Dumbledore sat on the steps leading to the upper dais in the main hall. It looked a far cry different from how it was mere hours ago, the candles didn't burn leaving the hall with very little light; even the enchanted sky seemed dull. In front of Dumbledore were hundreds of sheets covering the corpses of his students; the sheets used to be white but many had soaked up the blood of children staining them red. Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to look at the body of every child and professor and to label each of the bodies, a task that hurt him more than words could possibly express, but no less than he deserved.
Now he waited, he waited for the Aurors to arrive as well as the detachment from St Mungos. The School Board has also been notified and will be taking charge of bringing the family of the deceased to the school. "What a mess..." he whispered to himself. While Dumbledore liked to think of himself as sharp and quite a good strategic thinker he didn't compare to his friend Gellert. When they were younger men it was Gellert who had the vision and it would be him who put it into reality; they were the perfect combination of intelligence and power. Gellert had completely outmanoeuvred him, but Dumbledore still wasn't completely sure on how he had managed to bring the wards down and attack the castle.
The only person linked to the wards was the Headmaster. 'He must've had help from the inside...' he considered as he stroked his beard. He would need to start placing additional wards around the castle grounds to make up for this gap in their defence as well as to form a secondary barrier should Hogwarts wards be breached once again. They would in no way be at the same level as those of the founders but he liked to think he could come as close as anyone else alive could.
"Good Evening Bellatrix, shouldn't you be in the medical ward? I heard you were quite injured during your duel with the Bloody Baron," Dumbledore said aloud as he heard the woman's steps coming from behind him.
Bellatrix limped over to him still holding onto her side. "The Healers from St Mungo arrived, they've healed me enough, I can do the rest on my own," she said bitterly. She sat down on the steps a couple of paces away from him looking at him expectantly.
"Where is he?" Bellatrix asked in a dark tone.
Dumbledore almost chuckled at the look of anger he was receiving from one of his staff. 'You never know you've messed up more than when your staff turn on you,' he thought to himself.
"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific than that my dear," he replied as he pushed up his half-moon glasses.
"Don't play coy with me you old goat, where is Harry?!" She shouted at him almost tempted to draw her wand and start cursing him.
"Grindelwald has taken him, where, I don't know," he replied, this answer wasn't to Bellatrix's satisfaction and much to Dumbledore's surprise she did draw her wand on him.
"I followed your plan, your stupid foolish plan to put Harry with those filthy muggles! You told me it would all work out, you promised me! So tell me where Harry is right now!" She screamed at him a spell on the end of her wand.
Dumbledore sighed "I truly have no idea where he is Bellatrix."
Her anger started to boil over, Harry was supposed to be hers to look after when the war ended, but she listened to this damn fool in front of her. His whispers of fate, destiny and the Dark Lord's return had convinced her to give him up —something she regretted every day. She fired a bone breaker straight towards his face and watched as it hit him and broke his skull in half, his eye popped out and exploded like a grape, but half a second later a shimmer overcame them both and he was sat there unharmed. "Hoo ho that was quite dangerous Bella," Dumbledore said touching his face.
"Don't call me that," she spat out before aiming her wand down, she knew it would do no good, she doubted even casting the killing curse would affect the old man.
"Nurmenburg, they could've taken him there," Bellatrix said, it was the most obvious answer as it was well known to be his main base of operations. Though similar to Hogwarts it was under heavy wards and would be very hard to break into.
"No, he wouldn't take him there," Dumbledore replied.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because he knows I could find and break the wards of his castle, but I'm also aware that by the time I do, they'd have all escaped, so he wouldn't risk losing his main base of operations," he explained.
"What are you going to do to get him back?" She asked as he crossed her arms.
"Nothing," Dumbledore responded.
Bellatrix found herself reaching for her wand once again but Dumbledore held his hand up. "Look around you Miss Black, I do not have time to go around looking for Harry, I have a responsibility to the rest of the students," he responded in a serious tone.
