A Witch with a certain point of view

by anorc

Daphne's point of view chapters for Not With a Half-Blood. Daphne's parents had 'A Plan', and it made her little sister happy, so it was worth it, she supposed. But allying with the Malfoys to take the Black fortune meant... having to have a child with Draco one day. Ugh. Then Harry Potter won?, but the Malfoys had somehow changed sides. And then, she met Harry Potter at a party.

8. Chapter 8

cl"Daphne Greengrass and the no-good, terrible, very bad years."

Where Daphne's faith in her parents is sorely tried… and she ends up married.

By An Orc, This work is an alternate point of view for 'Not with a half-blood.' Daphne Greengrass would be mortified if anyone read it, and you must understand that it was some time ago and things have changed.

Chapter Eight: He's no good.

Daphne had plenty for Potter to do, and she wrote up lists, in priority order, and Potter would attend to it in the mornings and afternoons. And that was just fine.

But every breakfast, whether he arrived before or after her, he would make a performance of standing to kiss her hand, and if she arrived at the breakfast table afterwards… to push her chair in for her.

He would casually walk by the office in the evening, which as it was between the drawing room and the library, where he mostly worked, it wasn't that surprising. And bow over hand hand and kiss it, and he was clealry making fun of the manners she had asked for, as he had a small grin.

Then one day, he didn't come past, not even once. It was like he was somewhere else. But he'd been at dinner. He'd worn the same black and green robe he always wore, had a five-o-clock shadow, like he always did. And they had discussed the days repairs. The chimney had been re-charmed, and he'd dome some shopping.

Daphne had told him about Black Books status, and Potter had left the dining room, but not before kissing her hand. Not that she was expecting another hand kiss this evening. Although Potter would quite reliably kiss her hand if he visited the office. By the persistent small smile on his face, Daphne suspected he found it amusing.

But he was nowhere to be found. So Daphne apparated to her room and looked out the window. The coach-house lights were off. She apparated to the kitchen, and he wasn't there, though Kreacher was doing dishes. He wasn't trying to brew a potion in the laundry either. Daphne went down the back hallway and checked the back stairs, the boiler-room and the coal room. Which logically meant he was in his bathroom, or his bedroom.

The next morning, Potter was looking oddly preoccupied. After he left to take care of the repairs list, she called Kreacher.

"Kreacher, follow your master. Be unseen. Come back and report to me before making lunch." said Daphne.

Kreacher bowed and croaked "Mistress… Kreacher is doing the laundry."

"Kreacher, I can do laundry charms. Follow Potter." said Daphne.

And she missed out on seeing Buttercup, and instead investigated the laundry. The leftmost sink had sheets soaking, the middle light colours, the right dark. Daphne drew her wand. This was not that difficult. She knew the laundry charms.

She was quite cranky by the time Kreacher appeared with a pop, but the sheets were clean, the whites were drying on the gentle drying charms, and the colours were rubbing themselves up and down the washboard.

"Mistress!" Kreacher exclaimed.

"Kreacher. Report?" asked Daphne.

"Mistress is not doing the laundry" protested Kreacher. Which was foolish of Kreacher. She clearly was.

"You were busy. Kreacher. What did master do this morning?"

"Master went to Aberswyth, and cleaned chimney-pots. Then Master went to Dunwallis and mended a broken gutter." said Kreacher.

Daphne left the washing running and apparated to the office. She had work to do.

And with so little time for real work, she had to skip her swim in the afternoon.

A day later, she broke their unspoken agreement, and entered Harry's room while he was out. On the nightstand was a brand-new muggle book, with a shiny cover. The title mentioned sex. Daphne flicked through it, and found pictures, mostly drawings of sex organs, sexual positions and… other things. Potter was spending all evening reading a book of muggle smut. He doubtless was poisoning his mind with the filth.

She put a monitoring charm on the book that would ring an invisible bell in her ear if someone touched the book, and left it where it had been.

As she had expected, Potter moved the book that night after dinner in his room. Presumably reading it.

Daphne sat in the office working and wondered what to do. Confront him, and at breakfast. She wasn't going to enter his room if he was… reading smut.

She waited till she heard Potter head to breakfast then sneaked into his room and took the book with her to the breakfast table and slammed it on the table.

"What are you doing with a book about…. Smut" she said angrily.

"It's not" said Potter mildly, "Try reading the introduction. It's a factual book about sex, how it works, and what people think and do."

"If you think some sort of steamy book is going to make me into some kind of nymphomaniac, you couldn't be more wrong" said Daphne.

"Er, it's not that kind of book." said Harry. "It's written by healers, to explain how sex works, not to encourage… snogging". Harry reached over and kissed her hand. She glared at him over her hand as he kissed her, but didn't draw her hand back. He seemed to be telling the truth as he believed it.

She waited till he left to go fix things, then informed Kreacher the all meals today were to be served to master cold. The muggle book sat on the dining table, Potter had not moved it.

"Kreacher, put that book in your masters' room" said Daphne. She felt… quite irate. He'd been nice enough, and had eventually covered up the muggle hussies. And now he'd back-slid and lied.

Potter didn't mention the book, and ate his cold lunch and cold dinner under Daphne's glare.

"I'm doing chimney concealing charms for the houses that don't have them" said Potter "Library's got a good reference, but I will spend a while on their roofs working on it."

She went to bed tired and annoyed.

The next day she got back into her normal routine, rode and curried buttercup, had morning tea with mummy, definitely didn't discuss his new smut, and went swimming with Astoria, well in Astoria's pool that afternoon. Potter was still not home that afternoon, so she checked on his room. The accursed book the claimed was not smut was still in the library. She opened it and started reading the introduction. And… embarrassingly it was what Potter had claimed it was. An explanation, not smut. So she took it to her room and started reading what looked like salient chapters.
Oh. That's how that works. Oh, that's why that hurts. People like that?

People might not like anything at all. Oh, how unfortunate.

At breakfast, Daphne used her courage and spoke up. "I'd like to apologise" she said "That book is not smut."

Harry nodded "Apology accepted", he kissed her hand once again.

"I wish I'd been given the damn book before when I was married." she said.

"Yeah, about that, sorry about… my um… performance. In my defence, I had no idea at all." Harry blushed.

"Well, you weren't that bad" said Daphne. "I um… I had no idea how… boy parts worked. I knew about lying back and thinking of England, but… well."

"Well if my muggle bookworm friend had given me the book, apart from dying of embarrassment, I wouldn't have been so weird about masturbation" said Harry "I had an even more sheltered upbringing than you."

"I avoided those discussions in dorms. I knew I had to produce a next Greengrass after father, and I uh, expected to marry a rich pure-blood, so I … "

"Decided to be a model pure-blood" said Harry blandly "You were quite pleased to be Mrs Black, engaged to Malfoy. Do you not like men?"

"I uh… think I like men" said Daphne. "But don't think I'm going to come begging for sexual congress."

"You're definitely not a begging sort of a girl" said Harry.

"You don't like me, do you Potter?" asked Daphne.

"Our marriage… it's not what I expected, and it's not what my parents had." said Harry "It's a disappointment." As if. She was easily as attractive as Harry's mother.

"Choose your next words carefully, Husband, or I will hex you" said Daphne.

"Come with me, my room, I need to show you this" said Harry, and he angrily apparated away from the dining table.

Daphne cracked into Harry's room a moment after Harry, wand drawn.

"Over here" said Harry, and went over and stroked the frame of a black and white photograph that showed two young adults in winter clothes standing outside by the black lake of Hogwarts, a long haired woman and a tallish man with messy hair and glasses. They were standing side by side, arm in arm, and they turned to each other and kissed, sweetly, and went back to looking at the camera.

"That's my parents, probably a bit younger than me even, that's my reference for a married couple. My aunt and uncle were never loving, not where I could see. So when I got this photo, I set my heart on it."

"That's awfully unfair" said Daphne, "We're in an arranged marriage. They're not like love matches; they're about securing wealth usually."

Harry stopped stroking the frame with his fingertip "Why did Narcissa even want you, and Astoria?" Harry asked.

"We're pure-blooded and rich" explained Daphne. Stick to the truth.

"The Parkinsons are rich too" said Harry.

"And we're not a dark aligned family. Draco would have been able to occupy a more middle political position in post-war England" said Daphne. That daddy and mummy had dreamed it up to keep them safe, and as a treat to Tori… well she wasn't telling Harry that. The diagram had been so complicated.

"But he was the worst pure-blood bigot ever" said Harry.

"But unlike his father, not a big fan of actual dark magic" said Daphne.

"Well, sorry you don't get to be useful that way" said Harry "For such an upper-class woman you're really good with the tenants. Some of them can get really annoying."

"Upper-class?" asked Daphne "We're in the sacred twenty-eight, but really, everyone is" Pot-Harry said the strangest things.

"My family isn't" said Harry. "Dad was a pure-blood, but he married mum."

"The Potters aren't in the sacred twenty-eight" said Daphne "And I always wondered why. Theo has a very droll theory."

"Theo?" asked Harry, crossing his arms defensively "Nott?"

"His grandfather Cantankerous Nott, wrote 'Natures Nobility' in the thirties" said Daphne.

"It sounded like that book had been around forever" said Harry.

"Some families are rumoured to have paid Nott to get in the book" said Daphne. Meaning, that you paid to get in, or you were not in the sacred twenty-eight.

"But not Potter" said Harry firmly.

"Theo says his Grandfather said anyone with a name lots of muggles have, can't be a proper pure-blood" said Daphne, raising her eyebrows. Harry seemed surprised by that.

"That's all? My surnames common? It's only been our surname since twelve eighty odd anyway" said Harry.

What the hell was he on about? Daphne asked"You know your family tree back to then?"

"No, just that Linfred of Stinchcombe's son Hardwin married Iolanthe Peverell in twelve eighty. Iolanthe was the only child of a Peverell; maybe Ignatius, maybe one of his children. Hardwin called himself Potter. The start of the surname" said Harry.

Daphne sat down on Harry's desk "And why do you, of all people suddenly roll out the sort of family tree that gets pure-blood supremacists stiffy's?" Not that it made him more attractive. His cologne, his warmth… his cheekbones. They did a sterling job as it was. Opposing that his moodiness, his sarcasm, and that he disliked her.

"That's dad. Mum's parents were muggles" said Harry dismissively.

"And you're a parselmouth. You didn't get that from your father." said Daphne, addressing the snake in the room.

"Mum was quite clever" said Harry.

"Well obviously, she came up with something that stopped the killing curse" said Daphne.

"Dumbledore said it was a mothers loving sacrifice that did that" said Harry. "She didn't have a wand. I've… seen memories. Of her dying." Harry sniffed.

"You saw… the dark lord's memories?" asked Daphne.

"We could see each others, at the end of the war. Can't say why...because secrets" said Harry.

Daphne sat, and wondered just how many secrets he had. Every time you learnt something, there was another secret behind it. "Have you gone back there?" she asked in a small voice "Back to the Potter house?"

"Once" admitted Harry "During the war, in winter"

"Did you explore it thoroughly? Do you still own it?"

"No, and yes, I guess" said Harry "The ministry put a sign up."

"Well, we should go" said Daphne. "And visit their graves"

Harry got that 'thinking Gryffindor quidditch player' look for a moment.

"Dress muggle" said Harry "It's a mostly muggle village."

Daphne took a deep breath "Front door, ten minutes"

"Can you get ready in ten minutes?" asked Harry.

"Easily" said Daphne confidently and disapparated, apparating into her bedroom and switching her outer clothes off. A muggle dress and a warm coat, and she was nearly ready. Some riding boots; they'd keep her feet warm and weren't heels, so would cope with grassy churchyards and ruins. She put on her favourite cute hat. Godric's Hollow had some magical people, so she wasn't going out without a hat on.

Within ten minutes she apparated into the front hall. Harry was leaning against the wall in a disreputable looking tweed coat he must have found in a cupboard, looking like he was tired of waiting. But I didn't even take ten minutes.

He looked down at her, and for some reason his lips twitched. "Shall we" he asked, and stood, and walked to the door, and opened it. The street smelled of burnt bobotuber pus. That muggle thing.

Daphne stepped onto the front step, Harry stood beside her, took her arm and held on firmly "I'll side along us" he said and they disapparated into crushing nothingness.

They appeared in a churchyard, where the unkept grass was nearly knee-length, the sky was a little cloudy, and the air fresh. Daphne swallowed her gorge. She sniffed. The smell of zinnias?

Harry pulled on her arm, and led her over to a white marble slab. Oh. That was his parents grave. Daphne read their names, and realised they had been quite young. There was an oddly foreboding quote about Death on the lab.

"Daphne, my mum and dad" said Harry, stepping even closer.

"Mum, Dad, this is Daphne Q. Black née Greengrass. There was a tricky legal thing, and we're married." said Harry. "Sirius made me the head of Black… and it kind of snowballed with Aunt Narcissa signing a contract."

"They can't hear you dear" said Daphne.

Harry shook his head, then drew his wand. He conjured a bunch of lilies and put it on their slab. He could do lilies?

"They were very young" said Daphne, reading the headstone again "You're older than your father was."

"Yeah well, he was a bit reckless" said Harry, as if he was quite serious.

Daphne laughed "you fought you-know-who, and you call your father reckless."

"He didn't have his wand when Voldemort came though the front door" said Harry. "That was reckless."

"Why ever not?" asked Daphne, wondering how Harry knew that.

"He never did tell me" said Harry, and his brows furrowed like he was thinking. Or trying to.

Daphne started looking at nearby tombstones. There were some Potters, next plot over, but not his grandparents. Behind them, the granite slab covered in lichen except where the engravings were clearly charmed, was a Peverell, with Gridelwald's mark on it. Had his Peverell relations supported Grindelwald? That would have been an awkward conversion at a joint family get-together.

"This is a Peverell" she said pointing.

"Yeah" said Harry, sounding like he knew.

"Why has it got Grindelwald's mark on it?" asked Daphne "Is it vandalism?" Or does your family have a dark past?

"Grindelwald was obsessed with… some Peverell history" said Harry "He took the family sign and used it." What in the name of Morgana is he on about? The 'family sign' used by Grindelwald.

