A/N 1) – Just wanted to thank you all for your continued support, and to say thanks to my Beta CaskettFan5, who is attempting the impossible task of making me a better writer. We have been going over the previous chapters and I have reposted them with some small variations.
A/N 2) – To help with ease of reading (thanks to reviewer feedback) from now on thoughts will be in 'Italics', I hope that this helps differentiate talking and thinking. Please read and review, I want to improve my writing so please feel free to let me know what your thoughts are on this story.
A/N 3) – Recommended Reading, if you are a Haphne fan like I am you can't go past Harry Potter – Three to Back Step by Sinyk (its Harry, Hermione & Daphne together), quite possibly one of the best completed Harry Potter stories on Fan Fiction in my humble opinion.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns it all; I am just playing in her sandbox (but not very well).
Cassandra's steps reverberated off the cavernous white walls of the hospital ward as she walked back into Poppy's office, her face echoing the concern that her mind was currently wrestling with. Poppy was seated behind a temporary wooden desk, which was scratched and faded, in her mostly intact office. One of the walls was missing at least the top third, and was teetering dangerously outwards, but any debris had been cleared away. The hospital wing had been one of the priorities that the clean-up crews had worked on first. Repairs were still a few weeks away from being realised but the Hospital was functional and Poppy once again reigned over her kingdom, nursing the current residents back to health.
As St. Mungo's had not been able to house all the injured, only the very severe and extreme cases had been sent from Hogwarts, whilst all the rest still lingered at Hogwarts in multiple temporary wards, that had been set up across the school in the most functional rooms. These patients were recovering under the watchful eye of the long-time medi-witch, and her current staff on loan from St Mungo's. Moving around the school to cover rounds currently presented no issues, given that all the protective, anti-apparition and port key wards usually surrounding Hogwarts remained down, meaning that the staff could apparate from room to room. Only the more unusual and life threatening cases could actually be found within the original ward.
'What can I do for you, Cass?' Poppy enquired looking up from a set of patient notes she was currently updating, her brown eyes warm and welcoming as always.
'I don't know how to sugar coat this Poppy…' Cassandra paced across the room to stand in front of the chair opposite Poppy. '… ummm… errr.' she hesitated, tugging at her bottom lip with her teeth. 'Oh bugger it, I believe that someone has been messing with my daughters mind, the memories that she showed me of some events, have all the hallmarks of being tampered with,' finally came out in a rush.
For a couple of seconds Poppy Pomfrey didn't react, before she exploded from her chair almost knocking Cassandra over in the process, storming out into the hospital ward muttering under her breath, 'I'll kill the bastards, no that's too easy I'll eviscerate them, nobody messes with the minds of my apprentices,' leaving an astonished Cassandra scrambling to catch up.
'Poppy wait,' called Cassandra, 'don't you think we should at least discuss this first.'
'What's to discuss?' Poppy rounded on her, 'either someone has been messing with her mind, or they haven't, I want to know right now what I am dealing with before I start making assumptions!' and with that she pivoted and continued her along the ward, stopping only at the potions cabinet quickly to grab a potion.
'Hello again Daphne,' Poppy said with a false cheer, 'how are we feeling now?'
'Much better thanks Poppy, I think I will be out of here soon,' Daphne responded, eyes narrowing slightly, she had heard that pitch in Poppy's voice on many occasions, and understood the implications. 'What do you need from me Poppy?' she enquired head tilting to the left, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
'I need you to drink this and then, sit back and relax, I have some tests that I need to run…' Poppy paused slightly, holding up her hand to stall Daphne's next question. 'And you will do as instructed, I will bring you up to speed once all my tests are complete, but I need you to trust me now Daphne … Do you understand?'
Daphne searched Poppy's face looking for a clue that was not forthcoming, finally without saying a word she held out her hand to receive the potion. She stared at Poppy for a moment, then looked to her mother, before uncapping the potion and downing it in one swallow. 'Gahh… that's horrible, what was it?' she asked, her pupils were dilating and her heart rate was slowing.
