Here's Chapter 109, Enjoy!

"You..." gasped Harry, shocked and angrily.

Harry tried to get up and force his way towards Jane, but the instant he tried, he fell on the floor, face forward.

"Harry," gasped Jane and rushed to help him up. "It'll take a while for you to regain your body's normal functions," she said as she almost lifted him to his bed.

Harry tried to lash out with his hands, but could barely do so and only ended up hurting his arms.

"What... d... did... you... d... do... t... to... m... m... me?" he asked, pained, stuttering, desperately trying to fight his way out.

Jane held out a small cup and forced the potion down Harry's mouth, as he vigorously shook his head even though his body didn't allow him to do so.

"I am sorry, Harry... Sleep well! When you wake up, you will feel better," remarked Jane apologetically, watching him doze off slowly.

It had been a nerve-wracking past couple of months for Jane. She fought with herself, questioning the decision to kill Albus Dumbledore. But that was only something she did to distract herself from watching and waiting impatiently as the Practitioners of Anyang did their magic on Harry.

Jane had struggled to smuggle Harry out of England and into one of China's most ancient cities, but that was the least of her troubles. Even to one of the most reclusive, well-protected, pre-modern civilisations, Harry Potter was a name that had value. Despite being hidden from the modern wizarding world, word of baby Harry's triumphant against Voldemort had reached their ears. However, convincing them to shelter him and help him in the fight against Voldemort was a whole other problem.

Jane arrived at the Monastery with an unconscious Harry and almost instantly had practitioners surround her, questioning what she had done to Harry. It took severe restraint on her part not to dominate and bring everyone there to their knees, instead, she decided to surrender and confess to the truth. The truth was that kidnapping Harry from Hogwarts, from his loved ones, was a necessary step in her plan. Harry was a Horcrux and the only solution she had, to find Voldemort's other Horcruxes.

The practitioners at the Monastery kept Harry under observation while Jane spent a couple of weeks imprisoned. And only after that, did they decide to believe in Jane's words and stories. Meanwhile, fortunately for Jane, the practitioners respected her wish to keep Harry under her illusion.

And that was the moment, the Practitioners of Anyang decided to admit Harry Potter to their Monastery. From then on, Harry was under one of Wizarding kinds toughest magical rituals. He was as good as an open book, every part of him, mental, physical and metaphysical exposed and under a microscope, studied by the Practitioners. He continued being under Jane's illusion, as dangerous as it might have been, it was the choice everyone agreed upon. The pain otherwise Harry would have been under, only a very few in history had endured.

But Jane's illusion wasn't the only dangerous thing about the ritual Harry was under. The ritual itself was quite invasive and often had Harry in the brink of death, making the experience of watching everything unfold from the outside, nerve-wrecking.

It had been about a month when Jane had her first piece of news.

"There are 5," said the Monk.

"5 more?" asked Jane, taken aback.

"5 including the boy," replied the Monk.

"Where are the Horcruxes?" asked Jane, hastily.

"It'll take time to find every single one. We have to complete this ritual first before we start finding the remaining pieces of the soul," replied the Monk.

"How long before Harry will be conscious?" asked Jane, hesitantly. "I've put him under enough pain already," she added.

"A couple of weeks, maybe more," replied the Monk, calmly. After a brief pause, he continued. "Keeping the boy in an illusion for this long is no mere feat, you've kept him pain-free," he sighed, assuringly.

"I don't think he's going to think that when he wakes up," chuckled Jane, however, she looked sad. After a moment's silence, Jane spoke up. "What about the piece of soul inside Harry? Will you be able to remove it without hurting him?" she asked.

"The boy is going to get hurt now, tomorrow and every day since his last breath, Miss Jane," replied the Monk. "There is no path which will allow him to lead a life beyond the Dark Lord. If you are to get rid of evil, you must consider the boy as good as dead," he added, calmly. "But he'd have led a life that would earn him release from the underworld," he sighed, hopefully.

"Harry cannot die!" retorted Jane, instantly and angrily. "I might be acting out of selfish reasons, but I haven't lost my mind... Protecting Harry is why I am here... why we were here," she added, strongly.

"Prepare yourself, Miss Jane... Or you will lose your mind as you lose Harry Potter," warned the Monk and walked away.

"I will not let Harry die... I'm not going to allow time to take its course," said Jane, to herself.

A little over a week went by and on one particular day, Jane was urgently woken up in the middle of the night. She rushed to the sanctuary and found Harry lying on the floor, all the Practitioners standing around him in a circle.

"What happened to him? What is going on?" asked Jane, loudly, pulling everyone's attention away from the mutterings.

"Miss Jane, please walk with me," said an elderly Practitioner.

Jane stared at Harry's body hesitantly and after a moment, followed the Practitioner.