"That's your Peverell family's mark? Why ever would they have such an odd mark?" asked Daphne.

"Just an old family thing" said Harry quietly. She looked up at his face. He was squinting and looking into the distance. He knew. And would not tell her, doubtless another secret.

"Are there Peverells around?" asked Daphne.

"Extinct on the male line since… about twelve eighty" said Harry, "Apart from that… me."

She felt so frustrated. Daphne stamped her booted foot "Don't do that. You're all half-blood and muggley and the suddenly you're related to a really old family, and know all the important details. Some pure-bloods don't know as much about their family as you do."

"Weasleys" said Harry lightly "Hardly know they're pure-bloods. Cedrilla Black married into them; take a look at Cedrilla on the Tapestry and then Ron's nose."

Daphne snorted "You're doing it to make me laugh now" she said.

"I am not" said Harry very plummily. He was trying to distract her

Daphne calmed herself and held out her elbow "Show my your parents house." He clearly wasn't going to explain about the family sigil. Which he bloody well knew about. Her husband was terrible liar.

Harry looped his arm though hers, led her out of the churchyard, past the monument; Daphne took time to look at it "They made your father look a lot fatter, and your mother a lot older" said Daphne critically. "Honestly, she looks at least thirty in this." Harry didn't react to her joke.

Harry led her past a derelict half-plastered house "That's where Bathilda Bagshot the historian used to live. He killed her during the war" said Harry, and stopped outside an even more ruined cottage.

Daphne looked at it "Oh, it's worse than I imagined." she said. The cottage looked on the verge of falling down, with ivy holding it up..

Then they went to go in the front gate, and a sign grew up, from the Ministry, but covered in well-wishers graffiti.

"How awful." said Daphne. A sign planted on one's lawn.

Harry walked into his parents old house, and Daphne looked around a small living room, the furniture was all broken and mouldering.

It didn't look like somewhere you'd keep a baby. Daphne asked "Is it… upstairs?"

Harry sighed and drew his wand, casting a muggle-repelling charm. From memory.

Then he repaired the staircase with a few waves of his wand. He was actually quite good at magic.

"Come on up" said Harry, and trod slowly up the stairs he'd just mended. He was panting when he got to the nursery. There was a huge hole in the wall.

"Are you all right?" asked Daphne. Harry Potter was quite fit, he wouldn't get out of breath doing one flight of stairs. His face was pale.

"Not really" said Harry, with a catch in his voice. "I remember going up the stairs, but as HIM, not me."

Daphne tried not to cry out in horror. Why did Harry remember being Voldemort? Was… he a reincarnation of Voldemort? That felt… disgusting. He'd kissed her. They'd had sex. He couldn't be Voldemort!

Harry was staring at the floor breathing slowly, and he eventually looked up.

Daphne noticed that his eyes were wet. Harry Potter had just had a panic attack. And taken deep breaths and something. His expression now was so… closed off. His face was weirdly neutral.

Harry drew his wand and cleaned the floor, revealing a disgusting old rug. "Just there" said Harry, pointing at the rug.

"Why have a rug under a cot?" asked Daphne "You can't stand there, the cots in the way"

Harry's breath caught, and he waved his wand and the rug tore up off the floor.

The floor which had something carved into it. Harry cleaned the exposed wood off with a verbal scourgify. The floor under his cot was covered in a runic circle. The most complicated runic circle Daphne had ever seen, carved in deep relief, in a very complex style. Oh god. His mother had been a bloody genius. Forget Granger, this was amazing stuff.

"Harry" said Daphne "You need to get this piece out and take it home" she said very firmly "I think, this is how your mother did it."

Harry bit his lip and waved his wand delicately for a few moments, and some cracking noises later, the circle of wood was separate from the floor, and had slid out of it's hole.

"I should conceal that it was here" said Harry.

"Can you just… transfigure the hole away?" asked Daphne.

"McGonagall I'm not" said Harry. And he looked out the hole in the wall, and felled a sapling, and summoned it into the room. All silently.

Then he transfigured it into planks;then spread them in the hole and tapped each one with his wand, shrinking them to fit the hole. Daphne wanted to spit. He said 'I'm not McGonagall', and then did magic like a professional.

"I'm impressed" admitted Daphne, as Harry vanished some leftover twigs. He levitated the dirty rug back over the new planks, then asked her "Are you good at shrinking charms?"

"Usually only on bollocks" said Daphne and she pulled her wand out and shrank the magical floorboards into a tiny disk, that she handed to Harry. "That would go well on the wall, maybe the third floor over the staircase."

"With a little brass plaque" said Harry. Ignoring her allusion to her slight habit of hexing boys in the bits at school.

"Yes" said Daphne "Because that's far beyond NEWT-level runes and the only person who ever worked out how to stop a killing curse made it." You could say 'My mother made this, and I'm proud of her?' thought Daphne.

"She was head girl, and prefect for three years" said Harry "Slughorn wishes she'd been in Slytherin."

"Did the headmistress like her?" asked Daphne.

"Yes" said Harry "One of her favourite students. My father was one of her least favourite, till Mum set him right; then he made Head Boy." There was no way his parents were head boy and head girl.

Harry and Daphne explored the house, which wasn't bad for a cottage, Harry patching and repairing as they went.

"You could fix the hole in the wall, you know" said Daphne. Seeing him in action on a ruined building was… it was clear how he got so much done at work. He just… cast and things got fixed.

"I'd need wood and stone" said Harry.

"You could do it with your overpowered repair charm" said Daphne. "Go on, fix the place to keep out the weather."

"We came to have a look, not work" said Harry.

"I'll help" said Daphne, flicking her wand starting to vanish rubbish. It was technically his parents house. She probably should have cleaned as she explored.

Harry went outside. A little later the cottage creaked and groaned, and the grating sound of stones sliding on stones filled the rooms. Daphne cleaned up the wind-blown mess, the owl pellets, and ended up in the master bedroom.

Which had been looted, the dresser drawers tossed on the floor ,the bed missing, the windows broken.

Daphne braced herself and did a glass-repair charm on a cracked pane, but the sound went straight up her spine. One down… ten to go, she thought. She set to work fixing the dormer window properly. Her teeth hurt from the sound.

"Glass is the worst" said Harry, who'd come in while she was working.

"Help me out" said Daphne.

Harry muttered something and the dresser rumbled. She turned her head and the last drawer was putting itself back in the dresser.

"How'd you do that?" Daphne asked.

"Packing charm" said Harry.

"To put drawers in?" said Daphne incredulously

"It worked" said Harry, and fixed the last window pane.

"Are you done?" asked Daphne.

"No" said Harry "But the wall's there, so a few more broken windows, and the front door, and it's sort-of done."

"Who would live here though?" asked Daphne. Please don't say us.

"Muggles" said Harry unexpectedly. "Money's money, and they don't know anything about what happened."

Daphne snorted in surprise at his cheeky idea. "Imagine the ministry when they find out." she said, waving her hand in a sweeping gesture.

Harry suddenly had a beautific smile on his face "I can" he said so cheerfully. He looked so bloody happy. He hadn't looked that happy having sex!

"What will you do if they complain?" asked Daphne.

"Suggest they pay me rent instead" said Harry sarcastically.

Daphne burst out laughing. He was such a sarcastic man. "Oh my… we could increase the price till they refuse, then lower it a tiny tiny bit" she said.

Harry laughed. A belly laugh "Oh Daphne, you're brilliant" he said.

"I am brilliant" she agreed. Oh my god, Harry Potter called me brilliant. That wasn't even sarcastic.

Then Daphne noticed he was blushing. 'Does…. Does he fancy me?' she wondered. Surely not?

They completed fixing the windows and front door quietly.

Daphne was leaving out the front door when Harry cast one last spell. Stuff rattled around the house so instead, Daphne investigated the garden. In the bushes behind the front hedge were roses, and there were lilies. Daphne conjured up some bags and started taking cuttings and bulbs. They'd go nicely in the courtyard.

Harry pulled the door shut once the noise stopped.

"What were you doing?" asked Daphne, from the bushes behind the front hedge.

"What are you doing?" Harry replied. Daphne tried to ignore his evasion.

"Getting cuttings from your mothers roses and lily bulbs" she said. Once she had them, she apparated home to the courtyard to consider where to plant them.

A few minutes passed and Harry was still not around. And someone knew how to plant roses, and it wasn't her.

"Kreacher!" she called out.

Kreacher appeared with a pop.

"Mistress?"

"Find you master and get him to come help with the gardening." said Daphne.

Kreacher disappeared with a pop.

Harry finally apparated into the courtyard.

"Now, where do you think will be good for lilies?" she asked.

"By the coach-house?" said Harry, and he went to get the trowel and the spade.

And he was really good with plants. It was weird that he wasn't great at Herbology, really.

"Thanks for thinking of bringing some of mum's plants" said Harry.

"Well, you can hardly visit them if you rent it to muggles" replied Daphne.

Harry just stared at her for a moment, then apparated way.

Daphne cleaned the spade and trowel and left them just inside the coach house, Harry had some scheme for where things went.

At dinner, he bent low over her hand and his kiss lingered a little.

That night he stood awkwardly in the office door.

"Um… goodnight Daphne, um… thanks for coming with me" said Harry, and he left without kissing her hand formally. And she had to swallow for some reason.

The next day, she was working in the office, and heard thumps and cursing from the stairwell. She waited till the noises stopped before coming out to take a look.

Harry was on the third floor landing. Daphne strode up in her platform trainers, and looked. He'd hung the wooden circle on the wall of the stairwell, and was screwing a brass plaque onto the wall with a hand-tool. Daphne had a good look around his hands.

'Runic circle of protection, Lily Potter 1981' Like a painting in an art gallery.

"Harry, that's very modest" she exclaimed. "Did you get a muggle to make that?"

"Can't be dispelled" said Harry, and screwed the plate on instead of using a sticking charm.

"What about the circle?" asked Daphne.

"It's hanging on a pair of big metal hooks in the wall" said Harry. "It can be removed, but a stray finite won't drop it on someone's head."

"Put an impervious charm over it" said Daphne. "Just in case. This is a piece of history, and awfully impressive magic."

Harry snorted.

"What is it Harry?" asked Daphne.

"Mum wasn't a muggleborn" said Harry "She's where I get being a parselmouth from, look very carefully at the pentacle lines. There's a pattern of snakes there, it spells out... a well, a spell in parseltounge."

Daphne looked "Could be an artefact of graving the lines" said Daphne.

"You can't read it… but it says hesssaha passsaha ssheepeth" said Harry… and his voice had turned into a creepy magical hiss for part of that.

Daphne shivered "That is very disconcerting. It's bad enough when you're all "Oh yes, my ancestor in twelve eighty married into an ancient family, but you can talk to snakes. If your mother is from someone's family, whose?"

"Well... not the Gaunts" said Harry "They were parselmouths, but they strangled their squibs; till they got so inbred they were all practically squibs."

"You, researched the parselmouth families of England?" asked Daphne. Next thing he'd be reciting gobstones statistics.

"No, just Voldemort's. He was Tom Marvolo Riddle, son of Merope Gaunt, last female in the Gaunt line. She died giving birth to Tom, and he grew up in a muggle orphanage."

"Voldemort was a half-blood?" asked Daphne.

"And a descendant of unfortunately, a Peverell, and the Slytherins" said Harry. "We were cousins of a sort. I never did get on with my cousins. Any of them really" he mused.

"So the leader of the war on muggleborns and half-bloods was a half-blood?" asked Daphne, hands on hips. Not what you expected to hear on a Thursday morning.

"And a great liar" said Harry.

"So your mother?" asked Daphne.

"Isn't a Gaunt. Some other connection to ..." said Harry trailing off.

Harry pulled his at his jersey and got something out of his shirt. A small bag, and he reached in and got out a locket on a chain, with some emeralds on it.

"This is Salazar Slytherins' locket." said Harry "It's got emeralds for the S." Of course Harry Potter had the bloody locket of Salazar Slytherin in his shirt. In some bag I've never seen and I've … I've shagged him. I would have seen a bag round his neck.

"Yes" said Daphne "Why do you have a broken, priceless locket?" she asked. Not going to scream.

"It's complicated" said Harry. "The Chamber of Secrets, the snakes there have green eyes too."

"So, Slytherin liked green" said Daphne dismissively.

"Mum had green eyes, I've got green eyes, and we're parselmouths" said Harry. "Mum must have been some long-lost descendant of Slytherin's"

"Whatever you say dear" said Daphne dismissively. Potter had evidently decided, like many halfbloods to invent a superlative family tree to shelter under.

Twenty minutes later, Harry had bundled them both out of the house, and with a crack apparated them to Hogsmeade.

"Why are we here?" asked Daphne.

"To go see the Chamber of Secrets" said Harry. Oh, with the monster. That Chamber of secrets.

"Slytherin's monster?" asked Daphne nervously.

"Is dead, don't worry" said Harry, nonchalantly.

"You know the Chamber of Secrets isn't real, right?" said Daphne as they walked to Hogwarts.

Harry smiled grimly and disillusioned them both with a couple of taps of his wand.
"Ugh" said Daphne. It felt like he'd just cracked an egg on her head.

And he led her into Hogwarts, to the second floor loos you never used unless you really were desperate, and made a sink disappear into the floor, opening up a huge tunnel, by just hissing at it.

Daphne could only shake her head. "I'm starting to think all the crazy things you did were just a result of the crazy things you found" she said. Harry nodded, and gave her a comforting half-hug.

Daphne started to wonder if she might visit St Mungos later. For a short stay. Just till her neverves recovered. But, also, the hug was kind of nice.

Then he hissed again and the tunnel transformed to have a spiral staircase. Down a long way.

And she was glad she had sensible boots on, it was a long walk.

Then there was a cave-in that Harry used a digging charm on, and they were going sideways.

Harry stopped at a massive door, covered in green-eyed snakes.

"Well, they're a lot like the Slytherin banner" she said. They're green on the banner too.

Harry opened the door with a hiss and immediately the odour of rot filled the passage.

