"I'll leave this matter in your capable hands, Minerva," the headmaster of Hogwarts declared in his bored, disinterested voice.

Inside her mind, the deputy headmistress rolled her eyes. If only she received a galleon every time she'd heard Severus Snape say those words the past year, she'd be a very rich woman by now.

Not that she was truly complaining, of course. Like the rest of her colleagues, she'd been absolutely dismayed by Snape's appointment as the headmaster of Hogwarts... and not just because he'd violently murdered his predecessor and Minerva's personal friend. Despite Ministry's interference in the last few years, the position of the headmaster afforded its holder enormous amount of power over what went on in the castle, meaning a known murderer and a death eater holding the office was a disaster of the worst kind.

Was Snape going to turn the school into a dark parody of itself? Were Hogwarts to become nothing but a training camp for death eaters? Were they all going to be sacked and replaced by the dark lord's people? And what about the students? What will happen to them?!

Fortunately, it turned everyone's fears were largely unfounded. So far, nobody was sacked under Severus' reign and no large changes to the way the school operated were introduced by the new headmaster. In fact, as far as she and her colleagues could tell, Severus Snape was doing absolutely nothing in his new position... or if he was doing something, Minerva wasn't seeing it.

It has been her experience some men desired power just for the sake of power and would fall into lethargy after finally getting it. But Severus Snape never struck her as the type and his motivations were a great mystery to Minerva. Perhaps the man was suffering from a midlife crisis... or he simply wasn't interested in being a headmaster. But then why ask for the job in the first place? From several sources, Minerva knew the dark lord had offered Severus a choice of high ranking positions, including those in the Ministry and the potion guild.

So why ask for Hogwarts? Why ask for the one job he clearly didn't want?

In any case, it surprisingly worked in their favour as Snape's complete apathy for his new job had effectively blocked many harmful changes coming in from Voldemort-controlled Ministry. With every new missive coming in, the new headmaster would say he'd look into it and then do nothing like usual. And as for the internal Hogwarts problems, he'd usually tell people to bring them to Minerva's attention and to stop bothering him with trivialities.

Of course, not everything was going well, not by a long shot. The muggleborns were gone, imprisoned or on the run, reducing the number of students nearly by third. Many halfbloods and purebloods were also missing, having rather moved out of the country than face Voldemort's rule of terror.

It would break Minerva's heart every time she'd see the quiet and half empty classrooms, filled with laughing children just a year ago. And of course, there were also the elder Carrow twins and other assortment of low-lives they unfortunately had to deal with on daily basis. So it's not like it was the good old Hogwarts she knew and loved. But all in all, Minerva had to admit it could have been worse.

It helped immensely when Snape had decided to keep her on as the deputy headmistress, especially as both the Carrows were interested in the position. When they'd complained to the new headmaster about it, Snape's explanation was he needed someone with actual teaching experience who wouldn't be running to him with problems every other day.

Minerva was quite surprised by such reasoning and even felt a little satisfaction at her competence and experience being recognized. But given the current headmaster wasn't interested in doing his job, his sole motivation for keeping an experienced person as his deputy was probably for said person to do all the work for him. It was as simple as that.

"Not this time, I'm afraid," she informed him after Snape once again tried to make her take care of his responsibilities as the headmaster. "Miss Greengrass was very explicit in her letter... she wants to discuss the matter with the both of us."

Snape's facial expression spoke volumes on how much the idea of actually dealing with students annoyed him, even if she was a Slytherin and a pureblood. "Who does the brat think she is?!" he spat angrily.

This time, Minerva rolled her eyes openly. "The brat, as you've so eloquently put it, is the new head of the Greengrass family," she reminded him. "More importantly, her family is a large contributor to the school budget and supplies. We can't risk loosing their support," she stressed before adding. "Not to mention denying Adrian Selwyn's favourite grandchild could cost us his support as well. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that with the muggleborns no longer attending, our budget is stretched as it is..."

"I still don't see any reason why both of us should be meeting with her," Snape said with a scowl and just a little hint of suspicion.

Privately, Minerva agreed with him... but she had to make sure Snape would attend no matter what. "Who knows," she lied through her teeth. "Perhaps she just wants to demonstrate her importance among her new peers," she suggested with a shrug before adding. "The point remains, is denying Miss Greengrass five minutes of your time really worth throwing Hogwarts into budget crisis?"

