The trio of Susan, Neville, and Daphne took a few moments to collect themselves and to rid the feeling of panic that crawled on their bodies. Deep down they knew that Harry wouldn't hurt them- that the entire 'mission' was completely planned out and certainly not deadly, but on the surface the only thought that their mind could process was that of an arrow embedding itself within their head instead of the wall.

Eventually they moved forward, their hearts still lurching out of their chests to flee from perceived mortal peril. No words were exchanged, instead their focus was scattered with eyes darting everywhere to catch the next danger.

They didn't need to wait long as their formation once again found itself destroyed into a heap of limbs. This time a bar had swung from the wall and smashed into Neville's stomach. The boy wheezed on the ground as he desperately tried to retrieve the air stolen from his lungs.

While he held himself off the ground with his hands and knees, Daphne inspected the bar, her mind calculating as any good Slytherin's did. She searched for even the smallest of details that might limit the pain that was set ahead. Already she felt a bruise forming on her rear and that was something a girl of her stature ought never to have anywhere. Her skin was to lend the image of perfection to the Greengrass name; even that which couldn't be seen.

The bar was camouflaged and wore dirt as its final coat. Slowly the dirt melted off as the sticking charm applied to it canceled. A slick bar of steel remained. The bar offered no hints, something that frustrated Daphne to no end.

Still, she wasn't one of the top students in her year for no reason. She continued her investigation, knowing that Harry was only limiting himself on the damage he caused, not the skill behind it. The cause of the swinging bar wouldn't be obvious, there were few things more sure in the world than that.

Despite knowing that the trap must have had some sort of catalyst, Daphne's searches were for naught. There were no inscriptions on the walls or floors and she doubted that Harry used wards. They had no chance of dismantling wards, it was way beyond their skill level, and if her observations of Harry were any indication, he didn't seem like the type of guy to set impossible tasks. No, by the end of the tunnel, he expected them to have figured out his game, or at least to have countered it if they couldn't determine the specifics.

Looking back she saw Neville had regained his breath and rose to his feet. The boy stood besides Susan, both looking at her with a side profile.

Their side by side stature with unnatural stances for both to fit gave Daphne an idea. With the bar, the group didn't know what to look for. Now, she thought she had a clue.

Looking back into her memories, as soon as Harry had left, all of the traps they encountered had been blended in to be a part of their surroundings. The slab that fell from the roof had hardly looked out of place in a tunnel of dirt and stone and the arrow came from the wall, suggesting that it was there the whole time. Finally, the pipe had been colored to blend in perfectly with its surroundings. Yes, all of them were disguised well, but they were also noticeable if enough attention was paid to the task.

Digging deeper into those memories she took in her surroundings with more attention to the trap's origin. The slab hadn't been perfectly aligned with the roof, it was about a centimeter lower than its surroundings. The arrow's head wasn't entirely embedded, instead the slants towards the point were visible, leaving the arrow visible at its tip. It was difficult to see, but still perceivable.

The pipe had been covered with dirt to make it look like part of the cave wall, but the outwards curve ran opposite of the slick cylindrical walls. Perhaps Harry was limiting his skill after all.

Regardless, all of the traps were entirely avoidable if one only took the time to look. Swallowing her fear and her Slytherin instinct to let someone else take the blows for her, she explained her thoughts and announced her plan.

"I think I should take the lead. My skills in observation should help me spot traps now that I know what to look for," her body screamed that she shouldn't speak and when she did it begged for them to say no. It was only let down.

"Okay!" Susan said brightly, "You've got this." Her words had an enthusiasm, Daphne didn't feel herself, but she stuck true to her word and led them deeper into the tunnel.

She spotted the next trap shortly after taking the lead. The warning came from a small sparkle of light that almost blinded her, causing her to nearly stumble into the trap anyway. Daphne managed to stop herself just short and the remaining two took position behind her.

"There," she said, pointing to the roof. A small triangle of glass peaked out from the packed dirt and stone. Now that it had been spotted, all of them could make out a thin line running across the width of the roof. It was a perfect trap to allow a thin glass slide to block the tunnel before they could notice it.

"Nice spot," Susan claimed before adopting a look of serious thought. "So we know it's there, but how do we bypass it?"

"I think this one should be rather easy to avoid," Daphne responded. "From what he said earlier, Harry doesn't want us in serious danger. For that reason, we can assume that the glass isn't going to shatter, because a shard could easily find itself in the wrong place. More likely we are meant to just keep walking forwards without noticing it to face-plant into the sheet."

