Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.
Harry waited until after Winky was done being emotional, before saying, "All right, Winky, I'm going to let you and Lopsy work it out now, and we'll all wait for breakfast in the dining room."
"Yes, sir," Winky said with a sniffle, before walking back towards Lopsy, so they could talk and work things out quietly amongst themselves.
Standing back up, Harry turned and greeted Blaise and Daphne, as if he hadn't just been in the middle of a house elf dispute.
"Good morning. I trust you both slept well? Were your rooms to your liking?" Harry asked the two nonchalantly, as if hugging crying house elves was something that he dealt with every day.
"Oh, yes. Thank you again, Harry, for bringing us here," Daphne replied.
Walking over, Harry offered his arm, which Daphne took with a small smile, and said, "You don't need to thank me, Daphne." Then making sure Blaise knew he was included, Harry said, "Let me show you both to the dining room, where we usually take our meals when we decide to all eat together."
Blaise nodded and said, "Lead the way."
The walk down the hall was silent for a bit when Blaise finally asked, "Does that happen often?"
"Does what happen often?" Harry asked, puzzled
"Your house elf," Blaise clarified.
"What, consoling an emotional Winky?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Exactly," Blaise responded. "That would have been unheard of in any pureblood manor that I have ever spent time in. In fact, I know many wizards who would have ordered her to punish herself and do so quietly." Noticing Harry beginning to scowl, he quickly said, "I didn't say I agreed with it."
Harry's scowl lessened and he replied, "House elves have feelings just like any other being, magical or otherwise." Then decided to add, "Winky was given clothes by her previous master when we were in our fourth year, and she would have died if Dobby had not come to me and all but begged me to bond with the both of them. They're both like family to me, and I think very much of them.
"Dobby and I had already formed a bond of friendship, which seemed to have been enough to sustain his magic, while Winky had no such bond with anyone when she was thrust into freedom."
Blaise looked a bit puzzled as he tried to piece together what that had to do with what they had witnessed in the kitchen.
Seeing Blaise's puzzlement, Harry explained as they arrived in the dining room and he led Daphne to a seat, pulling out her chair for her automatically, "It's quite a long story to get into in order to explain the friendship that I developed with Dobby before he bonded as my house elf, but we became friends during our second year after he, very poorly, tried to save my life by endangering it a few times. Afterwards, I tricked Malfoy into freeing him, because I saw Malfoy abusing him. The friendship Dobby and I had developed throughout that year actually saved him, as his magic was sustained through our bond of friendship, so the gaining of his freedom did not drive him mad."
Harry then gestured for Blaise to choose a seat, as he sat in his own.
"Back to Winky, she had no friendship bonds to rely on when she was freed by her uncaring master. She became addicted to butterbeer, as her magic slowly killed her and drove her mad. It was towards the end of our fifth year that Dobby brought her to me and explained how bonds with house elves worked. That's when he begged me to save her by bonding with her, and to also bond with him.
"After the bond, Winky was so happy to have a family again and she has done everything she could to take care of her family. She's finally gotten comfortable enough to be outspoken with me, which I encourage with both Dobby and Winky. We're family, we rely on each other, and I want to know how they feel and if they have any concerns."
"That's very sweet of you, Harry," Daphne said softly.
Harry just smiled in response and said, "Yeah, well, I suspect that no matter how much I show Winky that she's family, deep down she's still afraid of receiving clothes, so I suspect adding a new elf to the mix has thrown her off just a little."
"Well, I'll be sure to have a talk with Lopsy as well, so that she knows that she can help Winky but in a way that doesn't make Winky afraid of being given clothes." Blaise said.
"Thanks, Blaise," Harry replied.
Before a new topic of discussion could be started, the rest of the island's inhabitants started filing into the dining room for breakfast. And after a brief few minutes of small talk, breakfast started appearing on the table for everyone to serve themselves. The choices consisted of a full English breakfast with extra sides of bacon and sausage, French toast, pancakes. Their beverage varieties varied between tea, coffee, orange juice, and pumpkin juice.
Once everyone had served themselves and had begun to eat, they resumed their small talk between bites.
"So, I know we only just came back with the brochures last night, but has anyone decided on where they want to propose we go for vacation?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Well, I thought since we were basically islanders year-round now, we should cross off any beach options. Though, I wouldn't be opposed to touring the rainforest," Harry replied thoughtfully.
"Oh! I'd like to go to the rainforest," Luna said, bouncing in excitement.
"As much as I'd like to see what kind of plants I could find in the rainforest, I'm not fully recovered enough for that kind of adventure," Neville added.
