I apologize for the slow updates. Life is happening, writer's block is happening, and Christmas is upon us.
I'm currently working on the next chapter of The Seduction Of Ginevra Weasley, Nine Months, as well as The Other Side, so hopefully I'll be posting to those stories soon.
And as usual, I have done the idiotic thing and started another story. I'm not posting it yet however, until it's completely done. It will be a companion story to my Drinny one shot, Her. I'll let you know when that will be up.
Anyways, on with the fic :)
The song Daphne sings to Harry is called The Rainbow Connection. It's from The Muppet Movie from 1979, and the lyrics were written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher.
When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love.
-Adele Make You Feel My Love
Chapter Twenty-Five: The House Of Greengrass
Harry had the most awkward ride to a person's home he had even had in his life. It was even worse than riding with the Dursleys. At least they were silent, unlike Astoria Greengrass, who seemed to want to make Harry's visit miserable even before they got to her house.
"I still don't understand why the hell you had to invite him." said Astoria to her sister, as if Harry wasn't sitting on the other side.
"It doesn't concern you." said Daphne. "And besides, Mum wants to meet him and she said it was fine and if you can't accept it, oh well."
Astoria crossed her arms. "I don't know why you two are dating. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin, it's fucking disgusting!"
"Merlin Stor, you are getting on my nerves!" said Daphne, irritated. "You will show my guest respect while he's here, or I'll tell Mum what you have been doing lately at school.
Astoria's eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't." she growled.
"Oh but I would. I'll tell her all about that time that I caught you and that Slytherin sixth year in the middle of-"
"FINE!" yelled Astoria, putting her hands up in surrender. "But I still think you're boyfriend is a slimy git."
"And I still think you're a mean bitch, but you don't hear me going on about it." said Harry, causing Daphne to snicker.
"You're allowing him to call your own sister a bitch?" huffed Astoria, as she crossed her arms, pouring like a brat.
"Well you gotta admit, you're certainly acting like one." said Daphne, smugly.
For the rest of the ride, Astoria remained quiet and observant. She watched as Daphne and her idiot boyfriend played what he called "muggle car games". Moronic things about car colors and spying eyes. Though she had to admit, Harry did treat her sister well, she refused to give the boy who vanquished the Dark Lord and got her father arrested for life any credit, nor would she ever respect him.
Astoria missed her father terribly. He was the sweetest man she had ever met in her life, and she never understood why Daphne and her mother didn't like him. Sure, she had seen her father and mother argue from time to time, and of course Daphne being as defiant as she was had her father disciplining Daphne a bit harsher than he would her, but that was life wasn't it?
They had finally arrived at the House Of Greengrass (what Daphne said was the official name, even though she just referred to it as her house) and Harry found that he loved the fact that Daphne had a regular looking house.
The house was huge and all brick with a black roof. The yard had many bare bushes (from what Harry could see from knowing his Aunt Petunia's garden, would be filled with roses in the spring and summer) peeking out from the smooth and untouched snow. Under the front windows, looked liked flower beds, and there were vines climbing up the walls, making the house look like a painting.
Astoria opened the door and went in quickly, shutting it after herself, not even trying to be polite.
"So I take it that your sister is going to be lovely to me this whole holiday, huh?" groaned Harry in Daphne's ear.
Daphne took Harry's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about her. Mum will love you, and that's all that matters. Oh. One thing I will ask of you is not to mention my father, or rather anything to do with Death Eaters. Please?"
Harry kissed Daphne on the cheek. "Of course I wouldn't, love. No one wants to talk about that and I would think that would include your mother."
Daphne smiled and proceeded to pull Harry through the door that Astoria had left open.
The entryway reminded him of the Burrow. There were fresh flowers sitting on a long table, as well as pictures all around of the girls, what looked like other blonde and brunette family members, and a few of what would have been family pictures, had the father not been noticeably removed. He could tell by the way Astoria would look up and smile at a face that wasn't there.
