A couple of days after her conversation with Hermione, Daphne awoke to find herself in a darkened room. It was a dimly lit study, full of oak shelves, filled with old books, the smell of wood smoke, and parchment. In the far corner there was a pair of high back chairs in front of a fire. Daphne crossed the room to find the older Hermione waiting for her.
"Hello, Daphne."
"Hermione? What's going on?"
"I finished my plan, I'm ready to help Harry," Hermione explained.
"What are you intending to do?"
"It's complicated, I'd rather wait until everyone is together. I don't want to have to explain it twice."
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
"No, but it's our best shot to save Harry's life."
"Will it put you in danger?"
"Maybe."
"Are you sure it's worth it?" Daphne asked.
Hermione's lips twitched upwards. "Are you worried about me, Daphne?"
"Yes."
Hermione reached across and took Daphne's hand in hers. "It'll be worth it if we save Harry."
"I wasn't talking about him, for once."
"I'll be fine, Daphne. This is what we came back for, remember?"
"I know, but things are different now. Voldemort is dead, the only horcrux is buried in Harry's head. We can wait it out."
Hermione shook her head. "Harry deserves to have a happy life, free from the threat of that monster ever coming back. We have to destroy the horcrux in Harry's head, we have no choice."
Daphne sat back in her seat and nodded. "Ok."
"Please invite Harry and Hermione to the room tomorrow, we need them both for this."
"Hi, Daphne," Harry said as he and Hermione entered the room.
"Thank you for coming," Daphne said as she rose from her seat and disappeared through the door behind them.
"What's this about, Greengrass," Hermione asked, wrapping her arm around Harry's.
"The older Hermione in my head, has a plan to destroy the horcrux inside Harry, without killing him."
"What does she intend to do?" Harry asked.
"She hasn't told me, the instructions I was given is for us to stand in a semi-circle. Harry and I are to hold hands and Hermione will place her hands over ours."
"Then what?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, that's where the instructions ended," Daphne replied.
The three crossed the room and sat down at a provided table. Harry and Daphne joined hands while Hermione laid hers on top, as instructed. "Ready?" Harry asked. The other two nodded and the three closed their eyes.
When Harry, Hermione, and Daphne opened their eyes they found themselves in the entrance hall of Hogwarts. The entrance hall and the great hall beyond were bereft of people. The only sound was the three of them breathing.
"I don't understand, did we teleport to the entrance hall?" Harry asked.
Hermione shook her head. "No, we're inside your head. Our brains are interpreting the inside of your head as something we can understand."
"I'm amazed the inside of Potter's head doesn't look like a red light district," Daphne commented teasingly.
"Ha, ha…" Was Harry's deadpanned reply.
"Can you two stop flirting for a minute, we need to focus on finding Voldemort," Hermione spat irritated by their behaviour.
"Yes dear," Harry responded.
Hermione huffed. "You're impossible."
"Where should we go?" Harry asked.
"Slytherin/Gryffindor house," Hermione and Daphne said at the same time.
Harry grinned and shook his head. "Ok, let's go this way."
As the three began walking, Daphne stopped, her eyes widening. "Wait…"
Hermione and Harry turned around. "What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"It's Hermione, I can't feel her presence inside my head."
"Could it be because we're inside Harry's mind?" Hermione suggested.
"Maybe…"
"Did my older self tell you what to do?" Hermione asked.
"No, she refused to say what her plan was. No matter how much I pressed."
Harry let out a long breath. "I guess that means our first goal is finding future Hermione."
The two girls nod in agreement, Harry opened his mouth to speak again when a noise behind him drew his attention. Turning around Harry saw that the door to the great hall was ajar.
"Uhhh, this… is a trap, right?" Harry asked, looking between the two girls again.
"Of course it's a trap. But that doesn't matter, you're a Gryffindor. You want to go peek, regardless," Daphne said exasperatedly.
A half smile crept up Harry's face as the two girls rolled their eyes. Harry brandished a wand and spun around, crossing the hall towards the door. Harry briefly considered telling the two to stay back, but he quickly guessed how that conversation would go.
