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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 106: Branded
"You are sorry? I told you that I wanted them alive," Harry complained to her.
"There will be more than enough." Morgan approached him, still dragging Snape by the leg.
Harry glanced at the injured professor. "Is he still alive? I don't think Mr. Dumbledore would be happy if he died."
"He is alive. Just a few broken bones." Morgan lifted him by the leg, and Snape groaned.
"Okay, fine… just leave him with the others, and we can get started. I expect their minds to be well prot—"
"Madam Yafel, Mister Potter!" The Greengrass couple called for them.
"Potter is here, too?" Daphne looked at them with wide eyes.
"Thank you so much for saving our daughter," Lord Greengrass said first.
"Our house owes you a great debt."
"That is too much, but...you can give me a big discount on my next purchase." Morgan did not shy away from requesting a monetary reward. Times were hard, after all.
"Of course! We will take care of your order as soon as we can," Lady Greengrass added.
"Your family should remain hidden for the time being," Harry suggested. "These four may no longer pose a threat to you, but we cannot assure that more Death Eaters won't be sent your way."
Lord Greengrass nodded. He had already been planning on that. "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Potter. We have several properties outside of Britain where the Dark Lord's clutches will not be able to reach."
"Yes, we will be fine, now that we have our daughter back. Thank you again." Lady Greengrass said before giving Daphne a little push forward.
"Ah… yes, thank you." Daphne was mostly looking at Morgan, who had been her rescuer. Her eyes were filled with admiration.
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The wizard family eventually left, leaving Harry and Morgan alone with the three unconscious Death Eaters.
"I think you got a fan," Harry pointed out.
"I have no need for those." Morgan shrugged.
"No, but perhaps you could consider taking her as your apprentice. I bet you haven't had one of those in centuries." This was something that Harry had been considering for a while. Passing accumulated knowledge to the next generation was a very important task, one that he did not want to neglect.
"I've never found the necessity for a student. As an immortal being, such a thing would feel pointless," Morgan said. "But never mind that, let's focus on the task at hand…" She knelt next to one of the masked men. "Do you want me to do it?"
Harry considered it for a second before nodding. "Your mental skills are better than mine. You should be the one to dig for information. If we can get the general location of their hideout… that would help a lot."
"Can't make any promises. If it's protected by something like the Fidelius Charm, it would be impossible to get the information from their minds. Their brains will get fried before I can push them hard enough to break through the charm."
"I understand the risks. If it doesn't work, we will figure out something else," Harry said.
This was the main reason for agreeing to save the Greengrass daughter. But even if this failed, he was confident he would eventually find where this Dark Lord was hiding.
"Very well…" Morgan removed the mask from the man before her. He was an ugly middle-aged man with a large nose and a mane of long, dirty hair.
"Urgh… gross." Her face contorted in disgust, and she had to use one hand to cover her nose.
Morgan placed a finger on the man's forehead and closed her eyes, focusing on piercing his mental defenses.
Harry could do nothing but watch Morgan work and hope they would get some results.
He looked at the expression on the unconscious man as it began to change. Whatever Morgan was doing in there, it was clearly causing him a lot of distress.
After a couple more minutes, the man opened his mouth and made some painful noises.
Another minute passed, and the body started to shake.
"Ehm… Morgan? If you keep pushing, then h—"
"Ahhh!" The Death Eater let out a long, blood-curdling scream as his body violently convulsed.
"Morgan, you need to get out. Now!" Harry exclaimed.
Morgan gasped as her eyes opened, and she fell backward.
A second later, the Death Eater stopped moving. His mouth and eyes remained open.
"He is dead…" Harry realized.
"Puff…" Morgan took a second to recover her breath. "The defenses are much stronger than I anticipated."
"Fidelius Charm?" Harry inquired.
But Morgan shook her head before approaching the dead man again. "That was not the issue. I didn't even get that far inside his mind. Something else stopped me, and I'm sure…" With a quick motion, she ripped the sleeve on the man's right arm, revealing a peculiar tattoo imprinted below his shoulder.
"That's the same symbol I saw during the second task. Those Death Eaters made it appear in the sky. Everyone got very scared when they saw it. That's his symbol… the Dark Lord's."
"Harry, this is a soul brand. I can still detect the traces of dark magic left behind." Morgan waved her wand above the tattoo. "It is even more powerful than an Unbreakable Vow. It grips the person's soul and would kill them immediately if someone gets past their mental defenses, before they can obtain any of the Dark Lord's secrets."
Harry frowned before looking at the other two. If they carried the same brands, then it would be impossible for Morgan to get anything useful from them.
He went to Snape first and, just like Morgan had done, he ripped the sleeve away, revealing the brand. "Tsk… this one has it too."
Then he went to the last one and did the same. "Oh?… looks like we got lucky," Harry said when he noticed that there was nothing on his arm. "This one hasn't been branded yet."
He was, of course, Draco Malfoy.
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