AAAAAAAANNDD, another chapter is up...
Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes groggily as he made his way to the bathroom, where he took a quick shower before going to the closet. He had made sure to look through the closet. Unsurprisingly, most of the clothes were in shades of green, silver, grey, and black, with the exception of a number of colored clothes. He put on a pair of grey sweatpants and a green t-shirt, staring at himself in the mirror as he dried his hair and made himself more presentable; Tom made a great fuss when Harry didn't take care to look at least "presentable".
Harry made his way towards the small living room in his suite, where he knew Tom would be waiting. For the past few days, they'd formed a little routine. Harry would find Tom in his suite, then they'd make their way towards the informal dining room to eat the breakfast that Tobby the house-elf - who they discovered was indeed alive, although he had been in a catatonic state since the trauma of losing his masters and mistresses - prepared. Tom would read the Daily Prophet then converse with Harry about whatever he wanted to. After breakfast, Tom would leave Harry to his own devices, which actually translated to Harry listening to Nagini as she told him stories of his parents. Just before sunset, Tom would usually come find him and take him for a walk in the gardens, where they held a discussion about anything and everything as they watched the sun disappeared in a haze of red. Once that was over, they would make their way inside and have dinner before retiring to Tom's study, where Tom would drink a glass of Firewhiskey while Harry had a cup of tea. After that, Tom accompanied him back to his suite, where he would leave with a nod, a silent promise to be there the following day. Harry could see that Tom wanted more, wanted his son back, wanted Serpens back.
The past days had allowed Harry to see life from a different perspective, allowed him to see that the Dark Side wasn't entirely evil, allowed him to see all the different shades of grey he wasn't privy to under Dumbledore, allowed him to learn so much, but most importantly, it allowed him to see what it would be like to have Tom as a father. Harry had to admit that the prospect of having a loving family was too good to be true. It would only take five words. That was all it took. Five words and he'd have this perfect life.
Shaking his head to come back to reality, Harry left his bedroom, smiling when Tom turned to look at him and rolled his eyes. Tom had told him more than once that the muggle clothes were for training only and were not appropriate dresswear for the son of the Dark Lord and the Heir of Slytherin.
Tom turned and left, Harry following right behind him. Once they entered the dining room, Harry caught sight of bacon and grinned. He gobbled it up quickly, along with the eggs, before sipping his juice. Tom resisted the urge to hex his son because of the unmannerly way he was eating. There would be tie for that later, but right now, he wanted Harry to trust him enough to choose the Dark Side. After both were finished eating, Harry spoke confidently, "Tom?"
"Yes?"
"I choose the Dark Side"
Tom turned his attention to him immediately, a look of surprise on his face. He had expected that the boy would ask for more time to come to a decision, not find one before the deadline he had given him. Misinterpreting the surprised look for a want of explanation, Harry nodded and elaborated, "I don't want to go back to living a lie. The Light Side has been horrible to me. I mean, they bloody kidnapped me from my parents! I don't want to go back to that. I have few to go back to; only the Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus. Here, I have a whole loving family that have been searching for me for years. Here, I gain a mother, a father, a brother, an aunt, a cousin. Not to mention that I would stand in my rightful place, not to be manipulated by anyone. I'm gaining real training and education. I'm gaining a proper home. I'm gaining connections for the future. I'm gaining friendships. I'm gaining everything. I have everything to gain here, and barely anything to lose there. Plus, if my friends really care about me, they would accept me as I am, not the Boy-Who-Lived, but the Prince of Darkness"
Tom stared at him with amusement, "I see you've named yourself as a prince"
Harry grinned, "well, my father is about to control all of Wizarding Britain"
Too fast for Harry to be able to protest, Tom pulled him into a hug, holding him close as he whispered happily, "my son"
"Does this mean that I have to call you 'Father'?"
"Father, Dad, Tom, it doesn't matter. You're my son. You're back where you belong. That's all that matters"
"What happens now?"
