CH32: You Turned Her Against Me! (Nov 24th)

November 24th

5:21pm

Hogwarts, Scotland

Daphne

"Daphne?"

'Harry.' Like a deer in headlights, Daphne was paralysed. She didn't dare to look at him.

"What are you doing?" Harry's confusion was almost comedic, she didn't need to see his face to imagine it. In her right hand was Hermione's old bag and in her left was the last horcrux to be retrieved, Harry's wand.

 Show him. The diadem's voice in her mind, for the first time since she'd acquired the artefact, was vicious. Show him your conviction.

Daphne turned slowly, first with her body, then her head until finally she was face to face with Harry. He still wore an expression of bewilderment but she recognised the backdrop of grief behind his eyes. The same grief that Daphne had seen in him every time he laid eyes on her since leaving the forest. It ignited a feeling of anger inside of her, a feeling that would not be ignored.

"I'm taking them," she stated in no uncertain terms.

Harry spread his arms wide and barked a short laugh. "Taking them where?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm taking them," Daphne stuffed his old wand in the bag and continued her declaration, "far from here, far from you."

Harry set the record time for turning joking to serious. His mouth set in a thin line and his eyes hardened. "Who are you? Snape? Is that you, you greasy git?"

He is stalling, he means to put a stop to you.

"Please, stay out of my way." Daphne looped the bag through her belt rungs and began marching towards the door. "I'm doing this to protect everyone."

"Hold on." Harry stepped directly between herself and the only exit. "I don't know who you are, but imitating Daphne was a poor choice for more reasons than one." The elder wand in Harry's hand rose with its owner's arm then sure enough, Daphne was at wand point. "You're coming with me."

Say something girl.

"It's me, Harry." Daphne raised her hands in surrender as she attempted to diffuse the situation. "I split your lip just over there," Daphne nodded towards the centre of the room, "it's your secret admirer."

Harry dropped his arm as his eyes went soft. "What's going on?"

Remember Astoria, remember your parents.

"We can't let you keep them, you're going to get us killed." Daphne ripped her hand from his, pushed him back and drew her wand all in one fluid motion. "I won't let her die."

Only then, with Harry in her sights did she notice the two goblins at his side.

"Ravenclaw's diadem!" The male goblin's revelation tickled at a cautionary part of her mind. "How did you come by such a prized artefact?"

Goblin filth. They're here for the treasures. Stop them!

"Get back, both of you get back." Harry placed himself between the goblins and Daphne. "Nothing's going to happen to Astoria, just put the wand down."

He won't let you leave, girl. Do something before the treasures we lose the treasures!

"I want to believe you," Daphne tugged at her hair in frustration "But all you've done is lie!"

"Lie?"

He feigns ignorance. He insults you.

"What did the centaurs tell you? We know they said something to turn you into," Daphne gestured at Harry in disgust, "this."

She could see the tell tale signs of guilt, the way he averted his eyes, the way his voice rose in pitch. Harry had ignored many chances to tell her the truth. On the tower, on the grounds and every other time they'd seen each other since that day he'd changed.

"Nothing."

Liar.

November 24th

5:25pm

Hogwarts Castle, Scotland

Harry

'Scaereum.'

Harry's defensive posture was about the only thing that saved his, Ragnok's and Giox's lives. One of the wooden chairs that littered the room transfigured into a large bronze shield. He knew she'd try to incinerate them first, she always lashed out with fire when unbalanced. Harry felt that unbalanced was an understatement.

"Fight back!"

Her scream was just loud enough for Harry to hear over the roar of the flames. Whilst he had every intention of defending himself, attacking her would be a more difficult hurdle.

'The diadem has clearly taken some measure of control over her which means she is not in top form. One misstep and I could seriously hurt her.' Although the heat rolling in from the sides of the shield would make an argument against that line of thinking. Harry knew, if he was going to get rid of that diadem, he was going to need to be patient.

"Potter, what has gotten into her?"

"The diadem, it's another horcrux." Ragnok's eyes widened and Giox grimaced. They'd both heard the stories of the Ice Queen, a cautionary tale to the death eaters who'd also defied giants, vampires and dementors alike. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of her wand, especially under such unique circumstances. "Take your guards and clear the halls. Then, I want you to find Astoria Greengrass and bring her to me… it might be the only way to break through."

The goblins, to their credit, didn't hesitate. Their efficient retreat would have to be admired another time though, for Daphne was nowhere near done.

"Harry Potter, you will tell me what you saw!"

