the muggle way.
Daphne Greengrass was entirely too naïve before and during the war, but not anymore she promises herself… if only she could muster up the courage and take the last few steps into muggle London. In theory this shouldn't be so hard. It's not impossible, she's seen countless witches and wizards walk through the door in the thirty minutes she's been here – even children have done it! It's easy, she tells herself, that door is what separates the Wizarding world from the muggle world; all she has to do is open it and walk through. She must look extremely weird, just standing before the door in the Leaky Cauldron, shifting on her feet, trying to take the last few steps in and out through the damn door. It's harmless, really. The muggle world is on the other side, and she's never been there before. Until now, because damn it, Daphne was doing this for a reason! She was disgustingly daft in her school years and she wanted to remedy that. The years during Voldemort's second rise to power was …scary, to be honest. Daphne had never really known what was going on until it was too late and then she was too terrified to do anything. She was totally unprepared (not that Harry Potter or his friends or Draco or any of the Aurors were prepared for the return of Voldemort because Daphne is sure they weren't at all but she just feels like she herself wasn't prepared either).
Compared to most privileged pure-blood children, Daphne had a really good life before and after the war. She had two parents, unlike Blaise and Theodore. Her parents loved her and showed it constantly, unlike Theodore and Millicent's parents. She's not an only child like all the Slytherins she graduated with. She was never forced into relationships based on financial and blood status like Pansy. She never had to avoid making friends with certain groups of people based on blood, like every other Slytherin. She was never mocked because her parents went to jail, unlike Draco. And her parents were never Death Eaters, unlike every other pure-blood Slytherin. That's what Daphne appreciates most, by far.
Her parents are good people and she knows that. They never preached to her about maintaining the pure-blood line, they just taught her to be proud of what she was and the history of her family. They attended the pure-blood winter balls and summer weddings of course, but they weren't like the other parents. When all the other parents started to speak in hushed tones and held secret meetings with the doors closed, Daphne's parents vacationed in Italy. When a cloaked Mr. Ira Nott and a recently escaped from Azkaban Rabastian Lestrange came knocking on their door one stormy night, Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass took the whole family to their secret home in Zurich until Daphne and Astoria had to go back to school.
Daphne remembers how things had been before Voldemort came back. Her friends used to smile. Daphne, Theodore, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and even Greg and Vince had all been close once, hiding away from their parents during the boring balls and just being children. Now Vince was dead. Blaise spent four months in Azkaban before his trial. Theodore killed his own father in battle. Greg won't be getting out of Azkaban any time soon. Both of Pansy's parents are in Azkaban. And Draco will never stop blaming himself.
Every pure-blood knew Voldemort was back in power months before the world did. It was a war and she knows that, but still she feels the guilt because she didn't do anything to stop it. The balls and summer parties grew darker, the whispers and tension growing as more and more Death Eaters were in attendance. Young boys like Draco and Blaise started to march into those secret meetings with their father's heavy hands on their shoulders and their mothers' teary eyes following their footsteps. Beautiful faces like Narcissa Malfoy's grew weary, stoic eyes like Ira Nott's twinkled with menacing glee.
Daphne had never grown up around the fanatical beliefs some of her friends had, and just like her parents, she kept her head in the ground when things got bad. Her family was in hiding over the summer, not receiving owls or visitors, and her parents hadn't even seen Daphne and Astoria off at the train. The train ride back to school was horrible. Draco wasn't talking but the shadows under his eyes were screaming, Blaise looked like a mess, Pansy was lashing out at other students more violently, and Theodore's whispered, "I'm glad you're alright," said more than he ever could. He was worried for her because he thought her family had been killed for running instead of joining. One summer had changed them all so much and Daphne would never completely understand just how much because she had run away from all of it.
The school year was the same. Her friends, once confident and so strong, were scared and falling apart. Vince and Greg practically flourished under the Carrows and their detentions, whereas Daphne had buckled under their guidance. They called her and the other pure-bloods who weren't freely throwing around curses weak. She felt weak but she knew that being a Death Eater wouldn't make her feel strong. Blaise and Draco felt weak but they had the mark burning into their skin to weigh them down. Greg and Vince wore their marks with pride. The sight had frightened and sickened Daphne every time. That year Daphne did nothing but cry, keep her head down, and feel scared and helpless. She was weak, and she was hiding, and that had forced her sister to do the opposite.
The Carrows liked to punish students. They punished the non-pureblooded, non-Slytherin students by detentions in the dungeons with painful curses meant to torture. They punished the weak Slytherins by forcing them to be the ones behind the wands, firing curses they didn't want to use. Daphne couldn't do it, she cried and refused, shared the young Hufflepuff boy's punishment, and was left in the dungeon until she could walk back to her dorm by herself – so the Carrows made Astoria do it. Daphne's heart broke when she had to hold her little sister until the crying stopped and Astoria's whispered apologies fell silent.
