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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On the morning of the rescue mission most of the would-be rescuers gather in the Hufflepuff Suite for breakfast, where Hermione is schooled on the nature of house-elves. And that her attempts to free them by leaving little clothes around Gryffindor Tower are futile and only serving to insult the Hogwarts elves so much that they won't set foot in the tower, leaving Dobby to have to clean the entire tower by himself.

Snape sends his Patronus to let everyone know when Voldemort and the Death Eaters embark on the raid, at which point Rhylian hands out medallions that he made with Merlin which serve as emergency Portkeys if they have to exit the property quickly. The Portkeys leading to a safe house in the Falkland Islands were Rhylian's mother, sister, and a contingent of the royal guards await.

Arriving at Gaunt Manor, they all sneak into the old Riddle family stables and come across Tristan and Thomas Nott in the middle of having sex. Outnumbered, the two Death Eaters reveal that they never wanted to be Death Eaters and plans are made for them to secretly defect and move to Atlantis. The rescue team also learns that it's only Wormtail and two other Death Eaters in the house, along with six house-elves and Nagini. Three of the elves are Nott elves, however, and two are Black elves, so Tristan and Harry order them not to interfere. The sixth elf turns out to be bound to the House of Gaunt, proving Xander incorrect in his belief that the Gaunts wouldn't have any house-elves bound to them any longer.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven, Part Two

The Rescue of Tom Riddle

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The tunnel connecting the stables to the main house was accessed via a trap door in the floor, with a ladder going down twelve feet to the tunnel below. The tunnel's ceiling was only about six and a half feet high and so narrow that they had to move through it single file.

Moody went first as they figured his magical eye would be useful in leading the group this time. He'd been bringing up the rear when they arrived at the stables and using his eye to keep an eye behind them to make sure they weren't being followed, which is why he hadn't noticed that the stables wasn't empty.

There were lit lanterns hanging from the ceiling to illuminate the tunnel and a couple of times as they made their way through it, some of the taller people in the group had to crouch down to avoid hitting their heads on them. They were, however, walking as fast as they could, thankful that before they'd left Hogwarts they'd placed spells on their shoes so that they could move silently. This had been especially important for Moody's wooden leg as the distinctive thumping noise it produced made it impossible for him to sneak up on anyone.

Finally reaching the other end of the tunnel, they found another ladder leading up, which Moody climbed, realizing quickly that it led to another corridor, this one narrow enough that he had to turn sideways in order to traverse it. At the end of the corridor, there was a larger area with another ladder leading up another level.

With his magical eye, Moody could see the outline of a hidden wall panel, the bottom of which was just above the top rung of the second ladder. Looking through the wall panel, Moody saw the first floor corridor and realized that the wall panel opened onto the landing of the staircase down to the ground floor. As the others began joining him in the small room, which was only just large enough to hold them all, he placed a finger over his lips to signal them to be quiet and mouthed, "Nagini," as he'd spied the snake slithering down the staircase.

Everyone was quiet and many either held their breath or breathed as shallowly as they possibly could as they waited for Moody to give the all clear. Tracking the snake's movement with his magical eye, Moody watched as it slithered down the stairs to the ground floor and across the entrance hall to a pair of large double doors. One of which was closed while the other was ajar just enough for Nagini to slither through it into the room beyond, which Moody realized was the main hall, as he could see Wormtail and two people—a man and a woman—that he'd never seen before.

'Probably the two new recruits the Notts mentioned,' the grizzled old Auror thought, as he noted their hair color, builds, and any other obvious identifying features. He couldn't risk trying to bring them in now, but that didn't mean he couldn't pass on their descriptions to the Ministry so that they could be on the lookout for them.

Moody waited until Nagini had crossed the main hall and over to a large pillow near the fireplace, which she coiled up on, before letting the others know it was safe. As he was saying this, however, he did notice Wormtail closing the door to the main hall, prompting him to whisper, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it looks like we have to thank Wormtail." At the confused looks that brought, he added, "He just closed the door to the main hall, so Nagini can't get out, although it looks like she's going to sleep in front of the fire anyway."

