Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling. This fic is based on 'The Darkness Within' by Kurinoone, Harry's background story as well as Damien belong to her.
A/N: Whoa, it's been a long time since I last updated. I won't make excuses, I've been lazy. Don't worry though, I've got the whole fic planed in my head. I'm currently stuck in Cleveland, having a really white Christmas (full of never-ending snow!). Anyway, back to the fic. I've been thinking about following the DW timeline, at least until Harry gets out of Hogwarts, what do you guys think? Also, I'm in desperate need of a Beta reader, so please PM me if you're interested. :) As always, enjoy and don't forget to review. Updated: 26/04/20
I say I wanna be healthy, but I turn up the noise
The IV drips a steady stream of poison
I think I'm just in love with the feeling
Break my bones so I can feel them healing
"Crazy" is, I believe, the medical term
When we wanna recover, but we don't wanna learn
Keep breaking what's been fixed a thousand times
And gimme some more of that iodine
Iodine - Icon For Hire
The remains of the training dummies were scattered across Harry's personal training grounds. Splinters of wood littered the floor, crunching loudly under her boots.
Not a single training dummy had survived Daphne's relentless onslaught.
A massive chain was wrapped around what used to be a wooden torso. Next to it laid its severed head, thousands of transfigured glass shards embedded in it, slowly transforming back into small rocks.
Daphne's legs ached. Her breathing was heavy as she inhaled huge gulps of air, clutching her chest. Her heart was beating so fast, she felt like it would jump out of her chest at any minute.
Briefly, Daphne wondered whether or not it was healthy to train as much as she did. Water was dripping from her hair, and her clothes were sticking to her skin. The heat was almost unbearable. When her breathing steadied, she tucked away her wand. She was done for the day, if she continued to train every single muscle in her body would be sore.
It was hard to focus, her mind was struggling to process anything but the defeated training dummies. She closed her eyes in an attempt to fully control her breathing. Her thoughts turned to Augustus as she slowly walked through the grounds, heading towards the edge of the anti-apparition wards. It had been four days since she had ordered him to find out the name of the person who had set fire to one of her parents' houses all those years ago.
A letter with the name should arrive soon. Was she really to kill again?
Her eyes hardened.
Yes.
Yes, she was. She had waited in the darkness long enough, getting stronger day by day, night by night. There was no light in the path she had chosen for herself, only darkness.
The second she crossed the anti-apparition wards the unpleasant sensation of apparating hit her with the force of a hurricane. She had appeared right outside the grounds of Malfoy manor.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light.
Still breathing heavily, she began walking towards the front gate. The path was bordered on both sides, by neatly manicured hedges. There was a ruffled somewhere to her left, out of the corner of her eye she could see peacocks strutting along the hedge. Daphne ignored them.
She did not stop as she came upon the towering and impressive wrought-iron gates.
Her wand was safely tucked away in her pocket, though she'd whip it out in an instant, should the need arise. With a quick snap of her fingers, she passed straight through the gates, as though the dark metal was nothing but smoke.
A handsome manor was visible at the end of the path, lights could be seen glinting inside the diamond-paned windows of the first floor.
The front door opened to the sound of shouting and glass breaking. Daphne groaned internally as the voices echoed throughout the manor. Her lips turned downwards into a frustrated frown, Narcissa and Lucius were fighting again.
Unpleasant memories began crowding her mind, haunting her.
They must be arguing about something important if they somehow forgot to place a simple Muffliato Charm to stop themselves from being overheard.
The manor was illuminated down to the last corner. Her feet made no noise as she walked, stepping on the ancient carpet that decorated the bottom of the stairs.
She sighed in relief when she reached the end of the staircase, the yelling could no longer be heard.
The sound of her footsteps drifted down the hallway as she walked towards her room. She needed a shower, badly. Something to eat would be nice too, maybe some sushi. Yes, sushi sounded good, she would have to ask Wooky for some after she finished her shower.
Her feet stopped dead. A new noise reached her ears.
Moaning.
What? Draco's room was not in this part of the manor, the only room it could be coming from was. . .
Her bedroom!
HER BEDROOM!
A spark of fury flared within Daphne. Her magic sang whispers in her ears, begging her for release. The Malfoy family was about to be missing an heir. Her knuckles were white with rage. She was seething. That narcissistic, self-serving, inconsiderate twat was about to wish he was never born.
