Author's notes: So, some of you may recognize this as a rewritten and much expanded verision of the one shot that I posted called Slytherin Included. The idea of expanding that into a multi-chapter story just would not let go of me once it had taken hold so this is the end result of that situation.

The one problem with this story is that really... well, I don't HAVEa particular plan in place with this one like I do with my other stories. I at least have an idea of where things are going with those but this one? Not so much. As such updates will be slow and sporadic on this as I'll be working out what is supposed to be happening as I go along.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise.

So without any further ado, here is the first chapter of Cunning, Courage, and Cleverness. Enjoy!

Cunning, Courage, and Cleverness

Hermione's Secret

by,

Rtnwriter

Harry Potter sat at one of the student desks in an unused classroom, watching with a bemused air as his best friend, the girl of his dreams, paced anxiously back and forth in front of the dusty teacher's desk. Her hands twisted and twined together even as she chewed incessantly on her bottom lip, a nervous habit he'd always found very cute.

"Herm-"

"Not now, Harry," she cut him off, spinning sharply to face him. "I'm sorry, just… please can you be patient a moment?"

Honestly, patience was not one of his strong suits, but for Hermione, he would master the skill if necessary.

He leaned back in the seat he'd appropriated and carefully observed his best friend as she paced and muttered to herself, nervous anxiety practically rolling off of her.

Harry had known Hermione for over three years by that point, and he felt he knew her better than he knew anyone in the world. Her behavior was particularly out of the norm for her, by his estimation, and it was throwing him off balance to a disturbing degree.

So… how did asking Hermione to be my date to the Yule Ball turn into… whatever this is? he wondered idly as she resumed her pacing.

Just minutes before, right after their Transfiguration class where the Ball had been announced, he'd been told by Professor McGonagall that he needed a date to the Ball as one of the Champions, however reluctantly. After processing the initial shock and panic over the idea that he would be required to dance, a skill he had no experience with, in front of a rather large audience, he'd started to think about who he could possibly ask to attend the Ball with him. Almost immediately a single name and face had floated into his mind and he'd taken the chance to approach the most important person in his life.

Hermione had stared at him blankly for several long moments before she'd suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him into this room, muttering only, "I need to tell you something," in a quiet undertone.

She hadn't said much since then and he was actually beginning to worry.

Just as he was ready to insist that she tell him what was going on, the door to the classroom swung open and a figure breezed into the room, wand already in hand and casting locking and privacy charms at the door after she closed it behind her.

"Merlin's bloody beard," the girl snapped irritably, her back still to the room. "Malfoy is just getting more insufferable every day! I swear if I have to hear him go on about Potter one more time I'll-"

"Daphne?" Hermione called, a warning tone in her voice and the girl, Daphne Greengrass, Harry realized, turned around, her cold blue eyes widening for a moment when they landed on him.

For a few seconds she seemed puzzled but then her expression cleared, back to the placid calm mask that she typically wore and she turned toward his best friend, one slender brow arched questioningly.

"What's all this?" she asked, moving over to lean against the teacher's desk, putting Hermione between her and Harry. He wasn't sure if that was intentional, but considering the girl was a Slytherin he figured there wasn't much that she did that wasn't deliberate and planned.

Hermione resumed pacing again.

"Harry…" she said nervously, "first I really want to thank you for inviting me to the Ball. I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me, and I would love to go with you… there's, well there's just a slight complication that you need to be aware of. I'm really not sure, I mean… I don't know how to…"

Daphne rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sounding sigh as Hermione rambled on and she stepped away from the desk, planting herself in Hermione's path. When next the bushy haired witch turned, a pair of small hands cupped her cheeks and Harry's eyes widened dramatically as Daphne Greengrass, Ice Queen of Slytherin, pulled his best friend into an emotional, heated kiss.

Hermione froze for a split second. He could see the tension in her frame when the other girl's lips came into contact with her own and for a moment he expected her to push the blond way from her. His brows rose toward his hairline in surprise a second later when a soft moan escaped Hermione's mouth and her arms came around the other witch, as if by instinct, clutching the girl close to her for the few seconds that their kiss lasted as her body seemed to melt against the Slytherin in her arms.

