Chapter 331
Lily chuckled. "Yes, that sounds like Dobby. Hello, Minerva, Filius. It's so good to see you
both again!" she enthused as her two teachers walked into the room. Minerva looked
slightly pale while Filius was snickering and mumbling something under his breath about
fantastic charm work. Lily quickly got up and hugged each before beckoning them to a seat
on the chairs across from the two women.
"It's wonderful to see you as well, Lily," Minerva said cracking a genuine smile. It was a
touch odd to see the stern woman looking so incredibly happy though Lily certainly wasn't
averse to being the cause of such an occurrence. "I must ask though…was the hissing
necessary?"
Shiva laughed and waved her colleague's question away. "Blame Harry. He felt if he was
going to make it slither in midair he might as well go for the full monty. I didn't feel right
talking him out of it – it is his house after all."
Lily just smirked. "I was still mostly dead when it was decided on."
Filius shook his head grinning like a loon at her joke. "Oh how I missed you, Lily! That boy
of yours certainly stirs things up just like you and James!"
"I've noticed," Lily said smiling. "So to what do we owe this visit? Or is it just a social call?"
Minerva smiled. "A bit of both. We wanted to come and see you now that things seem to
have settled down a bit. It helps that I've finally got most of my house in order. Albus…well
Albus left quite a bit of a mess behind and I've had my work cut out for me with
reorganizing everything at Hogwarts."
"Which is the second reason why we're here actually," Filius commented.
Shiva sighed. "I thought I had til next week to send over those lesson plans for the Newt
courses."
"Oh you do, you do, don't worry," Filius said dismissing her concern. "We're here for Lily
this time."
"What do I have to do with Hogwarts?" the woman in question asked blinking in
confusion.
Filius' grin widened. "Hopefully quite a bit."
Minerva groaned and shook her head in exasperation. "What my Deputy Headmaster is
trying to insinuate is that we have an opening."
"I am not teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lily immediately answered. "From
everything I've heard and researched, the position is completely cursed. I am not going to
teach that and make my son nervous that I'm going to succumb to whatever horror show is
affecting that post and end up almost killing him."
The other three stared at her until Shiva shook her head in amusement and laid her hand
on Lily's thigh squeezing slightly. "I rather doubt you have to worry about that, Lils."
"Yes, well, actually I was talking about the Muggle Studies course…" Minerva said
hesitantly. "Charity Burbage decided to take a leave of absence for a few years. She seems
to have taken the news of You-Know-Who's resurrection rather badly and wished to get as
far away as possible." She sighed. "As bad as this is to say, this actually saves me quite a bit
effort. I took a look at a list that Miss Granger compiled of all the ways that the course
was…rather dated. It was ten feet long…"
Lily smirked. "That certainly seems like the type of thing that Hermione would make a list
of. I remember Muggle Studies being a bit old, but I only took it third year…Charity really
got that far behind the times?"
Filius grimaced. "Well like most of us she didn't expect the Muggles to have advanced like
they did. She never bothered to check her sources to see any changes made in recent years.
When I asked her about the recent advancements she looked at me like I'd grown a second
head!"
"That's not the only position that I'm seeking replacement for. Severus is on probation and
if he doesn't ensure that the students are treated fairly I won't hesitate to sack him."
"Well you could always talk to Slughorn. He was quite good in my day. Does he still teach?"
Lily asked shrugging.
"I'm a little surprised you're not sacking Sybill," Shiva said chuckling. "You haven't exactly
made a secret of what you think about her or her course. One actual prophecy aside and
all."
Filius smiled at her. "I talked her out of it. As much as we may not believe that Sybill is
perfect there are precious few Divination teachers worth much more and fewer who are
willing to come to Hogwarts at this time. She's been placed on probation and told to make
improvements to the course work, but she has the year to make the changes before we
take action."
"We have strayed quite extensively," Minerva said rolling her eyes. "Lily, would you be
interested in teaching the Muggle Studies course?"
Shiva nodded towards Lily. "It would let you stay close to Harry during the school year
without having to keep making trips to Hogsmeade on various weekends."
Lily considered her options for a minute before slowly nodding. "That's true. I was
considering trying for a potion's position in the town…this would pay just as well I
assume?"
"Hogwart's pay is quite competitive I assure you. That is one area that Lucius Malfoy was
not willing to try and force budget cuts on," Minerva said.
"And I'd be able to conduct the class as I choose to?"
"Of course."
Lily sat back and crossed her arms with her mouth quirked in concentration. "Okay. I'll do
it."
Harry's partners had been sleeping for over an hour when he gave up falling into
Dreamland himself. Every time he closed his eyes he just saw the hidden door in his mind
bulging and horrible images of Tonks dead with a huge gash down the middle of her back.
After he managed to push those nightmares back they were replaced by mental pictures of
Fleur glassy eyed, lying bonelessly on the dirt. Shortly after those it switched to Hermione
completely limp and tied to a bed with Malfoy grinning nearby.
With a growl Harry dived into his mindscape and threw more and more restraints around
the Horcrux until finally the images stopped seeping out and his irritation level lowered.
He had hoped that the 'activities' with his partners earlier would have been able to tire
him out enough to fall asleep without having to deal with the regular nightmares, but
apparently he wasn't that lucky.
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Chapter 332
"Never should have made that stamina rune," Harry muttered sitting up. Rubbing a hand
over his aching scar, his eyes fell on the completed prototype schematic for his Soul Cage
sitting on the desk. Grimacing at another twinge of pain from his head Harry made up his
mind.
The Horcrux needed to go.
Gingerly crawling over Fleur – the heaviest sleeper in the group – he got out of bed, pulled
on his boxers and sat down at the desk. Harry pulled out his tools and activated one of the
privacy runes stones so that he wouldn't wake the girls with his work. Half an hour later,
Harry had finished carving out his Soul Cage prototype. He held it up to the light and
twisted it around several times examining every facet. The core of the scheme was similar
to the Egyptian Soul Render, but the modifications were extensive. He'd checked and
double-checked everything. He'd run the design by Shiva. He'd even outsourced parts of it
to some of the researchers at Outback Training Alternatives to make sure that the sections
worked independently. It should be ready. It should be fine. It should be safe. It should
take care of his Horcrux problem.
