A/N

Justareader21:

As mentioned in the summary I don't intend to build a HP/DG/HG-triangle. While I know some triangle stories (even a very few good ones, the last I saw was about Hermione loving Fred and George) that's not my cup of tea. But as Tolazytosignin so friendly mentioned I'm a bit obsessed with Hermione (she is my favorite char in the HP world) and I consider her the best friend of HP (in contrary to Ron she has never been disloyal in all books). In this story she is designed as a comparison to Daphne in character and (later) her type of relationship. That Daphne has her own faults is meant as a turning away from all those stories that describe her as an even enhanced version of Hermione. Daphne isn't the Real-Miss-Perfect.

So please don't worry: this is not a triangle story.

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A friendly conversation

Pinegrew Manor – late evening of July the 31st

She had expected this 'conversation', even feared it to happen. Perhaps she should have realized that Headmaster Dumbledore would notice Harry's disappearance today – on his birthday. It needed only one too inquisitive friend to learn about Harry's escape.

Now she had to stay calm, not an easy task as she was still furious about what she had seen in Harry's 'sweet home with lovely Auntie Petunia'. How could anyone allow him to stay there for more than a decade? How had Harry even been able to stay this way: relatively normal, friendly and compassionate? His only faults, if she wanted to call them that, were his somewhat shyness and insecurity. He still had problems to accept that someone really cared about him. It was disgusting that someone had planted those feelings into the boy.

And how could she allow all this to happen? She had promised James to watch over his son, to protect him, should neither he nor Sirius be able to. She had failed him, failed the love of her youth and stayed silent as Dumbledore planned Harry's future. Roxanne would never forgive herself for caring more for the security of her own daughters than for Harry. In the beginning it had been the right thing – perhaps. With a number of Deatheaters out there, wanting to take revenge for Voldemort's death, it would have been dangerous to have Harry in the house, especially with her husband being a long-term friend of Lucius Malfoy.

But later – she should have overridden Dumbledore's orders and tried to get to know where he lived, how he lived. She had failed him. But this would happen never again. She would fight for him with tooth and nails – against her husband, against his bigoted, racist friends, and even against Headmaster Dumbledore.

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Daphne, the ice queen of Slytherin, sensed her countenance crumble. Her grandmother had ushered Harry and herself in their respective rooms and walked away, certainly to help her mother in the imminent fight against the Headmaster. She hated Harry's presence in her home, she was sure about that. There were so many reasons to send him away, one of the most important being her sister.

Her relationship with Astoria had never been the best irrespective of both loving each other dearly. Their worldviews were simply too different and caused more than one thunderous word battle, sometimes even ending in duels with nails and spells. With a small smile Daphne remembered the one fight ending with Astoria hurting her with a cutting hex. It had drawn no small amount of blood, causing her little sister to instantly forget about the quarrel and hurry to her side, her face showing that there were more important things than those differences.

The reason back then had been her imminent engagement to Draco Malfoy. Cyrus – Daphne refused to call him father or something like that in her own mind – had realized a few years ago that he had lost Daphne to her mother and started to concentrate his efforts on Astoria. Daphne had tried to protect her, but Cyrus had been able to stir Astoria's envy. He spoiled her without end, and told her as often as possible what a special girl she would be. In the end Astoria had become a 'father's girl' and one year ago, on her eleventh birthday, she had been engaged to the two years older Draco. It was meant as a way to cement the friendship and alliance between the houses of Malfoy and Greengrass, a house Daphne didn't think she belonged to. She was a Pinegrew as her mother and grandmother before her.

She hated the fact that Harry's presence endangered this engagement. No, she really didn't like Malfoy. While not especially lazy or dumb, he trusted too much in his father's abilities to somehow 'make it all happen as he wished'. Mostly he had been right about his father's influence. In the second year he bought Draco's place in the Quidditch team and Lucius' influence even secured Draco his own bodyguards in form of Crabbe and Goyle, the living evidence that something was wrong with that 'pureblood supremacy'. But even so: Astoria loved Draco; loved him since childhood, and Astoria's joy has always been very important to Daphne, irrespective of her dumbest beliefs. If Draco made Astoria happy, she was willing to accept it.

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As silent as possible, Daphne left her room and descended the stairs again. She hadn't to turn around to know that Harry was following her. The door to his room had creaked and he was still wearing shoes as he walked on the marble floor. Very sneaky, Mr. Potter.

Passing the door to the library Daphne entered the next room, the tea salon, and left the door open for Harry to follow. According to his face he just realized that his appearance wasn't the surprise he had expected it to be. Daphne waited for him to close the door before she opened the service hatch to the adjoining room to stand ajar and the formerly muffled sounds were recognizable now, gesturing him to be silent.

Standing side by side both teenagers listened to the ensuing dispute, Harry's face showing his expressions openly – hello, no Occlumency skills there – while Daphne concealed her thoughts behind a bland expression.

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"He can't stay here," Dumbledore roared. His normally grandfatherly behaviour long forgotten he strode back and forth in the library, trying to convince this stupid woman of her crazy course of action. "It is too dangerous. You can't protect him here. And his relatives will be endangered too without the renewal of the blood ward."

Harry's eyes widened and he involuntarily took a deep breath, instantly muffled by a slender and cool hand pressed on his mouth and a death glare of icy Daphne.

"And how would this change with Harry back at that house of horrors?" Harry heard Roxanne's reply. "I've seen that blood ward and even with my mediocre knowledge it was detectable that the wards aren't very strong. Perhaps they achieved their purpose in the past but now it wouldn't fool anybody anymore. And the reason is clear to me. A family ward is meant as an extent of the bond between family members, an extension of their love. But there is no love between Harry and his relatives so it weakened with each passing hurtful year."

