Chapter 17

Daphne never even closed her eyes despite her exhaustion. The twilight hours of the morning were passing, and her eyes barely wavered from the front door. She had been praying to whatever deity would listen that Harry Potter would stroll back into the house with her best friend at his side unharmed, but as every hour passed this eventuality seemed less and less likely.

Astoria and Draco had fallen asleep leaning on each other on the couch in the living room as they had elected to stay up with the girl until news could be found, but neither of the two had made it through the night.

A house elf appeared at her side asking if she would like another glass of tea, which she thankfully accepted. She was unsure how many glasses she had thus far, but the hot liquid was about the only thing that was keeping her from having a nervous breakdown. She absently wondered if the house elves were drugging her with a calming potion perhaps at her brother-in-law's insistence, but she barely phased the question through her mind as it jumped back to Tracey and the possible horrors she could be facing.

Dawn had passed and as the light broke through the windows of the house Astoria stirred awake looking at her sister worry already on her face, "No word?"

Daphne shook her head in response, and the girl sighed, "You should get some rest Daph. When they find Tracey she is going to need us, and you being near dead isn't going to help her."

Before she could retort, a white ethereal stag appeared in the room taking form, and Harry Potter's voice followed, "We have found her. She is hurt, but alive. You can come see her at the Ministry."

Daphne jumped to her feet, and took off towards the door while Astoria was shouting behind her, "Daphne wait! You shouldn't go alone. Give us a few minutes to get changed and ready."

Draco, who had awoken at the sound of Harry's voice, looked very alert all of a sudden. She briefly supposed that spending time under Voldemort's thumb for a year probably had him used to sudden awakenings that were less than pleasant, but didn't have time to furtherly consider it as she wished to get to her best friend, "You have two minutes before I walk out these doors. I need to see her."

Astoria nodded, and disapparated, while Draco summoned his wand and began transfiguring his clothes into slacks, and a button up shirt, while he snapped his fingers and an elf had brought dress robes to put on over his clothes.

The two were ready to go inside Daphne's threatened time, and the three departed together to the Ministry atrium. Arriving at the apparition point it was very quiet. It being a Sunday in the mere hours of the early morning she knew most of everyone would be at home resting peacefully. Not wasting a single moment though she started the trek through the Ministry which she had done with Susan on a couple of occasions that would take her to the aurors office. The elevator ride that followed was one of tense silence. Neither Draco nor Astoria said a word to her, as she stormed out of the elevator and to the lobby. Daphne was greeted by none other than Hermione Granger who looked dead on her feet. A small smile crossed her face when she made eye contact with Daphne who couldn't have looked any better, "Daphne. Harry sent you word as soon as we returned to the office. Tiberius Nott has been placed under arrest, and Tracey has been found. She is very shaken up, but is being treated by auror medics in a room nearby. Her injuries were not so severe to send her to Saint Mungos right away. Considering she had just been abducted from there Harry thought it would be insensitive to send her back so soon unless it was absolutely necessary."

Daphne felt a weight come off her shoulders, but hugged the girl gratefully for the news, "What can you tell me of her injuries?"

When the two separated Hermione had a disturbed look on her face, "Her wounds were completely muggle in nature. Needless to say, by the time we started working magic on them it had been an easy enough fix, and I think the mental damage will far outlast her physical trauma."

"That bastard tortured her? With what knives?" Daphne asked, outraged.

"Daphne the wounds were all self-inflicted." Hermione said in a quiet voice.

The silence and shock that fell upon Daphne was unnatural. She knew there was a lot more to this story, and the first thing she needed to do was see to her best friend's safety, "May I see her?"

Hermione took a deep breath, but nodded, "You may, but you need to go in easy. Tracey has had a very traumatic night, and saw very disturbing things. We also need to give our auror medics a few more minutes to patch her up. We gave her some serious pain relieving potions before we took her back here, but like I mentioned earlier I doubt her mind is healing nearly as fast."

