Harry ducked and dodged the thrusts of Nebula's swords as he fought the fairy queen in the arena back on Tir Nan Og.
Roxy and Morgana sat in the stands watching them, the former looking rather nervous.
"Don't worry, Roxy. She will not hurt him... much..." Morgana chuckled at her daughter's expression.
"Mom, that isn't exactly reassuring..." Roxy glared at her mother.
"She is just testing him to see how much his talent has grown over the summer. His own training by himself, plus with you and with her... I must admit, I am interested in seeing how that all plays out against Nebula as well..." the former fairy queen commented.
"I'm not..." Roxy muttered.
"Stupefy!" Harry exclaimed, casting the spell with his wand and simultaneously swiping his sword.
Nebula cast a shield that was so powerful that it actually made the stunner spell rebound, which Harry had to do a back flip to avoid completely.
Roxy's eyes widened and she resisted the urge to start biting her fingernails.
Harry waved his wand in a circular motion and a black circle of light appeared as he exclaimed the spell: "Umbra Incarcera!"
A circle of black light surrounded the fairy queen as tendrils of what looked like shadowy tentacles reached for her own shadow.
For the first time in Harry's eyes, he saw surprise flick through the fairy queen's eyes as she darted up into the sky to avoid their reach, but found that as they held onto her shadow on the ground, she couldn't actually move much further.
When she recovered somewhat and looked at him with a somewhat annoyed expression, he immediately dropped the spell and wondered if perhaps he'd gone a bit too far.
"I think we shall call it a day, shall we?" Nebula asked coolly.
"Your Majesty, I..." Harry started, but Nebula held up a hand to stave off any explanations or apologies.
"I have no problem with what you did there, Harry. It was dark magic, I could tell, but you did not let it harm me. I did feel that the spell could be harmful if you intended it to be however and you showed remarkable control in that regard. What was that spell?" the fairy queen asked.
"It's a spell designed to trap someone with their own shadows. It was in one of the books I found and brought with me here from the Black Library back in Grimmauld Place..." Harry explained.
"A family crafted spell then?" Nebula quizzed.
"I got the impression of such, Your Majesty..." Harry still looked nervous despite her reassurances.
Roxy nearly barrelled into him at that point and held onto his arm rather firmly.
"You're not going to hurt him now, are you?" Roxy eyed her aunt with a mixture of suspicion and worry.
Nebula chuckled. "No, Roxy. I'm not going to hurt him. He did quite well today. Actually managed to beat me. I'm impressed, really..."
"Lucky shot." Harry muttered.
"Luck may be a part of it, but there was a bit of skill mixed in as well. You fought well and did not hold back. Do not underestimate yourself." Morgana reassured him as she approached.
Dobby appeared some distance away from them and called out for Harry.
Harry felt the fairies' eyes on him as he walked over to the house elf.
"Have you managed to track down a Death Eater yet?" Harry asked.
Dobby nodded wildly. "Yes, yes he has, Master Harry, Sir. Dobby is finding two Death Eaters he is. Theys be brother and sister, from what Dobby can see. They is called Carrow."
Harry straightened up.
"Come with me. The queen and her relatives need to know this." he motioned for Dobby to follow him.
"Dobby has some important news to share regarding a certain intellect gathering mission." Harry announced.
Nebula nodded and transported them to the meeting room.
"What is it? Have you managed to track down a Death Eater?" Nebula addressed the nervous looking house elf.
"Oh yes. Dobby has, he has, indeed! Two Death Eaters! They is siblings and spends lots of time together they does!" Dobby exclaimed.
"The Carrow siblings." Harry explained. "Dobby told me. They're brother and sister. Amycus is the brother and Alecto is the sister, one of the few female Death Eaters. I've never fought them personally or even actually seen them fight, so I have no idea how to gage their skills or fighting styles..."
"Must be fairly skilled though, for Voldemort to allow them into his inner circle..." Roxy mused.
"And like all other Death Eaters, they would certainly be a threat that we shouldn't laugh at." Morgana frowned.
"Now what?" Harry asked. "What do you want to do with this information?"
"Dobby, tell us what you know of their habits please." Nebula requested and Harry nodded to the elf to give him the okay to answer her.
Dobby spent a few minutes telling them everything he noticed.
They apparently lived separately, but still met up at least once a day at a particular time to talk or in some cases met before going to wherever the Death Eater headquarters or other hideouts were.
From what Dobby could sense of them, they were slightly above average in power level, but were nothing particularly special.
