Warnings: This is shounen-ai, slash, gay. Tom/Harry and Sirius/Remus
Notes: (X) ispov change and or time jump, grammar check to be done later
Notes 2: For everyone who wasn't aware, I'm sorry this took so long. I tried to write and do school and failed, horribly (writing not school.) I finished school in May and as is my regular spectacular luck, caught bronchitis. Which was bad enough, but my immune system never goes halfway, and I caught covid the following week. So, I had both. And to place the frosting on top, I ended up with covid fatigue and brain fog, because why not? Finally starting to feel a little better.
chapter 15
Harry followed his mother, rubbing the back of his head, mostly because he felt like it should hurt rather than it actually did. Not far from where he'd crash landed was a large open room naturally carved from stone. The hall leading to the room was… He blinked doing a double take. It was constructed from bones. He'd known what the Paris Catacombs were and yet he hadn't imagined it'd look like this. In every direction, skulls grinned back at him, the rest of their bodies strategically placed in patterns and symbols all around them, up and down the walls and decorating the ceiling. A small stream, about as wide as Harry's hand wove across from one wall to the other. Just the thought of drinking from it made his stomach turn and gave him a deeper respect for his mother.
Seven people lay on the floor, two others, a witch, and a wizard, watching them. The witch noticed them first. "Lily? Oh, my Merlin! They caught Harry!" She straightened up from where she'd been kneeling near one of the unconscious people.
The wizard looked up from the person he'd been tending to and frowned.
Harry recognized both immediately. The woman was Tilly, one of the younger healers. She'd started off as a receptionist at St. Mungo's a few years ago while she studied and interned as a healer there. His mother had told him that Tilly was becoming known as a rising star, not only because of her top-notch healing skills, but due to her upbeat personality.
The wizard was Ellis, one of St. Mungo's head healers for magical diseases. He'd only seen the healer a handful of times and his mother rarely talked about him, so he didn't know much beyond his title and that he knew how to do his Job. You'd think that would be a requirement for working at St. Mungo's, but a few people had gotten there by connections or money. Lily had warned him who to stay away from if he ever came to St. Mungo's and was in actual need of healing.
Why is Milan targeting healers?
Lily gave her coworkers a wry look. "Actually, James is storming the catacombs, Harry got separated from him."
Harry had to bite back a laugh at how matter of fact his mother said that. She'd probably been waiting for James since she'd been taken. "Dad's been looking for you. He brought Sirius, Remus, and Klaus with too," he said.
"Oh joy, we're saved," Ellis said, rolling his eyes. "Were any of you smart enough to bring healing supplies?"
"I don't know," Harry admitted. He hadn't gone through his bag and Remus had been the one to pack it, so maybe. Probably. When Remus packed, he made sure you were ready for multiple situations. He sat down on the floor, unzipped his bag, and started shaking the contents out onto the ground.
"Harry," his mother sighed. She walked past him and stood next to Ellis.
The notebook and pen Harry had been using came out first, then the flashlight he'd been using outside of the tunnel, followed fast by three bottles of water, five protein bars, some dried meat, four packs of peanuts, a sealed space blanket, and a white plastic peanut butter sized container.
"I see Remus did the packing," Lily said, sounding pleased.
The container rolled slowly in front of him, black marks on its side getting his attention. What is that? Harry picked up the plastic container, shaking. On the side of the jar in black letters were the words, 'Don't get yourself killed.' That's Tom's handwriting. He frantically began twisting the lid off and froze, staring at the contents inside. "H, here." He held the jar out, trying hard not to cry. He doesn't hate me.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"
"Healing cream." His voice cracked and he forced out a cough to try and cover it up. "Enhanced healing cream made by Tom."
"...Your ex-boyfriend gave you healing cream?" She didn't seem quite sure on how to take that. "Is he studying to be a healer?"
