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HP437- Binding Chocolate Frogs
🕑 Added 2025-05-31 22:47:32 +0000 UTCDaphne pulled back an inch, just enough for her nose to brush against his. “Alright?” she asked.
Harry gave a small nod, a half-smirk curling at his lips. “Yeah,” he said. “Wasn’t bad.”
She flicked his shoulder lightly. “You’re a tosser.”
“You’re the one who kissed me.”
“And you kissed back.”
“Didn’t complain, did I?”
She rolled her eyes, but there was a flush in her cheeks that wasn’t from the fire. Harry tugged her closer, arm slipping round her waist, head resting lightly against her neck. He caught the scent of her hair... something faintly sharp, not floral, maybe mint or some fancy shampoo Tracey had bullied her into trying.
They just sat like that.
“So,” he said, voice low, “you were the first?”
“Don’t tell me you’re keeping a scorecard now,” she replied.
“I’m just trying to work out if I owe Tracey a galleon or two.”
She snorted. “She’ll claim it anyway. Probably tell everyone I ambushed you.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Bold accusation, Potter.”
“You did kiss me first.”
“After you gave a speech.”
“It was a very good speech.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, noncommittal, “bit long-winded.”
“Says the girl who brought up a kissing rota.”
“That was Tracey. I just listened.”
Harry tilted his head a little, brushing his cheek against her shoulder. “And somehow ended up first.”
“Maybe I was just quicker.”
He chuckled. “So who’s next, then? Susan? Hannah?”
Daphne didn’t flinch. “Not my business. Long as they don’t expect a diary swap.”
He snorted. “You think Susan keeps a diary?”
“She colour-codes her revision notes. Of course she keeps a diary.”
“Fair.”
“I’m not asking for exclusive,” he said eventually, not looking at her. “But I’m not playing the idiot either. If someone’s going to get jealous and throw a cauldron at my head, I’d rather know in advance.”
Daphne let out a soft snort. “If anyone throws a cauldron at your head, it’ll be me. And not because I’m jealous. Just because you said something daft.”
“Good to know.”
A beat passed, then she said, “And if you’re waiting for a shouting match over who gets to snog you next, don’t hold your breath. We’ve all got better things to do.”
“I dunno,” Harry said, turning slightly to steal one of the shortbread squares before she could slap his hand. “You lot are strangely coordinated for a group that supposedly doesn’t care.”
“We’re practical. There’s a difference.”
“Practical enough to form a pact?”
“Astoria’s idea.”
“She draw up contracts?”
“She did,” Daphne said, stealing the biscuit back. “She then signed hers in glitter ink.”
He snorted, mouth full. “Course she did.”
“Mm.”
“Want me to stop talking?”
“Probably wise.”
He grinned against her shoulder. “Too bad.”
She elbowed him lightly. “You’re lucky I like you.”
“I am charming.”
“You’re something.” She shook head, adding, “You know Tracey’s going to want a full report.”
“I’ll tell her I got rejected.”
“She’ll know you’re lying.”
“She’ll believe me if you back me up.”
“I won’t.”
“Disloyal.”
"Loyal to my pack." She snickered.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re all conspiring.”
She smiled. “Welcome to Slytherin.”
Next day, of course the group knew about what had happened. At breakfast, the girls had claimed their usual spot early, well before the lads showed up. The moment Daphne dropped into her seat, Tracey was already whispering across the table like they were in the middle of some top-secret operation.
Astoria leaned in with her elbows on the table, munching toast like it was popcorn. “You kissed him first, didn’t you?” she asked bluntly, voice not bothering with a whisper.
“Morning to you too, imp,” Daphne said, buttering her toast slowly.
Tracey narrowed her eyes, already leaning half across the bench. “You did, didn’t you? You absolute viper. I knew it. I told Susan you would make the first move.”
“I didn’t,” Daphne replied, annoyingly calm. “Technically.”
“That is a confirmation,” Tracey shot back. “You can’t 'technically' kiss someone without kissing them.”
Hannah and Susan slid into place across from them, both of them grinning like they had been waiting for this. Susan set down her juice. “Please tell me you at least knocked something over first. I need this to be worth the galleon I just lost.”
“You bet on me?” Daphne asked.
“Of course,” Susan said, then jerked her thumb at Hannah. “She backed Astoria. Said you were too strategic to be first.”
“I am strategic,” Daphne said, then flicked her eyes sideways to Harry, who was seated in the midst.
