Are. You. Insane?!" she asked in a quiet, cold voice, "He isn't just an 'evil guy', he was the most powerful Dark Wizard in history! He killed so many people -Aurors, Hitwizards, families- that his very presence caused fear in his enemies! He regularly duelled against odds of ten to one and emerged victorious, which only Dumbledore and Grindelwald have been known to do in the last five centuries!"
"He's dead though." Harry pointed out, although he knew it was a lie. He had fought off the ephemeral wraith of Voldemort last year.
"That isn't the point." Daphne said with forced calm, "The point is that people still fear him, still live in terror of him returning. He was so powerful that the shock of you defeating him as a baby made some whisper that he had merely withdrawn to regain his power, biding his time to return and wreak havoc on Wizarding Britain. That's why no one says his name, as everyone who was brave enough to say it during his war, minus Dumbledore, invariably ended up dead."
"Finally, a reasonable answer." Harry said with satisfaction, "No one has been able to give me one that made sense until now. I'm still going to keep using his name though, no offence."
"Why?!" Daphne asked incredulously.
"He tried to kill me once and failed." Harry replied, gesturing at his scar slightly, "If he does come back, he cannot let that stand. I'll be a target regardless of what I say or do."
Daphne shook her head slowly, "You really are a Gryffindor through and through, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically.
"The Sorting Hat would disagree with you." Harry replied with a shrug as he returned his attention to the book in front of him and started scribbling down the incantation and effects of the Arm-Twisting Curse (Armis Detorquent), "It said I could do well in any House."
"Even Slytherin?" her scepticism was self evident in both her speech and body language.
"It was a tossup between Gryffindor and Slytherin in the end." Harry replied as he finished with the Arm Twisting Curse and moved on to the Defenestration Hex (Projectus Fenestra), "I wanted to be as far away from Malfoy as I could, so I asked for Gryffindor."
"You'd met him before Hogwarts." Daphne's voice had become dry with irony.
"In Madame Malkins." Harry replied, "He reminded me too much of my cousin Dudley: a spoilt brat who had never had his parents say 'no' to him enough. On the Hogwarts Express, he and his boy toys showed themselves to be like Dudley yet again: cowardly bullies who run at the first sign of trouble."
Harry finished the notes of the Defenestration Hex and spotted one he'd like to use on Malfoy at some point: the Melofors Jinx, which encased the target's head in a pumpkin.
"Is that why you sent him, Crabbe and Goyle to the Hospital Wing earlier?" Daphne asked archly.
"No, that is because he tried to attack me. Ditto for the bookends." Harry said firmly, "I also hate it when he calls Hermione…that word."
"Ah. Understandable." Daphne admitted slowly, "So…you and Granger?"
"What?" Harry looked up at her for a moment before shaking his head, "No, we're…not like that. I'm just protective of her and vice versa. Neither of us had friends before Hogwarts, so we tend to be protective of what friends we do have."
"Hmm…Surprising." Daphne commented, "I would have thought you would have a couple of Wizarding friends at least."
"Nope. When I say I was cut off from the Wizarding World, I mean it." Harry replied as he finished copying down the Melofors Jinx and began on the Inversion Charm (Disputatio) which was a sort of very minor Shield Charm that reflected minor hexes and jinxes to the one who cast them in the first place, "As for Muggle friends, my cousin beat up anyone who might have befriended me, so that was a no-go."
"And Granger?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Not my story to tell. If you want to know, ask her in Arithmancy next year." Harry replied.
"How did you know I'm taking Arithmancy next year?" Daphne asked sharply.
"You just told me." Harry replied, making Daphne curse under her breath, "But when Hermione was talking about taking Arithmancy herself, she made a list of people likely to take it as well, your name being at the top of the list."
Daphne didn't like it that a Gryffindor, of all people, was able to predict her actions, even about something like course selection, so she fell back on snarking at the nearest available target: Harry.
"What about you? Care of Magical Creatures and Divination I'll bet." Daphne sneered.
"At first, yes, but having thought about it, I've changed from Divination to Study of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy." Harry replied evenly, not deigning to rise to the rattled Slytherin's taunts.
Daphne was once again thrown off in this conversation by something Harry had said, which she was not used to when speaking to those of other Houses. Even within her own House, very few could throw her off guard like this, all of them being Sixth or Seventh Years.
"Why not drop CoMC?" she asked eventually.
"I seem to run across Dark or otherwise dangerous creatures far too often." Harry replied, "Trolls, Cerberuses, Acromantula, Basilisks…who knows what else I'll come up against next. Might as well get used to dealing with them."
"A Basilisk? Potter, there hasn't been a Basilisk in Britain for hundreds of years." Daphne scoffed, "They are illegal to create and are classed as XXXXX category monsters by the Ministry of Magic. You cannot seriously expect me to believe that you've survived an encounter with one."
"The Monster of the Chamber of Secrets was a thousand-year-old Basilisk." Harry said coolly, "Only a Parseltongue like Salazar Slytherin could control it, or even get to it. I've been hearing it slither around the school all year. It was sixty or more feet long and a poisonous green colour. We were really luck no one died, unlike fifty years ago."
"Wait, what? A Basilisk kills just by looking someone in the eyes, so how did no one die?" Daphne asked incredulously.