Merrin's body formed from a burst of ichor. She stood silently, observing the male in front of her as she smothered her anxiety and made sure her aloof mask was in place.
"Harry Potter," she said once she had looked him over. She was glad for the seriousness of the situation, otherwise she might have blushed at his lack of dress.
"Yeah?" Harry responded with a suspicious agreement to her statement. "Who're you?" He asked after shifting his feet to blade his body facing her.
Merrin's gaze lingered on a few prolific scars on his body as she observed him. The Force swirled around them, waiting, watching. With a moment to think on his question she answered with a piercing stare and a slight shrug, "Nightsister Merrin." She continued politely as she could given the circumstances, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Harry's body tensed at her introduction. "Nightsister huh? You are one of Talzin's 'girls' then?" Harry's magic reached out into the space around them and drew on the gathered Force energy. It was when Harry's magic brushed Merrin's own power that he found himself surprised. He could feel echoes in her. That surprised him. First because, and he shouldn't have been surprised really, she had magic. Secondly, the echoes in her felt familiar.
Merrin's metaphysical presence reminded him of being a child in the dark cupboard. Alone, afraid, and lost. Those feelings felt faded but still present like old scars. More powerful was the feeling of home or belonging, but with a guarded core of uneasiness. Like she felt that she didn't really belong despite being happy being included. She felt like he had when he was staying at the Burrow.
Harry was brought back to the present situation as he heard Merrin scoff at his blunt query, "Hardly," she said as she placed one hand on her hip and briefly glanced at where Mother Talzin had been, the molten rock slowly cooling. "Mother Talzin," she stressed the title of the woman as she said it, clearly an admonishment for his refusal to use it, "called for me weeks ago. I had thought her dead and was surprised to hear her call. I returned here to investigate and was met with a spirit of hers. I was more than a little surprised."
Harry hummed with a tone of disbelief and pointed with a thumb over his shoulder to the molten stone. "So you just popped in to see the fireworks then?"
"To be honest, she promised dinner and a show, and she certainly provided one of those," was her sarcastic return.
Harry almost laughed at her dry response. But being on the receiving end of Hermione's dry remarks for years insulated him from the loss of composure. "Right. For my next trick, well, I'd pull a rabbit out of my hat next but I don't have a hat. Or pants for that matter," Harry muttered the last of his words as he briefly took a moment to look over Merrin. She was soft curves protected under sharp edges. Mentally shaking off the observation, Harry cataloged her lack of weapons but knew that meant little considering the dramatic entrance of green fire. Taking a probing look at the woman in front of him, Harry scanned her body language and poise. She didn't seem like she'd been throwing down with him right now so he figured he'd venture forward with a few questions. "Right. Here's the thing Merrin. Your Mother Talzin tried to stab me in the back and I'm not exactly happy about it. But I also have no way off this planet. So, do you know anyone I can contact to get out of here?"
Merrin lifted one eyebrow and eyed the male with some speculation. "Yes," she said simply after considering his words.
Harry stared at her and she stared back. The silence reached between them and neither tried to break it. Silently each was feeling out the other and pondering on the enigma of the other's magic. It was as this was going on that a few black bane spiders skittered across the hot stone of the arena seats. Both individuals' attention was drawn to the creatures. Both Harry and Merrin clicked their tongue in annoyance to the big arachnids.
Merrin spoke first as she took a step forward but stopped when Harry took a step back and his body tensed up again. "Come," she held out her hand to him, "I'll take us to a safe place and we can talk more there."
"Listen lady, I've had a bad week and your Mother just tried to have me killed. I'm not going anywhere with you," Harry said laughing at her ridiculous offer as he held up his hands and took a step back from her.
"You have somewhere to go?" Merrin asked with amusement.
"Honestly, no, but I'd rather die," Harry responded with a negligent shrug.
Unimpressed with his bravado she lowered her hand and offered a certain, "You will. Dathomir is merciless."
"So many things are and they haven't killed me yet," He replied with heat in his words. "But," he sighed and ran his hand through his singed hair, "I know when I'm out of options and need a hand up out of the gutter. Just know that if you try to stab me in the back I'll end you like I did to Talzin," Harry finished as he glared at Merrin and his eyes flickered with his simmering anger at the banished spirit.
Merrin nodded her understanding even if she didn't think it would come to that. Despite being part of Mother Talzin's machinations for this breeding idea, Merrin felt they could get along even if they parted ways afterwards. She held out her hand to Harry who stared at her for a moment before sighing in defeat and clasping her hand in his own.
With a beautiful smile dripping with mischievous intent Merrin spoke, "Don't throw up!" With those words she pulled on her magicks and under them a bubble of power grew and encased them in green fire that pressed against their bodies. Moments later Harry found himself staring at a smiling Merrin with her hand grasping his but in a completely new area of the mountains. Intrigued, Harry maintained his cool demeanor and lifted his own eyebrow as Merrin's smug smile slackened from her lips.
Releasing her hand Harry looked around the area and found that there were a few structures made from the stone that could have been homes or living quarters. Impressed, Harry shot Merrin a quick glance and a smile of his own, "You'll have to teach me that transportation magic. It's much more comfortable than anything the magical community on my planet have come up with."
While Merrin was pushing down her feelings of being flustered at his smile and his cocky handling of her small trick, she scoffed at him before she turned to her old home and confidently strode to it. As she swung her hips with each step, idly wondering why she was engaging in trying to one up this male, Merrin could feel his eyes follow her. Grateful that she was facing away as she found herself surprised at her actions as the flush colored her cheeks. It was like when she had met with Fret all over again! Blushing and bothered by the attention Merrin tried to shake it off rather than dwell on the feelings. She stopped at the doorway and looked over her shoulder at Harry.
