Hermione replied, "Harry is a very good cook; or, as he prefers, chef."
Daphne tried to explain. "Dobby sees his role as 'servant', as would be considered proper. However, Harry sees Dobby's role as 'friend'; a friend who insists on waiting on him hand and foot.
"Now, Harry is okay with Dobby waiting on him. But, he also thinks the elf overly-mothers him.
"Then there's specifically the cooking issue. Harry loves to cook. It relaxes him. However, Dobby sees that as house elf work; and Harry doing it, to him, is a sign he is not being a good enough house elf for his 'master Harry'."
Fleur thought about that and then asked, "Then why does 'Arry not dismiss 'im?"
"Because, as Daphne said, Dobby is also his friend," replied Hermione. "And Harry would never fire Dobby, as he knows how it would make Dobby feel and how he'd be treated by the house elf community."
Hermione walked over to the door, cracked it open and peeked outside. She could hear what sounded like a Happy Harry in the kitchen so softly closed the door again.
Looking to Daphne she said, "He must've won his argument with Dobby. He's happily working in the kitchen."
Daphne smirked and said, "You mean, Dobby let him win the argument and has decided to step out of the way to let his master work."
That had both girls snickering again.
"'Arry does not know his 'ouse elf does that?" asked Fleur.
"No," said Hermione. "It's part of the dynamic of the relationship between Harry and Dobby. Everyone else knows Dobby could simply take over at any time; but, we all let Harry think he's getting one over on Dobby. It's good for him and their relationship."
"Now, between us girls―" said Daphne.
And the light-heartedness was gone from the room within a moment.
"Hermione and I, as does Harry, know what you need to do with Harry because of this life debt," she explained. "Your mother sent a book over and everyone that needs to know about this now knows."
Fleur nodded.
"The first thing you need to know is..." said Hermione. "Harry's a―"
"Vierge," added Fleur. "Virgin. Yes, I know."
While both Hermione and Daphne were a little embarrassed by the topic, Fleur didn't even bat an eye at it.
"As are you two," she said, glancing between the two.
Both, blushing a little more each, just nodded back.
"Yes, well," said Daphne. "Hermione is nearing the point when she'll be ready to take that step in her relationship with Harry; as is he with her. But, until we learned about the life debt, that step was still... likely... a couple months off."
Fleur nodded.
Hermione tried, "How soon do you need... with Harry."
Instead of answering directly, Fleur thought about it for a moment before she replied, "You and 'Arry wish to be each others 'firsts', no?"
When Hermione nodded, she continued, "Then I must ask you to... 'urry that up... a lot."
Hermione sighed and asked, "By how much? Lay it out for me, girl."
"Now that I am here and am nearby, now that I can sense that 'Arry is not ready, no more than a... month?" she replied. "'Owever, it would be much safer and less stressful if it could be within the next fortnight - two weeks. Sorry."
"No," sighed Hermione. "Never believe we feel this is your fault; because, we don't. None of us do. As such, you have no reason to apologise for it."
Daphne added, "All the people you met at Lord Black's place earlier all understand you are even more of a victim here than anyone else. No one holds you in any way culpable."
Fleur could only sadly nod. She was full of gratitude; not just for Harry accepting her, but these two ladies also.
"You two are as wonderful as 'Arry," she quietly said.
That led to a three-way group hug.
A little while later, Daphne had her own confession to make.
"I know that the original plan for me to become Harry's concubine is to only protect me and House Greengrass from... those putting pressure on my father," she said. "However... Hermione, I have already decided I do not wish to activate the escape clauses."
With a light smile, Hermione replied, "I didn't think so."
"You know what that means, right?" Daphne pressed.
"Of course," she replied. "You will do, willingly, what Fleur has to do, imperatively."
"Sleep with Harry," she firmly said.
"Have sex with Harry; unprotected sex," said Hermione. "And, yes, that will probably include sleeping."
Shaking her head slightly, Daphne said, "I don't want it just to be for... procreating. Understand?"
"Daphne," said Hermione. "Believe me; I understand."
Relieved, Daphne nodded back.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Over in the kitchen, Harry was working on dinner that night. Dobby had gotten for him a decent sized beef roast and he was planning on steam-poaching it, rather than roasting it, in a covered large pot in the oven. That is, instead of laying down a decent swipe of lard in the bottom of the baking tray, he wiped down a very thin layer of pure olive oil, just enough to coat the bottom, then upended a litre of water into it and finally laid the roast in and on a slightly elevated rack, before covering it with the lid.
With that cooking, he moved on to preparing the vegetables. He'd be roasting the potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and baby onions in with the beef once the water boiled off a little; but be steaming the corn, garden peas, broccoli and cauliflower. Later, he'd make cauliflower cheese sauce and the beef gravy, but that was a while off yet.
Next, he moved onto the soup starter dish. Expecting a full-house sitting at their 'new' eight seater table - Fleur brought their group up to eight - he knew he'd need to probably also make an entrée. For that he made a simple tomato soup with ground herbs for flavouring. Dobby was 'allowed' to blend the tomatoes right down to a smooth consistency and grind the dried herbs into a powder. For richness and full-bodiment he added a little skim milk powder, rather than water.
For desert he went with a cake. Cakes were always the foodstuff of celebrations - such as weddings, birthdays, graduations, etcetera - so he decided to bake an extravagant cake to welcome Fleur to their 'group', in general, and the Potter household, in particular. He went with a chocolate mud cake; always a favourite. And added a thick hot chocolate sauce for going over the top of it, something like an upside down pudding.
He'd been working for about an hour when he first noticed all three of his 'ladies' were sitting on stools in the corner and quietly watching him and Dobby working. He just grinned at them before turning back to what he was doing; madly mixing the ingredients for the cake.
Knowing they'd been spotted, Hermione called out, "Chocolate cake?"
He called back, "Not telling you! It's a surprise for dessert!"
"Have you let the others know that dinner is still on tonight?" asked Daphne.
That caused Harry to pause. "Errr―"
She gave a little huff and said, "I'll organise contacting them, so they know." And hopped off her stool.
"Tracey too!" he called back. "Us four, Neville and his two and her makes eight. And we've now got a proper eight-seater dining table."
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