A Simple Act

A wonderful thank you to Dorothea Greengrass who has beta'd this piece and who has offered her help for this short fic. If you haven't read her work then you can't call yourself a haphne fan!

Chapter One – I Promise, You Will Be Safe

Sometimes it is but a simple act of kindness that can change worlds.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger flopped down into their spaces on the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Throngs of students entered for the first night of the school year, smiles dotting their faces. They had every reason to smile: the great threat of the wizarding world had been banished, and the Death Eaters were either dead or locked away. The golden trio exchanged bright smiles to one another. It was a rather heart-warming scene, and reward enough for the hardships of the quest Dumbledore had given them, and the losses they had suffered.

"This is it, boys, at last a year we can just be normal. Homework, Quidditch, hell, even the occasional moment in a broom closet." Hermione giggled.

Harry and Ron gaped at each other. "Who are you and what have you done to Hermione Granger?" Ron asked, eyes wide.

"Broom closets? Gods, Hermione, you would've slapped us silly if we joked about that in the past!" Harry leaned over the table and took a closer look at his best female friend, as if he wanted to make sure it was really her and not a Polyjuiced imposter.

Ron nodded his agreement.

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Look, the way I see it we need to enjoy this year. So Ron, if you feel the urge to whisk me away, please do by all means!"

The young men shared another incredulous look.

"Unless I have an essay in front of me of course, then do not, I repeat, do not come near me." She smirked at them.

"Phew!" Harry let out a breath and wiped his forehead with the upper side of his underarm. "There she is. For a moment I've been worried you'd been hijacked by aliens and replaced by a bad copy." He chuckled.

Ron looked like a beacon with his flaming cheeks. "I don't even know any good broom closets."

"Really, Won Won? I wouldn't have thought that." Harry's teasing earned him a round of laughs from Hermione, and Ron chimed in, albeit somewhat reluctant and with a mock-glare at his two friends.

The appearance of Professor Flitwick, ushering the first years into the Great Hall for the Sorting ceremony, silenced them. The class was larger than usual, due to the many Muggleborns who had had the good sense not to accept their letter last year, and the Sorting seemed to drag on for hours. Midway through the Sorting, Ron's stomach let out a loud groan, and Hermione had to cast a quick Silencing Charm over herself and Harry not to disturb the ceremony with their uncontrollable giggles. At last, the Sorting came to an end. Ron's face perked up at the prospect of food - and fell when Headmistress McGonagall stood up and gave a rousing speech on unity to which most students, including the Slytherins, responded with long-lasting applause.

"Before we sit down to eat I would like to announce the head boy for this year, Mr Harry Potter!" She made a sweeping gesture to the Gryffindor table.

Loud cheers echoed through the Great Hall, the students clapped and stomped their feet, and a rather red-faced Harry stood up to thank them and accept the claps on the shoulders and good-natured ribbing from his friends and housemates. Ron led the congratulations, he'd long since given up his jealousy towards Harry after all he had been through.

Headmistress McGonagall, a proud smile on her face, paused for the outbreak of cheering from the students that filled the Great Hall. She had to wait quite a few minutes until she could continue with her announcements. "Our head girl this year will be Hannah Abbot. Now, tuck in!" The headmistress finished her speech, clapped her hands, and the food appeared before them.

The students didn't need to be told twice.

"Why didn't you tell us Hannah was going to be head girl, Harry?" Hermione asked and put some vegetables onto her plate.

Harry didn't interrupt himself ladling chicken legs on his plate from a golden serving dish. "I was told not to say anything, Hannah said she was quite surprised herself." He grabbed his cutlery, cut off a bite and put it into his mouth. His eyes seemed to roll into the back of his head with pleasure, and he barely suppressed a groan. That was so good! The chicken was his new favourite these days.

Hermione winked at him. "Maybe you could get cozy with her?"

The next bite of chicken leg caught in Harry's throat, and he coughed.

Ron went wide-eyed with shock and he spluttered,

"Bloody hell Hermione, he and my sister just broke up. Did you drink on the way up here or something!".

