The next day Harry woke up late and his sleep had been plagued with images of Sirius dying and images of his mother and father saving him. He was sore all over and felt like his body weighed 500 lbs.
He rolled out of bed and went into the fourth year shower and took an almost thirty minutes shower. No one expected him to do anything, Dean, Neville and Seamus all were trying to cheer him up when he came back the night before but Harry went straight to bed saying he didn't want to talk about it and that he was fine.
As he stood under the showerhead letting the steaming hot water roll across his shoulders he thought about his mother and father and what they had both said to him. They both loved him and were proud he was their son. He had never heard their voices or seen more than a few pictures of them. However now he had a concrete memory to reflect on.
He got out of the shower and quickly dressed and packed all of his things in his trunk and walked down to get lunch as he had already missed breakfast.
When he arrived in the Great Hall he was shocked that everyone seemed to leave him be. Even the Gryffindors, everyone appeared to be whispering to their friends. He saw Hermione and walked over and sat down next to her. Luckily she was alone and Ron was nowhere to be seen.
"Why's everyone so quiet?" Harry asked his best friend.
"This!" She said in an annoyed voice. She threw her copy of the Daily Prophet at him, the headline read, "Boy-Who-Lived Kills Death Eater with Unforgivable!"
Harry threw the paper back on the table, "Fucking piece of shit!" Harry swore loudly.
"HARRY!" Hermione spat back at him.
Harry jumped slightly then sat down next to her, "Sorry, I just don't think I can take this right now. I don't need people thinking im some kind of evil person."
"Well if the Ministry would monitor what this evil Hag writes then I doubt we'd be in this predicament. As it stands there's not much you can do. It's the last day of term and everyone is leaving in a few hours. We just have to hope that people forget over the summer." She said hopefully.
Harry sighed and grabbed a sandwich and shoved it in his face. "Speaking of summer, do you have to go back to Dursleys?" Hermione asked with sorrow.
"I don't see another alternative Hermione." Harry returned with disgust.
"Sorry…" She said remembering that he had been trying to get Dumbledore to let him stay with Sirius. "Well… maybe you can stay at the Burrow." She said hopefully.
"I don't want to see or be anywhere near Ron anytime soon. I'd rather suffer another summer with my Aunt and Uncle then be anywhere near Ronald Weasley." He said with as much venom and anger as he could.
Hermione worried greatly for her best friend but there was little she could do. The two of them ate the rest of their last meal together till next September in peace a quiet.
The train ride back to London was much too short for Harry's liking. He sat with Hermione and Neville and they talked lightly about plans for the summer.
Harry mainly just listened and commented a few times about how he was interested in Nevilles greenhouse, however otherwise he was quiet the entire trip.
When he arrived back at 4 Privet drive his uncle turned to him. "Boy, you are going to make sure that this house is spotless every single day and if, IF!" He emphasized. "You do that then I will let you go outside once a week."
Harry smiled, "Thank you Uncle Vernon." He nodded and then carried his trunk upstairs to his room where Hedwig was waiting at the window.
He walked over and unlatched the four locks on the window and let his snowy white owl come inside. "Hey girl. How was your flight."
She hooted happily and then nipped at his finger to show her affection towards Harry. "It's gonna be another long summer…" Harry said jumping on his bed his head landing on the single squishy pillow and tried to fall asleep.
Several hundred miles away an owl landed in Greengrass Manor in front Daniel Greengrass. The tall well dressed man with light brown facial hair and short dark black hair looked onward as the owl dropped off a piece of parchment that had Gringotts seal and addressed to his wife, Aurora Greengrass.
"Honey!" the man called into the back of their large three story house. "You have a letter that just arrived it looks important!"
A few moments later a woman walked into the study her husband was standing in, she had long blonde hair and beautiful pearl white skin. Her brown eyes shined brightly through her hair and face. "What was that Daniel?" She asked a happy soft voice.
"Aurora you have a letter. It appears to be from Gringotts." He said with a smile. Daniel had been in love with his wife every since their third year at Hogwarts. He still loved her the same way that he did the first day they kissed after one of his Quidditch games. He had score eleven goals that game setting a new Slytherin house record for most goals in a game.
