He had found his uncle waiting on the station, with the nastiest scowl on his face, as he'd emerged from the platform. He didn't look too pleased to be there…Well neither was he. This was the man that had nearly killed him. Harry dragged his trunk behind him as his uncle wordlessly led him to where the car was parked, and Harry hoped that he wouldn't have to spend too much time at Privet Drive.

The drive was completely silent and during it Harry noticed that apart from the revulsion that his uncle held for him, there was an undertow of fear to his demeanour. Had Tom threatened him? He might have. It sometimes surprised him that Tom hadn't murdered the Dursleys after they'd tried to kill him, but Harry assumed that it was because Tom didn't want Dumbledore to get suspicious. Speaking of Dumbledore, he had been glad to find that Dumbledore had been extremely preoccupied with the break in from Azkaban…especially since Fudge had been blaming him for sentencing Sirius to Azkaban instead of ordering the Dementor's kiss on him. So, in short, his abrupt departure from Hogwarts to spend the Christmas with his relatives hadn't sparked any curiosity except from Ron and Hermione who'd just looked at him like he'd lost his mind and then left it at that because by now they knew that arguing with him was futile and he would just do whatever he wanted to.

They reached Privet Drive in record time and Harry went straight up to his room without interacting with his aunt or his cousin. Slumping down on his bed, he pulled off his trainers and laid back as he stared at the ceiling and thought about what was going to happen next. He could feel the excitement bubbling up in his chest as thought about the prospect of seeing Tom again…Feeling Tom again… Simply being in his arms again…

Would Tom have missed him as much as he had? Maybe…Maybe not… But he'd asked Lucius to write that letter so he must have missed him a little…

At some point he'd dozed off because the sound of someone knocking on his door startled him awake and he had to take a minute just to find his bearings and figure out where he was and how he'd gotten there. The knocking grew more insistent, and Harry sighed before murmuring,

"Come in… It isn't locked."

Harry had been expecting his uncle to step into his room, even though he found it a little strange that his uncle had actually bothered to knock but when Lucius walked into the room, Harry couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by how messy his room was. Lucius was dressed in a dark grey finely tailored suit that looked like it had been stitched on him.

Lucius looked around his small room with a look of distaste and pity and spoke curtly,

"Come on, Potter. We don't have all day."

Harry slipped his feet into his trainers and was just tying the laces when Lucius spoke,

"The Dark Lord was very pleased when you successfully managed to acquire the prophecy for him… I confess I had doubted his wisdom when he'd chosen to spare you that night but I was wrong. He truly is the greatest wizard to have ever lived."

Harry straightened up and rose to his feet,

"Prophecy?"

For months, he'd been curious about the item he'd acquired for Tom from the Department of Mysteries but since he'd had no real lead as to what that item was, he had been unable to research it. Now that Lucius had mentioned that it was a prophecy, Harry could feel his curiosity tenfold. He doubted he'd get any answers from Lucius but maybe Tom would tell him all about it. After all, that orb had had his name on it too.

Just as he'd predicted, Lucius ignored his question and spoke curtly,

"You won't be needing anything so shall we get going?"

Harry nodded silently and followed Lucius out of the room and down the stairs. The Dursleys were nowhere to be seen and the house was so eerily quiet. Lucius turned to face him when they were standing in the middle of the hallway and spoke,

"Have you ever apparated before, Potter?"

Harry shook his head,

"No…Never."

Lucius's lips curved up into a smirk,

"This will be a new experience for you then."

If it made Lucius smirk like that then it was bound to be unpleasant,

"You will need to hold on to my arm very tightly, Potter."

Harry gripped Lucius's proffered forearm,

"Well, here we go."

Harry felt Lucius's arm twist away from him and redoubled his grip: the next thing he knew, everything went black; he was being pressed very hard from all directions; he could not breathe, there were iron bands tightening around his chest; his eyeballs were being forced back into his head; his eardrums were being pushed deeper into his skull, and then… He gulped great lungfuls of cold night air and opened his streaming eyes. He felt as though he had just been forced through a very tight rubber tube. It was a few seconds before he realised that Privet Drive had vanished, and they were now standing in a narrow moonlit lane. The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge.

Harry immediately let go of Lucius arm and began following him as he walked ahead. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved with them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring their way. Lucius raised his left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through as though the dark metal were smoke.

Harry knew he was expected to do the same, so he mimicked Lucius's gesture and passed straight through the gate. The yew hedges muffled the sound of their footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge. Harry simply stared at it in awe until Lucius cleared his throat and wordlessly urged him to keep walking.

A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge, a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as they walked towards the front door, which swung inwards at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it. The hallway was large, dimly lit and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed them as they strode past. Lucius halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room and Harry stopped with him. Lucius paused for a heartbeat and then turned the bronze handle.