CHAPTER 23

DAPHNE

"Madam Greengrass, This mission needs to be successful not only the lives of innocent children are on the line but the reputation of Gringott's is at stake." Shield Fang said to Daphne as both of them made to the secret war conference room in the Gringott's which was located near the VIP client vaults deep in the Goblin tunnels below ground.

"Yes sir, the battle strategies have been decided, final preparations are underway, all of the wizards and witches who will be taking part in the operation have gathered in the conference hall, each of them was made to pass through the thieves downfall before they could enter as an extra precautionary measure on the top of the common password approach," Daphne responded with a flat tone.

"Good, I will not be accompanying you inside, but I want to be updated about everything every hour, tomorrow night is the full moon, magic associated with darkness, night and blood would be at its peak, so any mistake could be fatal." Shield fang said as he jumped on the trolley which was waiting on the rail near the room entrance while Daphne opened the door thinking, 'That little midget loves to give me orders'.

So when Daphne stepped in, all eyes were on her as she quickly made her way to empty seat between Tracey and Rolf Scamander. It was quite the gathering, as many of her former classmates were sitting around the huge rectangular table, placed at the centre of the room with Harry sitting at the head of the table. 'A perfect exhibition of Inter-house Hogwarts Unity' Daphne thought.

Daphne was interrupted from her thoughts when Tracey whispered in her ear, "You did not tell me Bones was going to be here, she hates me just as much her best friend Abbott hates you." Daphne hissed back, "She is the godmother of Abbott and Neville's daughter so I could not do anything about it, so suck it up."

Tracey was about to reply when both she and Daphne heard Harry speak, "Everyone is here, so I will quickly go over the team divisions, I will be leading the Team Alpha which would comprise of all the people who specialise in offensive duelling and Non-verbal casting as our prime objective would be to engage in a head-on battle with the enemy forces."

"So the members of my team are Ginny, Hermione, Draco, Bill, Daphne, Fleur, Dean, Neville and Susan. Everyone who I have just named has worked either as a Healer, Curse Breaker, and Auror or in Spell crafting, so each of you has the required skill set."

"Next is Team Beta lead by Ron." Daphne now saw Ron stand up, and address the room,

"My team members would be the ones which specialise in Runic magic and Rituals we would be in charge of stabilizing the altar conditions back to normal when Team Alpha clears the path to the site, So the Rune Masters on my Team are Padma, Angelina and Lavender plus the only ritual practitioner in the room is Zabini so he would be helping us also."

Daphne noticed that almost everyone in the room was giving Blaise a look of suspicion and distrust, but Blaise to Daphne surprise seemed to ignore them perfectly. After Ron was finished she heard Harry speak again,

"Thanks, Ron and lastly leading Team Gamma is Charlie and Team Delta would have Tracey as their leader. So can you both please elaborate on your team objectives as well as your team members?"

Daphne was shocked at the last two team leaders, who would have thought Potter would make her ex-husband and best friend in charge of a complete team.

Then Tracey stood up before Charlie and said, "My team will consist of those who are Ward Masters and Defensive charm specialists, we would be defending Team Alpha as well as would be responsible for breaking the wards set up by the fuckers, we are the ones who would port key the children back to the secret safe location which is currently being enchanted by Astoria's special ward scheme.

Though Astoria due to her health condition would not accompany us she still insisted on doing her part. Seamus Finnegan and George Weasley know their way around Wards and will act as Ward Breakers, whereas I would be assisting Hannah Abbott and Parvati Patil with Defensive charms and Shield spells." Daphne was impressed by Tracey's confidence as she spoke those words.

Charlie looked a bit embarrassed at being cut by Tracey, Daphne observed as his ears had turned red, but he managed to speak after Tracey was finished, "Team Gamma consist of those who are Magizoologists or handle magical beasts and beings daily, as we don't know if Nott has any vampires, werewolves or other creatures of the night on his side, we would be the ones responsible for defending Team Alpha and Delta against them.

Luna, Rolf, and I will be on this team; if they are no creatures we would automatically shift to Team Delta and help them defend Team Alpha."

As Charlie sat down, Harry stood up and Daphne thought Harry gave off an aura of war-hardened general, then after a brief pause Harry finally said,

"I hope everyone is clear with their team assignments, we would be breaking off into our groups after this to discuss the individual strategy which your leader and I have come up with, and I will remind everyone again, our only goal is to bring back the children safe, to teach Nott and his goons a lesson is just an added perk. Speaking of Nott, Zabini you both grew up together, can you please tell us more about the bastard?"

