A/N: Another chapter today! This will probably be the last one for this week because I think I'm posting too fast. This was intended to be 2 chapters but I combined it together to make it smoother. Next post will probably be on the April 15th but could be sooner. Need some time to write more.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any works by J.K Rowling.

Chapter 3

After their introductions, Harry went to pick up the coins on the ground with Daphne's help. Although she was tempted to take what she could and run off, the idea of learning more about the supposed Potter coward was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

They somehow ended up in the leaky cauldron but with their hoods up to hide their identity. The only one in the place was the barkeep who was currently cleaning glasses at the bar. When they were sat down, Tom the barkeep headed over to take their orders.

"I'll have whatever is cheapest, sir." Harry said.

Daphne frowned. The boy came from a very wealthy and influential house. Yet he didn't have enough to afford a single meal?

"And for you missus?" Tom asked

"Um, we'll have the same." she said, following his lead.

Harry quickly protested, "No really it's okay-" before he quickly stopped talking when Daphne sent a glare his way.

The barkeep awkwardly scratched his head before asking them, "Listen kids. You got enough to pay for this?"

"Yeah, just tell me how much and I'll cover it." Harry replied, taking out his pouch.

After paying for the meal, Harry turned back to Daphne. "Look I'm paying, okay? Both of you look like you're a step away from passing out. If you want anything else, I'll call him back."

Daphne snorted at his words. "You look as bad as we do Potter. And your robes barely fit you so you're probably all bones underneath. Not to mention the number of coins in your bag weren't much. Clearly something happened."

Immediately Harry's face became cold. "Please don't call me that."

"Potter?"

"Yes. Just call me Harry."

"Then call me Daphne."

Both of them sat in awkward silence until their food was delivered. 3 bowls of porridge and 3 slices of bread on a plate in the center.

The two sides looked at each other hesitatingly before Astoria dug directly into her bowl and slurped it in one gulp. It loosened the tension between all of them and immediately Harry and Daphne followed, devouring their own bowls.

Within 2 minutes, all the food on the table was completely gone. A madly blushing Harry and Daphne stared at each other with awkwardness. The only one who looked really content was Astoria who was letting out a happy sigh and licking at the rest of her bowl.

"Ah sorry Daphne I haven't-"

"Forgive me Harry I should've-"

Both of them stopped mid sentences when they realized they were talking over another.

"It's fine you go first!" Both of them chorused in unison.

Astoria let out a small giggle when she realized what the both of them were doing. The faces of Harry and Daphne got even redder.

"Sorry about my manners Daphne." Harry started. "It's been a while since I've eaten."

"Well, uh me too I guess. And I'm sure there's clearly a reason for that and I do owe you an ear for your tale so if you want to start…" she motioned for him to talk with her hand.

Harry opened his mouth and paused for a second before closing it. He tried to speak again but he couldn't bring himself to tell her what happened.

"Never mind about it Daphne. You don't owe me anything."

Daphne crossed her arms and glared at Harry. "But I do. You aren't calling the aurors on me. And to top it off, you're treating me and my sister to a meal even after I tried to rob you. I at the very least owe it to you to listen. And before you start arguing, I can tell something is eating away at you so spill."

Harry was gobsmacked. The girl in front of him was essentially demanding that he tell her his very personal past. For the first time in his life someone was willing to listen to his side of the story. Although he should be offended by how she was pushing, deep down he felt a small feeling of joy that she would listen.

"Well…it's not really a story for kids." Harry tried arguing meekly.

Daphne frowned before looking at Astoria and pointing to a nearby table. "Tori, go sit over there for a while."

For the first time since the meeting, the small girl opened her mouth to speak. "But I'm not a little kid! I'm almost 7!" Astoria protested before turning to Harry. "Harry, I can handle it! Please please, pretty please?"

Astoria tried having the cutest pleading look on her face, but Daphne's glare stopped her. "Tori. NOW." Daphne ordered.

Astoria pouted before sulkily headed to a nearby table. Daphne resumed her crossed arm posture. "See? No problems. Now talk."

