Black coffee, with sugar

Chapter 3

Harry had the decency to wait two weeks before appearing in her kitchen again. On the upside, it was just after she had dropped Lilian on school. On the downside, it was her day off, which meant she either dealt with Harry or she'd be forced to stay outside her own house until he saw fit to go away. Daphne put the groceries on the table - and she had been foolish enough to assume she'd be able to do meal prep. Hah. What a joke - and looked at him, confusion clear in her eyes.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have work to do?", she asked, and Harry shrugged.

"The Auror division is being cleaned after an artifact exploded during the night, and let me tell you, Daphne, you're absolutely glad it's your day off, because the Unspeakables have a lot of work to do,", he told her. Daphne blinked, bored, wondering. Harry noticed, because of course he did. "I... I asked why you weren't there. I was worried."

She took a deep breath. Harry winced, and Daphne kept her stare leveled.

"I am very sure your best friend, who is your wife's brothers, appreciated the compassion for your ex-girlfriend you showed,", she told him, deciding that he didn't need any goddamn coffee, separating what she was going to cut from what she could put away. "Go home. Spend time with your wife."

Harry winced again, and Daphne was now curious. She made a questioning sound, levitating some of the groceries away.

"Ginny is... Having a mood. Pregnancy, you see.", Daphne did, but she kept her silence, grabbing a knife instead. "So I thought I could, ah, use some time off."

"What was the fight about?", Daphne asked, looking at the vegetables. What could she do to make Lillian at least try some broccoli? Her latest options hadn't worked. The girl seemed to have a penchant to show accidental magic just to get rid of it.

Harry laughed, and when he tried to man the coffee machine, she shot him a dark look, waving her wand to make it work by itself, other hand putting her dark hair in a messy bun.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Very much, yes,", she replied. Harry hummed in reply, speaking nothing as she started cutting the vegetables up, serving his coffee with a flick of her wand. "And don't tell me that making coffee with spells doesn't taste the same."

"It doesn't,", he replied, taking a sip, and Daphne sigh. "Also, we fought about something stupid, as always."

"Such as...?", Daphne queried, and Harry let the coffee aside, grabbing a knife and going to help her. She directed his attention to the vegetables, deciding that maybe a broccoli lasagna could change Lilian's opinion of the vegetable. With enough cheese, perhaps, she wouldn't be able to taste it. Daphne nodded to herself, and started working.

"Ginny wants to send James to a... Wizard school. I'm in favor of sending him to a Muggle primary school,", he started, and while he listed all the reasons he thought he should be sent to a primary school, Daphne couldn't help but thank herself for not letting Harry get in charge of Lilian's name.

On one hand, Daphne could see some of the merits of a wizard primary school, namely on wand teaching, flying lessons, and history classes. On the other hand, Daphne had the firm belief both worlds should be mixed, and that was why she had sent Lilian to a Muggle school, telling her to keep magic a secret. Lilian obeyed, but Daphne couldn't help but wonder if Harry's sons would.

Lilian thrived in the muggle school, at least - more than Daphne ever had in her own primary school, a stuffy room filled with people she had known since she was a small child, learning about blood superiority and vilifying muggles. Daphne had agreed, at the time, until she had met Tracey during Hogwarts, and then changing her mind completely during the war -, and after a bit of research, she had learned it was because Muggles and wizards had different teaching styles, and the Muggle one suited her daughter better.

His reasoning for putting his kids on a school for muggles, at least, was the same as Daphne's, wanting to avoid the stuffy rooms of pureblood society, and she laughed softly. Harry looked at her, eyes still so full of love and worship, and this was all so familiar it made her heart and head hurt. How many times they had cooked together - even if Daphne, in the beginning, couldn't cook at all and had been often relegated to cutting and chopping the ingredients.

Still, it wasn't as if Daphne could present her reasoning fully, not without exposing herself and Lilian.

"I say you and your wife go and see the schools for yourselves. Maybe it can make you change your mind, maybe it can make her change her mind.", Daphne shrugged, levitating what she had cut away. He rose an eyebrow, and Daphne rolled her eyes. "Astoria has been pestering me to go with her."

A lie. Harry didn't need to know it.

"Isn't your nephew the same age as Albus?", he asked, and Daphne could feel a sheen of cold sweat form over her skin as she searched for an answer, looking away.

"We both know how Tori is,", Daphne replied, and Harry touched her hand. Her eyes rose to met his, and - and he still loved her, didn't he? Daphne bit her lower lip. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, and kissed her, softly for one moment as Daphne dropped her knife, his hands on her face, pulling her closer. Daphne allowed herself to melt into his arms, letting go of her morale for one long second before he pulled way.

"I'm sorry, I... I am a bit jealous, actually,", he started, and she rose an eyebrow. "You have a boyfriend now, don't you?"

Daphne was confused, and apparently, it was noticeable, because Harry explained, blushing, how he had heard someone moving inside the apartment.

He had heard Lilian, and he had assumed it was another thing. Merlin bless Harry's habit of not picking up things straight away, and when he did, they weren't exactly correct.

"Go home, Harry,", she told him, eyes closed, pressing the bridge of her nose. "Talk with Ginevra."

"If you need me to give him a shovel talk, I'm available.", he offered, and Daphne gave him a flat look, opening her eyes. She was sure Lilian would appreciate. "No?"

"Not needed, Harry, I can do it myself.", she told him, and Harry finished his cold coffee before leaving. Daphne looked at the pile of half-cut vegetables, and with a heavy sigh, decided that using magic to do the job would be easier. If only the matters of the heart were so easy.