Author's Note: Here is chapter five. Another rather long chapter. Not sure if they'll all be this long but I hope they will be. I'll try to have the next chapter up in a week, maybe two. I like to make sure my chapters are a good length and filled with quality content. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story and remember to review.

Five

"You should know, Weasley's, that my father is on his way to your parents...hovel. Within the hour, they'll know what sort of dreadful company you've decided to keep." Jamie said, smirking at the three redheaded brothers.

Fred Weasley rolled his eyes. "This matters to us...why exactly? It isn't as though we're under obligation to choose our friends based upon our parents' wishes."

Jamie's smirk grew more pronounced. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

George Weasley gave a wide yawn. "I do hope you realize that we're not scared of you any more than we are of our parents. We'll be friends with whoever we please, Potter. Now kindly go away, you're ruining our pleasant evening."

"I don't have to go anywhere."

Behind him, Lyra Lestrange had just arrived. Coming to sit down near Harry and Draco, Lyra gave Jamie Potter a withering glance.

"It's bad enough that I'm forced to deal with you in Gryffindor, can't you go find your own friends to annoy?" she asked.

"No one asked you, Granger."

Lyra looked at Harry. "Is there anyone named Granger here?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

Harry grinned. "I don't think there is, Miss Lestrange."

Jamie's eyes widened at the implication. Without saying a single word to them, he turned and fled in the direction of the castle. Lyra stared after him for a moment before muttering something under her breath.

"Lucius thinks - and both the goblins and Narcissa agree - that Albus Dumbledore had everything to do with my disappearance." she told them in hushed tones.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "So that's what Jamie's run off to do..." he whispered.

Ron looked at him. "What do you think he's gone off to do?"

"Obviously to tell Dumbledore that Lyra is not as unaware of her heritage as he'd like her to be."

"Why do you say that?"

"If Dumbledore had anything to do with Lyra's kidnapping, James and Lily Potter were more than definitely involved. For the last couple of months, Dumbledore has been coming to Potter Manor for private meetings with James, Lily, and Jamie."

Catching on, Lyra's eyes widened. "That's why Jamie Potter was trying to make friends with me. Dumbledore thought that, if I was friends with him, I wouldn't want to be a Lestrange even if I discovered the truth."

Harry nodded. "Jamie is headed to Dumbledore now. Which means that you can expect a summons from the Headmaster pretty soon."

Lyra gave an uneasy look. "I'm going to owl Lucius and Narcissa. I don't think I want to be in a room alone with him." she said.

Draco nodded. "We should all do that. Dumbledore is a Legilimens. He can read your mind just by looking into your eyes. I don't think it's a good idea to be alone with him at all."

Harry looked at them. "The Weasley's shouldn't be in too much danger. They're Gryffindors. Dumbledore wouldn't dare do anything to Gryffindors. Regardless, avoid looking directly into his eyes. He can only perform Legilimancy if you look directly into his eyes. As for Draco, Lyra, and I we'll have Lucius, Narcissa, or Severus there with us any time he summons us."

Fred nodded. "All right."

Ron looked at the castle. "It's dinnertime, should we head inside?" he asked.

Draco nodded. "Probably. Lyra, head up to the Owlery and send a letter off to Father. Have him Floo to Severus office immediately. I have a feeling Dumbledore will summon you or Harry to his office. Probably both of you."

Harry glanced at Draco as they entered the castle. "Why me?"

"After everything that has happened today, Dumbledore will want to talk to you without Father."

Harry tilted his head in acknowledgment of that. "This is probably true."

Once in the Great Hall, Harry and Draco went to sit across from Blaise Zabini at Slytherin table. The Weasley brothers and Lyra went to sit across from a boy Harry recognized as Neville Longbottom.

Seeing the other boy gave Harry a pang of sorrow. He and Neville had been best friends growing up and Harry missed the other boys' company. He knew Neville would be pretty disappointed that Harry was Dark. After all, the common story among the Light Faction was that Frank and Alice Longbottom, Neville's parents, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, the most brutal and powerful of the witches among the Dark faction.

