The life he always wanted
He felt sick to his stomach. Deep in his heart he had always known it was the truth, but he had refused to believe it. But to look into those eyes and see only sadness and grim truth he instantly knew. He had been tricked, if not drugged, by the old man. His head felt clearer than ever before and his heart ached.
"Now… We have to get you back to Hogwarts before he gets suspicious. Someone will pick you up at the train station. You'll know who it is, he'll give you a sealed envelope with a fancy R on it. The R is for Riddle," the sadness in the eyes was still there if you looked close enough.
Harry nodded and got up. He had never thought Tom to be evil, just misunderstood. But the manipulations and drugs had always been there. He didn't long to get back there to his claws. He looked up at Tom who held the trophy for him to take.
"I will see you again soon, little one," Harry smiled when he saw love in those red eyes and took the trophy.
He hated the feeling to be portkeyed, it was uncomfortable.
He was now back at the beginning of the labyrinth. Cedric, Krum and Fleur were all waiting nearby, looking exhausted and disoriented, Harry could see they bled a bit.
Dumbledore hurried forward while the audience cheered. Harry understood he must look like crap, he had fought Tom after all who had defended himself, before the man got a word in. He gritted his teeth when the old coot started examining him and ask him questions. He could now hear the underlying messages that hypnotized and made people do as he wanted.
"Here Harry, this will make you feel better," Those damn twinkling eyes sparkled at him as the owner to the eyes handed him a vial.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the purple fluid and shook his head:
"I'm fine sir."
"Now Harry, you may think you're fine but clearly you are not. Why don't you drink this and then come to my office for a talk?"
"I don't think so sir. I only have a few scrapes, nothing big. Now, I would appreciate to go and get some sleep," Harry said calmly though the anger bubbled inside of him.
"All right my boy, but take the potion with you and drink it when you feel bad. Remember, my door is always open," Those damn twinkling eyes!
Harry got up and went inside as quickly as he could without giving himself away. He sighed in relief when he lied down on his bed and promptly fell asleep.
The next day he was awoken by Ron, who was hungry. He noticed all the boys in the dorm glanced at him curiously, they wanted to know what had happened yesterday. Harry ignored them and went down to the common room to wait for Ron with Hermione. When he arrived they left for the Great Hall.
Harry studied the people in the Hall carefully while he ate. He wondered how many of them knew. The ones in Slytherin knew, of course, that was why they detested the Headmaster so. He saw it in their eyes, but there was something else. He studied them more closely and understood, they were worried… Worried for him, for Harry. They cared! Then he studied his fellow Gryffindors. He saw the same in Fred and George's eyes. His eyes travelled to Bill and Mrs. Weasley who had stayed overnight. Bill had the same understanding in his eyes, but Mrs. Weasley had been too seriously manipulated. He saw the understanding in the eyes of Neville as well.
His eyes were travelling over the Head table and had just spotted Snape when Dumbledore got up and everybody's eyes turned to him:
"I have just heard the most disturbing news… Lord Voldemort is back! This has been confirmed by the Ministry and I ask all of you to take precautions. I hope all of you understand how dangerous this man is."
The man sat again as the Hall filled with talking. Harry looked at his shoes. How had he known? And so quickly too? He could feel the eyes upon him, could feel how the man tried to hypnotize him even without looking in his eyes. He felt the hate grow even more and quickly got up and left the hall.
He didn't think where he went; he just let his feet take him wherever they wanted. He ended up in the dungeons, at Snape's office. Without thinking he knocked at the door and went inside when granted permission.
He wasn't really surprised to see Malfoy, his sidekicks and Zabini sitting in comfortable chairs at the fireplace.
"Potter… what are you doing here?" Snape didn't show emotions, although there was a hint of surprise in his voice.
"I came to ask about a potion," Harry said, the vial in hand.
Snape's eyes narrowed and Harry felt the man enter his head, he allowed it. He knew he could trust Snape, Tom did with all he was. Then the mask fell. Snape looked a bit confused, happy and angry at the same time.
"You're free!" The happiness in his voice couldn't be mistaken.
Harry let the man pull him into a hug and put his own arms around the man, a safe feeling in his body. Then he felt the vial leave his hand and saw Malfoy go towards the fireplace with it.
"Is that safe?" He asked.
"We'll see," Malfoy replied with a smile directed at Harry.
Harry noticed Snape didn't say anything about it so he decided not to stop it. When the liquid landed in the flames they turned purple and flared for a moment, then they sunk down and got back their original colour. Harry was shocked:
"It was that strong?!"
"Unfortunately," Malfoy said, meeting Harry's eyes.
"Why am I not surprised?" He muttered, looking at his feet.
Snape pulled him closer and Harry relaxed, he felt safer than ever.
