Nothing really to say other than this chapter was a real bitch to write. I rewrote this chapter at least 10 times and I am still not satisfied at how it came out but unfortunately there is really isn't a better way. Review, tell me what you think, I REALLLY need to know if I did good since I worked hard on this chapter for the last 4 months.
The wind was trying its hardest to keep the students from enjoying their Hogsmeade weekend but the students were determined to make this the best they could as they needed to pick up quite a few items to survive Hogwarts. Thirds years ran around trying to hit every shop they could; they crowded Zonko's getting pranks that would eventually get confiscated and Honeydukes spending their money on the delicious sweets. Many of the older students especially the fifth and seventh years were either picking up ingredients at Dogweed and Deathcap or at Tomes and Scrolls picking up extra texts. Of course Madam Puddifoot's was crowded with couples and Spintwitches was crowded with Quidditch players either replacing or getting repairs on their equipment.
However many of the experienced and smart students were sitting in Three Broomsticks Inn or the few older Slytherins at Hog's Head watching the others running around like chickens with their heads chopped off over a round of butterbeer or for the seventh years, firewhiskey. It was at Hog's Head that Harry sat sipping on a butterbeer waiting for Daphne to return from the hairdressing salon which Harry refused to be in the vicinity of besides the fact that it was in across the way from Honeydukes which had high traffic at any hour.
"Well then, can I get you something to eat?" Aberforth asked as he passes Harry.
"No, this is fine," Harry said
"Well that's unusual for you, you always order a sandwich," Aberforth said as he stopped to wipe the bar in front of Harry, "you got a date or something?"
Harry took a long sip from his butterbeer and drained it, "Any news?"
Aberforth took the bottle and put it into a canister under the bar and pulled out an envelope and laid it in front of Harry. Harry quickly shrunk it and put into his pocket, "A grim has been seen in these parts for the last couple of days, saw it myself this morning walking up and down the way; passed Three Broomsticks Inn three times before walking off into the mountains on the outskirts."
"A grim you say?" Harry chuckled dryly, "I think you are seeing things Abe, could have been a large dog."
Aberforth shrugged, "Don't believe me but I be telling you, stay clear of the Three Broomsticks, only bad things can be expected from that place," and with that Aberforth moved on to attend to his other customers leaving Harry to himself.
Harry laid a galleon onto the bar walked out and into the crisp November morning, "How right you are Aberforth, how right you are…" he said quietly as he pulled on his dragon hide gloves before stuffing his hands into his jacket and walking off towards to salon where he agreed to meet Daphne after she was done getting her highlights redone. Harry moved at a modest pace through the small village, paying nobody any mind as he mentally prepared from what was about to happen
'Why the hell did I get myself into this,' Harry scolded himself, 'who cares if she had cried? You should have just walked away. This year is shaping up to be a big pile of shit for me.'
"There you are; you're late. I told you 11:45 and its 11:50."
Harry snapped out of his thoughts and found himself standing before Daphne who was already looking flustered, "I'm here am I not, be glad I even showed," Harry replied coldly
"You owed me. You don't show, I make your life a living hell," Daphne said as she wrapped her arm around Harry's unmoving one, "now we have even less time to go over things. Now as I said my father isn't the one we have to convince, it's my mother that's going to be the one we have to convince. Ever heard the phrase 'the rooster may rule the coop but the hen rules the rooster?' well the same concept applies here. If mother is convinced then my father is convinced. My mom is the type of person who likes to drill and get the best out of people and I don't mean as get them to do better, I mean she will try to gain information out of you to use against you. She'll make you doubt, make you want to confide in her, but don't. She is a bitch."
Harry raised an eyebrow at this statement.
"Call me crude but I'm giving it to you straight. Give her the chance and she'll try to fuck you over. You cannot appear weak in front of her or she'll take what she can get and give nothing back," Daphne said, "look, just sit there and answer questions. Now the story is we've been dating for a two months. How we met was on the Hogwarts Express and when my mother asks what my favorite color is you say emerald. She'll try to shoot questions at you testing is we really are dating, like what my schedule is, whens my birthday, the usual stuff. I hope you memorized the information I gave you because if you mess this up, Merlin wouldn't be able to protect your ass from the beating I will put on you. Get me through this Potter."
Before Harry even had a chance to even respond they were standing in front of the Three Broomsticks and Harry was forced to change his cold demeanor to a surprising convincing cheerful one. He pulled open the door for Daphne with dazzling and crooked smile. Daphne stood frozen for a quarter of a second by the smile before she gave a dazzling smile herself as she passed by him.
Harry actually initiated the contact this time as Daphne was once again surprised when he, dragon hide gloves already removed, intertwined his fingers with hers and led them to where Daphne's parents and the Malfoy's were seated. They all stood up as Harry introduced himself.
