Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

HP and DR: A Matrimony Made For Peace	By : Rago_Dragovian Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 4461 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series. It is not for profit.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Delphini stared with wide eyes and forced herself not to gap. What is her problem?!
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" shouted back Delphini, glaring at the redhead who was shouting up a tirade at her. "Who the fuck even asks that?! Just . . . what . . . I don't even . . . I'm sincerely at a loss of words . . ."
"DID YOU HAVE SEX WITH HIM OR NOT?!" bellowed the redhead, her cheeks turning maroon and her eyes flashing. The fiery redhead's wand pointed at Delphini and nearly touching her nose. "I'm warning you . . . I'M WARNING YOU, YOU FUCKING TWAT! If . . . if you've done something to him . . . I'll make you regret it tenfold! You'll get my signature spell in the face, you Slytherin slag!"
Delphini froze and her hands formed into fists as she gave the most contemptuous glare at the idiotic Gryffindor. "What is your problem, you dumbfuck?!"
Just as she had exited the dungeons to walk to breakfast like usual, the little tart had practically ran in front of her and pointed her wand close to her nose. Delphini had instinctively recoiled and been subjected to the most humiliating diatribe followed by accusation after accusation about manipulating Harry. Delphini noted, when the spectators had become large enough with people from the Great Hall having exited and formed a crowd to watch the embarrassing school melodrama, the stupid little brat had accused Delphini of having sex with Harry. Delphini had been so blindsided by the randomness that she'd frozen in shock at the audacity of the younger student.
"In fact, just who are you?" said Delphini, exasperation in her tone. "I don't think I've ever met you."
"Oh, you know who I am!" shouted back the girl, moving her wand closer to Delphini, causing Delphini to involuntarily recoil again. "Now answer my question, did you have sex with Harry or not?!"
Delphini blinked and then snarled. "Obviously, I have no idea who the fuck you are, or I wouldn't have asked. Who the fuck are you?!"
"ANSWER MY QUESTION, YOU MANIPULATIVE SHREW!" shouted the girl, "Or . . . or I will curse you. This is your last warning, I happen to be very good at hurting people when I want to, you bitch!"
Delphini's eye twitched. "Oh, you obnoxious, arrogant little dipshit! Get the fuck away from me or I will hurt you, this is my one and only warning."
The redhead sneered at her. "Oh shut up, you don't have your wand . . . as I thought, you won't be honest with me. You must have done something to Harry, I'll make you pay!"
"What is all this commotion about?!" snapped a voice. The crowd parted and Hermione strode toward Delphini and the redhead. Hermione was behind the redhead who was still pointing her wand at Delphini. Delphini looked past Hermione to see Harry and Ron at each side of her. Hermione's eyes widened. "What the . . . Ginny?!"
"Ginny, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" snapped Ron, glaring at the redheaded girl with a look of disbelief. Harry looked on in stunned silence like the rest of the crowd. "Put your wand away or we'll take points!"
"You know this bitch?" questioned Delphini, glaring at Ginny and then looking back at the golden trio. Ginny turned back and glared at her. Delphini contemplated punching her in the face to get away from her.
"That is my sister!" said Ron, glaring at Delphini, his visage turning puce. "Watch what you say, or you'll have to run to Snape to get out of a detention."
"She's pointing her fucking wand and threatening me!" shouted back Delphini, briefly glaring at the male Weasley. "Tell your dumbass sister to get her wand out of my face or I am going to seriously hurt her. I'm sick of this shit!"
"Ginny, move away from her," said Harry, glancing at Ginny and Delphini before settling his gaze on Ginny. "I don't know what this is about, but let's resolve it without violence or the need to lose house points. This behavior is uncalled for. Lower your wand, Ginny."
"Oi, Ginny, what did she do?" asked Ron, he glanced at Harry and frowned. He turned his gaze to Delphini and glared. He was clearly irritated.
Delphini blinked and then exploded, her face tinged pink. "What I did?! Why the fuck am I being accused?! This dipshit came right up to me as I was heading for breakfast and started shouting at me! She kept demanding I tell her whether I had sex with Harry or not."
Hermione's mouth hung open in shock and her eyebrows flew above her bangs. She turned to Ginny with wide eyes. "What?! Ginny, is this true? Did you really ask her that?!"
Ron's eyes went wide like saucers and his mouth hung agape in horror as he looked at his sister. "What the bloody hell, Ginny?! Please tell me that she's lying . . ."
Harry froze and stared at Ginny with a look of utter disgust. Delphini saw Harry carefully pull out his wand. His eyes met hers and he shot her an apologetic smile. Delphini felt her posture relax as she turned her attention back at Ron's little sister.
"Look, I know it's strange to see a Slytherin hanging around a Gryffindor, but Delphini is new here, she hasn't experienced the everyday House biases that we have. We should be welcoming inter-house cooperation. Put down your wand, Ginny." said Hermione in a calm tone, "Stop making this fiasco and let her pass on her way."
Ginny turned her head and glared at the golden trio. Her cheeks turning crimson. "She did something to Harry! She . . . she's either bewitched him or she's blackmailing him, isn't she?! She's manipulating Harry into something horrible! She's a sadistic bitch whose out to make you suffer, Harry! I'm going to put a stop to it!"
To the crowd and his best mates respective surprised visages, Harry pointed his wand at Ginny. "Ginny, stop it. Get away from her. Now."
"Harry, how could you point your wand at me?!" screeched Ginny, looking scandalized. "I'm trying to protect you!"
Ginny then glared venomously at Delphini. Her visage turning a darker shade of red and her eyes shooting daggers at Delphini. "I knew it! You're manipulating him somehow! You're hurting him and taking your sick pleasure from the pain you're causing!"
The crowd was roaring for a fight. People were jeering distasteful comments at both Ginny and Delphini. To Delphini, it seemed to crowd really wanted to see a violent altercation.
"Ginny!" shouted Hermione, raising her wand at Ginny as well. Her tone seemed both exasperated and anxious. "Step away from Delphini, or I will stun you. What you're doing is childish, uncalled for, and . . . and downright stupid! Move away as Harry said or I will stun you myself to make sure neither of them potentially injure you. Delphini and Harry have abundantly proven that they're the two most powerful students in this school . . . no, enough of this. I shouldn't be looking for reasons to justify myself here. Ginny put away your wand. I'm giving you two weeks detention for not following my initial instructions."
Ron looked over at his best friends with a stricken expression. He sagged his shoulders and sighed before glaring at his sister. His visage torn yet firm. "Ginny, get over here or I will tell mum about this."
"Ron! She's a Slytherin!" shouted Ginny, briefly glancing at her brother with a scowl. "Why are you both doing this?! She's hurting Harry and we need to get to the bottom of it! Help me! This is the perfect opportunity, she won't fight back or she'll lose House points."
"I don't give a flying fuck about House points or whoever the fuck wins that piece of shit prize. I don't even care if I lose all the House points in Slytherin." snapped Delphini, moving her left hand into a rigid position and slowly raising it. The crowd muttered in disgust and horror at Delphini's response. Some gazed at her as if she'd grown a second head. "I don't care what others think of me. Believe whatever the fuck you want, just leave me alone already!"
The crowd began laughing. Delphini felt a headache from the continued taunting by the crowd directed toward both Ginny and herself. What a positively splendid beginning to start the day, have a wand shoved up my face and get screamed at by some crazy fangirl of Potter's. Yeah, this is my life now . . .
Delphini slammed her open palm in a precise and quick strike on Ginny's hand. Ginny's eyes widened and the momentum of Delphini's palm thrust caused her to recoil to regain her balance as her wand went flying into the crowd.
"No!" cried Ginny, before turning her gaze upon Delphini. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched. Ginny balled her hands into fists and lunged at Delphini bellowing a loud cry of indignation. "I'm going to fuck you up, you Slytherin slag!"
Delphini rolled her eyes and blocked Ginny's angry, amateur punch with her open palm and held onto Ginny's balled hand tightly in an ironclad grip. Delphini pulled Ginny's hand up, causing the younger girl to stumble forward, and moved her right leg back for her next move.
Delphini slammed her knee onto Ginny's abdomen while pulling Ginny's arm slightly above her shoulder. Delphini felt the heavy force of her knee colliding with the fabric of Ginny's blouse and heard the painful collision from where she had struck. She moved her knee back on instinct after feeling it had collided with a large sack of flesh and let go of Ginny's hand. Ginny screamed shrilly in pain and Delphini couldn't stop herself from grinning as she watched the dipshit's visage turn red as she fell to the ground and rolled on her back screaming in pain. Ginny had her eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks, and her voice growing hoarse from screaming. Delphini was tempted to kick the younger girl's side for good measure but stopped herself. The crowd went wild with enthusiasm at Delphini's show of physical force but she paid no mind.
She looked up to see Hermione had paled and looked at her in clear disappointment. Ron shot her a death glare and shook his head as he looked down at his sister. He walked over to her and kneeled by her side. Harry briefly looked exasperated before shooting Delphini an angry glare before scowling at Ginny and shaking his head. Hermione kneeled down alongside Ron and began using healing spells on the red mark visible upon Ginny's stomach when she slowly moved her blouse up.
The bell rang, signifying the end of breakfast. Most of the crowd began to leave in a hurry. Delphini's eyes widened. "Oh, you've got to be shitting me!"
"What is it now?" snapped Harry, glaring at her as he found Ginny's wand and grabbed it off the ground. Ron glared at Delphini briefly before helping Hermione heal his sister.
Delphini scowled at Harry before pointing at Ginny. Ron and Hermione tensed. "That dipshit prevented me from getting breakfast. Now, I'll have to go to class on an empty stomach and it's all her fault!"
Harry let out an aggravated sigh. He looked at her with a neutral expression. "Look . . . can we just not have any more arguing this morning?"
Delphini's eyes widened before glaring at him. "Oh, you know what? Fuck you too. I'm not apologizing to that stupid bitch, if that's the next thing you're going to say. Now I can't have any breakfast because of her!"
Harry rubbed his temples as Ron and Hermione ignored her. Delphini stomped her foot, huffed, and then stalked off to class. "Fuck you all!"
==
"Hello," said Harry, his voice gentler than earlier.
Delphini glanced his way and then turned back to ignore him. She continued looking toward Professor Binns droning on about some Goblin rebellion or something equivalent. She put her quill down, folded her arms, leaned back on her chair, and pointedly refused to respond to him. Harry forced himself not to roll his eyes.
"Here," said Harry, levitating a small tray of assorted food, snacks, and some beverages beside her on the large marble desk. Delphini sat alone and away from either the Ravenclaws and her fellow Slytherins. Harry frowned noticing that she didn't seem to have friends with her. "I wasn't sure what you liked for breakfast so I got what you seemed to like during dinner last night."
Harry sat beside her. She didn't look over to him or dignify him with a response. Harry sighed and licked his lips as he turned to face her. He thought over what to say before continuing. "I'm really sorry for how I behaved. Hermione told me to tell you that she's sorry too, she even helped pick out some food before sprinting to class so she wouldn't be late. I'm . . . cutting divination right now because I wanted to make it up to you. Ron's in the hospital with his sister, he hasn't really been talkative but . . . he usually takes time to come around. I just wanted you to know, I'm truly sorry."
Delphini glared at him. "Just go away."
Harry sighed and nodded in response. "Take care . . ."
Harry left the classroom as quietly as he came. Delphini slouched on her seat and sighed. She gingerly grabbed the tray and moved it toward her to look over the food. She raised an eyebrow at some of the contents before grabbing an apple and taking a bite.
By the end of History class, she had devoured nearly all the contents of the tray and banished the rest back to the kitchen. Slowly a smile tugged at her lips and her mood felt lighter. She put her things back in her bag and left for her free period. I should thank him. I was too mad and worried I'd yell at him so I didn't want to say anything I could possibly regret later, but . . . well, if nothing else, I should improve on my communication, it can't all be a one-sided power trip, can it? Or perhaps, it can? What's the most ideal way of getting him to submit to me, if my plan for convincing daddy is successful?
Delphini frowned as she left the castle to go outside by the lake. Do I really want him, after all? Is he worth all this trouble? Won't I just regret all of this later, considering he acted so impartial when I did nothing wrong? Then again, no relationship is perfect and perfect is a fairytale that I don't have interest in, but is Harry Potter worth my time and effort? Does he enjoy spending time with me, or am I just some burden to him? Fuck, I'm beginning to sound like a lovesick drama queen.
Delphini sat by the tree next to the lake and tried to temper the urge to let out an aggravated sigh. She took out one of her runes books alongside her notes on arthimancy and began working on her pet project of hers. A unique spell of her own, after she'd been inspired by the admittedly horrific travesty that happened to Draco. The spell she had planned was less bloody and more humiliating. If not for the pain the spell could potentially induce given the right circumstances, it could be considered a spell for pranks.
