"Where are you going with this, Professor?" asked Dylan slowly. "If you're worried that I would seek out my father then you are worried about nothing. I know that he will kill me the second he realises who I am. He may be my father, but Harry, Uncle Sirius, Aunt Amelia and little Rigel are my family now."
Dylan felt his hand being squeezed comfortingly and he let out a shaky breath. He had not felt very certain about that last part, wondering if they truly thought of him as part of the family but this was certainly a confirmation. His chest tightened as he felt a warm emotion in his heart.
"I'm happy for you, my boy," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. "It is for that reason I must insist that you stay at Hogwarts over the winter holidays. It is not safe to leave the confines of the school and the wards would more than compensate for any lack of protection which would be provided to you. You need to be safe."
"Excuse me?" said Harry haughtily. "Déjà vu, Headmaster. I seem to remember something similar about me staying at Privet Drive for my own protection. Lack of protection? Do you think we would abandon him somewhere during the holidays? Absolutely not! Dylan is not staying here alone. I repeat, the war wards I can raise around Potter Castle are more than sufficient to keep us safe. Black Manor too is quite safe and I don't think Bellatrix would be stupid enough to attack us there. Hogwarts is actually the last place we should be. I don't deny the wards around the castle are excellent, but they are severely compromised due to the thousands of students who have been here. Secrets can be learnt; they don't stay secret for long."
"I am only looking out for him, Harry," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Just like how I was looking out for you when I said that you should have returned to Petunia. But you never listened and now that her family has moved away, there is no point in talking about it."
Harry's eyes grew colder. "Is that all, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore sighed as he dismissed them. Well, he did learn some valuable information, but he had never expected for a moment for the insistence of staying at Hogwarts would work. He needed people to check the wards around Potter Castle, just in case.
"Severus, can you come up to my office, please?"
...
" Expecto Patronum," chanted Harry. A bright silver mist formed from the tip of his wand, but it didn't take a corporeal form.
"Why wouldn't it work?" said Harry, his eye twitching in annoyance.
"You're trying too hard," said Daphne, pushing him back on a soft armchair. "You need a distraction."
"And what would that be?" he asked, smiling slightly. Daphne smirked as she sat down next to him and cupped his face, nuzzling his face against hers.
"Do you want me to tell you or show you?" she whispered lightly as she kissed his cheek.
Wrapping one arm around her waist and another stroking her soft, wavy dark blonde hair, Harry leaned forward and captured her lips with his. They moved in sync as they both smiled into the kiss.
"Maybe I should use this for a happy memory," said Harry, smiling at her. He looked into her deep blue eyes as his smile slowly faded. "Daphne, what is love?" he asked curiously.
"What?" asked Daphne, blinking owlishly at his sudden question.
"Love," said Harry slowly. "When someone says that they love you, what does that mean ?"
Daphne's heart melted at the innocent question posed to her by her fiancé. Her eyes filled with furious tears when she realised that Harry had never grown up feeling such emotion. Thanks to his less than happy childhood and his natural Occlumency barriers, he tended to suppress his emotions nearly all the time. He was emotionally stunted, so naturally, unused to emotion, so he didn't know what love meant, having never experienced the warmth of a mother's hug. Had Harry been raised by his parents or Sirius, they would have identified the problem and sought out Mind Healers at an early age, but without help, he was feeling overwhelmed and confused. No one had explained it to him for him to understand.
"Love is an emotion when -" she began but didn't know what to say. How do you explain love? "It is a strong feeling of affection you feel for someone you care about. There are different forms of love. There is romantic love between two romantic partners. Then there is parental love which one feels for their mother and father or the love a parent feels for their child. There is the sibling love which one feels for their brother or sister. It comes in various forms and intensity and it can be a wonderful thing."
"Really?" asked Harry, looking thoughtful. He sounded like an inquisitive four-year-old child. Sadly, when it came to understanding emotions, Daphne's assessment wasn't far from the truth.
"Do people who love someone care deeply for the other?"
"That's how it is supposed to work, yes," said Daphne slowly. "In its truest form, when one person loves another, be in any form of relationship, you tend to think of them and their happiness before yourself. Your parents stood in front of Voldemort and fought him till their dying breath to protect you. That shows how much they loved you."
Harry swallowed. He had never thought about love like that before. "Is that the parental love you were talking about?" he asked. "Then what about what I feel for Sirius and Aunt Amelia?"
"That is also another form of parental love," explained Daphne patiently. "They are the closest thing you have to parents and they treat you like their own son. They obviously love you and I'm sure you care deeply about them too."
"What about Dylan and Astoria?"
Daphne smiled slightly. "I know that both of them care deeply about you. Dylan's adoration for you is clear as day for anyone to see it. He idolises you and I can't tell you how much it meant to him when you called him your brother in front of everyone in the Great Hall. Astoria might be sarcastic towards you and may tease you constantly, but that's her way of showing that she cares. Love can be expressed in all kinds of ways."
Harry's eyes moistened despite himself. "What about you? Do you love me?"
Daphne wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face against his. "I do love you, Harry," she said softly. "I love you very much."
"I - I think I love you too," whispered Harry as they cuddled on the armchair in front of the roaring fireplace, lost in their own world.
....
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