Hermione turned to acknowledge Draco and Astoria, "Lord and Lady Malfoy I am afraid I will have to insist on you two remaining here. I can appreciate you wanting to see to Tracey's safety, but I assure you she is in no mental condition to be overwhelmed by visitors."

Draco looked like he wanted to protest, but Astoria took his arm before he could, "Thank you Ms. Granger, we will wait here for my sister."

Hermione gave a sharp nod, and gestured for Daphne to follow her down the hall. It wasn't a long walk past the offices before they came to holding cells that were currently empty, and then a room that was clearly a medical bay. Before they entered Hermione turned to the girl, "Be weary of the questions you ask Daphne. Be gentle with her, and don't start questioning her on her experiences yet. She may offer information, but please don't push her. You have no idea what it was like to find her in the position we did, and I promise all will be explained by Harry himself later, but he is currently interrogating Tiberius Nott."

Daphne wanted to ask a dozen questions, but she had to see Tracey first. With a nod of acceptance Hermione asked her to wait one moment while she opened the door, asked a question to the people in the room, and then stood aside letting Daphne in. The first thing her eyes went to was Tracey laying on a long stretcher looking up at the ceiling with blank eyes. Daphne let out a sound softly saying her name in a croak, "Tracey."

The girl's head snapped towards her, and her eyes were haunted as they stared into her long time best friend, "Daphne?"

The blonde healer nodded her head and slowly approached the girl, "Thank goodness you are okay. I thought I lost you."

The girl didn't smile, but she nodded her head, "I thought I lost all of you."

"Our friends, they found you. They saved you." Daphne said gently, taking her hand.

"I was there because of them, Daph. He wanted to use me to get to them." Tracey said her eyes seemingly empty.

Daphne put a hand on her face gently, "He tried, but it didn't work. They got to you in time."

Tracey's face filled with anger as she lifted her shirt up above her stomach showing a massive incision that looked like she had been stabbed multiple times, "Does it look like they got to me in time Daphne? That psychopath made me mutilate myself with a pair of scissors to dig a key out of my own stomach."

Daphne stared at the girl in horror, and Tracey began to settle as she laid back looking blankly at the wall, "I don't remember being taken. I just remember waking up in a dark room."

The groggy feeling of a hangover multiplied by ten was the current diagnosis as Tracey's eyes fluttered open. The young woman fluttered her eyes several times trying to adjust to the darkness. She quickly began panicking and feeling around to discover she was in some type of medical chair that was positioned at about 70 degrees. The next thing she felt around for was a large metal contraption around her neck. The edges of the contraption were sharp, but she couldn't quite make out enough of the texture to identify the device.

Suddenly her hand knocked into some type of cord, and with a snapping sound all the lights turned on, and to her horror her neck was in what appeared to be some type of animal trap large enough to take down a bear. She screamed in panic, "Help! Daphne! Help! Anyone please!"

Suddenly a television to her right flickered on a Death Eater mask with red spirals on the cheeks. The voice spoke, "Ms. Davis. We meet again. I welcome you to what could be your final resting place. You dine with filthy mudbloods, blood traitors, and a boy wonder who plays himself to be some type of hero. It is a disgrace I would not have expected from any respectable Slytherin yet here we are. We are in a game that you brought upon yourself for the company you keep, and the decisions you made in the twilight hours of the Blood War. You have dug your grave, and now it is time to lie in it. This is not to say however that you don't have a chance. I want to play a game. While you were asleep the key to the trap around your neck was placed in your body. A few tools currently lie on the table across the room from you to help you find it, and if you manage to find your key you will be free to go. You have ten minutes. Live or die the choice is yours. Let the games begin."

Tracey screamed as the TV turned to a white noise, and an electronic timer in the corner of the room began counting down from ten minutes. She quickly stood from her seat and stepped down from her chair only to fall over in pain from what her feet made contact with. The pain was sharp and agonizing as she felt something pierce through her foot. Looking around she saw glass was lying on the floor everywhere, and the panic began to retake her as she screamed, and screamed in agony. She called out begging for help, but knew none would come. She appeared to be in some type of bathroom-like area, and she tried to find ways around the glass as she sat on the chair with her knees tucked in trying not to make the throbbing in her feet worse. Looking around proved to be a poor idea, because in the corner behind her a headless body lay in the corner, blood everywhere. She screamed at the corpse of Seamus Finnegan knowing her body may soon be joining his.

