His hand smoothed down the front of his robe, looking into the mirror once more. His eyes were caught by the unruly fringes of his hair and he raised his fingers, trying to smooth them out. With little success. Still, it stuck out in ridiculous patterns and wouldn't behave the way he wanted it to be. He sighed, shaking his head. Dawn took that to fly from his shoulder
"Harry?" Narcissa's voice from the door made him turn his head. The woman had quietly opened the door and was holding out her arm for Dawn to land on. Harry knew from their bond that she was quite bored with him at the moment, getting ready for quite some time now. So she chirped animatedly at Narcissa, fluttering her wings and tilting her head, hoping for some excitement. The tall blond woman indulged her and brushed her tummy feathers with her index finger.
"Hello, there young lady." She whispered and Dawn cooed, recognising the name Narcissa had for her. The molten gold of her eyes closed and she enjoyed the petting. Narcissa smiled for a moment, before looking up at Harry, who had turned back to the mirror and tucked on his hair. The tall female walked up to him and looked over Harry's shoulder. For a moment, a sharp pain stabbed in her heart, when she laid her hand on his shoulder. It had been so often, when she would step up behind another boy of the same age, standing in front of a mirror. Still, she suppressed that thought as fast as it came up, not wanting to think about it. Instead, she looked through the mirror into the emerald green eyes of the boy and took in his appearance.
Harry wore very smart robes, made from midnight blue and silver silk, showing the Peverell sigil stitched on his upper arm. The symbol wasn't bigger than the palm of his hand, but the motive of the leaves repeated itself on the edges of the dressing robes. The black-haired boy tucked again on his hair. "It just won't behave!" He pointed out with annoyance. "Daphne will kill me if I show up like that."
The blond woman smiled and settled Dawn on Harry's shoulder. The phoenix rubbed her head against the side of Harry
's and thrilled quietly. On reflex, Harry reached up scratching her tummy. She shortly nipped his finger as Narcissa pulled her wand.
Waving it around the boy's head, she muttered under her breath and instantly his hair started to settle down, getting a smooth and orderly loo. She nodded once at Harry with a smile. "There you go."
"Thanks, Narcissa. As I said, Daphne would have killed me." And he meant it. The oldest Greengrass daughter would have not been accepting to the fact, that he was looking dishevelled. Now it was much better. It was still somewhat unruly but instead of looking like Dawn had made a nest on his head, it looked kind of cool, even better than his hair had been when Katie did it before his date with Cho. His smile broadened.
Narcissa in return laughed lightly, nodding. "I can imagine that. Heiress Greengrass seems to be a force to be reconded with."
That got Harry also to chuckle and he stepped back from the mirror, turning around. His room was brightly lid since the sun was setting on the outside. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Kreacher moving about, packing his trunk. He would return to Hogwarts today since it was the day of the new year's ball. While he was worried about it, since it was the first time he really returned to the public since his attempt, Harry was also excited. Had you asked him a year ago if he wanted to attend a ball, he would have said no, the idea of dancing would have been horrifying. But now after having lessons from Narcissa during the summer and a few more over the last couple of days, most of that worry had disappeared. It had actually turned into fun. It was so much easier when you knew what you were doing.
Still, he was nervous. He had corresponded with his friends by letter and seen them at the party, but there were a lot of people he hadn't seen. Angelina, Katie and Alice. Fred and George. Ron...Ginny.
He had no idea what he should say to her. Could he really say anything that mattered? All he could think of was sorry, that he was sorry to ever give her hopes that he would feel about her a certain way. That he took advantage of her feelings. That he should have kept himself in control. But he knew it would matter little. Harry knew he had hurt her, even left her alone when the whole fallout of that damn article was crashing down on her. Maybe that was one of the only things that he thought was good about his attempt to end his life. Harry disliked the public attention greatly but at least most people had probably totally forgotten gossiping about Ginny.
