Harry Potter TK XIII

Harry Potter TK XIII:

O-O-O

At the crack of dawn, three Slytherins crept out of Hogwarts, bleary-eyed and tired as they made for the Whomping Willow.

“Are you sure about this?” Daphne asked, sipping from a flask of pumpkin juice as they trekked through the snow as they headed towards the Whomping Willow which allegedly held a secret entrance to the Shrieking Shack and the conspirators.  

“I heard it from Headmaster Snape himself. He’s on our side!” Pansy exclaimed. “You just tap the knot at the base of a tree and the tree stay still and you can pass right through it to the Shrieking Shack.”

“Ehhh, I don’t know,” Daphne shrugged. “Just trusting a betrayer’s word seems risky in general. I think I saw that written on one of the bathroom walls.”

“He wasn’t a betrayer, he was a double agent. It’s not the same!” Millicent said disapprovingly.

“Come on, guys, it’s too early for this…” Pansy said, rubbing her temples.

“Besides, if you’re worried there’s some kind of trap there, why don’t you stay behind and let me and Milly go in first? You can watch our backs for an ambush.”

Daphne brandished her wand as they stopped by near the giant tree, with its violent branches slashing this way and that. “After you.”

“Oh, Daph, you’re such a worrywart…” Pansy said dismissively as she entered the Willow’s clearing and aimed her wand at the trunk of the tree.  The breeze was in her face, and Pansy’s shot missed by inches, harmless dissipating into the ground, but as she stepped closer to take another shot, she had to duck as whip-like branches flew over her head.

“GIMME A HAND, MILLY!” She bellowed as she tried scrambling back. In her haste, she slipped over a wet patch of moss and tumbled to the floor, screaming for help as a long branch quickly snagged her by the ankle. The first spell Pansy had fired seemed to had woken up the tree, as Millicent was put on the defensive, having to use shield charms to ensure she didn’t share Pansy’s fate. However, a stray branch still managed to clip her on the ankle as she tried to dash towards Pansy, and soon the tree had knocked her wand away and snared her tightly. The tree lifted the two of them high in the air, grasping them by their ankles and wrists but noticeably not flaying them with its branches and it had formerly been known to do.

“What’s going on?” Pansy asked as she struggled against the tree. “Shouldn’t it be attacking us? Don’t just sit th-” Pansy’s voice cut off as they heard a low voice trailing off in the distance towards the entrance of the shack.

“Forget about us, Daph, go inside and take a look! We’ll find a way out, just, um,” Millicent stuttered as she felt a small branch that looked suspiciously like a hand exhibit surprising dexterity and intelligence as it began pulling her shoes off, “just hurry!”

“And after you get us free you can say I told you so,” Pansy said grudgingly before she felt something brush her bare foot and saw a branch determinedly wiggling against her dark nylons and quickly realized there was no way this was a coincidence. “Hop to it already!” she hissed.

As Daphne nodded in acknowledgement and crept her way into the entrance below the Whomping Willow, shrill Slytherin laughter quickly filled the air.  

O-O-O

Daphne pressed her way into the Shrieking Shack, ducking her head as she entered the two-storey building. She heard voices upstairs and the sound of footsteps making their way down the stairs. She flattened her body behind a cabinet and glimpsed four students coming down the stairs, none that she recognized till she heard a shrill voice from the second floor.

“Looks like we have company” a mocking voice laughed, as Lavender Brown emerged from the top floor, wand in hand. “Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bullstrode. I would be money on them being in league with the Carrows.”

Daphne’s heart pounded in her chest as she listened to the five of them discusses what they should do. One of them, a girl with dirty blonde hair suggested leaving them to the Willow while a girl with chestnut-brown hair retorted saying they would bring reinforcements next time and force their way in. Lavender seemed eager to bring the two girls in and interrogate them, but the others seemed to think that with their order this close to discovery perhaps fleeing Hogwarts would be a better move. They argued for a while, as Daphne listened, unsure as to what she should do.

Daphne adjusted her glasses, as she always did when she was nervous. Five on one. Those were bad odds, though she did have surprise on her side. She knew Milly wouldn’t have waited this long and would have attacked them while they were distracted, and Pansy would probably try to negotiate by bluffing them and saying they had a dozen Death Eaters outside waiting for her word, but Daphne didn’t feel confident with either option.

“I’m not going to try to be Milly and charge out wands-a-blazing…”Daphne murmured as drew her wand and pointed it at a cabinet on the second floor, “but I do have a plan...”

