Harry wakes to Credence being a giant cloud in the sky, Tom braced over him and Gellert facing off against the dust, the entire wall (and Albus' protections) torn down to rubble.
Harry tries to sit up and Tom grabs him immediately.
"Don't do it," Tom warns.
"It's fine," Harry assures and wobbles when he gets halfway up. "Wow, okay, blood should stay on the inside. Got it."
Tom stands up and hovers around Harry as he stumbles, with liberal help from the wall and pointedly none from Tom, to the giant hole in the house.
Harry grabs Gellert's face and ushers him backwards. Harry takes one more cautious step towards the edge of the broken floor as winces as it creaks threateningly under him. "Credence? Hey, you want to come down for a bit?"
A roiling cloud of dark powder is pressed up against the outer wards, eating through it at an impressive pace. Or perhaps the Unspeakable is more impressive, for making wards able to contain something like this for even a moment.
"Just let it leave," Tom hisses, huddling up against Harry's back with Gellert, ready to attack.
"I'm sorry I scared you," Harry calls up. He throws on another cleaning charm to make sure all the blood is gone, even though Tom did very good work speedily fixing his jumper to better see the wound.
"Scared it?" Gellert snaps. "It damn near killed you, Harry. It would have if Death didn't tell us to come upstairs."
Death is waiting down below, on the grass outside, head tilted back to stare at the Obscuro, figure edged in deep shadows.
Mooney has retreated to the back edge of the expanded yard, whimpering quietly now that the true form has emerged. Maybe Mooney is scared of Credence. Maybe he's just scared of Death.
"Credence, it's okay, I'm better now," Harry tries. "You did nothing wrong."
Tom and Gellert nearly lose their minds, basically at the point where they just want that ash away from their home, and they're willing to knock Harry out and hide him somewhere if he insists on being difficult like this – but they can't because Harry needs to be able to defend himself if the form of dust attacks them.
Except Credence, the dark cloud, he shrinks a bit, turns his edges away from the wards.
Harry laughs tiredly. "You know, the first time I met Tom, he grabbed a knife. If I had sprinted at him and picked him up, he probably would have done a lot more damage than you."
The cloud shrinks further, the particles warping and settling into an inward spiral.
"The boys are the same age as you," Harry says. "You scared them a bit as well, I'm sorry if they did anything too mean."
Gellert is pulling at his blond locks, fucking done with Harry's good guy bullshit. Tom is trying to talk Harry down but all that's coming out of him is Parseltongue because he's furious.
"I'm really okay," Harry promises. "Nothing a nice meal can't fix. Are you hungry, do you want some breakfast?"
"Harry," Gellert gasps, the name wrenched out of him. "Harry, if that thing comes anywhere near you, I will kill it."
Harry turns around and pulls Gellert closer, doesn't touch Tom -not when he's like this- but locks eyes with Tom instead. "You fixed me," Harry says seriously. "I feel fine, and you're so brave but I need you to keep going just a bit longer."
"Why?" Tom demands, clawing at Harry's arm with the hand that doesn't have a death grip on the holly wand.
"Because I was very close to being like Credence," Harry admits. "And I need to do this for myself."
Gellert and Tom look into Harry's eyes and know he won't be moved. They glance at each other.
"If you really can't get along, we can talk to Albus about other ways," Harry continues. "But can you try? For me? Credence really is just scared, he was horrified when he saw what happened to me, he didn't mean to do it."
Tom tears himself away with a stifled scream of rage and storms out of the bedroom because he just needs to destroy something right now.
"You're asking a lot," Gellert whispers, head buried in Harry's chest. "You invite that thing into our home and it attacks you - Harry, I'm trying, but you are asking a lot."
"I'm sorry," Harry murmurs, stroking soft curls.
Gellert takes a deep breath and steps back. "Do it before I change my mind."
"Thank you," Harry whispers. He turns back to the gaping hole in the side of the house and smiles. "Credence, my little dust bunny! Come down and tell me what you want for breakfast."
The dark cloud shudders and warps. Condenses. Drifts away from the cracks it made in the ward.
The kitchen is quiet except for the clinking of forks against plates.
Harry sits at the head of the table, where Tom usually sits. Tom and Gellert have placed themselves at his right and left, staring intently at the trembling Credence just beside Gellert.
Harry clears his throat. "So. After breakfast, I suppose I should have a talk with the snakes."
There's a giant conjured terrarium filled with a few dozen shrunken snakes and one tiny Mooney that Harry then shoved through the dragon cat-flap because they weren't settling down.
