[A/N: Visit the Haphne Discord! discord . gg / pKSdvJQvhU

We have floof. And murder. There's also the occasional discussion of Haphne in between plotting murders and looking at pictures of cute animals.]

Chapter 2: I Think You Really Hurt Her

Unconsciousness wore off like anesthesia for Draco, returning pain with awareness. His head throbbed, the sunlight suffusing the room was too bright even behind his eyelids, and someone seemed to be rubbing his cheek with sandpaper. Then again, he wasn't dead, so he had that going for him.

He opened his eyes a crack and immediately wished he hadn't. Not only was the light much brighter out there, but one of those fox beasts was leaning over him. Its hand roughly brushed his cheek again as it took a wet cloth and wiped off his head. The sensation stung, but it was clearly trying to clean his wound. He couldn't feel his wand, so it clearly didn't trust him, but he wasn't tied up, either.

"Hel...hello?" Draco said. His mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and the word tasted odd on his tongue and lips.

The beast pulled back its hand in shock. "Oh, you're back," it said, its voice a low rumble. "You had a bad night."

"I...certainly feel...like I did," Draco said slowly. Words came slowly through the pain and haze.

"You shouldn't have attacked us," the beast growled at him. It went back to tending to his head, though.

"Didn't know...you were here," he replied.

It shook its head at him, accidentally flinging a bit of drool on his arm. "You're such an idiot, Draco. What possessed you to join the Death Eaters in the first place?"

He wasn't sure how it switched topics there, but he was too fuzzy to really care. "Stupidity," he said, and the thing's furry eyebrows shot up. "My parents...they thought the Dark Lord...would bring about a dictatorship...of the 'right sort' of people."

"Like them." The beast's skepticism was audible even in its inhuman tones.

"Yes," Draco said. "Instead...we got a dictatorship of the violent...the cruel...the grasping people. Got what...we deserved. He used our house…as a torture chamber...on us as much as anyone. We spent...more time healing each other...than we did helping him."

It rested its hand on his cheek, a shockingly tender gesture coming from such a monstrosity. "You really are a fool, Draco Malfoy."

Draco did his best to smile a little. "No argument here. So why...did you save me?" He wasn't positive this was the same beast that had saved him, but it seemed likely.

"I was lonely." It shrugged. "I wanted to talk with someone I cared about once, before I couldn't anymore."

"I see," Draco said. "And this certainly beats...Azkaban as a prison, which is probably...what I deserve."

"Oh, we're not going to imprison you," it said. "At least, not for long. We need-" it stopped and sniffed at the air. "That sound…"

Draco hadn't heard anything.

The beast rose to its feet. "Someone just apparated in. I'll return once we've dealt with them. Don't go anywhere."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Draco said weakly.

Harry stumbled as Narcissa apparated them to the gates of Greengrass Manor a little before noon. A glance in her direction showed that she'd remained gracefully upright, though she had the decency to hide her smugness a bit.

"Are you sure it'll be safe to hit this place during the daytime?" Harry asked as he straightened up. It was a beautiful early fall day in Rutland, and the strength of the sun was enough to ward off any chill in the air.

"Not at all," Narcissa said. "Draco was here at night, though, and that doesn't seem to have helped. Besides, I'd rather not leave him here longer." She waved her wand at her feet and said, "Silencio Pedites," and repeated that on Harry's feet. It felt like they'd been drenched in invisible mud, but the feeling passed immediately. "That will silence our steps for the next hour or two. Can you handle the Disillusionment Charms, though? I'm lousy at those."

Harry waved his wand at her and said, "Chamaeleontis," and repeated the procedure on himself, feeling the familiar invisible rope of the spell tightening around him as the camouflage settled in. Magic came ever-so-slightly easier now that the Horcrux was out of his head, almost like a thin pall of haze between his intentions and his magic had burned away.

"Nice work." The now-invisible Narcissa paused. "Drat. I need to be touching you to get you through the wards."

Harry laughed. "Oh, right. I'm over here."

Nothing happened for a moment, then the back of a hand slapped his arm. "There you are," Narcissa said. She slid her hand down his arm and took his free hand. "Do not let go of me until we're through the wards. Afterward, we should probably hang on, since otherwise you'll have trouble finding me, but you absolutely must not let go till we're through the wards."

"Got it." Harry was glad he was invisible, since he never wanted pictures of him walking hand-in-hand with Draco's mum to get out.

