Previously on Defiance…
Harry decided over his options. Daphne did not seem any more convinced to talk to him than Malfoy looked ready to dance in a tutu. He looked at the fresh meal in front of him, the smell radiating out was much more exotic than what he had had for the last two months.
Angry Girlfriend? People staring? What was the best option?
Harry made up his mind. Taking up the spoon and knife, he began his meal.
Two weeks earlier…
"Your education has now come to an end, Thor. We have shared whatever you could learn regarding your subject. The knowledge that remains is used in Healing and I am sure you do not want to be one."
Thor nodded to her. The old woman who had welcomed him into the tribe was a kind of… Elder to the people—one who usually taught Parseltongue and the knowledge about the powers that the magical language could procure. It had taken him a total of three weeks of continuous visiting followed by four hours of education in Parseltongue before he left for the fortress to sleep.
"And now there are only two things that we can impart to you."
Thor nodded.
"The first is an awakening ritual. It awakens whatever it is there inside you that is still dormant. This ritual vitalizes any and all powers that might have stayed dormant inside you. It is equally possible that you might get nothing out of it."
"All right."
"The other thing that we can give you is your staff. But you seem to hold a strong connection with your wand and thus we have decided on something better."
He had to lay aside his clothes, his wand and his accessories away, and had to lie down, completely bare on the snowy ground, as the rune matrices drawn all around him activated and began to glow with eldritch energies. The old woman, along with two other druids, stood on three sides, slamming their staffs over the ground again and again as the runes glowed, as glowing purple mist materialized out of the runes and began to seep into Thor's body who began to convulse.
"The ritual has begun."
They tapped their staffs powerfully on the ground, the vibrations emanating out energy vibes that seemed to further induce some kind of reaction from the runes which changed color to crimson and then to jet black, only to turn dazzling bright white before they all converged and got soaked into Thor's body with an explosive reaction. When the mist had faded, the entire set of runic matrices were gone and a robe-less Thor lay on the floor.
"Do you feel any change in yourself?"
"No." "Yes."
Thor rubbed his eyes as he tried to understand what was going on. He was the one who had said 'NO'. The problem was, there was another voice—the very same that he had heard on arriving at the Guild for the first time, speaking out 'Yes' at the same time.
Am I dreaming?
Don't think so. If you were, you wouldn't be looking so confused.
Okay, apparently there was a voice inside his head. A voice that was actively engaged in conversation with him.
Who are you?
I am a Warmage.
I meant your name.
Oh. Well then, you should have said that, boy. Ignotus Sagittarius Peverell at your service.
Damn.
I'm not sure which part of my name caused you to swear.
Nothing. Are you like… the other soul from the wand?
Well, yes, though I am not sure I like to be addressed that way. Would you like to be addressed as-are you the other soul that died and unfortunately had to be reborn as a puny kid?
Uh... no.
My point exactly.
The old woman shook his hand softly, making him return back to reality from the depths of his mind. "Yes?" He replied hesitantly.
"Do you feel any different?"
"A little." He tried.
The old woman sighed. "Very well. Let us go through the other part now. Your staff."
"My… staff." Thor repeated. "I'm not sure I would prefer a staff rather than a wand."
The old woman smiled beatifically.
An hour later, Thor found himself sitting inside a runic circle, though this time he was fully dressed up, complete with his accessories and other stuff. Opposite him, sat another man- the one with the hump at the back whom he had met the first day, who was apparently the staff-maker for the tribe.
"A staff is different from the wand. While a wand… increases your spell power, a staff increases your finesse and control over magic. Besides, after what we are about to do, you will be able to use your staff and your wand at the same time."
'Like in two hands?"
"No. We are going to merge them. But first, let me see your wand."
