This chapter has not been edited, apologies for any SPAG errors.

Daphne Greengrass was certain, if one were to ask her teachers about her, she would be considered a bright, if not exceptional student. When Professor Snape had taken points from her in his office - the night she'd interrupted Harry's 'remedial potions' - it was only the third time in her five years at Hogwarts that she'd lost any. She'd certainly never had any cause to be sent to the Headmaster's office. In fact, she'd not so much as spoken with the man.

And yet, here she was, not even a week into her summer holiday, seated in front of him, quailing under his hard stare.

"I'm afraid I'll need to insist you answer the question."

"We're- Harry and I, we're together."

Dumbledore smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I confess I am far too ancient to claim to understand teenagers, but I have spent a half-century at Hogwarts. A sudden relationship with you seems rather out of character for Harry, if you don't mind me saying."

What business was it of his, anyway? "You weren't really around all that much this last term. Sir."

"That may be, but my associates tell me your arrival at Privet Drive wasn't expected. How exactly did you learn the location of Harry's relatives?"

At least she had a ready answer for that. "I sent him an owl and followed it on his broom."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I'm aware it could be considered a minor violation of the Statute. I'll pay the fine."

"That's hardly the issue."

"And he shouldn't have to stay with those disgusting muggles, regardless! They're horrid, living in filth and squalor!"

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat, stroking his beard while he regarded Daphne. Eventually, he spoke again, "You spent the last three days with Harry. No doubt his living situation seemed strange to you. I assume muggle practices and cultures must be alien and frightening, given your background."

"Strange? That's not the word I would use. Why hasn't he been taken away from them?"

Dumbledore paused, seemingly weighing how much to tell her before he responded. "The decision of where to place Harry in 1981 was made with his safety in mind. His muggle relatives provide the basis for magical protections of immense strength." He reached out, plucking a lemon drop out of a bowl on his desk and popping it into his mouth. "Magical protections you took a great risk running afoul of."

"Are you talking about your guards? Because the one 'watching' Harry was passed out when I arrived."

"I am referring to the enchantments around the Dursleys' home, formed from his mother's sacrifice for Harry. They are the basis of a ward system so fearsome that even Lord Voldemort dares not approach. A ward system," Dumbledore held her gaze meaningfully, "that would prove instantly fatal to anyone who arrived with ill intentions towards the residents of Number Four, Privet Drive."

"You mean if I- well, doesn't that just show my intentions are good?" She felt beads of sweat break out over her forehead. The risk she'd taken was monumental! If the enchantments had judged her in the wrong way, her campaign to save Astoria - along with Daphne's own life - could have ended very abruptly.

"Now - I've answered your question, I'd like you to answer mine. The truth, this time, Miss Greengrass. How did you find Harry's home?"

"I told you-"

"-A lie, yes. Most suspicious, given your claim you lack any ulterior motive," Dumbledore reached into his desk, withdrawing two envelopes and sliding them over to her. Daphne recognized her mother's handwriting on both, the letters addressed to her. "There is an owl redirection ward contained within the protections at Harry's home. Any post from unauthorized senders while he is in the muggle world will instead arrive here."

'Uh-oh' "You have no right to intercept his letters like that!"

Her deflection went completely unheeded, but she had to try. "I'm afraid I must insist. How did you learn Harry's location?"

Daphne drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair, her leg bouncing up and down nervously. All the while, Dumbledore's flinty blue eyes drilled into her. "It was a spell. I found it in the library, it led me to him."

"Any tracking charms on Harry's person would be disabled by the protections around the house. I'm growing impatient, Miss Greengrass."

"What do you want me to say?" she demanded, her fear loosening her tongue. "I looked in the library and I found a spell in a book on magical hunting techniques. I cast it on one of his hairs, and it led me right to him! I don't know why the enchantments failed, how could I? I didn't even know there were enchantments!"

"What was the spell called?"

"It was the- the Spoor Echo Charm, something like that. The incantation is indago."

The Headmaster raised one hand and Daphne instinctively flinched. All that happened, though, was a quill zooming into his hand and a blank piece of parchment unfurling itself before him. He noted the spell, wrote a few more words, then his phoenix hopped over, grabbed the parchment and disappeared in a flash of flame.

Was he reporting her to the authorities for the use of underage magic? "I cast it on the Express, I didn't break the law!"

"The note was to Madam Pince, to verify if that spell is actually found in the library."

