AN: I'm sure some of you may have noticed that this story now has a cover photo. I'd like to thank a very good friend of mine for taking the time to make this and the cover she has done for my other story. I think they're both amazing! I'd also like to thank my beta for going over this chapter and all of the others, but especially this one as your comments have helped, I hope, to improve the chapter. Hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter Fifteen: A Different Path

Harry couldn't shake the strange feeling that overwhelmed him as he looked at his reflection in the small mirror opposite his bed and examined his reflection. For the first time in what felt like years, but had actually been months, he was wearing his auror uniform. Ever since he had been forced to leave, Harry had refused to wear it. It had been a sign of what he had lost, what he knew deep down he had thrown away.

His eyes drifted to the picture Daphne had given him only days before. A small smile pulled at his lips as he watched himself and Daphne smile and laugh at a time gone by. He had gone into that wedding dreading the occasion, being forced to be nice to Malfoys and other Greengrasses, who Daphne despised. Yet despite himself, and completely by accident, Harry had actually managed to enjoy himself and all because of Daphne. The very first time that he had met her, Harry never would have dreamed that they would wind up being such close friends. She had been simply a distraction that night, a way to avoid the pain that had been consuming him. But over time they had become more than that.

Harry had often wondered what he might have done had they never met. Would he have forgiven Ginny, let her worm her way back into his life? Had it not been for Daphne, then Harry knew he would have kept clinging to the past that he had been partly responsible for destroying. Or would he have stayed shut off from the world around him and allowed the distance that had grown between himself and his friends stay permanent? The possibilities, Harry had come to realise, were endless. Yet, somehow, he suspected that the particular road he was travelling was the one he would always have wanted to journey down. Since Daphne had entered his life, Harry had become happy again. She might never know just what she had done for him. Words could never do his gratitude justice. But perhaps that was the point. Friendship, true friendship, Harry had come to realise, could not be summed up in a few words or a phrase. The way he felt about Daphne, Ron or Hermione was impossible to verbalise. Some emotions, Harry knew, were too strong for even the most profound of words.

Realising that he had been staring at Daphne's gift for far longer than he had even been aware, Harry shook his head slightly and tore his eyes from the photograph. With one last look in the mirror, and a sigh at his hair which he had neither the time nor the patience to tame, Harry set off for work. He had already eaten earlier that morning, leaving putting on his robes until the last moment, and so instead of heading for the kitchen he went straight for the front door. Once outside he tapped the door with his wand, reactivating the many wards and charms on it, before turning on the spot and vanishing from Grimmauld Place.

After the familiar tightening, squeezing and all round discomfort of magical transportation, Harry opened his eyes and tried to get his bearings. It had been years since he had actually been to the academy. Aurors didn't go back there - why would they? Once they'd gotten the necessary training there was no need. It served a means to an end and when Harry had left he had never pictured himself returning. Funny how things work out, he thought idly as he exited the alleyway which he had apparated into.

The street was as empty as it had always been when Harry had been a trainee auror. The Ministry had been careful to make sure that the academy was somewhere obscure, yet ordinary so as no wizard or muggle would stumble upon it. For this exact reason, they had chosen to put the academy not in London, but in a small town to the north. A few shoppers, eager to get to the centre of town bustled by without looking at Harry, not seeming to notice or care about his robes. Nobody paid him any attention as he crossed the road and walked towards what looked like an out of business sporting goods shop. If anyone was to ask a passer-by about the shop Harry knew that they would simply shrug and say it had always been like that but that someone would take it on eventually. It was what people did: pay no attention to things that seemed unimportant and that had always stayed the same. Change drew attention, so familiarity was its own protection.

Making sure that no one noticed him, Harry crossed the street and headed for the door of the supposedly abandoned shop. Once there he waited for a moment, checking the street one last time, before leaning against and then through the door.

The room on the other side of the door was nothing like the shop that it pretended to be when looked at from the outside. Inside, it was well lit, free of dust and manikins. Even the size of it was wrong. It was bigger, much larger than the exterior dimensions should have allowed. Magic had a way of altering reality. A large desk sat in front of him, with a small queue of people forming in front of a tired looking man whom recognised as Douglas Quinn. He'd been the guard back when Harry himself had been a trainee. Past his desk there was a long corridor, which Harry knew led into the depths of the building and the many training rooms, classrooms and offices that lay beyond. As Harry stepped forwards, regaining familiarity with his surroundings a young woman hurried forwards. She was quite tall, with her dark brown hair cut into a bob. She pulled a strand of it behind her ear and bit her lip before speaking.