Idly Harry turned to rub his Dementor Anchor tattoo. Would it protect him if something
went wrong? It wasn't remotely designed for something like the Soul Cage. The tattoo had
a very specific function and with as complicated a design as the Soul Cage had become…he
wasn't sure if the tattoo would do anything in a worst-case scenario. It…might help.
"I should wake the girls. I should wake my mothers," Harry murmured even as he lifted the
rune stone closer and blew the last bits of stone dust from its etchings. "This is stupid. I
promised them I wouldn't do things like this anymore. They're right there. Just drop the
Privacy Stone Harry. Just drop it and wake them up first."
Except…if he woke anyone else up he'd have to admit how much he'd been downplaying
the Horcrux issues. How little sleep he'd been able to get for the past few weeks. Lily
would blame herself. Shiva and his partners would blame themselves for not stopping him
from touching Lily before they'd figured out what to do with the Horcrux first. Harry'd have
to admit how worried he really was about losing control. About letting his guard down at
the wrong moment and the thing pushing through and trying to wrest control. About how
scared he was about hurting the people he loved if he didn't get rid of this thing!
His lips curling in scowl, his scar flared in pain again and he felt the mental bonds holding
the Horcrux in strain. "Just die already!" Harry yelled. He swept a hand across the desk not
noticing as he knocked the Privacy Stone across the room. Clutching the Soul Cage with his
other hand Harry charged the rune scheme and slammed it onto his forehead.
The next instant pain flared in every nerve of his body and all of his muscles locked taught.
He felt like he was seeing double. One view was his normal vision while the other was
from just slightly above his body. He felt his entire being straining against some invisible
bond and he felt the life being practically choked out of him. Distantly he heard an ear
piercing scream from somewhere. It was only when Hermione leapt off the bed and ran to
him that he realized the sound was coming from him.
"I can't get it off! Help me!" Hermione screamed to Tonks and Fleur as they jumped to her
side. All three grabbed his hand clutching the rune stone to his head and started tugging.
Harry's double vision got worse and he felt the things tying him stretch further. Part him
noted the brightly glowing Dementor Anchor tattoo on his side and the way that the
spectral part of him seemed to be pulling against that. Most of Harry though was too
consumed with pain to really truly notice much.
The door to the room banged open and Shiva and Lily charged in. Harry watched them take
in the naked forms of the girls clustered around him as well as the way he was contorted
on the chair still screaming. Harry felt himself stretch further and the Anchor glowed
brighter peeling back from his skin slightly. Dobby popped into the room and blinked at
them all, his mouth hanging open.
Lily started to raise her wand, but Shiva jerked it down. "No! No magic! It'll just make it
worse!" Shiva shouted.
Hermione managed to wedge her fingertip underneath the rune stone and lurched back
with all her strength. Harry snapped back into his body as he felt skin tear from his
forehead under Hermione's nails. His partner fell backward and the Soul Cage went flying
across the room between his mothers. Harry fell backwards only staying off the floor
thanks to Fleur catching him. His entire body ached and the area around the Dementor
Anchor burned.
Turning and burying his head in-between Fleur's breasts Harry cried at the pain and shame.
"I'm sorry! It was supposed to be safe! Everything said it should be safe!"
Lily started to say something until Shiva clamped onto her arm and shook her head. The
older woman instead grabbed the blankets and draped them over Fleur and Harry, handing
one to Tonks and Hermione.
The brunette witch padded over to Harry and gently brushed a lock of hair behind his ear.
"Harry," she said softly, "why didn't you wait for us?"
"I don't know! I didn't want you to worry," he sobbed. "This thing keeps making me see
things every time I close my eyes! I can barely think through the headaches sometimes and
it keeps trying to get out! I'm scared I'm going to lose control and it's going to hurt you! I
need it gone! I just need it gone!" Harry clung tighter to Fleur and cried harder. Tonks
frowned and stood up, moving to the side with Shiva and Lily.
"Did you know it was this bad?" he heard Lily ask.
Tonks sighed. "No. We knew he'd been having nightmares and headaches, but it didn't
seem this bad."
"The kid's good at hiding things when he wants to." Harry didn't need to look up to see
Shiva frowning. "It's damn near impossible to read him when he's actively burying things.
Hermione's the only one who can even come close and even she misses things when he's
being careful. Dammit, Harry…"
"Shh," Fleur murmured. "Shh, it's okay, mon chéri, we will fix zis."
"You're not going to hurt us, Harry," Hermione said continuing to stroke his cheek with one
hand and his back with the other. "You're one of the strongest willed people I've ever met.
Even if by some catastrophe the soul shard took control momentarily you'd beat it back
down a few moments later. I know this is hard, Harry, and I know it hurts. But you need to
remember everything that you've been through and everything that you've overcome. This
is just more of the same. It's bigger in scale, but the principle is the same. You are strong,
Harry. You will beat it back down – just like you always do."
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Chapter 333
Hermione paused and Fleur hugged him tighter. After a few moments Hermione continued,
"And, Harry…if you don't feel like you can trust yourself, then trust us. We won't let you
fall."
XXX
Harry let out a murmured groan of pleasure as he felt Tonks' fingers digging into his
forehead. He had thought that it would just be Hermione and him on the Hogwarts Express
until Tonks had announced that there was no way he'd be on the train without an escort.
Harry hadn't been able to tell whether she was going because she was actually worried
about a potential attack or if she just wanted to spend a few extra hours with him before
school started back up and their time together would drop precipitously. Either way, he
didn't particularly care since he was getting to spend just a bit longer with his partner.
Fleur surprisingly hadn't actually tried to tag along. She had claimed she was busy doing
research at the moment and that she was simply going to monopolize the first Hogsmeade
trip.
