Freedom is a Lie
July 13th
9:22pm
Unknown Location
Daphne
Hiding out in a forest as she waited for the lights to go out wasn't a pass time she'd normally subject herself too but these weren't normal times at all. The cottage in front of her was seamless from the outside, no features of particular note stuck out, not the overgrown vines, not the unassuming brass door knocker nor the cobbled chimney. No, the only real items of note were the, hopefully unaware, occupants inside. Pettigrew's treachery had been spot on, so far she'd hit four houses in a single day without a problem. They hadn't had what she sought though, thus her frustration had risen as her patience waned.
Her knee bounced as the anticipation got the better of her. 'No point in waiting,' she thought as she stood from the foliage she had hidden behind. She wrapped the invisibility cloak, Harry's cloak, around her body and crossed the ward threshold. The cobbled path was quaint, a sheer departure from what she was about to do.
'Two occupants, mid-level death eaters, tasked with snatching up mid-level threats.' The information they'd gathered in the period of time in between Pettigrew's betrayal and Azkaban had been minimal but it was enough to give her enough confidence in her plan.
The silent forest night was cut short as the cute wooden door was ripped from its hinges. The two Death eaters rose to their feet from the couch they were lounging on and prepared themselves for the oncoming threat. They didn't even get the chance to think about what to do next as two stunners, originating from seemingly thin air, slumped them back onto their couches.
With the death eaters down, Daphne removed the cloak and set it down on the table, then dragged two chairs to the living room. One by one she made sure there was no chance of portkeying away, then tied and gagged the unconscious men to the chairs. She walked back to the table and sighed as she pulled out a quick notes quill and a piece of empty parchment.
Her tired features morphed into an expression of stone as she turned to her captives. She dragged another chair over to the two and stopped in front of them. Neither man looked familiar, each as unassuming as the cottage that they resided in.
'Perfect for kidnappings,' she thought angrily. She brought her wand up and sprayed the men with freezing cold water. Instantly they bucked and woke up, coming to terms with their reality whilst shaking off their disorientation.
"You know who I am," Daphne started, gathering the attention of the men. "I want to warn you now I am running very low on patience so if you try anything I will personally see an end to your bloodline… understood?" Both men nodded their acceptance and Daphne removed their gags.
"What do you want from us?" the left one asked fearfully, the other remained stoic and glared at her. Combined with the fact the left one's lip was quivering and he had already begun to sweat she got a pretty good read on them.
'You're the leader then,' she thought looking at the one on the right.
Daphne continued by showing them the parchment floating beside her. "See this? The fact that it's empty means the colleagues of yours that I… questioned earlier today had very little to say. They did not enjoy my visit." The implications were clear, of course, the seven other death eaters were eventually quite talkative, some took more persuasion than others but they all ended up flowing like a river.
The man on the right scoffed, "you think you can scare me girl? I've seen your kind before, an arrogant rich girl that thinks the world revolves around her, you're in for a shock missy. This time next week you'll be getting buggered twenty four seven, I might even have a go."
She didn't dignify the outburst with a direct verbal response, only giving the man an uninterested gaze as he spoke before moving on."For your sake, I'm going to be very clear about my expectations and the consequences."
She drew the knife that hung on her belt, a black blade wrapped in black leather and swiftly implanted it in the leader's right leg. The man promptly screamed in pain, so loud that Daphne had to wait to continue her sentence. His screams abated and his tough persona crippled, mimicking the mannerisms of his subordinate. But she wasn't done, she ripped the blade out and pressed it against the squirting stab.
"Please! Please! Stop!"
The man's begging came to a halt when she looked him in the eyes and whispered, "Toujours Pur." The blade's edge ignited with black flame, cauterising the man's leg but reinitiating his screams. She held it there for a moment, watching as his leg started to catch fire before willing the blade to stop and extinguishing the small flames that licked at his legs with a wave of her wand.
Daphne grimaced as she fought back the urge to smirk at the men's predicament. Returning to her purpose for being there, she got in close and asked with barely contained rage, "now, just this once… where is Harry Potter?"
July 14th
7:41am
Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire
Harry
He had no clue how long he'd been kept prisoner, nor how long it would last. The visits were sporadic, and they hardly allowed him to sleep. He found it hard to distinguish the difference between filth and hair on his face and suffering the indignities of relieving himself into a pot was unique in its humiliation. It was hard to keep his fortitude with each visit from Voldemort, vying for the plans of his people or insight into the prophecy. His luck only presented itself in the form of his mental defences which had been made less vulnerable because the horcrux was gone.
The chains rubbed harshly against his mangled wrists and ankles, the damage only crippling him further. Yet he craned his neck to listen to the approach of his captors. He had started to recognise whose footsteps were echoing down into the cells and the light rhythmic steps could only mean his daily dose of interrogation was imminent. There was another pair with him though, more purposeful, as though the person was trying to make the intervals between their steps identical. He didn't know this one, but another torturer would be an awful development in his case.
"Look at him, Severus, no doubt the arrogance you spoke of has faded," Voldemort taunted from outside his cell. The newcomer being identified made Harry mentally wince, if anyone would seek to make his torment more dreadful it would be the chronically dickish Severus Snape.