"No… He does a lot of research." The tiny part of him that'd dare to believe that Tom might still care about him was beginning to grow. "It heals faster than regular healing cream. He got a small award for it at F.A.I.R.Y." He didn't think Tom had even been called on stage for that one. Or maybe they just hadn't wanted Tom back on stage. Actually, he might have been dazed out during that part. His memory was pretty much nothing more than a hazy image where F.A.I.R.Y. was concerned.
Ellis stared at Harry. "Are you telling us you're dating Tom Riddle?"
"What?" Lily laughed. "Harry's never even met Tom Riddle."
Harry dropped his head, grinning at the floor. Oh, we've met and snogged. Best not to tell his mother he'd been making out with his boyfriend in his bed. "We met in Wiltshire, the night before F.A.I.R.Y.," he managed before he started laughing himself. Tom doesn't hate me. He wants me to stay alive. Maybe his boyfriend was waiting for him just outside of the catacombs and the second they got out, they could make up. Why didn't he say anything before I left? Well, whatever. As long as Tom didn't hate him, they could try to talk and figure something out.
"You're joking." She came over and took the jar from him, examining both inside and outside of the container.
Harry looked up, his grin going ear to ear. "I'm not."
"How in the world did you get Tom Riddle's attention?"
"I intrigued him. And…" He noticed the other two looking at him and lowered his voice. "He said I was a great kisser."
Lily stared at him for a second before she let out a long sigh. "Merlin, you are your father's son. It's like the Potter men magnetically pull anyone they like into their lives."
Harry was finding it kind of amusing that his parents blamed each other for any personality traits they considered questionable. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do if he hated me. He must have given Remus the jar this morning. That was after our fight." Or did he give it to dad? His father's confidence in them getting back together hadn't made much sense to him, but if James had known about the cream… Wait. All three of his family members had made bets that Tom and he would get back together after they finished in the catacombs. They all knew! And yet they'd allowed him to believe that Tom was angry at him despite proof to the contrary. Why? And why hadn't Tom told him before he left? Maybe Tom hadn't forgiven him completely, he just didn't want him dead. That seemed like the safest assumption. But we have a chance if we're both alive. Right?
"Well… as long as the two of you are happy." Lily handed him the jar back. "Let's save that for now. I think wand healing might be a little more effective for some of the wounds we need to tend to." She winked at him as he took the jar back.
He ran his fingers over the words again, grinning like an idiot as he did. That a single sentence written on the side of a plastic jar could make him so happy…
"So, what's the plan," Tilly asked.
"Well… Harry fell from a tunnel above us, so James and the others are probably still wandering around up there." She turned to Harry. "If you were levitated back up, could you get back to your father?"
Harry tore his eyes away from the jar. "No. I'm not actually sure what happened, but I went down a tunnel and ran into a dead end. When I turned to leave, a new wall had appeared blocking off the path. Next thing I knew that wall was trying to smash me into the wall behind me. Somehow I went through the back wall and fell down the tunnel I came out of."
"Hmm."
"At least we have a wand now! We can break the door down!" Tilly said, grinning.
"Yes, but we can't move seven people with a single wand." Lily folded her arms across her chest and began pacing.
"Klaus found some prisoners upstairs and let them go. Dad said they might alert people helping Milan so there might be someone headed our way." Best that they know they were on a time limit.
"Good. I wouldn't mind using a few questionable spells on Alexandre," she growled. "My head is still throbbing from his last 'hair harvest'."
"Alexandre's dead. Tom hit him with a spell—" the look on his mother's face made him rethink telling her the details of said spell. "And the Fiendfyre Alexandre had cast caught up to him. If I'd been stronger, Milan would be dead too."
Lily stopped, her eyes snapping to Harry. "Excuse me?"
Shite. I shouldn't have said anything. Now he didn't have a choice, but to explain. "Milan and Alexandre were chasing us down at the Ministry. Milan attacked dad. He collapsed and he'd lost so much blood, I just…" He really hoped his mother wouldn't hate him for this. "I put a metal bar through Milan's stomach. Sirius said he got away before the Fiendfyre got him though."
