Impossible
Daphne had had a really exasperating day, to put it mildly.
She didn‘t even want to think about all of the problems she had at the moment.
At the top of the list, of course, Tracey.
Tracey Davis was her best friend. Honestly, she was her only real friend but still, Tracey and she were friends ever since first year.
Now, Tracey was a pain in the … um.. thing.
She was annoying. And supporting the Malfoy brat was just the toe over the line, so to speak.
She was just going to the library to drop off her books and not see Tracey in the common room or dorms.
It wasn‘t like she didn‘t have other problems. Fourth year was topping the third by far in terms difficulty.
Daphne had the aspiration to always be at least second best in each class. Usually it would be first place but Granger was just too much of a hard learner and combine that with her intelligence and she is almost unbeatable.
Yes, Daphne could admit when she was defeated. Cool and calculating logic was one of the things she appreciated the most about herself.
Still, she topped Granger in DADA and potions. Potions probably also because of her head of house but her DADA mark was something she was proud of. Only Harry Potter, of course, could beat her in the subject. He too was admittedly a prodigy. Especially in defense against the dark arts but also transfiguration and charms seemed to be very easy for him. So basically, everything that had to do with practical use of magic.
Daphne reckoned he was a prodigy, sort of, because she thought he could very well be top of their class at those three subjects. He just didn‘t put the necessary effort into it.
There was Quidditch of course, then there were the crazy adventures he was rumored to have experienced each year. Obviously that was true at the very least for this year.
But the Tri-Wizard-Tournament also lifted a lot of burdens.
She wondered if Quidditch would be cancelled this year.
Probably, since..-
“Oof“
Speaking of the devil…
She walked head first straight into Harry Potter, her books clattering to the ground.
“Potter watch where you‘re going!“ her defense mechanisms were on high alert on instinct.
“Right, sorry.“ He answered. He seemed somewhat annoyed but was already on his way of picking up her books.
“You better be.“ She hoped she sounded threatening but she didn‘t feel like it worked.
She could feel his magic.
Calm but erratic,
silent but powerful,
passive but active.
She felt more threatened than threatening although Potter was kneeling in front of her, picking up her books and apologising.
She felt like, if he wanted, he could overpower her with ease, but he didn‘t.
Then she saw a spark of surprise in his emerald eyes.
“Wait a minute, it‘s after curfew, you aren‘t supposed to be here!“ He exclaimed.
Daphne went into negotiation mode afterwards.
Really, she was still stuck with his eyes. They held eye-contact during the entire conversation and she was lost in the two emerald-like fires of Harry Potter.
He was handsome, really handsome.
He had severely grown this year and last and was now one of the tallest boys in their year.
His hair was always messy, not something Daphne liked usually, but she kept having the strange desire to run her fingers through it. And she felt like she wasn‘t the only one.
The female population was eyeing him with greater interest nowadays.
Possibly his most handsome feature were his eyes. A vibrant emerald green unlike any other she had ever seen.
They seemed to emanate trust and bravery to whomever he set his sight on.
Mostly Weasley and Granger.
When they were directed at Malfoy or Parkinson though, they were completely different.
Potter‘s eyes would blaze with hatred and anger, his magic welling up.
Everytime she witnessed these events, Daphne had felt the strong urge to run as fast and long as her feet would carry her and then possibly flee into another country.
Malfoy and Parkinson didn‘t seem to be affected as much though.
It was either bravery or stupidity.
She considered the last one to be much more likely.
“Guess I‘ll just…“ tore her out of her trance.
She startled and answered with a quick “Yes“ before leaving as fast as humanly possible without looking like panicking.
She hoped she was out of his sight before her blush began to spread on her cheeks and neck.
Did she just blush?
Daphne Greengrass didn‘t blush.
Oh, how very paradox.
Mother wouldn‘t be proud.
Mother wouldn‘t know though.
Since when did she think like this?
The only answer her rational mind could come up with was since Harry Potter.
Disturbingly for both questions.
Yes, very disturbing.
She knew exactly how Tracey would react to this juicy piece of information.
She would… Wait, no she wouldn‘t!
Tracey had had her chance with her and everyone knew she didn‘t give second ones.
Bad for her, honestly. She only ever got attention because people wanted to be closer to Daphne. She will see where she ends up without her at her side.
An evil smirk slowly appeared on her visage, oh yes, she would see.
Nonetheless, she really had to scold herself for her thoughts.
This wasn‘t how she was taught.
Ah yes, redundancy, Harry Potter.
Harry Potter really was something special. That much no one could deny.
He always was the focus of attention without ever wanting to.
A feat only very few could achieve, she couldn‘t remember ever getting to know someone else with that ability.
She had the feeling he would be a natural leader if he wanted to.
Green eyes were a sign for leadership at least, if one were to believe the sayings of Professor Trelawney.
Yes, she thought, with those eyes he probably could persuade many without trying. At least the girls. And maybe some boys …cough…Theodore Nott…cough…
They were not his only handsome feature though.
