Summary:
AU. Two days after returning home from fifth-year classes and O.W.L. exams, Daphne Greengrass finds on her pillow, a letter from her much-older self. Included in this letter is a Muggle envelope addressed to Harry Potter from his much-older self.Daphne's letter reveals that elderly Daphne and elderly Harry, after each had outlived a spouse, got married. Marrying Harry Potter, elderly Daphne assures young Daphne, was the best thing to ever happen to elderly Daphne in her long life.Elderly Daphne also tells her teenaged self—Sirius Black's just-read will emancipates almost-sixteen-year-old Harry Potter and grants him the Lordship of the House of Black. In turn, emancipating the Potter Heir turns him into Lord Potter. Harry Potter gaining two Lordships means he'll need two wives. Young Daphne, why wait till you need a cane before you become betrothed to the best man in Wizarding Britain?This is an alt-universe GreenPot Harmony (H/Hr and HP/DG) story that bashes Albus Dumbledore and Ron Weasley.
Site: Archive of Our Own Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K.Rowling Published: 2019-12-03 Completed: 2020-03-26 Words: 95828 Chapters: 25/25 Comments: 452 Kudos:983 Bookmarks: 319 Hits: 27670 ID: 21665026
Chapter 1: Hello, Young Daphne!
Canon does not say whom Daphne Greengrass marries, or even whether she marries. On the other hand, Astoria Greengrass eventually marries Draco Malfoy; Astoria Malfoy dies of a congenital blood curse in 2019.
Canon does not say when the will of Sirius Black was read, or what the will's contents were. However, it is clear that Dumbledore's summary of the will's contents (in Half-Blood Prince Chapter 3) is incomplete.
Once Sirius Black dies, canon never mentions who the current Lord/Lady Black is.
Canon implies that the Black family owns other properties besides Number 12 Grimmauld Place, but these other properties are neither named nor located. Canon treats the townhouse at Number 12 Grimmauld Place as the main Black-family property.
According to the "1996" timeline at the Harry Potter Wiki (HARRYPOTTER dotFANDOMdotCOM slash WIKI slash 1996), Harry Potter completes his fifth year and returns home on the Hogwarts Express on 26th June, 1996. In Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter does not appear in the story until Chapter 3, when Dumbledore visits Harry and the Dursleys at Number 4, Privet Drive. Dumbledore's visit (according to the Harry Potter Wiki's "1996" timeline) happens on 12th July, 1996. We are left to presume that in canon, nothing happens to Harry between 26th June and 12th July except for suffering a rotten life with the Dursleys—which, at this point in the heptalogy, is not worth mentioning. The reason I am explaining all this is that in this AU story, much of the story happens during the sixteen days between 26th June and 12th July.
EDITED TO ADD, AUGUST 2020: When J. K. Rowling wrote the Prophecy, she was a bit poetic in her wording. This poetic wording is why the Prophecy talks about "the power the Dark Lord knows not," not "the power the Dark Lord does not know." So since the Prophecy is not using words in their everyday sense, it does not mean much that the Prophecy says that Harry has the power to "vanquish" the Dark Lord—not "kill," not "defeat," the word written is vanquish.
But what does the word vanquish mean? It means To destroy so utterly that he/she/it is gone forever and is never coming back. Alas, at the end of Deathly Hallows, I argue that Voldemort is notvanquished. He is killed by Harry, yes, and most of the Death Eaters are killed (though not by Harry)—but all three Malfoys are alive at the end of DH, and the Blood-Purity Doctrine is not discredited. To "vanquish" Voldemort, I say, Tom Riddle would need to be killed forever, and all the Death Eaters be killed, and the Blood-Purity Doctrine become a joke—and Harry would need to achieve all three feats singlehandedly.
What I did was to figure out how Harry could make vanquishing Voldemort actually happen, then I wrote a story of Harry vanquishing the Dark Tosser, not merely killing him. It is that story that you read now.
(In this story, I also wrote Harry getting involved with two teen birds, Daphne and Hermione, because I'm a bloke, and blokes like this sort of thing.)
Chapter 1
Hello, Young Daphne!
Friday, 28th June, 1996
Two days after students left Hogwarts
Ten days after the death of Sirius Black
Greengrass Manor
During dinner, Lord Cyrus Greengrass looked at his elder daughter and said, "Daphne, you are two years away from completing your schooling. Which means, you are two years from the time you may marry. It is time for me to begin negotiating your betrothal. Is there any young man you fancy?"
Black-haired beauty Daphne shot the man a look. "Father, you know that only Muggle-borns marry for love. I expect you will place me with whomever shall give the most benefit to House Greengrass."
Cyrus Greengrass asked carefully, "So you truly don't care whom you marry?"
Daphne flipped her shiny black hair over her shoulder. "As long as he isn't Draco Malfoy or Ronald Weasley, then yes, I don't care."
Daphne's younger sister Astoria said, "Daph, what do you have against Draco? He's smart, and definitely cute."
Cyrus was smiling. "No to Draco, and no to the youngest Weasley boy. Ha, I figured trying to set up a betrothal for the 'Ice Queen' would be harder than this."
Daphne scowled. "I hate that title, Father. And I do not understand why I've been given it."
"I do," said Astoria.
After dinner
In Daphne's bedroom
Daphne had entered her bedroom to change clothes, before flooing over to Davis House to pay a visit to Tracey. But as soon as Daphne entered her bedroom, she got a feeling of disquiet, a feeling that something was not quite right.
After a minute, Daphne realised what was bothering her: a giant envelope lay on her pillow—an envelope which had not been on her pillow before dinner.
Daphne walked across her bedroom and picked up the envelope. She gasped when she read the front of the envelope—
No surprise, Daphne's name was written in the middle of the envelope, as the addressee; but her full name also was written in the corner, as the sender. The writing was her own, and yet it wasn't—the sender's handwriting was shaky.
Inside the giant envelope were several things, including a long parchment that had been pleats-folded, and that had Daphne's name written on top in a shaky version of Daphne's own handwriting. Daphne unfolded the long parchment.
Greetings, young Daphne, from a much, much older version of you!
Your professors at Hogwarts declare that the past can't be changed. Well, this letter makes an exception—but for this letter to go from my hand to your eyes requires goblin magic, plus magic from Harry Potter's house-elf Handy, plus special magic from elderly Harry Potter himself. As for elderly Harry Potter's contribution to the spell, he can do certain magic that no witch and no other wizard can do, either in my time or in yours. Young Harry Potter can't work this magic either, but this might soon change, elderly Harry Potter thinks.
You notice how vague I'm being about elderly Harry Potter's magic? That's because he has a Big Secret, and I've promised to keep his Big Secret as I write this letter.
But there is one truth about elderly Harry Potter that I tell you plainly, young Daphne: He is my husband. And marrying him was the best decision I ever made.
Harry Potter is the embodiment, the epitome, of what Gryffindors try to be. I don't mean this in a bad way—no, I mean this in a quite good way. Harry Potter, my husband, talks, acts and thinks like a solid-gold, capital-H Hero. Is it any wonder that I, who believed in my youth that only foolish girls married for love, am now so much in love with my husband?
At the moment, Daphne was strongly tempted to decide that the letter was a Weasley-twins prank. Except that inside the big envelope, besides a parchment that had been written in a shaky version of Daphne's own handwriting, was a second, smaller envelope that contained some kind of book inside. The smaller envelope was addressed to Harry Potter—at "Number 4, **i*e* Drive, *i***e **i**i**, Surrey"—with the smaller envelope's handwriting being different than elderly Daphne's handwriting.
(Daphne found in the big envelope one other thing: a recipe for a potion. The potion was oddly named, and the text of the potion-recipe was typeset-printed on Muggle paper.)
Daphne thought of the Harry Potter she knew: the boy with the messy black hair, the round glasses, the green eyes that showed so many expressions, and the Gryffindor robes. Daphne wondered, How could I ever marry him? Whilst Daphne did not love this Harry, she did like him, when the boy made a fool of Draco, Professor Snape or the headmaster.
Daphne read on.