Harry rubbed his face and sighed. "Okay where do I start?"

"Well, how about the beginning?"

＊＊＊

It took him a whole hour. He had started about the night he grew up with his brother. Always 2nd to everything and how over time, his parents started doting on Jamie and eventually forgetting about Harry. He talked about all the nights he would spend reading and practicing magic just to try to catch up.

When he reached the part about what happened in the alley, he started shaking when the memories of the cruciatus curse was cast upon him. Daphne looked at him sadly and took his hand into hers, encouraging him to go on.

Harry talked about how his father wouldn't even listen to a single word he had to say before locking him in his own room and starving him for 3 months. He talked about having nightmares of the alley and how his body reacted violently at times as if the curse was still being cast on him. At this point tears were starting to fall from Daphne's eyes.

When Harry told her about how he learned how to cast wandless magic, Daphne almost jumped up in her seat with a mixture of excitement and sadness.

"Harry! That's amazing! You could do so much with that ability!" Daphne almost shouted. She wiped some of the tears leftover on her eyes before giving him a small smile. "Harry, I also think that's why you had trouble casting magic at a young age. Wandless magic must make it harder for you to use wands."

Harry looked surprised for a second before he remembered the book he read all those years ago about wandless magic.

"The couple merely stated it was easier for them and they actually had trouble using wands." Harry muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Just something I read a while ago."

Harry continued with his story. He talked about how he escaped his room and seeing his family celebrate Jamie's birthday. How he confronted them and how he discovered that he could speak in parseltongue.

At the mention of parseltongue, he looked at Daphne in the eyes and asked softly. "Are you afraid of me Daphne?"

She stared at him in the eyes for a couple seconds before firmly shaking her head. "No Harry. I'm not."

Harry gave her another small smile and mouthed his thanks before continuing his story. He went on talking about how his father stunned him and threatened to kill him. The only thing that dissuaded him was his mother and only because she cared about their fame. Daphne strangely gave him a sad understanding look when she heard his near-death experience.

He talked about how he was disowned and how he apparated to Diagon Alley which surprised Daphne once again. He finished his story about how he lost all the money stored at Gringotts and how he ended up meeting Daphne and Astoria.

When Harry finished, tears were falling from his eyes as well, but his expression still remained stony.

"Harry…I don't know what to say but I can tell you I understand."

Harry let out a humorless chuckle at her response. "Do you? Do you really, Daphne? Well it doesn't matter anyways."

Harry reached inside his pocket and placed the pouch of coins on the table. His expression softened. "Here Daphne. You need it more than I do. You and Astoria."

Her face contorted to confusion. "What do you mean Harry? What are you going to eat?"

Harry gave her a sad smile. "This is my last meal. I actually wasn't planning it but well…after telling the story…I…I realized I don't have anything left. I can't go on. I'm just so damn tired of everything that happened. At least this way, I won't have to deal with anything else."

Daphne's eyes widened, realizing what he was talking about. "Harry! Wait, you shouldn't do that! Just calm down before you do something-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Harry promptly cut her off. "I'm sorry Daphne, but I do. You just…you don't understand Daphne, I mean…hell what's the point anymore? I've lost everything. I have nobody."

He stared at her expression. It was completely unreadable and she refused to meet his eyes.

Harry gave a final sigh before he slowly got up to leave.

Before he could get 5 steps in, a hand grabbed his arm pulling him back. Turning around he saw Daphne looking down and visibly shaking.

"I don't understand?" She whispered. "I. Don't. Understand?" Her voice was dangerously low at this point with a low growl coming from her mouth.

"YOU THINK I DON'T UNDERSTAND HARRY?" She shouted. The boy in front of her flinched at the sudden tone change.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO SUFFERED? YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD JUST END IT ALL RIGHT NOW? YOU'RE A COWARD! YOU'RE A BLOODY COWARD! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO ROLL OVER AND LET THOSE PEOPLE WIN?"

At this point she collapsed in her chair and began to openly sob.