His cheekbones were very high and sometimes even looked like they would pop soon.
His jawline was very well defined, better than the one of anybody close to his age.
If one thought about it, he had very aristocratic face features. This wasn‘t how you would describe him though, and there was one reason for that.
His hair. It was the very opposite of aristocratic.
Always tousled, always a mess.
But still, her strange desire to run her fingers through it and coo hadn‘t subsided in the least.
Yes, that was something she had t-
“Oof“ She noiselessly thought as she was grabbed from behind and manhandled into a broom cupboard.
One calloused hand covered her mouth while the other encircled her stomach.
A ceder scent hit her and she thought she knew it from somewhere.
Before she could search further in her brain‘s archieves of scents, she was pulled down into someone‘s lap and well, enough was enough, let‘s see how cedar man tastes.
Hmm… maybe she had a slightly sadistically cannibalistic side but the shock and pain combined with cedar man‘s taste wasn‘t too bad.
The hand was withdrawn rapidly from her mouth:
“I‘m so sorry.“
Harry Potter?
Harry Potter was her abductor?
“Potter, why am I here?“
She thought her perplexion might even have shown in her voice but it was nothing in comparison to how confused she was at this very situation, sitting in Harry Potter‘s lap in a broom cupboard.
There had to be another answer than the obvious, this was not Harry Potter‘s style, as far as she knew.
She turned slighltly so that she sat half sideways in his lap and could look back at him, while still sitting sort of with her back towards him.
She had to admit, it felt surprisingly good to sit in Harry Potter‘s lap.
She felt very secure what with being basically surrounded by him.
She could feel his magic and also the warmth that emanated from his body. She felt like she was being melted. Daphne was nearly always cold, but just now, she felt quite cosy actually.
Somehow she got the feeling that this was some weird prank though. Especially as Harry stated to know where the caretaker was without being close to him in any way.
She wanted to find out what it was that was behind all of this.
With that reasoning and the additional sense of security that she was feeling since Harry‘s proximity, it felt very easy to her to swear a magical vow.
She was very surprised by herself but her curiosity got the better of her.
“So how did you know?“
“Hold up.“
He was clearly searching for something in his robes while gentlemanly trying not to touch her in any inappropriate way.
“Here you go“
A thoroughly wrinkled piece of parchment was handed to her.
An item? Parchment?
“What am I supposed to do with it?“
“Activate it.“
Daphne aimed her wand at the piece of parchment and began to cast: “revelio“.
A messy handwriting appeared on the parchment:
‘Mr. Prongs would like to suggest to Miss Greengrass to put her undoubtedly pretty head to better use than casting the most obvous revealment charm to ever exist.`
What the…
More writing appeared.
‘Mr. Padfoot would like to agree with Mr. Prongs and add that this abysmal try is perceived as an insult to the Marauder‘s inheritance.‘
Daphne gasped.
‘Mr. Wormtail would like Mr. Padfoot to apologise profusely for his impoliteness.‘
‘Mr. Moony would like to know what Mr. Prongs‘s Lady thinks of his choice of words.‘
‘Mr. Prongs would like to enlighten Mr. Moony as to what she doesn‘t know doesn‘t bother her.‘
‘Mr. Wormtail would like Mr. Prongs to revise that statement.‘
‘Messrs Padfoot and Prongs would like Mr. Wormtail to shut the hell up.‘
“Potter, what…?“
For some reason, he was grinning like a maniac.
“wrong question.“
“How?“
“By using the password“
“What‘s the password?“
Harry held his wand to the unfolded parchment in her hands and whispered:
“I solemny swear that I am up to no good.“
The piece of parchment suddenly changed in an only a bit more neatly written handwriting:
‘Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present:
The Marauder‘s Map.‘
And to Daphne‘s utter surprise and amazement, the whole parchment practically became alive.
Ink poured all over the parchment like blood floating in clear water after being pumped out of a human‘s wound.
In mere seconds the parchment was flooded with so much ink that it looked like an incredibly detailed map of sorts.
Only a few seconds later did Daphne realise that it indeed was a map.
A map of Hogwarts.
But not like any other she had seen before. It was way more detailed and childishly buzzing. Hogwarts didn‘t look like Hogwarts any more.
It looked like an animal, or something that was alive and not just a mere castle.
The next thing Daphne realised was that it was really moving. All the moving and wandering staircases were shown midrotation in astonishing detail.
That was only a small part, though, in comparison to all the dots that were moving inside the castle complex.
This broom cupboard had a surprising similarity to the era of enlightenment and not only in it‘s almost medievial built but also in the amount of realisations that hit the blondes because she only then realised that the dots were indeed labeled with names, names of actual Hogwarts students, teachers and ghosts. And caretakers.
If this map was correct, then it would explain Harry‘s behavior because it showed two dots labeled ‘Daphne Greengrass‘ and ‘Harry James Potter‘ in a broom cupboard near the Slytherin common room, basically intertwined with one another, and, in fact, ‘Argus Filch‘ right in front of the common room.
Impossible.