"Heretic!" denotes speech
'I'm not a Heretic' denotes thought
AN at bottom
Price of Redemption Chapter 2 Nothing like a Woman Scorned!
Nymphradora Tonks stormed out of the kitchen, which had held the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix just an hour earlier. She had a look of ferocity and determination in her eyes, and she ignored the people situated around the room in varying states of sadness. She kept on walking, but to those that watched her, she seemed to slowly vanish into thin air.
Dark Fortress
Harry sat up against the wall, his head hurt terribly and his magic was close to exhausted…but he smiled slightly, remembering why he could no longer see. He heard the click of heels approaching his cell, and remembered that it was time for his nightly torture session. He grimaced, but straightened his face before the deatheater arrived in front of his cell.
Harry knew that the prophecy had stopped being the number one reason of his torture sessions…now it was just for the pleasure of the deatheaters and Voldemort. As he was escorted from his cell to be roughly thrown in front of the Dark Lord himself, Harry couldn't help but give a mental shudder at what was coming. Voldemort laughed as he saw Harry forced to his knees in front of him yet again.
The deatheaters laughed cruelly along with their master. When Voldemort gave the signal, the deatheaters started the torture. Harry screamed as the pain tore at his frail body. He usually could resist it when only one or maybe two deatheaters cast it on him, but when a lot cast it…he felt agony beyond anything he had been subjected to before. He felt his mind's defense crack some more…then he felt the sickening sensation of Voldemort entering his mind yet again, trying to make the crack wider.
"Yes…give in to the pain…it can all be over as soon as you just give up, boy!" Voldemort said in glee.
Harry so wanted to give in…to let his body fail, as it has been wanting to do for so long…to fall into death's embrace…to be with his parents and Sirius. But then his friends flash across his mind's eye…followed by other people he hadn't even met personally. People he had seen in Hogsmeade when he had gone there…children in Diagon Alley as he bought his supplies…hanging onto their father or mother with smiles on their faces. Then the scene changed to death…the children on the ground, bloody and torn…his friends lifeless eyes staring up at him…Tonks' lifeless eye's staring at him. He roared in rage and sadness!
'No! I will not give up! I will not doom this world to darkness just cause a little pain!' his mind screamed. His mental shields slammed back to full strength, and Voldemort was forced out of his mind before even getting in, yet again.
Voldemort growled in anger, "Fine then boy! It matters not that you won't give me the prophecy, you will die soon enough!"
Harry continued to cry out for another ten minutes before his throat failed him and he could no longer make noise. All he could do was shake and convulse as the curse did its work. Hours later, when they had exhausted the fun of his pain, they threw him back into his cell. Harry lay there still convulsing. His mind was still intact, but he knew he couldn't last much longer…his body was failing too fast, and his magic was getting to low to support it.
'Gods, protect this world…for I have failed it…' He thought tiredly, he couldn't last another day of this torture…
Elvin Realm
Tonks charged through the streets, desperate to reach her Great-Grandfather. He had left the human realm to join his wife many years ago. Tonks knew that the two would help her… and their help guaranteed Harry's safety. She charged past the guards, who knew who she was and let her pass. She ran through the massive complex in which they lived and reached the huge oaken doors that led to where she knew they would be, flinging them open.
In front of her was a long hall highly decorated with weapons and armor from many battles in the past. A long red carpet led to two ornate thrones, in which two regal looking elves sat listening to another elf in fine looking robes.
"Grandfather!" she yelled running right up to him, her heart racing. The regal elf on the thrown looked up at her with a smile on his face, but it disappeared when he noticed her eyes.
"What is it child?" he asked gently, sitting back in his throne. He noticed his wife looking expectantly at their great-grandchild as well.
"It's Harry, Grandfather, they've captured him and…and…tortured him, are STILL torturing him," she said shaking slightly at the mental image of what she knew they had done to him, "The wizards can't get in to save him, they've been trying to for weeks!"
"That isn't all, Grandfather, he sacrificed his chance of freedom for two of our own! He has freed Bellatrix and Narcissa from their potion induced servitude!" she informed, knowing that he would love to hear of their freedom and in turn influence his decision.
King Leoric Blackmoon prided himself on being able to hide his emotions, and it was well known throughout the realm that he could hide them well, but when he heard this, he broke out into a smile, beyond thankful that the two elves had finally been freed. His smile disappeared when what she said caught up with him. The boy was being tortured! And he had saved his granddaughters from their servitude!