He removed his spectacles, rubbing his eyes before putting them back, and Daphne felt some of the tension leave the room. "What's the problem with me seeing Harry? I- I like him, and he likes me. What does it matter?"

"I'm trying to understand the situation. I assume, if you and he really are so close, you're aware of what happened at the Department of Mysteries last week?"

"Yes," Daphne nodded. "He told me."

"So," Dumbledore began with a deep breath, "Harry is lured into a trap by Voldemort, manages to depose and then dispose of Professor Umbridge, travel to the Ministry where he not only survives an encounter with the Dark Lord but took part in apprehending a dozen high-ranked Death Eaters. Then, two days later the daughter of a pureblood collaborator-"

"'Collaborator'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"-appears at Harry's muggle residence, a location unknown to the general public," he continued over her objection. "When alerted by his guards, I dispatch Professor Snape to take you home, only to discover days later that not only did he deceive me, but that you had somehow dispatched his muggle relatives."

"That's not true! I didn't-"

"Where are the Dursleys, Miss Greengrass?" Dumbledore's voice was low, dangerous. "What did you do with them?"

"Nothing! They left on their own, they went, he said... " she struggled to recall exactly what Dudley had told her. "Blackpool, on a trip. To give Harry and I some time alone."

"You're saying that his muggle relatives encouraged your relationship with Harry?" Dumbledore asked, disbelief obvious in his tone. "I suppose they were so charmed by your earnest feelings they were happy to leave two teenagers alone in their home?"

"You knew," she breathed, eyes widening. "You knew how they'd treat him and you put him there anyway? Why would- how could you do that to him?!"

"Sit down." Daphne blinked, realizing that she was standing over his desk. She must have leapt out of her seat in her anger. "I've already told you why it was necessary for him to live there. Would you rather he endure the Dursleys' disdain for ten years, or have one of Voldemort's sympathizers end his existence long before he reached Hogwarts?"

She didn't know how to respond to that but she knew it was wrong, that it shouldn't be so simple to cast an orphan into a loveless home. "What are you going to do?"

"I will confirm your story. If the Dursleys are not where you say they are, your summer will get very difficult."

"I'm not lying."

"Very well. Professor Snape is waiting outside my office, at the base of the stairs. He will escort you home."

"You- you're letting me go? With Professor Snape? Didn't you say he lied to you before?"

Dumbledore reached into his robes, withdrawing her shrunken trunks and placing them on his desk for her to take. "Yes, I did. However, I likely would not find much hospitality offered at your home. If Professor Snape disobeys me again, it is Lord Greengrass he will answer to."

"Okay," she said, stretching out the syllables. "Fine."

Daphne stood and gathered her things before she made for the door. Just as fingers grazed the handle, he spoke once more.

"Oh, and Miss Greengrass: I confess I didn't give much credence to your abrupt change of heart concerning Harry, but you've certainly earned my attention. Come September, remember - I'll be watching."

She couldn't stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her. The narrow staircase led to a barrier, one she realized after passing through was actually a stone gargoyle that slid to the side.

"Miss Greengrass." Professor Snape greeted her with a nod. "Are you prepared?"

"I'd like to change my clothes." The Headmaster's transfiguration wasn't likely to fade anytime soon, but she'd rather not show up at the impending confrontation with her mother wearing nightclothes, nonetheless.

"This way, we'll stop at a lavatory on the way to the gates."

Once she was changed into a rather conservative blue dress, ankle-length with an empire silhouette, Daphne and her Head of House resumed their long march towards the gates.

"Sir? Thank you. For helping me, with his guards I mean."

The corners of his mouth raised into what on a normal person might be considered a smile. "Think nothing of it. How will you deal with your parents?"

"I don't know I'll have any choice except the truth." It was so unfair! If only she'd known owls couldn't reach her at the muggle house!

"You're going to tell your father Potter's family is responsible for your sister's disease?" Though her professor's voice sounded as droll and bored as ever, his features for a moment looked almost gleeful.

"Oh." She hadn't thought of that, to be truthful. Most of Daphne's worries were over their opinion of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, as well as the impropriety of her methods in trying to cure Astoria. It never occurred to her to consider her parents' reaction to learning exactly where the malediction came from.

Daphne had an aunt she never got the chance to meet, who died before even seeing her teenage years, and her paternal grandmother died in her late twenties. Her father went through exactly what was happening with Astoria, but with his sister and his mother. Now, watching his daughter slowly progress to the same fate, who knows what he would do when he found the responsible party? No, she couldn't tell them. The Greengrasses had lost too much, and Harry wasn't the sort of person his ancestor was. He had enough to deal with in the present without unearthing the sins of the past.

