From the moment Tonks opened her eyes she had never had such a bad headache in her life, the morning light was too bright and she considered closing her eyes again. That was when the memories of the previous night came flooding back and she sat up despite the pain in her body. She had hoped last night was just a nightmare but seeing the dozens of students still in the medical ward was like a dose of cold water in her face. While the students in the beds looked relatively unharmed the floors had piles and piles of bloody sheets on them, and the stone floors were stained too; Tonks had spent the past few years of her life being surrounded by blood and death, but being in the medical ward and seeing so many people she knew hurt was making her sick.
The familiar hollow ache inside her let her know she was suffering from magical exhaustion. The warmth of her magic was gone and in its place lay a void that made every muscle in her body scream in pain. She could barely push herself up against the hospital bed's headboard. "Tonks!" She heard from her left, she turned and saw Cedric sitting in a chair next to her. He had a bandage around one of his eyes and generally looked worse for wear.
"Cedric... what happened?" She asked in a slightly pained voice.
He moved up in his seat but struggled slightly. "Professor Snape found us after we escaped the Special Grade, and then James brought us to the Medical Wing," he explained.
"Thorne? I thought he was away," she said.
"He came back during the incident," Cedric replied in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Are you okay?" Tonks asked with concern, the fact one of his eyes was covered made her worry her friend was half blind.
Cedric saw her looking towards the bandage and cracked a small smile "I had to get us out of the castle so I grabbed you and jumped out the window, a shard of glass slashed my eye when we did. Madam Pomfrey says I won't lose it but that I was an idiot for not blasting the glass first," he said with a chuckle.
Tonks tried to smile but she couldn't, the images of her housemates in pieces in that river of blood were engraved in her mind. She could see the pain behind Cedric's facade, he knew a lot of the people in the hallway, at least better than Tonks did.
Tonk's assumption was right Cedric wasn't doing well at all, the only reason he wasn't curled into a ball on the ground was because he'd already done it. He woke up three hours before Tonks, he'd had plenty of time to cry it out, but even now it felt like he was one moment away from breaking down again. "Where's everyone else? Are they okay?" Tonks asked.
"I don't know, Madam Pomfrey won't let anyone leave, and she hasn't told us anything, just to wait," Cedric responded. From the uneasy expression on his face she could tell that he was worried, she had to admit that she was as well. When she last saw Harry he had run off to go and find Hannah and Hermione, she knew Harry was strong but even he didn't stand a chance against a Special Grade. Even enough Second Grades would be able to overwhelm him. 'I'm sure he's okay,' she thought to herself.
"Miss Tonks, how are you feeling?" A very tired Madam Pomfrey asked. The older woman was pale and sweat covered her face, considering how hard she had been working the past night it wasn't surprising. By the end of it all she was towing the edge of Magical Exhaustion, only through the consumption of pepper-up potions and magical stimuli did she manage to soldier on.
"Just in a bit of pain," she said trying her best not to move. Madam Pomfrey withdrew her wand and cast a diagnostic charm on her, she then poked the side of her arm with her wand.
"OW!" Tonks yelled out shooting a glare at the matron.
"Just a bit is it?" She said with a raised eyebrow.
She then walked over to the cabinet withdrawing two potions. "Take this one for the pain and this one to help your magic recover," she instructed placing them on the table next to the bed.
"I know last night was a special situation, but try not to exhaust yourself again, your magic core isn't invincible," she chastised.
"Yes Ma'am," Tonks mock saluted as she drank the potions.
"Madam Pomfrey, can you tell us what's happened to our friends yet," Cedric said a little impatiently.
The school nurse sighed and gave Cedric a sympathetic look. "Your Head of House will be by later to inform you of the current situation." It was obvious that she knew more than she was saying, but both Hufflepuffs realised it was useless to try and let more information out of her. All they could do was wait, and for the next hour they did; they waited for so long —or what felt like so long— that Cedric was about to get up and leave. That was when the doors opened and Dumbledore strode in with the Heads of Houses, well all apart from Professor Sprout. The Heads of Houses all split off to speak to their students and Dumbledore approached them.
"Good evening Miss Tonks, Mr Diggory, I'm glad to see you're on the mend," Dumbledore said with a smile.
Tonks appreciated the sentiment, but she was more concerned about the fate of her friends, however before she could ask Cedric spoke "Where is Professor Sprout, sir?" He asked.
Dumbledore's smile melted away and gave way to a sad look. "I'm afraid Pomona... has passed away defending a group of students from the Fat Fryer," he responded. He had known Pamona for many years and it made his heart ache to know she had been one of the people to perish.
"Sir where is Harry and our friends," Tonks said loudly before anyone else could interrupt her.