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to Daphne's outburst. He hesitantly put a hand on her back and tried comforting her. She almost recoiled back but changed her mind and reluctantly let his hand be on her back.

'What was she talking about? Did she go through something as well?' Harry pondered for a second before he decided that he'd hold off on his plan. The girl in front of him obviously needed to talk to someone, just like he did. Maybe…just maybe he should find out what happened. It can't really change anything; he was already committed. Well at least this way his last act will help her out.

"Daphne." Harry said softly, gently shaking her shoulder. "Tell me what happened. You listened to me when no one else did. Let me return the favor."

She slowly raised her head and looked at him before nodding.

Summer of 1991

A 10 year old Daphne Greengrass was playing with her 4 year old little sister in their backyard. Greengrass manor was a beautiful home with a luscious green backyard. The Greengrass family specialized in potions and herbs, so their backyard was filled with different plants. A greenhouse was further out back for the most dangerous and care intensive plants.

Daphne and Astoria were laid out in the grass basking in the sunlight. They just finished playing a game of tag and were currently resting from all the sweat they worked up.

"Hey Daphs," said a panting Astoria.

"Yeah Tori?"

Astoria tapped Daphne on the shoulder while giggling and ran off. "Tag! You're it!"

"Why you little!" Daphne growled. She got up and started chasing her little sister before tackling her to the ground and began tickling her. Both of the girls were laughing at this point.

"Da-daphs! I'm ticklish there!" Astoria giggled.

Daphne smirked and tickled her even harder. "I know Tori! Why do you think I'm tickling you?"

Both of the girls laughed even more as they started having a tickle battle. They were both dirty from playing on the ground but none of them minded. But their playtime was stopped when they heard the loud sound of a throat clearing.

"Ahem."

Turning around, they found themself staring at what seems to be a giant of a man. He wore rich and luxurious silver and green robes, with greying slicked back hair. Some could say that he looked ancient, but his facial features would toe the line between a man in his 100's and a man in his 50's. His eyes were intensely fixated at the girls in front of him with a clear look of total disappointment.

Daphne quickly pulled her sister up and pushed her head down, both of them bowing down.

"Good afternoon grandfather." Daphne greeted formally.

He gave one look at them and sneered. "Where is my son, girl?"

"Father is in his study, sir."

"Very well, do not bother us while we talk."

Their grandfather left both of the still bowing girls to head inside the manor.

Astoria looked at her sister questioningly after the man walked away. "Daphs, that man doesn't like us, does he? Is it something wrong with me"

Daphne scowled for a second before rushing to reassure her little sister. "Tori! There's nothing wrong with you! You're absolutely wonderful and the best sister anyone could ask for!" Don't let anyone else make you think otherwise!"

Astoria looked a little embarrassed but held a huge grin on her face at her older sister's words. She held out a pinkie towards Daphne. "Pinkie promise?"

A big smile and a wave of relief washed over Daphne as she held out her own pinkie to Astoria's. "Pinkie promise." she confirmed.

Daphne pulled Astoria into a hug and started whispering in her ear. "Why don't you go inside and grab the dolls. We can have a playdate with them out here in a bit."

Astoria squealed in excitement and rushed off to their room. Daphne let out a sigh watching her sister run off. Her face contorted back to her cold persona of what would be known in another life as "The Slytherin Ice Queen."

Daphne quietly made her way to her father's study window. She walked briskly to a side of the house and came upon an open window. She sat herself down underneath and listened in on the arguing voices.

The voices of her grandfather, Lord Greengrass, and her father Cyrus Greengrass were in a very loud shouting match.

"It's time you've stopped this foolishness, Cyrus!" The angry voice of Lord Greengrass boomed.

A loud snort from Cyrus Greengrass could be heard. "What foolishness father? Being a good husband? Being a good father? Being happy?"

"Bah!" I never approved of your marriage! You're living in a delusion! You should've married a proper woman of a good house and raised proper heirs! Look at these! Just sign them and return home and we'll put all of this behind us!

