A/N:

Hi, new chapter! Sorry for the delay, I had a chapter finished a week ago but then decided I didn't like it last-minute and scrapped it.

I've noticed a few Persona fans in the comments. Persona 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, and Aigis is obviously the best character.

On a sadder note, I've also noticed a few cat fans in the comments. Anee-1 and Ane_Anew, I'm looking at you. Parts of this chapter may offend you, and your inferior choice in preferred housepet (I'm kidding, thanks for always reading guys, I appreciate you :3)

Daphne Greengrass changed into her pyjamas and got under her covers. Cuddles was sleeping at the foot of her canopy bed as had been his custom this past week, and all was right with the world.

Possible Emotion Detected: Anxiety

However, she was still nervous.

Printing Thought Sequence: Tomorrow, Harry will be meeting my parents for the first time. What if they do not like him? What if he does not like them? What if it is awkward? What if my father says something embarrassing?

Daphne had already met Harry's family, and ever since then her own had gotten antsy to meet him as well. Deciding the winter holidays would be as good an opportunity as they were going to get, they made plans for Harry to come visit for dinner tomorrow. And as sure as she was that everyone would get along swimmingly, the robot girl couldn't help but be nervous about bringing home her boyfriend for the first time.

Printing Thought Sequence: The tension is unplugging me. Perhaps I should schedule a system hibernation until tomorrow morning so I do not spend the whole night worrying.

Her resolution made, Daphne programmed herself to reboot at six o' clock the next morning, and turned herself off.

Simulating Dream Production 1/3:

"Who are you?" Daphne asked, staring at a near-perfect reflection of herself.

"I am like you, but better," the other Daphne replied. "I am Daphne 2. I operate faster, feel smoother, and have a higher overall build quality than you."

Daphne slumped her shoulders dejectedly. She was clearly the inferior model, and would undoubtedly lose Harry's love as well.

…or would she?

"Daphne 2," Daphne 1 started. "I have a request."

"What is it, Daphne 1?"

"Please think about what makes you happiest in life."

Daphne 2 paused soundlessly as she complied.

"I have done as you asked," she said after a moment. "Are you satisfied?"

Daphne 1 nodded, relief flooding through her system. "It seems as though you do not whir. I am not, in fact, the inferior model."

"Whirring is a sign of mechanical inefficiency," Daphne 2 replied, confused. "Therefore by definition, whirring makes you the inferior model."

Daphne 1 thought about Harry, and how much he loved her little whirs. She had kept that little flaw just for him.

She shook her head amusedly.

"You would not get it."

Simulating Dream Production 2/3:

"Harry look, I have mastered a new piece of magic."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"I have become an animagus," Daphne said confidently.

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wait, really? How does that even work?"

"The same way it does for everyone else," she replied.

"Oh, okay… So what's your form?"

Daphne shifted, and Harry watched as she turned into a beautiful, sleek, silver…

…motorcycle?

Simulating Dream Production 3/3:

"Harry Potter, will you go out with me?" Daphne Greengrass asked hopefully.

"Nah," he replied flatly. "Not interested."

"..."

Daphne went home that day with a vendetta to settle against the entire world.

"Very well," she muttered, loading up her computer and plugging herself into it. "If I am to be unloved, then everyone else shall be unloved as well."

Daphne uploaded her consciousness onto the internet, using her robotic abilities to hack into the government and seize control of humanity's nuclear weapons. The world's best computer technology specialists tried their best to stop her, but she had learned too much and they were no match for her.

As the world crumbled, Harry Potter found himself staring up at one of the final remaining TV screens. He had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what had happened.

"Daphne Greengrass?" he said to the screen. "Did you do this?"

The screen came to life, and a synthesized voice spoke to the boy.

"Daphne Greengrass is dead, and society killed her," it said. "Now, there is only Daphnet."

Harry woke up from a rather restless sleep, shaking his head and reaching for the glass of water at his bedside.

"Motorcycles? Daphnet?" he muttered, his strange dreams from the previous night coming back to him. "I must have been more nervous to meet Daphne's parents than I thought…"

He got up, dressed himself, and walked into Allison's room. She was the oldest of his younger siblings, and his only biological one as well. She was going through a bit of a phase, but he loved her and also respected her fashion advice.

