The Eighth Year Universe
Love Wins
It's Time to Listen to Your Own Voice
The chapter title comes from the song:
Never Chase a Boy by Emily James.
Thea ignored her mother when she knocked on her bedroom door.
"Thea, I know you're in there, and you need to let me in," Daphne said coolly.
There was no noise and no movement from inside the room.
"Thea, this isn't a joke. You are in serious trouble, so open this door right now," Daphne ordered.
Still, nothing. So, Daphne did something she didn't like to do and forced it open with a basic unlocking charm she had learned when she first became a Curse Breaker.
Still, compared to Alohomora, it was positively advanced.
"Mum!"
Thea shrieked and shoved her wand behind her back.
Daphne stalked into the room and grabbed the book that was lying open on Thea's bed, "Are you doing magic?"
"No, and what the fuck?!" Thea remarked, "You can't just walk into my room. There are rules about privacy!"
"Yes, there are other rules as well, and unfortunately, you've broken some of them," Daphne said, fixing her daughter with a stern look. "And you know you aren't allowed to do magic at home, especially not this kind of magic!"
"What's wrong with Patronus magic?"
"What's wrong with it is that it's too advanced for you," Daphne said shortly, "It's not taught until seventh year for a reason."
"Dad learned it at 13," Thea muttered.
"Theodora, your father saved the wizarding world and killed the darkest wizard this country has ever seen!" Daphne snapped, "You cannot compare yourself to him, and you shouldn't because you are not fighting a war at 15 years old like he was!"
She pushed the door open and shook her head, "Doing magic too powerful for you is dangerous. It could burn you out or turn you into an obscurial. I thought you were smart enough to know that but then again, I didn't think you were foolish enough to get yourself into the trouble you are in right now."
"What trouble?" Thea asked, her voice shaking for the first time.
"I can't talk about it, but you need to come with me now," Daphne said, doing her best to keep her tone even.
Thea could tell it was serious, so she didn't fight her mother. Instead, she got to her feet and frowned, "Why can't you talk about it?"
"Because I can't speak to a suspect in a crime without an Auror present," Daphne said shortly.
Thea's eyes widened, and she swallowed.
"Good," Daphne said sarcastically, "You know exactly what you have done wrong."
"Mum - "
Daphne shook her head, "Come downstairs with me and when we get there, no matter how badly you want to lie, don't. It doesn't matter what questions you are asked, you tell the truth. Do you understand me?"
She felt awful when she saw her daughters eyes fill with tears, but Harry was right – Thea needed to grow up.
"Okay, Mum."
When Thea stepped into the basement, she knew something was seriously wrong. The fact her mother had barely said two words to her on the way down here had said it all.
Harry leant against his staff and looked at her disdainfully.
Thea looked between him and Draco, and they could all see the fear in her eyes.
"What's going on, Dad?"
"What's going on is that Draco is here on official business," Harry said coldly, "To interrogate you for leaking information about the Statute Saboteurs."
Thea's eyes widened, "But…I didn't tell the papers anything."
"Not directly, no," Harry said dryly, "But pillow talk with Zach Smith got you into this mess."
The panic Thea felt was written all over her face then. She looked from her dad to Neville, who looked irritated but not angry, then to Lilly, who looked disappointed.
She swallowed and looked at her mother, who looked tired and on the verge of tears.
"Draco can't interrogate you without a guardian," Harry continued, "So pick someone to sit in there with you."
He motioned over to the bar, which had a silencing bubble around it, and Thea looked up tearfully.
Daphne stepped forward.
"I ought to be with you," She said quietly, "Since I'm the one who failed you."
Thea blinked her tears away, "What…you didn't…you didn't fail me, Mum."
"We're here, aren't we?" Daphne asked. She still sounded resigned, "So clearly, I did."
Thea shook her head, "I want you to come with me anyway, please."
Daphne nodded and motioned towards the bar. Thea glanced around at the other adults then headed in that direction. Daphne and Draco followed her, and Harry sighed and turned away from them.
Lilly hugged him again, and Harry rested his head on her shoulder. He closed his eyes for a second, took a breath to compose himself, opened them, and looked at Neville.
The taller man nodded and stepped forward. He reached past Lilly to grab Harry's shoulder.
"She's going to be okay," he promised.
"She's a Potter," Lilly agreed. She pulled back and smiled at Harry.
Thea sat down on a barstool, and Draco took a seat opposite her. Daphne leant against the bar and hovered in the background.
"Thea, you need to understand that this is all on record," Draco said calmly, "Everything you say, okay?"
Thea nodded, "I understand."
Draco flipped open a notepad and glanced at Daphne over Thea's shoulder, but she refused to meet his eye.
"Thea, earlier today Zachary Smith was arrested for sexual assault. Under questioning, he claimed to have had sexual intercourse with you. Is that true?"
Thea opened her mouth and looked up at her mother. She remembered her earlier words about not telling lies.
With a sigh, Thea looked down and nodded slightly, "It's true."
Draco tried his best to ignore the small, sad sound that came from Daphne then. But Thea couldn't; it made tears glisten in her eyes again.
"Was it consensual?" Draco asked.
Thea nodded again, "Yes."
"On…how many occasions did this happen?" Draco asked.
Daphne turned around; Draco suspected that she was crying.
"Just once," Thea whispered, "A few weeks ago."
Draco nodded and closed his notebook, "Was it on this occasion that you spoke to him about the Statute Saboteurs?"
"Yes," Thea admitted.
