Disclaimer: I do not own any character's objects or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.
When You Have Nothing Left to Lose
Chapter 5
"You ready, lieutenant?" Daphne asked as she and Harry stood outside a pair of wooden double doors. Daphne was dressed in her usual outfit of a flowing black robe that went down to cover the top of her black shoes and up to cover most of her chest. Harry wore his now usual outfit that had previously been reserved for the field. Neither of them was currently wearing a mask.
Harry nodded.
"Good. Now, brace yourself. The side of the Death Eaters you have seen is much different from this one." Daphne replied.
Harry nodded again. "After what I have been through, this will be nothing."
Daphne actually chuckled lightly. "Just what I wished to hear," she paused a moment and grew serious again, "but do not underestimate any of the people in there. They could make or break you as well as me."
"I understand."
Daphne nodded, and Harry opened the door.
Inside the room, there was a large circular table with eleven seats. Facing the door was the largest seat, and beside it was a slightly smaller but still more extravagant chair than most others in the room.
"Ah, Daphne. I assume this is the lieutenant you have been informing us has been creating chaos for the Ministry?" An elder man asked from his seat as Harry followed Daphne in.
"Yes, Gregory. This is Mr. Potter." Daphne replied as she walked to her seat.
Gregory nodded, joining the others in silence as Daphne sat down in her chair. Harry stood to her right by the empty chair.
Daphne noticed this and said, "You may sit, Lieutenant."
Harry nodded thankfully and sat down in the chair.
Daphne looked each member of her inner circle over carefully. Each except Gregory looked disapproving of Harry.
"If any of you have any questions over my choice of a lieutenant, I demand you to think over what he has accomplished for us so far and to let reason prevail over your clouding minds. Prejudice has forced us into the mess we are in now; prejudice will do nothing but force us into the shite further."
The eight Death Eaters absorbed her words quickly and looked down in shame.
"Our apologies, Milady. We'll be more open in the future." One spoke, though it did not seem completely genuine to Harry.
"In a week, I have struck at the Ministry twenty-eight times; each time further lowering their numbers and sending the masses into worry and panic. Not a single time has a single member of my forces fallen. I would call that the turning point in our fight against the Ministry." Harry shouted.
"You're saying you wish to go to war?" A woman asked disbelievingly. "You are insane!"
"He actually has a point, Sophia. The moral of our troops has never been higher. If we could just strengthen our numbers, then we might be able to start a war instead of this filthy guerrilla warfare." Gregory replied.
Daphne grinned cruelly. "It looks like I have turned a few into believers. That is good to know as it is so troublesome replacing an entire inner circle." The few who still did not seem to like Harry's idea automatically appeared to concede.
Harry grinned mentally and thought, 'Just as she planned.'
"We'll set up recruitment posts." A man said.
"No, we need to do something else. We need something that will create a bang and bring in much more people at one time as well as further on." Another replied.
"How about we let your lieutenant perform that bang? Already they are calling him the Shadow Wolf. Who better to draw in a bigger crowd?" Gregory offered.
"Yes, and that way none of us are truly at risk. While I do concede that a war is the best option, I think that protecting this circle is imperative, and what better protection is there than secrecy?" Sophia agreed.
Daphne nodded slowly. "George, prepare your troops to set up much more recruitment posts, and start spreading the word further of a new Death Eater force. Hopefully, that will be enough."
"What do you mean, Milady?" Another woman asked.
Daphne sighed. "I fear that many people will not join us if they think we still stand for the same message Voldemort left the world with. People do not accept an anti-muggle view anymore."
"She's right." Gregory sighed as well. The entire room looked down, depressed.
Daphne then looked up, struck with an idea. "I do not believe we are really anti-muggle anymore. We just wish to preserve the pureblood culture."
"Yes! We could still separate the muggle and wizarding worlds without hurting the muggles in any real way, amassing more people!" Sophia realized.
"What about the muggleborns, though?" A man asked.
"In a few generations, the wizarding world would almost be extinct with the amount of lost magic if we exclude the muggleborns." A woman predicted.
