Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Gringotts, the Leaky Cauldron or anything else in JKR's wonderful world. Except for the little pebble just to left of the front doors of Hogwarts. I put that there. I might own that. Maybe. But probably not.

A/N: A second chapter. I hope you find it as good as so many of you found the first. Enjoy.

Daphne was looking for her younger sister when she thought she heard voices echoing down a side hallway. She turned to see who it was. She was only halfway to the next intersection when she could clearly identify the strident voice of Pansy Parkinson. Halting a moment to silence her feet so she wouldn't be heard approaching, she heard a second, calmer voice, and one she was certain she recognized. She moved forward along the wall.

"Listen to me, you little bitch." She heard Pansy say angrily. "You're going to do what I tell you or I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"I'm not afraid of you, Parkinson." Yes, that was definitely her sister Astoria being threatened. A cold anger blossomed in her chest at what Parkinson was doing. "I know all the spells my sister used on you so I shouldn't have any trouble beating you any time you try anything, which you should be happy for because Daphne won't be so easy on you next time." She smiled at how Astoria was standing up to the older girl.

"I'm not afraid of your stupid freak sister!" Pansy almost shouted in a fury. "I can take her anytime I want!"

She decided it was time to make her presence known. Besides, with an opening like that, how could she pass up a dramatic entrance? She stepped around the corner into sight of the two girls, to see that Parkinson had her sister backed against the wall with her wand pointed at her.

"Is that right, Pansy?" She said in a normal conversational tone while frowning down at her. Both girl's eyes snapped to her, Astoria with a big grin and Parkinson with an expression of pure surprised horror. "I thought I'd taught you better than that."

The dark-haired girl took a step back as she advanced on her, slowly taking step after step. Even though she had her wand out she made no attempt to use it, instead shaking her head and quietly mouthing 'no' repeatedly as tears began to form in her eyes.

"I thought somebody would have at least told you what I said would happen if anyone bothered my family or friends after the duel, Pansy." She stated quietly as the other girl backed away across the hallway, a limp, with both feet, becoming more and more pronounced as she went. Obviously, the results of their last encounter had made quite the impression. "Well, no matter. I'll just have to show you what I said."

The terrified girl was openly crying now as she bumped into the opposite wall. "No, please, no!" she wailed as she turned sideways to the wall and began to slide down into a crouch, head down to her chest as she raised her hands to shield it.

With a sneer at the total collapse of her past rival, she reached out and took her wand between two fingers and pulled. There was a moment of resistance before it slid free of clasping fingers which moved to pull the sobbing girl's head into an even tighter ball in a vain attempt to protect herself.

With a disdainful flick, Daphne flipped it down the hallway where it clattered to the floor. Bending over she put her mouth close to her ear and said softly, "Next time it will hurt a lot more, Pansy."

Pansy wailed again and fell to her knees, one hand going to her feet, as if she were back on the dueling platform with her feet crushed ruins in her shrunken shoes.

With no sympathy at all for the crying girl, there were too many years of insults and torment for that, Daphne turned and walked over to her sister. "C'mon 'Stori." Taking her sibling by the shoulder she turned her down the hall.

"That was great, Daphne! Watching Parkinson freak out like that was really funny." Astoria exclaimed as they walked away from the cowering girl.

She looked down at her little sister as they walked down the hallway. "What was that all about?"

"That was Pansy being a bint." Astoria explained. "Since she got back from St. Mungo's she's been trying to regain her dominant position with the younger girls in the house."

"Oh really." She hadn't seen a lot of the other girl since she'd returned from the hospital and when she did the two of them tended to ignore each other.

"Yeah. It's only really working with the little ones though, the ones she can scare; the older ones just point their wands at her and go Reducio and it pisses her off something terrible. But you didn't even have to point your wand."

She smiled at the memory. "I have to admit it feels nice to be on the other side for a change."

"She doesn't do it when you're around, though. As a matter of fact, I don't think she even looks at you when the two of you are in the same room, and this is the first time she's tried it with me. Like you said, I don't think she got the word about what you said after the duel."

"That's fine by me. She and Malfoy and the rest of them can just stay far away from me for all I care, and she'd best stay away from you and the rest of my friends."

Astoria grinned. "As long as you're around Potter I don't think you have to worry about that."

"'Stori," Daphne asked suddenly, "how do you feel about me being with Harry?"

Her sister stopped walking and turned to face her. Taking her hands into her own she looked up and smiled at her sister. "Daph, I think you being with him is the best thing to happen to you, ever. You have smiled and laughed more in the time since you got together with him than I've seen you do all the rest of the time I've been in school. He is good for you, and I think you're good for him."

"You don't worry what might happen if You-Know-Who comes back?" she asked worriedly.

Astoria shook her head and shrugged. "If he does, or is, back, we'll worry about it then."

"What about the House?"

The younger girl smirked. "Well, if what just happened is any indicator, I don't think we have much to worry about there. Just remember to never let Malfoy get behind you. I wouldn't put it past the cowardly little git to hex you in the back with no warning."

