Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Word Count: 2152

Challenge: Are you Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge

Prompt: 583. (word) Knight

Daphne began to avoid her from the following morning – she stopped visiting Hermione's office in the evenings, instead leaving her work on Hermione's desk while she was at lectures; Hermione couldn't find Daphne in the hallways or at the lunch hall; even their usual table at the Library now lay empty, gathering dust.

For a moment, Hermione considered barging into her room, until she recalled that she was supposed to be a man; and her professor.

Instead, she decided to call off one of her lectures and ambush Daphne outside of her Calculus class. Her students rejoiced as she was not known for falling ill very often or being overly lenient; not since the incident with Professor Weasley.

Daphne tried to sidle out behind some of her mates, until she caught Hermione's eyes following her intently. Hermione glared at her until she stepped out of the crowd, conceding defeat.

Hermione studied Daphne as they stood across from each other in her office – Daphne's eyes stayed transfixed on her toes; her fingers violently fiddling with the hem of her shirt; shoulders hunched and knees quivering nervously. Hermione couldn't decide what to make of this situation; she had never contemplated about falling in love with someone, not beyond the mere idea of it.

"Professor." Daphne spoke up when Hermione failed to do so for a few tense moments. Hermione's eyes shot to attention at her student's words.

"Professor… I-I would appreciate it if… if we could just f-forget this whole ordeal." Daphne's face held an inscrutable expression; her eyes darting across the room, searching for any place to look at aside from her professor.

Unable to say anything, Hermione stood rooted to her spot.

Daphne swallowed the lump in her throat, before rushing out of the room in a haste; tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

Hermione couldn't explain the pang she felt in her heart as she watched Daphne's receding form.

Daphne returned the following afternoon with a smile on her face, and it seemed everything had returned to normal once again. Hermione didn't know whether that was a good thing; but she didn't force the subject.

But it wasn't long before the cracks began to emerge in their newfound tranquility. Hermione could barely trace the awkward pauses and the aversion to Hermione's touch; she also realized how much she knew about Daphne's minute quirks and tendencies.

Later that evening, Daphne mumbled out some excuse about 'spending some time with her roommate' to avoid dinner with her professor; leaving Hermione to eat alone at their table in the dining hall.

She stared at her porridge in silence; perhaps it could explain to her what seemed so natural for everyone else.

Hermione felt a hand clap on her shoulder, startling her. "Glare at it for another moment and you might bore a hole right through it, Herman."

Hermione eyed Professor Weasley suspiciously as he settled into the seat across from her with his plate of chicken. "Can I help you, Professor?"

All the mirth drained from his eyes, as his jolly expression morphed into something akin to guilt.

"I heard about Miss Greengrass's offer and I… would like to formally apologize, for my behavior those many months ago. I was out of line to suggest such a thing without knowledge about either of you."

Hermione studied the man for any trace of insincerity, before her lips curved up into a light smile. "Apology accepted… Ronald."

He smiled back, and the pair ate in silence for rest of their meal.

Just before they stood to leave, Hermione asked. "Ronald… do you know how it feels to fall in love with someone?"

"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"I have never felt that before… and I was wondering how it felt."

He paused, considering his response. Hermione panicked internally as the space between them held an inscrutable tension.

"There was this girl back when I was at Cambridge myself – country lass, her father didn't come from much money. She lived just outside of the campus and I would wander by her father's store every time me and my mates went out for a game of football. I would excuse myself for a drink of water and spend some time in their store, just watching her out front, scrubbing the windows or caring for her old grandmother. A few months later, her father married her off to some bloke from London. Never saw her again." He explained.

Hermione stared at him with mellow eyes, completely engrossed in his sad tale. After a long period of silence, Hermione murmured. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head as his usual cheery smile returned to replace the dejected frown. They parted ways shortly afterwards.

Two weeks passed by as Hermione observed Daphne's growing comfort in their new routine; they haven't yet dined at the same table, but every morning is closer to their new version of normalcy than the previous.

The prospect unnerved Hermione to no bound.

Ronald occasionally stopped by her table once or twice a week; although none of their following conversations were as impassioned as their first two. The discussions stayed firmly on the topic of Ronald's latest game of cricket against one or the other of the departments. Unable to change the topic of their discussion; Hermione could only listen, speaking only to decline his repeated attempts to convince her to join.

Hermione had spent nearly an entire day rephrasing the telegram she would send to her father in London, elaborating on her newfound subject of interest. Ultimately, she settled on absolute honesty; it had never failed her in her previous discussions with her father.

Her father took much longer to respond than usual; Hermione felt herself fall deeper into paranoia with every passing minute. Her mind conjured up a myriad of scenarios; predominantly those which ended with her disownment or facing some form of punishment.

His response, however, focused on something completely different. Her father's telegram was filled with applauding compliments on her devotion to this lie she had been living – he spoke about the fears she alleviated and wondered about all the doors this opened for her.

Hermione had finally realized how much of himself, her father had devoted to her dream – in his quest to make her a successful mathematician, he had given up his ability to see the world without their lie.

He ended the note with a short warning, reiterating the importance of hiding the truth from everyone else, and urging to ascertain that Daphne was trustworthy enough to fill the role. Hermione couldn't place the wetness that had welled up in her eyes as she finished reading the telegram.

Her thoughts kept her awake well into the darkest hours of the night; she tossed about, unable to will herself to sleep, unwilling to keep herself awake. She missed her morning lectures the following day.

