Daphne was pacing nervously in her father's office – her office now. She just sent her guards to fetch Harry Potter and now she was doing one final mental review of all the information she had on the boy-who-lived.
It pained her to admit it but she did not know that much about him.
She thought she did but as she organized it in her mind last night, she realized it was mostly hearsay from Hogwarts rumour mill. Even worse, most of it reached her through unreliable sources like Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately, Astoria's future husband tended to exaggerate everything concerning Harry Potter. So disregarding all the rumours left Daphne with very little hard facts and most of them were a common knowledge.
Her father taught her to research the background of the opposing party before starting any negotiations and so she was particularly frustrated by this situation. She felt like she was already failing in her role as lady Greengrass after only two weeks of taking on the title. She stopped her pacing and slumped into her chair as she reviewed what little she knew for a fact.
Her prisoner was the last living member of House Potter – a pureblood magical family with history as long and rich as her own. There were even few Greengrasses who married into Potter family and vice-versa, although none in the last century and a half. That made her Harry Potter's distant relative although she supposed that was true for about everyone from the old British magical families.
Harry himself was the son of James Potter and Lily Potter, both of them arguably powerful and accomplished wizards. He was also a half-blood from his mother's side. More than a thousand years of pureblood heritage were cut off when James Potter married Lily Evans. Daphne pursed her lips at that thought. Personally, she could never imagine marrying a mudblood like James Potter did, no matter how powerful. She wondered if he considered at all that his children with her would be half-bloods and what it would mean to his House. Or perhaps he was simply so besotted with her he did not think straight. After all, she was rumoured to be beautiful.
'At least Harry Potter is the right kind of half-blood,' she thought with grudging approval. Both of Harry's parents were magical. There was no miscegenation and weakening of magical blood with the muggle filth, because, despite her inferior muggle origin, Harry's mother was a witch.
More than that, Lily Potter was someone Daphne could at the very least respect. By all accounts, she was powerful. She fully embraced the magical world and magical worlds embraced her back in return. Daphne even had reports of her working with unspeakables on theoretical research – one of the most demanding and difficult branches of magic. It required knowledge, power, as well as personal dedication and full acceptance of one's magic and of their place in magical society. It could not be done by anyone clinging to the muggle way of thinking like so many mudbloods tend to do.
In conclusion, Daphne could see why James Potter would select Lily as his wife. Adding such powerful and well-adjusted individual into his family's bloodline was tempting. Unfortunately, muggle-borns like Lily Evans were a rare exception that did not happen to come around very often.
Sadly, most of the mudbloods are already damaged by the lack of magic in their mother's body before they are even born. And after that, they are poisoned even more by their upbringing and muggle way of thinking. As a result, their senses and feeling for magic are dulled and higher mysteries of magic are forever lost to them. That makes them pitiful and if that was all, Daphne and her peers would have no problems with them.
But too often mudbloods outright deny their handicap when confronted with this inadequacy and instead respond with aggression and denial. When they are both ambitions and arrogant, it can manifest as obsessive need to 'reform' the magical world so that it better fits the twisted and limited vision of magic they can perceive.
Intellectually, Daphne knows very well that the mudbloods are dangerous for this reason and need to be kept on tight leash in order to protect their society. But deep down, she still feels sorry for them. After all, they did not choose to be born to muggles. Choice is the very basis of magic and the mudbloods were already denied that before even coming to this world.
But they have an important choice to make later in life – whether to embrace their magic and consequently accept their rightful place in life and society. Some manage to do it but many don't. The prime example of the latter would be the annoying know-it-all bitch who will soon become the resident of her dungeons.
The very idea that some people considered Hermione Granger as the 'Lily Evans of our time' made Daphne want to scream in frustration. The notion was ridiculous and pathetic. Harry's mother understood the interrelation between magical spells, between intent and reality. On the other hand, all Granger has is a photographic memory and obsession with reading. She does not even consider the meaning behind the words and does nothing but regurgitate what she reads. Her only other asset is that she is hardworking. It makes her seem much more powerful and knowledgeable than she really is, especially in the company of the slackers and muggle-loving fools she surrounds herself with.
But the worst part is that she is both ambitions and utterly convinced she's always right. That makes her dangerous. When Granger sees part of magical world she does not like, she does not try to understand the reasons behind it... why pureblood families like Daphne's spent generations building it that way... but instead immediately tries to change it. All those who disagree with her (which is essentially everyone with brain who isn't her close friend) are close-minded fools in her eyes. She reminds Daphne of all the arrogant mudbloods who caused rebellions and wars over the centuries in their efforts to enforce their superior vision on the magical world.
