The rejection of a future favor was also something that Daphne could not wrap her mind around. That was the barter and trade for many of the purebloods in Slytherin, trading actions for future favors. The more desperate you were in the present the larger the favors could end up being.
Daphne had been willing to trade any sort of favors, even going so far as to be flirtatious to encourage his cooperation through physical means. She had even been willing to sleep with him if he protected her sister. She wouldn't have been enthusiastic, but she would have done it.
Ares Flamel had completely dismissed any sort of payment out of hand. As if the idea of her being in his debt didn't matter at all to him. That, plus his warding of the first year rooms suggested that Ares Flamel had a hero complex. Putting himself at risk to protect others, was practically textbook definition of hero complex.
With anyone else, Daphne would have said that made him easy to manipulate in the future. However she had seen his attitude as they talked. He seemed to truly believe that he was in no danger. She would have called that arrogance and foolishness… practically Gryffindorish. Except…. the expression on his face just before he left. Daphne had been reading people all her life. She considered it something she was particularly good at. And in that moment Ares Flamel radiated with rage. Her senses were practically screaming at her and telling her she was in the presence of quite literally the most dangerous individual Daphne had ever encountered...
...and he was only 15 years old.
To make matters worse, Daphne couldn't even say for sure that her physical traits had made any sort of impact on him. Granted, she had barely tapped that particular angle during the conversation, and she certainly didn't want to whore herself out though if given no other choice she would have for the sake of her sister. But to have her subtle wiles be completely ignored was a rather massive blow to her pride. She glanced down at her maturing body, and scowled at the idea that it wasn't enough to at least impress the newcomer. Especially after so many others among her house had attempted to claim it in the past. However, the Flamels had French roots and the French were known to be less conservative. Maybe he was accustomed to that culture, and her current outfit wasn't risque enough to attract his attention?
She could read between the lines and easily saw that she had guessed dead-wrong about Flamel aligning with Malfoy for protection. But she couldn't figure out what other reason the two might be allied over. The Flamel's didn't need wealth, that was for certain, and while they never took part in government, they could, if they chose to, still wield an impressive array of legal and political power. Malfoy was another conundrum. Daphne was certainly not the only one to notice that Malfoy had changed this since the end of the prior school year. None of the others seemed to have noticed that the constant bragging and grandstanding, not to mention claims of his family's importance, which had previously been the majority of Draco's conversations in the past few years, had utterly vanished.
That was just the surface changes though. Now, he seemed to be following Ares Flamel around, and Daphne hadn't missed his performance in transfiguration. While Draco was never incompetent or slow, he had never displayed proficiency that was so far ahead of his peers like he had in transfiguration that morning.
However, what was most telling to Daphne was the conversation she had overheard the evening before, though for the life of her she couldn't seem to remember where it had occurred. She had remembered being surprised that she could overhear, that no one had cast silencing wards and she hadn't wasted the chance. She just wished she could remember where she heard the conversation.
What she had heard absolutely stunned her. They had talked about Voldemort not only as if they knew he wasn't dead and was going to be making a comeback. That had shaken Daphne to the core. More than that, Ares had Draco Malfoy talking about defying He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Daphne had assumed that he was just like his father and would be looking to lick the boots of anyone who allowed him to act upon his unhidden bigotry.
She had heard Draco telling Ares about the tradition of Slytherin house and had wondered if he would manage to make it through the night without a trip to the hostpial wing. She had actually doubted it at the time. Especially as Draco hadn't said anything to the older students about Ares being under his protection. Daphne had thought Draco a fool for believing that simple association would protect Ares, especially after he had deliberately antagonized Lucian Bole.
However, Daphne hadn't expected for it to be the older Slytherins who would end up needing help. Yet, that morning, they had not only been caught, but humiliated. She wondered if Ares knew that while the older Slytherins might be slow, but not that slow. When the sixth and seventh year Slytherins found out who humiliated them, Daphne had no doubt there would be a infirmary trip involved.
They would no doubt eventually figure out it was him. She wondered what he would do when that happened. However, she had a growing suspicion that there would be multiple infirmary trips involved.
Now, Daphne just wasn't sure who would end up in the infirmary.
She knew Ares and Malfoy were looking for a teacher, one that could teach them far more than they could learn at school. And they had disappeared during History class today. Though she had no idea where. She idly wondered whether Binn's ghost would report it, or whether it would start a precedent and other people would just start skiving off that class completely as well.
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