HARRY POTTER :flash forward.

Harry gave a little snort and said, "Understood. However, no hexes or similar; words only. Agreed?"

"Agreed," he replied. "Thank you for your time... Potter." He then turned to both Daphne and Hermione, finally acknowledging their presences, and gave a short bow to each. "Missus Greengrass-Potter. Missus Granger-Potter."

Without waiting for a response, he spun about and, after checking both ways down the outside passage, made his escape, quietly shutting the door behind him as he left.

"Bloody Hell," breathed Harry after Malfoy disappeared.

"Do you have your mirror on you, Harry?" asked Daphne.

"Umm...

yeah,"

he

replied,

distractedly pulling it out of the pocket of his inside robes.

Without even asking, she almost snatched it out of his hand before opening it and whispering 'Padfoot' across the glass.

Both Harry and Hermione were surprised. This was not normal 'Daphne' behaviour.

"Why, hello, Pup..." came the voice of Sirius from the mirror. "Hang on, you're not Harry. What is it, Daphne? Did something happen to Harry on the train?"

"No, Sirius. I need to speak to you as 'The Black'," she said.

"Ohhh-kay!" he said, before his voice took on quite a different tone and inflection. "Then, this is a pleasure, Missus Greengrass-Potter. How may I or House Black assist you?" "My husband, your Heir, has just been approached by your cousin, once removed, the Heir of Malfoy and son of House Black," she replied. "He came asking for my husband to act as his intermediary in approaching you with a most special request."

"Young Draco?" asked Sirius, to which Daphne nodded. "I see... and what is Mister Malfoy's request?"

Daphne quickly outlined the discussion they just had, and promised to also send along a memory of the event as soon as they were able, that night.

"I see," said Sirius. "Is it your belief his request is sincere?"

"It is," she replied. "As it is for my husband and sister-wife." Sirius seemed to think hard about that for a few moments before he asked, "Are you aware of whether or not his mother, Cousin Narcissa, has taken the Mark?"

"We are not," she replied.

Sirius seemed to think a bit more before he said, "Very well. Send that memory strand to me tonight. I shall review it and make my decision on how I will proceed, accordingly."

"Thank you, Mister Black. You have our gratitude," she replied.

"Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention, Missus Greengrass-Potter," said Sirius.

Daphne suddenly grinned and said, "Now that the formalities are out of the way, sorry for shocking you with that, Padfoot."

"That's alright," he replied, his voice losing its formally stilted form. "It was your duty; or, rather, Harry's."

"Harry isn't up on the formal language required yet," she replied with a little blush.

"I know," he replied. "Your father and I will be coaching him on that over the summer. Hermione, too."

"And I'll now be playing my part on helping with that before then," she said.

"Good," he replied. "I had expected as much."

When the train arrived at Hogsmeade the three immediately headed to the carriages and were joined, again, by Horace, Blaise and Tracey.

"We missed you on the train," said Tracey.

"Yeah, sorry," said Daphne. "I don't know what happened there."

"I heard you went to Twillfit and Tattings for your Wizengamot robes," Blaise said to Harry.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "I just wish I could get out of having to attend for now. There's already too much on my plate, you know?"

Blaise nodded back and said, "Hopefully, for you, it'll only be a few hours out of every month. As a new member you won't have to attend any committee hearings, judicial sittings or the like. However, you'll probably find yourself on the roster for those next sitting year."

"When is that, by the way?" asked Harry. "June to July? September to August?"

"March to February," replied the other boy. "It has something to do with the ancient Roman calendar of only ten months, of which March was the first."

"So, that means I'm excused from other than the actual Wizengamot sittings until the first sitting in March?" he asked.

"Unless something happens that requires you to sit earlier, yes," replied Blaise. "However, you'll be approached sometime in January, at the latest, concerning what Committees and the like of which you will or should become a member."

"Like what?" he asked. "Sitting members dying or retiring," replied Blaise. "Or, they're sent to prison, or undergo a long-term stay in Saint Mungo's, or... they become too ill due to age to attend but won't retire..." he suddenly added.

With a sigh, Harry said, "Well, hopefully, none of that will happen. And, hopefully, I'll only lose a few hours one day a month."

"Knowing your luck, Harry..." said Hermione.

Harry winced and softly said, "Yeah..." Then he moaned and said, "I'm going to be studying my arse off over the summer!"

"Harry James, you mind your language!" scolded Hermione, as the three Slytherins grinned back.

"Hermione," Daphne softly but firmly said. Daphne had no qualms with Hermione berating Harry for his language and scolding him as much as she wished when in private or with family. However, there was still a level of... passive deference... to Harry she demanded of the other girl when in public. And that included not scolding him for his language.

Daphne required of Hermione, in such instances, to note his language and berate him in private later about it, if she felt the need to. It was still something Hermione was learning to control. However, her reaction was often of the 'knee jerk' variety, as it had developed in her younger years. Her father had been amused by it, so hadn't called her up short on it. Daphne, however, was now working on it with the other girl as Harry was still quite often cowed by his muggleborn wife when she went on a tear. Something she was also working with Harry on improving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ready to lose yourself in an epic tale? Download the full PDF now and start reading from page one!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/