Daphne had been pacing the parlour of her family home for an hour now just waiting to get a response. Her mother, father, sister and best friend were all watching her with worried expressions on their faces. They all knew that this was important. It was so important to them all because it was Daphne's happiness on the line.

She had recieved a letter from her betrothed the day before asking if they could meet to discuss things. Of course, this only made her more nervous as she didn't actually know her betrothed. Sure, she went to school with him and had heard of the things he had done, but she had never actually had a conversation with Harry Potter. She had no idea what he was actually like, no idea what he wanted out of life, out of their pre-arranged marriage. Hence the reason she was pacing.

"Daphne, dear, why don't you have some tea to soothe your nerves? I'm sure he will reply soon, but you are doing yourself no favours by becoming frantic about it." Roxanne said gently.

"I don't know what to do with myself, mum. I don't know him at all. He doesn't like Slytherins. What if he can't get passed that? Am I just supposed to accept that and allow myself to be completely miserable in his relationship? Or will we come to some sort of agreement and have a loveless marriage? What if he wants to be extra traditional and have mistresses? Will he be discreet about them or will everyone know? What if we can't stand each other, even after getting to know each other? I've got less than a year to get to know this man and marry him, hopefully have some semblance of happiness with him. What am I going to do?" Daphne vented quickly, sounding more desperate by the minute.

"Daffy, it's Potter. He's too noble to have any mistresses and you know it. He doesn't like our house because of Malfoy and Parkinson, once he gets to know you, he will realise that not all of us are gits. He was raised by muggles so he will want some happiness in the marriage too. He doesn't have all the pureblood crap indoctrinated into him. He will want a marriage of love, hopefully you can both fall for each other even if it is quite a rushed courtship. There is no reason for you to worry so much. The Weaslette has screwed with him a lot so while he might not be open to it at first, he will get there and want a happy marriage. So sit down and have a cup of tea before I get you a calming draught and shove it down your throat." Tracey started out soothingly but the last sentence was a threat. Tracey was sat there staring fiercely at Daphne fingering her wand as if waiting for an excuse to use it on her.

"Well put, Tracey. I think, if she doesn't stop with the pacing I will get that calming draught myself." Cyrus said firmly.

Astoria stood up and went to the window during Tracey's reassurances to Daphne, not being able to stand seeing her sister look so frazzled. She wasn't used to it. Daphne was the one that was always put together, calm, collected. Not what she was witnessing now. It was stressing her out quite a bit and although she wanted to hide away so she didn't have to deal with the tension in the room, she knew that she would not be able to leave without knowing that Daphne had recieved some positive news from her betrothed. Which is why she started smiling when she saw an owl coming towards the window she was standing at. As soon as the owl was close enough and she could see that the messy scrawl was the same as the writing in the letter Daphne had recieved yesterday she smiled.

"Your betrothed has sent you another letter, Daphne. It will be in a minute and then you can put your fears to rest. I'm sure he is nice enough and will treat you with the respect you deserve." Astoria said quietly as she opened the window to allow the bird admittance.

The tawny owl swooped in through the window and circled around the room once, as though determining who he needs to go to before finally landing on the back of the chair Daphne was standing behind. The owl hooted and stuck out his leg waiting for her to into the scroll, which was done within a few minutes after Daphne had managed to control her hands shakiness. The owl, released from his burden, had not moved so they assumed that he was awaiting a response. Daphne opened the letter, skimming it quickly before passing it to her father, who read it out loud for the benefit of the others in the room.

Miss Greengrass

Thank you, for your consideration of allowing me to choose where to meet with you, however, I'm afraid I don't really know anywhere that is neutral ground and away from the Wizarding press. I will defer to your judgement on anywhere you think will be appropriate.

I recieved a copy of the contract from the Goblins so that we can go through it together although I may need some assistance in understanding some of it. Having never been taught what to look for in contracts and such I am at a bit of a loss with the jargon.

If you would like to bring anyone with you that you deem necessary I would appreciate it. I will not be bringing anyone with me though.