"Grab any place that appeals to you, just stay nearby so we don't have to shout to find each other. I'll see if there's some clothing around for you once I contact my friends and let them know to come get us," Merrin said. Once she saw Harry nod at her she continued inside and once out of his sight nervously twisted her hair between her fingers as she thought of being so touched by Harry's magick.
Harry, for his part, had immediately zeroed in on Merrin's swaying hips as she walked away. Once he realized that he was leering he turned his head and chastised himself. With a heavy internal sigh he realized that while he hated what she had done, Talzin had certainly planned her attempt well. Merrin was a kind of exotic gorgeous that he hadn't seen in his travels on Earth. The fact that he had his attention drawn so quickly angered him. He wasn't going to take part in Talzin's machinations, he was going to find his way home.
He had to.
Once 'released' by Merrin, Harry scanned the homes and found one that suited him. It was open to the side of the planet that the sun would come up from, east or whatever this space age civilization called it. After getting inside and using his magic to clear out the debris and banish out the dust Harry pulled the mokeskin pouch from the snug fit around his neck, the magic of the thing loosening as Harry touched it. Digging around inside Harry came up with a new set of clothes for himself. He was miffed at losing his favorite pair of dragonhide boots. The ridiculous thought finally snapped his control and Harry slumped to the ground in a laughing fit.
Here he was, lost and stranded on an alien planet, betrayed by the first person he had contact with, attempted to be tied into -another!- 'marriage agreement' not of his own choice, having lost control of his magic and killed most of the population, all after losing his family and friends with a grand execution of his enemies in wizarding Britain… And he was upset at having lost his boots.
His incredulous laughter soon turned to sobs as he relived the last week of his life, seeing friends and family. Seeing little Teddy and Vicky being torn away from him. Seeing Pansy's cruel and beautiful smile as she orchestrated Harry's greatest defeat.
This time Harry's grief and pain coiled tightly around him. Suffocating as it was, Harry curled into himself as his sadness bled into the Force around him. It was in the darkness of this suffering a small tentative touch of light gently brushed against his mind.
With a desperate wail Harry mentally grabbed at it and pulled it protectively into his embrace. Metaphorically curling around it, Harry used the feelings to try to burn away the pain. Slowly and tentatively the light grew and true to its nature began to push away the despair. The pain remained, fresh wounds that they were, but the darkness receded. The feelings gently soothed him as he lost the battle with consciousness, succumbing to the realm of dreams and nightmares.
Not far away, leaning against the bedding in her own living space, Merrin pulled her magick back to herself, tears silently washing down her face feeling the despair she had felt years ago as a child.
=)=(=
"Harry…" The name spoken by a myriad of voices. Each voice carried the pain, anger, or longing of the owner.
Harry himself quivered in his sleep as the voices sounded in his dreams. Tormented as he was at having lost his loved ones.
"Harry…" Came the siren call of the dead.
Harry knew that he deserved to be tormented as his nightmare continued, darkness drowned him as the dead called his name.
"Harry…" Spoke the void that was filled with souls.
Harry himself was flailing in the darkness. Trying to find purchase in the endless void so that he might drag himself toward the voices. Both fearful and hopeful that this was Hell and he'd be allowed to see them as they accused him of his betrayal.
"Harry?" This voice was new. Bright and, to Harry, melodious. The sensation of shared experience and understanding bore through the nightmare of darkness at the sound of it.
Groggily Harry opened his eyes and from the floor looked up to see a concerned Merrin gazing down at him. Quickly her face washed the concern away and left her impassive gaze. With a groan of frustration and shame he turned himself over so that he could push himself to his knees and then stagger to his feet. Given his night and his 'sleeping' on the stone floor his body was not in a relaxed state. Merrin stood back to allow the male his space and waited for Harry to give her his attention.
"I have a ration bar for you," She said without inflection. Merrin was once again unsure of how to interact with the male. The evening prior she could feel his anguish in the Force and, as she reached out, she feared being subdued by him, but all her time with Cere and Cal had seen that she did have a desire to help people.
What had happened was not what she had expected. She felt herself be pulled into him once she made contact with him. But instead of being attacked and dominated, it felt like she was instead being protected from the darkness that clawed at Harry instead. Once her surprise wore away, with great trepidation, she reached out and embraced his presence. As she found herself cradling the male she noticed that her presence burned away the darkness that held so strongly to him.
The rest she had that night was not great. His pain had brought her own back to her memory and through the night she saw the death of her Sisters once more. The slaughter of the armored being wielding lightsabers and the heat of the lazer fire that killed the rest of her family. She remembered looking for anyone to help, finding no one. She remembered the weeks of interring the dead in their burial pods, her mother, her Sisters, her friends, her family.
And Ilyana. The grieving little girl Merrin found Ilyana's body. The love of her young life was nearly cut in two. On her face was a grimace of agony. The cut from a lightsaber blade as the flesh was burned along the wounds. Under her was blood, unusual for a lightsaber, but the partially slashed throat was the cause. How Merrin had wailed seeing her love's body battered in such a state. Merrin had become numb to the feelings having already worked on dozens of bodies by that time but seeing Ilyana had rent into her heart deeper than even her own mother's corpse had.
Merrin flinched as Harry's fingers brushed the back of her hand. Flushing at being so deep in her own mind she stepped back from him and turned to the door to leave. Harry's voice made her stop.
"Merrin? I have food. I have enough I could even get you something better than a ration bar," Harry said as he cringed at the thought. If it was anything like his planet's military rations it would be a lump of nutrient paste. Harry pulled open his mokeskin bag and rooted around for a moment. He looked up at Merrin's figure, her back still facing him as she stood in the doorway, "Is there anything you can't eat?"
Mildly affronted Merrin turned around and glared at him, "What does that mean?"
