A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back with a new chapter and this one has definitely got a different feel about it. There is some SERIOUS Harry and Tom development within this chapter (not that the two in question pay any attention to it), and I really hope that you enjoy it!

Warning: Blood, violence and language,

Disclaimer: I am not J.K

Parsel

Chapter 22

"This is oddly exciting." Harry said to Luna as he came down from his room. He had dressed all in black for the outing, black jeans and a black long sleeve top that was non descript but Harry was sure he pulled if off well. So maybe his jeans were tighter that most's would be, and maybe his top highlighted his body, which was coming along nicely now he had started training again, but other than that it was plain.

"I don't know what you will find, but I have a feeling that something big is going to happen today." Luna mused,

"Good or bad?" Harry asked, his gaze sharpening.

"I don't know, it's murky, like a mist." She sighed frustrated,

"Do not worry yourself," Harry soothed, "I am sure we will find out eventually."

"I hate sending you places completely blind." Luna said and Harry smiled slightly,

"I have Swift and Paws, they are enough."

"Damn straight," Swift agreed walking in, he was dressed in blue jeans and a white top.

"Hey Swift,"

"Paws is coming, she slipped on her glamour." Swift said, "I edited the plans slightly, we just need to brush over them before we go."

"Fine,"

They didn't have to wait long for Paws to fall in to the room, she was carrying a small beaded back and was dressed in a mix of Harry and Ron.

"Sorry," Paws said, "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Never mind," Harry waved her off, "Swift has made some changes."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Swift took the floor, "I switched the roots. We'll shadow to Brighton and fly up to Crawly where we will track the Flamel property from there, then we shall fly up to London to make a pit stop and shadow back. That way, there is no suspicious behaviour of three large birds seemingly flying back and forth." Swift explained to them, and Harry smirked.

"Brilliant. We can deal with everything else after."

"Yes, we can use our own runes and spells to find the property and work from there." Paws agreed,

"Be careful, all of you." Luna warned, as she kissed Harry on the cheek."

"Don't worry, Raven, we're in this together." Swift assured,

"Swift, I need the rough coordinates." Harry said. Swift handed him a sheet of parchment, Harry took the numbers in to his mind and held out his hand for them to take. "Hold your breath," the shadows swarmed them and they vanished from the room.

"I forgot that yours was much more intense." Paws groaned slumping back against the wall once the shadows had dispersed, Harry smirked and cast a quick notice-me-not charm around them.

"We're definitely in Brighton, I can smell the sea." Harry said, "Do you know the direction we have to travel."

"Yes, follow the beam." Paws told him, she flicked her wand and Harry blinks as a bright yellow beam appeared in his vision, it was leading them west from the alley in which they were in.

"Ready when you are." Harry said. All three of them immediately changed in to their animagus forms, Harry in his black phoenix form, Swift in his black falcon form and Paws as her black eagle form.

We'll have to speak like this, Harry said through their link. He beat his wings and took to the sky, Swift and Paws followed them up and they took off swooping now and then to adjust to the form.

That is fine, Paws said, I was worried it wasn't going to work.

That would have been a disaster. Swift said, I can't believe we didn't think about that.

Yeah well, thank lady luck, she's feeling kind currently. Harry joked. Once they had gotten used to the feeling, they began following the beam to their destination, it was set to be a long flight, but they were magical animals and their flight would take a shorter amount of time then a normal bird.

Who is going to be fuelling the gate? Harry asked, about an hour in to their flight.

You'll hold them visible, I'll bring them up and stabilise you and Paws will power it. Swift answered him,

Ok, are we expecting anything else?

We are working partially blind, we do not know what kind of things we are going to be discovering. According to my research, the Flamel residence has never been located so I could not find anything. Paws sounded like she was sighing,

How did you managed to find it? Harry wondered,

Remember that book on Alcamy, the one by Flamel that you found?

What the handwritten one?

Yes, She clarified, Well, I discovered that when a magical person writes something they leave minute traced of their magic within the ink and the paper. I managed to extract his magic from the book because there was enough pages to collect a recognisable amount of magic. From there I merely place it in your tracker to search for the highest concentrate of the magic – hence the beam. Paws explained,

Brilliant, Paws, Harry said, and he would be grinning if he were human,

We're getting closer, Swift pointed out, The beam is getting thick,

I estimate 10 minutes, Harry said,

Shall we go lower? Paws suggested,

Yes, we can to the final bit on foot.

They began a slow descent following the thickening beam, Swift spotted a covered area in which they could land and to they followed him down to the ground.

"What do you think?" Swift asked looking at Harry, who had his head tilted and his eyes narrowed.

"We're close, I can feel the wards." He murmured, "Come on," he walked in a seemingly random direction, but the others didn't question him because they didn't want to break his concentration. Harry was walking through the trees when he suddenly stopped.

"Snake?"

"I think we have arrived. Swift?"

"On it," Swift flicked his wand and began muttering under his breath, there was a flare of magic and strong ward lines appeared in front of them.

"Whatever fuelled these wards is still active." Harry said, "You shouldn't have been able to pull them up that easily."

"I know, I can feel them now." Swift agreed. Harry closed his eyes and let his magic wrap around the ward lines.

"Defessa,"

The wards pulled on his magic as they tried to retreat back to where they were supposed to be, but Harry kept focussed and tightened his hold. Paws pulled out a black cube from the small beaded back and placed it directly under the ward lines, the cube had many runes scribed across it was it was thrumming with ambient magic.