The story was only partially true, however. While Bellatrix, along with her husband and brother-in-law, had indeed tortured the Longbottoms into insanity, there had been a far greater reason for it. Dumbledore had told the Light faction that Voldemort was looking for the boy Prophecised to kill him. This wasn't true. In all actuality, Voldemort hadn't placed much - if any - stock in the Prophecy at all. This, naturally, pissed Dumbledore off and so he had to do something to change it.

There were two things that happened three weeks prior to the attacks on the Potter and Longbottom households. The first of these things was the unprovoked attack on the Lestrange family. Bellatrix and her husband had twin sons, Orion and Arcturus Lestrange. They were nine years old and the pride and joy of the Dark faction. Three and a half weeks prior to the attack on the Longbottoms, Alice and Frank Longbottom led an attack on Lestrange Manor. At the time of the attack, Bellatrix and her husband were home alone with their sons. They had let the boys stay up a few hours later to celebrate the fact that Bellatrix was once again pregnant. As they sat in the living room of their manor, Alice and Frank burst in and began the attack. Orion and Arcturus Lestrange were rather brutally killed in the attack as the young boys fought - mind you they had no wands - to protect their mother and unborn sibling. Following the death of their twin sons, Alice Longbottom hit Bellatrix with a curse that caused her to miscarry the child she carried. Because of this curse, Bellatrix lost the ability to carry children.

Not long after this attack came another, even more horrifying attack on the Dark. James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin led an attack on Voldemort himself. No one, not even Harry, knew where Sirius Black had been but he had not taken part in the attack. While it is not commonly known, the man known as Voldemort is actually named Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was married and had one child, a daughter who was seventeen years old. Tom's wife and daughter were at Riddle Manor, alone with Tom himself away on business, when Potter, Black, and Lupin attacked them. The women fought valiantly but were ultimately killed in the attack. Unbeknownst to James Potter and friends, however, Lucius Malfoy arrived on the scene just as the attackers were fleeing. After making sure the bodies of Marisol and Isabelle Riddle were respectfully laid out, Lucius went and fetched Voldemort himself.

It was because of these acts that the attacks on the Potter and Longbottom families were orchestrated. Had Dumbledore kept his broken nose out of things, Voldemort would never have targeted either family. In fact, before those attacks were orchestrated, Voldemort had been planning to leave the country with his followers. They had been planning on going to the much more open country of Australia with their faction. It was due to Dumbledore's need to keep his nose in matters that didn't pertain to him that there was even a war still continuing.

"Why are you staring at Longbottom?" Draco asked, shaking Harry out of his thoughts.

Harry blinked and turned to him. "We were friends up until I came to Hogwarts. I was...merely sad that we were not friends anymore."

Draco rolled his eyes. "And why can't you be friends with him?"

Harry gave him a pointed look. "His parents were tortured into insanity by the Lestrange family. I mean, there was good reason for it but Neville doesn't know that."

"Lord Slytherin told you about that, huh?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. He wanted to explain why he'd chosen to go after Jamie and I in the first place."

Draco shuddered, looking at Longbottom. "In any case, Longbottom might be an asset to our cause if you could get him to believe you."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how open he is. I never mentioned anything about the Dark to him."

"Have Ron or Lyra talk to him and tell him the story behind the attack on his parents. Maybe he'll be receptive to you if he knows that there was something behind it."

"I'll catch Lyra after dinner and have her talk to him."

"Good idea."

As Harry finished his dinner and reached for dessert, a Gryffindor Prefect approached him with a note from the Headmaster. Harry was to appear before the Headmaster directly after dinner. Harry shot a look at Draco and the blonde boy stood up to make sure his father had arrived. A few minutes later, Draco slid back in beside him.

"Father is waiting for you in an alcove near the Headmaster's office."

"Good. Wonder what the old man wants."

Draco shrugged, looking up at the Head Table. "Lord only knows. Dumbledore may be powerful but the man is absolutely barmy."

"Dumbledore just left. I should get going too. I'll meet you in the common room after Dumbledore releases me."

"Okay."

Harry stalked off in the direction of the Headmaster's office. On the way there, he stopped off in an alcove to let Lucius know that it was time. The blonde man smiled at him thinly before following him to the stone gargoyle that hid Dumbledore's office.

