~Chapter 20~ Revelations – 31 December 1994

~Voldemort~

Five months passed and Voldemort didn't know whether he should be thankful or irritated with Ghost's brother, Dimitri. The young man seemed to pop up everywhere when he wasn't needed and somehow ended up being needed anyway, but when Voldemort tried to find the young man he was nowhere to be found, and the strange pull he felt also seemed to disappear at those times.

He'd hoped to gain some information about his mate from him, he was Ghost's brother after all, without poking into some Ministry archives, but so far he'd been unsuccessful and the only thing stopping him from going to the Ministry this very minute, was the thought of hurting and/or disappointing his mate.

He finally managed to track the young man down when he entered the kitchens and he bit back an exasperated sigh as he spotted the amount of food on the dining table in the room next to it. If Dimitri had one flaw…it was that he seemed to be constantly worrying about something, and when it became too much, Voldemort usually found him manually doing things that no Wizarding World-raised witch or wizard would be caught dead doing, such as cooking.

His Death Eaters, however, seemed to love it when the young man made food and one of them seemed to constantly hang around the castle so that they could alert the others.

As if on cue, Voldemort heard a hum of voices coming down the hallway as his Death Eaters invited themselves into his dining room and made themselves at home and Voldemort immediately willed himself to blend in with the shadows because he didn't want to be spotted by anyone as he observed them.

Dimitri's presence made the Death Eaters too relaxed, even around him, and that was saying quite a lot when his Death Eaters had been walking on eggshells around him even after his return to sanity.

A tell-tale shimmer of magic from Dimitri's side caught his eye and Voldemort looked closer, only to frown. There was a thin bracelet-like shape around the other man's wrist that seemed to have been spelled invisible…but why? And why hadn't he noticed it before? But then he remembered the young man's strange habit of constantly wearing robes.

Voldemort willed his new magic to look past the disguise and almost found himself silently cursing the teen as he saw red! How dare he wear something that he gifted to his mate!

But before he could end up doing something stupid, he found himself freezing in place.

The jewelry he'd collected for his mate had all been spelled so that they could only be worn by the intended recipient. Much like the heir rings, which he'd studied closely as he managed to duplicate and modify the spell to suit his needs, the jewelry could only be worn if the recipient's magic matched the base magic in the spell, such as the magic that he'd pulled up from Ghost's letters and no one, not even close family, would be able to wear it instead.

He'd originally done so to ensure that no one but Ghost would be able to remove the protective jewelry because he didn't know the type of life that the other man led, and even as the MoD he didn't want something to happen to his mate. Dying would still hurt, and he wanted to spare his mate from any and all pain if it was in his power to do so.

But now he seemed to have found another function for it.

He didn't know how his mate had managed to change his appearance and scent, given that Dimitri was only shorter than him by half a head, and his mate's true length only came up to his shoulder blades, but now he had a way to identify him and it soothed something inside him to know that his mate was safe within his castle, even if he couldn't reveal that he knew the young man was Ghost just yet.

This new revelation had him noticing other things though, as he thought back on how 'Dimitri' had been acting the past few months. It would have been easy for someone to put on an act for a month or two, but keeping up the same act for five months was unheard of with the amount of time they seemed to spend together when 'Dimitri' didn't pull his disappearing acts.

He'd noticed that the 'young man' tended to act older for his age as if he thought things through a lot more than someone of that age usually would but at other times he seemed to be quite naïve as if there was a lot about the Wizarding World that he hadn't learned.

He wondered whether his mate had grown up in the Wizarding World or the Muggle world, not that he would hold it against him, but there was a big difference between the two worlds and it was dangerous…who was he kidding…his mate had Death on his side so he probably already knew everything he needed to know.

But now what?

Did he go on acting as if he didn't know anything, or did he confront his mate about it? He knew that he was still missing a very important piece of the puzzle…such as why his mate would disguise themselves as a non-existent sibling instead of just appearing on his doorstep and that alone told him that it might do more harm than good if he confronted the younger man about it, but for how long would he have to endure it?

The sudden clatter of dishes interrupted his thoughts and he noticed that the house-elves were already cleaning up the dining room and 'Dimitri' was nowhere to be seen. He walked forward a bit and saw that Dimitri also wasn't in the dining room.

He turned around, only to jump in fright as he found the man in question standing right behind him with two full plates in his hands. Dimitri was watching him a little too closely, but Voldemort ignored it as he reached forward and took the two plates before leading the other man to the sunroom. His heart was beating extremely fast as he realized that Dimitri was indeed his mate…he'd seen him through the shadows that he still hadn't canceled. It was something that only true mates could do according to the book…but the younger man didn't seem to realize his mistake just yet.

They reached their destination and Voldemort set their plates down. He waited for Dimitri to sit before he took his own seat and they started eating in companionable silence as Voldemort's mind ran through the things he's noticed about the other man in the last couple of months.

