Having nearly seventy years of experience with the law? Quite valuable.
Having the support of the Slytherin Triumvirate, the entirety of Slytherin house, and an angry pureblood girlfriend who happens to be the heiress of an old family? Priceless.
Those were Harry Potter's thoughts as he listened to his self-appointed representatives, no less than the Slytherin Triumvirate themselves, addressing the Aurors that had come to Hogwarts. The three young adults were already well versed in the law, as each of them had been groomed from a young age to eventually take over their family businesses.
Ursula left the Aurors to the other three and decided to check on Daphne. After verifying that she was physically unharmed, she joined her unofficial master Madam Pomfrey to help her with the Weasley girl. Ursula wasn't thrilled with the idea of helping the little bitch, however, she knew that if she wanted to be a healer, she had to learn to treat everyone without bias.
Aurors were trained to deal with the worst sorts of criminals, yet the four who responded to the incident at Hogwarts couldn't help but feel somewhat intimidated. That may, of course, have been due to the gigantic snake protectively coiled around two of the subjects of their investigation, Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass. It also may have been the hostile looks directed at them from the dozens of Slytherins gathered around, or the suspicious glares coming from several other observers, including the entire Durmstrang delegation.
"It is clearly a dark magical artefact. What else could it be, it's a giant snake?" one of the Aurors intelligently pointed out, to the groans of the Slytherin students and even some of the adults.
"And how exactly were you ever made an Auror?" Eliza retorted.
"Contrary to popular belief, dark magical artefacts aren't illegal, unless they are used to commit a crime, such as murder. What we have here is an unusual protection charm, and the fact that it's a snake has nothing to do with it being Light or Dark."
Both Brian and Alistair nodded from either side of her.
No matter what anyone's opinion was on the incident, the law was on the young lord's side. Priori Incantato was performed on Weaselette's wand, revealing an obscure curse that seemed to cause green, pus-filled boils all over the target's body. The curse would have caused severe pain but was not considered lethal, so Dumbledore attempted to claim that no further investigation was necessary. To his disappointment, most of those present in the Great Hall disagreed with him, including the Aurors.
The arguments presented by the Triumvirate and Daphne were clear, concise, and definitive. Daphne's enchanted necklace was defensive in nature and only responded because she was attacked, and Harry was able to rebuff accusations of dark magic by using the family magic defence. As for the other two Weasleys, they had attacked Harry first, in front of many witnesses, and he was well within his rights to defend himself.
When all was said and done, Harry and Daphne were cleared of any wrongdoing, but the Weasleys were potentially facing charges. First, the three of them had to be taken to St. Mungo's for treatment. Madam Pomfrey had done enough to ensure Ginny's survival, but she didn't have the resources on hand to do much else. Percy was still unconscious with a burn mark on his chest and robes, and the pain of Ron's broken bones was so severe that they stunned him until he could be treated. Once they had been healed, all three redheads would be submitted for interrogation, with their parents present, in the case of the younger two.
Once the Aurors cleared out and the Weasleys had been sent to St. Mungo's, the students started leaving the Great Hall in groups. The mood in the hall had become fairly grim by that point. The Weird Sisters had long since packed up and left, and nobody was in the mood to dance anymore anyway.
Daphne kept herself busy by petting the giant snake. Harry had explained to her that it was only a golem, but yet it was so lifelike, and she was completely fascinated by it.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, Harry," she replied, studying the snake's sapphire-blue eyes.
"So, this is Kael, right?"
Harry nodded.
"Bael, Zael, Kael...what's with those names?"
"It's a long story," he replied, and Daphne hummed in response.
"Zael's eyes are green," Daphne continued, "and Bael's eyes are blue, like Kael's."
"It would be better to say that Kael's eyes are the same colour as Bael's, yes..." Harry clarified, which intrigued Daphne further. What was the difference?
For a moment, neither said anything, and then Harry quietly issued a command in Parseltongue. Kael started glowing with the same green light as Daphne's necklace, and then vanished. Reaching up to touch the pendant with her hand, Daphne looked at Harry and saw he was still troubled by the events of the evening.
"I was enjoying the ball," Daphne sighed. "If that stupid bitch hadn't attacked me, I would've liked to go join the crowd in front of the stage."
"We can still do it," suggested Harry, taking Daphne by both hands.
"My memories...of my other ball. We can use them and continue with the ball, if you'd like..."
Daphne just smiled, shaking her head.
"No..." she replied. "It's a good idea, but no..."
"Then...what?" he asked.
"The fact that she attacked me..." Daphne said, looking at Harry with steel in her eyes. "It made me remember what you told me. That she was the one who..."
Daphne hesitated and looked down at the floor, so Harry stepped forward and wrapped her tightly in his arms.
"Why?" she asked meekly.
"Today?"
"No, why did she do it in your past? Why me?"
Harry grimaced slightly but nodded his understanding.
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"It's better if I do," she admitted hesitantly.
Harry wasn't entirely convinced, but he decided he would respect her wishes. He also understood that if he wanted her to truly understand, then he had no choice but to tell her everything.
"Do you want to do it now or tomorrow?"
"Now," she replied promptly, not wanting to delay any further. She was nervous enough as it was.
"Fine. Let's just say our goodbyes first, and then we'll go to the Chamber. I'll tell you everything."
Daphne nodded, and the couple walked over to where their friends and the Triumvirate members were standing.
"Hey everyone, thanks again for your help back there."
The older Slytherins acknowledged them with a quick bow of the head.
"Are you going to be okay?" Tracey asked.
"I'll be fine," Daphne assured her. "Harry and I have some things we need to talk about, so we're going to leave for a while."
Tracey attempted to make a crass joke, but her heart wasn't in it. The others just tried to look understanding, and Theo even clapped Harry on the shoulder.
"Where are you going?" asked Eliza.
"We'll be in the Chamber," Harry replied, and everyone just nodded. They knew that the Chamber of Secrets was Harry and Daphne's refuge, and they all respected it.
"If we're needed for something important, just call Dobby," Harry added, then embraced Daphne and Faded them both away from the Great Hall.
"That's just amazing," Blaise mumbled, shaking his head while Millie nodded in agreement.
Daphne and Harry appeared in the living quarters, and they both promptly sat down in their usual chairs. With a wave of his wand, the Pensieve floated to the table in between them.
"Before we begin, do you want anything?" he asked. "A drink? Something warmer to wear?"
"No, I'm fine," Daphne replied impatiently. "Tell me why she wanted to kill me, I need to know."
Harry looked off into the distance for a moment, trying to figure out where to start.
"In order to properly answer that, we really need to go back a couple of years, back to the start of the new millennium," he explained.
"Like I told you before, you became a healer while I earned a mastery in Light, Grey, and Dark Arts. After that, I travelled the duelling circuit for a while to gain some experience. Professor Flitwick actually sponsored me, and I trained with him for a long time. He's a lot more brutal than you'd expect, if you've only ever seen him as a teacher. I also started some businesses, and let's not forget all the Wizengamot sessions..."
"We were busy," he said with a shrug. "I ended up being invited to join the Aurors, and between my skill and my reputation, I was promoted to Captain within a few months."
"Quite impressive," Daphne said honestly and gave him a soft smile, which Harry returned.
"I was told I could do whatever I wanted with my team, so I decided to create a special assault unit. I devised a whole new training regimen, which was a hundred times more intense than anything they have at the Ministry today. I made my team suffer through blood, sweat, and tears, and they hated me more often than not, but nobody could argue with the results. The six of us were deadly on our own, but together we were basically unstoppable. The team was me, Theo, a rookie called Jason Hallys, who's currently a first year Gryffindor, a seasoned Auror called Francis Talbot, Hannah Callen, who was also our potions expert, and Justin Smith, who, if I'm not mistaken, is a third year Ravenclaw at the moment."
"We also had two unofficial members of our team. One was Tracey, who was married to Theo. She was a prosecutor for the DMLE and handled most of our cases. The other, of course, was you, our go-to healer."
Daphne's eyebrows shot up surprise, but she didn't interrupt him.
"The DMLE called us in when they had a problem too dangerous or complicated for the Aurors to handle. The Black Wands, we called ourselves..."
Daphne nodded, even if she wasn't understanding why Harry was telling her all this.
"The wands in the shadows and the shields on the line," Harry quoted with a soft smile. "We always completed our mission with optimal results, and before long we were considered one of the Ministry's most valuable assets. As you might expect, our success made me even more famous. On top of being Lord Potter, the Man-Who-Conquered, I was also now the captain of the notorious Black Wands."
