Author Note I'm going to be on vacation for the next week or so soon and it will be a few days until my next update

I hope you enjoy and thank you for your reviews I love reading them and hearing what you have to say.

Feel free to send me a PM as well if you want I also love getting those

Cheers

Also Lilly and James Potter are not living on the Hogwarts Grounds during the Tournament just really coming to Hogwarts for special occasions.

Chapter 52

November 24th 1994

Hogwarts

"Harry".

Harry looked at Lily Potter standing in front of him.

"Hello "He said

"Who is your friend? "She asked.

At that Harry had to bite back a retort and instead just said "This is my wife Daphne".

Lily then blushed deeply and did not say anything else for another minute or so before stuttering something about having to check on Michael's injuries from the task.

As they watched Lilly leave Daphne remarked in a snide voice "Charming woman isn't she".

Harry nodded "I like your mom much better Daphne "He said.

He then turned his back and they both walked the other direction back to the castle

SCENE CHANGE
The next day Professor Snape held an All Slytherin the Morning.

"The Yule Ball is approaching in exactly a month from now"Snape said

"The Yule Ball is a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above — although you may invite a younger student if you wish —"Snape said.

"Dress robes will be worn,and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then the Yule Ball is of course a chance for you all to let your

hair down,But that does NOT mean that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Slytherin student embarrasses the school in any way." Snape said looking around "Am I understood".

Everyone around the room said "Yes Professor Snape".

"Good"He said leaving the room"You may go back to whatever it is you where doing now"

Harry looked at Daphne "Want to go to that when it comes up?"He asked.

"Sure"She said "I always love doing things with my husband".

The two then linked arms and headed off to breakfast.

SCENE CHANGE

After the First Task Harry and Daphne worked to avoid the Potters as much as possible and focus on the other things going on as the next four weeks of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumors about the Yule Ball began flying everywhere, though Harry didn't believe half of them — for instance, that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. It seemed to be a fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters.

But Harry had never known so many people to put their names down to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; he and the rest of the students usually went home for the holidays. This year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be staying, and they all seemed to Harry to be obsessed with the coming ball

This would be the first year that Harry and Daphne would be both staying at Hogwarts for the holidays.

Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach them much when he saw that their minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed them to play games in his lesson on the last Wednesday before break,

Other teachers were not so generous.. Professors McGonagall and Snape kept them working until the very last second of their classes.

The Holiday relaxment Harry and Daphne were of a mixed mind since they enjoyed the holidays just as much as the next person but also wanted to do well on their NEWTS.

The Hogwarts staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, seemed determined to show the castle at its best this Christmas. When the decorations went up, Harry noticed that they were the most stunning

he had yet seen inside the school. Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. It was quite something to hear "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words.

Several times, Filch the caretaker had to extract Peeves from inside the armor, where he had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of his own invention, all of which were very rude.

Dspite the very heavy load of homework that the seventh years had been given for the holidays, Harry was in no mood to work when the term ended, and he and Daphne spent the week leading up to Christmas enjoying themself as fully as possible along with everyone

else.

He also cancelled all Archmagi Sessions until the Holiday Break was over.

And that was something that was a challenge with more people joining, making over one hundred and eighty that had joined the Archmagi by the end of December.

It was a challenge fitting in training for all of those people but Harry was making it work.

For now he wanted to just enjoy with his wife their last Christmas as Hogwarts Students.

The Slytherin Common Room was hardly less crowded now than during term-time; it seemed to have shrunk slightly too, as its inhabitants were being so much rowdier than usual.

Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now.

The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savory puddings

On one of the first days of the break Daphne and Harry were out walking.

"Do you want to go on a date?" Daphne asked Harry.

"What do you have in mind."He asked her "We are kind of trapped in Hogwarts for a while"

"Yeah," she began, "I was just thinking that it's the holidays of our last year, and we haven't really had a proper date since we got married so I was thinking that we could just make some dinner and eat in the Room of Reqirment since there are no sessions going on."

