Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, as it belongs to J.K. Rowling
A/N: Published October 13, 2014
Chapter 4
June 29, 1996
Daphne woke up early the next morning was blinded by the sunlight coming through the window. Blinking a few times, she vision adjusted to the sudden brightness.
She saw that Harry was still asleep, so she quietly skid out of bed. Daphne wanted to talk to Astoria more about what they were going to do. She doubted that they could go back to Hogwarts, since her father would take control of her immediately.
Daphne quietly opened the bedroom door and made her way to Astoria's room. Stepping inside, she saw that her sister was already awake, but lost in thought. Daphne climbed into the bed with her and say next to her.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
Astoria sighed. "Just about how so much has chance in just a couple of days."
"I know. Do you think that me and Harry are moving too fast? I mean, we just started officially dating three days ago."
"It's your relationship. As long as you're happy, who cares?"
Daphne smiled. "Mhmm. I suppose it seems like we're moving really fast, but I've fancied him for years. I think we were both avoiding in because we were scared of breaking our friendship."
Astoria was just glad that her sister had finally found someone to be with.
"C'mon. Let's go wake Harry up."
Astoria followed her sister into the master bedroom. She was in awe at the grandeur. In the middle of the bed, she saw Harry laying, sprawled out with his mouth hanging open. Taking out her wand, she conjured a bucket of ice water over Harry's head and let it top over.
Harry's eyes snapped open as he was bathed in the freezing water. He glared at Astoria and chased after her while Daphne was giggling at their antics. Harry was able grab Astoria and throw her on the bed, tickling her stomach, making her giggle uncontrollably.
When the three of them calmed down, Daphne dried the sheets with a wave of her wand, and the two sisters went to start breakfast while Harry got dressed.
Daphne and Astoria arrived in the kitchen and found that the house elves had already laid out a large variety of pastries and juices. They quickly loaded a plate each and sat down to eat. When Harry got downstairs, both girls' jaws dropped. It seemed that his new clothes fit him really well.
Harry smirked to himself and sat down to eat across from the girls.
"So...What are we going to do today?" asked Astoria.
Harry waited until she took a sip of pumpkin juice before answering. "I was thinking we could go visit the Chamber of Secrets."
Astoria promptly shot out the juice in her mouth. "Slytherin's chamber?"
Harry grinned. He had told Daphne his plan the night before, so she just laughed at Astoria and cleaned up her mess.
After finishing breakfast, they grabbed their dragon hide gloves and had Dobby apparate them to the girls bathroom on the second floor.
Daphne was surprised by the abilities of house elves. They were constantly overlooked because wizards thought that they were only good for being household slaves.
"Dobby, how are you able to get through Hogwarts's wards?" she asked.
"We elves is having different magic from wizards. The Hogwarts have no house right wards, but Snake Chamber have."
"Oh. So Harry, what are we doing in a girls bathroom?" Astoria inquired.
"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
Both the girls laughed. Harry gave them a confused look.
"Sorry," said Daphne. "It's just that nobody would ever guess that Slytherin would build his secret chamber in a girls bathroom."
Harry chucked and turned to examine the sinks, searching for the one with a snake etched onto one of the taps.
"Open," he hissed in parseltongue. The sink moved to expose a massive opening in the floor.
"What now?" asked Astoria.
"We jump. Or at least that's what Ron and I did last time."
"There is no way that the great Salazar Slytherin jumped down a pipe to reach his chamber." said Daphne.
Harry looked at her blankly.
"Try saying something in parseltongue," said Daphne. "Try stairs."
"Stairs."
"That was in English."
Harry focused on imagining a snake in his mind. "Stairs."
To Harry's surprise, a narrow set of steps appeared in the pipe, leading into the darkness.
"Lights." Nothing happened.
"What did you try?" asked Astoria.
"Lights."
Daphne shook her head. "Wizards don't have lights, and there were definitely no lights when Salazar Slytherin built his chamber. Try 'torches.'"
