Chapter Eleven
The Lynx Joins the After-Party
"Which elf does pumpkin juice?" Harry asked.
"Trix has a genius for pumpkins," said Daphne.
"Okay, Trix!" Harry called out. When the elf appeared Harry said, "Miss Daphne would like to have a glass of your very best pumpkin juice, and I would like to join her. Can you do that? And bring it to…" Harry looked at Daphne.
"The library, please," she said.
They arrived at a set of double doors and Daphne indicated, "In here."
Harry waved his wand at the doors, which swung open. There was little light coming in through the windows, so Harry used his wand to light a number of lamps.
"Would you like a fire in the fireplace, to cheer things up?" Harry asked. "I'm not cold, but there's something about a fire."
"That would be nice," said Daphne, as Harry eased her down on a huge leather couch.
Trix appeared with two glasses of pumpkin juice.
"Miss Daphne looks sad," said the elf. "Is Miss Daphne not well?"
"No, I'm fine, Trix," Daphne said. "How is the pumpkin juice?"
"The garden elves say the pumpkins are at their peak," said Trix. "Trix thinks the garden elves like to brag. Trix thinks these are the best pumpkins for a long, long time. Trix thinks sometimes, the garden elves know what they are talking about."
Harry laughed at the roundabout means Trix used to confirm she was particularly proud of her pumpkin juice this afternoon. Daphne took her glass from the tray, and Harry took his. He raised his glass to Daphne.
"You did well," he said. "I'm glad I had you watching my back. Thank you."
Daphne took a sip of her pumpkin juice. She looked at Harry over the rim of her glass, then she looked at the fire.
"Harry?"
"Yes?"
"I'm very upset."
"Because you cast the cruciatus? That's understandable. Not using the unforgiveables is hammered into us. Of course, in situations like yours, ethical considerations go out the window. You didn't do anything wrong."
"That isn't it, Harry," said Daphne. "I defended an unarmed man from being cursed from behind. It's allowed. What is upsetting is, if not for you stopping me, I would have killed him. He was subdued and no longer a threat, and I could feel the magic in that wand of yours, up and down my arm, and I could see him going head first right into the ground, and I wanted to do it so badly. I'm a healer, and I genuinely wanted to murder him. I nearly slugged you when you showed up, so I could get on with it. You stopped me from making a big, big mistake."
Harry wanted to say something to help, but words wouldn't come. He had a thought, though, something that wouldn't require talking.
"Trix!" Harry called out.
"Mr. Harry Potter sir," said the little elf. "Does Miss Daphne need more pumpkin juice?"
"No, Trix. Do you know where Raffles is?"
"In his bed in Miss Daphne's room, Mr. Harry Potter, sir."
"Can you ask Raffles if he can join Miss Daphne in the library?"
"Of course," said the elf, and disapparated.
Moments later, the elf walked through the library door, struggling to hold Raffles in her arms. She crossed to the couch where Daphne sat, and handed Raffles over. The Bichon licked and licked Daphne's face, until she laughed out loud.
"Raffles, okay, you can stop now!" Daphne said between bouts of laughter. "Oh, Raffles, you are just the best, you know that?"
"Can I do anything more for you, Daphne?" Harry asked.
"Do you want to go?" Daphne asked, stiffening. "If you want to go, go, you don't owe me anything."
Harry considered her from his chair.
"On the contrary, I owe you everything. I just don't want to be underfoot. You might want Kendra or Astoria nearby while you're feeling jittery. Or you could have Tracey come over. You know, family. I'm an orphan. I 'm not sure if I fit the situation."
Daphne stared at him for some indefinite time, but, Harry thought, it was definitely a long time. Then her face changed, as she seemed to come to a decision, and she got up and left the library. Harry heard the sound of feet ascending stairs. Daphne hadn't been gone long when she walked in the library carrying a notebook that Harry recognized. He and his classmates had kept their dream diaries in those notebooks.