He didn't know how Tonks had done it but she'd found a way to make her head massages
actually relieve some of the issues he'd been having with the Horcrux. She'd apparently
taught her technique to Hermione as well so that his first partner would be able to keep
helping him during the school year. Fleur hadn't been able to replicate their efforts
unfortunately. Ideally none of their massages would be needed soon. Hopefully…maybe…if
Merlin decided to come back from Avalon and personally tutor him perhaps…
His efforts on fixing the Soul Cage were hitting wall after all. The main problem seemed to
be that the rune stone was trying to pull the larger soul – his own – instead of targeting
Voldemort's hitchhiker. It wasn't something that should be happening since he'd included
a targeting aspect to the scheme and every expert he'd talked to had agreed that the rune
stone should be working. Shiva and Harry had been trying to figure out just what was
going wrong nearly every day since his birthday with no noticeable progress at all.
He let out a sigh and then grunted as Tonks dug hard into his head. "Stop angsting, Wonder
Boy. Concentrate on your massage."
"I'm not angsting," he muttered.
"Sure you aren't," she said amused. "And my hair isn't pink."
Hermione flipped a page in her book and gestured to Tonks without even looking up. "Your
hair is blue today, love."
Tonks' fingers froze for a moment and Harry opened his eyes quickly enough to see her hair
flash to pink and a blush spread across her features. He smiled up at her and chuckled as
he closed his eyes again and relaxed back onto her lap again. "Nice, Nym."
"My point still stands," she said starting up her fingers again.
"Sorry, just musing on why the stupid Cage isn't working."
Hermione reached over and lightly flicked his arm. "We'll figure it out. There is a reason
that the Egyptians didn't get it working you know. With all the modifications that you've
made, Harry, I'm sure that it's going to end up being something incredibly small that has
been overlooked. Just keep focused on how things will be after this is all over."
Harry felt Tonks nodding above him in agreement. "Mione's right. You can't be expected to
fix something in two months that those crazy pyramid builders couldn't get right in two
thousand years." She paused and he felt her silent chuckle ripple all the way down through
her legs. "And I just heard how depressing that could sound so let's treat it like a joke
instead, yeah? The positive thoughts are still holding the soul shard back right?"
"Yeah. That's not the secret to the massage thing is it? Because that would be kind of lame
to be honest," Harry said smiling. Amazingly enough, keeping positive and happy had
actually helped to keep the bonds around the Horcrux from straining too often. He wasn't
naïve enough to think that it was because of any actual power behind the feelings hurting
the Horcrux; it was far more likely that simply by keeping his spirits up he subconsciously
reinforced the power in his mental walls. Whatever the actual mechanism behind it, the
shard hadn't been able to influence him enough to convince him to try the slightly
modified Soul Cage a second time. He was still getting nightmares, but at least it wasn't
every night anymore.
"No, happy thoughts are not the secret to the massage, Wonder Boy," Tonks said laughing.
"The secret is pressure points. Mum showed me some of the things she used when
learning a bit of the Healer stuff and I adapted it."
"Ah," Harry said uttering another low contented groan as she hit a spot just to the side of
his scar that sent tingles down his spine. "You are amazing, woman."
Tonks preened. "I prefer 'best damn woman ever' but amazing works too."
"Careful, Nym, say that around Dobby and he'll actually start calling you that," Hermione
said distractedly.
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Chapter 334
Harry chuckled. "Nah, I think he's settling on Mistress Colorful for the moment."
There was a knock on the door to their compartment and a few moments later it slid open.
"Heh, nice, Harry. Glad to see you're still in one piece and enjoying the benefits of a
relationship," Su Li's amused voice drifted down to him.
Harry shrugged and waved to her popping his eyes open but not moving from his position.
His grin widened as he saw Parvati and Padma stepping into the compartment next to the
Asian girl. "Eh, got to enjoy it while it lasts. How are you, Su, Padma, Parvati?"
"Well," Su said with a feigned sigh, "I was going to say better than you, but considering
you're apparently a necromancer now, you weren't targeted by the local incarnation of
Hitler over the break and you're currently the recipient of a head massage…I can't really
use that opening anymore."
Parvati grimaced. "Please don't say he's a necromancer. That's a bad omen."
Padma smacked her sister on the back of her head and rolled her eyes. "Will you stop with
the Divination shite already! Harry, we wanted to let you know what we found out from
talking to our families over the summer."
Harry gently pushed Tonks' hands away and sat up. He pulled a Privacy Stone from his bag,
activated it, schooled his features and nodded to the three newcomers. "Okay. Any good
news?"
"Unfortunately not really much from our end," Padma said grimacing. "Most of the stories
my family found were pretty inconclusive. We know similar things have happened in the
past, but the resolutions tend to be killing the victim. Other alternatives are mostly lost to
myth. One story had Vishnu himself step in to save the girl. It makes a nice story, but I
doubt you want to waste time searching for a god that probably doesn't even exist."
"I had marginally more success," Su Li said sighing. "Sadly, it's not really useful for our
purposes. Depending on the level of contamination, Chinese wizards had great success
with simply removing the affected limb." She smirked at Harry. "Somehow I don't think
even you could survive without a head."
Harry snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm not quite that awesome. Plus, it's been in me
long enough that it's probably tied too closely to my own soul for that option to work
well."
"Agreed," Su said. "My mother had an old friend that knew of a potential potion
combination that might work. It's…I think it should be a last resort personally."
Hermione frowned and took out a notepad. "How dangerous is it?"
Su shrugged. "Well from what my mum remembered it pretty much kills him for a few
minutes. The potions should bring him back afterwards, but I checked into some of the
ingredients and it's basically the same chance as getting resuscitated in a Muggle hospital."
"Agreed, killing Harry is not going to be our primary option," Hermione said nodding.
Tonks raised her hand. "I fail to see how killing him would even help. Isn't the goal to not
have to die?"
Parvati shook her head. "Well it clears his aura and – " She cut off and dodged her sister's
hand before huffing and turning back to the others. "Fine, it tricks the Horcrux into
thinking the vessel is destroyed and it loses its anchor. The trick is to keep him 'dead' long
enough that the extra soul is kicked out, but not so long that you can't bring him back."
"So like I said, last resort," Su said crossing her arms and leaning back.
