James loitered in the shadows of an abandoned shop across from the Prophet's new offices in Phine Alley. It had been almost three hours and his feet were starting to kill him. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, James grabbed the invisibility cloak when it began to slip off his shoulders. Couldn't even have a smoke while he waited.

With Taural's statement, he had leverage to use against Harry. He didn't know how Amelia would want to put pressure on his son when the time came, but he would leave that to her.

There was no way he would be able to interrogate his own son. He didn't want to imagine having to watch his own flesh and blood be put through the gauntlet. There was the fact it was a conflict of interest, but the order of immunity Amelia had drawn up would just handwave that away when it went to trial. If it went to trial. For all the corruption of their government, this was the time people were seeking for heads to roll.

Of all the times for the DMLE to get the balls to root out misconduct, it was when his son had gotten into it.

He let out a huff of air.

There had been a brief minute the other day when visiting Harry's flat when he had thought about imperiusing him. Crocker's manuscript… he had been livid. If Lily hadn't been present… Well, James was happy he hadn't had to make that decision.

The next time he saw Harry, Lily wasn't going to be there to protect him. If he had to imperius him, he would.

A flash of green robes pulled him from his thoughts. His prey. Rita Skeeter scoped out the area, searching for anything out of place before making her way to her apartment in Lighter Alley

The last two times that he had tried to approach her, she had ducked back in and vanished. James pushed himself off the wall and trailed behind her, waiting to hit her with a spell.

He followed her to the grocers and parchment store. It wasn't until she was climbing the stairs to her apartment when he was able to hit her square in the back with an imperius. Skeeter paused, and as if nothing had happened, began heading up the stairs and held her door open for him. James had her put down her purchases while he sat on her venom green chaise and took the weight off his feet. Rita walked over and sat down across from him on a matching chair. He rolled his ankle, the popping echoing through the disturbingly small apartment.

"Earlier this year, you had an interview with Lord Slytherin at his home. Correct?"

"Yes," she answered, her voice dreamlike. It was certainly much nicer than her usual tone of voice.

James shook his head, as if he could divest himself of his instincts. He was asking questions the wrong way. He didn't need to interrogate her. She would tell the truth no matter what. "Where was that?"

She got up from the chair and made her way to the bookshelf, pulled a red notebook from the shelf and flipped through the pages. "Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, York." She returned to the chair, notebook hanging limply from her hand.

James slid the book from her fingers and flipped through the pages. Her work notes for January. On January 3rd, there was the address, and bullet points from before the interview.

Muggle village

Eyes

Age difference between LS & HP

HP as advisor

Why HP

Chocolate Frog Card announcement

Education

Parents

Where he grew up

Hidden lineage

Opposition to monarchy

The three of them mentioning Harry and the one regarding the Chocolate Frog Card had a checkmark next to them. The rest, he assumed, had not been discussed.

The next few pages were the interview transcript. His vague memory of the article seemed to match up with the text. He closed the notebook and slid it into his pocket. "Have you been threatened, or bribed to stop your reports regarding Slytherin?"

Her brows knitted together and she shook her head. "No."

"You just decided one day that you would stop getting scoops on what Slytherin was up to?"

Rita nodded. "His majesty and those closest to him deserve privacy."

"Oh?" James leaned forward. "Are you actually Rita Skeeter?"

"Yes."

"And you believe Slytherin deserves to have a private life?"

"Yes."

"Are there any days you don't remember?"

She shook her head.

James went to the shelf of journals. He pulled all the books for the last six months and sat at her desk. Every page was filled with work notes except the day the Prophet burned down which had a large ink blot filling the first page, and was followed by notes regarding the fire on the next few. The only real oddity he had found was that the pages for the 21st of February were ripped out and the day of the 22nd was completely blank.

He got up and held the open book in front of Rita's face. "Explain."

Her eyes crossed as she looked. "Nothing happened that day. No news."