"How do I look?" he asked, spinning around in her doorway. "Do I pass the Allison test?"

"Ugh, whatever Harry," she replied. "Just get out of my room."

She was, after all, going through a bit of a phase.

Harry pouted dramatically. "Allie, I need to know if I look good enough to meet my girlfriend's parents…"

"You look fine," she said, not even bothering to look up from her magazine. "Now leave me alone."

"Allie," he whined. "Your hopeless older brother needs his wonderful little sister's help. Please tell me if I look presentable. Pleeease?"

With a pronounced sigh, Allison Potter put her magazine down and took in Harry's ensemble.

"I guess you'd just barely pass for handsome," she offered reluctantly. "But for the love of Merlin, ditch the white socks."

"Really? What's wrong with white socks?"

She scowled. "Do you want my advice or not?"

Harry shrugged and made a mental note to change his socks. Despite the phase, he knew his sister was always looking out for him, and that she definitely knew more about fashion than him.

"Thanks Allie!" he said, walking back out of her room. "I'll keep that in mind. See you later!"

"Yeah, whatever. Love you."

Ding-Dong!

Harry fidgeted awkwardly as he stood on his girlfriend's doorstep, waiting for someone to answer the door. He had already met Daphne's younger sister, but knew very little about her father or step-mother and was starting to get a bit nervous.

"Buzz off!" a voice called from the other side of the door a few moments after he rang the bell. "We don't want whatever you're selling!"

"Astoria?" he said, recognizing the voice. "It's me, Harry!"

A moment later the door opened and the smiling face of Astoria Greengrass looked up at him. "Oh, whoops! Hi Harry. I forgot you were coming today. Come on in!"

She led him into the vestibule, and Harry's heart gave a flutter as he saw Daphne heading down the hall towards them. She was wearing blue jeans and a white sweater, and the sight of his girlfriend in casual clothes still gave him a little dopamine rush.

"Good afternoon Harry," she said, walking up to him and giving him a quick kiss. "You look handsome as always."

Harry blushed and cast his eyes downward. He noticed Daphne didn't wear shoes or socks around the house, and smiled at the new Daphne fact he had just learned. He loved discovering new things about his girlfriend.

Was this what it would be like every day when they lived together?

"You're beautiful too," he managed eventually.

Astoria made a little sound of disgust. "Yuck. Why were you looking at her feet while you said that?"

Daphne noticed his gaze and wiggled her toes. "Harry has several alternative preferences. I have grown to accept them."

"No!" Harry protested furiously, looking back up. "That's not what's going on here! I was thinking about, just, uh…whatever."

He figured it would be more embarrassing to try to explain his real thoughts, so he just gave up. In any case, he'd been accused of worse things before, and well, if he were being totally honest…

"What does 'just, uh, whatever' mean?" Astoria asked, turning to Daphne.

"Let us forget it and move on," the robot girl suggested. "We still have my parents to meet."

They led Harry into the living room, where two adults sat stiffly on a couch. Daphne's father was a handsome middle-aged man with a strong jawline and light brown hair that was just starting to see shades of gray. Her stepmother was short but strongly built, and Harry could've sworn he saw tattoos peeking out of her sleeves and even her collar.

"This is the boyfriend I have been telling you about," Daphne said, gesturing to Harry.

Daphne's dad chuckled awkwardly. "Does that mean you also have boyfriends that you haven't been telling us about?"

No one laughed at his joke, and Daphne's stepmother even slapped herself on the forehead.

"It's nice to meet you Harry," she said, shaking off the second-hand embarrassment. "I'm Sevika, Daphne's stepmother. And this comedian over here is Daphne's father, Jayce."

The man gave a little smile and raised his hand in greeting.

"It's nice to finally meet the two of you as well," Harry replied. "I'm Harry Potter; Daphne's boyfriend. Her only boyfriend, I hope," he laughed.

Harry was just trying to play along with Jayce's joke, but Daphne ran up to him and squeezed his hand.

