DISCLAIMER: I'd like to remind you that my name, unfortunately is not J. and thus I do not own Harry Potter, just the plot twists and the original characters that will eventually crop up =)

WARNING FOR THE CHAPTER: Will have mentions of rape.

Note:

"blah" - normal speech;
"Blah" - overheard conversations;
'blah' - thoughts;
[blah] - letters, diary entries, book passages, etc.
$blah$ - Parseltongue;
"blah!" - spells;
%^blah^% - ghost speaking to each other without living people hearing;

Previously on 'Harry Potter: The Black Lord'

"Wow, this is a lot of stuff. Are you sure I need to buy this on my own? Can't I just give you the money for them? I'm not that good at Potions…"

"Nonsense, Potter. You finished on top of the year… though I suppose you wouldn't know about that yet… sorry I've ruined the surprise…" – he gave a dry chuckle and Harry almost fell over in surprise. Snape was a lot different outside of school. And for some reason Harry liked this new Snape.

On with the story.


CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

After Severus left, Harry threw himself onto his makeshift bed and let out a groan he's been holding in for some time.

'How do I get myself in these situations?' – he wondered, as he pulled off his clothes and turned off the light – 'Well, at least he promised to make the potion… which is a good thing… I wonder what is my inheritance? There were no changes so far… well, at least not any that were unexpected …'

Harry frowned slightly as he considered the situation. He was both coming into an early inheritance and was slowly regaining his real appearance. How was he to know which changes were from the first thing and which from the second?

'$Masster, what hass you sso on edge?$' – Savanna's soothing hissing came from across their bond.

'Nothing really… just some things I can't seem to figure out.' – he sent back as he turned onto his side to have a view of the open window – 'Say, how is it that you always know what I feel?'

'$That'ss becausse I do.$' – the snake deadpanned – '$We have a sstrong mental connection between uss. I feel whatever you feel and if I choosse to, I can even hear your thoughtss and ssince I have abssolutely nothing to do here in the chamber, I ssimply sstay with you all the time.$'

'Oh…' – thought Harry, not exactly sure if he wanted his familiar to be privy to all of his thoughts. Still, considering the fact that he didn't exactly have a lot of people to talk to while he was stuck at Privet Drive, it could prove to be a good thing. At least he wouldn't be as bored as he was last summer – 'Well, good night then.'


Hunting down the potion ingredients turned out to be a rather easy, if tiresome endeavor. Harry decided that buying everything in one place was risky, since there was always a chance that the owner of the apothecary would recognize what he could brew from the things on the list. Thus he only bought half of them as well as some extra things he found interesting. The rest he got during his trip to the Knockturn Alley. He was about to go back, when he noticed one very familiar person.

Harry had to blink a few times before it hit him – he saw Albus fucking Dumbledore meet with a young boy, probably even younger than Harry himself and disapparate with the said boy. Sometime ago he would think nothing of it, but with what he knew now even his almost 13 year old mind figured out what he saw – Albus Dumbledore picking up a prostitute. A male, under-age prostitute who looked disturbingly like himself. Urgh.

Harry shook his head to chase away the disgusting image and noticed a shop nearby. It was called 'Liam's Treasure' and it was obviously a book shop. A little voice in his mind that certainly was not his familiar whispered about how only evil stuff was found in Knockturn Alley, but the Potter heir ignored it and entered the store.

It was obvious at once that this was a really good idea. The books were definitely of the forbidden variety and it gave Harry a thrill. He picked out a book on Dark Healing spells and protection rituals, he figured it would be a good thing to study, especially considering his track record of getting himself injured. He was flipping through a book on Darker, but not yet Dark hexes and curses when he almost crashed into someone. The boy had a flashback of his meeting with Lucius Malfoy at 'Flourish & Blotts' last summer and the memory brought a blush to his cheeks. He jumped when he heard a chuckle near his ear.

"Mister Potter, we really need to stop meeting like this." – said the very same Malfoy lord he was thinking of, which made Harry blush even harder.

"Mister Malfoy…" – he practically croaked, his throat suddenly dry – "It's a pleasure to meet you again. I'm sorry for almost walking into you."

"Well, this time you stopped in time. That's an improvement, don't you think?" – teased the blond, his silver grey eyes almost sparkling in amusement.

"Absolutely." – muttered Harry – "I'm sorry but I really need to go. Tell Draco I said hi."

With that the flustered boy ran off to the counter to pay for his books, leaving Lucius alone with his amusement.

'Well, that was odd…' – thought the Malfoy patriarch – 'There was something really familiar about him… And anyway, what the heck was he doing in Knockturn Alley of all places?'

It was only his second time meeting the boy, but to Lucius Malfoy it looked like Harry Potter was a puzzle… And Malfoys do love their puzzles.


Once he returned to Privet Drive, Harry wrote a quick note to Snape informing the man that he already got everything. The boy tried not to sound overeager, but it was quite hard not to, since he was exactly that.

'I hope I'm not something freakish…' – prayed Harry, as he watched Hedwig fly out of the window.

While he waited for Snape to write back, he busied himself with the summer home work. To his surprise the assignments were not very hard. Oh they were very big and required a lot of work, but they were not too difficult. He was doing his History of Magic essay, when Hedwig returned with a reply from Snape. Harry opened the letter eagerly.

[Mr. Potter,

You definitely know how to be efficient. Since brewing the potion at your house will not be possible, you are to come to meet me at the edge of the wards surrounding your house in an hour.

S. S.]

Harry smiled as he put down the letter. He was really glad that things finally began going smoothly. The next hour was spent pacing around the attic. Harry also sent George a letter to explain the truth about what happened in the chamber of secrets. Of all of his friends, he felt that George was the closest, followed by his twin and then Neville and Draco. Pansy, nice as she was, was more Draco's friend and Harry felt a bit uncomfortable around the girl, though he thought it could also be explained by the fact that he didn't spend as much time with Pansy, as with his other friends. Finally it was time to go and Harry practically flew out of the house.