Professor Snape stopped and Daphne, lost in thought, realized they'd completed the walk out of the gates of the school grounds. Before he could side-along her back home, she decided to give into her curiosity. "Sir? Why did you lie to the Headmaster to help me?"

To her surprise, he didn't offer any platitudes about helping Astoria like he had before, and seemed to give her question serious consideration before he responded. "You're a member of Slytherin House, you know our ethos. Why do you think I did it?"

The Socratic answer at least took her mind off the impending confrontation waiting for her at home. "Ambition, cunning, resourcefulness… I can't see anything you'd gain from helping me. A favour from my father, maybe?"

"You're forgetting one of the cardinal traits of our House, Miss Greengrass," he said, taking firm hold of her upper arm. "Self-preservation."

They vanished with a crack.

"Hey, it's great to see you again!"

Astoria turned her head at Daphne's cheerful greeting, letting out a small whimper. "Hi," she said, her breath a rattling rasp that shook her gaunt and emaciated frame.

"I really missed you. I'm sorry I was away."

Her sister tilted her head in a faux approximation of a nod, but she still squeezed Daphne's fingers when she took Astoria's hand.

Her parents, ever the proper hosts, had offered Professor Snape a cup of tea in thanks for returning her, with her mother suggesting she spend that time to visit with Astoria, their impending discussion delayed but forthcoming.

"S'okay. You look- really, nice," she said, her speech slow and halting.

"You like it? I can do your hair like mine, it just takes a few weeks... of… potions…" Daphne trailed off, recognizing that Astoria, who had to take almost two dozen potions every day, wasn't likely going to be enthused at adding beauty potions to that regimen. "How do you feel?"

"Hurts."

"I know, baby," Daphne said, taking a seat next to the bed. "I know."

"Daphne," her father's voice came from behind her. "Join us in the parlour."

She leaned forward, brushing some of the sweaty hair off Astoria's forehead and pressing a kiss to her cheek, then followed her father out of the room. Her mother was waiting, seated while their elf cleaned up the tea service from earlier. They both raised their eyebrows when Daphne thanked Teensy for her efforts.

"Why did you lie to us?"

"I wanted to see Harry, he needed me."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it was, to run off without telling anyone where you were going? What if something had happened to you?"

Daphne recognized her mother's question, omitting whom she ran off with, as the 'opening round'. "I wasn't in any danger-"

"Merlin only knows what those muggles might have done to you! You're well aware of how dangerous their world is!"

"There were wizards there, guarding him, and we didn't go into 'their world'. I barely interacted with them."

"And yet, your mother already expressed our disapproval of your association with this particular young man," her father said.

"This again?" Daphne shook her head. "Didn't last week prove him right about everything? Even the Prophet says he's a hero!"

"We don't decide what's best for our daughter based on what's in the newspaper!"

"What do you want from him? What does he have to do to be good enough for me?"

Her mother was incensed at her defiance. "We've been over this! I'm not going to let some pompous, bigheaded half-blood convince you that you're not good enough for him!"

"He doesn't! You don't know anything about him! He-"

"That's enough, both of you," her father interrupted, and Daphne fell silent. Her mother opened her mouth, but he shot her a look. "Ava, yelling at her isn't going to make a difference. Stubborn as a nesting snallygaster, both of you! Daphne, we only want the best for you, we're your parents. I know you don't believe it, but we want to keep you safe."

"I am-" she began but went quiet as her father momentarily glared, before his gaze and voice softened.

"If I had my way, you'd stay my little girl forever, but I knew this day would come eventually. Believe me, we won't act like this about every boy you develop feelings for. When it comes to Harry Potter, though, your mother and I are putting our foot down. You are not to see or speak to him again, do you understand?"

"You can't stop us from being together. I won't let you!"

"Please, Daffy," her mother said, her anger gone and practically in tears. "I know how hard it's been on you, with your sister's illness. I want to lash out at the world, too! This kind of self-destructiveness is natural when you're grieving. But we won't stand by and do nothing. We won't lose you, too!"

"What are you talking about?"

Her parents exchanged a look, and when they turned back to her it was her father that spoke. "It's like you said, Potter was telling the truth all along. The Dark Lord has returned."

"I know that, and you know it now, but if it weren't for Harry no one would know!"

"It's only a matter of time until the Dark Lord finishes what he started, all those years ago. I won't have you caught in the crossfire when that happens!"