Even during the war she stayed hidden. She could hear the fighting and the rumbling of the giant's feet, but she could only focus on her fear for her sister and her friends. They fought, and she didn't do a thing. The war was something she understood, but didn't really understand. How could so many of the people she grew up with believe in staying pure-blooded so much that they were murdering for it? Weeding out and locking up muggle-borns? The families that attended her birthday parties and raised their children together were out there, fighting for their lives over a belief that Daphne didn't believe in. She had no problem with half-bloods or muggle-borns. She knew that the pure-blooded line would eventually run out. She was already related to almost all of her house.
She had read a paper over Theodore's shoulder once in their seventh year. He had transfigured it into a Herbology book so she knew that this type of reading would definitely get him in trouble with his father. It was an essay about pure-bloods, and it said that inbreeding was the cause for squibs in families. Daphne had been worried the Carrows would see what they were reading, but Theodore just shrugged and told her that it was fine, they would never find out. She found out later that the author, Herman S. Belleview, had been killed the week before he could publish his essay by Death Eaters. Theodore's dad had given Theo the essay with the instructions to burn it along with all the other pro-muggle literature the Death Eaters had collected, but Theodore had smuggled most of it away and burnt his fathers transfigured potions books instead.
The years after the war had been hard at first. Death and destruction were impossible to ignore, but the loss of friends and family had been painful. The trials had been excruciating. Previously missing persons were turning up dead months after. Weak and starved muggleborns were released from prison. Most of the people Daphne knew since she was young were sent to Azkaban. Her parents had come back from Switzerland. Astoria was regarded as something of a war hero, but she cried herself to sleep in Daphne's childhood bed for weeks. Shops had been reopened, families were reunited, buildings were fixed, and Harry Potter brought hope to everyone. Things got so much better and acceptance and equality were being taught. A memorial was erected for those who lost their lives, and Kingsley Shacklebolt became the Minister of Magic and created Muggle Awareness Week.
Daphne was happy, she had a good job as a journalist for the Daily Prophet (which had completely restored its credibility and fired Rita Skeeter) and now she was trying to analyze what exactly happened in order of things to get that bad in the first place. She's written many articles on the subject, and she knows the answer is simple; fear of the unknown. Wizards have always feared muggles – it dates back to the days before people started to believe in putting a number to a year, month, and day. That fear had turned into hate and that hate had lead to generations of angry beliefs. Daphne and her editor had asked themselves; what can we do to change that fear? The answer was simple! Make the unknown known to abolish the fear. So that had lead her to where she is now, in the Leaky Cauldron, standing in front of the door. Daphne is going to write an article about muggles. Unfortunately for Daphne and all of the other privileged pure-blooded wizard children, she knew nothing about muggles. She's never learned anything about them, muggle-born students didn't like her and never talked to her, her friends and family were all pure-bloods, and she's never actually been to the muggle world or met a muggle before.
There was a problem, however, and it was simple; she knew next to nothing about muggles and their non-magical world and wanted to know more. The obvious answer was to learn about them, which was also a problem with a simple fix – she studied. Books have always proven to be a source of reliable information, but Daphne had not accounted for how few there would be on muggles after the reign of Voldemort. Theodore had let her borrow all the books and essays about muggles he had smuggled from his father and fellow Death Eaters' burnings. Upon reading them, Daphne was stunned and blown away. She could not understand how they had created so many things and survived without magic. Automobiles, television, medicine, clothing – it was all entirely mad! Muggles had such things, these machines, and their way of life… it was all so strange and different for Daphne that she felt astounded, genuinely impressed, and thoroughly ashamed. Ashamed because she had lived her whole life without knowing or expressing any interest in this whole non-magical world.
Despite, or maybe because of her studies from books, she had to know more. She was always a more physical learner, the type to understand once she's tried it so naturally (and frighteningly) Daphne knew she had to experience the ways of the muggles to understand it and quell her rapidly growing fascination. She needed to go and interact with muggles and all things muggle. She toyed with the idea for nearly a month before her desires won out over her fears. She started small – she began doing her chores without the use of her wand or her house elves (who have slowly began to accept Hermione Granger and the Elven Welfare's ideas about wearing actual clothes and receiving pay. The Greengrass house elves, Enpi, Micksie, and Dippy, are fond of clothes, but still refused to take more than a few knuts a year. It's a work in progress.) and took to wearing "hairclips" she had seen muggleborn girls at Hogwarts use to pin their hair up. Then she branched out and took Theo to an exhibit at the museum that was looking to inform the wizarding world about the muggle world as an effort to increase knowledge and acceptance and abolish any remaining discrimination and any chance of another radical war. Theo thought it was an intelligent way to raise awareness, Daphne thought it was beautiful.
"Look, Theo!" Daphne said gleefully, for she had just spotted one of the interactive pieces of the exhibit. A row of working telephones sat on a narrow table under a golden plaque with telephone numbers on it. "Real telephones!"
Her obvious (and loud) excitement caught the attention of Dean Thomas, who walked over and was surprised to find he knew the man and woman by the phones. "Hello," he said quite awkwardly. He wasn't sure how to handle two pure-blood Slytherins he went to school with being in this blatantly pro-muggle establishment, especially since they both semmed honestly interested in the phones. Most witches and wizards who came in to see the exhibit were completely wary and unwilling to come to the phones, let alone touch and examine them like Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott were doing.