And then there was Ron. They had made first tentative steps towards an understanding and then this happened. She was his sister, Harry couldn't expect him to take his side. Still, it made his heart plummet a little when he thought that this would probably prevent them from ever becoming best mates ever again.
He felt the hand on his shoulder squeezing slightly to give him comfort. Narcissa smiled at him. "It will be all fine, Harry."
They had talked over the last few days about his return and what worried him. Harry put up a strong front and smile. "Let's hope so. I'm ready to go."
The blond woman nodded and stepped back. "Well let's go then. Siri will leave soon too."
Sirius wouldn't escort him back to Hogwarts. Harry's godfather had explained grudgingly that he was expected on a New Years party with a few of the Wizengamot members and would have to go there.
Quickly the two of them made their way down the stairs, meeting up with said Lord. Sirius wore fine and dashing robes which surprisingly showed red and gold colours instead of the expected Emerald and Onyx. Harry quirked an eyebrow in surprise.
"Ah yeah, I thought I should show a little house loyalty today. I can't see emerald and onyx any more. Every day in and out you know Pup?" The black-haired man said as he pulled Harry into a sideways hug. Harry chuckled a little bit and hugged his godfather back. After a moment the older man stepped back and put his hand on the same shoulder Narcissa just had placed hers on.
"How are you feeling Prongslet?" He asked with a warm voice rubbing his shoulder a little.
Harry thought for a moment. "Fine, I guess. I'm still nervous about going back. I...I hope no one laughs at me." He confessed a little ashamed. He knew he should be above that but he couldn't.
Sirius smiled pulling him into a hug again. "I say the same thing your grandfather said to me when I stood on the platform just before telling my parents they could stuff it. He said, I'm not telling you everything will be fine, that nothing bad will happen. But when you fall, you stand up and I will be there, giving you a hand."
Harry smiled shortly. He knew near to nothing about his grandparents. Yeah, he knew their names but really no one actually talked about them. Sirius only scarcely mentioned them, mostly they talked about Harry's parents, especially his father. The boy knew that parents were a difficult subject for Sirius, especially in this house. So he never really pushed on that and was happy that Lily and James even though they were parents to Harry, didn't have this association to them for Sirius.
Squeezing Sirius side for a moment he turned his head. "Thanks, Padfoot. And you are ready to dive into the political shark tank again?"
The tall Lord of Black groaned a little, shoving Harry with his hip a little. "Thanks, Prongslet to remind me. I really envy you tonight."
The Boy laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Oh yeah? At least you don't have to open a dance."
Sirius stepped back chuckling. "So what? At least you don't have to hang out with old people, who want to get you on their side in the argument what thickness a cauldron bottom should or shouldn't have."
"And you don't have to worry that if you step on your dance partners toes she will hex your bits off in the most painful way." The teenager retorted.
Sirius laughed. "Have you met Amelia? Like she wouldn't do that!"
Chuckling himself, Harry nodded. "Yeah, I could totally see her do that. So watch your feet."
Winking, Sirius smirked. "Will do, will do." Then his face sobered. "So you are ready?"
After a short moment, the boy nodded.
"Good. Now, I know you know all this but let me say it anyway, just in case. Hogwarts is safe. I know Dumbledore is gone, at least for the moment and that snake-face is back but really, there is a reason he never attacked Hogwarts, and that wasn't the old man alone. Hogwarts wards are the strongest there are. Also, Minnie made sure the wards got updated. No portkey will pull you out there or in there again. No more polyjuice is possible either. She even mentioned someone imperiused couldn't get in either. You are as safe as you can be there. And remember-"
"Yeah I know don't antagonise Umbridge."
Sirius nodded slowly. "I know she is unpleasant, but she isn't teaching any class and she should only be there for a few weeks until we find someone more suitable. If everything goes at it should be you will not come into direct contact with her what so ever. Just don't give her any reason to pull something, because...well you have seen she is the petty and vindictive type."