The sounds of papers rustling and the snatching of them could be heard. A second later, the loud voice of Cyrus filled the room.

"DIVORCE PAPERS?" Cyrus asked incredulously. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? I HAVE CHILDREN. 2 BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS. I'M MARRIED TO A WONDERFUL WOMAN! YOU THINK I'M SIGNING THESE?

"I've seen your spawn," Lord Greengrass sneered. "Rolling in the dirt as if they were nothing more than wild boars. If you ask me they belong there just like your mudblood wife-"

A loud noise bustled in the room, sounding eerily similar to a wand being drawn.

"THAT'S MY WIFE AND CHILDREN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT OLD MAN!" Cyrus shouted.

Silence filled the room and Daphne could feel the tension inside start to rise. The voice of Lord Greengrass boomed once again.

"YOU DARE RAISE YOUR WAND AGAINST YOUR LORD?"

A dangerous whisper from Cyrus filled the room. "Yes. To protect my family I do dare, father." He said, with the last word filled with venom. "Now get out of my house."

The sound of stomping echoed from the room and a door loudly being opened. The voice of Lord Greengrass would be heard for the last time in that room, giving an eerie warning.

"Your brother will be the next lord, but I expect you knew of this. I have no need for you. I was only here out of concern for my son. But it seems to me he's been gone for many years now."

"Get out."

A loud door slam could be heard, and Daphne quietly made her way back to where her sister was playing. The conversation between the two adults were still fresh on her mind and she felt a bit scared of how her grandfather viewed Astoria and her. While her father and grandfather both constantly fought on the rare occasions they did meet, this last one seemed to be different. A storm was coming, Daphne knew for sure. And it was coming soon.

The sight of Astoria playing in the fields emerged and Daphne forced herself to smile once more. Astoria caught her eyes and happily ran up to embrace her older sister. Inside, Daphne was scared but she would smile and protect Astoria just for a little while longer.

2 years later - April 1993

Daphne's intuition turned out to be true. For the past 2 years after that day, her parents changed. Her warm loving father suddenly became withdrawn. He fretted more and constantly believed that the family was in danger. He was gone from the house most of the day and would return late at night, often tired and just went straight to bed.

Their mother was different as well. While the black-haired beauty used to dote on her daughters and spent as much time with them as she could, she instead spent most of her time practicing spells. They could often find their mother in the backyard shooting spells at training dummies with an almost cold look in her eyes. On the days she wasn't practicing, no sign of her could be found in the house until late at night. She'd come tumbling in with a weary posture similar to their father's and promptly joined him in bed.

Astoria wasn't happy with the new development, and she was very verbal about it. She constantly complained to their parents about the lack of time they spent with her but was only met with a sad smile and a comforting hug reassuring her they'll try to find time. Daphne would try her best to keep Astoria's attention and eventually, she would end up taking care and watching over Astoria most of their days.

For 2 years it was like that until it all changed that day in April. It was one of the rare days that their father stayed home cooped up in his study. Daphne and Astoria were in their backyard watching their mother practice.

Astoria couldn't keep still. When her mother sat down to take a break, Astoria ran up to embrace their mother from the front. Pulling away, she tried her best puppy dog eyes and pouted in front of her mom.

"Mama, you don't spend much time with us. Can we please please pleaseeee play together tonight? And can Daddy join us as well?" Astoria pleaded, while jumping up and down.

Her mother only gave her another one of the sad smiles she usually gives. "I'm sorry honey, but I'm busy tonight. How about another time?"

Astoria huffed and crossed her arms together. "But mama! You said that last time! And the time before that!"

"Tori honey I can't-"

"Mama!"

Their mother let out a sigh before she relented. "Okay Tori. I'll talk to your father and we'll see what we can do. But no promises, okay?"

Before she even finished talking, Astoria already was running off towards Daphne to tell her the news. An almost equally excited Daphne yelped in surprise and ran inside with her sister to prepare for tonight.