"Ready?" Harry asked, Hermione and Daphne nodded, and the three burst into the hall.
"Hello, Potter."
Harry tightened his grip on his wand as a shiver ran down his spine. Bad memories came flooding back as he stared into the blood red eyes of the man who killed his parents, who was sat atop a throne where the headmaster's chair would usually be. "Riddle."
"That is not my name…" the old man hissed, tightening his grip on the chain he was holding.
Harry's eyes drifted from Riddle to the woman standing beside him. It was Hermione's older self. She looked even more beautiful than her younger counterpart. But Daphne had been right, the spark had disappeared from her eyes, she looked haunted.
"Let her go, you bastard," Daphne yelled, advancing on the throne.
Voldemort pointed his wand at Daphne threateningly. "Not one step closer, mudblood lover."
Harry grabbed Daphne by the arm and pulled her back towards Hermione and himself. Voldemort sneered at them, yanking on the chain, eliciting a whimper from the older Hermione. "If you want her back, you'll have to fight for her. We'll be waiting at the top of the astronomy tower."
The two disappeared, leaving Harry, Hermione, and Daphne alone in the great hall. Harry stomped out of the hall, scowling. "That bastard is toying with us…"
"Yes, he is, and pouting about it isn't going to do anyone any good," Daphne reminded him.
Harry glared at her, but didn't reply, instead heading for the main staircase. "Let's go, it's a long climb to the astronomy tower."
The Augury's Curse was a dive bar in the very back corner of Knockturn Alley. It was a well known meeting place of the dregs of magical society and even a recruitment hub for death eaters. The recruiting never happened on site, no one who survived to become a senior member of Voldemort's cult was that stupid. They were always picked up from the Augury and taken somewhere else.
Today it was playing host to the pinnacle of refinement, in Isabella Greengrass. It raised a lot of eyebrows, but no one was fullhardy enough to approach her and make trouble. Everyone in the bar was aware how dangerous Joseph Greengrass could be.
Isabella entered the room she's reserved and after giving the chair and table a clean with her wand, she sat down and waited.
Soon enough, Isabella heard footsteps in the corridor. When they stopped outside her door, Isabella moved the hand holding her wand under the table as the person on the other side knocked. "Come in."
A weedily looking short man in a black robe entered, his eyes darted around nervously as he slipped into the chair in front of him. "I didn't expect the hot wife of Joseph Greengrass to summon little old me." He said gleefully, his eyes locked on to Isabella's formidable bust.
Isabella frowned, he hated this rodent of a man. This man who'd tried to offer a betrothal contract for Daphne's hand in marriage twice in the last two years. Despite being thirty or forty years older than her.
"My husband sent me to do a little business with you. He's looking for Peter Pettigrew. That's if he survived the destruction of Malfoy Manor."
The man's eyes darted up from Isabella's breasts to her eyes. "Why does he want that rat? And why do you think I would know where he is?"
Isabella smiled to herself, he'd confirmed her suspicion. "My husband wants to keep Pettigrew out of the hands of the Ministry. He was best placed among the Dark Lord's followers to revive him again. And I have it on good authority that you are very good at sniffing out people who've gone into hiding," Isabella explained, although the thought of You-Know-Who returning for a third time, made her want to vomit, doubly so with this vermin in front of her.
"How do I know this isn't a trap, the Greengrasses never cared for the Dark Lord before. What made him suddenly want to join our side?"
Isabella regarded him evenly. "How do you know we have not supported the dark lord in the past? Just because our support wasn't overt doesn't mean we didn't assist in other ways. Financial support was as important as ground troops, if not more."
"And what if I asked your husband about that?" He asked, leering at Isabella.
Isabella smiled darkly, moving her wand from her lap to the table. "Then I would make your death exceptionally painful. My husband's support of the dark lord was covert for a reason. I, for one, am hoping you'll try."
The blood drained from his face as he leaned back in his chair, away from the offending wand. "N-no, that won't be necessary… Lady Greengrass, I do not doubt yours or your husband's loyalty to the dark lord. I-if you wish to see Pettigrew, it can be arranged."