"Auror Potter?" she asked, with only a hint of trepidation. But it wasn't really a question. The recognition in her eyes had been almost instantaneous and Harry had to suppress a sigh as they flicked towards his scar. "I'm Jennifer Crawford, I'm a trainee auror. I've been asked to show you to Auror Matthews's office."

"Lead the way," Harry said politely, doing his best to put the clearly nervous woman at ease. She couldn't be more than 19. She suddenly made Harry feel old, at least in comparison. Six years might not be that much of a difference later in life, but at their age it certainly felt like it was. Crawford was barely out of Hogwarts. Harry, on the other hand, had helped raise his godson, had a failed engagement and had dealt with more dark wizards and witches than he cared to remember. Merlin only knew where he'd be in another six years. It didn't bear thinking about. Everything could change so quickly. Daphne was evidence of that.

Crawford nodded and turned on her heel, before showing Harry down the corridor. It served almost like a bottle neck. All of the traffic in and out of the building had to go through it, no matter which area they wanted to get to. Once they headed down there, however, the building opened up and a series of different corridors and stairs led to the vast array of facilities the academy held within its walls.

Matthews's office, it turned out, was exactly where Harry had thought it would be. The only difference was who was behind the door. When he had been a trainee auror, the office had belonged to John Wainwright, who had since retired. Wainwright had been a good man, Harry remembered, although he had been equally firm and strict with his recruits. Back then, with numbers depleted and concern over the lack of applicants to the academy mounting, Davis had taken an active role in supporting Wainwright. That was how Harry had first met him. But times changed, and now Matthews was in charge.

"This is it," Crawford said, breaking the mutual silence that had fallen between herself and Harry in the brief walk from the entrance.

"Thanks," Harry nodded. Crawford did the same, flashing him a quick smile before heading off back the way they had come. She was soon joined by a man, who wore the same trainee robes as she did. Harry watched as the man turned to look at him, then back to Crawford and began whispering to her. No doubt they were wondering what he was doing there. Harry shook his head slightly before turning back to the closed door before him. He gave a quick knock and only entered at the sound of summons from the other side.

"Potter," Charlotte Matthews said when he entered the room. She was older than Harry had expected, he imagined that she was somewhere around fifty. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, which was held in place by several hair grips. A full fringe threatened to brush into her eyes as she looked up at him over the rim of her black-framed glasses. Piercing blue eyes met his, making Harry feel like he was a teenager again and that he was standing in McGonagall's office. The same unease washed over him as he stood slightly awkwardly in the doorway, not entirely sure whether to sit or stand.

Matthews didn't say anything for a moment, looking back at the paper she had been reading. Her desk was slightly cluttered and untidy, stacks of what looked like reports or exam papers piled all over it. There were no signs of personal effects around the room, the office walls were bare, and so too was the desk. Wainwright had kept an old, battered, silver inkwell on his desk. A gift from his mentor. But where the inkwell had sat, there were only papers.

"Take a seat," Matthews said eventually, gesturing with one hand to the empty chair before her as she discarded the paper with her other. Harry did as he was instructed, pulling back the wooden chair from in front of her desk and sitting down. The room was laid out so as whoever was sat in his chair would have to turn to see anybody who entered, whereas Matthews would only need to look up.

"So," Matthews began, pulling open one of her desk drawers and retrieving a thin file from within and placing it onto her desk. "Davis tells me you're interested in taking a position here then, Potter."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry nodded.

"Right, first off, none of that 'ma'am' bollocks, it's Charlotte to you or boss if you're uncomfortable with that. We're both aurors, and you're on my level as far as I'm concerned, especially if we're going to be working together. Understood?" Harry nodded, somewhat taken aback by her brusque manner. "Excellent. So, Potter, tell me. Why is it you want you want to work here? As far as I knew you were flavour the month, Merlin, the year. Some had you touted to be the youngest department head of the auror office we've ever had. Yet, here you are."

"Something wrong with that?"

"No, just usually most of the people I see for jobs down here have either royally screwed up or are coming to the tail end of their careers and need a nice little steady job before they retire. Neither of which is very useful to me, I can tell you. I've sent more than a few of them packing. But seeing as you're neither, I'm just a little surprised that you're here. Not just that, but you requested to come. Why? D'you think it's easy? Because I'm telling you right now it's not."

"No," Harry answered quickly, "I don't."

"Then why are you here, Potter?"

"Because I want to have a life outside of being an auror," Harry answered honestly.

"So why not quit?" Matthews pressed, her blue eyes still fixed on his. "There's plenty of other jobs out there. Come to think of it, why do you even need to work at all?"

"What we do is important," Harry told her with only the smallest amount of frustration at the edge of his words. He hadn't expected anything like this. A few questions maybe, but not an interrogation. "Protecting people, standing for what's right. I couldn't turn my back on it."

