Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling. The title is taken from the song "Exile" by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver.

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8th May, 1998:

"The contract is quite clear, Mr. Potter: you and Daphne must marry," Agamemnon Greengrass said in a tone so smug it made Harry want to deck him. He gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in instead, seething but trying to reign in his temper; the other wizard leaned back in his own chair, staring him down from behind his desk. Beside Harry sat Daphne herself, but she was staring intently at the wall behind her father, making no move to speak to look at Harry.

Harry regretted responding to the message given to him by a nervous house-elf and regretted even more that he agreed to have this meeting at the Greengrass Estate in Cheshire. Mr. Greengrass had the home turf advantage here, a fact he obviously relished as he dropped this bombshell on Harry and even his own daughter.

(Harry had seen the way Daphne's face twisted in rage before going blank. He'd bet all the gold in his vault that this was news to her as much as it was to him.)

However, if Mr. Greengrass could think he could just lay the law down like this and Harry would roll over then he had another thing coming. Agamemnon Greengrass was tall and blonde, in contrast to his daughter's brown hair, and his blue eyes held absolutely no warmth in them; objectively, he should have been handsome, but the sheer arrogance in his features and stance prevented that. Some might have found him intimidating but Harry had faced down Voldemort and this bloke just pissed him off.

Harry leaned forward in his own chair and looked the man in the eye. "I'm going to make this very clear: I will never marry your daughter."

"No offense taken," drawled the witch herself, the first time she'd spoken since the meeting had started. Despite himself, Harry snorted in laughter and glanced to his side to see a flash of bitter amusement flicker on her face before vanishing.

Mr. Greengrass briefly shot his daughter an unimpressed look before returning his gaze to Harry. "Mr. Potter," he started cooly, "I will do you a favor by overlooking this rather childish knee jerk reaction. Read the contract yourself. If you are still fine with all the possible consequences, then and only then will I accept your denial." He opened his drawer and took out another copy of the contract he'd had on his desk; he held it out and Harry yanked it out of his hands, enjoying the obvious irritation the action caused.

"That's unnecessary. The answer is still going to be no."

"We'll see," Agamemnon said as he stood.

Harry decided to let the man think he'd gotten the last word for now because he was going to be in for a world of disappointment later. He ignored Greengrass herself attempting to catch his eye and stalked out of the office, nearly barreling into a witch lingering outside the door. She looked to be around his age, had brown hair similar to Daphne as well as the blue eyes he was starting to think of as Greengrass blue. "Sorry," she squeaked out, pale face turning pink, before getting out of his way.

10th May, 1998:

Was it so selfish of him to want to choose his own destiny? Since he had learned he was a wizard, he had consistently chosen to do what was right or expected of him. He, Hermione and Ron had run off to protect the Philosopher's Stone in their first year, bringing him face to face with Voldemort. After that he had faced a basilisk, an escaped fugitive who turned out to be his godfather and innocent, an international tournament and Voldemort's return. He had lost his godfather, had fought a war, and destroyed Horcruxes.

He had let himself be killed to stop Voldemort. Yes, he came back, but he hadn't known that when he'd gone to sacrifice himself.

And this was how the Wizarding World was going to repay him? A forced marriage to a girl he didn't even like because their great grandfathers had decided this was a good idea? Screw that. Harry was determined to fight it and Mr. Weasley was searching for a contract expert to help him; Hermione was also researching the subject out of support. He was grateful for both of them because the most he'd understood of it so far was that it was requiring the eldest Greengrass son or daughter to marry the eldest Potter son or daughter. However, Ron, Ginny, and Neville's reactions hadn't left him hopeful: all of three of them had looked at him as if he had announced he'd been diagnosed with some incurable illness.

(He and Ginny had talked that night as they lay in bed together. "I won't be the other woman. I refuse," she had told him, eyes absolutely heartbroken looking. "I love you Harry, I do. But if this can't be broken, if you have to marry her-"

"I'm never going to marry Daphne Greengrass," he had insisted, his green eyes flashing. He pulled her into his arms but it didn't comfort her like he thought it would.

Instead, she had given a watery laugh and shook her head. "Harry, you don't understand. You didn't grow up hearing the horror stories these kinds of deals can cause. People have dropped dead because of this kind of thing."

