A Fortuitous Arrangement Chapter 17. (Patreon)

Chapter 17: Daphne

Content Warnings: Horror.

Daphne’s feet ached. Though the house at the top of the cliff offered spectacular views, the wards around it meant she faced a long walk home each evening. The callouses on her feet were just one more reason, she supposed, to despise the Dark Lord. 

Daphne pushed past the throbbing in her head and the ache in her feet as she climbed the stairs to the front door. Her vision blurred, and she could hardly think straight. Nothing about this felt right, but she shut out the small voice in her mind and focused only on reaching a bed. The house was dark and silent. Daphne slipped out of her heels and tossed the briefcase in her hand onto the couch as she made her way deeper into the building. Her throat was parched, and a glass of water before bed suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. The house felt alien, as though she had no business being there. Everything was unfamiliar, but she was too tired to care. Having located the kitchen, she walked to the sink and bent to drink directly from the tap. Before she straightened, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist. She tensed, only to relax when she heard a familiar voice. 

“You’re late,” Harry whispered. “I have been waiting for a long time, princess.”

The quippy retort died in her throat when he spun her around and lifted her onto the sink, pushing her knees apart. Her skirt rode up her thighs, revealing a scandalous amount of skin. He was being far too forward with a woman with whom he had no relationship. The protest never made it past her lips as he buried his face in the crook of her neck and left a trail of kisses on her soft skin.

“Merlin, I hate it when you work late. The house feels so empty. I missed you.”

Work? Did she… Yes, she worked. Yes, this was their house. Everything around her blurred into a soft haze. Why couldn’t she remember anything? Why did this feel so wrong?

“Empty?” she croaked, reluctantly grabbing his hand to stop him from undoing the buttons of her blouse. His other hand slipped between her legs and caressed the inside of her thigh, and she could’ve sworn her heart stopped the minute his fingertips brushed her skin. “Why… Fuck, Harry-”

“Language,” Harry tutted. “Or I’ll bring out the paddle.”

The mewl that left her lips made her want to crawl into a hole for eternity. Harry simply chuckled and probed deeper with his fingers. His left hand slipped out of her grasp and gently traced the outline of her curves. His ministrations made it almost impossible to think, but she forged onward.

“W-Why would you be alone?” The fog descended on her mind, but she knew something vital was missing in the house. “Where’s Susan?”

“Why would Susan be here?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Because she’s your wife?!”

Daphne didn’t know where that came from. Was it true? She couldn’t remember if Harry had married Susan Bones. Surely an event that important would have caught the attention of the Wizarding World? Why did she have no memory of it, yet was so certain it was true?

Harry pulled away and raised an eyebrow, “Did you hit your head at work or something? This is a weird prank you’re pulling, Daph. You’re my wife. I belong to you and only to you.” His hand rested on her chest, right over her thumping heart. “What’s the matter with you?” 

Harry’s hand, working its magic, made it nearly impossible to think. His fingers gently massaged her breast, evoking feelings in her she didn’t even know were possible. Everything was perfect, yet why did things feel so wrong? Susan had to be with them. She was certain of it, even if she did not know why. 

“Where’s Susan?” Daphne rasped, licking her dry lips.

“I don’t know. At home?”

“With her aunt?”

“Daphne, you’re scaring me now.” Harry paused again, but kept his hand on her chest. “Her aunt died while we were in our sixth year, remember? She’s been by herself for as long as I can remember. I can try to invite her over for dinner if you want, but I don’t think she’d accept. She’s been a shut-in ever since she dropped out of Hogwarts.”

No. No! It was wrong. It was all wrong. Susan wasn’t meant to be a lonely spinster, confined forever by past tragedy. And Hermione? 

“Where’s Hermione?”

“That’s it. I’m calling Mungo’s. Don’t you remember anything?” Harry pulled away from her. “I haven’t been in the same room as Hermione for over 5 years. She asked me to pick between her and you, and I picked you, remember?”