"So we cannot exclude them. How about we find muggleborns early in life using various methods and raise them here in the wizarding world by volunteer families? These muggleborns will be raised like any other child, eliminating most resistance movements before they can even start." Harry finally revealed the plan that Daphne had created.
Before the two had even appeared at the hidden meeting place of the Death Eaters' Inner Circle, Daphne had planned the entire meeting so they did not appear as pariahs amongst the Inner Circle.
"That could work." Gregory thought aloud.
"It will bring more troops and can be accepted by a broad audience." Another man agreed.
"Are we all in agreement then? Our new mission statement will be isolation instead of annihilation?" Daphne asked the room's occupants. She received a nod from everyone. "Good. George, get to work spreading it amongst ourselves but hold off on the recruitment posts. We do not wish to reveal this before we initiate Project Bang. In the meantime, I want everyone preparing the troops for war and a sudden increase in troops. Is that clear?" Once more, she received a nod from everyone in the room.
"I'll spread the word." George confirmed.
"Harry, ready your troops for the strike. You will be briefed on further details as you directly work with Gregory of P.R. and Margaret of Strategic Placement." Daphne said, pointing out the two from the nine at the table.
"Yes, Milady."
"Is there anything else that anyone on the council wishes to present?" Daphne asked.
She received a negative response from everyone in the room, excluding Harry. He already had informed her of everything he knew.
"Good. Margaret, Gregory, please stay behind so you may figure out where to go to discuss Project Bang." Daphne said.
Everyone nodded, and all excluding the four rose from their seats and exited the room after saying their goodbyes.
"I think Gregory would be better suited for housing the Wolf. He can brief him on what will need to be done while I have my people work out a place and time to strike." Margaret offered calculatingly.
"Will I be bringing in my personal troops or using the general army?" Harry asked.
"Your troops I think would be better suited for this if they any are needed at all." Gregory replied.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"This may only require you or a team to accomplish." Margaret answered.
Harry nodded.
"Who will be the officer in charge of this project?" Gregory asked.
"You and Margaret will be in charge of preparations while on the ground, Harry will."
"Yes, but who is overall?" Margaret asked.
Daphne paused. "Harry is." As the two began to object to Daphne's decision, she stopped them. "As both of you are acting as preparations, Harry is the commander when I am not present… but do not think for a second that I am not in charge and disrespect my decisions. I do allow my decisions to be questioned as anyone, even me, could make a mistake, but I will not tolerate it when those questions are foolishly spoken as if you are children!"
"I apologize, Milady. I was out of line." Gregory and Margaret said in turn.
"Your apologies are accepted, but with them I expect that they will not happen again." Daphne replied. "Now, both of you are dismissed. Gregory, wait at the floo, however, for my lieutenant as you so graciously accepted to house him."
Margaret and Gregory exchanged their goodbyes quickly and left the room, making sure that the door was closed on their way out.
"What do you think of the political side of things?"
"Never been a fan of politics; too much greed in it for me." Harry replied. "Though, you have mastered it quite well, Daphne."
Daphne grinned. "Using flattery to get on my good side, are you?"
"No… just giving credit to where it is due." Harry replied.
"I'm not exactly sure I would have minded if you were." Daphne slipped out unknowingly while she and Harry were looking toward the door. Harry's head bolted to the left, though, after her words soaked in to his brain, making it shut down and speech unattainable.
The man was at a loss for words, though, not entirely due to her statement. At first it was, but after a couple of seconds of looking at Daphne's unmoving profile, Harry began to notice all of the beautiful qualities the woman to his left held, having never properly given her a genuine look-over. Her naturally pale skin, her gray eyes, her slim, brown eyebrows matching her wavy, long hair, her round cheeks and perfectly puffed out red lips. All of this Harry could see, and all of this absorbed him. To Harry, nothing existed excluding that right profile of Daphne's face, especially her stony cold eyes. He was especially entranced in those impenetrable globes. The entire thing could have lasted a year, but Harry would not have noticed. In reality, it had only been ten seconds.