"Uh… Since you live on a different planet you might not be able to eat some kinds of food?" Harry, unbothered but also confused at her surprise, elaborated with uncertainty.
Merrin lessened her glare but continued to gaze at Harry until he shrugged and pulled out a plastic container and, waving his hand over it, handed it to Merrin. As she observed the thing she noted that it felt warm and when she found the lip to pry off the top steam wafted from the inside.
"It's just pasta with a tomato-meat sauce," Harry said as he held out a plastic fork for her use. Sniffing disdainfully at the male she plucked the utensil from his fingers and used it to gather up the meal.
Harry watched her eat with mild bemusement but soon found himself distracted with his own empty stomach. Digging back in the pouch he pulled a packaged meal of noodles like Merrin's own. The two dined on the pasta and steadfastly ignored the building awkwardness in the living space. Eventually Harry found himself sitting back against the wall with his eyes closed as he tried to pull the emotional barbs from his heart. Suddenly suffocated under the pressure of his own thoughts, Harry turned to look at Merrin who was working through a second container of pasta, at her request for seconds.
"So how are you able to get us off this planet?" Harry asked the young woman.
Merrin was enjoying the mellow flavors of the red sauce that was poured over the pasta and absently responded to Harry's question, "I'll try to contact my friends once again when I'm finished with this meal and we should be off the planet in a few days. They didn't respond last night and I haven't heard anything so far this morning," she said as she turned her attention back to the pasta.
"Right," Harry trailed off as he considered the situation. Merrin had asked for nothing and was willing to help him off the planet. Suspicious as he was of her and her connection to Talzin, he was quite grateful. "Merrin?" He continued once he had her attention, looking up from the pasta container, "Thanks for helping me out." With a nod Merrin went back to her meal trying to ignore her flutter at his genuine tone. She was a Nightsister and a vigilante hunter of the Imperium!
=)=(=
Hours later Merrin had finally received a response to her request for pickup. Greez's response was that Cal and Cere had managed to get themselves tangled up in a 'small matter' with Imperial officers and the crew of the Mantis would be delayed in getting back to pick up Merrin and her guest for at least another week.
Merrin found herself both amused and frustrated with the news. Of course Cal, and she had no illusions that it was somehow an accident, had gone and picked a fight with Imperial agents. Now she'd have to spend more time around Harry and trying to fill the silence with something other than awkwardness didn't sound very appealing. She did amuse herself thinking about how Cal would react when she walked onto the Mantis with a boy. She wondered if Cal would even break his practiced Jedi composure at the sight.
Groaning and being exasperated with herself at being lost in thoughts about males of all things, Merrin stepped out of her home and called for Harry. Silence was the only response to her call. Aggravated at having to track down the male, she felt for his presence before she allowed her magick to materialize near him. It was in the late afternoon on Dathomir, when she received the reply to her second call for pickup, and she found Harry seated in the lengthening shadows as he gazed out towards the edifice that was the Tomb of Kujet.
"There's something in there that wants me to go to it…" Harry said to her as she quietly strode over to his position on the mountainside.
"That is the Tomb of Kujet. Many Nightsister and Nightbrothers have gone in and suffered for their hubris," She said, giving the male a look from the corner of her eye.
Harry just absently nodded and rubbed his hands down his face as he pulled his focus away from the massive tomb. "Right, well as much as I'd like to avoid it, I'm probably going to have to go there. If it's a no-no area for anyone else I probably have to go traipsing through it because I'm Harry bloody Potter," Harry lamented as he turned to face Merrin. She was silhouetted against the falling sun and the lighting played across her face and gave her an appearance that almost seemed to glow. With a heavy swallow Harry turned his mind to something other than the pale complexion of his companion. She was pretty, but that wouldn't be enough for Harry to trust her. He was a known idiot, but he was no fool. He internally winced as he was sure he could hear Pansy's amused cackling echoing in his mind.
Waving away the thoughts and the shudder that he managed to suppress he asked, "What's the ETA on a pickup?"
"ETA?" Asked Merrin as she was unfamiliar with the acronym, and for that matter the letters that Harry had used.
"Estimated time of arrival," Harry explained as he ran a hand through his hair self-consciously.
Without any sort of emotion on her face Merrin considered the explanation and after a few moments of heavy silence Merrin responded, "I see. Due to…" She stalled as she tried to think of the most diplomatic way to work around Cal's antics, "...logistical complications, my friends will be delayed a few days." Merrin lightly shrugged as she answered his query.
"Alright," Harry drawled as he considered her attempt at diplomatic redirection. "That sounds highly suspicious," He said as he narrowed his eyes at Merrin who's poker face would have won her billions in Monte Carlo. "Sounds like something that Hermione would have come up with…" he muttered under his breath as he rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses had used to sit. A nervous habit he had never removed even after getting his eyesight fixed. "So what are we supposed to do for 'a few days'?" He asked bluntly to the Nightsister.
"Well you could try not to swallow your tongue," She said sharply and unimpressed, "...or I suppose you could tell me of your magick." She elaborated when she saw his body tense at her suggestion, "...if there is anything you'd like to share. As far as magick users there are very few in the galaxy, most are users of the Force and fall in a spectrum of 'light' Jedi or 'dark' Sith."
Relaxing at her explanation Harry waved her forward as he stepped up next to her, indicating that she should lead them to where they might be able to discuss somewhere more comfortable. "Normally, I'd be hesitant to speak at all since I had a similar deal with Talzin," he began.
"Mother Talzin," Merrin cut in, unknowingly mirroring Hermione.
Harry turned his head slowly to gaze at Merrin, unimpressed with her insistence, "However, I would like to learn your transportation magic," Harry admitted. "So in this case I will agree to share a little if you will teach me what you can about that," Harry offered to the pale skinned Nightsister.
