"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Parseltongue"

Writing/Reading

"YELLING"

Greengrass Manor, Northampton countryside

The countryside of Northampton was beautiful scenery and a wondrous place where Greengrass Manor was situated. It would be here, where the pop of apparition would be heard, as Albus Dumbledore came into existence, with Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass holding onto each of his arms. Both children had a different reaction to the side-along-apparition that they had experienced on the headmaster's arms. Daphne slightly stumbled, as she had a bit more experience with apparating since she had done it with her parents on several occasions; Harry, on the other hand, was not feeling so well, as he vomited up whatever little food he had from that morning, especially as it was his first time doing side-along-apparition. Daphne couldn't help but feel sorry for Harry, as she remembered how she felt the first time she side-along-apparated with her parents. she quickly knelt next to Harry, and rubbed her hand up and down his back, doing her best to soothe him.

As she did this, Dumbledore stood off to the side watching the interaction between the two thirteen going on fourteen-year-olds. He couldn't help feel concerned by how close they were quickly becoming, in the short amount of time that they knew each other. He had originally planned on using a mild love potion on Harry when he turned sixteen to make him develop romantic feelings for young Ginny Weasley, that was if she still had similar feelings towards him by then; if not then he would give her the same mild love potion as well, just to ensure that everything went according to his plans. But now that Harry was apparently in a betrothal contract with Daphne Greengrass, a girl whose family was not only a neutral gray family but were also among the few wizarding families that refused to trust him like the other families, like the Weasleys for example. Though admittedly, the loyalties of such families to Dumbledore were only beneficial to him, so long as long as it was mutually beneficial to the Greater Good; again, as long as they were loyal to him, since he didn't have much use for them. Plus Ginny Weasley never bothered to make her interest in Harry Potter a secret, so he saw that as a possible tool to use to keep Harry under his thumb, should he ever need to use it.

But now though, with Harry's betrothal to an heiress whose family wasn't loyal to him, or the fact that he was already beginning to grow close to her, or even worse he was beginning to develop a sense of personal independence so soon, was a direct threat to his plans for Harry in regards to Voldemort. He couldn't help but wonder if James and Lily Potter were somehow trying to get some sense of justice against him. It was already bad enough that they...

'No,' Dumbledore thought to himself, as he shook his head clear of his wayward thoughts. 'I can't risk thinking these thoughts. The rumors of the Greengrasses having a special charm that can read my thoughts so close to their home is too risky to think about that nearby. Just finish bringing Harry to the Greengrasses, and get to the Weasleys to convince them that Harry is in danger from the Greengrasses as soon as possible.'

Just as Dumbledore was finishing his thoughts, and Harry recovered from his side-apparition-induced nausea, the gates to Greengrass Manor opened, and out exited a well-dressed man and woman, followed by a young girl of about eleven. The man was Lord Cyrus Greengrass, who was wearing a unique set of robes that looked to be a combination of wizard robes, and a muggle business suit in a dark green color with dark red piping, while Lady Elizabeth Greengrass wore a midnight blue dress. The little girl was the youngest member of the Greengrass family, Astoria Greengrass, who had recently started at Hogwarts just the recent school term. She was dressed in a bright purple sundress. Dumbledore would've preferred to have some time to discreetly "warn" Harry not to trust the Greengrasses, but now that would not be possible. He didn't want Harry to trust the Greengrass Family, especially if he was to use the boy as a weapon against Voldemort.

"Greetings Professor Dumbledore," Lord Greengrass said, taking his place standing next to the children, while Lady Greengrass began to tend to Harry. "I thank you for helping to take Daphne to Harry's "home", to bring him here."

Dumbledore couldn't help but feel his right eyelid twitch, as it was clear from Lord Greengrass' tone that he was being dismissed. Honestly, he, the great Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the defeater of Gellert Grindlewald, and leader of the Light, was being dismissed by who he believed to be below him. In many ways, Lord Greengrass should be thanking him for saving the Wizard World from Grindlewald. Regardless, Dumbledore forced his iconic grandfatherly smile back onto his face and made his eyes twinkle to keep the grandfather facade.