"Is he alright?" asked Jane after taking a few steps.

"The boy will be fine," replied the Practitioner, softly.

Jane mildly sighed but she looked panicked still. "What happened? Was there a complication?" she asked.

"It is not safe to continue with this procedure, not at the moment," began the Practitioner.

Jane stared back, perplexed.

"Somebody is interfering," continued the Practitioner.

"Interfering?" retorted Jane. "Are you saying You-know-who knows what we are doing here?" she asked, hastily.

"We felt someone's presence... meddling with the soul..." replied the Practitioner.

"No," gasped Jane.

"If we felt their presence... then it means they might have felt ours," continued the Practitioner. "But we stopped immediately," she remarked.

"Is he creating another Horcrux? Can we find out?" asked Jane, worried.

"Perhaps... perhaps, not," replied the Practitioner. "But it would be reckless to do anything right now," she added.

"What do you suggest we do then?" asked Jane, helplessly.

The Practitioner stared at Jane with soft eyes. "It is time to wake him up," she replied, calmly.

Harry's eyes opened and he sat up swiftly, staring around the same room he had last regained consciousness in. He outstretched his arms and tried bending them, thankfully he was able to do so without it hurting him. Quickly, he got up to his feet, once again thanking the stars that he was able to do so without any pain. He stared around the room, this time, a lot more clearly and found himself wondering if he had been locked up in some pre-ancient dungeon. He was in an enormously large dungeon, big enough to hold 10-15 prisoners, Harry thought. It was dimly and strangely lit, and only by a few candles placed carefully throughout the room and a couple of red lanterns. As Harry continued staring, he started noticing a few peculiar, unique items he had never seen before.

At the far end, a prominent painting, no, not a painting, more like an alphabet or a character adorned the walls, its intricacy accentuated by the flickering candlelight. Harry walked closer to it, wondering which language it was in. His eyes fell on a delicate silk cloth hanging from atop, magically, without any support, right beside the character. Similar characters were artistically embroidered over the silk cloth. As Harry continued strolling, a little curious now, his eyes fell on various strings of gold coins dangling from the top, once again without any support. Etched on both sides of the walls, were two magnificent figures, the dragon and the phoenix. Harry walked back to his mattress and right behind his mattress, on either side, he found a couple of vases and in them a cluster of slender bamboo stalks.

Right then, the sound of doors opening reached Harry's ears and he turned around swiftly. The curiosity in his eyes turned into hatred instantly as his eyes fell on Jane.

"I see you are back on your feet!" remarked Jane, looking a little pleased. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"How dare you?" retorted Harry, aggressively. "Where am I? What did you do to me?" he yelled.

"You are quite some distance away from home," replied Jane, calmly.

Harry hastily looked around, near his bed, and then rummaged through his robe pockets.

"Looking for your wand, Harry?" asked Jane as she held out 2 wands.

Harry grabbed his wands from Jane and instantly pointed his phoenix feather wand back at her.

However, Jane looked unfazed.

Instantly, Harry flicked his wrist briskly and swirled his wand at Jane.

Nothing happened. Jane was unmoved, she didn't even bother to take out her wand.

Harry repeatedly took aim at Jane, desperately, but nothing happened, no spells were conjured.

"What did you do to my wand?" asked Harry, angrily.

"Your wand is fine, Harry... Nothing's wrong with it," replied Jane. "Will you please sit down?" she asked.

A chill went down Harry's spine. If it wasn't his wand, then it was him.

"What did you do to me? Why... why can't I... can't I perform magic?" he asked, breathlessly.

Jane moved closer to him. "Are you alright? Please try to relax," she whispered, worried as she tried to place her hand on his shoulder.

Harry took a swing at Jane with closed fists, only for Jane to grab his arm instantly. Harry's breathlessness seemed to increase with every second.

"Need some help in here," yelled Jane as she tried to force Harry into sitting down.

Harry tried to struggle out of Jane's grip, but couldn't manage to do so. Almost immediately after Jane's cry for help, 2 women rushed into the room and helped Jane sit Harry down.

One of them took out a small piece of coin and almost immediately Jane flung her arm and stopped her.

"Don't use magic on him," exclaimed Jane.

The woman seemed to stare at Jane, confused.

"He is not my prisoner," exclaimed Jane.

"Let... let me... go," exclaimed Harry, stammering.

The very next moment, a third woman rushed into the room, holding a chalice. Jane grabbed it from her hand and held it out to Harry.

"Harry, please... drink this," whispered Jane.

Surprisingly for Jane, Harry grabbed the chalice and downed it's disgustingly-slimy-looking contents in one go.

Harry felt dizzy instantly, and the next moment, he collapsed on the bed. Jane stared at the Helpers, a look of dread on her face.

…

"Where's Hedwig?" asked Harry. Those were his first words the moment Jane walked into his room.