The boy nodded and they both hugged again, closely. Harry took comfort in the familiar smell of Sirius robes and the warmth of the embrace. This was home and safety to him. This smell and the feeling of Sirius strong arms around him made him feel secure like nothing else did. He wanted nothing more than just stay home, be with his godfather and ignore all the world out there. But he couldn't really. Problems didn't go away when you ignored them and Harry wasn't one to take something laying down. He took challenges head-on, mostly without thinking about it.
So with reluctance, he pulled himself away and he stepped back towards the floo. "Be good Padfoot. And Happy new year."
The older man smiled a soft smile and nodded. "You too Harry, you too."
Stepping out of the floo with a bit of a stumble, Harry quickly readied his robes. He came out in a great hall, dark grey marble as a floor, with an inlay in gold, showing a crest. The wainscoting on the walls was white, with warm green walls above. A large stallion was painted onto the wall between two staircases. There was a man waiting for him. Lord Greengrass was standing there, hands behind his back, nodding at him.
"Greetings Lord Peverell." The old man said, his back straight.
The boy stepped up, stretching out his hand. "A good day to you sir. Are you well?"
The old man nodded when behind Harry the floo flared up a second time and Narcissa stepped out. The whole ritual of kissing her knuckles and questions about her well being followed up on that.
Turning back to Harry, Lord Greengrass stepped a little closer. "Lord Peverell, I don't think I have to say this, yet. No funny business with either of my daughters or you will be the boy-who-live-for-the-longest-time. Are we clear?" It was said in a calm and collected manner, yet it was spoken with such a deadly tone, Harry swallowed hard and nodded. Then Dawn left his shoulder to fly up the stairs making him turn his eyes in that direction.
Astoria came down the stairs first. She wore a fine and well-made dress in silver with blue highlights. The same blue and silver that were making up Harry's own robes. It was modest and carefully crafted, but the dress was also a statement. This was a young girl and it showed. Her hair was braided in a complex manner.
But it was the girl that came after her that sucked the breath out of Harry's lungs. Daphne Greengrass wore a dress in the same silver and blue as her sisters. But where her sister's dress was one for a young girl, Daphnes was made for a young woman. It was long hugging her figure like a glove. A long slid on the side almost went up to her hip. Long gloves covered her pale arms and a choker made from silver strands and sapphires covered her entire neck, like the collar of a turtleneck. In her pale blond hair, more sapphires could be seen as those were braided as well. Her feet were in thin high heels made from silvered leather as well. Dawn landed on her shoulder and surprisingly didn't ruin her hair by rubbing her head against Daphnes but instead chirped softly. Harry's familiar complimented Daphnes get up remarkably, like the girl was born to carry a phoenix on her shoulder.
It took Harry quite an amount of self-control not to stand there with a slack jaw. Shacking himself inwardly, he walked over to the stairs, bowing in front of the two sisters.
"Miss Greengrass, you look lovely. I am sure I will be envied." He spoke to Astoria first. The girl giggled and rolled her eyes, before thanking him and stepping to the side.
Reaching out Harry helped Daphne down the last few steps of the stairs. She didn't need it but still gave him a short smile as he offered his hand. "Heiress Greengrass, I...I would make you a compliment about your looks but I can't come up with one that does you justice."
The smile turned a little wider and she nodded slowly. "Thank you, Lord Peverell." Her hand was cold in Harry's own and Harry stepped back, feeling a little too close to the girl. Lord Greengrass took that opportunity to step up to his daughters, turning first to Daphne.
"Stay safe, my dear. And try to have at least a little fun." His stern face cracked with a little smile.
Daphne returned a thin smile nodding. "Of course father. Happy New Year." She then leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"And you Astoria. I don't want to get a new letter from Professor Snape. So listen to your sister." His voice was stern but then softened. "Come here, princess." And he pulled his younger daughter into a hug. They whispered something before stepping back, but it was to quiet for Harry to understand. Still, Astoria smiled as she stepped back.
