During their entire walk, Granger kept bombarding her with questions on how she knew so many things about the muggle world. Finally, she even made an accusation that purebloods spy on muggles for some nefarious reason which made Daphne chuckle. Granger sure liked her conspiracy theories. She looked doubtful and even disappointed when Daphne simply explained to her that she reads yearly bulletins from ICW, just like her father used to do and like many other people do.
Evidently, Granger assumed that purebloods purposefully avoided any knowledge about muggles and once more, Daphne was forced to confront her with reality. It was true that some individual wizards and witches chose to be completely disinterested in the muggle world, as was their right. However, it stood to reason that the international confederation would have a department which kept close eye on them. After all, muggles were often source of pain and suffering for the magical world throughout the history. And if nothing else, they were all living on the same planet so what one group did necessarily impacted the other in some way.
Daphne had a feeling Granger did not believe her explanation and still thought there was some great evil conspiracy going on behind it. But before the girl could ask her more questions, they finally arrived to their destination. It amused Daphne greatly to see the annoying mudblood who never stopped talking finally being rendered speechless as she eyed her surroundings in wonder.
At first, Granger just stared at the huge golden model of the solar system hanging from the ceiling which never failed to capture everyone's attention after entering the enormous double height room. However, within seconds her gaze predictably shifted to the numerous bookshelves that flanked the walls. More large stands were separately arranged on the floor in two rows, forming a wide central alley through which they were currently walking while Granger turned her neck around so fast Daphne was worried she would overextend it.
"Our family library," Daphne answered her unspoken question and smirked proudly. "Here, you may find magical knowledge accumulated for over two thousand years. Few such collections exist in the world."
They stopped in the middle of the room and Granger turned to look at her with that patented mixture of hers which contained wonder, fear, and skepticism in a single look. "Two millennia? Your family is that old?!" she asked and Daphne nodded, pleased at the awe in her voice. "Even more," she said. "House Greengrass goes all the way to the old Atlantis."
However, instead of continuing to look awed and humbled as she should, the mudblood actually folded her hands across her chest. "That's a myth… and anyway the story of Atlantis is way older than two thousand years," she said in her sanctimonious voice and sneered like she just achieved some great victory. "I think you got it wrong."
Daphne looked at her for a moment, wondering how such an intelligent girl could be so stupid at the same time. "I said over two thousand years, haven't I?" she replied tersely.
In reality, her magical bloodline was very likely much older, but no records to support that claim survived the Atlantis' fall so they had no definitive proof. Likewise, they possessed some books in the library predating the Fall which were possibly thousands of years old but once again, there was no way to know for certain so Daphne did not advertise it. In addition, over the years, her family purposefully downplayed how much of the surviving Atlantidian knowledge they still possessed so as not to attract an unwanted attention.
Her house was lucky that at the time of the Fall, the majority of her family was already living in Devon which, along with the Cornwall, was an important outpost for Atlantis. For this reason, many of the oldest pureblood families from that time still resided in this area of the country and other such former outposts spread along the coasts on both sides of Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
The mudblood was visibly amazed from seeing so many books and the opulence of the room where they resided but she seemed to finally gather herself together. "Why have you brought me here?" she demanded.
Instead of answering, Daphne pointed out several of the book stands. "You asked me why your kind was treated with disdain," she said and gestured to the books. "I am afraid there are too many reasons for me to list them all and I know you would not accept my word anyway. However, read these books and you might understand."
"I am not interested in reading pureblood propaganda," the mudblood retorted but Daphne could see the intense burning curiosity in her eyes. She knew that Granger would be unable to resist reading a book placed before her, no matter the topic.
"Oh, I think you are interested," she answered. "I've been in your mind, remember? I know you always wondered about this," she said and smiled. "In the meantime, there is something I need to explain to you right now. Something Minerva McGonagall should have told you seven years ago."
They sat down in one of the study alcoves adjacent to the main hall of the library. Daphne called for her house elf and ordered some refreshments to be brought to them. She could see Granger's acidic expression at having a house elf serving them but she ignored it, seeing no point in getting into that right now. Daphne knew the muggleborn girl was nuts when it came to the house elves. Which was deeply ironic, given what she was. Daphne extended the slack of Granger's handcuffs so that she could pick up the drink and food.
"Food in a library?" Granger asked even as she hesitantly took one of the biscuits and drank some tea. This time, Daphne honestly laughed. "This is my home, not a school library. Just don't eat over books and you will be fine."