"I really don't understand what all this has to do with my question, Harry," sighed Daphne, hoping he'd be getting to the point soon.
"Don't worry, it will all make sense soon," he chuckled, and Daphne just nodded and waved for him to continue.
"Let me ask you, considering my fame, wealth, and achievements to date, what else would our society offer me in abundance?"
Daphne thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Power and influence."
"Indeed, and I got plenty of both, whether I wanted it or not," Harry confirmed with a low chuckle.
"People from the Wizengamot started approaching me to request my support for their bills. It was annoying and it got old quickly, but the worst brown nosers were, by far, Neville and Hermione Longbottom."
Daphne raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Harry looked like he had swallowed something foul.
"Those two bastards started to take an active role in politics after Hogwarts. Granger, already Longbottom by then, was working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, with her spew thing, for the rights of underprivileged non-humans."
"She took full advantage of her status as both a lady of a noble house and a war hero to get support for her and her husband's bills. I'll admit I supported some of them, including the ones that helped improve the lives of vampires and werewolves. You supported those too, in case you were wondering."
She actually was wondering about that.
"What also happened was that she used her success to climb up the ranks, and before long, she was holding positions of power and really pushing to change society. She led with trying to make muggleborns more accepted, but her main goal was to fully open up our world and adopt parts the muggle society into ours."
"What?" asked Daphne, shocked.
"You heard me. She wanted to abolish the old laws that favoured the purebloods and take the power away from the old families. Knowing her as I did, that wasn't completely unexpected. The real shock was when she proposed integrating our world with the muggle one, supposedly in order to 'advance into the new millennium' and help ensure the survival of wizarding kind," Harry explained, shaking his head.
Daphne looked completely outraged.
"I hoped you didn't agree with that…" she said, and Harry shook his head.
"Of course not. I agreed with repealing most of the laws favouring purebloods, but the rest was pure folly," Harry explained, and Daphne breathed a sigh of relief.
"The saddest part was that the idea actually had a lot of supporters. You can chalk some of that up to an overcorrection following a war supposedly based around pureblood supremacy. Another factor was a study released by the ICW, which linked the rampant inbreeding of purebloods to the number of squibs born."
Daphne raised her eyebrow at that.
"There were three main political factions at the time. The Longbottoms' faction called themselves the Newblood Reformists, with the stated goal of opening up the Wizarding World. Outright abolishing the Statute of Secrecy would've been too extreme for many, so they built support by planning to gradually integrate our world with the muggles' over time."
"The other large group was the Conservative Alliance. It was mostly half-bloods, but plenty of purebloods and muggleborns were aligned with them too. The Reformist agenda drove a lot of people to this faction, because they knew it was sheer idiocy to go forward with such a plan. You and I were in this group."
"The third was the Pureblood Faction, who were mostly the leftovers of those who supported Voldemort's agenda. They were the minority faction, who demanded, and I quote, 'the imprisonment of the blood traitors and the end of the sheer stupidity of the debates, which were bound to end our world, all because of uptight mudbloods'."
Daphne couldn't help but chuckle at that, even if it disgusted her.
"The debates went on for months, and a final vote was scheduled for early January in the year 2007," Harry explained.
"Our faction was set to win. The Reformists had bolstered their public support by recruiting muggleborns who'd abandoned our world in the past, but they just didn't have the votes in the Wizengamot. We had the support of purebloods, half-bloods, and the muggleborns who knew it was a bad idea. We weren't allied with the Pureblood Faction in any way, but we both wanted to defeat the Reformists' proposal, so we were on the same side of the debate."
Daphne nodded along, hanging on every word.
"Our victory was assured, until Christmas 2006 came along."
"What happened on Christmas 2006?" she asked, eyebrow raised inquisitively.
He looked at her with regret in his eyes.
"One of the two worst days of my life," he replied softly. Daphne gulped, feeling a shiver go down her spine.
"Tell me, then," she insisted.
"I guess I should just show you. I don't know if I can explain it properly," he sighed, drawing the memory from his temple and placing it in the Pensieve. Harry looked at Daphne and noticed her hands were trembling.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked softly, and Daphne nodded. She had to. Harry took her hand and gave her a soft kiss on the lips while caressing her back.
"Are you ready?"
"No," she whispered.
In truth, she was terrified of what she would see, and she was hesitant to watch it at all. Harry didn't say a word, he just kept rubbing her back and trying to comfort her.
"You don't have to see this," he told her.
"I'm afraid," she admitted after a moment, a tear running down her cheek. Harry pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I need to know, but I'm afraid of what I will see..."
"I am too," Harry admitted softly in her ear.
"Why?" Daphne asked, stiffening. She pulled back to look at Harry, and was startled to see he also had tears in his eyes.
"The day I lost you...that Christmas...I spat on the Light for the second time," Harry confessed, his green eyes filled with emotion.
"Please don't think badly of me."
Daphne tried to swallow, but her mouth had gone so dry that she barely managed it.
"The last time you told me that, you showed me how you stunned me and went to your death, killing a lot of people on your way," she whispered.
She looked into eyes and saw the sorrow, loss, and anger behind them, but as she reached up and touched his cheek, she also saw hope and love there. Daphne knew he had regrets, but she also knew he would do everything he could to make sure their future was different. She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly.
"You probably think I'm being ridiculous, being afraid of a memory."
"No, I don't," Harry replied, stroking her hair. "You have every right to be afraid."
Stepping back, Daphne smiled and took a deep breath, her hand squeezing Harry's.
"Let's go, together," she said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he replied with a smile, and two of them went into the Pensieve.
Moments later, Harry and Daphne found themselves in the entrance hall of a manor, which had been extravagantly decorated for Christmas.
"Are we in Longbottom Hall?" asked Daphne, looking around and recognising her surroundings.
"Yes." replied Harry. "The date is Christmas Eve, 2006."
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"I still think this is taking arrogance to a whole new level," a familiar voice said.
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Recognising her own voice, Daphne gasped and turned around to see her older self, wearing dark blue formal dress robes, with her blonde hair twisted into a single braid that fell over her left shoulder. Real Daphne thought she looked positively regal, and briefly wondered if it was vanity or jealousy she was feeling. Harry had also aged well. He was standing alongside memory Daphne, wearing black robes and looking even more handsome than he did in the memory of their wedding.
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"Organizing a Christmas ball on Christmas Eve," memory Daphne explained with a snort, and memory Harry shrugged.
"This reeks of political setup."
"Come on, Daph," begged memory Harry. "For one night, can you please just relax?"
"You know they're going to approach us about the vote," memory Daphne predicted.
"Yeah, I know, and I'm not in the mood to deal with them," he sighed. "Why did we come, anyway?"
"Because it was expected of us," memory Daphne drawled sarcastically. "I swear, ever since that trip to Egypt, the Longbottoms have been simply...urgh."
"Two hours and then we leave?" memory Harry proposed.
"Please," begged Memory Daphne. "I really want to be at home at midnight."
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Real Daphne watched the exchange with a curious expression, as the memory couple moved forward and entered the party salon of Longbottom Hall. As soon as they walked through the entry, their names were announced by a special kind of Howler, which activated as soon as they presented their invitation.
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"The Lord and Lady Potter-Black," the Howler announced, and many people turned to greet them, extending compliments and wishing them their best. The couple started to make their way through the room, but they were immediately waylaid by the evening's hosts.
"Harry, Daphne, welcome," called another recognisable voice.
Real Daphne turned towards the voice, and saw Hermione Granger, wearing a lavish purple and gold dress with her straightened hair falling smoothly down her back. She was smiling widely at Harry and Daphne, as was Neville Longbottom, who was at her side and also clad in purple and gold.
"It's so good that you could come," the Lady Longbottom said after exchanging pleasantries. "We have attempted to contact you for several days, why haven't you replied?"
"We went on holiday and purposely ignored mail," memory Daphne replied with a smile, but real Daphne could tell the smile was fake.
"What?" asked a shocked Hermione. "There are so many things to deal with, and you two..."
"Let me just stop you right there, Hermione," memory Harry interrupted. "We came to your party, but we will not be dragged into another debate on the Reformist Act. We've already made up our minds."
"Of course, Harry," she replied sweetly, now wearing an overly friendly expression.
"I have to apologise for my wife," Neville said. "She's been under a lot of stress lately, between our duties in the Wizengamot and preparing for the ball."