"Why'd you go and do that?" Hermione asked breathlessly when Daphne finally pulled away from her, her eyes hooded and cheeks flushed. Whether they were flushed from arousal or embarrassment, Harry couldn't tell.

Daphne gave her a soft smile, one hand coming up to gently cup the other girl's cheek. "Because you weren't going to get to the point any time soon and we need to move on," she explained in a gentle tone.

Daphne leaned up and kissed the tip of Hermione's nose before she turned in the girl's arms, pressing her back to his best friend's front even as she pulled Hermione's arms tighter around her middle and fixed him with a calm stare.

"Potter," she said, her tone cool and collected, a far cry from the emotion he'd heard in her voice when she'd been speaking to the witch at her back. "Hermione and I have been dating since the middle of last year. That's what she's been trying to tell you." She glanced back over her shoulder at Hermione. "I imagine his invite to the Ball is why you've suddenly decided to tell him about us?" she asked.

Hermione nodded. "I couldn't answer him without him knowing what's been going on, you know that."

Harry frowned, a stabbing sensation running through his chest as the two girls talked and slowly rose to his feet, gathering their attention as he moved.

"How did this happen?" he asked, trying very hard to keep the pain he was feeling from his voice. "Why didn't you tell me before?" He made no effort to hide how that hurt him. He thought they were friends. He thought that Hermione trusted him enough to talk to him about things like this. Had she worried he would judge her? Did she not know him at all if that's what her concern had been?

"Daphne and I are both in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy," Hermione began to explain. "Both of those classes are on the smaller side and with a mixed number of students from all four houses so the professors insist on partnering people from different Houses whenever possible. Daphne and I ended up partnered together in both classes."

"It wasn't easy at first," Daphne said, taking up the explanation. "My family doesn't have the kind of prejudice and bias that idiots like Malfoy spout, but I was still taught that the muggle world was dangerous and that muggleborns in general tend to make judgements without understanding the situation. Magical society has rules, traditions, ways of doing things that don't make sense to a lot of muggleborn witches and wizards, but they come into this world and try to make these things fit what they know.

"When that doesn't work they usually decide that the wizarding world is backwards or wrong and they go about trying to convince us of their opinions." She looked back at Hermione again who was flushing and looking up toward the ceiling in order to avoid either of their gazes. "Hermione was no better, at first. We butted heads quite a bit in those first few weeks."

"Eventually I got Daphne to start actually explaining things to me and everything started to make more sense. I still don't agree with a lot of what I've learned about wizarding society, but I understand it better. The time we spent talking about things not class related… well we became friends."

"That doesn't explain how you started dating. Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"We got together because of you. You and Ron, actually," Hermione told him and he blinked several times in surprise, his head tilting to one side as he stared at her.

"Huh?" he asked.

"It was during those few weeks last year when you weren't talking to me over the Firebolt," she explained and Harry winced, his shoulders hunching inward slightly as a feeling of guilt and shame settled over him.

"I'm really sorry about that," he muttered. "I shouldn't have let Ron pull that and I should have listened to you."

"Well, I shouldn't have gone behind your back. At the very least I should have told you that I was going to talk to Professor McGonagall about it."

"I said as much when she first came to me after the row you three had," Daphne cut in. "We meet here in this classroom as often as we can. Not as often as we'd like since one of the reasons we've kept our friendship, much less our relationship, a secret is that whole Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry… well I'm pretty sure both of us would be crucified by half the student population if the school knew about us."

Harry opened his mouth to protest but closed it again without saying anything, unable to really refute her argument. "So that would be why you never said anything to me?" he asked, looking to Hermione. "I would have thought that out of everyone you'd be able to talk to me about something like this." The pain in his chest that had receded slightly during their discussion came roaring back and he couldn't keep it from his voice or his face.

Hermione shook her head. "At first I didn't say anything because, well, because you weren't talking to me. Then after you guys came back to me, I was just so happy to have my friends back that I didn't want to risk another fight."

At Harry's questioning look Daphne let out a very unladylike snort. "What would the Weasel have said if Hermione let it be known she was dating another girl? Worse, she was dating a Slytherin?"

He frowned at the slight against his friend, but found he couldn't refute that argument either.

