A Summer Exchange

Harry and Daphne

Chapter Nine.

Looking across the desk and watching William as he shuffled papers around, Harry tried to calm his erratic heart as he went over his last couple of days at Greengrass Gardens and tried to remember anything he might have said or done that would warrant a one on one meeting with his host. "There's no reason to look so worried Harry, you're not in any trouble," William reassured him with a warm smile.

Letting out a small chuckle of embarrassment, "Sorry, it rather feels like I'm in the teachers office for sneaking out after curfew," Harry admitted with a smile making William chuckle lightly.

"Well rest assured, you can wonder around the manor any time, day or night. Our home is your home after all," William reassured with a smile. "I merely wanted to ask you a couple of questions that I hope you don't find too intrusive," he told the younger wizard, smiling gently when Harry nodded. "What do you know about your family? The Potter's I mean, not the relatives you live with."

Whatever Harry was expecting to be asked, that wasn't it. He looked over at William and seeing that he was patiently waiting for an answer to his question, Harry thought hard about what he knew of the Potter's, frowning when he couldn't think of anything other than his parent's names and the fact they both had died in Godric's Hollow. After he told William these two things he looked down at his twisting hands in shame. "I've never even really thought much about them. I mean, I saw what they looked like in my first year because of the Mirror of Erised, but the headmaster warned me about dwelling on it too much, but beyond they've never really crossed my mind," he admitted, his voice quiet.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of Harry. Given the circumstances of your upbringing it's perfectly understandable," William reassured the younger boy. "Do you think it's something you'd be interested in learning? Discovering who and where you're from?"

Harry thought about it. He thought about the Weasley's, the Malfoy's, the Greengrass'. They could trace their family back generations, give their future children the names of their ancestors and loved family members. They could tell stories passed down through the generations. He wanted stories. He wanted to be able to name his future children after ancestor's who had done good in the world.

He wanted to know his family.

"I hope you don't mind, but I've taken the liberty of finding out a couple of things as I had hoped you would be interested in discovering your history. I've only managed a brief search, but I can tell you that your grandparents are Fleamont and Euphemia Potter. And your great-grandfather was Henry Potter and he sat on the Wizengamot, the last of family to do so," William told Harry as he handed over a couple of sheets of paper with the information on he'd managed to find. "Our library is quite extensive so you should be able to find out more relatively easily. Hopefully by the end you'll have better knowledge of your family."

Grabbing the paper, Harry thanked William before making his way out the office. He was just about to open the door when it suddenly occurred to him that this was a rather random conversation to be having. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what made you ask me this? No one has ever asked me what I knew about the Potter's or even if I wanted to know anything about them," he told the older man with a slight frown.

"It was actually Daphne's suggestion. She merely asked me to give you a good starting point for your search," William revealed.

Feeling more confused than when he entered, Harry merely nodded, leaving the office and making his way to the library to begin his search for the family he'd never known.

"Hello Harry," Astoria greeted the young wizard when she walked into the library. "Mind if I join you?" she asked motioning to the seat opposite him.

"Of course, not it would be nice to have the company," Harry told her with a smile, moving his books and sheets to make space for the youngest Greengrass.

After about five minutes of companionable silence Astoria looked up to see Harry glaring down at the parchment in front of him. "Are you okay there Harry? That parchment seems to be making to a little angry," she asked politely, hoping to ease some of the tension he was clearly feeling with some humour.

"Oh, I'm just trying to research the Potter's history. Your father suggested that I look into it," Harry remarked. "I've only really got three names so far, I don't really know where to start looking to be honest." He admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"Well that names do you have, maybe I could help? I've always enjoyed looking into family histories," Astoria offered with a smile, pushing her book to one side to lean over and look at Harry's parchments.

"I know that my grandparents were called Fleamont and Euphemia and that my great-grandfather was Henry Potter and that he sat on the Wizengamot. That's what your father has told me and I've found out that Henry sat on the Wizengamot from 1913 to 1921. I've also found out that another ancestor called Ralston Potter had a seat between 1612 and 1652," Harry revealed with a shrug, not thinking much about what he'd found out so far.

