Hermione just finished polishing large golden candelabra when her handler informed her, "Time for lunch." In response, she put down her cleaning instruments and started to slowly walk in the direction of the servant's mess hall where she would be eating her midday meal. Meanwhile, the guard was following in her wake.
For over a month, every day has been nearly the same for her.
She would wake up inside her prison cell at 7 am. The same guard, who was apparently permanently assigned to her, would come pick her up soon after and take her to a bathroom so she could do her morning hygiene. Then she would be given breakfast and starting 8 am, she would work as cleaner around the manor, all the way until lunch.
Afterwards, she would be taken to the library for her daily reading assignments. These almost always consisted of books on pureblood superiority or otherwise documenting the supposed natural inferiority of muggleborns. When she was done reading, they would even give her tests to verify she really learned what they wished her to learn. Assuming she passed the test (which she so far did every time), she was then allowed to read books of her choosing for one hour until it was time for her dinner.
After the dinner, she would be once again taken to the bathroom and then back to her cell. The guard would then lock the door behind her for the rest of the night. Hermione would lie down on her bed and try to fall asleep knowing that tomorrow would bring her exactly the same.
It was not glamorous but such was Hermione's lot in life now. She was living the absolute misery of muggleborn enslavement under the noble and oh so great House Greengrass. And yes, Hermione held no illusions about her situation – about the fact she has been made into a slave and that she allowed it to happen because she knew that actively resisting would make it much worse. After all, her owner made that abundantly clear to her.
Daphne Greengrass took everything from her – her wand, her money, her freedom. Even her clothes! The pureblood girl has been particularly gleeful about the fact Hermione now had literally no property whatsoever. But worst of all was that Daphne took away her friends!
Ron suffered a horrific torture and was no doubt magically prevented from doing anything to help her, seeing as he could barely speak to her these days without averting his eyes in shame.
And as for Harry... the less said about him the better. Suffice to say that Hermione's absolute worst fears had been realized when Harry Potter became infatuated with the evil bitch herself.
Oh, how she wished that it has all been just a horrible nightmare. Or that it was actually a love potion or some evil spell that made Harry behave like this. It wouldn't change her situation but would ease the feeling of total betrayal she was experiencing ever since the conversation they had in her cell. Sadly, there was to be no such reprieve for her because in her heart she knew that Harry was acting of his own free will.
And it was driving her crazy!
In the end, perhaps it was something she should have expected. After all, her friend was brave and a true paragon of light... but he was not perfect. Like for many men throughout history, pretty girls have always been a weak spot for Harry and unfortunately, Daphne Greengrass definitely classified as pretty. In fact, with her smooth skin, blue eyes, and platinum blonde hair, she was close to what muggle tabloids would describe as glamorous and sexy. When Hermione first saw who it was that captured them, she immediately had a bad feeling about it. Still, she desperately hoped that perhaps girls like Greengrass just weren't Harry's type.
Oh, how wrong she was!
Hermione had no idea who started it. She did not think it was Harry who made the first move. It was more likely that Greengrass had been planning this from the beginning. Or she might have gotten the idea after catching Harry staring or something, no doubt aided by the fact she always seemed to wear revealing dresses around him. In any case, Daphne Greengrass flawlessly took advantage of Harry's weakness like a true Slytherin.
For over a month, Hermione had to helplessly watch as that blonde tramp put her moves on her friend, seducing and twisting him around her little finger more and more. From time to time, Hermione saw them walking around the manor while holding hands, sharing kisses... and that was only the stuff she saw. It made her sick to imagine everything that might go on between them behind a closed door.
Meanwhile, Hermione was literally left hung out to dry. She had no wand and no way of protecting herself from these people who barely considered her a person, much less someone who was actually worthy of respect. And all because she was muggleborn – a mudblood.
Back in school, Hermione had always thought she knew what muggleborn discrimination was all about. Before the war started, she honestly thought the worst of it was muggleborns being denied equal economic opportunities. But after the month she experienced in Greengrass manor, she had to admit that she really knew nothing! She had no idea how bad it was and what the purebloods were actually doing to her kind. Not until she was caught herself and had all her dignity and personhood stripped away.
