Chapter 56 Pledge

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Daphne finally relaxed after Harry agreed to accept her pledge. She took out a white envelope and handed it to him.

"It's my oath of allegiance." She said as sat in front of him.

Harry ran his hand across the white envelope "Do I really scare you, Greengrass?" He asked.

"Boo, you're as terrifying as they come. I certainly wouldn't want to be your enemy." Harry heard Tom say but he ignored the voice in his head.

Greengrass just looked at him for a while before speaking "I am not really scared of you because of your power or how you can cast magic as easily as breathing. What terrifies me is that you just don't care what others think about you, the fact that you are entirely indifferent even when they fear you or are in awe of you. Even after watching you for months I still don't understand you Harry and that's what scares me"

Harry nodded "you are right Greengrass. you don't know me, no one does yet you are willing to pledge your allegiance to me. Why?"

"I don't know but I just somehow know that I can trust you" Daphne answered with a straight face.

Harry nodded and opened the envelope in his hand. He carefully read the entire oath inside the envelope.

"Greengrass! Are you insane? This basically says that your life belongs to me and I can choose to do whatever I want with it." Harry yelled at her.

Daphne just nodded "I know that you have your secrets and you don't trust me enough to let me see the real you. This way you don't have to trust me because after taking the oath I can't possibly harm or betray you in any way. Also with this oath, no can use me against you."

Was Daphne always this crazy or did Harry just didn't notice it before? Magical Oaths are always risky so they are rarely used nowadays, even when they are used they are only taken after carefully going over every word so they can't be used against you but even then oaths inherently carry some amount of risk.

That's why even Voldemort didn't ask his death eaters to take oaths of allegiance, and he also would have been bound by those oaths to protect his followers and it would have severely limited the number of followers joining his cause.

Most of the wizarding business now is done through the use of magical contracts. These contracts are also always written with buyout clauses as no one is going to risk their life or their magic just for somehow failing to meet their end of the deal.

But the oath Daphne brought to Harry is an ancient one that was barely used even in those times because the person taking the oath basically swores their life away to their lord.

Harry took the paper and the envelope and tore them into pieces before dumping all of the remains in the fireplace.

For a while, Daphne just sat in the chair shocked by his actions.

"Why did you do that Potter? I have nothing else to offer other than my life." Daphne said weakly.

Harry didn't respond and both of them just sat in silence for a few moments.

Daphne started speaking after a while "My sister Astoria is afflicted with the Blood Malediction curse. After affecting our house for generations the curse is finally losing its effects with my sister being its last victim. While the curse can't take its full effects it continuously weakens her, according to the healers she most likely won't live past 30."

Harry of course knows all of this. In the previous timeline, Daphne came to him to find a way to cure her sister in exchange for her help in achieving his goals. With the help of Harry's powerful magic, Astoria made it 33 years old last time before the curse finally took her life.

Harry and Daphne did manage to find a cure for Astoria but they were missing a crucial ingredient and by that time curse had already weakened her body too much.

That's why the idea of Astoria marrying Draco is so ridiculous. Astoria is such a sweet and kind girl who Harry came to see as a little sister. But due to the curse, Astoria always felt like she was a burden to her family and she would have died before marrying anyone because there was a small chance that the curse might also affect her children.

Daphne was never the same after her sister's death. It felt like a part of Daphne died with her sister. Harry had promised her that he will save Astoria but he was too late last time. Astoria's death was also a few things that struck Harry to his core, he never thought he would feel pain and loss like this after the war.

But this time Harry has everything prepared and he just waiting for the right time to finally cure Daphne's sister of this curse, this time he will make sure that Astoria will live a long and full life.

Daphne pov:

Daphne doesn't really understand what is really happening here or why she is pouring her heart out in front of the boy she barely knows. Even her parents don't know anything about her plans but here she is talking to potter about the most important thing in her life.

But just being with Harry makes her feel comfortable in ways that she can't comprehend.

"Greengrass you don't have to pledge your allegiance to me. I will make sure that your sister is cured. I promise you that."

It doesn't make any sense but somehow coming from Harry Daphne believes it.