"Oh a letter for me how strange." She said as she walked gracefully over and grabbed it from her husband.
She opened it quickly and read it just as fast. Her face went from happy to shocked to sad to angry to determined. "What is it Aurora dear?"
"Lily and James Potter named me Godmother to their child and apparently Sirius Black has been murdered. Meaning that I am the last legal guardian of Harry Potter." She said factually as she handed her husband the letter that she had just read.
His face went to that of shock and then sorrow. He and Sirius has gone to the Auror academy together after their seventh year. He, Sirius and James were all in the same Auror class. They became quiet close. Daniel really felt bad the day that he heard James and Lily had been murdered. He and James were friends but not as close as him and Sirius.
His wife was more devastated by the loss of Lily Potter. She and Lily were best friends along with Pandora Lovegood. If James had Sirius and Remus then Lily had Aurora and Pandora. The three of them did almost everything together.
Aurora had lost both of her best friends one to Lord Voldemort and the other to a tragic accident while researching new spells. She had talked every so often of trying to reach out to Harry and talk to him but always managed to talk herself out of it, saying that he was better off staying with Lily's sister Petunia.
"Wait what? I thought they decided against naming you godmother and went with Pandora instead." Daniel asked as he finished reading the document that clearly stated Aurora Greengrass is now the legal Magical Guardian of Harry James Potter.
"Apparently they changed their mind at the last minute." Aurora said.
"Well what do you want to do?" He turned to his wife and asked honestly.
"I want to get my godson." She said firmly, "He needs a family, and we are going to be that family."
Daniel nodded, "I agree, I'll begin making arrangements in the morning." He wrapped his wife in a warm hug. "Should we tell the girls?"
Aurora shed a few tears into her Husbands chest, "Not yet, they just got home, we'll tell them tomorrow when we know more."
"Ok." Daniel replied and rubbed his wife's back gently. Daniel was very much in favor of this as he had hoped to have a son of his own to raise, however he and his wife both agreed they wouldn't try and have a fourth child after their third daughter died during birth. It had been even more devastating than when Pandora or Lily died. However Daniel was now about to have a godson and that meant that he could do all of them fun father son things that he could never get Daphne and Astoria to do. All he had to do was payoff a few clerks, file a few forms, and convenience Albus Dumbledore to let the boy live with them.
Two weeks later, Harry had still not heard from any of his friends despite the fact that he had sent many letters. He was beginning to wonder if Dumbledore had told them all not to write back.
He was just finishing clearing the dishes from lunch when a knock at the door startled him and his Aunt.
"Who could that be?" Aunt Petunia asked, "Boy get the door!" She yelled at him.
Harry shrugged and tossed the dirty towel he was using to clean the dishes off to the side and walked to open the door.
When he opened it he saw a beautiful woman wearing a very fine dark green dress and black tights. She had blonde hair that flowed gracefully in the Surrey breeze. The woman gasped as he opened the door. Aurora had not seen Harry in almost thirteen years ever since Lily had died. She began to tear up slightly but quickly regained her composure.
"Harry…?" she said softly
"Yeah that's me", he said somewhat confused.
"Who's at the door boy!" Petunia yelled from the back of the house. Her voice getting louder, as she walked behind Harry she gasped at the woman standing in the doorway. "Aurora?!" she said loudly and in shock.
Harry looked back at his Aunt, "Do you know each other?" he said confused and ever bit excited.
"I am Aurora Greengrass and Harry you and I have a lot to talk about." She said with conviction but also love.
Greengrass, Harry had heard that name before but couldn't quite place where. "Ok…" He said his mind now racing.
"Aurora what are you doing here?! I told you thirteen years ago I never wanted to see you or your kind again!" Petunia yelled.
"I won't be here long just long enough to collect Harry and his things." She said now pushing her way into the house.
Harry then noticed a house elf following behind her. "I's Trixie and I's been ordered to get yous things." The elf bobbed happily into the house.
"Excuse me what do you mean Collect me?" Harry asked even more confused than before.
"Harry, a long time ago your mother and I were best friends. We went to school together we played games together over the summer and we even researched together. She apparently named me your Godmother and when Sirius Black died a few weeks ago that passed onto me." She said with a smile.