It struck Harry, when they were on their way home, that he didn't know if the person to pick him up would wait at the platform or in the muggle world. He realized that it would be best to wait in the muggle world, since it was there everybody went through to get in or out.
They arrived at the platform and Harry bid goodbye to his friends, and then went through the barrier. He had waited twenty minutes at most when a hand landed on his shoulder and he turned around. An envelope was presented, sealed with a stamp in form of a fancy R. He looked up at the person and his breath caught:
"Remus?!"
"That's me cub. Glad to see you," The smile the man wore could make people blind if looking directly at it.
Harry hugged the man tightly with a cry of joy. Remus laughed and hugged back, equally tight. Then they apparated away.
The Riddle mansion was huge! But you got a safe feeling in there. Harry felt the love in the air while standing in the hallway. Remus had gone to notify Tom of their arrival and Tom wanted to make sure that Harry didn't have any tracking devices or spells on him, it was only the hallway that was warded against tracking.
Harry thought back at that faithful night. Tom had told him that Dumbledore had framed him, made it look like he had committed all the murders that Dumbledore himself had done. Harry's parents had been close friends of Tom's and he had shown Harry a picture. It was that picture that had made Harry believe him. In the picture were his parents along with Tom, Tom held a baby Harry in his arms and they all smiled. And it had been the real Tom Riddle in the picture. His snake appearance that was there now was only temporary since it had been with the help of Nagini's magic he had been reborn. He usually looked like an older version of the Tom Riddle Harry had met in the Chamber of Secrets.
He woke from his flashback when Remus came back, behind him walked Tom, he had a real nose now, and hair. Harry smiled at him. Tom waved his wand over him and then smiled approvingly:
"All clear, no one has done anything funny with you."
Harry smiled and hugged Tom. Sure, they had met not too long ago, but Harry had missed him.
They moved to the living room where several people sat. There sat; Bellatrix Lestrange along with her husband and brother-in-law, the Malfoys, the Zabini family, the Weasley twins and Bill and Charlie, Fenrir Greyback and...
"Sirius?"
"Pup!"
Harry smiled and threw himself in the man's arms and Sirius laughed.
"Finally, you're free," Sirius murmured in his ear.
Harry knew that his godfathers(he saw Remus as his godfather too) were loyal to Tom but that was partly thanks to Fenrir Greyback who was the Alfa male in Remus' pack, and both Sirius and the Potters was and had been parts of that pack as well, even if they didn't transform.
Sirius let go of the boy soon enough and inspected him:
"You look thin, are you eating enough?"
"Of course," Harry said.
"I believe that when I see it," Sirius said.
Harry rolled his eyes.
He greeted the people in the room and was surprised when they all seemed so happy to see him, he didn't mind it, but it was an unusual feeling.
Later they all sat to dine. Snape had arrived just in time for dinner along with Neville and Augusta Longbottom. Harry knew what had happened to Neville's parents, and he knew that was Dumbledore's fault as well, that old man had imperioed Bellatrix. The woman had been terrified when she came to, but she had been forgiven since Augusta was a good friend of hers.
That evening it became revealed that Harry was originally a Slytherin, but the manipulations had already been started back then.
It was a few weeks later and Harry was bored. He had done all his homework easily with help of the adults, and he had read more books than ever before from the library in the manor. He wanted something different to do, outside preferably. But it was no fun flying alone or be in the pool by himself. He was not allowed to go further than where the forest began. But it was when Harry was bored that he did reckless things, and now he was REALLY bored!
The adults were either out shopping or relaxed in the library, and the children had come along at the shopping trip. Harry suspected they were out buying gifts for his birthday.
He went into the forest. He didn't think it would be dangerous, he wouldn't go far.
It was oddly dark in there, even if the sun shone brightly just before he went inside. It was rather chilly as well.
He hadn't gone far when he heard a low growl from one bush not for from where he currently stood. It sounded like a dog and Harry took a step closer. Then the bush rustled and out came a dog. But... Why did it have a horn in the forehead? It was black with a bright yellow horn. It was very cute and Harry thought its' fur looked really soft, he wanted to pet it. But as he got closer the doglike creature growled and in the next second Harry was on the ground with the creature above him. It growled deep and Harry saw how sharp the teeth looked.
He succeeded to wrestle it off and got up. But just as he turned to run he felt the teeth dig into his flesh. He screamed and the creature let go. Harry ran as fast as he could even though he felt blood pouring down his side. The creature had got a bite of his hip , well not a bite really but the bite had dug into his flesh quite a bit.
Finally he saw light and sped up. He got out from the forest and the soft steps from the creature stopped, apparently it didn't like the sun. Harry breathed a sigh in relief and walked up to the mansion and prayed silently that no one would see him.
Well, fat chance of that. The second he got inside Tom was there. When he saw that Harry bled his eyes narrowed(they had got back their original colour by now):
"Have you been inside the forest?" The tone was sharp and made Harry flinch back.
