A/N: Daphne Greengrass announces her engagement to her parents, and they are not happy with her decision.

365 Prompts Challenge - #261 (Bisexual)

October Writing Month (1616)

Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #208 (love)

If You Dare Challenge - #104 (Someone to love)

"That's such bull!" Daphne cried.

Her mother and father were standing now, equally red-faced and disgusted. "Don't you talk to your father like that, young lady!" growled Cordelia Greengrass, her mother.

"You come into our home," said her father, his face twisted into a sneer, "and you tell us that not only are you" —he shuddered— "going to marry a... a... girl" —he spat the word out as if it were dirt— "but also a black"

"Don't—" Daphne began.

"—poor—"

"I don't care about mon—"

"—unemployed—"

"I told you, she's a Healer at a nonprofit—"

"—uneducated—"

"Just because she didn't go to Hogwarts doesn't mean—"

"—Mudblood—"

"Don't use that word against her!"

"—girl who fought against us in the Second Wizarding War?"

"You know that I never supported—"

Her mother took a step forward. "Have all our family morals gone straight through one ear and out the other, you idiot girl? We taught you to marry noble, pureblood boys, not..." She gave her daughter a disgusted look.

"Mother, that's not—"

"I don't understand you, Daphne," hissed her father. His words were quiet, but at the same time were worse than being loud. "You dated that nice pureblood boy at Hogwarts! You were with that pureblood boy... Eric! Just a few years ago! And now you decide to spite us by telling us about this... this... this... slut!"

Daphne's entire body shook with fury. "Don't you dare call her that! She is not—"

"Yes, she is," said her mother. "And you are, too."

This entire conversation had turned out far worse than Daphne ever expected it to. She knew they would not approve, but she didn't think... She didn't think it would go this far. "I'm your daughter!"

"No daughter of mine would be a lesbian," she spat. "I taught you better!"

"Mother, I've already told you, I'm not gay, I'm bisexual—"

"I don't care what you call it! I'd rather have a daughter who shags centaurs than girls!"

Daphne's eyes burned in the terrible silence, and before her parents could say anything more, she stated, "I'm leaving. I hope you find it in your heart to accept me by the time the wedding comes."

She turned to the door, ready to meet her fiancé outside, when her father grabbed her upper arm, a little too hard. "We're not done with you just yet, Daphne!" shouted her father, angrier than ever. Fear flickered through her. "You need to learn how to be a proper Greengrass!"

Elliot Greengrass had his wand out, as did Daphne's mother. "Mother," she said, before the curses were upon her.

Soon she was drowning within a world of dark, burning pain, unable to reach her wand or raise a finger to protect herself. It stopped for a moment when she heard, "Have you learned, Daphne? Are you ready to repent?"

But when she growled out a "I'm not going to—" and then she felt something slicing into her flesh, a hex.

She screamed.

Daphne sobbed and screamed again and everything blurred together. Her only sense was that her face was pressed against the cold floor.

More pain and agony and white-hot flashes and then—

Everything came to a shrieking halt, and suddenly she could breathe again. She gasped, her face still wet with tears, and dragged her shaking hand closer to her body. "I'm... not... giving... her... up..." she rasped. "I... love... her..."

"I know," she heard, and then Daphne felt a warm hand touch her face. "You alrigh', love?" It was Aimee, her fiancé. She was her hero.

She nearly cried with relief. "Aimee..." Her entire body ached, especially her leg. "Oh, Merlin, Aimee. I don't..." She curled into a tighter ball on the floor.

Aimee interlaced her fingers with Daphne's and then helped her to her trembling feet. "What happened?" Aimee asked, wrapping her arm around her fiancé's waist.

Daphne spotted her father unconscious on the floor, and her mother was sprawled out on the table, likely hit by a Stunner. Aimee... Aimee had done this. "They... They didn't take it too well."

"I assumed." Aimee scooped her up in her arms, seeing as Daphne could not walk on her own.

"How did you—" Daphne winced and clung tighter to Aimee's neck. "How did you know to come in here?"

Aimee smiled. Daphne always thought she was so gorgeous when she smiled. Her entire face lit up and her brown eyes sparkled. She had a dimple in her left cheek, but it did not make her face look lopsided. It made her so, so... beautiful. "You told me half an hour, remember?" She said remember like it was remembah: a whole new word. "So when time was up, I got up to th' door, and I heard you screamin', and..." She shuddered. "I couldn't bear it, Daphne. I swear, I couldn't wait one second before coming in here. And seeing you on th' floor like tha'... Are you sure you're alrigh'?"

