A/N: Chapter 27 is now betaed! It was not betaed before, but my sis has gotten caught up. Her finals are killer... and I thought I had it hard in college. I'm only taking 2 classes! She has 7! So, anyway, she left a hefty beta note at the end of Ch. 27 for everyone interested in renting a demigod!
Chapter 28
Draco pulled Harry into the hallway and Apparated them straight to the Chamber of Secrets, pushing him onto one of the couches. "Now, why are you being so difficult?" Draco asked, pinning him down.
Harry started to feel claustrophobic and gently slid Draco's hands from his chest, sitting up. "I just don't think its right to hurt people. Since coming to the Wizarding World, I've been told that I'm a weapon. I'm only good for killing Voldemort, and now, Clautius. Mother- I will do what Mother wants, but I hate feeling like killing is all that I'm good for."
"Take it from me; killing people is the least of your abilities. I can name several things you are better at doing," Draco said with a smirk.
"So I could work as a gay prostitute. Good to know," Harry muttered, shaking his head.
"Nope, cuz I'd kill anyone who even thought of touching you," Draco vowed, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.
"Again with the killing!" Harry snapped, exasperated.
"He - deserves - to - die," Draco enunciated each word by poking Harry's chest with his index finger.
"I know that!" Harry yelled, standing up and pacing. "Hell, I've wished for his death since I knew what death was! I don't want to be the one to kill him!"
"What if we just caused him some pain?" And let someone else kill him, Draco asked, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist.
Harry slowly grinned, chewing on his lower lip. "Pain I can do. I've had fifteen years to plan and daydream what I would do to the bastard if the roles were reversed. Besides, death is too good for him. I want him to live with what I've done."
"You are a truly devious, sadistic bastard, aren't you?" Draco asked, admiration evident in his eyes.
"Thanks," Harry grinned as well, hugging his soul mate.
"Come on, let's get your Mum, Dad, and Severus. I think they'd like to play too, don't you think?" Draco asked, Apparating them back to the Great Hall.
Lily smirked at Draco. "Well, that was quick. What did you say to him?"
"We reached a compromise," Harry said loftily. "We get to torture the shit out of him, but I want him to live with what we've done with him. Death is too good."
"You do realize that he could go to the cops," James warned ominously.
"We live in the Wizarding world. What cop would get us here? Besides, when he says that it was his nephew and his dead family, they would either ask what he had done to me to deserve such treatment or just send him to the mental ward."
"We need to simply put him in a place where he can't tell anyone," Severus interjected.
"Look, less talking, more traveling!" Harry stamped his foot. "You guys convinced me to go, so let's go!"
ALANNA!!!! Draco yelled.
WHAT???? came the irritated scream in reply.
LOWER THE WARDS ON PRIVET DRIVE AND VERNON!!!!! Harry screamed back.
DONE! WHY??? came Xander's equally irritated voice.
WE'RE GONNA PLAY WITH HIM!!!!! Lily screamed.
Oh. Have fun! The link was completely closed off.
The five demigods and Remus grinned at each other and Apparated.
Voldemort's head shot up and he grinned evilly. "The wards of Privet Drive have been dropped. Let's move."
Wormtail, Lucius Malfoy, and McNair Apparated alongside their Lord.
Harry, Draco, Lily, Severus, Remus, and James appeared on the Dursley's front step the same time the Voldemort, Wormtail, Malfoy Senior and McNair arrived.
The two groups of people just stared at each other, jaws agape in astonishment. Finally, Harry broke the silence. "All right, why are we standing around? I wanna torture the bastard!"
Voldemort sneered, thinking mistakenly that Harry was talking about him. "Oh, really, young Potter. And how do you propose to subdue me long enough to torture me?"
James glared at him. "Not you, you pathetic piece of shit! His damnable ex- uncle!"
"Can we kill him now? How about now?" Harry asked impatiently, shifting from foot to foot.
Voldemort gaped, finally realizing exactly who the people on the step were. "But- NO! I KILLED YOU! You're dead!!!" He yelled, his eyes wide with fear. Wormtail whimpered and hid behind Voldemort's cloak, terrified.
We'll get you later, worm, Lily thought savagely, envisioning the lying, backstabbing little shit stuck inside an iron maiden, with other rats to chew pieces off of him while he was still alive.
"Oh, come off it, Moldie Voldie. You can't kill a Demigod," James drawled, bored. "Come on, Harry, we have a score to settle." He took Harry's arm and turned to the door.
"But I saw you die- wait! Where are you going??? Wormtail, get off of me!" Voldemort yelled sharply, tugging the man from his cloak.
"But- but Master," he squeaked. Voldemort glared at him and he fell silent.
"We are going to do bodily harm to the damnable pedophile in this house. Stay out of our way," Remus snapped.
"How about now? Can we? How about now?" Harry asked.
"No! You two are dead, I killed you myself," Voldemort yelled, gesturing at Lily and James, "and can't be demigods or that would mean that Potter-" he dropped his hand, looking terrified at the Boy-Who-Lived. "Oh shit." This means that I could die at any given point because I'm sorely outclassed. They could obliterate me without breaking a sweat. This is bad.
Harry grinned crookedly. "Yeah, that would be bad. Fortunately for you, we aren't interested in your miserable existence. I have a message to send to your Master. The-Boy- Who-Lived is going to kick his ass. Oh, but, he already knew that, didn't he?" He turned to Lucius, his eyes sparkling. "Tell him Mother's calling and it's time for him to come home for a spanking."
Lucius sneered. "Thank you for the message, Potter. Send Mother my regards and pity that she couldn't find anyone more capable of taking me on."
"Clautius, Clautius," Harry scolded. "Mother would only send the best. What makes you think we can't take you on and win?"
Lucius's face twisted. "Because I am second to none and Mother's equal-"
"And antithesis, yadda yadda yadda." Harry yawned. "You are so full of it, Older Brother. Don't you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk? I know I'm tired of hearing your voice already. It's just so dull."
Lucius snarled and lunged for Harry, only to be stopped by a wall of icy blue. "Really, Clautius, can't you get more power out of that one?" James asked, sneering. "Oh yes, that's right. You like to possess MORTALS and they'll explode if you try to overpower them."
"Oh, and Clautius?" Harry asked, regaining Satan's attention. He linked with Draco and raised as much of their power they could, turning a blinding white. "Leave my soul mate's father out of this." The conjoined Demigods shot a beam out, striking Lucius in the chest and enveloping him in an instant.
OUT!!! They bellowed together, forcing Clautius from Lucius's mind. They in turn possessed Draco's father, weaving protection spell upon protection spell to guard him from further manipulation.
Lucius sagged and the two of them gently lowered him to the ground, rushing over and healing any injury he might have sustained. "Father," murmured Draco, cradling him.
Lucius opened his eyes and smiled. "Thank you, son. I knew you could do it. Now, to take care of business." He stood up, waving off any assistance Harry offered and strode to Voldemort. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" he screamed, spittle spraying from his lips. He reached back and, with all his might, slammed the Dark Lord across the face.
"Consider this my resignation, you shit. Tell your Master to FUCK OFF!" he hissed. Voldemort wiped the blood and spit from his face, grinned and opened a link through Lucius's Dark Mark, making the elder Malfoy grunt, his face blanching with pain. He slowly collapsed, grabbing the Mark.
Draco turned, and with a growl that had Harry instantly thinking of other things, tossed the Dark Lord into the nearest bush. He turned back around and grabbed the agonized Lucius.
Harry and Draco each hovered their hands over the Mark and, within seconds, it was gone, the link forever snapped. Lucius stared at his forearm in shock and promptly fainted. Draco sighed and Apparated his father back to the Manor, calling over his shoulder telepathically, don't start without me!
Voldemort glared at Harry, incensed that he had just lost his best Death Eater. Harry just sighed and stuck out his arm, opening the front door. Voldemort caught the door, pushing it shut. "I'm the evil Dark Lord, I get to torture him," he said darkly. "Besides, you owe me for Lucius."
"No," Lily snapped, grabbing Voldemort's arm and ripping it from the door. "Harry has dibs."
"No he doesn't!" Voldemort yelled, looking like a very dangerous child about to throw a tantrum. A VERY DEADLY tantrum. "He humiliated me in front of my Death Eaters and I want to make him pay!"
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? James asked Lily privately.
I want something in return, Love.
Wormtail?
Got it in one.
We can trade after Harry has some fun, thereby keeping our end of the bargain.
Good plan. Do we announce it now or later?
Later. I want to have some fun at Moldie Voldie's expense.
"Sorry, Harry has dibs," James spoke finally, crossing his arms over his chest.
Harry glared at the adults. "Come on, I wanna torture him! Can we please go in now?"
Voldemort stared at him suspiciously. "Why are you advocating that he torture his own relative?"
Harry glared at the Dark Lord. "I am NOT related to that sad sack of shit!!!! Uncle by MARRIAGE!!!" Draco appeared next to him and automatically slid his arm around Harry's waist, offering much needed support.
"That doesn't matter! You're supposedly a nice person. Why are you so eager to cause this person who as fed and clothed you indescribable amounts of pain? What did he do to you to deserve your hatred?" Voldemort asked, confused.
Draco spoke up for the first time since returning. "Harry, love, why don't you show the nice Dark Lord exactly why you get dibs?"
Harry whimpered slightly, but at Draco's encouragement, shot his hand out, capturing the Dark Lord in an envelope of viridian. Memories streamed from him, assailing Voldemort.
Five year old Harry stood at the table, a stack of plates on one arm and a basket of silverware in his other hand. "It would be cool if the table could set itself," he muttered, already tired from the long day of gardening. All of a sudden, the plates flew from his hands and landed on the table in the right places, the silverware settling neatly by each plate. Harry stared in amazement, until the shrieked "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" made him jump and lose his concentration. The silverware fell with a clatter, and a knife landed on the floor.
