As much as Potter's appearance at dinner had thrown her off, the actual message he had given her beat it tenfold.

Daphne,

I have a project I'm working on that I'd like your help with. If you are interested in learning more please meet me in front of the Transfiguration classroom at 7:00 tomorrow night. For your own safety and mine, I need you to come alone...I will come alone as well.

I realize you might be cautious about accepting such an offer...all I can say is I mean you no harm and really do need your help.

If I had received something like this from a Slytherin I would be suspicious as well but being a dumb Gryffindor I would have more than likely showed up because I'm bold, courageous, and all that rot.

I'm hoping you use your cunning and ambition to think about what you personally know of my actions in the past to see that I have never purposely insulted or harmed anyone without cause and have always told the truth. What I need your help with, if successful, would bring great honor and political leverage to the Greengrass name. Yes I am blatantly playing to your ambitious nature but I am doing so honestly.

All I am asking is for you to come and listen to what I have to say. I promise I will answer any and all questions that I can.

If you choose not to meet I will understand and will never bother you again. Either way for your own safety I would suggest destroying this letter immediately after reading it.

I hope to see you soon.

Daphne had ignored the advice given and had read and reread the letter at least thirty times. She wasn't sure why as she had decided immediately she would be there. Potter had said all the key words (political leverage, ambition, dumb Gryffindor) to pique her interest and when reviewing her own observations of the boy over the years she had to admit he really had only acted when provoked. Even the outrageous and unbelievable gossip about Potter revolved around him doing heroic things that were too outlandish and ridiculous to take seriously. And if she believed the comments that Draco had made about him over the years (which she didn't) Potter was nothing more than a fraud...an incompetent, harmless fraud. It couldn't hurt to hear him out.

So it was at precisely 6:57 pm the next day that she found herself standing outside the Transfiguration classroom muttering "Incendio" and methodically burning the note. 'Better late than never,' she mused as she watched the final bit turn to ash.

"I thought I told you to burn that immediately," she heard seemingly out of nowhere.

"Merlin, Potter!" she nearly shouted as she wheeled around to face him. "Stop sneaking up on me!"

"Sorry," he replied not sounding at all like he meant it. "I sometimes forget how much of an advantage this gives me."

Her eyes were immediately drawn to the cloak in his hand. "Is that-"

"An invisibility cloak...yeah," he supplied without pretense.

"Shouldn't you be a little more...I don't know...discreet about having something like that? I mean somebody could just be walking by and hear you," she replied before being met with a knowing smile.

"No worries...I knew we were alone thanks to this," he answered as he held up a piece of worn parchment. It looked to be an old map of some sort...thoroughly mundane and ordinary except for the fact that some of the words were moving...and it looked like her name was there as well right next to 'Harry Potter'.

"What is-" she began before being interrupted.

"Come on," he said in a quieter tone as he motioned her into an empty room nearby. "You're right...we should get some more privacy."

The number one lesson her father had imparted to her when in any meeting was to always be in command and keep the other participants off guard and guessing. They hadn't even begun to really talk and she had utterly failed that lesson as her head was already spinning.

'Pull yourself together,' she thought to herself as she watched Potter place a locking spell on the door and a silencing charm on the room. 'Assume command, establish dominance,' she told herself internally.

As he turned his attention back to her Daphne purposefully leaned back against the wall and folded her arms against her chest before speaking with her best glare firmly in place.

"This better be good Potter as I don't appreciate having my time wasted."

Potter pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes in aggravation before speaking. "Can we just skip that nonsense?" he asked as he turned his gaze upward and stared.

"Enlighten me on what nonsense you are talking about," she coolly replied, desperately trying to keep up the pretense that she was in charge.

He immediately mimicked her...leaning against the wall and folding his arms while fixing her with an exaggerated stare. "This nonsense," he said bluntly before finally moving to sit down once his point had been made.

"Please?" he continued while motioning Daphne to sit down as well. "I'm not trying to trick you. Or win some sort of game of wits. I just want to talk and ask for your help. And I prefer to be called 'Harry', not 'Potter'."

Realizing there was no need to try and win a battle of wills when the opponent wasn't interested in playing she finally let down her guard, giving a small nod as she moved to sit down. "Nice to finally meet you, Harry. I'm Daphne."

