Next bit. Hope this makes up for the late update! That rhymes!

Chapter 9

Iris Greengrass was a happy woman. She had studied in Hogwarts was loved by friends and family and was married to Hugo Greengrass. Though it was an arranged marriage she had grown to love her husband and really could not imagine life without him. Even though she was a high society Pureblood wife she preferred to work and was a professional Healer in St. Mungo's. She had two lovely daughters, Astoria and Daphne.

Daphne, her eldest seemed to have grown up the moment she knew the meaning of word. She was always understanding, reasoning and many a times sacrificing. Iris knew that many a times she had leaned on Daphne for help when it should have been the other way round. But Daphne had blessings, love and care of her family for whom she had shown unconditional love and care. All Iris wanted was to see her daughter happy but then there was the Marriage Contract and after that there was the betrayal by the boy-who-lived. Although, he could not be blamed for it, the only one to be blamed was the old coot who had literally manipulated the boy's life from the moment his parents died.

It had been a while since she had talked to Daphne. Daphne seemed happy now, almost in love. Knowing her daughter Iris knew that being in love with someone other than family would scare the wits out of Daphne and she was bound to do something stupid, in love of course. Although Daphne would not have any bad intentions poor Potter would not know that.

And call it a mother's intuition or just déjà vu or anything you might wish, there was an angry knock at Iris' study door and stepped in a very frustrated looking Daphne Greengrass.

Iris had an urge to smile. Daphne might be daddy's princess but whenever she had any problems she came to her and Iris loved to rub the fact on Hugo's face. This was the sort of parenting competition between them which amused their daughters to no end.

"What's wrong?" Iris asked calmly to her daughter who was muttering under her breath and probably did not realised it was past midnight. Then realization dawned on Iris that Daphne might have just returned from Harry's probably after a fight.

Presently, Daphne sat down on the couch with a defeated sigh and put her head in her hands.

"I over-reacted, mum." She whispered. Daphne in her calm demeanour always called Iris as Mother and whenever she was worried she turned to 'mum'. This made her realize the gravity of the situation.

She quickly left her desk and went and sat beside Daphne putting an arm round her shoulders.

"What's wrong, Daph?" Iris asked again, softly.

"He did nothing wrong and I over-reacted. I mean I was scared mum, I had just realized I loved him and James called me 'mama' and I love him, I love them both and I was scared that he did not love me back I just made a mountain out of mustard." Daphne rambled and Iris shushed her.

"Sh... Darling, you know I am not getting a word you are saying, breathe and calm down and tell me what happened."

"I love him, mum." Daphne whispered, "I love Harry and I messed it up... He just said that I need not take care of James if I did not want to, I know he might have just said it to make me feel free of any obligations but I... I over-reacted and thought that he did not see me as capable of taking care of James as Ginny was or maybe he did not want to replace Ginny... and I messed it up."

"Love, I don't think he feels anything for Ginny other than pity now. Her case was the talk of the lounge today or rather tonight. And I also know that maybe he might not feel the same way as you do yet. He might be getting there, he has gone through a lot... just give him time."

"That's what we don't have, mum, time. We are supposed to get married in twelve days and I find myself totally knee deep in love with him."

"Daphne, darling, love is not a scary thing. You just have to relax and let go! And the things I have heard about him, I think he loves you too. He has gone through a lot and accepting love is not an easy thing after you have faced betrayal once."

Daphne looked at her mother and took in a calming breath and nodded.

"So" Iris said after a long silent moment, "When did you realize you were 'knee-deep'?"

Daphne looked up to see her mother smiling with twinkling eyes and a smile spread on her face, "When James called me 'mama'" She said, "I just saw myself in a future, a happy future with him and James." She blushed.

Iris smiled and said, "Go to sleep Daphne, tomorrow go and talk to Harry, okay?"

"I must go now..." Daphne began but Iris just shook her head and asked her daughter to relax.

Meanwhile, Harry was nervous, worried and plain scared. He had just realized one thing as Daphne apparated away. He loved her. This was scary, he did not want her to leave. All he could think about was that life would be miserable if she went away. This was good right? They were supposed to be married and he loved her, he actually loved her. A goofy grin spread on his face, he loved her. He loved Daphne Greengrass. All he wanted to do was go and kiss her and tell her! But she was angry with him; he should not have acted like an idiot. He had not realized that Daphne loved James like her own child. He just did not want her to feel obligated to take care of him because he was actually eng- wait! Daphne was not engaged to him yet. Harry smiled as his inner-Marauder gave him an absolutely awesome idea, he will make it up to Daphne. He will do it tomorrow and with that Harry Potter set his just brewed plan into motion.

The next morning dawned a rainy day, the clouds were grey and the air was cool. Daphne groaned in her pillow not being the one to like rainy days. She sighed and lazily got out of her bed, her head aching due to all the crying last night. She sighed again and began to get ready for the day. She chose a red half-sleeved t-shirt which reached her thighs and black tights below. She pulled on her robe over the dress and fastened it, so she looked professional enough for work. She had half a mind to go and apologize to Harry but she couldn't take a holiday on third day of work, where on the first day she was out of the office half the time. Sighing again, she took her folder of papers on the lycanthropy research and with a goodbye to her mother and father she left. On a normal day, she would have noticed that her father was in a jovial mood and her mother could not take off the smile from her face, but this was not a normal day. She was feeling pathetic, unlike the ice queen she was supposed to be.

She reached her office and Hermione greeted her with a bright smile and asked her if she could go to Le Belle to meet a client and retrieve some important files. Daphne groaned, which Hermione ignored and forced her to go to the hotel, to which Daphne almost pouted.

She grumpily went to the Le Belle and when she asked for reservation under Jily, odd name, she was led to an empty banquet hall with Harry standing in the middle of the room. All Daphne wanted to do was go and apologize to him and explain things to him, even tell him she loved her and that she did not mind if he did not love her back yet. But she was stunned to silence when he came to stand in front of her and bent down on one knee...one knee!

"Daphne" He began removing a dark blue ring-box from his pocket and looking at her intently. Daphne's heart began to beat erratically as she recognised what she saw in his emerald green eyes. "Daphne, I know it has just been five days since we met and everything is a rush, but honestly when you are supposed to be married within twenty days, I don't think there is anything slow... and now I am rambling, so, Daphne I love you and I see a life ahead with you with you and James and probably more..." he muttered the last part under his breath but Daphne heard him none the less and blushed even more, if that was possible. She looked at Harry and knew what was coming as Harry asked, "Will you marry me?"

Daphne wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation, they did not actually have a choice there but it seemed that he was giving her a choice anyways.

She looked at Harry was still on one knee, wearing a tuxedo and she whispered, "Yes" And with that there was a ring on her finger and a pair of lips on hers within a moment and in that moment she just wanted to kiss him back.