Once More With Feeling
Chapter Two: I Can't Stand That Bint
July 20, 1994
"Harry, we're going to go play quidditch; you want to come?" Ron, his best mate, asked him with his broom slung over his shoulder.
Harry just shook his head quietly, and he waved Ron away. He hadn't felt like playing or even talking since he had gotten the letter four days ago. The wretched had given Harry some of the most terrible news that he had ever received. He is betrothed.
That would've been bad enough, but he wasn't set to marry a nice girl like Lavender or Hermione. No, he was destined to marry someone far worse.
He was to marry Daphne Greengrass.
Oh, how he despised her. From his point of view, she stood for everything that was wrong with the Wizarding World. Prejudiced, arrogant, and far too old-fashioned. As far as Harry was concerned, she was just as bad as Malfoy.
He remembered the first time that he had ever seen her, it was in their first year shortly after Halloween, and she was walking with that brunette girl that she is always with (Harry had no clue what her name was), and they were talking about Hermione.
The lithe brunette girl had snarkily remarked how she was surprised that Hermione had found some friends when Daphne agreed, calling her a know-it-all mudblood. Harry didn't know what the word meant, but he knew that it was nothing pleasant.
Later, when he had finally learned what it meant, he decided that he hated her for referring to his best friend in that manner.
He had also noticed the girl laughing at Ron after his wand had snapped when they crashed into the Weeping Willow. She knew or should have known that he couldn't easily replace his wand, and she laughed at him for it.
Just because the universe hated him, there was no way out of the contract. Also, he didn't have a way to communicate with Sirius until after he was through with his hospital stay. Twelve years in Azkaban isn't exactly healthy for a person's mind.
Shaking his head, he gazed back down at the letter that had just come today. The Greengrasses wanted him to come over on Saturday to meet him and create arrangements concerning the contract.
Harry was outraged. It seemed that he could never have anything agreeable without something horrible to come and even the odds against him.
Yes, Sirius was free now, but he was also going to be in the hospital for at least a year, if not more. Yes, he was now emancipated and never had to accompany the Dursleys ever again, but emancipating himself initiated the engagement with a girl he detested.
So now he no longer had to stay with the Dursleys until he came of age. Now he had to marry and live with Daphne for the rest of his life.
However short that may be.
Between Voldemort's yearly attempts at resurrecting himself and having to marry Daphne Greengrass, Harry was sure that his days were now well and truly numbered.
Two days after he received the offer from the Greengrass family, Harry still hadn't mentioned to the Weasleys about the contract or him having decided to meet with them. He had managed to justify it to himself by telling himself that he was legally an adult now and that Sirius was free, but he knew that they deserved to know.
So with a heavy sigh, Harry walked down into the kitchen where the Weasleys sat down for dinner.
At his entry, everyone looked up, surprised by his presence. He hadn't eaten dinner in days.
"Harry, sit down, dear. I'll fix you up a plate." Mrs. Weasley shuffled around and quickly made Harry what appeared to be at least three servings of chicken and roasted potatoes. Harry wasn't particularly hungry, but it gave him something to do while working up the nerve to say what he wanted to say.
"Thank you."
After about five minutes of listening to the buzz of conversation, Harry finally decided to rip the band-aid off.
"I'm betrothed."
Harry heard the clattering of silverware as the whole table went silent and stared at him.
"Dear, what do you mean?" Molly asked as she seemed to be confused. She had frozen in her shock, standing over Ginny on her way back to her seat.
"I mean that I'm engaged to be married. I found out about it six days ago. It's why I have not been very social."
"Oh, oh dear." Molly put her hand on her chest and looked down at her only daughter. This caused Harry to look at Ginny as well, and she was crying, which made Harry uncomfortable as it reminded him of the crush that she had on him.
"What? Is she super ugly or something? She must look horrible to put you outta commission for almost a week. Oh, Merlin! It's Bulstrode, isn't it?" Ron asked, mouth agape and face twisted in horror.
The twins cracked up from their seats, and even Harry had to smile at Ron's comment. He wasn't sure which was worse: Bulstrode with her troll-like looks and temperament or Greengrass with her blood-supremacist views.