Bellatrix looked at the hundreds of bodies all lined up in the hall, she tried to think of an argument, anything that would allow her to insist they look for Harry, but she couldn't. She had seen many of these children be torn apart by the Bloody Baron, or Beheaded by nearly Headless Nick; when she had fallen asleep in the medical wing she dreamed about the small girl who had been devoured by the fat friar. "Do not worry Bellatrix, believe in Harry, he is not as helpless as you think, I believe he'll make his way back to us," he said with a small smile.
Bellatrix didn't answer and instead looked out of the window 'Where are you, Harry,'
———————————————————-
(Congo)
*Crack*
*Crack*
*Crack*
Over and over again Harry hit his pickaxe into the wall, his face and body were covered in dirt —at least the parts not covered by the blindfold— and he was dressed in rags that barely covered his upper body. "You haven't spoken since I met you my friend, I hope today is the day that changes," the man next to him said with a grin on his face.
When Harry had woken up from being knocked out he had been taken and tossed inside the pit. This was where all the prisoners lived and worked, each morning they were led down into the tunnels to mine for precious gems and any other valuables. The Knights Templar the ones who ran this place were scarcely seen, they worked through the locals whom they had hired as prison guards. Though his cellmate had told him that he had once seen a Knight inspect the prisoners before selecting one and bringing them to the surface.
"You know my father once told me if you don't talk you could lose your voice forever," his cellmate said once again trying to urge Harry to speak.
His cellmate was a seventeen-year-old boy named Miguel, he comes from a tribe of sorcerers not far from here. While trying to hunt for a certain creature that he could use to weave into his black rope he was captured by the Knights Templar. Harry knew all that because the man wouldn't shut up and spoke from when he woke until he went to sleep.
"A joke of course, my father told me that if I keep using my voice I would eventually run out," he said with a chuckle as he kept mining.
"Perhaps I have been insensitive, if you could not speak them I've been rude this entire time," he said pausing his mining to stroke his chin in reflection.
Harry could speak, he understood what he was saying and didn't have any issues with responding. The reason he didn't speak was simple, he had nothing to say; He had one desire burning in him like a miniature star and that was to kill Grindelwald and all who follow him. "You know you could smile more, there are plenty of girls down here and you could do pretty well... with my help of course," Miguel said as he began to mine.
Harry ignored him as he continued mining, there were a few ways to get food in this place. Sometimes they threw food through the hole in the centre of the pit, though never enough for everyone —which led to lots of fighting and death. The other way was finding gems and ore and trading them for food, though this brings enough risk as well as there are always people watching and concealing what you find is hard. Harry had learned all this in a month of being here and had a number of still-healing wounds to show for it.
"I tell you my friend ever since I've been here my balls have grown bigger than my head," Miguel said as he shifted his pants.
"I think perhaps I'll try my luck with the Veela, she has the palest skin I've ever seen and tits big enough to accommodate my cock," he said wistfully.
Harry knew the woman he was talking about, Apolline Delacour. He had no chance with the woman, she was beyond beautiful. Despite not having access to her allure she was able to manipulate the other prisoners and get herself some protection. The only thing Miguel would get if he went to her was a beating from the big half-giant that protects her. Harry drowned out Miguel's constant chatter and kept slamming his pickaxe against the rock, shattering it into pieces. His muscles had been burning for hours now but Harry pushed himself onward; a normal person would've collapsed by now, but Harry would mine the whole night if it brought him even a step closer to Grindelwald.
"You got any food on you? I hear there's a pretty busty lady in the north sector who will do things you've never even heard of for a bread roll," he asked.