What followed was a series of intricate runic magic as the Elder somehow deconstructed the magics inside the yew wand and then incorporated them into a substance they called mithril, which was apparently the strongest magical substance in the world- the only natural thing on earth that was magically resistant to dragon fire. Thor wondered if the same held true for Fiendfyre as well. The Elder chanted something in Parseltongue as the mithril began to condense and restructure into a thin cylindrical wand-like solid, which got enclosed between goblin-silver on all sides as they stretched to form a long, slender cane-like staff, not unlike the one he had seen Lucius Malfoy use at all times. However, while Malfoy's cane was served as a mere prosthetic and a good place to hide a wand, this staff was capable of so much more.
"And now, we personalize this staff to your magic. Put your palm on top of the lid and let your magic flow."
Thor did as he was told and felt the goblin-silver melt and reform into something else. When it was over, he lifted his palm to see that a miniature thestral head form beneath a spherical head. He pressed the head of the shaft and could almost feel the staff buzzing with magic, the sensation being much more powerful and more… refined than the wand had ever been.
Interesting. I never thought that a staff could feel more… comfortable than my wand. Then again, this does contain the essence of my wand. The voice in his mind expressed. Thor ignored it.
"It feels good. Even better than my wand did."
The staff maker smiled at the honest compliment. "Thank you. You will be able to shorten the staff or lengthen it back according to your need by channeling your magic. I suppose you could lengthen it to seem like a walking stick, like I have seen many from the other part of the world use."
Right.
The voice, or rather Ignotus Peverell was a right bastard. The initial conversation was somewhat nice, but as time passed, it seemed to consider itself the dominant soul out of the two and kept on ordering what to do and what not. Not that it had been a disadvantage because Ignotus was a bloody great Warmage and his knowledge on the subject was unparalleled, but the snobby attitude did not help matters.
How dare you think yourself as the dominant form, you irksome boy? If not for me, you would never be able to make it this far.
Excuse me? This is my body. You are the one who is living here rent free.
Rent-free is it? I cannot believe it. The soul of the greatest Warmage of the world, Ignotus Sagittarius Peverell, it just had to be reborn as a petulant, irksome brainless maggot? I wonder if Andros managed to land some blood curse on me. Must be, or else….
Just shut up.
Pay respect to your betters, boy. If not for me, you would be nothing.
Really? Pray tell me what you have done for me?
Who gave you all of that ancient knowledge? Who taught you all of those techniques that saved your sorry arse during those training sessions? Who gave you the knowledge you used to woo that maiden with the fairest arse my eyes have seen in the last two millennia?
Oh, and above everything, the man just had to be an extremely crass individual.
Daphne is my would-be-betrothed.
Didn't stop you from staring at her b-
And it would just not shut up.
At least there was one thing that Ignotus agreed with him. Knowledge. Both agreed to the fact that unless the body was versatile in magic, neither soul could be perfectly safe. Since Thor held the major hold over the body, Ignotus had unwillingly agreed to the fact that Thor needed to be better, faster and more powerful. Thus he had silenced his continuous diatribe about how he, the greatest Warmage of all times, was stuck in a teenager's body like a bloody symbiont.
Back to the present…
Harry Potter sat alone in the Room of Requirement, which had manifested his room at the Guild, except perhaps the bed was a little more comfortable. His eyes were closed, and from the first glance, one would think that he was meditating. In reality, he was locked in another argument with his ancient counterpart within the confines of his own mind. At least, his body got some rest during such events- Merlin knew what might have happened if his own body had jumped on to strangle itself.
Daphne is my betrothed, and it is my duty to-
She is just a stupid distraction, trying to manipulate us and then force her judgement on us. You are better without her. We should be back at the Guild, teaching you things that actually could help keeping you and by extension, me alive.
Not an option. I have to know what is wrong. Besides, I haven't met Sirius. I haven't met Hedwig. I have to meet with Daphne and I-
She is just a distraction. She does not love you. She said that yourself.
Point.
See even you agree.
But that's not-
Let us just return back to the Guild.
No. I need to see what is wrong. I know that I missed Christmas, and New year and everything, despite promising her to return after a couple of weeks. I need to know what is wrong with her.