To the people in Greengrass manor, she was simply a mudblood and most of the time, they would title her that way. On a better day, they would call her 'girl' and if she did a really good job with her tasks, the guard would address her as Granger. But never Hermione – she could have sworn nobody called her by her first name the entire time. It was strangely surreal feeling to be loathed by literally everyone around her and all for reasons that were completely beyond her control. It was even stranger when she considered that perhaps the sanest person around and the only one who occasionally showed her kindness was Astoria Greengrass – the same young girl who viciously broke her nose in revenge for her fiancé and then tortured Ron and forced him to act like a pig.
Ultimately, the worst was that Hermione did not see much hope to change her situation any time soon. Her initial plan to pretend to be broken so that Daphne would lower her guard was quickly demolished. The pureblood girl was simply too clever to fall for something like that. This left Hermione with no options and no choice but to oblige Daphne's increasingly humiliating demands or risk her mistress punishing her much more severely.
She could have refused and just tell her captor to go to hell. But if Hermione was perfectly honest with herself, she was very much terrified of Daphne and of all the things that girl could do to her without even batting an eyelash. Hermione's only saving grace seemed to be the fact that so far the blonde seemed intent on converting her to her way of thinking rather than having her tortured or killed. She wanted Hermione to acknowledge the pureblood supremacy as correct and wanted her to do it willingly.
At least for now.
Hermione knew that Daphne Greengrass was perfectly capable of ordering her guards to torture her into submission should she finally come to the conclusion that Hermione was never going to break. And so she meekly lowered her head and played along, allowing Daphne to enslave her. Both out of fear as well as strategy.
She figured that at least this way she could get out of her cell each day and have some limited freedom of movement around the manor – which might eventually translate into a chance for escape!
To that end, Hermione carefully analyzed every room she was assigned to clean, looking for anything that could potentially help her to get away. It's not like anyone was careless enough to leave a wand lying around for her to pick up but even something as simple as a nail could be useful to her.
And there were few such things. Like suits of armor she was ordered to clean with actual swords on them. Unfortunately, when she glanced at the sword and then at the guard, she saw him looking at her knowingly, his eyes just daring her to try it. And that's when she realized with a sense of hopelessness that the guard was doing the exact same thing she was – thinking of possible ways she could use to escape and likely foiling them in advance.
Hermione entered the servant's mess hall. It was empty as her lunch was scheduled so that she rarely met anyone there. She took a seat while the guard stood in the corner of the room and just kept looking in her direction. As soon as she sat down, a house elf popped into the room, left a plate in front of her and then disappeared again without a word.
"Thank you," Hermione said to the empty room before she sighed. Even house elves treated her with disdain in the Greengrass manor. She looked at the meal on her plate and had to resist the urge to sigh again, seeing as it was a pork chop with some rice and vegetables. It's not like she had anything against the meal. In fact, she had to admit it was delicious after taking the first bite. But she was really hoping to finally get something with a bone. A chicken leg, perhaps. Something she could turn into a weapon.
Although with the guard watching her very intently 24/7 when outside of her cell, there was a small chance she would be able to swipe it anyway, she supposed. Earlier, she tried to hide a piece of glass from the broken wine glass that Daphne and Millicent Bulstrode made her clean up but the man confiscated it from her soon after. It's like he knew exactly how she thought and what she was going to do. Hermione was not sure whether some magic was involved or just pure training but his constant vigilance made any escape attempt she could come up with all but impossible.
Which meant that her only hope was for someone else to help her escape…
And counting out Harry and Ron, there were not many candidates for that. Although Astoria did not seem to mind muggleborns as much, she would certainly not go as far as to violate her sister's orders and set her free. Hermione did not even bother asking her for that.
