* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *
PART FOUR
Brave New World
Chapter 48: Pandora's Box
Harry had to work on Saturday morning, it didn't happen often, but sometimes the Auror trainees were asked to come in to do extra training. Usually, it irritated Daphne because it messed with their weekend plans with Teddy. However, they hadn't had Teddy overnight the night before because Andromeda had gotten out of the hospital on Friday morning. As such, Harry and Daphne weren't due to pick him up until Saturday afternoon.
This meant that Daphne found herself pacing nervously on Saturday morning while she waited for Lilly to arrive. Eventually, the floo whirred to life, and Daphne granted her access.
"How long have you been wearing a hole in the floor for?" Lilly asked perceptively.
"A good hour," Daphne answered, "Come on, I need to find out what's in this box."
Lilly followed her friend into the study and shut the door behind them.
Daphne took a breath and sat down on the ground with the box in front of her, "I'm going to do it."
"Go for it, Pandora."
"Quit calling me Pandora," Daphne muttered as she opened the box.
"Well," Lilly mused as she sat down cross-legged opposite Daphne, "That was underwhelming."
"It's just letters," Daphne said as she reached into the box, "And…photographs."
Lilly noticed that Daphne's hands shook as she pulled out a bundle of photographs.
Every single one was of her. There were baby pictures and photographs of her father with her as a toddler. He looked happy in all of them; she almost didn't recognise him as the man she had grown up calling father. Daphne felt a lump rise in her throat as she looked at photographs of a happier time that she couldn't recall. She realised that the photographs came to a stop a year or so after Astoria was born, the moment when her father had learned of her mother's betrayal.
"They are all of me," Daphne whispered.
Lilly shuffled to sit next to her best friend.
For a moment, Daphne allowed herself to believe that it was that betrayal that had turned her father into the cold, bitter man that she had known. But before the thought began to take hold, she shrugged it away. Her mother wouldn't have lied to her about that.
Daphne swallowed and pulled out the next item that came to hand.
"Oh sweet Salazar," Daphne breathed, "This is my marriage contract. The one that betrothed me to Draco before he was a Black."
"There's a note on the front," Lilly frowned.
Daphne pulled the piece of parchment off and frowned as she scanned her father's words.
"Daphne, a beautiful girl with a beautiful name.
What does the name Daphne mean? Well, everyone knows that it has Greek origins, but it means laurel or bay tree.
In Greek mythology, Daphne was a nymph who was saved from an over-amorous Apollo by her father, the river god. As the father of this Daphne, I am certainly no river god, but I am protective.
Daphne is my only daughter, and she is strong, intelligent and has the sharpest wit. The man who marries her will be fortunate, but he had better have his wits about him because I have taught her some wicked homemade curses over the years.
N.B. I hope when I give this speech, my daughter will be a Malfoy because I trust Draco to look after Daphne. But I cannot will Daphne to love someone if she does not feel it in her heart. In that way, she is entirely her mother's daughter. I just hope that whoever she marries is a man worthy of her. When I finally get around to giving this speech, I will be able to judge that."
Daphne handed the piece of parchment to Lilly, whose eyes widened, "It was his father of the bride speech."
Daphne nodded and silently wiped away the tears in her eyes. The father that she had felt did not care a jot about her had started to write his father of the bride speech when he had written up her marriage contract.
"I would have been eight or nine when he wrote that," Daphne said quietly, "And I hardly saw him. We were living in France at the chateau. We came home for the holidays, and he sometimes visited, but…I don't know; this doesn't sound like the man I called father."
"Maybe he just kept the better parts of himself private," Lilly suggested, "A lot of businessmen were like that, and he was one of the best."
Daphne swallowed a lump that had risen in her throat and sighed, "Maybe. I just…I always thought he'd be turning in his grave because I'm marrying a half-blood, but what he wrote there…."
"It sounds like he doesn't care much, as long as the man you marry is worthy of you, and Harry definitely is," Lilly said softly.
