Chapter 33: Broken

Disclaimer: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Now while the cast of the show do not belong to me, the show itself is an idea of mine. I have hijacked the cast to play a part in it.

Harry and Elizabeth stepped through the tear, re-entering Hogwarts and stepping out into the Medical Wing. "Madam Pomfrey." Harry called out as they entered.

"I'm here, I'm here." The Mediwitch replied making her way from the back of the room where her office was located. She hurried out of the room. "Now what seems to be the... Oh my God." She cried out in surprise as she saw the state of the two.

And the giant figure behind them holding a girl protectively in his arms. "Madam Pomfrey... we have two patients for you, maybe even St Mungo's." Elizabeth said.

"Two? You're covered in blood!" She said, tearing her gaze away from the giant in the diving suit.

"It's not mine, I'm fine." Elizabeth said calmly and quickly as she heard footsteps coming towards the Hospital Wing. No doubt Dumbledore had already seen their return and was making his way up here. "Just help them." She said pointing to the two behind them.

"What? Fine, fine, get her on the bed and I'll take a look at her."

"Not just her." Elizabeth added and Pomfrey looked at her and then towards Subject Delta.

"Him as well?" She asked in surprise and dawning horror

"We just saved them from being lab experiments. He has been heavily experimented on and we're hoping that you can do something to help him. The girl, her name is Eleanor. They've done something to her, and we need you to look at her." Elizabeth explained as she looked towards Delta. "It's okay, put her on the bed and we can help her." She said gesturing to one of the medical beds that lined the sides of the room. Delta stared at her for a second before grunting in the way only a Big Daddy could, its voice echoing around the otherwise spacious room. It moved over to the bed, kneeling down and gently as if carrying a new-born placed Eleanor in the bed. Elizabeth looked at Eleanor who still looked extremely pale and smiled at her. "Madam Pomfrey will take care of you both, at the very least she'll get you healthy enough to move around on your own." She promised and turned to look at Delta. "Do not harm the healer. I promise you; she won't hurt her. some of the stuff she gets her to drink will probably taste horrible but she's not going to hurt her."

"It's fine, I won't let father do anything." Eleanor interrupted and Elizabeth glanced back at her.

"I know," Elizabeth agreed readily. "I just wanted to forewarn him in case you're given anything." She said turning around to Harry. "Now, you and I need to have a word." She said pointedly walking over to the younger wizard, completely ignoring the new figure that had entered as Madam Pomfrey started to examine Eleanor. Elizabeth walked over to Harry who was currently looking for a place to flee, having no option with only the office behind him, a five story jump out the window and Dumbledore standing in the doorway out. Elizabeth walked in front of him, stopped and with her arms crossed locked him in a stare that promised pain if he moved. "What on Earth do you think you were doing running in like that?" Elizabeth snapped, "Running into Rapture with no plan on what to do? No knowledge of where you were going or even where I was, you could have been killed! Even if it wouldn't hold because it's not your home... do you know how painful it is?" She asked and shook her head as the image of her own dead body flashed to the front of her mind.

"But you did the same thing!" Harry snapped back and Elizabeth looked at him surprised, not expecting him to respond just as quickly.

"You gave me your word that you wouldn't come into Rapture." Elizabeth cut him off and Harry looked away frowning then turned back to look at her.

"No, I didn't." Harry responded quickly and Elizabeth stopped again, frowning thoughtfully.

"Didn't you?" She questioned with a look. "I swear you did, start of the year after the incident in the other Hogwarts."

"No, I never said I wouldn't do anything again, I said I'd think more before I jumped through." Harry said and then groaned as she smirked triumphantly.

"And did you think when you did this?" She asked and Harry shook his head. "I thought not." She dropped down onto the edge of a bed looking at him. "And it's at times like this I can't decide whether to hug you or strangle you." She admitted drawing a quiet laugh from Harry. "You could have died; you could have been taken prisoner."

"I could have left at any time." Harry responded and Elizabeth held up a hand.