Merrin hummed to herself as she thought over his counteroffer. "Very well, if you think you have the aptitude," she said challengingly. A sharp crack met her and as she flicked her eyes over to where Harry had been she found him gone. Turning slowly she reached out with her magicks and they swirled around her. Then she heard it, the amused chuckling of a male. That male that made her feel uncomfortable and heady all at the same time. Looking up she found him standing on the top of the slope that they had been walking along.
"It's not very subtle as you may have noted," He said with a smirk as he leaned against the rock wall and gazed down at his most recent companion.
Merrin scoffed and as she stepped forward her ichor burst from around her feet and enveloped her, in the next instant she was striding past Harry with the only sound a eldritch growling that Harry was sure only magically sensitive individuals could hear. With a small flick of her left index finger a small pebble shot from the ground. Harry narrowed his eyes after he blinked away the shock of having the pebble bounce off of his forehead.
"Cheeky bint," he muttered as he followed after the smug Nightsister.
=)=(=
The next days were filled with light banter and an open study forum between the two wielders of sorcery. Merrin found herself attempting to recreate Harry's magical 'shields'. Harry figured of the many types of magic he could teach her, she would be least likely to hurt him or others with magical barriers. Merrin was a quick study. Within two days she had the projection down and together they were working on her magical endurance. At least that's what she said, Harry just threw stunners and various rocks at her until the barrier buckled. With their self imposed workout she could now hold for a solid ten minutes under a continuous assault. Blasters had yet to be used in testing or training.
Harry found himself decently proficient with the Nightsister's 'materialization'. Internally, Harry was beyond thrilled, the transportation magic was the first he had encountered that he didn't have a problem with. Other than brooms and magic carpets, enchanted motorcycles and cars notwithstanding, Harry had never taken well to wizarding transportation. Merrin's materialization was the best and it seemed to be decently comparable to apparition, without the sickly feeling. Remaining experimentation with distance and unknown locations would be the only areas that he hadn't covered yet between the two types of transportation magic.
If it hadn't been for Harry's lingering despair and episodes of roiling anger he would have compared it to a long weekend of magical experimentation with Hermione, Luna, or Bill and Fleur. Thinking of those he had lost more than two weeks previous brought Harry back to where he was, once again, drawn to and gazing at the Tomb of Kujet. He could hear them, all of them were calling out to him in the quiet moments of the day and were clawing at his mind in the hours he spent under Morpheus' thrall.
"I need to go there," He said to Merrin. He could feel her watching him again, worried or intrigued he wasn't sure.
"I told you it's dangerous," was Merrin's only response from where she sat watching Harry stare out at the structure.
"And I told you that with my mercurial my luck is that I'm basically required to go plunder that ruddy tomb," Harry said absently. Harry was used to how his fate seemed to be every painful experience in the local area he was occupying.
"Then I suppose you'll find the humor in the irony that my friends will be arriving sometime in the next six to ten standard hours?" Merrin asked without her characteristic dry bite. Her tone was absent but from the few days they'd spent in each other's company Harry was sure that the woman was highly intrigued at his allusions. She didn't ever ask, but when Harry said something that connected to his past and then seemed to shut down conversation Merrin took notice.
Harry's response was to chuckle mirthlessly as he stood up and turned to look over his shoulder at Merrin. Once he had her attention he nodded, a thank you or some other signal she wasn't sure, and with a crackle and snaps of his own power faded from her sight. Merrin sat alone and, for the first time in days, was genuinely conflicted in what course of action she should take. She owed Harry no debt that she should follow after him and ensure his safety. As it was, whatever had drawn him to the Tomb of Kujet was something personal for him to witness. Cal and Cere had both mentioned times when the Force had sent visions or tests. Cal had once such vision at the Tomb which sent him searching for new crystals for him to rebuild his lightsaber.
But…
The side of her that relished in the wild feeling of Harry's potent magick wanted to know. That part of her wanted to see what words the Force would have for the strange sorcerer. Knowing the tomb's dark corners and crevices benefited the Nightsister. She had magick to mask her presence and keep her hidden. Intrigued and seeing no reason not to follow and observe the workings of the Force, Merrin pulled on her own power and in a rush of eldritch wind she was consumed in the same materialization magick and followed Harry to the Tomb of Kujet.
Back in her living quarters her communicator beeped with an unread message. The Stinger Mantis had tied up all their loose ends and was on their way earlier than anticipated.
=)=(=
Harry stood inside the antechamber of the Tomb of Kujet.
Despite hearing the call of his friends and their whispers on the wind of Dathomir, inside the stone edifice it was as cold and empty as any grave should be. The chamber he entered was awash in the feeling of primordial creation. The space was monolithic and cavernous, hewn from the natural stone with such care that the walls and pillars seemed to have grown from the planet itself.
At least it had once upon a time. Now in the dirt scattered about the antechamber stones the size of Harry or broken masonry that was half or even a quarter of his body size. Eons of tectonic activity had left their mark on the tomb but it still held its majestic poise.
What was out of place for a tomb were two notable disturbances.
First was the pressing presence of 'something more'. Something that wasn't present in the everyday experience of mortals. Inside this tomb Magic and, Harry supposed, the Force were concentrated to such a degree that each breath made him feel lightheaded. As Harry looked around the tomb a thick curtain of mist hung between the massive pillars separating him from the rest of the tomb. Harry slowly approached and reached out with his magic to probe it. When he brushed against it the silence of the tomb was rent by the hundreds of voices screaming his name in agony. With a heavy swallow that almost stuck in his throat Harry rallied his Gryffindor courage and stepped into the wall of mist. As he moved the mist felt like it was the Force and Magic pressing down on him. Harry felt like he was standing in a heavy fog made completely of firewhisky. As he moved his vision blurred and his breathing became labored. His eyes wide as the whispers of his loved ones echoed in the mist around him. His eyes flicked frantically in an attempt to find anyone and it seemed that the mist receded from in front of him as he stumbled at the foot of a stairway.
