Chapter 3

Daphne's PoV

The Greengrass Manor

The sun was peeking through the dark curtains into her room but she didn't want to get up. She hid her face under the sheets, trying to fall back asleep when a house elf appeared to call her down for breakfast. She looked up with her eyelids heavy and her hair messy from the troubled sleep she'd had, "Bring it to my bed, Rossy".

The house elf Rossy nodded and disappeared. Daphne was trying to fight the drowsiness but she couldn't get out of the bed—her body just wouldn't move—so she stared at her ceiling for what seemed like ages and she didn't even feel the heavy weight on her mattress until Rossy the elf announced her presence, giving her the breakfast. She sat quietly for a few moments, staring at her food. She wasn't hungry but ate to please the little elf, and the latter's lips curled into a big smile and she clapped her hands from happiness. That made Daphne smile a bit—the little elf loved to spoil her...

-A few days later-

When she was reading in the library like she always did, another elf—his name was Roff and he was old, strict, and cold; he was like the head Butler of the manor—came calling, "Young mistress, lord and lady Greengrass and lady Astoria have just returned from their voyage. Lord Greengrass wishes to see you in his study room immediately."

Bowing with a pop, he left.

She stood from her usual seat in the corner of the library and sighed, feeling some pain in her neck; she rubbed at it and left.

Lord Cyrus, a middle-aged man, was looking at the fire with his hands behind his back, tall and still, with his grey hair combed to the back. He heard her enter so he turned with a smile on his face and went to hug her. "My sweet daughter, oh! How I'm sorry I wasn't here with you," said he with fake sympathy in his voice. He shifted her jaw up with his fingers to look her in the eyes. "As soon as the news reached me, I came back running... I'm sorry about your loss, I know what it feels like when you lose someone you held dear, it feels like the world stops there, time, life, your soul, everything stops there, and you feel like you're dead inside," he said, then turned back to the table behind him and poured himself a glass of liquor. He asked her to join him for one and sit with him. Taking a big sip from his glass, he looked at her, memorising her face.

"You must be strong now more than ever, child. Times have changed—whether for the worst or for the best, no one knows, so you need to keep being strong."

She looked to her glass. "Father, my house has always been Greengrass since the day I entered it years ago. I may have lost a brother but I haven't lost myself. It's true that the Vasilian blood runs in my veins but I have been raised as a proper Greengrass lady for the last eight years, true pureblood witch..." Cyrus nodded in amusement at her revelation while she was still speaking, "—but still, if you allow me, I would like to go my grandmother's cottage in Surrey this summer and stay there for a while. I need some fresh air to clear my mind and to grieve in silence, only if you agree?"

She looked at him with patience while he was studying her. Then he stood up, walking to the fireplace, and kept quiet; he was thinking...

She knew he had no other choice but to agree with her. Especially now, he must stay in her favour: she was now his winning card and she must always stay pleased with him. She jumped from her seat. "I know it's a bit risky but I need some time alone," she said quickly.

He grinned, then turned to her and said, "Very well, daughter, but only if you take my house elf Roff with you: he is the only one I can entrust you to."

She felt relief and went to hug him and thank him, then repaired to her room to pack her things.

Cyrus looked at the door, then called Roff, and the elf appeared. "Yes, master."

"Make sure she doesn't get out of your sight."

"She won't, master," and with that, Roff was gone with a pop...

Harry's PoV

After the event had taken place, Sirius took him and apparated outside a muggle neighbourhood. Harry wondered what they were doing here.

"What is this place?"

Sirius answered, annoyed, "Grimmauld Place. N°12 and your new home for now…"

Harry thought as he looked to the houses ten, eleven, and thirteen—no twelve. Then suddenly, Sirius waved his wand and a battered door emerged out of nowhere between the numbers; it had dirty walls and grimy windows. It was as though an extra house had inflated there, pushing those on either side of it out of its way. Harry gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven thudded on so apparently, the Muggles inside hadn't even felt anything.

Sirius opened the door widely, letting him go first.

Harry stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. He could smell damp, dust, and a sweetish, rotting odour. The place had the feeling of a derelict building to it. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sirius taking off his jacket. He quirked up a brow and Sirius raised both his hands in a surrendering gesture, "Easy, pup, we didn't trespass, this is my family's home. Let's get you something to eat and drink then we'll talk, okay?"

Harry followed him inside the house.

Silence and darkness were ruling this place—apparently, it had been abandoned for many years now...

They entered the kitchen and sat down face to face when Sirius shouted, "KREACHER!"

A house elf popped out of nowhere. Sirius ordered him to prepare something for dinner while he and Harry were catching up a bit.

"Remind me to behave well around Hermione or she will kick my arse," he said, laughing, joking about Hermione's attitude toward house elves and their rights.

Kreacher returned a few minutes later with an already prepared dinner and left, murmuring under his breath but they couldn't hear anything.