"We had so much going on last year, it was just easier not to bring it up. Besides, after a little while I rather started to enjoy having something that was just mine, you know?" Hermione asked. "Daphne is very special to me and I liked keeping her to myself."

"I knew I was just your dirty little secret, Granger," Daphne sighed in a despondent tone though her lips twitched slightly as if she were suppressing a smile.

"That's not true and you know it," Hermione insisted.

"Kind of sounds like it to me 'Mione," Harry cut in with a laugh and a grin toward the blond Slytherin.

Hermione frowned. "Hey, ganging up on me is not allowed!"

"But I thought you wanted Potter and me to get along," Daphne told her, visibly smiling now.

"Not at my expense!"

Daphne and Harry shared a grin and Harry reluctantly had to admit that he was starting to like the girl. Dammit, and I was all prepared to hate her.

"Anyway," Hermione said, stressing the word carefully, "I wanted to tell you, Harry, more than anyone. But by the time things were less crazy it had been so long that it just kind of seemed like I'd missed the chance to talk to you about it and… I don't know, it just always felt like the wrong time to try to say something."

Daphne rolled her eyes again.

"Right," she muttered, "now tell him the real reason."

"That is the reason!"

"Okay, tell him the whole reason, then."

While the girls were talking, Harry had fully processed the fact that he'd apparently missed his chance, and by nearly a year at that. Hermione was with someone else, and as much as he'd have liked to explore the feelings he had for his best friend, her happiness was far more important to him, and if the Slytherin girl made her happy… well, there was nothing for it.

That didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"I'm happy for you, Hermione, really," he said, attempting to keep the pain he was feeling out of his tone. "But honestly, just turning me down would have been better than this… this show you two decided to put on." He shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes directed at the stones in front of his beat up trainers. "I'm glad you found someone that makes you happy. I'll just…" He trailed off, not entirely certain what else he could say before he shrugged, offered her a small smile, and started toward the door. "I'll catch up with you later," he told her. "I've got to figure out what to do about this-''

"Potter! Sit!"

At Daphne's sharp command Harry actually jumped, startled by her outburst, and sat at the nearest desk without even thinking about it.

"You didn't need to be so abrupt, Daphne," Hermione admonished the girl that was still standing within the circle of her arms, a disapproving frown on her face.

"Would you rather I'd just let him walk out before you got a chance to explain things to him?"

Hermione let out a huff but didn't respond, instead turning her attention to him. "Harry, why did you ask me to the Ball?" Hermione asked, her eyes fixed intently on him.

He frowned, thinking he'd been pretty clear when he asked her in the hallway and opened his mouth to respond. "I… huh?"

Very witty, Potter, he thought.

"Why?" she insisted. "Did you ask just to go with someone you know as a friend? Or because you figured I would be an easy person to ask? Or that I'd be grateful to even get an invite?"

"No, absolutely not!" he burst out, climbing instantly to his feet again.

"Sit!"

He sat, blinking slightly in surprise before he shook his head and turned his attention back to his best friend. He chose to ignore the satisfied smirk tugging at the blond's lips.

"I would never treat you like that or think that of you, Hermione," he insisted. "You're beautiful, and brilliant, and generally amazing. Anyone would be lucky to have you as their date."

"But why did you ask me? What reason made you decide to ask me over any other girl in this castle?"

He shifted about nervously for a moment before he sighed and set his hands on the desk in front of him. Might as well tell her. "Because I've wanted to ask you out for a long time now and I just couldn't find the nerve to say it," he admitted, staring at the scarred and pitted surface of the desk under his hands. "When Professor McGonagall said I absolutely had to have a date… I decided I could use the opportunity to try to gauge if you felt anything more for me than just friendship."

He may not have used the word 'girlfriend', but he was certainly thinking it. No reason to bring that up, though.

"I told you, Granger," he heard Daphne say in a very satisfied tone of voice.

"Yes, yes, you'll get your forfeit later," Hermione teased and Harry could hear just how pleased she was, causing him to cautiously look up to the two girls.

Hermione had released Daphne and was standing next to the other girl, both of them leaning back against the Teacher's desk and watching him carefully. Hermione had a broad grin on her face while Daphne seemed to be studying him, her own lips turned up just slightly at the corners, but he couldn't really call what she was doing smiling.