He then looked upon a picture that looked like a painted portrait. It was of a stunningly beautiful woman, eyes as crystal blue as Daphne's, with blonde curls cascading all over, with a smile that could warm even the coldest of hearts. He found himself oddly attracted to the painting.
"Is that your mother?" asked Harry.
"In my younger days." came a cheery voice from behind him.
Harry turned to face to whom he thought besides Daphne, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Matter of fact, Daphne looked pretty much like a miniature version of her. She stood a little bit taller than Harry, her eyes seemed to give off a cool glow, like fresh ice, her skin was flawless and smooth, and her smile, like the picture, made him positively joyful.
Daphne couldn't help but to giggle. She had seen this look many times before from Blaise, Draco, and Theo.
"I'm Elaine, Daphne's mother." said Elaine, holding out her hand. "You must be Harry Potter."
Harry had forgotten he was still holding Daphne's hand, and managed to almost jerk Daphne forward to shake Elaine's hand, causing the two women to laugh.
"I'm terribly sorry." said Harry, thoroughly embarrassed.
"It's quite alright dear. At least you are able to form coherent speech, unlike Amina's other male friends." she said as she hugged her daughter.
"Amina?"
"My middle name." said Daphne. "Did I neglect to mention that my mother is a full on veela?"
Harry's mouth dropped. So that explained why he was acting like a first year with a crush on his professor.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Harry." said Elaine. "Of course your name has been around since Daphne was one. However, she has told me so much about you. You were right, Amina. He is devilishly handsome."
Daphne looked at her mum in mock annoyance. "Now Mother, you can't steal my boyfriend like you do all the others. I happen to really fancy this one." said Daphne, causing Harry to blush.
A scoff came from behind Elaine. Astoria had walked up on the trio, loathing the fact that her mother seemed to like the got.
"Now Janine, you are to act like a lady as I told you, do you understand?" warned Elaine as she looked sternly at her youngest.
"But Mother-"
"Astoria Janine..." said Elaine in a threatening but motherly voice.
Astoria sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Can I go to Aunt Charlotte's in three days? For my sanity at least?"
"You can if you mind your manners, young lady. Now go and do something with yourself." said Elaine sternly. Astoria scoffed once again, and stormed up the stairs, stomping with every step."
"That's not being a lady, Janine." said Elaine. Astoria then walked the rest of the way normally.
"Forgive my daughter, Harry." sighed Elaine. "You must understand, her father had a very heavy influence on her. Heavier than I would have preferred."
Harry put his hand up. "I already knew she didn't like me ma'am."
"Oh no dear boy. Lainee or Miss Elaine if you must. I am too young to be a ma'am. laughed Elaine.
"Okay, Miss Elaine." said Harry, grinning.
"I'm going to let Daphne show you to your room for the holidays, and then in about an hour, I'll call you for dinner. How's that?"
Harry bowed to her, and hen immediately felt foolish when both Daphne and Elaine laughed.
"Amina, be nice." said Elaine, winking at her daughter.
Daphne grabbed Harry's hand and pulls him quickly up the stairs. They walked down a white walled hallway, passing by a door that was pink with flowers and a huge cursive A on it, as well as a purple door with hearts that had a cursive D on it. Beside that door was another that was plain white, which Daphne opened.
The room reminded him of the twins bedroom at the Burrow. Two twin sized beds with a dresser , vanity, and wardrobe. Harry found it pretty homey, as if he was actually there.
You can push the beds together and make a full sized bed if you want." suggested Daphne, which Harry nodded. They then proceeded to push the beds together and they magically fused to make a comfortable full sized bed.
"Magic never ceases to amaze me." said Harry.
Daphne opened Harry's bag and proceeded to take out his clothes, something Harry had never seen done before.
"What are you doing?"
"Putting your clothes away, of course."
"You don't have to do that." said Harry.
"Of course I do. You're my guest."
"It's fine. Besides, your Christmas present is in there and I don't want you seeing it." said Harry, going to the bag and closing it, winking at Daphne.
