Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 24

Daphne did not confront Lilian when her daughter pretended to not know a truth Daphne had refused to reveal for years - and it was thanks to Mattie and friends, that somehow (parental intervention, from what Daphne could politely guess. She was thankful for it, in fact.) hadn't told Lilian Daphne knew what she was really doing. Daphne never thought she'd be betrayed by the few, sparse social columns that had been written on her relationship with Harry, but what else did she expect? That no one had kept the newspapers from that time? Of course the library would have kept it. Daphne was stupid to think otherwise.

It hurt, however, to know Lilian was keeping secrets from her - but again, who was Daphne to even speak about secret keeping? She had one for the past thirteen years, kept hidden as if it was some sort of secret shame. Daphne felt guilty for it, but she did out of love, out of necessity - after all, during six years, Daphne was sure Harry and Ginevra were happy; who was she to intrude between them? And after that, there were too many tangles to solve easily -, but, more importantly, she had planned to tell Lilian who her father was at some point. At seventeen, perhaps, but it was better late than never.

But, instead, Daphne had been careless, and Lilian had become curious enough about the subject to actually research it on her own, keeping it a charade from her own mother, lying to get more time into the library. Daphne was... Sort of marveled at how long it took for Lilian to find out, and even then, hadn't it been by Lilian's childhood friends, Daphne probably would have only found out about Lilian's research when her daughter confronted her. How had she been put in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin was a mystery Daphne was curious to solve, but again, perhaps it was some sort of bravery she could not understand.

Lilian did not come during the Easter break, mentioning wanting to get some extra tutoring for the exams, and Daphne pretended it was fine, telling her to have fun. She asked Harry, later, if Teddy had come home for the break; he looked confused at Daphne for one mere moment, before she nodded to herself, confirming her theory that once more Lilian was lying. Daphne told him what had happened during the Christmas party at Astoria and Draco's house, and he laughed softly.

"That's no laughing matter, Harry,", Daphne said, lightly slapping his arm.

"No, sorry, it's just...", Harry stopped, a smile still decorating his lips. He looked irresistible, hair a mess and green eyes shining. "I did something like that, once."

"Of course that had to come from you.", Daphne rolled her eyes, but Harry hugged her, instead. "Who else would do that?"

"Lilian,", Harry murmured, kissing her softly. Daphne rolled her eyes once more, and let herself get lost into Harry.

Lilian came home for the summer - which, hadn't she done that, would have been what would have set Daphne on the warpath -, and she knew there was something wrong from the moment her daughter stepped foot on the station, hair short, almost boyishly so, Molly by her side looking worried behind her glasses.

"Lilian, sweetheart.", Daphne said, memory flashing back to the little of Harry she could remember having seen in her first years at Hogwarts. They looked more than alike - Lilian seemed almost as if she was Harry in his second year, severely time displaced, and with a clear anger in his emerald eyes.

But this was not a past Harry, come back from twenty-three years ago - it was her daughter, in the present. She blinked, clearing the image away, and looking at Lilian for who she was. Namely, her daughter.

"Mother.", Lilian murmured, facing Molly. Daphne was a bit hurt - Lilian had never called her mother, so formal, so cold. It was almost like she was staring at a stranger. "I'll write you, okay?"