Draco steeled himself and tried to be hard on her. He knew that was what Harry wanted, for him to put a bit of fear into her, but he couldn't – she was a girl he had watched growing up, and Draco had never been able to interrogate children harshly. He was reminded of how terrified he had felt as a child; he knew that kids did stupid things for stupid reasons.
It was why he had always favoured a gentler interrogation approach.
"It is really important that you tell me everything you told him," Draco said, "Because people's lives may depend on it."
Thea looked up at him, "Everything."
Draco looked between Thea and Daphne. He nodded, "Everything."
Thea let a few tears fall, and she shook her head, "No, I mean…I told him everything. He was like my human diary. He listened to me all the time. Nobody else listens to me. They just brush me off because they're too busy or because they have something else to do or someone else they'd rather be with."
Daphne swallowed and looked away, "We don't brush you off, Thea."
"You do, Mum," Thea said quietly, "Everyone does. But Zach didn't, so I told him everything. I…uh, I told him what I really think about Andie and my friends. I…told him all about the ups and downs in my relationship with Dad and you. I told him about Dad trying to kill himself when I was a kid and about how you two nearly split up, but you didn't because of me."
"What?"
Thea looked over at her mother, "I'm the only reason you stayed together. If you'd only had the three kids, you would have split up, but you had a newborn baby, so you didn't."
"No," Daphne said, her voice breaking, "No, that is not true, and Thea, you should never have tried to carry that. Your dad and I stayed together because we loved each other. Despite all the bad things that happened, we loved each other. We still love each other, and we always will. It wasn't just for you."
"It wasn't?" Thea asked tearfully.
Daphne shook her head and pulled her daughter into a hug.
Draco watched them sadly and gave them a moment before he resumed the interrogation.
Thea wiped her eyes and kept her hand in her mum's, "Sorry, Draco."
Draco shook his head, "This will take as much time as it needs to, don't worry. What else did you tell Zachary Smith?"
Thea sniffed, "I told him about how Dad fought with Aunt Hermione, but I didn't tell him why. And I uhm, told him that my parents were with Aunt Lilly and Uncle Neville in Hungary trying to catch the Statute Saboteurs. Then I told him that the Saboteurs were in a safe house in Wales. But I didn't tell him anything after that."
"I wish he had sold the news that Harry was an alcoholic and our marriage was a shambles," Daphne sighed. She looked over at Draco. "It would have been far less damaging on a political and national scale."
"I know," Draco agreed.
"What do you mean?" Thea asked.
Draco looked at Daphne, who nodded behind Thea's back. So he launched into an explanation.
"You need to understand the implications of what you did, Thea. When you told Zach Smith all of that, you probably just thought you were taking a load off, enjoying being listened to by someone. But he was using you. Everything you told him was being fed back to his father."
Thea swallowed, "So he didn't really…love me?"
Draco shook his head and looked at her sympathetically, "No, he didn't. I'm sorry."
Thea smiled bitterly and nodded, looking down at the ground, "That would be wishful thinking, I guess. That someone could actually just love me for who I am."
Draco wanted more than anything to say, 'well, maybe someone does'. But he couldn't, Cas was his son, and he couldn't bring him up in an official interrogation.
Daphne squeezed Thea's hand, and Thea sniffed, keeping her gaze downward.
"When Zacharias Smith leaked the news to the Prophet, it put the Statute Saboteurs at risk," Draco continued, "Because they were being controlled and manipulated by a very cruel man. And now, that cruel man knows they have betrayed him because people are only put in safe houses to protect them from the people they are testifying against."
"But…" Thea said weakly, "They're the bad guys."
"No, they aren't," Draco said calmly, "It looks that way when you're a kid. You see someone doing a bad thing, and you think that makes them the bad guy. But sometimes there's a bigger fish. Sometimes they do bad things because the real bad guy has threatened their family or the person they love. Sometimes they are forced into it, using magic or just fear."
Thea looked at Draco tearfully.
"I have been that kid," Draco said softly. "The bad guy, and….it would have been easy for everyone to look at me the way you are looking at the Saboteurs – with a black and white view that they deserve everything coming to them for what they did."
"But," Draco continued, looking through the silencing charm to catch Harry's eye.
"People didn't look at me that way because of your dad," Draco looked back to Thea.
"My dad?" Thea echoed.
"Your dad saw the good in me when not many people could," Draco said calmly, "He saved me from going to Azkaban. He convinced me that I was worth his time, and if I was worth his time, maybe I wasn't such a waste of space. I fell in love with my wife because of your dad, so everything I have, the family I have built, it's because of him."
The realisation dawned in Thea's eyes then.
Draco smiled at Thea, "I owe everything I have to your dad, and I never stopped being grateful to him for that. I don't suppose you knew that."
Thea shook her head, "I didn't," she admitted.
"So, you see," Draco finished, "We can't call them the bad guys just because they did bad things."
Thea nodded, "Are they going to die because of me?"
Draco paused and then decided to answer honestly, "I hope not. I have done everything I can to make sure that where they are, they are safe. I'm doing everything I can to catch the man who did this to them in the first place. But….there is still a chance that he finds them, yes."
Thea rubbed her eyes, and her voice cracked.
"I'm so sorry."
She turned to look at Daphne, "I'm so sorry, Mum."
Daphne sighed and pulled her daughter into a hug. She looked at Draco over her shoulder, "Are we done?"
Draco nodded and brought down the silencing charm, "Yeah, we're done. I'm sorry, Daph."
Daphne shook her head, "It had to be done."
