"Why did you stun me?" real Daphne asked tearfully. "I would have gone with you."
"I know," Harry replied, as the location of the memory transformed into the Forbidden Forest.
"Then why?" she asked again, but Harry didn't answer, and she turned her attention back to the memory.
———————————-
Harry stood near the entrance of the forest. In his hand was the snitch that Dumbledore had bequeathed him in his will.
"This is it, you old bastard. All your fucking plans brought me to this moment. The moment of my own death," he snorted. "But don't worry, I'm ready. No thanks to you, though." He heard a metallic click, then looked down to see that the snitch had opened, revealing a small black stone hidden inside. As much as he despised the old man, Harry knew that he didn't do anything without a reason. Harry picked up the stone and held it in his palm, focusing his magic into it. When he looked up, he realised he wasn't alone anymore, and his eyes grew as wide when he recognised the faces surrounding him. His mother, his father, Remus, and Sirius were all standing before him, each of them looking back at him proudly.
"Wha..." he mumbled, looking around.
"You've been so brave, my son," Lily Potter pronounced with a smile.
"Mum? Dad? Padfoot? Moony?" mumbled Harry.
"That's us, son," James Potter replied, also with a large smile on his face.
"Is this real? Are you real?" asked Harry, and Remus smiled back at him.
"You're holding the Resurrection Stone, Harry," the werewolf replied, and it seemed that memory Harry understood. Real Daphne had also made the connection, and she was completely astounded by what she was seeing.
"I never wanted this to happen. Remus, you and Tonks...your son, he..."
"He'll be fine," Remus said with a sad smile. "We knew it was possible we wouldn't survive, but we came, nonetheless. One day, hopefully, he'll understand that we did it for him, that we were fighting for his future." Harry nodded.
"Your death was kind of anti-climactic, wasn't it Padfoot?" Harry asked Sirius, who smiled back at him. "I'm sorry I..."
"Your heart was in the right place, Harry. Had I fought more 'me-ly', I would have survived, and I would still be around to help you, so I'm sorry." Harry grinned and rolled his eyes at Sirius's horrible pun, then turned to his parents.
"Thank you for giving me a chance at living," he said, and his parents beamed at him. "It wasn't long, but it was...thank you," he whispered, mostly thinking about his time with Daphne. "I have to know, though, why didn't you have the Cloak with you that night? Why didn't you have escape plans in place? Why Godric's Hollow instead of Potter Manor?" Lily and James looked at each other sadly.
"We never considered the Cloak, actually," James revealed. "We went to a smaller cottage because few people knew about it, and it was more well-hidden. Dumbledore actually added extra wards to the house, your mother cast the Fidelius on top, and we never thought we would need more than that."
Harry sighed.
"Daphne was right, as usual. We Gryffindors always charge ahead with the least amount of planning possible," he lamented, and the four apparitions smiled.
"I'm sorry you won't be able to be with her, honey," his mother said. He nodded and looked up to the sky.
"So am I," he replied, looking down again with teary eyes. "Are you fine with it? That she's a Slytherin?" Harry asked.
"She is?" asked a surprised James, earning both a glare from his son and an elbow in the ribs from his wife. "Of course, son. All that matters is that you're happy. I hope you've been respectful with her?" his father asked.
Harry smiled and nodded. His mother seemed to like that reply.
"Does it hurt?" Harry asked, and Sirius shook his head.
"Faster and easier than falling asleep."
"Then I guess we'll meet again in a bit," Harry said with a resigned smile, which was returned by the apparitions of his family.
"Good luck darling/son/pup/cub," they all chimed, before vanishing into the air. Harry had to admit that his brief meeting with his family made him feel better, and now he felt ready to face what was coming. He considered throwing the Stone into the forest in hopes that it would never be found, but instead he decided to affix it to the root of a tree with a Sticking Charm and left it there.