At first, Hermione hoped that one of the muggleborn servants might take a pity on her and help her escape. But she quickly realized that she might have better luck asking Astoria, seeing as her fellow muggleborns who served alongside her in the manor were all brainwashed and totally loyal to the family that enslaved them. It was vile and seriously challenged Hermione's sanity. It made her wonder if she too was going to end up like this. Whether she was eventually going to relish the chain and collar binding her and be grateful to Daphne for stealing her freedom and future away from her forever.
While she slowly ate her lunch, she kept wondering what kind of pureblood supremacist literature she would be forced to read today.
Hermione's feelings about the Greengrass library couldn't have been more mixed. On one hand, it was absolutely amazing place and she honestly wished she had a whole year or more to go through it. But right now, all she was allowed to read for the most part was pureblood propaganda. She was still amazed that so many volumes were actually written about it. So much time and energy spent devising a horrible lie and making it look like a serious scientific research. Hermione did not believe any of it, of course. Even if some small parts were factually correct, such as the supposed lack of magic in her physical body… perhaps.
After all, such was the essence of successful propaganda – taking real verifiable facts but completely twisting their interpretation around to serve one's needs. She supposed that it did not even matter whether the things she was forced to read were truthful or not because nothing could possibly justify what her people were being put through by families like the Greengrasses. And for thousands of years at that!
The Greengrass family library also perfectly exemplified one other thing that was seriously wrong with the magical world – knowledge hoarding. In her opinion, all those books should be publically accessible so that everyone could benefit from them instead of just one pureblood family!
Not only was it unfair but it also served to maintain one of the stereotypes spewed by purebloods – that they knew more about magic and therefore should have control over the muggleborns. It was entirely hypocritical and circular argument as it was exactly this kind of knowledge hoarding that prevented muggleborns from learning about magic on par with the purebloods.
But in the end, the most shocking and devastating experience for Hermione wasn't the knowledge hoarding or any of the vile bigotry she read in the books but rather meeting the person in charge of the library.
Back in school, Hermione knew Sue Li relatively well as they both had spent many hours in Hogwarts library. The Chinese girl was a fellow muggleborn and she loved reading just as much as Hermione. And although the two of them were not friends in true sense of the word, they had always been warm to each other.
When Sue did not return for her sixth year Hermione was worried but assumed the girl left the country. Many of their muggleborn schoolmates whose families could have afforded to move did just that. But sadly, Sue Li was not among them. She was not safe abroad with her family. Instead, she suffered the most horrible fate as she fell right into Daphne's hands!
In their fifth year, Hermione had seen the two girls talking together but did not think too much of it as Slytherins always had relatively cordial relationships with Ravenclaws, more so than with the other two houses. If Hermione only knew what Sue was going to become only year and a half later, she would have done something!
She suspected that after Voldemort's return became public knowledge, Daphne Greengrass lured Sue into the manor at a promise of protection or knowledge only to capture and imprison her. Hermione was not certain what happened to the girl next… what unspeakable tortures Daphne forced her to endure that finally broke her mind and made her accept her enslavement and inferiority. In any case, Sue Li has been thoroughly brainwashed and turned into the worst sort of pureblood supremacist – a very ironic fate given that she was a muggleborn. In essence, Hermione supposed that Sue became a blood traitor to all muggleborns.
Hermione thought that she might get some sympathy from the girl the first time she saw her here but if anything she sensed that Sue viewed her with even greater disdain than the guards! She tried critically discussing some of the books she was forced to read with her. But all that earned her was a passionate speech from the girl and seemingly logical arguments on why pureblood supremacy was absolutely correct and necessary and why Hermione and other muggleborns should just submit to purebloods for their own good.
Hermione argued back, trying to explain to Sue how wrong she was and what a horrible mistake she was making. But it was of no use. The girl would immediately cite dozens of books which supposedly refute Hermione's words, completely ignoring the fact that those books were nothing but lies.
