Hey again! :) This is me with chapter 8! :D

Thank you to my awesome, dedicated readers Gypsyrose98 (there will be a lot more of Harry, Sirius, and Tom to come XD) and Anniiieh (yesss, most of this story is Tom/ Aurelius, so there will be tons more of them. De-aging won't happen until some later time, though...)

WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF RAPE OF A MAN IN THIS CHAPTER! And an additional WARNING for TORTURE.

"What…what are you doing here?", Sirius croaked, still thinking this must be some kind of depraved joke by Thompson and his gang.

"I could ask you the same thing, Black", Lucius replied, his voice cold, "last thing I heard you were hiding like the dog you were in some shady wreck of a house."

"Last thing I heard you were kicked out of the Dark Order by Voldemort", Sirius retaliated, "by the way- how is your darling sister-in-law doing?"

Lucius' arrogant face turned white, "do not dare to talk about my family, Black!", he hissed at him, and Sirius snorted, "forgetting the fact it's my family as well, don't you? Bella's still my cousin- given the fact the crazy bitch is still alive?"

Lucius roared, attacking him without any warning or introduction, and Sirius was stunned enough that Malfoy even managed to place his first hit.

It only took a second for Sirius to regain his composure, though- and then he went all in. If Malfoy was suicidal enough to attack him here, in his arena where he was the King- well, then he'd better get ready to lose a few teeth or break a few bones.

"Big mistake, cousin!", he hissed at Lucius, dragging him to the ground, "think you can come here and fuck me over? You'll be screaming for this to end in a couple minutes."

"So sure of yourself, mutt!", Lucius snarled back, "I'll be enjoying to finally show you your place."

They kept wrestling on the floor for some time, and Sirius was annoyed to realize that Malfoy did had some strength and seemed to have at least some fighting experience- he just had no clue where from. All he had ever seen Malfoy use was his wand, not his muscles.

He delivered some hard blows in his face, in his jaw, and Malfoy got back to him by kicking him straight in the stomach. It hurt like a bitch, and it made Sirius angry. Very angry.

The men standing around the arena were whistling and yelling, most of them clearly hoping for him to kill Malfoy- and the temptation was definitely there.

"I'll make you beg me to stop, Malfoy", Sirius panted, delivering another hard punch to Malfoy's face, and the satisfying crack he heard told him he had achieved his goal and broken his nose, "you'll beg, or I'll kill you."

"That's how this works, Black?", even though he had a broken nose, Malfoy's voice was as clear as before- and full of disdain, "do Potter and the werewolf know about your little side hobby?"

"It's not a hobby", Sirius hissed, angered by the fact that Malfoy barely seemed to care his nose was broken and blood was gushing down his face now, "it's…my job."

"Your job is to beat people up?", Malfoy laughed, kicking him in the stomach again, hard, "I guess I underestimated you, cousin. Your parents would be proud."

For some reason, that made Sirius even angrier, and he punched Malfoy hard in the jaw, hearing a horrible cracking sound, "shut your damn mouth about my family, Malfoy!"

"I thought it's supposed to be my family as well?", Lucius replied in a mocking tone, moving on to kicking him in the chest, and when Sirius screamed out in pain, he had to laugh again, "should have done this a long time ago, Black. This might be even better than a Crucio."

The crowd around them was going wild now, and a few of them were cheering Malfoy on now, and Sirius felt humiliated. Being the champion here was the only good thing he had going, and he would not let Malfoy of all people take that away from him. No way in hell.

With a scream, he attacked again, going for Malfoy's back and lower back. He delivered such a hard punch to his spine that Malfoy crumbled forward, gasping for air.

"Already getting tired, eh?", Sirius sneered, pulling him up by his long hair, "what's with the girly hairdo anyways? You trying to look like Rapunzel?"

Some of the men familiar with the Muggle fairytale laughed, but Malfoy just frowned, trying to slap his hand away, "long hair is a sign of wealth, Black", he snarled, and Sirius laughed, "I guess your beloved Master was not there when that was announced, eh?"

More laughter from the crowd, and he could see Malfoy turning dark red with rage. He tried to kick him again, this time between his legs, and Sirius had enough, "you really wanna go there, Malfoy?", he smashed him on the floor again, hearing Malfoy groan loudly, "you better stop before this gets ugly."