Curious as to why her lieutenant was silent, Daphne turned to her right and saw the look on Harry's face and was thoroughly surprised. She never would have thought that Harry Potter would look at her like he was now. It was beyond the lustful, obsessing looks she had received from boys at Hogwarts. No, she could see that this was not that sort of love but the genuine admiration and caring that only the highest level of love held.
In a moment, though, she made a decision: a decision to ignore their feelings for one another right now. She imagined that Harry must have been too absorbed in her to notice that she noticed his look, so she knew she could get away with it until she wished to reveal her feelings for him as well… or until he came out with it himself. She knew that that was always a possibility, but her current plan would give her at least some time to make a proper plan. So, she turned her head back and finally spoke.
"I didn't realize you were so susceptible to jokes. All our enemies have to do is that, and I will lose my head lieutenant, huh?"
Harry snapped out of his state and gathered himself before finally speaking as well. "Sorry, Daphne. I… just... never heard a joke from you." Harry pretended to admit, thinking that she might not have noticed his stare.
"Well, do not let it happen again." Daphne replied lightly.
"Of course not."
Daphne nodded. "Well, now that we have solved your only weakness, we need to quickly move on to business." She received a nod from Harry. "I need you to inform me if anyone shows any signs of treason or thoughts of it. It wouldn't do to have traitors so close to a new beginning."
"No, it wouldn't." Harry agreed. "I'll inform you as soon I can if I believe something is wrong."
"Good. Now, get going. Gregory might get suspicious." Daphne replied.
Harry nodded as he stood up and walked to the door. "I will see you when I return, Milady."
"Hopefully, you will. Good luck, lieutenant." Daphne said before Harry opened the door.
"Thank you." Harry then crossed over the threshold of the doors, closed the twin pieces of mahogany, and walked down the corridors to the floos.
Daphne sighed. "I cannot believe that that fool loves me." Daphne rubbed her forehead. "And I cannot believe that I might just love that fool back."
A few days later in Diagon Alley, the streets, despite of the torrential downpour, were crowded full of returning and new students of Hogwarts as they gathered the final things they would need for the school year as well as various people on an average day's shopping trip.
In the midst of this chaos, a lone figure under many strong glamour charms wearing a black outfit navigated through the crowd, heading toward his target. On other parts of the street, other black robed figures walked toward their own destinations with a sense of purpose only the highest purebloods possessed. As the first man strode towards his position, the others soon began disappearing inside various shops. Thirty seconds after the last one disappeared, Harry reached his target.
He turned around so that he could see the rest of the Alley. Discreetly, Harry slipped on his mask but was unnoticed as it melted in with his glamours.
After checking to see that all of his men and women were positioned, Harry tapped the place on his wrist where a watch would have been worn.
Suddenly, the crowd saw explosions everywhere, propelling them into a new kind of chaos: panic. Despite the first-thought random nature of the explosions, they were calculated so as to destroy each of the apparation points and floos in Diagon Alley.
A few in the crowd managed to try and head back to the Leaky Cauldron in the widespread panic but were blockaded by newly emerging Death Eaters, who had sealed off the entrance for the time being. Then, other Death Eaters emerged from the shops, forcing out the former occupants while more of their brethren could be seen with their wands at the ready, just as Harry had planned. Thankfully, not a single one moved out of the motions they had set for themselves. Then again, Harry did not very much expect them to, as these were his personal troops.
After everything was confirmed to be secure, Harry undid his glamours and shot a spell above the center of the crowd that created a loud 'bang,' automatically gathering the crowd's full attention.
"Hello, wizards, witches, and soon to be magicals as well as your muggle parent or parents! We apologize for this rude way of gathering your attention and for interrupting your shopping day, but you should know that after what I tell you, you will not think that the lost time of shopping was lost in vain." Harry said, standing in front of Gringotts but not daring to even look at the guards. He knew that as long as he did not intrude on them, then he would be safe.
"Like any of us would listen to you, you underbelly scum!" A woman shouted. "I fought against you thugs before as a child and taught you a lesson!"
