So, everyone who's taken the time to review, to kudos, to favorite, to anything. Thank you. I truly appreciate it. As a writer, it brings me great joy when people enjoy something I've written. I hope everyone continues to enjoy or at least be amused by this story.

Warnings: This story is shounen-ai, slash, yaoi, gay. Harry and Tom are dating.

Notes: (X) is pov change and or time jump

Chapter 9

"I don't know. This sounds crazy," Harry said, standing up. "Why would anyone pretend to be my mum? No one would gain anything from it." His mother wasn't exactly important, just a healer among thousands of other healers. They respected her at work and Harry knew from experience that the Auror Department considered her input whenever she offered it, but not enough to make someone impersonate her.

His father, Remus, and Sirius thought she was smart. Harry had walked in a few times when his mother and Remus were talking about some theory or another and hadn't been able to keep up with any of it. But his mother was not in a position of power. She didn't have the ear of anyone important. The most she could do was not heal someone or screw the healing up, but she rarely healed anyone important.

He let out a frustrated sigh. How many people had to worry about this kind of thing?

"Harry," Tom said, placing a hand on Harry's arm. "You're thinking about this the wrong way."

"He is," Hermione asked, curiously.

"What did you tell me about the kidnappers?" He moved his hand from Harry's arm and took his hand.

Harry ran over his many conversations in his head, both what he remembered hearing from his kidnappers and what he'd told Tom. His mind kept wandering back to Tom and the warmth of his hand. His eyes widened when he realized what Tom meant.

"They want my dad to panic."

"They probably want your entire family to panic," Tom said. "Let's try taking this from the start. When's the first time you noticed any strange behavior?"

"I don't know, I guess as soon as school ended," Harry said standing up. He began walking back and forth in front of the stairs, trying to think if there were any signs that his family had been off. "They forgot me at the train station and they've never done that before. Dad's not exactly known for keeping track of time, but mum is." He frowned, turning to Tom and Hermione. "They've basically written me off this whole summer. All my past holidays, we've spent the entire time together, or I was with Sirius and Remus."

"Okay. So, we're going to assume for a moment that Harry's parents were not his parents since before he arrived home," Tom said.

Harry nodded, his stomach knotting up. How could this have happened? How could he not have noticed?

"But… the prisoners broke out of Azkaban days after I returned home," Harry said. "Not before."

"They must have had someone on the outside working with them to get out in the first place," Hermione said. "It's safe to assume that that person or people are the ones responsible for taking your parents."

"Wait, so you think both of my parents were kidnapped," Harry asked. Had his father been any different? He was closer to his father than his mother. Probably because James acted more like a friend than a parent. He'd received a couple of chocolate frogs from his father two weeks prior to the end of the term. They had released a new series of cards and they had wanted to get started collecting them right away. They'd been sending him letters once a week, as they always had. His godparents had written nothing, saying his parents had been acting strange before he'd left. That meant at the very least, no one had been kidnapped before the end of the school year.

He didn't think his father had been acting strange at all since he'd gotten home. Harry couldn't think of any time since he'd gotten home that his dad had acted off. The joking, the ice cream, the comments. All of that seemed right for his dad's attitude. If his mum had been taken and impersonated, wouldn't his father have noticed?

"Argh!" He turned, just as Hermione and Tom looked at him. "I don't know," he admitted, feeling like a complete arse. He didn't know if his parents were any different from usual. The sad truth was, he didn't know them well enough. Could he justify his lack of knowledge due to being away at Hogwarts? Or was he just that bad of a son? I could probably tell if Sirius or Remus were off, he thought, his shoulders slumping. He was sure he'd know within seconds if his godparents had been replaced or were, they just as unknown to him? Maybe he just thought he knew his family.

"You need to tell Sirius and Remus what's going on," Hermione said. "Or what we think is possibly going on."

"Yeah… Sirius would definitely know if my dad is off." He frowned, an idea screaming in his mind that he didn't want to believe it. There was no way it was true. Not a single chance. He could deny it all he wanted though, and it wouldn't change the warning sign flashing before him now. "Even if my dad didn't notice my mum was off...Remus would have." Remus and his mother were close enough. Sirius and his father had ditched Remus and his mother so many times, they'd had no choice but to become friends.

His heart beat faster as the thought snapped into the messed-up puzzle called his life. They couldn't have taken his godparents.