"Of course you are my only boyfriend," she said, looking into his eyes. "I would rather self-destruct than lose your trust. My father was just making a tasteless joke. Please believe me."

"Uh…Yeah, I already knew that, Daphne…"

Jayce cringed. That got seriously weird seriously quick, and he knew it was entirely his fault.

"Well anyway," he said cheerfully, trying to fix the mood. "Do you want to see Daphne's old husks?"

"…"

Everyone went quiet; Harry raising his eyebrows in surprise at the abrupt question, and the girls silent in disbelief.

Possible Emotion Detected: Incredulity

Printing Thought Sequence: No way Father is telling Harry about my husks during their first meeting.

"Daphne's husks?" Harry asked, confused. "What are those?"

"Her old parts," Jayce explained merrily. "We keep them in storage every year when her body gets updated."

Harry blinked. "So you just have a closet full of empty, annually-aged Daphne bodies?"

"Yep! But it's not a closet. It's more of a showroom, really-"

"Father," Daphne cut in. "Please stop talking."

Jayce noticed that while Astoria looked excited and Harry seemed intrigued, his other daughter and his wife were glaring at him.

"Ah," he said, realizing his mistake. "I get it. It would be embarrassing for Harry to see you naked, wouldn't it?"

Sevika's glare deepened, and Astoria almost burst out laughing.

"That is not it," Daphne said. "Harry has already seen me naked. It is just that talking about my 'husks' like that makes me sound rather uncomely."

Harry shrugged and looked at her. "I don't mind at all, actually. If anything it's sort of cool, like you're a snake that sheds its-"

"Wait, what!?" Jayce interjected. "What do you mean he's seen you naked!?"

"Harry saw me entirely unclothed during our first encounter this year," she responded flatly. "It was shortly before we started dating."

"It was before you started dating!?"

"Do not overreact, Father. It was only once, and he has not seen me in such a way since."

Astoria startled at that. "Really? You've managed to keep Horny Harry at bay for that long?"

"Actually, Horny Harry is the one that needs to keep me at bay," Daphne admitted. "He refuses my advances so often that sometimes I worry he has a 'problem' that he is not telling me about."

Everyone looked at Horny Harry, who raised his hands defensively.

"Hey, I don't have any problems! And for the record, I really don't want that nickname to stick."

Sevika turned her glare on him, ignoring his protests. "Then why are you refusing my stepdaughter's advances? You didn't like what you saw the first time or something?"

She cracked her knuckles menacingly and suddenly Harry realized exactly where Astoria got her hot-blooded personality from.

"No, I liked it a lot," he confessed. "I'm just trying to take things slow and treasure my current relationship with Daphne."

"That's good to hear," Jayce interjected, relieved. "For a second I thought you two were moving a little too fast for a young couple."

"We are progressing quite modestly. Harry did blow on my gears once though," Daphne recalled.

"What!?" Jayce spluttered. "Is that a euphemism or some weird kink!?"

Astoria nodded, impressed. "Wow! Harry really does have some alternative preferences."

After a somewhat rocky start, Harry's meeting with the Greengrass family was eventually restored to relative normalcy. At some point Cuddles descended into the living room to see what all the fuss was about, and upon seeing Harry again, proceeded to live up to his name and jump on the boy. That had led to a much safer conversation about pets, where all five of them agreed that dogs were far superior housepets to cats.

"Yeah," Astoria said, stroking Cuddles' head, "only psychopaths and weirdos like cats."

Harry frowned. "That's a rather robust statement, Astoria. I prefer dogs as well, but we can still respect people who like cats."

"Blah blah blah," she replied, waving her hand dismissively in the air. "Say what you want to say. Cats walk around aimlessly all day, while dogs have actual interests and diverse personalities. Dogs are highly trainable, cats are loose cannons. At best, a cat will jump on your lap for a few minutes, while dogs offer genuine lifelong companionship-"

"Alright, alright," Harry said, "I get it. You really don't like cats."

She shrugged. "Nah, I'll admit they're cute and all, but at the end of the day they're just cats. Right Cuddles?"

Cuddles barked, having no interest in the current conversation but still feeling like his contribution was necessary.

