Embracing His True Self

Chapter 97

The meeting with the Veela's ended pretty quickly after that. It was more or less agreed to anyway. Tom was swift to call a meeting, Barty escorted the Veela's out, while Rabastan and Severus left for the meeting hall, Severus reading the newspaper as the walked. Rabastan's eye sight wasn't all that great, although he'd never admit it. Severus was just waiting on Rabastan confessing.

"Master's mirror calls," Dobby said, popping into the grand hall that was used for meetings.

Harry groaned, accepting the mirror, "I'll be back in a bit!" he informed them, before rushing off as quickly as he could. He could have used Dobby to pop them to his room, but he was not used to using a House-elf for everything, and thus never did.

"Activate!" Harry said, panting outrageously, staring into the mirror. "I guess you've seen the newspaper?"

"You guess?!" Sirius shrieked out, absolutely terrified and showing it. Remus wasn't looking any better in the background. Honestly, it was a beautiful backdrop and they looked terrified. "You tell me it's all lies; I don't care if it's the truth…just tell me its lies." Sirius looked ready to break, he knew, he knew that if Harry revealed all this to be the Merlin's honest truth…it would shatter him.

Remus had his hands tightly gripped on Sirius' shoulders, either keeping himself or Sirius grounded. Perhaps both? They were both rather smart men, there was a reason they'd been inducted into the Order, power and intelligence was something Dumbledore had collected. He was just more subtle than Slughorn when it came to his 'collection' so to speak.

Harry heard the door opening, "Most of it is lies,"

"Most of it?" Sirius' breathing hitched; grey eyes boring pleadingly into his godson. It was as if some part of Sirius knew it was all true, but was preferring to stay in utter denial.

"My Tom…is related to Voldemort," Harry confessed, "He shares half his genetics, it's unmistakable really…he looks a great deal like him." the other half was actually his, with the ritual, ironically enough being entirely truthful.

Voldemort smirked as he moved further into the room, and situated himself, content to wait until Harry was done. His followers would wait until he was ready for them, so his thoughts didn't linger on them much. He remained quiet, allowing Harry to do whatever he felt the need to do to keep the mutt and weak wolf in his life. Personally, they were more trouble than they were worth, to him, regretfully Harry cared and that stayed his hand. As long as they didn't interfere.

Sirius was choking out his disbelief, staring at Harry was if he couldn't believe it.

"Tom is related to Voldemort? His son?" Remus asked solemnly.

"Yes," Harry nodded, "I knew the moment we began dating, we didn't keep anything from each other."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Remus asked, tone softening with sympathy. He could only imagine how it must feel to have such a legacy burdening your shoulders. There was no getting away from it either, regardless of what he did.

"You mean other than the fact it's none of your business?" Harry asked, playing the defensive boyfriend. "Or how about the fact that it's not my secret to tell?"

"Harry," Sirius reprimanded.

"You never told my father or Sirius about you being a werewolf, they found out on their own…" Harry viciously brought his point home. In the only way he really knew how, by making them see personally just how it felt. "Years later, at that, might I remind you. At least I knew who he was right from the beginning."

Pain splashed across Remus' face, not at the reminder of those days, but the harshness of how he was being treated in this moment. He knew he deserved it; they had no right judging anyone. Either the situation or Tom, who had done nothing to deserve their reactions. Especially sensationalised bullshit that the Daily Prophet spewed. They had believed it without a second doubt. The shock of it had been unbelievably profound.

"Harry," Sirius said in protective warning, reaching up and gripping Remus' hand in his, reassuring him.

"No, I love you guys, I do, but you don't get to dictate how I live my life, or who I choose to love." Harry argued, "Hell, if I choose to love Voldemort himself it wouldn't have anything to do with you."

Voldemort choked out an incredulous laugh, unable to believe what had just come out of his partners mouth.

"That's just si…" Sirius sounded as if he was just beginning his rant.

Remus pressed against his shoulder, squeezing him, "He's right, it's none of our business," resigned and hurt both. "We're sorry, Harry, we really shouldn't have assumed." Ashamed of their reactions, they really had jumped the gun and then some.