"Ready?" She asked,

"On your call,"

"Now," she poured her magic in to the runes on the cube and the thing flared to life, it shone brightly and when it began to pulse, a beam shot up and connected with the wards. Sparks immediately began issuing from the connection, and Paws poured more magic in to the cube making it shine brighter and cut through the first ward line. It took a while, but eventually the rest of the ward lines were cut through and a gateway was opened for them to walk through.

"Mark it," Harry said, and Paws placed an 'X' in each corner of the door allowing Harry to drop the wards.

"Lets go, on your guard." Harry warned and led them in. Harry couldn't help but stop stunned at the building that came in to view as they passed the wards; it was truly beautiful!

"Wow," Paws breathed from behind him.

"I'll say!" Swift agreed,

In front of them was a picturesque cottage surrounded by ivy and flourishing plant life. It was large, it seemed to stretch out each side for ages, and it had a thatched roof. The building itself was made out of old stone, you could practically feel its age within the air, and it had a big solid wood door with wrought iron hinges and a iron ring for a handle.

"I didn't know what to expect," Paws said, it seemed there was something in the air that made them speak quietly, "But this isn't it."

"It looks like the gingerbread houses that you can buy during the Yule season." Swift murmured,

"Can you feel the magic," Harry whispered amazed, the air was practically thrumming with it, and while the property was stunning, it was the magic that captured his interest.

"Its making my skin tingle," Paws said, "It's like it's still alive."

"Come on, we have to get moving." Swift reminded them, "Snake, can you feel anything dangerous?"

"No, its welcoming currently," He said, "But I have no doubt that will change soon."

They began moving hesitantly through the grounds, they were filled with plant life and flowers and Harry was sure Neville would have a small fit if he could see it. As they continued to get closer to the house, Harry could feel the magic changing, it had recognised that they were not its owners and it was starting to react.

"At the ready," Harry warned. They only managed to take a few steps when black vines shot up from the ground and snaked towards them, Harry was already released a shot of flames immediately recognising the vines as Devil Snare, and Swift and Paws followed almost immediately.

"Round one, do you think?" Swift asked as he dispelled his flames.

"Yes, that was just a warm up; I can feel it." Harry confirmed. Just as the words left his mouth, a plant, which had looked nondescript at first, reared up and spat vicious looking needles at them. Paws banished them backwards, but the plant spat more and Harry was sure that neither of them wanted to be on the receiving end of the needles, or the liquid on them.

"Swift target the plant." Harry told him, as he banished more of the needles.

"On it," Swift threw a Reducto at the base of the plant and part of it ripped away, the chunk that went flying off split in to many pieces and as soon as it touched the ground it grew in to another spitting plant and began targeting them with needles.

"That could be a problem" Swift observed,

"Paws, can you hold the needles?" Snake asked and she nodded,

"Swift, you keep blasting and gouging, I'll vanish and incinerate." Snake said. They worked together to get rid of the plant, Harry found that it couldn't be vanished and so he took to sending blasts of flames at the flying foliage.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." Harry said brightly, wiping his brow from where he was sweating because of the heat.

"Not the word I would use, but I'll go with it." Swift said shaking his head.

"I've never seen or heard of that plant before." Paws said, "I'll ask Badger when we return."

"I'm sure he would know, after all he practically li-," Swift was cut off when he was forced to duck due to a flying branch. Harry span around to see where it came from and his eyes widened at what he saw, the garden, which was previously been peaceful and postcard-like, was now alive and ugly. The plants and flowers were now deformed and somewhat demonic, they were moving, crawling and fighting their way towards the three of them and Harry swore he could hear them growling and snarling.

"Swift, I think we've found a bigger problem." Paws joked weakly, as she twisted out of the way of something which would have, undoubtedly, caused her a lot of pain.

"Yeah, I agree,"

"I really didn't want to destroy this place, and we have to be careful because of the house." Snake groaned,

"We can shield it," Paws said,

"Can you hold it against Fyre?"

"It'll be difficult, but together we should be ok," Swift said, blasting a plant that lunged for him.

"We have to get closer though." Paws pointed out, and then squeaked, "Its spitting bulbutous pus."

"Lovely."

They fought their way to the front of the house with the plants putting up a hell of a fight, they were replicating and it was like every time they killed one of them another would sprout up from somewhere.

"Ready?" Harry asked, he was sick of the plants already, he had cuts down his left arm from where a bramble had gotten too close and he was annoyed.

"Ok, Snake,"

Fiendfyre he hissed and a massive, burning black phoenix erupted from his wand, it flared up in the air and dove at the plants as Harry directed it. He had to concentrate everything he had on not losing control of the spell, it was had a mind of its own and if he wavered for even a second then it would break away. It swooped down and turned everything in its path to ashes and once it had toasted the last bush, Harry pulled back on his magic and forced the flames to die. He stumbled slightly on the drawback and he was panting heavily, he sucked in a few sharp breaths through his nose before standing up and nodded to the others to show he was fine.

"I haven't done that spell for a while." He commented, "I forgot how strong it was."

"You ready to go on?" Paws asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry waved her off, "There are more wards on the house, but they can be unpicked. I don't think they expected anyone to get through the Garden of Horrors."