Harry looked at the woman and was slightly surprised but did not hesitate to calmly reply, never giving away his momentary surprise. "And who might you be to think that we are not stronger than we have ever been? After all, I do hold in my control for the moment… Diagon Alley and all of you."
"The wife of the one who killed Voldemort, Harry Potter!" Ginny shouted back.
"Ah… the Boy-Who-Lived; I doubt he will be here to save any of you now as I have never personally seen him. Besides, I am afraid that your name has never been mentioned." Harry smirked under his mask.
"What do you mean you've never seen him?" James shouted. "You took him from us!"
'Ever so much like his father when he was young as well as his grandfather.' Harry thought before speaking aloud. "The Death Eaters haven't seen Harry Potter since his last attack on us months ago. If you are implying that the reason for his absence since the last known attack on the Death Eaters is that we killed or hold him hostage, is a lie. He killed all of the troops that were there when he was, and our reinforcements only found the bodies of those he slain as well as the bodies of fifty dead aurors."
"What did you mean when you said 'the last known attack on the Death Eaters?" A man in the crowd asked.
"Thank you, kind sir, for finally bringing us to what I wished to talk to everyone here about today." Harry congratulated before growing more serious. "You see, the Ministry holds mostly corruption nowadays. Some, I will admit, is caused by us, but I highly doubt you would blame an organization of heroes portrayed as villains."
The crowd busted into chatter at Harry's latest words but was quickly shushed by the Death Eaters. They were as interested in his words as the crowd was.
"For most of the corruption is from Ministry officials themselves! No longer does even the Wizengamot have a say as Minister Corner and almost all of his department heads hide secrets away from even their own people in a thirst for power and money. Even one of the departments, who's Head is unaware of the evils around her, uses its multitude of troops to attack muggleborn homes and create anti-muggle locations under the guise of being Death Eaters! Well, this is no longer who the Death Eaters are! In our latest reformation, we attempted to convene with Minister Corner and plead to him to allow us as a peaceful group of individuals wishing for pureblood lines to remain, to let the world we know remain!
"The Death Eaters only wish to isolate the magical and muggle worlds in order to preserve it, not reform it completely so as to let the purebloods have much more power over everyone. The most extreme wish of ours is that muggleborn children are found and brought into magical families very early on in life, so that they are raised to our customs and can better preserve the magical world. Because if we do not, it will not be long before the days of the witch hunts return as more muggles know of us. We will be hunted to extinction, and I can not willingly allow that!
"So, my magical brethren, join us in our fight against the Ministry before it rules with us trapped in iron chains held by an iron fist! Let the name Death Eater no longer stand for supremacy and evil but for rebellion against slavers and for good!"
By the time Harry finished his speech, all of the Death Eaters and many in the crowd were cheering.
Amidst the cheers, confusion, and boos, Harry saw that one of his lieutenants was giving him the warning sign for aurors trying to come through. Harry nodded to the man, and a couple seconds later the Death Eaters rocketed into the air in puffs of black smoke.
Before Harry left, however, he said one last thing to the crowd.
"If you are with us, find the nearest recruitment station as soon as you can. There is a war brewing, and every side will need as many troops as they can gather."
With that, Harry joined the others in the sky before heading off to his base.
Stepping out of the floo, Harry continued to the staircase before heading down to Daphne's door.
Harry gave a quick double rap on the door and waited a few seconds for when Daphne gave him permission to come in, and he sat across from her at her desk, placing his silver mask on the wood.
"How successful were you?" Daphne asked.
"I definitely caused an uproar amongst the people in the Alley. It won't take long to spread, especially since I had my lieutenants send out signals to the other bases to spread the word. There is no way the Daily Prophet will not have it on the front page tomorrow and our new views known all over magical Britain." Harry replied.
"How was it received?"
"I was able to actually reveal some of it differently due to my bloody wife being in the crowd, and I think it might have actually helped as I told everyone that we are not holding me hostage. I would say a third are definitely with us, a third against, and a third undecided, but that is only a rough estimate. I could not be completely sure of the numbers."