"My husband and I appreciate your service. But remember, a word to my husband…" Isabella said.
"Y-yes… I understand…"
Isabella walked out of the Augury's Curse a happy woman. Pettigrew was alive and soon would be in the hands of the Ministry. Isabella didn't mind getting her hands a little bloody for the man she loved. She hoped he was worthy of all this effort.
Harry, Daphne and Hermione arrived at the top of the grand staircase after what felt like hours of climbing. The rotating staircases had been surprisingly kind to them.
"I was expecting more resistance," Harry said.
Hermione groaned. "Why did you have to say that…?"
Harry turned to quip back at his girlfriend, when he felt the ground began to shake beneath him. He turned around in a circle trying to determine the source of the shaking.
*SMASH*
Harry, Hermione, and Daphne were thrown to the ground by something crashing through the wall. Harry rolled to his back and was about to leap to his feet to face whatever Voldemort had attacked them with. Only to freeze in place.
"$Kill the halfblood! Kill the mudblood!$"
Memories came flooding back of fighting the Basilisk. He hadn't been listening at the time, too focused on staying alive and saving Ginny. It hurled insults at him as it chased him around the chamber.
"DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES! IT'S A BASILISK!" Harry yelled as he crawled to where he thought the Basilisk wasn't.
"$Kill the mudblood lover!$" The Basilisk hissed.
"No!" Harry yelled, rolling onto his back and firing off a volley of spells in the direction of the voice. He heard the Basilisk cry out in pain. Harry scrambled to his feet and rushed in the opposite direction of the voice. He slammed himself against the corridor wall, and felt his way forward. When he hit the end of the wall he threw himself inside what he hoped was a classroom.
Voldemort hissed and glared at the block of crystal that took up most of the space in the Astronomy tower classroom. "How did Potter get a wand?!"
Future Hermione chuckled. "It's his mind, and you should know by now, Harry is capable of anything. He's just that powerful."
Voldemort scowled, marching up to Hermione, who was locked in a set of stocks, and grabbing her by the hair. "No one is more powerful than Lord Voldemort."
"Keep telling yourself that. I'll put my faith in Harry," Hermione replied defiantly. She knew what this monster was capable of, and she didn't care. She wasn't going to let him get away with slandering Harry, either the one she loved or the man he would grow into.
Voldemort sneered at her, letting go of Hermione's hair. "The boy who never saw you as a potential lover. Who married his red-headed fan girl."
"He, he never knew I loved him, Ron, Ron made sure he never knew."
"But you could have told him, you had years to confess your feelings, but you chose not to. So really is it his fault for not noticing, or yours for not confessing?" Voldemort asked, caressing Hermione's cheek. His voice went quiet, almost as if in concern for her.
Hermione fell silent and looked away, Voldemort shook his head in disappointment. "Foolish girl."
Hermione coughed and sputtered, rolling away from Daphne. "Daphne, are you ok?"
"Barely, what was that?" Daphne asked, she sat up and brushed some of the dust off her clothes.
"I don't know, I heard Harry yell something as we fell through the floor, but I couldn't make it out over the bedlam. All I know is, it was huge, and it might have been scaly."
"I think I heard… hissing…" Daphne said as the blood drained from her face. The two girls looked at each other as realisation dawned.
"Basilisk!"
Daphne slapped her hand over her eyes, and slid backwards into the opposite wall of the corridor they'd landed in. "Granger, what the fuck are we going to do??"
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, sliding her ass back against the wall beside Daphne. "We need to find Harry."
"How are we supposed to do that, when we can't open our eyes?"
"I don't know…" Hermione replied, as the two girls sat impotently in a half-ruined corridor.
"$I smell a halfblood, quivering in fear, where are you halfblood, I just want to play$," The basilisk taunted as it smashed through another wall.
It was toying with him, playing with its food. Harry knew he had to do something, so crawling forward he peered down the corridor. Finding it empty he hurried down the passage, trying to put as much distance between them as he could. And he hoped he was drawing it away from Daphne and Hermione.
