The Knights of the Founders
Written By: J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Harry Potter/OMC: Noah Diggory, Charlie Weasley/OMC: Alexi Zeklos

Established Past Pairings: Harry Potter/Cedric Diggory

Eventual Pairings: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle/Cedric Diggory/OMC: Noah Diggory/OMC: Jean-Luc Lavoisier, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, Harem, M/M Sex, Threesome, Moresome, and Mpreg

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Previously in "Knights of the Founders"

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The professors, heirs, and founders react to what they saw and heard in the cauldron via Salazar's Sight Draft. Everybody is upset about what Tom is enduring, but perhaps none more so than Snape, who as Head of Slytherin House, feels a certain responsibility to Tom, even if he wasn't one of his Slytherins. Dumbledore, however, points out that they can't rescue Tom until they find out where he actually is and they need to formulate a plan before they can do anything.

Using Tom's diary and a few other items that belonged to him, the Atlantean Circle pinpoints his location as being within a two-mile radius of Little Hangleton, which leads Dumbledore to surmise that Tom is being held at the old Gaunt Manor, known to the muggle villagers as the Riddle House. It's also decided that all of the heirs who are at least seventeen years old or who've been emancipated due to a lordship will go on the rescue mission, along with Dumbledore, McGonagall, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Lucinda, Rhylian and Crown Prince Andenar Rivarendell… the newly appointed Atlantean Ambassador to Albion and Iwernia.

The Aurors among the group begin training the heirs, who are cleared from attending classes due to family business for the two weeks leading up to the rescue mission, which is timed to coincide with a Death Eater raid that Voldemort plans on leading personally. Meanwhile, Acting Matron of Hogwarts Sarah Delaney is also brought up to speed on Tom's situation, since it's very likely that he'll require medical attention once he's freed.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven, Part One

The Rescue of Tom Riddle

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The morning of their rescue operation finally dawned and everybody going on the mission, save for Dumbledore, gathered in the dining room of the Hufflepuff Suite for breakfast. Some said they were too nervous to eat, but Helga and Catherine both insisted that they needed a good breakfast in their stomachs if they were going off to battle. Hopefully they wouldn't be facing too much resistance at Gaunt Manor, but the last thing any of them needed was growling stomachs diverting their attention when they needed to be focused and ready for anything.

Snape had already gone off to Gaunt Manor to be with the other Death Eaters and prepare for the impending raid on Inverness. It was very likely taking a tremendous amount of willpower and self-control on Snape's part not to rescue Tom himself, knowing that he was in the same building, but he knew that he couldn't blow his cover and his chances of success all on his own against Voldemort and all the Death Eaters gathered for the upcoming raid were non-existent. He had, however, helped the group as much as he could by brewing potions that he thought they might find useful and by providing a layout of as much of the mansion as he could. Unfortunately, he'd never been in the dungeons, although he did at least know where the entrance to them were.

Dumbledore, meanwhile, wasn't at breakfast because he was at Grimmauld Place coordinating with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix so that hopefully they could limit the number of casualties. There were a few questions from the various members why Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Lucinda, and Kingsley were not going to be joining the fight in Inverness, but Dumbledore was very vague on the details, saying only that the four of them would be undertaking a different mission. Thankfully, the Order members were used to Dumbledore not being completely forthcoming and thus didn't press the issue too much.

"So today is the day," Harry said, as he nibbled on a slice of toast.

"Indeed, it is," Nick agreed. "Would it be wrong for me to say that a part of me is excited about what we're doing today?"

"I don't think so," Ryan answered. "I suppose there is a certain thrill to infiltrating the enemy stronghold and freeing a prisoner from their grasp."

Lucinda nodded. "Yes, I suppose there is a certain amount of thrill to that, but just remember that this is serious business and not a game. We still don't fully know what we're going to find at Gaunt Manor."

"True," Xander agreed. "And we don't even know where in the dungeons Tom is being held. Or if he is, in fact, being held in the dungeons."

"Where else would he be held if not in the dungeons?" Ernie asked.

"Any number of places," Mad-Eye answered. "Snape was only able to provide us with a complete layout of the ground floor and a partial layout of the first floor. While we do know where the entrance to the dungeons is, we don't have solid intel that says Tom is definitely being held there. From what you've all said, there were no windows or doors visible when you watched Tom getting tortured. So we don't know if he's being held below ground in a dungeon cell or above ground in a tower."