Finally, something productive to keep me occupied! This should help my mood.
==
"Yo, Harry!" said Delphini, rushing up to him just outside of the Great Hall as their lunch period started. Harry paused and turned to her. Delphini took a moment to catch her breath and then smiled at him. "I've decided . . . I'd like you to make it up to me."
"Okay, what would you like me to do?" asked Harry, raising an eyebrow.
"I'd like you . . . to . . ." Delphini paused. "Well . . . I don't really know. I just want you to make it up to me for this morning by doing something else for me."
"You have leverage over me," deadpanned Harry, his eyes furrowed. "what's the point of this, why even have this conversation when you have enough to make demands and order me around? Let's face it, those are the circumstances surrounding whatever this arrangement is."
Delphini's lips moved upward before her visage became neutral. "I want to see . . . how sincere you can be with me, even when I place you under significant pressure. I'm looking for . . . a special quality, something I personally find unique in people that hold my interest, and I think you and Granger are the only ones who have what it takes. Basically . . . I want you to prove me right about a hypothesis, without me having to tell you what that hypothesis is. You can think of it as a stupid game, and maybe it is, but . . . this is important to me. This is very important to me. I wouldn't be doing this, if it were not so. I'm sorry if that sounds stupid, but I have this weird sense of curiosity and I think you have it too. Don't deny it, you wouldn't have continued snooping on Draco or done half the things you did from what I've heard about you from him and Snape, if it weren't true."
Harry raised an eyebrow and then his lips twitched. "Okay . . . I'll do something for you, if I feel it's reasonable, when you have something particular in mind and . . . I have better context to understand what that is."
Delphini grinned and nodded. "Okay then . . . okay . . . er . . . Yeah, that's fine."
"So . . . I hope this doesn't seem rude to ask." said Harry frowning. Delphini crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "but why weren't you with any friends?"
Delphini frowned. "I . . . haven't really made any here."
Harry blinked. "Would you like to study together, later this evening, in the library? Hermione thought it'd be good to have a NEWT study session."
Delphini's eyes lit up and then she schooled her features with a smug smirk. "Sure."
They entered the Great Hall and bade farewell. Harry walked over to his best mates at the Gryffindor table and Delphini went back to the Slytherin table alone with only her thoughts as company.
Delphini helped herself to lunch and eagerly devoured her food. The next twenty minutes were spent blissfully eating in peace. She savored her spaghetti noodles and decided to have some coffee. She had felt miffed about not having her morning coffee earlier. Maybe I need to keep my exercise routine . . . then again, I could try testing out my exercise routine in conjunction with testing out a variation of the new spell next Sunday, after I've finished homework . . . or maybe take a trip to Hogsmeade by myself just for some peace of mind. I never expected such a prestigious school to have their students be so melodramatic about everything.
A gloved fist suddenly slammed itself down on the table causing a loud banging noise that resounded throughout the Great Hall. It caught the attention of the entire student body and staff within the Great Hall. Food splattered haphazardly all over the table; a pitcher of orange juice fell and was spilling all over the contents of the sandwiches. Some of the butter cream flew around in all directions spilling itself into people's pumpkin juices, rice plates, and causing people to instinctively rise from their seats to avoid excess spillage. The frantic panic had the unfortunate consequence of pulling the table's sheet and causing more food to collide, smash, and spill all over the Slytherin table. Plates could be heard smashing onto the floor, people yelped and shrieked as their food was sent tumbling, and drinks spilled across the large Slytherin table, onto people's clothes, and smashed onto the ground causing puddles of various juices to form.
For Delphini's part, her coffee fell on her lap, causing her to yelp and cry out, and then the cup fell to the floor smashing to pieces. Her food had become a mess because of the pumpkin juice pitcher having smashed alongside the orange juice to spill all over her spaghetti and meatballs. Her chocolate snacks were in disarray and soaked from the pitchers of juice having smashed and spilled all over the Slytherin table.
Delphini quickly rose from her part of the bench, her visage livid, and she looked up to see the smug smirk of Ginny Weasley, who moved her fist back after having punched the table. She took off some strange glove and placed it in her pocket. Delphini stared around at the mess aghast before giving Ginny a contemptuous glare. Several of the professors rose from their seats and looked ready to step in. Many of the Slytherins were brandishing their wands. People from the other tables either looked on or ignored the commotion. Some Gryffindors seemed eager to partake and rose from their chairs to brandish their own wands.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" shouted Delphini, her cheeks turning red and her eyes flashing as she struggled to keep her anger in check. What the fuck is this?! I'm trying to make the most out of what was already a bad start and this fucking bitch . . . ARGH! "JUST . . . WHY?!"
Delphini took a few calming breathes and tried to regain her composure. She forced herself to ignore the overwhelming temptation to just pounce and beat the smug redhead senseless. Some of the Gryffindors who initially seemed eager had put away their wands and sat back down. Their expressions either filled with mirth or disgust. The portion of the Hogwarts crowd paying attention were already laughing at the Slytherin table's expense. Most of the Slytherins began either cleaning up, leaving, or going over to the Professor's table. The golden trio was looking towards Delphini and Ginny. Ron's face was turning a noticeable shade of maroon.
"Oh, don't act so melodramatic over spilled food," snapped Ginny, glaring at Delphini, she waved her hand as if to dismiss Delphini's complaints. Delphini gawked at the audacity before shutting her mouth and counting to ten to stop her growing temper. Ginny's eyes seemed to be alight in amusement. "I'm not stopping until I get to the bottom of what's going on, I know you're up to something evil and I demand to know what it is. So start telling the truth, or you'll continue suffering the consequences."
Before Delphini could respond, she heard someone shout. "What the bloody hell, Weasley?!"
Delphini turned to see Pansy Parkinson had shouted the complaint and seemed to be waving her wand to clean the food out of her hair while giving Ginny a scathing look.
Ginny snorted and scowled with her lips twitching upward. "Shut it, I don't have time to deal with Malfoy's whore."
Pansy flinched and looked ready to cry as unshed tears began to rise from her watery eyes. Millicent Bulstrode suddenly rose from her seat and pointed her wand at Ginny. Bulstrode spoke through clinched teeth. "Take that back, you fucking bitch! You have no right to speak to her like that!"
"That was really uncalled for," said Blaise Zabini, standing up and glaring at Ginny. His lips forming a thin line and his eyes narrowed. "Don't you think you ought to apologize? For both the food and that comment?"
Ginny giggled. "Shut up, you bloody poser."
Ginny turned back to Delphini and in a quick flourish had her wand pointed right between Delphini's eyes from across the table. "Well? Out with it, or there'll be more hell to come."
Delphini suppressed the urge to scowl and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're accusing me of and I don't care."
Delphini raised her arms in a gesture of peace. Her eyes blazing and holding back the malice that she felt for Ginny Weasley. "I'm out of here before I do something that I regret later. Consider this your last warning before I beat the tar out of you for pissing me off. I'm not tolerating any more of your shit after this. The only reason I'm letting this slide is because you're Ron's little sister and I know how much Ron, Harry, and Hermione would be conflicted with me hurting the littlest Weasley."
Ginny's eyes glinted. Her facial expression was firm. "Oh no you don't, you bloody slag! Out with what you're doing to Harry, I'm warning you for the last time, I'll use my bat-bogey jinx and then you'll regret it! You may have bested me last time, but there's a large table between us and I refuse to surrender so easily, I don't care how many times I'm beaten down, I'm determined to get the truth out of you!"
"Holy fucking shit, I have had it!" shouted Delphini, her cheeks turning a shade of puce. "You fucking dipshit, I am going to make you regret every word out of your mouth. Believe me when I say that. You're going to remember to never piss me off again. I don't deserve this treatment and I'm done with being reasonable with you."
"Oi, Ginny!" hollered a voice, the tone clearly angry. Ginny turned to her side while still having her wand trained on Delphini. Ron Weasley hurried over to them. His visage maroon and his eyes staring at his sister like a hawk. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?! I thought I told you to stop making trouble?! I'm definitely telling Mum now!"
Ginny bristled at her brother's words. "I am getting to the bottom of this mess and I will not be talked down to or stopped! I thought you cared about Harry?! I guess you just ignore when Harry's put in danger when it inconveniences you, just like in my third year!"
Ron flinched and his visage became livid. Harry and Hermione were catching up behind him. "Where the bloody hell is that coming from?! Explain what you're doing now! Wait, you know what, I don't want any more excuses. I told you to keep out of trouble! Don't think I didn't see the glove! I can't believe you'd use George and Fred's failed invention to go and do this! This isn't even a bloody prank, it's just being a git!"
Ginny's eyes narrowed and her lips twitched downward. "I'm not some bloody servant that you can order around!"
"What the . . . how . . . bloody hell," said Ron, rubbing his temples. He sighed. Harry and Hermione cautiously watched behind him and occasionally shot worried glances at Delphini. Ginny's wand was still pointed at her. "Look, lower your wand, I can't believe I have to keep doing this and repeating myself. Why can't you just bloody stop?!"
"This behavior is shocking you?" cut in Blaise Zabini, glaring at Ginny before gazing quizzically at Ron. "If you haven't noticed Weasley, your sister has always been like this and practically everyone in the castle seems to think it's adorable or somehow makes her seem irresistible. In my opinion, all this rubbish about her supposedly 'calling it like it is', is just people giving her a pass on her obnoxious behavior because she's either good for your quidditch team, she has good grades, people equate it as justified because of the discrimination that some Slytherins like Malfoy conduct upon muggle-borns, or the younger years find her superficiality attractive. As I see it though, all she's really been doing is throwing a temper tantrum and making herself feel good by insulting others."
Ron frowned as he let Blaise's words sink in. Harry and Hermione were already on either side of him and held looks of uncertainty as well. Ginny scowled at Blaise.
"Oh please, why don't I start bringing up your slag mother's long line of mysterious dead husbands?" snapped Ginny, briefly scowling at Blaise. Blaise flinched and looked at the ground while covering his forehead with his right hand. Ginny smiled. "What? Hard to confront the truth of what your whore of a mother is?! And let's face it, plenty of Slytherins have openly spoken of wanting to date me and finding me attractive."
"Brilliant, Weasley!" shouted Blaise, lowering his hand and glaring at her. His hands moving to his sides and his palms shaking. "A bunch of superficial younger years have crushes on a star quidditch player in our school. Who hasn't? You act as if that's some sort of victory or somehow unique, what the bloody hell is so great about that? Young guys having hormonal dreams about popular girls in a school they spend several years in. It's entirely normal. Plenty of younger years fantasize about your brother over there, or Cho Chang, or even Granger over there! Like bloody hell, I know some younger girls who giggle at the prospect of dating Neville Longbottom ever since he had a growth spurt or even me for that matter. It's not something to feel triumphant about and it doesn't make you special."
Ron paused at Blaise's words and his lips twitched. Hermione gawked and blushed. "Wait . . . what?! What do I have to do with this?!"
Millicent and Pansy gave her a strange look. Millicent raised an eyebrow. "Granger . . . you really don't know? A lot of guys who aren't into the quidditch girls basically see you as the brains of your friendship triad. Plenty of guys want to date you."
Blaise snorted. Hermione's eyes widened and she looked thunderstruck by the revelation. Blaise noticed and his lips twitched. "Date her? You're putting it mildly, Bulstrode. Even Draco's admitted to me and Theodore that, if given your consent and if the world spun clockwise, he'd shag with Granger in a heartbeat."
Ron gazed at Blaise with a livid expression. Blaise held his hands up in a gesture of peace. Hermione's blush deepened and her mouth formed an o-shape as she looked at Blaise in clear shock. Delphini bit her lip to stifle her giggles and Harry looked at Blaise dumbfounded. However, none of that compared to the look of loathing that Pansy Parkinson cast Blaise. Her eyes glaring and her teeth barred. Her face turning a fine shade of purple and her wand arm twitched towards her pocket as she kept her eyes trained on him.
Blaise gazed at each of the trio, then Pansy, and shivered. "Don't get me wrong, he hates Granger's guts and would still treat her horribly, but . . . well, he's not going to lie about the obvious and neither do Theodore or I. Granger's one of the most alluring girls in school. The messy hair, the bossy attitude, and we're all quite aware that she's a very considerate and fair person. She's the only Gryffindor prefect that goes out of her way to fairly distribute points to our House. We've all noticed . . ."
"Enough of this!" snapped Ginny, Delphini stared her down. Everyone else had varied expressions of uncertainty. Ginny's wand arm shook as she glared at Delphini and moved a bit closer. "You will tell me what I want to know. Hurry up before I curse you so badly that you'll be feeling it for several weeks!"
"I'm not intimidated by you," deadpanned Delphini, "and I don't find your angry temper tantrum to be funny, if you cast a spell on me like this then I'll adjust to the use of force necessary to put a stop to your abusive, self-glorifying little melodrama so go ahead."