With a shudder, Harry decided that Greengrass was far, far worse. Because while not even he who hated her could suggest that Greengrass was anywhere near being physically unattractive, looks could only take you so far.
"Not Bulstrode, though a part of me would definitely prefer if I were."
The three boys' eyebrows all rose in unison at the proclamation. Indeed, even Ginny stopped her sniffling to look at Harry in confusion as Bulstrode's looks or lack thereof was legendary in Hogwarts.
"Harry, mate, what girl could possibly be worse than Bulstrode? I think that I'd rather marry Parkinson than her!" Ron exclaimed in surprise as the twins nodded their assent.
"Daphne Greengrass."
While Ron's face flashed in recognition, the twins both looked confused.
"Greengrass? Why in the world would you prefer Bulstrode to Greengrass?" One twin that Harry believed to be Fred asked before looking to the other, George.
"Yeah, Greengrass is a right looker. She's no Angie, but she's a thousand times better than Bulstrode."
Harry shook his head and was about to explain his reasoning, but Ron beat him to the punch.
"Greengrass is a blood supremacist. Worse than Malfoy too, not as bad as Zabini mind, but still pretty bad."
"Worse than Malfoy? Isn't her best friend a Halfblood?" Fred asked before going scooping up some of his potatoes and tossing them into his mouth.
"Yeah, Tracey Davis is a Halfblood. But Tracey is a Halfblood because her mother is a Halfblood and her father is a Pureblood. I don't think that Greengrass talks with anyone that is directly related to Muggles. Even Malfoy talks to Halfbloods with Muggleborn or Muggle parents."
With a raised eyebrow, Harry looked at Ron, who had somehow managed to devour his plate during his explanation and was reaching for seconds. "How in the world do you know all of that?"
The twins nodded their agreement, also finding it weird that Ron would know so much about people he referred to as slimy snakes.
Ron blushed at the attention, finding everyone staring at him before shrugging in reply. "Lavender and Parvati gossip loudly in the common room. Sometimes, I happen to hear it."
Everyone seemed to accept that answer before Ginny asked a question that had bugged Harry since he learned about the contract.
"If Greengrass is so horrible, why is there even a contract between the two? From what I know of the Potter's, they wouldn't have been friends with them."
At the question, everyone looked to Arthur Weasley, the head of the family. He finished chewing and swallowing his food before responding. "I don't know about the Potter family history; as far as I know, no one does. The family only came into prevalence with what happened at the end of the war."
Harry frowned slightly; in a way, he was upset that no one knew anything but then he guessed that he would be more upset if people had known but deigned not to tell him.
"Also, the blood purity thing is more of a recent issue in the wizarding world. I'm not saying that You-Know-Who created it or anything, but at the least, people weren't completely open with what they thought of it. When he came around, those families that agreed with him became comfortable spouting their nonsense that most of them wouldn't have dared to say not two decades before."
The miniature history lesson caused everyone to go silent for a few moments as they digested what they were told.
"I presume that you're meeting with the Greengrasses soon?"
Harry nodded and said, "Tomorrow."
Arthur nodded as well and stroked his chin in thought before nodding once more. "They shouldn't ask you to stay over. Those types are real conservative with that sort of thing. How are you supposed to get there?"
"They gave me a floo address. The letter said to be there at half-past noon. At the very latest, I should be back by eleven. If not, contact Professor Dumbledore."
For good measure, Harry made sure to write down a copy of the floo address just in case they actually did have to send Dumbledore.
The rest of the night went by fast, with all of the boys sharing jokes and laughter to help take Harry's mind off of his impending meeting. Ginny excused herself to her room not long after the family made safety arrangements; no one commented as to let her get over it in peace.
For Harry, the time to leave came far too quickly.
Harry looked around the Greengrass manor's entrance hall and felt like the family was purposefully intimidating with the display of wealth. It was a mansion, an unnecessary show of old money, and Harry was annoyed already.
They couldn't even be bothered to greet me in the hall, had a House-elf get me.
Following said elf, Harry was led into the family room, where the whole family sat around in various chairs and couches. To Harry, it felt practiced and proved to irritate Harry further.
