Really, the cleanup was the most annoying part of any good performance.
Always right after the highest point in the show too, the crash back to earth after the audience slip slips away was irritating.
Harry longed for the day that it was no longer necessary. Or no longer worth the effort, whichever came first.
His patience was already wearing thin.
At least Daphne had stopped crying. That was nice.
"Aaaallllllrighty, Daphne. I know it's nice to languish in the rush and freedom of a beautiful symphony, but we have work to do. Do you want to help tidy up, or should I just take care of it?"
Daphne extricated her arms from around his neck and looked with a conflicted expression at the mess mess mess.
He just knew that carpet was going to be a pain. Ugh. The things he put up with for such lovely music.
"I don't… Harry… what do we do?"
"I'm so glad you asked!"
It was always nice to have an eager student.
"We start with the… let's call it, the physical mess. Sometimes, it's better not to get rid of the drips and the flesh, so that you can spin just the right kind of sorry story."
Daphne nodded numbly.
"But this time, it would just be faaaarrrr too much trouble to deal with all that, and we don't have anyone to frame for it. So, it would be better if it was just gone gone gone."
He waved his hand and vanished the body. And the blood. And cleaned the carpet.
"Now, we don't have a death, just a mystery. A mystery that we have to set up little tiny breadcrumbs to be solved. Any ideas, my beautiful blade?"
Daphne looked a bit started as she was broken out of the blank stare she had been giving him while he spoke.
"Maybe… ummm… he just left?"
Harry nodded happily. She was doing so well.
"That works very nicely indeed. Simple. Elegant. Just a random missing persons case that never gets solved on a shelf in the ministry somewhere. Plus, it will give us time to ensure that you get your inheritance."
Daphne looked pleased at his praise, even if she didn't smile. Pretty pretty blade.
"It would be all the better if we had someone to pin it on, we could put the fresh fresh mess with them, forge some communications, bing-bang-boom you got yourself a lovely little murderer. Kill two birds with one stone, as they say. Even if we really only killed one bird."
Harry giggled. He never got to talk about his music.
Daphne was starting to smile now. Excellent.
"But, alas, we don't have the setup for that this time. Such is often the case with improv. So, we just lay the trail to avoid suspicion."
Harry waved his hands and several letters appeared, both in the desk drawers and in the stacks of communications on the surface.
"Lord Greengrass has been a naughty boy indeed, getting involved in all kinds of interesting business. Perhaps even something of a more personal nature. All very scandalous."
Daphne's smile widened.
"In fact, he was going to a very important meeting on Christmas day, of all times. Very important, to miss such a holiday with his family."
He walked over and offered a hand to his favorite blade.
"Now, we just pop over and add a few memories to your mother's empty head, that way she corroborates the timeline, and we'll be all set. He's been planning this trip for weeks, after all. In fact, he already left earlier today. When was the last time that dear Astoria saw him?"
Daphne took his hand and thought for a moment. She had nice skin. No peeling though, not for his favorite blade.
"This morning. After breakfast."
"Perfect. He left right after breakfast for his very important, potentially dangerous, potentially scandalous meeting. No time to talk to his favorite daughter. Such a shame. So terrible, that something seems to have gone amiss and he shan't be returning from his meeting."
Daphne smiled wider as he whisked them away through the dark, poking his head out to make the required modifications to Lady Greengrass' memory before dropping his blade back in her room.
She had good taste in interior decorating.
"Wait…"
He turned back to her as he prepared to step into the dark once again.
"Thank you, my Lord. I… just… thank you."
He smiled.
"My pleasure, Daphne. I take care of what's mine."
She smiled back, and he gave a jaunty wave as he tumbled into the dark and the eyes and the teeth.
…
Harry didn't go back to Hogwarts. Not just yet. The Eyes had other plans.
Why was he here?
That was a very ugly shack.
Why would someone nail a snake to the door?
Seemed like a shortsighted approach to exterior decorating, even if he appreciated the aesthetic.
Hmmmmmm lots of magic here. Strong, pointy magic with lots and lots of teeth. What to do, what to do.
