A/n:
Religious reference warning near the end of the chapter. As I have already brought up Nephilim and the Creator this should be no surprise. I am actually using established cannon background in this case but expanding on it and fitting it to a later event for the story so don't jump on me for it! Don't like Christian things? I am sad to see you go but I don't get paid to write and am not obligated to follow your ideas or demands. The warning is only out of courtesy any way.

*+ovo+*

Harry woke up from his nap to sweet poison being forced down his throat as Voldemort screamed for him from across the room. Twisting sharply in the hands holding him Harry wrenched himself away far enough to spit out the liquid being forced on him and see that the Dark Lord was pinned against the stone wall with their enraged familiars caged at his feet. A desperate twisting in his gut told Harry that he either acted now or they all failed. Wrenching a chunk of the warm ball of power in his chest and throwing it haphazardly at their attackers, blasting those holding him away and turning three of the nearly ten unwanted people present to ash. His mind flashing back to his fight with Quirrell over Flamel's stone sparked magical fire into being as it gathered around his hands and forearms. Feeling slightly weak Harry adjusted to the sensation of both fire and weakness unconsciously, as taught by surviving the abuse and bullying from the Dursleys and anyone they could encourage into joining them, as he began to move.

Power poured into Harry's limbs, muscles, nerves, and very bones - fortifying and enhancing him rapidly as every movement completed. As a result the first attacking vampire he hit would have described the strike as a burning freight train at over 1,000 mph. An unconscious use of the movement impediment charm combined with a brief sticking charm on the bottom of his feet kept him from flying into the wall alongside his victim as he turned mid-movement and blasted the cage containing the two pissed familiars. The blast of power took off any dead scales and skin from the pair as it disintegrated the equally inanimate cage, shredding the magic involved with both cage and that holding Voldemort's feet pinned.

Voldemort immediately used his new freedom of movement to viciously kick the nearest attacker between the legs. Receiving a punch to the jaw that slammed his head against the stone behind him from the man's friend knocked him silly even as Nagini struck the man in the throat, emptying her venom sacks. Hedwig, meanwhile, was shooting across the room and knocking a still moving Harry out of the way of a swinging blade of the Bardiche that would have bi-sected him with her purple small dragon body. No thought was given to how the man was using a polearm in such a confined space as Voldemort fought free of the failing magical restraints and tried to focus through the double vision long enough to help his family.

A snarled word that grated on the brain had a mass of roiling shadow erupting from near the man standing near the doorway only to be choked off part way through forming as a spear exited from his throat from behind. Severus' voice snapped out from the corridor, blasting the impaled man free of the spear and sending everyone still standing tumbling to the floor or their knees. In an instant the three goblins with the Potions Master were in among the attackers and taking them out with extreme prejudice.

Even still a spider themed african blade nearly slammed into Harry's face, edge first, if it were not for Hedwig knocking the arm to the side and giving the man a face full of smoke and sparks. A shout of rage from Severus at seeing this didn't stop Harry from using his fire encased arms to shove the man off of him as he accidentally set him on fire at the same time. In the end both attackers who had been set alight by Harry's magical fire died but not before they answered some very pointed questions posed by the guards who dragged them away while unconscious.

As the room subsided into the pained cries and moaning of the attackers, punctuated by the breathing of the defenders. Those sounds quickly gave way to the scrambling movements of claws and boots as Harry and Voldemort were quickly checked over. A quiet cancellation spell from Severus reminded Harry that he could let go of the magical fire, allowing it to dissipated into nothing.

"Harry?" Voldemort slurred, finally breaking the after battle quiet.

"Fine," Harry croaked and glared his father into helping him over to the Dark Lord, who had been moved on to the bed.

"Assassination attempts are grounds for war," the goblin guard who had originally accompanied Severus through the market snarled. "They are also grounds for instant execution and suspicion alone among the Nation is grounds for an honor duel."

"Noted," Severus growled. Harry found himself briefly scooped up in his father's arms before being laid out on the bed next to the Dark Lord.