"Hello, Mr. Potter, you got here well, I hope? Please have a seat."
At Cyrus Greengrass's statement, Harry realized that the room was set up so that Harry had to sit next to Daphne. He really couldn't stand this family. They seemed just as pretentious as the Malfoys.
Knowing that there was nothing to be done, he sat down next to the blonde girl but made sure to sit as far away from her as possibly allowed on the small settee.
"Mr. Potter, as you know, there is a contract of marriage between yourself and Daphne. Daphne is my eldest, and that makes her the heiress to this family. I trust that you understand how important that makes her?"
Harry nodded but inside, he was irritated at the peacockish way that the man behaved. It was as if he thought that he was the most important person in the room. Mr. Greengrass seemed to speak with a similar drawl that Mr. Malfoy spoke with, and Harry hated it.
"Good. I need to know that Daphne is with someone that won't tarnish our family's image by behaving or dressing in an untoward manner."
Harry quickly saw through the thinly veiled insult to his clothing but didn't react as that would only work to prove Cyrus' point that he was somehow below them, which he guessed was the point of the slight in the first place. Harry's intuition proved correct when after a brief pause, Cyrus looked disappointed, and only the slightest bit impressed.
"No matter, Daphne here will escort you to Diagon Alley to assist you in acquiring an appropriate wardrobe for someone of your station."
Harry and Daphne started protesting at the same time with a shout of "No, I will not" coming from Daphne and a cry of "I don't need her help" emanating from Harry.
Cyrus silenced Daphne with a piercing look that quieted her protests immediately. "You will do as I command." Daphne nodded once before meekly sitting back down.
After Daphne sat down, Cyrus looked over to Harry now, and with a far more obvious than before glance at his clothes, he shook his head. "You say that you do not need her help, but your current attire speaks otherwise."
With a sigh, Harry sat back down as well. There was no way in hell that Harry would ever explain to any of these stuck-up arsehats why he wore the clothes that he did.
The ornate grandfather clock's chiming let everyone know that it was currently fifteen minutes to one o'clock. "You two should get going. Use the floo to get to the Leaky Cauldron. Mr. Potter, I trust that my heiress will be safe with you?"
Harry nodded as he didn't want to speak to any of the Greengrass family for longer than he had to.
"Good, have her back by six o'clock. If you will excuse me, I have a business to attend to."
Cyrus swept took his leave with that remark, leaving the room in silence other than the sound of his retreating footsteps.
Both the young girl and the older woman that Harry was never actually introduced to left soon after, leaving only Harry and Daphne in the room. There was a tense and awkward silence punctuated by Daphne's glare when Harry moved to stand.
The glare was so intense that Harry could practically see it even though his back was towards her. As much as he wanted to blow up at her, he instinctively knew that it would only make their forced time together more tense and uncomfortable, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Look, I don't like you, and you don't like me, so the best thing for us to do is get this over with as soon as possible. Once we get to Diagon, you can go off and do whatever you'd prefer to do as I really don't need your help."
"Whatever, Potter, I am not going to get in trouble with my father just because you do not know how to dress."
With that, Daphne stood up from the settee and made her way over to the floo. She quickly grabbed some powder, tossed it into the fire, stepped into the now emerald fire, and declared, "Diagon Alley!"
Not immediately jumping in after her, Harry took a moment to gather himself. He couldn't understand why stuff like this constantly happened to him. The worst part was that this had nothing to do with Voldemort, as far he could tell.
I guess that's technically a good thing, but it just means that even if he's not involved, something is still going to go wrong in my life.
"Mr. Potter"
The accented voice startled him out of his reverie, and he turned towards the source, which turned out to be the older woman from earlier.
"Mrs. Greengrass?"
The admittedly pretty woman nodded slightly towards the floo at his unasked question.
"It is neither wise nor polite to keep a lady waiting. You should probably be on your way."
Harry nodded at the woman, to which she responded with a kind smile before leaving once more. With a weary sigh, Harry walked over to the floo. He grabbed the floo powder and tossed it in before stepping into the heatless flames. As he didn't wish for a repeat of the last time that he had used the floo, he made sure to annunciate as clearly as possible "Diagon Alley!"