"Alright!" Snape finally barked out in resignation. "Have the girl come to my office the day after tomorrow at noon... sharp," he ordered before adding. "The brat better not be late!"

He then stood up from his chair. "I believe that is all, Minerva?" he asked and when she didn't say anything to the contrary, Severus Snape turned on his heel and walked out of her office, his cloak billowing behind him. Their meeting was now concluded and the new headmaster was off to do... whatever it was he was doing these days. It was possible Snape wasn't even at Hogwarts most of the time as he was rarely seen by students or even the staff.

After he'd left, Minerva spent several minutes just sitting in her chair and staring into nothing, her mind deeply troubled. Finally, she called out to the empty room, "Dobby!"

The elf instantly appeared next to her table and looked up, the unspoken question shining in his big eyes. "It's done," she simply told him and watched as he promptly disappeared again.

Now what exactly was done, you're probably asking? That was something Minerva still wasn't really sure about.

It all started few days ago when the same house elf popped into her office and gave her a letter in an unmarked envelope, claiming it to be from one of her former students.

As soon as she opened it, Minerva recognized the handwriting and knew who the former student was... or at least pretended to be. Her first instinct was to dismiss it as a provocation or some twisted test of her loyalty. After all, it's not like it would be too difficult to fake it – just steal one of the essays Harry Potter had handed in over the years and then train his handwriting.

However, showing an uncharacteristic level of insight, Mr. Potter had assumed that would be her reaction and in the first paragraph of the letter, he claimed the elf carried an unequivocal proof of his identity.

Minerva flicked her eyes from the letter to look at the elf and briefly panicked as she saw him holding a wand towards her. But he was holding it the other way, with the handgrip turned in her direction. Minerva cautiously took it from him and immediately knew it was Harry Potter's wand. She'd watched the boy use it for six years during her classes and had enough magical sensitivity to be absolutely certain it was the same wand. She could also sense he'd been personally holding literally moments ago.

Satisfied the letter was really from Harry Potter and that he wasn't tortured into writing it, she continued to read with interest... only to get more confused by the minute. It seemed Mr. Potter was asking for her help with some task Albus had left him to do and which was supposed to spell the end of the dark lord's reign of terror. Of course, Minerva had already assumed that was the case and it was not the confusing part. No. What was most puzzling was Mr. Potter's actual request, or rather two requests.

The first one was to arrange for Daphne Greengrass to be received for a private meeting with her and headmaster Snape. Pending her approval, she would be receiving an official request from the girl to that end. The second was to make sure they had total privacy and the portraits were frozen as soon as a certain code word was mentioned. And that was it. Mr. Potter provided her with no additional details other than stressing how important this was, leaving Minerva with many questions and concerns.

The most important being the highly mysterious involvement of Daphne Greengrass.

Although the letter did not explicitly state it at any point, the nature and wording of Mr. Potter's request heavily implied he and Miss Greengrass were working together...

In that instant, Minerva tried her best to recall everything she knew about the Slytherin girl. Sadly, despite having been teaching both the Greengrass sisters for seven years, it wasn't all that much.

Daphne Greengrass consistently ranked close to the top of her year but she always made sure not to draw too much attention in classes. She would correctly answer any question a teacher would ask her but unlike Miss Granger, for example, she never voluntarily raised her hand. Unlike Mr. Malfoy, she also preferred not to vocally express her opinions among the general public, making it difficult for Minerva to assess what kind of person she was. For all she knew, Daphne Greengrass was a nice and kind girl, but... Minerva was worried.

Although she made a point of never judging a child based on the actions of their family, Minerva could not ignore the fact virtually all the girl's relatives were known or suspected death eaters or that her family name was notorious among the pureblood supremacists for times immemorable. She could not help but fear growing up in such an environment would have left its mark upon the girl. Not to mention at some dinner party, Adrian Selwyn went so far as to declare the Greengrass heiress to be his favourite grandchild, much to the envy of the rest of his brood.

What did it say about Miss Greengrass when she was the personal favourite of one of the most ruthless pureblood supremacists in Britain?

Now, as far as Minerva was aware, Daphne Greengrass had never done or said anything offensive while in school. Unlike some of her Slytherin classmates, she did not seek open conflict with the other houses. But over the years, Minerva could recall catching the girl staring at some of her muggleborn classmates with cold disdain, in particular on Miss Granger. And then there were some unsavoury rumours of her recruiting muggleborns for nefarious purposes...