"Lemon Drops." Harry told it, causing it to leap aside.

When Dumbledore caught sight of Lucius lurking just behind Harry, his eyes widened.

"Mr. Potter, I believed I asked for you to come alone." he said, sounding disappointed that Harry had disobeyed him.

"James Potter disowned me, if you recall. I've since been adopted by the Malfoys. You'll call me Mr. Malfoy or I'll thank you not to speak to me at all." Harry told the Headmaster.

"Ah, yes. That's what you've been brought here for, Harry. James is in the process of rectifying his mistake. He acted before he truly thought about it. By tomorrow morning, you'll be a Potter again."

Lucius scoffed. "In order for that to happen, I have to give up custody and relinquish my rights. I assure you, Dumbledore, I have no intention of doing that."

Dumbledore looked at him. "Harry must be with his family, Lucius. Surely you wouldn't keep him from his true family?"

It was now Harry's turn to scoff. "That's nice, Dumbledore, but the Potters are by no means my family. I have no love for any of them. The Malfoys are more family to me than the Potters are. And I do not wish to go back to them."

Lucius clasped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "And you will not go back to them."

"Lucius, it is not up to you to keep the boy." Dumbledore's eyes flashed angrily.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I would rather die than go back to the Potters, Dumbledore. I will not go back to them."

Dumbledore stared at Harry through his half-moon glasses, the twinkle gone from his blue eyes.

"I don't think you understand, Harry. Your family needs you. James and Lily love you and only want the best for you. Jamie needs his brother by his side. If you'll just give them a second chance, they're willing to send you to a school in America."

Harry and Lucius shared a look before Lucius spoke in a hard voice. "No, Dumbledore, I don't think you understand. Harry has made his decision. He chose to stay with my family and therefore he will. I adopted him. Meaning he is my son and I will take care of him as such."

"Lucius..."

"No Dumbledore. Nothing more will be said on this subject. Furthermore, from now on you are not to summon any of my children to your office without Narcissa or I present. That includes our Gryffindor ward."

The Headmaster looked confused. "You don't have a Gryffindor ward, Lucius."

Lucius smiled. "Ah. But I do. You see, Lyra Lestrange, my niece, has been found at last. Quite by accident, you understand. I myself took her to the Ministry to claim her as my ward and register that she's been found. You should have already received the letter from the Minister informing you that Hermione Granger's name has been changed."

Dumbledore paled but gave no other hint that he was displeased. "Well, that's very good. I'm happy for you and your family, Lucius."

Lucius smiled. "Thank you, Dumbledore. Harry, you may return to Slytherin Common Room. I have no doubt that Draco is eagerly waiting for you."

"Thank you Father."

"You're welcome Harry. Tell Draco, Asterion, and Lyra that Narcissa and I will be here on Friday evening to take the four of you to dinner in Hogsmeade. Be ready by five fifteen."

"Okay."

"Lucius, I did not release Mr. Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes. "My last name is Malfoy. Not Potter. There is only one Potter at this school and he's a whiny, insignificant, arsehole. If you will not refer to me by my legal last name, I will have no choice but to ignore you."

Without waiting for Dumbledore's reply, Harry walked out of the office. He heard the sound of Lucius' bored drawl as the stone gargoyle slid back into place and he couldn't help but smile. Harry walked down to the dungeons, stopping off once in Severus' office to tell the man what had transpired in Dumbledore's office. Severus rolled his eyes and laughed outright.

"Honestly, the man is so blind it's funny."

Harry nodded. "I just wonder how far he – and the Potters – are willing to go in order to get me back under their control."

Severus looked a little concerned at that. "Knowing James Potter, he'll be willing to go to some pretty drastic lengths if he thinks it's worth it. And, seeing as how Dumbledore obviously thinks it is, we should be prepared."

Harry sank into a chair opposite Severus. "You're my Head of House, though. I assume that Dumbledore will ignore Lucius' request and try and call me into his office alone. In that case, I will first come directly to you."

"You'd want me to accompany you?"

Harry shook his head. "Not exactly. Watch from the shadows without letting him sense your presence. That way you can block him from influencing me in any way magically. Since I also expect him to be doing the same for Lyra, I'll tell her to do the same thing."