'Potter that was a low blow and completely uncalled for' Daphne thought as she gave Harry a death glare. She very well knew Harry said it to get a rise out of Blaise. She then glanced at the other end of the table where Blaise was sitting beside that Ferret Malfoy, he had narrowed his eyes at Harry but eventually stood up and spoke with a perfect poker face.

"Almost all of you in this room know Nott's sob story, but I will repeat it, all the same, Theo's mother, Celia Nott nee Warren a former Ravenclaw was a beautiful person inside and out, she was my mother's only friend throughout their Hogwarts years but unfortunately she was forced to marry Tiberius Nott, Theo's father who was fifteen years older than her by her widowed father."

"Tiberius had offered Celia's father two summer mansions in Spain and a large sum of galleons and Warrens being a dying bloodline who had squandered their fortune long ago; this was an offer they could not refuse. It was the scandal of the decade in Pureblood circles when many saw Celia walk down the aisle looking like as if she was under the Imperious Curse, which my mother confirmed was true.

So poor Celia had to suffer atrocity after atrocity under Tiberius for years but she could not get out of the marriage and divorce him as her selfish and greedy father had made her sign the marriage contract with a blood quill while she was under the Imperious."

"It was a relief for her when Theo was born, as she believed now that Tiberius had an heir to his estate he would leave her alone, but that was just the beginning of an even more horrid end, Tiberius now started beating and abusing Celia, even more, when he heard Theo crying in his crib."

"As Theo got older, Tiberius made sure that Theo would witness every cruelty towards his mother, and finally, the fateful day came when Tiberius decided to incorporate his son in his sick torture, Celia then decided to call the Aurors which was a violation of her contract but also took the Crucio pointed at Theo by his father.

Aurors arrived and arrested Tiberius, but it was too late for Celia, she was alive but now was reduced into a vegetative state as the Blood magic had done its part even if the torture curse could not."

Every witch in the room including Daphne had rage and revulsion in their eyes, if Tiberius and Celia's' father were not dead, they might as well be now. But Blaise paid no attention to the reactions of his listeners and continued with the horrifying tale of Theo's childhood.

"When my mother arrived to take Theo in, as she was his Godmother, a position she fought to keep, Tiberius wanted one of his distant cousins for the role but my mother threatened him with Aurors, so he conceded."

Blaise was then interrupted by Bill, "If your mother knew about her friend's living conditions, why she did not do anything to help her?"

Daphne noted that the question was valid in this case and even she was curious why Adelaide Zabini the infamous Black Widow had not dealt with the Tiberius menace.

Daphne got a shock when she saw Blaise's poker face break for just a moment then he said,

"My mother swore an Unbreakable Vow to Celia that she would never intervene in her marriage as Celia begged her that she would not want her best friend and her first love Adelaide to be Tiberius's next victim or worse end up murdered."

"My mother is a very cold person I will not deny that she married so many men during her life, all of them ended up dead in mysterious ways. She had me with one of them as an accident and gave me all the luxury and comforts one could desire but never once she said that she loved me, not a single time.

She only ever loved one person and that was Celia but the orthodox Pureblood society never would have accepted them so whenever Celia asked a favour, mother never refused even if it was signing a death warrant of the love of her life and only true friend she ever had."

Instantaneously, the air in the room was sucked in and many a jaw was dropped as no one knew that detail about Adelaide Zabini and Celia Nott. Daphne herself felt tears prick her eyes.

Daphne then heard Harry say, "Zabini if your mother and Celia were so close then wouldn't Madame Zabini help the demented fucker Nott in his dangerous endeavour?"

Blaise took a deep breath before he answered Harry's question looking straight into Harry's eyes, "Potter I know you are stressed but keep your fucking mouth in check, My mother would not help Nott even if she wanted to because she hates Theo."

"What! That does not make any sense; after all, she took him in?" Ron asked baffled at Blaise's answer, but Blaise just shrugged and replied in a casual tone as if he was describing today's weather, "Mother took Theo in that is a fact, but she could never look at his face as he was the carbon copy of Tiberius, a person she detested with a passion, it also did not help that Theo was a very unsocial and reserved child who did not gel well with anyone, He talked to me because of necessity and not because he liked me."

"Mother had gotten a many a Mind Healer and muggle psychologist to fix him as she called it but in the end, they all gave up and when we started attending Hogwarts, Theo's second hell started. Draco left no stone unturned to remind Theo of his parent's fate and most of Slytherin and other houses avoided him like the plague. So now in the end circumstances and people shaped Theo into what he is today, an even more terrifying version of his dead father."

