Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you might recognize in this story.
A/N: Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. With each new chapter I continue to find myself blown away by the response to this story, hopefully this chapter too you all enjoy. So here you are. Again to all of you who have reviewed continue to do so ever faithfully, and to everyone who has added this story to your alerts and favorites…thank you…thank you…*curtsies*
This chapter briefly breaks away from Severus and Hermione to explore how Harry is dealing with the guilt he has from not protecting his friend, and takes a much closer look at Verity's involvement and the reasons behind her obsession. Enjoy
Thanks for reading as always, and I do hope you enjoy.
.lily
Harry flew to an alley a few blocks from the muggle flat they had found Verity living in.
Verity was a devoted journaler and kept records of everything. She wrote in her journals every day, often adding drawings and clippings from papers and magazines, muggle and magic alike. The journals were proving to be a wealth of information though there were too many to read them all yet, but what they had learned thus far was eye opening.
Verity had been raised by her muggle mother where she lived next door to a girl a few years older than her; Liddy. Early on, Liddy had taken Verity under her wing and the two girls grew to become best friends. It wasn't until after Voldemort's return that Verity let Liddy know she was a witch.
Verity had been at home with her mum when Death Eaters descended on the house and killed her mum. She thought she would be killed too when a burly dark haired wizard removed his mask and looked into her silver eyes, so reminiscent of his own. "Hello Verity."
Verity didn't know what to make of the man. Her life had been sheltered; she had attended Beaubaxtons where the war with Voldemort was nothing but a newspaper article and speculative debates. She knew of the Death Eaters and when she had been old enough her mother had told her that her father had been a Death Eater. Her mother told her how she had fallen in love with dark wizard who had descended upon her village with a group of masked men who used magic to burn the village to the ground. He had found her on the outskirts of the burning village, having crawled to safety and finally collapsing. Her nightgown had been singed and was left in tatters exposing her breasts to the cool night air. She was filthy; covered in soot and had suffered burns to her stomach and back. There was something about her that the man could not resist when he saw her.
Her mother told her that the wizard had taken her to his family home in Russia; to her it was a dark castle from a fairy tale. She had been whisked away by a dark angel who seduced her with his magic and his touch. For two years she lived with him there in secret, spending her days in his library engrossed in the books on the magical world she had learned was so very real. He became her world; everyone she had known before had died in the village fire. He told her how he was a member of an elite group of Wizards who were trying to restore their world to its former greatness and followed a great Dark Wizard who was going to be the salvation of their world. He told her how centuries ago it had been common to teach and practice all types of magic. He told her that there was nothing evil about dark magic, it just came from a different place and sometimes required sacrifices that in more modern times was looked down upon because of the influence from the muggle world. He explained how muggle-borns' brought their religion and moral code and slowly ingrained them into the wizarding world until the old practices were forgotten. He explained that their Lord was going to rebuild their world but that they had to remove the disastrous influence that had torn their world apart.
In two years, with only him for her company, he had her believing in the rhetoric, had her believing that those without magic were lesser beings, she among them. She felt truly blessed to be loved by such a powerful man who was a dark wizard and a rebel working to fix and rebuild his world.
She had been quite happy until she became pregnant. She had expected her dark angel to be excited about the prospect of an heir, but she had been wrong. The war in the magical world was getting more intense and the Dark Lord he served under was becoming more and more focused on blood purity, convinced that it was the only way to fix the damage done to their world. It had been two years that she had lived with her savior, when he sent her away, pregnant with a child he would not claim. He told her to raise their child as a muggle and when the time came, to send her to Beaubaxtons for she would likely be safest there where the war had not reached. He gave her enough money to start a new life and then helped her to disappear.
When Verity saw the man without his mask she understood almost immediately that it was the man who had rescued her mother and fathered her all those years before. "Father," she said, her voice cold and calm.
His eyes widened in fear. "Do not call me that where people can hear you girl, or do you want to get us both killed?" he said through gritted teeth, "I will keep you alive girl but only if you obey me and do not question what I tell you, do you understand?" His voice had softened slightly but still spoke to his authority.