"But you couldn't carry on with what you had been doing either," Matthews finished.

Harry nodded, not saying anything else. He didn't need to. She understood exactly what he meant, there was no point wasting his breath. Matthews said nothing for a long moment, instead choosing to mull over his words and leave him in silence, waiting for her to speak again.

"There are two things you need to know before we take this any further," Matthews began eventually, "firstly, I decide who works here. Not Davis. So, if you really want in, you have to get my say so. Secondly, I expect nothing less than total commitment while you're here. We have a responsibility. What we teach here, how we act, what we do, everything. It matters. We pass on bad habits, it's on our heads when they get killed. It's even worse for you. I've had a word with Davis and I know you don't like to admit it, Potter, but people look up to you, this lot included. They'll copy anything and everything you do, so I can't have you half-arsing this, understood?"

"Perfectly," Harry said, he had never thought about it that way before, but she was right. As loath as Harry was to admit it, people did what he did. Copied him. There had been a stupid craze after the war had ended that everyone were to hairdressers and barbers all over Wizarding Britain asking to have their hair cut like his. Harry had laughed at that particular obsession, they had styled their hair after the man who couldn't even tame his own. But this was far more serious. Whether consciously or not, recruits always copied their mentors and Matthews was right. It would be even worse for him. Everyone would want to style themselves so as they could be the next Harry Potter and he had to be everything they expected. No pressure, then.

"You'll be starting off as an assistant instructor," Matthews told him, "this week you'll be shadowing me, and then if I think you're cut out for this you'll be assigned to one of the other instructors until you're ready to take a class of your own. How long that takes is up to you."

The rest of the day passed rather quickly after Matthews's rather brusque and blunt interview was over. He soon found out that she was like that with everyone. Her students, other instructors, despite her policy that all aurors were the same it was clear that she just a bit more equal than everyone else. Painfully honest, intolerant and demanding of respect, Charlotte Matthews, Harry quickly came to realise, was the perfect chief instructor. She instilled discipline within a matter of minutes. Any training aurors that thought they could just sail through were sorely mistaken.

There were only three other instructors, Ainsley Baldwin, who Harry remembered from his own time at the academy and had been there for as long as anybody could remember. Baldwin, despite constant expectation, refused to move from his post and people had stopped asking for him to do so years ago. Then there was James Thompson, who wasn't much older than Harry himself, and had only just become an instructor. Finally, there was Siobhan Rayner, who had transferred to the British Auror Department soon after the end of the war as part of the effort to bolster the ranks of the aurors. She had started at the academy a year previously, after suffering a long-stint in St. Mungo's and never having truly recovered. But they were all friendly enough, although Harry knew he couldn't pass judgement. Everyone presented the best version of themselves to strangers.

On his first day he had stayed over lunch, wanting to get to know his new colleagues a little better and desperate to show Matthews that he was committed to their work. But, on the second day, as promised, Harry left the confines of the academy and went to meet Daphne for lunch. He had been looking forward to it all that day. As he always did when he went to see Daphne. Their midday rendezvouses had become a fixture of his week that he could no longer do without. He changed quickly out of his uniform, stuffing into the locker that Matthews had assigned him. It wasn't worth the hassle of having to explain them to confused muggles, so instead he donned a casual shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Hey Harry," Daphne greeted when he sat down five minutes later at the table she had reserved for them. He frowned slightly at this, he had been expecting a snarky comment, perhaps a sarcastic remark about his tardiness. He was about to sit down when she added: "Nice of you to finally show up." There it is, Harry thought suppressing a laugh. He doubted that Daphne knew how predictable she had become to him.

"Sorry, I got held up," Harry apologised. He hated being late for anything. It didn't help that Daphne was constantly early. She always did like to be prepared. "Matthews insisted on going through a trainee's essay with me before letting me go."

"I'm only joking, although it's about time you did some work," Daphne teased unsympathetically. "Now you know how the rest of us feel." That particular comment only came with the hint of a smirk. "How is it, anyway? You enjoying it?"

"Yeah, actually, I am." Harry grinned. He hadn't been expecting to be loving his new found career path quite as much as he was doing. But somehow it felt natural. Like it was where he was meant to be. The only time he'd ever felt like that before was back during his time at the head of the DA. It was odd. He had never considered teaching before, but even as an assistant to the bossy, opinionated Matthews, Harry felt somehow at home.

"Matthews giving you a hard time?" Daphne probed curiously. "Dad knows her," she explained at his look of mild confusion. "They graduated together. Apparently she's always been really uptight and controlling."

