The Sun`s shadow

|"Excuse me, can I have the bouillabaisse?"

A girl of about seventeen or eighteen, with silver-blonde hair and bright blue eyes approached them as they ate dinner. Beside him Harry noticed how Ron's face turned redder than his hair.

Ron opened his mouth to reply but nothing more than a faint gurgling came out of it.

`What's with him?' Harry turned to Hermione but even she looked dumbstruck, her mouth was slightly open and her cheeks had a slight pink tint.

Seeing that the blonde girl was looking at them impatiently, Harry turned to her and smiled politely.

"You can take it." He passed the bouillabaisse to the girl and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you done with it?" Despite the fact that the question was directed at everyone, she only looked at Harry, her blue eyes sparkling with curiosity as if she were facing a particularly fascinating puzzle.

"Yeah." Answered Ron breathlessly, struggling with his words. "Yes, it was delicious."

The girl ignored him and after taking another look at Harry she turned and went back to the Ravenclaw table.

"Wait!" Harry didn't know what prompted him to open his mouth, the girl turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Harry's cheeks flushed slightly and he opened and closed his mouth twice before asking her what he's been questioning for the past few hours. "In the courtyard there was a girl with silver hair- her eyes were silver too, or grey, err- I'm not sure."

The girl's blue eyes sparkle with recognition and Harry feels his heart race.

``I didn't imagine her!`

"Lucielle Argent, that is her name." The blonde informs him after a short pause. She leaves before Harry can say anything else.

`Lucielle Argent.`

Around him Ron and Hermione began to argue about whether the blonde is a veela or not, Harry ignored the discussion and looked up at the ceiling of the room with a small smile on his face.

`Lucielle Argent.`|

...

|Harry glanced at the Hufflepuff students who were huddled in a circle and muttering under their breath, glaring at him every couple of seconds.

`Tsk. Is a quiet year too much to ask for?!` The wizard could feel the blood in his veins boiling with anger. Last night everything went to hell, someone put his name on the Goblet and he was chosen to compete in the tournament.

`Why doesn't anyone believe me?! This is bloody stupid! Do I look like someone who wants gold or fame?! I already have plenty of both!' Increasingly grumpy Harry quickened his pace and almost ran, walking down the halls barely looking where he was going, eager to stop feeling all those accusing eyes on his back.

`Nobody wants to hear what I have to say, not even my friends.` Harry snorts, remembering what happened after he got back to the dorms. In the short time that he was being questioned by the teachers, his fellow Gryffindors organized a celebratory party in the common room. Throughout the party they asked him dozens of times how he did it, every time he answered with the truth no one believed him; not even his best friends. That's what hurt the most.

Harry turned a corner and collided with something, the impact sending him backwards and falling to the ground on his ass. He opened his eyes and only saw a big blur, Harry realized that his glasses flew off his face as he fell and sighing he began to search for them with his hands.

"Bloody fantastic!"

Harry saw a blurry figure loom above him and he groaned to himself.

`Great, just what I needed…` He expected that figure to start screaming, maybe even take out his wand and hex him if he's a Slytherin. What he didn't expect is for that person to apologize.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings." The voice is soft and has an almost ethereal tone.

'A girl,' Harry realized. `And she does not seem to hate me.`

The girl bends down next to him and picks something up off the floor, Harry narrows his eyes but all he sees is a blur of blue and silver.

"Here." She takes his left hand and puts something in it.

'My glasses!' Harry realizes.

"Thank you." Harry puts on his glasses and finally sees the girl still crouched next to him.

The first thing he sees are her silver eyes, the second thing is the curls that frame her face. Harry's eyes widened and he gaped at the angel next to him.

`Its her!`

"It's me." Lucielle laughs softly, it sounds like chimes in the wind and Harry is momentarily distracted by the sound. When he finally processes her words he feels his face burn with embarrassment.

"I spoke out loud." He groans and covers his eyes with one hand.