She doesn't love you. Why do you care?
I care because- I just care. I don't need to explain myself with an overgrown child.
Why you filthy little-
"Harry?"
The entire mental battle silenced in a second as Harry got up and hugged his godfather who hugged him back.
"How are you, godson?" Sirius asked with a smile.
Harry smiled back. "I'm good."
"How is the Guild? I can see that you are getting some serious, earth-shattering training." Sirius asked casually.
You have no idea. "Yes, a little."
"It shows." He pressed his shoulders lightly. "My little godson has grown."
"So has my godfather. Who would have thought that Sirius Black would become a professor?" Harry teased back.
Sirius stepped back and grinned. "We decided that it was for the best, Besides, your girlfriend and her sister needed some protection, so I decided that I could go over and live at the castle, and the DADA job was available." He paused, "-though I must say, I never thought that I would love the job, though none are like you."
Harry laughed.
"Well, I am no more a Hogwarts student, and I will be gone by tomorrow. For the record, I never thanked you for the Room of Requirement. This room is outstanding in every way. It is the only thing I miss about Hogwarts except for-"
"Daphne?"
Harry nodded. "what is wrong with her? She seemed so cold last night at dinner."
Sirius sighed. "Harry, you have been away for two months. A lot of things have happened."
Harry looked concerned. "What happened, Sirius?"
Sirius looked crestfallen. "Cyrus Greengrass is dead. He was butchered to pieces and thrown in the middle of Diagon Alley."
"WHAT?"
Harry could not believe it. "Ho- How did that happen?"
Sirius looked down on the ground. "I have no idea. He was supposed to be at a meeting with the rest of the neutral faction and he said that he wanted to meet some new potential allies. Me and the others waited for him for over an hour, and then, we went off to search for him. We tried everything—Patronus messages, private spells, anything and everything we could. The next morning, we found his body hanging in Diagon Alley—mangled and mutilated, with the word TRAITOR engraved on his torso. There was a huge public reaction about it, but no one, not even the DMLE Forensics Department could find anything. Apparently, he had been killed using mundane weapons, something that Lucius Malfoy further used to instigate the rest of the neutral faction against the muggles and muggleborns. It was a huge and messy affair."
He paused. "I had to swear in as the de facto head of the neutrals on your behalf, and I have been managing things ever since. I called in Remus and a couple of friends and arranged some security at Greengrass Manor. Daphne's mother is off to her maternal family while both sisters are here, under my protection."
"When- when did it happen?"
"December 3. Daphne's birthday."
Harry did not know what to say. He knew that the girl had always adored her father as her model, and wanted to become exactly like him. Cyrus dying on her birthday, it must have been a great shock to her, and given what he knew about Hogwarts and Slytherin House, people like Malfoy wouldn't have missed the chance to sprinkle salt on her wounds every chance they got.
"And I wasn't there for her." He muttered, more to himself than to Sirius.
"Harry, this isn't your fault."
"It is, Sirius. I should have been there for her. Why didn't Dumbledore inform me?"
"She asked him not to do so. She said that she did not want you to stop your training, just because of her. Apparently, Miss Greengrass is very attached to the idea that she is merely a trophy wife for you, and now after what happened, that idea has become her reality. She believes that you do not care for her, considering how you were supposed to be here by a couple of weeks, and then Christmas and New Year happened, and lots of people came and spoke a lot, and she got hurt even more. The insensitive comments from other students didn't help either." He paused, "-there is only so much that I can do as a Professor."
"I should have been here, Sirius. Why didn't anyone tell me anything? Yeah I know that she wanted it, but surely you all-"
"We decided that the situation was mostly under control." Sirius looked crestfallen and guilty. "It was a joint decision between me and Dumbledore. We agreed that it was better to allow you to finish a significant part of your training before you were brought here. Else, the break between your training could have had detrimental effects, and we did not want that."