Noises of surprise echoed loudly as she kicked open the door. Her eyes narrowed in anger. The scene that awaited her was one Daphne never wanted to see, but it was still way better than what she thought she was going to find. Draco was lying across her bed without a shirt, on top of him—thankfully still with a shirt and a skirt on—was Pansy Parkinson.
Both were looking at her, surprise and a little fear and panic made its way into their eyes as their minds registered that they had been caught. Their hair was dishevelled. What little clothes they had on were a mess. There were lipstick marks on Draco's ear. An unopened, familiar-looking square wrapper rested on top of her bed, right next to Draco's hand. Those were not Draco's or Pansy's, those were hers.
Silence.
"Out," she said in a quiet but clear voice, her eyes meeting Draco's.
Draco sputtered something incoherent. He took one look at her face, all but pushed Pansy off him, and proceeded to run away past her as fast as humanly possible. His shirt laid forgotten on the wooden floor of her room.
Pansy's gaze locked in with hers. She visibly gulped.
Daphne tried not to drown in the burning sea of anger that was rising inside of her. Her fingers twitched as she forced them to remain in place, they were begging to be wrapped around Pansy's throat until she turned purple. Her teeth were gritted, her muscles were tense like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. Her magic was raging so fiercely that she could barely control it. She needed to think things through before she did anything. Pansy wasn't a threat, not even a small one. Did that mean that she wanted her as an enemy tough?
A show of power would instil a profound fear into Pansy. Was that really the best course of action here? Fear did not inspire loyalty, and she would have to put with Pansy for at least two more years of Hogwarts. Fear could make people reach a point where they have nothing left to lose, and so they would rebel, even if they feared her. It would be much harder for someone to betray her if they had something to lose. Could she turn this around and make Pansy an ally?
Regardless, first she needed to decide if she was angry enough to hurt her or not.
Was Pansy useful?
No.
Her magic froze, as if pondering her answer.
Could she become useful though?
Yes.
Pansy was a Parkinson, one of the sacred twenty-eight families that were still untainted by muggle blood, just like her own family. Even if the rumours about her family's financial problems were true, the Parkinson name still carried a lot of weight in Magical Britain. It was not easy to quell the anger that stirred inside her. With deep breaths, she turned to regard the other girl. She needed to learn how to control her emotions better. It could become her undoing one day.
"Ooh, is this the part where you threaten to kill me? Or to make up some sort of rumour so that Draco hates me?" asked Pansy, her lips were curved into a smirk — her eyes however, showed caution.
"Rumours? No, not really my style. It is yours though, isn't it?" said Daphne. Her face betrayed nothing. She morphed into a casual pose, an almost flaunting posture with one hand on her hip.
Pansy stayed silent, watching as Daphne paced across the room.
"Tell me Pansy, what do you want?" Daphne asked after a couple seconds.
"I'm sorry?" said Pansy, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"You are a Slytherin are you not? What do you want?" continued Daphne.
"What do you mean?" asked Pansy.
"What's your ambition? To marry Draco, to be a part of the Malfoy legacy?"
Confusion overcame Pansy as some of her fear began to slip away, her eyes were narrowed in suspicion as she stared back at blonde. She didn't know why she was asking her all these pointless questions.
"Sure. . . I guess."
"Why though? Is it because you genuinely like him? Is it the legacy? The money? The status?" Genuine curiosity showed on Daphne's face.
"Why should I tell you anything?" said Pansy with a frown. "Did you hit your head or something? As I recall, we're not exactly friends, are we?"
Daphne stopped pacing. She frowned as if contemplating Pansy's questions.
"Friends? No, I wouldn't call us friends. Then again, I wouldn't call us enemies either."
The brunette snorted, an involuntary laugh leaving her lips as she stared at Daphne in disbelief.
"What?" Pansy asked incredulously.
Daphne's mind filled with questions, did Pansy really consider them enemies? Why? What could she have possibly done to —
Blue eyes widen in surprise as realization struck her. Did Pansy think that she. . .? All this time? Well, that was disturbing.
