AN: Thank You to Wake The Dragon for putting this prompt up on the Haphne Discord.
It was Sunday Afternoon that seventh year and Harry was on his way for his weekly visit with Hagrid…well okay it used to be whenever Hagrid remembered to ask, but Harry had cornered him at the start of the year and asked him if he'd like himself, Ron and Hermione to come to visit every weekend, Hagrid had been over the moon.
Today though it was just Harry, Hermione was locked away in the library once again studying for the NEWTS, while Ron was busy with Ginny, he had agreed to help her practice a few Quidditch drills over the weekend…
So with that said the Boy Who Lived made his way down to Hagrid's hut, shrunken box in hand and a smile on his face. After a few more minutes of walking, he had made it and gave a quick knock on the door, as the door opened he fully expected to see Hagrid's smiling bearded face looking down at him, but instead he was surprised to see the passive frown of one Daphne Greengrass looking up at him.
Frowning he was just about to ask what she was doing when Hagrid shouted for him.
"Is tha Harry? Let'em in Daph, he's here fer tea!" it sounded like he was struggling with something and Harry quickly made his way into the hut once Daphne moved aside.
There in the center of the room, stood Hagrid holding down what looked to be a unicorn, while at the same time trying to pull something out of its leg.
"Come now, Ye know me! Calm down ah'm just tryin to help!" he heard the half-giant mutter, he was about to step in when Daphne strolled on past him like a woman on a mission and began petting the struggling unicorn's head.
Almost immediately the thing calmed down, letting out a frustrated snort while leaning into her touch. Harry raised an eyebrow and Hagrid just let out a short laugh.
"Ah'm always so jealous of what ye can do with these beasties, Daph…" with that he quickly pulled out what looked to be an Acromantula stinger and frowned. "Going te have te teach them a lesson, ever since Arigog passed they've been gettin bolder…" Hagrid muttered
Harry watched as Daphne and Hagrid patched the unicorn's leg up, Daphne Vanishing blood as it spilled while Hagrid wrapped the unicorn's leg in a bandage with salve. They worked like a well-oiled machine, as the muggles would say, and it surprised him to no end. After a few minutes, the two were done and Daphne was slowly walking the magical creature out of the hut.
"Tell the others te stay close te the Threstrals fer now! Acromantuala's don't like Threstrals!" Daphne gave Hagrid a quick thumbs up and departed from the hut unicorn in tow.
After she had left Hagrid plopped down with a sigh into his massive chair, Harry quickly made his way over to the couch across from it and enlarged the package he had brought, the box nearly taking over the entire table.
He quickly handed Hagrid one of the massive morsels from inside the box, "Dobby heard about what we were doing, so he made us some Hagrid-sized biscuits." that got a laugh out of his old friend who gingerly took the biscuit from him.
Harry pulled out his wand and summoned two mugs, one being Hagrid's favorite and the other being a much smaller one that Harry used whenever he came, he quickly pulled out a pitcher of milk and filled Hagrid's cup with the entire contents of said pitcher, and then filled his own cup with another pitcher.
The two sat in companionable silence, Harry letting Hagrid relax a bit before starting any form of conversation. After a few minutes though he couldn't help himself.
"So…why was Greengrass here?"
Hagrid wiped a bit of biscuit from his beard and looked at Harry "hmm well thas a long story…" He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ye know a've never thought much of Slytherins." Harry nodded remembering what Hagrid had told him during his introduction to the Wizarding world. "Well, it was a few days inte yer first year, around noon or so, and ah was out watering the pumpkins when this small twig of a girl walks up te me, barely reaching up te my knee, holding up a bird she found. She pushed the bird up te me, wide blue eyes pleadin with me to help and honestly ah couldn' say no…"
He took a swig of his milk before continuing, "been coming here every day since, even during that horrible business with Voldemort last year…" that caught Harry's attention and he couldn't help but ask.
"What do you mean?"