It was only now that he noticed that Dimitri never seemed to eat unless he did, which had been few and far in between before the other man made it his mission to ensure that he ate three square meals a day. Honestly, he'd been ready to curse him, but something held him back and he'd reluctantly done as the other man asked. Much to his present relief.

They finished their meal and the dishes vanished, but before Dimitri could excuse himself, Voldemort motioned for him to relax as he also sat back and surveyed the young man before him. Maybe his mate would tell him a bit about himself? It was worth a try.

"How has your stay been so far? Are the others treating you well?" Dimitri's eyes narrowed in suspicion at his questions and Voldemort tried his best not to squirm. He knew he was usually good with using words to get what he wanted, but it never seemed to work with Dimitri…though the mate thing probably had a hand in that.

The younger man looked at him closely, though Voldemort noticed that he seemed to be more surprised than anything else, "Why are you only asking me this now? Is it because of what happened in the dining room? I didn't invite them if that's what you-"

Voldemort shook his head, "I know you didn't invite them, they tend to do that all on their own. You seem to have made friends with quite a few of them though, and it made me wonder how you are settling in." Dimitri seemed to relax at that, but not completely as he looked down at his hands in thought.

"I am enjoying how peaceful it is here, but it almost feels like I don't get out at all so it's nice to be able to talk to someone now and again…" Voldemort inwardly frowned at this. He'd noticed that Dimitri never really went out unless it was to fly around on the Quidditch pitch, and he'd wondered about it, but he'd simply thought that the young man hadn't been interested in doing so.

Now, however, the thought of his mate going out alone somewhere didn't sit well with him and he decided to plot on it a little later as he subtly tried to find out his mate's likes and dislikes.

Hours later, after they'd also had dinner in the sunroom, Voldemort made his way to his room and after a quick shower, he climbed into bed. He spent a few minutes thinking about everything that had happened as Nagini barged into the room and looked around in earnest, ":: I'm here, I'm here…you didn't sstart without me again, did you? ::"

Voldemort looked at her in confusion before his eyes widened and he cast a tempus, confirming that it was indeed his birthday. He glanced around the room but saw nothing. He didn't really expect anything this time though because his mate had kept him company the whole day so he doubted that the other man would even have time to deliver a present (and given that just being in the presence of his mate was enough of a gift, he wasn't upset about it).

He smiled at Nagini and shook his head, ":: It might be a little late tonight, so sleep for now…::", in his mind he was already planning a small gift for Nagini in the morning to ensure that she could still have her treat.

He'd barely completed his sentence before a Thestral Patronus appeared next to his bed and he found himself admiring the beauty of it as it pawed the ground and urged him to follow it. He slowly got up and spelled some clothes on before he picked up Nagini.

He really didn't know what to expect as he followed the Patronus to a secluded glen that he didn't even know existed on the castle grounds. Nagini immediately sailed down his form and onto the ground because lo and behold…the glen was full of rainbow-colored bunnies.

He didn't know how the other man did it…but he did.

At first, he didn't spot anything other than the bunnies until he noticed a well-hidden table and chair underneath a growth of trees that would hide him from most of the glen, and he immediately walked towards it.

The table held a bunch of his favorites, and he realized that 'Dimitri' had full use of his time so far in figuring out what he liked. He sat down to snack on the treats, which he enjoyed for about ten minutes while watching Nagini before he noticed a chest that had been tucked to the side.

He opened it to find a bunch of different scrolls tucked inside. He assumed it to be more interesting information about obscure magic, but the moment he opened a scroll he found himself slack-jawed. He opened another one…and another…but each scroll held the same information from a different clan. A pledge if you will.

All of the creature clans had vowed to fight beside him if he needed it if he could promise them equality within the new ministry. He hadn't planned to involve them initially, because he believed that it wasn't their fight, but Ghost had managed to secure their allegiances for him, and the only thing that Voldemort could think about…was that he hoped that his mate hadn't given up something precious to him…as he'd noticed the man did whenever someone needed something.

He didn't mean to seem ungrateful, so a new idea struck him instead and he summoned some parchment and a quill before he wrote a personal letter to every single clan that had sent him a scroll. He hoped that his mate would accept it as a gift in return.

~Harry~

Harry was deep in thought as he returned to his room. Something seemed different about Voldemort and he tried to figure out whether he'd let anything slip or not as he glanced around the room, but nothing seemed out of place until he spotted the chest he'd left on his table.

He froze as his eyes rounded and realization took hold as he realized that he hadn't finished Voldemort's surprise yet, and he apparated to the glen to set everything up before he returned to his room and cast a Patronus…which almost scared the death out of him as he realized that his Patronus had changed, but then he remembered Severus' Patronus and calmed down. In fact, now that he stopped to think about it, it would ensure that Voldemort didn't immediately think it was someone close to Harry Potter that had sent it.

So with excitement, he started summoning rainbow-colored bunnies…Voldemort had kind of dared him after all.

He chuckled as he hid to survey the Dark Lord's reactions…hopefully, he liked his surprise.