Chapter 18

• Twins •

"Hello again Harry Potter," a voice said quietly from in front of him. Harry still was frozen, unsure what was happening or where he was. The room was dark, and musty, but there was a tiny speck of light just in front of them but nothing else. The darkness concealed the voice.

Something purred in his ear and Harry shivered at the unnatural sound. "Want to play before the others come 'round? Surely the great Harry Potter wouldn't pass up the chance to learn about where he is, after all, he does want to become an Auror now, doesn't he?" the voice in front of him asked.

Even trying with ever ounce of strength he had Harry couldn't even budge his mouth to speak. Something smacked him hard on the back, and he tumbled forward. Halfway down the stiffness that had held him released and Harry reached out to stop his fall, accidentally letting go of his wand. It struck the ground but immediately flew out from beneath him, the girl in front of him having summoned it.

Harry didn't draw his second wand, he didn't want her to know he had one, but he did tuck into a ball and glance up to see his captor. No one was there, his wand was floating in mid air.

"Invisibility cloak," Harry said sighing.

"Old trick, but it certainly works out in a pinch," the voice said and a shimmer revealed that whoever was under the cloak was moving. Harry didn't have to wait fore very long before the cloak was removed and he found he was looking at a familiar face. "You!" he said, surprised. "But I just knocked you unconscious."

"Afraid not," said a voice came from behind Harry's again; the girl beneath the cloak had yet to speak still. Lights burst through the room as several torches were immediately ignited, and Harry turned to look at the girl who was talking. "That was me you hit, and hasn't anyone ever taught you not to hit girls? Shame on you, maybe we should teach you some manners."

Something snapped and Harry felt himself get slammed into the ground like he'd fallen from the ceiling even though he was only inches from it. "That was quite a punch you had there," the voice continued, but Harry couldn't look up, he felt the sole of a shoe pressed against his head, forcing his face into the cold pavement.

"You're quite the hero aren't you Harry?" asked the voice as Harry felt the foot press harder against his head. "Risking your life to save a group of witches and wizards who never did anything for you. I bet it gets you off, doesn't it? Makes you feel better than them?"

Something cold pressed against his right arm and there was a tearing sound. He could feel the cold draft of the room higher and higher on his arm and wondered why she was cutting his cloak from his arms. "Maybe we should remove his hand, see how well he does at hitting woman without it?" The girl in front of him said, but stopped, shaking her head, and with it her whole body.

"I want to play with him before you mar him," the girl continued, as if she hadn't said the first comment. She seemed to be talking to herself. "It's my right, he marked me, not you."

"Marked?" Harry said into the ground, it was difficult to speak, but they did hear him. He wasn't sure what to make of the two girls, the one in front hadn't spoken at all

The foot on his head let up a little and he found himself jerked into the air, held above the two. "Come on," the girl said, a glint of sadistic playfulness in her eyes. "You don't want to play? But we already got off to such a good start." She turned and lifted her chin to show a discolored spot on her chin that was turning purple.

The other girl moved and Harry saw a knife from the corner of his eye. He tried to jerk back, but found he couldn't do more than wiggle in mid air. In a second and with no more indications that she was even using the knife, the right sleeve of his robe was on the floor. He looked down and watched as his shoes were slipped off his feet. Then, the girl moved behind him Harry was suddenly horrified, his other wand was in his left sleeve and if he lost that he'd be helpless.

"Come on, ask me a question and I'll give you an answer… and something else." The girl in front of Harry whispered. "Don't mind my sisters, she's just getting everything prepared.

"Prepared for what?" Harry asked immediately and the girl smiled wickedly. "Oh, already getting into the fun stuff. I thought you might like to know about the place, or why we didn't take you away immediately. I did know you were there after all, my sister and I can… communicate. She told me you were coming in the back before you even made it through the window."

"But, I guess I'll just have to answer your question, I said I would."