"You were...and…" She closed her eyes, taking in another deep breath and releasing it. "I might have to divorce your father."
"It wasn't dad's fault! When Tom and Hermione realized you were being impersonated, we went to the Ministry to report it. While we were there, Milan attacked." His mother wouldn't really divorce his father over something James had no control over, would she? And after everything he'd done? His father had gone beyond what most people would even consider doing in order to keep his family safe. He'd acted like he knew nothing to keep Milan from attacking them sooner and all the while he'd been trying to find out where his mother was so he could go get her.
"Harry, you're only alive right now by sheer luck!"
"No," Harry said, his voice firm. "Even without luck I would have survived. I may not be a prodigy like Tom, but I'm not helpless. I fought side by side with Remus and Tom against Dementors and hell hounds. Dad and I escaped from Alexandre, we got away from the Fiendfyre. I surprised Milan and impaled him with part of a railing from a staircase. I even hiked through some random forest in France without starving! Dad didn't want me to come. He wanted me to stay at Sirius and Remus' place until this was over. He wanted me to stay at Dumbledore's with Tom. But Dad wouldn't even be alive if I hadn't been at the Ministry!" He fixed his mother with a determined look. She was not going to downplay everything he'd done the last week and a half, especially when his luck had been utter shite. Sure, he'd survived everything and actually, he had been pretty lucky when Tom had found him at that village. And when his father had saved him from the water. Maybe my luck isn't as bad as I keep thinking it is. Okay, his luck was balanced right now, not bad.
"It would seem that your son is growing up," Ellis said, smiling.
"...We'll talk about this later," Lily said, quietly.
"There's nothing to talk about." He slid the jar back into his bookbag. "But we should probably focus on getting everyone out safely before any of Milan's followers show up." He was getting real sick of Milan and his obsessed interests in his family's life. It wasn't their fault he'd gone to Azkaban. Milan shouldn't have broken the law. If nothing else, he shouldn't have gotten caught. His entire holiday of hell had so far been a direct result of Milan's screw ups. Like right now for example. It wasn't bad enough he'd gotten stuck in a trap in the Paris Catacombs, but now there was possibly a group of arseholes coming after them and all he wanted to do was sit down and write a letter to Tom. Not that Tom could get the letter until after they'd left, and by that point he'd rather just go talk to him in person, but still.
"Do we know how many," Ellis asked.
"No. Everyone from Milan's original group is dead or locked up." The three adults shared a look. "I didn't kill them! Milan did! Well, Alexandre kind of killed himself." Or rather Tom had helped cause Alexandre's death by conveniently keeping the man distracted and fighting against a choking hex until the arse's own Fiendfyre had destroyed him. "Brian and Mather messed up and I was able to get away, so Milan killed them."
"Brian and Mather, had you?" Harry could see the blood draining from his mother's face. "What about Nikolas and Gale," Lily asked. It seemed his mother didn't want to talk about his kidnapping just yet.
"Tom arrested them."
"Wait, wait." Lily raised her hand. "Who in the bloody hell at the Ministry thought it would be okay to give a teenager arresting powers!?"
Harry shrugged. "He didn't say." And he'd been too caught up in his own emotional distress to ask because whoever had done it had never offered him that opportunity.
"Ugh." Lily brought her hands up to her temples and began rubbing them.
"Mum, we really don't have time for this." He understood this was a lot to process, but if they wanted to get out alive, she was just going to have to accept everything and move on until they made it to a safe place to sort it all out.
"You're right… Okay. What about Hollie?"
Harry blinked. "Who?"
"Hollie. Milan's older sister. When Milan was arrested the Ministry ended up bringing in his whole family. His sister Hollie, her fiancé Nikolas and their two cousins, Brian and Mather. Gale and Alexandre are distant relatives of some sort."