With barely restrained anger Roxanne crossed the room and gripped the backrest of an armchair, more to occupy her hands and prevent her from following the impulse to strangle Dumbledore. Her mother had stayed silent so far, only her eyes showing her warm support in the matter. Dumbledore started to say something but was instantly interrupted, Roxanne now nearly shouting at him.

"Have you ever been there yourself? Have you ever looked, spoken with Harry about how he lived? You promised me," Roxanne bellowed. "You promised me that he would not only be secure but live in a happy home with a loving family. And what a happy home it was. No, they didn't hurt him physically but even you should know about mental hurt, emotional hurt. Living in a cupboard, dressed in hand-down clothes, made to do work when he should be playing, hidden from their neighbours because he 'is a freak'. Did you know that these... these… arg, I don't even know an appropriate term for these shits of relatives. Did you know what they told their neighbours about him? That he was an incorrigible youth criminal and that he spends the greater part of the year in a reformatory."

The face of Roxanne was deep red now, a great contrast to the paleness in Dumbledore's, a paleness shared by Harry and even Daphne. Horrified, she realized that she had put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Hastily she drew it back and, to her relief, he didn't seem to notice, too engrossed in the discussion.

In the next minutes Daphne had problems to follow the discussion in the next room. She was too occupied with her own thoughts. She had known that Harry's presence had been important to her mother, but only now she slowly started to grasp the reasons behind it. Out of the corner of her eyes she watched him. His youth must have been terrible. Even with Cyrus around and the pressure to do many things 'the old bloodlines way' she had been able to spend most of the time in a way she liked. Yes, many girls, with whom she had to spend time with, thought her style of reading and learning to be weird – to say it politely. But it was how she liked it, and her adorable mother had always supported her, not to mention her grandmother.

She couldn't imagine a life without a loving mother or a bugging but likewise loving sister. How would it be to live hidden from everyone, to be told how freakish you were every day?

"You can say what you want." Daphne came back from her deep thoughts as the tone of her mother's voice changed again. She knew this tone. Her mother's voice was like this when she had made up her mind about something and Daphne had never witnessed anyone able to change her opinion in that state. "I will ask him, and if he wants to stay he'll be here for the rest of the summer. And if he… if he decides to be part of our family, I'll make the adoption official. It is time that he learns to live his own life, to make his own decisions. I won't allow you to influence him like you did in the past. And you know that the law is on my side."

The quarrel went on for a few minutes more and in the end it was Agatha who ended it. With a more or less polite but a bit frosty voice she stated: "It is late, Headmaster. I think both sides made their point very clear and it is time for you to go. Bon voyage!"

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The teenagers heard how Dumbledore left the house and waited for the sounds of someone ascending the stairs. But to their dismay steps neared the tea salon instead. Before they had the opportunity to find a hiding place the door was opened and Roxanne and Agatha stared at them. While Roxanne seemed to be shocked to see them, Daphne noticed that small smile on her grandmother's lips that proved her knowledge about their presence. Grandma had always known when her granddaughters got up to something in the past.

"You," Roxanne started with a raspy voice, staring at Harry. "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't have heard this… conversation." After a moment of silence she continued: "Be assured that the Headmaster is a good man and has 'the greater good' at heart. I only disagree with some of his plans and methods."

"Or his way to put the welfare of individuals aside for the greater good, half of the time without asking them," Agatha added with a sourly voice, ignoring the slightly shocked expression of her daughter. Roxanne shared her mother's opinion but she didn't want to estrange Harry and the Headmaster. He still was the boy's most important ally, even if he had to be handled with care.

"But I meant what I said. I don't know how much more danger there will be for you, should you stay with us. But I'll try to protect you as well as I possibly can. And I would like… no, I would love to have you here, living with us. For the summer, if you like. Permanently, if you agree. But it is your decision. I won't pressure you. Okay," she corrected herself with a small smile, "perhaps I'll pressure you a bit. Think about it and tell us tomorrow what you want. Is this okay for you?"

"Naturally he'll stay," Agatha interrupted Roxanne's little speech. "At last I have someone interested in my youth stories and I don't intend to miss this chance."

"Mother," Roxanne started, but her intervention was waved away.

"Don't you 'mother' me, Roxy." The pet name caused Roxanne to blush and Daphne to giggle, at least until her mother death-glared her. "Make him stay; otherwise I'll start searching for a second husband to give me a more obedient daughter. With that stupid husband of yours around, we could really need a decent man in the house."

Harry's eyes wandered from one Pinegrew woman to the next. He wasn't able to assess the danger staying here or how much protection this 'blood ward' mentioned by Headmaster Dumbledore still granted. Apparently it wasn't very strong and while he hadn't been able to follow all arguments, Roxanne's opinion sounded right to him. She had fought for him like a lion, like a Gryffindor – not that he would embarrass her with such a statement. She had fought for him like he would have loved to see Aunt Petunia to do at least once in the past.

Then there was Lady Agatha. Certainly she would share her stories about her youth and his grandmother even should he decide to walk away. But he liked her. Stern, strong, compassionate, he could easily imagine her in a role in his life like the one Minerva McGonagall filled for Hermione.

And last but not least there was Daphne. He had noticed her assuring grip only because of her hasty retreat. He had noticed her embarrassment about her reaction. Harry would like to ask her opinion about him staying. But he feared that she would utter something negative, simply on principle. Perhaps he could speak with her later. Now he had only the option to hope that their relation would improve.

Roxanne had asked him something two weeks ago: Do you really want to be her friend? The question was still unanswered but slowly …

"I don't need another night." Harry saw the struggle in Roxanne's face and sensed Daphne's tension. "I'll stay with you – at least for a while."