She scanned through the book and quickly realized virtually every page had been written on. Whole passages had been marked through and handwritten notes filled the margins.

"Whoever this book belonged to originally is a potions genius. I've followed his revised instructions all year and my Potions grade has soared. Hermione has decided it's cheating and won't shut up about it."

"Well that's stupid," she blurted. She looked up from the book to see Harry was visibly relieved at her reaction.

"Thank you!" he enthused. "She is just so competitive and so stubborn sometimes. I'm not sure why but her making that comment in front of you just hit a nerve." He calmed down and continued. "Seriously, thank you. Even if you disagreed with me I value your opinion."

Harry continued, emboldened by her agreement. "I've learned a few spells in there too. This book is how I knew Muffliato."

"Suppose it was Snape's book?" she asked.

"Nah. That was my first thought when you mentioned how he taught it to you but the Prince is a much better teacher than Snape will ever be."

"Prince?"

Harry grabbed the book and turned it to a page in the front before handing it back.

"The Half Blood Prince," she read aloud. "He's a bit dramatic. Are you sure it isn't Snape?"

Harry shrugged. "If he is he's helped me loads more as a student than he ever has as a professor."

Daphne continued scanning the book and came across what looked to be a spell written in the margins. "Levicorpus...what's that one do?"

Harry seemed to become uncomfortable. "Uhh...it hangs someone by their leg in the air."

She kept reading the scribblings and did not see where that was listed. 'Idiot,' she mused. "It doesn't say anything about what it does in the book. How did you sort that out?"

He was most definitely uncomfortable now. "I...umm...tried it. But there was no harm done. It hit Ron who was in bed at the time."

"Well as stupid as Hermione is being about using it to improve your potions trying any spell without knowing what it does is incredibly stupid. And on one of your friends? What am I saying? Doing it on anyone is irresponsible."

"That's what Hermione said." At that moment he reminded Daphne of a kicked puppy.

"Still value my opinion?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered immediately. "I'm not sure why but it sounded much more reasonable coming from you. Maybe because you agreed about the potions bit." He smiled despite himself. Quickly he snapped to attention.

"I almost forgot," he said briskly as he pulled a wrapped box out of his bag.

"Happy Birthday," he blurted as he handed her the box.

"My birthday was last week Harry," she said, trying to suppress a smile, "and you weren't meant to know." She had tried to keep it from him because she knew he would want to do the noble thing and get her something.

"I know but I only found out about it a few days ago. I wanted to thank you for your help and I needed something for Winky to do so you're really doing me a favor. Besides, what kind of a fake boyfriend would I be if I forgot my fake girlfriend's birthday."

"That is some seriously flawed reasoning but I love presents so I will let it go."

As she started opening the box Harry spoke, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "We've never really talked about your hobbies so I thought I'd get you something practical."

She opened the box to find a muggle fountain pen. It was nice. Simple but nice.

"It's actually a self-inking quill meant to look like a fountain pen. I thought it would be useful since your family does so much business with muggles."

"It's brilliant," she interrupted, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you."

She sat down across from Harry, still looking at the gift. "I like muggle music," she said softly.

"What?"

"One of my hobbies...I picked it up from my mum. The new music players don't work so well around magic but phonographs are pretty easy to enchant...and I have a wireless that picks up muggle broadcasts as well. I miss listening to it when I'm at school. The Weird Sisters are fine but it gets a bit tiring when every song is about magic."

She looked up to see him smiling at her again...that genuine smile he seemed to be sharing with her more often.

"I've always wanted to try baking," he shared.

She laughed. "You're joking."

He shrugged his shoulders. "One of my chores, when I'm at my relatives, is to cook but it's always been basic meals. I'd like to try it for fun...proper baking. Biscuits, pastries, pies...it seems like it would be relaxing."

Daphne stayed quiet, willing him to share more.

"My Aunt likes to watch baking shows on muggle television. Sometimes when my Uncle wasn't home she would let me watch with her. I was younger then...six or seven. She didn't dislike me as much then."

She had realized early on in their discussions that Harry purposely avoided mentioning his relatives and was pleased to see him opening up more...even if just a bit. "Why haven't you tried it? Based on how you've described your cousin he would eat it as quick as you could make it."

"They have an aversion to messes and a strong aversion to me enjoying things so I've never risked it." He said it so matter of factly...not wanting sympathy or pity. It was normal to him. Daphne's blood boiled.

"Well once we're done sorting out your problem you can come to visit this summer. You can make me a cake and listen to Beatles records with me. Chocolate with buttercream icing I think."

"It's a date," he replied without a trace of belief in his voice that it would ever actually happen. It was as if he had given up ever getting his hopes up for anything nice to happen...no matter how small. She silently vowed to some day have Harry make her a rubbish cake. She would lie through her teeth about how good it was and eat every bite offered.

The responsible part of Daphne kicked in as she remembered there were a few things she needed to cover about their project. It was easy to let herself get distracted around Harry but she forced herself into action. Grudgingly she changed the topic. "Can we spend a bit of time under the oath and make some plans? If we miss dinner we could maybe make a run to the kitchen?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "Hermione and I could use a break from each other anyway. Besides, I like our trips to the kitchen 'Miss Greeny'."

"Damn Dobby," she muttered to herself as she cast Muffliato. "Anyway, has Hermione made any progress on Horcruxes?"

"No," he replied, frustration evident in his voice. "She's looked at everything she can find."

"I think I've gone over everything about your connection that I can based on what's available at Hogwarts. It's time we take my parents up on their offer. They have access to some...darker reference material that may help. We can ask them about Horcruxes as well."

He nodded his head. "Time to meet the in-laws."

"Idiot," she muttered as her stomach flipped. She stubbornly ignored it as she looked back at her gift. "Thanks to wizarding tradition they can easily justify a visit now that you are 'courting' me."

"Is it weird that I'm suddenly nervous?"

She laughed. "No need to worry. Based on what I've told them they think you're brilliant. Just do me a favor and try to pretend you care when my father discusses his progress with the basilisk."

"I knew there would be a catch," he joked.

She was nervous to ask the next question but felt she owed it to Harry. "So are you okay with telling them everything? My father is very shrewd. If he really wanted to divulge something that could make you vulnerable he could probably figure out a way."

"He would never do that though right?"

"Never."

"Then they get to know everything."

"Even the prophecy?"

"Yes."

Daphne smiled.

They quickly formulated a plan. Daphne would write to her parents and request another meeting on Saturday. It would be simple to justify Harry's absence from the castle to meet Daphne's parents. If Dumbledore protested they could easily cite Harry's status as the Potter heir and wizarding courting traditions to shut him up.

They had finished in time to make dinner in the Great Hall but both agreed the kitchen was a better option.

As they made their way down the hall Daphne was roused out of her thoughts by Harry tugging on her elbow to stop. He quickly recast Muffliato and spoke. He looked...nervous.

"Umm...I know we don't really have anything to work on until we meet with your parents but I was hoping we could...you know...keep studying together."

Her stomach lurched again and she replied. "Well I study with Hermione on Mondays and I need to spend some time with Tracey and Astoria as well...but yes. Definitely." She vaguely realized she was twirling the coin in her pocket again. "Maybe we could study one night together with them too? They'd like to meet you."

"Yes," he replied, releasing a breath as they started walking again.

'Checkers not chess,' Daphne repeated in her mind as she let go of the coin and took Harry's hand instead. She could feel Harry tense initially but he quickly relaxed, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as they continued walking.

She was rapidly becoming a fan of checkers. In the end, she realized, it all came down to who you decided to play with.