"Agreed." Harry breathed out and leaned against Tonks. "Thanks for checking girls. I really
do appreciate it. Hopefully I'll get my rune option working before things get desperate
enough to have to resort to an Only Mostly Dead alternative."
"I love that movie!" Parvati said perking up. She blushed immediately and sank back into
the cushions. "Sorry."
The rest of the compartment just chuckled. Within another minute they were chatting
about their respective summers while Tonks hummed and went back to massaging Harry's
forehead.
"Remember, Harry, Fleur and I are just a Comm Stone call away," Tonks said as she leaned
against one of the pillars on the Hogsmeade train platform. "If anything happens – and I
mean anything – call us and let us know."
"I will," he promised.
"Good," she nodded. "I'm going to miss you, Wonder Boy. Hopefully by the time I get to
spend the day with you again we'll have a few things taken care of. We'll keep you in the
loop. Just keep yourself on your toes and keep your training going. I love you, Harry."
Tonks' hair shifted to a deep red and she leaned in to capture his lips. Harry responded in
kind and though they only stayed connected for a few moments both felt warmed as they
pulled back.
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Chapter 335
Tonks turned to Hermione and pulled the younger girl into a kiss as well though theirs was
slightly chaster. Hermione blushed as she stepped back. "I'll watch out for him in the
meantime and endeavor to minimize the trouble that he gets into," Hermione said. "You
and Fleur make sure to watch out for each other."
"We will, hon. Go get on the carriages and tell Lily and Shiva I said hi," Tonks said smiling at
them. Both students returned the grin and slotted into the queue for a seat. As they
hopped up into a seat across from Luna and Coco Harry's mind wandered.
He wasn't sure what to expect from this year. Voldemort's martial strength was growing,
but they were starting to galvanize some of the masses against him. Progress was slow, but
Sirius and Remus' defense articles in the Quibbler seemed to be helping. The last minor
attack by Death Eaters had actually seen five nearby civilians fighting back. They hadn't
really done much damage, but they had kept the terrorists from hurting anyone until the
Aurors showed. Harry felt he should be doing more to help the fight directly rather than
just sitting around in school…Well either way, with his luck he'd probably get dragged into
something by the end of the year so maybe he could use Hogwarts as a way to establish a
large group of people willing to help in whatever craziness May/June would bring…
The Welcoming Feast yielded a few surprises for Harry this year. That Lily was the new
Muggle Studies teacher was something he'd known going in so that didn't ruffle any
feathers. When Headmistress McGonagall announced it though, the huge cheer that broke
out in the Great Hall did see him rocking back on his seat a bit. He'd expected some people
to be excited about his mother coming to teach; he just hadn't expected it to be quite so
many or quite so enthusiastic.
The real surprise was Sirius. How his godfather had managed to stay quiet about landing
the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was a mystery for the ages. Harry supposed he
should be happy about this. He tried to think of it in a good light. He really tried. He
thought about Remus and how great the werewolf had been. Then the fact that out of four
Defense teachers, three had actively tried to kill or permanently injure him crept back into
the forefront and Harry scowled. Sirius should have warned him. Now he was going to
have to be careful to ensure that Fate didn't throw him into a situation where his
godfather would be raising a wand against him even inadvertently. Fantastic.
For his part, Sirius seemed perfectly jolly sitting up there and chatting with Sinistra and
Sprout. Snape was entertaining to watch as he shifted from muted disgust while looking at
Sirius to almost sad longing when he gazed at Lily. Harry turned from the man and dug into
his food waving away Hermione's raised eyebrows. "Snape," he murmured filling his glass
with pumpkin juice.
"Ah," she replied following his lead and moving food onto her plate. "Well try to reserve
judgment on him this year. There's always the chance he could take what your mother said
to heart after all."
"Or pigs could fly," Harry said.
Luna looked up at his with a devilish gleam in her eyes despite her dreamy smile. "Daddy
made pigs fly over the summer actually. He thought it might attract a Drifting Kelburg –
sadly it didn't work. I don't think those are real myself, but it did seem to worth attempting
at least."
Hermione chuckled in amusement at her friend and patted Harry's knee. "See, even Luna
thinks that the arse has the potential to change. Well…I think that's what she meant. That
is what you meant right, Luna?" Luna just smiled wider in response and started eating.
Dinner was almost over when Harry's Comm Stone buzzed. "Harry, it's Daphne. Would you
and Hermione be willing to meet me in the Room after the meal for several minutes?"
Harry frowned. His friend sounded far more uncertain than usual and it set him slightly on
edge.
"Sure," he replied. "We're Prefects this year so we have to lead the Firsties up to the
Common Room first though. Is everything alright?"
"Yes, it's fine," Daphne said a bit of amusement creeping into her voice. "I'm Prefect as
well remember? We sat across from each other in the compartment during the meeting,
Harry."
"I was…a little distracted…" he mumbled.
Daphne laughed and he could see her shaking her head at the other table. "Noooo, really?
I would never have guessed. Just head up to it afterwards. Whichever of us get's there first
please set it to the Lounge configuration."
"Okay. I'll see you then I guess."
"See you soon, Harry," Daphne agreed. "Disconnect."
Harry turned to Hermione who was already nodding. "Daphne wants to talk?" she asked.
Harry just stared at his partner incredulously. "How do you do that?"
Hermione smiled and patted his leg. "Woman's intuition." She finished her dinner and
leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Also, you turned to look at her while talking. Pretty big
hint, love." She stood and waved the First Years over to her as the Hall started to empty
out. Harry shook his head in amusement and took his place at the back making sure that
none of the new students got lost along the trek to their dorm.
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Chapter 336
Harry followed Hermione into the Room of Requirement to find Daphne already there
pacing. A somewhat amused Tracey was sitting cross-legged behind her on the couch.
Harry felt sweat start to bead on his forehead as he flashed back to Daphne's actions
immediately prior to the Final Task a few months back. Daphne's hesitation earlier
suddenly made much more sense.
"Oh, you're here. Good. That's good," Daphne muttered. Abruptly she stopped pacing and
took a deep breath visibly centering herself and seeming to calm down a bit. Harry on the
other hand had to fight down a rising panic. He had expected this. His partners had been
pretty clear throughout the summer that this conversation was likely going to be
happening soon. He just hadn't expected it on the day he got back to school. He had hoped
to have a bit more time to get used to the idea.