"Do not be so confident in the effect you had on them, Harry. While you definitely created a bang, the Ministry will surely attempt to disprove your claims. They will affect our number of new recruits." Daphne warned.
Harry nodded. "It is a start at least. The masses have been informed, and we are preparing." Harry phrased the second part of his statement more as a question.
"Correct; all divisions are moving to work at full capacity in preparation for the war effort. Hopefully, we will be better prepared than the other side, and the war will be brief." Daphne replied. "In the meantime, I will be needing you to start overlooking the recruits' training from this base as well as further preparing the rest of the army for war. We can outfit you with what you need, but you are their commander."
"Will you be staying here as well?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"I will be here occasionally so our new troops know who is in charge, but there are other areas that will need help, yours least of all from what I have seen from the reports." Daphne replied easily.
"It is good to hear my troops are making a name for themselves and not just me. Though I must admit, I am disappointed at not seeing you as often. I have begun to enjoy your company very much." Harry said slowly and carefully, cautiously looking at Daphne to judge for a reaction.
However, Harry was thrown completely off guard when she sighed and summoned over two shot glasses and a bottle of what seemed to be firewhiskey to Harry, but it was not a company he was familiar with. She pulled off the glass topper and quickly poured the spirits into the two glasses, never spilling a drop onto the wood of the desk. Daphne pushed one of the glasses toward Harry, who curiously took it from her, before downing her shot of liquor into her mouth. Despite her quick movements, she allowed the liquid to dance across her tongue and enjoyed slowly swallowing it.
Harry gave her an odd look.
"Drink your whiskey first." Daphne demanded lightly.
Harry nodded and was surprised to find an overall better taste than even the best firewhiskey he had ever had, Bilshen's. Harry enjoyed the great flavor of the alcohol for a few moments before swallowing it all down in one gulp. A second later, he felt the burning sensation that came with the overpowering comfort firewhiskey always brought to its drinker.
Seeing that he finished his first shot, Daphne poured more of the fine firewhiskey into his glass before refilling hers as well.
"Are we just going to drink until your drunk enough to answer my question?" Harry asked, trying to add a small chuckle at the end of his sentence.
"They're my back-up." Daphne replied before sighing once more but continuing in her silence.
"Look, I apologize if I crossed a line with you, Daphne. I just…" Harry couldn't continue speaking. When he had lost everything, he became an uncaring animal, but it seemed that, while he had suppressed the pain, Harry had also suppressed all of his emotions. Now, they were starting to come out, breaking free of the shell.
"Before you left to work on the project, I saw the way you looked at me, and I never thought I would. I was invisible to you at Hogwarts, and you always had been with Ginerva." Daphne finally spoke more than one sentence. "With all of that and other things, I grew cold and became the stone you have seen. You see I…" Another sigh, "Love you." Daphne very slowly admitted.
Finally, the blizzard and the forest colored eyes met and broke down. No longer was it a horrific storm but a wonderful waterscape, and the impenetrable jade forest was cleared to reveal a paradise, conveying the feelings between the two that each had kept, one for a few days while the other for over thirteen years.
The two pushed their seats back as they stood and interlocked their lips for a passionate kiss, both of them using their tongues to battle for dominance. Each brought their hands to the other's body and began familiarizing themselves with their definitions.
Daphne finally broke the kiss, gasping for air with Harry right behind her, doing the same. Their eyes met once again but neither moved, lost in the other's eyes.
That was until Harry finally replied to the woman across from him. "I love you too."
Tears began falling down her cheeks, past her smiling lips to drop to the floor, the same smile on the other person's face.
"I-" Daphne began but was interrupted.
"I know." Her eyes spoke more than words ever could.
"We can't let anyone know." Daphne warned.
"Of course not. They would think that that was the reason overall for recruiting me." Harry replied.
"Besides, I need to be strong."
"Who says you never were? I will kill them." Harry grinned.
AN: I thought I'd expand on the romance I started last chapter. Sorry if it was too sappy for you, but nevertheless, I hope you liked the chapter. As always, reviews are very welcomed and are genuinely taken into consideration. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi.