Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.
A/N: I really have a preference for reading more than writing nowadays, but here is a continuation of this story, without the use of ChatGPT, (**insert eye roll**) since so many of you got all of your feathers ruffled because someone dared to experiment with an AI program when they're stuck in a creative rut.
I'll once again remind you, I started writing fanfictions for my own enjoyment and not for anyone else; however, after all the reviews I've gotten so far on this story (not all of them well-meant), I've been sorely tempted to delete this entire story and stop posting in-progress stories entirely.
I mean, I realize that the method I use to write my stories (without an outline and no clear plan) is not the greatest way to write a story, I've done it that way because I sort of like making it up as I go along, but I realize that this particular one is basically just a hodge podge of different genres thrown in, depending on the types of stories that I've read in between the chapters that I've written. It has gone dark in some places and light hearted in others.
Anyways, enough of my disjointed thoughts on the matter and on with the rest of the story that I'm still tempted to delete anyways.
Side note: One reviewer mentioned the misconception I had with the use of the chameleon and its ability to camouflage, but I did give Harry the ability to change his color with any animal that he chose to be, therefore, in this story, Harry, as a chameleon is able to change his colors to match his surroundings, perhaps not as good as a Disillusionment Charm, but close.
Also, my apologies for the word vomit in my notes lately.
Harry managed to creep his way to the throne room without detection just in time to hear one of the Death Eaters informing Voldemort about the Weasley girl giving them troubles at school.
"My lord," intoned the Death Eater as he bowed down lowly to kiss the hem of Voldemort's robes.
"Carrow," Voldemort hissed, wanting to get straight to the point of the meeting, "I've received reports about the Weasley girl causing you problems at the school."
"Yes, my lord," the now identified Carrow replied, still on his hands and knees with his head bowed in submission. Harry internally rolled his eyes, as he continued to watch and listen.
"Crucio." Voldemort hissed and Carrow screamed and then collapsed when he was no longer able to keep himself in a kneeling position.
After nearly a minute, Voldemort released the curse and Carrow was breathing heavily from the pain, but awkwardly struggled to resume his kneeling position on all fours before he said, "Thank you, my lord," in a hoarse tone.
Harry gave a mental headshake.
"Why is it that this Weasley girl has not been put in her place?" Voldemort hissed in ire.
"Forgive me, my lord," Carrow replied. "We have made attempts to put her in her place, but she somehow always evades us."
Carrow fails to mention that the reason that the Weasley girl has been able to evade them is that she'd found or created a curse that makes the attackers feel as if their testicles were being burned off. And to make matters worse, she seems to have managed to teach it to many of the other vulnerable girls in the castle.
"What are you not telling me, Carrow," Voldemort hissed as he barely held back another crucio.
Carrow shuddered in fear, but reluctantly added, "It doesn't matter how many of our forces try to subdue her, whether she's been disarmed or stunned, the moment anyone physically touches her, it's like a fire erupts in their nether regions and the pain of which is on par with the Cruciatus Curse and no one is able to move until after she has managed to escape. Worse, it appears that she's taught whatever spell this is to the other witches that are not betrothed."
Voldemort threw out another crucio as he processed what he'd been told; Carrow screamed and spasmed.
Releasing the curse after about 15 seconds, Voldemort seethed, "And the fact that none of you could touch her with physical means meant that you imbeciles were unable to subdue her with magical means?" Voldemort was sorely tempted to pinch the bridge of his non-existent nose in frustration, instead he threw out another crucio.
Harry, though he would never forgive Ginny's part of the betrayal against him, found himself somewhat proud of Ginny's ingenuity at finding a way to protect herself and others from the horrors that had been allowed to run rampant in Hogwarts. His thoughts were interrupted when Voldemort released the crucio.
"Even the inferior muggles have come up with methods in which to break someone without having to physically touch someone," Voldement hissed. "Are all of you so incompetent that none of you could figure out how to stun her or petrify her, any type of restraining magic? Levitation? Transfiguration?"