Harry looks around and attempts a smile. "Um. Credence? Do you like snakes?"
Credence glances up and then back down to his plate like a flinch. He mumbles something that no one can hear clearly.
"Oh," Harry says and leaves it at that. "Ah. And we should work on cleaning up some parts of the house."
The doorbell rings and Harry jerks out of his seat. "I'll get it! You boys keep eating."
"My little dust bunny," the Unspeakable echoes after getting a full picture of the situation from Tom and Gellert.
"I was panicking," Harry protests, slumped into the living room's couch.
The Unspeakable paces in front, darting looks towards the door, where Albus and Credence are talking in the separate kitchen – privacy wards at full power. Tom and Gellert have been sent to repair upstairs, probably listening in, definitely plotting something.
"Why would that ginger bitch bring it to you?" the Unspeakable complains, voice relaxed but there's a dark red chain of runes circling their wrist in case they need it.
"I like Credence," Harry tries.
"You don't know it," the Unspeakable argues, turning on Harry. "That is not a boy, nor a human, nor a creature. That is broken magic."
"What is that?" Harry asks and points at the giant Death-spider in the corner of the ceiling. "It sure as shit isn't something I should have in my house. What the hell are you, Unspeakable Number Three. Why is there a Dark Lord in my kitchen?"
The Unspeakable doesn't have empathy so Harry really feels there's no problem in unloading everything onto them, because it's not like they'll be burdened with Harry's troubles the way a normal person would. And maybe that's Harry being a bad friend but he's teetering on the edge right now.
The Unspeakable lets out a long-suffering sigh like Harry is being absolutely impossible for not wanting to kill a child. "Harry-"
"Who am I?" Harry snaps back, surging off the couch. "I don't belong here - this was a joke. I'm dead and this is a sick joke. How fucking dare you tell me that child is wrong for existing. He thinks he's Credence and it doesn't matter what the truth is. The truth is I should fucking kill myself."
There's a long silence as Harry pants, hands clenched into fists.
"Okay," the Unspeakable says softly, slowly putting their hands on Harry's shoulders. "Okay, Harry, I understand. But you must know how it – how Credence feels. It feels…really bad and my magic can sense that."
"Can we just-" Harry runs a hand through his hair. "Can we do that later? Can we fix that later? It's ten in the morning and I don't care, people need to have some Merlin-damned impulse control. I mean, putting cream first and then jam second onto a scone feels wrong too, but you don't see me trying to kill everyone who does it."
"That is two entirely different things," the Unspeakable says but their voice makes it clear they're smiling. The Unspeakable cups Harry's cheek. "Harry, if Credence hurts you again, I'll tear that little boy apart. Same goes for your other two monsters."
"Yeah, I got this talk from my 'other two monsters'," Harry admits, leaning into the hand. "And there is nowhere you can hide from me if you do hurt them."
"I love it when you talk dirty to me," the Unspeakable whispers.
Harry laughs and straightens up, pulling away to go collapse on the couch again because he drank a blood replenishing potion but it hasn't kicked in yet.
Tom and Gellert come through the door, taking seats either side of Harry, just in time for Albus and Credence to come through after.
Yep, they were definitely listening in.
(Oh no, they heard Harry swearing a lot. Oh bloody hell.)
"You can stay," Tom announces, sneering at Credence. "For now. Because Harry wants you to stay."
Harry slaps a hand over Tom's face and gets an elbow to the ribs in return. "Oof. Sorry about Tom, he's just like that. I mean, I want you here Credence, but only if you want to be here, and only if the rest of the family also agrees. Because this is really a decision we should make together."
Albus claps his hands excitedly. "Time for a long, arduous talk about feelings. I'll get some tea."
"Ah, ah," the Unspeakable says and the door slams closed and glows bright green with a locking charm. They twirl their wand, rather threateningly. "You, Dumbles, don't you have something to say about dumping kids off in people's houses?"
Harry unlocks the door and kicks the Unspeakable's shin. "Credence, Tom, Gellert, do any of you want some snacks?"
Albus and the Unspeakable look at the door and then at each other. That wasn't Hogwarts-level bullshit. Did Harry just unlock that without a wand, or without knowing the very specific unlocking spell to counter it?
Gellert leans forward. "Harry just throws overpowered finite incantatem at everything."
"That is not how that works," Albus states.
"Tea," Harry says firmly. "Weren't you getting it?"
"Right away, Harry," Albus muses.