Chapter 7
Harry hates mind readers. He especially hates non-intrusive mind readers. Legilimency or whatever it is called is one of the most hateful branches of magic in existence concerning omegan biology. Because of their many emotions, the counter to legilimency called occlumency was almost impossible for them to master, making them easy targets.
During the omegan slave trade a few hundred years ago, the newly empowered human wizards had exploited this weakness in unbelievable ways, but Harry never thought that he would be on the end of the same humiliating attack centuries after that. When the Emperor looked into Harry's eyes, he entered his mind. Harry had no defence against him, especially since he didn't recognize the attack for what it was. From the scarce tales written down for public consumption on the omegan slave trade, Harry had expected the invasion to be violent and overt. Now he knows that one of the most hateful parts of the attack was that it could appear non-violent at first. He could not believe that the Emperor did it to him! He jerked out of the Emperor's loose embrace to put an unsteady hand on the seat where Malfoy had been occupying. His hands shook in shock and his eyes burned with humiliation and anger. The Ivory King made as to steady him but was stopped by an angry chartreuse barrier made of Harry's hissing magic. The magic flared in place, resembling heat waves and making sounds like a rattlesnake.
It took all the patience, all the redundant etiquette lessons, and his mother's anxious face, to not lash out like his magic desperately wanted to do. Instead, he took a deep, calming breath and stood silent, removing his trembling hands from the seat to clasp them on the upper part of his chest. "With all due respect your highness, I will not be responsible for my actions if anybody attempts to touch my person right now." He turned to look directly at the Emperor who was standing stiffly with thin lips, staring at Harry with a strange look. "Did …." he started. "I apologize, I did not mean read to your mind." The Emperor interrupted swiftly. Harry froze in disbelief, he could not believe the Emperor had read his mind but then to apologize for it? He knew that what happened was wrong, but to have the Emperor apologize for it was astounding, Harry looked up at the Emperor to see him avoiding his eyes. Harry took a shaky breath and tried to calm himself, "I…."
"It is okay Harry you do not have to accept my apology now, I can see that you are hurt and upset so take your time and heal and because of this, I relinquish you, your duty of overseeing Imperial Concubine Draco's pregnancy. There are plenty of healers in the royal infirmary that will take on such a role." The Emperor said. Harry then curtsying elegantly albeit coldly left the study, taking note of the cold glance of the Onyx King. At the sight of her mistress, Hermione straightened up with a smile on her face to greet him, only to gradually drop her smile as she took in his non-smiling visage, the tight anger and shock in the corner of his green eyes, and his pink lips. When she got even closer, she noticed that the glowing element that was present in his eyes in the morning was once again occupying the green irises.
However, this time, the intensity sitting deep in his eyes was not playful, they were angry, there was disbelief in his eyes, and a deep sadness. Harry made a gesture with his hand for Hermione to keep her comments until later, barely glancing at his servant. He was afraid of accidentally hurting her and mortified that there was a very real possibility of him crying.
Hermione nodded her head and took his offered hand, still held stiffly in the air, to lead him back to his palace. She tried not to be too concerned about the blackening snow beneath her mistress' feet as he walked, tightly controlled rage in his deceptively calm face. She didn't know what had happened in the amount of time when she vacated the study until he came out, but it seemed to have completely eradicated the good mood that her mistress had earlier. When Harry reached his palace, he felt compelled to cleanse once more. He felt violated and filthy, his omega was shrinking inside him in fear and humiliation, thousands of memories from the past that were not his own floating in his eyes and freezing his blood in terror. He sent Hermione away to fetch him more hot water to escape from her probing eyes. He couldn't find it in himself to explain to her what had occurred. How does he even begin to explain something which he does not completely comprehend in its entirety? The omega was more than a dynamic, it was consciousness, a twin persona so integral to Harry's person that separation of the two would be fatal. But the omega was not just a solitary being, it was also a collective conscious of all things omega. From the instincts to the history and feelings that have defined omegan nature since the inception of the dynamic. All of this was contained in the omegan consciousness.
Usually, this was not something malicious or inconvenient, but when a memory that has been repressed for generations is forcefully brought to light, the omega relived those memories as if the memory was their own. This was precisely what the Emperor managed to accomplish when he invaded Harry's mind. He'd always had whispers of past sorrow and woe at the back of his thoughts, hopeless voices of countless omegas who had been abused, raped, exploited, and misused in so many ways during the omegan slave trade. As a child, he'd been plagued by phantom hands and foreign magic of long-dead omegas who were wrongly robbed of their rights as human beings. He had stayed up all night sometimes with numerous candles lit in attempts to ward off the ghosts of the past, he had tried explaining this to his parents but his father refused to believe it and berated his mother for telling him about their bloody past, Harry had learned not to tell anyone anything after that. As he grew older he eventually learned to coexist with the ghosts, sharing their pain and even sometimes immersing himself in their sorrows, if only to gain more knowledge on the history of his people and what atrocities they underwent under the thumb of the wizards.
The so-called pure-blood wizards were once the same as the muggles whom they despise so much. They only became so-called wizards after numerous interactions and inter-dynamic marriages with the alpha and omegas. The alphas though were spared from such horrific fates due to their physical strength and autonomy. They could easily overpower the wizards. The omegas, in contrast, did not fare so well. They were captured from their native lands, ripped away from their alpha husbands and wives, and sold into sexual slavery for the sake of procreation in the hopes of creating wizard offspring. Since omegas were a form of pure magic, their offspring were also guaranteed to be magical even if they do not exhibit a particular dynamic.