"That was the day Hermione Granger fell down a set of stairs. The day Slytherin and my son met with her at the Three Broomsticks and nothing at all happened?"

"Not that I recall."

He huffed. She had been obliviated. "What about the day before? Your notes are gone." He tapped the middle of the book where the torn edges were.

"I don't know."

He sighed and slid the book into his pocket.

He would have to get someone who was an expert at memory charms to take a look at her. James didn't trust that he would be able to break the spell put on her without adding her to the Janus Thickey ward next to Hermione.

Pointing his wand at her, James obliviated her. Something light, nothing that would be hard to remove. Nothing that would break her.

He released the imperius and left.

##

The day was bright and annoyingly idyllic with how foul Harry's mood was. Birds sang, bees bumbled, squirrels frolicked. He walked through the gates of Avery's estate.

A cracking sound broke through the relative silence of the day. A house elf stood next to him. "This way Master Potter, Master Avery has been expecting you."

The house elf led him down into the kitchen where Avery sat at the table with a house elf on each side. It was like nothing had changed since Harry was last present. Avery still had the stacks of parchment and quills scratching away.

"You set me up," Harry stated, his perfectly even voice belying the rage that burned in his chest.

"I taught you a lesson. There is a difference," Avery responded.

Harry scoffed. "You said you were going to teach me delegation, the only thing you taught me is that you are not to be trusted!" he snapped.

Avery's face lit up with a smile. He clapped his hands together. "Outstanding! I had a few worries regarding your intelligence after you blindly opened a portkey disguised letter."

"You don't want me to trust you?" Harry tilted his head to the side as he digested that.

"Harry, you should trust absolutely no one," Avery said imperiously. His smile of delight had shifted to one of condescension.

Clenching his hands, Harry chewed his bottom lip. Avery wasn't wrong. He had been a fool to just go forward with his request. He released a shaky breath. "Bellatrix Lestrange is missing. She was arrested and has vanished, probably taken by the Department of Mysteries or someone else more insidious. If she lets just a smidge of information slip, they will be able to start tracing things backwards. If Tom goes down, we all go down," Harry hissed.

Avery steepled his hands in front of his face and pursed his lips. "Mmmm, no," he stated, as if he had absolute certainty. "I have all eventualities accounted for, apprentice mine." Avery steepled his fingers together. "Even if the monarchy collapses and I am somehow implicated, I have everything arranged. As a member of the Sacred 27, all I or my co-conspirators would face would be a slap on the wrist. The potential consequences which I will face are negligent to the point of being laughable. You and his highness… Well, that's a different story. I would not want to be the figureheads of corruption." His lips pursed, but there was a smile hidden behind them.

What Avery was saying was true. Tom was king, the public face of any potential scandal which could befall them, and Harry, as his partner, was equally culpable. Even if Tom owned the Prophet, the two of them would be traitors in the eyes of the masses. It didn't take being a historian to figure that out. The French Revolution had proven that even the most established of bases could be destroyed, and some days, Harry could feel the scaffolding shifting beneath him.

Swallowing, Harry looked away from Avery and towards the just above ground window where the hot afternoon sun was glaring down on him and the house elves in the kitchen. He blinked rapidly. "Why did you do this?" he asked in a whisper. "There could have been a better way. You've created a whole new set of problems. The consequences… I cannot even begin to imagine how far it will branch out. The Sacred 27 can't protect you forever."

Avery released a snort of laughter. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes," Harry snapped.

"In all honesty, It's because I can blackmail you without fear of repercussions."

Harry reared back as if he had been slapped. "What? Why?" Shit shit shit shit shit.

Avery dipped a finger in his pot of ink before dragging it across a piece of parchment."My initial control on you is the fact you agreed to work with me. We both know that Tom will not like hearing that you have gone behind his back, but he may be able to forgive you for that indiscretion." Avery smirked now."I doubt he would be able to forgive you working with me, on top of costing him the Lestranges. Especially Bellatrix, his most loyal lieutenant.

