Chapter 39: A New Year

Harry let out a murmured groan of pleasure as he felt Tonks' fingers digging into his forehead. He had thought that it would just be Hermione and him on the Hogwarts Express until Tonks had announced that there was no way he'd be on the train without an escort. Harry hadn't been able to tell whether she was going because she was actually worried about a potential attack or if she just wanted to spend a few extra hours with him before school started back up and their time together would drop precipitously. Either way, he didn't particularly care since he was getting to spend just a bit longer with his partner. Fleur surprisingly hadn't actually tried to tag along. She had claimed she was busy doing research at the moment and that she was simply going to monopolize the first Hogsmeade trip.

He didn't know how Tonks had done it but she'd found a way to make her head massages actually relieve some of the issues he'd been having with the Horcrux. She'd apparently taught her technique to Hermione as well so that his first partner would be able to keep helping him during the school year. Fleur hadn't been able to replicate their efforts unfortunately. Ideally none of their massages would be needed soon. Hopefully…maybe…if Merlin decided to come back from Avalon and personally tutor him perhaps…

His efforts on fixing the Soul Cage were hitting wall after all. The main problem seemed to be that the rune stone was trying to pull the larger soul – his own – instead of targeting Voldemort's hitchhiker. It wasn't something that should be happening since he'd included a targeting aspect to the scheme and every expert he'd talked to had agreed that the rune stone should be working. Shiva and Harry had been trying to figure out just what was going wrong nearly every day since his birthday with no noticeable progress at all.

He let out a sigh and then grunted as Tonks dug hard into his head. "Stop angsting, Wonder Boy. Concentrate on your massage."

"I'm not angsting," he muttered.

"Sure you aren't," she said amused. "And my hair isn't pink."

Hermione flipped a page in her book and gestured to Tonks without even looking up. "Your hair is blue today, love."

Tonks' fingers froze for a moment and Harry opened his eyes quickly enough to see her hair flash to pink and a blush spread across her features. He smiled up at her and chuckled as he closed his eyes again and relaxed back onto her lap again. "Nice, Nym."

"My point still stands," she said starting up her fingers again.

"Sorry, just musing on why the stupid Cage isn't working."

Hermione reached over and lightly flicked his arm. "We'll figure it out. There is a reason that the Egyptians didn't get it working you know. With all the modifications that you've made, Harry, I'm sure that it's going to end up being something incredibly small that has been overlooked. Just keep focused on how things will be after this is all over."

Harry felt Tonks nodding above him in agreement. "Mione's right. You can't be expected to fix something in two months that those crazy pyramid builders couldn't get right in two thousand years." She paused and he felt her silent chuckle ripple all the way down through her legs. "And I just heard how depressing that could sound so let's treat it like a joke instead, yeah? The positive thoughts are still holding the soul shard back right?"

"Yeah. That's not the secret to the massage thing is it? Because that would be kind of lame to be honest," Harry said smiling. Amazingly enough, keeping positive and happy had actually helped to keep the bonds around the Horcrux from straining too often. He wasn't naïve enough to think that it was because of any actual power behind the feelings hurting the Horcrux; it was far more likely that simply by keeping his spirits up he subconsciously reinforced the power in his mental walls. Whatever the actual mechanism behind it, the shard hadn't been able to influence him enough to convince him to try the slightly modified Soul Cage a second time. He was still getting nightmares, but at least it wasn't every night anymore.

"No, happy thoughts are not the secret to the massage, Wonder Boy," Tonks said laughing. "The secret is pressure points. Mum showed me some of the things she used when learning a bit of the Healer stuff and I adapted it."

"Ah," Harry said uttering another low contented groan as she hit a spot just to the side of his scar that sent tingles down his spine. "You are amazing, woman."

Tonks preened. "I prefer 'best damn woman ever' but amazing works too."

"Careful, Nym, say that around Dobby and he'll actually start calling you that," Hermione said distractedly.

Harry chuckled. "Nah, I think he's settling on Mistress Colorful for the moment."

There was a knock on the door to their compartment and a few moments later it slid open. "Heh, nice, Harry. Glad to see you're still in one piece and enjoying the benefits of a relationship," Su Li's amused voice drifted down to him.

Harry shrugged and waved to her popping his eyes open but not moving from his position. His grin widened as he saw Parvati and Padma stepping into the compartment next to the Asian girl. "Eh, got to enjoy it while it lasts. How are you, Su, Padma, Parvati?"

"Well," Su said with a feigned sigh, "I was going to say better than you, but considering you're apparently a necromancer now, you weren't targeted by the local incarnation of Hitler over the break and you're currently the recipient of a head massage…I can't really use that opening anymore."

Parvati grimaced. "Please don't say he's a necromancer. That's a bad omen."

Padma smacked her sister on the back of her head and rolled her eyes. "Will you stop with the Divination shite already! Harry, we wanted to let you know what we found out from talking to our families over the summer."

Harry gently pushed Tonks' hands away and sat up. He pulled a Privacy Stone from his bag, activated it, schooled his features and nodded to the three newcomers. "Okay. Any good news?"

"Unfortunately not really much from our end," Padma said grimacing. "Most of the stories my family found were pretty inconclusive. We know similar things have happened in the past, but the resolutions tend to be killing the victim. Other alternatives are mostly lost to myth. One story had Vishnu himself step in to save the girl. It makes a nice story, but I doubt you want to waste time searching for a god that probably doesn't even exist."

"I had marginally more success," Su Li said sighing. "Sadly, it's not really useful for our purposes. Depending on the level of contamination, Chinese wizards had great success with simply removing the affected limb." She smirked at Harry. "Somehow I don't think even you could survive without a head."