There were a few soft sighs of relief at that, as Moody went over to the ladder and climbed it. After a moment he found the necessary mechanism to open the wall panel, at which point he climbed out and onto the first floor landing. As the others joined him one by one, Moody continued using his magical eye to search the area, not only for potential danger, but also for any hidden areas or even their quarry.

It was as the last of the group, Ryan, climbed through the wall panel and closed it behind him, that Moody whispered, "There's nobody on any of the upper floors." After a moment, however, he pointed to a door at the other end of the hallway and added, "That door leads to the stairs up to the second floor, but it looks like there's a hidden passage under the stairs which goes down to a large underground room… there's about three feet of stone between it and the tunnel from the stable."

"Is there anybody in it?" Dumbledore whispered.

Shaking his head, Moody whispered back, "I can't tell. The stone is too thick and I can only see a limited section of the room down the stairwell leading into it. But looking through the floor from this height I can see the tunnel we were in and the room. There's no connection between the two though. As far as I can tell the only way down there is through the hidden staircase."

"It bears further investigation," Lucinda commented softly. "This section of the house was included in the layout Snape gave us and there was no hidden staircase under the second floor stairs on his plans, even though the stairs themselves were."

"Well, let's get moving," Kingsley said. "We have no idea how much time we actually have left until the enemy returns."

There were nods all around, as they all made their way down the hall to the door that Moody had indicated. Opening it they found a small room, only big enough for one or two of them at a time, although more of them could fit into the space by going onto the second floor stairs. Using his magical eye to scan the wall under the stairs, Moody found the release mechanism and popped the wall open, which was hinged in two places so that the paneling under the stairs actually bent in half.

Once the hidden panel under the stairs was opened, Moody scanned the floor and with his magical eye spotted the handle to pull open the trapdoor over the hidden staircase. Just from the magical outline around the handle, he could tell that it was magically hidden from view so unless you knew it was there you'd probably very easily miss it and think that the hidden panel under the stairs just housed an empty cupboard.

Shaking his head, Harry turned to Noah and whispered, "If Tom is down there, it's kind of ironic that we've both spent time in a cupboard under the stairs."

Noah nodded. "Yes, although Tom's is a lot bigger than yours was."

Harry nodded. "True, but given what he's been through I wouldn't trade with him for all the gold in Gringotts."

Pulling open the trapdoor, Moody immediately realized a problem. "The trapdoor extends outward further than the hidden panel under the stairs. So the panel can't be closed while the trapdoor is open."

McGonagall nodded. "Okay then, Moody you stay here and keep watch for danger. Albus and I will descend the stairs and check out the room at the bottom."

With a nod of his own, Dumbledore added, "Kingsley, Lucinda, stay here with Moody and the others. If any danger shows up, send Xander to warn us and then use your medallions to get out. Don't wait for us, just go."

"Anden and I will go to the room across the hall from here," Rhylian said, after Dumbledore and McGonagall descended the stairs. "Provide covering fire if necessary." Noting that Ernie was already standing on the second floor stairs, he added, "Ernie, go up the stairs just far enough that you can see the second floor hallway and watch for danger. Moody said it was empty upstairs, but we have no way of knowing whether or not there's an Apparition chamber on an upper floor."

Ernie nodded as he did as Rhylian said, at which point Mad-Eye said, "Nick, go back over to the landing of the stairs down to the ground floor. There's a small alcove behind the tapestry across from the hidden panel were we came in. There's nothing in it, but it should be big enough that you can hide behind the tapestry and keep watch over the stairs down to the ground floor."

"Hermione, Noah," Kingsley pointed at them, "go keep watch over the two corridors that branch off the main hallway." Remembering that there was a suit of armor standing atop a pedestal near the mouths of each branch corridor that they'd passed—which thankfully went in opposite directions and were across from blank walls—he added, "Crouch down and hide behind the armor pedestals."