"Okay, well daddy and Daphne can find out more about their positions on the Wizengamot when they go into session next week. You could even ask them if you can go along too, if you ever want to take up a seat for the family again it'll give you a good idea of what they do," Astoria said. "Start with your grandparents, if you know the year they were born then you can look at Hogwarts year books. From there you can get the year they graduate and most yearbooks will give some indication of what a person does after they leave school. That'll give you the jobs they did. Then look for marriage announcements which will give you both sets of grandparents' names," Astoria told him, before standing and moving to one of the far side bookcases leaving a slightly confused but somewhat impressed Harry watching after her.

"How do you know to look for this stuff?" he asked her when she re-joined him at the table carrying a book that on the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

"I enjoyed learning about my family history during tutoring when I was little and it kind of carried over into history overall. Professor Binns is still boring though," Astoria told him with a smile handing over the book. "Start with the Sacred Twenty-Eight. I can't remember if the Potter's are actually part of the Twenty-Eight but even if you're not, then it will tell what links you have to each of the other families. You can branch out from there," Astoria told him with a smile sitting opposite him.

"Thank you, Astoria," Harry said with a smile pulling the book closer and opening it up, eager to find out all he could about his family from within.

It took Harry two days to of non-stop reading before he finally worked his way through every connection the Sacred Twenty-Eight had to his family. He couldn't trace his family tree back to Merlin like some other pureblood families claimed could, but he knew enough. James and Lily; Fleamont and Euphemia; Henry and Trisha; Dorea and Charlus; Hardwin and Iolanthe. For the first time in his life, he felt like he knew his family. The next question he faced was: Now what?

"What do you want to do, now that you've got this information Harry?" William asked one he'd finished reading through the file Harry had created, looking thoroughly impressed with what the young boy had discovered.

"Well, I've sent a letter to Gringotts requesting a meeting to go over the Potter family vaults but I'm not seeing them until I return home. Astoria mentioned that Daphne sometimes accompanies you to Wizengamot meetings. If it's possible, I'd like to join you as well for the next meeting. It'll give me a good idea of what I would be doing once I apply to join upon graduating Hogwarts," Harry told him with a small, polite smile. After a brief moment of contemplation, William nodded ever so slightly, indicating his agreement. "Thank you, sir."

When Harry stepped into the chamber he was surprised by how different it was to the courtroom he'd been in during his misuse of magic hearing. The walls were still the imposing black stone, but were broken up by M.o.M banners hanging down at strategic intervals, in colours that reminded Harry of Auror's robes. Coupled with the vast chandelier hanging high above them, the room didn't have the same intimidating feel to it that Harry imagined it to.

"What do you think?" Daphne asked in a whisper as the two teens were lead over to the Greengrass box by William.

"It's a lot nicer than the courtrooms," Harry said with an amused smile, chuckling slightly at the wide-eyed look of shock his response got from Daphne. "I'll tell you later," he said as they all took their seats, William sitting slightly in front of the Harry and Daphne.

"This session of the Wizengamot is called to order," a speaker at the far end of the room shouted, the rest of the rooms occupants falling into silence as the meeting began. For the next hour and half, members discussed everything from the Ministry's ties to the Muggle government, to the lack of donations received at St. Mungo's and whether the paper airplane method of delivery interdepartmental memos was efficient enough. By the end of the day, Harry was surprised to find himself mentally exhausted. Yet he felt a sort of calmness later that night that he hadn't experienced since the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army. Like what he was doing mattered, even though he knew he couldn't contribute anything substantial just yet. He looked forward to the day when what his actions and words could actually make a difference.

My apologies for the gap between this chapter and the last. I work in retail and as you know life can get pretty hectic around the end of the year. But it's here now and I hope you enjoy.

All the names/couples mentioned are from Pottermore, with the exception of 'Trisha' which is my mother's name.

A/N: Iolanthe is the granddaughter of Ignotus, thus creating the link between the Potter's and the Peverell family.