Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

GoddessMoonLady: Here's something no one else knows yet... You'll be the first one to know: Voldemort reconstructed Nightmare Manor someday. I mean he needs a residence, doesn't he? And why shouldn't he use the name everyone remembers from the old times? But psssst... g

Chapter 54 – Torture, Return and The Explanation

Harry Daniels glared straight into Voldemort's eyes.

"Let him go, Tom." He growled. The Death Eaters all pointed their wands at him. Hermione watched from the door.

"Why should I, Mr Daniels? Give me a good reason... or maybe an offer...?" Harry clenched his teeth.

"He's got nothing to do with this, Tom. Leave him out. What do you want?" Voldemort's mouth formed a cruel smile.

"He may go..." Harry waited for him to continue—and so he did after a short pause. ", but without you." Harry nodded slowly. He gave Hermione a sign and she ran over to Ron and helped him to his feet. Voldemort raised his eyebrows.

"Leave them both out of this. It is a thing between you and me and it has nothing to do with them." He gave Hermione a small box and whispered: "There's a portkey inside. Go out of the castle and a bit further away. Then open it. You'll arrive right in front of my house." She nodded slightly.

"And what about you?" He paused a little.

"Just go." He said and she looked worriedly at him. "Go already!" He hissed. Hermione carried Ron towards the door. Harry looked at Voldemort again. "Now you've got what you wanted. What are you planning to do now?" He already knew the answer, but he had to give Hermione some time to get out.

"The same as I did to you when you went to school... torture you." And with that he shot a Cruciatus at him. Harry just let the curse hit him without an expression, though sweat was running down his face.

"This doesn't work anymore, Tom. You'll need to find better curses..." Voldemort just continued to smile his evil smile.

"And you'll have to learn respect, Daniels. I know a certain curse you probably remember just too well..." Harry just continued to glare at the Dark Lord. "Culter." Harry closed his eyes.

'Don't scream; don't give him the pleasure of screaming...' He thought to himself. He sank to his knees.

"Not so strong anymore, are we...?" Blood was running out of several scars. Hermione watched the whole scene with Ron in her arms. She just couldn't go. What if Blade died?

"What are you trying to get...?" Harry asked, looking into Voldemort's eyes again.

"I will get you to join me someday—"

"I will never trade my soul, Tom!" Harry shouted. "Why should I join something like you?" He spat right in front of Voldemort's feet. Now Voldemort was obviously angry.

"If you want it like that... Let's begin with five rounds..." The first Death Eater put magical ropes around Harry and the next gave him the worst potion he had ever taken—the bone breaking potion. He just had to scream; there was no way around it. When he looked he saw Hermione still in the door, watching in terror. He gasped for breath while his bones started rebuilding. He glared at her.

"Go..." He mouthed before doing his best in turning to Voldemort again. Hermione swallowed and carried Ron out of the front door. When Voldemort had used the Culter again and Harry saw that Hermione was out he cut the ropes around him with wandless magic and rose slowly. He was surrounded by Death Eaters.

"You will never win, Tom... you can do whatever you want." But the Death Eaters closed in and they all pointed their wand at him at the same time. In a second Harry realized what they were planning, but it seemed too late.

"Cruciatus!" They chorused loudly. Harry took the only way out of it and sprang as high as he could. If he had thought a bit further he would have hovered, but his mind was racing, so he just sprang. The curses collided exactly where he had stood and caused a huge explosion. Harry was thrown against a wall. If he hadn't been a mage he would have been dead already, but he even somehow managed to rise and run out of the castle. He saw Hermione carrying Ron off the grounds. He ran towards them, followed by Death Eaters. He was bleeding nearly everywhere, including his head. When he had reached them Harry took each of them in one arm and ran faster. Then the Death Eaters shot several curses at them. Harry glared back, shooting curses with his eyes. The spells seemed to come right out of his pupils. Hermione looked at the wounded man in amazement. She could see large, horrible wounds everywhere. He was bleeding horribly and sweated. They saw Voldemort standing somewhere behind them. Harry hovered upwards and stopped six ten above the ground, looking back.

"You'll never get me, Tom! You're too stupid! You're even too weak to attack grown-ups!" And with that he nodded to Hermione to open the box. She did, and in the split of a second they were standing right in front of Blade Manor. Harry let go of both Ron and Hermione and then transformed back into Blade. The wounds were still there, but he carried Ron into the house as fast as he could, Hermione right behind him. Blade ran into the living room where they saw Fynn sitting at a table, reading a book. She sprang up.

"Harry..." She gasped.

"Don't care about that now, care for him." She nodded and Blade laid Ron onto a couch. He was unconscious and nearly as wounded as Blade was. The explosion had created the worst wounds of all.

"What happened? You look as if you've been blown up and put together again!" She said while she put her hands on Ron's chest to heal him.

"You could say it like that..." Blade growled when he let himself fall into a comfy chair. There was no place in his entire body that didn't hurt. "But it's amazing to see what happens when about thirty Cruciati collide while you forget that you are able to hover... Well, instead I sprang..." She shook her head,

"And you're calling yourself a mage when you nearly die because you forget that you're able to hover..." The smaller wounds on Ron's body healed, the larger ones stopped bleeding and bettered.