A look of relief came over Harry's face as he visibly relaxed and pondered what to say next. He took a deep breath and began. "What I need help with must remain between you and me. Lives are literally at stake here. Because of that before I share any specifics we will need to make a blood oath not to purposely reveal anything we discuss or work on unless we both agree."

Harry quickly raised his hand to hold off Daphne's outcry and continued. "I know this is a huge commitment and I'm not asking you to make it tonight. I just want to talk and let you ask me any questions so you can think about it."

It was obvious to her what this was about but she needed to make sure. "So what you need help with has to do with You Know Who?"

"The one and only," he ruefully replied.

"So does that mean there really is a prophecy and you really are-"

"The Chosen One?" he asked. It looked to Daphne at that moment that the weight of the world had suddenly been placed on his shoulders. "Yeah, basically...in the end it doesn't particularly matter because Voldemort has already decided I am without hearing the whole thing...but that's all I can tell you without the oath."

Daphne gathered herself, nodded and sat silently in thought processing where she should start. "Okay," she began. "My first question is why me?"

"I need someone smart who is strong in magical theory," he replied immediately. Clearly, he had anticipated this question would be asked.

"What I'm looking for involves the design or modification of a spell. The idea I have may not be possible but I need someone to listen to and hopefully validate and expand on what I'm thinking."

"I know that is where you excel...not necessarily as much on the practical side but in understanding and explaining the magic. I'm either naturally rubbish or too lazy to be good at that bit. That's where you come in."

Daphne frowned in response. "How could you possibly know that? We don't have Charms or Transfiguration together and you don't take Arithmancy or Ancient Runes."

Harry chuckled before responding. "I'm best friends with Hermione Granger. I've heard all about who she sees as her main competition and you are a prominent topic. Strengths...weaknesses...she takes it very seriously. Too seriously."

After soaking in the compliment a thought suddenly struck her. "You just mentioned you were best friends with Granger. Why aren't you asking her?"

"You're right that Hermione, not Granger, has been a great friend, better than I could have ever asked for. There are two reasons I haven't talked to her about this."

"The main problem is she doesn't trust my judgment as much as she trusts Dumbledore's... especially this year. But she's not alone...the same goes for pretty much everyone else on 'my' side."

"I've spent the last five and half years having everyone telling me to 'listen to Dumbledore, trust Dumbledore, talk to Dumbledore. There are loads of brilliant people trying to help me but they, unfortunately, shut off their brain when it comes to questioning the Headmaster's decisions."

"If everyone is saying it maybe they have a point. Why not talk to Dumbledore then?" she countered. "He has forgotten more about magic than I will ever know."

Harry's expression darkened...Daphne could tell he was choosing his next words carefully.

"I've tried...he wasn't interested. He has his own idea of what needs to be done and he's been drip-feeding me just enough information over the last five years...the bare minimum he has to so I will do what he wants. I'm finally getting some more insight this year but what we've covered in the four months of term could have been covered in a week."

"He's not interested in listening to other people's ideas. He is so used to being in charge...likes being in charge...I think he's lost the ability to take advice."

Daphne could tell he wasn't finished...that he needed to share this with someone...that he likely had tried to share with others and had been met with the 'trust Dumbledore' mantra for his efforts.

"Do you remember what Dumbledore said in fourth-year? After Cedric was murdered... how everyone would have to choose between what was easy and what was right?"

Harry didn't wait for an answer before continuing, staring fixedly down at the desk. "After my parents died he has basically controlled my life: where and how I grew up, what I knew about my parents, what I knew about the wizarding world."

He idly picked at an exposed splinter on the desk, never looking up. "What I've come to realize is when it comes to me he seems to always choose what is easy over what is right."

Harry chuckled and finally made eye contact with Daphne again. "Sorry...got a bit moody there. I've been working on avoiding that but old habits die hard sometimes."

"I'm still listening to Dumbledore...learning everything I can from him and working on his plan. But I'd like to see if my idea is possible. It may be nothing but I'd like to try."

There was a pregnant pause as Daphne waited to make sure he was finished and cleared her throat to get his attention. "Well, you weren't kidding when you said you were going to be honest. I'm guessing I'm the only one you've ever told that to?"

Harry let out a snort and replied. "You deserve to know everything if I expect you to help."

"Thank you...so next question. You've told me why you think I could help you. Why do you think I would? How do you know my family doesn't support You Know Who?"

"Based on what I know of your family I'm pretty confident we are on the same side," he replied.

"You do, do you? Please enlighten me on my family and our motivations."