"Really? You don't want to try and sneak out and go somewhere".Harry asked

Daphne shook her head.

"I just want to spend time with you. even doing something simple"She said

Harry shrugged.

"You know, for a beautiful woman, you are sometimes remarkably low maintenance."

"Thank you"Daphne said "Lets go to the kitchen so that we can get some food to shrink and take down to the Room of Requirment".

"Ok"Harry said

SCENE CHANGE

As Daphne cooked the house elf food they had gotten a traditional boeuf bourguignon, a warming beef stew with red wine and vegetables.

To divide the work Harry had decided to work on Transfiguring the table and chairs that they would be sitting on along with anything else and Daphne would deal with the cooking she had already known how to do for some time.

Daphne put the meat, broth, and vegetables simmering in the oven that the room had provided. It had to cook down for a while, and they talked and laughed and enjoyed a wonderful evening together until the food was ready.

They probably could have gotten dinner and everything else done with the help of the room and the House Elfs but they both wanted to practice working.

Once the meat and broth had been in the oven for about an hour and a half

Harry wanted to help with the meal so he under his wifes direction started on the mushrooms.

"No,No,You must not crowd the mushrooms!"

Harry looked up from the frying pan, perplexed.

"What do you mean, crowd them? They're mushrooms, they're not going to get claustrophobic."

"No,No the mushrooms need room to breathe, you cannot just pile them all in the pan together. Like this."

Daphne reached for the spatula, stirring the mushrooms in the pan so that they were spaced evenly. Harry shook his head, bemused.

"They will be more flavorful this way, you will see,"Daphne said.

"If you say so. Should I start the pasta?" Harry asked.

"No I will do it but can you make a pan and fill it with water please." Daphne opened the oven door, and reached in with oven mitts to lift the pot out, setting it on the range

Harry made a pan out of some materials and started to fill it with water, while Daphne lifted the lid carefully on the stew. Steam rose from the uncovered pan, along with a delicious aroma of beef, carrots, tomato, and onions with a hint of thyme.

"Mmm, that smells good." Harry leaned over the pot to breathe in the scent.

"Of course it does," Daphne answered "I am cooking it."

"Of course it does," Harry agreed, "I helped you with it."

Daphne then poured a little oil in the pan full of water, starting the stove.

Soon there was then a sizzling sound, as the pot of water for the pasta began to boil over.

Daphne then slid the pot onto a different burner, tipping a box of noodles into the water and stirring it.

She then tipped the pan of mushrooms into the larger pot turning the heat up on the stove so that the stew could come to a boil, then lowered it to a steady simmer. Soon everything was ready, and she strained the pasta and Harry gave her a pair of wide, shallow bowls.

Sitting down at the table Harry hand conjured Daphne smiled and cut a small piece of beef and scooped an onion onto it.

"Oh, that's some delicious food "Harry gasped while taking a bite.

Daphne delicately swirled some pasta around her fork and took a bite.

"Of course it is delicious, it is a recipe my mother came up with"

The two ate for a while before Daphne asked "Harry".

"Yes".

"Would you mind looking over my Yule Ball outfit please?"She asked.

"Why "Harry asked

"The Yule Ball is a major opportunity for you to network"Daphne said "And as your wife I want to make sure that I can help you out however much I can with that".

"Um ok"Harry said.

SCENE CHANGE

On the day of the Yule Ball Harry and Daphne met up with Edmund in the common room,

and they went down to breakfast together. They spent most of the morning in the Common Room where everyone was enjoying their Christmas presents, then returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.

They went out onto the grounds in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle.

Daphne chose to watch Harry and some of the other members of the Archmagi as they got into a wild snowball fight, and at five o'clock she came up to him and whispered that she was going back to the room with Layla to start getting ready for the ball.

Harry nodded and then threw another snowball at Zahler using a tiny bit of Waterbending to really make the Snowball soar.