Daphne took a deep breath as she forced herself not to think about Hermione Granger any longer. That loathsome cretin is her prisoner now and she is no longer dangerous as long as she rots in her cell...
Instead, she focused her thoughts back on Harry's parents and his halfblood status.
She could understand James Potter's decision but if Daphne was in his shoes, she would have rather made sure that Lily Evans married another powerful muggle-born or half-blood wizard. Their children could then marry into the next generation of the Potter family. That way, Potter family would gain power while maintaining the purity of their blood.
At least Harry Potter can make sure his children are pure again if he marries a pureblood witch... but Daphne doubted he would get the opportunity. Dark lord wanted Potter which meant that Potter family line would end with Harry.
It was such a shame. Especially since he seemed to be a really powerful wizard.
She waited few more minutes before there was a knock on the door of her office. One of her servants entered and told her that Harry Potter was here. "Bring him in," she ordered and stood up to great her unwilling guest.
She watched as he was brought in flanked by her guards on both sides. The boy looked anxious but not frantic or fearful, his Gryffindor courage seemingly shining through. The guards stopped in the middle of the room and she walked towards them. "Mr. Potter... I believe we haven't been properly introduced yet. I am Daphne Greengrass," she told him formally and extended her hand. He shook it instead of kissing it but she was not surprised by that seeing as he was reportedly raised by muggles. Daphne would try not to hold it against him.
"Yeah, nice to meet you..." he said uncertainly, mindful of the two men at his sides eyeing him vigilantly. "...and please call me Harry."
Daphne blinked but then smiled and nodded. It was very forward of him but she would humour him for now. "Very well, Harry... and you may call me Daphne," she said and gestured for the guest seat on the other side of her office table. "Please sit... we will have breakfast together."
At her words, a servant walked in with two breakfast plates. He put one on each side of the table and then left. At her instruction, Harry hesitantly walked to the chair and sat down in front of his breakfast. Daphne moved to the other side to join him but before she sat down, she told the two guards. "Thank you... you can go now."
Harry watched as they walked out, leaving them seemingly alone. He looked suspiciously around the room, probably wondering if there was someone unseen hiding there.
'Good... he's not entirely naive,' Daphne thought even as she sat down. There was no one else in the room with them, although Harry did not need to know that. Powerful or not, he had no wand on him while she had hers ready so she felt she was in no danger. Besides, her guards were one ring of the bell away.
"I hope you like egg Benedict," she said as she picked up her utensils.
Harry did the same. "It looks delicious," he replied honestly and took the first cut from the muffin. He struggled with it a little as the utensils were purposefully dulled. Daphne was confident but she was not taking any chances either. She watched as he took the first bite eagerly.
The report from Greengrass family mediwitch noted his malnutrition when he was brought in yesterday. Harry Potter always looked a bit scrawny but it was even worse now. Clearly, whatever he has been doing, he did not have access to a lot of food. She wondered how long it was since he had a proper breakfast.
"Daphne..." he spoke after he swallowed. "Wh- what do you plan to do with us?"
'Charging straight to business...' Daphne thought even as she smiled at him in reply. "Why don't you finish your breakfast before we discuss that," she told him and then continued with her breakfast in silence like a proper lady. Harry looked like he wanted to protest and demand she answers him right now but then he went back to eating his meal. Perhaps he understood she would not speak to him until she wished so. Or perhaps he was simply that hungry.
'Good... I am the one making decisions here,' Daphne thought, pleased at his acquiescence. It was important to establish control in situations like this.
Twice as important when facing wizard as powerful as Harry Potter.
Daphne heard rumours about his 'adventures' since her first year – murdering possessed professors, slaying Slytherin monster, fighting over a hundred dementors...
She did not believe any of it until their fourth year and Potter's blatantly unwilling participation in the Triwizard tournament. She was one of the few Slytherins who were of the opinion that Potter did not enter his name by choice. It made no sense and Dumbledore would never let his star pupil place himself in danger like that. She was proven right when it turned out to be a ploy by the dark lord to kill him. Still, watching Potter fight a dragon and all the other beasts made her realize for the first time that he really is that powerful.
Could it be that the earlier rumours about him were also true?
In their fifth year, Potter also proved he had decent leadership qualities by forming and heading his secret DADA club. He was eventually found out through a betrayal but it was still impressive.