In conclusion, on Minerva's personal list of unlikiest people to be working with Harry Potter, the Greengrass heiress ranked pretty high. Frankly, she had trouble imagining one of her lions anywhere near her.

She supposed it was possible the girl's opinions radically differed from the rest of her family or that her father's sudden death made her reconsider some of her values. Minerva would just have to wait and see.

Given her misgivings about it, perhaps the safest course of action would have been to burn the letter. Ever since Dumbledore's death, she'd virtually abandoned all her resistance efforts. Not out of cowardice but because she felt obligated to protect the students of Hogwarts first and couldn't afford to do anything to threaten her position there.

But she couldn't in a good conscious reject Mr. Potter's request, especially if the boy was correct and her help could really mean the end of Voldemort. And so she'd agreed.

She just hoped Mr. Potter and Miss Greengrass knew what they were doing. In fact, they better be hashing out the details of their plan right now!

On the other side of Britain, far away from Scotland and Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass was busy putting her dress back on after having spent the last fifteen minutes getting ploughed by Harry on top of her office table.

"We really need to find a better way to control ourselves," Harry mentioned absentmindedly in midst of pulling up his pants.

Daphne paused and looked at her boyfriend incredulously. "Look who's talking!"

"What?"

"You've started this!" she accused him with an amused expression.

Harry raised his hand to protest but then hesitated as the past fifteen minutes came back to him. "Fine, I probably did," he grudgingly agreed. "Didn't hear you complain, though," he pointed out, "What was it you were screaming?" he asked before pretending to speak in her voice, "Fuck me, you filthy halfblood! Fuck me!" Harry imitated her before adding with a smirk. "Been holding onto that for a while, huh?"

Daphne's face went red and she looked at him crossly. Harry spoke the truth as she had indeed yelled those words out repeatedly in the heat of their lovemaking. But it was still no excuse for this insolence and she made a mental note to make him pay for it later. Perhaps by tying him up and then testing his vaunted self-control... for many hours on end. 'Yes... we'll see how long it takes for you to beg, Harry,' she thought vindictively. However, for now, she just shrugged and said, "What can I say? For an inferior halfblood, your cock is quite satisfactory."

"Only satisfactory?" Harry asked with mock hurt in his voice before raising an eyebrow and stepping towards his pureblood girlfriend. "Then maybe I need to give it another try?" he told her with a winsome smile as he took her in his arms.

Daphne laughed at his eagerness but placed her hands on his chest to push him away. "Enough, Harry... we've work to do!" she reminded him while suppressing her chuckles.

To be honest, she wouldn't mind another go but Harry was correct with his initial assessment – they really needed to control themselves better as lately, they had literal trouble of keeping their hands off each other. It was one of the side-effectives of their ritual and should fade away after few weeks. Also, it's not like they've turned into unstoppable sex maniacs. They could still restrain themselves if they focused. But quite often... they chose not to.

"Oh... right," Harry said with a mixture of genuine and faked disappointment as they sat together on the couch and cuddled. "And here I thought we could try for triplets today," Harry then joked, reminding Daphne this was the second time today they had sex.

Daphne laughed at his comment. "You know... I don't think that's how it works," she told him before doing some quick thinking and adding, "Besides, with the contraception potion you've been taking, even singlets won't be happening just yet."

Harry nodded thoughtfully in agreement. While they both wanted family, they weren't about to start one before the war was over. "Wait a minute!" Harry suddenly spoke up as Daphne's words fully filtered into his brain. "What contraception potion? I am not taking any potion..."

Daphne froze before twisting around in his arms to look at him with an incredulous expression. "Surely you jest?" she asked but Harry was looking at her with clueless and panicky expression. She pushed away from him. "Are you fucking kidding me?! We've been having sex several times a day... for days, Harry! And you've not been taking the potion this entire time?!" she cried out.

She watched as cold sweat covered Harry's body. "But... but... I've thought you were taking the potion!" he told her, his green eyes filling with horror. "Are you – did we?" he continued stammering before suddenly, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Now, as far as Daphne knew, she kept the same expression of outrage on her face the entire time. Not even a hint of smile. But somehow, Harry still saw right through her in that moment. Like he was able to pick up on the waves of amusement bubbling just below the surface of her mind.

