Disclaimer: I do not own HP
A/N: AHAHAHAHAHAHA oh gosh people. I love your comments. Just an fyi? I've already written up to chapter 19. I know what's going to happen. I'm having a blast thinking "My poor summer child, you have no idea the world of hurt you're in for"
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Reaching Through Time
Chapter 17:
For almost a week Harry gave Tom the silent treatment. He hadn't cared much that the Gryffindor bullies had died, but he was upset that Tom had made such an important decision without talking to Harry. He wasn't a little kid anymore and could handle things like that.
So, much to Tom's displeasure, Harry ignored the older teen for the most part. He would answer questions with yes or no, but he didn't get involved with any of the conversations that Tom tried to start.
Harry didn't sit next to Tom like he normally did, instead he sat between Orion and Eileen. All of Slytherin knew that something was going on between Harry and Tom.
The younger boy could only keep it up for a week before he caved in and went back to normal. He missed Tom too much to keep the two of them separated for any real length of time.
He also knew he couldn't really blame Tom for not talking to him about getting revenge on the Gryffindors. Harry had been asleep and Tom had been short on time to do anything. It did make Harry wonder though; would he have agreed to killing the Gryffindors?
There was nothing he could do about it now, but what would he have done had he been awake? Would he have told Tom to go through with his plan? Harry had never really liked it whenever Tom had lost his temper at the orphanage, but he'd never really been against a little revenge for everything he and Tom had been put through.
The other problem Harry kept coming across was that he and his friends were almost always being escorted by an older Slytherin. He hadn't really noticed before he'd gotten hurt, but afterwards it was like he couldn't stop seeing one of Tom's followers nearby.
It was a nice gesture, seeing them care enough to actually keep an eye on him, but he wasn't a baby that needed watching.
At one point Harry lost his patience and he started to actively try to slip away from his watchers.
The only place they couldn't follow him was the Chamber, and Harry utilized that fact quickly.
"It is good to see you fully healed, hatchling." Senestra cooed when Harry made his way down to the Chamber to escape Alf.
Harry grumbled and climbed up onto Senestra's neck to lounge over her head. It felt nice to lay there against her cool scales in the silence of the chamber.
Senestra waited patiently for Harry to speak. She could taste his anxiety in the air.
"Tom is being impossible." Harry finally mumbled after a few minutes of running a hand along Senestra's scales. "I told him I don't want his people following me around, but he won't listen."
"Master is just worried about you." Senestra soothingly told the small boy on her head. "You are strong, but you are young. Talk to him."
There was nothing Harry could say to argue with the basilisk. Compared to her, he really was really young.
"Harry!"
In retrospect Harry should have expected Tom to come looking for him once he'd vanished from the sights of his watchers.
"Hi Tom."
Tom sighed angrily as he glared up at the boy that was resting on top of Senestra. "Do you know how worried I was when Alf told me you'd vanished?" He demanded slowly. "If it weren't for the fact you lost him near the girl's bathroom I would have suspected another attack."
Harry wanted to be upset with his older friend, but he couldn't. Tom looked frantic and his eyes were rimmed with red. Harry really must have scared him.
"I hate being followed around Tom." The younger boy decided to take the basilisk's advice and actually talk to Tom. It helped that he was still perched on top of Senestra and had the high ground. "I feel like a prisoner. I feel like you don't trust me."
"It's just to make sure you aren't hurt again."
With a huff Harry slid down from Senestra's back. "There are other ways to protect me! You're smart! Figure out another way." He glared up at Tom in challenge.
If Harry had been anyone else, Tom would have put the boy under the cruciatus curse. "Fine." The word tasted like ash on Tom's tongue. "But until I find another way to protect you, you are to put up with having guards."
It was a compromise Harry could live with; so long as Tom didn't take too long finding an alternative method.
"Now come on. Let's head up for dinner." Tom held out a hand to Harry and after a minute the younger boy took the offered hand, much to Tom's relief. He hated when Harry was upset with him, but Tom wasn't going to back down about protecting him.
Both Harry and Tom were so used to the bathroom being empty whenever they were there that the sound of someone sobbing in one of the stalls had both boys stopping in shock once the entrance was open.
Harry, eternally curious and always seeming to forget to think first, let go of Tom's hand and hurried over to the stall where the sobs were coming from.
"Hello?" He knocked on the stall while Tom quickly closed the entrance to the chamber.
"W-Who's there?"
The voice definitely belonged to a girl and Tom almost rolled his eyes when Harry frowned. Had the younger boy forgotten that the primary entrance to the chamber just so happened to be inside a girl's bathroom?