Harry started walking deeper into the forest, then smacked himself in the forehead when he remembered he hadn't said goodbye to Dobby.
"Dobby!" he called, and the hyperactive house-elf appeared before him. Harry's little friend must have been secretly keeping tabs on him this whole time, because he had tears in eyes.
"Master Harry Potter sir called?" the elf sobbed, and Harry put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Dobby. I've never really thanked you for everything you did for me, have I, my friend?"
Dobby was completely overcome, wailing through his tears that, "The great Harry Potter sir wanted to thank Dobby! Dobby is honoured that the great Harry Potter sir called Dobby his friend!"
Harry looked at the elf with a serious expression and asked, "Can I ask one last favour of you, Dobby?"
Dobby nodded.
"When I fall, please take my body and my wand to a safe location inside Hogwarts. After that, I want you to tell Daphne where my body is and bond with her, all right?" Dobby nodded tearfully, and Harry bent down and hugged him, making Dobby start bawling again.
"Kreacher!" Harry called, and the ancient elf appeared before him.
"Master called?" the old elf asked, clearly distraught.
"We didn't actually see eye to eye at first, Kreacher, but I think we eventually managed to understand each other. I want you to go to Andromeda Tonks née Black, and help care for her grandson, Teddy, whom I name my heir."
"Kreacher will, Master," the old elf said, his ears drooping.
"Don't forget, I may still need you, so remain hidden but be ready for my call. If I don't call you, then go, my friends, and farewell." The two elves disappeared, and Harry sighed and drew his wand.
The memory shifted again, and Daphne saw memory Harry walking into a clearing with his head held high. She let out a gasp when she crossed into the clearing behind him and saw dozens of Death Eaters there, not to mention the Dark Lord himself.
"Harry Potter," the Dark Lord said solemnly.
"No, Harry, what are you doing here?" shouted Hagrid, who was apparently a prisoner of the Death Eaters.
"Shit..." Harry mumbled after noticing his half-giant friend, bound to a tree.
"The Boy-Who-Lived...Comes to die." Voldemort raised his wand, and Daphne looked back and forth between real Harry and memory Harry. She could hear loud hissing coming from where one group of Death Eaters was standing, and judging by the shift in his posture, memory Harry had heard it too.
"Dobby, Kreacher, take Hagrid away from here," whispered memory Harry, and at once there were two audible pops, followed by confused shouts from the Death Eaters. Even Voldemort looked back, trying to see what was happening. Harry saw Hagrid disappear and knew that both him and the elves would be fine, so he held his wand aloft and pointed it in the direction of the hissing.
His wand immediately began spewing fire from the tip. The flames grew unnaturally quickly, and started taking the shapes of flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons, all of which started consuming everything in their path. Screams of pain and terror rang out across the clearing, as the Death Eaters closest to Harry were reduced to ashes by the Fiendfyre.
For a few moments, the Dark Lord seemed to be stunned. He clearly wasn't expecting this tactic from his young adversary, but he quickly recovered and started furiously casting dark curses at Harry, who was doing his best to defend himself against the onslaught.
All of a sudden, a loud hiss could be heard over the din. Harry chanced a look in the direction of the sound, and he saw a greenish black cloud hovering above the roaring flames for a few seconds, before it dissipated with a pained shriek. Harry internally celebrated at the destruction of Nagini, Voldemort's final Horcrux. He had done everything he could, and he could now meet his fate knowing his sacrifice would ensure the Dark Lord would once again be mortal.
In the meantime, Harry's Fiendfyre had started raging out of control. Among those gathered in the clearing, only three of them had the power to rein in the flames, and two of them were busy dueling each other. The other was Bellatrix Lestrange, and she seemed too preoccupied watching her lord's duel to bother dealing with the cursed fire herself. At this point, most of the gathered Death Eaters had either been incinerated or had fled.