Daphne let out a cynical laugh. "You think people don't already know? Let me guess, you Floo-ed Pansy looking for me before you wrote those letters, didn't you?" Her mother's expression proved the veracity of that accusation. "Then you know there's no point in trying to keep it a secret, she's bound to tell everyone who'll listen. Harry wants to be with me, everyone's going to know whether you let me see him or not."

"Not…. necessarily," her mother said.

"What did you do?"

"I convinced her your infatuation was hopefully nothing more than a passing phase."

Daphne clenched her fists. "It's not a schoolyard crush. I have to be with him!"

Her mother toyed with her wedding ring, a nervous habit she'd maintained as far back as Daphne could remember. "You've changed so much, so suddenly," she muttered. "Turning on your friends, associating with the wrong sort, running away. Pansy's a good girl, she's very worried about you, just like we are-"

"You can't stand Pansy! You never liked her!" Daphne cried, and it was true.

"Well, on this your father and I agree with Pansy. Maybe I misjudged her, all she wants is for you two to be friends again."

"What did you do?" she asked again.

"We asked her to watch out for you, to help us keep you safe, and she agreed."

After what happened on the Express, Daphne very much doubted her old friend's altruism. "You paid her off?"

"The Parkinson girl's eyes were always bigger than her vault. We warned you about it, but you never wanted to listen," her father said, entirely unapologetic. "For the rest of the summer, we're establishing some new rules. I've warded the manor's aviary - if you wish to send a letter, your mother will mail it for you. There will be no outgoing Floo calls, you can only go to approved places outside our home, and no contact with Harry Potter."

He seemed to brace himself, preparing for an explosion from his daughter, but Daphne remained still, weighing her options. If only they knew why this was so important…

'No' she ultimately decided. Her father may well decide to drain every drop of Harry's blood in an attempt to save Astoria. She and Elysant would find a way around this. She'd come too far, made too much progress to despair now.

Her mother's voice intruded on her thoughts, distressed at Daphne's silence. "Can't you see there's nothing we wouldn't do to protect you? Please, trust us, for once in your life, Daphne!"

Daphne rose from her seat, staring down at both of them. "Why should I?" she asked bitterly. "Neither of you trust me."

"Congratulations, our plan seems to be working."

Daphne glanced at Elysant's portrait with her peripheral vision, but didn't bother to reply to her statement as she put the finishing touches on a letter to Harry. Things had been going well.

She neglected to mention a single word of her parents' disapproval or new restrictions on her in her letter. The lie to him about her abuse here still hung like a weight around her neck, and Daphne couldn't fight the powerful urge to shield her family from any further judgment.

She idly hummed a tune while she sealed the envelope. "I know! There were times where it felt hopeless, but- I mean, this is really going to work, isn't it?"

"You've done well, but you cannot afford to lose focus. How long has it been since you've seen him? Young men are hardly known for their self-control."

"About a month, but he's as isolated as I am. There's no danger of anyone stealing him away from me." Besides, they were exchanging letters almost every day - if anything, she and Harry were even closer now than they were when she was sharing his bed.

"So - you have successfully seduced him, and his feelings for you are growing. It's time to start thinking about the next step."

"Which is?"

"Obtaining his blood. In my day, such a request would be seen as bizarrely invasive. Unless courtship rituals have radically changed, he's likely to balk when you pull out a blade and ask him to top off a goblet."

"I realize that," she replied with a touch if sarcasm, exiting her room to deliver the letter.

It was a fair point, one Daphne considered as she walked out onto the grounds of her family home. Especially given what The Quibbler reported happened the last time he'd 'given' his blood, during the third task of the TriWizard Tournament.

She came to a stop right at the edge of the ward boundaries. "Dobby!" she called out, and the elf appeared on the other side of the wards with a pop!

It had only taken a week for Daphne to figure out this workaround. Being able to summon Dobby in Hogwarts had been a surprise; elves typically only responded to their owner's orders. Her crazy little helper, though, appeared to be the exception to the rule.

Daphne knew better than to try and summon him into the family manor. Teensy, at minimum, would certainly recognize the presence of an elf that didn't belong. But here, with him on the other side and her within, none of the alerts or protections triggered.

"Does Miss Greeny have more letterses for the Great Harry Potter?"

"I do. Please, I know I tell you this every time, but-"

Dobby bounced on his heels in excitement. "No one sees Dobby go in or out! Dobby is a good elf!"