Harry cast two bubble-head charms "Sorry, the Basilisk's rotting" he said. There was a gigantic green snake rotting in the huge hall, decorated with snake-themed pillars. At the far end was a statue of someone monkey-faced.

"It's enormous" she said. "How did you kill it?"

"Luck, and a sword though it's brain" said Harry "Nearly got me; there's a scar on my arm from one of its teeth."

"If you'd been bitten by a Basilisk, you'd be dead" said Daphne.

"The Headmasters Phoenix, Fawkes, cried into it wound. Phoenix tears cure almost anything,"

"It would have taken ages to get to the Headmasters' office" said Daphne logically.

Harry pointed at the vicious bite marks around the missing eyes "Fawkes blinded it for me. I'd have died a lot sooner."

Daphne sighed "Is your entire life a collection of ridiculously improbable escapes from death?"

"Apart from marrying you, yes" said Harry cheerfully. "I do like fixing leaking roofs and worn carpets for a reason. Looking after Teddy's nice too." He was being flippantly sarcastic again.

"Who's the statue?" asked Daphne, pointing her wand-light at the gigantic statue of a monkey-faced wizard.

"Salazar Slytherin, obviously" said Harry. "Watch this."

He hissed something long and the mouth of the statue opened into a huge hole.

"That is bizarre" said Daphne "What's in the hole?"

"It's where the Basilisk lived" said Harry. "I think Voldemort copied the whole snake mouth thing as an homage to this statue"

Daphne feeling the blush in the face nodded "Sure" she said.

"What's got into you?" asked Harry.

"It's all a bit penissy isn't it?" said Daphne. "Was Voldemort gay?"

"Dumbledore was, I dunno about Voldemort" said Harry blankly. "Would figure, he didn't even like Bellatrix LeStrange , and Aunty Bella wanted to rub herself all over Voldemort." Daphne wasn't sure if it was the lingering smell of dead basilisk, or the gross stories he'd just told her. But that had all been sickening.

"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard" said Daphne "And you called her Aunty Bella"

"Like Aunt Narcissa, and Aunt Andromeda. The three Black sisters" said Harry.

"Does the crazy ever stop in your life?" asked Daphne. "Or will I go mad from it?" St Mungos was looking very welcoming.

"This is all in the past" said Harry, shrinking the Basilisk and putting it into a conjured screwtop jar.

"You berk, you just shrank a fifty-foot snake" said Daphne, incredulously. He actually was the non-gay Dumbledore of their age, Daphne realised. Well, he had some fashion sense. And would generally wear what she gave him.

"It's probably good for something; Snape would have put it in a jar of icky liquid just to scare people" said Harry, pocketing the jar after shrinking it to the size of a vial.

"Those were potions ingredients" said Daphne resolutely.

Harry climbed up the statue to the open mouth fairly easily.

"How did you know where the handholds were?" asked Daphne from the floor.

"I climbed it last time, but not all the way up" replied Harry casually "A snake got in the way." He was being sarcastic about his own life. He was… actually modest?

Harry disappeared down the tunnel then came back empty-handed.

"Seize and pull charm" said Harry "You can go look; we might discover the lost treasure of Salazar Slytherin?"

Daphne mentally reviewed the charm and realised that you could probably use it to climb very quickly, and then wand extended she shot into the air, landing in the mouth.

She laughed "That was fun" she said. Why hadn't Flitwick told them you could use it for this. It was fun! Then she realised… a school full of students flying up staircases and walls would be dangerous chaos.

Harry apparated up next to her with a crack.

"Hey you can't apparate at Hogwarts, how did you do that?" asked Daphne. If he says I can apparate at Hogwarts, I'll scream. I don't care. I'll scream.

"We're below Hogwarts. So far below" said Harry. Well, that made sense. I can scream later.

Daphne lit the round room up then Harry shrank a giant snakeskin and pocketed it. "Might be useful" he said.

"Revelio" Harry cast, and a purple rectangle lit up on the wall. Harry looked at his wand "I wasn't expecting to find anything" he said thoughtfully.

Daphne advanced on the secret door and tried every unlocking charm, and then Harry went and looked at it "Well, this might work" said Harry, and cut his hand and put blood on the door. The section of wall simply vanished. Harry clumsily episky'd his hand.

"Blood locked?" asked Daphne "That's very dark." And why does Harry Bloody Potter know about blood locks!

"Well, I've seen it before" said Harry, shrugging; casting lumos and lighting the room beyond. They looked in. A small square room with a lot of scrolls in a huge diagonal pattern scroll rack, a desk and an extremely old-fashioned chair, that looked like it had crossed snakes for legs. A small stone shelf with an incredibly rusty cauldron sat in the corner.

"The lost cauldron of Salazar Slytherin" said Harry blandly.

"I was expecting something more impressive" said Daphne, intentionally casually. He'd found Slytherins secret office. Of course he had.

"Well, he was a schoolteacher a thousand years ago" said Harry "Plenty of scrolls though."

"Harry these are priceless" said Daphne, thinking of the lost knowledge. "They could be great lost magic"

Harry took one out and read it.

"It's a letter from Godric Griffindor to Salazar Slytherin." said Harry blandly.

"Their famous feud, that lives on to this day" agreed Daphne, nodding.

"Godric can't come to gaming night, his wife is sick" said Harry, handing the letter over.

Daphne skimmed a letter from one wizard to another about missing gaming night because his wife was sick "They were friends? But they fought and Slytherin left" said Daphne.

Harry took the scroll off Daphne, and put the scroll back on the rack.

"You're not going to shrink that and take it, are you?" asked Daphne, filled with certainty.

"Finders keepers" admitted Harry cheekily.

"Harry!" said Daphne exasperated "The school can have the professors study them and show the world some great lost magic"

Harry went to the smallest scrolls and picked one up. It was in some language Harry couldn't read, and only fourteen lines or so.

"Can you read this?" asked Harry, handing her a scroll in celtic runes.

Daphne looked at the scroll "Celtic" said Daphne and read "Oh, it's a poem" she said and read silently. A love poem to a handsome man with green eyes, and a trouser snake, and his tongue splits her in twain. Daphne swallowed. Margarita had written a short poem to her husband, and well she'd been blunt about what she liked. Not that Daphne didn't understand where Mrs Slytherin was coming from… a good licking was a nice thing.

"It was a love poem, from… Mrs Slytherin I hope, she thought Salazar was very handsome and ..."

"And what?"

"And loved his green eyes, green like mugwort"

"Well better than fresh pickled toad" said Harry drily.

Daphne laughed. "Weasleys poem was terrible. Mrs Slytherins is not much better."

Harry looked at the poem "So is it signed ?" he asked.

"Her name, Margarita" said Daphne.

"Why would you say it's from Mrs Slytherin?"

"Because she has a line in it about his trouser snake" admitted Daphne.

"This is a dirty poem?" asked Harry. Daphne rolled her eyes. Filthy. And kind of hot.

"And she says his tongue splits her in twain" said Daphne.

"Crikey" said Harry, and he blushed

"Your tongue splits me in twain" said Daphne, reading the poem again. And hoping bone-head got the hint. One day, before she died of old age.

"Well go on" said Daphne "Shrink the whole thing" she said feeling increasingly long-suffering.

Harry waved his wand and the scroll-rack shrank to the size of a small trunk. Harry conjured a large sack and put in inside.

"And we're just going to leave, having looted the chamber of secrets?" asked Daphne.

"Why not" said Harry, and took the chair and desk for good measure.

As they apparated home, Daphne realised she'd just had an adventure where they looted Slytherin's office. Well, the bits someone else hadn't taken earlier. He was still a sarcastic arse, even if he was Slytherins' descenant.

Harry put scroll-rack in the Black library, inside a large glass case transfigured from the excess china hutch from the kitchen. He was so frugal. And… decent at keeping repair costs down.

He used the snake chair at the library desk, and put the desk of Salazar Slytherin, still shrunken into the glass cabinet too.

"You're impossible" was all Daphne said, looking at his stash of priceless scrolls and antiques.

That week there was an eight hundred galleon deposit in the Black family's Gringotts vault.

So she went to ask Harry, who was reading a priceless scroll "Oy, what did you sell for eight hundred galleons?"

"The snake skin… well one of them." said Harry rather offhandedly "The one from outside the door."

And then she found a deposit for forty galleons. "What was forty galleons?" she asked.

"Uh, the basilisk" said Harry casually.

There was a Daily Prophet to hand, so she rolled it up and whacked Harry with it."Harry, selling an incredibility rare, gigantic snake for forty galleons is not a good deal!"

Harry shrugged "Forty galleons, and complete forgiveness for robbing Gringotts."

"You've been in no trouble for that; the ministry and Gringotts worked something out" she countered, brandishing the Daily Prophet.

"Ah but my sale was an apology, and they appreciate the difficulty of killing it. So they're giving me the bribe the ministry gave them, less fees and charges."

"And please tell me that it's a lot" said Daphne. A few thousand would cover all the broken boilers this year.

"It's all the abandoned vaults at Gringotts" said Harry "About four hundred thousand galleons. You can have it."

"Four hundred thousand galleons" said Daphne "That's okay I suppose" she said. Had he really just given her four hundred thousand galleons? She felt dizzy.

"Glad you're happy with that, and aren't hitting me with the Prophet" said Harry. "I was the chosen one you know."

"Prat" she said.

"Call it a birthday present dear" said Harry, and he grinned crookedly. Like a handsome, sarcastic git.

Daphne blinked "Why would you give me four hundred thousand galleons?"

"So you had some money for little purchases, and could treat yourself to something you wanted" said Harry, waving his fingers dismissively.

Daphne left before she screamed, or tried to snog his face off. She wasn't sure which she wanted to do more. Surely other witches husbands aren't so infuriating.

She sat in the office and wondered what to do with an enormous fortune in her Gringotts vault.

If she bought clothes she would still be too busy with accounts.

If she ignored the business, everything she'd done all year would be wasted.

Still… she could hire someone poor to do the accounts. But not a Weasley, obviously.

Who else did she know that was poor? Perks?

Then it hit her. The Carrow twins. They were poor, and friends of Tori's. Well dorm-mates of. Don't give a witch a chocolate pudding, give her a job, and she can afford chocolate pudding. And they had a shop in Diagon alley empty, that would be much more hygienic than the old Carrow manor; it was evidently cold and rotten. And the Carrows could pay some rent, and do the accounts. With the calculator they'd hardly be working hard.

Daphne got a stopping-watch and timed the accounts the next day. Only minutes on the calculator. You could do the accounts for…

Daphne looked at the ledger, the calculator and the desk. With a shop and a few Carrows, they would be capable of doing the books for… dozens of businesses. A book-keeping business.

Daphne went off to inspect the shop.

It was perfect. Well once someone cleaned it up. Someone good at repairs.

She apparated to the Carrows dire manor in the southern moors. The wind cut through her, and she hurried up the path, through the gate made of scavenged wood and runes, and knocked on the door.

The door felt a bit spongy. Harry would have swapped that out for a door that wasn't rotten.

After some time, the door was dragged open. Around the edge of the door, one of the Carrow twins peered, wand out.

"Oh it's you" they said, and stood up properly. Daphne squeezed in past the door, and the Carrow used her wand to close the door.

"Why are you here?" she asked. Whichever one it was, she was wearing a dreadful robe. Harry's revolting work robes looked better. Short cloaks hung on the wooden pegs in the hallway, and the house smelt of mould, and cabbages.

"I have a proposition for you two" said Daphne.

Miss Carrow huffed and crossed her arms "We're not doing it. You can go find someone else for your husband's perverted fantasies!"

Daphne felt a sudden, huge, yawning gulf between her and Miss Carrow. What in gods name was she on about?

"Flora?" Daphne asked politely.

"Hestia!" Hestia snapped.

"I assure you it's nothing… perverted." said Daphne. "And does not involve goings on."

Hestia softened her glare a little.

"Can we go talk in the drawing room like civilised witches?" asked Daphne. "I came with a job offer. Indoor work, no menial labour, respectable work. And accommodation over the shop."

Hestia pointed down the hall, and Daphne walked politely down to the drawing room. Ignoring the threadbare carpet, and going into the drawing room which had an open door.

The room had a very high ceiling, a fireplace and battered looking furniture. Her tenants lived better than this. There was a small fire – charmed no doubt, and at one of the lumpy looking chairs, a book was open. Daphne sat on the couch. It all reminded her rather a lot of Grimmauld place before Harry cleaned it up.

Hestia had followed her to the drawing room and in the doorway called out "Flora! Put that cauldron on hold, we've got a visitor." She came in and sat in the chair, and held up one finger imperiously, finding her place in the book, and putting an embroidered bookmark there, and closing it.

"How are your family?" asked Daphne.

"Great Aunt Augustina thinks we live in Prussia, and Great Uncle Ferswith is in Azkaban for forgery" said Hestia. "Great aunt Augustina'a dower pays for some food."

"Well, rest assured I'm not trying to hire you for anything… indecent." said Daphne.

"Sorry, I should have realised you're too prudey for that" said Hestia.

"I am here as Mrs Black, business manager for the Black family" said Daphne, stiffening in her seat.

"Oh not Daphne my corsets-so-tight-i-can't walk properly." said Hestia "That wedding dress of yours, was it really made by Veela slaves?"

"Madam Desha of Paris does not use slaves, though the assistant is treated a bit like house-elf" said Daphne "It's all mummy's fault for insisting I wear taller heels to be the same height at Harry."

"He's miles taller than you" said Hestia. "You'd have to wear stilts"

"Annoyingly high heels" said Daphne.

"Ugh" said Hestia "Are they really painful?"

"A few cushioning pads, some charms, and they're just the price of fashion." said Daphne.

"Like the corset." said Hestia.

"I wasn't actually wearing a corset, Hestia. As I said to Granger. Some of us have a waist." said Daphne.

"And a big bum" said Hestia. Daphne rolled her eyes. Talking to a Carrow twin was like talking to Astoria, but with worse manners, if that was possible.

"Madam Desha thought I was an ideal model for her dressmaking" said Daphne. Feeling a little proud of that.