"This time," she said before holding up three fingers. "The Suchong that interacted with my Columbia developed three ways to inhibit me if he could ever get to me." She explained and Harry paled. the thought that someone would have been able to stop them from opening the tears and escaping if things got too dangerous didn't even cross his mind. "It's highly unlikely that others have designed any way to stop it or meddle in it but it's possible and that's even without removing the option of you being drugged and unable to think clearly enough to do it."

"Can't I just use these same arguments against you? You dropped your friend back here and then ran off without telling anyone!" Harry argued back, "and you did it for the exact same reason I did. Because of the Lamb messages. Screw the need for the photo's you know as well as I do you wouldn't have been as suicidal for them. Both of us got lucky that Sofia Lamb saw something new that she could potentially take advantage of and took a stupid approach to it." Harry shouted, not willing to just sit and be lectured about doing something by a person who had literally done the same. "You gave her an attitude that said you were broken, that you had given up. Was that all a lie?" Harry questioned angrily, at a point where he was running more on attitude rather than any other feeling.

Elizabeth felt like she had been slapped. The question was valid, she had dumped Bathsheda back in Hogwarts and ran off again without telling anyone. "I didn't lie to her." Elizabeth said, acutely aware that all attention was on her. "I had to bring her back, to protect her."

"From the Splicers and Rapture?"

"No."

"Then who?" He asked and the look of defeat returned to Elizabeth's features, she looked away from him and out the window on to the grounds of Hogwarts.

"From me." She whispered, "I did it to protect her from me." She said and Harry lost any attempt at an argument that he was trying to make.

"What?" He managed to stutter out after a few seconds of confusion.

"You're right, I saw the Lamb signage and I panicked, I wanted to know what it meant I needed to know it. The Boggart, the knowing that other people could potentially have access to the Lutece equipment or some variation of it? I had to look, I had to know the truth. But I..." She trailed off stumbling over her words. "Because it didn't matter if I died there," She said with a cold distant laugh. She paced for a moment, frustration and anguish on her still blood-stained face. "Did it Harry?" She asked mockingly, throwing back the thought that had played through both of their minds regarding this new Rapture that they visited. "It doesn't matter if we die in a different world because we just keep coming back!" She snapped angrily, Harry flinching backwards at the aggression she was showing towards herself. "And that's all I could see." She said with a broken sigh, "that was all I could see in that situation, find the information, throw my life away to get said information regardless of whether or not I would need to go back in there again if I died when I found that information." Her voice cracked, dry from both the talking and the pain that she was feeling. "All I could see was the fact that I'd live regardless. I disregarded the life of one of my best friends. I completely disregarded her safety because I needed to know because it might have possibly lined up to be something connected to me. All because I had to chase my White Whale!" She paused struggling to think clearly.

"Elizabeth..." A voice spoke off from the corner of the room and she stopped herself from looking at the new voice. "Remember, this was never going to be a sprint, you were always in it for the long haul."

She sighed, trying to steady herself. "But I just had to throw caution to the wind, I did exactly what you did." She said looking at Harry again. "I willingly walked into the Lion's Den instead of just breaking it open and..." She stopped.

"You know why you don't do that though," the illusion of Booker spoke, and she wanted so badly to cry out in rage, to scream, to break down and just throw in the towel.

"But then I'd be what I feared I would be." She said, images that the Boggart showed her jumping straight to the forefront of her mind. "Who cares about ramifications when you can bend and twist reality." She struggled. "Is it really so wrong to use this power to guide people forwards?" She asked Harry, it was the voice that had whispered in the back of her mind for years. At least it felt like years to her by this point. "To give little hints and nudges and let them come to their own conclusions?" She asked and Harry who had asked himself the same question found himself again struggling to answer.

"But where do you draw that line?" That same voice spoke again and while part of it was happy to hear it, she also felt the pain of her past tearing at her with each little whisper. "Was Narcissa Malfoy just a 'little nudge.' Or was it a hasty manipulation when she threw you off your plan? Is having Malfoy create a loyal workforce loyal to him a guidance or an overall plan?"

