hello everyone, i hope you all love this chapter and continue to read the fic as i post it
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It had been days since Harry, Tom and Fenrir had arrived at the grand and lavish Malfoy Manor. Upon waking just in time for dinner, Harry had been told that for a few days he would more or less have to entertain himself. Besides Tom, having enlisted half of the Manor house elves to go to Slytherin manor to fix, repair, and make sure that the ancient manor was livable once again. He had then sent for Severus Snape the next day, so he could make the many potions for Tom to get back to his former, healthy and powerful self. Not including the Elixir of Life which would be made from the Sorcerer's Stone.
Except for when Severus had first showed up at the Manor, while Harry wanted to see Snape's reaction to his being there. Harry stayed away for the most part, mainly hanging about in the library, reading anything that he could find that seemed interesting.
Tom had explained to him that Severus was his godfather and anything he did, he had done because he was under the careful watch of Dumbledore and didn't want the man to twig that anything was off. And that when Severus had been named Harry's godfather he had been over the moon with joy, James and Lily being like his brother and sister in all but blood. Which brought Tom to explain that Severus and Lucius were together, despite Lucius being married to Narcissa. That no matter how much Narcissa and Lucius each wanted to get divorced they couldn't because of the marriage contract that they were both under. The whole situation baffled Harry to no end, but after many books, and long searches in the manor library he had a better understanding of the situation, but even if after all that it still didn't make much sense to him but supposed it was something he might understand when he was older.
More days passed, and a constant pattern had developed. Get up, shower, dress, breakfast, library, lunch, library, dinner, back to his room with books from the library, bed, and then after some sleep the whole thing started all over again. Harry did sometimes talk with Mrs. Malfoy, who insisted he call her Narcissa, but that was few and far between. And Fenrir, though he didn't talk to Harry very much, but he did hang around the library when Harry was there and did so close to where Harry was. Every once and a while he would also see Nagini and chat with her but she was very preoccupied with hunting for her food or very warm places to relax and sleep.
It was on one such day where Harry had been reading a particularly long book and thought he heard Fenrir come into the library. As Fenrir didn't speak much, Harry didn't bother to look and see if it was him, it wasn't.
"Mary Worthright's Complete Companion to Basic and Complicated Rituals and Traditions, a good book, dry at times, but good. A good choice for you to be reading, you should learn everything you can about our sacred traditions and rituals."
"Mr. Malfoy," Harry managed to get out without stuttering, having been spooked at the unexpected interruption. "Tom mentioned something about traditions before, and some of the other books I've read mentioned things about both traditions and rituals as well, so I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to read some books on it. This is the the one I chose to read first. Was there something you needed from me Mr. Malfoy?"
"The Dark Lord, sorry Tom, has asked me to find you and asked that you join him in the temporary office he has made in one of the smaller sitting rooms, as soon as possible. It's in the same hallway as the dining room, the dark red door on the opposite wall from the dining room three doors down. It you have any trouble finding it just call for Glizzy."
"Thank you Mr. Malfoy. I'll just put this away than get going."
"Why don't you take it with you? I know he wants you to read some books, I am sure he will want to talk to you about that book, and any others he thinks you should read," Lucius suggested as he turned and left the Library.
Tucking the thick book under his arm Harry set off to the hallway that led to the dining room, following Mr. Malfoy's instructions Harry soon found himself in front of the only dark red door in the whole hallway, but he wasn't sure if he should knock or not. Sure Tom was also the Dark Lord Voldemort, and that should have scared Harry but it didn't. Harry trusted Tom with his life, and now knew the truth, that he hadn't and never would hurt Harry. Deciding it was better to knock and feel foolish, than to not knock at all and possibly have Tom be mad at him for being rude, Harry knocked on the door and waited.
"Come in," called a muffled voice from inside.
"Oh, I hadn't expected Lucius to find you so soon. Take a seat and wait while I finish this." Tom gestured to the side of the room where a small sofa and a few chairs were sitting around a coffee table in front of a fireplace.
After sitting down Harry waited for a few minutes, as Tom wrote away at the desk he was using. As it seemed like Tom would take a few minutes Harry opened the book back to where he was and started to read some more while he waited.
"I didn't think I would take that long, what are you reading?" Asked Tom as he sat down on the chair next to the one Harry was sitting in.
"Complete Companion to Basic and Complicated Rituals and Traditions, Mr. Malfoy said that it was a good choice. I decided to read it after having read things about rituals and traditions in other books, besides you mentioned something about it earlier. Speaking of Mr. Malfoy he was acting weird, he started to say Dark Lord, then he said sorry and switched to Tom." Harry took a good look at Tom after seeing him for the first time in days, he no longer looked like he needed a lot to eat. He did look a little skinny but his bones no longer stood out from his skin, and he looked much healthier overall. His skin wasn't as deathly pale, his hair wasn't a matted mess, but luscious dark locks, and with him now standing to his full height of over six feet, he had an air of power about him.
"I never really bothered to think about it before but I don't want them calling me that. We were all friends, for the most part, and I want them to call me by my name again... Anyway, well that's one book you can cross off this list of books that I think you would do well to read, right now it's only a partial list, long but not complete, as I haven't had much time to write it." Tom handed over a rolled up piece of parchment.
Proper Pureblood Equitique
Pureblood Lord and Heir Diaries of the Potter, Slytherin, and Malfoy Lines
Complete Companion to Basic and Complicated Rituals and Traditions
The Social Structure of The Wizarding World
Structure of the Wizgamont
Basic Guide to Wizarding Law
Dark Arts - A Guide to Understanding
Darks Arts - vol 1 - 14
The Lighter Spells of Dark Magic
The Darker Spells Of Light Magic
Neutral Arts
How to Create Your Own Spells
Beginners Guide to Ancient Runes
Beginners Guide to Arithmancy
Light, Dark, and Neutral Art's and Magic's and the Differences Between Them
Basic Healing Spells, Potions, and Rituals
Beginners Guide to Learning Latin
Beginners Guide to Learning French
"Oh, I have Neutral Arts in up my room. I was planning to read it after I finished reading this one," said Harry as he looked over the list.
"Well that's another book that you can cross off the list. I also have a few books in Parseltongue I want you to read eventually, but you might not be able to read those yet. Speaking Parseltongue is easy, reading however is much harder, and it tends to hurt your eyes when you first try to read it. I would also like you to continue learning the classes that you started at Hogwarts, even though you are no longer at Hogwarts you need to learn the core classes, they are the foundation that you need to properly learn all magic.
"As for the Diaries I have a few from the Slytherin line, my family, and I know there are a lot of them here in the manor from the Malfoy family. I wanted to talk to you about some other things as well. One here are a few potions I've had made especially for you, this is a case of nutrient potions for you to take once a day for a few weeks. They should get you to a healthy weight, size and help with your overall health. This one is a eye correction potion, take it before you go to bed tonight and by the morning you will no longer need glasses, unless your eyes become damaged by something like fire or, something you won't need glasses ever again. And this last one is the more important, and I really want you to think about this. This is a blood adoption potion.
"Blood adoption potions are used mainly by purebloods to adopt a person into their family, someone who has no familial blood to the family. I would like to adopt you, it's the least I can do, I owe it to you and your parents. Now don't think that that's the only reason I want to do it, I would have adopted you if I had had the chance when this whole mess started and now that I can, I still want to. Not to mention that I need a way to disguise you, and keep you from Dumbledore and the Light side. They would put all of those spells and potions back on you and it's a miracle that they didn't kill you when they were on you the first time, I have no doubt that they would definitely kill you if they get a chance to do so a second time around. Now I want you to take all the time you need to think on this, and if you want to talk to me or ask me anything just come and find me or ask a house elf where I am. I'll hold on to the potion, it's very rare and hard to make. So if you do decide to allow me to adopt you, just come to me and will talk everything over before you take it."
Stunned Harry simply nodded and left the room, with the case of shrunk potions, he wandered aimlessly around the manor lost in thought.
"He wants to adopt me," Harry said out loud to himself in wonder. Harry had wished for nothing else for years. For someone, he had hoped his parents, to come and take him away from the Dursleys. Anyone to save him.
HP/FG-TW
Two days later and Harry still didn't know what to do, after getting more than enough headaches he decided to make a list of pro's and con's to try and help him make up his mind. Harry so badly wanted to just say yes, but he didn't want to rush into things, and have something bad happen to make him regret his choice.
Pro's
I get a family
He wants me
He doesn't lie to me
He tells me the truth
He can teach me so much
He wants to protect me
He won't hurt me
He might be my only chance at a family
He wants me to get healthy
He isn't like the Dursley's
He knew my parents
I can have a godfather because of Tom
Con's
I don't really know him
He's Voldemort
He might not really like me
He's evil?
He might be lying to me
Harry had made a few pro and con lists while at the Dursley's most of them were about whether he should run away from them or not, a few were if he should tell people about how they treated him. Never before had a list ended up with so many pros. All of the other lists he had made had so many cons it wasn't funny, and they made him worried to even consider doing anything either.
Even though Harry knew what his answer would be he was still apprehensive. The thing he wanted most in the world was right there in front of him, all he had to do was allow himself to have it.