Help! There is an evil Plot Bunny! He forces me to write this story! Anyway, here is another chapter.
ANOTHER WAY OUT
by CreatorZorah
Chapter 2
Harry's mind was working in overdrive. He was silently cursing himself for signing the contract. Why for Merlin's sake did Daphne have to be Slytherin? He didn't want to think what would happen once Slytherins learned that he was a servant for one of them. He would be a laughingstock.
There had to be a way out. If he couldn't break the contract, then he had to think about something else. He had to hide it from other Slytherins. Therefore he had to convince Daphne to keep it between Greengrasses and him. The only possible way was to make them like him by doing a very good job.
"The Golden Boy is our servant?" Daphne asked in disbelief. "Mom, he's nuts."
"Daphne, don't be rude," Creusa said.
"But this is ridiculous," the girl continued. "It must be some elaborate prank or plot to learn our secrets."
"He signed the contract. It can't be a prank and he can't share our secrets with anyone," Creusa Greengrass said. "Even if we had any secrets."
Daphne sighed. "Does he have any cooking skills? I bet he'll accidentally poison us with the first meal he'll cook."
"I can cook," Harry argued somewhat wounded that she doubted his cooking skills. One of the few useful things he learned from Dursleys was how to cook well.
"This has to be a joke," the girl said. "Why would Harry Potter be able to cook?"
"Just watch it," Harry exclaimed with an exaggerated enthusiasm, "Once you taste my biscuits, you'll fall in love with my cooking!"
"That's the spirit!" Creusa said with a smile on her face.
"You can bake biscuits?" Astoria asked in a happy voice.
"Of course! My biscuits are the best biscuits in the Great Britain!" Harry boasted receiving a snort from Daphne.
"Now, now," Creusa said. "Let me show your room first, before you start baking biscuits for Astoria."
Harry nodded and followed the woman looking around, studying the house that would become his home for the next three weeks. Somehow it was reminding him of Hogwarts. Paintings on the walls that were whispering about him, walls out of stone, ladders that looked just like at Hogwarts, but thankfully didn't move.
"Our manor is just as old as Hogwarts," Creusa said.
"Isn't it too large for your family?" Harry asked.
"It is, the majority of the manor is sealed. We were once a very large influential family, now the only thing left is our manor and the small wizarding village we own."
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Time, Harry. Time happened," she said sadly and opened a door on the right side of corridor. "This will be your room, Harry."
The room was huge compared to the one he had at Dursleys. There was a large bed with curtains on the right side, an old wooden desk in front of a long windows with a breathtaking view to the manor's garden. The leather chair behind the desk was crying of its coziness. On the left side Harry saw a bookshelf that contained about hundred books on various topics. He was stunned.
"Do you like it?" Creusa asked walking to the desk.
"It's amazing, why wouldn't I like it?"
"It was my room during the Hogwarts years," she said, passing her hand over the desk, "I spend a lot of time behind it doing my homework. Don't be afraid to use the books in your free time. I bet you'll find this small library interesting."
"T-thanks," Harry muttered. "I didn't expect that I would live in this kind of room."
"There are many empty rooms in the manor. I don't see a reason why not," Creusa said and took a book from the shelf. "And, please, read this book. It's about etiquette, table appointments and other important things concerning your duty. I would ignore it, but it seems that Daphne will make it difficult for you. Don't think bad of her because of it, she's a good girl."
"It's alright," he said. "I'll just have to impress her."
Creusa laughed. "This will be difficult, but I like your attitude. You remind me of your father so much." She sighed and took a photograph frame from the desk. He didn't notice it at first, but now he had to blush seeing two teenagers kissing on the photo. "It's I with him in the sixth year, here, in this room. There are more of our pictures here. You may take a look at them later. I didn't enter this room since I left to Hogwarts after the Easter holidays."
"Because of my father?" he asked before realizing that wasn't his business.
"You're too curious for your own good," she said.
He wasn't sure how to feel seeing his father with anyone but his mother. It was weird to see him so happy with another woman. He felt even more awkward because his father looked like an older version of Harry, while Creusa didn't change that much despite the years. It was like seeing himself kissing Creusa Greengrass.
"You both look happy together," he managed to utter, blushing.
"And you look so much like him," she teased causing him to get even redder. "Don't worry, I'm not into teenage boys."
For a moment Harry got horrified because he actually couldn't decide if he would like her to be into teenage boys. He shook his head trying to force this thought out of his head.
"If you were happy, how come... well, how come my father got together with my mother?" he asked, looking into her blue eyes.
"James was smitten with Lily since the first year. We both had feelings, and despite my hopes, I knew that it wouldn't last," she answered. She shook her head. "I have to tell you about your duties before I forget. Normally we have breakfast at half past nine. So it should be served in the Dinning room by that time. We don't have any preferences. Just use your imagination. And you can cook something for yourself before that. While we're having a breakfast, you have to tidy up our rooms. I would ask you to shop for groceries, but..."
The smile vanished from her face as she continued, "But considering the circumstances I'll do it myself. Just write up the list."
