"That insufferable old fool!" Echoed through the mansion from the direction of the great hall, at a sufficient volume and with such vehemence that it was almost heard by the elves making the roses bloom in the gardens.
Hew was soon surrounded by his family, who had all been made aware of the situation upon Harriet's return.
When he saw Harriet, the anger vanished and a smile lit up his face. He laughed a little.
"We got him though!" He crowed and continued to laugh.
After a few moments Cossima chastised lightly, "don't leave us in suspense dear husband, what happened?"
Hew calmed his laughter and began, "Dumbledore caught up to me as I was leaving and created such a scene that the goblins had to come out to settle him down. He could not see Harry with me and he knew that Harry was there," he gave a wink to Harriet, who giggled, "so after he threatened me a few more times he finally told me that he had all of the other exits watched and that he'll stay there all day until Harry comes out. With the threats and accusations he levelled at the goblins, well…. Let's just say he almost set off yet another goblin rebellion!"
Hew smirked, "he even called in Amelia Bones!"
Cossima gasped and he continued, "she at least, had a bit more sense than to stir up the goblins and ended up asking Dumbledore how he knew that Harry was in there. Dumbledore didn't have an answer for that, not one that he could admit to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at least. Eventually she just told not to call her for 'such frivolous unfounded rumours'," Hew snickered and Cossima had enough decorum to cover her own, "she floo'd straight back to the ministry and left him standing there red-faced. He tried to order, he tried to bluster and he even tried his condescending appeal to the greater good," he scoffed and gave Harriet a hug, "as if the greater good would ever be applied from leaving you there!"
After a brief family hug, Cossima gently steered Hew towards the dining room, "come husband, I had the elves keep your lunch under a warming charm. I'll have dippy bring you a tumbler of that Swott Whisky to go with it."
"Would you like to play dolls?" Daphne asked while their parents disappeared into the dining room.
Harriet nodded and said, "yes," while Astoria almost jumped up and down in excitement and shouted, "may I play? May I play?"
"Of course," Daphne said to her youngest sister and opened up her arms, "here, I'll carry you up the stairs."
Astoria eagerly jumped into her sister's arms. She appreciated the efforts that Daphne, and now Harriet, would go to make sure she was included and able to do things despite her illness and frailty.
Together, the three girls went upstairs to play with their dolls and dollhouse.
Whilst in the middle of their game they were interrupted by the appearance of Dippy and another girl the same age as Daphne and Harriet. She had straight brown hair, cut above her shoulders and she wore glasses just like Harriet.
Her eyes lit up in happiness when she lay eyes on Daphne, "Hello Daphne!" She exclaimed then added, "hello 'tori and…" She paused when she saw Harriet, then blurted out, "I don't know you, but hello in any case."
"Tracey!" Exclaimed Astoria at the same time as Daphne coughed lightly and said, "Tracey Davis of House Davis," Harriet realised that it was the same form of introduction that they had been taught to use in pureblood circles by their tutors, "may I please introduce to you Harriet… er… Greengrass of House Greengrass, my new adopted sister."
"A new sister!" Tracey exclaimed excitedly, in such an abundance of over exuberance that it caused Daphne to sigh a little, "that's so rad!"
"Rad?" Daphne asked, perplexed.
Tracey gave her a nod, then explained, "it means cool,", Daphne continued to look perplexed so Tracey continued with a sigh, "great… Good."
Daphne let out a quiet, "ah," and Tracey gave a satisfied nod.
"Tracey's father is a pureblood, but her mother is a… muggle," Daphne explained to Harriet, who noticed Tracey's hitch of breath at Daphne's pause, "so she goes to a muggle school and then when her father comes around to visit Father and do business, she talks to us in all of these strange outlandish phrases that it is sometimes hard to understand her."
Tracey laughed at this, a carefree laugh that prompted Daphne to roll her eyes, "that wasn't a compliment Tracey," Daphne admonished.
"I'll take it as one though," Tracey laughed and plonked herself down between Astoria and Harriet to focus on the doll house.
"So," Tracey said after a moment, leaning closer to Harriet, "what's your deal? Were you a muggle stray, half-blood like me or some long lost Greengrass relative?"
Harriet gaped at Tracey's questioning, a thousand things running through her head.
"Hold off Tracey," Daphne admonished, then explained to Harriet, "the Davis family know the Greengrass secret, which is why we do business, most other purebloods won't do business with the Davis'."
"What's the Greengrass secret?" Harriet asked and noticed that Astoria looked like she wanted to ask as well.
