Arranged marriages. Such a peculiar concept, especially when put into the context of modern times. Made no less peculiar by casually walking next to the person you are betrothed to, who happens to be no more than a stranger that he once attended school with. Daphne Greengrass spoke during their walk– and they were mostly questions. Questions about the number of staff members the manor has under current employment, what the names of the staff are, and if he has complete trust in them to carry out their tasks and not spread juicy tidbits of gossip about him outside work since he was the most famous wizard alive. He was meticulous in not going into great detail when answering her questions, first and foremost he wanted to know the purpose for her being here.
Entering the finest rose garden Potter Manor offered, Harry was about to sit in his chair when he noticed Daphne made no movement to do the same. Recalling what Laurits taught him, he went over to her chair and gently pulled it out for her, careful not to cause scraping noises as she primly lowered herself into it. So this was also a test for him so she could see how far his knowledge in the rules and etiquette of pureblood manners extended- he had yet to make a condemning faux pas yet.
"Greengrass." Tilting his head slightly to formally acknowledge her.
"My gracious thanks to you Lord Potter, for taking me in at such an inconvenient time. I was informed by your butler that you were occupied with an old friend."
"Indeed I was. I suppose you remember Hermione Granger, yes? I had to tie up some loose ends with her." He decided not reveal more than that, for he wanted to run some tests of his own on this woman he was to marry- starting with her comfortability of him having a female friend. He would remain Hermione's close friend regardless of her feelings on the matter, but he didn't want to miss this opportunity to gauge her opinions and feelings on certain matters. It was only fair after all.
"We have not even begun courting yet, and you have already found a lover before we have exchanged vows." The blond woman raised an eyebrow at her statement, but her tone of voice emitted sarcasm. Harry amusedly responded, interested in his betrothed's approach. He had been expecting her to be less inclined towards anything that wasn't considered uptight and straight-laced per her upper-class pureblood upbringing.
"You needn't worry yourself with such thoughts. I have no plans to stand you up at the altar."
"So I'll be wed to a man of honor. Fat chance of you committing to such a daring action like that anyways," She retorted, loosely crossing her long legs.
"Who would stop me?" His tone of voice sounded condescending, if not arrogant. He wanted to see if he could get under her skin a little, if only to see how long her guarded composure would last. "Your father? Or would you do it yourself?"
He would have to dig deeper, that was for sure. No emotion broke through the surface of her carefully composed expression.
"I am curious though" He tried a new angle. "What are your feelings on this arrangement? Looking back at it after all, I said yes to the proposal and gave my word to fulfill it. Do properly brought up pureblood women even get any say in who they're married off to?"
"I am content." She simply replied. Her face gave no betrayal of whatever emotions she truly felt beneath her composed mask.
Oh Merlin. Getting any genuine answers from her on the matter would be equivalent to pulling out teeth. Well, it could be worse. He could be with an overly chatty woman whereas it seemed that Daphne was a woman of few words. Besides it's not like he was a social butterfly so at least in that respect they might get on pretty good.
A gentle gust of wind breezed through the garden patio, filling Harry's nostrils with the scent of blooming roses surrounding them. Nottingham Shire was now washed in the magnificent sunlight of golden hour creeping over the bright green hills, sending a wave of serenity to his state of mind. He would always greatly accredit Laurits being one of the main driving forces behind the steps to his somewhat recovery. Yet Potter manor itself had lent a hand in healing him – providing a sanctuary, a personal and private domain that shielded him from the world he so desperately kept himself away from. A bucolic hideaway that in a sense was like his own Hogwarts.
"Potter…. Potter!"
Jerking his chin up from its perch on his knuckles, he cursed himself for drifting away into deeper thoughts.
"I am listening."
"Do not bother with that Potter. You have the same look as my father does when he drifts away into a stream of thoughts. If you really had any recollection of what I just said, you would be heartily disagreeing." The Greengrass heiress pursed her bow-shaped lips to give him a once over, as though she were choosing a horse to ride at the local county fair. "The composure of expression on your face is fairly decent, but if we are going to be taking active roles in our Wizengamot seats we must be prepared for anything to happen without letting the side down. Better to keep our deck of cards close to our chest instead of out for all eyes to see."