She did not respond, the words cutting deep each time. She could feel the pressure of those choices that she had made creeping back to the surface from where she had buried them, and she was struggling to find logical countering to the arguments. 'This is why this kind of power is not meant for ordinary people.' She thought bitterly and then frowned when she realised that she had excluded herself from that argument. "I... I need to go." She said softly, twisting away from Harry and walking towards the door where Dumbledore stood. "Please Professor... I just need some time to think." She requested the aged Headmaster who was looking at her in concern.

"I will let you pass if you promise to me that you won't act in haste, that you'll speak to me before you leave this Hogwarts." He said in concern, making sure to emphasize that he did not want her leaving in this unstable state of mind.

"I promise, I just, I need to think about the past." She said and Dumbledore stepped aside letting her pass.

Behind them, Harry watched as she walked away, the confidence that she had once held as she walked, almost a shadow of her former self. He muttered quickly under her breath. Wondering partly on what he could do to help her deal with this situation but also knowing that he did not want her to be alone right now, even if she didn't want to talk. He went to follow, and Dumbledore blocked his way. "Professor, I'm sorry I left like I did but I can't just let her destroy herself like this." He said quickly, "If you want the same promise from me, you have it. I won't leave the grounds of this Hogwarts without your permission willingly." He promised, making sure to add the caveat that if he got dragged out unwillingly then he was not going to be held responsible for it. Dumbledore nodded his head, stepping aside and letting Harry pass. As he did so he turned around, looking back at the room at Eleanor and Delta and the still very confused Madam Pomfrey.

"Don't worry Harry, I will make sure they're taken care of. As will Madam Pomfrey." He promised and Harry turned, breaking off into a run.

HPCVHPCVHPCV

Elizabeth entered her room, out of breath and exhausted, she looked around at it, undisturbed from how she had left it. Peaceful, tranquil and all together a relaxing and perfect place for her.

Then why did she feel so trapped?

"Because this is the longest you've been in one place of your own choice. Everywhere else you've been held hostage and trapped in one way or another." The phantom Booker spoke.

"Why are you back?" Elizabeth asked him, knowing that no one else could hear her in here. "Why are you haunting me again she asked as she looked at the window, the figure of Booker standing in the dimming light, looking out of the glass onto the grounds of the School below.

"Haunting?" The Booker chuckled slightly, "Elizabeth, you know I'm not Booker. I'm here purely because you need someone. Someone who went through what you've been through and you know there's no one out there who has. That little piece of your brain in the back of your mind, that rational thinking that's getting overwhelmed." He stopped as Elizabeth dropped into the chair at her desk. "When it all builds up, when you can't take it anymore. You've hit a breaking point because you can't slow down."

"I can't afford to slow down, too many lives are at stake!" Elizabeth said as she picked up a small mirror that sat on the table, looking at her face, the blood around the right side of her face smudged and dry. "And I can't stop because there's too many people I could save."

"It's not your place." He said sharply and Elizabeth laughed dryly.

"How is it not? How can it not be my place to try and save as many people as possible?" She asked as she placed the mirror back down. "How can I stand by knowing that I have this capability?"

"You are one person. You can't be everywhere."

"But I can push at key points." She argued, "I can guide, and I can adjust situations so they're not as bleak. Is it not worth it to save lives?"

"And then who would you be?" The simple question, it held such a painful edge to it as she placed her head in her hands.

"I'd be him." She whispered.

"Who?"

"I'd be just like Comstock." She said softly, looking up and realising that she had just spoken to Harry who stood in front of the closed door. "Leave me alone Harry." She requested and Harry shook his head.

"I'm not going to do that. I'll stay quiet if you want me to, I'll talk and be a person to bounce thoughts and ideas if you want. But I'm not leaving you alone right now." He promised and she slumped back into the chair.

"Where do we draw the line Harry?" She questioned, "where do we draw the line in meddling and controlling?"

"I don't know, this is all new to me. I'm just piecing it together where I can from what I learn by screwing up and from you." Harry explained, walking over to the sofa and sitting down.

"You're a role model Elizabeth. The kid would go to hell and back if you asked for it, as long as you remain true to who you are." Booker spoke and Elizabeth felt the flinch that shook her.