As Nick, Hermione, and Noah went to their assigned places, Harry and Ryan sat down on the lower section of the stairs up to the second floor, which were L-shaped with five steps going up to a landing before turning and going up the rest of the way to the second floor. Kingsley was standing on the landing behind them, while Moody was standing next to the entrance to the hidden staircase. Lucinda was standing nearby holding the door concealing the second floor staircase ajar just enough that she could see out into the hallway beyond, but closed enough that it would hopefully appear to be closed from the hallway.

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Meanwhile, Dumbledore and McGonagall moved silently down the hidden staircase. When they reached the bottom they found that it opened into a large room that appeared to be a potions laboratory.

"Must be where the Magical Restorative Drafts are brewed," McGonagall commented, as she looked at the cauldron and potions supplies.

Dumbledore nodded, because while he wasn't a Potions Master, Potions was a prerequisite for Alchemy, so he'd taken NEWT Potions and as such he recognized a few of the ingredients for the potion on a nearby shelf. "There's two doors," he said motioning towards the two metal doors. One was on the wall directly opposite the bottom of the staircase, only far enough over that you couldn't see it until you actually reached the bottom of the staircase. The other was on the far wall that was parallel to the stairs. Both doors had a small panel in them that looked like they slid to one side so that you could look into the room beyond.

With a silent nod to each other and knowing that the Death Eater raid could be over at any time, they each picked a door and headed towards it. Reaching up and sliding back the panel in the doors at almost the same time, they both gasped as they saw into the two rooms.

"I've found Tom," Minerva said.

Of course this was at almost the same time that Dumbledore spoke.

"There's another boy over in this cell."

Turning her head slightly, McGonagall asked, "Another boy? Do you recognize him?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes Minerva. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's Regulus Black."

"Regulus?" Minerva asked. "But he's…"

"You can debate that later," Xander said as he came down the stairs with Harry, both of them having heard Minerva's first question. "Nick was looking over the stairs down to the ground floor and some of the Death Eaters are starting to return. No sign of You-Know-Who, but we can't linger here."

"Jookey! Ciskey!" Harry called, prompting the two elves to appear.

"Lord Black called?" Ciskey asked, as she looked around for a moment and asked, "Where is we?"

"No time to explain," Harry said, "Can you use house-elf magic to unlock both of those doors? And cast the Gemini Charm on the occupants of both rooms?"

Jookey and Ciskey nodded, before they unlocked the doors and headed into the cells beyond. The unfortunate problem of the Gemini Charm was that it wasn't instant and they had to wait a few minutes while the doubles of Tom and Regulus grew out of their bodies. Obviously both of them were confused by this turn of events, but remained silent, just waiting to see what was going on.

Finally, after a tense few minutes, Jookey and Ciskey emerged from the cells, with the real Tom Riddle and Regulus Black following behind them. "Professor Dumbledore?" They asked in nearly perfect unison, with Regulus saying, "Professor McGonagall?" as Tom asked, "Minerva, is that you? You're so old." before looking at each other and asking, "Who are you?"

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a pop as another house-elf appeared. It was Tolkey, the same elf that had been tending to the wounds of Tom and Regulus for years now.

"You shouldn't be here," Tolkey said.

Holding out his hand so that Tolkey could see his ring, Harry said, "Tolkey, I am Lord Emrys-Potter-Black and you've been deceived."

"What do you mean?" Tolkey asked, pausing from alerting his master because he could see the Emrys crest on the raven-haired teenager's ring. While he was bound to the service of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt, all of the Great Houses owed their loyalty to the Most Ancient and Royal House of Emrys.

Motioning towards Tom, Harry said, "This is Tom Marvolo Riddle. The son of Merope Gaunt and your true master."

"You lie," Tolkey said with a shake of his head.

"Tom, order him to look at you."

Tom hesitated for a second, as in all the years he'd been a prisoner, he'd never talked with the house-elf that treated his wounds. He hadn't even known its name. He couldn't remember why that was, but now, he found himself saying, "Tolkey, look at me."

Tolkey's eyes widened as he felt the magic that compelled him to obey… which only meant one thing. "You're a Gaunt!" Pulling on his ears harshly, Tolkey dropped to his knees and said, "Oh Master, I'm so sorry! All these years, I've let you be tortured and done nothing to stop it!"