"It just depends if your godparents have seen your parents since the swap," Tom suggested. He didn't seem to know if he should get up and come to Harry or not.

"But my dad works with Sirius," Harry said. There was no way for this to work halfway. Either his parents and godparents were all imposters, or none of them were. This could all be a paranoid delusion brought on by his constant assault of awful luck and stress from the start of the summer. Hell, maybe he'd just inhaled too much mold, and it had decayed a bit of his brain. That seemed far more plausible than his entire family having been kidnapped and replaced. They weren't Harry, they wouldn't just walk into some stupid trap. All four of them were far too strong, far too smart to do something like that. Hermione and Tom were just wrong on all accounts. There were no imposters. His mother was just disappointed in him and all the stupid choices he'd made.

"Even if we're wrong, we should still tell someone," Hermione said. "Just in case."

"And when they take us to St. Mungo's," Harry asked. "Because without any proof, they're going to think we're mad." Even he thought they were mad. His family was far too integrated into the Wizarding community for no one to not notice any changes in their behavior.

Hermione made a face, but the look of determination never left her.

"So, we put together our ideas, let them know our hypothesis," she started.

"Look, I think that you two trying to make me think my parents were kidnapped and replaced by imposters to make me feel better is great, but—"

"How does that make you feel better," Tom asked.

"Because the alternative is, they hardly care about me at all." It meant his mother was far more worried about his career path and studies than his well being. That his father, not wanting to have any more confrontations than required with his mother, was okay with letting her try to control Harry's life. That both his parents were willing to cut ties with him the second he did something that upset his mother. Had his godparents known how heartless his parents had become, or had they always been that way?

"Harry, you know that's not true," Hermione said. She stood up as if standing would somehow make him believe her more.

"I really appreciate both of you coming to check up on me, but you guys should leave." Harry needed some time to truly think about everything. If Hermione or Tom were around, he'd keep getting distracted and that wouldn't bring him any closer to the truth about his parents. A part of him didn't want to be alone though. It worried him just how far he might plummet if he allowed his thoughts to run wild.

"You can't be serious," Hermione started. "Your—"

"I can't just accuse my parents of being imposters, because I don't like the way they're acting," he said. Convenient? Definitely. Morally, right? Not really. "We have no proof. The Aurors won't do anything." If the Auror department went after every tip given to them, they'd never accomplish anything. Sometimes they'd look into things with no proof of what they were told seemed serious enough, but this? A kid claiming his parents had been replaced with Merlin, knows who, because they weren't getting along? Parents scolded their children all the time for poor grades, for not living up to their expectations. His parents hadn't, but now that he was older, they probably thought it time that he faced reality. He needed to get over whatever idea he had for his life because they had more experience and knew what was best.

He cringed at the thought. I can't live like that. It wasn't his duty to be miserable for the rest of his life so his mother could proudly tell everyone what a prestigious job he had.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone," Tom said. "Every time I do, you get lost or kidnapped. Merlin knows what you could get yourself into next."

Harry's face flushed at the words. The possibilities of things that could go wrong were limitless. He didn't think he'd get kidnapped again and there was no way he'd get lost in Sirius' house, but other problems could occur. A dragon might decide to take over the city and burn the house down while he slept. His O.W.L. results could arrive. Then he'd have no choice, but to face facts and start studying, because taking all his fifth-year classes over, besides Defense, while all of his friends moved on to sixth-year courses, was mortifying. Not even his father, who admitted to spending all his time playing pranks rather than studying, had outright failed any of his classes. No one would let him live it down. He'd probably get kicked off the Quidditch team. His mother would flat out disown him. Anything else to add?

"I'll be fine," he muttered. As long as he kept himself distracted the entire night. Summer. Rest of his life, while he wallowed in self-pity because he never graduated from Hogwarts.

"Really," Tom asked. He got up and wrapped his arms around Harry. "I seem to remember us agreeing that you were not to ever leave my sight again?"

"You agreed to that, not me."

"Well, that's half the battle, and since I outrank you in… everything. My choice wins."

"Harry stared at Tom, an urge to hit him rising within. What good would it do to hit him though? He already knew Tom was physically stronger than him. There was no way Harry could have lifted Tom out of the police car so easily. Besides, Tom for some crazy reason seemed to actually enjoy Harry's company. He probably shouldn't anger him. The list of people who cared for Harry was pretty short.

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh.