It was funny. None of his partners had been actively pushing him to accept Daphne as a
potential Concubine, but they'd all made it perfectly clear that they were okay with the
idea. Harry figured that he was probably one of the only men in the world whose
girlfriends were trying to help him recruit more harem members instead of dissuading him
from it. He felt like a character from a Japanese manga…
"Harry, you can sit down you know," Hermione said from the couch, her lips curled up in
amusement. Harry blushed and quickly sat down next to her.
Daphne nodded to herself and sat on the edge of the cushion next to Tracey. Tracey just
waved a hello. "Harry," Daphne said, "I've been thinking – for some time now. I already
spoke to Hermione, Tonks and Fleur on the train home last term. I think it's no secret
anymore that I am attracted to you; however…before I continue I would like to know
something. Harry, are you attracted to me?"
He looked to Hermione who just raised her eyebrows at him. Silently Harry cursed her
ability to smirk at his awkwardness. What was this now, three times that she got to see
him in this position? Where was Tonks when he needed her? Actually…no, Tonks would've
made it worse. Fleur however would've been nice backup. Suppressing his inner turmoil,
Harry turned back to Daphne and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I am. I'd have to be blind not to be,
Daph. In case you haven't noticed you are rather beautiful, incredibly intelligent and one of
the people I trust the most."
"Well more specifics beyond generalities would've been nice, but you appear almost as
nervous about this as I am so I'm not going harp on that," Daphne said chuckling slightly.
Hermione snorted. "Trust me, this is calm compared to when I first brought up dating
Tonks. Poor boy completely shut down."
"Men," Tracey commented rolling her eyes and causing herself and Hermione to begin
laughing in earnest. Daphne and Harry each glared at their respective partners until they
quieted down.
"As I was saying," Daphne continued, "Harry, I've spent this past summer thinking about
quite a few topics. You, Tracey, me, my father, my feelings. It's…confusing to say the least. I
don't like being confused." She scowled for a moment before smoothing out her features
again with a deep breath. "To be perfectly honest my father complicated things quite a bit.
I've been attracted to you for some time now. I tried to ignore it and we both saw how well
that worked out before the Final Task."
"Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise," Harry commented dryly.
Daphne grimaced. "I am sorry about that. I was rather overwhelmed at the time. It's why
I've spent so long thinking about where I stand. My father has been pushing me to make
an official alliance for several years now. Initially when we became friends I used you as a
convenient target to make him back off. He recently started pushing me harder on that
front and I needed to…I needed to make sure that what I was starting to feel for you was
me and not what I was supposed to feel. Not – arg! Does this make sense at all?"
Harry frowned and cocked his head a bit. "You wanted to know that you liked me because
you liked me and not because you'd simply been telling your father it enough that you'd
started to believe it by proxy or something?"
She nodded. "Close enough. What I ended up deciding was…that I do like you on my own. I
like you a great deal. Harry, you are as important to me as Tracey which scares me. I…" she
stopped and shook her head before looking him directly in the eye. "I would very much like
the opportunity to try dating you and to throw my hat into the ring for the House Black
Concubine position."
"And Tracey?" Harry asked gesturing to their friend.
"That is where things get a bit more complicated," Daphne said. "I don't want to give her
up. I don't want to break things off with her. Like I said, you and she are on equal levels to
me. Just like Hermione, Tonks and Fleur are all on equal levels for you. I understand that
you four are trying to maintain a polyamorous relationship. I'm certainly not adverse to
that at all. I am willing to try and slot into that to a degree though I can't promise miracles.
I like Fleur very much though it's not love – at least not yet. I'm undecided on Tonks though
I do respect her a great deal and her humor is rather ideal at times. While Hermione and I
tend to be rather opposite in terms of approach and philosophy I think we strike a good
balance between the two of us. We also both excel in our love of our studies."
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Chapter 337
Daphne looked to Tracey briefly and turned back to Harry. "Tracey however is not
interested in joining your group. Nor is she looking for a Line Continuation option as her
family doesn't particularly care about those things. What I am saying, Harry, is that I want
to try dating you, I am open to seeing if something grows between me and the other
women in your group and I want there to be an understanding that I will continue dating
Tracey separate from the main group." She grimaced and continued in a quieter voice, "I
don't want to say I'm asking your blessing to have a mistress but…well that's basically what
I'm asking."
Harry leaned back into his seat and rubbed his scar. He wasn't sure whether to be
disturbed or impressed that a large chunk of this conversation had gone just like Hermione
had predicted. "Daphne, I'm a little surprised that you're willing to try and build something
with my partners, but your reasoning here seems a bit…well forced. We're all in this
because we want to be, not because of conditions or because we feel we have to."
Daphne winced. "I didn't explain this well. That's not what I tried to imply. I…dammit this
should not be this hard to talk about!"
Tracey sat forward a bit and rubbed a hand down Daphne's back. "Let me try. Harry,
Hermione, Daph isn't saying she's going to force herself into loving the girls in your harem.
She's saying she's not going to wall herself off into a little box of just me and Harry. Tonks
and Fleur didn't love each other before joining your group. Well, Tonks didn't love her at
least. That's all that Daph is saying."
"Oh, well why didn't you just say that?" Harry groaned shaking his head in exasperation. "I
swear girls get more confusing the older we all get."
"Sooo…that's pretty much all I had planned to say," Daphne said quietly.
Harry crossed his arms and leaned back thinking. Most of his time over the past two
months had been consumed with the Horcrux, his mother, Voldemort and the manor.
Whenever he hadn't been dealing with those though he'd been thinking about how he was
going to respond to Daphne when this came up. Was he okay with her having a mistress on
the side even if said mistress was a good friend? Considering his current relationship status
– and life in general, not to mention his atypical family – he certainly wasn't leading a
normal life. Was a girlfriend who had a mistress that big of a deal in the grand scheme of
things? It really wasn't.