"Of course. May I suggest a nice calming draught?" memory Daphne offered.
"Healer's opinion?" Hermione responded, mimicking Daphne's smile.
"Of course," she replied, and they both giggled.
"Have fun, you two. Let's make sure we meet up later in the evening," Hermione proposed, then her and Neville took their leave.
"I told you it was a setup," memory Daphne said smugly, a look of annoyance appearing on her face.
"I never doubted you," memory Harry replied, as they made their way to a couple that real Daphne recognised as an older Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley, the former displaying a prominent baby bump.
"Susan, Justin, how are you three?" asked memory Daphne, and Susan laughed.
"Well enough, Daphne," the redhead smiled, rubbing a hand across her belly. "Edgar has been behaving, and I haven't had any more sickness."
"Wonderful," memory Daphne happily replied.
"So… how bad has it been, compared to last time?" real Daphne heard memory Harry asking Justin.
"Amazingly, she hasn't hexed me at all," Justin admitted. "The mood swings leave her pretty depressed sometimes, but we're managing."
"Well, better you than me," memory Harry confessed with a chuckle, making Justin smirk.
"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Man-Who-Conquered, you'll get your turn dealing with the joys of having a pregnant wife," said a new voice from behind them.
"Blaise, Millie," said Harry with a smile.
"Hello, Harry," Millie responded pleasantly. "Mr. Finch-Fletchley-Bones."
"Mr. Zabini, Mrs. Zabini," Justin offered. "It's a pleasure to see you again."
"The pleasure is ours," replied Blaise pleasantly, and the group quickly fell into comfortable conversation.
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Real Daphne was starting to feel bored.
"While the conversation isn't quite as bad as the events I'm forced to attend with my parents, can you just, I don't know, skip ahead?"
"No need," real Harry admitted, glaring at something behind Daphne. She turned around and saw Ginny Weasley eyeing memory Daphne, who by then had her arm wrapped around memory Harry's.
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"Let's dance," memory Daphne said, and Harry nodded and escorted Daphne to the floor.
"Susan's having a good second trimester, much better than expected. I guess the potions helped."
"With you as her healer, she couldn't be anything other than fine," memory Harry smiled, and Daphne playfully rolled her eyes at the flattery.
"Why do you want to be at home at midnight?"
"Sorry?" she asked Harry.
"When we arrived, you said you wanted to be at home before midnight. Why is that?"
Daphne smiled.
"It's Christmas, Harry," she teased. "I'd think you'd suspect that I have a gift for you. Maybe I just can't wait any longer and want to give you at midnight."
"Really?" he asked with mock surprise, then added in a husky tone, "Please, tell me more… Will I enjoy it?"
"And ruin the surprise?" memory Daphne taunted back. "You'll just have to be patient."
"Well, only five hours to midnight. Have I told you that I love you yet?"
"Only three times today," memory Daphne responded after a moment's thought, and Harry just hummed in response.
"Well?"
"Well, three in one day is enough," Harry joked, and Daphne smiled and slapped him on the arm.
"Prat."
"Yup," Harry smiled, then leaned in and gave memory Daphne a kiss.
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Real Daphne closely watched the exchange and sighed at how happy her older self was. She turned to mention something about it to Harry, only to see that his body had become rigid, and his fists were tightly balled. He was staring daggers at the memory Weaselette, who by then was approaching memory Harry and Daphne, carrying a jug with two cups.
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"Hello, Harry. Daphne," Weaselette said in a sugary tone that sounded false to real Daphne, who was anxiously observing every moment and every movement.
"You fucking bitch," real Harry whispered, his magic flaring strongly enough to distort the image of memory. Daphne put her hand on his arm, and Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"Ginny," replied Harry, but Daphne only nodded. "Can we help you?"
"I just came over to say hello," the redhead said, with what real Daphne thought was a lousy attempt at a cute pout.
"Did you hear, Harry? I was invited to the Harpies try-outs," she said happily, with more than a hint of smugness. Both memory Daphne and Harry seemed annoyed by the interruption, and real Daphne had to smirk when she saw her memory counterpart roll her eyes.
"They clearly heard about me, and..."
"That's fantastic, Ginny," memory Harry cut in, before she could go on bragging. It was clear from his voice that he wasn't the least bit interested in the conversation, however, Ginny either didn't notice it or simply didn't care. She started pouring the crimson liquid from the jug into one of the cups.
"We should toast to it," Weaselette declared, forcing the cup on Harry. "Unfortunately, there's only this punch, but it will have to do."
"Really?" replied memory Daphne, taking the cup from her hand. "That's a good thing, then. I'm thirsty, and I really shouldn't drink alcohol tonight. Thank you, Ginevra."
Memory Daphne drank slowly from the cup. Ginny's eyes widened for a moment, but her look of annoyance was quickly replaced by a malicious smile, which neither of their older selves seemed to notice. Memory Harry was just standing there, looking at his wife and smiling at her antics.
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Real Harry was muttering under his breath, and Daphne could practically feel his anger. His aura was starting to leak out again.
"Is this it?" Daphne wondered to herself, her heart starting to beat rapidly. She took Harry's hand in hers, and he squeezed it almost enough to hurt.
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"It's good punch," memory Daphne said, smiling and handing the cup back to Ginny.
"Well, it was good to see you, Ginny, but there are some people that we still need to speak with," Harry said. "But hey, congratulations. I guess it was your dream, wasn't it?"
The couple turned and left Ginny before she could reply.
"Annoying little bitch," mumbled memory Daphne.
"Go ahead and say it."
"I have nothing to say," she muttered, and Harry sighed again.
"Oh, come on, Daph."
"I guess we should be lucky that her useless brother hasn't arrived yet, because I wouldn't be able to deal with the two of them together."
"Daph..." Harry tried again.
"What?" she asked, glaring at him.
"Can you please relax?" Harry asked, and Daphne grumbled, but some of the tension did leave her.
"I hate her," she said "Ever since we were in school, she's been trying to get her harpy claws on you. It's been years, and she still hasn't stopped."
"I know," Harry admitted. "I don't like her either."
"You certainly don't show it," she shot back.
"What do you want me to do, curse her?"
Daphne just snorted.
"I love you, don't I?"
"What, aren't you sure?" she asked sharply. She gave her husband a deadly look for a few moments, then cracked a smile and started laughing. Harry sighed.
"Your face was priceless..." Daphne said between chuckles. Harry grabbed her by the arm.
"Damn you, woman. Don't do that," he whispered, before crashing his lips against hers, hugging her around her waist. Daphne allowed herself to melt in his arms and kissed him back.
"Maybe we should just leave?" Harry proposed, and Daphne just smiled and gave him another peck on the lips.
"Let's just say hello to a few more people, and then we can leave," she countered, and Harry nodded his agreement. They made their way over to another couple, Draco and Astoria Malfoy.
Real Daphne's eyes narrowed at the older Malfoy, remembering Harry's story about how their marriage was a sham, her sister a victim of love potions.
"Sister," said Astoria, embracing Daphne while memory Harry and Malfoy exchanged curt nods.
"Hello, Harry, how are you?"
"Fine, thank you. And you?"
"We have great news. Draco, love, would you do the honours?" suggested Astoria.
"Astoria is pregnant again," Malfoy said, with a strained smile.
"Already?" memory Daphne asked in surprised, and Astoria smiled.
"You have to catch up, sister," she responded, teasing her older sister, who just laughed it off.
"Don't worry, Tori. You still have time to become an aunt."
"But I wanted our children to play together."
Neither of the sisters noticed how their husbands flinched at that.
"Well, it seems congratulations are in order," said Harry.
"It wasn't planned, but we are very happy, aren't we, Draco?"
"Of course," he replied, though real Daphne thought something seemed off about him.
"How long?" memory Daphne asked, hiding a cough behind her hand.
"Two months," beamed Astoria.
"Come to... *cough* St. Mungo's *cough* on the... *cough*"
Daphne attempted to speak, but she had suddenly been stricken with a strange cough.
"Are you all right, Daph?" asked Harry, putting his hand on her back. Daphne nodded, then winced and grabbed her stomach in pain.
"DAPH!" shouted memory Harry, holding his wife in his arms to prevent her from collapsing on the ground. A crowd quickly formed around them. Harry held Daphne in his arms as she started violently coughing up blood. Memory Daphne sagged in Harry's arms, and he knelt down to the floor with her, his face panic-stricken.