Daphne nodded, saying, "Yeah," but it slowly turned into a "no." She rubbed her leg. "It's my leg, mostly. And my head. That's all."

Aimee slid one of her arms free and pushed open the door, making her way out into the night. "It's bleedin' pretty bad, love. We should go to th' hospital. Make sure it isn't fatal or nothin'. You feel dizzy? Nauseous?"

Daphne shook her head carefully. "I'm fine, Aimee, really. Don't worry about it. And you don't" —she winced— "have to carry me, you know. I can walk."

"Daphne, I saw you back there. If you can bloody walk, then I've got the bloody Elder Wand." She shifted me in her arms. "Don't lie to me, love. Your parents..." She was looking at Daphne's eyes a bit too intently. Before Daphne could find it too strange, Aimee spoke. "Did they—" She seemed deeply concerned. "Did they use the Cruciatus Curse on you?"

The two women were at their car then, and Aimee stopped, not setting her fiancé down just yet. Daphne closed her eyes. "Yes."

"Holy Circe—" Aimee's gaze was like fire.

"It's not—" Daphne cut her off, raising a shaky hand. "It's not a big deal, Ames, I swear. I've survived it before from them, it's nothing—"

"Oh!" scoffed Aimee, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course, if you've been under an Unforgivable before, then it's nothin'..." She opened the car door with a bit of nonverbal, wandless magic and set Daphne down in the passenger seat. "Daphne," she said, her eyes searching the Greengrass daughter's. Daphne's lips parted. "It's never okay to use the Cruciatus Curse. On anyone. No matter wha'."

"I know," she whispered.

"No, I don't think you do," she responded quickly. "How old were you?"

"Er... It was the end of fifth year, so I was nearly sixteen, I think."

Aimee pulled the seatbelt across her fiancé's lap. "What happened?"

Daphne ducked under her gaze, picking at her fingernails. "I screwed up my O.W.L.'s, that's all. I didn't get into any N.E.W.T. classes like my sister, and they were angry. They had every right to be, I mean—"

"No."

"What?"

"That doesn't mean they get to use the Cruciatus Curse on you." Aimee looked away for a moment, making Daphne think for a split second that she was angry, but then she looked back, bit her lip once, and continued. "Wha' happened next?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you... Did you tell anyone? Friends, teachers..." Aimee was pacing out on the curb, going up and then down, up and then down...

She shook her head. "I had the whole summer to heal. No one knew the difference when I got back."

"Merlin, Daphne," was all Aimee said. She shut the passenger car door, walked around to the other side and got into the driver's seat. Once she was buckled, she set her hands on the steering wheel. "Merlin, Daphne," she said again. "Merlin's bloody balls, I can't—" Then Aimee was gripping the steering wheel like she gripped her coffee cup that day she found out about her cousin and her shoulders were shaking. She was crying. She wiped her sleeve across her face once as it began, trying to stop it before it got too far, but then the tears were spilling out of her.

"Ames, it's okay, really, I—"

"No, it's not okay!"

Shocked by her fiancé's loud response, Daphne recoiled, silenced. When Aimee did not say anything more, Daphne tried to reassure her again. "Aimee, it wasn't a big deal, honestly, it's okay—"

"Daphne, it's not okay for them to bloody do this to you and for you to be okay with it!"

"Well, I mean, I don't think I'm—"

"Daphne, do you even know how beautiful you are?"

This time, Aimee's tone was far different. It was gentle, and Daphne blushed. "Ames, I... Thanks, but..." She could not continue.

"Love, you don't understand." Two more tears slipped down her face, and Daphne leaned forward, brushing them away with her own hands. Aimee's fingers fastened around Daphne's forearms, like she wanted to hold her forever. "You're so, so beautiful, and you make me feel beautiful, and you don't even understand tha' wha' they're doing to you... wha' they did to you... " Aimee traced the cut on Daphne's forehead, the one curving with her eyebrow. "Merlin, you're so beautiful, Daphne. Do you understand that?" Aimee's love was fiercer now, desperate, and Daphne nodded furiously, crying again. Their foreheads were pressed together now, and though it stung, for the life of her, Daphne didn't care. She was watching Aimee and her dazzling eyes now. "Don't let them..."

Aimee didn't know what to say and neither did Daphne.

So they kissed.