The Power He Knows Not Chapter 28 (Patreon)

Content Warnings: Threesome, Spanking, CDNS, Teasing, Breast Play, Semi-Public.

“Wow.”

Katie smirked at the sight that greeted her as she walked into the Room of Requirement.

“I guess Viktor and Katarina finally left?” she asked, grinning at the two girls seated on a chair in front of one of the two desks in the room. The space had been completely transformed, appearing nothing like the spartan bedroom the Bulgarian couple had wished for during their nearly month-long stay there. As Katie glanced around at the comfy sofas and bright throw pillows with cute magical creatures on them, she had a pretty good idea who had remodeled the room after their departure. “That is one big bed,” Katie said, staring at the enormous bed that occupied nearly one-fourth of the room. “Guess Harry and I are never falling off the bed again.”

“How does it happen so often?” Susan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Naked wrestling with your boyfriend.” Katie shrugged. “It’s fun, you should try it. So, when did our friends leave?”

“An hour ago. Professor Dumbledore gave them the empty teacher’s apartment next to Professor Moody’s. I guess he thought that given how terrified Karkaroff is of Professor Moody the man won’t try anything as long as they live there,” Susan said, humming quietly as she brushed Padma’s long hair. The curvy Ravenclaw was seated on Susan’s lap and was trying her best to concentrate on the parchment in front of her. Unfortunately, she kept getting distracted by the gentle caress of her girlfriend’s fingers gently working out the knots in her luscious black hair. They’d had an early dinner and retired for a cozy night together in their new accommodations. Padma secretly hoped said cozy night would involve a bath and lots of cuddle sex.

“The speed with which you can throw a mini house together is terrifying,” Katie teased. She held her hands in front of the large fire roaring merrily in the ornate dragon-shaped fireplace to ward off the chill that seemed to have settled in her very bones. While the weather was slowly warming as winter gave way to spring, flying was still a very cold experience, especially in the evenings.

“I had some help,” Susan responded, but there was a satisfied smile on her face. Padma and Daphne had mostly watched while she worked her magic and coaxed the Room to transform into something liveable.

Katie glanced at the Saint Andrew’s Cross leaning against the wall in one corner of the room and the manacles dangling from the ceiling a few meters away from it. “I bet you did,” she said with a smirk

“Had a fun evening?” Susan asked, changing the topic. She knew if Katie dug around she’d find more of Daphne’s ‘discreet additions’ to the room and would undoubtedly be inspired to ask for her own. If the two girls had their way, they’d turn her cozy hideout into a full-blown dungeon.

“Well, since the idiots who run the Triwizard Tournament have taken over our Quidditch Pitch, Angelina made us all practice in the boggy field behind Hogsmeade.” Katie undid the clasp of her robe, letting the muddy garment fall to the floor. “It was NOT a fun experience. I swear, that girl is turning more and more into Oliver Wood with every passing day. Why are we even practicing? It’s not like we have any matches till next year,” Katie grumbled, peeling off layer after layer of soiled clothing.

The girls (and Harry) had quickly discovered that Katie Bell had zero inhibitions around the people she was dating and all of them had walked in on her butt naked in their beds and casually sheafing through the latest issue of Witch Weekly or Quidditch World at least once.

“You’re just mad because Harry wasn’t there,” Susan teased, holding out her mug of hot cocoa for Katie. Padma was only half-aware of their conversation, engrossed as she was with making sure her letter covered all the questions they wanted to ask her mother.

“Well sue me for not wanting my boyfriend by my side, suffering with me. In good times and in bad, right?” Katie wriggled out of her panties and padded over to the desk, gratefully accepting the hot drink from the motherly redhead. She wrapped her hands around the mug, enjoying the warmth radiating from the ceramic tumbler.

“That’s marriage, Katie. You’re not married to Harry yet,” Susan reminded her with a fond roll of her eyes. She watched Katie smack her lips contentedly after draining the mug in one big gulp. She set it down on the desk before turning to look at Susan with a crooked smile on her face.