Hagrid shuddered a bit and frowned, "She stayed fer the battle…ah told her not te, told her te take her sister and leave but she just shook her head, had her friend Tracey take Astoria out of the Castle when the Slytherins were asked to leave and stayed behind with me…" he frowned looking into his cup "She saved my life quite a few times that night."
Harry…honestly didn't know how to feel about that, he didn't have anything against Slytherins…at least not anymore, but he never expected someone from the house of the cunning to actually defend Hagrid…
Hagrid shook his head and continued "She comes by every weekend te visit, normally on Saturdays, before she used te only come by if she found some critter that needed help, but as she got older she started just coming by on her own, but ah do get days like today where an emergency happens…"
Harry gave Hagrid a small smile "Is that why we never had set days for our tea times? Because she was here?" he didn't ask with any malice, just genuine curiosity.
Hagrid sipped his milk and nodded "Aye, she's a bit shy that one, has an easier time dealing with Animals than people, as you saw. But since Sundays are normally free for me it's never been an issue." Hagrid smiled "Even then, she didn't bolt the moment she saw you like she used to with others, so that must mean she likes you."
Harry felt his ears heat up and he quickly bit into a biscuit to calm his nerves. After that, the two began talking about other things, such as the school year, Hagrid's latest animal-related project, what have you.
All in all, it was a successful tea time, and Harry almost managed to forget about Daphne Greengrass…
Almost
Harry wouldn't see Daphne Greengrass at Hagrid's again for another few weeks. He would go to his weekly tea time and in the back of his head he'd expect to see her, and for some reason, he'd be disappointed when she wasn't there.
Luckily for him this week was not one of those disappointing weeks.
Harry had just knocked on Hagrid's door and was shuffling around waiting for the door to open. He had brought scones this time, normal-sized scones with tea mind you, Dobby mentioned something about giant-sized scones being a bit too hard to make…
Harry shook his head to clear that train of thought when he heard the door opening. He opened his mouth to greet Hagrid when he once more came face to face with the frowning face of Daphne Greengrass.
"Umm…" He shifted on his feet nervously "hello…Greengrass…where's Hagrid?"
Daphne looked at him impassively before pointing out past him towards the Forest. "Acromantula's attacked the Unicorn's" she turned and walked back into the hut, sitting down on the couch quietly.
Not really knowing what else to do Harry walked inside and closed the door. He pulled up one of the kitchen chairs and took a seat across from Daphne, placing the box of scones on the table and enlarging it.
After a moment of silence, Harry spoke "Umm…I brought some scones and tea, would you like some?"
Daphne, who had absentmindedly been scratching Fang behind his ears jumped at being addressed, before nodding her head.
He was about to use his wand to grab two cups again when a loud bang reached his ears. Harry stood, wand ready while Daphne had already started making her way outside.
The two got outside and Harry was surprised to see a young Threstal laying on its side in Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
Daphne quickly made her way over to it and began petting its head, whispering words that Harry couldn't hear. Harry meanwhile jogged over and inspected the animal for any wounds…which he quickly found after a quick inspection of the side it was laying on.
Turning to Daphne he quickly said, "I think there's something in its wing, we need to turn it onto its other side."
Daphne nodded and kept petting the Threstral before standing. With some effort, the two managed to get the animal flipped over without it freaking out. After doing so they noticed that it had indeed been injured in its wing, two puncture holes from what Harry recognized as Acromantula bites were present, which only worried Harry more.
"How are we supposed to fix this?"
"We feed it and it'll fix itself, the poor thing was probably running and crashed into the house…" Daphne's soft voice surprised Harry for a second, but he nodded and went into Hagrid's house to grab some of the raw meat he knew Hagrid kept.
As he retreated he heard Daphne whispering once again to the Threstal, and he couldn't help but smile at how caring she sounded.