"You are still too light," Severus grumbled as he checked them over himself, not trusting the guards with any medical care even as said guards collected the still living attackers and someone called for the bodies to be removed.

"Heads will roll for this breach," Severus' guard/guide growled as he finally checked the room one last time as the last of the attackers were cleared out.

Voldemort grunted and reached across the bed to scoop Harry into his side, guessing correctly that Harry was largely unhurt due to Severus' lack of growling and cursing. His eyes were shut, trying not to be sick from the knock his head had taken, and trusting Severus to stand guard if it became necessary. Nagini and Hedwig climbed up on to the bed with them and curled up on either side of their wizards.

"What happened?" Severus questioned softly.

"I got Harry to go back to sleep and I was dozing when they burst in. The guards on the door either weren't there or were dead before the attackers entered. I was slow as I tried to react to the intrusion and they wrestled me off of the bed with little trouble. Both Nagini and Hedwig were caught just as off guard as the three of us were quickly trapped against the wall. Harry was pinned on the bed and they were trying to force feed him something just as I was pinned to the wall and Harry woke up. I don't know whether he woke to my cry of warning or the feel of them touching him and trying to make him drink whatever that concoction was," Voldemort summarized tiredly. "We didn't bother getting undressed in case you had extract visitors when you got back. Thankfully, our wands weren't found even if we didn't have time to draw them from their holsters."

"I used the memory of burning Quirrell in first year for the idea of fire on my arms that didn't hurt me," Harry offered up. He had a few light burns but nothing worse than a light sunburn or getting a slight scorching from getting too close to an open flame on his hands and arms. The arms of his shirt, on the other hand, were either badly scorched or completely ash. The skin irritation would fade within hours without help.

"If they had just been going for the kill we would have been dead," Voldemort admitted grimly. "I don't know how well it would have stuck considering my still un-absorbed precautions but we would have had absolutely no chance. Your return and rescue of us was timely."

"The bond to our imp screamed. Of course I was coming back!" Severus retorted acidly. Voldemort hummed his acknowledgement and didn't even bother to try keeping up appearances as a quick tug had the Potions Master tumbling onto the bed with a startled yelp. Nagini snickered as Hedwig moved to herd him up against Harry on the bed.

"At least let me get the shopping out of my pockets and on to the table," Severus muttered indignantly as he unconsciously clung to Harry and a little bit to Voldemort as well. Voldemort didn't even bother to open his eyes as he smirked.

"We will leave you to your bonding time," the goblin guard/guide said with open amusement. "I will bring a rough map of what you were looking at for you to examine the next time I come on shift. Its magic will destroy it if it ever leaves the Nation's tunnels. Right now I have some petty parchment pushers that I need to discuss this incident with. My brothers, Knifejack and Bloodmark will guard you in my absence. Brothers... make sure they eat heartily. I have no wish to be on the wrong end of Uncle Flitwick's weapon's practice this week if they come to actual harm."

"You think he would go any easier on us?" one of the guards they had picked up on the way back to the temporary quarters, the one with twin daggers, snorted.

"Calm down brother, Bladebitter knows we wont let them be ambushed again," the one with an oddly red birthmark or tattoo on his face said in gentle amusement.

"Yes, well, if Uncle plans to claim them to the Clan they have to be alive now don't they?" the now named Bladebitter blustered. He hastily took his leave as his brothers took up guard positions out in the corridor.

"Professor Flitwick wants us?!" Harry asked in disbelief.

"If Filius wants us for something he can come and talk to us himself," Severus huffed, giving up on rising from the bed to set the shrunken shopping aside. It wasn't like he hadn't thought to spell his tea ingredients to be protected from crushing until removed from their packaging and the clothes didn't need it in the first place.

Hedwig smugly settled on Severus' chest, curled up in a coil of baby purple dragon, as she effectively pinned him in bed with his fellow wizards.

The potion that the attackers had tried to force on Harry quietly finished dissolving into mist that dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind only the smashed vial pushed against the wall in a dark corner. The few drops that Harry had unconsciously swallowed slowly settled into his stomach. His temperature slowly rose over the next twelve hours until he was burning up and Severus was quietly panicking.