The worry in Hermione's heart had reached a breaking point three weeks later, when Daphne finally gathered the courage to join Hermione for dinner. The aghast expression that developed on Hermione's face remained throughout their short meal; as Daphne desperately attempted to fill the silence with random ramblings about student gossip.

On impulse, Hermione grabbed Daphne's hand as she turned to leave. Almost immediately, Daphne tried to wrench her hand away, but Hermione merely tightened her grip.

"Ms. Gre-… Daphne, I… would you please follow me. I believe we have something to discuss."

Her eyes trained on the back of Daphne's head, studying every minute detail – to a second, Hermione could decipher exactly when Daphne finally resigned to her fate. She wondered what else had she noticed in the months they spent together.

"Daphne… I am not aware of how I must preface this – I have never been in such a situation and I just couldn't... I… I want to tell you that I am just as enchanted by you as you are by me."

The change in Daphne's demeanor was immediate, the expression that marred her face was a mix of befuddlement, shock, hope, and happiness. The pool of dread in Hermione's stomach disappeared for a fraction of second, just until she realized what else must be done.

Hermione was broken out of her reverie when Daphne engulfed her in a tight embrace. She allowed herself a moment of peace – one she understood would be her last for at least a month, maybe even more – before she softly pushed Daphne away from her.

"T-There is something else…" She mumbled.

The confusion slowly creeped back onto Daphne's elated face; as the dread pooled back into Hermione's stomach with a renewed intensity.

"Do you recall your former mates' remarks about my less than manly physique?"

Daphne's expression turned foul, but she nodded wordlessly.

"Those remarks were… are not unfounded."

"Professor, I care not for your physical appearance; I-"

Hermione interjected while she still possessed the courage. "I am a woman."

Daphne stilled in her spot. "Professor… W-What do you-"

"Daphne, I am a woman, living my life as a man." She paused as she let Daphne soak up her words. "My… real name is Hermione."

Daphne promptly rushed out her office once again; her expression lingering in Hermione's mind as she attempted to decipher whether it was of perplexment or disgust. She flumped down onto her chair, distressed; her pending research lay unfinished on her desk.

Like all the other times Daphne had sprinted from her office, she didn't return the following day; or even the following week. Hermione understood that it wasn't something that could be hurried; but the wait unnerved her just the same.

But she had little time to spend on her faltering romance; for the turn of the week brought terrible news – a telegram had arrived from her father's construction company; a poorly constructed building had crumbled under its own weight, killing everyone inside and in the adjacent construction site.

Her father didn't make it.

Hermione haphazardly stuffed her suitcase with a few articles of clothing and boarded the first train to London.

They couldn't recover much of her father's body from the rubble, but they knew enough to confirm he had passed. Hermione reclused herself from that moment onwards – she hardly left her father's home, wouldn't eat until her neighbor forced the food into her mouth, and never spoke to anyone.

She even forgot to maintain her façade, a fact she realized when one of the kids who lived downstairs called her 'miss'.

The community arranged a mass funeral for the victims, at their local church; but Hermione didn't know if she could will herself to go. She sat on the floor of her father's living room; eyes trained on the black suit laid out in front of her, occasionally darting to her father's antique grandfather clock while she counted down the seconds in her head.

Suddenly, the door burst open and a feminine body collided with her own, knocking her backwards. Arms wrapped around her tightly as she heard reassuring words being whispered in her ear. The words didn't mean much to her; but the familiar, soothing voice did more to calm her than anything anyone else could've done.

For the first time since she heard about the accident, Hermione let the tears flow from her eyes, into the shoulder of Daphne's cardigan. Twenty minutes later, Hermione was finally ready to accept what she had been denying for the past few days. She picked up the suit and turned to the guest bedroom.

As Daphne arose to leave, Hermione grabbed her hand. Daphne could barely trace the tiny shake of Hermione's head; but she couldn't find it in herself to deny that request.

Daphne sat on the edge of the bed as Hermione quietly stripped out of her clothes and donned her suit. Daphne's chauffeur had driven down to the tailor to purchase a black gown that Daphne could wear atop her clothes.

Throughout the ceremony, Hermione couldn't bring herself to let go of Daphne's hand.

They returned to Hermione's father's home, so she could gather something she could remember him by, before they returned to Cambridge.

Daphne escorted Hermione up to her bed; unsure if she was strong enough to make her way back by herself, unwilling to risk that she might not be. As she sat by the bed waiting for Hermione to fall asleep, Daphne recalled the last time she had stayed back at her Professor's place.

She had unintentionally started a chain of events that concluded with the discovery that the 'man' she thought would be her knight in shining armor, was actually a woman in disguise.

She heard a soft whisper coming from the bed.

"Stay."

Daphne knew she could do nothing to refuse her Professor; her mind was clear of doubt.

"Goodnight, Professor... Hermione."

The last thing Hermione remembered before she fell asleep was the soft feeling of her student's lips on her forehead.

I have officially smashed my personal record for the most number of rewrites of a single chapter.

And yes, I know everything I said in the previous chapter, about how this would be the last chapter and that it would be up in few days time. (Stupid me)

But no, it doesn't end here. I had to break it up once again because the rewrite looks like it'll extend the chapter beyond 5000 words, and I wanted to keep the chapter size under 3000 words. So I'm keeping it going again.

And this time, I'll be back with a new chapter much much sooner. Those that know me well might know, just after I finished the first chapter, I started a new job, and that took me away from writing for a while. But I'm back and I have a routine now where I get time to write.

But if you don't believe me, I... honestly don't blame you. (I apologize for that)

Anyway, let me know what you think in a review. I really appreciate those.