She watched Harry's face fall and tears formed in his eye. "You knew my mother…" He said softly and fell forward. Aurora reacted immediately and caught the boy and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Its ok… We can talk about it more back at home." She said in a loving motherly way. Harry responded very well and quickly backed up, with a smile from ear to ear as he wiped a few tears away from his face.
"Now go on and get your things we'll leave in a few minutes." Aurora said as she waved him upstairs to follow Trixie.
"You can't do this, Dumbledore said that he had to stay here with us." Petunia said thinking that they might stop getting paid by Dumbledore for keeping Harry. He was paying them 1000 pounds a month to keep the boy. Sure he was a problem, but a problem that only existed three months out of the year.
"Oh Petunia, I can." She produced a rolled up scroll and handed it to the flustered woman.
She quickly unraveled it and read it. She rolled it back up, "Wait till my husband hears about this, he'll…"
Aurora turned towards the muggle woman, "He'll what? Have me arrested? You have no idea where I live and in case you haven't forgotten from the last time I was here, I am a witch and you are not." With that she turned on her heels and walked quickly up the stairs.
"Harry!" She called slightly annoyed from her conversation with Petunia Dursley.
"Yeah, up here!" Harry called happily.
Aurora walked into the room that Harry had been sleeping in and was appalled by how small and dirty it was. He was using sheets that had several large holes in them his dresser was the size of a small tv. The curtains on the windows could loosely be considered napkins. The entire sight made her sick. "You lived here?!" She called out angrily.
"Yeah, I was super excited when they finally moved me from the cupboard under the stairs to my own room!" he said excitedly as he and Trixie were just finishing packing the rest of his things.
"That is a story for another time young man." She smiled and levitated his things down the stairs and out the front door. Trixie taking the trunk and Hedwig's cage and disappeared with them.
Once outside Aurora turned and pulled Harry gently behind her and checked up and down the street to see if anyone could see them, "Good day Petunia, I pray for your sake that we never meet again." With that she apparated them both to their new home.
When they landed Harry was gobsmacked to see that their house was a three story mansion with five white pillars in the front. The white marble house was huge and had giant windows with beautiful dark green curtains. There was a lush garden in the front yard with all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing.
"Woah" Harry said as his eyes grew big.
"Don't worry wait till you see the inside." Aurora said with a big grin, and she led them both inside. Trixie had popped out and taken the rest of Harry's things away presumably to his new room.
As they walked into the house Harry was even more amazed by the all wood interior. There was a huge two story staircase that spiraled around the edges of the room leading to the other two floors.
Aurora kicked off her shoes which floated into a small holder by the door and walked up next to Harry, "Welcome to your new home." She said softly and trying to not overwhelm the boy.
Harry was slowly turning in circles looking at everything that was around him. Compared to the Dursleys and even the Burrow this place was fantastic, "I… I….must be dreaming. There's no way this is real…."
Aurora wrapped her arms around Harry from behind, "Your not dreaming and this is real. I know this all new for your right now so enjoy it." Harry turned around and immediately hugged the woman like he would have his mother had she been alive.
Aurora Greengrass was very stunned by Harry's affection, especially so soon after hearing she was his godmother. She expected the boy to need a while to adjust to his new surroundings before accepting that she and Daniel were his new parents.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud voice echoing through the house, "MOM!"
Harry turned around to see Daphne Greengrass walking through one of the side doors into the foyer.
Daphne stopped short seeing Harry Potter in her house wearing the tattered used clothes that belonged to Dudley a few years ago.
"What's going on?" Daphne asked her mother.
Her mother smiled brightly, "This is Harry Potter." she said happily.
"Yeah, I know that. We go to school together. We have for four years." She said in short sentences obviously annoyed that her mother hadn't answered her questions.
"Harry is my Godson and will be staying with us for the foreseeable future." She said hoping that her eldest daughter would not overreact.
Daphne's left eye rose and her nostrils flared, "Nice to see you again Potter." She said as coldly as she could.
"Daphne!" Her mother scolded her, "You will address him properly like you do every other person in this family."
