Chapter 1 This is War

A/N: I modified Daphne's family to be larger than it was in Canon ( just her and Astoria), to Daphne having an older sister, and four younger sisters.

Harry took a breath of air as he Side-Apparated in with Tonks. She chuckled, " How come you're so much better with this?"

Harry glared, but kept silent. Mad Eye muttered lowly, " Something's wrong Albus. Too quiet."

Dumbledore took a glance at the front door, and jiggled the door knob. It was way too loose. He whispered, " I fear we are too late. Let us hurry. There may be survivors."

Dumbledore eased the door open with a slight creak. The insulting voice of Bellatrix Lestrange rained down on them from above, " It's the old man and his Order of Flaming Crow! Take positions!"

Dumbledore smiled, whispering, " You and your big ass mouth, Bella."

Dumbledore pointed at the small, ante-staircase that was leading out of a small room, " Harry, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Fillus go that way. Minerva, Lupin, Emmeline, and Sturgis, you're with me."

Mad-eye led Harry towards the stairs. Harry immediately noticed something odd about the manor, it was cooler than it should be. He whispered to Moody, " They may have Dementors here."

Moody whispered back , " Good assessment. Now, keep behind us, and keep your head down."

Harry felt the air growing colder, and a sinking feeling was beginning to eat at his stomach. Dementors had to be here, somewhere. He gritted his teeth. That's when he noticed how slick the stairs were. Tonks asked, " Mad-Eye? Is this blood?"

Moody muttered Lumos, and shone some light down on the stairs. Tonks caught her breath. Harry felt slightly queasy. The stairs were coated in what looked like rivers of fresh, crimson red blood. Moody hissed, " Come, we have better things to be doing than losing our stomachs over some blood. Potter, you've seen worse, so I think you can handle it."

They came to the top of the stairs, and heard fighting from the far halls. Dumbledore and his crew must have gotten up top first. They heard Bellatrix Lestrange's voice rising above the din, " You fools can take the old man and his fools,", followed by cackles of insane laughter. Moody shouted, " Go Loud!"

Harry watched Moody blast the door open, and open off with a blasting hex that caught the nearest Death Eater completely off guard. Harry shouted, " Stupefy!"

His stunner hit the next nearest Death Eater, who he didn't recognize, but must have been rather important. The other Death Eaters quickly tried to rally and secure his body and revive him. Harry and Tonks didn't let them.

Harry knew he didn't know enough offensive spells yet to actually be of much good in this fight, so he focused on defending himself and the others with shield charms. He ducked under an AK, and fired a stunner at the offending Death Eater.

Moody was a force of nature. He was the distraction, the threat drawer, and the main damage dealer. He didn't care if he killed, maimed, or stunned. As long as he stayed alive, and the enemy fell to him, it didn't matter. He was shouting at the others to do the same.

The fighting died down in the room they were in. Moody shouted, " Split up! We can look better for survivors if we split up. The main Death Eater force is occupied with Dumbledore. We should be able to inflict some damage on those trying to escape wounded. Let's go."

Tonks turned to Harry, " Harry, go to those rooms over there. They're the furthest away from the fighting, so it's more likely that there would be survivors there, than anywhere else. Plus, face it kiddo, you just don't have the experience yet for full combat. "

Harry nodded. It was a fact he had come to grips with as soon as Moody had blasted the door open ,and then blown that Death Eater's chest open. He opened the door. He whispered Lumos, and began his walk around. He kept his head bent down, and his ears peeled for any sort of sound. Most Death Eaters made their presence known immediately, especially if they ran across him, so finding one shouldn't be a problem. Like they didn't know what surprise was. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix had the most chronic cases of this disease.

Harry was overwhelmed by the size of the manor. Granted, his own dwarfed this one, but he never even bothered to go above the first floor. The labyrinth of rooms was giving him a headache. Finally, after entering the same room for the fifth time, he whispered, " Fuck it. There's no one here. Better get back to Dumbledore and the others."

He almost jumped out of his boots when someone jabbed a wand in his back, and whispered, " Back up slowly."

Harry hesitated to obey, but whoever it was began to kick at him to force him to move. But the ragged breathing of the person gave him an idea. He also noticed that whoever it was, wasn't bothering to use their non-wand arm to try and pin his to his body. Tactical error.

Harry quickly spun around, slapped the wand out of the person's hand, and held the person under a powerful Lumos spell. To his surprise, it was a girl who looked his age, with golden blonde hair. He noticed that the reason she hadn't been using her other arm, was because she was trying to stem the blood flow of a wound to her stomach. He whispered menacingly, " I don't know if you're a Death Eater or not, but I don't like being surprised."