Harry had no idea how to fight this thing, last time Fawkes took out its eyes and he had the Sword of Gryffindor. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to kill it this time, but he knew he had to figure it out. The basilisk was out to kill them, and it wasn't going to be talked down.
Harry dove to the ground again as the Basilisk smashed through the wall behind him. "$I found you!$"
"Fuck it!" Harry yelled, he squeezed his eyes shut and rolled over onto his back, letting off a series of cutting curses. He followed up with a pair of banishing spells, hoping some of the shrapnel lying about might pierce the tough scales.
The basilisk roared, smashing its head against the floor, ceiling, and walls. Blood spouted from its eyes, dissolving the corridor around them. Eventually it smashed through the opposite wall and disappeared.
Harry let the rumbling subside before opening his eyes again. He was alone but he'd done some damage, judging by the acid eating away at various pieces of the corridor. Harry recalled a movie Dudley liked, that he quoted, whenever he and his mates went Harry hunting when they were kids.
"If it bleeds, I can kill it," Harry muttered to himself. "But first I need to make sure Hermione and Daphne are ok."
"Are you sure this is the way to the stairs, Granger?" Daphne demanded as they walked.
"I think so," Hermione answered. "But it could be anywhere. It depends on how well Harry knows Hogwarts."
"And whether Voldemort is messing with us," Daphne added.
"It's strange to hear someone other than Harry and I say his name out loud. Usually people are too afraid, unless they're on his side."
"I'm from the future, remember? It's hard to be afraid of someone who's long dead. For some of us at least."
"I forget about that sometimes," Hermione said as they arrived at the stairs. "Finally. I mean, you came back into the body of your younger self. Are they even in there anymore?"
Daphne pondered the question for a few moments. "Yes and no, it wasn't a takeover as such. It was more a merging of our memories. If you watched our memories back it would be difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. I am how Daphne would have become had she led my life. I don't feel there is a distinction worth commenting on."
"I see. May I ask you something else?"
"Go ahead," Daphne replied.
"What was your relationship with future Harry before you came back, I take it you were close."
Daphne stopped on the stairs, forcing Hermione to stop and turn around. "Daphne?"
"We weren't, Harry and I didn't know each other well, during school or afterwards."
"But you wanted to," Hermione guessed.
"Yes."
"But you're a Slytherin, and all of Harry's friends and loved ones hate Slytherin. It doesn't matter if you mistreated us. You get painted with the same green brush," Hermione extrapolated. "Even by me."
"…Yes," Daphne admitted reluctantly.
"Do you love him?"
Daphne hesitated and thought for a few moments. "I'm not sure. I like him, I have a crush on him. But, I'm not sure. I want to find out, but…"
"I'm in the way," Hermione said frankly.
"I wouldn't have put it quite so bluntly…" Daphne replied, with a small smile.
Hermione ran her fingers through her hair, frowning. "I don't think this is the place to talk about this. Once this is over, we should sit down, all three of us. And decide what we do next."
Daphne raised an eyebrow. "What is there to talk about? You have Harry, he loves you. The two will hopefully spend the rest of your lives together."
Hermione lit up bright red. "I-I don't know if that's true…"
"You and Harry get to be happy, that's enough for me," Daphne said, she knew she was lying to herself and by extension Hermione. But it was better than telling Harry's girlfriend that she was pining for him. Daphne was glad, at least for a moment, that the older Hermione wasn't in her head.
As the two reached the top of the stairs, the ground shook…
*CRASH*
The ground exploded and the basilisk burst out of the floor, crashing into the ceiling above. Daphne tackled Hermione to the ground and covered the older girl's head with her body while squeezing her eyes shut.
"$I smell a mudblood!$"
Daphne's eyes almost snapped open when she heard a voice between hisses. She wasn't a parseltongue, at least she didn't think she was. But then, Harry is a parseltongue, and they were in his head…
Daphne could feel the basilisk hovering over them, but it hadn't attacked, instead it was sniffing the air and moving its head back and forth.
"Granger, do you trust me?" Daphne whispered.
"Yes," Hermione replied instantly.
