Walking down an abandoned corridor, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis were making their way back toward the Slytherin Dorm to check in on their friend, Pansy Parkinson, who had not shown up to class that day.
"Daph, I'm sure she's fine. She's probably just back in our room, plotting her little schemes against Umbridge.", Tracey said.
Daphne sighed, "Look, I know I'm being paranoid, but something in my gut is telling me that something bad is going to happen today."
Tracey snorted, "I think Harry's hatred for this day is rubbing off on you."
Daphne nodded and the two kept walking until the hairs on the back of their necks suddenly went up and the two barely moved in time to see two stunners flew past them. They turned to see Crabbe and Goyle, wands raised, firing more stunners at them, which they barely managed to dodge until they finally could pull out their own wands and summon shields to protect them.
While the two gorillas might be strong, duelists they are not, and the two girls made quick work of them with stunners of their own, but they were so preoccupied by the ambush, that they never saw Warrington and Montague sneak up behind them under an invisibility cloak.
"Petrificus Totalus", they both whispered, and the two girls froze and fell over.
Montague and Warrington revealed themselves and smiled viciously, "Well done, boys. You kept these two whores busy for us to get behind them. Now get to the common room and put her with Parkinson and hurry up. We're only going to have the dorm to ourselves for about two hours while everyone is at the feast tonight and we can't afford any mistakes. This is the will of the Dark Lord."
Crabbe and Goyle recovered enough and nodded, tossing one girl each over their shoulder and heading back toward the dungeons. Warrington and Montague followed shortly after, giddy as children on Christmas, not only would they teach these blood traitor sluts who their superiors were, they would finally prove their loyalty to Lord Voldemort.
Halloween night, a holiday that brings joy and fun to people in both the Magical and Muggle worlds. Harry used to actually enjoy Halloween as a young child because he could sneak away from his relatives and walk around the neighborhood in a mask to trick or treat without also having to be the scorn of the neighborhood. Then, he learned about how his parents had been killed on Halloween all those years ago by Voldemort and every year since he started Hogwarts, something bad has happened to him on this day. First year he had to fight a troll to save his friends, second year was when they first learned the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and the school blamed him, third year Sirius (whom he assumed evil at the time) almost broke into the Gryffindor common room looking for him, and fourth year was the Goblet of Fire incident.
Harry sighed to himself as he sat with the Chaser Trio at the Gryffindor Table as they attended the annual Halloween Feast in the Great Hall, although it wasn't nearly as joyful of an atmosphere as years past due to Umbridge sucking all the life and excitement out of it. He looked over to the Professor's table and saw Umbridge just creepily smile at the students, likely feasting on their misery like a demon from hell, and Harry was becoming more determined to enact his plan of training a select few students in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He spoke to the Chasers about it the other day and they were intrigued, but also incredibly concerned of what Umbridge would do to him should she discover them. Harry knew this was a risk and he admittedly wasn't doing this to help most of the students in Hogwarts, but rather for his friends who were going to be targeted by Voldemort and his Death Eaters and needed to know how to fight. To Harry, however, the risk was worth it so long as his girls would live. Harry's eyes widened and thought, "My girls, where did that come from? Sure, I love each of them, but not like how I love my wives, right?"
Angelina saw Harry's expression, "You ok, Harry, you look nervous?"
Harry shook his head and smiled, "I'll be ok, don't worry."
Alicia leaned in to whisper, "Are you thinking about…you know?"
Harry sighed, "No, but I'm still conflicted on that. I'm sure I could get my friends to agree to practice in a study group, but I still doubt anyone else will want to stick their necks out like that."
Katie slung her arm around him and grinned, "Hey now, none of that rubbish, anyone would be lucky to have you as a teacher. Especially, those fangirls who will have fantasies about being disciplined by Professor Potter."
Alicia smirked, "Hmm, speaking from experience Katie?"
Katie squeaked, "N-No, s-shut up."
Harry and the other two chasers laughed as Katie pouted as the feast continued on in relative peace. Harry temporarily excused himself to use the bathroom and, on his way back to the Hall, he ran into a distraught looking Slytherin girl, whom he recognized as Daphne's sister Astoria, and Blaize Zabini attempting to comfort the girl. He didn't really think it his business, not really knowing Astoria like Daphne, and began to walk forward when she noticed him.
"Potter wait, have you seen my sister and her friends?", she asked desperately.
Harry's blood went cold, "What do you mean?"
Blaize spoke up, "Daph, Tracey, and Pans never showed up for the feast and we looked all over the castle, we couldn't find them."
"We tried checking our common room, but we couldn't get in for some reason.", said Astoria.
Harry's mind went wild with possibilities, but in the more cynical parts of his mind, he already knew what happened. "Have they already made their move?", he thought despairingly.
