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"…she's as stubborn as Severus."
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Daphne walked out of the floo and into the main hall of Greengrass manor. She looked around the enormous place. It felt like she was coming home after a very long time when she had only been gone for a few months.
A house elf popped in front of her and took her and Astoria's belongings to their respective rooms when Daphne felt her father's hand on her shoulder.
"Are you hungry?" Matthias, her father asked.
She shook her head without even looking at him or her mother Annabelle. "I will be in my room," she said before walking away as her parents stood there watching her go.
Annabelle wanted to go after her but Matthias stopped his wife. "Let her go," he said. "She needs to be alone right now. We'll talk once she has settled her thoughts."
Annabelle nodded slowly as she looked at Daphne walking away. Something had happened with her that Daphne hadn't told her parents about and while they both understood that she probably had a reason for it – whatever it was – it had left them in a bit of a situation. Matthias, however, knew that his daughter already had an idea about it which is why he didn't want to rush things with Daphne.
It was a few hours later when Daphne heard a knock on her door. "Come in, dad," she said knowing it was her father who then opened the door and walked inside. She was lying in her bed, reading a book before she sat up as her father walked up to her and sit on the bed next to her.
"Aren't you hungry?" he said with a soft smile when all of a sudden Daphne hugged him and began to cry. Matthias was surprised for a moment before he slowly hugged her back. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. He knew how Daphne was. He knew how strong she had to make herself look when she was at Hogwarts so that she could protect herself and Astoria from their own housemates. It was why she didn't cry or appear weak most of the time like other kids her age so whenever she was home, with her parents she could finally let go. However, this time she had surprised her father by letting go of her pent-up frustrations and emotions as she began to cry right away while holding on to him with dear life. He could sense that she was trembling a little as she cried with her face pressed hard on his chest while Matthias sat there slowly rubbing her back.
He didn't say anything to console her because he knew it wouldn't work with Daphne. That's how his daughter was – a no nonsense girl.
A few minutes later her cries reduced to sniffs as she slowly sat up straight and wiped her tears. Matthias looked at his daughter's red, puffed eyes. Looking her like that made him remember of when she was very little and would cry often. It made him think of her like she was still a toddler and that made him smile before he regained his composure and tilted her head up a little to look at her properly.
"I know what you are thinking so let me tell you that none of this is your fault," he said. He smiled when she looked a little surprised. "I am your father, remember?"
"I…don't know what to do," she said as she looked down. "I ruined everything…for Astoria, for myself…"
"No, you didn't," Matthias said. "Do you know why that is? It's because you are more mature than others of your age, because you take responsibility that others usually won't. If you think that you made a mistake then it's alright. It is after all, human nature. However, I don't think that you made any mistakes."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You are my daughter, Daphne and I know how you are," he said. "You don't do anything unless you've thought it through."
"What part of me helping Harry Potter sounds like I gave any thought to it?" she asked. "I was bored and hoped for some distraction and then he came out of nowhere asking for my help…"
"And you agreed to help him because you wanted to," Matthias said, "not because you were bored but because you are a good person. I have seen you pass up on opportunities where you could've 'distracted' yourself but you didn't."
As Daphne thought about it she realized that her father was right. However, the confusion still remained as she looked a little perplexed.
"I see that you still don't get it all the way," Matthias said. "Don't worry. You will, in time. While you are still too young to understand it that doesn't mean you cannot experience it."
"Experience what?" she asked.
"You'll know," he said smiling softly. "Now, come on. I can tell that you are hungry."
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An hour after dinner Matthias walked into his room before heading over to the bed. Annabelle was already under the blankets, reading a book on the latest researches on potions. Being a private healer by practice she liked to stay up to date with all kinds of potions that were concocted in the field of magical medicine.
She watched as her husband slowly climbed on to the bed and slid under the blanket. She closed the book and hugged him before kissing him on the forehead as he sighed tiredly.
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked after a moment of silence as she put her head on his shoulder.
Matthias held her hand, rubbing her knuckle with his thumb as he sat there looking at the wall in front of him. "I will nullify it," he said, "the contract."
Annabelle looked at him, slightly surprised by what he had just said. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"I shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place," he said. "I lost Daphne's respect because of it. I decided on her future without her permission."
"You did that to protect us," Annabelle said.
"Well, it didn't exactly work out in our favor though," Matthias said. "In order to avoid one devil I made pact with another. I gave up my daughter's future over a selfish decision. I should have thought things through, confronted the situation like a man but instead I acted like a coward."
"You really are like Daphne," Annabelle said, "always blaming yourself."
"That's because it was my decision," he said.
"It was my decision too," Annabelle said. "We both agreed on it together. It's just as much as my fault, so stop blaming yourself." She then paused for a moment before continuing. "So, if we are to nullify Daphne's betrothal with Theo, are we prepared to face the outcome?"
"It doesn't matter whether we are prepared," Matthias said. "We have to face it nonetheless. We are her parents and she is our daughter."
"You have thought of something," Annabelle said realizing her husband had a plan.
"A long time ago we helped a prominent family and we still haven't collected on that debt," he said. "I hope she remembers it because we are definitely going to need her help in this matter."
