August 5, 1995
Harry was nervous. Today he would be meeting Daphne to take her out on their first real date. That wasn't why he was nervous though.
No, he was nervous to meet her mother and sister.
What was he to say? Would this be a formal meeting or could he be casual about it? He didn't know.
It was close to eight in the morning and he was standing under the shower, water falling over him as he was lost in his worry and nerves.
It took a few minutes for Harry to realize that he had turned the water off, but once he did he stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel.
Drying himself, he kept the towel around him as he walked into his closet. He decided to keep his attire casual but smart.
That's what led Harry to the sitting room where Petunia was.
"Do I look alright?" He questioned, unable to keep his nerves from his voice.
His Aunt looked at him, her eye critical.
He was wearing matching black jeans and a button down, the first two buttons undone. He wore a dark midnight green vest. His jeans, shirt, and vest all seemed to make his eyes brighter.
His outfit was contrasted by the goblin silver necklace around his neck, the pendant of a serpent coiled around a sword laying on his collar bone.
Petunia stood and approached him. Looking up at Harry, his Aunt gave him a rare smile as she smoothed his vest.
"Make sure you bring a coat with you. And please don't stay out too late, Harry." She advised him.
Smiling at her, he leaned down and kissed her cheek lightly before turning toward the entrance hall.
"I head out to get some flowers and I'll make sure to arrive a few minutes early." He waved as he left the room.
Cyrus had given him a portkey that was keyed to their estate, so he would use it from Diagon Alley. As such, he grabbed a coat that matched his vest, it just so happened to have silver buttons as well, before flooing to the Alley.
Being shot into The Leaky Cauldron, Harry brushed ash off himself as he waved at Tom.
"Got yourself a date, Harry?" The older man asked in a jovial voice.
"Yes, I do. I just need into the Alley to pick up a gift before I have to pick her up." Harry explained to him.
Nodding his head, Tom smiled at him, "If it's that blonde bird I saw with you the other day, I suggest keeping it small and thoughtful." He advised.
Harry didn't answer as he went into the street of stores.
He window shopped for a few minutes before seeing a stall selling small metal wares.
As he got closer to the stall, he saw a small hair pin. "How much for that one?" He asked the salesman.
"Ten sickles."
Paying the fare, he took it from the stall and glanced at his watch, seeing it was only ten minutes until he had to be at Greengrass Estate, he activated the portkey.
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In only a moment Harry was outside the gates of Greengrass Estate. He stood there for a moment to steady himself before touching his wand to the family crest that was set into the middle of the gates.
Cyrus walked up to the gate from the right, dressed in jeans and a dark blue tee, dirt stains on his cloves as he pulled his gardener gloves off.
"And what are you dressed so smart for, Harry?" The Greengrass patriarch asked teasingly as he let Harry onto the property.
Shaking his head, Harry offered his hand to the man, "Because I'm going to be spending the day with your daughter? I believe that's reason enough, don't you?" He asked him evenly.
Conceding the point with a slow nod and a shrug of his shoulders, he motioned to the three story mansion up the drive.
"Well, my Lady and Astoria are just inside to greet you. I would prepare yourself to be interviewed, Astoria can be as bad as Skeeter sometimes." He chuckled.
Harry sighed under his breath as Cyrus led the way towards the manor.
Once they were inside, Cyrus walked toward a large staircase against the side of the room, "I'll go tell Daphne that you're here while you are questioned." He called to Harry over his shoulder.
"Cyrus!" A woman looking just like Daphne only twenty years older chastised her husband sharply, which only made the man laugh.
Shaking his head, Harry stood with his back straight and tall as he approached the woman, taking note of a girl slightly younger than him stood behind her mother.
'Huh, where Daphne looks just like her mother, that must be Astoria with how much she looks like Cyrus,' Harry mused silently.
"Lady and Miss Greengrass, if you'll allow me, I am Scion Harry Potter, Heir to the Houses of Potter and Peverell." He introduced himself with a polite bow.
"Scion Potter," Lady Greengrass offered her hand, which Harry politely kissed, "I can think of few families that can claim to be the heir of a house of such age."
Chuckling to himself, his eyes shined with his father's mischief, "I can also trace my line back to the House of Grimm through my grandmother."
"I've never heard of them," Astoria added herself to the conversation.
"Not many have, Miss Greengrass. The House of Grimm are now known as the House of Black. The only knowledge connecting the Blacks to their origins is that the Grimm is a totem of their house." Harry explained to her.
"I never knew that," She said thoughtfully.
"Nor I, but you're best not to talk about either Houses, Astoria," her mother advised with a look.
"My intended can trace his blood back further than what he's telling, mother." A voice said from behind him, causing Harry to turn around.
His breath was caught in his throat for a moment as he took in Daphne.
She was in charcoal jeans paired with a silvery gray blouse. Her hair was curled in waves down her back with two strands framing her face.
Neither teenager noticed that Lady Greengrass silently ushered Astoria from the entrance hall.
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Daphne noticed that her mother looked quizzical as she spoke, but she didn't see the smile from her sister as Harry turned around.
There is a difference between knowing someone is handsome and realizing just how handsome they are. Daphne learned that right now.
When Harry turned around and her eyes caught his, she felt her lungs tighten slightly as her breath caught. She wasn't sure of what his reaction was, but she didn't have to know.
His left hers first, drifting down to take in her outfit. Following his action, she was silently awed by the figure his shirt and vest hugged.
"You look beautiful," Harry said as he took a half step closer to her, his eyes holding a warmth in them. "But I think you're missing something." He continued.