Narcissa led him through the open manor gates and up the cobbled driveway. The wards washed over him with an ominous grasping feel, but the constant pressure from Narcissa somehow made the hostile magic slough off of him and he came out on the other side no worse for wear.

"We're through," Narcissa said. "I distinctly remember only one line of wards. Do you want to lead?"

Harry nodded, then realized Narcissa couldn't see him. "Yes. Since we're invisible, let's stay in the open. The bushes and statues are good cover, but someone else could use them, too."

He took them up the driveway, stepping cautiously and quietly. But for the rustle of the wind in the branches of the overgrown bushes and flowers of the gardens, the manor was quiet. It almost reminded him of…

Narcissa froze when Harry stopped and squeezed her hand. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"These grounds have been untouched for months, yet there's no birdsong and no visible animals," Harry responded. "It's like when we were on the run in the forest and a Snatcher gang or predator was nearby."

"They know we're here?" she asked nervously.

"Possibly," Harry said. "If they do, though, that means they either don't know exactly where we are or they're afraid to fight us in the open. In either case, we have an advantage."

"And when we get to the house?"

Harry grinned and hoped it came through in his tone. "Since we don't know which situation we're facing, I'm going to blow some of the windows open, charge in, and stun whoever I find as fast as I can before they realize we're there."

Narcissa didn't respond for a moment. Finally, she asked, "That's your plan?"

"Do you have a better one?"

"Merlin, so much of the last seven years makes sense now," she said.

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" Harry said, and continued up the drive.

The three-story manor house looked derelict from a distance, but as they approached, Harry realized that couldn't be true. The plants around it were overgrown, but the house itself was in perfect condition. Someone, person or house elf, was taking care of the place.

They crept up to the front edge of the house, about ten yards to the left of the door and between two large windows. Harry flattened himself against the wall of the house and used his hand to pull Narcissa against the wall next to him. "The Disillusionment Charms will drop as soon as we cast spells," Harry whispered. "As soon as that happens, I need you to keep moving. A standing target is a dead target."

"I understand," Narcissa responded. "Which window are you going through?"

"The one on my-"

The roof above them creaked mightily, as if a great weight had been added or removed. Harry cut himself off and looked up. Two massive anthropoid foxes had jumped off the roof and were hurtling down toward them, their clawed hands and feet aimed toward the two intruders below.

Instinct pushed terror out of the way and Harry calmly fired off two non-verbal Flipendo hexes at the beasts (removal of the Horcrux made more advanced magic even easier, for some reason). They tried to twist out of the way, but, as Harry had suspected, they had limited maneuverability while falling. The hexes struck true and flung the beasts about ten feet to the right and left, respectively.

Narcissa had finally found her voice to scream, but Harry ignored her and launched himself into motion. The impact of the hexes didn't seem to have disoriented the beasts, and each one was back on its feet almost as soon as it hit the ground. Harry fired a Stupefy at the nearest beast and was dismayed when it merely shook off the spell and rushed him.

Meanwhile, the other beast roared "Malfoy!" and rushed at Narcissa. Harry felt a twinge of regret for not being able to protect her, and a slightly larger regret at the small size of the initial twinge. Regret wouldn't keep either of them alive, though, so he focused on his own opponent. Another Knockback Jinx only stopped the beast for a moment, but that's all he needed to hit it with an Incarcerous. Magical ropes started wrapping its legs from the ground up, but as fast as they came up, the beast ripped them away. Harry zapped it with another nonverbal Stunning Spell to slow down its efforts against the ropes and turned to face Narcissa's opponent.

Things weren't going well for the woman. She'd gotten off a couple of Stunners, not that they appeared to have accomplished anything. The beast had punched her in the chest hard enough to fling her into one of the porch columns, and the impact of her skull against the column had knocked her cold.

Before the beast could finish her off, Harry blasted it into the front wall of the house with an Expulso strong enough that it might have killed a normal human. The stone crunched under the impact, and even the beast fell to its knees in shock and pain. That gave Harry time for a follow-up Incarcerous, and this opponent was too stunned to react before it was firmly mummified in ropes.

Harry turned back to his first foe only to be caught in the shoulder with a clump of rocks, roots, and dirt the size of a football. The impact threw him onto his back, and pounding footsteps warned him that he didn't have time to get to his feet again. Instead, he swung his wand around and brought it to bear just as a huge, clawed hand wrapped its fingers around his throat.

The beast narrowed its eyes at the wand pointed straight at its chest, but they widened again when they settled on his face. "Harry...Potter?" a low, rumbling voice asked.