Daphne cleared her throat and searched through the box for more clues to who this man had been and how he had become the embittered father that she had known. There was a bundle of letters at the bottom of the box, dating from the oldest to the newest. Daphne opened them and realised that they were letters that had gone back and forth between her father and his cousin.
"Who is Gus?" Lilly asked as she peered over Daphne's shoulder.
"My father's cousin," Daphne replied, "Augustus Greengrass. His father, Malachai, was disowned for marrying a muggle, so Augustus was raised in the muggle world before he went to Hogwarts."
"But your father stayed in touch with him?" Lilly asked.
Daphne nodded, "He was killed during the war, either just before or just after my father was."
"Why did your father write to him?" Lilly asked.
"I suppose he felt it was safe to do so," Daphne mused, "Uncle Gus hated the Death Eaters as much as my father did. He never wanted to join them…."
May 1997.
My dear Gus,
I regret many of the decisions that I have made in my life. I often wish I had allowed Lareina to marry for love rather than forced her into the contract our parents had arranged. Then again, if Lareina and I had never married, my darling Daphne would not have come to exist. She and I have had a complicated relationship these past few years, but she has grown into a beautiful and strong young woman.
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named grows stronger by the day, and I do not doubt that he will soon come for me. When he does, I must protect Daphne above all else. My own life seems insignificant in comparison to hers.
I pray that you remain safe. Do not come out of hiding until I explicitly tell you that it is safe to do so. You are a half-blood whose father was a blood-traitor; the snatchers roaming these parts will not treat you well.
Yours,
Cygnus.
Daphne handed the letter to Lilly and said, "This was sent just after everything that happened at the end of our sixth year."
"The Battle of the Lightning Struck Tower and Dumbledore dying," Lilly said with a nod.
"And this was Augustus's reply," Daphne said, handing her friend another letter.
My dearest Cygnus,
I fear for my safety also. I have, of course, gone into hiding, and I shall remain here until the danger has passed. As the half-blood son of a blood traitor, I am most certainly in the firing line. My choice of partner also does not bode me well against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who wishes to rid the world of the 'impure'.
Wes and I will weather this storm as we have endured all that has come before.
Regards,
Gus.
"Who is Wes?"
"Wesley Bones," Daphne replied, "Susan's uncle. He and my Uncle Augustus were together. It's kind of how Suse and I met as kids in a round-about way. He was killed during the war, at the same time as my uncle."
"Is everyone in our friend group related somehow?"
"There aren't that many wizarding families in Britain, so yes," Daphne replied as she moved onto the next letter.
June 1997.
Gus,
I write again to tell you that my strength grows weaker every day. They found me, and they continue to ask me to join them, but I do not want that life. It is the life that my brother-in-law, Alfred Nott, leads. I cannot have that for myself and especially not for Daphne. I must protect her from what will come; it is the only way to find redemption after the fire. I sincerely wish that you may remain safe.
Yours,
Cygnus.
Daphne handed the letter to Lilly and picked up Augustus's reply, "The fire he's referring to is the one he set in my house that almost killed my mother, my sister and I."
Lilly frowned down at the letter, but Daphne was too busy reading her uncle's reply to notice the expression on her best friend's face.
Cygnus,
You must continue to resist them. I know that you possess the strength to do so.
The only way you shall ever have your redemption is if you can show both of your daughters that you love them. I know you only regard Daphne as 'yours', but you have raised Astoria well. They are both fine young women, and you ought to be proud. Many men could not raise another man's child as you have, especially given the circumstances around Astoria's conception.
Regards,
Gus.
Daphne snorted, "Raised her well?" she handed the letter to Lilly, "He hated Astoria growing up. He never treated her the same way that he treated me."
Lilly took the letter and scanned it, "Well, perception is a wonderful thing. It is almost as good as hindsight," she remarked.
Daphne sighed as she read yet another letter,
July 1997.
