Cyrus Greengrass was considering suing Dumbledore. What kind of headmaster could not find a single student in his own school?
He double checked the tracking charm and his daughter was seemingly still in Hogwarts… Yet no matter where he looked there was no sign of her! He even went over all the secret corridors he knew back from his days at school! And he knew a ton! His days of studying were usually accompanied by making various deals and exchanging secrets - they were a kind of a currency back in the day…
The aurors walking around were also seemingly not finding anyone here… Heck, perhaps they even suspected that Dumbledore was lying, and Sirius Black was not in fact at school at all!
Well, at least Daphne should be here - a quick glance towards the tracking parchment, but no changes were seen… Just that she was somewhere in school.
The house elves in the kitchen did confirm sightings of the girl as she came in and cleaned out all of the food supplies they had left - not that there were much left - as just a few teachers were staying over for summer there was no need to replenish diminished food supplies until September…
Cyrus could not wrap his head around that too. Food supplies? Just why? Was she helping that wanted man… Sirius Black? As far as he knew, the Greengrass family did not have any relations with Blacks for quite a few generations…
Still, all of that was hours ago… heck he hasn't even seen an auror for a while!
Checking the parchment again he could see that Daphne was still in the school… But where?
Suddenly he halted as he heard very familiar footsteps and then he quickly turned around.
And here she was, his sweet little girl just casually walking towards him. As if she knew where he was and was the one with a tracking charm - after all, he was currently in the middle of quite a secret corridor he paid dearly to learn its existence when he was young…
"Daphne… " - a relieved whisper of her name escaped his lips.
"Hi dad" - his daughter replied, and gave him a wave with her hand.
Cyrus looked her up and down and stopped on her face… Frankly he hasn't properly seen her since sending her off to school back in September… Yes, she did come back with Astoria - but he was busy bringing her to some family medi-witches for checkup on her condition that he hardly paid much attention to his oldest daughter… Just bickered at her a bit regarding feeding untested potions on her sister… Not really spending time to really look at her.
Now as he gazed at his daughter, he could tell that she was way different. She seemed to have grown far more than a year in school - at least mentally… Those eyes looked deep and knowledgeable. How did that happen?
They stood there in awkward silence until the man stopped his unnecessary musings, rushed forward and hugged her while his worries poured out of his mouth - "What were you thinking! I was so worried about you!"
The girl returned the hug, but frankly she was still confused about how he came to be here, so she couldn't help but inquire - "Didn't I leave a note that I will be away tonight? Why did you go out looking for me?"
Cyrus broke the hug and looked straight into her eyes.
"As far as I know you only have one friend, Daph, and that friend is Tracey Davis." - Cyrus noticed his daughter averting her eyes for a moment - "And she came to visit shortly after you left… Also having no idea you had any other friends! I first thought you made new friends at school… But how could even Tracey not know anything? She's like your sister! And with her being so noisy, I find it hard to believe you could hide a friendship from her"
Daphne's eyes widened as she connected the dots - "Ah!"
"Ah indeed. So when I looked up your location, imagine my surprise that it was some muggle district I never even heard about! And then shortly after… it was filled with aurors on a mission to capture Sirius Black? How did you get caught up in that anyway? I overheard he never had a trial so all charges against him might be bogus, but still, how did you even know him? Did you meet with him at school? Is he your secret friend?"
The girl pondered for a moment, but in the end decided to just go with the truth - "Umm. That is because he's Harry's godfather" - her fathers eyes blinked in confused as he did not get it just yet, so her cheeks blushed as she revealed her 'new' relationship - "and I am… dating Harry"
Cyrus was seemingly frozen in shock, for a whole minute! But eventually he came back to reality and asked for confirmation, as if hardly believing his ears. As far as he knew, Sirius Black could only be godfather of one Harry he knew.
"Harry… you don't say… Harry Potter? The boy who lived?"
Daphne cringed at the mention of her boyfriend and at the same time at her fathers current state… What was so surprising about it? Wasn't Harry just another student her age, just of a different house?
