Where's the Line?

July 21st

7:43am

Black Chateau, Loyalist Headquarters, Isle of Man

Daphne

Anyone who found themselves in the cellar of the chateau would be surprised how well the command team had refitted it to be a makeshift prison. Twelve cells, six on each side, with magic dampening wards in place and a heavily warded door to top it all off. Impressively defensible, or dishearteningly if you were unlucky enough to be placed there.

THWACK

The sound of flesh smacking against flesh rang out, followed by a pained grunt. Chairs screeched as they were scraped across the floor in an attempt to break free, a futile notion where she was involved. In the first cell on the right a man and a woman were tied to a chair each, the man's face was swollen and bruised with blood leaking from small cuts scattered across the side of his head. The woman had only a gash on her brow and swollen upper lip, for how long she remained less injured was yet to be determined by their jailer.

"We don't know shite!" the woman barked out, "we're just muscle!"

Daphne walked mechanically to the side of the room where a bench laid with her wand and a pepper up potion. She uncapped the bottle and downed the potion in one go before turning around and calmly stating; "I warned you about lying to me, Carrow, now I'll find it hard to believe anything you say."

"Glrgh ptew," the man, Amycus Carrow, spat out the blood that had built up in his mouth whilst glaring at her. He seemed to have naught a single ounce of cunning in his head, unlike his sister.

'He'll break soon enough, the sister on the other hand…'

"Your attempts at bravado are insignificant, you know how this ends." Daphne placed the empty bottle down, moved over to Alecto Carrow and gripped the front of her robe in a tight fist. "The only aspect you can influence is how much pain she endures."

Alecto was breathing heavily but still did her best to project strength by crying out, "it's alright Am', I can take whatever this wee little bitch throws my way."

Daphne's stare was less than emotionless, one could easily mistake her for a robot because of the lack of life behind her eyes. For an instant it seemed like Amycus faltered at the sight, his eyes widening for a fraction of a second, yet he clamped down on his surprise and locked up. Daphne gave him a moment to reconsider, one he did not take, then turned to Alecto and brought her empty hand across her body to punch the death eater right in the mouth. Alecto's head reeled back and the base of her skull slammed into the backrest of the chair giving her a mild concussion. Daphne returned her gaze to Amycus to gauge his reaction, only to find he had grown angry.

'So be it,' she thought mercilessly. She steadied the swaying woman and lined her fist up again, this time twisting her body to punch Alecto. She hit her in the cheek this time, likely breaking the bone, which sent the woman's head to the side where she now faced her brother. Daphne peeked at his reaction this time and by his distressed expression, she inferred having to look his sister in the eye created chinks in his armour. 'I can't stop now, I have to push harder,' she surmised as she switched her grip to the left shoulder of her female captive. Without hesitation, she swiftly delivered two blows to the woman's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and initiating a coughing fit, blood now dripping from her mouth onto the floor below.

She heard Amycus growl as she backed away from Alecto and inspected her hand once more. She gently thumbed the bruised areas and held back a wince as a sharp shot of pain assaulted her senses on the third knuckle. 'Damned fragile bones,' Daphne cursed. She would have to mend it outside—

"Daphne?" Daphne looked up and saw Tonks peeking her head into the cell, warily taking in the surroundings and the beaten twins before returning to her charge. "Someone's lookin for ya."

Daphne nodded at her and dismissed her with a look whilst subconsciously massaging around the break in her hand. Her captives were leaning towards each other and mumbling about something she couldn't hear. 'They haven't comprehended the finality of their capture, perhaps I should clue them in.' She banged the table hard with her healthy hand and appreciated the small jump Amycus did in his chair. She had their attention now, eyes swollen shut as they were, but still they were listening.

"I have other things to attend to but allow me to leave you with some parting wisdom. There is no escape. This room nullifies magic to the point of no consequence, you will not be allowed to leave those chairs for the bathroom, food or water and your only visitor will be me. You give me what I want, the nightmare ends."

She could see both of them sag a little and was content with letting the pair stew over her statement for a day. She retrieved her wand from the table and left the cell without another glance at the twins, more interested in healing her hand. Tonks was leaning against the opposite wall when she entered the hall, a distinct expression of distaste on her face that Daphne didn't miss.