"D-Daph?"
Real Daphne knew this was it. It couldn't be anything else. She was absolutely terrified, but she couldn't look away.
"Call a healer, NOW!" Harry demanded, and a few people ran towards the floo.
"H-Har..." Daphne choked, fearfully grabbing Harry's hand.
"I'm here, Daph. Don't worry, I'm here," he replied, his eyes starting to tear up.
Daphne just coughed violently again, covering Harry with more blood. Memory Harry was really starting to panic, looking around and waiting for someone to help his wife. Blood started freely flowing from Daphne's mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, and sizeable crimson puddle had started forming underneath her.
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Harry's magic was flaring wildly around them, distorting the memory again. Daphne was still focused on the memory, but had she looked at real Harry at that moment, she would have seen the same look of utter desperation that his memory counterpart was wearing.
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"Har..." Daphne attempted to say, but her hand suddenly went limp in Harry's and her frightened expression sagged.
Daphne Potter was dead.
"Daph?" Harry whispered, caressing her hand with his.
"Daph?" he asked again, touching his wife's face.
"No... no, Daph..." he whispered, again not receiving a reply.
"DAPH!" he shouted in anguish, his magic exploding out of him. Every piece of glass and crystal in the room shattered, including the windows, and all the people around them were blown backwards to the floor.
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The memory became blurred, and Daphne felt herself being ejected from the Pensieve by force. She turned to Harry, who was still trembling, his eyes downcast and his fists clinched. His magic was a violent maelstrom of anger and hate, and Daphne was afraid he was going to blow up again, like he had in the memory. Instead, the flaring magic subsided, and he fell to his knees, sobbing. Daphne, who wasn't doing much better, went to Harry and hugged him softly. Harry wrapped his arms around her possessively and rested his head on her shoulder.
"Why?" she asked tearfully.
"It was unintentional..." whispered Harry.
"W-What?" she asked, breaking the hug and pulling back to look at him.
"I ordered a full autopsy. I wanted to know what had happened. I needed to know. What they told me..."
"What?" she asked again, and Harry picked up his wand and pulled another memory from his temple.
"I can't tell you, I just can't," he whispered from in front of the Pensieve, not looking at her. She went to him and took his hand. He didn't say anything; he just dropped the memory strand into the basin, and they went into the Pensieve together.
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They were in a dark, empty room. Daphne could see some light coming peeking in through a slightly cracked door, but the majority of the room was hidden in darkness. She noticed that real Harry's attention was directed to the far side of the room, where she could see a man huddled in the corner. She approached the man and confirmed that it was indeed Harry, looking as miserable as a person could possibly be.
"Why? Why, Daph?" memory Harry mumbled.
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"Where are we?" Daphne asked, turning to Harry.
"The is the morgue inside of St. Mungo's. It's where the bodies are analysed for causes of death," he replied.
Daphne turned her gaze back to where memory Harry was curled up on the floor. He looked completely lost, a shell of the boy she knew and the man she had seen in his memories. The image of him like this broke her heart, and she couldn't stop her own tears from falling.
"You look so..."
"Broken? Lost? Empty?" he suggested, barely above a whisper, and Daphne nodded faintly.
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The door opened fully, allowing enough light into the room to see properly. Memory Harry stood up from the corner and walked hesitantly towards the door.
"Oh, Harry..."
A witch Daphne didn't recognise entered the room. After taking a closer look, she could see that the witch was crying, so she must've been someone close to her or Harry.
"Hannah, what did you find out?"
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said, her eyes diverting to the floor.
"Hannah, please, tell me," Harry implored again.
"I... I'm sorry for your losses, Captain... Harry," the witch said, wiping her tears.
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Daphne furrowed her eyebrows.
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"L-Losses?" memory Harry asked, obviously not understanding what she meant.
"You... You don't know?" the distraught witch asked in surprise, and Harry shook his head in response.
"Oh, Merlin."
"Know what?" he asked again, starting to tremble.
"Harry, you should sit down," the witch suggested, and Harry's patience finally snapped.
"Damn it, Callen! I order you to tell me what you discovered!"
"Respectfully, Captain, I need you to sit down," Hannah replied.
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"Captain?" real Daphne asked.
"She's one of the Black Wands," Harry replied, and Daphne turned her attention back to the memory just in time to see another familiar face.
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Theodore Nott entered the room, followed by Tracey Davis. Behind them came a young man with brown hair, an older man with black hair and a grim demeanour, and another young man, this one a blonde. The last to enter the room were the Zabinis, looking the same as they did in the previous memory, except Blaise looked exceptionally sullen and Millie was distraught and crying.
"What the hell is happening in here?" asked Theo, while Tracey and Millie immediately went to Harry and hugged him tearfully.
"I'm glad you all came," Hannah said to Theo, looking slightly less nervous now that there were more people present.
"I was about to inform the captain about what I found, and I really need help."
She had whispered her reply while memory Harry was being distracted by Millie and Tracey, but real Daphne was standing close enough to hear.
"How bad?" he asked grimly.
"Really bad," she replied, and Theo nodded and turned to address Harry.
"Harry, buddy, Hannah wants to tell us what she found out," Theo attempted, only to receive a glare from his friend in response.
"Don't patronise me, Nott. What did you find out, Callen?" Harry asked in a no-nonsense tone, letting go of Tracey and steeling himself for the news.
"Daphne... She was taking potions," revealed Hannah, and memory Harry looked surprised by the news.
"What?" he asked. "Why?"
Everyone else in the room also looked around at one another.
"She was taking... Oh Merlin... She was taking prenatal potions," Hannah shared, and not a sound could be heard from the room, apart from real Daphne's gasp.
"She was pregnant."
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"Pregnant?" real Daphne asked, but the answer didn't come from real Harry.
————————————-
"Three months, at least," Hannah added, and memory Harry looked like he was about to collapse.
"Pregnant?" he whispered, looking down, lost and abandoned as his tears fell to the floor.
"She never told me... She never said anything."
"I think it was a boy," whispered Hannah, and Harry fell down to his knees and came apart.
None of the people in the room said a word. What could any of them say? The all just stood there looking at their friend and captain in sympathy, trying to process what had happened.
"It's actually standard procedure for healers. They usually advise to wait three months before making the announcement. I bet she would have told you soon."
"She told me she had a gift for me tonight..." Harry whimpered, heard by all.
"Merlin fuck it all..." the oldest man growled, putting his hands on his hand.
"Why are the potions relevant?" asked Millie.
"We found another potion in Daphne's system," Hannah revealed, and the others stiffened and turned their full attention to her.
"We were able to identify it as a loyalty potion, but at the same time, it was also a different potion."
"WHAT?" roared memory Harry. "Keyed to whom? And in her system for how long?"
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Real Daphne was taken aback by the revelation. Why the loyalty potion? She looked over at real Harry, who was trembling and mumbling to himself. As she stood beside him, she could feel his power coiling around him, like a predator readying itself for the hunt, and she realised that memory Harry was doing the same thing, judging by the uneasy looks on the other people around him.
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"What do you mean it was a loyalty potion, but at the same time it wasn't?" asked Millie, who, as a fellow Potions mistress, was prepared to offer her insight.
"As you are aware, loyalty potions require powdered hellebore roots..."
Millie nodded.
"I'm sure you also know that the powdered hellebore roots can be substituted with..."
"A mixture of three quarters dried moonflower petals to one quarter capped boletus fungus, immersed in an alcoholic solution, yes," Millie replied impatiently, and Hannah nodded while everyone else just looked lost.
"So?" asked Blaise, from his wife's side.
"That mixture is known as Basquel's Deceit," Hannah replied. "While it is cheaper than hellebore and easy to make, we usually advise against using it because of some of the by-products that result from its use, which tend to be…highly unstable."
Millie nodded along to Hannah's explanation, although she wasn't sure where her fellow Potions mistress was attempting to lead them. Then it clicked.
"The Deceit is so unstable, that it can be used as the basis of some strong poisons," gasped Millie, and Hannah nodded sadly again.
"And some potions, when reacting with it, end up triggering the opposite of their intended effect."
"What does that mean?" asked the younger man with brown hair.
"Prenatal potions have dried asphodel, as you may or may not know," Hannah said. Millie and Tracey nodded, but the men clearly had no idea.
"Asphodel has certain restorative properties, and it's used in prenatal potions to strengthen the womb..." explained Millie.
