AN: I know I have been away for a very long time and for that I'm sorry, please forgive me, but life is chaotic.
AN2: Thanks to my beta, Haphne24.
Location: Greengrass Manor, Daphne's room
(Daphne's POV)
Once, I finished reading the letter, my parents had burst into my room. My parents told me for as long as I lived here I would have to keep my door unlock always and slightly cracked if I had anyone over, that promise has lead to a multiplied of embarrassments. Mother's eyes locked with mine and father's scanned for threats. I was surprised Astoria was not with them when I realized she was with her betrothed. At first, she was upset that it wasn't Draco but considering that she barely knew him she recovered quickly. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic, though I tried not to show it; I despised Draco and could bear the thought of him being my brother-in-law.
"Daphne is everything okay, are you alright, what was that bright light?" My mother asked.
"Uh, dear." My father spoke staring at Harry's phoenix.
"What, Cyrus?" My mother asked, annoyed that dad wasn't by her side checking on me.
"I think I know where that light came from." He grabbed her chin to look directly at the blue phoenix. A second later, her jaw joined dad on the ground. Their expression was so funny I would have a laugh, but I knew that was rude, and I was definitely not raised that way. After, a moment of my parents staring in awe at the bird my father turned to me and spoke.
"Daphne, have you either recently became bonded with a phoenix or who's phoenix does this belong to?" My father inquired.
Before, I could answer, we were interrupted by the phoenix suddenly screeching. My parents jumped in surprise.
"I don't think it likes the words belong; but it's Harry's." I spoke.
"Phoenix's are never owned and can unbind with a witch or wizard at any time if they so choose." My Mother said, showing off her extensive knowledge on familiars. She continued, "I can see why this phoenix bonded with Harry. I wonder if he would let me study it…."
"Honey, you can ask Harry when he gets here." My father said.
"Harry said he won't be able to make it today." I said a little sourly, I had put a lot of work into growing my relationship with Harry more so than any other ordinary person.
"When did Harry tell you this dear?" My mother stopped her mumbling.
"Just now, he sent me phoenix mail, I guess that what you would call it." I responded.
My mom narrowed her eyes at me, "is that the letter sweetie and may I see it?"
She took the letter and my father read it over his shoulder. After reading it, they both looked at me. It read that Harry would love to make it but he had a responsibility to watch over his godson.
"Sweetie, I thought you were cunning." My father sarcastically uttered.
'
'My blood boiled! How dare he accusing me of being a daft moron! I had survived the snake den for seven years, outwitted people years older than me, and I was his right-hand woman in all his business.'
"Daphne, don't look so angry, your father's just teasing, we know you are anything but daft. Our house elves would be happy to take care of another baby for as long as needed." Her mom said with a smile. "In your response letter, provide a counter deal without being rude," Mom responded and then dragged father out of the room.
Location: Greengrass Manor Dining Room
(Harry's Pov)
Harry was feeding Teddy while Daphne and her mother, were fawning over Teddy as he shifted his eyes to match Daphne's ice blue then he changed to Diana's dark blue eyes and copied her hair black with strands of silver hair.
Daphne spoke, "he's adorable and he a Metamorphmagus!"
"He gets it from his mother's side, her name was Nymphadora Tonks," Harry responded.
"She Andromeda Black daughter if I remember correctly, she died in the war, I guess the Daily Prophet didn't find out you were raising her son but whatever happened to Andromeda, why isn't she raising Teddy?" Diana asked.
"She married a Muggle-born and became a Tonks. After the death of her husband, she is doing alright." Harry spoke, scooping up some food that came out of Teddy's mouth
"The poor dear." Diana sadly sad. "I don't know how I would go on if I lost Cyrus."
Daphne piped in, "Why are you taking care of Teddy? I would think Mrs. Tonks would want to do that."
"I will be taking over as his guardian soon," Harry replied. "Andromeda was hit with a very powerful, and a very dark curse, not much is known about it, and it slowly killing her. The worst part is the curse is spreading across her body making her very weak and fatigued." Harry said sadly.
"When will you have to start fully caring for him?" Daphne asked.
"The doctor says maybe three more weeks, she thinks she can hold out for four maybe five," Harry said.
"Harry, we have asked a lot of you in this past week, to reassure, my wife, my daughter and even myself. We just want our daughter to be happy." Cyrus made eye contact with Harry as he spoke.
"I know sir. I have been thinking, planning on how to truly do that." Harry said.
"I would very much like to hear it." Came a rather stern voice. Everyone turned and found a woman leaning on a cane in the doorway. She had steel gray hair done in a tight bun on top of her head and oval spectacles perched on her nose. Her piercing eyes glanced at her family but when she looked at Harry, it felt as if she was looking into his very soul.