"Swift, its on you." Paws said, and he nodded. Ron waved his wand and began muttering under his breath, Harry felt the wards flare and he watched impressed as Swift slowly, but precisely unpicked and banished the wards.

"Nicely done," Snake complimented,

"Thanks,"

The three of them proceeded in to the house with extreme caution, they took not of the beautiful interior, but they didn't let it fool them like they did the garden.

"Are we splitting up?" Paws asked,

"No," Harry vetoed straight away, "We stick together,"

"Yeah, who knows what they have in here after the Garden of Horrors." Swift agreed,

"Together then," Paws said. They moving through the house and they came across many rooms on the ground floor alone. The living room, kitchen, sun room, dining room and sitting area held nothing of interest, but there was a heavily warded door that led off from the kitchen that they wanted to look in to.

"Let's go upstairs first," Harry decided, "We'll do the main house first."

Harry led them up the stairs and they found 4 well sized rooms, two studies, a library and a bathroom. They went in the bedrooms first, the two smaller ones were bare except for the necessities, they were decorated in neutral colours and were light and airy. The third was obviously a woman's room, it was tastefully feminine and it was more personal than the first two despite the fact it had nothing in it that they needed or wanted. When they got to the master bedroom, Harry could feel magic and they found some rare, if not lost, pieces of jewellery. One in particular caught Paws' eye, it was a emerald and diamond tiara and she was looking at it confused.

"What is it?" Harry asked,

"I think I recognise it," She said and then her eyes widened, "Oh Merlin,"

"What is it?"

"I know what this is, this is a piece of French history. It's the tiara Louis-Antoine, the Duc D'Angouleme in 1819, had commissioned for his wife the Duchesse d'Angouleme Marie-Therese. There are pictures of this and I read a book on how it was lost many years ago, it was never reported stolen, but it was never seen again past 1840." Paws told them, "I wonder how it ended up here?"

"Is it possible for it to have been a gift?" Harry wondered, "I mean, the Flamel's met in Beauxbatons so they must have been in France from time to time and they were bound to go back."

"That could have happened, I supposed." She agreed, "Shall we go to the study next?"

"Yes, then the library after we've packed everything." They stripped the room of everything they felt was important before heading to the studies. Once Harry had checked everything over and made sure there was nothing dangerous within the room, Paws went of packing the first one while he and Swift went to the second and did the same.

"I think I have found some journals." Snake told the others when they finally reached the library.

"Me too, they seem to spells the same as ours." Paws said,

"We'll have to go through everything when we return home." Harry said, "That way we can look at everything."

"Yes, It will be much easier that way." Swift agreed,

"Paws, run wild." Snake joked as they entered the library. Of course, once they had actually stepped in to the library he realised that Paws would actually be running wild; the place was immense. It was large, not as big as the Gryffindor library or even Hogwarts, but packed with books on Merlin knew what, and Paws eyes were blown wide with excitement.

"Yes, you can take them all." Harry told her and she darted of, flicking her wand and packing the books in trunks Harry swore were not there a second ago.

"Do you think we should help or stay back?" Swift asked quietly, eyeing her warily.

"I think its best we stay back until she demands out involvement." Harry murmured,

"Wise,"

The pair stayed well back as Paws dealt with the library and all the books which looked like journals she packed separately, she had vanished in to the shelves when Harry heard a shout and followed the sound with his wand out. They found Paws stood in front of what appeared to be an empty bookcase, but as soon as Harry got closer he could feel the magic.

"Want me to twist them?" Harry asked,

"Yes, so the books are not harmed."

"I like how she thinks I'll harm the books." Swift snorted and Paws pinned him with the look.

"You can read, identify, cast and tear any wards we come across, but we all know that Snake can get passed any wards without detection."

"Yes Swift," Harry added unnecessarily,

"Shut up, Snake."

"Want me to empty the other room?"

"Yes, here." She handed him a trunk and Harry got to work as Paws went to finish the other shelves. These wards weren't as strong as the ones on the Malfoy library, but Harry guessed that was because no one got to this part of the library without being stopped. He picked the wards apart one by one and then, when the final one fell the book shelf was suddenly full, but this time it was full of scrolls, hand written books and journal that Harry could see were not written in English. He immediately began backing them with extreme care and then went back to the entrance of the library to wait for the others, he didn't have to wait long as Paws came along with Swift and she looked delighted.

"The journals are what I'm really looking forward to seeing." She said, he voice and magic thrumming in excitement.

"Tell me about it, we've found many!" Swift agreed wholeheartedly.

"Come on, we have one more room to go." Harry said and led them down. Swift tore down the wards and they cautiously crept in to the room, they were stunned to see that it was a lab of sorts and Paws gasped.

"This must be his experimental room, with all his notes." She whispered and Harry's eyes widened with the implications of it.

"I want it all." He breathed stunned, he couldn't help the huge grin that came to his face when he could parade around in front of Tom with the knowledge of the philosophers stone; the man would have a fit. They stripped the room of everything, carefully packing it away and shrinking it down to fit in to the beaded bag.

"Ready to hit the skies?" Swift asked, making sure the room was bare.

"Yes, we have everything." Snake said, "Do I need to shadow?"

"No, we're just flying to London and then shadowing back to school." Swift told him, "That's why we went to Brighton."

"Right,"

They left the house and took to the air, Harry swooped around the other two trilling and diving in his exhilaration.

Happy Snake? Paws questioned amused at his behaviour.