———————————-
Daphne was thoroughly captivated by the memory, looking on in complete astonishment. She recognised the spell and was in awe of its power, not being able to cast it herself. She understood Harry's plan at once, and celebrated with him when she realised he had succeeded in taking out the snake. Daphne looked at real Harry out of the corner of her eye and her heart swelled with pride. She let out a deep breath, and then turned back to the duel between the two mortal enemies, who were now trading spells inside a ring of Fiendfyre.
———————————-
Harry dodged Voldemort's spell chain and cast a Reducto and a Confringo in close succession, which were easily stopped by the Dark Lord's shield. Voldemort retaliated with a Crucio, a Blood Boiler, and a Flaying Curse, but Harry managed to duck the first and deflect the others. Voldemort stopped long enough to order Bellatrix to deal with the fire, then resumed his attack. Harry hadn't been able to deal any real damage to the Dark Lord, but he'd at least succeeded in keeping him occupied long enough to let his Fiendfyre do its work.
"Curse you, Potter!" shouted the Dark Lord, and Harry smirked. He knew he was outclassed, but winning the fight wasn't his goal.
"Less servants for you means less problems for my friends back in the castle," Harry replied.
"Ah, you realised my deception. Yes, after I kill you, I will of course make my way to Hogwarts. Let me assure you that I will make an example of your meddlesome friends, and then there will be no one left alive foolish enough to oppose the might of Lord Voldemort."
"We'll see about that. I'm still here. All that bravado from you, and the Boy-Who-Lived is still alive," Harry taunted, intentionally provoking him.
"You insolent boy! Avada Kedavra!" the Dark Lord shouted. It was time.
"I love you, my Daphne," Harry whispered, a moment before the green light impacted his chest. The memory started to shift again, changing from the orange glow of the cursed flames to a blinding white.
———————————-
Daphne was crying again. It was all so overwhelming. Harry had been so brave, marching alone into the lion's den and inflicting a critical blow against the Dark Lord, knowing he would pay for it with his life. She was so proud of him, proud of being the one that this man had chosen to love, and heartbroken at all the hardship he'd had to suffer. She looked around as the white space surrounding them started to take shape, and curiously resumed observing memory Harry, hoping to find out exactly where this unusual place actually was.
———————————-
Memory Harry was cautiously walking around the white hall, which seemed to have vaguely taken the form of King's Cross Station. As he was trying to figure out exactly where he was, he saw something under a bench that caught his attention. Curious, he walked over to the bench and knelt down, only to recoil in horror at what he saw.
It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground. Its skin was raw and rough and looked mutilated and weak, as if it had been flayed, and it was making rattling, gasping sounds from its mouth. Harry almost felt like he should help it, but it repulsed him. He shuddered as he was suddenly reminded of the childlike form Voldemort had occupied at the beginning of his resurrection ritual.
"What the..." he asked himself.
"You can't help him, Harry," he heard a voice say. Harry froze in place, not bothering to turn to the source of the voice. "You wonderful, brave boy."
"Dumbledore," sneered Harry, rising slowly and glaring at the source of his anger. Dumbledore was obviously taken aback by Harry's reaction, clearly not anticipating his anger.
"You bastard… Why? Why did you do this to me? Why did you condemn me to a miserable life? Why did you allow me to live with that thing in my forehead? You knew all along, didn't you? ANSWER ME!"
"Harry, I didn't..."
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Harry shouted, walking to the older wizard and grabbing him by his robes. "YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME! YOU KNEW BEFORE YOU DIED!" he shouted, and to his surprise, Dumbledore shed a tear.
"Yes, I knew, Harry, but what was I supposed to say? I didn't lie to you when I told you that I didn't know of any other means to destroy a Horcrux."
"Didn't you perform tests on me when I was a baby?" asked Harry, starting to calm down slightly.
"We did, but we made the mistake of believing that what we were detecting was only a leftover trace of the curse. It wasn't until your fifth year that I started to suspect Horcruxes, Harry, even considering the incident with the diary in your second year. It was only your visions that year that confirmed my suspicions, particularly the one of Arthur Weasley being attacked."
