I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters
His Last Curse
Chapter 3 – Depths and Desperation
"Good morning, Potter."
Harry stopped, seeing Daphne sitting at the kitchen counter. When he first started the job, she was the one that let him into the estate every time he visited, following him and glaring at him the entire time. As she got used to him, he was allowed access without being let in and would eventually show up to needle him when she wanted, or to pass time with talk about magic and theory. It had been a while since she was waiting for him.
"Good morning, Miss Greengrass," he said.
"Please, have a seat."
He did, his eyebrows raised.
She huffed. "You needn't look so surprised."
"But I am," he replied easily, smiling a little. "Is something wrong?"
She chewed her lip briefly. "I have…done you a disservice and I wish to make amends."
"Oh. Uh. Thank you. You don't have to, if you don't want to."
She shook her head. "I don't want to, but I must. I have been a poor host, even if the guest was a surprise. The reason I have been…difficult, is due to the nature of the circumstances. And I imagine Tracy did not tell you everything?"
"Not really."
She snorted. "Of course she didn't. I…should tell you more about the wards and the curse then. I need to take a more proactive role if I ever want things to change."
"The curse? I was under the impression that it was just a really intricate ward scheme."
"There is a curse of sorts," Daphne said somewhat bitterly. She sighed. "What I am going to tell you is very private. Only Tracy and my little sister know everything and if I hear you violating my trust I will murder you. Are we clear?"
He nodded, knowing she probably would follow through with her threat.
"Lord Cyrus was the last Head of House Greengrass. My family is very old, one of the Ancient and Noble Houses. For most of his life…he was a decent man. A kind but strict father, a doting husband. He knew what it was like to care for a great House and did so well. We emerged through the first war relatively unscathed due to him being neutral in all things.
"When he and my mother were alive, my life was very pleasant. We did not want for anything. We were close. Life was good." Daphne looked truly alive then. Her eyes were soft, the color of a summer afternoon. The severe lines in her face faded.
All of a sudden, they returned, her eyes became rain-swept. "Then my mother died." Her hand drifted the locket around her neck. "She succumbed to a dreadful illness. It happened swiftly. One day she was full of life. The next, she was gone. Not quite that extreme, but it felt that way. I…loved her very much."
Her eyes hardened. "Her death broke my father. He became more reclusive, more withdrawn. He was obsessed with preserving everything. It happened during our time at Hogwarts. His change was startling and if I were home more often, perhaps I could have done something about it. Even if Astoria was here. But no, he was left to his own devices and fell to a madness of sorts."
"I'm sorry," Harry said gently.
She continued to speak, ignoring him. "He betrothed me to someone, said it was for my own good and the good of the family. I balked. I had never met the man and his reputation was terrible. I told him I would do no such thing and I would defend Astoria from the same fate. When the second war started, he took us out of school and brought us here. We fought, a lot. He was not the man I had loved growing up. He was bitter, frightened, almost savage." Her lips twitched. "He was paranoid.
"Shortly before the end of the war, he died. I came downstairs and he was sitting in his office. I am ashamed to say that my first reaction was one of relief. Things had become heated and there were times he and I exchanged spells, not words. Astoria was frightened to be in his presence and I swore to keep her safe, like my mother made me promise before she died. The last thing I heard my father say before he passed was that he would ensure our safety, and the safety of the family."
Her hands were on the counter and she clenched them shut. They shook and she closed her eyes, feeling the suffocating tension again, hearing the tone of her father before he died, the times they came to blows. She jolted when she felt something touch her hand, her eyes snapping open. Harry had reached across and gently took her hand. She almost recoiled, almost snatched her hand away. For some reason she did not. She thought it was from surprise, surprise that he would dare do something like this.
It certainly was not because she found his hand warm and comforting. She was not missing positive contact that much.
"Thank you for telling me," he said softly.
She nodded jerkily. "Anyways, his death freed us to an extent. I was able to dissolve all betrothals and contracts, take over the family investments. It was not until later that I found myself…afflicted. I found myself unwilling to leave this home. When I did, I would feel a very strong desire to return. As the years passed, I found myself getting physically ill when I was away. I can tolerate small trips and the like but the longer I am away, the sicker I become. My magic feels stymied as well. Within the estate, my magic seems fine but outside of it, I feel shackled. I also feel numb. It used to be subtle, a slight tingle like a leg that has fallen asleep. Lately it has grown where I don't feel much at all."
I can feel how warm your hand is for some reason, she thought to herself, somehow not blushing.
Harry looked thoughtful. "Hmm, that's some nasty magic if it's what I think it is. I didn't even see a compulsion charm in the original arrays so it must be hidden somewhere. It's good to know it though, especially if there are other compulsions around. I can definitely look."
She felt a little heartened by how calm he was, how he was still approaching things like he normally did. "And what about me feeling sick? I went to St Mungo's a few times and they never found anything wrong, nor did the few healers that made house calls."