Did you see what we just found? Harry asked rhetorically, This is brilliant,

I have to admit that I didn't expect to find Flamel's work room. Swift agreed, The things we could potentially have in our possessions… he trailed off, but the others knew exactly how he was feeling.

Do you know how long its going to take to get to London? Harry asked,

Shouldn't be too long, just longer than the first trip, Swift answered,

Ok,

They flew with eagerness and freedom that they didn't usually have, it was nice, to be free, and with everything that was going on it was nice to be just the three of them. Not that they didn't adore the others in their group, but the three of them had been through so much together that they had a special bond that would never be removed. They were connected, in the deepest possible way, and that was something Dumbledore never took in to account when he tried to separate them, he had forgotten that when you are willing to die for someone, when you would be willing to stand up and take the world for someone that there is no way of separating them. Harry released a trill of wild delight,

What is it Snake?

Dumbledore… his voice, even in their heads sounded thick with laughter, He's made the worst decision of his life, and he had no idea. Harry laughed, I know he's committed acts that are unspeakable, and I know we probably don't know half of what he's done. But what he tried to do this summer, that was his biggest mistake because if he hadn't tried to spell you away from me, if he hadn't tried to shut me away we probably would have never known the extent of his actions for a long time. He laughed again at the reality of the situation, it was mad, it was ridiculous, it was-,

Foolish! Paws laughed with him, That man signed his own failure,

And we'll be there to see it! Swift put in gleefully,

Together, Harry said,

Together!

The flight seemed much quicker than the one they had previously, but it was obvious they were approaching a big city because of the activity below them. Harry was doing aerial stunts for the enjoyment of the other two when he stopped suddenly and began circling.

Paws, down to your left, I felt wards… strong ones. Harry said swooping down to where he picked up on the magic.

But this is a completely muggle area, there shouldn't be any magic here, She said following him,

I feel it too, Swift said already diving down next to Harry, they are powerful, but seem dormant.

That's what I thought, Harry agreed, Can't harm to check it out. They landed in the nearest tree and changed out of view. Harry nimbly dropped down to the pavement below and bit back a laugh when Swift fell from the tree, Paws was giggling in to her hand as she jumped down and helped him up.

"I think you need to do something about your balance, Swift." Harry joked,

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He grumbled grinning, "It was the transition."

"You were always the one that struggled with that," Paws said, "And Snake has the weird ability to switch from animal like a button."

"Yes, and we agreed that Snake was just an exception to the rules." Swift pointed out.

"Its just because I'm much cooler than you." Harry said puffing his chest out. The three of them shared a look before dissolving in to fits of laughter,

"Oh Snake," Paws laughed, "You do make me laugh,"

"I have that ability," He agreed, "Come on, lets go." They walked down the street casually, the best way to hide was to look like you belonged somewhere and with all their outings they were perfectly comfortable in the muggle world – even Ron!

"They're getting stronger." Harry muttered, "And they don't feel too pleasant, if my senses are correct."

"Then they are probably awful." Swift said and Paws nodded in agreement. They continued down the road until Harry could feel the old ward swarming around them, it was placed within the land itself from what he could feel and that meant it wasn't for the office block which was currently in place.

"Its not for this building." Harry murmured trying to feel out as much as he could.

"Why do you say that?" Paws asked curiously, wards were not her strongest subject and, while she could cast them successfully, she couldn't feel them or identify them like the other two.

"Because they're in the land itself, as if to cover the entire site," Swift answered for Harry, "And they are strong."

"Ok, Paws, I need a revealing rune as well as a signature rune, I'll fuel them and power them while Swift keeps us hidden and stabilises me." Harry said snapping in to leader mode. These particular Runes were ones they had created themselves so they could get access to heavily warded areas, they were difficult because they were fuelled by blood and powered by magic, and so far, only Harry had been able to hold them for longer periods of time.

"Ready, Snake," Paws said. Harry conjured up a dagger and sliced his wrist letting the blood flow on to the ground, Paws quickly got carving where the blood was falling and Swift handed Harry a blood replenisher to keep his blood running. "Ok, go," Harry collected as much of his magic as possible and directed at the two runes, they flared to life violently and started to work quickly. They could all feel the magic getting thick in to the air as the dormant wards were pushed to the surface, Harry chucked back another blood replenisher to be on the safe side as he felt the magic reach its peak. There was a bright flash of light and it was almost as if a ghost of the past magic had been revealed, Harry heard Swift gasp and turned to look at the web and his eyes narrowed when he saw an all to familiar name; Albus Dumbledore.

"Got everything, Swift?" Harry asked,

"Yes, its copied and sealed." He said and Harry retracted his magic as Paws healed up his wrist and gave him a final potion.

"What's Dumbledore done now?" Paws asked with some trepidation.

"It's a web, but it's a blood web." Swift said and when he saw Paws' confusion he elaborated, "It means that the wards are tied in to the blood they were cast from and all their decedents."

"What wards are here?" She questioned,

"Some pretty nasty ones," Swift muttered, "Aggravating wards, anger wards, disgust wards, anti-healing ward, nightmare ward and magical suppresser," Paws looked horrified,

"Those are awful, but why here?" She wondered and Harry's stomach dropped, he looked around the area and he shook his head begging any entity in existence to make him wrong.