Susan, understanding Daphne's train of thoughts finished voicing the solution.

"He also wants us to reach the end of the tunnel, so the glass has to vanish eventually. Basically, if we take it one step at a time, until the glass falls, we should be fine."

Daphne nodded at the Hufflepuff's conclusion and slowly put one foot in front of the other, making sure that none of the rest of her body took the lead.

As expected, the glass slammed down, causing the rest of them to flinch, despite already knowing what would happen.

For a while, the trio waited for the glass to disappear to allow them to pass. It didn't.

"Ok…" Susan muttered, "So now what?"

They all stood in silent befuddlement, until Neville finally spoke up.

"Uh, guys. I mean… er… girls… ladies… yea. Was that hole there before?" Halted from correcting his awkward rambling, Daphne looked to where Neville's eyes pointed.

"This is a joke right?" She mumbled in disbelief. It wasn't.

The glass remained as pure as ever except for a small hole at the base. It was only just big enough for a body to fit through and she knew that Harry expected them to crawl in the dirt to progress.

'Potter… we'll be having words after this,' she thought, imagining a scene much more violent than a simple exchange of words.

While she grumbled in her mind and imagined scenes of Harry receiving his dues, each more brutal than the next, Neville managed to muster his underlying Gryffindor courage and dropped to the ground. In an awkward wiggle combined with an army crawl, he made his way through the gap and stood up. His sigh of relief broke Daphne out of her thoughts.

Taking in the sight, she allowed her temper to take over again, making a small problem much larger than it out to be. "YOU IDIOT!" she yelled at the boy causing him to shrink backwards in fear. "THE PLAN WAS FOR ME TO TAKE THE LEAD TO LOOK FOR TRAPS. NOW HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT WITH YOUR FAT ARSE IN THE WAY, YOU FAILURE?!"

Tears began to stream down Neville's face at his scolding. The one time he had mustered the smallest bit of confidence, taking the initiative as his friends had encouraged him to do, he ruined everything. He sank against the walls in a hunch and covered his ears to deafen the taunts of failure that rung through them. It didn't work.

Susan was far from pleased with Daphne's admonishment. "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU ICE QUEEN BITCH. IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SO BOTHERED BEING MS. PRIM AND PROPER, WE WOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH THIS OBSTACLE. HELL, YOU CALL HIM THE FAILURE! YOU'RE ONE JOB WAS TO SPOT THE DETAILS AND YOU COULDN'T SEE A BLOODY HOLE IN THE GLASS!"

Daphne, having never been so called out in her life exploded with anger. "NO YOU SHUT UP YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH. YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING THIS ENTIRE JOURNEY HAVE YOU. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE 'MORAL SUPPORT' ROLE IS ONLY GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER." She paused in her rant and went for the blow that would hurt a Hufflepuff the most.

"Huh," she chuckled with the devil's tone. "What a perfect role for a Hufflepuff nobody." It was a two fold insult. Firstly it insulted the Hufflepuff house, her tone suggesting that the house was already full of nobodies. Then she called Susan the nobody amongst nobodies. It was the worst insult to give to a house that valued friendship and hard work.

Susan's eyes widened at the sudden escalation in the argument. "OH, YOU THINK MY HOUSE IS FULL OF NOBODIES? I'M SURE SLYTHERIN IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE HOUSE OF GREATNESS?" Daphne turned up her nose, clearly showing her belief in just that. "HAH! THE REASON EVERYONE HATES SLYTHERIN IS BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW YOU'RE WORTH NOTHING EXCEPT BEING SERVANTS TO DARK LORDS OR WHORES IN KNOCKTURN ALLEY."

As she said that Susan's eyes widened. Calling somebody worthless was one thing, but saying somebody was only good for being a servant or a whore was a bit too far. Especially for the typically friendly girl.

Realizing that their tempers had caused them to outlash with cruel words that they didn't truly mean, she opened her mouth to apologize, but it was too late as her words were prevented by a hex sent by Daphne. Angry boils rippled into resistance across her face, every one more red and irritating that the next.

The satisfied smirk across Daphne's face exiled Susan's common sense and the girl longed for nothing more than to hex the girl right back- to show Daphne that she wasn't anywhere near as perfect as she thought. So she did. Pulling upon the small amount of training offered by her aunt before she went to Hogwarts, Susan retaliated. A short, concentrated burst of 'aguamenti' left her wand and shot into Daphne's eyes, bruising the surrounding area as the girl barely shut the lid in time.

