Chapter 38
"Er…" Harry stared at Theo, completely at a loss of what to say. In fact, he didn't think he'd ever been more at a loss of words in either of his lives as he was at that moment. Curiously, though, Tom kept his arms casually wrapped around Harry's waist as he stared at Theo, expression utterly neutral.
"Theodore," Dorus said with an exasperated sigh as he stepped up behind Theo. "I believe I told you to give Harry some privacy before dinner."
"Yeah, but…" Theo also seemed at an utter loss of what to say, though he seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him.
"Come, there is a contract for you to sign in my office," Dorus said, placing a steady hand on Theo's shoulder and gently pulling him backwards. "Everything else will be explained during dinner."
"Harry?" Theo asked, even as he stepped away from the door.
"Yeah, it's me." Harry finally found his voice, though he still wasn't sure what to say because anything sounded weird in his head. 'It's not what it looks like, Theo, don't worry' (What did it look like, then, if Harry got the impulse to deny it?). 'I'm actually an adult, Theo, don't worry'. Yeah, that needed much more explanation than just a few throwaway words, so instead Harry shrugged and agreed with Dorus. "We'll explain during dinner, promise."
Still looking utterly baffled by this sudden turn of events, Theo looked down at his shoes and finally shuffled away from the door.
"Dinner's in twenty minutes," Dorus called to them before the door fell shut.
"That was…" And even when alone with Tom, Harry still didn't have the right words for what had just happened.
"Let me guess," Tom said, his smile one of utter satisfaction that he knew something Harry didn't. "You took the aging potion and didn't even consider your young friend and his reaction at seeing you as an adult."
Licking his lips, Harry wanted to deny everything Tom just said, but found that he couldn't because when he took the aging potion he really, truly hadn't considered that he'd have to tell Theo something as an explanation. "Yeah, okay, you're right, happy now?"
"Extraordinarily," Tom said, the smug bastard. "Thankfully, I am not a Gryffindor and did foresee these consequences and prepared a secrecy contract for young Theodore to sign."
"That's good," Harry said, glad Tom wasn't planning to obliviate Theo, or worse. "What are we telling him?"
"The truth, or at least a small portion of it," Tom said with a reassuring smile. Perhaps some of Harry's worry for his friend had shown on his face. "The contract will protect his mind from people trying to steal information. Besides, Dorus assured me Theodore has received tutoring in Occlumency since a young age."
"Yeah," Harry said with a nod, only now realizing they still had their arms around each other and it didn't even feel that weird. In fact, it felt downright comfortable. "Theo practises his Occlumency at least a few nights every week, he told me. He's a diligent student in all other subjects, so I believe him."
"Then it won't be a problem that he learns the most basic version of the truth," Tom easily agreed. "I do suggest we keep any and all details to ourselves."
Harry nodded a few times. "He is only eleven." Theo was one of those kids that seemed far older than his actual age. Harry suspected it was because of the way Theo was brought up. With his mother dying after his birth and his father also getting on in his years, Theo had been treated as the heir to the family right from around the time he could talk, learning about the estate and politics and everything else a young heir should know about, instead of letting him be a child at least until he started Hogwarts. So while Theo was mature for his age, and quite knowledgeable about the world in general, he really was still only a child, not an adult in disguise like Harry was, and Harry realized he couldn't dump all his adult trouble in Theo's lap and expect the kid to understand it all in any mature way.
With a small sigh, Tom finally released Harry, who immediately missed the warmth of his body so close to his own. Seriously, this hugging thing was amazing, and Harry almost felt insulted no one had ever taken the time before in his previous life to explain that to him, or better yet, to show him. From there on out, Harry vowed to hug Tom as much as he could without looking like a complete lunatic. Tom seemed to like the hugs, too, so Harry had good hopes he could get away with quite a few of them during the holidays.
"We should head downstairs for dinner," Tom said quietly, gesturing at Harry to precede him to the door.
"I am actually starving," Harry said while they made their way out the room and down the stairs. "It's weird they don't provide a packed lunch for students travelling on the Hogwarts express all day. The only decent thing approximating a meal on the trolley in the train is a pumpkin pasty. Chocolate frogs, no matter how delicious, don't keep you full all day."