Daphne felt her heart sank at the last words as Blaise finished his narration, then she Padma said in a meek voice, "But I met him just a year ago, he did not seem depressed or mentally disturbed then."

Before Blaise could respond, Hermione answered with venom dripping through her words, "Nott is a two-faced conniving hateful man, his somewhat pleasant work façade is an effective measure for luring people in a false sense of security, He might be not a people's person but he has enough charisma and manipulation in him to get what he wants."

Daphne was stunned with Hermione's description of Theo, but before Padma could challenge Hermione, Harry said, "I think we have heard enough on the topic of Nott, but there is still the question how did he get so many followers to his cause and ended up forming this maniac cult of morons?"

It was surprisingly Lavender of all people who answered Harry's question, "That's easy Harry he looked up the public records for the past five years in the magical education department at the ministry and found all those who had failed their NEWTs and OWLs, young dropouts and rejects don't have higher education plans or job prospects so are a very easy target for these type of scams, in the end, he might have brainwashed them with the help of curses, Leglimency or potions even after all Nott was good in potions."

Everyone was surprised or rather stunned at Lavender's astute answer; the same was true in Daphne's case also. As Daphne always thought, Brown was a stereotypical Blonde bimbo with mush for brains, and only got her rune mastery in Greek Runes by the help of her father's connections.

"Thanks, Lavender for clearing that up. Now the last topic of the meeting everyone who is an Animagus here should, one by one announce their forms and others should take note. Animagi though are rare but in this room, many of us possess the invaluable skill, so your forms need to be common knowledge." Harry said.

Daphne then heard Harry speak again, "I will start then; my Animagus form is a Grey Wolf." She knew Potter's form and was not that impressed, of course, it was not a flashy animal but still, a grey wolf was kind of mundane in her opinion.

The Hermione volunteered to go next, "My form is a Little Owl also know as Athena Noctua."

Daphne could not help but smile at that, 'How sweet Hermione, the Owl of Athena was the perfect Animagus for the most intelligent witch of their generation, but not quite a stand out animal."

Daphne's thoughts analysis of Hermione's Animagus form was interrupted when she saw Ginny speak with an arrogant smirk on her face, "My Animagus form is an Iberian Lynx."

'Of course, Weasley has a critically endangered animal as her form; why the fuck was Weaslette so blessed she would never know.'

Daphne stewed in her jealousy as Tracey went next, "My Animagus form is an Arctic Fox" Daphne then decided to get it over with and said, "My Animagus form is a common Red fox"

Daphne could feel Ginny judgy eyes on her as she said that but she tried to ignore the Redhead and concentrate on the next person who was going to announce their form.

She now heard Dean say, "My Animagus form is a Blue and Gold Macaw." Daphne was surprised, she never thought Dean to be a person with a parrot Animagus.

This was getting more interesting for Daphne, she knew that no one else in the Weasleys was an Animagus except Ginny and same was the case of the Luna, Patil Twins, Angelina, Finnegan, Scamander and Lavender. Plus Fleur could not achieve the transformation due to her Veela blood. So that left Neville, Ferret, Blaise and the two people she hated most in the room Abbott and Bones.

So after Dean, Neville said, "My Animagus form is an American black bear." Daphne was amazed, who would have thought that Longobottm could have such an imposing and powerful Animagus form.

Hannah took her turn next and said in a squeaky and grating voice, "My Animagus form is a Sand cat." 'That cunt doesn't deserve such a cute form' Daphne angrily thought as she listened to Susan, "My Animagus form is a European Robin." This immediately elevated Daphne's mood and she could hear Tracey snickering beside her.

Now Malfoy was about to speak, so Daphne decided to have some fun on his expense, "Malfoy don't bother we all know your form is a ferret." Malfoy reddened instantly with anger but the entire room burst into peals of laughter and even the stoic Blaise cracked a smile.

Then Malfoy hissed at her, "Bitch, my form is a white peacock." George beat her to the response while trying to control his laughter, "Malfoy, that is not an improvement on Ferret." By the time everyone calmed down a little, Blaise finally said, "I am Burmese Python."

That sobered everyone up after all Blaise had just announced he was a true snake and a beautiful one at that.

Harry then stood up and said," With that done everyone please split up in your respective teams, tomorrow is going to be a hectic day so we should do our best to make the best of the time we have."

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

P.S: Please do leave a review. Hank1967 hope your queries about Nott's Mother were answered through this chapter.

P.P.S: Chapter 1 has been edited and Betaed By Katie Grey, so do check it out.