They had barely reached the common room in record time before their friends were surrounding them demanding to know what had happened.
"What happened?" - "Are they blaming you?" - Did Potter and Weasley get blamed?" - "Tell us everything." Blaise, Daphne, Draco and Pansy shot off in quick succession, thankfully Luna and Theo seemed content to wait for Harry and Hermione to catch their breath.
"Not here." Hermione hissed, although Slytherin's were loyal to each other and treated like family, they couldn't say the same for the portraits or even eavesdropping charms in the common room. Together Harry and Hermione led their friends to the boys dormitory. Their Father had informed them that Salazar Slytherin had done specific magic to keep the dorms private; no eavesdropping charms would work, there were no portraits and not even the inventions of The Marauders or The Weasley Twins could make it through the barriers. But as children of The Dark Lord, both Harry and Hermione threw up protection and silencing charms to be safe, paranoia would keep them and their secrets safe and alive. Finally when they felt safe they all sat down on the floor in a large circle.
"Talk." Draco demanded imperiously. Harry opened his mouth to start talking but he went silent when Hermione spoke over him quickly.
"This conversation may take a while, so I believe we should start with the less pressing; Harry's detention with James, then we can move on to the chamber." Draco and Blaise groaned pitifully but nodded their heads in agreement with the others.
"So why were you back early?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, to be honest, I am not actually sure myself." Harry started.
"I got there and he was, sort of polite, well what passes for polite for that man."
"James Potter?! Polite?" Hermione gaped.
"Yes, James Potter. He asked about Rose, and snapped at me when I suggested he ask her. But then he changed in front of me. The anger vanished and he seemed almost defeated. We spoke about Rose briefly before divulging that I would only have lines for detention." Harry nodded when his friends just stared at him with looks of shock.
"I thought he would've used this detention to torture you." Draco murmured.
"Or maybe interrogate you about our family." Hermione added.
"Thanks." Harry responded sarcastically rolling his eyes.
"Then what?" Hermione asked, her eyes encouraging him to continue.
"He was walking back to his desk when something fell out of his robe pocket." Harry whispered, unsure of how they would take what he had to say.
"It was a photo." he stopped to take a deep breath.
"It was Potter holding a baby, a baby with green eyes not brown." A stunned silence was his response. Hermione was opening and closing her mouth, her eyes wide in shock as she stared at her brother. It wasn't long before the others broke out of their shock and started to talk over each other.
"You can't be serious." - "Why?" - "What did you do?" - "Does he know?" Daphne, Pansy, Theo and Blaise all spoke. Draco had joined Hermione in just looking at Harry blankly, whereas Luna had a soft smile on her lips. Harry shook his head fondly, they never disappointed him. But before he continued, he reached over and grabbed Hermione and Draco's hands in his own.
"What matter what it means, you are my family. Nothing will change that." He whispered softly gaining smiles and firm nods in return.
"I don't know what it means yet. He got very angry when he saw I had seen it and kicked me out. That is why detention was ended early, I do intend to find out more." Harry said to everyone, leaning back and speaking up for them to all hear him.
"Remember Hartford, not all pain can be fixed easily, even with magic." Luna said, her eyes shining with knowledge.
"You knew he had that photo?" Draco asked his eyes narrowing.
"Draco, do you really think she would've hidden it from us if she had known?" Daphne sighed exasperated. Draco sighed and shook his head.
"I did not know of the photo, I did not know he held something like that with him, and I did not know that Harry would find it in detention." Luna said sharply, her beautiful eyes flashing.
"However, I do know that James Potter's soul cries out in pain. But not daily, most days it is like it is too high to feel, in the clouds or too deep to understand, covered by water." Her head tilted to the side as she spoke, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders.
"A soul in pain but isn't at the same time?" Pansy asked baffled.
"No, something is muffling the pain." Theo said running his hand through his head as he thought.
"Something like a Potion." Hermione whispered.
"Like the kind his wife has given him." Harry whispered in horror as he caught onto what to his sister was implying.
"Do you really think it could be?" Blaise asked in disgust, to control someone's emotions like that was beyond evil. It was something the so-called Light side would accuse them of doing.
"We can only speculate for now." Harry hummed.
"We watch and bide our time, once we are sure we can formulate a plan." Hermione nodded firmly gaining agreements from the others.
"Well.. I hadn't thought that, the conversation about detention would be as interesting as the talk about The Chamber of Secrets." Blaise deadpanned causing them to all break out into laughter, destroying the seriousness and tension that had enveloped them. It wasn't that what he had said was that funny, but with the tension it had been a wave that broken.
"Speaking of The Chamber.." Hermione said once they had calmed down.
"Do they believe it was you two?" Daphne asked worriedly.
"Dumbledore claimed no second year could've done it, but I do think he will be watching us." Harry said thoughtfully.
"An annoyingly close watch." Hermione added with a smirk, Harry chuckled at her shaking his head fondly.
"I don't understand though, who could have opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Theo asked.
"I thought only Parselmouths can open it?" Luna asked, it was frustrating her to no end that she couldn't see who was behind it.
