Chapter 57
Your Dark Lord Knows Best (The Consequences of Cheating)
"HAAR-RRYYY!" Bonnie sang as they came through the floor with the two guards following behind them with their bags, Sophia in Bonnie's arms. "We're home kumquat. We bought some really cute things." She went up to their room and told the guards to leave the bags at the door. She put Sophia in the center of the bed and removed her coat. "Harry?" she called. "Are you in here?" She looked around the room and then came back to make sure Sophia hadn't moved. She sat down on the bed and took out her phone to track him. She went to the tracking device and it turned up blank. She checked Fish's tracking device to make sure her phone was working.
Fish was in his room at his apartment.
She went back to Harry's tracker. "Harry?" she wondered aloud. "Why is your phone off?"
/-
"Pick him up," Ganelle ordered the other two girls.
Ashley got out of her chair and helped Hanna drag Harry's body over to a sturdy metal chair that had been painted white. They had to get him tied down before his body started working again. It was easier to fight him off if they just had to keep retying the white rope that they were using to strap him down.
Hanna was really good with ropes and tying knots. Harry had taught her that.
Harry looked up at Ashley. "Sweetie. You don't have to do this. You could just tell her no and let me go. You're more than this," he told her.
Ashley smiled at him.
"St. Jimmy," Ganelle interrupted. "Don't talk to her. She's done her job, she's just here to watch. If you can't focus on the point of this exercise I will have to ask her to leave."
Harry looked at Ganelle. "I thought she was your shield."
Ganelle just smiled, like she knew everything that was going on and she knew that Harry knew nothing.
But Harry knew some things. "He told me this would happen."
Ganelle knelt in front of him, folding her arms over his knees and looking up at him. "Who's that Jimmy? Who told you these things that shatter your made up perfect little world?"
"Voldemort. He told me that my followers would turn on me. He said it was inevitable. Its impossible to make everyone happy."
"That's very true. Your nemesis was a smart man. But I'm not going to take pity on you just because you understand what is happening and just because it was inevitable. You took on this challenge and now you must live with the consequences." She patted his knee. "Let's get started, shall we?"
/-
"I don't know where he went. His phone is off, his guards say they were under the impression that he would only be gone a few hours. He told them to lie to me and tell me he was in his office all day." Bonnie explained as she led Ron, Fish, Hermione and Albus to Harry's office door. "There must be some evidence of where he went in his office."
"Maybe he was just taking some time alone," Hermione suggested.
"Why would he turn off his phone so that I wouldn't know if he was dead or alive? Why wouldn't he be home by now if he told his guards he would be. Sure, he'll be upset that we invaded his office but not if he's in danger."
Albus ran his wand over Harry's office door as they came upon it, looking for the magic guarding it. Bonnie didn't even try to take it down herself knowing that Harry would litter it with spells she wouldn't know. "You were right. They're very advanced. Mr. Weasley," he said, moving aside so that Ron could take a crack at it. Being one of the Unspeakables, they teach you a lot of new things. They watched him remove a few spells that a new Unspeakable gadget detected for him and then Albus took over to finish the rest. Fish turned the handle and they all followed in, gathering around the doorway in shock.
"Oh. My God," Fish mumbled as they all stared at the mess their friend had been living in. Harry never left this office anymore, he spent all of his free time reading and writing only God knew what in his office. Fish walked over to the desk and picked up the first book lying there, read the title of the chapter and then looked up at the others. "Bonnie, how much time does he spend in here?"
"Well, we were fighting. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep. For a couple weeks he has spent a lot of time in here. Why? What is he reading?"
"It's dark magic."
"He must be reading it for reference," she said without pause. "Everybody should know what they're fighting, right?"
Fish shook his head to himself and sat down in his leader's chair looking around at the books around him. "He's obviously got a lot on his mind Bonnie. Maybe you just overreacted. Maybe he's just out for a long walk and lost track of time."
"That's not what is happening Fish and you know it. Something is terribly wrong here. Even when we were fighting Harry would tell me if he was leaving the house. When we weren't, he would tell me if he was planning to take a walk even. And he wouldn't leave the house without bringing his guards or telling them where he was going, unless he was doing something stupid and secretive."
She handed Sophia to Hermione and walked over to the desk. She shuffled around some papers, looking for clues, something recent. She stopped at the unfolded letter sitting under a few notes in Harry's handwriting. She knew she recognized this writing on the letter. It was familiar in a very hazy sort of way. She read it over, recognized the date and quickly turned to the bottom of the second page with realization.
Ashley.
"Oh no."
