Years passed in a blur. Harriet grew closer and closer to her sisters and her parents. It almost reached the point where the horrors of her early years were merely a painful and scary dream. Of course, she still had the scars on her body and mind, but the nightmares no longer bothered her and she didn't automatically shrink away when attention was paid to her. For half of her life, she had been treated abominably, but the love given to her for the other half had gone a long way to repair some of the damage.
It wasn't just her family that had helped effect her recovery; for the first time in her life, she had friends! They were also Daphne's friends but with their growing closeness, she and her sister were basically a package deal. Tracey Davis often visited with her father, but occasionally as they all got older she would visit for a day, then two days and a night and eventually she came to stay for an entire week when her father and mother went on a holiday to Europe. During that week, Hew and Cossima made sure to do lots of special things with all of the girls and Nance even took them out into Muggle London to see a film at the cinema!
Nance had taken them to the cinema before, in fact it quickly became a tradition for her to take them all out on the night of Hew and Cossima's wedding anniversary. Daphne's first proper excursion into Muggle London was to see a film with Nance, which made Nance realise that the cinema was something that she should have eased the young witch into after letting her experience other things to warm her up. Moving pictures were nothing new to her, nor were talking ones. The biggest problem was that these moving pictures ignored ALL of her attempts to talk to them! There was much shushing and embarrassment on Nance's part and a fair bit of laughter around the darkened room until Daphne understood that the film and a painting were two quite different things. She spent the rest of that particular outing in an embarrassed snit.
The two girls were also invited often to tea parties as they got older, where children who were of the same age of pureblood houses could socialise in a manner befitting their station. The lessons of their tutors came in especially handy on these occasions. Daphne cultivated a look of icy superiority, a look of stoicism, aloofness and unapproachable formality that matched almost perfectly with pureblood elite society. Her mask was so perfect that even Mister Malfoy made note of it to Hew. Harriet's mask was, on the other hand, not perfect at all. She tried, but her constant feeling of happiness and love created cracks in the icy surface. She found, more often than not, that those cracks would break wide open at inopportune moments during these tea parties where she would compliment the food or drink or the dresses of the other participants with just a little too much enthusiasm. These faux pas were always corrected and she tried to learn from each of them. Madam Dallywatkins, their tutor in deportment and etiquette was quite impressed with them both, despite Harriet's occasional mistakes. Daphne revelled in these tea parties, but Harriet didn't like the idea of having to wear a mask, she much preferred the idea of being able to be herself.
The guests at the tea parties almost always included Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson with the inclusion of other children of 'Sacred twenty eight' families in Theodore Nott and Millicent Bulstrode. Others however were occasionally invited such as Blaise Zabini
In the earlier years some of their older peers were invited such as Adrian Pucey, Marcus Flint, Terence Higgs and even Gemma Farley one year during her holidays from Hogwarts.
In the later years some of the younger children were invited such as Flora and Hestia Carrow, Astoria and Adelaide Murton. It was important for the girls to create contacts and forge alliances even before they entered society properly.
For Daphne's eleventh birthday, Cossima took the girls to Place Cachée via portkey. It was an interesting experience for them, being able to see an entirely different magical culture. Maison Capenoir was the boutique that they spent the most time in. They tried on robe after robe that would have shocked their pureblood acquaintances back in England; for Paris' magical fashion more closely resembled English muggle fashion to such an extent that it almost seemed a match.
Inside Maison Capenoir were also four mannequins outfitted with quite attractive uniforms. There were two versions of each uniform; one consisted of a light blue coloured silk above the knee length dress with a light blue cape fastened with a ribbon and dark blue stockings. The other type of uniform was a light blue button up collared above the knee dress under a light blue blazer with a dark blue trimming on the edges with an extremely flowery crest on the left pocket. The male versions had trousers rather than skirts and for the second was dark blue with lighter coloured trim. The mannequins all had a curiously shaped knit felt, slightly pointy, light blue hat, and light blue heel shoes with black pointed toe and black fringe.
Harriet voiced her curiosity and Cossima asked the shop assistant for her (although the attendant seemed to understand English, Cossima had already told them that they would prefer to speak in their native tongue).
The assistant, or vendeur, replied to Cossima who translated for the girls, "it's the uniform for Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Beauxbatons is France's premier School of Magic for young witches and wizards and Maison Capenoir is the official supplier of their uniform."
"They're beautiful," Harriet breathed, "the girls there must look absolutely gorgeous in their uniforms."
"I suppose they must," Cossima agreed, but the vendeur spoke in her heavily accented english to answer Harriet, "excuse moi mademoiselle, indeed! In these uniforms I think that the students of Beauxbatons appear to be the prettiest girls in all of France."
Cossima must have seen something in both Harriet and Daphne's expression, for she quickly disabused them both of the notion of attending Beauxbatons, "Howgwarts is a very fine school girls and will provide you both with an excellent education. Your Father and I both went to Hogwarts and there is no good reason for either of you to go anywhere else."
"But…" Harriet began plaintifully, pointing at the uniforms on display.
Cossima smiled, "no good reason aside from the uniforms for either of you to go anywhere else."
The saleswoman smiled but politely covered her mouth with her hand and didn't say anything more, while the girls turned their attention to more interesting matters such as the robes available.
Two and a half months after their Paris shopping trip, Harriet and Daphne both sauntered down for breakfast to discover identical envelopes leaning up against their glasses.
Both girls stopped in their tracks, "Is that…?" Daphne breathed.
Harriet looked at her excitedly and finished, "our Hogwarts letters?"
Both turned to their parents, "are they?"
Cossima and Hew both smiled knowingly and Hew nodded his head towards their seats, "why don't you have a seat and see for yourselves?"
Astoria was sitting in her chair almost visibly vibrating in excitement as they sat down and each leaned forward to pick up their envelope.
"Look at the seal!" Astoria peeped out and immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment. Nobody chastised her though, it was an exciting occasion.
Turning the envelope over, both girls noticed the purple wax seal keeping the envelope closed and the crest that was imprinted upon it: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter H.
The Hogwarts Crest.
Both girls opened their envelopes and pulled out their letters. Harriet read hers aloud;
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Soc., Chf Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Ms Harriet Greengrass,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagal
Deputy Headmistress
Daphne had been reading along with Harriet and had turned the page just before her, the second page listed the uniform, equipment and course book requirements; Daphne took her turn to read out:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
By Miranda Goshawk
A History of magic
By Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory
By Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration
By Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
By Phylida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions
By Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
By Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
By Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK.
Yours sincerely,
Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions.
"Well then," Hew said, "I suppose that this calls for a trip to Diagon Alley."
AUTHORS NOTES:
Thank you so much to people reading this! Please check out my other main work (Darkness' Love).
HUGE thanks to the following author favourite/follow: Burnup
Thanks to the following story favourite/follows: 5319891, yuzuk1, blueoceandragons, Beckiboo11, epicbalto123, kitta160, Liliana ilina ruiz moreno, Hulluvia, WHITLOCKSSIREN, skyrimasterarcher, jasonjkay
BerryStainsAndSunflowerSeeds: Yay! Thanks so much! I'm having fun writing it, at least when I'm not busy with RL :(
guest: Yay for fluff! Dumbles is... pissed, but lost.
Thunderclaw03: Pansy is honestly written as just a horrible person and I can't help but think that it all comes from how she was raised, likely learned from observations of her own mother. But I look forward to fleshing her out a little bit during the course of the story, maybe even humanising her a bit.