"Hadrian Malfoy. I heard you crying and I was worried."
There was a shuffling sound before the stall door was finally opened. A short girl with muddy brown pigtails and large glasses hiding her red puffy eyes came out to glare at Harry.
"This is the girl's bathroom! You aren't supposed to be in here!"
The blue in her robe was an easy indicator that the girl happened to be from the Ravenclaw house. Despite the glare on her face she didn't look at all intimidating or particular upset that a couple boys had 'followed' her into the bathroom.
"I'm sorry. I was just worried when I heard you crying." Harry repeated as he took a step back so the girl wouldn't be crowding him. "Are you alright miss?"
"Warren. Myrtle Warren." She sniffled for a moment and quickly wiped her eyes before adjusting her glasses. "Not that you really care. You're just a couple of Slytherins. Probably just here to make fun of me too."
Harry reeled back as if he had been slapped. "I'm not going to make fun of you Myrtle!" He told her quickly before looking to Tom for help.
Tom was all for leaving the annoying rude girl to her misery, but Harry had always been too much of a bleeding heart. It made sense in a way; Harry had always felt kindness towards those that were abused, bullied, or neglected.
"He's right." Tom huffed as the girl just sniffled again and glared at him. "We're not here to bully you."
The plan Tom had made with his group came to mind and his demeanor melted away a little. By being nice to this Ravenclaw he might be able to get a foothold into the house.
"Let's go find someplace nice to talk." Harry suggested as he held out a hand for Myrtle to take. "Then maybe we can get dinner together."
"You're the boy with the Gryffindor friend." Recognition finally dawned on Myrtle as Harry smiled at her. That fact more than anything else was what convinced Myrtle to trust the younger Slytherin.
Harry nodded and smiled warmly when Myrtle finally took his hand. "Do we have time to talk before dinner?" He asked Tom as he tugged at Myrtle to get her to walk with them.
Tom shook his head. "Not really, but Miss Warren can eat dinner at the Slytherin table tonight." It wasn't that big of a deal; Rupert had been eating dinner at the Slytherin table for the last week so one more non Slytherin wouldn't matter.
The trio arrived at the great hall soon after that. Whispers and chatter filled the three non Slytherin tables as Tom and Harry escorted Myrtle over to their own house table.
"Tom." Lestrange leaned over to whisper to Tom as Harry settled Myrtle next to him so he could introduce her to his friends. "Why is a muggle born sitting with us?" He kept his voice low so Tom would be the only one to hear him.
Tom breathed through his noise slowly and almost rolled his eyes at Sebastian's impertinence. "I will explain later." And he would. Harry may have only had innocent reasons for befriending the Ravenclaw girl, but Tom didn't.
That seemed to satisfy Lestrange for the moment as well as several others when Lestrange whispered to them.
Rupert was more than willing to get to know Myrtle while Orion and Eileen seemed to hesitate. Harry kept the conversation up among the first years all through dinner while Tom just watched from the corner of his eye.
"Abraxas. Watch after Harry. He wants to talk to Myrtle after dinner." Tom instructed his adopted brother. He needed to talk to his followers to make sure they understand the new changes to his plan.
Abraxas snorted softly. "He won't like that."
Tom only glared at the blond until Abraxas looked away with a small chuckle and shake of his head. Harry wouldn't like it, but he had agreed to having a guard; at least until Tom found a better way.
After dinner ended Abraxas moved to follow after Harry as he and Myrtle left the table. He got a single glare from his younger brother, but otherwise Harry didn't argue with the escort.
The trio found an empty classroom and Abraxas made a couple of the chairs more comfortable.
"Who was bullying you Myrtle?" Harry asked once they were settled. "They shouldn't get away with that."
Myrtle looked at Abraxas hesitantly, but after a few minutes of him just pretending to ignore the younger kids she finally answered. "Olive Hornby. She says I don't belong here just because my parents are muggles."
Abraxas should have known that that was the reason the girl was getting bullied. With Grindelwald gaining power a great deal of pure-blood families were beginning to side with his ideals that there is no place in their world for muggle borns.
"She smashed my glasses and I fixed them when I ran away."
Harry smiled warmly. "Wow! You fixed your glasses on your own? That's really cool."
The Ravenclaw girl blushed at the compliment. "It's not that hard. I read about the spell before I even came here." She always finished reading her school books as soon as she got her hands on them. She was a second year and she'd learned the repair spell back in her first year.