She passed the envelope over, careful not to let any part of her body brush against the wards. "You certainly are. Thank you."

He took her letter, disappearing as swiftly as he'd arrived. Harry had relayed over the course of their correspondence exactly how he'd met Dobby, and the way in which the elf received his freedom. Harry really was so loyal to those he cared about, she mused as she walked back towards the manor. A quiet nobility, combined with a fierce loyalty towards his friends.

That thought spurred an inkling of an idea, one that continued to spread as she climbed the stairs to her room. She took a seat on her bed, facing her ancestor's portrait.

"I'm just going to tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"About Astoria. About the malediction, the cure, and why I need his blood."

Elysant held a hand up to one of her own cheeks, the faint blush colouring her face only serving to make her even more the perfect image of femininity. "You would confess everything, after how hard we've worked to get to this point?"

Daphne nodded. "He wouldn't refuse me. Harry never abandons the people he cares about."

"You truly have a talent for defying expectations, don't you?" Elysant asked coolly, her features sharpening into a familiar expression of disdain. "Just when you started to earn the faintest hint of my respect, you suggest something so stupid, empty-headed, and idiotic that I wonder why I even bother assisting you!"

"What is it this time?" She'd long since grown accustomed to the portrait's raging vitriol.

"Your plan is absolutely a guaranteed death sentence for your sister, and for countless future generations of our family. By all means, go ahead! After all, if you are an example of the strength of our heritage then perhaps the Greengrass line deserves to dwindle away into extinction!"

"Just shut up and tell me why you think it's a bad idea. We'd save a lot of time if I didn't have to listen to you pile on insults every time I come to you for advice!"

"Then listen and listen well, you simple child. If you tell the last Potter of the malediction curse his family wove into our blood, what conclusions will he draw about your actions since Yule? How much will he trust you? Think about it from his perspective, and do keep in mind that he is likely not as brainless as you seem to be!" Daphne silently worked through how a conversation with Harry about Astoria and her illness might go. The image wasn't pleasant. "He would immediately know you've been manipulating him, that your feelings for him are a lie, that every step of the way you've been using him!"

Daphne closed her eyes, imagining the situation from his point of view. "You're right," she admitted.

"Don't forget, it isn't just Potter's blood that you have to earn, it is his love as well. Your 'idea' is an ironclad guarantee that any love he might feel for you would instantly evaporate. I made the mistake of angering his family in my life - you have seen the result. Are you so eager to tread the same path?"

"He wouldn't do that! Harry's nothing like his ancestor, not anymore than I'm like you!"

Elysant's face twisted in fury. "So you think you're somehow better than me?"

Daphne stood up, standing tall and approaching the portrait. "Yes. Yes, I am! You talk on and on about how the Potters have wronged us, omitting the fact that you wronged them first! You're manipulative, cruel, disloyal, and hateful!"

"I've got news for you, you ugly little girl, you are all of those things, too! You think I'm manipulative and disloyal? I fell in love, made a mistake and suffered the consequences. Look at everything you've done - betrayed your closest friends, jeopardized your family, lied to everyone at every possible instance! You dare to judge me?"

Her anger disappeared. She had no counter, no rebuttal. "I- even if that's so, even if I am as bad as you, Harry's not like us. He's kind, and caring, and-"

"By the gods, do you think that Harlan was vengeful and wicked the day I met him? He was charming and kind when we first began courting, too!" Elysant, like her, looked to be cooling off from their argument, and her voice returned to its normal volume and tone. "I'm all you have, there's no one else you can turn to. You have to trust me."

Daphne clutched at her hair, burying her fists in the long ebony strands. Elysant's assertion that Harry would view her actions as the deepest sort of betrayal was logical, but it was impossible for her to fear him. Not after everything she'd seen him do, everything she'd learned of him.

A knock sounded at her door, interrupting any further argument. "Daphne?" Her mother opened it up, stepping inside. "Chatting with portraits again? You know, you could visit Pansy if you're feeling lonely."

"What do you want, Mother?"

"This came for you. Why you would bother subscribing to such a rag is beyond me, but I suppose reading something is better than nothing."

She accepted the Quibbler from her mother, trying to keep any sign of her confusion from showing on her face. "Thank you," she eventually said, before ushering her out of the room.

Opening the periodical on her bed, Daphne slowly looked through the pages, trying to make sense of why it had been sent to her. Stories of snorkacks, blubbering humdingers, and goblin pies offered no clue.

"What is that?"

