* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FOUR
Brave New World
Chapter 47: Happy Birthday, Hermione
"Hey, Harry."
"Hey, Harry?" Neville retorted.
Lilly raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, is there something wrong with that sentence?"
Neville snorted, "Uh yeah. How about hey Neville, who I haven't seen for a week and a half now?"
"And whose fault is it that I didn't see you at the weekend?" Lilly quipped.
Harry sniggered at their domestic, "I didn't hear you complaining much while you were snogging my fiancé."
Lilly rolled her eyes, "Could you have said that any louder?"
"Oh, I could have yelled it," Harry grinned.
Lilly snorted, "Has Daphne shown you the memory yet?"
"Yep," Harry smirked, "Neville is very jealous because I've not been giving him the saucy details."
"Saucy details," Lilly snorted, "It wasn't that saucy. Give me your hand, so it looks like we're working."
Harry held his hand out, and Lilly slowly began to move her wand in circles above the small burn wound he had inflicted on himself.
"It was saucy," Harry said in a whisper, "You were wearing next to nothing."
"We were wearing pyjamas," Lilly said, shooting Neville an amused look.
"Daphne's pyjamas," Harry added.
Neville's eyes widened, "In which case, you were wearing next to nothing. Please show me the memory."
"Right now?" Lilly snorted.
"Why not? We've been practising that mind magic thing," Neville said.
Harry snickered, "Are you any better at it than the two of us are? Cause we just keep projecting our sex lives onto each other, and I mean Lil…you are flexible."
Lilly rolled her eyes, "You're disgusting."
Neville nodded his agreement while hiding an amused look. He turned back to his girlfriend, "Just project the memory to me."
Lilly finished healing Harry's hand and smirked at Neville, "Fine, if you're sure you can handle it."
"Like Harry said, it's not that saucy," Neville shrugged.
Harry had to pretend to look at his textbook to hide the grin on his face. Lilly had a much better poker face than he did. She held Neville's hand and looked into his eyes for a few seconds. Then she pushed herself to her feet as Neville's cheeks turned pink.
"Harry!" Neville hissed, "You said it wasn't saucy."
Harry smirked in amusement, "Want a pillow, Nev?"
Neville muttered a charm under his breath which made both Lilly and Harry chuckle.
"You're a dick," Neville whispered.
"Saucy enough for you?" Lilly smirked.
"Fancy doing it again while we're around?" Harry joked.
"As I'm sure Daphne has already told you, no," Lilly said matter of factly, "Now that Neville is incapacitated for at least a few minutes though, I do need to talk to you about Daphne."
"Okay?" Harry said.
"She misses Tracey, a lot more than any of us realise," Lilly admitted, "So I thought you ought to look into getting a portrait commissioned. You could do it as a wedding gift, and we could all put our memories of Tracey into it. Then Daphne could put her memories in too after you have given her the portrait so it will be a great likeness."
"That's brilliant, Lil," Harry breathed, "That is a bloody brilliant idea."
"I know," Lilly said with a smile, "But I also need to tell you off."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Because you need to take Daphne to Paris more often," Lilly said, "You should have seen her this weekend, Harry. She was just in her element; she loves it there."
"I know she does," Harry said with a smile, "And I may have something up my sleeve."
"What?" Lilly asked curiously.
"It's a surprise," Harry said with a grin.
Lilly rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Neville, are you functional again?"
Neville raised an eyebrow at her, "I was functional the whole time. I just figured you would rather talk to my best mate than me."
Harry snorted and shot Lilly an amused look, "Reckon he's paranoid cause you kissed Daphne?"
"Oh, definitely," Lilly agreed,
"Probably thinks we're going to have a threesome without him," Harry sniggered.
Lilly grinned at her boyfriend.
"Fuck you, Harry," Neville chuckled.
"As if we'd do that," Harry said, patting his friend on the back.
"Yeah, baby," Lilly agreed, "Of course we'd invite you."
Neville's face was a picture, and Harry and Lilly both burst out laughing.
"Moon! Stop flirting and start teaching these idiots how to heal!"
"Sorry, ma'am!" Lilly said. She shot a sheepish look at Harry and Neville, then said, "I better do some work. Talk to you later."
With a wink, she headed over to Draco and Theo.