"Talk some sense into him," she said looking at Tom. "I'm going to go home and write down everything we suspect and why. I'll be back tomorrow morning and then we're going to the Ministry of Magic to report this unless you can prove to me that nothing's wrong."

"Sure, take the easy job," Tom said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at that. "Just be careful."

"We will," Tom said.

"Nothing's going to happen," Harry added.

With a final nod, Hermione headed towards the front door. They followed her, only stopping when they reached the doorway.

"See you both bright and early in the morning." She unlocked the door and stepped outside. The night was fast approaching. There was a loud CRACK, and she was gone.

"She's in your year," Tom asked.

"Yeah."

"Impressive." Tom shut the door and locked it.

"Yeah," Harry said, quieter this time. Hermione was always impressive. She tried hard in all her classes, read everything she could ahead of time to get the advantage. She was smart and probably on her way to becoming the next Minister of Magic, right after Tom retired from the position. "She's read all the papers you've published." He started up the steps, Tom following him.

"I'm just glad someone you know is actually aware of who I am. I was beginning to wonder if the world had forgotten who I was."

"How could anyone forget you," Harry asked a little harsher than he'd intended. Tom raised an eyebrow at him. He looked away, his face burning yet again. "Sorry…"

"Your confidence will improve once I start tutoring you," Tom said. "The only reason you have self-esteem issues is that you don't understand how to think things through logically."

Harry was pretty sure that wasn't the case. His low self-esteem had come with years of his peers ignoring him until he won the Best Seeker's award. For, all the times he'd been made fun of for failing in Potions. And recently for the lack of affection his parents had for him. And getting kidnapped so easily. There was a lot more he could add, but he was depressed enough already.

"I guess," Harry said. They went up the stairs, and Harry opened the door to his bedroom. He walked in wishing he'd had a chance to remove a few items so his room wouldn't look so childish, but he'd never thought Tom would be in his room. Not so soon anyway.

"Interesting room," Tom muttered. He took in the whole room slowly.

"Belt it," Harry snapped. "If you want someone with a mature room, go to Hermione's."

Tom raised an eyebrow at that, and Harry looked away. So, his bedroom was covered in Quidditch posters of different players and teams that he enjoyed. They weren't hurting anyone. Well, sometimes they flew into one another as they zoomed from one poster to another. Harry had woken up more than once in the past to a shouting match between players, but they always stopped when he shouted at them to shut up or he'd rip the posters off the wall.

The floor was kind of mature. He didn't have any Quidditch themed rugs or anything on it. The small wooden desk only had the necessities for writing, but it was feeble looking even to him. Sirius had offered to buy him a better one once he'd gotten old enough to stop accidentally setting fires to that one, but he'd refused. He wasn't writing novels or anything.

There were a few small wooden shelves on the wall, each of them holding miniature models of broomsticks. Until a few seconds ago, he'd been proud to own all of them, but two. Now that Tom was inspecting every inch of his personal dwelling, he wanted to throw himself out the window.

"And what exactly does a mature room look like," Tom asked.

"I don't know," Harry groaned, dropping onto his bed. "No Quidditch? Scenery paintings? Knowing you, you probably have portraits of philosophers or something and talk with them about the secrets of life until you fall asleep."

"The image you have of me in your head," Tom snickered sitting down next to him on the bed. "I also see why you weren't worried about the paper and ink you purchased. You're used to working with low-quality things, aren't you?"

Scowling, Harry grabbed his pillow and hit Tom in the face with it. The teen laughed as he snatched it from Harry. He placed it behind his head and lied down.

"Git."

"My room is empty," Tom said after a brief silence.

"Huh?" Empty? No one had an empty room.

"It's empty. I have a bed, a duvet, and a couple of pillows. Besides that, there's nothing in there."

Harry made a face.

"Everyone has something in their room," Harry said.

"All the books I have are in the library. We keep all of our quills, ink, and parchment in there as well. They're on a solid oak writing desk," he said, smirking.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course you do."

"My clothes are kept magically sealed in a separate closet, so they stay fresh because I'm hardly ever home to wear them. Any other miscellaneous objects are in the study or wherever they appropriately belong."

"Isn't that boring?" Harry flipped onto his side so he could look at his boyfriend. My boyfriend is in my bed…. Tom's relaxing profile was enough to make his breath catch.

"I don't think I've stayed at home more than a handful of hours since I was eleven, so I've never had to worry about that."

"What about before that?"

Tom frowned.