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. She opened her eyes to examine everyone part of the conversation before giving Ginny a meaningful look. "One hundred points from Gryffindor for instigating a fight, two more weeks of detention for continuing attempts at violence, and I'll be having a word with McGonagall about your chances of remaining a Gryffindor prefect."
Pansy and Bulstrode's jaws dropped as they looked at Hermione in stunned silence. Blaise's lips twitched as he seemed to be holding back a smile. Ron gazed at Hermione in shock and looked ready to retort, he paused and closed his mouth. Ron turned to Ginny with a sigh and shook his head. Harry remained silent but his posture slouched and he looked at Delphini with relief. Delphini smiled back at him and Harry soon returned the smile. Ginny lowered her arm and rounded on Hermione. Her eyes looked indignant at Hermione's apparent betrayal.
"How can you be doing this to me?! What the bloody hell, Hermione?!" screeched Ginny, spittle flying from her mouth and her eyes giving Hermione a look of revulsion. Hermione made a disgusted face while Delphini folded her arms as she witnessed the byplay. "Have you forgotten all the years of abuse they've hurled at Gryffindor?! At all of us, personally?! How they kept mocking Harry all of last year, their power trip with their barmy inquisition, or how about when those slimy snakes stood by to watch as that horrible Umbridge bitch nearly used the cruciatus curse on Harry?!"
Pansy and Blaise's eyes widened in horror as they looked at Ginny speechless. Millicent shouted. "She did what?! What the bloody hell?!"
"Bollocks," snapped Pansy, looking toward the golden trio, "there's no wa-" She stopped as she looked at the disgust or pain in each of their faces. Pansy's eyes widened and she stopped speaking. "No way . . . how is she not in Azkaban?!"
"There's nothing we could do," said Harry shrugging, "besides she got sacked so . . ."
"So what?!" snapped Bulstrode, glaring at Harry, "How can you be trying to put this aside? She nearly cursed you to insanity!"
Harry shrugged and stared at the floor. He refused to meet any of their eyes. "The Ministry would never have believed me. The Prophet made me out to be attention-seeking and sensationalized everything about me. I doubt Magical Britain would have believed me, and honestly, nobody with power in the Ministry cares. They let that situation happen in the first place by putting that horrible woman in charge of us all. They would just work to cover their own arses; Magical Britain needs unity now more than ever, so it's inconvenient to bring it up. The Light families and neutral families need as much unity as possible against Voldemort."
The Slytherins became silent. With the exception of Delphini, the Slytherin group flinched at the usage of Voldemort's name. If not for the splattered food, Pansy looked inclined to sit down. Millicent lowered her wand and frowned at Harry. Blaise's lips formed a thin line, revealing nothing.
"You would definitely have made a stellar Slytherin, Harry," said Delphini, catching everyone's attention. She looked directly at Harry's eyes. "You understand the political consequences . . . and the necessity to take personal hits for the sake of the betterment of all. Most people jeer at politicians because they don't understand this necessary fact, it's easy for people to shit on the decision-makers and think they're unrepentantly evil and that's why the world has problems. It's far scarier to think that being a do-gooder depends on people with different worldviews having different beliefs on what good is. I'll say this now, I'm the total opposite and I'd probably try my utmost to do the opposite from your situation, but I completely understand your reasoning."
"Ginny, let's go, you've caused enough trouble," said Ron, letting out an exasperated sigh. He moved his hand indicating for her to follow him. "Like I said, I'm definitely telling mum though. It's like you've gone mad with how you're acting. Hopefully she can talk you out of this behavior."
A tick seemed to form on Ginny's head as she scowled at her brother. "Ron! How can you be this way too?! Don't you remember just last year when the bloody Slytherins kept insulting you with the 'Weasley is our King' rubbish?! Or how about when Umbridge kicked Harry and George off the team after Malfoy said such stupid shit about our mum and Harry's mum?!"
"That didn't give you the right to beat Draco to a bloody pulp!" bellowed Pansy, her voice bursting and her eyes gazing at Ginny with disgust. "What about Draco being hurt by those two?! Try justifying that with your self-righteous hogwash!"
Ginny bristled at Pansy. "He got what he deserved for the wisecracks that he made about my mother and Harry's mum! He deserved it for being an arsehole! If you really think it wasn't justified then you're an arsehole too!"
"Oh you obnoxious, stupid bitch!" snapped Pansy, looking cross while gazing at Ginny.
"Enough!" said Harry. The group paused as they saw Harry gaze at Ginny contemptuously. "Ginny . . . stop using us as an excuse to harass others. What happened last year can be left last year, enough with this nonsense already! Unlike what people believe, I don't condone going around and shouting at people about every tiny negative view I have of them just to get more attention. Don't use me as a scapegoat to justify your actions!"
"What happened to you is wrong and you don't deserve to constantly have these people piss all over you!" shouted back Ginny, "I'm trying to help, can't you see that?! I admit, I don't know the full situation, but you have to agree that whatever she's planning is going to be dangerous and hurt you in some form, or worse yet, someone else close to you could die! It may seem bitchy of me to do this, but isn't this the correct steps to prevent anyone else close to you from dying?!"
Harry looked as if a knife had pierced his heart after Ginny's statement. He felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart, he closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples to try to dampen the oncoming headache and let out an aggravated sigh.
"Excuse me, but just what are you implying?!" said Delphini, scowling at Ginny.
Ginny rounded on her and sneered. "Oh, you know what I meant."
"No, I don't," replied Delphini, her eyes narrowing further. "Do enlighten me, O wise one."
Ginny snorted. "How about you duel me in your club at the end of this week? You may have tied with Harry, but I think you'll find I'm full of surprises. No matter how many times I get knocked off a broom in quidditch, I always get back up. I'm confident my tenacity will be able to overcome your power."
"No, I have no reason to, and it's pitifully evident why you're asking," deadpanned Delphini, easily spotting Ginny's thinly disguised ploy. Ginny sneered at her. Delphini rolled her eyes. "you can get your chance at dueling me like everybody else, after you're finished serving your detentions for what you did to me."
Ginny bristled and her shoulders shook. "Fancy talk coming from someone who can get out of any detention because they can go running to daddy!"
"I really, truly do not give a rat's ass about your opinion of me," said Delphini, resisting the urge to roll her eyes once more. "The only reason I haven't knocked you flat like before is because your brother, Harry, and Hermione would be upset with me and seem capable of reigning you in with their fair punishments on your misbehavior. You just go right ahead and continue being obnoxious and praise yourself for a moral high ground. It's annoying to me, but at least you're being adequately punished."
"Oh you . . . you slag!" snapped Ginny.
"50 points from Gryffindor," snapped Hermione, shaking her head in obvious derision. "I can't believe you would use such an awful term and shame other women like that. I thought you were better than that, Ginny. As it stands, you're acting no different than when Rita Skeeter made those ridiculous news stories about me."
Ginny rounded on the golden trio and glared at each of them. She shook her head slightly.
"How can you not help me to prevent a potential danger?!" shouted Ginny, "It happens every bloody year!"
"50 points from Gryffindor . . ." said Ron, glaring at his sister. Delphini picked up her schoolbag and smirked while the rest of the Slytherins stared in shock at the ensuing events. Ron's shoulders slumped. "As much as I don't like doing this, we'll keep taking points until you stop."
Ginny's eyes widened. She threw her hands up and stalked off back to the Gryffindor table. The other Slytherins finally relaxed. They each began picking up their belongings to leave.
Suddenly, Ginny spun on her heel and looked at Delphini's retreating form. Delphini kept walking, paying her no mind. The professors, having seen Ron and Hermione intervene, had stood by and watched to see how they could handle the situation after the Slytherins had informed them of what Ginny did. They relaxed and sat back down having seen the confrontation was seemingly over, Ginny given two weeks of added detention, and Gryffindor's points deducted.
"You can walk away now, but just know!" shouted Ginny, a grin forming on her lips. "I've known Harry for far longer than you ever have and I share a special history that's closer than anything you could possibly have being Snape's daughter!"
Harry looked dumbfounded before he slammed his face onto his palm as he tried to drown out the laughter of the Slytherins. Ginny smiled and appeared satisfied as Delphini continued walking off, and the fiery redhead finally returned to the Gryffindor table.
Hogwarts Library,
Evening Time
The trio of Hermione, Harry, and Delphini sat in the library working on their NEWT essays. Ron had buggered off after finishing his much shorter school workload. Once Delphini was done, she leaned back on her seat and looked up at the ceiling.
"I think today has been the most irritatingly stupid day I've had so far," muttered Delphini, closing her eyes and sighing. Delphini thought over the constant torment that she'd endured today at the hands of the little spitfire Weasley. Her face scrunched up and she opened her eyes.
She scooted her chair closer and leaned on her left elbow to prop up her chin. "Why does she hate me exactly?"
Hermione made to respond but then Delphini waved her right hand. "Never mind, I don't care."
Hermione scowled. Delphini gave her an apologetic look before moving her head away from the table and taking out a set pair of large sheets of parchment that were tied together. Delphini smiled mischievously at Hermione. "Seeing as how our NEWT arithmancy and rune classes are going to be a killer, would you like to potentially get some extra credit on the NEWT exams with me?"
Hermione's eyes widened and seemed to flicker with delight. Harry looked over to the two before sighing and continuing his divination homework that Ron's girlfriend, Lavender Brown, had brought for him and Ron from class.
Hermione leaned forward. A smile worming its way up her lips. "What do you have in mind? Something challenging, I hope? There don't seem to be any mysterious to solve this year and I've been itching to occupy my time with something meaningful."
Delphini smirked back, a twinkle in her eyes. "How would you like to help me create our own unique spell? One that can hit hard and fast, but with three purposes. It'll be like a temporary shield spell, but of a different nature. It'll reflect back the spell cast by an opponent, it'll intensify the effect of the returned spell, and it'll add its own nasty extras as icing on the metaphorical cake."
Hermione's body practically shook with excitement. "That sounds incredible. Let me see!"
Delphini passed her one of the copies of the swathes of parchment tied together. Hermione looked it over carefully. Her eyes hungrily roving the pages. She looked back at Delphini with a calm expression. "Okay . . . this seems quite challenging and unlikely to work . . . but if it did, then the teachers would have to give us some of the highest NEWT scores in Hogwarts history."
"Precisely, we'll probably get exceptional scores beyond an Outstanding and we're likely to get favorable job offers out of Hogwarts," said Delphini, "it would, as an example, look good for a curse breaker job opportunity with Gringotts."
Delphini's smirk didn't leave her features as Hermione broke into a smile. Hermione whispered back excitedly. "Let's do it! Gringotts wouldn't be my first idea for a job, but anything can help, and this is sure to be helpful enough on top of the defense association that Harry and I worked together on last year, as a way to be become more noticed on resumes. I personally was thinking the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and I do think this'll help with interpreting laws on new spells. Classifying and codifying dark and light magic has always run a slippery slope in legal terminology."
Both girls stifled their bubbling giggles of excitement as they set to work on creating their own unique spell. Harry couldn't help but smile as he watched while working on his essay for divination.
Maybe I should have put more thought into my decision, all those years ago when selecting classes . . . or quit when Hermione did. All I really did was sit in a class and listen to the professor make me feel bothered by the prospect of a Death Eater or Voldemort coming to eventually kill me. It only got worse as the years went on . . .
Delphini turned to Harry. "Oh, there's something I'd like to ask you . . . but if you agree, it can't count as the favor that you owe me."
Harry rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue.
Delphini elaborated. "Well, you see . . . Astoria Greengrass and I will be-"
The Next Morning
Draco Malfoy rubbed his brow with his fingers as he thought through the past few weeks. I was sloppy and idiotic. I let the door opening upset me and Potter took advantage . . . Why does he suddenly care what the fuck I'm doing anyway?!
He sighed as he rose from the bed onto a sitting position. Well, at least Astoria and Delphini have made good company while I was recovering. But now, I've lost so much time! How will I be able to kill Dumbledore with Potter hunting me down?!
Draco turned his gaze to the side to see the smiling face of Delphini, the cute and somewhat sultry gaze of Astoria, and . . . Harry Potter giving him an apologetic smile.
Draco did a double-take and he tensed as he saw Harry. The unmistakable look of fear in Draco's eyes. After all, he was shirtless and the Dark Mark could be easily spotted.0 Astoria quickly got on his lap and gave him a warm hug that, while he secretly appreciated, he didn't return. She moved back her body and held his shoulders firmly. A cheerful smile still on her features as she looked at Draco in the eyes.
"My Dragon, this bumbling git," began Astoria in a serious tone. Astoria briefly gave Harry a harsh glare that surprisingly caused Harry to flinch. "has something that he'd like to say to you. Please listen to him, for my sake and for Delphini's."
