Severus opened the door to Dumbledore's office and Harrison had to be pulled along into the office.
"Riddle…" Dumbledore greeted, but there was something off about him. It was that he wasn't flashing his signature smile. He looked very serious — upset, even.
"Professor…" Harrison greeted back, he inclined his head slightly.
"I have no idea where to start with you," Dumbledore sighed. He leaned back into his seat and cocked his head to the side, staring down Harrison as if he was examining him.
Harrison automatically took a seat, he knew he would be there for a while.
"I've alerted the Ministry of your arrival here already, and they will most definitely send officials here to question you soon; but since we're here already, tell me what truly happened. Not the lies to uphold you and your father's false identity. I assume somewhat of what happened isn't a lie."
Harrison contemplated the thought for a while. He couldn't trust Dumbledore, if he admitted his true 'identity,' Dumbledore would just use it against him.
Harrison glanced back at Severus, and saw just the slightest shake of his head: no.
"I-I was kidnapped by the Death Eaters, Professor. And I was tortured… it was horrible," Harrison sobbed, he did not have to do much acting because the tears streamed naturally from his eyes.
Dumbledore sighed and as if on cue, his fireplace roared and one by one, Ministry officials filed out of the green fire.
"Dumbledore," one of them greeted the same way Harrison did.
"Please do be mindful when interrogating the boy… he's not taking everything so lightly." Dumbledore whispered to the man, and once again he barely inclined his head.
"Thank you Headmaster. Please step outside while we interrogate, Riddle. Same for you, Severus."
"It's my pleasure, Kingsley," Severus growled, sweeping his robes across the floor as he left the office, Dumbledore left right behind him.
"My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt," the man introduced himself and Harrison had only just realized the base in the man's voice. Even though Harrison had never met the man before, he was quite familiar with his last name.
"I'm Harrison Riddle."
"Ah, I know," Kingsley sighed, he took a seat in Dumbledore's chair, while the others stayed standing. "You've caused us a lot of trouble trying to find you. I bet you can imagine how surprised we were when we got that letter from Dumbledore that you've appeared at Hogwarts."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. We can't possibly blame you for your kidnapping… we would need a lot of evidence to do so even if we wanted to," Kingsley joked, making a quick attempt to lighten the mood.
Harrison forced himself to laugh, even though it was a terrible joke.
"So, what exactly happened that night of your kidnapping?" Kingsley asked and Harrison made sure to focus on everything he said. He needed to make sure his lie had no plot holes, everything he said did not reveal the slightest of him being Voldemort's son or Tom being Voldemort.
"It's really all a blur," Harrison began, pretending to be puzzled. If he made any slip ups, Shacklebolt and the rest of the Aurors wouldn't be suspicious. Someone with a fuzzy mind is bound to make a mistake.
"That's alright, just tell us what you remember."
"It was late in the night and I was getting ready for bed after celebrating my birthday. My father had left to go somewhere, so I was left alone. As I was going to sleep, I heard commotion from downstairs, and I thought it was the House Elves so I went to go see what they broke-"
"I'm assuming it wasn't the House Elves."
"No. It was these h-hooded figures with scary masks. I knew they were D-death E-eaters as soon as I saw them. I tried running, but one of them stunned me. What happened next, I don't remember. But I woke up to excruciating pain, and there was this man." Kingsley leaned forward as he started listening very closely to Harrison.
Harrison pretended to choke on his words, as if the semi-fake scenario gave him pain. "He didn't look human… like a snake almost. And he said he was V-voldemort," everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably. "And he kept laughing as if hearing me scream was funny."
Kingsley didn't say anything, he looked rather disgusted and disturbed. That just told Harrison that he was buying his story, which was good.
"Did You-Know-Who say anything about why he kidnapped you, or perhaps mentioned plans about other things?" Kingsley finally asked, breaking the silence.
"He gloated. Gloated about his perfect plan about the Chamber of Secrets and how he planned it so perfectly, for me just to ruin it. He then talked about his plan to kidnap me and it was only about everything that had happened so far."
Harrison heard a quill scribbling on parchment and it was only then did he realize an Auror was writing down everything Harrison said — well their magic was. The quill and parchment were floating in the air, writing unaided.