"FREAK!!!!" screamed Aunt Petunia, hauling Harry to his cupboard and throwing him inside. "Just WAIT until Vernon hears about your behavior!!!" She slammed the door shut, locking it.
Harry huddled in his cupboard under the stairs, fearfully cowering into the corner. He's gonna kill me. I know it. I didn't mean to make those plates dance. I thought it was funny. Why can't I just be normal?
Late that night, the door to the cupboard was ripped open and Vernon hulked in the harsh glare of the hallway light, ominous shadows covering the trembling boy. "Hello, freak. Did you think your disobedience would go unpunished?" he sneered, grabbing Harry by the throat and hauling him out into the hallway. Harry dangled helplessly, terrified and Vernon tossed him into the air like a rag doll and backhanded him across the face, slamming him into a wall. "You're going to get it, freak."
Somebody- anybody- help me, Harry thought desperately as Vernon ripped his pants off of him, slamming against the wall with enough force to knock the boy into oblivion.
Loud Christmas Carols playing in the background
Harry could see the party going on from a crack in the cupboard door. It had been going on for hours. Dudley kept receiving presents-a total of forty five, now. Harry knew that more would be coming with the arrival of Aunt Marge. That could guarantee at least another fifteen. In the eight Christmases he had been with the Dursleys, he couldn't remember once receiving a gift or any token of affection, yet Dudley received over fifty for Christmas every year. Harry pressed his face to his cot and wept bitterly. It hurt him deeply, and though he tried to tell himself otherwise, he could feel it. The human soul can only take so much pain before it withers and gives up, he thought angrily. He lay there for another hour before the cupboard door was wrenched open. Vernon loomed unsteadily in the doorway. He was obviously drunk.
"Hey, youse freak" he slurred. "youshe better behave yourshe-shelf. I don't want the othersh to know youse exist. So shuchurse frigging trap and shtay that way orse I'll have to ream youse a new one when the frigging room shtops shpinning."
He went to lumber off, but Harry timidly spoke up. "Uncle Vernon," He hoped his uncle was too drunk to think rationally. "I haven't had anything to eat all day. Can I please have some food?" he held his breath, hoping.
"Youse think I'd washte food on a frigging freak like youse?? Get yourshe ass back in that rat holshe, you pashthetic wormshe!" He threw Harry back into the cupboard, slammed the door, and locked it. "Fucking freak." Vernon carefully enunciated. "Little greedy bastard. 'Give me food!' He won't eat for a week for that one." He lumbered off to drink more booze and party harder.
Two hours later, Petunia snuck by with two ham sandwiches. "Here," she hissed, thrusting them into the cupboard. She walked off and twenty minute later reappeared with a liter bottle of water. "I don't know when I'll get to come by unnoticed again. Don't drink all of it at once."
Harry sat under a tree in the park across the street, nursing his broken arm. Damn Dursleys. I wish they would just leave me alone, he thought wistfully, shifting to avoid putting pressure on his already painful elbow and wrist. Happy birthday to me, he thought dourly. Concentrating, a familiar green glow surrounded his fingers of his good hand and he pressed them to his elbow, healing the damage. Biting his lip, he did the same to his wrist.
Ten peaceful minutes later, he was still under the tree, lightly dozing. A dark shadow fell over him and a foot connected with his thigh. "Wake up, freak."
Harry opened and shielded his eyes, staring at his cousin warily. "What?" he croaked, shifting his weight.
"Freak, you better get out of here," Dudley spoke low and fast. "Dad's home and the budget cut meeting was today. I may hate you but he's ready to kill."
"BOY!!!!!" came the bellow from across the street.
Dudley turned the color of paper. "I'm gonna grab your arm and you're gonna get away from me, got it???" Harry hastily nodded.
Vernon stormed to the front door and started across the street. "FREAK!!!! Get over here!!!!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Dudley grabbed the now healed arm. "I've got him, Dad!!!" he yelled back enthusiastically. "Now GO!!!" he hissed to Harry.
Harry jerked his arm free and kicked Dudley in the shins, turning and running as fast as he could. He could hear raised voices behind him and ran harder. I hope that Dudley isn't getting it too badly, he thought to himself, getting his second wind. Wait, what am I saying? Dudley wouldn't get hurt. They spoil him!
He hung out in town all day, dreading going back. If I go back he'll just punish me more, he thought wearily two hours after sunset, slowly making his way back to the Dursleys. But, where else do I have to go? He arrived on Privet Drive and sat in the park on a swing for a while, feeling the familiar hunger pangs resonating throughout his body. Twenty minutes later, Petunia walked out the front door with a small shopping bag. She crossed the street and sat down next to Harry, holding out the bag.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked dully, taking the bag and eating the sandwiches inside.
"I may not like you and hate it when you make weird things happen but you aren't going to starve." Unlike Vernon, the unspoken thought was shared by the two of them.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Duddikins, happy birthday to you!"
Harry watched the festivities from the kitchen where he was stirring the bacon. Dudley sat at the head of the table, with thirty five presents in front of him. Harry hung his head, softly crying to himself. In two weeks it would be his birthday, and no one would know. He would be seven years old, and no one would care. He carefully drained the bacon, and started on the eggs and toast. It was so unfair. Why did they hate him? Why did Uncle Vernon hit him, hurt him, and sometimes, when no one... DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT! he ordered himself sternly. There's nothing you can do about it, anyway.
Harry screamed in pain as his arm came into full contact with the scalding pan. He knocked the bacon off the stove in his haste to shove his arm under the faucet. "MUM!! HARRY'S RUINING MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!" Dudley howled then watched with undisguised glee and hatred as his parents stormed into the kitchen.
"You FREAK! You ruined my precious Duddikin's birthday!" Petunia wrenched Harry away from the sink and pinned him to the refrigerator. She slapped him across the face, raking him with her nails. Blood welled and oozed from four long gashes that covered his face from ear to ear. "You damn pathetic freak!" She slammed his head against the fridge over and over, until Harry was reeling and seeing explosions of light in his vision. Oh, this is going to hurt tomorrow, he thought dully as Vernon took over. The obese man decked him across the face with his ham sized fist then drove a knee into Harry's stomach. Harry dropped to the floor, his vision going grey. He was vaguely aware that someone was making a high pitched whimpering sound, and was mildly surprised to find out it was himself. As he blacked out from the pain, he felt something heavy slam into his stomach to the rhythm of his heart beat. They're kicking me.... he thought as the blackness took him into blessed relief.
Vernon came home from work swearing profusely.
"What's wrong, Vernon?" Petunia asked, gasping at his purple engraged face.
"They're cutting costs and MY department is on the board!!!!" he bellowed, slamming his fist against the wall.
"Oh NO! How is this going to affect us???" Petunia wailed, clutching the banister for dear life.
"I don't know yet," Dursley growled.
Two hours later, Harry heard the heavy tread of his uncle make its way downstairs. He cowered under his blankets, dreading what he knew would come. Maybe he won't, he thought, hoping against all hope.
The cupboard door was ripped open and a humongous, heavy hand slammed into him, dragging him out. "No, don't," Harry gasped futilely.
"Shut up, freak," was his only reply. The monster flung him to the floor like a rag doll, whipping off his belt. Harry tried to crawl away, but Vernon stomped on his ankle, shattering the bones. He let out a grunt of pain, the world swimming in front of his eyes.
Oh, no... he moaned, feeling the hands fumbling to undo his pants, the hot, panting breath in his ear, the feeling of the belt coming down on his painfully thin shoulder blades.
"Guess what, Freak? I have a present for you," The enormous man hissed.
Harry felt a line of fire down his back, and another, and another. Desperately, he shoved a fist in his mouth, gagging, because if he cried out there'd be even more broken bones and it would last for hours instead of minutes. Desperately, he tried cataloging potions ingredients, first by alphabetical order, then by properties, and them moved on to Defense spells, and then Charms, trying desperately to keep his mind from focusing on the pain and the hurt and the fear and the humiliation.
Harry sat there on the carpet, amusing himself. WHEE!!!! This is FUN!!! he giggled with delight as he spun the pretty red stuff (fire) and the clear wet stuff (water) around the room. "Duddy gets toys, Hawwy gets no toys, so Hawwy makes toys" Harry spoke in a singsong voice. He was only three and a half, and very proud of that half. It was only a week after Christmas, and Dudley had gotten twenty presents. Harry had received none, as usual, and had been confined to his cupboard, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was that he could make pretty colors fly around the room.
"I wish I could watch TV" Ping! The Television turned on. Harry watched as a man with funny white hair and sparkly clothes (Sigfreid and Roy) drove a big, fuzzy white and black cat through a ring of the pretty red stuff. "WOW! I wanna try!" Harry screwed his face up in concentration as he stared at the TV. "I want the KITTY!" He pointed in frustration at the TV. One of the stones from the hearth floated over to his outstretched hand. It turned into a stone tiger, and it ran around the room. "NICE KITTY!!!" he squealed. A ring of the pretty red stuff appeared in front of the lion, just like on TV! The nice kitty jumped through the hoop, then went swimming in the pool of water that appeared in midair.