Tonks started walking first and Daphne fell in step beside her, running her wand over the afflicted areas on her hand and feeling instant relief spread through her system. "You don't need to stay down here," Daphne began, striking up conversation with her protector, "outside the cellar door is close enough."

Tonks opened the door in question as they reached it and allowed Daphne to go through and then closed it behind her as she followed. The heavy old metal made a loud bang as it closed only to be amplified by the sound reverberating through the basement walls. Two burly looking aurors stood guard outside the door and they nodded at Daphne and Tonks before the pair continued down the hall.

"Something could happen in the cell," Tonks responded once they were far enough away from the guards. "Someone could notice your vulnerability down there or conspire with the prisoners…" she trailed off, realising she was out of examples. The disingenuous manner in which she spoke piqued Daphne's interest, Tonks was a master of camouflage yet her ability to lie left much to be desired.

She hummed in noncommittal agreement, "all good reasons." They rounded a corner into a corridor that led to the main hall, "yet none of them entirely true."

Tonks failed to hide her guilty expression, with her brow firmly furrowed she opened up. "I captured the Carrows yesterday, me, and now they sit in a cell getting beaten—" Her voice had raised with each word but she stopped herself realising Daphne might take it the wrong way. Daphne, however, had simply raised an eyebrow inquisitively and silently listened as Tonks fumbled to salvage the conversation. "It's not that I'm judging you or anything, but I can't help but feel that their suffering is excessive and partially my fault."

Daphne had to fight to "Hearing it is much different than hearing about it, right?"

"Yes!" Tonks exclaimed, relieved Daphne managed to decipher her thoughts before she could. "I know you're doing it to get Harry back, I just wonder if this is how he'd want you to go about."

Tonks had a tendency of stumbling over both obstacles and social cues, a blessing and a curse depending on who you ask. Right now though, Daphne was reeling slightly from the mental slap she'd just received via Tonks' conversational bluster. Her first thought was that he'd understand, surely, he'd done worse for less. 'Was that him or the horcrux… I hardly got to see if he changed because of it, there was so little time.' Traitorous thought after the next arose from her psyche, conjured for the sole purpose of casting doubt over her most solid connections.

Tonks audibly gasped and she rushed to remedy her second mistake, "oh bugger I'm so sorry, I'm just so conflicted—"

"It's fine. We shall see what he thinks when he is returned to us." 'Lock it down.' "Or he won't… and then it won't matter at all." Her eyes were fixed on a nonexistent point in front of her, unblinking as she fought to get a grip on the various faces of Harry Potter floating about in her head, disappointed, furious, mangled. 'The burden of knowledge, it's so much easier to imagine the worst.'

"Okayyyy," Tonks' awkwardness helped ground her back in reality, she was in the main hall and the grand front door stood beside them. She made to enter the meeting room but Tonks grabbed her shoulder and nodded down at her shirt and said, "you've got a bit of…"

Daphne found the blood spots on her front tank and jeans with Tonks' help. "Right," she waved her hand over her clothes, the feeling of the magic flowing through her body expelling the remnants of her distress. "Tell me about this meeting."

"It's not so much a meeting, the guards just told me to bring you to the meeting room." As the door swung open the mystery of who had summoned her quickly faded.

"Daphne." Damien's greeting was stiff, uncomfortable, yet he still managed to command a certain level of respect. Father and daughter shared a gaze that hadn't been done in years, not since the last time he wished to chastise her. "Auror Tonks, would you grant me some time with my daughter?"

Tonks glanced at Daphne to gauge her reaction but her charge was unreadable on the best of days. "Your wand," she replied cautiously, "can never be sure."

Damien managed to contain most of his shock yet the remnants of it manifested in the inquisitive look he directed to Daphne. When all he received was the dead stare that was her new resting face, he opened his robe and drew his wand from the inside pocket. Tonks stepped forward and retrieved the offered wand with a swift accio. Damien made it so his arms were wide open, palms facing outward in an attempt to prove less threatening to someone he never thought he would have to.

Daphne averted her gaze from her father towards her bodyguard who had stopped to see if she was sure about meeting alone with someone. 'How disheartening, we've grown so distrustful that I can not even meet with my father without fear of betrayal.' She flicked her eyes to the door and Tonks obliged, leaving the wand with Daphne and exiting the room.