O-O-O

“Goddamnit, what is gohohoing on?” Pansy swore as she twisted left and right, it was insane to believe that the new fad of tickle-magic had spread to even the Whomping Willow. Someone had charmed the tree into doing this, but who? Sprout? McGonagall? Snape? She didn’t have time to think as more and more branches began tickling her in earnest, almost like Pansy’s roars of laughter was watering the plant and giving it more energy to tickle them harder, and so the cycle repeated itself. The Willow was brutal in its simplicity; there was no tactic or tickling strategy whatsoever which the analytical witch actually found rather jarring. It was almost embarrassing to be driven to hysterics by such a brute force approach, for what the Willow lacked in dexterity or skill, it made up for in quantity. Merlin’s beard, it had quantity.

It seemed like the Willow was throwing everything and the kitchen sink at them, it had long leaves that reminded Pansy of feathers, thistles that reminded her of brushes, vines that reminded Pansy of slithering snakes sliding through her toes and of course a large variety of twigs of varying size that reminded Pansy of oh-so-many fingernails poking and stroking her all over her ticklish body. Thankfully the school robes provided a bit of protection, so Pansy didn’t have to contend with leaves spinning in her belly and the like, but there was still twigs poking all over her sides and stomach and digging into her armpits, along with a few leaves teasing along her neck and even behind her ear. Her feet had it worst by far, as the slick nylons provided little protection as leaves, twigs, thistles and vines tickled every inch of her feet and legs.

Every inch of her pale feet was peppered with tickling debris; she currently had a pair of scratchy twigs at her heels, a trio of slick vines sliding up and down her arches, leaves gentle teasing the sides of her feet, a thistly branch dusting along her insteps and a combination of leaves and twigs spinning on the pads of each of her toes. Pansy hadn’t even known the tops of her feet were so ticklish. There were also leaves trying to slide through the gaps between her toes, but Pansy was doing her best to keep her toes clenched to protect the sensitive flesh between them but considering the intensity of the tickling her body was going through it was difficult. The leaves waiting to probe in-between her toes would not just wait idly either, if Pansy kept her toes clamped up they would simply join in on teasing the tips of her toes and under them, which would only make it more difficult to keep her toes curled.  

The only consolation was that the Willow couldn’t squeeze her kneecaps which Pansy had always found unbearable, though branches still trailed up and down her legs and thighs, but that was a small consolation when she was already shouting herself hoarse.  She was fairly certain that at this rate she would wake up half of Hogwarts with her roaring soon.
To her left, Milly wasn’t doing much better. Her feet weren’t as ticklish as Pansy’s and her clothing meant that the Willow couldn’t torment all her worst spots on her more ticklish upperbody that easily, but she was much more energetic than Pansy and her thrashing was visibly wearing her out.

What was taking Daphne so long?

O-O-O

Being a leader sucked. Sure, it was often glamorized in plays and stories and the like, but being a leader was not fun, and Luna Lovegood was not used to being called upon to lead.

Sure, among her little ragtag group of rebels, she undoubtedly had the most experience in fighting Dark Wizards but it was still a little awkward having all these older students like Seamus and Lavender look to her to tell them what to do, especially when she was the youngest there. She was only in charge until Ginny and Neville got here, but even so, being the de facto leader was a lot of pressure. Luna was more comfortable doing things at her own leisurely paced, but here it seemed everyone was constantly asking her for advice and what they should do.  She wondered vaguely how Harry had been able to handle it before a loud thump and the scrunching of wood brought her to her senses. She and her friends turned to see splinters and dust spray from where the Cabinet stood and whilst Dean and Lavender were shouting to get up the stairs and see what had happened, something Harry had once said clicked in her mind. Luna turned and blindly aimed a stunner in exactly the opposite direction of the cabinet.

Her friends turned in her direction, having heard her launch the spell, and they all saw the red glimmer as a stunner flew out of the shadows and hit Seamus in the chest.

“Stupefy!” They yelled as the cramped passageway where the unknown assailant was trying to escape through grew red with the glow of half a dozen stunners.

O-O-O

Daphne Greengrass woke up blindfolded, gagged and in restraints, and while this would just be another Saturday night for her notoriously amorous sister, Astoria, this was not something she was really into. She gave a loud shout and gave her body a quick wiggle to test her bonds. They had only left her with her white dress shirt with the short sleeves that left much of her arms exposed and could easily be rolled up (or removed!) to leave her belly bare, her short black skirt that exposed plenty of ticklish flesh on her thighs and knees and of course her black nylons, which Daphne swore only made her already ticklish feet even more ticklish. Was she such a slave to fashion?  