"Paws, where are we?" Harry asked her, but he couldn't keep his voice from shaking. Both of his friends turned to look at him in shock and it switched to alarm when they saw him sheet white and shaking.

"What is it, Snake?"

"Answer my question." He said harsher than intended, but his mind was going over all the possibilities that could happen if he was right.

"We're in London, the outskirts"

"Oh Merlin, please no." Harry groaned gripping his head, "Do you know this exact address?"

"No, but I've been here before with my parents." She told him, "Before this was built, there used to be an orphanage here instead, I think." Harry sank to his knees when he heard that,

"No no no no, this isn't good."

"What's wrong?" Swift demanded, he was seriously starting to worry.

"Cast the blood revealing spell, I bet I can guess whose line it's connected to." Harry stated, his voice oddly hollow.

"How could you possibly know?" Paws asked, "We only found this today." Harry looked up at her and she stepped back when she saw a trace of fear in the bright green eyes.

"The wards were cast for the orphanage, and not just any orphanage," He all but whispered. "Wools Orphanage; Tom's Orphanage. And that blood will be from Salazar Slytherin," both of them paled considerably at that.

"You cannot be serious." Paws gasped,

"Why else would there be wards here?" Harry snapped, his mind was overflowing and the main thing he was starting to feel was panic, "Tom grew up in an Orphanage, you know that, but I know it was in London because of Dumbledore. It took me a second to recognise the area, but I'm sure,"

"Swift, run the spell." Paws got out. Swift shakily ran the spell and Harry, despite the fact he was certain before, felt a sense of overwhelming horror when he saw the Slytherin name rise from the ground.

"Merlin and Morgana," Swift breathed, "This-this…"

"This is the lowest form of low," Paws whispered, "How could he do this, why would he do this?"

"He's going to flip," Swift murmured, "He's going to completely lose it." Harry didn't need to ask what Swift was talking about, he knew exactly who and he was not, even a little bit, looking forward to what he had to do.

"I have to tell him," Harry stated lowly, not telling him wasn't an option and Harry could feel the man's inquiring jabs every now and then showing his Occlumency shields had dropped briefly.

"Snake…" Paws trailed off knowing that he had to, but knowing it wasn't safe to do so.

"I can't keep this from him, Paws, not this. This is everything he hated about his life, everything that was bad for him was here and now we've just found out it was orchestrated by a meddling old man." Harry shook his head and leant back against the bars surrounding the building. "I feel sick,"

"Come on, we have to clear up and get back," Swift said taking control, "Paws, get rid of the runes and the blood, Snake, take a pepper up to be on the safe side." Harry didn't argue as he was passed the potion, he drank it down and felt a bit more refreshed that he did before. He got to his feet shakily and took a deep breath, he had to do this and he could do this, he had faced many other things that could kill him; this was no different. Or that was what he tried to tell himself anyway, he nodded to the other two to show he was good to go and they walked away from the office block. It didn't take them long to get to a covered area where they were able to change and take flight, Harry needed the distraction or he would have used the shadows, he used the feeling of freedom take over and allowed his instincts to take him with the wind. They weren't far from Knockturn Alley and Paws spotted it first so she signalled to the others to begin their descent, Harry changed back in the air so he landed in a crouch.

"Ready to go back?" Paws asked,

"Ready as I'll ever be." Harry said, "What's the time?"

"We should just be leaving the great hall for dinner, you'll vanish first as soon as you get to your rooms."

"Got it. I have to go, I have to get this over with now. I'll tell Luna where I'm going so don't worry about that, but be on your guard. I need you to be able to move at the slightest hint that Tom's gotten past me and is heading for Dumbledore."

"We've got you covered, Snake." Swift assured him,

"Always,"

"Good," Harry nodded, "I'll see you soon," the shadows wrapped around him and took his to his rooms just as his other self vanished in the very same way. Luna looked up with a smile which vanished when she saw how pale his was.

"What happened?" She gasped getting up and leading him to a chair, and passing him a large drink of Vodka which Harry drank down instantly.

"Dumbledore," He answered,

"What is it? What did you find?" Harry shook his head,

"We were flying back, we didn't read much while we were there because it was practically there for us to take, and I felt wards in a supposedly muggle area. We decided to check it out because they were not supposed to be there, and when we got down there I found out they were old, I could feel it, and they were strong. We cast the revealers, our ones, and they were not nice wards. Aggravating wards, anger wards, disgust wards, nightmare ward, anti-healing ward and magical suppresser and they were tied in to a blood web." He explained, Luna blinked a few times before her usual pale complexion went white.

"It wasn't…" She trailed off when Harry nodded closing his eyes,

"Yes, cast by the chess master himself."

"Oh Merlin… this – I don't even know what to say." She gasped, "Does he…?"

"No, I'm going there now, I – I have to tell him, Ray, he needs to know."

"I know, but, Harry, please be careful."

"I will," He got up and threw up every Occlumency shield he possessed to lock everything back, he had to focus. "I will," He said again. Luna kissed his cheek and he left the room under disillusion, he walked down the corridor and felt Tom out in his office alone – something which he was thankful for. He slipped in to the office and shut the door with a snap gaining Tom's attention, he could feel the crimson eyes on him but he couldn't bring himself to look at the man and he pressed himself against the door. Despite his best efforts, his initial panic and fear increased tenfold being in Tom's presence and he had no doubt that the man could feel it too.

"I need to tell you something." Harry finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper but Tom heard.