Harry stared awestruck as the man with funny white hair put his head in the pretty kitty's mouth. "I want that!" A stone figure of Uncle Vernon formed and walked over to the stone tiger. He put his head in the tiger's mouth, then stepped back, triumphant, in direct imitation of what was happening on TV. "Uncle Vewnon mean... He didn't give Hawwy pwesents. Mean, mean uncle Vewnon..." he pouted. The stone tiger turned to stone Uncle Vernon angrily, licking its chops. Uncle Vernon ran around the room, and the tiger chased him. The stone man hid in between the books on the bookshelf, peering out cautiously. After ten minutes of prowling back and forth, the tiger gave up. It sat down, next to Harry, and the thin three year old scratched its head. It purred happily. Stone Uncle Vernon crept out of his hiding place. "I want pwesents..." Gaily wrapped packages began flying out of the chimeney. "Yay!" Harry stood and clapped his hands. "Kwismas!" The tiger turned and pounced on stone Uncle Vernon, and ripped his head off. "Bad Uncle Vewnon, bad, bad..." he turned and saw the tiger mauling the stone man. He clapped his hands to his face. "Uh-oh!"
"BOYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON???? WHRE DID- HOW DID- UUURGH!!!!!" The real Uncle Vernon stormed into the room, and promptly tripped over one of the many wrapped presents. "You LITTLE FREAK!!!!!!!!!" He picked himself up and slammed his fist into Harry's surprised face.
Harry's hands shot up to instinctively protect himself. The fist never made it. A massive tidal wave shot out of Harry's crossed arm and forced Vernon to fly out the window, a torrent of water gushing after him. A sputtering Vernon sprinted back into the house, one thought on his mind. Kill the FREAK. Harry ran to his cupboard and shut the door. Vernon ripped the door of its hinges with a roar. He threw himself on Harry and punched him repeatedly. Nothing Harry could do fazed him, not even when he threw a wall of fire at Vernon's face. If anything, it infuriated Vernon beyond reason. "Oh, you little freak, I'm gonna hurt you so bad you won't be able to walk for a month!"
He held Harry by the throat and choked the boy till he was on the verge of unconsciousness, then roughly flipped him over. "Freak, I've wanted to hurt you like this for a long time...." He trailed off as sweat began to bead and drip down his face. He ripped off Harry's pants and covered him with his body. Roughly, he undid his own pants and tried to slam into the tiny child. A thin wail erupted from Harry's mouth as a spike of agony traveled up his spine. "Shit, you're too tight. I-I-I- There we go..." He forced himself into Harry. Blood streamed out of the abused boy as he screamed and screamed. After several minutes of indescribable hell, the enormous man pulled out and stumbled out of the cupboard and up the stairs. "I'd like to see you magic your way out of that, freak."
The memories went on for almost fifteen minutes before Draco could pull Harry from his self induced trance. Harry? he asked, worried. Harry just shook his head and stared at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort was curled up into the fetal position, crying and screaming for his mommy. Harry, in a moment of weakness, took out Mr. Snuffles, Voldemort's long lost stuffed bunny, enlarged it, and handed it to the Hysterical Dark Lord. Voldemort took it, his eyes wide. "You- you found him! Mr. Snuffles!" he hugged the rabbit and shakily stood up, staring at Harry with a mixture of pity and understanding. "Go ahead, Potter. He's all yours," he stuttered, his face still bone white. "Just- can I watch?"
Harry grinned evilly, James and Lily following suit. "Of course!" Harry chirped eagerly and they threw open the door, revealing a mangy, drunk Vernon Dursley.
"Who're you and whaddo yoush want?" he slurred, blearily staring at them through bloodshot eyes. He raised a bottle of beer to his fat, unshaven face, licked his lips, took a long swig, and belched heartily into Voldemort's face.
Everyone stared at him with revulsion. Voldemort looked as if he might just pass out from the fumes. With a snarl, he raised his wand, but Harry and Draco beat him to it, raising their hands and pushing outwards. Thick ropes wrapped themselves around Dursley's meaty arms and legs, pulling him back inside and splaying him face up on the carpet in the living room. Everyone glided into the house.
Harry blinked at the condition of the house. Everything was either filthy or completely broken. The Television, an armchair, and an end table were the only things in the room that were actually workable, and they were crusted with unimaginable filth. Pizza boxes and beer cans littered the hallway and carpeted floor, and paper plates were stacked three feet high all over the place. Harry banished everything, in order to give all of them a sanitary place to work.
"Youse, whatsh the fucsh??????" he half yelled, trying to sit up. The ropes held him fast and he craned his head, staring at them with utmost confusion. "Why am I tied down?" he asked, his voice surprisingly steady and calm.
Harry strode into the captive's line of sight. "Hello, Vernon," he purred, grinning evilly.
"Just - just great! I'm finally hallucinating!" Vernon snapped, rolling his eyes. "Great, I knew I'd get delirium tremors from this! My liver's gone! All gone," he added in a singsong.
Draco grimaced, plugging his ears. "Can someone shut him up?" he complained bitterly. "He sounds like a hippogriff that had its tail stepped on by a giant."
McNair snickered behind his mask. Harry grimaced. "You know, since we're working together, we might as well call a truce," he said to Voldemort. "What do you say? Twenty-four hour truce to torture this bastard?" He held out his hand.
To the amazement of everyone there, Voldemort took his hand eagerly. "I brought a guidebook!" he exclaimed, pulling out 'Torture for Dummies' and handing it over.
Severus snickered, taking the book from his nephew. "Don't you have enough knowledge to write this book?" he asked wryly.
"This is the updated version, with some very good ideas! All though, I'm not sure what a Teletubby or a Barney is," Voldemort mused, taking the book back from Severus and scanning the pages. Harry smothered his guffaw with a loud string of coughs, his face turning red.
Severus pounded Harry's back, shaking with laughter himself. "I'm sure that Harry can explain exactly what those are," he muttered.
Harry stared at the television fearfully. "You'd better not turn that thing on," he warned ominously. "It's one o'clock, which is Barney and Friends."
Draco shuddered, having seen Harry's memories of the traumatic event. "Don't touch that dial."
"Well, what shall we do first?" Lily asked, rubbing her hands together with undisguised glee.
"Well, I only need a knife, some lighter fluid and a lighter," Harry casually stated, eyeing Vernon with malice.
Voldemort stared at him. "That doesn't sound too inventive," he muttered.
"Just wait till you see what I'll do with it," Harry promised savagely.
Draco shuddered. "You wouldn't," he gasped.
Harry grinned evilly. "Eye for an eye, Draco. Let the punishment fit the crime." With a wave of his hand, Vernon was as naked as the day he was born. Everyone stared, morbidly amused at the pale pink bunny rabbit that sat in place of the monster's penis.
Severus grinned. "I'd forgotten that was there," he chuckled, poking at it with Voldemort's wand. The rabbit perked its ears up, its eyes sparkling. He waved his hand again and it disappeared, reverting to its normal shape.
"But it's so tiny," Lily giggled. "Make it do a trick!"
Harry snickered. Voldemort stared at it thoughtfully, a faint smirk on his face. So THAT'S how he managed to fit it inside a three year old. There wasn't anything there to begin with. Harry blanched and stepped forward, conjuring a knife.
Draco grinned, knowing exactly what was about to come. Harry directed the knife to cut hash marks from the edge of the monster's anus to the tip of his foreskin, going in first one direction and then the other. Dursley screamed, biting through his lower lip as he struggled to escape from his bonds. Voldemort had to walk away, the same as Remus. They both looked faintly green in the face. McNair pulled out a notebook and started taking notes, drawing diagrams and making variations.
Lily turned to James and Severus, who were watching with identical smirks, clearly enjoying the pain and humiliation the pedophile was undergoing. "Do you think that if we give him free reign now, he'll want to do this again some time?" she asked worriedly.
"I think he's fine, Lils. This piece of scum hurt him in the worst possible way. He wouldn't do this to anyone who didn't treat him any less badly," Severus whispered back. "Now stay quiet. You're ruining the screams." Lily stuck her tongue out but stayed quiet after that, content to watch.
Harry concentrated deeply, willing the memories on the surface of his subconscious not to spill over into his thoughts. He forced them away by dealing with the situation in front of him and making the slices deep enough to really hurt, yet shallow enough not to sever anything. "There really is a scientific method to torture," he mused, biting his lower lip in concentration.
Draco snickered. "Can I pour the lighter fluid?" he asked, bouncing from foot to foot in excitement. At Harry's nod, he conjured a bottle and, doused the hash marks liberally. Vernon gagged and threw up violently, howling in agony.
"Oh shut up. The pain hasn't even started yet," Harry muttered. Lily stepped forward and stood next to her son, an arm around his shoulders.
"Harry, love, can I light him up?" she asked, a pleading expression on her face.
"But I want to!" he protested, pouting. He brightened. "I was planning on paying him back for the knife work he used to do on me, but he won't heal the way I did every single time." Remus and Voldemort walked back in to hear that last bit.
Lily stared murderously at the pile of shit being held down by the ropes. "What knife work?" she, Remus, James, Severus, and McNair asked. Voldemort and Draco looked vaguely sick, as they both had seen the memories.
"He used to carve obscenities into my skin, over and over. If I wasn't able to heal the way I do, I would have anything from 'Freak' and 'Bitch' to 'Whore' and anything else he liked to call me." Harry's eyes had grown distant, pain clouding them. Draco gripped his hand, and he shook his head, clearing it of unwanted memories.
Lily grinned, conjuring a knife. James and Severus followed suit. "Can we do some carving of our own?" she asked gleefully.
Harry nodded. "Leave me a space about three inches tall across the nipple line. Other than that, go for it."
"Can we light them on fire?" Severus asked, grinning.
"You read my mind," Harry said absently, conjuring a lighter. Vernon's eyes went wide and he started whimpering.
"No! I'm sorry, please, please don't light it on fire, please, I- I- I'll do anything! This is some joke, right? Please, please!" His voice grew progressively higher as Harry lit the lighter and, a maniacal grin on his face, held the flickering flame to the monster's genitals.