"Yes.. but don't call him like that, he hates that press-name of his"
"I see… But why did you never mention him! Even your best friend Tracey has no idea you have a boyfriend now! What if he has bad intentions towards you! More so, due to him being Harry Potter my business deals with those pureblood families will suffer! Unless… no one else from school knows, do they?"
Daphne had to roll her eyes like that. It was like her father to worry and overreact on anything regarding family and business…
"It should be fine, a few others like Sirius Black, Tonks family, Dumbledore and Hermione knows - she's another friend I made, a muggleborn, and yes 'proper' Slytherins have no idea about any of my new relationships"
"Good, that is good. Thought that boy" - his warm gaze turned sharp for a moment - "would need to have a chat with me, hopefully in near future" - his expression blanked as if he suddenly recalled something important - "Ah! This whole thing started… As, I was about to ask what you fed Astoria as she's somewhat better after returning from school. It does not seem like her condition is improving further - but it's a small step forwards!"
Daphne smiled at that - it was good to know her sister was not worsening in her absence - "I am sure I left it among the parchments in my room back home…" - her cheeks flushed - "Perhaps I did not tidy it up properly… Yeah it should be among the mess on the floor… Though theory indicates further doses would have diminishing effects at best - not enough to cure her…"
"That will still let her live a few years longer! Don't diminish your accomplishments! I am so proud of you Daph! Did Severus really teach potions that well lately? I still remember hearing your complaints about him last year…"
The blonde girl rolled her eyes - "He still sucks at teaching anything useful. Heck even reading textbooks is more worth it than listening to him deducting points from any house that is not Slytherin" - Cyrus winced at her berating the current head of Slytherin house but knowing no one else was here to hear he did not comment and continued listening - "I just did… a lot of reading lately. Trying to help Astoria in any way, in fact I was still working on it before the headmaster informed me you were in school looking for me…"
Her father snapped at the mention of the man - "That old coot! And he was saying he had no idea where to find you! He must be going senile due to old age!"
"Um. He really did not know where I was until quite recently… " - Daphne's lips twisted into a smirk - "But I totally agree about him being a senile old coot"
They both chuckled at that.
"I guess today is quite late, so as you wish regarding your stay…" - his tone suddenly turned more serious "But tomorrow I expect you and your boyfriend to be at Greengrass mansion before dinner" - Cyrus relaxed and continued muttering under his nose - "I was considering marriage between you or Astoria with Malfoy's son, Draco… Though you did not have good views on him I thought Astoria was a good match… But if your relationship with Harry gets in the open I don't think that's going to happen anymore… As well as any business deals with 'dark' families.. Well I guess so called 'light' families would be more open to business now as well as muggleborns…"
Daphne's face grimaced, remembering her interactions with Draco, so she interrupted his lampooning - "What's so good about Draco Malfoy other than his family being loaded?"
Cyrus sighed - "they have a ton of businesses running, they are investing their money, I see their wealth just growing in the future. If one of you girls married into their family, you could live like queens, not having to work, having everything on a silver platter… You know I only think for the good of the family"
Perhaps they were tired of just standing in one place, the father and daughter duo slowly started walking randomly across the castle - it was in fact easy to walk entire loops like this, after all staircases moved and rotated and there were tons of shortcuts all around…
Cyrus broke the short silence that appeared as both of them were probably lost in their own thoughts - "Enough about that. Instead… Tell me what exactly happened last night."
Daphne smiled and started - "I am not too great at stories. Suffice to say, Harry shared with me how to access one very special room in school… "
"Hmm. I would rather hear from you, my dear! I will also tell you of my own adventures! I had the most fantastic thing ever, some dish called 'cheesecake' - have you ever had one of those? Ah, did I mention I dyed my hair pink and was forced to lie on the grass for half an hour while looking for you?"
Daphne laughed in amusement, before she realized her father was not joking. Then their discussions and exchange of stories continued as they slowly made laps through the castle. Daphne had a lot to tell about her school year, Cyrus himself injected his own stories as he told them 'back in my days'.