'Mentis Mutare Deprhensio,' Poppy said whilst waving her wand over Daphne, 'it's a potion that helps with the diagnosis of tampering with the mind, it relaxes the mind and slows the body allowing a skilled healer to determine if something has happened, without the patient fighting. It's a long lasting potion so I always keep a couple in stock'
Poppy stopped her wand movements and looked at Daphne, 'the only problem with it is that it must be taken willingly, so I apologise for not telling you before you took it,' she motioned for Cassandra to go around to the other side of the bed before continuing. ' it won't tell us, how or when the tampering was undertaken, that comes later if something is detected, now just relax, you won't be in pain but you will feel light headed and slightly disorientated. The potion takes approximately ten minutes to start working properly, and I promise no harm will come to you whilst you are in my care.'
Daphne snorted, she could feel the potion moving through her system already her cognitive functions were slowly slipping away from her control, had she not been in the care of Poppy & her mother she would have been fighting this with all she had left. But she was tired now, tired of fighting her emotions, tired of maintaining the façade she had cultivated for the last four years, tired of being broken inside, feeling but never portraying those feelings to the outside world. She wanted to be happy again but couldn't remember how.
- AFW -
Neville finished repairing the final step on the first level grand staircase, before stepping back to admire his work, it had been another long morning's labour but he could see that his hard work had paid off. The staircase groaned and shifted position for the first time since the battle of Hogwarts. Smiling to himself and determining that he had earned a good couple of hours for lunch, he decided to head down to the greenhouses to relax for a while.
The greenhouses had been relatively untouched during the siege, only greenhouses six and eight had suffered any significant damage. As he climbed over the hill and looked down towards the greenhouses in front of the forbidden forest, he grinned again, some of his fondest memories of his time at Hogwarts were of the eight greenhouses below.
As he made his way down the path, his grin faulted slightly, the main door to greenhouse seven had been left open, This greenhouse was home to most of the carnivorous plants, most of which were extremely dangerous to an inexperienced herbologist and anyone who had experience within that greenhouse should have known better than to leave the door open.
With a puzzled look Neville went through the door an into an almost nocturnal sub-tropical forest, the plant life was lush, dense and deceiving. If you didn't know what you were doing in here you could quite easily become dinner for any number of the residents. Fresh foot prints headed into the interior of the greenhouse towards the groves of Devils Snare and Venomous Tentacula, plus several other less than benign specimens of herbology.
Swearing under his breath, Neville hurried on as fast as he dared, following the footsteps for a good forty of fifty metres ensuring that he took the time to deal with the denizens of the greenhouse seven as he went. He could hear the rustling leaves of the devils snare as he approached the next fork in the road. 'Hello,' he called hoping beyond hope that someone would answer him and that the person in here was still alive, if they wanted to be.
He had heard stories around the fires at night about the first blood war, and how people after the war had finished thanks to Harry, had taken their own lives by walking into these very greenhouses unable to deal with the losses to their families.
'Hmmmmmpppphhh,' came the muffled reply, looking into the Devils Snare he could see an arm poking out of the tangled vines, waving frantically. Clutching his wand, he cast Lumos Solem, not caring that he damaged some of the plants, knowing that they would grow back in time. Slowly the plant gave way as though it was reluctant to give up its current snack.
Finally however the last of the vines gave way and Neville could hear ragged breathing coming from the would-be victim. The young woman was bent in two trying to swallow as much air as possible, 'are you ok?' Neville asked subtlety cringing as he asked the ridiculous question.
The girls head snapped up her blue eyes meeting his own, her face was red; tears streaked her cheeks, and there was bruising already appearing on her face and neck. Her clothes were rumpled and torn. And then before he knew what was happening, she barrelled towards him jumping into his arms, wrapping her legs around his hips and then, she kissed him.
'Oh thank you, thank you thank you, you saved my life,' where the first worlds out of her mouth, as she peppered his face with kisses, still wrapped around him holding herself up with her legs whilst her arms were wrapped around his neck.
As the girl's kisses slowed Neville, still on overload failed to spark to life, the girl smirked slightly, seemingly happy that she had managed such a reaction, simultaneously glad to have been rescued from what had seemed like imminent death. Chewing her lip she looked into his eyes, before steeling herself, slowly she locked lips with him once more as though she wanted to see what other sorts of responses she could get out of her rescuer.
When the girl had leaped into his arms and started kissing him Neville's mind had frozen, his only coherent thought was that 'her lips were soft, and tasted of strawberries.' He had never been any great shakes with the fairer sex, only when they had been in hiding within the room of requirement had he come to some understanding but there had been limited scope to what private interaction could take place.
As she kissed his lips again, slowly this time, instinct took over and Neville kissed her back, it took sometime before his brain caught up to what was happening, before he once again froze, 'what was he doing, who the hell was he kissing and was she alright after being trapped in the devils snare for who knew how long?'
'Awwww come on, I was enjoying that,' the girl said pouting slightly as she disengaged her lips from his.
Neville slowly detached her from is body placing her gently on her feet. 'Sorry Miss,' blushed Neville, not quite sure what to make of the whole situation, 'Are you ok, you're not hurt are you?' he looked her over but couldn't see any visible signs of injury.
'I'm a bit bruised, but otherwise ok, I think. Luckily you came when you did, I don't think that I had many more breaths in me,' she chuckled wryly, 'Did you like what you saw?'
'Huh' started Neville, unable to figure out what she was talking about.
'So very eloquent Mr. Longbottom,' she smirked at him, winked and did a small twirl, 'I saw you checking me out just a moment ago.'
'Whaaaattt, noooo… that wasn't what you think, I was trying to see if you were injured,' Neville's face went from crimson to white in record time, before the girl collapsed in on herself laughing hysterically.
'Oh come on Longbottom you're too easy,' the girl smirked again, before wincing as she straightened up, 'but seriously, thank you for saving me, I really wasn't prepared for that when I walked in here, I was just trying to forget for a while and I thought that maybe walking around the plants might help.'
Neville saw the grimace 'Yes, well… I never was too good at this stuff,' he rubbed the back of his neck, 'but I don't think you are quite as all right as you think you are, so come on let's go and get you checked out,' said Neville directing her back along the path towards the door.
'If you insist,' muttered the girl, as she stepped up and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. 'Of course you are going to be the chivalrous knight and escort me… aren't you Mr Longbottom?' She flashed him a winsome smile and batted her eyelashes at him.
Neville sighed 'if I must, what is your name anyway, you look familiar but I am struggling to place your name.' She reached up and patted his cheek, causing him to blush again.
'That would be telling, I'm sure you will figure it out soon enough,' she giggled, 'just don't faint when you do.'
- AFW -
'Tempus' Harry watched as the spell revealed the time as ten thirty am, Daphne had only been awake for three and a half hours and already his life was infinitely more complicated than the day before. He resumed pacing in the hallway in front of the doors, hoping that Cassandra would come and open them soon. He could feel the tension building in his magical core, and what felt like white hot needles occasionally prickled across his skin leaving him grimacing in pain. He hoped for her sake that Daphne was still swimming on pain relief potions at least they would take the edge off her symptoms.
'Harry sit down, I know that you need to complete the connection again, but your making me tired just watching you,' Tracey said watching as he paced back and forth. 'Aunt Cass will be back out as soon as she can, you know this going to be difficult especially this first time after they explain the connection properly.'
Harry stopped mid stride to look at her, 'I know Trace, but if I don't get in there soon you're going to be levitating me in,' he grimaced again as a fresh set of needles punctured the skin on his back. 'Merlin that hurts,' his breath tinged with pain as the needling stopped.
'Come here and sit, I will try and take your mind off it,' Tracey patted the seat next to her and waited with an expectant look that slowly morphed into to a pout as Harry decided what to do.