"I…I'll kill you!"

"I've heard that before", Sirius gave him another hard shove, and then Malfoy kicked his leg, causing Sirius to stumble.

"Fucking bastard", he had enough now. He kicked Malfoy in the stomach as hard as he could, and when he heard him trying to scream and suck air into his lungs at the same time, he kicked him again. Malfoy let out a howl, trying to turn away, but Sirius was at the point of no return now. He kept Malfoy pinned to the ground with his hands and used his legs to kick him again and again.

"Beg me, asshole", he eventually hissed in his ear, ignoring Malfoy's pained screams, "beg me to stop."

Instead of doing that, Malfoy spit right in his face, and the crowd erupted in laughter.

"You need some help there, Orion?", Thompson yelled from the side, "you know, Greg is just waiting for your signal."

There were some whistles, and while Sirius wiped the saliva and blood that Malfoy had spit at him out of his face, he stared down at Malfoy. His cousin, the one who had always treated him like a nasty bug, like his pure existence was something he needed to apologize for. Well, he was done apologizing.

"Bring me a bottle of water", he demanded, and the whistles grew louder.

"You gonna drown the blondie?", someone screamed, and Sirius laughed, kicking Malfoy again just because he could, "something like that."

One of Thompson's friends handed him a huge bottle of water seconds later, and Sirius grinned, "thirsty, Malfoy?"

He looked like he was getting ready to spit at him again, and when he opened his mouth, Sirius pushed the bottle in, "you gonna drink all of that, cousin", he snarled at him, "fill up your stomach all the way."

Malfoy gasped, desperately trying to turn his head, but Sirius had grabbed his hair and held on tight, "drink up, asshole", he grinned at him, exposing his teeth, making him look quite sinister, "come on, drink it."

And Malfoy drank- not because he wanted to, but because he had no choice.

Sirius forced the whole bottle of water- which was about two liters- into the man, enjoying his agonized gasps and whimpers, and when Malfoy had finally emptied it to the last drop, Sirius let him go.

As expected, Malfoy threw up right away, which earned him a hard kick into his bloated stomach.

"UNNRRRGGG!"

"Oh, did that hurt?", Sirius asked smugly, "how about another one?"

This time, Malfoy did not even care about his pride anymore, he tried to curl himself into a ball to protect his stomach, but Sirius just laughed, kicking him hard, "you ready to beg me now?"

"AAGGGRRR!"

"Did that sound like he's begging to anyone?", Sirius asked the crowd loudly, "not really, right?"

He got some loud whistles as response, "let Greg have his way with the princess!", one of the men yelled.

"Yeah, let's watch Blondie getting used by him!", Thompson added, and Sirius had the feeling that had been their plan all along- to let Greg take Malfoy. He was not one to watch Greg usually- the man was as big as tree, and as much of a sadist- he only got off when he got to rape someone into submission, and Sirius knew that Thompson and most of his friends enjoyed nothing more than to watch that.

Greg grinned, crossing his huge arms across his heavy stomach, "ready when you are, Orion."

Everyone was looking at him now, waiting for his approval- and even though Sirius knew he could say no, he could stop it, being in charge of Malfoy like this, deciding over his life was a heady feeling- one he could get used to.

"Make him scream."

The crowd cheered, and then Greg stepped into the arena, and Sirius could see from the enormous bulge in his pants that he was already hard.

"You gonna be my bitch boy tonight, Blondie?", Greg just laughed when Malfoy tried to get up, which Sirius had basically made impossible with his blows to his spine and back.

He watched somewhat emotionlessly how Greg unzipped his pants, and how Malfoy pissed himself when he saw that- all the water, after all- and then he watched Greg drag Malfoy to the side, tying his hair onto a rope that some of the men in the crowd were holding, "just making sure you stay til the fun is over", and then he watched Greg take down Malfoy's expensive robes, but he turned around before the giant hulk of a man entered his cousin.

He could hear Malfoy roar in terror, though- a sound he would never forget until he died, and then he heard Greg grunt in satisfaction, "first time…oh, he's tight…such a tight little bitch boy..."

