Acknowledgement: This continues the story of Harry and Daphne begun in Wheels Within Wheels. The author makes no claim to anything, as all characters and venues derive from JK Rowling's work. Thank-you, Ms. Rowling, for creating the wondrous Potterverse for all of us to enjoy.

The first twenty chapters (Part One) were posted at one time. Part Two is taking longer, so I've decided to post the completed chapters, just to maintain some momentum.

Rated M, because the characters are adults, they fall in love, hug and kiss, get engaged, get married and so on. The fun is in developing the characters, not writing a biology textbook, so you won't find anything explicit here.

Best to all the Harry and Daphne fans out there. Respectfully, Bfd1235813

Wheels Within Wheels – Part Two

Kendra and Lily

Chapter One

Daphne Shares Some Recent Harry-and-Daphne News

Harry Potter looked down the slope below Greengrass Manor, across the gardens, the delightful punctuation of the gazebo, and the border at the bottom, just before the edge of the green, which had lost all tint and appeared in the November dusk as an immense, flat, black lozenge.

"Ladies," he began, or tried to.

"Harry Potter, you git," said Daphne Greengrass, his not-quite-formally-promised significant other.

"We already know what you're going to say, knave," said Astoria Greengrass.

"You want to leave us here, helpless, before all manner of predation, so you can get up and go to that job of yours tomorrow," continued Daphne.

"Well, you have a job," Harry said. "Are you going to work tomorrow?"

"That is so hurtful. Keep it up and you'll damage our feelings," said Astoria. "We know lots of witches in common, Harry, and they would not like to know you were trampling on our sensitivities. You might want to give that some more thought."

"Greengrass Manor has lots of protection," said Harry. "That's well-known, One, and you are both qualified witches with wands, and a very noisy Bichon for an alarm system, Two, and I do have two very full days ahead of me so I can be good and ready for the St. Mungo's Ball, Three. I've got a dress robe to pick up from Madame Malkin tomorrow, in addition to a full work day. Blaise wants to go to lunch before Saturday, that will take a chunk out of at least one day.

"Besides, I don't have any clean clothes here. We established that earlier."

"Harry, you know as well as I do, if you drop your clothes by your door tonight, the elves will have them washed, dried, ironed and folded in your room before you wake up," said Daphne. "If you want to go, you're going to go. Just know that we are on to you, and you have no legitimate excuses."

"I'll make it up to you," said Harry. "I promise to ask you to dance with me at the ball."

"Now, I overheard you plotting and conniving with Walburga, and I meant to tell you to bring over anything you want to leave at Grimmauld Place. Give it to Kreacher and tell him where you want it. I strongly suspect Walburga has reassigned him to you now, anyway. Give him a chance to show off a bit. It really means a lot to him.

"Astoria, I enjoyed our conversation, short as it was. I am at your service, if there is anything official or unofficial you need from me.

"Nobody get up, I know the way. Set your wards. I'll be at the flat, then in the office all day tomorrow, Merlin willing."

Harry left the sunny room that opened onto the patio. Daphne and Astoria listened for the closing of the front door, then, a short time later, the faint 'Pop' that told them Harry had disapparated and was back in London.

"Daphne, you are something else," said Astoria. "What were you and Harry Potter doing in that bathtub when I came home?"

"Harry was chilly. We'd been swimming in the lake, so, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do, to warm him up. It was working, too, just for your future reference," Daphne said. "That is a sound, proven medical technique, I can say without any equivocation."

"Well, then, you two have talked about where you stand, what you're doing, that sort of thing?" Astoria demanded.

"You want to know the gist of a very private conversation between two fairly mature adults, is that it?" Daphne asked. "Okay. Sure. We talked."

"AND?" Astoria provided the conjunction, with emphasis.

"And Harry said, 'We're official, and we're serious,' and I said, 'It seems so.' I don't think there could be any more of it that you need to know. I'm dating Harry Potter."