“This is wrong. This is all wrong!” Daphne looked around wildly. The house no longer felt as inviting. Nothing had changed, but all at once she felt like a prisoner. Harry hadn’t moved, and his body blocked the only avenue of escape. She pushed her hand into the pocket of her skirt to grab her wand, but found it missing. Reluctantly, she turned her attention back to Harry. Was he real? A figment of her imagination? Under the imperious? 

It no longer mattered. Harry’s smile in response to her exclamation chilled her heart. He moved forward, pinning her between his body and the kitchen wall. His hands rested on her thighs, but they were no longer welcome. He was not her Harry. Her Harry would never have so callously thrown away relationships.

“What do you mean, Daphne? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asked, his fingers digging into her skin with enough force to leave marks. “You’re selfish. You want me all to yourself. Here I am,” he snarled. “Only yours. This is the life you get. You failed as a friend, and as a wife, and now we live with your failures.”

“You’re not the Harry I know.”

“I’m the Harry you want,” Harry responded in a more conciliatory tone. “I’m the Harry that would destroy lives to be with you. I’m the Harry that you get to keep all for yourself.”

“I never wanted that!”

“Don’t lie,” Harry growled, his nails raking across her skin. “You don’t like it when I pay attention to other girls. You want it all to yourself.”

“You’re not Harry,” Daphne swallowed the knot in her throat. The dull sting in her legs helped ground her. “Harry would find a way to love me just as much as he loves others.”

“Do you really believe that? Do you think he’d love a failure like you if he had other options? Better to have him all to yourself. You have the skill to ensure that happens. A few words whispered at the right time in the right ears…”

“You’re an abomination,” Daphne growled. Her hand blindly searched the kitchen counter until her fingers wrapped around the handle of a pot. “I’d rather lose Harry forever than turn him into you.” 

Daphne swung the pot with as much force as she could muster, smashing it against his head. He staggered away from her, clawing at the dining table in a futile attempt to stay upright as he lost consciousness. Daphne didn’t stick around for the aftermath. She hopped off the kitchen counter and rushed to the door. The moment she stepped across the threshold, however, darkness enveloped her. Her foot caught on something, and she stumbled, falling onto cold, hard stone. 

When she managed to scramble to her feet and look around, she found herself in an unfamiliar hallway. The walls, floor, and ceiling were lined with polished black stones. Torches hung from brackets attached to the walls at regular intervals, flooding the hallway with ghostly green light. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought she was lost in an undiscovered part of the Slytherin dormitory. She looked back. The hallway stretched into the darkness, and there was no sign of the kitchen or the man she had just escaped. 

No way but forward, Daphne thought to herself. Going backward risked being teleported back to where she had come from. She wasn’t quite ready to face Harry from her nightmares once more. She took a deep breath and walked down the hallway, acutely conscious of the fact that she was armed with nothing but her fists and her wits. After an interminable walk, she reached a single nondescript black door at the end of the hallway. The door had no markings or identifying features, and its black smoothness was only broken by a brass knob jutting out from it. Daphne ignored the sense of dread settling in her belly and grasped the knob, slowly turning it. Once the door had swung open, she discovered the hallway led to an enormous cavern illuminated by silvery light. She looked around, but couldn’t locate the source of the light or another living soul. It was so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat. 

She cautiously made her way down the stairs to the well of the cavern. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she realised the cavern walls were dotted with doors identical to the one she’d entered through. 

“Fuck,” she swore under her breath.

One of the doors was the way out, but which one? Daphne turned around to secure her retreat, but found the door she had entered through had swung shut of its own accord, making it impossible to identify. She was not leaving the cavern unless she identified the correct door. She reascended the stairs and walked along the rim of obsidian jutting out in front of the doors. There was nothing to mark one door apart from another, or if there was, it was hidden from her. She heard unintelligible whispering moments before she was about to give up and try every door one by one. 

Daphne had no idea what the voices were saying, or if they were hostile. However, it was the first indication she’d gotten that one door was different from the others, and she was not about to ignore the break fate had dropped into her lap. She pressed her ear against every door she passed until she located the source of the whispering. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and pushed it open.

Great, she thought, once the door had swung open. Another dark hallway. I’ve had my fill of them, thank you!

As reluctant as she was to step into yet another potential trap, Daphne saw no recourse but to forge ahead. Her only other option was to stay in the cavern and hope someone found her before thirst claimed her life. Did people know she was missing? Why couldn’t she remember anything?

Daphne shook her head and quietened the anxious voice in her head. She walked into the hallway before her overactive imagination overwhelmed her, the door swinging shut behind her. She turned around and tried to open it, but the door refused to budge. Whoever had brought her to this place clearly seemed to want her to follow a certain path and had gone to great lengths to ensure she would not deviate from it. She pressed her back against the wall and edged slowly into the hallway. The whispering grew louder with every passing second, but she could see no living creature, human or otherwise.

At the end of the short hallway was yet another room, almost as big as the cavern she had just left. Row after row of tall racks housed glowing orbs as far as the eye could see. No guard or visible enchantment protected the glass spheres that sat perched on the wooden beams of the shelves. Their surfaces glowed a sullen, icy blue, but something moved beneath the glass, as if a buried storm were pressing to get out. It took a moment, but Daphne realised why they looked familiar. The spheres reminded her of Professor Trelawney’s divination orb, except hers had always been clear. 

Daphne resisted the urge to pick one up so she could examine it. Touching a magical object, no matter how innocuous-looking, was always a bad idea. Instead, she walked down the room, trying to find the source of the whispering. She stopped at the space between two racks where the whispering seemed the loudest. She walked down the narrow corridor. Her fingers touched nothing, and her eyes missed nothing. Nearly midway through the corridor, the whispering turned into indecipherable speech. Daphne turned and faced the rows of dimly glowing glass orbs. Whoever had brought her to this place clearly wanted her to find something. But what?

None of the orbs looked different from the others. Daphne leaned closer, straining to examine the golden plaques fixed to the wooden shelves. Each contained names and a date. Most meant nothing to her as she scanned them, until-

Harry?!

Her heart thumping in her chest, she leaned as close as she dared and stared at the wooden plaque.

‘Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort.’

The date held no significance for her, except that it was before Harry’s birth. How could something have Harry’s name before he had even been born? What was this place? Why had she been brought here?

Unfortunately, there was no one around to give her the answers she desperately wanted. Knowing she had no other choice, she reached out to grab the orb, closing her eyes and steeling herself against the effects of whatever curse lay upon it.

Daphne kept her eyes shut and counted to ten. When nothing happened, she opened them. However, the orb was not in her hands. She wasn’t even in the same room, or even the cavern. She stood on the patio of the house that she had escaped, the same house that felt so familiar yet completely alien at the same time. 

“What?!” 

Daphne looked around wildly. There was no one in sight, and she was completely unharmed. She slid through the unlocked porch door and tiptoed into the house. No one was around, and there was no sign of ‘Harry’. This time, she took the time to study the living room. Cozy, tasteful, and comfortable. Exactly the kind of room she had imagined in her eventual house. That was why it felt familiar, she realised. It was straight out of her fantasies. However, it also felt completely alien. Everything was too ordered, too artificial, too perfect for it to be a real home. Someone had gone through the trouble of creating a very elaborate trap for her. She tensed as the door opened behind her.

“Hey, princess. I’m home!”

Now that she knew his reality, the version of Harry behind her only elicited revulsion. He was born out of the darkest thoughts in her mind, the shameful feelings she so desperately wanted to pretend didn’t exist. Her insecurities, fears, and shame all condensed into the one person she could never ignore.

“You need to leave,” Daphne said, trembling as she turned to face him. “I don’t want you. Not like this.”

This time, ‘Harry’ did not bother with deceit. “Not like this? Darling, this is the only way you’ll have me. Alone. Isolated from all my friends. Miserable,” he hissed. “I will come to you only if I have nothing else to live for.”

“I don’t want you.”

