Disclaimer- Just... just leave me alone!

Very,very sorry for the lack of updates. I just wasn't very motivated and my muse went on vacation. She'll be back in... SIX MONTHS!?! What!?! Excuse me while I track down Aminta (my muse). Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy! This is where things get a little more... troubling for the story.

Abstulo Chapter 8

By Tol Morwen

Aurelius woke up in a strange, but grand, room feeling confused and lost. He tried to remember what had happened earlier and suddenly it just clicked. He was in a room called "The Great Hall" with Grandma Minny (McGonagall). She was just telling him about the characteristics of each of the four houses when four people dressed in cloaks and masks just suddenly appeared. Grandma Minny shoved Aurelius behind her but he dropped Mordred who began to scuttle away. "Mordred!" he remembered crying out. Minerva withdrew her wand but one of them took out a long stick and shouted something at Grandma and immediately she fell over.

She was so still that Aurelius thought that she was dead. He began to sob and when another of the men came over to get him, he struggled and began to hit him. During the scuffle, Aurelius managed to remove the mask of his attacker to reveal a woman with a wild look on her face. He stared at her for awhile as if he saw her before but couldn't remember where. Then he began to struggle violently again when he snapped out of his daze until one of her partners took out his wand. Things went dark after that.

He looked around the room and instantly wondered why he was there. It was a large room with many furniture that was no doubt very expensive. The floor was decorated with a large exotic rug and some tapestries were hung on the walls. The bed he was on was very big and luxurious and the nightstand next to it was ornamented with rubies. On it was a lit candle that was slowly dying out and a large glass of water. Feeling his throat suddenly go dry, he reached out and took a gulp of it. Right away he realized that there was some lemon juice in it- a habit he always did when drinking water.

"Why did they do that?" he asked softly as he started to get out of the bed. But when he heard a noise coming from outside the room, he instantly went back under the covers and feigned sleep. Slowly the door opened and a man and a woman watched him from the doorway. They spoke in hushed voices and Aurelius couldn't hear what they were saying. The woman was holding a cage and after a minute, put it down inside the room. Aurelius could hear the man protest but the woman paid no attention to him. "Filthy animal," he heard the man say. "If he didn't like the dirty beast...."

"But he does!" the woman reminded sharply yet quietly. "And because he does, we will respect it and his wishes!"

Moments passed before they left, closing the door gently. He waited for a few minutes for any type of sound before getting out of the bed. And then he saw him. Inside the cage was his new pet, shaken and scared, but otherwise fine. With relief, Aurelius went over and murmured soothing sounds to the frightened creature. He fumbled with the cage before he found out how to open it. Once out Mordred clung to him and Aurelius let him. And that was when he noticed it. The old t-shirt and slightly faded jeans he was wearing when he was in Hogwarts was gone. Instead they were replaced with a pair of new black silk pajamas that felt smooth to the touch.

'Strange,' Aurelius thought for a moment. But soon he remembered that he needed to get out of there. Following a TV show he saw before, he arranged the pillows into a faint outline of himself and draped the blanket over them. Slowly he tiptoed towards the door with Mordred in his arms and opened it as quietly as he could. He looked both ways before closing the door and walking away. He took special care to hide in the shadows and to stay quiet.

He walked aimlessly, trying to look for a way out. Eventually he came across a pair of stairs and went down on it. But when he was halfway down, he spotted his female kidnapper and, with a cry, tried to run back upstairs. But she was quicker. Running up two steps at a time, she quickly caught up to him and grabbed him. She hoisted Aurelius up onto her shoulders and calmly walked to the boy's despite the struggles coming from him.

When they were in the room Aurelius was once in, she threw him onto the bed and went to lock the door. Modred came out of his arms and lay on the bed too scared to move, although occasional squeaks were heard. Aurelius petted him gently to help but stopped when the woman turned around and really looked at the boy. She took in Aurelius' hair, eyes, and bone structure. Soon she stepped closer and Aurelius went still as if afraid she would strike if he moved.

"Do you remember me?" she asked but then shook her head in disgust. "No of course not. They took everything away. Everything. But no matter; you'll get everything back soon, my Lord." She saw Aurelius' face full of fear and smiled a crooked, malicious smile. "I am Bellatrix Lestrange, Sir. I am your faithful servant."

"Servant?" he croaked. "What are you talking about?"