Back in the room Andromeda was having a discussion with Sirius and her husband, whom Harry flamed over just recently.
There was also a magical mirror tilted towards them from which you could see a team of goblins from Gringotts, who also participated in the discussion.
Sirius' trial was surprisingly quite soon - in a few days in fact, so they were going through everything. Yes, he was innocent… But trials in Britain were heavily biased.
If you were well connected, you could claim innocence due to being under imperius or another silly reason - on the other hand, for those who were not liked, even memories were put into doubt - a skilled mind arts practitioner could in theory put fake memories into your mind. Verita-serum, after all, just made you say the things you thought were true.
So they had to prepare their arguments against silly claims like that. Perhaps also bribe some troublesome trial participants, put some pressure on others, threaten some - trials were unfortunately like that in Britain….
While the adults were busy with the upcoming event, the others were spending time doing other things.
Nymphadora was having fun trying out the combat dummies she recently learned the room could provide, while Hermione was neck deep in books as usual.
Harry was reading as well. Of course, he did glance at the Marauders map from time to time to check on his girlfriend.
And like such, a few hours had passed, and Daphne came back to the room.
"Hey Daph. How did it go?"
The girl just beamed - "I had a pleasant talk with my father. It's been a while since I did that… I truly missed him across all those loops…" - her mood somewhat dropped - "I told him about us… He was surprised but he insisted that we would chat with him tomorrow about it… Heck he might even try to separate us if we don't give a good impression"
"I am glad to hear that. " - Harry hugged her and gave her a quick kiss - "At least he entertained the idea… We can just try this over a few loops if needed be to get his approval" - his lips twisted into a cheeky grin - "if we ever escape this time loop, I won't have to kidnap you anymore it seems "
Daphne giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck - "Not if but when! Have more faith! Still… were you really planning on doing that?"
The boy smirked back in response - "Of course! Provided you wanted to…" - his expression turned more thoughtful - "Still… What if we end up doing the easy way out? With me… losing my memories? What would you do then, Daph?"
The girl chuckled and gave him a cheeky reply, like he himself just did, while tracing circles on his chest with her fingers - "Silly, of course I would just have to seduce you again!"
A loud harrumph from Hermione made them separate with blushing faces as they realized they were getting carried away… Even Sirius was looking their way with a weird grin on his face… And Nymphadora was even snacking on popcorn?
"You know" - the black haired boy broke the awkward silence, no longer minding others in the room who might be eavesdropping - "I never actually visited your home all this time, not even once! While we were together… for quite a few years now. I am curious how it would look like on inside, especially your room"
Daphne suddenly remembered the mess in her bedroom… But she brushed it off - Harry likely won't care about it… much. But then she thought for a moment and realised she had never been to his home either!
"Harry, how about… we visit your place too?"
Harry glanced at Sirius then back at Daph - "You already met my godfather, I don't really have any family besides him… And you"
Daphne blushed - "that's so sweet of you… But you know what I meant, I heard so much about your other relatives but never met them… I figured seeing the place you grew up would be interesting too"
Seeing her adorable face Harry could only relent - though he suspected it would not be a pleasant encounter - "Fine… We can stop there along the way - but don't expect a welcoming visit…"
Daphne was happy about it, so she gave him a quick peck on the lips. Then her eyes glanced at the book on top of Harry's 'reading pile'. Her eyes quickly ran across the long title and she arched an eyebrow - "Have you been reading on bloodline curses as well?"
"Yes, this one covers blood wards, I started this earlier before Dumbledore visited, it kind of covers how they are created - figured it would help in removing that tracking on me too, you know I never fully trust Dumbledore, better learn this - I will hopefully not ever need this… But just for some peace of mind, I would rather know this than not"
She sighed - "Yeah, you're right, the old coot could try to attack your mind the moment you leave the room…"
Harry grinned at that nickname - "Headmaster old coot… Suits him"
They both chuckled at that and then Daphne picked one of the books from her pile and plummeted besides Harry to read.