"They will have to be taken together then. If one goes missing and the other detects that anything is wrong..." Harry trailed off when Dobby finished his briefing.
Nebula nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes. I agree with you. But the sooner we capture them and pump the information we need out of them, the sooner we can free our allies and any others held captive with them. Save them, strike a blow against Voldemort... I'd like to see that happen sooner rather than later..."
"At least two people should go after them then." Roxy suggested.
"Dobby should go- if he wants to. His magic... They always seem to underestimate house elf magic and his magic certainly would be useful..." Morgana thought aloud.
"Dobby would be glad to go help punish nasty witch and wizard, but not by himself. He won't, he won't!" Dobby exclaimed.
"Your Majesty," Harry spoke up. "It doesn't feel right for me to send Dobby in to capture the Carrows alone. One House-Elf to two Death Eaters? Dobby is clever and powerful in his own right, but still... I want to go with him."
Nebula looked him in the eye and Harry looked back at her, his gaze never wavering.
Roxy and Morgana looked between the two, looking as if they were watching a rather riveting movie.
"Very well," Nebula relented. "You will go with him. And Roxy will go with you as well."
"Wait, wait, what?" Roxy sat up even straighter in her chair, even as Morgana voiced her objection. "I didn't volunteer for this!"
"Nebula, surely you don't mean to send her on such a dangerous mission!" Morgana objected.
"I don't see why not. It is only two Death Eaters and besides, she will not be alone. Harry and Dobby will be with her..." Nebula shrugged.
"But... they're Death Eaters!" Harry exclaimed. "They wouldn't care that Roxy is your niece; the Princess of Tir Nan Og. They wouldn't hesitate to torture her, kill her, bring her to Voldemort to gain more favour with him or keep her captive and use her to try to wring some sort of... concessions out of you! Magical secrets, spells, getting you to leave his forces alone..."
Roxy paled at those words.
Nebula seemed to consider his words. "You are correct... Very well then. You, Roxy and Dobby will go, but I will send two of my Warrior Fairies with you. You really cannot be too safe in these circumstances after all..."
"And if everything goes south?" Roxy asked.
"Then backup will be sent. I myself will step into the fray if necessary. Especially if Bellatrix Lestrange or Voldemort himself actually show up." Nebula answered.
"I still don't think that this is a good idea, Nebula. She is my daughter and I want her safe. Not fighting against some psychopathic murderers!" Morgana exclaimed.
"She needs to learn to fight. She practices here with us and her training at Alfea is decent, but real world fighting? At some point she may have to fight someone much worse and I want her to be able to defend herself and others if necessary. What's a little capture mission against two of them, especially with a competent wizard, a strong house elf and two of my best warriors accompanying her?" Nebula argued.
"While he is competent, he is also young. It is one thing for him to have to defend himself if they attacked him, but actively seeking them out?!" Morgana retorted.
Roxy and Harry looked at one another nervously.
"Mom..." Roxy swallowed nervously before she spoke up. "I think I'll go. No. I know I'll go. Voldemort is a threat. I don't think I could face off against him like Harry could, but I'd probably do okay against these Carrow people. Plus like my aunt said, I won't be alone. Harry will be with me. Dobby will be with me. Two of the Warrior Fairies will be with me. My proper basic fairy form has been unlocked and my magic is functioning better now. I can do this!"
Morgana looked Roxy in the eye. "Roxy. Are you sure that you want this? Think of the risks!"
"I will do it. It's to help Dana. Andrina. Anybody else that they may have there. Isn't a future queen supposed to help her subjects and her allies?" Roxy looked her right back in the eye.
"You're not going to be a queen for a long while yet..." Morgana said.
"But I will be someday and I need to be ready. I need to be able to both rule my people and defend them when I need to. Politically and otherwise." Roxy responded.
Morgana took a deep breath and massaged her temples.
"Aye." the former queen sighed. "Fine. I'll tell your father. He won't like it either; he'll voice an objection for sure but I don't think he'll try to stop you."
Harry squeezed Roxy's hand lightly and she smiled slightly at him.
"Good. Now that that matter is settled," Nebula stood up. "I will go speak to the Warrior Fairies and select two volunteers for the mission." she left the room.
"Dobby, can you try to find out anything more about the Carrows?" Harry asked the elf, who'd remained quiet throughout the entire... debate, watching it anxiously.
"Dobby will do his best, Master!" Dobby did an odd sort of salute before Disapparating.
"I think a bit more practice is in order..." Harry looked at Roxy.
