The universe was undoubtedly spinning very fast, and had long lost control of how fast it was spinning and where it was going – because Daphne was running out of logical explanations. For a moment, she fiercely wished that she shared a house with Hermione Granger, and she couldn't bring herself to care which house, just so that there would be a girl's dormitory at the end of the day where they could both take this new development, put it under a stasis charm, and take it apart based on its arithmancy, elements, and composition.
See, Daphne Greengrass had a problem. She was on the Hogwarts Express for her fourth year of school, in a compartment filled with her Slytherin contemporaries, and her problem sat directly across from her.
In the middle of a panicked meltdown Daphne tried very hard to conceal, she thought that his eyes – blue and hazel, golden in the sun – looked breathtaking. But she was a Slytherin and merely turned a page in her new copy of Hogwarts: A History. Crushes were terrible enough, but this year seemed like a really bad year to have a crush. There was, after all, the Yule Ball to consider. Daphne's father worked in the ministry, and she suspected the entirety of Slytherin knew what was supposed to be a secret. Sometimes secrets kept by one Slytherin just ended up being secrets that were kept by all Slytherins. Daphne wasn't sure how it worked, and took extra care to keep her own secrets from everyone.
Everyone, of course, except those that mattered.
"How's the book?" Blaise leaned into Daphne's space, smirking in that annoying way of his.
"Oh, ah, apparating is impossible on Hogwarts ground because of the wards," Daphne recited something Hermione had mentioned last year, "but the book doesn't say how. I wonder if Professor Babbling might know about it."
"... and how to break it?" Blaise continued.
Daphne lowered her eyelids and glared, hoping she looked as impressive as Narcissa Malfoy when looking down on other people, and said: "Strictly for academic purposes, naturally."
Theo grinned, and Daphne's stomach did a full turn inside out, while dancing in a circle.
I'm going to find the potion that murders the butterflies, Daphne thought darkly, and turned to her book, which was currently open to the chapter about the Chamber of Secrets. Blaise had noticed, since he chuckled softly and turned a page for her.
She sighed.
This year was going to be... many things.
YOU ARE READING
Secrets of Convenience
RomanceA group project in Arithmancy creates an unusual friendship: Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. Secret friendship and a secret alliance may yet change the war against Voldemort... The story starts with Daphne's poi...
