Possession
Chapter XIII – Acceptance
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"We have to tell him!"

"Tell him what?" Sirius questioned roughly.

"Everything!"

"And what do you think that will accomplish?"

"He deserves to know the truth."

"That Voldemort raped him?" Sirius snapped. "I agree he deserves to know the truth but he's barely accepted everything else. He's only beginning to recover now."

"So what if it's used against us? How will he react if he finds out some other way?"

Sirius sighed... That was the question. They could take the risk of destroying Harry and tell him that he had slept with the Dark Lord, hoping that he would understand or they could wait until he was more fully recovered and risk someone of the Dark twisting what had happened. "He's not ready yet. I've spoken to him about it and do you know what he believes?"

"It doesn't matter what he believes and it's all the more reason to tell him the truth!"

"He knows he slept with someone, someone with red eyes and he feels thankful to that person because they were so gentle. He liked it, even though he doesn't know who it was. And he is thankful that whoever it was got away before Voldemort came. He has no idea that it was the Dark Lord."

"We have to tell him then!"

"Do you want to do it?" Sirius snarled. "Can you guarentee that it will not destroy him? While he is a Hogwarts we can protect him. We have the time to wait for him to recover fully before we tell him the truth. And it can be done gently, slowly so that he understands exactly what happened."

At Sirius' final outburst Albus rose and nodded. "We cannot risk Harry and Sirius is correct, we have time to wait. Tom is willing to wait and for the moment he will not force the issue with Mr Potter so we do not need to worry about someone else telling him. Plus, I do believe that Tom hasn't advertised the fact that he captured Harry over the summer so there is only a select group of Death Eaters who have any inkling as to what may have transpired and even then I do not believe that they will act without their Lords permission and knowing Tom we will have plenty of warning before he strikes."

Sirius' eyes bured. "So if anyone tells him, they'd better be prepared to face me."

---

Harry smiled at Ron and Hermione as the two of them dragged him into a corner of the common room. Ever since he'd been rescued from Voldemort he'd spent the rest of the summer at Hogwarts coming to terms with his memories. Sirius hadn't left his side, nor had the strangely changed Hedwig and the two of them had always been patient when he'd been able to do nothing but cry. He had written to his two friends over the summer and had told them that he was at Hogwarts but he hadn't been able to tell them anything else. Nor was he going to. They didn't need to know about what he could remember now but he would tell them about Voldemort and the rest.

They'd been ecstatic to see him at the Gryffindor table with both Hedwig and Snuffles in attendance and Dumbledore had explained to the school that the two animals would be remaining with him but hadn't elaborated on the reasons. However the Gryffindor table hadn't allowed his two friends enough privacy to question him on events but it was good to know they cared.

They sat him down in a large overstuffed chair in the corner, each of them taking an arm as Hedwig settled on to the back and Snuffles sat down in front.

"Harry I was so worried... Even though by the time I found out, you were already back here."

"Now Harry, spill it!"

"Okay, okay!" He smiled back at them before sighing turning serious. "I don't really remember that much though. Voldemort came to the house one night. I was asleep," he wasn't going to tell them what had happened with Vernon, "so, from what I've been told, Voldemort stunned me anyway and while it's really boring the next thing I remember is when Snuffles, Snape and Moody were there, rescuing me."

"That's it?" Ron was incredulous.

"I told you there wasn't much to tell. If I'd been awake maybe there would be more to say but really, I hardly even know he kidnapped me, except that the Dursleys are still missing," Harry said sadly.

"What!"

"Dumbledore's still looking but it's been a couple of weeks..." Harry trailed off.

"Have you dreamed about them?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

Harry shook his head, glad that he didn't have to speak. A part of him was thankful that he didn't know what was happening to them but another part of him was revelling in the fact that Voldemort still had them and was assuring him that the Dark Lord would be very thorough with his torture. He always felt guilty at that... He didn't want them to be tortured... He just didn't want to have to live with them anymore...

:And you won't...:

Harry frowned as he looked around. He knew the others hadn't heard it. It was almost like hearing the Basilisk again but it wasn't parceltongue, it was something else.

"Harry..?" Hermione asked.

He shook his head again, turning to look at his friend. "It's nothing," he said. "Just... I don't know."

"What is it?"

He sighed heavily, knowing that they would just keep pestering until he told them something and it wasn't really that big a deal. "Every now and then, I hear something," he said softly. "It's not a snake, it's a whisper, almost below my hearing and... I don't know... It's never more than a comment or an observation... I just can't help thinking that it's something Voldemort did."

