Meanwhile Harry's training had changed significantly. After realizing that Daphne would be putting herself in danger because of their relationship (which even he could see was quickly becoming more than a simple friendship) he began insisting that she practice alongside him. She initially protested, saying that she would just slow him down, but gave in to his demands when it became clear he was not going to back down. Harry's training did move slower, which was inevitable due to his greater experience and magical power, but he was happy to see that the extra time he spent on every lesson allowed him gain a better understanding of what he was doing. It was clear to him that Daphne had the potential to be a very powerful witch if she pushed herself, and Harry was dedicated to helping her do just that. To Harry's surprise it was Daphne that suggested they start dueling each other as a part of their training. Neither of them had ever had formal instruction on how to duel so for the most part they were dependent on various books on dueling and learning by the trial and error method. They were learning a lot, but Harry knew that they were going to eventually need someone more experienced to teach them. His first choices were either Sirius or Remus, but he didn't know if it would be possible for either of them to do it until the summer at the earliest. Daphne, he knew, would be able to practice with her father who would not need to be convinced why it was necessary.
The fact that they were secretly preparing for a war that he hoped never came to pass was often on his mind. Harry doubted he would ever be a powerful wizard in the same league as Voldemort or Dumbledore, but knew that for some strange reason that the only way Voldemort would stop trying to kill him was if he finally succeeded. And even then Riddle would probably curse his corpse a few times just for laughs. He guessed that the dark wizard's obsession with him was due to the fact that as long as he lived he was proof that Voldemort was not all powerful. Harry also wondered about the complaints regarding Dumbledore that Daphne's grandfather had. All of the history books agreed that Dumbledore had joined the war several years before he finally faced Grindelwald on the battlefield, but what exactly was he doing during that time? No one seemed to know why he waited, but it was clear that if Dumbledore was avoiding Grindelwald then Grindelwald was also doing his best to avoid Dumbledore. Decades later in the war against Voldemort it was Dumbledore that was known as the only wizard that Voldemort feared, and yet the evil wizard was not brought down by the Headmaster but by an infant. Once again Harry felt that there was missing some key piece of information that would explain everything, but he was unable to determine what it was. He wondered what Dumbledore would say if he asked about it, but doubted that he would get a plain answer when no one else had been able to.
All of this combined to make Harry quite nervous. It was a hard thing for a fourteen year old to realize that his foreseeable future would be spent either trying to prevent a war or fighting in one, though he hoped that did not come to pass. Surely others were aware of what was happening, especially Dumbledore. But Dumbledore had done nothing to keep him out of the tournament after his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, which he could only assume was somehow related to Voldemort. In fact, the two had barely spoken to each other since then. Perhaps Harry should try and see the Professor…
For what seemed like the millionth time, Harry wished he could just have the problems that a normal teenager had.
...
Daphne yanked open the door to her bedroom in the Slytherin dorms wanting nothing more than to collapse on her bed and sleep for a few days. Ever since she had told Harry about her family history and the danger she might be in he had taken it upon himself to turn her into a one girl army. She had owled her father and told him about Harry's reaction to her story and he seemed proud of her and impressed with Harry's drive and initiative. She was somewhat surprised to find that she enjoyed their joint practices and that she was improving faster than she had ever expected. Despite her improvement, however, she was still no match for Harry who she was now convinced would have been the true Hogwarts Triwizard champion if they had allowed him to enter legitimately.
Her thoughts of sleep were suddenly disrupted when she noticed someone sitting on her bed. Daphne's wand was up and the tip glowing bright red with a spell ready to be cast when she realized that the person on her bed was not a threat at all, just her little sister Astoria. The light from her wand dimmed and she lowered it to her side, but she continued to glare at the younger witch.
"You know better than to surprise me like that, I almost hexed you." Daphne advised Astoria.
"You wouldn't hex your favorite sister would you, Daph?" Astoria answered, pretending to be perfectly innocent.
"Only sister, and maybe." Daphne responded. Astoria merely shrugged and continued to sit on the bed. Astoria looked much like a younger version of her older sister. Their face shapes were almost identical and they had similar builds, although even when they were both finished growing Daphne was destined to be a couple of inches taller than her younger sister. Some of their other features differed, such as Astoria's eyes were green while Daphne's were a dark blue and the younger Greengrass had brown hair as opposed to her sister's blond hair. Both girls were still considered quite beautiful by their peers. Daphne waited for Astoria to say something, but when a minute had passed and she hadn't Daphne sat down next to her sister and said "So, what's going on?"