She grunted back, " Then you should pay better attention, Potter."

Harry narrowed his eyes, glaring into the cobalt blue eyes that opposed him. He looked down at the wound. Despite her attempts to stem the flow, she would bleed out shortly, maybe five minutes at most. Of course, that was an uneducated guess by Harry's standards. He hissed, " Lay down. Lay down, or I shall force you down. You're wasting energy you could be better using to fight that wound."

" Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it? You're no healer. And this was done by a Piercing Curse, so doubt anyone amongst your little war party has the healing power to even cause this to clot."

Harry smirked, " With that attitude, I'm surprise you aren't already dead. Wait here."

With that, Harry dashed out of the room. He came upon the remains of the battle. Dumbledore was kicking one of the Death Eaters, asking, " Alastor, did you really have to kill her?"

Moody groaned, " Come now, Albus. That crazy bitch almost had you. If I hadn't blasted her with a Lung Collapsing Curse followed by a Bone Smasher to the sternum, she would have gotten you. Plus, It's Bellatrix Lestrange. The only person who's going to miss her is Voldemort. And I doubt he will."

Tonks looked upon the body coldly, " I agree with Moody on this, Professor. She may have been my aunt, but she killed my uncle, and she's clinically insane. The world will not miss her. If anything, fifty Noble and Ancient families will be holding celebrations. You know how many people were orphaned by the Arm of Death as she was often called? I'm sure Longbottom will want her body paraded around Diagon Alley."

Dumbledore gave a sneer worthy of Snape, " This is Bellatrix Lestrange we are talking about. I guess that of all the Death Eaters, she alone deserves no second chances. Shame Dolohov got away too. Wouldn't mind seeing his cold, dead eyes looking up at me either."

Moody patted Dumbledore on the shoulder, " Now that's the Dumbledore I learned to follow back when I was young. Come."

Harry broke in, " I found a survivor. But we'd better hurry. She may have left by the time we get there, or died."

Dumbledore smiled, " Knew you'd pull through Harry. Lead the way."

Harry led them through the rooms, almost getting lost, before a sarcastic voice hit him, " Oh goody, it's Potter and his merry band of Dumbledores. So this is the cavalry. I feel so much better now."

Dumbledore frowned, " Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Miss Greengrass. This wound is bad, but we can at least stop the bleeding here. Severus will have to finish. This was caused by a Piercer Curse combined with a powerful cutting curse who's incantation is Sectumsempra. Severus knows all about that spell, and will be able to better heal it than I. Lupin, you got a Blood Replinisher in that Med Kit of yours?"

Remus pulled a small pack out of his robes, enlarged it, and pulled out a small vial, " Enough to stimulate enough blood for an hour or so. It won't keep her alive long enough to get her to Hogwarts or St. Mungo's."

Dumbledore took it, and forced her to drink the pinkish potion, " Once I seal the wound, getting her to Hogwarts won't be a problem. We can't trust St. Mungo's. Too many Death Eater infiltrators. Harry! Minerva! Go check some of the other rooms. Maybe there are some more."

Greengrass coughed, " Don't get your hopes up, old man. My sister saw to it that we wouldn't live through this night."

Dumbledore wasn't disheartened, so he directed Harry and McGonagall to go search the other rooms. Greengrass coughed again, this time rather dryly, like someone who needed water desperately, " Check the Vault, in the basement."

Dumbledore nodded as he continued his work on a wound that was obviously frustrating the old man. Harry followed McGonagall, who seemed to have a good idea of how the house was built. When asked, she replied, " Most Pureblood families design their houses the same. Why? I'll never know. Like those houses on that road you used to live on. Privet Drive. Oh, now Potter Manor, on the other hand. That's a nice, unique establishment."

Yeah, a veritable maze. Harry thought, remembering that he hadn't even ventured to the third and fourth floors of his Manor yet. They suddenly stopped at a trail of blood. Harry murmured, " That can't be good."

McGonagall was slightly paler than usual, " I agree, Mr. Potter. Looks like whoever this belonged to was dragged down here. Maybe we can still find them."

Remembering what the Greengrass girl ( who he recognized slightly, but couldn't remember her name) said, he didn't get his hopes up. Before long, they began to run into more trails of blood. Some of them were dry, as though they had been brought down here hours before now. That's not right. Snape said that the raid would occur at exactly midnight. But why should I trust Snape? He's a spy. I bet Voldemort knows he's a spy too, so it would make sense for Voldemort to give him the wrong time…Oh no. This is bad. Really bad. That would also mean that the girl upstairs is….

