Disclaimer: Not mine!

Author's Note: Hey there, here's the next chapter. Part of it was inspirated by one of your reviews, so if you recognise it, please tell me your name so that I can properly thank you. I can't seem to find your review #sigh#... nyway, thank you and now read the chappie...


52. JIGSAW PUZZLE

Seven days had passed and with the steady care of everyone in the house, Harry's bones had mended, his bruises had faded and the scars had disappeared. He was still pale and his muscles had softened, because he hadn't moved in the last week, but physically at least he was perfectly fine. Today was the day Severus had predicted him to wake up, but it was already past ten o'clock in the evening.

Following Sarah's instructions they didn't crowd the sleeping boy, only two people staying with him at the same time, though Tom and Sirius hardly ever left his side. The latter continued taking Polyjuice Potion every hour, though now that he wore his own clothes again, it was easy to tell the doppelganger and the original apart.

When Harry finally awoke Tom had gone to take a long overdue nap and so he awoke to the sight of Sirius and Rabastan, who were sitting in two chairs next to his bed. Sirius' head had sunken to his chest and his eyes were closed, showing just how long it had been since he had had a good night's rest, while the younger Lestrange carefully observed Harry's still form. At first he thought it were only his eyes playing tricks on hi, when he saw Harry's fingers twitch, wrinkling the blanket a little, but then Harry's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Welcome back", he whispered so as not to startle the violated boy and the eyes focussed on him, "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Rabastan?", Harry's voice cracked at the second syllable, "What happened?"

"You were attacked", he gently squeezed Harry's hand, "But you're safe now and we'll fix you up."

Harry closed his eyes as the memories of that day came back to him, like a herd of panicked gnus and he pulled the hand back, curling up with the back to the two wizards: "No."

That desperate cry woke Sirius from his slumber and he shot out of his seat, as he assessed the situation.

"Harry?", he called softly and the gentle voice seemed to calm him down a little, "It's me, Sirius."

"NO!", Harry wailed, backing away into the corner of his bed, "Not Sirius, go away. Leave me alone, I hate you..."

"But..."

"There's no point, Black", Rabastan grabbed his arm, "He needs to calm down first. Come on."

The others, woken or alerted by the scream, stood in the hallway and Remus took the crying Animagus in his arms: "He can't even stand to hear my name! He hates me!"

"Let's go down and have some tea, okay?", Remus resolutely led him down the hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen, the others following silently.

"It's most likely a form of self protection", Rudolphus said after a while, "Weasley sent me a copy of the interrogation of Weasley and Granger. They told him how much he's hated and what a disappointment he was. So now he tries to convince himself that he doesn't need you and that he hates you as well", everyone around the table looked weirdly at him, "What?"

"Nothing", Sirius straightened up, "What are we supposed to do now?"

"We wait", declared Tom, "I will have some coffee", now it was his turn to be stared up, "I didn't sleep more than six hours it the last few days- I think, I'm entitled to a cup of coffee now."

They all ordered a cup of coffee or tea from Dobby, who had followed them here, and then sat mutely at the old worn table, neither having the energy or the strength to start a conversation. Sirius was leaning heavily against the werewolf, berating himself for being so weak and breaking down while he should be helping Harry. Tom had put his forehead against the table, trying to inhale the coffee that he held in his hands. Severus and Rudolphus had linked their hands under the table and Rabastan was staring fixedly at the clock opposite of him, counting the seconds and minutes until the minute hand had wandered over 180 degree.

"Hey", Harry slunk into the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it to prevent himself from fleeing.

"Hey", Tom smiled reassuringly at him, "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine", Harry said automatically before he noticed that he was relapsing into old habits and, smiling apologetically, he corrected: "No, I'm not fine. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Harry", said Sirius, "Never believe that."

Harry cocked his head as he received the pattern of emotions that was so characteristic of Sirius from someone who looked exactly like Severus. His eyes searched the room, landing on the Potion's Master and then back to Sirius.

"Thank you, Snuffles, I love you. I'm sorry I said that earlier."

"I love you, too, Harry", Sirius smiled gently at him, "Do you want to sit down? I'll make you pancakes."

He stood up, offering Harry his seat, but Harry shrank away, fumbling with the door: "I can't do this, I just can't", and he bolted out of the room.

"Four minutes", stated Rabastan, "That's about twice as long as the first time."