A growl escaped Daphne's throat and she began casting hexes and curses as fast as she could. Susan took up her challenge and soon a full blown fight erupted between them.

Explicits and insults were traded as often as spells were, both combatants aiming to ruin their opponent in both body and mind. Neither would give up, though deep down both knew they should.

On the other side of the seemingly unbreakable glass, Neville's tears seemed to flow harder as the voices in his head grew louder. The shouts of insults and spells exchanged between Susan and Daphne began to join in, swirling around and tearing shreds of his heart. If the strong could call one another worthless, what exactly was he?

His feelings would separate and collide at rapid speeds, like ever bouncing bouncy balls ricocheting off the walls of a small room. Slowly, both the balls and the walls would show signs of wear and tear before one of them broke. The walls were his psyche and the balls his turmoil. At that moment in time, the balls were too strong and the wall broke.

Pure magic exploded from Neville's body sending ripples of shock among the tunnel. If it weren't for the strongly applied reinforcement charms, wards, and runes to maintain the tunnel's integrity, it surely would have collapsed. As it was, chunks of stone and earth still ripped themselves apart and cluttered to the ground.

The intentionally weak unbreaking charm that Harry applied to the mirror absolutely collapsed under the pressure of Neville's emotional outburst. The glass shattered and shards were flung out away from the explosion of energy towards Susan and Daphne who found themselves flying in the same direction the smallest moment after words.

At the origin Neville still rocked back and forth with arms enveloping his knees. His eyes still shed rivers and his mouth still gave whimpers. From a distance he looked the same as he had before the magical outburst. If one were to take a closer look, they would find a different story, for his eyes were blank, all feeling of self and pride, stolen from their gaze.

Several meters away, both girls were physically stunned, the sudden impact against a wall or floor sending their body into reboot mode.

Daphne's body was littered with small cuts, her clothes shredded in various spots and stained red from small gashes in her skin. Her left eye wore a bruise from Susan's first retaliation and her cheeks were puffy, making her look like a chipmunk with too many nuts. A lump was beginning to form on the back of her head from the impact of landing after being flung down the tunnel.

Slightly further down the tunnel, Susan's state was worse. She shared the gashes from glass and the lump on her head, but she also had a larger piece of glass embedded in her shoulder. From a combination of a sticking charm by Daphne on her shoe and the shockwave sent out by Neville, her right hip was dislocated when her body wanted to go one way, but her leg wanted to stay. A ruined trainer could be found where she once stood and dueled.

The boils were still littered across her face, though a few had ruptured, sending pus leaking down to drip off of her chin and onto her chest. Her other leg had a deep cut from a 'diffindo' Daphne had cast upon it. That was the last spell before their fight was interrupted. Her hair clung to her head from a far less refined 'aguamenti' that Daphne had cast in retaliation and her mouth was bleeding from the oversized teeth within.

While Daphne was able to collect herself and stand up, the pain and damage proved to be too much for Susan and she fell unconscious.

Looking down at the girl's limp form, the final strands of Daphne's logical side broke and made way for something far more dangerous: insanity. Daphne sneered and hissed out, "Weakling," before making her way down the tunnel. The other two were clearly too weak and immature if they couldn't handle a few insults and curses. They had no potential and as such didn't deserve to be trained. The weak would stay weak and the strong would grow stronger, that was how she was raised.

She walked back down the tunnel at a more sedated pace. She had nothing to prove to Harry when put amongst such weaklings. He could wait until she felt it was the right time to grace him with her presence.

In her state of insanity, her typical nature and feelings were cast away in favor of a feeling of conquering and victory.

'In the end, the ones who aren't afraid to be left handed are the ones who win. After all, it didn't matter if one was right, so long as they were the ones who were left,' she convinced herself, with a wicked smile across her bloodied face.

Her march forwards was only paused for a moment to spare another sneer for the Longbottom heir. He was such a waste of time and resources and a shame to the Longbottom name. Honestly, he should just hurry up and forfeit all his resources and pride to someone more worthy; someone like her.

A kick was thrown at Neville who barely reacted, one more whimper to join the rest was hardly noticeable. With confidence she continued down the tunnel dismantling all traps before her.

A knight of stone emerging from a crevice? All that was needed was a flick of her wand and the knight found itself beheaded.

A wire set to make her trip? She just stepped over it elegantly, as it wasn't worth her time.

A gust of wind sent down from the ceiling wouldn't halt her. A boulder rolling towards her with no way around was nothing short of pathetic, she would just cut her way through.