“You’re lying,” Harry smiled. “I’m here, Daphne. All yours. Just like you wanted.”

“I never wanted this!” Daphne screamed. A lone tear ran down her cheek. “Not like this. I never want you to be unhappy.” She slowly sank to her knees. “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but this is not my Harry.”

Harry stepped closer and gently placed a hand on her head. His fingers buried themselves in her golden tresses. Daphne couldn’t help leaning closer as he caressed them.

“I’m Harry, dear. Your Harry. The one who wants you. Can you say the same about this other Harry you keep talking about?” he asked. “Has he shown even the slightest indication he’ll have you? Why would he ever accept someone with tainted blood when he has a goddess by his side? Why will he have you when Susan can give him everything he wants, and more?” Harry whispered. “I’ll have you. I don’t have Susan.”

“You said you’re miserable,” Daphne said hoarsely.

“Who wouldn’t be, when they have to spend their life with you?” Harry asked. “But we have everything we want, Daph. Power to change the world, all the money we need, and the house you’ve always wanted. What more do you want?”

“And our friends?”

“No one will talk to me since I declared my love for you. Luckily, I have you.”

“Do you want me?”

“Not if I had any other option,” Harry said cheerfully. “But I don’t. Guess you finally have me, princess.”

Daphne slammed her fist against his crotch before he realised what was happening. He screamed and collapsed in front of her, his hands withdrawing to cover his crotch. She stood, her vision blurred with tears.

“You’re not Harry. He’d never accept me at the cost of his friends. And I’m fine with that,” Daphne said, biting back a sob. “I’d rather never have him than see him or Susan unhappy.”

Daphne ran out the front door of the house without a backward glance. Darkness enveloped her again, and she found herself in the hallway leading to the cavern once more. A part of her wanted to curl up on the smooth floor and not move for a few days. ‘Harry’ had known exactly what to say. His every word was designed to inflict maximum damage, and it hurt. Daphne pressed her palm against the closest wall and leaned against it for support, taking a moment to get her emotions under control.

“Fuck me,” she muttered, angrily wiping her tears. “You’re an evil bastard, whoever you are.”

This time, she decided to go backward. She walked down the hallway until she reached its other end. There was a familiar nondescript black door waiting for her. However, when she turned the brass knob and tried to push it open, it would not budge. 

“Seriously?!” She looked around her, glaring futilely at the polished black stone. It seemed she had no choice but to go back to the cavern. She retraced her steps down the hallway, muttering curses under her breath the entire time. The cavern was unchanged. The mysterious source of light still illuminated its well, and the same black doors lined its walls. Nothing had changed, not even the whispering. She still couldn’t understand what was being said, but the tone and length of the phrases were enough to tell her it was the same message as last time. 

Daphne ignored the door she had opened previously. She walked over to the door to its left and twisted the knob. It refused to budge. 

Typical, she thought sourly. She tried a few more doors for good measure, but none of them moved an inch despite her best efforts. It seemed she had no choice but to enter the hall with the mysterious orbs again. She moved back to the door leading into the hall. It swung open with ease, and she walked down the dark corridor. 

Daphne slowly moved down the first aisle in the hallway, taking her time to study the orbs stacked neatly on the shelves of the wooden rack. She kept her hands to herself, now knowing what would happen if she touched one of them. She had no desire to suffer any more emotional damage at the hands of the dark alter ego of the man she loved. Had this place transported her to that house in the first place? Why then did she recall every detail of her most recent encounters but could remember nothing from before it? She realised she had a growing list of questions and no real answers as she stared at the names on the plaque in front of her.

The orbs or the golden plaques in front of her were no help either. She recognised none of the names. Most of the dates were from a few hundred years ago, well before her time. After a few rounds up and down various aisles that failed to yield any meaningful insights, she gave up and allowed the whispering to lead her to Harry’s orb. It was no different to any of the others. The date on the inscription below meant nothing to her. She turned and leaned as close to it as possible without outright touching it. The whispers did not grow louder, nor were they any more coherent. 

“Right.” Daphne sucked her lower lip between her teeth and chewed on it. She was not supposed to touch the orb. What then was she supposed to do? “Harry and Voldemort,” she whispered under her breath as she wiped the dust off the golden plaque. “Only they can touch this. Is that why it keeps sending me back to that nightmare?”

How was she supposed to get out if she could not handle the orb? By facing her fears? She had beaten ‘Harry’ or whatever the nightmarish creature was twice now. How could she defeat if not by rejecting its advances? She had faced her fears and pushed them away instead of giving in! What more did the fates want from her?!

Her musing was interrupted by a faint whisper, quieter than the others but much clearer. “Daphne.”

Daphne whipped her head around. It had not been the orb. She recognised the voice. She panicked for a second, almost believing that her nightmare had followed her. But it was not the Harry she dreaded. The voice had been warmer, full of hope and the promise of better days.

“Daphne, you have to wake up.”

I’m trying! 

Daphne tried not to dwell on the concern evident in his voice as she ran in the direction it came from. Her journey led her down the aisle to yet another black door. This time, when she turned the knob, it swung open with ease. She shivered as a blast of air colder than any she had felt before hit her face. An unnatural dread seeped into her bones as she stepped into a room bathed in ghostly green light. She found herself looking at a battle, frozen in time.

“I need you.”

“I’m right here,” Daphne whispered, looking up at the rocky outcrop that dominated the centre of the room. Translucent facsimiles of Harry and her stood back-to-back, wands raised, defending against a horde of masked attackers. Behind them was a stone arch. A shimmering curtain fell from the top of the arch, but did not touch the stone floor. The curtain was neither liquid nor gas, and every so often, a ghostly hand tried to push through it in a futile attempt to escape.

“He dies here. Well, I die here.”

Daphne turned, coming face-to-face with the version of Harry she had escaped from twice before. She balled her fists. He pointed no weapon at her, threatened her with nothing but his words. They, she reluctantly admitted to herself, were more than enough to cause grievous injury.

“What do you want? Where am I?”

“The future, Daphne. Our future. The future where you kill me.”

“You’ll need to do better if you want to fool me, whoever you are,” Daphne laughed. “I know you’re in my head, so surely you know nothing will get me to harm a hair on Harry’s head.”

“He… I… Die because of you,” evil Harry replied, completely nonplussed by her retort. “Is that not the same as you killing me?”

“I need you.”

“Look at me,” evil Harry jerked his thumb at the ghostly figures frozen in time. “Thinking you’ll always be there for me. The loyal friend. The forever friend. The one who is will never be anything more.” 

“You’ll have to do better than to prey on my fear of intimacy, man. The thought of being with Harry terrifies me. The idea of not being with him scares me. Congratulations, you’ve figured out I’m a young woman,” Daphne said sarcastically. 

“Only… that’s not what you’re afraid of, are you? You’re scared you’ll let them down. Want to see what happens if you reject me and go back to him?”

Daphne turned to face the middle of the room at the wave of his hand. The battle in front of her was no longer frozen. She watched the horde of assailants rush toward the rocky outcrop. The couple on the raised platform parried every spell lobbed at them skilfully, but the sheer volume of hexes hurled at them wore them down bit by bit. She watched with wide eyes as a jet of red light rushed past the defences of her facsimile. Before it could make contact with the blonde woman, however, a hand grabbed her shoulder and hurled her out of the way. Both she and her facsimile could do nothing but watch as the spell collided with Harry’s chest and sent him tumbling through the smoky curtain. He had just enough time to sigh before his body disintegrated into nothing. The battle froze again, and nothing moved. She stared at the carnage in front of her in horrified silence.

“There. You see? This is our future. You kill me, Daphne,” the Harry behind her said calmly. “You failed me and all our friends because you’re not good enough.”

“You’re lying,” Daphne said, but even she did not believe the words coming out of her mouth. She could feel it in her bones. This would come to pass, and she would be responsible for Harry’s death.

“How do I stop it?”

“Stay here with me. None of this will happen.”

