Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 25

"Molly invited me to go to Romania with her,", started Lilian, and Daphne can smell more troubles than just Harry's absurdly burnt coffee. She shoots one look at Lilian.

"And I'm being asked permission, or am I being asked for clearance to go, since you two already made plans without my knowledge again?", Daphne asked, and Lilian shrugged, blushing slightly. Good.

"Well, Molly's dad said that you could come too, mum, but it's apparently a Weasley thing? In a dragon resort?", Lilian shrugged once more, and Harry choked on his coffee. "Wait, you're going, father?"

"Percy did invite me, yes, but I thought about skipping. There's a rather interesting case in the office...", he trailed off, and Daphne wondered if she could fake being just the ex in front of Harry's entire family. Besides, dragons - the dangerous, fire-breathing creatures? Really? That was the sort of fun, family vacation the Weasleys took?

"Is it because of the dragons during the Tournament?", Lilian asked, a smile playing on her face, and Daphne chortled. Of course Lilian would have gone as far as the Triwizard Tournament. Perhaps her daughter should have been a Ravenclaw, instead of being a Slytherin/Gryffindor Hatstall of sorts. "How was fighting against a Hungarian Horntail? The photos didn't do it justice. Did you really have a race against it?"

Daphne wondered how her daughter could say that with a straight face, smiling, almost as if she was going to take a notepad and a quill from thin air and starting writing them down, almost like a baby journalist. She repressed a chill.

"Very dangerous, wouldn't advise that you did the same, no matter how good in a broom you might be,", Harry hummed, and Lilian huffed. "Being a Seeker in the reserve team is no grounds for that. At your age, I was the youngest Seeker in the century, but I'm sure you already know that."

Lilian seemed surprised, eyes going from Daphne to Harry and to Daphne again. Daphne shrugged, washing her hands from the blame.

"It wasn't me who told it, it was your brother, James. Apparently, he thought that your play in the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw game was better than your actual Seeker was,", Daphne answered the silent question Lilian asked, and shrugged. "According to Harry, however, there were several, ah, more colorful words to describe the current Seeker, some boy named... Oliver?"

"Yeah, Oliver Wood,", Lilian spat, and Harry choked. Was that name of any importance? She couldn't remember. Was even there an Oliver Wood during her school years? Was he a friend of Harry, to have him choking on his bitter coffee? And why the hell was he drinking burnt coffee, anyway? The fact Lilian didn't notice all this was funnier, though, as she kept ranting, and Harry kept choking in his coffee. He seemed to be turning blue, Daphne thought. "He thinks he's good because his dad is Puddlemere's Keeper, but he's not! He'd be a better Beater! I tried telling Isadore that, but it's like talking to the f - "

"Language,", Daphne interrupted, at the same time Harry raised his hand.

"Hold up one moment, Lilian,", Harry called, voice choked, forcing Lilian to stop talking for one moment. "Oliver Wood ?"

"Yeah, that's his name. And his dad's name, too, apparently. Who knows.", Lilian shrugged, and Harry's smile seemed impossible to take off his face. "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. His dad used to be my team captain, when I played for Gryffindor.", Oh, now that made sense. That was why Harry was choking on his own spit. The son of his old captain was a lousy Quidditch player. Yeah, Daphne could see the fun on it.

Still, that wasn't the subject at hand, at the moment. Daphne shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Tell your friend Molly I'll have to decline. There have been some things in the office...", that was as far as the Unspeakable spell allowed her to go; they were referred with that title for a good reason, after all. Truth was, the most recent batch of a theoretical potion had had interesting, to say the least, effects on their living subject tests, such as extra limb growth and clearness of the bone matter. All very curious stuff. Lilian deflated visibly, and she rose an eyebrow.