Kingsley nodded. "Yes, that does make things more complicated. For all we know, Voldemort could have converted one of the bedrooms to serve as Tom's cell. We may end up having to Imperius one of the Death Eater guards and have them lead us to where Tom is being held… we'll just have to hope that Voldemort isn't the only one who knows."

"We know that at least one of the house-elves knows where Tom is," Noah pointed out. "Unfortunately, that doesn't help us much because we don't know the elf's name and even if we did, we're not its masters. That could pose a significant problem now that I think about it, because a house-elf could warn Voldemort of what's going on very quickly."

"That's true," Xander said. "And the Great House of Gaunt likely doesn't have any house-elves bound to it anymore, since they lost all their money and their ancestral mansion over a century ago. So, we don't even know just who the house-elves in the manor are loyal to. Obviously they take orders from Voldemort or at least the one we saw does. But that could be because whoever the elf belongs to ordered them to do whatever Voldemort asked them to do."

"I have some house-elf sized clothes in a magically expanded pocket of my robe," Hermione said. "If we encounter any we'll just free them and then we don't have to worry about them."

"I'm afraid that's not going to work, Miss Granger," McGonagall said. "I know you've been leaving clothes around Gryffindor Tower for the house-elves for a while now, but in case you hadn't noticed, none of the Hogwarts elves have been freed. The reason is because you're not their master and only their master can free them by giving them clothes."

"Minerva is correct, Hermione," Godric said. "None of the Hogwarts house-elves are bound to the students, so no student can free them. They're bound to the school and as such are bound to the current head of Hogwarts. So only Albus can free them and even then, clothes simply left lying around even by Albus won't free them. He'd have to hand an article of clothing directly to an elf in order to free it."

"Yes, who do you think does all the laundry in the school, Hermione?" Cameron asked. Not waiting for an answer, he added, "The house-elves do it and yet none of them get freed from handling the clothes of every student and staff member of this school."

"And before you point out that you co-own the building," Helga said when it looked like Hermione was about to say something, "I'd only point out that the elves are bound to the institution of Hogwarts, not to the building that houses it, even if it does share the same name."

Noah nodded and said, "They are right, you know. I get that you're passionate about house-elf rights because you see it as slavery since they're not getting paid for their work. Although, I would only point out that there's many forms of payment beyond money. Room and board being one that everyone who has house-elves provides them with regardless of how they're treated. I do agree though that there are house-elves that are inexcusably abused, but there's also house-elves that are treated like members of the family. Jazzy and Misty, for example have always been treated like family by Amos, Cedric before he died, my mum and me."

"I can attest to that," Harry said. "Having spent part of the summer at Diggory House, I saw firsthand how the Diggory's treat Jazzy and Misty and it's very well. Neither of them wears a filthy tea cozy like Dobby used to, instead wearing clothes that you'd expect a muggle butler and maid to wear. And they have their own room on the top floor of Diggory House, complete with their own bed."

"The Cromwell elves are treated much the same way," Ryan added, as Lucinda nodded. "They're fiercely loyal and they take great pleasure from service. And unlike humans and goblins, they're not driven by a need to accumulate material wealth, so they have no desire to be paid gold for their work and would be insulted if it was offered."

"But they're sentient beings," Hermione argued. "They should be treated just like everyone else, including being paid for their work."

"So, they should be forced to take something that they don't want or need?" Ernie asked. "I agree that they should be treated fairly and not abused, but I don't think they should be forced to do anything that they don't want to do. Including taking money for their services if they genuinely don't want it."

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that," Hermione huffed.

"That attitude won't serve you well, Miss Granger," McGonagall said. "I understand that you care and that's good. But in case you hadn't noticed, all of the Hogwarts elves go out of their way to avoid you. Honestly, I would have stepped in and said something to you about it by now, if it wasn't for the fact that Dobby likes all the little clothes you leave lying around Gryffindor Tower. Although you are probably putting an undue burden on him, because he has to clean the entire tower since all the other elves are so insulted by your intentions that they refuse to set foot in it."

"You're also now Lady Gryffindor-Peverell," Nick added. "Which means you will very likely have at least two large houses that will need to be kept clean. Houses that are much too large for you to clean yourself and have time for anything else, so you're not going to have a choice but to keep house-elves. Because it's unlikely that you'll find witches or wizards willing to work for you as domestic help, as that's a job for a house-elf. And very few if any house-elves are going to want anything to do with you if you're trying to free them every chance you get."