"That's right, Harry needs to move on. I know she is your sister Ron, but she did cheat on Harry..."

Harry knew his friends and sensed another typical Hermione and Ron squabble developing. It was about time to interfere and get the heat off himself. "Technically we weren't together at the time. Can we discuss something else? Like silencing charms, you two should learn them. Seriously."

Both Hermione and Ron blushed crimson, and he suppressed a grin. Mission accomplished

"Look at them, fucking slimy snakes! Why are they even allowed back here?" The remark came from further down the table, the speaker didn't even care to lower his voice. Harry leaned over to get a good look at who was talking. Cormac sat there with a scowl and looked over at the table full of emerald trimmed robes. Something hot welled up in Harry. They hadn't gone through all the hardships and suffered all the losses just to carry on with old prejudices. Those who were guilty were caught and brought to justice, and those who had committed no other crime than being related to them or sorted into the house of Slytherin needed a new beginning, or there soon would be another Dark Lord.

"What was that, Cormac?" Harry called over.

The older Gryffindor snapped his head round to face him. "Why are they here? Should be in prison like the rest of them, or better yet dead!" He sneered.

Harry suppressed a sigh. Why, by Merlin's saggy underpants, did the git have to fail his N.E,W.T.s and torment them with his blustering presence yet another year?

One of the first-year girls who sat next to the older boy looked upset and nervous and tried to shuffle away from him as far as possible.

"Hey, Jessica isn't it?" Harry asked gently.

The young girl jumped and nodded, overwhelmed that Harry Potter was talking to her.

"Why don't you come and join us? Poor Hermione is outnumbered down here," he offered kindly.

Jessica looked timidly at Cormac who snorted. That did it. The young girl swiftly jumped up and joined them.

Harry sent a firm glare down to his fellow Gryffindor. However, the offending git looked unrepentant.

"Thank you," Jessica said quietly.

"That's ok. Tell me, how are you finding your first day here? Our esteemed housemate not included, of course." He gave her a lopsided smile.

The young girl blushed and pushed the food around on her plate.

"Erm, it's nice. I met a few people on the train, some of them have gone into other houses. My friend Beth is in Slytherin, is it true they are all horrible?" Deep lines of worry appeared on her innocent face.

Ron gave her a reassuring smile.

"Of course not, only a few of them were, and it ruined the reputation for the rest."

Harry and Hermione exchanged a look of shock before looking back to their red-haired friend.

"What?" he mumbled with a mouth full of food.

Harry and Jess laughed, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Wow, I didn't expect that from you, Ron. Good for you." Harry gave his best friend a warm smile.

"Even I can grow up, you know," Ron said and stuffed another bite of food in his mouth.

That earned him another round of laughter.

"So, Jess, where does Beth sit at the moment? Shouldn't you give her a wave to let her know everything is alright?" Hermione asked.

The young girl turned and scanned the Slytherin table, which was very quiet compared to the other tables. Draco, Theo, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Milly were all absent, either arrested, dead, or on the run.

"There she is, she's next to the blonde girl," Jess said and waved to someone.

Harry took this moment to turn and have a look for himself. A small dark-haired girl waved back to Jess. His eyes then flicked to the blonde witch beside her.

Daphne Greengrass.

She looked as great as ever this year. Warmth crept into Harry's cheeks. Well, she always looked good, but with her in Slytherin and he in Gryffindor, he'd never allowed himself to think of her as a beautiful girl, he didn't fancy being hexed into next week, and he'd had enough on his plate already, with Voldemort and his Horcruxes. He must have been staring a while, because the brown-haired girl beside her, Tracey Davis, if he remembered correctly, caught his eye and leaned into Daphne's ear. The next moment Daphne's blue eyes locked with his across the hall. A light blush graced her face and she looked away. An amused smirk crossed Tracey Davis' face, and she broke out into giggles.

Hermione leaned towards him.

"See something you like Harry?" Her eyes danced with barely suppressed laughter. What by Merlin's hairy balls had got into her today?