Harry suddenly shouted, " Minerva! Go back upstairs, and tell Dumbledore to stop healing that Greengrass girl!"

McGonagall glared at him, " Mr. Potter, while we aren't at school, I would request that you refrain from using my given name unless I give you permission to do so."

Harry hissed, " That doesn't matter! Snape was given bad information! The Death Eaters have been here awhile now! Some of this blood is dry enough to have been here for hours! That means …"

McGonagall finished the statement with a scared look on her face, " That the girl upstairs is a Death Eater, and she was left behind to….Oh no."

McGonagall turned on her heals, and practically glided back upstairs. Harry turned to the place where all trails seemed to converge. A massive door, with a symbol that looked oddly like a leaf of Marijuana ( coincidence?) emblazoned on it. He thought he heard a voice crying out from within. He yelled, " How does someone who isn't a Greengrass family member enter this Vault?"

The voice, a girl's he noted, responded, " Uh…I think the password is Greengrass and High Tides Forever."

Harry, temporarily forgetting his situation, sang out, " 'Greengrass and High Tides forever!' Man I love that song."

To his surprise, the door began to slide open. When it opened, Harry promptly emptied his stomach on the ground, to the dismay of the girl who came walking out. She lifted her head up slightly, asking weakly, " Something wrong?"

Overwhelmed by the smell of death, Harry could barely answer, " K-K-Kind of. Oh man, Argghh!"

Wiping his mouth, Harry looked at the girl. She looked like the one upstairs, only his age. Her hair was a darker shade of blonde as well, not so radiant. She was holding her left arm, which wasn't bleeding anymore, but her white gown was stained crimson red with blood. She asked weakly, " You're Harry Potter right? That means help finally came…."

Harry was kind of surprised, " Who was that girl upstairs? Your sister?"

The girl jerked her head up, and immediately winced. That's when Harry noticed she had an infected slash at the base of her neck. She yelled, " Don't help her! That's my older sister, Lindsey. She's a Death Eater! She and my next sister, Astoria, sold us out!"

Harry asked, " But who are you?"

" I'm Daphne you dolt. The one in your year, except in Slytherin?"

Harry frowned, " Sorry, doesn't really ring a bell. Don't take it too badly, I blame the Gryffindor Slytherin feud. Personally, I would love to get to know you better."

Daphne smirked, " Now isn't the time for idle flirting Potter. Go get Dumbledore and his cronies. They need to see this. I think I'll live."

Right as Harry turned to leave, he was accosted by Dumbledore, who immediately praised him, " Good call Harry. As soon as the wound was sealed, she Port Keyed away. No doubt to go back to her master to inform him of Lestrange's death. And I guess this is the Miss Greengrass I have the pleasure of having in school?"

Harry nodded, " Indeed. But there seems to be something in the Vault that we need to look at."

Dumbledore turned to Flitwick, " Take Miss Greengrass to the Hospital Ward. None of her wounds, festering though they are, are beyond the efforts of Madame Pomfrey to heal."

Daphne turned to Harry, whispering faintly before she left, " I won't forget this, Harry. Thank you."

Harry nodded stoically, and turned back towards the Vault. He, Dumbledore, and Moody walked up to it. Dumbledore summed it up nicely in the one of the only times Harry had ever heard him curse, " Fucking God. This is…."

Even Moody, who had seen everything, " This is unspeakable. A new low. Even for Death Eaters."

McGonagall actually fainted when she saw it. Harry still had to fight a dry heave.

Roughly forty corpses in various states of disembowelment and fragmentation were piled in large piles almost as tall as Flitwick. Pools of stagnate and semi dried blood were fermenting everywhere. Nowhere was dry. Harry winced uneasily at a squelch when he first stepped in, realizing that he had stepped on someone's eye. Moody was examining one that was in the Blood Eagle spread, " That's Damien. Even after the horrendous disfigurement, I'd recognize a man I trained any day. You can almost see some blonde in that hair."

Dumbledore examined a female corpse, " This is Tracey Davis. I recognize her brown hair and purple eyes. Pretty unique, considering no one else in her family had those traits. Looks like the male death eaters had their way with her, multiple times, based on the inflammation and bloodied state of her genitalia. She was still alive at the time. There are whip marks on her chest. Looks like Bella's trademarks."

Harry decided to ignore the rest of Dumbledore's forensic report. He was having enough time stomaching the dinner he had eaten several hours previously without the grisly details. Harry felt some tears well up when he saw the corpses of younger children, some not older than five according to Dumbledore. One was eleven, and still had her Hogwarts letter in her robes.