"I don't know about the Peverell properties," Godric said, "but I can tell you that the Gryffindor family ancestral seat, Gryffin's Grove, has over three hundred rooms, not counting the dungeons and outbuildings. Even with magical cleaning it would take hours to clean all of them yourself."

Before Hermione could say anything, Mad-Eye grunted and said, "As interesting as this conversation is," and his tone clearly indicated that he thought it was the least interesting conversation he'd ever heard, "I believe we have far more important things to be discussing at present. Such as the fact that the Death Eater raid in Inverness should be starting in less than an hour from now, so we should be making final preparations for our mission."

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After they finished breakfast and a last minute check that they had everything, the group headed down to the Star Garden where they were joined by Dumbledore. They were all gathered for about five minutes when a silvery doe Patronus appeared and spoke in Snape's voice, "It's a go."

"Well, that's our signal," Dumbledore said, as Snape said he'd send them a signal when the Death Eaters launched their attack. "We'll wait ten minutes to make sure they're all out of the house and then we'll head in."

"I've got one of these for each of you," Rhylian said as he began handing out a collection of small silver medallions on a black leather cord to each person. "These are untraceable Portkeys which Merlin and I crafted. If you find yourself in need of a quick getaway, just grab the medallion and say, 'Áfaran.'"

"That doesn't sound like High Atlantean," Ryan commented.

"That's because it's not," Andenar said. "Apparently Merlin insisted on using a language he was familiar with, so it's Old English. Roughly translated it means to go out or depart."

Rhylian nodded. "With these you should be able to get to safety even if the worst happens and the alarm is raised, as I've imbued each medallion with the same spells which allow me to get past the Hogwarts wards, so very ancient magic that hasn't been widely seen on the surface in thousands of years."

"Where will these take us if we use them?" Hermione asked as she undid the clasp. She already had he hair up in a ponytail in order to keep it out of her face if she had to move around quickly, so she had no issues putting it on.

"To a safe house in the Falkland Islands," Rhylian answered. Noticing some of the raised eyebrows, he said, "Merlin and I agreed that having it bring you back here to the school or to Atlantis would be too dangerous, so we made alternate arrangements. My mother, Lady Aralia Laitannen, Queen Calliara, and a contingent of the Atlantean Royal Guard are at the safe house. So, if a Death Eater gets ahold of the medallion or one of you and becomes a passenger, it'll go to the safe house which we purposely located on the other side of the ocean in order to throw Voldemort off any potential trail."

Andenar nodded, "The portkey itself it untraceable, but if the enemy does get their hands on it, it'll take them far, far away from here. It's possible to get to Atlantis from the Falklands since the islands owe their existence to Atlantean volcanoes but there's nothing at the safe house to suggest any link to Atlantis, as grandmum, mum, and the guards will all be wearing standard surface world wizarding robes and be wearing glamours to hide their ears, just as Uncle Rhylian, Ryan, and I are."

"Sounds good," Dumbledore said, as several others nodded their heads. After a few more minutes, he said, "Okay, time for Disillusioning. Remember Apparate to the alley behind the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and from there we go to the Little Hangleton graveyard and walk up to the manor house."

"But remember that our destination is not the main house but the stables on the western side of the property," Mad-Eye added, as the layout that Snape had provided showed that there was actually an underground tunnel connecting the stables to the main house. The stables were, however, outside of the wards around the property because Voldemort didn't keep horses and thus saw the old stables that the Riddles had built for their horses to be useless. "And Constant Vigilance!"

Dumbledore, Lucinda, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye began casting the Disillusionment Charm on the heirs, as Rhylian cast it on Andenar, before casting it on himself. Once everyone was Disillusioned, they all apparated away, as Dumbledore had temporarily adjusted the wards to allow them to Apparate off Hogwarts grounds.

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After arriving in the graveyard, Harry shuddered as this was the first time he'd set foot in this place since the night Cedric died. Needless to say he had no desire to linger, but thankfully, once everyone was in the graveyard they all immediately started walking, circling around the edge of the estate to the western end where the old Riddle stables were located. The building had been kept up by Frank Bryce until he was murdered, as he'd stored a lot of the gardening equipment there, but it had become rather overrun by climbing ivy since the old man's death.

When they arrived at the old building, it took them a bit of time to actually find the door to get inside, due to the thick ivy covering it, not to mention the uncut grass which was now tall enough to completely obscure any path that may have existed at one time. After a couple of minutes, however, they did find it and Dumbledore silently cast a spell to ensure that the door's hinges wouldn't make any noise as it opened. Opening it very slowly and checking inside to make sure nobody was in the building, he nodded and ushered everybody inside, before he entered last, closing the door behind him.

