As the door closed softly behind him, Harry felt the cloak slip off his shoulders. He heaved a sigh of relief, having managed to slip past Snape and Filch undetected. They walked past the door, unaware of him. The door shut with a soft thud. It took Harry a few seconds to catch his breath before he began noticing the room.
It seemed to be an abandoned classroom. Chairs and tables lined the walls, with lots of space to move around in the centre. At the front of the classroom, there was a large mirror propped against the wall. It was impressive, stretching nearly as far as the ceiling would go. However, there was something even more peculiar in front of the grand mirror – a girl. She was staring at Harry with an unreadable expression.
She had wavy golden hair that flowed down to her shoulders. Her eyes were an icy blue, and they were currently boring into his. She furrowed her brows, before speaking.
"What are you doing here, Potter?" asked the mysterious girl, surprising Harry.
He said, "Uh... I was just exploring the school. W-what are you doing here?"
"That's none of your business, Potter. Now go away," said the girl, "before you get the both of us caught."
Harry, however, was curious. He had seen the magnificent mirror the girl had resumed staring at. The gold-embellished frame of the mirror was standing on two ornate golden feet. It had an engraving on the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi , it read.
Harry had little idea as to what it could mean, or what language it was written in. The girl turned and huffed.
"You're still not gone? What do you want?"
"Why are you sitting in front of this mirror?" Harry asked.
"I already told you, it's none of your business. Why don't you leave already?"
"Uh, I will, if you tell me what you're doing." Harry, gathering up his Gryffindor courage, managed to stand his ground under her piercing gaze.
"Fine. You had better leave after this." said the girl, clearly irritated. "Stand here, where I was standing, and look into the mirror. Tell me what you see."
Harry obliged, and stood in front of the mirror. When he looked into the reflection, he could see two older people standing behind him. The woman on his left had dark red hair and emerald eyes, similar to his. She was very beautiful. The man on his right had black hair, which seemed to be really messy and unkempt. He looked at the man and woman, who smiled in return. That's when it dawned on him– the man and woman seemed hauntingly familiar, because they were Harry's parents.
"Mum... and Dad?" Harry asked in disbelief. The couple nodded and smiled at him.
"So you see your parents? I thought so." The girl looked at Harry and smiled slightly.
"Wh-what is this mirror? Why can I see my parents?" Harry was still stunned from seeing his parents, he couldn't peel his eyes off them.
"Haven't you realised yet? This mirror shows the deepest desires of your heart. You're an orphan, so it's only natural you would want to meet your parents." she said.
"Why- wait. How do you know so much about me?" Harry was surprised.
The girl pinched the bridge of her nose. "How dense are you, Potter? Everyone knows the basic details about you. You're famous, for Merlin's sake."
"Right. I'm not used to this fame yet." Harry commented. He did not like his celebrity status, and he definitely did not like how others kept on recognising him. It was disconcerting.
"What do you see?" asked Harry.
"That's personal. I hope you understand that I'm not comfortable sharing this with you." the girl said, with a sheepish shrug.
"Well, it was worth a shot. What's your name anyway?"
"Greengrass. Daphne Greengrass. I'm in Slytherin, in your year."
"In SLYTHERIN?" He was really surprised now. "I didn't know Slytherins could talk without insulting."
"You don't know most Slytherins. I've heard Malfoy preach about how you're beneath him and how you made a huge mistake by denying his friendship. He intends to make you pay, although I doubt he can do much by himself without running to his daddy." Daphne snickered as she finished her sentence.
Harry, surprised again, asked, "You don't like Malfoy either?"
"Of course I don't! Nobody other than his band of buffoons even wants to be in his presence. He always acts so high and mighty, it gets on my nerves."
"Wow. That's bloody brilliant. So it's just Malfoy who's a bad apple, huh. Not all Slytherins are bad?" Harry felt cheerful.
"Of course not. We just keep to ourselves, it doesn't mean we're bad or anything. Our house just has an unfortunate reputation." Daphne said with a pointed look.
"Sorry." Harry mumbled.
"Anyway," Daphne yawned. "It's late now. I'm tired. I shall take your leave now, Potter."
Harry quickly cast a Tempus. It was half past 12 by now. Filch would be roaming the corridors with Mrs. Norris. It was really unsafe to leave right now. He felt concerned for Daphne's safety.
"I'll drop you to the Slytherin Common Room, come with me." He offered.
Daphne looked at Harry sceptically. "Potter, how will you benefit me? You will have trouble getting to your own Common Room this late at night."
"Not really, I have an Invisibility Cloak. I can take you with me." Harry picked up the Cloak from its place on the cold stone floor. Daphne's eyes widened.
"An Invisibility Cloak? Those are really rare. And I do mean, really rare. How did you find it?" She looked awestruck.
