See chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers. Happy reading
Tonks waited impatiently for the lead auror to send her on her lunch break. Once he gave her the nod she quickly packed her bag and headed for the Department of Records. All morning as she completed one boring form after another all she could think about was the possible blood adoption Harry had described. She couldn't wait to see if it proved true or not.
Ducking into a bathroom she made a quick change to her appearance before entering the library like room. Finding adoption records she grabbed the scroll containing the current year's records, and just to be safe, the records for 1981.
She hadn't been working for more than five minutes when a voice spoke in her ear causing her to jump.
"What are you working on now?"
She turned to see an unspeakable behind her, his hooded robe disguising all identifying features. "What do you mean?" She demanded trying to regain her composure before her hair could start cycling colors.
He tapped the papers on the desk. "The other day you were looking up information on Tom Riddle. I'm curious what has you back today."
"I'm not...I didn't... How do you know I'm the same person?" She asked shooting to her feet in alarm.
"You were wearing auror robes then the same as you are now." He answered clinically. "While you change you face and hair, you often don't bother changing your body type or height. There's also the way you tend to bounce your legs and talk to yourself when you're nervous." He shrugged. "Most people wouldn't notice but I'm not most people."
"Or maybe you're stalking me." She shot back, self directed anger coloring her voice.
He ignored the remark leaning in closer to view her notes. "You're looking into Harry Potter?" He demanded his voice sharpening.
She hurriedly shuffled her net notes and the scrolls into a pile. "That's none of your business." She snapped yelping when his hand shot out, turning the scroll around to he could read the name. "You think he's been adopted?" He asked incredulously. His eyes landed on the note where she had circled Riddle twice.
Ignoring her protests he immobilized her before going through her bag. He growled when he came upon a book list for blood rituals. "Who's your source?" He demanded muttering the counter so she could answer.
She glared back. "Like hell I'm going to tell you."
He stepped forward crowding her against the wall. "Name your source."
Tonks stared back defiantly.. "You sound angry. Do you know something about Tom Riddle that I don't? Some reason you don't want him and Harry Potter to be linked together?"
He took a step back visibly calming himself. "There is a lot that I know and you don't. But right now I am merely upset that the Boy who Lived could have been adopted without anyone in my department knowing."
He scowled down at the scrolls. "Those won't tell you anything."
She frowned at him. "They might not give me names but I know the dates I'm looking for."
He merely opened first one scroll then the second showing her they were empty. "The department is required to keep these here but they were charmed a long time ago to stay blank." There was amusement in his voice now. "Purebloods don't like their information spread around. Especially when a child didn't originate from them."
She dropped back into her seat. "So there's no way to get the information."
He regarded her for a moment. "Gringotts would have the information. They certainly wouldn't want to give it up but I might have a way."
"Will you tell me if you find the answer." Tonks couldn't help asking.
"Name your source."
She was ready for him this time. "My own intuition. Potter mention that Voldemort used his blood in the ritual to resurrect himself a few weeks ago. I was wondering if there was more to it than that."
He tapped the papers on the table again. "Then why are you looking into Riddle." He asked quietly.
She grimaced at the slip up. "Harry might have mentioned at some point that Tom Riddle became Voldemort. Or so he had been told," she couldn't resist adding.
He stared at her for a long moment. "I'll get back to you." He responded before gliding out of the room.
Tonks dropped her head onto the table. "I am an idiot."
She continued to curse herself for the rest of her shift, only calming down and examining the interaction once she'd returned to her flat.
Wanting to talk it out with Harry she quickly changed clothes. Remembering what the man had said about her morphing abilities and her body she made some slight changes, wanting to get into the habit.
Grabbing the food containers she intended to take she appeared to Mrs. Figg's, relieving a surprised Emmeline half an hour early. She made sure the blond had left and the batty cat lady was occupied with her Telly before making her way towards the Dursleys back yard.
"Hey Harry." She called out surprised to find the teen weeding. "Umm I thought your relatives weren't going to make you work anymore? Do I need to have another talk with your aunt?"
"She's not home." Harry waved her off. He rocked back on his heels, his eyes troubled. "The weeding helps me think."
She looked around at the pristine flower beds. "What in the world caused this much thinking?"
"What do you think?" Harry asked dryly.
Tonks eyes lit up. "Oh goody. But if we're doing dream interpretation we're going inside. I'm hungry and you're all hot and sweaty."
He blushed as he led her inside. His mind drifted to the tee shirt she wore. It seemed to be stretched tighter than he remembered leaving him to wonder if she used her metamorphism skills on her bits.