"Could you teach me that spell?" Harry asked as he ignored the look of surprise from Abraxas. He technically already knew the spell, but no one besides Tom and Abraxas knew Harry was advanced.
Myrtle blushed a bit and nodded. "If you want. It's really useful! I just wish I could use it back home during the summer."
The way the girl flinched and looked away from Harry had the boy's instincts flaring up. He knew that look. It was the one he would often have after his relatives had been particularly abusive to him.
"Myrtle," Harry reached out and took the girl's hand. "My aunt and uncle hit me a lot when I was little. Before I was adopted by the Malfoy's."
Abraxas looked at his younger brother in shock. He knew about the abuse, but Harry usually kept it to himself.
For a moment silence settled between the three people. A small sob broke through the silence and Myrtle seemed to fold in on herself. Her small sobs grew until she was crying so hard her shoulders shook. Harry quickly wrapped his arms around the girl's shoulders and held her as she cried.
"Someone hits you when you're not at school." Harry's words were more fact that question. He glanced up at Abraxas to make sure he was listening.
The girl shaking in Harry's arms nodded weakly.
That was all the confirmation that Abraxas needed. He knew abuse happened with children growing up in non magical families, both Tom and Harry were proof of that, but having another child confirm it? It made him sick.
"Is it alright if we tell our parents?" Harry asked once Myrtle was calm enough to speak again. "They'll help you. They helped me."
There was fear in Myrtle's eyes and it took several soft comforting words from Harry before she was finally able to nod.
"I need to know who it is that hurts you." Abraxas knelt down in front of the Ravenclaw girl so he wouldn't be hovering over her.
"D-Do I have to tell you?" Myrtle asked as she knotted her fingers together.
The blond teen smiled gently at the frightened girl. "You don't have to tell me, but it would help my parents to know. I want to protect you."
Myrtle still felt hesitant to trust the two Slytherins. According to her house, as well as other students, Slytherins were all liars and cold. But Harry had been the first person in almost two years to show her genuine warmth.
"My dad." Her voice was small and she would have curled up again if it weren't for the first year's arms around her shoulders. "He hates it when I do magic. I can't read my books unless it's at night when he's asleep. He locked my wand up last summer." There were other things, things that made her shake in fear. "He t-tried to have me e-exorcised when I got m-my first year letter."
The details were enough to send a chill down Harry's spine and make Abraxas restrain himself from lashing out at the classroom.
Muggles didn't deserve their magical children. Magic was a gift and any child with magic had more worth than a thousand muggles.
"You're safe now." Harry whispered comfortingly. "We'll protect you." He would make sure Myrtle was added to the list of his friends that were not to be touched or bullied along with Rupert.
"That's right Myrtle." Abraxas pulled out his handkerchief and gently wiped away her tears under her glasses. "We'll protect you from now on."
Both Harry and Abraxas escorted Myrtle back to the Ravenclaw dorm entrance once she was calmed down. They told her to ignore Olive for now and that they'd take care of letting people know tomorrow that Myrtle was not to be bullied anymore.
"Head to bed Harry." Abraxas nudged at his younger brother to get the young boy moving towards his dorms once they made it back to the Slytherin common room. "You did a good thing today. Mother and Father will be proud." He reached up and ruffled the younger boy's messy black hair for a moment which made put a goofy smile on Harry's lips.
Thankfully Harry didn't argue and Abraxas was left alone in the common room. A quick glance around told Abraxas that Tom was still in the Room of Requirement with his followers for a meeting. He debated between waiting up for Tom or going to the meeting.
Abraxas didn't have to wait much longer or make a decision as the entrance to the common room opened and the Tom's Slytherin followers filtered into the room.
"Hey Tom." Abraxas ignored most of the other students, his attention on his adopted brother as he arrived. "We need to talk."
"Harry?"
Of course Tom's thoughts would go straight to Harry. "He's fine. Found something out you should know." Abraxas stopped talking and glared at the Slytherin students that milled around in the common room until they sighed and left for their dorms.
"Well?" Tom took his customary seat in front of the fire place with a sigh. It had taken a lot of work to convince his followers of his plan for Myrtle and the other students from other houses. Most of his followers had taken to the idea quickly, but a few had been ridiculously resistant.
"Myrtle Warren is a muggle born child that is abused by her muggle father." Abraxas explained quickly after one last glance around to make sure no one was listening. "Harry has offered her protection and I've agreed to send a message to our parents about the situation."