"I slept more in the library than my bedroom, so I never had the urge to put anything in it."

"I'm not here much, or at home, but my parents and godparents keep rooms for me." For some reason, it made Harry sad to think that Tom's room was empty. Even if his boyfriend didn't sleep in it much, everyone needed a place to call their own. Somewhere they could go and lock the rest of the world out. A room to put all their cherished belongings in so they'd be safe. "Do you not like being with Dumbledore?"

Tom turned his gaze from the ceiling where he'd been watching a Quidditch player perform a rather daring flip to Harry, a surprised look on his face.

"It's not that… I just always found research to be more important."

"Even researchers have rooms," Harry protested. He felt like Tom was trying to keep something from him, and he wanted to know what.

"They do," Tom agreed. "But I wasn't researching at home, I was researching in other parts of the world." He copied Harry by turning onto his side. "Because you are so ill-informed, I will share with you, for free, a short overview of my biography."

"If you made me pay for your biography, I'd break up with you." It was about time he told Harry something. He'd had asked back at F.A.I.R.Y. about Tom and been denied all information. Had they had a normal conversation, instead of only talking about Harry, maybe he wouldn't have pegged Tom as someone just trying to screw with him. Granted, the idea of buying Tom's biography was tempting. He wanted Tom to tell him things, but the biography might fill in a few things. "If I bought one would you autograph it?"

"Don't bother, you wouldn't learn much," Tom laughed. His gaze went back to the Quidditch players. "Dumbledore adopted me a few months before I turned five. By then I had already been deemed a freak by the fellow orphans. Unlike them—"

"You could use magic," Harry said, grinning. Even at a young age, magic was known to show itself. Tom's magical ability had probably manifested early on, given his talent with it.

"No," Tom said, his face neutral. "I could read."

Harry had to do a double take.

"You could read...?"

"I suppose to them it was like I could do magic. I was already reading short books with few pictures drawn inside. You would think they would have been thrilled that I could read. They asked for plenty of bedtime stories from the caretakers there. But when they found out I could, they stopped playing with me."

"That's a dumb reason," Harry said. He felt defensive of his boyfriend. How dare anyone, young kids or not, treat Tom like that?

Tom shrugged. "Kids are dumb."

"Yeah they are," Harry said. He wished he would have known Tom when he was younger. Dumbledore could have brought him around the few times he'd stopped by for holidays. Tom could have played with Ron and him. They wouldn't have given Tom a hard time for reading. At least, he didn't think so.

A blush crossed Tom's face.

"...I was… thrilled to get adopted before the other fools. Dumbledore had found my name on the Hogwarts class list and upon realizing there was a wizard in a Muggle orphanage, had the common sense to remove me from it. Originally, I was supposed to be staying with his younger brother, but after staying two nights at the Hog's Head, he sent me back to Dumbledore."

"What'd you do," Harry asked, grinning. "Read to the customers?"

"Started talking to the snakes that snuck into the Hog's Head in front of the customers," Tom corrected him.

Harry tried to hold back a laugh and failed. He could just imagine a little Tom sitting on the floor of the Hog's Head Inn, customers having no choice but to walk around him, a small snake in his lap.

I want to see Tom as a five-year-old. He wondered if he could convince the headmaster to show him photos from when Tom was five or six, or at any young age. Surely Dumbledore had some hiding somewhere. As his boyfriend, he was entitled to see that, right?

"Dumbledore tried finding somewhere else for me to go, but even the wizarding orphanages wouldn't take me once they found out I was a parselmouth. Eventually, he gave up and decided to keep me." He had a bitter smile on his face now. "Since he was the headmaster at Hogwarts, he brought in private tutors and caretakers to look after me during the school year. Upon starting my official schooling, I grew bored, fast. None of the classes were challenging, and I was ditching more than attending. Finally, he put me into third-year classes."

"What house did you get sorted into," Harry asked.

"That's what you're interested in," Tom asked with a small laugh. "Slytherin. That's right, you're a Gryffindor. Will this be a problem?"

No surprise there, but Harry hadn't been completely sure. Tom could have been in Ravenclaw with his talents. "My team might never forgive me if they find out, but I'm willing to risk the scandal," Harry said. He gave Tom a quick kiss.

"You know the rest. I graduated early, went on to win the nationals in dueling. From there I started traveling to work under famous researchers or other witches and wizards. From time to time had my life threatened because I was Dumbledore's adopted son."