While Harry waited excitedly for his professor, a starved looking dog looked at the boy from behind the trash container. The dog better known as Paddy ("It's Padfoot damn it!") was very glad to see the boy. It wanted to go over, but the loud crack of apparition forced the beast to remain where it was. The tall dark haired man was one the dog knew very well, it growled lowly in anger as the boy seemed to be on good terms with the man. It crept closer and listened to their conversation.

"Professor!" – greeted Harry with a huge smile – "Thank you for doing this for me."

"Think nothing of it, Mr. Potter." – said the man, clearly a bit uncomfortable.

"Please, sir, call me Harry." – the boy blurted out and promptly blushed – "Outside of school … that is if you want to…"

The dog gagged at that, not understanding why the boy would want the foul git to call him by his first name.

"Very well, then, Harry." – his name said in the velvet like voice of the Potions Master made Harry blush even more, though he really had no idea why … after all it wasn't like he liked the man …

"So… how are we doing this?" – the boy asked nervously and mentally clubbed himself over the head for sounding like an idiot.

Severus chuckled as he watched the boy fidget. He had to admit the way the child was reacting to his very presence was a bit strange, had Harry been a few years older, Severus would have said the boy had a crush, but he knew full well that 13 was a bit too young even for crushes. And since he was the boy's teacher it was a relief. He had never been in a situation where his student lusted after him and he had no intention in ever gaining the experience.

"I'll apparate you to my house. We can make the potion there. It's near the Alley, so you can go buy the books on your creature once we know what it is."

"Okay." – Harry agreed easily and gave Severus his hand when the man reached for it.

The dog saw the man take the boy's hand and it knew they would apparate. It sprinted out of its' hiding place, running full speed towards the two wizards. It was unfortunately too late to stop them. The dog then morphed into a tall, extremely skinny man with unhealthily pale skin and matted black hair.

"DAMN IT!" – snarled the man as he kicked a random tree – "What does Snivellus want with my godson?"


Arthur Weasley marched all of his children into St. Mungo's to see his… or rather his father's family healer. All the children were very confused… well except the twins that is. They knew why this was necessary and hoped that none of their siblings would turn out to be Dumbledore's victims. Bill and Charlie went in together and emerged from the room very quickly, giving their father a questioning look.

"I will explain later, boys." – Arthur muttered quietly – "Now, please, go to the Burrow and make sure to distract your mother. She can't know where we are."

Charlie frowned:

"I get the feeling that there is something big going on."

His father sighed softly and gave his son a brief but strong hug:

"There is. But like I said this is not the place for this conversation."

"Okay, Dad." – agreed Bill – "But you will tell us, right?"

"Yes, boys, I will."

Percy's exam took much longer and even before his son went out, Arthur knew that Percy had also been violated. As soon as the boy exited the room, Arthur hugged him tightly as Percy broke down. Much to the surprise and horror of his father, he was muttering something about Pettigrew and his rat. Arthur knew this was important, but calming down and taking care of Percy was right now much more important.

Fred and George already had an exam at Hogwarts, but they took another one just the same, since they knew that their father was very worried. They soon were back with their father and brother and it was Ginny's turn. About half an hour later the medi-witch came out and gestured for Arthur to join her in the office. Arthur gently gave Percy over to the twins and followed the healer, his mind already giving him horror filled ideas.

"Please, Mr. Weasley, take a sit." – said the healer, as she closed the door behind them.

Arthur did as he was told, his fear for his daughter practically clouding his mind.

"Please, Healer White. Is my daughter alright?" – he asked desperately.

"Ginevra… her case is even worse than that of Percy."

"And what happened to Percy? He was raped?"

The healer frowned:

"You knew?"

Arthur blanched at the unsaid accusation:

"Merlin forbid! My son Ron… while he was in school one his professor, Severus Snape, discovered that he was under the Imperius curse. Once the curse was lifted, my son had a big breakdown which led to him falling into a coma. With no other option, they used Legillimency on my son. It was discovered that he had been repeatedly raped and obliviated afterwards. Once he went to Hogwarts, the rapist opted to place him under the Imperius." – Arthur sighed and shuddered – "When I discovered my wife was aware of the situation, at least partially, I arranged for my children to come see you, since you've been my family's healer since before I was born."

Aubrey White patted Arthur on the hand, as she apologized for her assumptions:

"Arthur. I will get to Ginevra in a few moments. First know that both Bill and Charlie, as well as Fred and George are absolutely fine. Percy on the other hand… he shows signs of sexual abuse. He definitely has a few memory charms on him. When I checked him… well… this isn't easy… your son was raped by a man who by all counts should be long dead."

"What?" – now Arthur was really confused. He suspected Dumbledore, but obviously that was not the case, or at least not only the headmaster was involved.

"I've extracted the suppressed memories, so he only knows that it happened, but he does not remember any details."

"Why would need those memories?"

"See, the man… or I should really say the first man who raped son… was one Peter Pettigrew… and we all know that man was supposedly killed 12 years ago by Sirius Black."

Arthur slumped back in his chair. His son's sexual abuse was connected to a murder case … it really couldn't get any worse, thought Arthur … and since that was a rather bad thing to think , Arthur would soon find out that things could indeed get much much worse.


Author's Note: Yep, I'm a horrid horrid person. I left it just like that. But don't you worry, my dears, the next chapter will come soon. Just what is Harry's creature? And what the hell is wrong with Ginny? Care to guess? It will mightily entertain myself, maybe even give me an idea or two =)