They ate in silence after the long night. Sirius showed Harry the house and warned him about some cursed corners and his wicked mother's portrait. He let him pick a room but Harry said anything would do, so he chose for him his cousins' room, where they stayed during their visits. It was a large one, with three beds and its own bathroom—Sirius told him that they had a whole month to redecorate it to match his own taste. Then he wished him good night and left to his own room, which was next to Harry's.

When Sirius had finally left him alone, Harry let out a long sigh. He looked around the room and decided to have a hot shower first to relieve the pressure. Walking up to the tub, he turned on the water, then stripped out of his clothes and stepped in. He shivered the moment his body touched the hot water and relaxed...

Then he started thinking about what had happened. He had just married and he was only fifteen years old—apparently, he wasn't favoured by the gods to always have to go through such hard things. 'I'm yours' had been her words, his wife's words, and they kept playing over and over in his mind. She had known what was coming, she had been relaxed, accepting her fate, and he did what he thought was right because of Sirius. Now he was starting to think his decision had been a precipitate one. Well, Sirius was reckless, that was true, but he wouldn't do something that could destroy Harry's life. He had better have a good reason. Harry didn't want to embarrass him and that's why he'd accepted Eva's offer; besides, he owed Sirius his life. The last couple of weeks hadn't been pleasant, but it was a good distraction to forget about the graveyard, Voldemort, Barty Crouch Jr and... Cedric.

He walked out of the bathroom stark naked—he knew he'd forgotten the towel but he just wanted to relax a bit and it seemed that while he was showering, someone had cleaned the bed from the dust and changed the sheets. He should thank that elf, he supposed... Without thinking, he jumped onto the mattress. It was so smooth and comfortable—far better than those at Hogwarts and Privat Drive. He snugged the pillows and before he realised it, he was sleeping...

"Wakey wakey, little pup," Harry heard but ignored it. Then the same voice tried to wake him up again so he groaned, "Okay, okay, uncle Vernon, give me another five minutes and I will be up making breakfast."

The voice burst into high maniac laughter that made Harry open his eyes widely. He couldn't see who it was so he reached for his glasses and put them on. When he turned, he saw his godfather rolling on the floor, laughing hard. Harry looked at himself, then yelled and threw the sheets on his body in an attempt to cover his nudity. "Sirius!? What the hell, people knock before entering someone's room..."

Sirius sat up normally on the floor and said while wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself. My cute little godson is here so I had to wake him up myself, I wasn't expecting to see you like this, apparently, you take after me more than after James... I swear he's rolling in his grave, laughing right now, too."

With one hand on his chest and the other one up, he stood up, dusting off his trousers, and told Harry to come downstairs for breakfast while still laughing. Closing the door behind himself, he left Harry trying to process what just happened. 'Am I dreaming?' he thought.

He slapped his face hard. 'No, I'm not.'

He got dressed and walked downstairs to find his godfather sitting there with a cup of coffee in one hand and a paper in the other while Kreacher was preparing bacon. Sirius looked up from the paper and greeted him. Harry sat down opposite to him.

"You know, this was the most awkward waking up I've ever done," Sirius smirked. "You'll have to live a long life to have something like this happen to you again."

Harry looked him in the eye. "Okay, who are you and what did you do to my godfather? You're not the Pad who's been all grim and sulky in the past twenty-four hours."

Sirius laughed behind the newspaper. "Snuffles is here, alive and well."

That made Harry happy, as well as the plate full of bacon and egg and the cup of orange juice that were placed in front of him. He looked down to the elf and thanked him. Sirius winced but Harry ignored it, eyeing the elf, who bowed, murmuring something like 'the boy who defeated the Dark Lord,' and left.

Harry started eating. Was he living in a dream or an alternate universe? He didn't know but he started to like this change of events; still eating his breakfast, he asked Sirius between the bites, "Since when do you live here?"

Sirius looked at him. "For about three months now. When I escaped from prison, I knew that the Aurors would look around and asks my relatives about where I could be. Thanks to my father's wards and spells, this house can't be detected so I decided to return here despise how much I hate this place. Besides, it was the only way Albus would let me have you stay over."

Harry's eyes widened. "Professor Dumbledore? He knew?"

"Depends on what you're asking about, and yeah, he knows about the house—it was the only thing I could offer to the order, and I had a big fight with him to bring you here. If it wasn't for Mooney, who stopped me before my fist broke Albus's jaw...you should thank him when he comes here."

Harry stopped eating and looked at his godfather for more explanation. Sirius raked his fingers through his long black hair and continued talking. "Albus was against bringing you here, to the headquarters of the order, saying it was still too soon for that, especially with him trying to gather allies from all around Europe to defeat Voldemort, you see... Fudge released a campaign against you and Albus, claiming that you're lying and that you're seeking attention and fame by spreading false rumours and that Cedric's death was just an accident—"

"WHAT! Who would lie about a big psychopath's return..." Out of nowhere, another voice said, "Fudge is frightened, you see."

When Harry turned around, he saw Remus Lupin at the kitchen's door. He sprang forward to hug him, "Professor Lupin!"