Somehow his second sleeve slipped loose and he felt it slid from his arm and onto the ground. It didn't hit the ground hard, but it was apparent something was inside it. He grimaced as his captor stooped in front of him and picked it up. "Oh," she said shivering, "another wand. You were more prepared than we thought." Harry wasn't sure how to interpret what he was seeing her do, it looked as if she was happy, not because he'd lost his wand, but because he'd had it.

"Were you going to use that on me?" she asked after she had shivered again. "Curse me until I'm bleeding and half dead?"

Harry struggled again and felt the knife touch his skin on the back of his robe. He hadn't even felt it being cut, until that moment. It didn't take long to realize what the girl behind him was doing. He struggled again, but it only shook his robes more until they'd almost come off altogether.

They did drop off a moment later as the girl finished the cut she'd been making.

"We're going to have some fun… I could describe it to you, but you didn't ask for details now, did you." the girl said as the robe dropped off. The cut the girl had been making had finally reached the neck. Harry was glad he'd worn something underneath his clothing because otherwise he'd have been completely naked in front of them. As it was all he was wearing was an undershirt and some boxers. The cool wind of the chamber they were in didn't make matter worse, he shivered and gooseflesh rose all over his body.

The girl in front of him moved to the side and disappeared out of Harry's sight, he tried to turn to her but found he couldn't. A finger caressed the back of his neck and Harry shivered again, but not from the cold. The two necklaces he wore moved as the finger pushed them up his neck.

"Ooh, another scar, this one looks like it hurt," she said as her fingers traced to the top of his shirt. There was a brief tearing sound and the shirt dropped away from him. Her finger continued, tracing slowly down the backbone, following the main branch of the scar. "This didn't come from a physical attack did it? It looks far too random, did a curse do this to you?"

Harry didn't answer.

Something sharp penetrated the back of his neck, where the scar was centered on and Harry screamed in pain. "You answer my question, I'll answer another of yours."

"Yes," Harry groaned as the painful feeling ebbed.

"What's your next question then?" The girl asked, her hands returning to tracing the scar, strand by strand.

"Where am I?"

One of the strands of the scar twirled up to his ear and her fingers followed it softly, making Harry turn red, the feelings he was getting were becoming less and less focused on getting out. As the finger left his head Harry felt a soft breath against his ear instead of a finger. "You're in a cell in the dungeons of our Dark Lords Lair. It's been protected by every charm imaginable to keep people in and undisturbed. Apparating will just splinch you and make it more fun to play with you." The voice said, breathing softly in his ear still. It moved away from him and then was suddenly in his other ear, the finger tracing another of the scars on his back.

"Was it painful, did it make you scream?" the voice asked as it found the back of his neck again to trace another line.

"More than the Cruciatus curse," Harry replied, flinching at her touch. The finger paused as he spoke and he heard another purring sound.

"What was the curse?" The voice asked, not so close to his ear, but it sounded as if it were trembling.

Harry shook his head though, refusing to answer. "I get a question first," he said as insistently as possible. It was hard to think about anything else right now, but he was keeping more focused than most teenagers would have been able to.

"Alright then," the woman said and the finger continued down one of the longer strands in his back. With a jerk he found that he was completely naked in mid air and he felt helpless. It helped him focus more.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

There was a combined set of giggling, it wasn't girlish giggling, it was darker, more evil. "Why we're going to have fun with you. It's more fun to play with a man… or in this case, a boy, when they're exposed. Besides, you've got nothing to be embarrassed about."

Harry tried to move again, to cover himself up because of how exposed he felt, but wasn't able to move at all.

"So," the girl said. "Which curse did that?"

"Avada Kedavra," Harry whispered.

That certainly caught their attention. Neither of them touched him for a long moment, or even breathed, it was like everything had stopped for a moment. The moment passed and Harry heard them both gasp.

"You're not lying, are you?" the girl asked. "You really survived another one."

Someone appeared not far beyond the door, a hunched over man wearing a cloak. "He did," the man said and Harry recognized the voice. He wasn't sure where from, but he'd heard it before.

