With that comment, Daphne gave up all attempts at an act, "Two reasons. Tracey Davis and I have deliberately shared a room for years. Having two wands in one room is very helpful, though it's been the cause for more than one rumor in Slytherin. And I'm much better with a wand than my sister. I always have been, and on the occasions when someone has made it through our wards, I've made them regret it. It usually means we sleep in shifts anytime we're worried, like the beginning of the year."
Daphne seemed to suddenly stand taller, "I am the Heiress of our House. I have been trained both to protect our line's reputation and our station. My sister has not needed such skills before now, and her focus has been upon much more subtle arts such as her love of potions. Not only that, but my sister never should have been sorted into Slytherin in the first place. She doesn't have the disposition for Slytherin amusements of betrayal and backstabbing." Daphne replied, as she had completely dropped speaking in hypotheticals and met Harry's eyes.
Harry frowned thoughtfully and quietly asked, "Why was she sorted to Slytherin then?"
Daphne shrugged a little bit, "My mother, and myself were both here and she wanted to follow in our footsteps despite me telling her she should go elsewhere." Daphne looked down a moment and then looked up, anger flashing in her own eyes briefly.
"I found when I tried to protect her during her first year the prefects can stop us from going into the rooms of the younger years at night. Bunch of bloody hypocrites. Now she's a third year, and they're likely to be far less restrained with their 'fun'. I've already heard comments that she's attracted the eye of more than one seventh year. I've probably made it worse by rendering myself untouchable. They'll go after her to get back … at… me..." Daphne trailed off and blinked in surprise at the sight before her.
Harry's expression had lost all traces of humor as she explained her point. It was replaced by something… else. Harry hadn't outright disbelieved Draco the night before, but this just hammered the point home. His eyes bored into Daphne's for several long seconds, and he was reading nothing but truth in her statements, before he replied stiffly. "I'll take care of it "
Daphne blinked in surprise again, trying to shrug off the inexplicable fear that had risen in her at his sudden shift in demeanor. "This time you didn't answer my question. What would you demand in return? There's nothing more important to me than my sister's safety," she forced out, ignoring years of conditioning to not reveal weakness. "Absolutely nothing," she repeated forcefully, "If you can protect my sister, I will give you anything in my power." the promise and near blatant invitation in her voice clear.
Harry frowned. He may not be all that adept at social cues, especially given his general sense of apathy but he was not so oblivious that he missed what she was willing to offer.
The fact that she was willing to go so far told him all he needed to about how desperately she viewed the situation. Well, either that or she was just used to whoring to get what she needed. Harry got the gut impression that it was far more desperation.
Harry shook his head, "I'm not interested in compensation, Miss Greengrass. I have no need of compensation. I will take care of it so she'll be protected beginning this evening."
Harry didn't wait for a reply, he spun on his heel and walked to the door, his wand was in his hand, and he waved it briefly at the door before exiting the room without saying another word, slamming the door behind him harder than he had intended.
Daphne watched the door loudly close behind him. She had been ready to tell Ares that one of the spells she had cast had sealed the door, but either she had miscast it, or he had dispelled it with an ease she had never encountered before.
It wasn't until the distant footfalls of Ares's confident steps had faded to silence that she let out the deep breath she had been holding. There had been something… dangerous in Ares' face in those final moments before his departure. His eyes and expression had gone completely still. Daphne had barely managed to resist the urge to back away from the suddenly murderous intent that was so thinly veiled by his icy countenance. The idea that he was named after the ancient God of War didn't seem so arrogant at the moment.
Overall, the conversation had not gone at all like she had expected it to. She had expected to use her knowledge of Ares being the one to cast the wards, to improve her bargaining position in order to get what she wanted. She had assumed that Ares wouldn't want the rest of Slytherin to possess the knowledge of who had embarrassed them, and that information could somehow be held over his head to maneuver him into the position where he would agree to ward her sister's room. Daphne had expected that she would have to give some sort of favor after some back and forth negotiation. Given his apparent association with Draco Malfoy, Daphne had expected those negotiations to have been less than pleasant no matter what sort of bargaining chips she brought to the table. She had been willing to go even farther and reveal what she had overheard of his conversation the night before. It was far more blunt than she was used to, but she was determined to protect her sister.
Ares Flamel, however, had acted nothing like expectations. He had seemed amused at some of the common sense things she had mentioned. In fact, his utter contempt for the members of Slytherin house and their traditions was visible for anyone to see. The kind of person he was underneath the multiple masks he donned was beyond her capacity to even identify, much less understand. He was either an idiot with no sense of self-preservation, an ignorant child who had no previous exposure to the sharks of pureblood politics, or he was something else..
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