act two: little dark age
chapter forty-five

The darkness that seemed to consume everything around Daphne nearly startled her. Her eyes were going in and out of focus as she tried her best to remember everything that had happened. There was no light around, signifying to her that it was night or that she still was deep down, stuck in her own mind and that did not seem like something she wanted to be stuck in.

Everything around her felt fuzzy. Almost as if she was in a kind of haze. Her head was pounding, and she felt as if she was going to be sick. Then again, that probably was a result of the puking pastil she had tried. Oh shit, Daphne found herself in a bit of a panic as she laid in the bed, barely getting herself to move as she turned her head around to catch a sight of anyone.

She had been with Fred and George when the vision had hit. She had also been throwing up which did not help the case at all. That was probably what had caused her to pass out, she had ended up choking while trying her best to figure out what was running through her mind and she ended up passing out. Yikes, I bet they're traumatized. Daphne couldn't help but think.

Daphne swallowed before wincing at the burning in her throat as she sat herself up on her bed before having a feeling that someone was watching her. A feeling that made her skin begin to crawl. She did her best to be as silent as possible as she looked around, trying her best to find Madam Pompfrey without making any noise.

But she couldn't find her. It was almost as if the witch nurse had disappeared. Which for Madam Pompfrey, was unusual. The moment that anyone awoke or simply even moved around in a bed, but for her not to even be in the room at all, Daphne knew something was seriously wrong. She looked around for her wand, trying to find it only to catch sight of something in the corner of her eye.

Her entire body went rigid. Making no movements as she tried to stay as still as possible and breath as quiet as she could. Someone was in fact watching her. The silence only killed her further as she closed her eyes tightly knowing that he knew she knew. There was no way that he didn't. He was a 'dark wizard catcher' after all. He knew people well, and he should know Daphne well.

He stood in the corner, leaning against his cain as his metal leg shined in the moonlight. His fake eye set on her while his tongue continued to swipe across his bottom lip at a rapid pace every few seconds as his eyes stayed trained on her. Daphne slowly turned her head to look at the wizard as she tried to ignore the feeling eating her alive.

He wasn't alone, though. Her eyes burned as she looked at her cousin standing by the wizard. His platinum hair was hard to miss. She noticed the way that he moved when Moody gave him a look causing her to force herself off of the bed as she grabbed anything that she could use to protect her.

"You can't run, Daphne," Caius whipped out his wand and was quick to stop her from doing anything, freezing her body in place, "This has to be done."

Daphne couldn't get her mouth to move as she felt the Malfoy boy pick her up. She tried her best to talk but simply made sounds like whimpers. Finding herself raging internally as well as feeling a heavy sense of betrayal as she was slipped out of the castle.

"Such a valuable girl you are, let's see if you get through," Moody's voice was sickening as they exited the castle swiftly, making their way down towards something Daphne grew afraid of.

They continued on from the castle to the old quidditch grounds which were now used for the tournament. Already set up for the third task, something that would be taking place in a matter of hours for everyone to find out who the final champion was. Something that Daphne thought she'd see her Dad at. Something she thought she'd see her Uncle at.

She hadn't seen her father in so long. Not since before her meeting with Dumbledore and the death of Barty Crouch Sr. resulting in an upgrade for the man. She knew he'd be upset over her disappearance, if he had the time to notice. She didn't want anything else to be on her father's plate. He had enough going on and the last thing he needed was this.

Daphne continued to try and fight the curse as she groaned and made feeble attempts to speak which ended up sounding like a bunch of noise. Neither men batted an eyelash as they carried on, entering the stadium before Moody grabbed out something as well.

"Keep an eye on her, I'm going to go put the Cup in then she will be," Moody disappeared into the shrubby and it all made sense now.

From the beginning, Daphne had been right. It had all been him. But why? That was what she couldn't find the answer to or any sort of understanding. Why would a dark wizard catcher become the one thing he tried his best to get rid of? The Polyjuice Potion, it all began to fall into place. The puzzle was finally put together.

She finally found herself able to move as Caius' grip on her arm was almost unbearable. He made sure that she was going no where, she couldn't if she wanted to. He had a wand and she did not. She was at a great disadvantage and she knew that if she fought it, then it would only be worse. And that is what really ate her up.