"Well, you remember how Miss Grace mentioned that the Greengrass family was one of the 'Sacred twenty-eight'?"
Harriet nodded, it was something their tutor was quite proud of; being able to tutor the children of a Sacred Twenty Eight family.
"Being a member of the 'Sacred twenty-eight' means that we only have purebloods in our family, which is true," Daphne explained, "But Father said that the blood adoption we used to adopt you into the family has been used in the past, many times. Muggle-born witches or wizards who show promise are sometimes adopted."
"Oh," Harriet expressed in surprise and explained to Tracey, "My parents died when I was young and I was raised by my muggle aunt and uncle. Father rescued me from them."
"Well," Tracey said, "that's good then. Not all muggles are bad, my mum for instance is a great mum even if she can't do magic," she frowned, "but the other kids at my school are absolutely horrid. I want to ask father if I could have tutors instead."
"The other kids at my old school didn't want to play with me," Harriet confessed, "and called me names. So did the teachers. They yelled at me all the time."
Tracey nodded in solidarity, "me too. I already have tutors for etiquette and such, I don't know why I can't have tutors to learn muggle stuff too."
They continued playing together until Dippy returned to take Tracey away, when she gave each of them a tight hug and declared that she would, "miss each of you with all of my very being until I am in your presence once more!"
It was such an overdone farewell that even Daphne giggled at her outrageousness even as she and Dippy popped away.
"Does Tracey come to visit often?" Harriet asked Daphne.
Her sister nodded, "yes, whenever Mister Davis visits to speak to Father about business. Sometimes, when Mother and Father are invited to House Davis for dinner and we get to go also."
This excited Harriet a lot, whenever Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia went somewhere for dinner they always took Dudley with them and locked her in her cupboard for the night, sometimes forgetting to let her out for a few days. The idea of being able to visit somebody else and eat there seemed such a fancy; that she would have dismissed had not consistent and continuing good treatment from her new family provided hope. .
At dinner Cossima asked Hew if he thought that Dumbledore might be watching Diagon Alley.
"No," Hew said, shaking his head, "I don't think he would waste time watching Diagon Alley after all the time he spent at Gringott's today, why do you ask?"
"I thought," Cossima said slowly, glancing slyly towards Daphne, Harriet and Astoria, "that I might take the girls clothes shopping to celebrate Harriet's newfound freedom?"
"I think," Hew answered with a nod, "that is a fantastic idea."
"Oh! Thank you Mother, Father!" The three chorused together.
After breakfast the following morning, the girls all got ready for their outing. While Hew kept busy with work in his study, Cossima ushered the girls towards the floo.
"Nance said that she would meet us at the leaky cauldron at nine precisely," Cossima informed them, "it would not do to be late if we are expected at a certain time."
With that, and a quick glance at the clock to show it clicking over to nine o'clock precisely, the quartet stepped into the floo with calls of "The Leaky Cauldron".
They stepped out of the floo into the Inn's common room and were immediately hailed by Nance, who was nursing a cup of tea at a table near the bar. Once she had been noticed, she drank down the last of her tea and came forward to greet them.
Cossima opened the back alley entryway for them all with a few taps of her wand and together they entered the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley.
"Will we be visiting Madam Malkin's Mother?" Asked Daphne.
Cossima shook her head, "this sort of occasion calls for Twilfitt and Tattings over Madam Malkin's I think, after all the quality there is often superior."
Their entry at Twilfitt and Tattings was greeted by the same woman who had behaved so snootily towards Nance the first time Harriet had visited the store.
"Madam Greengrass!" She exclaimed with a great deal of fake charm, "how may we dress you today? Or are you here for your daughters?"
"All of us today, I should think," Cossima replied, "one new dress robe and accouterments for each of us, from youngest to most senior if you may."
"Of course," The saleswitch simpered.
"Astoria," Cossima called her youngest forward, "stand up to get measured and we shall have a look at the selection available."
The saleswitch was halfway through measuring Astoria when the door bell chimed and two others entered the shop.
"Dorothia!" Cossima greeted the woman who had entered, "how good to see you."
"Cossima, darling!" The other woman greeted, "getting in early before the Lammas balls?"
A younger girl, appearing to be the same age as Daphne and Harriet stepped out from behind her mother's robes. Her face was very flat, but it didn't diminish the beauty that she would grow into had it not been for the sneering look on her face until she caught sight of Daphne.
"As if I need an excuse to spoil my girls!" Cossima declared.