Why was everyone around her so intense? Hermione with her books, Katie with her flirting, and Gabrielle with her determination to set every pervert and bully in the castle on fire. And then there was Daphne. Her girlfriend and mistress was running around with a friendship band on her ring finger, pretending to be engaged and involved in a high-stakes political match with the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot. A contest she seemed to be winning. Not only had they secured protection for Krum and Katarina (to their collective surprise, Karkaroff had not done anything more than rant and scream at Dumbledore. He seemed to spend most of his days holed up in Snape’s office, appearing more terrified than enraged.), Daphne had also gotten Dumbledore to agree to let Harry move out from his Aunt and Uncle’s house come summer. None of them had expected the Headmaster to actually hold up that particular part of their bargain but when Sirius had offered them the use of his ancestral family home while they searched for a suitable house of their own, Albus Dumbledore had greeted the news with resigned acceptance. There would be no grand fight in Wizengamot over Harry’s status. He would simply quietly move out from his Uncle’s house and into his Godfather’s until he could get a place of his own.

While she appreciated the passion of those around her, it also caused her to develop a newfound appreciation for the shy girl on her lap. Padma had her interests, sure, but once she looked past the superficial Susan realized the genius Ravenclaw was more like her than she had originally thought.

“What’re you doing?” Katie’s question broke Susan free from her reverie and she gently tugged on Padma’s hair, causing the engrossed girl to squeak and look up at the athletic and very naked Katie standing next to them.

“Writing a letter to Mum. We still have a lot of questions that need answering,” Padma mumbled, her cheeks burning. She tried her best not to look at Katie’s toned thighs. It was of no use and as she stared shamelessly at Chaser’s perfectly-shaped legs, her mind reminded her how good it had felt to have her face buried between them. Eating out and serving her new mistress had been an experience, especially given how vocal Katie had been in egging her on.

She was in a curious position where everyone in the group doted on her while at the same time, it wasn’t uncommon for her to be pulled into a broom closet in between classes multiple times a day to be railed senseless by just about everyone in her polycule. The shy Ravenclaw found her new life to be terribly exciting.

“Am I right to presume Hermione struck out in the library?”

Susan nodded. “Yep. She’s in the Forbidden Section right now but I doubt she’ll find anything. The complete absence of anything related to souls in the entire library seems like a deliberate decision. There’s not a single book that even mentions them in passing,” Susan said, slowly turning in the chair to face Katie. Padma’s cheek brushed against Katie’s breast as they rotated and she squeaked, a light blush coating her flawless brown skin.

“Who’d have removed them?”

“One of the teachers? The Headmaster? They’re the only ones with the authority to do it. I refuse to believe that there just aren’t any books on souls in a library that has books on everything from recipes for tasteless poisons to detailed instructions for hatching a basilisk. That’s too big a coincidence,” Susan muttered, grabbing Padma’s knees and pulling her legs apart. Padma’s gray uniform skirt rode up her thick thighs, revealing inch after inch of tantalizing skin.

Padma wasn’t wearing panties. She never did anymore, not after express orders from both Harry and Daphne not to do so. Both of them liked her to be readily available for a quickie at the drop of a hat.

“W-what’re you doing?” Padma asked, squirming helplessly in Susan’s lap. Despite her shyness, she knew better than to snap her legs shut. Although Susan was just as sweet with her as Harry was, her punishments (on the rare occasions that she administered them) were much worse than anything even Daphne could think of. She watched Katie kneel between her spread legs, the smile on the Chaser’s face growing at the sight of her slick core.

“Jeez Bones. What happened to our plan to double-team her as thanks for everything she does for us? You started without me?” Katie teased, playfully tracing the rim of Padma’s labia with a finger.

Padma shivered in Susan’s arms, breathing heavily.

“Barely,” Susan shot back, a smirk on her face. “I tried my best to behave but our munchkin is too adorable to resist and besides, Daphne was in the room an hour ago. It’s not my fault she can turn Padma into a faucet with a simple stern look.”

“Team up?” Padma asked, looking at Katie kneeling between her legs then at Susan with wide eyes.