"It's one of those things that could easily be rectified by the headmaster or the Board of Governors." Tom gestured to Harry to take a left when they reached the bottom of the grand staircase. "Yet no one ever bothers, even though you'd expect students to complain about it at home, at least."
"We really should make a list of all those little things we want to change," Harry said and then he fell silent for a moment as they entered a spacious conservatory which was elaborately decorated for Yule, with green garlands everywhere and magical candles flickering throughout the space, their many flames reflecting on the glass all around, the darkness outside adding to the cosy feeling inside. At the centre stood a round table, set with five place settings. "Wow, this looks amazing."
"Yeah, not bad," Barty said from behind them, taking Harry completely by surprise.
"Barty! Good to see you." Harry grinned at him.
"Good to see you, too. What are they feeding you at Hogwarts? Because you've grown a bit since the summer." Barty's smirk was entirely self-satisfied at his own witty joke.
"Ha, ha," Harry replied without a shred of humour. "This is Tom's early Yule gift. I love it."
"Now that we're all here," Dorus said, entering the conservatory with Theo in tow. "Here you go." Dorus handed Tom the signed contract, who inspected it briefly before folding it carefully and tucking it into a pocket. "Let's enjoy a festive meal on this Yule night, before we partake in the ritual."
Harry glanced at Tom with wide eyes while they sat down around the table, Tom on his right and Theo on his left. "We're doing the Yule ritual?"
"You actually thought we wouldn't?" Tom asked, looking slightly disappointed in Harry's surprised reaction.
"Nah, not really. It just completely slipped my mind I now can perform these rituals during the holidays." Harry shrugged, though he felt a little bit embarrassed about admitting that in his present company. "Before I only ever got the chance to celebrate Christmas, never Yule."
"Well, that is about to change," Dorus said and he flicked his fingers. At once plates of creamy pumpkin soup appeared in front of them, with a warm roll on the side and little platters of butter.
"Merlin, I'm starving," Theo muttered, reaching for his roll and lathering it with butter. Harry followed his example and before long everyone was enjoying the first course while small-talk was had.
The second course was a large portabella mushroom stuffed with melted goat's cheese and drizzled with honey, which was a surprisingly tasty combination. Then followed the main course of grilled goose stuffed with breadcrumbs, chestnuts and minced pork and various herbs and spices, served with roast potatoes, braised red cabbage, carrots and parsnips and a delicious red wine sauce.
It wasn't until most of their plates were empty and all of their stomachs were quite full that Theo turned towards Harry and gave him an expectant look.
"Ah, yeah," Harry said with a sigh, placing his knife and fork on the edge of his plate before dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. "I'm guessing you'd like some answers."
"I really would, if you don't mind," Theo said, while Tom, Barty and Dorus, who'd been discussing how best to introduce any new law into the Wizengamot, all fell quiet to look at them.
"This is going to sound quite unbelievable," Harry felt the need to warn his friend. "But I swear it's all true. You can verify it all with Tom or your father later."
"All right," Theo said while gazing at Harry steadily. Harry was extra happy nothing much ever seemed to faze Theo and he wasn't prone to unnecessary dramatics.
"I'm technically eighteen years old," Harry said to start with. "To make a very long story short, I've already lived my life until I turned eighteen, when I was executed by the Ministry for utterly ridiculous reasons conjured up by Dumbledore, after I'd done the dirty work and gotten rid of Voldemort."
Theo blinked, face slipping into a blank mask, obviously not having expected that sort of explanation.
Harry carried on, knowing Theo would accept the truth sooner or later. "Anyway, through some accidental circumstances I'd become the Master of Death, whatever the hell that even means, since I'm still not sure, but in the afterlife Death told me I could go back because of that and do my life over if I wanted to. And since I'd been utterly betrayed and realized I'd been a puppet in Dumbledore the manipulator's hands my entire life I really wanted to do my life over and do it better this time."
"That is…you were Dumbledore's puppet?" Theo asked quietly, in a slightly disbelieving tone.