"So what do you want to explain to me?" the girl asked skeptically after a while.
"Do you know where babies come from?" Daphne asked her without any preamble, prompting the mudblood to choke and spew some of the tea on her robes, much to Daphne's amusement. She loved doing that to people ever since she was little.
"What? Of course!" she replied indignantly. "My parents gave me the talk."
Daphne sighed at hearing that. It was exactly as she feared. "I understand muggles have a pretty accurate idea how the physical side of reproduction works but do you know anything about where the baby's soul comes from?"
Hermione looked at her with wide-eyes, telling her that she does not. "Is that even known?" she asked hesitantly.
"Unlike muggles, wizards solved that mystery a long time ago…" Daphne replied proudly. And it was something to be proud of, in her opinion. After all, to this day, muggles were still debating the existence of a soul and making wars over what happens to them after death. In essence, they were killing each other because they feared what happens to them after death. What an utter nonsense! It was what separated them from magical population and made them seem at the very least confused and aimless to most wizards and witches and outright dangerous to many others.
Wizards and witches, on the other hand, had actually solid research data on both what happens to souls before birth and after death, although for the latter the picture was admittedly far from complete. However, how souls are formed in newborns was pretty much fully answered question.
"When man and woman are together intimately…" she began and watched as Granger blushed a little. "… a tiny sliver of the man's soul is transferred into the woman's body. If the child is conceived, soul fragments from both parents, along with a third component, are fused together to form the newborn's soul," she finished.
Daphne could almost see the wheels in the mudblood's brain turning as she digested what she has just been told. Finally, the girl asked a question which Daphne fully expected. "A third component?"
"A neutral cofactor which allows two separate soul fragments to merge," she explained while carefully weighting each word. She was far from an expert on this. "To my knowledge, it is still unclear what it is or where is it coming for. Some people believe it is the Creator at work. Others think it's just an ambient magic which is all around us," Daphne said and glanced to the side into the main hall of the library. "If you want to know more, you will have to study some of these books. I do not pretend to be an expert on soul magic."
Granger glanced in the same direction and Daphne could see she was yearning to grab a book and start reading right now. How the girl did not get sorted into Ravenclaw was beyond her. After a while, Daphne decided it was time to drop the information she wanted to share with the mudblood in the first place. One that should have been explained to her a long time ago. "Anyway, there is a consensus among researchers that the third component is where you and your kind get your magic from."
Hermione snapped her head straight to look at her in shock. "Are you serious?" she asked in disbelief.
Daphne raised an eyebrow as she studied the mudblood girl carefully. "Have you never once asked yourself how come you are a witch when both your parents are muggles?" she asked, already knowing the answer since she has seen it in Granger's mind but it still needed to be spoken out loud.
The other girl was silent for a long while, seemingly deep in thought. Finally, she spoke, having just finished the biscuit, "I don't get it," she admitted. "You acknowledge that I have magic. You acknowledge that I am a witch," she asked to which Daphne stiffly nodded.
"Then why?!" Granger demanded to know almost pathetically.
"Why we see you as inferior?" Daphne asked and added when she saw her nod. "I thought you would figure it out by now, Granger," she said and shook her head before telling her. "My parents were both magical. I received their magic from them as they did from their own parents before me," she took a deep breath and said, "You, on the other hand… did not."
"But I have magic. What does it matter where I got it from?" she asked desperately.
Daphne sighed before she answered. "Only your soul has magic. Your body does not. There is no third component for your physical side. Your body is grown only out of a combination of your muggle parents."
"Ridiculous," she bristled. "I am as powerful as you are!"
"That's debatable," Daphne hissed in slight annoyance. "In any case, it does not make a difference. Your magical power is coming from your soul which is admittedly magical. You could become the most powerful witch in the world and it would still not change what you are – a muggle. Or rather a witch's soul trapped in a muggle's body," she said while looking at Granger with a smidge of sympathy. After all, when it came right down to it, muggleborns were really pitiable in their nature.
"That's preposterous and makes no sense!" she insisted and looked at her with deep scowl. "You are lying."
Daphne had to resist the urge to just dispatch the bitch back to her cell at her disrespectful words. "I am going to let that slide, mudblood, because you are obviously going through a shock. But gainsay me again and I will make you suffer," she said through gritted teeth while emphasizing the threat with her wand which was still pointed at the girl.
"Why are you even telling me this… this nonsense?!" she demanded to know.