Draco gave her a slight nod and stepped down into the basement. He clapped Harry on the shoulder on the way past him and muttered, "Thanks."
Harry frowned over at him, "For what?"
Draco smiled slightly, "Everything, I suppose. But…mainly for forgiving me all of those years ago, for saving me from Azkaban. Talking to Thea just now, I realised that maybe I don't thank you enough for that."
"You don't have to," Harry promised, "You were never a bad person, Draco. Just a kid who made all the wrong choices."
Harry's eyes went to his daughter, and Draco squeezed his shoulder.
"Then I'm proof that kids who make the wrong choices don't always turn out so bad in the end, aren't I?"
Harry swallowed and nodded.
Draco gave his shoulder a final squeeze and let himself out of the basement.
Daphne then put her arm around Thea and brought her over to them.
"You okay, sweetheart?" Lilly asked.
Thea nodded and didn't look up at her aunt, "I'm sorry…for not listening to your advice."
Lilly sighed and pulled her into a hug, "He'll be your Michael Corner, I'm telling you. You're gonna spend the rest of your life despairing about the fact he was the guy you lost it to. You'll meet someone great and wish you had waited."
Daphne looked at Harry over Thea and sighed, "You will," she agreed.
Harry smiled half-heartedly, "Well, the first one isn't always the one."
Neville nodded and looked down at Thea when Lilly eventually let her go.
"Just promise he didn't force you into anything?" He asked, that protective look that they usually only saw in his eyes when someone was threatening his children, shining there.
Thea nodded, "He didn't, I promise."
Neville let out a breath of relief, and Thea looked at Harry, who hadn't said anything directly to her yet.
"Can you forgive me, Dad?"
Harry sighed and pulled her into a bear hug, "You're my baby girl. I'll always forgive you."
Thea sobbed tearfully and buried her head in Harry's chest.
Daphne looked from the door that Draco had left through to Thea and added.
"And I wouldn't be so sure that nobody loves you for you, by the way."
Thea looked up at her mum and sniffed, "What?"
"You're as blind to love as your father, Theodora," Daphne said, a smile playing on her lips, "And I don't think you can see quite how much Caspian Black adores you."
Thea's eyes widened, "Cas….but…Cas?"
"Cas," Daphne said with a nod, "Cas, who won't look at a single other girl in the room. Cas, who fobs everyone else off when you need him."
Harry smiled slightly and kissed the top of Thea's head.
"Don't sell yourself short, and never settle. You can do better than a Smith; you deserve better."
"You're just saying that because you're my dad," Thea muttered.
"I'm not your dad, and I agree with him," Neville said with a slight smile, "Thea, you are smart and beautiful. You are brilliant, and he's mediocre. Brilliant people don't settle for mediocre people."
Lilly smiled and leaned into Neville's embrace.
"No, they don't," She agreed.
"So stop settling for what you think you deserve," Daphne said, giving Thea a knowing look.
"And let yourself have what you actually deserve."
Blacknot Castle
It was late by the time Draco got home. He had gone back to the ministry and had a lengthy meeting with Ben about what Thea had said. At the moment, it looked like Zach would get two years in the low-security sector of Azkaban for statutory rape.
Ben was exhausted, having just had a shouting match with his brother over the whole thing. Zacharias Smith was so sure that his perfect son couldn't possibly be at fault, after all. Ben had run a hand through his hair and told Draco that sometimes he thought he was the only sane person in his family.
The Statute Saboteurs had been moved to a new safehouse. And extra safety precautions had been put in place – including encryption of any files containing information about them in case Lazarus managed to breach the DMLE.
Eventually, Draco headed home, and despite the castle being in darkness, there was one person he needed to speak to.
Knock. Knock.
"What?"
"I need to talk to you, Cas," Draco said through the thick, wooden door, "Please let me in."
There was a sigh, then the door was yanked open.
Draco stepped into his son's domain and glanced around. He didn't often get to see his bedroom while he was in it. But it was funny because it was quite similar to Draco's teenage bedroom.
Everything was Slytherin green, and everything was silken. But Draco's room hadn't been allowed to have too much personality in it, and that was a rule he'd abolished when he became a father.
It was for that reason there was a broom on the wall. It was old, and Cas had a newer model now. But he had been on that broom when he caught his first snitch, in the final between Appleby Arrows Juniors and Puddlemere Juniors. He'd won Appleby Juniors the cup, and Draco had cheered so hard his voice was hoarse for a week. Not that it stopped him from bragging about the win every time he spoke to Theo or Harry, though.
A corkboard hung next to the bed, full of pictures that Cas's friend Jess had taken. Jessica Wood was a Gryffindor, Cas was a Slytherin, but it didn't matter because none of that mattered anymore. Draco loved that, and he wished it had been his world when he was Cas's age.
Most of the photographs had Thea in them. Sometimes Tyler and Taylor Zabini were there too. Those four were all in Slytherin, all in the same year, and they were quite the quartet.
"What do you want?" Cas asked, throwing himself back onto his bed dramatically.
Draco smiled slightly. Cas was going through a phase, but he wasn't concerned about it because all kids did, like Daphne had said earlier.
In wizarding children, it always happened around the same time. Usually, towards the end of their fifth year, into the summer before their sixth. It was around this time that most wizarding kids turned 16. That was when their magic started to stabilise, allowing the witch or wizard to flourish in that year between 16 and 17.
That was the golden year when you discovered who you were. When you discovered what your magic made you.