It was a nice way to spend the evening.
Petunia Dursley was humming - she just finished packing her luggage for the summer vacation. They gave that boy… a few days to get back here - just in case. But it looked like he won't be coming this summer.
Perhaps she would have been worried about her nephew under other circumstances, but it was her sister's child… And her sister was the special one, a witch - which apparently still got you killed in this day and age…
Frankly the less she had to do with the so called 'magical world' the better - it only brought trouble.
She climbed up the stairs to check on Dudley - the boy was still packing his stuff and oh dear he had quite a lot of it… Did he really need all those items for the journey? She sighed, and still… He did not even take a spare change of clothes - typical of him, perhaps she and Vernon spoiled him too much… But she couldn't help it. That cute little boy was her child.
And one final time she checked the boy's room - the room that used to be Dudley's second bedroom - just in case he magically appeared here again, but no, it was empty.
Just before closing the door, she caught a glimmer of black flames in the corner of her eyes, in panic she screamed and quickly turned around, only to see some sort of creature was in the room, the sight of which made her scream end as she fainted and fell to the floor - but not a thud was heard, as magic softened her fall and let her gently lay on the floor.
Daphne just blinked, looking at Harry's aunt, clearly expecting some negative reaction to their arrival… but something like this? Really?
The boy sighed after he morphed back into his human form, then motioned with his hand to present his relative - "This is Petunia Dursley, my aunt… Told you it was not a good idea coming here, Daph"
And it was at that moment that the doors were slammed open and Vernon Dursley rushed into the room, face flushed and a gun in his arms. His worry was quick to turn to fury as he saw the boy in the room and connected the dots. Perhaps only the thought in the back of his mind about the consequences of actually shooting and what his neighbors would think held back his fingers from the trigger.
"BOY! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THIS TIME? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY WIFE?"
While inhaling for more shouting he noticed Petunia's rising chest - she was breathing, likely just unconscious. It was not in fact the first time she fainted due to shock - which happened a few other times, thanks to living with this freak of a boy… Then he caught a glimpse of Daphne in the room and swallowed the rest of what he was prepared to shout. Then groomed his mustache a bit. Who was this pretty girl?
His son just rushed into the room and Vernon noticed, he too was staring at the girl with sparkling eyes. The same gaze when he really wanted something.
Harry broke the silence as he waved his arm in greeting, while also wand-lessly transfiguring dust nearby into some ammonia smelling salts to wake his aunt up.
"Hello Dudley, Uncle Vernon" - he turned back to his aunt who just got awake and was sneezing while looking around with wide eyes - "Aunt Petunia. I just came for a short visit - just because my girlfriend insisted so, let me introduce you - Daphne Greengrass"
Daphne did a curtsy bow as she smiled at them and waved - "It's nice to meet you"
Dudley was clearly heart-smitten as he clutched his heart and let out a quink like a pig before hiding behind his uncle in embarrassment, still keeping his eyes on the beauty.
Vernon and Petunia thinked on the same wavelength - 'how could that freak get a girlfriend first before my boy?'
Still, the awkward silence soon ended, as they put two and two together… If Harry was attending freak school, the only girlfriend he could find there… Was definitely a freak too!
Still, shouting more at this point felt pointless, so they just briefly informed Harry on their vacation plans, snickering to indicate that if he stayed here he could just find a summer job to make some cash or stay with Madame Figg, before leaving the pair alone. Dudley seemingly wanted to still stay, but his father dragged him away - clearly not wanting any relationships between freaks and his own son.
Daphne hasn't met that many muggles in her life…. Frankly, almost none knew she was magical… But still, Dursleys were… just weirdos, so she looked around instead.