"Wha – No, I have no idea what you are on about!" he answered, far too quickly, and he winced. Had she noticed something? Hermione always was much too observant for his comfort..

"Nah, just punching a bit there, aren't you, mate?" Ron said.

That got him a slap from Hermione. "Ronald! That was a horrid thing to say! Harry, you're not punching." She gave him a sly smirk. "In fact, you're looking quite dashing recently, the lack of glasses brings out your eyes, and well, it doesn't hurt that you're in great shape, too."

The blood rushed into Harry's face in one hot wave. What the hell was up with her today?

"I'm right here you know!" Ron sounded affronted.

"Well, don't be so mean then!" Hermione snapped back.

"I wasn't!"

"You were!"

"You were, kind of, Ron" Neville, who sat beside them and had been listening to their conversation with an amused grin on his face, muttered.

"Ah, and normalcy returns!" Harry chuckled, and Jessica giggled along with him.

This year might be fun after all, Harry thought, and stole another look at the Slytherin table. Daphne and Tracey had their heads stuck together in a whispered conversation, a blush still evident on Daphne's face. What might they be talking about? He smiled and turned back to his bickering friends.

At the Slytherin table, one Tracey Davis elbowed her best friend. "Oh, Potter is looking over, Daph!"

Her excited whisper caused her pretty friend to glance over to the Gryffindor table.

The most talked about boy - no, man - in the country looked straight at Daphne. Daphne blushed to the roots of her blonde hair and swiftly averted her eyes.

"He isn't looking at me! He's looking at you!" Daphne muttered, yet, if anything, her face was getting more and more crimson.

Tracey sighed. Daphne had the body and looks most girls would kill for, and all the boys lusted after her, more or less discreetly. It hadn't been that bad he first two years of school, afterall, boys their age weren't interested in girls much at that point, and the older years thought them far too young. That had changed by third year. Daphne, however, had rejected all advances. Her best friend had developed a massive crush on Harry Potter during that year. She was a very old-school kind of girl, so she refused to take on the attention of other boys until she had got over Potter. Alas, she also was an incredible shy girl and had never dared to act on her crush. Tracey heaved another sigh. Four years on, …. and she had still not moved on.

"Daph, I tell you, he's looking at you. There, he's doing it again!"

"Why would he do that?" Daphne cast a Privacy Charm, an old habit they had picked up during the last few years. It would've been bad for them both if their housemates had found out Daphne had a thing for Harry. "He's never noticed me before, so why should he now?"

"Well, the war is over. Maybe as head boy he is leading the charge to get all the houses mingling again? Or …, wait, I'll give you yet another reason." Tracey paused for the effect and shot Daphne a saucy grin. "Maybe he has just seen how damn sexy you are, Daphne Greengrass!"

Daphne's face lit up, however, the next moment an expression of deep dejection took over.

"He's with Ginny Wesley, though" Her voice sounded sad.

Tracey gave an inward sigh. It was about time to change Daphne's attitude. Either she made a move on Potter, or went on with her life. Tracey gave her best friend a devious smirk.

"Not anymore …." She turned to her food again and shook with inside laughter as Daphne's eyes went wide and stared at her. The blonde's usually so stoic face was one big question mark.

"How do you know? When did this happen?" Daphne almost stumbled over the words, and Tracey lost her battle against her laughter. It spoke volumes for Daphne's eagerness to get answers that she wasn't offended at all.

"Well, do you remember last year?" Tracey asked as soon as she had recovered.

Daphne nodded. "Who doesn't?"

"I don't mean all that bullshit with the Carrows, I'm talking about the Weaselette and her actions. Well, dear heartbroken Ginny took comfort with Michael Corner." Tracey emphasised her words by raising her hands, making a rude gesture with her thumb and finger curled into a circle, before sliding a finger from her other hand through said circle.

Daphne gasped. 'She didn't! She still was supposed to be with Harry then."