"Of course Cyrus," Dumbledore replied, keeping his forced smile on his face as he addressed his former student. "I am most glad to help when it comes to matters of a legal matter, such as a marriage contract. However, Cyrus, I must ask that you perhaps, reconsider, allowing your daughter to accompany Harry to the Weasleys. It is a well-known fact that..."

"Professor Dumbledore, I am very well aware that Arthur Weasley has a longstanding rivalry with Lucius Malfoy," Lord Greengrass stated, cutting Dumbledore off much to the elder man's chagrin. "But Arthur Weasley knows that I am a far more respectful man than Lord Malfoy; furthermore since Daphne is Harry's betrothed, she will have to get to know his friends, as she will need to get acquainted with them if she is to marry him by her fifteenth birthday, which will be on August 21st, 1995. So it will be important that she tries to get along with his friends."

Once again, Dumbledore felt his eyelid twitch, as he felt that his plan was coming apart again, no thanks in part to the Greengrasses and the Potters. He needed to find a way to get things back in order before he lost complete control and influence over Harry. The boy did have a destiny after all, whether he knew it or not yet, and Dumbledore needed to be the one to prepare him for it, and no one else. Regardless, if he wanted to have any chance of keeping Harry under his thumb, then he would need to act as if he were unfazed by this, even though Cyrus Greengrass had just openly stated the exact date that Harry had to marry his eldest daughter. Dumbledore was hoping that he could find a way to dissolve the contract so that he could continue to use Harry as a secret weapon against Voldemort.

"Of course Cyrus," He said, reluctantly agreeing with the head of the Greengrass family. "I'll leave the decision-making to you. Good day then. I'll see you at school Harry, along with you and your sister, Ms. Greengrass."

Harry, in his nausea state of mind, looked at Daphne who held a scowl on her face, and a hard glare at the Headmaster, as she simply gave a small nod. Harry then looked at Dumbledore, and simply nodded, though he simply looked at his headmaster with a look of contempt. With that, Dumbledore turned and walked away a few paces, before he stopped, turned in place, and popped away.

With Dumbledore gone, Harry looked around at the family that surrounded him. Daphne's mother looked the same as she did in the picture that Daphne gave him at the Dursleys, though now that he was seeing her in person, he could almost mistake her for Daphne's older sister; something that hinted to Harry that this would be an indicator to what Daphne would come to look like as she grew older, not that Harry wouldn't mind. Daphne's father, however, was a regal-looking man with brown eyes and matching brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, like that of British officers from the 1770s. Daphne's sister Astoria seemed to possess a balanced appearance after each of her parents; she had her mother's facial structure, but her father's brown hair and eyes. All of the Greengrasses looked at Harry with looks of care, and almost with a familial reach; something that Harry appreciated. Eventually, Daphne's mother, his godmother, approached him again.

"Hello Harry, I don't know if you remember me," She began, her voice having a hesitating tone in it, as she gently caressed Harry's cheek. "but I'm Elizabeth Greengrass, I was close friends with your mother Lily, and because of our friendship, she made me your godmother. I realize that you were probably too young to remember, and I truly am sorry that I didn't try to reach out to you sooner, but Cyrus and I did try to look for you."

Harry mulled over what she had said and understood what she was saying. After all, if he were in her position, he would probably do the same thing. Regardless, it was in the past, and that was where it was best to leave it, focus on the here and now, and look to the future. All he wanted was to start a relationship with his godmother, and the rest of his god-family, and get to know Daphne since they were betrothed.

"I understand Elizabeth," Harry answered, taking hold of the hand that was caressing his cheek. "But it's in the past now, and I'd prefer to focus on the here and now, and try to move on. We can respect and remember those who we loved and lost, but they wouldn't want us to dwell on them, and just move on with our lives."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smiled proudly at her godson and looked at her husband behind her, and he too held a proud smile on his face. They had each known Harry's mother and father respectively; Elizabeth with Lily, and Cyrus with James. Thus they knew that there was no doubt in their minds that Harry's parents would've approved of his philosophy.