And at 15, turning 16, with hormones raging and magic all over the place, it didn't feel like it would get better. But it did, and those with hindsight tried to tell the younger generation that, to no avail.
Draco sat down on the edge of Cas's bed and said, "I noticed that you hadn't brought Thea up for a few weeks."
Cas shrugged, "We fell out when everyone went to Hungary. Then her dad was sick, and I figured she didn't want me hovering around, so I just stayed out of her way."
Draco looked over at his son, "What did you fall out about?"
Cas sighed and looked up at Draco, "Stupid stuff. Why do you even care, Dad?"
"Because she's important to you," Draco answered honestly, "And I think it's my job to care about the things that are important to you because if I don't…."
"It makes you like your father?" Cas guessed.
Draco frowned but nodded.
Cas pushed himself up and nodded, "I looked him up, you know? None of the others cared. They just said that the past was the past and it didn't matter. But it mattered to me, I care about where I come from, and I wanted to know what came before me."
"You looked up my father?" Draco asked quietly.
Cas nodded again, "Yours, and Pops…Mama's too."
"And you figured it out then?" Draco asked, trying to keep his voice even, "That your Mum is the only one of us who comes from good people?"
Cas frowned and shook his head, "No, I worked out why you're all as strong as you are. You don't talk about what you must have gone through when you were my age. But I like history, Dad. I love it, actually, I think…maybe that's what I want to do with my life. Research, write, share stories that ought to be told."
Draco looked over at Cas in surprise.
And Cas brushed his blonde hair away from his face and fixed his grey eyes on Draco.
"Your fathers weren't good people," Cas agreed, "But your mothers were. You had Grandma, and Pops had the love he knew his mother had for him. Mama…well, her mum wasn't all bad."
Draco laughed weakly and nodded, "No, she was…something else, but she wasn't all bad," he agreed.
"I understand why being good fathers is so important to you and Pops, and I'm sorry that all the extra attention you gave us because of that made me act like a spoiled brat sometimes."
Draco clapped a hand against his back and nodded, "You're a teenager, Cas. You're allowed to be a brat," he promised.
Cas smiled slightly.
"And honestly, I…came in here to talk to you about Thea," Draco admitted, "But first, I need to know what you fell out about."
Cas shrugged and waved a hand, "She lied to me. She said she was dating Eddie, you know Andie's ex?"
Draco nodded.
"But she wasn't," Cas said, "I saw Eddie at Duelling Club a few weeks ago, and he said he'd made out with Thea once, but that was it. She lied to me, Dad, and I'm supposed to be her best friend."
"Well, I think I might know why she lied to you," Draco said honestly, "Because she did have a boyfriend, but she probably thought you would have judged her if you knew who."
Cas gave him a disbelieving look, "Not Smith?"
"Smith," Draco said with a sigh, "And….things are complicated with them right now, Cas."
Cas's eyes widened, "What…no, he didn't…?"
"They slept together, consensually," Draco said, making sure that the last part was clear.
"And I have permission to talk to you about this, from Thea, because it is confidential," Draco continued.
Hurt flickered across Cas's face, "She slept with him."
Draco sighed, "Yes. But Thea's birthday is later than yours. She isn't 16 until the middle of next week. which makes it statutory rape." Smith might get two years inside for it."
Cas frowned and shook his head, "But we're not classed as adults until we're 17. She's two years younger than that!"
Draco nodded, "I know, and trust me – if I had it my way, the age of consent would be raised to 17. Most people consider it to be, to be honest, but legally, someone can have sex from the age of 16."
Cas scoffed and shook his head, "You checked she wasn't under the influence of any love potions?"
"We didn't need to," Draco said gently, "She told us that it had been consensual, and she explained why she did it. That's for her to tell you, though."
With a shake of his head, Cas asked, "Why? Why would someone so…so perfect stoop so low? She's….she's brilliant, Dad."
"But she doesn't think she is, son," Draco said softly, "She thinks she's broken and messy. She thinks no one wants to deal with the mess, and Zach Smith is older; he's manipulative. He listened to her. He made her feel like her feelings were valid, and she believed him because she was desperate for someone to love her."
"I do," Cas said quietly.
Draco nodded, "I know you do, but I don't think she knows that."
"Or she doesn't care," Cas said. He wasn't crying or tearful; he just sounded resigned. Draco knew that feeling well.
In many ways, the way things were playing out with Cas and Thea wasn't too dissimilar to how things had played out between himself and Pansy. That had crashed and burned, of course, but Draco had always felt like…. another time, another place… maybe it wouldn't have been such a disaster.
"I think she cares," Draco promised, "I'm just not sure she knows how to show that yet. But she will, in time. Just….don't give up on her too soon, okay?"
Cas looked up at him, "You sound like you're talking from experience."
Draco nodded and met Cas's eye, "I was in love with someone like Thea once. She didn't know what she wanted from love, and I did. I was sure of myself and of her, and she wasn't as sure of me. I lost her….and it still haunts me, even though I love the family I have now."
Cas glanced down, "Pansy, right? The girl you got the tattoo for?"
Draco thought about the tattoo and nodded, "Pansy, yes."
"Did you…" Cas trailed off then tried again, "That tattoo has an unopened bud on it, so…does that mean you had a baby with her?"
"No," Draco replied. He smiled tearfully at his son, "I didn't. We were going to, but then she died. It's…not easy to talk about, but maybe you need to hear this."
Cas frowned slightly.
Draco rubbed his eyes and sighed, "I know you hate your name. You say it's stupid or exotic, it's not pureblood enough, that 'Cas' is a girls name."
