Timeline:
Begins: Sixth Year, Chapter 14 - 'Felix Felicis'.
Ends: After the Battle of Hogwarts.

Pairings:
Harry/Hermione/Daphne/Luna

Story:
When Ron and Lavender get together Hermione begins to grow increasingly despondent. After the Yule Ball, when it became apparent that out of her two male friends at least one of them was attracted to her enough to be jealous of her date with Victor Krum, she'd put aside her small (she insisted to herself) crush on Harry in favour of trying to get closer to Ron. Her reward? The red-headed, loud-mouthed lout had stood her up for what amounted to Hermione's exact opposite, a cleavage-flaunting, blonde air-head who baby-talked and coddled him.

Terrified that her time after Hogwarts might be just as lonely and desolate as her time before it, friendless and unappreciated by anyone except her parents, she finds she hasn't got the will to pick a fight with Harry over the Prince's book, tricking Ron with the Liquid Luck or Draco's activities. Forget not having a boyfriend, if she drove Harry away she'd have no one.

They begin spending more and more time together, Hermione needing to move on and distract herself with something other than more work which hasn't been helping and Harry desperate to avoid the Ron-Lav show. They begin talking about more than just the day-to-day and classwork, things like favourite colours and foods, where they'd love to travel, what to take to a desert island, amusing and wild guesses about if/how the curse on the DADA position will get Snape. Soon more serious topics come up, Hermione talking about her worry that she and her parents are drifting apart and Harry stammering out some of his pain and guilt over Sirius.

When Ron mocks Hermione in class, causing her to run off crying and leaving her stuff behind, Harry tears into Ron. So he doesn't want to be with Hermione? Fine. That doesn't mean he gets to bully her, Harry would curse Malfoy in the face for less. Luna is comforting Hermione when Harry finds her and he thanks her for looking after her, remarking that Luna is a wonderful friend. After hugging Hermione the blonde Ravenclaw glomps Harry and with blushing cheeks skips away.

Harry asks Hermione to Slughorn's Party, as friends, and Hermione agrees. She frets over how she should dress, how she should look, she didn't want to give Harry the wrong idea, did she? Feelings warring inside her, fear of letting herself want Harry when she'd put that possibility aside long ago, being almost as sure that he still only saw her as a friend now, with that slight spark of hope that someone will love her.

Attending the party together Harry and Hermione enjoy themselves and at one point are snagged by a charmed piece of mistletoe, release only available through a kiss. Hermione's kiss on his cheek sufficing and making Harry smile a type of smile at her she's never seen before, her knees going a little bit weak. Convinced by Harry to follow Draco from the party, under his Invisibility Cloak, she is soon convinced Harry was right about Draco having orders from the Dark Lord to do something at Hogwarts.

Returning to Gryffindor Tower, hand in hand, they find Ron and Lav sucking face. Harry looks to Hermione and is surprised, no less than she, that she's not upset about it, not really. 'You okay?' 'I... think I am. Slightly nauseous, but okay'. Realising that she's free of the resentment and jealousy, which is what had really been poisoning her these last weeks, she throws caution to the wind and before going up to her dorm she kisses Harry on the lips.

Ron storms up to the boys' dorm after Harry a short while later and starts chewing Harry out for messing around with Hermione. Harry retorts that if anyone messed around with her it was Ron, he could have gone to the party with Hermione but he backed out on her, took up with Lavender and has been belittling her ever since. Ron, defensive at Harry's cutting critique, claims that Hermione is just using Harry to get back at him for taking up with Lavender, trying to make him jealous.

Harry is outraged at the suggestion... and just insecure enough to fear that it might be true. Angrily he insists that even if what Ron is saying is true, though he'd never believe Hermione would do something like that to him, that what he feels for Hermione is real enough. With the words out of his mouth Harry realises that it's true. Of course he'd found Hermione attractive, ever had since he'd had her beauty and maturity rubbed in his face at the Yule Ball, but seeing how things were changing between his two best friends he'd stood back and watched as Hermione drew closer to Ron.