Lucielle laughs again and moves his hand away from his eyes. The wizard feels the warmth of her hand and blushes even more. A spark runs through his hand and he blinks twice at the sentiment. Harry finally looks up at her and sees her smiling warmly at him, he can't help but smile back.

"You seem to know who I am but it would be rude not to introduce myself correctly. My name is Lucielle Argent. I am a seventh year Beauxbatons student."

She extends her right hand towards him and after hesitating for a moment Harry extends his own hand.

Their hands make contact and he feels those sparks running through his hand again.

"I think it's your turn to introduce yourself." Lucielle smiles amused.

Harry wants the earth to open up and swallow him, looking down he opens his mouth:

"I am Har-" Realizing how breathy his voice sounds Harry clears his throat. "I am Harry Potter, fourth year student!"

Harry looks up and his emerald green eyes meet her silver eyes. He sees no mockery in those silver orbs, just amusement and warmth.

"Well, well look who we have here!" Malfoy's nasty voice destroys the moment and Lucielle lets go of his hand, Harry feeling the warmth in his chest give way to bitter rage.

The silver-eyed girl stands up and leaves after smiling once more at Harry.

Harry also gets up off the ground and turns to the Slytherin glaring at him.|

***

(Warning! -Torture scene-)

Torches and oil lamps are the only source of light, and even with several burning around the room the place feels dark and scary. Shadows dance across the stone walls and from somewhere on the ceiling drops of water fall at a leisurely pace. Arthur counts the seconds between each drop falling and just when it seems he has found a pattern the next drop takes longer to fall than he had calculated.

The prince consort shifts his weight from one leg to another and turns his gaze towards his wife. Dorna is not dressed in her usual dresses, her current clothes are so simple and practical that the prince blinks twice trying to remember when was the last time he saw his wife dressed like this.

`More than twenty years, during the last Blackfyre war.` Brief scenes from the war played in his mind as he closed his eyes.

"I learned about this method of- Ehem, extracting the truth during one of my travels." Jacaerys comments casually, as if he's talking about the weather.

Arthur opens his eyes and looks at his companions.

"I seem to remember that it came from somewhere in Yi Ti." The princess answers while she examines her nails. "Our ancestors had their own methods of using these animals but you have to admit the inhabitants of the Far East are particularly creative."

"You almost seem to admire them, princess." Jason Dayne looks around the room with disapproval but he doesn't protest. He doesn't like this, but he knows it's necessary. `Duty is not always pleasant, in fact most times is most unpleasant`

"One must always admire ingenious minds, Lord Dayne. By thinking outside the box we can achieve many things that would otherwise be impossible." The princess points with one hand forward. "This is necessary, you don't have to like it but it's part of the world we are part of."

"I know that." Jason Dayne looks straight ahead, arms crossed, and for a moment Arthur sees Doran's shadow behind Lord Dayne.

The prince consort blinks and that shadow disappears.

`I must be really tired.` Arthur runs a hand over his face. `Doran is nothing like this man, Jason Dayne is not even his-Nevermind.`

Arthur sees two guards enter the room dragging a gagged woman who is crying and struggling. They place her on a metal bed and tie her hands, legs and torso; effectively making it impossible for her to move.

Another guard drags an unconscious man and places him on a chair in front of the metal bed, the guard tying up the man's hands and legs before stepping back to the side.

"We are ready," Ser Lothar enters the room at a brisk pace. He looks at the nobles and bows slightly, Arthur can see the blood stains on the knight's body and clothes.

`Time and hardship changes us even if we do not want to` Arthur still remembers the young knight with bright eyes and a kind smile, back then he would have never thought he would see Lothar in this situation- in this role.

`A decade is not that much time but the world... Sometimes it seems like I fell asleep in my bed only to wake up in a completely different world, with people who look familiar but are all but that.`

"Good, let's begin." The princess gives the signal and a man throws a bucket filled with a yellowish liquid at the unconscious man's face.