"You... you're making fun of me!" Harry correctly guessed even as he shook his head in exasperation.

The expression of outrage and horror had melted of Daphne's face entirely and her lips twisted into a grin. "Oh, I never get to surprise you with anything anymore!" she complained with a pout before laughing hysterically. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

"I can't believe you just did that!" Harry said, shaking his head. "For the record, getting your girlfriend accidentally pregnant is something guys don't like to get pranked about," he told her grumpily which prompted her to laugh even more.

"Noted for future reference," the blonde replied cheekily before snuggling towards him once more. Harry might complain but Daphne could tell he was actually impressed by her deception. He found her deviousness sexy even when on its receiving end.

"Based on your calm demeanour, I presume you're taking the potion then?" Harry asked after a while.

Daphne was taken back by this question and felt a little annoyed. But only until she's sensed the honest curiosity on Harry's mind with which he spoke the words. "I constantly have to remind myself you were raised by muggles," she finally answered with a sigh. She propped her head against the couch's rest with her hand before adding, "Or else I'd have been insulted by your question and your reaction earlier."

"W-what do you mean?" the dark haired boy asked in genuine confusion.

Daphne looked straight into his eyes and said. "Harry, I'm a witch. A pureblood witch! I'm not some stupid muggle or mudblood sow who gets pregnant whether she likes to or not... I'm the mistress of my own body!" she declared proudly, tossing her hair as she put her chin up before proceeding to explain some finer points of magical female biology to him.

Points Harry had no idea about; a fact for which Daphne didn't blame him. After all, how could he? His mother was dead and he didn't have any close magical female relatives left. He was a boy and so he wouldn't have been given the talk from the school nurse either. Daphne supposed he could have asked the mudblood at some point but she had trouble imagining Harry and Granger talking about menstruation. The two of them used to be close but not that close.

As a result, it fell on Daphne to explain to Harry that witches like her could get pregnant when they chose to. The magic she possessed gave her control over her biology to a point where women like her were no longer slaves to their monthly cycles.

"I went through that twice before my mother taught me how to stop it without damaging my bones," Daphne revealed to him. "And twice was more than enough, I tell you!" It was hard for Daphne to imagine the poor muggle women going through it half their lives although she heard their healers had devised some remedy as well. "It's one more reason why I'll never understand Granger's decision," the pureblood girl then added with disgust.

"You mean..."

"Yes, you need to have magic in your body to be able to have this level of control," Daphne confirmed. This logically led to her explaining how magical pregnancies worked and how they differed from the mundane ones Harry was somewhat familiar with. "Pregnant witches can tap into their child's power," she explained the most important part.

As a result of this connection, being pregnant with a magical baby actually made witches more powerful, strongly contrasting their muggle counterparts who turned very fragile in their final stages. Coupled with being just as powerful as wizards magically, being self-sufficient during pregnancies was another important reason why magical societies have always been pretty much gender-equal compared to muggles.

With that said, certain social expectations still existed among Daphne's people. Hell, even her own father was hoping for a male heir at some point! Some of these expectations were inherited from their non-magical ancestors and were part of their biology. They no longer made any practical sense but their distant echo still remained. And then of course, there was the spillover from the muggles as the separation of their worlds was never absolute. Mudbloods would also always be a source of muggle cultural stereotypes affecting their society.

There was also the fact magic interacted differently with men and women, amplifying rather than negating their respective biological instincts. To put it very simply, whereas wizards tended to push the boundaries of magic as far as they could, witches were aiming more towards balance and synthesis. This was best evidenced by the fact there were about twenty-times as many dark lords as there were dark ladies throughout history. Witches were also naturally more inclined towards some areas of magic, such as healing, herbology, and care of magical creatures. Divination was also largely dominated by women as their connection to the raw magic usually ran deeper than for the wizards.

"You know, after the war is over, I'll just spent a month in the library… reading," Harry declared afterwards and Daphne smiled in sympathy. Not knowing some of the things she took for granted bothered Harry a lot. In the future, she would do her best to help him with learning everything he'd missed as a result of his muggle upbringing. Unfortunately, for now they had a bigger fish to fry.

"Let's recapitulate the plan…" Harry suggested next and Daphne nodded.