"And you weren't named that because of where your mum and I were holidaying," Draco promised, "I let your mum pick your name. Elladora is an old Black name, but we refused to give you a Black name. Sirius was sacred to Harry - and Orion, Arcturus, Regulus all felt like names for old men."
Caspian laughed at that, "Yeah, true."
Draco smiled slightly, "I always wanted to call my firstborn son Scorpius. That was what you were going to be called the whole time your mum was pregnant with you. Then you were born, and I looked at you, and all I could see was the child I lost with Pansy because she loved the name Scorpius too, so I couldn't call you that."
Cas watched his father carefully.
"So your mum said, 'How about Caspian?' and I said, 'What? For the sea?' Then she hit me over the head and said, 'No, you idiot, for Prince Caspian', who it turned out was a character in her favourite Muggle book."
Draco smiled over at Cas, "And she told me the story of this prince, who was the rightful king of Narnia, but who had been forced into exile. Despite that, he got a happy ending because he got his kingdom back, and he was a good, fair king and…that was what I wanted for you."
Cas smiled a little tearfully.
"I wanted you, as my firstborn son and as it transpires, my only biological son," Draco continued, "To carry on with what I've started. I wanted you to be good and true. I….wanted the name Black to carry on meaning more than it did when I was a kid."
Draco cleared his throat and wiped his eyes.
"So we called you Caspian."
Cas nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Thanks, Dad," He said hoarsely, "I…I love my name, and I'll make sure I live up to this Prince Caspian. Do you…uh know where I can find a copy of the Muggle book you're talking about?"
Draco smiled warmly, "Your mum has a battered old copy in the library. I'll dig it out for you," he promised.
"Thanks," Cas said again, and they both knew he meant for more than just agreeing to find the book for him.
"Anytime," Draco promised.
Potter Manor
Thea sighed and pulled a pillow over her face when Lilly walked into her bedroom.
"I hate this stupid open door policy."
"Well, it's what happens when you can't be trusted, Thea," Lilly said calmly, "You don't get privacy charms on your bedroom door anymore."
Thea rolled her eyes and peered out from behind the pillow, "You're not actually my mum, you know that, right?"
"Yes, I do," Lilly said simply. "But I can only deduce from your foul mood and frankly, diabolical attitude that you already know what I'm doing here?"
Thea looked at her with a pink blush rising in her cheeks, "My mum doesn't think I'm smart enough to use protection, so she wants you to make sure I'm not pregnant?"
"No, actually," Lilly said.
She pulled the stool away from Thea's vanity table and sat on it, surveying the girl lying on her bed.
"She asked me to check you over, and I said, 'Make sure she's not pregnant, you mean?' but your mum shook her head and said that she didn't think you were that stupid," Lilly said simply.
Thea frowned, "Really?"
"Really," Lilly echoed, "What she wasn't so sure of was whether that creep Smith had given you anything nasty, so here I am. Time for some fun diagnostic charms."
"Ugh," Thea groaned, pulling her pillow over her face, "No! You're my aunt. You can't do this, it's invasive and weird!"
"Thea, I literally do this for a living," Lilly said matter of factly, "And I think I might bring you along to help at next week's sexual health clinic. It'll put you off letting any bloke shove something in your - "
"Aunt Lilly!" Thea shrieked, "Just stop!"
Lilly smirked, "Let me do the diagnostic charms, then I'll go."
"Ugh, fine!"
Ten minutes later…
"She's fine."
Daphne breathed a sigh of relief and looked up from the paper, "Thank Merlin."
Lilly grabbed a cup of coffee and pushed herself onto the work surface. She looked over at Daphne and let her legs swing down, "I mean, she's absolutely mortified, obviously. But I did a pretty thorough check-up because she had sex so young, but honestly, she's totally healthy."
Daphne nodded and looked down, her eyes on the paper even though she wasn't really paying any attention to it.
"What age were you when you lost your virginity?"
Lilly had been expecting the question, so she swallowed her mouthful of coffee and replied, "16. It was the end of our sixth year."
Daphne nodded, "I was 15, so was Draco."
"I know," Lilly admitted.
"It makes me a hypocrite, doesn't it?" Daphne asked. She frowned up at her best friend, "For being disappointed in her."
"No," Lilly said softly, "It just means you didn't want her to make the same mistake that you did. But children often do, Daphne. It's a proven fact, women who have children young, for example, their children often become young parents too."
Daphne tapped her perfectly manicured fingernails off the table and hummed thoughtfully.
"There's no shame in it," Lilly added, "Especially because you aren't angry. Like you said, you're just disappointed."
Daphne nodded but didn't say anything.
"Harry, on the other hand," Lilly said. She shook her head, "He's a hypocrite."
Daphne's eyes snapped up, "Why?"
"Because yes, the age gap is bigger, but Harry committed the exact same crime as Zachary Smith," Lilly said simply, "He was 16 when he slept with Ginny. In fact, he was only a month or so off being 17. But Ginny? She was 15 and a lot further from her 16th birthday than Thea is."
Daphne paused while she thought about that, "Shit…he is a bit of a hypocrite. I mean I know he'll think that it was different because they were in a relationship. But really, it's not that different…she was his fangirl."
"I think she was over that by the time they dated," Lilly said in Ginny's defence.
"Hm," Daphne murmured.
Lilly shrugged, "But it's not that different, you're right. That's all I'm saying. He's upset because Thea is his baby girl, and I get that. But he's being a hypocrite."
Daphne sighed but nodded.