"Harry," Hermione started, her eyes dancing happily. "I've had feelings for you since second year. It started in first year to be honest. You did save me from a troll, a girl can't really help but develop a crush on someone that does something like that. But when I was petrified… Madam Pomfrey told me how often you came to visit me, even sneaking into the Hospital Wing after she kicked you out. I might not remember any of it, but when she told me about it, that really meant a lot to me."

Surprised didn't really begin to cover how Harry felt about that admission from his best friend and he simply gaped in shock at her until Daphne speaking up forced him to redirect his focus toward the other girl.

"From what I've heard of you from Hermione… I'll be honest, I wouldn't be against getting to know you a lot better, Potter." Daphne's expression was curious, thoughtful, something he'd rarely seen from the usually emotionless seeming girl.

"Wait, I'm confused."

"I've had a bit of a crush on you since first year," she admitted. "I never did or said anything about it because of that whole rivalry our Houses have going, as previously mentioned." She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath as if gearing herself up for what she was going to say next. "I grew up, like almost every other girl in the wizarding world, hearing about Harry Potter. I can't say I wasn't curious to meet you when we first started here. But I'm a Slytherin. I wasn't going to up and introduce myself to someone I didn't even know like a Gryffindor might. So I observed and from what I saw… well, you're interesting, Potter.

"It became clear pretty quickly that you were nothing like the stories or what most people think you should be like. You're not a braggart like Malfoy, you're not stuck up like Zabini, and you're not a jerk like the Weasel. In first year you were cute, and you've only gotten better looking over the last few years. Hermione's also made sure to keep me informed on the kind of person you are instead of just letting me be stuck with just what I could see."

"… what?" Harry's head was spinning. The two girls seemed to be saying something without actually coming out and saying the words, and whatever it was was lost on him.

"You wanted to see if I felt anything more than just friendship for you," Hermione pointed out, drawing his attention back to her. "Were you hoping to end the Yule Ball with a girlfriend?"

Fidgeting slightly he shrugged. "I didn't really have a solid plan in mind," he admitted, much to both girls amusement. "But… I wouldn't be against that at all." A moment later he shook his head. "Doesn't matter anymore, you're already with Daphne," he muttered.

"And that's why she didn't tell you sooner," Daphne pointed out.

Harry sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Could you two be any more confusing?" he muttered. "Look, I don't know why I'm still here. Obviously the two of you have something going and I'm not gonna try and get in the middle of that."

"Would you please let me finish explaining?" Hermione asked.

Dammit, why'd she have to ask me that? If there was one person that Harry Potter would do almost anything for, it was Hermione Granger. Breathing out a sad sigh he slumped back in his seat and gestured for her to continue with one hand.

"We never did explain how we got together, did we?"

"That part got skipped over a touch," Daphne admitted in a dry tone.

"Okay… well, like I said, when you boys and I fought over the broom last year, I came here to cry a bit and feel sorry for myself. Daphne found me and got the story out of me."

"And as I already said, I told her that going behind your back was a bad idea."

"Yes, I messed up, I'm not perfect you know?"

"We know, love, continue."

Hermione glared half-heartedly at the girl beside her for a moment before she looked back at Harry. "Anyway, I was miserable. Partly because my friends were mad at me, but mostly because you were mad at me, and that hurt more because of how I felt about you. After letting me vent and cry a bit, Daphne surprised me when she kissed me, right out of the blue."

"Well, you were so upset I couldn't just let you stew. I had to shock you out of it somehow."

"And the fact that you'd developed feelings for me had nothing to do with it?"

Daphne made a wordless sound in the back of her throat that seemed to be neither a denial or admission at that.

"I didn't really know what to think when she did that," Hermione continued. "I'd never really considered kissing another girl before, and I was pretty stuck on you, Harry. When she finished I tried to explain that I had feelings for someone else, but she told me that she'd already figured it out and she thought that there just might be a possible arrangement we could agree to."

Harry was completely baffled by that point and simply blinked a few times. "An arrangement?"