She simply nodded.
The man grabbed her roughly by the wrist and dragged her through the house. Another one of the masked men called out to him as they passed. "Having a little fun before we leave eh?"
The man who had fathered her smiled lecherously looking between her and then man in the mask. "She is such a supple looking little toy. Why? Did you want to watch me break her?"
Verity paled. This was not happening. This man was her father; he said he would save her. How could he do this to her? How had her mother loved such a man? "No, please. Please don't." she begged.
His only response was to slap her across the face with his free hand and glare at her. "I told you to obey me girl," he seethed.
He dragged her into a bedroom and threw her roughly on the bed. With a quick wave of his wand she found her arms bound above her head with ropes. She couldn't do anything but kick and scream as he then 'divestoed' her clothing and left her writhing on the bed naked. She then watched as the man her mother had loved removed his robes and approached the foot of the bed and crawl up slowly to approach her naked form. When he grabbed her legs and roughly pulled them apart her screams turned to cries and she shut her eyes tight. A deep chuckle from the corner of the room alerted her to the other man's presence. It was bad enough that this was happening, and the fear that the other man who looked to be nothing more than a large brute, would join in was overwhelming her.
It was the thing of nightmares. She cried out in pain as her own father tore through her virginal barrier. She felt his hot breath on her face before she heard his words.
"I am sorry Verity. There is no other choice. We were instructed to leave none alive on our raids. I did not know who the target was until I saw your mothers beautiful face after Yaxley killed her. I would have spared her if I could." The entire time he was whispering in her ear as she cried he continued to pump in and out of her. "I promised to get you out alive, this is the only way. In a minute I am going to choke you until you pass out, should you regain consciousness before we are gone, play dead. It is the only chance I can give you. I am sorry" Within moments his large hands were around her neck and she could feel herself slipping away into the blissful dark of unconsciousness.
Her journals went on to say that when she had come to she was covered in a blanket an surrounded by order members who had descended upon the house after the Dark Mark had been cast in the sky above the house. She had been put in a safe house until she could afford her own flat and was offered a job working with the twins at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
It was not long after Verity was settled working at the twins shop manning the counter that had decided upon getting a flat in muggle London close to where she had grown up with her mum. She had been raised to believe that the Death Eaters were going to be the salvation of the Wizarding world and after the attack on her house she wasn't sure what to think. She had been raped by her own father and her mother was dead. At the same time she knew that if her father had not done what he did to her that night that she would surely have joined her mother in death. She started to think that it was what any loving father would do when faced with the choice of raping his child or killing her. He gave her life. It was this that led her to search out her father.
Her journals told a story of a lost girl who grew to idolize her father and feed him inside information on the Order from her close position with the Weasley twins. She wrote about wanting to join and serve the Dark Lord more fully but her father had been afraid that her parentage would be found out and they would both die for the lies he had perpetrated to keep her safe. He helped her to pay for her flat and kept her fully stocked with whatever she wanted. He supplied her with enough potions and drugs to feed her newly formed habit, along with whatever she asked of him.
She became daddy's girl; a life with no real male role models quickly had her begging for his attentions. He spoiled her with things instead of attention and they got to know each other through letters that he sent her through the muggle mail to avoid detection. He told her what her mother had been like when they were young and in love. She quickly forgave him for never being there and for what he had to do to her to keep her alive. He told her about the horrible years he had spent in Azkaban and how he had the one perfect memory of visiting her mother after her birth to keep him sane.
His death in the final battle had nearly destroyed the already fragile girl. She never used his name, just called him Father or Daddy, but all evidence pointed to her being the daughter of Antonin Dolohov.
That was what had Harry so worried. Hermione had never talked to him about the battle. She had never told him the truth of her actions but he worried that she had in fact informed her husband and he would have told his mistress. Harry would have bet all his Galleons on it.