"Isn't she really expensive?" asked Hestia.

"So expensive great-grandmama begged to come to a fitting" said Daphne. "Mrs Malfoy Senior – the one in Azkaban, didn't get a Madam Desha dress when she married Lucius. Who I have it on good authority, did use to abduct young women and had a dungeon."

Hestia stared "It's true?" Daphne nodded "Potter and Granger were held there during the war. Granger was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Wow. And… she's still walking." whispered Hestia. Daphne nodded.

"So pallsy with Danger Granger then?" asked Hestia.

"Not really" said Daphne "She has a tiresome ministry job, and Harry keeps his friends out of my house."

The sound of boots on the threadbare hall carpet heralded the arrival of Flora, looking flustered, in a tattered, stained work robe. The poor girl could be mistaken for a hag.

"Oh, Mrs Potter" said Flora snidely.

"Black" said Daphne. "Sit!"

Flora sat opposite to Daphne "So what's this about ? Astoria in trouble?"

Daphne sincerely hoped Tori hadn't got in trouble, and was confident that regardless, Harry could fix it by going to see 'Shack.'

"I am going to start a book-keeping business in Diagon alley."

"Boring" said Flora in a sing-song tone.

"Which involves using a device that makes doing accounts simple and quick." said Daphne.

"It's called an abacus" said Hestia sarcastically.

"It's a mechanical calculator, actually" said Daphne "And it can multiply and divide and add up. I've been using one for nearly a year. The Black accounts used to take all week, now, only a few hours."

"That must be nice, adding up all your gold over and over" said Flora.

"The Blacks Also have a vacant shop in Diagon alley, with an apartment on the top floors. The apartment, the job, and the calculator form part of the business. I'll need staff, and this does not involve nakedness, or people assuming that just because you're twins, that you might want to commit incest while fornicating with some… man."

Both Carrows narrowed their eyes at her. Compared to being glared at by Harry Potter-Black, it was like being butted by a pet kneazle. "Everyone suspected about your aunt and uncle. And Hestia thought I was trying to hire you both for an evening of debauchery with my husband." Daphne snorted at the ridiculous idea.

Hestia blushed a little. The poor girl couldn't afford foundation.

"So, book-keeping. Accommodation included." said Daphne "And the rest, you will have to swear not to disclose, it's confidential business matters."

"Magical oath?" asked both of them in a creepy unison.

"I'm not a heathen. On your own honour." said Daphne.

"I swear not disclose the boring confidential business matters Daphne… Black is about to tell me of" said Flora.

"What she said" said Hestia snidely.

Daphne explained "The job pays three hundred galleons a year and comes with an apartment. I would expect the store to be open late most days, but open later than normal, and be open normal hours on Saturday, to suit the business customers. Which of you wants it?"

"Three hundred galleons?" asked Flora "That's a fortune."

Daphne tried not to sneer. Four hundred thousand galleons was fortune. One Harry had given her for her birthday, and not even made a suggestive wink.

"She can afford more than that" said Hestia "What if we both did it?"

"The job will only require one witch" said Daphne "I can do he Black family books in a few hours, and the Black family have tenants with positively medieval tenancy agreements."

"What if the shop… opened early and was open all weekend?" asked Flora "we could take turns."

'That did sound rather useful' thought Daphne. It would emphasise the relentless effectiveness of the calculator. Like Harry's Wollongong shimmy. Daphne straightened her robes. Not the time or place. But Black books being open all hours would be another competitive advantage.

"Two hundred each" offered Daphne, remembering her chiselling tenants.

Flora and Hestia met each others gaze. Eyebrows went up and down.

"We'll want to try it out first, see the shop?" asked Flora.

Daphne stood up "No time like the present" she said "We can go to my townhouse, you two can experience the calculator firsthand, we can have some tea, then go see the shop."

Flora and Hestia looked at her thoughtfully and stood.

"Flora dear, do put something less tattered" said Daphne. "Don't make me force you both into uniform."

Flora left, stomping "How are we going?" asked Hestia. "We can do more than apparate. Mother taught us a dark smoke travel that can go through protections."

"Try that at my home, the ancestral London home of the Blacks" said Daphne smiling cooly "And the protections will shred you like thistledown."

Hestia nodded "It's just we're a bit short of floo-powder."

Daphne reached into a space-expanded robe pocket and got out her moneybag, and fished out four galleons, and tossed them on the coffee table.

"The only simple way to Grimmauld Place is by floo" said Daphne "You have to apparate into a muggle park, or the top step if you know it well." she didn't mention the back door.

"Muggles?" asked Hestia.

"They're fairly harmless, but their horseless carriages are dangerous and smell dreadful." said Daphne "We, my sister and I go muggle shopping – they have huge stocks of fashion ready to walk straight out with. Well, and the top-priced muggle food stores have delicacies from around the world."

"But touched by muggles" said Hestia.

"Their shop-girls wear gloves of some filmy stuff that they throw away at every break. They will not touch food directly ever." said Daphne. You saw some quite interesting things at the Harrods food court. And then took them home and ate them. Mmm.

"Top priced?" asked Hestia.

"To muggles, a hundred galleons is hardly anything" said Daphne "Because there are so many muggles, prices are quite high. The cheaper muggle stores lack tone."

"Ugh" said Hestia.

"Don't worry, Astoria will eat your share of muggle confectionary" said Daphne. "They have as many brands of chocolate bar as Honeydukes, although personally I find it all a little sickly-sweet."

"Astoria eats… muggle sweets?"

"Harry's got a tin of sweets in the kitchen cupboard. Astoria has scoffed the lot. You know what she's like" said Daphne, smugly.

"Was he … very angry?" said Hestia breathily.

Daphne rolled her eyes. Honestly. As if. "We just bought replacements on the next trip" said Daphne."My husbands temper is much improved these days."

Hestaia stared at her. And slowly blushed.

Flora arrived, finally in a robes that were...well Daphne would use them as rags.

And stared at the galleons on the table. "What?"
"You're short floo powder and I'm about to use some." said Daphne. Noblesse obligee and all that.

The Carrows kitchen was a lot cleaner and more white-washed than she'd expected. Not everywhere is Grimmauld place, she thought. It was rather basic.

Flora swung a fire-iron holding a cauldron out of the fireplace, and took down a jar.

"The address is number twelve Grimmauld place." said Daphne "Don't move from the kitchen, and the house-elf, Kreacher is old and rude." You'll fit right in.

Flora went first, then Daphne, then Hestia.

Flora and Hestia looked around the kitchen, which was a lot bigger than theirs.

"It's big" said Flora.

"Kreacher!" Daphne called out.

Kreacher appeared with a pop.

"Mistress" croaked Kreacher, bowing low.

"Tea in the drawing room for three. Where is your master?"

"Master is out, in his work clothes" croaked Kreacher.

"And tea-cakes" said Daphne. "Now, would you like a tour, or just for me to side-along you upstairs?"

"Appration inside? What about splinching?" asked Flora.

"Stairs it is" said Daphne "This is kitchen, there is a laundry, and some back rooms out the back hallway. More on that later, perhaps."

Daphne led them up the narrow kitchen staircase, painted white, and through the door into the front hall.

"Front hall" said Daphne.

"Who's the child?" asked Flora.

"That's all the Blacks not in Prison. My adoptive Aunt, Andromeda Tonks nee Black, her grandson, heir of the house of Black, Teddy Lupin, and well, my husband and I." said Daphne.

"He looks… tall" said Hestia.

"He's five foot ten" said Daphne. "Now over here is the slightly too big dining room."

Flora and Hestia stood in the double doorway and sniffed. "Lovely roses" said Flora.

Daphne's mouth twitched involuntarily. "As you can see, dining table, far too big."

"And no paintings" said Hestia. Clearly meaning paintings on the dining room walls.

"Harry's adoptive grandmother didn't like them" said Daphne. "She destroyed them."

"What's the little door?" asked Hestia.

"Plate storage. Daft old bat" said Daphne. "Come on. Stairs."

Daphne went up the stairs, and the twins followed.

The first floor landing was empty, so Daphne stopped, and turned to face the twins.

She pointed left "Library. The Black family library is of course cursed. If you touch my husbands scrolls I suspect he will do something ironic."

"Ironic?" asked Flora.

"Why does he have so many scrolls?" asked Hestia.

"Well, he's the Slytherin of Slytherin" said Daphne "You probably know he's a parselmouth. And he took me to the Chamber of Secrets and went exploring, and well, raided Salazar Slytherin's old office. Those a Salazar Slythein's scrolls. Harry's now." Daphne felt smugly amused.

Flora and Hestia turned from peering in the library doors to stare at her.

"That's a good story. But The Slytherin of Slytherin? He's the head of the Black family, and won the war Daphne, you don't have to make up further glories." said Flora.

Daphne walked into the library and opened the glass cabinet, and took out the locket.

"This is Slytherin's locket. Harry had when we married." said Daphne "Emeralds for the S"

"Some locket" said Hestia. "And broken."

"And the door to the chamber of secrets is locked by metal snakes with green eyes. Like my husbands" said Daphne, feeling her lips twisting into a sneer. "And this… is Slytherin's scroll rack – his office chair. We left the rusty cauldron."

And Daphne took out the scroll which was fairly sure was the letter from Gryffindor. She unrolled it. Yes, right one.

"Behold, the fabled feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor" she said, and held the scroll extended to Flora.

Flora read it and frowned "But…. He's just begging off gaming night!"

"Well, his wife… her name was Margarita, was very dear to him." said Daphne. "I've found a love -poem from his wife, but… you can't read it."

"Why not? Family magic?" asked Flora.

"Sort of, and it's in Celtic runes." said Daphne. "Mostly the runes." she added sarcastically.

"So you claim to be… Madam Slytherin?" asked Flora.

"My husband does not claim the title, I will do as he does" said Daphne. Though it will probably come in handy with great-grandmother one day. His muggle-born mother being the offspring of squibs or something.

"Are you going to be even more-stuck up?" asked Flora. What charming manners she had.

"Of course not" said Daphne "I'm just the head witch of the Ancient and Noble house of Black, your prospective employer, and something about my husband killing a dark lord." Harry's sarcasm was… infectious.

"Come see the office." she said, and crossed the hall and opened the door. "Behold, the calculator" she said, and went in and set it to divide.

"What is it?" asked Hestia.

"It's like a fruit-press for numbers" said Daphne "I'm going to divide thirty five thousand six hundred and ten by twenty-nine. To get sickles."

And a few cranks later, the number was on the little wheels.

"And it's done" said Daphne.

Flora and Hestia crowed around and peered at the dials "On those little wheels?" asked one.

"Yes, easy wasn't it?" said Daphne "I do the accounts in knuts, and divide out at the end. The calculator will total up numbers entered on the buttons. One crank per addition. Makes totalling ledgers almost effortless."

"And you need us why?"

"Because I could be doing tenant management, or something else. I need a book-keeper, and the calculator will make a book-keeping firm very little work for each customer. So… you two could manage, oh I expect eighty-odd businesses customers."

"This… you want to make a business bigger than the Malfoys, don't you?" asked Flora.

'Actually, I rather do' thought Daphne. Oh. She'd always sort of wished to make the family business bigger than the Malfoys. Had the hat seen that? Huh. Ambition.

"Yes" said Daphne. "Not wanting to slight my sister, but I'm better at this."

"She wasn't trained for it" said Flora.

"True" said Daphne. "But we're going to make Black Books a famous name."

"And you hide behind Black" asked Hestia.

"I am Mrs Black" said Daphne. "My parents sold me to save themselves. I can make … something of this."

"What about him?" asked Flora.

"He fixes properties" said Daphne. Flora and Hestia seemed surprised by that. "He's good with his hands" she added.

"Oh" said Flora "Good with his hands" she said. And winked.

Why everyone had their minds in the gutter, Daphne had no idea.

She showed… off the rest of the house, including her room and the artistic Creevy photo.

"That's good" said Flora. "I take it you aren't happy to be with him?"

"It wasn't my choice. I'd rather not." said Daphne. He's rubbish anyway.

Daphne led them to the drawing room and served tea and tea-cakes. The Carrows ate heartily. They were half-starved. Once pacified with food and drink, she took them to the shop.

The Carrows inspected the shop, and peered around the apartment, which had three bedrooms, in the sort of way a tenant does when you show them a house they really want.

"And the apartment comes with the job and no rent?" asked Flora.

And the little fish have bitten, thought Daphne.

"Yes." said Daphne "I'll advance you one weeks wages to buy groceries, clothes to be seen in, and kitchen things. You will work for those wages for the first week. To simplify the accounting."

Flora and Hestia sent a letter the next day agreeing to start tomorrow. Daphne felt … smug. She had staff ,and would never have to do accounts ever again. Tenant management, that was fine.

-==0==-

The next day, the Twins had sent a letter from the shop. They'd done the weeks accounts and the numbers looked correct. Daphne smiled at the letter. Competent, if slightly rude staff.

"What have you done?" asked Harry.

"Hired a book-keeper" said Daphne "Who will use the calculator to do our accounts."

Harry nodded "Frees you up to do things you like better" he nodded.

"And a shop for the bookkeeper in Diagon Alley. It's going to be called Black Books, and they'll do other peoples accounts for money" explained Daphne. "And I may have employed some of Astoria's poor friends from school. The Carrow twins were pretty much ruined by the war. Not that they were rich to start with. Flora and Hestia are going to work in shifts, so the shop is open seven days.

"So people can get to the bookkeeper whenever they have free time, Cleverly done, Daphne." said Harry.

"Really the twins just both wanted the same job, and are so poor, they accepted two hundred a year each" said Daphne. "The shop has a flat over the top, so they can live away from the remaining Carrows, who are old and weird."

"Well will it make money?" asked Harry.

"We're going to charge forty galleons a year to do books up to eighty customers or eight thousand galleons, whichever is less."

"That's cheaper than paying someone to do it" said Harry. He had checked up on prices for a book-keeper. He wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be.

"And they'll only have to work for two hours per customer per week to earn it" said Daphne "If we only have small customers, we can have an income of around three thousand galleons. All for the price of a small, unused shop."

