The Wrong Twin

66

By the time Harry had arrived back at Hogwarts that night, the moon had long arise, and the hands on the giant grandfather clock in the Slytherin common room reached 01.00 am. The common room was empty, at least, to Harry it was.

Just as he was about to walk up the stairs leading to the male's dorms, a sudden hand clutched the back of his coat. Harry jolted, stopping halfway. 

"Where have you been?" a sleepy voice emerged from the darkness. Harry turned around, to put a name to the hand and the voice. Daphne sat on an armchair, hair slightly messed up, having woken up a few seconds ago. 

It seems that Daphne was waiting for Harry to get back to Hogwarts before falling asleep. It made Harry's heart jump in excitement. However, the question she asked posed a huge threat to their secret plan.

No one was supposed to know about the plan except for a certain few. Mixing Daphne in will definitely lead to problems in the near future. So no matter how much Harry's heart hurt, he had to lie.

"I was just taking a walk around the grounds. The moon truly is beautiful tonight you know." Harry lied, hoping to sound confident.

Daphne's expression fell flat, as her mouth curved downwards. "You and I both know that's a lie. Tell me the truth Harry. Where have you been."

He panicked. "Like I told you, taking a walk around the grounds."

"Oh really? Then explain how I was walking around the grounds earlier as well, yet I did not see a glimpse of you. Or explain how I clearly saw you apparating away during the evening. Tell me Harry. Explain everything."

"I'm sorry."

Daphne's eyes hardened at the two words. 

"I'm sorry? Are you for real? That's all you have to say?"

Harry nodded, looking away from the Aphrodite of Hogwarts, afraid that anything he says will provoke Daphne even more. When Daphne got into one of these moods, the only thing to calm her down is for her to let it all out. To let out all the pent up emotions stored in her. 

But it seems today was not the same like any other day. This outburst didn't calm down when Harry had kept silent, like he was used to. Instead of calming down, it only seemed to anger her even more. 

"Is there anything else that you lied to me about?" Daphne asked, her voice deadly quiet and calm.

Harry hesitated, not knowing the best option to answer to this. If he agreed, he would have to tell her about the plan. But if he didn't... who knows what will happen to their bond. Would it sever it? Would it pull the bond until it snapped in half, leaving the two alone and heartbroken?

Daphne pursed her lips, nodding at the lack of reaction coming from the raven. "I see. I guess that means everything you said to me was a lie. Did you even love me? Or was that all just a pure lie?" 

"What? Daphne? You know I love you, really I do. I'll never lie about our love-"

"But you'll lie about everything else? That's now how relationships are supposed to work Harry. You need to tell me."

The raven tore his eyes away from Daphne, breaking the eye contact. In other senses, that was also when their bond severed. When Harry refused to answer.

"I'm sorry Harry, but unless you tell me what's going on in that head of yours, what you're hiding from me. This won't work. We won't work. Come find me when you're ready to explain." The blonde stated, her voice with a hint of sadness. 

It made Harry want to grip her tight, to keep her close to him. But he knew if he did that, Daphne would end up hating him. But he also knew that, if he did do something, the plan would be endangered, and Daphne will be endangered. 

So he didn't do anything. He watched as she slipped away to the girl's dormitories, the last thing he saw of her was the moonlight reflecting off of her platinum blonde hair. 

A cloud covered the moon, leaving Harry alone in the cold dark room. Alone with his thoughts.

~

The next few days were hell to say the very least. It took all of his urge not to run up to Daphne and apologize, to beg her to stay. It seems like most of Harry's friends knew about his dilemma, as none of them were teasing him like they normally do.

And as for Harry, he was completely miserable. Occupying his time with the preparing for the plan, preparing for the third task, and staying awake thinking of ways to fix his crumbling relationship with Daphne. Needless to say, he got little to zero sleep every night and he could feel exhaustion wearing off his bones.

Life continued, days flew by. And soon, the day of the final task dawned upon Hogwarts. The sun rose early that day, the birds chirping loudly outside. It was a cheerful and bright day, the best weather to bring chaos to.