Chương 26: Chapter 25: Another Deal

Harry smiled softly as he watched the owl fly off with his letter to Fleur. The witch insisted on communicating through owl instead of something much faster. It was getting a little frustrating for Harry since it had been two weeks since he had last seen her. A more frequent way of talking would be welcome.

However, in her own words, Fleur insisted that "this is romantic, my love."

Unfortunately, that also meant nothing of substance would be discussed in the letters since it wasn't secure. Still, it was becoming the best part of his day when a letter arrived for him at dinner, something that most of his housemates noticed, though they were too terrified to ask him about it.

The only one that could, Daphne Greengrass, still hadn't dealt with her loose-lipped sister, so they weren't on speaking terms at the moment. And with how Davis had reacted after that duel with Malfoy, there was no doubt that she was the culprit. He was tempted to demand a contract for secrecy, but some variables stopped Harry.

And those variables weren't students.

Dumbledore and Snape have been paying far too much attention to him since he returned from Paris. What made it worse was that Snape hadn't called him in for the punishment he was to receive for leaving Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, that slowed the rest of his activities significantly. Thompson had to be put on the back burner, mainly relegated to observing how she now acted and if she had made a move on her Hufflepuff targets. Harry would have loved to stop working on Thompson to spite Greengrass and her rat sister, but the contract had to be followed. Something would have to be done with the girl soon before the penalties started to apply.

In the meantime, Harry was working on Padma Patil. Perhaps it was Fleur who had made him view Goldstein's actions with a little less hostility, but he actually wanted to bring those two together. Now, if Padma looked at him favorably while he was pushing her to Goldstein, that would be an acceptable side effect. Just in case, it wouldn't hurt to have a second eye on the lovesick pureblood.

As for his intention to get closer to Longbottom, he had made no progress with that so far. Not that he really tried all that hard. He couldn't lie and say he wasn't wary of looking even more suspicious to Dumbledore. Trying to be mates with his favorite student would undoubtedly do that. Patience was the key with Longbottom, that and timing.

Harry stiffened when he heard footsteps behind him. He shifted his robes to make it easier to draw his wand and turned around. After that duel with Malfoy, the shites in Slytherin were too cowardly to challenge him one-on-one inside the house, so they predictably resorted to trying to ambush him while he was walking the halls.

They had failed so far, but Harry wasn't stupid enough to believe it would last forever. He was planning to take down one of the wannabe Death Eaters to warn them off but hadn't found a suitable target yet.

Luckily, it sounded like only one person was walking up the stairs.

"Oh, hello."

Harry wasn't sure what to say when faced with the girl he had targeted the whole year. Eventually, he replied, "Er, hi?"

Thompson gave him a weak smile before shuffling to one of the school owls with a letter in hand. It was fascinating to Harry how quickly she had turned from the happy girl with the presence of the Sorrow Stone to someone that barely functioned above an Inferius.

He observed her as he edged closer to the stairs. Hermione had been busy with the essay for Herbology and hadn't done much research into Thompson's curse since he told her it wasn't a priority. That also meant he didn't know what the crazy girl was capable of.

"You're Harry Potter, right?"

"That's me." Harry's fingers were around the handle of his wand, not sure where this was going.

"Luna told me that you help people."

Harry's heart sank, expecting the following words out of Thompson's mouth to reveal that the girl he saved out of the goodness of his heart betrayed him. He knew being kind would bite him in the arse, so why did he do it without getting some assurances…

"… Yeah, I suppose I do, in a way."

"Do you think you can help me?"

"Help you?" Harry stiffened, expecting an attack at any moment, "With what?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Emma turned around, letting Harry see her dead-looking eyes, "I'll be in trouble if people know."

"Oh, I see," Harry honestly wanted nothing to do with this, "Look, I can't really help with much right now. I have a lot on my mind."

"That's fine," Emma shrugged, "My only other option is a dead-end anyway, so telling you won't make a difference."

Harry sighed with exasperation. Perhaps this could be a penance for giving Thompson hope and then taking it away. Besides, it would satisfy his curiosity about what's wrong with her.

"Let's hear it then. What do you want me to help with?"

"I'm under a mutated Blood Bond Curse that became active two years ago."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise at hearing such a ridiculous thing. The Blood Bond Curse would be placed on a witch or a wizard and would bind their life force to that of a pureblood, making them dependent on that person's blood to survive. Without their master's blood willingly given, the curse holder would gradually weaken and eventually die.

However, if the master was feeling like an exceedingly massive cunt, there was the side effect that the curse would cause. The curse holder would have an almost unrelenting urge to experience extreme sorrow, usually in the form of the loss of a loved one, just to temporarily suppress the curse. It was gruesome, with examples being the massacres a curse holder committed on their parents, siblings, and in some of the worst cases, their infant children.

Nobody was sure who the creator was, but Harry wasn't surprised. Only the most sadistic and equally idiotic magical would create such perverted magic. With house elves widely available, the caster enslaved another magical purely to satisfy their sadism, and to keep the curse holder alive, they would have to give up precious blood, weakening themselves.

Was it a wonder that the Blood Bond Curse hadn't been used for centuries? But with Thompson saying she had a mutated version of it affecting her, Harry imagined some insane pureblood tweaking the curse before casting it on her.

Before going forward, Harry had to confirm something that confused him. "Do you still need a pureblood's blood? Or is it something else?"

As far as he knew, Thompson was taking magic, not blood.