Harry snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm not quite that awesome. Plus, it's been in me long enough that it's probably tied too closely to my own soul for that option to work well."

"Agreed," Su said. "My mother had an old friend that knew of a potential potion combination that might work. It's…I think it should be a last resort personally."

Hermione frowned and took out a notepad. "How dangerous is it?"

Su shrugged. "Well from what my mum remembered it pretty much kills him for a few minutes. The potions should bring him back afterwards, but I checked into some of the ingredients and it's basically the same chance as getting resuscitated in a Muggle hospital."

"Agreed, killing Harry is not going to be our primary option," Hermione said nodding.

Tonks raised her hand. "I fail to see how killing him would even help. Isn't the goal to not have to die?"

Parvati shook her head. "Well it clears his aura and – " She cut off and dodged her sister's hand before huffing and turning back to the others. "Fine, it tricks the Horcrux into thinking the vessel is destroyed and it loses its anchor. The trick is to keep him 'dead' long enough that the extra soul is kicked out, but not so long that you can't bring him back."

"So like I said, last resort," Su said crossing her arms and leaning back.

"Agreed." Harry breathed out and leaned against Tonks. "Thanks for checking girls. I really do appreciate it. Hopefully I'll get my rune option working before things get desperate enough to have to resort to an Only Mostly Dead alternative."

"I love that movie!" Parvati said perking up. She blushed immediately and sank back into the cushions. "Sorry."

The rest of the compartment just chuckled. Within another minute they were chatting about their respective summers while Tonks hummed and went back to massaging Harry's forehead.

"Remember, Harry, Fleur and I are just a Comm Stone call away," Tonks said as she leaned against one of the pillars on the Hogsmeade train platform. "If anything happens – and I mean anything – call us and let us know."

"I will," he promised.

"Good," she nodded. "I'm going to miss you, Wonder Boy. Hopefully by the time I get to spend the day with you again we'll have a few things taken care of. We'll keep you in the loop. Just keep yourself on your toes and keep your training going. I love you, Harry." Tonks' hair shifted to a deep red and she leaned in to capture his lips. Harry responded in kind and though they only stayed connected for a few moments both felt warmed as they pulled back.

Tonks turned to Hermione and pulled the younger girl into a kiss as well though theirs was slightly chaster. Hermione blushed as she stepped back. "I'll watch out for him in the meantime and endeavor to minimize the trouble that he gets into," Hermione said. "You and Fleur make sure to watch out for each other."

"We will, hon. Go get on the carriages and tell Lily and Shiva I said hi," Tonks said smiling at them. Both students returned the grin and slotted into the queue for a seat. As they hopped up into a seat across from Luna and Coco Harry's mind wandered.

He wasn't sure what to expect from this year. Voldemort's martial strength was growing, but they were starting to galvanize some of the masses against him. Progress was slow, but Sirius and Remus' defense articles in the Quibbler seemed to be helping. The last minor attack by Death Eaters had actually seen five nearby civilians fighting back. They hadn't really done much damage, but they had kept the terrorists from hurting anyone until the Aurors showed. Harry felt he should be doing more to help the fight directly rather than just sitting around in school…Well either way, with his luck he'd probably get dragged into something by the end of the year so maybe he could use Hogwarts as a way to establish a large group of people willing to help in whatever craziness May/June would bring…

The Welcoming Feast yielded a few surprises for Harry this year. That Lily was the new Muggle Studies teacher was something he'd known going in so that didn't ruffle any feathers. When Headmistress McGonagall announced it though, the huge cheer that broke out in the Great Hall did see him rocking back on his seat a bit. He'd expected some people to be excited about his mother coming to teach; he just hadn't expected it to be quite so many or quite so enthusiastic.

The real surprise was Sirius. How his godfather had managed to stay quiet about landing the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was a mystery for the ages. Harry supposed he should be happy about this. He tried to think of it in a good light. He really tried. He thought about Remus and how great the werewolf had been. Then the fact that out of four Defense teachers, three had actively tried to kill or permanently injure him crept back into the forefront and Harry scowled. Sirius should have warned him. Now he was going to have to be careful to ensure that Fate didn't throw him into a situation where his godfather would be raising a wand against him even inadvertently. Fantastic.

For his part, Sirius seemed perfectly jolly sitting up there and chatting with Sinistra and Sprout. Snape was entertaining to watch as he shifted from muted disgust while looking at Sirius to almost sad longing when he gazed at Lily. Harry turned from the man and dug into his food waving away Hermione's raised eyebrows. "Snape," he murmured filling his glass with pumpkin juice.

"Ah," she replied following his lead and moving food onto her plate. "Well try to reserve judgment on him this year. There's always the chance he could take what your mother said to heart after all."

"Or pigs could fly," Harry said.

Luna looked up at his with a devilish gleam in her eyes despite her dreamy smile. "Daddy made pigs fly over the summer actually. He thought it might attract a Drifting Kelburg – sadly it didn't work. I don't think those are real myself, but it did seem to worth attempting at least."

Hermione chuckled in amusement at her friend and patted Harry's knee. "See, even Luna thinks that the arse has the potential to change. Well…I think that's what she meant. That is what you meant right, Luna?" Luna just smiled wider in response and started eating.

Dinner was almost over when Harry's Comm Stone buzzed. "Harry, it's Daphne. Would you and Hermione be willing to meet me in the Room after the meal for several minutes?" Harry frowned. His friend sounded far more uncertain than usual and it set him slightly on edge.

"Sure," he replied. "We're Prefects this year so we have to lead the Firsties up to the Common Room first though. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, it's fine," Daphne said a bit of amusement creeping into her voice. "I'm Prefect as well remember? We sat across from each other in the compartment during the meeting, Harry."