Ron snarls that Harry will ruin everything. Harry points out that Ron did that to himself, Hermione had put herself out there and he'd turned her down for Lavender. If he feels that he's missing out because he chose Lavender then he has no one to blame but himself. Needless to say Hermione and Harry aren't surprised when he stays away from them on the Hogwarts Express, instead being joined by Luna who congratulates them and then starts asking Hermione embarrassingly specific questions about whether she finds Harry's body attractive and what she enjoys most about kissing him. Hermione uses the last one as an excuse, telling Luna she needs to kiss Harry more before she can be sure, to get Luna to give them some privacy - whereupon Hermione immediately commences in-depth research.

A blissed-out Harry barely seems to notice Ron's poisonous attitude and snide comments during Christmas at the Burrow, which only seems to anger Ron all the more. When Fred and George mock Ron over Lavender, Ron brings up Harry and Hermione being together expecting Harry to get a ribbing but instead has to suffer through Harry being congratulated on being caught by the Smartest Witch they knew and Harry turning red while Fred and George debate the merits of dating one of those bookish and brainy girls, just how naughty is she? Ron storms off when Fred and George start asking which broom closets they prefer.

Ginny's congratulations along with Fleur's enthusiastic insistence that she knew that he and Hermione would be together all along, Veela know such things, apparently, pleases Harry to no end. The opportunity to owl-order a proper gift, more suitable for a girlfriend. Ron receiving Lavender's 'My Sweetheart' locket causes so much teasing from the Twins that he goes volcanic and finds himself grounded for his outburst of profanity.

Fleur comes to the Burrow one afternoon with a letter from Gringotts for Harry. Bill's assurances eventually placate Molly and Harry opens it to learn that after a series of attempts by the Malfoys to annul Sirius' Will it is now out of probate and Harry has three days to come to Gringotts and accept the estate of the Black Family, along with the title Lord Black, otherwise it will default to the next claimant by blood: Draco Malfoy. Faced with the idea of the Black Family monies, estates and Wizengamot vote passing into the hands of Death Eaters (and therefore Voldemort) the Order, unable to reach Dumbledore for some reason, agree that Harry should go, escorted by Bill and Fleur.

There he is presented with a rather ominous looking leather bound book, sealed with a dark metallic clasp bearing the Black Family heraldry. It's the family's grimoire and he must blood it in order to be recognised by the family magic, doing so successfully sees him become the next Lord Black with all the rights and responsibilities that accompany it. Hours of technicalities and paperwork later, confirming bequeathments, paying probate fees and so on, a bombshell revelation drops on Harry's world.

A contract between House Black and House Greengrass, for 'Continuity of Blood'. Both families binding themselves with a promise that in the event that the Headship for either family be passed down to an unmarried male heir, older than 11 but younger than 25, while the other family possess an unwed daughter, older than 11 but younger than 25, then he and she shall be betrothed to one another and wed within a month of both reaching their majority. For the first time in the three centuries since the two families made the pact the terms have been met, in Harry James Potter-Black and Daphne Helen Greengrass.

They won't lose their magic if they break the contract but they will become legal non-persons, unable to put their name to any paper or contract. They'd never be able to hold a job in the Wizarding world, never file or apply for any permit, license, permission or position at the Ministry, they'd be unable to hold a vault at Gringotts, never be able to file a marriage certificate to anyone else either, at least not in the Magical world. Bill remarks Dumbledore won't like this, the Goblins pointedly remind him (and Fleur) that as Gringotts employees they should protect their client's confidentially.

Harry, once he is done contemplating not if Hermione will murder him but rather how, asks Bill and Fleur to keep quiet and that, presuming he survives Hermione's wrath, once he has spoken to Daphne he will consider telling the Order and Dumbledore, but not before. This isn't a decision he wants someone else making for him, it's up to him and Hermione. Bill's protestations are interrupted by Fleur naming her price for her silence: two £100 gift certificates to Victoria's Secret. A pole-axed Bill stares at her while a blushing Harry asks why two? 'The other one you will give to Hermione'. Bill laughs himself silly. Harry mournfully relates that it isn't as if Hermione can kill him twice... probably.