In total, the Death Eaters had massacred almost fifty people, and completely annihilated seven Pureblood families. The Zabini, Davis, Sanderson, Croaker, Freeman, Pucey, and Davies families were all wiped out or had lost at least one generation. Only the Davies family had a member left, and that was Roger Davies, the ex-Ravenclaw captain who had refused the invite because of a game for Puddlemere United. Daphne and her two Death Eater Sisters were all that remained of the Greengrass family. The entire list of casualties would be published the next day.

Harry shook with anger over the sheer pointlessness of the attack. Just because they hadn't joined either side. But to Voldemort, if you weren't on his side, then you were his enemy. Period.

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( Potter Manor…A Week Later)

Harry threw the Daily Prophet on the ground, and lit it on fire in front of Dumbledore, " Where do they get off?"

Dumbledore looked up passively from the book he was reading, by some woman who sounded familiar, " What's wrong now Harry?"

Harry just shrugged, " I hate the Daily Prophet. So much right now, it isn't funny. Completely lost is the fact that Six Pureblood families were utterly wiped out. That two more came within a hair's breadth of being exterminated. That we killed Bellatrix Lestrange, and captured a dozen more Death Eaters. But the front cover is about me being involved. "

Dumbledore chuckled slightly, " You should have expected that. The only thing worse than the press is fan girls. I had plenty of those back in the day too. You get used to them."

Harry glared at Dumbledore, who decided to change the subject, " Miss Greengrass made a full recovery. She had three gashes on the insides of her thighs as well. All of her wounds were in full sepsis, and she fought death for several days, before Madame Pomfrey and Severus were able to get the infections under control. She also had to be treated for several blood born and venereal diseases that she picked up from being in a vault full of corpses for three hours, but she healed remarkably well after the sepsis faded. She won't be able to fully look someone in the eye for a few days, or walk steadily, but she will be fine."

Harry smiled slightly, " Good. But I'm guessing you aren't telling me this for no reason. Outside of the fact that I was worried about her well being, hell I did save her."

Dumbledore smirked, " Well, Greengrass Manor is compromised, and she has no immediate family to take her in. I recommended that she move in with you."

" I'm not running a charity here Professor,", Harry answered testily.

Dumbledore answered, " Well, unfortunately for you, she accepted the offer. I would advise keeping a supply of Dreamless sleep potions and some Calming Draughts as well. Fillus said she sometimes lapses into full on breakdowns. Complete nervous breakdowns. I believe the Muggles call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And this is the girl that the school calls the Ice Queen."

Harry shrugged slightly. He heard that PTSD sometimes took years to get over, and was generally accompanied by large bouts of depression. Given the way his life had unfolded, he often wondered why he wasn't stuck in a mental hospital himself. Then again, the Wizarding world had a completely different grasp of what was mental than the Muggle world.

Dumbledore continued, " I believe that you should be able to aide her through her grief. After all, you aren't unfamiliar with how this works."

" And you aren't? Professor, I was ONE year old when my parents were killed. I only have one memory of them, and only have that because of Dementors. Sirius was the closest thing I had to a real family member, but even when I lost him, it pales in comparison to what happened to Daphne alright? I mean, watching your parents, grandparents, both aunts and uncles, as well as your three younger sisters, one of which was only THREE, be killed by Death Eaters is far worse. Then being thrown into a vault with their rotting and defiled corpses, as well as those of your closest friends, I don't really see how I can help at all."

Dumbledore frowned, " Be that as it may, I feel that it is for the best that she reside with one her own age. You have no idea the political flak I had to fire in order to get this done right? You know who her god father was?"

" Lucius Malfoy?"

Dumbledore darkened considerably. Harry chuckled slightly, before noticing the man's face, " Wait, I was just joking. There's no way in hell."

Dumbledore shrugged, " Severus said that Lucius knew Damien from before. It is possible that he bribed him into doing it. Draco's desire for her isn't a secret either. Maybe this had something to do with it."

Dumbledore took a deep breath, " Either way, I expended some favors to get the Wizengamot to overturn Lucius on grounds of being a convicted criminal, pretty much the same way he got Sirius discredited as your guardian."

Harry scowled, " Interesting. Back on topic, when will she be here? I need to tell Azerith to get the upper floors ready."

Dumbledore looked at his watch ( funny that he was wearing a watch), " In two hours. I think you'd better hurry."

Harry looked wearily at Dumbledore, then called his head Elf, " Azerith? Come here please?"

A regal looking House Elf popped in, " Something I can do for you, Lord Potter?"

