Merit and Inheritance
Chapter Forty
Magical Domestic Life
Daphne's left hand lay on the side of Harry's face as she kissed him on his lips.
"Now I'll definitely be able to sleep," she half-murmured, half-whispered.
Harry reached down and pulled the sheet up over the two of them.
"I'm so glad," he said. "We can't send a tired healer out to interact with her patients, make them well, save the world. That way lies sloppy healing work. I thought of something today that I wanted to discuss with you, but events…spinning out of control…"
"That last bit was much more fun than whatever it was you wanted to discuss, I'm sure," Daphne said.
"Was it? For you, too?" Harry asked.
"Quit gloating and get to your subject matter," said Daphne. "I swear I'm drifting off and talking at the same time."
"I just wanted to ask if you still owe Gringotts and if so, if you'd like to pay that off? We've certainly got the income to do it."
"I do owe, a bit, but I'm happy paying it off out of the income from my practice," said Daphne. "It was something I did on my own, it shouldn't be something you take on as a lien that you must assume, attached to your new wife. I'm a grown-up and can meet my obligations."
"It sounds like you are getting some satisfaction out of it," said Harry.
"Does it? That's very astute of you," Daphne said. "Do you need to pay it off to redeem me from Gringotts? Do you fear foreclosure?"
Harry started laughing.
"No, of course not," he finally managed to say. "It was just a loose end and I wanted to be helpful. Stick to your plan. You're enjoying making your payments and reading your statements. I get it. Finally, perhaps, but I get it."
Harry could see Daphne's wide-awake eyes in the dim bedroom.
"We are having fun, aren't we?" Daphne asked.
"Every day," Harry assured her, "With interest, compounded."
Harry and Daphne could take a little extra time for breakfast on the days Daphne went straight to her own office. She arrived at nine, or a few minutes either way, saw her first patients at nine-thirty and usually could finish up promptly at four in the afternoon. The next morning was exceptionally pleasant so they had breakfast together in the garden. Things had been calm for a few days and they did everything at a leisurely pace, perhaps prompted by some instinct that told them to enjoy it while it lasted.
"You're in your office all day?" Harry asked.
"Should be, emergencies excepted," answered Daphne. "You?"
"Same," said Harry. "Pansy will be mediating between the tea gods and the mortals at the shop this morning so I'll stick close to the office. Would you like me to bring you something for lunch?"
"I think that would work," said Daphne, getting a huge smile on her face as she spoke. "You come up with the most excellent ideas, husband."
Harry almost hated to leave for the office, things were going so well in the garden, but both he and Daphne were expected. They left for their separate places of employment. Once they got up and moved, each became eager to get back to the useful work that had captured their imaginations.
Harry had already placed an order for pickup from the Leaky Cauldron when Pansy Parkinson got back to Potter and Associates. They exchanged a few words about the tea room and Harry's lunch date at Daphne's office before Harry departed.
"Umm…those elves over there," said Daphne. She finished with her napkin and dropped it in the waxed paper wrap that had held Daphne's sandwich. Daphne folded it all up by halves, several times over, handing everything on to Harry.
"This was nice," said Harry. "Let's do it more often."
"Works for me," Daphne agreed. "You save me the time it would take to order, pay the delivery, all of it. Time…"
"…is gold," Harry finished. "So I'll be going."
"No need to rush," said Daphne. "I'm a little ahead, thanks to you."
"Might as well, though," Harry said. "I'll finish up at the office and see you at home. Anything special you want for dinner?"
"You and Kreacher can surprise me," said Daphne.
Harry leaned over and kissed Daphne's cheek. Bumped her cheek, in reality, his balance and depth perception both taking a short break.
"See you at home," Harry said as he stepped out.
Daphne still had some minutes left for lunch break. She used the sink in her office to wash her hands and returned to her desk. She lay her right hand in a patch of sunlight on her desk and turned her ring slowly back and forth.
"Iolanthe?"
The diaphanous little figure slowly came into focus just fractions of an inch above the sapphire.
"Lady Potter," said Iolanthe. She was immaterial but that didn't affect the huge smile. "How can I help you? Are you going to give me something to do for the Potters?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact," said Daphne. "What can you tell me about that portal? Do I have to ask you to come out in order to open it?"
Like all but the most brilliant students, muggle or magical, who prepare for a medical career, Daphne had been forced by necessity to hone and polish her study skills—focus, information gathering, rapid retention—so she crammed several very astute and to-the-point questions into her few minutes with Iolanthe.
"This has been interesting, not to mention extremely helpful, Lady Iolanthe," said Daphne. "You've given me a lot to work on. I have to go see patients now, but I'm going to be practicing, I assure you."
"You do that," said Iolanthe. "Reach out. Project. See what you can do. I'll be right here."
The little figure faded out. Leaving coincided with a subtle vibration in Daphne's ring.
Daphne said good-bye to her last patient of the day a little before four p.m. She made a show of fussing over a bit of inconsequential paperwork to let her assistants depart, then closed her door and set her wards. There was an apparition point just yards from her office but Daphne didn't use it. Instead, she cast a little occlusion charm and walked down the block a bit before stepping into a narrow alley. There, she opened up her portal, visualizing Harry's wedding ring.