He sends a letter to Daphne, who the Goblins assure will have received her own notice of the contract being invoked, asking to arrange to talk to her and her parents. He receives a letter in return, The Three Broomsticks, the evening that Hogwarts resumes. Meeting Hermione on the Express finds her ecstatic with her new bracelet but she quickly notices Harry's grave attitude, telling her the situation he finds himself in almost sends Hermione running but Harry's fierce insistence that he'll do whatever she wants, it's all in her hands, serves to remind Hermione that she's chosen her man - the right man.

Learning that because Daphne Greengrass is his betrothed it is a positive for Hermione, throws Harry for a loop. Slytherin though she may be, Hermione knows her well enough, sharing Runes and Arithmancy with her and has been paired with her to work on several classroom assignments before. Aloof, but not unkind. Pleasant but reserved. She's also never once insulted or condescended to Hermione over her blood status. Consequently she joins Harry in sneaking out of Hogwarts through the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack after the feast where they are met by Bill and Fleur and taken to the Three Broomsticks. Daphne's father initially tries to goad him by acting as though he believed everything that was written in the Daily Prophet the previous year but Hermione sees through his act, stopping Harry before his anger can cloud his judgement. Daphne's mother's remark that 'Your future Lady Potter is very perceptive' causes Hermione to mimic a tomato.

The two parents merely want to be sure what kind of man their daughter will be marrying. Daphne is mostly silent throughout until Harry asks her what she wants. Does it matter, the contract is unbreakable. Of course it matters, Harry insists, maybe they have no choice but to marry but they have a choice to care what each other thinks, otherwise it will mean a very unhappy marriage, he imagines. After a moment Daphne agrees and says that she isn't opposed to being with him, in principle, nor sharing him as seems to be the case, but she absolutely insists on a courtship so she can get to know her husband-to-be before they actually marry.

That won't be easy, a Slytherin and Harry Potter courting in the current atmosphere. It wouldn't be safe for her or her family. Hermione points out to Harry that there's always his invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map and the Room of Requirement if they need to be secretive about it. Harry and Hermione are spirited back to Hogwarts while Daphne's parents drop her off at the school.

Harry receives his own rooms, as a titled Lord, which are beneath the Gryffindor common room and accessed by a password-sealed portrait that hangs in there. Prefects have the password and there are some rules regarding their use but otherwise Harry (and Hermione, unofficially) may use them as they see fit.

Harry and Daphne have a standing 'date' every Monday and Thursday evening in the Room of Requirement, if it is available, otherwise finding somewhere else to meet. They talk at length about each other's lives, their goals, their friends and more. On the very first evening Daphne insists that they end on a kiss and both find themselves well pleased with the result.

Harry and Hermione also date, though obviously far more publicly, and grow even more close to one another. In less than a month their teenage hormones slip restraint and less and less articles of clothing begin remaining on until the end of each of their make-out sessions. At Easter break Harry encourages Hermione to go home to her parents instead of staying at Hogwarts, reminding her of her worry about drifting away from her parents. Moved by her concern and saddened by the idea of parting from him even for such a short while, Hermione takes Harry to bed and they share their first time.

A rescheduled meeting with Dumbledore sees Hermione go in Harry's place to meet Daphne. Daphne interrogates Hermione over her and Harry's sexual relationship, Hermione is embarrassed but honest, feeling very naughty and turned on sharing her experiences with Daphne. Interrogating Daphne in turn about her sexual interests sees Hermione cautiously bring up a rumour that had been going around the year before: that Daphne and Tracy Davis were more than just friends. Daphne, tight-lipped at first, decides to be honest with someone whom she will be sharing a husband (she expects). Yes, there was a week where she and Tracy were... partners. Tracy was dumped by Blaise Zabini and in a mutual drunk exchange Daphne had reassured Tracy that she was very attractive in a direct fashion. Tracy seemed to enjoy things until the rumours started and she got spooked, she immediately asked another boy out and told Daphne she wasn't interested in anything more. Hermione chews her lip and tells Daphne that she's interested. That night Daphne's meeting ends the same way most of her meetings with Harry do, after a good snog.

Preparations:
- Earning their trust Daphne is read in on the Prophecy and Dumbledore's 'A History of Tom Riddle' and begins spying for them in the dungeons, Extendible Ears, Marauder's Map, perhaps a pet snake of some sort that can be brought back to report to Harry.

