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Daphne Greengrass was in love, and had been for a few weeks now. In the mind of any adult it wouldn't be love, but instead the youthful and innocent infatuation of a 11 year old girl. In Daphne's mind though, it was a pure and beautiful love.
The one who had caused such feeling in her was none other than Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and newly resident celebrity at Hogwarts. Daphne had known about him for years, had heard the legend of a one year old who somehow deflected the killing curse and killed the Dark Lord. It had been a fairy tale, and one her father felt was a bit too mysterious to make sense.
Growing up Daphne had eventually come to understand that Harry Potter was a real boy in her year who played some role in Voldemort's death, but obviously couldn't have caused it himself. Her father also emphasised however that when she eventually got to Hogwarts and met him, that she should at least be nice to him because of 'politics'.
Daphne hated the word 'politics'. Her father, Cyrus Greengrass, mentioned it a lot. He talked about it way too much, and seemed to find it very interesting. Daphne on the other hand didn't care about politics. To her it was a grown up thing, something very dull and boring that just seemed like a waste of time. Lots of grown ups just sitting and talking and not actually doing anything. Why talk about such dull things as 'the economy' or 'international relations' when one could eat ice cream, or play hide and seek with their friends and siblings?
Despite not caring about it however, Daphne still had to interact with it despite being 11. This was because her family were rich, and part of the 'pureblood nobility'. Apparently that meant something important and those that were a part of it deserved a lot of respect. Daphne didn't agree though. In her eyes, anyone who took the whole 'nobility' thing seriously was a boring idiot, and that included her father.
That didn't change anything though. Daphne had been forced to listen and learn about all sorts of things. She learned about the family history and lineage, the pureblood families and lots of stuff about 'culture' and 'traditions'. In truth, a lot of it was in one ear and out the other. Most of the time Daphne just wanted to be playing with her sisters instead, who didn't have to do these lessons (or at least most of them).
This was because Daphne was the eldest daughter. Astoria was born two years later, and had unfortunately inherited the Greengrass family blood curse. Tracey was a half-blood born out of her father's affair, and whilst she was an accepted part of the family by the family (including Daphne's mother, who had raised Tracey as her own and came to love her as her own after Tracey's actual mother died), the rest of pureblood society saw Tracey as inferior. Also, Tracey was far too laid back and chatty to be the 'heir'.
Still though, sometimes Daphne actually liked the lessons. One lesson on one of her ancestors had her father show Daphne an old memory from over two hundred years ago, when Willard Greengrass had fought a dragon to the death. Watching him actually kill a dragon had honestly been one of the coolest things Daphne had ever seen.
Most of the time though, the lessons sucked. Still Daphne had been forced to learn, and one thing her father made clear was that the other 'heir's' would all be getting these sort of lessons as well. Since Daphne was expected to follow the family legacy and go into Slytherin she was going to be surrounded by many 'noble heir's', and thereby Daphne would be representing the family. She would need to act proper and dignified, so as to not embarrass the noble family name.
Whilst Daphne hated the lessons and hated 'politics', she loved her father and didn't want to let him down. So Daphne tried to take a slower approach, thinking things through first before rushing in. She had to remain calm and collected at all times, plan out everything she did and avoid humiliating herself (and thereby her family) in front of everyone else.
Obviously this was not going to be easy for an eleven year old girl.
Thankfully however, Slytherin and Hogwarts in general was nowhere near as bad as her father described. When Daphne and Tracey had gotten onto the Hogwarts Express, they'd both been nervous, and that had continued when they were sorted into Slytherin. However, once they all got to the common room and the sisters got to meet their new housemates, they found that they were not as her father had described.
None of them actually cared at all about 'politics' or 'family standing', despite all of them getting similarly dull lessons on it. None of them were boring. In many ways the other Slytherin's were like them, although Daphne had noticed that many of the older years actually seemed much more like her father and his 'political allies'.
The fact that none of them really cared about their 'image' was made abundantly clear when Gregory Goyle proceeded to pick his own nose right in front of them, and then ate what he picked out. Disgusting, yes. Something a 'respectable pureblood heir' would do? Definitely not.