For the first time in a while, the family enjoyed a nice meal together. Everyone had a smile on their face. Even Cyrus Greengrass and his wife, Diane, couldn't help but enjoy watching the antics of their daughters. Both of them listened intently to Daphne and Astoria regaling them about the tales of what they were up to that day. Although Astoria did most of the talking, Daphne would chip in at important parts of the story.

When they finished dinner, the family had their elves clean up and retired to the living to play wizarding board games. Currently, the family was just lounging around chatting while Daphne and Cyrus played a game of chess against each other.

The atmosphere was calm and relaxing. Diane Greengrass had Astoria cuddled into her lap listening to tales of her time and Hogwarts. The pair would occasionally hear a cursing Daphne in which their mother promptly chided her for her language. Cyrus Greengrass had an amused smile watching his daughter frustratingly try to beat him in a game of wizard's chess.

'Crack!'

The peaceful scene would end when multiple loud cracking noises were heard outside. Cyrus and Diane Greengrass promptly stood up from their spots and had their wands out. Their robes immediately changed to black and silver battle robes.

Another loud crack was heard but this time in their living room and immediately 2 wands were at the spot.

One of their house elves appeared from the spot frightfully shielding himself with her arms.

"Please Master and Mistress! 'Tis only Tally!" The elf cried.

The Greengrass husband and wife hesitantly lowered their wands before questioning the elf.

"Have the wards been broken Tally?" Cyrus asked

Tally nodded fervently. "Yes Master Cyrie. They is many dark robes wizards coming. They has done something; Tally can not apparate far."

Diane scowled at the comment. "Anti apparation charms and wards. I doubt we'll be able to apparate. It's a miracle Tally can still apparate but she won't be able to apparate all of us out of here."

Cyrus held a somber expression on his face when he turned to face his family. "Diane, go on ahead with the kids. Get far enough from the range of the wards and have Tally apparate all of you to Gringrotts."

"Cyrus!" Diane protested. "You have to come with us!"

Her husband only shook his head and pulled her into a hug. Diane was shaking and fighting back tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

Daphne knew what was going to happen from the look on her father's face when he turned towards them. He pulled both Daphne and Astoria into his embrace as well, hugging onto them tightly.

"I wish I could see the type of women both of you would grow into. I wish I could see you off when you're heading to Hogwarts." He choked out.

At this point Daphne and her father were openly sobbing. Astoria didn't understand what was going on but she only had a sad look on her face watching the two cry.

"I wish I could be there when you graduate, cheering you on and telling you how happy I am." At this point Cyrus let out a weak chuckle. "I wish I could scare the hell out of your boyfriends. And maybe…even walk you girls down the aisle as a proud father."

Daphne let out a wail and gripped onto her father even harder. "Daddy! You can still do that! You don't have to do this!" she cried.

Even Astoria started joining in when she saw her sister pleading. "What are you going to do papa? Are…are you leaving us?" She asked fearfully

"I…I have to go do something honey. I need you both to be strong, okay? Can you do that for me?

Daphne hesitated before shakily nodding. "I will father," she said with forceful determination.

A small smile lit up on Cyrus' face. "I am so proud of you, both of you." He whispered. "Thank you for letting me be your father."

"How long will it take papa? When will you come with us?" Astoria asked.

"It'll…it'll be a while honey. I'll come get you soon once I finish, okay?

Cyrus finally let go of his daughters before giving his wife a final kiss. Diane pressed her forehead against his before tearfully whispering something to him and pulling away. She grabbed both of her daughters' hands and pulled them to their backyard in almost a full sprint, with Tally following right behind.

Cyrus could only look at the disappearing images of his family with the pain of sadness gripping his heart.

"Goodbye my angels," he whispered before turning towards the sounds of battle.

Daphne watched as her mother led them through the woods behind their home. Bright flashes of light were behind them and sounds of shouting could be heard. When Astoria tried to turn back to see what was going on, Daphne quickly pulled on her and turned her head forward. It would do no good for her to see what was going on.

The voice of their mother rang through for the first time since her goodbye with her husband. "Tally, once we're outside these woods, do you think you can get us to Gringrotts?"