With professor McGonagall agreeing to help them, they were soon going to once and for all find out the true loyalty of Severus Snape. Personally, Harry still thought the man was nothing but a bitter murdering bastard. But even he had to grudgingly admit the amount of evidence which hinted to the contrary was slowly but surely mounting. At the very least, there was clearly something more going on with Snape than meets the eye.

First, there was the fact Daphne was absolutely certain the doe Harry had met in the woods was Snape's patronus and Harry had no reason not to believe her. This meant Snape had effectively delivered the sword of Gryffindor into his hands and by doing so, immensely helped Harry on his quest as the poisoned sword was the safest way of destroying horcruxes.

So why would he do that? Why provide him with the exact weapon he needed to destroy Voldemort? Daphne speculated Snape could be playing both sides with this and Harry reluctantly acknowledged it was a real possibility. The pale bastard was certainly sneaky enough to pull something like that off. But then there was the most recent piece of puzzle which came from Mrs. Susan Davis, the mother of Daphne's good friend Tracey.

Many years ago, Susan had been an orphaned muggleborn girl who was taken in by the Selwyns and raised as their loyal servant. During that time, Susan also became life-long friends with Julia Greengrass nee Selwyn, the daughter of current lord Selwyn. At the age of eleven, Susan was sorted into the Hufflepuff house in Hogwarts where she would catch the eye of the Davis heir few years later. Needless to say, it became quite a scandal once their secret relationship was found out. Fortunately, even though she was a muggleborn, Susan was very loyal and fully accepting of pureblood supremacy. It also helped Davises themselves were descended from muggleborn servants of the Greengrasses not too long ago. Eventually, both families allowed their match.

But as fascinating as hearing about the woman's background was for Harry, the important part was that Susan had been something of a supreme gossip girl during her seven years in Hogwarts. Her friendly Hufflepuff nature gave her good rapport with all four houses and it was widely believed she knew everything that went around the school… especially if it involved a boy and a girl locked together in broom closets. It was therefore quite fortuitous Daphne had decided to ask her friend's mother what she knew about her former classmate and the current headmaster of Hogwarts.

And she did tell them… even if Harry still had trouble believing it. But Daphne assured him Susan Davis was trustworthy as she has been friends with Daphne's own mother since they were little girls. And since Harry trusted his girlfriend, he was forced to entertain the seemingly impossible notion – Lily Evans and Severus Snape were good friends, possibly from before starting Hogwarts. And as if that thought wasn't disturbing enough for Harry, Mrs. Davis also mentioned Snape had always seemed to want something more from Lily than mere friendship…

"My mom and Snape," Harry spoke, feeling a shiver even speaking the words out loud. "That's just wrong on so many levels!"

"Oh, is the idea of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin falling in love so strange to you?" Daphne cooed at him cheekily.

"Touché," Harry replied before they laughed together. As usual, Daphne made a good point. Harry supposed when it came to love, nothing was impossible. But then again, it was Snape they were talking about... Snape!

Fortunately, before the bastard managed to confess his feeling to Lily, something happened between them and they've stopped being friends. Mrs. Davis never found out for sure what it was but Harry had a very good idea – James Potter happened. His mom and dad had finally got together, causing Lily to drop Snape's sorry ass!

'Good one, dad!' he thought. Harry knew his father could be a bully but if it had prevented Snape from touching his mom with his ugly pale hands, he might as well have been a saint.

Suddenly, he started laughing as he realized something.

"What is it?" Daphne asked him curiously.

"Something my aunt once told me. She mentioned some awful boy telling my mom about dementors," Harry explained and then laughed again. "I thought she was insulting my father but if mom and Snape knew each other from before… the awful boy might have been Snape!" It was probably the first time Harry wholeheartedly agreed with his aunt.

Daphne's face scrunched up at the mention of his hateful muggle relatives but she agreed it was quite possible. "Let's recapitulate what we know, then…" she suggested.

"Your mom and Snape were friends. He was in love with her," Daphne narrated her version of the events as she understood them based on the available evidence. "So when Voldemort went after your parents and killed her, it made him furious enough to switch sides. He wanted revenge and knew the best way to get it was to work with Dumbledore, the only major opponent of the dark lord. He's still working with Dumbledore… even now," she concluded.