"You're wrong, and yet you aren't. I've heard that Harry hadn't slept with her yet and broke it off before going on his little mission last year, to take the heat off her. You bet he expected to get back together with her after the war and live happily ever after. I also have it from trusted sources that the Weaselette didn't take his noble gesture kindly, so I doubt that little shag, … or shagging, was purely out of comfort. Think she was doing it to get back at him."

Daphne made a face. "That's appalling."

Tracey gave her a saucy wink. "Potter is still supposed to be a virgin, and single." Daphne blushed bright red, and Tracey bumped shoulders with her. "This year is your chance, we've not got Malfoy, Nott, and that lot to get in the way. Plus, he is looking FIT! Those eyes, oh, I wouldn't mind running into him just after curfew." She cast a feral grin at Potter, well aware of the worried look from Daphne. Good, maybe that would get her much too reticent friend to consider her attitude and make a move on Potter. She was sick of all the moaning and wistful looks. Alas, no such luck.

"Well, he might be single, but that doesn't change a thing. Why would he look at me? I mean, there's you, Bones, and even Abbot. She's head girl, so she's going to get to spend a ton of time with him. Tell me, how can I stand a shot?" Daphne's voice was quiet and dejected, and she slumped her shoulders.

Really, her best friend was taking her modesty and her insecurity about her looks too far. Tracey sat upright and gave Daphne a stern glance.

"Daph, you are hot! Gods, if you were a little freer you would've had every boy in our year with only so much as a beck of your pinky finger. I'd kill for an arse like yours, tight and firm, and that waist, and don't get me started on those lovely pair of –"

"TRACEY!" The heat coming from Daphne was almost palpable, her face was so red.

"All I'm saying is, you're hot, and to top it off you have the brains. Don't worry, I reckon you will get your man by the end of the term," Tracey said in a sing-song voice.

Instead of a response, Daphne gave her the iciest look out of her admittedly huge repertoire of cold stares.

Tracey sniggered to herself as she turned back to her meal. Oh, she had got to her friend, Daphne couldn't fool her one bit, no matter how hard she tried. That special look was reserved for when Daphne was out of her depth. Good for her! The new school year was promising to become interesting.

…

Harry was walking back from the headmistress's office after the end of the first week of lessons, deep in thought as he went over their talk. Apparently, there had been several students from all houses coming forward and reporting acts of extreme bullying to students in Slytherin. No one seemed willing to report who had committed the bullying, just that it was happening, fearful of being targeted themselves. The only reason that two students had been expelled was that they were caught in the act by teachers. Even worse, one of the students was from Gryffindor, and the gits had refused to co-operate on helping with the investigation. Instead, they had claimed the Slytherins had it coming for all they had done to the rest of the school last year.

Couldn't the idiots distinguish between the members of Slytherin who had willingly partaken in the terror the Carrows had lashed upon the school and those who had also been victims? One of the first things Minister for Magic Shacklebolt had done was appointing an independent committee that investigated the on goings at Hogwarts during the war. To the big surprise of the wizarding world they had come up with irrefutable evidence that the Carrows had been aided by only a very small portion of the student body, all of them children of prominent Death Eaters, like Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, and Bulstrode. Their housemates, however, had been submitted to an even harsher treatment than any Gryffindor, as a punishment for the refusal of their parents to join Voldemort's ranks.

Harry heaved a frustrated sigh, just four months ago people had fought and died to bring peace to the wizarding world, and yet there were still some holding grudges because of houses.

He'd reached the DADA classroom over his musings, knocked and entered.

"Ah, Mr Potter, nice of you to join us." Professor Western, a tall, dark-haired man with a cropped beard, said with a small smile.

"Apologises, professor, I needed to meet with the headmistress this morning," Harry replied.

"Its fine, I'm hardly going to give the Saviour of the Wizarding World detention for discharging his duties as head boy." Professor Western chuckled and pointed to a free seat behind Hermione . "Please, partner up with Mr Longbottom today, we were at an odd number without you."

Harry nodded and took his seat next to Neville, who smiled at him in greeting.

Hermione turned around. "What did Headmistress McGonagall want from you? Nothing bad I hope?" she whispered.