Dumbledore was aware of the little friend group she was talking about as he had taken it upon himself to make himself aware of all of Harry's friends. It was why he decided to come and tell them himself, it was his fault this had all happened so he needed to take responsibility. "Your friend Miss Bones is currently at St Mungos recovering from a dislocated shoulder but is relatively healthy," he stated.
"Your other friend Hermione Granger is also in St Mungos, she had quite a tumble but will make a full recovery," he continued.
However, he then paused which concerned both Cedric and Tonks "What about Hannah and Harry sir?" Cedric asked.
Dumbledore stepped forward sitting on the end of the bed. "I think perhaps you should both get some rest, it has been a difficult night for both of you, we can discuss this when you are both fresh and healed," he said.
"Sir... where is Harry and Hannah..." Tonks said with an emotionless expression on her face.
Dumbledore frowned at the sixth year, but she seemed to be unyielding "Very well," he said with a sigh.
"Harry has been taken and his current location is unknown, Hannah... she was found dead in the southern courtyard," Dumbledore said bluntly.
Whatever hope Tonks had held was extinguished. She had tried to hold it together despite what had happened, but the news that one of her friends was dead and the other had been kidnapped was too much. Tonks didn't even realise she was screaming until Madam Pomfrey had come over; despite the pain she was in she fought back the matron who tried to give her a sleeping potion.
It didn't take long for Dumbledore to step in and hit Tonks with a spell that made her fall back harmlessly. "Let her sleep for now Poppy, she'll be in a world that's entirely her own," he said looking down at her with sympathy, hoping she'll discover some respite in her dreams.
Cedric in contrast to his friend didn't make a sound he looked down at the floor almost catatonic. He hadn't known either of them for long but similar to Tonks they had cemented themselves into his life. The stupid things Harry would make them all do and the funny arguments Hannah and he would get into.
Harry was gone... and Hannah was dead.
———————————————————
"Come on we've been looking all day, let's go see that girl I told you about," Miguel complained as he and Harry walked through the main cavern.
"I'm not interested," Harry replied.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw her ass, I slapped it and I'm pretty sure it's still jiggling," Miguel said with a raunchy laugh.
They'd been looking for an entire day, but whoever these people were they clearly didn't want to be found. There were thousands of people in this hellhole and thousands of tunnels they could be in; Harry quickly realised that searching around aimlessly would get them nowhere, they'd need to ask someone for their location.
'But who would know where they were...' Harry asked himself.
"Do you know anyone who might know where they are?" Harry asked Miguel.
Miguel laughed "Like who?" He responded.
"I don't know, the guy, there's always a guy that knows everyone," Harry said frustration leaking from his voice.
Miguel's face twisted into one part confusion and one part amusement. "I think you've watched too much TV, my friend," he responded.
Harry growled in frustration "We won't get anywhere trying to find them on our own!" He shouted kicking a stone as he did.
Harry breathed trying to calm himself, he didn't know why he had such a short temper recently but he didn't like it one bit. "Think back to when she was fighting, didn't anyone try to approach her? Get her to join their group?" He asked.
Miguel sat down on a large rock "Apolline and her group approached her, but she told them to fuck off" he replied.
"So let's go and see them," he said, though before he could move over to the western sector Miguel grabbed his arm.
"Woah woah woah there, I'm all for meeting with a Veela but that woman is as dangerous as they come, we walk in there we might not come out," Miguel said his voice edged with a rare tone of seriousness.
"Wait outside then," Harry said shrugging Miguel's hand off his shoulder.
"A day of talking and now you're using it to get into trouble," Miguel said with a shake of his head before catching up with Harry.
As they walked across the main cavern they avoided bones that littered the ground. Death was common here and the Templars didn't care to remove the bodies, this meant that over the years this whole area had been changed into a boneyard. However, this wasn't the case in the Western sector as Apolline was a neat freak and so as the unofficial ruler of the Western sector she forced all her underlings to keep it clean.
"You know my friend you look as healthy as you did when you first arrived, why do you need medicine?" Miguel asked as he walked in step with Harry.
"It doesn't matter," Harry said bluntly.
Miguel shrugged and continued walking with him, his 'friend' was behaving a little unhinged, but that was to be expected from anyone who'd been thrown down here; It took him a while to adapt when he first came to this place. "I do not wish for you to get your hopes up my friend, in all likelihood we won't even see the Veela, she isn't one for stepping out in the light," he said.
Harry didn't answer and instead continued walking, if it didn't work then he'd just have to find her by himself. He didn't know why he was going so far for people he didn't know, but the thought of giving up twisted his stomach. 'I should be looking for a way out of here...' he thought to himself. He needed to get out of there so he could kill Grindelwald and all those who followed him, but that could wait, Grindelwald wasn't going anywhere. 'He better not anyway...'