/-
"Sir St. Jimmy," Ganelle said as she walked around his chair thoughtfully, her fingers lazily drifting over his shoulders as she walked behind him. "I've heard a lot about you the few years that I've been a part of this cult."
"Its not a—"
"Sh-hh," Ganelle hushed angrily, holding her finger to her lips like a kindergarten teacher. "I am talking right now and it is very rude to interrupt." She rolled her eyes and continued her walk. "God, I can't get a word in without you interrupting. No wonder Voldemort wanted to kill you. Now, where was I? Right, I have learned a lot about you St. Jimmy. You're a pretty interesting guy. You're a good person, people love you, you survive deadly situations all over the place." She dropped to her knees in front of him, putting her elbow on one of his knees and her chin in her hand. "Lets talk about those deadly situations. I am really interested in hearing about them."
"That's what my therapist is for," Harry reminded her, glaring.
"Oh, but what could you tell him? He's paid to listen to you. I'm here for you St. Jimmy, I'll listen. I've tied you up and I'm forcing you to tell meeverything," she stated emphatically. "That's how much I care. That's how much I need to know. I need to know what is going on inside that little head of yours. I want you to tell me things—and the other girls of course—things you have never told anyone else. I want to get everything out of that little head of yours. I want to get through those broken walls and get to everything. I want to help you get to everything to." She put her hand on his knee and rested the side of her face on the palm of her hand, looking up into his eyes. "I'm going to delve into those black holes and help you come to terms with the things you hide from yourself. I am going to force you to.
"Its not right for good people to hide the darkness from themselves; you have no right to pretend you're better than the rest of us when you're cheating."
"I'm not—"
Ganelle just shook her head and Harry went quiet. She smiled sadistically. "That's a good boy. Lets talk about Voldemort first. Its most recent and it might hurt but we won't lose you as quickly as we would with my other subject options."
Harry sighed heavily. "You can't make me talk to you."
"Silly St. Jimmy. I know how this works. It will be just like therapy only a little bit harder on you and not as relaxing. It's not going to come out nice and easy at your pace in your own time. I'm going to force it out of you." She climbed up onto the chair, straddling his body, and put her hand on his cheek. He leaned away from her, trying not to come in contact with her white clothes. "If I paint nice enough pictures and bring up the outside of that setting enough, at some point we are going to go in."
Harry looked away from her.
Ganelle smiled. "Let's start talking St. Jimmy. Lets talk about that battle. Was it just you and Voldemort in that room? Not from what I read. How many people were in the room Jimmy? How were you able to kill all those death eaters and fend off Voldemort? How many people were there Jimmy?"
"There were one hundred and fifty two."
"Oh wow!" She smiled. "You must feel really bad. I mean, you murdered a lot of people. About half of them probably didn't deserve it, right?"
"They were death eaters. They were on the other side. There was no time to decide who was good and who wasn't. They should have decided before hand."
Ganelle smiled. "That was sweet St. Jimmy. Very Jesus of Suburbia of you."
"Ganelle?"
Harry and Ganelle both turned to look at Ashley who was sitting on the floor against the wall closest to them.
Ganelle smiled pleasantly. "Yes Ashley?"
"Um, I don't want to interrupt or question your methods but...it...bothers me. Having you sitting on him like that. I just..."
"Don't worry Ashley. I understand." She climbed off of Harry's lap. "I'm sorry for sitting on him. That was wrong of me." She walked over to Ashley and lifted the girl's chin. "I won't move in on your territory sweetie. No worries. Maybe I'll give you some time with him in a little while."
Ashley smiled excitedly but held back.
"Ganelle?" Hanna interrupted. Ashley and her looked to Hanna who pointed to Harry. He had turned his hands to the side at an awkward angle to set fire to the white ropes around his wrists.
Ganelle gasped and turned to him. "St. Jimmy! What the hell are you doing? Are you undermining me? I thought we were going to work together on this. I thought we were going to be in this together."
Harry turned his hand toward her and pushed the flames toward her skirt, which caught fire. She pulled it together to put it out as he went back to working on the ropes that were cracking.
"Hanna," Ganelle said quickly. "Grab those buckets of water."
Hanna went to a tall white box in the corner and grabbed two buckets and carried them over to the center of the room where Harry was. Ganelle grabbed one of the buckets and Hanna took the other and they poured the almost frozen ice water over Harry's hands, putting out the fire in his hands. Harry took deep breaths, trying to come over the shock of the ice water.
"I can't believe you St. Jimmy. I was trying to be nice to you. I started off simple and easy and if you were a good boy we could have stayed that way. But now we must move on and I'm going to have to make it more difficult on you.