Just about the time you read this letter, young Daphne, you'll have told Father, "I don't care whom I marry, just so long as it isn't Draco Malfoy or Ron Weasley." The good news is, you'll get your wish. The bad news is, the man I wound up marrying—I'll call him Sam Slytherin—was just as bad. I gave him two sons, so his House and the House of Greengrass both had heirs, then I spent my remaining years with the man concentrating on not killing him. I'm still amazed that I achieved this. When he died of a heart attack, I felt so free.
Meanwhile, Harry Potter killed Voldemort, a few years from now, then his married life turned strange. Potter and Granger never married—shocking, huh? Instead, Granger married Ron Weasley and Harry married Ginny Weasley. It was no surprise when Hermione spoke a divorce declaration against her husband in 2017, after Ron cheated on a Muggle driving test. (Don't ask me to explain why this got Hermione so angry; this is apparently a Muggle-born and Muggle-raised issue that Purebloods never will understand.) No, the only surprise about Hermione divorcing Ron Weasley was that it took her nineteen years to do it. Anyway, Granger clearly was hoping that Harry would divorce Ginny and would marry her—and Harry admitted to me that he was sorely tempted. But Ginny hadn't done anything to deserve a divorce, and a divorce would have saddened Harry's three kids as badly as a Dementor attack would have, so Harry disappointed Granger by never divorcing Ginny. Granger never remarried.
By the time Harry was free to remarry, because Ginny was dead, Granger had died a week earlier, of some Muggle disease. (Capricorn?) Two months after Granger and Ginny died, Harry asked me out; four months after our first date, Harry Potter and I married.
Six days from now, as I write this, I too will die. This explains why my handwriting is so shaky. How do I know the date of my death? Because Harry told me when my death would be, and I have reason to believe him.
So a week from now, if the timeline has not been changed by this letter, Harry Potter will have outlived Sam Slytherin, Granger, Ginny and me. Harry's long life is not due to luck or good breeding—no, it relates to his Big Secret that I am not telling you.
Daphne paused, and wondered whom she could tell about this letter. After some thought, she realised that if this was indeed a letter from her future self, she could not tell anyone in her family about it, without a strong reason—Daphne would be shipped off to Saint Mungo's if she talked too freely.
Likewise, Daphne dared not breathe a word to her friend Tracey.
The only person with whom Daphne felt free to talk about this strange letter was Harry Potter—whom Daphne barely knew.
Daphne read the end of the letter.
Enclosed with the letter to you, and with elderly Harry's letter to young Harry, is a recipe for a kind of healing potion. "Hemoglobin Repair Potion 46" is a strange name for a potion, but if Astoria drinks this potion at least once every six months, she won't die of the blood curse that kills her in 2019. Interestingly, this potion was invented by Holly Longbottom, the granddaughter of Hannah Abbott and Potions-class disaster Neville Longbottom.
The will-reading for Sirius Black was done a day or two ago, your time. Black's will declared Harry Potter to be an emancipated minor, after naming him the Heir to the Lordship of House Black. Thanks to Headmaster Dumbledore, who has an unhealthy urge to meddle with Harry's life, Harry never was told about the will-reading. (Never try to send Harry an owl; Dumbledore has put an owl-redirect on mail going to Harry, except for Harry's own owl.) Anyway, young Harry is now Lord Black and Lord Potter, but he doesn't know this, and it's up to you to send him an elf to tell him the news!
And then, young Daphne, ask young Harry if he would consider you as Lady Black, before some other Pureblood princess gets to him first. Such as, say, Susan Bones, she of the chest that boys notice.
As elderly Daphne had requested, young Daphne ordered a Greengrass house-elf, Bluegrass, to deliver to Harry his cross-time letter plus a copy of elderly Daphne's cross-time letter.
With the two letters, Daphne wrote a note for Harry: "I truly don't know what to think about any of this, except that I think the 'elderly Daphne' letter is authentic. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And congratulations on your elevation, Lord Black-Potter."
Harry's bedroom
At Number 4, Privet Drive
Harry Potter was surprised when a house-elf whom Harry did not know, popped into Harry's bedroom and handed the boy a short parchment, a long parchment, and an envelope.
Harry was shocked when he recognised the handwriting outside the envelope as a variant of his own handwriting.
But that shock was nothing compared to the shock that Harry got, again and again, as he read the letter inside, which came in the form of a computer-printed, 73-page book.
But besides feeling shock as he read the book that his older self had written just for him, young Harry felt anguish. Whilst young Harry sometimes grew frustrated with Albus Dumbledore, Harry admired the headmaster; but elderly Harry argued that Dumbledore was a "dark lord" who was scheming to kill Harry as the means to kill Voldemort and to grab glory for himself. Young Harry strongly hoped that elderly Harry's opinions about the headmaster were wrong.
Chapter 2: Gringotts
Chapter 2
Gringotts
Early the next morning (a Saturday)
Gringotts in Diagon Alley
Harry, standing inside the two big entrance doors, watched through the glass as Dobby popped onto the front steps of the bank—whilst holding Hermione's hand. Hermione looked around, as she said something to Dobby; Dobby pointed to the entrance doors.
Hermione rushed up the stairs and jerked open a door to enter the bank.
Harry promptly was crushed in a Hermione-hug. "Oh Harry, I'm so glad to see you! Why weren't you at the will-reading yesterday? Where are the Order members who are supposed to be guarding you? Does Professor Dumbledore know you're here? Have you started on your homework?"
When Hermione eventually broke the hug, Harry grabbed her shoulders and stepped back. "Hermione, I'm so sorry Dolohov nearly killed you! It's all my fault; I didn't think."
Hermione at first did not reply; instead, she gave Harry another crushing hug, as goblins and bank customers watched. Then quietly, Hermione murmured in Harry's ear, "You didn't think five years ago, either. If you had, that troll would have killed me."
Then Hermione broke the second hug. "Erm, Harry, shouldn't you be getting in queue for a bank teller?"
Harry grinned at her. "I will, as soon as my Pureblood Advisorarrives here."
"Wait, you have a Pureblood Advisor? Really? When did this start? And who is he? Or she?"
"My Pureblood Advisor—"
The door opened, and Daphne Greengrass walked in. She was wearing summer-season clothing—that just so happened to feature red and yellow.
"Potter. Granger," Daphne said coolly.
Harry grinned. "In the circumstances, Daphne, how about calling me Harry? And you already know Hermione."
Hermione demanded, " 'In the circumstances'? Explain, Harry."
Harry was grinning now. "Daphne is my Pureblood Advisor. She shall tell me what to do and to not do, hopefully ahead of time, so that when I'm rubbing elbows with posh magical people, I don't come across as a lout."
Hermione said coldly, "I'm sure Augusta Longbottom could provide the same advice, don't you think?"
Daphne said, "Grain—Hermione, I'm not in competition with you. Not for O.W.L. scores, not for anything." Daphne looked at Hermione with one eyebrow raised.
Harry said, "To answer your question, Hermione, whilst I respect Regent Longbottom, she can be intimidating, 'don't you think?' Besides, I've already got Molly Weasley telling me 'I know what's best for you.' And let's not forget Dumbledore."
"Professor Dumbledore," Hermione corrected. "Honestly, Harry."
By now, the three were in queue to deal with a teller. Soon Harry was at the head of the line.
Harry said, "Teller, may your gold overflow and your enemies tremble. I'm Harry Potter; here's my key to confirm my claim. But I want to talk to the Black account manager, not the Potter account manager—"
When the teller started to object, Harry explained, "I'm told the reading of Sirius Black's will was held here yesterday, and I'm mentioned in the will, but I missed it."
The teller said, "I see that your account has been flagged. Assistant Teller Axesharpener will take you to Director Ragnok; please wait over there."
"Take you to Director Ragnok?" Daphne repeated. "My father has never met with Director Ragnok, and my father is the Head of an Ancient and Noble House!"
Two minutes later
Outside Ragnok's office
Axesharpener opened the door and gestured the three teens in. Harry and Daphne started to walk in, but Hermione balked. "Daphne, you and I can't go in. Professor Dumbledore sealed Harry's part of the will; only Harry may hear it read."
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Hermione, Sirius Black was the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House; nobody can seal his will, except possibly during wartime."
"But I'm telling you, Professor Dumbledore sealed Harry's parts of the will, by selective use of a silencing charm. As soon as the goblin read out Harry's name, suddenly the goblin's lips were still moving but nobody but Professor Dumbledore could hear the words anymore."