"Please be reassured though, that it was not just a move against you. He needed to be punished for Ulysses' death. I may not have— seen eye-to-eye with the man at times, but he was still one of my most trusted allies. Tom may trace the information back to me, but it's not as if he can harm me without harming himself.

"Now," Avery continued, his every sentence locking Harry in place further and further. "I know you came here to have some sort of confrontation. I imagine it was a subconscious choice on your part to feel less impotent in the light of my absolute control over your life," he sneered. "Anyways, I feel like we should just skip the rest of that and move onto more pertinent things."

Harry didn't know what to do. What to say, his words had failed him. If this was what Avery's true motivations—

"If you recall our previous discussion regarding an expansion of the Sacred 27, which are currently the Sacred 25, there were three families I wanted to see added," Avery stated, matter-of-factly."McLaggen, Smith, and Broadmoor," Harry answered automatically, his mouth dry.

"Indeed. Your job is to convince His Majesty to add them to the roster through any means necessary," he said, as if it was as simple as a walk in the park.

"He won't do that, no matter what I say," Harry said.

It wasn't worth fighting Avery right now. He needed to regroup and think things through. He needed to get out of this house before he did something stupid. Like kill the man.

"I'm not asking for a fast turnaround, research the situation and find something," Avery said with a smile that could cut glass.

Clenching his fists until his palms bled, Harry held his head up high. He would not be Avery's lapdog."No." Any chance of retreat and regrouping flew out the window.

"No?" Avery raised a brow, his unseeing eyes focused on him.

"I refuse to manipulate Tom," Harry grabbed the edge of the table.

Avery released a bark of laughter. "Oh, please. Don't try that line on me."

"Excuse me?" Harry moved closer to Avery, knocking a stool over.

"Refuse to manipulate him? You discovered the Chamber of Secrets to get a rise out of him, you discovered his true lineage and weren't murdered for it, much less the fact that you and the painting have been working behind his back in order to get to me. Merlin, imagine if he knew you were here." Avery chuckled, as if this was a quiet joke between friends.

Harry's breath caught in his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about." A voice that sounded like the painting screamed in his head 'Deny! Deny! Deny!'

Avery pulled a blank sheet of parchment off a stack and set a floating quill on it, seemingly returning to his regular business as he set the tip at the top and it began to scratch away. "Don't play coy. I know your secrets, and I must give you credit, I would never have considered a chocolate frog card as a way to allow the horcrux the ability to roam free of Tom's control."

The room was silent as Harry's mind went blank with panic. Avery ignored him. "You're not making any sense. You're senile," Harry said, accusatorily.

"Harry," Avery's tone was as patronizing as Dumbledore's had been. "I know nearly everything." The small smile that had been on his lips turned into a sneer and his voice went cold. "So, don't try that senile line with me. I know what you've been up to and who your closest allies are. You may have destroyed that mudblood's mind, but she can still be made to suffer. Perhaps, Theo would be willing to take her in and care for her. I doubt anyone would even notice. And that's just an easy one, there's still your parents, friends, and extended family. Lucius and Narcissa are still young and have more than enough time to create a new heir." Avery smiled at him with a little too much teeth.

Harry's blood ran cold, colder if it had already run cold once today. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know if there was something he should say, he didn't even know if he could speak. "You wouldn't dare." He choked out. Not only was he threatening to go after Harry's family, but he would strike at his own base out of spite for him? What depths would he not reach?

"I would and you know it."

There was no denying it as much as Harry wanted to, Avery was being completely honest. Harry's mind was both blank and reeling. How did Avery know? What did Avery know? What the hell was a horcrux? How much danger was he in?

Avery chuckled. "You're shaken. Would you like some chocolate?" His demeanor changed to a kindly old man like a switch had been flipped.