"I'll talk to Lucius in the morning and let him know our plan."

"Good idea. I'd better get to Draco. He's probably on the edge of his seat waiting for me."

Severus grinned. "Most likely. Good night Harry."

"Night Severus."

Harry left Severus' office and headed down the corridor towards the Slytherin Common Room. As he'd expected, Draco was waiting outside the door for him.

"Pureblood." Draco said to the wall, watching as it opened itself to reveal the common room.

"So, what happened?" Draco asked as they took seats in a quiet corner of the common room.

"Apparently James Potter is pushing to have custody of me returned to him. According to Dumbledork, he realized his mistake and wants to make things right with me."

Draco scoffed. "Not likely."

"That's what I thought. Lucius assured him that he would not be giving me up and made it clear to Dumbledore that I was a Malfoy. The old arsehole didn't seem to get it, unfortunately. He kept calling me Mr. Potter."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

"Lucius and Narcissa are coming on Friday to take us all out to dinner. We're to be ready by five fifteen."

"That'll be nice."

"Remind me to let Asterion know as well."

"Let me know what?" came Asterion's voice from the chair beside him.

Harry relayed Lucius' message and Asterion grinned.

"Perfect. I'll be able to update Father about my progress in person."

"Did you manage to get Sirius removed from House Black?" Harry asked.

Asterion nodded. "Met him in person as well, unfortunately. He was trying to remove all the money from the family vault as I was leaving. Apparently James Potter tipped him off. He was pretty ticked that he was unable to remove money due to no longer being a Black."

Harry grinned. "Proves him right. The prat called himself my godfather but he never once tried to stop James from hurting me. Idiot."

Before Asterion or Draco could respond, the common room door opened to reveal a panting Weasley twin. After taking a closer look at the Weasley twin in question, Harry came to the conclusion that it was Fred. (George had an extra smattering of freckles under his left eye.) Standing, Harry hurried over to Fred.

"What's up, Fred?" Harry asked.

Fred took a deep breath and looked around the common room. "You and the Malfoy boys need to come with me. Right away. Not only did we just find out something massive but…holy shit you need to see something."

Casting a side long glance at Draco and Asterion, Harry nodded and gestured for Fred to lead the way. Fred led them up to an empty classroom on the fourth floor. Opening the door, he ushered them inside and Harry's jaw dropped when he saw who was inside. Neville Longbottom sat next to Ron and George, speaking in low tones.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Before we explain Neville's presence you need to hear what Jamie Potter was overheard telling Dean Thomas." Ron said.

Harry took a seat on a desk. "What is the prat bragging about now?"

"Thomas was asking why James Potter was so pissed about Sirius' losing his fortune, right? Jamie got this…this look on his face and he put up a privacy ward pretty quick because we were sitting near them. Fred broke the privacy and we heard Jamie telling Thomas that his father has had Sirius Black under a mind control spell since their seventh year of school."

Harry's jaw dropped. "What in Merlin's name?"

"Apparently, Sirius and Potter got into a fight in their seventh year because James nearly killed Sirius' younger brother Regulus. Following their fight, Sirius went and spoke to his brother. Regulus talked Sirius into joining the Dark and pissed James Potter off. James and Dumbledore got together and decided to place Sirius under a mind control spell. After placing him under the spell, James forced Sirius to nearly murder his own brother as well as to finance the Light side. He's been under it all this time. Recently, though, he's been fighting the spell and Potter is thinking about just offing Sirius."

Asterion rose and hurried towards the door. "I've got to get to father. Now. If anyone asks, I was summoned to Malfoy Manor by Father and you have no clue why." He told them hurriedly.

"Sure thing Ast."

Harry felt slightly sick. All these years he'd hated his godfather for something that was essentially James Potter's fault. Bloody hell this was going to be a mess.

"Asterion and Lucius will take care of that. Thanks for telling us guys. That means a lot. All this time I've thought Sirius just didn't care what happened to me and it turns out that Potter's betrayed him as well. Now, why is Neville here?"

Ron glanced at the boy in question. Neville was looking at Harry curiously, biting his lower lip.