Deciding not to die without trying she steeled herself over, and screamed in determination as she surged across the glass shredding her feet in the process, and falling into the table precisely three steps away. She knocked most of the tools off on impact, but she grabbed a pair of scissors with shaking hands and looked at the clock that ticked with only five minutes to go. She had wasted too much time allowing the pain to overtake her, and she knew her life was in her own hands. She quickly began checking over her body for any kind of sign of where the key may be, and quickly found the Dark Mark etched into a small area on her side. Where the snake ended there was a small incision that she knew was new. She sobbed in realization of what would happen next and slammed the scissors into the mark causing blood to erupt from the wound she had inflicted upon herself. She wanted to throw up in pain. Her head was spinning, and she could barely recognize her own actions as she began digging her fingers into the wound causing the suffering to spread further. The excruciating pain in her feet was far from her mind as she felt like her body was being burned from the inside out. She had never been under the cruciatus curse, but her mind could only begin to comprehend that this is what it must've felt like.

With triumph she felt her fingers touch a small piece of metal, and she knew she had found what she desired most in the world at that moment. The key. With great effort she dug two fingers into her wound and managed to clip her fingernails onto the key ripping it out causing blood to go spurting across the room. She sobbed in relief, but saw she had about a minute to get her trap off her head before she lost her own life, and quickly began searching for a place to insert the key panic, fully gripping her. Precious seconds passed when she found the key hole behind her head, and with shaking hands and screaming in agony she managed to undo the trap, throw it on the floor, and watch it snap mere moments later. She scattered backwards against the wall sobbing in distress.

The pain she felt all across her body made her mind numb, but she realized there was still no escape, or no further instructions that have followed her supposed victory. Without a blood replenishing potion or something else of that matter she knew it would be moments before she bled out. She screamed to the ceiling, "What do you want from me?"

Suddenly the wall to the left exploded, and in came Susan Bones, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and none other than Harry Potter. Susan was the first to speak, "Clear."

The red head lowered her wand and ran to the downed girl, "You are okay Tracey we are going to get you out of here. We are going to get you to safety."

Tracey wailed in relief as she cried into the girl's shoulder sagging in utter relief. A patronus charm was sent out by Harry, and then the girl closed her eyes wanting to forget it all ever happened.

As Tracey came out of her own memories she seemed to be completely in shock. The horror Daphne felt for her friend was beyond imagine. She would never have believed Tracey capable of such survival skills even after everything they had been through. It only proved to her that you never know how someone will react when their back is against a wall with nowhere to go, run, or hide.

Taking the girl's hand in her own again Daphne felt tears prickle in the back of her eyes, "I'm so proud of you. To show that kind of strength in the face of what you were looking into is something incredible. I know you probably don't want to hear that right now, but Morgana's Tits Tracey you did it. You survived that mad man's game."

Tracey didn't smile, she merely just closed her eyes, "I wish I could forget. The pain was indescribable. Thank God for magic Daphne. If I were a muggle I would've been in a hospital for weeks, stitches, surgery, and the whole nine yards. They brought me here, and the medics had me taken care of in minutes. I am still feeling pain, but it is nothing compared to what it was."

Daphne frowned at her words. If she was still feeling pain after the potions they gave her then that was a testament to what she had gone through, "I want to know how the investigation is going. Are you comfortable with Astoria and Draco watching over you?"

If Tracey wanted her company she would've resisted her desires to know what had happened, but from the vacant look in her eyes she didn't believe that would be the case. Tracey looked up at the ceiling and then closed her eyes, "Just let me know what you find out."