"How is this legal?" he asked. Something like an Unbreakable Vow was one thing, because the person entering that kind of agreement was doing it out of their own free will and accepted the consequences. (Barring incidents like Fred trying to get Ron to make one as kids.) Even the Goblet of Fire was only supposed to form a contract with willing volunteers, except for the time a Death Eater disguised as one of his professors confounded the Goblet into choosing him. (And that was just one of many incidents that left him with a hatred of being forced into things against his will for magical reasons.) But drafting up a contract for people the writers couldn't even know would be born that had to be fulfilled under pain of death?

That was fucking bullshite.

"I don't know because some witches and wizards can be shitty and vindictive? This sort of thing isn't allowed anymore, not for almost a century."

"Then how-"

"If it was created before the ban," she had cut him off, "then it's possible it's still in effect."

"Ginny, I'm going to fight this with everything I can. I don't want to give you up now that we have time to be together." He kissed her on the temple and said softly, "I love you.")

They might have already decided he was fighting a lost cause, but he wasn't giving up. Outside of the future he wanted to explore with Ginny, he was just not going to roll over and take something some Lucius Malfoy type was trying to force on him. He also had no interest in shackling himself to one of the Slytherins; Daphne Greengrass had never gone after other students the way her friends had, but she hadn't done anything to help either. One of said friends was Parkinson, which was another mark against her. In school, she'd certainly given off the impression of being as arrogant as the other members of her house, or at least enough of an impression that he'd never been tempted to really talk to her.

(Now that he'd met her father, he could see where she got it from.)

Given what he could perceive of her personality and the way he'd stormed out of her home, he'd have thought she'd ignore him. Instead, one morning at the Burrow, he woke up to a glossy black owl pecking at the window, a letter from Greengrass strapped to its leg. It had been an invitation to meet and he considered just saying no, but her letter had been polite enough and she was as much a victim of this as he was. Harry had to remind himself of that last part at least twice more before apparating close to the meeting spot in Diagon Alley. He walked into a restaurant he'd never eaten in before and was led into a private room; she was already sitting down at a table, back to the wall and watching as he walked over.

The room had low lighting and the candles on the table made it look like they were on some sort of date. His mouth had turned down into a frown and she sighed; as soon as the server had left, she said without a greeting, "I didn't ask them for this. I just wanted a private room so we could talk." Her expression was a little sheepish which surprised him given how used he was to her haughty distance.

Despite her wish to talk, she fell silent as he took the seat across from her and he took a minute to study her. Instead of robes, she was dressed in muggle clothes: a blue top, black skirt and boots. Her posture was tense and expression guarded and Harry got the idea that she'd rather be anywhere else than having this conversation with him. He decided to break the sudden quiet himself by asking, "Did you know about the contract before your father told me?"

Her blue eyes turned stormy. "No." (So he had been right before.) "I can't say I'm surprised that he would spring it on me along with you. Father doesn't so much talk to me as he talks at me."

His eyebrows rose. "Not very close with your father then?"

"No," she said, rolling her eyes. "Before you ask, I'm not close to my mother either. My sister is the one I'm actually close to." Her tone of voice had been almost dismissive when talking about her parents but it turned much warmer when she mentioned her sister.

Harry racked his brain to see if he could come up with a first name or a face for Greengrass' sister but all he could really think of was the girl he'd nearly knocked down the other day. "Was your sister that girl standing outside your father's office?"

She actually laughed. "Yeah, that was Astoria. This might surprise you, but she's a little nosey."

He took a sip of water before asking, "Is she in Slytherin like you?"

She shook her head. "Tori's a Ravenclaw. She's the one who suggested I invite you to lunch so we could try and talk things out."

He opened his mouth to say something but the server had returned by then; they both ordered something to eat and Harry waited for the man to leave the room before speaking again. "Look Greengrass, I don't want to waste your time or mine here, so let me make this clear: there's nothing you can say, that will change my mind. I'm not going to marry you."

"You're not my first choice either," she snapped back. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and Harry got the impression of her counting to ten. Taking a breath, she leaned forward and said, "Potter, I know I'm not the most….I've been a….you have no reason to like or trust me. My housemates have been cruel to you. Some of my own friends have been horrible to you. And I never said anything. I am sorry."