"I need to know something, Harry. Ron said you would know the truth."

"What is it Nev?"

"Did my parents take part in the murder of two children?" Neville's voice shook but he stared back at Harry almost defiantly.

Harry nodded. "Three technically."

Neville's eyes widened. "Three?!"

Harry took a deep breath. "Bellatrix Lestrange was pregnant. Your…your mother cast a curse on her that forced her to miscarry the unborn baby. Because of this curse, Bellatrix can no longer have children. It's…it's why Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers went after your parents."

"Dumbledore told me they were after me. That they had been sent to kill me." But Neville's voice sounded doubtful now.

Harry scoffed. "He lied. He was the one that sent your parents after the Lestrange family. In all actuality, you were never in any danger. No matter what your parents had done, even the Lestrange family couldn't hurt an innocent child. It was Bellatrix who placed you in the cupboard you were found in before she tortured your mother."

Neville looked sick. He stared at the floor, seeming to be in deep thought. When he finally spoke, his voice was decisive.

"I don't want to be Light. If they can kill three innocent children I want no part of them."

Harry smiled. "You don't have to be a part of them. You can be neutral if you'd like."

"Where's the good in that? Being neutral won't help anyone. At least if I'm Dark I can help prevent things like that from happening again."

"Then welcome to the Dark side. We have cookies." Harry joked, grinning as Neville cracked a smile.

"You're impossible, Harry." He said quietly.

"We should get back to the common room. Asterion will be back soon and I want to know what's going to be done about Sirius Black." Draco commented.

Ron nodded. "Draco's right. Plus, it's past curfew."

"We'll meet you guys by the Black Lake tomorrow at lunch." Harry told his Gryffindor friends as he turned to follow Draco out of the classroom.

"You really had no idea what Potter was doing to Black, did you?" Draco aked in a low voice as they entered the common room.

Harry shook his head, slumping onto the couch to wait for Asterion. "No. There were times when Potter seemed to…I dunno, almost resent Black. But I figured that was just Potter being an asshole."

"Regulus lives not too far from the manor. He…he's always thought his brother hated him."

Harry nodded. "I was surprised to find that Regulus was still alive. Lord Slytherin said that Regulus is one of his most loyal."

"He is. Not many people know who he really is. Aside from our family and his wife, that is."

"Who's his wife?"

Draco grinned. "He's married to a muggle, actually. They met at a muggle hospital. Apparently, she was running from her abusive husband. Regulus helped her get rid of the abusive muggle and brought her and her young son to live with him. He did it all under the nose of Dumbledore, too. Apparently, the muggle Regulus married was on Dumbledore's watch list."

"Who were they? And how did he get past whatever monitors Dumbledore has on them?"

"Regulus Black married Petunia Evans. Lily Potter's sister. Before he killed the abusive muggle, he placed a powerful glamour charm on three muggles to make them look like the Dursley family. Then he killed the abusive muggle, placed memory charms on the replacement family, and left with Petunia and Dudley. Turns out that Dudley is magical. He attends Durmstrang now."

Harry laughed. "That's…brilliant. Lily Potter always complained that her sister hated magic."

Draco shook his head. "Not at all. In all truth, Petunia only hated her sister. She doesn't like to talk about why, though. Something Lily did after her sixth year, just before she started dating James Potter. Whatever it was, it was pretty bad. Petunia can't even stand the mention of Lily's name."

"I'd like to meet them. There is no love lost between Lily and I but, biologically at least, Petunia would be my aunt. It would be nice to know her." Harry said quietly.

"I'll arrange a meeting over the Christmas holidays. I'm sure she'd love to meet you. Petunia's a lovely woman, really."

"I look forward to meeting her. Lily was terrible to her. Said nasty things about her all the time. I feel bad for her." Harry said honestly.

Draco smiled. "Come on, let's head to bed. We've got to be up for classes tomorrow. We can always catch Asterion tomorrow at lunch and ask him what's going on with Sirius."

"Good idea."

Harry followed Draco up to their bedroom and got ready for bed quietly. By the time Draco shut the lights out, Harry had fallen into a rather restless sleep.