"I killed your pet, Harry," replied Jane.

"What?" gasped Harry, shocked. He had his hands on his head. "You cruel... evil... mental... lunatic," cursed Harry. "What did I ever do to you? What did Hedwig do? Why are you doing this?" yelled Harry, almost in tears.

"Hedwig would have found you anywhere in the world... I don't want you found, Harry," replied Jane, calmly. "And trust me... the cruellest thing I have done to you, is influence you to mould yourself a happy dream," she sighed.

Harry looked around and picked up his wand from beside his bed. He flicked and aimed at Jane, a feeble stream of blue sparks escaped his wand and hit Jane, but she hardly moved.

"Good... you are getting stronger," remarked Jane.

"Why am I not able to perform magic?" asked Harry, exasperated.

"You've gone through... We've put you through the most intense, draining rituals, Harry... It will take some weeks for you to get back to your strongest," replied Jane.

Harry went silent for a few seconds. And then suddenly, he asked, looking stunned, "How long has it been?"

"Uh... About a week since you last woke up," replied Jane.

"A week?" asked Harry, shocked. "How long has it been since you kidnapped me?" he asked.

"A couple of months," replied Jane.

"What?" gasped Harry. "What about everyone? Hermione, Ron... My OWLs..." wondered Harry.

"Your friends are safe... Well, as safe as anyone could be in these times," sighed Jane. "And if you are wondering about your OWLs, you shouldn't worry... Nobody gave their OWLs or NEWTs this year," she added.

"Why?" asked Harry, confused.

"Oh, Harry... A lot has happened in the past couple of months," said Jane. "You-know-who is now the Minister of Magic," she remarked.

Harry stared at her speechlessly.

"He won the Battle of Ministry! It was a brutal battle, a lot of bloodshed," continued Jane.

"What about... everyone?" asked Harry, shivering.

"The Order was there, and so were a lot of Hogwarts students," replied Jane. "Percy was killed," added Jane, mournfully.

"Oh, no," gasped Harry.

"He is the puppet master, and everyone in his country, his puppets," sighed Jane.

"Please let me go, I have to go back home and fight him," pleaded Harry.

"You can't fight him, Harry, grow up a little, will you?" retorted Jane.

"I am capable of fighting him, I will kill him one day," retorted back Harry, fiercely.

"You are not winning this war just like that, Harry... You are older now, wiser even..." sighed Jane. "Think... will you?" she exclaimed loudly.

A couple of weeks went by.

Harry's strength seemed to be returning to him, little by little.

He had stopped speaking to Jane, how much ever hard she tried. And at the same time, every once in a while, he tried to fight Jane, falling well short every time.

A couple of times, Harry even tried to escape from the Monastery, but he was promptly caught by someone or the other inside the Monastery.

One day, late in the evening, Harry was sitting outside his room, after having dinner. He was thinking of ways to escape the monastery. Right then, he saw Jane walking towards him and almost immediately got up to go inside his room.

"Harry," called out Jane.

"I don't have anything to speak to you about," replied Harry and went inside his room.

Jane walked into the room as well. "You are not a prisoner here, but you are acting like one. And you haven't given me a chance to explain myself," retorted Jane.

"I don't care, Jane... I simply do not care. You are a killer, and you are fooling yourself by using John as an excuse for it. But you can't fool me," snapped Harry. "Now, I don't know how many days you have left me to live... I am a prisoner here, if not, I should be able to leave this hell right away," he added, strongly.

"You can't leave, Harry," sighed Jane.

"Exactly... So, I am a prisoner. Now, please let me live my last days, peacefully, with myself," exclaimed Harry.

"You are not going to die, Harry... I have no plans to kill you," retorted Jane, annoyed.

Right then something happened.

Jane got distracted by something else. She could see Harry say something in return, she could hear it as well, but she wasn't listening.

Instead, there was another voice in her head, "Help me, they are after me"

"Daisy," gasped Jane.

"What?" asked Harry, confused.

"Daisy is in trouble... I need to go," said Jane hastily and left Harry.

Far, far away, it was the middle of the afternoon.

Daisy was standing in the hall, facing the door in anticipation, holding a coin.

And right there, a couple of moments later, there was a cracking sound and Jane appeared in front of her. Daisy's eyes grew wide, the moment her eyes fell on Jane.

"Daisy," exclaimed Jane. "Are you alright? Who is after you?" she asked, hastily as she looked around the house.

"I was almost convinced you wouldn't show up," remarked Daisy.

"Wait..." sighed Jane, surprised.

"No one's after me," said Daisy. "I couldn't think of another way to get you to come here," she remarked.

"I haven't given you the coin to misuse it," sighed Jane, exasperated.

Suddenly, Daisy rushed towards Jane and hugged her tightly, tears in her eyes.