"Do you remember anything about your surroundings? Familiar landmarks?"
"N-no. I was mostly in the dark. Th-they kept me in a room with other p-prisoners." Harrison said, briefly describing the prisoner chamber in the Dungeons.
"I-it was horrible in there," Harrison whimpered, blinking furiously so more tears would fall from his eyes. "There was so much crying and s-screams… the screaming… it was so scary."
Kingsley looked very uncomfortable, he glanced at the other Aurors and they looked just as sick as him.
Harrison was glad it was working. If he distracted Kingsley with graphic details about his fake kidnapping, he wouldn't notice many slips ups that were right under his nose.
Harrison faked sobbed, hiding his face so they couldn't see that there were no tears actually coming from his eyes. Harrison had been an exceptionally good fake cryer — maybe he fell out of habit.
"T-take your time, Harrison… I can not begin to wrap my head around what you've been through."
Harrison took his comforting minutes to think of his lie. Maybe Kingsley would ask him about how he managed to escape, or why he didn't go straight home. Harrison was confident his made-up story would be enough to trick the Auror.
"Are you ready to continue?" Kingsley asked and Harrison gave a small incline of his head.
Kingsley nodded and held out a hand to one of the Aurors. They handed Kingsley a few photos, and then he placed them in front of Harrison.
It was of a man who looked like the older, boy version of Delphi. Long black hair, and handsome features. He had the Azkaban tattoo on his neck, and was wearing the uniform as well. He had no idea who this man was, but he was definitely a prisoner at Azkaban.
"Who's this?" Harrison asked Kingsley.
"This is Sirius Black. He escaped from Azkaban on the day of your birthday. Did you see this man while you were being held hostage or being captured?"
Was Harrison hearing that right? Escaped from Azkaban? No one ever escaped from that place — not even the arrested Death Eaters. And Sirius Black… he sounded familiar, but Harrison knew he was related to Delphi and Draco because he came from the House of Black, obviously.
But he wasn't a Death Eater, Harrison would know if he was one. And he would be familiar with his name if Sirius was related to the Lestranges and Malfoys — Harrison could only assume that he was a Blood Traitor.
Delphi and Draco were banned from speaking of the Blood Traitors in their family, but it didn't stop them from doing it in secret. Delphi or Draco must've mentioned him before.
Harrison didn't believe he could put the Blood Traitor in a worst state by saying yes or no, he was an escapee from Azkaban. The Ministry probably wanted to catch him dead. Harrison could only wonder why so much happened in the span of a month.
"I-I believe I might've. He looks very familiar, but he's my friend's family member so it may just be that… my mind is still a bit fuzzy."
"Okay. And one last question, how and when did you escape?"
"It-it might've been a f-few days ago…" Harrison murmured, playing his best puzzled look. "I-it's been impossible to keep track of time… and the D-death Eaters, they thought I died and d-dumped my body outside somewhere, but then I ran off and found myself in Diagon Alley."
"And you didn't get help?"
"I was terrified," Harrison admitted. "I didn't want to return home cause I feared the Death Eaters would find me and not only hurt me, but my father too. Then I knew the only place You-Know-Who couldn't get me was at Hogwarts, so I got my stuff and boarded the train the next day."
"I'm a bit confused, Harrison," Kingsley began, his brows furrowing with confusion. "How exactly did you know what to buy? And your wand… how'd you get it back?"
"I just followed someone in my year around, everything they bought, I bought. And they threw my wand away with me, it took me a while to find it actually… with all the other d-dead b-bodies..."
"Yes, your father has letters from Gringotts saying a large sum of Galleons was taken out of his vault."
Harirson paused slightly, he remembered the fire crawling up his legs again. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, but he blinked them back.
"My father," he whispered, "what did he say about my kidnapping?"
Kingsley seemed to notice the sudden slouch of the boy's shoulders, or how hard he was. Blinking because he was frowning at Harrison.
"Your father has been very stressed in the last month, and from what I heard, your father is usually a very calm and collected man," Kingsley told him. He only paused momentarily to study Harrison's face. He only continued when Harrison looked up at him, as if to make sure Harirson heard his words.
