This is the new chapter to Painful Devotion. I haven't written fresh work for this story in some time and I am really pleased with how this plot keeps itself alive. I don't usually write such dark material, but I find it fascinating to see how the kids attach to their tormentors and the tormentors become attached to their charges.
Thank you for reading and I always appreciate reviews and fresh perspectives
Chapter 6-Time to come home.
Ron knelt before the Dark Lord, before rising to sit beside him at the Deatheater Congregation. Ron's eyes tracked each person. Even with most of them hiding their faces he knew who each of them were. He spotted Severus Snape a few robes away from him and gave a slight nod. Snape nodded back and returned to the parchment he was perusing intensely. His latest list of information he was allowed to leak to the Order, no doubt. Ron sat completely still before the Dark Lord when his slit eyes turned to look at him intensely.
"You are displeased."
That was all Lord Voldemort said and Ron could feel his back tense as his mind raced with his options to respond.
"I am anxious, My Lord." He replied cautiously. He felt naked without Draco there beside him. Draco was the politician in their relationship. Ron rarely spoke with the Dark Lord, his job was to carry out orders, not discuss their merit.
"Your children are ready to be returned to us then." The word children slid out like venom and Ron fought back the urge to snarl at the way he said it.
"Yes, My Lord."
"The spells have held over the past year then?" Voldemort ignored the signal that all members had arrived to begin the meeting and kept his gaze on Ron. Ron stared back, unwavering.
"They have, My Lord. Anything that has been discussed in front of the children or within earshot has been saved, all we need to do is extract their memories into a Pensieve."
"Excellent. Bring your young back then." With that Voldemort finished with Ron and turned to begin the meeting.
As the chanting of forgotten Latin rolled over him Ron retreated inward. He hated when Draco was sent out on jobs alone. Now was the time they should be using to prepare their home for their children, not for Draco to be out collecting donations for their cause.
Harry Potter sat next to his sleeping son. The-boy-who-lived was hardly recognizable anymore. His hair was no longer sleek and black, but instead hung limp and greasy in his eyes. Dirty glasses slid to the end of his nose as he cradled his head in his hands defeated. Every muscle in his body ached from lack of sleep and his head was clouded with depressing images of who his son used to be and what he had now become. The sleeping boy rested peacefully clutching the locket from his new parents—the parents who had stripped the boy Harry knew away from him. Around him a Harry saw pictures of him teaching his son to fly a broom or them visiting Diagon Alley for the first time when he was just a baby. Harry didn't cry anymore. The pictures were all he had left of his son and he had run out of tears to mourn long ago. James shifted on the bed and Harry quietly got up and left the room closing the door silently behind him. He couldn't face the stare of his own son despising anymore when he woke up.
Downstairs Harry faced the Aurors wordlessly. They watched him cautiously like he was a wounded animal in the wild. They weren't sure how he was going to act, or if he would lash out. Harry sat on the loveseat, linked his hands and leaned forward.
"Everything ready?" Harry said quietly, clenching his fists together. This was the right move. He knew there was nothing left of his son, but he still felt his soul drying up at what was about to happen.
Mad-Eye limped forward, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Aye, it is. Are you sure about this Harry? We can find another way."
"No. We can't." Harry said, not looking up. "All the others have agreed. This is our only chance to catch them."
Mad-Eye nodded to the other two faceless Aurors, who turned and headed up the stairs. Harry winced as he heard his son's screams and crashes as they dragged the 8 year old boy out of his bedroom forcibly. Harry didn't look up as they carried the struggling child out of the house.
"This has to work Mad-Eye. I may have lost my son, but I'm not about to let them have what's left of him."
Mad-Eye nodded silently and walked out of the house. He was on a tight schedule to collect 4 other children tonight and take them all to Azkaban. Mad-Eye knew as he left the house he would be retiring after this operation. This was the last order he would ever follow for the Ministry of Magic and for the Order.