Gus,
They come calling every day. I do not know how much longer I can last. They will either force me to join them, or they will kill me for resisting. I know which way I would rather it went. He grows stronger with every follower that he manages to amass.
I worry about Daphne returning to Hogwarts now that it is publicly known that Severus Snape will be the Headmaster of the school. He is a known Death Eater, after all.
Stay safe, dear Augustus.
Yours,
Cygnus.
Daphne flicked through Augustus's reply and handed it to Lilly. Then she read the next letter that her father had sent to his cousin.
September 1997.
Gus,
Daphne has gone back to Hogwarts. Lareina did not want her there, but I suspect that she will be safer the farther she is from me.
When they come for me for a final time, I do not want them to take her. I have gone into hiding so my letters may become less frequent, I am a coward, Gus, and I do not want to die.
I pray you survive this war, for I surely shall not.
Yours,
Cygnus.
"I didn't realise how scared he was," Daphne admitted. She sighed and looked down at Augustus's reply, which re-iterated that Hogwarts was probably the safest place for her.
"He wouldn't have wanted to let on," Lilly said softly, "Fathers always want to stay strong for their daughters."
"He never acted like a father," Daphne sighed, "Not in the way that a father should act, anyway."
"Not to your face," Lilly corrected.
Daphne ignored this comment and read the next letter.
December 1997.
Gus,
I hear very little news from outside my safe house, but I understand that our cousin James's son is still alive and fighting to destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I hope that he has success, they have not found me yet, but I can feel that they are getting close.
Lareina keeps slipping out, and I fear that she is informing on our location. She wants me dead so that she can run back to my brother. I only keep her safe here as a courtesy to my daughter. I do not think Daphne would ever forgive me if I let her mother die.
I also heard the sad news that Septimus Cauldwell turned to the side of darkness. I very much doubt that he did this of his own accord, but his family were undoubtedly used against him. The Death Eaters will not try this trick with me because I suppose they doubt that my family mean much to me. They are aware of what I did all of those years ago. They need not know that the fire was an accident; it will only give them something to use against me.
Stay safe, dear cousin. Undoubtedly one of us shall survive this dreadful war.
Yours,
Cygnus.
"Your dad and Harry's dad were cousins?" Lilly snorted.
"Yeah, Harry and I are second cousins," Daphne said with a weak smile, "He's a pureblood now. He's giving in to the whole pureblood in-breeding programme."
Lilly laughed, "What do you make of what he said about your mother sneaking out?"
"I don't want to believe it," Daphne said honestly, "But the thing I really don't like is that he called the fire an accident. My mother always led me to believe that he set it with the intent of killing all of us."
Lilly frowned and looked down, "There's one more letter."
Daphne swallowed when she saw the date.
"What's wrong?"
"It's dated February 1998," Daphne said quietly, "And that's when he died."
"Oh shit," Lilly whispered, "Do you want me to read it to you?"
Daphne nodded and held the letter out. Lilly took it, cleared her throat and began to read aloud,
Gus,
I fear that this will be my last letter. Lareina had one too many glasses of wine last night, and she told me the truth. She has been meeting up with my brother in secret, as I feared. My brother has informed the Death Eaters of our location. They are coming to kill me; they will spare Lareina so that she and Phineas can continue their sordid affair, only it will no longer have to be behind my back.
If I cannot escape them, please tell Daphne the truth. Tell her that I did not intend for her or her sister to be hurt in the fire. They were supposed to be at Malfoy Manor, but Draco got dragon pox, and the plans were changed at the last minute. Lareina did not inform me, and I did not know that they would be there. When I set the fire, I thought that the house would be empty. I intended to claim on the insurance, buy a smaller home and save the business by injecting the insurance money into it. I never meant to hurt my daughter. If Lareina or my brother had been caught up in it, I would have felt no remorse, but the girls were innocent.