"Slytherin's are being attacked between lessons, couple of nasty injuries that Madam Pomfrey is dealing with. Only issue is, no one is willing to say who is doing them, they are scared," Harry replied as he turned to the page they were reviewing. The first half of the lesson was theory based, so he had a little time to catch up with today's lecture before the practical portion started.

"Good to see that people are moving on," Ron muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You know, I don't know why they even have this house system, all it causes is aggression, half the shit that went on in the last couple of years could've been avoided if we weren't all divided. Maybe then Fred would still be here." His voice caught at the last part, and Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad smile.

Harry raised an inward eyebrow, would Ron's new-found maturity ever cease to amaze him? However, he wouldn't complain about the one-eighty his best friend had made, the new Ron was so much easier to live with. He'd also made a very astute observation: the house system had caused more grief than good, it had divided the school at the time it needed to be united, and it still wreaked havoc on the student body, now that the danger was over and the biggest miscreants had been removed from school.

"What do you plan to do, Harry?" Neville asked.

"Right now I'm not sure, the teachers are naturally going to keep an eye out, but we need to get people talking. McGonagall is taking no prisoners; two students were caught right in the act and expelled this morning. She was beyond furious. "

His friends gave thoughtful nods. The four worked quietly until the professor called for the tables to be moved clear so that the practical element of the lesson could begin. They were studying the Shield Charm, and today's lesson was about how to increase the power behind the shield and hold one for a longer period.

"Mr Potter, do you mind coming to the front, please?"

Harry nodded and walked to the front, of course he had to be called to demonstrate the spell, these days he just couldn't escape the attention, and it didn't look like that would ever change.

"Right students, I hate to revisit the past, however, one of the main reasons for the loss of life in the first and second wizarding wars was the lack of defensive magics -."

"It's a trifle difficult to block the killing curse, sir," Ron said, and the whole class echoed his opinion with affirmative nods and murmurs.

"You are quite right, Mr Weasley, in fact, it's impossible. However, there is a reason that curse is not used often by Death Eaters, can anyone tell me why?" Professor Western asked the classroom, which was silent. He turned to Harry. "Mr Potter, I believe you know the answer."

Harry suppressed a sigh; indeed, there seemed to be no way he would ever escape the attention.

"Magic is intent based, Voldemort used this to great effect because of two things: for one the man was very powerful, and secondly and most importantly, he had no empathy, he had no trouble killing those he thought beneath him, which was everyone."

Professor Western nodded to that. 'Exactly, five points to Gryffindor."

Harry gritted his teeth. With his critical thoughts on the house system the reward didn't sit well with him.

"The Death Eaters also thought themselves above everyone," Neville said. 'So, why didn't it work for them like it did for V-voldemort?"

"Quite right, Mr Longbottom," Professor Western said. "Not all Death Eaters were gifted wizards, it requires a lot of power to cast the killing curse successfully. Then there is the issue of intent. Simply put, a Death Eater or follower had no reason to want to kill a nameless student, so the Killing Curse would be effectively useless, hence why they used other offensive spells, blockable spells. There is a reason why the Killing Curse is forbidden: its sole purpose is to end a life, no more, no less. You have to want to kill that person for it to work. For example, if I were to cast the Killing Curse on Mr Potter right now, it might just tickle him, because I have no intent to kill him."

Harry was impressed, bar Lupin Professor Western seemed to know his field brilliantly.

The professor went on with his lecture. "You can block any other spell, so to have a solid Shield Charm will stand you in good stead. I'm now going to cast a few Stunners at Mr Potter here with increased strength each time. Mr Potter, I want you to see if you can block them all, understood?"

"Yes Professor" Harry replied and raised his wand. Ron and Hermione gave him the thumbs up, while Neville look pale.

He caught a pair of blue eyes across the room. Daphne Greengrass watched him with an intensity that made his cheeks grow warm. He'd better concentrate, or he was going to look like a tit in front of Hogwarts' most beautiful student. Way to go to catch her interest!