Tally nodded her head and answered, "yes mistress! Tally believes she can!"

"Why do we have to go to Gringrotts, mother?" Daphne asked.

"We don't have time to grab any of our valuables so we need to hurry and withdraw what we can from the bank. Your father and I…" she hesitated when mentioning her husband. "We've been trying to move money out of our accounts, but we haven't finished. I thought we had more time, but it looks like I was mistaken. We were so close to getting rid of the holds on the accounts placed by your…grandfather." She spoke the last word with clear malice in her voice.

Daphne was confused. She knew that something had changed after the fight her father and grandfather had but didn't know it went that far.

"What does grandfather have to do with this?"

"He hasn't been happy since the fight, Daphne. And before you pretend, yes I know that you heard."

Daphne had a sheepish look on her face but Diane only gave her a small smile to assure her daughter it was okay.

"Lord Greengrass has been putting pressure onto our accounts. He is still the head of House Greengrass so his words still hold sway over us. We've been trying to get the goblins to move the money out but well…let's just say Lord Greengrass is a high-profile customer of theirs who brings in lots of galleons each year. We can't match that, but once I finalize the paperwork tonight-"

Diane stopped mid-sentence and suddenly pulled out her wand. A sudden curse flew straight at the family and immediately Diane raised a shield charm over them.

"Protego!"

The curses didn't stop coming. Multiple different curses flew towards them. At some point, Diane started firing back her own.

Eventually the shouting and the lights died down to reveal unmoving darkly robed bodies. Diane stood with her back towards her children. A split second later she collapsed on the ground.

"Mother!/Mama!" Both Daphne and Astoria cried, running towards her.

When they reached their mother's crumpled form to turn her over, a large spot of blood was on her stomach, soaking up her shirt. Diane's eyes had a faraway look and it took a few seconds for them to finally notice the 2 pairs of teary blue eyes from her daughters that were staring down at her.

"Oh my daughters…" she whispered. "I'm so sorry but this is it for me…"

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE US, MOTHER! YOU'RE ALL THAT WE HAVE LEFT!" Daphne sobbed. "WHY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"

Diane slowly reached up to brush a strand of hair out of Daphne's face before gently cupping it and giving her daughter a soft smile.

"Because Daphs, I'm your mother. Because it's my job to protect the both of you."

"MAMA! YOU'RE LEAVING US?" This time it was Astoria hysterically sobbing. "DON'T GO PLEASE MAMA! DON'T GO PLEASE! I PROMISE I'LL BE A GOOD GIRL FROM NOW, PLEASE MAMA!" Astoria continued wailing and crying, tightly holding onto her mother as if she knew subconsciously that it would be her final moments.

Diane could only weakly try to hold Astoria closer into her embrace. She kept her eyes locked in Daphne however and started to speak louder, making sure that she was heard.

"Daphne, have Tally take the both of you to Gringrotts. Demand they give you your money. If they still refuse, tell them to read our wills and have it executed." At this point Diane was heavily coughing but forced herself to continue. "But there will be a good chance they'll refuse as well." Go to *cough* my friend Cassie. You remember where she lives, it's where I used to leave you to be babysat. I left her some of our money, she'll help you out. Do you *cough*- do you understand, Daphne?"

Daphne slowly nodded. "Yes mother."

"Good. And Daphne? You were wrong. Both of you still have *cough* each other. So take good care of Tori, okay?"

"I will, mother. I'll keep her safe I promise." Daphne vowed.

Diane smiled at the statement and turned to Astoria who was still tightly holding onto her. She gave her younger daughter a kiss on the forehead before whispering into her ear.

"Tori, try to be good for your big sister okay? I need you to go with her now, because mama is very tired and she needs to sleep. Just remember that I love you forever and ever, and nothing is going to change that."

Astoria was about to protest but a pair of arms pulled her from her mother's embrace to be apparated right onto the front steps of Gringrotts.

Diane could only watch helplessly as their house elf apparate her daughters away.

'At least they're safe now,' Diane thought.

