Chapter Fifteen: The Burrow

A couple of days later, Daphne received a letter from Ron telling her that he and his brothers had busted Harry out from his relatives' house with a flying car, and that he'd be staying at Ron's place for the rest of the summer.

He also said that, since Harry was already there anyway, she was free to come over whenever she wanted as well, even though it was a bit early. When she read that, she realized that she'd never asked Ron anything about compensation for letting her stay there, but she figured she might take of that in person as well.

Her parents were surprised to hear about Harry's breakout — "Surely, his relatives know what he's done for the world? He might even have saved them," Dad had said indignantly — but supportive when she said she wanted to go over earlier.

"I'll probably go and buy school supplies with the others," Daphne said. "So don't worry about those."

While many pureblood families used House-Elves or other servants to purchase supplies for school, Daphne's parents had insisted that she should do it herself, because it would allow her to get exactly what she wanted, as well as seeing all available options. Even so, last year her parents had bought the basics while she had gone to Madam Malkin's and Ollivander on her own to buy her robes and wand.

"Eleven-and-a-quarter inches, cypress and unicorn hair. Strong yet flexible, it does well with owners who have a strong sense of justice," Ollivander had said. Given how her previous year had been, the wand seemed to have chosen well.

On the morning she'd leave for Ron's house, she was feeling more nervous than she wanted to admit to herself. Aside from other pureblood manors, she'd really never spent much time at a friend's place. Even though she'd spent most of her previous school year hanging out with Harry and Ron, this would be very different.

"Alright, it's about time for you to get going," Mum said with a glance on the clock. "You have fun, and have a great time at school too."

She smiled at Daphne. "I'm really happy that you've made such good friends you want to spend half your vacation there. Oh, and if you can get the Weasleys to accept some form of recompense…let us know. We'll be happy to help them out; it's the least we could for their hospitality."

Daphne nodded. "I will, Mum."

She hugged Mum — Dad had already left for the Ministry on Wizengamot business — and threw a handful of Floo powder in the hearth, turning the fire bright green.

She waved at Mum and stepped into the green flames. "The Burrow!" she said.

She closed her eyes for the ride, as the spinning always made her feel sick and she didn't want to get soot in her eyes, but at least it was better than using a Portkey. When she felt the spinning slowing down, she prepared to step outside, and soon she found herself in a small kitchen, where Harry, Ron, and a short, plump woman whom she presumed was Ron's mother were waiting for her.

"Good morning, dear," the woman said. "Welcome to the Burrow. I'm Molly, Ron's mother."

"Good morning, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks for having me over. I'm Daphne," Daphne said. She looked around the rather cramped kitchen. It was entirely unlike anything she'd ever seen before, being used to stately manors and the splendor of Hogwarts, but she had to admit it had a certain coziness to it.

"Really great you could come," Ron said. His ears were a bit pink and he grinned nervously, almost as if he were a bit embarrassed about showing his house.

"Wouldn't want to miss it," Daphne said.

She looked at Harry. "I want to hear all about your daring escape."

At that, Mrs. Weasley shot Ron an annoyed look.

"We'll tell you all about it in a bit," Harry said, with a sideways glance at Mrs. Weasley, who muttered something about reckless, irresponsible ne'er-do-wells.

"Yeah, we'll get your stuff sorted, first. You'll share Ginny's room with her."

"Is she okay with that?" Daphne asked with a surprised look.

Ron shrugged. "She doesn't have much of a choice, really. She's lucky Hermione couldn't make it or she'd have to share with both of you."

Daphne suddenly felt very guilty for accepting Ron's invitation to stay two extra weeks. She'd figured she would have a guest room, or something, but to impose on someone's private space…she certainly wouldn't have liked it if she had to share her bedroom at home.

"We've already put a mattress up there, and I think Ginny's still in her room, so you'll get to meet her right away."

They left the kitchen and climbed an uneven, winding staircase until they stopped in front of a closed door.

Ron loudly knocked. "Oi, Ginny! Daphne's here, we have to move her stuff in."

From inside came the reply, "Yeah, yeah, I know! Go ahead, then."

"Hey, that's the most you've said so far in Harry's presence."

"Harry?!"

Ron chuckled and grinned at Harry and Daphne. "She's so easy to mess with sometimes."

The door of the room opened, and Daphne saw a small, red-headed girl peering around the edge. When she spotted Harry, she immediately pulled back.