It came as only minor surprise to Hermione when she learned that Sue already had a muggleborn boyfriend. No doubt their match was secretly arranged by Greengrasses, in line with their philosophy of breeding the muggle filth out of their servants and creating new purebloods. And from what Hermione gathered, Sue was quite happy with that and with her life in general. She was a slave but she loved her masters and mistresses with all her heart.
In short, Sue Li was completely lost.
The way Hermione saw it, Sue was the end result of what she would have become too had she submitted to Daphne Greengrass in their third year. Had she not the mental strength to resist back then, it would have been her in Sue's place now, utterly broken and worshipping the girl who enslaved her. Her engaged in a vile breeding programme…
It was all a horrifying lecture to Hermione and a excellent reminder as to why she absolutely could not afford to give up. Which was important because sometimes, in the dark of the night, Hermione seriously wondered whether there was still any point to all of this. The nagging voice inside her saying that it was all over the moment she was brought to this place and that further resistance was futile. After all, Daphne explicitly told her she would make sure Hermione was unable to achieve any of her post-war plans. So why not just give it up? Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.
But then she saw Sue Li and knew that it would be bad. It would be very… very bad and Hermione had to keep fighting. She had to end the pureblood supremacy once and for all! As long as she was alive, there was a chance she will manage to escape one day. There was always hope.
And besides, as unlikely it may seem at the moment, there was a good chance that Harry would eventually come to his senses. That hope was not born out of naivety but rather of logic. Because even though Harry was a hapless fool like many men when it came to beautiful women, Hermione knew he was not a complete idiot.
As a result, seducing the boy-who-lived was bound to backfire on Daphne big time. And the reason for that was simple – by getting closer to Harry, she would be inevitably revealing more and more of her true nature and personality to him. Not just what she wanted him to see, that would make Harry like her. And when she had done that, there was no way Harry would be willing to go along with her plans and help a monster like Daphne Greengrass.
Hermione just had to hold out for a little while longer…
"Mmm… that was nice," Daphne purred after Harry finished massaging her stiff neck and asked her how she felt. "Much better, thank you," the girl replied and leaned against him as he spooned her while they sat on the couch. "Where did you learn this?" she asked.
"You taught me, remember?" Harry said as he kissed the back of her head, her hair tickling his chin.
"Oh, right…"
"Anyway, I hope you learned your lesson," the boy said and then added in chastising tone while waving a raised finger in front of her face. "No plotting and scheming until 3 am or otherwise our neck gets stiff in the morning."
"Yes Harry," Daphne replied with a fake submissiveness, amused by how he fussed over her.
"Good… good. And while we're at it, why not also learn to tolerate and respect people from all walks of life?" Harry suggested, having picked up on her ironic tone and piling up on it. Daphne Greengrass chuckled and gently elbowed his side. "Don't push your luck, halfblood," she mumbled in a decently menacing tone while Harry pretended to make a pained groan.
"Yes Daphne," he paraphrased her and they laughed together. They enjoyed each other's presence in silence before Harry asked. "Are you ready for today?"
"Yeah, I think so," Daphne answered carefully. "I don't see daughter of House Black willing to follow a son of a muggle after she learns the truth. The only risk is her refusing to listen to us at all or wanting to do something completely different to address the problem."
"And you're absolutely sure you want me here when she comes?" Harry asked again. "Malfoy family and I… we do not exactly have a stellar history. And I might have directly insulted Narcissa last year."
Daphne turned around in his arms so that she could look at him. "I already told you, it does not matter," she said decisively even as she put her hand against his chest and looked into his eyes. "You belong to me, Harry Potter," the blonde witch said possessively. "Which means that if others want to do business with House Greengrass, they better get bloody used to the fact that you are involved. Now, do you understand that?!"
Harry could not do anything but agree in face of such fierceness. "Perfectly," he said even as he took her hand from his chest, raised it to his lips and gave it a playful kiss.
"Good," Daphne said with satisfaction as she calmed down. "Besides I am certain you will prove to be very useful. I mean the way you handled our guest yesterday… that was just incredible!"