"She was joking about the threesome thing, right?" Neville said as he looked at his best friend.
"I hope not," Harry joked.
Neville whacked him around the head for good measure, "Oi! She's my girlfriend. You've got your supermodel wife, back off."
"She's not even my wife yet," Harry said through his laughter.
"Shut up."
"Potter! Longbottom!" Frasier barked, "Quit messing around."
"Sorry, ma'am!" They both called across the hospital wing.
"Were you flirting with Neville or Harry?" Theo teased when Lilly reached them.
"Both. That's terrible, by the way. Draco, who taught you how to heal burns?"
"I taught myself," Draco admitted, "And did you just say both?"
"Yep, give me your hand Theo," Lilly demanded.
Theo raised an eyebrow at her but held his hand out anyway, "Both?"
"You four all flirt with each other all of the time. I mean, you and Hermione even do it, and you're cousins," Lilly snorted.
"We're different, though," Theo said with a grin, "We've got a more profound bond."
"What because you're a foursome? Or is it a quad now?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "None of the above. We're all just very close friends."
"Very close from what Daphne told me this weekend," Lilly said as she finished healing Theo's burn.
"How does she know about that?" Draco asked in an undertone.
"Probably because Sadie or Hermione told her," Theo remarked matter of factly.
"Was Daphne in Paris this weekend?" Draco asked as an afterthought.
"Uh-huh," Lilly replied, "Hand, Draco?"
Draco held his hand out, and Daphne inspected the burn, "Healed perfectly, well done, Theo."
"Thank you, ma'am," Theo joked with a wink.
Lilly shot him a vaguely amused look, "Watch who you flirt with, I'm not in your quad, and you're not in mine."
Theo snorted, "You've got nothing on us. You lot are positively vanilla."
"Not that it's competitive weird relationships, but if it was…how's this for vanilla?" Lilly asked. Then she murmured a low-level legilimency charm, similar to the one she had seen the seer use at the weekend. She used it to project the image at the forefront of her mind, and it left both the Slytherins gaping at her.
"Lilly!"
Theo tutted, "Now, Daphne… that doesn't surprise me. But you? Sweet, innocent Lillian Moon…."
Lilly laughed, "Innocent? That's cute. Theo, burn yourself again and Draco, heal it properly this time."
"Yeah," Draco said as Lilly stalked off.
"She kissed Daphne."
"She made out with Daphne," Theo corrected his best friend.
"Please never tell my fiancé that I'm moderately turned on by that," Draco whispered.
"Don't tell my wife that I got a bit of a hard-on in the middle of the hospital wing, and it's a deal," Theo whispered back.
"Baby?"
"Yeah," Harry called as he stepped into the kitchen.
"Are you having a coffee before bed tonight?"
"It's going to be a late one for me tonight because I've got a test coming up," Harry said, "But I'll have a coffee with you before you go to bed."
Daphne poured two cups out and handed him one, "I wanted to ask you about something that Lilly brought up at the weekend."
Harry had to bite back a snigger when she mentioned Lilly, and Daphne noticed.
"What?"
"Just something Lil did today in class," Harry admitted, "I was winding Neville up about how I'd seen the memory, and he hadn't. I told him it wasn't saucy, so he asked Lilly to show it to him in the hospital wing."
"Did she do it?" Daphne asked in surprise.
Harry grinned, "Yep. Left him with a bit of a problem afterwards."
"Oh, you better not have slagged him for that," Daphne said, shooting a suggestive look over her shoulder, "I had to sort out your problem after I showed you the memory. Did you tell him that part?"
"No, and please don't tell Lilly that when you floo her later," Harry pleaded.
Daphne laughed, "Anyway before we got off-topic, I was going to ask if the Potters have any properties?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Oh, you know, like properties abroad," Daphne explained, "The Crouch's have died out in the male line now, so all that's left is that apartment in Paris that I took Lil to. But the Greengrass's used to have houses everywhere until my uncle ran the business into the ground. When it looked like we were going to go into administration, he sold everything apart from the chateau in France."
"Oh," Harry frowned, "Well…no, I don't think the Potters have anything like that. I would have found it when I went through the paperwork from the vault, wouldn't I?"
Daphne nodded, "Yeah, I expect so. There was nothing in there at all then? Not even the ranch in Texas that they got when they married into the Cauldwell family?"