And then there was his business with Dolores Umbridge, who is a long time protégé and friend of the Greengrass family, but was left traumatized for months after being tortured and abused by an entire herd of centaurs. Daphne did not know much about it except that Granger was somehow responsible and that it was horrible enough for Umbridge to later post a private reward for her capture after she recovered. It was yet another thing the mudblood had to answer for and Daphne seriously considered boxing her up and sending her gift-wrapped to the head of the Muggleborn registration committee. Daphne was sure whatever fate Dolores had in mind for Granger would be fitting. But she could not do that just yet... it would immediately lead them to the fact she also had Potter.
Daphne had not seen or heard much about Potter in their sixth year until he somehow nearly killed Draco Malfoy. There were rumours he was somehow involved in Dumbledore's death too but nothing concrete. After the headmaster's funeral, Potter disappeared and nobody knew anything about him... until yesterday. What could they have been doing all this time? It did not seem like Potter to just run for his life so Daphne came to believe there must have been some additional purpose to his long absence.
She and Harry finished their meals shortly after each other and Daphne took a sip of her tea, with the boy-who-lived mirroring her actions. He looked at her eagerly, most likely wondering if she would answer his earlier question and whether he should break the silence and repeat it.
Daphne decided to reward his patience.
"We never spoke before..." she stated and he looked up in confusion. "At Hogwarts, I mean..." she clarified. "We went to the same school for six years and never said a word to each other. Isn't that strange?"
Harry actually chuckled a little. "Yeah, it's barmy... sorry about that," he actually apologized. She raised an eyebrow at that. "It's fine. I think I share blame with that one," she said and smiled back before adding. "At least we got to talk in our seventh year... only you did not return to school for that one, did you Harry?" she said and her gaze bore into him. She then asked "Where were you all that time instead?"
His green eyes went a little wide as he realized where she was heading with her question. Even as they looked at her filled with apprehension, Daphne had to admit that he had pretty eyes.
Before the snatchers brought him in along with Weasley and the mudblood, the leading theory among her fellow purebloods was that the dark lord already had him and only pretended to search for him in order to confuse Dumbledore's surviving allies.
Now Daphne knew that was not the case. She suspected that Potter has been on the run this entire time, most likely with his two friends. With the mudblood it made sense as the girl refused to get registered with the Ministry but she was mildly surprised to find Weasley in his company since he was supposed to be at his home, bedridden with serious illness.
"I- I can't tell you- I am sorry," he stammered.
He did not even try to convince her that he was merely hiding from the dark lord. Daphne was expecting him to lie and try to lead her away from the truth but perhaps such guile was not in his nature. "Instead of going back to school you decided to take a camping trip with your friends, is that right?" she pressed him on, reminding him of the other two prisoners.
It had a desired effect.
"What will you do with them... with us?" he asked her.
Daphne pursed her lips as she pretended to think hard about his question. "Let me see... there is an official warrant for your arrest and a large reward for any information leading to your whereabouts," she said and watched as he gripped his tea mug nervously.
"As for your mudblood friend, she ignored official summons to present herself before the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. That alone guarantees her ten years in Azkaban high-security wing."
"She couldn't do that! They'd have killed her just for being my friend!" Harry started to protest but Daphne was not finished.
"As for Ron Weasley..." she continued. "I suppose he is guilty of truancy as well as falsifying medical reports and perjury. He was also aiding and abetting the two of you."
Daphne straightened out in her chair while Harry seemed to shrink in his under the weight of the accusation she was throwing at him.
"You asked me what I planned to do with you and your friends," she informed him and continued. "Well, I am a law-abiding citizen... which means my next actions should be obvious."
"You mean – you will just hand us to the Ministry?" he asked and watched with disbelief as she nodded. "You can't do that!"
Daphne replied dismissively. "Why not?"
"They are working for you-know-who! You know that!"
'Good, we are getting closer,' Daphne thought. "Do I? I think you are exaggerating. I am sure the Aurors will be able to sort it out," she told him, watching him stew in despair at the possible future she outlined for him.
Earlier, she has decided to go along with the Ministry angle rather than threatening him with the dark lord outright. She did not want him going into some heroic last stand mode where he would rather die than tell her anything.
"But perhaps you are right, Harry... there were many strange changes inside the Ministry recently," she told him and he looked at her with sudden hope.
Then she went for the score.
"So perhaps... you would rather talk with me than the Ministry people?"