"I was…a little distracted…" he mumbled.

Daphne laughed and he could see her shaking her head at the other table. "Noooo, really? I would never have guessed. Just head up to it afterwards. Whichever of us get's there first please set it to the Lounge configuration."

"Okay. I'll see you then I guess."

"See you soon, Harry," Daphne agreed. "Disconnect."

Harry turned to Hermione who was already nodding. "Daphne wants to talk?" she asked.

Harry just stared at his partner incredulously. "How do you do that?"

Hermione smiled and patted his leg. "Woman's intuition." She finished her dinner and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Also, you turned to look at her while talking. Pretty big hint, love." She stood and waved the First Years over to her as the Hall started to empty out. Harry shook his head in amusement and took his place at the back making sure that none of the new students got lost along the trek to their dorm.

Harry followed Hermione into the Room of Requirement to find Daphne already there pacing. A somewhat amused Tracey was sitting cross-legged behind her on the couch. Harry felt sweat start to bead on his forehead as he flashed back to Daphne's actions immediately prior to the Final Task a few months back. Daphne's hesitation earlier suddenly made much more sense.

"Oh, you're here. Good. That's good," Daphne muttered. Abruptly she stopped pacing and took a deep breath visibly centering herself and seeming to calm down a bit. Harry on the other hand had to fight down a rising panic. He had expected this. His partners had been pretty clear throughout the summer that this conversation was likely going to be happening soon. He just hadn't expected it on the day he got back to school. He had hoped to have a bit more time to get used to the idea.

It was funny. None of his partners had been actively pushing him to accept Daphne as a potential Concubine, but they'd all made it perfectly clear that they were okay with the idea. Harry figured that he was probably one of the only men in the world whose girlfriends were trying to help him recruit more harem members instead of dissuading him from it. He felt like a character from a Japanese manga…

"Harry, you can sit down you know," Hermione said from the couch, her lips curled up in amusement. Harry blushed and quickly sat down next to her.

Daphne nodded to herself and sat on the edge of the cushion next to Tracey. Tracey just waved a hello. "Harry," Daphne said, "I've been thinking – for some time now. I already spoke to Hermione, Tonks and Fleur on the train home last term. I think it's no secret anymore that I am attracted to you; however…before I continue I would like to know something. Harry, are you attracted to me?"

He looked to Hermione who just raised her eyebrows at him. Silently Harry cursed her ability to smirk at his awkwardness. What was this now, three times that she got to see him in this position? Where was Tonks when he needed her? Actually…no, Tonks would've made it worse. Fleur however would've been nice backup. Suppressing his inner turmoil, Harry turned back to Daphne and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I am. I'd have to be blind not to be, Daph. In case you haven't noticed you are rather beautiful, incredibly intelligent and one of the people I trust the most."

"Well more specifics beyond generalities would've been nice, but you appear almost as nervous about this as I am so I'm not going harp on that," Daphne said chuckling slightly.

Hermione snorted. "Trust me, this is calm compared to when I first brought up dating Tonks. Poor boy completely shut down."

"Men," Tracey commented rolling her eyes and causing herself and Hermione to begin laughing in earnest. Daphne and Harry each glared at their respective partners until they quieted down.

"As I was saying," Daphne continued, "Harry, I've spent this past summer thinking about quite a few topics. You, Tracey, me, my father, my feelings. It's…confusing to say the least. I don't like being confused." She scowled for a moment before smoothing out her features again with a deep breath. "To be perfectly honest my father complicated things quite a bit. I've been attracted to you for some time now. I tried to ignore it and we both saw how well that worked out before the Final Task."

"Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise," Harry commented dryly.

Daphne grimaced. "I am sorry about that. I was rather overwhelmed at the time. It's why I've spent so long thinking about where I stand. My father has been pushing me to make an official alliance for several years now. Initially when we became friends I used you as a convenient target to make him back off. He recently started pushing me harder on that front and I needed to…I needed to make sure that what I was starting to feel for you was me and not what I was supposed to feel. Not – arg! Does this make sense at all?"

Harry frowned and cocked his head a bit. "You wanted to know that you liked me because you liked me and not because you'd simply been telling your father it enough that you'd started to believe it by proxy or something?"

She nodded. "Close enough. What I ended up deciding was…that I do like you on my own. I like you a great deal. Harry, you are as important to me as Tracey which scares me. I…" she stopped and shook her head before looking him directly in the eye. "I would very much like the opportunity to try dating you and to throw my hat into the ring for the House Black Concubine position."

"And Tracey?" Harry asked gesturing to their friend.

"That is where things get a bit more complicated," Daphne said. "I don't want to give her up. I don't want to break things off with her. Like I said, you and she are on equal levels to me. Just like Hermione, Tonks and Fleur are all on equal levels for you. I understand that you four are trying to maintain a polyamorous relationship. I'm certainly not adverse to that at all. I am willing to try and slot into that to a degree though I can't promise miracles. I like Fleur very much though it's not love – at least not yet. I'm undecided on Tonks though I do respect her a great deal and her humor is rather ideal at times. While Hermione and I tend to be rather opposite in terms of approach and philosophy I think we strike a good balance between the two of us. We also both excel in our love of our studies."

Daphne looked to Tracey briefly and turned back to Harry. "Tracey however is not interested in joining your group. Nor is she looking for a Line Continuation option as her family doesn't particularly care about those things. What I am saying, Harry, is that I want to try dating you, I am open to seeing if something grows between me and the other women in your group and I want there to be an understanding that I will continue dating Tracey separate from the main group." She grimaced and continued in a quieter voice, "I don't want to say I'm asking your blessing to have a mistress but…well that's basically what I'm asking."

