James threw the lamp that was on the bedside table in frustration as he sat down, holding his head in both hands.
"Frustrating over the situation isn't going to solve the problem," George said taking a seat. "We need to come up with a plan and fast."
"First my dad and Gohan and now my mom and Hermione," James said, his voice quivering. "I won't let her die easily."
"James, you need to calm your mind," George said when Ava entered the room. "How's Pan, Ava?"
"She's under sedation," Ava said. "I gave her a senzu bean so her wounds have healed but she's still in pain. I don't know how long it'll last."
George nodded, standing up. "I will go and see her now," he said leaving the room. Ava looked at James as she came closer and sat down in the chair.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked.
"What am I gonna do?" he asked. "They are captured…Pan is injured. I'm gonna lose them all."
"Hey, hey, everything's gonna be alright," she said hugging him. James broke down hugging her. He hadn't cried like that before. He started letting it all out as the air inside the room shimmered with his magic. Ava felt it, too. It was impossible to ignore it. It hurt her a little but James needed someone by his side right now more than ever. If he lost it again like that night he could put others in danger as well. "Let's go save them, then."
James looked up at her. "What?" he asked.
"Let's go save them," Ava said. "This is what we've been fighting for all this time. This is what you've been training for. Let's go save your and Pan's parents."
"How?" he asked. "She's…She's too powerful."
"Well then I guess we'll need a plan," Ava said.
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Pan woke up feeling the pain in her entire body. She looked around. She was in her room at Potter manor.
"You're awake." She turned and saw it was James. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I'm in pain, Potter," she said with half a smile. "Heal me."
James chuckled. It was nice to have her back. He looked at her as her expression changed. "She has them," she said.
"I know," he said putting his hand on hers. "I was thinking we go get them."
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When Hermione and Daphne came to their senses and realized what had happened and where they were a feeling of dread filled them both. It wasn't because they were now Tenille's prisoners but what they saw in front of them.
In the cell in front of theirs lay Harry and Gohan unrecognizable. They looked so weak it was hard to figure out if they were even alive. Their skin had turned pale, their bone structure was visible and the girls would occasionally hear one of them hum lightly. Anyone who had experienced a dementor's affect first hand knew that Harry and Gohan had been subjected to constant and frequent exposure towards dementors.
Their eyes turned wet seeing their husbands like that. It was unbelievable yet true at the same time. They tried calling them but they didn't answer.
"It looks like you two have met your other halves."
Daphne pulled herself but the chain stopped her as Tenille appeared outside their cell. Hermione glared at her while Daphne looked like she would straight up strangle her.
"What did you do to them?" asked Hermione.
"Nothing that would kill them," she replied with a smile. "You don't know how much they've fed my armies. I wouldn't be stupid to kill them unless I've sucked them dry."
The two girls could already feel their energy draining away. The light headedness and blurriness of their vision was enough proof of that.
"The same is going to happen to you two," said Tenille. "Perhaps when you two are weak enough I will let you share a cell with your husbands. Oh, how romantic will that be?"
Daphne watched her go as Hermione struggled to keep herself awake. She knew if she closed her eyes that would be it.
"Hermione? Daphne?"
The two girls looked up and saw, to their shock, Neville standing there. "Neville!" Daphne growled.
"You don't have to fight her," he said. "She helped me find Luna."
"Luna's dead," Hermione mumbled.
"Hermione, stay with me," said Daphne. "Don't go to sleep. You have some nerve coming here, Neville."
"Why are you fighting her?" he asked. "She can help you find peace."
"Are you even hearing yourself?" asked Daphne. She was barely able to keep her eyes open. She glanced at Hermione who'd already lost consciousness. "Hermione! Hermione, wake up!"
"It's okay," said Neville. "She's just tired. Lady Tenille won't kill her."
"Lady?" Daphne scoffed. "Luna would be really disappointed."
"I'm not." Daphne saw as someone else appeared beside Neville. Her surprise knew no bounds seeing it were Luna but there was something different. She looked rotten, torn clothes, bleeding from everywhere, one of her eyes gouged out. She looked a lot like those undead people Tenille had attacked Hogwarts with all those years ago. It was then it occurred to Daphne to look at Neville a bit closely.
It was hard to contain her emotions when she looked at his dead face. There were maggots crawling everywhere on his body, eating his flesh. He was long dead. This was just a shell, a dead shell that Tenille was using to create just another member of her army.
She felt like throwing up looking at them, finally realizing the truth. All that time that they wished they could bring Neville back from Tenille's hands…they didn't know he was long dead. He was just another source for energy for Tenille.
"How is James?" her head snapped up hearing Neville say her son's name.
"Don't you dare speak his name!" she growled.
"My lady would soon be seeing him," he said. "She already has her there."
"Who?" asked Daphne when her eyes widened with realization.
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James returned home late. It was about two in the morning. They had made a long list of things they thought could be done in order to rescue his and Pan's parents. He quietly closed the door knowing Amy would be asleep. He didn't want to wake her up. To make it look like he'd been to the bar and had drunk a little too much he had used one of the potions from his mother's stash back at the manor. The alcohol he smelled like was intoxicating.