Daphne moved further into the room, keeping the table in between herself and her father. She didn't wish to speak first, for she knew not why she was called. 'A meeting is to be held in the evening, why call upon me now?'

Damien leaned against the table in front of him and sighed. "Has it come to this, my sweet?" Daphne kept a side profile but held eye contact as he spoke. "Surely you can see that these are needless measures?"

"Our enemies have used treachery before, to great effect." Daphne's reply was more scathing than she'd intended but he shouldn't need reminding of that fact. 'If they succeeded in stealing away Harry from this very room, who's to say they won't try again?'

Damien pushed himself off of the table and crossed his arms. "Since when did your family become your enemy?" he asked harshly. Tonks disarming him had insulted him more than he let on.

"They're not, you're not." She angrily rubbed her hand as a phantom pain ghosted through her bones as she met her father's disappointed glare. "But precautions are always wise."

"Precautions are fine but I am your father–"

"And I am our leader!" Daphne shouted as she slammed her tender fist into the wooden table. She hissed as pain exploded throughout her hand which had clearly been mending still.

Damien's entire posture shifted from aggressive to protective in a flash. He seemed to want to jump over the table and make sure his daughter was okay but instead settled to test the waters first. "Daphne…"

His concern was evident in his soft verbal poke but he was silenced by her angry look. She put her broken hand flat on the table and used her healthy hand to heal it wandlessly. 'At least something productive has come from this conversation.' Like she had plunged her burning hand in water, the relief washed over her hand for the second time that morning.

A shimmer in the corner of the room caught her eye and she hoped it was simply Tonks checking in having heard the commotion. She stood to her full height, keeping tabs on the disillusioned figure that halted its movements just behind her father, and returned her mind to the conversation. "If you have a specific grievance," she tried to convey an expression to emphasise the 'specific' part, " speak it now." Damien frowned and stepped back subconsciously. 'You and me both, father,' she observed, realising he wanted to make a dignified dash for the exit.

"Your mother has requested you keep your distance from herself and Astoria."

"What?" She had underestimated why her father was so hesitant and was not ready for what he had to say. Her shock left her mouth hanging open and her eyes flicking side to side as her brain tried to compute the emotional upheaval.

Her father softly sighed and closed his eyes. "She was angry," he began to explain, "said something along the lines of "I warned her not to get distracted" before declaring she wants you far from Astoria." Damien's projected strength from mere moments ago had been utterly sapped by the acceptance of discord within his family.

'That damned candle,' she thought, her anger rising for her mother because she had made it so negative emotions were attached to the only present she had from Harry. "Distracted? Does she even see the world around her? No! She's content to sit in her greenhouses and pretend like the country isn't crumbling, daft–"

"Careful," Damien cut in with the most serious expression she had ever seen on his face. "You may not get along with her but she is still your mother and my wife, I will not have her disrespected by anyone."

"A luxury that does not extend to your eldest daughter it seems," Daphne shot back rapidly. She could feel resentment beginning to take hold of the little part of her brain that connected her with her parents every second that elapsed from her father's revelation.

"Daphne, you're beating people senseless in the cellar, in their homes, you've slaughtered so many." Damien was almost bargaining with his daughter, trying to get her to see things from a parent's perspective. "Is that what you want Astoria to associate with you? She has enough stress as it is without her big sister being m…" His eyes widened as he realised he was about to say something that could never be taken back.

She didn't let him retreat from it though. "A what? Monster? Maniac?" she questioned aggressively, "you were so concerned for your little freak when I hurt this." She brought her broken hand up to her face and continued, "I first broke this hand on Alecto Carrows' face, I beat her bloody in front of her brother and I will do so again tomorrow."

"I don't want to know."

"Oh you don't? Well, how about what I want to know?" She brought her hand down and pointed her index finger at him from her healthy hand as she carried on, "would you not do the same for mother, for Astoria, for me?"

Damien struggled to meet her gaze as he hesitantly replied, "I don't know."

"Then do not project your weakness on me. I know how far I would go, what I'm capable of doing, who I can become." She rested her good hand on the table for support as the emotional stress started to take its toll. "I know that I will not stop until Harry is returned to us or there are no more men, women or children left to interrogate." She threw his wand back to him and the two stared each other down, Damien's eyes flooded with regret and Daphne's swimming with a new kind of rage.