Draco's facial features rapidly shifted to a derisive visage as he turned to look at Harry. His eyes holding back malice and contempt for the archrival in front of him. Draco grunted. "Spit it out, Potter. I don't have all day."
"Just so there isn't a misunderstanding," said Delphini, glancing at Harry before looking at Draco, "he chose to do this himself. I didn't blackmail or guilt trip him and neither did Astoria. We just want you to hear whatever it is that he has to say because neither of us believe that it'll be anything malicious. But again, neither of us forced him to do this, so please bear that in mind, okay?"
Harry held back a retort as he looked at Draco in the eyes. Draco nodded slowly to Delphini before turning back to give Harry a look of derision. Harry took a deep breath and exhaled before beginning.
"I know I shouldn't feel guilty about it . . . but I'm sorry for using that curse. I was given a book by Slughorn to temporarily use since I hadn't bought a potions book this year. The book turned out to be Snape's old schoolbook, it had some really useful tips for potions brewing and I didn't believe that it was dangerous. I didn't know what that spell could do, I didn't test it out before using it, and I wish I had never ever used it because of what happened." said Harry, he took another deep breath before continuing. "If I had known what it did, then I would have just used a stunner, even if you were going to hit me with an unforgivable. I wanted to apologize to you personally. You can hate me for what happened, that's fine. But, I felt you deserved to know why I used that spell, and to let you know that I truly am sorry for your injuries because of what I did. Logically, I probably shouldn't apologize, but I feel awful for using that spell and nothing was going to change that feeling unless I was finally able to explain myself. That probably sounds irrational, but that's honestly how I feel. If there is any reasonable way that I can make it up to you, that has nothing to do with our opposing sides, then . . . please let me know. I sincerely regret ever using that spell and the harm that it did to you."
Draco blinked and stared. A palpable silence ensued for almost a minute as the gears seemed to be churning in Draco's head. Astoria daintily traced all the scars on his body with her index fingers. Draco closed his eyes, counted to ten, and then opened them to look at the eyes of Harry Potter.
Draco sighed. "I'll be honest, Potter . . . I never expected this apology from you. I really don't know how to feel either. Personally, I think you're too soft, I wouldn't have apologized if our positions were reversed or if I had used an unforgivable. But, if you really want to make it up to me, then keep out of my way and leave me the hell alone for the rest of the year. I . . . to be honest, I really don't know how to feel. A part of me wants to make you hurt like I've been hurting, but . . . bloody hell, this is too much to think about in the morning. Just . . . if you really mean what you're saying, stay clear of me for the rest of the year, alright? You know what my task is, I'm well aware it's a joke task setting me up to fail since the Dark Lord already assured the old fool's death through the Headmaster's own bumbling."
Harry flinched and his shoulders slumped. His facial features became unreadable as he looked to his hands.
"You know about his condition," said Delphini softly, catching Harry and Draco's attention. Delphini looked to Harry with a raised eyebrow. "When did you realize?"
"I suspected since seeing his charred hand earlier this summer," said Harry sighing and shaking his head. "Your joke about a dark curse just solidified what I had already known. I suppose . . . I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't really happening and that Dumbledore would always be there. But I noticed, he avoided talking about his scorched hand, he's become thinner and paler, and he doesn't eat much in the Great Hall. It's mostly just water. I just . . . had to force myself to put it all together. He won't talk about it, won't even acknowledge the questions and always finds a different topic, when I try to talk to him about it."
Delphini sighed. "Well, I can tell you what I know about it, if you want?"
Harry shrugged. "I'll think about it . . . I'm hoping that he comes around and finally stops keeping secrets from me. I thought he'd be more honest with me at the end of last year, but I guess old habits don't change. I don't understand why he's always keeping secrets on important topics that I should be aware of . . ."
Draco rubbed his temples and continued. "I know that full well too; the mission is utter rubbish and I'm just dancing around like a bloody pet . . . I just need every break and miracle I can get to save my father from being killed. So just . . . stay out of it, consider this a year of reprieve from the Dark Lord and all his usual horrors."
Draco shrugged. He looked back to Astoria who pecked him affectionately on the lips. Harry's eyebrows rose to their hairline as he witnessed Draco reciprocate the gesture. Astoria turned to Harry. "You heard him, Potter. My Dragon needs to be alone to talk things over with his dear cousin and myself. Scram."
"Thank you for having me," said Harry at once to the both of them, before turning to Delphini. "Thank you so much for this opportunity."
Delphini smiled and nodded before making a shooing motion. Harry quietly left the room and made a soft click when shutting the door. He quickly headed for class.
"Draco, I want you to relax with your betrothed and think more carefully about your next move on your assignment," said Delphini in a tone that brooked no room for argument. Draco seemed to stifle the urge to backtalk as he looked at the serious expression on Delphini's visage. "I have a serious proposal that I need to make to daddy, he might honestly laugh it off and call me an idiot for making the suggestion, but I really think that it's going to work now that I've gained crucial intel on Harry Potter. I've figured out why he has a connection to daddy and it's somewhat related to his parselmouth abilities. I think this will definitely blow mother and daddy's conceptions and make them change course. I will ask for Uncle Lucius to be spared. So please, I know it's hard . . . but I need you to keep a low profile and not act. I will explain this was my orders to daddy and you can think of better strategies than necklaces that curse witches on accident in the meantime. Do we have an understanding?"
"Yeah . . ." said Draco, he sighed. "It's not as if I'll be able to do much right now anyway. I do need to plan and rethink my moves. I . . . I need time to think over where my life is headed. Astoria . . . would you be willing to stay longer? I know I'm being really selfish but . . ."
"Nonsense, you just stay put and I'll stay by your side so we can catch up, Dragon," said Astoria smiling at him. Draco's lips twitched upward and he thanked her with a kiss that she eagerly returned.
"Don't worry, I had Snape excuse us all from classes for the day," explained Delphini taking a chair and seating herself, "we need to discuss what I'll be telling daddy and the best way to broach the subject."
The pair stopped kissing and nodded to Delphini. Delphini couldn't help but smile. "I'm honestly surprised that you would be willing to tell Astoria and that you, Astoria, are still willing to stick by him and the marriage contract."
Astoria turned to Delphini and snorted. "Well, of course! I love Dragon, he and I have complete faith in each other. We're like the missing half of each other."
Astoria turned her body around and scooted backwards onto Draco's bare chest. She sat on his lap. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead causing Astoria to giggle. Delphini pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed it before looking back at them. "By the way, I hate to ruin the mood, but are you ever going to take my advice and tell Pansy instead of leading her on? That little red dipshit, Ginny Weasley, kept calling her a slag and humiliated her in the Great Hall when her primary target was me. It was disgusting."
"I fail to see how that's my problem," said Draco, before kissing Astoria on the cheek, causing her to giggle. Draco and Astoria turned to look at Delphini. "Honestly, I have bigger problems and I really can't put in the effort to bother with that right now."
"Well, you should try to nip it in the bud before it becomes a growing problem," said Delphini, struggling not to roll her eyes at Draco. To Delphini's personal irony, Astoria rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying . . . tell her that you've only been using her, deal with the fallout sooner than later, and move on."
Astoria frowned. "But then my Dragon will have to wait until my eighteenth birthday before his physical needs are met. At least let him use her up until the end of the school year. Dragon's been through so much already, he needs some relief, don't you think?"
"I . . . I seriously cannot believe I am having this conversation with a thirteen-year old," deadpanned Delphini, "How and why are you okay with this?!"
Astoria gave Draco a quick kiss before returning her gaze to Delphini. "My man has needs. My love for him is beyond just physical, it's emotional and intellectual. So long as my dear Dragon isn't falling in love with any of the girls that he's using up, I really don't give a damn. He's gone through so much already, I care more about his happiness than anything else. If he needs to satisfy his physical urges, and it's done without feelings involved on his part, then I'm fine with it."
"She . . . actually suggested the idea and was okay with me shagging other girls," explained Draco, Delphini's eyes widened as she looked between the two of them and her jaw dropped at Astoria's innocent smile and nod of agreement. Draco chuckled at Delphini's expression. "Well, now you know why she's in Slytherin."
Delphini closed her mouth and scowled at the pair. "What if Pansy were to get pregnant?"
"Pressure her family into making her get an abortion," said Astoria at once, Draco nodded. Delphini goggled at the sinister tone in the young girl's voice. "Besides . . . if she does decide to keep it, just disown it. I already understood the potential repercussions before I suggested it to my Dragon."
"You would just abandon a baby?" questioned Delphini, an edge in her tone.
Draco quickly responded. "Now hold on . . . I don't mean abandoning a child to be abused. I'll make sure the kid lives with well-off and loving foster parents. Merlin, some pureblood families that can't have any children and who're willing to spoil one rotten would suffice."
"Yeah, we're not monsters," said Astoria, "we'd make sure a baby has a happy home. We're not Dumbledore, after all."
Delphini couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. Draco and then Astoria joined in.
Once they were finished laughing at the cynical joke, the three began to discuss the new proposal to give Lord Voldemort.
==
Four Weeks Later,
Great Hall, Dueling Club
The two combatants stood on the dueling platform. Delphini and Ginny stared each other down as Hannah Abbot took the stand of referee.
Delphini briefly glanced at the new referee before turning her attention back to Ginny. Hermione had recused herself of refereeing the duel. She had cited too much personal bias as the reason for opting out. Luna had also declined the offer, citing the same reason as Hermione. Delphini had asked for help from Draco and Hermione to no avail, eventually Astoria Greengrass had aided Delphini in jotting down the people who might look for extra credit to improve their grade and remain impartial between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Delphini had convinced Hermione to approach Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbot with her. Much to Delphini's relief, Hannah's eyes lit up at the possibility of extra credit and refereeing the infamous duel between the combatants that the Hogwarts rumor mill were going in circles about.
All of that work because so many people don't see an opportunity when it presents itself, thought Delphini, Where's the ambition? The incentive to participate in extracurricular activities to improve upon a future career? Why am I so different from so many others? Well, I can't force them to make better life decisions for themselves.
"I'm determined to win, I have complete faith that the truth will be revealed," said Ginny, getting into her dueling pose on the platform. "The difficulties that I've dealt with are temporary. Once whatever you were up to comes out, everyone will see you for what you are and justice will prevail. I don't know the full details, but I know you've done something heinous to Harry and I'll be sure to stop it before you go too far!"
Delphini raised an eyebrow. "What are you even saying? You make it sound like you're going to stumble on the truth of some apocalyptic event and prevent it from happening. This isn't a fairytale, you dipshit. Reality won't play by your expectations and whims. Not to mention you have nothing but mere suspicion, your accusations are unfounded and you're an annoying tart."
"That's quite hypocritical coming from you! I'm being annoying and reality won't follow my expectations? How about your creepy and pathetic blackmail of Harry to control him?! What about when you had your precious father give you control over Harry's detentions?!" snapped Ginny, glaring at Delphini. Delphini rolled her eyes in response. Ginny sneered at her. "The game is afoot and I will see that justice is served! Harry deserves better than to be manipulated by some selfish shrew with a secretive agenda. Let me tell you how this story will go; whatever evil you're planning will be stopped, you can use all your petty tricks and deceptions but I have complete faith that truth and justice will overcome and that everyone in the castle will see you for what you are. Harry has suffered and been hurt by so many people these past couple of years. We may not be able to prevent you from hurting him for now, but you'll make a mistake somewhere and we'll eventually catch on to your scheme somehow, and then we'll stop you and make you either flee to your Master or we'll endure and overcome your evil plans with our trust in each other. Not to brag, but a young woman like me is a better fit for Harry; I tell it like it is, I'm trustworthy, I don't have some weird political agenda attached to my compassion for others, I don't take people's shit, I'm skilled at quidditch, I've become one of the most popular girls in school through a combination of my looks and hard work, and to top it all off, let's just face the truth that I'm a good person and . . . well, be honest with yourself and admit that you need to change. I think if Harry and I got together, we'd be able to intuitively understand each other because we're so similar. He and I are the opposite of you. You pathetic, stupid slag!"
The crowd roared with laughter or applause. Some of the crowd were making cat noises and catcalling both participants. The majority of the crowd cheered for the spectacle, however some of the crowd booed and demanded the fighting take place already.
Delphini's cheeks tinged pink and her eyes flashed. "Stop calling me . . . oh just forget it. A dipshit like you needs to be taught the hard way. I will make you regret this day for the rest of your life. For future reference to all of you in the audience, I am no Death Eater; never have been, never will be. It should go without saying that I am not the other deplorable remarks that she's insinuated."
Ginny giggled. "Oh, what's wrong? Did I hit too close to home by calling you a slag? Why else be so angry?"