When Harry tried the command, a sets of torches appeared on either side of the staircase.
Harry, Daphne and Astoria made their way down into the chamber. After a short walk, they came upon the giant snake skin. The girls were amazed at how big the skin was, but Harry only thought that it looked a lot bigger when he was twelve.
At the place where the path was caved in, Harry, Daphne and Astoria collectively vanished the rubble and walked until they reached the entrance to the chamber itself. Harry stepped up to the wall with the stone snakes and hissed the password, finally exposing the Chamber of Secrets.
The girls saw the giant basilisk and paled immediately. They couldn't imagine having to fight it like Harry had done.
Harry gave each of them a hug and grabbed one of their hands each. He led them closer to the snake. On the ground, he saw a patch of dried blood, which he knew was his. The fang that he used to stab the diary was also laying on the ground.
"Dobby, is there a way to harvest the basilisk and bring it out with us?"
Dobby had been silently following them the entire way, in case they needed anything. Harry would have been unable to call him from inside the chamber. "Dobby is not knowing, sir. Snake Chamber have snake wards.
"Is this the entire Chamber of Secrets? There has to be something hidden here."
Harry turned to Astoria. "I've never thought about that. The basilisk came out of the statue of Slytherin, so there might be something behind the statue."
He then faced the statue and hissed, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
There was a groaning sound and the mouth of the statue opened up. Shrugging, Harry led the girls into the statue. They found themselves in a pipe, which eventually split into two. Daphne thought it would be safer if they stayed together, so they turned left and continued down the pipe. They found themselves in a large chamber filled with animal bones and dead snake skin.
"This must have been where the snake was staying," Astoria observed.
The trio turned around found themselves back at the intersection. This time, they went the other way and found a lavish set of doors. Harry hissed at the doors and they swung open, revealing a very regal-looking living room that was decorated in green and silver. There was a layer of dust over everything, and it took a good fifteen minutes, with Dobby's help, to vanish all the dust.
There were many doors on the other side of the room that Harry wanted to check out. The first door they opened led to a large bedroom that was even bigger than Harry's at Potter Manor.
Through the next door was a fully stocked potions lab. Daphne's eyes lit up at the rare potions ingredients that lined the wall. They all seemed to be under stasis charms. Daphne also seemed awed by the different cauldrons that were set up. Harry couldn't tell a difference other than color, but he took Daphne's word for it when she said that these were very expensive. Harry knew that there was an impressive potions lab at Potter Manor and was determined to bring all of this back for Daphne.
Astoria pushed open a door that had two crossed swords engraved on it. What greeted her eyes was a room full of every weapon that she could imagine. There were blades of every length and many suits of armor that most likely belong to Salazar Slytherin. What caught Astoria's eyes were a pair of short swords that had beautiful emeralds encrusted into the hilt. The picked them up and swung them around, amazed at how balanced the swords felt to her.
While the others were still looking through the previous few rooms, Harry found his way into Salazar's private study. Inside, he found a notebook about the chamber itself, and what charms were used to build it. What Harry found interesting was that Slytherin used a branch of magic called Parselmagic to craft the wards so that only one who could speak the language of snakes could get in and out. Harry was relieved that Voldemort probably didn't find these rooms in the Chamber, since there was so much dust. He wondered if Parselmagic was the power that Voldemort did not have. The notebook also said that portkeys could work through the wards only if the activation phrase was in parseltongue. To get the things he wanted out of the chamber, all he had to do now was figure out how to make a portkey.
Harry mused out loud, "If only I had read the book on making portkeys…"
"Harry Potter. Dobby is knowing how to make portkey, sir."
Surprised, Harry asked, "Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Dobby is seeing Master Lucy make portkey many times."
"Could you show me how to make one?"
"Harry Potter is needing to think of destination and password and tapping portkey with wand and say 'Portus.'"