"Well said Harry," Cyrus said, addressing him for the first time. "I do not doubt that your parents would approve of what you said. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Cyrus Aldrich Greengrass. Like my wife, I knew your parents, though admittedly I knew your father better than I did your mother."

Once Harry heard that from Cyrus, his attention was grabbed. He knew from Daphne that her mother undoubtedly knew his mother, but now he had another way to learn about his father. He knew that he would learn more about his parents here at Greengrass Manor than he would anywhere else. Harry felt that he would enjoy his time with the Greengrass Family. Harry then turned to the final Greengrass.

"And what's your name?" He asked her.

Astoria couldn't help but smile at Harry's interest to get to know her. She looked at her older sister, and winked at Daphne, indicating that she approved of Harry for her. Astoria would never admit it, but while she may tend to get on Daphne's nerves, she valued her older sister. She then turned back to Harry.

"My name is Astoria," She answered, giving a slight curtsy. "I'm Daphne's younger sister and your other god-sister."

Harry couldn't help but smile at how easy it was becoming, to meet his newly found godmother and the rest of his god-family. He looked at each member of the Greengrass family, who each possessed a genuine smile that was directed at him, along with a look of love for him.

"Why don't we all go into the manor, so that Harry can be shown around, and then we can all get acquainted with each other?"

"Yes, I do believe that sounds like a good idea Cyrus," Elizabeth said, running her hand down the skirt of her dress, and then taking her husband's arm. "Come along children, let's get inside, and show Harry his new home for the summer."

If it could be helped, Harry felt his smile grow larger, at the sound of his godmother saying the word 'home'. There were only two particular places in his life that Harry called home: Hogwarts, and the Burrow, but he definitely wouldn't object to adding Greengrass Manor as his third home. Following Cyrus and Elizabeth's example, Harry offered his arm to Daphne, to which the blond smilingly accepted, of course, Harry wasn't going to leave Astoria out of the picture and offered his other arm to her, to the young brunette's great glee.

As Harry walked up the path towards the manor, he began to wonder about something. He couldn't help but wonder why his godmother had been unable to find him until now, and if Daphne knew about him being her mother's godson, why hadn't she tried to approach him while they were at Hogwarts for the past two years. Deciding that the questions on his mind were too important to ignore at the moment, he stopped walking, surprising the two Greengrass girls in his arms, and turning to his godmother and honorary uncle.

"La... Aunt Elizabeth, if you don't mind me asking," Harry started, catching himself as he remembered that he was offered to be informal with the Greengrasses. "But how is it that you've been unable to find me for nearly twelve years?"

Harry watched as Elizabeth's face changed from one of happiness and pride to one that was pain and sadness. As seconds went by, tears soon began to well up in her eyes, as though his question brought up difficult questions. Feeling the need to apologize, Harry opened his mouth to do so, but Cyrus gestured for him to wait, as he gently rubbed Elizabeth's back, calming her. Finally, Elizabeth drew in several uneasy breaths, as she turned to look Harry in the eyes.

"I want you to know and understand Harry," She began, struggling to keep her voice from breaking. "Your mother wasn't just my best friend, she was like a sister to me, and when she asked me to be your godmother, I was happy and honored to do so. So when Cyrus and I heard that your parents were killed, I was brokenhearted and grief-stricken, because I didn't just lose a friend, but I felt that I had lost a sister; and Cyrus had also lost a close friend in your father, making it feel as though a piece of our family was ripped from us. Then we learned that you had somehow survived, it gave me hope that Cyrus and I could at least be able to have our family together, and raise you the way that your parents, especially your mother, would've wanted you to be.

"But then Dumbledore intervened, and hid you away somewhere that we didn't at first know," She continued, her voice beginning to crack as her tears began to fall harder. "I felt as though my heart was being ripped out of my chest by the so-called, "Leader of the Light", and Cyrus asked Dumbledore multiple times to allow me to take proper custody of you, as was my right as your godmother, but the headmaster wouldn't tell Cyrus anything, just that you were safer where you were living."