It is, after all, my brother and Lareina's fault that my death is so imminent. I tried Gus, I tried so hard to please her, but nothing I did was ever enough. She wanted my brother, and nothing would convince her that I could give her just as much love as he could.
Please, Gus, make sure that Daphne learns the truth. I could not bear it if she hated me for the rest of her life. This is my last wish. Stay safe and survive this bloodshed.
Your dearest cousin,
Cygnus.
Daphne let her tears fall freely as she read the last letter over and over again.
Lilly read the letter over her shoulder then wrapped her arms around Daphne.
"She lied," Daphne said quietly, "My whole life…my mother lied to me."
She pushed Lilly away and got to her feet, "She made me think that my father was the villain for years! She made me hate him!"
"Daphne-"
"My whole life has been a lie, Lilly!" Daphne practically screamed.
The curtain rail began to shake and clatter. The books on the bookshelf swayed precariously as a warm wind rushed through the room.
"No!" Lilly exclaimed, "No outbursts of magic! You are a fully grown woman, not an immature little girl. Take a breath and calm the hell down."
Lilly wasn't sure if it would work, so she had her hand hovering over her wand just in case she had to conjure a quick shield charm.
However, Daphne took a breath and then let Lilly step forward and pull her into a hug.
"She turned me against him," Daphne said tearfully, "And it worked! I mean, I was stupid enough to buy into it. We went to France because he kicked her out, not because he beat the crap out of her like she told me. We went to France so she could be with Phineas, and he knew that. He knew she was screwing his brother, and he just let her take his kids away from him to go and live with their mother and her bloody lover!"
Daphne took another breath as she sat down slowly and let her head rest in her hands, "My mother kept feeding me lies to paint him as the bad guy when she was the one in the wrong the whole time."
"And if it weren't for those letters, I'd never have known," Daphne continued, "Because I think my Uncle Augustus died two weeks before or after my father did so he had no way of getting that news to me."
"Your mother must not know," Lilly said, "If she had looked into the box, she would have burned it."
Daphne nodded, "Yeah, she would have."
"Why didn't he just write to you?"
"Because he was stubborn," Daphne muttered irritably, "And because everything going in and out of Hogwarts was intercepted, whether that was mail or Patronus's."
"True," Lilly agreed. She surveyed Daphne with concern, "But I mean…what do we do now? Where do we go with this information?"
"I don't know," Daphne said helplessly, "I just… I have to rewrite my brain. I've spent so long believing that my father was a monster, and now…I realise that the monster was always my mother, and I was too blind to see it."
"You were a kid, Daph," Lilly said gently, "We overlook stuff like that when we're young, and parents exploit that. They do shitty things all of the time. I know it's nowhere near the same, but my mum and dad were always trying to turn me against the other one after they split up."
Daphne wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper, "He died thinking that I hated him, Lilly."
"That wasn't your fault," Lilly said. She knelt in front of Daphne and grabbed her hand, "Your mother lied to you and manipulated you, and by the time you were old enough to hear the truth, you wouldn't have listened to it. That was why your father didn't tell you; the damage was done; you would have just assumed that he was lying."
Daphne couldn't argue with that logic.
"Ugh, why are you always so right?" Daphne asked tearfully, "I can't argue with you when you're right!"
Lilly smiled sadly, "I know, sorry, but I think we ought to go and get a cup of tea-"
"Why do you always suggest tea when someones sad?" Daphne asked. She sniffed and pushed herself to her feet.
"Because I'm awkward around upset people, and my mum always said that tea was the answer when someone needed to calm down," Lilly admitted sheepishly.
Daphne laughed weakly, "She sounds nice, your mum."
"She's a riot," Lilly chuckled. She stepped forward and grabbed Daphne by the wrist, "But every so often, she came out with a pearl of wisdom. So come on, let's have a cup of tea."
"Okay," Daphne said, blowing out a long, steadying breath, "Let's try it your way and see if tea makes all of the worries of the world disappear," she said with a weak smile.