He didn't have a whole lot of spare air just then, so he nodded. The bristled fur was rough against the underside of his chin.

"But...why would you help a Malfoy?" it asked him. "They serve He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Harry slowly moved his free hand to point at his throat and was rewarded with a slightly slackened grip. "They switched sides in the last battle," he said. "The war is over. Voldemort…" he had to suppress a grin when the humanoid monstrosity holding him down shuddered at the name, "is dead. Most of his followers are dead or in Azkaban now. Narcissa saved my life before the Battle of Hogwarts, and this morning she asked me to help her find her son."

The beast sagged, but thoughtfully kept its weight off of Harry's throat. "He's dead? He's really dead this time?"

"His killing curse bounced off one of my spells," Harry said. "I saw him die myself."

It removed its hand from his throat and, before he could react, wrapped its arms around him in a crushing hug. "You saved us again! Thank you!" Its voice rumbled against the dirt next to him.

"Others did most of the work," Harry said. "And please don't hug me so hard." This day had taken a weird turn.

The beast immediately released him. "I'm sorry," it said. "We thought you were a Death Eater because you showed up with a Malfoy."

"I can understand that." Harry levered himself up on his elbows. "Um...if you don't mind, I should probably check on Narcissa. I think she got hit pretty hard."

"Oh, of course." It rose to its feet and helped Harry up. "And I should probably check on my sis...oh, dear." The other beast lay moaning on the ground, trussed up in ropes. "I think you really hurt her."

Harry brushed some dirt off of his jeans as he stood. "She was trying to kill Narcissa," he said. "I couldn't risk pulling punches."

The beast sighed. "I understand. She's...angrier than I am. It makes her a better fighter, but I worry she's given too much to the beast inside sometimes. Can you release her? She's in pain."

"Will she try to kill us?" Harry asked. The beast shook its head, so he waved his wand and did a silent Finite to end his spell.

The other beast relaxed onto the ground and its moaning slowed. "Why let me go?" it asked. "Wait...Potter?"

Something about the way it said his last name reminded him of how a Slytherin would say it, and with that, the reality of the situation finally penetrated Harry's somewhat rattled skull. "Daphne?"

It nodded, a grimace of pain on its face.

Harry turned to the beast that had attacked him. "Astoria?"

It nodded, as well.

"But...how?"

"It's a long story," Astoria said. "Can you heal Daphne first? She won't admit it, but I've never seen her in this much pain."

"I think so," Harry said. He walked over and did a quick diagnostic charm. "Cracked ribs and a broken left arm. I should be able to fix those." He carefully did the bone mending charm over her arm first, moving slowly and carefully to avoid pulling a Lockhart on the poor girl…er…thing. Once he was satisfied that her arm was back in place, he repeated it thrice more over her ribs.

"Thank you," Daphne said when he'd finished. Her growl had more of a rasp to it than her sister's. "That hurt like hell. I'm glad you're on our side, Potter, because you're more dangerous by yourself than the last three groups of Death Eater sympathizers that attacked us."

"I think only two of those were Death Eater sympathizers," Harry said. "The ones with Draco last night were Aurors."

Daphne cursed. Astoria shrank back and said, "Oh, no! We didn't want to hurt Aurors, but we...we can't let them have it. It has to be destroyed."

"I'd like to know more," Harry said, "but I should check on Narcissa now. I'm worried for her."

Daphne gave a bestial snort. "Sentences I never thought I'd hear. Go right ahead, Potter."

He hurried over to Narcissa and ran the diagnostic charm on her, too. She was in much worse shape, with two broken and two cracked ribs as well as a serious concussion. Harry fixed the ribs as best he could, but he wasn't an expert healer by any means. "She needs to see a professional," he said when he finished. "I'm not good enough to heal her and I'm worried about her head injury and her lungs potentially being pierced."

"We can't let her leave," Daphne said. "Others could use her to get past the wards, just like you did."

"Draco said he was good at healing," Astoria said. "Now that we know they're not Death Eaters anymore, maybe he could help?"

"They're not?" Daphne asked.

"Oh, right, you missed that." Astoria gave her a quick rundown of what Harry had said.

"Fine," Daphne said when she finished. "Take Potter to heal up your boy toy and maybe he can help. I'll stay with Narcissa."

Astoria roared at her sister. The noise made Harry flinch a little, but somehow the quiet growl Daphne gave to silence her sister was even scarier.

"He's not my boy toy," Astoria responded meekly. "Come on, Harry."