The Deceit of Man

Shedding Some Light

Just as he thought, Sirius and Draco got a lot of enjoyment out of the news that the only thing keeping Lucius and Bellatrix from being Squibs was the family Magic. Magic which they controlled. They decided to hold off for a couple of days, wanting to be able to see their faces in person when they were stripped of the Family Magic. They had a plan to lure the two in the open before taking from them all that made them superior: their name. A disownment would take it all from them and Harrison couldn't wait. For now though, they had other things to worry about, namely the shed Hermione had told him about.

He, Draco, Bill, and Charlie were going to be headed to the Burrow that morning where they would be met by Hermione via Portkey. A Darker compulsion charm than normal had been laced into so she would put it on and keep quiet it about it. At the set time, she would be transported to the Burrow. This would also be the first time he was seeing her since he placed the curses on her. He'd lessened the influence of the curse to make her lose her mind as he didn't want to break her just yet. The second curse was the reason that Draco had come. He regretted tying the curse to both of them but it had been for the best. He would have abused the spell too easily had it just been tied to him.

The quartet landed silently next to the shed where Arthur kept all of his Muggle items. Making sure his bracelet was still in place, Harry scanned the area to make sure they weren't about to be attacked. The last thing he wanted was to endanger his companions while waiting for Hermione. Satisfied that there wasn't a threat nearby by, he allowed himself to relax. His rest was short lived however as Hermione's Portkey dropped her off in front of him. She landed in a heap, obviously not having expected the Portkey.

From the way she looked, laid out on the ground like she was, Harrison could tell the curse had really taken its toll on her. Her normally frizzy hair hung around her head in a stringy mess and looked as though she hadn't washed it in days. She smelled like her cate had urinated repeatedly on the clothes she had on and she was gaunt. It was obvious she hadn't been eating.

"Hermione, if you tell us about the second shed, I'll make it stop," Her brown eyes snapped to Harry and she nodded repeatedly.

"I'm the Secret Keeper so I know all about it. It's called The Alcove. Dumbledore name's it this when changed the Secret Keeper last week to me. He says that those within are the dregs of Society and deserve to never see the light of day again, that they're in The Alcove because the Wizengamot failed to do their jobs." She continued on about the shed but the only thing that Harrison was thinking about was the fact that she'd said 'those within' which implied people were inside. People who had no doubt been tortured by Dumblefuck and his unjust regime.

"Granger, give us the location and how to deactivate the traps." Draco snapped at the girl, who just giggled at him.

"I guess you don't want the torment to stop. I can always turn it up, Hermione. You really don't want me to do that. You wouldn't last the day if I do. You have five seconds to start talking before I leave you to feel the actual strength of the curse." Harrison started a mental countdown, readying himself to follow through with his threat. That was one thing he learned from Voldemort that stuck, always follow through with what you say. If you didn't, you wouldn't gain any kind of respect.

Just as he was about to leave, she started speaking, "It's a phrase based deactivation. You need the phrases to cancel everything."

"What's the phrase, plus it can't be that simple. What aren't you telling us?" Harry put more power into the spell and listened to her shriek as she felt the effects, "Are you feeling a bit more cooperative now?"

At her nod, he let up and she rushed out with the rest of the steps needed to get into the shed without risking their safety or the safety of those inside the shed. Turns out the shed was keyed to the Secret Keeper. They were the only one able to power down the defenses safely. The phrases were a dud it turned out and had they rushed in using them, everyone inside would have been killed.

Harrison had to restrain himself from taking his anger out on her and instead directed her to get them inside. How he had missed her selfishness and lack of concern for others, he didn't know but it was becoming more and more apparent.

Hermione led them to a spot near the edge of the property that had appeared to be empty for as long as any of them could remember. Her wand shook in her hand as she lifted it and began to undo the enchantments on the shed, "The Alcove is located in the back corner of the Weasley property."

At Hermione's statement, a much larger shed came into sight almost from out of nowhere. Suddenly, Molly Weasley's reluctance to allow them anywhere over here made sense. Had they ran into this while playing one of their pickup games, it would have caused a lot of questions. It wasn't big enough to be considered a house but it was bigger than the one that Arthur used for his Muggle experiments. The shed also had chipped paint and dirty walls. It looked as though the upkeep hadn't been maintained since it was placed here which spoke I'll for the care of those inside.

"How many do you have in there, Hermione?" The brunette stared into nowhere for a moment until Harrison lost his patience. He renewed the strength on the curse and blocked out her screams. He was out of patience and they weren't certain how much time they had here. They needed to know how many people they were holding captive and fast, "Tell me, now!"

"Six, just six. We weren't able to get anymore to hide away in here. The six in there no one is looking for because everyone thinks they're dead. The defenses are down! You only have Twenty minutes, please let me go!"

Harrison Stupefied her in answer and yanked one of the doors open. It was made difficult by the fact that the hinges had rusted over but he got it open nonetheless. The sight that greeted him from the depths of the shed though really made him regret opening the door.

Hanging from shackles attached to the ceiling were six figures who were all in different states of malnutrition. The one closest to the door was the only one that seemed to be in a manageable state. He was also the one that Harry was most shocked to recognize. He had only seen the man for a couple of minutes but to Harrison, there was no mistaking the figure of Bartemius Crouch Jr. The man had made his Fourth Year at Hogwarts a misery but that. Was only under the guidance of the man he perceived to be the Dark Lord. He was about to receive a wake up call though and how he, and the others, took it would determine what was done with them. He released the tightly held control on his aura as he walked into the shed with his companions following closely behind.

"This is horrible, Harry. How could the so called Light do this to anyone? It shouldn't matter what their Magic calling is, Magic is Magic. How could someone do this to another person? The lot of them are gaunt and no doubt close to dying. We have to get them to Severus as soon as possible." Bill's voice was tight with horror and disgust as he looked about the conditions these people were forced to live in.

The quartet spread out then, too anxious and stressed over the safety of the captives to be concerned about words. The only thing that was important at this point was getting them out of there. They first checked to make sure all of the men, closer inspection had revealed that they were all men, were alive. Once that was done, they set about releasing them, a task that had to be done carefully to avoid hurting them any further.

Harrison made a mental note to thank Severus for insisting that they took healing potions along with them today just in case. They were going to need them all to get the men halfway stable. When all six men were down and had been given health potions, he looked them over trying to work out who they were. Barry was easy as Harrison had seen him recently. The other five were slightly more challenging but Bill and Charlie were able to identify two of them as their uncles, the Prewitt twins, who were supposedly killed in the last war. There was a man whose hair was so caked with dirt that it was impossible to tell the color of and and his eyes were closed so there was no way to tell their color at the moment either. Man number five had the same facial features that Harrison saw so often in his new father that his heart clenched in recognition. This man, whose face was lined with agony, was Sirius' missing brother. The one that Sirius had wiped to connect with one more time. It was the final man that rocked Harrison's world and turned everything he'd known inside out. The final man was just as tall as his godfather and his black hair still didn't fall into place all these years later. Harry knew that if the man opened his eyes, they would be hazel. After all he knew the man though he'd never met him. It was only thanks to Draco holding him in place that kept him from falling over even as one damning word fell from his mouth.

"Dad?"