Jane hugged her back, overcome with emotion.

"Is Harry... alive?" asked Daisy, hesitantly.

"Of course, darling... how could you ask me such a thing?" replied Jane.

"Can you really blame me? All the things everyone says you've done, all the people you've killed..." remarked Daisy.

Jane went quiet as she released the hug.

"I've done some terrible things, Daisy... But Harry's not going to be my victim," replied Jane.

"Why are you doing this, Mrs Smith?" asked Daisy.

"I can't tell you, darling..." replied Jane. "You have been using the coin, trying to talk to me through it. I was fine with it, but now, you have used it to trick me... Don't ever do that again. Don't cry wolf," she exclaimed, strongly.

"Is Harry doing fine? How is he?" asked Daisy.

"He despises me, but he is fine," replied Jane.

"Everyone here is scared, Mrs Smith... You know what's going on here, right?" said Daisy, softly.

"I do... and I mean to correct it," replied Jane.

After a couple of moments, Jane looked around the house. "How are you enjoying living alone?" she asked.

"You know about Olivia and Jacob leaving the country?" asked Daisy, surprised. Jane nodded in response. "Of course you do," she smiled. "I love the freedom, but I hate doing chores," chuckled Daisy.

"It all comes as part of the package," replied Jane, smiling.

"I am thinking of inviting Hermione to stay with me," said Daisy. "She has not taken... all of this very well," she added, sombrely. "And I could use the company," she finished.

Right then, there was a knock on the door.

Jane turned around, terrified.

"You laid a trap for me?" asked Jane, shocked as she prepared to apparate away.

"No... Of course not, Mrs Smith..." retorted Daisy, alarmed.

However, Jane didn't wait any longer and apparated away.

As Daisy watched Jane disappear, a silent sob escaped her. "I wanted you to stay longer..." she whispered to herself.

Daisy heard the doorbell ring.

She walked to the door and paused. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me," came Ron's voice.

"What's my favourite dessert?" asked Daisy.

"Sticky toffee pudding," came Ron's voice.

Daisy opened the door immediately and Ron walked into the house. He gave Daisy a quick hug.

"Are you alright, you look a bit dull," remarked Ron, smiling.

"Yeah... I'm fine," replied Daisy, faking a smile.

Jane returned to the Monastery to an anxiously waiting Harry.

"What happened to Daisy? Is she fine?" asked Harry, hastily, the moment Jane came back.

"Your best friend... lied... to summon me," replied Jane, exhausted. For the first time in a while, she saw a smile appear on Harry's face, though it disappeared almost immediately.

"Why do you have me here, Jane? What is the end goal? Because, one day, it may not be tonight or tomorrow, but they will come for me. And when they do, you won't be able to stop them," remarked Harry, sternly, after a few minutes.

Jane stared at Harry for a few seconds. "I need your help, Harry," she said, finally, breaking the silence. "Both of us want one thing, and we can help each other get there, killing You-know-who," she added. After a pause, Jane continued, "To kill him, we need to destroy his Horcruxes. And to destroy the Horcruxes, we need to find them. I need your help in finding them," she finished.

"You have an awful way of asking for help, Jane," replied Harry. "How exactly is kidnapping me, keeping me under an illusion for weeks, killing Dumbledore and everyone else on the way... supposed to make me believe anything you have to say?" he exclaimed, sternly.

"I had no wish to keep you under an illusion, Harry... I had no choice, it was the only way to make sure you weren't vulnerable to any kind of telepathic attack," replied Jane.

"The kind of attack that my Mystara was helping with," interjected Harry, harshly.

"And... it was the only way to help you avoid pain," finished Jane.

"What did you all do to me for 2 months? What kind of magic is this? Why... can't I perform magic properly?" asked Harry, angrily.

"You are the key to finding You-know-who's Horcruxes," replied Jane, instantly.

Harry's expression turned. "I am?" he asked, perplexed.

"You can't deny that you and him... share something... something that enables you to see into his mind, his thoughts... the same that he used to attack you. This connection you have is the key to locating all the Horcruxes," replied Jane. "That's why I kidnapped you... Ideally, I'd have wanted to take you on this journey consensually. But unforeseen things just happened and here we are," she added, quickly.

"So, have you found all the Horcruxes?" asked Harry.

"No, not yet... There were some complications," replied Jane. "But we do know one thing," she continued. "There are 4 more Horcruxes," she said.

"He split his soul into 7 pieces..." whispered Harry, to himself, remembering his last conversation with Professor Dumbledore, where they saw Slughorn's memory.

"So, will you help me, Harry?" asked Jane, cautiously.

"I'm not about to follow a killer... to get rid of another killer," retorted Harry, fiercely.

PS - Hope you enjoyed this one, the next one will be out in a week. Ciao!