She snorted in agreement. "Like I'm ever going to let that happen." She cocked her head a little sideways and quirked her left eyebrow upwards. "Now, why don't you tell me what's got you so bothered the past few days?"

Her sister's eyes widened a bit before she looked guiltily away. "Nothing's been bothering me." She said as she turned and started to walk away.

She reached out and grabbed her arm, halting her. "I know something has been bothering you, 'Stori." She said, turning the other girl to face her once again. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

The girl shifted from foot to foot for a few seconds, looking down, before she mumbled something.

"Excuse me? I don't speak foreign languages." She teased.

Astoria sighed. "I've grown an inch since end of school last year."

She smiled sadly as she hugged her sister to her. "Why is that a problem?" she asked, though she had a good idea already.

Her sister was quiet for a few moments before she answered. "What if I have a growth spurt, like you did?"

She held the other girl at arm's length. "You didn't want to talk to me about it because of the way I've always moaned and groaned about being so tall? Maybe you didn't want to upset me?"

Astoria looked down at her feet. "I didn't want you worrying about me being taller than everyone. Until you got with Potter you hated it. Now, it's like you don't even care anymore." She looked up. "I didn't want to bring up anything bad and ruin how happy you'd been lately."

Daphne hugged her sister tightly, touched by how she hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings with her own worries. "Oh, 'Stori!" She laughed. "I don't care. Harry showed me how only a few people's opinion count in any way that matters; how I can do, how I can be, anything I want. If other people don't like that, tough. I can reach my dreams, and nobody is going to stop me.

"As for you growing, you're not as tall as I was when I had my growth. You might end up as tall as Daddy, but I don't think it will be any more, so don't worry. But if you do grow taller, we'll just find you a tall, smart good-looking guy like mine and we'll grow a crop of tall kids and feel sorry for all the little people."

Astoria laughed. "You call Potter tall?" she asked. "I'm as tall as he is, and I think I know why he'd like to see you in high heels."

"Oh really?" Daphne replied, quirking an eyebrow upwards in curiosity. "Why would that be?"

Her sister grinned at her. "Because that would put him right about…" she stated as she crouched down a few inches…and pressed her face right between her sister's breasts, "…here!"

"'Stori!" Daphne shrieked with laughter as she pushed her sister, who was smirking broadly, away.

"Oh, yeah!" the younger girl chortled as she skipped backwards. "That's the reason! Uh huh!"

"Harry doesn't think like that." Daphne told the laughing girl in order to defend her boyfriend.

"You mean he doesn't act like that." Her sister replied. "I'll bet you anything he certainly does think like that!"

"Well, that's between me and him." She said smugly. "Now, the reason I was looking for you was because we're going to Hogsmeade today and I thought I'd ask if you wanted to come along."

Astoria shook her head. "Thanks, Sis, but a few of us are going to the library to revise for a couple of tests next week and we're going to make a day of it. We thought we'd go down to town tomorrow. It won't be as crowded and it's just as enjoyable."

"Are you sure? We were going to get lunch at the Broomsticks."

Astoria laughed. "You go ahead. No boyfriend wants the kid sister tagging along on a date."

"It's not a date." Daphne retorted. "Think of it as an adventure."

Her sister shook her head in denial. "No. Going down a dark, deep, yucky hole to see a giant dead, dirty, stinky, smelly, scary snake in a place no one has seen in a thousand years is an adventure. Going into town to shop, explore and eat with your boyfriend is a date." She suddenly grinned evilly. "And maybe find a place where you can have a good long snog?"

"'Stori!"

Laughing gayly the younger Greengrass daughter ran down the hall away from her pursuing elder sister.

((((((OOOOO))))))

"So, shouldn't occlumency help with silent, not to mention wandless, casting? At the very least I would think it would at least let you reduce your wand movements to just a point and jab silent cast if it helps you to focus your mind as much as you say it does."

"I really hadn't ever thought of using it in such a way. We've only just been starting to silent cast and we don't start point and jab until seventh year. Nobody has said occlumency could help do both. Wandless casting isn't even taught in school. It's just to hard to do for most people."

"That's my point; why not? You say occlumency helps you clear your mind, to better focus your mind and put you in closer contact with your magic. That would mean you should be better able to focus more on the intent of your spells, which would mean an easier, better defined cast with less wand movement."

Daphne looked down at the bushy haired young woman walking beside her in careful thought. Her casual observation of occlumency helping to better order her mind, memory and concentration, not to mention help form barriers against intrusion by unscrupulous legillemens, had gone off into a totally unexpected tangent, which was one of the reasons she enjoyed being with her so much. She looked at things in totally different ways sometimes than what pureblood magicals tended to do. She called it 'thinking outside the box', then had to explain what that meant. It led to lively debates, which she loved, but this time she couldn't think of a counter argument to refute her reasoning: everything she was saying made absolute sense. "I don't know. We'll have to try it and see what happens."