"Narcissa's uptight and controlling, but compared Matthews she looks like a pigmy puff." Harry said sarcastically, causing Daphne to laugh into her drink. "But as long as you stay on her good side you're alright really. At least, that's what I'm trying to do. I'm shadowing her until Friday. That's when she decides if I can stay."

"I thought Michael had already transferred you?" Daphne asked. Harry still found it strange that she was on first name terms with his boss. To him, Davis had never even looked like he had a first name nor that he knew anyone well enough to use it. Even aurors he'd known for years still called him 'sir' or by his last name. Although, technically, Daphne had seniority over all of them. That was the wonderful thing about a private life, it was private.

"He has," Harry nodded, "but doesn't know if Matthews is going to accept it. Rayner, she's one of the other instructors, she was telling me that they've had six aurors turned away already this year. Matthews refused to accept them, even though they're struggling for staff at the moment. Merlin only knows how she gets away with it."

"She's got one of the best records for getting a high percentage of aurors through the academy," Daphne explained. "I don't know if it was like this when you went through, but apparently loads of people tend to drop out in the first or second years."

"Quite a few did leave," Harry remembered. Ron had been among them. But so too had Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas. The only one from the DA who had graduated alongside Harry had been Susan Bones. She had been desperate to follow in her aunt's footsteps and the last Harry had heard she was doing a damn good job at it too.

"Explains why she can be so fussy," Daphne said, "but apart from Morgana, how's it going? Think she'll let you stay on?"

"I hope so," Harry replied, "I've actually really enjoyed it. I mean, I used to say that about doing field work too, but I don't know, this just feels… better. I was actually excited to go into today. Sure, it might change when I start having my own classes, but even then I think I'm still going to enjoy it."

"I'm glad," Daphne smiled, her face lighting up in the way that Harry knew it rarely did for anyone else, except those closest to her. "You deserve it, Harry, really. And if she lets you slip through her fingers, then she's a moron."

"Thanks, Daph," Harry said, genuinely touched by her words, just as he had been the night that she had given him his present. There were very few occasions where Daphne would open up. Harry hadn't been lying when he had told her that she made him feel special. She did, unlike anybody else that he knew, and Harry couldn't explain why. She had come into his life when he had most needed someone to be there for him, and instead of recoiling at the mixture of anger and mood swings that he had been back then she had stayed.

"It's the truth," Daphne shrugged noncommittally. "Right, are you ordering? Because I'm starving and you've kept me waiting for ages already."

"It was five minutes," Harry countered good-naturedly as he opened up the menu that Daphne had seemingly abandoned on their table.

"I'll be the judge of time," Daphne replied, before taking another sip of her drink and giving him a brief moment to make his mind up on what it was he wanted. It wasn't a hard choice. They had been once before and Harry wasn't going to deviate from the meal he had had last time. Burger and sweet potato chips. Not exactly a healthy option, but he had physical training after lunch and no doubt Matthews was going to use him as a punching bag for eager trainees.

"Is seven okay for Friday?" Daphne asked when they had both ordered and Harry had gotten a drink.

"Should be," Harry nodded, "I get off at five most days, but I'll double check."

"You sure it won't clash with seeing Teddy?"

"No, I'll just go a little earlier," Harry answered, although he appreciated the sentiment. Unlike Ginny, Daphne was considerate of how much time he wanted to spend with his godson. His brain came to a sudden halt at that. 'Unlike Ginny'? Where had that come from? He never even compared Hermione or Andromeda to the youngest Weasley. So why Daphne? He frowned, trying to shake the thought from his mind. It was nothing. They were or had been both important women in his life, after all. It was nothing. Wasn't it?

"Harry?"

"Yes? Sorry, zoned out." Harry said quickly, his cheeks flushing a little as he realised that Daphne had been talking that whole time and he hadn't noticed.

"I'm glad my company means that much to you," Daphne smirked, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying, I can always try and get it later if it's a problem."

"No, it's fine, Daph, really." Harry assured her, unable to stop the smile spreading across his face at her concern. "I've already explained to them that I'll probably have to visit a little earlier. The game starts at what, eight? I kind of guessed that we'd be leaving around then anyway. To be honest, I thought it'd be a fair bit earlier."

"It was the latest I could get," Daphne admitted, somewhat apologetically. "I know you don't like missing out on seeing him if you can avoid it."

"True," Harry agreed, "but I think just this once it'll be okay."

Daphne was silent for a moment, as if mulling something over. Her green eyes fixed on Harry's face, a slight frown creasing her brow as he chewed lip. It was the same look she had worn whenever they had been discussing her time-turner project all those weeks and months ago. It was a look reserved purely for problems, the puzzles that she couldn't solve, and now she was turning it on him.

"Why do you do it?" Daphne asked eventually, her curiosity apparently getting the better of her.