She stopped and let a strangely shaped red glove fly in front of her nose. Honestly, how muggle - it was nothing, but cotton before a lady like her.

Trap after trap was avoided or dismantled, Daphne taking the appearance of an elegant, sociopathic beast that couldn't be controlled.

Her smile gained a greater upward curl on one end as she relished in her glory. 'I don't need training, especially from someone who set such pathetic traps. I'll reach the end of this tunnel and show him his place.'

The bloodlust of conquering had long since overtaken her and was manipulating her very being. It enhanced her senses and allowed her to reach deep into her magical power, allowing potency and endurance she hadn't enjoyed access to before.

She reached the end of the tunnel and found a staircase leading up into an old, abandoned home. At the top stair she found Harry and their eyes met.

-=IDAFT=-

Harry could see an uncontrolled craze in her eyes and took note of the fact that she seemed to be alone.

"Daphne," he started with trepidation, "Where are Neville and Susan?" he asked, but he already knew the answer.

"They couldn't bring themselves up to the skill required to bypass your traps," she began sweetly, "so I had to leave them behind."

Daphne walked into the room where Harry stood and began to pace back and forth without a care in the world.

"It's a shame," she continued, "that they couldn't make it. With your approval I put aside my reservations on them and let them join me in the tunnel. But they were so… WEAK!" The facade fell and now she wore the face of a powerful being, one who thought they were meant to rule.

"You let them join you?" Harry asked, carefully maneuvering himself to where he knew Twinky was observing. Behind his back he began using the 'flagrate' spell to write out orders flaming letter by flaminging letter for Twinky to follow. With his wand occupied with spelling, he stalled for time. "I do believe that this whole get together was my idea, not yours. Their participation was hardly up to you."

Daphne paused her pacing and spun to face Harry. "If you were as strong as I had hoped, then perhaps I would agree that everyone's presence was up to you, but those traps… they were nothing short of pathetic… just like you."

Her wand raised to point at him at her declaration, clearly ready to prove her dominance. Harry wasn't quite finished giving his orders, so he gave his own monologue, knowing that a person in Daphne's current condition could hardly resist listening to a 'hero's final words'.

"It is a shame," he began in a whisper that carried through the shack, "that you believe me to be so pathetic. I mean, perhaps it's true, I am well aware that I am not the strongest magic wielder to date, or even among those currently inhabiting our planet."

Daphne smirked at that, preparing herself to give a grand speech of her pleasure over his acknowledgement of her superiority. Her smirk turned to fury when he continued.

"Granted, I am far more gifted in the ways of power and skill than you," he said. Harry hated the way he sounded. He hated to voice such thoughts of superiority over others. He hated to even think them. But at that moment it was necessary.

"Still, I clearly do have much to learn. Things didn't go down the way I thought they would in that tunnel. I had hoped you would all work together to find a way to the end, but I guess I expected to much."

"Obviously," Daphne smirked, "They were only holding me back. In fact-"

"Might I hazard a guess as to what happened?" He cut her off much to his fury and proceeded to ignore her snarl of refusal when he voiced his guess anyway.

"If I had to guess, somebody did something another person didn't like and a fight broke out. Hmm… let's see… Neville hasn't quite yet grown into himself, but Susan does have a temper buried within her. I also believe Susan is the type of person who only takes the initiative when she sees no other choice. She definitely would have asked for everyone's opinion before making a move, so she couldn't be the one who made the 'mistake'. She also wouldn't be the one to grow angry over a minor mistake either… no…"

Harry paused and tapped a finger to his chin with his non-wand hand, putting together his thoughts.

"Ah! I see," he pronounced. "Neville decided to take the initiative for once and you disagreed. Susan tried to defend him and the situation escalated until everything had fallen to pieces. Am I right?"

Daphne's lack of response other than a deepened scowl confirmed his theory. A final flick of his wand finished his orders and Twinky popped away to follow her orders.

'Find Neville & Susan. Bring back to trunk. Begin Healing. When u get chance lock Sirius' door. Go.'

That was what Harry told her to do and Twinky would not fail her master.

With his writing finished, Harry brought his wand from behind him and casually held it at his side. He began the final bit of his speech, the last words before a fight that would almost certainly hurt his ally.

"It is a shame that your inability to work with others led you down such a path, though unavoidable I suppose. Some people are simply more prone to the disease than others."

Her lips pulled back in a snarl, Daphne spoke defiantly. "I have no disease," she claimed, "I am above such things!" the girl declared.