I was thinking we could meet for lunch tomorrow at 1. Please let me know if this is acceptable for you.

I look forward to your correspondence.

Sincerely

Harry James Porter Black

P.s Athena will find me. Although she doesn't seem to eat meat so if you give her anything she seems to be quite keen on mango slices.

"He's being quite the gentleman in that letter, dear. A betrothed could easily demand that he see you alone. He seems to be quite nice so far." Roxanne said gently. Daphne could only nod in response.

"Right, well I think you should send him a reply, Daphne. He's being quite courteous. How about you meet him at the Golden Phoenix in Cambridge? Its Muggle so shouldn't be a problem with the press and the have private booths so you won't have to worry about being overheard." Cyrus said kindly.

Daphne nodded again before saying "Do you think you can come with me? Like do the whole, boyfriend meeting the parents kind of thing? I don't feel comfortable around many people and I don't really want to be on my own with him straight away. Please mum, dad?"

"Of course we can, dear. Write back to him. I will pick him up from the Leaky Cauldron at 12:50. I was friends with his mother and father so I can probably also answer a few questions for him. I doubt he will be hard to miss, he looks almost exactly like James did." Roxanne offered.

"Yeah, if he's not wearing his cloak. Rumour has it he has an invisibility cloak. Pretty sure he would have to have one to be able to get away with all he's done." Tracey interjected.

"Oh, that is true. It only makes sense that he has his fathers old cloak. I'd forgotten all about that. Used to cause some right headaches. Well, just ask him to sit in the corner by the bar then, Daphne. Don't worry, I will find him there. He can't hide from me."

During all of this Daphne had begun her letter. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes to allow her to finish writing the letter before she looked up. Again, she handed the letter to her father to read, this time silently asking if the letter was appropriate. Cyrus read it out loud so everyone knew what was happening. It read;

Mr Potter

Once again, thank you for being understanding about all of this.

If it is ok with you, I would like to bring my parents along with me. Their names and Cyrus and Roxanne. From what I understand my mother used to be friends with your parents and has offered to answer any questions you might have about them.

My father is making the arrangements for a restaurant in Cambridge called the Golden Phoenix. It's entirely muggle and has private booths so we shouldn't be disturbed by anyone, least of all the press. I'm sure my father will also be willing to help us both understand the legalities of the contract as he uses a lot of different contracts in his line of work.

My mother has offered to meet you at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at 12:50 so that she can apparate you to the restaurant in time for our reservations. So you know who to look out for, she has long pale blonde pair, light green eyes, is quite slender and is normally wearing a pale blue, be it in a coat or dress. I'm sure you won't miss her. She has requested that you sit in the corner by the bar just in case you are wanting to wear your cloak in such a populated area.

We will see you tomorrow and once again thank you for being so courteous about this.

Sincerely

Daphne Greengrass

P.s thank you for the tip about what treats to give Athena. She is beautiful and enjoying her treat while being cooed over by my sister.

Cyrus nodded his agreement with the letter and handed it back to Daphne to allow her to give it to Athena.

"I will go and make the arrangements, Daphne. For now, I want you girls to relax. Tracey, Astoria, please help Daphne to keep her mind off of this until tomorrow. Astoria, I'm going to floo the Carrows and ask them if you can stay with them tomorrow. Flora and Hestia have been wanting you round for a sleepover anyway." Cyrus said and after getting affirmative answers, left the room.

"Ok, my dears. I'm going to be in my study. I have some photos that I'm sure young Harry would like to have copies of." With that Roxanne left too, leaving the three teenagers to their own devices for the afternoon.

TIMESKIP

Harry was waiting in a shady corner of the pub. One where you couldn't really see if there was anyone there but had a great vantage on being able to see everything. He was a little earlier than necessary but he wanted to see if this woman was a threat or not. He was pretty sure she wouldn't be, but at the same time he couldn't help but think that one of his parents friends betrayed them before so you never really knew. He was dressed semi-casual. He was wearing a emerald green shirt, black jeans, his dragon hide boots and a black leather jacket. If necessary he would change his outfit with magic but he was happy with it for now.

