Trigger warning: non graphic sexual assault.

Jean Delacuer felt a crick coming on in his neck. He pushed his broad shoulders back and down, then tried to straighten up. He imagined a string pulling his head back up.

A sigh.

He stood up all the way from his desk. Mr Delacuer had been working for 14 hours, mostly at that little desk.

An audit had been ordered.

It had started all the way back in Britain, by the goblin nation, Gringotts. Apparently a decent sized vault that had been connected to at least five different large vaults. Of course each large vault is also connected to several more vaults through business relations or marriages and so on. The audit had to be followed until they had proven that all the money was where it belonged.

And so the audit had continued on from the start of the summer to the French country where Jean Delacuer was a bank manager.

Britain had signed agreements with the large goblin nation living within their borders to control their banking, but France had not. Still, banks often had to discuss and parlay with banks from other countries, so France was quick to hire workers with creature inheritances. Simply easier for them to get along with the goblins.

At least, Mr Delacuer had often thought that was the reason the bank had been willing to hire him as a bank teller 23 years ago. Lucky for him too, because it was an excellent paying job, half-Veela or not. He'd then worked his way up through the branch to the bank manager.

Normally, it seemed like a blessing. This summer, with this twice forsaken audit, it had seemed like a curse.

He'd already had to cancel the family vacation at the beginning of the summer.

His wife and two beautiful daughters were about ready to kill him.

They'd compromised and planned another vacation for the middle of the summer. Most things had been booked up because of the short notice, but they'd found bookings for a beach town in America.

If he could just finish up the day's work and get to a place where he could leave, he'd be spending a week away from the ridiculous audit.

"Jean, dear, I've come to fetch you," his wife's voice sang, as though she had already noticed her husband's thoughts.

He turned toward her and took a step to be closer. With his Veela mother, Mr Delacuer had blonde hair he kept neat and short. Broad shoulders, tall, clear skin. A strong jawline. It would have been easy for him to charm any beautiful lady.

Instead, he had chosen his wife for her intelligence. Top of her class at Beauxbatons, she'd gone on to work for the French Unspeakables, doing literally unspeakable work.

Her black hair had always been kept to shoulder length and it suited to pointed chin and sharp jawbones nicely.

She certainly was not ugly, but Mr Delacuer had always been glad that he had looked for intelligence and a wonderful personality instead of the most beautiful woman. It had certainly worked in his favor when they'd had their two daughters who had inherited his own Veela looks while also getting their mothers sharp intelligence. Fluer had always been top of her class, and Gabrielle was sure to be the same when she started in the fall.

"Where are your thoughts, my love?" Mrs Delacuer asked as she gazed up at him.

"Simply that I am a very lucky man to have such a beautiful and intelligent wife who has given me two beautiful and intelligent daughters as well," he said as he kissed her neck.

She laughed at him, "Come, let us pick up those daughters and be on our way to an American beach."

….

Harry looked at the item in front of him. He had his knife in one hand, and his new wand in his left hand.

He tried to remember what Bill had taught him. Use the glasses to stare at the magical threads, then use the knife to cut the strand holding the enchantment together.

But how was he supposed to tell which one was holding it all together?

He squinted a bit, but it didn't help. Plus, wearing two pairs of glasses over top of each other wasn't exactly ideal. The curse breakers glasses kept sliding down his nose, not enough surface left on his nose.

Harry hadn't realized when he was watching Bill curse break just how hard it was to see the magic clearly enough to cut a single strand. The glasses enabled him to see the magic around an item, but it was all grainy. It was hard to see where one specific line ended and another began, especially when Harry had to cut only a single line at a time.

He scooted around the item to look at different angles, and suddenly, he noticed one strand that seemed to be running the entire way around. It was as though the mirror had a small belt running around it. Loops circled it and went in all directions, but one strand was in the middle.

Harry went the entire way around the mirror before he felt certain.

He reached out a steady hand and used the very tip to carefully cut that belt strand.

A slow clap rose behind him and he spun around.

"Good job!" Bill said with a smile on his face. He gestured back at the mirror, "Watch the magic finish collapsing."

They turned back to the mirror where the lines seemed to fold in on themselves smaller and smaller until no magic was left around the item.

Bill picked the mirror up by the handle and showed Harry his reflection, "Just a normal mirror now. No curse left."

"Huh so that's what cursebreaking is," Harry said as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Alright, let's go get some food," Bill said, apparating them into a small alley in the local city. It had been set as the apparition point for the city by the local government with strong notice-me-not charms in place.

Bill and Harry stepped into the city heading to a small pub they had been visiting during the days they had been working in the desert out here.

"Almost done in the area, then Gringotts will be sending us to our second location. Then it'll probably be close to time for the World Cup," Bill said.