"And asphodel lingers in the body for a time after the potions are taken, and when mixed with the Deceit, it creates a strong haemophiliac poison. Daphne never had a chance," Hannah tearfully concluded, and it clicked for everyone.
"It was an accident?" Tracey blurted out, outraged.
"Someone created a potion using a cheap and easy method, and poisoned..." one of the older men mumbled, massaging his temples.
"Who?" memory Harry demanded, in a deadly tone.
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The way he asked the question seemed to unnerve the others in the room. His tone promised nothing but pain and suffering to anyone who crossed him. Even real Daphne couldn't help but be a little frightened, though part of that may have been the maelstrom of magic she felt raging inside of real Harry, who was trying his best to suppress it, as to not disturb the memory.
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"Who was responsible for creating the potion that killed my wife?" Harry demanded again, and the others watched him closely, fearing his reaction. A few of them had discreetly taken out their wands.
"WHO WAS IT?" he roared again, when still no one answered. Suddenly, a look of recognition crossed his face, as he remembered who had insisted on having a drink with him that evening.
"Ginny Weasley," Hannah quietly confirmed.
"What? Why?" one of the others asked, but the question went unanswered.
"I want to see her," memory Harry whispered, and Hannah nodded and waved towards the door.
Harry didn't speak. He walked through the door and stiffened at the sight of his wife's body lying on the table. He moved to her side and caressed her face, tears streaming down his cheeks as he felt her cold skin on his hands, his friends standing around him in silent support.
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It was the most heart-wrenching scene Daphne had ever witnessed, made all the more surreal by the fact that it was her body that Harry was mourning over. She choked out a sob, and Harry wrapped his arms around her from behind and held her as she cried.
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"We'll have her in Azkaban for this, Captain," the youngest male said angrily.
"I was the target," memory Harry realised, standing up straight.
"She wanted me to have a celebratory toast with her, but Daphne took the cup... That bitch did it... She took her from me... She took my wife and my... my child... she took them from me…"
Like flipping a switch, Harry had gone from despondent to furious.
"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" he roared, and Harry's magic exploded out of him, everyone and everything in the room blown backwards by the shockwave. Only Daphne's body and the table she laid on were spared.
"HARRY!" shouted an alarmed Theo, who was the first to pick himself up from the floor. He tried to run to Harry, only to see him grab hold of Daphne's body and apparate away.
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The memory ended, and they were ejected from the Pensieve. Daphne turned around and buried her face into Harry's chest, still emotional after her experience with the memory.
"What... What did you do with the body?" she asked Harry, who hesitated with his answer.
"I took her home and created a crystal sarcophagus to keep her body safe," he whispered, after a moment. "That way I could still see her... see you."
"What...what did you do?" Daphne asked, as Harry's arms tightened around her.
"I locked down the estate the moment I arrived, making sure no one could come after me. The first thing I did after that was create the sarcophagus and place the body someplace safe. I expended a lot of magic doing that, and it took me until the next day to recover. On Boxing Day the next morning, I left Dobby in charge of the estate and went after the bitch.
"First, I stormed the Burrow, the Weasleys' house. I should've realised that something was up when I got there and found a team of Aurors protecting the house. I defeated them easily before they could send word back to base, and I left them all stunned. The moment I entered the house, I was confronted by her parents and her brothers. They had the audacity to shout at me because the Aurors had taken Ginny away the previous day, under accusations of murder. That was news to me, so they must've taken her after I'd left the hospital. I turned around to leave without another word."
"The moment my back was turned, their hag of a mother actually told me to stop with my tantrum, and that what happened wasn't anyone's fault. I lost it at that, and hit her with a Fulminous Curse, which pretty much started a full-on battle between me and their family. They were no match for me, of course. I didn't kill anyone or use any Unforgivables, but I knew enough spells from my mastery to cause them plenty of pain without them."
Daphne was hanging on every word. She had questions, but she wanted to let Harry get through his story without too many interruptions, so she decided to hold on to her curiosity until later.
"I didn't care about the other Weasleys or potential consequences for what I'd done to them. All I cared about was my vengeance, so I left and went straight to the Ministry."
"What did you do?" asked Daphne, already fearing his answer.
"I wanted vengeance. I was completely blinded by it, damn the consequences. I wanted to know why she did it, and then I would make sure she paid the price for taking my family from me...in her own blood."
"But she had been captured...she was probably already being held by the DMLE."
"And yet, I didn't care," replied Harry ominously. "Nor did I want her to escape justice by claiming it was an accident. Even Azkaban was too good for her, after what she had done."
"You said you killed her," stated Daphne, and Harry slowly nodded.
"I didn't just kill her..." Harry whispered, looking down for a moment.
"I completely destroyed her."
"Show me."
It wasn't a request. To be perfectly honest, Daphne had no idea where she got the strength to make that demand. All she knew was that she needed to bear witness to Harry's revenge. Her feelings were all over the place. She had watched herself die. She had seen the cataclysmic effect losing her had on Harry. The fact that it all happened to a different Daphne from an alternate past/future that would likely never exist just made it all the more confusing. She mourned for her Harry and what he had been through. She mourned for the other Daphne, who was taken away from her family before it could really even begin, and she mourned for their child, who never even got a chance to live.
Harry gave a resigned sigh and pulled another memory from his temple.
"Please, don't think badly of me after seeing this," he said, dropping the memory into the Pensieve.
"How could I?" Daphne said to herself, but she remained silent.
She took Harry's hand, and both of them went into the Pensieve. Daphne looked around and recognised the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic. They were in the area right in front of the desk where the wands are registered.
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"Captain Potter," called the male Auror on duty at the entrance.
"We heard about what happened from Captain Nott. You have our condolences."
"I was told that the murderer has been apprehended?" memory Harry asked in a subdued voice, which Daphne could tell was fake. Harry was brimming with anger and hate, but he was trying to hide it to avoid causing a scene. Even the Auror seemed to notice it.
"Indeed, Captain. She was taken in yesterday. The Black Wands performed the arrest, and I can tell you that none of them were happy."
"Which cell is she in?" asked memory Harry, and Daphne saw the Auror closely scrutinising him.
"Captain, I don't know if you're aware, but Captain Nott has commanded us to prevent you from going near her with a wand," the Auror replied. "I'm sorry sir, but I can't give you that information unless you first surrender your wand."
Harry's reputation obviously preceded him, and Daphne could tell how anxious the conversation was making the Auror. He was standing there stiffly with his hand extended, waiting for Harry to hand over his wand. Memory Harry, however, was just looking back at the man with a calculating expression.
"I'm sorry about this," he said, and the Auror's eyes widened as he was hit by Harry's silent Stunner. With another wave of Harry's wand, the Auror fell comfortably into the chair he was previously sitting in. Memory Harry slid his wand back in his holster and continued on his path.
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Daphne glanced over at Harry, but neither of them commented on what they'd just seen. They just followed memory Harry through the corridors of the Ministry, which were nearly deserted, as it was still Boxing Day.
————————————-
Memory Harry entered the DMLE division and took note of the four Aurors on duty. As he entered through the door, the four got up from their desks and looked at him nervously.
"Shit, it's Captain Potter," one of the Aurors said, while another drew his wand.
"Captain Potter, by order of Captain Nott, you are to stand down and leave the vicinity. We can't allow you to..."
"Leave. Now," memory Harry said in a deadly whisper, and two more of them drew their wands.
"Are you crazy?" the fourth Auror, a young woman, shouted. "That's Captain Potter. He's one of us!"
"We have our orders," said another, not taking his eyes off Harry.
"Call Hallys, quickly."
The girl nodded and ran to the recreation room in the back of the office.
"Captain Potter, please. Captain Nott gave us orders not to allow you close to Weasley. There are three of us here, and Jenkins went to call Hallys, who's been standing guard ever since Weasley was captured. That's five of us against one of you. Please Captain, stand down."
"That bitch killed my wife and my unborn child. Do you really think I'm going to stand down and let her get away with it?" memory Harry responded coldly. The Aurors stiffened and looked questioningly at one another, until one of them let his nerves get the better of him and cast a spell at Harry.
"Stupefy!"
Harry easily dodged the spell and responded with one of his own, and a blue jet of light struck the offending Auror in the chest and threw him against the opposite wall, rendering him unconscious. The other two were barely able to point their wands in Harry's direction before they too were struck by spells, also losing consciousness.