"I don't know why I kept this, of all things. But I did. Let's see. Okay, this is from fourth year:
"In my dream, I am in a forest. The first thing I see is a den. It is under a tree. I look in the den. There is a cat there, asleep. When I look at it the cat wakes up. It stretches and gets up, then it leaves the den. The cat is big. It has pointy ears and a short tail. The cat walks around the forest, in the sunlight and in the shade. All the animals in the forest fear the cat, and run away, so the cat is lonely. Then the cat smells a new smell. It thinks it means there is a new animal in the forest. The cat sits down to wait by a tree. Then I'm not watching the cat anymore, but it is like I am looking out of the cat's eyes. When I look out of the cat's eyes, I see there is a ditch in front of me. There is a big deer on the other side of the ditch. It isn't afraid of the cat. The deer wants to jump across the ditch but it is too far. The deer looks at me, and I look at the deer. I wish the deer could jump across. Finally, I give up and walk away into the forest. Then I'm not the cat any more, but I am watching the cat, and the cat goes back in its den under the tree and curls up. That was the end of my dream."
Harry sat still, looking at Daphne. He took a sip of pumpkin juice, and swallowed.
"You're the lynx I dream about," Harry said. "You're the lynx across the ravine."
"You're the stag, who I want to jump across, and make friends with. Now you have, and you're not to go on thinking you're an orphan. Not anymore."
"Blaise made fun of my dream when Trelawney called on me in that class."
"Blaise made me cry when he did that because it was my dream, too. I wrote this in the morning, and you read from your dream diary that afternoon. I couldn't tell anyone, not even Tracey," Daphne half-laughed, half-sniffed. "I couldn't very well tell the Slytherins that, at night, the Gryffindor Seeker and I meet in secret and dream dreams together, could I? I felt so lonely, Harry. Then, when I listened to you reading that day..." Daphne's voice trailed off. She stretched out her arm and motioned for Harry to come closer. She pulled him close and laid her head alongside his.
Harry knelt before her like that, for a bit, trying to organize his thoughts. He looked out the window. It was nearly dark. He made a decision.
"What's your patronus?" Harry asked.
"What? I can get a pretty bright light but it doesn't take a form. Why do you ask?"
"Bring your wand," Harry said, getting up and crossing to the double doors. He walked through the house following the same route they had used earlier in the day, crossing through the room where they'd eaten lunch, then out to the patio, where Harry waited to let Daphne get alongside.
Harry cast lumosand they walked down the steps from the patio to the long, sloping path, down to the clipped lawn that made Harry think of a playing field.
"I wondered why this was here, and now I know," Harry began. Daphne looked at him. What did he mean by that?
"The key is," Harry said, "to think of something that really makes you happy when you cast the patronus. Other than that, the only thing to watch out for is the pronunciation. Once you get the corporeal form, it's important to practice, every day, if possible. You get more proficient and your patronus gets stronger. Okay, this is a good place. Think of something that makes you happy, feel it, mean it, focus on that, then extend your arm, raise the tip of the wand, and cast."
Daphne said, "Ex-pec-toh Pa-TROH-num!" and a bright light emerged, as a beam, from the wand tip.
"Ohhhh…" Daphne said.
"What's wrong? That is very good," said Harry. "Really, you are almost there. Try different memories. Experiment. What makes you happy? Lots of things, I bet. You never know what will do the trick, so don't be afraid to change after a couple of tries. The patronus either appears or it doesn't. If one memory doesn't work, change memories. Focus. You're going to do it next time."
Daphne nodded, raised her arm, and said, "Ex-pec-toh Pa-TROH-num!"
Light beam, no patronus.
Daphne tried again, and got a light beam, but no patronus. After several more tries, she was clearly getting frustrated. Somehow, she just wasn't getting the breakthrough needed to get the light to coalesce into a form.
"You're doing great," Harry reassured her. "You're so close, you're just not focused. Let's try this."
Harry moved alongside Daphne and let his left arm lay gently across her back.
"It's all focus. One happy thought, one thing that makes you happy, feel the happiness and push everything else out. Okay, now wand position, just one happy thought…"
He flexed his left arm and pulled her close, turning his face toward her, so when she turned her face to him, there was no space between them. He put his lips to hers, and left them there, thinking 'be patient, be patient' while he tasted Daphne's lips for the first time. When he began to get dizzy, he decided that was probably enough, and moved his lips to her ear and whispered,
"Now, expecto…
"Ex-pec-toh…" Daphne said along with him.
"Pa-TROH-num!" they said in unison. A fully-realized lynx patronus leapt from the tip of Daphne's wand, followed by a shower of golden sparks, knocking her back into Harry's arm.