"Have you asked Dumbledore?"

Harry couldn't help but grin. He'd been betting with himself that that would be Hermione's first suggestion and he intended to surprise her. "Yes, I have."

Ron giggled at the expression on Hermione's face. "So, what'd he say?"

"He said it was probably something Voldemort had done." He rubbed his scar. "I haven't had many dreams lately so the Headmaster thinks Voldemort may have figured out a way to block the bond with him but he can't block it completely so that's why I hear something occasionally."

"Phew! I'd hate to think that you were really hearing voices, Harry!" Ron joked easily, slapping him on the back.

"Harry..." Hermione wasn't as relaxed.

"It's okay," he said slowly. "Really... Dumbledore's cast some spells on me so nothing's going to happen. And I've got weekly meetings with him about everything."

The worry clouding her eyes eased slightly and she nodded. "You remember though, we're still here."

Ron nodded, his eyes wide as he gave his silent agreement with Harry's other best friend.

"I know..." Harry smiled at them. "Thank you."

---

Draco narrowed grey eyes as he cast another surreptitious glance towards Harry Potter. The boy was eating quietly surrounded by his friends, including the Mudblood but he still looked far to collected for someone who was supposedly recovering from the Dark Lord and from his memories.

He flicked his eyes over the 'Guardian Animals' Dumbledore was now allowing Potter and snorted. It was just his owl and a stray and they would both be ridiculously easy to side step. But side step to do what..?

"Draco!" Blaise rolled his eyes at the junior Malfoy. "Pay attention!"

Around him the Great Hall was beginning to clear. He glared back at Zabini but rose and followed the rest of his house out of the Hall. Just as he was almost out of earshot he heard Potter... "Yeah... But it's all over now..."

Over..? Draco smiled as everything became clear and he knew exactly what to do. Oh, it's never 'over'... "Blaise, wait!"

"What is it?"

"You heard about Potter, didn't you?"

Blaise frowned. "What?"

"You mean you don't know?" Draco feigned surprise. Neither Voldemort or Dumbledore had let Potter's summer adventures become common knowledge but that didn't mean anything to him.

"What happened?"

"Not here," Draco said, theatrically looking around with narrowed eyes.

Eventually they got back to the relative sanctuary of the Slytherin Dungeons where he motioned over Millicent.

"Draco, what happened with Potter?"

"He escaped."

"I know that! That's the first thing I heard as soon as I got home," Millicent objected.

"Not then," Draco shook his head. "Just a couple of weeks ago, our Master had Potter cornered, when the brat escaped again."

"How?"

Blaise's eyes seemed to burn and Draco hid a smile. This was going to be easier than he thought. Draco shook his head. "I don't know... not really but that's not important. What's important is that we're in a position to stop it happening again."

Millicent blinked before a decidedly evil smile flitted over her features. "So what does our Master want us to do?"

Internally Draco laughed. Our master... How little they know..? But in a way, they are serving their Master...

"Wait for a while... Potter's almost settled in again but just when he thinks he's safe, I think it's time he discovered exactly how serious going against the Dark Lord is."

Millicent and Blaise both licked their lips, grinning. "Oh... I think we can ensure Potter will run back to our Lord once we're through with him.

Your Lord perhaps... But not mine. Draco nodded, grey eyes glittering. "Good," he purred. With Potter effectively dead, only Voldemort stood in the way of the new Dark Lord, Lucius Malfoy but that wouldn't be for long.

---

Harry frowned in his sleep. Something was wrong and as soon as he came to that realisation his vision opened.

Once again he was in Voldemort's throne room, watching events unfold. The Dark Lord spared him a glance and a soft smile before his Elites and the being they had with them took his attention.

Harry's eyes widened as he recognised the being. It was the Vampire Xeoaph. His skin was ivory white and his eyes a pale blue but they glowed with intensity. He snarled at Voldemort, canines long and sharp. His robes were ornate but dishelved and rumpled. Slowly he drew himself up, looking powerful and every inch the elder vampire despite the wands trained on him.

"Petty Dark Lord," he spat.

Voldemort smiled as he narrowed his eyes and he gathered his powers before murmuring a single word as his skin flashed its mottled pattern, returning to normal after an instant.

Xeoaph stumbled at the force of the word, staggering and falling to his knees, as darkness seemed to wrap around him. He growled, breathing heavily, grunting as the darkness seeped into him. "No!" The scream was agonised and Xeoaph coughed up thick black ooze that burned the floor sending up acrid smoke as it ate into the stone.