The intensity of the flames skyrocketed until Harry felt like he was in an oven. Sweat didn't drip from his body, it cascaded. It was then he decided enough was enough. Silently, Harry ended the transfiguration, dived to the left and cast aguamenti at his lover. The flames fought against their natural enemy but were doused in quick fashion. Daphne hadn't moved an inch and stood panting and glaring at Harry.

'Maybe I could banish the diadem off of her head… no I could break her damn neck if I'm not accurate.' Harry realised it was only a matter of time before Voldemort's rage got the better of her which made him uniquely aware of where he was standing. "You want to know so bad?"

"Shut up," she whispered venomously at the diadem. "Tell me."

Harry took one minute step after the other towards the only exit."They showed me something horrifying and called it my future."

"What was it?" she said through gritted teeth.

A flash of green assaulted his mind, but he kept the tidal wave of guilt at bay. "Give them back," Harry bargained, pointing to the horcrux bag on her built, "and I'll tell you."

Daphne glanced down at the pouch and when her eyes returned to him, they were murderous. "You were never going to tell me were you? I trusted you with everything and you couldn't tell me a beast's fortune telling?" Daphne shook her head and pushed a table out of the way as she advanced. "That's fine, if you won't tell me willingly, I'll have to extract that information another way."

'Did I…?' Harry cursed himself for his momentary lapse of concentration."As enticing as that sounds, I'm done playing games. Daphne, if you can hear me, I'm going to get you out of there."

"Like I said, Harry. This is all me."

Harry recognised the intent in her eyes and so he was able to exit the room before the metal spike she conjured took his head off. The hall was empty, no goblins or wizards. 'Good, there's no telling what she's capable of right now.' Harry pressed his back into the wall beside the door and let out a heavy breath.

"Don't hide from me!"

'Or perhaps there is.'

Once again, Harry predicted her next move precisely. He kicked off the wall and covered his face as the spot he'd been leaning on a second ago shattered into a million chunks of stone. Daphne emerged from the dust with her wand raised and a ball of fire in her off hand. Harry scrambled to his feet and gestured for her to stop.

"Daphne! Daphne. Listen to me." Whether it was through his open palm or the desperation in his voice, Daphne did stop and listen. "That tiara, whatever its saying, it does not have your best interests at heart."

Daphne closed the gap between them and jabbed her wand under his chin. "And you do?"

'How did that ever come to be doubted?' Harry felt a stab of pain in his heart and yet still managed to muster a sincere expression"Always."

Harry saw it, a flicker of light behind those stormy eyes. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Enough to make him think he'd broken through.

"We don't believe you."

Quick as lightning Harry slapped her hand away which only narrowly avoided the cutting curse she had planned for him. His wand flicked in a tight precise movement and Daphne was caught in the gut by a banisher. The spell lifted her off her feet and into the air. However, in a show of pure mastery, Daphne tucked and rolled as she landed and came to ready position immediately.

Harry was equal parts impressed and nervous, with the latter becoming more prominent when he noticed the heavy, angry breaths that broke the silence in the hall.

'Damn.'

Then they were moving. Daphne on offence, Harry on defence. However, it wasn't the dance of death that they had rehearsed so many times before, the chorus of pain that their opponents would sing was absent from their routine. It was a dance of complete focus, at least on Harry's part. The ferocity of Daphne's relentless casting left him under constant threat of pain.

'Come on, that's it, follow me.' Harry knew that a fight between the two of them could cause major casualties to unsuspecting bystanders and hoped to bring the battle to the higher levels of the castle.

It was a continuous retreat up the castle. Harry would deflect a spell then climb several steps before returning to the defence. Daphne wasn't anywhere near as agile as she had learned to become. She simply walked in a straight line, the tip of her wand a kaleidoscope of colours as she unleashed deadly spell after spell.

'If Ragnok hadn't recognised the diadem…' Harry stepped behind a column only to dive away as it corroded under Daphne's acid summoning curse. Through the shield he conjured he noticed the light glint off the stones inlaid in the diadem and had a moment of epiphany. 'A snake ensnared by stones…'

Despair gripped him, the same that had dripped from his future-self's desperate plea to save her. It was his very concern for Daphne that left him open to her attack.

Harry's shield buckled under a blasting curse and exploded into a shower of light and magic. There wasn't even enough time to show his shock before he found himself unceremoniously thrown into the air. Harry's flight path lacked the grace of his partner's, made worse by the colossal oak doors that separated the central halls' fourth level and the viaduct bridge which crashed open under the mass of Harry's personage.