"And who is this child pretending to be a man with his very fine robes?" The weathered old woman asked.
"Mother. This is Lord Harry James Slytherin Gryffindor Potter, Daphne's betrothed. Harry, this is Dawn Greengrass, my mother." Cyrus informed him.
"He doesn't look like a Lord." Dawn harrumphed.
Harry stepped forward to greet the old woman in the traditional manner, taking her handing and place his lips on it. She watched him critically as he greeted her and Harry found himself questioning whether he'd done something wrong.
"I've heard of you, of course," Dawn said airily, taking her hand back from Harry and pushing past him. "The Daily Prophet apparently loves the writing of your exploits."
"They have nothing better to report on," Harry replied, trying to sound polite.
"Spoken like someone who can't control his fame and power," Dawn said causing Harry to raise his eyebrows.
"With all due respect ma'am." Harry was trying to remain calm but his voice was rising. "I didn't want it in the first place; I would give it all up to see my parents again even if just for a moment."
"Are you more of a Hufflepuff than a Gryffindor?' Dawn countered. "Young man, I am hundred and three years old, old enough to be your great-grandmother. I actually knew your grandparents and I have seen a great many things in my time, so I think I know a thing or two. I can say they would be disappointed."
Daphne's rose up to stand by Harry's side and he noted Cyrus was watching closely but not interfering.
"You're a smart one, I'll give you that. You also like playing the victim… a very smart strategy indeed, but disgraceful nevertheless."
Harry had to take several breaths to keep from shouting at this harpy. He, almost lost it when she brought up grandparents. He stared hard back into the woman's piercing gaze, no longer intimidated by her. He could feel the tension and even heard a few failed attempts to speak from Cyrus, Diana, and Daphne.
"How dare you stand there acting as if you know a single thing about me!" Harry snarled. "You think you know it all because you read a few slanderous articles written by a pathetic, manipulative harpy, but you haven't got a single clue because you weren't there," Harry responded coldly.
Belle arched an eyebrow with interest at this. Cyrus managed to clear his throat but Belle held up a hand, stopping him from speaking further.
"I never wanted to be famous. I never wanted to watch my friends die in front of me and I never want power. And I most certainly never wanted to be part of a war against Voldemort!"
There was a collective hiss in the room. Harry glared hard now at Daphne's grandmother.
"I don't care what you believe but don't ever speak to me as if you know who I am or what I've been through. When war came, people like you buried your head in the sand just like the Ministry did. People like you thought Riddle would show you mercy but I've watched him kill entire families, from babies to people older than you. You foolish old bat!"
Harry turned and slipped from Daphne's grasp, intent on retreating outside to cool down.
When he got to the door, he stopped and turned to face the old woman once more. "Just one more thing." He said. "Age does not equate wisdom."
He turned once more to leave when Belle called out to him.
"Hold on just one minute." She said, walking over to him, leaning heavily on her cane. She began to smile as she moved closer to him, and laughed. She reached out and took Harry's hand giving it an affectionate squeeze.
"Very well said." She laughed. "Oh, I like you. You've got a fire in your heart young man."
She reached up and drew him close for a warm embrace. Harry looked over the woman's shoulder at his betrothed who looked just as confused as he felt.
"I am impressed. Please, come sit with me and you too Daphne." Belle said as she turned, leading Harry by the hand. "Oh, we have so much to talk about, the three of us. Come now, sit down the both of you."
Harry looked around and saw nearly every face wore the same expression of shock. Daphne gave him the most stunned expression as she sat next to him, taking his hand in her own while her great grandmother got settled.
A few moments later after everything had calmed down, the Matriarch of the Greengrass family began her interrogation of the young Lord.
"Lord Potter, what is it exactly that you hope to accomplish on the political floor and what faction will you serve in?" Dawn asked.
"Well, Gryffindor was a small time supporter of the young Progressive Party which is now today's main progressive party and he also was a major member of the Magic above All Party which was an independent party. Slytherin was a small time supporter of the young Conservative Party which is now today's main traditional party but was a major supporter of the Magic Above All Party. Can you see where I'm going with this?" Harry informed the elder.
Dawn nodded.
"Magic Above Party ran on one main idea and that was to improve magic, teach magic, protect magic, appreciate magic, and love magic. Blood did not matter, only magic mattered." Harry explained, looking around the room, however, most of his attention went to Cyrus. "I wish to improve the adjustment of muggleborns entering the magical world. I'm not sure how you all will react to this but the harder purebloods try to keep their lines pure, the weaker they become as the start to have children, you see …" Harry stumbled, trying to explain this as best as possible considering the people he was talking to were purebloods themselves.