"Indeed," Snape agreed neutrally. "One would be forgiven for forgetting this boy was ever anything remotely close to special."
"Oh he is special, Severus," Voldemort whispered, "the only person alive who could finish a sentence you began so long ago…" He unlocked the cell and stepped inside, smiling at Harry as he did so.
"I see," Snape muttered as he joined his master in the cell. "Do you wish for me to pluck the memory from his mind?"
"No, Severus, I wish for you to keep him alive so that singular pleasure be mine to claim." Voldemort drew his wand and used it to magically lift Harry from the ground. "Consider it a punishment for failing to inform me of the ambush that slew six of our number."
"As you wish, my lord," Snape said as he bowed and made to leave.
"Do you not wish to watch?" Voldemort asked, halting the Death Eater in his tracks.
Snape spun on his heel and made eye contact with Harry who shot him a defiant look. "No," Snape replied, breaking the stare and turning to his master, "the aftermath will be sufficient."
"Very well, dismissed."
Snape left the cell, leaving only Voldemort and a levitated Harry. Voldemort's crimson eyes seemed completely focused on Harry, eager to start the session.
"My offer stands, Harry, give up the prophecy and the location of your forces and I will show mercy." It was a bold faced lie, they both knew it, but a broken man might make that deal, it was all about getting him to that point. Unfortunately for Harry, Voldemort had all the time in the world.
"And my answer remains the same," Harry said quietly, his voice hoarse from screaming, "suck yourse–"
The cell lit up in a red hue as the cruciatus curse burst from Voldemort's wand and connected with Harry. The intensity of his screams only matched the violent manner of his thrashing in the air, all the while Voldemort watched, content to tear down the so-called 'saviour of the wizarding world.'
July 15th
5:03am
Black Chateau, Loyalist Headquarters, Isle of Man
Daphne
"And what fight is there? Harry is gone! We should seek mercy–"
"Mercy? Are you slow?"
"People!" she shouted, fed up with their bickering. She was sitting in Harry's chair at the end of the table, it felt wrong but desperate times and all that. "What did we say when we got you to join? This fight is bigger than a single person, it's about building a better world, don't lose sight of that."
"Harry was supposed to kill you-know-who, who will do that now?" an auror asked from the end of the table. The distance from Daphne had given him the courage to stand up and speak out but her glare forced him back into his seat.
"Vol- The Dark lord is a problem," Daphne began, nearly slipping up and speaking his name. A few late joiners had heard talk of people being snatched up by his followers when speaking the name and had brought that information with them, it was a miracle no one had said it prior. "But so are his forces, we take them out, we limit his reach considerably."
"That's like putting a bandaid on an entrails expelling curse," another auror said that she didn't know the name of.
"Yes," Remus remarked. The man hadn't been sleeping properly since Harry's disappearance but had tried his best to remain productive in his honour. "But if we reduce his numbers enough, it'll give us some breathing room to sort out… alternate solutions."
"I have here a list of potentially valuable targets," Daphne revealed as she passed around parchments collected from her solo raids. "We get in, take what we can, take out who we can, then leave."
"Strike hard and fast," Moody commented as he looked over the parchments, "I like it."
"Good, we need to organise this prop–"
Daphne was interrupted when Elphias Doge loudly asked, "why is there blood on these?"
She received a wide array of looks, ranging from acceptance to disgust but she could hardly care for their feelings. 'They don't understand what I've lost, they never could.'
"I'm sure Daphne just cut herself by accident or–" Tonks tried to say, coming to her defence. Everyone at the table could tell she didn't believe her own words, including Daphne.
"No, Tonks," Daphne interjected, "thank you, but no." Tonks gave her a small smile as if to say 'I tried' and Daphne appreciated it. She diverted her attention to Elphias Doge and addressed him as well as the rest of the room. "The blood is from prisoners I took, men and women who I questioned as part of a day-long mission in search of Harry."
"Where are these prisoners? I should like to question them as well," cried a senior auror down the hall.
Daphne looked around before replying simply, "they're dead."
The room exploded into outrage and in her defence, each of them coming to their own conclusions. Words such as "murderer" and "love" were thrown around and Daphne quickly grew tired of it, thankfully Moody was there for the save.
"Silence!" he shouted as he banged his staff on the floor. Marvellously, everyone listened and sat back down in their seats.
She gave him a nod of appreciation before continuing to speak. "These people, would kidnap, kill and torture for their lord. If their pain brought me even a centimetre closer to finding Harry I wouldn't… didn't hesitate."
"You're who's leading us, a bloodthirsty teenager?" Doge questioned and she could see more looks of disappointment than agreement, thankfully.
"I'll not be judged by you, Doge, nor anyone at this table." She rose from her seat and leaned forward with her arms on the table, "I brought valuable intel and depleted his forces somewhere in the double digits, I may have crossed some moral boundary but let me ask you this, what did you do this week?"
Her question was met with silence and averted gazes. 'As I thought,' she concluded vindictively. Some, the most loyal of the bunch, looked her way and projected their support in held eye contact and nods, spurring her surety in herself.