"I… I didn't even know Milan had a sister." Her file hadn't been on his father's desk with all the others. Granted, with the state of James' desk, it might have been there, somewhere.
"Who did you think was impersonating me?"
Thank Merlin. So, he hadn't been comforted by Alexandre. Harry didn'tthink he'd ever be so happy to hear that Milan had another member in his group. "Eh—"
"Never mind. We'll worry about Hollie in a minute. First." She aimed Harry's wand at a metal barred door on the other side of the room.
Click.
The door swung open a few centimeters.
"Now that we're free, let's get everyone healed."
"I don't think some of them will wake up just because we heal their wounds," Ellis said.
"Probably not. Lucky for us Tilly is spectacular at Transfiguration." She walked over to Tilly. "I don't care what you use, but we need mobile stretchers."
"Mom, I don't think that's going to work." He hated to be the naysayer, but stretchers definitely wouldn't make it through the narrow tunnels up above them.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"I don't know what down here is like, but the tunnels above us are too small. We should go find dad and the others and bring them down here to help us."
"We could heal everyone's wounds first," Tilly said. "That way some of them have a chance at waking up while you look."
Harry grabbed the jar of healing cream from his bag and placed it into his lap and scooped up the pen and notebook. Thank Merlin his dad had shown him the spell to send notes.
"Harry?" His mother was looking at him with a mixture of amusement and just a little bit of concern.
"Dad and I were staying in touch with notes." He angled the notebook on top of the jar and started writing. He should have done this as soon as he'd gotten his bearings back.
'Dad, there was a trap in the tunnel I was exploring. It pushed me down a level.' …. 'or five. Mom's down here and she's alright. Tilly and Mr. Owen are with us and okay, but there are seven other people unconscious. We need to find a way to meet up.' He looked over the note, pulled the piece of paper out, and held his hand out for the wand. His mom handed it to him, and he tapped the piece of paper with it. The paper folded itself up and shot off. He handed his wand back to his mother. "Hopefully dad can figure out a way to find us."
"I'm going to start healing the others while we wait."
Harry nodded, hugging the jar of healing cream against his chest, a warm feeling blooming inside him. There was no telling how long it'd take for his dad to receive the note, let alone reply. In the meantime, he could hug his jar of healing cream and think about how he could possibly salvage his relationship with Tom.
The idea of just being friends still didn't sit well with him. If that's all Tom wanted, he didn't think he could mentally or emotionally handle it. Could he really handle never seeing him again though? It doesn't matter. He blinked, wiping away a few tears that'd managed to break through his emotional shield. He knew he was right though. There wasn't any way to save their relationship. Tom would never be okay with him putting his life in danger and that was something he couldn't avoid once he became an Auror. Hell, he wasn't even an Auror yet, just the son of one, and his life had been under constant threat the past few days. With that one thought all his emotions concerning Tom seemed to shut off. There was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do. He dropped the jar back into his bag and leaned against the wall, glad the coating of bones didn't extend to the space behind him and watched as his mother healed the unconscious people on the floor one by one.
Lily returned to Harry's side moments later. She gave him a complete look over and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"I think so." He hated how hollow his voice sounded.
She touched his forehead, then each cheek. "Does your head still hurt? You look pale." She pressed her fingers against the back of his head. "Anything?"
"No, the pain stopped after you healed me."
"You look like you're going into shock. Are you cold?" She grabbed his bag and started going through it, no doubt looking for the space blanket. "Hold this." She handed him the jar of healing cream.
He stared at the jar, his voice hitching. Slowly, she set his bag back down. "Just how infatuated are you with Tom Riddle?"
He let out a coarse laugh. "I think it's safer to say I'm borderline obsessed. He's just…" How could he even begin to explain how he felt about Tom?
Lily's face went tight. "Obsession isn't love." Suddenly she sounded like his Aunt Petunia talking about "their kind of people".
"I know… But—"
"No one is perfect."
