Chapter 13

"Get any good presents?" Daphne asked as Harry entered the common room.

Harry shrugged. "The usual. A jacket, some chocolates, other stuff."

Daphne nodded. "Same here. Looking forward to the ball?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Just hope I don't step on your feet."

Daphne grinned. "You worry too much. I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Thanks," Harry said. What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I'm free until about five?"

Harry gaped. "The ball doesn't start until eight."

"I'm a girl," Daphne said. "It takes a while to get ready."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

Daphne stood. "Sounds good to me."

**HPS**

"Harry turned the prime Minister?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Lilith said. "He won't remember a thing, not until we act anyway."

"How many more do you intend to turn into monsters."

"Every politician, every government official, all of them will be mine."

"But most politicians are corrupt."

"They're just puppets," Lilith said coldly. "Instead of working for their own gain, they will work for the betterment of their individual societies."

"Do we really have the right to take over everything?"

"Humanity, whether magical or muggle, has proven that it cannot be trusted to govern itself."

"So, you intend to reunite all societies under one banner?"

Lilith laughed. She stared into the fire for several seconds without speaking. "Reunite the world under one banner? No, that would be foolish of me to do. My intention is to control the individual governments, not to create one government."

"Why not unite them?" Sirius asked. Would they not be easier to control if the world was united under one rule?"

"As powerful as I am, I am not God. I cannot be in more than one place at once. I cannot watch everyone. Honestly, I do not care about humanity or it's society. The only reason I will turn the members of the governments is to ensure that they will leave me alone."

"But they're monsters," Sirius said. "They will have to feed on humanity."

"No, I had Harry turn them into psychic vampires. If they don't feed, they'll live a normal human lifespan. Even if they do discover their supernatural abilities, without the knowledge of how to use them, they will drain themselves dry."

"Not that I care mind you, but we're actually getting along with Dumbledore. Shouldn't we try to integrate into wizarding society?"

Lilith shook her head. "It won't last. Dumbledore may feel bad about the way he's treated us, but it's not enough to change him. He'll turn on us. After he's tried to kill my son and banish me so much in the past, I'd be a fool to trust him."

"I hope your wrong," Sirius said.

Lilith turned to stare out the window. "I do to. The prime Minister is the only one we've turned so far. We will wait to see how the situation in the Wizarding world plays out. I do not want to interfere unless I have to. I only want to be a Mother to the monsters and to live my life. I do not wish to be the shadowy ruler of the world, but I will if it will keep my son and I safe."

**HPS**

Harry and Daphne strode through the snow in companionable silence. The sun was warm on their faces, but the chilly air blew their hair back off their foreheads.

"How did it go?" Daphne asked quietly.

Harry glanced at her. "As well as can be expected. He's one of Mum's now, whether he likes it or not."

Daphne touched his shoulder. "You don't seem pleased about that."

Harry looked down at his feet. "It's just that I don't like interfering in the mundane government. Messing with wizards is one thing. They've tried to hurt us, but the muggles… They haven't done anything to us."

"Have you told your Mother how you feel?"

"No," Harry said. "I just told her that the change was completed successfully. I don't know how to tell her that I think what we're doing is wrong."

"One word at a time is usually best," Daphne said. "Do you know why she wanted him changed in the first place?"

"Not really," Harry said. "She told me to make him a monster and I did."

"Maybe we should go talk to her," Daphne said.

"We?"

"You're my best friend. I am not letting you go through this alone."

**HPS**

"I see," Lilith said. "You believe we should pull back?"

"No," Harry said, "but do we have the right to take over someone's mind and force them to do what we want them to? Essentially, we are taking away these people's free will."

Lilith was quiet for a moment. "I just want to live in peace. I want to watch over my children, watch them grow, but the magical government won't allow that. I am under no illusions. I am well aware that the mundane government would execute us as soon as they discovered we were real. Wizards, for all their faults, are human. We are not. Despite what they say, society hates anyone different than they are."

Harry hugged his Mother tightly. "I understand, but it may not be too late. Dumbledore is on our side now. He's working with us. Please Mother, give them a chance."

Lilith squeezed him gently. "Albus has tried to kill us for years. It's not so easy to trust him."

"He's not saying trust him," Daphne said speaking for the first time. "He's saying give him a chance to prove himself."

Lilith nodded. "I hear you," she said kissing his forehead. Pulling back, she stared into his eyes. "For your sake, I will give them a chance. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps they will be more accepting of us than their ancestors were."

"Thank you, Mum," Harry said.

"Don't thank me yet," Lilith said. "Thank me when we see how this turns out."

Daphne smiled at Lilith. "You see, you're not a monster."

Lilith shook her head. "We shall see. Now, on to more pleasant subjects. Are you two readies for the yule ball?"

**HPS**

An hour later, Harry and Daphne left the room. As they walked down the hallway, Daphne glanced at Harry. "What do you think?"

"I think Mum is tired,' Harry said. "She's tired of fighting a society that hates everything she stands for. People hear her name and they automatically say Monster."

"Is there anything we can do?" Daphne asked.

"Do?" Harry asked. "What can we do? I've managed to by humanity some time, but…"

"But?" Daphne asked.

"I don't think it'll do any good," Harry said quietly. "Think about it, you are the only friend I have out of this entire school. Sure, the teachers are impressed by my work, but I'm not truly accepted."

"At least we can see how things go," Daphne said. "It's not too late."

Harry looked at his friend. "What if the wizarding world tries to kill me? What if Mum deems it necessary to take over everything? Will… will you still be my friend?"

Daphne stared at him in silence. "I never told you about my family, did I?"

Harry shook his head.

"You see what I look like. I'm not a looker. I'm at best, a plain girl. Most pureblood families want a son to carry on the family name, but I was born a girl and a not very pretty one at that."

Harry opened his mouth to object, but Daphne held up a hand to silence him. "Let me finish," she said gently. "For years, Draco Malfoy had said that I'd be his concubine. That was the best my family could come up with for me. I was alone. You see what my house is like. Those without any major influence simply keep their heads down and their mouths shut."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, if this was a story, it'd almost be like they didn't exist, or like they'd be a character that showed up when they were needed."

Daphne snorted. "Most wouldn't want to be a character in a story. They'd like to keep their heads down and hope not to be noticed."

"So, what does any of this have to do with me."

"You looked passed my plane face. You didn't accept my ice queen persona. You got to know the real me. You even wanted to take me to the yule ball. You've been a true friend in every sense of the word. I won't abandon you Harry. I'm not going to leave you alone. No matter what happens, I will stay by your side."

Harry stared at her lost for words. In all his life, he'd never heard anyone express such loyalty to another person. True, his siblings loved his Mother, but it was an adoring love, the love of a worshiper for their goddess. Daphne's loyalty was true loyalty. She listened to him. He had no doubt that she'd take him to task if he did something she didn't agree with, but wasn't that what a true friend was? A true friend was always there for you, but they weren't afraid of telling you when you were being an idiot though.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "I really don't know what to say."

Daphne stepped closer and drew him into a hug. "We're best friends. No matter what, at least we have each other."

"Until the end," Harry said.

**HPS**

Lilith appeared outside a small house in an upscale part of London. She frowned as she stared at the house. It looked normal at first glance. A simple two-story affair with blue trim. She could see powerful wards surrounding the home. She could penetrate them, but not without alerting the occupants.

"Oh well," she muttered. "There's no point in waiting." Leaning forward, she examined the wards closely. She had to make sure they were not connected to anything. Once she was satisfied that the ministry wouldn't be alerted, she extended her senses and began gently probing the wards.

She stumbled as the wards reacted knocking her back a few steps. Whoever had made these wards had done a good job. That feedback would've killed a wizard. She paused for a few moments, waiting to see if the occupants of the home had noticed anything. Once she was certain no one was coming to investigate, she began working on the wards in earnest.

As the wards flared and sparked, she absorbed the power and twisting the energies back, she began pulling at the wards gently. The wards fought her as if they were a living thing, but Lilith held firm. She wasn't trying to break them, merely trying to open them up far enough so she could enter. She didn't want them damaged in anyway. There was a small pulse of magic designed to let the owners of the home know that their wards were being attacked.

Swiftly, she stopped the pulse of power. "Almost there,' she murmured. No sooner had the words left her mouth than there was a small pop. A hole just big enough for her to enter had opened in the wards. Ducking inside, Lilith released the wards with a thought, allowing them to return to normal. She stared at the wards, examining them for any abnormalities She could see small threads of power mending the breaches in the wards. Within a few moments, the wards were pristine once again. It was as though no one had done anything to them. Satisfied with her work, she turned away.

Looking at the house, she smiled to herself. It was time to get to work. She approached the house cautiously. Concentrating, she stepped through the wall.

**HPS**

Materializing in a hallway, Lilith came face to face with two figures.

"Who are you?" a pudgy man snarled. His thick fat fingers gripped his wand tightly. He raised it, pointing the stick between Lilith's eyes. "Don't you know it's rude to enter someone's home without permission?"

"Don't you know it's rude to point your stick at someone without their permission?"

The pudgy man let out a wheezy giggle. "I'll do more than point it at you."

"Amicus Carrow," Lilith said. "I don't suppose you'd tell me where your sister is?"

"Why you want her?"

"Call it a two for one deal. I don't want to come back to this…" Lilith's mouth pursed in discuss as she looked at the shabby wallpaper, dirty carpet, and water-stained ceiling. Sniffing the air, the scent of rotted food assaulted her nose. "I guess you could call it a house. Anyway, I don't want to come back here unless I have to."

"She's around," Amicus said.

Lilith grunted as a spell hit her in the back. She straightened, feeling a slight ache spread throughout her body. She slowly turned to face the short squat woman behind her.

"Alecto?" Lilith enquired.

"Yes," The woman said in a harsh breathy voice. "You wanted to see me?"

Lilith looked at the Carrow siblings. "Yes, I did. I know what you two are. Death Eaters," she said.

"Ugly inbred ones at that," Harry said appearing beside her.

"Harry?" Lilith said, not taking her eyes off the Carrows. "What are you doing here?"

"Like I'd let you have all the fun?" Harry said. "I followed you."

"But what about the Ball,' Lilith said.

"Daphne is still getting ready and I'll be back before I'm missed."

"Don't ignore us," Amicus snarled.

"Quiet," Harry said gesturing sharply. Amicus's mouth slammed shut and he crumpled to the ground.

"Amicus," Alecto screeched. "What have you done to him?"

Lilith gestured at Alecto. The pudgy woman clapped her hands to her face. "I can't see," she shrieked. She turned to run, tripped over her feet, and fell to the floor."

"I think we've got a Chinese Monkey theme going on here," Harry said.

"Shame there's not a third one," Lilith said.

"Ah well," Harry said. "We'll just have to make do with what we've got."

Amicus and Alecto screamed in agony as Harry and Lilith's eyes blazed with orange light.

**HPS**

"Where have you been?" Daphne asked as Harry approached her in the common room. "I thought you stood me up." She grinned as she said it and kissed him on the cheek.

"Had something I needed to take care of," Harry said with a shrug. "You look great."

She did to. Daphne's long hair was tied in a single braid that ran down her back. She wore a floor length golden gown. Small delicate shoes covered her feet. They appeared to be made of silver. Harry nodded to the shoes. "Those look uncomfortable."

"Not as much as you'd think," Daphne said. They've been in my family for ages. They were my Great Great Grandmothers. Legend has it she got them from a dwarf a few centuries back." She hesitated. "I have something to show you."

"Oh?" Harry asked. "What's that?"

Daphne drew her wand and tapped herself on the top of the head. It was as if a vale had dropped away from her. Harry's eyes widened as her form changed.

Her plane face was now beautiful. She had pale flawless skin, high cheekbones, cool grey eyes, and long blond hair. As she smiled hesitantly, Harry noticed her slightly crooked teeth were now straight.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"The females in my family have always been beautiful. We wanted to make sure that the person we chose to spend our lives with was the right one, so we developed a powerful glamour spell that hides our real appearance. Only we can remove it and no outside enchantment or spell can reverse it.

Harry gaped at her. "You think I'm the one you want to spend your life with?"

Daphne nodded. "I know we're young, but you care about those under your protection. You don't want to rule the world, just be left alone. You try to do what you feel is right, regardless of what society says. I admire that. It gives me hope that maybe the world isn't as screwed up as I think it is."

"I don't know what to say," Harry said. I don't view myself as anything special. I'm just the son of an eldritch abomination in human form"

Daphne wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know how I felt."

Harry lowered his head and kissed her firmly. Drawing back, he stared into her eyes. "I don't know if I'm everything you think I am, but I'd be willing to give a relationship with you a try."

Daphne took his hand. "In that case, we have a ball to get to."

**HPS**

As they approached the doors to the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy stalked up. "Potter, where's Greengrass? Did you trade her in for someone better looking? She should've known better than to trust you."

"Actually Malfoy, he didn't trade me in as you put it. I finally felt comfortable enough to show him the real me."

Malfoy gaped. "G-Greengrass?" he stammered.

Daphne smirked. "Looks like I won't have to be your concubine after all."

Malfoy scowled. He turned away from the pair and stomped away. Harry grinned at his date.

"He didn't seem very happy, did he?"

"Not at all," Daphne said. "Now come on, we have some dancing to do."

As they entered the Great Hall, they were once again stopped this time by Dumbledore. He held up two wooden monkeys. One monkey covered its eyes with one hand and its right ear with the other. The other monkey covered its mouth with one hand and its left ear with the other.

"Harry my boy, do you know anything about these?"

Harry winced. "Ah, I found a new variation on the three Chinese monkeys and thought you might enjoy them."

"I see," Dumbledore said. "Thank you for the gift." He tucked the monkeys into his robes and smiling at the pair, walked off. Daphne looked at him.

"Carrows," Harry murmured out of the corner of his mouth.

Daphne blinked at him. "What?"

"We were being creative."

"But Dumbledore is a master of transfiguration," Daphne hissed.

"Don't worry, we altered reality to turn them into monkeys. There's no way to turn them back."

As they walked up to the staff table, Harry quickly told Daphne what he and his Mother had done and why.

"That's definitely unique," Daphne said.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Voldemort's supporters are almost gone. Mum took care of McNaire, The one's in Azkaban were stripped of their magic when I escaped, and there goes the Carrows.

"Only the Malfoys are left," Daphne said. "Well, there are others, but the Malfoys are the most influential."

Harry squeezed her hand. "Enough talk about Death Eaters. For tonight, I want to spend time with my beautiful date.

Daphne smiled. "Sounds good to me." S

Harry glanced at Daphne as they sat down. "So…" he drawled. "You showed me what you really look like. "Would you like to… well… you know."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I don't know. What are you talking about?"

"Does this mean we're an item?" Harry asked.

Daphne leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I thought that would've been obvious. "We're together for as long as you want to be."

Harry's smile felt as though it would split his face. "Great," he said. "Fantastic."

Daphne looked around at the other champions talking to their dates. She leaned close. "Why aren't any of them listening to our conversation? I mean… I don't want them to, but it seems only natural that they would've heard us talking."

"I didn't want them to hear us, so they didn't," Harry explained.

"Privacy spell," Daphne asked.

"Not really," Harry explained. "More like a powerful 'don't listen' spell."

"What's the difference?"

"One would draw attention, the other won't."

Daphne blinked. "You're a bit strange."

"Thank you?"

"Trust me, it's a compliment. They grinned at each other as Dumbledore stood, drawing all attention to himself.

He stared down at his plate thoughtfully. "Pork chops," he said clearly.

"Pork chops appeared. Harry and Daphne placed their order with their plates and began eating.

**HPS**

Dumbledore watched Harry with his date. He was still very conflicted about the boy and his Mother. True, they hadn't done anything to anyone unless provoked, but they had still killed. Worse yet, Harry had stripped an entire prison of wizards of their magic.

A small voice in his head told him that now those prisoners were of no threat to anyone, but he tried to ignore it. He had plenty to think about. Fudge had tried to have him place in ST. Mungo's for healing, but he wasn't under an enchantment, was he?

A cold chill went down his spine. "Was its possible Lilith or Harry had cast a spell to make him more agreeable? Had Poppy searched for any type of enchantment at his last physical?

He glanced at Lilith chatting with McGonagall. As soon as the Holidays were over, he would need to speak with Pomfrey. He needed to know if he'd been enchanted. For now, he would try and enjoy himself.

**HPS**

Hours later, Harry and Daphne returned to the Slytherrin common room. As they stood in front of the entrance, Daphne glanced shyly at Harry. "Thanks for everything."

"Thank you," Harry said. "I couldn't have asked for a better date."

Daphne leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. Before he could respond, she stepped back. "Good night," she said before hurrying inside the common room.

Harry watched her go smiling to himself. This had to be the best Christmas he'd ever had.