"Merlin!" called out a voice in disbelief. The fourth Auror returned, looking gobsmacked and holding her wand limply in her hand. She was followed by the brown-haired young man that Daphne had seen in the previous memory.
"No, that's not Merlin, it's just the captain," he said with a grin, and turned to address memory Harry.
"Captain, we've been expecting you."
"Hallys," replied Harry, watching the man closely.
"Don't even try, rookie. You saw what the captain did to the others," advised Hallys, and the woman gulped and lowered her wand.
"Are you going to try to stop me, Jason?" asked memory Harry.
Jason shook his head slightly and flicked his wand. One flash of red, and Auror Jenkins joined her colleagues on the floor.
"Have you called the others?"
"No."
"What, then?"
"Have I ever told you about my grandfather, Harry?" Jason asked, and Harry shook his head.
"My dad died in an accident when I was seven, and my grandfather was my father figure for the rest of my life. Just after I graduated from Hogwarts, my grandfather and one of his friends were mugged in the street by a group of hoodlums. The bastards beat the two of them up pretty badly. The other old man lived, but my grandfather died of his injuries. Well, I tracked down the bastards one by one and I killed every single one the fuckers - painfully, and with the deliberate use of the Imperius and the Cruciatus."
Memory Harry seemed shocked by the younger man's story, and for a few moments, neither of them spoke.
"Why are you telling me this, Jason?" Harry asked, not really sure how to react.
"The point is..." Jason started, hesitating.
"I understand, and I won't stop you from going in there and taking your revenge on the bitch. It would make me feel like a hypocrite," he said, with a weak attempt at a smile.
"That's the whole reason why I'm here, actually. I know what it was like for me, but you...your wife and your child...I'm sorry, Harry."
Memory Harry nodded, wiping a tear from his face.
"Just stun me, alright? I'm starting to sound like pussy."
Both men laughed.
"If they ever find out, you'll be in a lot of trouble," Harry warned, but Jason shrugged it off.
"I owe you for my place in the Black Wands, Harry, and I owe you and your wife for saving my life last year," he replied seriously. "They're not the ones I'm loyal to."
The silent red spell flashed, and Jason fell to the ground. Memory Harry looked around and stunned everyone again just to be safe, knowing that he'd lost enough time as it was, then descended into the dungeons where the holding cells were located.
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"He sounds like a good guy," said Daphne, not knowing what else to say.
"He was."
"What was that about saving his life?"
"On one mission, he was badly cursed and was hovering somewhere between life and death. I portkeyed him to the hospital, where you were able to save him. I even helped, following your instructions, of course."
"And just because of that, he disobeyed his orders and allowed you to pass?" she asked, raising one eyebrow inquisitively.
"He's a Gryffindor," Harry replied, as if that explained everything. Daphne smirked and turned back to the memory, but it seemed Harry had something to add.
"He was one of the greatest wizards I ever had the pleasure to lead."
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously, but Harry only replied with a quick, "Later," and directed her attention back to the memory.
————————————-
Memory Harry waved his wand and the cell door opened, revealing its lone occupant.
"Harry, I knew you'd come! I..."
She didn't get a chance to finish her thought. As soon as he saw her, Harry's demeanour changed to pure rage, and he cast a bluish spell at the Weasley girl, making her scream out in pain. Harry kept the pain spell going for several moments, and with a flick of his wand, Ginny's screams intensified, as she felt her leg bones shatter.
"You poisoned my wife."
It wasn't a question. Harry waved his wand, and Ginny was lifted into the air and sent flying against the back wall of the cell. She was stuck there, unable to move, with her feet dangling a foot above the ground.
"You tried to put me under a loyalty potion. You did a poor job, and because of your actions and your mistakes, my wife is dead."
Ginny's attempts to say anything in her defence were ignored.
"Why? Why did you do it?" Harry's wand waved again, and with a piercing scream, Ginny's left arm was bent at an unnatural angle and dislocated from its socket.
"What was your purpose in giving me the loyalty potion that killed my wife?" Harry growled again, and boils erupted all over the dislocated arm, quickly erupting and oozing yellow and red pus. Weasley was now sobbing and whimpering in pain.
Daphne was horrified, and actually felt a bit nauseated by the display. As much as she may have deserved it, part of her couldn't help but feel some pity for the youngest Weasley. Who knew that Harry could be so vicious? She should probably feel afraid of him, as most reasonable people would, but she wasn't. No, she knew in her heart that Harry could never hurt her. He was only driven to this point by what others had done to her, and somehow, that actually made her feel safer.
"ANSWER ME! WHY DID YOU DO IT?"
"Be... Because I..." Weaselette tried to say, her voice hoarse and her body broken and wracked with pain, her head sagging.
"Because I love... you."
"What?"
"I love... you," she said again. "I wanted... mine. You'd leave her... and take me."
"What?" Daphne asked to no one in particular, while real Harry scoffed.
Memory Harry just gaped at her for a moment, then started to laugh uncontrollably. It wasn't a joyful laugh, though, it was a cruel laugh, filled with malice and hate. After a few moments he regained control of himself, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You stupid, self-centred bitch!" he spat, grabbing her by the throat and bashing her head against the wall.
"I LOVE DAPHNE! PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL! SHE IS MY SOULMATE! YOU'RE NOTHING, NEVER WERE, AND NEVER WILL BE! SHE WAS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED, AND YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! LOOK AT ME, YOU SHIT! YOU TOOK HER FROM ME, HER AND OUR CHILD!"
Harry's eyes bulged as he squeezed her throat, making her gasp for air. Harry eventually let go of her neck and released his spell, allowing her to collapse onto the ground, the impact making her cry out in pain once again. Memory Harry glared at the crying and broken woman in the floor, clearly feeling no remorse. With a flick of his wand, a gash appeared on Ginny's side and started bleeding profusely. He gave another flick of his wand, then another, and another, each time opening up a new gash on the young redhead's body. She now had multiple wounds in each thigh, and several across her chest and womb.
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Daphne had seen enough. She tried to ignore the whimpers coming from Ginny Weasley and focus on memory Harry, who was shaking with rage as he observed the broken woman on the ground. She then turned to real Harry and saw his stony expression. She grabbed hold of his hand to get his attention and he turned to look at her.
"Are you alright?" she asked him.
"Do you hate me?"
"No," she whispered.
"Then I'm fine," he replied with a small smile. She returned the smile and tilted her head up to kiss him, and she could actually sense his relief. She only broke the kiss when an orange flash from the memory caught her attention. Ginny Weasley's body was now engulfed in flames, but she didn't make a sound. She was likely dead already.
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"It's done, Daph," whispered memory Harry. "It's done, my love."
In tears, memory Harry left the cell and staggered through the halls, like a drunk, broken man who had nothing left to live for. Harry took the stairs back up to the DMLE offices and was greeted at wand point by the Aurors he had previously stunned, along with the remaining members of the Black Wands, Theo in the lead.
"Shit, Harry, what have you done?" he demanded, more concerned than angry. Harry looked around and saw the distressed looks on the faces of the other Black Wands.
"Captain Nott, I hereby surrender my wand and turn myself in for the assault of several Aurors and the murder of Ginevra Weasley."
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Daphne saw the resigned looks on the faces of the other five Black Wands, almost as if they were expecting this. They did what they could to prevent it, but their captain was a force unto himself, and they knew he wouldn't allow anyone to stop him, not once he had put his mind to something. Daphne could tell his team all recognised that nothing would ever be the same. This would be a turning point for them, and if she understood Harry correctly, a turning point for wizarding society as a whole. She wondered if they somehow knew, even then, how devastating the impact of the past forty-eight hours would turn out to be.
The memory twirled, and both Daphne and Harry found themselves back in the Chamber of Secrets.
"You turned yourself in?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Really? After everything you just saw, that's what you ask about?" Harry questioned, releasing a small chuckle.
Daphne shrugged.
"I'd like to think that if something like that happened to someone I love, then I'd do the same."
Harry chuckled again and took a seat in one of the chairs.
"Yes, I turned myself in. I had nothing to live for, why bother doing anything else?" he asked rhetorically.
"Did they let you go?" she asked hopefully.
"I could understand why you might think that - Auror, war hero, defeater of Dark Lords, but no. There were plenty who supported me, but there were even more who saw me as an obstacle, especially given the political environment at the time."
Daphne's shoulders slumped, and she dropped into the chair opposite Harry's. She should've known better.