"Though I haven't had a personal statement from him about your situation, I believe he has been very worried about you."
"Bullshit," Harrison muttered very quietly to himself. His father didn't care. It was a show, a performance, just to charm everyone into thinking he actually cared about his son.
"Is that all, Auror Shacklebolt?" he asked audible for Kingsley to hear him.
"For now. Once we get a few leads and ask a few questions from a certain amount of people, we'll come back to you."
Kingsley stood up and Harrison got out of his seat as well. Kingsley stretched out his hand, and Harrison shaked it firmly.
"Go up to the Hospital Wing and let the nurse check you out for any serious bruises or cuts. I can see you've got a few," Kingsley said, tapping his forehead, pointing to Harrison where one of his cuts were.
Harrison tapped his forehead, but did not feel a thing. He didn't remember scratching his forehead on anything, but then again, he suffered a lot of damage in the forest so he bet he had a lot of scars on places he overlooked.
"Everything we've discussed so far about your kidnapping is not to be disclosed to anyone else except your father, the Ministry, the Headmaster, and the Professors, Dumbledore, gives a greenlight too." said Kingsley, sounding very professional.
"Greenlight?" Harrison asked, confused on what Kingsley meant.
"It's a muggle saying. It means: okay — So do we have a deal?"
"Y-yes Auror Shacklebolt."
Kingsley paused for just a second, obviously contemplating what to say next. "I suggest talking to your Head House about what happened. It'll make you feel — how do I put this? — Relieved."
"I'll make sure to talk to Professor Snape then."
"You're in Slytherin?" Kingsley asked, sounding astonished.
"Yes sir."
Kingsley titled his head, watching Harrison closely to see if he was joking.
Harrison recalled what Diary Tom Riddle had said the school year before. He tricked everyone into believing he belonged in the good Gryffindor house, instead of the sinister Slytherin house.
"Sorry. I wasn't able to tell," Kingsley said, breaking Harrison's train if thought. "No matter though, I need to speak with Dumbledore now."
"Alright then. Goodnight Kingsley."
"Goodnight Mr. Riddle."
Kingsley bidded Harrison goodbye and the other Aurors muttered their own.
Harrison exited the office and Dumbledore slipped in after him, but not before passing him a glance.
Once the door shut behind the Headmaster, there was a wave of awkwardness in the silent corridor.
Harrison slowly looked up at Severus and saw that he looked a bit irritated — Harirosn had wondered if Professor Dumbledore had said something to upset him.
"Severus-"
"Hurry along so I can take you to the Hospital Wing. As far as I can see, you have many cuts and I wouldn't want them getting infected," Severus interrupted, pulling Harrison by the collar of his robes as they walked away from the Headmaster's office.
Madam Pomfrey (like everyone else so far) was surprised to see Harrison. She did check ups and examined all of Harrison's scars, and made him drink a potion that would get rid of any infections she couldn't find herself.
Harrison got to see the scar on his forehead, it was a rigid line that took up the middle. He hated it, and pushed his hair down over it so it didn't show. Madam Pomfrey assured the scar would fade over time.
Harrison was allowed to leave around ten o'clock, but Severus wanted to talk with him in his office.
Harrison stalked behind Severus, but because of the new length of his legs opposed to last year, he found it easy to keep up with his Professor without having to jog along.
They made a turn into the Dungeons and they heard faint chatter and both Harrison and Severus paused. Severus looked rather annoyed.
"They're probably Prefects," Harrison mumbled lowly, but Severus did not hear.
In almost a blink of an eye, Severus was down the hall, the light from his wand illuminating the dark shadows of the hallways behind and in front.
Harrison ran to catch up with the Professor, skidding around the corner, stumbling a bit after turning so quickly.
"What are you three doing here?" Snape asked, straining his voice quietly.
Harrison hadn't seen who he was talking to, but it was three people obviously. Maybe the Gryffindor trio, but they knew better than to be lingering outside of Snape's office at night — Longbottom might've wetted his pants even thinking about it.
"Because Harrison's stuff is in his room, but there's no Harrison!" Blaise's calm, but aravagrated voice, answered.
Harrison's throat became dry and he came to a quick realization that the three Snape briefly mentioned was his friends.