"Yep, sorted into Gryffindor and everything, because I never saw all the manipulations Dumbledore pulled around me coming, unfortunately. Anyway, Death was willing to send me back to the moment I received my Hogwarts letter, but there was only one catch." Harry paused for a moment and then gestured a hand towards Tom. "If I got to go back and keep my memories, then so would Tom."
Theo frowned. "Why would Thomas Gaunt keep his…" Harry was sure he'd never before seen someone pale as fast as Theo did at that moment as he looked at Tom with wide eyes.
"Yep, that's the Dark Lord," Harry said, utterly entertained by Theo's dramatic reaction to that realization. Beside him, Tom snorted and shook his head at Harry's antics. "Or rather, the former Dark Lord. Turns out, good old Voldemort had performed a few rituals without thoroughly researching them beforehand, which had turned him utterly insane. Through the process of going back in time, Death was able to undo that damage, and Tom was once again sane and no longer set on destroying the world and killing people for shits and giggles."
Theo very slowly turned in his seat and looked at his father, obviously seeking some guidance in how to react to all those revelations.
"I can confirm that is indeed Tom Riddle, my old classmate, who unfortunately did become insane later in his life," Dorus said matter-of-factly. "I can also confirm that Tom is much improved and no longer wishes to be a Dark Lord. Any changes he's planning to make to the wizarding world will be made legitimately."
"And that's about it," Harry said, leaning back in his chair while giving Theo a curious look. "Any questions."
Theo blinked and a slight frown tugged on his brows as he stared straight ahead. Finally, he said, as he glanced at Harry, "Why on earth are you attending Hogwarts again as an eleven-year-old when you're already an adult?"
"Excellent question," Tom muttered on Harry's other side.
Harry wisely ignored him, though he desperately wanted to kick Tom's shin under the table, or do something equally childish in retaliation. "Because in my first life my Hogwarts experience was utterly controlled by Dumbledore, in hindsight, and I never got to just be a kid learning magic." Harry swallowed, realizing that might sound a bit pathetic, now that he considered it, so he quickly added, "I'm not sure how long I'll stay at Hogwarts, since Tom has developed an aging potion that keeps me aged up indefinitely if I want it to, and I can take my OWLs and NEWTs at the ICW in Rome at any time."
Theo nodded thoughtfully. "And attending Hogwarts for a few years is an excellent way to make allies in the younger generations"
Harry nodded while he smiled at Theo. "Yep, hence the wide variety of friends, and the Culture Club, and I plan to start a Defence Club in a few years. In my first life I was a Gryffindor with two close Gryffindor friends and that was pretty much it. I barely talked to kids from different Houses."
Theo narrowed his eyes for a second. "Weasley and Granger," he guessed, much to Harry's obvious astonishment. Theo shrugged, though a sly smile appeared on his face. "They are the only two students in our year that you genuinely seem to dislike, but that now makes sense if they betrayed you in your previous life."
Harry was deeply impressed Theo had worked that out so quickly. Then again, Theo was quite intelligent and knew how to observe the people around him. "Yeah, the ministry got to them and they testified against me during my farce of a trial. Before that they'd been great friends, but that all went out the window because Dumbledore's manipulations reached that far even from beyond his grave. So I will never trust them again, simple as that."
"Understandably," Theo agreed solemnly. "This does explain why you're top of every class. You've learned it all before." Theo quirked an eyebrow at Harry. "Unless you were a genius in your first life?"
Tom snorted beside Harry and quickly raised his wineglass and took a long sip to masque his reaction.
Harry decided to be the better man and ignore him. "Yeah, no, not a genius by any stretch of the imagination. In my first life I was a slightly better than average student, I guess. My best subject was Defence, I did great in that. But I also failed a few classes, like history and divination, because I couldn't care less about them."
"You took divination? I've heard it's an utter waste of time," Theo said curiously and took the final bite of potatoes before placing his cutlery sideways on his plate, indicating he was done.