Just then the door to the Leaky Cauldron opened and in stepped a beautiful woman. She had pale skin, in fact she looked so pale that her skin looked almost like snow, her long pale blonde hair was pinned back and left flowing down her back to her waist and she was wearing what was clearly a baby blue summer dress that reached just below the knees with white pumps on her feet. For a moment she just stood there. She seemed to be scanning the area looking for something it was then that she spotted him as he stepped out of the shadow slightly. She walked slowly towards him as if determining he was who he appeared to be. Once she was only a foot away she spoke.

"Well, you could give Sirius a run for his money with how well you hide in shadows. I'm Roxanne Greengrass, my daughter sent you a letter to say that I would be meeting you here." She said in a warm voice.

Harry didn't answer at first, just continued to observe her. He wasn't sure about her. He looked at her eyes, trying to see any signs of dishonesty in the pale green but could find nothing. Of course, he still wasn't going to go by what she said alone. He had a few security questions to get through first.

"Lady Greengrass. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions, for security reasons only, I would be happy to continue our discussion." Harry said politely.

Roxanne peered at him contemplatively for a moment before agreeing. "What would you like to know?"

"Your daughters letter indicated you were friends with my parents. If that is true, you should know a fair bit about them and their group of friends. So, if you can give me an example of something that only a few people know about I think that would suffice." Harry stated calmly.

"Of course. Let's see, we'll your mother although she loved her name actually didn't like the flower. She preferred clematis. Her best subject in school was Charms and she chose to name you Harry after her father Harold who passed a week before you were born. She didn't get on with her sister, Petunia, after she started at Hogwarts. I'm not sure if that was because your aunt was jealous or because she just didn't like things out of the ordinary for muggles. Your father, well, he was a troublemaker. His best subject at school was Transfiguation but he loved DADA. He made friends that stayed with him throughout the entirety of our schooling on the first train ride. He and his friends, Sirius, Remus and Peter made a group known as the marauders. They were responsible for a lot of pranks during my schooling. They made a map during their fifth year so that they could sneak around the castle more effectively without getting caught, helped along with James' invisibility cloak. That was the same year they became animagi. I'm the only healer that they trusted while your mother was pregnant so when she went into labour they called me to assist. Your parents were in hiding at that point. Your birth took only 3 hours and as soon as your father had you in his arms he called your prongslet. Although Sirius called you pup and Remus called you cub. When your mother passed it was just two days after she had told me that she was pregnant again. With a little girl." Roxanne finished smiling a little sadly.

"Ok, I believe you. Very few people know that they were animagi or my nicknames from each respective man. I didn't know I had a little sister coming though. I knew about the marauders of

course. That's going to take some time to process." Harry murmured.

"I know it's difficult gearing about them sometimes. Especially when you find out something different. It can become very overwhelming. I apologise for that. I thought Sirius or Remus would have told you." Roxanne said gently. Are you ready to go? We really shouldn't keep them waiting."

Harry nodded and waved goodbye to Tom the barkeeper. They made their way to the back where the wall opened up onto Diagon Alley, when suddenly a hand grabbed Harry twisting him through what felt like a tiny tube. Within seconds of landing Harry had his wand out and pointed at the person who spirited them away without warning. He couldn't focus on anything else, it was like he was pulled back into the war.

"Harry, listen to me. You are safe. I'm sorry I apparated without warning. I apologise. You are safe. No one here will harm you in any way. Take a deep breath, Harry. No one will harm you here. We're just getting lunch, remember? You are safe." Roxanne said gently without a waver in her voice. She had been in a similar situation with his father during the first war so it's not really surprising that he would react in a similar way. It was just going to take a few minutes to get through to him so he understands he's not in danger. She saw her husband standing there impassively, he knew nothing would happen to her, holding their daughter back from coming any closer until Harry and come out of his episode. Daphne was looking worried, she would have to reassure her in a bit that it's normal after being in so many traumatic events to have small episodes. Harry was powering his wand. That was a good sign that he's calming down.