Harrison rushed past the Professor and threw himself into the person who was closest. It was Delphi and she yelped in surprise, but did not waste time to hug him back.
"I'm going to kill you," she sobbed into his shoulder.
Harrison felt two more pairs of arms wrap around him which must have been Draco and Blaise joining in on the hug.
"What happened to you?" Draco then asked, stepping back from the hug first. Harrison was going to answer, but the hand on his shoulder tightened, and made him wince in pain.
"Not so fast, Malfoy," Snape snarled, his hand slowly turned pale on Harrison's shoulder. "Harrison will be able to tell his story to you three later, he owes me my explanation first."
Snape reached for his door, and was about to lead Harrison inside when Delphi stopped him. She had teary eyes, like she did at Lestrange Manor. As he thought about it, he felt his face get hot and red.
"One more thing," she whispered. Delphi clenched her fist and in one swift movement, she swung her fist at Harrison's face, a large crack coming from Harrison's nose.
"Lestrange!" Snape roared, as Harrison held onto his nose, buckling over from the pain. He groaned, feeling the red liquid wetten his hands.
"That's for breaking your promise," Delphi announced before she ran off. If she hadn't fled sooner, Snape might've started yelling.
His glare fell upon Draco and Blaise and they scurried off, following Delphi so he didn't yell at them instead.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked coldly, leading Harrison into his office.
"Not really."
Harrison removed the hand from his face, showing the blood seeping down from his nose and painted his face a redder color than it already was.
Severus handed him several tissues and he cleaned up his face, but it did not help the fact his nose was still broken.
"Drink this," Severus said, he offered Harrison a cup of silvery liquid that he had just grabbed from his shelf. It seemed every year, there was something new added onto the Professor's shelves.
Harrison took the cup, and it tasted as metallic as it looked. Harrison gulped it down and was starting to feel his nose get cramps — well a pain that felt like cramps. Harrison was sure it wasn't possible to have cramps in your nose.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked oddly this time.
"My nose feels fine-"
"You misunderstood," Severus interjected. "Are you alright?" He put emphasis on alright and Harrison knew he was asking if he was alright as a whole.
"I'm better," Harrison answered. "Better than a month ago."
"Why did you run away?"
"Because Voldemort, he…" Harrison didn't want to say it. He felt like crying just thinking about it — the pain it reminded him of.
He looked up from the goblet in his hand and looked Severus in the eyes. "He tortured me for destroying the diary," he said, using all of his power to keep his voice steady.
Harrison heard the slightest hitch of breath from Severus, as if he was dreading to hear those words.
"So it wasn't a lie? You actually got tortured…"
"It had been going on since the day I got home from Hogwarts. I just finally ran away on my birthday…"
"You had me worried sick… I thought you had died. You always do this, send me on the verge of a heart attack. Did you even think about coming to visit? I mean, you could get your stuff for Hogwarts just fine, but not come and stop by my house, or even send a letter to assure my worries-"
Harrison scoffed, he gave Severus a look as if he was starting to talk a new language. "So I can put you in danger? You don't think my father was watching you carefully? He knows you're one of the closest people to me."
"Of course he would be watching me!" Severus snapped, gripping the edge of his desk until his hands turned white. "But you're smart, Harrison! I don't think you would have any problem creating a plan."
"Well it wouldn't have been that easy, alright? I was sick, and skinny and I hadn't gotten into good shape until a couple days ago! I wouldn't have been able to come even if I wanted. Not to mention, I was hiding under my father's nose," Harrison said, struggling to keep his voice down as he stared into the glaring, black eyes.
Harrison wasn't understanding why Severus was yelling at him as if he did something wrong. As if he was the one fearing for his life for the entire summer. "Why are you mad anyways?" asked Harrison. "If anyone should be upset, it should be me!"
"I'm angry because you keep scaring me Harrison! Back in your first year, you jumped off your broom to catch that stupid locket! You almost fell off your broom in your first Quidditch match; and last year you went into the Chamber of Secrets, so I have a good reason to be upset!"
There was heavy silence between the two, the only thing filling it was Severus' pants for breath.