"What?" Harry asked cluelessly.
"Nicholas Potter married Cordelia Cauldwell," Daphne said slowly, "You know, Cordelia Cauldwell, the daughter of Quentin Cauldwell, who brought the family over from Texas? You don't know any of this, do you?"
"I knew the Potters had married into the Cauldwells," Harry said sheepishly.
Daphne snorted, "Well, your family were rather good at that. They married into every prominent family in Britain, and with a lot of those families, the property was part of the woman's dowry."
"Oh, I wonder what happened to all the houses then," Harry said with a frown, "Do you reckon they got sold when my parents died?"
"Maybe they did," Daphne mused, "It can happen sometimes. When there is no heir to pay the debts…I always thought the Potters were quite cash-rich, but maybe one of your relatives had managed to rack the debt up."
"Maybe," Harry agreed, "Anyway, when are you floo-ing Lil tonight?"
As if on cue, the floo roared to life.
"Fucking hell, has she got the house under surveillance or something?" Harry muttered as Daphne sat down in front of the fireplace.
"Hey, Lil. I heard you left Neville in an awkward position this afternoon."
"Oh, he had it coming," Lilly grinned, "How are you?"
"I'm okay. I do need to talk to you about a box."
"A box?" Lilly echoed.
"Yes," Daphne said, "My mother is selling Greengrass House, which is fine because I hate it," she shrugged.
"No, you don't," Lilly countered.
"I do, though," Daphne said with a frown, "I love that one room that I associate with Astoria, but mostly, I hate it."
"You're still a bit sad, though, aren't you?" Lilly asked.
"A little bit, I guess," Daphne replied, "I don't know. I feel kind of conflicted. I'm going to rescue the portraits before my mother sells the place. But the issue is with this box that she gave me from my father's study. It just says 'for Daphne' on it."
"Don't open it," Lilly warned her, "You should never open a mysterious box. Pandora did, and look what happened to her."
Daphne raised an eyebrow, "Pandora?"
"Yeah, the stupid girl who unleashed all evil on the world," Lilly said offhandedly, "Bad shit happens when you open mysterious boxes. Take Jumanji; that's another one."
"I have no idea what you are on about," Daphne said with a fond smile, "Are you coming home this weekend for Hermione's birthday?"
"Of course," Lilly replied. There was a loud click behind her, and she rolled her eyes, "That's lights out. See you at the weekend. Bye!"
The floo disconnected abruptly, and Daphne shook her head in amusement as she pushed
herself to her feet and asked Harry, "What the hell is Jumanji?"
Harry snorted in response, "A movie, we'll watch it at Nevs sometime."
"Happy Birthday Hermione."
Hermione smiled and opened her eyes, "You don't have to wake me up with a foot massage just because it's my birthday."
Draco smirked at her, "That isn't me. That's your birthday present."
Hermione jumped up in surprise, and an undignified meow answered her. Her eyes widened as she looked to the foot of the bed where an adorable black kitten was watching her.
"Oh my gosh! A kitten! You got me a kitten!"
Draco smiled, "She doesn't have a name yet, but she's not an ordinary muggle cat. She's a witch's familiar, so she will be able to understand what you say, and she's far more intelligent than your average cat."
"Like Crookshanks," Hermione said softly.
"But less ugly."
"Draco!"
Draco was still smiling, despite being told off, "Do you like her?"
"I love her!" Hermione said. She picked the kitten up, and it meowed contently, "I just need to come up with an appropriate name for her before I introduce her to everyone at my party tonight…."
"Try and cheer up. It's a birthday party," Harry whispered to Daphne as they walked through the park towards Grimmauld Place.
"I know," Daphne said, "I just don't know how to feel at the moment with everything going on."
"You should open the box," Harry said, "It might give you some closure."
"Or it might not," Daphne combatted, "Lilly's right. Pandora should never have opened the box."
"You're basing your decision on a myth?" Harry snorted.
Daphne gave him an irritated look.
"You should also apologise to your mother. That would definitely give you some closure," Harry added.
Daphne glared at him, "What are you, my therapist?"
"I'm just telling you the harsh truths that you don't want to hear," Harry said honestly as they reached the door of 12 Grimmauld Place.
"Well, if you want me to put on a smiley face for Hermione's birthday, then don't," Daphne muttered under her breath as she knocked on the door.