Tom pushed Harry away slightly in order to look him in the eyes. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as he smirked, "now, I have a plan"
"Rita Skeeter? That imbecile? She..."
"Is a Death Eater. She can turn any piece of information to our favor. That's why she was horrible to you before. She will respect you now, since you're the Dark Prince"
NO BOY-WHO-LIVED, ONLY LIES
Rita Skeeter
My dear readers, I have horrifying news of the utmost importance to deliver to you. I have no idea how such a thing should even be written.
Yesterday, I was invited to Malfoy Manor, where, to my surprise, I found not only the Malfoys, but also Harry Potter, the supposed Boy-Who-Lived, who has been missing for the past week or so. They lead me to the dining room, where a parchment, a dagger, and a potion were resting on the table. I watched as Harry Potter sat in front of them, preparing to cut himself.
When I asked what was going on, Lucius Malfoy had this to say, "it's the family identification potion. I ask you to pay close attention to its results and tell the world about it. Everyone must know what Albus Dumbledore has done."
I was confused but did what I was asked to do. I watched as the Potter heir cut his palm and dropped three droplets of his blood in the potion. We waited as the potion turned red, and then Harry spilled it on the parchment. We waited again as the parchment glowed a golden color. Finally, when it was ready, Harry handed it to me. To my shock, the parchment did not read Harry James Potter, the son of James Charlus Potter and Lily Evans Potter. Instead, the parchment read, Serpens Thomas Black, the son of Tom Marvolo Riddle and Bellatrix Black. I could not believe my eyes at first, but the paper was as real as the boy sitting in front of me, despair etched all over his face. I turned to the Malfoys to find them not doing much better. Narcissa Malfoy, who is Bellatrix Black's sister (making her Harry's maternal aunt), looked anguished as she moved to hold young Harry in a tight embrace. Lucius Malfoy, on the other hand, was furious.
"I have managed to gain custody of my nephew. This does not mean that all is forgiven. Young Serpens has suffered for most of his life as a result of this deceit. I want to know why no effort was put into finding his real family. I want to know why he was not returned to us when he was first found. I want to know who was responsible for Serpens' disappearance. I want them to pay for all the suffering they have caused my family. I won't stop there, however. I'm coming after all the people that have allowed for him to suffer. First of them all is Albus Dumbledore, who was Serpens' magical guardian when he was going by Harry Potter. Dumbledore placed him with abusive muggles and didn't check on him once. I have proof that Serpens is malnourished, dehydrated, and has faced physical and emotional abuse. Where was Dumbledore? Why did he not check up on Serpens? Why did he not protect him as a magical guardian should?"
At that point, Serpens [Harry] was sobbing softly into his aunt's arms. When asked what she thought about this, Narcissa Malfoy had this to say, "I lost over a decade's worth of time with my nephew. He lost over a decade's worth of love and care. My poor nephew had to face horrors he wouldn't have had to otherwise. My family lost so much because of this trickery, and I won't stand for it."
When he calmed down a bit, Serpens wiped his bloodshot eyes and stared brokenly at his hands. He spoke in a small, scared voice as he said, "my whole life, I wished someone would take me from the muggle family I was with. Their treatment to me was worse than that of a house-elf. All I ever wanted was for someone to take me away. Now I find out that I shouldn't have spent a single day with them because I have a family right here, a family that cares about me and loves me. I have a mother. She's sitting in Azkaban right now, but she sacrificed so much for me. I have a father. I don't know who he is, but Lucius promised to help me find him. But that doesn't really matter as much as the fact that I have a family that searched for me, a family that loves me." By the end of his little speech, Serpens had started crying again, hiding his face in his aunt's neck.
My dear readers, I cannot begin to fathom how upstanding citizens like the Malfoys had to suffer such a fate. How did an innocent boy get placed with abusive muggles when he has a loving family searching for him? How did this happen? I, for one, am starting to seriously question our Ministry and Albus Dumbledore.