"I think we should all go to sleep", the werewolf declared and grabbed Sirius' hand, "Harry will need time to sort this out for himself."

"I'll stay down here", Severus returned and the others reluctantly went to bed.

Harry stayed in his room for over two days, not touching the food Dobby magicked into his room, mostly just staring at whatever happened to be in front of his eyes, crying all the tears he had and then continuing to sob dryly. He couldn't believe that Hermione and Ginny had done this to him, that they hated him so much, that he had lost his child. Hogwarts had been his home, his refuge and they had destroyed it, they had destroyed him. He could tell that someone was always sitting in front of his door and that they were worried about him and that the worry grew steadily, but he couldn't bring himself to face them yet. The day in the kitchen had scared him in ways he wasn't likely to ever understand completely let alone be able to explain it to them.

Unknown to him the other persons in the house were hit by waves of emotions when ever his feelings very particularly intense. First there was pain, pain so strong that Rabastan tumbled to the floor, clutching his chest as the first wave hit him. Then came sadness so all consuming that even Severus' had tears running down his face. And the last emotion was anger, which not only caused them to irrationally shout at each other, but was accompanied by a tidal of raw magic that shattered all the windows one by one before it disappeared.

After that last wave they sat in uncomfortable silence, since no-one was willing to apologise for the earlier insults, waiting if yet another wave would follow.

"I guess, that's a good sign", Remus sighed after a while, slowly massaging Sirius' scalp, "At least he let it all out."

"He never did this before, did he?", Severus asked and Sirius shook his head: "One time when he was a baby. He helped me find Remus."

"How?", Rudolphus asked, kneading his hands.

"It was after the full moon, but I had forgotten", Sirius murmured, "Harry hit me with a whole wave of worry and then he gave me his wolf plushie before he fell asleep."

"You never told me this", Remus said reproachfully.

"I wasn't very proud of the fact that I had forgotten you", the Animagus growled testily, "Besides, I always thought, I was imagining things until now."

"He did this to me, too", Tom muttered more to himself, "I just remembered. When I tried to kill him, that's why I couldn't."

"Oh, yes, blame the baby for it, why don't you?", Sirius spat.

"I was merely stating a fact", Tom sighed, "Look, Black, we are all on edge right now, but..."

Tom's speech was interrupted by the sudden flaring of the flames in the chimney. Three wizards stepped through the fire, one being the new Minister of Magic, looking grave and mildly sick. He was framed by two Aurors, who immediately pointed their wands at the Dark Lord upon arrival.

"Mr. Riddle, we have reason to believe that you assaulted the arrested Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger and Ginevra Weasley", Percy stated, "You are temporarily arrested."

"I did what?", Tom seemed highly amused.

"You assaulted the aforementioned prisoners", Percy looked quite the opposite.

"I gathered that much, but I was wondering what exactly I supposedly did", Tom smirked in anticipation, "And when for that matter."

"Mr. Riddle, I neither have the time nor the mind to play this game with you", Percy scowled at him, "If you would kindly hand over your wand now?"

"I have no intention to do that, Mr. Weasley", Tom answered coldly, "As much as I wanted to take my revenge on those beasts, I didn't because Harry needs me here. I didn't leave this house in the last week at all so your accusations are quite unfounded."

"Can you confirm this?", Percy asked the others and got several nods in return, "Very well, I'm apologise for the interruption. Please, say hello to Harry from my brothers and me."

He made to turn away, but if he thought, he could avoid telling them every little detail about this assault, he was sorely mistaken: "Mr. Weasley, what happened to them?"

"They were", Percy took a deep breath, grimacing in disgust, "Castrated. Only half an hour ago."

After a short silence, the Slytherins and Sirius snorted and though Remus seemed to share Percy's disgust you could also see grim satisfaction in his amber eyes.

"And you have no idea who did this?", the werewolf asked.

"Their descriptions were rather unhelpful, though they are in agreement", Percy sighed, fumbling with his glasses, "They all talked about a rush of magic that maimed them. There were no signs of a forcible intrusion, nor any sign that someone was there other than the fact that they are castrated."

"Harry", Sirius and Tom whispered at the same time, but Percy had already turned away and made to follow the two Aurors back to the Ministry: "I apologise once again for the inconvenience. Good afternoon, gentlemen."