"WHOOOOOOOH!" Daphne shouted when she saw the lynx. Then she started to laugh, a raucous, deep-throated laugh, interspersed with more whoops, and "Oh, YES!" while the lynx jumped, sprinted the length of the playing field, turned around and sprinted back, jumping and growling, lying on its back and rolling, over and over.
"Good one, Daphne," Harry said. "Good one. You're the lynx, alright, I knew it, and now you've let it out. Merlin, you are definitely the lynx! Are you happy to get out? Does it feel good to stretch those legs?"
After a minute or two, the lynx began to slow down, and fade a little bit.
"Should we give her a playmate?" Harry asked. He raised his wand and cast, and his patronus burst out of the wand and coalesced into a stag. "Go!" said Harry, and the stag ran toward the lynx. The lynx brightened as soon as the stag approached. It turned and ran away from the stag, then waited at the end of the field. The lynx jumped on the stag's back at one point and rode the length of the green, until the stag planted its feet and the lynx had to jump over the stag's antlers, before landing lightly on its feet.
"Done?" Harry asked. The stag turned and trotted back to Daphne and Harry, fading as it got closer. Harry held his wand tip out toward the stag and watched it disappear. Daphne mimicked Harry, and her lynx did the same.
"Feel better?" Harry asked.
"Oh, Harry," Daphne giggled, "I…"
"Think you can do it again?" Harry asked.
"I think I ought to try," said Daphne.
"Okay, you're on your own," said Harry, stepping back. "Arm extended, wand tip up, focus on something that makes you happy, and…"
"Expecto Patronum!" said Daphne. The light burst from her wand, the lynx coalesced once again from the light, and trotted over to Harry, who knelt down to lynx height and scratched the cat behind its ears. The lynx started purring, then it gave Harry's face a few licks.
"Okay, thanks. Are you a good lynx?" Harry laughed as the lynx turned to rub up against him. The lynx started to fade, and when Daphne held out her wand in its general direction, it disappeared.
"And that is that," said Harry, standing up. "That is the big breakthrough. Now, to build on that, cast in full daylight. It's useful to be able to send a patronus someplace with a message. That's all just practice. The hard part is done. I'll help if you want me to."
Daphne looked at Harry. "If I want you to? Harry Potter, I am devoid of a response to that statement."
"One more time. Let's give them something to do. It's good for them."
Harry cast the stag, then Daphne again cast the lynx.
Harry addressed them both. "I want you two to check the perimeter of the property. You can follow the wards. When you are done, rejoin us in the house. Anyone you find out there gets this message: "You are trespassing. Your presence has been noted, and will result in a response. You are advised to depart immediately." That's it—GO!"
Daphne started to laugh again as they stood watching the patronuses bounding off. They walked back to the patio holding hands, until Raffles met them at the steps, where he had been barking with great enthusiasm at the patronuses.
Harry saw Kendra just inside the glass doors.
"Were those patronuses I saw? I know the stag, and you are…?" Kendra asked.
"Mother, Harry just showed me how to cast a corporeal patronus! It was the first one I ever cast! Mine is a lynx! A lynx! Ooh, Mother, I SO feel like a WITCH right now!"
"She has always been a witch, don't you think, Mr. Potter?"
Harry laughed. "Looks to me like she is a witch to the core," he said. "Now the real fun starts. The next thing is getting the patronus to carry messages, don't you think? It's not just handy. It can be a lifesaver."
"Merlin forbid she needs it," said Kendra.
"I agree," said Harry. "But having it is a confidence builder, even if you never have to use it. Now that the lynx has shown up, it probably won't take very long to do a few customizations. Now," Harry asked, turning to Daphne, "were we headed to the library? Mrs. Greengrass, Daphne said she would sit in the library with me, if I wanted, and sip pumpkin juice. Do we have your consent to her plan? And would you care to chaperone us?"
"Tonight, Mr. Potter, in this house, your wishes are commands."
They were on their way back to the library when they heard the gate squeak. Harry still had his wand in his hand. He looked at Kendra and Daphne.
"Let me get that door," he said, quietly, motioning them toward the library. Fabio Greengrass poked his head out of another room along the hallway. Harry gripped the holly wand, opened the door and looked out, half expecting to be fighting immediately, to see Astoria Greengrass coming up the walk.
Astoria called out, "Harry Potter, are you still here? Can't get Daphne past foreplay, or what?"