"As I believe you were trying to say earlier, Daphne, we'll need to organise teams for the fighting force," Kingsley piped up, bringing the conversation back on track.
"Yes, I was going to suggest teams of four as opposed to the typical auror teams of six." She made sure to note the aurors reactions to this, some of them seemed miffed but more of them were intrigued to hear why. "We'll be doing a lot of hit and run attacks and it'll be crucial to be extremely mobile, six people seems like two too many."
"I agree," auror Shafiq concurred, "smaller teams aren't unheard of either. With Madeye's help, we'll be able to adapt the existing teams in no time." Moody grunted his agreement and none expected him to elaborate, to be trained by Moody was an honour in the department but a hassle for the man himself.
Daphne sat back down and rounded off, "start tomorrow, bright and early. I imagine seeing you all train will give your families and the rest a much needed sense of security." Nods all round indicated an understanding and a few moments of silence spoke to the end of the meeting. For good measure, Daphne solidified it with, "meeting adjourned."
As everyone filed out, she made her way to the window overlooking the sea. She'd caught Harry standing at the window for extended periods of time before and had never quite appreciated the way the waves could calm someone until now. No matter what was happening here, the waves served their purpose without complaint, rocking back and forth as though the world didn't hang in the balance.
"Daphne?" Her serenity was shattered by the hesitant greeting of Nymphadora. She turned around and gave the woman her attention. She had proven a loyal supporter often and never hesitated to do so in front of others, Daphne felt foolish to have been so unaware of her value before. But now Tonks stood before her with an odd mix of anxiety and determination about her.
"Tonks, I want to thank you for your support today," Daphne began, she was going to do so anyway so what better time than now?
"Oh that was nothing, I know, we know, that you have your reasons for acting as you did. I don't imagine many of us have the stomach to do what you did," Tonks admitted. It came out a little worse than she meant and her wince confirmed that but the sentiment was obvious.
"I hope you never find out how wrong you are…"
Tonks sighed and looked away. 'Perhaps she did know after all,' Daphne wondered.
"Anyway," Tonks muttered, trying to distance herself from such a topic, "I'd like to request an assignment."
"Has Kingsley not given you one?"
"He has," Tonks supplied, "but you outrank him."
'I suppose I do…' She studied Tonks and realised she was now speaking to her in the same manner she would a superior in the auror office. It felt odd treating her as such but she knew she had to get used to it, just as Harry did. "Submit your request."
"I'd like to be your bodyguard. I'm worried someone might try to getcha in hopes to take over. I'd like to be in a position to prevent that." Tonks seemed to be speaking as though she'd rehearsed some script over and over again. If she knew anything about the auror, this idea would've come to her without rational explanation and now she felt the need to justify it.
"I accept," Daphne simply replied. "Although you may be needed on offensive missions later on, those come first."
"Understood," Tonks returned.
"You know, Harry and I have had each other's back for so long now, I had forgotten what it was like to be vulnerable," Daphne admitted, subconsciously laying a hand on the hilt of Harry's dagger.
Tonks noticed her movement and tried to console her the best she could. "Harry's as tough as stone, he's probably got Voldemort scared shitless by now."
"I know, Harry will break before he bends," Daphne told her as she turned her attention back to the sea, "that does not make things easier."
Tonks moved behind her to put a hand on her shoulder for support, "it's not your fault, only Voldemort is to blame."
"Perhaps," Daphne remarked, fighting back a tear, "but I was a damned fool for not figuring out what was happening sooner."
An: Lesgoooooooo book three baby! We're here, Harry's fucked, Daphne's fucked but we're hereeeee. Super excited to get this one out, kinda short but just wanted to give a small update on our heroes in peril. For this story I've got a 5 arc finale planned so five major plot lines interlinked with the more prominent stuff like Horcruxes, character arcs and all that. Topped off with treachery, trickery and a whole bunch of other t-word adjectives, we're all in for some fun.
Analysis time
Daphne's a stone cold mf, now dialled to 11. No one's gonna weep for the wannabe rapist though. If y'all are here for some calm and collected killers you're in the right place. Daphne's in a bad place right now and you'll see how that unfolds in the coming chapters.
Speaking of bad places, Harry is at the top of that list. He's not having fun and I assure you it gets worse before it gets better. Have fun experiencing that lads.
Now the dynamic with Daphne and the rest is very interesting to write. They chose to follow Harry and whilst Daphne has a fair bit of claim to fame, Harry was fated to kill Voldemort. That's a big punch in the gut for morale. Obviously the people part of their team last book are gonna be fiercely loyal and many of the aurors too but there are still some to win over and her violent actions aren't helping. Tonks comes in with the clutch though so it's all good, hopefully.
Hope you all enjoy and if you're an avid gamer as I am I'm going to be posting content on my Instagram and TikTok! Expect mainly Overwatch 2 and, when it drops, Hogwarts Legacy. If not, don't worry, I'll also be posting writing updates and tips that I see out in the wild. Just search up my handle and you'll find me :) I'm also considering a discord but that might be something to think about later down the line but if I get enough people expressing interest now then I can start it up sooner.
All the best everyone and welcome to A Time for Unity