Of course, it wasn't long after everybody had gotten inside the building that they realized they weren't actually alone, as soon after Dumbledore closed the door, a distinctly male grunt was heard, followed by a voice calling out, "Oh gods, yes, Thom, harder, faster!"

Several eyes widened at this and it was a moment before any of them realized where the noise was coming from. There were several bales of hay straight ahead from where they'd entered and they were stacked in such a way that Dumbledore hadn't seen anybody from the doorway. But now, circling around the hay bales a bit, he realized that Lord Tristan Nott was lying flat on his back on a blanket strewn over a hay bale, while his husband, Thomas Nott, fucked him.

Moving a bit closer, Dumbledore spotted both men's wands lying on hay bale to the left of Tristan's torso, so with a few silent directions to the others—as they were using a variant of the Disillusionment Charm that would allow all of them to still see each other—Tristan and Thomas were soon unbeknownst to them surrounded. As Dumbledore silently summoned their wands, Lucinda silently conjured a blanket which she threw over Tristan's midsection, while Mad-Eye came up behind Thomas and put the tip of his wand on his neck and said, "Don't even think about doing anything stupid, boy, as there's a dozen wands trained on you right now, not counting the one on your neck."

Tristan and Thomas immediately stopped moving and Tristan instinctively reached for his wand, only to find it missing. Looking around, Tristan couldn't see anybody, although he could see the slight indentation on Thomas's neck which indicated that there indeed was a wand being held against it.

"Is that you, rat?" Tristan asked, as he tried to sound lordly and noble, despite being caught with his pants down and his husband's dick up his arse.

"Not Wormtail, I'm afraid, Mr. Nott," Dumbledore said.

Both Tristan's and Thomas's eyes widened at that voice, as they flushed bright red and Tristan asked, incredulously, "Professor Dumbledore?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "No sudden movements or calling an alarm."

"And I suggest you put your clothes back on," McGonagall added. "As there's ladies and children present."

"Professor McGonagall?" Thomas squeaked, thoroughly embarrassed, even as he pulled out of Tristan, using one hand to hold a section of the blanket now covering him to hide his still very much erect cock from view.

"Yes, Mr. Nott," McGonagall said.

Both men were beet red, as Tristan swung his legs down off the hay bale and began pulling up his pants and trousers while trying to hold the blanket in such a way that the tent from his own cock wasn't visible. Thomas, meanwhile, did his best to pull his own pants and trousers up one handed, since he was still clinging to a section of the blanket to keep his front covered.

Once he'd stuffed himself into his own clothes, Tristan asked, "Any objections to me moving a little closer to Thom so that I can hold the blanket for him so he has both hands to get dressed?"

"Go ahead," Mad-Eye said, as he kept the tip of his wand pressed against Thomas's neck.

Scooting over on the blanket still strewn across the hay bale, Tristan held the blanket that Lucinda conjured around Thomas's waist, allowing him to use both hands to get dressed.

Once Thomas had finished, he said, "I don't know who you are that's got a wand to my neck, but I'm unarmed, so, if you don't mind, I'll just sit down next to my husband."

"Slowly and keep your hands where I can see them," Mad-Eye said. "Lucinda?"

With a silent nod, Lucinda banished the blanket she conjured, as Thomas very slowly moved to sit next to Tristan. Once both men were seated with their empty hands in clear view, Dumbledore said, "You can all drop the charms for the time being."

One by one, as the spells dropped, Tristan and Thomas realized that they were well and truly outnumbered, not to mention fucked—in a much less pleasant way then they'd been doing not that long ago—since neither of them had their wands and there were about a dozen of them aimed at them.

"Why are you all here?" Tristan asked, after a moment.

"We're asking the questions here, not you," Andenar said in a tone that brooked no argument. While he'd received diplomatic training, he'd also received military and leadership training, since he would one day be King of Atlantis… even if that wasn't likely to happen for a few hundred years since his father was still a few decades shy of middle-aged.

"How many are in the house?" Kingsley asked. "Death Eaters, house-elves, and anything else?"

"Wormtail and two other Death Eaters," Thomas answered. "I don't know their names, as they're new recruits that the Dark Lord didn't trust enough to take with him today."

"And there's six house-elves," Tristan added. "Three of which are mine that I lent to the Dark Lord."

"That's an interesting way to try and curry favor," Lucinda said. "I assume that you two being here means that you're in the same camp as Wormtail and the other two… not trusted enough to go with your master."