"N-n-no, m-m-my l-lord," Carrow stuttered in response.
"And you believe yourself competent to be running my school?" Voldemort seethed, "Perhaps I should pull Lucius from the Ministry and put him in charge of the school."
Carrow shuddered in silence, as there was no right answer in this instance.
"If you wish to redeem yourself, you will figure out a method to subdue her, without physically touching her, and you will have her delivered to me here. I am in need of a new play thing, since the last one broke way too easily." Voldemort ordered.
By this time Carrow had made his way back to his hands and knees, "Yes, my lord," he said.
"Crucio," Voldemort intoned with a bored tone this time, leaving only for five seconds. The imbecile needed his mind to complete his task, after all.
"T-t-t-thank y-y-you, m-my lord," Carrow gasped, as he slowly and cautiously left the throne room.
Once the throne room was empty of all but Voldemort and the hidden Harry, Voldemort brooded in silence. Harry wondered if that was all he would be learning tonight and considered if he should find an abandoned room to rest in. Just as he had almost decided to head towards the exit, he heard Voldemort start to hiss in parseltongue.
"The Weassssley girl ssssshould be entertaining to break. Sssshe wassss able to lasssst quite ssssome time againssssst my horcrux possssssessssssion; cursssse Lucssiusss to Hadesss and back for disssguarding my ssssoul ssso frivoloussssly though. And now my horcrux housssed in Nagini hasss been dessstroyed. All of my other horcruxesssss sssshould be sssafe though."
Voldement continued to complain in parseltongue for the next hour. It was nearing midnight by the time he became tired of hissing to himself and chose to retire for the evening.
Harry stayed quietly in his hiding spot for a while as he processed the information he'd learned tonight.
Voldemort had made horcuxes, which sounded like trinkets that housed bits of one's soul. Harry shuddered at the very thought of ripping up his soul.
The diary that Harry had destroyed in second year had been a horcrux.
Nagini had been a horcrux, which, coincidentally, Harry had also destroyed.
According to Voldemort's ramblings, there were more horcruxes, but they were not identified or enumerated, but he could not die unless all these horcruxes were destroyed.
Lastly, Harry came to the conclusion that the scar he'd had removed by muggle plastic surgery must have been a horcrux as well, thinking back on the scream the muggle surgeon had described before he was hastily obliviated.
Thinking about his scar having been a horcrux, he took it as confirmation that Dumbledore really had expected him to die when he confronted Voldemort for the last time, which was the reason the old fool never helped to train him.
His thoughts briefly drifted to the discussion that was had about Ginny. While he considered her a despicable person for what she and the other Weasleys, other than Fred and George, had planned, did she deserve to be captured and turned into Riddle's plaything, in whatever capacity that entails? One thing was for sure, he was, certainly, not going to be the one to try to rescue her, as he had during the events of the Chamber, that would definitely be the fasttrack to her renewing her obsession with him and deluding herself into believing he was in love with her. So, no, he would be steering clear of that situation, as he would not risk Daphne's wrath for anyone, thank you very much.
He supposed that when he met with Kingsley about his findings here at Death Eater Central, he'd let him know what he overheard about Ginny. Perhaps, Kingsley would be able to contact the Weasleys and they could figure out for themselves a safe way to extract her from the school. Harry gave a mental nod at that decision and decided it was time to leave the throne room.
Calming his thoughts, Harry eased his way out of the room in search of a safe hiding space to rest, using his metamorphmagus abilities to match his color to the wall near the ceiling in order to be near invisible. The only reason he didn't change into an insect so that he could fly, was that he wasn't sure how the insect repellant built into the wards would work against him.
Soon enough, Harry was able to sneak his way into a mostly abandoned part of the manor and found a cupboard that was still more spacious to the one he was raised in. He changed into a small, black cat and hid behind all the junk in the back corner, before falling into slumber.
"So have you heard from Harry?" Astoria quietly asked Daphne, while they helped Hermione search through the library in an effort to find ways in which Riddle's spirit could be captured after his physical body was killed.
