Leo kept working on his lessons. He wasn’t in a hurry to stir up any difficulty with Daphne. He had to confess to himself that he was thinking more and more about her. A new tutor arrived at Purbeck Square. He was Justin Finch-Fletchley. A member of Dumbledores Army and hero of the Wizards War. Justin had volunteered to coach Leo through the potions course.
Justin and Leo walked into the library to pick up the first-year potions textbook when Leo saw a door suddenly appear in the side wall of the library. This wall was at the rear of the house and the door should have opened into the house at number 14. Leo carefully opened the door and found a complete potions laboratory. Justin examined the room and pronounced it safe to use. Then he gave a most surprising opinion.
“It looks like this room isn’t in number 14, it is in a come-and-go space inside this house, number 15. The house has created this room here because you need it Leo. There is a room like it at Hogwarts, we called it The Room of Requirement. Everything is here to do all the potions course work that we did at school. The walls and floor are strong, the roof is light. If there are any little incidents the roof will blow right off, and the debris will not shoot out into the rest of the house, how reassuring”. Leo just looked at Justin.
Leo had completed his transfiguration assignments. Daphne was ready to leave when Leo got up the courage to ask about her family history. “Why do you want know about that? Has somebody said something to you?”
Leo’s apprehension deepened; “Yes, I haven’t talked about who has been helping me with my lessons, but it looks like there is some interest in who is doing it.”
Daphne’s pursed her lips. “I have to give you a couple of hours to explain this. Is there anywhere we can go where we won’t be obvious? Not Diagon Alley.”
Leo breathed one relieved breath, “Tomorrow, I have been asked to go to my place in Dorset, the staff want to meet me down there. They aren’t wizards or witches and I’m told they keep their mouths shut about who visits there. If you have the time, I’d like you to come with me. I won’t be staying overnight so we will be back here by 8.”
Daphne stayed silent for a few seconds. “I don’t have an excuse for not going. I suppose that’s enough time to cover everything. OK, I’ll come. What time do we start and what’s the dress code?”
“I want us to leave here by 10. They will have lunch for us. Wear something casual. Is this going to be upsetting for you?”
“It will be gruelling. Especially for you if you go all funny. You might have guessed by now that I don’t like being upset.” Leo realised that he had never seen Daphne angry, he resolved to do what he could to avoid that.
“Why don’t we floo there? That won’t take hours.” Daphne did not look happy.
Leo realised that he planned things like a muggle. He was still a muggle in himself. “They don’t have a floo connection. It is run as a muggle house, rented out for executive retreats and meetings. You could apparate but I don’t apparate yet. I know I’m not brave about this, for the time being, I still like to travel by car or motorcycle.”
Daphne studied Leo; he didn’t feel a legilimens touch. “OK Leo, we will take it slowly. See you tomorrow.”
Daphne arrived early, she was dressed in boat shoes, tailored skirt, and blazer. She looked very smart. “This is a casual day Daphne; you’re making me look sloppy.”
“Leo, this is as casual as I get. How are we getting there?” Leo opened the front door. A long Mercedes-Benz was waiting for them.
Daphne didn’t take much notice of where they were going. The car crossed the river and then stopped at what looked like an office entrance. “We’ll change to our next transport here.” Leo looked quite pleased with himself.
“Change to what? Where are we?”
Leo headed of into the office entrance. “Don’t fight about this. It’s all arranged. This is the London Heliport.”
The new transport was a helicopter. It had first class seating for six and two pilots. Daphne had never travelled in a car before let alone anything like this.
Daphne was not a great flyer. She could do short trips on a broom and then needed to stop on the ground to regain her equilibrium. “If I don’t like this, I won’t trust you again. I suppose this is one of the perks the family trust gives you.”
Leo was grinning broadly. “It sure is. I’ve only had a short ride in one, it’s one of burdens I have to get used to.”
Daphne had only experienced sweaty palms during her broom riding lessons at Hogwarts. The take-off and first minutes of flight were another ‘sweaty palms’ experience. “How can muggles do this all the time? I don’t like these seat belts. What if we have to get out of this thing?”
Leo tried to be confident. He was not prepared for the cool, in control Daphne to be so nervous. “Just try to relax and enjoy the view. You don’t have to fly it like you would a broom, the pilots are very good. They will take care of everything. If you can’t relax, try to tell me some of your story.”
The noise in the cabin was too much for easy conversation. Leo got them both to use headsets provided for passengers to talk without shouting.
“That’s a bit better. Right! First, my family, as you know my father and mother both come from families who thought they were a cut above the rest. Greengrass is on the ‘Sacred 28’ list. When I was growing up, my parents made sure that I understood that this was rubbish. It was a tall story that only the ‘Sacred 28’ maintained was true. Mum and Dad were saddled with magical contracts which are binding not just for individuals but all succeeding generations. It’s these contracts that forced my parents to buy from a fixed list of suppliers at prices set by the supplier. The only way to break these contracts is to be completely penniless so that many contract payments were missed. Once you were penniless and you died and your successors were penniless as well, then the contract was broken. We all had to play along with common upstarts like the Malfoys and their superior pure-blood twaddle. The Malfoys owned the magical rights to land which produced potions ingredients we needed. The contracts made by great-great-great grandparents meant that we had to associate with the Malfoys, the Crabbes, the Goyles and others like them who were a waste of space.