Harry ignored Miguel again. While he did talk a lot Miguel was a good guy, he backed Harry up during the fights he'd been in and even gave him some pointers on fighting himself. He didn't seem to mind Harry's lack of talking and instead took it as a challenge to speak for the both of them. Harry cracked through the rock again, and he caught the sight of a gem falling to the ground, while he couldn't see the gem directly due to the blindfold the precious stones had weak magical signatures due to their ability to hold enchantments and spells. So he was able to spot them once he got close enough, he could only see a couple of feet through the solid rock as whatever spell Grindelwald used to seal the blindfold to his head was interfering with his sight, like placing a lightbulb too close to his eyes.
Before the stone even hit the floor Harry reached out and snatched the stone out of the air. He looked at Miguel who stopped talking and gestured for them to leave, he nodded and they quickly made their way out of the mines heading back up to the main cavern. "A bit early for you two to be heading out don't you think," a thin pale-looking man said as he stepped from behind a corridor.
"Fuck off Drak and mind your own business," Miguel said as both he and Harry tightened their hands on their pickaxes.
"You wound me, I thought we were friends, Miguel, don't you remember that food I gave you when you first showed up here?" He said putting his hand to his chest.
"One, that was two years ago. Two, you are a vampire and don't eat. Three, you drank from my neck for a week after that," Miguel replied.
Drak waved him off "Equal exchange I'd say, now boys come on show me your hands let's see what you got for me," he said, as he did two other figures stepped out. One was a large man over 6,5ft and very muscled while the other was completely bald with head tattoos covering his skin. "Fine if you say so," Miguel said walking towards Drak. The vampire looked pleased, but when he noticed the bright toothy smile of Miguel he felt slightly concerned.
Miguel ducked just as Harry threw his pickaxe with both hands at the tallest of them. From a crouched position Miguel held his pickaxe like a spear and thrust it straight into Draks nose, he felt it shatter and break which pleased the man immensely. However, before he could continue fighting Harry grabbed him and they ran back through the tunnels heading up to the main floor. The large man that Harry had hit with the pickaxe was chasing after them; it was clear to see what kind of creature he was since he had taken to running on all fours after them.
"I wonder what will happen when he catches us," Miguel said to Harry as they both continued to run. Harry just looked at Miguel with a blank expression. "Yeah I don't think it'll be good either," Miguel said.
They burst out of the tunnel emerging into the natural light of the main cavern. However the chase didn't stop there, guards didn't care about prisoners or if prisoners killed each other, they were just there to keep them in. Rape, murder, torture, they would allow it all as long as the prisoners stayed in the hole. "Should we try to fight him?" Miguel commented. Instead of answering Harry picked up speed and continued running. "Yeah I like that plan too," Miguel said.
Harry gestured to Miguel for the pickaxe and he threw it to him. Harry then changed direction and headed towards the western sector, where the closest cells were. The werewolf was close on their heels now and would catch them soon, Harry ran towards an open cell, he gestured for Miguel to run a different way. Luckily the werewolf focused on Harry and continued chasing after him. Where the first level of cell blocks was there was an overhang, Harry jumped up just before his feet could carry him into the cell and used the pickaxe to dig into the side of the overhang.
The werewolf's momentum carried him straight into the open cell. Harry hadn't been here for a while, but he did know some things. Just like how that cell belonged to Boulder, the half-giant who protected Apolline. "RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Harry pushed himself off the wall and left before anyone could link him to the incident. He also dropped the pickaxe as one of the rules was they weren't allowed in the main cavern and only in the caves.
When he met up with Miguel the man was laughing he clapped Harry on the back. "Masterfully done my friend, no doubt we will feast like kings tonight!" Miguel shouted. He couldn't blame him for being happy, they had been robbed at least 11 times since Harry had been there, and every escape was a victory. In the centre of the main cavern was a building, it was the most heavily fortified place in the entire camp as it had an elevator that went to the surface. It's also where people could exchange their precious stones for food and other goods.
Luckily the entire place was walled and you could exit to any sector which made avoiding those who would steal whatever you traded for easier to avoid. After going into the building, both men emerged with two full baguettes, some dried cheese and meat. This was an unusual haul as oftentimes the stones that were found could earn you perhaps half that, but because of the Six Eyes Harry was good at finding better quality stones.