" I need you to clean the Third and Fourth floors. I want you to prepare a bedroom on the third floor as well. I will be having a guest for an indefinite time."

Azerith nodded, and popped out. Harry appreciated Azerith a lot more than Dobby, because he didn't act like Harry was the God of the Universe like Dobby tended to do. In fact, Azerith was frank, honest, and brutally truthful in a way that reminded Harry of Luna. That in turn reminded Harry that he wasn't friends with Luna anymore. He wasn't looking forward to his return to Hogwarts in a week at all. Then he remembered Neville's little ball. Damn, suddenly his last week was looking interesting.

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( The Burrow)

Ron sat next to Hermione, looking out of the window at the Burrow. He wondered briefly why it was snowing outside if it was the middle of August? Hermione looked out, " Ron? Is it snowing?"

Ron shrugged non-committaly, " I guess. I mean, it isn't even cold outside, so why? I know it isn't the Twins playing a prank on me like they did one time when I was younger. They took mum's entire stockpile of baking soda, and started sprinkling it down outside. Being an idiot, I thought it was snowing."

Ginny frowned at Ron, " I remember that. Mum accused you of lying, because they stopped as soon as they saw you had left the window. "

Ron muttered, " Good times…."

" Good times indeed."

Ron spun around to see the Twins walking into the kitchen. George muttered, " All hell's broke loose on us. Dad says we're lucky Dumbledore didn't kick us out of the Order. The Goblins sent us an Eviction notice, claiming that our investor had recalled the money he gave us. We're having to shut the shop down, because we didn't make enough last quarter to make up for business costs, plus Harry wanting back the thousand galleons he lent us to start up."

No wonder they look so dour… Ron thought as he looked at Fred, who looked like he was on the verge of tears. George went over to their father's liquor cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of muggle Vodka, " This is a bad day for us. We've dreamed of that shop, and now it's all gone."

Fred walked over, and pulled out a bottle of Scotch, " I know we fucked Harry royally, but I really didn't think he would come back with such a vengeance you know. I mean, that's pretty low of him to attack our dream like that. I wonder how he knew that we wouldn't have the money right now to pay it?"

Had he not been busy preparing for Daphne's arrival, Harry likely would have been laughing his ass off with Dumbledore and Narcissa about the fate of WWW. Given that it had actually been the Goblins who had suggested it ( vindictive bastards) because of the false reports filed for the Restraining order….

None of the Weasleys knew this, they just thought Harry had gotten lucky. Fred was moaning, " Why did we listen to Bill?"

Ron mused, " I don't know! I can't exactly remember what we were doing when he came in wearing this necklace. He was going off about Potter endangering his younger siblings. Pretty big shift, because Bill used to respect Harry for his daring attitude. But that all seemed to change one day after Bill said he had met someone at Gringotts."

Fred muttered, " That's fishy, but it doesn't matter. The damage is done. Harry will never trust us again, and our joke shop was shut down. Back to the farm as they say. Any idea why it's snowing?"

Ron shook his head, and Hermione did so as well. They didn't know Harry was playing a trick on them using the only Ice Ability he knew thus far.

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( Potter Manor)

" So this is Potter Manor?"

" Yes it is Daphne. Impressive isn't it? I haven't even been to the third and fourth floors yet."

Harry chuckled at her shocked expression, " Hey, Narcissa lives in the basement, so don't start."

" I heard about her marriage being annulled by Sirius Black's will, so I guess it was true?"

Harry sighed, " Yeah. If nothing else, she's proven to be a wealth of political information for me and Dumbledore, as well as suitable eye candy."

" So you keep her around as a pinup girl?"

Harry smirked slightly, " Why else?"

" You surprise me Potter. And here I thought you were more sexually repressed that Granger…"

Harry frowned, " Speak not of the bushy haired wench who's brain is more susceptible than she believes."

" Woah, someone had a falling out I guess?"

Harry glared, " You could say that. Now, let us hope that Dumbledore isn't home, playing on the drums again. Or blaring Def Leopard on the radio again…."

" You have Muggle electronics here?"

Harry chuckled as they walked up to the door, " Dumbledore installed them. He's pretty beast on the drums now. Double bass and all."

" I'm sorry Potter, but I have no idea what a double bass is."

Harry sighed, as he went to open the door. No sooner did he open it, did he get blasted by the sounds of a guitar, and the vocals, " POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME!"

Harry shouted, " TURN THE RADIO DOWN!"

Dumbledore looked up from the novel he was reading ( The Silmarillion), and turned the volume knob down. He shot up, " Ah Harry! Miss Greengrass! Nice to see you again. Are you well?"