"You make it sound so normal," Harry laughed. If anyone else had lived a life like this, they would have probably become a quite different person. He didn't know anyone who could be so confident now after having been adopted from an orphanage, just to get shuffled around, until the original adopter had to take them back.

"It is normal, for me anyway."

That was true. Everyone had their own way of defining normal, but that didn't make any of it right.

"So how did you end up a sweet connoisseur," Harry asked wanting to change the subject. The faraway look in Tom's eyes made him uncomfortable. His boyfriend didn't need to dwell on the pains of his childhood when he was so successful now.

"Believe it or not, Dumbledore's obsession with puddings rubbed off on me. I had very high standards for the desserts served to me by the time I started traveling. After being in one place for a while and trying all the puddings in a given area, people just assumed I knew what was good and what wasn't. They started asking me what I recommended."

"I… believe that," Harry said laughing.

"Why would I lie," Tom asked.

"It just doesn't sound true."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Tell me about your life." He grabbed Harry's hand and held it.

"Nothing like yours. I was born. I liked flying even when I was young. Got into Hogwarts. Barely passed any of my classes besides Defense. I made it onto the Quidditch team by a complete fluke thanks to Draco. I was friends with Ron before school, his dad works at the Ministry too. We met Hermione on the train. No one else talks to us much. I guess they do now since I won the Best Seeker's award."

"Draco is the one you were with at the bookstore and the one you tried to use to avoid me at F.A.I.R.Y.?"

"Yeah, that was Draco," Harry said.

"You didn't name him amongst your friends. Do I need to be worried?" Harry nearly lost it when Tom's eyebrow arched up. He was too damn perfect looking.

"I don't know what you'd call him. We talk outside of school if we run into each other, but we aren't friends at school. His father won't let him have anything to do with Ron, because they don't hate Muggles and they're kind of poor. Hermione is Muggle-born, so she's off-limits too. His father sort of tolerates me, because my father is from old money and blood, but we don't hate Muggles either. He spends most of his time driving us crazy at school to keep his father happy."

"That is an odd relationship," Tom said. "Anyone I should be worried about in general then?"

"Not that I'm aware of. My popularity only grew towards the end of this year, because of the Quidditch award. I ignored most of them because I knew they were only interested in the award."

"Most of them," Tom asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"A girl I used to have a crush on started talking to me. We talked a few times."

"Meaning, I should be worried," Tom said.

"The way I feel about you makes what I felt about her seem like nothing."

Tom sighed and sat up, giving the room another look over. He looked agitated, restless. His eyes not quite taking in what was in front of him. He didn't even seem to notice his grip on Harry's hand had tightened.

"There isn't a single person at Hogwarts worth losing you for," Harry said. To think that Tom was as insecure as he was. It was completely unfounded. Tom, Mr. Perfect. Who would ever choose anyone over Tom?

"This room suits you," he muttered. "What about your other room?"

"Stuffy," Harry said, immediately. He hated that Tom changed the subject because it was obvious Harry and the people he spoke to bothered him. It wasn't like he could stop talking to everyone though. "It has a few Quidditch posters, and a comfortable bed, but my mum decorated it. And because you're so worried. I have a more expensive desk over there."

"That's good..."

Tom still wasn't looking at him, his tone somewhat sad.

"I'm going to go downstairs and sleep on the couch." He bent down and kissed Harry. "I will see you in the morning."

"You're not staying in here," Harry asked, sitting up. They'd just shared a normal, and enjoyable time, and he was just going to leave? He couldn't leave, not when he was acting so sad. His heart sped up. "You don't have to go downstairs."

"We have to be ready to go to the Ministry in the morning with Hermione."

"I really don't think my mum, or my dad for that matter, have been impersonated."

"Even if they aren't, I'd rather take the precaution of letting others know. I told you that I'd protect you and informing others of a possible problem is a part of that. It's why I made myself tell your family you were kidnapped before I left to get you. Just in case something went wrong, and I failed."

"Fine," Harry sighed. If it would make Tom happy, they could go file an insane report that would get them thrown out of the Ministry of Magic. The worst thing that could happen would be all three of them getting sent to St. Mungo's to get their brains checked. He'd endured worse in the last few weeks. "You still don't have to leave." Tom finally looked at him. "I want you to stay here. And." He took a breath and gathered up his courage because he knew Tom needed to hear what he was thinking. He moved onto his knees, his eyes locking with Tom's. "Look. Back at F.A.I.R.Y. I lied."