“Just a small thank you for all you do for us, little flower,” Susan murmured. She tugged one strap of her tank top down her shoulders and then the next, sighing as her enormous mounds sprang free. She chuckled as she realized Padma’s attention immediately shifted to the gentle bounce of her breasts.

“I like doing it,” Padma mumbled, her cheeks warm.

“I know you do, flower. Doesn’t mean we should take you for granted,” Susan murmured, slightly turning Padma to give the Ravenclaw easier access to her breasts. Katie dove in between Padma’s spread legs, her tongue slowly tracing the puffy brown lips that guarded Padma’s aching core.

“M-mistress! Please!” Padma begged. Her cheeks flushed when a sudden gush of arousal leaked out of her pussy, completely coating Katie’s face.

Susan chuckled when she noticed Padma’s gaze was still fixed on her chest. She watched as her submissive’s eyes traced the greenish-blue veins crisscrossing the pale skin of her breasts. Padma leaned towards her, lips inches from her rosy peaks that had pebbled immediately in the cold air. Susan leaned forward, letting her stiff nipple brush against Padma’s lips.

“Suck,” Susan ordered, moaning softly. “F-fuck. Good girl!” she groaned, watching Padma obediently take as much of her breast into her mouth as she could. Padma began to suck, sinking her teeth into Susan’s soft skin for added pressure.

“Gods, she’s heavenly!” Susan moaned.

Katie cleared her throat loudly.

“R-right.” Susan let Padma suck for a few more minutes before reluctantly pulling her away from her breast. “Today is not about us.”

Padma strained to get back to Susan’s breast, her lust-addled brain not realizing just how desperate she seemed.

“You like them, don’t you?”

“Yes Susie,” Padma whispered shyly.

Susan grabbed Katie’s hair and yanked her away from Padma’s dripping pussy. “Yes ma’am,” Susan growled, bringing her free palm down on Padma’s pussy.

SMACK!

The harsh slap echoed around the room. Padma squirmed helplessly on Susan’s lap, a loud shriek escaping her lips. “Sorry, Ma’am!” Padma sobbed. It was quite rare for Susan to go full Domme but when she did…

Padma’s brain had no idea how to handle it at all. But it made her want to be a very good girl.

SMACK!

“I asked you a question, darling,” Susan murmured, watching Padma snap her legs shut in an effort to protect her poor pussy. “Katie, be a doll and hold Padma’s legs in place. Since she seems utterly incapable of doing it on her own.”

“Yes ma’am.” Padma flushed at the teasing tone of Katie’s voice, her blush only growing deeper when she noticed the smirk gracing Katie’s face.

Katie grabbed her knees and roughly pulled her legs apart, making sure her aching, stinging core was easily accessible.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

Susan rained a flurry of unforgiving blows on her pussy. “Don’t you think it’s polite to answer when you’re asked a question?”

“YES MA’AM!” Padma screamed, her mind going blank. Her core was on fire and the weird tension coiling in the pit of her stomach only grew stronger with every passing second. “I’m sorry!” She moaned, her eyes flying open when she felt Katie push her lips apart, leaving her clit exposed for the next spank. And she didn’t have to wait long for it.

SMACK!

“AHH!” Padma moaned, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she squirted without warning. She watched with wide eyes as her juices completely soaked Katie’s face and hair, leaving her drenched from forehead to chin.

“Fuck Patil,” Katie chuckled, her tongue darting out to lap up the drops of tangy liquid rolling down her cheeks. “Didn’t take you for a painslut or I’d have broken out the hairbrush much sooner.”

“Only with me,” Susan murmured, a hint of pride in her voice. She picked up her wand and vanished Padma’s clothes with a lazy flick, leaving her beautiful body on full display. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” Padma mumbled shyly. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Thank me when we’re done, love,” Susan whispered. She grabbed Katie’s hair, guiding her lips back to Padma’s slick pussy. “We’re just getting started…”

                                                          ---

“Bagman wasn’t kidding. This looks like… a giant maze,” Daphne muttered, staring at the massive hedge in front of her. It was a wall of tangled vines and dense shrubs ten meters high, completely surrounding the periphery of the Quidditch stadium.