After that Harry started coming to Hagrids every Saturday instead of Sunday, He didn't know why, but he was starting to enjoy his time spent with Daphne and Hagrid. He was honestly learning more about magical and mundane creatures than ever as he assisted the two with the different animals Daphne would bring in. He began visiting so much, and helping so often that Daphne's uncaring frowns became small fond smiles…something Harry found made his heart flutter every time he saw it.
He learned a few things about her as well, like how she was legally Hagrid's apprentice, though he really didn't have anything to teach her at this point. She was going to get her mastery in care for magical creatures and open a veterinary clinic in Diagon Alley, something Harry was surprised didn't exist yet…
Each time he'd be constantly surprised by how tender and caring she was to the animals, hell he was surprised about how much he cared about the animals. Harry loved animals, but he never got invested in them like Hagrid had, not counting Hedwig or Buckbeak of course. Now though he was just as invested in the animal's Daphne brought to Hagrid as she was…and it was just through watching this kind girl do her work.
Maybe it was his "saving people thing" acting up and transitioning to a "saving all living things" thing…he'd probably have to ask Hermione at some point…
The biggest surprise for Harry though was this last Saturday. He came to visit Hagrid and Daphne, as usual, not bringing anything because Daphne had insisted, in her own quiet way that she was going to bring the treats. So there he was, standing before Hagrid's door waiting to be let in when he realized he had been waiting for more than ten minutes. Hagrid was pretty good about letting him in, while Daphne pretty much let him enter the moment he knocked, so Harry wondered what was wrong.
Turning the door's handle showed that it was unlocked, and while he felt bad about just letting himself in he really wanted to discover what was wrong…
He was tempted to pull his wand the moment he entered the room, but he decided against it the moment he saw Fang laying in his bed, with the living room of the hut being in its usual cluttered self…where the hell was everyone?
He walked up to the couch to sit down only to see two notes on the table, one bigger than the other.
Picking up the bigger note first he read it quickly.
"Dear Harry, Sorry to run out on you. Have to go to Hogsmede to meet with some people te deal with the Acromantulas…I don't want to run them out or hurt them…they're Aragogs kin after all, but Daph's right, they're going to eventually start moving onto something other than Unicorns if we keep interfering as we have been… So Kingsley is sending people te help me round em up to move them someplace uninhabited. Be back tomorrow.
Hagrid."
Harry felt bad for Hagrid, he really did but the unicorn attacks HAD been getting more intense lately, he hoped Kingsley would be able to help…picking up the other note he began to read.
"Forgot the Tea,
Daphne"
Harry let out a snort at that, well at least he wouldn't be alone. Laying back he let himself relax a little bit…
He soon found himself in one of his recurring nightmares, his mother was protecting him from Voldemort once again…Tom raised his wand to kill her…only for the dream to slowly start dissolving away.
Instead of hearing his mother's "Kill me instead!" he only heard soft whispering, though he couldn't make out the words…instead of the sharp pain of Tom's soul latching onto his scar he only felt the caress of soft hands on his head…
His eyes snapped open, green eyes met blue and as had become the norm, Daphne smiled at him, and once more Harry found his heart in his throat. She had apparently moved his head to her lap while he slept, making it easier for her to caress his hair.
"Hello, Daphne…" Harry mumbled out rubbing his eyes through his glasses.
"You shouldn't sleep with glasses on, Harry." Daphne softly informed him, her smile grew a little bigger when he glared at her.
"Why are you rubbing my head?" not that he minded, he found he enjoyed the feeling of her fingers running through his hair…is this what the unicorns and other creatures got to feel every time she helped them? Lucky bastards.
This time Daphne frowned slightly, though she didn't stop her caressing "You were having a nightmare." She looked away from him "It looked unpleasant, so I did what I always do when an animal or my sister feels awful." Harry noticed the slight blush on her face but didn't point it out. Instead, he just grinned at her.
"So you're like…a Disney princess? Like Snow White? Able to calm animals and humans at your touch?"
Daphne pouted and puffed out her cheeks at him "First Tori and now you…I am not Snow White!" that was probably the loudest he's ever heard her and it made him laugh.