Harry perked up, "Ron was talking about that. Quidditch World Cup, right?"

Bill nodded, "Yeah, we'll have to go back to England if we can get the time off."

"Hey I'm gonna use the bathroom," Harry told Bill, who nodded absentmindedly as the waitress came up with a flirty smile.

She overheard him and said, "It's an outside only entrance. Head around to the side of the building and you'll spot it."

Harry thanked her and headed to the dark alley on the side of the building. He spotted a small light up sign proclaiming the restroom and followed it into a small, and slightly dirty bathroom.

Finishing quickly, he stepped back into the dim alleyway.

And screamed when a cloth bag was dropped over his head.

"Now, none of that," a deep voice growled behind him, and magic hit his back. Whatever it was, Harry knew nothing else for some hours.

…..

When Harry woke up, he immediately started thrashing against the pitch blackness.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," a voice called with a French accent of all things.

Harry shot back, "Oh yeah, I'm sure it's alright for you." And kicked all the harder.

"No, I'm a kid too, not one of the kidnappers. Listen to my voice. Do I sound old enough to be a kidnapper?" The girl's voice continued. As Harry listened, he realized she was right. She did sound like just a kid, maybe even younger than him.

"Where are we? Why can't I see?" Harry asked.

"You 'ave a cloth bag over your head. Your 'ands are bound in front of you, but I zink you could bring them up and pull it off," the girl said.

Harry found that his hands were bound at the wrists, but there was nothing holding them to his side. He reached up and pulled the cloth bag off his head. It took a second for his eyes to adjust before he could look around.

He realized he was in a tent like the ones set up at the archeology sites. Inside, there were cages lining the tent. He was actually in one of those cages.

He reached out with his bound hands but there didn't seem to be any sort of door or latching mechanism.

"It's a magical cage, no way to get out wiz-out a wand," the girl said, and he swung to see her.

Turning, he realized that every one of the cages had a magical child in it, most cowering. Some seemed asleep still, others were crying. Some had removed their masks.

Turning around completely he spotted a small girl with long whitish blonde hair.

"Bonjour, I am Gabrielle," she told him.

"Hi, I'm Harry," he told her back. A sick feeling was rising in his stomach, "I'm so sorry."

"You are sorry? You 'ave not kidnapped me," she questioned him.

"Yeah, but this is probably all my fault. They must have been trying to get me to get to Voldemort," he said.

"Voldemort!"

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get us out though," he said.

"And ''ow do you plan on doing zat? I '-ave been in this cage for days as they dragged me from the beach to this dusty canyon."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the tent zipper opening. A burly man with many tattoos walked in followed by a tall and skinny man with a toothpick sticking from his teeth. Both had greasy hair and streaks of dirt on their faces.

They grinned with cruel eyes when they noticed their newest capture was awake, but went past him to Gabrielle's cage.

"Well pretty birdy, we have contacted your father, and he said he was trying to raise the funds for the ransom. Hopefully he gets that to us soon. No rush though, we've been enjoying the extra time to gather up more children. We'll give you back for the ransom, but these ones will fetch a pretty enough price themselves. Plenty of people willing to buy a kid," the far one said.

"He'll find me before he pays any ransom, and you will be sorry for stealing a veela's daughter," Gabrielle replied.

The short man laughed as he waved his wand. Gabrille's face went to the side as though she had been slapped and a red Mark appeared as she put her hand to her cheek. Despite that, Harry had to give her points where not cowering, even the magical slap did not stop her from glaring at the man.

The thin one stepped closer to Harry, and his eyes dipped over him, "Look at this one I picked up, Mark. That black hair and emerald green eyes. I doubt they'd notice if I broke him in a bit. How old are you kid?"

Harry's mind was racing. These weren't Death eaters? He had been kidnapped by regular old child snatchers. Oh that danged Potter luck.

The man shook the cage and his face was suddenly very close to Harry. Harry pushed himself back in the cage, trying to get away from the garlic and sour breath spreading at him, "I asked how old you were!"

"14," Harry said.

The two exchanged glances, "No way, kid. I bet you're around 11, same as Ms Gabrielle."

Harry puffed up with indignation but there wasn't much he could do to prove his age. He'd always been a bit small for his age.

The two men walked over to a table and grabbed two beers.

"What did you find today," The thin one asked Mark.

Mark held up a book, "I visited one of those sites cleared by the curse breakers. They had left behind a pile of books. Gotta be quicker than that, boys. So I grabbed them all. This one keeps getting my attention though. I can't hardly read any of the old languages, but this is a whole collection of spells. What I can read on the cover says it was for their rituals. Something about preparing sacrifices for the gods. I was thinking, as we wait for the bint's father to rescue her, why don't we play a game?"