"Sorry mom." Daphne said hiding her eyes from her mother. "Welcome to our house Harry." she said slightly annoyed.
"Good to see you again too Daphne." Harry said cheerfully. Harry didn't share the same blanketed hatred for Slytherins as the rest of his dormmates did. Sure there were a large number of them that were bad, but not all of them.
"Daphne dear please go show Harry to his new room." Aurora told her daughter.
"Yes mum." She bowed slightly to her mother, "This way please." It was more of a command than a suggestion.
Harry nodded and walked up the stairs a few steps behind Daphne. Daphne lead him down a long hallway with many doors. The first one had all kinds of unicorns and fairies.
"This is Astoria's room, I suggest that you leave her alone for today." Daphne said coldly.
"Ok…" Harry said slightly confused.
Daphne turned around and led them further down the hallway, "This one is your room." It was the middle room of the set. When Daphne opened the door Harry saw his room was almost three times the size of his old room at the Dursleys. It had a large queen size bed with nice cotton sheets and warm feather duvet. There was a large window that was easily big enough for Hedwig to fly through.
In the middle of the room was a large amber and brown rug that had lots of shag. There was a nice size all wood dresser set across the room from the bed. It had a few empty picture frames resting on it.
Harry stood in the doorway tears forming in his eyes. "I… I…" He fell to his knees which shocked Daphne.
"Hey you ok?" She said showing the first bit of positive emotion towards the boy.
Harry buried his head in his hands and cried loudly. Daphne had no idea what to do, this new boy was suddenly part of their family and here he was crying his eyes out in front of his room.
Daphne heard footsteps coming up from the stairs, "What on earth…" Aurora stopped mid sentence when she saw Harry on the ground and Daphne standing a few feet from him.
"What did you do young lady?!" Mrs. Greengrass yelled at her eldest daughter.
"I didn't do anything…" she said in confusion. "I opened the door to his room and he… he just went blarmy."
Aurora studied her daughter carefully to see for any sign of lying or manipulation but found none. She ran down the hallway, "Harry it's gonna be ok." She said while gently rubbing his back.
Harry broke at that moment, he had been skeptical of the whole thing from the moment that Mrs. Greengrass arrived at 4 Privet Drive. However when he saw the room that they had set up for him he and realized that this wasn't just some prank or dream or some trick to get him closer to his death he lost it.
Daphne had no idea what was going on, she had very little interaction at school with Harry other than the few classes they shared. She had of course heard all the rumors and stories about how he killed a dragon during the tournament or how he save the Weasley girl in their second year, but none of the stories made him out to be anything other than an arrogant prick. However here he was, The Boy-Who-Lived crying in front of her because he had a room? She just didn't understand.
After about ten minutes or so Harry stopped crying and was now lying completely sprawled out in the Hallway. Daphne had gone down the hallway to her room which was right next to Harry's and gone to go finish reading some of her summer homework.
Aurora helped Harry to his feet, "Harry." She turned her godson to face her, "It's going to be alright. Things are going to be different going forward, It's gonna take some time to get use to it but I promise you this. I love you and will do whatever I can to make your life here better."
Harry felt a bit of warmth radiating from his chest as he heard her say the word love. Harry had never experienced love before. The Dursleys certainly hadn't and he was still a bit too young to be finding love from school, If he had he's certainly have been able to find it from his friends.
Harry reached out and gave his new godmother a hug, which please Aurora very much. She hadn't expected him to open up this quickly especially from what she remembered of Petunia and her foul husband.
Harry looked at the woman that he was hugging, "Mrs. Greengrass… Thank you." He said softly.
She gently rubbed his back and held onto him like the son she never had.
She let go a few minutes later and squared him up. "We will be having dinner in a few hours, you'll be expected down stairs before then." She said to Harry.
Harry nodded, "Yes Mrs. Greengrass, I'll be there." Harry went about unpacking his things.
About an hour later, Aurora Greengrass walked into the kitchen to start preparing dinner however when she walked through the door she saw Harry cutting some onions and boiling water.
"Harry!" she said in a somewhat surprised tone.
He turned around and almost sliced his finger with the knife. "Yes Mrs. Greengrass?"
She walked over to him, "What are you doing?"