"And you still said nothing," he snarled, and Dumbledore dropped his head.
"To my shame, I admit that is true. I was terrified by what I had just learned, and I had no answers. I didn't want to burden you further, and I'd hoped that I'd be able to find a solution before it was too late."
"Why should I even believe you?" Harry asked with a glare, then let go of Dumbledore's robes. "Bah, it's too late, now. Maybe I don't really hate you, but you sure screwed up a lot of things for me. You could have told me more. You could have trained me better. You could have realised that the blood wards that kept Voldemort out did nothing to protect me from the Dursleys themselves. You could have done more to help Sirius, then maybe I could have stayed with him instead..." Harry looked away from Dumbledore, failing to notice the old man's satisfied expression.
"Tell me, Harry, are you happy?
"No," he replied.
"And why is that?" asked Dumbledore.
"Because I died, and instead of meeting my family while I wait for Daphne, I'm stuck in Limbo talking to you," Harry replied sarcastically, and Dumbledore cracked a smile.
"Ah, yes, the lovely Ms. Greengrass. I admit that I did not know her well, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me a little more about her?" Dumbledore requested.
"She's unbelievably beautiful, but there's so much more to her than that," Harry said longingly. "For one, she's a natural leader. She recruited part of Slytherin house to our cause this year and kept Tom's supporters under control. She's brave, too. For months, she's been resisting Voldemort and the Death Eaters right under Snape and the Carrows' noses."
"Right now, however," Harry sighed, "She's probably devastated, because instead of letting her die by my side, I stunned her and left her behind to sacrifice myself."
Dumbledore replied with that maddening smile of his. "And why did you decide to go face Voldemort alone?" he asked.
"I had a plan - Figure out where the snake was and torch the area with Fiendfyre, then let him hit me with the Killing Curse. If I managed to land a shot or two on Voldemort, all the better. If I had let Daphne come with me..." Harry's face sank into a melancholy expression, and he sat down on one of the benches.
"She would've died a meaningless death if she'd come with me. There's so much more she could do... She should survive, and live a long life, and..." Harry trailed off for a moment, not even noticing his tears until he felt them drip off his cheek.
"I just didn't want her to die. I wasn't afraid to die, and I know she wasn't either, but I didn't want her to die. She's amazing, the smartest and kindest person I've ever known. She wants to be a healer, you know?" he said, looking up at Dumbledore. "She actually studied under Poppy the last couple of years. There's so much she could do for the world, and I didn't want to see her give it all up just for me."
———————————-
Memory Harry's unguarded confession of what he really thought about her had Daphne's heart racing. "You foolish idiot," she tearfully whispered, gripping real Harry's hand.
"Foolish idiot in love, you mean," Harry replied with a smile, and pulled her closely to him with one arm. Daphne leaned her head against his chest and kept watching.
———————————-
The more Harry spoke about his feelings for Daphne, the happier Dumbledore seemed to become. By the time Harry had finished, he was absolutely beaming.
"Love truly is an amazing power, is it not? Perhaps it was your love that guided your actions?" the headmaster posited, then stood back and looked around, examining their surroundings. "Tell me, Harry where would you say we are?"
"I don't know, Limbo?" the young man questioned, throwing Dumbledore off for a moment.
"Well, yes," he said, recovering. "But I meant to ask you about the physical manifestation of Limbo we're currently experiencing." Harry looked at Dumbledore as if he was mad. "You see, this is, as they say it, your party. Why do you think your Limbo manifested itself as such?"
"How would I know? And it seems to be King's Cross Station," the teen replied, not in the mood for the old man's antics.
"Good gracious, is it really? Well then, what happens in a train station, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, making the teen sigh in frustration.
"It's a hub for trains and people," Harry replied, noticing the amused look on Dumbledore's face, urging him to go on. "Trains arrive and depart to their destinations?"