Daphne moved her golden hair out of her eyes, " As well as can be expected, Professor. May I ask a question?"

" Ask away, my dear."

" Why are you living with Potter?"

Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other, " Well, it's kind of mutual. You see, House Dumbledore is a vassal house of House Potter. And Dumbledore's home was attacked over the summer break, so…"

" Not a good lie there, Potter. Let me guess, you didn't even know this place existed until he showed you."

Harry blushed slightly. Dumbledore held his arms up, " Hey, he said I could live here, and it isn't like he doesn't have enough space. Harry has two basements you know."

Harry answered through gritted teeth, " Only because the Marauders were more than just a school prank group. They just HAD to start a band after they graduated didn't they?"

Dumbledore smiled, " Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders were a bestselling band in the seventies. Their two albums went triple platinum each. Very heavy I might say, especially for their time. A combination of sorts, like Judas Priest combined with Opeth and Dream Theater. But they were Wizarding World Only band. Sirius Black was the frontman and the bassist. Remus Lupin was the Drummer, Peter Pettigrew was keyboardist and did the growling vocals, and James Potter was Lead Guitarist."

Harry shook his head, " I can see Sirius as a vocalist in a heavy metal band, but I could never, EVER see Lupin as a drummer. Especially with a triple bass like the set in the basement. You know, the one with satanic pentagrams on the bass drums?"

Dumbledore smiled, " My brother put those on there."

Daphne broke in, " Hey, Potter? Do you mind showing me my quarters and getting my stuff in out of the snow? Speaking of which, why is it snowing anyway?"

Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other in the way that told Daphne she was about to get a weird explanation. Harry answered, " I'm an Ice Mage, so I practice by making it snow. In the middle of the summer yes. It should be snowing at the Burrow as well. My idea of a prank. I also have an idea for that Basilisk head in the Chamber of Secrets. But anyway, let's go. Azerith? Could you get Daphne's stuff in and move it into that bedroom on the third floor for her?"

Harry's Chief elf appeared, fixed Harry with a withering look, and took the stuff off with a pop. Daphne looked at Harry, " What's up with that House Elf? He seems kind of…surly."

" Just how he is. You get used to it. Kind of like Luna Lovegood, just without the insane animals that no one else can see."

Daphne nodded as Harry guided her up to the third floor, " The third floor is basically yours. I never come up here at any rate, so just shout for Azerith if you need someone. There's some Dreamless sleep potions in the cupboard, as well as some calming draughts. Use them as you need, but tell me if you run low. I hate Snape with a passion, and would rather not have to face him again before school starts in a week. By the way, I will not be here on the 30th, because of a ball that Neville's hosting. You are more than welcome to come as my guest."

Daphne glared at him, " I have better things to be doing than going to social calls, Potter."

Harry shook his head and left. A few days later, he, Daphne, and Dumbledore finished whatever shopping they needed to get done. Harry noticed with a small cheer that WWW had a Closed until Further Notice sign on the front. That meant the Goblins had been perfect with their timing. The Goblin reports said that the Twins paid for supplies and employees at the same time every month, and that for about a week, they couldn't make up the difference. So that's when Harry and the Goblins struck. Last week of the month.

Harry picked himself some new dress robes. These weren't bottleneck green ( he still wondered why Molly Weasley had thought he would look good in them), rather, they were sable red with gold sprinkled throughout. They also fit him better, since his old ones were now too small. Harry got a new set of shoulder and knee pads for Quidditch, though he doubted he would be playing this year since he hadn't gotten the captaincy. Dumbledore had personally handed him his letter for school, and there were no badges in it. He only assumed that Katie Bell had gotten it instead. God help Gryffindor if Ron had gotten it.

Since Katie Bell hung around with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, who were Fred and George's girlfriends ( respectively), her opinion of him probably wasn't very good right now. The only reason she would let him on is if he offered sexual favors to her. After all, it wasn't a secret the Golden Fox had long harbored a crush on the Golden Boy. Well, not a secret to everyone except him that is. He would have gladly taken Katie over Cho last year, she was a lot more physically "gifted" than Cho, but no one felt the need to inform him of this. Not even after that absolutely disastrous date on Valentine's Day. It probably would have been nice to have a ready and willing "rebound" girl.

They all returned later that day, with Harry helping Daphne up the stairs because her painkillers had worn off. She hissed, " Remind me not to go out of this Manor without some additional Numbing Potions. Seems like your trying to cope a feel with the way you're helping me up here."