"You asked me!" Daphne replied crossly. "You wanted to know why purebloods dislike you… why we instinctively distrust your kind and so now you know. It's because when we look at you, consciously or unconsciously, we sense absolutely no magic in you. When we look at you, it's just like looking at a muggle… or a lifeless slab of rock."
"You say you can sense magic?" Granger asked skeptically and with slight sarcasm to which Daphne nodded.
"You need to have magic in your body to sense magic… and yes, I can. Intellectually I know you are a witch but… looking at you right now, every instinct in my body tells me that you are not. It's like you are not even here. You have no idea… no idea how disturbing it is to even be in the same room as you!"
Daphne finished her speech and took a glass of water. Personally, she doubted Granger would accept the truth but she deserved to get that chance. She should have been told or researched it for herself a long time ago. The fact she didn't and nobody bothered to explain it to her was worrying.
'She has no idea!' Daphne thought with horror. 'No idea how wrong she looks to us… how much I have to restrain myself from cursing her into oblivion even now.'
Daphne could vividly remember the day she first saw a muggle. She might have been six or seven at the time. As a child, she had been explained that muggles look similar to wizards and witches but are unable to use magic. It was an unpleasant idea to her child mind but for a long time, it remained nothing but a baffling curiosity to her.
It all changed when a young muggle man managed to slip by the repelling charms around Greengrass manor and was captured by their guards. Unfortunately, such thing happened from time to time. The invention of the muggle-repelling charm brought on a huge change to the magical world. Among others, it allowed the International Statute of Secrecy to be implemented. But the charm was not completely impervious. It worked by misdirecting thoughts, creating an urgency to be somewhere else, or by inducing a sense of primordial fear of the protected place. Which meant that a strong-willed muggle, or one who greatly desired to reach the protected place for some reason, could potentially get through. The charm also sometimes did not work if the muggle was intoxicated with certain drugs since that altered their brain chemistry enough to escape detection.
Muggle intrusions onto the Greengrass property were still very rare but more common in last two centuries after muggles of Britain became less superstitious and more and more of them ventured into the Wistman's Wood. For countless centuries, the fear of the Wild Hunt kept muggles at bay as her family made sure the forest had a reputation as the most haunted place in the realm. It eventually backfired as nowadays some muggle tourists actually sought the forest precisely because of its mysterious reputation.
When her father went to deal with the intruder, Daphne was curious and wanted to accompany him, to which her father reluctantly agreed. She was a child and was rather excited at the prospect of seeing something new that she only heard stories about – a human being who cannot do magic. It sounded little scary but at that age, she was starting to doubt it was real. Hers was the age where children start questioning the infallibility of their parents and so part of her suspected that 'muggles' were just a scary story her parents told her to keep her from misbehaving.
And so, she joined her father as they walked into the dungeon where the intruder was held.
As soon as Daphne saw the man, she had to revise her opinion on it being a little scary – it was downright terrifying! The thing which was chained in the cell looked almost correct like a human should and superficially even resembled her father – it had a head, two arms and legs. But that's where the similarities ended because the man was… empty. The wisps of magic which always comforted her when seeing her parents or any adults working in her home were nowhere to be found in him.
An unimaginable terror gripped young Daphne's heart as she looked at him fearfully. In that moment, the little girl had only a single thought – a monster!
Because surely the chained meat cowering before her father could not possibly be human. With her ears Daphne could hear the thing speak and even beg for mercy but it could not be real. It could not be alive. It may have talked, moved and looked like a human but young Daphne could not see difference between it and the dinner meat she saw earlier as she chased her sister across the kitchens. Both were equally dead, without magic and without life… because surely there was no life without magic.
She desperately clung to her father's leg and begged him to kill the monster before it could hurt her. Her father immediately took her away but later that day came to her room and assured her the monster would never hurt anyone again.
She has been somewhat embarrassed by how she reacted that day but later she learned from her parents and her peers that they had similar feelings upon they first encounters with muggles. Since then, Daphne has learned not to experience fear in such situations but the disgust and discomfort remained and like the majority of her people, she could not completely suppress it.
As for Hermione, she was coming to terms with everything she has been told in the last half an hour. The amount of information that Daphne threw at her was staggering and its implications even more overwhelming. Earlier, Harry suggested that he has learned more about magic in the time he spent with the Greengrass heiress than in years before that. Knowing that Harry was falling under Daphne's spell, she simply dismissed it as rumblings of a love-sick fool. But now? She was starting to see where Harry was coming from.