Arthur winces as he realizes from the smell what the liquid is and next to him he sees Jason Dayne flinching in disgust.

Edgar Yronwood opens his eyes and looks around frantically.

"W-where." He sees them and starts growling in anger. "You! Fucking bitch! I should have killed you years ago!"

"Ser Lothar, shut that idiot up."

"With pleasure, princess." The sides of Lothar's lips quirk in a dark smile and he steps toward Edgar Yronwood, backhanding him across the face with enough force to make his head snap to the side. "You won't speak unless spoken to. Haven't you learned that lesson yet?" The knight looks at Edgar's hands, the nails on each of his hands have been pulled out and the fingers broken.

"He always seemed like a slow learner, ser. Maybe you should give him another smack." Says Jacaerys with a smug smirk.

"No," the princess smiles cruelly. "I want him to talk, not to cry." She gestures to a guard and he removes the gag from the woman tied to the metal bed.

"Edgar!" She screams desperate.

"Brella!" Edgar notices her presence for the first time and his eyes widen with fear. "What are you going to do to her?! Let her go! She's innocent!"

"I'm sure she is her, just as your daughter was. But that didn't stop you from having her killed by a faceless assassin so she can use her face and kill my grandson." The princess's words are cold and almost sadistic.

Brella Yronwood's eyes flash with pain and betrayal.

"Is it true?! You killed my daughter?! Why would you do that?!"

Edgar looks at the ground with tears in his eyes.

"It was necessary." He answers with a broken voice.

"Hmph. I must admit it was a good plan: having the assassin kill Doran in the trial would have freed your house and made mine look like fools. The next step is easy to guess, the corpse of Nysterica would be found and we would be the main suspects. A great plan, I must admit. If you had succeeded you would have saved your family and dealt a devastating blow to mine." The princess looks at one of the guards and after nodding he leaves the room.

"But you failed, and now you will pay the consequences." Arthur speaks for the first time, he steps forward and from a table full of various instruments of torture he takes a peculiar cage, the cage is shaped like a half sphere.

"W- what are you going to do with that?" Brella Yronwood looks at him in fear and bewilderment. Of all the torture tools on the table Arthur grabbed a seemingly harmless cage.

With the cage in hand he walks towards the metal bed, he gives his cane to a guard and with both hands he places the cage on top of Brella's belly.

"Is a good fit." Arthur comments quietly seeing that the circumference of the cage is smaller than the woman's belly.

"What are you doing?" The woman's eyes quiver but Arthur ignores her and ties the cage to her belly.

"This will not be pleasant to see or hear, if you want to leave I will not hold it against you." Arthur addresses the guards and his companions.

None of the guards move from their position so the prince turns his gaze towards his companions.

Jason Dayne clenches his jaw and shakes his head.

'Subborn old man' Arthur looks back at his wife and good uncle.

Dorna looks almost bored but he sees an impatient glint in her eyes, almost as someone waiting for a show to begin. That sight should scare him but all it does is make him love her even more. He is an Uller after all.

Jacaerys looks as calm as if he's in a tavern waiting for his next mug of beer.

"And you, Ser Lothar?" Arthur knows the question is useless, he only has to look into the knight's eyes to know the answer, but it is good manners to ask.

"I have my duty, Prince Arthur." The knight's words are accompanied by a snarl directed at Edgar Yronwood.

The guard who had left the room a few minutes ago came back in, in his hands he had a wooden box.

"What's inside?" Brella Yronwood stutters, some noises are heard from the box. Something is moving inside it.

The guard stands next to Arthur and he opens the box and reaches into it. When he takes out his hand, everyone sees the brown rat.

"No no no!" Brella Yronwood screams in terror. "Keep it away from me!"

"Please no! I beg you, princess!" Edgar speaks for the first time in a while.

"So you figured out what's going to happen?" The princess looks at him with a grin. "Ah, I seem to remember Lothar saying you are only allowed to speak when spoken to. I don't think I remember asking you any question. Lothar, gag him."