"Ashley, would you retie those ropes quickly while I get my tools?"
Ashley nodded, grabbing more white rope and crawling over to Harry.
"Watch her," Ganelle said to Hanna.
Harry was shivering, his hands dripping with ice that melted on his skin. "Ashley," Harry mumbled.
She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm really sorry about this St. Jimmy."
"Why are you doing this for her?" Harry asked as she pulled the knots tight around his wrists. He had taught her how to tie knots to. He used to play games with her to train her. When the others weren't around, when they were busy and he and Ashley were alone...
.
Harry sat on the floor in front of Ashley's bed. One of his wrists was already tied to her green bed post and she sat on the bed at the post trying to fix it. She was wearing an outfit that made Harry happy, he had made her change when he came over. A little printed green top and black corduroys, her hair pulled back in a high pony tail so that he could see her face. Little strands of hair from her grown out bangs hung in her eyes.
"It's not tight enough Ash. I could still escape just by pulling my arm away," Harry told her, leaning his head back to lay it on the bed, looking up at her.
Ashley dropped her hands and tried to force strands of hair behind her ear. "It's not working. The ropes won't get any tighter."
"If you knot the ropes in the right way it won't matter how tightly you're able to pull them. Try again."
Ashley rolled her eyes and pulled the ropes off to try to tie them again the way Harry had demonstrated a few minutes ago.
"Ashley!" her mother called from downstairs. "Do you and your friend want some snacks?"
Ashley looked down at Harry, who was still resting his head back on her bed. He shook his head. "No thanks mummy."
She turned back to Harry and smiled down at him. She started work on the ropes again. "Is this feeling better?" she asked.
"Its better sweetie. Keep practicing." He reached up to her face and twirled a dark strand of her hair around his finger.
She blushed and turned back to the knots. When she was finished Harry pulled at the ropes to test their strength. "That's really good sweetie. I'm really proud. See, if you put your mind to it you can learn anything easily enough."
"Thanks." She sunk down on the bed and laid on her back so that her head laid next to Harry's. They both turned to look at each other. "St. Jimmy?"
"Yeah sweetie?"
"Sometimes I miss you. Even when I'm next to you, sometimes even when I'm talking to you. It's like I'm not really there with you sometimes. Not like right now. Do you sometimes miss me St. Jimmy? Like that?"
Harry smiled and touched her cheek. "Yeah. All the time."
.
Ashley didn't respond to his question. In a few seconds Harry's expression had changed from curiosity to want.
"St. Jimmy?" she asked curiously.
"I want to kiss you again."
Ashley smiled, blushing. "It was a nice kiss."
Harry looked down, ashamed of himself. "I can't understand myself. I feel like I'm being cursed."
"It's alright. Its not your fault. Its just human nature." She put her hand over his hand softly, comfortingly and Harry breathed deeply of her scent and appreciated the moment he had with her. Then she moved her hand and started to knot the ropes on his other wrist.
"Sweetie?" he asked. "Were you really sexually assaulted? You could have written to me earlier, I would have helped."
Ashley smiled at him and shook her head. "No, I made that up. The guards at the hospital are mainly women in the women's ward except one man and I'm pretty sure he's gay."
Harry leaned back in his seat. "Well, at least you're okay."
Ashley smiled as she pulled tightly at the rope, so hard it made Harry wince a little.
"You've gotten better at tightening those, huh?"
"St. Jimmy?" she asked, taking position straddling over him like Ganelle had previously. "If you don't object, I'm going to kiss you now."
Harry stared up at her. When Ganelle had been near him he had just been annoyed, she was just another enemy, he wasn't attracted to her. He could feel the heat of Ashley's body against him, smell her, she filled every sense. The taste of her on his mouth from hours earlier was gone and he wanted it back, he wanted to kiss her, to taste her again. He already missed her. He was so tired of missing her.
"Okay," he mumbled.
Ashley smiled and touched his cheek lovingly, brushing his hair back behind his ear and leaned in slowly. He realized she was going to tease him, she was going to join in on the torture. She crouched in his lap and breathed heavily against his neck. He groaned deep in his throat, intoxicated by the smell of her, the feel of her heart beat and the scent of her skin. She was so close, he thought if he turned his head he would be able to taste her neck.
"Ashley," he breathed, shivering and rolling his head back as she lapped her tongue up his throat.
"Mmm," she sighed.
He watched her pull her tongue back into her mouth, touch the back of her teeth with it and then swallow heavily. He couldn't believe her change from the un-talkative, shy Ashley to the girl completely seducing him.
