"Eventually yes, but for now there is not much we can do but prepare ourselves. When you asked me to the Yule Ball I really wanted to say yes, and the only reason I didn't is because of my father's warning not to take a side. The moment we show up to the Ball together everyone is going to assume that we have joined your side."
"This is crazy, you know that right? We aren't fighting a war right now and I don't have a side." Harry stated in frustration.
"But we will be, and you will. After you asked me to the Yule Ball I owled my father and told him about it. He owled back that he would think about it and I should wait for his response. Then today he told me that I could go to the Ball if I still wanted to, but he didn't really explain why he changed his mind. He did say, however, that we should not let anyone know we are going together and that I need to make sure that my sister Astoria and I will be safe after everyone finds out."
"Safe from the other Slytherins you mean." Harry said knowingly. Since they truly became friends before the first task Harry had worried often about what would happen to her if anyone in her house found out but he had not even considered that her little sister could be threatened as well. "Whatever I can do to help, I will do it."
"I know, and thank you. Astoria should be fine, she has a good group of friends that will stick by her no matter what. I won't be the most popular girl in Slytherin, but then again I never was. Not everyone will be against me though, Tracy and Blaise will watch out for me when they can." Daphne stopped, seeing that Harry was obviously upset at her predicament. "Stop blaming yourself, this was my decision. There is only one thing I need from you right now."
"And what is that?"
"Make sure to get yourself some nice dress robes." she said, grinning. "After all, our picture is probably going to end up on the front page of the Daily Prophet and I can't have my date looking like a slob."
"I'll see what I can do." Harry said, smiling a little. He was still worried about her, but realized that at the moment there was very little he could do.
"Story time is over. I better go, I still have half of that Transfigurations left to do. I know I dumped a lot onto you tonight, but I really am glad we are going to the Yule Ball together." she said sincerely.
"Me too." Harry answered. As she turned to leave Harry thought about all of the things she had told him, surprised that asking a girl on date could become so complicated. 'Then again,' he thought, 'nothing I do is ever easy.' He let out a small laugh as the door closed, leaving him alone in the classroom. A few minutes later he decided that his mind was too distracted to do any meaningful training and left the room as well. He spent the rest of the night mostly worrying about Daphne and thinking up ways to get revenge on Malfoy if he ever found out the blond idiot had threatened her because of him.
...
The next week passed rather uneventfully for Harry, much to his relief. Even the Daily Prophet got bored running the same stories about him and switched to different topics. A few days after that the Prophet actually printed an article which talked about him in a positive light, a move that might have otherwise made him happy but at the moment just convinced him the people in charge of the newspaper had no idea what they were doing. As the end of the semester approached, Harry's fellow students had less time to gossip about him as they found themselves studying for exams. A few of them even seemed to forget that they were supposed to dislike Harry because he was a dark lord in progress and were friendly towards him again. The only negative part of this was that he realized people could change their minds about him as quickly as the Daily Prophet. While walking with Neville to class one day a group of Ravenclaws who had not spoken to him for over month greeted him as if nothing had happened, prompting Harry to later joke to Neville that he was a hero Monday through Thursday but a villain the rest of the week. All things considered, Harry thought it was the best week he had had since his name was pulled out of the Goblet of Fire.
The biggest disappointment of this time was his inability to figure out how to retrieve the clue to the second task from the golden egg. He had tried casting dozens of spells on the egg hoping to unlock its secrets but none of them had been successful. Daphne had contributed a few ideas but none of them had worked either. Eventually Harry realized that he was going to need more help and had told Neville and Hermione about his dilemma. This resulted in Hermione immediately rushing off to the library to begin looking for ideas. She was neglecting her school work in order to help him, and once Harry realized that he ordered her to stop pushing herself so hard. He knew she was working so hard in an attempt to make up for her previous mistakes and while he really did appreciate the effort, he didn't want to see his friend's grades suffer because of it. Hermione was able to come up with a few ideas he had not considered, but still nothing they tried worked. Harry had even considered asking Cedric if he knew what to do with the egg, thinking the older champion might feel like he owed Harry a little help for giving him some advice before the first task. He finally decided against asking for now, although he could always reconsider if time was running out and he still had not discovered the clue.
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