Dad had to negotiate with other suppliers as well because these old families took no interest in their supply businesses. The quality and quantity always trended down but the amounts we had to pay stayed at whatever they wanted. We were merchants and they were landowners, the old snobbery; and magical contract law supported them. Despite all this Mum and Dad were so good at their business that they made money. Dad started finding young people who needed a silent partner to help them get started. He was good at picking winners. He gave advice and encouraged at every turn. When his proteges worked themselves up to the next level he let them buy him out. He didn’t become a big investor; he only wanted to find new talent and get them into business.
When I started at Hogwarts, I deliberately set out to take the pressure off me. The first step was to take the role of the Slytherin Ice Queen. This was easy for me as it was close to the truth. I couldn’t do it all the time as I would have made too many enemies. I decided to become a split personality. I could hex anyone who crossed me, then in the next breath come out with a lot of fairy floss, air head talk about fashion, holidays in France and the latest romance gossip. It nearly always worked. The Gryffindors fell for it every time and dismissed me as just another Pansy Parkinson gang member. I loathed Parkinson.
Then Tom Riddle came back. We were all in deep trouble. Riddle demanded money from every Death Eater. They had to get it by stealing from whoever couldn’t defend themselves. All the old contract owners put up their prices, they were killing our business. As things got worse, Dad was taking his muggle born and half-blood partners and hiding them in the muggle world. All our businesses were broke. The demands for payment flooded in every day. Mum and Dad sold everything, valuables, furniture, clothes, everything. The house was signed over for one debt in hundreds.
Then came the battle at Hogwarts. Most people had us on the list of Tom Riddle supporters. A bunch of snatchers came to the house as Mum and Dad were leaving, turned out by the new owners. They demanded that Dad go with them to fight for Riddle. Dad refused. He and Mum were going to Hogwarts to get Astoria and me away. I do not know where, just away. These snatchers drew their wands, told Dad they were going to kill them both. Dad drew his wand and fought them. He got three of them before he was killed.
Mum escaped, she apparated to Hogsmeade. There were lots of people there just like her, trying to get their children out. I found Astoria; we went out through this secret tunnel to Hogsmeade. Mum found us and apparated us both away. We went to a muggle house where one of dad’s former partners was hiding. We cried and cried for days, weeks. We were cut off. Dads former muggle partners found work in muggle jobs, they stayed away from the wizarding world. They were known Greengrass partners. They weren’t welcome, we weren’t welcome. The new Ministry didn’t know or care about how Dad died, we never found his body.
I started obsessing about finding the scum who murdered my father. We didn’t know who they were, much less where. For two years my mother trained me to be as good at Legilimens and Occlumency as she was. She also arranged for me to practise magical fighting, all the moves and spells. My cousins are particularly good at it; after a year of practice I could beat them all. Then I got an owl from gormless Pansy Parkinson. She was full of news about Goyle, Bletchley, Flint and Millicent Bulstrode being on the run. According to Parkinson they were going to tear ‘The Golden Trio’ up. They we going to get all the money back that the old families had lost and have great adventures doing it. They were the best chance I had to find Dad’s killers. Maybe they were already dead. I had to find out. So, I sent an owl to Bulstrode and she agreed to take me into the ‘gang’.
What a hideous nightmare that was. They didn’t have a clue about anything. They tried to use the Parkinsons to run some scam to damage Harry and Ginny. They had no money, so they stole some. To run their scam, they needed a vault at Gringotts. They couldn’t use their own as they were wanted by the aurors. So, they wanted me to marry one of them to give me another name so they could use my vault. They knew a corrupt Ministry official who would fill in the forms, and I had a new name. I became Daphne Bletchley. For a time, this hid them from the aurors.
Life on the run was harrowing. Thank Merlin, Bletchley ignored me and mostly stayed away from our various hideouts. There were a few visits to Goyle Hall which were worse than any tent or cave where we normally hid.
Goyle also wanted to get revenge on traitors, anyone who surrendered and talked to the aurors after the battle. He wanted to kill Draco Malfoy. He got me to write a silly letter to him which we sent by owl. Goyle hoped that Malfoy would break cover.
Malfoy didn’t appear. He eventually sent a reply to Astoria. She was still at Hogwarts. Malfoy just warned me off, no more silly letters, please.
Astoria graduated weeks after that. She hunted Malfoy down, not to kill him, but to find out what he was doing hiding in the muggle world. Astoria took it on herself to help Draco start a new life. They went to Diagon Alley so that Draco could start his own vault at Gringotts. Draco was not allowed to use magic at all so Astoria apparated to Diagon Alley taking Draco with her.
In Diagon Alley, Draco was arrested on sight by Ron Weasley and questioned about accusations against Draco which were known to be inaccurate. This was done to keep Draco out of the way while a message was given to Astoria. She was told that if she could get me to surrender and tell everything I knew to the aurors, then I would get immunity and be home free.
Draco went back into hiding in the Muggle world. Astoria applied for her own vault at Gringotts which she could allow Draco to use.
I told the aurors everything I knew about the witless gang. I was with them for seven months. I had found out enough about them to catch them. Eventually Harry was able to use that to arrest them. I went back to live with Mum, still in that muggle house. Mum pushed me to apply for the marriage to be anulled. The annulment was quickly granted by the Ministry of Magic.
Harry looked at the story I wrote out for the aurors. He told me that I should start writing to earn some galleons. I wrote essays on corrupt officials, the Goyle gang, and Tom Riddle supporters who were still free to spread misery. Harry took them to the editor at The Daily Prophet and they were printed under my ‘nom-de-plume’. That was two years ago; I still write that column, three days a week and I now write a fashion column two days a week under my not-so-serious ‘nom-de-plume’.”
223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cg4aCZVEU
