"So...the oath?"

"Right," Daphne replied as her mind kicked into gear and pulled out a parchment. "I came up with the wording with my family this afternoon. You'll see there are notes below what we came up with explaining what is covered and what is not." She handed the parchment over and nervously continued.

"This is just a starting point. We can talk about whatever you'd like to change. In fact, if you don't ask any questions or make any suggestions I've learned a spell to box your ears."

Harry laughed and gave her a mock salute before starting to read. She could see by his expression he was intensely focused on the parchment. It was a bit unnerving.

She was pleasantly surprised when he pulled out his own bit of parchment and began making notes. Finally, he finished and began to speak.

"So the main bit is that the only things covered under the oath are the things we specifically cite before or after sharing?"

Daphne nodded.

"So I could tell you something stupid...like my favorite dessert is treacle tart. If I said I wanted it covered under the oath then you couldn't share it even though it's pointless information."

"Exactly right," she enthused. He really was much sharper than he let on in class. Daphne continued on, doing her best to parrot her father's explanation.

"As long as one of us specifically says it's confidential then it's covered. This will make it much harder to find a loophole than if it's specific to one thing only. My great grandfather once made an oath with a business partner that was specific to the deal they were working on. The partner didn't share anything regarding the deal but did sell the things he had learned about my family's business to our main competitors."

"And if we share something but forget to mention it's under the oath at first we can mention it later and it's covered from that point on."

"Right, Daphne stated. "If it was shared with someone else before the correction it obviously isn't covered but after that, it's included."

"Okay, I've just one more question. What if one of us makes a mistake?"

"What?"

"Back to the treacle tart. What if you forgot that was covered and you mentioned to your sister that it was my favorite. What happens?"

The question confused her as the answer was obvious. "Then I would have broken the oath and would have to suffer the consequences."

Harry began shaking his head suddenly becoming agitated.

She had discussed so many potential changes with her parents but this did not come up. Daphne was flummoxed. "Harry, that's the whole point. If we agree to this then we can't break it."

"We'll need to come up with something else or call it off then. I won't have you being punished for making a mistake."

And then it clicked. She had been thinking about and discussing strategies focused only on protecting herself and punishing the other party if they failed. Daphne suddenly realized Harry was worried about her welfare as much as his own...maybe even more so. Of course.

"So you'd like the oath to be focused solely on intent then. We have to knowingly break the oath."

"Exactly!" Harry cut in. "We can just add the word 'knowingly' in right? That will work?"

The implications for such a change were massive. She had to really put her trust in Harry not being careless. 'Slytherin Daphne' was waving her hands wildly pantomiming the word 'no' in her consciousness. She looked at Harry and 'Hufflepuff Daphne' emerged...smiling and nodding her head reassuringly.

"Yeah...yeah...that should work. Let's do it."

"Great! Let's do it then Daphne," Harry replied with a look of relief.

Very quickly the oath was done and Harry looked a bit confused. "Everything all right there Harry?"

A bemused expression took over. "Yeah...just seemed a bit anticlimactic you know? I was expecting a gong or clanging bells of doom. Wizards are usually so dramatic...with a name like 'blood oath,' I thought we'd get some ominous warning once it was done. It actually felt...nice? Warm?"

Daphne had felt the same thing. She imagined it was because their oath was made with a focus on the other party's welfare as well. She suddenly felt the warmth again and smiled internally. That was too intimate to share though. She went with the explanation her mother had shared.

"Yeah...Mum once told me that sort of thing is based on the wizards behind the magic. Something about 'wizards valuing their worth based on the size of their wands.' I imagine an oath with Professor Snape would involve a swarm of bats or some other nonsense."

Her comment caused Harry to chuckle...eventually growing into a full-out laugh. "I was just thinking about the theatrics of the Goblet of Fire. It all makes sense now. Dumbledore is such a drama queen."

Daphne smiled and suddenly became nervous, remembering there was one more thing to talk about before they proceeded. "We need to decide how we are going to work together. I originally thought we could meet in secret but I don't think that's going to work. Tracey and Astoria have already sussed out there is something going on and I am rubbish at lying. The more I do it the more they will suspect something is going on.

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah...Ron's clueless so no worries there but Hermione already knows something is going on as well. It's my own fault really. I told her I fancied you and now I've gone missing a couple of times this week which she of course noticed. She saw you nodding at me this morning and couldn't stop smiling at me all afternoon. She's well chuffed for me. It's going to be a shame when I tell her we aren't dating."

It was now or never.

"What if you didn't?" She looked at Harry and saw he was staring at her waiting for her to continue. She quickly trudged on.

"Astoria and Tracey think the same thing already as well. What if we pretend to be a couple? Our friends already believe it and are happy about it and it gives us a built-in excuse to spend time together without them around. If everyone else thinks it we won't even need to sneak around and meet. We can work together in the library if we want as long as we use a privacy spell. If we ever do need privacy and get caught everyone will just assume we're snogging or something."

She waited and watched as Harry processed her idea. He hadn't burst out into laughter immediately so that was good.

"That's actually a really good idea but will people believe we would date each other?

Her immediate instinct was to lash back with an insult. If anyone else had implied she wasn't worthy enough to date her response would have been swift and cutting. But this was Harry. She took a breath.

"Explain," she spat out, purposely pushing down her defensive nature.

Harry looked gobsmacked. "Isn't it obvious? You are massively out of my league. You're rich, an heiress to one of the Sacred Twenty Eight, smart and...beautiful." The last word was said hesitantly.

It was now Daphne's turn at being gobsmacked. Harry continued.

"I mean I'm not an idiot...I know a lot of girls fancy me...but it's mainly down to the 'Boy Who Lived, Chosen One' nonsense. You'd never fall for that rubbish."

She should have known. "You're wrong Harry. Right now you are most definitely an idiot."

She could tell he was going to respond but stopped him before he could start. "Just shut up and let me finish."

Daphne paused and tried to explain without really explaining. "Tracey and Astoria know me better than anyone. They are as excited as Hermione is with the prospect of us dating and they couldn't care less about you being 'The Boy Who Lived.' If they think you're brilliant and that we're well-matched then that's good enough for me. Even if some people are stupid enough to think I'm out of your league they'll just think I'm using you which is fine. I'm the cunning Slytherin taking advantage of your celebrity and you're the noble Gryffindor who wants to think the best of everyone. It fits right in with their narrative. Might as well use it to our advantage."

Daphne could tell he was considering her words in the same way he had pored over her notes on the blood oath. Eventually, his expression changed into a smirk. "I suppose I could do worse for a fake girlfriend. If you're game then so am I."

"Idiot," Daphne muttered as she smiled despite her best intentions. "So should we make it official and meet tomorrow afternoon in the library around four? It's been a long day and I need a full night's sleep to absorb any more of your secrets."

Harry quickly nodded before suddenly becoming worried. "You do realize as soon as we do this everyone will be staring at you."

"I do. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that it but if you can manage it for six years I suppose I can handle it for a bit as well."

"Suit yourself," Harry said as they started walking out of the Chamber. "There is one important thing we need to cover under the oath tonight though." He looked very serious.

"You cannot, under any circumstance, let Hermione know Winky is now my house elf."