Copying his half step, Daphne cocked her eye at him, "And just what am I missing?"
She was teasing him. He knew she was, but he was going to turn the tables on her.
"This." He answered as he pulled a small hair pin out of his pocket. It was shaped as a rose bud.
It was beautiful, yet as she watched as he transfigured it into a bloomed rose, it became more so. She noted that it was still metal, but it looked almost real. The only giveaway was the pin on the back of the stem.
The rose itself was the same blue as her eyes, which paired with her blonde waves, drew attention to her face.
Reaching out, he brushed his fingers against her ear lightly. Fixing the pin into place, their eyes were drawn together once again. Although, this time magic connected them in some way.
Neither had ever felt anything such as what they did in that moment, nor were either able to so much as question it.
It felt as if an icy chill blew between, yet it was somehow a comfortable warmth. There was something more to it, almost like a weight wrapped around them. Daphne's spine shivered as Harry's bodily hair stood on end.
Smiling at each other, "There, it's not too heavy is it? I've not mastered the featherweight charm yet." He explained lightly.
"No, I can hardly feel it." She assured him as she smiled almost shyly at him. "So, what are we doing today?'
"We're going to to go into muggle London. To start our day, I hope tea and a stroll is alright. After lunch we're going to a cinema to watch a movie. To round off our day we'll go to the piers for a ride on the Eye and a sparks show."
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September 5, 1995
Ancient Runes Classroom, Hogwarts
Daphne blinked out of her memory. She looked up, seeing only Professor Babbling and two other students in the classroom.
The professor wore a look of confused concern, while one of the students looked put out and the other was looking serious.
It took her a moment to realize the two students were Hermione Granger and her best friend, Tracey Davis, respectively.
"I'm sorry, Professor, have you asked me something?" Daphne questioned lightly. She didn't know that her cheeks were slightly flushed and the corners of her lips were curled into a slight smile.
Nodding lightly, although with a more relieved look, the elder woman said, "You've been out of it for nearly a third of an hour, Miss Greengrass. As class ended ten minutes ago, I've been trying to get your attention. Are you alright?"
"I apologize, Professor, it seems I was daydreaming about my first date with my intended. An event took place between us that I've no explanation on. It's admittedly flummoxed me." She explained as she gathered her things and placed them back in her bag.
"Might I enquire about this event?"
As such, Daphne went on to explain the wash of magic as Harry gave her his gift. She seemed to forget about the other two young women in the room as she spoke.
The professor pondered on the new information for several moments, a slight hum on her lips as she did so.
"I've never heard of such magic before, however I would advise raising this with your head of family. You could have been blessed by Magic, but it might also be family magic related. That is only a speculation, of course, as I'm a runes master nothing else."
Unknown to the students, this conversation would become important in the near future.
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Later that night, Daphne would be interrogated heavily by her best friend.
She was sitting in a corner of the Slytherin Commom Room, tucked in a large seat and hidden away from people. She was trying to appease Tracey's questioning behind four privacy wards.
"How come you never told me about dates? Or what about the magical connection? Ooh! Does this mean you've met his family? Have you been to his house? What's it like? Normal manor or full castle?"
Tracey fired off questions swiftly, her face growing red as she spoke too fast for her lungs to keep up. All the while Daphne sat patiently waiting for her friend to finish with her quizzing tirade.
"Breathe, Trace," Daphne laughed lightly at her.
"I never told you about the dates because they were, are, intimate moments and memories between Harry and I. I wasn't sure about whay the connection was, I'm still not really. Yes, I've both met his family and have been to his house. No, I'm not telling you anything about his home without his permission."
Tracey's excitement settled into a pouting frown as she regarded her friend before going back to firing off questions about the relationship with her betrothed.
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Minerva McGonagall was patrolling the hall leading to Gryffindor Tower when she happened upon a door she could remember being opened.
Stranger still, she found her favorite student not only out of bounds, but he was deep in conversation with their house founder. So deep, in fact, that neither teen nor portrait noticed her.
"Godric, I need to figure out what the connection is. I can't risk it being something potentially harmful to either of us." Harry was telling the magical painting of a young Godric Gryffindor.
"I can ask my portrait at the manor, but I'll need more to go off of." He said, his fingers combing through his beard.
Letting out a sigh, he nodded, "It happened when I left for our first date. I was placing a rose hair pin behind her ear when I felt it. I felt all of my magics envelope us, it was almost as if we were standing in my core. However, there was something else, and I believe it was her magic." Harry explained.
Godric Gryffindor stared at the young wizard for several moments, his fingers combing his beard thoughtfully.
After a few minutes he nodded.
"I'll talk to the portraits at home. I advise informing your heads of House and headmaster. I'll conver with Rowena, as she was the mistress in magical connection. I would talk with your lass as well, if you felt it, then she did as well. Alright, you run off to bed and I'll let you know when I know more." He made a shooing motion with his hands as he left the picture frame.
Smiling to himself, Harry turned around to leave the room, only to be met with the stern expression of his head of House.
"This isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing." He said easily, knowing he would be in more trouble if he made an excuse.
Shaking her head, the elderly witch pinched the bridge of her glasses.
"While true, I've been standing here long enough to know that we're going to have a discussion tomorrow before I inform Severus to a meeting with ourselves and your young witch." She eyed him sternly.
"Now, off to bed with you. It's nearly midnight and I expect you in my office after breakfast."
Nodding, Harry hurried to leave the room. He threw a "Good night, Gran," over his shoulder quietly.