"Oh you deluded, stupid fucking dipshit! I am going to enjoy shattering your willful fantasy about the expectations of life." said Delphini, her glower slowly changing into cruel mirth. "There'll be no shortage of schadenfreude for me in this delightful beat down. Since you have spoken so openly about your own illusory beliefs, how about I tell you my perspective of you and what I really think? You've been so open about your loathing of me that I feel it's only fair and besides, it's a good way to entertain the crowd."
Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. Her lips twitched. "Yeah, yeah, we've all heard it before from Malfoy and that Parkinson disease, you'll get us back and make us Gryffindors pay and beg for mercy by playing a vicious prank or you'll be bullying people for being different, right? Maybe tell us how useless it is to fight against you and how we're all going to suffer in some future because my family stands up for equal rights for all wizards and witches. Go ahead, call me a blood traitor."
Many of the Gryffindors cheered, laughed, or whooped for Ginny. Some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined in with her. The overwhelming majority of the crowd seemed to give favorable chants for Delphini but laughed alongside Ginny's japes of Delphini as a person.
"If you're quite finished projecting your bigotry and prejudice upon me as a person," said Delphini, her tone sharp and her eyes narrowed. A twisted grin adorning her features. A loud portion of the crowd booed Delphini. Some crowd members repeated Ginny's words of shrew and slag alongside terms such as bitchy or cunt to describe Delphini. Others shouted ramblings about Slytherin discrimination. "I'll tell you how I think this story - as you call it - will go, are you ready? I'm going to humiliate you so badly by fucking your face, then I'm going to tie you up and make you beg me until you cry. Once you're completely sapped, helpless, and shedding tears in front of this esteemed audience. I'm going to coax your dreamboy to swap spit sucking on my face to lift my curse on you, and just when you've convinced yourself that he kissed me to protect you; I'll be sure to leave him an arousing aftertaste so that he comes back begging me to own his cock. I'll proceed to ride his rod all night long to give him the most passionate time of his life. Whenever he looks back to the night I was hopping on his pogo stick, there'll be a silly little smile instantly coming to his face, because he'll know that getting fucked by me was his greatest accomplishment."
The crowd howled and catcalled the pair. The majority of the crowd, from all houses, laughed uproariously at Delphini's words. Ron was trying and failing to stifle his laughter, Hermione gaped and her face became beet red before she too burst into a fit of giggles, and Harry stood frozen with his visage a deep shade of red. His eyes looked as if they would burst from his eyes and his mouth hung ajar as he looked at Delphini. His lips twitched upward and he felt unsure whether to laugh along or bury his face in his hands in shame.
Ginny blushed a bright pink and glared at her with a scandalized expression on her features. Delphini licked her lips and grinned impishly at her. Delphini's cheeks were slightly pink but she appeared satisfied with having said those words.
"Y . . . you . . . WHORE! SKANK! SLUT!" shouted Ginny, her visage reddening while her scowl deepened. Her eyes seemed to be trying to pierce through Delphini with the rage and shame brimming in her eyes. "You . . . you . . . SCARLET WOMAN!"
Delphini bit back a laugh. She quickly searched the surface thoughts of Ginny's mind before continuing. Riling this dipshit up was so worth it! "He'll be so grateful to me, he'll go telling all your housemates the next morning at breakfast about what an unforgettable experience I am. You'll go back to slamming your elbow in butter while he gives copious details about how I fucked his brains out. And, on the off-chance that you ever do marry him, he'll always be judging your performance in bed and comparing it to the one night stand of his youth. But of course, that last part will fortunately never happen for the same reasons you stated; you're boring, predictable, and you offer nothing new or exciting to satisfy him emotionally, intellectually, and especially physically. I'm different, unique, the unknown that he's secretly yearning for to get away from how boring you are, and anyone who knows him personally can attest to his curiosity and how it leads to new adventures. I'm hard for him to understand because I interpret the world differently, and he'll get something more than he ever would with you. Why stick to an easy girl like you, when he can have a woman who challenges him like me? Let's face the truth, little darling dipshit, many girls fantasize about the bad boy but many boys fantasize about the badass cool girl. You're the boring one all the boys settle for and tell themselves they've made a responsible choice, I'm the one that real men work for and tell themselves they're grateful to be in the presence of."
An awkward silence ensued before some of the crowd cheered, others booed and hollered for the duel to hurry up, and still others gave Delphini looks as if she'd grown a second head. Harry had proceeded to bury his head in his hands and laugh quietly to himself. Ron held his stomach as he laughed so hard that he fell on his knees with tears in his eyes. Ron knew it was horribly wrong, but he couldn't help himself with the level of vigor that both girls were mocking each other and Delphini's statements reminded him of the times when Ginny would play with her Harry Potter dolls fantasizing about marrying him. Hermione felt shame wash over her as she held her mouth in her hands and laughed as loudly as Ron. She felt ashamed for technically encouraging such behavior with her laughter. Hannah Abbot was covering her laughter with her right hand as tears came to her eyes.
Ginny's cheeks were turning a shade of purple. Her eyes flashed and her teeth clenched. "OH YOU BLOODY-!"
"Begin!" snapped Hannah, waving both her arms downward. Her facial features trying to look neutral and failing to hold back her chuckles. Some members of the crowd cheered because the actual duel was going to start. Delphini got into her dueling pose. The duel finally commenced.
Ginny started off the duel by pointing her wand and bellowing a loud "REDUCTO!"
Delphini lazily flicked her wand and wordlessly summoned a shield charm that impacted right before the reducto spell could slam into her. The translucent blue shield effortlessly absorbed the impact of Ginny's spell.
"Well, looks like I'll just have to crack that shield of yours!" hollered Ginny, the crowd roared as the duel finally began. "REDUCTO! REDUCTO! REDUCTO! STUPEFY! IMPENDIMENTA! PETRIFUS TOTALUS! REDUCTO! STUPEFY! REDUCTO!"
The successive red blasts slammed into Delphini's shield and vanished without a trace. The see-through shield hadn't wavered or cracked from the impact. Ginny bit her lip as she saw the next volley of interchangeable spells slam onto Delphini's blue shield. The stupefy, impendimenta, and petrifus totalus dispersed without even shaking Delphini's shield even slightly. The last three spells smashed onto Delphini's shield all at once and still no discernible change occurred after the spells hit their mark. Delphini hadn't even been forced to step back and the spells hadn't made her skip or trip backwards either. Ginny's spells were simply a non-factor.
"Y - you . . ." began Ginny, struggling to form coherent words as her cheeks flushed red and her free hand balled into a fist and shook. "You manipulative and selfish bitch! You act like a spoiled princess!"
Delphini's lips twitched. She relaxed her posture as she stared directly at Ginny through the shield. "I consider such words a compliment. And princess? I don't really see myself as a princess. Perhaps queen would be more fitting of a moniker? The queen of Slytherin House. Seems more like me, don't you think?"
"Oh, that is the most egotistical comment I've ever heard!" snapped Ginny, "And I've met Gilderoy Lockhart!"
Delphini tilted her head. "Do you always belittle people in an attempt to feel better about yourself? Is that what this is? Just so you know, I really don't care. I've grown out of judging my own self worth on the expectations of others and I find the entire notion to be nihilistic. If I had to guess though, from what I can see, the real reason you insult others and hurt their self-esteem is to make yourself feel brave. You believe mocking others gives you a sense of superiority and is a sign of true adulthood because you feel brave speaking your mind. I would strongly disagree with that belief."
Ginny scowled. "Don't you do it too?!"
"Only in the pursuit of my goals," said Delphini, a smirk adorning her features. "If there is no benefit for me, then I keep silent. You can believe what you want about me. You can call me selfish, deluded, hypocritical, stupid and perhaps insinuate I'm a whore. I cannot control your opinion of me and I don't see the point in trying to force people to like me by acting in ways I don't agree with. Nothing I said changed your distasteful presumption about me being a slag, did it?"
Ginny took the opportunity to fire her signature Bat-Bogey jinx with an extra amount of power. The spell collided with Delphini's shield and dissolved into nothingness. Ginny felt a tick form on her forehead as she growled in open frustration. Delphini shook her head in clear amusement.
Delphini's smirk widened. "You're nothing but a little girl throwing a temper tantrum. Are you angry at me out of jealousy? Did you realize that your pathetic fantasy about marrying Harry Potter may not come true? Did the horrible realization suddenly dawn in that pretty little head of yours that Harry Potter still hasn't taken an interest in you after so many years of being a close family friend?"
"SHUT UP!" shouted Ginny, pointing her wand with both hands to keep her shaking steady. "I grew out of that crush! You have no idea what you're on about! Reducto! Impendimenta! Expelliarmus!"
The three spells slammed onto Delphini's shield at the same time. Predictably, the triad of spells showed no effect. The blue shield seemed impervious to anything that Ginny was able to throw at Delphini.
"Grew out of your crush?" repeated Delphini, she chuckled. "Is that why you were kissing a fellow Gryffindor in an open corridor that the vast majority walk through? Clearly, you wanted to be spotted making out - or snogging as the British term for it is - and either rumors would circle around Hogwarts for the student body to learn about your little date or Harry himself would see you kissing another man. To your credit, it could have worked, but it's too bad for you that all he paid attention to, in that corridor, was me."
Ginny's face flushed beet red and she stomped her foot. "Merlin! Why can't you just shut up?!"
Delphin shrugged. "Where would be the fun in that? I wouldn't be able to entertain our audience with my interpretation of how pitiful you are, little darling dipshit. Pretending you're over a childhood fantasy crush while trying to make him jealous? Really?"
The crowd roared with laughter and hurled insults at both women. Ginny took a deep breath before smiling contemptuously at Delphini.
"Say what you want! But I . . . I understand things about him on a deeper level than you ever could! I know information that would blow your mind!" said Ginny, grinning at Delphini with earnest self-assurance. Her posture seemed to straighten and her eyes looked as if they saw right through Delphini. Delphini raised an eyebrow at Ginny's look of conviction. "I can understand best what Harry suffers when his scar is hurting. Back in my second year, I was possessed by the bewitched diary of Voldemort and it forced me to do horrible things, but I learned from that experience and became a better person for it! That's something a slimy snake like you could never understand!"
Delphini stiffened at the mention of the diary for a brief few moments. Ginny misinterpreted Delphini's surprise for her saying Voldemort's name aloud. Delphini relaxed her posture and smiled. Her eyes shining with a mix of maliciousness and laughter. "Oh? This sounds like a riveting tale. Being possessed makes you special now?"
"Mock me all you like! I bet your pureblood supremacist mind wouldn't be able to comprehend the extent of knowledge that I know!" said Ginny, her tone exuding self-confidence. Delphini rolled her eyes. Ginny licked her lips before continuing. Her expression appearing eager. "I bet you didn't know that Voldemort is actually a half-blood! Or that his real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle! Or . . . or the fact that he used his pet Basilisk to kill Moaning Myrtle!"
Ginny's face deflated and she frowned upon noticing that Delphini didn't pause or flinch at Voldemort's name being uttered. She didn't seem surprised by what Ginny had said either. Delphini had no reaction to Ginny's statements. Ginny sneered. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Too shocked by the truth, are you?!"
Delphini blinked. "What does any of that information have to do with being the ideal person for Harry Potter? Just because you know some personal information about You-Know-Who doesn't make you a good fit for Harry Potter. It doesn't make logical sense from what I can see. So you've both had similar bad experiences, why would that make you special? Have you tried just getting to know him better? Perhaps, by spending time with him by studying together or playing quidditch with just the two of you alone? I got him to open-up to me because I offered to listen to him. Maybe instead of telling other people how you think they should live their lives and behave in ways you order them to, you should try listening to them? Maybe by sharing your own personal experience by letting your guard down once in awhile?"
Ginny growled in anger and let out another flurry of spells from stupefy to her signature bat-bogey jinx. The spells were absorbed and the shield didn't waver in the slightest. Ginny gave Delphini a look of abject loathing and Delphini kept smirking at the hot tempered girl.
"I don't want to hear that from a slag so desperate for Harry's attention that you use blackmail to force him to play out whatever sick fantasies that you have running through your head!" snapped Ginny, glaring at her. "How am I even suppose to get to know him more, with you constantly bullying him and blackmailing him into doing what you want?! Your hypocrisy sickens me!"
Delphini briefly leveled a visage of utter contempt at Ginny before quickly schooling her features. Her delicate smile tightening and her grey eyes full of malice. "I'll be just as candid as you've been to me. You're nothing but a self-absorbed, delusional little brat trying desperately to look for reasons on why you're the perfect little princess for your ideal Lancelot."
Ginny shot forth three Bat-bogey jinxes at Delphini's shield. All of them dissipated into nothingness. Ginny growled loudly and shot forth more of her signature spell. Her face turning a darker shade of puce and her body shaking with every spell cast at the seemingly impenetrable blue shield.