She let him breathe and then leaned in to caress his lips lightly with her own. She ran her tongue along his bottom lip like he had to her and he willingly opened his mouth to receive it. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he raised his body up to participate, struggling against the restraints, wanting to be able to touch her. He couldn't believe the wonderful feeling of her tongue and the taste of her mouth and her lips and the smell of her skin. Everything about her was so warm and familiar and his.
"Ashley," he mumbled against her mouth.
She replied by grinding her hips into him and he groaned in her mouth and kissed her harder.
"Untie me Ashley," he breathed, kissing her lips as she kissed his. "We'll leave. I'll take you out of here. I'll kiss you. I'll make love to you." He breathed her in as she kissed him deeply, bit his bottom lip and devoted her mouth to his. "You just have to untie me sweetie. We can go."
"I can't do that St. Jimmy," she said knowingly, pecking him on the lips over and over. "You'll go back to your wife. You'll feel guilty. But here, now, you don't have to feel guilty about this. Because by the time Ganelle is finished with you, you'll be so out of it, no one will be able to be angry at you." She held his face between her hands.
"Ashley—"
"Shh," she whispered, putting her finger to his lips. "She's giving us a few minutes alone and we can't waste it talking." She kissed him again, pressing her whole body into him, and grinding into him.
For a moment, Harry tried to resist. The first couple of times, the kissing in the beginning was wrong and he knew that. He would feel guilty over it for the rest of his life every time he looked at Bonnie. And his only excuse was that he was completely high on the smell of his follower's skin. But he knew he had just promised to take her away and sleep with her and he wasn't sure how far he would let himself go with her if he didn't stop her now.
But she didn't pull her mouth and tongue away long enough for him to interrupt and stop her and the more she kissed him the more he forgot.
A few minutes later, when Hanna had disappeared and the two girls still hadn't interrupted, Ashley crawled off his lap and started to unzip her pants.
"What are you doing?" he asked, shocked, nervous and still wishing she would come back.
"I want you St. Jimmy," she mumbled, stepping out of her jeans and shoes and standing in front of him, barefoot, in her black underwear and her cardigan. She crawled back onto his lap and he moved uncomfortably but still wanting. "Don't you want me?" She ran her fingers to his waist and unzipped his pants.
Harry didn't say anything and he didn't object, he just let her continue.
/-
"He's been gone for hours," Bonnie said again as she paced back and forth in Lily and James's lounge. Lily was holding Sophia. "She took him, I know she did. That little conniving little twat stole my husband," she mumbled angrily. She glared at the carpet and spat at it in anger as she spoke. "She probably didn't even have to try very hard. She probably told him some sob story and he probably followed. The Savior to everyone, especially the crazy ones. He's more pliable in the department of what he's willing to give up these days than he used to be." She turned to Fish. "He's probably sleeping with her. I can feel it in my bones. He's cheating on me with her, the bastard," she hissed hysterically.
"Bonnie," James said quickly, taking her shoulders to stop her pacing. "There's no need to worry like that. Harry would never cheat on you. I'm sure he's fine."
Bonnie turned to him and shook her head. "You don't know Ashley. She was his other love." She put her hand to her face and instantly started to sob.
James pulled her into a hug. "It will be okay sweetie."
Bonnie shoved him away. "Don't call me that. That's what he calls her. She's sweetie. Sweetie, Baby, Ash, Ashley. She's crazy like he is, his crazy friend. I'm not crazy like they are, I can't relate. I had to make up problems to get that close to him."
"Would you like a calming drought dear?" Lily asked.
Bonnie sighed and sat on the floor. "I would love one."
Lily sent the nanny off to collect a calming drought. Little Sirius turned to his mother. "Why is Harry sleeping with his friend? Why isn't he sleeping at home?"
Lily shook her head. "Now isn't the time sweetheart."
"Where do we start looking for him?" Fish asked. "Even if he's fine we should still see where he's gone. Check on him. Make sure Bonnie's as crazy as she sounds."
"We have everyone keeping an eye out for him," Tim said.
"One of them is bound to hear something," Tom added.
Bonnie got her calming drought, drank the whole thing and passed out on the floor. Fish picked her up and put her on the couch, taking her seat on the floor. He put his arm around Kacy who sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder as he took his phone out of his pocket and stared at it, waiting for someone to call. Lily took care of Sophia, James tried to explain to Little Sirius what was going on without actually explaining anything. Everyone else just sat around waiting for information.