"Is it something you found during your hunt?" Tom asked and Harry scoffed under his breath,

"Something like that," He muttered,

"You are scared," Tom noted quietly, "And panicking over something. It increased when you got here, too." Harry heard the silent question; Why are you afraid of me? He turned to meet Tom's eyes and used everything he had to control his emotions, they were burning under his skin and clouding his judgement. "What do you need to tell me?" Harry opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't get the words out, his mouth had suddenly gone very dry. He didn't know how to tell him, how could he explain that his childhood had been down to one man's meddling? That all the abuse, the hatred and the loneliness was because of a man who lived to control people like chess pieces, Harry shook his head.

Tom grew alarmed at Harry's behaviour, he had been startled when he first felt panic from the teen earlier, it was odd for Harry to panic over anything so to feel it so strongly it raised questions. Startled, however, didn't even cover how he felt when he felt a large does of fear from Harry, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt genuine fear from the teen, even when they had been duelling on opposite sides he hadn't felt it so strongly. So when Harry entered his office and both of those emotions increased his was on his guard, and the teens current behaviour wasn't helping.

"What is it, Harry?" He watched as Harry visibly got himself with difficulty,

"I-," Harry cut himself off, "Come to the chamber with me?" Tom blinked at that and raised an eyebrow, "Please, just-just come with me?" Harry asked and Tom nodded once, Harry stepped forward and took his hand to move them in the shadows. They appeared in the main entrance hall and Tom looked at him in silent question, Harry took a deep breath and took a few steps back.

"Ok, just bare with me." Harry said,

"I will,"

"So we were flying back from the Flamels, we have to go through everything we found as soon as possible by the way, and I felt the traces of wards that were not supposed to be there. We went to check it out and discovered that they were in the land and that they were old and strong, we drew them out and found a blood web." Harry told him,

"What wards?" Tom asked slowly and Harry could feel his mind working furiously, he swallowed and continued.

"Aggravating wards, anger wards, disgust wards, anti-healing ward, nightmare wards and magical suppressers," He answered and Tom went still,

"Where were these wards?" He questioned and his voice dropped in sound and temperature

"We were in London," He told him and, if possible, Tom went stiller and his ruby eyes began to burn.

"Where, exactly, were these wards?" He demanded, Harry shook his head,

"Tom... I'm sorry, I-,"

"Where. Were. These. Wards?"

"Wools Orphanage…"

Silence.

Even the air seemed to still after the utterance of those words. Tom had gone so still he could have been made from marble, he didn't even seem to be breathing, but his eyes were practically glowing as his rage grew.

And who cassst thesse wardsss? Harry knew that Tom knew the answer to that question, but he still didn't want to answer it.

"Dumbledore," He said, "Keyed in to the Slytherin line." BOOM. It was only because Harry was expecting it was he not thrown back as Tom's magic exploded out of him, the force of it kept him pressed to the floor and Harry had to wrap his own magic around him to free himself. He knew he had to act before Tom simply apperated in to the old fools office and tried to kill him. Harry closed his eyes and brought forth all of his magic and let it flow out of him pushing back on the opposing force. Raw magic was battling against raw magic, Tom's icy power was whipping around him trying to overcome Harry's own fiery magic and they were at a stalemate. Harry was hit with so much rage that it nearly forced him to his knees and blood poured from his scar, the only reason he was still standing was because it wasn't directed at him, he hissed and threw the first curse.

That snapped Tom's attention to him and the man retaliated against the new 'threat'. It soon became heated and spells were shooting in all directions as they duelled, Tom was overpowering his curses and they were becoming dangerously close to hitting Harry, something he did not wish to happen as most of them were particularly nasty. He just ducked out of the way of a blasting hex to his head when he had an idea, it was obvious Tom was not in full control of his actions and if he got past Harry and went to Dumbledore it was would ruin everything, something he could not let happen. Harry span out of the way of another spell and called on his magic again, only this time he let it build inside of him as he continued to dodge spells, he felt it reach its peak and then he pushed it out directly at Tom. Harry began to layer it around Tom's magical core, it was a nasty trick he had learned and he never usually resorted to something as despicable, but he had no choice and so he continued to layer his magic around his core until it was sealed shut. Tom dropped to his knees with a gasp, his hands flying to his chest and he felt the lack of magic.

"What have you done to me?" He breathed terrified, it was a sound that Harry hated and he fought back a wince.

"I've temporarily sealed your magical core," Harry told him and Tom's attention snapped to him and his eyes flashed.

"You did what?"

"You were going to kill me." Harry exclaimed, "You were about to ruin everything,"

"Give me back my magic."

"You still have your magic, you just can't use it currently," Harry said and the glare that he received was one usually reserved for Dumbledore. Harry was about to speak again when his nose began bleeding and he cursed, it broke his concentration for just a second, but it was long enough for Tom to break the seal freeing his magic. Harry's magic snapped back in to him forcing him to the ground and Tom's blew out knocking him down. Harry pulled himself up so he was ready and just in time because Tom was up on his feet much quicker than what should have been possible, and was still murderous only it was partly directed at Harry now. He knew exactly what the man was intended to do and it would be extremely bad if he did, so Harry did the only thing he knew he could hold the upper hand with; he lunged. He wrapped himself around Tom and then allowed himself to become a dead weight which dropped them both to the ground, he twisted himself to he had Tom pinned against the floor with his arms above his head.