Frankly there was not much to see in Harry's room - just lots of second hand clothes, a lot of Dudley's broken toys, some other broken furniture… They never let him get rid of any of that as it might be 'useful' for them later on…
Daphne was kind of lost for words after the brief encounter with her boyfriend's relative and looking around… This did not feel like a personal room at all! More like… a cell of sorts? Wait, were those actual iron bars on the window? What the hell?
"How could you live in this place?"
Harry motioned towards the door - "This is quite good actually, compared to my first 'room'"
Daphne's eyes widened. She recalled a few memories she got from him when they practiced mind arts…. A particular dark and tiny place where he lived…
She hugged him as she whispered in his ear - "Oh poor Harry… Let's get out of this miserable place"
Harry could only agree. While he could show her his first 'bedroom' - frankly he doubted he could even fit in there anymore, after all he was no longer a small child… So he reached out his hand and grabbed her hand, then they both disappeared in a twist of magic.
There was not even a pop as the duo appeared in a spacious room inside Greengrass mansion - Daphne's bedroom in fact.
The room of requirements did provide a training ground for apparition upon asking - of course one could only teleport around the room itself, so there were limitations, but you could still learn a lot.
Both Daphne and Harry seemed to have learned the trick of silent apparition while teaching Hermione most of the lessons they learned back in the training centre, reading various books on the subject also helped.
Harry was smiling as he looked around the room with interest. While Daphne was… frantically showing random items away. She did not really think she would be back here this loop… Hence she never bothered cleaning up her room - it was truly quite a mess.
She now inwardly regretted ordering house elves to never organize her items… Now she had to reap what she had sown…. Even if that was… before all those loops through time…
There were various posters on the wall - mostly muggle bands, yes she did like music… But it seemed quite too much… One particular pair of posters caught her eyes as the girl frowned. Why was this here? She glanced at Harry from the corner of her eyes and he was looking at it too, a smirk on his face.
"Chudley Cannons, eh? You never admitted being a fan, Daph"
The blonde girl felt more blood rushing towards her face.
"Those are Tracey's! She randomly hangs some when I am not looking… I have not taken them down yet… Never noticed this one in the past... I was here the whole summer too!…. Damned Tracey!"
Harry was enjoying looking at the myriad emotions that kept switching on her face, as he calmly replied - "Sure sweetheart, whatever you say."
Shortly after, his gaze stopped on a pile of clothes near her bed as he grinned and arched an eyebrow, deciding to add more fuel to the fire - "Are those Tracey's as well?"
Daphne was beet red as she shoved her clothes… and undergarments into the wardrobe and continued frantically looking around the room herself - on lookout for more potential future embarrassment as she snarled back to her boyfriend - "Oh Tracey's… you don't like me anymore, Potter?"
Her voice came out somewhat weird - even if she intended it to be cold - likely due to the blood that was still coloring her face, so they both chuckled at that - they both knew they were just teasing each other for fun. It was a nice way to lift the mood after that drama at Dursleys.
There was not much else to see in the room, so one thing led to another and they started making out on Daphne's bed.
Still, even that did not last long - a loud knock on the door interrupted their activities, so they quickly fixed their clothes and turned towards the door.
"Come in!"
Astoria Greengrass wandered into the room, and they exchanged greetings. The girl then walked around, staring at the boy who lived from all sides - perhaps she always wanted to do that, but just had to maintain her Slytherin image in public.
"I still don't see what's so special about you, Harry Potter." - she smirked and playfully touched her lips - "by the way, you have some lipstick here" - then she enjoyed seeing both Harry and her sister turn red like tomatoes, while Harry quickly cleaned his face.
"Ok, looks good now. Father is awaiting you two downstairs, good luck Harry I think you match Daph quite well, I hope you pass" - and the girl was already leaving the room, muttering something about new inspiration for a painting…
The pair took a few moments to get rid of any wrinkles out of their clothing, then they slowly started walking downstairs. Slow enough for Harry to look around and admire the place, while thinking that his girlfriend really had a nice family, who actually cared for her.
Cyrus Greengrass was having a small dinner in one of his business rooms. It was in fact almost family dinner - across from him were two empty seats - he was just awaiting today's guests, or more like one guest and his precious daughter.