"Tolkey, we don't have time for dramatics or punishments," Xander said.

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed we don't. Jookey, Ciskey, please cast the charm to sever the mental links between the doubles and their real counterparts."

With a nod from Harry, Jookey and Ciskey did as Dumbledore asked.

"Done," Jookey said a moment later.

"Tolkey, I know you want to be with Tom, your Master," Harry said. "But you need to do something else for him. You need to remain here and prevent the person who's been holding him captive all this time from finding out that he's escaped for as long as you possibly can. Can you do that?"

Tolkey nodded. "I can do that." Looking at Tom, he asked, "Is that what Master wants?"

"Yes, it is," Tom answered.

Closing and locking the cell doors with a snap of his fingers, Tolkey said, "Than Tolkey shall do it."

"Jookey, Ciskey, can you take them," pointing at Tom and Regulus, "to the stables on the edge of the property?"

"Do it," Harry said without waiting for the two elves to ask if they should.

"We can take all of you there," Ciskey said as she held out her hands. "Just grab on."

Dumbledore, Xander, and Harry grabbed onto Jookey, as McGonagall, Tom, and Regulus grabbed onto Ciskey. A second later, all six of them Disapparated from the room, leaving Tolkey alone in the large underground room. Tolkey didn't stay long, however, as he began making sure that everything was just as Voldemort left it so that there'd be no trace that anything was out of the ordinary.

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After the rescue group had left the stables, Tristan and Thomas had gone back to what they'd been doing when they were interrupted. Thankfully, they had finished and were adjusting their clothes as the six people and two house-elves popped into the stables.

Tristan's and Thomas's eyes widened upon seeing Regulus, as while they were four and five years younger than him, they'd both still gone to school with him. He'd been one of the prefects who led them both into the Slytherin dormitories when they were first years, having been in his fifth year when Tristan was a first year and his sixth year when Thomas was. "Regulus?"

"No time for introductions or explanations," Harry said, even as he pulled the black leather cord of his medallion out from under his shirt, as Xander did the same.

Since the stables were outside of the wards around Gaunt Manor, they could safely use magic here, so Xander pulled out his wand and magically enlarged the cords that his and Harry's medallions were hanging from enough that they could fit around two people's necks, similar to how Hermione had put the chain of the Time Turner around both her's and Harry's necks back in third year.

Harry and Xander made this plan while they were waiting on the stairs, before Nick warned everyone about the returning Death Eaters. At the time, Xander had thought he'd just be enlarging the cord of Harry's medallion as he knew the right spell to do so and he thought they were only rescuing one person. He was adaptable, however, so after enlarging Harry's he enlarged his as well.

"Tristan, Thomas, the other Death Eaters are starting to return," Harry said. "I suggest you get back over to the house. When you can get away without arousing suspicion, come to Hogwarts to visit Theodore and Tabitha. We'll handle things then."

The Notts nodded, as Harry walked over to Tom and said, "I'm not going to hurt you, but we need to get you out of here now. This medallion is a Portkey and I'm going to put the cord around both our necks so that it'll transport us both. Okay?"

Tom nodded at which point Harry put the cord around Tom's neck, as Xander did the same with Regulus. Tom wrapped one arm around Harry's waist as Regulus did the same with Xander.

"The others have already used their Portkeys, so let's go," Xander said, as Harry, Dumbledore and McGonagall nodded. Grasping the medallions, Harry, Xander, Dumbledore and McGonagall all said, 'Áfaran,' at which point the six of them disappeared from the room, leaving behind the Notts and the two elves, who popped out not long afterward to return to their duties, while the Notts headed for the secret tunnel.

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Meanwhile, at the safe house in the Falkland Islands, Ryan and Ernie were two of the first people to arrive, followed shortly afterward by Lucinda and Mad-Eye. Calliara smiled when she saw Ryan and said, "Hello Kyrian."

"Your Majesty," Ryan said with a bow.

