Chapter 53: Is It True!

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I chuckle at her still flabbergasted expression.

"Of course, I put up this privacy charm for a reason. I expect you realize how dangerous and valuable this information is. About Riddle, I mean. I imagine few people in Slytherin would appreciate hearing, let alone believe, the bit about Harry. I'd appreciate you keeping that to yourself as well, by the way."

"Why did you tell me this?" Daphne asks when she finally regains the composure to speak.

That's a good question. "I have a bet going with Harry that there are good Slytherins out there," I lie with a smile.

She sees right through it. "Why did you really?"

"I wasn't planning on it," I say honestly. "I was just winging it."

She scoffs and then looks at me more closely. "You really didn't plan that? No wonder they didn't put you in Slytherin!"

"I blame it on you," I say, not taking offense. "Pretty girls seem to have that effect on me."

Do I spot a faint blush? Probably my imagination. "Typical Gryffindor, laying blame on everybody but yourself."

"You didn't check to see if I was telling the truth that time," I say with a grin. To head off her indignant reply I charge ahead. "Besides, who wants the hassle of being sneaky all the time? It's much easier to fake your way through it until you get called out on it, then tell the naked truth."

"Can't handle it, can you?"

"Nope!"

"You're hopeless."

"I get that a lot."

"I bet."

I chuckle at that, and I see that we've finally meandered to the far side where the sun sets, so I stop at a window and look out. I smile when she does the same. We both remain quiet at the window for a minute. "So what do you think?"

"About?"

"My brilliant plan to befriend a Slytherin, is it working?"

She lets out an incredulous breath. "How do your friends even talk to you?"

"They mostly just tolerate me," I say with a grin.

"I could tell. They looked like they weren't sure if they wanted to throttle you, bang their heads against the table, or laugh their heads off."

"It alternates surprisingly quickly. They told me it's a gift."

"I'm sure they meant a curse," Daphne says, rolling her eyes.

"It keeps them on their toes. Plus they aren't Slytherins, so they don't mind a little honesty." I chuckle as the next thought strikes me. "Not too much honesty, of course, but a little."

"I get the feeling you cross that line quite a bit."

"When it pleases me. A few weeks ago I pointed out rather bluntly that Harry and Hermione love each other."

"What? Is it actually true what the Prophet said?" Once again I break through her hard exterior, which makes me have to suppress a smile.

"I suppose it is, if you take it at face value. You know there are different kinds of love. They aren't a couple romantically, though, if that's what you mean. Just this evening I pointed out that they love me, too. That was one of the times they wanted to bang their heads on the table earlier."

"That's...you...I can't...I don't even know what to say to you."

I chuckle at her sputtering. "Like I said, keeps people on their toes."

"You won't be speaking to me like that," she says firmly.

"Of course not. I don't love you."

"Good," she says with a nod.

"...Yet."

She makes a gagging sound. "Why am I even still talking to you?"

"Well I'm talking to you because you're interesting and attractive, if that helps."

"I'm not sure interesting is the right word to describe you," she says, voice dripping with scorn.

"Jury's still out on attractive, then?" I ask with a grin.

She makes a sound not unlike a snort and just shakes her head.

"Well, if you figure it out, let me know. The alternative for interesting, that is. Perhaps I might suggest debonair? After all, I dropped a massive information bomb on you and then I managed to throw you off balance enough that you never asked how I know all those things."

She looks shocked at that. Direct hit! "H-how do you?"

"That wasn't very Slytherin of you."

"Well you were up front about everything—" her eyes widened dramatically.

"—that doesn't matter much." I finish for her, letting a little smugness into my smile.

"You—you planned all that?" she asks incredulously.

"Nope, just winged it."

She stares at me for a few moments before she begins to chuckle quietly, and then her shoulders begin shaking in mirth. Before long it grows in volume to a beautifully full belly laugh that I can't help but join. "This," she says when her laughter has died down to brief fits, "is the most preposterous, most enlightening, and most frustrating conversation I've ever had."

"I will gladly accept that as a compliment."

"You would."

"So can we have more of them?"

She makes a sort of half-sigh, half growl. "No respectable Slytherin could allow you to get away without finding out more of your secrets, I suppose."

"Oh and they're such delicious ones, too," I say. After a few moments of silence, I look at her more seriously. "What if I were to come to you with a complex problem...one that requires far more cunning than I or my poor, honest, fellow Gryffindors can muster?"

She lifts an eyebrow at my sudden change in tone, then makes another rather unladylike snort. "You got me to agree to meet with you more often, and then you go and drop this on me? If you're friends with Potter, then it's probably something huge and stupid that has to do with thwarting a Dark Lord or two. Trust me, I've heard the stories. That could end very badly for me, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure we can bluster through it, if you're not interested," I say airily.

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