Daphne said, "And I'm telling you that if Dumbledore did this, he did wrong. Will-readings are done with all beneficiaries gathered at once so that every interested person can hear every word of the will."
Harry said, "Ladies, let me say two things. One, Dumbledore—don't start, Hermione!—didn't give me one bloody hint about the will-reading yesterday, he didn't arrange a way for me to come here, and he didn't tell me afterwards what the will said. Two, for reasons of my own, whatever I hear today, I want both of you to hear it too."
Hermione said, "You want me to hear details about your finances? And..." Hermione side-nodded towards Daphne. You want Greengrass to hear about your finances too?
"I trust you, Hermione. And after something I learnt last night, I trust Daphne too." Daphne looked shocked.
Thanks to reading elderly Daphne's letter, neither young Harry nor young Daphne was surprised when Harry was told that he could claim two Lordships, three houses (Potter Manor, Number 12 Grimmauld Place and "the Black winter house in Dover"), and several vaults apiece that were worth a total of two million galleons in coins. Plus, the vaults held stocks and bonds.
Neither Harry nor Daphne was surprised; Hermione, however, nearly fell out of her chair.
Harry claimed his Lordships, and his two Lordship rings. Harry was given a handful of new vault keys, which he pocketed. Then Ragnok said to Harry, "Lord Black-Potter, may I have your wand, please?"
Harry handed over his holly-and-phoenix-feather wand, Ragnok laid the wand on his desk, then the goblin passed a hand over the wand. Whilst handing the wand back, Ragnok explained, "I've removed the Underage-Magic Trace."
"Brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.
"Grumble-grumble," Hermione said (though with a smile).
A minute later, Harry was delighted to be told that he could turn his Lordship rings invisible. Confused Daphne asked, "Why would you want to hide your rings, instead of showing them off?"
Harry sighed. "It's an honesty cheque on Dumbledore."
Then Harry said, "Speaking of whom, Dumbledore told me that Potter Manor is uninhabitable. Is this true?"
Ragnok looked at three sheets of parchment, then replied, "The wards are down and the building is damaged. It will take magic or money to make things right; but Potter Manor is hardly a pile of rubble."
Harry nodded. "Something to think about later."
On Ragnok's desk were the wills of Harry's parents, besides the will of Sirius Black. Dumbledore had sealed Harry's parents' wills back in 1981, in his capacity as Chief Warlock. But this sealing of the wills from public view could not—and now did not—stop the Potter Heir from requesting the reading of the Potter wills, once the Heir was an adult.
Ragnok already had read both James' and Lily's wills aloud. But something was poking at the back of Harry's brain, so Harry began reading both wills for himself.
It did not take Harry long to figure out what had been bothering him. Harry said aloud, "Right now I feel like punching Dumbledore's face in, then inventing five new hexes just so I can hex the headmaster with them."
"Oh?" said Daphne. "What did Whiskers do now?"
Harry handed his father's will to Hermione, saying, "Here, you've talked on the phone with my aunt and uncle. Look at the section of the will under 'Harry's Guardian.' What leaps out at you?"
Meanwhile, Harry was answering Daphne's question: "My guardian was supposed to be Sirius Black. If he could not serve as guardian for some reason—such as he being a hot-tempered idiot and getting himself thrown in Azkaban—then my guardians were supposed to be Frank and Alice Longbottom. If they couldn't be my guardians, then third on the list was Amelia Bones. Listed nowhereas a possible guardian: Albus Dumbledore. Petunia Dursley, my mother's sister, and her husband Vernon are mentioned in both wills, but in these words: 'In no circumstances are Petunia and Vernon Dursley to be appointed as our son's guardians.' "
Hermione had not spoken during Harry's rant. Now she stood up, walked over to Harry and hugged him.
Ragnok asked, "Do you have any other business with Gringotts today, Lord Black-Potter?"
"I do. I'm not sure what a horcrux is, except that it's something like Tom Riddle's diary, it has something to do with Voldemort, and it's nasty magic."
"Quite nasty magic," Ragnok agreed, scowling.
Hermione and Daphne looked confused.
Harry continued, "I'm told that there is a cup in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault that is a horcrux. If so, I ask you to find it and destroy it."
"A horcrux? In Gringotts?" Ragnok roared. He bellowed in Gobbledygook, and two goblins ran into the room.
Ragnok yelled, "Something-something Bellatrix Lestrange something-something-something," then the two goblins ran out.
Ragnok assured Harry, "The horcrux will be history within the hour."
Harry felt happy. Elderly Harry had written, in his 73-page letter, how he had removed the horcruxed Cup from Bellatrix's vault. Young Harry decided that letting the goblins do the work, instead of breaking into the vault and escaping on a blind dragon, was surely a better deal for everyone. (Although in defence of the original plan, elderly Harry had confided that Hermione-polyjuiced-as-Bellatrix-Lestrange was sexy.)
Meanwhile, Daphne was saying, "If Bellatrix Lestrange has done this bad thing, can't you seize half the money in her vault as punishment? There's no sense in You-Know-Who getting his hands on her money if you goblins can legally grab piles of galleons instead."
Ragnok gave Daphne a sharp-toothed grin and said "Done!"
Then again Ragnok spoke with the calm of a banking professional: "Is there anything else that Gringotts can do for you today, Lord Black-Potter?"
"Yes, two things. Firstly, Dumbledore has put an owl-redirect on all mail going to me, except for my own owl. I've never received a bank statement from Gringotts."
"Never?" Ragnok snarled.
"So from now on, I ask that you do whatever it takes so that I get all my Gringotts statements. Ideally, without Dumbledore knowing we've outsmarted him."
"Done," Ragnok replied.
Daphne said, "I suggest 'misplacing' a few thousand galleons in Dumbledore's vault for pulling that trick."
Ragnok grinned a sharp-toothed smile at this suggestion.
Harry felt he should be defending Dumbledore's good name from Daphne's clear dislike, but Harry kept silent. Harry wasn't convinced yet that the headmaster was secretly evil, but Harry knew about several things that the headmaster had done, and elderly Harry had revealed several more misdeeds, that allowed Dumbledore to be viewed unflatteringly.
Now Daphne asked Ragnok, "Who has access to Harry's Potter vaults and Black vaults?" Daphne explained to Hermione, "In theory, Harry is the only person with access."
Ragnok replied, "Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore have access to the Potter trust vault." Ragnok picked up a parchment, glanced at it, and said, "Yesterday, Albus Dumbledore requested access to the Potter and Black family vaults. His request was refused."
Harry thought, The day I get access to new vaults, Dumbledore wants to take money from those vaults without me knowing? Dumbledore, have you turned into Mundungus now?
Meanwhile, Hermione was saying, "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore had a good—"
Daphne said sarcastically, "Of course he had a good reason. Glow-in-the-dark purple robes are expensive."
Harry said, "Deny Albus Dumbledore access to every vault I control. In fact, set it up so a dragon growls at Dumbledore if he stands too close to the vault door."
Ragnok laughed. "We'll do the first part. I don't think I can promise about the dragon, however."
Harry said, "Secondly, I'm told that you goblins have healers I can hire, who can do things that the healers at Saint Mungo's can't do?"
"Yes, we offer this service," said Ragnok, in a Where are you going with this? tone of voice.
"The lightning-bolt scar on my forehead might be a horcrux," Harry said calmly. Both Hermione and Daphne gasped. "I'm willing to pay good gold if you can destroy the Voldemort piece-of-soul, if it's in my scar, then your healers healing me afterwards."
Hermione hugged Harry; Daphne worriedly bit her lip.
Harry's smile was challenging. "Director Ragnok, if I die on the Healer table, you'll get no payment, you understand."
Chapter 3
Gryffindor Courage
Harry, Hermione, Daphne, Ragnok and Axesharpener climbed into a double-length mining car, then headed to the vaults. Actually, the cart took everyone below all the vaults, to the goblin village. Ragnok led the others into a building where all the goblins wore loose, white clothing.
"It smells strange in here," Daphne commented.
"You're smelling isopropyl alcohol," Hermione said. "Muggle hospitals have the same smell."