"Thanks. Dobby. I'll make a portkey to the Shrieking Shack and another one back. I'll call Winky to come to the shack so that we can send stuff there and she can bring it back to the Manor. While I'm doing that, can you tell Daphne and Astoria to conjure crates and pack up what they want?"
Dobby nodded in understanding.
Harry then found a few random objects and made two portkeys; one to the shack and one back. Hissing "activate", he found himself landing on his butt in the Shrieking Shack.
"Winky" he called out, picking himself up.
With a pop. Winky appeared at Harry's side. "What can Winky be helping sir with?"
"I was just in the Chamber of Secrets with the girls and Dobby. We're going to be porkeying some things here. Could you bring them back to the Manor?"
Winky nodded.
"Thanks." Harry activated his portkey back and collapsed into Salazar Slytherin's living room. He found the girls standing next to him giggling. Daphne helped him up and patted some of the dirt off of his shirt.
"I just shrunk all the cauldrons and packed up all the potions ingredients. I figured it wouldn't matter if we had extras anyway," she said.
"Me too. I just packed up everything," added Astoria.
Harry laughed. He made a few more portkeys and sent the crates that Daphne and Astoria conjured to the Shrieking Shack.
There was nothing else that was really useful in the study, so they all went into the last room, which happened to be a library. This excited Daphne and Astoria even more because some of these books were written by the founders themselves. There was so much lost knowledge in this one room.
Since they were all hungry, they decided to just pack all of the books and bring them back to the manor with them. With Dobby's help, the shrunk the entire shelves with books and portkeyed them to the shack. Astoria suggested doing this so that the books would stay organized. Then, Harry made another portkey for them to all go to the shack.
Dobby apparated them all back to Potter Manor, where they ate a light lunch. Since they did not see much of the manor the day before, Dobby and Winky showed them around. They found that Winky had stored all of the stuff from the Chamber of Secrets in their appropriate rooms. She set up a temporary library in an empty room, since there was not enough room in the Potter library.
Now that they were finally set up, Harry finally decided that he needed to start training, and he wanted the girls to learn how to defend themselves as well. He sat down in his new study and began to write out what he was going to study.
Every day was going to begin with a workout. After breakfast, he would study new combat spells in the library and then practice them until lunch. Harry then figured that he would do charms, transfiguration, or potions depending on what day it was. After that, he gave himself an hour of break, which he was most likely going to spend going through his parents' trunks. After that, he decided that he would start learning Runes and Arithmancy, switching subjects each day. Harry knew that he also needed to learn how to act like a lord, so he was going to ask Daphne and Astoria if they could teach him how to act his part. He wanted to end every day by spending some quality time with the girls, getting to know each other better.
Finishing up the list, Harry went to show Daphne what he came up with. He ran into Astoria, who was interested in learning as well, so they all sat down to talk about the training schedule.
"Do I get to train with you guys?" asked Astoria.
"Would you listen to me if I said 'no'?" replied Harry
"No!"
"Then yes, you can train with us."
Astoria smiled and gave him a hug.
"We can't do this all on our own. We need to find an adult that we can trust to teach us all the spells," reasoned Daphne.
"I want to trust Remus, Professor Lupin, but I don't know who he's loyal to. Dumbledore has done so much for him. It'll be hard to convince him."
"You might be surprised if you talk to him..."
"Okay, but how do we get to meet with him without him getting a chance to tell the old man?"
"Why don't we just kidnap him?" suggested Astoria. Daphne just started at her like she was crazy.
"That's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "We'll just send him a portkey that activates automatically."
"Where do you want to set up the meeting? We shouldn't let him know where we're staying."
"How about the Shrieking Shack?"
"Sure. That reminds me. I need to check the wards and update who is allowed."
Harry called for Dobby. The elf poked in and led them to the fireplace in these entrance hall. On the mantle was a leather-bound notebook with these Potter crest on the front.