"Then let's go." Roxy nodded and the two stood up, leaving Morgana behind.
"This be the place, Master Harry, Princess Roxy, Warrior Fairies..." Dobby gestured to an average sized house that sat somewhere out in the middle of the English countryside.
One of the pair of Warrior Fairies- a fairy with lilac hair held up her hand and cast a few spells.
"There are a few protections wards on the place, Princess. Nothing that will take too long or be too difficult to overcome. Shall we proceed?" she asked Roxy.
Roxy looked at Harry- who was on her other side- and he nodded, his wand firmly clenched in one hand, while his butterfly swords were strapped firmly around his waist.
Roxy nodded, her expression a firm one. "Yes, we shall. The sooner we do this, the better."
That Warrior Fairy- and the other who had light blue hair, raised their hands and pointed them towards the house.
A sound of sizzling, cracking and several pops could be heard in the air as a translucent dome shaped shield became visible around the house, looking as if it were burning in several places as it faded away.
Dobby snapped his fingers and they all were transported onto the grounds of the house.
"What the bloody hell? What's going on?" they heard a female voice shouting inside.
"Aurors, likely!" a male voice shouted back.
"How the bloody hell could Aurors find this place?" the female retorted.
Harry blasted apart the door (and its surrounding frame) with a Blasting Curse and the Warrior Fairies flew in ahead of them, weapons raised, with Roxy and Harry close behind and Dobby flanking the back.
"What is-" the short, black-robed witch's eyes widened as she saw Harry. "YOU!" she roared. "Amycus! It's not the Aurors! It's Harry Potter! Harry Potter is here!"
Harry dodged the first curse she threw, which ended up piercing a hole in the wall behind him.
Roxy fired an energy blast at her, which threw her back into a wall, leaving a slight Alecto-shaped indent in it, but the witch was quickly back up on her feet and re-brandishing her wand.
"Fairies? In my house?" Amycus Apparated into the room, throwing a curse at the blue-haired fairy, which she deflected into the ceiling with her staff. "I don't bloody well think so. You're not welcome here!"
"You weren't welcome in Dana's house either, scum." The top of the lilac-haired fairy's staff turned into a battle-axe as she swung it at him, but he narrowly dodged the spell that emanated from it.
"Is this what this is all about? Some petty revenge mission that you've roped the Potter brat into? Pathetic." Alecto sneered as she cast Avada Kedavra back at Roxy, who narrowly managed to dodge it.
"Amycus! Summon the Dark Lord!" she called out as she took on Harry, who was furious at the attempt on Roxy's life.
Amycus rolled back his left sleeve.
"Don't let him touch his Dark Mark!" Harry shouted as he cast Umbra Incarcera at Alecto, narrowly missing her.
"He won't have a Dark Mark when I'm done with him!" the lilac-haired fairy flew towards Amycus with her battle axe, dodging all the spells flying about the room and just before he could touch the Mark, she swung her axe, taking his left arm clean off from the shoulder joint down.
Amycus sunk to the floor, screaming in pain and anger as his shoulder-stump bled out.
"Our Queen wants you alive, so your life is spared for now." she looked down at him, squirming at her feet as if he were some of the lowest form of scum alive- which to her, he was.
Waving her free hand, the wound sealed itself off as Amycus passed out.
Alecto saw her fallen brother and was filled with renewed rage.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
Her spells grew wilder and more violent.
"No youse won't! Youse won't hurt Harry Potter nor his friends and allies!" Dobby shot a blast of magic at the ceiling at the same time both Harry and Roxy shot energy blasts at the enraged Death Eater.
The blasts propelled her into the wall at the same time a chandelier fell from the ceiling.
She ended up landing in the same spot that the chandelier would fall on, entrapping her within a concoction of twisted metal and broken glass.
The blue-haired fairy twirled her staff idly as it smoked. "The fight is over already? Pity. I was hoping for a little more action. I do hope the queen lets me participate in the siege of wherever it is that these scumbags lead us to..." she spoke casually.
"We will never give up the Dark Lord to you or your pathetic royals!" Alecto snarled, spitting blood.
"Unfortunately," the lilac-haired fairy held her still bloodied axe close to Alecto's neck threateningly. "you don't have a choice in the matter, Carrow."
Alecto eyed the bloody axe nervously.
Roxy stood up straighter and brushed herself off. "Well, that was a success. Both incapacitated and captured. Two less Death Eaters for Voldemort, two sources of information for us, whether they like it or not..."