"Well Daphne, for Morgan's sake, you've got to tell me all the details, otherwise, you force me to pry them out of you. You went swimming? He didn't bring swimming trunks over for a lunch date in November, did he? You guys went natural, didn't you?"

"Astoria," Daphne sighed, "If that were any concern of yours, I'd of course tell you, but you know how Healers are, we can't discuss our interactions with others, and law enforcement has its own ethical standards."

"So that's a yes, my big sister did bring her muscular auror boyfriend over to our house when she thought no one was going to be home, and she took him skinny dipping in our lake," Astoria surmised. "You were blocking my view just a bit, but what I could see looked yummy. It didn't stop there, did it? You took him in that bower you've been working on forever. How did that go? Did you bewitch him, in your bower, you witch? Don't even bother, Daphne, I know you did. No wonder you both needed a hot bath afterwards.

"Daphne, I am so happy for you. I wish you and Potter eternal happiness together. You two are so special, Draco and I are going to have such fun watching you up close. Has he asked you to marry him yet?"

"NO. Darn it, Astoria. There are SOME boundaries. Give us some time for the waypoints, will you? Besides, you and Draco are too far ahead of us. You're the star now, and I'll be using all my spare time to help you and Mother with the stuff you'll be doing for the next few months. I'm not exhausting myself trying to juggle this party for you, and that party for me.

"Harry and I can be a big help. Besides, it will be a good learning experience for him, if we do decide to get married. The poor thing has absolutely no training, other than being Ron Weasley's best man. This will let him ease into some understanding of my expectations."

Astoria started laughing, not too noisily, then lost her composure completely when Daphne joined in.

The Greengrass sisters sat in their chairs, looking down across the gardens, to the green below, thinking their own thoughts.

"Is he trainable, do you think?" Astoria asked. "He is a kind of feral wizard, isn't he?"

"He is, in a way," Daphne laughed. "He's not like Father, or Draco, or Bill Weasley, full of authorized version received knowledge. He's not humble, but he's not full of himself, either. When I ask him, he'll tell me things he's done, things that will be legendary five hundred years from now, otherwise he keeps his mouth shut about it all. He likes his job, friends, and doing things for people. He doesn't have a good grasp of how the magical world sees him."

"Draco says he can be Minister someday, if he wants it," Astoria offered.

"I'd say that is a possibility, although not a sure thing," said Daphne. "We just touched on perceptions in casual conversation. Harry didn't see how his personal qualities, combined with the personalities in his circle, could be interpreted as a political phenomenon.

"After Saturday night, his net will encompass the Greengrass-Davis camp, along with the group everyone thinks of. There are bound to be one or two egos who will see Harry Potter emerging as an obstacle to their ambitions. We'll all have to be aware, and on guard. That includes you, and Draco. I'm sorry if we're dragging you into something you don't want to be part of."

"Daphne," Astoria said, "do you think Mother Kendra meant for us to have a choice? You're much more naïve than I thought."

"Mother Kendra," Daphne mused. "At least we have her here. If we can't steer, we still get to look over her shoulder. Now, Lily Evans? She finished her project."

"Wound it up, waved her wand, set it off," Astoria said.

"I'll try to keep you back a safe distance from her feral wizard, when possible," Daphne continued.

"No place is safe," Astoria sighed. "Harry has shown us all it is safer, relatively speaking, on his side, than it is on the other. Besides, I'm with you, wherever you go."

A faint, squeaky voice sounded outside.

"Lord Greengrass, Lady Greengrass, WEL-come home. Miss Daphne and Miss Astoria are inside, I believe in the sunny room by the patio. I hope you have a pleasant evening!"

"Daphne, Astoria, we're home," Kendra Greengrass called from the foyer.

Raffles, Daphne's Bichon, ran out barking from the library. Fabio Greengrass stepped carefully around Raffles, whose spins and arabesques were highly unpredictable, making him a permanent tripping hazard for anyone wishing to walk through any Raffles-occupied area.

Astoria got up and walked out into the hall.