After her offer, he looked at her with an expression of a frightened animal chased into a corner. "Daphne, please..."
"What have you been doing for the past six months, Harry?" she pressed on with raised voice.
"I am sorry I won't tell you anything! I can't," Harry said decisively with growing frustration.
"Harry..." Daphne said in soothing voice. "You can either talk to me or you can talk to the people from the Ministry. Those are the two choices you have. I am not giving you a third one," she told him, carefully looking for his reaction even as she took the final sip of her tea.
Harry listened to her every word but did not reply.
"Look... I'll make this easier for you and start with the simpler stuff," she said in effort to put him at ease.
Earlier, she had three boxes placed on her table. Harry has been eyeing them with curiosity while they ate their breakfast and it was time for him to see what was inside. She opened the first box and took out Harry's broken wand from it, much to his shock. "This is yours. How did you break it?" she asked.
He looked at the broken wand with regret. Daphne did not blame him for that. For true wizards and witches, wand was an extension of their body. To have it destroyed was not unlike loosing a limb.
"It was... an accident," Harry eventually said.
Daphne looked between him and the broken wand incredulously. She was expecting to hear of some great magical battle which saw his wand destroyed. Her first instinct was to assume that he was lying to her but as she looked into his eyes, something told her that he was being truthful. There was such wistfulness and raw emotion in his voice but not the reflection of a past struggle.
"Are you sure about that? I don't think I ever heard of a wand broken by accident. There is always a malicious intend behind it."
"What do you mean?" he asked her with confusion so plain, she almost suspected him of faking it. But then again, wandlore was something that only the old families like hers had any real knowledge on. She was certainly no expert on the subject but she was familiar with the basic principles.
"I mean... consider the shape of the wand, the fact that it is made of fragile wood and how much we use it everyday. People carry them in their pockets! It would make sense for them to get broken all the time," Daphne told him. "And yet it almost never happens... most people live out their lives with one wand. Why do you think that is?" she asked him.
It was important to keep the subject engaged in interrogation. Irrelevant question about things they did not consider important were a great way to do it. And Harry Potter took the bait.
"I don't know..." he said but she could tell he really tried to think about it. "... maybe people are just lucky."
Daphne could not help but smile a little. He was closer to the truth than he thought. "Yes... you could say it's just luck. I am not sure how it works exactly but the wands are charmed to lower the probabilities of accidentally breaking them to essentially zero. If they break, it's because someone wants them to break..."
"But... that's impossible!"
"Nothing is impossible with magic, Harry," she responded confidently and with complete honesty. After all, it was the single most important tenet of her believes. Magic is might. She raised his wand to her eyes to examine the break. "If someone broke your wand, I bet it was no accident. They wanted it to break."
"But it was a stray spell from Hermione, she was trying to-" Harry spoke but at the last minute realized he was about to reveal something he didn't want her to know and that she was looking at him intently. He fell silent.
"Trying to do what, Harry?" she asked him but he did not answer. "It's nothing..." he deflected the question but he already gave her enough to work with. "So... Granger accidentally broke your wand... how interesting," she said and tittered sarcastically while emphasizing the word 'accidentally'.
"She didn't mean to do it, if that's what you are suggesting," he shot back in defense.
"Are you certain about that?" she asked and gave him a look of pity.
"Yes! She's my friend. Why would she want to break my wand?" he shouted and stood up angrily.
"Sit down, Harry," she immediately said in calm but uncompromising voice. It was important to maintain control, especially with a male prisoner. "Unless you no longer wish to talk with me... in that case, the people from the Ministry will be asking you about the rest of it. You and your friends," she told him and stared right into his eyes.
He stared back for a moment but then he sat back down as she asked. "Hermione did not break my wand! Not on purpose... it was an accident," he insisted as he rubbed his face tiredly.
"I think we established that wands do not break by accident," she reminded him. "Maybe it was not entirely conscious on her part, but did she gain anything by doing this?" she asked him next.
"Like what?"
"For starters... making you dependent on her," Daphne told him and he looked at her with disbelief.
She had no idea if that was the case but it would not surprise her. Like all mudbloods, Granger possessed virtually no mental barriers. When Daphne read her mind, she could sense many conflicting emotions from her, among them the guilt over Harry's wand. She kept thinking to herself that if she hadn't broken his wand, they wouldn't have been taken by the snatchers.
"Ridiculous... she wouldn't do that. You won't turn me against my friends," he informed her with a smirk.