"No, I stood trial before the whole Wizengamot. At first, they tried to paint me as a monster and a murderer. Tracey was my advocate in court, and when she presented the evidence explaining why I snapped, about the potion that... you know... and the death of you and our child, nearly half the Wizengamot was on my side. Then, I was asked to present my memory of Weaselette's death. You've seen it, so I'm sure you can predict how most people reacted. Some of the Newblood Reformists jumped on the opportunity to declare me a Dark Lord and a danger to society."
"So, what happened?"
"In the end, I was found guilty and sentenced to thirty years in Azkaban - twenty-five for the murder, and five for assaulting the Weasleys and multiple Aurors."
Daphne was appalled.
"I asked for execution, but surprisingly, the Newblood Reformists stood against it and demanded I be sentenced to Azkaban instead. Apparently, they thought execution was inhumane. The Purebloods and the Conservative Alliance agreed. Regardless of what I'd done, nobody wanted to go on record as voting to kill Harry Potter," he finished bitterly, shaking his head and looking down at his lap.
"YOU IDIOT!" Daphne shouted, making Harry look up in surprise.
"Don't you ever say anything like that again!"
"W-What?" he asked, and she slapped him hard on the shoulder, her eyes now brimming with tears.
"Asking for execution?" she demanded. "What could have possibly given you such a stupid idea?"
"Daph, I..." he tried.
"Don't even say it," she shouted, then hugged him tightly.
"I'm sorry, but you have to remember, I had nothing left. Life without you is no life at all," he explained, and she hugged him even tighter.
"What about Tori's children? What about your godson, Teddy, was it?" she asked, recalling the young child from their wedding.
"Teddy actually understood why I did it," whispered Harry.
"Both you and his grandmother did a great job raising him. You both made sure understood what it meant to put family first, and I taught him to always take responsibility for his actions. He cried at our farewell, but he told me he understood why I did it, and even asked if he could visit me in Azkaban. He was already my heir for the Black family, and I named him Heir Potter as well. He was to take over both families either on his seventeenth birthday or upon my death, whichever came first."
"What happened after that?" she asked.
"The night before being shipped off to Azkaban, I received a visit in my cell," he replied.
"Who?"
"The Longbottoms."
"What could they possibly want?" she asked, slightly confused. Harry growled and pulled a memory from his temple, then dropped it into the Pensieve.
"To apologise," he spat, then they once again entered the Pensieve.
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They were back in one of the DMLE cells, where a despondent Harry was huddled in the corner. The cell doors opened, and Hermione and Neville Longbottom entered the cell.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I'm here," a hoarse voice replied from the corner. "What do you want?"
"Hello, Harry. How are you?" replied Neville, who was obviously a little nervous.
"I'd rather be dead," memory Harry replied.
"Why did you do it, Harry?" Hermione inquired, with her usual condescending attitude.
"You were at the trial, so you know why," he growled, making the Longbottoms shiver involuntarily.
"Your wife and child..." she said. "It was an accident."
"Don't you dare try to defend that bitch!" he roared.
"She tried to feed me a potion to control me, but she couldn't even do that right. Instead, my wife drank her poor excuse for a potion and died, along with our unborn son!"
Harry glared at the two of them, disgusted by their self-righteousness.
"She cost me everything. I have nothing else to live for, so why should I bloody care?"
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she whispered, and Neville seemed to stiffen.
"For what?"
"It was for the greater good," she whispered again. "She wasn't supposed to make the mistake. The potion was supposed to be for you, and you alone. We just wanted to have your vote..."
"WHAT?" shouted memory Harry, jumping to his feet.
"SAY THAT AGAIN?!"
"It...it was a mistake...we're sorry, Harry, so sorry."
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Daphne couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did they really just admit to orchestrating the whole thing, just for a vote? It was all very surreal.
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"It was for the greater good of our world, Harry, and you weren't cooperating with us. We needed your vote, and Ginny wanted you. We approached Ginny and told her about the potion. It would be more discreet than Amortentia, and she would finally have you. In exchange, she just needed to make sure you'd vote for us. Everyone would..."
She didn't get to finish making her excuse, because at that moment, Harry leaped at her and tackled her to the ground, wrapping his fingers around her throat and squeezing as hard as he could.
"You bitch! This is all your fault?! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY!"
There was a flash of red, and the memory ended.
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Daphne and Harry were back in the Chamber. Harry was still fuming, but Daphne was too shocked to even say a word.
"What the hell?" she said, recovering her wits a few moments later. "Did she really..."
"Yes. There you have it, the main reason why I despise Granger and Longbottom so much. The red bitch may have done the deed, but it was all their idea," growled Harry.
"All because of a vote?"
Harry nodded stiffly and started pacing circles around the room.
"What are you doing?"
"The usual," Harry replied, a scowl forming on his face. "Just trying to convince myself not to march off and kill them both right now. Telling myself it's better to destroy everything they hold dear, to ruin their lives and their reputations first, and only then kill them. Last time around, it was too quick."
"The usual? How often does this happen?" she wondered to herself, sitting on the couch and trying to sort out her thoughts.
"But to answer your question, yes, it was all because of a vote," he said, joining her on the couch.
"I feel like I should be shocked by that, but after witnessing my own death and seeing my husband brutally kill my murderer, I think I might be a bit desensitised. Besides, I've always felt that Granger seemed a little too power hungry, so her behaviour honestly isn't that surprising to me."
Harry just looked back at her curiously. Once again, she had impressed him with her ability to cope with everything he'd shown her.
"So, what happened next?"
"I woke up in Azkaban. I tried to escape several times, unsuccessfully," Harry replied, earning a surprised look from Daphne.
"Between the escape attempts, a few violent episodes, and my repeated threats to kill the bitch and the bastard, they decided I should be sent down to the lower levels, where there are more dementors and hardly any prisoners. You know Bellatrix Lestrange?"
Daphne nodded.
"Well, they kept her on the first floor, but they threw me in the basement," Harry said, in a weak attempt at humour. He sobered quickly, seeing that Daphne didn't find anything funny about the situation at all. He realised that she was right, and there really was no reason to pretend they could lighten the mood.
"Dobby!"
"Yes, Master?" asked Dobby, popping in next to Harry.
"It's your turn to tell the story," Harry said, smiling at his old friend.
"His turn?" asked Daphne. "Why?"
"You see, Daph, after six months in Azkaban, I was a total wreck. The dementors have always had a strong effect on me, but the constant exposure left me broken. I continuously watched my parents being murdered and you bleeding to death, all day, every day. I was a sobbing wreck before my first year ended, and it wasn't long before I'd gone completely mad."
Daphne just shook her head. Harry's story had been one hardship after another, and she couldn't understand how he was even still functioning. How much could one man take?
"I don't recall anything of the two years that followed."
"You were in Azkaban for four years?"
"No, I spent two years in the lowest levels of Azkaban," corrected Harry, then gestured towards Dobby.
"Dobby evacuated me near the end of my second year, but I spent the next two years hidden, trying to recover my sanity and my health."
Daphne's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at the house-elf with newfound respect.
"You took Harry from Azkaban? How?" she asked, fascinated.
"He summoned me," he replied simply.
A moment passed, and then another. The long pause finally ended when Dobby and Harry looked at each other and started laughing, leaving Daphne flustered.
"That's no answer!" Daphne protested, and the two stopped laughing, but their amused expressions remained firmly in place.
"I assure you, Mistress, that's what happened. I was surprised as well," Dobby informed her. "Do you recall when Harry told you about how he saved me, after I was cursed by Bellatrix Lestrange?"
"Yes..."
"When Harry used his magic to heal me, he deepened our bond in a way that none of us realised. I was more powerful, but I always thought it was because I was 'Master Harry Potter's sir's house-elf'," Dobby squeaked, imitating his former self.
"It was, to an extent, but it was also because of the nature of the bond. It was no longer a bond of servitude. When Harry healed me, our bond became a pure magical bond, and my life and power became intertwined with Harry's for all time. If he dies, I die. That's also why I sometimes seem to know what my master requires without him having to ask," Dobby explained.
"So, Harry called you?" she asked, and Dobby nodded.
"Being separated from Harry for so long had weakened me, but I still managed to pop into Azkaban. Thanks to our special bond, I was able to tap into Harry's power to fuel my own, which gave me enough strength to bring Harry back to Potter Manor. It was there that I discovered he had two different potions in his system – one to weaken him, and one to strengthen him."
"Potions? Why?"