His face turned into one of anger, and Tonks knew that she had the help of the King of the Elves. He stood up in anger, "Summon General Irator!"
He stood waiting not five minutes when a heavily armored elf walked into the hall, he walked directly up to king and kneeled, "How may I be of service my King?"
Leoric looked down on the elf he had entrusted the command of the armies to, "Stand my friend, we must plan a rescue."
Irator stood, "Who are we rescuing my King?" He was happy at another chance to test out the Elites that had just finished their training. 'A rescue mission would be a fine test of their skills,' he thought.
"A human boy, who has been captured by the current Dark Lord," Leoric said, "My grand-daughter has more information then me, so she will explain."
"A human my King?" Irator said perplexed, "Why would we bother with the war brewing in the wizarding world just for this human boy?"
Tonks' eyes turned to slits and she grabbed the respected soldier by the throat and lifted him high, armor and all. Metamorphagus skills are more useful then just changing looks…they can be used to increase muscle strength, and with the already high strength of an elf…well…
"He is not just a 'boy,' Irator…and he rescued two elves from servitude, something you have FAILED to do for a while now, and he is my friend, the man I love, and I swear to the Gods if you so much as breath in an insulting manner towards him, I will break your back!" she said in a rage, before throwing the very much shocked general onto the ground.
She huffed for a bit…before she realized what she had just done. She immediately started to blush, which only increased when she noticed the half shocked, half amused looks on the King and Queen's faces. She grimaced and reached down to help the general up, muttering apologies along the way.
For his own part, the general just shook off her apologies, "I should have worded that better, make no mistake, I find no disrespect for humanity, but I am reluctant to involve ourselves in another war with them."
In his mind, the general kept berating himself for being so foolish as to sound disrespectful to humans. The King himself had lived among humans for a very long time! Besides…he found it funny that he, who was far older and more experienced then the young elf in front of him, had gotten beaten down like a pup.
Tonks nodded again, and told the general all she had known, what she guessed his condition was, which surprised and sickened the other elves listening to her, and what she knew of the fortress he was being held at, which included a map provided by a hopeful Snape.
The general took all this in, and already knew that it would be easy to get in and out with the target. All they had to worry about was the condition of the target. He nodded to the group of elves, "I will get the party ready for the rescue, he will be resting in an Elvin infirmary by the end of the night."
Tonks smiled hopefully as Irator left, then turned to see her great-grandparents looking at her. She grew sheepish immediately, "What?"
"So you love him? Are you sure of your feelings?" asked the Queen gently, showing that she wasn't trying to control her, but only offering advice.
"Yes…I've known him for two years, even if a lot of that time was only talking through letters, I love who he is. Every time I see him in person, I learn something more to love about him…how he always puts other before himself…how he seems to see the true nature of a person just by looking at them…" she said, tears coming to her eyes as she thought of the pain he was in.
She hugged herself, trying to keep the negative thoughts away, "How he always tells me to be myself and never change just because someone asks me to…he is so sweet and compassionate…why does he have to live such an agonizing life…abused at home…hurt at school…forced to become something he doesn't want to by the world…and then he loses Sirius to top it all off…"
Leoric got up and took the young elf into his arms, trying to sooth the distraught woman, "Do not worry, we will protect him, like he was one of us, he will never be hurt while under our care!"
Outside the Dark Fortress around midnight
Two deatheaters chatted as they did the nightly patrol, laughing sometimes at the sick jokes one or the other would tell. They didn't hear the soft twang of bows being released, or the slight whistle of arrows cutting through the air. They didn't know that they were doomed until two arrows struck each of them, one in the heart, one in the throat to cut off their screams.
Six dark elves quietly moved forward, with two moving the bodies into the bushes, before they all made their way into the fortress, the elf wizard among them deactivating the wards in place for a short time. They moved stealthily through the fortress, in the direction they knew would lead them to the dungeons in which their target was being held.
They reached the dungeons after taking out a number of deatheaters along the way, all stuffed into closets or other alcoves. The leader stopped and raised his hand in a signal for the others to stop as well. He sniffed the air, but crinkled his nose when he smelled the heavy stench of blood and pain in the air. He used hand signals to tell his team that they were close to the target.
Harry couldn't sleep, he knew he should to try and rebuild some of his energy, but his head just wouldn't stop hurting. Besides, the guard in front of him was snoring against the metal bars. Then Harry got an idea…a stupid and impossible to achieve idea, but an idea none the less. He could use the keys he knew the guard had and escape! Sure, their were tons deatheaters from here to the exit, but Harry knew that this was his last chance to get out.