"So, hypothetically, should you want to go on, might you hop on a train?" asked the old man.
Harry stiffened. Dumbledore may enjoy his word games, but he always had a reason.
"I suppose so. So does that meant that if I, hypothetically, should want to go back..."
"Then I suppose you could board a train in the opposite direction..." the old man hinted.
"But I'm dead," Harry replied flatly.
"Ah, you see, only one soul needs to move on, Harry, and as fortune would have it, we have a piece of a soul here that can make the journey," Dumbledore replied, gesturing to the flayed-looking thing under the bench.
"So, I could go back and..."
"Be with your lovely girlfriend? I don't see why not," replied an amused Dumbledore, while Harry picked the piece of soul up by the ankle and willed a train to "go on," as Dumbledore had put it. When the train arrived, as flawlessly white as everything else, the carriage doors opened, and Harry chucked the piece of soul inside. The door closed, and the train departed.
"I want a train to go back to the world of the living, I want a train to go back to the world of the living, I want a train to go back to the world of the living..." Harry willed, and as the first train exited the station, another arrived from the opposite direction.
"I guess this is it," said Dumbledore, losing the smile and looking mournfully at Harry.
"Yes," replied Harry, looking at Dumbledore. "Can you tell me if all the Horcruxes are gone?"
"Only Tom remains now, Harry," replied Dumbledore, and Harry nodded.
"I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you for all the manipulations in my life, or all that was lost because of your negligence. I'll always wonder how much better everything might have been if you had just tried a little harder." Dumbledore looked down in shame, accepting Harry's words. He, in fact, wasn't amused in the least by Harry's difficult life, but he believed it to be necessary. He was wrong, though. Very wrong.
"However," Harry continued, "I am grateful for the help you gave me. It wasn't perfect, but I don't think we would've had a chance of succeeding without it, so thank you," Harry said, extending his hand to the older man, who was momentarily stunned. His surprised expression was soon replaced with a grateful smile, and he gladly shook the teen's hand.
"I wish you a long and happy life, Harry Potter," the former headmaster said.
"May you finally find the peace you desire," replied Harry, turning back and moving to board his train. Had he looked back, he would have seen a look of pride on the older man's face, but instead, the doors closed behind him, and his train left the station. The memory started changing once again, this time to a darker setting.
Harry woke up in his bed in the Chamber of Secrets. His hands were folded across his chest, with his wand tucked between them. He moved to get up so he could find out what was going on, but then Kreacher shrieked from somewhere next to him, making him jump. Harry sat up in bed and turned his attention to the elf, who was currently gawking at him with his overlarge eyes.
"Ma...Mas...Ma…Master?" the ancient elf questioned, before fainting on the floor. Harry held back a chuckle and stood up, but he felt a little dizzy and had to lean against the bedpost for a minute. Once he regained his balance, he went and picked up Kreacher and placed him on the bed. Having just dealt with one distressed elf, Harry soon found himself with another one on his hands. Dobby popped in right behind him and shrieked even louder than Kreacher, then started rambling something about Master Harry Potter sir being a nasty dead who walks...or something odd like that.
Harry ended up ignoring Dobby's vocal tirade, because his eyes were immediately drawn to Daphne, who had just entered the room. Her eyes were red and swollen, her makeup smudged, and she still had tears running down her face. She was standing motionless in the door, gawking at him with her mouth forming an 'O' shape.
"Harry?" she asked uncertainly.
"Your name is Daphne Persephone Greengrass, after your mother, whom you're not that fond of. Your heroes are your grandparents, who died fighting together. You want to be a healer. We met in our fifth year, when you asked for my help with DADA. We started dating at the end of that year, on the night my godfather died. I love you. We lost our virginities to each other in this very bed on Halloween of our sixth year…"
That was all Harry managed to get out before Daphne leapt into his arms and started kissing him passionately. The two fell on the bed together at the same time that Kreacher woke up, the elf flailing as he rolled off the other side of the bed. Dobby went to help him, and both elves stood looking at their master in shock. Their eyes suddenly bulged when they realised what the teens were up too, and both elves popped away in embarrassment.