She also quickly discovered that she was on a hard wooden floor, as her back ached terribly, and her limbs had been stretched out and her body was pulled taut, with her hands tied above her head, exposing her underarms and naturally the bonds were too strong and well-tied for her to wiggle free. Blindfolded, her other senses were sharper, and she could hear a distinct rumbling and smell of magical air-fresheners that made her question if she was still in the Shrieking Shack, or even Hogwarts anymore.    

“Ahh, you’re up,” said a mocking girly voice amidst a rustling of papers. “How are you feeling, Miss Greengrass? Feeling a bit… exposed, perhaps?”

Daphne’s mind worked frantically to try to recognize the voice, as she stayed deathly still and deathly quiet. She knew better than to talk or try to struggle. She had been tied up enough times to know where this was going. Her shoes were off, her very ticklish feet exposed to the elements and the voice did not sound very friendly at all. Feigning sleep was definitely the best option at this point.

"Nice try, I know what you’re trying to do," the voice said, scaring Daphne half to death.  She was right at Daphne’s ear. "You jerked when you woke up, so I know you’re awake right now.” Daphne heard the creaking of the girl walking over to where her feet lay bound and helpless. “Still playing dumb? Heh, I’ll prove it.”

Daphne jolted and yelped into the gag as she felt a lone fingernail scratch up the bottom of her foot.  

"I knew it," the sinister voice said, chuckling.  "I knew it. Feeling like maybe the shoe’s on the other foot?”

It wasn’t till she heard the girl chuckle at her own joke and she felt a lone finger scamper along her wiggling feet, just lightly teasing a few giggles out of Daphne, not going full force just yet that she recognized the voice.

“Lavender Brown!” Daphne tried to yell through the gag though it was reduced a few basic ‘mmmphs’.

Lavender just chuckled as she grasped Daphne’s big toe and wiggled it teasingly.

“So you remember me. I’m flattered… and with any luck when I’m finished with you, you’ll remember this too,” Lavender cooed as she gently stroked her fingers along the sides of Daphne’s wiggling feet, leading Daphne to throw her head back as giggles built her in her throat and could only escape through the gag as grunts.

“Hey, Lavender! That’s enough,” came a boy’s sharp voice.

“Oh, hey Dean,” Lavender said, her fingers not quite stopping. “I was just about to go get Luna.”

“I can see that…” Dean said sceptically, as Lavender’s fingers lingered on Daphne’s arches, just lightly scratching at the very centre of the sole.

“Why don’t you go get her? I’ll keep her company, for just a while longer…” Lavender said sweetly.

Dean muttered something under his breath as Daphne heard the door slam shut.

“Gosh, he’s such a spoilsport, looks like I only have about a minute left with you, so let’s make it count…”

Daphne arched her back as far as could manage and let out a howl as she felt all ten of Lavender’s razor sharp fingernails rake up and down her nylons.

She tried to brace herself for another vicious tootsies attack, but was caught completely off-guard when she felt Lavender’s fingers poke at her sides, making her jolt left and right as she responded to the jabs. Lavender’s fingers skittered up and down her ribs and sides several times, making a slight detour at her belly before diving into her armpits, making her surge with wild laughter. Pansy and Milly used to comment on how Daphne’s laughter had a melodious quality to it, but it doesn’t sound melodious right now as Daphne yelped and grunted into the uncomfortable gag. She desperately tried to bring her arms down to protect her armpits but the ropes would not budge and inch and Lavender was free to wiggle her nails all over those exposed hollows with no resistant at all.

A life-time of tickling later, though in reality it must have been maybe three minutes, the door open and Lavender abruptly pulled her fingers back.

“Hey, Luna.  The captive is up.”

“Yes, I can see that…” Luna Lovegood, known affiliate of Harry Potter AKA public enemy number one replied, as Daphne panted, her blindfold and gag moist with perspiration.

“Please give me a moment with Miss Greengrass.”

“Absolutely,” Lavender nodded, giving Daphne a parting poke in the ribs as she went.

“Anyway, Miss Greengrass, I’m terribly sorry for Lavender, she’s a bit… enthusiastic at times. She has a good heart, but she does have a bit of a mean streak, which I think you’ve noticed. How does the old saying go? ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman tickled’? Wouldn’t you agree? Anyway, I’m sure you have a lot of questions...”