"It could be some super strong compulsions. Or it could be a tether. Somehow your father tethered your magic to the estate so the longer you're away, the weaker it is. Like trying to go further away from what you're physically tied to. It can only stretch so far."
"I have never heard of a tether before."
"It's not pretty. Some Magicals used them on animals to keep them around a place as guard animals. In ancient China, they did that to people as a form of punishment, keeping them somewhere without physically tying them down."
"What happens if the tether breaks?" Daphne asked, fearing the answer.
"You die," Harry said plainly.
"Of course you do," she hissed. "Damn you Father." She flushed at her outburst. "My apologies."
"I've heard worse, probably said worse."
She snorted softly. "I should behave more appropriately. However, I just learned that this home," she spat the word, "will more than likely become my prison. Such a beautiful gilded prison, but a prison nonetheless."
He squeezed her hand again. "I'll figure it out. I'll make sure you won't stay a prisoner."
She felt something flutter in her chest, something she had not felt in a very long time. "You will? Why?"
He let her hand go and got up. "I know what it's like to be trapped. I won't let it happen to you." He smiled grimly. "Thanks for the info, I think I have a better idea of what to look for now." With a nod he walked off with a purpose.
The fluttering in her chest grew stronger and she resisted the urge to quash it. For the first time in a long time, she welcomed it.
-0-
Days later, Tracy stopped at the threshold and Hermione ran into her back. "Why'd you stop?" Hermione asked, rubbing her nose.
"Do you hear that?" Tracy was gobsmacked.
"Is that…laughter?" Hermione asked, intrigued. The pair walked into the house and they found Daphne and Harry sitting at the kitchen counter, laughing together. Hermine smiled broadly at the sight and sound. Hearing him laugh was wonderful to her. She did not think he had many reasons to laugh in the last few years and it had even taken him a bit to laugh so easily after returning.
Tracy stared at Daphne. It had been so long since she heard her friend laugh like that in the estate. On the rare trips away from the house, before Daphne would get sick, Daphne would feel more carefree. She would occasionally laugh freely. But it had been an incredibly long time since Tracy heard her laugh while inside the Greengrass home. She missed it.
Harry had told Tracy and Hermione to come over for dinner, that he was cooking for them all there and the two had eagerly come, bringing over more supplies and things.
"Did we miss something?" Tracy asked as she set a bag on the counter.
"Daphne was just telling me all the ridiculous things Malfoy said about me in Slytherin while at school," Harry said, stirring something in a pan.
"Ooh, you let him call you Daphne?" Tracy whispered and the other woman smacked her, blushing.
"Oh Tracy told me some," Hermione said. "Most are very dumb. I think my favorite was that you were secretly a vampire and you were trying to build a harem."
"Dang, why didn't I actually try to do that?" Harry deadpanned to their laughter.
"Because you're terrible with girls," Hermione giggled.
"You're not wrong," Harry laughed.
"You could have tried with blokes," Tracy teased, making them laugh harder.
"No thank you," he chortled. "The only sausage I want to eat is in a roll and not human in origin." He shot an embarrassed look at Hermione and Daphne. "Sorry, forgot myself."
"Daphne only acts like a prude, don't worry," Tracy said, dodging a Stinging Jinx shot at her by a flushed Daphne.
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. "Tracy has lowered my inhibitions about crude humor and foul language."
"Is that all she lowered?" Daphne asked in a very calm and sweet voice.
Harry guffawed and Tracy and Hermione went deep red, sputtering at Daphne. The witch smiled primly and her eyes glinted. "I know how to make jokes, I typically do not out of propriety."
"You are really good," Tracy praised Harry. "If you can break curses and get that overlarge stick out of Daphne's arse, you must be really really good."
"Do not talk about my arse," Daphne sniffed. "Or what is or is not allegedly in it."
"Look at you making more jokes! Did something good happen?" Tracy asked eagerly.
"I think so," Harry said as he continued to cook. "After Daphne explained a few things the other day, I found the spells that are being used to weave the layers together. With that, I figured out the progenitor array. Today, I was able to undo the first layer. And managed not to damage anything."
"That's great!" Hermione and Tracy cried out together.
"How do you feel?" Tracy asked Daphne.
Daphne wore a small but sincere smile. "I feel lighter. I have no other way to describe it, but I feel more at peace. I think it is working. And it is all thanks to Harry."
"Awesome!" Tracy hugged Daphne and then hugged a surprised Harry. She also noticed Daphne's casual use of his first name. It made her feel very giddy. "This is the best news! We've never gotten this far with anyone else!"
"I suppose you should write this in your book," Daphne said with a mock-weary tone. "She has a small book of every argument she has ever won, or any time where she can say the coveted words: 'I told you so'," she explained to a smiling Harry.
"I hate that thing," Hermione grumbled as Tracy was indeed happily scribbling into a small notebook. "She waves it in my face when she wants to be super annoying."
"Same," Daphne said and tapped her glass against Hermione's in a show of solidarity. "Have you tried destroying it yet? Spare yourself the effort if you have not. She somehow has multiple copies that are annoyingly up to date."