In a flash, Professor Western let loose a stream of Stunners, and Harry got up his shield just in time. The spells slammed into his shield like sledge hammers, and it flickered under the impact. Harry focused his magic into the clear, shimmering bubble before him. The spells were getting stronger with each barrage, and just when he thought he couldn't hold it for much longer the barrage ceased.

"Well done, Mr Potter, that was very impressive, indeed," Professor Western said with a smile, and wiped a trickle of sweat running down his forehead with his handkerchief.

Ron and Hermione gave Harry a knowing smile, they knew what Harry was capable of, given all that they fought through together.

His eyes searched for a pair of blue orbs as he walked back to his seat. They looked back at him with something akin to a mix of pride and admiration, and something warm welled up in him.

The rest of the lesson was quite enjoyable for Harry as he and Neville took turns, with the Longbottom heir showing great resolve and improvement since Harry had first met him.

On their way from the DADA classroom Harry stopped in his tracks and slapped the flat palm of his hand against his forehead.

"Harry?" Ron asked.

"You go on without me, I forgot my bag, great start to the year, eh!" Harry chuckled and ran back to the classroom. He was just about to re-enter the classroom when he collided with someone coming out of the door. Caught off balance, Harry tumbled backwards, landed on his behind, and narrowly avoided hitting his head on the stone floor. Something that seemed like a freight train go off the rails tumbled on top of him.

"Oooff!" The air left his lungs in a big rush.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, oh Merlin I'm sorry!" A frantic feminine voice reached his ears. He concentrated on the voice and blinked the stars in front of his eyes away.

A madly blushing Daphne Greengrass scrambled off from top of him. Her eyes averted, she grabbed for the books that had spilled out of her bag when it had fallen to the ground and opened as they collided.

"I should've looked where I was going, I am so sorry." The books slipped out of her shaky grasp and clattered to the ground once again.

"Hey, its fine, Daphne, its ok" He chuckled, helped her to collect her things, brushed himself off and stood up. Since he was a gentleman, he offered out his hand to help her up.

She didn't look up at him, her face still crimson, but studied his hand instead, then took it and allowed him to pull her up.

"It's no bother, honestly, no harm done." He smiled. Why did his stomach make little flip flops all of a sudden?

"You know me?" She stammered and held her books close to her chest.

"Of course, we've only been in the same year for the last seven years. I think we worked together in Charms once or twice, remember?" Damn, he didn't recall her being this beautiful, bloody hell, he needed to keep his cool.

"Oh yes, I do remember, I just … didn't think you would, that's all." A little smile played around her lips that did even funnier things to his stomach.

"Why would you say that?"

Again she blushed, how sweet.

"Well, I'm me and you are you." Her eyes widened. "That came out wrong. Not that I think you're better than everyone else, it's just that you're quite well known and I'm not, well, at least not outside of my house." Again, her cheeks turned a deep shade of red. Who would have thought that the always composed Miss Greengrass could get that flustered? She'd been dubbed "The Ice Queen" by Seamus Finnegan for her almost inhuman composure. Well, today showed how little he knew of her. Maybe he should shove her off track more often.

"Yeah I guess, but I do remember you, I did enjoy working with you back then –"

"Really?" Her quick reply sounded quite surprised.

His cheeks grew warm, he hadn't expected her to jump on that nugget of information right away.

"Yes, I thought you were really nice, you didn't say much, but given the house rivalries at that time I was expecting you to be cold or rude."

"Oh well, I never really put much stock in house politics, but the boys, well..." She paused for a moment. "Well, you know some of them were children of Death Eaters, so to avoid drawing attention we just kept to ourselves."

A pang jolted through Harry, and his stomach squirmed. True, he'd been fighting for his life for most of his school life, but he was also guilty of viewing all Slytherin as cold or dark. The guilt gnawed away at him, now he knew why most appeared that way.

"I'm sorry, we didn't know." Gods, what a weak excuse.

"It's quite alright, you had your hands full." She gave him a sweet smile, her blue eyes flicked up to his own for a much too short moment, then darted away again, and her cheeks pinked.