"Do we need a second calculator?" asked Harry. And that was a sensible question.

"I checked with a stopping-watch. I do the accounts for two hours, but I only use it for one." said Daphne.

"Mr Weasley modified a muggle cash register to work in galleons sickles and knuts" said Harry "Saves George ages at the shop. He says closing up only takes ten minutes now."

"Crazy Arthur Weasley modified a cash register?" asked Daphne. That sounded… interesting.

"An antique one, it's all mechanical" said Harry.

Daphne saw an opportunity like a ripe peach.

"Harry, listen very carefully. We need to pay Mr Weasley to teach someone how to do that" said Daphne.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because we can sell or rent cash registers to every shop in England, and make a fortune."

"He should get a share of the profits" said Harry "I had the idea, but he did the work"

"Fifty percent of the profits to us, fifty percent to the Weasleys." said Daphne.

-==0==-

Tracey and Daphne's gang came for afternoon tea that Saturday, Harry was not required to sit and be grilled. Harry went to tea with Teddy and Andromeda instead.

Once Harry was gone, Daphne asked "So, who wants a job at a book-keepers?"

"That sounds boring" said Tracey.

Daphne crooked her finger and led everyone to see the calculator, hastily brought from the shop by Kreacher to show off. "Harry gave me this last year for my birthday. I can do the family accounts in a few hours. The shop will have it, and Harry's getting me some cash-registrars. They add up proper money as the shopkeeper sells and assist in making change. Weasleys Wheezes have the prototype. Closing up the shop only takes ten minutes. We'll be renting cash registrars to shops, they'll be sending in accurate ledgers, and the calculator will mean each customer only needs a few hours spent on them a week. Which means simple work, indoors, nothing sleazy, and for the Carrows, somewhere to live- the shop's got rooms upstairs."

"And why the sudden interest?" asked Lils.

"Oh Harry gave me four hundred thousand galleons for my birthday and I was wondering what to do with it" said Daphne.

"I could do with a new broom" said Tracey.

"Does it hurt?" asked Sally-Anne "When he does your bumhole?"

Everyone stared at Sally-Anne.

"What?"

"Come off it, he's paid for … you know. Depravity. Poor Daphne." said Sally-Anne.

"I wouldn't need paying" said Lils. "Well I wouldn't do that – "

"My Husband" said Daphne firmly "Does not pay to do gross vileness. He's not like that."

Tracey looked Daphne up and down "You reckon?"

"He's quite gentle and… was clueless" said Daphne.

"Oh my god You've shagged Harry Potter?" asked Tracey "Is he handsome naked?"

Daphne blushed.

"He is?" said Tracey.

"His arse is fantastic" said Lils "Bet it's like two piglets in a sack"

"Coconuts" blurted Daphne "Like coconuts."

"Like… hairy and round?" asked Tracey.

"She means hard." said Lils, lifting one eyebrow "Is he good?"

"He's learning" said Daphne, unwilling to be drawn.

Eight fire-whiskeys in the drawing room later….

"So is it big?" asked Tracey.

"Compared to what?" said Daphne. "He is a good kisser."

-==0==-

Harry came to see her in the office with a letter, a muggle one. He stood looking, well like a Gryffindor quidditch player.

"What?" asked Daphne.

"Christies have found us a supply of cash registers. But they want … four hundred thousand pounds. It's the last large stockpile of mechanical cash registers" said Harry.

"Really?" asked Daphne. That's… eighty thousand galleons. A lot. Almost my dowry.

"Christies say there are collectors, but this is a firm that used to make them, and there's nearly a hundred."

"This is the last large supply of cash registers that magic won't break?" asked Daphne.

"I suppose so" said Harry. Daphne grinned. Another opportunity.

"Fantastic. Let's buy them, There is no other supply so we'll dominate the market. Nobody will be able to copy us, because they won't be able to get the cash registers" Daphne said, and um, cackled.

So this is what ambition feels like. I like it.

"Do buy them, dear. I'll get a portkey to our warehouse" said Daphne.

Harry lifted his eyebrows, and went off to do it. Daphne went to see Daddy to get herself a portkey to the Blacks empty warehouse.

She flooed home and went to the office. Daddy wasn't there.

Daphne called out "Glinkit!"

Glinkit, the family house-elf appeared with a pop "Miss Daphne!" exclaimed Glinkit, with a smile.

"Where is my father?" she asked.

"Master is out in his cloak" said Glinkit.

"Oh, out seeing tenants. I'll wait." said Daphne. Wish I'd leaned to make portkeys. Curse the war for ruining Hogwarts.

"If Miss Daphne would wait… Glinkit thinks master will be um… not busy by dinnertime" said Glinkit.

"I'll leave a note" said Daphne. "Tell him when he gets back"

Glinkit nodded.

She wrote out a note, using daddy's parchment and quill.

'Dear Father,

I need a portkey for a Black family shipping problem.

Inside the UK, to a warehouse owned by the Blacks.

Please do come see me at home at your earliest convenience,

and I can take you to the warehouse.

Your Daughter,

Daphne Black.'

And she left it on his desk.

Daphne flooed home and familiarised herself with the apparation coordinates of the warehouse.

She apparated over from the back lawn to check. Still empty, apart from some mouse-scat, and moths. She apparated home, and went back to work.

After dinner, Daphne was reading the muggle-studies books again, when Kreacher appeared with a pop.

"Mr Cyrus Greengrass" said Kreacher.

Daphne stood up and apparated down to the kitchen. Daddy was inspecting the dressers in a blue robe.

He turned at her crack of apparation "Daphne!" he said. He had, thought Daphne far too much colour in his cheeks.

"Daddy" she said. "We just bought a large load of muggle goods, and we need it in our warehouse. I thought of you, obviously."

"Because you can't make a portkey, and won't buy one" said daddy.

Daphne smiled at daddy "Come and see the warehouse… unless you'd like a guided tour?"

"I haven't seen your house dear. Your mother indicated it was a little… unloved."

"Oh it's much improved" said Daphne.

She gave daddy the tour, showing the hidden door mummy had known had to exist, the back courtyard, the coach-house "The coaches sold for a modest sum to the queen." said Daphne. They'd pay for the cash registers, which would make more money.

Then Daphne showed him the dining room "Alas, Walburga Black, Sirius's mama, destroyed the dining room paintings and put in welsh dressers instead. Her husband, Orion was consumed by the Black family accounts."

Daddy eyed the Black family portrait.

"The only thing wrong with that is that my grandchild does not appear in it" said Daddy.

"In time father" said Daphne. "I'm busy starting a new business."

She pointed out the library "All Harry's" she said. "Lots of curses for non-Blacks. Even removing a children's book will get you injured."

She waited for father to ask about the scroll rack, the chair. Slytherin's desk. Father nodded "More scrolls than I'd have expected. Good to see they really respected tradition."

Daphne wondered if Harry would be terribly upset if she killed her father on the first floor hallway. Mummy would doubtless go on infinitely.

"The scrolls are from Harry's mother's family" said Daphne "Squibs… lots of squibs. A few scrolls left from the tenth century."

"Gosh" said daddy "Tenth century. Shame it's squibs. Not Sacred-twenty eight?"

"No daddy, not sacred-twenty-eight" said Daphne. He was so getting socks, and she was going to have words with Harry to make sure daddy only got socks.

"Still a half blood. Pity." said daddy.

Daphne wanted to yell at her father 'I'm married to head of Slytherin. He killed the last one….' Who killed his mother, she mused, who was the heiress… how incredibly dark family of them.

"Daddy, there's more to life than the sacred-twenty-eight. Cantankerous Nott invented it, after all." said Daphne.

"But purity" said daddy.

"You betrothed me to him, father" said Daphne.

"It was never supposed to happen like this my darling" said daddy. And he sniffled.

"Father, I wish you had just taken us to France" said Daphne "One portkey."

"They'd have come looking for us… the business would have died" said daddy.

"We would have been free" said Daphne. He was a rotten shag.

Daphne showed him the rest of the house, and sat him down at her dresser to see Dennis's photo. As she'd sort of expected, daddy went pale, swallowed with difficulty, and his eyes watered.

"Daphne how did … it's awful." said daddy.

"That's my life father. The one you bought me." she said.

As she took him to the courtyard to apparate she said "Don't worry daddy, I'll have a child so that cousin Bertie doesn't inherit. Just not soon."

Once they were at the warehouse, Daphne let them in, the door handle tingling, her wedding ring warming up. "In here" she said.

Daddy cast a few charms the see what was going on. "This warehouse is apparation-proof." he said.

"It's probably unplottable too" said Daphne "Our house is. And it blocks the escryffels for all the unforgivable curses."

"How… very dark of them" said daddy.
"We're the Blacks" said Daphne. She saw daddy cringe at that jab. And took the portkey he made.

She and Harry went to the muggle warehouse, Harry confounded some people, and Daphne strung the cord around the pallets of cash-registers and holding Harry's calloused hand, activated it and they spun away to the Black warehouse.

-==0==-

Mr Weasley could convert the new ones to proper money, apparently. They paid a bit to get him to take some weeks off, and convert some. It was fiddly work, and they really needed someone that liked fiddly stuff. And was a bit broke. Theodore Nott came to mind. Even if he was Theodore Nott.

Daphne wrote letters to every Black tenant, informing them that of they wished to pay in person, they could visit Black books, and be given a receipt immediately. With any luck, they would provide a steady stream of customers to the shop to be handled by the cash register there, and act as a live pantomime of why a cash register was a good idea. The massive animated signs the muggles stuck to buildings in London did the same thing, but this would work, she hoped, on the change-averse populace of Magical Britain.

Black books cash-register leasing business took off quite well. Daphne got Tracey to come and handle that while the Carrrow twins worked in shifts on accounts.

The cash register in the store acted as a quite effective advertisement for Black books, and George Weasley graciously let Daphne put a sign on his cash register at Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes 'Rent a cash register like this from Black books 57 Diagon Alley.'

Daphne took one to Honeydukes to prime to pump, demonstrated it and Mr Flume squinted at it.

"So it… makes change?" he said. Mrs Flume eyed it "And it totals the sales for the day?" she asked.

Daphne eyed the slightly odd set of dials on the end that did just that. "Yes" she said, and indicted the dials as casually as possible.

"How much?" asked Mr Flume.

"Five galleons a week." said Daphne.

"Think of the time we'd save after closing" said Mrs Flume. Whose fingers, Daphne noticed were ink-stained.

When Mr Flume shook her hand, she felt like her heart would burst.

Mr Weasley had taught Theo how to modify cash registers, and Daphne had him work in the back room at Black books, so there were no Cash registers in usable condition in the warehouse. Just in case.

When she got back to Black Books, Tracey was grinning "The Daily Prophet was here" she said.

"Really!" said Daphne.

"Wanted to know what we were selling. So I gave them a menu, and obviously they saw the cash registrar."

"Register dear" said Daphne.

"Well, they said they'd tell the sales desk about the regist-er. The Daily Prophet Daphne. The big time!" said Tracey. Daphne's stomach felt rather upset, but her fingers fizzed with something.

She shrank a cash-regsiter and went off to make another strategic customer.

Daphne went to Gastonom Alley, and visited Madam Hardcrack's store. They were, as usual doing a steady trade in toffee and sweets..

Daphne waited till the post-lunch lull and demonstrated the cash register.

Mrs Ginthe, the grumpy old witch who ran the shop, eyed the cash-register "And how long does closing up take?"

"George Weasley claims ten minutes" said Daphne. Mrs Ginthe narrowed her eyes. "And you want five galleons a week in rental?"

"Well, Honeydukes in Hogsmeade has one" said Daphne. Mrs Ginthe scowled and thrust five galleons at her. Daphne helped her set it up and load the coin drawer.

After getting back to Black books, Daphne took the latest finished cash register from Theo and went to Flourish and Blotts. She set up on a book-basket and rang up the next purchase in parallel with the shop assistant. The manager came over.

"What are you doing… Mrs Black?" asked the old, stuffy wizard.

"Demonstrating Black Books latest thing. The Cash Register. Closing up at the end of the day takes minutes, it keeps accurate records of sales all day, and calculates change instantly." said Daphne. "They're five galleons a week to rent, but will pay for themselves in speedier service, especially at bust times of the year, like August."

And… they agreed to try it for a week for three. It was… better than nothing.

The shopkeepers of Diagon Alley were pressured by their customers to get cash registers and withing weeks, they had a dozen customers. More followed the next week.

Harry, strangely was surprised when she reported one Friday over dinner that they'd made a hundred galleons a week. Which was odd, as every muggle store had them, and the frequently visited stores quickly saw the profit to be made. And when one apothecary got one, the other was in to rent one the next day.

Daphne have Theodore a bonus of ten galleons a week, to keep the flow of cash-registers running. His desperate finances were well, he could soon afford to… pay Black books to investigate his family's ruinous finances, in return for many galleons. Daphne tried not to grin too wolfishly at him. He worked hard changing cash registers to use proper money, and got paid what would be a lot for a Ministry official. And was soon going to be paying most of that back to Black books.

Tracey had the idea to get a printing cash register. Daphne had seen muggle ones do that – the little slips of paper were in every shopping bag. She sent Harry off and he announced at dinner that he had found one that did, and was mechanical. It cost eighty thousand pounds because it was very rare.

"Just buy it" said Daphne "It's an essential tool for Black books."

And once Theodore had modified it for proper money, Tracey took it and keyed in a business ledger, and the cash register total was the weeks accounts for the customer, all done in under a minute, with a lot of tinging of the bell. Theodore cast a charm on the bell, and the next customer was totalled in relative silence.

Over dinner that night, Harry asked Daphne "Is Tracey really clever?"

"Tracey is really Lazy, in a really clever way" explained Daphne. "She found a source of old exams and duplicated them and sold them as study guides. She wasted the money she made on a racing broom."

"I've notice that Black Books hires pretty much your old friends from Slytherin" said Harry, to Daphne, after kissing her hand.

"Yes" she said "And now they've got jobs that aren't terrible, for example the Carrows best option was in Knockturn alley, lying on their backs."