"You try to make your experience of being possessed sound deep and meaningful, perhaps you truly believe that it is," said Delphini sneering at Ginny, "yet, in truth, you're just a fucking moron. You nearly got your fellow students murdered and you never spoke out when the student body blamed Harry. You put everyone around you in danger and act like you're entitled to the Boy-Who-Lived for it. From what I've heard, your own father warned you about dark objects and you tried to throw the object away, but you never told anyone even after realizing the truth about the attacks. You weren't acting very Gryffindor when you just let your supposed one true love take the blame for something he was never responsible for, were you?"
Whispers and murmurs erupted throughout the crowd as Delphini's words sunk in. Ginny stared with wide eyes, her mouth hung open, and tears beginning to stream down her cheeks as the full breadth of Delphini's words shattered her heart. A look of horrified comprehension dawned on Ginny's features. "I . . . I . . ."
"Did you ever even apologize to him? To your fellow classmates? To your family?" snapped Delphini, "When you chose to keep it a secret, shouldn't you be held accountable for nearly getting other children killed? Or, perhaps, you're easily excused and forgiven for being a ickle little first year, whilst Harry just has to live with being vilified for what was outside of his control almost every year?"
"No . . . that's not . . ." sputtered Ginny, shaking her head as tears fell down her cheeks. "I . . . I . . ."
Her jaw tightened and her teary eyes blazed. The fiery redhead pointed her wand at Delphini, her temper rising. "Don't you . . . just . . . I . . . Arrrgh! I - I'll show you!"
In her fury, the fiery redhead spoke the incantation for the Bat-bogey jinx once again. To the shock of the audience, Delphini dropped her shield and let the spell fly towards her. She abruptly pointed her wand at the trajectory of the incoming spell as it neared.
Eliciunt
The spell rebounded and struck Ginny square upon her face at lightning speed. The audience gasped or became silent from shock at witnessing redirection of the spell. Ginny screamed in pain and her screams echoed throughout the quietude of the Great Hall. Delphini wove her wand hand in an intricate pattern.
An armored knight was conjured in front of Delphini. The suit of armor was similar to the one conjured during Delphini's duel with Harry. It walked towards Ginny, moved behind the screaming opponent, and grabbed her. The conjured knight slammed her onto the breastplate, holding her abdomen tightly enough to be held in the air while forcibly attached to the knight. Ginny dropped her wand as she continued screaming in pain. Her wand dropped to the floor.
Delphini had a disturbing smile on her lips as she silently cast another spell upon Ginny. Ginny's body went rigid as a silent petrifus totalus took hold of her prone body.
"Winner: Snape Delphini!" shouted Hannah Abbott, the referee.
The crowd went wild but Delphini's malicious gaze was squarely upon Ginny. Now, the real fun begins . . .
She writhed in pain, screaming herself hoarse amidst the laughter and jeers of the crowd, and she felt hot tears flood down her cheeks causing her the physical excruciation to intensify evermore.
Small areas of her cheeks had ballooned and popped like pimples only for the skin to tear apart. The physical tissue soon became a black and yellow pus as layers of her cheeks blew the skin off, but the pain didn't stop there. The pus had blackened further as her very blood began ballooning and popping all over her cheeks causing the pain to intensify to such a degree that she'd been screaming herself hoarse for much longer. She no longer had any idea how much time had passed. Only her blood and skin popping and causing needless tissue damage all over her facial features had her attention.
Through the pain, Ginny Weasley looked at the satisfied smirk of Delphini Snape and wept in front of her hated enemy. Delphini's grey eyes danced with amusement at the littlest Weasley's suffering.
Delphini hadn't relented since the end of the duel after Hannah had stepped down into the crowd and everyone still watched and laughed at the spectacle before them. Ginny Weasley was thoroughly humiliated and fraught with severe pain from the curse that Delphini had used. After nearly half a minute of Ginny crying and shouting from the curse; Harry, Hermione, and Ron moved briskly toward the dueling platform with heavy footfalls. They got up to the platform and stood in front of the writhing Ginny, whose cheeks and blood were still boiling, popping, and burning her skin thoroughly in endless repetition.
"What are you doing?!" bellowed Harry, scowling at Delphini. Ron moved to pick up Ginny's wand. Delphini snapped her head towards Harry. "Aren't you going to lift the curse and let her go?! The duel's over so drop the curse!"
Delphini had an angelic smirk on her visage. Her grey eyes glinted with a tinge of red as she observed Harry. Delphini shrugged. "I'm teaching her a lesson, the only way she'll learn."
"What the bloody hell do you mean by teaching her a lesson?!" screeched Ron, glaring at Delphini. His hands balling to fists and his palms shaking. "Get her off that ruddy hunk of metal and cure her curse!"
"You must be joking!" spat Delphini, her eyes tinged red as her eyes narrowed at Ron. Her lips curled into a sneer. Delphini folded her arms, her wand being held steadily atop her other arm. "I have had to deal with her shit ever since she accused me of having sex with Harry! I knocked her flat to prevent her from blasting my face, then she made a complete fucking mess of the Slytherin table and continued hounding me! I dropped the subject even then because I didn't want to cause an altercation and I didn't want to cause pain for you three. She had a whole month to think about her actions but instead she kept up her self-righteous bullshit and continued to cast false aspersions! I've had it with her! This was a duel, injuries were listed as a possibility on the flyers for anyone who intended to participate!"
"The duel is over," repeated Harry, taking a deep breath to calm himself before glaring at her. "Let the spell go. This is clearly going too far; you've already won so there's no point in continuing any further."
"No point? I would disagree," replied Delphini, turning to glare at Harry. Harry frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. "She needs to be taught a lesson or she'll just keep repeating her tirades and pissing me off. I'm not spending another waking moment dealing with someone spilling my food and calling me a fucking whore while I'm repeatedly asked to be the bigger person. Fuck that shit! I am making a point, don't fucking cross me and you won't end-up like the redhead dipshit!"
Ron stalked over to Ginny and began issuing counter curses, Hermione stood unsure as she watched Delphini with a frown. Harry shook his head and glared at her with a contemptuous expression. "That is one of the most selfish remarks that I've ever heard! There is value in being the bigger person. Stooping to a lower level isn't going to stop her from acting out. I learned that the hard way last year when lashing out at both Umbridge and Malfoy."
Delphini gave the Golden trio a venomous smirk. "We'll see about that through her reaction to my methods, won't we? What you're espousing is cheap sentiment. Reality doesn't work that way, the powerful can only remain respected by knocking the disobedient morons flat on their asses until the lesson is reinforced so the idiots inculcate the belief. You say that it doesn't work? Then find a method to wipe that disgusting red mark from your wrist because it proves that I'm right."
Harry's jaw was set tight upon Delphini's words. His eyes flashed. "You have no bloody clue what you're on about! The red mark is proof that I overcame her sessions and didn't give Umbridge a victory."
"No, it's proof that you've been taught at an early age to accept abuse as normal," said Delphini in a clipped tone. Harry flinched and a visage of unvarnished pain briefly overtook his features; his eyes widened and he seemed to force back tears from spilling. He schooled himself and scowled at her. Delphini tilted her head. "Glare at me all you like, I had to learn to recognize abuse for what it was when someone who actually cared came to save me and helped me to understand. It's a tragedy that no one helped you to understand that crying isn't a weakness and can be considered a source of strength. Don't worry, I'm just having a little fun with the angry little redhead. That's all. She needs to learn her place."
Ron returned from Ginny's side. He glared at the three of them and then at the crowd before fixing his wroth on Delphini. "What the bloody hell did you do?! None of the counter curses I know are working!"
Hermione sighed and gazed toward the floor. "I'm sorry, Ron . . ."
Ron snapped his head towards Hermione with his brows narrowed in obvious confusion. Hermione raised her head and looked towards him.
"The spell she used is the new one that she and I invented a few days ago after almost a month of work," said Hermione, her voice weak. Ron's visage turned puce as he glared at her. "The counter curse can only be done by the person who casts the spell."
"Why the hell did you make a spell like that?!" shouted Ron, his visage turning more purple. "What were you thinking?!"
Hermione flinched. "I . . . I just wanted to get a perfect score on my NEWTs next year. The spell is versatile, you can add effects after reflecting back the curse that you rebound. There's millions that Delphini could have chosen from and we won't know if there's any ill effects, even should we break the curse. We need Delphini to invoke the counter curse or Ginny will continue to suffer."
Ron's face turned a darker shade of purple. Hermione's frown deepened. "I'm sorry, Ron. I really am! I don't know how to make up for this travesty . . ."
Hermione turned to Delphini and shook her head. "I . . . I am disappointed in you, Delphini. I can't believe that you would go so far as to do this! Can't you see that hurting Ginny like this is pointless?!"
"I'll decide what's pointless and what's useful for my interests," said Delphini, sneering at all three of them. She turned back to Harry. "Now then, Harry, remember that favor you owe me?"
"You can forget it!" snapped Harry, giving her a glare of loathing. His palms shaking. "I'm not about to play your games so that you can toy with Ginny and humiliate or hurt her even more than you already have!"
Delphini's eyes seemed to harden. Her amusement giving way to anger and a frosty glare. "She bears equal responsibility for this duel, don't forget that. If you really want to help her, then you'll obey me and do exactly what I want."
"I am not some plaything of yours!"
Delphini's lips formed a thin smile. Her grey eyes harboring a slight shade of red. "I never said that, Harry. I just said that you have to do whatever the fuck I want at this current moment, if you truly want to relieve her of her pain. I won't release the spell when I have nothing to gain."
Harry counted to ten and then shook his head. Delphini shot him a look of frustration with her eyes narrowing and her lips curled.
Hermione sighed. "What exactly are you asking Harry to do?"
Delphini glanced at Hermione before looking back at Harry. A thin smile on her visage and an odd glint in her eyes. "He has to kiss me, in front of this adoring audience, and the redhead dipshit."
"You're beyond just being selfish," snapped Harry, shaking his head. A look of disgust on his visage. "You're evil too! This whole charade is ridiculous! I shouldn't have to kiss you in order for you to do the right course of action and lift the bloody curse!"
Delphini stood there stunned, her eyes widening like saucers, and her mouth parted as she stared at Harry. She snapped back to attention and her eyes seemed to give him a withering look. Her eyebrows narrowed and her eyes blazed as her body briefly shook.
"Evil and selfish, am I?" hissed Delphini, her tone of voice sounding hurt. She straightened her posture and a cold mask seemed to settle on her facial features. "Fine, fuck you too. I'll still get my demands met. That curse won't be lifted until I get what I want."
"That's coercion!" said Hermione, gaping at Delphini in shock. "How can you be so vindictive?!"
Delphini shrugged and her lips twitched upward. The cold mask forming a thin smile as her eyes roamed to look at each of them.
"No, just bloody no!" said Harry, his voice rising out of disgust as he shook his head at Delphini. "I am not going to just bow down to your demands while you use Ginny's health as a hostage. Release the curse or I'll go get one of the professors and put an end to this farce!"
Delphini seemed to hold back a laugh. Her eyes glinted with mirth and her smile widening. "When have your professors ever actually helped you when it mattered? If they can let an entire group of Gryffindors suffer torture at the hands of a vain, hateful woman on a power trip then what makes you believe that they will answer the call for this incident?"
Harry gazed at Delphini thunderstruck. He opened his mouth to reply and then closed it. He sighed to himself. As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. They can't be relied upon and I don't trust them to help at all.
"Mate, please just do what she says," said Ron in a somber voice. Ron looked over at Ginny's screaming, crying, and bloodstained face; a look of fear and apprehension crossed Ron's visage. He turned back to Harry. "Please. I know it's not fair to you, but . . . I need you to do this for me. I'm scared for her."
The crowd had remained jeering, laughing, or watching in rapt attention at the unfolding events while the one's on the platform ignored them because they were stuck in their own world while the rest of the school watched as spectators. Harry let out a sigh and nodded. He scowled at Delphini and started to cross over to her. Delphini's smile widened and her eyes gazed approvingly at Harry. She nodded in satisfaction.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!" cried Ginny, before screaming in another fit of pain. The tears on her cheeks intensifying as they streamed downward. Ginny was violently shaking her head and then stopped as the pain became too much. "Please Harry! No! Don't . . . don' - aaaarrgh!"
"Shut it, Gin!" cried Ron tersely, unshed tears ready to fall. He looked over at his sister and his heart clenched. "Just . . . shut up and let us protect you, alright? All three of us will do our best to get you out of this."
"What's the point of this?" asked Harry, staring defiantly at Delphini. He had stopped midway. "What exactly are you getting out of causing this? You're just torturing her for no reason."
Delphini's eyes sparkled with glee. She suppressed a chuckle. Delphini walked down the platform and met him halfway. She unfurled her hands and moved her free hand to caress his cheek; prompting catcalls, dog whistles, and laughter from the audience.