Harry shook his head blankly. A part of him wanted to yell out to the heavens about the unfairness of it all. A part of him wanted to run and hug his girlfriend, comfort and apologize to her. A part of her wanted to rage at Sirius and Dumbledore for taking such an inconsiderate decision.
I have to meet her. I have to go find her.
You should concentrate upon your train-
Shut the fuck up.
You uncouth, pretentious-
But no words came up, as pain and anger shot through his mind, completely vanishing the other voice as he ran out of the room, with just one single fact reiterating inside his mind.
I need to find Daphne.
He rushed to the Slytherin dungeons and luckily, found Tracey Davis standing at the entrance talking to another Slytherin girl whom he did not know. He rushed towards her as she turned towards the corridor to find a panting Harry Potter standing in front of her.
"Potter-"
"I need to see Daphne!"
"Potter, I don't think-"
"NOW!"
Tracey flinched. "Okay, come with me. Stand in the common room. I will get her."
Harry nodded. He followed her as she stepped inside the Slytherin common room. It had not changed in the last three years but Harry did not have eyes to look around. Tracey fidgeted a bit.
"Potter, you wait here. I will get her."
Harry nodded. Tracey seemed to think and make up her mind, before she sprinted into one of the serpentine paths that led to the dorm rooms. He fidgeted a little and then snuck out the shortened version of his wand and lengthened it into the cane, supporting his own weight over it as he had become accustomed to doing.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing here, Potter?"
Harry spun around to find Draco Malfoy standing behind him, wearing a smug grin on his face. He felt a rather powerful urge to drive his cane through Malfoy's smug face and see if that grin remained, but he withheld it.
"Don't mess with me, Malfoy. I do not have time for your useless braying." He scoffed, before turning behind to watch the path through which Tracey had vanished.
"Of course, I knew it that you wouldn't have time. After all, you didn't even have time when your betrothed's father was chopped to pieces and hung in Diagon Alley." Malfoy grinned evilly. "I heard that they engraved the word TRAITOR on his chest."
"I suppose your dad told you all about it?" Harry hissed, trying to level best to bring back the ironclad control that he had settled over his Thor persona.
"My father?" Draco looked confused. "You are addled in the head, Potter. How would my father know about this? He is a nobleman, who does not care about such filth." He sneered.
Harry considered the idea of chopping him into pieces.
"Of course, of course," he returned softly, "How could I forget? After all, your father wasn't the one who was caught under Voldemort's Imperius? He wasn't the one who knelt and kissed Voldemort's robes like cattle-" he found the smug grin on Draco's face vaporize as his face turned red, proving that his technique was working- "and it was not your Father who was thrown on his arse by his own House elf."
"Mind your tongue, POTTER!" Draco snarled, "you will not speak like that about my father."
"Or else?" Harry challenged.
Draco's face twisted into another grin. "Oh I don't know. Your betrothed's father was butchered. You are no longer at Hogwarts. Who knows, if you put one toe out of the line, then something might happen to your dear Daphne… after all, you wouldn't want to marry an already molested-"
Draco couldn't say anything more. Why? Because he was already screaming his lungs out as he felt his bones shatter one by one. His muscles sprained and twisted and he could feel his joints twisting and then he saw flubberworms and spiders enter his body through his mouth.
Draco screamed again.
"Like the pain, Draco?" Harry hissed, "trust me, this is nothing compared to what it coming for you if you even look at her the wrong way, I will know and trust me, there are no walls that can stop me."
"The dark lord will come for you, Potter, and he will make you squeal. You will rue the day you-" and he screamed again.
Harry levitated Draco in the air wandlessly and brought him closer to his face. He could see the entire Slytherin house gathered in the common room, watching in shock and in some cases, anger at him levitating Draco as if he were nothing in front of him. Harry did not care. "Oh you will try that, wouldn't you? Well, you just hope that your dark lord comes out of hiding, instead of staying in the shadows like the rat he keeps as a servant. You better hope that whatever he does is at least lethal, because if I stay alive, you will only wish that you would be dead." He held Draco by his shirt and hissed, "the next time you say something unflattering to Daphne or Astoria, remember- I will not come for you," he paused, "—but for your families."