Harry leaned back into his seat and rubbed his scar. He wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or impressed that a large chunk of this conversation had gone just like Hermione had predicted. "Daphne, I'm a little surprised that you're willing to try and build something with my partners, but your reasoning here seems a bit…well forced. We're all in this because we want to be, not because of conditions or because we feel we have to."

Daphne winced. "I didn't explain this well. That's not what I tried to imply. I…dammit this should not be this hard to talk about!"

Tracey sat forward a bit and rubbed a hand down Daphne's back. "Let me try. Harry, Hermione, Daph isn't saying she's going to force herself into loving the girls in your harem. She's saying she's not going to wall herself off into a little box of just me and Harry. Tonks and Fleur didn't love each other before joining your group. Well, Tonks didn't love her at least. That's all that Daph is saying."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say that?" Harry groaned shaking his head in exasperation. "I swear girls get more confusing the older we all get."

"Sooo…that's pretty much all I had planned to say," Daphne said quietly.

Harry crossed his arms and leaned back thinking. Most of his time over the past two months had been consumed with the Horcrux, his mother, Voldemort and the manor. Whenever he hadn't been dealing with those though he'd been thinking about how he was going to respond to Daphne when this came up. Was he okay with her having a mistress on the side even if said mistress was a good friend? Considering his current relationship status – and life in general, not to mention his atypical family – he certainly wasn't leading a normal life. Was a girlfriend who had a mistress that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things? It really wasn't.

There was also the fact that Daphne was basically his best friend outside of his partners. In some ways she was even closer to him than Fleur or Tonks. Somewhere along the line he'd come to rely more on Daphne than Neville, his closest male friend. She'd consistently backed him up even in situations where she would have been better hanging back. Almost every confrontation with Snape and the few times with Fudge were prime examples. Then there was the incident early in the summer with the Aurors and how he and Daphne had taken down two trained Dark Wizard hunters without even breaking a sweat because they worked together smoothly enough that they knew how the other fought without having to communicate. Was he willing to risk damaging what they had in the hope that they might find something even better?

"Daphne," Harry said slowly. "I'm okay with your conditions. I want to be clear on something though. When I started dating Hermione we agreed that our friendship always came first. We agreed that if things got weird then we would drop the relationship aspect of things and try to go back to being just friends. I care about you too, Daphne. Besides my partners, you're basically my best friend. If we try dating, I want the same assurance that me and Hermione had. Friends first, partners second."

Daphne smiled and nodded. "I completely agree." She grimaced then and quickly continued, "One thing though. There is a chance that my father would…try to forcefully move matters along quicker than any of us are comfortable with. If that happens I fully intend to pull back and deal with my family issues on my own rather than inconvenience the group."

Harry rolled his eyes and stood up. "Daph, I swear you and Hermione have the exact same problem. You both think far too much sometimes." He quickly glanced to Hermione who nodded to him with a satisfied grin. A similar encouraging smile from Tracey saw Harry pulling Daphne up from the couch.

This time he was the one kissing her.

Draco Malfoy had skipped his annual taunting of Harry Potter on the Express this year. He had better things to do this time. Plans to finalize, allies to acquire, research to complete. He'd seen the Greengrass bitch and the Davis slut waltz out of the Common Room just a few minutes ago so it was finally time to pool his forces.

Potter would pay for stealing his mother from him.

Shutting the door to the Fifth Year Boys' Dorm, Draco cast several privacy and silencing spells and turned to his gang. Crabbe and Goyle were, as usual, sitting and staring at him dumbly. Pansy Parkinson looked up at him with desire and longing. Theodore Nott had some intelligence in his eyes – something which would make him difficult to control, but Draco knew he needed the extra muscle for this job. The bitch couldn't be underestimated otherwise his entire plan would backfire. "Gentlemen, welcome back. I think you all know why we are here."

"Revenge," Crabbe muttered.

"We've all lost family to Potter and his whores," Draco said ignoring his bodyguard. "They – "

"Hold on a second," Theo said cutting in with a scowl. "Pansy hasn't lost shit. Neither have you, Draco."

Draco snarled at Theo. How dare the little bastard question him! "Potter did something to entice and seduce my mother. She'd never leave Father or me; especially not when we are on the eve of winning everything that we always wanted! Everything we always believed! I don't know what he did, but he did something! He's brainwashed her and I'm going to show him just what happens when he crosses followers of the Dark Lord!"

Theo just snorted. "I want to hurt the son of a bitch too. He killed my father barely two months ago! Unfortunately nothing that you just said explains why we can trust Pansy to be here. I won't be discussing anything against anyone until I know that everyone here has a personal stake in the matter!"

Pansy raised her eyebrows at Theo and held out her hand. She wiggled her fingers drawing attention to a – very small – diamond ring. "I'm Draco's betrothed. Satisfied?"

"Seriously?" Theo asked incredulously. He looked from Pansy to Draco and burst out laughing. "Wow Pansy I know you haven't exactly won the beauty lottery but Draco? Either you must be really desperate or you actually love the little ponce! Whatever, consider me appeased." Theo waved for Draco to continue. The blonde had to actually bite his tongue in order to prevent himself from cursing his fellow Slytherin. That wouldn't do…not just yet at least. No, he could wait until after they took out Potter's slut before reminding Theo just who had the ear of the Dark Lord.

"Now that we're all happy," Draco snarled, "we can continue. The best way to hurt Potter is to hurt his whores."

"I call dibs on the Mudblood," Goyle said raising his hand. The others turned to stare at him and the giant just shrugged. "What? Since Brown helped her out the Mudblood's gotten hot. Did you see her at the Yule Ball? If we're going after them, I want dibs."

