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Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Betrayal, End Of Friendship 

13th July 1998

"What do you mean we can't accept this?" Harry whispered in a tone that could have frozen all the water bodies in the world. He looked at his former best friends, who glared angrily at him or, more specifically, at the toddler in his arm. This visit was because Harry needed help and wanted to introduce his new family to his old family. It was the first time he had visited his friends since the end of the Battle. He had given them time to grieve because Ron had lost Fred. No matter what anybody said, Harry was no Weasley. Hence, he wanted them to be alone and grieve. He had started feeling awkward in the days following the war because Ron and Hermione had entered a relationship. Harry had started feeling like a third wheel.

"Harry, please listen to us; she is not good for your reputation. You know whose blood flows through her veins, and even for Teddy, you are still young to be a father." Hermione said as she tried to placate Harry, as she had never seen him this furious. Whenever he was angry, he used to yell at and snark at them, but he never remained this calm. This time, it felt that if the situation escalated, their friendship would be ended. It did not feel like talking to a friend but with someone way more mature than her friend. 

"Since when did blood matter to you, Hermione? She is just a kid now; no matter who her parents are, she should not suffer for their actions. Or do you truly want to punish every child of the death eater and start sending them to Azkaban? And Teddy is my responsibility; it doesn't matter to me whether I am young or not; I am not going to give him to the Ministry or child services. And if anybody tries to do that, I will carve a path through them to find the one who betrayed me." Harry snarled while waving his hand. He could not believe what he was seeing and hearing. He thought that his friends would support him in this. But who was he kidding? He should have known that they had always betrayed them whenever he needed them, Ron in the fourth year and again during the last year of the war. Hermione is in her third year and the sixth year just because of a potions book. The man who conquered thought he needed help in raising not one but two children, as Andromeda had been diagnosed with Dragon Pox, but after this, he was furious. He looked at his other friend and was not shocked to see a red-faced Ronald Weasley. 

"What can you do, huh? Can you even care for yourself when you want to care for two children? Here we are, thinking about you, and you are threatening us. You dare to raise your voice against Hermione. We have always been in trouble because of you. I am not gonna be in trouble again because of you. Especially her. And yes, blood matters to us if that someone is her." A red-faced Ronald Weasley said in anger while getting into Harry's face. 

A crunch was heard, followed by a tall redhead falling on the ground with a furious Harry Potter in the Burrow backyard. 

"You are not my friends. Time and again, you have betrayed me. If you think even for a second that I am going to forgive you, you are very mistaken. This is the last time you will ever see me. And suppose any of you even dare to go to the Ministry about Delphini. In that case, I will bathe magical Britain in blood to protect her. I will decimate the Ministry and kill anyone who even dares to look with malicious intentions in her direction." Harry snarled in anger. He was beyond angry now. For the first time, he was more angry at someone than Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort. He looked towards Hermione for support, but she was now supporting a nose-bleeding Ron Weasley. Harry grew upset at this. He expected at least some support from Hermione. 

"Harry, how dare you. You can't do that. What about the rules. You will be arrested. Listen to me. You could only win against Voldemort because we were there with you. How will you do it alone? Do you think the mystery of her parenting will always remain a secret? People will come after you, Harry, and also us, if we support you, Harry. Please try to understand," Hermione pleaded with Harry, but Harry stood stoically before her. Honestly, Harry was scaring her right now. She had never seen such a furious visage of her friend. His eyes were ice cold when looking at her. 

"I understand, Hermione. I understand completely. I understand that you guys were never my true friends. Or you would have never gone behind my back to Mcgonagall, never left me to fend off alone in the sixth year just because of a stupid potion book. Or he would not have betrayed me in the fourth year and left us in the middle of nowhere in such conditions. And you are wrong about me not being enough to protect her. You have no idea what I know. You all can try as much as you can; no one, and I mean no one, will be able to touch a hair on the head of Delphini for as long as I live." Harry said in an icy whisper, but the message was clear to both Ron and Hermione: if they dared to jeopardise his daughter, he would not forgive them, and he would seek revenge.

"We are leaving Delphini. No matter what happens, Dada will always protect you." Harry said softly after planting a kiss on Delphini's forehead. He looked at her softly. The Boy Who Lived was about to apparate when he felt wards closing in and apparitions sound just before that. He looked around and saw various DA members arriving with a DA coin in Hermione's hand. 

"Is it finally time for Hermione to complete Dumbledore's plan?" Neville asked Hermione after helping her and Ron.

"Yes, it is; he has become very arrogant, as Dumbledore said to us before he died; it's time to kill him as planned", Hermione said to Neville, and Harry stood shocked. This was not a betrayal he thought of. Slowly, everything kicked into place in his brain as DA started circling him with Hermione, Ron, and Neville in the front. They raised their wand as one, and bright flashes of spells filled the air as they converged on Harry. 