"Well, we're not going to be trying it for the foreseeable future." A male voice on her other side stated as they approached the entrance to The Three Broomsticks. "I'm hungry and we're supposed to be having a day off from school, so if you two don't stop continuing to talk schoolwork I'm going to silence you both."

"Hear, hear!" "Oh yes!"

She looked back over her shoulder to look at Neville and Hannah as they agreed to Harry's statement, and Tracy's wide grin, to Millie's neutral smile, before turning back to Hermione. "The first spell we learn silently and without a wand is finite."

The shorter girl grinned back up at her.

"Oh, Merlin!" Harry moaned in mock despair. "Nev, it was a sorry day when we introduced these two to each other." He said as he held the door open.

"You got that right." Neville replied to the laughter of the girls.

Inside was a warm counterpoint to the biting wind of the bitter November day outside. The pub was already crowded with school children and would only get more so shortly as hunger brought more of them inside. They saw an open table big enough to accommodate all of them and moved around it as they took off coats to place over the backs of chairs before starting to sit down. Like a gentleman, Harry helped her with hers, reaching up to pull the top back off her shoulders and down her arms. She waited for a moment for him to place it on the back of her chair and pull it out for her to sit…but he didn't. She turned to notice he was staring at something across the room. "Any relation?" he asked.

She turned to look and saw a beautiful woman with the same silver blonde color of hair as herself sitting in a booth along the far wall. Even from here she could see the slight, knowing little smile she had as she raised a cup to her lips. "Mother!" she said quietly, surprised to see her here, then wondered why she was. While her mother often visited Hogsmeade, rarely was it while the school was here.

"Why don't you go say hi?"

She looked at him and smiled. "I can introduce you!"

He smiled back but shook his head. "If she's here she probably wants to see you and/or your sister for something. Find out what and you can come back and introduce your ravisher to her later."

She laughed. "I thought I dragged you to the room?"

Harry chuckled. "Go on, we'll save you a seat." He leaned up and gave her a peck on the lips before joining the others at the table and telling them where she was going.

She walked across the room, rounding other tables and people as she approached her mother's booth. Sliding into the circular bench that was the seating for the back half of the table she noticed the privacy ward already being set in place as she leaned over and kissed the older woman's cheek. "Mother! It's so good to see you." She said as she got comfortable. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is just fine, Little One." Roxanne Greengrass replied to her daughter. Daphne felt her cheeks reddening at the old childhood endearment but smiled at the comforting name. "Can't a mother just visit her daughters?"

"Stori won't be here today." She told her. "She and some friends have a study group today for a couple of hard tests next week and they want to revise. They'll come down from the castle tomorrow, however."

"And how is your sister doing then?"

"She's taking everything really well, though she does have one worry: she's grown an inch since the end of last school year."

Her mother chuckled lightly. "I don't think she has anything to worry about." She said understandingly. "She's nowhere near as tall as you were at that age and an inch is normal. She might be tall, even as tall as her father, but nothing more, I'll wager."

Daphne smiled, glad her mother agreed with her. "That's what I told her."

"Well, I really came to see you mostly, so perhaps another day."

Daphne looked at her mother, suddenly getting a bad feeling. "Mum, what are you up to?"

Roxanne shifted her gaze and Daphne looked to see she was looking across the room at the table she had just left. "So that is the famous Harry Potter." She turned her own blue-eyed gaze back to her daughter. "Or infamous, depending on who you ask on different days of the week." The small smile she had took any sting from the words she spoke.

"He doesn't want to be the first nor called the second." She replied, defending her boyfriend.

"Quite understandable. You must admit, though, he does manage to get his name in the paper quite often." Roxanne stated as she once again raised her cup.

"That's not his fault." She protested.

Her mother chuckled. "No, I don't suppose it is." She set her cup on the saucer on the table and leaned back into the padded back of the booth. "He is much too young to have the experience to be able to manipulate the press that way and if Rita Skeeter said the sky was blue, I would look up to see if it was actually red." She smiled gently. "Is he good to you?"

She smiled, remembering. "Very. He's everything I ever dreamed he would be."

"Except taller." The smile on her mother's face showed she was teasing, but she felt the color rising in her cheeks anyway. She remembered her dreams of the Boy-Who-Lived when she was younger, and obviously, so did her mother.

"He doesn't care about that." She huffed in annoyance. "He's more interested in my lines and proportions."

She noticed her mother's immediate interest. "Really? How so?"

She looked at her mother in surprise. "You know what he's talking about?"

Her mother laughed lightly. "Of course, I do. Why do you think I like my vase so much?"

Her mother's vase was a mystery to Daphne. A cheap little, red lacquered bud vase she'd brought home the year before Daphne started Hogwarts, it sat in the study her mother had long ago claimed as her own, on an otherwise bare shelf of one of the bookcases in the room. Several times she had entered the room to find her mother sitting with a glass of wine just gazing at the little ceramic pot. When asked why, she just answered 'Because it's perfect.' "Mother, you think that thing is perfect. He can't possibly think I am."