"Go ahead, Vernon," Harry hissed, his eyes a solid viridian. "Scream." With a whoosh, the lighter fluid ignited. Vernon screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and, just for the hell of it, screamed some more. Lily, James and Severus each grabbed a knife and started carving obscenity after obscenity on his chest, arms, legs, and anywhere they could reach. Soon, blood ran down in rivers, staining the carpet crimson.
After about fifteen minutes of uninterrupted screaming, Harry put out the fire with a wave of his hand and leaned forward to grinning at the blackened flesh.
"Why'd you put it out?" Voldemort asked curiously. "I'd have just let the entire thing burn."
"But where's the fun in that?" Draco countered easily. "He still has the equipment, but now he can't use it."
"What do you mean?" McNair asked, studying the burns with interest.
Harry sighed. "Doesn't anyone in the Wizarding world have any idea of human anatomy?" Voldemort looked confused. "How the body works?" Vernon chose at that moment to moan and pass out. "Enervate."
"Mediwizards, Mediwitches and Healers, but no one else really needs that stuff," James supplied.
"All right, fine." Harry thought for a minute. "Scar tissue – you know what that is, right?"
Voldemort glared at him. "We aren't stupid."
"It shrinks in comparison to other skin tissue, permanently curving his penis." Harry continued, ignoring Voldemort. "Therefore, he'll never be able to achieve an erection again. The scar tissue will shrink, preventing him from doing anything but pissing out of it for the rest of his life. He'll never be able to hurt a child that way again."
"Bloody brilliant," Severus mused. "I have a suggestion, though." He knelt down, examining the burns. "If we speed up the scarring, would it curve more, thereby ensuring it would never function properly again?"
"I want him in pain for as long as possible," Harry pouted.
Severus held up his hands in surrender. "All right, it's your call."
Draco grinned, tousling Harry's hair. Ain't he smart? And so demanding! Lily snickered, tossing Harry a knife.
"You turn, now." Harry went to work diligently, carving letters three inches high into the space left on Vernon's chest. He double-carved the word FREAK, peeling the quarter inch of skin in between lines away, and dousing it with lighter fluid and happily lighting it. Vernon started screaming again and again, arching and begging for relief.
His screams continued on and on for hours as they came up with new and interesting ways to make him suffer for everything he had done to Magical children.
Twenty hours later, having exhausted the diabolical genius of a Dark Lord, his minions, five Demigods, and a Werewolf, they all took a break from causing the pedophilic monster as much pain as humanly possible.
"Well, now what?" Remus asked, magically cleaning the kitchen with a few well placed 'scourgifys.'
This place needs too be nuked,Harry thought wryly, gagging at the filth of half eaten microwavable dinners, crusty takeout cartons, and abundance of beer bottles that spilled from the overflowing garbage. This place isn't even habitable any more. He shuddered with revulsion.
Draco grimaced as an enormous cockroach scuttled across the floor. "This is SO gross!" he complained. "Can we hurry up and decide what to do so we can get out of here? I need a shower!"
Harry shrugged. "Really, I didn't even plan THIS far. It was always some insane hope in the back of my head that I could hurt him as badly as he hurt me. I never thought about what to do afterwards."
Lily grinned. "Well, do you mind if WE do something?" she asked sweetly.
Harry shrugged again. "I don't really care. I'm not going to kill him because I want him to live with what we did to him."
James grinned, a slow evil smile. "Oh, I think he'll have PLENTY of time to reflect on the evil he had committed."
"Voldemort?" Lily asked easily.
"Yes?" he asked, a bit nervously.
"I have a business proposition for you." Grinning, she led him out of the kitchen and back into the living room, where they sat on the only two whole pieces of furniture left. Lily took the table while the Dark Lord perched on an armrest.
"Well?" he prompted the Demigoddess.
"You want Vernon, yes?"
"I do want the bastard. He did humiliate me. Having him as a permanent party favor would be nice."
"I'll give him to you if you give me someone we want."
Understanding dawned on Voldemort's face. "You want the one who betrayed you."
"Yes. Wormtail for Dursley."
Voldemort thought it over for a minute. The rat has outlived his usefulness, which means I can get rid of him. So, I get the best of the deal. "Done!"
Lily stood and extended her hand gleefully. "It's a deal, then."
Voldemort shook her hand firmly. "You really aren't dead," he mused. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Like I said- you can't kill an immortal. You merely ended my physical existence for a while. I came back when it got too boring up top," she smirked.
Voldemort shook his head, more than a little confused and exasperated. Bloody immortals! Never give you a straight answer!
Lily chuckled. "We say the same thing all the time, but it's 'Bloody Mother! She never gives you a straight answer!' instead."
"Mother?" he asked curiously.
Lily sighed. "God. I suppose Clautius never told you what is really going on and what this whole conflict is all about?" she asked quietly.
"He gave me power. Why would I question that?" he asked. "Why are we talking about this? We're on different sides of the war."
"The whole 'blood purity' issue is only the tip of the iceberg. Harry wasn't kidding when he said you are not his adversary, Clautius is. Don't get involved with the affairs of demigods. Mortals are the ones who suffer most in our conflicts. In a nutshell, Clautius wants to take over the universe. Earth isn't even a priority to him. All it is for him is a way to gain recruits, i.e. willing slaves to die for him. By the time he's done, Earth may not even be here any more. If you get out now, you may have a chance to escape him. As someone who had been fighting him for her entire life, you want as little to do with this as possible."
Voldemort stared at her. "I'll think about it, but you have given me only speculation, not proof. Give me proof, and I'll think about it some more."
Lily sighed. "That is for Alanna and your soul mate to do, if you even have one. It's not my place."
Voldemort sighed and stood up. "As fun as this has been, I have to call an end to it. I'll collect my end of the bargain and leave you with yours." They walked back into the kitchen in silence.
In the kitchen, Wormtail was sandwiched between the wall and an equally enraged Remus and James. "Just wait, you little shit. I swear, when we get through with you, you'll beg for Azkaban." Wormtail whimpered his eyes wide and his face pasty.
"That sounds like an agreeable plan, Potter, Lupin," Voldemort stared with an evil grin, walking back into the kitchen. Lily gave her son a hug, grinning.
"So, we'll see you sometime in the future, Voldemort," she said with an evil grin.
He grinned back at her. "I'll take what you said into consideration. Come, McNair. We need to collect out trade." Wormtail moved to follow them, but Lily blocked his escape.
Voldemort turned and, with a wave of his hand, severed the mental link between himself and the former Death Eater. "You are the other end of the trade, Wormtail. I release you from my service." With that, they disappeared into the other room.
"But Master?" Wormtail asked, terrified. He shifted form and scurried into the other room. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Wormtail howled, a blood chilling sound, from the other room. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!!!!!"
Lily, James and Remus strolled into the other room and came back with a petrified rat. "Let's go home, loves," Lily announced, holding up the rat like a prize. "We have to make some people grovel."
With that, they Apparated back to Hogwarts and into Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster jumped almost a foot when they all appeared inside his office.
"Yes?" he asked shortly.
Lily put the rat on his desk, smirking. "A present from Voldemort."
"From Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked slowly, his eyebrows in his hairline. "How did you ever get him from Tom?"
"Simple. My wife is a brilliant negotiator," James said smugly, his arms around his wife's waist.
"What did you give him?" Dumbledore asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Someone who hurt one of my pack," Remus growled, hugging Harry.
Dursley. Can't say I'm surprised. "I don't want to know any more," Dumbledore sighed with a wry smile. "That way, if Aurors come around, asking questions, I can't be incriminated by association. Just answer one question, though, before you go. Harry, did it make you feel better?"
Harry stared him straight in the eye. "Yes." They left the office, an old man's chuckles the last thing they heard.
.
A/N: See what a little depression will give you? A KICKASS torture scene! On a more serious note, how do you work the quick edit thingie??? I can't get any text to appear in the edit part and it won't let me upload asterisks for telepathy any more. Is any one else having problems????? This is weirding me out and pissing me off!!! I can't get any bold or italics or anything to upload with the actual document and it won't let me fix it! Ok, I got it for the last chapter with the bold and italics and underline but I think you have to sign out and back in to do more than one chapter. This is pissing me off. I WANT MY ASTERISKS BACK, DAMN IT!!!!! (Eats a bar of chocolate) I wish this was Wizarding chocolate... oh well.
B/N: Alrighty, people! Bidding for Demigods begins two days from now, so get your cookies ready! Now, this is an add on to the rules from the last chappie, and if you didn't read the B/N in the last chappie, please do so now.............. done? Ok, we are doing things a little complicatedly, so pay attention. You can bid on any two demigods, meaning they do not have to be soul mates in the story (we prefer that you don't split up soul mates, but the floor stays open as long as you don't horrifically traumatize them.... So no horrific traumatizing) and we are giving them away to the highest bidder, no matter the pairing. F. y. i. we cannot do multiple pairings and shit, so like, if somebody bids on a Lily/James and someone else bids on a James/Olivia (for what ever reason you would pick THAT pairing... shudder) then whoever bids highest gets the pair they ordered! And remember, all bids must be in by 11:59:59 on May 20, 2004! Then, the floor closes and no more biddy! Another thing, this is a Demigod auction, meaning if you bid on a character that is not a Demigod, we will not regard your bid. Just so you people don't get confused, here is the list of Demigods and their Soul mates:
Harry and Draco
James and Lily
Severus and Laurel
Alanna and Xander
Gaila and Raphael
Olivia and Michael
Damien and Nicholai
Godric and Salazar
Rowan and Gabrielle
A/N: Leave an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. Oh, and the top three bids, (each of a different pairing,) gets the pair they bid on for the duration of the three days. LEAVE THE EMAIL ADDY SO WE CAN CONTACT YOU WITH FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!!!!! YOU WILL LIKE THEM!!!!!!! Winners will be announced with Chapter 29! COME ON, BID!!!!!