Draco rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Goyle, use your brain for once. We can't go after the Mudblood, it's exactly what they'd expect."

Theo nodded. "We also can't try for Loony. The girl's smarter than she looks and Flint had a firsthand demonstration of what happens when she has even half a chance to run. There are better options."

"We should probably avoid Bones and Abbott too," Pansy said frowning. "They don't travel with a pack, but unless we kill them, Susan would make sure her aunt killed us. If she didn't do it herself."

"Agreed," Draco said.

Crabbe scowled. "So who the bloody hell are we supposed to attack then? The metaslut isn't here anymore, the French tart's probably back in her cheese-eating cesspit and I ain't killing an owl. That's bad luck."

Goyle shrugged. "The runes teacher is decent looking for a teacher. We could go after her. Keep her from her runes and she should be easy to take out. Or we could just go for the mother. Lily Potter is hot."

"Is that all you think about?" Pansy asked grimacing and glaring at the boy.

Goyle chuckled and jerked his chin to her. "Didn't hear you complaining last year. Besides, the Potter woman's only been up and moving for like two months. She can't have all her old reflexes back yet. Shouldn't be much of a fight."

Theo groaned and slapped a hand to his head. "Talk about famous last words. I'd love to watch you try just so I could be there laughing as she rips your dick off and shoves it up your arse before cutting out your intestines and strangling you with them. Stay away from Lily Potter if you value your life. That woman's temper and skill were damn near legend before she came back from the dead."

Draco sighed and nodded. "As much as I'd love to go after Lily Potter, I agree. The Dark Lord would surely reward us all immensely if we humiliated or killed her, but I doubt we would get a good chance. She's going to be watching her back just as closely as her spawn and the Mudblood. We have a far easier target that should hurt him just as much."

"Which one are you thinking? Greengrass or Davis?" Theo asked completely unsurprised.

Draco nodded to the boy; this was why he needed someone who could think a bit in the group. "Greengrass. The whore thinks she's too good for me – us – and she's been practically drooling over Potter since second year. What makes it even better is that she's with the half-blood so she's not doing jack squat with him. When we get her bent over, we can make sure the pictures get back to Davis. There's no way that lesbian bitch will be able to deal with her lover fucking a man. We take care of both of them in one shot while hurting Potter!"

"Snape should protect us even if the bitch talks," Pansy put in. "We're just showing a Blood Traitor what happens if you don't choose the right side. He'll back us up in private and make sure any punishment is barely a slap on the wrist."

Theo shook his head and shot Draco an evil grin. "She won't be able to talk when we're through with her."

"With any luck we can break her enough to land her right next to Lockhart," Draco said, his answering grin just as disturbing. "Now, here's the plan."

The first day of classes went by relatively quickly for Harry. He had switched his schedule to add Muggle Studies so he could see how his mother taught and that had jumbled his schedule up enough that he had last period free on Mondays. Charms class had been even more fun than usual today. Flitwick seemed to be ecstatic for some reason and he had wanted to share the mood with everyone so they all got to review Cheering Charms – in preparation for the O.W.L.s of course.

Harry was still smiling and laughing with Hermione, Neville, Su and Padma as they walked out of the classroom.

"I'm heading down to the greenhouse. I'll see you guys later," Padma said waving.

Harry lifted his own hand but froze halfway through the gesture as his Comm Stone started screaming in his ear. "You bastards think you're going to get away with this?" Daphne's voice snarled. Harry flinched and fell backwards into the wall in his surprise. "All you're doing is marking yourself as surely as your master would. Except his mark just means you're a bigoted fool while this one is going to see you killed."

Harry growled low, all the effects of the cheering charm blasted away. "Where?" He focused solely on his friend's voice ignoring the looks of concern and confusion on the others' faces.

Something like a muffled laugh came over the link before Daphne spoke again. "Idiots! Throwing someone into the third floor classroom near that obstacle course doesn't guarantee privacy. Touch me and you're living on borrowed time." Another muffled reply was soon followed by a loud slap, a scream of pain and the link went dead.

Harry barely even noticed. He was already running. His vision went red and something inside him screamed to rip and tear and hurt. He didn't even try to fight the urges this time since he could use them to power him forward. Dimly he heard shouts from behind him, but they weren't important. His blood boiled and his brain raced. As he tore down the corridor and rounded a corner he reviewed the rune stones in his utility belt, discarding several options. He pushed through one of the tapestries to leap into the secret passage and as soon as he reached the other side Harry shifted to Midnight for better speed.

The panther's improved hearing made him aware of pounding footfalls behind him that were falling further behind as his leaps carried his forward. Students emptying out of a classroom jumped out of his way as he bounded off a corner wall just outside their door. A shouted "Mr. Potter!" in McGonagall's shocked voice echoed behind him but Midnight didn't even pause. His eyes narrowed as he saw the corridor open up into the Grand Staircase just ahead. The stairs were shifting to align better for him, almost as if the castle itself was helping.

They weren't moving fast enough. Midnight jumped using the Windrunner tattoos to give himself a boost and he shifted back in midair. Harry landed just long enough on the railing ahead to push forward across the gap in the staircase. Exclamations rang out behind him as he dropped a floor down, grabbed the bottom rungs of the banister and used it to swing himself into the next corridor. He didn't land perfectly and had to roll to his feet losing some speed, but it was better than waiting for the stairs.

He was only one corridor away when Filch stepped out of a broom closet just before a sharp turn directly in Harry's path. Harry didn't bother trying to move out of the way, he just stuck out an arm, wrapped it around a surprised Filch's elbow and used his speed and the counterweight to take the turn without losing any momentum at all.