"Alright," Harry promised, and the door swung open of its own accord. The couple made their way inside and headed up to the drawing-room.
"Guys! Look what Draco got me for my birthday?"
Daphne smiled when she saw Hermione holding her little black kitten, "I'm more of a dog person myself, but she is adorable. Has she got a name yet?"
Hermione nodded eagerly, "Octavia."
Harry snorted.
Hermione glared at him, "What was that for?"
"I just think it's amusing that you named your cat Octavia after spending your whole life complaining about your Shakespearean name," Harry pointed out.
"Theo said the same thing," Draco informed him.
Harry glanced around the room. He saw Sadie but not Theo, "And where is Theo?"
"Exactly," Draco said.
Harry swallowed and looked at Hermione, "I mean, it's a nice name, though, and the cat is cute."
"Harry," Hermione said irritably.
"And I helped Draco by telling him that you liked black cats, so please don't do to me whatever you did to Theo," Harry added.
"Harry James Potter," Daphne tutted, "Here was me thinking that you were scared of nothing. I mean, I even told Bill Weasley that he was a pussy compared to you. Yet here you are, scared of your best friend."
"With good reason," Draco pointed out, "She's scary when you get on the wrong side of her."
Hermione smirked, "I know I am, but I'm not going to curse you, Harry."
Sadie chuckled, "Theo is downstairs getting drinks."
"You just got punk'd," Lilly grinned.
Harry looked at her blankly, "What?"
"Yeah, I don't get it either," Neville shrugged, "Anyway, since you guys are the last to the party again, what's your excuse this time?"
"We were arguing about a box," Harry said. He clapped Neville on the shoulder, "Very long and complicated story which nobody wants to hear. What everyone does want to do is sing Happy Birthday to Hermione and embarrass the hell out of her!"
"Harry!" Hermione groaned.
Harry just grinned at his best friend and began, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…."
"Lilly."
Lilly glanced up, and Daphne pointed at the balcony then disappeared.
Lilly chuckled and followed her out to the balcony, "Were you trying to be subtle?"
"I thought it was pretty subtle."
"It wasn't," Lilly assured her as she sat on the railing, "What's up?"
"Lilly," Daphne said, grabbing her friends hands, "You're going to fall to your death."
"No, I won't. I'd use a cushioning charm," Lilly said, "What's up?"
Daphne could have let go, but she didn't. She stood in front of Lilly with her hands in the shorter girls.
"I'm going to open the box tomorrow."
"Do you want me to come over?" Lilly asked.
"Yeah," Daphne replied, looking up at Lilly, "Would you?"
"Course I will," Lilly replied, "What are you so worried about?"
"I don't know," Daphne admitted, "It's probably nothing, but there could be anything in there. There could be a curse, you know?"
"And if there was a curse, I reckon you're the best person in our friend group to deal with it," Lilly pointed out with a grin, "Curse Breaker Greengrass."
"Did you mean to make that flirty?"
"No," Lilly laughed, "But I can't think of you as a Curse Breaker without remembering those dragonhide trousers."
Daphne snorted in amusement and pulled her off of the railing, "Get down before you give me a heart attack."
Lilly landed softly and shot a smile over Daphne's shoulder, "Hey, Suse."
"Hey girls," Susan said, smirking at the two of them, "You look very friendly."
"Not as friendly as you two did in the alternate future," Lilly sang.
Daphne rolled her eyes, "Lil, did you have to say that?"
Susan grinned, "Do tell."
"I went to Paris this weekend because Neville threw himself in front of a flamethrower curse, and poor little Lilly had no one to go to Paris with," Daphne explained, "We went to the fairground and saw this seer who showed us an alternate future."
"Okay," Susan said as she leant against the railing, "I'm intrigued. What was the 'what if' that created this vision?"
"What if I had gone travelling with Tracey, and there had been no eighth year," Daphne answered.
"And most of us had a miserable life," Lilly said, "I was a crazy cat lady who lived alone in Paris, and Neville married Hannah."
"Harry married Ginny but was screwing Hermione," Daphne rattled off, "Draco married Astoria, and she was sleeping with Theo. Oh, and Theo was married to Sadie, but Sadie was pregnant and didn't know if the baby was Theo's or Blaises."