Harry had already gotten used to Daphne's quips about his seemingly new found sexuality, and she was teasing him a lot about how he seemed to be a lot more interested in attractive girls than he used to be. Of course, that night was different story…..

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( Later)

Harry woke up with a jolt from one of his Voldemort Nightmares. He grabbed the glass of water he kept on his bedstand, and chugged it in one gulp. He sat there panting slightly for a few moments. This time, Voldemort was grieving, if such an emotion was even possible for him, about Bella's death. Of course, the end of the dream was full of him torturing random Death Eaters for failing to bring him this information earlier. In fact, he hadn't found out until a week or so after it happened, so his info network must have been really bogged down recently.

That's when Harry thought he heard screams coming from upstairs. He got up, and ran up to the third floor, where he found Azerith already there. He muttered, " Lord Potter, the Lady Greengrass forgot to take her Dreamless Sleep Potion."

Harry thrust him aside, " Enough said. I've lived enough horrific events in my life again through my dreams to probably know what's going on. Grab me some water."

Azerith nodded, and popped out. Harry jiggled the knob, predictably found it looked, unlocked it using Alohomora, and practically barged in. He stood, stunned for a moment. Daphne was tossing and turning, as though under the Crucio, writhing. She was yelling in her sleep, " Stop! Don't kill her! Gwen's only,", followed by an anguished scream. After that, Harry figured he had to do something. Harry shouted, " Aguamenti!"

A large blast of cold water fired from his wand, slamming into the writhing teen on the bed. She shot up, grabbed her wand, and shot a Stunner at him. He fired one back, and hit his target. Azerith popped in right after that. Harry walked up, and whispered, " Ennervate"

Daphne jerked back to life, " POTTER! What are you doing in here?"

Harry hissed, " Trying to figure out why you're trying to wake the house up. Here, drink this,", he thrust a Calming draught into her hands, " Who's Gwen?"

Daphne drained the draught, and sank back onto her pillows, " Gwendolen was my youngest sister. She was three…."

Harry gave an ah. She was reliving the attack. Even through the Calming Draught, Daphne broke down in front of him, and began to basically give him a description of what happened through wracking sobs.

" It was terrible. They showed up at seven, right after the dinner had started. Astoria jumped up, and shouted ' All hail Lord Voldemort!' All hell broke loose. They didn't kill us, no that was too simple. They stunned most of us. I got lucky. I was upstairs, still putting my dress robes on when I heard Rodolphus and Lindsey talking about leaving her behind as a distraction for the Order when they arrived."

Harry's eyes widened. Voldemort had thrown Snape off by Five Hours! Five hours of unrelenting torment and death. No wonder that room smelt so bad.

" I used the maze upstairs to evade the two for nearly an hour, before my legs gave out. Rodolphus laughed at me, ' Pretty little Daphne trying to run? Bella will show her the error of her ways.' That's when Lindsey smiled, cackling like that twisted bitch, ' Oh, yes little sister. Bella will make you feel good in ways that you didn't even know existed!' That's when I remembered Bella's predations. She likes it rough, very rough. Like those torturers that wear all red in that book by the American. She can't have children herself, but she takes it out on everyone else. Lindsey bragged to Astoria once that even the Dark Lord had to get an ice pack after Lestrange was done with him. I shivered."

Harry whispered, " Well, at least that Lestrange dead."

" G-G-Good. I w-w-wish I could have killed her m-m-myself,", Harry noticed she was beginning to stammer. He handed her the glass of water that Azerith had brought. She whimpered, " Thank you Harry."

He took the glass back with a, " No problem."

" I was locked in that vault for the next four hours. Lestrange inflicted all those wounds on me. She said she wouldn't kill me, because she was saving me for Draco, but she didn't hesitate to inflict pain on me. Rather than target me specifically, she had the others systematically eliminate all the others first. That's why I was the only one still alive. They made Tracey do atrocious things. They forced her to kill her own father under a body control curse. All I remember is it wasn't the Imperious, because she was perfectly aware of what was going on, but she had no control over her body. Then, the Death Eaters had their little fun with her. I remember Macnair bitching because she died while it was his turn. I-I-I can't bear to talk about the rest."

Harry nodded, " I can't say I understand, but I've enough experience with tragedy myself. We may not be friends, Daphne, but remember that I am here for you. I might have to speak with Dumbledore about getting you moved out of the Slytherin Dorms. Draco might finish the job. "

She looked at him with terrified, but grateful eyes, " You-You would do that for someone you hardly know?"

Harry smirked, " They call it my ' Saving People' thing. Something about another human in pain or suffering, and I am just drawn to them like a fly to those muggle fly lanterns. Tell me something Daphne. Did they do anything else to you while you were down there?"