The drugs they had found in her flat were some of the most damning evidence. She was distributing some of the same super drugs Percy was involved in and they suspected she may be behind his involvement. The difference was that she mostly had stores of a drug they hadn't seen before. She had somehow managed to mix muggle methamphetamines with muggle steroids and then had cut that with a combination of invigoration draught and a lust potion. The effect would have been an angry and horny brute of a man that would be very hard pressed to control his rage. In essence, she created what Ron had become, assuming that was what she had gotten him hooked on.
As far as Harry was concerned it didn't absolve Ron of any guilt, he still would have known what he was doing to his wife and friend was terribly wrong, but Verity was the real monster and the one pulling the strings. She was a master puppeteer and had him wrapped around her finger.
She screwed up and left a flight itinerary to New York on her computer. Harry had been the only one who had been able to turn it on and get it working, but when they did they found the flight information and a team was still going through printouts of e-mails that tied her to the drug ring. They weren't sure where she fit in but she was a key player.
She was more like her father than Harry liked and there was no doubt about it; she was fixated on Hermione. She had letters from her father from before his death that talked about Hermione and his growing obsession with her. He had wanted her; to claim her and break her. His obsession, it seemed, had transferred to his daughter upon his death.
In her journals she wrote at first of how she became fascinated by the wizard who had married her. She wrote that of all those in his family, and in the order, he and his brother Percy were likely to be the most easily swayed by her. It would see that she found a way to get to both. Fred had been almost a side project she had been swept up in. Finding his interest in her a small momentary escape before the war took him from her too. Then she seduced Ron, seeing him as an easy way to gain access to Hermione when the time came. She spoke of a plan but never elaborated; there were just notes in code and references to an un-named potion. She wrote that her dad would be so happy when it was all done; that he would be proud of her and that together they would be great.
Harry thought she was a nut job. Nut jobs terrified him, especially when they had brains and this girl had been top of her class at Beaubaxtons.
Harry took a final look around her flat wondering if they had missed anything, cringing when he again saw her little tribute room, with large muggle paintings of her parents that it looked like she had done herself; her father in his Death Eater regalia, his face obscured by his mask. There were various newspaper clippings about both of them; some about her mums death and her father's escape from Azkaban, and then of the war and his death.
There was a wall that was covered with clippings about Hermione and the Golden Trio, with post-it's that she had written her thoughts and ideas on. Under a pink post-it that she had written 'emotional destruction' on were various photos of her with Ron that Harry couldn't quite tell if Ron had known were being taken at the time or not and he wasn't sure he really wanted to know the answer to that either. The pictures were more deviant and pornographic than anything he had seen before and the image of Ron tied to the bed and gagged would likely not leave his brain for some time and he again wished for someone to Obliviate that sight from his memory. It surprised him to see Ron as the submissive, and yet in all the photographs he seemed quite happy to be in that position. He briefly wondered if she gave him something to relax and calm him enough that she could dominate the man that was easily larger and stronger than she was.
Harry needed to get out of there: being there made him feel sick. How could he have not seen what was happening to his own partner? He saw Ron every day almost and he had to have known on some level that something wasn't right. He had just assumed it was the aftermath of the war, that he was still sad about Fred, the occasional marital spat; gods knew he had had plenty with Ginny. He was blind and it nearly cost him Hermione. He wasn't sure how she could ever forgive him for not being there, for not stopping it sooner; it was, after all, his job. He knew more about Death Eaters than anyone in the department anymore - he made it his priority - and yet he had missed the daughter of one right under his nose.
He had seen enough and needed to get what he came for and get out before he got sick again, like he had the first time he had seen this room. He scoured the rest of the flat until he found what he needed; a brush with her hair in it. It was perfect. There was enough in there for some borderline illegal tracking potions that required a bit of the person you were tracking, blood or skin was best, but enough hair would do. He needed to get to the States before it would work though; the distance from London was far too great to where ever they were hiding. He was determined to find them, and he didn't have long. Perhaps without teddy he could make it his mission to bring them to justice, but he had promised Ginny he would be back in two weeks at the latest so that they could finally be a family. He had argued but she was right, if he couldn't find them in two weeks it was doubtful he would without more information to go on.
He was sure that if he didn't find them they would find Hermione. It was what he was most afraid of. Whatever Verity had planned was not going to be good.
Harry made his way through Heathrow International 'confunding' his way through security checkpoints towards Terminal 5 where Ron and Verity's flight had taken off from. British Airways flight 124 had departed from gate 45 which was where Harry was currently headed. He knew he was playing with fire, breaking the Statute of Secrecy and then some, but there was no other way that he could see to get things done quickly enough. The girl behind the counter at the gate looked to be in her early twenties and a bit mousy, with light brown hair that was pulled back into a simple pony tail and she was wearing red horned rim glasses. She was cute in a very unassuming non-threatening way. Her name tag read Evangeline. "Ah, hello there. Evangeline is it?" he asked her as he rested an arm on the counter.
The girl looked up at him and blushed intensely under his gaze. "Yes, I'm Evangeline, can I help you Mister…?"
"It's just Harry. Evangeline is such a lovely name." he said, flirting terribly but hoping for any advantage. "Now Evangeline, I was hoping you could help me with something. You see I'm investigating an attempted murder case and my suspect booked a flight that left through this gate a few days ago. I would love it if I could take a look at the passenger manifests. I believe they may have used an assumed name and every piece of information we can get will be of use," he told her, flashing his biggest smile.
"Oh, you're an investigator? Wow, how exciting. There was an attempted murderer here you say? Oh my. Yes, yes of course. I will just get you a printout. Do you know the flight information?" she asked, obviously smitten with the young 'investigator' who needed her help.
Harry handed her the flight information he had on the flight and she quickly busied herself, pulling up the flight manifest and printing it out.
"Here you are Harry. I do hope this helps you catch the person you are looking for. I just can't believe we had a criminal come through these gates but then again, we do get all sorts," she said, leaning forward against the desk squeezing her breasts together hoping to draw his eye. "If there is anything else I can do for you inspector, please, just say the word."
Harry smiled at her small flirtations. He hadn't really expected it from her. "No, thank you Evangeline, you have been most helpful already, truly, and hopefully a name on this list will be the one I have been looking for. It really is a great help. Thank you, but I have to get going. Time is of the essence," he told her, giving her a smile before turning and leaving.
He decided to sit in the lounge and go over the passenger list while enjoying a glass of whiskey. He could certainly use it. He wasn't even sure where to start; the only conformation that had not been deleted from Verity's computer was little more than a notation. Flight number, time, and destination for two, but there were no names to go off of. There were so many names on the list. So many possibilities and he needed to narrow it down. If they had not stayed in New York they would be more difficult to track. He needed to be close enough for the tracking potion to take effect, and it only had an effective range of about 1000 kilometers. It wouldn't be enough if they went far. He needed a name. Harry decided that the only thing he could do for now was to get himself to New York, follow the trail and see where it led him.
Harry was no Transfiguration genius but he could do well enough and all he needed was the identification; money at least he had. Harry folded the list of names and shoved it into the pocket of his trousers and headed off to find a loo where he could have enough privacy to do the required Transfiguration. It didn't take him long to locate the facilities and find a stall to sneak into and after a couple of tries and a few tweaks to his Transfiguration work he had a passable Passport and Identification in the name of Harry Granger.
Harry had a bag packed and shrunken in his pocket so he pulled that out and returned it to its proper size so he would have some luggage to check, knowing it would look suspicious if he was booking a one way flight with no luggage to speak of. And so, with his black bag in hand, Harry made his way out of the terminal and to the British Airways ticket counter to purchase a ticket on the next flight into New York.
A/N: I hope that answers some of the questions you had about Harry and Verity. The long awaited funeral takes place in the next chapter, so something to look forward to.
Again, thoughts, ideas, questions? I love your reviews so keep them coming!