Harry could tell she was trying to tread lightly. She really didn't need to. He was well aware of how messed up Tom was, not to mention their sudden whirlwind of a relationship. "No," he agreed. "He's a manipulative arsehole."
"Language, Harry," she warned him, but she also looked relieved.
"He is."
"I know."
"You do?"
"I've seen him in passing at St. Mungo's. He's very… sure of himself."
"Mom. I might be obsessed, but I wasn't blind or deaf." Or in denial. "He has enough arrogance to fill the Ministry building and what's worse is he deserves it, and he knows it."
Lily gave a small nod. "I just want you to realize that Tom Riddle is very… particular. He refuses to be with anyone who doesn't line up with his standards and according to Dumbledore he gets bored with his partners quite easily. I just want you to be careful."
He couldn't claim their relationship was special or any different from Tom's other relationships, he had nothing to compare their relationship to and he'd never met any of Tom's exs. But he was pretty sure even Tom had been surprised at his attraction to Harry. "I will be."
Lily sighed.
"What?"
"You may be gone for months at a time at Hogwarts, but I'm your mother. I know when you're lying."
"It's not that I won't try and be careful. I just think it's a little too late for that." They'd snogged quite a lot in the short time they'd been together, not to mention they'd slept side by side in the same bed. They'd behaved themselves, but he still felt like they'd gone beyond the point of a simple relationship. Or at least he was pretty sure it went beyond simple. Tom was just as taken with me as I was him. His feelings weren't one sided. "When I left Tom to come find you, we were fighting. I didn't think I had the right to try and fix our relationship. I didn't want him to think I was some kind of creep after he told me to stay away. Then I find the jar in my bag telling me not to die. I want to be with him, but our fight was over my safety. There's no point in trying to fix it when he'll never be able to handle me being an Auror."
"Harry, you're fifteen. You shouldn't be worried about who you're dating because of a job you may or may not have in ten years. You and Tom might not be together that long. He goes through a lot of partners. But if you do manage to stay together for another ten years, maybe you should think about what's more important to you. Him or being an Auror."
"I don't want to be a healer…"
"The last time I checked, the world had more than two jobs available." She wrapped an arm around him tightly. "You might find something else you enjoy doing. That's why I keep having you sign up for all those classes, so you can figure out what you like and what you don't."
"...You won't disown me if I don't become a healer?"
"I expect you to keep up with the basics. You never know when an emergency might happen, but you have to choose what you want to do with your life."
"...The first thing I'm going to do when we get out of here is go back to Tom's house and apologize." He could use returning the jar as an excuse. It was more likely that Tom would slam the door in his face without listening to him, if he even came to the door, but he had to try.
"That sounds like a good plan. What happened anyway? You said you'd never get swept up with someone like your father did." Lily gave him a gentle poke to his arm.
"I tried. He was the one trying to rush things. I mean… I liked him from the second I saw him, but I told him no." Quite a few times, not that that had stopped or even slowed Tom down.
"He approached you?" Her tone told him she didn't quite believe him. He didn't blame her.
"Yeah. I couldn't believe it either. I was sure he was trying to prank me, but… he's gone out of his way to help me ever since we met." Merlin, he really was an awful boyfriend. Maybe he should do Tom a favor and just mail the healing cream back. He'd be much better off without Harry. "...I'm pretty sure it's over."
"If it is, I'm sorry. You'll find the right person someday."
"Yeah." If Milan didn't kill him first or they managed to get him back into Azkaban so he couldn't continue to ruin Harry's life.
The sounds of screams and loud thuds entered the room. Harry jumped to his feet, his mother doing the same, her eyes narrowed. "Stay here." She strode to the hall she and Harry had entered from, Harry's wand held tight in her hand. She froze at the entrance for a second before she dashed into the adjoining room.
"JAMES!"
Dad? Harry ran to the opening. Sprawled out on the floor in a tangle of bodies was James, Klaus, Remus, and Sirius.
Lily dropped to her knees in front of James, who'd just managed to sit up.