Sirius stumbled towards the exit, feeling like vomiting. He made the mistake to turn around one last time before he got out, seeing Lucius Malfoy, tied to a rope by his long hair, on his knees, taking Greg's enormous dick without being able to do anything against the forced intrusion. The crowd was cheering, Greg was grunting, and Malfoy…Malfoy just screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

And Sirius left.

What…have I done…

The conference room was filled with members of Gryffindors army, there were Aurors, and some people he recognized from the Ministry, but thankfully, Potter and his friends were nowhere to be seen. Still, this was bad enough, and he really did not want to be here, but Aurelius who was walking right behind him did not give him another choice.

Gryffindor turned around to look at them, and Tom instantly scowled. He'd rather be anywhere than here, and being forced into some truce negotiations was a joke in itself- like he or the Dark Order would ever team up with a damn Founder!

"Drop the attitude, or you'll get to spend the meeting with a very warm backside", Gryffindor said in his ear, quiet enough for only him to hear, "you are not going to embarrass me in front of my army, understand?"

"Why? You embarrass me in front of your stupid army all the time!", Tom hissed back, his irritation growing, "I told you I don't want to negotiate! I'll take Dumbledore down just by myself!"

"You know very well your Order would not stand a small chance against Dumbledore's army- he has several thousand wizards and witches on his side now", Gryffindor replied calmly, "and his army is steadily growing- unlike yours. Attacking Dumbledore would be a suicide mission, Thomas."

"That's what you think."

"That's what everyone with common sense thinks."

Tom glared at him, "I could just leave, you know. You cannot hold me hostage here and make me agree to some bullshit truce."

"I still have your wand, Thomas."

"So? I'll just go and get a new one."

Gryffindor stifled a smile, "you are one stubborn boy, hmm?", he sounded amused, though, "how about a deal? You'll be good for the meeting, and I'll take you up to the tower tonight."

"Why would I want to go up to some stupid tower?", Tom demanded, "what's up there?"

"You will have to wait and see, Thomas- I promise you, you will like it."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"It's a surprise."

Tom blinked. He had never gotten a surprise before, and for some reason, he now really wanted to know what was up on the tower.

"Fine. I'll stay for your useless meeting."

He did not see the amused look Gryffindor and Aurelius exchanged, and then the Founder went over to the table, motioning Tom to sit on the right side next to him. Salazar was already sitting down, and so were most of the army members.

Godric started the meeting by giving a brief overview about the attack from the other night, and then some Aurors summarized their experiences, which took a lot longer than Tom had anticipated. He was surprised how dull the meeting really was- and no one seemed to be bothered by his attendance, no one even looked in his direction.

Now some Ministers started to talk about Dumbledore's army and their plans, but it was all extremely theoretical. Tom had never cared much for any theoretical stuff, when he wanted to attack and rob, he just did.

After two hours, he started to kick his feet, unable to concentrate much longer.

This is boring. Boring…boring…

"Sit quietly, Thomas", Gryffindor's tone was calm, "be good."

"I'm bored."

"I thought you'd be interested in Dumbledore's strategy."

Tom shrugged, "I thought I'm here for negotiations."

"They don't know who you really are, Tommy. I will talk about negotiating a truce with the Dark Order, just to get their opinions on it."

"You tricked me!", Tom hissed, "I thought…I am important here, and they don't even know I am the Dark Lord!"

"It's better that way, Thomas. The less people know about your illusion, the better", Gryffindor shifted his attention back to his army before Tom had the chance to respond.

Scowling, he leaned back in his chair, silently debating if it was a good idea to just get up and leave.

When he saw Aurelius raising his eyebrows at him though, slowly shaking his head, his scowl increased, and then, and he had no clue what had come over him to do that, he carefully stuck his tongue out at the younger boy, giving him a smug grin.

"I saw that", Gryffindor's voice was low, "and that's not what I would call being good, Thomas. Up you get, naughty boy", and to Tom's horror, he gently lifted him up and placed him on his lap, "there. This will help you to behave for me."

Tom turned dark red, and now he was glad that no one knew he was Lord Voldemort- the humiliation would have been unbearable. He did see that some of the Aurors were smirking now, so he shamefully turned his head and hid it in Gryffindor's chest, unaware that he was really acting like a guilty little boy now.

