The Grass is Greener With A Greengrass
Summary: One-Shot/Plot Bunnies ft. Daphne Greengrass and Harry Potter pairings. Because sometimes love comes from the most surprising places.
Survivor Guilt and Sacrificing for Others
Daphne Greengrass sat in the comfortable knotted wood chair at the edge of a dock that led to a small magical pond. It was dark out, the sky a crystal clear that evening and an incredible view of the cosmos was glittering. Daphne, a true genius, had long ago studied the advanced mathematics and sciences that the muggles had accomplished before The Falling. She had created magical filters that could eliminate the effects of the earth's atmosphere for visual effects and acted as a ward of sorts. A wonderful accomplishment, to be sure, but one of many that would never be shared with anyone other than Harry.
While she felt truly blessed to have had him after The Falling, fifty years spent without anyone other than the one you love most was still a terrible curse. The war had ravaged the earth of any and all sentient life other than her and Harry Potter. They hadn't known what Voldemort would do. It had surprised all of them when he came back a third time, "In fulfillment of Scripture", and literally caused Armageddon, thinking every sentient soul would be unprotected from the idea of such a fate, and thus vulnerable to this sudden and instant magical soul-black hole curse. He had believed he would inherit Harry Potter's body, that the piece of soul alive of him in Harry would remain with the power of destruction he would wrought and channel. Daphne had warded her home in such a way that did protect from this hypothetical Armageddon curse and so had managed to avoid the touch of this plague of soul. Any creatures that were blessed with sentience, however, had died.
Except Harry Potter. Voldemort had, in fact, failed in killing him. But he had succeeded and purged every society of life.
In the coming years, Daphne hadn't known for certain what had happened, but she had held fast in her plan of remaining only within her paranoid bubble after her sister failed to visit her and she believed she would not live if she did not hide. But when she had finally emerged, every single place she had visited had the decaying remains of people who had seemed to die suddenly and all at once, literally where they had been standing.
After finding her sister and taking care to bury the body and hold for herself a small ceremony, she had visited Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, London's Big Ben, every single place showing the world to be in the same state. All humans had died in place, suddenly.
It was when she visited Hogwarts that she found something different. Hogwarts, beautiful Hogwarts, which housed the only remaining human on the planet. Harry Potter.
They had talked for hours, both desperate for the company of another person and neither quite believing that they had actually found another person. It wasn't long before they fell in love and began to live their lives in pursuit of a goal. Daphne, who was a genius in her own right, was a true survivor to the core. She wanted nothing more than to live her life as long as possible and avoid death. Harry continued quite intensely, but not insanely, every day believing that he would figure out a way to go back with his knowledge and bestow it on a younger self.
Daphne heard footsteps approaching her from behind. She smiled nervously at Harry, his older, scarred face looking lovingly at her. They made quite a pair, to be sure, and while they were content living life together this way until they died, they both knew life was better with others. In inescapable truth, and one Daphne hadn't believed in totally until Harry had eventually convinced her one night that the world is better with good and bad than just the two of them being good.
That's when she signed on to his plan.
"You're nervous," he said quietly. In front of them, a brightly glowing frog leaped into the pond with a splash. The small area of forest surrounding their home had blossomed and grown with their attention over the years.
"I've done it. I've puzzled out The Answer," she told him.
Her eyes watched every twitch on his face. She couldn't remember a time when she had felt this nervous, other than when she started going through menopause and wasn't sure what she was infected with. She preferred that embarrassment to this anticipation she was feeling, however. Finally, his eyes teared up and she felt her own heart squeeze tightly as unbelievable pride shown on his face.
She didn't remember breathing during the kiss they shared at that moment, but finally they both tore away. It must have been several hours later, as the moon had moved swiftly across the sky and she sat in his lap looking up at the sky.
Harry summoned a bottle of champagne, magically popping the cork and pouring them into finely transfigured flutes. "We are celebrating," he told her.
She smiled lovingly at him and accepted the drink. "Thank you, Daphne." They clinked their glasses together.
"I have a request. Or rather, a stipulation." Her nervousness reappeared and she bit her lip.
A thumb came up, pulling the lip from her teeth and gently guiding her face up toward his own. "Anything," he promised.
She took another sip of her champagne. "I want more time with you hear before either of us go back." Her eyes met his again, pleadingly. "I think we both deserve the time and would benefit from it to really flesh out a true plan to better the world before doing this. If we are going to risk our lives, I cannot do so without a real belief that I can effect change. That will take years of careful consideration, forethought, and discussion, and I want that time with you, anyway."
He smiled at her and kissed her. "I'd give you anything, my love. And more time with you is no struggle."
They embraced again and relaxed into the comfortable chair at their favorite spot. "Let's start with amending our everyday schedule," she eventually began.
Harry groaned and she scrunched up her face at his teasing, nestling into him. "You and your schedules, woman," he complained. She poked his ribs and he shifted away from the tickle, holding his hands up in surrender. "I give, My Grace."
She nodded in approval and looked down her nose at him. "Better," she accented in a regal drawl. She sipped her champagne with victorious put-upon airs and then laughed. "We both need to plan a way to allow our bodies to develop to their true potential from an early age. This includes figuring out the best meal arrangements and training schedules we can envision and attain while remembering the social restraints put upon us by returning."
He nodded in agreement. "I can start calculating good training regiments for martial arts, cardio for development and which years would have best focuses, why, all of those."
"Next, the legal routes we're going to go down and when. We'll have to research who we know operating where and when, as well as the specific laws, processes, and timing that would best work to achieve political goals as well, while saving and helping as many of our loved ones as possible. Those dreams you've had of going back and being able to eliminate every and all of Voldemort's traces and supporters and saving your friends and family… what does that look like? How can that actually happen and what might be the repercussions of every decision and action we take?"
Harry nodded. "There are about a hundred different routes that the future can go once the past is changed even gently, but I agree. We can think out the most realistic ramifications of the changes we're making if we're smart about it." He sipped his glass and pushed some of her auburn hair out of her face and behind an ear. "We can also draw up the blueprints for better gear, materials, gadgets…"
Daphne grinned at him with excitement. "Shall we go to the drawing boards, darling? I'm feeling particularly…" her nail dragged down his chest and she almost purred as she felt him shiver beneath her. "Inspired."
Harry eyes blazed brightly as he floated their glasses and bottle behind them and lifted her bridal style. "You're so sexy when you start planning," he told her as she laughed, bouncing in his arms while he ran to their home. "Let's plan our dream life, darling."
"Anything for you," she agreed, smiling.