Harry threw himself on the ground, put Delphine curled into himself, and got his wand ready. The atmosphere became heavier for the DA, as they had never seen anyone move this fast. Then they saw Harry dodge everything, all the while protecting Delphini. But what chilled their bones was not this. The air became heavier as the magic started building up from where Harry was standing, and they felt fear for the first time as they saw ice-chips like furious emerald eyes on the angry visage of Harry Potter. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2: AN UNEXPECTED ATTACK 

Then they saw Harry dodge everything, all the while protecting Delphini. But what chilled their bones was not this. The air became heavier as the magic started building up from where Harry was standing, and they felt fear for the first time as they saw ice-chips like furious emerald eyes on the angry visage of Harry Potter. 

“Protego”, Harry whispered as he poured the most power he ever had on a shield other than the patronus shield and thought of what he wanted to do with it. He was irate now. They had dared to raise a wand against his daughter. How dare they. He tried to calm himself as the situation was not in his favour. Not because of the numbers, no, because after facing Voldemort and his death eaters, who were trained in dark Arts, the opponents in front of him were not much of a challenge, as Harry himself had trained them, and they were not even once able to defeat him before. Harry was disadvantaged because he could not counter-attack right now, as he had to protect Delphini. She was still a very delicate child, and even a small wound can be fatal. He had to keep casting shields and parrying spells with his wand as he moved towards the ward perimeter. 

The DA, led by Hermione, Ron, and Neville, were relentless in their attacks; they kept pressing and attacking Harry while trying to apprehend or kill him. They were shocked when Harry dodged all the spells while protecting the child. But they kept on pressing again and again. Harry refused to get down but knew he needed an out to get Delphini safe. Now was not the time for heroics or battle. It was time for retreat. He desperately tried to find a way out of this. Fighting a twenty-to-one odd while protecting someone was not ideal, even for someone like him.

As Harry continued parrying, the attack became relentless. The members of DA started getting desperate and angry, and the speed of the casting increased to an almost unbearable level. No matter how powerful and skilled Harry was, he could not keep it forever. He saw three spells crossing in on him and wanted to dodge them, but then he saw a familiar red moving towards his daughter. If Harry had moved, he would been saved, but he knew Delphini was delicate right now, and a babe of three months could never survive a cruciatus curse. So he could not dodge the incoming spells. He cast a wandless protege, but it could only repel two spells before it shattered, and the last one hit him in the chest. A voice full of pain escaped his mouth. Thankfully, he was able to save Delphini. As he was thinking this, a spell whizzed past him, but what made Harry angry was that it was very close to Delphini’s head. If it would have hit, it would have been fatal.

Harry wanted to avoid fighting earlier. But now, hot rage burned through him like never before. ]For the first time since Bellatrix, he wanted to hurt someone with actual malice. At that time, he could not do anything, but now, he can. He stopped running and covered Delphini in an invisibility cloak. After the war, his invisibility cloak became completely untraceable. No wards could stop it. No spell works on it. No one could touch it without Harry’s intent.

After covering Delphini and discretely banishing her after cushioning the floor, he turned around, and everybody stopped in their track when they saw that Harry had finally turned around and became alert as they felt magic condensing the air, and hairs on their necks stood up.

Ron was gleeful inside with how things were going. For the first time, things were going the way he wanted. For the first time, people attacked the one responsible for everything, every death in the final battle. Things were going exactly as Dumbledore had said it would go. He and the others kept shooting spell after spell, and his gleeful mood started to sour when Potter escaped everything they threw at him. Even when they attacked him directly, a single shield Potter cast could absorb everything. It was not even flickering. The more Harry dodged, the more angry Ron became. He saw Potter trying to leave the wards.

“Do not let him escape. He is trying to run,” Ron snarled at others. He started running towards Harry, and the others followed behind him. As Harry neared the ward line, Ron became furious. He will not allow Fred’s murderer and the person who put his entire family in danger to walk away freely. He will not allow the daughter of the monster who got Fread killed to be alive. The farther Harry walked, the more furious Ron became. But no matter what he and the others did, Potter dodged everything. Ron saw red and did something even he would have thought foolish had he known what it would lead to. 

“CRUCIO!” He snarled, not at Harry but at the monster in his hand. Harry did not have the option to move as he was already in the crossfire of three other spells if he dodged it. But then he saw that the spell was not aimed at him but at Delphini. 

Hermione was stunned that Harry was escaping and Dumbledore’s plan was about to fail. Just as she was thinking about what to do, she saw something she never thought someone would have dared to do. A spell breezed past Delphini; she knew whoever had done that was a desperate fool. Because she knew Harry and knew that nothing could trigger him, like if someone dared to attack the people Harry considered family, just as she was thinking this, goosebumps rose on her hand as magic such as she had never felt before filled the entire orchard and a furious Harry Potter, with the air thick enough with magic such that it was visible turned around and started walking towards Ron all the while dodging everything.

“YOU DARE!” Harry snarled as he started casting and blasted three people with a simple banishing spell.

“YOU DARE ATTACK MY DAUGHTER. I WILL DESTROY EVERY ONE OF YOU” Harry’s cold voice chilled everyone to their bone as a blinding light rose from his wand and crossed the space between them.