"Are we rich yet?" asked Harry. Daphne tried not to grind her teeth.

"We have a diversified investment portfolio" said Daphne. "We make money from more than one thing."

"And we're making a lot, right?"

"My sister is going to need to admit I'm better at business some time this year" said Daphne "Our income is growing, and once we completely own the cash register business, I think we'll have more income than the Malfoy family." And she was filled with joy at that.

"Which is basically your sister, and Narcissa, who's in prison" said Harry, being a killjoy.

Daphne shrugged "Daddy... I mean father is very proud of us."

Father was actaully awestruck at what he referred to as rivers of gold flowing into their vaults, but once he'd stopped staring glassily at the thought of making two hundred and fifty more galleons a week, and Daphne had explained… he was definitely proud.

"A profitable match indeed." daddy has said, and smirked, and Daphne might have stormed off home to Grimmauld in a huff. The fact that she and Harry were making money hand over fist was due to her. Well and Harry giving her birthday presents that were, well extremely thoughtful. And taking her muggle shopping, so she could see how the muggles did it with no wasted time.

With that much money coming in Daphne suggested they hire repair wizards, and Harry instead read his ancestors scrolls.

To safeguard all the money, she hired Millicent to sit quietly at Black Books and look intimidating.

Millie brought felicity the cat, and it was a lot like dorms. And Millie was glad to get out the house and away from her father, who wanted to know why she wasn't married yet.

"Fathers are not infallible" said Daphne.

"Yours is a tool" said Millie. "I'm surprised you still talk to him."

One night, over dinner, Harry asked Daphne to explain where all the money came from.

"We take a little from almost every shop in Wizarding Britain, and in return, they get hours less work every day, and can serve more customers. Most of our customers have increasing profits."

"Huh"?

"Remember shopping for Hogwarts stuff?" asked Daphne.

Harry nodded.

"Remember how long you stood around while you paid, and they made change?" said Daphne.

Harry nodded again. Daphne wondered if he suffered from some freak ailment that rendered him intermittently moronic.

"Now you can pay pretty much anything you like as long as it's more, and the till works out change, and counts the profits. At the end of the day, you write it down and give the goblins …"

Oh god. Gringotts. The goblin Tellers. All that lost rent. Damnation.

She swallowed "Husband, please forgive me. I've done a terrible thing."

"What?" asked Harry, his eyebrows like a chevron.

"We didn't start by getting the goblins to use our cash registers" said Daphne "All those lost profits"

Harry kissed her hand and said it was all right. Daphne wasn't sure it was all right.

Daphne went to bed, washed herself, put on some perfume, wedding night robes and waited for Harry to come and, er. Express his displeasure. As happened in some novels. By half past twelve, she decided he wasn't coming and got changed into her nightie and went to sleep.

The next afternoon, Harry came to see her in the office with some muggle paper with a very odd advertisement for cash registers. Someone who had dozens more.

"Buy them" said Daphne, who thought they'd rented out about thirty so far, and anticipated Gringotts needing quite a few. A rough count of Diagon alley had over a hundred shops. So a hundred plus cash registers.

Harry went to see the man, and come back reporting that Cousin Dudley and a truck were going to bring them to the coach house.

The next day, Daphne asked Harry to take a cash-register to Gringotts. "Because you're … well they hate you more." she admitted.

"Hate me more?" asked Harry, blinking like a shaved money asked to think.

"They didn't like – " started Daphne.

"Well there was a war on" said Harry. He sighed, and left to the kitchen, still in his breakfast robes.

Gringotts, Harry said at lunchtime, had rented five.

Two days later Theo Nott wrote a hysterical note, claiming the Goblins were breaking the cash registers.

Daphne went to Gingotts to see. There were queues out into the Alley, but fast moving queues.

The goblins were serving customers, who were coming in, not for tens of galleons at a time , but for small amount like five. And the cash registers were running as fast as the lever could be pulled.

She went to Black Books, and Theo was, well he needed a slapping.

"Calm down and explain?" asked Daphne.

"They'll wear them out!" said Theo "They're running as fast as the lever can be pulled."

"What can we do" asked Daphne.

"Make the lever slower somehow" said Millicent.

Theo scratched his chin. "Hmm" he said.

A day later he'd made a thing with a spring in it that made the lever take ages to come back up.

"Good" said Daphne "Make ten like that"

"That's going to take all week!" said Theo.

"Millie, can you help Theo." asked Daphne "You know, take him out to the back room, and if he stops, jam either tea or a sandwich in him."

"I could just hit him" said Millie. Theo squeaked.

"Go… make slow cash registers!" said Daphne.

"You're a slave-driver!" complained Theo.

"Theo, you get paid for this. Go be clever and well paid." said Daphne.

"Cow" he muttered as he went to the back room.

"Millie?" asked Daphne.

"Hmm?"

"He hates some kind of sandwich. Ask around. That's what he gets." said Daphne.

"I think" said Tracey "He doesn't like egg and cress."

"Extra cress." said Daphne. "From Dominic's sandwich shop."

"Dominics?"

"It's just up Knockturn alley." said Daphne.

"Yikes" said Tracey "Don't piss her off" she joked.

Daphne encouraged Harry to go to Gringotts on Friday to see how things were going. The queues were according to Tracey, worse than those to get books from Gilderoy Lockheart.

Before dinner, a report from the shop told her before Harry could, that Gringotts now had ten, slower cash registers.

And Harry had said to the chief teller of Gringotts "We also offer faster cash registers, for a modest fee."

Daphne made a note to get Theodore to take one of the ones the goblins had worked too hard apart and work out how long they lasted, so she could price faster cash registers. That could wait till Monday.

On Monday, she visited Black books, and chatted to Theo, whose work robes were covered in smears of grease. The question had him running into the back room and starting to take a cash register apart immediately.

Daphne followed and was given a whirlwind tour of the clockwork guts of a cash register. Theo however then drew his wand and with an 'accio metal dust' he got a tiny pile that he weighted on a potions scale. "A half scruple" he said. Five tiny piles of dust later, Theo meted the dust into tiny ingot.

Theo eyed it under a loupe. "This is not as bad as I thought, I'll need to check all the parts. Take a day, maybe two."

"Take your time. We want to know how long before they need repair or replacement."

"Figure replacement" said Theo "These are really fiddly. Like pocket-watch fiddly, with as you saw, hundreds and hundreds of parts."

"They cost us eight hundred galleons each" said Daphne. Theo's eyes widened "Wow" he said. "I thought you got them for nearly nothing" he added.

The front office of Black Books was a madhouse. Daphne made a list with help from Tracey, Millicent and Flora of people who might want a job in the fast-paced world of modern accounting.

And Daphne wrote them invitations squeezed between Tracey and Millie, and took them to the owl-post office. Where the owls don't bite you, and all the letters could go at once.

Sally, Lily, Eustace and Francis all arrived the next day, and Millicent had to go buy more desks.

And came back with them all shrunken, and unshrank work desks, and some large battered tables she tipped on their ends, and with a bit of help from her and Tracey, transfigured into room dividers, splitting the very front of the shop, with a counter and till, off from the working bit.

"Less hassle for us, and safer" said Millie. "We could divide up the office into like, little offices. Help everyone concentrate. Not like a classroom."

Daphne went home and in the attic found some more creepy snake-themed lamps, and brought them to light the new offices.

By Friday, Theo had worked out that the cash registers, the unused ones could probably work for forty years without trouble. So the goblins would ruin one in two years or so. He protested that they would probably break sooner from the stress. Daphne wished he'd spend some money on a better haircut, and find some dopey witch who liked him, as he was clearly overexcited by being in an office of young witches. A dopey one I'm not paying.

But he had invented a counter inside the cash register to count how many times the handle got pulled.

Daphne offered this cash register, without a speed limiter to the goblins the next Tuesday. The rent depended on the number of pulls of the handle. It worked out to around fifty galleons from Gringotts every week. She felt so happy she could sing.

On Wednesday, after breakfast, she was making floo-calls, only to see Harry come into the kitchen and start doing something with round tins and flour.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sitting on her haunches by the fire.

"Baking everyone on staff at Black books a cake. A bottle of butterbeer and a cake for everyone as a thank-you."

"Some of them only started this week" said Daphne.

"But they're working, aren't they?"

"Of course" said Daphne.

"So, cakes, butterbeer," said Harry.

Daphne rolled her eyes, and looked at the call list. Mrs Jacobs next.

At the end of the week, Harry took a crate of butterbeer and his pile of cakes to Black books and handed them out. Daphne resisted the urge to snap. He was acting like her wife, or something.

At Dinner, having read the accounts and been very pleased, she said "We're making money from Gringotts" she said. "Nobody but us makes money from Gringotts". Harry kissed her hand.

"Arthur Weasley's managed to pay off some family debts" said Harry "I think by the end of the year, he might be able to pay off some big ones"

"Well he did give our business what it needed" said Daphne. "Now it's growing."

After the main course Daphne asked "Have you learnt anything interesting yet from the scrolls?"

"I found a letter from Rowena Ravenclaw to Salazar. She was angry he wanted to ban muggleborn witches and wizards from being regular students" said Harry "Apparently she thought Hogwarts could handle the occasional small muggle army attacking. The students got in trouble and then people came after Hogwarts."

"Will we ever know what he thought?" asked Daphne. Oh, to know the answers to that, thought Daphne.

"Well he marked her letter in red ink, so, yes." said Harry. "He thought that instead they could just live in the castle till they knew how to stay safe."

He didn't have a romantic bone in his body. "So taken from their families" said Daphne. "That's a bit hard"

"What choices did they have" said Harry, shrugging. "No statute, no obliviators, no accidental magic reversal squad"

"So it was just complicated?" asked Daphne.

"Life is like that" said Harry.

-==0==-

Harry was sent an invitation by Gringotts to discuss business, so he insisted Daphne come with him. It was like he could actually learn.

"We wish to purchase a calculating machine" they said. Daphne put a hand on Harry's shoulder, to ensure he said nothing.

And once they were home, she sent Harry to find all the mechanical calculators. Somehow Granger's father helped, and his cousin Dudley and a truck were part of it too. A month later, they had many. And Gringotts paid far more in rent.

It was nearly Harry's birthday when Gringotts wrote again.

"We wish to purchase… a better calculating machine" they said.

Harry went to the Calculator collector with the most calculators and Daphne explained that they had a collector who really really wanted more… functionality.

"People use computers these days, course, if Babbage had finished his mechanical computer, we'd have them. That would have been a thing."

The next day, Harry and Daphne went to a museum and took photos of a huge machine.

It was far too big for one person to carry, the size of a large china hutch. The curator saw them interested and waxed lyrical about the Difference Engine. "A mere tadpole next to the Analytical Engine" the said "Shame there isn't one."

With ten thousand pounds, Harry got a copy of all the Analytical engine drawings and set them down with Theo. Who immediately said "We need Mr Weasley for this."

For a modest fee Arthur Weasley took six months off from work and spent the next four weeks in his shed with an increasingly grease-stained and over-excited Theo. They presented Harry and Daphne one day with a lump of clockwork the size of a grandfather clock "This is one register" said Arthur. "I'm confident we can build the machine, thought the drawings have some mistakes"

"He put those in to stop people copying his design" said Theo stubbornly.

"Whatever" said Harry "Can you two build it?"

"No" said Arthur "But we can give pieces to the goblins to copy and make certain key pieces"

Daphne wondered why the goblins should be trusted.

"Because they do have vast workshops" said Theo "And it won't fit in the shed."

"How large will this thing be, when finished?" asked Daphne.

"About the size of a full-grown dragon" said Theo "Horntail, not Welsh Green" he said with a snide look at Harry.

"Well, I'll write to the goblins and tell them we're sending you two, with parts and drawings" said Daphne. And that felt like… there would be so much money involved.

-==0==-

Molly Weasley's voice reverberated through Grimmauld place

"Harry Potter, what have you done with my husband!" she was yelling.

Daphne sat up with a jerk on her bed. Had she just heard Mrs Weasley?

"Kreacher!" she called.

Kreaher appeared with a pop. "Yes Mistress"

"Do we have a visitor?"

"The Mrs Weasley" said Kreacher immediately.

Daphne gout up and dragged herself into clothes, clipped her hair back, and quickly put some foundation on, stood and left her room. Upstairs she could hear Mrs Weasley haranguing , presumably Harry.

She walked up and said "Good morning Mrs Weasley."

Mrs Weasley paused her imprecations, turned her head and nodded.

"And what have you done with my Arthur!" she repeated.

"I suspect he is at Gringotts, working" said Daphne.

Harry got his door shut, and mere moments later came out in severe black robes, and swept past Mrs Weasley to his bathroom. He was only a minute or two, and came out clean-shaven, and she sniffed. Wearing his cologne. He had used cleaning charms, Daphne assumed.

"Well we should go to Gringotts then" said Harry, and gave her a quick glance. Daphne nodded mutely.

At Gringotts, the teller summoned another goblin, and they waited. Around then, cash registers shunked and tinged. The sound of profits. The thought cheered her.

An old, harassed looking goblin arrived "What"? He asked.

"Where are my staff" said Daphne icily. Harry was smirking, damn his eyes. Mrs Weasley was briefly confused before she turned to glare at Daphne.

"Working. The artificers are very busy, and your staff understand this… thing they are making." said the goblin.

"Arthur didn't come home last night" said Molly.

After some awkwardness, Gringotts agreed that Black Books' staff might be politely booted out at nightfall.

Daphne said "I'm terribly Sorry, Mrs Weasley, I had no idea the goblins would be so very enthusiastic about making things with Arthur and Theo."

They went home and Harry said quietly "She didn't wake you up with cold water and yelling"

"Well she assumed it was your fault" said Daphne, unable to suppress a small grin.

Kreacher had breakfast waiting in the dining room. Fair shares of bacon had to be granted.

Harry's birthday was a party once again. And afterwards, Daphne got into her nightgown and house-coat and walked up to his room and knocked. This time, Harry had apparently managed to add one and one and make two. "Come in" said Harry.

Daphne opened the door and went in. Potter was wearing those damn grey pyjamas.

Potter heated up the fire, warming charmed the bed, and Daphne got into the bed.

It was… a bit awkward, but, Harry managed to … be quite stimulating, in fact… she moaned as well, an orgasm, if a small one. And Harry kept kissing her and when they stopped, he gave her a rather good kiss and was available for snuggling up to. Daphne used a cleaning charm and went to sleep against the nice, warm, cologne and Harry smelling man.

She woke up to Harry kissing her temple. Daphne felt warm, but also felt the need to go to the loo.

She opened her eyes and say… Harry was looking at her rather earnestly. "Hello" she said.

Daphne opened her eyes and looked at Harry. "Hello" she said cautiously.

"I've run you a bath and warmed the bathroom" said Harry "My bathroom; it's lighter."

Daphne pulled her nightgown off the floor, and got into it, her back turned to Harry.

"Daphne… thank you for last night." said Harry. "It was … really nice"

"Well you were a lot better" said Daphne "Now I need to be elsewhere" she said, pulling her dressing gown on and sweeping out of his bedroom. Oh, he'd warmed the loo seat.

After that, she got into the bath and soaked. Bliss.

-==0==-

In late November Gringotts sent an invitation to see the analytical engine working. Considering that Theo had sent a letter a week before, saying that it was nearly working, Daphne didn't find it very surprising.

It was the size of a train carriage, and glided. Daphne was reminded of her calculator, but… with barrels of swelling solution. It was gilded, surely bits weren't gold?

Daphne stood on an observation platform with Harry as it clunked and clonked, a scroll with letters hammered onto it slowly unrolling into a wire cart.

"They're printing" said Harry, over the noise. It really was dreadfully noisy. It was actually giving her a headache.

Theo, covered in soot and oil, in tatty work robes with the sleeves torn off came up a ladder. He had somehow decided that decent clothes and cleanliness were something that happened to other people.

"We've just run account reconciliation for a customer" said Theo "The punched tablets store the transactions and the engine can print them out."

"Which customer?" asked Harry, with a look on his face, his shaved monkey impression.

"Why you, of course" said Theo. "Once we've got the pixies out of it, they'll be able to automate all the back office."

"What will the goblins do?" asked Daphne "Less of them are tellers, and this back office, sounds like it must have employed a lot of goblins." The greedy monsters had been most cagey about that.

"Well, they're going to go make artworks and mine" said Theo "They never liked dealing with humans, and now they have much shortened shifts on the tellers' hall."

"So they're going to sit quietly" said Daphne, giving Harry a look. He had the good grace to flinch.

"Not really" said Theo, and hearing a strange clank, he slid down the ladder and ran off.

"We're going to be billing a knut per ten thousand calculations" said Daphne. "Theo expects we'll be making another eighty or ninety galleons a week"

"The goblins really hate humans" said Harry thoughtfully.

-==0==-

Yule came.

The Greengrasses had rather packed Greengrass Estate out. Daphne suspected it had a lot to do with Black Books being in the prophet. There'd been some scurrilous accusations that Black Books was trying to take over Britain. Why take over what one can profit from, and why limit oneself to Britain.

Mummy and daddy were still getting socks. In fact Harry was getting socks too. Nice socks, and some nice green silk pyjamas to replace those dreadful flannel ones.

Harry had decided, correctly to wear his black and silver robes. He looked quite the head of an old, powerful and dark family. Given what families he really represented, thought Daphne, he was a little under-dressed. He did look quite severe, with his cheekbones, and faint hint of annoyance, and slicked down black hair. At the last moment she noticed he was attempting to leave in those stupid poity-toed shoes, and made him put sensible ones on. Daphne had been briefly tempted the day before, to go to Gringotts and get the golden torc, the one with skulls on the ends, as an homage to his Peverell family, but decided not to at the last moment. And she eyed his plain robe-buttons as she straightened his high collar before they flooed. If that meant she was so close his cologne surrounded her well, at least is smelt nice. If he ever came out as a Peverell or Slytherin descendant, he could probably have snakes and the odd Peverell sigil on his buttons, and some ravens, for the Blacks.

Harry helped her through the floo in her sleeveless black dress robe with the organza layer from Paris, and five inch heels. Substantially the outfit she'd worn to opera, admittedly with higher heels because Harry was tall.

He managed not to drag her to the floor on the way out of the fireplace, and she didn't turn a heel.

The party was in the ballroom and in full swing by the time they walked in arm in arm. Daphne air-kissed Tori, who was cheery, and mummy, who seemed a bit drunk. Harry stalked off for the farthest wall to sulk handsomely.

Over by the far wall, several family members buttonholed Harry, despite his glowering, and started asking questions. She watched with amusement as he visibly got more and more frustrated at being questioned, and then he snapped, strode across the ballroom and manhandled her, wrapping one arm around her waist rather possessively. And… that should not have made her feel so… aroused.

"Daphne" said Harry "People are asking business questions. You're explaining."

Daphne snagged a coupe of Cognac and resigned herself to being held like… arm candy all night. At least he smelt nice.

Quite a bit later, she was explaining to her great-grandfather – the Greengrass one not the other one how Black books works. As Great-grandfather Ambrose is sitting down and quite deaf, she bent down a bit.

Once he sort-of understood they rented out useful tools to businesses, she stood up, and they moved on to yet another surprisingly brave relative. Maybe the bit where Harry hadn't killed anyone in the last two years or more was diminishing his intimidation factor.

And suddenly, Harry ran a fingernail down her upper arm. In a way precisely calculated to give her goosebumps. A few steps later she asked "What was that about?"

"We need to have a discreet conversation" said Harry softly. Daphne swallowed the rest of her glass of cognac and Harry walked her out of the ballroom. It was quite reminiscent of their wedding march, as the heels were hard not to sway in and Harry was holding her close. Harry looked into the drawing room – not quiet, and decided on the hall cupboard, which was crowded for both of them, but it did have double doors, so it's not like trying to cram into a school trunk.

But Harry's face was right in hers, "What is this about?" Daphne hissed.

Harry held her tight with one hand, put a hand into her hairdo with the other and kissed her on the lips, and slipped his tongue across her lips. What? He wants to snog? Now? In the Hall cupboard?

Her refusal to participate stopped him cold.

"I'm not snogging you in the hall cupboard" said Daphne. "What if someone opened the door?"

"You are ridiculously beautiful, you know that?" asked Harry. He doesn't seem drunk, and seems awkwardly sincere.

"Maybe" said Daphne, feeling her cheeks heating up. He's so close and handsome and… they're in practically a broom-closet.

Harry's wet lips moved slightly towards her, then stopped.

"Are you thoroughly embarrassed dear?" asked Harry, drawing his wand and casting a locking charm on the door, then a charm she supposed was a privacy charm.

"Now, I'd like to snog you?" asked Harry, his lips so close his breath was warm on her face.

And he snogged her. And it was fantastic. Daphne moaned. Oh he was a good kisser.

"Daphne, I um… I'd like to ..." said Harry. Oh no.

Daphne reached down and grabbed Harry by the crotch "If you think I'll consent to a rotten shag in the hall cupboard, you're mistaken" she said, giving a cruel twist.

"So… a good shag?" asked Harry, apparently ignoring the pain "I could eat you out?"

He… would … oh. Daphne let go and licked her lips "You'd do that?" she asked.

"Hell yes" said Harry.

Daphne undid her dress robe and hung it on a hook. Harry gaped at her, and that actually felt rather… powerful.

"Like what you see?"

"Can you… sit on a shelf?" asked Harry.

After Harry transfigured the other shelves to be shallower, she could. Harry lifted her knees and stroked her knickers. She wriggled nervously.

"Knickers?" asked Harry. So she did. Harry started to practice licking.

Daphne liked it. "Mmmm" she said. A lot later, she sighed "Well, not bad for a first attempt" she said huskily. "I expect you want to take me now?" It had been good but… not good enough.

"Uhuh" moaned Harry, and he disrobed, and looked at Daphne "Hop down" he asked. He looked quite handsome.

Daphne got helping hands, and Harry held her close. "This won't work" said Daphne. But he was nice and warm.

"Um, can I see your bum?" asked Harry.

"Oh you are fascinated by my bum, aren't you?" asked Daphne and turned around, and stepped further away. Harry held her hips and pulled her back, closer.

"Oh. Bend over?"

"There's not room" she replied.

"Lean against the wall?" asked Harry.

"And stick my bottom out?" asked Daphne, and she did, with a hip roll. And Harry was very good with his hands. And then… well they did.

"Oh..." said Daphne "This time is much better." Tingles all up and down her legs and arms better.

Daphne felt the orgasm beginning in her belly, and then she … well Harry wasn't to know he'd made her do that. Braced against the wall, Daphne resisted the urge to slide down the wall and lie on the floor, hopefully with her bum up, so Harry could… do something delightful.

A bit later….

Harry found her knickers and helped her back into them, but the way he helped involved lots of snogging, and holding of her bum. And that was entirely okay. Then he got dressed, and that was a bit sad. But they were probably going home anyway.

Harry dispelled the locking charm on the cupboard door and held her elbow very suggestively as they walked to the main fireplace. Daphne made a point of being close enough that his hip brushed hers, and he dual-flooed with her, so the heels wouldn't break her ankles.

"Lock the house down." said Daphne.

Harry locked the floo off and she said "Now Harry, I know we did an act in that cupboard, but that does not mean our relationship …" except Harry stepped right over and started snogging her, holding her hair and… he grabbed her bum. And ground her crotch against his hips. He was a sex maniac. A sexy, dangerous sex maniac. Daphne adjusted her hips a little for erm… better enjoyment.

And he pressed her up against the kitchen table. Daphne briefly wondered if she was about to be taken on the kitchen table. Which didn't seem that terrible an idea, but not comfy. Like her bed.

"No" said Daphne and pushed him away. "Come to bed!" and she disapparated to her bedroom.

She took her dress off again, and started stripping off her underwear… but keeping on her shoes and stockings – he was too tall to snog otherwise, and the thought of wrapping her legs around his waist and hooking her heels together had a certain… interest value.

But she put on her Madam Desha gown, shivered at the feel of it and cast a fire-increasing charm on the fireplace, to warm the room. Then the important business of turning the bed down and warming charming every inch of it. There'd be two people in it tonight after all. Once it was warmed up, she closed it up and started casting a softening charm on the bedhead, the bedfoot, the back of the couch, just in case.

A little later, someone, presumably Potter knocked on Daphne's bedroom door.

"I'm changing please don't come in" said Daphne, sneaking open her hidden perfume container and dabbing some on. She put the jasmine away inside the larger jar, put it back on the dresser and tidied her hair. The image of the two Daphne's in Dennis's photograph were behind her in the mirror. Daphne eyed her dishevelled hair, her swollen lips, her flushed cheeks. Well… one learnt to make do, she thought to herself. A couple more times tonight hopefully.

Daphne got up from her dresser and went to wait by her bed. "Yes husband?" she called.

Harry opened the door and entered, closing the door behind him. He was wearing those damn grey pyjamas again. He hadn't opened his presents yet.

"I'd like to spend the night" said Harry.

"All right" said Daphne quietly.

Harry closed the distance and Daphne held out her hand out ironically. Harry bent and kissed it, very ironically.

Daphne held out her arms "Hug?" she said.

Harry hugged Daphne, and slid his hands around to cup her arse. Daphne resisted the urge to moan. There was something very different about your husband, who you'd shagged today holding you like that, compared to some unwanted Hogwarts boy trying to cop a feel.

Harry let her bum go and took off his pyjama jacket. Which meant Daphne was holding his naked chest. And his shoulders were right there.

"Oh, you're excited" said Daphne, letting her gown slip to the floor in the approved fashion. The feel of the silk slithering down her body was delightful.

And Harry stripped off his pyjama pants and Daphne got to recline on the bed as he… worshipped her with his mouth and fingers. Very effectively. Twice. Daphne was nearly out of breath.

Then he suggested they try leaning on the headboard and um… doing that again.

And it was so warm and comfy in bed and kneeling was easy, and Harry… again.

Quite a bit later, feeling very satisfied, Daphne had slid down onto the bed and lay feeling boneless, warm and … tired.

Harry cuddled up and covered them both. "Good night" he said.

Daphne wished she felt a little less tired, because she would have liked to have got on top and snogged his few remaining brain cells out, but… so tired.

Daphne woke up feeling a little sore. Her jaw ached - oh god she'd done that – and her lady parts were… Potter had really given them a workout. She opened her eyes and rubbed out the sleep, to see a naked wiry Harry with a beautiful arse getting into his dreadful pyjamas.

"What are you doing?" asked Daphne. The bed was cooling down without his legs. And chest… a flicker of desire warmed her… feelings.

"Going to the loo" said Harry.

"Run me a bath" said Daphne. Harry cast a warming charm on the room. "And warm the bathroom" she said loudly as Harry left her bedroom. That toilet seat was like ice in the mornings.

She lay in bed and inhaled. The bed smelt of Harry and sex. The strangest urge to… go and sexually assault Harry in the bathroom came and went. The bed was warm, the house was cold.

Still… waiting for ones bath was boring, so she started reading the muggle studies book again, trying to connect what she read with her experiences of London.

Someone knocked on Daphne's door.

"Who is it?" asked Daphne.

"It's me, Harry" said Harry sounding worried.

"Well, come in" said Daphne. Honestly, he'd serviced her what, three times last night? He was welcome. Today anyway.

Harry opened the door and shut it behind him "I've done something wrong" said Harry.

Daphne's narrowed her eyes "I was perfectly happy with your efforts yesterday, Husband." I'm not going to gush and say that I was transported on wings of delight. But he got pretty close for a while there.

"I forget to undo the transfigured shelves" said Harry, urgently "Or scourgify."

'Oh god the hall cupboard. They'd shagged in mummy's hall cupboard. Transfigured it and shagged and not put it back.'

"Mother" said Daphne, feeling such a sinking feeling. Her idly horny mood died.

"I'll sneak in, and undo it" said Harry.

"How will you do that?"

"Invisibility cloak" said Harry "I've gone all sorts of places with it."

"You're not breaking into my parents house" said Daphne "We will call on them..."