Chapter 28
Draco pulled Harry into the hallway and Apparated them straight to the Chamber of Secrets, pushing him onto one of the couches. "Now, why are you being so difficult?" Draco asked, pinning him down.
Harry started to feel claustrophobic and gently slid Draco's hands from his chest, sitting up. "I just don't think its right to hurt people. Since coming to the Wizarding World, I've been told that I'm a weapon. I'm only good for killing Voldemort, and now, Clautius. Mother- I will do what Mother wants, but I hate feeling like killing is all that I'm good for."
"Take it from me; killing people is the least of your abilities. I can name several things you are better at doing," Draco said with a smirk.
"So I could work as a gay prostitute. Good to know," Harry muttered, shaking his head.
"Nope, cuz I'd kill anyone who even thought of touching you," Draco vowed, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.
"Again with the killing!" Harry snapped, exasperated.
"He - deserves - to - die," Draco enunciated each word by poking Harry's chest with his index finger.
"I know that!" Harry yelled, standing up and pacing. "Hell, I've wished for his death since I knew what death was! I don't want to be the one to kill him!"
"What if we just caused him some pain?" And let someone else kill him, Draco asked, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist.
Harry slowly grinned, chewing on his lower lip. "Pain I can do. I've had fifteen years to plan and daydream what I would do to the bastard if the roles were reversed. Besides, death is too good for him. I want him to live with what I've done."
"You are a truly devious, sadistic bastard, aren't you?" Draco asked, admiration evident in his eyes.
"Thanks," Harry grinned as well, hugging his soul mate.
"Come on, let's get your Mum, Dad, and Severus. I think they'd like to play too, don't you think?" Draco asked, Apparating them back to the Great Hall.
Lily smirked at Draco. "Well, that was quick. What did you say to him?"
"We reached a compromise," Harry said loftily. "We get to torture the shit out of him, but I want him to live with what we've done with him. Death is too good."
"You do realize that he could go to the cops," James warned ominously.
"We live in the Wizarding world. What cop would get us here? Besides, when he says that it was his nephew and his dead family, they would either ask what he had done to me to deserve such treatment or just send him to the mental ward."
"We need to simply put him in a place where he can't tell anyone," Severus interjected.
"Look, less talking, more traveling!" Harry stamped his foot. "You guys convinced me to go, so let's go!"
ALANNA!!!! Draco yelled.
WHAT???? came the irritated scream in reply.
LOWER THE WARDS ON PRIVET DRIVE AND VERNON!!!!! Harry screamed back.
DONE! WHY??? came Xander's equally irritated voice.
WE'RE GONNA PLAY WITH HIM!!!!! Lily screamed.
Oh. Have fun! The link was completely closed off.
The five demigods and Remus grinned at each other and Apparated.
Voldemort's head shot up and he grinned evilly. "The wards of Privet Drive have been dropped. Let's move."
Wormtail, Lucius Malfoy, and McNair Apparated alongside their Lord.
Harry, Draco, Lily, Severus, Remus, and James appeared on the Dursley's front step the same time the Voldemort, Wormtail, Malfoy Senior and McNair arrived.
The two groups of people just stared at each other, jaws agape in astonishment. Finally, Harry broke the silence. "All right, why are we standing around? I wanna torture the bastard!"
Voldemort sneered, thinking mistakenly that Harry was talking about him. "Oh, really, young Potter. And how do you propose to subdue me long enough to torture me?"
James glared at him. "Not you, you pathetic piece of shit! His damnable ex- uncle!"
"Can we kill him now? How about now?" Harry asked impatiently, shifting from foot to foot.
Voldemort gaped, finally realizing exactly who the people on the step were. "But- NO! I KILLED YOU! You're dead!!!" He yelled, his eyes wide with fear. Wormtail whimpered and hid behind Voldemort's cloak, terrified.
We'll get you later, worm, Lily thought savagely, envisioning the lying, backstabbing little shit stuck inside an iron maiden, with other rats to chew pieces off of him while he was still alive.
"Oh, come off it, Moldie Voldie. You can't kill a Demigod," James drawled, bored. "Come on, Harry, we have a score to settle." He took Harry's arm and turned to the door.
"But I saw you die- wait! Where are you going??? Wormtail, get off of me!" Voldemort yelled sharply, tugging the man from his cloak.
"But- but Master," he squeaked. Voldemort glared at him and he fell silent.
"We are going to do bodily harm to the damnable pedophile in this house. Stay out of our way," Remus snapped.
"How about now? Can we? How about now?" Harry asked.
"No! You two are dead, I killed you myself," Voldemort yelled, gesturing at Lily and James, "and can't be demigods or that would mean that Potter-" he dropped his hand, looking terrified at the Boy-Who-Lived. "Oh shit." This means that I could die at any given point because I'm sorely outclassed. They could obliterate me without breaking a sweat. This is bad.
Harry grinned crookedly. "Yeah, that would be bad. Fortunately for you, we aren't interested in your miserable existence. I have a message to send to your Master. The-Boy- Who-Lived is going to kick his ass. Oh, but, he already knew that, didn't he?" He turned to Lucius, his eyes sparkling. "Tell him Mother's calling and it's time for him to come home for a spanking."
Lucius sneered. "Thank you for the message, Potter. Send Mother my regards and pity that she couldn't find anyone more capable of taking me on."
"Clautius, Clautius," Harry scolded. "Mother would only send the best. What makes you think we can't take you on and win?"
Lucius's face twisted. "Because I am second to none and Mother's equal-"
"And antithesis, yadda yadda yadda." Harry yawned. "You are so full of it, Older Brother. Don't you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk? I know I'm tired of hearing your voice already. It's just so dull."
Lucius snarled and lunged for Harry, only to be stopped by a wall of icy blue. "Really, Clautius, can't you get more power out of that one?" James asked, sneering. "Oh yes, that's right. You like to possess MORTALS and they'll explode if you try to overpower them."
"Oh, and Clautius?" Harry asked, regaining Satan's attention. He linked with Draco and raised as much of their power they could, turning a blinding white. "Leave my soul mate's father out of this." The conjoined Demigods shot a beam out, striking Lucius in the chest and enveloping him in an instant.
OUT!!! They bellowed together, forcing Clautius from Lucius's mind. They in turn possessed Draco's father, weaving protection spell upon protection spell to guard him from further manipulation.
Lucius sagged and the two of them gently lowered him to the ground, rushing over and healing any injury he might have sustained. "Father," murmured Draco, cradling him.
Lucius opened his eyes and smiled. "Thank you, son. I knew you could do it. Now, to take care of business." He stood up, waving off any assistance Harry offered and strode to Voldemort. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" he screamed, spittle spraying from his lips. He reached back and, with all his might, slammed the Dark Lord across the face.
"Consider this my resignation, you shit. Tell your Master to FUCK OFF!" he hissed. Voldemort wiped the blood and spit from his face, grinned and opened a link through Lucius's Dark Mark, making the elder Malfoy grunt, his face blanching with pain. He slowly collapsed, grabbing the Mark.
Draco turned, and with a growl that had Harry instantly thinking of other things, tossed the Dark Lord into the nearest bush. He turned back around and grabbed the agonized Lucius.
Harry and Draco each hovered their hands over the Mark and, within seconds, it was gone, the link forever snapped. Lucius stared at his forearm in shock and promptly fainted. Draco sighed and Apparated his father back to the Manor, calling over his shoulder telepathically, don't start without me!
Voldemort glared at Harry, incensed that he had just lost his best Death Eater. Harry just sighed and stuck out his arm, opening the front door. Voldemort caught the door, pushing it shut. "I'm the evil Dark Lord, I get to torture him," he said darkly. "Besides, you owe me for Lucius."
"No," Lily snapped, grabbing Voldemort's arm and ripping it from the door. "Harry has dibs."
"No he doesn't!" Voldemort yelled, looking like a very dangerous child about to throw a tantrum. A VERY DEADLY tantrum. "He humiliated me in front of my Death Eaters and I want to make him pay!"
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? James asked Lily privately.
I want something in return, Love.
Wormtail?
Got it in one.
We can trade after Harry has some fun, thereby keeping our end of the bargain.
Good plan. Do we announce it now or later?
Later. I want to have some fun at Moldie Voldie's expense.
"Sorry, Harry has dibs," James spoke finally, crossing his arms over his chest.
Harry glared at the adults. "Come on, I wanna torture him! Can we please go in now?"
Voldemort stared at him suspiciously. "Why are you advocating that he torture his own relative?"
Harry glared at the Dark Lord. "I am NOT related to that sad sack of shit!!!! Uncle by MARRIAGE!!!" Draco appeared next to him and automatically slid his arm around Harry's waist, offering much needed support.
"That doesn't matter! You're supposedly a nice person. Why are you so eager to cause this person who as fed and clothed you indescribable amounts of pain? What did he do to you to deserve your hatred?" Voldemort asked, confused.
Draco spoke up for the first time since returning. "Harry, love, why don't you show the nice Dark Lord exactly why you get dibs?"
Harry whimpered slightly, but at Draco's encouragement, shot his hand out, capturing the Dark Lord in an envelope of viridian. Memories streamed from him, assailing Voldemort.
Five year old Harry stood at the table, a stack of plates on one arm and a basket of silverware in his other hand. "It would be cool if the table could set itself," he muttered, already tired from the long day of gardening. All of a sudden, the plates flew from his hands and landed on the table in the right places, the silverware settling neatly by each plate. Harry stared in amazement, until the shrieked "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" made him jump and lose his concentration. The silverware fell with a clatter, and a knife landed on the floor.