The other Slytherin's openly defied their families expectations in many different ways. Lily Moon often read muggle literature, whilst Millicent really liked to exercise (something that 'proper pureblood ladies' were not meant to do). Pansy liked to draw art, and the Carrow twins wrestled with one another every night. The boys weren't any better. Blaise Zabini kept telling really stupid jokes that only made him look stupid, Vincent Crabbe had repeatedly farted in front of everyone and didn't care, and Theodore Nott openly swore and made fun of pureblood society. Tracey also fit in with all of this, as she really enjoyed gossiping.
Then there was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be the only one in their year besides Daphne herself who cared about family standing. Whilst Daphne only cared to not disappoint her father, Draco seemed to actually believe in 'pureblood superiority'. Draco tried very hard to act like a 'proper pureblood lord' but only seemed to make himself look like an idiot. In fact they had only been here a month and Draco had already humiliated himself in front of the school by trying to start a fight with Gryffindor's Ronald Weasley. Weasley's older twin brother's hadn't taken well to that, and so they made it so Draco's trousers repeatedly fell down whenever a lot of people could see him.
It had been sad to see, but also hilarious considering how Draco's father was apparently the 'top dog' in pureblood circles.
Now, this wasn't to say Daphne liked all of them. In fact not only did she find many of them annoying, Daphne outright disliked all of the guys. Crabbe and Goyle were both disgusting and absolute idiots, and then on top of that were bullies. Nott was a loner, and both him and Zabini could be extremely rude. Draco's existence annoyed Daphne, but she honestly found him to be more pathetic than anything. The girls were a bit better, although Millicent could sometimes be quite aggressive (especially when anyone petted her cat without asking), and Pansy clearly tried to go along with whoever was popular even if she didn't actually agree. The other girls were alright, but were not that friendly to Daphne regardless.
Whilst the others were more open away from their homes though, Daphne made at least some effort to not be as much of an embarrassment. She wasn't going to humiliate herself in front of the entire school or pick fights with Gryffindor's like Malfoy insisted on doing. Tracey took the more relaxed nature as an opportunity to embrace her desires for friendship and gossip, but Daphne would try to be a bit more above it all even if she hated it, after all it would make her father happy.
Also, if Daphne was the only one actually following the lessons then maybe her father would be proud of her, and reward her with some ice cream. Maybe even banana ice cream with chocolate flakes!
However, her efforts to not embarrass the family meant she was trying to be calm and composed, attempting to control her reaction as best she could. Unfortunately that sort of behaviour didn't really work out in dangerous situations that required quick thinking where things could change on the fly - like during flying lessons.
Two weeks into their time at Hogwarts was when they would have flying lessons. This would be where they would all learn to ride a broom, and they wouldn't be doing it alone. Alongside the Slytherin's were the Gryffindor's, with both learning at the same time under the instruction of Madam Rolanda Hooch.
Now, Slytherin shared multiple classes with Gryffindor, so Daphne had very much noticed some of them. Neville Longbottom seemed to be a nervous wreck, Hermione Granger was a bossy know-it-all, Lavender Brown could easily be Tracey's best friend, and Seamus Finnegan was very clearly Irish (down to having an accent Daphne couldn't understand at all).
The one that had most interested her though was Harry Potter, after all he was a celebrity and her father had instructed her to at least get along with him. She'd had plenty of time to take a good long look at the 'fairy tale hero' of Wizarding Britain ... and honestly she hadn't been all that impressed. Harry Potter seemed to be somewhat untidy, a near-loner with only one friend, and he actually looked quite overwhelmed with everything a lot of the time. Daphne couldn't help but find that last part quite odd, after all he was the Boy-Who-Lived. He was a literal celebrity who would have had a lot more freedom than any other kid their age, and who would have been surrounded with attention and fans since he was a baby. Daphne felt that he should have been used to all this by now.
Regardless of how odd he was though, Harry Potter wasn't at all rude or nasty. He clearly did not get along with Malfoy, but a lot of people didn't so in Daphne's eyes it just made him a normal and quite reasonable person.
As everyone got out onto the field, Hooch led them to the middle where two lines of brooms awaited them. She told everyone to stand next to a broom, with Gryffindor's on the left and Slytherin's on the right. After everyone was next to a broom, she started to give a small speech on broom safety and made it clear that everyone was to follow her instructions or there would be trouble. Daphne kept calm, knowing that as long as she followed instructions everything would be alright and she wouldn't embarrass the family name.