Earlier
Their guest arrived in front of the estate's gate using a private international portkey. Having surrendered his wand to the guards, he was then admitted inside and the three of them were now walking together through the gardens some distance away from the Greengrass manor.
"I am puzzled as to why you would wish to meet with me, my lady Gröngras," the tall grey haired man said with heavy accent after exchanging the initial pleasantries. "After all, the boy-who-lived is walking literally right beside us. One would think your war was all but over. Though I admit I am surprised that he isn't in chains right now," he said with amusement even as he and Harry fixed their eyes on each other.
The first thing that struck Harry about grand master Karl Hartstark upon his arrival was that he was very old. Probably as much as Albus Dumbledore was and Harry had an immediate idea that perhaps they knew each other. But he knew it was irrational. The magical world was filled with old wizards and witches and not all of them had been friends with his former mentor. In fact, in this case it was more likely that they were enemies if they ever met at all. After all, according to Daphne, Karl Hartstark used to be the second-in-command of Grindelwald's personal death squad during the war…
"Things became more complicated," Daphne answered succinctly when she noticed his questioning gaze in Harry's direction.
The man chuckled at such succinct description. "Yes, I imagine it did. And given Mr. Potter's healthy, and dare I say happy look, I expect that your allegiances had now changed," he summarized and Harry immediately tried to assume more neutral appearance so that he wouldn't be giving away information like this with his bodily language. It was hard for him as he would unconsciously cheer up whenever he was with Daphne these days. Fortunately, in this case his new girlfriend did not seem to mind that he effectively gave their game away as she merely smiled.
"Indeed. And to that end, I could use the Order's assistance," Daphne admitted after sharing a look with Harry.
"And I will listen," Hartstark said. "You are the daughter of Odin, my lady. For that alone, you and your family have our respect," he said before briefly glancing at Harry again. "And to be honest with you, I am quite curious," he admitted before shifting his gaze back to her, "But understand that we are not agreeing to anything by my coming here. The Order of Loki is not here to do your bidding," he stressed.
"Oh, you will be very interested in what I have to say," Daphne replied with confidence.
And then she started to explain the reasons for her invitation. Meanwhile, Harry thought about the organization this man belonged to. About everything that Daphne told him and what he learned in the library.
The Order of Loki was named after one of the early riders of the Wild Hunt who had… let's say a difference of opinion with the others. The founder of the Hunt, Woden Greengrass, had the idea to exploit the muggle societies in order to search for muggleborns more efficiently. He believed that lawfulness and order would be of benefit to their mission. Under his leadership and that of his successors, the Wild Hunt infiltrated and subverted many European cultures over its thousand year long existence, including the Roman Empire and later the Church. For example, as strange as it sounded, the Hunt actively encouraged muggles to adopt stringent laws concerning witchcraft. The idea was that muggleborns seen performing accidental magic would then be accused and tried first instead of lynched on the spot as often happened otherwise. Making sure they would not be killed immediately gave the Hunt the time and opportunity to save them while also making the rescued muggleborns very grateful and loyal to the purebloods for having saved their lives.
Loki, on the other hand, believed the exact opposite as Woden. He was of the opinion that muggleborns would be best protected from danger of being hurt by muggles if their societies were thrown into utter chaos. He reasoned that it was better to give muggles something that would occupy their time so that they no longer even cared about the magical folk. And so to that end, he would spread discord among muggles, encouraging all sorts of conflicts to further the chaos. He became so notorious in his exploits that to this day, the muggle mythology remembered him as the god of mischief and trickery.
A group of followers that gathered around him was repeatedly formed and disbanded over the centuries, persisting in some form to this day. Harry was not exactly sure what the Order of Loki was up to these days but their general mission had always been to weaken the muggles and recently, to prevent muggle infiltration of the magical world, be it in form of culture or blood. They were tolerant of muggleborns but loathed wizards and witches having children with muggles above all else. Over the years, they were implicated in assassinations of politicians who dared to espouse breeding with muggles as a good thing.
It was their hatred of relations with muggles that Daphne hoped to use as a hook.