"No I haven't the heart to do that. I confiscated it once and she moped for the entire time. I started feeling really bad after a while, like I took a toy from a little child," Hermione said.
"She is terrible when she pouts," Daphne agreed. "Once when we were at Hogwarts, I hid her stuffed animal in a fit of pique and I suffered more than she did."
"Hey! Since when do you two gang up on me?" Tracy asked, troubled. "Harry, help me out here!"
Harry stammered. "Oh uh, well, I know Hermione gets this little crinkle in her nose when you move her quills around."
"Oh she still does that! One time I picked up her favorite annotation quill and I thought she was going to stab me with it later!"
Harry grinned and showed Tracy a tiny white scar in the meat of his left hand. "She stabbed me once, I think third year?"
"That was an accident!" Hermione screeched.
"She 'missed the inkwell'," Harry said, making air quotes with his fingers.
Daphne laughed hard, holding her stomach.
-0-
Harry looked up from the desk, smiling at Hermione who stood in the doorway. "Come on in, what's up?"
She sat on his bed, watching him polish his inscribing tools. "Oh nothing much. I just wanted to say it was good to hear you laugh earlier. You seemed really relaxed and happy."
"Thanks. It felt good to be like that. It's been a while since I have felt like this. Plus it's always good to know you're making headway. If things keep going like this, I think I'll be able to break the curse in a few days."
"That's so good to hear. I've been around Daphne for years and tonight was the happiest I've ever seen her. She was acting like how Tracy said she used to act. Tracy is ecstatic too. She's so relieved, she's been really worried for a long time."
"Tracy is good people," Harry said easily. "Same with Daphne, once you get to know her and she's not being so prickly."
"I feel like I should be vaguely jealous that you've managed to get her to be nice in weeks when I've had years, but I'm not. I'm just happy for all of you." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "Also, I wanted to apologize for ruining your date."
He looked at her. "What date?"
"The date you and Daphne were having. You know, a romantic dinner for two made by you."
Harry laughed and blushed. "It's not…it wasn't the first time I cooked for us. And it wasn't a date. If it was, I wouldn't have asked you and Tracy to come over."
"Then it was a double date," Hermione said.
He laughed again. "It really wasn't. I can't even remember the last time I went on one."
"Harry, remember what I said earlier?"
"That I'm terrible with girls?"
"Yes that. Let me tell you, you were on a date. Daphne was looking at you quite fondly and let's say you weren't looking at her with just polite eyes yourself."
He snorted. "I don't think now's an appropriate time to try and matchmake. Besides, Daphne wouldn't like a guy like me."
"Oooh, so you have thought about it then?"
He shrugged weakly. "She is very pretty," he admitted. "And when she isn't being mean, she's rather nice."
She beamed at him. "Then I would say you might have something going on there."
"What makes you say that?"
"Besides you just admitting you like her?" She ignored his whispered "did not". "She called you Harry. I took her more than a year to stop calling me Granger. She called you Harry in a few weeks."
"Let me try to break the curse she's suffering from first," he said dryly, though his face was pleasantly pink. "Then we can imagine my non-existent love life."
"Of course, priorities," Hermione said with a laugh. "Just think about it Harry."
He waited for her to leave before whispering softly, "It would be nice."
-0-
He looked at the wall, troubled. "What in the world?" he said out loud.
"Is something wrong Harry?" Daphne asked as she walked into the room.
Harry glared at the wall. "The first layer is back."
"What? How is that possible?!"
"I have no idea. I know for a fact that I completely dispelled it all yesterday. There's no chance that I didn't."
"Did…did someone recast it?" she asked, disturbed.
"No, I mean, it's possible but the signature is the exact same as it was yesterday. For it to look like that, the original caster had to do it. And you said he's dead. It literally looks like it did when I first got here and that's really not possible." He looked troubled.
"Oh wow, it really is Harry Potter."
The pair turned and looked at the younger woman who walked in. She looked like Daphne in build and coloring, though her face was a little more merry, her eyes bright.
"Yes, Tori," Daphne sighed with the sound all elder siblings made when speaking to their younger sibling, "I did tell you."
"I know, I'm surprised you haven't pissed him off yet and driven him away." She held a hand out. "I'm Astoria, Greengrass obviously. You can call me Tori."
"Nice to meet you," Harry said with a small smile.
"Ooh, now those are some nice glasses," Astoria said, peering at them.
"No need to be rude," Daphne sniffed, "they are out of style."
Astoria snickered. "I meant the enchanting on them. I'm working on my enchanting mastery and I can sort of tell when things have been enchanted. Do you have them charmed so you can see spell lines?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, helps me visualize Arithmancy lines and spell boundaries. I can even catch latent or dormant runes with them sometimes."
"Neat! Can you see people's signatures?"
"I can activate the charm but I usually don't, it's rude to look at someone's magic like that," he said.