"What about repercussions?" Annabelle asked. "Nott isn't going to let this go. He is a man who knows how to hold a grudge."
"Well, we'll just have to hope for the best," Matthias said.
She held his hand in hers before kissing it. They lay there in silence staring at the ceiling as the ticking sound of the clock slowly filled the quiet room. "I think she likes him," Annabelle said after a while.
"You caught that too," Matthias said smiling softly. "Well, it's not easy for someone to win our Daphne's heart so he must be special, that Harry guy."
"Are you going to be tough on him because of that?" Annabelle asked.
"I am her father," he said. "It's my duty to intimidate whoever it is that my daughter has fallen for."
"She's also stubborn, you know?" Annabelle said. "She probably doesn't even know that she likes him and even if she does, she will never accept it for her own reasons. I wonder what Harry Potter thinks."
"What gave it away to you?" Matthias asked.
"The way she talked about him in vivid details when she first wrote to us about their problem regarding Rita Skeeter," she said. "She has never talked about someone like that, not even Tracey."
"Weren't you friends with his mother when you were in Hogwarts?" he asked.
"We knew each other but we weren't that close," she said. "However, it all changed when things went bitter between Lily and Severus. It's not like we started to see each other as enemies. We just stopped talking. I think it was easier for the both of us because we weren't really that close to begin with. We only got to know each other through Severus."
"You think she's the reason why Severus never married anyone?" Matthias asked.
"There's no doubt about it," Annabelle said. "Lily was his one and only love. I can only imagine how hurt he feels every time he sees Harry. That boy is a spitting image of his father when James was his age."
"No wonder why Severus hates him," Matthias said, "or maybe not. People say that the boy has his mother's eyes so maybe that is what is stopping Severus from completely hating on that boy. To him Harry is a constant reminder of the two people that Severus hated and loved more than anyone or anything in his life."
"Do you think that if Lily was alive today, things would've changed for the better between her and Severus?" Annabelle asked.
"I'm not sure, to be honest," Matthias said. "With how deep the animosity goes between Slytherins and Gryffindors, I assume James would've never let Severus come close to her. I still wonder if it was because of him that Lily distanced herself from Severus."
"Of course it was because of James," Annabelle said. "She never realized that Severus liked her. It was a one-sided affection while in the case of Lily and James their love for each other was mutual. You had already graduated so you didn't see the way he proposed to her in our sixth year. The lengths James went to in order to win her heart, it was the most romantic thing I'd ever seen. Severus couldn't have done anything like that because of how quiet and reclusive he was. He couldn't even admit his feelings for Lily so winning her over, it was a lost cause for him."
"But we both know that Severus loved her more than James ever did," Matthias said.
"As hard as it seems to be possible, that is the truth," Annabelle said before taking a minute-long pause. "So, what do we do as Daphne's parents?" she asked looking at her husband. "Should we talk to her?"
"Not unless she realizes it herself," Matthias said.
"That will take forever, then," she said sighing as Matthias chuckled. "When it comes to expressing her emotions or feelings she is as stubborn as Severus."
"Well, there is nothing we can do but wait for now," Matthias said.
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She felt the warm breeze on her face as she looked at the horizon beyond the sea. She liked the feeling of water washing up to her feet as she stood at the beach enjoying the beauty of the setting sun when she heard a child's cackle and looked to her left. She smiled as she saw the two make a sand castle. The small boy was laughing his heart out as the man sitting with him failed to make the final tower.
It looked like they were trying to make a replica of Hogwarts out of wet sand and it wasn't going very well for the father-son duo. Every time one of the towers crumbled down the boy laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. The father laughed as well. The two seemed to be having the best time together when the man turned and looked at her.
Daphne was surprised to see it was Harry. "Let's ask mommy," he said to the boy. "She is very good at making sand castles."
She stood there watching the boy run over to her before he held her hand and began to tug it. "Come on, mommy!" he said. "Dad says you can make the final tower."
For some reason it felt like she had found something that she had always longed for. She smiled before slowly letting the boy take her over to where Harry was. He stood up and kissed her softly on the lips when the boy said that they needed to complete the castle.
"Alright, alright," Harry said smiling as he lifted the boy up in his arms and looked at Daphne. "Now, mommy, why don't we finish the castle together?" he said.
Daphne smiled before kneeling down beside the sand castle as she filled the small bucket with enough sand and tilted it over. She then slowly removed it as a perfect sand form emerged from underneath it. She then took out her wand and conjured the bucket-shaped sand to look like a castle's tower.
"No, you can't use magic!" the boy said. "That's cheating."
"Oh, I am sorry," she said sounding apologetic as she and Harry looked at each other before he winked at her. "Here, let me try once more," she said as she began to pretend like she was shaping the tower with her hands while Harry waved his wand behind their son's back causing the tower to take the perfect form. "See? I did it," Daphne said looking at their son.
"Dad, look! Mommy did it!" the boy said.
"I told you that she would," Harry said as he ruffled his son's hair. "Now, how about we go back? The sun has set and it's going to get a little chilly out here. You don't wanna get cold now, do you?" The boy shook his head as Harry and Daphne stood up while their son grabbed each of their fingers before the three began to walk towards a small wooden cottage not too far from the beach. It was the only cabin/home that Daphne could see on the entire beach but the thought of living there just with her family made her smile.