She burst through the door, threw her cloak in the direction of a hall tree, and stopped short, for there, obviously having heard her taunting of Harry, stood Kendra and Daphne. Kendra managed to raise her eyebrows and purse her lips in a reasonable approximation of disapproval, but Daphne dissolved into laughter. Once started, she couldn't stop. Kendra couldn't maintain her composure with Daphne carrying on, and she started laughing too, eventually wrapping her arm around Daphne's waist as they managed, somehow, to keep each other upright.
"What? What did I miss?" asked a mystified Fabio, who hadn't caught Astoria's question.
"It was a metaphor. It doesn't directly translate," said Harry. "but Mrs. Greengrass may be able to summarize."
Harry's explanation sent Kendra into another laughing fit. Fabio gave up, shook his head, and went back inside the room whence he had come.
Eventually, everyone did return to the library, where Fabio joined them, and Daphne told Astoria about what had gone on since she had left following lunch. Pumpkin juice flowed in quantity. Astoria wanted to go over every detail, repeatedly. The patronuses jumped in through a window and dissolved, taking Kendra, Fabio and Astoria by surprise. Harry explained he had sent them to do a sweep of the perimeter as a precaution since he couldn't be sure there weren't still security concerns stemming from the incident with the three wizards. Fabio and Astoria had never seen Daphne's patronus before, and Kendra had seen it only in the distance. The Greengrasses all started calling Daphne's lynx The Major Magical Breakthrough, with Astoria adding World-Renowned, Astonishing, Totally Unexpected, and some others, before she was done.
"Can you show me what you showed Daphne?" asked Astoria at one point. "I've always wanted to cast a corporeal patronus and I never could."
Harry looked at Daphne, who looked back, the amber eyes aflame once again, this time directed at him. He felt sweat breaking out under his shirt.
"Now that Daphne knows how to do it, I think she should work with you," said Harry. "There is nothing like teaching to help a practitioner hone her own craft."
When he dared to look, the beautiful blue-gray eyes were back, along with the angelic smile.
"Close one," he thought. Eventually, Harry judged things were settled enough, and Daphne had enough people around her, that she would be okay, after a good night's sleep. He caught Fabio's eye, and nodded toward the library door.
"I have a pretty full day ahead tomorrow," Harry said to Fabio, after they had stepped out, "so I need to get back home. You can all get things calmed down better here if I'm not keeping them stirred up. I don't think there are going to be more problems. The patronuses did a sweep, and mine has a lot of experience. I want to send a couple of people around tomorrow to search the area where we had the trouble, just in case something is lying about up there. If you could show them where the trouble was, that will help a lot. Try to keep everyone away until we clear it.
"If you want, I can arrange for some aurors to be assigned here, or to come by regularly for the next few days. They'll try not to intrude, but you will be aware of them. That is up to you."
"Thank you for everything, Mr. Potter," Fabio began. "I'm glad to be associated with the Potter family again. Your mother and Kendra made this happen years and years ago. Just as I was getting to know your parents well, we lost them. Now we have a little bit of both of them back. Not to think too far down the road, but, ah, I hope this keeps up."
Harry took that as Fabio saying he was fine with the idea that Harry and Daphne were seeing one another.
"Mr. Greengrass, I came for lunch. Who knew?" Harry said. "I do hope it continues, as long as Daphne can tolerate me. Now I'll go in and say good-bye. Make sure she gets some sleep. She's the Healer, she knows all this, but when it comes to themselves, they ignore their own advice."
Harry re-entered the library, crossed to the sofa, and knelt down in front of Daphne. Taking her hand, he said, "Tomorrow is a full day for me, so I need to go now. When I know something, you'll know, okay? Now, please go get some rest."
Daphne reached out, put her hand behind Harry's head, and pulled him to her. Harry liked the gesture until he realized he had his face buried between Daphne's beautiful breasts, right in front of her mother, father and sister, so he began a slow extraction, meeting resistance with each centimeter. It seemed like an eternity until they separated, an eternity that was far too short.
Harry rose, and Daphne started to get up from the sofa.
"No," said Harry. "Not this time. Everyone, we'll do it again soon, without the drama."
Fabio walked with Harry, opening the front door and extending his hand. Harry shook it, and walked down the steps to the just-opening squeaky gate.
"Excellent finale, Head Auror, a day none will forget. The Greengrass family…"
"Shut it," said Harry. "And stay shut this time, at least until the sun comes up."