A throaty chuckle was her reply. "Why not, Dear? My vase is just the right height to its width, the bell of the bottom half complementing the slimness of the neck. Its curves, its lines, are just right to draw the eye to the top where the beauty of the blossoms it holds are. It's soothing to look at, to admire, to enjoy." Her smile suddenly drew into a smirk. "Does he look at the lines of your legs as they rise to the sensuous curve of your bum?"

Daphne gasped, the heat in her cheeks threatening to burn her she was blushing so hard. "Mum!" she blustered, not quite believing what she'd just heard. Was this her mother saying this?

But Roxanne wasn't finished. "Or perhaps from your jaw down the front of you throat to your chest and over the peaks of your breasts?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

"Mother!" Daphne had her chin down, her embarrassment making her want to hide even though they couldn't be seen. "We wear robes. He can't even see any of that." She stated firmly. "You talk just like him." She then muttered.

Her mother laughed. Reaching out, she placed her hand on her daughter's cheek away from her and gently pulled her face around to look at her. "Oh, Little One, we all see beauty in our own way. Is it any wonder he thinks you are beautiful, no matter how he may define it?"

She couldn't help the little smile that curled the corners of her mouth. "That sounds like him, too." She said shyly, looking into the other woman's eyes. She saw the mischievous look there, her mother had enjoyed teasing her, but there was also one of love and acceptance.

Roxanne smiled widely. "Really? I really must sit down and talk with him then. It should be interesting to hear his views on beauty, and how he got my little girl to laugh and smile so." She cocked her head to the side and met Daphne's gaze when she looked at her. "You've given yourself to him, haven't you?"

Her head snapped up, eyes wide with apprehension, out of sheer reflex. She knew! If she hadn't her own reaction had just confirmed her mother's suspicions. Merlin! If Father were to negotiate a contract for her with a virginity clause…

But her mother didn't seem angry, or upset; she still had that elegant smile, that slightly mischievous look; "How did you know?" she managed to squeak out weakly, hardly daring to hope everything would turn out alright.

Her mother chuckled again. Merlin! The woman was taking such delight in embarrassing her today.

"Mummy, I am going to grow up and marry Harry Potter and we're going to have lots and lots of babies!" She almost sang in a sing-song fashion. Her impression of a young child was quite impressive.

Daphne groaned as she collapsed against the seat back while rolling her eyes. "Muuuum! I was six years old when I said that!"

"Yes, and here you are, a beautiful young woman with the young man of her dreams as her boyfriend." She chuckled again as she looked at her daughter. "You were an incredibly determined six-year-old as well. I have no doubt, given the chance, you'd let him take you. I at least hope he had an unused classroom prepared with a bed and not just a broom closet for your first time."

Daphne looked at her mother out of the corner of her eye and shook her head with a large grin. As Roxanne gave her an exasperated look, she said, "I did."

Roxanne's left eyebrow rose in surprise. "You did? You jumped Harry Potter's bones instead of vice versa." She stated in an unbelieving tone.

She laughed at hearing her mother's language. "Oh mum! It was wonderful! He showed me how to reach up to the stars, to grab my dreams from among them and make them come true. I literally dragged him out of the library and took him to a room we knew about and I let him have me. It was magnificent!"

Mother looked at daughter, saw her dreamy eyed look and smiled, pleased at the happiness she saw. But she was still a little concerned. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Without leaving the memory of that day, Daphne said, "Mmmm, no! After he finished me the second time, I wanted him so badly I didn't care if it did or not."

Roxanne's eyebrows almost vanished into her hairline as her eyes widened with surprise. "Daughter, what did he do to you the first two times?"

Coming to her senses Daphne looked at her mother and blushed again. Was she really talking about something so intimate with her parent? "He's a parselmouth, Mum." She couldn't help the huge grin she had.

"I'd heard that rumor. To hear it confirmed is…" Her mother suddenly fell back against the seat with wide eyes as the meaning of her daughter's statement struck her, obviously shocked at what it meant. "Twice?" The disbelief was evident in her tone of voice.

Daphne's grin widened at how gob smacked her mother appeared to be, take that for having so much fun embarrassing me, she thought, even as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Did he ask you to…?"

Daphne giggled as she shook her head, still grinning.

She watched her mother reach for her cup and raise it to her lips before she looked back to her. "That boy is a keeper, Daughter. Don't let him get away."

She laughed, nodding her head in agreement, pleased her mother was taking it so well.

"Do you realize how many women I know say their husbands or lovers demand it but aren't willing to give it?" she asked in a wondering type of voice. "He didn't even ask?"

She laughed again, shaking her head. "Huh uh. He said he knew most boys expected it from their girlfriends, why shouldn't the girls expect it, too?" Her grin suddenly grew impish, mischievous, as she leaned towards her mother. "He didn't have to ask later, either." She said quietly, even though they couldn't be overheard. "I liked it."