"That's what worries us." Harry admitted.
"There is only three people who can open it. Me, Hermione and Father."
"Yes, but unlike Father, we can't yet as we haven't find the entrance yet." Hermione interjected.
"And Father would've told us if he had to planned to open it." Harry said with a groan, his hands gripping his hair in irritation.
"Well, that just crossed off the only people possible." Pansy said dryly.
"Could we be wrong about you guys being the only descendents of Slytherin?" Daphne asked.
"Nope." Luna said shaking her head.
"No, we have a tapestry going back to Salazar Slytherin himself; we are the only ones left." Harry denied, backing up Luna's statement, Hermione nodding along.
"So, somehow, someone has stolen your magic and used the talent to frame you?" Blaise scoffed jokingly.
"Oh shut up Blaise. You can't steal someone's magic let alone magical gifts." Pansy said rolling her brown eyes.
"Wait.." Harry's green eyes were wide in horror, his skin chalk-white in fear, before he jumped up and ran to his trunk and started pulling everything out quickly discarding everything after a momentary glance.
"Harry?" Hermione asked concerned.
"FUCK?!" Harry cried after a moment, he collapsed on the floor in shock.
"Harry? What in Merlin's name is going on?"
"It's gone! It's not here 'Mione!"
"What's gone?!"
"Father's Diaryl!" Hermione's face went white to match her brothers. The dorm went silent as the meaning registered. The Diary's essence had opened The Chamber of Secrets.
"Okay, calm down." Hermione said taking charge.
"Where was the last place you saw it?" She asked.
"Umm.. Let me think." Harry mused.
"Don't hurt yourself." Blaise scoffed before flinching when Pansy and Daphne both hit him across his head.
"Ouch!"
"Oh! I remember!" Harry declared.
"The Library right before Quidditch Tryouts." The statement was met with silence.
"Anyone could have it." Hermione breathed in horror.
"What do we do?" Draco asked.
"I am in so much trouble." Harry moaned burying his face into his hands.
"Just relax."
"RELAX?! How can I relax Hermione?" Harry asked hysterically.
"We just need to find out who has it." She said.
"Oh is that all?" Harry asked sarcastically.
"Well, we know it isn't a Slytherin, anything found by us gets given to Professor Snape." Hermione said ignoring Harry's meltdown.
"Daph, can you fill Astoria in on the Diary and get her to keep an eye out on the Ravenclaws?"
"Yeah, I am sure Rose and Ginny will help her too." Daphne nodded seriously.
"Harry, pull yourself together. You need to tell Fred and get him to look in Gryffindor with George and maybe Lee." Harry nodded.
"Yeah, of course, Freddie. He can help." Harry still looked a little lost and panicked but Hermione's confidence and calmness was grounding him.
"What about Hufflepuff?" Theo asked.
"We don't really have any allies in there."
"No, but we have classes with them, all we have to do is talk about Harry's family heirloom diary in front of them and wait for them to be the do-gooders they are." Draco snickered.
"That is actually a good idea, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones are alright people, despite being children of Light Ministry Workers." Daphne mused.
"Neutral." Luna hummed.
"Both families were Neutral for years, they only sided with Dumbledore in the last war because they were against the murders and violence our Lord used while he was insane."
"Explains why they are more tolerable than most." Blaise laughed.
"They still celebrate the old ways and respect Mother Magic and the Balance." Luna said smiling, she liked the two Hufflepuff girls, both were Grey in Magic and were accepting of her outlook on Magic the few times they had been paired together in class.
"Alright, so we mention to them that Harry's lost a diary that belonged to our Father and ask if they could just keep an eye out. They don't need to know that it is what opened The Chamber."
…..
It was early morning, most people were only just getting up to get ready for breakfast, but Harry was already awake, and had been pacing in an empty room in the dungeons for twenty minutes. All he could do was hope that his message had reached Freddie and that the older boy would be there soon. Sighing he rolled his head around on his neck and pointed his wand at an old dusty chair, with a whispered incantation the wooden chair became a large and comfortable beanbag. His previous cousin Dudley Dursley had, had one as a child and he hadn't been allowed to touch it, let alone sit in it. So when his Father and Mother took him and Hermione shopping to buy their own stuff, he had cautiously asked for one, he had loved them ever since. Their play room in the manor was filled with them now for him and their friends to use. Smiling softly at the memories of his parents making his life better he got comfortable and waited. Thankfully it wasn't long before the door opened and a red-haired head with blue eyes poked through the gap, seeing Harry, a grin stretched across his face.
"Hey Hart." Fred greeted before dropping on the beanbag next to Harry happily.
"Hey Freddie." Harry whispered as he burrowed into Fred's chest, taking a breath, enjoying Fred's scent; it was a mixture of potions and wild magic, which came from his experiments with George and Lee, then there was the smell of Dragon Leather from the Quidditch uniforms. Fred's hand came up and softly stroked Harry's hair in a soothing manner.
"Are you okay Hart? Your message was rather panicked."
"You will hate me." Harry whispered keeping his eyes on the floor.