There was no Christmas tea today, as the ball included a feast, so at seven o'clock, when it had become hard to aim properly, everyone abandoned their snowball fight and trooped back to their four respective common rooms.

SCENE CHANGE
After getting into their gown and tuxedo Daphne and Harry along with their friends from the Archmagi meet up with groups and made their way to the Great Hall just in time to see everyone in the Great Hall applaud as the champions entered with their dates and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.

Micheal was with someone that he did not recognize.

He thought that she looked like a Weasley though.

For tonight the walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

Sitting down with Daphne and a group of Archmagi they thoroughly enjoyed their meal and when all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.

The Weird Sisters then trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments, and Harry saw that the lanterns had gone out, and

that the other champions and their partners were standing up and heading onto the dance floor.

At that point he also saw Lilly Potter off in the distance standing with Professor McGonagall.

He did not see James anywhere, thinking how strange.

Watching Micheal Potters attempt at dancing then was just pathetic.

He only narrowly managed to avoid stepping on his date's feet several times and Harry who had practiced dancing with Daphne before couldnt help but wince.

Soon the Champions ended their dances and everyone else started to dance

Dumbledore started waltzing with Madame Maxime and he was so dwarfed by her that the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin; however, she moved very gracefully for a

woman so large and Professor Moody was doing an extremely ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was nervously avoiding his wooden leg.

Harry and Daphne then found a relatively secluded area of the Great Hall to just do a slow dance in.

After that Harry followed Daphne to the drinks side of the room and the quite surprising range of drinks.

"Wow they're serving alcohol at the ball when underage witches and wizards can attend? Daphne said.

'I heard from Edmund that the ball was only supposed to be for students who were seventeen and over,' Harry explained. 'When my brother's name came out thought they had to let younger years attend or he would be all alone for the event.'

'I guess nobody remembered to remove the alcoholic drinks then.' Daphne said. 'Wine?' She offered an expensive looking bottle of elf-made wine in his direction, two crystal glasses already tucked under her arm.

'I might as well,' Harry decided, indicating the wine bottle. They both had quite enjoyed the Firewhiskey.

They found a spot further towards the end of the tables where it was mostly empty. The usual furnishings that had been pushed back against the walls of the Great Hall to make space for the dancing. Once seated Harry helped himself to a wide-ranging selection from the nearby piles of Christmas food. Daphne was pickier though in what she ate, avoiding the heavier meats and potatoes in favor of the sweeter, lighter dishes.

.'Do you want any?' Daphne asked, having leaned across the table to procure a bottle of sweet dessert wine.

"Sure," He said, taking a glass.

Harry looked up and saw that the top table was now empty; Professor Dumbledore was dancing with Professor Sprout, Ludo Bagman with Professor McGonagall; Madame Maxime and Professor Hagrid were cutting a wide path around the dance floor as they waltzed through the students, and Karkaroff was nowhere to be seen. When the next song ended, everybody applauded once more, and Harry saw Ludo Bagman kiss Professor McGonagall's hand and make his way back through the crowds,

He also did not see Micheal or Lilly

When the Weird Sisters finished playing at midnight, everyone gave them a last, loud round of applause and started to wind their way into the entrance hall. Many people were expressing the wish that the ball could have gone on longer,

Harry and Daphne among them.

They got to talk with a lot of people during the night and they generally had quite a good time,

He was curious of where James had been thought.

Author Note Harry and Daphne are not involved in the Triwizard Tournament so they are spending a lot of there time learning bending moves, preparing for the future and training the Archmagi which will be a large group and definitely not like Dumbledore's Army more like Harry Potters Army.

Because a lot of that stuff is repetitive though with the training I'm not showing it.

That will also make the year go by relatively quick and I don't intend to drag out seventh year.

The end of the year will be something though and I think a few of you will be surprise of what the Archmagi is used for

Cheers