She looked to her right at Harry and their son. They were her family and she loved them more than anything in this world. She smiled, wondering when she had gotten so lucky to have such a loving family of her own when suddenly there was a huge lightning. She looked up and saw dark clouds cover the evening sky.
"I think it's going to rain," she said as she looked at Harry but there was no one. He was gone along with the boy and the cabin in the distance. Daphne looked around, feeling panicked as she couldn't find Harry or the boy. Another lightning made her flinch in fear when she realized she could no longer hear the waves of the sea. It had suddenly gone too dark for her to see properly when she felt a yellowish light behind her. As she slowly turned around she saw rubbles and ruins of buildings in front of her with someone's hand sticking out from underneath them.
Her breath hitched as she slowly began to walk towards it. Her heart began to race with each step she took. She could feel the anxiety come over her as her throat dried up. Suddenly the rubbles started to float away, slowly revealing the person underneath them. It then turned on its own and Daphne stopped dead in her tracks as she looked at Harry lying there, dead. Half of his face had been smashed because of the rubble falling on to him. His glasses were broken and his left foot had been severed clean. That last injury looked more like it was from the result of a slicing hex rather than the house falling over him as Daphne stood there in utter shock and fear. She was trembling. Her legs became numb like the rest of her body before she fell on her knees.
"No!" nothing but a shaky whisper left her mouth as she watched Harry lying dead in front of her. She slowly reached for his face when a huge explosion threw her off of her feet.
Daphne woke up with a loud gasp and looked around in panic before she realized that it was just a nightmare. She was breathing hard as she tried to calm herself down. She reached for water on the nightstand and gulped down the entire thing. Only after that did she feel a little better. She looked at the clock. It was almost four in the morning. Despite it being winter she was feeling hot as she realized she was drenched in sweat. So she got off of the bed and headed over to the window and opened it all the way through, letting the cold air in. She sighed in relief as the winter air washed over her body making her close her eyes and enjoy the coldness.
As she closed her eyes images of Harry and that small kid came back to her. Everything from the sea breeze, the wet sand under her feet, to Harry and the kid, it all felt real and not like a dream. It was the same when she saw Harry dead under those rubbles. It was like she was actually in that place looking at him lying there dead. She could feel the heat from the fire around her and hear the cries of people.
Thinking about it made her feel anxious so Daphne focused on her breathing while keeping her eyes closed as she began to focus on an imaginary point, organizing her thoughts and memories around it. The process was called occlumency and it was taught in most pureblood houses to young kids so they could enhance their focus and improve their understanding when learning about magic. It was also used to protect one's memories from being seen by others without permission and needless to say Daphne was really good at keeping her mind organized.
After focusing for a while she felt a lot better as she calmed down. She had also started to feel a little cold with the window still open so she closed it before she looked at the night sky filled with winter clouds. The moon shining from above made them look like glowing cotton balls floating in the air.
As she stood there watching the clouds her mind went over to Harry and she wondered what he would be doing right now. 'He would obviously be asleep, you idiot,' she thought to herself before feeling a little embarrassed to think of such a dumb thing. They still had a week's worth of classes left before the winter holidays would begin at Hogwarts. Daphne wondered how Harry was doing after the second task. She hadn't talked to him since then and was wondering whether he was blaming himself for what had happened.
She knew he would be because that's how he was. She was planning on talking to him after she had recollected herself following the second challenge but then her parents had brought her home and she never got a chance to talk to him. She thought about writing him a letter but then decided against it as she thought it wouldn't feel right considering he might be angry with her for ignoring him after the second challenge.
She then remembered when Harry had once mentioned to her about the use of communication mirrors. It was before they were joined by both Tracey and Neville for the meetings. According to Harry letters took a lot of time, considering he and Daphne were living in the same castle. It also seemed to grab others' attention as one wouldn't normally get a letter almost every day.
Daphne had agreed but then the idea was seemingly forgotten after the first task came to an end and the two of them were joined by Tracey and Neville. Then there was also the whole ball thing followed by the second task.
Daphne then thought of something before she left her room and headed upstairs. Most rooms on that floor were kept closed as they were used for nothing but to store unwanted things. She opened one of those rooms and walked inside. Despite it being used as a storage room everything was kept neatly organized because that is how the Greengrasses were.
She looked around before finding the small trunk in the corner. She went over to it and opened it up. There were a few things scattered inside and she immediately spotted the large piece of mirror in there. She picked it up. It was a communication mirror and a pretty old one at that. It had a grid-like engraving on it so it could be broken off into smaller uniform pieces of the size of a hand-held mirror.
Daphne broke off two pieces before linking them together with the activation spell so that the two could be used to communicate with each other. She then checked to see if it worked and smiled as she looked into one piece and saw her reflection in the other one. She left the room with both pieces and went straight to the owlery from where she sent one of the pieces to Harry at Hogwarts, along with a short letter. He would get it by morning and the two could finally talk to each other…face-to-face.
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Thanks for reading…