Tom nodded understandingly. It made sense that Harry would offer protection to someone that was getting abused. He had a gentle heart and was always wanting to protect everyone. If the boy hadn't been placed into Slytherin he would have made a strong Gryffindor.
"I was thinking." Tom started to say once Abraxas took a seat in the chair across from him. "Grindelwald is right that the magical world is superior to the muggle world, but he is wrong about lifting the statute of secrecy."
It was the most heavily debated argument among the Slytherin students and Tom often considered it when making his own plans.
"What is the greatest danger to the statute?" Tom asked his adopted brother as he rested his cheek against one hand.
"Muggle born children." The answer came easily to Abraxas; his father was almost always talking about how muggle born children were a danger to the statute with their accidental magic.
"What children are statistically more likely to be abused?"
Abraxas' eyes narrowed slightly as he started to put together what Tom was trying to say. "Muggle born children."
"So wouldn't it make sense to remove muggle born children from their muggle families?" Tom asked conversationally. "Muggles don't deserve the gift of their magical children." The Malfoy's had taught him that magic was a gift, that if someone had magic it was for a reason.
"I was thinking about something else." Tom shifted a bit to make himself more comfortable. "Most pure-bloods and many half-bloods don't have a problem with dark magic or the ancient traditions. So who is it that perpetuates the belief that dark magic is evil?" For the last 5 years Tom had done extensive research into 'dark' and 'light' magic as part of his research into time magic.
"Muggle born witches and wizards bring muggle traditions and beliefs with them when they come to Hogwarts for the first time. When they hear 'dark magic' they think it's really 'black magic'. No one educates them that those two are very different." Even elemental magic was considered 'dark', but that didn't make it evil.
"I believe," Tom sat up and leaned forward so Abraxas would understand just how serious he was about this. "That our culture is slowly being poisoned by muggle beliefs. The best way to stop this is to just remove all magic from the muggle world."
"And that'll keep muggle born children from being abused by their families." Abraxas could see where Tom was taking this. "If we could find more muggle born children that are abused by their families father would be able to push a law through the Wizengamot. It'd be a good first step towards complete separation."
Tom nodded, glad that his adopted brother understood where he had been going with his plans. The plan would also pave the way for Tom's political career and eventual control of the ministry.
The two stayed up for another hour talking and writing out a letter to their father before Abraxas retired for the evening. He would mail the letter in the morning before breakfast.
Tom on the other hand quietly slipped from the Slytherin common room and towards the Chamber entrance that wasn't too far. The sooner he found a better way to protect Harry, the sooner the younger boy would stop being angry with him.
The Hogwarts library could only help him to a certain degree, but Salazar's personal study and library had more resources that Tom was more than willing to make use of.
A few days later news came from the Mr. Malfoy to his eldest sons.
The message was quick and to the point: a full investigation would be conducted for all muggle born children to discover whether or not more children were being abused by their families. It'd been easy enough to convince the ministry to agree to the investigation after Mr. Malfoy told them about Tom, Harry, and Myrtle.
Tom read through the letter and handed it back to Abraxas. He was about to say something when Headmaster Dippet stood up after breakfast was nearly over and waved for the students attention.
"During the next couple weeks ministry officials will be arriving to conduct interviews with several students."
Both Tom and Abraxas fought to keep their smirks contained as Dippet explained what was going to happen. He didn't explain why the interviews would be happening, just that they would be conducted.
As Dippet assured the students that this was nothing bad, Tom's eyes drifted over to a specific blue eyed professor and was surprised to see he was barely containing his anger.
"Look at Dumbledore." Tom whispered to Abraxas. "You see it too?"
His adopted brother nodded a tiny bit. Sure enough he agreed that Dumbledore looked ready to kill someone. The question was why?
For the most part Tom avoided the transfiguration professor as much as possible. The few interactions Tom had with Dumbledore outside of class were always awkward and he'd only ever met the professor outside of the school twice.
The first time being when Tom had gotten his letter for his first year and the second being when Dumbledore had tracked down Harry to give him his letter.
When Dumbledore had found out that Harry had been adopted by the Malfoy's the older man had been surprised to say the least. He had insisted on speaking with Harry in private, but Mr. Malfoy had denied the old professor.
Tom knew Dumbledore was manipulative and dangerous. The only reason the man could have for being angry about the ministry investigating possible reports of abuse was that the investigation would ruin any plans he had.
Dippet hadn't stated which students would be interviewed, but Tom and Abraxas knew it would be primarily the muggle born children and those raised by muggles.
"He is losing control of the muggle born children." Tom whispered to Abraxas.