"The dark lord, the champion of the pureblood cause… is a son of a muggle," the man summarized with disgust after Daphne finished telling him the story of Voldemort's true origin. Harry and Daphne shared a triumphant look upon hearing his reaction, thinking that their plan had worked. Hartstark was silent for a while until, much to their surprise, he actually laughed and said. "So… Albus told us the truth after all."
"W-what are you saying?" Daphne stuttered and Harry instinctively put a hand on her shoulder to calm her while she decoded the full meaning of that sentence. "Dumbledore told you about the dark lord's blood status?!" she asked in shock and Harry looked at the man, wordlessly demanding an explanation too.
Hartstark nodded and said, "Decades ago, your dark lord approached the Order of Loki. He wanted us to assist him in the war," he informed them. "Although his plans to eradicate muggle influences were intriguing, we were less impressed with his other plans and with the man himself. So we wrote to Albus Dumbledore and asked him what he thought of him. In his response, Albus warned us that Lord Voldemort was fathered by a muggle," he told them with distaste clearly audible in his voice.
Harry could not believe what he was hearing and apparently neither could Daphne because she was crushing Harry's hand in hers in shock. "You knew his father was a muggle! You knew a filthy muggle upstart dared to put himself above purebloods! And you did nothing!" she said in accusatory tone. "You call yourself the Order of Loki?!"
As for Harry, he was outraged too but for completely different reasons. The fact that the man in front of them was apparently a big hypocrite did not shock Harry as much as the idea that Dumbledore would tell anyone about Voldemort's parentage. Or that he would even use his blood status as an argument for that matter.
During the past month and a half, Harry often wondered why Dumbledore didn't just make that information a public knowledge. Why not have the story of Voldemort's origin printed in every newspaper for the next ten years after his first defeat? Seeing what that revelation did to Daphne, how it utterly crushed her world, surely it would have caused most of the purebloods to abandon Voldemort's cause forever. And that would have been a great thing!
Harry really didn't understand it until Daphne pointed out one thing – Albus Dumbledore believed in complete equality. He not only believed that muggleborns should be equal, he was also convinced that the entire concept of blood status was completely irrelevant and actively harmful to the society. So by using Voldemort's halfblood status as a weapon to publically remove his pureblood support, he would have been undercutting his own political position and justifying the system he was trying to demolish.
Harry could understand that logic but he still thought it would have been better if Dumbledore just told everyone the truth in the first place, even if it perpetuated the stereotypes. It would have saved them all so much trouble.
"We didn't know for certain," Hartstark defended himself, visibly annoyed by Daphne's insinuations. "Albus offered no proof in his letter other than his word. But it was certainly enough for us to think twice about the dark lord's offer," he said and frowned. "And we are glad we didn't join with him… what that man ended up doing to mudbloods is simply unacceptable," he said with even greater disgust than before looking at Daphne with a curious expression. "Actually, I am surprised House Greengrass took part in something like this," he quipped reproachfully.
"Meaning?" Daphne asked while crossing her arms across her chest.
"Meaning…" Hartstark repeated with an ironic undertone that Harry did not like at all as it was disrespectful to Daphne. "…that the dark lord's actions are as far away from Woden's teachings as they could possibly be… and that your grandfather should have killed that filthy son of a muggle the moment he decided to needlessly spill healthy magical blood!" he said without taking a breath and then paused, seemingly deeply in thought about what he should say next.
Finally, Hartstark just shrugged. "I suppose there is no harm in telling you now – the Order of Loki has been aiding mudbloods to flee your country in the last two years," he said and gave them a toothy smile. "They are now very grateful to us for saving them. The Order and our patrons will benefit from their new blood and talent instead of you," he practically laughed into her face before finishing with a gleeful statement. "Your lose is our gain, my lady."
This latest admission caused Daphne to start arguing with him loudly and the already tense situation rapidly descended into shouting match. So far, Harry allowed Daphne to lead the conversation as it seemed natural and logical given who the man was. But Harry realized that unless he does something fast, they would most certainly not be getting what they wanted from him. After a minute of watching them argue, he decided to break it up.
