Daphne Greengrass in A Godfather's Promise

*This article is about Daphne Greengrass as depicted in* a Godfather's Promise*. For a more general description, and/or links to similar articles covering other stories, see Daphne Greengrass.*

## Relationship information

### Relatives

* Cygnus Greengrass (father)
* Eleanor Greengrass (mother)
* Astoria Greengrass (younger sister)
* Charlotte and Elizabeth Greengrass (younger twin sisters)

## Affiliation

### House

Slytherin

In *A Godfather's Promise*, Daphne is the daughter of Lord Cygnus Greengrass and his wife Lady Eleanor, and beside Astoria has two further younger sisters, the twins Charlotte and Elizabeth. After the 1994 Yule Ball she develops a secret relationship with Susan Bones.

## Physical appearance

Daphne has inherited much of her looks from her father, including black hair, violet eyes and an unusual height, although her pale skin comes from both sides of the family. She has a symmetric face with high cheekbones and a slender neck.

## Personality

With a father who is the second-richest man in Magical Britain and the leader of the largest party in the Wizengamot, and a family that reckons its ancestry from Morgana le Fay, Daphne was raised in a world of privilege but also of duty; since she has neither brothers nor aunts or uncles, it falls to her to produce a male heir to carry on the family name – she absolutely refuses to push the duty onto one of her younger sisters – and she expects her father will arrange a marriage with a (politically and/or economically) suitable man, which she has set herself to go along with despite the fact that she's only ever been attracted to women. (She reckons this is the norm for pure-blood Ladies, but this may just be selection bias.) Thus she plays the pure-blood heiress in public, and even likes it for the most part, but in an empty classroom with Susan or in the privacy of her own room she can occasionally indulge in the woman she secretly wants to be: a nobody without dignity or obligation, punished and derided for her shortcomings.

## Relationships

### Cygnus Greengrass

Her father, being a self-made man who started with little but his name yet amassed an enormous fortune and political power in maybe twenty years, has not been very present in her life, usually coming home very late at night and treating his family rather formally even in private. She thus finds it hard to believe her mother when she assures her that he does love her and will not force her into a loveless marriage; she also finds it rather perplexing that he didn't divorce her mother once it was clear that she couldn't give him a male heir, in order to marry somebody who could.

### Eleanor Greengrass

While perplexed by her mother's devotion to a husband who doesn't seem to love her back, she truly cares for her, and is able to sit in "comfortable silence" with her for at least some time.

### Susan Bones

When Susan, in a highly emotionally wrought state, kisses Daphne she is quick to back away and apologize, but Daphne takes it in stride and assures her that she isn't upset. As they continue to meet in secret the submissive Susan mostly follows Daphne's lead, but with increasing frequency this means indulging the latter's need to be insulted and physically manhandled. The two also spend more time together in public, with Daphne applying her acerbic wit to protect Susan from insults and abuse both intended and imagined; in particular, she seems unhappy about Harry and Fleur not keeping more distance (and of course Susan being chosen as Fleur's hostage in the Second Task).

As she returns home for summer and has to confront her family's expectations (or at least her own image of what those expectations are), she fantasizes about coming out through a public scene of lesbian sex with Susan, and/or Hermione, so that her worth on the marital market is destroyed, but since this would also affect Susan's status she is unlikely to consider it a serious option.

### Harry Potter

While she has never been affected by Malfoy's attitude towards Harry, she is not particularly interested in his attempt to build a cross-House friendship; however, he persists and soon starts figuring out the triggers that bring her out of her demonstrative disinterest, and when Fleur makes a public move on him she is angered. Based on her discussions with Susan, who *is* attracted to him, it seems she also is interested in him, but whether in terms of sexual and/or romantic attraction or merely as the least unattractive option available is somewhat unclear.

### Hermione Granger

When Susan near the end of their fourth year asks Hermione to help her with Charms, Daphne gets to know her better, and after Rita Skeeter in an article about the "corrupting influence" of veela insinuates that the three of them are involved in a relationship, they hunt her down together.

As Daphne returns home for summer and has to confront her family's expectations (or at least her own image of what those expectations are), she fantasizes about coming out through a public scene of lesbian sex with Susan and/or Hermione, so that her worth on the marital market is destroyed, but it is not clear if Hermione is part of it because she is especially attracted to her or merely because adding a muggle-born makes the *faux pas* worse.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 21
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 11
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 14
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 20
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 5
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 9
7. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 15
8. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 7
9. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 18
10. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 19