They both left through the eastern sector gate and headed back to their home. In this place only a fool slept in their cell, Harry had learned that the first night he spent here. Miguel was his cellmate, but only in a technical sense he never used the cell and had only returned out of the kindness of his heart to warn Harry about the different dangers lurking around. This main atrium was large, larger than Hogwarts, perhaps five times larger than the castle and it had thousands of tunnels that split off from it and less than half of those were used for mining.
It was these tunnels where the residents of the pit made their home, they were after and much easier to hide in. Using rags to hide their food they quickly made their way into the tunnels but not before checking that no one saw them. "A good haul my friend, I tell you three days without food has really started to dampen my mood, I'm sure you've noticed I haven't spoken as much as I usually do," Miguel said as they jogged through the tunnels before moving through a small hole in the side of the wall, this led them to another serious of tunnels where behind a small boulder their room lay.
They both sat down and ate. Miguel devoured his meat and cheese while leaving the baguette. Harry ate slowly as he knew the dangers of eating too fast after being starved. Something that didn't seem to concern Miguel.
*burp*
"That was good, now that I've taken care of my stomach I need to go and see a lady about my baguette."
"I mean this baguette..." he said holding it up, he then quickly left the room to go and fuck whoever that woman he spoke of was. Harry sat down with his knees tucked to his chest doing nothing but staring at the wall. He was doing his best to remain clear of mind, this was easy when he was mining, but when he was alone like this without Miguel's talk to occupy him his thoughts drifted back to that night.
'Hannah...'
Harry stood up, wrapped some of his food up while hiding the rest and walked out of the cave. He decided to explore the cave system some more, as he was still holding out on the hope that an unexplored system might lead him to the surface. Even if that hope was slim.
He kept close to the wall as he walked, while some of the torches in these tunnels were lit a lot were not and it was up to the prisoners to keep them lit. Of course, Harry didn't need to as he was able to see in the dark, though Miguel didn't have that luxury. Harry's hand went up to his collar again and he felt himself tugging at it like he usually did. A scream brought him out of his thoughts and he carefully tip-toed down the corridor; his old self would've run down there and probably said something cocky, but now he knew better. In a place like this women often lured others into traps where they'd get beaten and robbed, often killed as well.
However, Harry didn't think it was the case this time as the girl running down the tunnels was young, the youngest he'd seen in this place since he arrived. The girl had white hair like his own in a bun and wore the same rags he did, coming down the tunnel after her was a large spindly man, he looked like a human spider; his hairline had receded and his teeth were yellow, he looked at the young girl with desire and licked his lips as he got closer.
Harry's face morphed into the first emotion he'd shown since he'd gotten here. Disgust, pure disgust at the man chasing the young girl; Harry stepped back into the shadows avoiding the torchlight, he watched the little girl run by him. When the man ran past Harry aimed a kick at his knee tripping him up; Harry didn't let the man recover and grabbed a stone before slamming it down on his head. "Ahhck!!!" The man spluttered out, he tried to reach for Harry but the stone smashing against his nose made him lose consciousness. Harry continued doing it until the man went still; Harry might've struggled with killing people once, but not some of the people in here, no they were no different than Cursed Spirits to happy and he was happily exercising them, whether by his wand or rock.
Harry looked at the bloody rock before throwing it away, he'd need to go down to the spring to wash the blood off. For now, he flicked his hand removing the flesh and brain matter from it, as he did that he heard the young girl squeak. He looked up at the girl and saw a small package in her hand, it wasn't hard to see that she had stolen from him. Harry sighed before standing up, he was about to leave before the girl ran over and grabbed his hand.
"Please come!" She pleaded. Harry looks down at her with a blank expression. Her face was covered in dirt, it made her eyes which were like emeralds shine brightly, especially since it looked like she was about to cry.