Harry's office appeared in the portal. Daphne didn't hear any voices so she assumed her husband was alone.
"It's Daphne," she called out.
"Come through," said Harry, sounding as if he were expecting the disembodied voice.
Daphne stepped through the portal, turning back and closing it before turning to face Harry, along with Harry's wand.
"Daphne," Harry said, laying his wand down on his desk. "May I suggest keeping your portal open when you complete these routine trips? That way if you find yourself in a spot upon arrival, you can go right back."
Sometimes, when some serious stress resolved and Daphne grasped that she had passed the crisis unharmed, she got a sensation that she attributed to the color draining completely from her face. Daphne was sure she lost her color simultaneously with the lowering of Harry's wand.
"Good idea, Harry. Really good idea, thanks," Daphne said. "I resolve to make that standard practice. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at home."
"Why'd you come to the office then?" asked Harry.
"I didn't go to a place," Daphne said with just a bit of a smirk. "I went where that ring was."
Harry lifted up his left hand and put a little questioning look on his face.
"Yep," said Daphne. "How did she do that? That's what you're asking yourself right now, isn't it?"
"Ah, sure, that was it, exactly," Harry answered.
"Rightfully so," Daphne confirmed. "Because you don't have any idea. You didn't even know it was possible to do such a thing, did you? Wizard?"
"I confess, no," said Harry. "Did I miss something at Hogwarts?"
"NO," said Daphne. "Your ancestor coached me. She doesn't know if anyone bothered to write it down and she doesn't remember if it was originally Potter or Peverell magic. She's very old and those details are hard for her. No matter. They aren't that important and she's very sharp on the casting."
"You know, that portal could be really important," Harry said. He looked up at the ceiling, pinching his lower lip, the picture of a wizard deep in thought.
"Could it? Gosh," said Daphne.
"Okay, I'm not minimizing your discovery," Harry said, coming down from the clouds. "You're having a bit of fun with me, aren't you?"
"You volunteered," Daphne explained. "'t'would be a shame to waste your sacrifice. I'll practice some more and see if I can figure out how to teach it to you. Lady Iolanthe might have something to do with it. I'll have to remember to ask. Are you ready to go?"
"I can go," said Harry.
Harry had one correspondence file out so he put it in the cabinet and locked the front door.
"Ready," he said.
Daphne closed her eyes. When she opened them she had the tips of her thumbs and first fingers together, forming a triangle. She pulled her hands apart and Harry looked through his office wall into the salon at Potter Manor.
"Go," said Daphne, and seconds later she was closing the portal behind the two of them.
"Wow," said Harry. "You have some writing to do, Lady Daphne. Isn't that something? Ever heard of anything like it before?"
"A portal someone can open just like that?" asked Daphne. "No. I heard of portals, of course, but I always thought they were arranged by specialists, like portkeys. We need to find out everything we can, limitations, potential for dangerous situations or bad outcomes. Things like splinching."
"Right. That must be a dandy. A portal splinch. We're agreed there is a total embargo on information, aren't we?" asked Harry. "I don't think anyone needs to know about this but us."
"Absolutely," said Daphne. "We'll have to use it sparingly. Actually, perhaps carefully is a better word. There is no reason to give this away. It's a perfect example of why we keep our family magic to ourselves."
Harry and Daphne were both thrilled to have such a useful discovery to add to their growing body of family magic. The good feelings lasted right through dinner and their evening hours together. Daphne had just a few appointments at her office the next day because she was working an evening shift at St. Mungo's. The two of them used the morning to work on their to-do lists, staying close together even if they were working on different things. They had an early lunch so Daphne could leave for the office at noon.
"Off at eleven, then?" Harry asked as Daphne prepared to depart.
"Yes, barring disaster I ought to be here by quarter-past," she answered.
"Any special requests?" asked Harry. "Tea? Biscuits?"
"Why don't you and Kreacher knock yourselves out?" Daphne suggested. "Some cookie out of a package and a glass of milk?"
Harry was still pondering when the green flames flared up and Daphne disappeared.
Daphne should have been back at Potter Manor enjoying a cup of tea and one of Kreacher's delicious date bars by eleven-sixteen that evening. Her private patients had some interesting complaints but nothing all that time-consuming to treat. Evening shift emergencies were manageable, although, as always, Daphne was in awe of the ability of witches and wizards to find imaginative ways to incur illness and injury. She'd had to come to grips with the phenomenon early in her career, as all healers did. Her patients were tinkering with magic, some of which evaded any human effort to control or use it safely. It was just the price a magical person paid for the conveniences.
Daphne intended to depart and return home by her usual route, out the lesser-used exit from Emergency to the street, then to a little, unobtrusive apparation point tucked into the side of the building, then across the rear lawn and garden of Potter Manor. She was thinking about getting home, getting her feet up, and enjoying that cup of tea Harry had promised. Her reverie was rudely interrupted by the pair of arms that wrapped around her from the rear, followed by the phenomenon of being someone's unwilling side-along traveling companion.