"You're right."
London
Daphne pulled her coat closer to her body and flung her scarf around her shoulder. It was a cold evening for August.
Draco was waiting for her on the South Bank of the Thames river. He was sitting on a bench, wearing a long black trenchcoat and overly shiny shoes.
She chuckled and sat down next to him, accepting the cardboard coffee cup he was holding out.
"Mr Black."
Draco shot her an amused look, "This is my Muggle attire."
"I know. You just happen to look like a spy when you wear it," Daphne said. She smiled slightly and sipped her coffee, then she looked out over the river.
"We haven't been here in a long time."
"Hm," Draco agreed with a nod.
The spot where they were sitting was lined with trees and benches and lit by old Victorian street lamps. It was somewhere they both loved because their fathers had met here for coffee when they were young, and they had often brought Draco and Daphne along.
Daphne looked over at him, "The last time we were here, you told me you were going to marry me."
Draco's eyes darkened, "Then I got branded with the dark mark later that same day."
Daphne sighed and shook her head, "Do you ever look at Thea and Cas and think of what we could have been?"
"All of the time," Draco admitted, "But I'm not bitter about it. Everything that happened….it happened for a reason. I couldn't imagine having anything but the family I have now, and let's be honest, you were never going to be okay with Theo and me."
Daphne wrinkled her nose up, "He's my cousin."
Draco smiled slightly, "He's Hermione's cousin too. I guess she's just more open-minded than you."
Daphne snorted, "Hermione Granger, really?"
Draco grinned and got to his feet.
Daphne followed his example and rose to her feet. She hooked her arm through Draco's, and they strolled together, sipping their coffee and thinking back to simpler times.
"We can't judge Thea, can we?" Daphne asked him, "Not when we were doing what she is at the same age."
"We were younger." Draco said, "She's a few weeks off 16. I was 15 and ½, and you were 3 months from your 16th birthday."
Daphne sighed and said, "I want to say that it's different, but it isn't, and if I try to say that it was, then it makes me a hypocrite."
Draco shook his head and looked at her, "No, it is different. Did you feel 15 when we were dating? Because I sure as hell didn't."
Daphne frowned and shook her head, "No. I felt like I'd been primed to marry you for at least 8 years by that point."
"And I was getting pushed into things I didn't want to be a part of by my father," Draco said quietly, "I had been since the end of our fourth year."
"I know," Daphne said quietly.
"Thea wasn't raised like we were," Draco said quietly, "You didn't raise your sons to be heirs and your daughters to be married off, Daphne. You raised them properly."
"So did you," Daphne said with a half-hearted smile.
Draco shrugged and looked down, "We both raised our kids the way we said we would when we were together. We just had them with different people."
"Then became step-siblings," Daphne muttered.
Draco laughed at the comment, "Yes, well, I don't think either of us saw that one coming, to be fair."
Daphne chuckled and sipped her coffee. Then she glanced over at Draco, "Thanks for asking me to come out tonight. I didn't realise that I needed to have this chat, but you and I are the only ones who get it because we are the only ones who had sex that young."
"I know," Draco joked, "Even Theo waited till he was 16 to start sleeping his way through our year group."
Daphne snorted in amusement, "It was young, wasn't it? To be doing that kind of thing."
"It was," Draco agreed, "And for a while, I regretted it. But now that I'm older, when I look back at everything with the experiences I've had since then…I don't."
"No, I don't either," Daphne promised.
"So maybe Thea won't either," Draco said. He smiled at Daphne, "If you give her the benefit of the doubt."
"I will," Daphne promised, "Thanks, Draco."
Potter Manor
"Lilly called you a hypocrite."
"What?"
"She called you a hypocrite," Daphne said. She shoved her feet into her boots and got up.
Harry frowned at her and finished adjusting his tie, "Why?"
"Because you slept with Ginny when she was 15, and you were nearly 17."
Harry rolled his eyes, "You're making that sound worse than it was. She was nearly 16, and I was nearly 17."
"She wasn't, though," Daphne said. She cocked her head at Harry, "It was in June, right? And she didn't turn 16 until August. Thea did what she did a month, give or take, before her birthday."
"So there's one month's difference," Harry said in disbelief, "And I was a year older, not two."
"Still, the fact you're being defensive implies you know you did something wrong," Daphne said matter of factly.
Harry sighed and turned to look at her, "Do we have to do this on the morning of your father's funeral?"
"Well, we have to do it sometime, don't we?" Daphne asked.
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down, "It's already a shit day. It can't exactly get worse, can it?"
Harry shook his head irritably, "Yes, I acknowledge that it was wrong. I didn't know it was illegal at the time, but if that had come out when I was Head Auror, I probably would have had to step down."
Daphne didn't say anything.
"But it's not the same," Harry continued, "Because I loved Ginny and I let her take the lead and she…well, she wasn't like Thea."
Daphne scoffed, "Ginny wasn't a virgin so it was okay to have sex with her when she was underage? Right."
Harry glared at her, "Daphne, don't be like that. It - "
"That was what you were saying," Daphne said coolly, "And those standards are disgusting. What happened to the Harry Potter who was a feminist? Who said it didn't matter how many people a girl had slept with, huh?"
"He had daughters!" Harry snapped, fixing his gaze on Daphne, "And I don't want this for them. I don't want Thea to be Ginny. I don't want her marrying someone she doesn't really love because she's pregnant with his kid."
Daphne nodded, "Well, at least the truth is finally out. You're angry because you're scared."