Ragnok spoke briefly with the chief goblin Healer, then Ragnok left. The chief goblin Healer and Axesharpener led Harry into a different part of the building, whilst Hermione sat in the waiting room and worried. Daphne acted unconcerned.
A half-hour later
Harry and the chief goblin Healer were back, with Harry's famous scar covered with a gauze bandage.
Hermione question-bombed Harry: "Was there a horcrux in the scar? Did they remove it? How are you feeling?"
Daphne said, "Merlin, Granger, give Harry time to answer."
It was the goblin Healer who answered: "We indeed found a horcrux attached to the scar." Both Hermione and Daphne hissed. "There was also powerful Light magic attached to the scar—put there by his mother, we think. Anyway, we removed the horcrux, but not the Light magic."
Harry grinned. "For half an hour of Healers' work, I paid the price of two Firebolts. But it was definitely worth the price."
Hermione said, "This is good news! No more headaches now, no more bad dreams, and You-Know-Who can't read your mind."
"True," Harry said. "This also changes how I relate to Dumbledore."
"Wait, Dumbledore?" Daphne said. "What does whether your scar has a horcrux or not, have to do with the headmaster?"
Harry replied, "Daphne, the book I received last night, explained everything. Supposedly." Hermione wondered what Harry and Daphne were talking about.
By now, the chief goblin Healer had left, and only Axesharpener was in the waiting room with the three teenagers. Harry's face turned serious, then he continued—
"Daphne, Hermione, it's like this: One day I'll have to battle Voldy to the death; it's prophesied. But according to the book Daphne sent me, Dumbles wants to convince me to make a 'noble sacrifice' on that day and deliberately lose, so that when I die, the horcrux in my head dies. If all the other horcruxes have been destroyed by then, Voldy no longer is immortal; someone else can kill him."
Hermione looked at Harry with an expression of horror. She said, "And for you, such an argument would work. 'Harry my boy, the only way for anyone to kill Voldemort is to let him first kill you'—you have such a 'saving-people thing' that you wouldn't think twice, you'd walk up to Voldy and let yourself take an AK in the face."
Daphne asked, "Would Dumbledore be right? If you still had the horcrux in you, would you let yourself be killed when you fought You-Know-Who?"
Harry shrugged. "I'd be ashamed of myself for the rest of my life if I didn't."
Daphne stared at Harry. "Merlin, you really are 'a solid-gold, capital-H Hero.' "
Harry said, "Then, according to the book, once I die 'for the greater good,' who is it who would actually kill Voldy? Dumbles. The book claims Dumbles plans to fight Voldy and kill him, and become an even bigger hero in the wizarding world than when he defeated Grindelwald."
Hermione said angrily, "Whilst you would be remembered, if remembered at all, as the boy who tried and failed, such a tragedy."
Daphne said, "Erm, Harry, if anyone else told me, 'The headmaster of my school is plotting to get me killed,' I'd think the person saying this was barking mad."
Harry sighed. "I'm not making any of this up, Daphne. The prophecy that has ruled my life was spoken to Dumbledore before I was even born. When my parents died, Dumbles gave me to my magic-hating Muggle aunt, instead of to any of the guardians named in my parents' wills. Why? The book says it was so that I would grow up feeling unloved and alone. Now that I'm in Hogwarts, every summer I'm imprisoned with my hateful relatives in Surrey—by Dumbles's decree. Dumbles knew Sirius Black was innocent and Dumbles as Chief Warlock had the power to clear my godfather's name, but he didn't. Why not? The book says it was because if Sirius had gotten his name cleared, I could have lived with a man who cared for me, instead of living with the Dursleys. Last year, Dumbles forced me to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament when he knew I hadn't entered my name; then a year ago, when I was blaming myself for Cedric Diggory being killed, Dumbles told Ron and Hermione not to write to me and not to answer my letters. Why? According to the book, when I face Voldy, Dumbles wants me feeling worthless and alone."
Daphne said to Hermione, "Last summer, you knew your friend was feeling terribly, yet on Dumbledore's orders, you left him alone?" Daphne sneered, "If the headmaster told you to jump off the Astronomy Tower, I bet you'd do it. Harry needed you!"
Hermione felt shame.
Harry said, "Daphne, I can't complain about Hermione being too trusting, because there have been several times in the past five years when Hermione was the only person in the school who trusted me."
Harry paused in his speaking whilst Hermione rushed forward and hugged him.
Harry said, "Anyway, when I face Voldy, the book says Dumbles wants me not roused enough to fight for anyone, even myself. But I refuse to follow Dumbledore's supposed plan—when I battle Voldy to the death, I will fight for myself, I will fight for Hermione—and Daphne, based on what I read in those letters last night, I will fight for you."
Hermione grumbled, "It sounds like you two are keeping secrets from me."
Harry said, "Not deliberately. I have to return to Privet Drive now, but I suggest you two find someplace private and talk."
Then Harry brightened. "Oh, I forgot to mention: The goblin Healers found a binding on my magical core; for another hundred galleons, I had the binding removed. It's possible that it was my parents who put the binding on me; I don't want to accuse Dumbles without proof."
Hermione frowned.
Axesharpener took the magical teens back to the surface, then Harry, Hermione and Daphne walked out of Gringotts. On the front steps of Gringotts, Harry called for Dobby.
Harry introduced Daphne and Dobby (which made Daphne raise her eyebrows). Then Harry said to Dobby, "Here's the plan: You take me back to my relatives' house, then you come back here and make yourself available to Hermione for the rest of today. If Hermione wants you to take both her and Daphne someplace, this is okay with me."
Dobby agreed excitedly, then the elf held his hand up so Harry could take it. But instead of taking Dobby's hand, Harry squared his shoulders and looked at Hermione—
"Relax, relax, Gryffindors charge ahead, I can do this. No, maybe I can't do this, everyone is staring at me, and Daphne is looking at me like I'm barking mad—enough! Gryffindor courage, Gryffindor courage! Hermione, I like you. No, change it, I love you—but you never marrying me but marrying Ron instead, just the thought of those things happening one day is like a knife through my heart! Anyway, I love you, which I want you to know."
Before Hermione could speak, Harry seized Dobby's hand. "Dobby, now!"
Harry and Dobby popped away, leaving surprised Daphne and astounded Hermione standing on the steps of Gringotts.
Chapter 4
Hermione Replies
Seconds later
At Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
Dobby delivered Harry to his bedroom at his relatives' house. Harry thanked Dobby for his help, which resulted in Dobby hugging Harry. Then Harry sent Dobby out again, to act as Hermione's chauffeur for the day.
Harry walked downstairs and made breakfast. All three Dursleys were downstairs, but none of them demanded to know where Harry had been for the last hour.
After Harry washed the dishes, he walked outside to begin weeding the back garden. He knew that back there was assigned an Order of the Phoenix person, invisible, whose supposed job was to protect Harry from Death Eaters (and whose true job was to prevent Harry from escaping).
Harry did not expect to see anyone in the back garden, and indeed he did not. But Harry heard snoring. When Harry walked close to the invisible snorer, he smelled firewhisky (and awful-stinking tobacco).
By feel, Harry found the bottle of liquor, and dumped out every drop of firewhisky—on the head of the snorer.
The snorer quit snoring, and turned visible. "Oi, what did you do that for?" Mundungus Fletcher demanded.
Harry wasn't having it. "If I were a Death Eater, you'd be dead, Fletcher. Do your bloody job or get lost."
"You going to tell Dumbledore?"
"You help me pull weeds, you can buy my silence."
"I'm a wizard, I don't do Muggle work!"
"Guess I talk to Dumbledore then."
"Fine, I'll do it, I'll pull weeds."
Fletcher was not as efficient at weed-pulling as Harry was. But whilst Fletcher's work was suspiciously slow, he never stopped pulling weeds. And every weed that Fletcher pulled was a weed that Harry did not need to pull!
If Fletcher ever had noticed that Harry had been gone for an hour, earlier in the morning, he never mentioned it.
When the weeding was completed to Harry's satisfaction, he went back into the house and washed up. Then he walked back into his bedroom.
Hermione, had she been there, would have urged Harry to do some of his summer-break homework. Instead, Harry reread elderly Harry's 73-page letter, over and over.
An hour later (mid-morning Saturday)
At the kitchen table of the Granger house
Dr Daniel Granger and Dr Emma Granger were at work fixing teeth, and would not be home till around 2:30 p.m.
