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.

Chance Encounters

A/N: Warning, Drug Use by Minors

Harry was still upset as he left the Room of Requirement. It had only been a week since McGonagall and Umbridge had talked to him about his future and he had finally given himself a good swath of time to think about it. He kept returning to anger, remembering Umbridge's objections to seemingly any bright future he might want for himself.

He walked into someone suddenly and reflexively reached out to steady the girl who almost fell over. "Sorry," he began, head tilting as he tried to place the girl he was holding tight to. She was stunningly beautiful up close, auburn hair falling down a beautiful face. Her dark green eyes flashed with annoyance and he let go of her as if burned. "Sorry, Greengrass," he repeated, taking a step back and putting his hands behind his back. He stood taller but felt the awkwardness simmering just beneath the surface.

"Potter," she looked him over, brushing invisible wrinkles from her pristine green and silver robes. "Feeling… aggressive this evening?"

Harry felt his mouth open in defense, but realized the look on her face was surprisingly teasing. He blinked and cleared his throat, thinking over a quick response. "Merely distracted. It's not easy being the Headmistress's Public Enemy No. 1." He thought she might have smiled, but it could have been a trick of light. "You don't usually take to wondering the castle… feeling adventurous?"

Her eyebrow quirked and her head tilted. "Admitting to lusting for adventure to someone as notoriously mysterious as you might not be the best life decision."

Harry smiled at her. Was Greengrass flirting with him? She might be, but the idea was foreign and too surprising to take seriously. Would the alternative Slytherin really be interested in him? "But it could be." Harry surprised himself by winking confidently at her. Was he really that over Cho Chang so suddenly? Daphne Greengrass was, of course, one of the prettiest, out-of-everyone's-league catch in his year, and was notoriously considered The Ice Queen by those prone to gossip.

She laughed before cutting herself off, a calculating look coming over her. "Don't tempt me with a good time, Potter. I find every and all future plans for my life to be in need of immediate and aggressive changes. Surely you could not be so spontaneous as to provide a change of course that's set by stone and blessed by fate herself."

Harry groaned and through his hands in the air. "You're tempting fate? In front of me? Have you heard any of the stories of things that've happened around me over the last few years?"

Daphne shrugged and looked at her nails. With a nonchalance that demonstrated her true charisma, she answered. "I guess there was that Tournament when you out flew a dragon." She shrugged again and folded her arms across her chest. "Nothing you've done has ever effected my life, however."

Harry looked her over. "How can I correct that obvious error of inaction?"

She blinked, then smirked at him. "Well, since you asked…" She looked around them and nodded to a classroom a few feet away. "Why don't we talk a bit more and figure out what, exactly, we can do for one another, hmm?"

Harry's surprise shown but he agreed. He felt guarded, alone with a Slytherin. It had been a while since he was out of his comfort zone in such a way. Strangely, though, he felt a bit excited.

"Never thought I'd be invited to spend time with a Slytherin without a wand being pointed at me," Harry confessed, sitting in one of the chairs. Daphne turned a chair around to face him across from the table he had chosen.

Her eyes looked him over. "Obviously you haven't met the right Slytherins." Their eyes met and she smiled at him. Harry definitely felt like it was flirtatious. "Then again, I've been told that I'm one of a kind as far as witches go."

Harry's eyebrows rose. She was rather confident. He grinned at her. "So how can Gryffindor-Boy-Wonder affect your life, Daphne Greengrass?"

Daphne's eyes searched him, suddenly serious. "Are the rumors of you being muggle raised true?"

Harry blinked. "Err, yeah. Those are true."

"Do all muggles wear clothes like you?"

Harry blushed at the pointed question. "Well, err," he coughed, then cleared his throat. He couldn't rid the tint from his cheeks, but he picked his head up and looked at her. "No. My relatives don't very much like me and I don't care enough about fashion to go out and get better clothes than the cast-off hand-me-downs from my cousin."

She nodded, relaxing into her chair. "Were you raised in a traditional pureblood household, then?"

"Mhmm. My mother died when I was seven. My father is quite strict with my sister and me. He has very high standards and expectations of us, it wouldn't be wrong to call him a demanding perfectionist." She leaned forward and smirked at him. "We do have investments in the muggle world, though," she admitted.

This had the reaction she wanted as Harry's mouth dropped a little at the admission. "Oh." He thought for a moment. "Where are your investments?"

Daphne's smirk grew, then faltered. "It is not something I'm allowed to be very forthcoming about… but I suspect you might be a good secret keeper. The Greengrass family is actually one of the largest growers and distributors of marijuana in the UK, US, and Canada." At his silence and dumbstruck expression, she laughed. "Please, though, no one knows. It's a big secret."

"You're not having me on?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Why would you tell me such a secret?"

