Once More With Feeling

Chapter 3: Blood Traitors and Mudbloods

July 23, 1994

Harry waved goodbye to Cho as she left to meet with her friends. He had harbored a crush on the pretty Asian witch throughout most of his third year and was excited when she approached him in the Leaky Cauldron. So happy to spend time with his crush that he forgot about his betrothed.

"Damn it. Where in the world did Greengrass go?"

Harry got his answer when the girl in question cleared her throat from behind him. "Done with the slag, Potter?" Harry felt a spike of anger at Daphne's words but decided that he would not allow the pureblood girl to ruin his day so easily.

"Let's just get this over with, Greengrass. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can both go home." When Daphne nodded in agreement, Harry started walking towards the tailor. "Where are you going, Potter?"

Now stopped in his tracks, Harry turned his head to see Daphne stood stock still with a questioning expression on her face. "To Madam Malkin's. I'm here for robes, aren't I?"

Having noticed his sarcasm, Daphne frowned and pointed in the opposite direction. "We are not going to Madam Malkin's. My family only shops at Twilfitt and Tattings, and if I am going to be forced to keep company with you, you will do the same."

Daphne turned on her heel and started to what Harry assumed would be the aforementioned store, and with a grudging sigh, he followed along. The two teenagers walked in silence until something the witch said crossed his mind.

"Greengrass, what did you mean when you said that you're 'forced to keep company' with me?" Harry asked this while using air quotes around what he found to be odd phrasing. The girl looked down at him (he hated how short he was) like he was stupid before stating, "You are my betrothed, that means that you have to attend all Greengrass family functions from now on. Did the Weasleys not mention that to you?"

With shock evident on his face, Harry could only shake his head in reply.

Arriving at Twilfitt and Tattings, they were immediately descended upon by a snooty-looking man that appeared as if he and Dumbledore were sorted at Hogwarts together. "Daphne dear, back so soon?"

Harry couldn't contain the slight frown that showed on his face at the man's accent, for it was very similar to his own. It wasn't overly posh, but it was somewhat posh. Harry knew immediately where this man was from.

Surrey

"I am not here for me today, Archie. This is my betrothed, Harry Potter. His wardrobe is in dire straits, as you can see." Daphne said while gesturing at Harry's outfit, which consisted of oversized clothes courtesy of the Dursleys. Even after being freed of them, he still hadn't thrown out his old clothes because, in all honesty, he rarely thought about what his clothes looked like. For the longest time, he couldn't change it, so why worry? When he came into the wizarding world, he didn't want the Dursleys to know that he had money, so he stuck to Dudley's hand-me-downs.

"Ahh, the boy-who-lived graces my shop. I have not seen a Potter in decades, but I do see a striking resemblance to Dorea."

Harry didn't know who 'Dorea' was, but mentioning his family was always a great way to grab his attention. "Dorea?" The man quirked his gray eyebrows and glanced at Daphne, who was looking at Harry in confusion as well.

"Dorea Potter née Black… your grandmother."

Harry turned to Daphne as she was the one who had spoken, "How do you know that?" Unnoticed by the teens, Archie went to the back of the shop to leave the betrothed couple to themselves and to gather supplies for a fitting.

"Pureblood families keep track of each other; it is the only way to keep from accidentally marrying your close cousin. I thought that the Weasleys did it too, but I guess not." Harry scowled at Daphne due to how her voice dripped with disdain when she mentioned the Weasleys.

"I haven't disrespected your family, Greengrass. You could return the courtesy and not disrespect mine." Harry didn't know what he was expecting in response, but it certainly wasn't the mirthful laughter that quickly followed.

"Look in a mirror, Potter; the Weasleys are not your family. The Malfoys are more your family than the Weasleys are. Not that that stopped you from siding with the weasel over your own cousin."

Harry just shook his head, "Blood isn't everything, Greengrass."

The Dursleys taught me that.

His words seemed to have an adverse effect on Daphne as her anger became palpable. "And that is what makes you a blood traitor." Her rage worsened when Harry merely laughed at her and rolled his eyes. "And here I thought that it was my association with Hermione that made me a blood traitor. My mother was a muggle-born; how can I even be a 'blood traitor?'"