"Speaking of which," Dorothia said, especially eyeing the young woman dressed in muggle clothing, "you appear to have gained an extra couple."
Cossima paused for the briefest moment before she smoothly introduced the new additions, "You might remember Nance, my husband's eldest?" The other woman's eyebrows raised quite high in uncontained shock, Cossima took advantage of this to introduce Harriet, "and Daphne's newest sister is Harriet, an adopted cousin."
Dorothia merely nodded, half dismissing Harriet over the scandal of Nance's presence.
The saleswitch called out for assistance and another witch entered from another room towards the back of the shop to help the two new customers.
While one saleswitch was occupied with Dorothia, and Cossima and Astoria were busy with the other one, the young pug faced girl stepped forward and curtseyed, "good morning Miss Greengrass, good morning Astoria," she greeted, then introduced herself, "Nance and Harriet, I am Pansy Parkinson of House Parkinson, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Harriet couldn't help but think that they may have the same tutor, although by tradition greetings apparently went from eldest to youngest pureblood then half-blood then muggleborn and finally squibs (should they ever be present amongst "decent society"). Harriet waited for Nance to introduce herself as she had been addressed first and Nance waited for Harriet to introduce herself in the correct order and so the silent impasse continued for a few moments before Daphne intervened, "Pansy, may I introduce Harriet Greengrass of House Greengrass and Nance Greengrass of House Greengrass?"
Pansy seemed confused for a moment, working through what this order of introduction meant, but seemed to put it aside rather quickly as Nance and Harriet curtseyed.
"How do you do?" Harriet asked.
"I'm very well, thank you," Pansy responded, "Mother promised me two new dress robes today, for dinner parties coming up. We are invited to dine with the Malfoy's Sunday next and with the Notts the wednesday after," she bragged, then added almost dismissively, "and of course with the Davis' at some point but one of my old dress robes shall do for them."
It was that addition that solidified Harriet's poor opinion of Pansy Parkinson, for she could not understand how anybody could look down upon Tracey Davis' infectious flamboyance.
Pansy and Daphne for the most part chatted about other kids that they knew and dinner parties that they had been invited to until Dorothia had finished her business and they left the store.
It was only moments after this that Harriet was called forward, with Cossima happy with a dress selection for Astoria.
Having been recently measured, the saleswitch looked at the Harriet's records and floated out a selection of dress robes. Cossima selected for her a gorgeous set of pink dress robes, with pink brocade panels on the bodice and a pink velvet hat featuring a large feather that looked almost, but not quite like a peacock's. Pink slippers completed the ensemble and the saleswitch sent her tape measure to quickly double check Harriet's measurements. Harriet, Nance and Cossima all noted that some of the measurements had already changed (the latter two with some measure of satisfaction).
Harriet stepped down to make way for Daphne and she went back to wait with Nance and Astoria.
"How do you like your new dress?" Nance asked quietly.
Harriet could barely contain her excitement, "it's absolutely gorgeous!" She gushed, "and pink! It's so so pretty, I can't wait to be able to wear it!"
Nance gave her a side-hug and a kiss on her forehead as a response.
When Daphne was finished with Cossima called Nance forward, who balked, "Oh no Cossima, why would I…"
She was interrupted by Cossima's no-nonsense tone, "Nance, you will come up here to be measured and choose some dress-robes, do I make myself clear?"
Nance looked a bit shocked and taken aback, this was obviously a surprise to her and she walked forward hesitantly to stand up and be measured.
Once they were finished with their dress robe shopping, Cossima decided to stop in at Rosa Lee Teabag for elevenses with a delicious Earl Gray with a selection of biscuits that included custard creams, ginger newts and shortbreads.
Once they had finished there, they all headed back home via the floo at The Leaky Cauldron.
AUTHORS NOTES:
Thank you to the following for your story favourites / follows: verentas, Anakin Lucifer Skywalker, Arzack1112, BerryStainsAndSunFlowerSeeds, emcrawfo, SoltarSeraph, sandiimarie, ErbiumKey, JannaKalderash, letisham17,
THANK YOU to the following author favourites / follows: Raynard the Fox!
Guest: Thank you! Sorry for the wait :)
BerryStainsAndSunFlowerSeeds: Thank you so much! I'm glad you are enjoying it!
James Birdsong: Thank you !
Thunderclaw 03: Thank you! Dumbles was a bit upset, I think!
Blucougar57: Thank you so much, hope it didn't disappoint!