"You are not going to ruin everything because of that man." Harry snapped and Tom snarled at him,

"Get off me,"

"No, you are going to calm down now."

"I'll be calm after I kill him with my bare hands."

"And ruin everything that has been done? You are going to allow that man to ruin everything we've worked for? You are stronger than that, Tom,"

"You don't know what you are talking about." Tom hissed, "He's already ruined everything!"

"I know, ok," Harry spat, "I know exactly what I am talking about."

That got Tom to stop squirming as he registered just who it was who was speaking, that is was Harry, the other person that Dumbledore had manipulated just as much, if not more. With the distraction, Harry switched his grip so Tom couldn't move because he knew that the man was not going to like what he was going to say, but he needed to hear it and so he ploughed on.

"I know. I know about the hatred, the fear, the pain and the suffering. I know about the loneliness, the beatings, the starvation, and the nightmares. I know all about the disgust, the confusion that the people that are supposed to be taking care of you, loving you, hate and fear you to the point where they cannot stand the sight of you, and you have to sit back and watch every day as everyone but you is given attention, food, warmth, all the things most would consider the bare essentials. And so that confusion, that hurt, and that rejection turns in to anger, hatred, and it consumes you to the point where it hurts to feel anything else and so you shut it down. You direct your hatred in to plans, in to revenge when everything is turned upside down because you find out that you are not the devils child, you're not unnatural, you're not a freak; you're a wizard.

"You are introduced to this entire new world and despite the fact that you do not want to you start to feel hope, you are getting away from the place that has caused you nothing but pain and misery for your entire life. And then everything is destroyed. You find out that nothing has changed, that the hatred and the disgust is still there and so you close yourself off permanently, you focus on your studies, in to making yourself better, stronger than any other so you can prove to them that you are better than them, but more importantly, you do it to prove to yourself that you are not weak. And I know how it is when you've shut yourself off from your emotions for so long that you can't understand what they mean, they've been toyed with and messed with too much that you don't know what's going on inside your own mind, and so you strengthen yourself against it, to move past it because you cannot afford distractions like that.

"So when something like this is found and you discover that everything you've ever hated, everything that was responsible for your pain and your fear should never have happened in the first place it hurts. It feels like you are burning from the inside out and you want to rage and storm the one responsible because you feel as if you don't have anything else left inside you, but that is not true. You are Tom Marvolo Riddle, the smartest wizard to ever pass through these halls, the Lord Slytherin, the greatest and most feared Dark Lord in the last known century. The man who singlehandedly controls the biggest Dark army in known existence, the person who has sought and found more magic than anyone else can even hope to claim and the strongest man I know. I will not let you be beaten by Dumbledore." Harry finished his rant breathing heavily, he looked at Tom and had to stop his reaction at the lost expression on the other man's face; it was the most open he had ever seen him,

"It hurts…" Tom finally admitted slumping back on the floor and closing his eyes, he looked a little defeated and Harry sighed,

"I know," He said softly, "Believe me when I say I know. But you are better than him, in every way, and you will move past this, like every other obstacle."

They stayed there in silence for a few moments, the only sounds were the dripping water and their own breathing.

"Thank you,"

Harry wouldn't have heard if he had been any further away, and he smiled slightly.

"Any time," He said and then grinned deciding it was enough of the serious mental strain for the pair of them that day, "It's a side effect of my awesomeness." Tom rolled his eyes.

"He is going to die." Tom stated after a few minutes of silence, Harry nearly snorted,

"In the most painful, humiliating and horrific way possible," He agreed, they stayed there settling in to the silence again.

"Are you going to get off me now?" Tom asked finally and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Are you going to try and kill Dumbledore in the near future?" Harry questioned and Tom huffed but shook his head.

"No, I will hold on to all urges to murder the old fool with his own beard until the correct time." He said and Harry eyed him warily before slowly releasing his wrists and pushing himself to his feet pulling Tom with him.

"I can tell them that you didn't murder me." Harry said brightly and Tom shot him a look, "I was in the line of fire, even I thought you might murder me." He shrugged and Tom shook his head.

"I wouldn't murder you unless you suddenly sprouted a beard, don't by the way, they are messy things." Tom said and Harry snickered at that, "But if you pull that little magic stunt again, all promises are of the table."

"It was the only thing that would stop your magic, I don't know if you've noticed the blood and the state of the chamber, but it's pretty bad." Harry motioned to the spots of blood on the floor, the mess of rocks and stone and the blood remaining on his face and top.

"Ah,"

"Yeah," Harry waved his wand to clean himself up which made Tom raise an eyebrow, "I just forcefully pushed my magic in to your body and made it encase around your core, I'm a little tired!" He defended and Tom conceded to the point.

"Here," He waved his wand in a sweeping motion and the damage immediately began to repair itself, Harry chipped in on some of the larger damages and once they were finished the chamber looked good as new.

"There, now we can go back." Harry said, "I am about 15 minutes before my body shuts down due to blood loss and core depletion and I'd rather it not be here."

"What else have you done today?"

"Forcefully held the Flamel wards visible for them to be broken, battled my way in to the property, used feindfyre to stop us getting murdered by plants, twisted more wards, used my shadows, lived a day once and to find the wards we created these runes and they are fuelled by blood and powered by magic, and I'm the only one who can hold them for an extended amount of time. Problem is, the magic and blood cannot stop flowing or it will break the chain and you have to start again." Harry explained and then he shook his head to clear it slightly.