Hooch told everyone to shout 'up' at their brooms, with the brooms then rising into their hands. For some, like Potter and Malfoy it seemed natural to them. Their brooms instantly rose right into their hands. For others however it wasn't so easy, with the likes of Crabbe, Goyle, Longbottom and Granger all having a lot more trouble. Granger's broom in fact looked to be trying to dig into the ground. Thankfully though Daphne had been spared that embarrassment, as her broom slowly rose into her hand. It hadn't been as fast as even Tracey, but she'd still done a decent job of it.
Hooch went to help the stragglers, and eventually everyone had broom in hand. Hooch got them all to mount their brooms, preparing them to take off when disaster struck - Longbottom lost control, and his broom started rising into the air. It sped off into the air before he fell off and landed on his arm with a sickening crack. Thankfully though, it seemed that only his wrist had been broken. Hooch went to escort him to the hospital wing, and made it clear that nobody was to take off. Immediately after that Malfoy picked something up that Longbottom had dropped, and somehow ended up in an argument with Potter over it.
Daphne ended up being distracted by the argument, and so didn't get off her broom. This would be a mistake, as before their argument could continue any longer Daphne's broom started rising on it's own, as she also lost control. The argument stopped as everyone turned to look at her, with Tracey quickly starting to panic.
Daphne tried to breathe deeply, frightened but refusing to show her fear. She could not loose control, especially in front of everyone. Daphne knew she just needed to control the broom, and get it to go back down - but despite what she wanted it wasn't working. What made it worse was that she was both trying to control herself to not panic, and control the broom at the same time - and was achieving neither. Tears threatened to break out of her eyes as the broom started moving erratically, with enough force that Daphne slipped off.
In this time Daphne had actually gotten much higher than Longbottom, and was at a height where a fall could kill her. As she fell, Daphne couldn't help but cry, scared out of her mind. She wanted nothing more than to hug her family and eat ice cream. She closed her eyes, wanting the nightmare to go away.
Suddenly though, she felt someone collide with her. It turned out that Harry Potter really was a hero after all, as without thinking he'd gotten on the broom and rushed up to save her, catching her in his arms whilst staying on his broom. This caused Daphne to open her eyes, seeing the green of his as Harry looked down at her in worry and concern.
"It's alright Daphne, I've got you. Your safe." he said.
It was at that moment in which Daphne fell in love with Harry Potter, captivated by her hero and his embrace. It was a few brief moments, but for her it felt like forever. Harry then pulled her closer to him as he flew them both down towards the ground. Immediately after the other first years reached them, Tracey hugging her tightly before Daphne could even stand, crying into Daphne's neck. Daphne simply held her sister in return, and breathed deeply.
Apparently though Professor McGonagall had actually seen the entire thing, and had rushed down to make sure that she was okay. In the end, Daphne was okay, as was Harry - although their collision had caused some minor bruising. Daphne didn't care about the bruising though, as her hero had saved her life and the bruises could easily heal.
Shortly after that, her father had been informed and he visited Hogwarts to check on her. Upon hearing Daphne's explanation, he actually apologised.
"Daphne, I need you to understand that whilst I wanted you to learn those lessons for your future, they don't take priority over your own life and happiness. I'm sorry for not making this clear, and for upsetting you."
Daphne cried "Daddy ..."
"I think I was a bit over the top with your lessons. Whilst they are important, I want you to live and have fun even if it means sometimes doing something I wouldn't want you to do. Although I'll be clear that I'm talking about more minor things like joking around with your friends, or not keeping your hair tidy." her father had said.
Daphne ended up relaxing at that, both because she now didn't have to be as concerned with 'maintaining the family image', and because her father had technically given her approval to do something she'd been considering doing anyway.
Besides that, the incident had changed other things for her as well. Malfoy had tried to use it as an opportunity to bully her into submission, as part of a rather pathetic attempt to become the 'top dog' of Slytherin's first years. It didn't work out since he ended up getting punched in the face by Tracey, which knocked him out. Tracey had actually stuck closer to her since, and Daphne knew she'd had nightmares of Daphne falling with nobody to catch her.
Daphne was obviously there for her sister in turn, helping her to get past the nightmares. Tracey also didn't get in trouble over punching Malfoy, since the upper years all verified that Draco had violently punched himself in the face.