"Lord and Lady Greengrass, it is truly an honor and privilege to meet you in person. Daphne has said nothing but wonderful things about you two and I have to say that your line of fragrances is a hit with many of the young ladies here at Hogwarts," he gave Lord Greengrass a firm handshake before turning to Lady Greengrass and pressing his lips to her knuckles, "and I can now see where Daphne's stunning beauty comes from Lady Greengrass."
Lady Greengrass gave a Harry a curt nod and a smirk as he released her hand. Harry then turned to the Malfoy's, "Lord, Lady and Scion of Malfoy, I was not expecting your presence here but I must say that it is a privilege to meet you face to face."
"As it is to meet you Harry Potter, your fame has made you well known through the magical community," Lord Malfoy said
Harry chuckled, "and no matter how much I try I cannot seem to hide from it, though it has its benefits does it not? Oh please, let us sit down and order some drinks," Harry said. He pulled out Daphne's seat and took the seat next to her, which Draco had been previously occupying.
Speaking of Draco Malfoy, the boy was turning from red to Vernon purple. Draco could simply not believe what he was seeing. The Harry before him resembled nothing to the cold and distant Harry that walked the halls of Hogwarts. He had heard rumors for the last two weeks that Harry had been seen with Daphne and the Veela occasionally but had thought nothing of it but now it was a completely different story.
Once all the drinks were ordered and the first couple of drinks taken it was Lady Greengrass that spoke up first, "You say that you are surprised to see the Malfoy's here but it is you who we are all surprised to be here. We were given no prior reason to believe that Daphne was a in a relationship with you much less in a relationship at all." Daphne blushed and looked down as her mother gave her a keen stare down.
"Unfortunately that would be my fault," Harry said, "with my fame and popularity among the students, I feared that Daphne would be ridicule or in some way attacked. Being in a relationship with me, even as a friend can be troublesome."
"I have to agree Mr. Potter," Lord Malfoy said taking advantage of the situation, "the last girl to be in a relationship with you died, did she not? A mudblood by the name of Granger am I correct?"
Harry's eyes flashed with anger, but ignored the statement and once again directed his attention to Lady Greengrass, "The girl Lord Malfoy speaks of was a dear friend of mine that unfortunately was not lucky enough to see the basilisk indirectly but rather face to face."
Lord and Lady Greengrass frowned; it was Lord Greengrass who spoke first, "I am sorry to hear that such a tragedy had to happen to someone so young at and at Hogwarts no less."
"Yes it is such a travesty to the magical community to lose a magical member, regardless of her place of origin," Lady Greengrass said shooting Lord Malfoy a glance to ice before returned to Harry, "was she a close friend?"
Daphne froze but Harry took it in stride, "Yes, at the time that she passed we were in a relationship," Daphne did not like where the conversation was going and was about to interrupt when Harry continued, "I was a bit…rocked as to put it, by the sudden loss and in a haze for much of past year and a half here at Hogwarts. As fate would have it your daughter Daphne here," Harry took Daphne's hand into his and smiled at her for a moment before turning to Lord and Lady Greengrass again, "walked into my cabin on the Hogwarts Express and lent an ear to my troubles and we've been inseparable ever since."
"Bollocks, he's lying through his teeth," Draco suddenly said. Lord and Lady Greengrass look at Draco surprised at the sudden outburst before he continued, "Harry hasn't even been seen around the Slytherin corridors or around Daphne at all."
Harry quickly jumped in to counter Draco, "As I said, being in a relationship with me, even as a friend can be troublesome. It also doesn't help there is a great divide between Slytherin and the rest of the houses of Hogwarts. I feared for her safety and I feel it is my duty to protect her from any form of ridicule or attack, both physical and verbal."
"A noble gesture by a gentleman," Lord Greengrass agreed.
"He's a liar!" Draco cried out causing many to look in their direction.
"Draco speak out of turn one more time and I will make sure that you are punished dearly for insulting a nobleman," Lady Malfoy said trying to defuse the situation quickly before it could fall apart or worse, explode. Unfortunately she had not counted on her husband to take on the behavior of her son.
"Nobleman…," Lord Malfoy said as if just saying it left a bad taste in his mouth, "what can be so noble from a Halfblood born from a blood traitor and a mudblood."
Lord and Lady Greengrass along with Lady Malfoy and Daphne froze, the situation had suddenly turned far worse than any of them could have imagined. They all turned to Harry, finding his face giving nothing away.
Silence was almost deafening in the inn as everyone's attention was now on Harry, wondering what his reaction would be.
Harry spoke softly, his demeanor once again at its norm, cold and unrelenting "Tell me Lord Malfoy, what is it that makes purebloods so much superior?"
Lucius smirked happy to draw Harry in…or so he thought, "It's obvious is it not? Every great wizard is a pureblood. Mudbloods and halfbloods will never be able to hold against Purebloods."
