A/N: So this was supposed to be a drabble written for Draco's Den's monthly Roll A Drabble. Obviously it's not a drabble anymore, it's more of a one-shot. This story is a little different from how I normally write. The prompt for October's roll a drabble was mystery-themed overall. I was told I needed to include a ghost, the phrase "Tell no one", and my protagonist had to be someone like me. One thing I want to make super clear after saying my protagonist is based on me is that my relationship with my mom is nothing like what is described in this story. My mom and I have an amazing relationship, but I had this strong feeling to write Daphne's relationship with her mom in this way because as a member of the Sacred 28, I'm sure there had to be struggling at home.
Special thank you to SquarePeg72 for telling me that this story actually did make sense after I wrote well of 2k that I thought I may have to scrap. If you've never read any of her work, you should definitely check her out.
Grammarly did my beta work, so all other mistakes are my own.
I'm participating in NaNo this year and I'm writing a bunch of holiday fics and cleaning out my Google Drive, so there will be plenty of stories to come. Keep looking out!
Let me know what you think!
Love always,
~starr
The note had appeared on her coffee table in her sitting room overnight. She wasn't sure who had put it there or exactly when it arrived, but there it sat. She hadn't read it yet because she didn't want to touch it for fear of a curse or a hex sent by someone who wasn't thrilled with the life she had chosen for herself.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass had left London in search of a better life for herself. A life that wasn't controlled by the master plans of the Sacred 28 families or the Dark Lord's plans that were left with the families after his demise. While many of the Death Eaters were hauled off to Azkaban after the Second Wizarding War to sit in a cell as they awaited their trial, there were still groups of Sympathizers all over the city searching for members who had not been taken away to join their ranks.
Their plans were clear. They wanted to finish out the work of the Dark Lord and free the Death Eaters from Azkaban so that the Wizarding world could be purged of Muggles and Mudbloods. Only the Purebloods should reign supreme.
The ideals of Sympathizers and the Sacred 28 families made Daphne sick, and she wanted nothing to do with them, so she decided to move far away from the insanity that was her family's legacy. Astoria would be fine to handle it on her own; she was married to the son of the Dark Lord's right-hand man, after all. Their family would be fine, and Daphne could get on with her life, away from the world of magic.
It had been three years since she last heard from any one of her friends from Hogwarts and even longer since she had seen her sister. Part of that may have been her own doing because she stopped answering owls that were sent to her flat in Blackpool. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to anyone; it was just that she didn't have the answers to the questions they were asking.
That was why the suspicious appearance of this piece of parchment on her coffee table was a bit concerning. Looking around the room, she noticed that none of the windows were left open, so an owl couldn't have gotten in to leave it behind. She had shut down the floo access to her flat on the first day she moved in. The last thing she needed was to get a call from home and be begged to come back. While she missed everyone and hated that she didn't get to watch her nephew grow up, Daphne knew that separating herself from that life was best for her.
But now, here that life was, throwing itself in her face and expecting her to look at the parchment and respond appropriately. Taking a deep breath, Daphne stared at the nicely folded piece of parchment on her coffee table. Her mind continued to debate back and forth about picking it up and tossing it into the fire, pretending that she never received it. If anyone asked her about it, she could just lie and hope that they bought it.
The other part of her mind was curious as to why the parchment was here. She was confident that it had something written on it, but what it said was the most enticing piece of the whole mystery. Of course, that was the part of her mind that was calling to her. The mystery of how the paper got into her flat in the first place made her curious. And her curiosity always seemed to get the better of her in situations like this. Her mind knew better, but she loved falling into the temptation of a puzzle.
Daphne carded a hand through her hair as she walked to her couch and took a seat in front of the piece of parchment sat. It was folded in half, and she could see something written on the inside. She didn't recognize the handwriting, but as she thought about it, she hadn't seen her friends in a few years, so she probably wouldn't have recognized their writing anyways.
She took a deep breath and reached forward, lifting the paper off the table. As she brought it to her lap, she unfolded it and read what was on the inside.
12 Grimmauld Place
Islington, London
"An address? What the hell?" she mumbled to herself as she ran a finger over the script. It was beautiful penmanship, but who wanted her to return to London? And why did she feel the urge to go?