"I do it all the time," Astoria said baldly.
"But you are very rude so it suits you," Daphne stated. "What does she mean by seeing someone's signature?"
"You can tell who cast magic sometimes, like when you use the prior incantation spell on a wand. The stronger the caster, the more unique their magic is. You can sometimes see it emanate off them like an aura and if they cast a lot of permanent magic, you can see the similarities and identify them. But like I said, it's rather rude to look at someone like that without their permission."
"Enchanters do it to look at objects mostly but for custom work, they look at a person's magic to see the best way for them to interact with an object." Astoria shrugged. "It's just a way of doing things."
"Do you have a pair of seeing lenses? I'm surprised you haven't seen the spellwork around the house," Harry said.
Astoria winced. "I uh, I haven't tried. I don't know what Daphne told you but I have some really bad memories here. I don't stay here if I can help it. Even when I visit it feels weird sometimes."
"Hmm, looks like the spells are tailored only to you then," Harry mused to Daphne.
"Of course," Daphne sighed.
"While you're here, and since you have enchanting experience," he explained his recent findings to an interested Astoria.
"Oh weird," she said when he finished. "I have to agree that normally the same caster has to be the one to recast everything and that's impossible in this case." Her voice hitched slightly and Daphne hugged her from behind. "It's probably not a renewing charm because a person still has to cast that."
"That's what I thought. The only thing that makes sense to me is a regrowing charm but that shouldn't be possible."
"Why not?" Daphne asked when Astoria nodded in agreement.
"Regrowing charms need an active source of magic to work," Astoria explained. "Like, you know you repair something with a repairing charm, like a broken plate? The charm uses our magic to repair the break. Regrowing charms can renew a spell that elapses but it needs a source of magic to do it."
"The house doesn't have any active free flowing magic here. You typically need to be in a place rich with natural magic like ley lines or springs." Harry rubbed his face. "So I'm not entirely sure how it happened. I'm going to have to reexamine things and see. It's possible that there is another spell woven in somewhere."
"That is okay Harry," Daphne said calmly. "Only a minor setback. I am sure you will work it out, I believe in you."
Astoria looked up at her sister with wide eyes. "Harry?" she mouthed. She squeaked when Daphne pinched her.
"Thanks," Harry said. He was thankful he was still rubbing his face to his happy blush. "I'll figure it out, don't worry."
-0-
Daphne walked back into the house, having returned from an errand. She stifled a giggle at the loud and inventive swearing that Harry was currently almost shouting. She followed the sounds, walking into the dining room where Harry set up his equipment. "I do not believe I have ever heard you yell like that before."
He looked sheepish. "I wasn't yelling, not quite."
"Mmmhmm," she hummed. "What seems to be the trouble now?"
It had only taken a day for Harry to have found what he thought was a modified regrowth charm, just like he and Astoria mused about. It was not one he recognized however, so he studied it for a while. When Daphne left on an errand, he set about undoing the first layer again and he had managed to finish it. Then he watched it renew itself in front of his eyes, returning back to its original form, much to his vocal annoyance.
"I just finished dispelling the damn thing again," he said grumpily. "This time I knew I was did it all the way to the weave. The regrowth charm was inactive and it worked. Then all of a sudden, the regrowth charm activated and the damn layer regrew. Nothing around me changed and I still can't feel any kind of magical source around so I don't know how it activated and where it drew it's magic from."
He cast the counter-spell and watched half the layer erase. Then it started to regrow once more. "There it goes again, stupid bloody sodding-" He stopped talking, eyes following a newly appeared line of magic.
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked, unnerved by behavior.
"There's a new line of magic." He followed it and his eyes led straight to Daphne.
"You do not think I am doing it," she said, insulted.
"Not…directly." The line of magic went to her locket. "May I take a look at your locket?"
Her hand clutched it protectively. "My locket?"
"Yes, I promise I won't break it, I know how important it is." After the first time she explained things to him, he learned that the locket was the last gift from her mother, something she cherished. Astoria later confirmed it, saying it used to belong to their mother and Daphne wore it proudly after she passed.
With visible reluctance, she took it off and gave it to Harry. He almost groaned when he saw all the spellwork and charms written into the locket. Normally he did not see it whenever his glasses were active because they automatically ignored people's magical signatures. When she was not wearing it, the locket glowed with latent magic. He inspected it carefully, recognizing some spells and identifying others. While they were not immediately known, some of the Arithmancy was very familiar to the ones he had seen in the house.
"Do," he coughed awkwardly, "do you mind if I take a look at your signature? I…have an idea of what's going on."
She nodded, not liking the look on his face.
He whispered an incantation and looked at her. He groaned again as he saw lines of magic going about her like a spider web. It was different than the magic that resided in her chest, a different color and texture even. The purple-black web clung to her and it was connected to the locket and through it, to the rest of the house.
"Wh-what's wrong?" she stammered.
He canceled the charm on his glasses and looked at her sadly. "So remember us saying that regrowth charms need a source of magic? Turns out there is one here, you."