"The potions intending to weaken me were administered by the Longbottoms' minions. I would later discover that the others were given to me by my friends and allies."
"I nursed Harry back to health for nearly a year, but his mind was still fractured," Dobby continued.
"I took some time to explore our bond and test out a few ideas. I thought I'd managed to find a way to help my master, but I wasn't sure if my body could endure it. I had nothing to lose, so I decided to try it. I recruited the help of another elf to take care of my master, should I fail."
"What did you do?" asked Daphne.
"I pushed all my power through the bond and attempted to force Harry's magic to heal his mind."
"Is that even possible?" she questioned.
"Well, the results speak for themselves, even if he can sometimes be a little crazier than he was before..." Dobby smirked, and Harry scoffed and waved him off.
"It was that effort that transformed Dobby in this," Harry added, gesturing at Dobby. "My magic powered his, and his body responded by assuming this form."
Daphne was floored by that. She'd expected something extraordinary was behind his change, but she'd always figured it would've been intentional, like a ritual or something of the sort. She definitely never expected that forming a deeper magical bond would be responsible for the elf's unique appearance.
"I really don't know how to explain it, Mistress," replied Dobby. "To be honest, I never gave it much thought after that. My master was recovering, and that's all that mattered."
"That goes beyond normal loyalty, Dobby," Daphne replied with a smile, making the elf blush.
"He's family, Mistress. So are you," replied Dobby. He was looking down bashfully and didn't see that Daphne was blushing too.
"How long did your recovery take, then?" Daphne asked them.
"After the merging, we were both unconscious for what, three months?" Harry asked Dobby, who just shrugged.
"No idea. All I know is that it was already 2010 by the time you were well enough to leave the estate. That was when you decided to summon your allies and get caught up on what was happening in the world."
"Yes," replied Harry, smiling fondly. "Thank you, Dobby, I'll take it from here."
"Would you like me to bring you anything?" he asked, and Daphne just shook her head.
"Tea and cookies, please," asked Harry.
"Right away," he nodded, and popped away.
"So, I will continue the story from my recovery. I had no idea what had been happening during my four-year absence, but Dobby managed to get us a subscription to the newspaper. Through the Daily Prophet, I discovered that in the aftermath of my incarceration, the vote I told you about had been won by the Newblood Reformists, who immediately started making significant changes to our society."
Daphne looked both surprised and disgusted.
"They gained full majority control in the Wizengamot, and they didn't hesitate to use their power. They forced through new laws, changed or repealed the old ones, and revoked the status of the old families. They introduced the concept of muggle appliances, such as the television and the telephone. They formed their own security force to replace the Aurors, who essentially had a zero tolerance policy against anything even vaguely considered Dark."
"Dark creatures were rounded up and either destroyed or sent to reservations. Vampires and werewolves were invited to cooperate with the efforts to find cures for their sicknesses, which we found out later wasn't as benevolent as it sounds. These were just a few of the more noticeable changes, but there was so much more. For example, Knockturn Alley had been burned to the ground a year before my return."
"From what you're saying, it sounds like a full-on coup by the Light side and the muggleborns," Daphne speculated.
"My thoughts exactly!" he agreed, beaming at her. "And of course, the people, being the sheep they are, stood aside allowed them to do whatever they wanted to."
"Who are they?" asked Daphne, already having an idea.
"Who else? The Newblood Reformists and their glorious leaders, Hermione and Neville Longbottom, who were by then also known by their titles, Oberon and Titania."
"Oberon and Titania? That sounds vaguely familiar for some reason," mused Daphne, trying to recall the reference.
"Medieval and Renaissance literature or Shakespeare, take your pick. They were the king and queen of the fairies," Harry replied promptly.
"The king and queen?" she demanded. "Don't tell me those two considered themselves the king and queen of the magical world?"
"Of course not, only of Magical Britain…though I'm fairly certain that in their minds, it was one and the same," Harry replied, leaving Daphne gaping.
"Longbottom, or Oberon, was the leader of the Paladins."
"Paladins?" asked Daphne, and Harry nodded.
"Yes, the so-called Defenders of the Light. They were what replaced the Aurors, but they functioned more like an army than regular law enforcement."
"How did they got away with it?"
Harry shrugged.
"Granger was the equivalent of the Minister and the Chief Witch of the Council, which had replaced the Wizengamot," said Harry. "They had all the power, and they had managed to pack the Council with their own people. For all intents and purposes, they really did rule Britain."
"What did you do about it?" asked Daphne, understanding Harry well enough to know he wouldn't stand for that.
"Nothing at first. Not against them, at least. I needed to gather more information, and what better way to do that than by meeting up with some old friends?" Harry told her, then pulled another silvery thread from his temple and dropped it into the Pensieve.
"I arranged a meeting through Gringotts and sent out invitations to people I thought I could trust. That process led to me learning lots of surprising things, many of them unpleasant."
"What do you mean?" asked Daphne, she wouldn't like it.
"For starters, Draco Malfoy was dead. His wedding to Astoria had been dissolved, and Jonathan Greengrass, your father, had disowned her for killing her husband," Harry revealed, leaving Daphne in shock.
"What? You told me Malfoy gave her potions and killed their baby, why would my father disown her?"
"You know your parents better than I do, but I always believed they'd do whatever they thought would benefit them the most. My guess is that it had to do with keeping control of their heir."
"Yes, that does sound like them," Daphne said resentfully.
"Astoria was in Azkaban for killing Draco, and it was only there that she found out about the potions. Her firstborn son was taken in by his three grandparents, Narcissa Malfoy and your parents, who raised him to be the Malfoy and Greengrass heir. I met him a couple times and let me tell you, the little shit was just like his father."
Daphne wanted to gag.
"Did...did my sister..." she wanted to ask, struggling to find the right words.
"I took her out of Azkaban, and she found a home with us," Harry reassured her.
"Us?"
"Yes, us. Me, and those who stood with me and helped me during those years. The people most important to me," he replied.
"Thank you for protecting my sister," she smiled.
"She's family," Harry replied, as if that's all that needed to be said, and Daphne realised that for him, it probably was.
"What else?"
"Teddy..." Harry sighed. "Andromeda died two years earlier, and Teddy had been adopted by the Longbottoms."
"The Longbottoms?"
"Yes, Remus and Tonks had named Granger his godmother, and Narcissa couldn't be bothered with her half-breed grandnephew," he said, with a hint of regret. His eyes became unfocused, as he seemed to become lost in thought.
"Little did she know that the kid was the Black heir. If she had known, then maybe she would have taken him in. Maybe then, he would've survived."
"Teddy died?" Daphne blurted out, pulling Harry from his thoughts.
"It wasn't public knowledge, but the goblins were able to confirm that my heir was dead. They didn't know how or why he died, only that he was dead," Harry explained, and Daphne could tell how much it affected him, even now.
"Who else?"
"Pansy died in a riot, and so did Vince. With them gone, Greg became a recluse and lived by himself in a small village in Wales. Blaise and Millie were fine. They had two boys and were both happily working on their businesses. Theo and Tracey had a boy and a girl, and they were also doing fine. She was still working as a prosecutor, but Theo had quit the Aurors and was a stay-at-home father and tutor, and also managed his family estate."
"I invited all of them, and I also invited the remaining members of the Black Wands, which had been disbanded. Hannah Callen was still with St. Mungo's, but she also worked with Millie making potions. Francis Talbot was killed in one of the Aurors' last raids, and Justin Smith had joined the Unspeakables, who fortunately weren't much affected by the new regime. Jason Hallys, however, was in Azkaban."
"That's a lot to take in," breathed Daphne. "No one else?"
"There really wasn't anyone else we were close to. Luna Lovegood was busy travelling around the world searching for mythical creatures, so that was a no. I didn't want to risk inviting anyone who I wasn't absolutely certain would support me."
Daphne nodded. She didn't really know Loony Lovegood, but if they'd been close in Harry's past, then maybe she should. She wondered why Harry hadn't approached her yet.
"I set up a meeting in one of the abandoned Black family properties, with arrival by portkey only."
Harry started chuckling to himself.
"It was an interesting meeting, that's for sure."
"Tell me about it, then," Daphne requested, but Harry shook his head.
"No, this one I absolutely must show you," he insisted, smiling sadly.
She noticed his ambivalent expression and decided not to question it. She took his hand, and they went into the Pensieve, finding themselves in a dark room filled with close to a dozen people, some of them children. The room's occupants were all standing around in silence, until one of the children spoke up.