Besides that though, what mattered the most to Daphne was Harry. She thought about him a lot more lately, and paid attention to him a lot more as well. Harry's heroics had gotten him onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and he'd earned Gryffindor over a hundred points for his actions. The other Gryffindor's cheered him on, calling Harry a hero. Daphne was glad that Harry was being rewarded for saving her, and she certainly planned to support him in Quidditch even against her own house, but Daphne wanted to personally reward him herself.
Daphne actually felt bad because she'd never actually thanked him, though she promised herself she would - but that wouldn't be enough. Daphne wanted to give Harry something special, that could only be given once. It hadn't taken her long to decide that she wanted to do it, as it became clear to herself (and to Tracey) that she'd fallen in love with Harry.
Her opinion of him had completely changed since her saved her. Not only did Daphne think that he looked wonderful no matter what he wore, but the fact he didn't try to make himself look extremely smartly dressed and perfectly clean actually suited him in a way Daphne quite liked. Daphne also found him to be just more impressive in general, and desperately wanted to also be his friend, just like Weasley.
That was a lie though, since she didn't just want to be his friend, and certainly not like Weasley. Daphne wanted to be even closer to him, in a way she'd never wanted with anyone before. She couldn't help but notice his friendly smile, or how kind and helpful he always was. She especially couldn't stop looking at his eyes, especially loving it when he looked right at her.
Daphne found his eyes mesmerising, and couldn't help but think back to that moment he saved her. Whenever she saw his eyes, she felt safe and warm.
Unfortunately though, Daphne was very obvious with her affection for Harry. There was some teasing from the other girls, but it wasn't mean spirited. They all perfectly understood why Daphne felt the way she felt, even if they didn't feel the same. The adults who noticed didn't really care, viewing it as a simple crush that would fade in time.
Daphne knew it was love though, and Tracey saw it the same way. Whilst she also liked to tease Daphne over it, she was also very supportive. Eventually Tracey asked her what she planned to actually do about this, and Daphne had exactly the answer. She would be inspired by her hero, and leap right into action and approach Harry. She wouldn't let her own cowardice or her father's lessons stop her, even if it could end in embarrassment for her.
Therefore, the very next day Daphne walked up to Harry with Tracey at her side. It had actually taken some time to find Harry, as he hadn't actually been in the castle - he'd been by the lake with Ron.
In truth Daphne actually had to get the help of the Weasley twins. When she'd explained why she was looking for Harry, one of them had briefly entered a cupboard, and then returned with the information. Daphne didn't know how they did
it, but they had told her the truth.
As she and Tracey approached, Ron was the first one to notice her and got Harry's attention. When her hero looked at her with a smile, Daphne couldn't help but blush and smile back.
"Harry, hi." Daphne said, before stopping. In the moment she wasn't exactly sure what to say, though thankfully Harry did "Hey Daphne, are you alright now?"
His concern only made her blush deeper, but Daphne nodded causing Harry to grin. "Good ... also, hi Tracey."
Tracey waved, before Daphne spoke up again "Thank you for saving my life."
Harry waved if off, making it clear that he was grateful for her thanks, but that he would have done this for anyone. Daphne wasn't surprised about this, after all her beloved hero couldn't just be saving her.
"I know you got onto the Quidditch team because of that, and congratulations on that, but I want to reward you. Personally."
Harry blinked in surprise "Daphne, you don't need to reward me. I heard about the life debt thing, and I'll make it clear you don't need to do anything. You being alive is reward enough."
"It isn't about a life debt. I just want to reward you because you deserve it." Daphne said, moving towards Harry before he could speak. She reached out, grabbed his face with her hands and pulled him into a kiss.
Daphne could briefly hear Tracey whistling, and Ron gasping in shock, but neither of them mattered to her right now. In Daphne's mind, she was in heaven. Sure, it was just a simple kiss but she poured her love and affection into it, and knew she could feel his in return.
When she pulled back, she smiled at him again. Harry had a deep red blush, with a smile on his face - except then he started wobbling. At this point Daphne, Tracey and Ron all noticed something was wrong - blood was pouring out of Harry's scar, and even some black smoke came out. Daphne even thought she heard a scream, but ignored it as she reached to catch Harry as he fell. Thankfully Ron was stronger, and was able to help lower Harry to the ground.
What had been meant as a reward and a declaration of Daphne's love had become a nightmare. She was now scared she'd just killed her hero.