"I'm not actively casting them!" she insisted.
"No, you're not," he agreed. "The regrowth charm is drawing from your magic to renew the wards. Somehow, your father managed to tie your magic through the locket and into the house. He managed to anchor it into the locket and whenever any of the wards were broken, the house would draw on your magic to repair it. That's why it keeps coming back."
She paled. "He did?" she said faintly.
"Looks like. That's really tricky to do, really dangerous too because if it takes too much at once…" he gulped. "The house must constantly use you like a battery so when you're far away, it gets desperate so it draws harder. Which is why you feel sick and weak, and your magic is less when you're away. When you're here, you can kind of draw on the house a little, but the flow of magic is very much in the house's favor. And that's not the worst news."
"There's worse news?!"
"You said you never found the keystone? Well, it's the locket. He must have made your locket the source of the wards and then cut it off from external change."
Her blood ran cold. "So to break everything, I would have to break my locket. My mother's locket."
He nodded sadly. "Your father was a real piece of work."
They sat in silence that dragged and clung to them.
"So we have a couple options-" he began.
"No."
"No?"
"No. I will not entertain any option that will result in breaking the locket."
"Well, that was an option but not the only one. We can-"
"There is no we. We will not do anything."
Harry looked at her directly. "Wait, what?"
She looked back at him. Her eyes were ice cold, her features withdrawn and severe. Just like the first time they met. "Your services are no longer needed. Thank you for all your work up till now but you need not continue."
"Hold on. I'm not done yet."
"Yes, you are. You may work for Tracy but this is my home, my situation. I handled it before you, I will handle it after you."
"You guys said that you spent years without a break through before me." Harry's voice rose. "You said your symptoms are getting worse! The sooner we stop this, the better for it does something permanent."
She sneered. "You're such a Gryffindor, so arrogant. You think I am helpless without you. I have survived without you for a long time, Potter."
He recoiled, as if slapped. Her using his surname like that was almost a physical blow. "Daphne-"
"That is Miss Greengrass to you," she said coldly. She buried her distress deep, keeping her face still. She hated what she was doing. She was panicking but she was committed to her course. She was hating herself for the look of pain in his eyes, the betrayal that she was making him endure. While she had not learned everything about him these last few weeks, she knew a few things.
She knew just enough to know where to hit him where it hurt most.
"You should go, you are not needed." She swallowed her bile. "You are not wanted. You should just run away. You are good at that."
His face drained of blood and he stared at her. Without speaking, he rose on trembling legs, moving mechanically.
"Wait."
He turned, a hopeful look on his face.
She hated that she was about to shatter it. She tossed a small key onto the table. "Compensation for your services," she said icily. "I will not be in your debt."
He looked truly lost, his eyes going from her to the key and back. His hand shook as he picked it up and with one last look, he left.
She waited for the door to close before she burst into tears.
-0-
"What did you do?!"
Daphne looked up listlessly. She had not moved since Harry left, when she drove him away. She had vaguely heard her door banging earlier, Tracy yelling. After Harry left, she had closed the house down, made the wards she could control change to keep everyone but a Greengrass out. She sighed when she saw Astoria stand there with Tracy and Hermione.
"Go away," she said.
Hermione and Astoria heard how heart-broken she was, how despondent. Tracy heard it too and she let it fuel her ire. "No! First you lock me out, then I can't find Harry! I had to get Astoria to come let us in! What happened?"
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.
Astoria knelt beside Daphne, not liking how empty her sister looked. Even in the worst of times, Daphne had more life than this. "Daffy," she pleaded, hoping using her childhood nickname in front of others would anger her, "what happened? Tell us."
Daphne started to cry again. Between sobs she told them everything Harry explained.
"I fucking hate him," Astoria growled. "Why did Father do that to you?! What the fuck!"
"Harry didn't actually suggest breaking the locket, did he?" Hermione asked. "He wouldn't. He knows how precious family heirlooms and things are."
"He didn't…actually." Daphne sobbed harder. She shamefully told them what she said to Harry, what she said to drive him away.
"You bitch!" Tracy yelled. "Why did you say that to him?! He's done nothing but want to help you!"
"Because I cannot condemn him to this life!" Daphne screamed. "I cannot force him to help or stay with me! I am trapped! I have nothing to offer!"
"Oh Daffy," Astoria moaned. "You really were falling for him! And you drove him away because you got scared?"
"Scared?" Daphne's laugh was hysterical. "I am terrified!" She pulled at her hair, coming apart at the seams. "I am trapped here! I am losing the ability to feel! I do not have much more to lose. I cannot let him get close. I cannot survive being abandoned! Not again! I will not survive it again!"
"Did you even ask him?! No! You didn't even give him a chance," Tracy said with disgust. "You bloody coward. You were too afraid to ask for help and instead you did what you always do: hurt the people that care about you and run away. Not to mention you said the same damn things that drove him away the first time seven years ago!"