"You knew Dumbledore… how?" he asked, loudly so they would hear him. It was a simple question but it caused both Hartstark and Daphne to stop their arguing as they both turned their eyes on him. Hartstark looked even surprised, seemingly having forgotten Harry was still there.
"Many people knew Albus Dumbledore, Mr. Potter," he told him before lifting his hand towards his right cheek where he had a hideous scar. "But I am one of the few who knew his wand… he gave me this on his way to confront Gellert," he told him with a mixture of bitterness and pride in his voice.
"You must have hated him for defeating you," Harry guessed. "But then how come he was giving you advice years later?"
"On the contrary," the man shook his head furiously at his suggestion. "All of us who survived respected Dumbledore for his strength," he said and paused, seemingly lost in memories of that final battle. "And as for our correspondence… although we were enemies, it was simply not wise or safe for a powerful wizard like Dumbledore and the Order of Loki to be openly odds. As a politician, Albus understood that well," he told him and Harry nodded in understanding.
Hartstark then turned to look at Daphne again, this time being much calmer albeit no less agreeable. "I assume you wish to recruit us to fight the dark lord, miss Greengrass. But we are simply not interested. Not now, not ever. For one thing, the Order made an agreement with Albus to stay away from Britain. And even if that oath died with him… frankly, we have no desire to help you out of the mess the purebloods of your country made for themselves," he told her with an ugly grimace before turning on his heel. "You don't have to trouble yourself, I know my way out."
In that moment, Daphne shared a desperate look Harry. Seeing the girl this distraught and lost was not something that Harry was used to and he did not like it one bit. And that's when he had an idea.
"He killed Grindelwald…" he called loudly towards Hartstark. "Voldemort killed Grindelwald!"
The man paused in his step and slowly turned around. "My former leader was defeated and broken a long time ago. What makes you think I care at all about what happened to him now?" he shot back but Harry was not really buying that explanation, having taken the measure of this man as they spoke.
"He didn't just kill him," Harry said with glee, hoping to provoke him. "He tortured him for hours while Grindelwald cowered helplessly in his cell. Only then did Voldemort finally put him out if his misery."
The man's cheek twitched and his face hardened. "And may I ask how do you know all this, Mr. Potter?" he asked with fake sweetness. "Especially since this is the first time I even heard that Gellert no longer lives… assuming you speak the truth."
This time, it was Harry who glanced at Daphne for help. How could he possibly explain how he knew what he knew without revealing his connection to Voldemort? He certainly did not intend to tell anyone about that, much less someone like Karl Hartstark and his Order. Fortunately, Daphne returned the favor and came to his rescue. "We have part of Voldemort's memory of the event. You can view it if you want," the girl told him, her confidence having returned.
The man hesitated for few moments before he slowly started walking back towards them. "Show me," he requested.
Present
"Do you think they'll really do it?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"You watched him swear it, didn't you?" Daphne asked before adding. "Besides, the Order of Loki had always kept their promises to us. Woden and his successors never really tried to stop them because despite their methods, they were still helping muggleborns… just as the Hunt was."
Harry nodded. "I hope you are right," he told her.
"I have to thank you again for what you did," Daphne told him gratefully. "I felt completely lost yesterday. It would have all fallen apart if you weren't there."
Harry smiled and leaned over to share a kiss with her. "I just remembered that the Order of Loki thrives on chaos and I figured that was his game as well. He was throwing you off on purpose. So I decided to do the same thing to him," Harry said with a satisfied smirk even as the beautiful blonde looked at him with admiration and respect – which was a far greater reward for Harry than anything else in the world.
"Hartstark was a jerk but he was right about one thing," Daphne admitted unhappily before looking into Harry's eyes. "We, as in purebloods, really did allow this to get out of hand. We should have stopped Voldemort long time ago. Even when we thought him pure, his methods were always unacceptable," she whispered quietly while looking ashamed. "Why… why didn't I see this before?"