"Harry, you didn't have to get me anything." said Daphne.
"I know, but I wanted to. Now, can I see your room?" asked Harry.
Daphne blushed. "It's super girly, so you better not laugh." she said as the two walked out of Harry's temporary room and into Daphne's.
The room was painted the pastel purple that her door was painted. All except for her ceiling, which looked like a night's sky with waves of colors. She had stuffed animals lying neatly in one corner, a beautiful white vanity with matching dresser and wardrobe, and a huge bed that looked as if it was a floating cloud.
"My ceiling is enchanted somewhat like the ceiling in the great hall at Hogwarts." explained Daphne. "At night, it shows the Northern Lights with stars and a pretty moon with phases and everything that serves as a nightlight sometimes, and in the morning, it's all nice and sunny with fluffy clouds. Usually. Sometimes, it will go by my mood as well."
"Wicked." whispered Harry as he looked at the twinkling stars.
"Come lay on the bed with me." said Daphne as she stretched out on her bed. "It looks even more lovely when you look up, and it feels as if you're floating on a cloud."
Harry climbed onto Daphne's bed and laid beside her, putting his arm under her neck. He looked up at her majestic ceiling, and found himself drawn in.
The stars reminded him of the time that he, Ron, and Hermione were setting up camp after Hermione had managed to gather some eggs from a nearby farm. The day had been horrible with the three of them starving for the most part. That night, however, they sat up and reminisced about school days, summer days at the Burrow and Grimmauld Place, and told stories about the future and what they wanted to do.
"One of our best times." whispered Harry, unknowingly.
"What did you say?" asked Daphne, who had snuggled up against him, resting her head on his chest."
Harry looked down at her and sighed. "I was just thinking about this one time with my friends during the hunt. We had a lot of horrible days and nights, but we had this one night that was peaceful and all of us got along."
"What was it like?" asked Daphne.
"What was what like?"
"The hunt."
Harry gulped.
"You really don't have to tell me anything, but talking about it would help you I think." said Daphne as she drew patterns in Harry's shirt with her finger.
Harry thought for a minute as he rubbed his hand up and down Daphne's arm. Maybe he should say how he felt.
"At first, it really wasn't that bad." began Harry. "Ron, Hermione, and I were held up in my godfather's home that he had left me. We were protected, fed, comfortable, and warm. Then when we broke into the Ministry to get one of the horcruxes, we ended up not being able to go back, so we had to camp out in the woods for the rest of the time."
Daphne gasped. "The woods? In the winter too? Oh, Harry!"
"The cold was nothing." said Harry, starting to feel tense. "It was the locket. One of the horcruxes. It had a piece of Voldemort's soul in it and we would take turns wearing it to keep it safe until we could find a way to destroy it. It would fuck with our minds."
"What do you mean?" asked Daphne.
"It would speak to us. Make us feel and think things about ourselves that we shouldn't. I don't know what it did to Hermione, she never told us. But it made Ron feel lousy about the two of them. He thought that he was nothing, and that Hermione and I were seeing each other behind his back. That she loved me and not him. Which wasn't even close to the truth."
"What about you?" asked Daphne.
"What do you mean?"
"What did it do to you?"
The moment Daphne's question was asked, Harry felt as if he was back at the tent.
*START FLASHBACK*
Harry sat outside, watching Ron teaching Hermione how to fish. Their morning had been difficult, as Ron was not his happiest when he wasn't full, and Hermione had on the locket at the time and the slightest sound sent her ranting and raving, but Harry was on his locket shift now.
As he watched the two of them as Ron and Hermione sat at the lake's edge talking, he felt a lonely and cold feeling come over him. He braced himself, as he knew what was coming.
"They're talking about you again, Potter." said a sinister whisper in his head.
"Leave me alone." mumbled Harry.
"You know they are. They know you have no idea what you're doing. You are leading your friends to their deaths. And you don't seem to care."