Harry now has his wand hanging loosely in his hand, a sheepish look on his face and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting it and I guess I panicked. Really need to work on that." He explained.

"No need to apologise, Harry. I'm the one at fault here. I should have given you due warning. It completely slipped my mind that you had been at the centre of the war so we're likely still in battle mode." Roxanne said kindly.

"Mum, you didn't seriously do a "grab and go" did you? I hate it when you do it to me but I know what to expect. You can't do that to guests. It's rude. And Harry spent almost a year on the run so he's obviously going to still be in battle mode only a few months later." Daphne interjected while her father laughed.

Harry turned to look where the voice was coming from only to see a lean man with wavy brown hair and light blue eyes chuckling at them. He was wearing a light blue shirt to match his wife's dress with denim jeans, a dark blue blazer and dragonhide boots. After giving him a cursory glance he turned to the girl standing with him. She looked almost identical to Roxanne, only she had light blue eyes instead of light green. She was wearing her long blonde hair was tied back in a loose braid pulled forward over her left shoulder, she had a lilac summer dress that goes to just above the knees on with a pair of white sandals. Harry thought she was beautiful even with the reproving glare she was sending towards her mother.

"Ok, how about introductions and lunch before anymore chastising, Daphne." Cyrus said before turning to Harry. "Pleasure to meet you Mr Potter. My name is Cyrus Greengrass and this is my daughter Daphne. If you don't mind my asking, I was under the impression my wife was just picking you up. What took so long?"

Harry flushed slightly at this "My fault, sir. I had some security questions. After everything that's happened I didn't want to take any chances that she wasn't who she said she was."

"That's admirable, young man. You are also very quick with your wand. At least I know my daughter will be well looked after with you." Cyrus complimented.

"Dad, our reservations. We need to go in or we will miss it." Daphne said quietly.

"Of course. Let's go then. It's just around the corner. I'm going to assume you like Italian." Cyrus said as he started leaving the alley. Everyone followed him into the restaurant where they were shown to a private room.

Once they had ordered they looked at each other willing someone to start the conversation. Finally Harry started speaking.

"Well, I suppose I should start. I asked to meet you because we only have a few months to get to know each other before we need to marry. Of course you can plan the wedding you want, I know most girls have a dream about what their wedding will be like. I'll only ask for a few things to do with the wedding, such as no lilies, something to show my family respect and please no pink. Pink reminds me of Umbridge. I need some help understanding the contract to be honest. I'm not exactly sure what is expected of me. I know some purebloods have extra marital partners, that is not something I will condone, I will not have affairs. To me cheating on your partner is unforgivable. Especially recently. Honestly, I'm hoping for a content marriage if not a happy one. I'm not traditional in any sense so I honestly don't care if you want to do something unconventional. I want to be a teacher so I'm taking my NEWTS next week. I'll be sorting through my properties until I gain my mastery in Defence and Duelling. So, if you have any questions for me, ask away."

"That's very gracious of you, Harry. I'm sure Daphne would appreciate any input you want to give on the wedding. Your requests are very reasonable and I'm sure that you have put a fair few worries Daphne had to rest. We will think of something to honour your family for the wedding. I'm sure Cyrus can meet with you to go over all of the legalities and everything in the contract. He will be doing the same with Daphne as well so she knows what is expected of her. I can help you with your studies. That won't be a problem. Any particular dates you don't want for the wedding?" Roxanne inquired.

"Thank you. Erm, not really. Well not March 5th or April 1rst. They're birthdays in the Weasley family. I'm assuming that you would want a spring wedding." Harry said.