"I don't understand it," Severus hissed angrily. He was at his wit's end and ready to ignore Voldemort's argument to avoid calling a goblin healer until morning as they had no idea even how to until one of the duty guards talked to them at breakfast. "The fever reducer I had did nothing and the cooling charms seem to feed it!"

"I think its time for an ice bath," Voldemort said, his throat dry. "It does something close to walking out into the snow without proper clothes but he is so hot right now that I can't think of anything else. It isn't magic so it shouldn't feed whatever this is."

"~Enough! Hold his mouth open,~" Hedwig ordered before shifting into her baby Phoenix form. Hopping across the bed she landed on her hatchling's hot chest. Carefully waddling up Harry's body she cried into his mouth, dropping precious healing Phoenix tears directly down his throat. Both older wizards, helping to hold Harry gently in position, felt the immediate effect as the imp's temperature began to drop to safer levels. A quiet sigh of relief passed between them as they slumped back into bed, uncaring of the soaking sweat produced by Harry that was quickly banished by a drying charm.

"I will take first watch for the rest of the night," Voldemort offered, more like demanded. Severus started to make a noise of protest only to be stopped by the other man's glare. "I will wake you if anything changes. If you exhaust yourself then you will be useless should he get worse again where as I can watch him in his current state even if I never trained as a healer."

Severus grumbled but conceded the point as Hedwig and Nagini glared the pair into their own form of submission.

Two hours later Voldemort watched as his family slept.

"So, this is what the preacher meant all those years ago... I don't think I could ask Severus or Harry to die much less willingly walk to their own death by torture. Not for me and certainly not for the uncaring masses. Then again making it child simple, stripping away all the extra, does make its own sort of sense. Immortality with a replacement, better body later on even if our minds and souls go into stasis for a bit first? With the only price as pure child-like belief? Yes, I can see why so many rejected it or twisted it. The entire concept is so simple as to be beyond belief..." Voldemort muttered. Nagini shifted back to barely awake at his words and hissed her displeasure at the interruption of her rest.

"~Stop worrying over it,~" Nagini hissed sleepily. "~You humans either believe or you don't. We animals were never stupid enough to tell him what he could and could not do or ignore his warnings. A human hatchling can do it without this worry.~"

"But..." Voldemort started only to be cut off.

"~No. He either is who he said he is or not, you either believe or not. Decide, then mutter over how it looks impossible from a human sight that the Christ is,~" Nagini huffed. This was not the first time her Tom had spoken of the religious services of his childhood but never with such comprehension and disbelieving wonder. "~Did the Creator not declare that one day every tongue would confess his status and every knee would bow? Think you that only applies to humans?! The existence of the Prince is no mystery to us animals. Decide if you believe in the blood price he payed for you humans or not but be quiet while you do so.~"

"I think... I believe. Yes, I believe in all of it, his existence and his sacrifice and the reason why," Voldemort whispered. With a gasp he felt his body shift and heal even as something flowed down his bond to Harry. Within moments he knew his soul was whole once more and that if he had looked in a mirror he would have seen Tom Riddle looking back.

"~Welcome back my Tom. Now go to sleep!~" Nagini ordered with a fanged yawn. "~We will celebrate your healing and true choice of immortality after the early sun meal.~"

Smiling Vol-no Tom stood guard over his family for the rest of the night. Elsewhere, a spider trickster nephilim raged over his prey having gained a guardian angel that had ordered his spirit minions away. The same guardian angel greet two others who had been lurking nearby their own charges, Severus and Harry. Had someone with the spirit sight looked in on the small family they would have seen three angels glowing brilliantly in happiness as they stood guard against things unseen in the night.

*+ovo+*

A/n:
This honestly feels like the journey's end to me. I have not yet decided if this story is done but it feels like a potential end point so I am mentioning it... We will just have to wait and see if god gifts me with more for the story or not.
Regardless, I wish you well.
~Gen