"What," Tom asked. A flash of fear crossed his face.

"I acted like us being together was no big deal. The truth is, I thought you were hot, even at the bookstore. When I fell on you the next morning…." His face was burning badly now. "I wanted you to like me, from the minute we met. I just didn't think you'd ever give me the chance or if you did, it would just be to screw with me. You have nothing to worry about from anyone, okay?"

Tom nodded slowly.

"Good, so don't leave." He pulled the duvet up from the foot of the bed and inched closer to his boyfriend, their bodies touching.

"You're so manipulative," Tom whispered. He wrapped his arms around Harry, his face inches from the top of Harry's head.

"Me," Harry demanded. "You're the most manipulative person I've ever met," he shouted.

Tom chuckled at that.

"You can thank Dumbledore for that." He inhaled deeply. "You do smell better now."

"How did I fall for you," Harry groaned. He lifted his head and kissed Tom.

(X)

Harry yawned, wondering yet again how long they'd be at St. Mungo's for the outrageous claim they were about to make. He'd hoped that'd he'd wake up to Remus and Sirius at home, but no luck. This may have possibly been a good thing because even though Tom and he had just snogged the night before, he wasn't sure if his godparents would believe him. They'd almost gone past the point of no return when Tom stopped them. He was both grateful and disappointed. He knew it was too soon to do something like that. They hadn't even had one proper date yet, but his brain had shut off last night and hadn't cared about such trivial things.

Hermione had arrived bright and early just as she claimed she would, well before eight in the morning. Tom had managed to convince her to let them at least have breakfast before running off to the Ministry. After all, there was no telling how long they'd be waiting to file the report and they needed food if they were going to keep their wits about them. Harry thanked his boyfriend by cooking all of them eggs and sausage.

Upon arriving, Hermione had been told she had to wait downstairs. The Auror department was in a partial lockdown due to the escaped prisoners. They let Harry in with a single glance since he was James' son and Sirius's godson. Tom had to show the wizard at the front desk a piece of paper. When the wizard tapped it, a green light flew from it to Tom's wand showing he was considered a temporary Auror.

Now they were sitting in the Auror's department in some chairs waiting for the first available Auror to talk to. They'd almost been turned away until Harry had told them he was there to give his side of the story for the kidnapping. When they checked and found out he hadn't given a statement the day before, they'd shuffled the two teens to the side to wait. And so they'd been waiting. Some of the Aurors that passed them by greeted Harry. More of them greeted Tom.

"To think you brought in two escaped prisoners! By yourself," a new Auror Harry had never met gushed. He was practically throwing himself into Tom's lap, not that Tom seemed to mind.

I'm going to go crazy just sitting here. Harry stood up and started walking through the maze of desks. The other Aurors in the room paid him no mind. They were used to seeing him in the department. He went straight to his father's desk, shaking his head when he saw the chaos spread across it. Case files of all the escaped prisoners were sprawled out on top of each other, some of the papers sticking out of the folders. A row of Post-it notes wrapped around the edge of his desk from one side to the other, a few on the phone, a couple on James' quill holder. All of them had quick notes jotted down such as Lily needs flour and Bring home orange juice.

Someone whistled behind Harry.

"What in the hell… is this a desk," Tom asked.

"Dad's," Harry said, grinning. He enjoyed the shock on his boyfriend's face.

"How does he get anything done," he asked, his voice full of awe.

Harry shrugged. He grabbed the top folder and opened it. A picture of Mather looked back at him. Under his personal information was a list of his crimes, most of them related to kidnapping Muggles. Harry read the entire list, surprised that Mather had only been convicted for kidnapping and stealing. He flipped through the file. No one had ever accused him of torturing anyone.

He takes people knowing full well they're going to get hurt, Harry thought, dropping the file back onto the desk. The file did seem to match Mather's personality. He'd been nice as far as kidnappers could go and he'd made sure Harry was fed. He'd even kept Brian from hitting him once when the other wizard had been throwing a fit.

"That's one of the guys who jumped me at the restaurant."

Tom looked over Harry's shoulder. Harry set the folder down and grabbed the next one. This one had Brian in it. Brian's list of criminal activities was varied compared to Mather's. Kidnapping, stealing, extortion, smuggling. There was only a single account of assault, which was against an Auror.