Kingsley and Mad-Eye chuckled slightly at that, as Thomas said, "We're not trying to curry favor. The Dark Lord ordered us to let him use some of the Nott elves." After a moment, he added, "Held us both under the Cruciatus for nearly three-and-a-half minutes because we didn't bring him all of our elves. But we had to leave some at our house, if only for appearances sake if the Ministry visits."

"A valid point," Dumbledore said. "Do you know who the other house-elves belong to?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Tristan answered. "Although I heard her tell her husband that they're actually Black family elves, not Lestrange elves. The other one, I don't know. Nobody seems to know, answers only to the Dark Lord himself." After a moment, he added, "The Dark Lord's snake, Nagini, is also in the house."

"Are there any prisoners being held in the house?" Xander asked.

Both Notts shook their heads, as Thomas said, "No, the dungeons are empty."

"Are you sure?" Noah asked, as Dumbledore shared a looked with Rhylian and Andenar.

Tristan nodded. "Yes… we were just in the dungeons yesterday. The Dark Lord made us clean all the cells with no magic as punishment for something. Honestly I don't even remember what."

"Yes, unless somebody's been moved down there since then, there was nobody there yesterday," Thomas said.

Shaking his head, Harry said, "Seems like serving Voldemort is non-stop fun. Cruciatus, cleaning dungeons without magic… ever think you're on the wrong side?"

Tristan and Thomas shared a look at this question, before their shoulders slumped in unison and Tristan said, "Every day." After a moment, he added, "Neither of us wanted the Dark Mark, but our father, may he roast in the Hells, forced us to take it… just like he forced us to get married."

"If you're truly sincere about thinking you're on the wrong side," Dumbledore said, "I'm willing to extend my protection and that of Hogwarts to the both of you."

"No offense, Professor," Thomas said, "but I'd rather not exchange one prison for another. If we defect, we'd have to stay locked away twenty-four hours a day. And Hogwarts wouldn't be very safe for us… because I guarantee it would get back to the Dark Lord where we are. He has spies in the school, after all."

Andenar sighed. "I suppose I could talk to my father, maybe get you official asylum in Atlantis. Voldemort wouldn't be able to get to you there and I'd hardly call an entire continent and several islands stretching over ten thousand miles to be a prison."

"Your father?" Tristan asked. He'd seen the Daily Prophet, after all, so he knew that Atlantis existed.

"Yes, he has quite a bit of power there," Andenar replied with a grin. "He is, after all, the ruling absolute monarch."

"So you're a prince?" Thomas asked.

Seeing no harm in answering the question since he knew his name and face would be appearing in the Daily Prophet sooner or later, Andenar answered, "Crown Prince Andenar Rivarendell. Official Atlantean ambassador to Albion and Iwernia."

"Even if we did take you up on your offer," Tristan said, "there's still the matter of our kids. We can't just defect, move to Atlantis, and leave Theodore and Tabitha at Hogwarts." With a sigh, he added, "Besides, I'm afraid our daughter, despite our best efforts to subtlety dissuade her, is fully supportive of the Dark Lord and fully intends to take the Mark, willingly, the moment she turns seventeen."

"It's unfortunate that your daughter feels that way," Dumbledore said. "But perhaps you should accept Prince Andenar's offer, which I'm sure could be amended to include your two minor children," Andenar nodded. "With your daughter in Atlantis, she'd have no way of getting to Voldemort and would be saved from making a grievous mistake."

Both men were silent for a moment, before Thomas shared a look with Tristan that obviously meant something to the two of them, as after a moment Tristan sighed and said, "We accept your offer and thank you."

"Is there anything we can do to help you in the meantime?" Thomas asked. "I assume you must have come here for a reason other than to interrupt our lovemaking."

"Indeed, we did," Harry said as he stepped closer and held up his lordship ring for Tristan and Thomas to inspect. "Look closely at the crests."

They looked at Harry quizzically for a moment, before they both looked down at the ring and Tristan muttered, "Potter, Black, and… oh Gods."

"I trust you recognize the third crest?" Harry asked.

Tristan nodded and Thomas said in an awed tone, "You're Lord Emrys… that means…"

"That I'm the King of Albion and Iwernia, yes," Harry said. "Before we tell you anything about our purpose for being here, I'm going to need you both to swear binding Wizard's Oaths that you will not reveal anything you're told here today without my express consent."