"I'm marking my territory in no uncertain terms." said Delphini, eagerly moving forward to kiss him. Her head collided painfully with his and caused her to move a step back. The crowd hollered in laughter while Delphini blushed crimson and moved her hand to wipe her forehead..
Harry blinked as he gingerly wiped his own forehead and blinked. "You've never kissed anyone before."
It was a statement, not a question. Delphini's cheeks reddened further as she glared at him. Harry closed his eyes, counted to ten, and then looked at her. He moved closer to her and caressed her cheek with his free hand.
"Tilt your head to the side," instructed Harry.
Their faces moved closer once again and their lips finally made contact. Delphini tasted his lips with her tongue and pressed her tongue further for more entry. She clamped her freehand on his shoulder. Harry's lips remained tightly sealed and he tasted nothing from her. Delphini made an animalistic noise of frustration and pushed harder to deepen the kiss but Harry wouldn't budge at all.
The two parted; Delphini pouted and her eyes gazed at him with a hurt look. Harry's green eyes remained cold and he smiled at her. "Well, darling, you got what you wanted. Now, release the curse on Ginny."
The crowd had erupted in catcalls and wolf whistles since witnessing their kiss. Delphini opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it. She glared at him and then looked at the agonized form of the youngest Weasley. She flicked her wand twice and steam seemed to erupt from Ginny's visage. Her facial features having burn marks and scars all over her cheeks from the rebound spell once the mist distilled. The metallic knight vanished causing Ginny to fall unceremoniously to the floor. Ron quickly grabbed hold of her to take her to the hospital wing. Hermione and Harry following hotly on his heels. None of them said a word of goodbye or addressed Delphini once she released the spell.
Delphini scowled as she watched them go and then turned to the crowd to end the day's dueling club to a standing ovation by the attendees of the student body.
Delphini sat deep at the far end of the Hogwarts library engrossed in her favorite Muggle American novel. Pretty sad that this was almost a guilty pleasure of mine when growing up. Glad I had the US Magical World to compare to the British Magical World as a counterpart. I'd have missed out on so many thought-provoking and interesting stories in life just because Aunt and Uncle found Muggle things distasteful.
"Oi," said a male voice.
Delphini continued to read; heavily engrossed in rereading her book. I guess someone else decided to sit around here. I thought I was the only one.
"Oi!" snapped the voice.
Delphini was pulled out of her immersion and scowled at the offender. Ronald Weasley stood a few paces from her table staring at her.
"Stop ignoring me!" shouted Ron, scowling at her.
Delphini scowled back. "I wasn't ignoring you, I had no idea anyone was calling me! Maybe next time, speak my name."
Ron's eyes narrowed and he jammed his hands into his pockets. "You're going to get yourself in trouble with shouting."
Delphini felt an eye twitch. "Go away." Delphini returned back to her book.
"Oi!"
Delphini shot Ron a look of loathing. Her eyebrows narrowed and her grey eyes flashed. Delphini tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. "What?"
"Er . . . well, I wanted to say hi." said Ron, shuffling his feet.
Delphini blinked and regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "Hi?"
"Er . . . so . . ." said Ron, clearly fumbling with his words. "What . . . er . . . what are you reading?"
"Invisible Man, it's an American classic and my favorite," said Delphini, her eyes narrowed. Her eyes flicked from Ron to her book. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh . . . er . . ." said Ron, his cheeks flushing. Delphini scowled at him. "N - no reason."
Delphini returned to her book. "Okay, bye." Why the fuck is he wasting my time? Is he just bored?
"Look," said Ron, with more force in his voice. Delphini glanced back at him with a livid expression. Ron continued despite that. "I . . . I need you to fix my sister. Please, please help her!"
Delphini scowled at Ron. "No, I have no inclination to help and unlike you, I don't give a fuck what happens to her or about the humiliation and alienation that she's surely endured. That's what she gets for crossing me."
Ron glared at her and opened his mouth but stopped himself seemingly at the last second. His face paled and he gave her a sorrowful visage; he seemed close to tears. "Please, please help her . . . I . . . we're friends, aren't we?"
Delphini paused and put her book down. She gave Ron a pointed look. "I don't know about that anymore. Seems like I'm always skating on thin ice with the three of you. So why should I help when one or all three of you are just going to get angry with me later on anyway?"
"Look . . . I, I'm desperate, alright? I'm ready to do just about anything," said Ron, his tone tinged with desperation. His eyes dim as he seemed to recall something. "Ginny . . . she pulls on a brave face but practically the whole school is laughing at her or mocking her to her face. She's kept to herself, she won't even talk to her own friends, and Hermione told me that Ginny can be heard crying at night. The scars all over her face can't be healed by normal means and it'll cost my family a fortune. It's only been a week and it's causing her to breakdown. If . . . if you know a way to fix her, I'm just about ready to do anything so please?"
Delphini had a thoughtful expression on her face as the room became quiet. Neither of them spoke for nearly a minute until Delphini gestured to the seat across from her. "Let's talk this over, then. Have a seat."
Ron eagerly moved to the seat across from her and sat down. He bent forward on the desk. "So . . . so you'll do it?"
Delphini scowled at him. Ron promptly moved back to the chair and frowned at her. Delphini interlaced her fingers, placed her elbows on the library table, and leaned her chin on her fingers. A pensive look on her face. "Let's say that I consider your proposal, what do I get out of it? What can you offer me?"
Ron glared at her. "Does this have to be a bloody game to you? This is my sister's health that we're talking about."
Delphini shrugged. "From my perspective, she got exactly what she deserved for constantly trying to bully me and starting each of those incidents. So, you either respect my conditions to prove that you're being serious or you can leave. At this moment, it doesn't seem like my friendship with you three meant anything to any of you."
Ron's body shook and he grit his teeth as he glared at her. Finally, he took a calming breath and remained quietly seated. Delphini smirked and nodded in approval.
"Look, not to annoy you or anything," said Ron, "but what if I think your ideas are bad ones?"
"I'm perfectly willing to accept any reasonable argument on the flaws for either of my two chief conditions," replied Delphini, her eyes hardened. "but I want assurances that she won't try to piss me off again."
Ron sighed and slouched on the chair. "I'm guessing one of them is Ginny apologizing to you?"
Delphini smirked. "You would be guessing wrong."
Ron gave her a quizzical look; his eyebrows knotted and his posture straightened. He frowned at her and a shiver ran up his spine as he gazed upon Delphini's smirking visage.
"Now, here's my first condition . . ." said Delphini.
===
"Harry, I need your help," said Ron, as he entered the Gryffindor common room and walked towards Harry and Hermione doing homework by a corner undisturbed by the others in the common room. Harry looked up expectantly. "I got the greasy git's daughter to agree to heal Ginny but I need your help."
Hermione scowled from her seat and glared at Ron. "She has a name, Ronald."
Ron glared back. "She's also playing games when my sister is suffering, Hermione."
Harry got up from his seat. His lips twitched. "Let me guess, I have to kiss her again?"
"I wish," muttered Ron, causing Harry and Hermione to stiffen. "it's much worse than that."
Harry froze and gaped at Ron. Hermione's eyes had widened as she stared at Ron in stunned silence. Ron looked at both of them in confusion and then his eyes widened in understanding. "What? No, no! Merlin, nothing like that!"
Harry and Hermione relaxed and gazed expectantly at Ron once again. Ron sighed and scratched the back of his head as he stared at Harry. "It's . . . kind of the exact opposite."
Five Days Later
"Hedwig's finally back, Harry!" said Ron cheerfully, the redhead smiled as he looked at the oncoming owl. Harry looked up to see his snowy white owl coming towards them and smiled back at Ron.
Finally, we can hopefully put the matter of Ginny's disfigurement behind us, thought Harry, as Hedwig dove over towards them. If Delphini is the type of person that I think she is, she'll keep her promise. That first condition though . . . I don't know how Ginny's going to react, but it won't be positive. It's horrible that she would demand something so personal.
Hedwig landed with a soft thud and stuck her leg out. Harry took the letter from her leg, Hedwig gave him a sharp look while hooting, and Harry chuckled. He gave her some owl treats that the elves magicked from the kitchens during customary owl postage arrivals and pet her back affectionately. "Thanks, girl. You're the best."
Hedwig puffed up her feathered chest and flew into the air to follow the other owls to the Hogwarts Owlery. Harry opened the envelope and unfurled the letter to read. His posture relaxed upon reading the contents and he looked back towards Ron.
"It's done," said Harry, Ron's ambivalent expression relaxed upon Harry's words. "Percy insists on having me meet with the Minister on Christmas as recompense. I'd prefer if it was earlier since it has to take place. I'm still worried about why Delphini would want to set up this meeting between Narcissa Malfoy and the Minister."
"Well, she's the slimeball's daughter, so she can't be all bad." said Ron causing Harry to frown. Ron didn't seem to notice as the relief was evident on his visage as he looked up. "Besides, maybe this means that the Malfoys have turned over a new leaf? Their name's been dragged through the mud in the Prophet since Malfoy's father was caught in Death Eater clothes so their name doesn't carry much weight in the Wizengamot anymore from what Dad and Bill told me."
"Not surprising," said Hermione, nodding as she looked at both of them. Ron turned to her. "The Imperius excuse has been revealed to be a lie. Lucius being caught has placed all of the other Dark Lord's supporters who weren't there in trouble with the Ministry. 'If the Head of the most prominent Wizarding family was lying, then who else was lying too?' has become the open question."
"And with Sirius found to be innocent thanks in part to Dumbledore," finished Harry, as he thought over the events. "the credibility of just about every Death Eater trial is now in question. Finding Barty Crouch junior alive was one off-shoot incident, but Sirius being innocent and Lucius being guilty of his crimes must be taking its toll on public opinion and particularly the Ministry's credibility to handle everything. One tiny spark and we might have a war soon, if the Dark families are opposed to any appeals trials. Any chance there'll be a retrial for any of those found to be completely innocent?"
"Percy's written about it. He said it was unlikely because of something called double-jeopardy," said Ron, shrugging as he met Harry's eyes. "but honestly, who knows? Dad says that the Death Eaters hope this blows over, but I doubt that it will. A lot of people want Malfoy's father dead or incarcerated for life."
Ron sighed and turned to Hermione. "Hermione? I've been meaning to apologize for how I acted after Ginny's duel. I was just feeling helpless because none of my counter curses were working."
Hermione smiled at Ron. "It's alright, Ron. I didn't hold it against you."
Ron nodded. "Thanks, I know I can be difficult at times. I've been trying to change since Ginny and Lavender both pointed it out."
Hermione's face fell but she nodded. "Right, of course."
Harry rose from his seat still holding the letter. "Alright, I'll go give this to her. I need to have a chat with her about that bloody awful condition."
Ron's shoulders slumped as he looked back at Harry. "Mate . . . please just don't rile her up. I just want my sister to get better and she'll have other opportunities. I use to think it was a good fit but it's honestly not the end of the world. Ginny will hate us, but at least she'll be able to go back to living normally."
"Delphini's probably either at the Hogwarts library or outside by the lake sitting close to the tree." said Hermione, after examining the Slytherin table and looking back at Harry. "Those locations were usually where we worked on the spell together."
Harry gave his thanks and bid farewell to his friends before hoisting his backpack. He left the Great Hall and walked outside the castle. Harry's lips twitched upon spotting Delphini by the tree and walked over to her.
"Hello Delphini," said Harry, a smile tugging his lips as he spotted her sitting with her legs crossed below the trunk of the tree. "We need to talk."
Delphini glanced over at him from her dueling book.
"Hello," replied Delphini stiffly, she folded the book closed and glanced at the letter in his hand before roaming back to his face. "What is it?"
"If we're going through with the second condition," said Harry, scowling at her. "then I want a magical binding oath that the meeting between your Aunt and the Minister of Magic isn't a trap. I'm sorry, but I can't ignore the possibility."
Delphini froze and scowled at him. After a few moments of silence, she schooled her features and nodded. "It's a reasonable request, it'll be done. But, Snape will be the one binding the oath because I can't have anyone else knowing."
Her name . . . thought Harry, he sighed and nodded back to her.
An awkward silence descended between them for a few moments until Harry spoke up. "Why do you want the second condition? It's pointless. It just seems like you're being vindictive and cruel to her for no bloody reason."
Delphini's eyes blazed. She glared at Harry and her lips curled downward. "Why do you care? Is it going to impact your future? Planning to be her knight and shining armor?"
Harry shook his head. "No, but that's what I mean. There's no reason for the second condition. I don't ever intend to date anyone for reasons I already specified to you. You have no right to do this to her and you're purposefully being spiteful."
"If you're not going to be part of her future," said Delphini, "then there's no reason for you to be upset. Logically, the condition should mean nothing for the both of you, unless you do have feelings for her?"