"Hey, Hey, Hart. I could never hate you." Fred promised as he put his pointer finger under Harry's chin and forced him to make eye contact. Fred's blue eyes were sparkling with sincerity. Taking a deep breath Harry nodded.
"My family is more complicated than I have told you." He started softly, his entire body shaking from nerves. Fred just wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders and held him close, patiently waiting for him to gather himself.
"My name is Hartford Thomas Riddle for my Father, his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Half-Blood son of Muggle Thomas Riddle and Pureblood Merope Gaunt." Steeling himself for what could come, Harry pulled his wand out and spelled his Father's name out in the air, the letters sparkling like fireworks, he then gave a fierce wave, the letters rearranging.
"I am the son and heir of Lord Voldemort." He finished when the letters spelled out; I am Lord Voldemort. He was startled when he realised Fred was chuckling, his face buried in Harry's hair.
"Is that what you were worried about telling me?" He asked when he caught his breath.
"From the way you avoided talking about him, I had guessed he was a high ranking Death Eater or something, The Dark Lord himself isn't that much difference."
"You mean.. You had suspected something like this and you don't care?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Hart. You are my soulmate, I would follow you anywhere." Fred promised kissing Harry's head softly while wrapping his arms around the second year's waist, pulling him in tight.
"What about your family?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"What family?" Fred scoffed, derision clear in his eyes.
"They parade around like the perfect Light family. It's just a lie. Mum is a harpy who is only happy when screeching at me and George for something. Nothing is good enough for her. She drove Bill and Charlie away and doesn't even think she was in the wrong. No, apparently they were for following their dreams and not what she wanted them to do. Bill works for Gringotts; he is their best curse-breaker, trust me he could work anywhere for them, yet he chose to go to Egypt. Charlie is a dragon-tamer, like Bill, he is one of the best in his field. When he finished his apprenticeship he had offers from four different reserves, yet moved to Romania." Harry watched wide-eyed as Fred continued to rant.
"Dad is just a weak man, never sticking up for his children, just watching as she insults us and yells at nothing." Fred sighed defeatedly.
"Percy is just a tosser, he follows everything Mum says without question, he believes in rules and laws, even if they are wrong. He also worships The Minister." He gagged loudly as Harry giggled, feeling Fred's pain he wrapped his arms around his neck and held him close.
"Ron, Merlin do I even need to explain?" He asked, chuckling when Harry shook his head with a disgusted look on his face.
"I don't know how you and George come from the same family as him." Harry admitted.
"Trust me, we ask the same thing all the time." Fred smirked.
"Thankfully, Charlie and Bill are more like us than Ron and Percy, it's why they left the country as soon as they could. I am hoping being in Ravenclaw and being friends with Rose and Astoria, that Ginny can escape being like them. Mum doesn't know that we know, but she is trying to train Ginny to be the perfect woman so that she can marry Henry Potter and raise the family name." He said in disgusted anger.
"Don't worry, we can save her from that fate." Harry promised, he knew as he said it that he would do anything to stop Ginny from having to be with the Prat-Who-Did-Nothing. Fred grinned at him and hugged him tightly again.
"I can't believe your Mother would do that to her own daughter." Harry murmured, still shocked and sickened over that revelation.
"I'm not. I've known for years that the Light wasn't what they portrayed themselves to be." Fred said shocking Harry even more.
"I was just waiting for you to come to me first, I didn't want to push you." He admitted sheepishly when Harry turned the look at him.
"Me and George, we were seven, and we overheard Mum talking to Dumbledore and Mrs Potter. They were talking about Harry Potter." Harry tensed as his eyes went wide.
"They were saying thankfully the public had bought the story of him dying the night Henry vanquished The Dark… I mean, your Father, they had played the grieving family well, and now they could focus on Henry and Rose without it being strange to The Wizarding World. But Sirius had a God-Father bond with him and could feel that the bond was only weak, not broken, so continued to search for his 'pup'. Dumbledore suggested Obliviating the memory of the boy from their minds. We were horrified, even though we were seven, we understood what they were talking about. Mrs Potter then pointed out that not only was Remus a werewolf and therefore couldn't be Obliviated, but Sirius was a Black and trained in the mind arts, he can be oblivated but he would know something was missing. Good people wouldn't do that, it was around then that we figured out Light doesn't equal good and Dark doesn't equal evil."
"Sirius and Remus had been looking for him all that time?" Harry asked emotionally.
"As far as we know from eavesdropping on meetings between Mrs Potter, Dumbledore and Mum in the summer, they are still looking. Tracked him to an orphanage last year but there is no trace of him ever being there, they are determined to find him." Fred said nodding, he was startled when he saw that Harry was now crying openly.
"Hart, what did I say?" Fred asked panicked.
"They…. They are still looking for me?" He asked between sobs.
….
Hey everyone!
Hope you enjoyed the newest chapter. Sorry for how long it took, and I apologise for any mistakes. Let me know what you thought and what you would like to see. I can't believe it has been over a year since I started The Darkness! Thank you for your continued support =)
See you darlings next update! Xxx