Path of the Necromancer
"I must say Harry, this Necromancer in Diagon Alley sounds like one hell of a show off." Daphne commented flicking through the prophet with a slightly humoured expression.
"Ha, ha." Harry muttered with a bored expression, he had collected the souls of two death eaters and yet according to the papers he was the evil one. Not the kidnappers and murderers but him, the one who had saved Ollivander from their clutches.
"You know if Voldemort has any sense he'll go straight to the voice and ask about the Necromancer," Hermione pointed out. Harry had filled her in on the fact both of them were champions of the same God. However it still made no sense.
"The voice won't tell him anything, and if he does then he will tell me something of equal value. So I doubt highly Voldemort will risk his secrets in exchange for something about the mysterious Necromancer." Harry replied simply. Hermione shrugged the idea of gods, demons and their magic were just the things she wouldn't get. These things worked outside the logic she was used to, well they worked outside of everything Harry knew, Daphne too so they were all pretty much on the same boat.
"Whatever. Speaking of yesterday's events what are you going to do with their souls. Do you just carry them around?" Daphne asked frowning. Harry had come home shattered and he had said very little for the rest of the day.
"No I put them in this." Harry revealed a ring on his index finger, a thing golden one with nothing remarkable about it except for the vibrant blue gem in the middle.
"And for this mere mortal that is?" Daphne wondered with no idea exactly what that was. Though a slight purplish light was swirling with the gem, tough its movements made it seem almost... alive.
"A magically forged gem, it was my reward from the blind maniac." Harry replied, it had the power to hold souls indefinitely. He had wondered what it must be like to be a soul in it but when he thought of who the men were, he found it hard to sympathise.
"Now why would she give you this?" Hermione asked with a frown. Harry shrugged.
"She wants to enlist my help." Harry muttered holding up another black piece of parchment.
"Another task. She is supposedly sending me the name of one of Voldemort's top funders. Though it requires me to go to their home."
"Do you trust her?" Daphne asked looking at how Harry was holding the envelope.
"She seemed helpful enough, but."
"She's insane." Daphne finished with a smile. She had heard what this woman was like but there was no doubt in anyone's mind the old crone was insane. You didn't even need to meet her to know that. Not that Daphne, or Hermione for that matter, ever wanted to.
"Exactly."
Later
"Harry come on, trust me they're not going to bite." Hermione scolded as trio approached the porch of the Granger Household.
"Hermione they refused to let me visit and I kidnapped you. I have a strange feeling their not going to be singing my praises." Harry remarked sarcastically.
"Which is why I brought my camera," Daphne smiled holding up a small disposable film camera with a sickly sweet grin.
"Not helping," Harry confirmed quickly as Hermione pressed her finger against the doorbell. A loud buzzing sounded followed by a few seconds of silence. Were they in? What had they been told? And how would they react to his presence?
All the questions were answered in order the moment Emma Granger opened the door. The answers were, yes, everything and she fainted immediately with nothing more than a slight shock filled gasp.
Click
"Daphne!" Hermione scolded before turning round to see her father gaping at her with an open mouth. His eyes moved from his daughter, to his wife and then to Harry. Narrowed eyelids and a flaring nose told Harry all he needed to know. He charged but was met by an invisible force.
"Dad!" Hermione's voice broke through his sudden outbreak of fury and the man quickly turned his attention back to her, then to the boy who had one hand outstretched. The one who was holding him.
Click
"Daphne!" Harry growled with obvious irritation before realising the furious man in front of him. Honestly if it wasn't for the ready use of soul magic he would be intimated. The man was tall, trim and looked muscular. Though his body did not translate into the image of intimidation, nor did his furious posture. In fact his eyes carried most of it. Wide infernos of blue which were burning up even more and for a single moment Harry wondered if they could ignite his entrenched, straight, brown hair.
"Dad please calm down," Hermione begged looking almost frightened, a look which calmed her father and Harry released him from the invisible grip. Using up almost half a soul in the process.
"What is he doing here?" was all the man asked.
"He saved my life."
"He was the one who nearly killed you!" Dan Granger retorted angrily looking almost ready to charge again.
"No that was the..." the father and daughter quickly descended into argument and Daphne knowing the time for joking was over put her camera down.
"Enough!" she roared in a voice that no one expected to come from her. It belonged to a warrior, a general, not a teenage girl. Though despite this everyone turned their attention to her.
"Let's calm down and maybe we can sort this out." Daphne advised looking between the father and daughter, both looked ready to burst. Red faces, angry eyes and their resemblance was uncanny. At least in fury.
"I want him out." Dan Granger stated simply pointing at Harry. His eyes brimming with raw contempt at the man who, in his eyes, had almost killed his daughter.
"Right we'll go, Hermione can talk to you and we'll come back later," Daphne suggested realising the situation was only going to escalate from here. Hermione looked unsure.
