Not With a Half-blood
Chapter 19: Ow, that hurt.
Harry woke up, he could hear something going beep beep beep, and he hurt everywhere, his legs tingled in a strange way. He opened his eyes. Out-of-focus white room, big green curtain surrounding the bed. Harry squinted and could make out that he was in a hospital bed. A muggle hospital bed. His brain felt muzzy. Last thing he remembered, he'd been swimming in the sea with Daphne. They'd found a new rock to stand on and were on tiptoe in deeper water, snogging. Harry smiled. Something nagged at his mind. Daphne. Where was Daphne?
"Help!" Harry croaked out. "Nurse!"
Nobody came, but the beeping got faster. Like… it was beeping in time with his pulse.
A woman in brightly coloured and patterned uniform wearing a mask and tight head-scarf came in thorough the green curtain "Si?" she asked.
"My wife?" Harry croaked.
The woman looked at Harry and tilted her head "Eres Ingles?" she asked.
"English" Harry croaked "My wife, where is my wife?" The beep beep beep was getting quite fast now.
"No hablo inles" said the woman. Or something like that, she frowned and waved her hand up and down. "vovere pronto" she said and left.
Harry tried to calm down, to work out what had happened. The beeping slowed down slowly.
The, maybe nurse came back with another one, with lighter hair "Ingles" said the first one.
"Hello" said the second nurse. "What is your name?" she said with an accent.
"Where is my wife?" asked Harry. "Blonde, five foot four?"
"Eh" said the second nurse "The other patient, yes. What is your name. So we can call your embassy, your family?"
"Harry, Harry Potter-Black, I'm English" said Harry. The nurse took a clipboard and wrote that down.
"Two last names for English?" asked the nurse.
"It's a family thing" said Harry. "My wife's name is Daphne Black."
The second nurse scribbled something on the side of the clipboard "Dafne Negra" she said to the other nurse who nodded and left.
"Mister" she looked at the clipboard "Black? you have been very hurt."
Harry sighed "Yeah" he said "My wife?"
"Your wife is very hurt " said the nurse, and the beeping accelerated.
"I can't see without my glasses." said Harry, and tried to move his right arm, which… seemed to be stuck somehow. Harry squinted; his arms were mostly under the sheet and his left had pipes stuck into it. Harry tried to move his hand, and nothing happened.
"I can't move my hand" croaked Harry.
"Your hands are very hurt." said the nurse, looking away from Harry.
"Can I see my wife?" asked Harry.
"She is not awake" said the Nurse.
"Can you telephone my family?" asked Harry.
"The embassy will send a person" said the Nurse "Don't try to move, and don't… try to move your arms too much."
Somehow, Harry fell asleep, waking from a strange, muzzy dream to a strange, muzzy awakeness.
And a chorus of beeping noises. Harry opened his eyes and looked around.
A large white hospital bed covered in technology that beeped and hanging bags of liquids was next to the bed he was in. A faint sliver of golden hair was visible.
"Daphne?" Harry croaked "Dearest?"
The beeping from… Daphne's beeping thing continued unchanged, while a closer beeper beeped faster. His own heart, Harry mused.
"Daphne?" Harry called as loud as he could. Which wasn't much. There seemed to be a lot wrong with his chest.
Harry slipped in an out of consciousness, waking up to the sound of his wife coughing.
"Harry?" she croaked.
"I'm here" said Harry. "We're in a perfectly normal hospital, there's been an explosion, and we're both very injured."
"Mug –" started Daphne
"Yes" interrupted Harry "I expect someone from the British embassy will show up and ask some questions, and telephone the manor. After that, we can get home, and get some really good medical treatment. I can't move my arms or legs, and I suspect you're the same."
"Oh dear, will it heal up do you think?" asked Daphne.
"Don't worry dear. But don't talk too much in case they're listening" said Harry.
"Oh I understand" said Daphne. "Shame I can't hold your hand."
"Me too" said Harry, tired out.
-==0==-
A day must have passed, thought Harry, the light got lower then brighter, and a man came wearing a dark suit. Harry squinted to see.
"Meester Harry Potter?" they asked in a Spanish accent.