"After that I'm away at the Ministry. It's your free time and you can use it as you wish assuming Daphne and Astoria don't have anything for you. By the way, here and in the village you can use your wand as much as you want. Don't be afraid to use it to do your duties. You'll probably find some book on household charms on the shelf. If not, there is one in the library. Just don't do anything irresponsible and don't go to the village without supervision. It may be dangerous right now."
"Because of Sirius Black?" Harry asked.
"Yes, because of him," she answered. "Let's get back to the point. I'm seldom at home for lunch, but you have to cook it for Daphne, Astoria and yourself. If the girls don't have anything for you to do, you can rest or do whatever you want. I'll just expect a dinner at six, when I come back from Ministry of Magic. If you want, you can have dinner with us."
"I'd like that," Harry said.
"After dinner you're free to do whatever you want. Of course, unless the girls or me don't have any orders for you. Clearing the table, washing dishes, cleaning rooms, laundry are, of course, your duties. Don't try to open the sealed rooms. Any questions?"
"Do I have to begin now?" he asked.
"Well, I would like you to start with the dinner," Creusa said. "Now I'll show you the rest of the house and explain more about your duties."
It didn't take much time to show him all the rooms he would be responsible for, but he found himself a bit overwhelmed. Besides his own room and numerous corridors, there were ten: one for each family member, living room, Creusa's study, library, two bathrooms, kitchen and dinning room. He knew now that he had to learn household spells and very fast. Because the non-sealed part of the house was at least three times larger than the Dursley's house.
"Now," Creusa said when they got back to the living room. "Do you have something to wear... other than this?"
Harry looked down at his hand-downs in embarrassment and muttered, "Well, I have my Hogwarts robes..."
"It won't do," she said.
"You look like a beggar," Daphne said from the corner of the room, where she was lying on the couch and reading a book on Transfiguration.
"Daphne, be kind to Harry," her mother said, but the girl only hummed in return.
"We have eight hours until the dinner minus the time you need to cook it," Creusa told Harry. "Let's go to the Diagon Alley, I'll buy you something appropriate. Come."
She placed a hand on his shoulder and led him out of the House. It didn't help much to prepare for apparition. When they appeared at the Diagon Alley, he felt just as bad as the first time. He wondered if it would ever get better.
"Have you already got everything you need for Hogwarts?" Creusa Greengrass asked.
"No," he answered. "I didn't have time to do that."
" Daphne and Astoria already have everything, so why don't we buy it now?"
"You don't have to waste your time on me," he said.
"Nonsense," she brushed him off and led him to the book store. "Which electives did you chose?"
"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," Harry answered.
"Care of Magical Creatures is good," she said with a sigh. "But Divination... Why did you chose it?"
He scratched his head and said, "My best friend took it..."
"There are people other than your friend, Harry. The current professor of Divination isn't any good. But what's more important it's utterly useless if you don't have a gift. There were no seers in Potter family. Do you really want to waste your time at Hogwarts and then fail to receive an O.W.L. in Divination? It's your choice of course."
Now he felt bad taking the subject just because his friend took it. Is that how it felt to have someone to talk about future? "But it's too late anyway," he said.
"No, you still can send a letter to Hogwarts and change your electives," she explained.
"Really?"
"Yes. Daphne took Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures and I would advise you to do the same, but you have to do your own choices. "
Her words made sense to him, but how would he know what he wanted if he knew so little about the subjects and their uses? "Can you tell me more about Ancient Runes and Arithmancy? What are they good for?"
"I think Ancient Runes doesn't need an explanation. It's very useful for learning ancient magic as it's mostly written in runes. Arithmancy will help you to predict future, strength of potions depending on amounts of ingredients, results of new spells. It's a very useful subject."
"I'll think about it," he said as they entered the Flourish and Botts.
He didn't have the letter with him, but with a small help from the manager, Creusa managed to remember all books from the list and chose a few extra books including Rune Dictionary, Ancient Runes Made Easy, Spellman' Syllabary and Numerology and Grammatika. He was reluctant to buy so many books because they cost a lot of gold Creusa gave to him as payment, and Harry was about to ask Creusa to buy used books instead.
"Don't worry, I'll pay," she said suddenly.
He blinked in disbelief and argued, "No, I won't accept it. You don't have to pay for me."
"It's nothing, Harry," Creusa assured him.
"Why do you do this?" he asked. "I'm just your servant."
She frowned at his words. "Harry, you aren't just a servant." Suddenly a mischievous smile appeared on her face and she added, "But if you insist, I order you to accept the books as gift." With that she almost childishly stuck out her tongue at him and went to pay for the books.
For a moment Harry stood stupefied and then a smile crept across his face. He followed her and when she paid for the books, said, "That was an evil order, Mrs Greengrass."
"That's why you should know better than refuse to accept gifts," she said with a grin. "And, Harry, call me Creusa. I'm not Mrs Greengrass. I've never been married in first place."
That surprised Harry, but he decided to not ask who was her daughters' father.
The rest of their trip to the Diagon Alley went uneventful. Creusa bought him new wizarding clothes and they returned to the Greengrass Manor. Once there, Harry still had five hours until the dinner. He was very tired, but he decided to invest the two hours in learning household spells and then there would be two hours to sleep. He had to rest, because he had every intention to impress Daphne with his biscuits!
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