"Damn right you shouldn't have!" Harry said bitterly, "After everything they've said about me? You go ahead and just believe it?" irritated more so than hurt, bloody Gryffindors believing everything they read. Or everything they hear, he thought wryly, because that's exactly what he was asking them to do.

"You're right," Sirius said urgently, "You're right, we shouldn't have, we're so sorry." Angling the mirror, a bit lower so that Harry wasn't seeing just the suns glare. "I'm sorry." He added once he was sure he had Harry's full attention.

"We're both sorry," Remus said quietly, subdued. "I…what are you both going to do? Legally you can sue the newspaper for libel and slander." He said thoughtfully, "It will be dragged on for months, to even over a year..." cautioning him in case he did go down that route.

Voldemort snorted, oh, he intended to make the bastard suffer for publishing it. Starting with the death of friends and family he was going to make him suffer before he finally ended his suffering. He would know he was coming for him but unable to do a damn thing.

"I forgive you," Harry said, it was a bit hypocritical, after all it was the truth. Unfortunately, neither wizard would survive with the truth. This…this was their only chance of a happy ever after. If they attempted to revive the Order or anything like that? They'd die. All he could do was try and make Sirius and Remus see that there's more to life than a war. They'd done their part; it was over now. "Just…please come to me first before assuming the worst, alright?" he didn't want to see anything happen to them.

The relief coming from the pair was very evident. Both of them were quick to agree, anything to make it up for their earlier stupidity.

"Press Conference?" Harry asked, but it was clear he wasn't talking to Remus or Sirius. He was talking over the mirror, there was someone else in the room.

"It would be the quickest way to get this under control," Voldemort conceded, "Forcing the paper to issue a retraction as well."

"But the damage is already been done, they'll believe it no matter what countermeasures we now put into place." Harry pointed out, "We need to find out who took these pictures, that was our date five weeks ago." pointing to the picture of them, it was a good picture of them both to be honest, but besides the point.

"No, fighting back they'll doubt it, keeping quiet they'll believe it's the truth." Remus suggested, "It's not going to be easy, but forcing a retraction is actually the best option."

"Along with making sure the reporter doesn't get away with the article." Sirius said sullenly. He could have very well screwed up his relationship with his godson by being stupid.

"Sirius!" Remus scolded, throwing his partner an exasperated look.

"I have to go," Harry said, "I have a meeting I have to attend."

Harry stayed on long enough to let them say their goodbyes and apologies again before he deactivated the mirror.

"You've sent someone to the Daily Prophet to find out who took the pictures right?" Harry asked setting his mirror aside. Aware that anything put in the newspaper had to be signed and whole slew of paperwork involved was insane.

"I have, Rabastan will return when he succeeds in getting everything we'll need." Voldemort replied, lips pursed.

"You think this has something to do with the meetings?" Harry asked, cautiously, rubbing his chin in agitation. Sighing softly, he stood back up, "This really sucks" He grumbled, and he could feel Tom following behind him, he could feel Tom's agitation on top of his own. This…this was definitely the last thing they needed.

"It does," Voldemort agreed, "And I am unsure if it's anything to be concerned about…yet."

Harry nodded, "I'll visit Hermione, find out what she knows." But right now, he was rather hoping that there were no meetings, he didn't want to have to deal with kids his own age. By deal, he hoped it didn't mean kill, but he would not let anything ruin his future. "I'm hoping it's just a bloody coincidence." He muttered darkly, he didn't want to think that she was betraying him, again.

"I agree," Voldemort conceded, he knew that Barty was rather attached to the girl. Personally, he didn't think much of her, but her intelligence which he'd usually find as an asset actually worked against her in this particular case. He wished it could have been anyone else, but no, he had to pick quite the self-righteous girl of them all.

"How long will it take do you think for Rabastan to get answers?" Harry asked as they both entered the grand hall. The doors were open, and naturally, the marked members – the inner circle – were unsurprisingly already there.

"Shouldn't take too long, he'll get what we need and leave." Severus was the one to answer. He knew quite a few people working there, and knew best whom to bribe. He was seated high up, with a seat next to him empty, Rabastan's seat.