"So umm no apparition today?" He asked wincing as his voice cracked.
Tonks chuckled as she pushed him toward the stairs. "Go take a cold shower Romeo. You can ask to feel me up later." She waited until he was halfway up the stairs before calling after him. "Oh and Harry? If you want to come back down without a shirt I'm okay with that." She laughed as he stumbled on the last step.
"I hate you." He called back down.
Still laughing she headed for the kitchen, heating up the leftovers am she had brought and dishing it up in two plates.
"I hope you don't mind." She said once he came back down fully dressed. "My mum brought over a bunch of food last night."
"It's fine." He assured her, sliding into a seat. "I'm actually glad you didn't have to spend anymore money."
She gave him a fond look. "Worried about my bank account are you?"
"Of course I am." He retorted blushing. "You're supporting me aren't you? I was thinking that I'd give you my vault key so you could get some money out."
She was already shaking her head. "I won't deny that it would take some pressure off but what if Dumbledore notices the unusual activity?"
"That wouldn't be good." He agreed. "But..."
"Don't worry." She assured him. "I'm seeing Sirius tomorrow and I'm going to make him give me his vault key."
He didn't perk up at the mention of his godfather as she expected. "If you're going to headquarters will you check on Hedwig? She never came back." He asked quietly.
She nodded before pulling out out a muggle notebook and placing it besides her plate. "So what was the dream about last night?"
Harry swallowed the bite of shepards pie before replying. "It was so confusing. Dumbledore said that Voldemort lost his body that night and that he drifted around in spirit form pocessing animals in Albania."
"We've already learned that we can't believe a thing Dumbledore tells us." She reminded him as she searched out some milk in the icebox. She poured them both a glass.
Harry frowned as he pushed some food around on his plate. "But then how do you explain what happened last year or my first year at Hogwarts? Voldemort was living on the back of Quirrell's head."
"Eww. Not something I want to think about when I'm eating." Tonks made a face at him. "I'm sure you'll get perfectly reasonable explanations in the next couple of nights. For now tell me what really happened after Tom was hit with the curse."
Harry thought back to his dream.
Harry was apprehensive as he felt the dream form around him. He quickly looked around expecting to be in a forest. He was surprised to see a large bedroom decorated in muted browns and greens. The drapes were pulled but he could see bright sunlight peeking out from the edges.
A sound from the bed drew him over only to have him gasp in shock at the sight. Tom was laying there , his skin pale and waxy, his normal dark hair lank and oily. His cheeks were shrunken and the hands that laid on top of the bedcovers were skeletal.
"What, did they do bring his body here?" Harry asked with a shiver of distaste. Did they think spirit Tom would be able to rejoin this body?
He jumped when a low moan emitted from the shuttered husk and eyelids began fluttering over blue eyes.
A pop behind him had Harry jumping a second time. He glared at the little house elf that rushed forward.
"Master is awake." She exclaimed quietly. "Master is weak and must rest. Blessing will get Little Master."
She popped out and within minutes Rabastan rushed in. Harry observed him critically remembering the possible blood adoption would make this boy his older brother. The teen was older than the last Harry had dreamed of him, taller and more filled out though he too was showing signs of weight loss and strain.
There were tears in his eyes as he called for his father to answer him.
..bas..tan." Came the croaked reply.
"Yeah it's me." The teen answered squeezing one of the frail hands. He didn't protest when the werewolf, who had followed him in, nudged him out of the way so that he could lift the emancipated man into a reclining position.
Rabastan had moved to the other side of the bed, climbing on and getting into position so that he was supporting his father as the house elf spooned water through the parched lips.
Harry stood at the end of the bed watching in worry as the man choked before coughing weakly.
After managing to swallow a small amount Tom turned his head away. "I'm not dead?" He asked, his voice hoarse from disuse.
"No." His son answered sounding close to tears once more. "You laid here half dead for six months. They said if you didn't wake up soon..."
"Should be dead." The man whispered his eyes sliding closed. "Hit with killing curse."
Rab and Fenrir exchanged confused and horrified looks. "I'll go call that blasted healer." The werewolf murmured right before Tom let out a gasp and began struggling.
"Harry." He demanded in such a strong tone for his state that Harry involuntarily stepped forward.
"Calm down Tom. The boy's safe." Fenrir snapped.
"As safe as he can be in Dumbledore's care." Rabastan muttered. He shrugged at the glare he received from the werewolf.
Tom settled back onto his pillow wearily. "How did I get here?"
"Antonin had gone with you." Fenrir reminded his friend.