Daphne thought about it for a few moments before pushing herself up off the couch. She made her way back to her bedroom and opened her closet. Digging through the clothes and shoes, she finally found what she had gone in search of her wand. If she was traveling to London, she was definitely going to need her wand. She pulled out a small bag and cast and extension spell before shoving a small collection of her belongings inside. There was no telling how long she was going to be gone, so she wanted to be prepared.
Looking around her bedroom, she decided that she had everything she needed and made her way toward the front door. She grabbed her keys off the small table by the door and made her way outside. It was time to find a place to apparate from since her connections with the magically inclined in Blackpool were extremely limited, and she wasn't sure where she could find an available floo this time of night.
Not far from her apartment, Daphne was able to find an open field. "Perfect," she mumbled to herself, slinger the strap of her bag over her shoulder and tightening it down. She closed her eyes and thought of the address from the note. In a matter of moments, she was no longer in an open field, but landing on her feet on the cobblestone of London right in front of a line of townhouses.
She looked at the numbers on the houses, but couldn't find the one she was looking for. Furrowing her brow, Daphne frowned as she walked up and down the cobblestones looking from house to house, hoping she would find the one she needed.
"What the hell?" she grumbled to herself. When she figured out whoever sent her that note, she was going to get even with them by sending them on some wild goose chase for a place that doesn't exist.
"Well, I'll be damned," a voice said, coming up behind her. "I never thought I'd see you here."
Daphne spun around to see who was behind the voice that was mocking her and was met with the face of the Chosen One. She fought the desire she felt to roll her eyes as she painted a forced smile on her face.
"Hello, Potter. Long-time no see," she laughed. She walked over to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's good to see you, Harry."
"It's good to see you too, Daphne. I thought I'd never see the day where you stepped foot in London again. What are you going here?" Harry asked, smiling at her softly.
"I got this note," Daphne replied, pulling the piece of parchment out of her pocket and handed it to him, "in my flat today. When I apparated to the address, this is where I ended up."
Taking the piece of paper from her, Harry unfolded it and looked it over. "Well, that's interesting."
"Any idea who sent it to me?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I have a general idea, but let's go inside and talk to a friend of mine," Harry answered, pulling his wand out of his pocket. He quickly mumbled something that Daphne couldn't quite make out. Still, right in front of her very eyes, a building magically appeared in between two of the houses that had already been located there previously.
"What the hell?" Daphne gasped, donning a puzzled look upon her face as the entire street of houses readjusted to fit this new building that had just magically appeared.
"Tell no one," Harry replied, glancing back over his shoulder with a smile on his face.
Daphne nodded her head and followed behind him as they made their way into the building. It looked just like all of the other buildings on the outside, but as they crossed the threshold, Daphne could feel a pulse of magic running through her body.
The house seemed to be accepting of her, but the feeling that the magic gave her made Daphne aware of the fact that something about the house didn't completely trust her. Knowing her family lineage, she really couldn't blame it. Not many people were willing to trust a Greengrass, Harry just happened to make an exception for her.
"Sirius," Harry called out as they made their way deeper into the house.
Daphne thought about the name briefly as she recalled hearing that name as she grew up. Any time Bellatrix Lestrange was in the Greengrass home, the mentions of her cousin's name always seemed to come up in conversations. And as she thought about it, she remembered that Bellatrix had successfully killed Sirius Black.
That taunting voice still haunted Daphne's dreams. She had been home when the Dark Lord and the Sacred 28 families met after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. She could vividly remember watching Bella pranced up and down the hallway singing about her happy defeat.
Rounding the corner into the kitchen, Daphne and Harry were met by a house-elf standing in the middle of the room with a grim look on his face.
"Kreacher, where is Sirius?" Harry asked, taking a seat at the table.
"Master Sirius is coming," he replied, looking between Harry and Daphne as he paused to stare at her for a few moments. "Who is this?"
"This is Daphne," Harry replied. "She's a friend."
