Daphne made her way through the halls of Hogwarts, consciously forcing herself not to sprint...to maintain the appearance of a normal pace while trying to get to her destination as quickly as possible. As she walked she parsed through the relevant facts to assure herself that Harry was okay. Logically she knew the answer was literally minutes away and there was no need to speculate but she could focus on nothing else.

The fact that he responded at all was a positive. At its core it meant he wasn't dead...which was a definite plus. On the surface the message was relatively casual which would normally be a positive as well. The only problem is she was dealing with Harry. The more horrific or dire a situation was seemed to spark Harry to downplay its urgency even more. He could have splinched his head off at the apparition lesson and his message would probably have been something has come up. Merlin...she needed to stop thinking about this and just get there.

She broke out into a half run...the most dignified half run she could muster.

She was pondering whether to break into a full on sprint once she made the final turn to the Hospital Wing corridor when she realized it wasn't necessary. Harry was there sitting on the floor outside the entrance next to Hermione and Ron's sister. Ginny. Her name was Ginny.

Daphne felt a mix of elation and fear as she realized that Harry was safe but, based on who he was and wasn't with, Ron was most likely on the other side of the hospital wing doors. Ginny was the first to spot her and the sad exhaustion on her face confirmed her thoughts.

She watched Ginny nudge Harry to get his attention and point in her direction. He gave her a tired smile when he saw her and she smiled back. Despite whatever bad news she was going to learn about in a few minutes it was good to see him again...whole and safe. It had only been a few days but she had quickly become reliant on her new routine. She missed him.

As she watched Harry stand up and begin walking toward her she consciously stopped walking...letting him come to her. Despite how close they had become in a month she didn't belong with Harry's group yet...not when it came to something this serious.

When Harry reached her she grabbed his shoulders and quickly embraced him. She could tell she had surprised him as he immediately tensed before quickly relaxing and hugging her back. She could feel his head become dead weight on her shoulder and gave him another squeeze.

"It's Ron isn't it? Is he okay?"

She felt him nod against her shoulder before he pulled back, sliding down to sit against a nearby wall. She sat down beside him.

"Someone gave me some cauldron cakes dosed with love potion for Christmas. I just thought it was a normal gift," he started explaining, staring at the ground. "I had forgotten about them...I was cleaning out my trunk today and Ron ate one by mistake. Today is his birthday. It was on the floor and he thought it was one of his presents I think."

Daphne didn't think that was so bad. That kind of nonsense went on all the time in the castle. Bringing Ron to the infirmary was the right thing to do but it didn't explain why they seemed to be so upset.

"I realized what had happened and took Ron to Slughorn for an antidote. The cakes were months old and I guess the potion fermented or something because he was really affected."

Harry's expression dimmed. "I should have just let the potion run its course..."

"What happened?" she interrupted, stopping whatever train of thought he was headed down. She could tell he was blaming himself.

Her interruption seemed to startle Harry as he stopped staring at the floor and looked her in the eye. Apparently she had stopped the train before it got too far out of the station. Good.

"Slughorn made an antidote and got rid of the love potion. Then he gave Ron some mead to settle him. I guess the mead had been poisoned or something because Ron started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. We stuck a bezoar in his mouth and that stopped whatever was happening. We've been here ever since waiting on more news. They told us he should be okay but that's all we know."

Despite herself Daphne immediately pictured Tracey convulsing in front of her. She was thankful a potions expert was there. If he hadn't thought of a bezoar who knows what would have happened. There was no way she would have thought of such a thing so quickly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said simply. "It sounds horrible but I've started to become used to this sort of thing. I'm just relieved he's going to be okay. I feel bad for Ginny and Hermione. If I'd-"

She punched his leg then immediately reached for his hand. "Don't blame yourself again. This definitely isn't your fault."

She began rubbing his hand with her thumb again...as much to help herself as to help Harry. She hated Hogwarts. Hated Voldemort. Hated Dumbledore. She wanted to ask more about the poison and the slag who tried to dose him with a love potion but realized Harry needed a change in topic. He'd been thinking about this all day.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I'm sorry for Ron and I'm sorry for losing my temper the other day. I should have listened to what you said and talked to you about Astoria first like you asked. And learning the spell isn't a waste of time."

"It's alright," he said quietly, staring straight ahead. "It isn't all your fault...you were just worried about your sister. I should have talked to you about it before we met with everyone. I thought I could manage it but you two are really stubborn. I've seen Ron and Ginny go at it so I should have known better."

"Let's call it even then," she replied as she unconsciously leaned against him. "The next lesson I promise to talk to you before I say anything to Astoria. Besides, it sounds like she actually listens to you. And I promise to actually try and learn the spell."

"Next lesson?" he asked. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Yes," she said determinedly. "As long as I don't overreact and you listen to me if I think Astoria needs to stop it will be fine. Besides, I need to learn that spell. I have an idea that- Actually this bit should be under the oath."