Of course, it all depended on whether anything the pureblood girl told her could be trusted. Something that Hermione had serious doubts about. Her explanation on the nature of muggleborns was horrifying in its implications no matter how Hermione looked at it. If it was all lies, then Daphne Greengrass exploited history as well as pseudo-scientific research in order to advocate her position. It was much worse than simply hating muggleborns without reason. Oh how she missed Draco Malfoy and his mean but primitive 'Filthy little mudblood!' comments.
Even more terrifying prospect was that Daphne actually told her the truth. It was something that part of Hermione even refused to entertain and she would very much prefer to reject everything Daphne told her. After all, the girl invaded her mind multiple times, she sneered at everything Hermione said in her defense and every other word out of her mouth was a supremacist slur of some kind.
The crazy idea Daphne proposed – that her soul was magical but her body was not – could be just another one in a long line lies. And yet… she wondered.
If there really was no magic in her physical body and other wizards could tell, it would finally explain why she experienced the suspicious glances and scorn even from purebloods who had no prior interaction with her and had no idea she was a muggleborn. Or why she was absolutely unable to make work for her even the most basic exercises meant to train her magic sight. Why anytime someone made a comment about a 'place being filled with magic' or something similar, she politely nodded but personally felt no such thing. It could also potentially explain why she was able to handle the influence from Slytherin's locket so much better than the boys, so perhaps there was some benefit to it as well.
In any case, even if Daphne was correct, it did not change the fact the pureblood supremacy was wrong. No matter the nature of muggleborns, they were still wizards and witches as well as human beings. They did not deserve to be treated as inferior because of the way other people perceived them.
"Let's say everything you told me is the truth," Hermione began and ignored as the blonde looked at her with annoyance after she suggested it might not be. "Let's assume my physical body lacks some sort of ambient magic and it infuriates pureblooded wizards and witches … then I am really not the one with a problem."
"Excuse me?!" Daphne bristled. "Of course it is your problem. You are a mudblood!"
"No, it's not," Hermione insisted. "I can hardly control what goes in people's head… only you can. You can suppress whatever instinct makes you dislike muggleborns."
Daphne looked at her for a long time before saying quietly, "That's exactly what the blood-traitors say. They choose to deny their nature for the sake of your kind," she said, grimacing in disgust. "I suppose if I really tried, I could learn to ignore everything that tells me how wrong you are, Granger," she admitted with a sigh. "But then it would not be me anymore. I would have to kill part of me… destroy part of the magic within me. I will never do that," she said and shook her head. "No, what you propose is no solution. Besides, blood-traitors who espouse it are fools and are not helping anything! It's the mudbloods that have a problem and need to accept it. Only then can they potentially get better."
Hermione paused as she deciphered the meaning of Daphne's words. "You mean… this can be fixed?!" she asked, wondering if it was possible to somehow charge one's body with magic and why Daphne would not mention this before. But then she shook the idea away. As she said before, she was not the one with a problem. She refused to change just for the benefit of purebloods.
"You said you would not change how you feel about my kind. That it would mean to deny a part of yourself. And yet you demand the same of muggleborns," she told her. "Why should we be the one to change for your sake?" Hermione asked, meaning the purebloods.
"It's not just us…" Daphne said and briefly glanced towards Hermione's belly partially hidden by the table between them. "You are a woman… do you want to have children one day?"
Hermione's eyes went wide and her lip trembled. "Y- you're saying…" she stammered.
"It's not what you think," Daphne assured her, realizing that Hermione feared it would mean being barren. "The research is not clear but we know enough to tell it is far better for the magical child to be growing in a womb of a magical mother. You wouldn't want to lower your child's future potential by being what you are, would you?"
What she said was as personal as anything could get and hard for Hermione to accept. "What about half-bloods with one muggle parent?" she objected.
"If it's a witch and a muggle man, then yes, it could work," Daphne said with obvious distaste at the idea of a witch being with a muggle man in the first place. "The other way around… the success rate is much lower. There are exceptions but children born to muggle mothers are often non-magical even when fathered by a wizard." When Hermione looked at her skeptically, Daphne added. "Or do you know many people in Hogwarts with muggle mothers?"
Come to thing about it, Hermione didn't. She went through the list of people she knew to be half-bloods with one parent a muggle. Out of the students, she could think only of Seamus Finnigan but his mother was a witch and his father a muggle. The same with Voldemort and professor Snape. In fact, she could not name a single person she knew who was a halfblood and had a muggle mother!