"It doesn't make them disappear," Lilly said softly, "It just gives you some time to catch your breath and help you come to terms with them."
"You know, just sometimes, rarely, when the moon is in the right place, I see that wise old soul inside you and realise why you were a Ravenclaw," Daphne teased.
"I'm sure there was a compliment in there somewhere," Lilly snorted.
"Figure it out. You're the smart one."
"And you're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"That thing when you act all bitchy to cover up the fact you're upset," Lilly said matter of factly.
"Va te faire foutre (fuck you), Lilly!"
"Is this our thing now? Do we have a thing?" Lilly joked.
"Well, you're a thing."
"Daphne, you can't just call people a thing when you're pissed off with them," Lilly sniggered. "It might have worked on Harry, but it won't work on me, so arrête d'être une grace (stop being a bitch)!"
When Harry got home just before lunchtime on Saturday. he was surprised to find the house empty and quiet. At first, he thought that Daphne had gone out, but then a quick spell told him that two magical signatures, excluding his own, were still present in the house.
He knew something was wrong from the feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach, so he rushed into the kitchen where he found Daphne nursing a cup of tea while Lilly sat next to her, with her hand resting on Daphne's back.
"She opened the box," Lilly said by way of explanation.
Harry looked at his fiancé warily, "And? Do you wish you hadn't?"
Daphne shook her head, "I'm happy that I know the truth, but I want to kill my mother for hiding it and for lying to me."
Harry frowned, "Daphne…what, do you mean?"
Daphne shoved the bundle of letters into his hands, "Read those, and you'll see."
Harry flicked through the letters, scanning the critical parts and omitting the rest. When he looked up at Daphne, his eyes were wide, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Why would he lie?" Daphne asked coolly, "He has no reason to do that. My mother, on the other hand, her and my Uncle Phineas, they have a lot of reasons to lie."
"Daphne," Harry said quietly, "If what your father wrote in these letters is true…your mother and your Uncle Phineas could go to jail."
"For manslaughter, if not premeditated murder, I know," Daphne said, "Funnily enough, Lilly and I worked that out while she was trying to calm me down with fucking peppermint tea."
Harry looked at Lilly, "I'm going to hazard a guess and say that it didn't work."
Lilly smiled slightly, "That's one way of putting it, yeah."
"You can take it to the ministry, but then…other secrets might…come out," Harry said. He was being careful what he was saying because Lilly was present.
"You can talk freely; I told Lilly everything," Daphne sniffed, "She knows about Astoria."
"Right," Harry said, "So if you hand the evidence over, there will be a trial, and there's a chance that during the trial, Astoria would find out that Phineas is her father."
"I've tried to tell her that regardless of the stakes, she ought to take it to the ministry," Lilly chipped in, "Surely you can keep it all on the down-low?"
"I do have contacts," Harry admitted, "But I'm only a trainee. I could do my best, but I couldn't guarantee that it would be good enough."
"You're Harry Potter," Daphne said dryly, "It would be good enough."
Lilly sighed, and Harry frowned, "But Daphne, it's more than the practicalities. You have to think of this from a practical point of view…do you really want your mother and your uncle to go to jail?"
"Harry, they killed my father," Daphne hissed, "All so they could keep fucking each other!"
Harry cringed at her vulgar language. Daphne rarely lost her temper like this, she was usually the cool, calm one in an argument, and he was the hothead.
"I know, Daphne, but we're talking about severe sentences here. How would Astoria take it?"
Daphne swallowed, "Don't you dare use my sister against me. They deserve to rot for this."
"She's right, you know?" Lilly said quietly.
"I know she is," Harry snapped, "And I am not trying to use Astoria against you, Daphne, but you need to consider everything before you rush to the ministry and make a rash decision. Trust me, I did that once, and I lost my godfather. I'm not telling you not to do it, I'm just saying that you need to be sure first, or you could end up regretting it for the rest of your life, and I don't want that kind of bitterness to taint you."