Lovegood waited a few moments for Daphne to reply before remembering that the Slytherin was gagged. Daphne heard the sound of Lovegood smacking her forehead as she realized. “Of course, you’re gagged, let’s get rid of those…”

A spell later, the gag and blindfold had been removed and Daphne slowly blinked her eyes as she took in her surroundings. Her initial suspicions were correct it seemed, she wasn’t at Hogwarts, but she was on a train… The Hogwarts Express maybe? She looked left and right as far as she could in her bondage and saw she seemed to be in the cargo section. How had these guys managed to smuggle her on-board without anyone noticing? Daphne then turned her eyes to the dirty-blonde girl staring opposite her with a dim smile. Daphne was genuinely embarrassed to have been outsmarted and captured by a ditz like her that wore Radish earrings and believed in Crumple-horned Snorkacks. Lovegood’s dreamy voice jolted her from her thoughts.

“Miss Greengrass?” Lovegood said as if she had just come across an acquaintance in Hogsmede whom she secretly disliked.

“What,” Daphne panted, still huffing from the large dose of tickle torture that Lavender Brown had just given her.  

“Well, Miss Greengrass…  actually can I call you Daphne? I don’t like being so formal.”

Daphne knew she ought to at least attempt to be diplomatic, considering she was almost entirely at Lovegood’s mercy, but the tickling torment lingered on her mind, and whilst she didn’t hate a bit of light tickling per se, Lavender’s vigorous and ruthless attack had put her in a bit of a bad mood. She was sorely tempted to swear at her, which she had a stubborn feeling was exactly what Pansy or Milly would have done, but Daphne liked to think of herself as being a bit more level-headed and calm than them, so she did her best to swallow her white-hot rage and be polite.

“No,” Daphne spat, “why am I here? Let me out of here, Lovegood. ”

Daphne was betting that if she was indignant enough about it, she could maybe convince them that she had stumbled upon them by chance and they would let her go, but having seen the lengths to kidnap her, that was looking increasingly unlikely.

“You know, it was quite clever what you did in the Shrieking Shack,” Lovegood reminisced, as if she hadn’t heard what Daphne had just said. “It was a good idea.”

Daphne bit her lip and glared at Lovegood. She had planned it out so well. Use Wingardium Leviosa on the cabinet to create a distraction and then dart the opposite way, Daphne hadn’t expected Lovegood to blindly launch a stunner in the opposite direction of the loud noise. I mean, who did that? Daphne thought in dismay. In hindsight, firing back and revealing herself was not the wisest idea, but it had been an instinctive reaction to a stunner missing her by inches.

“Don’t patronize me, Lovegood. If it was a good idea, I wouldn’t bloody be here.”

Lovegood stuck her bottom lip out and pouted. “You’re being very hostile, Miss Daphne, maybe I should give you a moment to think about what you said.”
Daphne could not believe her ears. She had been kidnapped, bound and gagged, and then tickle tortured and now she was getting a lecture from a wacko about etiquette?

“You abducted me. I’m obviously not happy about it. You’re as full as crap as your magazine, Loony Lovegood.”
Lovegood crossed her arms. “Words can be very hurtful sometimes, I suggest you think about what you just said.”
Daphne was sorely tempted to facepalm but that was quite difficult to do considering her restraints so she settled for banging the back of her head on the wooden floor instead. As she stared up at the ceiling, about to deliver a scathing response, she felt a feeling that had become all too familiar today as giggled bubbled up in her throat. She glanced at Lovegood, expecting her to grinning manically as she expected Lavender Brown had been doing when she had her way with Daphne’s helpless nyloned feet, but Lovegood didn’t even seem to be paying attention! She was thumbing through the latest edition of the Quibbler, which had likely been left by the guards watching Daphne, her eyes on the pages as she used both hands to leaf through the magazine. Wait, she wasn’t using her hands? How was she doing that? Daphne said, flinching as she felt another stroke down her sole.

Daphne craned her neck and saw that Lovegood had slipped her bare feet out of her flats and was very casually using them to paw at her nyloned soles. She was sliding them up and down her smooth soles, made even smoother by Daphne’s accursed nylons. Dimly in the back of her mind, Daphne thought it was quite an interesting sight from a symbolic standpoint, watching her black nylons getting stroked by Lovegood’s milky-white feet. Black versus white. Good versus evil. The goodies always wore black, right?  Lovegood also seemed to keep her feet in decent enough condition, Daphne grudgingly admitted, and whilst there were a few bruises and scabs along the tops of her ankles, the skin of her feet looked nice enough, and Lovegood had let her nude toenails grow long so that if she chose to scratch at the captive soles it were much like being tickled with someone with long nails, as Daphne vividly experienced as the sudden onslaught of tickling drove her from her digression.  