He turned to the two snakes, "Was anyone else missing?"
Blaize sneered, "Those two pricks Warrington and Montague haven't been seen all day. Draco and his two goons broke off from the Slytherins when we went to the Great Hall."
Harry narrowed his eyes, "I have an idea about what happened, I'm going to find them now. I need to know the password to your common room, though."
"Let us come with you.", Astoria pleaded.
Harry shook his head, "No, it's too dangerous and Daph would kill me if I brought you. Now I need the password."
Astoria wanted to protest, but Blaize put a hand on her shoulder, "The password is 'Remain Pure.'"
Harry nodded, "Astoria, you have my word I will bring your sister back, no matter what I have to do. If I'm not back in an hour, find a teacher who will believe you, and if they don't then make up a lie saying I did something. Umbridge, I know, would love that."
Blaize nodded and wrapped up a still sobbing Astoria into a hug, whispering something into her ear. He was slightly curious about how close these two were but shook his head and headed off toward his dorm room to collect his invisibility cloak and double check the girl's location on the Marauder's Map. He already knew where they were, but he had to be sure, and to make sure of their captor's number. All the while, Harry couldn't help but feel like this was fault, but he couldn't let those thoughts distract him now as he grabbed what he needed and ran towards the dungeons.
Pansy felt groggy as she woke up and her vision began to correct itself, and when she attempted to move, she found she couldn't move beyond the neck down. She looked down and saw she was tied to a chair by chains, and she looked to her right to see an unconscious Daphne and Tracey in the same predicament. When her five senses finally returned to proper form, she realized that they were in the Slytherin common room and that they weren't alone. Montague and Warrington were sitting across from them and Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind them with their wands out, Draco nowhere to be seen.
Montague smirked, "Well, looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up. Hello, Parkinson."
Pansy hissed at them, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Montague!?"
Warrington gasped, "Now, Pansy, should a Pureblood Princess like you use such language?"
Pansy glared, "ANSWER ME!"
Montague chuckled, "Yes, yes, we'll tell you, but first, let's wake the others. Rennervate!"
Daphne and Tracey woke up and gasped for air as Warrington spoke, "Welcome back, ladies. I'm sure you have questions."
Tracey snorted, "The only question I have is do you always have to kidnap girls to get them to talk to you? It would certainly explain a lot, though I always thought it was because you're a little limp."
Montague reacted that time by smacking Tracey across the face as an enraged Daphne shouted, "You worthless fuckers, let us go now! You know you won't get away with this."
A more composed Montague smirked, "See, that's where you're wrong, Greengrass. What's about to happen here will not be spoken about again unless we say so."
Pansy raised an eyebrow, "Oh, how is that?"
Warrington twirled his wand and said, "You three are going to make an Unbreakable Vow."
All three girls stilled, and Warrington continued, "That's right, you three will each make an Unbreakable Vow agreeing to convince your fathers to sign marriage contracts with us two and Draco, as well as submit your loyalty to the Dark Lord. Finally, you will publicly denounce Potter as a madman and break him emotionally and mentally."
Tracey sneered, "And if we don't?"
Montague grinned, "Well, the Dark Lord forbade us from harming you; however, little Astoria is technically fair game since she's just a spare womb and we can do whatever we want to her. I wonder how long she can take the Cruciatus curse before she ends up a vegetable like Longbottom's parents?"
Daphne went pale and started hyperventilating as Tracey and Pansy just lowered their heads as they began to resign themselves to their fate. Daphne felt terrible that she had to ask Tracey and Pansy for such an unspeakable favor, but she knew this was the only way to save her sister. All three girls hoped Harry would one day forgive them, and they just wished they could tell him how they felt.
Warrington knew they had been broken, "Well girls, what's your answer?"
Harry, under the guise of his father's cloak, rounded the corner that led to the Slytherin common room as fast as he could with a mix of worry and righteous anger while he went through different scenarios about how this could go. He did his best to remember his training and remain with a cool head in order to analyze the situation better, but the thought of the girls getting hurt plagued his thoughts. He finally got to the corridor when he saw Malfoy, pale as a ghost, anxiously pacing in front of his dorm and muttering to himself.
"This wasn't supposed to happen, it was supposed to be easy and painless.", he whispered.
Harry didn't have time for Malfoy's nonsense, so he pointed his wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"
Malfoy, completely unprepared for it, went flying into the nearest wall and landed hard, falling into unconsciousness and probably breaking a few bones. Any other time, Harry would have taken pleasure in sending the ferret flying like that, but today was not that day. He turned towards the entrance and said the password, allowing what appeared to be a large metal snake reveal a door that led to the Slytherin common room as Harry pressed forward.
Harry made his way down the stairs and into the Slytherin common room, not much appearing to have changed in the near three years since he and Ron snuck in during second year. However, his eyes were drawn to his three friends being tied to chairs with Montague, Warrington, Crabbe, and Goyle all hovering over them with looks of superiority and leering.
"Ok, girls, last chance, Potter or sweet, little Astoria?", asked Montague.
Tracey and Pansy looked at Daphne with sad, but resolute expressions as the blonde sighed tiredly, "We will do as you ask."
All four boys cackled as Warrington said, "I knew you'd girls would make the right choice, I look forward to getting more acquainted with you on a more intimate level. Too bad Potter isn't here to see his little fangirls become our personal whores."
Everyone froze when they heard a voice call out, "You know Warrington, one should not ask for the devil unless he is prepared to go to Hell."
Montague pulled out his wand, "Who said that!? Show yourself!"
Having no fear of these Death Eater wannabes, Harry revealed himself as the boys were shocked and shouted, "Potter!?"
"Harry!", said the now relieved girls.
Harry glared coldly, "Acting as Voldemort's newest errand boys, are we?"
Montague smiled, "Merely proving ourselves to him, and once we deliver both the girls and you, the Dark Lord will make us his most loyal servants."
Harry smirked, "Oh you'll serve, all right. As Satan's newest sex slaves."
Having enough of Harry's insults, the four boys began launching a multitude of spells at Harry which included, stunners, the blasting curse, fire spells, etc. Montague even went a step further and started firing the Cruciatus curse at him. Anyone else outside of an experienced duelist would have buckled under such an assault; fortunately, Harry Potter wasn't just anyone. Four years of defending against Voldemort's worst schemes and his training with the founders allowed Harry to easily turn the tide of battle.
After setting up a Protego shield that was impervious to whatever spell these four knobs could come up with. Harry went on the offensive, first he easily disarmed Crabbe and Goyle with Expelliarmus and then fired a Confringo at Crabbe, sending the small whale flying with second degree burns across the common room and even Harry cringed at how hard he landed, and he knew the gorilla wasn't getting up soon. He turned towards Goyle and hit him with a Levioso and then shot the blasting curse at him five times and Harry was slightly amused at the fat lad coming back down to Earth broken and battered all over as Harry shot a Glacius at him to ensure he stayed down.
He turned his attention to the two larger threats and decided to take things up a notch, starting with experimenting again with using Apparations during combat, something Godric has slowly been drilling into him since he returned to Hogwarts and only he could perform while in the school as the Lord of Hogwarts. He quickly broke the shield and apparated behind Warrington, catching the seventh year completely by surprise, and decided to use two spells that would produce a deadly combination. He pointed his wand and Warrington and shot a new spell called Oleum that covered the boy in oil and Harry followed that up with an Incendio, and Harry watched as the pretty boy was engulfed in flames and proceeded to run around trying to put out the fire. Quite pointless as Harry casted Arresto Momentum to keep him in place and burn to death. Harry had no real qualms about killing Warrington and Montague, unlike Malfoy and his two goons, because he saw only the former had taken the Dark Mark on their arms and Harry might need some scape goats once this fight ended. However, that didn't stop Harry from hating doing the act to begin with, every time making him sick to his stomach; although, he supposed that is indeed what separated him from Voldemort after all.
Finally, he turned his attention to an enraged Montague, who apparently realized his situation as he began to spam cast Avada Kadavra at Harry repeatedly. Harry began to lose his equilibrium due to how much he had to apparate all over the common room to avoid getting hit, and since the girls were in danger of getting hit, he had to end this now. When Montague momentarily stopped to catch his breath, Harry pounced, and disarmed him, then hit him with a Depulso that undoubtedly broke most of the bones in his body, and finally went up the now frightened older boy and looked him in the eye as he placed his wand towards Montague's temple and whispered, "Reducto."
Harry watched in morbid fascination and disgust as Montague's head and neck exploded all over the common room floor, an image that will unfortunately haunt Harry's nightmares for the foreseeable future. Harry walked away from the corpse and dried the blood off his robes with a spell and saw that Warrington finally stopped screaming in agony, signaling he was dead, so Harry used a water spell to put out the burning body. With the horrid task now over, he turned his attention towards the girls who all had frightened and awed expressions on their face, they didn't even register Harry undo their bindings. Harry knew this would probably be the end of their friendship, likely seeing him as a monster and possibly even turning him in, but that didn't matter to him so long as they were safe.
"Are you all alright?", he asked.
The three finally broke out of their stupor and Tracey nearly knocked Harry over when she tackled him into the tightest hug ever done by human hands. Harry just chuckled and comforted her as he sobbed and whispered thank you' s into his robes. Soon, she pulled back and let Daphne and Pansy hug him almost as profusely, which slightly relieved his worries.
They pulled back and Harry asked, "So, you aren't…scared of me?"
Tracey shook her head, "No, Harry, of course not. You did what you had to do to save yourself and us. Don't feel guilty over these wannabe Death Eaters, we don't."
Harry looked at Daphne and Pansy who nodded and he said, "I'm glad, I was worried you'd think differently of me. Now, we have to think about what we're going to do about this mess."
Pansy looked serious as she said, "Umbridge will do her best to paint you as the prime suspect, even if she hasn't realized you're missing."
Harry nodded, "I know, and I believe I have a solution for that, but I'm going to need your help, Daph."
Daphne raised an eyebrow, "With what?"
Harry smiled, "With your gifts in memory charms."
Astoria was still a nervous wreck as she sat in the Great Hall with Blaize next to her, as the feast was coming to end and still no sign of Harry or her sister and her friends. She really didn't want to have to get the teachers, knowing that she might make matters worse, but for her sister, she would.
Blaize's voice brought her out of her musings, "Stori, I know you want to believe that Potter and Daphne can handle anything, but the longer we wait, the longer that something bad could happen."
Stori sighed and nodded; it was times like these that she was glad that she fell in love with Blaize Zabini. Their relationship is entirely a secret, not even Daphne knows, but she could honestly say that the last year of her life with him was the best of her life, he was kind, funny, strong, smart, and kept her from going crazy sometimes. They may have started dating because she wanted some freedom and fun before she was forced to marry Malfoy, but now she could honestly say she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him; however, they both know that likely won't be possible due to her status.
Astoria sighed and had stood up to make her way over to the professor's table, when her sister, Tracey, and Pansy came rushing into the Great Hall and ran up to the Professor's as all conversation in the Hall stopped.
"Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Davis, Ms. Parkinson, what is wrong?", asked Professor McGonagall.
Daphne looked panicked, "Professor, there was some kind of fight in the Slytherin common room, two students are dead."
Everyone in the hall gasped as the professor's went pale and everyone suddenly bolted out of the Hall and made their way toward the dungeons and toward the Slytherin common room. Astoria tried to get to her sister, but there were too many people in between them. Eventually, she and some of the students finally made it to the common room and saw the entranceway was open as some of the Slytherins had made their way in and she froze when she heard a scream come from inside. She and Blaize made her way inside the common room and the two were shocked at what they saw, Crabbe and Goyle were both bruised and bloody all over and Malfoy was standing in the center of the room, hand raised, but he looked confused as to what was going on as if he just regained consciousness. However, what drew everyone's attention were the two corpses near them, one was completely burnt and the other had no head, and Astoria didn't know what was worse, the sight or the smell. The professors finally walked in and they either gasped, or in Umbridge's case, shrieked at the sight.
"Who did this!?", the toad screamed.
McGonagall looked distraught and then turned to Malfoy, "Mr. Malfoy, are you responsible for this!?"
Malfoy seemed to realize his predicament, "WHAT!? No, I am not. I don't know what happened, I was outside when someone hit me with a spell, and then I woke up with my wand in hand."
Snape saw Crabbe and Goyle stir and asked, "What about you two dunderheads, do you remember what happened?"
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other and then at everyone else, "Who are you? Who are we?"
Everyone seemed shocked and Flitwick went over to the pair and did a diagnostic spell on them, "It's no use, their memories have been obliviated, and if my diagnostic spell is correct, the source is Mr. Malfoy's wand."
It was then that Professor Dumbledore came into the common room, and he looked older than ever when he saw the corpses, "Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, please escort the students back to their respective Houses. Severus, you will escort the Slytherins to the Great Hall where they will sleep for the night. Mr. Malfoy, you will come with me."
Umbridge decided to speak again, "Dumbledore, I'll be informing the Aurors of this, they should arrive quickly, and I'll be informing Cornelius as well. They'll get to the bottom of this and likely prove young Draco's innocence. This horrendous crime was likely caused by a Half-Breed or a certain deranged student."
Dumbledore just sighed tiredly, "Do as you will, Delores. The rest of you, away, and await further instructions tomorrow."
Astoria was just stunned at what had happened, but she looked over to her sister and her friends, who seemed to be calm and unsurprised at what happened. She was going to have a serious talk with them as soon as possible, but for now, she was glad Daphne was safe.
While all this was happening, no one had seen Harry slip in with the Gryffindors as if he had been with them the whole time. Harry had become more determined than ever that night to form his own small group that bring down Umbridge, expose the Ministry and the Death Eaters, and end Voldemort. He will take back his school, country, freedom, and life by any means necessary, only this time he cannot fight alone if his enemy wouldn't. The war had officially begun.