'Not yet,' Daphne thought. "Lie to yourself, Harry, if you must... she is using you. Whether she does it on purpose I do not know but, she is using you," she stressed. Of that, Daphne was quite certain. Granger's ambitions knew no bounds and Harry Potter was a perfect stepping stone on her path to glory. Seriously, the only reason she did not end up sorted into Slytherin was her blood status. Whether she was doing it on purpose was another thing. Daphne did not stay in her mind long enough to tell for certain.
Harry watched her intently but did not respond.
Daphne was going to count that as a win. She believed that Harry Potter never even considered the possibility of his friends not being entirely honest with him. If they were actually deceitful, he should now be able to see it in hindsight.
"Let's move on for now..." she said as she opened the second box placed on the table and took out the next item she wanted to discuss with Harry.
The cloak of invisibility.
Harry almost stood up from his chair again when he saw her handling his priceless treasure but he remembered her earlier warning.
"It's a family heirloom," he told her immediately. This time, Daphne had no reason not to believe him. "From your father's side, I presume?" she asked while also gently reminding his of his half-blood status at the same time. He nodded, seemingly not picking up on it.
"It's incredible..." she told him as she let go of the fabric. She fully intended for it to become heirloom of House Greengrass in the future after Harry is given to the dark lord. Of course, she would never tell Harry that. What needs to be done will be done but there is no need to be cruel about it.
"Thanks," Harry said, unaware of what she was planning as he gave her a small smile. Daphne returned it and then asked. "So all the Hogwarts stories of you using this to sneak out after curfew... they were true?"
"Yeah... I guess."
She put the cloak back into the box. "How cunning of you. You are full of surprises, Harry Potter," she told him sweetly and gave him a beaming smile. She enjoyed it when he blushed under it. Boys always responded to her like that but it felt good to know that even the chosen one is not immune to her beauty.
"Yes, well, the sorting hat did want to put me into Slytherin," he admitted which was big news to her. Then he added. "But I already heard an introductory speech from Malfoy... after that, I begged the hat to put me anywhere else but Slytherin."
It was quite a shock to Daphne to realize that the boy-who-lived could have been her housemate if it weren't for Draco Malfoy. Fate had a twisted sense of humour sometimes. She almost wanted to ask him more about it but the mention of Slytherin reminded her of the matter at hand and the third item that he needed to explain.
"And so you went to Gryffindor," she said and he nodded. "Tell me, Harry... is it true that all Gryffindors hate everything Slytherin?" she then asked him.
"Eh – no. I don't think they do... why would you ask that?" he said with genuine confusion.
Daphne responded by taking the third item out of its box. She watched as Harry paled a little. "If that is the case... do you mind explaining why you stabbed Salazar's locket with the sword of Gryffindor? I doubt it was just an expression of interhouse rivalry."
Harry still stared at the locket in her hand in shock. "I- I didn't-"
"Your friends then?"
"No, we found it like this-"
Daphne stood up angrily and glared at him from across the table. It was one thing to lie to her but she will not let him insult her intelligence. "And I suppose you just happened to find the Sword of Gryffindor as well!"
"It was a fake, you destroyed it!" he said and tried to stand up as well. A wand flew into Daphne's hand and with a gesture from her, he was forcibly pushed back into his seat and immobilized. "I told you to sit down!"
Once he was secured in the chair, she briefly explained about the switch and replication of the sword she performed to fool the snatchers.
"How did you get the sword? Did you break into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts and steal it? Our goblin contacts always complain that the woman is utterly paranoid when it comes to the security of her vault. I doubt she would just let you in."
Harry did not respond.
"Harry..." she spoke calmly as she twirled her wand in her hand. "There are so many ways how I could get you to tell me everything... I could put you under Imperius and force you to tell me..." she pointed her wand at him and he cringed, getting ready to resist the mental compulsion to obey.
But Daphne did not curse him. She knew he could resist that spell.
"... or I could feed you some veritaserum," she said and glanced down at his half finished tea cup. His eyes went wide and she smirked. The tea was clean but she enjoyed making him squirm.
Problem with veritaserum was that you needed to ask very specific questions for it to work. You couldn't just feed it to someone and then order them to tell you everything. Daphne had no idea what exact questions to ask so that wasn't an option for her either.
"Daphne... please!" he begged her but she continued.
"Or I could have you or your friends beaten until you tell me the truth. I could feed you a love potion until you cannot resist telling me everything..."