"I don't want you back," Dan Granger growled.
"With respect you have no choice in the matter now," Harry hissed. He felt something inside. Pulsing. Twitching. Tearing at him. Hermione was his anchor to this world, he needed to protect her and needed to be close to her. He would be back.
"Excuse me!" Harry opened a palm. Daphne however closed it and a aura of calm quickly ushered itself into the room.
"We'll be back," Daphne affirmed half dragging Harry out of the house. Though once outside Harry seemed to accept her compromise, then with a flash of black fire they were gone.
Later
I see, I hear, I know. I see an agent of the Dark Lord moving in the shadows. I hear his plots and plans. I know he must die. James Parkinson. Find him.
The Seeker
"You didn't expect them to welcome you in with open arms did you?" Daphne asked. Both he and her were sat on a park bench in an area filled with green. Infecting the plants, grass and only broken up by the burst of yellow, red and white from the flowers. They were waiting. James Parkinson lived in an exquisite manor. Currently they were trespassing in his garden and they assumed it was only a matter of time before he came out to chase them off.
"No. Of course I didn't. In fact, I didn't really know what to expect," He confessed with a sigh, how it had come to that so quickly?
"Look fathers and boys have a complicated friendship usually, adding in giant snakes, trolls , Dementors and You-Know- Who . Well these things make it worse." Daphne began knowing he was feeling bad.
"Attacking me in his house worse?" Harry half questioned, half stated.
"Evidently, look Hermione will have a little talk with him, then when the violent anger is gone we can work this out. Though in the meantime you can do nothing but make it worse," Daphne reprimanded putting an arm around him.
"Well I don't have much experience with fathers." He muttered with a slight smirk. Daphne glared.
"Girls fathers. Trust me they are completely different. They can be annoying, overprotective, irritating, obsessive and destructive. It's what they do."
"Now where the hell is Parkinson? We've been trespassing through the wards for half an hour."
"You've heard of him?" Harry asked, he hadn't even thought to ask the pureblood expert about whether or not the Seeker had found him a valid target.
"He's Pansy's uncle. Big pureblood supremacist and wants to have all Muggleborns rounded up and registered. He's a bit... well he's a complete arsehole who, from what I've heard, has found himself on the wrong side of the law enough times to merit him a life sentence. Though he has friends, so need I say more?" Daphne asked pulling back and stretching.
"Oi!"
"Finally," Daphne muttered looking to Harry who took a breath. He had this all worked out. So as a rather rotund man of forty came bumbling towards them with a red puffy face Harry stood up.
"How dare you trespass here, on my property, do you have any idea who I am?" the bellowing voice demanded but he frowned when he saw exactly who it was on his property. However Harry's wand was in his hand and a spell knocked him to the ground. A painful one that kept him there and Harry knelt down next to him, drawing a small blade as he did so.
"Solous, unteethe." He opened a palm to cast the smell while he gently cut Parkinson's hand. Then with a flash of blue, and a chilling tearing sound, Harry's ring shone blue and the body of James Parkinson slumped back down to the floor.
"God, half an hour for that?" Daphne sighed turning away in something that resembled a huff.
Granger Household
"I will not just abandon him like that!" Harry arrived to see Hermione stood in the front garden of the suburban house he had visited earlier. Though this time she was facing two furious parents with a deathly glare which was unmatched as far as Harry was concerned.
"Hermione?" Daphne greeted gingerly wondering if they should go or stay. The situation seemed to have escalated even more, how exactly that was possible was a mystery.
"Hermione Granger come back inside this moment." Emma Granger, now awake and furious was demanding but Hermione stood her ground as Harry and Daphne stood beside her.
"You!" Emma announced looking shocked as Dan looked ready to attack.
"What happened?" Harry whispered to Hermione.
"They want me to leave Hogwarts," she replied and Harry for a second flinched. The very idea was just... awful. Hermione gone? It was world he didn't want to imagine.
"Yes, Hermione you have been attacked, hurt and nearly killed at that school and with him. You need to find somewhere else, what sort of parents would we be if we let you go back?" Dan Granger demanded in a bellow.
Click
"Daphne!" Harry and Hermione scolded together as the girl put her camera away once more and smiled sheepishly.
"Now come back inside Hermione, these two are nothing but trouble."
"They both saved my life!" Hermione corrected looking ferocious. Neither of her parents seemed ready to back down.
"Oh and what was the cost? The one you refused to tell us about?" Emma questioned in a screech. Harry and Daphne looked at each other.
"Look this is getting..."
"Shut up!" Dan roared not wanting Daphne not intervene once more, Hermione looked ready to jump to her defence.
"Right we're leaving." Harry had already had enough. He was not going to simply wait outside while his best friend's parents contemplated hiding her away. He would come back another time, when they were calmer and preferably with a bigger party.
"Oh no you are..." Dan Granger began but they were already gone.