"How are you finding being back?" he asked. He had to get going before he was late for Charms, but he couldn't care less.

"It's, er –"

"There you are! Come on, we're going to be late … Potter?" The voice of Tracey Davis, caused both Harry and Daphne to jump.

The brunette girl walked over to them. "Am I interrupting something? This looks cosy." The smirk on her face caused Daphne to go bright red again.

"No, Daphne and I knocked each other over, I was just making sure she was alright," Harry said.

Daphne just nodded, behind his back her eyes pleaded with Tracey to not make a big deal of it.

"Really?" Tracey's eyebrows went up, and her smirk became even more pronounced. "So, er, would you help me up if I just so happened to … fall on you too?" Tracey winked and ignored Daphne's impression of a fish on dry land at her sentence.

Harry chuckled. "Of course I will, I'm supposed to be a gentleman, after all."

"Well, I look forward to having a fumble ... I mean tumble, come on Daphne we will be late otherwise!" With a wink at Harry she pulled a crimson-flushed Daphne along with her.

Harry stood still, trying to digest his first non confrontational meeting with Slytherins.

He watched their retreating backs, they had their heads stuck together and whispered heatedly with each other. He turned to head to Charms when the crumple of paper under his shoe caused him to look down at a piece of stray parchment. He reached down to collect it and was about to call down the hallway to the two girls when he caught the word 'whore' on the parchment.

Now, that was strange. His eyes lingered on the parchment. 'To the Greengrass whore' was written across it. Was it his place to read a letter sent to Daphne? What if it was just a smut note from her boyfriend? A girl as pretty as Daphne surely wasn't single. Given the bullying going on, however, it was up to him as head boy to do anything to put an end to that. What if this was a bullying letter?

He unfurled the parchment. The first words made clear the letter wasn't from a loving boyfriend with a questionable sexual taste.

Dear Snake-scum ,

I do hope this letter finds you well, along with all your other filth. Don't get your hopes up, each letter is personalised to the recipient in this morning's post, so this is directly for you, and you alone.

You were stupid to come back here, you filthy little Slytherin whore. Well, technically you aren't a whore. Word around the school is you're too stuck up to drop your knickers. Don't worry about your virginity, pet, that will change soon. My associates and I will have you nice a willing by the end of the year, and by then you'd have earned to be called a whore, we'll make sure of that.

Should've gone on the run or been wiped out in the raids.

You'll be seeing us soon.

I hope you dress up nice. I'm partial to black lace bras with just a hint of red.

Red-hot heat shot through Harry, he gritted his teeth and crumbled the parchment in his hand to a tight ball. How dare this sick bastard? His eyes fell on the parchment in his hand, his wand was out in an instant, and the incantation of the Burning Charm on the tip of his tongue.

He hesitated; the tip of his wand trembled above the parchment. This was too big to burn; the bastard wrote in his letter that a whole group of Slytherin students got missives like this. His stomach almost turned at the thought of some poor first or second year reading something like this. This was beyond mere bullying, Headmistress McGonagall had to know about this.

As he concentrated to summon his Patronus his thoughts turned to Daphne. She hadn't let on how the anonymous threatening letter had affected her, but she had to be terrified. Even Hermione would freak out at receiving such a letter. He'd approach Daphne later, first he had to send messages to Professor Flitwick and the headmistress to state his reason for absence from Charms.

…

"So, you and Potter just stumbled into each other, eh?" Tracey laughed and wiggled her eyebrows as they made their way to Charms. "Was that engineered on your part?" She gave Daphne a sly smile.

"What?! Merlin no! Curb your lower instincts, please. I just needed to talk to Professor Western, and when I came out of the classroom I walked into Harry, and we fell. l-"

"We fell?" Tracey's eyebrows went up, almost beyond her fringe, and her eyes danced with laughter. Daphne's face heated up again, and Tracey let out a howl of laughter. "Who was on top?" She winked.

Daphne startled. "Tracey! Honestly!" she said with a huff.