"Back off."
"How soon will they leave? The blood traitor is starving. He will be the one to fall first, and when he does, he will take the Mudblood with him. You should feel horrible to do this to your friends. You should go at it alone."
"Fuck you."
"Colorful words coming from the Boy Who Let's Everyone Die For Him. You allowed your parents to die for you-"
"That's not fair...I was only a baby...just...just a baby."
"You didn't move a muscle when that Diggory boy was killed."
"You did that, I couldn't get to him..."
"You led your own godfather, the only prat out here that loved you to his death. "
"You fooled me!"
"Moody died saving your ass."
"It wasn't my fault! Stop it!"
"And now your friends will waste away. All because of you and your selfishness. Maybe you're more of a murderer than I ever was. How many more will die for you? And you will move on as if their lives meant nothing."
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
"...Harry?"
"I DIDNT MEAN FOR THEM TO DIE! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
"Harry please...snap out of it, you're not there anymore."
"STOP IT! MUM! DAD! SIRIUS! I'M SO SORRY!"
"Harry. Please!"
*END FLASHBACK*
"Harry!" yelled Daphne, shaking him violently.
Harry snapped out of it, finding himself sitting up on Daphne's bed, with Daphne shaking him as hard as she could.
"Harry? Harry, its me! You're not there anymore, and he is dead!" said Daphne, holding Harry's face in her hands, focusing her eyes on his.
Harry stared hard at Daphne. His heart was racing, he felt himself out of breath.
He reached out and hugged Daphne closely and tightly to him as he cried on her shoulder.
"It's all my fault, Daph."
"No, no, it isn't Harry. You have got to stop blaming yourself." whispered Daphne in his ear.
"My parents died trying to protect me."
"They did what any loving family would do for their son, Harry. You can't blame yourself for crimes that happened when you were one." whispered Daphne.
Harry pulled back. "And what about when I was 14, Daph? When Cedric died? Or 15 when Sirius died all because I didn't look in that fucking mirror he gave me and checked on him? I allowed Voldemort to get in my head and fuck with me, and Ron and Hermione got hurt and Sirius died. And when I was 17 and Moody was killed trying to get me away from my aunt and uncle's house? What about that Daphne? Remus, Tonks, Colin, Fred? Snape? They all died, Daph! And I didn't do a damn thing!"
Daphne looked at her broken boyfriend, tears starting to well in her crystal blue eyes. She wished she could take away every hurt, every blame, every ounce of pain he was feeling. But she knew she couldn't. All she could do was be there for him. Comfort him. Let him know that everything would be okay.
She did the only thing she could think of at the moment to hopefully get him to calm down. What her mother would do for her whenever her father was done making her feel worthless.
She crawled around Harry, sitting behind him with her legs on either side. She then gently forced his body to lay back against hers, rocking him back and forth, as if he were a child. She then began to sing sweetly and soothingly in his ear:
Why are there so many songs about rainbows
and what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
and rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
Who said that every wish would be heard
and answered when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far.
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing
and what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
All of us under its spell. We know that it's probably magic.
Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that called the young sailors.
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.
The more Daphne sang, the more Harry felt his anxiety and affliction leave him. He didn't know if it was the lyrics that really didn't make sense to him, or if it was Daphne's beautiful and tender voice, but he couldn't help but to feel peaceful and content. He felt he had never known the feelings that he was currently experiencing. The only time he thought would come close was a distant and fuzzy memory of his mother, singing to him to try to lull him to sleep.
When she was done singing, Harry lifted off of Daphne and turned his body to face her, resting on his legs and knees. "What song was that?" he asked.
Daphne shrugged, blushing. "Just a Muggle song from some movie my mum used to like watch when she was pregnant with me. She said that it was comforting to her, and used to calm me down when I was fussy. She still sings the song to me to this day, when I feel down."
Harry leaned in and kissed Daphne softly. "Thank you." he whispered against her lips, taking them into his again.