Tom gave a confused shake of his head. "He couldn't have. He didn't have the secret."
"You might have trusted Lily Potter but the rest of us didn't. So Antonin followed to back you up."
"He waited outside where he knew the house was." Rabastan jumped in. "Hours and hours went by and he couldn't do anything but stand there helplessly."
"The fidulous held even though Potter and Lily were dead?" The man in the bed asked with a frown.
His son shrugged. "Early in the morning Sirius flew in on his motorbike and went in. He wasn't there long when he came out with Dumbledore's half giant. Neither he'd been there the entire time or he flooed in. Hagrid took the motorbike and Sirius apparated away."
"One of them must have had the Potter child and the charm must have been connected to the tot because the fidelis dropped once they left." Fenrir explained gruffly. "Antonin went in and brought you home."
Rabastan noticed his father's eyes sliding shut once again. "Sleep now. We'll get the healer to come check you over."
The dream went out of focus for a moment before sharpening to show the same room. The drapes were open showing the night sky and the person in the bedside chair was neither Rabastan or Fenrir.
Harry blinked as he took in features that showed a strong resemblance to his godfather.
"I thought I wasn't dead." The voice from the bed whispered.
The stranger smiled sadly as he leaned forward to fuss with the pillows. "You aren't."
"But you are." A finger poked the stranger in the chest. "You don't feel like a ghost."
Tom hissed when the young man didn't say anything. He labored to reach up and catch the man's chin in a weak grip. "A year and a half Regulus without word. If you weren't dead where were you?"
"A muggle hospital, half dead and no memory," came the whispered reply.
The hand gripping the chin slid around to the back of the neck. Regulus let himself be guided down until he was laying against his adopted father's chest.
"I didn't remember you for so long and then it was too late. I thought you were dead," he cried.
Tom rubbed a hand over his son's back, eyes clouding with worry at the raised scars he could feel through the other man's shirt. "Shh it's okay. We both get another chance."
They sat like that for a long time before Tom spoke again. "Will you tell me what happened?"
Regulus sat back and wiped his eyes. "It's not important. You have potions to take and you need to eat something."
"Reggie." Tom stopped him, placing a hand over the younger man's.
Regulus grimaced before launching into his tale. "I wanted to help you in your fight with Dumbledore, repay you for everything you've done for me." He gave a self decrypting smile when his father made an angry noise before telling him how Dumbledore had tricked him, making him believe there was a clue to the old man's longevity in a cave near Brighton. Instead he had been met with a horde of inferi.
"I still don't remember much about that time. Sharp claws, pain, cold water and being unable to breath. I woke up in Australia in a muggle hospital with no memory."
He paused as his father gripped his shoulder in comfort. "They fixed me up as best they could, helped me get on my feet. Worked at some two bit diner and lived in a failing apart trailer. Eventually I started to remember."
Harry had been listening to the story in fascination. Now he watched as Regulus tensed and moved away from Tom.
"Once I remembered I replaced my wand but every time I tried to use it there was so much pain. I went to a healer. Apparently whatever I had done to save myself ripped apart my core." He shoot a quick fearful look at the older man. "It's healing slowly but the healer said it could take years. It doesn't hurt anymore but my magic is weak and inconsistent. Worthless."
"That's why you didn't come home immediately." Tom realized. He hissed angrily as he swatted the other man on the shoulder. "You should know I would never think less of you. Foolish child. If I was feeling better I would take you over my knee for thinking you could ever be worthless."
"Fenrir already took care of that. Walloped him good when he got back." Rabastan announced cheerfully as he came in with a tray of food.
Harry chuckled as the twenty year old blushed and glared at his brother.
Rab gave him a smug smirk before frowning as he caught sight of the still full potion vials. "What the hell Reg? Healer Greystone is going to have a fit." He growled grabbing the first potion and shoving it towards his father.
Tom tried to push it away as he comprehended what his son had said. "Where Rudo?"
"Nope no more talking until you take your potions." Rabastan warned him, his face set in a stubborn expression.
"Rabastan back off. He's too weak to smack you and I don't want to be the bad guy today" Regulus instructed impatiently. "Dad take your potions. Rudo and Bella are in Azkaban."
Tom choked on the potion he'd been swallowing. "What..how. What?!"
Rabastan grimaced as he handed over the second potion. "They attacked the Longbottoms, crucio'd them insane."
Tom was shaking his head. "Rudo would never. And Bella, she wouldn't do something that would take her away from the twins."
"She would if she thought it would bring back the child she lost." The teen said quietly. "Most of this is based on what their house elf heard." He warned.