"No need for that," Calliara said. "I may be the Queen but I'm also your aunt."

"So this is?" A female voice asked as Ryan straightened up.

"Yes," Calliara answered with a smile. "Aralia, meet Kyrian Laitannen, also known as Ryan Cromwell. Kyrian, this is your grandmother, Aralia Laitannen."

Ryan's eyes widened a bit as it took his brain a second to catch up and remember that Aralia was Rhylian's mother and that as an Atlantean, she'd stopped aging at the age of twenty-one, which is why she didn't look that much older than he did, despite being his grandmother.

Aralia was about five-feet, ten inches tall, with brilliant green eyes and blonde hair, although as Ryan had learned in the last few days, the one external indicator of her age was that her hair was closer to being white blonde, rather than Calliara's and Asheera's golden blonde hair. Rhylian had explained to him that sometime between the ages of four and five hundred an Atlantean's hair began lightening so that while still blonde it wasn't as vibrant as it had once been. It was possible for an Atlantean's hair to turn pure white after the age of about eight hundred, although many took to dyeing it once that happened.

"It's nice to meet you, al'atara," Ryan said.

"You as well, da'utin," Aralia said with a smile.

Quirking an eyebrow, Ernie said, "I'm guessing that's High Atlantean?"

Nodding, Ryan said, "Yes, Ernie. Al'atara means grandmother, while da'utin is grandson." Smiling at Aralia, he said, "I'm nowhere near fluent yet, as I've only known I'm Atlantean for a couple weeks now, but I'm learning."

"I'd say you're doing well," Aralia said.

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Ryan said. "But, I figured I'd concentrate on the words for family relationships and get those down at least, so I can call family by the proper Atlantean words." Motioning towards Ernie, he said, "Anyway, this is one of my oldest friends, Ernie Macmillan, Lord Hufflepuff," Aralia and Ernie shook hands. "This is Alastor "Mad-Eye' Moody, and finally, my maternal grandmother, Lucinda Cromwell."

Aralia and Mad-Eye nodded at each other, before Aralia smiled at Lucinda and said, "It seems that you've raised a remarkable young man, Lucinda. Thank you for being there for him all these years."

"It was my pleasure," Lucinda said honestly.

Any further conversation was cutoff as more people began arriving and more introductions were made.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were among the last ones to arrive, appearing in the room seconds before Harry and Xander did. Of course, there were more than a few double takes when they saw the magically expanded leather cord around Harry's and Tom's necks and around Xander's and Regulus's necks. As they'd all been in the stairwell as Harry and Xander made their plan, Kingsley, Lucinda, Ryan, and Mad-Eye knew that Xander was going to expand Harry's medallion cord so that he could get Tom out. But, they weren't expecting Xander to arrive with someone sharing his own cord.

Chuckling at the surprised faces, Dumbledore said, "As you can all see, we had a bit of a surprise. We found Tom, but we also found somebody else." Gesturing towards Regulus, he said, "For those of you who aren't aware, this is Regulus Black, the presumed dead younger brother of the late Sirius Black."

Harry's eyes widened when Dumbledore said this because while he'd heard the other boy they'd found referred to as Regulus Black, he hadn't made the connection between Sirius and Regulus, even though now that he thought about it, he remembered Sirius telling him about Regulus when he'd shown him the Black family tapestry at Grimmauld Place.

Harry wasn't the only one who's eyes widened, however, as Regulus asked, "Sirius is dead?" He'd heard Harry tell Tolkey that he was Lord Black, but he'd assumed that to mean that his grandfather, Lord Arcturus Black, had passed away and named Harry as his heir.

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, Regulus, I'm sorry to say that Sirius died last year at the Ministry, pushed into the Veil of Death by your cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange."

Harry shut his eyes and tried to will the tears to stop before they started, afraid that if he started crying now, he wouldn't be able to stop. With his arm around Harry's waist and the cord still around their necks, Tom was the first one to notice Harry's reaction and while he didn't totally understand what was going on or who Sirius was to Harry, he still felt the need to console his rescuer and thus began rubbing his hand in small circular motions on the small of Harry's back.