Harry instinctively protected his head and wand before gravity took its toll. The paved stone bridge did nothing to cushion his fall and so it was with a displeased groan that Harry rose from the floor.

'Dislocated,' he identified as he poked his left shoulder. Harry raised his left arm above and behind his head until his hand was at the nape of his neck. Gradually, he reached for the opposite shoulder until he heard the all too familiar 'click' of his shoulder popping back into place.

'This is it; this is my chance to save her.'

For that though, he'd have to end the fight. And daphne didn't seem too keen on level headed diplomacy. What little connection the great oak doors had to their hinges was ripped apart as Daphne storm onto the bridge. One of the door's plummeted off the side of the viaduct and into the black lake below.

"I gave you every chance, every allowance and you squandered them!" Daphne paced side to side as she angrily shouted at Harry. "How can I trust you to keep us safe when I cant even count on your candor?"

"That's Voldemort talking."

"Voldemort?" Daphne scoffed and shook her head. "My parents were murdered, Harry. You, of all people, know what that feels like. The emptiness, the absence of something that should be, but isn't" Her eyes shone with reluctant tears which Harry took as a sign that Voldemort hadn't won yet. "I thought I could count on you."

"You still can, my Daphne would never forget that."

Harry could practically hear the gears turning in her mind as she fought a silent battle with herself and whatever Voldemort told her.

"Ernest," Daphne met his eyes and frowned. "But another lie."

Harry held her gaze, even when her boot scraped against the rock as she moved into a ready stance. Harry's eyes pleaded with her to wait, to keep talking, to stop the fight before it started again. Although Daphne had grown more sad than angry, Harry realised that his plea had failed.

Her foot shifted again, and they both brought their wands to bare.

Torrents of fire, black and gold rushed from their master's wands and collided in the middle. The roar of the flames mingled with the rush of the waterfall below them which left no room for discussion.

Hogwarts wept as two halves of a whole clashed in a violent spectacle. The lake's humble waves rose in indignation, crashing against the ancient rock that the castle stood on. Unnatural clouds formed and blocked the light of the moon which left only the artificial flames to illuminate the sky. There, atop the viaduct bridge of Hogwarts, history was made. The two most promising youths of the wizarding world clashed raw power against raw power. Their magic poured out into the visible light spectrum which emitted an aura of ever changing colours which their emotional turmoil surely affected.

So much had been left unsaid between the two, their magic a reflection of their feelings for one another. Powerful, raw, indescribable, unknowable to any but each other. There was no good or evil on that bridge, no ancient struggle between light and dark, only Harry and Daphne with all of their flaws and trauma. Each of them unbalanced by powers not under their control and suffering the consequences of actions predestined by others.

Harry felt the strain on his core as more and more of his energy was pushed into the spell. It was gradual, but Harry could see he was getting the upper hand. With each passing second, he thought that she would yield under the weight of his flames.

Harry was proven right much too suddenly as the golden inferno rapidly fizzled out which in turn caused him to hastily cancel his black flames in fear of burning her alive. His fear was misplaced, and he knew it far too late. From either side of the bridge, cyclones of water towered over them. These were not errant magical happenstances but deliberate manipulations of a skilled caster. From the towers, jets of water burst out and smashed into Harry who failed to react in time.

Drenched and stunned, Harry was slow on the up take. He saw the flash before he felt the pain. His hand burned, but it wasn't the pain that gave him pause. 'What the hell…' Harry was transfixed on the stumps that used to be his pinkie and ring fingers. 'My… my fingers. She wouldn't…' His brain struggled to reconcile the fact that two appendages that he'd carried since birth were now lying on the floor, limp and useless.

"Tell me."

Her words ripped him from his focus and he found Daphne stood over him with her wand in his face. There was no care in her tone, no remorse in her expression. And yet, despite being possessed by Voldemort and having severed two of his fingers, Harry couldn't help but think she was still the most beautiful person he'd ever laid eyes on. As Harry clutched his bleeding hand, he knew that saving her wouldn't involve fighting fire with fire.

"I saw you die," he finally replied matter of fact. Harry lifted himself up onto his elbows and did nothing to hide his anguish. "You had that damn thing on," he gestured angrily at the diadem, "there were so many bodies…" Harry refocused his eyes to remove the frightful images from his mind. "It felt like you weren't… you."

"Why? Why wouldn't you tell me before?" Daphne had taken a step back and looked off to the side, her face was scrunched up in thought. "You thought I'd be afraid?"