"This is the ward book, sir. only Lord and Lady Potter is being able to change. You is needing to say what sir wishes and wards will change. Ward book is showing all wards and purposes," Dobby explained.
"Thanks Dobby." Dobby popped away. "I Harry James Potter, Lord of House Potter, add Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and remove all others from accessing this estate."
The was a brief pulse of magic as the wards adapted to the command.
"Oh, I'll need to write a letter to Riptooth about having the goblins help harvest the basilisk."
"Let's figure out how we're going to be training before we get off task," said Daphne.
Astoria giggled as Harry stuck his tongue out at Daphne, who in turn smacked him on the back of his head.
They hashed out their plan for the summer, and Harry went off to his office to write a letter to Gringotts about harvesting the basilisk. He also wanted to make sure that he had as much time as possible before the Order found out that he was gone. Harry summoned Dobby to find out.
"How can Dobby be helping Harry Potter, sir?"
"Do you know if the order knows if I'm gone yet?"
"Old man not knowing you is not at bad uncle house."
Harry nodded. "I'm supposed to send a letter every three days so that they know I'm okay. Do you think that you could do that from the Dursley's for me?"
"Dobby can do this."
"Thanks Dobby. Also, please send this to Gringotts," said Harry, handing Dobby an envelope.
When Dobby was gone, Harry summoned Kreacher. With a loud pop, the disgruntled elf appeared.
"What is filthy half-blood master wanting with Kreacher?"
Harry was still angry at the elf for lying about Sirius. "Kreacher. You will respect everyone who lives at Potter Manor. You will not lie to anyone. You will go back to Grimmauld Place and you will tell me when an Order meeting occurs and what they talk about," he commanded.
Kreacher apparated away. Harry knew that his orders would be followed because Kreacher was bound to him. He didn't like treating him this way, but he had no choice.
Harry went downstairs in search for the girls. He ran into Winky in the kitchen.
"Winky, do you know where the girls are?"
"Mistresses are by the pool."
"Thanks."
Harry went out the back door and walked to the outdoor pool. He found Daphne laying on a lounge chair, tanning on her stomach, while Astoria was jumping off the diving board. Walking towards Daphne, he was practically drooling at the round shape of her bum.
"Hey," he said, sitting next to her.
Daphne flipped over and looked at him. "Why don't you get changed and join us in the pool?"
Harry, who had been struggling to keep his eyes off of her chest, blushed. "Huh?" he asked.
She giggled. Go get changed and we can go for a swim. "Um…icantswim," he said quickly.
Daphne gave him a confused look.
He repeated. "I can't swim. My relatives never let me go swimming." He turned away embarrassed.
Daphne gave him a hug and said, "It's okay. We'll teach you. You'll get the childhood that you missed out on."
Harry hugged her and smiled. "I'll be right back."
He practically sprinted upstairs into his room and changed into a pair of green swim trunks that he had bought yesterday. Getting back to the pool, he saw that Daphne was now wading around in the shallow end of the pool.
Harry slowly stepped down a set of steps into the pool. He was glad that his feet were able to touch the bottom. Daphne was facing away from him and had not noticed him yet. Harry snuck behind her tapped her on the shoulder, When Daphne turned around, he splashed her, getting her hair soaked. She shrieked and splashed him back.
Astoria saw the fun and swam over, joining the water fight. A good ten minutes later, they were all thoroughly soaked, but laughing.
Daphne and Astoria spent the next hour teaching Harry how to swim. At first, it was very difficult for him. He tried kicking his legs and moving his arms, but he went nowhere. He was simply kicking up water. Eventually, Harry figured out that he just had to think about pulling and pushing the water. He could now swim around, but he was nowhere near as skilled as the girls were.
Now that he knew how to swim, he decided that they should have some fun. He thought that the pool was missing a water slide. Harry hopped out of the pool and went to grab his wand that was laying on a table nearby.
"What are you doing?" asked Astoria.
"Just watch."