The next file had the blonde who'd been impersonating a Muggle cop. His name was Nikolas and his crimes included a lengthy list of assaults and attempted murders. He set the file down, not wanting to finish it. The brunette fake cop named Gale had almost the same list of crimes. There was more than one assault charge, though.

Harry was beginning to see just how lucky he'd been to be found by the two idiots he had rather than his second group of kidnappers. He'd been in serious danger when the second two grabbed him and hadn't even known it. Thank Merlin, Tom had….

His boyfriend had grabbed the last two folders on the desk and was sitting in James' chair.

"There isn't much security in here, is there," Tom asked. He turned the page in the file without looking up.

"They know I'm on track to become an Auror. I'm technically involved in the case. My dad and godfather work here," he said, ticking his reasons off.

Tom's eyes flicked up to Harry over the file. "You're a minor with no clearance what-so-ever. You're going to tell me they allow you to read confidential files all the time?"

"No, but… It's because they gave you arresting powers," Harry said, gritting his teeth and hating every word. Once again Tom had out shown him.

"That makes more sense." Tom disappeared again behind the file folder.

"So, there's two more people, right? Milan and Alexandre?"

"Mmhmm."

"Let me see their pictures. It'd be nice to know who I should be avoiding."

Tom set the file he'd been reading wide open on James' desk. A skinny man with black hair and sunken gray eyes was on the paper. Alexandre's list of crimes went down the entire paper and onto a second page. None of them pleasant.

"This guy I've read about. He was a big-time criminal before he got involved with Milan."

"Yeah?" Tom handed Harry the last file. He began scanning the first page, his heart stopping. Smiling happily in the arresting photo was a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyes jumped to the name. He read it again, not believing it. "Milan had me," Harry said slowly. He placed the folder down on the desk, not quite sure how to process the information.

"What," Tom asked.

"Milan… he was the man in the village I stayed at overnight…" He hadn't even realized he was shaking until Tom's arms went around him. "He let me go because he thought the other two wouldn't lose me…If you hadn't…"

"This is why I can't leave you alone," Tom hissed quietly.

Milan would have probably had me killed, he thought.

"What are you two doing?" Harry and Tom both turned. An exhausted and disheveled Sirius was looking at them. "You shouldn't be going through James' stuff… why are you so pale?" Sirius's attempt at being authoritative dropped as he walked towards them. "James didn't have something weird in his desk, did he?" He frowned then. "Why are you even here anyway? I told you to stay home."

"We need to go somewhere private," Tom said. He lowered his voice when a few Aurors looked their way. "Things might be a bit worse than originally thought."

Sirius sighed and nodded. He looked even more tired now. "We have a room in back, it has a silencing charm on it so no one can hear."

They made their way to the room. Harry felt horrible for having to drop this on Sirius right now. His godfather looked like he'd gone through hell since he'd last seen him. Sirius deserved some sleep. Didn't they have anyone else who could take his place for a few hours?

We should have brought them breakfast, Harry scolded himself.

Sirius opened the door, letting Tom and Harry walk in ahead of him. He walked in, shut the door, and just about collapsed into one of the chairs.

"You need to get some sleep," Harry said.

"Tell that to the escapees. Maybe they'll turn themselves in so I can," he muttered, rubbing his temples.

"Are you awake enough to process anything," Tom asked.

Harry and Sirius glared at Tom. Sirius broke first a moment later and started laughing.

"We'll find out." He sat up in the chair, looking a smidge more alert, and leaned back in it, the two front legs hovering two feet in the air. "You two didn't get married while Remus and I were off tracking down bad guys, right?"

"No," Harry snapped.

"Good, because we want to be there for it," Sirius said.

"Focus," Tom warned Harry. "This is serious. Milan had Harry."

SLAM.

Sirius's chair hit the floor. Tom and Harry both jumped, and Sirius was suddenly wide awake.

"What do you mean Milan had Harry?"

"After I got away from Brian and Mather, I ended up in a small village. The villagers thought I was an escaped prisoner and held me overnight. They're the ones who called the police to come and get me, only it was two more prisoners who showed up, not the police." Sirius nodded as Harry spoke. "The one man there who could speak English and was bringing me food, it was Milan."

"… You're sure," Sirius asked.

"I saw his picture in the file on dad's desk."