Daphne's gaze locked with Pansy, pronouncing every word slowly. "You thought that I —" she began, pointing at herself. "— wanted to marry Draco Malfoy? Really? That's just. . . disgusting," she finished with a grimace.
The words she had just spoken left a bad taste in her mouth. How had Pansy reached that conclusion? Sure, she was close with Draco, closer than anyone else in their year. How could she not be, she lived with him, but that wasn't common knowledge, was it? She didn't know what to think at this point.
Pansy was baffled.
"You don't?" she asked.
"Of course not. Why would you think that?" Daphne replied as she crossed her arms and rested her back against the wall.
Pansy's eyes narrowed. Her teeth clenched in anger as she held up the condom wrapper that she had no doubt found inside Daphne's room.
"Do you think everyone in Slytherin is dumb? That we don't see how he turns to you for every important decision? How he runs after you like a lost puppy whenever the Dark Lord has made a new move? No boy is even aloud to look at you, did you know that? Not like any of them followed that rule though, I know Adrian Pucey tried his luck with you last year, now he flinches every time Draco looks at him," she paused, lowering her gaze to her hands in her lap. "They all look at you that way, like you are somehow above them, like some unobtainable perfect fantasy they can never reach. Even Draco sometimes does it!" She ranted.
Daphne paused for a second. She had never even considered that Pansy was paying so much attention to her, even if it was because of Draco. It took a moment for her to respond.
"They look at you too, and Tracy. Hell, some of them even look at Millicent or those angel-faced devil twins in fourth year," replied Daphne.
Pansy snorted. "It's not the same look, Ice Queen," she said mockingly, taunting her with the nickname. "They look at us like we're objects that they can own, possessions, assets. Even if they look at you with the same lust it's not the same! They all think they're better than us, we're have never been equals in their eyes. But not you! You, the perfect little princess they all pine after," accused Pansy.
Daphne sighed. Pansy's jealousy was so thick that it was almost palpable. She needed to turn this around and clarifying Pansy's mistaken assumptions about her relationship with Draco would probably help in that regard.
"Look, those—" she paused, pointing at the unopened condom. "—are not, nor will ever be, for Draco. . . just no." She continued, shaking her head with a shudder of disgust. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation right now. "And I can't change how those idiots look at you. But I know what it's like, to be powerless. You think that if you manage to get a betrothal contract with the heir to the Malfoy fortune those looks will change to respect. They might and they might not; but either way you would be with the one person who doesn't look at you that way—and I can't believe I'm saying this—Draco Malfoy. Ironic, that the one person in Slytherin who doesn't look at you like an object, is the most self-absorbed narcissist in our school," She laughed, but then her lips shifted into an almost predatory grin. "But that's not all, is it?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" replied Pansy, a little too fast.
Daphne's lips turned upwards as a smirk spread across her face.
"You've paid attention to me in school, I'll give you that. But you're not the only who can pay attention to others." She commented, slowly moving forwards towards Pansy. "You brag too much about shopping and trips abroad, but not one of the girls has ever gone with you. You never buy anything whenever there's a trip to Hogsmeade. You might genuinely like or even love Draco but it's more than that, isn't it? You need him, you need his power, his wealth" continued Daphne as she stopped right in front of where Pansy was sitting, her head tilted to one side as she stared at down her nose at the expression of horror that was forming in the brunettes face. "I know your father is not the most financially educated person in the world, but it's still impressive that he has managed to bankrupt one of the sacred twenty-eight family fortunes."
Pansy's face had turned pale, her hands were shaking in her lap and her gaze had dropped to the floor. Tears could be seen in the corner of her eyes.
Her shaking only increased when Daphne sat down next to her on the bed.
"H-How do you k-know that?" muttered Pansy.
"Shhh, it's okay," she said, moving a strand of hair from the crying girls face as she gently stroked her cheek with the back of her hand. "I'm not going to tell anyone," She continued, smiling reassuringly with her perfectly white teeth when Pansy's eyes found her own. "And I'm not here to blackmail you either. No matter what you do, my lips will always be sealed. As it happens, however, if it's money and power you're after. . . you've come to the right place."
Pansy's mouth opened, but no words came out. Her shock was written clear across her face. Daphne smirked as she realized that was the last thing Pansy had ever expected her to say.