"Good boy", he felt Gryffindor's hand in his hair for the fraction of a second, and then he heard Gryffindor going on with the meeting- they talked about some more tactics and their next steps, and then finally, they moved on to talk about the Dark Order.

Tom's ears perked up when he heard his name mentioned, but he stayed perfectly still, secretly enjoying being so close to Gryffindor. It made him feel weirdly safe.

"We are planning to propose a truce to Voldemort and his Order", Salazar now said, "he has been attacked quite badly lately, and since Dumbledore has to start taking out his Death Eaters one by one, Lucius Malfoy being the last one, we are expecting him to be more cooperative now."

Malfoy? What happened with Malfoy?

"What…"

"Shhh…later, Tommy", Gryffindor tightened his grip on him, and just like he had before, Tom gave in, calming down.

"He could just pretend to agree to a truce and then attack us", one Auror now pointed out.

"Why would we want to cooperate with Voldemort? He's a criminal", another one added.

"He is- but he is also a talented wizard and has a group of talented wizards in his Order", Salazar replied, "besides, he still has quite some authority among the werewolves, giants, vampires, and other magical creatures Dumbledore despises. They can be a valuable help for us, the werewolves alone are not to be underestimated."

Tom snuggled closer into Gryffindor, listening attentively. Now he finally understood why the Founders wanted a truce so badly- they needed him. They needed his help to convince the magical creatures to join the army.

It made him smile, and Gryffindor seemed to have sense his triumph because he heard him laugh softly, "happy now, little bear? Now that you know we really do need you?"

Tom blushed at being called little bear, but he nodded, "told you so. You're lost without me."

"Hmmm…", he could feel Gryffindor's hands in his hair again, "looks like we are", he sounded amused, and Tom carefully pushed his head closer to the touch, still smiling.

Salazar was leading the vote now, and Tom's smile widened when he realized that most of the army members were agreeing to start truce negotiations- they all needed him.

They can't win the war without me. I am basically in charge now. I can boss them around, tell them…tell them what to do.

He yawned quietly, Gryffindor's tight grip and the caressing of his hair and the warmth Gryffindor was radiating were making him drowsy. He wanted to stay awake, to enjoy his triumph, now that he knew how important he was to win against Dumbledore, but it got more and more difficult to keep his eyes open.

"Shhh…you can sleep, Tommy. It's alright, sleepy bear", Gryffindor was still caressing his hair, "I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner, hmm?"

"They…gonna…laugh…"

"They don't know who you are, Tommy. They think you are a relative of mine."

"Relative? Like…your cousin?", Tom asked drowsily, not really understanding.

Gryffindor laughed quietly, "more like my boy", he told him softly, "go to sleep now. I know you're tired."

"Mmmmhhh…", Tom mumbled, not able to comprehend anything anymore. Seconds later, he was fast asleep, safely snuggled into Gryffindor's chest. The meeting went on for another hour, and then the army members finally left.

Gryffindor carried the boy to the dining hall for dinner, Tom sleeping soundly in his arms the whole time. He only woke up when his nose got hit by the most amazing smell- something that made his stomach grumble in hunger. He blinked, carefully opening his eyes.

"Had a good nap?", Godric smiled at him, and Tom slowly sat up, flushing when he noticed he was still sitting on Gryffindor's lap, "the…the meeting's over?", he asked, trying to sound like the adult he was, and Gryffindor chuckled, "yes, meeting's over. Are you hungry? We are having salmon tonight."

That's what's smelling so good.

"I…yeah, I guess. You gonna take me to the tower after dinner?"

"I will, Tommy."

He really should tell Gryffindor to stop calling him Tommy or little bear or good boy- but the problem was, he was afraid Gryffindor really would stop calling him that then, and he liked it. He had never had a nickname or special name before at the orphanage, he had always been just Tom or the boy or Mr. Riddle, and he had hated it, he had just forgotten how much he had really hated it.

Tom led Gryffindor put him back on his feet, and then he sat down next to him, his mouth watering at the sight of the fresh salmon, the rice, and the dressing on top of it.