"Every time I closed my eyes, I saw you die, to talk about it…" Harry bowed his head as his sentence trailed off. He realised then, that to talk about it was his only recourse, no matter how much it hurt. "You didn't just die – I was the one who killed you."

"My death at your hand isn't something what expected." Daphne raised her wand and her lips curled not a malicious smile, the same she had worn in his vision. "That doesn't excuse your treachery, you still lied to me, over and over again. Made me belie-"

"I couldn't bear to see you dead!" Harry cut short her tirade before it could reach it's crescendo. "I couldn't face that terrible vision and…" Daphne's wand arm was as firm as ever and he knew if there was ever a right time, it was then. "…and that's because I love you."

Harry had wanted to tell her that a hundred times before. He'd pictured doing it where the black lake met the grounds, or on the highest tower at Hogwarts or even the little cliff face where they'd shared their magic with one another. But there, amidst the chaos of battle and nursing injuries of each other's making, Harry knew familiarity. So many of their most intimate moments had been shared in the wake of a fight, when better to profess his love?

Harry watched as her eyes twinkled with a myriad of emotions. Rage, at first, but then confusion, guilt and shock.

"Daph?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the quiet voice. The goblins had pulled through once more. Behind Daphne, propped up by crutches, Astoria stared at her sister in fear.

Daphne had his back to him then, but Harry could see the strength get sapped from her body as she looked at her sister. "Astoria…" Daphne turned back around to look at Harry and was visibly shocked at his injury. "Blessed Morgana, what have I done?" Wood clattered against stone as Daphne's wand dropped from her hand.

Harry groaned as he pushed himself up from the viaduct's cobbles. By the time he'd gotten to his feet, Daphne had knelt and placed the diadem on the floor in front of her, staring at it with a mixture of anxiety and frustration.

"Harry," Daphne addressed him weakly, her eyes shone with the promise of tears, "do it."

He limped to her side and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. His wand flashed a pale red and Daphne went limp in his arms. Harry gently closed her eyes and pulled her into his chest.

'That was too close,' he thought needlessly as he collected the diadem and placed it in the pouch on Daphne's hip. 'I nearly lost you.' He went to unlace the pouch only to remember his missing fingers which, even if they were attached, wouldn't have helped. His whole body was shaking as it came down from the adrenaline high and wrestled with the countless emotions running amuck in his mind. 'I won't lose you.' He could hear voices around him but barely registered them. Harry simply pulled her body close and kissed her hair, their closeness the only comfort left to him after such a trying time.

Author's Note

Yes, this is a little late. It was very important to me that I got this chapter right. Its all been building to this. Their little situationship/relationship is built on the unspoken, the shared glances and tender moments. This chapter is about airing it all out, saying what need not be said and what need be said that hadn't been.

I tried to capture the same sort of back and forth between fight and dialogue that you get in the Anakin vs Obi Wan duel in Revenge of the Sith. In fact, this chapter is named after something Anakin says as a way to pay homage to it.

This chapter is very much meant to feel tragic, especially with how it ends. That being said, there is the admission of love moment which I alluded to a couple chapters back. So far, nearly every tender moment Harry and Daphne have shared has been after a sparring session (besides their cliffside meditation sessions) and it felt only right for the love admission to be something similar.

This whole arc of the centaur's vision and Daphne's possession is a call back to how she said she'd kill harry before he became anything like Voldemort back in book two. It further accentuates the differences between the two where Harry refused to hurt her despite Voldemort actively taking root in her brain whereas Daphne was quicker to go on the offense and shut him down when Voldemort overtook his sensibilities (think the vampire attack and when Hermione and Blaise revealed the Herpo notes where she had a wand trained on him immediately).

For those of you who are finding the story discouraging I hope you can see the direction I'm taking it to align with the title of this installment with the centaurs, goblins and now the personalities of our main characters (Harry and Daphne). I can promise, no more angst from here on out.

That is actually the main reason why this version of the future played out as it did. If Harry had continued on his war path when the centaurs offered to show him the future he wouldn't have seen the vision, which would then mean when he went to fight Ragnok he would've killed him in the arena. Like Giox said, she was looking for someone who wouldn't be bound by rules and so she wouldn't join him. Without Ragnok at Hogwarts, Harry doesn't realise that the diadem is a horcrux and Daphne gets possessed leading to the future Harry saw.

If that's all too complicated to follow, unlucky lol

One more chapter in this arc and then we move on to the final arc of the trilogy…

Thanks for reading!

RevanchistVII