Daphne reached down and undid Hermione's robe, stripping her of it in short order. Hermione's eyes widened beneath her, her head still buried between Daphne's substantial breasts. "Greengrass, what are you doing?!" Hermione asked with a shrill hiss.
"Testing a theory," Daphne replied.
"About what I look like naked?"
Daphne grinned. "Maybe later."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're impossible!"
"Keep your eyes closed," Daphne ordered as she yanked Hermione's robe off. She rolled off the older girl and crawled away, towards an exposed broken pipe.
Daphne draped the robe over the pipe and grabbed a piece of rock. Slamming it on the pipe she got the attention of the Basilisk. "Hey! You stupid lizard, you want to kill a mudblood, come get some!"
"$Impudent girl!$" The basilisk hissed angrily, diving for Daphne, who leapt out the way at the last second.
The basilisk screamed as the pipe pieced the inside of its mouth, causing blood to spray over the walls and ceiling. The two girls hid behind a sturdy looking piece of rubble as the basilisk writhed in pain.
The two glanced at each other, smiling. "Nice work," Hermione said.
"Thank you," Daphne replied. "Now we know it's blind, we can kill it."
"Right."
Harry ran down the corridor, hearing the sounds of a fight near the stairs. As he rushed to reach them Harry pulled up short, noticing a door that was unlike the others. It was a small dark room squeezed between two classrooms.
Harry knew he should be rushing to help the girls, but something compelled him to walk inside. Stepping over the threshold a light snapped on, illuminating the Sword of Gryffindor, which was embedded in a stone.
Harry stopped in front of the sword. "I feel like I've seen this movie before…" He said, gripping the hilt firmly and yanking it free.
Hearing screams of pain down the corridor, Harry spun on his heels and rushed towards the noise, dragging the sword behind him. When Harry got close enough, he saw Hermione and Daphne dodging around the gaping jaws of the blinded basilisk. He began to run towards the fight, brandishing the sword. But then he stopped, spotting a nearby set of stairs. Taking them two at a time, he arrived on the floor above.
He ran towards the hole in the floor, seeing the basilisk fighting Hermione and Daphne. Their spells splashed off the basilisk hide harmlessly, seeming only to anger it rather than doing any damage. Harry looked down at the blade and frowned. He sprinted away from the hole, stopped and then rushed forward, leaping through the hole with the blade held high above his head.
The basilisk screamed for a second time as the sword pierced through its head and into its brain. The venom from the blade dissolving its brain matter instantly. In its death throes it thrashed about, causing Harry to be flung into the nearby wall with a sickening crunch.
"HARRY!!" The two girls screamed as he slumped to the floor.
The basilisk crashed to the ground, dead, the floor splintering beneath its weight. Seconds later the basilisk and the destruction it wrought, along with the Sword of Gryffindor faded from existence.
Ignoring the changes around them, the two ran over to Harry, with Hermione pulling him into her arms. "Harry, are you ok?!"
Harry groaned and nodded. "Yeah, I think so… that hurt, but I don't think anything is broken."
"How?" Daphne asked, earning a glare from Hermione. "Harry hit the wall with an audible crunch, he should have broken some bones."
"You're right, I should," Harry agreed, cutting off their argument as he sat up. "Maybe it's because we're inside my head. I don't care, as long as you're both ok."
"We're fine, thank you for saving us," Hermione said with a smile.
"Anytime," Harry replied, returning her smile.
"We should go," Daphne said, the unease in her stomach growing watching them interact.
"Yeah," Harry agreed standing up.
"So, where do we go next?" Hermione asked.
As Hermione asked, a set of stairs leading up to the next floor materialised. Hermione shook her head. "Never mind."
Harry chuckled. "Let's go."
Above them, Voldemort scowled and turned his blood red eyes on the crystal that sat in a corner of the balcony. He walked up to it, pressing his fingers against the translucent material. "You did this, you helped that boy save them. I won't let this continue, soon you won't be able to do anything at all. I will win, nothing will stop me, nothing."
The older Hermione pulled uselessly on her restraints, before slumping once again. She wanted to help, she wanted to save the man she loved. But she was trapped here with a psychopath, unable to do anything. "Harry, please, we need you…"