"Master!" Xeoaph cried. "Please!" He begged.

The Dark Lord raised his wand, muttering another word and the Vampire suddenly collapsed, the pain vanishing as he struggled to breath still. "Master..." He gasped.

"I am not the Master," Voldemort shrugged before he looked back at the Vampire. "What I want is quite simple."

"Blood."

"Yes... Your blood, willingly given."

"All right," Xeoaph agreed easily, anything to avoid that inhuman pain again, as he rose to his feet again. Voldemort was a Dark Lord like many before him but mastery over that dark magic he had just unleashed meant he wasn't just a Dark Lord, he was The Dark Lord, no matter what he was claiming.

"Good..." Voldemort's eyes narrowed again. "One more thing... Stay away from my pet."

"What?" Xeoaph looked confused although all traces of pain had vanished. He wasn't an elder for nothing.

The Dark Lord snarled back. "Turn around," he ordered, as he fixed red eyes back to where Harry was watching.

Reluctantly the Vampire turned and his pale blue eyes widened as he saw what the Dark Lord saw and a new realisation came to him. "How..?" He swung back around towards the Dark Lord.

"Stay away from my pet," Voldemort repeated coldly. "Or you will discover exactly how far my Mastery extends."

Harry blinked as the darkness descended on his vision and the room; Voldemort, his Elites and Xeoaph disappeared as true sleep reclaimed him. He snuggled deeper into his pillow, pulling his blankets around him as warmth surrounded him and he subconsciously recalled the way red eyes had looked at him, hungrily, passionately but gentle and comforting.

---

Harry woke early the next morning but he felt calm and refreshed. He felt good.

And then the memories returned. All the men, all at once. They hurt him. They used him. Again and again and there was no escape.

Harry blinked but the tears he expected didn't come. For a moment he thought that perhaps it was because he was cried out but he could feel something between the memories and himself. He sighed as he recognised it. It was time and it was the Obliviate spell. That what he remembered had happened to him, he was sure of but it had happened years ago, before he was eleven and he was fifteen now.

It seemed ridiculous but it made a kind of sense. It was almost as if what had happened, happened to someone else. If he had remembered for all this time then that would have been different but he didn't and everything, while being painful to recall, was buffered by time. He hadn't forgiven the men, he hadn't forgotten, not anymore at least but it was time he moved on. He had felt guilty but Sirius, Remus and even Moody had all acted to convince him that none of it had been his fault and after that he'd been angry... But Dumbledore and even Hedwig had calmed him.

Now it was time to move on...

It had happened to him. It wasn't his fault. The one's who had done it would be brought to justice and that was enough...

Besides, he knew what it was like to be loved.

Harry frowned at the feeling. He wasn't sure what he should be feeling about that...

Technically he supposed it was rape, like all the others... After all he hadn't given his consent, at least, he didn't think he had but he could remember that he hadn't fought... So could that be consent? He shook his head. Confused.

It had felt so good...

Let me show you what it means to be loved...

Harry sighed... He remembered those words... They had been crooned softly to him, comforting and questioningly... I did agree... He realised suddenly, remembering the loving look those crimson eyes had given him and the way that the man had taken his hand, squeezing reassuringly. After that there had been a moment of pain but then nothing but pleasure...

Harry blinked as he remembered more. The man had been so gentle, every movement designed to reassure him, to make him feel better and right at the end he remembered in the afterglow of his own pleasure he had felt his partners release and he had heard his name.

And it made him feel even better. It had been so nice.

He hadn't been raped... He smiled at the sense of relief that washed through him as he came to the conclusion. Even though his agreement hadn't really been conscious, he had agreed and he had liked it and he hadn't wanted it to stop. In fact... he thought with a small shiver, I think I'd like to do it again...

:Heheheh! You will, Master... You will.:

Harry looked around. In the dawn light everything in the dorm was covered in deep shadows but some of them seemed to be shimmering. He blinked, shaking his head, telling himself firmly that it was only an illusion caused by the fluttering of the curtains.

But at least the voice was correct...

He didn't know who his partner had been but they had obviously slipped out before the Dark Lord had come and for that Harry was thankful. Whoever they were, they had done him a service and he didn't want them to be hurt by Voldemort. He doubted the Dark Lord would have any mercy for anyone Harry thought of with any degree of like. He just wished he knew who it was so he could thank them.

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