"I believe that is exactly what she's afraid of." Damien broke the connection, lowered his head and slowly walked towards the door. "I'm sorry."

'Abandoned by my own family,' she frustratedly reflected as the door quietly clicked shut. 'The harder I fight the more I lose.' She sat down heavily in one of the chairs and lowered her head in exhaustion.

"I may not agree with your methods," Tonks remarked as she revealed herself and joined Daphne at the table, "but Damien was bang out of line."

"Can't please anyone it seems," Daphne muttered, "I wonder who will be next in line to voice their concerns."

"They'll come around," Tonks tried, although even she didn't really know after that display.

"Do you find it hard to protect me Tonks? Knowing what it is that I do?"

"Sometimes, but I know your heart is in the right place, we both want Harry back and we both want Voldemort gone." Tonks smiled slightly, fond of a thought she had, "I think in part that's because of Harry and your family. You all showed us that just because we may have different methods, we can still find a way to work together."

Daphne looked at her bodyguard and found the woman's candour to be surprisingly uplifting. But the mention of Harry, that's where it always went wrong. Guilt was one of the few things she consistently failed to squash before it took hold.

"Thank you, Tonks." Below the table she clenched her healing hand, just to feel something else than the shame of wasting time. "Take the day off, spend time with Remus, he needs some looking after."

Daphne could see in the auror's eyes that she was wondering who exactly would look after her but her love for Remus overcame her concern for Daphne. "Alright," she eventually acquiesced, "remember we've got a raid tomorrow morning."

"I know, I'll see you around."

Tonks left with a slow "see ya," likely headed for her room or the library, both of which being Remus' regular haunts.

Daphne didn't leave the table but did move both her arms to the surface. She couldn't shake the feeling of contempt rattling her mind. The mission was Harry, the dream she had given him and the effort, but all of her closest allies and friends had tried to stop her, change her methods.

The burden of caring had muddled up her clarity, where once was a single linear goal there was now a complex web of necessary evils and compromising actions. The images of her interrogations were too recent to easily forget, the brutalisation of death eaters across the country all in the pursuit of any morsel of information that would help her reach Harry. She had seen people at their absolute lowest, crying, begging for their lives and the final moment of hopelessness when they realised she wasn't preparing to let them leave.

She had been zoned out watching the replay of her attacks and only just noticed her hands had begun to shake involuntarily. 'Blessed Merlin, I'm losing it.' 'They were in her way,' she'd tell herself, 'they were lying' she'd sometimes say but she'd usually justify it by telling herself they deserved it. It seemed no one else believed the same however.

'How much further will I have to push? And for a goal I might not even reach. Gods he might not even be alive.' She lowered her head into her hands, the weight of it all crashing down in that single moment. Daphne didn't know if she'd be able to stop what came after if he didn't make it, Moody's warning ringing in her ears.

The distinct feeling of moisture on her hands paused her thinking and she raised her head only to feel a tear roll down her cheek. She let out a short laugh in surprise, 'now this is a surprise, when was the last time this happened.' She wiped her eyes and continued to laugh at the incredulity of it all. 'What a truly peculiar chain of events.'

Her hands were still shaking but the tears had returned something to her that the days had stolen, her surety in herself. Daphne had forgotten one important thing, she was damned for what she did, she knew that from the start. But before she had even begun, she had weighed Harry's life against the countless lives she would have to take and found it was no decision at all.

'This was never about pleasing everyone, this was about one simple goal, returning Harry to me.' She closed her fists tightly and now the pain gave her drive. Sacrifice was the name of the game, perhaps tonight she'd sacrifice some sleep for a chance at answers.

July 21st

12:02pm

Ottery St Catchpole, Devon

Harry

The shovel hit the earth with a thud, he'd discarded it more carelessly than he would have normally but his tolerance for existing was thinning by the second. The jump from Wiltshire to Devon had been more exhausting than usual and wasn't even close to how far he'd be going soon. Scavenging food and a shovel was made easy by magic, he didn't like to steal from muggles of course but considering the ordeal he'd been through, he felt a little entitled to some basic necessities.

