Chapter 41: Talks

"Susan knows about you and Kaiser."

Daphne's eyes widened in realization. This was truly unexpected for her, as it somehow destroyed a huge part of her little plan. She would have to improvise after judging the situation.

"You mean to tell me she was not aware before?" Daphne asked, frowning.

"Well, yes! Why didn't you tell us before?" Hannah asked accusingly. Keeping that kind of secret from Susan while she had such an obvious crush on Kaiser did not sit well with Hannah. She felt her friend's emotions were being played with.

"I assumed she already knew. It's not a secret, you know…" Daphne shook her head.

"Merlin, no! She didn't know, otherwise she wouldn't…" It suddenly hit Hannah that Susan has been giving advances in front of her, no less. "You must not think very highly after what she's done…" Hannah was surveying Daphne's reaction, which made no sense in her eyes. Why was she so calm about this situation? It was an absolute mess on so many levels, and yet Daphne was treating it as if it was no big deal.

Daphne was doing the same, and thinking of how to handle this situation efficiently. She decided to share a few things with Hannah. "You do know that none of us had any say in the decision? That it will be merely a marriage of convenience?"

It was Hannah's turn to widen her eyes at Daphne's words. Did she mean there was no romantic feeling between Kaiser and Daphne? And what did she mean by "none of us had any say in the decision"? She could understand Daphne's case. As the daughter of the traditional Greengrass family, she did not have the luxury of choosing who her partner would be. But Kaiser? He had no such ties, as far as she knew. Or maybe the lack thereof was the problem?

"So… Kaiser does not fancy you…?" she asked tentatively. Daphne's expression was controlled thanks to years of practicing Occlumency, allowing her to show the right expression whenever necessary. Her acting classes were not for naught.

"No. We are not interested in each other that way." Daphne confirmed Hannah's suspicions, but it did not relieve her worries. Whether her words were true or not, no one knew, but Hannah had no reason to suspect her.

"So, when Susan was getting closer to Kaiser, you actually approved…" Hannah said quietly.

"Of course." Daphne said. "I would never stand in the way of their happiness." Daphne meant "his", because if she was honest with herself, she couldn't care less about Susan, especially not the way she was. Her sweet and cheerful personality, and lack of any Slytherin traits, namely cunning and ambition, were not doing her any favors in Daphne's books. But she wondered, if that's what Kaiser found so attractive about her?

Hannah, unaware of the thoughts running through her head, had new found respect for Daphne. Her selflessness and willingness to sacrifice her own happiness for her best friend's sake touched her deeply.

Susan, unbeknownst to them, was eavesdropping on their conversation, which was something Daphne has already suspected. They were in the living room, at Susan's house, speaking not particularly quietly, without using any anti-eavesdropping wards. She clasped her hand on her mouth, tears silently streaming out of her already reddened eyes, a sigh that she'd been crying for a long while now. She, too, was very touched by Daphne's words.

Daphne herself was not very sure if this was a good decision, nevertheless, she was quite bored at how easy they were to manipulate. Besides, she could not understand why "liking" someone was that important right now at their age. They had a lifetime to do so, shouldn't they focus on more important things, like ambitions?

Her mother taught her quite a few things before, that whatever feelings she may feel for "boys" right now would be nothing more than infatuation, that she should never delude herself into believing she "loved" someone. Love was a very strong emotions that only came with time: There is no such thing as love at first sight. The most important point of the lesson was: if she was going to fall in love, shouldn't she at least do so with someone that would secure a better future for her, for her family, and for the family she would build with them?

Daphne agreed with that way of thinking, and could not wrap her head around how Susan was thinking. She never liked her cheerful personality, as she herself had a very reserved one. She only ever opened up to Tracey, her childhood friend, and Kaiser occasionally, outside of her family.

Kaiser told her about her potential in Enchanting, seeing how she devoted herself to it, but she wondered if that was only to impress him. They shared a conversation about her and this very specific subject a week ago.

* Flash back *

Kaiser got home after a very tiring day at work. The RPU prototype was ready, and in the testing phase. The early tests results showed immense potential. Its speed, even though they did not go all out, was considerably slow, mainly because it would require years without the Artificial Spell Caster to make.