Harry in turn asked, "Are you true to your word about that statement?"
"True as the very existence of magic itself," Lucius responded coldly
"Tell met then why is it that the greatest wizards ever to live were mudbloods? Myrddin Emrys, better known as Merlin, was considered the greatest wizard to have ever lived was of muggle lineage. Nicholas Flamel, great alchemist of France, lone creator of the philosopher's stone, is of muggle linage and to this day lives in muggle society. The dark wizard known as Morgan le Fay was a mudblood and she was on the same power levels as Merlin. Even the one who called himself the Dark Lord was nothing more than a halfblood with a surname of a muggle. So you tell me Malfoy; who are the ones who cannot hold, purebloods or mudbloods and halfbloods?"
Lucius lips were thin lines as he kept his rage in, "In time of old when wizards were spread across the land. They were famous among muggles first and through muggle lore to wizards. Stories that were probably much exaggerated by the primitive species known as muggles."
"So you openly doubt the power of Merlin, Flamel, le Fay, and Voldemort?" Harry said rather loudly. Causing many at the inn to flinch at the last name and to direct its attention to Malfoy
Lucius sneered, "Watch your tongue boy."
"Well I was just trying to clarify for my understanding. So is that what you were attempting to say or not?" Harry asked
"You are twisting my words," Lucius retorted.
"How so? I made a statement and you called it false and further said so by stating that the stories were much exaggerated," Harry replied
"I said probably, I never said it was so," Lucius countered
"You say that it is possible for mudbloods and halfbloods to not only be on par with purebloods but outclass them entirely," Harry said nonchalantly.
Lucius' nostrils flared as he tried to kill Harry by his looks before he turned to the Greengrasses, "I thought we were here to discuss the contract between your daughter and my son, not to listen the ramblings of a deranged student."
"Insult me if you will Lucius but the only one that seems deranged here is you. You cannot seem to make a clear standing on the issue and furthermore outsmart a simple student. Winzegamot must have lowered its standards further than I thought to allow such people to run wizard society," Harry replied
Lucius was immediately on his feet wand drawn, "Boy you have insulted me for the last time."
Harry's eyes flashed emerald, "Put your wand down Lucius. You are only embarrassing yourself with this pitiful show of rage. You stated that you were here to discuss a contract, I feel that I must be intruding then" turning to Lord Greengrass, "I feel that I have over stayed my welcome and I must make a stop to Tomes and Scrolls before I return to Hogwarts. Lord and Lady Greengrass it was an honor to meet you. House of Malfoy. Daphne I hope to see you later," Harry gave a kiss on the cheek a little too close to the mouth, stood, pulled on his dragon hide gloves before dropping a couple galleons onto the table, "the drinks are one me." He turned and walked out of the inn without so much as a glance back, leaving silence in his wake.
"Now that this charade is over now we can discuss the important matters," Lucius said as he smoothed out his hair and sat back down. However once Lucius had sat down, Lord and Lady Greengrass stood, "where are you going?" Lucius asked
Lady Greengrass just gave Lucius an icy stare and took Daphne with her as she exited the shop. It was Lord Greengrass who spoke who was giving an icy stare as well, "You are an embarrassment to wizards everywhere Lucius, let alone pureblood wizards. You not only allowed yourself to be provoked by a student but lost. There will not, nor ever be a contract between the house of Greengrass and the house of Malfoy."
Before he could walk away Lucius stood and grabbed his arm, "I implore you to reconsider," he girt through his teeth as he pressed his wand to Lord Greengrasses abdomen, "you wouldn't want to make such a hasty decision without thinking of the consequences."
"Remove your wand Lord Malfoy, you are in the middle of a inn in Hogsmeade, outside of Hogwarts," Lord Greengrass said to him, "not standing next to a deranged man who believes himself a lord and immortal," he whispered back to him
"You seem to forget you once stood with said man," Lucius said as he tightened his grip on Lord Greengrass' left forearm, "he is the one who ordered this marriage and it is our duty to follow through those orders."
"And you seem to forget that the man you speak of is now dead and at the hands of the boy who just put you in your place no less Malfoy. Times have changed and people have changed Malfoy, I am not the same power-hungry and delusional boy I was when I joined back all those years ago. You however seem to be stuck in some deranged dream he built for you."
"Mark my words Greengrass, you will live to regret those words," Malfoy said as he removed his wand from Greengrass' abdomen but held onto the forearm.
"My dear Lucius, it is not I who will live to regret my words but you who will regret yours," Greengrass said as he removed he arm from Lucius' grip and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a bare forearm, "while others have made their choices and held onto them, I have reconciled mine and have seen the truth, not the ramblings of a halfblood who thinks himself a pureblood and wants to enslave all the muggleborns. Does that sound like a sane man to you?"