"That's insane, you shouldn't even be conscious right now." Tom told him shocked and Harry grinned,

"Not the average person, remember?"

"Still…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm use to this," Harry waved him off, "Let's go," Harry grabbed Tom's arm and jumped them back to the man's rooms. Harry was hit with a wave of dizziness and lethargy and he would have collapsed if it wasn't for Tom's quick reflexes.

"So you tell me that you are close to passing out because you have depleted your core and then you go and use more magic." Tom muttered exasperated and Harry grinned,

"Of course, it's the me thing to do." Harry said cheekily, Tom rolled his eyes with a slight smile.

"Come on, idiot, you can sleep it off here."

"Why here?"

"I refuse to take you back and the only reason you are still on your feet is because I'm keeping you there, you do the math." Tom stated and Harry wondered if Tom knew he used a lot more muggle phrases when he was around him. He looked at where Tom's arm was wrapped securely around his waist and then back at the man.

"Huh, so you are." He said amazed, "Guess I'm sleeping here," Tom helped Harry up to the bedroom where the teen proceeded to fall face first on to the bed with a pleased groan. "This is so comfortable."

"Apparently," Tom drawled amused, "You can't sleep like that," He vanished Harry's clothes leaving him in only his underwear, the teen yelp at the sudden cold making Tom chuckle and receive a glare.

"Evil, evil man,"

"I do try," Tom agreed. Harry curled himself up under the quilts and waved Tom away,

"Go finish your reports and let me sleep, I'm a guest, you're supposed to be nice." He ordered and Tom scoffed at the command, but did so anyway.

He walked back to his living room where he sat down and poured himself a large drink, he knew it would be pointless to even try to finish any work he had been doing, his mind was too messed up to concentrate. He was going over Harry's words, it was if Harry had lived his life as he spoke and for the first time in his life Tom Riddle did not feel alone. It was a strange feeling for him and he didn't realise it yet, but he was slowly opening himself up to the one person that was more like him than any other. He didn't think it was possible, but his hatred for Dumbledore had grown exponentially in just a couple of hours, the old fool would pay, he would pay in the highest possible way and Tom would make sure about that.

Tom sighed, Harry was right when he said he didn't understand his emotions, actually there wasn't anything Harry wasn't right about when they were in the chamber but he would not tell the teen that, Merlin knew he would never hear the end of it, but they were running high and he couldn't analyse them because he didn't know what to look for. And it frustrated him. He despised the fact that of all the things he had mastered, all the things he had accomplished, he was unable to master his own emotions. He had tried, once, to completely shut them down, and he had succeeded, but the consequences of that action were dyer and he knew, despite the fact that he hated feeling most of the time, it was better to feel and mask them than to not feel and lose his sanity. He sighed again and finished his drink, he didn't want to think of his childhood, he didn't want to remember everything that he had been forced to go through and knowing that it should have happened made him feel sick.

To know that his hatred of muggles should have never happened in the first place, it left him feeling lost. Tom shook his head, he wouldn't be beaten by Dumbledore, he would not allow that meddling, manipulative, disgusting old man to take away everything he had worked for, he would focus his attentions on the bigger picture and he would succeed.

"You have made a very big mistake, old man." Tom murmured to the empty room. He rose up and walked towards his bedroom, he didn't mind sharing his bed, weirdly enough he had grown accustom to Harry's presence, he should have been concerned about that, but he could not bring himself to care; he would deal with that when it was actually relevant. When he went to climb in to bed he almost laughed at the position Harry was in, he was curled up in to an impossibly small ball like he was trying to keep in his body heat.

"Don't laugh at me." Came a muffled voice, Tom's eyebrows rose.

"Why are you not asleep?"

"Don't ask me, my body's weird and this bed is cold."

"It is not cold, you have a ridiculous amount of body heat." Tom stated and Harry grumbled incoherently much to his amusement.

"Just get in and share your warmth." Harry murmured and Tom chuckled.

"What if I came merely to annoy you?" He asked and Harry unfolded himself enough to give Tom a filthy, if bleary eyed, glare.

"Do not mess with my sleep." Harry warned, "Dark Lord or not I will make you extremely sorry for doing so." Tom couldn't stop a smirk curling on to his face at that, he had no doubt that the teen meant every word he said, he was rather attached to his sleep, but it was too amusing not to react.

"Is that so?"

"Yes,"

"I suppose I will allow you to sleep in peace." Tom sighed in a put upon manner, Harry did not look even the slightest bit impressed much to Tom's amusement.

"Wise decision,"

Tom rolled his eyes at the deadpanned statement and actually climbed in to his bed, Harry, like a snake would, slithered up from his curled position and all but draped himself over Tom with his head just below his shoulder and his arm over his stomach.

"I am not a pillow." Tom drawled even though he made no move to shift Harry from him, Harry whacked him.

"Shh, pillows don't talk." He said grinning, Tom shot him an incredulous look,

"You are unbelievable," He muttered, he wrapped his arm around Harry ignoring the smile he could feel on the teen's face and they both fell asleep.

So that's it! Next chapter up and posted and I really do hope you enjoyed it, it was a tough one to write. Another article coming up soon and some werewolf haters will be meeting an unpleasant end very soon. If you could drop me a review I would be more than happy, thanks guys!

Jess*