"Please do not remind me. It is bad enough that I have to marry a blood traitor, let alone the son and best friend of mudbloods."

The temperature of the room seemed to drop as Harry went deathly still, any trace of humor gone from his face, having been replaced by a level of rage that Daphne had heretofore never witnessed from anyone.

When Harry turned to face her, she noticed that his eyes, which were previously reminiscent of emeralds, were now reminiscent of the killing curse in its eerie glow.

"I've been rather polite to you, Greengrass. You insulted the Weasleys, and I let it slide. You insulted me, and I said nothing. However, you will not insult Hermione or my mother. Hermione is a greater witch than you will ever be, regardless of her blood status. My mother was a greater person than you could even pretend to be."

Daphne opened her mouth to respond, but Archie returned with his tailoring utensils and got to work before she could utter a word.

The rest of Harry and Daphne's trip to Diagon passed with tense silence, neither willing to speak to the other. Even now, the day after, Daphne was still fuming from her interaction with the Gryffindor.

How dare he?

She laid in her bed, glaring at the ceiling, pondering this latest injustice.

He said that Granger is a better witch than I? In what universe? Sure her grades are better than mine, but that is only because she spends every waking hour studying.

Daphne had never felt as disrespected as she did when Harry compared her to Granger in such a derogatory manner. It did not help that she had already heard a similar spiel from her father when he learned that a mudblood had outscored his heir in nearly every class. Thankfully for Daphne, she was still superior to Hermione at Ancient Runes, History, and Art.

The girl sighed and turned onto her side, thinking of how to improve in her weakest classes: Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense. Her best friend, Tracey, was good at Potions but was a terrible teacher. Draco and Pansy were out just because of how unbearable they would be about her asking for help. That left Theo and Blaise.

Blaise. No… I am betrothed. It is improper.

Daphne started to think of the best way to ask Theo to help her when she remembered how Cho was all over Harry. Maybe they were in agreeance that they could still date around before they had to waste their lives with each other.

Maybe… No. Just because Potter is a blood traitor does not mean that I will behave as one. I will have to get Theo to help me. Theo is good at Defense too, so I am set there.

She still had no idea what she would do for Transfiguration (her worst class by far) as Draco was by far the best at the subject in their year of Slytherin. The years above would be too busy with their OWLS and NEWTS to bother helping her. That left the other houses.

The Hufflepuffs were best left unmentioned. Sue Li of Ravenclaw was very talented, but after the spat that Daphne had with the girl in their second year, expecting any sort of help would be foolish. As far as Daphne knew, Terry Boot was dating Sue Li, so neither he nor his friends would help her out.

And the best at Transfiguration in Gryffindor are Granger, Weasley, and Potter. I would rather fail the class than ask any of them for help. I will just try on my own; if push comes to shove, I will ask Professor McGonagall for extra tutoring or something.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the Greengrass family elf, Beia, popped into her room to let her know that dinner was ready. Daphne let out an exasperated sigh as she was not particularly hungry, but it is considered rude to skip dinner, so she had to attend regardless.

The dinner went by quietly as it usually did until her sister, Astoria, brought up the Quidditch World Cup. She had been begging their father to get tickets to go as all of her friends would be there, and she did not want to be left out. After months of harassment from his youngest, Cyrus Greengrass finally caved and promised to get tickets for the family to attend.

"Did you get any tickets? The Cup is less than a month away; if we don't get any tickets soon, they'll have sold out!" Astoria cried out in despair at the thought of missing the "Event of the Century," as she had called it.

The glare of Cyrus Greengrass caused the girl to quiet down and blush in embarrassment. "What did I say about using contractions?"

A muttered "sorry father" was Astoria's only response to the admonishment before Cyrus reached into his robe pocket and pulled out five tickets.

Wait, five tickets? Five?!

Astoria did not seem to notice the number as she started vibrating in her seat, espousing "thank you's". "Father, why do you have five tickets? The Davises are in Germany for the summer, so Tracey can not attend."

Her father stared at her for a moment, the table now silent as Astoria quietly danced in her chair. "What did I say about family functions?"

Damn it.