Her parents' response arrived at breakfast the next day. Daphne's coded message for discretion had been received loud and clear as her mother informed her they had not only made arrangements to meet her on Saturday but would be taking her to Hogsmeade so they could talk privately at The Three Broomsticks. Apparently, her parents distrusted Hogwarts as much as Harry. Daphne felt a knot form in her stomach as she realized this thing with Harry was suddenly becoming very real.

As she made her way over to the Hufflepuff table to let Astoria know she realized Harry was subtly watching her and she gave a short nod to let him know they were a go for Saturday. She thought she was off to a splendid start at being a spy. Astoria greeted her as she arrived.

"Hi, Daphne! What's wrong? You got a letter from mum and now you walked over here all weird." Maybe the spy thing wasn't off to a splendid start.

"Nothing is wrong and I'm not acting weird, Tori," she lied. "I just wanted to let you know that mum and dad will be here on Saturday. They need to talk with me about some things related to the business."

Astoria made a face. "So nothing wrong, just boring."

"Yes, exactly right. Exceedingly boring." Daphne changed her mind again...she was very good at espionage.

She grabbed a piece of bacon and looked back to see her sister now sported a huge grin. Astoria leaned into Daphne's ear and whispered, "Are you going to tell them about Harry?"

Daphne choked in response and began coughing violently...drawing stares from those around her as she quickly grabbed a drink to help clear her throat. "What are you talking about?" she whispered back once she could breathe again.

"Tracey told me all about it," Astoria smugly answered.

"Ahhh the other idiot"' She was going to kill Tracey. "Tracey has no idea what she is talking about."

"What about that note he gave you? And why were you out until four in the morning the other night?"

"Fine. Tracey does have some idea of what she is talking about. I was out after curfew but that has nothing to do with Potter." Daphne could save this...she had done a good job of denying everything to Tracy thus far. Astoria would be a little tougher as she was much harder to deceive but all they had was circumstantial evidence at best.

"Then why was he looking at you after our owl flew in with mum's letter? And why did you give him that nod when you walked over here?"

She was so bad at espionage. She stared determinedly at the table as she struggled desperately to come up with something...anything to say. She hated being this wrongfooted and she hated hiding things from her sister. Before she could reply she felt her sister's hand on her arm.

Astoria was still smiling but now it was warm and genuine. She began whispering again. "I won't tease you anymore. I promise not to tell anyone and you know Tracey won't either. I think it's really great! He's lucky."

Daphne was touched at her sister's words in spite of the fact they were about her fake romance.

She was suddenly struck with an idea...a very Slytherin idea. She needed to talk to Harry to make sure he agreed but until then she would just try to play along without actually confirming or denying anything.

"Thanks, Tori," she whispered as she wrapped an arm around Astoria's shoulders and squeezed. "We've just spent some time getting to know each other, that's all. We aren't dating or anything. We are trying to be secretive until we figure out what's going on. It's just really weird right now." That was definitely not a lie.

Astoria nodded as if she understood everything. Daphne grabbed a piece of toast as she started plotting a strategy to deal with Tracey. She would give her the same vague facts as she had told Astoria and let her fill in the blanks. That would tide her over until she could talk to Harry on Saturday night.

The remainder of Thursday and Friday were relatively peaceful...which was unexpected.

Tracey had been relentless in trying to find out whether something was going on but now that Daphne had confirmed (sort of) her suspicions she and Astoria had remained quiet. Despite herself, Daphne had to know why Tracey had suddenly stopped harassing her. She asked Tracey about it as they were walking to the Hogwarts entrance to meet her parents.

"Don't get upset when I tell you, okay?"

"Why on earth would I get mad?"

"Because sometimes you can be defensive and sensitive-"

"I am not sensitive," she grit out, immediately realizing she was confirming Tracey's statement. "Fine, I sometimes may be a touch sensitive. Go on...I won't get mad. But hurry up. I don't want my parents to hear."

Tracey suddenly became serious. "You worry so much about other people being happy: me, your parents, Astoria, especially Astoria...but you couldn't care less about yourself. I think you actually look for reasons to avoid other people and possibly enjoying yourself."

Daphne thought this wasn't too bad. Tracey and her family had practically begged her over the years to lighten up. Even her father constantly told her she had plenty of years to worry about the family business and could stand to relax a bit.

"I don't want to add to your reasons for not doing this," Tracey continued, her voice becoming quieter. "So I'm not going to push for information or tease you too much. I may have if it was anyone else but given who it is...there are already going to be enough reasons for you to pull back. Astoria and I talked and we both want to help against the other morons...not be part of them."

"Thanks, Trace. That...well it means a lot. I don't expect you not to tease me at all but I appreciate you trying...and not talking about it around anyone else."

Tracey nodded. "Of course. As you know I can be an excellent Slytherin when I choose to be."

They continued their walk in silence as Daphne thought about how much her fake boyfriend was bringing her family and friends together. She really hoped Harry would agree with her plan.

"There is something though..." she heard Tracey say in that voice. Tracey was grinning now so Daphne knew the sincerity was officially over and it was time for the nonsense to begin.

"Go on then," Daphne replied as she stopped and folded her arms waiting for the idiocy to flow from her best friend's mouth. Tracey had been very sweet...Daphne supposed she could let her have a bit of fun.

"Does he really have that Gorgon's head mounted above his bed?"

She couldn't help herself. "Oh it wasn't a gorgon, it was a basilisk...at least fifty feet long," Daphne replied nonchalantly as she began walking again.

"Fascinating," Tracy replied, clearly thinking Daphne was joking.

"Didn't I tell you?" Daphne continued, I met with Harry in the Chamber of Secrets! It was so romantic...except for the dead basilisk of course. Other than that the place had a real ambiance."

Tracy chuckled as she joined in on the narrative. "Did he really kill the beast with his bare hands?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Tracey," Daphne continued authoritatively. "This is Harry Potter of course. He used the Sword of Gryffindor!"

"Obviously," Tracy drawled before bursting out laughing.

'I just told Tracey the truth and she didn't believe a word. Is this what Harry feels like every day?' she mused as they continued their way to the entrance.

As she turned the corner she saw her parents at the end of the hall talking with her sister and unconsciously straightened her posture. 'Time to make some galleons and terrify my parents,' she thought as she made her way down the hall.