They started to eat, and having dinner with Gryffindor's family was surprisingly uneventful- Salazar mostly talked to Aurelius about some stuff they had discussed at the meeting, with Godric adding his perspective here and there, so Tom was able to fully concentrate on eating.

The food was delicious, and it was plenty, and soon, Tom had forgotten all about any table manners- not that he had many to begin with- and was busy shoving as much food into his stomach as he could. He did not see the look Godric and Aurelius exchanged, and he did not see the frown on Salazar's face.

The dessert turned out to be some chocolate souffle with oranges, and Tom managed to eat three servings of it, eventually feeling full. He watched the house elves clearing the table, not bothering to thank them for that- it was their job after all, wasn't it?

"Ready to go?", Gryffindor looked at him expectantly, and Tom nodded, "yeah, what's the big secret on your tower? Some weapon to fuck over Dumbledore with?"

"Better than that, Thomas."

He snorted, "okay, now I am curious- what can be better than weapons?"

Clueless boy.

Gryffindor just smiled, "follow me."

And Tom did just that, noticing with some satisfaction that neither Salazar nor Aurelius were following them. He'd have Gryffindor all to himself.

The tower was high- much higher than the one he had at his mansion, and it took them about twenty minutes to get to the top.

"Okay, so what's so…", he stopped himself as soon as he stepped outside, amazement on his face.

It was an owlery- but not just any owlery. There were dozens of owls up here, one each more magnificent than the other. A tiny snowy owl hooted, and then landed right on his shoulder, and Tom stood completely still, his heart hammering against his chest.

"His name is Noctus", Gryffindor told him, and then he hummed something, and Tom watched with wonder how three small owls landed straight on his stretched out arm.

"These are elf owls", Gryffindor explained, "called elf owls because their breed is one of the smallest worldwide."

"How many…different breeds do you have up here?"

"About twenty", Gryffindor responded, "would you like to see my owl now?"

"Su…sure", Tom stuttered, still kind of intimidated by the snowy owl on his shoulder. Gryffindor made another noise, a small whistle, and all four owls immediately took off and flew back into the huge owlery.

"They listen to you? Just like that?", Tom was fascinated, "how do you do that?"

"You train them", the Founder told him calmly, "owls are extremely intelligent animals."

"I…did not know you could train owls."

"You can train about anyone or anything, Tommy", Gryffindor sounded amused for some reason, "all it takes is lots of patience, clear commands, and a reward system."

Tom nodded absently, his gaze wandering over to a small group of spotted owls, "I thought those were extinct."

"Their population trend is declining, yes- but they are not extinct yet", Godric led him over to another part of the owlery, "you seem to know a lot about owls."

"Just…some stuff I read", he hated himself for blushing, "I mean- I have some owls for the mail. They are quite useful."

That made Gryffindor laugh, "Tommy, you can just admit you like owls- there's no shame in that. They are magnificent creatures."

"That's…I don't…", he stopped himself when Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, giving in. It wasn't a big deal anyways, right? So what if he liked owls.

"Yeah, they're okay", he mumbled, "I…I have an eagle owl", he added quietly, certain that Gryffindor would not give a damn about that, but to his surprise, he looked at him in interest, causing him to feel strangely excited.

"An eagle owl, hmm? What's his name?"

Tom flushed, he could hardly tell Gryffindor that he had named the owl Beagle- so he lied, "I didn't name him, obviously. I just…call him owl."

"Tommy?"

"Ye…yeah?"

"It's just us up here, you know that, right?"

"Yeah. Sure. I mean…of course", he looked to the side, growing increasingly uncomfortable with Gryffindor's gaze.

"You can be honest to me, little bear- I won't laugh at you."

There was a silence.

Tom kept his eyes on a big group of owls to his left, not daring to look at the Founder.

"His…his name is Beagle", he finally blurted out, "I just…just bought him", he took a deep breath, waiting for Gryffindor to tell him that it was ridiculous to name an eagle owl Beagle.

"That's a great name for an owl", Gryffindor replied earnestly, "is that the owl you were talking to when we were at your owlery the other day?"

"I wasn't talking to him."

This time, Gryffindor just had to give him a look, and Tom blushed, "fine. I was talking to him. I…he's smart. And…I think…I think he likes me."

"How do you know?"

