Harry Potter: Instant Kill

After Daphne let me breathe again by releasing a little pressure from the hug she was giving me, we said good night to each other before she went through the floo to her home. I had danced all my energy away with her and just wanted to soak in a nice hot bath before slipping into a warm bed, sadly this was not to be as I was approached by the Black elf.

"Is there something wrong Kreacher?" I asked the elf as it shuffled towards me from the dark corner it was waiting in. The elf bowed so low to the ground that its nose pressed against the floorboards before it spoke its plea, "Gracious Lord, Kreacher has a request if you feel amiable to fulfil it." When he finished he brought an object out from his tea cloth, showing me the gold locket clasped in his hand, and he spoke again. 

"Kreacher's last master ordered with his last breath to destroy this thing but Kreacher has been unable even to scratch it. Kreacher is a bad elf and has punished himself every time he failed." His eyes filled with tears when speaking about the death of his last master before he showed the burn marks and scars from his attempts at destroying the locket.

"Kreacher will swear his undying loyalty to your house if you Lord of Death could destroy this thing and help Kreacher complete his last task." This was the last thing he said before slamming his head on the ground with his lowest bow yet. "It is already done," I said to the elf as I had destroyed the soul fragment the moment he showed it to me, "The soul is gone but the locket is yours to keep. A token to remember your late master by."

After saying my piece I walked to my room before heating the water in my bathroom and settling in to soak. This was the first major deviation in the cannon I had caused, I had destroyed the locket early meaning there would be one less for the saviour boy to find. After thinking in the bath for a while as my muscles relaxed in the fragrant water, I dried myself and went to bed. The final thought in my brain before drifting off to sleep was, Daph was so beautiful in her dress.

The next morning was Christmas day, I was not woken at an ungodly hour as the walls of my room had soundproofing and only Walburga and Arcturus could enter beside me. That did not mean that as soon as I left for breakfast I wasn't accosted by an overexcited Cass who basically dragged me down the stairs to open the large pile of presents before the tree.

"Cass, why are you so excited to open my presents? You have yours over there that have been opened." I asked as she shoved the first gift into my hands, which was the gift she got me. "I want to see the look on your face when you open all the gifts from your admirers." Was what she said while smiling like a Cheshire cat.

The gift she had gotten me was a dragon hide wrist-mounted wand holster specifically made for duellists with anti-summoning spells, it also matched the colour of my hair. "Thank you, Cassiopeia such a thoughtful gift. I hope you enjoyed the one I gave you." I said referring to the Nimbus 2001 that I had paid a large amount to get almost half a year earlier than the official release.

"I was a very good gift but enough with the formalities and get to the opening," She said like an impatient child waiting for ice cream. The gifts I had received from family were the standard fair for those starting Hogwarts including a gold pocket watch. The gifts from non-family were mostly sweets or books, with the most notable being a large bunch of sweets muggle and magical from Grace.

It was after finishing opening the large pile of presents that Daphne arrived through the floo, carrying a gift with her. I stood up and greeted her along with her parents before we separated to give each other our gifts. "This gift is yours," I said presenting her with a thin but wide box which was wrapped in sky-blue wrapping paper with snowflakes drifting across it. 

Inside was a gold ring with a blue diamond surrounded by sapphires along with matching earrings and a bracelet. "These should pair nicely with whichever necklace you choose to wear from the artefacts you received yesterday," I said while planting a kiss on her cheek which instantly turned rosy, "Thank you." The small voice that she released said as she tried and failed to hide the embarrassment of her parents seeing me kiss her.

"Yours is nothing as fancy. I have recently taken up painting and I tried to mimic a photo of us when we were younger. I know I may not be very good..." Before she can finish her sentence I have her in a hug while kissing her and spinning us around. "It's beautiful Daph, I also didn't know a photo of this existed," I said after putting her down and showing the full painting to the others in the room.

The image was of the pair of us not too long after I came to the black manor, we had just worn ourselves out from the dance lessons we were having and fell asleep on the floor but we still were in a dance pose while we slept. "This Christmas is a good one, thank you all for making it so good and it hasn't even made it to lunchtime yet." The words hadn't left my mouth before Kreacher came into the room to announce that the food was ready.