Tracey just kept looking at her that way.

She huffed once more. "Alright, you win. I fell on top of him, I kept apologising like a mad woman, he must think I'm a complete joke!" She ran five fingers through her long hair, a gesture she only permitted herself when she was at the end of her rope. As if that damned letter this morning wasn't already enough to make her freak out. No, to make a horrible day even worse, she had to embarrass herself in front of the only man she ever cared about and ruin her chances with him forever.

"What was his body like? Did you manage to get a feel? Did he get embarrassed?" Tracey fired off her questions into her morose thoughts.

"I didn't notice."

Of course, Tracey didn't buy this.

"Daph, pleaseee, for the first time at this school we are free of Malfoy and his goons, and gods, I just want to be normal and gossip about blokes! Tell me!"

Daphne sighed, Tracey had a point with wanting to be normal, it would also be a welcomed distraction from this horrible letter. She closed her eyes and revelled in the moment she crashed into Harry outside the classroom and they both ended up sprawled on the floor. Even with his robes on she had felt how solid his muscles had been underneath those clothes … How might be like to slip her hands under his shirt and…

Another heat wave shot into her face.

"He was, er…." Get a grip on yourself, Daphne, for Circe's sakes! "Hard." The next moment her eyes went wide at Tracey's giggles.

"Oh my god, so you did cop a feel! You little minx!" Tracey squealed.

The implications of her words sank in. Hogwarts was an ancient castle full of magic, surely it was possible to sink right into the floor?

"I mean firm, I meant his body felt firm, I didn't feel him there, it was all above the waist!"

Too late, Tracey was howling with laughter.

"Did you like it? Even if it was just a little bit?"

Daphne rolled her eyes. What a silly question, what witch wouldn't want to be pressed against Harry?

"Maybe a little." She smiled.

"Oh, I like it! So when are you going to turn on the charm?" Tracey almost jumped with excitement.

"What? Tracey, we spoke about this, you need to let this go. Nothing is going to happen." Considering what a fool she'd made of herself, she'd be lucky if Harry ever gave her the time of the day again.

"You still like him, right?" Tracey was worse than a Jack Russel terrier, she never let go.

"You know I do! A lot, but he isn't going to look twice at me!"

"Er, did you see the way he was looking at you?" Tracey rolled her eyes. That smile on Harry's face when he talked to her best friend... Didn't Daphne know how lucky she was? Potter was hot, and she wouldn't mind dragging him into a broom closet and letting her slip his hands …. Not the time, Tracey!

"No?" Daphne replied, cheeks pink and a spark of hope in her voice.

"Oh yeah, proper boyish grin on his face, and he was focusing on your eyes and not just your body," Tracey said. It was about time her friend would develop some courage when it came to Harry. "If you don't take a leap, someone else will, hell, I might even!"

"You wouldn't!" Daphne almost hissed, a hurt expression crossing her face. Good!

"I'm joking, Daph, even if I did fancy the boy … man, I mean, I wouldn't do anything because it would come between us. Plus, Daphne Potter sounds better than Tracey Potter " It was a half truth at best, she did have a little fancy for Harry, hell, most witches did, but she would not lose her friendship with Daphne over it. Daphne seemed to visibly relax at that. "You do know that others will make a play for him, right? But you have an advantage they don't!"

"Which is?"

"I wasn't lying yesterday, you are likely the most beautiful girl in the school, and Harry has stolen a couple of glances at you, last night and today during Defence."

The shy smile returned to her friend's face. "He was mighty impressive in there, wasn't he?" Daphne smile became dreamy as she held her books to her chest.

"I'll need to sit with my legs crossed in Charms and work on that Drying Charm after that display." Tracey smirked.

"Why would you – Oh Tracey! Do you have to be so crass?!"

Tracey's delighted cackle echoed through the hallway as the friends continued their way to the Charms classroom.

…

This will be a four-part story, chapter two is nearly finished it just needs tweaking and reviewing. Once again my thanks to my wonderful Beta who gave me a lot of insight an ideas.