Bagman had asked the champions to wait in the Great Hall after dinner. Daphne had stuck around, as had Katarina, neither of whom particularly wanted to leave their boyfriends alone around Karkaroff. However, the judges mostly maintained their distance, remaining seated at the teacher’s table while Bagman bounced off the platform and approached the champions huddled on the Hufflepuff table, his face animated with excitement as he explained the upcoming Task. The complete shitshow that had followed the Second Task had seemingly done nothing to dent the former Quidditch player’s excitement for the Tournament.

“And I have to retrieve the Champion’s Cup, which will be located right in the middle of the maze. Compared to the last two tasks this one sounds like a breeze,” Harry said, sounding completely relaxed. Part of it was due to the apparent ease of the last challenge he’d have to face but it was mostly because of the (secret) tournament the girls had organized for him.

Six gorgeous women finding any excuse to sleep with a person tended to put them in a rather agreeable mood.

“Then why didn’t they use this as the First Task?” Daphne frowned. His words had merit. Navigating the labyrinth in front of them was nothing compared to facing a dragon or squaring off against an entire village full of merpeople.

Labyrinth… fuck!

“Things are never as they seem, Harry,” Daphne muttered, her mood souring. “The parallels are obvious. The champions are all Theseus.”

“Who?”

“The Greek hero who had to navigate a maze and defeat the Minotaur in the middle to claim his prize? Which, ironically, was a blonde princess I think.”

“Well, I already have one of those so how about I tell them I’m skipping this one,” Harry whispered huskily, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Daphne squealed as Harry pulled her back into his chest, slapping his arms playfully. “Harry! We’re out on the grounds. Anyone who walks by will see us!”

“You didn’t seem to care when you rode me by the unicorn pen on Sunday. That was in broad daylight. It’s night now,” Harry murmured, his fingers sinking into her soft flesh as he slowly began to massage her firm breasts.

“F-fuck. That feels so good,” Daphne mumbled, fighting the tug of Subspace. One touch was all that was required. An act as simple as him grabbing her chin, and she was ready to be his good little princess.

“So, what do you say? Or have you decided to play it safe now that you’re in the lead?”

“The lead?” Daphne asked, suddenly cautious.

“The Bi-Witch Tournament. Well, that’s what I’m calling it,” Harry chuckled, drawing a loud, wanton moan out of Daphne with a gentle pinch to the nipple poking through her white blouse. “By my count, you and Susan are two points in the lead.”

“You know?” Daphne asked, subconsciously spreading her legs for him. His free hand disappeared under her skirt, his fingers teasingly caressing the massive damp spot in her knickers. She always seemed to have to walk around with one (a girl could only change her underwear so many times a day before giving up, after all), but she wasn’t the only one with that particular problem. Hermione had confided to her that she was going through five pairs of panties a day.

“Yep.”

“Who told you?”

“Padma,” Harry answered honestly. He had no secrets from his partners and he never lied to them. “Although in her defense, I was very persuasive.”

“I’m going to paddle that brat’s ass raw,” Daphne growled, biting her lower lip to stifle a moan.

“I thought you wanted me to paddle your ass tonight, princess,” Harry murmured, pushing her panties to one side.

“You paddle my ass, I paddle hers, it’s the circle of life daddy,” Daphne whispered, spreading her legs further. A massive drop of her juices dripped from her slick slit and splashed against Harry’s fingers, coating his skin.

Harry was prevented from plunging his fingers into the soft pink flesh of her aching womanhood by a flash of bright green light in the periphery of their vision. Harry withdrew his fingers from between Daphne’s legs as fast as he could, his hand scrambling to pull out his wand from the pocket of his jeans.

Daphne followed his example, retrieving her wand from the pocket of her cardigan. “Was that…” She let the question trail off. There was no mistaking the bright green light they had last seen in Moody’s classroom.

“Yep,” Harry said grimly. His nightmares were filled with bright green flashes and maniacal laughter. He knew exactly what that was.

“Stay behind me.”

