Nr words in this chapter: 2,117

"Talking"

'Thinking'

{Talking on the fireplace, phone}

–Parseltongue–

Thinking in 3rd person POV/Dream/Memory/Flashback/Others

Letter/Journal/Book/Newspaper

Time change/Date of time

Change of POV

Chapter XVIII

–Dursleys' Abuse–

Thursday, 4 July 1996

HJP's POV

Harry sipped from his tea glancing at Voldemort as the man read his newspaper and sipped from his tea, not even once the man commented on the wet to the bones twins. Finally, Voldemort folded his newspaper and Harry looked down at his plate at once. Never had the table been so quiet before.

"I know that the old Lady in the village said for you to take baths… but isn't this a little extreme, Miley?" Voldemort asked.

Miley blushed.

"It was Sirius and…"

"He said that Harry sent him to wake us up."

Harry frowned.

"Really? He told me that Uncle sent him."

At this everyone turned to the place where Sirius should stay, he was with a dog collar in dog form and Miley was forcing him to eat from a dish on the floor in dog form.

"Go change clothes and then came finish your breakfast." At once the two twins left the room. Voldemort turned to Harry. "The Malfoys have answered. They are coming with others of your Slytherin friends." The man said.

Harry groaned at the reminder of dealing with so many Slytherins.

"Good."

"Fred and George Weasley also sent a letter accepting the invite. The Lovegoods and the Longbottom have yet to reply." Harry nodded. "Afterwards I'll want to speak with you about the way my dearie Cousin raised you."

Harry frowned looking up to the man, puzzled.

"Why?"

"When you first come to my house you used your Cousin second-handed clothes, I know that my Cousin isn't poor so I wonder why she would do that. Then there was the obvious malnutrition that you had. You learnt to cook from a young age, not to speak of gardening and taking care of a house. Earlier I also saw you running away from the twins. As if you were used to running."

Harry shrugged.

"It's nothing."

"It is something and if you don't tell me I'll go direct to the source."

Harry tensed.

"I don't eat much. I like to cook and garden so Aunt Petunia lets me take care of those things. When I happened to get a punishment I had to clean the house… and me and my Cousin had a game that included lots of running." He answered. "Like I said, it is nothing."

"How many times did you get a punishment?"

"Every time I decontrolled my magic and did something out of normal." Harry replied with a shrug. "I jumped over some garbage cans and ended up on the school roof once." He admitted ashamed.

Voldemort looked at him at once and then his eyes narrowed.

"What about the clothes and malnutrition?"

"Dudley was making a diet during the time you went to pick me up, so everyone was in diet. And I already cost too much to my uncles…"

Voldemort stood suddenly and walked away. Harry wondered if he had done anything wrong. The Dark Lord returned not long later with cellphone.

"Do you know my Cousin's number?"

Harry nodded and said it, wondering what Voldemort was doing. Voldemort took the phone to his hear and walked away as Aunt Petunia answered the phone. Sirius, at Harry's side, shifted back into a human and took his dog collar out.

"Don't find excuses for your Aunt's treatment, Harry. Anyone can see that they are far from normal ones. Besides Ron told me about the bars on your windows and the cat flap on your room door… not to speak of the locks." Harry tensed as the chandelier in the living room exploded. Sirius protected them from the shards at once, restoring the chandelier. "Not to speak that the uncontrolled magic that you have is a lot stronger than it should be because you restrained it for so long. You need to learn to control it or one day you'll kill yourself with your own magic."

Harry's eyes grew, glancing at Voldemort as the man was arguing with Aunt Petunia on the phone. He hadn't made that chandelier explode even if Sirius thought he had… was he really as powerful as they painted him to be? Powerful enough to defeat Voldemort the first time?

The twins returned, sitting at the table.

"Why is Papa arguing on the phone?" Miley asked.

"He's calling my… our Aunt, his cousin." Harry answered.

Stan looked at Voldemort in the corridor walking back and forth in front of the door and then back towards Harry.

"Papa looks angry." The boy commented.

"He has reasons to be." Sirius argued.

The two twins looked at him.

"What are you doing in human form? You're under punishment. No human form for a day!" Miley threatened and Sirius shifted immediately to his dog form.

Harry had to hide his smile at the fact that Sirius was so quick to obey. Miley surely had gotten Harry's temper. Harry tensed at the reminded of what that meant…

"By the way… when I and Miley went to the local village…" the twins looked at him at once. "I saw this playground and thought that maybe you two would like to go. I know you are already 12 and all that, but…"

Miley turned to her twin at once with pleading eyes.

"What does Papa thinks of that?" Stan asked.

The five looked at the man on the corridor and Harry was sure that only years of self-restrain was keeping the man from blowing up the Manor with his magic.

"He is busy right now… why don't we leave your Godmother to give him a note while we go?" Luna smiled amused at Harry using her as a scapegoat. "I mean… I'm sure Snuffles will love to chase the neighbours' cats…"

They all laughed at that.

–MR–

Harry looked up at hearing Voldemort approaching.

"A little warning next time?" The man hissed as he sat by Harry's side on the parking seat.