Which meant that their house was empty, except for Hermione, Crookshanks—and Daphne Greengrass.
Hermione had skipped breakfast to meet with Harry, so upon her return to the house, had pulled a box of cornflakes from atop the refrigerator. Hermione had offered a bowl of cornflakes to Daphne, and had been surprised when the Pureblood girl had confessed she had never eaten them before.
Now the two girls were finishing their cornflakes; but mostly they were discussing the parchment letter that house-elf Bluegrass had fetched for Daphne. The pleats-folded letter lay on the kitchen table, within reach of both girls.
Daphne tapped the letter and asked, "Do you believe this letter is from the future?"
Hermione sighed. "Yes, though I can't guess how elderly Harry got around the limits on changing the past. It's plausible that I would marry Ron—"
"Ugh."
"—but if Ron cheated on a driving test, this would be the end for us. He'd be putting Muggle drivers in danger of death—I couldn't overlook that."
"Hermione, here's what I don't understand: How could you possibly marry Ron Weasley? Even over at the Slytherin table, we see that you're in love with Harry."
"I am, I'm deeply in love with Harry, but until an hour ago, I believed that Harry wasn't in love with me! I thought that he thought of me as a bushy-haired, know-it-all sister."
"And what do you think about your new future? It's you, not Ginny Weasley, who'll marry Harry, but you'll always share him with me."
"Honestly, what do I think? I don't know. Would you be offended if I told you that part of me wants to scream 'Stay away from him, Slytherin bitch'? Daphne, you're gorgeous—I'd always feel like I was Harry's number-two wife."
Daphne stared at the so-called "brightest witch of her age," then Daphne said, "You, the number-two wife? If only. I'm 'gorgeous,' yes, but beauty fades, whilst brains are forever. Not only that, but Harry loves you—I always would worry that Harry would see me as only a well-wrapped uterus. No, if there is one of us who is forever doomed to be Harry's number-two wife, it's me, not you."
Hermione stood up from the kitchen table. "Rise, Number Two, and let the other 'Number Two' give you a hug."
After Hermione (eventually) broke the hug, Daphne said, "We don't hug in Slytherin."
Hermione laughed. "This explains a lot. Just so you know, Harry never starts any hugs either, but he likes getting them."
"Duly noted. What about kissing? How is Harry at kissing?"
Hermione replied, "Harry never has tried to kiss me. It's the main reason I believed he wasn't in love with me."
Daphne grinned. "Well then, we need to loosen up 'the boy who lived,' don't we? Right now, the only boy who has ever tried to kiss me is Draco Malfoy—"
"Eww."
"—and we can't let that record stand, can we?"
That evening, at Greengrass Manor
Daphne announced, "The will-reading for Sirius Black, who it seems became Lord Black without anyone noticing, was yesterday."
"Is it an interesting story?" asked Opal Greengrass, Daphne's mother.
Daphne nodded. "Harry Potter's Muggle-born friend Hermione Granger was bequeathed some money. Andromeda Black Tonks and her daughter were restored to the Black family. The Heirship was not given to Draco Malfoy. Both Malfoys threw tantrums when they were told this news."
Cyrus Greengrass said, "So who is the Black Heir? Please, don't let it be Bellatrix Lestrange."
Daphne said, "It's not Lestrange, because the will decreed that she was 'disowned and disinherited.' Then who is the new Lord Black? Professor Dumbledore was there, and he put up a silencing charm whenever the goblin read Harry Potter's name—"
"What?" Cyrus exclaimed. "Dumbledore may not interfere with a hearing of Lord Black's will by interested parties, even if Dumbledore is Chief Warlock."
"Anyway, Harry Potter's part of the will was not heard, thanks to silencing charms, and nothing about the Heirship and Lordship of House Black was heard. So as of last night, the mystery continued."
Cyrus grumbled, "And the mystery will continue, till the Wizengamot gets the full will read publicly."
"Relax, Father, you don't need to wait till Friday." Now Daphne told a white lie: "Last night I had a gut feeling that the headmaster, who is Harry Potter's magical guardian, had not told him about the will-reading. I called Bluegrass, and told him to carry a note to Harry Potter from me, saying in essence, "Guess what you missed!" Anyway, Harry Potter went to Gringotts this morning, and he invited Granger and me to come with him."
The elder Greengrasses looked at each other, confused. Cyrus asked, "He invited both you and Miss Granger to the will-reading, when you were not a beneficiary? Why do you think he did this?"
Daphne told another white lie: "I think he had an inkling of what the will would say. Anyway, when we three walked out of there, fifteen-year-old Harry Potter had become emancipated, and had become both Lord Potter and Lord Black."
Daphne looked at her mother and younger sister and added, "On the steps of Gringotts, Lord Black-Potter confessed to Hermione Granger that he loved her."
Opal said, "Well, this changes things, Cyrus."
Daphne said, "I agree. Father, I unashamedly beg you to begin negotiations with the new Lord Black about a betrothal contract. By the way, Harry suspects that Dumbledore has put an owl-redirect on his mail—"
"Dumbledore may not do this, either," Cyrus said, scowling.
"—so send all correspondence by elf-mail, not by owl."
Cyrus peered into Daphne's face and said, "You want this? You truly want to marry Harry Potter?"
"Yes."
"So I should drop negotiations with Linus Flint about Samuel Flint?"
"Yes!"
Astoria had been silent through this entire discussion. Now she said, "Draco Malfoy will go spare when he hears about you and Potter."
Daphne shrugged.
Meanwhile, at the Grangers' kitchen table
Hermione told her parents over dinner, "Remember how yesterday, the will for Sirius Black was read, but Harry wasn't there, and Professor Dumbledore blocked everyone else from hearing when Harry's part of the will was read?"
Dan Granger said, "I don't know wizard customs, but this sounds alarming. Like maybe the headmaster was trying to steal Harry's inheritance."
Emma Granger asked Hermione, "Didn't Mr Black leave you a lot of money?"
"He did. Ten thousand galleons, which is roughly fifty thousand pounds. Lord Black said in his will that he was quite grateful to Harry and me for saving his life during third year. Anyway, this morning, Harry sent his house-elf Dobby to me, to invite me to meet Harry at Gringotts. When I got there, I found out why Harry hadn't attended the will-reading yesterday."
"Go on," Dan Granger said.
"Professor Dumbledore, who was Harry's magical guardian, didn't tell him about the will-reading! But last night, a girl named Daphne Greengrass told Harry about the will, so he went to Gringotts this morning. Harry told me the reason he asked me to come to Gringotts was so that everything he heard told to him, I would hear too."
The adult Grangers exchanged long looks.
Emma Granger said, "You said Dumbledore 'was' Harry's magical guardian. Who has the position now?"
"Harry doesn't have a magical guardian anymore. Lord Black's will declared Harry to be the heir to the Lordship of the House of Black. Heirship granted by a will apparently overrules heirship granted by the rules of primogeniture—which is good, because otherwise Bellatrix Lestrange would be Lady Black now, and that woman is evil! Not to mention, she murdered her cousin Sirius, the previous Lord Black."
"Good for Harry," Emma Granger said. "He deserves it."
"Anyway, Sirius Black's will named Harry as the Black Heir, then the will emancipated Harry, which made Harry who is the Black Heir become Harry, Lord Black. Adult-ifying Harry also made him, who already was the Potter Heir, become Harry, Lord Potter. So Harry, who is not even sixteen yet, now is the Lord of two Ancient and Noble Houses—with two rings, two mansions, a handful of vault keys, and two libraries."
The adult Grangers shared another long look.
Dan Granger smiled at his daughter. "It sounds like Harry is setting you up to become Mrs—"
Hermione said nervously, "Harry and I weren't the only people at the will-reading this morning. Harry also invited Daphne Greengrass, who had told him about the will-reading he'd missed. Daphne is a Pureblood girl in our year; kids at school call her 'the Ice Queen.' "
Silence.
Eventually Emma snapped, "What House is Daphne Greengrass in?"
"Slytherin."
Dan Granger snarled, "So Harry wants to hold a bidding warbetween you and this Slytherin Pureblood, over who gets to become Mrs Potter? I don't approve."