Harry sighed and sat down next to her, 'bloody witches and their sad faces,' thought Harry.
'Thank you Harry, see that wasn't that hard was it?' Tracey beamed at him and giggled. 'Don't worry Harry, I am much better at getting what I want than Daph, now if Tori ever set her cap towards you, I would recommend running as fast you can. That girl could twist you around her little finger faster than you could say boo.'
'BOO,' the cry seem to echo through the corridor causing Harry and Tracey to vault out of their chairs, wands appearing in their hands as they turned to the voice. 'Really Trace, tell me what you really think of me,' Astoria snarked as she rounded the corner limping and looking dishevelled, clutching the arm of a pale Neville Longbottom.
'Morgana, Tori how many times do I have to ask you not to do shit like that… what in the seven hells happened to you?' Tracey tilted her head looking Astoria up and down before turning to Neville. 'What did you do to her Longbottom…? I swear to the gods if you have hurt her I will end you,' her wand pointing directly at Neville's nose.
'Put that down before you poke someone's eye out for the gods sake Trace,' Astoria pushed the wand away and moved past Tracey to sit in the seat that Harry had just vacated. 'Does it look like he did this to me?' Astoria asked wincing as she sat, '…and even if he did, why the hell would he walk me back to the hospital, he may be a Griff, but he's not that dumb.'
'Probably true…' Tracey smirked, picking a leaf out of Astoria's hair.
'Hey that's just uncalled for' said Harry chuckling slightly as he smiled and shook his head at Astoria and Tracey's sense of humour, whilst Neville just frowned at the back handed compliment.
'So what happened then?' Tracey enquired, resuming her seat leaving the two Gryffindor boys standing.
'I'll just be off then,' muttered Neville, turning to leave, 'crazy bloody girls'.
'Hold right there, my knight in shining armour, your damsel is still in distress. You haven't got her to the healer yet.' Astoria reached out, wincing again as she grabbed his hand, 'besides I haven't thanked you properly yet,' she smiled warmly up at Neville.
'What do you call kissing me if not thanking me?' Neville blurted out, before blanching and looking at Harry and Tracey.
'She kissed you…' 'You kissed him…' came the shocked responses form Harry and Tracey respectively.
Astoria ignored the other two and focused on Neville, 'that was me checking I was still alive, besides you kissed me back,' she again flashed him a winsome smile and rose unsteadily out of her chair, using his arm as leverage. 'Sit' she said pointing to the chair.
Neville looked about to argue when Astoria raised an eyebrow, 'I said sit Neville Longbottom, and if I knew your middle name I would have used that too.'
Neville sat with alacrity, 'mumbling 'its Francis,' before he stiffened as Astoria plonked herself in his lap.
'Thank you cushion of mine, now be quiet, unless you wish to add to the story, whilst I inform our friends what happened.' She grabbed his hands and pulled them around her waist and snuggled back against his chest. 'Conjure yourself a chair Harry, and close your mouth before you catch a fly.'
Harry conjured up another chair, before looking at Tracey with a confusion written all over his face.
'Don't look at me Harry, I have no bloody idea what's going on either,' hissed Tracey, before they both turned to look at Astoria for answers.
'It's really quite simple, I was slowly being killed by a deadly plant and Neville here saved my life,' said Astoria quite nonchalantly.
'More information Tori,' growled Tracey, 'the full version if you don't mind.'
'Oh, I don't mind at all we have time don't we Neville,' Astoria chuckled as she wiggled in Neville's lap and relaxed again back onto his chest, causing Neville to blush further. 'Well it all started like this, after you dismissed me from your little pow wow, I needed to blow of some steam and think, so I did what I do at home and went for a walk in the greenhouses…'
- AFW -
Daphne slowly gained control of her faculties, she could hear her mother and Poppy quietly conversing across her bed. 'What's going on,' she questioned her voice slurred, dense and not quite within her control. She blinked rapidly trying to focus her eyes, which felt sticky and heavy. She could feel her magic tugging at her as though it was alive and seeking something, and her muscles felt tight like they were about to cramp.