There was also the fact that Daphne was basically his best friend outside of his partners. In
some ways she was even closer to him than Fleur or Tonks. Somewhere along the line he'd
come to rely more on Daphne than Neville, his closest male friend. She'd consistently
backed him up even in situations where she would have been better hanging back. Almost
every confrontation with Snape and the few times with Fudge were prime examples. Then
there was the incident early in the summer with the Aurors and how he and Daphne had
taken down two trained Dark Wizard hunters without even breaking a sweat because they
worked together smoothly enough that they knew how the other fought without having to
communicate. Was he willing to risk damaging what they had in the hope that they might
find something even better?
"Daphne," Harry said slowly. "I'm okay with your conditions. I want to be clear on
something though. When I started dating Hermione we agreed that our friendship always
came first. We agreed that if things got weird then we would drop the relationship aspect
of things and try to go back to being just friends. I care about you too, Daphne. Besides my
partners, you're basically my best friend. If we try dating, I want the same assurance that
me and Hermione had. Friends first, partners second."
Daphne smiled and nodded. "I completely agree." She grimaced then and quickly
continued, "One thing though. There is a chance that my father would…try to forcefully
move matters along quicker than any of us are comfortable with. If that happens I fully
intend to pull back and deal with my family issues on my own rather than inconvenience
the group."
Harry rolled his eyes and stood up. "Daph, I swear you and Hermione have the exact same
problem. You both think far too much sometimes." He quickly glanced to Hermione who
nodded to him with a satisfied grin. A similar encouraging smile from Tracey saw Harry
pulling Daphne up from the couch.
This time he was the one kissing her.
Draco Malfoy had skipped his annual taunting of Harry Potter on the Express this year. He
had better things to do this time. Plans to finalize, allies to acquire, research to complete.
He'd seen the Greengrass bitch and the Davis slut waltz out of the Common Room just a
few minutes ago so it was finally time to pool his forces.
Potter would pay for stealing his mother from him.
Shutting the door to the Fifth Year Boys' Dorm, Draco cast several privacy and silencing
spells and turned to his gang. Crabbe and Goyle were, as usual, sitting and staring at him
dumbly. Pansy Parkinson looked up at him with desire and longing. Theodore Nott had
some intelligence in his eyes – something which would make him difficult to control, but
Draco knew he needed the extra muscle for this job. The bitch couldn't be underestimated
otherwise his entire plan would backfire. "Gentlemen, welcome back. I think you all know
why we are here."
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Chapter 338
"Revenge," Crabbe muttered.
"We've all lost family to Potter and his whores," Draco said ignoring his bodyguard. "They
– "
"Hold on a second," Theo said cutting in with a scowl. "Pansy hasn't lost shit. Neither have
you, Draco."
Draco snarled at Theo. How dare the little bastard question him! "Potter did something to
entice and seduce my mother. She'd never leave Father or me; especially not when we are
on the eve of winning everything that we always wanted! Everything we always believed! I
don't know what he did, but he did something! He's brainwashed her and I'm going to
show him just what happens when he crosses followers of the Dark Lord!"
Theo just snorted. "I want to hurt the son of a bitch too. He killed my father barely two
months ago! Unfortunately nothing that you just said explains why we can trust Pansy to
be here. I won't be discussing anything against anyone until I know that everyone here has
a personal stake in the matter!"
Pansy raised her eyebrows at Theo and held out her hand. She wiggled her fingers drawing
attention to a – very small – diamond ring. "I'm Draco's betrothed. Satisfied?"
"Seriously?" Theo asked incredulously. He looked from Pansy to Draco and burst out
laughing. "Wow Pansy I know you haven't exactly won the beauty lottery but Draco? Either
you must be really desperate or you actually love the little ponce! Whatever, consider me
appeased." Theo waved for Draco to continue. The blonde had to actually bite his tongue
in order to prevent himself from cursing his fellow Slytherin. That wouldn't do…not just yet
at least. No, he could wait until after they took out Potter's slut before reminding Theo just
who had the ear of the Dark Lord.
"Now that we're all happy," Draco snarled, "we can continue. The best way to hurt Potter
is to hurt his whores."
"I call dibs on the Mudblood," Goyle said raising his hand. The others turned to stare at
him and the giant just shrugged. "What? Since Brown helped her out the Mudblood's
gotten hot. Did you see her at the Yule Ball? If we're going after them, I want dibs."
Draco rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Goyle, use your brain for once. We can't go
after the Mudblood, it's exactly what they'd expect."
Theo nodded. "We also can't try for Loony. The girl's smarter than she looks and Flint had a
firsthand demonstration of what happens when she has even half a chance to run. There
are better options."
"We should probably avoid Bones and Abbott too," Pansy said frowning. "They don't travel
with a pack, but unless we kill them, Susan would make sure her aunt killed us. If she
didn't do it herself."
"Agreed," Draco said.
Crabbe scowled. "So who the bloody hell are we supposed to attack then? The metaslut
isn't here anymore, the French tart's probably back in her cheese-eating cesspit and I ain't
killing an owl. That's bad luck."
Goyle shrugged. "The runes teacher is decent looking for a teacher. We could go after her.
Keep her from her runes and she should be easy to take out. Or we could just go for the
mother. Lily Potter is hot."
"Is that all you think about?" Pansy asked grimacing and glaring at the boy.
Goyle chuckled and jerked his chin to her. "Didn't hear you complaining last year. Besides,
the Potter woman's only been up and moving for like two months. She can't have all her
old reflexes back yet. Shouldn't be much of a fight."
Theo groaned and slapped a hand to his head. "Talk about famous last words. I'd love to
watch you try just so I could be there laughing as she rips your dick off and shoves it up
your arse before cutting out your intestines and strangling you with them. Stay away from
Lily Potter if you value your life. That woman's temper and skill were damn near legend
before she came back from the dead."
Draco sighed and nodded. "As much as I'd love to go after Lily Potter, I agree. The Dark
Lord would surely reward us all immensely if we humiliated or killed her, but I doubt we
would get a good chance. She's going to be watching her back just as closely as her spawn
and the Mudblood. We have a far easier target that should hurt him just as much."