Hermione thought, Gryffindors charge ahead. Aloud, she said, "Harry hasn't proposed yet, but he did tell me today that he loves me, so I'm sure I've got the 'Lady Potter' title nailed down. No, what Daphne is angling for is the 'Lady Black' title. In the wizarding world, Harry being the head of two Houses means he is expectedto have two wives."
Again the adult Grangers were silent; but now, they also were frowning fiercely.
Hermione slapped her forehead. "Oh no, I'm so gormless! Harry told me this morning he loves me, and I haven't said the same thing back. Knowing Harry, by now he's convinced himself that I'd rather date Draco Malfoy. I need to fix this!"
Hermione grabbed a notepad of blank "Granger & Granger Dental" notes, found a pen, and began scribbling. As Hermione wrote, her father said, "You love this boy who wants to also marry this Pureblood girl?"
Hermione dropped the pen, tore off the top sheet from the notepad, and held it out. "Dobby!"
Dobby popped into the kitchen, visibly startling both dentists.
Hermione said to her father, "Honestly, Dad, I already explained everything to you. Two lines means two wives."
Hermione said to Dobby, "Please take this and give it to Harry, the second he's alone. And please also give Harry a hug from me, okay?"
The house-elf was beaming. "Dobby will deliver note to wonderful Master Harry Potter, and Dobby will pass on hug from wonderful Miss Grangy to wonderful Master Harry Potter." Pop—the house-elf was gone again.
An instant later, in Harry's bedroom
One instant, Harry was alone and feeling alone; the next instant, Harry was getting his knees hugged by an energetic house-elf.
A rectangle of paper, marked "Granger & Granger Dental" in the lower-right corner, floated in front of Harry's face. Harry reached over and took the note.
Meanwhile, Dobby was saying, "Wonderful Miss Grangy asks Dobby to give wonderful Master Harry Potter Sir a hug, and Dobby is a good elf."
Harry distractedly thanked Dobby, as Harry read the note—
I've loved you since we rode on Buckbeak together. You are special to me, Harry Potter.
Hermione
Harry wanted to run downstairs and to dance about the sitting room, amidst his hated relatives. Harry could face Voldemort now, and Grindelwald, and a dozen mountain trolls plus a dozen giant spiders, all because of him knowing one fact—
Hermione loves me back!
Chapter 5
Lunch with the Greengrass Family
Early Sunday (30th June, 1996)
Harry's bedroom at Number 4, Privet Drive
Harry opened elderly Harry's 73-page book-letter to the very end of the book. Using the Gemino spell, Harry copied each rune-sequence on pages 72 and 73. Using his wand, Harry activated both rune-sequences. The first rune-sequence, which put a wall around Harry's mind so that he was immune to Imperio, Obliviateand mind-reading, Harry placed under his shirt with those runes touching his skin. The other rune-sequence again gave Harry the ability to speak and to understand Parseltongue—a skill that Harry had lost when his scar had lost its horcrux. This second rune-sequence was shoved under Harry's shirt with the runes facing out.
Harry used Gemino twice more, to make two more copies of the no-mind-attacks rune-sequence. He elf-mailed each of his future wives a copy, along with a note that gave instructions how to use the rune-sequence, and a personal note—
"Would you like to come out to the ruins of Potter Manor with me today? Dobby will pick you up later this morning. Dress to get dirty."
Both Daphne and Hermione agreed to the field trip. Hermione also was excited to be given the rune-sequence—perhaps her excitement was due to what was written in the lower-left corner of the page: "HJG 2023."
Harry elf-mailed Hermione back: "You should feel proud of inventing this. According to elderly Harry, who wrote me from decades after 2023, nobody ever has figured out a way to beat this rune-sequence that 'you' invented."
Harry then summoned Dobby again. Harry asked Dobby, "Can you elf-pop into the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts Castle?"
Dobby started to cry. "Dobby is sorry, Master Harry Potter Sir, but Dobby does not know where is the Chamber of Secrets. May Dobby bash his head against the wall?"
"No. Maybe someone in the Hogwarts kitchen knows. Go there and ask around, and come back here when you know how to elf-pop directly into the Chamber of Secrets."
Dobby popped away, and returned two minutes later. Now previously-crying Dobby was grinning. "Elves in kitchen say Brave Master Harry Potter killed nasty basilisk before it killed students and elves. Dobby is so proud to be friend of Brave Master Harry Potter Sir."
Harry said, "Dobby, I want you to go into the Chamber of Secrets, remove a fang from the corpse of the basilisk and bring the fang, in a box, back here. Be careful when you get near the fang, because its venom is powerful and quick."
Dobby hugged Harry's knees. "Master Harry Potter Sir wants to save Dobby's life! Dobby is so lucky to have Master Harry Potter for a friend."
Dobby soon ended the hug, then—pop!—disappeared.
When Dobby returned, carrying a basilisk-fang-sized box, Harry asked Dobby to transport himself, the boxed fang, Harry, and the book-letter that elderly Harry had written, all to 12 Grimmauld Place.
Walpurga Black's portrait "greeted" Harry with rude and racist words. But elderly Harry had written about a Parseltongue silencing charm that silenced the portrait.
But the unearthly racket had brought Kreacher to investigate. Kreacher looked disdainfully at Dobby, then said to Harry, "Kreacher awaits orders from Muggle-raised, half-blood master, though Kreacher wishes not to obey."
Harry's first, second and third thoughts were I want to hurt this elf—whose betrayal, after all, was directly responsible for getting Sirius killed. But elderly Harry had explained the importance of cultivating Kreacher as an almost-friend. So Harry made himself speak calmly—
"Kreacher, I'm told that Regulus Black, before he died, gave you the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, which has a horcrux in it."
Kreacher now was staring at Harry.
Harry continued, "You have been unable to destroy the horcrux, correct? I wish to try."
Harry had seen Kreacher sneer and Harry had seen Kreacher angry, but Harry never had seen Kreacher cry: "Kreacher has not obeyed Master Regulus's last order. Kreacher is a bad elf!"
Then Harry commanded, "Bring the Locket here, Kreacher."
Now Kreacher's face glowed with hope. "I obey, Master Harry." Pop.
Alas, when Kreacher reappeared a minute later, he looked sad and hopeless. "Master Harry, the Locket is not where I left it. The Locket is nowhere in the townhouse."
Elderly Harry had warned young Harry about this very problem. Now Harry said, "Sirius had some goblin-worked, silver goblets with the Black family crest on them. Are the goblets missing too?"
"Kreacher will find out, Master Harry." Pop.
Seconds later, Kreacher popped back in front of Harry; now the elf looked furious. "Yes, the goblets also are missing."
"Since the goblets have the family crest on them, can you track them?"
Kreacher's smile was evil. "Easily, Master Harry. Even if the stinky, half-blood thief rubs the crests off."
Harry ordered, "Go track down the goblets. Once you've found them, find out if the Locket is in the same place. Do not remove the stolen items yet, or let the thief suspect that he's been caught. Then report back to me. If Dung is the thief, I have Weasley-twins-like plans for him. Go."
It took less than five minutes before Kreacher returned. "Master Harry, the thieving, stinky, half-blood Mundungus Fletcher has the goblin-made goblets, the Locket of Salazar Slytherin and an old wooden box that is filled with old-style sickles."
Harry grinned. "Here's what you do. First you stun Dung, without him seeing you first. Then you take back the Locket, the goblets, the box full of sickles and anything else that you know belongs to the Black family. You also remove from Dung's house, anything that you're not sure whether it belongs to the Black family or to Dung. You also remove every scrap of clothing that Dung owns, including all the clothing he's wearing. And then..."
Harry spoke a few words more. When Kreacher popped away, he, Harry and Dobby all were grinning vindictively.
Less than a minute later, Kreacher returned, along with two piles. One pile was of expensive items; the Locket was atop the pile. The other pile was of stinky men's clothing. Harry yanked his wand out of his wand-holder, and vanished Dung's clothing as fast as he could achieve the deed.
Harry picked up the basilisk fang; then, using Parseltongue, opened the Locket of Slytherin. The wraith came out of the open Locket and moved towards Harry, intending to possess him. With the help of Dobby and Kreacher, the Voldemort-wraith was blocked from doing this, whilst Harry stabbed the horcrux with the venomous point of the fang.