"So if there is no magic in my body, then…"
"It's not nearly as great a risk as if you were a muggle, but yes. You increase the risk of your child not being able to use magic," Daphne confirmed her worst fear.
"What we speak of is obviously very controversial topic because researching it involves experiments on pregnant women. Very few works were written on this topic," Daphne said while glancing towards the library with a shudder. "However the population census speaks for itself. Much more half-bloods have magical mother and non-magical father than the other way around."
"So what can I do?" Hermione asked with a sense of hopelessness.
"There are some folk medicines which lower the risks," Daphne admitted. "But in the end, the only foolproof solution is to saturate your body with magic. It would both eliminate the risks for your children and stop purebloods from automatically viewing you with disdain."
Hermione nodded. "But how can I do that?!" she demanded loudly and eagerly.
"No, that's not how it's going to be," the blonde said resolutely as she wiggled a finger in her direction. "This is a family secret and we don't share it with just anyone. If you really wish to know, kneel before me and swear yourself as my servant. Only then will I tell you."
"Go to hell!" Hermione shouted back at once and without hesitation. She should have known where this would lead. Hermione was actually starting to believe her and now she felt like a complete and utter fool. In all likelihood, Greengrass made up the whole story. That along with the tea and biscuits and talks about babies… all designed just so Hermione would be desperate and emotionally vulnerable enough to actually submit to Daphne. In fact, she doubted a single world the girl uttered since they sat down in the library was truthful.
Daphne just sighed. "I forgave you for rejecting my offer in the third year… you had no idea what you were and why you should accept it. But now you do and you still dare to say no to me!" she exclaimed and looked at Hermione with renewed hatred before calming down. "So be it… perhaps you need more time to digest what you learned," Daphne said and was about to get up before she paused and said, "However, know that there will be some changes," Daphne warned her.
"What changes?!" she asked with a scowl, not particularly interested anymore in anything that lying and bigoted pureblood had to say.
The blonde smiled with that false sweetness of hers before saying, "First of all, I will arrange for some books to be delivered to you. More information on the subjects we discussed. You will read them all."
"I told you I am not interested in pureblood propaganda," Hermione replied, now more certain than ever. "And I don't care what you want," Daphne retorted. "You are my prisoner and you will do as I say. The second is that starting tomorrow, you will be earning your keep."
"What are you talking about?" she asked puzzled. "What keep?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Daphne said in a tone like she was talking to an idiot. "Housing and feeding you costs me money. You think I am paying for your survival only out of the goodness of my heart? Since you have no money to pay me back with, from now on, you will be put to work to compensate me for my expenses."
"Are you insane?!" Hermione cried out desperately. "You can't be serious." She could not believe Daphne Greengrass would make her pay for her own imprisonment.
"If you don't work… you don't eat. It's as simple as that," Daphne told after a while to which Hermione smirked and said, "I wonder how Harry would react to you starving me to death."
She expected the girl would immediately backtrack but to her disappointment, Daphne merely smirked. "I imagine Harry would hate it and demand that I feed you… and I would eventually oblige him. After which he would owe me even more."
Hermione's eyes went wide as she realized that Greengrass outplayed her again. She placed her in a position where she can either agree to work or give her one more thing to hold over Harry's head. She could not allow the latter and she refused to do the former. What third choice did she have? "I can pay you," she eventually said through gritted teeth.
"With what?" Daphne asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ministry has confiscated your vault at Gringotts. As for the money you had on yourself, that's all mine now. As is everything else you had when I bought you from the snatchers. You have nothing!" she informed her callously.
"Bitch!" Hermione cursed her. "Fine, I'll do it…" she conceded. In that moment, she never hated anyone in her life more than she did this girl.
Daphne was either oblivious to her hateful stare or chose to ignore it because she looked almost bored. "Let's get you back to your cell," she said as she stood up. "I've already let Harry wait far longer than I intended."
The mention of Harry combined with her passionate hatred for Daphne was the last straw for Hermione. "You think I don't know what game you are playing with him?!" Hermione said as she stood up to follow her, albeit completely unwillingly.
Daphne sighed in irritation and asked, "Yes, pray tell, Granger. What game am I playing?" she replied sarcastically. "I've never been psychoanalyzed by a mudblood before. It's a most fascinating experience."
"Oh, please, you're so obvious," Hermione said before explaining. "You have seduced him and now you hope to marry him!"
"WHAT?!" Daphne burst out in shock. "Have you lost your mind?!"