At last, the old Lord turned to Harry. "I hand my daughters to you, Lord Peverell. Keep them safe." The last words were spoken a little harsh so Harry straightened.
"Of course sir."
"Very well. I wish you all a wonderful term." Lord Greengrass said as the floo flared up again.
Harry sighed when they stepped out of the hearth in Professor McGonagall's office. It looked the same as ever, with the pictures of Gryffindor graduates on the wall. The old head of his house nodded once, standing near the door. She wore a red and golden robe, the Gryffindor Lion proudly presented on her chest. Harry blinked surprised, seeing those colours a second time this evening.
"Misses Greengrass, Lord Peverell, welcome back to Hogwarts." Her voice was stern but warm. Narcissa walked over to the deputy headmistress.
"Good evening Professor. I hope you are well." She said with a firm voice.
The older woman nodded in return. "Yes, thank you, Miss Black."
Returning the nod, Narcissa stepped over to Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder. For a short moment, she smiled at him "Stay safe Harry. Remember to keep your mirror with you."
The boy nodded, smiling. "Will do. Have a good New Year Narcissa."
The woman smiled and rubbed over his shoulder. "You too Harry, you too." After tickling Dawn one last time, she returned to the floo, going home.
Professor McGonagall nodded. "All right. The New Years ball will start soon, let us make haste down to the Great Hall." In swift steps, the Professor moved out of her office and the three students followed behind her. It was quiet in the halls. Most students were either in their common rooms or already down at the Great Hall. Only twice did they meet others, both times boys on their way to a common room of a different house. Harry felt a little uncomfortable because both times the boys stared at their group and he was pretty sure it was because of him. Or maaaaaybe because of Daphne but for more flattering reasons. He ducked his head a little and wanted to shink back when a cool and slim arm snaked around his elbow. Harry blinked looking over into Daphne's dark green eyes.
"Give them nothing." She whispered and then pulled him slightly up so his back was straight and raised her second hand to put one finger under his chin lifting it. "Strength and Confidence." She murmured again. Harry blinked and then slowly turned his gaze up front again. When they met someone the next time he wanted to slump back again, but the arm tugged slightly on his.
Straightening again, he thought to himself 'Strength and Confidence.'. It became his mantra down the main staircase, and when they finally cut the corner into the entrance hall. The hall was packed with students. Everywhere people were standing in dress robes, dressed and more colours than Harry had ever seen in Hogwarts. It was strange seeing people in other clothes than the standard Black robes. In the corner were the foreign students. While the german delegation seemed to have taken up muggle-style suits for the males and dresses, the Japanese wore all kimonos in all colours of the rainbow, with decorations in fantastic patterns. Quite a few heads turned when they came down the stairs and once again, Harry murmured to himself 'Strength and Confidence.'
"Harry!" Someone called out and as he turned his head, he saw Hermione and Neville move through the crowd towards them. She wore a pretty pale blue dress and for the first time since Harry had known her, her hair wasn't bushy but instead fell over her shoulders in a smooth wave. Neville also looked quite smart, in fine black dress robes only having the Longbottom sigil stitched onto his collar. Hermione's arm was on his elbow in quite a similar fashion to the way Daphne had her arm around Harry's own. A real smile crept onto his face.
"Mione, Neville, so good to see you both."
Neville returned the smile before looking over at Daphne and Astoria. "You too Harry. Good evening Misses Greengrass you look both very lovely."
Daphne took it upon herself to answer, while her sister only smiled. "Thank you Heir Longbottom. You cleaned up quite nice yourself as well as you Miss Granger."
Neville's ears got a little red and he looked over at Hermione with a goofy smile. The girl blushed a little too as she answered. "Thank you very much. But I can't hold a candle to you Daphne. That dress is beautiful and it complements Harry's robes so well." Harry felt Daphne grip his arm a little harder as she was spoken to by first name, but the girl didn't snip at it.
Daphne gave a very thin smile. "Of course it does. I coordinated it with Miss Black."