"You remember how Bella delivered that stillborn a couple years ago?" Regulus asked him, taking pity on his younger brother and pushing the tray of food closer.
Tom frowned in concentration. "She was 8 months pregnant and in Paris alone." He reluctantly reached for the cup of juice.
Rabastan was quick to steady the shaking hand. "She went into labor and it was quick, too quick to get Rudo. She had a strange healer and the baby was born dead."
Tom sighed. "It always bothered her but we thought it was just her grief talking. "
"What happened next sounds a lot like what Dumbledore did to me." Regulus murmured. He shrugged when the other two looked up. "The house elf elf said that she started getting agitated and even redid the nursery right before Halloween. It sounds like she got information, false information, that it had been a trick, that her baby was still alive."
"That same night you went to talk to Lily she went to confront the Longbottoms. She must have thought they knew where the child was. Rudo went with her. I don't know if he believed what she was saying or if he just went along to support her." Regulus continued.
"Things got complicated when Barty crouch and his little friend joined them."
Rabastan snorted. "I still think they had already been there and had done most of the damage before Bella showed up. You know how how he was always mouthing off about how much he hates the Longbottoms."
Regulus nodded in agreement. "Either way all four were caught and they were sentenced to a trail just a couple days ago."
"At least they got a trial." Rabastan growled angrily.
Tom gave Regulus a curious look when his younger son didn't elaborate.
Reg grimaced. "Antonin and some of the others were sent straight to Azkaban."
"How did they get him". Tom asked in a hollow voice. "Why would he even leave the compound? We're safe here."
"You needed a healer. He went to go find you one. He was upset and Dumbledore had the whole country out looking for death eaters. He was ambushed from behind." Rabastan growled out. "He was trying to help you and we've just left him to rot in azkaban." He hissed before slamming out the door.
Tom struggled to sit up fully, upsetting the try on his lap in the process.
Regulus jumped up to clean up the mess. "He and Fenrir have been fighting over this nonstop for the last couple months." He explained. "There is a plan to rescue everyone. We just had to wait until everyone had been sentenced and wait until we got some help. Rab is focusing on the fact that Antonin has had to endure six months of that place. I get where he's coming from but it just wasn't possible before now."
"You said wait until you got help. What does that mean?" Tom asked quietly.
Regulus winced. "Dumbledore and his crowd cleaned house after your downfall. They arrested everyone and then dragged out the trials as long as possible. It's been six months and they're just now finishing."
"Is everyone in azkaban?"
"No." Regulus was quick to reassure him. "Severus agreed to Dumbledore's plan to work at Hogwarts. Lucius pleaded being placed under the imperius curse and paid out a lot of bribes to get off. He feels lousy about doing it but knows he can be more help if he's not a fugitive. Everyone that could afford it followed his lead."
Tom looked confused. "Dumbledore allowed that?"
Reg shrugged. "He didn't have much of a choice unless he wanted to incriminate himself."
He noticed weariness was overcoming the man, he quietly left the room as Tom closed his eyes against the pain.
Harry sighed as the scene went out of focus for a second time. It sharpened to reveal Rabastan using the empty side of of the bed as a table as he made notes from one of his school books.
"Why aren't you in school?" Tom asked having woken without his son noticing.
"Fen wouldn't let me go back once they started arresting everyone." The teen answered absently. "Not that I wanted to."
"Regulus told me about Barty's friend using your name." He mentioned causing Harry to move closer. He had been wondering about that since Tom had adopted his son.
"Apparently Barty has a deathwish. We won't be rescuing him from Azkaban that's for certain." He looked up to see his father's concerned face. "It's actually a good thing for us. The mystery of what happened to Rudo's little brother is put to rest without revealing that you adopted me. I have a great public identity already set up. And Lee Anders is planning on taking his Newts a year early at the French ministry."
"You are?" Tom asked asked skeptically. He remembered discussing that very subject with his son in regards to Owls and refusing him.
Rabastan gave him a smug grin. "It's already set up, Fenrir gave his approval. He was my guardian while you were sleeping the months away."
Tom sighed. "I just want you to have a normal childhood. You should be hanging out with friends scoping out girls not taking care of an invalid and studying your brains out."
"Two of my friends got arrested and a third is hiding at an aunt's in the south of France." His son replied dryly. " But I do have plans tonight with a good looking blond."
His father gave him a searching look. "I can't tell if you're being serious or not."
Rab chuckled. "You're out of practice." He teased before turning grave. "The raid on azkaban is tonight."