"Shite…" Sirius let out a long, frustrated sigh. "Kingsley mentioned a place in the middle of nowhere. It had like four buildings. Everyone there was dead. We didn't think it had anything to do with the prisoners because there was a wizard family among them. Milan only kills Muggles." He ran a hand through his hair. "Shite. We screwed up."

"What about impersonating," Tom asked.

And they'd finally made it to the insane part. Sirius was going to hear Tom's crazy theory and tell them to go home. That they obviously needed sleep more than he did. That Harry really needed to man up and not accuse his parents of being imposters, because they weren't seeing eye to eye.

"Impersonating? Well, Gale and Nikolas were dressed up as Muggle police—"

"Polyjucie," Tom said.

"I haven't heard anything like that. Why?" He eyed the two of them wearily.

Harry wished there was something he could do for his godfather. If the Ministry wasn't going to let the Aurors sleep, they at least deserved some Pepperup potion. A calming draught would probably help to, because on top of everything else, Harry had to tell his godfather his mother might have been kidnapped too.

"Hermione and Tom think mum might have been kidnapped," Harry said. "And that someone's been impersonating her." Best to just say it so Sirius could focus on the far more probable problem before them. That Milan knew what Harry looked like and did indeed want him. "I don't think they have been. I think she's just disappointed I haven't been studying hard enough," Harry added quickly.

Sirius's frown deepened.

"Has either of his parents been acting strange," Tom asked.

"Maybe," Sirius said, choosing his words with care. "I found it odd they both forget to get Harry from the train station."

"Dad might, mum wouldn't," Harry said.

"Has James ever forgotten you anywhere," Sirius asked.

Harry tried to remember if he had. His father always picked him up from Ron's house. He'd been the one to get Harry when he was at Hermoine's. Despite his dad's awful timekeeping, whenever they planned to do something together, his father was always on time, save a minute or two. He'd never once left Harry anywhere long enough to cause him to panic and fear the worse for his parents.

"No," Harry said. "He hasn't."

"Exactly. James goes out of his way to make sure he spends as much time with you as he can."

Harry nodded, his face red with embarrassment. It was nice to hear that his father cared for him so much, that he wanted to spend time with Harry.

"Lily is a bit more complicated," Sirius said. "She gets obsessed worrying over Harry's future sometimes, but I think she knows you aren't changing your mind about becoming an Auror."

"I'm more concerned that I ordered a meal in French for his mother's side of the family and she didn't know what I was ordering. Hermione said, Lily knows French," Tom said.

"Oh, the Dursley dinner fiasco," Sirius asked, now grinning from ear to ear. "James told me about that. Said he couldn't have done it better himself and he owed you for ruining their evening."

"Didn't dad find it odd mum didn't understand the French Tom used," Harry asked.

"… Actually, no, he didn't," Sirius said.

"So, it is possible that something's off about them," Tom said.

"I guess so. I know James is tired, more than I am." He stood up from the chair and began pacing. No doubt an attempt to stay awake. "He's been working nonstop since he got back from that one day in Switzerland. Remus, James, Kingsley, and Tonks all stormed Chateau Miranda last night. No one said anything about him acting weird. He found your wand," he said, nodding to Harry.

"Yeah, he left it for me on the table," Harry said.

"Mather and Brian didn't let slip anything that might have suggested they had Harry's parents?"

"Mather and Brian were dead," Sirius said matter of fact. "Killing curse. Guess Milan wasn't happy you got away," he said, looking at Harry.

"Oh," Harry said. He didn't know why, but he hadn't expected that.

"Lily also sent Hermione to check in on Harry instead of coming herself," Tom said.

"Huh." The Animagus sat down on top of the desk. "That is strange. The only reason James didn't see Harry the second he got back was because he was tracking down a false lead in Berlin. Turned out to be a completely different criminal. He made me promise to check on Harry…" He was frowning again. "Why did he ask me to check on Harry instead of Lily?"

"… He knows," Tom said.

"That's crazy, he'd have said something," Sirius said, but he didn't sound too sure of himself. His head snapped up, his eyes widening. "I need to go ask Remus." He slid off the top of the desk and stopped at the door. "Stay here and don't go with anyone, unless it is James." He was out the door then, leaving the two alone.

"This is mad," Harry muttered.

"Never a dull moment with you."

Harry glared at his boyfriend but couldn't deny that. It seemed his run of horrible luck wasn't done yet.

(TBC)

Sorry if this chapter was a little…slow in development? I just thought Harry deserved some fluff time after all he's been through lately.