Daphne also had to admire the feat of dexterity that Lovegood was exhibiting, casually tickling her feet so easily with her feet as if they were an extra set of hands. Lovegood’s pale white toes scampered up and down, wiggling and scratching along Daphne’s arches where she had never been able to stand it and when Daphne tried scrunching her toes up Lovegood simply glanced up from her magazine, used one foot to push back the toes and had her toes scrape up and down the now-taut sole, making Daphne’s go into silent laughter before bursting into squeals and squeaks again when they tried the other foot.

After a few moments of Daphne’s shrill girlish laughter, Lovegood put her magazine down, put her palms flat on the ground to balance herself and tickled even more intently. Daphne’s feet flexed right and left, but Lovegood’s toes, there were more like claws really, were always following her with laser-like precision. Daphne even tried to tickle Lovegood back with her own toes, to give her a taste of her own medicine but she lacked Lovegood’s deftness and somehow the blonde was always one step ahead and everytime she tried it she just ended exposing her soles worse for more tickling torment. Daphne eventually landed a stroke on Lovegood’s soles, making the blonde Ravenclaw giggle. She responded by then reaching out with her hand and grabbing Daphne’s feet. Daphne gulped as she felt Lovegood gently slide her hands along the sensitive flesh.

“Anyway, I think I have your attention now, right, Miss Daphne?” Lovegood said, as she gently massaged and fondled Daphne’s dark nyloned feet.

“There’s no need to be rude. I know we’re on different sides right now, but there’s no need for rudeness,” Lovegood said, as she casually played with the feet in front of her.

“I actually learnt about how to tickle like that from my magazine. We had a feature on a tickling style that also keeps Nargles away,” she continued. Daphne was very apprehensive about replying, lest it provoke another bout of ticklish retaliation. Lovegood tickling her with both her fingers and her feet would be way too much to handle. “But my point is, let’s be civil. I know you and your friends were there to spy on us,” Lovegood continued, now rubbing at the fabric of Daphne’s nylons. “And you know I’m the only thing keeping you away from Lavender and a hairbrush. So what I’m saying is you should cooperate with us. It’s a win-win.”

Daphne mulled the Ravenclaw’s words. Considering her position, she was certain that refusing the blonde girl’s offer would almost definite result in a thorough tickling, which Daphne was rather keen to avoid but on the other hand, actually working with these blood traitors would result in certain death, which was arguably worse. Then again, the Order was a famously gullible bunch, and if Daphne pretended to be a turncoat, and just lied about whatever questions they asked her, there was even a chance she could escape tickle-free and possibly backstab them to her allies if she played her cards right! After all, it was said that one double-agent strategically placed could make all the difference, like the Dark Lord’s servant Wormtail. Daphne sucked in a deep breath of air, knowing she shouldn’t appear too eager. She was playing a different game now, and scheming had its own set of rules.  

“What do you mean cooperate?” Daphne, asked, trying to put as much steel in her voice as possible.

“Be polite and civil, answer whatever questions we ask you and don’t try to run away the first chance you get,” Lovegood shrugged. “If you do, I’ll try to keep Lavender off you and you get to be one of the good guys for a while.”

Daphne hesitated, like someone deeply conflicted would do before nodding. “Adding to stop the tickling.” The tickling hadn’t really been THAT bad, but Lovegood didn’t need to know that. Better she was thought of as a coward than a cunning schemer. “I’m not sure there’s much I know though. I’m not exactly high in the hierarchy.”

“You can start by telling us all about your friends and the Carrows, but I suppose that can wait till tomorrow,” Lovegood said, stiffling a yawn. “Oh, and forgive me if I don’t release you from the bonds just yet. Trust has to be earned. Get some sleep, tomorrow’s a big day.”

On that note, Luna Lovegood snatched up the discarded Quibbler and walked out, quickly replaced by a smirking Lavender Brown, who cracking her knuckles eagerly.

“Hey,w-wait up! I said I would cooperate! Lovegood sa-” Daphne began, a stammer in her voice.

“Silencio.”

Lavender slowly sat down by Daphne’s midsection and slowly began twirling a slow finger around her navel, slowly spiraling in towards Daphne’s little bellybutton.

“You haven’t cooperated yet, since you haven’t told us anything useful yet,” Lavender began, as she slowly grazed her fingers around Daphne’s quivering belly. “So how’s about this, I’ll stop tickling when you say stop, okay?”

Daphne desperately mouthed the word, but the silencing charm completely eliminated her ability to voice her pleas.

Lavender tittered as she slid her fingers slowly across the pale flesh. “Don’t want to talk? Fair enough… Besides, I want to see how ticklish the rest of you is…”

O-O-O