Oh, my. It's been a while since I've worked on this one. Uhm, hope you enjoy and you won't murder me. Thanks to all that have read and reviewed/favorited. I don't own Harry Potter.

-JazzyKat

Ebony met no resistance in going through the next room, although a chanting music started thrumming low in the background. Ebony felt goose bumps rise on his skin at the haunting beauty of the chant. Strange glyphs danced and writhed on the walls in the candle light, coming alive in great bloody red splotches. Ebony hurried on towards the central door. The door glittered and glistened with precious stones, gold and silver in lays and rare woods. Ebony laid his palm flat against the door and felt a prick to his palm. A few seconds later the door swung open and Ebony withdrew his now bleeding palm.

Ebony's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and he could just barely make out gold glimmering from all sides of the room and he could see shadowy figures shifting in the bare candlelight. Ebony gasped as his eyes lit on the only illuminated spot of the room. A figure was lying crumpled in front of what seemed to be an altar. Closer inspection on Ebony's part revealed the figure to be Severus, sleeping peacefully. Ebony stepped farther into the room, suppressing a flinch when the great doors slammed shut behind him. A regal woman stepped into the ring of light near Severus. Her caramel skin glinted and glittered in the strange light and Ebony distantly noticed that she was tattooed with the strange glyphs.

Ebony met her all knowing gaze and he bowed to her. She gave a flicker of a smile and inclined her head to Ebony, then spoke, "Brave warrior, I commend you for sorting through all of our traps to rescue the dark one. Tell me, what it is that this abused soul was sent to my people for?"

Ebony responded softly and respectfully, "Warrior, he was sent by the one he was spying on as a test of faith. The old fool Dumbledore thought to use you and your warriors to fight his false war against the sane and safe wizardring world."

She dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Ah, yes, but your side is no better."

Ebony steeled himself. "No, Warrior. We are not. Not yet. Our leader has regained his vision and goal and is weeding out the weak. We kill, yes, out of necessity. Our rules are harsh, but we ensure survival and do not cover up our plans from our people."

She stepped closer to Ebony and seemed to size him up. "Very well, then. You shall have the dark one back and you shall have the full support of my people. To do that, though, you have to pass one final trial and become one of us."

Ebony cocked his head sideways. She smiled, took the staff and fixed a crystal to the end of it before handing it back, and then Ebony's world spun out of existence. Hours of excruciating pain later, Ebony woke again in Severus's mindscape. He sat up, ignoring the ghost pains in and looked down at his body. Twirling lines of mythical creatures covered his skin, and Ebony could see the Nundu on his arm had changed and looked feral and wild. Ebony snapped a quick glamour on when he saw that Severus was waking. Ebony watched with baited breath as Severus's black eyes finally flickered open. Severus smiled relieved at Ebony and stood. Ebony smiled back and withdrew from Severus's mind.

Ebony opened his eyes to find that someone had rearranged his and Severus's bodies. Ebony noticed that he was clothed only in light pajamas when he felt a cool breeze across his chest. Ebony let the glamour drop and swung himself off of his resting place and padded down the maze of hallways to his quarters. Ebony slid into a steaming hot shower and groaned at the feel of the hot water washing away all of his little aches and cramps.

Ebony heard frantic running and shouting, but paid them no mind as he washed out his hair until a wave of cold air swept into the bathroom. Ebony squawked at the cold air and whirled to see who was trying to make him freeze to death. A terrified looking Tom stood in the doorway, and Ebony relaxed and rinsed the soap out of his hair. Ebony felt Tom's magic gathering and suddenly Ebony was standing completely dry in front of Tom. Ebony blinked as he noticed Tom's aura flare and Ebony could, to his astonishment, tell what spells Tom was going to use before he verbalized the spell. Ebony shook his head and pushed the thought to the back of his head and braced himself for the rounds of hysteric screeching that was sure to ensue, but to his surprise Tom merely smiled at him and called for Lucius.

Bella, Rodolphus, Avery, Remus and Sirius appeared at the doorway as well. Tom pulled Ebony into a crushing hug, and said, "Don't ever do that to us again! We nearly went crazy. Please tell me are you alright?"

Ebony gently pulled a bit away from Tom and let the frantic Dark Lord check him over for any injuries. Aside from a nasty sunburn and being malnourished, Ebony was fine. The rest of the circle hugged him before Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hope you don't mind that we joined your side, pup. Now, how about you tell us about that young Zabini lad."

Ebony hissed in pain at Sirius slapping his sunburn and would have blushed, but his face was already blood red. Remus heard Ebony's hiss and glared at Sirius who realized what he'd done and sheepishly smiled, then backed away slowly.

"I'll just get some healing potion for that sunburn, shall I? I'll be right back." Sirius nearly sprinted from the room. Lucius circled around Ebony, looking at the markings in awe. Tom snapped out a, "What!" when no one explained why Ebony's markings were so interesting.

Lucius gathered his irritated lover into his arms and soothed him, "Ebony had been truly honored to bear the Cimmerian's marks. They mean that he's a member of their tribe and that they most likely side with us. No living soul has received the Cimmerian markings since Merlin's time, and it wasn't Merlin who received them."

Tom's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline and he looked at Ebony shocked. Ebony looked nearly as surprised as he did. Sirius wisely chose that moment to return with the healing cream, seemingly oblivious to Ebony and Tom's shock. Tom regained his senses and snatched the cream from Sirius. He pushed Ebony down and gently spread the cream over the sunburn. Ebony sighed at the cook relief and nearly fell asleep at Tom's gentle touch. Tom frowned at how thin Ebony was and ordered a house elf to bring him a plate. Ebony rolled his eyes but ate the plate full under the watchful eyes of the inner circle.