.The floo system. Oh, how Harry hated the floo system. He had no doubt the feeling was mutual. The summer before third year proved that. Staying at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry had taken a few galleons and spent an afternoon flooing between the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks. Harry managed to exit the floo in just about every manner possible except standing.

Not one to quit so easily Harry spent the next afternoon doing much of the same. Except now, he had a goal in mind. Land with consistency. If he could just learn to exit the floo the same way every time, he'd be fine.This is how we find Harry exiting the floo to the Greengrass estate. The Greengrass ladies follow shortly after managing to exit much more gracefully.

Immediately Mrs. Greengrass calls out several orders.

"Ruby, start up lunch. Emerald, prep one of the guest rooms for Mr. Potter here. Diamond, fetch my husband. Amethyst prepare a bonfire. Tonight, we feast."

As the four elves popped in for their orders and popped away, Daphne's mother had disappeared further into the house, leaving the two alone. Harry turned to her and spoke the first thing on his mind.

"We feast?"

"Worry not potter my mother has a flair for the dramatics. She uses any excuse to have a 'feast'. It's really nothing more than dinner outside by the bonfire when the whole family is home." Daphne answered, her voice tinged with fond exasperation.

"Come along potter, lunch will be a bit, and I might as well show you around."

Harry simply shrugged his shoulders and followed. He figured he might as well learn something while he was here, if only where he was to sleep at night.

-TGE-

Harry sat quietly while he waited for lunch to be served. Looking around the table Mrs. Greengrass had several documents in front of her. He figured they were important to her business, having dealt with a small amount of similar paperwork. Daphne was reading a book at the table.

Before Harry could ask what book she was reading an elf popped in with several letters.

"Milady these have arrived." the elf said while handing the letters over.

"Thank you Pearl, you may return to pasture." Tora replied kindly

With a blink Pearl was gone. And Harry was left curious and confused. He figured no better time to ask then now.

"Excuse me, but what's with the elf names?"

"Would you be refering to their shared theme of gemstones?" Tora asked

"Um kind of." He shrugged

"Well then to help you understand the names you need to understand house elves. The house elf you've seen today are in no way related to the elves of muggle fiction. Those elves were real, they lived long before the statute of secrecy. At some point in history they became extinct. The house elf is different. To be frank they are symbiotic parasites. They're born without names. They are weak and frail. Theyre magic wild and untamed. Now to overcome this they form a bond with another magical being. The bond provides stability to their magic allowing them control. Eventually they bonded to wizards and as such wizards gave them names. Their names are nothing more then means of identity." Tora explained

"So what happens if they don't form a bond?" Harry asked

"Rather good question. The answer in short is they die. Now the reason is as I said their magic is wild and untamed. An unbonded house elf has no control of their magic. It acts without thought or guidance. Like a rabid dog. And as such it eats away at them from the inside. Can you imagine that, your own magic tearing you apart slowly. I reckon that got to be the most painful way to die."

It was then that Tora noticed how pale her daughter had gotten throughout their discussion.

"Topaz, some tea for Daphne please."

A scant few seconds later Topaz appeared with Daphne's tea. Said girl immediately reached for the porcelain cup with shaky fingers. Harry was a bit perturbed that he wouldn't be able to continue that line of discussion, but he didn't want to make Daphne feel any worse.

"You got mail kiddos." Tora told them

Harry was confused, he had mail? From who? The only time he ever got mail was during the summer and even then it was barely any. Looking at the pair of letters he saw they were from Ron and Hermione. He wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to feel.

He figured he'd just have to read what they had to say and deal with as it happened. He started with Hermione's.

Dear Harry,

I know that this letter will probably arrive much too late but I'm sorry. I should've helped mediate between you and Ron. Help smooth things out, I was just so tired from the end of last year I didnt want to deal with it. I know it's not an excuse. I won't even ask your forgiveness yet. I know I need to earn it. I just ask you give me the chance to do so.

-Hermione

Harry honestly wasn't even mad at Hermione. He's done the same thing plenty of times when she and Ron had their spats. Honestly no matter how much he like his friends they were flat out annoying at times. He'd need to remember to write his reply after he finished reading. Moving on to Ron's letter he braced himself unsure what to expect. Before he left he and Ron weren't exactly on speaking terms.

Hey Harry,

I know this might be a bit surprising considering how I've acted in the past but I'm sorry. I let my pride, anger and jealousy get the best of me. I did quite a bit of thinking in the past few weeks. I'd like to think I've done a lot of maturing but I know I haven't. All I've done is accept my faults, I still need to overcome them. Hopefully the next time we meet I'll have grown and you'll give me a chance to be the friend I should've been from the beginning.

-Ron

Harry was rather neutral in response to Ron's letter. While true that they hadn't been talking before he left it was more on Ron's half than his. Ron felt slighted where there was none and Harry couldn't be bothered to argue or correct him. And with Hermione actively avoid the conflict the 'golden trio' as they were dubbed quietly fell apart.

Harry sighed as he put the letters back, lunch would be served any second and he could reply latter. Looking up he saw Daphne finish reading her letter as well. She had neatly folded her letter and stood from the table.

"Mother, if I may I'll be taking lunch on my balcony." She spoke

After her mother gave a grunt in response Daphne quickly made her way out of the room. As soon as she was gone Tora shuffled her papers before speaking once more.

"So Harry, is there anything else you'd like to tell me about your time alone with my daughter while you were off magic knows where, hmm?"

Unbidden the image of Daphne in her swim wear popped into his mind and his face flushed more red than his old quidditch jersey.