Entering the Western Sector they walked past a lot of people who sat next to rocks curled up on the ground. Another common sight in this place is people who become so weak they can't move and end up dying where they lie. They reached out their hands to Miguel and Harry, but bother boys avoided them and continued walking to the cells. It wasn't hard to figure out where Apolline might be as there were quite a number of people guarding the entrance; the entrance was quite big and deep enough that they couldn't see where it turned.
"Wait here," Harry said putting his hand on Miguel's shoulder.
"I'll come with you," Miguel said with a gulp.
Harry shook his head "Stay here, I won't be long," he said before walking to the group of people guarding the entrance to the tunnel.
"What do you want?!" One of the men asked with a scowl on their face. Most were sat but stood up as Harry approached them.
"I need to see Delacour," Harry said with a blank expression, despite many of these men being bigger than him he wasn't afraid.
"Fuck off, you don't deserve to breathe the same air as the Mistress, you're lucky we don't beat you," One of them spat out as he clenched his fists in rage.
"I want to join your group," Harry said ignoring their threats.
Many of them started laughing at him, one of them even falling off a rock "Why would she want someone like you!" He asked while laughing loudly.
"You speak for the Mistress then?" Harry asked.
"I'm sure she'd take great pleasure in knowing one of her followers was making all her choices for her," he added. The laughter suddenly stopped and made way to anger as they all stood up and started to approach Harry.
"Let him through," A voice boomed out from behind them.
At the entrance to the cave came a man nearly 12 feet tall. He was bald with thick muscle adorning his body, he had a look of displeasure on his face as he looked at the men in front of him "Speak for the Mistress again and you'll never speak again," he growled out making them go pale.
Harry shoved past them and entered the cave with Boulder who stepped in after him. Miguel had watched the entire thing happen with an open mouth, he didn't know how Harry had gone from about to get killed to getting an audience. 'Damn lucky,' he thought to himself.
Deep inside the cave Boulder led Harry through the tunnels, there were many torches fixed to the wall making the tunnels incredibly hot. They eventually turned into a tunnel that led into a large cave; compared to his and Miguel's cave this looked like a mansion. 'Is that a bed...' he didn't know how she managed to get that down here.
"Step out of line and I'll rip your arms off and fuck you to death," The Half-Giant growled as he stayed at the entrance while Harry walked into the room.
Harry looked around inspecting all the luxury items around the cave. Just outside the cave, people were starving to death and there was a red rug that covered a large section of the floor. "I 'ear you wish to join us... I'm always looking for young... men," a heavily accented voice echoed out from behind a partition.
"No, that was a lie," Harry responded tonelessly.
"Oooh zat is a shame, may I ask why you 'ave come? I 'ope it iz not to do something énergique," she said as she appeared from behind the partition, not wearing a single piece of clothing. Harry didn't have any trouble admitting that the woman he saw was by far one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. She was tall with an hourglass figure, she had a large bust with light pink nipples on the tips. Her hair was a platinum blonde that almost glowed, but just based on her face alone it didn't surprise him that she had so many followers.
"I 'ope you do not mind, I very much dislike za rags they make us wear," she said with a sultry smile on her face as she sat down on her bed crossing one leg over the other.
"Now tell me why you are 'ere?" She asked but it seemed more like a demand.
"I want to know where someone is, I thought you'd be the most likely person to know where they are," Harry responded.
A fox-like grin made its way onto her face and she shifted her legs giving Harry a view of the flower between her legs. "I do 'ave a lot of friends perhaps I do know of them, what is dere name beau garçon," she said.
"Yuki Tsukumo," Harry said, and the smile from Apolline's face melted away.
"Why would you want to speak to zat putain stupide," she said as she stood up from the bed and stepped lightly towards Harry.
"Does it matter?" Harry asked his expression still blank.
Apolline did not like how resistant Harry seemed to be to her natural charm. Even without her allure, she had made fools of the men outside and yet this boy who must be nearing the height of his puberty did not care one bit for her naked form. "As long as you are in my 'ome you will tell za truth," she spoke strictly.
"I want a teacher so I can join the fights," Harry stated, he didn't really care about revealing the reason, hiding it wouldn't get him anywhere and revealing it wouldn't lose him anything.
"I can offer zat if it is what you want, I 'ave very good fighters 'ere," she replied as she stepped in front of Harry.
Harry was tall for his age and so Apolline was around the same height as him. "Take za blindfold off," she said, wanting to see his eyes.
"I cannot, it's stuck with a spell," Harry responded.
Apolline hummed and moved her face closer to his. She inhaled deeply before moving back "Indeed it is a strong spell, but I can remove it," she said confidently.
"How? You can't use magic with your collar," Harry asked sceptically.
Apolline smiled widely at him, she held up a finger and atop it, a small flame appeared. "I am a Veela, we are creatures born from magic, these collars cannot fully contain us," she responded.