"Which one are you thinking? Greengrass or Davis?" Theo asked completely unsurprised.
Draco nodded to the boy; this was why he needed someone who could think a bit in the
group. "Greengrass. The whore thinks she's too good for me – us – and she's been
practically drooling over Potter since second year. What makes it even better is that she's
with the half-blood so she's not doing jack squat with him. When we get her bent over, we
can make sure the pictures get back to Davis. There's no way that lesbian bitch will be able
to deal with her lover fucking a man. We take care of both of them in one shot while
hurting Potter!"
"Snape should protect us even if the bitch talks," Pansy put in. "We're just showing a Blood
Traitor what happens if you don't choose the right side. He'll back us up in private and
make sure any punishment is barely a slap on the wrist."
Theo shook his head and shot Draco an evil grin. "She won't be able to talk when we're
through with her."
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Chapter 339
"With any luck we can break her enough to land her right next to Lockhart," Draco said, his
answering grin just as disturbing. "Now, here's the plan."
The first day of classes went by relatively quickly for Harry. He had switched his schedule
to add Muggle Studies so he could see how his mother taught and that had jumbled his
schedule up enough that he had last period free on Mondays. Charms class had been even
more fun than usual today. Flitwick seemed to be ecstatic for some reason and he had
wanted to share the mood with everyone so they all got to review Cheering Charms – in
preparation for the O.W.L.s of course.
Harry was still smiling and laughing with Hermione, Neville, Su and Padma as they walked
out of the classroom.
"I'm heading down to the greenhouse. I'll see you guys later," Padma said waving.
Harry lifted his own hand but froze halfway through the gesture as his Comm Stone started
screaming in his ear. "You bastards think you're going to get away with this?" Daphne's
voice snarled. Harry flinched and fell backwards into the wall in his surprise. "All you're
doing is marking yourself as surely as your master would. Except his mark just means
you're a bigoted fool while this one is going to see you killed."
Harry growled low, all the effects of the cheering charm blasted away. "Where?" He
focused solely on his friend's voice ignoring the looks of concern and confusion on the
others' faces.
Something like a muffled laugh came over the link before Daphne spoke again. "Idiots!
Throwing someone into the third floor classroom near that obstacle course doesn't
guarantee privacy. Touch me and you're living on borrowed time." Another muffled reply
was soon followed by a loud slap, a scream of pain and the link went dead.
Harry barely even noticed. He was already running. His vision went red and something
inside him screamed to rip and tear and hurt. He didn't even try to fight the urges this time
since he could use them to power him forward. Dimly he heard shouts from behind him,
but they weren't important. His blood boiled and his brain raced. As he tore down the
corridor and rounded a corner he reviewed the rune stones in his utility belt, discarding
several options. He pushed through one of the tapestries to leap into the secret passage
and as soon as he reached the other side Harry shifted to Midnight for better speed.
The panther's improved hearing made him aware of pounding footfalls behind him that
were falling further behind as his leaps carried his forward. Students emptying out of a
classroom jumped out of his way as he bounded off a corner wall just outside their door. A
shouted "Mr. Potter!" in McGonagall's shocked voice echoed behind him but Midnight
didn't even pause. His eyes narrowed as he saw the corridor open up into the Grand
Staircase just ahead. The stairs were shifting to align better for him, almost as if the castle
itself was helping.
They weren't moving fast enough. Midnight jumped using the Windrunner tattoos to give
himself a boost and he shifted back in midair. Harry landed just long enough on the railing
ahead to push forward across the gap in the staircase. Exclamations rang out behind him as
he dropped a floor down, grabbed the bottom rungs of the banister and used it to swing
himself into the next corridor. He didn't land perfectly and had to roll to his feet losing
some speed, but it was better than waiting for the stairs.
He was only one corridor away when Filch stepped out of a broom closet just before a
sharp turn directly in Harry's path. Harry didn't bother trying to move out of the way, he
just stuck out an arm, wrapped it around a surprised Filch's elbow and used his speed and
the counterweight to take the turn without losing any momentum at all.
He heard Filch start shouting behind him and McGonagall appeared to have gotten close
enough to shout something back. Harry's eyes just narrowed as he took in the sealed door
ahead of him that Daphne had managed to pinpoint. He stopped pumping his arms and
held his hands forward, wand clutched in one hand and the Knockback tattoo glowing in
his other.
**Mature Content Begins Here**
Daphne fought down the urge to scream in rage and panic. She wouldn't give them the
satisfaction of seeing her hurt let alone desperate. This was her own damn fault for getting
careless. Even then though…Malfoy shouldn't have been able to come up with this by
himself. They'd been too smart for the arrogant little shite to have been the brains behind
the plan. Having one of them polyjuiced to look like a Firstie then stun her had been a
good strategy. She hadn't even realized something was wrong until it was too late to
dodge.
When she'd woken up her hands had already been tied to the desk in front of her with her
legs spread to the side. Her face had turned red as she realized that the breeze in the room
was hitting bare skin everywhere and that the little pile of rags in the corner was her
clothes. She took a bit of relief in knowing that despite being naked they couldn't see
much of her beyond her bare back and arse. Yet. That was when Malfoy had started
laughing and taunting her.
"Still too good for me you little Blood Traitor whore?" Malfoy asked grinning sadistically.
Daphne's eyes narrowed as she spied Pansy in the corner with a smirk on her face and her
arms crossed. Malfoy's bodyguards were leering at her and Theodore Nott was up on one
of the desks grinning. Four boys and the worst bitch in the year. Daphne had to shut her
eyes and slam down every mental shield that had been ground into her since birth. Just
like sharks, weakness would only make these assaulters more excited.
"Wow, what big strong men," Daphne deadpanned. She was proud of how she kept the
tremble out of her voice. This was bad. This was very, very bad. She couldn't do wandless
magic yet beyond a few spells and they all had to be directional. Dammit she should've
asked Harry to tattoo a Boomstone or something onto her! "Was the child Imperiused or
were one of you getting your jollies on in her shape?" Crabbe scowled. Well that answered
that question – not that it helped her at all. Except for stalling. Stalling was good. They
were obviously still in a classroom so if she could keep them distracted long enough she
just might get lucky and have some random student walk in on them.