'Hi honey, how do you feel,' her mother's voice was light and breezy.
Daphne frowned, 'definitely, something wrong then, her mother only used that voice when trying to break bad news,' she thought, her mind still scrambling to clear itself as she tried to comprehend what had happened. 'Just out with it mum, what is going on, I don't need buttering up.'
Cassandra sighed and looked at Poppy before finally asking, 'Okay fine sweetheart, do you remember what potion we gave you?' Daphne nodded. 'Okay, then you know what we were looking for…Yes?' Again came the nod in affirmation. 'I'm so sorry honey but we found evidence of multiple memory manipulations that have been performed on you. Someone has been manipulating your memories for at least three years if not longer, there is also some evidence of compulsion charms that have been layered on you somehow. We think we have removed them but we don't know for sure, they were heavily layered to make you reject the advances of members of the opposite sex but we haven't found what they were anchored to.' Tears rolled down Cassandra and Poppy's cheeks as they held her hands.
Daphne stared at the ceiling, the ward that had always had a warmth that seemed to flow from the very walls of Hogwarts hospital, now felt chilled, cold and desolate, the colours in the room seemed to contract as their vibrancy bled out, Daphne's voice broke as she voiced a question she dreaded the answer to, 'Can you fix me Poppy, can you make me whole again?'
Poppy's voice hitched slightly, 'I don't know Daphne, this is not an area of healing that I am overly skilled in, I will get an expert in from St. Mungo's to see you as soon as I can… I am so sorry my child that I never noticed this before, I have failed you.' Tears continued to stream down the face of Poppy as she hung her head, face ashen. 'I am so sorry to do this to you now but there is something else we need to talk about, because if it's not already impacting you, it will soon,… How does your magic feel, does it feel like its tugging or pulling you somewhere, and are you in any pain, any severe cramping or pins and needles?'
Daphne turned her head staring at Poppy, her mouth slightly ajar, 'how did you know?' Daphne whispered.
'Because when Mr Potter first healed you as we said when you first woke he tied your cores together. It took us about six hours to figure out what had happened' Poppy closed her eyes, head still hung, tears dripping on the sheets of the bed. 'By the time we figured it out he was in severe pain, which for him is saying something as he has one of the highest pain thresholds of anyone I have ever treated.'
'What does that mean for me,' Daphne asked voice hollow. It was her mother that answered.
'It means honey that, your magic is going to continue reaching for Harry, causing you more and more pain until the connection is completed…' her mother stroked her brow brushing away some stray hair. 'It also means that for the foreseeable future you will have stand to be in the same room as Harry and that at different points throughout the day you are going to have physical contact with him.'
'Physical… what do you mean physical contact?' Daphne's head snapped to look at her mother, a horrified look tainted her beautiful features, 'you better not be advocating what I think you are.' She shook her head, trying to reset her brain.
Her mother looked at her like she had lost her mind, before bursting into laughter, 'oh don't worry honey you only have to hold his hand for a about ten minutes every two hours or so, although sharing a bed probably means that you won't have to wake up to ensure the physical contact though.'
Daphne blushed heavily, the thought of sharing a bed with someone made her uncomfortable, what that meant for her memories she was unsure. She shook her head again trying to clear it of the thoughts of sharing a bed with a boy that she hardly knew, 'Mum' she whined, 'stop it.' This was exactly her mother's sense of humour trying to embarrass her to death.
'Well Poppy, at least we know the most of the compulsions have been shifted,' said her mother, 'I guess it remains to be seen if we got them all. Don't worry honey, Harry blushes almost as well as you do when these types of subjects are broached. Back to serious matters however, are you ready to invite him in so that he can complete the connection, are you going to able to handle this now or do you want us to give you another dreamless sleep potion first?'
Daphne considered the question, but before she could answer the doors of the ward were pushed open by Astoria and she heard, '…seriously Daddy it wasn't what it looked like.'