Daphne had just stepped out of the floo and decided to grab a table while she waited for Potter to show up. After about two minutes, Potter finally stumbled out of the floo and ended up falling onto the floor.
Daphne smirked and shook her head exasperatedly.
And this is the guy that they say is the best seeker at Hogwarts? Really?
Daphne wondered if she should help the pathetic-looking boy when she was beaten to the punch by a very familiar and very pretty Asian girl. A scowl instantly found its way to her face as she watched the girl help him up and then giggle at whatever joke Harry told afterward.
Deciding to ignore the two, Daphne turned back towards the table where she was sitting. She had recognized the girl instantly, of course. Cho Chang, widely regarded as the prettiest girl in all of Hogwarts. Also one of the most intelligent and well-liked.
I can't stand that bint.
As far as she knew, the only boy not to show any attraction towards the girl was her crush, Blaise Zabini. Last year in the common room, Draco and his gang discussed who they thought the prettiest girls in each house were. The boys seemed to all agree that for Hufflepuff, it was Susan Bones. For Gryffindor, they were split between Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. The boys had not espoused any opinions on Slytherin's girls, possibly due to how rude it would have been. But when they got to Ravenclaw, they unanimously stated that Cho Chang was the prettiest.
Even the usually reserved Theodore Nott nodded his head and claimed that she was the prettiest in the entire school to the others' agreement. When the boys tried to get an opinion out of Blaise, who had been silent the whole time, he stated that he could never be attracted to a blood traitor no matter how her face or body looked.
That had made Daphne smile slightly, even as Theodore rolled his eyes before changing the topic. She felt as if she had a better chance of getting him to notice her now as quite a few of the girls deemed "fit," as the boys put it, were considered blood traitors.
She was broken from her reverie by the sound of the girl's incessant giggling getting closer to her table. When the two approached, she momentarily thought they would sit with her and was incredibly annoyed at the presumptuousness before they quickly passed her without a glance in her direction.
She watched as the two climbed into a booth together before Harry got up to get them drinks. She quickly averted her eyes to not be seen by him. Once she realized that he would be too busy chatting up Chang to notice that she was missing, she decided to leave and wander the Alley by herself.
If he wants to be all over that bint, he can have her help him with his wardrobe too. It seems that the "Boy-Who-Lived" is just like every other boy at Hogwarts.
She stood and went into the alley proper, allowing herself to forget the Half-Blood boy for the moment. Walking towards her favorite shop, Scribbulus Writing Instruments, she went inside to see if there were any new drawing quills. Upon entering the shop, she immediately ran into Theo coming out of the shop with a pack of… something.
"Oh! Sorry about that Greengrass, I didn't see you there."
Theo quickly walked away before Daphne could reply, leaving her bewildered at the boy's odd behavior. Though, the confusion did not last long as Theo was always kind of the black sheep of Slytherin. He rarely spoke, and when he did, he only ever referred to people by their last names.
Shaking her head, Daphne picked up a bottle of color-change ink and then went over to the storefront to chat with the store owner, Mr. Scribbulus. He was an aged man, his brown hair long since having turned gray. The man was relatively short, standing only an inch above Daphne (who is admittedly rather tall for her age) at 5'6.
"Daphne, dear. It's wonderful to see you. Wait right here; I've got a recent shipment of quills back from Brazil. They sold like hotcakes, but I made sure to put one away just for you."
Smiling beatifically, Daphne thanked the man and waited for him to return. It was not long before the man came back with a quill that had a beautifully colored feather. She had never seen a quill quite like it. The feather was deep blue with gold outlines. It was exquisite.
"The feather belonged to a blue-and-gold macaw. The birds are native to the southern hemisphere. I only managed to get three of these, but I wanted you to have one."
Almost tearing up, she asked how much the quill would cost.
"For you, my favorite customer? It's on the house." When she protested, he simply raised his hand, "I have no children, and I'm old, I care very little for money these days. Take the quill, Daphne."
She took the quill and handed him the money for the color-change ink, a shy smile on her face. The smile evaporated the moment that she stepped out of the shop and saw Potter with Chang.
I really hate that girl.