Rhylian's and Andenar's eyebrows rose at the mention of the Veil of Death and they shared a look, but remained silent as now wasn't the right time to be bringing up such things. They also wanted to check with Nekronis to make sure they were right about what they were suspecting, before they said anything.

Regulus sniffled a bit, because despite the tension in the last few years that had driven them apart, Sirius and Regulus had always been close as children. "And our parents?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Both dead, I'm afraid. You are the sole remaining Black who still bears the surname. Harry is Lord Black, but his surname is Potter, the only son of James and Lily Potter."

Regulus nodded. "Wait, you told the elf that you were Lord Emrys-Potter-Black… I guess that means your parents are dead too?

Harry nodded. "Yes they died on Halloween in 1981, when I was only just over a year old. I was then raised by my mother's muggle sister and didn't know anything about being Lord Potter, let alone Lord Black or Lord Emrys until recently."

Both Tom's and Regulus's jaws dropped open at this, for more than one reason. Not only because Harry was Lord Emrys, but also because of the fact that there were no windows in their cells. Which meant they had no idea how much time had actually passed.

"1981?!" They both asked in nearly perfect unison, before Regulus, his voice unsteady, asked, "What year is it?"

"It's 14 November 1996," Dumbledore said, giving the full date in order to head of a potential second question.

Regulus looked shocked by this, of course, but he seemed better able to take it in stride. Tom, on the other hand, looked like he was having trouble breathing, and he went weak in the knees. His arm still around Harry's waist and the cord still around their necks, Harry soon found himself supporting most of Tom's weight and was the only thing keeping him from falling on his arse.

Aralia waved her hand and made one of the wingback chairs in front of the fireplace move across the room so that it was behind Tom, at which point Harry guided him into it, taking up a place on the arm of the chair as he did so.

"19… 19… 1990… 1996?!" Tom stuttered out, as he tried to wrap his head around that. "No, it can't be."

"I'm afraid it's true, Tom," McGonagall said. "You asked why I looked so old earlier, well, that's why. I'm seventy-one years old."

"If you're seventy-one, then," Tom said, as he looked at Dumbledore.

"I'm a hundred and fifteen," Dumbledore said. "So, definitely much older than I was the last time we saw each other back in 1943."

Tom shook his head. "Oh Gods, everyone I ever knew is old or dead aren't they?"

"Some might be dead," Lucinda said. "Others are just old."

Tom's eyes widened as he looked over and asked, "Lucinda? Is that… is that you?"

Nodding, Lucinda said, "Yes, Tom, it's me. I imagine I've changed quite a bit in your eyes, as I'm a seventy-year-old grandmother these days."

"Grandmother?" Tom asked. "You mean I'm…"

Realizing what Tom thought, Lucinda shook her head. "No, Tom, as far as I know, you are not a grandfather. You and I were still together when you were kidnapped, but your captor assumed your identity. The personality change was very subtle the first week or so, but became progressively more pronounced as time went on. After two months, I couldn't take it any longer and I broke up with him. I went on to start dating and eventually married William Cromwell, who you may remember was in Ravenclaw." After a moment, she added, "He passed away ten years ago."

"So all these years…" Tom said. "That's why nobody looked for me? Because that monster had assumed my identity?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, although it was mostly until you would have finished Hogwarts and for a few years after that. He then began calling himself Lord Voldemort, which oddly enough if you use your nickname of Tom instead of Thomas, then Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort.'"

"Do I even want to know what atrocities he's committed in my name?" Tom asked.

"Probably not," Harry said. "Although you're probably going to hear about most of them eventually. A lot of people call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named because they're so afraid of him. He's tortured and killed hundreds if not thousands of people, including my parents, James and Lily Potter."

Harry hesitated for a moment, because he didn't want to dump too much on Tom all at once but at the same time felt that he did have a right to know. "He, um, also murdered your father and his parents, and pinned the murders on Morfin Gaunt, your mother's late brother."