"Harry finally snapped", Sirius murmured when the Ministry officials had left, "Merlin, this is not good."

"They deserved it", Tom growled, but Remus shook his head: "Harry is not like you, Riddle. He can't deal with causing others pain, he will regret it and blame himself."

"Hey", Rabastan walked into the room after his shift of watching Harry, stretching his sore back, "Who's next?"

"I'll go", Rudolphus got up, "Did Harry eat something?"

Rabastan shook his head sadly: "I think he finally fell asleep, about an hour or so ago."

The older Lestrange nodded before he went upstairs to sit in front of Harry's room.

"I don't think, Harry knows about that", Severus mused a while later, "If he did, he wouldn't be peacefully sleeping in his room."

"Then what happened?", Remus asked, "I mean, we all agree that it was Harry's magic, don't we?"

"Harry's baby", Severus muttered, "It was his mother instinct, taking its revenge for a lost life. The magic he had stored to support the baby was send out to protect him and because it was mixed with his feelings it managed to travel so far and to attack them. That's why Harry is asleep now."

"Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound like it would keep Harry from blaming himself once he finds out", Tom returned.

"Technically it is a good thing because it means that his magic realised that the baby is gone and can therefore work on healing Harry himself", Severus offered, "And we don't exactly have to tell him what happened to them, now do we?"

The three Slytherins shared a smirk and although Sirius and Remus seemed rather doubtful they didn't protest, either.

At the end of those two days- it was evening once again and Sirius was the one sitting in front of his door- he mustered up his courage and cautiously opened the door.

"Snuffles", Sirius' head snapped up from the book he had been forced to read by Remus, because his fiancé thought, it would help him understand Harry's situation, but in the first three chapters he had only learned that Whizzing Whisbies and alcohol don't mix well and that dark alleys should be avoided under all circumstances, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course, Harry", he said softly putting down the book, "Do you want me to come in?"

"No, I'd rather you didn't move", Harry pleaded, letting out a sigh as Sirius sank back into his chair, "I want you to know that I really love you and that this is absolutely not your fault. But I'm still scared, I know it wasn't you who said all those things and did this to me, but every time I hear your name I can hear her words again and it kills me. They made me say your name and it hurt so much. I thank you for taking Polyjuice Potion and it makes it easier, but I recognise you by your emotions and every time I feel them it somehow connects in my mind and then I'm back in that room. I don't want you to leave because I need you so much and I can't live without you, but please, Snuffles, give me time, please?"

Sirius once again had tears running down his face as he nodded: "I love you, Harry, and I'm trying very hard to understand, though I probably never will. I will do anything if it helps you. I don't want you to tolerate my presence only to not hurt my feelings. If you want me to do something, just tell me. I'll always be here for you and I would never think of you like they wanted to make you believe."

"Thank you, Snuffles", Harry smiled hesitantly at the older man, "Can you say hello to them? I need a bit more time for myself."

"Of course."

Two more days passed, during which Harry at least ate again, before he finally stood in the living room, pressed against the door, while Rudolphus, who had been watching his door and had walked down in front of Harry, sat down on the sofa.

"Hey, little one", Tom greeted gently, holding himself like everyone else perfectly still, "Is there something we can do for you?"

"Can you just ignore me for a while, let me sit here so that I can get used to being around people again?"

Of course, awkwardness didn't fail to make an appearance as everyone tried to act naturally and to ignore the silent boy, who had moved to a chair that stood aside from the others, but they all gave their best and about two hours later, when Rabastan had just decided that he very urgently needed to go to the loo, Harry warily stood up and wordlessly edged out of the room, a huge wave of gratefulness hitting them.

It continued like that for several more days with only one little incident when Remus' book slithered from his hands and landed on the floor with a low thud, causing Harry to panic and hide in a corner for over one hour. Harry would come down somewhen in the morning and sit in a corner, quietly observing them, then eat lunch in his room and come back down in the afternoon. With every meeting his posture became more relaxed and he didn't shy away anymore from eye contact even going so far as to smile a little when someone caught his eye.

Finally one afternoon, when heavy rain was pounding against the windows making a conversation practically impossible and after Harry had stood on the porch, getting sufficiently soaked, the small boy very cautiously moved his chair closer to the fire and therefore closer to the other wizards, shifting uncomfortably until he eventually slipped to the floor and sat down cross-legged.

