Interlude 4

Lily nudged the door open. It swung on silent hinges, letting her slip in behind. She caught the door as it swung back and slowly let it close. The sound of slow breathing filled the room, echoing from the mound of blankets on the bed. She waited but they didn't react to her entrance.

Harry had come home so late last night, she hadn't had the chance to catch him. After the business with the Azkaban he'd been so on edge, disappearing the day after and only returning now, and Sirius wouldn't tell her anything about what happened or what was going on. Even James couldn't get an answer out of him.

She crossed the room carefully, making sure not to trip or knock anything over, balancing her bundle of clothes in one hand, plate of food in the other. The plate was laid down by his bedside. A quick charm made sure it would still be warm when he woke up.

She made her way over to his dresser, clothes in her arms—new ones, as a gift. She stopped in confusion. There was a large trunk by the dresser, one she'd never seen before, made from a heavy dark wood, with an imposing lock slotted across its front. She looked back at Harry in confusion but he was still sleeping peacefully.

Where did it come from? He must've brought it back from wherever he went, but why? She eyed the sheer bulk of the trunk and the ambient magic radiating off it. It must've contained the rest of his belongings, retrieved from wherever Riddle had him. She felt something tight and hopeful squeeze around her heart. He must've decided to make his stay more of a permanent one. She blinked, surprised by the emotion that brought.

The poor boy.

With a teary smile she pulled open the top dresser drawer. It was full, almost overflowing, all of Harry's spare robes, pants, socks—every article of clothing—crammed into the tiny drawer. She pushed it closed, straining to get it to slide back into the dresser.

"What in the world?" she whispered.

The drawer a step lower was full to the brim as well, but with rolls of parchment. Maps, diagrams, essays—she saw dozens of different stacks. She pulled all the drawers out, going down one by one to the bottom of the dresser. Each one was crammed full of parchment covered in scribbled writing.

She huffed, frowning. The trunk caught her eye again. Maybe it was more out of necessity for space, she thought to herself. She brushed her hand over the top of the trunk. The lock on it was massive and steel, absolutely gleaming with magic. She lifted it idly, inspecting its mechanism. Something clicked at her touch. The lock popped open.

Her eyebrows raised. How did that happen? She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Harry was still snoozing heavily.

The depressed springs squealed and the lid popped open. Her breath caught.

It was a body, a cadaver, pale and naked, and perfectly preserved. She licked her lips nervously, staring down into the trunk. There must be a good reason for this, there just had to be. But none were providing themselves to her.

Then she noticed something and her eyes bulged. So caught up in the general deadness—and nakedness—she hadn't recognized the poor soul. But now she did. Tom Riddle stared up lifelessly from the bottom of a trunk in her guest room. Her breathing sped up. Why did Harry have this? What—was this...necromancy?

"Ah, you shouldn't have seen that."

The voice made her heart skip a beat and she jumped away from the trunk, spinning around.

Harry was sitting up in his bed, watching her with a strangely cold expression on his face. She hadn't noticed him wake up.

"Harry," she breathed, panicked, "What—what is this?"

"Necessary," he smiled. She shivered at the sight. Something about that smile was wrong, alien on Harry's face. Harry smiled awkwardly, like he was still unsure about it, but with such quiet sincerity she couldn't help but smile back. This smile was cruel, confident and fake, his lips pulling up over his teeth in a way she'd never seen before.

His eyes were as red as they'd always been, but now they glowed with a light that made her hands shaky.

"Harry?" she said quietly.

His smile stretched wider, distorting the features on his face even more.

"Not quite," he chuckled.

Her eyes widened and her hand went to her wand. It flew out of her grasp and into the waiting hand of the not-Harry. He slipped out of bed, landing lightly on two bare feet.

"Nothing personal, of course," he mused, inspecting her wand. "But you shouldn't have looked in there."

A flick of the wand and a powerful force seized her in its grip, trapping her in place.

"I—I'm sorry, I didn't know," she stammered. "Who are you? Where's Harry?"

The red-eyed monster approached her, stalking across the small room like a predator stuffed into the skin of a man.

"Oh, he's around," he said. "Sleeping right now. So it's left to me to handle this."

"Harry wouldn't want me hurt," she pleaded. "He wouldn't stand for it."

He looked down at her, meeting her eyes, and laughed.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you silly woman." He leaned forward with a whisper, "But you'd be quite surprised with what your sweet Harry is capable of doing. What he will do. I can feel it. And it's going to be glorious."

Her own wand was leveled between her eyes. She tried to struggle but the spell holding her in place didn't give her an inch.

"Obliviate."

The world went black.

The lid of the trunk swung shut with a muted thump. Harry snapped the lock back in place. Leave it open for too long and the preservation charms would start to fail, and he didn't want to have to clean that up.

"How long until we're ready?" he asked.

"A handful of days, a fortnight at the very longest. The potions will be finished in time. We just need the final piece."

Harry nodded. "Good. And you said that won't be too much trouble to get?"

"No. At least, not compared to last time."

Harry closed the door of the room behind him and locked it. He added another locking charm just to be safe. Couldn't risk the chance someone would stumble on something while poking around his room. The thought had been niggling at him all morning and he just couldn't quite shake it off.