Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 6

For once, Daphne caught Harry breaking into her house, a bit more than a week after he had spent a day in her house. At least he had the decency to seem ashamed as she passed him a coffee mug, feeling just the tiniest bit smug about herself as the radio, for once actually working, played soft music in the background, just low enough as to not bother the sleeping Lilian.

"Early morning?", he asked, picking up the sugar. Daphne shrugged, sipping her Earl Grey.

"I could ask the same to you,", she lied, diverting her eyes, his half-whispered confession while with a fever running through her mind. Harry simply laughed, leaving the sugar behind. "You always put way too much sugar on it."

"Look who's speaking, miss two and a half cubes or it's literally undrinkable. ", Harry sipped at his coffee, and Daphne made a vague, outraged sound. "No, no, let me guess. How dare I?"

"Exactly, how dare you? Two and a half cubes sweetens it perfectly!", Daphne huffed, leaving her tea behind as she approached Harry, who, for once, wasn't sitting in her counter like the eighteen-year-old he had been. Some old, instrumental music started playing, and Daphne recognized it - it had been one of the first few songs she had heard after the war, wasn't it? As Daphne wondered if Harry would recognize it as well, considering they had heard it together while cleaning debris, he chuckled.

"If you say so,", he told her, sipping his coffee once more before setting it aside, facing her. Harry offered her a mock curtsey, and Daphne giggled as if she was still a schoolgirl. "Would you offer me this dance?"

"I don't see why not,", Daphne replied, accepting his offer. To her surprise, as they did their best to avoid hitting the kitchen table and the counters, he was still a good dancer, if not the most gracious one she had ever danced with.

Daphne had taught Harry how to dance. The song that played on the radio someone in other debris-cleaning shift left behind had started, and Daphne had quietly started to hum it to herself, quietly matching the music's rhythm to her wandwork, which had somehow caught on Harry's attention. He had frowned, and when she caught him frowning, Daphne had hissed at him, asking what he was looking at - to which he shrugged. "I never saw anyone match wand movements to music, it's all", he had told her, and Daphne had taken offense. Somehow, that had led her into teaching him how to dance, and the two of them then had been scolded by McGonagall, who for some reason didn't assign them new cleaning pairs.

Lost in memories, Daphne was brought to present day by Lilian's soft, sleepy voice, and she froze, just like Harry. She looked at the doorstep just in time to see her daughter appear, black hair a mess and emerald green eyes filled to the brim with sleep.

"Lilian, sweetheart,", Daphne called, letting go of Harry's arms to go to her daughter, trying - and failing, as always - to tame her hair with her fingers, forgetting about the frozen Harry watching the scene unfold as she went down to her daughter's eye level. "It's a bit early for you to be awake, isn't it?"

"I had a nightmare,", Lilian sniffled. Daphne kissed Lilian's forehead softly, and rose up. Lilian's eyes followed her, and fell into Harry, behind her. "Who's that?"

Daphne gulped, and turned her head to see Harry looking at her and back to Lilian, green eyes clearly completing the puzzle she had never told him about. She looked back to her daughter, the same green eyes on another face focused on her, and rose up.

"That's a friend of mine, sweetheart. Here, why don't you sit while I prepare you..." Daphne paused, guiding Lilian to the table, eyes staring at Harry. "How do you feel about pancakes?"

Lilian offered her a bright smile, one teeth missing and making her look more like the child she imagined Harry had been.

"Yes!", she told Daphne, and Daphne hummed. Harry, meanwhile, offered a tight smile, pushing his shirt's sleeves up and looking to Lilian.