"One of these days, she'll work up the nerve to talk to you," Ron said to Harry.

He shot Daphne an apologetic look. "You'll have to drag in your stuff yourself. I'm pretty sure Ginny will kill me if I go into her room after I forced her to share it. Well, Mum did, technically, but, y'know…"

Daphne nodded. "I understand. I'll catch up with you later, then."

Ron and Harry went back downstairs, and Daphne dragged her trunk into Ginny's room. It was fairly small, made more crowded by the mattress that had been placed on the ground. Once the trunk was inside, it was even worse.

Daphne looked at Ginny, who sat on her bed, leaning against the wall, looking at Daphne with a suspicious and slightly accusatory look.

"Sorry," Daphne said. "I didn't realize me being here meant you had to give up your room…"

Ginny shrugged a bit unwillingly. "It's alright," she said. "Nothing's really mine here, anyway."

"Er, I'm Daphne. Daphne Greengrass," Daphne said, feeling more awkward by the second. Ginny didn't seem to like her much, but to be fair to her, Daphne wouldn't be too friendly to anyone claiming her room for a month, either.

"Are you a classmate of Ron and H-Harry?" she asked. Daphne saw a bit of a blush appear on her face when she mentioned Harry.

"I'm in their year, but not their class. I'm in Slytherin," Daphne said.

"Slytherin?!" Ginny pushed herself further back against the wall. "Does Ron know that?"

Daphne chuckled. "He didn't like it at first, either, but he got used to it. Most Gryffindors did; I spent a large part of the year sitting at their table."

In spite of herself, Ginny seemed a bit interested in that. "Why?" she asked.

"Well…the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor, but…I thought my parents would be disappointed if I didn't get sorted into Slytherin, so I went there instead. But I was curious about the people who could have been my classmates, and I became friends with Harry and Hermione, and once Ron had accepted I wasn't like a lot of other Slytherins, I became friends with him, too."

Ginny nodded slowly, but said nothing.

"So, er, what did you mean by 'nothing's really mine' just now?" Daphne asked.

Ginny scoffed. "I have six brothers and we have no money. I'm lucky I'm a girl so at least my clothes are new."

Daphne fidgeted uncomfortably. While her family wasn't quite as wealthy as the Malfoys, they still had a lot of money.

"What about you?" Ginny asked. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Daphne shook her head. "No. It's just me and my Mum and Dad. Before last year, I didn't really have any friends, either."

"How come?"

"Pureblood families are…weird. Everyone pretends to like each other, yet no one actually does. It kind of…stays like that, at Hogwarts, though I'm going to try and change that a bit next year. Are you going to Hogwarts too?"

"This will be my first year," Ginny confirmed. "I can't wait to go. My brothers always have the craziest stories and I want to know if they're true."

For the first time since Daphne had arrived, Ginny smiled. "I want to have crazy adventures as well."

Daphne grimaced. "For your sake, I hope it won't be as crazy as ours last year. Getting your skull cracked by a giant chess piece isn't the nicest thing in the world," she said.

"That happened to you?" Ginny asked with an incredulous look.

Daphne nodded. "Didn't Ron tell you? Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I went after an evil teacher. Harry took him down in the end, and I ended up with a cracked skull. Nothing Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, couldn't heal, though."

"He did tell me; I just thought he was exaggerating like he usually does. He's the youngest after me, so he gets it almost as bad as I do. He doesn't even have his own wand. He's using Charlie's old one. Don't tell my Mum I said this, but being poor sucks."

Again, Daphne felt torn. She could so easily ask her parents to help out, at least a little bit, and they would. And yet, according to Dad they'd never go for it. Still, there had to be something she could do, and she was determined to think of something.

A bit later, Daphne ran into Fred and George in the garden.

"Daphne!"

"Our fellow troublemaker…"

"…and honorary Gryffindor…"

"…we beseech you…"

"…to talk to our dear mother…"

"…about the virtues of rule-breaking…"

"…because it seemed to work really well on Hermione."

Daphne looked from one to the other, and had no idea who had just said what.

"Er, I don't think it works that well on adults," she said. "They always think they know better."

Fred and George laughed, but Daphne was only partially kidding. Especially in pureblood families, adults did often simply pretend to know things, just so they wouldn't betray any weaknesses. Her parents had told her that the resulting misunderstandings had turned deadly on more than one occasion.