"We make sure we don't breed with anyone that's under a 6th cousin," Daphne said.
"That is very impressive as most families have a limit at the 3rd cousin," Harry responded, relieved that the Greengrass were already ahead of the curve. "I also plan to stop inbreeding by allowing Muggle-borns to eventually make it to the stage of Ancient and Noble house a Muggle-born who wish to make his house noble will have to do something very noble…" Harry spoke.
"Such as stopping a Dark Lord, discovering new magic or fighting in a war?" Daphne asked, intrigued.
"Yes, by stopping a Dark Lord, a muggle-born may be able to elevate his house to the status of Noble or depending on how bad the Dark Lord is Most Noble. In order to have an Ancient house, a Muggleborn house will have to survive X amount of years. The exact amount of years I haven't decided yet." Harry had finished feeding Teddy and was handing him over to a house elf, taking pause to give certain instructions to the elf about a sleepy Teddy.
"I also wished to introduce two new titles for pureblood to slap on the back of their family names. The titles being generous and wealthy and they are pretty self-explanatory. Whoever donates to better magic will receive the title of generous and at a certain limit you'll receive the title of most generous and depending on how wealthy you are you receive the title of wealthy or most wealthy. I believe this along with reintroducing vassal and tribute would be more than enough to gain the support of the traditional." Harry spoke.
"I support your plan," Cyrus added, with a gleam in his eyes.
"I support your plan as well," Diana commented.
"I can see it now. Harry Potter goes down in history for saving magic. He stopped purebloods from breeding themselves out and bridged a great divide between purebloods and muggleborns." Daphne finished with a smile.
"Thank you for your support. It will be a lot of work however I have Lord Longbottom gathering support for me." Harry finished speaking, with red already creeping up his cheeks from Daphne's compliment.
"It's a plan worthy of Salazar Slytherin himself. How were you not in Slytherin?" Daphne asked
"I have not told many people this was but the Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. I met a person who said he would be a Slytherin for sure and I couldn't stand his arrogance. You can thank Malfoy for that." Harry quipped.
Daphne muttered, "I'm going to kill Draco."
"What will happen to the Wizengamot?" Cyrus asked.
"The current houses will be the only ones and the limit of houses that can be allowed can only be updated with a 75 percent in favor of doing so," Harry answered.
Cyrus spoke up, "Alright, enough of that let's move on."
"Where actually are you living?" Dawn asked Harry.
"I rebuilt the Potter manor to its former glory and then someday we will stay there if Daphne agrees," Harry said as he looked over to Daphne.
Daphne nodded, "Why not Slytherin's Palace?"
"Slytherin's Palace and Gryffindor's Castle are lost," Harry spoke with a sigh.
"What do you mean they are lost?" Daphne asked surprised.
"The houses Gryffindor and Slytherin are some of the earliest magical houses; they have existed longer than Gringotts. My ancestors never confirmed the location of their house with the bank and I guess out of a sense of arrogance, or possibly because the didn't trust the bank."
"The house elves?" Diana asked.
"The last ones for both houses have probably have been dead for centuries," Harry answered with a frown. "That or for some reason they're not responding."
"The ring should act as portkeys," Cyrus advised.
"Portkeys are relatively new, compared to how old the founder's house is." Harry sighed again. "The rings aren't portkeys. I was lucky the register the ring with the bank or my life would be much more difficult."
"Well, that's terrible," Daphne said bluntly.
"Daphne," Daina said, astonished by Daphne's rudeness.
"It's quite alright! I felt the same way, however, all hope is not lost." Harry said. "The last Gryffindor left me a map and a quest of bravery. And Slytherin left me a riddle and a key. When I have time, I'll begin the mission."
"Until then..." Harry started.
"Potter Manor," Daphne spoke.
"Don't worry Potter manor has 3 wings, four stories and has everything we need" Harry reasured Daphne "I can take you on a tour tomorrow if you want.
"Housing down, I don't think we need to talk about wealth. I leave the requirements of the law to you two." Cyrus commentated.
"That reminds me. Daphne, although Potter manor is repaired, it still needs to be furnished and painted and I thought you would like to come on a shopping trip with me unless you want the house covered in Red and Gold." Harry added, with a smirk.
Daphne wrinkled her nose in silent disgusted.
Harry laughed, "I thought not."
I know I have been gone for a very, very long time and for that I apologize, I promise next chapter will be out sooner it will be about Daphne and Harry shopping and the tour of Potter Manor, anyway have a great day.