"You make the Wizengamot sound like a pit full of vicious vipers."
"Think of it as nothing else other than that. You got a taste of it, yet you have not seen how rife the Wizengamot is with the amount of bribing and behind-the-scenes scheming that escapes the press's watchful notice. If you are not cautious it may cost you. If you want to achieve your objectives you must do whatever you can."
"Spoken like a true Slytherin." He flatly noted, barely bothering to hide his contempt.
"I would spin it as spoken like a true realist. May I have a glass of firewhiskey?" She turned in her seat in the direction of Laurits, who had been attentively keeping watch over the exchange from a side balcony nestled behind one of the tall hedges. He nodded and slightly bowed. "Thank you, please fill it to the rim and no rocks."
"I will have one as well, Laurits." For now, he was content with letting his betrothed do most of the talking, to see what her objectives for this visit are. Generally, if you want to figure out what it is people want, just let them talk and talk with no interruptions.
"Listen, it does not take a genius to glean that the Wizengamot is not Hogwarts. We are not competing for the House or Quidditch cup for the sake of petty house rivalries. The Wizengamot affects all walks of life in wizarding Great Britain. It is high stakes."
"That is a correct statement, as the Americans would say, it is the big league. Legislation passed there affects lives on a daily basis. But as you have probably seen by now, not all members of that chamber wish to serve the people for the greater good and thus cannot be relied on or trusted to make the right decisions."
"What "right decisions" would that be, if you could indulge my curiosity a little?"
"The kind that saves and rebuilds society." She deadpanned with absolute certainty in her voice. "Since Dumbledore died, there has not been a Chief Warlock. If you have no Chief Warlock, there is no referee to keep everyone in check or accountable to the rules. It becomes a free for all."
"I may not be as well-versed in politics yet as you are Greengrass but Albus Dumbledore despite his power, was not an omnipresent figure. Even with the magnitude of his intelligence and extraordinary capabilities he could not single-handedly prevent the plotting and schemes from happening. Lucius Malfoy successfully had him sacked our second year by covertly threatening the members of the school board to be rid of him."
"I'll grant that and also our fifth year he was stripped of his titles and well-earned recognitions but he did most of the time. He was a force to be reckoned with, his reputation alone at times was enough to keep everyone in line. He led the Wizengamot. Which is what we must become, especially for what is coming."
"So that's it then?" For the first time in their conversation he saw her composed expression morph into a quizzical look. "and here, I thought you came to confront me to air out a couple grievances."
"Such as what precisely? The way you ask that question it's almost like you want me to have come here to have a verbal confrontation with you?"
"Not at all." He firmly replied. "On the matter of my assumption that you came here to have angry words with me I think it was reasonable. You gave a fleeting answer to my earlier question about our betrothal. I need to know – going into this marriage do you hold it against me that I was the impetus that binded you into a bondage that you probably had no say in?"
"Now what makes you assume that I had no say in this?"
"Did you though?" He readily contested. Unless if she were the exception to the majority, all he ever heard amongst the Slytherin cliques at school was of the many girls clamoring over their odds of their parents getting them married to Malfoy or some other pompous pureblood their age or older. "For a witch raised and bred into pureblood high society, I find it difficult to believe that you had a choice regarding this affair. It would be too good of an opportunity for Lord Greengrass to pass up. Your father after all, his reputation as a shrewd businessman and cunning politician has not been embellished in the slightest. I admit to nearly being on the receiving end of it."
"I would not call it the receiving end considering what you got out of it. Not only did you manage to get my father to budge on the position that he has been tightly maintaining for months now but he also spurned Malfoy in the process. Spurned his future son-in-law. In front of everybody. Surely you know the significance of such a course of action? Of course, it's not like you strolled into the chamber that day empty handed. You are a part of one of the most ancient bloodlines, the wealthiest, and hold two seats. You already have what many people in the chamber have worked for years for– power and influence that speaks for itself. Besides, even better you got me." To Harry's concealed bewilderment, she splayed her arms out to dramatically gesture to her body.