Daphne quivered for a moment, " Never. They told me to save myself for Draco. That's Draco's fetish. He likes virgins. Don't know why, but while he's publically with Parkinson, he's always after younger girls because of that. It's how he met Astoria. He reminds me of this guy named Telly in this creepy movie I saw one time."

Harry nodded, " You mean the movie ' Kids?' Director Larry Clark?"

Daphne nodded back, " Yeah, that's it. Those lines, ' Virgins. I love'em. No diseases, no skank, no loose as a goose pussy. Just pure pleasure,', just drives me nuts. And Lestrange knew this. She made it a point to say that every time she remembered I was there. Which was quite often. But, thankfully, the worst they ever did was put me under the Cruciatus, and cut me a few times."

Harry sighed, " Well, those little cuts came the closest to killing you. After all, they got infected because of being in there with forty so odd corpses. Nonetheless, you lived. That is how we must honor the dead. By carrying forth their banner amongst the living. There is only the future and the present. But do yourself a favor Daphne. Until, say the fifth week of Hogwarts, try to drink those Dreamless Sleep potions. They aren't there to freshen the air you know? I only wish I had some when Sirius died. And Cedric. I relived those for weeks."

He patted Daphne on the shoulder, " Hey, how about his? You remember that Ball I told you about earlier? It might do you some good to be out in the public, so you don't mind if I take you do you?"

" Are you asking me on a date Potter? A little quick aren't you?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, " Not yet. That…might be later. But I have some other girls I want to explore first. Forgive me, but if I showed up at Hogwarts with my arm around your waist, my house would kill me. Nevermind what happened, I could just see Ronald Weasley screaming, ' HARRY! She's a Death Eater Run!' or Hermione Granger going, ' She's clearly got you under a love potion. Let me go find the antidote?'"

Daphne laughed weakly, " Yeah, that sounds about what I think they would do. I think there was a lot more going on with your 'friends' than you thought, Harry."

" What happened to Potter?"

Daphne glared at him, " Fine then, be that way you Gryffindor bastard."

Harry chuckled, " Fair point. I guess that in private we can call each other Harry and Daphne, but in public, we better go formal. Otherwise, people might think we're crazy. Even more than they already do."

With that, Harry got up, and left. He slept peacefully the rest of the night. That morning, he was woken up by Dumbledore. He said, " Harry, that was a nice thing you did last night."

" How did you know?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, " Haven't you heard? I know everything."

" Then what's your secret?"

Dumbledore held up a cup of mango and apple juice, " I use tiger blood."

Harry laughed, " Nice try Dumbledore. But that's clearly just a cocktail of mango and apple juice."

Dumbledore straightened, " Anyway, I won't be back. I will be seeing you at Hogwarts Harry. Severus says that the curse from the ring is confined to my hand right now, so I'm going to have him amputate it in the hopes that will stop the spread of the corruption. Plus, it's my left hand and I don't need it anyway."

" Good call professor."

A/N: Yeah the background for the Marauders after they left school, but before the BIG EVENT isn't going to be the typical " Sirius, James, and Remus were Unspeakables or Aurors. Pettigrew was the left out pussy and that's why he joined Volde" story. The Next Chapter: Harry meets the other side of his family.

Sepsis: The tainting and poisoning of a wound caused by human waste or decaying flesh.

References and memes

Tiger Blood: Ever since that Charlie Sheen interview, this has hit the web hot, but it really is an actual drink. Of course, it isn't actually tiger blood either. It's kind of an apple, mango sports drink.

Those tormentors who wore red: A reference to the Mord-Sith of the Seeker saga.

Kids: This is probably the creepiest movie by a rather creepy director in Larry Clark. He's the guy famous for several Punk/Indie films, generally about social stereotypes like Punk rockers ( Wassup Rockers), surfer, prep ( Bully), suicide ( Ken Park), and white person who thinks he or she is black ( Kids). His films are rather infamous for the use of teens in graphically sexual movies, like Ken Park. Believe it or not, they all actually have good plots, once you get past the general creepiness about them.

The Movie Kids came out in 1995.

Draco's Fetish: An American Pie 5 the Naked Mile reference, where Erik Stifler's hot sorority chick hooked up with him because she like virgins.

Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders: A combination. Stubby gives the Quibbler a legit reason to call Sirius, Stubby Boardman. Nuclear is a reference to Nuclear Blast Records, a record company that does mostly underground, independent, and metal groups in general. And of course, Marauders are the Marauders.