"No," Thompson smiled, creeping Harry out with how emotionless it was, "I need their magic. I've gotten by without hurting anyone, but I think the next time will be different. If you can help me, I will do anything in return."

Harry wouldn't go as far as to say what Thompson did was harmless, but he did have to admit that she didn't cause permanent damage. The magic a witch or wizard possessed was resilient and would eventually recover from damage in most cases. Plus, this gave him the confidence to contract with Thompson if they came to an agreement. It looked like there was a chance that he might get to spite Greengrass after all.

"You say anything," Harry said with a smile for the first time in the conversation, "What are your limits?"

Thompson tilted her head slightly before unceremoniously dropping to her knees.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?!" Harry jumped back with his wand pointed at her.

"Is this not what boys want?" Emma asked in a monotone, "You asked for my limits. I have none. You can consider this a taste."

Harry stared at Thompson before cursing loudly in disbelief. "Get up! I'm not interested in that."

"Okay," Emma got off her knees, "What do you want from me?"

"Before we get to that, what did you feel when you drew magic from those purebloods?"

"I wished I could take everything. Show them what it feels like to live in a world without hope."

"I see…" Harry cast muffliato, not wanting the dark conversation to be overheard, "And why didn't you do that? You had them in your grasp and let them go mostly unharmed."

"You know," Emma stated when she realized Harry sounded like he had been watching her.

"I do," Harry nodded, "But answer my question. Why did you let them go?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore would take away his protection."

"… What?" Harry asked dumbly, not expecting that man's name to appear.

"He knows what I have to do but warned me that he wouldn't tolerate permanent harm to any of the students in Hogwarts."

The more Harry learned about Dumbledore, the more he questioned the true motives of the grandfatherly old man. And he caught something in Thompson's words that caught his attention. "Are you sure that was what he said? That you weren't allowed to harm the students? Did he mention anything about outside the castle?"

"No."

"Huh, I wonder…." Harry trailed off, questioning if Dumbledore was giving Thompson a hidden message there. He wouldn't overthink what people said, but Dumbledore seemed to have layers upon layers. Who knew what that man really meant?

"Do you have a way to remove the curse?"

"I have to drain the life force from a family member of the one who cursed me, but I'm not sure who that is."

"How's that possible?" Harry frowned, knowing that there was an entire ritual to actually cast the damned thing. It was impossible to hide during it.

"The original curse was cast on my ancestor, and it lays dormant in my family's bloodline. I am one of the unlucky few that have to experience it."

"Oh," Harry gained a look of pity, understanding why he was getting rumors about the girl only a few years ago. She must have been normal before then. "That's why you have a mutated version."

As Thompson nodded, Harry threw out the idea of finding the answer in her family records, if they existed at all. With the girl's desperation, that option would already have been thoroughly exhausted.

"Astoria. She was different," Emma murmured, eyes glazed as if thinking of a memory, "I felt more… full after her. Sometimes I want to take her to my room and drain her until nothing's left."

Harry blinked, a slow smile forming as he thought about leading Davis into Thompson's clutches. It was just a passing thought, but it was still pleasurable.

"I recommend you get that out of your mind," Harry warned before holding out his hand, making Thompson stare at it curiously. He added, "I only help people when there is something in it for me. When you take my hand, you'll see what you must do. Of course, this also means you'll have my help, and it will be backed by magic."

When Harry felt Thompson place her hand in his, he had to stop from flinching in disgust. It felt like a bony, dry, almost sandpaper-like surface touching his palm.

"I want to make one change."

"You do?" Harry raised a brow in surprise, expecting the girl to jump at whatever offer was given due to desperation. It raised his view of her for having such a mind. Well, until she opened her mouth.

"I can't last for longer than a few days," Emma said flatly, "If you can't help me before I take action myself, this deal has to be canceled."

Harry pretended as if he was thinking about it before nodding, "That's fair."

He pulled his hand away when he felt the magic binding them. Thompson could be someone that would become invaluable to him if everything proceeded as he imagined. He would also simultaneously fulfill Greengrass's contract as the cherry on top.

"I hope you find a way, Harry Potter."

Harry watched Thompson leave with heavy steps, the same way she entered. Now that he intended to make use of her, he was curious about the situation with her family. With how people in the past with her issue murdered their kin, he couldn't imagine it was any good.

If so, he was well-positioned to take advantage of that. After all, he had grown up in a similar situation. Even if Thompson was under contract, keeping her happy would be critical to a successful working relationship, however distant in the future that would be.

Harry dispelled the muffliato charm and put his wand back in its holster. He left the owlery in an even better mood than he had arrived, which he didn't think was possible.

"Ah, Mr. Potter!"

Harry let out a disbelieving chuckle, not even surprised since this meeting had been a long time coming.

"Oh, my," Dumbledore made a show of looking at his robes, "The pumpkin juice was quite delightful this evening, and I fear I may have been a tad clumsy."

"Your robes are fine. I apologize for laughing, Headmaster," Harry shook his head, his finger going to his familiar habit of rubbing the ring, "I seem to meet you in the strangest of places."

"That I can't deny," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in amusement, "Do you mind giving me a moment of your time? I'm afraid that Professor Snape had to hand over the responsibility of your punishment to me."

"Of course, Headmaster," Harry agreed. It's not as if he had another choice.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore beamed, "Excuse me for a moment. I must see to a letter that must be delivered."

Harry nodded before leaning off the wall, wondering if the story of Longbottom telling him about Dumbledore using his Phoenix as a mail delivery system was false. He doubted it.