"I'm a terrible role model." She muttered, not looking at Harry. "All I seem to do is screw it all up and cause other people pain."

"That's not true." Harry immediately protested, "you've made mistakes, but everyone does! But you've tried, you keep trying and I know that your heart is in the right place."

"You don't understand Harry, every action I take muddies the waters, creates a whole new branch of possibilities. How do I know that my actions haven't made this situation entirely worse? I've added a whole new dimension to the field." She stumbled on her words, "I showed Narcissa Malfoy a possibility where Voldemort kills everyone, I didn't have to dig far to show the outcome because it's so common! But did you know there's a handful of them that lead to what some would consider a Golden Age? That your death results in him being taken out, the people waking up and fighting and through it a new path unified with the Non Magicals and reaching unprecedented heights?" She said and with a gesture a knife appeared on the desk, pulled from who knows where.

Harry stepped back, caught off guard by the revelation. "I don't know if my actions are going to result in a better outcome just because they're doing a better outlook now. So, tell me, would you be willing to risk your life on a one in infinite chance that you're in the right timeline?"

"Elizabeth, you're scaring him." Booker spoke softly, "His answer has always been the same as yours."

"If I knew that it would bring about a better life for everyone?" He asked, his voice quiet but carrying across the room for her to hear easily enough. "If I knew for sure that taking my life would result in him being gone and never coming back then yes." Tears were forming at his eyes. "Because I know that sometimes the ultimate sacrifice must be made. My parents did it to save me, Booker did it to save you..." He stopped, struggling to finish the sentence. "And you did it to save the Little Sisters. You think your actions are turning you into Comstock? No, you leave open routes, give ideas and hints but you have not forced anyone. You've not had people executed or made them disappear because they disagree with your plan. You've compromised, you've adjusted, and you've acted to the best interest of all."

"Harry..."

"No, I was planning on being quiet, but I can't, I can't watch you self-destruct and stand silently hoping you'll pull through it. If you want proof that you are doing good just look at how you've helped me. My life was hell at the Dursley's you didn't even use your abilities and you made them second guess. You made them think. Your greatest ability is not the tears, it's not the ability to reshape worlds by piecing them together from everything you see could happen, it's your ability to make people think, to reach out and help people who are struggling. That's not Comstock, that's not Booker." He stopped feeling completely unsure of himself as he ranted but trusting his own instincts enough to know that was, he was saying felt right to him. "That's all you."

Elizabeth sat there in silence, watching him as he waited for her to respond, her mind buzzing a mile a minute but failing to gain traction on anything. Instead she settled for a terrible joke. "Did you practice that speech?" She asked drawing a weak laugh from Harry.

"It just felt right." He replied and Elizabeth felt a half laugh and half sob catch as she started chuckling.

"Why do I seem to keep breaking like this?"

"Because you don't deal with it." The voice of Booker said though it was quieter now.

"Because you've been through a lot." Harry said his voice rough as he started to calm down. "You've been through a lot and you keep throwing yourself into more and more because you don't want others to suffer like you did or like I did. It's why we brought Eleanor and Delta back; it's why you're working to turn the Malfoys away from the path that they're obviously on." He stopped, a look of horror crossing his face. "Oh no... I just remembered something."

"What?"

"We've got two days until that Winter Ball that Draco wanted us to attend."

She could not help herself, the sudden shift of tone. The horror that Harry had shown towards the concept of the Winter Ball in comparison to diving headfirst in to a damaged and broken Rapture was so extreme that she couldn't help but laugh. Looking at her in mock offence, Harry was unable to stop his own chuckling and the two felt part of the pain that they had been feeling just melt away. Elizabeth looked towards the window, the place where the hallucination Booker had stood now empty and she felt a warmth that had evaded her since Halloween. "I said it before Harry," she said managing to control her laughter for a moment, "grow up, become a great person and never change." She said with a heart-warming smile.