Kreacher nodded his head and walked away, leaving Harry and Daphne alone in the kitchen. Daphne looked around the room. The house seemed quiet and peaceful, but she could also feel that there was tension in the house as well. Another curious mystery that she could feel pulling her interest, but she knew that it was not in her best interest to investigate it right now.
"Hello, Harry," a voice called, forcing Daphne to spin around and come face to face with a man that she knew to be dead. "Hello, Daphne."
Sirius Black's ghost was hovering on the ground just in front of her with a smile beaming proudly from is face. It was evident that he was taking great joy at the surprised look on her face, but that was the only expression that was even possible for her to have.
"I'm glad you came home," Sirius said, reaching out to place a ghostly hand on her shoulder. "The journey wasn't too difficult for you?"
"Sirius, what are you doing?" Harry asked, pushing his chair away from the table and getting up to stand in between Daphne and Sirius. "Since when can ghosts write letters and make them magically appear in different cities?"
"When they have loyal house-elves, they can do anything they want," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes as he moved through Harry to stand beside Daphne. "It was time for the lost Greengrass to come home. She's been alone too long, and it's time that she came home."
"How did you know where I was?" Daphne asked, turning to look at Sirius.
"I've been keeping an eye on you since you were little," Sirius replied. "I was asked to keep an eye on you like I was asked to keep an eye on Harry."
"Who asked you to do that?" she asked, furrowing her brow. As far as she was aware, no one in her family seemed to care about her when she took off. Her parents were locked away in Azkaban, and her sister had taken up the Malfoy family name leaving behind the Greengrass legacy.
"Your mother," Sirius replied, pausing momentarily for her to absorb what she had just been told. He knew that her childhood had never been easy, but her mother always cared about her knew she'd do great things with her life. Unfortunately, Marguerite had never been the best at showing her girls just how much she cared.
Daphne opened and closed her mouth a few times as she thought back over what Sirius had just said. It felt like a bludger had hit her with all of the information that was being thrown at her today. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to seeing the house magically appear first of all and then seeing Sirius's ghost, and now he was dropping this bombshell on her.
Harry reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned slightly to look at him and shook her head as she pulled her arm away and took a step back. This was all too much.
"Daphne, are you okay?" Harry asked, concerned for his friend. It was a lot for one person to take in, so he understood her confusion and the panicked look that was growing on her face.
Daphne shook her head, turning on her heel and spotting the door in the back of the kitchen. Fresh air. She needed to clear her head. Quickly she made her way to the door and allowed it to slam behind her as she went outside.
Harry started to take off after her but stopped when he heard Sirius calling out to him.
"Let her breathe," he said calmly as he watched Harry stop in his tracks. "She'll come back when she's ready."
"I hope you're right," Harry replied, walking back over to the table. "She's been gone for years, and now I'm afraid we just scared her away again."
"She's stronger than she used to be," Sirius insisted as he made his way over beside where Harry was sitting. "She's more like her mother than she'd probably believe in that way."
While Harry and Sirius continued their conversation inside, Daphne had found a small box on the back porch to sit on while she thought about the insanity that she had seen today. Never in a million years would she have believed that her mother of all people would have asked a member of the Order to watch out for her. Her family hated the Order, so what would have possessed her mother to reach out to Sirius Black of all people?
The longer she thought about it, the more confused she found herself getting. She needed answers, but she wasn't sure what questions to ask. She continued to wrack her brain for answers and questions but continued to come up blank. After a few moments of just plain confusion, she was suddenly struck with a memory from the night Bellatrix killed Sirius.
She remembered accidentally walking in on her mother sitting in their study, crying not long after Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters had appeared in their home. She didn't know why her mother was crying, so in her innocent confusion, she walked into the study and placed a hand on her mother's shoulder.
She watched as her mother looked up at her and quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes before she scolded her for sneaking up on her. That feeling of being chastised for showing concern for her mother's feelings still stung even now. As she connected the small pieces that she could remember seeing as she grew up with the little revelation that Sirius had given her, she slowly began accepting the fact that there was a side to her mother that she had no idea even existed.
Daphne took a deep breath and pushed herself up off the box she was sitting on. She needed to make her way back inside and get some answers. Part of her was surprised that Harry didn't follow her outside to make sure that she didn't run away again as she did after graduation, but at the same time, he knew that she needed to wrap her mind around all of this on her own before she could try to talk it through with other people.