He rolled his eyes with flair. “Oh, don’t mind me. Feel free to gossip. I’m just here for decoration.”
Astoria, never one to miss a chance, elbowed him in the ribs. “Are you going shy on us now?”
Harry didn’t even blink. He turned, leaned down, and cupped her cheeks like she was a startled kitten. Then he kissed her square on the forehead.
Astoria made a strangled noise somewhere between a squeak and a scoff as he pulled back. “I’m not shy. You’re just too young to be poking into grown-up business.” He tapped her forehead like he was closing a book.
She slapped at his chest repeatedly, face pink. “You cannot just do that! That is against the rules!”
“What rules?” Harry said, brushing invisible dust off his sleeve. “The ‘no forehead affection for short goblins’ clause?”
“I’m not short!”
“You’re absolutely short,” Daphne chimed in, not looking up from her toast.
“I am two years younger than you all!” Astoria shot back, pointing dramatically.
Susan gave an amused sigh. “Is this what we’re doing now? Morning slap-fights and height arguments?”
Luna looked at Harry from his left, voice as casual as if she’d just asked for extra jam. “I want to kiss you next. But it’s not my turn.”
Harry leaned down, kissed her cheek without ceremony. “You made the list. You can’t blame me.”
“I didn’t think it would actually be followed,” Luna replied. “Tracey wrote it on the back of a Chocolate Frog card.”
“That’s legally binding,” Susan called over. “Even the Ministry wouldn’t argue with that.”
“Especially not if it was a Perenelle's card,” Tracey added.
Harry shook his head, reaching for a bit of toast. “This is mental.”
Ginny grinned. “Your confession says otherwise.”
Harry rolled his eyes, dragging a piece of toast across his plate. “You can’t keep anything to yourself, can you?”
Daphne snorted, leaning on her palm. “Why? Regret it?”
He shot her a look. “No. I was planning to use the same words on all of you.”
That got a round of dramatic gasps and feigned outrage.
Tracey threw a bit of bacon at him. “Unbelievable!”
Susan pointed her fork at him. “So we’re just... reading from a script now?”
Astoria clutched her chest like she'd been betrayed in a soap opera. “All these heartfelt moments, and he’s just an emotional fraud, that is.”
Harry picked up the bit of bacon and popped it in his mouth. “Well, if it works.”
Hannah chuckled, nudging Susan. “You said he’d pull something like this.”
“And I was right,” Susan muttered, still pretending to be scandalised.
Ginny leaned across the table. “So what’s my line then, Potter? ‘Most dangerous girl with a bat’? ‘Too many brothers, still scariest in the room’?”
“You’re not even next in the rota,” Daphne said, flicking her spoon in Ginny’s direction.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Yet."
Tracey leaned in like she was about to pass legislation. “Alright, purely theoretical… say Ginny’s next. What is her line going to be, Potter?”
Harry didn’t even blink. “That one is easy. ‘Most likely to smack me with a bludger, then snog me before I hit the ground.’”
Ginny raised an eyebrow, clearly considering it. “Bit wordy.”
“Still true,” Daphne said, not missing a beat. “You’ve been rehearsing that smug look since third year.”
Ginny smirked. “And it is coming along nicely. Practice makes perfect.”
“Perfectly insufferable,” Pansy muttered, stabbing her eggs.
Susan sipped her pumpkin juice. “Right, educational time. If we are assigning Harry confession lines, I say we start grading them.”
Astoria straightened in her seat, toast halfway to her mouth. “Like OWLs?”
“Better,” Susan said. “Emotional weight, sincerity, and fluster factor. EWSF.”
Harry raised a hand. “Absolutely not.”
“Overruled,” Tracey and Susan said together.
Luna tilted her head. “What if we flipped it? We assign him lines to say instead.”
Astoria gasped like it was a revelation. “Yes. Give him confession scripts. Let chaos reign.”
“He will make them all work,” Daphne said, shaking her head. “He is annoyingly good at this.”
“That is not a compliment,” Harry said.
“It wasn’t,” Daphne replied.
Ginny grinned across the table. “I want mine delivered mid-match. Preferably after a good tackle.”
“Blimey,” Neville muttered. “Do I need to bring a helmet to breakfast now?”
“Only if you’re planning to kiss him too,” Astoria said brightly.
Neville choked on his juice. Tracey patted his back once, completely unhelpful.
“Alright then,” Susan said, tapping her fork against her plate like a gavel. “Draft your lines, girls. Potter got homework.”