He heard Filch start shouting behind him and McGonagall appeared to have gotten close enough to shout something back. Harry's eyes just narrowed as he took in the sealed door ahead of him that Daphne had managed to pinpoint. He stopped pumping his arms and held his hands forward, wand clutched in one hand and the Knockback tattoo glowing in his other.

**Mature Content Begins Here**

Daphne fought down the urge to scream in rage and panic. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her hurt let alone desperate. This was her own damn fault for getting careless. Even then though…Malfoy shouldn't have been able to come up with this by himself. They'd been too smart for the arrogant little shite to have been the brains behind the plan. Having one of them polyjuiced to look like a Firstie then stun her had been a good strategy. She hadn't even realized something was wrong until it was too late to dodge.

When she'd woken up her hands had already been tied to the desk in front of her with her legs spread to the side. Her face had turned red as she realized that the breeze in the room was hitting bare skin everywhere and that the little pile of rags in the corner was her clothes. She took a bit of relief in knowing that despite being naked they couldn't see much of her beyond her bare back and arse. Yet. That was when Malfoy had started laughing and taunting her.

"Still too good for me you little Blood Traitor whore?" Malfoy asked grinning sadistically. Daphne's eyes narrowed as she spied Pansy in the corner with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed. Malfoy's bodyguards were leering at her and Theodore Nott was up on one of the desks grinning. Four boys and the worst bitch in the year. Daphne had to shut her eyes and slam down every mental shield that had been ground into her since birth. Just like sharks, weakness would only make these assaulters more excited.

"Wow, what big strong men," Daphne deadpanned. She was proud of how she kept the tremble out of her voice. This was bad. This was very, very bad. She couldn't do wandless magic yet beyond a few spells and they all had to be directional. Dammit she should've asked Harry to tattoo a Boomstone or something onto her! "Was the child Imperiused or were one of you getting your jollies on in her shape?" Crabbe scowled. Well that answered that question – not that it helped her at all. Except for stalling. Stalling was good. They were obviously still in a classroom so if she could keep them distracted long enough she just might get lucky and have some random student walk in on them.

Sure and maybe Ron Weasley could learn how to pronounce 'electricity' while she waited for that.

Malfoy strode forward his grin falling a bit. He grabbed her hair and jerked her face up. "You bitch. You think you're better than us? You think you can spurn me without any consequences? You think that you can sit there and make out with the half-blood slut while making googoo eyes at Potter? We'll show you what it's like to be with a real man. We'll show you just what happens to people who laugh at the Dark Lord. You may not be one of Potter's whores yet, but you're close enough to him that this works to teach him a lesson too. I get to kill three birds with one stone."

Daphne's mind raced even as he dropped her hair and her forehead smacked into the desk and she blinked away tears of pain. They didn't know she was dating Harry yet. That was good. That meant even if she couldn't escape she'd likely survive. Probably not fully intact… while Goyle would likely be satisfied with just raping her and being done with it, Crabbe was enough of a brute that he wouldn't let her leave without several bruises or broken bones. Malfoy seemed to have legitimately lost a few marbles so how far he'd go was up in the air. That Nott was here was…worrying. Theodore didn't do anything halfway so she'd have to be careful just how much defiance she showed until she found a way out. "Funny, I only see two birds here. Is one of your bodyguards going to volunteer their arse or does Pansy count as two?" she asked deliberately misinterpreting his meaning.

Daphne silently cursed herself. So much for watching how far she took the taunts. She bit her tongue to try and refocus and ignore the mounting sense of helplessness and fear. She couldn't afford to slip. There was a very small chance that if she made Pansy awkward and guilty enough that the other girl would leave and send someone here to stop things quickly enough to matter.

"Will you just fuck the bitch already? I'm not keen on watching you guys verbally wank off and I want to get these pictures before someone comes," Pansy said glaring at Daphne. Well there went that hope. Daphne felt her eyes burn again and tried to convince herself it was just from blood dripping into them.

"Nobody's going to come," Nott said rolling his eyes. "People are 'afraid' of this corridor. Ever since that giant arse dog was in the next room no one has had the bollocks to wander here long. It's right moronic. If you're going to avoid a room, avoid the bathroom with the 60 foot snake climbing up the pipes." He snorted and hopped off the desk running his eyes over her back. Daphne couldn't help a slight shudder from his wandering gaze. "I do agree though, we should move this along."

Malfoy squatted down so that his head was level with hers and he stared right into her eyes. "Do you think your slut will get wet looking at the pictures of us taking you or will she cry and refuse to ever touch you again? I'm honestly a bit curious myself. I wonder how Potter will feel when he too gets these tomorrow morning?" He stood back and grinned wider while starting to loosen his robes. "You may be the Slytherin Ice Queen but you're pretty hot. This is going to be so much fun."

It was all she could do to hold back a scream of rage at her impotence. She was Daphne Greengrass! She had a boyfriend and a known, accepted mistress! She was the Heir Greengrass! She was Harry Potter's Right Hand! She had fought a fucking basilisk! She had killed a Dementor! She was not going to simply sit here tied to a blasted table and let inbred cavemen rape her!

Daphne ruthlessly beat back the shivers running down her back and fanned the flames of her rage. She ran over everything that even might help. She'd been trying to pool her magic to do that wind thing that Harry did when he was close to losing control, but nothing in the room had even fluttered let alone done anything strong enough to break her bonds or signal for – Daphne's thoughts froze and she blinked, cursing her panic and how it apparently killed her brain cells. They'd taken her clothes and her wand, but the arrogant arses hadn't removed her earrings! "Comm on, contact Harry," she muttered as quietly as possible. She should have paid more attention when he'd mentioned how to use the emergency broadcast mode. Harry was good, but a dozen saviors would have been better. "You bastards think you're going to get away with this?" she snarled loud enough to be just shy of yelling. "All you're doing is marking yourself as surely as your master would. Except his mark just means you're a bigoted fool while this one is going to see you killed."