"So you're doing what then? Saving my soul?" Daphne scoffed.
"Yes," Harry replied simply, "That's exactly what I'm doing."
Lilly nodded, "That is what he's doing, Daph."
"I just want to go over to that house and give my mother a piece of my mind," Daphne muttered under her breath.
"And give her a head start? Come on, Daphne, you are far smarter than that," Lilly said softly, "You know that's not the logical thing to do."
Harry nodded, "Lil is right. If you confront her, then she's going to run off with your uncle so that when this does go to trial, they can't pull her up for it," Harry pointed out, "I know you're angry, and I don't blame you for being angry at all but think about this logically."
Daphne sighed, "I want her to be punished."
"I know you do," Harry said softly, "But you have to ask yourself this one question. Is the collateral damage just going to be too much?"
"I don't know," Daphne admitted.
"And you need to know," Harry said firmly, "You need to be 100% sure before you act on this, so give it a little bit of time and thought Daph, trust me on this one."
"Okay," Daphne conceded, "But until I decide what to do, we keep this completely quiet. Okay? You can tell Neville, but you do not tell anyone else."
"I understand," Harry nodded, "And I promise, I won't tell anyone."
Lilly nodded, "I'll tell Neville, but no one else, I swear," she promised Daphne.
Daphne nodded and looked into the depths of her tea. Without warning, she picked the cup up and threw it into the sink.
"What the fuck?"
"What did you do that for?"
"I didn't like what the tealeaves said," Daphne said irritably.
"So you decided to break an 18th-century teacup?" Harry asked in disbelief.
Lilly looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow, "Right now, I can't be sure what's worse. You being upset about a broken antique teacup or Neville crying over the death of a baby venomous bloody tentacula. No wonder you two are best friends."
"Reparo!" Daphne said, far too sassily. The cup repaired itself, and she remarked, "Are you a wizard or not?" before stalking out of the kitchen.
"It doesn't matter if you repair it with magic," Harry muttered after his fiancé, "You can still see the cracks. King George II drank out of this teacup, Lil! The bloody King of Britain!"
"Harry, since when do you care so much about teacups?" Lilly asked dryly.
"Since I found out how old some of the stuff in my family home was," Harry replied.
"And you care more about a teacup than Daphne, do you? Because I think you need a bit of perspective right now. She just found out that her mother is a psychotic murderer, then her tea leaves said that she's going to go through an anxious period of change like she doesn't already bloody know that," Lilly snapped, "So forget about the fucking cup and go make sure she's okay."
Harry nodded, "Right, sorry. I will. But since when can you read tealeaves? I thought you hated Divination."
"I do, but I was a Ravenclaw. I like to know about all areas of magic, even the bits I don't like or believe in," Lilly replied sensibly.
"Do you really want to do this today?" Harry asked under his breath as he and Daphne walked up the path towards Greengrove House.
"Life can't stop just because of my ground-breaking discovery that my mother is a homicidal slut," Daphne muttered bitterly.
"Okay," Harry said calmly, "I just want to make sure your head is in the right place. This is a serious thing we're thinking about doing."
"I am aware of that," Daphne said sincerely, "And I really am fine. As long as you don't bring up my mother all week, we won't have a problem."
Harry sighed, "Daphne, we have to talk about it at some point. You can't just decide to run to the ministry one day and get your mum a life sentence in Azkaban."
"Actually, I can," Daphne reminded him, "And I will, once I've had a week to think it over like you and Lilly want."
Harry had a feeling that he wasn't going to win the argument with her because of the mood she was in, so he decided to drop it. But it was still very much an unfinished conversation.
By the time they stepped into the drawing-room, the awkward air surrounding the conversation had dissipated. Andromeda smiled over at them, "Harry, Daphne, how lovely to see you again."
Harry smiled at the older woman, "How are you feeling, Andi?"
Andromeda looked a little frailer than she had before she had been struck down with dragon pox, but she smiled all the same, "Very tired if I am honest, Harry, but I am grateful to be home."