"Yes, Harry Potter-Black and wife Mrs Daphne Black, English" said Harry.
The suited man drew a wand. "Mister Potter, and wife, you are under arrest for a breach of the international statute of wizarding secrecy." A red flash.
-==0==-
Harry woke up on a less comfortable bed, with no beeping. He looked around, squinting. A small room in a stone building, with a window. A view of the sky, another bed, a body with blonde hair. Probably Daphne.
The room seemed vaguely familiar. A large door, one window, stone, where had he seen it before?
"Daphne dear?" Harry called out.
"Harry?" groaned Daphne "Stunner headache, and whatever else."
Harry hadn't tried to look at his arms, afraid what he'd see. "We're under arrest for a statute breach, apparently" said Harry.
"Bother" said Daphne "Do you think we'll get some proper medical treatment?"
"I hope so" said Harry "I suspect my hands are… very not good. I think it was a muggle explosion though, so everything's heal-able. I think."
"Harry!" said Daphne nervously "I can't feel my leg."
"Mine are all pins and needles" admitted Harry.
"I meant with my hand." said Daphne "It's… only a bandaged stump."
"We can grow back anything that's not a dark curse, right?" said Harry.
"I hope so" said Daphne, and her voice cracked.
"I um… don't think I have hands to tell if I have legs" admitted Harry.
"Oh Harry!" said Daphne sounding upset.
-==0==-
Time had passed. Boring, painful time.
A guard in brown robes came in, with a lot of clonking of the door.
"Are you Harry Potter?" they asked.
"Yes" groaned Harry.
"This potion will stop the cuts going bad." offered the guard.
"I don't think I have hands" said Harry tersely.
"bien c'est très gênant" said the guard.
"You'll have to hand-feed him" said Daphne. "I have a hand, but my arm is broken, I think."
"Any chance of medical treatment?" asked Harry.
"Not for prisoners" said the Guard. "Was that your car?"
"Yes?" asked Harry.
"You were found conditionally guilty of a nearly catastrophic of the statute of secrecy, which is why you're here at ICW fortress Nurmengard. As that is your car, you will serve out your sentence, of life imprisonment." said the Guard "The muggles nearly started a war over it."
"A war?" asked Harry.
"A nuclear war between Russia and the Nato" said the guard.
"Bother" said Harry.
The potion tasted awful too.
-==0==-
The guard came twice a day, and despite what he'd said, the potion seemed to do a little more than stop bleeding. The food was soup, and Harry was hand-fed by his guard. The guard also cast vanishing charms, which was nearly hygiene.
Daphne cried … like a girl. It was like she'd never been unfairly imprisoned…. Oh she hadn't.
"If I was healed up, I could feed myself" Harry said drolly.
"I don't make the rules Mister Harry Potter" said the guard.
A day later, they had a visitor. The door opened and in came a pompous familiar voice, and the thinning red hair to go with it.
"I simply have to see Mister Potter" said Percy Weasley. "Ah, there you are, and the lovely Mrs Black" said Percy, coming over to look at Harry and Daphne. "Can you sit up?"
Percy was accompanied by a wizard in brown robes with extra decorations, who looked bored. Obviously Percy had been deploying his charm.
"I think I have no legs or hands?" said Harry.
"I definitely have an arm and a leg missing" said Daphne "Apparently no medical treatment for prisoners." she said politely, then sniffled.
"Eh" said Percy awkwardly. "That simply won't do. I was sent here by Kingsley to see about the eh, cause of the breach, I'd heard you were injured…. But this is too much."
"I don't make policy" said the other wizard "I merely administer the facility" in accented english.
"Yes, Commander Vignes, I understand, it's just that well, the public sentiment in England is a bit… volatile, what with Harry Potter being imprisoned by the ICW. If they found out he was being kept without medical treatment, well…. They'd demand we leave the ICW."
"Why ever would England do that?" asked Commandeer Vignes.
"So we could go to war" said Percy bluntly. "Mister Potter-Black is … well he's very popular for defeating Voldemort, and the Death Eaters."
"I hadn't noticed" said Harry dryly.
"There is also the matter of Mister and Mrs Blacks personal effects." said Percy "The ICW are holding them, and I completely understand that as prisoners they can't be allowed wands. But their effects are family property, and I do expect to be taking them home to the Blacks' family. Some of those items are heirlooms, and have been in Harry's family for a long time."
"Since twelve ninety-five" said Harry, and the Commander flinched.
"Twelve ninety-five?" he asked.
"The wand, the stone, the cloak, made in twelve fifty or thereabouts" said Daphne "The Black family rings, fifteen hundreds, the car, nineteen twenty."
"Oh," said Percy "The major heirlooms predate the statute, and thus ICW jurisdiction."
"That is a matter for the court of the ICW to decide" said Commander Vignes.
"Eh, I got an opinion, and of course, only an opinion from some of our Mugwumps, that their personal effects, save the car, of course, are family property, and thus… not subject to seizure. One of our Mugwumps has a sense of humour and suggested, purely jokingly, of course" said Percy, woodenly "That the Black estate charge rent for the period they'd been held. Of course… they are Rather valuable items."
"They are the Deathly Hallows" said Harry blandly "You could get a valuation from the department of mysteries. A few trillion galleons here and there."
"The Black family signet ring, the wedding rings as well" said Percy.
"They might be missing from the explosion" said the Commander.
"Well, we can send some wizards to summon them, though our observers tell us they've already been recovered." said Percy. "A lot of effort went into the recovery."
Two days later witches came and looked under their sheets, tut-tutted and Harry's one gave Harry a huge jar of potion to drink that tasted like a mixture of the chalkiness of skele-grow, and the sickly sliminess of gillyweed. Harry finished drinking, to see Daphne drinking a similar bottle.
"So no medical treatment for prisoners?" asked Harry, feeling a burning in his stomach.
"Zat was reassessed" said the witch. "You vil experience some discomfort for ze next week."
"Not overnight?" asked Harry, wincing as his stomach burnt, and his forearms felt like they were on fire.
"Funf days for small limbs, full size in drei month. And the English are paying for zis treatment." said the witch, pulling the sheet aside and applying a paste to…. Oh, the stubs of his forearms, and stumps of his legs...and that felt like… where his bits had been. Once. The witch shook her head and flicked the sheet back over Harry. "You will feel that later."
Harry looked over at Daphne's head. She waved "It hurts" she said "But less than childbirth."
A guard came and fed them hours later, as they winced and sweated. Harry could just barely see Daphne eat one-handed.
The stars shone outside the window when the pain in ... felt like his bits had Harry faint from the pain.
Harry woke to the sound of Daphne sobbing. "Dear?" he groaned.
"It hurts Harry… it hurts" she sniffled.
"I'd hold your hand but… I haven't got any yet" winced Harry "And I lost my bits. They're very painful to regrow."
Four days later, Harry and Daphne were given tooth potion to mend the teeth they'd cracked.
By the end of the week, Harry had tiny hands, smaller than his daughters had been when she was born.
"I miss the children" said Harry.
"Even Caph?" asked Daphne jokingly.
"Even Caph" said Harry.
"I hope both legs come out the same length" said Daphne. "Shame, if I'd lost both I could have got taller" she joked.
"Ha" said Harry "I'll be taller." he joked over the pain. Daphne was crying a lot, Harry realised.
-==0==-
Percy and the Commander reappeared the next afternoon.
Harry's little arm-buds were pointed out "As you can see, they are regrowing limbs."
"And my dick" Harry added.
"It'll come in handy later" said Daphne.
"Once you are both well enough to eat along, you will be placed in solitary cells" said the Commander.
"Oh that's a bit rough" said Percy. "Their sentence is prison for life, and the ICW convention allows conjugal visits."
"A convention England did not sign" said the Command stiffly.
"But you did" said Percy cheerfully "Again, I ask that you get clarification from the Supreme Mugwump."
If Harry could have moved, he would have kissed Percy. Well, no, if Harry could have moved he would have kissed Daphne. It had been a week or more.
-==0==-
Percy was eventually allowed to visit with a closed door for ten minutes.
"How are my children" asked Daphne, sniffling.
"Uh… they're well, and Andromeda's moved in with Teddy" said Percy awkwardly.
"How did the muggles detect the car?" asked Harry.
"The heat, and something called Radar" said Percy "And Hermione blames flying too fast for the sound-stopping spell."
"It'll be the other two things" said Harry "The police found Grimmauld place by the heat it let out… a cooling charm and something to stop Radar, whatever that is."
"Hermione and Theodore are working on it obsessively." said Percy "Theodore is a bad influence on my father."
"Percy?" asked Harry, remembering something "Have the ICW managed to make the car go? Arthur put that interlock in, to make it a compliant object."
Percy looked at Harry very oddly, like he'd just been asked question he didn't know the answer to, and went red-faced "I uh… hadn't check on that."
"It's just" said Harry "This place reminds me of number four privet drive in summer of second year. Tell George, and see if the ICW can really hold a car that doesn't fly. After all, I was just levitating it."
"You couldn't levitate a car" said Percy, and Daphne snorted "He can" she said "He picked up that bloody tree after the incident at the Manor."
"The… the cursed tree?" said Percy "I thought that was Magical Accidents and Catastrophes that cleaned it up?"
"Harry put it in the barn" said Daphne. "Do the arithmancy" she said tightly.
"One thing" said Percy "We uh... have request from your family to visit."
"To visit?" asked Harry.
"Well, Altair suggested it apparently. Hermione didn't know what to say, and technically you're allowed visitors."
"My children coming to Nurmengard" said Daphne stiffly.
"I think we can swing it actually" said Percy. "There's a meeting room, you two will have to wear cuffs."
Harry laughed "My hands are smaller than my arms. There's no way a cuff's staying on."
"Very small cuffs" said Percy prissily.
"And as I only have one full-sized arm, good luck with cuffs" said Daphne. "Al and Caph will try and do something terrible, so make sure they're thoroughly searched by Aurors before they come here."
"You think your eight-year-old son and daughter will try to break you out of Nurmenguard?" asked Percy, looking pale.
"I would have at their age" admitted Harry. "Probably they'd try to wheedle portkeys or wands. I pity Cyrus and Roxanne."
"Aren't you worried that your appearance will upset your children?" asked Percy.
"Well, I'd rather see them and have to hug them than not see them" said Harry simply "You must feel the same way about your children?"
Percy stopped to think about that.
"If the children come, they must be wrapped up well. The trip might be cold" said Daphne.
"You two will need clothes too" said Percy "I took the liberty of getting you both Azkaban prison uniforms sized to fit. The guards are checking them for hidden objects."
An hour after Percy left, they took delivery of striped Azkaban uniforms. Made of oddly thick and warm fabric. All the hems had been ripped out.
Harry had no way to get into his, and Daphne couldn't move.
They were fed more potion and tried to sleep though the pain it caused.
-==0==-
The weather at Nurmengard stared to turn colder.
"We'll need blankets soon" said Harry "The heat from the growth potion won't keep us warm forever."
"You'd be warmer in your prison pyjamas" said Daphne, who'd struggled into the jacket of hers.
"True, but I'd have to levitate to do that" said Harry "And I can't. No wand" he blinked at her. She nodded.
"My tiny hands will be strong enough to pull on a top soon" said Harry "My legs are useless, will be till they're nearly fully grown."
Harry, held out his tiny hand towards the window. A minute later, a ragged blanket flew in and landed on Harry. Harry looked over to Daphne and tilted his head.
Daphne awkwardly pulled herself to the edge of her bed and got her one foot on the floor and leaned over, and took Harry's blanket. "Thanks" she said.
"Typical" said Harry lovingly, and reached out for another blanket. It took a lot longer to appear.
"I can't do that" said Daphne.
"You get all the blankets every night in bed" said Harry.
"Don't taunt me, I've been sleeping alone for… must be weeks now" said Daphne.
"You could hop over" said Harry deadpan.
"What if a guard comes?" asked Daphne.
"Feign an orgasm" suggest Harry, and Daphne narrowed her eyes "Not happening. It must be tiny."
"I can kiss" said Harry "hop over?"
Daphne hopped over with the blanket and wiggled into the bed, kissing Harry and stoking his messy hair.
"I've missed you" she said, and kissed him again.
Harry and Daphne shuddered under their two blankets all night, tormented by the body regrowth potion.
"Hey" said Harry early the next morning "I'd forgotten how nice it is to be in bed with you."
"Even when we're filthy, can't sleep and the bed's too small" said Daphne, with a sniff.
"Moving the beds together?" asked Harry. "Once handed and one legged?"
"They look a bit heavy" admitted Daphne.
"I'll make the weight less, you move the bed" said Harry. "I miss you, but… more space would be nice."
"There'll be a lump in the middle" said Daphne.
"Well, we're hardly in any shape to need the middle of the bed just yet" said Harry.
"Well, without washing, yes." said Daphne.
"Vanishing ?" asked Harry.
"Not wandlessly" said Daphne.
"Andromeda can do a cleaning charm without a wand." said Harry "We could be nice… I could prop myself on my elbows… lick…."
"You're persuasive" said Daphne, "And it's so tiny it can't even be a mouthful" and started trying to cast a cleaning charm wandlessly.
Harry patted Daphne's arm with his tiny hand and started trying to clean the top blanket wandlessly.
The door rattled and Harry banished the blankets, leaving them with a sheet.
"Huddling together for warmth" said the Guard, then spoiled the tough guard effect by having to cast half-assed cleaning charms on the prisoners, and hand-feed Harry stew and potion.
"Ze British are subsidising your meals and medicine" said the Guard.
"How nice of them" said Harry.
-==0==-
After the guard left, Daphne said "Harry, how strong are your fingers?"
"Not very, I can't really pull a blanket" admitted Harry.
"How about…. Tickling me?" asked Daphne.
"Oh" said Harry, summoning back the blankets and reaching under the sheet.
"Yes" said Daphne "That's the spot… aaaaahhh."
"I'm going to get tired quick with these tiny fingers" winced Harry.
"It's the thought that counts" said Daphne, leaning over and kissing Harry. "And I like your thoughts. You poor man."
-==0==-
The witch nurse came again to see their progress.
She looked under the sheet at Harry "Your progress ist good, in a week you will be able to feed yourself." she said, then cast a charm "You have a cursed wound on your arm… and on your genitals."
"Sterilisation curse" said Daphne "We already have seven children."
"Seven?" asked the witch "They must be quite young?"
"The twins are eight and the quints are nearly six" said Daphne wistfully.
"Quints?" asked the witch, not sounding confused.
"Quintuplets. Five children, one pregnancy" said Harry "Which is why I'm sterilised."
The witch snorted then bit her lip "You… have many children. You must miss them" she asked.
"They are coming to visit" said Daphne surely. "We're allowed visitors."
"But Nurmengard… is not a place for children" said the witch.
"Could be worse" said Harry phlegmatically "could be Azkaban."
"You are very… stoic?" asked the witch.
"No point complaining" said Daphne "We're prisoners, and we are on a life sentence, and it could be so much worse. It could be Azkaban. And I have my husband."
"Most of him" said the witch, and she checked Daphne's arm and leg.
"You need to try to keep off your good leg to keep your spine straight" said the witch. "Until both legs are the same length. Do you understand?"
Daphne nodded "I understand. No chance of making my other leg a bit longer?" she joked.
"I'm sorry the potion is so painful." said the witch. "You injuries have been both been quite bad."
-==0==-
Harry and Daphne were clumsily snogging again when the door rattled, so Harry hurriedly banished the blankets again. The two guards helped Harry into his prison uniform, one levitating Harry, the other cleaning Harry with a quick spell and pulling the clothes on. He was lowered onto the bed, his tiny hands and forearms just poking out of the uniform's ragged cuffs.
"Your visitors are coming." said the guard with the wand out "Please put on the uniform trousers."
Daphne pulled on the trouser awkwardly, and sat up.
"You will both be levitated, one leg is not enough for the many stairs" said the second guard, and Harry and Daphne were floated out of the room, and down a seemingly endless spiral staircase, along dark hallways lit by flickering torches, into a large room with a rough table and two battered, rustic chairs. Harry was lowered onto one, and sat, leaning to one side, and Daphne into the other.
A clanking noise got louder and louder, and a third guard came in with a bundle of chains.
As the guard put the first iron collar on Harry's neck Harry quipped "Well, at least it's not cuffs."
A fiery spell melted a rivet into the collar.
Daphne shuddered as the cold metal rested on her neck. The chains clanked as they were hooked onto a metal loop on the back wall and then the loop was heated red-hot and closed up.
"Well there's no risk of us escaping now" said Daphne "After all a one-legged woman and a man with baby legs could run so fast."
One of the guards rolled his eyes "This is procedure." he said stiffly.
"And we cannot escape" said Harry. "Where are our children?"
"Children?" asked the first guard "Your visitors are children?"
The sound of Cassiopeia echoed up the hallway.
"Yes" said Harry "Here they come."
The children, well Caph burst into the room and ran to Daphne "Mummy!" she cried. Altair following and diverting to Harry. Harry held up his tiny hands "Sorry son, my arms are still growing back, but I can hug… come closer."
Altair sniffled and hugged Harry while Caph sniffled onto Daphne's hair.
The quints, herded by Percy and Andromeda came in and started to complain loudly, cry and try to get hugs. The three guards for Harry and Daphne pressed themselves against the wall, wands out as the children mobbed Harry and Daphne. Four more guards came in, and stood wands out, against the end wall.
Little Sirius decided the guards needed investigation and walked over.
"Are you the prison guards?" asked Sirius. The guards looked awkward.
"Let my mummy and daddy go" said Sirius and tried to kick a guard, who used a quickly cast shield charm.
"Sirius No" said Andromeda.
"They're just doing their jobs" said Percy.
"Just following orders" added Andromeda.
"Are you well?" asked Andromeda.
"The limb regrowth potion is very painful" said Daphne, blinking aside tears as she nuzzled Caph
"The chains are new" said Percy, in a disinterested tone.
"Today, to stop us running off" said Harry, kissing Effie.
Harry proceeded to kiss and hug each of his children, in concert with Daphne. Daphne cried on them and Harry… had dust in his eyes.
"Daddy why are your arms little?" asked Hesper, frowning cutely.
"Because we got blown up and we're growing them back. It wasn't a dark curse, so we'll be fine."
"Daddy, this is a funny sort of hospital" said Hesper.
"It's a prison dear, we're in prison for breaking the statute of secrecy." explained Harry.
"Are you coming home soon?" asked Caph "It's just it's nearly your birthday."
Andromeda spoke up "Edward is most agitated. He got detention before end of term for fighting about your incarceration at school. A young Selywn was boasting about it. He may have caused a fracas on the train home for summer."
Harry groaned. Daphne shot him a look.
"Daddy" cried Estelle and smothered his face with wet kisses.
The kissing and hugging and complaining by children continued, and the guards started looking more and more uncomfortable.
The quints started to cheer up and squeal and run about. Which, for some reason, had Harry in tears.
"Harry" said Percy "We, that is Kinsley and the Mugwumps have made an appeal against your sentence, it is rather steep for what we think is an unintentional breach."
"When would a hearing be?" asked Daphne.
"Not till next autumn" said Percy awkwardly. "The ICW doesn't sit in summer, School holidays."
"Well I didn't do it intentionally" Harry assured Percy. "We just went to the beach for a swim, and then got blown up somehow."
"Er yes, that appears to have been a muggle bomb for blowing up ships, left over from one of their big wars" said Percy "You two appear to have been standing on it when it exploded." Percy cleared his throat.
"Lucky me" said Harry drily.
"Lucky me" said Daphne "You were holding me up when the bomb exploded. So I only lost one leg." Harry blushed.
Percy started to explain "The ah, muggles were agitated by what they call a UFO, and had no idea where it was, of course, then when the bomb went off, and apparently broke most of the muggle-repelling charms on the beach. Then their first people there, police ... like Aurors, they found you two in the ocean. Touch and go getting you to the hospital, then they found the car and your picnic blanket, and wands."
"What's the statute breach?" asked Harry.
"Apparently some muggle worked out the car was what had made the UFO" said Percy.
Harry frowned "Percy, the car is muggle-safe without a wand. That was no muggle."
"What?" asked a Guard "We were told the car was flying."
"Not without someone with a wand flying it, it doesn't" said Harry crossly.
"Mister Potter, the Commander will need to hear of this" said a Guard.
"Isn't that a matter for the ICW?" asked Harry "Who are on holiday, so I can spend more time in a prison cell?"
"It's just that… you could be under house arrest instead. This could be just a fine, instead of…" said the talkative Guard.
"Life in prison, yes" said Harry.
"I will get the commander to take a statement after your visitors leave" said the Guard politely.
-==0==-
Commander Vinges took a statement onto parchment with a dictaquill, as the crying children were herded out of the hallway, down the stairs, out of Nurmengard.
The guards were carrying one screaming child each, and Caph was shouting threats
"My Daddy will blow you all up the way the last people died" she cried out loudly.
The commander looked over at Harry, sitting tensely, a steel collar welded around his neck, chained to the wall, baby hands forced flat on the wooden table by sheer force of will. Daphne sniffled. 'Stagily' thought Harry.
"Bringing all your children causes much commotion." observed the commander.
"Well we had no say in how many children we had" said Harry "Our children expect us at home. They're only children. They don't understand, and I can't explain how a trip to the seaside ends in their mother and father being in prison forever." Harry took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
The commander turned to Daphne, who was looking… about to snap with anger.
"Mrs Black, can you please list the facts of your trip to the seaside." he asked.
What felt like ages later, the commander looked at the pile of scribbled parchment.
"This… is not what I was told" said the commander, and he stood up, bowed politely to Daphne, turned, gave Harry a tiny bow and left.
-==0==-
As soon as they had working legs and arms, they were put in separate cells. Monthly conjugal visits were allowed, apparently.
Aunt Andromeda visited representing the 'Slytherin women's beneficial society.'
She had underwear and potions for Daphne. Daphne cried at the sight of the potions.
"My prescription" she sighed.
"Thank you so much" said Harry to his Aunt, who nodded severely. "Edward misses his godfather. He wanted to ask Mr Weasley to finish the motorbike, so he could come rescue you."
The guards looked alarmed.
"He's a small child" said Harry.
-==0-==-
Harry was lying on his prison cot waiting for the next conjugal visit day, when the door opened with a bang.
"You haf visitor, schnell" said one of the guards, red-faced "Schnell."
Harry walked down the stairs as quickly as he could while the guard held the end of his chain, like a massive dog lead. All the way to the meeting room, and another, flustered looking guard welded the wall loop shut on Harry's chain. "Sit. Sit" urged the guard.
Daphne came in a few minutes later, looking to Harry's eyes, incredibly beautiful. He hadn't seen her for … nineteen days. Her hair was a mess, and she looked tired and lined.
Daphne was rushed to a chair and her chain welded down. Harry blinked at Daphne, she smiled a little and tried to tidy her hair with her fingers.
"It's great grandmama" said Daphne suddenly, as a very old witch started to limp into the meeting room.
Daphne's Maternal Great-Grandmother limped into the meeting room where Harry and Daphne where sitting in chairs, while chained to the opposite walls, wearing a long cloak, a tiara and a lot of jewellery. Commander Vignes had a very pale face today and his pupils were tiny.
Daphne's great-grandmother had a look on her face if such disdain, it made Narcissa Malfoy's best sneer look like a facial tic. Behind the commander, an old wizard in a strange blue formal military uniform limped painfully in. He wore a sash half inside his coat, half out, and looked pained, stopping to lean heavily on his cane, his wrinkled face pale, panting.
Daphne's great-grandmother looked down her nose in the general direction of Commander Vignes and said something like "Das ist ekelhaft. Sie sind respektable Kinder und in Gefängnisuniform ungewaschen. Ich werde den hohen Zirkel informieren. Verlasse uns, Bauer." she spat the last bit, and Harry thought it wasn't polite, because all the guards cringed.
The guards and commander fled.
"Daphne, Liebling." said Daphne's Great-grandmother to Daphne, and Daphne replied with "Urgroßmutter"; which was evidently polite. Harry surmised.
Harry awkwardly said "Urgrosmutter" and Daphne's great-grandmother gave him a moments' attention.
"He doesn't speak German, Leibing? You could have taught him" said great-grandmother.
Daphne blushed slightly and said in reply "I did not have time with seven children, grandmama."
"And now you do." said Daphne's Great-grandmother stiffly. "Getting arrested by the ICW. The blood of the Bathory flows in your veins girl, you cannot lower yourself so. And it's a half-blood."
Daphne bit her lip. "Grandmama" she began stiffly, then switched to German "seine Mutter war die Erbin Slytherin." she said firmly, and the old fellow, who Harry supposed was Daphne's great-grandfather nearly fell over "Das Slyhther!" he explained, leaning against the door-frame for support.
Daphne's great-grandmother turned and looked at Harry "Your mother, she was not a mudblood?"
"$hesh pershes persha pershe$" Harry hissed. Daphne's great-grandmother blinked, "He is a snake-speaker" she said matter-of-factly. "You really should have invited him to visit, leibling, I thought you married some halfblood hero, and he is the scion of a legendary family." she said.
Harry sighed "There are no muggleborns. Everyone's the offspring on at last squibs" explained Harry very patiently. "Abandoned squibs find one another, and you get muggleborns."
"I will invite the Mugwumps to tea" announced Daphne's great grandmother "And explain how they should vote. Mister Potter-Black, such a delight to meet you. Next time we meet, it should be at home. Daphne liebling, the whole family to the schloss as your earliest convenience."
"Yes great-grandmother" said Daphne, and she nodded in a tiny bow.
"This is Franz, my husband. Franz, Daphne's Harry Potter-Black, heir Slytherin" said Dapgne's great-grandmother, changing pace.
The old man tottered over to Harry, and shook his hand, leaning forward to whisper "The old girls' a bit rattled. Bravo. Sorry, didn't know you were somebody."
"Franz" said Harry, shaking back "Well, I did defeat dark lord before I finished school, but you know… tiny things. An order of Merlin" Harry said, one eye on Daphne, who winced.
"We will have our mugwumps vote with the English" said Daphne's great-grandmother.
Franz sighed a very tired sigh "Harry Potter, may I introduce my wife. Countess Erzabet Bathory, of the Hungarian Bathorys. Your wife's great-grandmother."
Harry smiled artificially at Erzabet "Countess Bathory" said Harry politely.
"Please call me Erzabet, after all you've given liebling such healthy children." said Erzabet.
"Loud children" muttered Franz "Your house is a zoo."
Harry nodded to Franz "They're missing us. They made a huge fuss when the guards carry them out of the meeting room. Worse than bath night."
Franz looked mildly amused, in a dessicated way by Harry's quip.
"Grandmama… please don't bully the commandant" asked Daphne, looking a bit teary.
"I have good mind to buy up his family's debts and burn his house to the ground" said Erzabet stiffly.
…
As Harry was led back to his cell he asked Daphne, who was climbing the stairs, unfortunately behind him "Is your great-grandmother really as powerful as she seemed?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly" admitted Daphne, out of breath "The Bathory's aren't part of the Hungarian royal family any more, and they only have the castle and some lands left, but traditional families listen to her… out of respect for the family." said Daphne, leaving out a lot for Harry to fill in with… unpleasant suspicions.
"Not a big fan of muggleborn rights?" asked Harry.
"Which is why she didn't come to our wedding or Yules." said Daphne "And Daddy's not important enough to merit it."
"She's … the Malfoy of Hungary, isn't she?" asked Harry quickly.
"If the Malfoy's money had mostly run out, yes." said Daphne, panting.
They reached Daphne's cell.
"Can I please kiss my husband goodbye?" asked Daphne. The guards shrugged.
Harry got to kiss Daphne, which he did with a hand in her hair and another in the small of her back, till the guards said "Enough." It wasn't nearly enough, thought Harry as he climbed the five hundred steps to the top of the tower, to his cell. Grindelwalds old cell.
-==0==-