"I don't," spat Harry, his body trembling as he glared down at the blonde. "I'm arguing about what's right."
Delphini's cold gaze stared up at him. "And I suppose that, you've been extra scornful towards me and written me off as an enemy because I've been sorted into Slytherin? Am I just fixed upon this stereotype of a House of Dark families and evil practitioners because I was sorted there?"
"I never said anything like that!" snapped Harry, his cheeks tinged red. "Stop trying to change the subject!"
Delphini rose from her sitting position and glared at him. Her grey orbs gazing coldly at his green eyes. "You never say it, but your actions lead me to believe that you do view me in that light. You call my actions as evil, but evidently, the little redhead bitch can go on scorning, pointing a wand in my face, and still holds no accountability for getting herself in a duel, is that right?"
"Don't call her that!" snapped Harry, glaring at her. His nose scrunching in anger. "You have no right to speak about my friends that way!"
"I have a right to judge people based on their treatment of me!" bit back Delphini, her palms turning to fists and her arms shaking. Her shaking stop and her lips formed a thin line. "So tell me, are you just finding reasons to judge me in preparation for a war? Are you just resigned to fight others to the death? Planning for the day you decide to use the killing curse and preparing for the possibility of purposefully or accidentally killing me?"
Harry blanched. His face becoming blank with all color draining from his face. His green eyes just stared at her derisive expression. Slowly, he shook his head.
"I don't want anyone to die either," said Harry softly, Delphini's eyes narrowed. "but peace is never going to happen. I would never intentionally try to kill you. I'm willing to make that a magical oath in exchange for the second condition, if you like?"
Delphini's eyes widened. He's completely serious.
"No, let's just get the oath I have to promise completed later this afternoon or perhaps in the early evening when Snape's not as busy," said Delphini, shaking her head. She began to collect her belongings. "Then, in two days time, Ginny and you will make the oath for me to bind. After that, I promise to heal her completely with you in the room to watch."
Harry let out an aggravated sigh and nodded. "Well, goodbye."
"Wait!" said Delphini. Harry paused mid-turn and turned back to her. "Why are you so insistent that it has to be you against my father?"
"He's actively attempted to kill me for years," deadpanned Harry, scowling at her. "I've had enough of this conversation. It's meaningless and I'm tired of talking about it."
Delphini glared at him. "So, I should learn to be just as resigned as you are? Just so we're clear, the moment you kill or grievously wound one of my family members is the moment that we'll be enemies for life."
"You mean being objective?" snapped Harry, "Your father is the one hellbent on murdering me and starting a war just to defend pureblood supremacy."
"It's not just about blood!" said Delphini, "You're ignoring the nuance! It's about protecting our culture and traditions from Muggle encroachment ever since Grindelwald's terrifying campaign, which exacerbated the split."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Nuance regarding discrimination of those different from people born into a society based upon blood purity as a hierarchy? You've got to be joking. Well, goodbye then."
Delphini gave him a derisive sneer and responded with a toneless goodbye.
He turned around and left back towards Hogwarts Castle. Delphini finished collecting her belongings into her backpack and sighed. That conversation could have gone much better . . . I really wish we could come to an understanding. I don't want our interactions to just be shouting matches.
Two Days Later
"I can't believe you! I don't deserve this, Ron!"
"Enough Ginny!"
Ron and Ginny met with Harry and Delphini outside an unused classroom after classes. Ginny's disfigured visage caused Delphini's lips to twitch before she schooled them in a thin line. Ginny and Ron were scowling at each other; Ginny's recently stitched cheeks accentuated her ugliness when scowling.
Revenge or standing up for oneself? Either way, worthy cause. thought Delphini, holding back a smile. Two weeks should hopefully prove to be sufficient punishment.
"Alright, we got the private matter with Snape settled," said Harry, looking over at the Weasleys. "Are you ready, Ginny?"
Ginny glanced from Ron to Harry and back with a stricken expression. "I can't believe the both of you! How could you both take advantage of me and try to bully me into this magical oath?!"
"It's not bullying!" shouted back Ron, his cheeks turning a shade red. "We're trying to protect you and keep you safe! Besides, you brought this on yourself! I kept telling you to leave her alone but you wouldn't listen to me and then you got cursed in the duel! You got cocky and kept egging on the situation!"
"Ron! I was trying to protect Harry! How can you treat me like this?!" screamed Ginny, her tone desperate. She broke down in tears in front of Harry, Delphini, and her brother. The crying fit made her marred visage appear more physically grotesque. "How can you do this to me?! I've always stuck by you and Harry, like when we went to the Ministry! I've always done my best to stick by both of you!"
"I HAVE BEEN DOING EVERYTHING I CAN TO PROTECT YOU AND MAKE SURE MUM DOESN'T FIND OUT ABOUT THIS SHIT!" screamed Ron, shouting directly in Ginny's face and causing Ginny to flinch. His face turning a shade purple and his teeth clenched. "JUST LET HARRY AND I PROTECT YOU AND DO WHAT I FUCKING SAY!"
"RON! How can you shout at me like this?! I just . . . I just wanted you and your best mates to treat me like an equal! I always felt like I was in your shadow! I tried so hard in quidditch and in class to get you three to notice me more!" cried Ginny, tears streaking down her face over the blackened and stitched flesh. "I just wanted to be noticed by you lot because you were all so amazing and the school was always talking about you three! I wanted to make-up for what happened with the Chamber when Harry had to kill a basilisk just to save me in my first year!"
Harry killed the basilisk?! thought Delphini, her mind racing, Wait a minute . . . he killed the basilisk at age fucking twelve?!
Delphini gaped at what Ginny said and sharply turned to Harry. She raised a delicate eyebrow at him. Harry sighed and nodded once to Delphini. Delphini's eyebrows raised up to her hairline and she eagerly turned to listen to more of the disfigured redhead's breakdown spiel.
Ron's shoulders slackened and his cheeks regained their natural color. He gave his sister a glum look. "Look . . . Ginny, I just want you to be safe and live a happy and peaceful life, alright? Maybe I thought the match was a good idea once, but there's more to the world than my best mate. I can't stand to see you suffer and I just want you to get better. So please, just listen to me and stop being so stubborn."
"Ginny, there'll be plenty of fish in the sea," said Harry, in a calming tone. Ginny's deformed face looked over to him with her puffy, red eyes widening at his words. Her body was shaking and she shook her head vigorously as tears continued to pool down her cheeks. Harry straightened his posture and gazed impassively at Ginny. "Let's face the truth; you have a bright future ahead of you and all I can see in my future is Voldemort. I'm not going to survive this war that's been looming over us for almost two years now and anyone I get attached to could end-up becoming a prime target or used as a coercive tool like the fake memory of Sirius. I don't ever want to experience something so painful again."
"Harry, no! No, please, stop saying that!" cried Ginny, her tears seemed to overwhelm her and she shivered. "Please . . . isn't there a chance for us to be something more?! Didn't you ever think of me romantically?!"
"If I had still foolishly pursued such a prospect, which would be stupid and unrealistic because it would put that person in danger," said Harry slowly, "then maybe it could have been you. But it wouldn't have been real love, it would just be because you were there and convenient. Maybe, if I was looking for someone safe, but I'm not looking for anyone. Above all, you deserve better than me. You deserve better than some stupid orphan kid that was abused by the Dursleys."
Ginny kept shaking her head with tears until she fell to her knees and crumpled her face in her hands. She sobbed loudly and wailed into her hands as her body shuddered. Ron dropped to his knees and embraced her in a hug.
Harry scowled at Delphini and folded his arms. "What precisely is the point of forcing her to take this condition?"
Delphini's eyes flicked towards him. "If you're not planning on dating, marrying, or having flings with anyone then the condition shouldn't matter to either of you, should it?"
"That isn't the point," said Harry, shaking his head. "I feel like I'm talking in circles. What is the point of all this needless suffering forced on her?"
Delphini scowled and then looked down at the crying Ginny. "She'll learn a valuable life lesson. Never piss me off. Besides, following your rationale, this should be considered an insignificant matter. I told her to stop, repeatedly, and she refused. If I were to cure her without punishing her, then she would think that she could get away with trying to bully me again. Bullies need to be taught their place, Harry. Some people need to experience a harsh lesson or they'll let their own egos and inferiority complexes go unchecked to hurt others."
"You don't consider this hurting others?" said Harry, disbelief evident on his visage.
Delphini sighed and looked over to him. "It may seem that way, and I won't lie and say I don't have my own reasons for the second condition, but I have a right to a peace of mind and not being disturbed when I don't wish to be. Call it being spiteful, vengeful, insane, evil, or whatever; but I shouldn't have to live worrying about someone attacking me, threatening me, or smashing my food. I refuse to live with an intolerable state of affairs. You defending her means that you give her more leeway for her bigoted actions than you have concern or respect for me."
"That's not -"
"It's a fundamentally unfair paradigm, Harry."
"You're going too far," said Harry, scowling at her. "You just don't seem to get it."
"You don't seem to get it," bit back Delphini, scowling back at him. "I suppose my perspective is just selfish and evil to you, right?"
Harry let out an aggravated sigh and turned forward to ignore her. Delphini shook her head and turned back to see Ron gently guide Ginny to her feet. Ginny had stopped crying and her burned face turned to scowl at Delphini. Ginny stomped her foot twice before pulling out her wand and raising it. Her eyes moving to Harry.
Harry unfolded his arms and took out his wand to raise opposite of her. Delphini withheld a smirk and pulled out her own wand to stand slightly back while between them.
Ron held Ginny's arm tightly as Ginny raised her arm and gave Harry an unreadable expression.
"I, Ginevra Molly Weasley, descendent of the Weasley clan, seventh child of Molly and Arthur Weasley," said Ginny, forcing back tears to maintain her composure and continue the unbreakable vow. "do henceforth swear that I will never intentionally engage in sexual penetration with Harry James Potter, Heir to House Potter, sole child of Lily and James Potter upon penalty of death."
A blue aura glowed around Ginny, a blue translucent thread moved from Ginny's aura to Harry. Harry stood with a straightened posture and began."I, Harry James Potter, Heir to House Potter, sole child of Lily and James Potter do hereby acknowledge the vow you have made to I."
The blue thread glowed brightly and became semitranslucent. Delphini grinned and slammed her wand down on the blue thread.
"Affirmed!"
The thread's color darkened and then vanished into sparks. Delphini grinned at the both of them and Harry's eyes narrowed.
What exactly are her intentions? thought Harry, Why go so far as to do this?
Ginny's face remained unreadable. Delphini pointed to the unused classroom, Ginny entered without saying a word and was followed by Delphini from behind, and Harry entered behind them and shut the door. Ron paced outside and remained silent.
Ginny sat on the chair that was placed between the professor's desk and the student desks. Delphini pointed her wand and cast the stunning spell. Harry scowled but remained at the door and propped his back upon the door frame while folding his arms.
Delphini summoned two Horned Serpents. Magical snakes that were native to the United States. The gold-scaled horned snakes slithered around Ginny's wounds with their scales touching the wounds and they would occasionally lick her burned cheeks with their tongues. Delphini moved her wand in an flourish of patterns while muttering deeply in parseltongue as if in a trance. The horned serpents glowed a golden hue.
After nearly two hours, the stitches vanished and Ginny's cheeks returned to full unblemished health. Harry's shoulders relaxed as he had witnessed the parsel healing magic slowly but surely completely heal Ginny. For all of her flaws, at least the issue of trust doesn't seem to be one of them.
Once Delphini completed the healing, she vanished the snakes and enervated Ginny. Ginny awoke groggily and immediately got out of the chair to stretch. Delphini conjured a mirror and handed it to her. Ginny's chocolate brown eyes widened and relief clearly swept through her features as she began to grin. Still grinning, she looked over to Harry and immediately frowned. Ginny put the mirror on the seat and walked towards the door of the classroom without saying a word to either of them. Harry quickly moved out of the way as Ginny entered his path and Ginny opened the door to swiftly walk out. The door slammed behind them and Harry couldn't help but scowl.
"Parsel magic?" asked Harry, looking over to Delphini. Delphini sighed and nodded.
"It use to be known for its healing properties up until House Gaunt damaged the reputation of House Slytherin," explained Delphini. "Those snakes mostly inhabit the US so I trained myself to learn some parsel magic because it fascinated me and I felt like I was connecting to my birthright."
"Well . . . thank you for keeping your word," said Harry curtly, before he opened the door. He hadn't waited for her response, but he gently left the door open for her. He looked around the hallway to see that Ron was not there.
Probably followed Ginny, she definitely needs the support, thought Harry, And I need to focus on getting the memory from Slughorn for Professor Dumbledore. I can't allow myself to be distracted. I should try to do what Hermione does and focus on her schoolwork when issues don't seem to be resolving quickly enough. It could probably help temper down my frustration.
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HP and DR: A Matrimony Made For Peace