Harry and Ron were somewhere else in the garden, apparently under orders to look for straggling gnomes who had managed to escape the de-gnoming of a few days earlier.

"Hey! Settled in with Ginny?" Ron asked when he spotted her.

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, I think she accepts me. Need any help with…this?"

"You're welcome to, if you want to, but there aren't many gnomes left. Besides, Mum doesn't make guests work, that's only for her own children. She'd probably think I put you up to it," Ron said.

"It's okay, I'd like to try it. It probably won't surprise you that we don't have gnomes in our garden."

"Do you want a few?" Fred (or George) said from behind her.

"Because we'd be more than willing to lend you some," George (or Fred) added.

Daphne giggled. "No, I'm good. Though if you'd like to send some to Malfoy manor, I certainly won't stop you."

"And this is why you're the only Slytherin we like," Ron said fondly. Even though it was said jokingly, it still made Daphne a bit uncomfortable. The sooner she got busy working out her plans, the better.

After helping Harry and Ron de-gnome the garden, she decided to introduce them to her plan to improve Slytherin's reputation. She showed them her list of names and a number of ideas she'd already come up with.

"Oh, good, Hermione's here after all," Ron said with a shake of his head after seeing the number of notes she had.

"Most of this is just the prejudices that exist against Slytherin," Daphne said. "Throughout the years, it's steadily gotten worse until it reached its lowest point after Vol–"

"You-Know-Who, yes."

"–demort came to power. It really hasn't recovered since, and that needs to change. I mean, I'm aware that we'll never be the House of goody-two-shoes, but Hufflepuff has that covered. There will always be cunning and backstabbing and I honestly don't even mind that all that much. What I want to get rid of is the stupidity, mainly. Punching someone in the face and laughing about it isn't even evil, it's just dumb and serves no purpose at all."

"So…you want Slytherin to be properly evil?" Harry asked.

Daphne shook her head in frustration. "No! I want people to stop seeing us as 'the evil House' at all! Merlin's beard, it's not like no one from the other Houses ever went evil! Ugh!"

Ron seemed to find her outburst funny, but Harry looked a bit guilty.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

He looked sincere, and Daphne certainly believed he meant it.

"It's okay. I didn't mean to shout either, it's just…"

She sighed. "This is the sort of reaction I always get from anyone who isn't also in Slytherin. Ginny pretty much tried to back up through her wall when I told her what House I was in. You could have been in Slytherin, but begged the Sorting Hat not to because you'd heard bad stories — and met Malfoy, granted — and you'd been raised by Muggles. You didn't even know about the Houses before then, and you still hated Slytherin before even coming to school. And even after hanging out with me for a year, being friends for a year, facing Voldemort himself together, even if I didn't make it that far…you still think Slytherin is 'the evil House'. So, yeah, that…that kinda hurts."

At the end of her unplanned speech, even Ron looked a bit guilty.

"Okay, yeah," he said. "I guess I sort of see your point, if you sum it all up like that."

Harry nodded. "Me too. If I can help you somehow, just…let me know and I'll do it," he said. "You've helped us out so many times last year, I'd love to do something back for you."

Daphne smiled. "Thanks."

She grinned mischievously. "I was thinking you could maybe befriend Draco Malfoy."

"I'd sooner let Voldemort kill me."

"Could you two please stop saying that name?!"

It was an odd experience to sit at such a small dinner table with so many people. Including herself, there were nine people seated at a table that would be on the small side for six. Even so, no one complained and the atmosphere was happy. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to love having Harry and Daphne as guests and — to Daphne's mild embarrassment — seemed to happily forgo some of their own food so that their guests would have enough.

The Weasleys' kindness was almost painful. They were such a far cry from the Noble Houses it was hard to even realize that they, too, were purebloods. Harry was the only half-blood in the house.

And yet, no one here seemed to feel like they were above anyone else, although Percy certainly tried to make himself appear more dignified than his brothers did. Sadly for him, looking dignified was very difficult when tightly squeezed between people whose table manners were questionable at the best of times, and who were laying it on extra thick just to mess with him. Daphne struggled not to laugh, even though part of her felt bad for how Fred and George were treating their brother. Being uptight wasn't a reason for being bullied, and while Fred and George clearly weren't intending any harm, Percy really didn't look as if he enjoyed it much.

Ginny, meanwhile, seemed to have lost all motor skills, and had knocked over bowls, glasses, cups, and everything else in her vicinity. She kept stealing glances at Harry, and looking away when she thought he noticed. Judging by Harry's carefully controlled look, he was doing his best not to look at her, lest she knock something else off the table.