His first reaction was that she was just saying that to manipulate him, but he noticed some little things that made him think it was more sincere: the pauses and struggling with words, and the way she kept eye contact with him through it. He nodded and she continued, "I'm a selfish person, I can admit that, but I'm not interested in forcing myself on someone who truly doesn't want me. All I'm asking is can you just try and get to know me? I know you're dating Weasley and you can keep doing that. I won't mind-"

"But I'd mind," he said flatly. "And so would Ginny. And you should mind. Why would you want to settle for being second best?"

Her mouth twisted at the second best comment. "Of course I don't want to be a consolation prize, but we don't always get what we want. This type of contract isn't used anymore, but I was never expecting to marry for love." He started at her and she clarified, "Usually, I'd be allowed some choice but my parents would have expected me to marry someone they'd approve of at the end of the day."

"And you're fine with that?" He was having trouble wrapping his head around that; he might not have been the most experienced with love, but he knew he wanted the kind of love his parents had. She looked down but didn't say anything and he decided to change tactics. "But there has to be some way to break it. Some sort of loophole." Her mouth had gone into a thin line as he spoke and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you read it?"

"I've read some of it. Father is being difficult about it." He was hating her father more and more and he felt a stab of sympathy for her having to deal with the man all the time.

"And you don't think it can be broken?" She shook her head and his right hand clenched into a fist. "No, I don't believe that. There has to be something. No one's perfect; they couldn't have possibly covered everything that someone could do." She looked down at the table again and he asked, "Is this the type of contract that will kill one of us if we don't go through with it?" Like an Unbreakable Vow or that damned Goblet.

The ghost of a smile flickered on her face. "No, neither of us will die. Like I said I haven't gotten the chance to read the entire thing by myself yet, though father made the consequences sound dire. But I can try and see if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you, Greengrass." The relief in his voice was palpable.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't worry, Potter. I'll do my best to save you from the terrible fate of being stuck with me."

He winced at the sarcasm in her voice. "Greengrass, it's really not you. It's-"

She laughed shortly, "Please, do not give me the whole 'it's not you, it's me' speech. I wouldn't believe you if you did."

Harry breathed out. "Okay. You're right. Based on what I know about you, I wouldn't want to date you at all. Even if I wasn't already with Ginny." She clapped a hand over her heart, a mock expression of hurt on her face, and he rolled his eyes at her. "I don't want to hurt you, but I've sacrificed enough since learning I was a wizard. I fought Voldemort-"

She flinched at the name, but said nothing.

"And I'm not sacrificing my future because of a contract written long before either of us were born." He had literally died to save everyone, did that not earn him some kind of break from the universe? "I don't know if Ginny and I will last but I love her and I want to give it a shot. Even if we break up, I want to be with someone I love."

"And you don't think you could love me," she said quietly. It wasn't a question.

His expression softened. "How can you love someone who forces you to be with them?"

She closed her eyes for a moment before re-opening them, a look of determination in them now. "I'll look into it and let you know. I won't force you to be with me."

Their lunch arrived after that and while he attempted to make small talk, her mind was obviously far away. They lapsed into silence for the rest of the meal, and she looked withdrawn by the time she said goodbye, but somehow she must have gotten through to her father because a few days later he received a letter from the man. This time it was short, letting him know that the wedding wouldn't happen.

It was followed an hour later by a letter delivered by the black owl she'd sent him before. This time the bird shot him a disparaging look and flew off as soon as Harry had removed the letter. It was just one line: Good luck, Potter. He wrote back a thank you to her but she never responded.

He let Mr. Weasley know that everything was fine now and put the contract away in his vault. He kept dating Ginny, started training for the Aurors, and never expected to see Daphne Greengrass again.

And he didn't for five years.

25th April, 2003:

"Come on, Harry!"

Harry followed his friends into the muggle pub, nothing on his mind other than just enjoying the start of his weekend. Neville had gotten a booth, his spirits obviously still high from his successful proposal to Luna; Ron sat across from him and Seamus and Dean followed suit leaving Harry as the only one standing.

"I'll go order," he said before walking over to the bar.

He was more relaxed than he would be at the Leaky Cauldron or any other wizarding owned establishments since his chances of being recognized were non-existent. He leaned against the bar and waited for the bartender to get to him, not paying any real attention until he heard a crisp, distantly familiar voice: "What can I get you?"