"Greengrass, I can assure you I have done fine these past seven years."
"Save your assurances, I am not speaking of dalliances in the bedroom. Although I can see why you would believe so. I am the oldest offspring of my father. When he passes, it is I who will inherit his business, fortune, estate, and seat plus his swing voters will follow my lead. All that, combined with yours." Daphne's green eyes stared right into his. He understood what she was pertaining to and had admittedly thought of it himself but dismissed the idea due to thinking their ideologies would be too different.
"Say no more, I know where you were going with this. Although, you will only find discouragement, as I do not hold any political aspirations."
"Then you know why I said yes and do not carry reservations against an arranged marriage to you. Yes, that is right Potter. My father had my full blessing to go ahead with including me in his gamble."
"Greengrass, in the hours between the Wizengamot session and our meeting now, I entertained this notion briefly, but turned it down. We would make a mighty force in the Wizengamot but I do not desire to further involve myself in politics."
"You would prefer to remain holed up in this grand house for the rest of your life as the motions of the world go on? You are truly dead set not doing more for the good old cause? Surely you didn't put all that effort in making an appearance at the Wizengamot yesterday all for the fun of it, especially after Weasley accosted you in that little tiff the two of you had." Her lips twitched upwards in amusement.
"How did you hear about that?" Harry resignedly inquired, wondering how many people already knew about it.
"As it so turned out I was in the middle of running errands, fetching a new set of robes from Madam Malkins for my younger sister Astoria. I saw Draco and Blaise across the street drinking in Finnegan's Lucky Pub and went in to discuss the results of the vote." She sipped from her glass before continuing. "Barely five minutes later, Weasley drops by and starts going on a bender with firewhiskey shots. Seamus Finnegan then shows up and tries to convince Weasley to leave and asks what has got him so spun up."
"Oh great." He muttered, having a feeling as to what direction this story would be taking.
"It spiraled out as you could have guessed. He grumbled about your three way reunion, the unfairness of his situation, and Granger's name popped into the drunken ramble quite a few times. Finnegan attempted to shut him up and drag him upstairs, but not before he saw Draco." She tapped her fingers against the glass and made a hhhhmmm noise. "I am sure you were updated on the dramatic saga of that messy love triangle. Weasley tried to have a go at my sisters' fiancée but Draco tripped him, easily knocking him out. Pretty embarrassing really."
"Blasted Ron." Ron broke his hard earned sobriety all because he still could not let the past go and got triggered by the meeting. Or Hermione for that matter, he almost felt pity for his old friend for sooner or later he would be told of Hermione and Viktor Krum's rekindled romance. Yet Ron made his bed, now he must lay in it. Getting sloshed in public and spewing out details of a private meeting containing sensitive information that Harry had told them about himself made him feel distrustful towards Ron. Maybe it was time to knock some sense into him.
"On that note, I think it's time for a change in subject." Daphne leaned forward and clasped her hands. "You've had a pretty eventful two days, I'm sure you wish to retire into your peaceful solitude. I need to make sure we are both on the same page when it comes to our future nuptials. I want to discuss terms that I think you'll find agreeable, especially going forward with this marriage."
"Very well then, I'm listening." Harry nodded for her to proceed.
"In order for this marriage to work and to be successful in the long term, we need to have a foundation of respect and having each other's backs. People are going to talk and since the press has been doggedly obsessed with you since you were an infant, there is going to be a frenzy over our marriage."
"That is precisely what I want to avoid, the paparazzi and never-ending public attention is a part of the reason why I hightailed to the countryside in the first place. I have experienced the worst of their mudslinging, and the highest of their praises, and I can assure you, they will be merciless to you. Even if you have no slip ups."
"Which brings me to my next point — if we make it public knowledge that this is an arranged marriage, odds are I will be painted as an wealth-seeking opportunist from a well-known family of purebloods, who, despite having no association with Voldemort, is associated regardless, with the pureblood purist agenda. Thus, that exploit may make you appear weak in the face of feminine wiles. Whereas I have a hunch that you are beyond caring what the media thinks about you, I have no desire to be ripped apart by the wizarding world over being portrayed as a conniving opportunist for it would also bring my family under further negative light. Which is why I propose, and hope, that you would be comfortable with initiating a six-month courtship before formally proposing and breaking the news of our impending marriage."