"I even tried to appeal to the Wizengamot for Elizabeth's right's as your godmother," Cyrus said, taking up the explanation as he held Elizabeth. "But even with the support of our allies, several of which were shared with your family, the amount of influence that Dumbledore held was far too powerful, and my attempts were all turned down. I even tried to hire several Aurors, Dark wizard catchers, to investigate and find you, but when they were about to look for you, they were ordered to stand down by the incompetent Minister of Magic. Cornelius Fudge even threatened to have me thrown into Azkaban for possible "plans of raising the Boy-Who-Lived to be a potential Dark Lord" if Elizabeth and I didn't stop trying to look for you."

Harry absorbed the information that he was being given like a sponge. On one hand, his godmother actually was trying to find him with help from her husband, but Dumbledore was constantly standing in their way. Then the Minister of Magic got involved and was more than willing to throw Cyrus into the very prison that Sirius escaped from. He didn't want that for his godmother to go through, nor Cyrus.

"I felt that there was no chance of ever getting you back," Elizabeth began again, pain and anguish present in her teary eyes. "But I remembered that you would one day turn eleven, and began to hope that I would be able to see you again. Unfortunately for us, Dumbledore kept finding ways to block us."

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see it was Daphne. She stared into his eyes, a look of anger present and obvious.

"I've been trying to approach you for the past three school years, but Dumbledore kept finding ways to block my path," She said this with disgust in her voice, as she remembered the times she failed to approach Harry. "Dumbledore somehow placed a compulsion charm to keep me away from you, not to mention the fact that you were almost always either with Granger and Weasley. Plus there were the numerous advances made by Malfoy to get me to go out with him, but I'm certain that was all on his own, but even still, I'd rather turn into a hippogriff than date Draco bloody Malfoy."

Harry couldn't help but share Daphne's disgust at the mention of Draco Malfoy, the blonde git of Slytherin, not to mention his arch-rival and enemy in the school. He was glad that there was at least one person, or perhaps rather two in the case of Astoria, from Slytherin House that shared his view about Malfoy. Harry could only hope that this would at least adhere her to Ron, or at least allow Ron to give her a chance.

"Finally, we had enough of the runarounds that the meddlesome old fool was playing," Cyrus said, his face contorting into anger. "I honestly didn't want to reveal the marriage contract, but I felt it was the only way to get Dumbledore to bring you to us. You see Harry, marriage contracts are supposed to be a private matter between two families, but as a former Slytherin student myself, I decided to use it, to convince Dumbledore to do what I wanted all these years. To reunite godmother and godson."

Harry understood where Cyrus was coming from, as the contract would allow Harry to be with the Greengrasses. There was, however, another thing that Harry needed to know.

"But I still don't understand," He started, his confusion taking precedent. "Why did my parents, who willingly married for love, agree to sign a marriage contract between me and Daphne?"

Turning to Daphne, Harry wanted her to understand why he was asking this. Her face held a clear insulted look, as though she thought that he was interested in being betrothed to her.

"I don't want you to think that being with you isn't great, because so far it has been, even though we've only just met," He said, putting his hand on her shoulder to show his sincerity. "It's just that I can't understand why my parents, as well as yours, would marry willingly but not give us the chance to do the same."

Daphne's face changed from slightly insulted, to an inquisitive manner, as she was no doubt wondering the same thing as him. For quite some time since her parents had told her of the contract, Daphne had wondered why her choice to pick someone to one day marry of her own volition was taken from her. She just couldn't think of a polite way to ask her parents, but Harry had essentially asked the question that was on her mind. Turning to her parents, she wanted to hear their explanation.

"I do have to admit, I've been wondering the same thing," She said, watching her parents. "Why did you decide to put me into a marriage contract with Harry? Shouldn't it have been our choice to get married or not?"

Cyrus and Elizabeth looked at each other uneasily, as though they were thinking about a difficult time. Harry, Daphne, and Astoria waited to hear what their explanation was, as they were curious as to the reason. Finally, Cyrus sighed, as he prepared to recount the difficult times.