"Lily!" She punched James in the chest, sending him back onto his bottom. "Ow!"
"You idiot!"
James stared at her, his mouth hanging open. "What did I do?!"
"You could have gotten our only son killed more times than I care to count, you let him get his first boyfriend without me being there, you let Hollie accept my F.A.I.R.Y. award and you're late!" She threw her arms around James' neck and Harry looked away when he realized his mother was crying. "I've been waiting for you for weeks!"
"I know. I'm so sorry. I tried to find you and come get you as soon as I could."
"You should have tried harder!"
"Noted. The next time a psychopath kidnaps you— OW!"
"There better not be a next time!"
"I didn't think there'd be a first time!" Lily hit him again. "Okay, Okay! I'll figure out a way to stop people from being able to kidnap our family. I'm not extending the favor to the Dursleys though… speaking of which Tom may have ruined any possible chance at reconciling with your sister."
"Are you okay," Sirius asked.
Harry turned and nodded. Physically anyway. "Mom healed me right after I fell."
"Good. Let's give them a minute." He motioned towards the room the unconscious witches and wizards were in.
Remus and Klaus joined them.
"Ellis? Tilly? Are you alright? Do you need any help," Remus asked, walking over to the two healers.
"We're fine Remus," Mr. Owen said. "Would be better if you could get us out of here."
"That's the plan," Sirius said. "I'm sure Klaus would like to see the sun again."
"Wouldn't we all," Mr. Owen said dryly.
"Who's been tending to you," Remus asked.
"Alexandre. I imagine a few times it was someone pretending to be Alexandre, since Harry says Tom Riddle did "something" and the psychopath died."
Sirius snorted. "About the one good thing that kid did for us."
Harry went to protest that Tom had done a lot for him, then realized it didn't matter. Sirius was angry at Tom and nothing Harry said was going to change his mind.
"Sirius," Remus warned.
"That kid—"
"Breakups happen," Remus snapped. "You were treating him like a part of the family while we were fighting for our lives in the Ministry."
Harry felt his face burning and started for the door. "I'm going to just see what it looks like out here."
"Harry, wait," Lupin said. "Sirius, you're bleeding."
"Am I?"
"Yes, your arm. And you already have dirt in the cut. Use the healing cream Dumbledore gave you so it doesn't get infected."
"The jar's in Harry's bag. James wanted him to have it just in case."
Wait…
"Considering the way Harry's holiday has gone so far, I don't blame him." Remus turned to Harry. "Where's your bag at Harry?"
"Against the wall." He pointed to it. I'm so stupid! He closed his eyes and let out a slow controlled jar, the message, all of it had been from Tom, but not for him. He'd wanted so badly to believe that Tom still cared about him, if even just a tiny bit. No more. He couldn't keep doing this to himself. Tom and he had broken up and that was that. It was over. We're going to get out of here alive. And then I'm going to get every single one of my memories with Tom obliterated. Problem solved. Sure, he'd forget any confidence he had at all about dating, but if there was one thing, he'd learned from all of this, dating wasn't nearly as great as everyone claimed it to be. It had its moments, like how safe he felt around Tom and the snogging, especially the snogging. But with how everything had ended, and how he still felt, the safest way to move on with his life would be to get his memories wiped. If he'd been in a normal relationship, he could have moved on, he was positive, but no. He'd been stupid enough to fall in love with Tom Riddle who was the very definition of not normal.
"Harry," Sirius asked. Remus and his godfather were looking at him worriedly.
"I think I'm going to get all my memories of Tom obliterated once we get out of here."
Remus sighed. "Harry…"
"That sounds perfect." Sirius said as he applied the healing cream to his arm. "I know the perfect guy–"
"SIRIUS," Remus yelled at him.
"What!? If Harry doesn't want to remember that prodigy, I say we let him."
"Harry, I know break ups aren't pleasant, but you can't just wipe your memory every time a relationship doesn't work out." Remus looked towards the hall, no doubt hoping James and Lily were on their way to back him up.