"Making dinner. You said dinner was in a few hours and that I should be down earlier." He said slightly confused. He had always made dinner at the Dursleys.
Aurora laughed slightly, "Harry dear please. You don't have to make dinner here. Not for a while at least and then only if you really want to. Trixie or myself will make dinner most nights." She said with a smile.
Harry looked down at his work he was almost done with the onions, "But I've always made dinner, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said it was my job as servant to make dinner." He said nonchalantly.
Harry could have sworn he saw a blood vessel pop on Mrs. Greengrass's face. "THEY. DID. WHAT?!" she said loudly in a voice that echoed through the house.
Harry got a bit scared by Mrs. Greengrass's reaction and shrunk down a bit. He then saw for the first time since meeting his new godmother a very different side a side that told him that he should never cross her. "I made every meal, did all the dishes and cleaned the whole house every day." Harry wasn't sure he should keep talking but felt that he should try and be honest with his new godmother.
Harry saw the woman before him take several deep calming breaths, "Harry." She said forcing a smile on her face, "You will NEVER have to do any of that again. In this house we treat everyone with respect and equality. Now please if you will let me finish making dinner, you go tell Daphne and Astoria that Father will be home soon."
It was clear to Harry that Mrs. Greengrass was very angry but not at him. Which was rather nice for once, usually all the yelling at the Dursley's would end with him getting beaten or hit by Uncle Vernon.
Harry left the kitchen and walked back upstairs to Astoria's room. He knocked twice on the door.
"What do you want mom!?" came a very angry and sharp voice.
"Ohh uhh… Mrs. Greengrass says that your father will be home soon and that dinner will be ready." Harry said timidly. He couldn't remember seeing Astoria at school. That was to be expected he was pretty sure that she was at least two years younger than him.
The door suddenly opened revealing a short blond girl wearing a yellow and white summer dress. She had long blond hair and bright blue eyes. "You must be Harry." She said with a fake smile.
Harry extended out a hand, "Harry Potter nice to meet you Astoria."
The girl suddenly got real wide eyed as if she had seen a ghost. "Harry Potter… You mean like the Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter."
Harry nodded and flipped his hair up revealing his lightning bolt scar. "Yup that's me…" he said somewhat depressed. He hated the fame and attention that his scar gave him.
Astoria got real red, "I… I… I'll be right down." She slammed the door in Harry's face.
Harry took a step back to avoid getting his nose smashed in by the young girl. "Interesting…" He said to himself as he shrugged and walked down the hallway to Daphne's room.
He again knocked on the door twice.
A few moments later Daphne walked over wearing the same dress from before and looking a bit annoyed that someone had disturbed her.
"Mrs. Greengrass asked me to tell you that your father will be home soon and that dinner will be ready as well." Harry said with a smile.
Daphne stood with one hand on the door handle and the other on her hip. "Thank you Harry." She said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Welcome." Harry responded and walked back down stairs to get ready for dinner.
Daphne watched and saw that underneath the facade the boy was in a lot of pain. A LOT yet she couldn't bring herself to care. This was Harry freakin Potter everything went his way. He always got into so much trouble at school yet never got any punishments for it, in fact he usually got rewarded.
Daphne walked over to her closet and pulled out a pair of shoes she could wear at the table and left her room.
As she walked by her sisters room she yelled through the door, "Dads home."
"COMING! OK I am coming." Came the very annoyed voice of Astoria as the door opened while she was fixing a bow into her hair.
The two girls walked down the stairs together and into the den that Daniel Greengrass had just walked out of the Floo.
"Evening Father" They both said in unison.
"Evening Daphne." Giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Evening Astoria." Repeating the same process. "How was your day?"
"Interesting father." Daphne said with a bit of intrigue.
"Oh please do tell." Daniel said as he gestured for his daughters to lead him to dinner.
"Well I finally was able to get that new book on Runes that I've been looking for. Tracy found it in a muggle bookstore of all places." Daphne had walked into the dinning room and taken her usual seat next to her Father's.
"Excellent! I know how much you've been trying to find that one. Odd that it was in a muggle bookstore." He sat down in his chair and looked at the sky as if he was thinking of something, "Maybe we'll have to spend some more time in Muggle bookstores on our next trip." He turned towards his youngest daughter, "And how about you Astoria? How was your day!"