"Do what?" Harry countered. But he knew what she meant. It was the same question he had asked of himself all those years ago. The question that had led to a promise he would never break.

"Spend so much time with him," Daphne clarified, "you go out of your way to be there for him. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great. My godfather's never done anything like. Hell, my whole family like to pretend we don't exist unless they want something."

"I see a lot of myself in him," Harry answered, cutting off Daphne's rant about her family before it began. Not that he could blame her. They were not exactly Harry had come to know a family should be. "Neither of us have any parents, and we're both different from everybody else for something we can't control. I don't know how much I've told you about the Dursley's, but they were not nice people. So when I finally got a family, I thought I'd actually gotten out of there. Trouble was, Sirius couldn't exactly be there, even though he wanted to be. And then… then I lost him too. So, I promised myself that I would never let Teddy have that life. Just because Remus and Tonks can't be there for him, it doesn't mean that he has to live without love."

"Harry, I…" Harry gritted his teeth, not wanting to hear the words that he knew would come spilling out of her mouth. He didn't want to hear it. That she was sorry. That she wished she could change it. It was why he never told anyone. There were some things that even Ron or Hermione didn't know. Because Harry couldn't bear to see the pity in their eyes. "That's incredible."

"What?" Harry asked, nonplussed as he stared at her.

"That you can think like that, after everything. I know I wouldn't have been able to."

"I couldn't just leave him," Harry explained as gently as he could. He knew what Daphne was thinking. When her mother had died, Daphne had tried to shut herself off. Locked away the rest of the world. Guilt tinged the edge of her words. But they were different people, with different situations. When Daphne had lost her mother, she had been a child. A young girl who had no idea that death had been waiting for her. A girl who hadn't even had chance to say goodbye. Harry could never blame her for how she had reacted. As far as he was concerned, she had had it worse than he had back then. Everyone - aside from the Dursleys who hadn't cared less - had always been sympathetic of his loss. But he had never known his parents and as a result could never truly know what he had been missing. Daphne had. But that situation was wholly different from his own. She shouldn't blame herself for reacting differently.

"It wasn't his fault," Harry continued, "He didn't deserve to suffer just because of a fight that wasn't his. Tonks and Remus, they died for what they believed in, they died to give their son a better world. I couldn't deny him that."

"He's lucky to have you," Daphne said, with no trace of her usual sarcastic self.

"Funny, most of the time I think I'm the one lucky to have him," Harry admitted. It was strange, to talk about Teddy. He had never really spoken about it. Everyone else Harry knew simply accepted that it was going to happen. None of them had questioned it, even Ginny, despite the bitterness that had developed between herself and the relationship Harry cherished with his godson. But they had all known the circumstances, the reasons why Harry could never turn his back on Teddy and had therefore just gone along with it. Daphne, however, had not. She had a right to. It was just one of the many stories that he would one day get around to telling her.

"I could tell," Daphne smiled. "You're good with him, you know."

"Thank you,"

"It was strange though, seeing you with him like that," Daphne went on.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just was, like a whole new side to you that I never knew existed." Daphne explained. Harry knew exactly what she meant. It had been weird, at first, having to be the father figure that Teddy needed. Harry had been barely old enough to look after himself, let alone a child. It was part of Andromeda had been the one to take Teddy in. That, and she had wanted to spend as much time with the only family she had left as she could.

"Well, I'm glad I can still surprise you."

"I think you always will," Daphne told him. Harry smiled at that, the implied continuation of their friendship. She wasn't the only one that did not want it to end. Although it had only been a few months, compared to the years that he had known Ron or Hermione, she had become equally irreplaceable to him. He did want to imagine a life without her.

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a smiling waitress with a notepad and pen at the ready. After having taken his order, and then Daphne's, the waitress hurried away rushing towards the sound of the ringing bell from the kitchen, but not before she gave Harry and Daphne the knowing grin that everyone seemed to give them. Harry had given up getting annoyed. He was far too used to it. Everyone was going to assume anyway. It didn't matter what he said, it didn't matter that he wasn't looking for anyone after Ginny, because everybody would always assume.

Instead of returning to the serious topic of Teddy, Daphne steered the conversation towards the arrangements for the final. Magical travel made the need to stay the night unnecessary and as Daphne had to be at work the next day it made little sense for Harry to stay in France on his own. There were plenty of portkeys arranged for after the game, for the people who had to get back. Just because it would be the weekend didn't mean that everyone could go home straight after.

"Why are they dragging you in on a weekend?" Harry asked, their food had arrived and both Harry and Daphne were more than halfway through their meals. Time was slowly ticking away and neither of them could stay there forever.