"You knew this was coming," Caius spoke simply as he looked at his cousin, "I wish you understood the greater purpose behind all of this. I wish you weren't so damned stubborn and you didn't hold so much power over Atticus."

Daphne let out a huff as her jaw clenched tightly as she glared at her cousin, "And I wish you had the balls to realize what is right and what is wrong. Yet, here we are."

As soon as those words left her lips, it gave her an idea. One she would go through with momentarily, after she got some answers.

"If only you listened to what we are raised on. What you should understand as a Black, as the damned named heir," Caius growled down at her as he looked down, but this wasn't like him, "The Bitch of Black."

"I think you mean, Heiress," She growled as something in her awakened as she shook her head, "All this time, it's been Moody. You and Atticus have been working with Moody and I assume he's been the one with Polyjuice, working with You-Know-Who."

Caius chuckled as he looked down at the girl, "If only our grandparents were here, they'd sell you as a whore slave to any pureblood. Or shun you as a halfbreed."

That was where Daphne drew the line as she roughly kicked her leg up between the Malfoy boy's legs, causing him to fall to his knees as she grabbed his wand before taking off. Running as if her life depended on it. Ignoring how he yelled after her as she ran, her eyes caught sight of her father in the distance. Her brother frantically at his side.

"Daddy! Atticus!" Daphne yelled trying to catch their attention, catching it for a brief moment before she tried to block a spell that came her way.

But the thing with wands was, they all had their allegiance to their owner. Daphne groaned as her body harshly hit the ground before a pair of arms wrapped around her and held her tightly. A grimey smell filling her nostrils as she looked enraged and disgusted before she was dragged into the darkness around her.

She wanted to fight against it and she tried her best, but she was too late. She couldn't save herself now. Being left in the maze for a night by herself. Well, it was already a good ways through the night... but you get the point.

The hours she was in there by herself were a fight for her life. Especially because she didn't have a wand. She had no way to protect herself against a magical labyrinth. She just had to fight and she had to run. Run until her legs gave out, run until there was no where left to run, hide until there was no where left to hide.

She found herself in a corner of the maze that seemed empty. Staying alert as she whipped her head around and kept checking the world around her to make sure that nothing was happening. Tears and dirt covering her face as she held onto her jumper as if it would protect her as the morning sun disappeared behind the clouds.

She heard Dumbledore opening up the tournament. She heard the flares go off. And she watched the Maze open from where she was, and her gaze meeting her father's making her run towards it as she tried to get through but it shut quicker, leaving her trapped in.

"Daphne!" She heard her father's voice through the other end, he must've ran to it as well as he continuously screamed her name until she couldn't hear it anymore.

Her body was lightly trembling. Her hair was unkempt and knotted, falling all around her dirt covered face. She had been in nothing but a pair of workout shorts and her Gryffindor jumper leaivng her freezing.

"Odette!" Harry's voice was loud as he grabbed ahold of her arm, his eyes wide and clearly red, "How the bloody hell did you get in here?! We've been looking for you for ages!"

Daphne placed both of her hands on either of Harry's arms as she looked at him, "You're giving me deja vu of the World Cup. Harry, there's a lot to explain but we've got to run. There's things in here... terrible things."

Her breathing was erratic as she gave him a stern look, "You shouldn't be in here," He repeated as he looked beyond worried, "You should be in the Hospital Wing - where we left you!"

"Merlin, pause this for a moment! Harry, something's going to happen. They put me in here for a reason," Her eyes were watering as she shook, "Caius and Moody, they're the reason I'm in here. Said it was for something I couldn't understand-"

She heard a faint roar in the distance that caused her to go completely silent as her body went rigid, "We've got to move. You need to get the cup-"

"We need to get you out of here!" Harry exclaimed as he grabbed her hand before following her movements as she began to jog, "You're Dad, he heard you screaming. He's been looking for you - he had to have seen you before the maze closed."

The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. The two reached the second Fork, Daphne holding on tightly to Harry as she prayed that nothing came their way because she had no way to protect herself or Harry, but if it came down to it, she'd try.

"Point Me," Harry whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm as he left Daphne to be a lookout for a moment as he tried to gain a sense of direction.