While she spoke, Harry sent a message to Faolan. When he saw Daphne arrive alone and noticed the look in her eye, he knew that things wouldn't happen as planned.

To save that plan to use for a later date, he sent a subtle full-body bind and a notice-me-not charm on his godfather who lurked in the shadows. Knowing the man he would try to come to Harry's 'rescue' and with Daphne's current state, that rescue would jeopardize Sirius' safety from the ministry.

To completely remove Sirius from the current equation Harry made a request of Faolan.

"Faolan, no time for play. I need you to come to me and find Sirius who is hidden in the shadows. Take him to his room and, in the event that he breaks through the full-body bind, make sure he doesn't even bother attempting to leave."

A moment passed with no reply and Harry noticed that Daphne was finished speaking. Reviewing what she said with Occlumency, he responded.

"Well, that's half right, I guess," he nodded his head in acknowledgement. "The Conqueror's Lust isn't classified as a disease, though I think it is in the same way evil is one. That being said, I must say that you seem to really think yourself above all else, when it is those who do not know where they stand that fall prey to the lust more easily."

He stopped and sighed, meeting her eyes with his own, apologetic ones. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize. You, who are bound by expectations, have dreams of your own and a position you wish to take, but are plagued by the belief that you will never have a chance. That society will always keep you stagnant where you are. You came to me in search for help, didn't you? I'm truly sorry I failed."

"I DON'T NEED HELP FROM YOU!" she screamed, tears on her face, bearing a resemblance to the Egyption river whose name described her state. "YOU ARE BENEATH ME! SOCIETY IS BENEATH ME! NOTHING CAN HOLD ME STAGNANT!"

Sorrow covered Harry's features as he slowly sunk into a fighting position. Before he could speak to her, Faolan responded.

"We can play later, though, right?"

"What the fuck Faolan? Now isn't the time. Get Sirius out of here before it's too late."

"Oh relax! He's already gone. Might have a nasty bump on his head from how I dropped him, though. So, about that playing later… I was thinking that ball has been feeling too safe recently… you know, the one with the star, so-"

"FAOLAN! NOT. THE. TIME. We'll talk later."

"Fine… but I want that ball."

Daphne stared at him furiously, steam falling just short of flying out of her ears.

"YOU DARE IGNORE ME?" she roared in fury. Down in hogsmeade, the inhabitants only heard echoes and shivers ran down their spine over the seeming revival of the spirits in the shack.

Harry rolled his neck, now comfortably settled and ready for the inevitable fight. "I would never ignore Daphne Greengrass. Her insight is always appreciated. But you are not her. Not really. A part of her, perhaps, but not her. You are her mirror, what she would be if she let go of her emotionless front and released everything she bottles up to the world in anger.

Like all before, you have changed under the effects of The Conqueror's Lust. While you became your opposite, Voldemort lost his charisma and intelligence and gained overwhelming fury. Grindelwald's traits were all enhanced while what compassion he once had widdle away. The lust gives you power, it amplifies your traits. It also steals what makes you, you.

People like Voldemort and Grindelwald couldn't escape the lust, they had no one who understood them and supported them. That doesn't have to be the case for you. My grandfather Charlus was freed from the lust when my grandmother and his brother knocked some sense into him during the war with Grindelwald. It is said that Arthur was brought from his lust by Merlin's calm council in the ancient days. You are not lost. There is hope."

His words meant nothing at the moment. He knew that for now he spoke in vain. But if… no, when she snapped out of it, his words would echo through her head and offer hope in the pits of regret.

"This is not you, but I am nowhere near as wise or soothing as Merlin. I am sorry, but I must free you the hard way, like my grandmother and great uncle before me. I do hope you'll forgive me."

Harry launched a spell and the battle began.

AN: I'll be honest, I'm not really happy with this chapter. It came out of left field and really didn't go in a direction where I wanted the training to go. Regardless, when I first started this a month ago, this is what came out. About a week later I decided I wanted to redo it, but my cat got really sick and that took up my time. Turns out he had cancer and I had to make the decision to put him down. A week after that I had a vacation that had been planned for over a year to go on and... well long story short, I just haven't felt up to rewriting an entire chapter. So sorry, but this is what you get.

Anyway, I'm saddened to see that no one has taken up my challenge yet on the Harry Potter/Avengers crossover. Once again, I will ask that if you are a writer who is interested and willing to see the challenge all the way through that you go and check out my bio where the challenge is described. Thank you!