"Wh-what?" Daphne stammered.
"He was fucking abandoned by pretty much everyone before," Tracy said scathingly. "They said he wasn't wanted anymore. No one wanted or needed him. Basically 'thanks for all you did now leave'. To make matters worse, they blamed him for the people that died! For the people that he didn't save! And you just did the same damn thing to him!"
"I…I did not know!" Daphne cried.
"We have to stop him," Astoria said. "He doesn't deserve this. Do you think he left the country already?"
Hermione had sat there in silence the entire time, glaring at Daphne. At Astoria's words she shook her head. "No, I would have known if he did. He's still in England." At their confused looks she huffed. "I cast a tracking charm and all sorts of alarm charms on his hat. If he leaves with it, I'd know. I wasn't taking that risk this time. Not again."
"That's so sneaky of you," Tracy praised.
Hermione snorted but blushed lightly. She filled a bowl with water and put it on the table and murmured a series of incantations on it. "I'm scrying for him now. I hoped he'd be here or else I'd have done this sooner. If he's close, then we'll see what his hat sees." The water rippled and some images swam into focus. "Oh he must be nearby."
"Hang on," Astoria said. "That's outside."
The outside door banged open and they could hear him stomp inside. His gait was irregular and when he appeared in the doorway, the witches stared at him with astonishment. He was visibly and incredibly drunk. His shirt slightly unbuttoned, his glasses slightly askew, and he held his hat in hand. He blinked slowly, trying to focus on everyone inside the room. "Oh good, you're all here," he slurred.
"Harry, thank goodness," Hermione said, clutching her chest. "You're here."
"Yeah, I promised you I wouldn't leave without telling you," he said drunkenly. "I went somewhere to think and drink."
"How much did you drink?" Tracy asked. "I've never seen you like this."
"A couple."
"Bottles?"
"Barrels." He hiccupped. He pointed unsteadily at Daphne, or at least where he thought she was. Astoria helpfully moved his arm to actually point at the shocked woman. "I have something to say to you, Miss Greengrass."
She flinched at the way he said her name. She tried to sneer back, desperately hiding her relief at seeing him. "Yes? Go on then. Say your piece."
Astoria groaned at her tone and words while Tracy and Hermione glared at her.
Harry drew himself up, standing as straight as he could while swaying slightly. He took a deep breath and stared at her, his emerald eyes locking into her sapphire ones.
"Fuck you."
"Harry!" Hermione said, shocked while Tracy and Astoria laughed. Daphne stared, wide-eyed and mouthed.
"No, seriously. Fuck you. I get it. You lost your mother and your father went crazy and turned her last gift into something terrible. I get that you feel trapped here and that everyone in the past failed to help. I get losing hope. I really do. You feel trapped and you feel like you're drowning, flailing. You don't see a light. You just see more darkness.
"You've watched people turn into monsters, felt them hurt you. Well guess what, so have I. You've seen people die in front of you. Me too. You had someone you used to trust turn on you. Same here."
"You…you really do get it," Daphne said, relieved and horrified in equal measure.
"Yeah, I do. Which is why I'm saying fuck you. You're not alone. I said I was going to help you. I won't give up. If I gave up on things then Tom Riddle would still be running around. Voldemort," he clarified at their confusion save for Hermione's. The three others squeaked at him saying the name. "Still? Ugh, that wanker is probably happy wherever he is, knowing his name still freaks people out."
Harry shook his head. "You don't get to tell me I'm not wanted anymore. You don't get to tell me I'm not needed. I spent more than seven years listening to everyone tell me that. Seven. Years. I finally get to see people that like me, that actually want me here." He pointed reasonably accurately at Hermione and Tracy. "Do you know what it's like to be wanted after so long of not being wanted?"
Daphne nodded shamefully, unable to say anything.
"Then you can understand why I'm a little pissed. Hell, I even like seeing you once you got that stick out of your arse." He blinked slowly, missing the looks the girls shot at each other, how red Daphne got. "So I'm staying. I'm finishing this damn job. I'm going to break this curse so I can rub it in your face. I'm going to figure out a way to break it without you losing your locket." He reached into a pocket and tossed the key onto the table. "I didn't touch a Knut of it. Job ain't over. It's over when I say it's over. I'm a damn good cursebreaker and I haven't failed yet. Got it?"
Daphne nodded. She looked down and tears ran down her face. They were tears of relief.
"Good." He hiccupped again. "Seeing how I am finally drunk, I'm taking the rest of the day off. I'm going home to pass out." He put his hat on carefully, deliberately, without breaking eye contact with Daphne.
"Harry, you're still indoors. You can't apparate through the wards," Astoria said.
He grinned lopsidedly. "Yes I can. I'm Harry Fucking Potter." He turned in place and apparated with a pop.
Hermione got up from her chair. "I'm going to make sure he got home okay." She ran out of the house.
