Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 66: Visitors
"Welcome!" Lily greeted the duo of newcomers.
Out of the fireplace, came a young woman wearing a beautiful green dress, followed by a little girl.
"Greetings, Lady Potter." The woman made an elegant short reverence.
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Lily?" The redhead frowned slightly before moving her eyes to the little girl.
"Hello, Astoria. We are going to have so much fun this weekend!"
The little girl looked up at Lily with an expression completely devoided of emotion and nodded.
Harry and his two sisters were left waiting on one side, with the two house elves waiting behind them.
It was a show of respect among old families to have the entire house present to greet important guests.
Since his father was still working at the Ministry, this was the entire Potter family.
Harry was sure that Molly Weasley was not going to care for etiquette, but Lady Greengrass certainly would.
His eyes were drawn to the young woman, who didn't look a day older than twenty-five. He could see where Daphne got her looks from. Lady Greengrass was a stunningly beautiful woman. Long blonde hair, clear blue eyes that shone like sapphires, and the elegant dress she was wearing showed just enough to tell that she had a perfect figure.
'Lord Greengrass is one lucky bastard...' He could not help but to think.
He hurried up to remove his eyes from Daphne's mother before anyone noticed it and looked at the daughter, Astoria.
The girl was small, even for her age. But her most striking feature was her long black hair. It wasn't just black, but the deepest shade of charcoal black he had ever seen, it looked almost unnatural.
He could also feel something strange in the girl's magic. His senses were not sharp enough to pinpoint exactly what it was. But he recalled hearing some strange rumors about the Greengrass family having a generational curse that was passed from parents to children.
"Hello!"
His train of thought came to a halt when he saw his little sister move from her spot at his side and run towards the guests in a very unladylike manner.
'I guess her patience ran out…' Harry knew she was not going to hold in place for too long.
Both Astoria and her mother turned their heads at the same time and saw the little girl dashing at them.
Lily made a quick maneuver and intercepted her daughter before she could do something very impolite and held her in her arms.
"Holly!, I told you to wait with your siblings until I called for you!."
"But mom!" She pouted.
"I'm sorry about this. I told them abou-"
Lady Greengrass raised her hand to interrupt.
"It's fine, Lad- no, Lily. I am not as strict as my husband when it comes to following old traditions."
She looked at Holly and smiled.
"Greetings, Little Miss."
"I Holly, I'm five years old already. What's your name?" Holly held her palm out to indicate she was..., 'that many'.
"I am Selene Greengrass and this is my youngest daughter, Astoria."
Astoria looked at Holly and nodded.
"How many years do you have?" Holly asked innocently at Lady Greengrass.
Lily's eyes opened widely and was about to scold her daughter when Selene spoke while maintaining a polite smile.
"I forgot," Selene said without skipping a beat.
Holly looked aghast at hearing this.
"You forgot? how!" She could not comprehend how could someone forget about something so important. She would be counting the days until her next birthday if she knew how.
"My dear, you will one day learn that when a witch reaches a certain age, they will stop counting the years, and eventually…they will forget about it," Selene said with a mischievous smile.
Holly still looked confused.
"But mom did not forget!, she told me she is thirty- mmmm!"
Lily hurried to cover her mouth.
"That's enough of you, little rascal. Let's introduce your siblings…well, you already know my other daughter quite well."
"Yes, I do. Greetings Lyra, it's nice to see you again." Said Selene.
Lyra greeted Lady Greengrass with an elegant curtsey she had been practicing since last year.
"Hello, Lyra" Astoria finally spoke her two first words.
Lyra smiled and got closer to Astoria.
"Hi Tory!, this is going to be such a fun weekend." This was the first time she had friends staying over at her house so Lyra was extremely excited about the experience.
"Looking forward," Astoria spoke once more. Every sound she produced had the same flat intonation, and her facial expression never changed.
"She is very talkative today, normally she would not say more than two words a day. That goes to show how happy she is" Explained Selene.
Her blue eyes then moved until they landed on Harry.
"'And this must be Harry Potter. My eldest daughter has mentioned you several times during the last year. She rarely talks about other people, you must have made a powerful impression on her."
"Yes, we…got along, I think. Is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Greengrass…and you too, Astoria." Harry had no idea what Daphne told her parents about but it made him somewhat uneasy.
The black-haired girl stared directly at him for several seconds, and just when it was starting to become uncomfortable, she nodded and looked away.
Selene got closer to Lily and spoke softly.
"If anything happens, you know how to contact us, right?"
"Yes don't worry, Selene. Everything is going to be great and I'll take care of her like she was one of my own."
Selene nodded.
"I know you will, that's why I agree to let her stay. Well then, I must be going now."
"Dont you want to stay a bit longer?, Molly should be about to arrive." Suggested Lily.
Selene flinched.
"I…I have some important matters to take care of. I'm sure she will understand."
After saying goodbye to her daughter, she moved smoothly towards the fireplace and disappeared in a burst of green fire.
Lily grinned.
"She doesn't get along very well with Molly. I think their personalities are a bit too different."
"A bit?" Lyra raised an eyebrow.
Not even a minute after the departure of Lady Greengrass, the fireplace came alive again.
"They are here already!" Said Lily.