The morning after the long party, Harry is making James food in the kitchen, planning on taking it up to him so James can have breakfast in bed after he wakes up.

Voldemort swans into the room and holds out a familiar diary. Harry drops the pack of cheese on the bench and backs up. Does Voldemort know? Can he feel it better when he's like this – in this body and with the power practically rolling off him?

"I don't know why you have my soul," Voldemort states and ignores Harry's flinch. "Strange, considering I have all of mine. I'm quite sure it's a trap, or some kind of bait since you're not even a real person according to your thin records that spontaneously appeared recently." He holds out the diary closer to Harry. "Write to it, it will siphon off the piece, or it will deal with you if you're trying something."

"Only the piece?" Harry asks.

"You're not in a position to be asking questions," Voldemort says.

"And...do you have any questions?" Harry asks hesitantly, definitely expecting more. Maybe not screaming and torture from this clearly sane and controlled Voldemort but not nothing either.

"Of course," Voldemort muses. "But it's not like you're going anywhere with James under my thumb, and the diary will soon know more than enough."

Voldemort's influence is sweeping across Europe, gaining traction like it never has before, and he's so high on his easy, overwhelming success that a little boy is hardly going to be a threat to him. He's still considering the soul piece to be fake, or perhaps a store of his magic instead which would be an easy explanation.

Harry takes the diary because that was a very clear threat against his dad and Harry at least needs to warn James before they do anything drastic.

"This will be possessing me," Harry warns, holding up the diary by the corner.

James munches on his sandwich. "Is that good?"

"No, it's horrible and it might hurt people," Harry admits.

"Why are you carrying it then?"

"Because Voldemort told me I had to," Harry explains. "I will be writing in Voldemort's diary-"

James laughs. "What?" Then he quickly reigns himself back in. "No, sorry, continue."

"I will be writing to it," Harry sighs. "And it will be…taking some of my…excess soul."

"Excess?"

"Potential possession," Harry continues because he didn't tell James about horcruxes, not when James is too close to Voldemort's influence. "Pretty sure it won't try to go for the basilisk but…just be aware if I'm acting strangely."

"How do I stop it possessing you?" James asks.

"You will not be able to win a fight with him," Harry admits. "Just…stay out of his way."

"Well, you know, never say never," James argues. "I could take a book. Look how thin it is, it doesn't stand a chance against me."

"This is Voldemort at sixteen," Harry clarifies. "He will destroy you."

"Well I've never fought him before-"

"James, please, this is not about your ego right now. Do not fight the diary. Please."

James frowns. "Yeah, fine," he grumbles. "As long as he doesn't start shit first."

"James."

Sirius squints at the moving picture in the newspaper. "Oh shit, is he telling the Phoenix Fiasco story?"

James stands at the head of a crowd that seems to be bowing to him with how they're staggering from laughter. His jewel encrusted antlers glow as James mimes wrestling with something.

Remus is sitting across the round table outside the cafe, sipping butterbeer. "At least he's enjoying himself?"

James and Harry meet the two a few minutes later and they go wandering around shopping – mainly for the stuff next year because their letters just came in, but mostly because the next day is a full moon.

Harry debates 'subtly' asking if they can head down to the Black vault to check for the cup but he went with his Sirius a while back and had no luck at all. The cup probably won't spontaneously appear.

Harry is pretty sure Voldemort still has all his horcruxes on him but he's not stopping until he makes certain he knows where everything is.

Canine species (like wolves) put their mouth over the muzzle of other dogs to assert dominance - usually in a kind of playful way.

Moony tries to do that to Prongs, while the deer is lying outside the half broken down cabin in the forest Remus uses during school breaks, and Prongs just sits there giving no fucks because he doesn't understand it.

And then Prongs realises it's hard to breath because Moony is covering his entire muzzle which means mouth and nose. Prongs bleats and it echoes strangely in Moony's mouth, the werewolf pulling away soon after and licking his lips.

Prongs turns to Padfoot and opens his mouth, which gets him a lot of outraged barking because Padfoot isn't down to be dominated by a herbivore.

They end up sleeping outside in the forest, a newly shifted back Remus cuddled up to Prongs' warm stomach and wrapped in a sleeping bag with Padfoot as an extra quilt. It's too cold for James and Sirius to shift back, not when they lie outside and stare up at the bright stars.

I wonder what Harry is doing, Prongs wonders.

Harry, staring around the empty cave, does not find a pedestal with a locket. He spent so long learning James' food transfiguration trick to use on the poison on the pedestal to get a bloody locket that isn't even here!

"I'm not upset at no inferi," Sirius admits, kicking some pebbles down the short hill where they splash into the empty water. "Have you seen Voldemort wearing any of his bling?"

"Please don't call it that," Harry grumbles. "And no but James mentioned a trophy room when he was giving me a tour of the place."

Sirius winces. "So the only way you're getting to it, is if James is there with you."

"I'm not risking it," Harry says firmly. "And…you know what, Voldemort is a little bit weird. Like acting human weird."

"You want to wait?" Sirius muses, crossing his arms. "I mean, as long as he isn't trying to murder you or James I'm willing to take a step back."

Harry scrubs a hand through his hair. "It's just…" he sighs. "This is the last chance we have. I don't know what the diary is going to get from me."

"At least when he does snap, we know what everything is," Sirius reassures him.

.

A/N: It's my birthday, have another chapter XD.