Hermione blinked, before shaking her head. "Damn, Neville we could have thought about that too." She said with a little smirk. Daphne inclined her head slightly. Harry looked around, seeing who went with whom. Fred and George seemed to be going Katie Bell and Alica Spinnet, both girls wearing pale grey dresses. Angelina had her arm around Oliver Wood and not for the first time, Harry noticed the looks their Quidditch Captain gave his unofficial second in command. Judging by the way she was smiling at him, he thought this evening would hold some more.
Somewhere on the other side of the Hall, Harry could see Cho Chang and her damn Japanese guy, making googly eyes at each other. Yes, they had split but seeing that he had been right about her and him still made him somewhat angry so he looked away quickly. Wearing his own House Colours, Draco Malfoy was standing near the entrance to the dungeon. He was looking even more pale than usual and stared into the distance, while Pansy Parkinson, obviously his date, tried her best to get his attention without luck.
Ron was there standing in the corner together with Dean and Shamus. Next to them stood Lavender Brown and Pavati Patil. It was hard to make out who was going with whom, but it still didn't add up. But then he saw red hair as Ginny moved to them, putting her arm around Dean Thomas. Quickly Harry turned his head back to the people he was standing with, not wanting to make any eye contact with her.
Astoria joined in on the conversation and they all talked quietly with each other for a few minutes, until Professor McGonagall's voice echoed through the room.
"The Ballroom is opened. Please find your seat. The Champions please follow me to the side room." The crowd slowly started moving towards the entrance of the Great Hall, as Harry split from Neville and Hermione.
"See you guys later." He said over his shoulder as he leads Astoria and Daphne towards the side entrance where his head of house was waiting. He was quickly ushered inside. The room was simple nothing special and obviously just their waiting room until everybody was inside. Two of the other champions were already there. Cassius stood in the corner with his two dates, who, Harry had to hand it to them were very pretty, even though they send him nasty glares and Harry felt like their dresses were a little too short for his own comfort. Cassius, on the other hand, didn't even notice Harry's arrival as he was just starring with hate at the other two occupancies of the room. Ulrich wore a deep red suit with a black dressing shirt and a red tie. His face looked a little less tired than usual and his beard was neatly trimmed. The long sleeve was cut in a way that it looked like he didn't really miss one arm. Contrasting quite nicely with his red a tier was Svenjas deep green dress. It was cut long, flowing to her angles without straps over her shoulder. Even though it was cut out quite a bit on the chest region, it didn't seem slutty. It might be the relaxed confidence with which the girl was wearing it. Her long blond hair fell openly over her back and she had this winning smile on her face, that just glowed.
Guiding his two dates quickly over, he greeted the two of them.
"Hey Ulrich, Svenja, good to see you." He said quietly. He knew that Cassius' eyes were now glaring into the back of his head too. The older boy stretched out his remaining hand and shook Harry's.
"Good to see you are back." The gruff teenager said, nodding once.
Harry returned the nod, before stepping back a little and turning to his side. "May I introduce my dates? Daphne and Astoria Greengrass." Both girls curtsied when their name was spoken and Ulrich performed a surprisingly elegant bow.
"Pleasure to meet you. This is my girlfriend Svenja." The tall blond smiles and in just seconds started a fast conversation with both Greengrass girls, that Harry couldn't really follow. He turned to Ulrich again, who just shrugged.
"Ah, there is our last champion." McGonagall's voice made Harry turn. Akiko had stepped through the door, wearing a white Kimono with a red skirt, that fell down to her ankles. Her hair was tied up and over the side of her upper body was a horse stitched, a Kirin, which mane seemed to be actually on fire. And behind her, stepping into the room was her date.