Harry watched Mad-Eye leave with apathetic eyes. He felt drained and sickly relieved that his son was gone. Voldemort had grown bold since their children had been returned one by one. Werewolves occupied Hogsmeade now and Deatheaters ran Diagon Ally. The Leaky Cauldron had been burned to the ground the week before, cutting off access to most of the Wizarding World. They were losing fast and Harry knew they only had one chance to strike back. To regain the upper hand in this spiraling war they'd have to sacrifice their children, but really, they weren't their children anymore were they. Harry giggled madly at his own thoughts and sucked in a deep breath. They were so close to the end this wasn't the time to lose it. Sanity was a precious commodity these days and he had so little of it left.
The mirror shattered into a thousand fragments, raining down on the plush black carpet of Ron and Draco's room. Draco's infuriated screams echoed off the walls. Ron calmly passed Draco another object to throw and the vase joined the mirror in fragments on the floor.
"Azkaban!" Draco raged, turning to lash at his partner's chest. Ron wrapped his arms around his lover and took the abuse quietly. "They put our children in Azkaban!" Draco's rage was palpable and vibrated in the air darkly. Ron contained the magic pouring from him kept it secure inside their room. No need for Voldemort to feel the extent of their power. It'd raise far too many questions.
"We'll get them out, love." Ron stated, his voice devoid of any real emotion. He stood still and held the heaving man in his arms, who continued to thrash and pound on Ron's chest.
The news had come just moments before from a terrified House Elf carrying a letter from Voldemort himself. Azkaban was a recent reacquisition of the Order's and with only a handful of Dementors still there the place was practically empty of prisoners, except for the 5 children they had planned on retrieving over the course of this week. The move was unexpected for the heroes. They hadn't anticipated the parents giving up their children in an attempt to draw out their abductors. Voldemort was not pleased and was considering giving the children up as well. Draco's rage was understandable. Voldemort didn't see the need to risk walking into a trap to grab the children for information that may or may not be valuable. After all, they were winning already, why risk losing men for 5 brats. Draco did not agree.
"They are going to give them the Dementor's Kiss tonight." Draco whispered the words hung in the air between them. The threat of losing the 5 young children was real and terrifyingly close to becoming reality. Ron drew in a deep breath and pushed Draco back to look at him.
"We will not lose them." Ron said cradling Draco's face. No matter how sick the two men were, they had come to love the children they'd molded into their own. Each one had a bedroom in their newly furnished Manor House. They'd officially moved out of Voldemort's lair, for lack of a better word, the week before in preparation. Draco had been preparing for months with a decorator to create the perfect rooms for each of his children. Ron knew if they lost them he'd struggle with keeping his partner with him and not following in his sister's footsteps.
"We have 12 hours to plan, love, so we need to prepare." Ron leaned in and kissed Draco hard. The kiss was all tongues and teeth as they clutched desperately at each other. Draco's nails clawed at Ron's chest, ripping his shirt open and spraying buttons across the room.
"I want Potter's head." Draco gritted out, biting Ron's lip until he tasted blood.
"I promise," was all Ron said as he stripped his partner and shoved him onto the bed, straddling him to grind their erections together. Draco moaned and arched back, his hands trapped above him as Ron pinned him underneath.
They had one hour until they'd meet with Voldemort to decide a course of action. Ron intended to make sure they used every second possible, just in case things went badly tonight. He had no intention of taking any orders that told him to leave the children to their fate. He'd made them who they were and Ron was nothing if not loyal to what was his.
As Ron slid inside Draco he felt the familiar passion clawing at him, but also a sense of peace. He had chosen the correct path all those years ago and regretted nothing. Draco pulled Ron out of his thoughts by thrusting back and pulling Ron in for a harsh kiss. Moaning and bleeding just a little Ron smiled as he fucked his husband into the mattress.
Tonight would be anything but boring.