"Terrible! Collin broke up with me in a letter! A LETTER PAPA!" She screamed and now had tears in here eyes.
"I am sorry sweetie, but that happens. I mean you and him had only been talking right?" He said trying to reassure the girls confidence.
"We had been dating for ten days." She said while crying. Daphne chuckled softly on the side. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Astoria screamed at her sister.
Daphne was now laughing full out, "Yes is it. Your face is priceless." Even Daniel Greengrass had to stifle a laugh.
"Now Daphne please. Don't be so hard on your sister. Someday you'll figure out that you like boys and then one will break your heart and you'll feel like this." he said while grabbing his youngest daughters hand.
While this was going on Harry sat in one of the chairs along the wall unnoticed by the rest of the occupants.
Aurora Greengrass walked in the room at that moment levitating a big pot of stew along with two smaller plates of molasses bread and corn beef. She placed them gently on the long almost fifteen foot dinner table.
"Ahh my sweet and how was your day?" Daniel asked his wife as she walked over and gave him a kiss.
"Eventful." She said sharply as she looked around the table. "Where's Harry?" she asked her two daughters.
Both of which were beginning to load their plates, they both shrugged.
"I am right here…" he said softly from behind one of the large six foot dining chairs.
Daniel leaned backwards as to see where the voice had come from and saw sitting against the wall in one of the extra chairs was a boy with scruffy black hair and raggiety torn up clothes.
"Harry come sit at the table, you can sit next to Daphne." Mrs. Greengrass said happily.
Harry nodded and stood up and walked around the table to sit next to Daphne. "Harry Potter." Daniel said slowly. "I knew you'd be coming but I didn't know it would be today." He turned and looked at his wife who sat down at the other end of the table.
"Papers came in today, Dumbledore tried to fight it again but Amilia was quite adamant that there was nothing he could do to stop it." Mrs. Greengrass said with a smile as she too began to serve herself.
"Mr. Greengrass, sir. Thank you for letting me stay at your house." Harry said as politely as he could. His plate still empty.
"Please Harry you are family now. You don't have to call me sir." Daniel said while serving himself as well. "Please eat some dinner you must be hungry."
"I was never allowed to eat dinner with the Dursleys…." He said softly.
Everyone at the table dropped their silverware and stared at the boy. "What do you mean, not allowed to eat dinner?" it was Daphne that asked.
"I mean that I was only allowed to eat whatever food they left on their plates. Every once and while I'd get a small plate of leftovers but that was maybe once a week." Harry said still terrified by his new surroundings.
Daniel Greengrass looked across the table and saw his wife white knuckling the fork and knife she had been using. "Harry that's awful." This time it was Astoria who commented.
"Harry that will NEVER happen here. You will sit and eat dinner with us. You are part of this family and.. And…" Aurora Greengrass was now furious. She abruptly pushed away from the table and walked into the kitchen.
Both Daphne and Astoria were shocked by her reaction. Never had they seen their mother so angry.
Daniel sighed, "Harry please excuse your mother, she and your mom were very close friends. Just like your father and I were close after school."
Harry interrupted before he could say anything more, "You knew my father?" Finally taking some food and putting it on his plate.
"Yes Harry, your father and I went through Auror Academy together. He was always the best in our class, gifted the man was. He and Sirius were both good friends of mine. I offered to be his partner once we all graduated but he told me that it was always going to be Sirius." the elder Greengrass laughed.
"You know I saw my father for the first time a few weeks ago…" Harry admitted after a brief pause.
Both Daniel and Daphne looked astonished and very interested in how Harry had seen his parents who had been dead for thirteen years.
"When I was fighting against Voldemort." Everyone in the room shuddered at the casual use of his name. Aurora had just walked back into the room.
"We do not say that name in this house young man." Aurora said chastising the boy for the first time since she arrived.
"NO!" Harry stood up and nudged the table. Everyone sat back in their chairs and was appalled at his reaction. "His name is Voldemort or Tom Riddle. If you can't say the name out loud then he has already won."