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What Daphne didn't realise though is that she had in fact just saved her hero, for unbeknownst to Daphne she had just accidentally destroyed one of Voldemort's horcruxes, and not just one either.
At this point in time Voldemort was at his weakest point. His body had been destroyed a decade ago, and he'd been forced to feed off the weakest of creatures. When he'd finally gained Quirrell he'd had to possess the fool, which expended much of Voldemort's remaining power. As a result he'd had to resort to drinking unicorn blood (which he had started doing only a few days prior). As a result Voldemort's connection to the mortal world was very faint, held in place by Quirrell's own soul and his horcruxes.
One of those horcruxes was in Harry, and that was his downfall. When Daphne kissed Harry, she done so pouring her love and affection into it. Whilst Harry didn't currently share her feelings, he still cared about her - especially after having recently saved her life. The positive link was there, and with the added magical link of a life debt meant that Lily Potter's love protection got supercharged to the point of destroying the horcrux whilst preserving Harry. He had been knocked out by this, but it wouldn't take long for Harry to recover.
In another timeline, Harry's first kiss wouldn't have destroyed the horcrux - but in that timeline Voldemort had undergone a ritual to restore his body, had found a way to circumnavigate the love protection and was simply in a much stronger state. Here though, Voldemort's much weaker position meant that the power of Harry's first kiss destroyed it - but it didn't stop there.
Since the horcrux that had been in Harry had been made accidentally, it meant that it didn't have the same protections as the other horcruxes and was thereby a weak point. The supercharged love protection was thereby able to pass through the connection between the horcrux and Voldemort himself, and even to the rest of the horcruxes.
At the same time that Daphne kissed Harry, Dumbledore had gathered the staff for a meeting. The meeting in question was a fairly typical one, giving quick reports on how the first years are settling in and any issues with the upper years. However, just as McGonagall was about to speak Quirrell started smoking from his skin, before bursting into flames and disintegrating right in front of everyone.
This prompted shock and horror, with many teachers getting out of their chairs - and then everyone stopped as Voldemort's spirit rose up, screaming, before he too was disintegrated.
"was that ....?" Sinistra asked.
"Voldemort." Dumbledore confirmed.
What nobody noticed however was the destruction of the other horcruxes. The Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw exploded in the Room of Requirement, but since the room was so big nobody noticed. Nobody would notice the Gaunt family ring exploding either, due to a storm. Although the ring itself was destroyed, the stone within was unharmed.
In London two more horcruxes went off, one in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault which actually caused chaos for Gringotts as it meant a dragon got loose. Their investigation afterwards would lead to all the Lestrange vaults being shut down, and their contents confiscated by the Goblins. Another went off in the Black family residence however, although the House Elf who resided there had been able to contain the explosion.
(When Kreacher eventually figured out that Daphne was responsible for destroying the Locket, he would actually thank her and value her above literally everyone else)
Finally however was the Diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle, which was next to quite a few dark artefacts. The result of it exploding destroyed them as well, causing a chain reaction which turned Malfoy Manor into a crater. Both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy would be vaporised in an instant, making Draco an orphan.
In the end, Lord Voldemort didn't go out with a bang but with a whimper. Whilst the wider Wizarding World didn't know it, Voldemort had effectively been killed by Harry getting his first kiss. In the afterlife Death would end up mocking Tom Riddle over how pathetic his death was, with all his victims taking turns laughing at him.
Albus Dumbledore would eventually figure out what happened, and would even later on tell Harry the full details.
The aftermath of the kiss did cause some issues for Daphne, worried that she'd kill Harry if she ever kissed him again. Harry did not blame her for what happened, and did eventually kiss her back just to help Daphne calm down - however they wouldn't initially have a relationship.
This was because they were first years, and Harry just wasn't interested in a relationship at that time. Instead, Harry and Daphne would become friends, forming a friend group including Ron and Tracey. For many years Daphne would remain
in love with Harry, but still only his friend until their fourth year, when Harry asked her to be his date to the Yule Ball.
They would start dating, and Daphne would eventually learn the truth of what she actually did. Daphne would also not have issues with her father and his rules, especially since her family had approved of Harry ever since he'd saved her. Unfortunately they'd both have to deal with 'politics' eventually, but Daphne would forever try to put that rubbish off.
They would both be happy, eventually marrying and living long lives together.
Voldemort on the other hand would be forced to spend an eternity getting mocked in hell over being killed by a kiss.