Chapter 31
Harry was still awake when Lily came knocking at his door. He hadn't had much luck with sleep since he'd returned to Britain., and the previous night he'd given up after only an hour and returned to chipping away at the design of the curse implant through all the early hours of the morning. It wasn't something new to him, sleepless nights were the standard for many years in his past, chasing whispers and fading visions of atrocities. The practice let him open the door without any sign of fatigue showing on his face.
"Good morning Harry!" Lily smiled, full of her usual cheer. "I was hoping to make a big welcoming breakfast for when James gets back with the girls. Would you like to help?"
He nodded silently. It was time for Hogwarts's Christmas holiday already, and Violet and her friend would be coming back to stay with the Potters for the duration. Hopefully it would help distract Lily from noticing him slipping away for Dolohov.
He followed her down to the kitchen, content in the companionable silence, and started fetching ingredients. It was a rehearsed interaction, one they'd both comfortably fallen into. Lily would flutter around the kitchen, chattering about this and that, interspersed with the occasional instruction as Harry followed her lead. Any anecdotes from his own past felt too bittersweet, or more likely, too grim for him to share in this setting—so instead he soaked in the stream of words from Lily like a sponge, the cheery trivialities and mindless work acting like a soothing balm for the worries fluttering nonstop through his mind.
Eventually the food was being piled on plates as the chime for the floo rang out.
"Oh, that'll be them," Lily perked up. "Let's go greet them."
Harry dutifully followed her into the other room. A stack of luggage blocked the view of the fireplace, floating in place in the center of the room. James had his wand out, trying navigate the mass between the furniture and out the door as a pair of young teenagers watched his struggle with amusement. Harry's smile grew a sliver as he caught sight of Violet's 'friend'. He'd expected so.
Astoria Greengrass noticed him first, lighting up with a bright smile.
"Professor Evans! What are you doing here?"
Violet's eyes widened, but he noticed she didn't flinch away like she might've before.
"Decided to visit my favorite student for Christmas Holiday."
"Really? But they didn't let Daphne come back and visit," She frowned at him. Harry chuckled—almost made him feel bad for joking.
"No, I'm kidding. I had to come back for...official business, and the Potters have been kind enough to let me stay with them."
"Well, you're practically family, silly man," Lily gushed, making Violet's eyebrows raise. "Now come on dears, I made you some breakfast; get it while it's still hot."
"Save some for me," James called out from around the mound of trunks he had maneuvered out into the hallway. Lily ushered Violet into the kitchen, already pestering her with questions about her term. Astoria sidled up to Harry as he took a more sedate pace back.
"My sister wrote about you," she said.
"Oh?"
"She said you're the scariest wizard she's ever met," Astoria confided with a smile. Harry blinked. That wasn't exactly the impression he'd been trying to make.
"She said you worked them to the bone, harder than she'd ever worked in her life. And that you could wipe the floor with all of them without even breaking a sweat, even after hours of training."
Harry laughed. "Well they're still students, and not ones trained for combat. I'm sure she'd demolish me on the NEWTs."
"Daphne is used to thinking she's the best at everything," Astoria shrugged. "I think it shocked her how much better you were. Of course, I already knew you would be." She preened at that, smiling up at him.
"Of course," Harry snorted. As they approached the kitchen they saw a small figure peeking in from around the door-frame. As always, Harry felt his heart clench at the sight.
"Edward," he said quietly as they approached. The child whipped around at his name, freezing at the sight of the approaching Harry.
"Oh, hello!" Astoria chirped, beaming down at Edward. He looked startled at the attention.
"They just came back from school for Holiday. Lily made breakfast—why don't you go join her," Harry said gently. The kid was still hesitant around him, distrusting, but he'd warmed up considerably to the Potters—enough that he was clearly worried about the return of their actual child. Edward nodded slowly and scurried into the kitchen. Astoria cocked her head at his retreating back.
"Who's that? Violet doesn't have a younger brother."
"He doesn't have anywhere else to go. Don't go pestering him about it—the poor kid's had a horrible time of it recently." He met her eyes with a serious look. She nodded in understanding, a gleam of pity flashing across her face. It faded quickly as her enthusiasm returned, nearly bouncing in place as they joined the rest in the kitchen.
Harry was pulled away from the stack of parchments by the sound of a garbled murmur. He yanked open the top drawer of his dresser and the sound sharpened into a voice.
"Harry, are you there?"
Harry pulled out a mirror from the drawer and held it in front of him. Jimmy looked back at him from within.
"They're not going to do it."
"What?"
"The muggles," Jimmy sighed. "They're not going to move as fast as you want them too—they're still too scared of wizards."
"They're cautious. As they should be," A new voice cut in. The view in the mirror panned, spinning around the room to focus on Fleur.
"It's taken years for them to build up to the point they're at now, they're not going to throw it all away in a handful of weeks," She said with a note of condescension.
"She's been spending the most time out of all of us working with them," Jimmy said helpfully.
"Have you made any progress then?"
She snorted. "Of course. They launched an operation recently, a strike on the Eyes to validate your intel. They had me accompany it as insurance."
"And?"
"We got our man, and the location of that base of yours. He's already back in his place, memory wiped."
Harry blinked, somewhat surprised. That was more than he'd expected.
"But they're not going to raid it?"
"No," Fleur shook her head. "We're pretty much the only firepower they've got. Muggle weapons have been almost totally eradicated from the continent by now, and magical substances are highly controlled to keep out of muggle hands. Whatever they've cobbled together won't be enough to take on trained wizards. And I'm not going to push them to try."
"It was a long shot anyway," Harry nodded, ideas starting to swirl through his mind. "What's their plan for now?"
"Recruitment," Fleur responded. "The Eyes have been what has kept them suppressed, and small, and scared. We've been working on procedures to work around the Eyes now that we know how they work. Larger scale manufacturing of that dampening electrical shielding, chains of lookouts communicating Eye positions, recruiting strategies. They've been bringing in more members every day than in whole years previous. Safe-houses are being built in strategic positions, skilled workers are being targeted for recruitment. The other day they brought in a chemist from the muggle university. I've heard some interesting ideas they have for him going forward."
"That sounds promising—but what about leaks? The larger they get the more likely somebody makes a mistake, or goes running off to the authorities to save their own skin."
Fleur shrugged. "For now, they've been careful in their selections. The people reached their boiling point years ago—they just haven't had the chance to fight back. Now that they do, they're flocking in droves."
"Good," Harry smiled. "Very good."
"What about you Harry?" Fleur's brow furrowed minutely. "Have you been...alright?"
"Been better," Harry said wryly. "But could be worse. Don't worry about me; shouldn't be long before I'm free to get back to you guys."
Fleur nodded slowly, but the look of worry didn't drop from her face.
"Do you know how long?" Jimmy piped in.
"Not exactly," Harry grimaced. "It's—tricky. New problems crop up the same speed they're solved. But, I'm making good progress. It's going to happen. I promise."
"Then we'll talk to you soon."
The mirror went dark, and then lit back up with his own reflection. He glared at the mocking image.
"Try it again," Riddle ordered. Harry sighed in resignation. He stuck the tip of his wand into his mouth, pressing gently against the swollen implant and pushing his tongue back into this throat.
He braced and tried to silently cast the charm Riddle had been attempting to drill into his head for hours. His wand shook, heating up under his fingertips as azure sparks sprayed out across his open lips. The heat surged to the wandtip and stopped, blooming against the flesh of his mouth, circulating outwards in undulating bands of power. The glow filled his mouth and spilled out, forcing him to squint. Suddenly his wand bucked, disrupting the flow, and the glow disappeared as fast as it started, leaving his mouth full of an acrid burning taste. He bent over, hacking.
"Again," Riddle said coldly. Harry glared down at his chest. His robes were hanging open with no shirt underneath, revealing the grotesque face carved into his flesh. It's red eyes were staring straight back at him, burning in their ragged sockets.
"It won't fucking work," Harry spat, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.
"We need it to."
"Well then help me figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong." Riddle stared at him in silence, before a thoughtful look creased his face.
"I have another idea."
Harry eyed Riddle in suspicion. He didn't like the sound of that.
"What do you—" his jaw locked in place. His eyes widened in panic, as he jumped to his feet. Halfway up his legs locked as well, toppling him over. He writhed on the floor as the feeling slowly drained out of his limbs. He tried to reach for his wand but his hand stopped a few inches away, frozen in the air. Eventually he came to total stillness, eyes flickering desperately in their sockets, trapped in his own unresponsive body.
He watched, helplessly, as his fingers suddenly curled, contracting into a fist and back out again, without any sensation reaching his brain. His vision shifted violently as his body climbed to its feet, the alien force piloting it snatching his wand and the mirror from where they'd fallen.
His mouth pried itself open. "Ah, this is better," it said in a distinctly wrong voice, echoing in his head. His body held up the mirror so that he could see the reflection of his chest in it. Riddle looked back at him with a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry Harry, but it wouldn't have worked if I warned you. You'd fight me too hard."
Harry tried to glare at him, to yell, but all he could manage was to roll his eyes furiously.
"Don't worry—I can only manage this for a short time. Now, where were we?"
Riddle raised Harry's wand, gripped elegantly with the ends of his fingertips. He slipped it into Harry's open mouth and placed it against the same spot on the roof. The wand erupted with magic. Harry could see the wand vibrating in Riddle's grasp but he maintained his tight hold, refusing to let it slip away. And then it was over, the glow fading away as the quill on the desk in front of them came to live, furiously scribbling lines of text across parchment.
Harry blinked and then realized he could feel the gentle throbbing in his mouth. He raised his hand and watched as it moved in front of his eyes.
"Riddle," He said, dangerously quiet.
"It needed to be done," Riddle said dismissively. "We don't have time to wait for you to master all the requisite spells. And I already told you—if you knew, it wouldn't have worked."
Harry fumed silently. "Don't ever do that again."
"Not without your permission," Riddle agreed. "But it will be necessary. Unless, you want to keep that damn thing in your head? Because I'm the only one who'll have the skill to remove the implant when the day comes."
"So you knew you would have to do this eventually?" Harry mused.
"Of course I did. But until now I didn't have the strength to succeed."
"Bastard."
Riddle stared at him impassively from the reflection in the mirror. "I do what is necessary. I know you understand."
Harry looked away.
"If you're strong enough to do magic, then how much longer till you're back at full strength?"
"I believe I'm close enough."
Harry's eyes flickered back to the mirror, lightning fast.
"Does that mean—"
"Yes," Riddle's face smiled, a grisly mockery of the expression. "Soon. It's almost time to return me to my body."