"It was dark times during the war against You-Know-Who," Cyrus began, the pain of memories from the time coming to his mind. "Harry's grandparents, Charlus and Dorea Potter were killed personally by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, while Lily's parents had been randomly murdered by a pair of low ranking Death Eaters. Our family opted to remain neutral during the war, but regardless of our position, both sides were constantly pressuring us to choose who to support. The Death Eaters wanted us to join them in spreading their ridiculous Pure-blood supremacy, while Dumbledore wanted us to help fight against the Death Eaters. I was childhood friends with your father while Elizabeth, as you already know Harry, was best friends with your mother in Hogwarts, so naturally, we turned to them for aid."

"At that point, both you and Daphne were already born and at least a few months old," Elizabeth picked up, walking to Harry, and gently putting her hands on his shoulders. "We were in a difficult position until James and Lily offered to help us, by putting the two of you into a betrothal contract. We never wanted to use either of you as means to get out of trouble, but we knew that if you and Daphne were betrothed, then it would show that while we were neutral, we did support the Light Side."

Harry and Daphne looked at each other and nodded to each other. They understood what Cyrus and Elizabeth were saying; the contract had simply been political. But then that still left one question.

"You're both probably wondering, why the contract wasn't ripped up after the war if it was political?" Elizabeth asked, earning affirmative nods from the two.

"The contract was originally planned to be ripped up once the war was over," Cyrus said, sighing heavily as he recounted the circumstances of the contract. "But unfortunately Harry, after your parents died, there was no way to rip the contract up and put a stop to it. The Contract can only be ended if the parents of the betrothed both agreed to it and without your parents, there was no way to stop the contract. I am truly sorry that you two had to be caught in the political machinations of circumstances."

Harry debated to himself on the situation at hand. The only way that he was supposed to get out of the contract was if his parents survived, but since they didn't, there was no chance to end the contract. Regardless, Harry decided to make the best of it, and find something to like about Daphne to make his betrothal with her easier, and who knows, maybe he'll end up falling in love with her.

"Well, I guess Daphne and I will have to make the best of the contract." He said, voicing his thoughts, earning looks of approval from the four Slytherins.

"Well now Harry," Cyrus began, impressed by Harry's remark. "If I didn't know any better, that remark sounded more like a Slytherin response, rather than a Gryffindor one. I'm surprised that you didn't end up in Slytherin House."

Harry grinned sheepishly, deciding to reveal to the Greengrasses, a little bit of information that he never told to anyone, not even to Ron and Hermione.

"Well, the Sorting Hat did consider putting me into Slytherin House," He sheepishly said, earning shocked looks from his godmother, and extended god-family. "But I ask it to put me into Gryffindor because I was kind of deterred away from it."

This earned an inquisitive look from Daphne since she was in Harry's Year. Knowing that he was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but was deterred away from it, made her curious as to what the circumstances were. There was, however, one potentially obvious reason that Harry chose to go into Gryffindor.

"By any chance, was one of the reasons you asked not to be in Slytherin had to do with Malfoy?" She asked, having no doubts as Harry's face contorted into disgust at the Git of Slytherin's name.

"That was one of them, yes," He answered. "Another reason was that my best friend Ron Weasley told me that every Dark Wizard that graduated from Hogwarts came from Slytherin House, but I don't entirely believe that since I've encountered a couple of nasty wizards from Ravenclaw, and a third from Gryffindor. Plus, one of the greatest wizards in Magical History, Merlin, came from Slytherin. So that kind of puts Ron's claim into question."

Elizabeth smiled at her godson's reasoning, especially as it mirrored the philosophy of his parents. Cyrus too, saw the similarity of Harry's beliefs, though he was curious as to the identity of the wizards that he fought against. shaking his head, Cyrus decided to put a stop to the conversation, but pick it up again later.

"Well, I think we should take a break from this conversation," He said, preventing any further discussions among the group. "But we can continue any questions later, at dinner."

Nodding their heads, the group of five turned towards Greengrass Manor and began to walk in.