Daphne shrugged. "Something told me it would catch your attention. Was a wrong?"

"Anything you said would have probably caught my attention," he answered, before blushing. "But why randomly trust me with that?"

"I guess I'm tired of being alone with my secrets." She looked at him. "Something told me you might be one of the few people to understand that as deeply as I do. Was I wrong?"

He shook his head. Then he groaned. "It's difficult navigating a life full of secrets."

"Maybe we can help each other," she suggested.

"I'm listening."

"I don't have any good friends I can truly rely on," she admitted. "I have acquaintances, and people I might be able to ask for help, but…" She looked away. "I have a bit of a reputation in Slytherin for thinking too highly of myself and not letting anyone get close to me. Malfoy paid a little too much attention to me second year, and when I put him in his place, he turned the house against me. Nothing has really been the same since then. After this summer, people really started catching on to the whole Ice Queen thing and… Honestly, this is the loneliest I've ever been. On top of that, my father has plans to introduce me to all of these old, awful acquaintances who want to marry me for political and social reasons, and it's quite exhausting. Father said he would lay off if I managed to bring someone respectable home, but the only respectable wizard I know is Blaise Zambini, and his mother is notorious for the mysterious and sudden deaths of all of her husbands, so my father would find major flaw in his company."

"And he wouldn't find flaw in my company?" Harry challenged.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "You would obviously be a rebellious decision, Potter." Then she favored him with a simmering smile that he enjoyed. "And the most exciting of partners, to be sure."

"Wouldn't we be partners in crime? If you're running a huge marijuana operation internationally?" He really wasn't sure where all of this was going, but he wasn't going to question it. Pot didn't seem like such a big deal when there was a resurrected Dark Lord begging for his head on a platter. And he quite liked being on the receiving end of Daphne Greengrass's attention.

"If it's really not a big deal," she began, hand disappearing into a pocket to reveal a delicate-looking silver case. "How about you and I part take in a long-standing Greengrass tradition?"

As she opened the case, Harry's eyes narrowed. "You're offering me, what… a joint? To smoke here, at school?"

She shrugged, flicking her wand at the door a few times with a couple of incantations. He recognized the locking and alert charms but didn't recognize the others she had cast. Rather than ask, he waited patiently. The windows opened and a bubble of sorts appeared around them. "I don't very much want to be caught drugging the boy-who-lived," she defended, seeing his look.

"I've never tried pot before," he confessed. She took out an expensive-looking magical lighter and lit the joint, inhaling carefully and holding it out to Harry.

He took it and looked at it before taking it to his lips and inhaling. He felt a short burn in his throat and the need to cough but he pushed it down and held his breath, mimicking Daphne. She smirked at him and took it back, passing it back and forth until it finished. Lazily, she drew her wand and after two spells, the smoke cleared and the smell was freshened from weed to a nice lilac scent.

Harry couldn't tell how he felt. His forehead felt almost swollen, like his head was lighter than normal. He stared at Daphne, smiling at her as she raised an eyebrow. "Enjoying the company of a Slytherin, Potter?" she eventually asked him.

Harry chuckled, and continued giggling as he realized how crazy this little bout of spontaneity was. "Well, I have no right to judge you off the bat. I mean, I can't imagine it's fun or easy being in Malfoy's year in Slytherin."

She rolled her eyes. "You really have no idea. You know he tones it down outside of Slytherin?"

Harry laughed. "You're saying that ponce gets away with flapping his lips throughout the dorms?"

"Mhmm." Her nails tapped on the table. Harry looked at them. They were perfect, long, and decorated with a dark purple that sparkled slightly under close inspection in the light. A single nail tapped a few times on the desk, and he realized she was calling his attention. "Can I ask you a question, Potter?"

"Ask away, Greengrass."

"I want to know more about muggles. There's no one I can really ask many questions of. Tracey is alright, but she doesn't like talking about muggle things and honestly doesn't know much because her mum hardly goes out into the muggle world since marrying a pureblood."

"And what are you offering in exchange for my hard-earned knowledge of the muggle world?"

Harry watched her lips as she smirked at him and smiled back. "I would imagine you could use some help with your little toad problem? Maybe some suggestions and advice on how to deal with ministry officials and which books you should have been studying before Hogwarts?"

He blinked. He wasn't expecting that. "Why do you think I want to know more about the Ministry of magic?"

She scoffed. "You of all wizards at Hogwarts should know about the laws and the operations of the M.O.M. You're the only current Hogwarts student who has been tried in front of the Wizengamot, and certainly the only student to be called upon by the Minister himself. You've also been a target of our most popular newspaper, and people have been using your name for years to profit. Honestly, from the outside looking in, it has always seemed like no one has really tried to ever do anything to help you." She shrugged, looking out the window. "It's pretty sad, to me anyway. All of that fame and the handful of people you rely on aren't even helping you where you actually need it the most."