Hermione nodded and took a deep breath. "Harry, I would absolutely love to go to the Yule Ball with you, and I would really love to be your girlfriend, if you still want me. I need you to understand though, I love Daphne as much as I love you. She's incredibly important to me and if you want me, then that's going to include her."

"So… you want us to share you?" Harry asked, his tone clearly betraying the shock he felt.

Hermione smiled and shook her head, her bushy curls bouncing back and forth. "Not exactly. I want to share Daphne with you. I want Daphne to share you with me, and me with you. I… we," she added, indicating Daphne beside her, "want all three of us to be together."

Harry blinked several times again, looking back and forth between the two beautiful girls standing in front of him.

"What?"

"Hermione, I thought you said he was more clever than he appeared."

"He is! He's just in a bit of shock right now. Wouldn't you be surprised in his position?"

"Hmmm… maybe." Daphne pushed off the desk and took a couple of steps closer to where Harry was sitting, Hermione following right beside her. "Look, Potter. The reason that she never told you that she was dating me was because she didn't want you to think of her as 'off limits'. I could tell how she felt about you, and I had a feeling that you felt something similar, at least, for her. But we both figured that if you knew she was in a relationship then you'd never act on those feelings.

"I can't say I'm in love with you like she can, but I do think I'd like to get to know you better. Hermione loves you, and for that reason alone I'd be willing to let her have you, just as long as you help make her happy. As far as you and I go…"

When she trailed off Harry spent several seconds simply staring at the two of them, sure that he had to be dreaming. There was no way in hell this kind of situation would happen to him. His luck was notoriously bad unless it was getting him out of some life threatening situation. Of course, that same luck usually got him into the life threatening situation in the first place.

"Daphne and I don't even know each other," he pointed out to Hermione, who reluctantly nodded. "I don't know anything about her, really, but honestly… if you care so much for her I can't imagine that she's anything short of amazing." He turned his attention to Daphne for a moment, glancing her up and down quickly before returning his focus to her cool blue gaze.

There was nervousness behind her cold irises. She was anxious and uncertain. This obviously meant something to her, though what, and how much, he couldn't really say.

"Are you honestly telling me that you want all three of us in a relationship together? Equally?"

"Absolutely, Harry."

"She wants it. I'm not against it. I'm at least willing to give it a try."

Harry stood and moved out into the room a few steps closer to the girls, his eyes shifting back and forth from one to the other as his thoughts spun rapidly about his mind.. "Well… I think that Daphne and I should spend some time together, getting to know one another, but other than that, I can't see any reason to say, 'no'. I'm not really sure how you expect this idea to work, but I'd have to be an idiot to turn down two beautiful girls offering to be with me."

He suddenly staggered back, his arms filled with an ecstatically squealing Hermione Granger. Squealing which cut off when she sealed her mouth to his and Harry's world narrowed down to encompass nothing but the girl in his arms, the sensation of her lips pressed against his own, and everything that he felt for her.

By the time Hermione pulled back from the surprising, and wonderful, kiss, Harry could only be completely sure of one thing. The reality of kissing Hermione Granger was several magnitudes greater than any fantasy he'd ever had of kissing Hermione Granger. His heart was pounding in his chest as a sensation of warmth seemed to spread throughout his body, starting at the point where her lips had been pressed against his own.

With very little to compare it to, since that was his first kiss, Harry had the distinct impression that his girlfriend was a damned good kisser.

His thoughts seemed to stutter at that after a moment. Girlfriend. Hermione is actually my girlfriend, he thought, elated and shocked at the abrupt shift in his life. He blinked several times when he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Daphne Greengrass, standing behind Hermione with her hands clasped behind her back and a small, fond smile turning up her lips.

Elation quickly faded into panic, and Harry took a rather deliberate step back from his best friend, though he kept his hands on her waist. When the hell did my hands end up there, anyway?

"Erm… I'm sorry about that," he muttered, to which both girls gave him a confused look.

"Whatever for?" Daphne finally asked after the two shared a bemused glance.

Harry opened his mouth to answer but no words readily sprang to mind and after a moment his mouth snapped shut again, a frown furrowed his brow as a feeling of consternation filled him.

"My immediate thought was to apologize for kissing your girlfriend," he muttered, almost more to himself than actually to the two girls present with him. "But… well, she's my girlfriend now too, isn't she?"