"I... Well sorta," he mumbled guiltily.
Tom called Severus who was there in a blink of an eye. He made Harry drink a potion and smeared some bad smelling stuff on the wound. And when that was done Harry was scolded by both Tom and Severus before he was sent to his room.
He was allowed down when dinner was served. The adults looked at him with anger in their eyes, Harry knew it was because they had become worried when the had heard what had happened but he felt like a small child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He noticed that Fenrir and Remus stiffened a bit and knew that the creature he had met was an enemy of the werewolves. And then Remus turned to him:
"The creature that bit you is called a Sadnaop. They are extremely poisonous. You were lucky that the one that bit you was a young one, their poison is less dangerous than the one the adults have and it's treatable. Sadnaops are protective of their territory and won't let any other "dark" creature come close. Your scent made it think that you are a werewolf since you hang out with us and therefore it attacked you," his voice made Harry understand that he was mad and Harry lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry... I thought it was a normal dog when I saw it," he mumbled.
"Well... It was stupid of you to go in there in the first place. It wasn't your fault that it bit you so that is not the reason why you'll get punished. But you will be grounded for a week. You are allowed to leave your room to go to the bathroom and for meals, otherwise you are to stay in there," Remus' voice made it clear that to protest was meaningless.
Harry nodded and got up, eyes firmly on the floor, and then left for his room.
Thunderstorms had never been a favourite of Harry's. Thunder and lighting meant pain and cramped spaces. His uncle had always been in a extra bad mood when thunder struck and took it out on Harry with harder hits and threats than usual. One time he had nearly choked Harry but had stopped when the boy's lips turned blue. So thunderstorms brought bad memories for the boy.
Three days had past since he'd been grounded and he had just got in to his room when the rain started pouring. With the rain followed a bolt of lighting and soon after came the first thunder and Harry jumped in fright.
Soon he had curled up in a corner of his room with his hands pressed against his ears. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he felt so helpless. Memories flooded his brain and he could see them through his closed eyelids. Memories of his uncle shouting, hitting, calling him a freak and a burden before slamming him into the wall and spitting him in the face. He felt like he was drowning in his own memories, choking on them. Why was it suddenly so hard to breathe?
"Harry, are you alright?" A voice from afar asked.
He didn't answer. After all, who would care about a freak like him? Why would anyone worry about his wellbeing? It was probably a hopeless dream like always.
Soft hands lifted him up. A soft voice shushed him and rocked him. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He was in the living room, Snape held him close and told him it was alright. Was it? He looked around, no uncle Vernon anywhere, just the people who had told expressed their love for him again and again. He was safe.
Darkness cannot exist without light, and light can't exist without darkness, they complete each other. Harry had been taught this. No magic was evil, it was the person who summoned it that was. But for some strange reason people with more light magic than dark saw the dark magic as evil. Just because the unforgivable curses were invented by a person who could use dark magic easier than light it had been labelled evil. Harry suspected Dumbledore had something to do with it.
They had got more followers who had snapped out of Dumbledore's hypnotization and manipulation. Among those people were McGonagall, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey, Nymphadora Tonks, Hermione, the rest of the Weasleys and Professor Hooch. Harry liked them all and was glad that his friends had finally seen the truth. He wondered what the adults planned for Dumbledore's downfall. He knew that there would probably be a battle, but the children would be kept safe somewhere far away from the battlefield. He didn't know if he liked that plan very much, he wanted to see the old coot in pain, wanted to witness his death with his own eyes. But when he had told Tom this Tom had threatened him with a spanking and sent him to his room for even thinking about putting himself in danger.
Harry's birthday had been a blast, with an enormous cake, loads of gifts and lots of games. He had enjoyed every minute of it.
He didn't mind that he wasn't allowed to watch the old man be defeated , as long as it happened.
They had fed him veritaserum in the end and had made him confess all his sins in front of the Wizengamont. He had admitted that he had framed Tom, had imperioed Bella, had manipulated so many people, had killed Harry's parents and oh so many other awful stuff. And all this for fame and power. He had been sentenced the Dementor's kiss. It was indeed a sweet victory for everyone.
Harry had been told that Dumbledore had felt threatened by him and his power. It wasn't love that had protected him that night almost fourteen years ago, it was Tom. The killing curse had been meant for one person, but had hit both him and Tom. That was the reason why Tom hadn't really died and Harry had only received a scar.
Harry was happy. The damn old man was gone and he could finally have a normal life. Sirius and Remus weren't comfortable to be parents, and Tom had happily taken that part with a little help from Severus. So now Harry had someone who cared for him in a proper manner, unlike his relatives had. And he had people around him who loved him so much. He smiled brightly every time he woke up and remembered this fact. Finally he had everything he had always wanted!
The End