"You were angry." Harry argued, turning again to the playing twins as they played catch with Sirius in dog form. "Besides I left Serena to tell you where we'd gone." –And I suspected you'd want to leave the Manor to go get the books for Miley.–

–Already taken care of.– Voldemort agreed, glancing at the Muggles who were chuckling at the giggling children. –Your aunt isn't dead.– The man added, taking a book that Harry hadn't realized he'd brought along and opening it to read.

–What did you do to her?–

–When I visited her last summer made her believe I existed. As far as she knows she always had a cousin who lived in France for a long part of her youth.– Harry glanced at the man who looked back. –It would be suspicious if I'd just killed her after declaring that you are off touching although trust me it is tempting.–

–She just told you about my upbringing when you called?–

–I can see who you learn to lie from. You two are terrible liars.– Voldemort reprimanded and Harry blushed. –I didn't give her a choice. Honestly… treating a young Wizard as if he was the dirt under her boot.–

–It's in past. It doesn't matter anymore.– Harry argued, shrugging and looking to the trio as suddenly they turned around and both were running after the dog.

–You have side effects because of it.– Voldemort hissed, before he took a deep breath to control himself. "You are too forgiving."

"I have to be, don't I?" Harry argued coldly. Voldemort raised an eyebrow back and Harry saw Sirius tilting his head towards them, which proved that the Wizard was listening on them. "If I wasn't… would I be here? Would they be here?" He added and stood approaching the trio.

"All good?" Miley asked.

Harry smiled at her.

"Yes. Who wants to play hide and seek?"

"Are you counting?" Stan wondered and Harry nodded.

The two grinned and run away.

–MR–

LV's POV

Voldemort narrowed his eyes as Harry counted with his eyes closed as the twins hid around the park. Harry was right, if Harry wasn't forgiveful he would've never accept the Wizard and the twins might not even birth a second time. Black sat at his side on the floor with his tongue out as his fast breathed. The children had tired him apparently.

"Mr Evans."

Voldemort looked up to see Slughorn approaching in a Muggle suit. Good to know that he wasn't a complete fool and still knew how to dress among Muggles – so unlike his former Transfiguration Professor.

"Professeur." Voldemort acknowledged and offered the old man the seat at his side.

"Thank you. I'm not as young as I used to be." The Wizard sat at his side. "The children's godmother said that you'd all come here to play."

"They're playing hide and seek." Voldemort agreed, watching as Harry tried to look for the duo. "To what do we do the honneur?"

"Just finished speaking with the School Board and it is accepted. Young Harry can do all ten classes. The Minister himself even discussed with the School Headmaster." Voldemort turned towards his former Professor amused. "Dumbledore wasn't liking the idea of having Harry's Family Lord at the school."

"But no problem, I believe?"

"No, none at all. Tom will be young Harry's tutor." Voldemort nodded. Good, that would grant him access to the school to be close to Harry and to court him. "A Bake Master was also already contracted as his tutor."

"Good." Voldemort accepted the parchment and read the tutoring agreements he had to sign so Harry could attend those extra normal curricular classes. He picked a Muggle pen from his pocket and signed the four parchments as Thierry Evans, returning it to the Wizard. "Anything else that is needed?"

Slughorn stored the parchments and picked another one, giving Voldemort. Harry's grades and schoolbook material list. Voldemort accepted it and read through it.

"Of course we don't have Tom's booklist yet, but I added a few book ideas for him to choose from." Voldemort hummed looking at the titles and seeing the ones Slughorn chosen for Voldemort to use. He didn't knew any of these ones. "It's been a while since Tom studied and the books I used to give him to study from are completely out of date."

"I'll buy all of them for Harry to read. It won't kill him and then his Lord will be able to see which one he prefers to use or which part from all three books."

"Indeed." Slughorn smiled back, before looking to the park where Harry had just located a pouting Miley. "I saw that you'd put Harry's Charm Professor as Harry's duelling Professor."

"I heard he was a Master of it." Voldemort agreed.

"Oh he is. Yes, he is. But Filius doesn't compare to Tom. No one does."

Voldemort looked at his former Professor amused at what the Professor was implying. So he did know that Tom was Voldemort and he was still giving him the means to tutor Harry?

"He doesn't speak with me." Voldemort argued. "«Muggle»."

"Of course. Of course. Tom was raised in a Muggle orphanage in London. I'm certain that he still must resent it. I would've adopt him myself if I had been able myself." Interesting to know… "How did you manage to contact him last time?"

Voldemort saw Black sat on his back paws and look back. Voldemort pointed for one man by the side and Slughorn followed his look.

"He has men all around the town to protect us."

"Oh…" Slughorn went a little pale at that as he started to be able to pinpoint all the Death Eaters that Voldemort had scattered around the town to protect his children and Harry from any future attack from an angry Bellatrix or from a member of the Order. Voldemort wouldn't put it past them to realize the truth and attack, principally now that Slughorn knew the location of the Manor. "I guess I'll have to speak with them to contact my former student then."

Slughorn stood and walked away to the Death Eater that Voldemort had pointed him out to. Voldemort watched as Black stared after the Potions Professor making sure nothing happened to him as he spoke with the 'hidden' Death Eater. The fact that Black hadn't realized yet that they were around amused him immensely.

(TBC)