A/N: Here ya go folks - and just for the record, I have no idea where the spider thing came from. You'll see what I mean... Once again, thanks for all the great reviews!

Chapter 7

The next few weeks were the happiest in Harry's life. He was held, he was loved, and he was praised – the three things he'd never received from his 'family' he now had in abundance from the supposedly most evil Wizard in Europe and his right-hand man. The irony of the situation was not lost on him.

After that first day of talking the six Draconians fell into a pattern of sorts. The bulk of the day, including breakfast, lunch, and usually dinner would be spent together either with the Slytherins teaching the muggleborn Gryffindors how to truly function in Wizarding Society, or else testing the limits of their bond.

They discovered that while the bond did not allow them to communicate mentally, they could detect the emotions of their bond mates; it reminded Harry of his scar and the Dark Lord's former temper.

"Tom?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"How come my scar doesn't hurt when you're near anymore, or when you're really angry?"

Harry almost laughed out loud at the …flummoxed…expression on the Dark Lord's face.

Lucius quirked an eyebrow, "I had forgotten about that," he commented blandly.

"As had I," Tom replied bemused, "I can only conjecture that it must be because of the bond. I am no longer a threat to you, so the Blood shield placed on you no longer reacts to me."

"Well I guess that's a good thing – a life long migraine is not my idea of a good time," Harry mused absently.

The young Gryffindor was kneeling on a cushion on the floor doing a jigsaw puzzle on the coffee table with Hermione and Draco while the elder Slytherins conversed around them. It was an activity that had become habit for the six after dinner and Harry had learned a lot listening to them.

He looked up from the puzzle when he realized the conversation had not continued after his comment. Tom had knelt next to him, his dark honey eyes were filled with so many emotions that it took the boy's breath away.

Slowly the Slytherin took Harry's face between his large hands and gently placed a kiss over the lightening bolt shaped scar that had marked the two as equals so long ago. Without a word Tom stood and returned to his chair but Harry had gotten the message loud and clear and a puzzle piece inside him that he hadn't realized was missing slid into place.

Tom would not, could not apologize for killing Harry's parents – to do so would cheapen their deaths. To apologize, to admit that any of the deaths were a mistake would say that his goal and their sacrifice was a mistake and that was something Tom would not do.

Harry's parents were heroes, as were all those who'd opposed the Dark Lord and paid for it. They were patriots and if Tom apologized they would no longer have made a noble sacrifice, they would simply become the faceless victims of a madman.

The secret Slytherin in Harry understood and finally relaxed. Tom did regret the lives lost, he was guilty of so much, but he would not be guilty of tainting society's view of their lost protectors.

Harry had never been so grateful for anything.


There were Death Eater meetings once a week and they used these meetings to test the proximity requirements of their bond.

For the first test they were all separated. Hermione stayed in the Manor proper while Harry went to a Cotter's hut on the far end of the estate. Draco returned to Malfoy Manor, Snape went to Hogwarts to give a 'report', Tom to the meeting and Lucius – Harry wasn't really sure what Lucius was doing, to be honest.

The elder Malfoy was no longer persona non grata to the public anymore, having wriggled himself out of Azkaban after the D.O.M. debacle with Slytherin efficiency. Of course a family as old and powerful as the Malfoy's would have a prophecy of two about them and his being there so late was easily explained; the hall was for the most part unknown to the general public and of course the Malfoy's were known for being private people…

Two hours into their experiment Harry was fine, if a bit restless. Four hours in, all the young Gryffindor wanted to do was cry and when the clock began sounding the sixth hour, Lucius apparated into the cottage and swept him into the arms.

A moment later they were in the fourth floor sitting room where a pale Severus Snape had already arrived and was cradling a clearly distraught Hermione in his lap on the sofa. Harry was slightly surprised by the sight but was too wrapped up in the relief he felt in his Slytherin's arms to comment on it or the tear tracks on Hermione's face.

Lucius settled them on the second sofa facing the other pair, though Harry found himself snuggled against the blonde with an arm around his shoulders instead of in a lap.

They sat that way for a long time it seemed. Hermione dozed, her head tucked into Severus' neck and soon Harry felt his own eyes sliding shut.


He woke slowly trying to make sense of the voices around him as he snuggled deeper into Lucius's embrace. By the sound of things Tom and Draco had returned and the men were discussing the events of the night.

"I felt a pull but I thought it was just because I would have rather been here than torturing Death Eaters – they really are a disagreeable lot, aren't they?" Tom commented.

He heard chuckles over that.

"What about you Draco?" Lucius asked.

"The same really, minus the disagreeable Death Eaters of course."

"And you Severus?"

"I think, given our arrival here, that you and I, Lucius, both felt the same thing; a slight uneasiness or restlessness at first that escalated hour by hour into a frantic need to return. There was no choice for me any longer when I returned; I could not have stayed away any longer if I had needed to."

Harry felt Lucius move and decided the blonde must have nodded.

"And our little Gryffindors?" Tom asked rubbing a hand through Harry's hair.

"Restless, like Sev said," The hand in his hair stilled when the boy spoke, "it felt like being abandoned, like no one loved me and no one ever would."


Lucius looked at Tom, horrified by the sleep slurred confession. While the experience had been unpleasant for him, he'd had no idea what Harry and Hermione had gone through.

He looked down again and watched as Harry curled into a tight little ball, eyes still closed.

"At the end, I heard them laughing at me and you both were laughing with them. You helped them put me back in the cupboard…"

"What cupboard Harry," Tom asked softly.

"My cupboard…my little room under the stairs…with the spiders…"

Draco gasped and Lucius stared at his pale son.

"I heard a rumor once, in first year, but I didn't believe – I didn't think it was possible…I heard that his Hogwarts letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs…"

"Uncle was furious 'bout the owl…freaky birds," Harry growled, his delicate faced scrunched up. "They used to bring me things you know."

"Who," Lucius asked, confused.

"The spiders…little broken army men mostly – Dudley always broke his things…but the spiders would bring them to me. Spiders threw me a Birthday party once – danced and ev'rythin'."

"He's got to be dreaming now," Tom said but Lucius noticed that Severus was looking distinctly ill.

"No…no. I think it's true. Last year during our Occlumency lessons I saw…I saw a spider 'dancing' on Harry's stomach; it was even wearing a hat of some kind. I thought it was a false image, a defense he'd thrown at me. The room he was in was dark except for a single bar of light, perhaps from a door? But that is all I saw."

Lucius turned to Tom and went rigid.

The Dark Lord was leaning forward, hands clenching his knees. His breathing was fast and angry. Watching the older man, Lucius realized that Tom's long nimble fingers had become long nimble…claws.

Harry moved in his sleep and Tom turned, exposing eyes with slit pupils and cheekbones with scales that Lucius could literally see sprouting from his milk white skin.

"Milord?" Lucius whispered.

Tom lifted a hand and ghosted it over Harry's cheek, claws clicking against each other.

"And they call me a monster."

The Dark Lord seemed lost in his thoughts.

"Tom?"

Lucius held himself still as those predatory eyes focused on him.

"They will pay."