Harry didn't know how to transfigure a water slide, but he knew that magic was mostly about intent. He first conjured a large boulder. Then he closed his eyes and imagined a tall slide that curved, along with a ladder to climb to the top.
He pushed his magic through his wand and jabbed it towards the boulder. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a shiny, blue, water slide. Astoria squealed and climbed up the ladder.
"Weeee!" she screamed while sliding down, falling into the water with a splash.
Seeing her sister's fun, Daphne climbed up and slid down as well, giggling the entire way.
When Harry got to the bottom, both girls splashed him hard in the face. In retaliation, Harry ducked under water and came up beneath Astoria, throwing her in the air, and making her fall with a splash. He then turned to Daphne, who was at the moment climbing out of the pool. Harry chased her up the ladder and they slid down together, Harry behind her holding her waist.
They spent the rest of the afternoon lounging beside the pool in their swimwear. Astoria was reading the Marauder's book and waving her wand around while Daphne was reading one of Lily Potter's notebooks on runes. Harry was just laying there, enjoying the feeling of happiness.
He had not even realized that he had fallen asleep until he found himself being shaken awake by an excited Daphne.
"Harry! Your mom's a genius!"
"Whaa?"
"Look at this!" she said, shoving a journal in his face. "She figured out how to make elekticity run on ambient magic!"
"Electricity," Harry mindlessly corrected. He thought about all of the things that he could use with electricity. He could get them each cell phones. He could get lamps for the house, instead of resorting to candles.
"Can you figure out how to do it?" he asked.
"It should be all here. I just need something to try it on."
"Why don't we go get some stuff in two days, when we have to go to Gringotts anyway?"
Just as he was saying this, a regal looking owl arrived, carrying an envelope with the Gringotts seal. He read the letter aloud so that both Daphne and Astoria could hear.
"So the goblins are willing to help you harvest it if you agree to pay them 500,000 galleons and a quarter of the meat?" summarized Astoria.
Harry nodded.
Daphne said, "I think you should take it. Basilisk parts are so rare that it'll be worth millions. You'll still make a huge profit."
"Actually, I was thinking we would keep everything. We already have enough money, and you can use the parts for potions ingredients," Harry said.
Daphne gave him a kiss on the cheek. "For that, the first potion I will make will be to correct your vision."
"You can do that?"
She nodded. "The potion needs basilisk venom. It was in one of Slytherin's books."
The three of them went inside to change. Before separating, Harry said, "Let's go out for dinner. I'm sure we can find a nice Italian restaurant in muggle London. You can invite a friend or two that you trust completely."
Daphne and Astoria smiled and went up to change. After getting dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt, Daphne called Winky to tell Tracey to meet her at the floo. Dobby was helping Astoria get in touch with her friend Eleanor Madley, a half-blood in Ravenclaw.
Tracey and Eleanor both agreed to meet up across the street from the Leaky Cauldron at six. They were all ready by five-thirty, but had nothing to do, so the three of them went over early. Harry followed them around as they looked through a few stores, not really buying anything.
At almost six, both of them showed up, and were easily spotted. Tracey recognized Eleanor as Astoria's friend and made her way over to the younger girl.
"Are you here for Astoria?" she asked.
Eleanor nodded. "She said something about going out for dinner with a friend."
Tracey had some idea who was going to be here, but she kept it to herself.
"Tracey! Ellie!"
The two girls turned around and saw three strangers making their way over. Eleanor was confused. Tracey thought to herself, "Must be in disguise."
Astoria leaned into Eleanor's eat and whispered, "It's me, Tori. We'll explain in a bit."
Harry led them to the underground, which was another exciting experience for the two pure blood Greengrass girls. Harry knew his way around a bit from when he stayed at the Leaky Cauldron before third year.
Exiting the train station, Harry pulled all of them into an alley, where he removed their glamours.
Eleanor gasped when Harry's identity was revealed.
"Let's get to the restaurant. We can put up privacy wards so that we can talk freely."