"It wouldn't be every relationship, just this one." Remus really didn't need to worry. He probably wouldn't find anyone else crazy enough to want to date him after all of this, so really, his dating Tom would be the only relationship he'd ever have to wipe from his mind.
"Every relationship, every memory, they're important Harry. That make you who you are. I know what you're feeling isn't pleasant, but you'll get over him. I promise."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll take you to get your brain scrubbed," Sirius said, happily. He sealed the jar and placed it into his own bag.
"Why are we scrubbing Harry's brain," James asked. He'd just joined them, Lily at his side. "I told you it wasn't safe to leave Harry with Sirius right now."
"Well Remus is here. I didn't think it'd escalate that fast."
"It's Sirius, everything escalates fast," Remus said.
Sirius didn't seem sure if he should take that as a compliment or not.
"...Maybe we should save this conversation for after we get out," Harry said. As much as he enjoyed hearing the familiar banter among his family, they really shouldn't be wasting time. With how things had been playing out so far this summer, Milan or one of his followers was bound to show up while they talked and kill them before they even got a plan put together.
James took in the prison cell. "Going to guess the three of you don't have wands."
"We don't," Lily said, sighing. "That's one of the first things Alexandre took."
James nodded and continued to look. "How many floors down do you think we are?"
"Probably four, six at most" Remus said. "It took us five minutes or so to fall from the top level to here. Even if each level didn't have high ceilings like this one does, I wouldn't think we'd be any further down than that." He hesitated. "Unless Milan or whoever set those traps had it magically altered so you can't estimate based on time."
"Which I wouldn't put past him," James said.
"We need a better map," Harry said.
"No kidding," Sirius said.
"Well, we don't have one, but if any of you have a suggestion for obtaining a better map, considering all the charms on this place, I'm all for it," James said. No one said anything.
"What if I make one," Harry asked. "Mum's going to be using my wand, I can draw a map in the notebook while we explore."
"That's a good idea," Remus said. "It'll take longer, but I think all of us should stay together this time."
"Maybe we'll get lucky, and this floor won't be as crazy as the first one," Sirius said.
Harry snorted. "Luck hasn't been our strong point this summer."
"Point taken," Sirius said.
"Okay, wands out, we need to start before we're ambushed," James said.
Harry quickly opened his bag and pulled out his notebook and pen. Finally, a task to take his mind off everything.
They stepped out of the prison. There was only one hall leading straight ahead and Harry was pretty sure he could see the bottom of some stairs at the end of it. The walls were similar to the ones they'd seen upstairs with no bones, but it still felt cool and damp rather than dry, like water might seep out from behind the walls at any moment.
"Don't mess up that map," Sirius laughed, following James down the short hall.
Harry scowled, not entirely sure of a good comeback for his godfather's jab and started sketching quickly. It only took him half a minute to do everything in front of him, so he turned to add the prison doorway and stopped. Not good. "Dad?" The prison entrance was gone. He looked from one side of the wall to the other, hoping that he'd maybe somehow managed to overlook the door, but it was definitely gone. "Dad. The prison is gone!" He turned to go after his family, but the small hall was gone too. This can't be happening. Only he knew it was because this was exactly the kind of luck, he'd been having all summer. Only this was by far the worst of it, because he was now officially separated from everyone in his family, underground in some kind of magic catacombs, and with no wand. And he also held the only 'map' of the area.
Fog began pouring out from the bottom of the walls.
He shoved the notebook and pen back into his bag just as the entire room filled up. The fog was thick and cold, leaving Harry completely blind except for what was directly in front of him. If I stand still, maybe it'll go away. To Harry's surprise, a minute or two later, the fog did start to fade. As it did, he realized immediately he wasn't standing in the same room, or he didn't think it was the same room. This one was huge, with a giant ceiling stretching so high above him he could barely see it. Large stalactites, some of them as big as a mountain giant's leg were still too far up for anyone to ever be able to touch them. The walls looked like natural rock, while the floor was smooth and everything was covered in what he was pretty sure was a thin layer of ice. The room was cold definitely cold enough for that.