"I'm surprised you even know who Snow White is." Harry tried to get up off Daphne's lap, he really did but he was just too comfortable and she didn't seem to mind.
Daphne continued her petting as she hummed, "My mother loves to shop in the muggle world, and my father is obsessed with London's underground train network, so we keep up to date…Tori wanted to watch a muggle movie, so my mother bought a television and a video player, she's been obsessed with Disney since she was five."
Harry tried desperately to not fall back asleep, he yawned causing Daphne to giggle at him. "What's so funny?" he mumbled as he closed his eyes and felt himself relax.
Daphne covered her mouth with her free hand, "You just…remind me of a dog."
Harry's eyes snapped back open and he glared up at her face. "A dog?"
Daphne grinned "Or maybe a cat."
Harry groaned and poked Daphne in the stomach "Let's not get too wild, a dog is fine, my godfather was a dog."
If Daphne wanted to know what he meant by that she didn't ask, instead, she hummed and patted him once more on the head. The two could have stayed like that for hours and Harry honestly wouldn't have cared, but Daphne decided to break the moment. "Do you want what I brought down? Or should we save it for another day?"
Harry, thinking she wanted him to get up so she could stretch her legs groaned and sat up. He could have sworn he saw Daphne pout at that, but he chose to ignore it instead. He looked over at the table and saw that there were two cups of tea and a slice of treacle tart for each of them…
He turned to Daphne with a raised eyebrow "How did you know treacle tart is my favorite?" he asked as he picked up a plate and dug in.
Daphne absentmindedly twirled one of her golden locks and looked away from him. "Hagrid let it slip last week…"
Harry almost choked on his food he laughed so abruptly, quickly swallowing he nodded. "Yea that makes sense, it's not like it's a big secret, but Hagrid is terrible at keeping secrets. Hell, I'm surprised he managed to keep you a secret for nearly eight years." he teased.
Daphne just laughed at him and picked up her own plate, "It wasn't much of a secret, you just had to come here on a Saturday."
The two ate in silence after that, Harry's heart beating rapidly in his chest for reasons he could place but didn't want to mentally say.
It was only after the two finished up their time together and were made to move onto the castle that Harry finally began to stop his futile denial of the truth.
As they walked, Daphne pointed out every type of bird she heard, more animated than she had ever been with him previously, so full of life and a love of life that it was infectious…
It was then that Harry realized that he was probably, possibly, maybe even definitely, in love with Daphne Greengrass.
After that, you'd think Harry would have just asked her out and been done with it.
You'd think that he would have learned his lesson from his times asking Cho and his pinning over Ginny…
You'd think.
Sadly you'd also be wrong, Harry is a Gryffindor, they are known for their courage, but planning isn't their strong suit (unless you were Hermione or Ron in regards to Quidditch.)
Harry ruminated on the problem of asking Daphne out for WEEKS. He would go to Hagrid's intent on asking her to a Hogsmede weekend, but he would always chicken out halfway through. It got so bad that Ron had noticed and corned him one weekend.
"Look, mate, I don't know why you've suddenly started going to Hagrid's on Saturday, that's none of my business but you've been pacing around the room for ten minutes. If you wear a hole in the floor McGonagall will have your head." Ron said from his place on Harry's bed, he was busy tossing a football he confiscated from some first-year up and down while catching it.
Harry stopped and turned to Ron, honestly, his friend was right, this was getting ridiculous!
Rubbing his hand through his hair and thinking back to Daphne's soft hands doing the same a few weeks ago, Harry opened his mouth and finally told someone what was on his mind.
"I…think I have a crush on someone"
Ron sat up at that, soccer ball suddenly bouncing off the bed and onto the floor. He didn't look too shocked but he was surprised that Harry "I'll deal with it myself." Potter was confiding in him for once. "Go on,"
Sighing through his nose Harry began explaining what had happened that one Sunday evening. With the Unicorn and meeting Daphne, why he moved his tea days with Hagrid to Saturday…everything.