After Pansy had flooed back to her own home, Daphne had looked for the Malfoy heir everywhere. At first, she thought he had cowardly run away from her wrath, but after a couple minutes of searching she had found Draco in one of the living rooms, sitting in Lucius' favourite armchair, next to an unlit fireplace.
Before Draco could even blink in surprise, he found a wand uncomfortably pressing against his genitals. Something — probably a towel — was pressed into his face, blinding him.
"Listen well you arse, because I will only say this once." A familiar sickly-sweet voice whispered slowly in his ear. This close, he could feel the magic coming of her like waves. "If you EVER do something like that in my room again, or if you so much as breath a word of this — I will cut off 'Mini Draco' and shove it so far up your backside you'll be peeing from your mouth, have I made myself clear?"
Draco visibly gulped, but he still managed to pull his lips into a mischievous grin.
"Sure thing, dear sister," he responded.
There was no response, and her wand didn't even move an inch.
He still couldn't see a thing and his arms were now stuck to the armrest.
Time to try again.
"Surely you wouldn't kill someone who's like a brother to you, would you?" He asked smirking.
Almost immediately he felt the wand retract. His sight was back as whatever had been covering his eyes slipped down onto his lap — the shirt he had forgotten when had left Daphne's room in a hurry.
"I don't know little Draco, you're the brother I never really wanted."
He looked up. The smile he found on his foster sister's face was even more wicked than his own. He tried to understand what was going on. Had she somehow hurt Pansy? No, she would never do that to someone Draco cared about.
Okay, maybe she actually would after she caught them in her bedroom.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" he asked, frowning as he took in her body language. She was completely relaxed.
"Ooh, nothing. You have just somehow managed to be useful for once in your life," she said.
He opened his mouth to respond, only to then closed it with a look of confusion plastered across his features. "You mean. . . Pansy?"
"Yes," confirmed Daphne, while loving the dumb look on his face. She mockingly began speaking to slowly, him like he was a little kid. "You just gave me access to all sorts of information, gossip and rumors in our own house and probably in the other three too. Information we can use to judge who's going to join our enemy. Imagine, if you will, a list of future little baby Aurors. We can create rumors to hurt or discredit them. Did you know that you need no less than five 'Exceed Expectations' in your OWLs to qualify into the Auror Program?" she said.
Draco ignored her tone. The look of bewilderment had not left his face for even one second.
"And somehow Pansy can do all that? Don't get me wrong, Pansy is actually pretty smart, but I don't see why we need her when we're going to be there ourselves, and with all the time in the world. School is a joke nowadays. To have a half breed giant teaching. . . and I thought Dumbledore could sink no lower." Draco shook his head.
Daphne crossed her legs as she sat on the couch facing the fireplace. Her blonde hair was still wet from her shower, and it clung to her face. There was nothing she could say to defend her school, it was going down the drain. They were hardly being taught anything useful. As for Pansy. . . "You underestimate the lengths people will go to obtain power or to align themselves with those in a position of power. Pansy probably knows every single piece of gossip that goes through the castle. Pretty useful don't you think, and the Parkinson family name still carries a lot of weight politically, having her with us will hopefully prove useful."
"And she wasn't with us before?" questioned Draco, the Parkinson's were a traditionally dark family and Pansy's father was a Death Eater.
Realization struck Draco as he watched his foster sister's smile.
"She's one of yours now," he simply stated.
"No, little Draco, she is one of ours now," she responded, as she locked eyes with his. "And unlike you, I specialise in bringing out the best in people." And with that said, she laid down on the leather couch.
Draco gasped in fake indignation, before taking on a solemn look.
"Augustus' letter should arrive sometime soon. Are you just going to lay there forever and wait for it to arrive?" asked Draco, changing the subject as he leaned back.
Daphne didn't even turn to look at him as she answered, still slumped across the couch, silently starring at the unlit chimney.
"Maybe, it's not like I have anything better to do. Harry is away on some assignment, and he won't be back until later. Besides, school doesn't start for another month," she replied, bringing her hands behind her head as closed her eyes.
He sighed. His usual cockiness was nowhere to be found and his face was set in a grim expression, eyes downcast.
"We've got a problem Daph, father cancelled all of his meetings today. I assume you heard them fighting too," finished Draco, looking down at the dark carpet. His face held an emotion that many people believed he had long lost.
He was worried.
Daphne sighed, turning towards the unlit fireplace.
"Why are you so upset, you know they—"
"Mother mentioned a divorce. I don't think they'll go through with it, but she said it would be better for the whole family if we took a vacation to Spain. At least until Hogwarts starts, just you, me and mother," interrupted Draco.
Her eyes widen, shocked by the suggestion. Lucius and Narcissa fought all the time, it was nothing new, but they made up after every fight to portray the image of the perfect pureblood family.
"Brilliant," she replied mockingly. "When do we leave?" she asked, sarcasm pouring from her mouth. There was no way she was leaving Lucius. She owed him. A dept she knew she would never be able to repay.
"It's just for a few weeks at most. I think. . . we should give it a try, let things cool down between them," Draco sighed in resignation, ignoring her sarcasm. It was clear that hearing his parents fight had taken a lot out of him, she could see the hurt he was trying so hard to hide.
Her stare still lingered on the unlit fireplace. "We'll see."
Draco snorted. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, he should have expected that she would respond that way. He thought it next to impossible that she would go to Spain with them. Oh well, they would have to deal with things as they came along.
"How did yesterday go by the way, had any fun training with Harry?" he asked after a while.
Daphne smirked, teasing Draco always brought a smile to her face.
"Not enough, we will probably continue later. Why, do you want to watch?" she asked, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow in a diabolical fashion.
"Urghh... I did not need that mental image of my best friend, or my little sister for that matter," commented Draco, making gagging noises in the process.
"Just because you're taller now does not mean you get to call me 'little'. We've talked about this, until you can beat me in a duel, you'll always be nothing but 'little Draco' to me," finished Daphne smiling. "And anyways, what about you, had any fun with your boyfriends? What were their names again. . . Crap and Soil?"
"Shut up," Draco muttered. "Those bloody idiots are only good for scaring first years. You would think, after spending so many years with someone as brilliant as me, they would develop at least a few brain cells. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case."
Draco's face turned serious after a moment. He was gathering the courage to ask something he'd been meaning to ask for some time. His eyes dropped to the ground as he spoke, his voice completely changing from the previous teasing.
Daphne somehow knew his question, before he even voiced the thought out loud.
"What was it like?" the words were spoken softly, but she could still hear them from her spot on the couch.
She sighed, understanding immediately what Draco was talking about.
"Haven't you asked Harry already? He is the one who has killed multiple times before you know." Her face remained expressionless. "It felt. . . satisfying, to see the life leave his eyes. It's hard to explain, I felt like I was finally starting to live; but at the same time, it felt like I had lost something, a part of myself maybe? I don't know. All I know is that it's not a part I'll miss. I made my choice six years ago," The words were true, she had felt as if a little part of herself was lost while casting the Killing Curse. She had lost what little remained of her innocence. However, the warmth and satisfaction she had felt in exchange were out of this world, she had never felt anything quite like it.
She wasn't about to explain every detail to Draco though. Truthfully, Daphne was a little scared by her reaction. She was sure it wasn't considered normal to feel ecstasy and delight while taking a life. Justified or not. That's why she had chosen to put it in the back of her mind, at least for the time being.
Draco got up without a word and made his way over to the door, the sound of his elegant shoes was somewhat soothing.
"It's been six years Daph, it wouldn't kill you to turn on the fireplace," he said mid-step, without looking back at her. With a quick incantation and a wave of his wand a small fire began to grow in the fireplace.
She flinched as the embers cracked and popped.
Her heartbeat began to ring in her ears. She needed a distraction from the sound of burning wood.
Narcissa and her idea of going away came to mind. How bad could things be between Draco's parents for Narcissa to suggest some time off—clearly, they were worse than ever before.
It hadn't always been like that. It was easy to remember a time when Lucius and Narcissa didn't fight. It almost felt like a lifetime ago, when the perfect family they liked to portray was actually true. Things had changed some years ago.
She felt sad for Draco, the annoying kid Daphne remembered had grown up with her. She couldn't remember when exactly she had started having feelings of friendship and even sibling-like love towards the boy who had complained about her constantly for years, because his parents were only supposed to pay attention to him, not her.
That extremely obnoxious brat she had loved to tease had become almost like her brother. His personality had changed so much in recent years, yet he still found ways to annoy her. There were times where she wanted nothing more than to kill him in the most painful ways—like earlier today.
Daphne sighed.
Boredom had creeped up on her. She had nothing to do. She should probably do something, anything; but her position on the couch was way too comfortable to move.
In the end, boredom triumphed over laziness, and she swung her legs off the couch and sat up. At first, she thought about finishing her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, before quickly deciding against it. Snape could wait. Besides, Harry was doing some last-minute assignment, so she might as well return to Riddle Manor and wait for him to finish.
Maybe Bella would be there, she could probably teach her a new curse or two. Maybe she could even teach her that Lacerate Curse Lucius had been going on and on about recently.
A smile adorned her face at the thought of learning another curse. She closed her eyes, running a hand through her still somewhat damp, silky blonde hair.
Bellatrix had taken a liking to Daphne early on. She had spent a lot of time with her since then. The Dark Lord's only female Death Eater had been a constant maternal figure in Daphne's and Harry's early teenage years—so much so, that some traits of her personality had passed on to both of them.
She snorted with disdain. Unlike her sister, Narcissa had never been what you would call 'a mother figure' to anyone but Draco. She was never around when Daphne entered adolescence, not even to answer basic questions.
In contrast, Bella had always been there, she had started teaching Daphne dark curses and fighting techniques since before she had even turned twelve. It had all started when she had gotten in a fight with Draco, which led to the Malfoy heir having a sprained ankle as well as a broken nose. Bellatrix had laughed at the scene, only helping Draco once he had stopped crying. The very next day she was training her.
"Wooky!" Daphne called, her lips turning into a smirk.
A loud 'pop' was heard and in the instant a small creature appeared near the now vacant couch. Its pointy ears were turned upwards, a sign of a young house elf. The creature kept her eyes on the ground as it spoke in a high-pitched voice.
"Mistress called Wooky?"
"Yes, please inform Mr. Malfoy that I have stepped out," responded Daphne, sparing a quick glance to the tiny creature. She reached for the green hairpin on her hair before saying the words that would activate the magic in the portkey.
"Serpent's Nest!"
Everything went black.
She felt the familiar sickness as her body was whirled around at a very high speed before finally arriving at the destination. It took decades to get completely used to the feeling of traveling by portkey. It was her least favourite form of transportation. She felt a stomach-ache every time she did it, which was saying a lot since the only times she didn't use the portkey was when Harry apparated her inside.
She looked up after a few seconds. The sight of Riddle Manor greeted her. She had landed on Harry's private training grounds as it was not possible for anyone but Voldemort or Harry to portkey or apparate inside the main manor. The remains of the training dummies had been cleaned up. Everything was spotless.
She removed the dust of her robes and brought her hood up before walking through the small road towards the gates. As soon as she was within sight, the two Death Eater guards at the entrance pushed the gates open, bowing in recognition.
How they always knew it was her, even when her hood was up, eluded Daphne. However, the pleasure of watching people bow down to her was truly one of a kind.
The inside of the Dark Lord's manor was not as scary as many would believe. It was actually quite nice if you overlooked the lack of lighting in several rooms.
As soon as the doors close behind her, she made her way towards a large portrait of a serpent. The huge snake inside the painting hissed before it swung open. There was only a limited number of people that had ever been to this part of the manor, as it was Harry's private wing.
Her eyes took some time to adjust to the new light.
She began to stride through the new corridor before freezing mid-step. A horrible chill went down her spine when she noticed the new presence. Her eyes went wide as the temperature in the room dropped considerably. Shadows danced across the walls. The flames of the candle lights flickered and dimmed.
"Miss Greengrass, it has been a long time since we last saw each other."
Where the hell did he come from?!
He hadn't been there a second ago. She quickly turned around before bowing.
"My Lord," said Daphne in a soft voice, devotion dripping from her tone.
Nagini slithered towards her.
"Ahh yes, the one who doesn't distract my heir every day. One of Harry's friends," he pronounced the word as if it was poison. "Well, I guess friend isn't the correct word for you nowadays, is it?"
She felt Nagini's head pushing her chin up, forcing her to look up towards the Dark Lord. Their eyes met despite her best efforts. Her occlumency shields were still standing, there was no intrusion in her mind, at least not one that she could identify.
In a blink of an eye the Dark Lord had taken a step towards her. His hands grabbed her left arm, gently pushing up her sleeve. Harry's dark mark stared up at him. She must have imagined it, but for a second it looked like Lord Voldemort's lips curved up into proud smile.
"Yes—" said Lord Voldemort as he examined her. "—respect, devotion, loyalty, even a healthy dose of fear; but no cowardice. Unlike young Malfoy. That's the story your eyes tell, child. Don't try to hide it from me."
Daphne gulped nervously.
The Dark Lord was terrifying. Daphne knew all the stories as well as anyone but meeting those cold red eyes the first time had driven home the lesson that stories were one thing and the man himself quite another. Fear coursed through Daphne's body, a cold chill washing over her, immobilizing her muscles.
His presence was almost suffocating. The air was filled with dark magic, she could almost taste it. She hoped that the legendary man held no anger towards her. If the Dark Lord thought that she was a distraction to his heir, he would have killed her long ago.
Exactly why the Dark Lord considered Draco more of a distraction to Harry than her was still a mystery. One she had no inclination to solve.
Voldemort stood tall. His back straight, eyes narrowed regarding the blonde-haired girl with a neutral expression in silence. Nagini hissed as she slithered back to her master's feet.
"You've proven to be more useful that I could have ever hoped for," he admitted in a strange tone.
She didn't need to look up to know that the Dark Lord was smirking. The meaning behind his words was unclear. The tone of his voice implied that he wasn't talking about Sturgis. In any case, she wasn't suicidal enough to ask him about it. She was determined to keep her head attached to her body, thank you very much.
"It won't be long before I send you out in assignments with my son. I trust that you'll be ready," he whispered the last part, before turning around and walking through the corridor at a calm pace.
He was just barely out of earshot distance when Daphne let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She finally looked up to find an empty hall. The only thought that crossed her mind was that Draco had been right, facing the Dark Lord was a million times harder without Harry.
She shook her head to regain control of her emotions and after a minute, she decided wait for Harry in his room. At least she could wait all day for him there, since she hadn't come across Bellatrix. She was probably doing some other assignment too.
There was complete silence as she entered the familiar chamber, broken by the small 'whoosh' sound the air made when she threw herself onto the bed. A dark green rug with silver borders decorated the floor. There was a Slytherin tapestry hanging on the wall opposite the window, Daphne stared at it, watching as the lantern light danced across the body of the serpent.
Why had the Dark Lord decided to talk to her? His appearance had been so sudden and so short that when he was gone, she almost felt inclined to think she had imagined the whole thing. But that wasn't possible, the brief memory of his red eyes analysing her was too vivid for it to not be real.
His words lingered in her mind.
You've proven to be more useful that I could have ever hoped for.
What did that even mean? Useful in what way? Was he really talking about killing Sturgis? She couldn't think of anything else, unless the Dark Lord was talking about that.
A small amount of warmth radiated from her forearm.
She was so caught up in her internal musings that she nearly missed the sight of a very familiar book sitting in Harry's nightstand. It was a list of names. It contained the names of the known members of the Order, as well as some other important figures connected to the current Ministry of Magic.
The name Lily Potter stared back at her as she picked up the charmed booklet. Some names, like Harry biological mother, were written in bright silver ink. Others, such as Edgar Bones, Fabian Prewett and Sturgis Podmore seemed to be slowly fading away, the brightness of the silver tone gone; replace by a faint red.
Red meant dead.
Before she could turn the page Daphne's head suddenly snapped to the side as the frantic sound of footsteps reached her ears. She bolted up to her feet and dropped the small book on the bed.
Daphne tilted her head—listening hard. Almost no one had access to this part of the manor, and to hear someone running through it was completely unexpected.
A few moments later a figure broke into the room, running at full speed.
Daphne instinctively threw an angry glare at the newcomer before she realized who it was.
"Bella? Bella what's wrong?"
Bellatrix eyes moved towards her at an impossibly fast speed.
"D-Daphne?..." she muttered, still out of breath. She had appeared to be looking for something before realizing she wasn't alone in the room.
Bellatrix took one step towards her before finally speaking.
"It's Harry, he's hurt."