"A paper from a friend of Harry and I. Her father owns the publication," Daphne answered, still reading through it. It took some time, but she waded through the entire thing, every single article, but still had no clue why it was sent to her. "She's sweet, but a bit odd. Maybe she just wanted me to have it."

Elysant 'hmm'-ed in a noncommittal way, clearly uninterested, while Daphne flipped the tabloid over. On the back, attached with spell-o-tape, was a set of hot-pink glasses, frames made of stiff paper and the lenses a thin, shiny film.

'Spectrespecs!'read the bold claim beneath them. 'For unlocking the wrackspurts' secrets!'

She carefully separated the glasses from the Quibbler, unfolding them and putting them on her face. Beyond viewing the world through a blue and sepia tint (each 'lens' being a different colour), Daphne wasn't able to discern any change.

Lifting up the gifted tabloid to put away, the headline caught her eye. Whereas before it promised an exposé about the Ministry's secret army of heliopaths, now her own name appeared in capital letters.

It was a secret message from Luna!

Dear Daphne,

I hope you don't mind me writing. We've never exchanged any letters, but I hear about other people writing to their friends and always wanted to give it a try.

How is your summer? I went to Sweden with Daddy. No sign of Crumple-horned Snorkacks, but I did try pickled herring for the first time. I learned I don't enjoy it, so the trip wasn't a complete failure.

I went to see Ginevra yesterday to tell her about my trip, and surprisingly, Harry was visiting as well. It was a lovely surprise. He told me that he'd be staying with the Weasleys for the rest of the holiday, and invited me to his birthday party on the 31st.

The thing is, there was a letter waiting for me when I got back to England from Neville, inviting me to his birthday party on the 30th! I do hope I'll be able to attend both. They'll be the first parties I've ever attended, and I'd very much like my presents to be memorable. Do you suppose Neville and Harry like pickled herring?

Harry also mentioned that you seemed to be having problems at home, and that it may be difficult to send you a letter. I do hope you chose to try on the complementary set of Spectrespecs. If not, I'll try to remember what I wrote here and tell it to you on the Express.

Your friend,

Luna Lovegood

PS: Your subscription is good for a year, you can pay me the next time you see me!

In much smaller letters, next to what appeared to be a stain of some sort, there was another post-script.

P.P.S: It turns out the remaining pickled herring will be unavailable to use as gifts, please feel free to reply with any suggestions for a substitute.

Daphne couldn't help but laugh, the petite Ravenclaw just as barmy in text as she was in person. Still, besides Harry and Dobby, Luna was arguably the closest friend she had.

So Harry's birthday was coming up, was it? She had an idea of a present that Harry would very much like.

Sitting down at her desk, she scribbled a quick note, putting it in an unsealed envelope and hurrying downstairs.

"Mother? Would you please mail this for me?"

She passed the letter over, and watched in annoyance as her mother pulled out the parchment and read through it. "Inviting yourself to a birthday party is rather tacky, dear."

Daphne felt her cheeks heat up, but rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother, I know."

"Still, the Longbottoms are an old, respected family. Very well, I'll send this off."

'Yes!' she crowed to herself. She had no doubt in her mind that Harry would also be in attendance. Once again, Luna had come through for her.

So excited at the prospect of seeing her boyfriend again, Daphne let her earlier argument with Elysant fade to the back of her mind. In the end, there were some truths easier to let go of than to fully reckon with.

A/N: I thought to myself on Labor Day, "oh, it'll be a nice little treat for readers to get a quick update, i'll just sit down and pound out a really short 2k word mini-chapter about Daphne and Dumbledore". Somehow, it ended up double that length.

Summer's going to go by at a much quicker pace as evidenced by the 1-month time skip. I think it's safe to assume you all don't mind being spared day after day of Daphne sitting around the house, hanging out with Astoria and Elysant haha.

Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm really grateful to everyone that takes the time to tell me what they think. Had some really interesting comments that made me think a lot about Daphne, Dumbledore, Harry, and the Order, so I appreciate your advice! When I started writing it, I never would have guessed AMR would end up being the 2nd most popular fic I wrote. Just shows I have no clue what you guys like to read ;)

I suspect some of you may be annoyed at Daphne falling for Elysant's "we're not so different" speech. In my head, after the year she's had Daphne is more vulnerable to thinking the worst of herself. That may not be how it's come across, though!

I've got some fics I want to read, and some other stuff to take care of, so it may be a week or two til the next update. 'til then -

Stay safe, healthy, and happy! ~Frickles