She was interrupted by the sound of the infirmary doors opening, revealing Madam Pomfrey. Daphne watched as she muttered something to Hermione and Ginny. They quickly made their way through the doors with Ginny shooting a glance at them as she disappeared from sight.

"You should go," Daphne said immediately, standing up and pulling Harry with her.

"But you were going to-."

"It can wait. Just send a message about Ron when you know more...and let him know he can borrow my Transfiguration homework if he needs to. He'll know what it means."

She playfully punched him on the shoulder and continued. "And stop sending such vague messages you prat. I was losing my mind on the way here."

"Thanks for coming to check," he said in response. "The next time I'm in hospital I will be as specific as possible explaining my near death experience."

"Idiot," she mumbled as she gave him another hug. "No more jokes about you dying...or almost dying. Now go," she said as she gently pushed him toward the infirmary.

Harry smiled and nodded, quickly turning and making his way toward the hospital wing, eventually disappearing from sight.

She did not hear from Harry again until lunchtime the next day. Tracey had been much more pleasant once she learned she had made up with Harry and they were on their way to lunch when Daphne's coin warmed up.

Meet me in the kitchen for lunch?

She quickly told Tracey her plans had changed which Tracey enthusiastically endorsed. Harry looked very relieved to see her as she entered the kitchen.

"Everything okay?" she asked. "Something happen with Ron?"

"Ron's fine," he assured. "He said if he had known you would let him copy your homework he would have gotten himself poisoned a long time ago. Even Hermione laughed."

"Idiot," she spit out through her own chuckle.

"It's our backup Keeper," Harry continued, becoming annoyed. "He can barely contain his glee that Ron won't be able to play next week. He hasn't left me alone since I got back to Gryffindor last night. He keeps wanting to talk strategy and 'help' me manage the team. It's doing my head in."

"Of course it's Quidditch," Daphne muttered in disgust. "Who cares that Ron almost died, it's Quidditch after all. The sport should be banned."

"You're my pretend girlfriend now, Daphne," Harry smirked. "I need you to pretend to care about Quidditch."

"I care about you not getting brained during the match. That's the best I can do."

"So I suppose you wearing my jersey to the match next Saturday is out?"

Daphne glared.

"Fine...thank you for not wanting me to get brained. If you change your mind about the jersey let me know."

"Anyway," Daphne trudged on. "We really need to talk about things, soon."

"I was hoping we could review right after we eat," Harry said with a nod. "I have practice tonight and I've got a lot to tell you."

Daphne nodded and quickly began eating, anxious to move forward after her self imposed delay.

Several minutes later they were ensconced in a classroom and ready to begin.

"You first," Daphne commanded after the now routine casting of Muffliato. Harry became very serious.

Daphne sat in relative silence for the next hour as Harry described Slughorn's memory and his subsequent discussion with Dumbledore. The thought of making one Horcrux was horrific...purposely creating six was beyond anything she could have imagined. She occasionally interrupted him asking for more details but for the most part she remained silent, furiously taking notes. Once he was finished they sat in silence for several minutes as she processed everything he had shared.

The good news, if anything about this could be considered good, was two of Voldemort's Horcruxes had already been destroyed. If power was a factor in what they had planned the less places it needed to be spread the better. Dumbledore had also confirmed their theory that the snake, Nagini, was a Horcrux as well.

Perhaps the most fascinating part to her was Dumbledore's opinion that Voldemort himself had validated the prophecy by attacking Harry's parents, setting Harry down the path as his nemesis. Did that mean his followers had done something similar by attacking Neville Longbottom's parents? Setting her family down the path of wanting to help Harry? Was Astoria's request to learn the patronus spell coincidence or destiny? Everything continued to point toward her being at least a part of the 'power.' It was at once exhilarating and terrifying.

Dumbledore's adamance that love was and would be the only thing that could protect Harry only validated Daphne's plan more but she decided to think about that later. The implications were too much to focus on.

Based on Harry's track record with the Headmaster she hadn't expected one subject to be discussed but she needed to make sure.

"So Dumbledore didn't say anything about you...your scar?" she asked.

"Of course not," Harry spit out. "He really laid the love part on thick though."

"Yeah," Daphne interjected, "it's interesting that he thinks you can harm Voldemort through the connection but it doesn't work the other way around. It points to your theory being correct"

"My headaches would beg to differ but yeah...it is interesting."

She was sure they would review and re-review everything Harry had learned over the next week but it was now Daphne's turn. She took a deep breath.

"How much time do you have left?" she asked seriously.

Harry looked at his watch. "I want to go see Ron again before practice so about ninety minutes." She definitely had his attention.

"I think Dumbledore is right...about the love bit. I talked to Astoria about Expecto Patronum and it gave me an idea. It led me to doing some research and I think it may work."

Harry was staring at her intensely now. It was unnerving.