"The boy lies," Lucius murmured
"Really have you taken the liberty at looking who Lord Voldemort really was, or shall I say Tom Marvelo Riddle?" Greengrass asked, "or where you just another lap dog ready to please his master, without so much as a thought to who was in command and what he was doing?" and with nothing more Lord Greengrass walked away leaving a very irate Malfoy family.
Harry was walking down the aisles of books looking for a book on the History of Hogwarts hoping that the limits of the Goblet did not encompass Hogsmeade by chance, pointing out that the town had not been created till about 5 years after the school had already established itself but in all likeliness it probably did as several books seemed to have been removed.
"You were absolutely brilliant Harry!" Harry turned to find Daphne throw herself onto Harry and wrap him in a hug that reminded him all too much of Hermione. She quickly let go and stepped back, "at first I was thinking of killing you but somehow you pulled it off, a contract with the Malfoys is now completely out of the question, including my little sister…" she noticed the emotionless look on his face and her sudden happiness waivered, the Harry she had seen in the inn was weird and completely the opposite of Harry but he seemed human and just for those ten minutes she had felt like he really did like her, "thank you…" she finished in an almost whisper
"My job is done," Harry said coldly, "now…stay away from me. I know we have to take lessons together but do not speak to me unless necessary, as I said before, I did this to repay a small debt."
"But…" Daphne started
"You made the mistake of actually believing that I liked you Greengrass," Harry interrupted her, "understand this Greengrass, the woman I loved is dead at the hands of a maniac's legacy, a maniac I will have to face all too soon again. I don't have time for you or any other person, especially teenage girls."
Harry turned grabbed a few books off the shelf and walked out of the shop, not stopping as he dropped a sack of galleons on the front desk as he walked out.
Daphne found herself for the first time being the one rejected. She didn't gain the title of Ice Queen for her good looks, it had always been she who rejected but she now found herself experiencing rejection.
"It's useless you know."
Daphne turned to find herself face to face with Fleur Delacour. Daphne immediately went rigid, Fleur was the only person she knew who could probably get past Harry's cold demeanor as she seemed to cause him to crack and buckle, "what do you want?" she asked coldly
"Nothing," Fleur said simply, "what I need walked out the door. He fights the bond, but the bond is absolute it cannot be changed, it cannot be broken. Only death will break the bond and not in the way he wants it to."
Daphne looked at Fleur emotionless, not at all sure how to handle the situation. She was curious in all honestly in what she meant.
"Should one of us die, a piece of the other dies along with them," Fleur explained, "we are tie to each other now. Had we never met, nothing would have happened, we could have found love in another and I could have directed my bond to that person whenever I chose to but now that we have met we are tied. He feels like I do, but he refuses to accept the bond like I do."
Daphne features saddened as Fleur continued, she really had no chance. Daphne suddenly became enraged; no she refused to accept that, there had to be a way.
"I have to leave," Fleur said suddenly, "here." She handed Daphne a book and quickly walked out the door. Daphne wanted to make chase but looked down at the book that Fleur had handed to her. It was a really old book; the binding was worn and obviously repaired many times by magic. She looked at the cover and found it to be in Latin Vincula Vitae was written is still very vibrant gold letters. She opened it and leafed through it finding pages and pages of bonds and how they functioned written uniformly and alphabetically. She hugged the book to her chest as if it were the most important thing in her life and ran up to the front of the store.
"Excuse me, this book, how much it is?" she asked
The lady looked up from her book with a smile, "the book belongs to the young lady who just ran out; she already had it when she walked in."
Daphne said thank you and briskly walked out the shop and made her way back to Hogwarts, she had to get started on the book as soon as possible.
Harry was once again at Hog's Head in a booth far off in the corner reading the contents of the folder while occasionally glancing at a pocket watch laid on the table. Aberforth walked by and dropped two shot glasses and Firewhiskey on the table.
"Joining me for a drink Aberforth? You know I can't drink firewhiskey," Harry said as he didn't bother to give him a second glance.
"Not for me boy," Aberforth grunted as he walked away behind him a cloaked figure moved and sat across from Harry, the cloak covering everything about the person across from him.
"What do you want," Harry said trying to figure out who was the person sitting in front of him.
The figure said nothing as the person reached out with a gloved hand and poured them both a shot of firewhiskey, sliding one glass to Harry. Harry caught the glass before it slid off his end of the table and while Harry had his eyes away from the stranger, the person downed the glass. Harry was no closer to figuring out who this person was and simply downed the glass. It burned like hell on the way down but Harry's face didn't reveal anything.
"Who are you?" Harry asked. He did not like the situation at all and had an ominous feeling coming from the person in front of him.
The figure did not move for a second before it reached up and pulled down the hood. Harry saw the gleam of golden hair but by the time he realized who was sitting in front of him it was too late. He and one stunning Fleur Delacour were looking at each other eye to eye.
Review like I said. It would be greatly appreciated…