"It is an utter waste of time. Unfortunately, in my first life I wasn't a very disciplined student, and I followed along with Ron when it came to picking electives, and Ron went for what he thought were the easy O's. Utter nonsense, as it turned out. I got a poor in divination and an exceeds expectations in care of magical creatures."
Theo looked a little disbelieving at Harry receiving a poor in anything. "So what electives will you take in your third year this time?"
"Definitely runes and arithmancy, and I might throw care of magical creatures in there because I did enjoy those classes and it breaks up the day nicely, to be able to spend an hour or two outside dealing with all sorts of magical animals."
"I was considering those classes myself," Theo said quietly, just as Dorus clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"I do believe Theo has been thoroughly informed on Harry's unique circumstances, so I suggest we now partake in the final course before going outside for the ritual."
The dinner plates and dishes disappeared, quickly replaced with plates featuring portions of various traditional Yule desserts. A small bowl with trifle, a small slice of a chocolate Yule log, and of Christmas cake, and a small mince pie.
Harry ate all of it, and by the end he felt pleasantly stuffed. He washed it down with the pumpkin juice he'd been drinking all evening. Dorus had offered him wine, but Harry hadn't ever had much alcohol before and he wanted to be sober for the Yule ritual, so he'd declined.
"Please, those of you who wish to join, be welcome in our circle," Dorus said as they all stood up at the end of the meal and stepped out into the garden through the conservatory doors.
Torches burned all around the garden as Dorus led them to the lawn right below the terrace. A large ritual circle had already been prepared and five small crates stood to the side, with a pile of evergreen branches beside them. Harry could hear soft clucking coming from the crates so he reasoned these were chickens and would be their sacrifices for that evening.
At the centre of the circle stood a sizeable Yule log. Dorus entered the circle and stood beside it. "Be welcome, dearest family and friends, to this Yule ritual where we ward of the darkness and protect our souls. Please, take your places. Tom, as the representative of water, you take west. Harry, as fire, take south, Barty, as air, take east and Theo, as earth, take north." As they all took their indicated places, Dorus swished his wand around and each of them received a crated chicken and a few evergreen branches.
"I now light the Yule log to ward off the darkness," Dorus said, and with another swish of his wand, flames erupted within the log until it burned steadily with a gentle crackle, the runes that had been carved in the sides of the log lighting up with a soft glow of magic. "On this longest night, may these flames light our way to a new dawn. So mote it be."
"So mote it be," Harry and everyone else repeated.
"Spread the branches before you and hold your chickens over them. A simple severing charm at their necks will allow you to sprinkle their blood across the branches." Dorus demonstrated this by grabbing his own chicken by its feet with one hand while casting the charm with his other one.
Harry managed to hold onto his chicken, which was flapping her wings frantically, and quickly ended its life and moved the bleeding body over the branches, coating them in dark drops of blood.
"Repeat after me," Dorus said. "With this life I have taken and this blood I have spilled, let this sacrifice protect me, body and soul. Let these branches keep the dark at bay until my soul finds light again. So mote it be."
Harry said the words carefully while his chicken bled out and stopped flapping her wings. A strange feeling came over him, something warm and soothing. It was the magic of the ritual circle and it felt comfortable because this was a ritual of protection, meant to keep you and your loved ones safe. Why on earth the ministry had thought it necessary to banish it was truly a mystery to Harry. Was it because of the sacrifice? A chicken was killed, sure, but chickens got killed all the time for food and the carcasses of these birds would be used for tomorrow's dinner, as was not only tradition but also part of the ritual. Honestly, the ministry really had gone too far with their prosecution of all these rituals and Harry understood why certain factions were genuinely pissed off about that.
"Now, one by one, we make an offering of one branch." Dorus placed one blood-covered branch on the burning Yule log. "Magic, accept this offering and keep your child safe in these dark times until the light returns. So mote it be."
One by one, they repeated what Dorus had done and said, and when Harry threw his branch on the burning log and said the words, the warm, soothing feeling intensified significantly. Glancing around, he noticed everyone had peaceful expressions on their faces so Harry gathered they must be feeling the same.