Theodore Nott looked just as surprised as Dean felt, (he had been holding a phone as far as he could with his right hand, studying the cord stretched before him, but when Dean came around he placed it back into the receiver, the wrong way. Daphne quickly fixed it.) but he managed to compose himself back to his neutral expression far more quickly. "Dean Thomas," he said as a greeting.
"Nott, Greengrass," Dean nodded, watching the way Daphne picked up a phone to study the underside of it. "Fancy seeing you here… at the muggle exhibit… playing with phones," he said, aware of how he was obviously questioning why they were here.
Nott gave him a guarded look, the same one that had always kind of made Dean think he was scary, but it was Daphne who spoke. "Oh yes, I'm completely fascinated by muggles and my sister Astoria suggested we come see the phones. Is it true that you can call the other phones here and have real conversations? Over the wonderfully muggle telephones?" She spoke rather quickly and Dean had to gape a little because she was rattling him with her enthusiasm about "wonderfully muggle telephones".
"Er, yeah, I mean, yes. You can. You just dial the number of the phone you want to call, they're all listed right there above the individual phones-," Dean began to explain, using his best salesman voice like he was taught but trailed off because his words were clearly falling on deaf ears. Daphne grabbed a phone, excitedly sticking her finger in the holes of the rotary dial before starting to actually dial correctly. She stood there, eagerly waiting for the ringing of the phone closest to her. When it did, she let out a little squeal and a giggle, waving Nott over and gesturing for him to pick it up.
Nott wasted no time picking up the phone, but he looked mildly concerned about placing the phone against his face. He wiped the phone down his front and answered with a mellow, "Daphne."
The girl squealed quite happily again and said, "You're supposed to say 'hello', that's how the muggles do it."
Nott sighed and said hello and Daphne said it back with much more enthusiasm, smiling at both men. "Isn't this exciting? We're having a telephone conversation and I just called you! Amazing, really, these telephones."
"Yes, this is rather fun, but I am right next to you so the purpose of the phone call is a bit pointless," Nott told her. She promptly made him go to the phone the farthest away from her and call her back, and she also berated him for not saying goodbye the way muggles do. They had their conversation, asking Dean questions like 'from what distance is too far to call someone?' and 'what spells did you use to stop the magic from interfering with the electricity?' while keeping up with the phone call the entire time.
Finally, Dean couldn't help but question her. "So, you like telephones?" he asked her but he really was asking if she liked muggles. It was obvious by Nott's sort of glare that the implication didn't go unnoticed by everyone. It was to Dean's surprise and happiness to find out that yes, she liked telephones, and she also liked televisions, automobiles, and electricity and anything muggle, really, and that Theodore was quite helpful in her mission to know about muggles. She was also a fan of Muggle Awareness Week and the pro-muggle museum. It was at this moment when Dean spawned the idea that would change her life, "Have you ever been to muggle London?"
(It was like a plague, this idea, for it burned at the front of her thoughts for days. She had never even met a proper muggle before; no way could she survive in a muggle city. She had seen muggles with their magical children by the Hogwarts Express but she had never really met or spoken to one.)
She had bought a lot of helpful books at the museum, including one on interacting with the muggle world – it told her about money transactions, bank procedures, hailing a taxi, proper conversation topics, and tons more. She even bought a magazine full of muggle fashion and went so far as to purchase a tee-shit from the gift shop that featured the Muggle-Wizard Cohabitation Committee's emblem on it. Nott had to practically drag her away so she didn't spend all her newly exchanged muggle money. He couldn't resist buying a few pencils and pens, however.
The idea about actually going in to muggle London continued to fester. She learned all that she could about muggles and together, she and Theo had spoken to their editor at the Daily Prophet to let her do a huge piece. She would write an expose about her travels into the muggle world and it would be printed as the front page story for the upcoming Muggle Awareness Week. The angle of the story would be to show readers how even a pure-blood witch with very limited experience (none) with muggles could go and get along swimmingly.
This is how she found herself just steps away from muggle London dressed in muggle jeans and a black pea coat with her old Slytherin scarf for good luck, wand tucked into her coat pocket, sweating and trembling slightly. She had prepared for this – she learned all she could, she bought muggle clothes, learned to count their money, and even created a plausible backstory if anyone should ask. She had been itching to go to the muggle world for quite some time now and had visited the museum plenty of times with Astoria and Theo and spoken to Dean Thomas (who had grown up a muggle and was the co-creator of the muggle exhibit with muggleborn Hermione Granger and her future father-in-law Arthur Weasley. Both of whom she is dying to meet and talk to.) who seemed to believe she would be able to fit in without being found out by muggles.
You can do this, she told herself, stop being a pussy and just do it! With a determined nod she took the last few steps, pushing the door open with gusto and entering the muggle world. The sound of wind and passing cars was slightly overwhelming but Daphne was proud to admit that she didn't turn right around and leave. She took her first few steps on muggle ground and grinned at all the muggles crossing the street and exiting the book shop next to the Leaky Cauldron.
All she had to do now was find a nice muggle to study and interview.