The last two she mentioned were also not much useful in practice. Physical torture would not guarantee truthfulness. At some point, the victim would tell you anything just for the pain to stop. As for the love potion, it might make Potter susceptible to her but it would also make him a complete babbling idiot.
But Harry needed to believe she had all these options available. To believe that he had no other choice but to talk. So then she said: "There are so many ways to make you talk. So why don't you save yourself and me the trouble and just tell me what I want to know. Now!"
His emerald eyes met hers. "Do you serve you-know-who?" he asked her, seemingly out of the blue of her eyes.
"So it does have something to do with the dark lord..." Daphne inferred. "Keep going, Harry."
"I can't... not unless I know that you are not his servant... that you won't take what I tell you straight to him," he declared with finality.
"It doesn't work like that, Harry... I am the one asking questions here," she quickly put him down. Privately, Daphne had to admire his bravery though. She just informed him of all the ways she could get from him what she wants and he still resisted her.
"Why didn't you hand us to Voldemort when snatchers brought us in?" he asked her and Daphne winced in surprise at hearing that name. Even Harry looked nervously around him which prompted a smirk from Daphne. "Don't worry... the manor is warded against taboos. You can yell the name out loud if you like. It's nice to see how you were captured though. You really should work on your self-control more."
"At least I don't wince every time I hear the name," he shot back. "It always amazed me how the purebloods can loyally serve that bastard and yet be terrified of him so much that they can't even say his name."
"Enough!" Daphne hissed and leaned over the table to look at him closely "Last chance Harry... tell me what you've been doing since September. How you have the Sword and the locket."
"Show me your forearm," he told her.
"What?!"
"If you serve the dark lord, then I am dead anyway. And if you don't, you should understand why I can say no more."
Daphne stood up straight as she considered the boy in front of her. "And you should understand, Harry, that I am getting what I want from you either way... there is one more way to get information out of you," she pointed the wand at him and shouted.
"LEGILLIMENS!"
"Get out!" Harry screamed as the girl dived right into his head. All her questions on what he was doing since September caused his secret quest to be at the forefront of his mind.
The long evenings in the tent with Ron and Hermione flashed in front of his eyes. Their visit to Godric's hollow. Their hunt for more H-. "NOO!" he tried his utmost to push her out. It was much harder than the passive probe she used on him right after they were captured.
"Give it up, Harry..." her voice echoed in his mind mockingly. "You are not strong enough to stop me," she told him and then renewed her mental assault with fresh vigor.
Image of Ron stabbing the locket flashed briefly on his mind before he could suppress it. Harry knew he had to do something or risk Daphne Greengrass learning everything. He managed to momentarily contain her probe enough to see her in the outside world, pointing the wand at him. If only he still had his own... memory of him holding his wand before it was broken flashed in front of his eyes.
Even years later, Harry would be unable to explain what made him do it but when he saw the memory of himself holding his wand, he raised his arm towards Daphne and cried: "Expelliarmus!"
He saw red light and the world seemed to invert around him. A new vision filled his mind.
He was standing in the same room as they were now. There was a younger looking version of Daphne standing and pointing her wand at an adult man with dirty blond hair. After few moments, she lowered her wand and sighed sadly.
"I can't do it, dad, I am sorry..." she said dejectedly.
"Of course you can, you just need more time," the man – her father – told her.
"But we've been at it for hours!"
He smiled at that. "It took me weeks to learn the basics, love."
"Really, weeks?" she whined a little at that. "I'll never get it! I can't even sense your mind."
He walked forward and put his hands on her arms. "You can do it, Daphne... you can do anything if you put yourself to it. You are a Greengrass and you are my daughter. There is nothing beyond your power."
Young Daphne smiled at his words. "Thanks Dad," she said and hugged him.
"You are welcome, love... now, shall we take a break or try again?" he asked and his daughter immediately answered. "I want to try again."
"That's my girl," he said, pleased by her eagerness. They returned to their positions and Daphne raised her wand again. "Legillimens!"
The vision abruptly ended and Harry found himself back in the present, still sitting in the guest chair. He had his hand raised in front of him and he barely had time to register Daphne Greengrass being disarmed and pushed back after being hit by his spell.
Daphne was so shocked she did not even cry out as she was sent right into the wall where she proceeded to hit her head hard. She collapsed to the ground and did not move. Her wand meanwhile sailed through the air towards Harry who effortlessly caught it in his hand.
It took him few moments after that to process what happened. He kept looking between the wand and the fallen form of his captor.
