We Met In The Shadows.

Finally, A Hint

Daphne was severely confused. Their last meeting had been fine, brilliant, even. So why was Potter avoiding her all of a sudden? He was pale-faced and fidgety whenever she did see him and he looked as though he was half a second away from a meltdown.

Despite his fondness for Basil, he had now neglected showing up for two of their meetings and she was, needless to say, a little concerned. She sighed to herself, reckoning that she was evidently going to have to seek him out again. She only hoped it would be easier this time.

~

Seeing Potter duck out of the Great Hall after dinner, she quickly sped off after him, ignoring Tracey’s confused call. As she dashed into the corridor, she saw him turn a corner. She swore, picking up some speed.

Finally, she caught up to him. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him into one of the nearby classrooms, brushing off his protests.

“So?” She raised an eyebrow.

“So what?” He retorted, scowling.

“Are you going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me or do I have to force it out of you?” Never let it be known that she was patient.

“Force-?!” He sputtered. “You don’t need to force anything out of me. I’ve … just had a lot on my mind lately … what with all the attacks, you know ….”

“What else?”

He shuffled his feet, looking to the side. “What do you mean, what else? That’s, er, it.”

She sighed heavily, watching him wince at the audible sound. “Clearly not. You look like you’ve gotten into more shit,” she said, watching with slight fondness as he gawked at the casual cussing.

“Well, erm, I don’t know how to say- Y’know what, as long as you promise not to tell anyone, I will tell you all I know.”

“I’m almost hurt that you think I’d betray your trust. Don’t you know me a bit better by now?” She said, clutching a hand to her chest in mock hurt.

He grinned at her sheepishly. “Well, this is crazy stuff, after all.”

Daphne sighed, a little exasperated. “If this is any similar to what you pulled last year, then I'd say it's a little more than just crazy.”

Looking unfairly adorable, Potter pouted. “You haven't even heard what I have to say!”

She suppressed a smile, and gestured for him to go on.

“Okay, so, erm, I don't know where to start … Right! First of all, during the summer holidays-”

“Do you really have to go that far back?”

“- Don't interrupt me! And yes I do, a lot has happened since then! Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-” he shot a glare at her smirk “- this random creature showed up? He told me that he was a House Elf called Dobby and he told me I had better not go back to Hogwarts again this year or I would be in big trouble!”

“A House Elf? Those are rare. How'd one even know what would happen this year?”

“I have no clue. It all felt like a load of bollocks except that elf kept bashing its head against my closet for ‘disobeying orders’ whatever that means-”

“It means that the Elf was likely there without its Master's knowledge! But why would an Elf just seek you out for no reason? And I'm still concerned about how it got that information.”

He shrugged helplessly before furrowing his brow. “How do you know so much about House Elves? We aren't taught about them, are we?”

“No, it's because most Pureblood families have at least one or two House Elves. We, the Greengrasses, have three.”