Both girls nodded, Hermione a bit more fervently than Daphne.

"If the two of you are going to be in a relationship then I'd imagine you're both rather entitled to a kiss now and again, or more," Daphne stated calmly.

"But you don't want this," he pointed out. "I can't imagine you're happy seeing your girlfriend kissing someone else."

As Hermione turned wide eyes to the girl behind her, Daphne frowned. "I never said that I didn't want this."

"You never said you did," Harry countered. "Hermione said you both wanted to give this idea a try. You specifically said that Hermione wants this and that you're 'not against it'. Not against isn't the same as being in favor of it."

Daphne blinked once, staring at him in silence for a moment before she turned her head to focus on Hermione.

"Okay," she said. "You were right. He really is far more clever than he seems."

"He is. But," Hermione added, turning to face him again, "he also tends to read more into things at times."

Harry frowned at that. "What am I reading into? Daphne, by her own words, doesn't really want this idea you've come up with."

"This arrangement was actually my idea."

His attention swiveled back toward the blond, eyebrows shooting up his forehead in shock.

Daphne let out a small sigh and gestured to the student desks behind them. "Why don't we all sit and I'll try to explain?"

At Hermione's urging, Harry found himself slowly dropping into the seat he'd so recently vacated, his thoughts spinning rapidly through his mind. He'd made a snap decision when he agreed to the situation that'd been presented to him. A decision inspired entirely by the thought of having a chance with the girl he'd fancied for years, and if he was being honest with himself, probably inspired by a great deal of hormones. What bloke didn't occasionally entertain the thought of having two girls wanting to be with him?

Once he'd really started to think about it, however, he started to see the potential flaws and cracks in the idea, and he wasn't sure how to address them, but he knew that Daphne was at the epicenter of most of the potential pitfalls that he could see.

"I've already pointed out that I have a bit of a crush on you, Potter," Daphne started once the three were sitting in a small circle, the edges of the desks attached to each chair touching between them. "I find you to be good looking, and Hermione has told me enough about you that I think I could really like the person that you are." When Harry frowned, Hermione took that moment to speak up.

"I didn't tell her anything personal," she said, reaching out to place one hand on his forearm. "I didn't give her details of your life, what I know of it, or what I've guessed. I haven't told her the details of our adventures, not really."

"Yes, and I will admit that I am quite curious about what happened last year. Professor Snape was ranting quite loudly about you and Sirius Black, Potter, but I understand that you have no reason to trust me and I won't ever try to press you for information. If you feel like filling me in on what you three have gotten up to, I will be happy to listen, but I'm not demanding answers in any way."

Harry said nothing but gave a curt nod and gestured for her to continue with her explanation.

"When Hermione and I started dating, it was at my insistence that she not tell you. Like I said, from what I understood about you, you struck me as the noble, self-sacrificing type. If you knew she was in a relationship with someone else, you aren't the type to try and steal her away. You'd step aside and keep your feelings for her secret, am I right?"

Slowly, Harry nodded again. "Yeah, you're probably right there," he admitted.

"I knew that I wanted to be with Hermione. I'd come to care a great deal for her in the time we'd spent together. I also knew how strongly she felt for you, and that being with you would be something she wanted." She paused for a moment, her fingers tapping idly on the surface of her desk as she thought. "When I was younger, my mother once told me that loving someone meant that their happiness was more important to you than your own.

"I may not want this three way relationship, in the sense that I'd likely not have chosen it for myself without any outside push, but I want to make her happy, and having you with her is a step in that direction."

"But if you don't want it then won't you come to resent her, or me?" he questioned.

"Do you resent Professor McGonagall for putting you on the Quidditch team?"

Harry blinked in surprise at that, his head tilting to one side in confusion. "What? I don't understand your point."

"I've heard the story of how you ended up on the team. I was there in that class and saw what Malfoy pulled. The rumours later circulated that McGonagall put you on the team because of the catch you made; It was a choice of join or she'd revisit the idea of giving you detention for breaking the rules, correct?"

"Yeah. So?"

"But you don't particularly love Quidditch."

"Of course I do."