"Do you know what any of them do?" Unknown man asked.

"Nah, that's the whole game," Mark smiled. "Larry, pick a kid to try first."

Larry pointed lazily at one of the cages in the back where a boy who was probably younger than 8 lay asleep. Mark turned to a random page in the book and said the incantation.

Boils sprung up on the boy as he woke up and started crying.

"Oh be quiet," Larry said as he swung his wand and the boy was silenced. It didn't do anything for the pain he was clearly in as he silently cried.

"Stop that!" Harry couldn't resist saying.

"That one next," Larry said, pointing to a cage with a girl in it.

Mark said another incantation and waved his wand. This time the girl developed what looked like gills on the side of her neck and scales.

"I can't- bre- breath," she gasped.

The two men ignored her as it seemed like she would suffocate.

"Hey! She's gonna die! Change her back!" Harry yelled, shaking the cage.

The man sighed, but waved his wand and water filled the cage. Whatever magic filled it with water also kept the water from just running back out. The girl banged on the sides of the cage, her fingers unable to go out of the cage now.

"Sorry kid, we don't know any of the reversal spells," Larry told him, laughing as he drained another beer.

"Leave them alone! They're just kids!" Harry continued.

"You're just a kid too. And now you're a kid who belongs to us. If you want us to leave them alone so badly, we'll just practice our spell work on you," Mark said.

"Let's find one that won't affect his looks," Larry said, leering at him.

"Ok, Ok, here this one," Mark had flipped almost to the back of the book, "This one is something about mind - of ...uh...that might be...hmmm...something about magic. It's for their final sacrifice. Something about replenishing magic and opening the mind to it."

Larry belched and looked at the book, "Ohh, that's fine. I don't care if his mind is all there."

Harry looked for something he could do, but there didn't seem to be anything. There was nothing in the cage. They had taken his slingshot and little dagger, along with his wand.

He pressed as far in the cage as he could, but there was no avoiding them.

Mark said, "OK here goes: mentis autem oculi aperti magicae."

And Harry started screaming.

It felt like his eyes were being split apart. No, it felt like his entire skull was being split apart, starting at his eyes and working its way back.

He was vaguely aware of someone casting a silencing spell on him as he screams were suddenly silenced. It did nothing to stop the pain, so he continued screaming, writhing on the ground and trying to keep from scratching out his eyes at the pain.

….

When Harry woke up, he wasn't sure how much time had passed. He tried opening aching eyes, but they didn't seem to work.

He blinked rapidly, but he couldn't see anything at all.

His chest felt tight and his breathing too fast when his eyesight seemed to refuse to adjust.

The burning in his eyes hadn't seemed to have gotten any better.

Then a hand was moving on his arm and he realized what had woken him up. A hand pulled on his arm and a voice talking over him.

"Leave 'im alone! Can't you see 'e is in pain! Haven't you done enough!" A girl's voice was saying, French accent stronger than ever.

"Ohh this won't hurt him. We're just gonna have a little fun," Harry tried to jerk away as he realized it was the tall, skinny man from earlier, but the hands were deceptively strong. Plus, with no wand or weapons and seemingly blinded, Harry knew he wasn't putting up the best fight.

He was half dragged through the sand of the tent and through the flaps to some area. He almost seemed like they were just behind the tent, but Harry couldn't be sure.

Kicking did nothing except for causing a brush of magic over him until he couldn't move at all. Couldn't move, but he could still feel everything

Bile rose in his throat as he felt through hands exploring his body, starting at his shoulders and working their way down.

Down and down.

The fingernails were sharp. He wanted them to stop touching him, wanted away from what was happening. His magic rose up inside him, crackling as he panicked.

Pain lanced through his brain still and panic ran through his veins. The crackling increased inside him.

As that hand tried to dip further, Harry's magic overflowed.

If he thought the spell to his eyes had hurt, he now realized that had been nothing.

It felt like he was burning from the inside out, like pure fire was flowing through him. All of his muscles were spawning, sharp stabs of burn.

The hands finally fell away, but Harry felt no relief.

He felt nothing as the magic finished surging through him and he collapsed.

Author's note:

I'm not sure if I made that clear enough, but this was going back to the butterfly effect. Harry was working with Bill and had requested an audit at the beginning because he wasn't getting his monthly statements. This created a branching effect where the Delacuers missed their original vacation and had to go to America instead, opening up the opportunity for Gabrielle to be kidnapped.

Also, yes, I made Mr Delacuer the half Veela instead of his wife. This is not canon, and doesn't have much impact on the story, but I felt like the books were male-Veela erasure. We know from the Delacuers that when a Veela marries a wizard and has a child, that child is considered only half-Veela. That means there must be male-Veela in order to have full blooded Veela.