Draco's face paled but he did not say anything.
"That goes to him, and to every one of you. Anyone that even utters one insensitive-"
"ENOUGH!"
Harry spun back on hearing the voice, dropping Draco on the ground unceremoniously, as he stared into the eyes of one Daphne Greengrass. She was wearing her sleeping robes, as she stared at him with her cold, emotionless eyes.
"Daph-"
"Lord Potter, I humbly request you to leave me." She returned, in a monotone.
"Daphne, what's wr-"
"PLEASE?"
Harry considered it. "No." He replied simply. Daphne simply stared at him as her eyes turned more cold.
"Very well." She took a deep breath. "Very well." She made up her mind. "I suppose you want to talk. Then talk."
"Somewhere private." Harry replied in an intentionally cold voice.
Daphne stared at him. "Fine!" She waved her wand as her bedroom robes transfigured into formal black robes. "Come with me." She walked out of the Slytherin common room, a tensed and concerned Harry Potter following her.
Back in the Room of Requirement, the witch and the wizard stood opposite each other, as cold blue eyes stared into concerned green eyes. Daphne waved her wand once again, as her clothes returned to their original form. "You have come back after two months. I can understand why you would want to meet me so urgently at this time." She had just begun to disrobe when Harry snatched her fingers away and shook her firmly.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
She didn't answer.
"Daph, I know about what happened. Sirius just told me, and he also told me that you refused to allow me to know about it all. I know that I should have been there with you and I am sorry for what happened and-"
"Are you done?"
Harry stopped midway between his apology speech. "What?"
"I asked if you were done. Since you do not want pleasure, I am not sure what I can do for my would-be husband. If you are done, I would like to return to my dorm."
"Daphne, I-"
Daphne stared at him. "You what?"
"I care for you. I am sorry, believe me, if I had known-"
"If. I. Had. Known." Daphne punctuated the words, still in her emotionless, cold voice. "Do you know how much I repeat the same words every day? If I had known, I would have never searched for you on the sixth floor. If I had known, I would never have asked you to teach me. If I had known, I wouldn't have asked you to be betrothed to me. If I had known, -" she sobbed, "—my father wouldn't have been butchered like he was."
"Daphne I-"
"Remember you said how your family were butchers who turned into traders? Well I can see how the Potter family traded my father to be butchered." She hissed. "I. Hate. You. Harry. Potter."
"Do you really mean that?"
Daphne stared at him.
"Why are you still keeping up the betrothal then?" Harry asked.
"Because that was what my father wanted. His wish to keep the Greengrass family safe led to this decision. I will honor his wish. I will marry you, I will come to your bed, I will provide you all the pleasure you need, Harry Potter." She paused, "-and, I will feel content as I watch you suffer, knowing that your wife hates you. That it is all a big illusion. Just like the illusion you showed me here in this very room all those weeks ago."
Harry stood completely shocked at the changes in his would-be-wife. His weeks of training sunk in as he approached the incredibly emotional situation with cold logic. "And what if I cancel the betrothal right now?"
Daphne laughed coldly. "Empty threat, Potter. You are smart, and you are cunning. I know that if you wanted, you could have just done that already. You wouldn't have wiped the floor with Draco and threatened everyone to be respectable to me." She laughed again. "If you really had the mentality to do that, you would have already done that after hearing my intentions. But you won't do that. Because Harry Potter is the good guy. Even when you know what i think of you, you will not break the betrothal because that would leave me in the middle of nowhere, lost and devastated because of you." She laughed again.
"Daphne, what has happened-"
Her fingers came close to the ribbons on her robe. "Are you sure you do not want to use me for some pleasure, Lord Potter-Black?"
Harry did not reply.
"Good night, Harry Potter." She drew close to him. "Enjoy your purgatory." She stepped back, transfigured her robes and walked out of the room.