"Thank you", he said again sometime later, "I needed this time to figure some things out."

"Do you want to tell us what decisions you made?", Remus asked gently, wishing nothing more than to take away the pain from his cub.

"I want justice", Harry stated very quietly, "I want a trial. And then I want to heal."

"They are in custody right now", answered Rudolphus, "The trial was set on the 20th, that's in three days."

"Okay", Harry nodded, "What's with Dumbledore?"

"He was arrested as well since they have evidence that they did it on his orders", Tom returned, only barely holding back his anger, "His trial will be directly after theirs."

"Okay", repeated Harry, "Can I speak with Tom alone for a moment?"

There was a rather loud shuffling of feet and Harry shivered involuntarily, but pulled himself together, looking straight at his husband: "I know that you blame you for what happened, as does Snuffles, as does everyone else to a certain degree, but it was not your fault, Tom, so please stop with it."

"You don't know what you are forgiving me for", Tom murmured, "I killed our child, Harry. I had to choose between you and the child and I couldn't let you die. I broke my promise to never hurt that child. I broke the promise not to let something like this ever happen to you again. I'm not a father, Harry, maybe I could have learned it with your help, but without you I couldn't have given them the life you would have wanted for our child..."

During his speech Harry had slowly crawled towards him and nuzzled his leg: "I'm not a father, either, Tom. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for you to make that decision, I can't say I would have made the same choice, but that doesn't mean anything. Please, stop blaming yourself."

"I will try, Harry", he promised, "And I certainly don't regret that choice, but I was scared that I had lost you forever, I still am", he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver necklace, "I found it in front of the room- without it we wouldn't have gone looking for you. I can understand if you don't want it back."

"When I lost it I had reached a decision, Tom, but now I'm not sure about anything anymore. I need more time."

The red-eyed man very gingerly placed the trinket in Harry's small hand, caressing the milky white skin in much the same manner as three month ago: "You have as much time as you want and if I have to wait for the rest of my life."

"Tom, I haven't given up yet", the green-eyed boy whispered, "But I need you, all of you. And I want justice for my child. And for Sirius. And for you."

"Don't you want justice for yourself?"

"No, I already have everything I need for my happiness", Harry smiled up at him, "I just need to put all the pieces together. That's what I did during the last week, looking for the pieces. Good night, Tom."

"Good night, kitten."

He intently listened to the soft footsteps, glad when the door to Harry's room clicked shut without anything happening. Tom then turned to the fire, chastising himself for forgetting to ward it as soon as they had arrived. Anything could have happened! And Harry would surely have panicked if he had been here during Percy's visit. He made sure that no-one could floo in without the permission of someone in the house before he went upstairs to his room.

His and Severus' room to be exact, but the Potion's Master was either spending some time with Rudolphus or had decided to work on another potion. Abraxas, Lucius' owl, was still waiting for an answer. He had brought them not only Lucius' concerned inquiry, but also three very frantic notes from Harry's friends, demanding how he was doing. Hedwig was also waiting, looking at him with understanding amber eyes that seemed too knowledgeable for a bird. Tom had the feeling that she had spent most of her time watching over Harry from outside the window and had only come in for a bit of water and a few owl treats.

He once again read through the letters before he made to answer them. Lucius had forgotten to put the date on his letter, which alone showed his great agitation when he had written that letter. It was one long paragraph also quite uncommon for Lucius' letters and though every single letter radiated elegance and nobility, they didn't seem to fit together. Blaise and Draco's letters weren't much better and ended quiet abruptly while Ron's letter was barely readable and he had needed Severus' help to decipher it. They all asked the same questions, though: Was Harry alright? Could they do anything? Had he woken yet? Did they need anything? Could they come visit? And so he just composed one short answering letter, copying it for all of them (Lucius would consider this a terrible insult) and sent them back with Lucius' owl. He then made to write a second considerably longer letter. They would pay! He would make sure of that!


Okay, I would like to hear your opinion on something. The next chapter will be about the trials, but for the one after that I have two versions...

The first one is rather dramatic and Tom totally messes up, but in the end everything turns out just fine...

The second one is less dramatic, Tom realises his mistake in time, but it's also a bit shorter...

I had only planned the first one, but since I already put Harry through so much, I thought I should ask what you want...

So, I hope you review...

Thank you...