Seeing her seemingly genuine reaction, Hermione hesitated but just for a moment. Then she remembered that Daphne was an excellent actress as well as a liar. "Please… you're obviously thinking that marrying Harry will give your family legitimacy after fighting on the wrong side of the war. You also plan to use his fame to implement your policies!"
"Are you sure it's me and not you we are talking about?" Daphne shot back and Hermione felt a stab of guilt as she indeed counted on Harry's support with her future plans. But she knew that was different – Harry agreed with her plans. She knew that he did.
"It's not going to work! You might have him wrapped around your little finger but sooner or later, he will see right through you! You think he would let you discriminate against muggleborns? His mother was one for heaven's sake! Harry will never support your plans! He could never love a lying bigoted monster like you!"
Hermione barely saw the red beam of the stunner coming her way before everything went black.
After she stunned her, Daphne had the mudblood bitch thrown back into her cell. She removed her manacles as Harry wanted but otherwise made no changes to her accommodation.
As soon as the doors to the cell closed shut, Daphne practically collapsed against the cold stone wall of the corridor. She leaned against the wall with closed eyes as she worked through the mental exhaustion. The last hour was the most taxing experience of her life. All the things she saw in Granger's mind… all the things the girl said. Especially at the end. It was so very overwhelming.
What she saw in her mind somewhat confirmed all that she already knew – Hermione Granger was a spiteful damnable mudblood filth who was bossy, convinced of her own infallibility, and obsessed with being irreplaceable to the people around her. And any time she felt things were slipping out of her control, she became completely insufferable and would lash out like a rabid animal. The way she treated Harry right before their capture was simply horrible and Daphne was surprised the boy resisted slapping the bitch during one of her numerous self-absorbed rants.
Even before that, she saw how Granger routinely annoyed all her friends with her insane causes, like the house elf liberation movement. In all seriousness, the amount of crap that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had to put up with from her was staggering and Daphne was simply amazed the girl still had any friends at all. Especially such loyal and supportive friends.
But even worse was what Hermione Granger represented in the grand scheme of things – she pretended to be rule stickler but was actually an anarchist with revolutionary delusions who saw herself as some sort of messiah for mudbloods everywhere. If only half of what she wanted to change about the magical world really came to pass, it would be the end of Daphne's civilization.
She was also a criminal! As she went through her worthless mind, Daphne saw her commit crime after crime virtually every year since she came to the magical world – assaulting purebloods, brewing illegal potions, misusing time-turners, practically handing ministry official over to be tortured by centaurs, mutilating an heiress of a pureblood house, and lastly refusing to get registered with the Ministry. Daphne was puzzled by how she did not receive so much as a fine or at least been questioned for any of these actions. She suspected Dumbledore's interference played a part. All in all, it was clear that Hermione Granger was a danger to magical society that should not be released under any circumstances.
With all that said, Daphne could no longer bring herself to hate the mudblood girl as she used to. Instead, all she felt was… pity.
Granger was a horrible and dangerous person but was it really her fault that she was that way? In her mind, Daphne saw her early Hogwarts days. She experienced how Granger felt completely lost in the alien world without any guidance, friends, or hope. How she then desperately latched on to anything that brought her stability, be it her friends or her ridiculous ideas. Daphne was forced to consider a very unpleasant idea – that while Hermione Granger no doubt failed the magical world, it was possible that magical world also failed Hermione Granger.
'Oh, why did I have to dig through her mind?!" Daphne internally lamented, her head hurting as she leaned it against the cold wall of the dungeon.
It felt like Harry and the dark lord all over again. Before she began to question the boy, she was utterly convinced that the dark lord was a noble albeit somewhat controversial crusader of the pureblood cause. She could have just given the boy over and earn an eternal favor from the dark lord towards her family.
But it was not enough for her. She started talking with the boy and soon realized everything was different than she originally believed. It was a similar story with Granger. Before digging through her worthless mind, she was content in seeing the mudblood as evil without any redeeming quality. It brought her comfort to simply hate her for how she refused her generous offer in their third year and in the process insulted both Daphne personally as well as House Greengrass.
But now she got to observe how Granger saw that experience. And much to Daphne's consternation, in her mind, she was the good person with Daphne being a bigoted fool who discriminated against her. In Granger's memories, she saw her extending a hand in friendship towards her classmate only for the arrogant and prejudiced Slytherin girl to shoot her down in the worst way possible. And then she went on to make a speech about why she was inferior to her, finishing with the most outrageous offer imaginable. In Granger's memories, Daphne was the evil one!
