"Any day now I reckon," Tracey muttered to her friend. Tracey's favorite pastime since the looks had begun was deciphering and analyzing Potter's motives. Daphne suspected the appeal for Tracey was twofold: Tracey was genuinely interested in what Potter was playing at and genuinely enjoyed annoying Daphne by discussing it ad nauseam. "He looks different today...like he's come to a decision," she stated authoritatively, "I predict contact within the next forty-eight hours."

"Suppose it will be in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Probably be smart to clear some time in my planner," Daphne shot back with a glare.

"Probably evening...after dinner," Tracey continued, purposely ignoring the obvious sarcasm of Daphne's question. "Wouldn't want to be interrupted by classes or other activities obviously."

"Obviously," Daphne drawled as she focused back on her breakfast and attempted to change the subject. "So Transfiguration this morning and Defence this afternoon, right?"

"No more than forty-eight hours," Tracey replied with a smile ignoring Daphne's dodge. "Just be prepared for me to say 'I told you so' when it happens."

"Well, it's nice to have something to look forward to I suppose. Let's go," she muttered as she quickly grabbed her things and stood to make the trek to class. She vaguely heard "definitely in the evening" being muttered behind her as she quickly headed out.

The remainder of the day was blessedly Harry Potter discussion-free. Snape even managed to refrain from any snide remarks directed toward him during that afternoon's Defence class.

Daphne had grown tired of the insults her head of house directed toward Potter in the first weeks of her first year. The fact that the professor not only persisted in making comments but that they actually seemed to grow in frequency and intensity over the years was baffling to her. Her only guess was that Professor Snape suffered the same affliction as Draco: Potter Inferiority Complex Syndrome. 'PICS' for short.

Draco was so affected by the Golden Boy it had become a running joke between Tracey and Daphne:

- "Draco was quite PICSy today"

- "If Potter somehow gets that egg from the dragon Draco's PICS will be unbearable. I mean I don't want Potter to die but it might be preferable to Draco's whinging"

- "Fair warning...the PICS is in full force downstairs. Avoid the common room unless you want a dissertation on why Potter is most likely a squib."

While most students despised or merely tolerated Draco, Daphne simply felt sad for him. She remembered the nice, slightly conceited boy she knew when she was younger...before his idolization of his father and his jealousy of Potter changed him into the prick he was today. In her mind, he was a lost cause. A harmless, annoying lost cause. In fact, she thought the only student who still had faith in the ponce was her sister Astoria who never quite grew out of her crush on the boy despite the despicable person he had become.

"He doesn't mean it...not really," had been Astoria's defiant mantra whenever Daphne mentioned Draco's latest ridiculousness. "He'll sort out his priorities one day."

Daphne smiled as she entered the Great Hall and spied her sister sitting down at the Hufflepuff table for dinner. Partially to avoid Tracey's musings on all things Potter and partially because she hadn't done it since they'd come back from holiday break she decided to spend the meal with the Puffs and more specifically, her sister.

"Hi Daphne!" Astoria greeted her brightly as she sat down beside her. "Still worrying all the time?"

"Shut it you," Daphne affectionately responded, "I hear enough about it from Tracey...let's talk about something else."

Astoria rolled her eyes and replied, "Fine. What's wrong with Draco? He seems...I don't know...frightened all the time".

"No idea Astoria," Daphne replied disinterestedly, "I do my best to ignore him. Maybe he spotted a hippogriff and had flashbacks to his mortal injury?"

"This is serious, Daphne," Astoria continued as her face became distressed. "Something is wrong. I'm worried."

"Why can't you be normal and have a crush on Harry Potter like every other girl here? It would be much less disturbing."

Astoria replied unconvincingly. "I do NOT have a crush on Draco. I'm just worried because he-"

She abruptly stopped talking as her eyes went wide before she looked down at her plate and muttered, "speaking of Harry Potter don't look now but...".

Before she had time to process the sudden change in topic Daphne heard a throat being purposely cleared behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find, inexplicably, Harry Potter himself nervously looking at her.

"I think you dropped this in Defence class," Harry mumbled as he handed a piece of parchment to her quickly.

Daphne quickly scanned the parchment and realizing it was not her handwriting, responded. "Sorry Potter but this isn't-"

She was cut off from continuing by a quieter but more insistent reply as he leaned forward so only she could hear. "I'm quite certain this is meant for you, Daphne. But I would wait to make sure until you are alone. It looked confidential."

Daphne had always scoffed at the Potter fan club members when she heard them opining about his mesmerizing green eyes but right now...as they stared at her merely inches away...she had to admit they may have a point.

"Umm...okay. Thank you," she finally replied as she recovered her poise and quickly shoved the parchment into her bag based on his thinly veiled instruction.

A relieved expression washed over his face as Harry replied with a soft "you're welcome", turned around to assess who had noticed their conversation, and quickly left the room as his two best friends scurried to catch up with him with confused expressions on their faces.

A million thoughts immediately raced through her mind as she purposely ignored the gobsmacked faces surrounding her.

After a few minutes of intense concentration on her dinner, she finally risked a glance to the Slytherin table only to be met by the smuggest expression she had ever seen on Tracey Davis before she silently...slowly...mouthed "I. Told. You. So."