"I promised myself that I would not let anything happen to you, that I would protect you with my life-"
"And you're doing a hell of a good job of it, Snape!" Harrison snapped at him. That was his only excuse, "I swore to protect you with my life." It was getting annoying, and he was sick of hearing it.
Harrison stood up and reached for the door, but he only stopped once the door was halfway open. He sighed and turned back around to see Snape just staring, still looking upset, but there was a slightest bit of guilt in his eyes.
"Goodnight, Severus," he whispered before exiting the Professor's office, heading back to the Slytherin Dungeons.
Harrison stood outside the wall, silently cursing because he hadn't known the password to get inside. Would he go back and ask Severus? — No, that would be too awkward. He could start guessing, anything that was related to Purebloods or snakes would probably be the password.
But lucky for Harrison, the wall shifted open and Emery Rettop, former Slytherin prefect, stepped out.
"Hello Harrison," she greeted, taken aback that she crossed a student on her way out of bed. "I didn't see you at the feast."
"I, erm-"
"I heard rumors that you got kidnapped — It's not true, is it?"
"Uh, it's true."
Emery gasped, passing Harrison a comforting glance. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine now, the event is still a bit… traumatizing. But from what I've heard, my face has been on the Daily Prophet since the beginning of August. How come you didn't know before?"
"My father doesn't like Wizardry stuff, as he puts it. So, I'm banned from reading the Daily Prophet at home."
"Oh… your dad is a muggle right?"
"Yes."
"Makes sense… muggles don't really get magic, do they? Always quick to call us freaks."
"I-I suppose so. Anyways! I need to meet Percy Weasley in front of the Great Hall."
"Why?
"I'm Head Girl if you didn't know," she announced, looking rather pleased with herself. "And I'm supposed to be meeting Percy Weasley, the new Head Boy, to do a sweep of Hogwarts before bed — I would've liked someone other than that airhead. I never liked those Weasels — except the twins. They're funny."
"Yeah, they are pretty funny," Harrison agreed, briefly remembering the time he flew his broom through the hallways with them.
"Anyways, goodnight Harrison. If anyone gives you trouble I'll make sure to dock away a few points," Emery said as she passed him a wink. She laughed at her own joke as she walked off, her footsteps disappearing down the hallway.
Harrison walked into the Slytherin common room and it was empty, the last flame in the fireplace flickering out. Harrison walked slowly towards the boy's dormitory, hearing the clap of his shoes against the stone floor.
He felt a large sense of familiarity when he approached his room, a room he had spent most of the past two years of his life.
He opened the door and light leaked out of his dorm room and out to the dark hallway. He stepped in and quickly closed the door behind him.
There was not a word said, and Harrison stared blankly at his friends who were all sitting on different beds. Delphi was on his', and she was in the middle of stroking Ollyth's head.
"H-hi," Harrison muttered, not knowing what else to say.
"Hi?" Delphi repeated, her eyes narrowing down on Harrison. "A summer without you answering our letters, going missing, and appearing out of nowhere at Hogwarts, and the only thing you have to say is hi?"
"No. It's not the only thing I have to say," Harrison told her, his eyes softening a bit. He didn't want the same argument he just had a few minutes ago.
"I've missed you guys… a lot. There wasn't a day that didn't pass without me thinking about you. And I made a promise and I couldn't break it. I know you didn't see me at the platform or on the train, but you see me here and now. Safe and alive. Like I promised."
"I'm just glad you're alright," Draco added. Harrison noticed how his eyes were filled with water, as if he had been crying, which may have been the case. At least he wasn't the only one and Delphi was too.
"I thought you were dead," Blaise said nonchalantly. "But I'm never right, aren't I?"
"At least you were wrong about Snape in our first year," Harrison said, smiling weakly at his own joke.
"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Draco asked once the silence was left undisturbed long enough.
Harrison sighed, glancing at Ollyth who was in Delphi's lap, coiled around herself. She stared at Harrison, then slightly inclined her head, giving him a nod of encouragement.
"Yes…" Harrison said, making way towards his bed. Delphi scooted over, giving him room to sit.