———————————-
"We don't really need to see everything," said Harry in a hurry, drawing his wand and forcing the memory to advance to the next segment. Daphne smirked and lowered her eyes. She wasn't really that embarrassed, she was just thinking about what she had just heard and how well Harry really knew her. That, and seeing herself ripping older Harry's clothes off made her feel a little hot and bothered, more than she ever got when she touched herself.
"I don't mind," she mumbled with a tiny blush, earning a naughty smirk from her boyfriend.
"I know you don't," he said, and she blushed, wondering exactly how he knew that. "If you want, you can watch it later," he chuckled.
"Would you watch it with me?" she asked hopefully, not having any idea where she got the courage to ask him that.
"If you want me to," he replied, tilting up her chin and looking into her eyes. "But you'll have to keep me in line to make sure nothing unwanted happens."
Daphne nodded demurely, and Harry gave her another a kiss that did no good whatsoever for her excited condition.
———————————-
The next memory started with the two of them dressed in basilisk hide battle armour. They were huddled under the Invisibility Cloak, right behind the Hogwarts defenders as they awaited the approaching Dark Lord. They listened in to the conversations around them, and they could tell morale was low. It seemed that Hagrid had returned and announced that Harry was killed in the forest by Voldemort, and there was also talk of how no one had heard from Daphne Greengrass.
"Are you ready?" whispered Harry, and she kissed him softly.
"I'll be waiting for my marriage proposal," she replied with a grin, trying to hide her nervousness.
"I love you, Daph."
"I love you too, Harry."
The Dark Lord entered Hogwarts and started making his victory speech, claiming to have killed Harry Potter and burned his body. Still hiding behind the crowd, they chose that moment to remove the Cloak and give it to Dobby for safekeeping. With a nod, Harry cast a Sonorus on himself and stood up taller.
"OH REALLY, WHAT WOULD THAT MAKE ME, THEN?" The Hogwarts crowd parted for Harry and Daphne, jaws hanging down to the ground.
"IMPOSSIBLE! I KILLED YOU!" shouted Voldemort, ignoring the disquiet among his own Death Eaters.
"Clearly you didn't do a very good job," Harry replied with a grim look, having eyes only for Voldemort. "I'm curious though, how many of your Death Eaters died in the Fiendfyre?"
Voldemort screamed in rage, and immediately turned his wand on Harry, who deftly avoided the incoming spells. Bellatrix decided to focus on Daphne, who had just given the order to retreat into the castle. Disheartened by Harry's reappearance, some of the more cowardly Death Eaters fled to the field. The newly emboldened defenders started providing support to Daphne and were launching curses at the remaining Death Eaters.
———————————-
"This memory doesn't show your duel with Bellatrix, but I may show it to you later," Harry said. "Let's just say that it was quite impressive. You hit her in the knee with a Reducto, and then took her out with a Confringo to the face. When your duel was done, you turned your attention to helping take out the other attackers, and many of them fled. It turned out that nobody was eager to take on the witch who just killed Bellatrix Lestrange."
"Did…did you face him alone?" Daphne asked, and Harry nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't think I want to see it. Just give me the overview, please." Harry nodded once more and waived his wand, breaking the memory and forcing them out of the Pensieve. Back in the Chamber, they both got comfortable again while Harry thought about what parts to tell her.
"We fought along the east wing and wound up in the main courtyard. By that time, we were both getting tired. We'd both landed several blows and were bleeding in multiple places. The duel culminated in us get locked into Priori Incantatem again, just like in the graveyard in my fourth year. While our phoenix wands were connected, I drew the Elder Wand with my other hand and hit him with a Light Spear. He wasn't expecting it and couldn't manage a shield in time, but I put everything I had into that spell with the Elder Wand, so I'm not sure it would've mattered either way. Voldemort was dead, for good this time, and the battle was over. Some reinforcements arrived, late as usual, but by then the Death Eaters that hadn't already fled or died had dropped their wands and surrendered."