Daphne acquiesced to her wishes as she rose, and made her way for the door. An auror she did not know was stationed outside, and then she saw Ron Weasley looking exhausted, "Ron my sister and brother in law are going to sit with Tracey while I go see what is happening."

Ron grimaced at her words. She wasn't sure if it was because of the mention of her brother in law or something else after he said, "You don't want to be near that interrogation room. Harry will be pulling out all the stops to get answers. This is beyond personal to him. I don't know if Tracey told you, but we found Seamus' body, and...let's just say it's not something any of us are ever going to forget."

The young healer took his words under acknowledgment, but offered none in return as she began walking down the hall with a cold chill running down her back at the War Heroes words. Two aurors were standing at the final door at the end of the hall, and they didn't even question her as she pushed through the door. When she entered the next room it looked like something straight out of a muggle movie. There was a large screen window in a room that was initially dark. In that room Susan, Neville, Hermione, and other aurors she didn't recognize were watching Harry in the following room that was well lit. It was all stone walls, and a single light that hung from the ceiling. Harry was wearing a white button up shirt, and dark slacks. His sleeves were rolled up, and there was blood sprinkled across his shirt. Daphne's eyes widened at the sight. No one turned to look at her, but Susan answered the unspoken question, "Harry is trying to get answers. We have thrown the book at him. Juiced him with enough veritaserum to damn near poison him, and Harry has been...trying to convince him to give us answers for about an hour. It would've been longer, but we had to get Shacks approval. It wasn't easy to convince him, but there's a lot at stake here. We need to know how he got through our defenses."

Harry slammed his fist into the man several times, and Tiberius Nott laughed through the fifth punch, and spat blood at Harry, "You're cute Potter. I heard you were a capable wizard, but this muggle shit ain't cutting it."

Harry grabbed the man's head and slammed into the desk hard, sighing while he spoke, "That last one felt good. It's been a few years since I've had to do something like this, but I think I am starting to remember the ropes."

With that Harry drove his fist into the man a few more times in rapid succession, "You know my cousin is quite the boxing champion. After I graduated Hogwarts he and I went a few rounds. He kicked my ass all over the place, but he taught me a lot, and I got to hit the big lump a few times, so it was loads better than years of therapy I probably needed. What do you think?"

Following his word was a devastating bit of punches where Tiberius Nott groaned in pain, and Harry spat on the man wiping his fist of the blood with a rag on the table, "Your lucky our Minister didn't approve the cruciatus curse. This could've been a lot faster if he did."

Daphne's eyes widened as she saw a new side of Harry, but before she could say anything Hermione spoke, "He hates this side of himself, but he spent his whole life in a state of War, and he's learned that he is quite good at it. Don't think differently of him. Harry has tortured all of three people in his life. The one before you took his best shot at killing your best friend, and killed a man we all thought of as a part of our family. Is there anything you wouldn't do for what's left of yours?"

Rolling out a thing of sharp objects Harry told the man to prepare for a long night as Daphne mentally shook herself. The head of the DMLE was doing this for her, and their friends. She shouldn't look down upon him for what was happening before her eyes. Even though she knew she couldn't quite see the Man Who Conquered as the same Perfect Gryffindor that she always had, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The Potter she had known was perfect, and unattainable. Now he was flawed. Not broken by any means, but flawed. He had a talent for horrible things, and it was warfare. It was a damn good thing too, because they would've likely lost the second blood war if not for his abilities.

Tibierus Nott spat at the man, "You think I fear death boy? Just put an end to this already, I won't tell you anything. If you think this is over then you are wrong by a long shot. My family and our allies are already enraged that you killed one of ours, and we won't rest until you have paid for that blood shed with every person you ever cared about. You think I am the last boy? I am only the beginning. The first in a new chapter of problems in your life. We will follow you until every person you have ever loved is dead, and only then will we grant you the same bit of Mercy you did to ours."

Harry stared at the man, and Daphne felt her heart clench at these words. They had all begun to think the war was finally over, but this man claims it had only just begun. Daphne had never casted the killing curse, but she could feel her own magic calling for blood for vengeance for her friend's sake. She wanted to burst through the next room and take the life of the man that had tortured the girl she thought of as her sister, but instead she stared and watched the Man Who Conquered thrash the man.