Entering the bedroom he saw it was empty. Amy wasn't there. "Amy?" he called but no answer came. He took out his phone and gave her a ring while looking for her in the entire house. "Amy?" he called again. She wasn't picking up her cell. He cut the call as he heard something.
On instinct he turned and blocked the attack with a shield but was thrown off of his feet because of the spell's brute strength. He saw someone standing there in the dark room with their face covered with a large hoodie. "What did you do with her?" James asked standing up as his palm crackle with raw magical power.
"So that's why you lied about everything." James saw in utter shock as the person walked closer to him so that he could see the face. "Hello, James Potter," Amy said as she smiled.
"A…Amy?" he could barely speak.
"Delphi. My real name is Delphi," she said. "But that would still confuse you. Perhaps you would remember my parents' name – I am the daughter of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange."
James' eyes widened with shock. No one knew Voldemort had a child. She had him under magical binds as she threw him on the floor. James spit blood feeling the pain as she came over him and licked the blood off of his lips.
"Sssssssss, that was hot!" she said licking her lips which were smeared in his blood. Her hands then reached downwards and started to remove James' belt.
"You're working for Tenille," he said as he realized his energy was being absorbed. She smiled.
"My dad was a foolish man who thought he could outsmart someone like my lady," said Delphi. "My mother kept warning him but he didn't listen. When my parents were gone she took me in, cared for me like I was her own child. She taught me how to be strong, how to fight my enemies and she told me who my enemies were and how I could get to them. Don't worry. I won't kill you, not unless Lady Tenille has every ounce of magic extracted from you…"
An explosion deafened James for a few moments as the right side of his wall shattered to smithereens. The explosion threw Delphi away from him and he stood up immediately and looked around. Delphi was under some rubble when he heard a familiar voice.
"James?"
"Ava?" he called as she entered the room. "What are you doing here? How…How did you find this place?"
"George had a tracker on you," she said as she looked at Delphi. She was unconscious. "No one's gonna like this news I guess? Come on, let's go."
By then George had also come in and saw Delphi under the rubble. She cursed in pain before George silenced her with a stunning hex. "You okay?" he asked looking at James. He nodded before looking at Delphi. He couldn't believe the woman he'd loved betrayed him like that. Then something clicked inside his head.
"Let's take her with us," he said looking at the two.
"What do you mean?" George asked.
"As Voldemort's daughter I guess she is somewhat important in Tenille's plans," James said. "We can get information out of her. Do we have anywhere in the manor to keep her?"
"Lots of places," Ava said. "But wouldn't it be risky? What if Tenille could figure out the manor's location if we bring her there?"
"The wards are strong enough to curb any sort of tracking spells on anyone," said George. "We'll be safe. I think that is something we can do," he said looking at James before he floated Delphi out of the rubble and tied her with magical binds. He also administered her with a powerful sleeping potion just in case the spells wore off. Once they were done they apparated back to the manor.
"Wait a minute," James asked stopping as he looked at George. "When did you plant a tracking charm on me?"
"A few days ago under your mother's order," he replied.
"But that wouldn't tell you if I was in any danger," James said. "How did you know I was in danger?"
"It was a mere coincidence," George said. "Your place had been heavily warded by your father. Its strength was monitored by a rune in your parents' room. We saw it showed that the wards had been weakened so we knew something was wrong. You know the rest."
"Why were you in my parents' room?" James asked looking at Ava.
"I was looking for anything that could help us in this fight," she said. "I thought they could've had some records or anything on Tenille's weakness or things like that. I am sorry for snooping around without your permission."
"It's okay," James said. "Let's settle her down first and then see what we can come up with."
They took Delphi to one of the cells deep in the underground. There were branches of caves under the manor, something James didn't know about. A lot of them had been turned into cells and he recognized the runes drawn on the cell walls form his study in the manor's library.
"Those runes are in gobbledohk," he said looking at the cell walls. "This place is huge. I didn't know we had something like this under the manor."
"The manor was built under Arcanian Zeke Potter, one of your early ancestors," George said. "Godric Gryffindor was a very close ally and friend to the goblin nation and that friendship and alliance remained strong with the Potters. This manor was built by goblins. Arcanian asked them to build this manor because goblins are known for their strong runic magic. He also had them add this cave system deep in the underground as a means to escape or infiltrate in case of an emergency. Each passageway is independently connected to the overall wards around the estate which means that any one or multiple of them can be separated from the rest of the wards around the place for emergency apparition."
"And what about the cells?" asked James.
"The later generations of house Potter saw some brutal wars, some of which they were even a part of. So they converted some of the caves into this prison system to…well, imprison their enemies," said George. "These prisons are individually warded so it's a lot safer to keep her here than back in the manor upstairs where we hold the risk of being found out if she manages to breach the wards."
James nodded as they put her in one of the heavily warded cells. It was equally strong as the one around the entire Potter estate. James was amazed by how powerful the ward was considering it was just for a single cell room in here deep underground.
"Let's head upstairs," said George. "The potion I gave her was a strong one so she won't be waking up for a few more hours. The wards will tell us if she wakes up and then we can come here to question her."
James nodded as they left the place. He turned back to glance at her. Even in unconsciousness she had that evil smile on her lips. James wondered what they could get out of her. Whatever it would be it better be good or else he will kill her with his own hands.
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Thanks for reading…