"Voldemort..." Bellatrix whispered and for some reason, Aurelius shivered. She laughed out loud when she saw him shiver and continued. "Voldemort was once your name. You were strong and relentless and killed all the unworthy. All feared you and shuddered when they heard your name. In your true prime, no one could stop you. Even a god had to resort to trickery to stop you! I saw him trick you, I saw!" She then kept muttering over and over again on how strong Voldemort was.

Aurelius stayed quiet while she continued to talk. But while she rambled on, he kept thinking about what Tom had called him before in his nightmare. "Monster," he called him. His feet even began to hurt just thinking about it. "Monster."

His thoughts were broken when he heard the woman suddenly shriek out a string of curses. "Shut up!" Aurelius yelled out involuntarily and Bellatrix went silent. Then she smiled and chuckled softly. Her chuckling grew louder with each second that passed until she forced herself to stop. But the smile still remained on her face.

She came towards him and Aurelius recoiled slightly. If she noticed, she didn't do anything. When she reached him, she smoothed out his hair, ignoring his protests. When she couldn't smooth out his hair perfectly, she stopped and scowled. "Too unruly like the Potter brat," she scowled again. "Too much like him."

"Harry?" Aurelius asked.

She grimaced and petted his hair. Aurelius tried his best to hide his contorted face. "Best not to say his name," she said. "Not until you're strong again." She stopped and seemed to be thinking about something. Finally she went and unlocked the door. Before she left she told the child, "I'll be back. Leave this room and you'll be sorry." Aurelius nervously nodded and before he knew it, she left, but not without locking the door.

He waited for a few minutes before going over and testing the lock on the door. No use though. It was definitely locked. He gave up and went back to the bed, hoping that someone would find him soon. Suddenly he wondered where he was. He knew that he was in a large mansion or castle judging by the size of the room he was in and the hallways.

Quickly, he walked over to the windows. He drew back the curtains and found that the sun was slowly rising. It was morning now and it had to be at least 5 o' clock in the morning. He also realized that they were near a medium sized lake. 'That doesn't help me much though,' Aurelius thought. When the door unlocked suddenly, Aurelius ran back towards the bed. Bellatrix came back holding something that was covered in a soft cloth, but she wasn't alone. A young man was with her holding a tray of food. She beckoned him to leave the tray on the nightstand and leave.

When they were alone, Bellatrix uncovered the object and Aurelius saw that she was holding a diamond. Suddenly he remembered what Tom had told him to remember no matter what; a diamond. The older woman calmly walked over to him and sat down on the bed besides him. She fondled the diamond lovingly before handing it over to Aurelius. But he didn't take it. "Touch it," Bellatrix commanded. He shook his head and started to draw back but she grabbed his shoulders. "Touch it," she said harsher than she intended to.

She squeezed his shoulders hard and when the pain began to get too much for him, he touched it and the squeezing stopped. But straight away he wished he hadn't. His eyes widened and he saw flashes of a fight between Tom, a Death Eater, and a man he hadn't seen before.

They were in a field and it was nighttime. Tom and the Death Eater had their wands out and they were franticly looking around for someone. Suddenly the bruised man appeared in front of Tom, and with a small dagger, managed to make a thin cut on his right arm. The cut was identical to his and instinctively Aurelius covered it. But after making the cut, the man tried once again to strike him but failed. Tom pointed his wand to him and shouted, "Crucio!"

The spell hit him and he cried out in pain as the sound of bones twisting was heard. But quickly, he shook it off and disappeared. The Death Eater began to look around again. Minutes passed, but no sign came. In frustration the Death Eater threw away her mask to the ground to reveal a younger looking Bellatrix Lestrange. "My Lord, please leave! I'll take care of this fool," she said but Voldemort shook his head.

"No," he seethed. "A direct attack intended for me, will be dealt by me."

"But sir!" Bellatrix pleaded but stopped when Set appeared behind her and stabbed her on the shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground clutching her bleeding shoulder. Voldemort aimed a spell at Set but once again he disappeared before he could cast anything. By now Bellatrix's shoulder was bleeding profusely; puddles of dark blood had begun forming on the ground.

"Lestrange!" Voldemort yelled out in frustration. "I command you to go! This fool will be dealt by me! Do not frustrate me even further by disobeying me!" Voldemort walked over to the fallen Death Eater and picked her up roughly. "Go!" he snarled angrily.

