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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 101: A Grave Miscalculation
Harry began pacing around his fortress after his return.
"Damn it… where did all those wizards come from?... and why were they at the school?"
The losses of those demons were not too important; as they were a small part of his total forces, he could always summon more anyway. All it would take was to decimate one or two more Muggle villages.
Still, the thought of having been outplayed made him bitter. He was sure to have planned this well enough, but it was obvious that he had made a grave oversight by not keeping track of what the Ministry was doing.
Not only did they seem to have formed a large wizard force, but Lord Voldemort had also returned from the dead somehow and joined their side.
"I could have used a spy in there…"
The problem is that he didn't trust any human to spy for him, and the slavery collars would not work well on any experienced wizard with mental defenses.
After all, he had originally designed them to slave normal humans, not magical folk.
"Perhaps you could summon some Eiodons," Abandon suggested.
"Eiodons?" Harry was not familiar with those.
"Yes. They are phantoms capable of changing shape at will. I bet they could infiltrate the human world with no issues and keep you informed," the demon added.
"Mmm… that could work." Harry did not trust humans, but demons were different. As long as you had a contract with them… they would not turn against you.
Just as he was considering this, some of his shadow demons returned with Luna and Susan.
The girls had been stunned and restrained with magical ropes, but were still alive.
Just a moment later, another shadow ventured inside the room; this one was holding Pansy Parkinson by her neck.
The girl had not been magically restrained after such a journey...however, she was too terrified to speak.
"Welcome, my dear." Harry approached her and gestured for the shadow demon to go away.
"Ahh!" Pansy finally reacted when she saw him and screamed while struggling to get off the floor.
"As amusing as I find your distress… right now, I'm not feeling in the mood to deal with you, as I have more important matters on my mind." Harry pointed his wand at her, and before she could scream again, she was stunned.
His attention went next to his two servants. "Finite." With a wave of his wand, he canceled the magic placed on them.
Luna and Susan sprang to life, and after a short moment of confusion about their new surroundings, their emotions died down, returning to their taciturn normal demeanor.
"Harry, hello." Luna waved at him. "I killed one of the professors."
"Did you now?... Good job." Harry shifted his attention to Susan. "What about you? Did you manage to do something useful?
"
"I…" Susan hesitated. "I was restrained by some of the older students…"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course you were. It appears that your only talent is in the bedroom after all."
Susan looked away with shame and kept her mouth shut.
Harry glanced around the room. No other demons seemed to be coming. "And where is Hermione?" He turned to the two girls for answers.
They exchanged a glance before shrugging, having no idea what happened to the third girl.
A frown appeared on his face. This could only mean that his demons were unable to retrieve her, and she was now in the hands of his enemies.
His wand snapped in Susan's direction. "Crucio!"
The girl fell to the floor while screaming and shaking.
"Useless! All of you!" Harry screamed with rage, even though he was well aware that this failure did not lie on the two girls, but on himself.
"If that girl was so important…" Abbadon approached with a smirk on his face. "Mayhaps you should not have sent her there."
"Yes, that is very helpful…" He moved next to Susan and kicked her sides. "Stand up!"
"Urgg…" Susan groaned and trembled from the residual effects of the curse, but still obeyed his order and stood up the best she could.
Harry then pointed at Pansy. "Take her to my chambers and stay there… I need to think." After saying that, he turned around and left.
He went directly to the basement and entered what used to be Hermione's workplace.
Harry's eyes moved to the table. There was one black collar lying on top of her desk.
"Just one…" That was all she had time to make.
Not that she hadn't been working hard. Understanding how to replicate one of his creations in such a short amount of time was already impressive.
Now he truly lamented having lost her. The demons he lost were replaceable, but Hermione was the only one who knew how to craft his tools.
"This will have to do for now." He grabbed the only finished collar and examined it to make sure that the girl had done a good job in its creation.
After a minute, he nodded in satisfaction. As expected, there were no flaws in it.
And he knew exactly who to use this one on.
"I suppose, one is all I need at the moment."
With the black collar in hand, Harry left the workshop. But he did not go to his chambers just yet.
Instead, he went to another room in this same basement.
Going much deeper this time, near the bowels of the fortress, he found the door to the main storage room.
In the past, he had used it to hold his more common possessions like gold, books, paintings.
No doubt the Ministry had enjoyed taking everything away, as this room now held worthless old pieces of furniture.
But Harry cared little for that at the moment. They will pay for their crimes in time.
What he cared for now was what his demons had brought from Hogwarts. The main reason for his visit tonight had been this very item before him.
A smile returned to his face as he looked at the peculiar, large crystal. "I will definitely put this to good use… very soon."
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