Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 15

September first came before she had expected, which just made Daphne wonder if perhaps she shouldn't buy a calendar of some sort. Still, she had things to do, such as take Lilian to the 9 ¾ station, thankful the Ministry had given a morning off to its workers who had kids. Daphne was almost sure that everyone was going to go to work after lunch, kids or not, whoever.

"Do you have everything ready?", she asked her daughter, eyeing carefully Salem, who meowed impatiently from his cage. They were approaching the trap door, and Lilian, intent on carrying her trunks, nodded. "Alright, then remember - you just have to go straight through. Don't think about it too much, just go, and wait for me on the other side. Ready?"

"Ready,", Lilian replied, eyes focused on the barrier, and making a quick beeline for it. Daphne kept careful watch over her child, and only went through it herself when she saw the last of Lilian's hair disappear. It was a bit nostalgic, even if her parents had basically walked her through it and promptly after went home.

Ah, well, it wasn't a day to dwell in the past. Daphne shook her head, and went through the barrier, landing in the smoke-filled station, touching her daughter in the shoulder.

"Well done, sweetheart,", she said, and Lilian smiled. "Now, do you want to go on the train already, or do you want to stall a bit more? There's a cafe here, we can have something to eat."

Lilian seemed to consider her question for a whole five seconds, and Daphne couldn't help but smile more. Her little girl was so cute when she wanted to be.

"Can I go inside the train?", she asked, and Daphne nodded. Of course an eleven-year-old would like to go inside the train already - to an excitable child barely waiting to go to Hogwarts for the first time, it'd seem as if it was going to depart at any minute.

"Sure. Do you want help with your trunk?", Daphne asked, and Lilian shook her head. She couldn't help but tear up a little - kids grew up so fast. "Then go ahead, sweetheart. I'll stay until the train departs, so if you need anything, I'll be here, okay?"

"Alright.", Lilian said, eyes focused on the red engine. She then directed her emerald eyes at Daphne, and hugged her. "Thanks, mum."

"Don't forget to write, sweetheart,", Daphne replied, messing with Lilian's hair a bit, and her little girl let go, nodding quietly before leaving without looking back. Daphne watched as her daughter disappeared inside the train, and sighed. When it had been her time, she had been a bit afraid of what was to come - but soon after she had met Tracey, and those fears had been partially assuaged. Partially.

She at least hoped not so much crazy stuff happened at Hogwarts - she was sure she had seen a Cerberus on the forbidden corridor, and there was also the entire Triwizard thing, and that time in her second year when exams had been cancelled, and of course, the fact there had been such a thing as not one Battle of Hogwarts, but two.

Well, that probably wouldn't happen anymore, considering that Harry wasn't a student anymore. Probably.

"They grow up so fast,", a familiar voice said, a wistful sigh with it. Daphne turned to face Harry, fully dressed in his Auror clothing, and she stared at him, confused. "Did you know that Aurors patrol station 9 ¾ on heavy traffic days, such as this one?"

"I had no idea.", Daphne replied, too baffled to form a better answer. Harry shrugged. "Did you plan this?"

"Considering I couldn't very well stroll here with you, a bit, yes. It was just a matter of signing up to work an extra shift, no big deal.", he shrugged once more. "I wish I could've talked to her, maybe tell her to go to Gryffindor."

"Listen, I know I'm a bit lax when it comes to instilling inter-House prejudice in my daughter, but that's taking it too far, Harry.", she replied, the sound of the train chime resonating through the full station. She saw Lilian pop out of a window, waving to Daphne, and she waved back, noticing the girl she had met at Diagon Alley was with her.

"Ah, so she made friends with Molly? That's good.", he hummed, waving a bit to Molly and Lilian. Molly seemed to notice, smiling brightly. "Ginny did tell me that she had met with you, but I didn't think they'd be friends."

"Why is that?", Daphne asked, eyes still on Lilian as the train moved north, her not so little girl grinning brightly, waving harder. Perhaps she had noticed Daphne's companion? She had always taken a liking to Harry, after all.

"Molly is a bit of a lonely girl, that's all,", Harry offered, cryptical, and as Lilian disappeared in smoke, going officially to Hogwarts. "Percy neverreally took to the family after the war, I think. Survivor's guilt, I think."

"I see.", Daphne didn't, but she had heard that one of the Weasley twins had died during the war. Perhaps it had something to do with that. She faced Harry, and he had a soft smile playing on his lips. "Don't you have work?"

"Don't be cruel,", he said, touching the small of her back lightly. Harry looked way too handsome with the Aurors robes for his own damn good. "See you tomorrow?"

"Sure.", Daphne replied, and had a good idea, letting a smile taking hold of her face. "Would it hurt you too much if you came in your Auror robes?"

Harry looked surprised at her for a second, but nodded, disappearing into the crowd, and Daphne gave one last look in the direction the train had gone. Lilian would tell her tomorrow which House she'd be sorted. Until then, she had work to do. A new batch of the most recent potion experiment had arrived, and she had a few new test subjects.

The next morning, Daphne was awoken by the smell of burnt coffee - it had been more than a decade, when would he learn to properly make it? - and rose up quietly, hearing Harry coo to an owl in the kitchen. She smiled to herself, deciding to do something nice with her hair for once, and went to the kitchen as soon as possible, finding Harry, in fact, saying sweet nothings to an owl, a letter on the kitchen table and the bitter smell of coffee burnt to ashes in the air.

"Sometimes I wonder if maybe I shouldn't teach you how to make coffee,", Daphne said, and Harry smiled. "No, really. It has been way too much time."

"Speaking of time, I believe that's a Hogwarts letter from Lilian, isn't it?", he hummed and Daphne smiled, picking the letter and opening it, being greeted by Lilian's familiar scrawl.

She scanned the letter for what was important - she had made friends other than Molly, the train ride was fun, the boat ride was pretty, Hogwarts was huge - until finding Lilian's relate on the Sorting experience.

She rose up to meet Harry's emerald eyes, and he looked at her, curious.

"This is all your fault. I knew I should have said it was Blaise's kid.", Daphne passed him the letter, putting her head in her hands. Harry looked at her, one eyebrow raised, and read the letter as well. "I raised a Gryffindor."

"I hardly see the issue,", he replied, grinning. "Besides, Blaise, hm? We're nothing alike."

"Oh, yes you are. Both of you are playing with my poor heart.", Daphne rose up, picking up the letter from Harry and putting it on the table. The owl flew away, and Daphne watched it for only a brief second before Harry's arms encircled her.

"Ah, I see. Seems like there' an inspection on the Zabini house, today, so...", Harry joked, and Daphne laughed.

"Jealous much, Harry?", she asked, playing with the button of his Auror robes. Merlin, that always had been a weakness of her - Harry, in an uniform.

Harry chuckled, hands resting on her hips.

"Not a bit, why do you ask?", Harry replied, kissing her, and Daphne smirked. He was jealous. How cute. Daphne kissed him back and let herself go. She could afford to be five minutes late into work, she guessed. Who would it hurt, really? Her experiments? No, they were already under observation. She guided Harry back to her room, smiling to herself as he took off her clothes.