It was absurd and not how Daphne remembered the encounter at all. She remembered the annoying mudblood with the very loud and grating voice daring to talk to her like she was an equal. She first reprimanded her for her faux pas and then explained to the girl exactly why purebloods were superior and what mistake she made during her approach. Finally, she then used that opportunity to extend what she considered a very generous offer for someone like Granger only for the mudblood to throw it into her face. As if House Greengrass was not worthy of her service!
The two different versions of the encounter kept grinding against each other in her head. Daphne desperately wanted to believe that the mudblood must have fabricated her memories but she knew the girl possessed no such capability. Which meant that her memories were also true!
Granger's reaction back then could at least partially be explained by the fact that she hasn't been properly explained what she was and how it predetermined certain role for her in the magical society. It was something that McGonagall should have explained to her when she first met the girl. In hindsight, it was obvious that part of the introductory speech would have been cut out under Dumbledore's leadership but Daphne assumed that studious girl like Granger would have read everything about the pureblood supremacy by the third year and have accepted it as a fact.
Instead, she knew nothing!
'She didn't even know what she was!' Daphne cried inside. The fact it was Malfoy of all people who first informed her of her mudblood status was alarming. Especially since he hurled the word at her like an insult instead of treating her like a human being, despite her inferior rank. It was the day when Granger made an oath to do something about muggleborn rights when she was older. It permanently shifted the girl's opinion against purebloods after that and she began to see muggleborn liberation as one of the single most important goals of her life!
'No wonder she refused my offer!' Daphne thought while cursing Malfoy's name. That idiot started Granger on her self-destructive path and Daphne unwittingly sealed it a year later. It would now be a total miracle for Granger to ever accept that purebloods were her superiors. Because from her point of view, they most certainly were not!
'If I only took her under my wings earlier… she could have been so great… my most loyal servant,' Daphne thought with regret and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She could never deny the girl was absolutely brilliant and very loyal to her friends. To imagine all that potential wasted made Daphne want to cry.
'Why did I have to dig so deep?!' she cursed herself again. It was all so much easier when she could simply hate Granger for what she was.
"Enough," she said to the empty corridor as she forcibly ended the pity party going full swing in her brain. For the moment, she would just have to take it step by step with Granger. She already arranged a 'reading time' for her each day during which the mudblood would learn all that she should have been told. Daphne hoped it would eventually open her eyes and make her accept what she was but she knew it would be very difficult.
The second step, and one that Daphne took with great urgency, was making sure that Granger does not go insane in her cell. Daphne sensed in her mind that the girl handled her captivity very poorly. The fact she was actually having nightmares about being murdered in her sleep were deeply worrying. In an ideal world, Daphne would let her go but she simply could not trust her. Not after she saw what the girl was planning.
'Minister Granger,' she mentally sneered at the insane idea of a muggleborn Minister of Magic.
Daphne knew that she could not release Granger but also knew that keeping her in the cell at all times would quickly destroy the girl's mind. It was for that reason that she ordered Granger to start working during her imprisonment. Daphne did not care about the expenses from housing her. But it did provide her with a convenient excuse as to why keep Granger out of her cell for hours at the time each day without it being seen as mercy.
'Showing mercy would be the worst I could do to her,' Daphne thought, knowing that any leniency on her part would ultimately hurt the mudblood's chances for becoming something better than she was right now.
She did not lie to Granger when she told her about the lack of magic in her body as well as in others of her kind. Every muggleborn servant of House Greengrass started as something painful for them to even look at but eventually their bodies became saturated with magic during their service. Looking at Sue Li, she could not even tell anymore the girl was a muggleborn. Granger could have the same but to do that, she would have to willingly submit. Forcing her into servitude would not be nearly as effective.
Daphne smiled sadly as she recalled telling the mudblood that increasing the amount of magic in her body was a family secret of House Greengrass. It was the only lie she told to the girl and only because she felt Granger would have an aneurysm if she learned the full truth in that moment. Still, she was certain Granger would figure it out eventually as the idea was not that complicated. Given the mudblood's preoccupation with the house elves, Daphne was surprised she hadn't already…
When she finally climbed out of the dungeon and arrived to the study room, she found Harry Potter pacing nervously. He went to her as soon as he saw her.
"You were gone so long," he said even as he took in her expression. She saw a worry on his face. "Are you alright? What happened?" he asked.