The eyes in the trees stared at him.
"It is I, the Last of the Slytherin bloodline, Heir to the House of Gaunt. Open."
How did he know what to say?
Interesting.
He walked forward through the door. The shack was worse on the inside.
No appreciation for good interior decoration. He would do better with his secret lairs. Presentation and set design were half the point of the show, after all.
He walked over and lifted a specific floorboard, opening the box inside.
Oooooh. That ring had lots of eyes.
Another another another bit of Tom.
He really was sloppy. And shattered into sooooo many pieces.
So many lovely pieces to be found.
He should have saved Lord Greengrass. He would have made good ritual meat.
Maybe Lucius? We'll see.
Anyway.
Oh, it was cursed. How tricky of Tom. How to get rid of that?
Oh. Eyes eyes eyes.
He waved his hand and dismissed the withering curse.
He put the ring with the eyes in his pocket and hopped back into the dark.
…
Harry hummed to himself as he stood invisible outside the third-floor corridor.
Should he just go take the stone now?
Hmmmmmmm.
No. No, he didn't really even want the stone. Life and Gold were so… boring. But he also wanted to have the stone. Just for fun.
It would be hilarious, watching the Bumbleman stumble and twitch.
However would he explain to poor Nicholas?
So much fun.
But Harry also wanted to see what the squirrel man wanted. Better to leave this particular treasure buried, for now. Better to see who came to dig it up.
Besides, he could probably feed at least one more Thing to the dog, if he was patient enough.
…
Hermione wasn't sure if she was happy to be returning to Hogwarts or not.
Christmas at home had been… bizarre. Back in her normal muggle house, with her normal muggle parents.
She couldn't tell them about the chains. Or the ritual. Or the troll. Nothing that would cause them to panic and try to remove her from Hogwarts.
So, she had a perfectly normal semester with her perfectly normal friends, Harry, Draco, and Daphne.
She had just been normal, plain, gifted Hermione Granger, for them.
Even if she wasn't, not anymore.
The eyes stared at her.
She knew. Knew that she could open the Eyes of her Lord and pull people's minds into a place where her control was absolute. Knew that the consciousnesses of others were now her playthings, if she wanted.
She was smart enough to put a few of the pieces together. One of Harry's true powers was an unparalleled skill with Legilimency. He could casually, wordlessly, wandlessly force others to perceive an alternate version of reality, where they only saw what he wanted them to.
One where they saw the eyes.
She also knew that the effect of the Legilimency was more than just visual. Reality only existed as it was perceived, and everything from movement to feelings was only perceived. Within Harry's eyes, moving your body probably didn't move your real body, unless he wanted it to. You only felt what he wanted you to feel.
It was all in your head; was it or was it not real?
She didn't know how much of his power actually impacted the physical world. He had obviously destroyed the troll with minimal effort, so there must be a very real component to his eldritch abilities. But it was almost impossible to determine what was real and what wasn't, around her Lord.
He was both the Looking Glass and the Red King. He was the eyes, and they were him.
And now, she was too. When she wanted.
…
Harry hummed an upbeat tune, in his chair in his alcove far from the fires.
It was nice, to have his…
Well, his what?
They used to be toys. Pets.
But now they had eyes. He… liked… them.
Daphne was his blade. He liked that. She had already blinded and sliced and made beautiful music for him. She was his.
Draco was his little dragon, still flameless and toothless, but a dragon nonetheless. His teeth and his flames would come with time.
Hermione…
Hmmm…
What was Hermione?
She would be a mind unparalleled. She had the potential to exceed even him within the realm of eyes, even if she didn't have the love for music that Daphne did.
She would be both the library and the librarian. He could already see her brilliant mind dissecting his power in ways that his empty mind didn't bother to think about.
She would be the one to maintain and perfect his palace of eyes, to catalog and count his symphonies.
She would be his curator. He liked that.
Blade, Dragon, Curator.
He thought of the ritual, in the chamber.
Together, they were his Circle.
He liked that.
It was nice, to have his Circle back.
…