After he was done explaining how Daphne had helped him with his nightmare, Ron proceeded to start laughing uproariously at him.
"Hey!"
Ron held up a finger and continued to laugh for a solid minute, before whipping his eyes and smiling at Harry, "I can't believe it."
"What that I'd like a Slytherin?" Harry ground out, causing Ron to snort.
"No, that the bloke with a saving people thing wants to date the bird with a saving animals thing."
Harry was about to angrily retort when he paused and chuckled at the realization…Ron had a point.
Ron looked at Harry seriously, really looked at him. Ever since they had returned to Hogwarts things hadn't been easy for his friend, He finally truly broke things off with Ginny which sucked, but he also suffered constant nightmares from just being in the castle…before he met Daphne Ron was seriously debating just telling him to drop out and get medical help it was that bad…
Now though he looked relatively rested, he still had nightmares but not at the intensity that they were before. He was smiling more and honestly, he seemed like he was really enjoying himself, all thanks to this one girl that Ron had never met before…honestly he didn't know if he should be jealous of her or give her an award…he'll probably do both honestly.
That wasn't important though, what was important was helping Harry, and if helping Harry meant getting him with some animal lover Slytherin, well that's what Ron was going to do. "Okay, so you know what you need to do?"
Harry looked at Ron with a raised eyebrow "What's that then?"
Ron grinned "Just invite her to this upcoming Hogsmede weekend, Hermione and I are going so we can have it be a double date."
Harry was about to raise an objection to that when he paused, a double date was a bit better than trying to do something on his own…honestly he was rubbish at planning dates…so this seemed like a win-win for him.
He nodded to Ron and walked to his trunk, rummaging through it he quickly found the Marauders map and activated it, he located Daphne and began to move out of the room. Ron shouted a quick "good luck" to him and went back to playing with the football, his mission accomplished.
Harry found Daphne in the owlery which honestly shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. He quietly came around the corner, unnoticed by the blonde who was, surprisingly reading a story to some very well-behaved owls that were sitting all around her listening. Some were on the floor while others were perched on her shoulders, knees, and hair, not like Daphne seemed to notice or even care.
Harry chuckled, causing Daphne to jump and the owls to quickly disperse like they had been caught red-handed, all except the Owl on her head who just looked at Harry before turning back to the book Daphne was reading, waiting for her to continue.
Much to the bird's disappointment, Daphne closed the book, and when he let loose a hoot of indignation she softly gave him a scratch under his chin. "Sorry, Ezekiel but storytime is over, I'll pick it up again tomorrow." the bird gave her an affectionate nip on the finger, which caused Harry's heart to clench in memory of Hedwig before it flew off to rest on his perch.
"He seemed like a smart owl," Harry remarked, to which Daphne nodded.
"The only owl smarter that I knew was Hedwig," Harry felt his breath hitch and Daphne caught her mistake. "Hagrid told me about what happened…about how close you two were…I am so sorry." she quickly made her way to him and wrapped him up in a hug, her forehead touching his chest.
Harry exhaled softly and hugged her back, honestly, that was another thing that surprised him about the girl, she was a hugger. Her love language was touch, if you were her friend she wouldn't hesitate to give you a hug or pat your hair…for someone as touched starved as Harry it really endeared her to him, he loved hugs.
"It's…fine she was wonderful and it still hurts but I know she'd eventually want me to move on…" Harry sniffed back a tear and Daphne hugged him a little tighter.
They stayed like that for a little while, ignoring the owls hooting and just enjoying each other's embrace before Harry remembered why he was even there in the first place.
"Hey umm, Daphne," He began, causing her to look up from his chest and into his eyes.
'Oh this isn't going to be easy at all' He thought as he felt his heart rate spike upon locking onto those blue eyes. "I was wondering…If you'd like to go with me to Hogsmede!" he closed his eyes and muttered out quickly.
For a moment nothing happened, no one said anything other than the owls, and then he felt it. Something soft pressed up against his cheek. Opening his eyes, he caught Daphne pulling back from kissing him on his cheek, a massive smile on her face, the biggest one he had ever seen her wear when she answered. "Of Course, Harry."
Harry's whole face lit up as his own smile joined hers "That's brilliant." she went back to snuggling up against his chest while he talked, explaining the double date that they'd go on and asking her if there was anything specific she wanted to do.
The two talked, well Harry talked while Daphne listened, while they walked back to the Slytherin dungeon.
By the time Harry made it back to Gryffindor tower, it was nearing midnight, but honestly, the young man couldn't care less, he was literally on cloud nine.
The fated day arrived quickly, with Harry meeting Daphne at the carriages. The two waited in silence for Ron and Hermione to show up, but after a few minutes, they were surprised to be met with Ron's Jack Russel Terrier Patronus, his voice coming clearly out of it with an apology.
"Hey mate, Hermione is on the warpath, dragged me into the library for another study session, says I've been goofing off too much with Ginny…Oi! No, I won't tell him to join us! He's on a date! Save yourself, Harry! She's gone mental!" the Patronus dissipated after that.
Harry put his head in his hands and sighed through his nose, while Daphne just giggled and patted him on the back.
He quickly looked up at her and smiled a strained smile. "So, I believe it's just us today." he tried not to let his nerves show but he was probably failing.
Daphne nodded and grabbed his hand, moving into the carriage and down next to him. He was surprised when she patted her lap, motioning for him to lay down.
Harry raised an eyebrow "Umm Why?"
Daphne just smiled softly at him and with little resistance on Harry's part, got him to lay his head on her lap. She started playing with his hair and Harry felt himself relax. "You're too tense, and I can tell you haven't been sleeping well, you're sleeping better." She amended when Harry opened his mouth to protest. "But not well, you're also way too stressed about this date."
Harry looked up at her, his mind and body relaxing under her touch as the carriage began its trek to Hogsmede. "I don't want to screw up…" He mumbled eyes closing as he thought about his disastrous date with Cho.
Daphne just shook her head, "I may be a pureblood, Harry but I'm not shallow. I enjoy our time together and anything we do save going to Madam Puddifoots will be enjoyable…"
Harry smiled at her and reached up a hand to grab a stray lock of hair and tuck it back behind her ear, which made the blonde giggle. "Well, since we don't have to follow Hermione to every bookstore in town, why don't we go get lunch at the Three Broomsticks and then I don't know, go to the pet shop?"
Daphne's smile turned positively blinding as she nodded to Harry's suggestion.
The ride to Hogsmede ended almost as soon as it began, with the two of them quickly making their way to the Three Broomsticks to beat the lunch rush. After a quick lunch, with Daphne explaining some of the ideas she had for her veterinary practice, the two began making their way towards the pet shop.
Honestly, Harry hadn't been to a pet shop since he, Ron, and Hermione went back in third year, and he had no real intention of buying anything, but seeing Daphne's eyes light up as she explained all the different animals to him honestly made his day.
The two enjoyed themselves that day, Daphne coming out of her shell more and more with each Animal they met. Unfortunately, though, the date would end as quickly as it began with Harry coming face to face with an oddly familiar-looking owl. There perched in one of the many owl cages, was a speckled white owl, smaller than Hedwig had been but still similar enough to her that just seeing the bird caused Harry to recoil.
He knew he should get over her death, he knew he shouldn't let it bother him but trauma doesn't work like that. He apologized to Daphne and quickly left the store, saying that if she wanted to continue he'd be at the Hog's Head getting a drink…he just needed to get out of there. Daphne watched him go with sad eyes before turning to the employee of the shop.
"Where did you get the snowy owl? She wasn't here last time." Daphne asked curiously, a plan forming in her head as she looked at the owl in question.
The employee hummed "another snowy dropped her off a year or two ago, we think it was a post owl who couldn't stay to watch her kids." she never came back for em, so we've been raising her, the birds a right nightmare though, pecks and bites anyone who comes close."
Daphne nodded, and as she analyzed the bird she really couldn't believe her luck. Harry was too steeped in his grief to see it, but she'd make him see…"How much for her?"
The employee just laughed and waved her forward "I know who you were with girly if this is for him? After everything, he's done? Then it'd be theft to take your money, take her and help that poor boy out, he looked heartbroken when he saw her."
Daphne smiled at the owner and made her way over to the Snowy Owl in question. Raising her arm she began to talk "I knew your mother," the owl perked up and tilted its head at her. "She was incredibly clever, I wonder if you're the same. Her boy needs you, even if he doesn't know it yet, so will you come with me?"
The bird…seemingly understanding her bobbed its head twice and flew down to her arm, before making its way to her shoulder and nipping her ear affectionately. That settled it, this was definitely one of Hedwigs…
She quickly made her way to the Hog's Head, waving to Aberforth who nodded back at her. Scanning the room she found Harry sitting at one of the corner tables nursing a butterbeer. She made her way over and saw him freeze as he was lifting his butterbeer to his lips.
She quickly held up a hand and sat next to the distraught boy, motioning for the bird to get on the table she turned to her date. "I know you're upset, and that losing her hurts but look at this bird, really look at her and tell me what you see."
Harry closed his mouth with a click and turned to the small owl before him, he looked at her and squinted his eyes, taking in every feature that he could. She looked so familiar it hurt…he reached out to touch the bird, only for it to nip him in the finger, not hard but enough to surprise him. It was then that the familiarity hit him full force and he felt tears sting the corners of his eyes.
"Hedwig?" the bird looked at him and tilted its head, before bobbing up and down twice.
Daphne smiled softly and grabbed one of Harry's hands and started rubbing her thumb over his. "It's not Hedwig, apparently she dropped this one off at the pet shop because she wouldn't leave you alone last year, she probably knew you'd be in more danger than her daughter, so she chose to focus on you." she felt his hand tighten around hers as his tears began to flow freely. She quickly took his glasses off and gave him a napkin from the table.
After he had calmed down she asked him "Would you like to know her name?"
Harry choked out a laugh, "It's not Hedwig Junior is it?" that made Daphne giggle a little.
"No, Hedwig is Old High German, it can mean fight, duel, or even battle." she gave the little owl a scratch on the chin with a smile. "So I decided to name this little one Bellona, after the Roman Goddess of War."
Harry smiled and nodded "it suits her." he then turned and wrapped Daphne into a tight hug, before whispering a quiet "thank you" into her ear. Seeing the owl would still hurt, and Daphne promised to keep her until Harry was ready but the thoughtfulness of the gift pushed through the sadness.
It was then that Harry moved away from her and laughed, much to Daphne's surprise.
"Sorry," he waved at both Daphne and Bellona, who had rested on Daphne's head and barked at him for his sudden movement. "It's just…Hedwig was a gift from Hagrid, and Bellona is a gift from my animal-loving girlfriend! The irony is just too rich!"
Daphne chuckled but couldn't help but point out what Harry had just said: "So, I'm your girlfriend then?"
Harry stopped laughing and looked at the beautiful blonde next to him, he was about to answer but then he smiled and looked at Bellona.
"What do you think girl, do you approve?"
The owl once more bobbed its head up and down, before settling into Daphne's hair for a nap. Daphne giggled "Oh, asking the owl are we?"
Harry leaned down towards her "Well If she's Hedwig's daughter, her opinion means a lot to me."
Daphne just laughed and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck "Oh really? Well I'm glad I managed to get her approval." with that she leaned forward and softly kissed Harry on the lips.
Other than Aberforth threatening to kick them out for "indecent public displays of affection" it was a rather successful date.