Frankly the man did not expect much from the boy - from what he could quickly research about him, he seemed like the good sort, but being muggle-raised half-blood did make one wonder how good could he actually be. Most muggle-borns or muggle-raised he ever met did not have what it takes to lead a magical family - Daphne was after all, his heir - he would approve the friendship regardless, but dating? Marriage? He had to be good enough first!
As always, there were ways to check things. He was pleasantly surprised by Daphne's improved mental defenses - he could not breach in wand-lessly anymore! He had made a few attempts during yesterday's walk through the school, and was even more surprised that she noticed him nearly instantly, frowning at him and pushing him away - that's what a capable young witch or wizard should be like!
As soon as the duo entered the room, he locked his eyes with the boy who lived, suddenly invading his mind. He chuckled as if he anticipated this - muggle raised wizards usually never even knew what occlumency was… So he strolled inside and looked around.
For some reason he had a funny feeling that the library… was somewhat off. But how could that be? He frowned and reached for the book of current thoughts… It was empty - no, in fact, there was a single line in here.
It's not polite to invade minds like this, could you let us sit down first? I would rather eat rather than stand awkwardly while you fool around like this, father-in-law.*
Shocked, he quickly left the boy's mind and noticed both Harry and Daphne giving him deadpan looks. Even though his mind 'invasion' took but a moment for them to walk to their chairs from the entrance… His years of experience controlled his facial expression from changing… But some blood still uncontrollably colored his face… So he controlled his body and just invited them to sit down, while inwardly thinking… Perhaps this boy was fit for his daughter after all?
As they slowly started eating, Cyrus was amazed to see that Harry somehow avoided all the serving plates which had anything 'extra' in them, like verita-serum. But he hadn't even drawn his wand? Unless… Wandless casting at that age? Come to think of it Daphne was also doing the same…
His words he and house-elves painstakingly set up since the morning were also showing… nothing unusual. No one in the room was under any magical potions. Nor other influences…. Even the rare memory monitoring ward that looked for traces of evil practices of leggilmency did not detect any traces of mind alteration - something like forcing love against one's will left a scar in the mind, which such wards were capable of detecting.
Chatting with them he was also amazed that the boy knew a lot for his age… Perhaps too much even. He could hardly find a topic he was not well versed in, which frustrated him somewhat…. Harry was well-read about everything it seemed… Even things like businesses. In fact he himself noted down some of the muggle books the boy was citing into his mind's library for future reading… To be so well-read at this age…
Cyrus could only grudgingly accept in his mind that this boy… No, this young man was a prodigy, and if even he was not fit for hind daughters hand… then no one was.
And so the dinner continued - though now in a more cheerful mood. As the man himself admitted on accepting the boy, much to the joy of his daughter. Ah youth!
As the conversation shifted to more 'family' topics, Cyrus found himself beyond amused seeing the two children blushing, nearly choking on food and averting their eyes, when he asked questions like 'how many children are you planning?' with a straight face. Yes, he finally had a way to get some amusement out of this! His daughter's flushing face was especially adorable…
Still, the time passed quite fast and eventually the dinner came to an end as he let the two love birds retreat to Daphne's room for the night.
Satisfied with his now son-in-law Cyrus groaned as he went inside his mind's library to organize his notes on business deals… Having a so-called half-blood marry a Greengrass would make his deals with all those dark families… either ruined, un-profitable or likely a loss. And here he wanted to stay grey and support both sides, profiting between them…
He suddenly frowned as he saw an unfamiliar book just lying on the floor in his library… He picked it up, and there was only a sentence, albeit now in familiar writing.
P.S. When trying to invade others minds, beware that your own is wide open! - your son-in-law, Harry Potter*
'When did he?' - Cyrus' thoughts were pure confusion, but once he calmed down, this just further reaffirmed his worries for Daphne's future… It looked like Harry Potter… Truly was capable beyond his years.