Tristan and Thomas shared a look with each other, before they nodded and Tristan said, "We'll need our wands." Seeing some hesitance on the faces of some of the group, he added, "You don't have to worry, we're not going to do anything stupid. We're clearly outnumbered."

Pointing his wand at the Notts, Rhylian muttered an incantation under his breath and said, "Just as a little insurance policy, you'll find that your feet are now stuck to the floor and that the hay bale you're sitting on is stuck to your arses. Just in case you got any ideas about trying to Apparate away once you have your wands back."

Tristan and Thomas nodded as they found that they indeed couldn't move their feet and that moving as if to stand they found the hay bale lifting off the floor with them. Content that they were trapped, Dumbledore handed them their wands back, which they both immediately held over their hearts as they swore their oaths. The oaths sworn, the group gave a few of the pertinent details—not all of them—but mainly that they had good reason to believe that Voldemort was holding a teenage boy prisoner somewhere in the mansion and that they were there to rescue him.

"You're sure about this?" Thomas asked. "The Dark Lord didn't give us any instructions about guarding a prisoner. If he had one, I'd think he'd have mentioned it."

"We saw him with our own eyes," Nick answered. Holding out his ring, he said, "I'm Lord Delaney-Slytherin and I've met and talked with Salazar Slytherin's portrait. He instructed me how to brew a potion that he personally invented which allowed us to see and hear the person we were searching for. We saw and heard Voldemort torturing him and Rhylian used Atlantean magic to track the boy to this house. So we know he's here, it's just a question of where."

"Well, as I said earlier, the dungeons are empty," Tristan said. "So I don't know where this boy is being held but it isn't there."

"This house used to be Gaunt Manor," Ryan said. "And if it's anything like Cromwell Hall, then there's undoubtedly secret passages and possibly even secret rooms hidden somewhere in the house."

"I can't exactly deny that," Thomas agreed. "Since we got here from the main house via a secret tunnel. I think it was Gaunt Manor's escape tunnel originally, but the muggles who owned the house built their stables at the end of it so that they could come out to see their horses without going outside."

"Unfortunately, if there are any other secret passages in the house," Tristan added, "Thom and I have no clue where they are. We found this one by accident. But, if you all want to search, you're welcome to do so. The other Death Eaters are in the main hall on the ground floor. They think Thom and I are patrolling the first floor. I can't tell you what's above the first floor, however, as we've never been up there. Only the Dark Lord and his guests are allowed there."

"Well, we'll have to search the house then, I guess," Lucinda said, as the others nodded. "Before we go, however, there is one other thing you can do for us."

"What?" Thomas asked.

"You said that three of the house-elves in the house are yours," Lucinda said. "Call them and order them not to interfere should they happen upon us while we're searching."

Before they could say anything, Harry said, "And do you happen to know the names of the two Black elves that you said Bella lent? As Lord Black my orders trump Bella's."

Tristan and Thomas nodded before summoning their elves and ordering them not to interfere with the group searching the house, not to contact anyone outside the house about them, and not to tell anybody about their presence in the house, including the Dark Lord. As Nott elves, their ultimate loyalty was to the Nott family, so the elves nodded before popping away.

Harry in turn passed on similar orders to the two Black elves, ordering them not to tell Voldemort or Bella or any other member of the Black family that he or his companions had been in the house. Before dismissing them, however, Harry had a thought and asked, "Do either of you know who the sixth elf in the house is loyal to? Other than the two of you and the three Nott elves?"

The two elves—a male and female pair, Jookey and Ciskey, respectively—looked at each other for a moment before Jookey nodded and said, "You be meaning Tolkey elf. Serves the House of Gaunt, Lord Black, sir."

"Thank you, you're dismissed for now. I'll call you if I need you," Harry said. Jookey and Ciskey nodded, before popping away at which point Harry added, "Well, that takes care of five of the six elves in the house."

Noah nodded. "Indeed, so as long as we avoid the main hall, we only potentially have to deal with one house-elf and Nagini. Hopefully we don't encounter either of them, although I suppose Harry, Nick, and Xander can speak to her if necessary… hopefully that won't be necessary though."

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To be continued….

And there you have Part One of Chapter Twenty-Seven. Obviously Tom will be rescued in the next chapter. Question is will the heroes manage to avoid the three Death Eaters in the house, Tolkey, and Nagini? Stay tuned to find out.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email (Gmail: jaycolin25), my Yahoo group (storiesbyjayson), or on Twitter JVascardi. Alternatively, you can also try to contact me via Skype (text messaging only) at .