It was the only thing that made sense. Dumbledore was controlling when it came to the students that were being raised by muggles. He was the first person to introduce the muggle born children to the world of magic and he made it a point of befriending all of the muggle born students.
Tom had even caught Dumbledore trying to approach Harry on a few occasions, but had stopped because of the older Slytherins that often stayed close to Harry.
A wicked smirk flashed across Tom's face before he was able to compose his features again. The old man had just revealed his hand and Tom hadn't even been trying to disrupt his plans.
"Wonder what brought all this on." Eileen asked curiously as breakfast came to an end and the students started making their way out of the hall to get to their classes.
Harry, who hadn't seen the letter his adopted father had sent Tom and Abraxas, could only shrug. What he wanted to know was who were the students that were going to be interviewed. Dippet hadn't seemed happy about the situation, in fact he had looked worried when he'd made the announcement.
"Maybe it has something to do with the expelled Gryffindor students?" Orion suggested as he walked beside Harry. Eileen sent a glare past Harry at Orion to try and get him to shut up, but Orion ignored her.
If Orion was right then Harry would probably be interviewed; which he was not looking forward to at all.
"Whatever the case may be," Eileen sent one more glare to Orion to show her disapproval. "We won't know until the ministry officials get here. Let's just focus on our lessons."
As much as Eileen wanted to avoid the entire interview discussion, it was difficult since it seemed like the only thing the rest of the school wanted to talk about. By the time lunch rolled around Harry was a bundle of nerves, had messed up his potions assignment only for Eileen to fix it last minute, and both Eileen and Orion had snapped several times at several other first years.
"You know what we need?" Orion was just as upset as Eileen, but mostly because Harry had emotionally pulled away. "A party. Something to take our minds off of school for a while."
"And how are we supposed to have a party?" Eileen demanded. "And where? If it's in the Slytherin common room then Rupert and Myrtle can't come. If it's after curfew we could all get into trouble."
Orion sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Prince! You're a Slytherin. Figure something out."
"Why do I have to do it? It's your idea!"
Watching and listening to Orion and Eileen bicker back and forth made Harry smile and his cheeks heat up a little in a light blush. It was a good distraction from the topic the rest of the school had been so focused on.
Harry didn't at first realize he was being watched until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Tom had been watching the trio of first years as they'd made their way through the hall towards lunch. Mulciber was the one following after Harry at the moment and he quickly made himself scarce when Tom motioned that he would take over.
For awhile Tom was content to just follow and watch the trio, but then he noticed something off about Harry that left Tom feeling...irritated.
Harry was blushing.
There were only so many reasons a pre-teen boy would blush. Tom doubted Harry was ill or had a fever, nor did he look like he was embarrassed or upset. In fact Harry was smiling fondly at his bickering friends.
With a quiet huff and a silent growl, Tom reached out before thinking and quickly latched onto Harry's shoulder.
"Everything alright?" Tom asked with a fond smile when he had Harry's attention away from his two friends. A tingle spread across Tom's skin starting where his hand was clasped onto Harry's shoulder.
The younger boy was still blushing when he looked up at Tom. Tom enjoyed the fluttering feeling in his chest as he returned Harry's smile.
"Orion and Eileen are trying to plan a party." Harry told his oldest and dearest friend. "Orion's egging Eileen into planning the entire thing." He added in a whisper so neither Eileen or Orion would hear him.
"A party huh?" Tom knew how much Harry enjoyed spending time with his friends. Since school had started Harry hadn't gotten to be with the students in the other houses nearly as much as he would have liked.
"Do you," Harry licked his lips for a moment making Tom watch the movement unconsciously. "Do you think we could use the Room?"
Tom and Abraxas had both told Harry not to tell anyone about the Room of Requirement. Tom's followers only knew about it because Tom held his meetings there. It was invaluable resource that Tom didn't want to let just anyone know about.
"Why don't you ask Professor Slughorn for advice?" Tom suggested with the warm smile he only ever gave Harry. "He likes to throw parties and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help out three of his favorite first years."
"That's a great idea Tom!" Eileen piped up when the idea was offered up. "It's better then the idiotic ideas Black had."
"What's wrong with having a party by the lake?" Orion asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Besides the problem with getting food and supplies to and from the school in a timely manner?" Once again Eileen and Orion were arguing and Harry couldn't help but chuckle.
The small laughter was music to Tom's ears; even if it wasn't directed at him like he would have liked.
Special thanks to: Louise to, Maurey
A/N: See you guys next monday!