Chapter 12

That's," exclaimed Daphne. "That's... no! No... we fix that," she firmly said.

"Yes," said Hermione, just as firmly.

"But, how?" asked Harry.

"We'll figure it out," said Daphne. "We don't have to know the answer, to that, right now."

After they talked and got to know each other a lot better, Hermione finally said, "Time to get changed. We'll be there, soon."

Harry nodded and stood up. "I'll wait outside for you," he said.

As he started to head to the door, Daphne and Hermione looked each other, and seemed to come to an agreement.

"Harry. Stay," said Daphne.

Confused, Harry turned to look at her and asked, "You want me to get changed first?"

"No, Harry," said Hermione. "We're bonded. Please, stay."

Harry looked confused for a moment or two before his eyes widened in shock. He looked at the pair of them and said, "You... I... you... want me stay while you get changed?" And blushed bright red before looking like he wanted nothing more than to run for it.

Hermione grinned and said, "We're going to be married, Harry. The three of us."

"Bu... but... we... err..." he tried.

"If you want, you can turn around," said Daphne, taking some pity on him.

So, Harry stood up close and facing the door while the two girls changed. When they were done and said they were ready, he turned back around again. Both girls just grinned at him.

"Your turn," said Hermione.

Harry moved over to his robes and looked like he was waiting. "Are you... umm... are you going to... turn around?"

With a smirk, Daphne asked, "Do you want us to?"

Blushing crimson again, Harry took a couple of deep breaths before he said, "No... yes... no... not... if you don't want to."

Taking another deep breath he thought, 'It's alright, Harry. Just pretend they're not there.'

Turning his back to them... at least, mostly his back... he stripped off, starting with above the waist. He then pulled on his shirt and tie but... as he didn't bring his jumper with him due to the heat... he wasn't wearing it under his robes.

Hesitating a moment he thought to himself, 'They're not there. They're not there. They're being real quiet for me. They're not there.'

He kicked off his shoes, then used his big toe on the opposite foot to kick his socks off. Taking a deep breath he then undid his belt and allowed his oversized pants to drop to the floor, before kicking them off. They were so large, he didn't even need to undo the button at the waist, let alone the zip.

He then reached for his school pants and pulled them on, pulling up the zip and buttoning the top button. Then threaded the belt through the loops, before doing do that up, too. All the time, he was running through his mantra, 'They're not there. You're alone. There's no one else here.'

Once his belt was done up, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then bent over and picked up his discarded clothes, before dumping them in a pile on the bench seat next to him.

He then sat down and proceeded to pull his school socks and shoes onto his feet. As he did so, he turned to look at the two girls. They were both smiling back at him.

"I didn't take you for a boxers man, Harry," said Hermione, her cheeks a little pink as she smiled at him.

"I think it suits him," said Daphne, her cheeks also a little pink.

Harry tried hard not to blush... and failed again... and focussed on getting his shoes and socks on and done up. "Yeah... well," he muttered. He didn't look at either of them.

Standing up, he then pulled his robe over the top and settled it about himself. "How do I look?" he asked them.

"Like a Gryffindor," said Daphne, while Hermione said, "You look very nice, Harry. But, I wish you'd make a greater effort in making sure your tie was straight and done up properly."

Harry sighed and complied. At least, he hoped he'd done a better job of it. "We need to get this stuff..." he said, gesturing at their piles of 'civilian' clothes, "... back and into our trunks."

Daphne smiled and said, "Leave them with me. I'll put them into my trunk." Then she shrunk the three piles and stuffed the lot into one of her pockets.

"I kinda forgot about that," he said with a sigh. "Just because we're not supposed to know the spells, doesn't mean we can't do them in private."

"You need to let your inner Slytherin out," said Daphne. "Both of you... We need to be very good at pretending we don't know the material, from this point on; but, it doesn't mean we can afford to forget any of it. Once in our apartment, I intend to put up sufficient wards to stop us being spied upon."

"We can help with that," said Hermione. "Harry and I both got a lot of experience setting up wards while we were on the run."

As the train was slowing down to pull into Hogsmeade station, the three began to pull down the wards ready to disembark.

"Malfoy didn't come and annoy us, this trip," Harry said to Hermione.

"Notice-me-not ward, Harry," she replied. "He did walk past a couple of times, though. I think he was probably looking for us."

"Something you're going to need to work on, Potter," said Daphne. "Your temper. You cannot afford to lose your temper with Malfoy and his goon squad, any more."

"Back to last names, are we?" asked Harry, more amused than offended.

Daphne blushed and said, "Sorry. That's going to take some getting used to."

"It's alright," said Harry. "Those owls should be waiting for us when we get to the Great Hall. After that, it no longer matters."

Just before the train arrived, Daphne led the other two back to the compartment she shared with Tracey and a couple others.

"Trace," she said, after opening the door. "We're having guests for the few moments left."

"Oh?" asked her brunette-haired friend.

Looking back, Daphne said, "I'll explain during the sorting and feast. For now; please, just go along with this."

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