Slowly, she opened the door to the kitchen and found Harry sitting at the table with Sirius sticking close to his side. Well, that was until he noticed her coming back into the house. Making her way over to the table, Daphne placed a gentle hand on Harry's shoulder. He looked up at her and smiled.
"Can I talk to Sirius alone?" she asked.
Harry nodded his head and pushed his seat away from the table. As he stood up, he offered it to her. "I hope this means you might consider staying around for a while if you're willing to talk to him."
Daphne smiled as she took the seat offered to her. "I'll think about it, Harry. But I have a life in Blackpool too."
"You had a life here before you left," Harry replied, shaking his head as he left the room. "Just something to think about."
"I know I did, Potter," she hissed, rolling her eyes as she glanced back to watch him walk out of the kitchen, leaving her and Sirius's ghost alone in the room. "I don't need to be constantly reminded of the life I left behind. Family, friends, lovers…"
Her mind drifted off to the thoughts of the people she had left behind when she left for Blackpool. She had missed out on her sister's wedding and the birth of her nephew, not to mention the funeral for her father when he finally died in Azkaban last year. She hadn't seen or heard from Pansy or Millie in at least a year, and she hadn't tried to reach out to them either. She didn't know how to explain to them why she had moved away. It was just easier to stay quiet.
Then she thought about Theo and Blaise. The two men who made her believe in a little thing called love. As much as she hated to admit it, the hardest part about leaving was leaving the two of them behind. If either one of them would have asked her to stay, then she probably never would have left. But neither one asked her to stay, which just confirmed her greatest fear; maybe she was just unloveable. She never felt like her mother loved her, so why would anyone else? She shut them out of her life and pretended like it didn't hurt to leave them both behind. A small part of her wondered if she called one of them up today, would they answer her call or pretend that she didn't exist just like she had done to them?
It turned out that his comment stung a little harder than he probably meant it to hurt, and Daphne realized that he was entirely right. She had a life here in London that she completely run away without looking back. While she regretted running away from the people she loved and cared about, she was grateful for her time in Blackpool. She was able to cleanse herself from the negativity that arose during her childhood and flooded her teen years. Her time at Hogwarts was clouded with the ideals of her family, and it felt like she never had the chance to live the life she wanted until she left, but was that really the life she wanted to live?
With a heavy heart, Daphne hung her head as few tears started to roll down her face. It was the first time since she had left London that she allowed herself to cry about the people she had left behind. As long as she pretended that the life she left behind didn't exist, it was easy to think that the only life she had to live was the one she had built in Blackpool.
"What's wrong, Daphne?" Sirius asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.
She turned her head in the direction of the pressure and smiled as she wiped the tears off of her cheek. "It's just a lot to take in."
"I know it is, but you're able to handle anything that life throws at you," Sirius replied. "You're stronger than you think you are. You may not see it, but everyone else can see it in you."
"How do you always know the right thing to say?" she asked, chuckling as she turned to look at Sirius.
"Because it's the job I was charged with," Sirius replied with a shrug. "Your mother asked me to keep an eye on you and help you cope with the secrets your family name holds when you came home again."
"But I haven't agreed to come home again," Daphne replied, raising a brow as a smirk pulled at the corner of her lip.
"Whenever you are ready to come home, you know where to find me," Sirius answered. "That piece of parchment that appeared in your flat will always guide you home and reveal the necessary answers to allow the secrets to start revealing themselves to you."
Daphne nodded her head as though she understood, but in reality, she was still just as confused as she was when she arrived outside earlier this evening. She was never going to understand why her family did the things they did if she didn't ask. "I'll come home on one condition."
"What condition may that be?" Sirius asked.
"Let me stay here until I'm ready to find a place of my own," she said.
"I think we can work that out," Harry said, reentering the kitchen. "Sorry, I was listening at the door."
Daphne rolled her eyes as Harry came over and gave her a one-armed hug. "Thanks for letting into this house tonight, Harry."
"Thank you for coming back into my life," Harry replied.