"My Lord?" Lucius questioned, situated further down the table than he used to be. "Is there something I can do?" part of him felt jealous that Rabastan was even being trusted above him, and that Rabastan had been given a task that before all this, would have been entrusted to him.

"Not yet," Voldemort declared, "I assume you've all read the newspaper this afternoon?"

"I bought all copies in Diagon Alley," Dolohov declared, frowning unimpressed, "Not that it did much good, I reckon." Most people actually ordered their newspaper via owl order. Only those who couldn't afford a subscription didn't have it in all likelihood. "Won't need to buy any for the owlery for the next few months."

"We going on the defensive? Or offensive?" Dolohov questioned.

"I know a lawyer that could deal with this without us having to risk exposure," Lucius postulated, knowing that they were attempting this under the radar. "They're very good at what they do."

"You don't have one on your side?" Harry asked dryly, speaking that low nobody other than Tom probably heard him.

"We do, and our side," Voldemort whispered into Harry's ear, if he didn't unequivocally trust Harry, he'd be questioning his constant 'yours' he always spouted. The urge to bite down on Harry's ear was strong, but this was definitely not the time.

"How sure are you that there's an uprising amongst the school population?" Harry asked, barely listening to the others speculating and offering up solutions.

"It looks and sounds likely," Voldemort conceded, "Accio!"

"How likely?"

"Highly, too many precautions are being taken if it's not meant to be a secret," Voldemort replied, snatching the folder out of the air as it was summoned. He handed the brown folder over, tense and alert.

Harry swiftly opened it, and began to thrum through all the pictures that had been taken. Naturally he recognized every single one of the people in the photos. Shifting slightly, he moved towards the table, and began to go through them all again. "Hermione is only in two of them, and she isn't in the general direction they go in for what I'm assuming is the meeting." The relief he felt seeing that she wasn't a part of this was so immense that he was almost bowled over. He wasn't sure what he would do if Hermione betrayed him again after begging for a second chance.

Barty perked up, quickly moving over, he began to look at each photo as if having to check each one properly to see. "But who else could it be? Who has the intelligence and charisma to have people meeting up and able to convince everyone?"

"You're severely overestimating everyone at Hogwarts," Harry said dryly, "Nobody needs intelligence or charisma to have them thinking they're being brave and going on an adventure of a lifetime." Lips curled in disgust.

"Then things have definitely changed since my time there," Voldemort answered the silent room.

"Hardly," Harry said wryly, "How many wars has the magical world seen? Nobody knows how to have a normal schooling experience without suffering through manipulation. Everyone has been pushed or pulled in a dozen different directions, well, just two really…mostly." Glancing at Severus, who had been pulled in three different directions, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Lily, and surprisingly they were all very different distinctions.

Dumbledore versus Voldemort, it had been that way for generations, on Dumbledore's say so.

The inner circle was unconsciously conceding his point, it was true, there was maybe one generation that had been able to graduate from school without hearing about endless death and war.

"The pictures were taken by one Colin Creevey, a Mud…ggle born I assume," Rabastan commented, a sneer twisting his lips, disgusted at the mere thought of saying a Mudbloods name.

Harry scoffed, "Of course, I should have guessed," clenching his hands into fists, "How much?" he asked coldly, just how much had the bastard gotten for the pictures he'd taken from him.

"Two hundred galleons, very cheap for exclusive pictures," Rabastan said, setting the information down in front of Harry and the Dark Lord. "Must have been desperate to accept such a low price."

"It's a lot of money for a family of four with a single income," Harry shook his head, the Creevy brother's father was a milkman. The mother didn't work, at least that's the way it had been years back, the boys had been chatterboxes. Constantly going on about their lives.

"Added to more and more books required, with OWLs and NEWTs years." Severus replied, lips pursed unimpressed. "The boy constantly followed Harry around while he was in Hogwarts. To a degree that even I found uncomfortable."

"A stalker?" Voldemort asked, the urge to kill growing stronger.

"He became…less enthusiastic after his first year, but he still continued to take pictures." Severus revealed, "I took my concerns to Dumbledore, who dismissed them, naturally." he might have hated being a teacher, and detested most of his students when they couldn't brew to save themselves…but it didn't mean he wanted to see anything happen to them.