Daphne slowly turned to face evil Harry once more. “Where’s here? What is this place? What was that house?”

“Does it matter?” evil Harry asked. “You get to live the life you want, in a house you’ve always desired. What more can you rightfully ask for?”

“Daphne, come back to me, please.”

The pleading insistence nearly broke her heart. She had no idea what choice she’d make, or if she even had one. She still had no way out, and no idea if she’d even leave even if she found one. 

“What happens to Harry if I stay? The real Harry, not you.”

“Don’t know,” evil Harry responded with an unbothered shrug. “He won’t die trying to protect you from your failures at the very least.”

“And in return for that, you want me to go back to that house with you.”

“Live the life you’ve always wanted, yes. No pain or worry. No fear of the unknown. No chance of me rejecting you.” Evil Harry spread his arms. “You’ll already have me. You’ll have everything you always wanted.”

“Tempting. Except you’re a sonofabitch, and I won’t have everything I’ve always wanted, will I?”

“Daph, honey, I brought your favourite snack. Please wake up? I need to tell you all about Seamus’ disastrous date.”

The voice was familiar. Feminine and full of warmth, the whisper reminded Daphne more of home than the house she’d escaped ever could. 

“Where’s Susan?” Daphne pressed.

“Again, with Susan. She’ll never come between us. Aren’t you happy she’s gone?”

“Yeah. You’d think that.” Daphne chewed her lower lip. “Might’ve been true a year ago. Except… I don’t love you. Well, I never loved you.” She waggled her finger at evil Harry as she began to walk backward. “But I mean, I don’t just love Harry. And if this were my perfect world, you’d know that, whoever you are.”

“I’m Harry,” the man hissed.

“You’re not. Not even his worst qualities can make someone like you.” Daphne shook her head. “And this is not my fantasy. This is a nightmare, disguised as a daydream.”

Daphne turned and began to clamber up the rocky outcrop. She had no idea if what she was doing was the correct choice, but she decided to trust her instincts. The whispering grew louder the closer she got to the fluid curtain. She considered that to be a good sign.

“No change?”

“None. Madame Pomfrey and that Healer from Mungo’s looked worried the last time they changed her dressing.”

“Harry, if she-”

“She won’t. She can’t. I can’t lose her.”

You won’t, Daphne thought as she pulled herself onto the outcrop. She realised she couldn’t stand. It was as if an enormous ephemeral boot was pressed against her back, keeping her on all fours. She started to crawl towards the arch, every step increasing the resistance she felt. Whoever had trapped her did not want her to leave.

“You’ll kill him if you leave! And the others!” Evil Harry clapped his hands. “See for yourself.”

Daphne made the mistake of turning around. The flickering figures around her were no longer frozen in place. She watched as the door she had entered through slammed open. Susan, Tracey, and Neville stumbled through and were immediately greeted with a hail of hexes. 

“You wanted Susan?!” evil Harry yelled. “Here she is. She dies, Daphne. They all die because YOU failed to protect them!”

Daphne squeezed her eyes shut as a hex lobbed at Susan hit her body, and her scream echoed through the room. Whatever she was seeing was no lie, but it had not happened yet. It was not inevitable. She would stop it. She would not fail. She blindly crawled in the direction of the whispering, knowing that if she saw Susan one more time, her courage would falter. She collapsed through the curtain with the last bit of her remaining strength. She was weightless. Weightless and falling, a most peculiar sensation. She kept falling until she felt her body hit something soft.

When Daphne opened her eyes, she found herself in a hospital bed, looking up at the two people she loved more than anything else in the world.

Notes:

Got some crazy bushfires (forest fires) in this part of the world, I hope everyone else's December is going better. This chapter is darker than nearly everything I have written up till now, but I meant it when I said I want to branch out and ensure greater depth in my stories. I loved writing out a scene happening entirely in Daphne's mind, cause I feel this gives greater exposition of her character than me just writing out what she's like. I'm going to have a lot of fun with some unexplored tropes and concepts, bear with me!