"I tried to make the best out of it..." He closed his eyes and tried to heal some of his wounds himself when he noticed someone trying to floo into their house. He shrugged and let the person come. And out of the fireplace came Remus Lupin. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the whole scene—Fynn finishing to heal Ron, Blade sitting in a comfy chair with closed eyes, wounded horribly, and Hermione watching the whole thing in horror. Blade opened his eyes. "Remus..." He growled. "Didn't I say that no one's supposed to floo here?! And you managed to come in the very worst moment." Remus stared at the wounded mage.

"I... I just wanted to know—"

"He is alright... At least he's going to be. He's just unconscious. He'll be okay tonight. I'll tell Albus later. You can stay here until then..." Remus looked uncertainly at him.

"Aren't you angry with me anymore...?" Blade raised his eyebrows,

"I'm not that resentful... and it won't happen again either. Harry won't return to school." Remus' mouth seemed to drop to the floor.

"What?" Fynn went over to her husband and started healing his wounds. Most of them stayed and she had to bandage them. But she managed to heal the back of his head where he had hit the wall and his face completely.

"Sit down. This is gonna be hard for you." Remus sat down in another comfy chair. Hermione sat on the couch on which Ron was lying.

"What about Harry...?" He croaked out. Blade blinked, but then he could not hold back a smile,

"You really do care for him, don't you?" He said, shaking his head.

"Naturally, Blade! Harry's important for me... Not only because he is Lily's and James' son, but also because he is himself... But you have to tell me how he is and—"Blade raised a hand,

"Remus, Remus, Remus... How am I going to tell you this...?" Remus' eyes widened in shock and Fynn stepped on Blade's foot. "Ouch!! What was that for?!"

"I think Remus misunderstood your last sentence, Blade... It sounded as if—"

"Is Harry... dead?" Remus asked weakly. Blade stared at him,

"Hell, no! Sorry, I began to wrong way... Harry is not really... dead... He just doesn't really exist—"Fynn stepped onto his foot again "Ouuch..." He shot a small glare at her. "If you think you can explain it better, go on."

"You're an idiot, Blade. Remus, this jerk was born under the name Harry James Potter... In his sixth year he did not get transported into the future, but into the past, where he called himself Harry Daniels. Afterwards he went to the circle where he received the name Blade, which is his current name. Now he had to play his old self so that the wizarding world had its saviour back. Do you understand this?" Blade looked at the foot Fynn had stepped on twice.

"That hurt... But I could not have explained it better..."

"That's a laugh, Harry."

"Anyway... Remus, I'm sorry for not telling you, but it is always safer just to tell it one person... Albus doesn't know either." Remus was staring at them.

"You are Harry...?" He said dumbly, looking at Blade. "And you are... Lily?" Fynn nodded,

"I couldn't leave him alone in school, could I? Who knows what he's doing all day?"

"This is unbelievable..."

"Well, did you ever see me and Harry in one room at the same moment? I doubt it." Remus tried hard to remember a situation like this and then shook his head,

"God... I'm so sorry for holding you back... this is my entire fault..."

"Ah, don't worry, we're all okay again, as long as Ronald doesn't take any psychical wounds of this..." Suddenly the door to the living room opened again and Layden stood in the room again. Both Blade and Fynn bowed deeply to show their respect. Layden nodded and they stood straight again. Some of Blade's wounds were still bleeding, but he didn't show anything on his face.

"I knew you would do it, Blade..." He smiled slightly. Blade smiled back.

"Well, master, but not without being wounded either..." Layden laughed,

"You always get hurt, Blade, that lies in your nature..." Blade grimaced. "But how did you do it...? Your telepathy probably did not work..." He paused a little. "You didn't use Heart Magic, did you?"

"No, I swore to you I wouldn't try it again, and so I did. But it was a very similar magic. It is based on Heart Magic, but it is more ancient. In the old times it was called Heart Magic, but they found an easier spell... This Magic is based on telepathy and memories. It is only used for searches and very short communications. You feel the person's pain and sometimes even their feelings." Layden raised an eyebrow,

"I'm glad you didn't use Heart Magic..." He looked at Remus.

"That's Remus Lupin." Blade simply said as if it explained everything. Layden nodded,

"Yes indeed... Werewolf in the fourth stadium..." He murmured. Remus looked questioningly from the mage leader to his friend who looked a bit sad now.

"Exactly..." He answered silently. "I hope you don't mind. They'll all go later..." Layden nodded,

"I'll see you afterwards..." Layden said before disappearing into thin air.

"What did he mean with... the 'werewolf in the fourth stadium'?" Remus asked after about a minute when Blade had fallen into his chair again. The mages stopped dead in their tracks. Fynn looked sadly at her husband. Who sighed and looked down.

"I can't tell you, Remus... I just can't tell you." And so they sat in the living room in silence for some time... Until Ron stirred.