A growl came across the Comm Stone line and Daphne refused to smile despite knowing that Harry had heard her. He was coming. She wasn't going to have to face this – or face Tracey and Harry afterwards. Harry was coming and everything was going to be okay just like always. "Where?" the growl said in her eye. Daphne started to hyperventilate as her perfect solution crashed to a halt. Where was she?

Wait! Daphne flung her mind back to a few minutes ago. What had Nott just said? Giant dog…giant dog…where had there been a giant dog in the castle lately?

Malfoy laughed. "Big words from a whore splayed out like you are."

First year! Before she'd ever even met Harry and the others, they had gone through some sort of trapped area with a cerberus guarding the entrance! She could have pumped her arms in triumph. "Idiots! Throwing someone into the third floor classroom near that obstacle course doesn't guarantee privacy. Touch me and you're living on borrowed time."

Malfoy scowled. "I was just going to have my fun with you, bitch. Now I want to see you break," he said quietly. Drawing back his hand Malfoy slapped her hard enough that her head smacked into the desk again. A second later, he grabbed her ears and tore out both the Comm Stone and her regular earring. She couldn't hold back her anguished shout as her ears felt like they were on fire. Malfoy straightened up and blood from her ears dripped down his hands to land at his feet under his open robe. Daphne's head rang from the pain, but she tried to focus on her impending rescue. Harry knew where she was. He was coming. He was coming.

"So who gets her first?" Nott asked.

"Me," Crabbe said stepping forward and running a hand down her back before clamping onto her arse. Daphne bit her tongue again to keep from crying out. "I had to be that pipsqueak and I was the one who hit her. I should get first crack."

"You can wait your turn," Malfoy snarled glaring at his bodyguard. "This was my plan so I get to start. You can have her mouth." Daphne's eyes narrowed and hatred burned through the fog that was starting to descend over her. If Malfoy had started with her mouth then at least then she could have walked away with a 'souvenir' that the boy would never forget.

Malfoy dropped the remainder of his robes and moved behind her. Daphne screwed her eyes shut and tried to force her breathing to slow down and get back under control. She was Daphne Greengrass and she would not break! Harry was coming. She just had to hold on a little longer. Rescue was coming. Just a little –

The door to the room exploded inward. Pieces of wood from the hinges and the lock flew off to either side while the door itself soared through the air landing nearly in the middle of the classroom. Riding it down was Harry Potter, looking like the Angel of Death himself. Messy black hair completely disheveled, glowing wand in one hand, glowing runic tattoo in the other, glowing rune stones emblazoned in twin arcs across his chest from his bandoliers, eyes wide and bright, robes billowing out behind him in an unseen wind and his face set in an expression promising pain and vengeance.

He was the most beautiful thing Daphne had ever seen. It almost made her fragile control shatter seeing him here.

Harry had barely touched ground when spells lashed out from his hands. Daphne could barely follow his movements he was going so quickly. Crabbe was blasted into the wall with a wave of force from Harry's hand while his wand shot out a sparking blue spell that Daphne recognized as a bone-breaker. She didn't see who it hit but a grunt of pain told her it hit home. Harry was already rolling and casting from a rune stone held up in each hand. An instant later, Pansy was frozen to the wall completely encased in ice with just a small section around her mouth and nose exposed to the air. Something shot out from Harry's other hand at the same time, but Daphne couldn't see what it was. The high-pitched scream from Malfoy sent a shot of ruthless pleasure down her spine and she decided identifying what Harry had done wasn't important – only that it had hit the would-be rapist. Harry finished his roll and shot another bone-breaker from his wand felling Goyle with a hit on his tailbone.

The entire 'battle' from the time the door had exploded to the time all opponents were down had taken barely five seconds.

Daphne heard Harry grunt and a second later a flash of silver crossed her vision and the table jumped slightly. Her bonds went completely slack and she saw him drop the Sword of Gryffindor as he moved forward and swept her off the table, draping a robe around her body and pulling her into his arms. She leaned her head against his chest and let him embrace her. She didn't know quite how long they stayed crouched on the floor, but it was barely enough time for her to regain a measure of her composure before more people burst into the room. She raised her head slightly and was momentarily distracted by the wet spot on Harry's shirt front right where she had been resting. Had she been crying? Scowling and shunting her confusion to the side, Daphne twisted slightly and gasped slightly at seeing Filch at the head of the pack of personnel. McGonagall was almost right behind him followed by Neville, Hermione, several more of Daphne's friends and a thoroughly winded Flitwick.

Everyone froze at seeing the scene in the room. Daphne turned her eyes to the side and her mouth fell open in shock at seeing Malfoy. He was pinned to wall by a spike through his right thigh and one through his left shoulder. The little piss stain was whimpering and holding a hand to the spike in his shoulder. He was also still very naked. Daphne reveled in the karmic justice in front of her for a moment, but started to scowl as it didn't seem to be quite enough. She wrapped Harry's conjured sheet around herself tighter and pushed back from him enough that she could stand. Well, enough that she could try to stand. The fucking bastards had apparently kept her tied long enough that her legs had gone numb. Thankfully Harry caught her before she wobbled too much and he looped an arm around her waist for support.

Daphne squeezed Harry's arm in thanks and returned her malevolent stare to Malfoy. Before she could say anything though McGonagall spoke. "Miss Greengrass? Are you…are you alright?"