'Besides…I would rather go out fighting like a baby then on my knees in front of that thing they call master!' Harry thought with a nod. He used some of his magic to charge up his body for this last fight, then he opened his magical 'eyes.' It was a gift he had discovered not too long ago, but found it hard to use, especially in a magic rich area…like here or Hogwarts.
It allowed him to see magic itself, though Harry didn't know that he was seeing magic, he just thought it was some kind of cool thing like Mad-Eye Moody's trick. He didn't realize that this gift was from his true heritage, showing that it was almost time for his change. He also didn't realize that when he used this skill, two glowing dots appeared over the scars that were once his eyes.
He looked over his guard, and shook his head sadly when all he saw was the vile green pulse going along his magical veins, signifying that he was truly evil. Harry slowly made his way up to him, only able to be quiet do to the magic burst he sent into his body. He wrapped his hand over the mans mouth and chin quickly, then with strength and speed that didn't match his body's condition, snapped his head to the side…breaking the man's neck.
He slowly slid the man down to the ground, "Find peace in the after-life my misguided friend."
He reached around until he found the key, which was glowing with its own inlaid magic. He looked around the bars till he found the lock and inserted the key. The bars slid to the side easily and he gently stepped out, reaching down to find the man's knife. He dared not use the wand, his magic was far to low and already being used to sustain his movement. He took a few steps forward before he heard the slightest whisper of air in the corridor he was in.
When they had taken his eyes, his body had adjusted itself accordingly. He knew that it wasn't long enough for a major change to occur, but his other senses had gotten stronger in response to the loss of his sight. Harry couldn't 'see' around the curve of the corridor and hid in a slight alcove, kneeling and making himself as small as possible. His magical eyes scanned the darkness in front of him, waiting for whoever was making that ever so slight shuffle to walk past.
The shuffling stopped and he waited five minutes. Deeming it safe enough to look out, he ended up with the tip of a sword at his face. He jumped back and rolled out of the alcove, knowing the being with the sword would come after him. He was on his feet as fast as he could and raised the knife up, ready to die fighting. His mouth opened in shock however when he noticed that the beings in front of him were none other then elves!
The elves had heard the movement of something in front of them and had moved forward to the spot they knew whatever had made the movement was hiding. They had waited until finally another human looked out, only to jump back into the alcove and roll right, far enough away from the Elvin group to see their next move. They registered right away the boy's condition and the stance he was in. It was the eyes that got their attention the most…or lack of eyes to be more precise, though the green dots floating in front of his face had to be something for sight, they reasoned.
The elf leader lowered his weapon, and the others followed. "Are you Harry Potter?" he asked in perfect english.
The boy was suspicious for a second, and the glowing dots looked over the group, before he smiled and nodded.
"We are here to rescue you, first let our healer look you over and…" he was cut off by a grinding noise as the section of wall right beside the boy moved sideways, revealing a deatheater who must have been on her way to replace the guard Harry had killed.
Harry looked over her quickly, judging the color of the her veins, he knew that she still had a chance to change. Harry slapped his fist over her mouth and tripped her to the ground, keeping his hand over her mouth while he moved the knife to her throat.
"I give you a chance…something most would never give…leave the ranks of Voldemort, and you shall have a chance at forgiveness," Harry said quietly, she looked up fearfully at him, but shook her head, mumbling something into his hand. He gently removed his hand, only far enough where he could understand her.
"I can't," she said in a broken whisper, "My parents won't let me…" Her eyes were full of tears of self hate and sadness.
Harry gave her a gentle smile, knowing she wasn't lying, "Go to Dumbledore…tell him, he will help you, if he is reluctant, tell him Harry says to believe you."
She looked at him for a second, before nodding. Harry nodded back, then frowned, "In ten minutes, go tell Voldemort you found my guard dead…you should be safe from his wrath long enough for you to escape and make it to Dumbledore."
She nodded and he released her, and she disappeared back into the door, which closed behind her. The elves looked at him for a second, then the leader nodded, "She will not bring more to us?"
Harry shook his head…before he fell to his knees. His magic was failing…he could barely breath now. He saw the elves rush to his side before he blacked out…desperately fighting to stay alive.
AN: I didn't change much here, a few words, fixed some grammar as well.