"Of course, I've always wanted to get married in April. We can work out some of the bigger things before focusing on the smaller things. There will not be any pink at my wedding. I can't stand the colour. I was more thinking of green and gold for a colour scheme. I'm sure that's when the fuller flowers are in bloom anyway. I would like it to be outside. I'm just not sure where. I'm sure you'll have Weasley as your best man. I'm sure you'll also want Granger in the wedding somehow so she can be a bridesmaid along with Tracey and Astoria as long as Theo and Blaise get to be groomsmen as well. I'm aware of what happened with Blaise and Ginny. I'm sorry about that. Blaise honestly thought she was single. He hasn't seen her since." Daphne explained kindly.

"Perfect. I know Molly will insist on the Burrow so we can check it out when I introduce you to the Weasley family. I've already spoken to Blaise. I have no issues with him. Although when you meet with the Weasleys you may want to prepare yourself. Arthur loves muggle stuff and is generally very cheerful. Bill has some werewolf aspects since Greyback attacked him so he may be a bit strange at first and he's married to Fleur. Charlie is cool but he can talk your ear off about dragons. He's Hermiones fiancé and by the time of the wedding the baby will be born so don't try any fittings or something TIL she's had the baby please. I'm not sure how sensitive she's going to be about her weight. Percy is pompous but he means well, he's just super ambitious. His fiancé is Penelope Clearwater. The twins are always funny but never accept food or drink from them. You'll be turned into a canary or something. The only way to tell them apart is George only had one ear. But they've both grown their hair out to cover it. Only Hermione can tell them apart without looking for the missing ear but she won't tell anyone how. Ron is tactless and not in anyone's good books at the moment so he will probably be quite rude. Ignore him, it's honestly the best way when he's in one of these stages. Ginny will probably try something but the twins Bill and Charlie will keep her in line. Molly will probably be passive aggressive. She was really hopeful I would marry Ginny and now that's not happening. She'll be polite but probably a bit cold. Hermione gives everyone a chance so she'll be nice and try to get to know you. Erm, family dinner is every Sunday. Do you want to go?" Harry asked

"How about we go next time? I think I'd rather meet a couple of them before all of them so I at least know some friendly faces before facing all of them. Is that ok?" Daphne asked nervously.

"Sure, I meet Hermione for lunch every Wednesday, you can join me if you want. She will probably be bringing Charlie along as well. We can meet the twins after this is you want. Their at the shop and I've got to talk to them about the business as well anyway." Harry shrugged.

"Ok. I've never actually been to their shop. I'm sure it would be fun. What do you need to talk to them about their business for? Sorry, that's a bit rude. I'm just curious." Daphne smiled shyly.

"We'll go in the back so we won't be mobbed by their customers. It's fine. I just found out that I apparently own a third of their business and I want to know why. I gave them the start up money but it's their business." Harry replied.

Cyrus checked his watch before speaking. "It appears to be getting late. Daphne, Tracey will be at the house at 3 and it's already half 2."

"Oh shoot. Erm, do you think we could bring Tracey with us? She always wanted to meet the Weasley twins but being in Slytherin kind of restricted it." Daphne asked Harry.

"Sure. Do you want me to send her a message? She can meet us at the Leaky and we can walk up together."

How will you send her a message?" Daphne asked confused.

"I'll just send her a patronus. You can give the message so she knows it's from you too and that way it saves you from going hon and Tracey from going to yours for no reason."

"You can do a patronus? Erm, yeah ok. I'll just tell her to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron in 20 minutes if that's ok."

"No problem. Expecto Patronum." Harry's stag patronus burst from his wand and stood waiting for instructions. Once the instructions had been given he patronus galloped away.

"Daphne, your mother and I are going to see your sister. So we will see you at home later." Cyrus interrupted as he helped Roxanne to her feet.

"Ok, bye mum, dad. I'll be home by 7." Daphne said getting up to give her parents hugs.

"It was good to meet you , Harry. I hope to see you again soon." Cyrus said as he shook Harry's hand.

"You as well, Mr Greengrass. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

"Not at all, young man. We will take our leave then. I expect you home no late than 7, Daphne. And bring Tracey with you. Her mother asked if she could stay the night as she's on a night shift and her father is still out of the country."

"Yes dad. See you later."

And with that they all left the restaurant to go their separate ways.