Harry leaned into the man as he clearly struggled with consciousness after he slammed two sharp objects into Tiberius' knees getting down to his level looking him in the eyes, "You think you know death? I promise you the living would beg for forgiveness for every sin they ever committed if they knew what they would face if judgment went poorly for them. Are you prepared to meet her Mr. Nott? She calls for your blood. Are you sure you are ready for such judgment?"

This was the first time the man showed any sort of reaction. The former Slytherin girl almost wished she could see the eyes that Tiberius Nott could see. They must be truly terrifying, because all the pain Harry inflicted was apparently nothing in comparison to final words he said to the man as he stared into his eyes.

An unknown amount of time passed, and Harry started reusing the sharp objects around the table to extract information. When he walked out of the room he began waving his hand around his outfits cleaning himself up slowly, "He isn't going to break. His occlumency shields are beyond anything I have ever seen. He is completely unafraid of dying, or the pain I have inflicted on him. He isn't going to talk. The only thing I can get out of him is that this is only the beginning."

No one said anything for a few moments, but Hermione sighed, "It's never going to end is it?"

Harry shook his head immediately. He walked back towards the doors and his eyes landed on Daphne. The girl did not show fear in her eyes like he would've suspected after witnessing such brutality, but instead they showed understanding, and faith. Harry gave her a nod of his before turning around to face his friends, "Hermione Jane Granger I officially revoke your deputy badge as an auror. You are to return to civilian life as a Ministry Official as of today. Thank you for your service."

Harry then turned to Neville, "Neville Longbottom I officially revoke your deputy badge as an auror. You are to return to civilian life as of today. Thank you for your service.

The two Gryffindors stared at their friend in shock, and Susan had her jaw hung open. She began to question him, but Harry spoke over her, "We chose this life as Aurors. We will handle this from now on. If Tiberius Nott is the first of many then it is a problem for the auror department, and a brand new conflict. The Death Eater movement is over, and whatever happens next is completely new. I will not have the best friends I ever had waste their lives, goals, and ambitions to stay in a conflict that no longer concerns them. They should be out changing the world with their goals and ambitions not bothering with what Law Enforcement in Wizarding Britain needs. IF this is truly the first of many then my department will handle it. We are going to take steps towards peace to show our country the war is truly over, and anything that follows is merely something the auror department can handle. I am going to speak to Kinglsey tonight about having lethal force orders be revoked, and I will relinquish Ron from my command as well."

Everyone was shocked to silence. Harry walked towards the door, but stopped as he was face to face with Daphne, "I am sorry your friend suffered to get to us. I will take every step possible to ensure something like this never happens again. I swear upon my life my lady."

With that the Man Who Conquered stepped out of the room to shocked silence. Daphne was unsure exactly what happened, but something clearly had changed the man's attitude in there, and whatever it was she was worried, but at the same time relieved that this may have been the biggest step to peace taken since the Dark Lord was defeated.

(A/N) Lots of steps forward taken in this chapter. The auror special forces team has been disbanded, and ordered to return to civilian life. Tracey beat the games, and survived long enough to be rescued by Harry and Company. This will lead to a few chapters that will have lots of Haphne, and of course the lead up to the Quidditch World Cup.

A lot of people seemed to not really care for the Saw styled torture scenes, so this will be the last explicit one. Our mystery enemies are still lurking, and they will come about in different ways as we progress through the next few chapters. A lot of people were saying that the story was nothing, but drinking and debauchery, and I did WARN everyone multiple times that this story was going to get dark, so hang in there it's going to have its ups and downs.

Also this is not a SAW crossover. This is just a killer who I created inspired by the SAW movies. No SAW characters will make an appearance.

Thanks for all the support, and I will see you all next Wednesday!

This chapter was Beta Approved by JamesMarx. Thanks for helping out, and being ready to edit on short notice. Cheers brotha!