"That wasn't the end of it though, right?" Rabastan asked chuckling, "Did he pee his pants?"

"Naturally," Severus answered his partner with a wicked grin. "Not that it deterred him for long." His compulsion was stronger than his fears.

"Did you notice?" Voldemort asked Harry, staring intently, he'd never mentioned Creevy.

"Does it count if you grew that used to him that you sort of forgot?" Harry said wryly, shrugging his shoulders, "He was harmless," it wasn't as if he didn't keep his masks up all the time. He had, so it wasn't as if he would see something he shouldn't.

"Was?" Rabastan pursed his lips.

"Well, we can't say he is now, can we?" Harry grumbled, staring at the picture of them both, the picture itself was innocuous. It was the information shared alongside it and a very old picture of 'Tom Riddle' from his Hogwarts years that looked as if it had been taken at a graduation. He'd never gotten to graduate, it was weird seeing the graduation robes, blue, green, red and yellow, along with the pointy hats from their first year. "You let pictures of you with your name survive you leaving Hogwarts?" now that definitely amazed him.

"I took care of as much as I could," Tom frowned, he greatly disliked his real name, and so few people until today had known it. There was only two people alive that had the guts to use his name also. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was Dumbledore's doing that some survived. He was a known hoarder, not just of information or people."

"Agreed," Harry replied, lips twisting in disgust, the thought of what Dumbledore had planned to do still scared the shit out of him. Especially with his dreams, in them he was Grindelwald but with his face, unable to do anything but what Dumbledore told him to do. Despite knowing Gellert had been so, so relieved to be free of the life Dumbledore gave him, he still felt gutted.

"What is the next move?" the urgent question roused Harry from his depressing thoughts, causing him to shake off his lingering fear and worry.

"We need to kill Dumbledore…now," Harry declared.

"Kill whatever moral they're trying to build?" Severus deduced.

"If they see he's dead, it just might," Harry said grimly.

"Most won't care about Dumbledore given everything we've released, the information the world now knows about him." Lucius explained patiently, "It will only be a select few whom can overlook Dumbledore's actions and convince themselves that they're right."

"That's the audience we want to target," Harry pointed out.

"The gorier the scene is and the more he has suffered…the more affected they'll be," Lucius realized, "Most of it will be hidden from them, the newspaper will not reveal everything. They never have done in the past."

"It's true," Severus agreed, "They seldom give an accurate recap, the Ministry keep information hidden."

"In order to attempt to trap the real perpetrator," Voldemort stated, "Is it something you want to do?" staring intently at Harry. Normally he wouldn't ask such a question, but this was the inner circle, they wouldn't discuss this with their wives never mind the lower-level Death Eaters.

Everyone startled hearing that, Harry – their Lord Consort – was in charge of Dumbledore's fate? Then why was he still alive? They thought help but wonder. Especially considering they knew what Dumbledore had planned for him, what he'd actually done to Grindelwald himself. The fact Dumbledore was still alive spoke of a great deal of restraint. None were sure they had it.

"What about Tonks?" Barty pondered, "She's broken but she could still be a danger to all of us." she was pretty much the only one left from the Order of the Phoenix left. Her usefulness had ended long ago, when they created the very first Metamorphamagus potion.

"We are going to need heirs…" Rabastan started.

Severus grimaced, his distaste openly displayed. "No, we don't."

"Yes, we do, and it's perfect," Rabastan argued.

Severus' eye twitched in displeasure, he had made it more than clear that he wasn't sure about having children. Yet here Rabastan was pushing the issue, he wasn't sure how else to make himself clear.

How the hell could he be a good father after what his own had done to him? He hadn't had a good childhood like Rabastan, and he knew that. Then Harry gestured and gave a nod, and a small smile. Severus didn't need to read minds to realize what Harry was silently conveying. Why Harry had forgiven him so easily he didn't know. Or at all actually.

Harry scoffed, "Creevy," of all people he'd expected, he wasn't anywhere on that bloody list. "Of all bloody people." He'd undone years of planning potentially, "He doesn't have the smarts to have done this…uncovered this…"

"Agreed," Severus murmured, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, "And as far as I recall, neither brother has much in the way of friends, admittedly Dennis is far more popular than Colin." Using their first names for the first time.