"Put something on him," the figure said, "I really don't care to see him displayed for the entire world."

"Jealous, are we?" the girl asked. Harry tried to pull his knee's up again to cover himself, but still found himself immobile.

The man shook his head, but it still stayed under the hood. "The others are returning, and this is not the proper way to present him, is it?"

"Go away, we want to have fun," the girl said, pouting. Harry didn't think it was real pouting, but it was pretty obvious that they wanted the man to leave.

The man shook his head, even though he'd gone as far as the doorway. "You're not allowed to have fun if you don't share. And you're going to anger him if the boy is hurt."

"We captured him. We should be able to have fun with him," the girl said.

"You're really set on having fun with them aren't you? Well, don't say I didn't warn you," the man said and disappeared around the corner.

A hand snaked around Harry's neck and he felt the breath in his ear again. "We're all alone now, do you want to have some fun? I can tell this is turning you on, you can't hide it." As another hand slipped around the front of Harry's stomach, he jerked involuntarily. His hand tried to move, to grasp something for support, but there was nothing there and he went into the memory floating in mid air.

He was crying. Everything was done and over with and he couldn't help but cry. Someone had their arms wrapped around his neck and chest with their head against the back of his holding him for security.

"I couldn't help them," he said, his hands still trembling. "Sebastian and Edward, James and Judith, they were there through it all and I couldn't protect them. They all died because I wasn't strong enough."

"You defeated him though, you saved the rest of them and helped make the world a better place. Isn't that enough?" the woman asked. Harry immediately recognized that it was Deborah, the person who'd helped him in a previous memory.

Beyond him there was a castle that was almost completely demolished, a black fire burning it. The air still stank of blood and some other foul odor that seemed to be emanating from the castle. Voices seemed to come and go with the wind, but Harry saw no one, he just continued to stare at the castle, tears flowing down his face.

The grip on him loosened and then left, he turned to see why and found that Deborah was on the ground, looking much paler than usual. She smiled as tears dripped onto her face. "It was worth it you know, saving everyone. My children are still alive, and they're going to have a good life without Grindelwald around to terrorize them. Take care of them for me, please."

After several strong coughs and her body trembling there was a gurgling sound and then all was quiet. Harry looked at the woman, crestfallen, almost beyond any help. His best friend, his confidant, was dead she'd come to aid him in making sure that Grindelwald had died.

Picking her up delicately, he walked her to the place where Deborah had buried James. They owned the whole area, and no one would no any different now that the war was over. Decidedly and slowly, holding back his tears as best as possible, he dug the hole where he would bury his best friend. Her two children, at two and four, were still far too young to understand death, so when they did he would bring them back to the gravestone.

After placing the body and leaving charms to keep the redcaps from getting to the grave Harry transfigured a piece of stone into a grave marker.

James and Deborah Potter

Loving husband and wife, mother and father, friends to all.

Forever remembered.

He scrawled on the stone, tears flowing down his face.

Harry didn't know what to think as he stared at the gravestone of his great-grandparents. He knew it was them intuitively, as if the memory connected to other knowledge. Had he been in his own body he would have cried as Dumbledore cried now. Still, in his own mind he had to choke back the tears. He didn't know what to think or say, not that he could do much of either. Still, he felt as if he needed to say something over their graves and let them know that their children would have made them proud

"I told you he was just having a fit, it wasn't anything we did," someone's voice cut through the haze of the memory. He remembered the voice, and as he associated it with the face everything that had happened to him came flooding back. He could feel the cold stone against his naked body and he pulled himself into a ball, hoping they wouldn't display him as they had earlier.

"He'll be fine," someone else said; a voice that Harry didn't recognize. "Just leave him here, we'll send some elves to get him dressed to meet our lord."

"But we want to do it," the female's voice whined. "We still haven't gotten to play with him."

There was an evil laugh, and the door shut even with the female's voice protesting it. "You'll get your time with him…" the voice said coldly. "We all will."

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