The four girls followed Harry into a nice looking Italian restaurant where they were led to a booth.
After ordering drinks, Harry set up privacy and alarm wards for when the waiter came by.
"What's going on? And why are you going around in disguise with Harry Potter?" demanded Eleanor.
"Ellie, please listen to what we have to say," pleased Astoria.
They then went on to explain how Lord Greengrass had officially joined the Death Eaters and how the three of them had run away.
"So where are you staying now?"
"Potter Manor. Make sure you don't tell anyone. "
"That reminds me. Here take these. They should protect your minds from any mental attacks," said Harry, handing them each a ring.
"Will we be able to visit?" asked Tracey.
"Of course. Since the girls trust to, so do I," said Harry. "We can also get a new owl. Mine's to recognizable."
After dinner, they all made their way back to Charing Cross, where they all flood home.
Harry was that last through, and started to fall before he felt a pair of soft hands grab hold of him. He turned around and was greeted with a smiling Daphne. He kissed her cheek and led her and Astoria to the living room. He got out a couple of board games that he found and soon they were having a great time. By the time they wanted to call it a night, they were all too tired to go up to their rooms. Daphne curled up next to Harry on a sofa while Astoria yawned from another one. Within minutes, they were all asleep.
June 30, 1996
The next morning found Harry in the kitchen cooking up a storm. The girls walked in with sleep still in their eyes, but immediately perked up at the smell of breakfast. Harry laid out omelets, toast, bacon, and juice.
An hour later, Harry was in disguise, walking into Gringotts. He had left the girls at a stationery store. Her had introduced them to pencils, pens, and paper.
Spotting Griphook, Harry made his way over to the goblin.
"Good morning, Griphook."
"Good morning, Lord Potter. Are you here about hiring Gringotts to harvest your basilisk?"
Harry nodded.
"Do you agree with the terms outlined?"
He nodded again.
"Good. Follow me."
Griphook led him through many corridors until they reached are very lavish set of doors. On the plaque next to there's door said, 'Ragnok, Bank Manager'.
Harry entered the office to see a large goblin sitting at a very exquisite, and probably very expensive desk. He bowed to the goblin and was instructed to sit.
"I hear that you wish for us to help you harvest your basilisk and have agreed to our demands."
"Yes."
"Lord Potter. Tell me. Where does this basilisk of yours lie?"
"In the Chamber of Secrets, sir."
Momentarily, Ragnok was astonished, but he quickly schooled his expression. "And how are we going to access the chamber."
"The chamber can be accessed by portkey if these password is in parseltongue. I can activate the portkey and go and retrieve them when they are done."
"That won't be necessary, Lord Potter," Ragnok said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a crystal. "This is a recording crystal. When the crystal turns blue, please say the password."
Harry nodded. Ragnok then placed a finger on top of the crystal. The crystal glowed a deep blue, and Harry hissed the portkey activation phrase. He then took out his wand and conjured two ropes, one red and one green. He turned the green one into a portkey there and the red one into a portkey back. Ragnok had given him the coordinates for Gringotts's private portkey location.
An hour later, Harry exited the bank and made his way to the stationary store. He was almost at the store when he heard someone shout his name. He turned around to see a disguised Astoria beckoning him towards a bookstore.
Inside, he found Daphne sifting through romance novels while Astoria was busy picking out comic books.
"You know, if you wanted to, you could just buy them all…" he said to Astoria.
"I really like the X-Men series. You don't think it's too much?"
Harry shook his head. "I've got more money than I know what to do with."
Astoria gave him a hug and went up to purchase all of the X-Men comic books. The shopkeeper's jaw dropped when he saw how many books she was buying.
Harry went up behind Daphne and looked at her selections. He wrinkled his nose when he read a few of the summaries.
Daphne laughed. "Boys…"
"Hey!" Harry said, indignantly, but ended up chuckling.