"Wow, it sounds depressing," Susan snorted, "What was I doing?"
"Daphne," Lilly replied with a smirk, "Daphne in dragonhide trousers because she was a hotshot curse breaker who worked in Egypt."
"We were together?" Susan laughed.
"Yep, and you were Assistant Head of the DMLE," Daphne replied.
"So if it hadn't been for eighth year, we'd both have given up on guys," Susan smirked, "Go figure."
"Well, we are the most flexible in our sexuality," Daphne shrugged, "Lil and the rest of them are 70:30. What would you put yourself at?"
"Oh 50:50, definitely."
"Same as you then, Daph," Lilly mused.
"Since when are you 70:30 anyway?" Susan probed Lilly, "The last time we talked about sexuality, you said you'd never even kissed a girl."
"That would be because it was a recent development," Lilly said evasively.
Susan barked out a laugh, "Oh, really? Honestly, Daph, she's had red hair for two weeks, and you're already snogging her?"
Lilly burst out laughing at that while Daphne rolled her eyes and told them both where to fuck off to.
"Hey."
"Hey," Draco said in an undertone, "Why are we whispering in the corner of the room?"
Daphne sipped her wine, "Because I need to talk to you about something that happened last weekend."
"Is this the point where you tell me that you're a raging lesbian and you're going to run off with Lilly?" Draco joked.
"No," Daphne chuckled, "But did Harry or Nev mention anything about the seer that Lilly and I saw in Paris?"
"No, they were pretty fixated on that kiss."
"Go figure," Daphne joked, "We saw a seer who showed us an alternate future."
"You bought into an act by an old charlatan, you mean?" Draco scoffed.
"She was the real deal, Draco. She took my earliest memory as payment," Daphne murmured.
"So she's a fraud then, but a good one," Draco said dryly, "It's a piece of piss, Daphne. They scan you with a low-level legilimency charm, then show you what you want to see."
"Well, it wasn't what I wanted to see because it was a shit future," Daphne remarked, "It was how the future would have looked if I had gone travelling with Tracey instead of staying to help you through Pansy's death."
Draco swallowed.
"Yeah, it was as grim as you think it was," Daphne whispered, "You went to Greengrass House, but I wasn't there, so my sister took you in, and you married her."
"I married Astoria?" Draco remarked.
Daphne nodded, "You had a kid called Scorpius, and you hated each other. She was sleeping with Theo, who you seemed to hate."
"Probably because we wouldn't have made up that summer if it hadn't been for you," Draco said honestly, "Was he with Sadie?"
Daphne nodded, "He was cheating on her with Astoria, and she was cheating on him with Blaise. It was fucked up Draco, she was pregnant, but she didn't know whose kid it was. But…something I saw in that vision scared me."
Draco sighed, "Daph, it wasn't real."
"Just hear me out," Daphne said sternly, "What if it was? If that was a true vision of how things might have been, that implies that you are the stabilising factor in Theo's life. You are what keeps him good and keeps his magic pure."
Draco frowned, "But Sadie-"
"Sadie might be the love of his love, but that doesn't mean she's the stabilising factor," Daphne cut in quietly, "The Theo in that vision was scary, Draco. He was an alcoholic who was threatening to beat his pregnant wife, and it just…scared me a little."
"Yeah, but that's not Theo," Draco frowned, "That's not our Theo. Maybe that's how he could have been, but I could have been an arsehole Death Eater if it hadn't been for all of you keeping me good during the war. Theo has all of us, and we'll always have his back. I'll always have his back."
"And what if something happens to you?" Daphne whispered, "Then what's going to happen to Theo?"
"Then he'll still have Sadie," Draco replied, "He'll have Hermione. He'll have you and Harry and Neville. Don't forget, in the universe that you saw, Theo only had Sadie and me. But here, he has so much more, and he's going to be a Dad to a kid he knows is his."
"Okay," Daphne conceded, "But I just wanted you to be aware of it."
Draco put an arm around her, "I appreciate the heads up, but this is Theo we're talking about. I mean, look at him."
Daphne looked across the room to where Theo was sitting on a sofa with Sadie snuggled in next to him while he threw peanuts in Hermione's hair to see how long it would take her to notice.
"He's not going to go dark," Draco finished.
* ~ TBC ~ *