"Someone gave it to me as a Christmas present," shrugged Harry. "I don't know who gave it, the note had no name."
"Wow. Someone out there really cares for you." She whispered. Daphne seemed at a loss of words when Harry donned the Cloak and his body disappeared.
"Come on, we'd better go." said Harry, opening the Cloak for her.
Daphne was hesitant at first, but obliged nonetheless. Harry took one last look at his parents, who still seemed to be smiling at him, and ducked his head under the Cloak.
He opened the door slowly and took a look around. The hallway was noiseless. The pair made their way towards the dungeons first. Harry had an idea of where the Slytherin Dungeon was, but had never been there himself. Daphne guided him to the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. As expected, it was in the dungeons.
Through the journey, Harry was becoming increasingly aware of the close proximity the girl seemed to be in. He hadn't been so close to a girl ever before. Harry wasn't sure why, but he felt embarrassed and could sense his face redden. He tried to distract himself by thinking of something else. The first 20 elements of the periodic table are Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon... Harry had a strange fondness for Muggle Chemistry.
When they reached the portrait, Daphne turned to look at Harry. He couldn't help but feel hot in his face again, their noses were almost touching. Daphne gave him a smile, and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks, Potter." she whispered in his ear.
Harry could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand. He was sure his face was redder than a tomato.
"Y-you're welcome, Greengrass. I'll see you later. G-goodnight." Harry managed to choke out.
He left after he saw her enter the door. She smiled and waved at him before leaving, which caused Harry to blush yet again. He wasn't sure why she had suddenly kissed his cheek, especially since she seemed so cold at first. Was that ... normal? Kissing your friend's cheek?
Shaking his head, he quietly tiptoed back to the Gryffindor tower, intrigued yet slightly terrified by this new adversary he found himself against. He thought of the Christmas he had had. Receiving an invisibility cloak, gifts for the first time, spending the holiday with friends, getting away safe and sound from Snape and Filch, and seeing his parents' faces for the first time and the weirdest of them all, meeting Daphne Greengrass.
This is the strangest night I've had so far, Harry thought to himself before finally drifting off to sleep.
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When Daphne had first heard the legend of the Mirror of Erised from her mother, she had been unwilling to accept that a mirror could have such an use. After all, how could a mirror, even if made of Magic, tell a person's deepest desire? That's why after everyone had settled in during the first week, Daphne began slowly venturing out and memorising all of Hogwarts' hallways and searching carefully for any sort of enchanted mirrors.
It took her weeks to finally find the room. She had been horrified at the amount of dust on the upturned desks and chairs and almost left before she had noticed the glimmering mirror, right in the middle of the room, as if waiting for her.
That had been a few days before Christmas. An apt Christmas gift for myself , she had thought, grinning.
The mirror was clearly well-crafted and thrumming with Magic and beckoning her towards it. Carefully, she crept close to the mirror until she was standing right in front of it.
She had frowned as she had initially seen nothing, but then her eyes had widened when Astoria had come up beside her, smiling, without the usual dark circles under her eyes, her thin frame looking healthier.
Moreover, she had seen herself be just as carefree and happy, like her father hadn't drilled into her the importance of concealing all weaknesses. Like there wasn't any need to conceal anything at all.
She had cried herself to sleep silently that night, unable to decide whether she was happy her sister was free of that horrible disease or whether she was jealous that she would never be living that reality.
Although she had sworn to herself to never go back to that room, she had found herself breaking that promise and sitting in front of the mirror until late hours in the night at least twice a week. She felt that she had been cursed by that mirror but knew that ultimately, it was her weak will that folded each time.
It was on one such occasion that she had met Harry Potter, resident 'celebrity', as so eloquently put by Professor Snape.
As she climbed into bed softly, careful not to wake up her nosy classmates (Circe forbid she wake up Parkinson ), she replayed that night's events. She had not been expecting Potter to be an awkward child, thinking of him as more like an entitled one, especially from all of Malfoy's unending rants. He had almost reminded her of a younger Astoria, eager for attention and brimming with questions.
She laughed to herself softly, he's interesting. She had kissed him to test his reaction and he had not failed, he had blushed rather supremely and seemed to have trouble forming words. It was adorable, really.
Who would've known Harry Potter was actually a shy yet adorable child with a sense of awe and curiosity? Certainly not me, thought Daphne as she let sleep claim her.
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Harry, wanting to escape Filch and Snape:
Daphne: Allow me to introduce myself.
and so, begins our riveting love story. lol.
hey guys. so this fic is a result of me and my best friend being very normal about fanfiction and haphne. im actually v excited about this?? y'all can call me cel (she/her), he's val. nice to see ya and hope you enjoy!!
constructive criticism is always welcome, but pls be nice about it. im sensitive and i WILL cry. that is a threat.