The wrapper in his hand crumpled as he dug into the bacon he'd nicked from an unsuspecting muggle's plate. A small twinge of pain followed when he swallowed on the account of his body not being fully accustomed to eating solid food. On top of it all, he'd only managed to steal a sweater and the second he'd left the house a storm had rolled in, the kind of storm that brought torrential rain as well as unwanted humidity.

By the time he'd dug the hole in front of him, he was drenched in more sweat than there was rain in the clouds. A small boulder he'd levitated over gave him a place to sit for a brief respite and snack break. The day got worse, however, for with rest came the ability to stop and think.

The sight before him gave him little else to think about; Luna's cold corpse levitating beside the grave he'd dug for her by hand, sheltered from the rain by an invisible barrier. 'Here I am again,' he reflected, 'burying a friend.' He folded the wrapping, put the bacon in his pocket and flicked his wand to lower Luna into the grave as carefully as he could, standing to get a better angle to control the descent.

He stood beside her grave and merely stared at her, besides her pale blue lips, nothing seemed so out of the ordinary. He had healed the wounds she had entered the cell with on autopilot, with only a sense that he needed to fix what he could to guide him. He checked her over, making sure he hadn't missed anything. 'Hole is dug, tombstone erected and something to give to her father if I can find him.' Now all that was left was to find the right words as he completed the burial, the problem was, he had no idea what to say.

"You'd think after a few you'd develop a knack for it aye?"

Harry opened his eyes and saw the visage of Ron Weasley on the other side of the grave, smirking in a way unlike Ron. "Piss off."

"That was some impressive stuff last night Harry," Ron remarked as he wandered over to the stone Harry had been sitting on. "I mean the way you broke that bloke's neck with your own chains," Ron leaned in and his grin widened, "masterful."

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show, whatever you are." Harry turned his mind back to the task at hand and searched for the words that made the most sense.

"You really shouldn't accept potions from strangers," Ron condescendingly said. "If you'd paid attention in class you'd know that, at a certain point, dittany becomes a hallucinogen."

The very fact that Ron had said 'paid attention in class' and 'hallucinogen' in the same sentence pointed to the fakeness of the whole interaction. "Of course you're Snape's doing," he replied absentmindedly, turning his attention to the tombstone and using his borrowed wand to etch the inscription.

Luna Lovegood

1981 - 1997

Died a hero

She will be missed

"You could've been more original," the demented hallucination scolded him from its perch, "didn't even know her birthday aye? Some friend you are." Harry sighed, not willing to argue with a figment of his imagination, and knowing there was some truth to the statement. The berating actually had some hidden value, however, as it gave him a good place to start.

He stepped back from the edge and looked down at her face. "I'm sorry for not trying harder to get to know you, Luna. I'll always remember you as the most captivating conversationalist with the greatest knack for ambient magic. I'm going to miss your baffling statements that pop up at random."

"Brings a tear to my eye."

Harry made an effort to not look at the mocking projection and instead slowly brought the wand across his body to push the dirt back into the hole. In no time at all, the hole was filled in with a small mound protruding in its centre. 'What a miserable sight,' he thought as the rain turned the grave to mud, 'who'd have guessed.' He sat back down on the rock and conjured an ethereal umbrella to ward off the storm, it had been a long morning and he needed rest for the apparition ahead.

July 21st

12:22pm

Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

Voldemort

"How did this happen?"

The voice, laced with palpable rage, caused the men standing behind him to shake with fear. Their distress was more than warranted, for they were the unlucky two to discover the escape of Harry Potter. When they came upon the two dead guards they were meant to relieve, they knew their lives hung in the balance and so they had called the dark lord's most trusted and valued follower, Severus Snape, for aid. Unfortunately for them, Snape had informed their master immediately and when the two arrived it was clear to them that Voldemort was not likely to allow this to go unpunished.

"I do not know, the mix of potions you charged me to administer should have kept him disoriented with hallucinations. To do all this… perhaps he was given aid?" Snape replied, although the question was more open ended, neither of the two behind the potions master were capable of the courage to speak.

'Yes, someone has helped him. Killing these two would be no difficult task for the boy, especially assisted by a competent traitor. Neither of those halfwits are capable of such savagery, this is Harry's doing. The wards show no tampering and there were only a select few people allowed to visit him. That leaves only one explanation.'