'Did I cast the spell by imagining that I was holding a wand?' Harry thought, unable to come up with an explanation to what happened or how he was able to disarm Daphne without a wand. There were no guards jumping at him or barging in so it seemed that for the moment, they were unaware of what happened to their mistress.
Harry considered what to do next.
He had a wand now and could apparate away but he was not about to leave his friends behind. Harry hoped they were both still in the room where they spent the night. He would go and retrieve them so they could all escape together. He took care to memorize the route there while the guards escorted him earlier. The only problem was the unspecified number of guards no doubt standing between here and there. But with his invisibility cloak, Harry felt that he had a chance to get there undetected. He walked over to the table and took the cloak out of the box, stuffing it into the pocket of his robes.
He was ready to go. But there was also her.
Daphne Greengrass was down on the floor unconscious after Harry forcibly ejected her from his mind and his spell hurled her across the room. There was a mean looking gash on her head where she hit the wall.
Harry walked closer to her cautiously and considered what to do. The smartest thing would probably be to tie her up and leave but he did not know the extent of her injuries. Despite who she was and what she did, he did not want her to die.
He knelt down next to her prone form and took her right hand in his to check her pulse. Fortunately, it felt strong. He had to roll up the sleeve of her robe a little to reach her wrist and when he was done, he could not resist but roll it up a little higher. He needed to see – needed to know for sure.
He was surprised when instead of the snake and skull tattoo on her forearm, there was only her unblemished white skin. Her other hand was the same. 'She's not a death eater...' Harry thought with relieve but also confusion. If Daphne Greengrass was not a death eater, why was she doing this to them? What was she after?
He almost jerked away in fright when she suddenly groaned and opened her eyes a little. Before he could decide whether to stun her or not, she spoke: "Err... what happened?" she asked and hissed at the pain she no doubt felt from her head wound.
"Easy... you took a nasty fall," he told her.
"Help me up..." Daphne moaned and without even thinking about it, Harry took her hands in his and helped her to stand up. Once she was upright, she let go of him and leaned against the wall to steady herself. Harry stepped away from her.
"Thank you... I-" Daphne started to say but then she finally looked at him and realized who helped her to stand up. "Potter!" she spat and her hand went towards her wand holster only to find it empty. Then her world came even more into focus and she could see that Harry held her wand in his hand and was now aiming it at her.
For the first time, Harry saw fear in her eyes. He was surprised how bad he felt about that. He figured it would feel good to take her down a peg after she acted so haughty and superior towards him earlier. But looking into her beautiful eyes and seeing fear there... he did not relish the idea that he was its cause. But he needed to let her know that he meant business.
"Look, just let me and my friends go and I won't have to hurt you..." he told her in what he hoped was a confident voice. He accentuated his words by pointing the wand directly at her heart. It seemed to be working because she appeared lost for words and shocked over what was happening.
"I- " she started to say but then her eyes seemed to roll into her skull, her hand slipped from where she was leaning on the wall and she staggered on her feet.
'She's about to faint again...' Harry thought and he surged forward. He barely managed to catch her in his arms before she could fall down.
"Thank... you," Daphne stammered as she put her hands around his neck to lean on him. Their eyes met and she smiled at him.
Feeling her body close and with her face inches from his, Harry was struck by how truly beautiful she was. He felt like such an idiot for never noticing her before. Her golden hair was dishevelled from the tumble she took but it made her even more gorgeous as it cascaded freely towards shoulders. Her icy blue eyes felt like a trap for his soul and it felt criminal to look away from them. And her lips... she had such a sweet smile.
He quickly shook the fantasies away. Now was not the time or place for such thoughts. He simply smiled back and told her: "You are welcome – OHHH!"
Harry cried out in pain when she suddenly kneed him in his groin with all the force she could muster and then pushed away from him. He let go of her anyway as his hands instinctively went to protect his private parts. It took him few seconds to realize that in that moment, he also dropped Daphne's wand.
When he looked up, he saw that it was now too late to correct that mistake. She already picked the discarded wand. He took a desperate swing at her with his fist but she staggered out of the range of his arms.
"INCARCEROUS!"
Thick ropes sprang around him and tied his hands and legs. A gag even materialized in his mouth. Harry fell down helplessly to the floor and he could not even curse the girl for her treachery.
As soon as he was down, Daphne went and practically collapsed over her office table. She managed to pick up the small brass bell which was placed there and rang it frantically.