Her hope that her mother might be shocked a second time were dashed as the woman looked at her with a conspiratorial grin of her own. "Best not go into such detail with your father, dear. There are some things fathers just don't want to know about their daughters." She tilted her head and asked, "Was the rest of the night as good as you had hoped?"

She smiled brightly at the memory of that night. "Oh, Mum! It was the best night of my life! We cuddled and talked and had biscuits and milk and then sex two more times before we fell asleep and then he woke me up with parseltongue the next morning and we had sex again."

Roxanne's eyebrow once again rose high on her forehead as she again looked across the room at the young man in question. "I wonder if he'd like to have a concubine." She mused out loud.

"Mother!" Daphne exclaimed sharply in an indignant manner.

Roxanne turned her gaze back to her daughter. "What?" she asked with a perfectly innocent expression. "I can virtually guarantee that every teenaged boy, at one time or another, has fantasized about having a willing woman ready to do everything he told her to."

Daphne felt herself blushing yet again. Was her mother doing that on purpose? "What would Daddy say about you talking like that?"

"Probably something along the line of 'Thank Merlin! Someone to help!" The older woman said casually. She saw Daphne gaping at her statement and grinned. "Your father and I have a very good sex life, Daughter, and I take great pride in my ability to satisfy him totally and still be ready for more. Getting him into my knickers is one of my great joys in life."

Hearing that and remembering, Daphne laughed quietly.

Roxanne saw and smirked at her. "What?"

"The first time we really talked he admitted he was trying to think of a way to get into my knickers." She confessed. She then looked at her mother with a smirk of her own. "Then, later, he did…but he needed to use an enlarging charm on them first."

Roxanne looked at her blankly for a moment before breaking into laughter. "Oh, my. An honest parselmouth with a sense of humor! I am more impressed with your young man all the time, Little One." As her laughter subsided, she reached out to push a lock of hair back from Daphne's face to behind her ear. "He doesn't insist, does he? Make demands you don't want to meet?"

Daphne smiled at her mother's concern. "No. He says anything we do, and what and when we do, is my decision."

"And were you protected?"

She found she wasn't offended at the question. "Yes, I was." She answered primly. "I go to Madam Pomphrey every month for the potion for my cramps and had seen her only two days before." As her mother smiled, she asked a question she hadn't even thought about till now. "Mum, why can I talk to you like this now? You've always been so dignified, aloof, calm, so…in control. I can remember having fun with you when I was younger, hearing you laugh, and talk, but never like today. Now, suddenly it's like I'm talking to Tracey."

Her mother smiled. "It's because in our world we must teach our children how to act, how to behave, how to treat other people in all situations. You can give them lessons, sit them down and tell them, but the best and easiest way is to show them by doing, which I have tried my best with you and your sister." She reached out and placed her hand on Daphne's. "But you're not a child anymore, you're a beautiful young woman with the young man you want to marry, and don't deny it, I know you do." She scolded playfully as Daphne nodded sheepishly. "You have learned some of the secrets of an adult woman and you have made me so incredibly proud of you. Now, if you'll let me, as well as your mother, I can be your friend."

Daphne's eyes watered at the love she felt for her mother and her declaration at that moment and she leaned over and hugged her. She felt her return hug as she whispered into her ear. "Oh, Mum, you've always been my friend and I love you so much."

Roxanne pushed back to arm's length as she smiled. "I love you too, dear, and I have a surprise for you." She reached into a pocket of her robes and pulled out a money pouch. "Now, you need to give ten of these to your sister, but the rest are for you."

Daphne gaped at the bag. Even without counting she could tell the contents of the bag were at least three times her allowance. "But what about the finances? We're always so close with them. I can't take this!"

Roxanne took her hand again. "Don't worry about the finances, they're doing just fine." She explained. "Your father may not be able to see or find the problems at our businesses but once they're pointed out to him, he is very good at fixing them. Some of those fixes are starting to pay off and I'm expecting others to start having an effect within the next quarter or so. Don't worry about the money. You've never said anything, but I know you want some nicer clothes than what you normally can afford…like sexier underthings?" She grinned at her daughter's discomfort.

"Muuuum, it was only the one time!"

Mother lifted her hand to her daughter's chin and raised her face to look into her eyes. "But you want it to happen again…yes?"

Daphne could only give her a shy smile as she nodded. She had despaired that her bras and knickers were so plain and utilitarian, but Harry hadn't seemed to mind. But she did want to be a little bit sexier for him the next time. Perhaps black lace? And stockings…and a garter belt.

"Good. That's settled." Her mother said. "Now, you mentioned your dreams. Are you still determined to become a potions mistress, and if so, what does young Mister Potter think about that?"

Her smile brightened. "He says he wants me to be whatever I want. He can't understand why anyone would want to hold somebody else back."

"My, isn't he a breath of fresh air in this stuffy world of ours. Should he ever ask for your hand I shall certainly ensure your father says yes. Do you love him?"

"It would be so easy to, Mum." She said truthfully. "I'm not in love with him, I think, but I want to be with him, help him, make him happy…"

"Please him?"

She knew what her mother was hinting at. She blushed with embarrassment, lowered her eyes and smiled. "Yes."

Roxanne smiled back. "Sounds like love to me. But if you want all of that, what does he do for you?"

She thought for a moment. "He…completes me. When I'm with him I feel like I can do anything, because he believes in me. I'm not afraid of anything, insults can't hurt me, I can stand up for who and what I am. He doesn't care about how tall I am." She giggled suddenly. "He says we're the same height…when we're laying down." Her smile softened as she remembered. "He likes to brush my hair."

"Really?"

She nodded dreamily and smiled. "There's this big tree down by the lake and sometimes we'll go down there and sit and talk while he uses a brush on it." Suddenly, she laughed. "He's learning how to do braids and he tries different styles, but I think he gets some really wrong on purpose sometimes just to make me laugh."

"He makes you happy." It was a statement, not a question.

"Very, very happy." She replied with a smile.

"Do you think he will come to love you?"

"Oh, I hope so, Mum." She admitted while looking into those serious blue eyes.

Her mother smiled and patted her hand. "What about this Miss Granger he's been connected with, several times?"

Daphne grinned, having expected this question eventually. "She's a wonderful girl, Mum. She's really intelligent, friendly, loyal, I can talk to her about anything, she can actually put up with Tracey and she doesn't believe that all Slytherins are evil despite what the youngest Weasley boy thinks. She's helping Tracey with her transfiguration and Millicent with her arithmancy and runes and sometimes she comes off as a bossy little know-it-all but most of the time she does know it all. Harry is working with her on that though. I like her a lot and I think we're going to be very good friends."

Roxanne gave her a wry look, her lips thin and the left corner of her mouth pulled back. "Daughter, you know that's not what I was referring to."

Daphne laughed. "I know that, Mother. The two of them are best friends. Harry says they see themselves as siblings, brother and sister, not as a romantic couple. They've been that way since first year when Harry fought a troll to save her life."

Roxanne jerked upright in her seat in startlement. "A troll!? In Hogwarts?"

Daphne nodded. "On Halloween. Weasley helped but Harry was the one who went looking for her. He jumped on its back and shoved his wand up its nose." She hesitated for a moment. "He…he also killed our DADA teacher at the end of the year."

The woman's head whipped around to look at the young man sitting at a table across the room who was laughing with a group of young people before looking at her daughter again. "How…Why?"

"He was possessed by You-Know-Who, who was trying to find something to help him regain a body." She answered. She could have said Voldemort but that might shake her mother too much. The way her eyes widened, she figured she'd been correct. "He fought him again in second year, in the Chamber of Secrets."

Strangely, that statement seemed to calm the woman down. "The Chamber is a legend, a myth. If he says…"

"He took us there before the last Hogsmeade weekend." That stopped her mother's obvious belief that he was making up stories in its tracks as she stared at her, slack mouthed in disbelief.

Finally regaining control of her senses, Roxanne questioned her. "He took you to the Chamber of Secrets?" She mouthed tightly. "Slytherin's chamber. The very same chamber no one has been able to find in almost a thousand years. The chamber that is supposed to house Slytherin's monster. That chamber?"

She nodded solemnly. "It was a basilisk, about sixty feet long. Harry killed it with the sword of Gryffindor."

Her mother stared at her with an almost preternatural calm for almost thirty seconds before she spoke again. "Wait here." She said with a raised finger. She got out of the booth and with the elegant glide Daphne had envied for most of her life walked over to the bar where she signaled Madam Rosmerta. That worthy smiled and reached for a bottle from which she poured a shot…which her mother promptly tossed back with an expertise Daphne would never have expected from the woman she'd known her entire life.

She watched as she turned back to the booth, a tumbler half full of golden liquid in her hand and glided back over and sat down before reapplying the privacy charm. She set the tumbler on the table. "I think I'm going to need that." She explained without an ounce of guilt. She looked her daughter squarely in the eye. "Let me get this straight: Harry Potter took you to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets where he had fought, and killed, a sixty foot long basilisk, with a sword, which was evidently controlled by the Dark Lord in some way, whom he obviously also defeated when he was twelve years old. Correct?"

"I paced it off, Mum." She explained with a nod. "My stride is almost three feet and I took twenty-one paces from nose to tip of tail. He stabbed it through the top of its mouth, and you can see the hole in the top of its skull where the blade emerged."

Roxanne took a drink that emptied half the contents of the tumbler.

Daphne reached over and took the hand not holding the glass. "Harry doesn't lie, Mum. Hermione says he's pants at it when he tries."

"You said us. Who, exactly, was us?"

"Me, Tracey, Astoria, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones."