"Harry calm down." Daniel said wiping his mouth off with his napkin. He shot a glare at his wife who nodded an apology.
"The man killed my parents and has tried to kill me three other times since then. I fought him two weeks ago after I grabbed the portkey that was the Triwizard cup." This admission was like a glass shattering to the Greengrass family.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. "I was stunned by a man wearing a gold mask and black robes. When I woke I was tied to the tombstone of Tom Riddle Sr, Voldemort's father." Harry said angrily.
"Harry that's awful." Mrs. Greengrass said walking over to where Harry was still standing a put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"No what's awful is watching your Godfather die in front of you as some terrible spell hit him as we were Portkeying back to the grandstands." Harry jerked violently away from his godmother.
"May I be excused." he said loudly and didn't even bother to wait for a reply as he ran upstairs to his room.
Aurora heard the unmistakable sound of a door slamming shut. She was speechless, "Did I say anything wrong?" she asked still dumbfounded at Harry's reaction.
Daphne sighed loudly, "No mom, I think that has been building all day." She said snidely. "May I be excused as well?"
Her mother nodded, and Daphne left the room leaving Astoria, Daniel and Aurora. "Well suddenly my troubles seem much less relevant." Astoria was finishing putting another helping of corn beef on her plate.
Daniel looked worriedly at his wife, "Its ok dear, maybe we can talk to him later if he calms down."
Daphne walked up stairs and as she walked by Harry's room she heard a faint wimper. She was really taken aback by what Harry had said at dinner. She wasn't sure if she should believe the Gryffindor. Most of them tended to over exaggerate their stories, however something about the way Harry said it made her believe that it could be true.
She knocked twice on the door. "Harry?"
When she heard no reply except further whimpers she tried again, "Harry can I come in?" she said a bit louder maybe he didn't hear her.
"Sure." Came a weak and tired voice.
Daphne opened the door and saw Harry in a ball in the corners of the room. It was exactly as she had seen it when she show him his room a few hours ago. He hadn't really unpacked anything.
His trunk was still right where Trixie left it unopened. The bag he walked in with was thrown onto the bed and likely hadn't been opened or moved since he got there. Clearly Harry Potter was not enjoying his time, and Daphne wondered if she was making things better or worse.
"Harry…" Daphne said softly as she walked quietly into the room and crouched on her knees with her arms wrapped around them.
He looked up at her with tears flowing down his face. She saw him completely at that moment, no barriers nothing. She stared into those dark green marbles and there was nothing there. It was pitch black, nothing but pain and suffering. Here was the savior of the wizarding world exposed to the point where he was crying his eyes out because he had nothing.
Daphne's heart that normally was made of ice, cracked just a little. She had no reason to have any feeling for Harry, up until today he was this annoying little troublemaker that got away with everything. She thought he was so privileged and had this great life, but now seeing him unravel over the course of a simple summer day was life changing for her.
She had an idea of what bad could look like, her Father had told her some stories from the first war with Voldemort and they were not pretty. However Daphne grew up in a peacetime era where nothing really we wrong after Voldemort fell. She was wrong, this boy sitting in front of her had quite possibly the worst life anyone has ever had to suffer.
"Harry can I come over and sit with you?" She asked softly trying to comfort him.
Harry nodded ever so slightly after a few seconds.
Daphne crawled over and sat down next to Harry and she put an arm around him. He leaned against her and buried his face into her chest.
Daphne normally would have been offended that he was touching her breasts but in that moment it didn't matter. The boy was hurting and needed to feel something, anything.
Harry stayed in her lap for a long time not moving just crying. Daphne eventually rested her head against his and she and Harry eventually fell asleep.
Aurora and Daniel came up stairs a few hours later to check on Harry, when they walked past the door they saw the two of them in a small huddle both sleeping peacefully.
"I think our daughter may have made a new friend today." Aurora said.
Daniel nodded, "I think we should find out more information about Harry Potter. If he's really truly telling the truth." He gave his wife a meaningful look, "We might need some help."
She sighed knowing what her husband was thinking, "What do we do for now?"
Daniel pulled his wife for a tight hug, "For now we let them sleep." He smiled and walked his wife down stairs to their bedroom which was located under the three kids rooms.