For more on Harry Potter... page 12
For more on the Malfoys... page 14
For more on Bellatrix Black... page 16
For more on Albus Dumbledore... page 18
Harry grinned as he read the Daily Prophet. Everything was going according to plan. He glanced at Tom, who was smirking, and couldn't help but feel hope.
Owls rushed into the Grand Hall, dropping copies of the Daily Prophet to everyone, meaning that there was breaking news. Dumbledore had just started delivering his End-of-Year speech when it happened. He decided to go back to his seat and read whatever it was first before going back to the speech. Complete silence fell over the Grand Hall as everyone read their copy. Dumbledore cursed silently as he read his. He looked over his half-moon spectacles, knowing that in a few moments, all hell would break loose.
The silence was broken all at once. The Gryffindors were angrily accusing Harry and the Malfoys of being liars. The only exceptions were the Weasleys and Hermione Granger, who all looked to be in disbelief. The Hufflepuffs were all murmuring, shocked that such things could happen and that their own Headmaster would allow and promote it. Some of them were glaring at said Headmaster as they talked. The Ravenclaws were openly discussing how Dumbledore had failed in protecting his ward and that such a man was not fit to be Headmaster. The Slytherins were a whole other case. They all looked furious, and half of them were arguing with the Gryffindors. The other half of them were glaring at Dumbledore, muttering about the Headmaster being a disgrace to wizard kind and how he should be in Azkaban. Draco Malfoy, though, looked torn between anger, shock, and hatred. To his right sat his cousin, Orion Black, who looked to be feeling just the same as Draco.
Dumbledore quickly scanned the faces of his teachers; Minerva looked absolutely livid, Severus looked like he was about to commit homicide, Pomona looked to be in disbelief, Filius was in shock.
Dumbledore stood up, about to escape to his office, when a curse was sent his way. He quickly deflected it and turned, wide eyed, searching for the person who cast it. He found Draco Malfoy standing on top of the Slytherin table, his wand aimed at him.
"Oh, no, you don't, you old bastard! You will not run away! You will wait here for the Aurors to take you!"
Dumbledore was about to speak when, suddenly, half of the Slytherin table were standing with their wands aimed at him, at their head was the Malfoy heir, with Orion, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. The other half of the Slytherins were aiming their wands at the Gryffindors that had their wands out. "Lower your wands! You have nothing to do with this!" A Slytherin screamed at the Gryffindors.
"Neither do you! But you're aiming your wands at our Headmaster and the Leader of the Light!" A Gryffindor screamed right back.
"We have everything to do with this! The Malfoys are part of us! Serpens is one of us!"
"Harry is a Gryffindor!"
Dumbledore ignored them and focused on the Slytherins with their wands aimed at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed the Ravenclaws rise one by one and aim their own wands either at Dumbledore or at the Gryffindors. The Hufflepuffs did not draw out their wands, looking torn between their loyalty to their Headmaster and their sense of morality.
Dumbledore knew that if he wanted to, he could just disappear, but he also knew how incriminating it would be. Acquitting himself socially and lawfully was key at the moment and running away was not the correct course of action to do so. Dumbledore stood there, trying to think of what to do, when the doors to the Grand Hall were thrown open. "Albus Dumbledore! You are under arrest!" Seven Aurors had made to enter the Grand Hall, only to stop, dead on their tracks, at the sight in front of them.
"Well!" Draco screamed angrily, "what are you waiting for?! Arrest him!" He screeched at the Aurors, who snapped back to reality and walked up to the high table.
The last thing Dumbledore heard before being pushed outside the Hall was an Auror's voice, "Draco Malfoy and Orion Black! Lord Malfoy has required your immediate return home with the company of an Auror!"
If there was one thing Dumbledore knew, it was that he was in trouble...
The magical community was in a disarray. Not too long after the Prophet was delivered, protests started outside the Ministry. The overwhelming majority of the protestors were demanding for Dumbledore to be punished, while the rest was questioning the Malfoys. All in all, chaos was quickly absorbing the Ministry and citizens alike.
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