He was spending his days at work, mainly reviewing his team daily reports, and correcting any errors that might arise, which obviously were a lot. The worst part is, he did not have any computer software to help him, especially because of the sheer size of the project.

Even the RPU size was very large. It resembled a meter wide cube, but it had a lot of complicated patterns etched on its surface, and if you bother to cut it in half, you'd see a whole new level of complexity. A few Transfiguration Masters, from the Werewolf division, put their all into this piece of art.

After changing his clothes into something more comfortable, he joined Daphne at the dinner table, where food was just getting served by the very loyal house elf.

"How is the project advancing?" it was Daphne who initiated the conversation.

"Very promising. All according to our expectations."

"What about that… OC, was it?"

"OS. Operating System. The developers are still fixing some compatibility issues. Though I must admit, the idea to release a public Linux Distribution was a stroke of genius. It will save us years of struggle, and we get the users to do the work for us." Kaiser said with a grin. "Especially since it will be going commercial in the magical world, I have no doubt we'll have the best desktop environment in no time, which in turn will bring even more users from the non magical world."

Daphne did her best to understand everything he said. She knew he was referring to the "internet", but she did not understand what it was truly about; she can't try it on her own after all. She wanted to ask something else, but was hesitant.

Somehow, even with her Occlumency in place, he could still tell she wanted to say something. Kaiser merely started noticing her reactions. Whenever she had something to say, she would zone out, look at her plate and eat very slowly.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

Daphne, knowing that denying was useless, nodded: "Are you sleeping well lately?"

Kaiser immediately tensed at her question. This was not something he wanted to talk about. There was nothing she could do about it anyway.

"As best as I can." he shrugged it off.

"Maybe it would help if you talked about-"

"Daphne." she was interrupted from finishing her sentence. Kaiser was looking at her straight in the eyes. "That is not something I'm willing to share with anyone. Yet." and how could he tell anyone that he died before, and there is nothing that scared him more than dying. Again.

She nodded. After the last incident when she witnessed the effects of the nightmares, there wasn't anymore, but she knew better. He warded his room, to prevent it from disturbing her. She can only hope he'd get better.

"There is something else we should discuss." Daphne changed the subject.

"I'm all ears."

"Susan." Kaiser stopped at the mention of the name. She now had his undivided attention. He did not know why she would bring her up, and he was sure he would find out.

"What about her?" He asked with a frown.

"She has a crush on you."

"So I've noticed." Kaiser sighed.

"She is in love with you."

"Don't be absurd." Kaiser said with a raised eyebrow. "You are smarter than that." She was infatuated with him, yes. In love? Definitely not.

"That's what she believes."

"Did she say that to you?"

"No. Tracey told me."

"We are fourteen. It will pass."

"It won't."

"And what can we do about it either way?" Kaiser said irritably. Discussing that particular issue with Susan was not something he was looking forward to.

"You should get together with her." Kaiser eyes widened at her bold statement. Did she just suggest what he thought she suggested?

"You like her. Don't deny it." Kaiser's face hardened. He himself was quite aware of it. He found it very difficult not to, the same as more than half Hogwarts' population, albeit for a different reason.

"My feelings on the subject hardly matter."

"They do." Daphne said. "A union with the future head of the Bones family will be extremely beneficial to you."

"It's still not possible for us to be together." Kaiser argued. "Let's not mention if she's willing to "share" her partner with anyone, need I remind you that I am already betrothed to you, and we both know that Erling Krovius is most certainly planning on including me to his very large family. It's unfair to you, and to her, whoever she might be. How can I ask Susan, who still has her free will, to suffer such injustice?" He said, frustrated with the whole situation.

He was betrothed to Daphne, because Karl wanted to secure his family's interests, before joining Transcendence, and Kaiser truly needed him to. It was either that, or wait years he did not wish to wait. Erling agreed to help Kaiser keep his independence, otherwise he would have to hand over his blueprints to the ICW, but it did not come without a price. He wanted Kaiser to joined the family through marriage, so that said technology would eventually fall into their hands.

Daphne said no more about the subject, but she knew it was far from over.