Harry sighed at that. Daphne still operated under the assumption Dumbledore had faked his own death with Snape's help and was still alive. And while Harry knew his old mentor was certainly capable of such a feat, personally Harry didn't think that's what happened.

"I have an alternate theory," he spoke and when she beckoned him to continue he said, "Snape was friends with my mom and he was in love with her… but it was totally one-sided," Harry stressed with an angry hiss before continuing. "So when she got together with my dad, it made Snape insane with jealousy. And he hated both of them… and me… ever since. Being a strong believer into the power of love, Dumbledore thought the love he had for my mom changed him but the truth is Snape has always been a hateful bastard and he murdered Dumbledore in the end."

"Either of these theories could be correct, Harry. There isn't enough evidence to decide," the blonde acknowledged unhappily. "But I guess we will know soon enough."

"Agreed. We need to deal with this," he told her. "Hogwarts is way too important for your plan to leave unsecured."

"Our plan, Harry," Daphne corrected. "And you were right as well. We simply cannot allow the children to be exposed to any fallout, regardless of whether we succeed."

Harry smiled blissfully as they've reached a perfect agreement. In the past, he would have been too naïve to understand why a power place like Hogwarts had to be under control if they hoped to take the country back from Voldemort. And Daphne… she would have failed to understand why protecting the student's lives was Harry's number one concern. She wouldn't put magical children in danger needlessly but the success of the plan would have been what truly mattered to her.

But not anymore. Harry felt like they've both done some major personality grow since the day the snatchers brought him to Greengrass manor. And after their recent night time activity in the woods, he was certain of it as he could actually sense Daphne's moods and impressions. They were still their own persons but the essence of their motivations and morals was now flowing between them in perfect unity. The gaping chasm between the two worlds they grew up in was still there but there was now a wide and sturdy bridge built over it.

"And what about what Ron suggested? Do you agree?" Harry asked next and felt his girlfriend tense in his arms.

"It's a good idea," the blonde reluctantly acknowledged. "An excellent one, actually. Ron really has good head for strategy," she said and Harry nodded.

During their meeting earlier, it was Ron who had made the bold suggestion Hermione could actually help them with what they were planning…

Up until now, Daphne Greengrass categorically refused to involve the muggleborn girl in any of their plans. She went so far as to discourage the two boys from sharing any information with her. In short, Daphne did not trust Hermione at all. She already viewed her as inferior because of her blood status. But Hermione's refusal to submit and embrace pureblood supremacy also made Daphne see her as worthless and potentially dangerous.

Ron knew that and he desperately wanted to change the pureblood girl's perception of their former friend, realizing that if Daphne at least viewed Hermione as a useful asset, it would greatly improve her future prospects. Daphne immediately realized what Ron was up to with his suggestion and normally, she would deny him.

But Ron's idea was good… too good to ignore.

"We'll see if she agrees to cooperate," the pureblood finally said, her voice filled with uncertainty. "What I'm worried about is…"

"… she'll purposefully mess it up," Harry finished for her and they shared a knowing look.

It was something he was also worried about, to be honest. Did Hermione hate the two of them so much she would sabotage their plans? Go as far as to help Voldemort by doing so? In the past, such thought wouldn't even enter Harry's worst nightmares. But their last talk had laid bare to him all the terrible qualities Hermione Granger possessed. Harry could not help but expect the worst from her from now on.

"Exactly," Daphne said as their eyes met. "Harry, should she do that, I won't be able to go easy on her anymore. At the very least, I'll have to put her back into her cell…"

There was a worry in her icy blue eyes as she said that. Ever since the ritual, Daphne could truly understand what Hermione's friendship used to mean to Harry. She still viewed the muggleborn girl with nothing but disdain, but also felt guilty about her actions causing Harry to lose a good friend, something far too precious in this world.

"You will do no such thing, Daphne," he told her with unusual firmness.

The girl looked up at him with surprise and slight worry. "Harry?"

"I don't think she's as bitter as to actually help Voldemort's cause just for the chance to hurt us," he explained, shaking his head before adding. "But if she is, you won't have to deal with her anymore, love," he promised and at Daphne's questioning gaze, he squeezed her hand in reassurance before declaring, "If it really comes to it… I'll throw her in a cell myself."

Daphne stared at him with misty eyes, deeply touched by his words, before saying, "I really love you, Harry. You know that, right?"

Harry smiled as he pulled her even closer. "Yes… I know."