"Merciful Maeve and Morgana." The older woman muttered as she realized just how many witnesses there were. The rest of the liquid disappeared. "This was what was happening in second year, when the rumors of all those injured children were floating around."

Daphne nodded. "Petrified."

"If he stabbed it through the roof of its mouth, how the hell did Potter not get bitten, and why isn't he dead if he did?"

Daphne was surprised at her mother's outburst: she never cursed. "The Headmaster's phoenix cried tears into the wound and neutralized the poison. It also pecked out the basilisk's eyes so it couldn't kill him with its gaze and brought Harry the sword of Gryffindor."

Her mother's grin was about as wry as it could get. "Another legendary item lost for centuries. Does your boyfriend do anything normal?"

She grinned back. "He says normal is boring."

Her mother gave a very un-lady like, and totally out of character, grunt at that. "And the Dark Lord?"

"A shade, or spirit of some kind, using a student to again try and regain a body."

"Did the Headmaster know about all of this?" she asked, before waving her hand. "Never mind I asked, of course he did, the secretive old fart." She glanced at her daughter. "Please forgive my language. That's what happens when I repeatedly get hit in the head with a beater bat." She explained. "When Amy Bones hears about this, and I can't see Susan not telling her, she's going to come down on his head like that castle was dropped on him. I can't see her ign…"

She suddenly cut off mid-sentence as she straightened and turned wide eyes towards Daphne. "Oh Merlin! When the Ministry and the Prophet were vilifying the Headmaster and Potter for lying after the tournament about the Dark Lord returning, they weren't, were they?"

Daphne shook her head.

"Damn it!"

Daphne had never seen her mother this agitated before. Even when her father had been unable to turn their fortunes around, she'd been calm and collected when she'd stepped in to take his place with their businesses. "Mum?"

Roxanne turned back to her. "I'm sorry, dear. But this means that bastard Malfoy spent all this time whispering into that little worm Fudge's ear that the Dark Lord wasn't back while pouring gold into his pocket to make him believe it. They gave him all this time to rebuild his forces, to prepare for what's to come, while not doing a damn thing to prepare ourselves. That certainly explains a few things."

"I don't understand."

Roxanne gave her a sad smile. "We've been approached in the past few months by certain people," she explained, "people with an agenda remarkably similar to the one Mister Potter put a stop to back in 1981."

Now it was Daphne's eyes turn to widen in surprise.

"Your father very politely told them what they could do with their requests for his support. Their replies didn't sound quite like threats, but that's what they were." She raised a hand as Daphne prepared to say something. "Then, the day after your little duel, Marianne Parkinson shows up ranting and raving about the pain and suffering you inflicted on her helpless, innocent little girl and demanding reparations or we would be made to pay."

Daphne felt the anger start to build in her as she heard that. "Mum, if you had heard what she said, in the Great Hall, at breakfast…"

Roxanne reached out and cupped her cheek in comfort. "Don't you worry about that, Little One. We've since heard almost word for word what was said that morning from several sources, reliable sources and your father and I are so proud of how you stood up for us and more importantly, for yourself. Three spells, none of which even remotely dark for anyone to argue about without a single hit from her. I only wish I could have seen it. She deserved what you gave her and perhaps it will teach the little bint to think about what she says before she says it from now on."

Daphne smiled at the praise, then grinned as she remembered her encounter with Pansy that very morning.

"Plus," her mother went on to say with a wicked grin, "it gave me a chance to tell her mother if she didn't stop insulting you, I would challenge her to an honor duel and show her what pain and suffering really is. I will long remember with glee the look on her face when she realized I meant it."

She heaved a large sigh. "However, your involvement with Mister Potter might lead to some problems, which has caused us to make some contingency plans."

She immediately jumped to Harry's defense. "Mum, it's not Harry's fault. I asked him to be my boyfriend and he said we could keep it secret and I could talk with you and Father about it first but I didn't and I let everyone know and he said Voldemort was trying to kill him and would probably strike at my family and mphf…"

With a laugh, Roxanne had placed her fingers over Daphne's mouth to silence her. "Shh, Little One, Shh, it's alright. Your father and I would never interfere like that." She removed her hand and at Daphne's silence, went on. "We are well aware of what happened in the last war with the Dark Lord, what he and his forces did, what they are capable of and we have discussed what we are going to do if it becomes necessary. Are you calm enough to listen?"

Daphne nodded.

"First, do not be upset should you receive a letter telling you that you should break up with Harry Potter under threat of disownment."

Daphne's breath hitched in her chest as her lungs seemed to stop working as they tightened in fear at the dual threats of losing Harry and disownment. "Mother, no! I can't…"

Again, fingers sealed her lips. "Daphne! Listen to me. I told you not to be upset if you received a letter. Now, listen! The Greengrass's have always been neutral and we want to stay that way. However, your involvement with Harry will be seen as moving to the Light in a time it is even more important than ever we stay firmly in the Grey. Your relationship is still too new to begin to worry anyone of either Light or Dark, childhood romances come and go, but both sides will be watching to see what happens. If you stay together, I suspect it will be some months before pressure on us to do something about it will be enough to cause your father to do anything. But, unlike business, he is a consummate politician and will be able to judge just when he must do something and what he must do. It will start slow, asking about your relationship, hints that he might not fully approve. It will build slowly after that until finally you receive that letter."