"FREAK!!!!" screamed Aunt Petunia, hauling Harry to his cupboard and throwing him inside. "Just WAIT until Vernon hears about your behavior!!!" She slammed the door shut, locking it.
Harry huddled in his cupboard under the stairs, fearfully cowering into the corner. He's gonna kill me. I know it. I didn't mean to make those plates dance. I thought it was funny. Why can't I just be normal?
Late that night, the door to the cupboard was ripped open and Vernon hulked in the harsh glare of the hallway light, ominous shadows covering the trembling boy. "Hello, freak. Did you think your disobedience would go unpunished?" he sneered, grabbing Harry by the throat and hauling him out into the hallway. Harry dangled helplessly, terrified and Vernon tossed him into the air like a rag doll and backhanded him across the face, slamming him into a wall. "You're going to get it, freak."
Somebody- anybody- help me, Harry thought desperately as Vernon ripped his pants off of him, slamming against the wall with enough force to knock the boy into oblivion.
Loud Christmas Carols playing in the background
Harry could see the party going on from a crack in the cupboard door. It had been going on for hours. Dudley kept receiving presents-a total of forty five, now. Harry knew that more would be coming with the arrival of Aunt Marge. That could guarantee at least another fifteen. In the eight Christmases he had been with the Dursleys, he couldn't remember once receiving a gift or any token of affection, yet Dudley received over fifty for Christmas every year. Harry pressed his face to his cot and wept bitterly. It hurt him deeply, and though he tried to tell himself otherwise, he could feel it. The human soul can only take so much pain before it withers and gives up, he thought angrily. He lay there for another hour before the cupboard door was wrenched open. Vernon loomed unsteadily in the doorway. He was obviously drunk.
"Hey, youse freak" he slurred. "youshe better behave yourshe-shelf. I don't want the othersh to know youse exist. So shuchurse frigging trap and shtay that way orse I'll have to ream youse a new one when the frigging room shtops shpinning."
He went to lumber off, but Harry timidly spoke up. "Uncle Vernon," He hoped his uncle was too drunk to think rationally. "I haven't had anything to eat all day. Can I please have some food?" he held his breath, hoping.
"Youse think I'd washte food on a frigging freak like youse?? Get yourshe ass back in that rat holshe, you pashthetic wormshe!" He threw Harry back into the cupboard, slammed the door, and locked it. "Fucking freak." Vernon carefully enunciated. "Little greedy bastard. 'Give me food!' He won't eat for a week for that one." He lumbered off to drink more booze and party harder.
Two hours later, Petunia snuck by with two ham sandwiches. "Here," she hissed, thrusting them into the cupboard. She walked off and twenty minute later reappeared with a liter bottle of water. "I don't know when I'll get to come by unnoticed again. Don't drink all of it at once."
Harry sat under a tree in the park across the street, nursing his broken arm. Damn Dursleys. I wish they would just leave me alone, he thought wistfully, shifting to avoid putting pressure on his already painful elbow and wrist. Happy birthday to me, he thought dourly. Concentrating, a familiar green glow surrounded his fingers of his good hand and he pressed them to his elbow, healing the damage. Biting his lip, he did the same to his wrist.
Ten peaceful minutes later, he was still under the tree, lightly dozing. A dark shadow fell over him and a foot connected with his thigh. "Wake up, freak."
Harry opened and shielded his eyes, staring at his cousin warily. "What?" he croaked, shifting his weight.
"Freak, you better get out of here," Dudley spoke low and fast. "Dad's home and the budget cut meeting was today. I may hate you but he's ready to kill."
"BOY!!!!!" came the bellow from across the street.
Dudley turned the color of paper. "I'm gonna grab your arm and you're gonna get away from me, got it???" Harry hastily nodded.
Vernon stormed to the front door and started across the street. "FREAK!!!! Get over here!!!!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Dudley grabbed the now healed arm. "I've got him, Dad!!!" he yelled back enthusiastically. "Now GO!!!" he hissed to Harry.
Harry jerked his arm free and kicked Dudley in the shins, turning and running as fast as he could. He could hear raised voices behind him and ran harder. I hope that Dudley isn't getting it too badly, he thought to himself, getting his second wind. Wait, what am I saying? Dudley wouldn't get hurt. They spoil him!
He hung out in town all day, dreading going back. If I go back he'll just punish me more, he thought wearily two hours after sunset, slowly making his way back to the Dursleys. But, where else do I have to go? He arrived on Privet Drive and sat in the park on a swing for a while, feeling the familiar hunger pangs resonating throughout his body. Twenty minutes later, Petunia walked out the front door with a small shopping bag. She crossed the street and sat down next to Harry, holding out the bag.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked dully, taking the bag and eating the sandwiches inside.
"I may not like you and hate it when you make weird things happen but you aren't going to starve." Unlike Vernon, the unspoken thought was shared by the two of them.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Duddikins, happy birthday to you!"
Harry watched the festivities from the kitchen where he was stirring the bacon. Dudley sat at the head of the table, with thirty five presents in front of him. Harry hung his head, softly crying to himself. In two weeks it would be his birthday, and no one would know. He would be seven years old, and no one would care. He carefully drained the bacon, and started on the eggs and toast. It was so unfair. Why did they hate him? Why did Uncle Vernon hit him, hurt him, and sometimes, when no one... DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT! he ordered himself sternly. There's nothing you can do about it, anyway.
Harry screamed in pain as his arm came into full contact with the scalding pan. He knocked the bacon off the stove in his haste to shove his arm under the faucet. "MUM!! HARRY'S RUINING MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!" Dudley howled then watched with undisguised glee and hatred as his parents stormed into the kitchen.
"You FREAK! You ruined my precious Duddikin's birthday!" Petunia wrenched Harry away from the sink and pinned him to the refrigerator. She slapped him across the face, raking him with her nails. Blood welled and oozed from four long gashes that covered his face from ear to ear. "You damn pathetic freak!" She slammed his head against the fridge over and over, until Harry was reeling and seeing explosions of light in his vision. Oh, this is going to hurt tomorrow, he thought dully as Vernon took over. The obese man decked him across the face with his ham sized fist then drove a knee into Harry's stomach. Harry dropped to the floor, his vision going grey. He was vaguely aware that someone was making a high pitched whimpering sound, and was mildly surprised to find out it was himself. As he blacked out from the pain, he felt something heavy slam into his stomach to the rhythm of his heart beat. They're kicking me.... he thought as the blackness took him into blessed relief.
Vernon came home from work swearing profusely.
"What's wrong, Vernon?" Petunia asked, gasping at his purple engraged face.
"They're cutting costs and MY department is on the board!!!!" he bellowed, slamming his fist against the wall.
"Oh NO! How is this going to affect us???" Petunia wailed, clutching the banister for dear life.
"I don't know yet," Dursley growled.
Two hours later, Harry heard the heavy tread of his uncle make its way downstairs. He cowered under his blankets, dreading what he knew would come. Maybe he won't, he thought, hoping against all hope.
The cupboard door was ripped open and a humongous, heavy hand slammed into him, dragging him out. "No, don't," Harry gasped futilely.
"Shut up, freak," was his only reply. The monster flung him to the floor like a rag doll, whipping off his belt. Harry tried to crawl away, but Vernon stomped on his ankle, shattering the bones. He let out a grunt of pain, the world swimming in front of his eyes.
Oh, no... he moaned, feeling the hands fumbling to undo his pants, the hot, panting breath in his ear, the feeling of the belt coming down on his painfully thin shoulder blades.
"Guess what, Freak? I have a present for you," The enormous man hissed.
Harry felt a line of fire down his back, and another, and another. Desperately, he shoved a fist in his mouth, gagging, because if he cried out there'd be even more broken bones and it would last for hours instead of minutes. Desperately, he tried cataloging potions ingredients, first by alphabetical order, then by properties, and them moved on to Defense spells, and then Charms, trying desperately to keep his mind from focusing on the pain and the hurt and the fear and the humiliation.
Harry sat there on the carpet, amusing himself. WHEE!!!! This is FUN!!! he giggled with delight as he spun the pretty red stuff (fire) and the clear wet stuff (water) around the room. "Duddy gets toys, Hawwy gets no toys, so Hawwy makes toys" Harry spoke in a singsong voice. He was only three and a half, and very proud of that half. It was only a week after Christmas, and Dudley had gotten twenty presents. Harry had received none, as usual, and had been confined to his cupboard, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was that he could make pretty colors fly around the room.
"I wish I could watch TV" Ping! The Television turned on. Harry watched as a man with funny white hair and sparkly clothes (Sigfreid and Roy) drove a big, fuzzy white and black cat through a ring of the pretty red stuff. "WOW! I wanna try!" Harry screwed his face up in concentration as he stared at the TV. "I want the KITTY!" He pointed in frustration at the TV. One of the stones from the hearth floated over to his outstretched hand. It turned into a stone tiger, and it ran around the room. "NICE KITTY!!!" he squealed. A ring of the pretty red stuff appeared in front of the lion, just like on TV! The nice kitty jumped through the hoop, then went swimming in the pool of water that appeared in midair.
Harry stared awestruck as the man with funny white hair put his head in the pretty kitty's mouth. "I want that!" A stone figure of Uncle Vernon formed and walked over to the stone tiger. He put his head in the tiger's mouth, then stepped back, triumphant, in direct imitation of what was happening on TV. "Uncle Vewnon mean... He didn't give Hawwy pwesents. Mean, mean uncle Vewnon..." he pouted. The stone tiger turned to stone Uncle Vernon angrily, licking its chops. Uncle Vernon ran around the room, and the tiger chased him. The stone man hid in between the books on the bookshelf, peering out cautiously. After ten minutes of prowling back and forth, the tiger gave up. It sat down, next to Harry, and the thin three year old scratched its head. It purred happily. Stone Uncle Vernon crept out of his hiding place. "I want pwesents..." Gaily wrapped packages began flying out of the chimeney. "Yay!" Harry stood and clapped his hands. "Kwismas!" The tiger turned and pounced on stone Uncle Vernon, and ripped his head off. "Bad Uncle Vewnon, bad, bad..." he turned and saw the tiger mauling the stone man. He clapped his hands to his face. "Uh-oh!"
"BOYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON???? WHRE DID- HOW DID- UUURGH!!!!!" The real Uncle Vernon stormed into the room, and promptly tripped over one of the many wrapped presents. "You LITTLE FREAK!!!!!!!!!" He picked himself up and slammed his fist into Harry's surprised face.
Harry's hands shot up to instinctively protect himself. The fist never made it. A massive tidal wave shot out of Harry's crossed arm and forced Vernon to fly out the window, a torrent of water gushing after him. A sputtering Vernon sprinted back into the house, one thought on his mind. Kill the FREAK. Harry ran to his cupboard and shut the door. Vernon ripped the door of its hinges with a roar. He threw himself on Harry and punched him repeatedly. Nothing Harry could do fazed him, not even when he threw a wall of fire at Vernon's face. If anything, it infuriated Vernon beyond reason. "Oh, you little freak, I'm gonna hurt you so bad you won't be able to walk for a month!"
He held Harry by the throat and choked the boy till he was on the verge of unconsciousness, then roughly flipped him over. "Freak, I've wanted to hurt you like this for a long time...." He trailed off as sweat began to bead and drip down his face. He ripped off Harry's pants and covered him with his body. Roughly, he undid his own pants and tried to slam into the tiny child. A thin wail erupted from Harry's mouth as a spike of agony traveled up his spine. "Shit, you're too tight. I-I-I- There we go..." He forced himself into Harry. Blood streamed out of the abused boy as he screamed and screamed. After several minutes of indescribable hell, the enormous man pulled out and stumbled out of the cupboard and up the stairs. "I'd like to see you magic your way out of that, freak."
The memories went on for almost fifteen minutes before Draco could pull Harry from his self induced trance. Harry? he asked, worried. Harry just shook his head and stared at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort was curled up into the fetal position, crying and screaming for his mommy. Harry, in a moment of weakness, took out Mr. Snuffles, Voldemort's long lost stuffed bunny, enlarged it, and handed it to the Hysterical Dark Lord. Voldemort took it, his eyes wide. "You- you found him! Mr. Snuffles!" he hugged the rabbit and shakily stood up, staring at Harry with a mixture of pity and understanding. "Go ahead, Potter. He's all yours," he stuttered, his face still bone white. "Just- can I watch?"
Harry grinned evilly, James and Lily following suit. "Of course!" Harry chirped eagerly and they threw open the door, revealing a mangy, drunk Vernon Dursley.
"Who're you and whaddo yoush want?" he slurred, blearily staring at them through bloodshot eyes. He raised a bottle of beer to his fat, unshaven face, licked his lips, took a long swig, and belched heartily into Voldemort's face.
Everyone stared at him with revulsion. Voldemort looked as if he might just pass out from the fumes. With a snarl, he raised his wand, but Harry and Draco beat him to it, raising their hands and pushing outwards. Thick ropes wrapped themselves around Dursley's meaty arms and legs, pulling him back inside and splaying him face up on the carpet in the living room. Everyone glided into the house.
Harry blinked at the condition of the house. Everything was either filthy or completely broken. The Television, an armchair, and an end table were the only things in the room that were actually workable, and they were crusted with unimaginable filth. Pizza boxes and beer cans littered the hallway and carpeted floor, and paper plates were stacked three feet high all over the place. Harry banished everything, in order to give all of them a sanitary place to work.
"Youse, whatsh the fucsh??????" he half yelled, trying to sit up. The ropes held him fast and he craned his head, staring at them with utmost confusion. "Why am I tied down?" he asked, his voice surprisingly steady and calm.
Harry strode into the captive's line of sight. "Hello, Vernon," he purred, grinning evilly.
"Just - just great! I'm finally hallucinating!" Vernon snapped, rolling his eyes. "Great, I knew I'd get delirium tremors from this! My liver's gone! All gone," he added in a singsong.
Draco grimaced, plugging his ears. "Can someone shut him up?" he complained bitterly. "He sounds like a hippogriff that had its tail stepped on by a giant."
McNair snickered behind his mask. Harry grimaced. "You know, since we're working together, we might as well call a truce," he said to Voldemort. "What do you say? Twenty-four hour truce to torture this bastard?" He held out his hand.
To the amazement of everyone there, Voldemort took his hand eagerly. "I brought a guidebook!" he exclaimed, pulling out 'Torture for Dummies' and handing it over.
Severus snickered, taking the book from his nephew. "Don't you have enough knowledge to write this book?" he asked wryly.
"This is the updated version, with some very good ideas! All though, I'm not sure what a Teletubby or a Barney is," Voldemort mused, taking the book back from Severus and scanning the pages. Harry smothered his guffaw with a loud string of coughs, his face turning red.
Severus pounded Harry's back, shaking with laughter himself. "I'm sure that Harry can explain exactly what those are," he muttered.
Harry stared at the television fearfully. "You'd better not turn that thing on," he warned ominously. "It's one o'clock, which is Barney and Friends."
Draco shuddered, having seen Harry's memories of the traumatic event. "Don't touch that dial."
"Well, what shall we do first?" Lily asked, rubbing her hands together with undisguised glee.
"Well, I only need a knife, some lighter fluid and a lighter," Harry casually stated, eyeing Vernon with malice.
Voldemort stared at him. "That doesn't sound too inventive," he muttered.
"Just wait till you see what I'll do with it," Harry promised savagely.
Draco shuddered. "You wouldn't," he gasped.
Harry grinned evilly. "Eye for an eye, Draco. Let the punishment fit the crime." With a wave of his hand, Vernon was as naked as the day he was born. Everyone stared, morbidly amused at the pale pink bunny rabbit that sat in place of the monster's penis.
Severus grinned. "I'd forgotten that was there," he chuckled, poking at it with Voldemort's wand. The rabbit perked its ears up, its eyes sparkling. He waved his hand again and it disappeared, reverting to its normal shape.
"But it's so tiny," Lily giggled. "Make it do a trick!"
Harry snickered. Voldemort stared at it thoughtfully, a faint smirk on his face. So THAT'S how he managed to fit it inside a three year old. There wasn't anything there to begin with. Harry blanched and stepped forward, conjuring a knife.
Draco grinned, knowing exactly what was about to come. Harry directed the knife to cut hash marks from the edge of the monster's anus to the tip of his foreskin, going in first one direction and then the other. Dursley screamed, biting through his lower lip as he struggled to escape from his bonds. Voldemort had to walk away, the same as Remus. They both looked faintly green in the face. McNair pulled out a notebook and started taking notes, drawing diagrams and making variations.
Lily turned to James and Severus, who were watching with identical smirks, clearly enjoying the pain and humiliation the pedophile was undergoing. "Do you think that if we give him free reign now, he'll want to do this again some time?" she asked worriedly.
"I think he's fine, Lils. This piece of scum hurt him in the worst possible way. He wouldn't do this to anyone who didn't treat him any less badly," Severus whispered back. "Now stay quiet. You're ruining the screams." Lily stuck her tongue out but stayed quiet after that, content to watch.
Harry concentrated deeply, willing the memories on the surface of his subconscious not to spill over into his thoughts. He forced them away by dealing with the situation in front of him and making the slices deep enough to really hurt, yet shallow enough not to sever anything. "There really is a scientific method to torture," he mused, biting his lower lip in concentration.
Draco snickered. "Can I pour the lighter fluid?" he asked, bouncing from foot to foot in excitement. At Harry's nod, he conjured a bottle and, doused the hash marks liberally. Vernon gagged and threw up violently, howling in agony.
"Oh shut up. The pain hasn't even started yet," Harry muttered. Lily stepped forward and stood next to her son, an arm around his shoulders.
"Harry, love, can I light him up?" she asked, a pleading expression on her face.
"But I want to!" he protested, pouting. He brightened. "I was planning on paying him back for the knife work he used to do on me, but he won't heal the way I did every single time." Remus and Voldemort walked back in to hear that last bit.
Lily stared murderously at the pile of shit being held down by the ropes. "What knife work?" she, Remus, James, Severus, and McNair asked. Voldemort and Draco looked vaguely sick, as they both had seen the memories.
"He used to carve obscenities into my skin, over and over. If I wasn't able to heal the way I do, I would have anything from 'Freak' and 'Bitch' to 'Whore' and anything else he liked to call me." Harry's eyes had grown distant, pain clouding them. Draco gripped his hand, and he shook his head, clearing it of unwanted memories.
Lily grinned, conjuring a knife. James and Severus followed suit. "Can we do some carving of our own?" she asked gleefully.
Harry nodded. "Leave me a space about three inches tall across the nipple line. Other than that, go for it."
"Can we light them on fire?" Severus asked, grinning.
"You read my mind," Harry said absently, conjuring a lighter. Vernon's eyes went wide and he started whimpering.
"No! I'm sorry, please, please don't light it on fire, please, I- I- I'll do anything! This is some joke, right? Please, please!" His voice grew progressively higher as Harry lit the lighter and, a maniacal grin on his face, held the flickering flame to the monster's genitals.
"Go ahead, Vernon," Harry hissed, his eyes a solid viridian. "Scream." With a whoosh, the lighter fluid ignited. Vernon screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and, just for the hell of it, screamed some more. Lily, James and Severus each grabbed a knife and started carving obscenity after obscenity on his chest, arms, legs, and anywhere they could reach. Soon, blood ran down in rivers, staining the carpet crimson.