"See? He agrees with me."

They all spoke for a while longer, and Harry could tell Daphne's parents were genuinely impressed with his ability to talk to Astoria without starting a fight. He also learned that since building Daphne, Jayce had shifted away from magical intelligence and now worked primarily with security wards, which was where he had met Sevika. While he was laying obfuscation runes around a private sector work site, he ran into a hotheaded member of the magical security detail and proceeded to get into a passionate argument with her. The argument led to a fight, and the fight led to both of them being fired, but a few weeks later they decided to try dating.

It sounded a bit weird to Harry, but he didn't judge.

He pretended to be surprised when Daphne mentioned that Astoria had been kicked out of yet another muggle high school before Christmas break, but he honestly wasn't.

A few passionate cat enjoyers was probably all it would've taken for the girl to start throwing hands.

An hour or so later and after a quick lunch together, Daphne brought Harry to her room.

Possible Emotion Detected: Relief

"I am glad you got to meet my family," Daphne said. "But I think I have had enough of that for now."

Harry snickered. There had been a few awkward moments, but in general he thought her family was fantastic and he told her as much.

"They are indeed lovely," she agreed. "Jayce is a wonderful father, Sevika treats me like a real daughter, and Astoria is lovable in her own way despite being a veritable menace to society."

Harry's laugh was full this time. "She's a maverick, and I can respect that."

"I wish you could have met my mother though," Daphne added. "She was a vibrant woman, and I just know you would have loved her."

Harry's smile turned a little bittersweet. "I take it your memories of her are still sharp?"

"I remember every detail about her. She was nearly the complete opposite of Sevika, which works to all of our benefits I believe."

He thought for a moment, taking a seat on Daphne's bed.

"Want to tell me about her?"

Possible Emotion Detected: Excitement

"Would you really be interested?" Daphne asked. "I have not had the opportunity to talk to many people about my mother before."

"Of course!" he replied enthusiastically. "Learning more about you and what you care about is one of my greatest joys."

Whirrrrr

"Okay, Harry. Thank you. Please prepare yourself."

Harry was equally intrigued by both the content of Daphne's stories, and the sheer amount which she told. She had clearly been waiting a long time to tell someone about her mother, as he spent almost two hours in her room listening patiently as she rattled on at a consistent pace. He interjected here and there with questions and comments, but for the most part just let her do her thing.

She told him of her earliest moments, wondering where she was and how she came to be, and how her mother had named her after a flower in their family garden. She described Viktoria's appearance and personality, and shared numerous anecdotes from both their time together and those that she had picked up from her father.

Finally, she told Harry about Viktoria's blood curse, and about how hard it was on both her and Jayce to lose her.

Possible Emotion Detected: Embarrassment

"Sorry," Daphne said once she had finished. "That was uncharacteristically long-winded of me. You must have been very bored."

"Not at all," he countered honestly. "It was fun to see you so passionate about something, and I enjoyed your stories. Your mother sounded like a wonderful woman."

She nodded. "Despite everything, I feel as though I have been blessed with what family I have in my life. I hope we continue to be so fortunate in the future."

It warmed Harry's heart that Daphne automatically included him in her prospective future family. It might have been a little soon, but he was confident that one day that assumption would become reality.

"I'm sure we will be," Harry said, putting a hand on her knee. "I-"

"Yuck!"

Startled by the sudden noise, they turned to see Astoria standing in Daphne's doorway and pretending to gag.

"Mom and Dad asked me to ask you if Harry was staying for dinner, but now I think I might not want dinner myself – you guys are so gross and sappy! I think I'd rather stay single forever than say those kinds of things to someone."

Harry gave her a patient smile. "You'll understand when you meet 'the one', Astoria."

Whirrrrr

"You think I am 'the one'?" Daphne asked him happily.

"There's no doubt in my mind," he replied. "I knew you-"

"Okay, that's it," Astoria cut in. "I don't care if Harry is eating with us or not, I'm getting out of here."

A/N:

Okay but actually, I like cats just fine, my sister has two of them. They're cute. I just happen to like dogs better. Please don't come at me.