Daphne buried her face into her hands, sobbing again. This time her sobs were quieter, less frightened. Her shoulders shook but felt unburdened, as if a terrible weight was removed, one she had carried for a long time. Astoria walked over and wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her. "I've never seen anyone talk to Daphne like that and survive," Astoria said with wonder. "That was impressive."
"Impressive? That was incredible." Tracy looked at Daphne with fondness and exasperation. "You're such a dumb bitch, you know that?"
Daphne nodded.
"Thank Merlin we found someone as stubborn as you and is committed to his job," Tracy sighed. "And is thankfully a good person. You better make it up to him."
"I will," Daphne whispered.
Hermione eventually returned, shaking her head. "He actually apparated back home, right into his room. Without splinching. Granted he passed out half on his bed and half out but he made it there. I'd be very upset about how dangerous it was if I wasn't so impressed."
"He's okay then?" Tracy asked.
"Well if by okay you mean drunker than I've ever seen anyone before, then yes surprisingly. I changed him, and poured some water down his throat. I'm going to go buy some sobriety potions and headache potions for the morning. He's probably going to have a hangover that could kill a bull." She sighed softly. "He's going to have a rough night. He was talking in his sleep. He was having a nightmare. I sat with him until it passed."
"Do you know what about?" Daphne asked quietly.
Hermione gave her a long look before sighing again. "He was talking to Riddle. It sounded like their last duel."
Tracy convulsed. "Ugh, that sounds terrifying."
"It wasn't pleasant, no," Hermione said sadly.
"Hermione," Daphne began. "I'm so sorry-"
Hermione held her hand up. "Look, I'm just going to focus on the fact that Harry is still here and somewhat okay. If he had truly gone somewhere, we'd be having a very different conversation. Just, you have to make things up to him. I won't let people hurt him like that anymore. I did that before, not again."
"I will," Daphne said firmly. "I will."
-0-
"You look surprisingly…alive."
"I feel weirdly okay," Harry said as he walked into the kitchen. "It's been years since I got that drunk."
"Are you even hungover?" Tracy asked.
"I…don't think so?"
"So not fair."
Harry stopped, seeing Daphne sitting in the kitchen. "Daph…I mean, Miss Greengrass, what are you doing here?"
Daphne grimaced and it had nothing to do with how sick she was feeling. "You may call me Daphne again, Harry. May I still call you Harry?" She managed a smile when he nodded. "I am here to apologize. I want you to know how sincere I am."
"I believe it, let's get you back to your home. You look like you're about to fall over."
"No, I have to do this." She took a deep breath. "I was afraid. I was afraid of losing the last link with my mother and having to make a terrible decision. Everyone in the past that said they would help, present company excluded, always said they would help but in the end quit. They abandoned me. Each time it happened the pain was worse and worse and I truly grew frightened. I let the fear rule me and I took it out on you and you do not deserve it. Especially since our situations are not entirely dissimilar. I am truly sorry and beg for your forgiveness, especially since I do not deserve it."
Harry rubbed his neck. "I uh, thanks. You couldn't have known, just like I couldn't have known about your situation and what happened to you. Let's just try to talk things out more before we jump to conclusions. How does that sound?"
Daphne's smile was wide and thankful. "Sounds wonderful." She winced again, holding onto the table for support.
Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Okay, point made, let's get you home. I'll be right back," he said to Tracy and Hermione before apparating with Daphne.
"That's probably one of the most sincere apologies I ever heard her make," Tracy said admiringly.
"It better have been," Hermione groused. "He deserved it."
Tracy nodded in agreement. "What's that smile for?"
"Oh, I'm just thinking that Harry probably will figure out how to beat that thing."
"What makes you say that?"
"You saw how he looked at her. He's developing feelings for her."
Tracy grinned. "And she's doing the same."
"Right. Harry will save people; will go far to people he cares about. For those he loves? He'll break the laws of magic for them."
-0-
It took a few days, but Harry and Daphne were once again more or less comfortable around each other. He was more at ease, his drunken outburst seemed to have gotten rid of a lot of pent-up emotions over everything. She was more open, vulnerable even. Yet she did not seem to regret it. If anything, she welcomed it.
One afternoon, everyone congregated at the Greengrass estate, committed to working on a solution together. Astoria brought an enchanted monocle she worked on to inspect Arithmancy lines, magical lines, and signatures. She took meticulous notes with Harry, comparing what she saw against his with Hermione pouring over texts with them.
Daphne was glad Tracy and Astoria and Hermione were there. To see so many people actively trying hard for her, that have not given up on her made her very emotional. Happy to be sure but it took a lot of her energy to not cry in front of them.
She sat in a chair, letting Astoria inspect her magic with her monocle. "Yeah, that's his signature all right," Astoria said grimly. "I still have a thing or two in my flat that he enchanted forever ago, it's the same. Ugh, that webbing looks downright horrific. So many freaking lines going straight to Mum's locket. What a bastard."
"There's too many to safely dismiss at once," Harry said. "We even miss one; they'll just regrow faster than we can fix. And if we put too much power into it, it might overdraw on Daphne. Can't risk it."