"Thank you, friends and family, for sharing this ritual on this winter solstice," Dorus said after he picked up his remaining branches. "Before going to bed, fix these branches on your bedroom window and you will be protected for the remainder of winter."
Still utterly wrapped up in that peaceful sensation, everyone entered the conservatory again and made their way to their bedrooms. Harry called out a quiet goodnight, and got equally quiet replies from everyone else. Inside his rooms, Harry made a beeline for the bedroom window and arranged the branches around them with a few sticking charms and the pleasant feeling inside of him settled down to the point that he no longer felt like he was floating but just felt very at ease with the world.
Turning around, Harry let out a surprised shriek. "Kreacher!"
"Little Master is doing Yule ritual. This is making Kreacher happy." The old elf did indeed look very pleased.
"Yeah, that ritual was really nice," Harry said, inhaling a deep breath as his heartrate returned to normal. "What brings you here."
"No-good Master is saying Kreacher should be Little Master's house-elf," Kreacher said with a pointed look at Harry.
Harry blinked for a moment in genuine surprise. "Really? Sirius is giving you to me? Is that was you want as well, Kreacher? Because I'm all for it."
Kreacher nodded vigorously. "Kreacher is wanting to be Little Master's house-elf very much. Little Master must be saying ritual words."
"What ritual words? I've never done this before," Harry said, suddenly worried he might not be able to accept Sirius' generous gift and give Kreacher what he wanted.
"Little Master is saying he declares Kreacher his house-elf, and Little Master is meaning the words," Kreacher explained carefully with an expectant look.
"Okay." Harry stood a little straighter and stared at Kreacher with narrowed eyes. Magic was all about intent, and Harry focused with all his might on his intention to make Kreacher his elf. "Kreacher, I declare you are my house-elf from now on."
A warm burst of magic coursed through Harry and he gasped in surprise. "It worked. Right?"
Kreacher's grin was enormous. "Yes, Kreacher is now being Little Master's elf. No-good former master is telling Kreacher to give this to Little Master." And Kreacher held out a letter and a very familiar looking hand-mirror.
Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Harry folded open the short letter and read it quietly.
'Harry,
Dumbledore said that you've gone to stay with the Notts. You have to leave there immediately, Harry! It isn't safe there for you. Dumbledore explained he believes Voldemort is back and Nott Senior is one of Voldemort's most loyal supporters. The mirror is a communication mirror. Say my name and I'll answer and we'll figure out a way to get you out of there immediately.'
Sighing, Harry rubbed a hand across his face. Now this. Harry had truly hoped that sowing seeds of distrust towards Dumbledore would cure Sirius of blindly following along with anything Dumbledore said, but apparently that had been a fool's hope. Still, Harry knew he better set this straight right away, because Sirius definitely was the impulsive type and Harry wouldn't put it past him to literally storm the gates of Nott Manor to save his godson from some imagined threat.
Harry held up the mirror and said, "Sirius Black."
It only took seconds before Sirius's worried face appeared in the mirror. "Harry! Wait, who the hell are you? Harry?"
Fuck.
Buggering fucking fuck.
Harry completely forgot he still looked like an adult. Thinking very quickly, Harry shrugged and said, "Relax, Sirius. It's just a prank. Theo gave me some sweets laced with an aging potion. It's weird being this big, though. I keep falling over when I walk, but it should wear off soon."
"Thank Merlin," Sirius said with a relieved sigh, and then called over his shoulder, "Remus, floo Dumbledore. Tell him I found Harry and I'm getting him out of there."
"Wait, what?" Harry demanded, frowning at Sirius in annoyance while inwardly he was absolutely fucking fuming. "No, I'm not leaving!"
"Harry, listen," Sirius said, voice taking on a panicked edge again, eyes unnaturally wide. "You have to leave, now. Go to the floo and shout out Black Manor, you'll land right here."
"No," Harry said, but Sirius rambled right over him before Harry could say more.
"Dumbledore explained that Voldemort is back and masquerading as a bloke called Thomas Gaunt."
Harry snorted as obnoxiously as possible. "Really? Thomas Gaunt is Voldemort? And he's going to kill me?"
"Yes!" Sirius released a shuddering breath. "You have to leave there at once, Harry, please."
"If Thomas Gaunt is Voldemort and wants to kill me," Harry said while giving Sirius a flat look. "Then explain to me how I just spent a few hours enjoying an excellent Yule dinner sitting right next to the man and the only thing that happened was polite and interesting conversation. In fact, he's currently in the bedroom beside mine, and there have been no murder attempts whatsoever."
Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, doing an excellent impression of a stranded fish. "What? How? What?" Then he closed his mouth, swallowed and licked his lips. "Dumbledore insisted Thomas Gaunt was Voldemort reborn."
"Has it ever occurred to you that Dumbledore is wrong?" Harry asked him while raising both eyebrows and giving Sirius a challenging look. "Augusta Longbottom, Neville's gran, told him all about that farce of a Wizengamot meeting Dumbledore held only a few days after your trial in which he publicly accused Thomas of being Voldemort without a shred of evidence, costing him his position as Chief Warlock. Did Dumbledore inform you of this as well, or did you miss that completely because you were still in St Mungo's at the time."
Sirius briefly looked down and shook his head once or twice. "No, Dumbledore didn't mention that to us. Just that you were in danger and needed to return to Hogwarts at once."
"Dumbledore has no say where I spend my holidays," Harry said, getting thoroughly sick of repeating that phrase time and again to everyone Dumbledore sent after him. "My aunt Petunia, who is my legal guardian has given me permission to spend the holidays with the Notts, who have been very gracious hosts so far."
"But…" Sirius seemed genuinely at a loss for words for a few moments, before he decided to just repeat old accusations. "But Nott Senior is a Death Eater, Harry, so you really aren't safe there."
"Everyone knows I'm spending Yule here, Sirius. If something happens to me, the whole Auror department will come bearing down on Nott Manor. Do you truly believe Theodorus Nott to be that stupid?" Harry snorted and shook his head. "This is your own prejudice talking."
"Harry, please."
"No, I'm staying here," Harry said, putting every ounce of resolve he had in his voice. "And neither your nor Dumbledore have any say in that. End of story."
Sirius sighed and looked utterly resigned. "Fine. Just promise me, Harry, that if something happens you call me at once, or just floo to Black Manor."
"Sure, if there's any trouble you'll be the first to hear it." Harry perked up a little, happy the annoying stuff was over with. "By the way, thanks for your Yule gift. I know Kreacher will be much happier as my elf and I'm happy to have him."
Sirius blinked and opened and closed his mouth again a few times. It really was a comical look for him, Harry decided. "What? Kreacher?"
"Yes," Harry said slowly, confused why Sirius wouldn't even remember gifting his house-elf to Harry. "You gave Kreacher to me for Yule."
"No, I didn't." Sirius looked utterly confused, so Harry believed him, that he truly hadn't meant to do it. Still, the magic had worked, so Sirius must have said something that Kreacher could interpret as an order. As Harry remembered from his first life, Sirius was really bad at giving exact orders, and Kreacher was really good at interpreting them to his own advantage, so honestly, Harry wasn't that surprised something unexpected had occurred concerning Sirius and his former elf.
"Well, Kreacher told me you'd said he should be my elf and I accepted that," Harry said with a shrug, truly not caring that much since he was happy to have Kreacher as his elf.
"That fucking… sorry, Harry. That bloody elf," Sirius said with a growl while shaking his head with a huge, angry frown on his face. "That's not what I meant. Kreacher was complaining about me, again, and singing your praises, and I said that he should have been your elf, then, but that he wasn't so tough luck for him."
Harry pursed his lips tightly so he wouldn't cackle at Kreacher's absolute cleverness. "But you did say, technically, that he should have been my elf. And Kreacher's magic took it as such once I said the ritual words, because Kreacher bonded to me at once. He's my elf now and your bond is broken."
Glancing to the side, Harry realized Kreacher was still standing in the corner, wearing the biggest, smuggest smirk Harry had ever seen on a house-elf. Unable to control himself any longer, Harry fell backwards onto the bed and howled with laughter.