"Do I look alright, Headmistress?" Daphne asked turning her glare on the professor. She knew that they were supposed to ask those types of questions but really! She was wrapped in a sheet, could barely stand, her ears and head were still bleeding and she was still practically hyperventilating – did she look remotely alright?! "I was just molested by some of the biggest pigs in the school! Harry may have arrived and interrupted them prior to any actual...before they managed to...before they could complete their intent but let's please not forget that I was just tied to a table naked with four leering men and one leering woman standing over me. My injuries to pride and mentality aside, things are mostly superficial. As long as you discount my ruined ears, my repeatedly smashed head and that I can't seem to stand on my own!" Daphne's voice had been steadily rising throughout and she knew she was ranting, but couldn't be bothered to care much. Harry squeezed her to him tighter and she forced herself to take a large breath and simply return to glaring at Malfoy.

"We should get you to Madame Pomfrey, Miss Greengrass," Flitwick said his own breathing having returned to normal as he walked forward. Harry's grip tightened on her and Daphne turned to him in confusion. Harry's eyes were flashing as he looked at the approaching Flitwick and one of his tattoos started to dimly shimmer. She didn't have a chance to speak before Hermione had swept forward from the group, hurried past Flitwick, grabbed Harry's chin in her hand and gently moved his head so that he was staring into her eyes. After a few moments Daphne felt the tension in her new boyfriend loosen considerably and he took a shaky breath.

"Thanks, Mione," he murmured just barely loud enough for the two girls to hear. "I'm good now."

Filch scowled and looked up from the prone body of Nott and jerked his head towards McGonagall. "Headmistress what about these others? They seem rather bad off."

"Should just let them bleed out," Su Li muttered. Daphne couldn't tell whether the comment had been intentionally loud enough to carry or if she just didn't care. Either way, Daphne wholeheartedly agreed with the girl. Neville and Padma were also nodding their concurrence.

McGonagall however, sadly did not share their ruthlessness. Her face contorted into a grimace of disgust and she flicked her wand tying up the three on the floor. "Filius, please assist Argus in removing these…students to the infirmary. Then contact the Aurors; this will not go unpunished. I will see to Mr. Malfoy personally. Mr. Potter, is there a special way to unfreeze, Ms. Parkinson?"

"No," Harry said shaking his head. "It's just ice. You melt it or chip it off. Should probably do it soon though. She's going to be freezing in there. Sorry about grabbing you, Mr. Filch. I was…kinda in a hurry," he mumbled running a hand through his hair. Filch narrowed his eyes, but nodded slowly as he took in Daphne still held tightly against Harry's chest.

A pained whimper alerted the occupants to McGonagall getting Malfoy off the wall and hovering ahead of her. "Filius, please extricate Ms. Parkinson before heading out with the others."

"One moment, Professor," Daphne said angling herself and Harry so that she was standing in front of Malfoy. "If I may?" she asked. McGonagall seemed to struggle with an internal battle before turning with Flitwick and Filch as all three moved to intensely study Pansy and begin chipping off the ice. Malfoy remained hovering in midair though he now had a sheet tied around him in a perverse foil to her own 'attire'.

Daphne's eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a snarl. This inbreed had…Daphne's voice came out low and laced with venom. "I did warn you that you were marking yourself by touching me. Harry, may I borrow your wand? I don't know where they put mine." He nodded and passed it over. Daphne felt the holly wood warm in her hand. It wasn't quite as good a match as her own, but it was better than she had expected and would do well for the task at hand. "Allow me to show you just why my nickname is Ice Queen you fucking bastard." She took aim at Malfoy's nether regions and shot off the spell that her mother had taught her before she'd ever left the house. The hovering boy uttered a high pitched warble causing Daphne to smile in triumph and lean back into Harry. "Headmistress, if you're done with Pansy, I'd appreciate an escort to the hospital wing."

McGonagall turned and nodded, waving her wand to get Malfoy floating out into the corridor. "Of course, Miss Greengrass. I'm sure the others can handle things here. Come along."

**Mature Content Ends Here**

Marcus Greengrass scowled and crumpled the letter in his hands. Those uncivilized buffoons had tried to despoil his daughter! His Heir! They had nearly ruined everything for him!

If Daphne were to be sullied like that her bride price would drop precipitously. She would be used goods. Dirtied. Unworthy. He'd never be able to marry her into a respectable family that'd allow him to keep his line and name intact. He cursed having a daughter for an heir yet again. This would never be a problem with a boy. He'd never have to think about contingencies for having a son that was raped. That it had barely been averted was practically immaterial.

Time was up. He'd given Daphne years to cement her alliance with Harry Potter and heard nothing but stalling words and misdirection from her. This incident was just the final nail in the coffin. It was time to secure the Greengrass family.

Aligning with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be a foolish avenue to take. Even if Daphne's assaulters hadn't been in that crowd, he'd never particularly liked the man or his methods. Marcus' actions and allegiances over the past few years more or less prevented him from even approaching anyone from the Dark Lord's camp. However, he couldn't go to anyone from the Light contingent either. Those fools would take his business holdings and squander them 'for the greater good'. So who was left? There were precious few Gray personnel these days and those numbers dwindled with every day that the Dark Lord 'recruited'.

Hmm, perhaps the Zabini's? Victoria was not highborn but she was certainly crafty. To leave seven dead husbands behind she'd have to be. Marcus doubted she'd be against Blaise taking the name Greengrass. Black Widows were never too attached to names. It would ensure the boy had means and a decent family name without having to rely on his mother or her…method of employment.

Yes, yes that might just be a viable solution. Marcus nodded to himself satisfied. Daphne had been playing around long enough and this close call would hopefully make her see that. The Greengrasses would continue – one way or another.