – that meant he would be meeting Daphne's parents. As if this day wasn't stressful enough…

A few moments later, the Hospital Wing doors opened to reveal a man, woman, and a young girl. They hurriedly walked up to Daphne.

"Are you okay, Daphne?" the woman asked quickly.

"I'm okay now, Mother," Daphne said reassuringly. Surprisingly, she didn't use the cold tone that she adopted when talking to Harry. Rather, she used a warm, loving tone of voice.

"Dumbledore told us what happened," her father said from beside the bed. "How could this have happened? You almost died!" he exclaimed angrily.

"I'm okay, Father," Daphne replied. "Harry was there to save me."

Suddenly, all eyes fell on Harry.

"Mr. Potter Black Rosier," Daphne's father said. "We owe you our thanks for saving Daphne's life. I am Cyrus Greengrass, Daphne's father."

Harry fought his exhaustion and struggled to sit up, something that was not missed by Daphne's parents.

"You don't owe me anything," Harry replied. "It was my fault Daphne missed the feast in the first place. We got into an argument before dinner," he explained truthfully.

"Be that as it may," Cyrus Greengrass responded, "you still saved her life. Thank you."

"You are welcome," said Harry. His eyes became unbearably heavy as he fought to keep them open.

"Why don't you rest," Daphne's mother, Alexandra, said to Harry. "You can barely keep your eyes open."

Unable to protest, Harry lay back on his pillow and succumbed to his exhaustion.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Cyrus Greengrass asked Daphne again.

"Yes, Father. Madam Pomfrey fixed my broken arm. It doesn't even hurt anymore," Daphne replied.

"Thank goodness" Alexandra Greengrass replied. "I'm just glad Harry was there."

"Do you want to tell us what you two were arguing about?" her father questioned.

Daphne looked down at her lap, embarrassed. After a long silence, she spoke up. "He wanted to know why I've been avoiding him and being so cold to him," she admitted.

Daphne's mother sighed in understanding. "Daph," she said gently. "The marriage contracts are not his fault. Give him a chance. It looks like he really cares about you."

Daphne nodded, still looking down at her lap.

"We have to go," said her father. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry," he said. "It will all turn out fine."

Her mother and younger sister, Astoria, both gave her a hug and a kiss before they left the Hospital Wing, leaving Daphne alone with Harry. She looked over at Harry's sleeping form in confusion.

"Thank you," she whispered to herself, before lying back on her bed and going to sleep.

A/N: Thanks for reading. There are a couple of things to take note of in this chapter. First is Quirrell's behavior, which is much different from canon. Obviously, he makes no attempt to jinx Harry's broom in the Quidditch game and is actively teaching Harry during lessons. In the story, Voldemort is intrigued and curious by Harry's talents, abilities, and influence, which is why Quirrell is acting the way he is.

In addition, Harry will not be a Horcrux in this story. There will be Horcruxes, but Harry will not be one of them. This explains why Harry does not get a headache in Quirrell's presence.