Toms eyes widened in alarm. "And you're going to be here with me." He demanded growling when his son shook his head. "You're underage. How do you think you're going to be able to help?"
"I'm not going on the actual raid." Rabastan assured him. "I'm going to be polyjuiced as Lucius." He hurried to explain as his father continued to get angry. "The plan is set so that no one will even know that the breakout happened. But just in case it does I'll be with Cissy to give Lucius an alibi. He's the first person they'll look to if the ministry becomes aware of a breakout. Most likely I'm going to spend the evening sitting around doing nothing."
Tom mulled it over. "What do you mean no one will even know about a breakout?" He asked finally.
"They're doing a prisoner exchange." Rab told him. "We've been liberating muggle prisoners over the last couple months. The worst of the worst. They'll be polyjuiced to look like our friends. "
Tom shook his head. "That might work temporality but the polyjuice will wear off. The muggle prisoners will yell for help and eventually one of the human guards will discover the change.
Rabastan looked apprehensive for the first time in the conversation. "Fen managed to convince a dementor to help. The prisoners are going to be kissed right after they take the polyjuice. For some reason that freezes the potion in their system. They won't change back and they won't call out."
"And if the human guards do check they'll think the dementors got a little excited and kissed the prisoners. It'll either be ignored and they'll leave the bodies in the cells or they'll be declared dead." Tom realized.
"Either way no manhunt. Rabastan finished. Everyone avoids wizarding Britain and uses glamour a when they go out. And we get on with our lives."
Harry concluded his explanation looking up to see Tonks watching him with a slack jawed look, her fork halfway to her mouth.
"Err are you okay?" He asked.
She snapped out of it, the forking clanging against the plate. "Merlin's pants Harry. Now I know why you needed to weed all day."
"It's kind of unbelievable isn't it?" He asked wryly.
"The fact that I can say he survived the killing curse is the most believable part with a straight face should tell you something." She shoved her hands through her hair. "You just told me that everything I knew about my family is wrong."
Harry looked confused for a moment before he remembered that Regulus, being Sirius brother, was her cousin and Bellatrix was her aunt.
"Do you think it's real?" He asked.
She shrugged. "It would be easy enough to verify. I just need to take a trip out to Azkaban. I'm supposed to do so many shifts out there anyway. I can't do it tomorrow because of the order meeting but I could probably set it up for the day after. Dumbledore will have to get someone to cover my shift here though since it would be an all day thing." She looked up to find harry watching her impatiently.
"I meant about them and the Longbottoms. Do you think they really didn't attack Neville's parents?"
She shrugged. "I don't know Harry. I know there is a lot that a mother will do if she thinks her child is in danger. It certainly doesn't sound like the couple that you have dreamed about so far but we don't have the whole story."
"Do you think they really took her child? Could it be Neville?" He asked.
She shook her head. "It's definitely not Neville. I remember when your mum and Alice Longbottom were in the hospital together. Did Bellatrix's child really survive that night in Paris? I don't know. It seems a long shot to think that they did something to kidnap that child and then wait two years to do anything about it." She paused as another thought struck her. "Why would Dumbledore set up the Longbottoms like that anyway? Weren't they some of his biggest supporters."
Harry chewed on his lip as he took the dishes to the sink. "I don't know. Maybe they did something to make him think they were unworthy."
They batted ideas around for another hour when the return of the Dursleys forced Tonks to retreat to her post outside. Once she had left Harry thought back to the last part of the dream, the part that he hadn't shared with Tonks.
Tom had been propped up in bed reading the prophet when Regulus came in showing signs of what appeared to be a very sleepless night. He watched the younger man with a knowing look having expected this visit. Rab had come in the night before to inform him of the results of the breakout.
Regulus slumped into a chair. "You know about Sirius?" He asked in a hollow voice. "He refused to come home. Why would he do that?"
"Sirius had been through alot in the last couple years." Tom pointed out gently. "Add in the death of James and Lily and being in Azkaban for six months reliving all those memories and he's not in a good place right now. I'm sure he feels like he has nothing else to live for."
"He has me." the distraught man cried out.
"He doesn't know that." His father pointed out with a sigh. "To him you're still dead and Luc was just lying to him last night."
Regulus wiped at his eyes angrily. "He told them that it was his fault, that he deserved to be punished. He fought them when they tried to drag him out. Why didn't they just stun him and bring him home?"
Tom gripped his son's hand. "Would you rather he killed himself than sit in Azkaban and maybe work through some of his issues? We aren't going to forget about him."
"They oblivated him." He responded in a broken voice. "He doesn't even remember that someone was there offering him help."