A moment later, her guards entered the room. "My Lady!" one of them cried. When they saw the situation, they rushed forward to help her as well as to pacify Harry. Not that he was any threat after Daphne tied him up. He could do nothing as they lifted him up from the floor and manhandled him into submission.
"Put magic restraining cuff on him, now!" she ordered them while leaning against the table. "My lady?" one of them asked uncertainly while others were checking her injury. "Do it, he can do wandless magic!" she explained and hissed at a healing spell being applied on her head.
One of the guards unclipped a metal circle from their belt and snapped it on Harry's wrist. Harry could feel it tingling and he suddenly felt empty... like some essential part of him was missing. He did not like it one bit and he started to panic, especially after he heard Daphne's next command.
"Take him to a cell. He can rot there until the dark lord comes to pick him up!" she said and sneered at his helpless form. Harry shook his head frantically and moaned into his gag.
'No! You are not one of them, don't do this... please!' he cried in his mind even as the guards dragged him out of the room. One of them yanked his invisibility cloak out of his pocket. Then they marched him across the manor house but not back to the room where he spent the night but downstairs, to the basement. The luxurious surroundings gave way to a harsh stone walls and he realized that his new cell will not be as nice as the old one.
He realized he was right when they reached a heavy door and he was literally thrown into the room beyond. The guards had no mercy with him after he injured their mistress. He cried out in pain as he hit the floor. A moment later, the ropes and gag disappeared as one of the guards must have removed them.
Harry turned around just as they were about to close the door. "No, please! Let me speak to her!"
"You are not coming anywhere near the lady again, bastard!" one of the man snarled while the other said. "I hope the dark lord takes his time with you!"
And then they slammed the doors and he could hear the click of the lock. Harry could not believe what was happening. Everything was lost! He did not even get up as he wallowed in his misery and knowledge that Voldemort was going to win and that he and his friends were going to die.
"Thank you..." Daphne told her servant after the woman finished healing her injuries. As soon as she left, Daphne practically fell into her chair, completely exhausted.
Inside, she was cursing herself for her own stupidity. It was an utter disaster. She has been so confident she could handle Potter and yet she let him almost escape. Granted, she had no way of knowing that Potter was capable of wandless magic, but that was no excuse. For a moment there, Potter had her at a wand point. If it wasn't for his Gryffindor chivalry that allowed her to trick him and regain the upper hand... she did not even want to think about it.
She vowed to never let it happen again.
The simple truth was that she grossly underestimated Harry Potter. She treated his presence as a welcomed distraction from the less than pleasant events which recently happened in her life. She should have been much more careful. Instead of using velvet gloves on him and amusing each other with stories from Hogwarts, she should have forced the information out of him.
And most of all, she should never have treated him like her equal! She was a pureblood and although Potter was from an old magical family and her relative, he was still a halfblood and therefore inferior to her. He had no right to deny her what she wanted and she should have punished him severely the moment he did not answer her questions.
'I still can't believe he can do wandless magic... even I can't do that!' Daphne thought as she rocked in her chair and stared at the ceiling. She supposed that Harry might have inherited the ability from his mother. There were rumours of Lily Potter having some minor telekinetic abilities even before she started at Hogwarts.
And Daphne was positive it was a wandless magic and not accidental outburst. She was in his mind when it happened. She could sense him perform the spell that took her wand as well as threw her clean across the room.
The things she saw in Harry Potter's mind before he forced her out troubled her deeply. She still did not know what the trio was doing since September, but from Potter's mind, she sensed it was extremely important. And that it would lead to the dark lord's destruction... or so Potter believed.
Daphne could not let that happen.
As much as it pained her to admit it, pureblood cause stood little chance without Lord Voldemort. Without the dark lord, there was simply no leader powerful enough to stand against the mudbloods and blood traitors that threatened to destroy the magical society and their way of life. She knew that she needed to warn the dark lord immediately and hand Potter over.
But there was one thing she needed to know first... it was the very last thought she sensed before Potter kicked her out of his mind. One word that he tried to hide from her above all else.
'What the hell is a Horcrux?' she wondered as she stood up and rubbed her temple. It was still little tender despite there being no visible signs she was ever injured. She felt like taking a nap but her servant warned her not to do that for several hours at least.
Instead, she decided to head towards the family library and do some research. Whatever this Horcrux was, Potter was utterly convinced it was the key to defeating the dark lord. Before she would hand him over, Daphne intended to learn what it was.