The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and Harry seemed to know that he needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best he could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible. The path ahead was empty too, and when they reached a right turn and took it, they again found their way unblocked.

"This is a little suspicious," Daphne whispered quietly as she moved to walk more in front of the boy, which was not the brightest idea but she could care less.

Daphne had been there overnight, and the sudden the lack of obstacles was unnerving her. Surely they should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring them into a false sense of security. Then they heard movement right behind them. Harry held out his wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell only upon Cedric, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Cedric looked severely shaken.

The sleeve of his robe was smoking, "Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" Cedric hissed, "They're enormous — I only just got away!" He shook his head and dived out of sight, along another path.

"It is," Harry agreed with Daphne's words despite quite a bit of delay between the two speaking as they watched Cedric disappear, "You don't look like it was safe last night."

"That's because it wasn't," was Daphne's simple response as she looked at Harry before continuing.

Keen to put plenty of distance between theirselves and the skrewts, Harry and Daphne hurried off again. Then, as they turned a corner, they saw . . . a dementor gliding toward Harry. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward Harry. The rattling breath was loud.

"Uh, I don't have a wand," Daphne pursed her lips together as her eyes widened as she began to back track, "And I may be a fighter but sometimes you pick and chose you know - and I think we should run-"

Harry summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might, raising his wand, and crying out, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes. Daphne resisted the urge to let out a scream of frustration as her hand covered her mouth.

No one had never seen a dementor stumble, "Hang on!" he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus, "You're a boggart! Riddikulus!"

There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag faded from sight. Harry's grasp on Daphne tightened as he pulled her closer but they moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, Harry's wand held high once more. Left . . . right . . . left again . . . Twice they found themselves facing dead ends. Harry did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east.

"Good sense of direction, so proud," Daphne was shaking worse as she tried to get a grip on herself but something just wasn't right, "Can we try and hurry? Don't want to sound rude or rush you-"

Harry turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of them. Daphne absolutely hated magical creatures at the moment. Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it as Daphne lurked behind him. This looked like some kind of enchantment.

"Reducto!" Harry shouted as he held his wand high while Daphne looked behind her as the spell erupted from his wand.

The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. Harry supposed he should have known better; the Reductor Curse was for solid objects. Daphne chewed on her lip anxiously.

"What would happen if I walked through the mist? Is it worth chancing it?" Harry asked and stood while still hesitating when a scream shattered the silence,"Fleur?" Harry yelled while Daphne looked horrified.

"I bet they found her," She whispered as Harry looked confused for a brief moment before going quiet.

There was silence. The two stared all around them. What had happened to her? Her scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. Somewhere near where they were, they were also in danger then. Harry took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, his glasses dangling off his nose, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky.

Daphne stood completely still as she tried to come up with a plan of what she should do. Feeling completely helpless as her boyfriend hung upside down in front of her after trying to foolishly run through enchanted mist in a task that was designed to kill you.

"Are you suicidal?" Daphne found herself asking as she took a slow step forward as she looked around before shrieking when something moved.

Harry was stuck in the air as he held onto his glasses. Daphne tried to figure out what to do or what to tell him to do. But she knew she had to act fast because it was clear that the blood was rushing to his head. She grabbed his arms trying to keep him grounded... well... floated? She didn't know the word for it.

"Harry, it's all an allusion. Pull down," Daphne decided to try as she tried to gain his attention, "Don't listen to the blood flow, that's what got you here. Listen to me - pull your damn feet!"

She was desperate to get him to listen. She was scared, and she needed the two of them to make it out of the damned maze. She knew something was really wrong - as did Harry. She knew something was waiting for both of them, in and out of the maze. Daphne knew she needed to get a grip because she needed to put up one hell of a fight. One that could be her last.

"DAMN IT HARRY! DO IT!" Daphne yelled as she tried her best to yank the boy down before something snapped in his mind. 

Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. Harry felt temporarily limp with shock. Daphne was on the ground as she grabbed ahold of him. He took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again and hurried forward with Daphne at his side, looking back over his shoulder as he ran away from the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. Daphne paused at a junction of two paths and looked around for some sign of Fleur.