After about fifteen minutes of uninterrupted screaming, Harry put out the fire with a wave of his hand and leaned forward to grinning at the blackened flesh.
"Why'd you put it out?" Voldemort asked curiously. "I'd have just let the entire thing burn."
"But where's the fun in that?" Draco countered easily. "He still has the equipment, but now he can't use it."
"What do you mean?" McNair asked, studying the burns with interest.
Harry sighed. "Doesn't anyone in the Wizarding world have any idea of human anatomy?" Voldemort looked confused. "How the body works?" Vernon chose at that moment to moan and pass out. "Enervate."
"Mediwizards, Mediwitches and Healers, but no one else really needs that stuff," James supplied.
"All right, fine." Harry thought for a minute. "Scar tissue – you know what that is, right?"
Voldemort glared at him. "We aren't stupid."
"It shrinks in comparison to other skin tissue, permanently curving his penis." Harry continued, ignoring Voldemort. "Therefore, he'll never be able to achieve an erection again. The scar tissue will shrink, preventing him from doing anything but pissing out of it for the rest of his life. He'll never be able to hurt a child that way again."
"Bloody brilliant," Severus mused. "I have a suggestion, though." He knelt down, examining the burns. "If we speed up the scarring, would it curve more, thereby ensuring it would never function properly again?"
"I want him in pain for as long as possible," Harry pouted.
Severus held up his hands in surrender. "All right, it's your call."
Draco grinned, tousling Harry's hair. Ain't he smart? And so demanding! Lily snickered, tossing Harry a knife.
"You turn, now." Harry went to work diligently, carving letters three inches high into the space left on Vernon's chest. He double-carved the word FREAK, peeling the quarter inch of skin in between lines away, and dousing it with lighter fluid and happily lighting it. Vernon started screaming again and again, arching and begging for relief.
His screams continued on and on for hours as they came up with new and interesting ways to make him suffer for everything he had done to Magical children.
Twenty hours later, having exhausted the diabolical genius of a Dark Lord, his minions, five Demigods, and a Werewolf, they all took a break from causing the pedophilic monster as much pain as humanly possible.
"Well, now what?" Remus asked, magically cleaning the kitchen with a few well placed 'scourgifys.'
This place needs too be nuked,Harry thought wryly, gagging at the filth of half eaten microwavable dinners, crusty takeout cartons, and abundance of beer bottles that spilled from the overflowing garbage. This place isn't even habitable any more. He shuddered with revulsion.
Draco grimaced as an enormous cockroach scuttled across the floor. "This is SO gross!" he complained. "Can we hurry up and decide what to do so we can get out of here? I need a shower!"
Harry shrugged. "Really, I didn't even plan THIS far. It was always some insane hope in the back of my head that I could hurt him as badly as he hurt me. I never thought about what to do afterwards."
Lily grinned. "Well, do you mind if WE do something?" she asked sweetly.
Harry shrugged again. "I don't really care. I'm not going to kill him because I want him to live with what we did to him."
James grinned, a slow evil smile. "Oh, I think he'll have PLENTY of time to reflect on the evil he had committed."
"Voldemort?" Lily asked easily.
"Yes?" he asked, a bit nervously.
"I have a business proposition for you." Grinning, she led him out of the kitchen and back into the living room, where they sat on the only two whole pieces of furniture left. Lily took the table while the Dark Lord perched on an armrest.
"Well?" he prompted the Demigoddess.
"You want Vernon, yes?"
"I do want the bastard. He did humiliate me. Having him as a permanent party favor would be nice."
"I'll give him to you if you give me someone we want."
Understanding dawned on Voldemort's face. "You want the one who betrayed you."
"Yes. Wormtail for Dursley."
Voldemort thought it over for a minute. The rat has outlived his usefulness, which means I can get rid of him. So, I get the best of the deal. "Done!"
Lily stood and extended her hand gleefully. "It's a deal, then."
Voldemort shook her hand firmly. "You really aren't dead," he mused. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Like I said- you can't kill an immortal. You merely ended my physical existence for a while. I came back when it got too boring up top," she smirked.
Voldemort shook his head, more than a little confused and exasperated. Bloody immortals! Never give you a straight answer!
Lily chuckled. "We say the same thing all the time, but it's 'Bloody Mother! She never gives you a straight answer!' instead."
"Mother?" he asked curiously.
Lily sighed. "God. I suppose Clautius never told you what is really going on and what this whole conflict is all about?" she asked quietly.
"He gave me power. Why would I question that?" he asked. "Why are we talking about this? We're on different sides of the war."
"The whole 'blood purity' issue is only the tip of the iceberg. Harry wasn't kidding when he said you are not his adversary, Clautius is. Don't get involved with the affairs of demigods. Mortals are the ones who suffer most in our conflicts. In a nutshell, Clautius wants to take over the universe. Earth isn't even a priority to him. All it is for him is a way to gain recruits, i.e. willing slaves to die for him. By the time he's done, Earth may not even be here any more. If you get out now, you may have a chance to escape him. As someone who had been fighting him for her entire life, you want as little to do with this as possible."
Voldemort stared at her. "I'll think about it, but you have given me only speculation, not proof. Give me proof, and I'll think about it some more."
Lily sighed. "That is for Alanna and your soul mate to do, if you even have one. It's not my place."
Voldemort sighed and stood up. "As fun as this has been, I have to call an end to it. I'll collect my end of the bargain and leave you with yours." They walked back into the kitchen in silence.
In the kitchen, Wormtail was sandwiched between the wall and an equally enraged Remus and James. "Just wait, you little shit. I swear, when we get through with you, you'll beg for Azkaban." Wormtail whimpered his eyes wide and his face pasty.
"That sounds like an agreeable plan, Potter, Lupin," Voldemort stared with an evil grin, walking back into the kitchen. Lily gave her son a hug, grinning.
"So, we'll see you sometime in the future, Voldemort," she said with an evil grin.
He grinned back at her. "I'll take what you said into consideration. Come, McNair. We need to collect out trade." Wormtail moved to follow them, but Lily blocked his escape.
Voldemort turned and, with a wave of his hand, severed the mental link between himself and the former Death Eater. "You are the other end of the trade, Wormtail. I release you from my service." With that, they disappeared into the other room.
"But Master?" Wormtail asked, terrified. He shifted form and scurried into the other room. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Wormtail howled, a blood chilling sound, from the other room. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!!!!!"
Lily, James and Remus strolled into the other room and came back with a petrified rat. "Let's go home, loves," Lily announced, holding up the rat like a prize. "We have to make some people grovel."
With that, they Apparated back to Hogwarts and into Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster jumped almost a foot when they all appeared inside his office.
"Yes?" he asked shortly.
Lily put the rat on his desk, smirking. "A present from Voldemort."
"From Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked slowly, his eyebrows in his hairline. "How did you ever get him from Tom?"
"Simple. My wife is a brilliant negotiator," James said smugly, his arms around his wife's waist.
"What did you give him?" Dumbledore asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Someone who hurt one of my pack," Remus growled, hugging Harry.
Dursley. Can't say I'm surprised. "I don't want to know any more," Dumbledore sighed with a wry smile. "That way, if Aurors come around, asking questions, I can't be incriminated by association. Just answer one question, though, before you go. Harry, did it make you feel better?"
Harry stared him straight in the eye. "Yes." They left the office, an old man's chuckles the last thing they heard.
.
A/N: See what a little depression will give you? A KICKASS torture scene! On a more serious note, how do you work the quick edit thingie??? I can't get any text to appear in the edit part and it won't let me upload asterisks for telepathy any more. Is any one else having problems????? This is weirding me out and pissing me off!!! I can't get any bold or italics or anything to upload with the actual document and it won't let me fix it! Ok, I got it for the last chapter with the bold and italics and underline but I think you have to sign out and back in to do more than one chapter. This is pissing me off. I WANT MY ASTERISKS BACK, DAMN IT!!!!! (Eats a bar of chocolate) I wish this was Wizarding chocolate... oh well.
B/N: Alrighty, people! Bidding for Demigods begins two days from now, so get your cookies ready! Now, this is an add on to the rules from the last chappie, and if you didn't read the B/N in the last chappie, please do so now.............. done? Ok, we are doing things a little complicatedly, so pay attention. You can bid on any two demigods, meaning they do not have to be soul mates in the story (we prefer that you don't split up soul mates, but the floor stays open as long as you don't horrifically traumatize them.... So no horrific traumatizing) and we are giving them away to the highest bidder, no matter the pairing. F. y. i. we cannot do multiple pairings and shit, so like, if somebody bids on a Lily/James and someone else bids on a James/Olivia (for what ever reason you would pick THAT pairing... shudder) then whoever bids highest gets the pair they ordered! And remember, all bids must be in by 11:59:59 on May 20, 2004! Then, the floor closes and no more biddy! Another thing, this is a Demigod auction, meaning if you bid on a character that is not a Demigod, we will not regard your bid. Just so you people don't get confused, here is the list of Demigods and their Soul mates:
Harry and Draco
James and Lily
Severus and Laurel
Alanna and Xander
Gaila and Raphael
Olivia and Michael
Damien and Nicholai
Godric and Salazar
Rowan and Gabrielle
A/N: Leave an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. Oh, and the top three bids, (each of a different pairing,) gets the pair they bid on for the duration of the three days. LEAVE THE EMAIL ADDY SO WE CAN CONTACT YOU WITH FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!!!!! YOU WILL LIKE THEM!!!!!!! Winners will be announced with Chapter 29! COME ON, BID!!!!!