"Indeed, my friend. Two men on guard, violently killed in the night only to be discovered by the next shift who then call you." The Dark Lord narrowed his eyes and turned so that all three of his followers could see his anger, "I believe it is quite clear what happened, Severus."

Snape held an unassuming expression, not intimidated by the Dark Lord's display nor overly excited to hear his suggestion. "It is, my lord?"

"Yes," he affirmed, drawing out the 's' as though he was hissing. "Why would they call you, I wonder? Maybe it is because you are considered my most trusted. The spy who killed Albus Dumbledore."

"By your wisdom alone, of course," was the humble reply. The two men behind the potions master quietly breathed sighs of relief as the attention was directed away from them.

"Of course," Voldemort repeated as he circled Snape. "And yet it was your ability as a spy that got you close enough." He returned to the place in front of him and drew his white yew wand. "Your potions, your one on one visits, your pleas to spare his mother oh so long ago… perhaps my prison guards have demonstrated a rare instance of intellect."

"My lord…"

'Do I detect a hint of fear, Severus?' Voldemort whipped his wand out in a diagonal arc, deeply cutting the throats of the two relief guards that had been standing behind Snape. The two of them couldn't have anticipated the strike and fell to the floor heavily. Voldemort watched Snape's reaction and had to admire his fortitude for he stood there, unresponsive to the gurgling men flailing about on the stone floor. 'You are not the only one capable of deception.'

"Worms," Voldemort insulted them. "Nothing speaks to the weakness within than no accountability."

"I see," Snape muttered. He turned to his lord and spoke, "they attempted to frame me?"

"Unfortunately for them, their plot was clumsy and unimaginative." The Dark Lord stepped past Snape and used one of his feet to move the face of one of the men to the side. "Perhaps they feared Miss Greengrass' retribution, no matter."

"My lord?" Snape stated, a heavy questioning tone blanketing his voice.

"This mistake has taught me much, Severus," Voldemort stepped away from the dead men and focused on the first set of dead guards. "I was too eager to repay the pain I endured in my exile, a childish folly that shall never be repeated." He waved his wand and the dead around him were engulfed in powerful blue flames, their bodies turning to ash unnaturally fast. "We must be more decisive."

"A meeting then, my lord?"

"Yes." At Voldemort's answer, Snape spun on his heel and purposefully strode out of the cells. Voldemort watched the fires as the intensity wavered with less fuel to consume. 'How unfortunate, I truly believed you could be trusted, old friend.' The inferno danced in the dark lord's crimson eyes, a punishment for Severus Snape's betrayal formulating by the second.

a/n: Yes I know its been a while, unfortunately several things popped up at once that hindered my writing process. Added on to that, I couldn't seem to settle with any of the POV's so they were constantly changing. We're back now, I've already completed Hogwarts Legacy (OMFG that game is insane!), nothing stopping me but work and writers block now.

Right so Daphne's POV was basically about showing the development she's gone through since her introduction. Obviously if you've read the stories then you'll have seen it develop however we're in the deep end right now where that care for Harry is being used to justify terrible things. That, in turn, pushes away all the other people she has gotten close to, even her family. I remember talking about the types of love I was exploring in a chapter a while back and described Harry and Daphne's as more passionate and new. Daphne is now in a stage where that love and care has turned slightly possessive due to her brain being unable to cope with the trauma. Even though Harry's gone, she's latched onto the idea of him always having her back, even in her attempts to justify mass human rights violations.

For Harry's POV I felt I needed to explain ROn' appearance the night before. It's not because he's the master of death or Ron being a ghost, it was literally just the fact that Snape juiced him up with so many potions he started seeing shit. Ghost Ron will remain a motif, not a side/main character.

Snape blew his cover saving Harry, there was no getting around that. Earlier in the story it is stated that Snape giving away information would've cast suspicion on him so for continuity's sake, he had to lose his safety. Does that make Dumbledore's scheme pointless? Yes and no. Snape was in a place of trust after killing Dumbledore which allowed him to save Harry, however the perks were short lived.

Next chapter teaser: Return of the king

Sorry for the long wait but hope you enjoyed!