"I ignored everyone around me and ran around until I found you. As soon as I did, I got down on one knee and proposed in front of everyone. There was no ring to give, because you already had it with you. That's what I put in your hand after I stunned you before I went into the forest. You said yes, and pretty much everyone either cheered or squealed, but there were probably some groans from the dorks too."
"Tori was there when it happened, and she was so excited that it looked like she was going to pop," he added with a grin. "Anyhow, we rested for a while then jumped right into helping repair the castle. Your parents showed up later that afternoon. They had already found out about us from Tori, and they were very supportive of us and accepted me immediately."
"I bet they did…social climbing bastards…" Daphne spat. Harry smirked.
"Let's see…Snape died defending some students from Death Eaters, and Malfoy Sr. burned up in the Fiendfyre. Our friends were fine, nothing worse than a couple bruises. Theo dueled to kill, and Tracey acted as his shield. They made a heavy team. Blaise and Millie fought well, too. Neither of them is a particularly skilled fighter, but they worked well together and made a good team. Millie also helped with brewing potions for the healers." Daphne nodded approvingly.
"After a while, the damage was repaired, and things started slowly getting back to normal. The Ministry needed to make sure they were involved, so they decided to start giving out awards. I was given an Order of Merlin, First Class, you got a Second Class, and everyone else who fought in the final battle got a Third Class. We spent every day together, either in Potter Manor, in Greengrass Hall, or out and about. As you might expect, we had a hard time going out on dates without being mobbed by well-wishers, so we decided to go explore the muggle world. You loved it." Daphne was very surprised to hear that, but didn't interrupt him.
"The powers that be decided the previous school year had to be repeated, so we all reconvened at Hogwarts in September, and all in all we were content. For some reason, they named me Head Boy…"
"Yeah, I'm sure there was no reason at all," Daphne thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
"And Granger got Head Girl. That I really didn't get, since you'd proven you were better than her. I mean, you did kill Bellatrix Lestrange, after all. Anyway, we had a picnic every Sunday at the place I showed you by the lake. We graduated as the best students, and we were both very happy. It was around that time that Malfoy started courting your sister. He and his family had fallen into disgrace, but he still had money and was using it to try to rehabilitate his image. I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to learn that your parents had no objections to your sister being courted by a wealth pureblood, even one with a reputation like Malfoy's."
"No, I can't say that surprises me at all," Daphne scowled.
"Once school was finished, we took a trip around the world. I decided on pursuing a mastery in DADA while you studied to be a healer. Once they read my name on the application, they just handed me the mastery, so you suggested I go for another. I studied Light, Grey, and Dark Arts as an associate student at the Munich Academy of Sorcery, and you went on to earn your Healing qualification from St. Mungo's."
"Your parents nagged us constantly about the wedding, so we married on the summer solstice in the year two thousand, but you already know about that. Our lives didn't change much after we were married. You still worked as a healer, and the people absolutely loved you. Our Lady Healer, they called you."
Daphne smiled, liking what she was hearing. "I studied and worked as an Auror as well," Harry continued. "We had each other, and we were happy. Between our studies and our work, we only considered having kids about five years later…" Daphne made a mental note of how Harry hesitated when children came up.
"Theo and Tracey didn't want to wait, so they got married before we came back for our eighth year. Millie and Blaise married shortly after we did, and then Granger and Longbottom the year after us. Blaise ran an import/export company, Millie became a successful Potions Mistress, Theo became an Auror, and Tracey worked as a prosecutor. We were happy, our world was at peace, and we were living our lives."