He glanced up hurriedly into the beautiful, smiling face of his could-have-been wife. His brain felt like it was short circuiting for a moment as it tried to process a pureblood princess like Greengrass working in a muggle bar of all places. She was dressed simply in a black tee-shirt and tight, dark jeans and her hair was down. Without thinking, he blurted out, "Daphne Greengrass?"

The smile on her lips died as her eyes found the scar on his forehead. "Oh. Fancy meeting you here, Potter."

He was staring now, and couldn't make himself stop. "You work here?"

"No, I just walked in, saw no one behind the bar, and decided to help myself." The sarcasm was so thick he could have cut it with a knife. She smiled thinly, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Now, what can I get you?"

He managed to order two pitchers of beer and watched as she filled them for him. "Why are you working here?"

She scrunched her nose and he shouldn't have found it as cute as he did. "Wow, you've really become a snob, Potter. What's wrong with being a bartender? Or is serving drinks somehow a waste of my endless potential?"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it." He leaned in more over the bar and lowered his voice to a near whisper, "Why are you working here? In a muggle bar?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't see how that's any of your business, Potter. Here are your drinks." She placed the now full pitchers down on the bar and at her expectant look he reached into his jeans for his wallet and paid her. Her eyes glanced down at his hands as she took the money and she commented, "No wedding ring. Are you and Weasley still together?"

"No," he answered shortly as he waited for his change.

"Aw. You crazy kids couldn't make it work after all?"

He and Ginny had dated for almost three years when things had started breaking down between them,and they decided it was better to break up before they started hating each other. "No," he said flatly.

The corners of her mouth lifted into a smirk. "Too bad. I was really rooting for you two."

He refused to rise to that bait; he took his change from her and intended to walk away, but there was a mystery here and it intrigued him. So instead of walking off with the drinks, he asked first, "The five year anniversary is coming up." Her mouth tightened and he knew he didn't have to confirm it was the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts for her. "Are you going to be at the reunion?"

Hogwarts was hosting both an awards ceremony honoring those who fought in the battle and a reunion party afterwards. Everyone who'd been at Hogwarts that year (and was still alive) had been invited.

She smiled wryly at him, but again it didn't reach her eyes. "No, I'm afraid I have other plans. Maybe I'll catch the ten year one. See you around, Potter."

There was something very off here, but he wasn't sure what. This wasn't any of his business, she wasn't even his friend, but there was a mystery here and he felt compelled to look into it. His gut was telling him to look into it, and his gut had been right before in the past.

"See you around, Greengrass," he said, flashing her a grin. She frowned at him, maybe she sensed he wasn't going to let this go, but he walked away before she could say anything.

2nd May, 2003:

Harry couldn't recall having an actual conversation with Astoria Malfoy once in his life.

This fact was only relevant because of the strong impression he got that she hated him.

"If looks could kill," Hermione had muttered to him under her breath. Oh good, that meant it wasn't just all in his head. He sat between his two best friends in the world in the front row; nearest to them were Neville, Luna and Ginny. The rows directly following them consisted of the surviving members of the DA or the relatives of those who hadn't lived through the battle. The rest of the audience was made up of the other students at Hogwarts, some of whom were also being honored.

He had no idea what some of them were doing here, considering he'd think Draco Malfoy and anyone related to him wouldn't have shown up. And yet Malfoy and his wife were sitting in the crowd and said wife had given Harry a death stare when he'd accidentally caught her eye.

It left him very taken aback.

He and Draco were not friends, but he had accepted that Malfoy had changed for the better since the war. Malfoy and Parkinson had apparently been behind some charities that went to alleviate damages from the war and one in particular had been implemented more recently to work on de-radicalizing children and teenagers raised on pureblood supremacy. Outside of generally agreeing with what they were doing, he left Malfoy and his old friends alone and vice versa. So this couldn't have been a recent thing and the only time he recalled meeting her was that one day at the Greengrass estate, but that interaction had barely lasted five seconds.

"I have no idea what her problem is," he whispered back to Hermione.

Ron, not caring for subtlety in the slightest, craned his neck to look back at her before shrugging. "Just ignore her, mate. Maybe her face just always looks like that."

Harry coughed to mask his sudden laugh while even Hermione had to hide a smile with her hand. He wasn't given much more time to think on it before Minister Shaklebolt and Headmistress McGonagall were starting the ceremony. On the bright side, he and his friends were the first to be given their awards so the attention solely on them was over quickly, but that meant they had to sit through the rest of the ceremony.