"I'm not going in as such," Daphne replied, "we've still not found anyone to actually trial the time-turner so I'll be trying to convince the usual lot of people that it would be a good idea."

"Usual lot?"

"People just out of Hogwarts usually," Daphne explained, "they need the money, we need to have human test subjects. It works well. Trouble is most people have never used a time-turner, let alone an experimental one that hasn't been tested on actual people. They're scared something could go wrong. Time-turners don't exactly have a great reputation, mainly because people abuse them or because they try and go back further than it will let them."

"But it still puts people off," Harry finished.

"Exactly," Daphne huffed. "It's been an absolute nightmare. It doesn't help that we want to send them off for a day, everyone keeps claiming that they've got people who rely on them or would miss them. It's bollocks, but good enough as excuses go."

"Can't you just shorten it?"

"Not really, we've done tests on animals that have gone longer, so we know that it works. We won't start on the day, obviously. First we do a minute, then an hour, then a day. But they need to be made aware of what they're signing themselves up for, and none of them are too thrilled by the idea."

"So, when would you do it if you found someone?" Harry asked.

"As soon as possible, we have the equipment all set up, so that's not a problem. This lot don't have jobs so working around shifts isn't exactly an issue."

"What if it wasn't one of them?" Harry probed.

"Then we'd find a few days that worked for both of us," Daphne told him. "Weekend, mid-week, wherever, I'm not fussy and Miller hasn't got the busiest of social lives either so he'd be free. Trouble is that we're starting to run out of time. It's not like we can keep searching for people forever and if we don't find anyone soon then all of this is for nothing."

"Why?"

"If you can't prove that it works, properly on actual people and not just on animals, then there's only so much that can be done with it. Say this was some kind potion that we wanted to sell to a mass-market, but we'd only got evidence that it works on animals, who would invest in that? No-one. It's the same principle. If they want to reproduce all of our time-turners on a large scale then we're going to need to have them tested. If not, well, then it gets shelved and I'm forced to move onto something else."

"But that's not fair, it's not your fault that people won't volunteer."

"Doesn't matter whose fault it is, Harry. What matters is getting it tested." She sighed, discarding her fork, her food forgotten and her appetite apparently vanishing too. Harry had never seen her like this. Like she wanted to give up. "We've been looking for weeks, we've only got a few days left. You know what Luidhard's like, budget conscious bastard that he is. To be honest with you, I don't think we're going to find anyone. I mean, whose going to want to lose a whole day of their life just to see if it works?

"Me?" Harry asked hesitantly, as if his mouth was only just catching up with what his brain wanted to say. He couldn't sit by while Daphne was facing the threat of the project that she had worked so hard for being shut down. Not if he could do something about it. She had spent so much time on it and against all the odds stacked against her she had managed to get it this far. She couldn't fail now. It meant far too much to her. "Me. I'll do it."

"You?" Daphne demanded, slightly stunned by his suggestion.

"Me," Harry confirmed. "Why not? It's not as if it isn't safe, you've proven that loads of times. Besides, I trust you."

"Are you being serious?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Harry nodded, glossing over the fact that technically he had done that already. There was a stunned silence as Daphne stared at him, seemingly unable to believe her eyes. Harry had no idea why. Why wouldn't he help her? She was his friend. He would do anything to help her, whether or not she knew it.

Before he knew what was happening, Daphne had gotten to her feet, closed the space between them and was hugged him. He sat there for a long moment, taken aback, like many of the muggle diners around them who watched on casually. Awkwardly trying to unwrap his arms from her embrace, Harry eventually was able to hug her back, a smile pulling at his lips at the feel of her arms around him. There was a muffled sound in his neck.

"Sorry?" Harry asked, unable to hear the words that Daphne was attempting to say.

"Thank you," Daphne said, pulling away slightly so as he could hear her. "Really, Harry, thank you."

"Any time," Harry smiled.

After that Daphne barely stopped grinning for the rest of the meal, unable to contain her excitement at the idea that her project would at last be entering the final stage of testing. Harry simply sat back and let her talk, enjoying listening to her and seeing her smile light up her face. It was a shame she didn't smile more, Harry mused when they had gone their separate ways with Daphne promising that she would be at his the following day with the relevant paperwork before she vanished into thin air. He had noticed it ever since the wedding but never really thought about it. Her smile made her beautiful, even more so than she already was. Harry had just dismissed it as the same as when he had noticed Hermione during the Yule Ball. That was just all it was, wasn't it?