Rain assaulted the crumbling walls of Azkaban, creating the proper dark and foreboding setting of what was to come tonight. Inside the cold stone walls Aurors paced every hallway. Empty cells stood open, like yawning pits of despair. Faint echoes of old screams could still be heard by the people who'd been tortured for crimes. Deep inside the bowels of the old prison one particularly large cell housed 5 young children ranging in ages from 8-9. Around them the parents who could stomach being there stood like statues on the wall. Only Hermoine, Harry and Remus had been brave enough to come watch the end of their children.
Four Dementors paced the walls impatiently waiting for the permission they despised needing. None of the children were crying, instead they sat together proudly in the center of the cell and talked calmly among each other. For their biological parents it was a disturbing sight to watch. James and Tanya had calmed all the tears when they'd arrived, assuring each of them that their daddy's would never let anything happen to them. Now, they all sat and stared at the surrounding people with a strangely Malfoy type disinterest.
The Minister of Magic walked in quickly, ignoring the penetrating eyes of his daughter Lucinda and went straight to the other parents. "How long have we got?" He asked quietly, darting nervous looks at the Dementors.
"About half an hour." Harry said quietly, looking over at his son James, who gave him a smirk in return, before turning to Tanya to whisper something.
"Are you sure they heard about it?" Dean asked.
"Snape confirmed he gave the message." Hermione's voice was grated and hoarse, from crying or screaming, but probably both. She'd had to be tranquilized heavily when they'd taken Tanya from her that morning. Her eyes were still dilated and far too large for her gaunt face. Harry knew she'd started taking drugs to cope, which ones he wasn't sure.
Thunder made them all jump nervously and Lupin's shaking hands couldn't be controlled by clutching them together anymore. He ran his hands through sparse thinning hair, looking twice his already older age.
"We're going to burn for this." He said and had to stop himself from rubbing the finger where his wedding ring used to be. Nymphadora had left his and Marie the month before, saying that she'd given up. She'd since dropped off the map, no one had been able to locate her. Her abandonment had made the decision to allow Marie to be here tonight far easier than Remus could ever admit.
"If they show up we'll stop them and stop the Kiss." Dean said with false bravado.
"And if they don't?" Harry's voice resembled broken glass and Dean wouldn't respond or look at him.
"What does it matter?" Hermione said vacantly staring at her daughter with unseeing eyes. "That's not my daughter anyway." Her words sounds detached. Harry wondered how she'd managed to get so high so fast without him noticing. A drop of blood trailed down her arm and Harry knew she'd injected herself with what was most likely Fairies Essence.
"It's time." Her voice singsonged as her body swayed. Harry checked his watch to confirm and saw it was 10PM exactly. The Dementors began to edge closer to their victims in anticipation. Dean swallowed loudly and began to sweat in the cold dungeon. "Please forgive us." He said to no one.
The Dementors made it within 10 feet of the children and suddenly stopped, as if they had hit an invisible wall. Their struggles made it clear they were displeased with being halted. The children's faces never changed. They showed no fear and stared at the Dementors with strange confidence for ones so young.
"They're here." Harry said pulling his wand out and looking around, but seeing nothing.
"What the bloody fuck is going on?" One Auror called out as the Dementors became more agitated, throwing themselves against the invisible shield.
"Hold your ground!" Dean called out, his own wand in his hand at the ready.
Hermione giggled madly, leaning against the cold wall. Her own wand hung limply in her hand down at her side. Remus sniffed the air and shrugged at the other men. Nothing.
The room began to shake under their feet, as the storm grew in volume. At that moment Harry knew they had just made the worst possible mistake. They weren't prepared to handle what about to happen.
James stood up proudly among his sibling and stared at the worn down group of parents.
"Daddy's going to get you now." He said, linking hands with each of his adopted siblings. The grin he sent his father was pure Malfoy.
A/N
Chapter 7 is almost finished now! So, review and stay tuned for the big showdown! Thank you for reading