His expression hardened a little, but the weed was keeping him relaxed. He wanted to be angry about what she was saying, but another voice in the back of his head was wondering where this was going. "And you think you can help me in a way that no one else can?"

There was a moment of silence between them. Obviously, Daphne was thinking something over, debating something in her own head. Finally, she nodded to herself, seeming to come to a decision. "I can only assume you don't know much about agents, personal assistants, advisors… What says you and I team up. I will make an oath and sign a contract. You will pay me 25% of any and all earnings the Potters make taking my advice where business, property management, and investments are concerned?"

This was a big ask on her part, but she didn't let it show. Usually, managers of houses the size of Potter's made no more than 5%, and that was from a generous family. But she was betting that Potter didn't know and honestly wasn't sure he'd care. He certainly didn't look like he cared.

His head tilted. "25%..." He smirked at her. "What do people usually get for that type of advice? 25 sounds like a big number." He smiled. He had never bargained with anyone before and had only ever gone as far as giving the Weasley twins his Tournament winnings the year before to kick start their business. He wouldn't be surprised if there were a bunch of investments through the Potter house, though. It wasn't something he had ever looked into.

She nodded. "It is a high number. But you're not going to receive just my financial advice and management."

"Oh? So, there's more to this offer?"

She nodded sharply. "Indeed. Much more. See, I am Daphne Greengrass. Heir to the Greengrass family. This means I am trained in the customs, traditions, and familiar with the businesses and influential families throughout Magical Britain. It also means I have connections branching out to other parts of the world like America."

"What's in it for you?" he asked, then clarified. "Besides, of course, a huge payout?"

Daphne shrugged. "Life experience. If I can show to my father that I'm able to oversee and manage accounts and advise a house like the Potter house, he'll stop making me consider marriage proposals until I decide I want to get married." At his dumb look, she went on. "Because girls are worth doweries in the wizarding world. If I can make more money and impress my father enough to establish that it would be better to keep me as Head of House rather than pass it on to the man I marry who is already able to offer us wealth before marriage. This is tradition."

Harry shook his head. "Obviously, this is news to me." He tapped his finger on the desk, green eyes trained on each other. "Aren't you nervous about working with Harry Potter?"

Daphne smirked. "Life has become a bit boring, monotonous and predictable. Quite honestly, I'm hoping that by aligning myself with you, the Malfoy's will stop expressing interest in myself and my sister. What with the rumors of the Malfoy's and one Dark Lord having mysterious risen from the dead."

They were quiet. "I think I like this feeling," Harry told her, smiling happily and slinking more comfortably into his chair. "Whenever someone mentions Voldemort, I usually get mad, or defensive, just angry and aggressive, really. I mean, the guy killed my whole family and has pretty much been trying to get me killed every year since I re-entered the magical world. It's nice being able to think about everything without just seeing red."

"There has been quite a lot of propaganda against you and Dumbledore," she agreed. "I've always thought it was weird how focused the paper is on you and yet how much they seem to not know. It's like you're a living myth rather than a schoolboy."

He hummed an agreement, smiling back at her. "Fuck it, Greengrass. I think I heard Percy Weasley talking about estate managers and such, I know you're asking price is high, but I can only imagine it'll help you work harder to do more, and it's not like I'm doing anything to manage or help myself in that way. You want to work for me? Let's do this. Draw up a contract, I'll read it over and talk to my Godfather about it. There's going to have to be stipulations about loyalty and not talking about anything to do with me with anyone I'm not friends or aligned with, and any investments or decisions you make will need to be run by me first since it's in my name. But, let's do this."

Daphne looked at him, a bit astonished that he had just accepted her offer. She wanted to question it, couldn't really believe she had the audacity to ask in the first place or talk to Potter alone for that matter. "Just like that?" she eventually asked.

Harry grinned at her. "Honestly, I doubt I'm going to live to see 20. And the sorting hat wanted me to go to Slytherin, anyway. Said something about making great friendships there. If you think you can handle adventure, I say go for it. Friends in unlikely places seem to be my thing."

Daphne laughed, Harry laughing with her. "Fuck it," she agreed. "Bloody hell, Potter. And things like this just happen throughout your life?"

He laughed. "You have no idea."

"Then tell me," she invited, sitting back and pulling out another joint. "Something tells me this is the start of something new and transformative. For both of us. Give me a clearer picture of what I'll be dealing with, yeah?"

"You're not going to believe me," he warned her. She waved him off. "Okay, well, for starters, Malfoy did catch Ron and me with Hagrid smuggling a dragon in first year…"