Chapter 15 It's in the Blood

"Wake!"

Harry opened his eyes to the familiar pain. He didn't care how much it hurt. Harry turned his head away from Delphini and closed his eyes. He refused to be a pawn in her game.

Delphini, not about to be deterred, walked to the other side of the stone table, and for the first time in her life, felt empathy for another soul.

"Hey, I'm sorry."

Harry opened his eyes in surprise and squinted at Delphini, who placed his glasses on his nose.

"You know I can fix that for you. Your sight," she said.

Harry still squinted, even though his glasses were on. "You've always looked familiar to me. What did you do to your hair?"

"Oh, I forgot I had it on." She pulled off the dirty blonde wig and shook out her natural locks. "Well, my secret is out now, isn't it?"

Harry didn't reply. He still couldn't quite put his finger on where he had seen her.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Delphini roughly put the wig in place. "Granger Weasley Clinic. How may I help you?"

Recognition and horror dawned. Harry struggled to sit. Struggled to move. He only stopped when he realized the scream was coming from him.

"Please! I beg of you! I would rather be dead than this waking torture!" Harry tried to stop writhing from the pain. He did not know how long he had been in this suspended revolution of sleep or pain. He might have been here for hours, days, or months. Harry only knew when he was conscious the pain was debilitating. They did not give him food or drink, but he was not hungry or thirsty. Would he slowly die of thirst or malnutrition? He would rather piss her off to get it over quickly.

Delphini tsked and placed her hands on his shoulders. The pain disappeared, but he heard the loud thunk of heavy metal chains as they bound themselves to his ankles and wrists, then like a snake, a chain crawled over his body, wrapping itself over his chest, and binding him into place.

"There. Is that better?"

Harry didn't respond. It was better. Immensely better. But he didn't want to give her the satisfaction.

"I have been coming down here and watching you sleep. We are alike, you and I. Both of us had our parents taken from us in infancy, so we never really knew them. Not really. Just our idea of what they were like." Delphini leaned closer to Harry and whispered in his ear, "I never knew how annoying my father could be."

She straightened, smiled, and winked at Harry. "Neither of us had much affection growing up, did we? They kept me under lock and key. Daddy's dirty little secret. I heard they locked you in a cupboard, too. Is that true?"

Harry gave a slight nod.

"I would think you, of all people, would understand me. I get you. You think you were a product of love. But in my way, so was I. But then my father killed your parents. You killed my father. Round and round it goes."

"It doesn't have to. It could stop with us," Harry replied.

"I want a family. A powerful one. A father to guide me. I want a mother to… do whatever it is mothers do. I'm tired of being alone. Tired of being hidden away."

"Maybe I understand how much you want a family, but I wouldn't hurt anyone because of it. I won't let you hurt my friends."

"Ah… there is the righteousness I have heard of. Understand this. I am done being told what to do or how to be. I will do what I want to do and everyone else can go to bloody hell for all I care."

"Isn't that interesting? You want your parents to guide you, but you don't want anyone to tell you what to do. I know your father. Probably better than you do. He won't listen to you. Voldemort won't listen to anyone. He will demand things from you. He won't ask or value your opinion. And your mother… she won't be baking cookies and inviting you to talk about boys. What are you thinking? What…"

Harry choked off mid-sentence as the chains fell away and the pain shot through his body once again. With a wave of Delphini's wand, he once again succumbed to darkness.