“What?! No! We need to go get help,” Daphne hissed, grabbing Harry’s arm to stop him.

“Someone could be in trouble.” He was strong enough to drag her with him but he paused, not willing to put her in danger. “You should go get the first teacher you can find,” Harry ordered.

“Whoever was in danger is probably dead, Harry.”

“We don’t know that.” He shook his arm free from her grasp and turned in the direction of the forest once more.

Daphne sighed.

Had to fall in love with an idiot Gryffindor, didn’t you?

Shut up, she told her brain, and against her better judgment, she started to follow her boyfriend.

“What’re you doing?”

“You’re insane if you think I’m letting you go alone.”

“I told you to go get help.”

“I’m not much for following orders.” Daphne shrugged.

“Is this really the moment to be a brat, Daphne?!” Harry asked, gritting his teeth.

“Here’s a secret, daddy. I’m always a brat,” Daphne whispered, grabbing his hand and interlacing their fingers together. They’d face whatever lay ahead together.

“You’re getting a week’s worth of punishment for this,” Harry growled. Still, he tightened his grip both on his wand and around Daphne’s hand as they rushed into the forest, knowing there was no deterring her once she had made up her mind.

They emerged from the trees into a clearing, coming face to face with a tall hooded figure that had their back to them, standing in front of what appeared to be a mound of freshly dug earth. Both of them had their wands pointed at him and Harry cleared his throat, drawing the man’s (for as their eyes adjusted to the darkness of the forest they realized it was clearly a man) attention.

“Drop your wand. Any sudden movements and I hex you,” Harry ordered, his entire body tense and alert.

The man unclasped his fingers, letting the thin wand in his hand clatter to the moss-covered forest floor.

“Turn around,” Daphne added, lighting her wand with a quiet Lumos.

The man’s hood was so big that it was impossible to see his face when he turned around, even with the extra light now illuminating the clearing.

“Take off-” Daphne started. She was never able to finish as a huge, burly man tackled her, shoving her away from Harry. The impact knocked Daphne’s wand out of her hand, leaving her defenseless against the new intruder. Krum wrapped his huge hand around Daphne’s throat, lifting her petite body effortlessly and slamming it against the massive trunk of an ancient oak tree.

Harry whirled around but before he could do anything, Katarina jumped on his back, her nails leaving bloody trails on his arm as she tried to reach for his wand. Harry attempted to shake her off, but realizing she was going to lose their fight she plunged the dagger in her other hand into his chest. The cursed blade cut through muscle and sinew like it was butter, leaving a massive gash in Harry’s torso that extended from shoulder to shoulder. Harry collapsed with Katarina still on top of him. Taking advantage of the confusion, the hooded man grabbed his wand and fled.

Harry’s vision was darkening but his fingers still scrambled for his wand, powered by a single-minded determination to ensure Daphne’s safety.

“STUPEFY!”

Harry watched through Katarina’s dark hair as an arc of bright red light raced through the air over them and slammed into Krum’s back. The burly Quidditch player froze. He released his hold on Daphne’s neck and dropped to the ground, stunned.

Daphne scrambled away from him the minute her feet hit the ground. She crawled towards Harry even as she gasped and stumbled, her lungs still burning. She weakly grabbed Katarina’s wrist, trying to pull the knife out of Harry’s chest. Another jet of red light arced through the still night air and hit Katarina’s side, causing her to slump on top of Harry. Daphne unceremoniously shoved her off Harry.

She ignored their potential savior in favor of wrapping her numb fingers around the knife’s hilt, using her last remaining strength to tug it out of Harry’s chest and toss it as far away from them as she could. She desperately tugged a weak and barely conscious Harry to his feet, knowing they weren’t out of danger just yet.

Harry swayed and leaned into her side for support as he got up, their eyes straining through the darkness to catch a glimpse of their savior.

“Wait!” Daphne called out hoarsely once she realized the figure was already retreating. “Harry’s hurt! He needs help!” Harry was leaning against her, groaning quietly. He was rapidly losing consciousness and Daphne could see that the gash on his chest was deep and had sliced through his muscles, even exposing his rib at one location. He was losing blood at an alarming rate and she knew there was no way she could heal him or get him to the Hospital Wing in time by herself given her own weakened state.

The cloaked figure strode towards them and Daphne tensed, her eyes widening when she realized just who had saved them from certain death.

“Fuck.”

The swear just sounded wrong coming from the cultured and usually refined woman. Daphne stared at Narcissa Malfoy in disbelief, not sure what she was more shocked by. The fact that she had just saved their lives, that she had cussed, or the fact that she was looking at Harry with a mixture of what seemed to be fear and… love?

The lack of oxygen was making her imagine things, she decided.

“Set him down,” Narcissa ordered, her voice teetering on the edge of panic.

“But-”

“He won’t survive the trip back to the castle.” Narcissa took a deep breath, her voice slowly returning to normal. One of them had to remain calm given the situation they were in. “Now, Miss Greengrass.”

“There might-” Daphne wasn’t about to trust Draco Malfoy’s mother blindly, not even after she had technically saved their lives. Layers within layers, that was how good Slytherins wove their plans. Her intervention could be just another trick.

“Daphne, darling, use your head,” Narcissa said with an exasperated sigh when the blonde tightened her hold around Harry. “If I wanted to kill you this is the least effective way of going about it. Now, unless you want your soulmate to bleed out and die in your arms, set him down.”

Daphne lowered Harry to the forest floor, her heart breaking at his quiet whimpering. She watched Narcissa gracefully get down on her knees, bending over Harry. She quickly unbuttoned the blood-stained white shirt he wore, her practiced fingers gently tracing the wound for a quick examination.

“The dagger was cursed,” Narcissa muttered, the dark magic flowing from the serrated edges of the gash on Harry’s chest causing her skin to tingle. “Keep watch. Whoever imperioused those two might still be lurking,” she ordered.

Daphne tore her eyes away from her blood-soaked hands and reluctantly pulled away from Harry. She quickly located her wand and plucked it from the ground before getting to her feet.

The woman had a point. There was no reality in which Krum and Katarina would attack them on their own. Besides, she recognized the glazed look Krum’s eyes had while he was choking her. Moody had given them a crash course in how to recognize an imperioused person in the worst way possible. She lit her wand with a quiet Lumos, extending a shaky arm up in the air to illuminate Harry’s body for Narcissa.

“Will he be okay?” Daphne asked, her hoarse voice sounding broken and dejected. A life without Harry wasn’t a life she wanted to live.

“Yes. It didn’t pierce anything vital and luckily for you, I have a lot of experience with cursed artifacts,” Narcissa muttered, her wand and fingers caressing Harry’s bloody chest as she weaved layers of healing spells, knitting together first his muscles and then his skin. Harry whimpered quietly, and only Narcissa’s gentle hand on his shoulder kept him from thrashing around in pain.

“Did Draco do this? Is that why you’re here?” Daphne asked, her fear slowly transforming into rage. “I don’t care that you’re helping us right now but if it was him-”

“My son has neither the courage nor the talent to do something like this,” Narcissa said bluntly. She loved the boy but he had turned out to be too much like his father and the part of her not blinded by motherly love knew there was perhaps no saving him. A pity. In another reality, he and Harry would have been brothers. “It wasn’t him. This was someone talented enough in the Dark Arts to overcome the wills of two powerful magic users.” Even as she talked she kept up her work, whispering spells under her breath to counteract the curse slowly seeping through Harry’s skin.

“Karkaroff,” Daphne swore under her breath. He had been there along with the other judges when Bagman had explained the Task to the Champions. Krum and Katarina had left early and so had he. It seemed obvious in hindsight who it was.

I’m going to feed that fucker to a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

“Always more of a showboat than a competent wizard, that man. Although things have perhaps changed in the twenty or so years since I last saw him,” Narcissa murmured, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. She was slowly turning pale, the energy required to reverse the effects of such a powerful object taking its toll on her body.

A tall hooded man lurking about in the woods? This wouldn’t be the first time they had encountered him doing that. “It was him.”

And he was going to pay.

“Well, he failed. Harry is going to be alright. We still need to get him to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible before taking him to Mungo’s. He has a long recovery ahead of him, but he will be fine,” Narcissa muttered, pulling away from the unconscious man’s body. She leaned against the closest tree trunk with a quiet groan, utterly exhausted. “Run to the castle and get Minerva McGonagall. While there’s very little we agree on, she is one of the few people in the castle you can trust.”

“Yeah, I’m not leaving you alone with Harry.” While she appreciated the woman’s help, there were limits to her trust. She was, at the end of the day, still a Malfoy.

“Given my current condition, it’ll take me twice as long as you to make the trip to the castle. It will also raise a number of questions because I will undoubtedly be spotted by someone. I have no desire to arouse my son and husband’s suspicions. If someone sees me they’ll have questions I’m not ready to answer yet.”

“In what universe do you live in? I’m not leaving Harry alone with you!”

“I loved his father,” Narcissa said plainly. She defiantly held Daphne’s gaze, letting the younger Slytherin search her eyes and expression for any sign of deceit. “I loved his father with all my heart but sadly love was not enough for me to be brave like my sister and cousin were. Andy asked me to run off with her. Sirius begged me to accompany him when he ran away a couple of years later. But no, I had to be the good daughter,” Narcissa choked back a sob as the dam holding back years of suppressed emotions broke. “So I stayed. And I married the man my father picked for me. And I’ve been miserable ever since.” Narcissa cradled Harry’s head in her lap, gently running her fingers through his messy black hair. “He is my child just as much as he is Lily’s. And for his entire childhood, I had no idea where he was or how he was doing. Dumbledore kept him hidden well and nobody I paid could find him. I’ve been trying to help him ever since I first laid eyes on him four years ago in Madam Malkins. There he stood, a mini-James and just as nice as his mother. So perfect,” Narcissa whispered. “All I wanted to do was hug him and I couldn’t.”

There was no faking the love and pain in the woman’s voice. Daphne’s heart broke at the tragedy playing out in front of her. “You‘ve been trying to help him?” she asked, tilting her wand away from Narcissa. A sign of her trust in the woman. She still needed a little more reassurance, however, something more to prove Narcissa Malfoy was actually on their side.

“Who do you think sent Dobby to warn him of my husband’s schemes?! I couldn’t find him because of Dumbledore’s trickery and neither could anyone I hired but once I saw Dobby disobey my husband’s orders for the first time in his life and use his magic to disapparate through the wards of Malfoy Manor like they didn’t exist at all… I thought maybe he could. Unfortunately, that poor house elf misunderstood all my instructions. I miss him terribly-”

“He’s great,” Daphne murmured.

“He was. But I’m glad he found freedom from the hell that is our house. I’ve been helping Sirius keep tabs on all of you the entire year. How else would I know that you’re all soulmates and that you came up with a cockamamie fake engagement to fool Dumbledore?” Narcissa asked, nodding to the simple ring on Daphne’s finger. “I came down here today to scope out the maze back there because Sirius couldn’t risk it but wanted to be ready when you came to him for advice,” Narcissa explained, tightening her hold around Harry. He was groaning quietly, his body shaking from head to toe.

“Go. My spells won’t hold for long,” Narcissa muttered, picking up her wand and working on Harry’s wounds despite her weakened state. “Get McGonagall. Trust no one else.”

Daphne nodded, casting one last worried look at her boyfriend’s bloodied chest.

And then she ran, not stopping for anything or anyone until she was in front of Professor McGonagall’s office, hammering on her door as hard as she could.

Notes:

Let me tell you, writing a three woman scene is DIFFICULT. But it's also a lot of fun and a great way to make sure all girls get equal(ish) screen time. I kept it a little short this time around cause it was an experiment, but if you want to occasionally read scenes like this, let me know! Won't be too often given how difficult they are to write but I don't mind including them every few chapters if you'd like to read them! As for Harry, I don't like a story without stakes. He's going to get hurt, but in the end, he's going to win. Plus this was a nice, organic way to introduce him to Narcissa!