"My father is dead?" Tom asked. It hadn't been easy, but he'd managed to track down his father and grandparents and had planned to go and meet them once he finished Hogwarts. Maybe try to have a relationship with them, but apparently that was no longer an option. "And the rest of my family?"

McGonagall shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid you are the last of the Riddles and the Gaunts."

Putting his arm around Tom's shoulders, Harry gave the other boy a one-armed hug. Tom had comforted him earlier, so it only seemed right that he do it now. "I understand what you're going through, Tom. I'm the last of the Potters… and the last of the Emrys line, too, I guess. At any rate, Voldemort has had a very big effect on my life. He murdered my parents, ordered the death of my first boyfriend, Cedric, and one of his followers killed my godfather, Sirius Black."

"Sirius was your godfather?" Regulus asked. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as close as he and James were in school. And Sirius did run off to live with the Potters as a teenager." After a moment, he looked confused as he asked, "But wait, you said your mother's muggle sister raised you. If Sirius didn't die until last year, why didn't he raise you?"

Harry sighed. "Because for a long time it was believed that he'd betrayed my parents. They'd gone into hiding from Voldemort under the Fidelius and it was believed that Sirius was the Secret Keeper."

With a shake of his head, Harry added, "He wasn't, however, and when he confronted the one who was, Peter Pettigrew also known as Wormtail, he ended up getting framed for the death of Peter and several muggles. He then got sent to Azkaban Prison without a trial where he remained until my third year at Hogwarts when he escaped and the truth came out. Unfortunately, while I and a few other people learned the truth, Sirius's name was never officially cleared before he died."

Everybody in the room was silent for a few minutes. Dumbledore walked over to a nearby sideboard and picked up a silver pitcher full of water, which he poured into two silver cups and brought them over to Tom and Regulus, figuring they might both be thirsty. They were and they both drank, immediately noting the difference in the taste.

"That was so good," Regulus said. "The water that I was drinking while imprisoned just never tasted right."

Tom was silent, however, because after he'd drained his cup, he tilted it in his hands and caught sight of his face for the first time in what he now knew was years. After seeing how much Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lucinda had aged, he'd expected to look like an old man himself, since if his math was right, he was supposed to be sixty-nine years old now, due to turn seventy in about a month and a half. That isn't the sight that awaited him in the polished silver, however.

"How?" Tom asked. "I still look sixteen." Tom shook his head, wondering if maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He'd thought he hadn't aged, because his hands and what he could see of his body hadn't seemed to age in all the time that he'd been a prisoner, but this was the first time he'd actually seen his face in years and it still looked the same. "If I've been imprisoned since 1943… for fifty-three years… how do I still look like I'm sixteen?"

This prompted Regulus to look at his own reflection in his cup and he realized that he still looked like he was eighteen years old. "I'd like to know that too, because I should be thirty-five, but I don't look it."

"A small mercy on the part of your captor," Rhylian explained. "We're not sure yet if there's any long-term side effects, but you were both placed under a Dark Arts prison variant of the Time Suspension Charm. The power to sustain the spell was drawn from your own magical cores, which is why the water you've been drinking probably tasted funny, because it was laced with Magic Restorative Drafts. The potion kept the charm going and kept you young, but left you magically weak enough that you couldn't fight back."

"Yes, we've got a healer on standby back in Albion," Dumbledore explained. "She's going to examine both of you and make sure that you're both in good health. Thankfully, from what we've been able to uncover, we know that the charm that's prevented you from aging can be removed and that you'll be able to pick up basically right where you left off age wise. Although as Rhylian said, we're not sure yet what the long-term effects of being held under that spell for decades might be."

"We should be getting them back to Hogwarts so that Sarah can examine them," McGonagall said, as Dumbledore and a few other people nodded in agreement.

-o-0-o-

To be continued….

And there you have Part Two of Chapter Twenty-Seven of The Knights of the Founders. So Tom is finally free from his prison… and it turns out that Regulus Black isn't as dead as everybody thought. Surprised by that twist? The identity of the mind healer will be revealed in the next chapter, although one person has already correctly guessed their identity. I'll tell you this much: they're a canon character.

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