"Look are you going to tell me where she is or not? I don't have time for games," he said a little impatiently.
Apolline giggled, her voice was like music and had it been anyone else they would've likely been enthralled by it. "I wish to see your face is zat a problème?" She asked.
Harry breathed out a frustrated sigh "Take it off then," he said deciding to choose the path of least resistance.
Apolline smiled "Good, now 'old still," she said before cupping his face and pressing her lips against his own. Apolline as a Veela had the ability to drain magic with anyone she was intimate with, but as a witch as well she didn't need to do this as she produced her own magic, but it felt really good. The spell on the blindfold had been linked to Harry's own magic to power it and so she was able to absorb it through that link without being blocked by the collar. Of course, she couldn't absorb the magic herself sadly, as her own collar stopped that, but she at least got a taste before she had to let it disappear into the world around them.
Harry responded to the kiss mirroring Apollines own movements. It did feel beyond good but he just wanted it to end so he could continue doing what he needed to. Meanwhile, Apolline moaned at the taste of Harry's magic, it was so pure and potent; it was strange however, while normally a person's magic tastes a certain way, Harry's had three different flavours and all of them were powerful. She had long since drained the magic of the blindfold but she kept the kiss going. Her nipples started to stiffen and her flower grew wet, juices began to flow from her sex and down her leg as she rubbed her thighs together.
Eventually, Harry pushed her back "I think that's enough," he said breaking Apolline out of her haze. She frowned as she couldn't believe this boy resisted her so much, she would've gladly taken him to bed and yet he pushed her away like she was a common tart.
"Tell me why you want to fight, I could give you all you need," Apolline purred as she ran her hand over his shoulders pushing the rags down and exposing his bare chest.
"I need medicine, and fighting is the best way to get it," Harry explained.
"Become mine and you shall 'ave it and more, anything you want mon beau garçon," she said as she walked around him pressing her large breasts into his back and putting her chin on his shoulder.
"No I belong to no one, I'll get what I need through my own strength," he said bluntly.
'qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec ce garçon, (What is wrong with this boy,)' Apolline thought to herself. Even without her Allure, no man could possibly resist her let alone a boy.
"You will not change your mind?" She asked.
"No," Harry replied resolutely.
Apolline frowned but nodded, she wouldn't ruin things now, she'd play the long game, they had all the time in the world down in this hell. "I will tell you ze information you wish to know, but I want a favour from you," she stated.
Harry frowned "What do you want me to do?" He asked.
Apolline shrugged as she went back to her bed and sat down. "I don't know at ze moment, it is... what you call? A blank cheque," she said with a smile on her face.
Harry didn't like it, but it was better than giving himself over to her. "I accept," he said.
"Magnifique, If you travel to where ze northern sector meets ze eastern sector, you'll find a set of three tunnels, ze middle one will lead you up and eventually into an opening in the wall, zat is where she is," Apolline explained.
Harry nodded his head and went to leave. "ah ah ah, you are forgetting something non?" She said with a wide smile.
Harry sighed but reached up and grabbed the blindfold before pulling it down to his neck.
Crystal pools of blue purer than the sky and the sea, so deep she found herself instantly lost in them. Apolline sat agape as she saw his eyes, the eyes that seemed to look through her entire being. She felt like a part of her had been ripped away when Harry pulled the blindfold back up. "Thank you for your help Mrs Delacour," he said before he turned around and left.
The beautiful Veela just sat there entranced at what she just saw, unable to form any words.
'il doit être à moi.'
...
Harry stepped outside the cave and met up with Miguel who was shifting from foot to foot. "My friend! You are not dead and from the looks of it you've not been raped either, a joyous day to be sure!" Miguel said clapping him on the back.
"I know where they are, come on let's go," Harry said.
"Woah my friend, it is getting dark, perhaps we should start again tomorrow," he advised.
"No we should go now," Harry said stubbornly.
Miguel stepped in front of him "My friend use your head to think, if you want her to teach you then going in there while they sleep is not the way."
"Now let's go eat and get some rest and we can go tomorrow," Miguel said a little more firmly.
Harry looked a bit conflicted but in the end, nodded. "You're right, let's go back."
Despite how it looked Harry was still in a good mood. The reason why is because when he took his blindfold off and his eyes were freed for the first time in a month he felt the stirring of his magic within his body. He didn't know if he could cast a spell yet, but the fact he could feel his magic again meant escape was now possible.
(AN: So Harry has met Apolline Delacour, the mother of Fleur, there is a backstory for how she got there and it'll be explained later. Now you may be wondering why everyone down here seems like a cunt and it's a good question. The reason is, that 99% of the good people who were thrown down there are dead and the only people who survived are the selfish evil ones. I also gave Veela an extra ability to absorb magic, cause it makes sense that they'd be able to. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed the chapter.)
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