Sure and maybe Ron Weasley could learn how to pronounce 'electricity' while she waited
for that.
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Chapter 340
Malfoy strode forward his grin falling a bit. He grabbed her hair and jerked her face up.
"You bitch. You think you're better than us? You think you can spurn me without any
consequences? You think that you can sit there and make out with the half-blood slut
while making googoo eyes at Potter? We'll show you what it's like to be with a real man.
We'll show you just what happens to people who laugh at the Dark Lord. You may not be
one of Potter's whores yet, but you're close enough to him that this works to teach him a
lesson too. I get to kill three birds with one stone."
Daphne's mind raced even as he dropped her hair and her forehead smacked into the desk
and she blinked away tears of pain. They didn't know she was dating Harry yet. That was
good. That meant even if she couldn't escape she'd likely survive. Probably not fully
intact… while Goyle would likely be satisfied with just raping her and being done with it,
Crabbe was enough of a brute that he wouldn't let her leave without several bruises or
broken bones. Malfoy seemed to have legitimately lost a few marbles so how far he'd go
was up in the air. That Nott was here was…worrying. Theodore didn't do anything halfway
so she'd have to be careful just how much defiance she showed until she found a way out.
"Funny, I only see two birds here. Is one of your bodyguards going to volunteer their arse
or does Pansy count as two?" she asked deliberately misinterpreting his meaning.
Daphne silently cursed herself. So much for watching how far she took the taunts. She bit
her tongue to try and refocus and ignore the mounting sense of helplessness and fear. She
couldn't afford to slip. There was a very small chance that if she made Pansy awkward and
guilty enough that the other girl would leave and send someone here to stop things quickly
enough to matter.
"Will you just fuck the bitch already? I'm not keen on watching you guys verbally wank off
and I want to get these pictures before someone comes," Pansy said glaring at Daphne.
Well there went that hope. Daphne felt her eyes burn again and tried to convince herself it
was just from blood dripping into them.
"Nobody's going to come," Nott said rolling his eyes. "People are 'afraid' of this corridor.
Ever since that giant arse dog was in the next room no one has had the bollocks to wander
here long. It's right moronic. If you're going to avoid a room, avoid the bathroom with the
60 foot snake climbing up the pipes." He snorted and hopped off the desk running his eyes
over her back. Daphne couldn't help a slight shudder from his wandering gaze. "I do agree
though, we should move this along."
Malfoy squatted down so that his head was level with hers and he stared right into her
eyes. "Do you think your slut will get wet looking at the pictures of us taking you or will
she cry and refuse to ever touch you again? I'm honestly a bit curious myself. I wonder how
Potter will feel when he too gets these tomorrow morning?" He stood back and grinned
wider while starting to loosen his robes. "You may be the Slytherin Ice Queen but you're
pretty hot. This is going to be so much fun."
It was all she could do to hold back a scream of rage at her impotence. She was Daphne
Greengrass! She had a boyfriend and a known, accepted mistress! She was the Heir
Greengrass! She was Harry Potter's Right Hand! She had fought a fucking basilisk! She had
killed a Dementor! She was not going to simply sit here tied to a blasted table and let
inbred cavemen rape her!
Daphne ruthlessly beat back the shivers running down her back and fanned the flames of
her rage. She ran over everything that even might help. She'd been trying to pool her
magic to do that wind thing that Harry did when he was close to losing control, but nothing
in the room had even fluttered let alone done anything strong enough to break her bonds
or signal for – Daphne's thoughts froze and she blinked, cursing her panic and how it
apparently killed her brain cells. They'd taken her clothes and her wand, but the arrogant
arses hadn't removed her earrings! "Comm on, contact Harry," she muttered as quietly as
possible. She should have paid more attention when he'd mentioned how to use the
emergency broadcast mode. Harry was good, but a dozen saviors would have been better.
"You bastards think you're going to get away with this?" she snarled loud enough to be just
shy of yelling. "All you're doing is marking yourself as surely as your master would. Except
his mark just means you're a bigoted fool while this one is going to see you killed."
A growl came across the Comm Stone line and Daphne refused to smile despite knowing
that Harry had heard her. He was coming. She wasn't going to have to face this – or face
Tracey and Harry afterwards. Harry was coming and everything was going to be okay just
like always. "Where?" the growl said in her eye. Daphne started to hyperventilate as her
perfect solution crashed to a halt. Where was she?
Wait! Daphne flung her mind back to a few minutes ago. What had Nott just said? Giant
dog…giant dog…where had there been a giant dog in the castle lately?
Malfoy laughed. "Big words from a whore splayed out like you are."
First year! Before she'd ever even met Harry and the others, they had gone through some
sort of trapped area with a cerberus guarding the entrance! She could have pumped her
arms in triumph. "Idiots! Throwing someone into the third floor classroom near that
obstacle course doesn't guarantee privacy. Touch me and you're living on borrowed time."
Malfoy scowled. "I was just going to have my fun with you, bitch. Now I want to see you
break," he said quietly. Drawing back his hand Malfoy slapped her hard enough that her
head smacked into the desk again. A second later, he grabbed her ears and tore out both
the Comm Stone and her regular earring. She couldn't hold back her anguished shout as
her ears felt like they were on fire. Malfoy straightened up and blood from her ears
dripped down his hands to land at his feet under his open robe. Daphne's head rang from
the pain, but she tried to focus on her impending rescue. Harry knew where she was. He
was coming. He was coming.
"So who gets her first?" Nott asked.
"Me," Crabbe said stepping forward and running a hand down her back before clamping
onto her arse. Daphne bit her tongue again to keep from crying out. "I had to be that
pipsqueak and I was the one who hit her. I should get first crack."
"You can wait your turn," Malfoy snarled glaring at his bodyguard. "This was my plan so I
get to start. You can have her mouth." Daphne's eyes narrowed and hatred burned through
the fog that was starting to descend over her. If Malfoy had started with her mouth then at
least then she could have walked away with a 'souvenir' that the boy would never forget.