This disgusting trade had soon become the omegan slave trade, a slavery system that was endorsed by these magic-less people, who now were becoming magical one by one, by transference of magic while raping omegas. The alphas who tried to collect their omegas were often misled and brutally beaten until the verge of death, a very effective method of incapacitating their magic and strength. Eventually, the alphas gained enough strength as a whole to stage a surprise rebellion, killing thousands of wizards and freeing their wives, husbands, and sometimes their offspring. The slave trade ended after the alphas gave the wizards an ultimatum, threatening to level wizarding Britain to the ground if all omegas still held in bondage were not freed by the end of the day. They got their wish, and after a year of freedom, the alphas and omegas decided to follow the example of the high elves and exiled themselves within a pocket universe to which none who were not invited could see or visit. With the departure of the two dynamics, all that was left were the new wizards, awakened from their drunken dream.
The very few remaining offspring and half-casts of the omegas eventually
reproduced, sometimes giving birth to omegas and alphas. But the children were not exploited like their ancestors were. They were put into a sort of witness protection that eventually became the National Register of Diasphoric Dynamics (NRDD). As the gene pool became more filtered with wizarding blood, the number of alphas and omegas born became rarer and rarer, until they were almost extinct. Hence the surprise when people learn of their existence. As a child, Harry was bombarded with memories that were not his own. Memories filled with death and agony. The most horrifying ones left him paralyzed with fear for hours, shaking and crying until his eyes became swollen and glued together. He'd gradually managed to filter through the memories, evoking a sort of protective shroud around the memories to continue functioning properly. Yet all his efforts were effectively rendered useless, and his protective shroud shattered by one invasion of the Emperor. On that note, Harry wondered what the Emperor thought about the fact that including Harry, there were less than five superior omegas on the planet, with two in Africa, one in Japan, and now two in Europe. Surely there were, at least, eight registered supreme alphas, who all wanted to acquire a supreme omega. Of course, there were a decent number of regular omegas, Harry knew that there were forty regular omegas in Britain alone and all registered by the NRDD, except his mother. As a regular omega, she had more magic than the average witch or wizard, but far less than a supreme alpha or omega. Thinking of his mother brought a foul taste to his mouth. He loved her but he knew his father exposed him to the Emperor for her benefit. Logically Harry couldn't blame his father, he had been between a rock and a hard place, but Harry also knew that his father risked his life instead when he told the Emperor all he needed to know about Harry. The alpha probably threatened to expose the fact that the Minister of Defense was married to an unregistered omega.
If his father had registered his mother on the registrar, his mother would have had more suitors vying for her hand, never mind her dirty blood. And seeing how besotted his father is with his mother, it is not surprising that he kept her to himself. Still, knowing all the factors that went in to his father's decision did nothing to appease the anger in Harry's heart. The feeling was familiar, it tasted bitter, like the coffee he was forced to drink at seven every morning. It tasted like betrayal.
Harry shook his mind free from the gloomy thoughts and memories threatening to overwhelm him. He just needed to sort himself out again. Regardless of decisions made for him by the authority figures in his life, he still had control over his reaction. Harry prided himself on being reasonable, he knew that the Emperor could take whatever he wanted, after all, he owned Harry and thus him apologizing to Harry was a unique scenario. It made him realize that the Emperor did not intend to do this and must have felt the phantom touch of the abused omegas at least a little bit if not as much as Harry had. He had always been reasonable and level-headed. Anger is useful for getting things accomplished, but only fools allowed anger to rule their every decision and reaction. What could he use his anger for now? He would have to accept the Emperor's apology, that was the smart thing to do but luckily he had been granted time to heal and recover.
He may have never been taught the great arts such as painting, literature, music or performing traditional dance to the same extent as his sisters, but what he does have at his disposal, he intends to utilize to the best of his abilities. Even if that means an impasse with the Emperor to retain the peace. An uneasy peace is better than outright antagonism which may draw the unwanted eyes of the Empress. At a time which she was looking for scapegoats to vent her frustration and shame, Harry did not want to deliver his neck on a silver platter to her. He turned around at the sound of shuffling feet to discover
Hermione and Ronald bringing in charcoal and buckets of water. He stood slowly and slowed his breath to accommodate the sudden surge of magic in his system. He walked towards them sedately, being very careful to restrain his magic, the last thing he needed right now was Ronald guessing his nature.
He was going to take a bath, then take an afternoon nap to relax and give his magic some rest. He needed to rebuild his protective mental shroud. Afterwards, he will do something productive which will take his mind off of the Emperor and his lovers for at least a few hours. Yes, that was exactly what he was going to do. Only then would he think about his next course of action. He was smart enough to realize the opportunity that had been handed to him and now he just had to utilize it in the best way possible, beneficially to him. If there was one thing Harry had learned in his short life, it was that no one ever protected him from anything, no one stood up for him, it was he alone who would have to do that and he would survive no matter what the cost. Thanking his servants and walking with Hermione to the bathing area, Harry submerged himself in the vanilla-scented water and held his breath letting go of all his thoughts.
Harry stayed under till he couldn't breathe any longer he emerged from under the water and took harsh breaths to calm his racing heart. His eyes were dilated and slightly red from the heated water. He removed himself from the water mechanically and raised his arms for Hermione to towel him dry. He pretended that the long-withheld tears flowing from his eyes were water from the bath and averted his eyes from Hermione's concerned ones.
Edited and updated on 29/06/2021.