A house elf placed a bar of chocolate on the table in front of him. Harry stared at it. He didn't touch it. He didn't move. He was going to puke. "Why are you…"

"Harry, I need you to understand something, I am in control. I know everything. I have worked hard for decades to be where I am at and I will not allow you or Tom to get in my way. To keep Tom in line, I have you. To keep you in line,I am spoiled for choice. I imagine you don't want him to know that you are running around with myself and his horcrux behind his back? The trust would be broken irreparably, I would think."

Harry fought to make his jaw work. "I… I haven't done anything to you," he said through clenched teeth.

"It's true," Avery sighed. "You haven't. You're just a tool, I would almost say you're a shovel the way you can dig yourself into holes. You were aware of the assassination orders for both Crouch and Dumbledore, and that's on top of you… permanently injuring your friend to keep Tom's lineage secret." He chuckled. "Tom thought himself clever when he made the painting a horcrux, something loyal to him that could have eyes nearly everywhere." Avery lifted his hand and gestured to the walls of the kitchen. "I, for one, do not care to be limited in any way. I have eyes everywhere."

Harry was struck by the sudden stillness of the room. All the house elves in the kitchen had gone completely still and were now staring at him. "Oh, Merlin." Could Avery see through their eyes? Was that where he got all his information?

"Quite." Avery smiled. "So, I've told you my secret. Now, you can tell his majesty about this and he can have all the elves thrown out of the palace, but that's only one place, and humans are just as even more so. Harry, I am telling you this to let you know that you, nor Tom, nor his damned portrait worry me in the slightest. You can tell them both, but it will only do you harm. I also know of Tom's so-called secret plot to overthrow the Sacred 27 and I can assure you that it will not come to pass. We will let him have his little dream, and while he spends years growing more and more powerful, and eventually when he is comfortable with all the riches he has surrounded himself with, well, he will forget that small desire he once had for justice.

"Now, turn around, trot out and go cover up your mistakes. After you're done, convince him to expand the numbers."

Harry said nothing. The blood from his palms dripped on the ground with a regular beat.

waved a hand and a house elf on each side of Harry grabbed his wrist in an iron grip and began dragging him out of the kitchen.

"What's a horcrux?"

Avery held a hand up and the elves paused, holding Harry in place. "It is immortality, to a degree. A horcrux is a vessel with a piece of soul contained within that tethers its creator to the mortal realm should they be injured or even killed. The average horcrux maker will settle at one and hide it away. Tom is an outlier and, therefore, should not be counted. I have always assumed that he created the amount he has as he trusts no one, but himself. And I must admit that he is certainly efficient, why have one of himself when he can have more that can help?"

Harry licked his lips. "Like the cup?"

Avery's lips quirked up. "Yes. It was given to me as a boast, that Tom had beaten me to submission. That a former enemy would protect it with their life. He hadn't banked on it being stolen."

"How can a cup help him?" He had made so many mistakes today, but the arrogance dripping off of Avery was almost palpable. Harry was going to catch him monologuing. If he could keep him talking… maybe he could get some information that could help him and Tom.

"The cup is the horcrux he stored his humanity in. There wasn't much humanity to Tom Riddle, but he did manage to find that small piece of himself and hide it away. The magical guards he placed on it to prevent it from bleeding over to him were extremely powerful. Killed four cursebreakers and maimed two more before I was able to remove them."

"Why would you do that? Isn't it better when he's all cold and ruthless—" Harry's brain caught up with his mouth.

"He's sharper without his humanity, that is true. More ready to make sacrifices, and cut things out. For me, t's better if he cares. Makes him more manageable, more protective of people he might come to care for." Avery smiled widely, his teeth glinting like the predator he was. "When he met you, I like to think he was going to use you for some sexual gratification and toss you to the side afterwards. Something he had done before. It was around the first Skeeter article when the barriers were removed and I started influencing him via the cup. You just happened to be the piece of flesh of the moment." Avery laughed. "Don't worry, he loves you." The word dripped with acid. "But without me... well, this would be a different situation, wouldn't it?"