He shook himself, trying to banish the thoughts from his mind before checking around the carpark, making sure that there were no muggles around him, before turning on the spot and vanishing.

oOo

"Harry! Could you get that?" Andromeda Tonks asked from the kitchen as the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of one of the many guests that she had invited around for that evening. With England fighting for a place in the final, the Weasleys', Harry, Teddy and Andromeda even if she wouldn't admit it, were all enraptured in the unlikely run that their country had gone on. So Andromeda, who had thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone again at his birthday, had taken it upon herself to invite everyone they knew, with a few notable exceptions, to listen to the game on her wireless.

"Sure," Harry called back, setting down his drink, glancing quickly at Teddy to make sure that he was still enjoying himself with a slightly confused Hermione who had taken it upon herself to look after Harry's godson, saying that it was about time that he was allowed to have an evening without having to worry about Teddy. Harry hadn't had the heart to tell her that no matter how he tried he could not avoid worrying about Teddy. She wouldn't understand. She couldn't. But he had appreciated the gesture all the same.

The ringer of the bell turned out to be George Weasley, Angelina was listening to the game with her teammates so George had wholeheartedly accepted the invite when it had come his way.

"Hi Harry," George grinned, his lips splitting the cross that he had painted on his face. He was wearing the latest England jersey and was carrying a small England flag in his right hand. "Everyone else here, yet?"

"Come in," Harry said, opening the door wide for George. "No, not yet, we're still waiting on and Neville. Don't know if anyone else is coming."

"Bill shown up?" George asked as he crossed the threshold and Harry shut the door behind him.

"Didn't you hear? Fleur's dad gave them his tickets, so they're actually at the game." Harry had tried to be jealous, but had been unable to bring himself to it. Sure, they had tickets to the semi-final, but if England actually managed to get through he'd be going to see them battle it out for the cup itself.

"I knew there was a reason I should've got there first," George scowled good-naturedly. "Always said she was too good for him."

Harry shook his head, trying not to laugh at his friend's antics as they entered the living room and everyone greeted the final member of the Weasley family that would be attending. Andromeda had chosen not to invite either Arthur or Molly, primarily because she wasn't entirely sure where Molly stood on regards to Harry. After the break-up between himself and Ginny, the fallout from the Weasley matriarch had been catastrophic. It hadn't helped that nobody had known the real reason for why they had split up, and Harry had been too angry and absorbed in the pain of it all that he hadn't bothered to correct her. Not that Molly would have listened. If there was one thing she cared about above all else, it was family. With Harry painted as a jealous idiot and Ginny free from blame, he could hardly blame her for how she reacted. But that hadn't meant that it hadn't hurt all the same.

Harry retrieved his drink, but instead of reclaiming his space on the armchair, he headed for the kitchen. George had made an instant beeline for Teddy, seeing the opportunity to deploy an easily influenced child on Hermione and was apparently unable to pass it up.

"You don't have to do all this, you know?" Harry asked as he entered the kitchen, his arms folded and leaning against the door, taking up a position he hoped that wouldn't get in the way of Andromeda.

"What kind of a host would I be if I didn't?" Andromeda countered in reply, as she levitated the food which she had been preparing on one countering onto the silver trays nearest the door.

"Fair point," Harry conceding knowing that he would not win. Andromeda was exceptionally stubborn and set in her ways. It was the whole reason that she had married Ted in the first place. Anyone else would have buckled under the pressure her mother had put on her, but not Andromeda. "Do you need a hand?"

"No, I'm nearly done," Andromeda replied. With anyone else, Harry might have pressed the issue, but he knew not to bother with Andromeda. She'd just tell him he was being too nice and force him to sit back and watch. "What was it you were trying to tell me earlier, anyway?" She asked, summoning various plates from around the kitchen before stacking them in a neat pile by the door. "Something about time-turners, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, not entirely sure where to go from there. He had been puzzling over how to tell Andromeda all day. He had eventually decided to just go with blunt honesty. The trouble with blunt honesty was that it was easy enough to say that he was going to do it, but quite another to actually get the words out of his mouth.

"Do you remember me telling you about Daphne's work with them?" Andromeda nodded, checking the cauldron that bubbled in the far corner. "Well, she was struggling to get volunteers to test them out. So… So I volunteered."

"You did what?" Andromeda frowned, her gaze snapping from the stew to Harry in an instant.

"I volunteered," Harry repeated before hurriedly adding, "it's safe. She's tested it out on a bunch of animals, so it's not like it's completely experimental."

"Harry, there's no such thing as safe with those things," Andromeda told him, her attention completely taken from the food that she was preparing. "There's a reason that people don't use them."

"Yes, they don't know how to." Harry pointed out. It was that simple. The actual technology itself was perfectly safe. The problems came because of what people could do with that power. Even the slightest thing could have cataclysmic effects. But that was because they'd travelled backwards, they were messing with time. But Harry wasn't going to be doing anything like that. "Daph does. It'll be fine."