She looked up into the night sky. It was full of stars that night, all brilliantly shining. Different constellations began appearing in her eyes, each of them reminding her of the wonderful stories she used to read to her own daughters at night.

'The stars truly are beautiful tonight,' she mused. 'Cyrus my love…I'll be with you soon.'

A couple hours later, they would find the body of Diane Greengrass Née Evans with a content smile on her as she stared up into the starry night sky.

Leaky Cauldron - Present Moment

"When we went inside Gringotts, the goblins refused to give us any of our money. Lord Greengrass had claimed our vaults and effectively disowned us. I believe it was him who orchestrated the attack. We were considered emancipated like you for similar reasons. The only chance we had left was Cassie, but when I took the floo to her address… nothing was standing. Her body was just lying there among the rubble. We had to stay on the streets after that."

A dumbstruck Harry stared at her with his mouth agape. Daphne continued on with her story.

"I had to steal from people. Sometimes I went as far as to rob shops at night, anything to make sure that we survived. We starved so often and it was so cold during the nights. I gave Tori as much food as I could and anything warm enough I could get my hands on for her to wear. I did what I could to make sure Tori could live to see the next day"

When Daphne had finished telling her tale, Harry felt a tinge of guilt inside.

"What happened to your house elf?" Harry asked softly.

Hearing the question, her face suddenly sunk and she looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "She was fatally wounded before she even apparated us there. When we opened our eyes, she was already dead. Before I took the floo to Cassie, I found a place to bury her. Tori couldn't stop crying for days and had spoken much since that night. She used to play with her a lot, especially the last 2 years."

The two of them sat facing each other in silence, both trying to process what exactly happened in their minds.

Suddenly, Harry grabbed her hand and placed the bag of coins into it.

"You coward-" Daphne snarled.

"Before you say anything," Harry interrupted. "This is ours. Everything from this day on, we'll share it. After listening to your story…I realized that I can't just give up. I'll keep fighting and show everyone that I'll survive, no matter what, same as you. And to do that we need to work together to make it. All of us." He nodded towards Astoria.

Daphne looked at him in surprise at his speech before her lip curved into a small smile. It seemed that her story had changed him. She stared at him and could see nothing but pure determination in his eyes. She reached her hand out towards him. "Then partners?"

Grinning, Harry shook her hand. "Partners." he confirmed.

A/N: Thanks for reading! A lot has happened in this chapter so I guess I'll start clarifying some things.

With the relationship between Daphne and Harry going forward, I intend to make both of them equal. Daphne will NOT be a side character nor will she be sort of the "mentor" girlfriend. I intend for both of them to learn and grow together. Harry will have strengths and weaknesses and so will Daphne. The two of them will learn to adapt to those and cover for each other.

Harry family is alive. Yet he doesn't get along with them. Daphne grew up with parents who deeply cared for her. Yet they are dead. Both of them are similar yet also so different. This was the basis I had in mind when writing the story and this topic will come up between them in future.

Gringrotts and Goblins. Yeah, what they did was borderline illegal. But I always imagined the goblins as "greedy little buggers." That's what they are in this story. Harry is hated by the public and Daphne's grandfather is Lord Greengrass who the goblin profit off immensely. The goblins are going to take advantage of this fact and circumvent some rules. Their greed will get in the way before doing what's right. HOWEVER, don't think they'll get away scot free in the future :) there are consequences to every action in this story.

Reviewers: Thank you for reviewing! Your comments motivate me and help me learn as well!

AgentRip-Off: Glad you noticed that! It's actually going to be one of the early challenges they're going to have to go through! All I will say, is that they will be put in a situation where they must make a choice. :)

A/N 2: Uhh I completely forgot to mention. The words "Diane Greengrass Née Evans" does not mean incest between Harry and Daphne. It's something planned for the future and will be vital to the plot. Harry and Daphne are NOT related by blood in ANY way. That's all I can say but I fear I may have spoiled too much already. I know that most people are not into that so I had to really clear the air with this. And if you are into those kind of stories well hey, people have different preferences I guess, not judging.