Daphne went up aid paid for the books, and they all left the store and found a nearby coffee shop.
"So what do you want to do until lunch?" asked Daphne.
Harry's face darkened. "I think we should stop by the twins' shop. I need to ask them about Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and the marriage contract."
Although none of them were looking forward to the coming meeting, they were all excited to see the new joke shop. Daphne wasn't a huge prankster like her sister and boyfriend, but she still liked to play a joke every so often. She just never had the opportunity to because she had to keep up her 'Ice Queen' mask.
The trio made their way back to Diagon Alley and found themselves walking towards the brightest and most flamboyantly painted shop in the alley.
"Welcome to..."
"Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."
"That is Gred..."
"And this is Forge."
"Welcome to..."
"Our humble abode."
Harry saw the twins on either side of the doorway. He looked around and saw many children running around trying different products. The shop was completely different from the rest of the alley. Harry saw an attractive girl working ringing up people's purchases.
Leaning towards Fred, he whispered, "I need to talk to the both of you in private."
The redhead have him a confused look. "Sir, that's a very unusual request."
Harry whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Fred immediately perked up. "Right this way, sir," he said, leading him and a confused George to the back of the shop. While Harry went to take care of things, Daphne and Astoria explored the new shop.
Fred pushed open a curtain to reveal the private part of the shop. He led them into an office and put up silencing spells. When the room was secure, Harry dropped his glamour.
"Harry!"
"Old boy!"
"Shouldn't you be at..."
"Your muggle relatives?"
Harry gave them each a manly hug. "It's good to see you guys. I left my relatives. I need to take my life into my own hands."
"So what brings you to our shop?"
"I visited Gringotts a few days ago and found some very shocking things. Tell me. Did you know that your mother and Ron have been stealing money from my vault?"
The twins paled. "Are you sure?" asked George.
"Positive."
"We don't know anything about this, and dad would never have let it happen if he was aware. We'll talk to him about it."
"Thanks. Also, I found a fake marriage contract to Ginny in my vault that was signed by Dumbledore and your mum. Can you find out if Ginny was in on the plan?"
"Yeah. Anything else we can do for you?"
"Actually I have a few things. Can you not mention anything to your mum and Ron? I don't want to give them or Dumbledore any heads up before I hammer them at the next Wizengamot session. Hermione was in on the stealing too."
The twins nodded quietly. They didn't want to believe that their family had been stealing from Harry, but they trusted Harry enough to know that he wouldn't lie about something like this.
"Also, I'm going to be training to fight the Death Eaters, so I was wondering if you guys could develop some things that would be useful in fights. I'll give you more money to hire workers so that you have more time to invent."
This brought a grin to the twins' faces.
"We have just the thing for you."
The twins opened a door to a large closet. "This is our defense line of products."
"We have Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which takes away all light. Not even 'lumos' will work."
"Next up, we have our minor shielding cloaks, which block out minor hexes and reduce medium level curses."
"Finally, we have our unfinished grenades. Katie told us about muggle grenades, and we're working on making grenades with wide area spells."
Harry was impressed. Although he didn't need any of the shielding cloaks, he felt that the darkness powder would be useful.
After Harry re-applied his glamour, the three of them made their way back into the main portion of the shop. Harry saw Daphne and Astoria at the counter and made his way over to them.
"You've been holding out on us…"
"Harry boy. Who are these…"
"Lovely ladies accompanying you today?"
Astoria giggled at the twins. She had always found their pranks hilarious. She was looking forward to getting to know them.
Harry just leaned in to whisper, "Floo over to Potter Manor on Thursday morning. We'll talk more."
Since it was still mid-morning, Harry decided that they should all go out and have some fun. They flooed back home from the Leaky Cauldron and all changed into some casual clothes. Harry grabbed a bag and told them all to put their swimsuits in it. The girls didn't know what he was up to, but trusted him enough to do what he said. To avoid any awkwardness, Harry changed in his walk-in closet, while Daphne changed in the bathroom.