"My friend is hurt!" She said trying to convince him. Harry couldn't help but think of how naive the girl was, just because he saved her it didn't mean he did it out of kindness. He could've planned on taking her instead or he could take whatever was in her hands and leave her here. Harry wouldn't do that of course but she didn't know that.
Harry wasn't in the best state emotionally at the moment. Normally he would've weighed his options before following the girl and would even think up a few plans in case it was a trap, but now after the events of Halloween, he followed the young girl the moment she asked for help. She led him through the tunnels climbing through holes that were almost too small for him.
Eventually, they arrived in a room that had a small stream of water running through it. What was more prominent was the pale skinny girl lying on a thin blanket, she had black hair and dirty skin and looked to be only a couple of years older than Harry. "She's sick... she hasn't eaten either," The young girl said with tears flooding her eyes.
The Knights Templar were as close to evil as Harry had ever witnessed, even more than Grindelwald. To throw such young girls in a place like this just because of their magic was a heinous act. Miguel had to hold him down on the ground when Harry saw someone his age being dragged by a group of men into a cave. He knew why Miguel did it, he would've been killed and nothing would've changed.
Harry walked over to the black-haired girl who was panting heavily, he could see her ribs and most of her bones through her skin. She clearly hadn't eaten in a long time, the sickness however confused him more. Wizards and witches couldn't get sick, their magic fought off most if not all muggle diseases; he then considered that the collar might've been restricting its ability to do so. Harry couldn't say for sure, but not like it mattered anyway. It didn't look like there was anything he could do.
"Can you help her? Please?" The white-haired girl said desperately as she approached the girl's other side.
As she touched the other girl's hand the black-haired girl opened her eyes. Her purple eyes widened in a panic when she saw Harry, she tried moving away from him but she couldn't muster enough strength to even lift her arms.
"Yen! Yen! I found food!" The white-haired girl said unravelling the small cloth and revealing a half-rotten apple.
"Ciri..." the black-haired girl said quietly, her throat sounding like a desert.
Harry took the cloth from Ciri and soaked it in the water before wringing it out in Yen's mouth. She greedily drank from the cloth, when it emptied Harry repeated the process until she was satisfied. "Eat Yen!" Ciri said as she held the fruit near her mouth.
She shook her head "You need to stay strong Ciri, you eat," She responded.
Ciri shook her head "Noo, please Yen!" She begged,
Harry could understand why Yen was reluctant if she was take care of Ciri. There were thousands of people in this pit and not nearly enough food to go around. Miguel had told him that those in the southern sector had even resorted to eating each other, and to make sure never to go there. Harry took the rotten apple from Ciri which made Yen's eyes narrow; if looks could kill Harry would've been struck dead by her. However Harry then brought out his own bundle and handed it to Ciri, she unwrapped it with a frown before her eyes widened. "So much!" She said with a wide smile that didn't belong in a place like this.
"We can eat it?" She asked as she looked at Harry.
Harry nodded before moving next to Yen and bringing the apple up to her face. This time she happily ate it. "Thank you..." she said as tears streamed down her face. Seeing Ciri smile like that for the first time in so long had overwhelmed her; Kindness wasn't something that was common in this place. Harry didn't reply and just kept feeding her until not one part of the apple remained.
"How did you come here?" Yen asked, her voice still weak.
"He saved me from a bad man!" Ciri said as she stuffed her face with cheese.
"Then I have a lot to thank you for..." the girl said looking back at Harry.
"My name is Yennefer... may I know yours?" She asked. Harry didn't answer and instead moved over to the stream where he washed some of the dirt off his body.
"Thank you... for helping her, I wish I could but I feel so weak," Yennefer said still trying to get up. She failed and shortly after her eyes closed and she went back to sleep.
Ciri looked sad once again and walked back to Harry. "Please help her... I don't want her to die," she said with watery eyes.