But it was the second out of place thing that gathered and kept Harry's intrigued focus. Aside from the whispers, Harry heard the hum of a song. It was a lullaby or perhaps a hymn. It didn't matter, to Harry it was a siren song. Having stumbled through the mist following it he staggered to his feet and tried to climb the stairs when the mist pulled away from the dais above him.
Atop it, humming in a tone that sounded ethereal, stood a solitary figure dressed in familiar looking robes. Harry tried to focus in on the details of the body atop the dais but with the Force and Magic pressing down on him it was a nearly impossible task to focus in the darkness surrounding them. Slowly the figure turned at Harry's labored approach and looked down at him still humming angelically. Harry was reaching for the figure, wanting to see who it was, to see who was here with him and to hold them, bury his face in their neck and not let go. Harry desperately wanted to stop being alone in this galaxy.
It was as he searched the figure's face that he saw their eyes. The light colored eyes that Harry had seen so often in wizarding Britain.
Harry's heart stuttered to a stop before he sank to his knees in disbelief part way up the stairs. Somehow she was here with him too.
"Hello Harry Potter," She said in her most soothing voice.
"But," Harry stuttered as he stared at her, "...How?" he finally, weakly, asked.
"Oh Harry, you know better than to ask questions like that. Magic of course!" Was the chipper response from the woman. As she slowly stepped down the stairs to approach Harry from where he was gawking in the middle of the chamber, she placed a hand on her swollen belly.
"Pansy," Harry whimpered as the woman in question stopped mere feet away from him. Harry wrapped his arms around himself attempting to ward off the cold he felt at the proximity of his wife. She looked like she had just before she had forced him through the Veil of Death. The only difference was she was here now, and heavily pregnant. She smiled at him as sweetly as she had when they were alone, like she always had since their marriage. Absently she stroked her belly and smiled, giving a surprised 'oof' when the baby kicked at her hand. Her sandalwood eyes shining brightly with longing and a simple happiness known only to soon-to-be mothers.
"How are you beloved? Are the Nargles treating you well? Our baby is due any day now, would you like to feel?" She asked as she looked down at him. Her robes were exquisitely cut and hugged her frame well. She wore them differently than before, but accounting for the pregnancy was something that women did, and she still made it look good. Her normally loose hair was uncharacteristically pulled back into a short 'sloppy' ponytail.
"Why?" was his strangled question. Harry's mind was a tumult of emotions and thoughts. Through it all and her sudden appearance here outside of the Veil room his confusion, hurt, and aimless frustration pushed the question from his lips.
"Oh darling," Pansy sighed wistfully as she stepped forward and ran her hand into his unruly shag. "You never did understand that the Heliopath's had a much tighter grip on the Ministry than you ever would have imagined," she said as she absently brushed the hair from his face and gently stroked his cheek.
Harry however was finally gathering his faculties after the shock of seeing Pansy here on Dathomir. The creatures she spoke of and her airy tone were not at all in line with her personality. He slapped her hand away from his face and snarled at the woman before him, "Stop it!" He demanded. "Pansy never spoke like that, and I know that Luna was thrown through the Veil before me. What are you?"
Pansy stilled for a moment before her hurt frown blinked away and in its place was a much more characteristic sneer. "You'd rather I speak to you in my own voice than imitate your blonde whore? Fine," She spat as she surged forward and sunk her fingernails into the back of Harry's jaw as she jerked his head up to meet her sandalwood eyes.
"You gave up," Pansy ground out with more venom than he'd ever heard from her. "You gave up everything! Some hero you are! Harry Potter, 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', 'Triwizard Champion', 'The Chosen One', 'The-Man-Who-Conquered'. Harry Potter, 'The-Husband-Who-Couldn't-Try'!"
"What?" he asked, shocked at the turn of her words. Pansy however ignored him as she shook his head roughly to stop him from talking. Her nails cut into his flesh and blood oozing down her fingers and his chin to drip onto the dirt floor.
"Harry Potter was a hero to the Wizarding world! Everyone knew your name! Everyone knew that you would be the next Albus Dumbledore! The next Merlin!" She shrieked as her tirade began to boil into feverishness. "Every child knew your name after the downfall of the Dark Lord. Every girl wanted you to be their prince and take them away to a storybook castle and be loved by you!" She dropped her grip and gazed at the blood on her fingertips as she considered the color for her nails. Calmly she continued as she stepped back and folded her arm under the other, "No smart magical citizen wanted Voldemort to be around. He was bad for everything magicals stood for. But what choice did I have? I was an heiress to my family?" She laughed a dark mockery of amusement. "At best I'd have been sold to another magical heir as a whore."
Harry was silent. His response to dealing with his wife was to ignore her and find something to distract him from his home life until he could get away to see Teddy or Victoire. But here, now? He was unsure of how to deal with the Pansy before him.
"But…" He began before her eyes flashed with anger and she slapped him. Her fingers raked across his cheek as her hand made contact. The blow knocked Harry over and he fell down the few stairs that he'd been able to climb before being frozen at Pansy's appearance. Groaning Harry slowly climbed to his knees and elbows and tried to shake off the ringing in his ears.
"I'm not finished Harry," crooned Pansy as she grabbed his hair and pulled him back to his knees. Mockingly she continued, "You were the hero and I was the whore. Destined never to be together, never to know the love of the other. So I understood when my father told me to get Draco's attention. I hated him! I hated the fact he wanted me to whore myself out to Malfoy! But I understood," Having forced him to knees she delicately straddled his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist before she ran her hands over his shoulders and leaned back to catch his eyes.