Now the wraith's goal shifted, trying to achieve by words and temptation what the wraith could not achieve by force. But Harry spoke a Parseltongue silencing charm to briefly silence the wraith, then he went back to stabbing the horcrux with the fang. Less than a half-minute after Harry opened the Locket, the Locket's horcrux was destroyed.
Kreacher looked at Harry with a mixture of amazement and hero-worship; the old house-elf wept. Harry tried to shift the credit for destroying the Locket's horcrux to Kreacher himself, and to Dobby.
After the excitement of destroying the Locket's horcrux, Harry took up the comparatively boring job of adding and deleting names in the Ward Ledger.
The Grimmauld Place townhouse had two modes of defence. The first and main defence was the Fidelius charm that the place was under. Only the Tonks family, the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry himself and members of the Order of the Phoenix (including Snape, Dumbledore and Mundungus Fletcher) had been given the Secret to the townhouse's location. The other protection for the townhouse was its Ward Ledger, a listing by name of people allowed in. Only the Head of House could touch the Ward Ledger; for everyone else, touching the book meant an almost-instant, screaming death.
The Ward Ledger, it turned out, came with its own instruction book—but since this book was filled with thous, thees and shalts, the book wasn't much help. The instructions on page 71 of elderly Harry's book-letter were much more useful.
Harry discovered that in the Ward Ledger, two new pages had been added at the end, under "Lord Black-Potter: Harry James Potter." Of this newest part of the Ward Ledger, the first section was "Family"; listed here were the three Malfoys, the three Tonkses and Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband. Harry took delight in scratching out the names of all his "family" except for the Tonkses.
Only allowed members of "Family" (meaning only the Tonkses, at present) could Apparate or Portkey into the townhouse; everyone else had to enter the house by using the floo fireplace. Eventually, Harry planned to add the true name of "Lady Black" and various Black children to the "Family" listing.
The next section in the Ward Ledger was "Friends." Under here were copied all of Sirius Black's "Friends." To wit—
"Everyone else."
That lazybones! Harry thought.
With the help of a memory-boost spell from Dobby, Harry wrote down all the names that Sirius would have written down if he had not been lazy. (Just listing all the Weasleys almost gave writer's cramp to Harry.)
When this task was done, Harry promptly added the name of Daphne Greengrass to "Friends," and scratched out the names of Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Mundungus Fletcher.
The scratch-outs were because Harry refused to allow what he had seen happen to Sirius, of being disrespected as an easily-ignored tenant in his own house! Harry considered also scratching out the name of Molly Weasley, but decided to allow her name to stay (for now).
The final section of the Ward Ledger was "One-Off Visitors." This section was blank. If Harry ever wrote a name here, thus allowing someone who was neither family or friend to visit Grimmauld Place, the name would be erased from the Ward Ledger when the visitor departed. But the townhouse being under a Fidelius charm made this section of the Ward Ledger unnecessary.
Harry said goodbye to Kreacher then, with a parting order of "Remove Walpurga's loud painting. I don't care where you put it."
Then Harry had Dobby elf-move him to Potter Manor, "just outside the ward line." Then Harry sent Dobby off to collect Daphne and Hermione. Dobby delivered Daphne first, Hermione second.
As soon as Hermione was within ten feet of Harry, she rushed up to him, grabbed his shirt with both hands and snogged him mightily.
Trying to figure out why, Harry recalled that recently he had told Hermione he loved her. Perhaps the two events were related?
Pop-p-p-pop.
"Ahem," said Daphne, sounding amused. "Lord Black-Potter, you have company."
Harry broke the kiss. He discovered that standing a few feet away, looking delighted, were four house-elves who all were wearing House Potter livery instead of tea towels. The Head Elf, so Harry quickly was informed, was an older elf named Greyclay.
Greyclay's first question to Harry was "Are you Harry James Potter, Lord Black-Potter?"
"I am." These two words of Harry's made Greyclay smile, and made the three younger elves look relieved.
Daphne murmured to Harry, "Introduce me before Hermione."
Harry introduced Daphne as "Daphne Greengrass, my year-mate at Hogwarts, and probably the future Lady Black."
Daphne repeated, with one eyebrow raised, "Probably the future Lady Black?"
Harry blushed. "Ease up, Daphne. I don't want to sound presumptive—after all, you and I haven't even dated."
"True. Lord Black-Potter, you have two months to fix that problem, do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Harry then introduced Hermione to the elves, commenting that she was "the future Lady Potter."
"Now you've done it," murmured Daphne.
"What's your favourite food?" one elf asked Hermione.
"What's your favourite colour?" another elf asked Hermione.
"How do you like your bathwater scented?" asked a third elf.
Harry murmured to Daphne, "Why do they ask her these questions when they haven't asked me all that? After all, she's not even officially a Potter yet."
Daphne murmured back, "You're merely the wizard who owns the stone and the wood of the house. Hermione will be in charge of the home—not to mention, she'll be the Potter whom your elves deal-with most."
The three teens and the five elves walked around the manor house. The news was not good. Part of the roof was caved in. Where two walls of the manor house were supposed to meet, there was a hole running from the ground to the caved-in roof; inside and outside the corner-hole was a pile of burnt stones. Also, the wards were gone. The result was that someone inside the manor house was unprotected even from a rabid squirrel.
Inside the manor house, some rooms had water and snow damage. Happily for Hermione, the library was unharmed.
In the library, the teens discovered a decorative wooden lectern, on which lay an open book. "Ooh, what is that?" Hermione asked. She took off towards the displayed book at a fast walk.
Daphne took off at a full run. She ran up behind Hermione, threw her arms around Hermione's waist, and forcibly dragged Hermione away before Hermione reached the book.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" both girls yelled at the same time.
Harry had no idea what was happening now.
Daphne angrily demanded of Hermione, "Are you daft? Are you suicidal? That book has to be the Potter family grimoire. I'm sure it's booby-trapped at least four different ways, to kill anyone who touches it if she isn't a member of the Potter family. Which you aren't, not yet."
"I didn't know," Hermione said quietly.
Bluegrass, the Greengrass-family head elf, arrived then, with a written invitation for Harry and Hermione to enjoy an informal lunch with the Greengrass family; "Wear what you're wearing now." The two Muggle-raised teens nervously agreed to the lunch date with a Pureblood family.
It was a good thing that the teens had agreed to eat at Greengrass Manor, because it turned out that Potter Manor had no human-edible food in it.
Then Greyclay gave Harry good news: The four Potter elves were entirely able to repair the damage to the manor house; Harry did not need to hire building contractors. All that the house-elves needed was for Harry to give to Greyclay the Potter family vault's key, and for Harry to give instructions how he wanted the manor house to look at the end. (The instructions were simple: "Make everything exactly like how it was before. Same furniture in the rooms, same colour of paint on the walls.")
And the broken wards? Alas, the elves could not work ward-building; Harry would need to contract with the goblins.
Meanwhile, in the hovel of Mundungus Fletcher
Dung was a miserable man.
Everything that he had stolen from 12 Grimmauld Place had been stolen back—fine, this was the risk that Dung took when he stole from wizards. But the counter-thieves also had stolen all of Dung's clothes—not his food, not his money, not his firewhisky or his bargain-price tobacco, they had stolen his clothes.
Which doesn't sound too bad—except what clothing shop will let you through the door when you're naked? None of them. So Dung was forced to buy replacement clothing from his neighbours.
Which meant buying clothes that did not fit, all whilst Dung was being laughed at. And since Dung's neighbours felt the same "kindness" towards humanity as what Dung himself felt, his neighbours drove hard bargains—half the galleons that Dung had this morning, now were gone.
But even this was not as bad as what happened when Dung put on his replacement clothes: everything that he wore, itched. Everything. Even when he experimentally wrapped a scarf around his neck—which was not something an Englishman usually did in June—the scarf made his neck itch.
Right now, in his hovel with the curtains shut, Dung had stripped off all of his "new" (and expensive) clothes and was naked again. Because otherwise, he itched too much to think straight!
Lunchtime, in Greengrass Manor
Cyrus Greengrass's first clue that "the boy who lived" was not like how the Daily Prophet portrayed him, was when the youth stepped out of the Greengrass floo fireplace. Rather, the boy spun out of the fireplace and fell down—a childish error that both Daphne and Astoria had outgrown during their primary-school years. The Muggle-born girl, Miss Granger, did not fall, but her exit from the fireplace was not quite graceful either.