"Well," Daphne began cryptically, "You might be grateful of the proposition that we have for you then."
Andromeda raised an eyebrow at them, "A proposition?"
Harry nodded, "We wondered how you felt about us trialling looking after Teddy full-time. Not like when we took him on holiday, but to see how he would fit into our everyday lives."
Andromeda watched with interest as Daphne added, "He could live with us for the week, and we could trial our plan for you to look after him during the day while we're at work."
After a contemplative moment, Andromeda nodded slowly, "I think that is a very sensible idea. I just worry that it might confuse him, but then again, so will the adoption when the time comes."
Harry nodded, "So you think it's a good idea?"
"I do," Andromeda said, "When would you like to start it?"
"Well," Harry said sheepishly, "We thought since we have him this weekend, we could just continue that into the week."
Andromeda didn't seem overly surprised by the suggestion. She thought about it for a moment then said, "Yes, I suppose that would make sense. He is in his bedroom. If you want to help him pack for the week and explain what is happening?"
"Wouldn't you rather do that?" Harry asked.
Andromeda shook her head, "I think it will be better if it comes from you."
"Okay," Harry said, he turned to Daphne, "Are you coming up?"
"Of course," She replied.
They ascended the stairs silently, but the awkward air was gone at least. When they stepped into Teddy's room, the little boy was playing away happily with his toy dragons.
He greeted them with a shout of, "Daddy!" and a hug. Harry's face lit up with the smile that he reserved for Teddy, and he knelt in front of the little boy, "Hey buddy, we have something to tell you."
Teddy looked up with interest.
"You're going to come and stay with Daphne and me this week," Harry said kindly, "Do you think that will be fun?"
Teddy's eyes lit up, "Yeah!"
Daphne laughed, "Good because we think you're going to have a great week," she ruffled the little boy's hair, and he grinned at her.
"We're going to go to the seaside," Harry added as he grabbed Teddy's little suitcase out of the wardrobe, "You love the beach, don't you?"
Teddy grinned and nodded at them. Daphne smiled warmly at him, "Then you are going to have so much fun! Come on, what clothes shall we put in here for you?"
"This!" Teddy said. He pulled his Puddlemere strip out of the wardrobe, "An' this!" he said as he found his favourite jumper, it was dark grey and decorated with multi-coloured dragons.
Daphne shot Harry a smile, and he returned it warmly. Somehow, at that moment, they knew that regardless of the trials the week would bring, it would all be okay in the end.
"This is going well so far," Daphne commented.
Harry shot her an amused look, "Daph, it's only Sunday. We both know that the hard part starts tomorrow when we have to come home from a hard day's work to look after a toddler."
Daphne rolled her eyes, "Yes, I know that. I just meant that Teddy didn't seem to be showing any signs of separation anxiety from Andromeda, which is good. The confusing part, of course, will be throughout the week because he will see her during the day but then come home to us at night."
"Let's face it; we always knew that having him through the week would be the biggest struggle. That's the whole point of this test of yours," Harry reminded her.
"We had him through the week when Andromeda was in the hospital," Daphne pointed out.
"For a couple of days, not for the whole week," Harry said as he observed her.
"Why are you so sure that it's going to be hard?" Daphne asked under her breath; she didn't want to raise her voice because Teddy was playing on the floor just a few metres away, "Why are you so convinced that we can't do this?"
Harry's eyes softened, and he sighed, "That's not what this is at all," he promised her, "I just don't want you to assume that this week is going to be easy because I worry that if you do, you'll get a real shock when you realise quite how tiring it is to have two full-time jobs."
Daphne glanced over at Teddy, "It's hard to think of him like that," she admitted.
"Right now it is. Let's see what you're saying at the end of the week," Harry said gently. He smiled at her in that boyish, amused way that never failed to make her smile back.
"We'll see," She challenged.
* ~ TBC ~ *