"You trust her?" Andromeda asked.

"I do," Harry nodded. "She's spent months on this, it's safe."

"That's not the word I'd use to describe it," Andromeda said bitterly. "Those things are dangerous."

"What else could I do?" Harry demanded exasperatedly. "She needed my help."

"She could have found someone else." Andromeda argued.

"Maybe, but what if she didn't? What if no-one wanted to do it? What then? They'd cancel the project and all of that work would be for nothing. I can't let that happen. You should see her talk about it, I've never seen anyone be so excited about something. I couldn't just sit there when I knew there was something I could to help."

"You don't have to help everyone," Andromeda said.

"No, just the people who matter," Harry argued. He couldn't understand why Andromeda was making such a problem out of this. It was safe. It was in controlled conditions, Daphne knew what she was doing. He had to help her.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're having feelings for her."

"What? No. We're just friends." Harry snapped with a little more anger than he had intended. But he couldn't help it. Stares from strangers were one thing, people who didn't know them. But it was something else to be constantly accused of having feelings for Daphne by people who should know that there was nothing there.

"Friends?" Andromeda repeated, her voice rising a little in frustration as she stared at him. "Harry, what you're doing here is dangerous. I know you think it's safe, but dress it up however you like - they're experimental. Just because they work on rabbits doesn't mean it'll work on you. You can't say for sure that it will, can you?"

Harry didn't say anything for a moment, he wanted to lie, say that there was no chance, no matter how small, that it was totally safe. But he couldn't. She was right. There were no guarantees. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to help her.

"I thought not," Andromeda said trying to calm her voice when Harry didn't speak. "Harry, you could be risking your life for this girl and you're telling me that you don't have feelings for her?"

"I've done the same for Ron and Hermione," Harry argued.

"That was different, and you know it." Andromeda accused, her face tight and her eyes flashing. Every one of the Weasleys' thought that Molly was the worst woman in the world to cross. They were wrong.

"How?" Harry demanded, his temper fraying. He knew that she was just looking out for him, that all Andromeda was doing was caring about him. But he couldn't help it. This was his life. He was sick of people telling him how to live it. "How is this any different from then?"

"Because then you had no choice!" Andromeda snapped angrily, her voice rising once more. "You weren't the one putting your life on the line, you had it put there for you! You had no choice. He picked you. Not the other way around. You never volunteered for that and you only risked your life for Ron and Hermione because you had to. This is different. This isn't war. Okay, you might think that this is safer, and it probably is. But that doesn't change the fact that there's a chance that something could go wrong."

"But it won't," Harry retorted.

"I thought we'd already established that you can't say that for sure," Andromeda pointed out. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her eyes went soft as she looked at him. "Look, Harry, I've seen the way you that look at her. You might be able to fool yourself, but you can't fool me."

"I… I'm not." Why was this so hard to deny? It wasn't true. He wasn't looking for love. He didn't need anyone. No. That was a lie, and he knew it. He'd tried that before. Being alone. He didn't want to go back to that again.

"So you're going to tell me that you don't get excited every time you go to see her?" Andromeda asked before quickly cutting across his rebuttal. "And don't tell me it's the same as Ron and Hermione, because I know it's different. And so do you. You might not want to admit it, and I can't blame you, Harry. After what she did, I understand why you might want to avoid anything like that happening again."

"It's not like that," Harry tried, but his voice was weak. He couldn't deny what she had said. It was different. He had never been able to place his finger on why, but it was. Sure, he looked forward to spending time with Ron and Hermione, but with Daphne it felt different. Special. As if he never wanted to leave.

"So you're telling me that you've never once compared her to Ginny? You've never noticed that she's beautiful or seen something that nobody else does? Harry, you care about her - you could be risking your life for her. I know you don't think it is, but trust me, it really is. You wouldn't do that for anyone else. Don't you think it's time that you admit how you feel?"

Harry didn't say anything. He couldn't. The denials he wanted to say simply wouldn't come. It was as if his brain was frozen. Stunned. His eyes were locked on Andromeda but he wasn't truly seeing her. His thoughts were inescapably taken up by Daphne. The months that he had spent with her had been amazing. She found him when he had been lost in the ruin of himself, given him back his life, made him reach out to his friends, discover new ones. She had been at the root of so much for him. He changed his job and taken a whole new path. Why? Because he hadn't wanted to let go off the time that he could spend with Daphne. The times that could be. The days to come.

It felt as if had veil had been lifted inside his mind. All the thoughts that he had dismissed, all the times that he had cherished with her, they all pointed to the realisation of what he had been ignoring. That he couldn't deny any longer. He was falling in love with Daphne Greengrass.