Daphne listened silently with a sick fear pooling in her belly. She couldn't believe her parents would force her to break up with Harry, or disown her, but her mother was still talking, still explaining it was a possibility.

Roxanne continued. "At that time, you must make a decision: break up with him, pretend to break up, or openly defy your Lord, Head of House and Father by staying with him. What you decide will decide for your father what he must do." She leaned forward and took her daughter's hands into her own. "But whatever happens, remember this: your father and I support you in whatever you decide. If he sends you a letter stating that because of your disobedience he is disowning you, do not believe it! He is not; he is only saying he is."

The breath she hadn't known she was holding blasted out at her mother's words, the fear within her fading. She hiccupped as she smiled thankfully. "Really?"

Her mother smiled in sympathy. "Yes, really. We would never do that to you. It would all be a pretense, but one you must go along with. You must act as if it is happening, and you must do it convincingly. If you stay with him, you must be prepared for the consequences. We will never deny you help, shelter, food," she lay her hand against Daphne's cheek, "love, but it will be hard. We cannot be seen to be giving you any of that so we will work out ways to meet without being seen. We will also make arrangements for you at Gringotts. You will not be without funds."

"You can't afford…"

"Hush!" snapped Roxanne. "We will bankrupt the Greengrass name before we forsake family. With the Dark Lord back there will be war, it is his way. We will fight for the Light in that event, but we will do it behind a façade of the Grey for as long as we can provide aid and comfort." She said as she gazed into her daughter's eyes. "But you must decide if you will talk with Harry, tell him what you are doing, or whether you will let him believe what he sees. But the two of you must decide together what you will do."

She nodded in understanding. She couldn't deceive Harry; it would break his trust in her and she had seen how hard it was to gain it. Besides, she wouldn't want to anyway. If their relationship was to grow it had to be because both of them worked together to make it so.

Her mother went on. "I don't know why you-know-who seems to be trying to kill your Harry so many times, other than perhaps for revenge, but if you stay with him you will need to help him defeat that monster for your own safety."

"We will, Mum."

Roxanne cocked her eyebrow up in confusion at her.

"Hermione and I." She clarified. "She's really smart and organized and knows a lot of spells. She helped Harry make it through the tournament. Between the two of us, Voldemort doesn't have a chance."

Roxanne smiled at her show of confidence. "It is good you have such friends. Remember to keep them close and support them." She pulled Daphne's head down and kissed her on the cheek. "Now, let's go introduce me to your friends and your Mister Potter. I would very much like to meet them and then I must be off. You have told me many things I must discuss with your father and the sooner the better."

Later, after introducing her mother to her friends and talking with each for a minute or two with an surprise invitation for all of them to visit at Christmas, before disappearing into the green flames of the floo, she looked around the table as they talked and chatted with one another. Hannah and Millie were in a conversation with Luna Lovegood, who'd shown up while she'd been with her mother, about some kind of magical creature; Harry and Tracy were arguing some obscure, to her, Quidditch rule and Hermione and Neville were discussing different kinds of monitoring charms for a greenhouse. At some point Harry had absently reached over and taken her hand and was now lazily caressing the back of it with his thumb. She was enjoying the sensation as she watched her friends, from all four houses, being friends as she pondered what her mother had told her. She had plans to make and would need the help of these very people.

Voldemort was back, his people were organizing and if the past were any indicator, nothing good would come from either of those facts. They all had to prepare for what was coming. They had to help Harry defeat the Dark Lord, because she could feel it, feel the certainty that it would come down to a battle between the two of them. Her mother was right: there had to be a reason Voldemort kept coming after Harry, but she didn't think it was simple revenge. That may be a part of it, after all how did it look that the most powerful dark wizard in centuries had been beaten by a baby, but she felt there was something more, some reason they didn't know.

She sighed in frustration and set the matter aside till later as one of Rosmerta's servers arrived with their meals. Time enough to think on and discuss the matter later. Right now, she was with friends and the young man she thought she might be in love with. Best just enjoy it.

She was happy.

A/N: A second chapter complete and I hope you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I have to tell you I have no idea whatsoever when the next one might come about. I have the beginning of the story and an ending, but the middle is somewhere in a dense fog bank. I have ideas, but nothing I can put down just yet. I do know it won't be a day to day telling of the story. There will be large time lapses, but I hope to make them a coherent whole and not just a jumbled mess. It's taken me two and a half years to get this chapter to where I thought it was right. It may take that long to get the next one. Thank you for your patience and again, I hope you enjoyed it. TA! ER