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Then he finally admitted, "Of course I'm scared, she's my baby. She's our youngest kid."
Daphne crossed the room and pulled him into a hug, "She's not stupid, Harry. I know right now, you think she is. But she isn't."
Harry sighed against Daphne's hair.
"Maybe she just feels older than she is," Daphne said softly. She pulled back and kissed his cheek, "You did, and Ginny probably did."
Harry thought of everything Tom Riddle had done to Ginny when she was only 11, and he nodded.
"I did, and Draco did," Daphne said softly, "So let's try treating her the same way we treat Andrea."
Harry frowned at his wife, and Daphne clarified, "Less like a kid, and more like a young woman. She's our baby, but she's not a baby anymore, Harry."
Harry nodded and kissed the top of her head as he pulled her back into the hug.
"Okay."
The Surrey Hills
Everyone who had been close to Cygnus knew that what he loved most of all on a quiet, sunny day was to walk in the Surrey Hills. From the higher vantage points, Greengrass House could be seen from here.
Since he was a child when things had been difficult for Cygnus, he had walked as far away from it all as he could, pausing atop the hills to look at the house below.
That was why Daphne and Astoria had always known that this was what he wanted. Their father wanted his ashes to be scattered from the hill with the best view of Greengrass House.
Daphne held the ornate urn in her hands and looked around at the little gathering. It wasn't a huge funeral gathering. He had every right to have one. He was perfectly entitled to a state funeral as a former minister, but Cygnus hadn't wanted that.
All the same, the people who mattered were here.
Astoria had her hand in Charlie's, and he had his arm around Will. On Will's other side was Amber.
Harry was standing with the kids – Teddy had an arm around Alastor, Andrea was standing a little distance away with Lilly, who had a hand on her shoulder. And Harry had Thea by his side. She was keeping her head down, refusing to say anything or meet anyone's eye. Neville stood just behind them, keeping tabs on his three children.
The Black-Nott's had all come to say goodbye. All six kids had made an effort, and it didn't escape Daphne's notice that Cas kept chancing glances at Thea, but she wasn't making eye contact with anyone.
Narcissa was standing with Draco, whose arm was hooked through his mothers. She kept her head down, but there was no hiding her red eyes or the tear stains on her cheeks. She had barely been able to stop crying all day.
"Thank you all for being here today," Daphne began. Her voice was steady, even if she felt completely unsteady right now.
"I know Dad is somewhere better than here," Daphne continued. "The Land of Eternal Summer, something I once thought was a dream, but then I nearly lost my husband, and now I think maybe peace isn't so unattainable."
She swallowed and took a breath, "Dad made mistakes, and he knew that. He wasn't perfect, but he never pretended to be either. Instead, he kept trying. Even when things went wrong and some of us here wanted to hate him, he kept trying to make things right and he did, in the end."
Her voice broke, and Astoria stepped forward to take her sister's hand.
Daphne managed a tearful smile in Astoria's direction. Then she looked out at the others who had gathered around to see Cygnus off.
"Although I didn't see it when I was young, and frankly, I'm not sure Dad did either - he loved us," Daphne said firmly, "He loved his family. Ever since we were kids, we had that drummed into us – 'Family First, girls', he would always say."
With a sad smile, Daphne looked down, "He would tell us he had daughters, not sons, so maybe the name would die out, but the motto wouldn't. Greengrass's would always put family first, and that would be how our legacy never died. How his legacy never died."
Astoria squeezed Daphne's hand, and with a shaky breath, Daphne continued.
"And he was right," Daphne promised.
She looked up at her children and said, "Because family is everything. If we die without family, then nobody remembers us. But Dad will be remembered by so many because he was loved by so many. He touched the lives of his children and his grandchildren."
Daphne looked over at Narcissa, "And he married the love of his life. So I think maybe we should all live our life a little more like he did."
"He came back from the brink of death, and to him, every day was a blessing. Every milestone, every grandchild he met, it was all a blessing, something he didn't think he would live to see. He was living proof that people change, things go wrong, but life goes on."
Daphne swallowed and nodded.
"He believed that we should learn from our mistakes but never regret them. He believed in always forgiving those you love because, as he once said to me, 'life is too short to hate someone you really love'."
Daphne took a step back and opened the urn. Then she handed it to Astoria.
"So we promise to keep putting family first, the way you taught us, Dad."
"We promise that your legacy will be family like you always wanted."
Together, Astoria, Daphne and Narcissa scattered the ashes, and the wind carried them off in the direction of Greengrass House.
Greengrass House
The wake was depressing, as wakes tended to be. Everyone split into smaller groups; they whispered amongst themselves. Some people ate food from the buffet on offer, some drank the free alcohol, and some just kept to themselves.
Amber sat down on the edge of Astoria's chair and murmured, "You doing okay?"
"I'm fine," Astoria said quietly.
Amber didn't look convinced, "So you're pale cause you just said goodbye to your dad? Not for any other reason."
Astoria leant back against the chair and met Amber's eye, "I'm fine."
"You're hungry."
"Not here."
Amber raised an eyebrow, "Because it's your dad's wake or because this is your childhood home?"
"Both," Astoria said. She rubbed her eyes and let out another sigh.
Amber rolled her eyes and grabbed Astoria's hand, "Come on."
"Amber - "
"It's been a few days, Astoria," Amber cut in, "If you don't feed now, you're going to bite someone's head off, and I do mean that literally."
Astoria gave her an exasperated look but didn't disagree.
"Come on," Amber said again.
"Fine," Astoria sighed.