Luna patted him on the arm and smiled, "I'm sure we can build you some sort of chair equipped with a hover charm, Neville."
"No, he's right, Luna," Harry said with a sigh, "the muggles don't have that kind of technology yet, so we wouldn't be able to pass it off as muggle tech if we were to run into any muggles while exploring the rainforest."
"Well, phooey," Luna said with a pout.
"Gred and I would still like to check out the muggle casinos," George said.
Hermione was flipping through some of the brochures and said, "Well, I'm not too thrilled at the thought of going to someplace like Las Vegas, but it looks like Amsterdam has quite a bit of options that we all might like. Hmm…but I don't see any casinos. They do have something called a Red Light District…"
"Bad idea, Hermione," Harry said, shaking his head.
"What?" Hermione asked.
Harry sighed, "Does that brochure explain what the Red Light District is?"
"Yes, I was just getting to it. 'The Amsterdam Red Light District is not an attraction. It doesn't have an entrance or exit, but it's simply a small neighborhood…you'll find a lot of 18+ entertainment, sex shows/shops and brothels—" Hermione stopped there and started blushing. "You're right, Harry. We wouldn't be trying to go there," she said quietly, fighting off a panic attack stemming from a flashback to that day with Malfoy.
Noticing her distress, Harry said as he stood up to walk around to where she was seated, "Just breathe in and out slowly, Hermione. Remember that you're safe." By this time, he'd made his way next two her and she reached out and grabbed his hand for support.
After a few moments, Hermione's breathing started to even out and she came back to herself. She pushed her plate away, and stood, "Excuse me," she said, before quickly walking out of the room.
"Is she going to be okay?" Blaise asked worriedly, fighting the urge to run after her. After all, he'd barely had the chance to get to know her the way he wanted, so he found it highly unlikely he'd be able to help her in any way.
Harry sighed and said, "She'll be okay. She was just reliving a traumatic experience, so she needs time to calm down and decompress."
"What happened to her?" Blaise asked in obvious concern, which did not go unnoticed by the twin and Luna and Neville.
Harry shook his head and replied, "That's her story to tell you, when she's ready to tell you."
The rest of breakfast resumed a bit awkwardly and nobody else had the heart to bring up the topic of vacation again, at least until Hermione felt up to joining everyone for the discussion once more.
Shortly thereafter, Harry scooted his chair back and stood up, drawing everyone's eyes his way, however unintentional it was, then he turned to Daphne and asked, "Daphne, can I interest you in a tour around our humble little island?"
"Oh," Daphne said, a little surprised, "I would love to. Let me go get changed into something more appropriate to the outdoors."
Harry nodded and said with a smile, "I'll wait for you at the foot of the stairs." Then he exited the room.
Daphne made to follow before hearing Blaise tell her teasingly, "Might want to wear that bikini we found a few weeks back, you know, since we're on an island and all."
"Hush, you," Daphne retorted, before hurriedly leaving for her room to change.
A short time later, Harry was standing at the foot of the stairs, after having changed his own clothes into something more beach appropriate, including a pair of sunglasses now perched atop his head.
All right, Potter, you can do this. Harry mentally told himself. Only an idiot wouldn't be able to see that Daphne is interested, and you haven't allowed yourself to be an idiot since you were 15. There's still a chance you'll ruin it if you come on too strong, though, Harry forced himself not to pace as he waited, so just take it cool. Take her for a walk through the trails in the jungle, maybe show her that nice waterfall you found a few months ago…. Harry's inner monologue/pep talk trailed off when he noticed Daphne coming down the stairs. He couldn't stop his eyes from roaming up and down her luscious figure as she slowly came down the stairs wearing an ice blue string bikini peeking from behind the opening of the small bathing robe she had loosely tied around herself. His gaze finally stopped at her eyes, where he noticed they were shining at him, as her lips twitched in amusement.
Real subtle there, Potter, Harry mentally groaned to himself. To Daphne, he offered his hand and said, "You look lovely, Daphne."
Daphne chuckled in amusement as she accepted his hand and said, "Thank you for noticing."
Harry cleared his throat and mumbled, "Well, I'd have to be blind to not notice it."
Daphne chuckled in delight at that, then looked Harry up and down before meeting his eyes again and said, "You're looking rather scrumptious yourself." Which caused Harry to be quite speechless, as Harry guided her out of the house and down towards the trails.
A/N: Well, I wish I could have made this next chapter a bit longer, but if I had held onto it for any longer, then I probably wouldn't have posted anything for about a month.