"I even tried to have you killed in that final battle," She recalled with a palpable melancholy. "And in response you and your actions got my father killed." She smiled down at him and gently kissed his forehead, "Thank you for that by the way." Harry cringed under her lips and struggled but her sudden grip on his neck stilled his protests. "And suddenly I had power. I could do whatever I wanted with my own life! Even as an enemy you still saved me! And, oh," she drew out her words as she gently rocked her body against his, "I knew that with how fractured and unsure the Wizengamot was following the death of the Dark Lord I could write my own fairytale ending!"
Pansy's excited breathing as she retold her machinations puzzled Harry until he realized why it chilled him so. Pansy very closely mirrored Bellatrix's behavior during the few years of the war that he had participated in. With that thought carrying a terrified chill down his neck he tried to free himself from her hold. As he pushed back she gripped his arms and with a crushing force she didn't normally possess he felt the bones in his forearm grind together and cried out in a surprised pain. Pansy's eyes flashed with a viscous glee at his response.
"Oh yes," She purred. The woman reveled in the pleasurable feeling of his pain and growing horror. "I lobbied for the 'House Protection Act', the 'Harry Potter Act' some jokingly called it. And how right they were!" She snickered as her hands loosened and her fingers quickly rubbed circles on his forearms. "I was able to use the last of my family's diminished fortune to grease the palms of the Ministry Officials to get my name put as your Pureblood bride!" She crowed in victory as she threw her hands to the sides and held them there in a pose looking at Harry expecting his praise. She didn't wait for it however, as soon as she locked eyes with Harry she dropped her arms and narrowed her own sandalwood eyes at her husband.
"But you…" She said forlorn, lost. Harry stared up at her, just as lost as her voice sounded. Confused at the thoughts being laid bare to him by his self-made widow. "You gave up! You didn't even try!" She screeched as she stood up from her position sitting astride Harry. Angrily she prowled back and forth in front of him as he carefully climbed to his feet.
"You!" She shrieked at him as she whirled and pointed at him. "Saint Potter!" She frothed as she stalked towards him. Harry backed away, the mist seemed to press in around them, forcing them together. When Harry backed into it it felt solid and pushed him back into the confrontation with Pansy. His magic was not responsive. It pulsed and thrummed inside him but would not manifest in the world around him. Instead it seemed to push back against him as he reached for it. Pansy battered the palms of her hands against his chest as she vented all her anger onto his person. "You never even tried!" she wailed, "As soon as the paperwork was sent to you by the Ministry and you set eyes on me at the handfasting there was nothing in your eyes but a husk of the man you used to be. You thought you knew me!" Pansy keened as she stopped battering him and fisted her hands in his shirt. "And because you thought you knew me you judged me before you could even try!"
Pansy slumped into his chest as she was overcome with her despair and sobbed. Harry disturbed at the rapid swings in her person pulled away from her and without his support she fell to her knees as she held her face in her hands and wept.
It was as he turned to leave the Tomb and Pansy behind that she spoke, in barely a whisper, but in the company of the dead the words cut through the cold air like a gunshot. "So I killed them," she giggled.
Harry turned, slowly, at the words. For the first time since entering the tomb his anger was well stoked and he clenched his fists as he rounded on the kneeling figure of his wife. "You killed them because I didn't love you?" He growled his question.
Her hysterical laughter crested and moments later broke long enough for her to climb to her feet and look at him. "Of course! You gave me nothing of yourself, nothing but your contempt and your absence. So I tried to get your attention. I tried to gather up any emotion from you other than your scorn!" She tried to beg him to understand. "But you were off with your little blonde whore or with your little mongrel!" Suddenly as she spoke and turned twirled around with her hands out the lighting in the antechamber increased and a wind cut into the mist dissipating it. Arrayed around them were bound figures of his friends chained to the floor. Every figure silent but glaring their hatred at him from where they kneeled in chains.
"Granger never could do anything in the Ministry because you paid for all the opposition to her agendas! Weasley could never get on a team to play Quidditch because you owned them all and refused him!" She was building up a long list of actions but was cut off by Harry.
"How? I never did that? I would have supported them," Harry was dumbfounded at the revelation. Pansy though had the answer.
"Of course you did that!" She scoffed. "You were off and left everything in the family up to me while you were off with Lovegood. So I buried everyone you ever cared about. I buried them because you couldn't stand to be the hero any longer. Your 'saving people thing' ran out as soon as you said your vows to me! So I did it to get your attention. But you even abandoned your friends when you were given to me!" Pansy walked amidst all of the figures and held her hands out to indicate the field of misery that he had inadvertently sown. "Listen to me, Harry Potter, and listen well. You killed your family and your friends. Every drop of innocent blood is on your hands. Because you are the 'Hero-who-turned-away'!" She said in a sultry purr as she placed her hands back on her swollen belly and gently stroked it.
"No. I never…" he choked on his words because she was right. Harry had given up, in the dark moments of his life he wondered if it was possible for him to even die to escape the life he had been living.
"Oh yes he did," was her whispered confirmation, as though she were speaking to her unborn baby and not her husband. "Daddy was never destined for a normal life. A life I know he craved. But never has you father been free from destiny. He was always meant for great things," with those words her arms slipped off her belly and fell to her sides as if fatigued by an old, repeated argument. At the action the bodies of his friends began to wail their laments and cursings at him. His failure to save them, to protect them, and through it all Pansy just smiled. "And because of you Harry, I now have everything I ever wanted. Because you wouldn't even give me your love, I took everything else you had to give! Your money, your House, your name, your child, your legacy, your friends, your home. I even took your planet and your galaxy from you!" Harry felt each achievement of hers as a meteoric blow to his shoulders all the more devastating because of its truth. But at her claim of taking his galaxy away his eyes widened and his heart shattered.