Daphne's exit from the green flames was regal, Cyrus was pleased to note.
Daphne said, with no haughtiness, "Lord Black-Potter, this is my father, Lord Cyrus Greengrass of the House of Greengrass, and my mother, Opal Bulstrode Greengrass."
Cyrus put his hand out, palm turned sideways, and Harry shook it. The awkwardness came when Opal extended her hand, palm down; Harry took her hand, rotated it, and shook it.
"Harry!" Daphne stage-whispered. "Don't shake Mother's hand, kiss her knuckles." The boy, now blushing rose-red, did so.
Then Daphne said, "Lord Black-Potter, you recall this is my younger sister Astoria. In September, she will begin her fourth year at Hogwarts, sorted into Slytherin."
Harry approached Astoria, who was smirking, but did not do anything more till Astoria, after a pause, put her hand out (palm down). Harry kissed Astoria's knuckles.
Then Harry looked at Daphne. "Pureblood Advisor, what are the rules with girls and introductions?"
Daphne's chin came up, and Cyrus was amused to note that Daphne now spoke like Professor McGonagall (complete with Scottish accent): "Lord Black-Potter, when the girl is too young to start at Hogwarts, you shake her hand, the same as with a boy of any age, or with a man. When the girl is eleven or older, you kiss her knuckles, but do not slobber; it is unseemly."
"Thank you, Pureblood Advisor," Harry said, smiling.
Cyrus, for his part, was amazed that his elder daughter had a sense of humour and a sense of tact. Who knew?
Daphne then said, "Father, Mother, Astoria, this is Harry Black-Potter, Lord of House Potter and Lord of House Black. In September, he will begin his sixth year at Hogwarts, sorted into Gryffindor. He has battled You-Know-Who several times, beginning at age fifteen months, when he somehow survived You-Know-Who's Killing Curse."
Daphne then said, much more quietly, "Harry, since you have already shaken hands or kissed hands with these people, now you bow."
Even as Harry Potter was executing a passable bow, he was saying, "Daphne, a correction: You know his name. If you won't call him 'Voldemort,' call him by his real name: Tom Marvolo Riddle. And don't call him 'Lord Voldemort' ever—he's a bastard half-blood who never wears a Lordship ring."
Silence. Cyrus, for his part, felt shock that this fifteen-year-old boy would denounce Voldemort so plainly.
Daphne murmured, "Introduce Hermione."
Harry said, "Lord Greengrass, Lady Greengrass, Astoria, this is my friend, Miss Hermione Granger. She is a first-born witch who will begin her sixth year at Hogwarts whilst sorted into Gryffindor. Other Hogwarts students have titled her 'The Brightest Witch of her Age.' We are not yet officially betrothed, but it is my firm intention that one day, Hermione will be Lady Potter."
The Muggle-born Miss Granger smiled, hearing this. Cyrus was surprised to see Daphne smile too—her real smile, not her in-public smile.
Daphne needed to coach Miss Granger into curtsying to Opal but shaking hands with Astoria. Miss Granger looked surprised when Cyrus bent to kiss her knuckles.
Lunch, when finally everyone was seated at the dining table, began normally—except that Miss Granger was startlingly polite to the house-elves who served the meal.
During lunch, Cyrus still was trying to get a feel for what kind of person was Harry Potter. Whilst Cyrus did not know Sirius Black except by reputation, Black not only had named this boy in his will as the Black Heir, but then had emancipated the lad! Why? Cyrus wondered.
Cyrus got some clue about the boy when Miss Granger casually mentioned, "Harry, Ron and I became friends during the night of the troll attack."
Cyrus said, "I heard about that—somehow a troll got into the castle during Daphne's first year."
Daphne said scornfully, "A mountain troll, twelve feet tall. It was loose in the dungeons. And what did Dumbledore say? 'Prefects, take your students to your common rooms.' Which in the case of Slytherin, was in the dungeons! Idiot!"
Cyrus, still confused, asked Harry, "But what does the troll have to do with your friendship?"
Daphne gasped. "Hold on, supposedly a girl was almost killed in a lavatory by the troll, but a student, not a professor, killed the troll. That was you two?"
Harry Potter blushed. "Plus Ron Weasley. Ron dropped the troll's own club on his head, using wingardium leviosa. Ron knocked out the troll. All I did was shove my wand up the troll's nose. Which killed the troll only when his face hit the floor. It's not as big a valiant deed as it sounds."
Miss Granger said, "What Harry doesn't tell you is that he climbed up the back of a twelve-foot troll to get to the place where he could shove his wand up the troll's nose."
Hearing this, all four Greengrasses were speechless.
Later on, Cyrus said to Harry Potter, "I don't understand how it is that you keep fighting You-Know-Who. You don't strike me as a boy who starts fights—"
"Draco Malfoy," Daphne murmured.
"—so how do you wind up fighting You-Know-Who again and again?"
Harry Potter answered, "Before I was born, Sybill Trelawney made a prophecy. It says that only I, or Neville Longbottom, can kill Voldemort—unless he kills us first."
All the Greengrasses gasped.
Cyrus stared down his elder daughter. "Did you know about this? If you marry Lord Black, you could become a young widow!"
Daphne said, "I'm still trying to accept the idea of Neville Longbottom defeating You-Know-Who."
Opal snapped, "Daphne Eudora, this is no time for jokes."
Harry Potter said, "Lord and Lady Greengrass, I promise you that Daphne will not become a young widow. Up till now, Voldemort has come looking for me—but before I marry Hermione or Daphne, even before I sit my N.E.W.T.s, I will seek out Tom Riddle, and the prophecy will be fulfilled that day."
Cyrus shook his head. "Young man, I never have met anyone like you. But now I understand why Sirius Black appointed you the Lord of House Black."
Later on, Miss Granger said, "I confess that I don't know much about the Greengrass family. A History of Magic doesn't say much about you."
Cyrus said, "The Greengrasses are traders, and have been for centuries. We buy from and sell to the forest elves, the goblins and the gnomes. We trade with magical Europe and magical Asia. Under license from the Ministry of Magic, we buy a few Muggle items and enchant them."
Astoria said, "The family's unofficial slogan is 'We sell to knights and we sell to knaves.' "
Cyrus nodded. "True. We sell food to the Weasleys and the Bones, both of whom are Light families, and we sell food to the Malfoys."
"Who are Dark, Dark, Dark," Daphne commented.
Cyrus said, "In the Wizengamot, the Greengrasses continue our neutrality. We are considered part of the Grey faction."
Harry Potter looked at Cyrus with a raised eyebrow. "You are neutral, yet you are willing to marry your daughter into the Potter family, which is considered Light."
"I would refuse to marry off Daphne to James Potter, and not only because of the age difference and him being dead. Fortunately, you aren't anything like James Potter."
Harry laughed. "Tell Snape that!"
Still later, Cyrus said to Harry Potter and to Daphne, "I'm told you've never even gone to Hogsmeade Village together. Which, considering the enmity between Slytherin and Gryffindor, I believe. Yet you want to marry. Why?"
"Because they'll be happy together" was the reply. But it was Miss Granger who said this, not either of the other two.
Daphne nodded. "He and I will be happy together, yes."
"True," Harry Potter agreed. "It'll work out."
Cyrus got a strange feeling then. All of his instincts told him that Harry Potter was not at all the type to use the Imperius curse. Yet ordinarily, being Imperiused would be the only explanation for Daphne and Miss Granger believing as they did, despite no facts to back up those beliefs. Yet Cyrus knew that whilst being Imperiused could insert a belief, the curse could not cause confidence in that belief. Yet somehow all three teens were confident that if Daphne married Harry Potter, the two of them would be happy.
"But how do you know you two will be happy?" Astoria asked. "How can you be sure?"
The three teens exchanged looks, and they all looked uncomfortable. Harry Potter said, "We just know. That's all we can tell you."
Cyrus realised, Those three act like good people forced to keep a secret from someone they don't want to keep a secret from.
Which raised the question in Cyrus's mind: Daphne and the other two kids, what secret are they keeping?