"The night after a big party with lots of house guests?" said Harry.

Daphne sighed "All right. There's a spot by the stream where you can cross over from the lane without triggering a detection charm."

And then she remembered that Harry had… with her four times and no potion. They'd only had the one stupid vial from mummy.

Daphne blinked "Oh shit!" she said indelicately. "Potion" said Daphne.

"What?" asked Potter.

"I didn't have the potion last night" she said. "We shagged… no potion"

"Oh" said Harry. "We used to have potions ingredients… but I've never made it."

"I can't go to an apothecary; they're all shut today" said Daphne. Curse yule.

"Where'd you get it?" he asked.

"Mother gave me a vial… when we got married" said Daphne, blushing.

"Come on, get dressed, we're going to see your mum" said Harry.

"But… Mother" said Daphne.

Harry walked over and kissed her hand. "You can complain about your insatiable husband, and I can fix the cupboard."

"You didn't force me to do anything" said Daphne "I um… quite liked it" she added. What's the etiquette for the morning after, she wondered. Do you sort of award house points? 'And Harry gets fifty points for a really great shag in the hall cupboard, and a hundred for an even better epic shag in my bed.'

"I could tell" said Harry, "Come on?" God he was so… arrogant. If he wasn't so bloody handsome and such a great shag he'd be really annoying.

Daphne settled for a shower, and dressed respectably. Not even sexy underwear. The risk of one of Harry's strong calloused hands finding her sexy underwear was… they had work to do, not shagging. So short heels too – his weaknesses were clear.

As soon as Daphne was out of her room, Harry was there waiting. They apparated down to the kitchen almost as one, and took the floo to Greengrass Estate.

Daphne's parents were in the drawing room with various elderly relatives.

She went over and whispered in her mothers ear. "Mummy, I need to talk in your boudoir"

Mummy's eyebrows went up, and she smirked "Daphne dahlink, come with me" and stood up.

Daddy saw the conversation and got up "Harry, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking typically satanic.

"In your office?" asked Harry.

Daphne left with mummy, and went to mummy's room.

"What is it dahlink? You and Harry seemed to be getting on quite well" asked Mummy.

Daphne tried not to blush.

"Um" she said "Harry's …. we need potion."

"Oh dahlink?" said Mummy, both eyebrows up.

"We ran out." admitted Daphne.

"Oh dahlink always have a spare bottle. Take one of mine, I hardly need the stuff anymore. Your father - " said Mummy, with a little smile that turned wistful.

Daphne interrupted. "Mummy!"

"He's so busy with the business these days, always with the ledgers, the tenants." sighed mummy.

Daphne tried desperately to not think about mummy and daddy doing it.

"Well, come sit dear. We need to have a talk… wife to wife." said mummy.

"So the potion half a day before to half a day after. Please dahlink, don't make a habit of taking tears of regret."

"Tears or regret?" asked Daphne.

"If you have … become pregnant, and you wish not to… surely someone in your dorm had this happen? Tears of regret cure your pregnancy. It's little messy… and not a good idea after more than a few months. St Mungos will deal with later than that… obviously you should just come and see me dahlink. We do need that little Greengrass heir one day."

Mummy summoned her writing box and started writing. "So these are witches charms." she said.

"So this one is for cleaning up afterwards. It's also gentle enough for using on that little Edward's botty, when his nappy's changed." said mummy.

"And this charm… well it cleans up ones monthly. Men find blood a bit off-putting." said mummy.

"I certainly don't want it when I'm having my monthly!" exclaimed Daphne.

"Well it can help." said Mummy "it's your choice."

"And this one helps with… lubrication. You're young, so you'll need to use it to deal with silly marathon sex sessions. As you get older… well, one needs a little help." mummy wrote that out too.

"Now for the kinky stuff, you really need a proper book. The Blacks should have something in their collection. You two will need to talk to each other about that sort of thing. Don't just stick a broom up his bottom and expect him to like it." said mummy. "And clean beforehand, lots and lots of lube."

"Mummy!" Daphne protested.

"Dahlink, don't take everything so seriously. Sex can be fun." said mummy "Well, I remember it used to be fun…" mummy sighed. "Before your father got so busy with work. Now he can hardly be dragged from the ledgers if I sat on his lap."

Daphne blinked. That, for mummy was very… polite.

"Naked" mummy added.

Oh, she'd waited to embarrass me, thought Daphne, blushing.

But then mummy went into more detail….

Daphne left mummy's room blushing, with a rudimentary knowledge of some sex-related charms, written notes on them, and a pint bottle of contraceptive that you only needed a cap-full of at a time.

-==0==-

Daphne found Harry in daddy's study, demonstrating a calculator to daddy. Rather ineptly.

"Oh there you are" she said. There was cardboard box on the floor, so it wasn't her one. And the calculator was a little dusty.

She saw what Harry was doing and gently pushed him away from the machine and ran off some lightning fast calculations.

"As you can see, father, once you convert everything to knuts, the machine adds faster than a person, and divides flawlessly... though division is a bit fiddly to set up.

Daddy watched and Daphne divided a number, pulling the crank and pressing levers.

"Seems… complicated" said daddy.

"Well, you could send your account to Black Books, we would do them for you at family rates" said Daphne with a slight smile. It's not like daddy gave her that many free portkeys.

"And what will I do with all this extra time?" asked daddy.

"Spend time with Mother" said Daphne "We had quite the conversation."

Harry blushed. Daphne cleared the machine and put the manual atop it.

"It's necessary to understand the manual first. It's written for clerks, so anyone can understand it" said Daphne "Now, I think, Harry and I need to go home and calm our elf. We came here before breakfast and poor Kreacher will be quite put out. He's old and very set in his ways."

"Well, you two… run along" said daddy.

Once she got to the hallway she eyeballed Harry, and he just nodded. So the hall-cupboard was fixed then.

Daphne stepped out of the floo at Grimmauld place and immediately called for Kreacher.

He appeared with a pop "Mistress went out before breakfast?"

"Take this" said Daphne, handing Kreacher the large potion bottle from her robe pocket "And put it carefully on my dresser."

Kreacher disappeared with a pop.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry.

"I'm fine" said Daphne "Mother gave me some notes on charms and other potions. Was Father all right?"

"He wanted to know If I was um… coercing you" said Harry awkwardly.

"I hope you set him straight politely" said Daphne.

"Yes dear" said Harry. "And I just came out and admitted we'd… snogged in the hall cupboard, and went and cleaned it up"

"We were not snogging" said Daphne. Is it normal to have sudden flushes of sexual desire?, wondered Daphne.

"Well, I did say it was because I found you irresistible and next time I'd just take you home" said Harry. Daphne felt her cheeks heating up. Flatterer.

Daphne smiled minutely, then asked "And how did father take this?"

"He had a drink" said Harry, looking pensive.

"You're driving my poor father to drink" exclaimed Daphne. Poor daddy had been so sick.

"You practically told him to use the calculator and go snog your mother" said Harry.

"Mother made wistful observations about father" said Daphne.

"I.. I can't imagine that" said Harry.

"Well I went in needing contraceptive potion and mother said "here, take some of mine, I hardly need the stuff now" said Daphne. "Well, in so many words"

"Speaking of..." said Harry "Fancy a spot of breakfast?"

"I am famished" said Daphne.

Kreacher had kept the chafing dishes warm.

Harry made sure to take exactly half the bacon.

"Are you going soft on me Mr Black, leaving bacon?" said Daphne "One night of passion and you stop taking all the bacon"

Harry patted the top of Daphne's hand "I'm not going soft on you any time soon" said Harry. "But fair is fair"

"Why, Mister Black, are you suggesting we cease the childish bacon war?"

"Perhaps" said Harry. "If you will stop"

Daphne eyed the bacon. If… if he'd been particularly nice the night before… and got up late… he might get three rashers.

Much later, working in the office, she realised he'd made a dirty joke alluding to… being hard.

-==0==-

Daphne got a present for her birthday, waking up to abdominal cramps. Oh, a bad monthly.

She showered, put on the muggle warm soft stuff, and took a pain potion, then went to breakfast. This pretty much ruled out birthday sex, she thought morosely.

Harry gave her a gentle kiss on the hand.

"I know I'm not dressed up "said Daphne "But my tummy hurts"

Harry conjured up a warm hot water bottle. And that helped. He was quite useful really.

She lay on the drawing room couch in bed-socks, covered in a rug, Harry at the end of the couch sitting puzzling though more seventh year textbooks.

Astoria arrived with a present in dress robes and did a double-take "Daphne, you're dressed…. So muggle."

"I'm having my period and it's really bad this time" said Daphne. "Harry's conjuring me hot water bottles"

"Oh, sis" said Astoria, kneeling and patting her sister's hand "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry. I was hoping to have a really nice day shopping with Harry" said Daphne.

Harry was sitting reading the book and nodded. He could be so relaxing by just not going on about things.

"Shopping" said Astoria snidely "Mother implied you needed lots of potion."

"I do" said Daphne "I'm a married woman, and Harry is a brute."

The brute, in slippers, jeans and a jersey nodded "I'm completely insatiable" he said deadpan.

Daphne felt her lips twithcc at his little joke. He wasn't insatiable, but he was quite funny.

Astoria sat on a chair in the drawing room, looking up at their wedding photo. More photos of various Black's dotted the walls now.

"Did you ever get the letters to Mrs Avery?" asked Astoria.

Harry looked up "Yes. She was… sad. Though, knowing Regulus had died, made her feel better, oddly. She settled for Avery, and kept wondering if he'd just fled the country."

"And... the reason he died?"

"I was right. She'd have made a fantastic soppy aunt" said Harry. "She'd like to keep in touch"

"Well, do you have a friend her age?" asked Astoria.

"Astoria, dearest, not every situation is one for matchmaking" said Daphne.

"I'm dearest. You love me more than him" said Astoria cheerfully.

"We have an arranged marriage. It's not the same" said Daphne, giving Harry a look. Don't mention snogging.

"Well, yeah, I mean he was stuck having to marry you" said Astoria "Not that my sister is anything but a beautiful and intelligent woman"

Daphne looked at Astoria "Oh, flattery And a present."

Astoria tossed Daphne the flattish parcel, which she opened, and found a book entitled "Living with men, a guide for witches"

Daphne read the table of contents. Many of the chapters had silly names. "Sister... is this a serious book?"

"I think it's partly satire, though I read it and I suspect it's not without truth" said Astoria.

Daphne flicked through it and read a section aloud "Wizards rarely bother much with witches pleasure, so a witch should insist on extra pleasuring before allowing the wizard their few minutes of rutting" Daphne blinked "It pulls no blows" she said. And Harry was fairly good about making sure she was… satisfied before ten for fifteen minutes of rutting. Quite satisfactory rutting. Especially if he did it a few times.

"Well, parts are less applicable to you two obviously" said Astoria.

"I just wanted to sit quietly" said Harry. Daphne gave him a gentle shove with one foot. He was so bloody sarcastic.

"Stop teasing my sister" said Daphne, feeling a smile on her face.

"You two are in love" said Astoria.

"We're just used to one another" said Harry "Daphne and I are stuck together," he nodded to Daphne. "This is an arranged marriage. It's not some… huge passion".

'And if you mention us shagging in mummy's hall cupboard, I will cut you,' thought Daphne.

"Well, it seems to have worked out… you like each other well enough and… there's goings-on" said Astoria. "I'm a poor lonely widow."

"A filthy rich widow" corrected Harry. "I'm sorry you're lonely."

Astoria sighed "So few single men... since the war."

"There's Theo" said Daphne.

"Theo's nearly broke" said Astoria. "There's Blaise, I suppose…."

"Blaise is a dangerous man" said Daphne firmly. "His mother brought him up to think of wives as temporary, the way she sees husbands"

"He's handsome and rich-ish" said Astoria "Otherwise it's all half-bloods"

"Oh, half-bloods aren't so bad" said Daphne. Hers was quite yummy.

After Astoria left, Daphne asked "Why are you reading textbooks?"

"I was on the run, I didn't do seventh year. There's a lot I don't know" said Harry.

"You're sensitive about being called a school dropout, aren't you?"

"A bit yeah" said Harry quietly.

"Well, you can study up and sit NEWT's at the ministry, you know. There's a fee per subject" said Daphne.

"Is there?"

"My school seventh year was terrible. The new muggle-studies class, torture curses in Dark Arts class. It was awful" said Daphne.

"I heard it was bad, yeah" said Harry.

"I uh... only got three NEWTs" said Daphne.

"Which shows how bad it had got, if a brainy witch like you only gets three" said Harry. And he'd complimented her. And that hadn't sounded sarcastic at all.

Daphne looked at Harry, examining his face for signs of sincerity or otherwise, "You think I'm brainy?"

"You've got the house of Black to a stable income" said Harry. Rivers of gold was stable, she supposed.

"The calculators and cash registers were your idea" said Daphne, to see what he did.

"You did all the work, and thought up Black Books" said Harry. "You've done really well."

"You should, you know, do some NEWTs" said Daphne.

"Well, I suppose, transfiguration, charms, defence" said Harry.

"You should sit NEWT muggle studies; you'd easily pass"

"I'm shocked Daphne that you'd recommend anything easy" said Harry. "I don't think I could do potions, and Care seems a bit…. Irrelevant these days."

"You did sixth year potions, I only just passed OWLs in it" said Daphne. "Snape marking up Slytherins did us no favours in the WEA examinations"

"I've got a really good potions textbook, Professor Snape put all kinds of great tips on the recipes" said Harry.

Merlins beard, did Harry Potter just praise Professor Snape? Harry caught her eye and explained.

"He marked up a copy of advanced potion-making with better methods, and extra processes. And scribbled in some spells he invented.

"He invented spells, before he graduated?" asked Daphne. She knew Professor Snape was clever but, inventing spells at Hogwarts?

"Grumpy, clever man" said Harry. "A complete pillock but was brilliant at potions."

Daphne held a hand to her forehead melodramatically "Harry Potter praises Professor Snape… I think I might faint."

Harry's eyes glinted, and he smiled faintly at her. And that was oddly comforting.