"No," he stuttered in denial. "No, please!"
"Oh yes, Harry," she whispered to him like when he had drunkenly given her his child, her eyes dancing with glee at his broken spirit. "Oh yes indeed. Fate plucked you from the weave of death and threw you across the expanse of the universe! If you even could find the Milky Way galaxy, you're far beyond even the closest distance of the 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy! And this time, not even your prodigious magic can find you a way back to Earth!" With that final comment the pregnant Pansy Potter stepped back into the throng of Harry's family and friends and wandered about the bodies as they began to be consumed in fire. Their screams and shrieks of agony were a symphony of torment that she listened to with the elegance of a socialite at an Opera.
"Fate wants her hero back! But you aren't that hero anymore," Pansy said as she drifted from one figure to another, observing each burning figure as one might casually inspect a piece of art. "You are nothing but a shattered man without purpose and without hope. So just die!" At her final words the fires pulled together and swirled around Pansy the roaring flames carrying the wails and hatred of all his former friends. The featureless figures of hundreds of human shaped fires around Pansy and began to shamble towards Harry with fiery arms stretched toward him. Each burning effigy spat the hatred of Harry's ghosts at him. Harry himself crumpled with the weight of the words and the darkness pressing down on him. Laying on the ground he pulled his legs up to his chest and shut his eyes muttering nonsense as his heart shattered from the experience. Tears streamed from his shut eyes and ran trails of regret across his face as the demons of hell reached out to embrace him.
=)=(=
In the tomb echoing with the moans of the damned Pansy watched as the figure of a woman in red burst into existence in a roar of green magick and stood in front of Harry. The woman's hands glowing with the same green as the Avada Kedavra curse. The woman in red pushed with her magick and the fire figures staggered to a stop. Narrowing her eyes Pansy stepped into the circle of fire in front of her as she spoke.
"Nightsister Merrin," Pansy's voice hissed out from the swelling flames. As Merrin observed the pregnant woman she noticed that the previously luminous brown eyes seemed to decay into a ghastly yellow with a vertical slit. With a quick motion Pansy's body slowly drew a silver tube from her robes. In the moment it took Merrin to recognize the metallic object Pansy flicked it on and an angry hiss cut across the crackling fire, dulling into an energetic hum. A lightsaber, angry viridian in color, rabidly pulsed in her hand. As Pansy stalked forward the sharp clop of her heeled shoes was suddenly replaced by the many clicks of metal on stone. Fine mechanical whirs could be heard as the woman stalked forward into the fire. The continued hum of the lightsaber and its vivid color shone from the fire where Pansy had stepped into it. When the body stepped from the flames towards Merrin it was no longer the body of a pregnant woman but a weathered bone plated metal figure. "You interfere in places that you are not welcome," said General Grievous as he prowled along the edge of the fire in front of Merrin and Harry.
"You," Merrin gasped as she stared at the hideous faceplate of the being who massacred her family. Despite her hatred and desire to kill the cyborg Merrin felt like the helpless child she had been years ago.
"Yes," came the rough reply. "Once again the Nightsisters stand in my way," said the savage in metal bones. "Move, so that I can finish that useless hero!" With a sneer at her the figure pointed its viridian lightsaber at Harry, the hum now echoing in the tomb, the fire burning but silent. The fires still burned in a ring around them with Grievous stalking inside the ring of flames, circling around Merrin who mirrored the cyborg so she kept him in front of her.
"No," Merrin denied. Her voice cracked in fear. Her hands shook as she faced the murderer before her. But it was Harry's fevered mutterings behind her that gave her purpose and focus. She reached deep and pried the fear from her heart and with a fortifying breath she spoke again, "No." She was much more sure of herself, "I kill you myself so you can't hurt anyone else!" Merrin stepped forward to engage the cyborg when a mocking laugh was all that she was met with.
"You think you have the power to do anything here? Talzin was more powerful than you and she fell to my blades! What chance do you have?" came the mocking question from Grievous.
"I've been hunting servants of the Emperor for years now. You'll be a nice warmup before I hunt down his Inquisitors and Admirals!" She spat with a false bravado.
"Oh? I think you'll find that you're much less of a threat than you think," as he spoke Grievous turned and reached into the fire. When he turned back to face Merrin she gasped in shock and grasped at the golden necklace she wore. Her voice strangled in her throat before she was able to say anything or even scream in fear.
Before her, held underneath the metallic claws and glowing blades of General Grievous, was Ilyana.
"Now, step aside and give me the pathetic excuse for a man and I'll give you back your lovely little Nightsister," Grievous growled in command.
Merrin's mind floundered for a response when Ilyana spoke, her ice-blue eyes finding Merrin's brown, "Still the pawn, Merrin?" asked Ilyana without fear while still in the clutches of General Grievous.
"What?" whispered a shocked Merrin.
Ilyana leaned forward in the grip of the cyborg and sneered at Merrin, "Here you are again. For all your power and learning you're subject to someone else's schemes," spat Ilyana. Merrin flinched from her words but Ilyana jerked in the hold of Grievous, who merely let the Nightsister struggle forward but held her by her wrists. "Mother Talzin," screamed the girl, "That bitch led the Nightsisters to their doom by her perfidious dealings with a Sith Lord! Sith do not suffer rivals, Merrin!" Ilyana stepped back as Grievous jerked her arms and she was back in his clutches even as Ilyana continued to shout at Merrin.
"She came back from the land of the dead and she immediately put you under her thumb! But I suppose that you're used to that aren't you Merrin? Malicos used you for years to learn of our magick, that lost Jedi Kestis kept you around for years just because of your powers, Fret even used you to get over her 'dead' girlfriend!" Ilyana punctuated her examples by spitting at her feet as she glared hatefully at Merrin.