"Who actually wrote the article?" Harry asked, grabbing the paperwork.

"Colin Creevy, he's officially a reporter/photographer." Rabastan told him.

Harry hummed; it appeared the wizard wasn't staying at Hogwarts until he was seventeen then. More fool him for thinking that he would, they mustn't be able to afford it he guessed.

"Master Harry is wanted by Mistress Granger; shall I tell her Master is busy?" Dobby asked, popping into the meeting fearlessly.

"She's here? And asking for Harry?" Barty asked in surprise, sitting up straighter, finding himself rather hurt.

"And clearly you don't keep an eye on the tracking charm very well," Harry said dryly, glancing at Voldemort, "Nothing much we can do anyway, except take care of Dumbledore…do you want it to be a full meeting?"

"Yes," Voldemort declared, "Everyone deserves to get to see him brought down, not that there's much fun to be had." Dumbledore was all but broken entirely.

"Alright, set it up, I'll be back as soon as possible," Harry agreed, before turning to Dobby, "Go about your day, thank you, Dobby." As always very kind to the House-elf.

Harry left the room, making a quick beeline towards the front door where Hermione presumably stood. Slytherin manor was beautiful, but there was no chance of getting lost. It was also very, very secure, and not actually called Slytherin manor unless you were in the know.

Officially it was Blackwood Manor, because it was in Blackwood, Berkshire.

Opening the door, he smiled at Hermione, "Hey, let me guess…you saw the newspaper?" his smile was a little tense, but no less genuine.

"No," Hermione shook her head, "I mean, yes, I saw, I mean I read it, but it's not why I'm here." Hand fluttering over her stomach.

"Okay…" Harry said, perplexed, scratching his head bewilderedly. "What's going on, Mione?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip savagely, before thrusting a vial over at him, brown eyes filled with worry.

Harry caught it, after a few seconds of grappling, staring at the vial not really comprehending what it was. Then it clicked, "You're pregnant?" that explained the colour in the vial.

"Yes," Hermione admitted, brushing her long bushy hair back.

"Shouldn't you be…you know…telling Barty first?" Harry asked, staring at Hermione entirely bewildered by the scrutiny he was undergoing. "What is it?" he wasn't sure he'd ever seen Hermione's face look that way.

"I know the papers are true, Harry, does he really care or is he only after…" Hermione trailed off, pressing her hand against her stomach.

Harry staggered back, gaping in disbelief, what the fucking hell, first Neville now Hermione? Well, technically, Neville, newspaper then Hermione. Although, maybe not in that order depending on how long each had bloody well known about it. "What?" he asked, sounding like a strangled chicken.

Hermione repeated her question, sounding subdued and scared. Harry had never heard her sound that way, and he could barely believe what he was hearing. Closing the door, he joined her outside, "Hermione…Barty loves you so much, he would do a traditional bonding with you if he thought you'd want it and not just a marriage." And that would tell her everything, both of them would always know how the other felt. Not as well as he and Tom could but still…

She knew, he couldn't believe it, she bloody well knew.

"Do me a favour…let me be there when you tell Barty," Harry said, grinning widely, not declaring whether it was the pregnancy or the fact of the truth that he was referring to. The two began to walk around the manor, naturally avoiding the cabin Bellatrix was in...perhaps he wasn't as alone as he first thought.

A/N – there we go! So last chance what will happen to Tonks? It's a good way to give Severus and Rabastan heirs and showcase that just because they want what's best for the magical world on a whole…that they aren't the best of people…that war has changed them all…and how long will we have had Hermione knowing? How did she figure it out? Hmm I did want Dumbledore to die at the very end of the story as in the epilogue which is how I saw the story 😊 but oh well…I'm sure you can imagine what he would have to say going by the title 😉 haha then again you might not have realized that most of my stories end with the title being mentioned 😊 when I get a muse, I see a lot but most primary the beginning and the end the rest comes in over time! anyways I hope you're enjoying it! I think we might end up with this finished so if you've re-read it and notice any loose ends I've forgotten feel free to review them 😉 I honestly don't mind it's better than finding them afterwards lol 😉 R&R please