"The day we got home from Hogwarts, my father was upset. He was angry about me not getting his letters, and the letter from Dumbledore… explaining how I-I saved Ginny from the Ch-chambers. He looked so scary then, but he had me explain to him what happened, so I did of course. I told him about everything-"
Harrison paused, the memory of him stabbing the Horcrux flashing through his mind. He bit his lip, trying to push away the memory so he could continue.
"E-everything and about that D-diary… he didn't t-take it well, as I expected. And he ended up… torturing me."
None of his friends peeped a word, they all looked too uncomfortable to do so anyways.
"It went on for two months. Since the beginning of break all the way to my birthday — Now, swear to me, you won't tell anyone what I'm about to say. Meaning Voldemort too-"
"You can't just expect us to lie to Voldemort!" Draco snapped.
"Unless you are facing life or death when it comes to him," Harrison corrected. "But otherwise, don't even hint you have the slightest information about what I'm about to say."
"Alright! Just tell us!" Delphi said impatiently, as she sent Harrison an annoyed look.
"You know the forest around my house?" Harrison paused and watched his friends nod their heads. "I first planned on camping out in the forest until it was safe to fly away to France or something, but I got chased by a man. He was Animagus, he could turn into a Grim."
Draco whimpered, and Blaise looked scared out of his mind.
"That's not good Harrison. Even if it was a person turning into a Grim… those things bring bad luck," Draco told him solemnly. He looked as if a ghost had just traveled through him.
"That isn't true," Delphi interjected. "It's just a silly tale to scare idiots like you two."
"My Aunt on my mum's side saw a Grim on her way home from work and in the morning, she tripped down her staircase, impaling her head through a statue — If that isn't the doing of a Grim, then I don't want to know what is."
"Or maybe it's just because it's your Aunt is just as an idiot as you are and stupidly placed a statue that could kill at the bottom of her staircase," Delphi mused sarcastically.
"I'm still alive, so I don't really think it's true," Harrison added on.
"But it doesn't matter — what matters was that the Animagus was trying to kill me. I thought they were my father at first, but once I saw them switch to the Grim, I knew they were someone else. I ended up losing them and came across this shack. It was enchanted, so I had problems getting inside, but I eventually did. That's where me and Ollyth stayed for the past month… but you can't tell my father. I want to return there once we're on Winter Break before fleeing for good."
"So you're only staying at Hogwarts for the first term?" Blaise asked Harrison.
"Yes. The longer I stay, the more time father has a chance to get me and kill me."
"So you'll be gone… forever," Delphi said, new tears forming in her eyes.
Harrison shifted awkwardly, nodding his head. "I-I guess… I'll try to stay in touch. But, it'll be hard."
"Damn it Harrison!" Delphi bolted up from his bed, Ollyth fell from her lap and onto the bed. Delphi clenched her fist as she glared down at Harrison. "You come back just to tell us you're going to leave again? Can't you find a way to evade You-Know-Who long enough?"
"No… there's no other option that will guarantee my survival."
Delphi refused to look Harrison in the eyes, too angry to listen to his words that just made her teary eyed.
"Goodnight, Harrison," Delphi mumbled.
She turned to leave, and Harrison watched her go, starting to rethink his decision. Would he really have to go during Winter Break? Only a little less than four months with his friends… it seemed too short.
"I understand, Harrison…" Blaise said, speaking up after a long silence.
"What?"
"I understand why you have to run. I wouldn't want you to die — Delphi doesn't either, but you just told her she's losing her best friend… forever."
"I know," Harrison sighed, he started to play with his hands. "We'll all talk in the morning."
The lights on the walls flickered out and Harrison changed in the dark. He felt guilty, the same guilt he felt for just standing there as he watched Delphi get Imperioed by her mother.
"You made a promise and you've held up your part of it," Ollyth said to him as he laid down next to her. "Now it's your choice if you choose to make another…"
"Do you mean I should promise to stay for the whole year?" he asked, puzzled by what she meant.
"Depends on what Delphi, Draco and Blaise want you to do."
Harrison paused, trying to process what Ollyth was trying to tell him. Was he supposed to make another promise to them if they asked?
"Do you think I should?" asked Harrison, glancing over to his snake. She was silent for a while before she finally answered.
"I'm not sure."