HPCVHPCV

"And that's what happened." Elizabeth finished the explanation of their adventure into Rapture to Dumbledore, with the two sat Bathsheda and Harry as well who had filled in the information they did not know. The two hadn't left her room for the rest of the evening, talking for the next couple of hours before Harry fell asleep on the sofa and Elizabeth barely managing to keep herself awake fell asleep on top of her bed still fully dressed. The next morning, they had both gone their separate ways to get ready before breakfast and then immediately after met with Dumbledore to speak to him.

"And the two you've bought with you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Innocents caught in a nightmare not of their own making." Elizabeth said softly, "one was just an ordinary person until he was turned into what he is now, the other was mutilated by multiple people, first turned into a Little Sister and then as a lab project designed to be a sponge of all the memories of the 'intelligent' people of Rapture." She scoffed in disdain, not holding any of them in high regard. "They deserve the chance at a normal life." She said and then immediately corrected herself, "well, as normal as they can considering what they went through. If Delta can even be healed and return to some normal sense of life," she added again sadly, "I don't know the extent of the effect that the ADAM will have on Eleanor, hopefully if what I was told is true it should be minor and she may have access to memories that she didn't before. It'll be a nightmare for her to sort out along with the trauma of what her mother did."

"Madame Pomfrey is still performing tests, there is something actively fighting against her magic to examine their conditions. She'll most likely have to go to St Mungo's, and we don't even know where to begin with Subject Delta." Dumbledore explained and Elizabeth nodded her head in understanding, "though the question of what happens to them after is one that will need to be looked into."

"They're under my protection." Elizabeth said calmly, "I brought them into this world, I'm responsible for them."

"Even when you're barely in control of yourself?" Dumbledore asked bluntly and she frowned. "Elizabeth, I'm concerned about what you're going through. At times you look and sound as if you know and can deal with everything without any issues whatsoever, but at times you seem to be struggling to keep focused on everything at hand. What both you and Harry are going through and are going to go through is an immense pressure, one that many people would be able to deal with." He reasoned, bringing up a discussion that had been had between the two before.

"We can cope. At least for now." Elizabeth admitted, the second part begrudgingly thrown in knowing that the cracks that she had been trying hard to keep hidden. She was beginning to believe people who said, 'nothing remains hidden forever.'

"But there is another thing I wished to speak to you about." Dumbledore said shifting the topic away from the uncomfortable conversation which Elizabeth was glad for at this time. "The Winter Ball that you have been invited to at the Malfoy Residence."

"You're going to advise us not to go, aren't you?"

"Considering the events that have recently transpired, I feel it would be best to give this one a miss." He suggested but Elizabeth shook her head.

"As much as I want to, we can't." She admitted, "Professor, this will be the first contact I've had with the Malfoy's since the end of the Summer Holidays. With all their actions they've taken regarding the werewolf community this will be their first big gathering with the Magical 'elite' since the bill was passed." Elizabeth explained with a glance at Harry, "There was a Wizengamot session about three weeks ago?" She asked with a glance to Dumbledore who nodded. "The bill was one that gave people suffering from Lycanthropy a better status."

"It's something that I have been trying to do for years." Dumbledore explained, "before they were unable to get jobs outside of almost the menial tasks, unable to go to Hogwarts or any Magical school and many of them leave the Wizarding World and join the Muggle world or live in groups out on the edges of society." Dumbledore added getting a small look of understanding, "thanks to Lucius Malfoy shifting on his views we've been able to pass a bill giving them more rights and access to more jobs. The Prophet has been unsure how to decide on the about face that Lucius has taken with it, the Prophet itself is praising him for his generosity, the gossip columns though..." He trailed off allowing Elizabeth to take over.

"They've been accusing him of trying to rally the followers of the Dark Lord to his side to become a new power. Not by his own decision though, apparently they believe that he's doing the bidding of his wife."

"Mrs Malfoy?" Harry asked in surprise, as far as he was aware the majority of people saw her as the dutiful housewife and little more. Whenever the Malfoy family was mentioned it was always in the form of Draco and Lucius with the odd mention of the former Head of House Abraxas Malfoy.

Elizabeth scratched idly at the back of her hand as she explained. "Because of whom her family is. They look at her as the power in the family. The Blacks are an old family and many of them were and still are what many would consider Dark."