The DA were next as were members of the Order, such as Fleur and the Weasley's and even Andromeda had been able to come with Teddy to accept awards on behalf of Lupin and Tonks. He clapped for all of them and had waved at an excited Teddy as his godson and Andy walked back to their seats. Then it was time to honor the other students who had participated and McGonagall made a particular note that former members of Slytherin house who had helped Hogwarts would be recognized.

Harry was still startled when McGonagall announced: "Daphne Greengrass, whose award is being accepted on her behalf by her sister, Astoria Malfoy." It took him a second longer than everyone else to start clapping, but he was barely paying attention. His gaze was drawn to Astoria as she walked confidently up the front, her expression a combination of pride and sadness. If she felt him starting at her, she ignored him completely.

He hadn't seen Daphne Greengrass for five years and now not only had he run into her in a muggle bar, but he was finding out that she fought for Hogwarts and had blown off getting recognized for it. Oh and her little sister hated him for reasons that were currently unclear.

This was raising so many questions and he was going to get at least one answer that night at the party. After the ceremony, he had taken time to talk to Andromeda and Teddy, scooping his laughing godson up in his arms, before they had to leave. He went back to the party to look for his friends, and nearly collided with Astoria Malfoy who had been walking in the opposite direction of the party on the grounds. Her lip curled in distaste, which he chose to ignore.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and got a curt response from her. She moved to walk around him when he said, "Wait. Can I please speak to you?"

"I don't know. Can you?" Her voice was almost sickly sweet in her reply to him.

Brat.

He counted to five in his head before trying again, "Please. May I speak to you?" Alright, there might have been more than a little sarcasm on the word 'may' but he was only human.

Cold blue eyes regarded him for a moment. "I am going for a walk. You can follow me, if you really want to. If you talk to me, maybe I'll talk back. That's as close to a yes as you'll get." She turned on her heel and started walking away from him without another word. He clenched his teeth in response, so hard it almost hurt, but in seconds he was walking side by side with her.

If she thought she could put him off just by being rude, she had no idea what he was like.

"I ran into your sister last week," he started off conversationally.

Her shoulders tensed noticeably. "Did you?"

"I can't say bartender was what I expected, but then again I don't really know what I expected." He was watching Astoria out of the corner of his eye. Her face looked deliberately blank, but she was clenching her jaw. This was a sore subject for her then. "She told me she couldn't make it here today, but left out the little detail that she was up for an award."

She did not look at him, her face was kept forward the entire time, but she was clenching her jaw harder. "Potter, is there a point to this soliloquy?" She asked, voice dripping in condescension.

"You really hate me, don't you," he replied instead, frowning.

She sighed out. "How can I hate you? I don't know you."

"See you say that, but you've been either glaring at me or being rude to me this whole time. I don't know what I did to-"

"You didn't do anything. That's the problem."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She stopped suddenly and he walked a few steps ahead of her before realizing she wasn't continuing. She was glaring at him again, though this time there was a noticeably watery sheen to her eyes. "What did you think my sister had to do to break the contract?"

His stomach clenched uncomfortably. "I thought she must have found some loophole."

"I wish," she muttered, blinking back against tears. "My sister had to give up a part of herself in order to break the contract."

He felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. "What."

A few angry tears leaked from her eyes. "Her magic, Potter. It was sealed inside her, so she can't use it."

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Notes: This story basically came from reading marriage law/marriage contract stories where the consequence to breaking it was the person losing their magic and then thinking, 'Holy shit, what if one of them actually went through with that.' And this happened. One point: describing Daphne's magic as being 'sealed' instead of 'lost' or 'gone' is a purposeful choice.

I finally named my version of Mr. Greengrass and I named him after a guy I didn't like from Greek mythology; thanks brain, that wasn't too on the nose or anything. Her mother, who has not appeared, is named Yvette which will be mentioned later.

This is the meanest Astoria I've ever written, but I will say that Harry is the only character who really brings this side out of her in this story. She's in what I am going to call angry little sister mode right now. Her anger towards him is meant to be understandable if not totally fair, and I can say she will warm up as the story goes on. My favorite part was her being super petty by picking at his grammar, and Harry referring to her as a brat as a result.