"Hullo, Mother, hullo, Father. Daphne and I are out here," she said.

Kendra and Fabio walked into the room, and Daphne and Astoria kissed Kendra on the cheek.

"Someone's been having cheesecake, and they've left some for me," Fabio said, enthusiastically. He walked to the table that held the cheesecake.

"You just missed Harry, Father. He thinks you're a magical landscaping genius," Daphne said.

"I like Harry better every day," Fabio said. "He ought not to be such a stranger around here. Mmm…the elves have outdone themselves. Kendra, is it too late for me to have a little coffee with this?"

Kendra, Daphne, and Astoria looked at each other.

"A small one shouldn't keep you up, but if you indulge in the cheesecake, you'll have to resolve to walk an extra mile or two tomorrow or Daphne will be a pest," Kendra said.

"Mother, Father, I'm exhausted, so I'll see everyone tomorrow," said Astoria. "Mother, I've got a whole bag of stationery samples from Seamus and Dean's. Steel yourself."

"Astoria, I don't need to do any such thing. I've been looking forward to this since you were a baby. We'll make a morning of it, if that is what it takes," Kendra admonished her. "Sleep tight."

"Ahh…that hit the spot. Thanks for saving a little. Did Harry have a good time?" Fabio asked.

Daphne looked at Kendra.

"Oh, I think he did," she said, smiling.

Kendra looked away, determinedly looking anywhere except directly at Daphne.

"Great. I'm really looking forward to Saturday night. Kendra, you and I are triple-dating with the beautiful Greengrass sisters," Fabio said.

"Who would have thought?" Kendra mused.

"I have some reading to do," Fabio said, "so I'm going to leave you two. See you upstairs."

"I had a lovely time, Fabio, thanks for making it a date for us. Narcissa was surprisingly gracious," Kendra said. "I'll be up soon."

Once they were alone, Kendra stood, and asked, "Is there a little more coffee in that carafe? I feel like it might be nice to have something to sip on."

"Let's see," Daphne said. "Looks like there is, maybe two small ones. Trix, could we have two small coffee cups out here?"

The elf apparated into the sunny room, bringing two small cups. Daphne emptied the carafe, handing her mother one of the cups.

"Want to go to the library?" Daphne asked. "Might as well be cozy."

"Of course, dear," Kendra said.

Kendra and Daphne sat down on a pair of the leather armchairs in front of the fireplace.

"How was lunch?" Kendra asked, with a little smile.

"I'm going to cut out the unnecessary bits," Daphne said, "because I know you really want to get to the goodies. When Harry arrived, with that box there, I was sitting in here. He seemed to want to chat, about serious things, but he has this infuriatingly indirect way of getting to it, like telling me he isn't seeing anyone else, and he'd like to keep seeing me.

"I took him in hand and we went upstairs and I showed him his room, and how it connected with mine, and kind of firmly advised him it was material evidence he was welcome to the Greengrass family, if he was interested.

"So, Harry and I are dating. I expect tongues will wag, after Saturday night."

"Daphne, we're all very happy. This hasn't happened too fast, has it?" Kendra asked. "When did you begin to feel so strongly about it?"

"Not any one thing. On Sunday, he took me to his townhouse in London. You've been there. It's #12 Grimmauld Place. It was the Black family home in town. He was such a gentleman. He introduced me to Walburga Black, or to her portrait. She heaped all kinds of abuse on Harry, for being a half-blood. Then he advised her he hoped I'd be spending a lot of time there, and he wanted us to be comfortable with each other. Then he left me alone with the portrait.

"She changed into this gracious grande dame and told me she hoped we'd see more of each other, and Harry was the future of the Blacks, and if the two of us couldn't fix things, no one could. She sends her regards, specifically to 'lovely Kendra' so if you want to enlighten me about that, feel free.

"Harry even let me pick out a room of my own, a perfect little study on the ground floor. That all had an effect on me.