Bellatrix was again about to refuse when her Master suddenly cried out in shock. He dropped his wand and clutched his back as if someone hit him there. "My Lord?" she asked stunned. Voldemort fell to the ground and cried out in agony as his body began to change. Bellatrix looked over Tom's body and saw Set standing a few yards away from them with a relieved smile on his painted face. She looked away when she heard a soft whimper coming from her Lord. But when she saw him, she gaped at the sight. Voldemort's clothes were lying haphazardly on the ground and the body was gone.

Instead there was a baby there. He was moving around trying to push the thick robe away from himself. When he couldn't, he began to cry softly as tears streamed across his face. "My Lord," she muttered in disbelief. "What has he done to you?" Forgetting about her wound, she picked the baby up, but he began to sob louder.

By this time, Set had begun to advance on them. Bellatrix saw him and she tried to push the baby behind her, but the pain became too much and she dropped him gently on the ground. She stood and grabbed her wand from the ground. Lestrange aimed it at him, but Set smacked it away. Then with a fierce cry, he knocked her unconscious. With a smirk on his face, he picked up the crying babe and was relatively surprised when the baby tried to scratch him.

Set held the baby away at arms length and tried to figure out why he was acting this way. Then it occurred to him. He had only changed him physically into a baby, not mentally. Still holding the infant with one arm, he took out an oval diamond from a pouch. He held it lengthwise and began muttering in Ancient Egyptian. Set put the gem in front of the infant's face and motioned it north, south, east, and then west.

Minutes later the baby stopped trying to scratch him and he breathed a sigh of relief. But soon he thought of what he was going to do with him. He couldn't take him back with him; the other gods would object and another war between them would ignite. So it was settled; he would give him to someone who would take care of him. But he couldn't just give him away. He couldn't hand him to Albus or any of his priests back in Egypt- they was far too old to take care of a child and an Egyptian temple might not be the best place to raise a child.

But then he thought of Draco, the magicless human, who had sacrificed something very important to him for the good of others. He had nothing going on for him now and he could excel as a father. He was loyal, protective, and would give up anything for the side of good. He'd give the baby to him...

Aurelius bit back the cries of no he wanted to yell. The baby was him. And before the baby was Tom, the monster who he saw kill many people. It was true then that he was a monster because he and Tom was the same; they were two halves of a single whole. And what was worst was that his father kept this away from him. He knew and said nothing. Maybe he was waiting for the right time or, more than likely, he wasn't going to tell him at all. But it didn't matter now that he had found out... from his own kidnapper no less.

Bellatrix, who had never been near a child without torturing him first, tried to console him as best she could. She rubbed his back in small, soothing circles and made calming sounds. When she didn't get anywhere, she suddenly thought of the diamond. Draco told his friends that if it broke, the child besides her would get all of his memories back and Voldemort would come back.

"Aurelius," she whispered. Aurelius stood still like a mouse about to be eaten by a snake. He turned his head towards her and found her clutching the diamond. Slowly, she lifted the arm holding the gem and dropped it into the ground. On impact, the gem shattered into a million pieces that were scattered across the floor and Aurelius winced when he heard the crashing sound.

But afterwards, his eyes widened in an unidentifiable emotion. Scenes seen from Tom's eyes flashed before his own and he felt like someone draped a thick blanket over him. He suddenly couldn't breath and he began to make choking noises. Bellatrix recoiled in fear. She didn't know that this would happen to him. It looked like he was dying before her very eyes.

Suddenly Aurelius closed his eyes for what seemed like hours. He lay as stiff as a board on the bed and Bellatrix began to fear the worst. 'I've killed him," she thought in terror. 'I killed him!' Suddenly the little boy's fingers started to twitch. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times before sitting up. Aurelius rubbed his eyes as if he had been sleeping for hours. Then he did something strange. He smiled.

Bellatrix would have thought that nothing unusual had happened but she looked closer. The boy's eyes seemed different somehow. They were less innocent and naïve. Then they flashed a bright red before going back to their usual green. "Hello Bellatrix," he whispered. He glanced at the shards of the diamond before looking at her again. "Thank you, my most faithful servant." Bellatrix tried to contain her excitement.

TBC

Also thank you to Velven for reviewing the last chapter.