"Shall we take them back to Tir Nan Og now, Princess?" the blue-haired fairy asked.
"Go ahead. Harry and I will join you shortly." Roxy nodded.
The two other fairies nodded in acknowledgement, seized their captures, formed a portal, tossed them through and then followed, before the portal closed behind them.
Harry looked at Roxy quizzically. "Why'd you dismiss them like that?"
Roxy suddenly looked a bit nervous. "I wanted to talk to you without them or my family around. Before we go back there."
Harry glanced back at Dobby. "Dobby, could you give us some time alone, please?"
"Yes, Master! Dobby will leave Master Harry and his princess alone now!" Dobby Disapparated with a loud crack.
"His princess?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you're my wizard?"
"If you want me to be." Harry smiled.
Roxy laughed a little. "Yeah, I think so. But seriously, Harry..." Her expression became a bit more serious.
"This..." Roxy gestured to the destruction surrounding them. "...all of this. It really hit home today that it's these guys you have to go up against and cut through to get to Voldemort. Then Alecto cast that Killing Curse at me... I dodged it, but it was so close. I know that I need to fight..."
Harry took her hands in his and squeezed them lightly. "You don't have to fight. This is my fight, not yours..."
"It became mine as soon as he sent his Death Eaters to attack one of my aunt's... one of my subjects." Roxy said. "It's just... I don't know how much of a fighter I could really be. You've known about your magic and received training for longer than I have and I..."
Harry put a finger on her lips and shushed her.
"You did quite fine today, Roxy. Those spells you threw about, none of the enemy spells even managed to get a scratch on you... You were okay. My friends back in Britain... they were all our age when they fought Death Eaters alongside me in the Ministry of Magic last year. We were young and inexperienced compared to them. We were outnumbered in a bigger labyrinth of potential dangers, yet we still came out of it alive. Granted, we weren't in the best shape, but we were alive and we recovered." Harry hugged her and Roxy hugged him back. "The road won't be easy but I believe now that it'll work out in the end for us all..."
"I know. I wish all of this wasn't necessary." Roxy sighed.
"Neither do I, Roxy. Neither do I." Harry shifted some hair out of her face and kissed her lightly. "Now let's go back to Tir Nan Og before they wonder if a booby trap caught us or something..."
"Good. You two are here." Morgana nodded as they stepped through the portal that put them out just outside the doors of the throne room. "I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to you two..."
"No, Mom. We're as fine as we can be. I just wanted to talk to him a bit before we got back, is all..." Roxy explained.
"I see." Morgana looked between the two suspiciously, but let that matter slide.
"Follow me. I will take you to the prison..." Morgana motioned for them to follow her.
"Since when do we have a prison?" Roxy raised an eyebrow.
"Since always, my dear daughter. We had criminals, even amongst our own kind at times, you know..." Morgana led them into a small, plain looking room, then cast a spell at one wall.
A portal opened in it and they stepped through.
When they emerged on the other side, they were at the head of a row of prison cells, the bars made of glowing, dark grey magical energy.
Some cells were on top of one another, with no visible stairs or other means of getting to them- aside from flying up, of course.
"These Carrows were taken to the interrogation room. All of the Warrior Fairies are present, in case they should start something- or attempt to. Nebula is present, as is Juliana. Roxy, you do remember what I said about what could happen to them should Juliana or I attempt to lift the information from their minds, correct?"
"Yes, mom. I remember. I don't like the idea of it, but I remember..." Roxy answered.
"Good. Let's go." Morgana stopped in front of the wall on the other side of the corridor and traced some runes in the middle of it with some magical energy gathered on her fingertip.
An arched doorway formed within the wall, then slid aside to reveal another room.
Inside that room, Warrior Fairies lined the walls (the two that accompanied Harry, Roxy and Dobby closest to either side of the archway), the Carrows were magically tied to chairs in the centre of the room and Juliana and Morgana stood on either side of them, the former's wings glowing softly as she flapped them slightly.
"Ah good. Princess Roxy and Harry Potter have finally arrived." Nebula addressed the prisoners coolly.
"You're getting nothing out of us, fairy!" Alecto snarled.
"Unfortunately for you, Alecto Carrow, your kind messed with one of us. We don't take kindly to that sort of thing." Nebula nodded to Juliana, who stepped closer.
"You have no choice in the matter." Juliana's tone was like steel as she spoke, her eyes changing entirely to a glowing shade of purple as the glow fully engulfed her and she reached her hands forward.