"Then he showed up today with that chest. We'd made a little bet on something silly, and he lost. He went to the trouble of picking out that chest, to put my winnings in, and brought it with him. Look."

Daphne picked up the chest, laid her hand on the lid, and listened for the click. She removed her hand and let the lid rise, revealing the one hundred galleons inside.

"He didn't have to do that. He could have handed me a bunch of galleons in a drawstring bag, but he took the opportunity to give me something special. Then he started that roundabout route to how he wanted to keep seeing me, and wasn't involved with anyone else. I decided somebody had to be the one who got to the point."

Kendra started to laugh.

"You're so efficient, Daphne. There's more than a hint of frustration in your voice. It sounds to me like Harry was being very sweet. When he puts out a little romantic shoot, don't be over-quick to pinch it off. You'll condition him to be sour.

"What else did you learn from Walburga?"

"Oddly enough, Mother, I was hoping you could tell me about Walburga.

"When we got there, Kreacher, the house elf, said he remembered you and Father coming to call, years ago. Then Harry asked Kreacher if then would be a good time for me to meet Madame Black, and Kreacher said Madame Black had requested we meet, whenever I came to #12.

"Kreacher took the drape off her portrait, and Madame insulted Harry, then Harry presented me to the portrait, and she insulted him again…"

"Pardon me, dear, do you recall exactly what Harry said?" Kendra asked.

"He said, I was Daphne Alexandra Greengrass, and I was your daughter, and he hoped I would be at #12 Grimmauld Place often, and he wanted us to be comfortable together. She accused him of defiling me, of all things."

"What did you do, dear? Do you remember what you said?" asked Kendra.

"I did my best curtsy, looked down, told her it was an honor, and that she is a legend among my Slytherin sisters."

"Oh, that is lovely, Daphne," Kendra said with a smile. "You couldn't have done better. Walburga was a very old-time pureblood witch. Her ideas didn't evolve much, nor her language. In her day, Slytherin was a private club for purebloods, very hidebound and prickly, more than a bit Dark. How did you come up with the part about the Slytherin legend, if I may ask?"

"Tracey was always talking about her," Daphne said. "It was just a little pleasantry that occurred to me right there. She went on to tell me about the lovely little study off the hall, and suggested I take it as a place to work. Then Walburga asked for Kreacher, and she told him he was to treat me the same as her. Kreacher seemed fine with that."

Kendra looked at Daphne, not saying anything for some time. When she finally spoke, she said,

"Walburga Black presided over magical society in Britain for a good part of the last century. She was an accomplished witch, but so were a lot of others. She was respected for her skills. On top of that, though, she was a Black, eventually very senior among all the Ancients and Nobles, and she possessed that formidable personality. She had two notable flaws. She was blindly prejudiced in favor of purebloods, to the point she could never appreciate Lily or other non-purebloods, and she was very hard on her family. Sirius, and Regulus, both, were lost to her as a direct result. Eventually, she recognized the part she'd played, but by then it was too late.

"Walburga was very helpful to some of us near the end of her life. I think she wanted to make some start toward making amends, maybe pass some wisdom along to some younger people, with her two fine young wizards gone, and needlessly so.

"At any rate, Daphne, I am very, very proud of you. If Walburga's portrait gave you the tip about her study, and personally commended you to Kreacher, you are, effectively, her successor. Take that very seriously.

"Let it emerge, over time, into witches' consciousness that you are the mistress of #12 Grimmauld Place, and you receive your callers in that study. You'll be occupying a position among London witches. You already do, of course, but you're going to be a big deal. I think you'll wear it well. Astoria keeps us from developing swelled heads.

"You can help Harry out with Madame. She probably won't stop the rudeness, but if she likes you, she might mitigate it somewhat, even just to be polite around company. What is Harry's position there?"

"Harry's Lord Black. The title passed to Harry after Sirius was killed. He's Lord Potter as well," Daphne told Kendra. "The Magical Heraldry Office sent him a letter with some choices about how to handle the titles. He told me about it, and he seemed quite tickled by the quaintness of it all. I advised him to take it with appropriate seriousness, if only because there are people who do, and it can be useful. If someone hands you a tool, why not put it to good use?"