"Susan?" Harry blinked in surprise, seeing his friend. The feisty Hufflepuff had a smirk on her face when she saw Harry slacked jaw, giving him a wink. She wore a pale blue dress that was the same colour as her short hair, and her arm was lazily hanging around Akikos hip. So this was the Susans mysterious girlfriend. He had to say he was surprised. Susan was so wild and free living. Akiko on the other hand in the few times Harry had interacted with her, had been stiff as a board and very serious. For those two to find each other would be quite an interesting story so to speak. But he couldn't ask her about it because McGonagall spoke again.
"All right, listen up. As the champions, you will move in last. The order will be Mr Warrington upfront." She looked over and sniffed a little. She didn't like that Mr Warrington was having two dates and the kind of dresses these girls wore. Yes, you could say that was a double standard as someone from her own house also had two dates, but she felt like the reasoning behind it was quite different. "Behind him, Miss Musashi and Miss Bones, followed by Mr Kurfürst. Lord Peverell, you and the Greengrass sisters come up last, right before me."
They ordered themselves accordingly and Professor McGonagall moved along the line, looking everybody up and down a little, saying a word or two to one or the other. Then there was a knock on the door and Minerva turned when it opened.
"Ah yes, my date wonderful. Now we can move inside."
Harry blinked surprised and then groaned as he saw the winking face of his godfather linking arms with his head of the house. This would be a fun night.
This chapter was really hard to write. I often find the first 1000 words are the most difficult to write, because I don't know how to start. I feel a little like this chapter didn't have a lot of heart but I have to do it, because it has to be told. I think the next chapter is more interesting to write and therefore more easy. Sorry it took me two weeks.
This was always a grey area for me. I knew most of the story I wanted to tell, but this is a part where I have to wing it quite a bit and that makes it a little difficult. Little side note, I noticed I never gave Svenja a last name and now I want to see how long I can do that. She might don't get a last name at all, these are the little challenges to myself to keep it more interesting.
Now Daphne. I think I can come out and say it now. Daphne is the girl to be for Harry. They will slowly fall in love with each other. But ande here is the big but, I don't want her to be perfect. So often I see HP-fics where Harrys girl is sooo pretty and awesome and perfect and everybody is jealose because he has her as his grieldfriend. I don't want that. Yes she is beautiful but also cold and a prude. She has some nasty opinions too and doesn't live her life to the fullest. She is a stick in the mud. Because I don't like perfect, I like flaws, mistakes. That makes us human and not doing those is something I greatly disagree with. So no perfect couple no love on first sight but growing together and learning about each other.
There is a topic, I want to talk about and that is Ron. I often said already that I dislike Ron and I was fine and dandy with it. But now I saw a video, which got me thinking. It's named "Explaining what went weird with Ron Weasley" by Quinn Curio and it gave an interesting insight for me. The argument is, Ron is portrayed way worse in the movies than the books, making the three friends more like two friends and their whiny, bitchy third wheel who is often played out for laughs. And I have to agree it does happen a lot. Watching the movies again with the knowledge that the director is a huge Hermione fan and reading the books again, I saw the point. Ron is portrayed WAAAAY better in the books. To give an example everybody has in mind, the Devil Snare in the Sorcerers Stone. In the books, it is the dialogue we all know, with the line "Are you a witch or what?"
In the movies, Ron is the only one who panics, Hermione figures it out on her own and then Ron makes a bad pun. The examples a numerous and I have to really think more about it. I never thought the movies would affect me much (since I wasn't the biggest fan of the movies and so on) but they did and I didn't even notice. I have get to know to Ron now again because he isn't a bad person, he has flaws and merits just like Harry and Hermione but these two their flaws are often ignored in favour of pointing out how Ron had left in the Horcrux hunt.
That will not change much in this story, I started in a certain way and this is more about Harry and his family than Harry and his friends, but I already have a new story planned for when this is over (So maybe 2022 ) and there it will play more prominent of a role I guess.
A short thing too, I dialled down Dawn in this chapter a little. She is important in Harry's life but in this chapter I didn't want her to steal the lime-light.
What do you think about the chapter? Do you like Daphne as Harry's end all be all?
Next up: A dance, a dog, a princess and a toad.