"But they're either dead or in prison now." Harry mused aloud getting another nod. "Except for her and hopefully soon Sirius?" He asked getting a nod.

"As far as I know all the legitimate family are. I don't know about any extra family or anything along those lines outside of you." She said thoughtfully with a look towards Dumbledore to fill in the blanks.

"They have a few other families, distant though they are still attached to the Family Tree. You do know another member of the Black family actually, young Nymphadora and her mother are from the Black line though they were disowned and removed from the family tree after Andromeda married a Muggleborn." He said getting a wince from Harry and Elizabeth as they knew the stigma that was going to be following them because of it from their own family and the Pureblood society. "The groups that you'll be interacting with at the party are that part of society that I'd strongly advise against associating with. I believe in redemption but to willingly jump into the Lion's den is dangerous and ill advised." Dumbledore finished what he was saying, glancing between the two.

"Thanks to Comstock I know a few things about lions." She said after a few moments of silent conversation between herself and Harry. "The Purebloods are angry and feeling marginalised as times pass on with changes passing through the Wizengamot and what they see as dilution of their beliefs by the newcomers." Elizabeth said, remembering what Narcissa had told her both in letters and their conversation back in Easter. "What they don't seem to pay attention to is that they've brought it on themselves with the Voldemort conflict."

"You see that as well?" Dumbledore asked in amusement.

"They lashed out in an attempt to claim power and instead generated more sympathy for the Muggleborns and the Half-bloods. Though that group lack the political power to actively implement the philosophies is irrelevant, they have the sympathetic vote to prevent anything too drastic to hit them."

"Which just leaves magical creatures to be targeted." Dumbledore continued the train of thought getting a nod from Elizabeth, "though you've managed to deflect away from at least one group."

"I plan to deflect from more by appealing to something that the Purebloods care about more than they realise."

"Their money?" Harry asked, speaking up for the first time in the back and forth conversation between Elizabeth and Dumbledore. "But which race are you going to try and protect through that?"

"The House Elves." She replied drawing a surprised look from both of the men. With the reference to money they had expected her to be referring to the Goblins. "You can thank the Malfoy's for that as well."

"Oh?"

"They had an Elf pick up my luggage last Easter. Dobby I think his name was?" She stopped thinking of it for a moment before waving it off. "He looked like he had seen and suffered under their ownership." She explained with a frown, "I did some digging into the laws and the rules about them and there's very little protecting them from the abuse."

"And you expect to turn their opinion on them?"

"It's a basic idea but one that needs more work, I just have to appeal to them on the financial side that they're losing out on their money's worth when they abuse their Elves. After all, how good is a servant that can't operate if they're recovering from injuries?" She questioned feeling disgusted at how casually she was talking about abuse. She knew what attitudes were like to people of a lower class thanks to what she had seen in Columbia, with the way the people in authority mistreated those of coloured skin and of Irish descent.

She smiled to herself, looking off into the distance, one of morbid amusement as she thought about what could possibly happen if the House Elves ever rebelled against the Wizards who had abused them.

She stopped, shuddering at the thought drawing confused looks from the others in the room which she hastily waved off. "Apologies, sometimes my mind wanders on tangents."

"A feeling I have had many times in the past and probably many times in the future." Dumbledore agreed in understanding.

"But, to do anything along those lines I need to get a feel for the people involved, more than just the Malfoys but the rest of their group. All of those who have influence."

There was no turning her away from the idea, they had a Winter Ball to go to.

TBC

Well this all went a lot angstier than I had originally intended. But it kinda felt like I needed to have it. Elizabeth has a lot of emotional baggage, she's never properly dealt with it which I feel has some impact on how she acts, sometimes that barricade that she has to hold it back starts to crack that little bit. Hit with multiple call backs and connections however loosely it was to her past were enough to create that wedge and she did the only thing she knew how to. Act quickly and decisively and then deal with the ramifications afterwards.

But I felt I needed to end on a lighter note after this chapter so yes, the next chapter will be the Malfoy Winter Ball.