- Harry reinstitutes the DA and begins drilling people on how to fight, rather than pass OWLs. Exchanging letters with the Twins, laying the groundwork for a worst case scenario like open war. Luna's friendship with Harry and Hermione growing during DA meetings and outside of them, she somehow cottons on to Daphne's ties to them.

- The Death Eaters come through the Vanishing Cabinets. Fighting to kill or maim rather than stun and capture, Harry and the DA end half of the Death Eaters and Draco dies by Harry's hand. At Dumbledore's funeral the Elder Wand appears in Harry's hand after he drops a flower on Dumbledore's tomb.

- Knowing they won't return to Hogwarts they name Neville and Luna the new leaders for the DA to organise resistance and to spy and get information out to the Twins. Luna, being immune to Daphne's legilimency, is read-in and recruited to search Hogwarts for a horcrux.

- Daphne's allegiance to the Light is exposed by fighting with Harry and Hermione against the Death Eaters. On Harry's birthday, a month after Daphne's, she and Hermione both wed Harry at a small ceremony in a circle of standing stones on the Greengrass estate. Her family seals their estate under a Fidelis and, along with Hermione's parents, flee the country and take shelter with the Delacours in France. They begin recruiting support for the resistance in Britain.

- The newly married trio begin their horcrux hunt, not in a tent wandering the countryside but with safe-houses and in motels/B&Bs, utilising intelligence from the resistance (mostly composed of cells recruited and led by DA members), ambushing snatcher squads, sabotaging DE operations and resources, undermining the Muggleborn registration efforts.

- Rescuing Luna from the Malfoys sees her reveal her feeling for Harry and Hermione to Daphne. Luna recognises and identifies the Elder Wand as a Deathly Hallow, along with Harry's Cloak. Daphne deduces the purpose of the Snitch and Bill and Fleur's cursebreaking opens it to reveal the Resurrection Stone. With all three Harry is able to summon and compel Dumbledore's shade to explain the game he was playing, withholding information, leaving clues, manipulating them.

- Using the powers granted by the Deathly Hallows Harry eventually learns how to drive the soul fragment from his scar. The deduction of the presence of a Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault leads to a different course of action. With Rudolphus and Rastaban already dead, thanks to the resistance, the Lestrange vault will almost certainly pass to House Black in the event of Bellatrix's death (assuming she hasn't taken the time to draft a Will since escaping Azkaban). The Mad Witch soon dies, but not cheaply for the resistance.

- With Hogwarts seemingly fated for a final confrontation, the trio send for the network that the girls' parent have built. Volunteer Aurors and civilians from throughout the ICW are smuggled into the country through the Chunnel, along with ample war materiel.

- The school is fortified, cover is constructed, traps laid, corridors collapsed, choke-points created, medical supplies pre-emptively distributed, dark-aligned students imprisoned.

- Harry, wielding Stone, Cloak, Wand and Gryffindor's sword, waits for Tom to arrive. Hermione and Daphne take their turns holding and kissing him for all they're worth. Then Daphne leads Luna over, whispers in her ear, and stands back and watches, along with a dumbfounded Harry, as Luna embraces and snogs Hermione, before it is his own turn.

- In battle with Voldemort they exchange blistering magic with the Elder Wand giving Harry the upper hand, taking control over Tom's conjured fiendfyre and setting it against the Giants and Acromantulas. Nagini's destruction in the flames leaves Tom mortal once again.

- With the power of the Hallows Harry summons the shades (not unlike those who came forth from Tom's wand during the Priori Incantatem battle) of every victim of the Death Eaters present, imbues them with the substance of a poltergeist (not unlike Peeves) and instructs them to avenge themselves against their killers. Already dead and without bodies they are immune to the spells thrown against them and in minutes the Dark Lord's army is destroyed. Tom himself finds his head separated from his shoulder by the Sword of Gryffindor.

- Luna took a curse that would have struck Daphne in the back and only pulls through with the medical attention provided by volunteer ICW healers. Daphne, Hermione and Harry are there waiting for her when she wakes up. On Luna's 17th birthday she weds Harry as the next Lady Peverell.