Merrin was lost. The vitriol from her childhood love cracked any defenses that she might have been able to conjure up facing the cyborg that killed her Sisters. Ilyana's furious words and eyes glittering with hate for her were almost too much. Merrin had unknowingly sunk to her knees as the words issued from Ilyana's lips.
It was Grievous' modulated voice that broke the silence next. "Oh yes little Sister," he laughed as he mocked Merrin, "and you even fell for her machinations this time didn't you?" Grievous sneered this time, his bone white faceplate ghosting over Ilyana's shoulder as they both peered at Merrin accusingly. "That little sorcerer you're guarding intrigues you doesn't he? Does he make you wet little whore? Does his power make you want to claim him as your Sister's claimed their own mates?" The accusations cut into her heart because they were true, crass though they were presented. In a brief panic Merrin quickly looked over her shoulder to Harry, only to find him still mumbling to himself but staring into the flames, his eyes unfocused.
"That's not true," she argued. In a way it wasn't, she didn't want to just breed him. From what she saw before the vision shifted she was sure that Harry had experienced something like that already and would not appreciate it. Secondly, she was unsure of why she felt intrigued by him at all. His power was certainly a factor, but not the only thing that drew her in.
Ilyana however, tossed back her head and laughed bitterly at her denial. Seeing Ilyana shoved roughly forward and then forced to her knees, Merrin tried to stagger to her feet to free her from Grievous despite her words.
"Oh Merrin," said the kneeling girl with a cruel smirk, "you want him. You might even want all of him. You're just afraid of what Cal would say," she continued with a snarl, "and you're afraid that feeling anything will mean that Talzin whored out your womb for her own purposes!"
Merrin winced but tried to reach out for the girl. With a hiss of heat she gasped and pulled her hands back as a lightsaber cut through the air where her hands had been moments ago. Grievous' viridian blade hummed angrily over Ilyana's shoulder.
"The sorcerer for the girl," he growled as he stepped around the kneeling Ilyana and with his clawed foot pushed the girl's chest to the floor and flicked his lightsaber blade to hover over Ilyana's neck. "Give him to me and I'll give you back your precious little lover."
Merrin however began to panic and in her loss of control she began to beg for Ilyana's life.
"Not Ilyana, please no, take me instead, kill me," she began.
Harry, hearing a twisted mirror of those words every time a Dementor was near, grasped at the panic the familiar words invoked and pulled himself from the darkness that had flooded his mind through his broken heart. Finally focusing he shifted his eyes until he saw Merrin, herself kneeling, pleading with a white plated being.
"This is my last warning girl," snarled the armor-clad figure.
"Not Ilyana! Please," Merrin continued to beg, "have mercy! Have mercy," she repeated as her hands gripped the necklace around her neck. The metal seemed to pull tight around her throat, stifling her words. "Not Ilyana! Not her! Please, I'll do anything…" she murmured.
"Then give me the sorcerer!" yelled Grievous punctuating each word as a command.
"Yes, of course," Merrin slurred as she placed her hands on the floor and crawled to Ilyana. In that moment the lightsaber flashed and cut Ilyana nearly in half. With a scream of horror Merrin clawed at Ilyana and pulled the girl into her lap. Grievous' clawed feet echoed as he walked towards where Harry struggled to his knees.
Merrin looked down at the disgusted face of Ilyana as the girl spat blood into her own face. "Even now," rasped the corpse of the young Nightsister, "you're still someone's bitch, Merrin. I'm ashamed of you." Merrin's tears streamed down her cheeks and fell onto Ilyana's face. Having to see Ilyana's slashed body and holding her cooling corpse in her arms took the last bits of strength from her. She threw her head back and wailed her pain into the emptiness of the tomb. The fires surrounding them surged and burned brighter in the presence of such emotions.
"Expecto Patronum!" The words came from behind her. Suddenly there was the song of hope that carried down to pass her bones and reached into her very soul. A warmth welled up inside her from the haunting melody. There was a bright light behind and above her that built in its intensity. With a great ethereal screech the fires around them flashed from orange and reds to a brilliant white. In the midst of this flash Merrin's mind gave out from the rapid swing of emotions and anxiety.
Harry absently noted the shape his Patronus took, a phoenix, as he dashed forward and caught Merrin before she could collapse facedown in the dirt. Working against her deadweight, Harry eventually gathered Merrin into his arms and was able to lift her with his arm under her knees and around her shoulders and back. With a grunt he rolled his shoulder and arm inward and Merrin's head rolled until it rested on his chest.
As he worked the fire coalesced into a pillar of white fire that burned higher and higher above them into the infinite darkness around them. As Harry finally gave it his attention the pillar briefly surged and formed an outline of a cloaked being. Harry and the thing stared at each other for untold moments before an fathomless voice composed of untold billions of voices spoke.
"Well done Champion. Do not fail me again," Harry staggered to one knee as the voice reverberated through his being and rang with frightening intensity inside his mind. With those words the fire blinked out of existence. Harry, gasping for breath and cradling the unconscious form of Merrin, looked around at the silent Tomb of Kujet. The dirt and dust only disturbed by his feet and Merrin's. The cold stone was a silent sentinel of the entryway and pillars stood indifferent to the experience he and Merrin had within the tomb.
With another grunt, and a colossal surge of effort, Harry climbed back to his feet. Lethargically he grasped for his power. Taking long moments to build up enough to wrap around himself and Merrin, Harry dematerialized in crackling green light…
…To reappear near Merrin's abode accompanied by the same sound and lightshow. Harry took one step before something grabbed his attention.
The ignition hiss and gentle hum of an energy sword.