As usual, he seemed a bit embarrassed by being viewed as hero. Daphne wasn't the only one troubled by her image, it would seem, though Harry at least got positive attention…while he was here.

She'd heard the story about the breakout from his Muggle relatives and had been shocked to hear that bars had apparently been installed on the windows of his room to keep him from escaping. She considered asking Finny to track down the House-Elf who'd been the cause of Harry's imprisonment, but she had no idea where to even begin.

Obviously, Dobby belonged to a pureblood family, likely a Noble House, but she couldn't really send Finny to any of the other manors, because that would be very rude, and just asking for trouble if she got found out. She didn't want to do that to Finny, so she'd have to find another way to find out who Dobby belonged to.

But before she would do that, there was something else she wanted to do. Her conversation with Ginny that afternoon had given her an idea, and now all that was left was to pitch it properly.

"Er, I'd, er, like to say something," she said.

She knew that in Noble Houses, someone who wanted to make an announcement would tap on a glass with some silverware, but that would come across as ridiculously formal here. Judging by the amused looks Fred, George, and Ron gave her, even this had been a touch too formal. Well, whatever, she had everyone's attention.

She looked at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley again and said, "Thank you again for letting me stay here for such a long time. I really appreciate it, and my father insisted to pay for my stay here to show his gratitude, but he also said that you really don't like being thought of as a charity case…so I thought of something…a bit different."

She looked at Ginny. "Without meaning to, I've basically hijacked your room for a month. Again, I'm sorry for that…so to make it up to you, at least let me pay for your school supplies. That way, you can just see it as an apology, not charity."

"Oh, dear, that's really sweet of you, but you don't have to–"

"I know, Mrs. Weasley, but I really want to. It'd make me feel better, at least."

She grinned at Ginny. "And I don't think Ginny would mind, either."

Ginny looked at her parents with such a hopeful expression that Mrs. Weasley had no choice but to relent.

"Oh, alright, then, but just for Ginny. It just wouldn't feel right to make our guest pay when we invited you in the first place," she said.

"Daphne! Do you want my room? Harry and I'll sleep in the chicken pen. Could you buy books for me too?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Don't listen to him. We'll vacate our room entirely willingly for you, for the low, low price of school supplies," George (or Fred) said.

"Boys! Behave, for goodness' sake," Mrs. Weasley said.

"But Mum, she's offering herself! We're not making her do anything, we just…"

"That's enough, boys," Mr. Weasley said.

He turned to Daphne. "Thank you very much for the generous offer. It's true that we don't like to be thought of as a charity case, but I'll also be honest and say that it would be a very welcome break. If your father would be willing to do this for us, then we humbly accept."

Daphne nodded. "He'll be happy to help. Once the letters from Hogwarts arrive, I'll send him an owl," she said.

Later that night, Daphne had installed herself on her mattress. Even though it was old, it was surprisingly comfortable.

"Hey, about what you said at dinner," Ginny said. "Why did you suggest that, specifically? Why help me and not Harry or Ron? They're your friends, right?"

"It's your room I'm stealing here, like I said. I feel bad about it, so I wanted to make it up to you," Daphne said.

"You know I don't mind that much, right? I just wasn't in a very good mood this morning," Ginny said.

"Even so, it just felt right." She fell silent for a moment. "Harry's got money. I know he does, because the Potters were a wealthy pureblood family and he's the last heir of that family. He, like me, really wants to help you out, but he also knows your parents won't allow it. I had a good excuse, so I took it, but Harry doesn't think like that. He's more straightforward than that. If he sees an injustice, he'll stand up for it, but he won't scheme unless there's no other choice. That's why he's in Gryffindor, I guess."

Ginny was silent for a moment, and then said, "Then I suppose I'm glad you're a Slytherin. Thanks, Daphne."

"You're welcome."

More than Ginny's gratitude, it was the positive remark about Slytherin that made Daphne fall asleep with a smile.

Okay, small remark about Ginny's room: the wiki says it's on the first floor, but Chamber of Secrets has it on the third, which the wiki's says is Bill's room. So either Ginny switched rooms later, or it was simply retconned at some point. I deliberately didn't mention the floor she's on, because I just don't know. For reference, though, I'll use the description from Deathly Hallows and assume that's always been her room.