"A ritual will be safest," Hermione mused. "Create a ritual to undo everything at once, preferably holding the curse in stasis, and hopefully break it off from the locket and Daphne before it even has a chance to regrow."
"Why didn't any of the Healers see the curse or dark magic?" Tracy asked.
"Maybe they weren't trained to see it like this," Harry mused. "It is really subtle though, tied into your magic too. I've had so many experiences with curses and dark stuff, I knew what to look for."
"I have an idea. Can we cock it up?" Astoria asked.
"I beg your pardon," Daphne said severely, glaring at her little sister.
"As in a cock fight," Astoria clarified.
"That still makes no sense," Daphne said.
Harry smiled. "I'm surprised you know that."
"My master was a cursebreaker."
"That explains it." He turned to the other three witches. "Cocking it up is basically making the spells fight each other. So you can disenchant things and counter spell things, but a third way is to basically write an opposing spell. Opposite spells will fight and if they are evenly matched, they both get dispelled. If one is stronger, then it will destroy the other and absorb the magical energy."
"That sounds barbaric and violent," Hermione complained.
"A bit, but it works. It's also fairly risky and the consequences can be volatile, so it's rarely done." He stretched his neck. "I did think about it in this case but the problem is not only is the ward scheme super involved, Cyrus must have spent all his magic in casting it. So it already has a lot of energy in it. Even if we do a temporary stasis on the locket or cut Daphne off for a bit, it might still be too strong for a lot of other schemes. Not only that, you need a scheme of a similar nature and what Cyrus did was really dark."
"So we would need something equally dark," Daphne said.
Harry nodded sadly.
Astoria sighed. "It was a thought,"
"Not a bad one," Harry said.
She turned to smile at him and froze. Her eyes widened. "Uh…Harry? Is the curse on the house…transmissible?"
"I have no idea," Harry said honestly. He looked at Astoria's face. "Why? What's wrong?"
"You-your glasses, do you have them charmed so you don't see your own magic?" she asked in a terrible whisper.
"Astoria, what are you on about," Daphne asked, her heart beating quickly.
"Yeah, so I don't get distracted." Harry felt his stomach sink. "Am…do I have a foreign signature on me?"
Astoria nodded mutely and handed over the monocle. He took it from her with a shaking hand and stood in front of a mirror. He held it up to his glasses and felt intense shock as he saw waves of greenish-black light emanating off of him. They swirled around him, covering him from head to toe. Where Daphne was elegantly draped in magic that looked like crafted spider web, he was in the middle of a silent heat-less inferno.
Hermione snatched the monocle from him and she squeaked when she looked at him. She looked at Daphne and then back at him. "At-at least they're different," she whimpered.
"Is it something you picked up from one of your dives?" Tracy asked.
"I…I don't think so. I don't remember ever being hit with something really dark before," he muttered, thinking hard.
"How can you be sure? Didn't you just break Viego's tombs? All of them?"
"You went into Viego the Vile's tombs?!" Daphne and Astoria shrieked.
"How does everyone know that name?" Harry groaned.
"No wonder you're confident," Daphne said, her eyes wide. "If you braved the Vile, my Father would be child's play to you."
"I cannot wait to tell my master," Astoria said, awed.
Hermione peered closer at Harry, having ignored the byplay. "It's…wait. It looks like the signature is centered on your scar…"
Harry looked at her in surprise. Then he started to laugh, deep belly laughs spilled from him, making the others stare at him with concern.
-0-0-0-
Shamgar777 - I'm glad you are enjoying it and like Tracy and Hermione. And yes, SPOILERS that will be happening too.
diffident-serpiente - I have a little magical theory and exploration in all the chapters save the last one. It was kind of fun to try and think about how magic might work in the setting and hope it continue to inspire and delight. Thank you so much for the incredible praise.
Mcgiggletits - That probably won't happen so much since it's all written. There will be a bit of a confrontation of sorts later but hopefully it'll suffice.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Indiana Potter was the base premise of the idea for the story. I like the idea that cursebreakers are magical Indiana Jones and you're not wrong that both kind of muck things up in all sorts of ways. I hope you continue to like it and see if your theory is sound.
Raevl - Thank you so much for reading. I'm glad I can bring you entertainment and delight. I have at least another 7 chapters of Extended waiting, 2 more of this one, started another fic, and I am putting up a one shot later. I'm glad to help you in my small way. Thank you.
rswknight - Thank you. Not really but there will be a confrontation of sorts that will happen later.
Imaginer.012 - Thank you for the praise, it is far too much. You're too kind. I wanted to add in some magical theory with this fic to scratch the itch of world building to offset the drama and the like. I'm glad you are liking it.
iamchaos98 - There's going to be a lot of pain but hopefully it concludes well. I'm glad you are liking it.
alix33 - There are all sorts of sibling relationships, that's for sure.
minerdude - Hope you continue to enjoy it while you read and see if your theory is sound.