"Hermione's fine. I haven't killed her if that's what you were afraid of," she spoke little testily and instantly regretted it. Especially since Harry did ask about her well-being first. Something that filled her with a disproportionally strong happiness given it was likely nothing but a common courtesy. And yet she could not shake her last conversation with Granger from her mind… the one where she basically accused Daphne of planning to seduce Harry into a marriage.
Granger's words started Daphne thinking. Was that really what she was doing? True, she has been flirting with Harry. It started as an interrogation tactics at first. But even when they agreed to work with each other, she continued with it. Harry was a handsome and powerful wizard so talking and flirting with him was never a chore. In addition, Daphne could tell that he was attracted to her and teasing him was so much fun.
Boys in Hogwarts were always falling at her feet ever since she was thirteen years old and ultimately, even Harry Potter was no different in that regard. It was mostly annoying as they all wanted her for either her body or her family name. Daphne went on dates to Hogsmead with a few of them but mostly as a courtesy befitting their family names rather than mutual sympathies. She would discard them as soon as propriety allowed. But unlike her many would be suitors, she actually liked Harry… she wanted him to fall at her feet.
But to marry him?!
As an heiress of House Greengrass, her marriage was a giant headache for her. She knew that she would have to marry sooner rather than later and that her husband would have to accept certain conditions which were difficult for many men to accept. The most important being that she would be keeping the Greengrass name and their children would take it as well. It was also expected that her future husband would have no problem with her being in charge of House Greengrass. And lastly, on a personal note, Daphne expected her future husband to be a powerful pureblood wizard with a good family name.
In conclusion, finding such a man would be arduous and possibly impossible task. Or so she thought. It did not even occur to her before but now that Granger outright called her out on it… was it possible such a man was standing right in front of her?
"That's not what I was thinking," Harry rightfully protested her earlier snappy response. She shushed him with a simple, "I know. I am sorry," she said with a soft smile.
Daphne then stepped even closer and within his reach. "I'll tell you what happened later. For now, can you just hold me?" she asked and without waiting for an answer she placed her hands and her head against Harry shoulder. Without a pause, the boy's arms automatically circled her upper body as Harry Potter pulled her into a hug.
It was completely natural from both sides and Daphne felt the cloud of depression dissipating from her mind as it went on. Not only did she feel better in his arms, she felt safe and…
She mentally compared Harry against the list of things she wanted in her future husband even as he gently stroked her back.
Harry Potter was a powerful wizard as well as an heir of an old, well-respected pureblood family. That was a definitive plus. He was a halfblood but with both parents magical. Daphne could live with that as long as their children would be considered pure. Harry also already demonstrated that he did not mind listening to her words and was seemingly willing to let het take the leading role.
One might say that she gave him no choice in the matter, especially in the beginning. But he still could have refused to cooperate or at least express his disapproval in some way. Especially since she returned his wand to him, she feared Harry would try to escape or refuse to listen to her anymore. But contrary to her fear, Harry still obeyed her wishes despite having the power to resist. And there was more. It was something of an inside joke between them but when Daphne suggested that he should show her proper deference by the virtue of her being a pureblood, Harry seemingly obliged her without protest. Daphne was surprised how much it pleased her when he obeyed her like that. She was verily excited at the prospect of having powerful wizard like Harry, who could possibly wipe the floor with her, completely under her thumb and submitting to her will.
But to marry him?
They were so very different from each other as they grew up in literally different worlds. She knew that their opinions conflicted on many issues. So far, their only serious disagreement was over Granger's imprisonment but Daphne knew it was not going to be the last. Could they really make it work despite all that? Would Harry even want her knowing who she was and what she wanted to do in life?
"You told me I wasn't a monster," Daphne whispered as she leaned back and they looked into each other's eyes.
"You are not," Harry said resolutely and in his voice it was like an absolute infallible truth. She wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe herself. But after today, she had doubts. "I am not sure, Harry, I-"
The boy gripped her shoulders. "Listen to me, Daphne… you are NOT a monster!"
"You don't even know what happened!" she accused him but did not shake off his hold. "What I saw-" she was going to describe what she saw in Granger's mind but could not because in that moment, Harry planted his lips on hers.
Daphne experienced a happy pulse from both her magic and body as it happened. And then Harry's hand slipped into her hair, pulled her even closer and she was no longer thinking at all.
Her last rational thought before she leaned into the kiss was that, as much as she hated to admit it, Hermione Granger was right about one thing.
Harry Potter was just perfect for her.