"Harry is Lord Potter AND Lord Black?" said Kendra. "That must keep Walburga in a feisty mood. Daphne, you're a natural at this, that is wisdom well beyond your years. You and Harry have had quite a week."

Kendra was silent for some time, occasionally taking a sip from her coffee.

"I think I'd like to show you something, Daphne," she said. Kendra pointed her wand at the desk along the library wall. A drawer opened and a small, leather-bound book rose from the drawer and floated to Kendra's outstretched hand. Another flick of the wand closed the desk drawer.

"You've seen this photograph, I know," Kendra said. "There's a little story behind what I'm about to tell you. Lily Evans and I met first year. I could see she was a prodigy, right from the start. To my everlasting joy, in second year, we began to study together in the section behind Madame Pince's desk. One day, I found her outside, under a tree, working on something with her hands. She had a block of wood, and some tools. She told me she'd borrowed the tools from Hagrid, and was making a block to print with.

"I asked her if she couldn't use magic, and she said of course, but why miss out on all the fun of carving? She was always full of surprises. Third year, we went to Hogsmeade together on the day we got this photograph taken."

Kendra flipped the cover, and they looked at the two thirteen-year-olds, standing in the familiar track between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, the castle in the distant background, waving mittened hands at the camera.

"Come sit here, Daphne," Kendra said, and Daphne moved to sit beside her. Kendra held the photograph out before them. The two girls in the photo looked out and grinned from ear to ear. Lily held her hands up before her, making a heart shape, and mouthed, "I love you."

The Kendra in the photo followed her lead, making a heart with her hands, saying something that might have been, "I love you too."

"Sometimes, I don't know just how, I get some insight into what they're thinking," Kendra said. She smiled at Daphne's confused expression.

"Let's see if there is anything today," Kendra said, carefully pulling the photo from the album, turning it over, and holding it on the edge with her finger tips.

Daphne saw some handwriting on the back, and what looked like a stamp.

Together they read the handwriting, which said, "Daphne, please take good care of him and love him lots for me. Always, Lily."

Below the signature was the stamp. Daphne saw it was in runes, which weren't her strongest subject at Hogwarts, and which she hadn't worked with in years.

"See what it says?" asked Kendra.

"Isn't that 'WITCH?'" Daphne asked.

"Very good, you're still our scholar," said Kendra. "Lily used to put that stamp under her name on all her parchments she turned in for homework. 'Lily Evans—WITCH' Some of the professors, like Madame Sprout, loved it, others were more ambivalent."

"And, Mother, you said you don't know how that works? Take good care of him, and love him lots for me; That's a new message?"

"It is definitely a new message, and, no, dear, I've no idea how it works. Lily is still full of surprises. I suspect it is a tiny bit of sentience or intelligence that is in the photo, just enough to react to events when the girls look out. How the third-year Lily in the photo would recognize you, and how the messages are composed, and how they appear, that is a mystery. Transcendently beautiful magic, that's all I can tell you. Now, I have something for you. I don't have a chest to put it in, unlike Harry's galleons."

Kendra waved her wand at the desk once more, opening a drawer. With a second flick, a small block of wood rose from the drawer and floated over. Kendra caught it and held it out to Daphne.

"This," she said, "is the wood block Lily was carving, second year, with Hagrid's tools. This is the block that put that stamp on the photo. Silly as it may seem, to me, there will always be a little bit of Lily in this wood block. I'd like you to have it. Maybe someday you'll have a little witch you can pass it along to. Lily would like that, I think."

"Oh, Mother," Daphne said. She turned to Kendra and wrapped her in her arms. "I'll never stop learning from you. I could live a thousand years and you'd still be teaching me."

"Well, Daphne, it's what parents do, isn't it?" Kendra almost cooed to her daughter.