"Where are we going?" Daphne asked.
"It's a surprise. I want to invite Neville though."
Harry asked Dobby to find Neville to see if he wanted to come. While Dobby was away, Harry updated the wards list to include Tracey, Ellie, the twins, and Neville.
Fifteen minutes later, Neville arrived through the floo. Harry gave a brief explanation as to what had happened over the past few days. Neville promised to come over on Thursday so he could tell them all everything. Harry didn't know Neville very well, but he felt that he could trust the boy.
Neville was introduced to Daphne and Astoria, and Harry was glad that they all got along. He was glad that Neville didn't immediately distrust them because they were in Slytherin.
Harry pulled out a piece of rope that he had turned into a portkey. Dobby had found his destination for him and told him the coordinates.
"Everybody grab hold."
"Where are we going?" asked Neville.
Harry smirked. "You'll see."
They arrived behind a building next to a parking lot. Stepping out of the shadows, they all saw giant metal structures extending high into the sky.
"It's called an amusement park," Harry explained. "There's tons of rides and games. There's also a water park."
Harry had never been allowed to go to an amusement park before, so he was also experiencing this for the first time. He bought them all tickets and they entered the park. There were children running everywhere and loud music was playing from every direction. Harry got them in line for a roller coaster.
Harry and Astoria were bouncing with excitement. Daphne was just smiling. She was not an adrenaline junkie, but she did enjoy trying new things. She liked flying around on a nice broom, but she had no intentions of playing Quidditch. Still, she loved watching Harry play.
Neville had always been rather reserved, and was deathly pale at the thought of riding the roller coaster.
The entire ride, Neville was clutching his harness tightly, his knuckles turning white. Harry and the girls were screaming the entire time.
At the end, they all felt like the ride was too short, and immediately got in line for another roller coaster. Surprisingly enough, was the one that suggested that they should sit in the front. Turns out, he actually enjoyed the speed.
'Too bad he fell his first time on a broom,' thought Harry. 'He could have even been a Quidditch player.'
They spent the rest of the morning on roller coasters, usually Harry sitting next to Daphne, while Neville was with Astoria.
After a quick lunch of chicken fingers and chips, they all made their way over to the water park.
The boys finished changing first and were waiting outside for the girls. When the girls stepped out of the changing room, Harry couldn't stop staring at Daphne. Even though he had seen her in a bikini the day before, he couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful his girlfriend was.
Daphne walked and gave him a quick kiss, which brought him out of his daze. Looking over, they saw Neville basically drooling over Astoria while the younger girl was blushing from head to toe. Harry grinned at them. Daphne swatted him in the arm, but couldn't help but grin as well.
She wanted Astoria to be happy. Right now, Astoria was feeling a little left out, being the third wheel of the group. Daphne knew that Neville would treat her right. She thought that he had a lot of potential, but he just lacked confidence. Hopefully, Astoria could help him with that. Daphne thought that it would be great if he and Astoria got together.
Harry gave his friend a nudge in the stomach. Neville blushed at being caught staring. Astoria simply smiled at them.
The four of them spent the afternoon playing in around, riding tube slides and water slides. The boys enjoyed going on the double tubes, sitting behind the girls and holding their waists, even if Neville was blushing the entire time. When they got bored, they just lounged next to the wave pool.
At night, the water park closed, but they went on a few more rides. Grabbing a quick dinner, they went to check out the arcades. Harry won Daphne a huge stuffed rabbit, while Neville got Astoria a giant stuffed monkey.
They all had a ton of fun, and were exhausted when they got back to Potter Manor. After Neville flooed home, Astoria got a good bit of teasing, but she could tell that they were happy for her.
When Harry and Daphne were asleep that night, Astoria was still awake, thinking about how happy she had been next to Neville. She had realized that Harry invited Neville to set them up, and was happy that her new 'brother' wanted her to be happy.