"He always hoots when I come up", Tom told him quietly, his voice thick with embarrassment, "I…I bring him treats, stuff he likes. Expensive ones, he was an expensive owl. I paid four hundred Galleons for him, but I would have paid a thousand to get him."

"You wanted him that bad?"

"There was this other guy", Tom began, even though he had no idea why he was telling Gryffindor all this, "and…he wanted Beagle for his collection. And then…he'd never been able to fly around, but…owls need to fly, right? They need their freedom."

"Did you tell him that?"

"Yeah- and he got really mad at me. I wanted to Crucio him, but you know, there were kids there and stuff, and it would have scared the owls."

Gryffindor stifled a smile, finding their little conversation quite informative, "Beagle can be lucky to have such a responsible owner."

"Yeah, I guess so", Tom was looking at him again, "you gonna show me your owl now? It's probably the biggest one you have."

"You know me so well, Tommybear", Gryffindor sounded like he was trying not to laugh, "my owl is over there by the window- the orange one. His name is Maximus."

"That's…an eastern screech owl."

"Indeed it is."

"That's not the biggest one", the boy said, frowning, "and it's not even that special."

"Special?"

"Like, rare, or…expensive."

"Maximus is special to me, Tommy. He's a brave owl, and he had quite the adventurous life so far."

"What did he do? Did he fight someone?", Godric knew he had the boy's full attention now, and it made him smile, "yes, you could call him a war owl. He has fought against Dumbledore before as well, many times actually."

"Did he attack him?", Tom blurted out, his eyes sparkling with curiosity, "can you tell me?"

"Yes, I will tell you- once you are snuggled into bed. It's getting way too cold out here, and it is late."

"It's…not late", Tom stated, even though the sky above them was dark, showing plenty of stars and a full moon, "and I…I can't stay here anyways. I need to go home."

"You could go home tomorrow, baby bear", Gryffindor pointed out, and Tom flushed at the baby bear, "is…is that a trick? Do you want to force me to go to another meeting tomorrow?"

"No, no more meetings, I promise."

"Then…why do you want me to stay here?", the boy sounded honestly confused, and it broke Godric's heart. It was obvious that no one had ever cared to spend time with the boy without conditions, and that was probably why he was so full of mistrust all the time.

"I like having you around, Tommy", he told him softly, "and Aurelius and Salazar do, too."

"Aurelius hates me."

"No, he doesn't, Tommy. He's just trying to help you."

"He made me…he…he did stuff to me."

"I know, baby bear", Gryffindor sounded surprisingly compassionate, "but not because he hates you, sweet boy."

"Then, why?", the boy demanded, and Godric sighed. He knew it was too early to tell the boy, so he used a different tactic, "he will tell you that himself one day, Tommy. Now, it really is getting cold- let's get you into bed so I can tell you how Maximus broke into Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts."

As expected, his change of topic worked- Tom was intrigued, and started to bombard him with questions, never stopping until he was snuggled into a big canopy bed thirty minutes later. Gryffindor had simply transformed the mattress the boy had slept on the night before into a nice, comfy bed.

He kept his promise to him, telling Tom all about Maximus' crazy adventures, most of them actually true. The boy was hanging on his every word, snuggled safely into the warm sheets.

"Wow, he really did that?"

"No way!"

"That's bloody smart! He's a genius owl!"

It was obvious that no one had ever told the boy any kind of story before, another thing that made Gryffindor's heart heavy- and he enjoyed it even more how intrigued Tom was by Maximus' adventures. After about an hour, he could sense the boy getting tired though, blinking at him like he was a little owl himself.

"I think it's time to sleep, hmm?", Gryffindor smiled at him, "but I will tell you more stories another day. Have a good night, Tommybear."

"Not…even tired, yet…", Tom mumbled, snuggling deeper into the sheets, "more…stories…"

"Next time, sweet boy", Gryffindor promised him softly, standing up, and then he gently tucked the boy in, "have some wonderful dreams now, baby bear."

But Tom did not even hear that anymore, he was sleeping soundly- a small, happy smile on his lips.

yep...there's a happy ending for Tom here once :D Sirius will be back in the next chap, dealing with his guilt- and Remus will appear again as well!

Would looooove some feedback from you all! :)

xoxo,

Antonie :)