Harry shook his head. He couldn't help her, she was beyond his help, she needed a doctor and that's something he wasn't. "Please! I'll do anything! I'll be your slave! You can have me!" Ciri said grabbing onto his hand.
Harry felt sick, he could see the look in her eyes. She knew what she was offering, the fact she did made him almost throw up. 'I can't turn my back...' Harry sighed but nodded at Ciri who smiled widely.
Harry stood up and gestured for her to stay put. She understood and took a seat by Yennefer while Harry left.
...
Harry made his way back to his room where Miguel was lying on his back with a satisfied look on his face.
"Have a nice walk, my friend. It's a shame you didn't join me, that woman did things to me I didn't know existed," he said with a laugh.
"I need medicine, how can I get it?" Harry asked abruptly momentarily shocking Miguel.
"You ask for a lot my friend, we can barely feed ourselves, medicine is definitely out of our reach," he replied, ignoring the fact that it was the first time Harry had spoken.
"How can we get them?" Harry asked again.
Miguel breathed out before sitting up "You don't understand my friend, the people up there," he said pointing to the surface.
"They want us to die down here, we are abominations to them, they sell medicine but the price is ridiculous, you could get food for a few months with the amount it cost," Miguel explained.
Harry sat down in front of him "So we get more gems," he stated.
"Stockpiling gems is next to impossible, we've been robbed eleven times this month alone, and only found enough to eat for two weeks," he said. While it would be possible for those with bigger groups, they only had the two of them so they couldn't do that.
"So what can we do?" Harry asked, his determination never waiving.
Miguel sighed again. "There is one way... the death matches," he told him.
Harry nodded, every other day in the centre area near the Templar building there was a ring. Multiple death matches would be hosted, to enter you put up all the gems you have and the winner earns the others. Bets could also be placed on each fighter; the best part was it was hosted by the Templars so no gems could be stolen nor could the person refuse to pay if they lose the bet.
"I'll join them," Harry said.
"No no no my friend, while you're decent in a fight these men are born killers, they are older than you, stronger than you and will tear you apart," Miguel said truthfully.
"Then teach me," Harry said.
Miguel laughed again "My friend they'd tear me apart just as easily, you know that big guy Boulder, he's one of the fighters you'd likely meet, want to take him on?"
"Then I'll find someone better," Harry said.
Miguel snickered "Who will teach you? I didn't realise you had so many friends down here."
Harry clenched his fists "There must be someone..." he growled out.
Miguel rubbed his chin 'Back a year ago there was this woman who decimated the competition before leaving, won a huge amount then just left, she never killed her opponents, unless they were scumbags so maybe you have a shot with her."
"Who is she?!" Harry asked.
Miguel scrunched his face in concentration. "I'm struggling to remember... she was a damn fine piece of ass, blonde hair, tall and a huge back if you get what I mean. Her name was Yuki something, one of those weird Asian names," he said.
He then clapped his hands "Yuki Tsukumo!"
Harry nodded "Let's go find her."
(AN: So back to the new chapter, in this you get a small peak at the aftermath of Halloween as well as Harry's current situation. One thing to mention about Harry is his mental state, he feels extremely guilty about Hannah however he isn't feeling it yet and is instead only focused on his revenge. But his guilt is manifesting as a saviour complex, he is going to put himself through hell for those two girls because he subconsciously thinks it'll make up for the death of his friend. Speaking of those two girls, yes they are Ciri and Yennefer from the Witcher, why did I add them? Why not? I don't like making OCs. Also Miguel is the Miguel from Jujutsu Kaisen, idk how old he is but he looks pretty old so I'm saying he's 17 in 1991. Yuki was also pretty old so I imagine she could be 15 around this time idk let's just say she is. Also spoiler but the principle is also there. Next chapter Harry will be getting taijutsu training from arguably one of the most skilled practitioners. I hope you enjoyed the chapter)
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