Daphne sighed and replied in a subdued tone, "Not yet." She pressed a hand to her pregnant belly in an effort to bring comfort to herself. She hadn't heard from Harry in almost a week.
"I'm sure he's fine," Astoria told Daphne, in an effort to be comforting.
"I know he has the ability to escape, should he get into trouble," Daphne said softly. "So I know I should take the fact that I haven't heard from him as a good sign."
"But…." Astoria prompted.
"The fact that he's working undercover, having literally no formal training, it frightens me to think about," Daphne cried. Blasted pregnancy hormones.
"Pfft. He's practically been training for this his whole life, if the rumors from Hogwarts are anything to go by. Besides, we both know that with the amount of power Harry has, he could raze the whole of Wizarding Britain without even breaking a sweat," Astoria said confidently. "It's only because of the fact that he's trying to rescue the innocent ones first that he hasn't done so."
Daphne snorted. "And you and I both know that had it not been for the fact that the Death Eaters and other purebloods are kidnapping the new muggleborns from their homes and doing all manner of things to them, instead of just binding their magic and obliviating them, then Harry would probably not have decided to lift a finger to help our backwards world at all.
"But they are targeting children that cannot defend themselves, they are - most of them probably - going so far as to selling these children to people who would molest them and scar them for life. At least if they'd have their magic bound and then obliviated, they might have had a chance to be happy and safe in the muggle world. But these perverts found a way to prey on the most vulnerable of society and get away with it, because none of the purebloods actually care about the muggleborns."
"I've sort of been expecting it, actually," Hermione replied, as she walked up to the table with a pile of books.
"How could you have expected something like that?" Astoria asked, confused about how anyone could have expected something like that.
Hermione sighed, "Their past actions made it pretty easy to predict, in my opinion."
"But how?" Daphne wondered.
"Considering that all during the first war, they'd been attacking muggles, raping their women, killing whole families," Hermonie replied, "it's not a big leap to consider what other depraved things they would do. They don't see muggles, squibs, or muggleborn as people; they see them as objects, something they can use and abuse at will. They don't see them as people with feelings and value."
Hermione secretly thought to herself that she hoped the Death Eaters hadn't considered binding the children's magic and hiding them with muggle human traffickers. It would be nearly impossible to rescue them if that were the case.
Astoria looked thoughtful. "From the state of things at Hogwarts, they barely see purebloods as people anymore; the way they are treating witches there is appalling. Granted, the pureblood men have always treated witches as property, but we were at least treated with respect and manners. It's not that way anymore, that's for sure. I'm so glad Harry got me out of there when he did."
After Harry had spent just over a week hiding and spying at Malfoy Manor, he'd finally managed to overhear details about where the kidnapped muggleborn were being taken before they were dispersed amongst the elite.
It seemed that with Snape dead, Draco had inherited his estate, but with Draco missing, Lucius was able to access it in his place and had offered the use of Snape's home in Cokeworth as a sort of stop-gap to deliver the newly taken muggleborn, where they would then be inspected and added to their inventory, before assigning them the job they were best suited for and being portkeyed to the next stop where they would be trained and conditioned before being moved into their final placement amongst the Death Eaters and other participating purebloods.
It was all quite sickening to think about and Harry would be glad to be finished with this job so he could pass on his findings to Kingsley, so that he and his team could make the plans for extraction and what could be done about Riddle's other unknown horcruxes.
While plans were being made, Harry would return home to reacquaint himself with his wife and spend time with his son, before preparing himself for many small battles that would be leading up to the final one.
A/N: I recently adopted a kitten that I found outside my office and I had no idea how difficult typing with a kitten crawling on me and my laptop could be until I tried to sit down and finish the rest of this chapter today. My adult cat never did this as a kitten and idk if it's because the new kitten is male rather than female, or if it's simply because the two have different personalities.
A/N-2: I tried to proofread as I went along, but if you see anything glaringly obvious that needs a correction that I missed in the process, please let me know.