Even though Daphne knew that bad things were still coming, she felt relieved. Experiencing the harrowing story of Voldemort's rebirth up through his final defeat had been incredibly stressful for her, so it was nice to hear that those closest to her had gone on live happy lives, at least for a while.
"I think we should stop here for today," Harry said, looking at Daphne to make sure she agreed. She nodded with a bright smile, and kissed Harry with all the passion that had been building up inside as she viewed Harry's memories of her.
"That's for everything you did, both the amazing and the stupid," she said, and he grinned.
"You know, if it earns me more of that, I think I may have some more stories to tell," he said cheekily.
"Not today," she smirked, pulling him up into a standing position. "Tell me, how different is the training you're putting me through now, compared to the training you did in your past?"
"Hmm. It's not really much different, to be honest. We're working a little more on your magic control and nonverbal casting this time, but otherwise it's basically the same program."
"Do you think I'll become as powerful as…"
"Even more so," Harry replied confidently, and Daphne smiled. "Do you want to do some training while we're down here, or would you rather go take a walk? We skipped lunch and it's nearly four o'clock."
"Let's go outside," said Daphne, and with a wave of Harry's wand she was cloaked. Harry did the same to himself, and they were ready to go.
"Why are your sleeves shorter?" she asked, looking at his robe sleeves, which cut off halfway down his forearm.
Harry looked at his sleeves and smiled.
"Well, there was a stupid fashion trend for a while with longer, baggier sleeves. Wearing them this short is a countertrend that got its start because of a little girl who hated getting her sleeves in her food."
"Must be an important little girl, then," she said with an amused look, shaking her head.
Harry gave her a sad smile and said, "Yeah, she sure was. That aside, these are much more practical for combat - believe me, I would know." Daphne remembered what he had said earlier about the three wars. With Voldemort gone, there were still two wars remaining, and Harry had fought in both. She hadn't.
"Let's go," she said, her good mood evaporating.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, noticing her change in demeanour.
"I was just thinking about everything. You said you lost me… You just finished telling me about how happy we were. I'm starting to wonder if I even want to know what happened to me… Why, and how I…" Daphne couldn't bring herself to verbalise the rest of her thought, so Harry hugged her gently to try and comfort her.
"It's up to you," he replied with a haunted look. Figuring she could decide later, she gave him a noncommittal nod and sank back into his hug.
"Let's go," she said a moment later. Harry called for Dobby, and he popped them to the lakeshore, where the two started walking side by side along the water.
"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked, enjoying the feeling of the cold breeze in his face after being down in the Chamber for most of the day.
"You can start by explaining how you're the Heir of Slytherin," she said.
"As it turns out, my mother was a direct descendant of the main Slytherin line, unlike Tom and the Gaunts, who married into the family through one of the daughters of the house. The Slytherin line officially died out a long time ago, but the magical bloodline remained intact through a line of squibs that can be traced all the way back to the main Slytherin branch. When my mother was born a witch, she became an heir of Slytherin."
"An heir, not the heir?" asked Daphne, curious about the distinction.
"There is a test to earn the Slytherin lordship. It's rumoured to involve a demonstration of cunning, but no one knows anything else about it, not even the goblins. Whatever it is, old Salazar's real descendants hid the secret very well. Even in my past I wasn't able to claim anything. In fact, I didn't even know about the lordship test until I went to Gringotts with my uncles after our date."
"Interesting," she said, glancing over at him and smiling. "So, two years ago, when everyone was calling you the Heir of Slytherin, they were actually right."
"Yes," he smirked, looking back at her. "There is no such thing as normal for me, I suppose."
Daphne laughed, and the two continued to their walk, talking about a variety of topics, including their homework, the upcoming ball, their friends, and Harry's impending tests for Arithmancy and Runes.
They eventually were feeling tired and hungry, so they walked back to the Great Hall for dinner. The moment they passed through the doors, the eyes of the entire hall were upon them.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUNG MAN?"