Harry took a step forward. Hundreds of mirrors shot up from the ground around him. Some were larger than he was, others smaller, while twisted ones protruded from the walls, cracked ones from the ceiling. He gasped, taking a step back, but the mirrors remained. Light flickered across each of them, mimicking a Muggle television set looking for a signal. "What in the hell?"
All the mirrors came to life at once, beams of light illuminating the area in directly in front of them. The light cut off as if by some kind of barrier two feet from the base of each mirror. Cautiously, Harry approached the closest one. He didn't step into the light beam, instead standing a meter or so away from the edge. Images played on the mirror. To Harry's horror, this one was showing a movie of what seemed to be his memory of getting sorted into Gryffindor. "…How?" He moved to the next mirror. This one had a memory of him at one of his birthday parties when he was five. The one directly next to it showed him playing Quidditch from April of this year. Are all of these my memories?
A mirror across from the birthday memory caught his attention. It flickered more than the other mirrors. In it was his father, smiling and accepting his Auror badge. "I wasn't even born when dad became an Auror…." Did that mean his father was in this room too? Maybe his entire family was in here. "Dad? Mom?" He ran further into the cavern. Surprisingly, the ice on the floor wasn't slick. More mirrors showed images of his father, some of them had his mother. Sirius and Remus showed up more as he went on.
"Is that?" His breath caught. "Tom?" He moved closer. Tom was leaning on a windowsill he'd never seen before, a dark look on his face. Dumbledore was next to him looking just as upset. Was Tom in the cavern too? "TOM!" He turned to go find another mirror, but right his foot remained firmly in place. Frowning he looked at his foot. He'd accidentally stepped in the light. He bent down to untie his shoe and remove his foot as quick as possible, but he'd barely moved when tendrils of light began gracefully moving up and wrapping themselves around Harry's foot, then his leg. Each spot the light touch became numb and without warning, he was standing in a bright room with only a bed, Tom, and Dumbledore in it.
"Why must you be so stubborn," Dumbledore demanded.
"I'm no more stubborn than you," Tom growled. "Now get out of my room before I force you out."
"Tom?" He had a feeling whatever he was seeing wasn't real, or at least not something he could interact with. This actually kind of reminded him of the time his dad had shown him a memory of his own father using a pensive.
"I will not until you start to see reason!"
Tom stomped out of the room, each footfall coming down harder than the last. Dumbledore yelled after him. With one quick movement, Tom turned. With a single harsh wave of his hand, the door slammed shut in Dumbledore's face and locked. Within seconds the door began to melt into the wall as if it'd always been one seamless stretch of wood. "TOM!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Harry felt his stomach drop. Was this really one of Tom's Memories? If it was, he hoped Dumbledore's house was still standing. Here goes nothing. Things worked differently in the pensive than in real life, so with any luck, this wouldn't be a problem. He walked through the wall as if it didn't exist, just in time to see Tom moving down the hall.
The door behind Harry opened, Dumbledore storming out and heading for the room James and him had just left that morning. "Oh no… no." His heart sank further than his stomach had a moment ago. He hadn't thrown out the letters he'd been working on before they left. "T, TOM! Wait! You can't go in there!" He turned to Dumbledore. "GET YOUR SON!"
So of course, Tom entered the room Harry so desperately didn't want him to go into, the door slamming shut behind him.
"Merlin…." Tom would never let him live those letters down, no matter how much he hated him. "This isn't real." Maybe the mirrors showed him his fears and thoughts as if they were memories? He hadn't wanted Tom to read any of his letters, so maybe that's all this was. A playthrough of what he thought had happened once they left Dumbledore's house and Tom had possibly stumbled across the letters in the room. He hoped. Cursing, he walked through the door.
(TBC)