An hour later, after Kacy had fallen asleep with her head on Fish's lap, she woke to his phone ringing though he answered it quickly enough. "Anything?" He listened quietly and the others in the room watched him as he waited, putting his hand to his mouth. "Okay," he replied. "Thanks." He paused. "And do you know where she's living here? What area at the least?" He waited for a reply. "Okay, maybe Tim and Tom can search it out. Maybe Avin can sniff her out. He knows bad blood. Good job. I'll get back to you." He hung up and looked over at Bonnie passed out on the couch still. "Harry has been kidnapped. Apparently this girl Ganelle from the States joined forces with our good friend Hanna and they used Ashley as bait. Ashley was released from the hospital just a couple of months ago but the others have heard that Ganelle convinces her not to take her medication. Ganelle has been living somewhere in England with Hanna for almost five months. He says he doesn't know what they want with Harry but Ganelle isn't a very loving type of girl and if she shares Hanna's feelings they can't be in good moods." He turned to Tim and Tom.
"Already at work, Fish," they mumbled as they each got their laptops out of their bags.
"Harry," Bonnie whispered painfully in her sleep and they all turned to look at her. "Don't."
/-
Ashley had readjusted the ropes so that Harry's hands could reach her just enough to hold her hips, pulling her back down onto him roughly as he came, kissing her mouth sloppily as neither could control their mouths properly in their climax.
When they were both finished Ashley pulled away to adjust herself and zip his pants back up. Harry dragged his fingernails along her hips, hard enough to leave marks, when she pulled away to get her pants. He sunk into his chair, still breathing heavily as he watched with half-lidded eyes as she pulled her jeans back on. She smiled ecstatically at him. "It was good, wasn't it?" She zipped up her pants and pulled down her shirt and sweater before crawling back onto his lap. "You could hardly move and it was great."
"If you untied me I could take you out and make it better," he offered.
She pressed her lips to his again. "Fun time is over St. Jimmy. Its time for your punishment now."
"I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life over this and go to Hell for it probably to. Can't that be my punishment?"
"Ganelle says its necessary for it to be this way."
"Are you going to listen to what this girl has to say over what I say?" he asked, pulling at her jeans, looking up at her with lusty yet hopeful eyes. "I thought my word meant everything to you."
Ashley opened her mouth to reply but Ganelle spoke up from behind her.
"That's enough now you two. I've given you plenty of time alone together." She stepped into the room and over to them, Hanna following quietly behind.
Harry looked up at her, gripping Ashley's jeans in his fingers. "We were talking."
Ganelle lowered her face to be even with him. "She doesn't have anything more to say to you."
"She has an answer," Harry replied.
"I don't think its in your favor. You didn't save her then and you can't save her now. Stop. Trying." Before he could respond she grabbed Ashley's arms and Hanna pried Harry's fingers off her jeans. "Come on Ashley. You've gotten what you wanted, I have work to do now."
"Thank you Ganelle," Ashley said with a smile. She turned and kissed Harry one last time and Harry responded eagerly until Hanna put a hand on his chest and shoved him back in his seat as Ganelle pulled Ashley off the chair. "Go sit down Ashley," Ganelle said.
Ashley grabbed her shoes and went to sit in a ball in the corner.
Ganelle placed herself front and center before Harry. "I see Ashley readjusted your knots. She wasn't supposed to do that. But no worries. I brought my bag of tricks to keep you in your place this time. Your magic fire won't stop these." She pulled a little black cloth bag out from behind her back. "Now I told you before, didn't I? I asked you. What did you think you were going to do St. Jimmy? Save everyone by treating them like your pets, calling them your followers and then abandoning them? Not happening," she said, shaking her head. "No way. I won't allow it. That's why I brought these." She pulled two large metal stakes out of her cloth bag. Harry raised his eyebrows at them. "Made special for the Jesus of Suburbia, tortured to insanity for the sins of his people." She giggled.
Harry struggled in the tight ropes on his wrists and around legs.
"You really did teach your followers well didn't you?" she taunted. "Taught them just how to take you down. By making them your friends.
"And do you know what else you did for me, making my job so simple? You made my connections for me. Everyone knows everyone else, all I had to do was trace some lines to get where I wanted to be. Once I met Hanna by going to your birthday party with the guys, Hanna of course knows everyone and so she told me about Ashley and with a little work we met someone else that you know quite well. And he is going to help us get you out of this chair and onto that wall over there where I want you."
She turned to look up at the open doorway where her and Hanna had reentered the room. "You can come in now," she called.
Harry turned his head and watched, as who else should walk through that door, but Lucius Malfoy.
Harry sighed heavily. "My enemy's followers are turning on me to?" he asked.