"Wait! I-" The knight gags Edgar preventing him from continuing to speak, he continues trying to say something but the noise that comes out is intelligible.

"You were saying something, Yronwood? Sorry I can hear you." Jacaerys laughs at his own joke.

"Can I continue?" Arthur looks at his wife and she nods.

The Prince Consort opens a door at the top of the cage strapped to Brella Yronwood's belly and puts the rat into the cage. He closes the door, ignoring the woman's terrified screams. The rat walks in circles on Brella's belly before stopping and looking around with its black eyes.

"Now Edgar, are you going to answer my questions or- Well, I'm sure you know what will happen." Arthur gestures to Lothar to ungag the prisoner.

"Is there another faceless assassin in Dorne?"

"N-no."

`Does he think I won't do it? Did he forget what House Uller is best at?`

"Lothar, gag him." Arthur's eyes darken. He takes an iron bowl and a pair of tongs from the table with torture instruments, with the tongs he takes out a piece of still red and smoking coal and places it on top of the cage. The rat begins to move inside the cage when feeling the heat, Arthur places another three pieces of burning coal and watches as the rat moves frantically from one side of the cage to the other.

"No! Please! Have mercy!" Brella cries and begs but is ignored.

Arthur puts more pieces of burning coal on top of the cage and both the rat and the woman become even more desperate.

Seeing that it cannot escape from the sides, the rat digs its claws into the surface below. Brella's skin and flesh are no match for the rat's sharp claws, realizing how tender the surface is the rat continues to dig.

The only sounds in the room are Brella Yronwood's screams of pain and agony.

"Kill me" She pleads after a few minutes, tears cascading from her eyes and her voice a broken plea. "End this, I beg you!"

Jason Dayne takes two steps back and empties his stomach onto the torture chamber floor, the sound of his retching nearly drowned out by Brella's screams and pleas.

"Arthur, remove the lumps of coal." The princess's commanding tone is heard above the screams.

The prince consort complies and the rat stops digging frantically.

"Lothar, remove the gag."

Edgar Yronwood looks stunned at his wife, the rat has opened her belly and it is bathed in the entrails and blood of the dying woman.

"Is there another faceless assassin in Dorne?"

Edgar continues looking at his wife without having heard the princess's question.

The Princess of Dorne walks towards him and stands between Edgar and Brella, she looks at his face and for the first time since she met him that polting glint in his eyes is missing. He looks as deafeated and broken as any man who witnessed his wife being subjected to this inhuman torture.

"If you don't talk your son will be next." The princess's words capture Edgar's attention and he looks at her with fear in his eyes.

"I-I will talk! Just-just." He looks past the princess to his wife, wide-eyed and defeated. "End her suffering."

"Talk and I will." Dorna's eyes are hard, she's not willing to compromise or back down even an inch.

"Aye, there is another one." Edgar confesses.

"Where?" Lord Dayne approaches them, his face sweaty and pale.

"I-I don't know. Somewhere in Sunspear."

"Somewhere in Sunspear is not good enough, Yronwood." The princess clenches her jaw and turns her head towards her husband, before she can open her mouth Edgar continues.

"I only know he must be here, I don't know where! I swear. The assassin separated from the group when the ship docked! Its target was prince Trystanne!"

***

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NOTE: Advanced chapter in my p@ tre on if you are interested.

p a t r e o n. com /EdenofKovir

Going from a fluffy romantic scene to a gruesome torture one... This chapter is quite something. I must confess I almost threw up writing the torture scene. When you write a story you have to imagine the events in your mind, that scene... God, that was one of the most difficult things I ever wrote.

PS: Fleur`s interest in Harry is not romantic. It is just that he is immune to her allure and she is curious. (Allure is a type of magical attraction). I called it allure but I don't know if in canon it has another name, also this is something veela have in canon (remember the World Cup?)

PSS: In my world Uller are the ultimate experts in torture.