Remus hugged him back with a smile on his face. "I think 'professor' is too formal, Remus will do, I'm no longer at Hogwarts. By the way, congratulations," he said, whispering...

Sirius offered him a cup of coffee, which Remus accepted gladly and the returned to the table to continue the conversation.

Harry asked curiously, "Fudge is frightened!? Of whom? Voldemort?"

"No! He doesn't believe at all in his comeback, he is afraid of Dumbledore," Sirius said.

Harry looked between his father's friends, shocked, and thousands of questions started to play in his mind; Remus interrupted his thoughts, saying, "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."

"But Dumbledore doesn't want—"

"Of course he doesn't," Sirius agreed. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it on when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much support Dumbledore had."

Harry didn't know that was happening because Dumbledore wanted him to stay in the dark. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to focus on the important points in all this conversation. "For weeks, I was hoping for any news from the wizarding world, I listened to the muggle news every day, hoping for some signs, frightened of what Voldemort could've done, frightened that he may have reached you or the Weasleys. I've seen him, I know what he's capable of d—"

Sirius took Harry's hand in his. "I know what you think but you have an important role in this upcoming war, Harry. You saw him, you witnessed his resurrection, you weren't supposed to come back from the graveyard that night. You messed up his plans."

"What Padfoot means is that no one should have known about his return, especially Dumbledore beca—"

Harry chimed in, "...because Dumbledore will try to stand against him and prepare for this war and stop him before he fucks things up."

Sirius and Remus looked at him, wide-eyed, then looked at each other, then back to him again. He apologised but Sirius told him it was okay as long as Molly Weasley didn't hear him. The three men got up to clean up the kitchen, then went to the living room, where Sirius asked Remus about his sudden visit—not that he didn't want him there, of course. Remus answered him, "I completely forgot, I came to warn you, Albus wasn't happy to hear about what you did, that you went by yourself to get Harry, you're going to hear unpleasant things from both him and Molly tonight."

"Tonight!?"

Remus gave him an unimpressed look. "Have you forgotten? Tonight is the order's meeting."

"Blimey, I forgot, I better get rid of those empty whisky bottles or Molly will slay me," Sirius ran, panicking, out of the living room, leaving Harry and Remus alone.

"So," both said at the same time, which caused them both to laugh.

"You first," both once again said. Remus sighed between his laughs, letting Harry start first.

"So this order of Phoenix," said Harry.

"Oh yes, the order is like a society that was created by Dumbledore during the first war for those who were against Voldemort. But it split when he disappeared. Now that he has returned, Dumbledore re-gathered the old members and of course he wants more allies as we already said so he is trying to get other countries to join us but it's hard with Fudge fussing around..."

Like that, Remus continued explaining to Harry what had been happening in his absence.

Harry stayed in his room all day, preparing it for the living in it, and with the help of Remus, he finished in no time, getting rid of the other beds and the dust and the spiderweb everywhere.

In the evening, the meeting of the order was supposed to take place downstairs. He decided to stay out of it and didn't intrude until someone knocked on his door. When he opened it, he saw a redhead leaping forward, hugging him; when he looked, it was Ron, and behind him, there stood George, Fred and little Ginny. He smiled at them and let them in. There was a little couch that had enough room for two people and the bed, of course...

Ron said happily, "I missed you, mate, sorry I couldn't write too much: Dumbledore forbade us to tell you anything, he said it's not safe out there. We're really sorry, we know that it wasn't easy and especially with the Dursleys."

Harry looked at his best mate and the anger and rage toward his friends that he had been harbouring for weeks died. He smiled faintly, "Don't worry about it, I'm here now."

Ron's face lightened up with hope and satisfaction.

Harry caught up with the Weasley siblings—it had been so long since he had their companionship...

Later, he reunited with Mr and Mrs Weasley, who were elated to see him, and Bill was there too. Harry got introduced to some other members of the order: Nymphadora Tonks, who turned out to be Sirius's cousin, the real Mad Eye, and Mundungus Fletcher.

He had missed a good meal, especially Molly's delicious food. It was a warm dinner full of laughs—Harry followed Remus's advice and didn't bring up anything about Voldemort.

He helped with the cleaning and was informed that the Weasleys were to stay in Grimmauld place and clean up, according to Molly Weasley's orders, and those should be complied with.

Later that night, while he was reading a book about Occulmency that Remus had recommended to him, his eyes started hurting so he closed the book, took off his glasses and lay down in his bed, trying to fall asleep. A lot of events had brought his life to a whole new level in the last couple of days.

'I'm yours'... Out of the blue, his blonde wife's voice popped in his mind, and he wondered, 'What are you doing now, Daphne?' and then closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.

A/N

How was this chapter?

I hope it wasn't too long.. Honestly I thank the reviews especially those who shows my mistake so I won't do them again..

The story wont take the same shape of books of course ..

What do you think of Harry's attitudes and behavior?

As for our lady potter, Daphne will have a major role in the story but for the mean time we're leaving her to grief

See ya in the next chapter

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO