CHAPTER 2: Almost too easy
Harry had been waiting for two hours, sitting at the table of the nearest café, his second coffee getting cold. Mrs Bulstrode usually got out at 10.30am on Tuesdays, but he came early, just in case. But it was now almost 3pm, and she still was not out. Maybe Kreacher made a mistake, or maybe he was just terribly unlucky? He had nothing else to do anyway, and maybe he would get a glimpse of his target.
Twelve minutes later, a dark hair figured got out of the house, face half-hidden by a dark green scarf, a sober yet sinister hat on the head, a small black purse in her hands. She was almost has fat as her daughter, but something in her gave the impression of dignity, self-confidence. Something Millicent truly lacked.
According to Kreacher, she would be coming his way, and indeed she did. Harry left a few coins on the table, and got up, following her a dozen steps behind.
She should keep going for 200m, then turn left, then second on right, if the information was correct. Creatures of habit make easy preys, he thought, and right when she turned right into an empty street, Harry took his chance. He rushed forward, and before she could realize what was happening, he grabbed her by the back of the neck, and apparated away.
Mrs Marcila Bulstrode felt the familiar sensation of being sucked away, but she had no idea who grabbed her or where she was going.
She landed hard on a wooden floor, in a dark room, and her first thought was to apparated back to somewhere else, escape right away. But before she could even move a finger, she found a wand right under her nose, and a rasping voice growled in her ear.
"Do not move. Do not blink. Do not even think about the word Apparition."
She took a good look at her kidnapper, thinking it would probably be some low-life fucker in rags, going after her family money, hoping maybe for a ransom. But she opened her eyes wide when she recognized a teen barely of age, with an unmistakable mark on the forehead.
"Potter" she whispered. "Harry Potter".
"Petrificus Totalus!" he whispered.
Without a chance to even to fight back, she found herself unable to move. She could not even ask what was going on. At first she felt anger, the outrage. Who dared picking up on her like that? But now she was starting to be worried. If Harry Potter, Savior of the Wizarding World, Champion of the Light, Heir of Dumbledore, was having her locked in a room with no windows, she thought something was off. However, at no point she thought that he was going to hurt her, nor did she have any idea about what was actually going to happen to her… If Potter had her, no matter how despicable this Muggle Lover was to her, she was not worried for herself.
"Listen, Miss Bulstrode", he said calmly. "I'm sorry we had to do it this way, but I had to be sure that you would not run and listen to me. Millicent is in danger. Someone's after her. I need to know: is she at home?"
So this was the reason. There was a threat on her daughter, and Potter, as his usual self, wanted to save the world. She nodded, or at least tried to considering her condition, but he seemed to understand.
"Alright" he smiled, presenting her a quill and a parchment that he put on a table, lighting up the small candle on it. "So here's what I need you to do. You're going to write a letter to your husband, saying you're leaving him, and that you're taking Millicent with you. Say you go to the USA or something, I don't care. But make it believable."
He waved his hand a bit, and she could finally move her head.
"What the hell are you talking about?" she finally said, anger in her voice. "Leaving my husband? What threat? What the hell is going on?!"
"Listen Madam" he answered calmly, trying to be reassuring. "I'm working with the Aurors, and the Ministry discovered a very credible threat onto your family. It seems that a group of people are seeing the fall of the Dark Lord as an opportunity to take control of the Ministry, and considering your husband position, taking you hostage and using you as leverage seems a good way to pressure him into doing their bidding. You are being watched, this is why I had to take you so suddenly, to make sure nobody saw you disappear with me. Now, I need you to write this letter for your family's protection as well as your own. Then I will take you to a safe house where two Auros are waiting for you, and bring your daughter right away. Your husband needs to think you're gone, at least until we catch everyone behind the scheme. It's the only way not to raise their suspicions!"
Mrs Bulstrode was suspicious herself, but the suddenness of this whole story, the seriousness of the young Potter, and the fact that she indeed felt watched the past weeks, it was all too much for her. She might not like Potter at all, but it made sense that he was already among the ranks of the Aurors, and she respected the Ministry, thinking they knew what they were doing. She also had to protect Millicent at all costs, that's why she had been keeping her inside for the time being, after this whole "Battle of Hogwarts" thing. She nodded and said: "Okay I'll do it."
He raised his wand again, and she was finally able to move. He gave her a hand, helping her up, and apologized again for the abruptness of his manners, saying he had no other choice.
She took the quill, and started writing. She tried to include a sort of a code, a way to let her husband know that she was ok, but she came up with nothing and had to let it go, accepting the idea of having to trust the Aurors.
She signed the damn thing, folded the letter and put the quill back. She turned to the young Auror and said:
"It's don…"
She did not see the blade coming. She barely felt it as it slid between her ribs to reach her heart. She shock took over her in an instant as well as the cold. So cold. She watched Potter in the eyes, searching for an explanation, but she could not understand. What was happening? The pain now reached her brain, and tears came to her eyes. What was going on?
"Thank you for your help, Miss Bulstrode. Now you can rest."
As she fell on the floor without a word, she thought with horror that she just helped this maniac to hurt her daughter. The scream of hate and despair died in a throat as she passed away.
Harry took a deep breath. That was his first kill. Or at least, his first murder, if your count Quirrlel's and Voldemort's death. He felt oddly calm. A quick "tergeo", and the blood disappeared from the floor and the wound, leaving Mrs Bulstrode with no trace left but horror on her traits and fear in her dead eyes. He did not even bother to close them, as he plucked a hair of her head and put it in a vial of Polyjuice Potion.
The liquid turned dark green, with a smell similar to leather. Without a single look to his victim, he drank it in one sip, and took her appearance. With a *pof*, he apparated back right in front of the Bulstrode's house.
"Millicent! Millicent!" he screamed with his now female voice. He tried his best to look panicked, rushed. "Millicent, come here quickly!"
"Mother? Is that you? What's going on?" squeaked a voice upstairs. "What did I do, again?"
"For heaven's sake, get down here right now ! We need to go!"
Millicent appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked even bigger than the last time Harry saw her, probably because of months of being locked inside with nothing more to do that lie down and eat. Her hair were messy, like she just got out of bed, and she had a tabloid in her hands.
"Put this away and hurry up, did you not hear me?!"
"What's going on Mother?" She know looked panicked.
"Your father is in danger! We need to go! Right now! " screamed Harry, while throwing the letter written by the real Marcila on the living room's table.
"Right now? But! I have nothing packed ! I need to pack my clothes, and feed the cats, and.."
"We don't have time for that! The elf will do it!" He rushed to the stairs and took her hand. "Here, drink this. Don't ask, just do as I say, for once!"
This should have tipped Millicent of, as she always did what her mother said, but she was now too panicked to even think about it. The potion looked like mud and smelt like garbage, but she closed her eyes and drank it with a grimace.
After a few seconds, she was now looking like Mundungus Fletcher!
"Grab one of your father's coat, and let's go. Let's go!"
Harry was keeping her under pressure so she would not take time to ask questions he would not have the answers to, or start being suspicious.
"Now where is this damn house elf?" he yelled. It was a bet, but he was 100% sure that a pure-blood family would have one. Next second, a young female elf, dressed with an old shower towel, appeared next to him.
"Yes Mistress?"
"Pack our bags! Clothes, the bare necessities! Something i can carry with me, not the whole house! I'll be back after lunch to come and get it!".
"As you wish Mistress." And she disappeared.
Before minutes, Harry/Marcila and Millicent/Mundungus were out and running through the streets. Harry had no idea where he was going, but it did not matter, he just needed to get away from the house. Millicent was begging, with Fletcher's voice.
"What is going on, Mother! Where are we going? Why am I looking like a human trash? Why did you make me drink Polyjuice? Please mother! Answer me!"
She was crying, trying her best to keep up with "her mother". Harry did not answer, dragging her by the hand even harder.
After ten minutes, in finally stopped at a corner, and looked around.
"Alright, nobody. Perfect. Take my hand."
She obeyed, and was being sucked into oblivion, like her mother an hour before, back to Grimmauld Place.
When she woke up, she was back to her own skin. She did not remember much, only that her panicked mother dragged her into an alley, transported them, and then she got hit heavily in the jaw by something heavy. After that, darkness. She figured she might have been knocked out.
As she regained consciousness, she felt several things: pain from her lips, confirming she'd been hit in the face. Fright, as she had no idea where she was and why. Worry, as her mother was nowhere to be seen.
And then, panic, as she realized she was tied up to a chair, her hand behind her back, unable to move.
And finally despair and horror, when she saw, by the light of the only candle, the body of her mother lying down, her eyes wide open.
She screamed. She cried. She begged and called out for her mother to wake up. She screamed again. She twisted her arms harder to try and get out of her ties.
"It's no use" said Harry, opening the door, carrying a glass of water. "The perks of magic. I thought you might be a bit thirsty after the Polyjuice".
Unable to open her mouth, paralyzed by terror more than the ropes, she just nodded. He came forward and help her drink. A few drops fell onto her thighs, watering her chin. He put the glass on the table and sat on its edge, waiting.
"Potter… Is… is it really my mother?" she asked first, to his surprise. He thought she would ask what was going on, or beg, but not this.
"I'm afraid so." There, she started to cry. Silently, this time.
"Why?" she finally asked between two sobs. "What was all that for?"
"You mean the Polyjuice thing? Well, I needed to get you out of the house without raising suspicion, and without leaving any magical trace. I mean, if we apparated straight from your house to this place, it would be way too easy for Aurors to pick up the trail, wouldn't it? This way, the only thing people might have witnessed is your mother running out of the house with a weird dude."
He leaned forward, closing in on her.
"Now, if you were asking about why you're here and why is your mother lying on the floor, it's an entirely different thing. But long story short, I had the undying feeling that it was absolutely unacceptable for good people like Fred Weasley or Remus Lupin to be 6 feet under, leaving families and loved ones in pain, kids without parents, while you fucking Death Eaters were running free. So you see, it's all a matter of balance. Getting the scales of the Universe even, if you get what I mean."
"I… I'm not a Death Eat…"
"Sshh" he cut. " I saw you at the Battle. I saw you using the Cruciatus Curse on a Ravenclaw girl and trying to kill Hermione Granger. Now, Millicent, I have a question to ask you. Where can I find Pansy Parkinson?
She was staring to her mother's body, crying even more. He slapped her.
"Hey! Milli! Focus! Where can I find her? Pansy Parkinson? Nobody's seen her since the Battle. I think she escaped, and I think you know where she's hiding. So now, the only easy way out for you is to tell me where the fuck she is."
The tears stopped flowing, but she started to shake, tremble, drowning in fear. As a strong scent reached her nose, she realized she just pissed herself out of fear.
"Where is Pansy Parkinson?" Harry asked again, his voice descending to the depth its range.
"I… I don't. I don't know… I don't…"
In a swift and single move, Harry grabbed the kitchen knife laying on the table, hidden from his captive's view, and slammed it into her leg, right above the knee.
It took her a second to realize what just happened, and she screamed her lungs out, to the greatest displeasure of Harry, whom ears were way too close to her mouth at this point. Blood was pouring out of her wound, its rusty smell filled the room like the scent of fresh bread when the oven's door opens. Harry almost expected a sound, like waters flooding out of swers after heavy rains, but he heard nothing but Millicent's screams.
She was looking at it like if a giant spider was crawling onto her skin. She fought, tried to untie herself once again to escape the pain all in vain.
"You see" said Harry without any malice in his voice "you don't have to use to Cruciatus Curse to make people talk. To make them suffer. The good old muggles technics work just fine, not that you would know, as your pure-blood family would stay away from anything muggle related, wouldn't it? For example, maybe I could heat this blade until it's red, and stick it into your mouth?"
If she could look even more terrified, she would. She screamed harder, higher. He wanted to punch her in the mouth just so she would stop, but he needed her to be able to speak.
He cut her again, on the cheek this time. Not deep, but she was not made of a wood tough enough to endure such things. The drop of blood running down her skin to her double chin felt like burning poison, and she spilled out everything she knew.
"I don't know I swear! I was not close enough to her! But Daphne does ! Daphne Greengrass! She was not at the battle, she left with a younger sister, Astoria. But she was Pansy's best friend! We exchanged a few letters this summer, and once she said that she had to "help Pansy". I'm sure she knows! But I don't ! Please! Please don't hurt me anymore!"
She broke down in tears again.
"Okay, I believe you Millicent. Thank you. You see, I think that people like you, bullies, pure-blood vultures preying on the ones different from you, should all be taught the fear and the pain that you like to inflict on others. But I also believe that people can make mistakes, especially young ones like you and I, and that forgiveness and guidance can help them back to the right path.
"Really?" she asked, smiling weakly through the pain, hopeful that, maybe, Harry Potter was not totally the monster she just discovered but still had this righteousness people were praising him for.
"I do, really. However…"
He grabbed her hair with his left hand, firmly, and in a single sweep, he slit her throat. The skin provided as much resistance as a paper sheet under the blade, and as Harry felt the the jugular vein opening up, it felt almost too easy. As blood was pouring out like water out of an underground river, and life leaving her eyes, he finished:
"…You tried to kill Hermione. That is not something I am ready to forgive and forget."
Back in the skin of Marcila Bulstrode with a second dose of Polyjuice, Harry went back to their manor, shortly after 2pm. The elf was standing in the living room, with two bags ready.
"The bags are ready, Mistress" she said. "Where are we going?"
"You are not going anywhere." The servant looked ready to burst in tears. "I need you to stay here and take good care of my husband. Nobody can know where we are going, but we will be back soon. I left him a letter on the table. Do not read it, but make sure he gets it. And please, take care of my daughter's cats. She would be so sad if anything happens to them. Make sure they're fed and taken care of. "
Drying her tears with her dirty hand, she nodded.
"Yes Mistress. I will see to it and make sure that Master and Mistress's pets have every thing they need. I will be here when you return."
Harry was back at the entrance of The Cave. He apparated as close as he could from memory, and had to walk all the way to the lake, dragging the bodies behind him. Considering the weight of both his victims, it should have been impossible, but nothing is really impossible with magic.
He had not been there since he and Dumbledore came to find and destroy the Horcrux, a few hours before he got killed by Snape. The entrance was still opened, dry traces of the old man's blood still staining the stone.
"Incendio" he summoned, aiming the flames at the bodies on the banks of the cursed lake. The smell of burnt flesh took over the scent of rotting still water, and the mix almost made him throw up. Toughening up, he watched the body turning to crisps.
"Wingardium Leviosa". He thought of Hermione with a smile. It was impossible to use this spell without hearing her lecturing Ron about its pronunciation.
He moved the burnt corpses over the water, and let them fall with a splash.
Nobody would find them, among the Dark Lord's Inferis…