"It wasn't your fault. He tricked you, Daphne," he told her while putting his hand on her knee. "He tricked everybody."
"But it wasn't just him," Daphne insisted. "I think the fault was within us too… somewhere along the way, my people forgot that pureblood supremacy is a privilege, not a right. That above all else, it means helping muggleborns. That we force them to submit to make them better and not to make ourselves better," she said passionately before pausing and closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, she looked at him with absolute determination. "No more, Harry. From now on, I will make sure that when mudbloods kneel before us, we are actually worthy of that honor."
Harry nodded, feeling very proud of her in that moment. Especially knowing what a huge step this was for the girl in light of what she has been taught all her life. Personally, he thought it would be even better if purebloods did not force muggleborns to submit they way they did but he also understood Daphne's reasons for doing so. "I am proud of you, love," he whispered to her even as he gently caressed her thigh and enjoyed as Daphne relaxed under his touch.
"I guess we are all set regarding Bellatrix and her vault…" he declared after a while and his girlfriend agreed.
After viewing his transmitted memory of Voldemort torturing and brutally murdering his former friend and leader, Karl Hartstark became… annoyed. It was then easy and not that expensive either to procure the Order's services. Especially after Daphne revealed that she did not actually want them to fight Voldemort but rather perform a more surgical strike, so to speak.
Assassination was, after all, the Order's forte.
"Once Bellatrix Lestrange is dead, you can reclaim her maiden vault," Daphne told him. "No doubt goblins will give us trouble with the transfer but at the very least, you will have the right to perform visual inspection of the vault and verify if the horcrux is really there."
Harry smiled as they cuddled on the couch, enjoying themselves despite the topic of their conversation. At this point, they were completely used to mixing romance with the planning and harsh realities of the war. It's not like they had any another choice.
"That still leaves one unknown Horcrux," Harry said and sighed. "Assuming it is the Hufflepuff's cup in Bellatrix's vault, we then have no idea what to look for next or where."
"That's true," the pureblood witch agreed unhappily. "You said it might be something connected to Ravenclaw. But unless you count books, I haven't heard of any artifacts left behind by Rowena," Daphne pointed out. "She was always utterly focused on the pursuit of knowledge. Material possessions did not really interest her unless they were helping her to achieve that goal."
"Then we have a problem," Harry summarized. "I could try to look into his mind. See if-"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Daphne cried instantly and flipped them over to look into his eyes. "It nearly killed you last time, Harry!" she yelled in fright. "Promise me you will not do that!" she demanded.
"Okay, okay… I promise!" Harry said immediately, regretting the fact he scared her like this. "Sorry."
After his promise, Daphne slowly calmed down before saying, "I realize you don't want to hear it but we don't really need to destroy his horcruxes. What's important is destroying Voldemort and dismantling his organization. Whether he is left as a disembodied spirit or goes to wherever broken souls like his go, does not really matter."
"You're right… I don't want to hear it," Harry admitted. They had this discussion before and although Daphne's arguments to that point made a certain sense, Harry could not accept it. "He came back once and could do it again," he told her.
Daphne chuckled darkly. "I don't think so, not this time. When the war is over, I'll make sure the entire country knows exactly who and what Voldemort was… I will turn his name into a stinking pile of shit. By the time I am done, there won't be a single person who would even think of resurrecting him again," she told him, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.
It excited Harry to hear her make promises like that. All that viciousness that Daphne sometimes displayed turned against his greatest enemy. Harry could not help but passionately kiss her again.
"Maybe you are right," he admitted when they separated. "But I don't think I could live in peace as long as there is even a theoretical chance he could come back. I could never move on with my life. I need him gone… forever," he told her and in the process had shared one of his innermost feelings. "Does that make any sense?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"I think I understand," Daphne said even as she hugged him. "And yes, it makes a perfect sense. In that case, let's find the last piece of him and send that monster to hell," she said, making another dark promise.