Harry leaned back in his chair and considered her proposal. It made sense and carried reason, for despite his initial reservations towards Daphne's father he bore no such reservations against her mother and younger sister. Dealing with Malfoy being related to him by law would take some getting used to and he'd be rather fine with never having to see the Malfoy heir again if he could manage it. Another point he wholeheartedly agreed with was respect as a foundation of their marriage, the need for respect regarding each other's wishes while also having to concede to compromise when necessary. Having each other's backs especially before the public was essential, a no brainer. Privately, he would need for her to earn his trust, and vice versa.
"Six months before announcing our intent to wed is reasonable, especially since that will alleviate cause for suspicion and if we need to we could simply say we have been secretly seeing one another during the months preceding our courtship. At a later time, I would like to discuss further terms that I have for our marriage."
"I look forward to hearing these terms. Potter understand I am not proposing that we go parading around the country looking like a pair of lovesick teenagers to convince everyone that we're romantically involved but in order to make it convincing, we need to play up our showmanship. As much as you will despise this, we need to keep up public appearances. Not many or huge public outings, but we do need to appear together a dozen times or so I think should do the trick in order to pull this off."
"Absolutely not-"
"Alright." Her simple reply surprising him, feeling a small rush of relief at her accommodation. "We shall leave the matter of public appearances for now. Perhaps later I can convince you to attend a small dinner party in the near future that the press will not have access to. I understand you have quite a history with the press and that what we have ahead of us will be no easy task however I want you to know that as your wife I am going to support you in this endeavor. As I hope you will extend the same support to me."
The ice queen rose with graceful ease and Harry rose across the table.
Grabbing the partially full glass of firewhiskey she turned on her heel with a hint of swagger in her graceful hips, striding across the patio towards the entrance to the manor throwing back her drink as she went. "Farewell then, Potter."
She polished it off in three decisive gulps and took her leave.
"My good sir, you have quite a woman on your hands." Laurits said with a subdued grin and Harry could already tell his butler liked her. "She will make a fine lady of this house."
"She is more than I expected, that's for sure." Neutrally replying, thinking about the main points of their conversation. He grasped a better idea of Daphne and the Greengrass family now, but he would need to find out more. He would need to extensively read on the history of the Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass to learn more about the basics of its members, allegiances, and alliances linked to other ancient houses before inevitably coming face to face with the family. He nearly groaned at the thought, his beloved solitude fraying at the hems. This arranged marriage would become a challenge to the way his life has been lived the past seven years. The next time they met, they would have to have a conversation focusing on boundaries, more so his, she would be free to do whatever she wished and go wherever she pleased as far as he was concerned.
"I can hear what you are thinking, sir." Laurits looked at his master solemnly, bringing Harry's attention to him. " I know this might be difficult and a great change, but I do think you needn't stress unnecessarily over maintaining the peaceful solitude the manor has provided for you. Think less of the marriage as an obstacle and more of a relay race, which Lady Greengrass and you are on the same team."
His thoughts once more returned to Daphne Greengrass. His past love Ginny was fiery, an emotional tempest and unabashed in making her thoughts and opinions known. Daphne was like ice- reserved and stoic yet carried quiet confidence within her, a steely resilience inside leaving no doubts as to who she is. Certainly much to his relief, not another one of Slytherin house's "highly esteemed" rich, arrogant purebloods from what he surmised. So far. He'd have time in the future to understand more about his fiancée.
But before anymore matters regarding the status of his impending marriage, he believed it was time for Ron's turn to have a one-on-one chat with his old friend.
Well hi folks, it's been a while! It is been a crazy busy year and I took some time during the summer to finish up this chapter that I had meant to upload last summer. I am going to try and get the next 2-3 chapters out however I do not have an exact time line for that. For now, I hope you keep on enjoying my crack at creating a Harry Potter story