"Where's Astoria?"
"She disappeared with Amber ten minutes ago," Daphne said with a wave of her hand, "And judging from how peaky she was looking, I can guess what the problem was."
Charlie leant against the kitchen table and shook his head, "I told her to feed before the wake, but she said she was fine."
"She says she's fine when she's falling apart," Daphne said dryly, "It's a family trait, instilled in us by our mother."
Charlie ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, I know. Amber can usually get through to her faster than me, but they spend more time together."
Daphne nodded. Generally speaking, if Astoria had to travel for longer than a week, Amber went with her. These days, Astoria kept her trips short during the school holidays and planned the longer ones when Will was at school.
"Is she doing okay right now?" Daphne asked.
"I don't know," Charlie admitted, "She's being distant, which isn't unusual. I figured she's just grieving in her own way."
Daphne smiled half-heartedly, "We all are."
"Feeling better?"
Astoria nodded and sat on the wide windowsill in the little clock tower room at the top of the house. She grabbed Amber's hand and pulled the other woman onto her lap.
"Ut novum," Astoria murmured, running her thumb along the two small puncture marks on Amber's neck to heal them.
Amber smiled, "Thanks, honey."
Astoria let her head drop back against the window. She closed her eyes and sighed.
"I haven't put family first, have I?"
Amber kissed her lightly, "Mm, I don't know. I think you have."
Astoria opened her eyes and shook her head, "I haven't, not like Daphne has."
"Daphne works 40 hours weeks and has done since Thea was like 3 months old," Amber pointed out, "So did her husband up until recently. House-elves helped them out a hell of a lot. She's not the perfect mother you paint her to be."
"She doesn't go away for weeks at a time though, does she?" Astoria asked.
Amber sighed and wrapped her arms around Astoria's neck, "You didn't start going away for longer than a few days until Will was six, and even then, the long trips were a once a year, maybe twice kind of thing. It was only when he went to Hogwarts that we started going away for longer."
Astoria shook her head and looked Amber in the eye, "I'm no good at this though, Amber. Even when I'm here, I'm distant and cold. I might have given birth to him, but you're his mother."
Amber smiled slightly, "And what's wrong with that? He's got three people in his life who love and support him. It doesn't matter what we are to him, does it?"
Astoria smiled sadly, "Still, I think maybe I need to put family first like dad did."
Amber cocked her head at the other woman, "What are you thinking?"
"Honestly…" Astoria trailed off, "I'm thinking of selling the business."
Amber's eyes widened, "Well…that's huge, and also, you can't decide now. You're not supposed to make big decisions when you're grieving, so maybe give it a week or two, yeah?"
Astoria nodded.
"And for now, let's just go back downstairs and make sure our kids doing okay," Amber said, getting to her feet and giving Astoria's hand a tug.
"Hey, Harry."
Harry smiled sadly at Hermione, "Hey, Mione. You look tired."
"I am," Hermione admitted, "Russia was a dead-end."
"It was always going to be," Harry mused, "You knew that Lazarus was operating out of somewhere cold and in the middle of nowhere in Russia. I mean, that could be almost anywhere in Siberia, which is a huge region."
"I know, we didn't have enough to go on," Draco agreed as he stopped next to them. His eyes were on Daphne.
Harry followed his line of sight; Daphne was talking to Astoria on the other side of the drawing-room.
"We need to get to Lareina," Draco added, "She's in this with Lazarus. She could give us a location."
"But that would involve liberating a magic-suppressing camp in Slovakia," Harry said, looking over at the Minister and her most trusted aide.
"Which is virtually impossible without civilian casualties," Harry added.
"And therein lies the rub," Draco said with a shrug.
"Maybe there's another way…." Harry said.
Daphne turned to look at him. She raised a hand and gave him a half-hearted smile.
"But it involves me telling Daphne the whole truth about her mother."
"She needs to know, regardless," Hermione said softly.
"I know," Harry said. He sighed and shrugged, "I just want all this suffering to end. She's been through enough."
Draco nodded his agreement.
"I know she has."
Thea was sitting in the corner of the room by herself, which made it easy for Cas to grab a moment alone with her.
"Thea - "
"I know you heard about everything," Thea said non-committedly, "I told your dad that he could talk to you about it so that I didn't have to disappoint you myself. So it's fine, Cas, you don't have to act like you're my friend - "
"I am your friend," Cas promised.
Thea looked at him sceptically.
"I'll always be your friend," Cas added. He smiled and said, "If you floo-ed me to say you'd killed someone, I'd assume you had a good reason, and I'd help you hide the body. You're not getting rid of me, Theodora."
Thea smiled and punched him in the arm half-heartedly, "It's Thea, Caspian."
Cas grinned and said, "D'you know what? You can call me Caspian because I recently learned that I love my name."
Thea raised an eyebrow at him, "Uh-huh?"
"Yeah," Cas said, opening up his arms for a hug.
Thea chuckled and stepped into it, wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"He's a dick, and you deserve better," Cas murmured in her ear.
Thea smiled and drew back slightly. She kissed his cheek and looked him in the eye, "Thank you for being you and for being here."
Cas smiled too, "Always," he promised.
Thea's smile was a little strained, "I'm on house arrest. So I guess I won't see you until Teddy's wedding?"
"It's only a week away," Cas said simply, "And I'll save you a dance."
Thea smirked, "You better."
I'll wait for you. That was what Cas wanted to say – I'll wait for you, however long it takes.
But he couldn't say it aloud. Not yet.
- TBC -