"No, you don't, Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Ron loves Quidditch. He loves the tactics and the plays and the statistics and all of it. You just love to fly. Quidditch isn't what you love, you love the chance to be in the air, and… well, maybe you like getting some attention for yourself that you feel you've actually earned. When you catch the snitch, people talk about you for something that you actually did. Not for something your mother did, or for something that you can't even remember."

Once she'd finished Harry was leaning back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest and frowning deeply at the desk in front of him. "I never really thought about it," he muttered. "Maybe? I do love to fly. And yeah, the game does give me a ready excuse to go flying. What does that have to do with this, though?" he finally asked motioning between the three of them with one hand.

"It's different, obviously, but there's a certain parallel to be made. You don't love Quidditch, but you tolerate it in order to give you a chance to do something that you do love, flying. I may not love you, and if it wasn't for Hermione I might never have truly approached the idea of beginning a relationship with you, but by doing so I get something I want, and that's to make Hermione happy. Her happiness is more important to me than my own.

"If you and I can be friends, at the very least, then I will be happy as long as you and Hermione are happy with each other. If you and I develop into something more, then all the better. Like I said, I'm not going to claim to be in love with you, and you know almost nothing about me so you can't really have any feelings for me yet. I see this as an opportunity for us to get to know each other better and see where things might end up."

"But that's not what we discussed, Daphne," Hermione protested. "I know the two of you could fall in love with each other. I want us to be together, all three of us and if you two aren't going to actually try then that's not going to work."

Her tone was distressed, Harry noted, as Daphne reached for his friend's hand, clasping it tightly. Harry bit his tongue against the instinctive reaction he had to reassure her. He'd never knowingly lied to Hermione and he wasn't going to start now with platitudes that he didn't know for sure could be true. So, he swallowed the words that immediately wanted to spill from his mouth and instead took a few moments to think very carefully over the situation.

If he was being completely honest, he could picture himself dating Daphne Greengrass. She was absolutely gorgeous with her brilliantly blue eyes, long, sunny-blond hair, and slim body with just the right curves… and from what he'd seen just that afternoon, personality wise, he thought he could really get to like her. She had a sardonic and quick wit that he enjoyed, and she genuinely seemed to care for Hermione, something that was exceedingly important to him.

He couldn't say that he would fall in love with her, but getting to know her better, as she'd suggested, that he could easily see happening; and he didn't feel it would really be much of a hardship.

"Potter?"

He blinked, surprised to find that both girls were watching him closely and he realized that he'd lost himself in his thoughts.

"Sorry, what was that?" he asked, his gaze moving to meet Daphne's.

"Just wondering what was going on in that head of yours," she commented.

"A couple of things actually." He leaned forward, crossing his arms in front of him on the desk and leaning on his elbows. "Are you absolutely certain you're willing to do this? Are you willing to see if you and I might find something equal enough to what we both feel for Hermione?"

Daphne arched one slender brow again, looking as surprised as he thought he'd ever seen her.

"I'm willing. I'm honestly a little surprised that you are."

Harry shrugged. "I'm a teenage male with two attractive girls willing to explore the possibility of a relationship with me. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that hormones might've had something to do with my earlier agreement to this whole idea, but having thought about it, I still can't see a reason not to give it a shot.

"You said it yourself, Daphne. Hermione's happiness is more important to me than my own. If you and I can give her something she wants then I'm willing to give it a chance. But Hermione is also right in that if you and I are just being friends then we're not living up to the concept of an equal relationship between all three of us."

"True. You seem like you have a solution to that problem, Potter." It was a statement, not a question, but Harry nodded anyway.

"I think I just might. First, you should probably call me, Harry." He grinned at her as she blinked. "If we're going to see about getting closer to each other then we really should be on a first name basis, don't you think?"

Several seconds passed before Daphne's lips quirked up into a small grin and she gave a regal nod of her head. "Fair enough, Harry."

"Second… well, second might be a little harder to swallow, and I think it will present a host of other potential problems that we'd have to deal with together, but…"

He trailed off and stood, moving around the desks until he was standing next to Daphne, who had turned to follow his movement.

"Daphne Greengrass, tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend and I would very much like it if you would be willing to accompany me, as my date?"