Another chapter! Hope y'all love it


There was a touch. Then it was there again. And it repeated. And he felt it once more. He slowly opened his eyes, searching for the source of the repetitive touch. He found her standing in front of his crib, a pout on her lips.

"Wake up, Serpy," she hissed.

He understood it. It wasn't in that weird way Mummy spoke. The girl said it in the way Daddy spoke, with hisses.

"No. Sleep," he hissed back.

"Wake up, Serpy. I want to play," she repeated.

"Play?" He sat up immediately. Playing was always more attractive than sleeping, and that's saying something. He loved sleep.

"Yes. Play," she said just before scowling really hard at the crib. Suddenly, all the bars of the crib disappeared and the girl grinned. She pulled him out of the crib, placing him on the ground as gently as a three year old could. He hissed and pouted when he bumped roughly to the ground.

"Sorry, Serpy, I didn't mean to hurt you," the three year old smiled cheekily.

He pouted for a moment more before grinning and crawling towards the toy box in the corner. He pulled out a toy dragon and smiled toothily when the three year old toddled towards him. Before they could move any further, however, a stern voice interrupted them, "what are you two doing?"

The children froze, knowing they were in trouble. They slowly turned to look at the source of the voice. Their mother stood there, leaning against the door with her arms crossed over her chest. She cocked a questioning eyebrow and the children smiled sheepishly. Their smiles quickly dropped when they noticed their father appearing behind their mother. They lowered their eyes and pretended to look guilty.

"Really, now, that won't work on us. Maybe on the servants, but not us," Tom stated.

"Tom, dear, you deal with Serpens. I'll take Polaris back to her room," Bella sighed, picking up her scowling daughter.

"You two are little Slytherins in the making," Tom chuckled as he carried Serpens, who didn't really understand what his Daddy was saying.

"Daddy say what?" Serpens hissed.

"It doesn't matter," Tom hissed back with a smile. Serpens nodded and snuggled into Tom's chest, hiding his face, "long time no see Daddy"

"Yes. You haven't seen me in a long time. I was busy. We'll speak more in the morning. You have to sleep now"

"I not sleepy," Serpens yawned, still trying to spend time with his father.

"Of course not," Tom said, amusement lacing his voice. He stared at the crib and chuckled before making new bars appear. He made sure Polaris wouldn't be able to vanish those ones before placing Serpens inside. He then started hissing a soft lullaby in parseltongue. He kept hissing it until Serpens was consumed by sleep once again.


"That's your last memory of Polaris"

"No! That can't be all of it!"

"I'm sorry, Serpens, but it is," Tom told him gently.

They sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating what this meant. Finally, it was Serpens who broke it with a question, "does this mean we'll visit memories of you now?"

Tom didn't answer. Instead, he stared at Serpens for a long moment, considering what he would tell his son.

"I'm afraid... we won't be able to"

"What? Why?"

"We just can't, alright?"

"No. You're hiding something"

"No, I'm not. Even if I was, you snapping at me won't make me tell you. You should be grateful, anyways, that I pulled out this much from your head," Tom snapped angrily.

"You don't really care about me! God! You're just as bad as the Dursleys!" Serpens screamed before running to his room.

Tom stared at the door his son left from, dumbfounded. After he finally registered what happened, he got up to follow, only to be stopped by a, "I'd let him be for a while if I were you"

Tom turned to the source of the voice, "Bella, how long have you been here?"

"Long enough to know that you don't want him to know what happened," she said, approaching him.

"I can't let him know. He'll hate me"

"You don't know that. Anyways, he'll find out eventually, better you tell him than someone else"


"You've been in a bad mood recently"

"Tom tell you about our fight?"

"He didn't have to tell me. You're agitated about something. What is it? You can tell me"

"I... I'm so confused, Mum, and I'm scared. I don't know what to do," he sniffled.

Bellatrix pulled her son into a tight hug as he started crying. He pulled out of the hug after he calmed down, moving to pull something from under his bed. "I got these a week ago," he explained as he handed the package in his hands to his mother.

She went through them quickly, eyebrows furrowing with anger and confusion. "How dare they?!" She shrieked when she was done reading the letters.

"Mummy," Serpens whimpered. Bellatrix took one look at her son and forced herself to calm down for him. She pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"You have to tell your father about this. I'm afraid I can't help you, but I'm sure he can"

"No. Tom is hiding things"

Bella sighed, "the thing Tom is hiding is not as important as this. Serpens, you have to understand that he'll tell you when he's ready, and that's not now. He'll tell you eventually"

"But he's my dad. He's not supposed to hide things from me"

"On the contrary, Serp. Parents hide things from their kids all the time. We do it to protect you. One day, when you have your own children, you'll understand. Anyways, are you actually upset because he's hiding things or because he won't pull out the memories?"

"You know about that?"

"Of course I do. I'm your mother"

"Oh"

"Come now. Your father must see this"


Serpens gnawed on his lips as he watched his father read the letters. Once Tom was done, he placed them on his desk and stared at him, an unreadable expression on his face. After a long time, Tom finally spoke, "you're still unsure if you are doing the right thing by joining my side. You want to believe that we truly do care for you but you can't. You still hope that the people on the other side still care for you. It's difficult, I know. I'll tell you what, write a letter to either Fred or George. Tell them to meet you in three days time with all the people who wrote you letters at this location," he scribbled an address on a piece of parchment and handed it to Serpens, "Lucius, Narcissa, and your mother will accompany you. Don't let them know that part"

Serpens nodded and rushed to write the letter.


The day of the meeting couldn't come fast enough for Serpens. He'd received a confirmation from the twins a day after he'd sent his letter. He'd asked about the location and Tom had told him that it was one of the Black family's old estates, barely used anymore.

When the day of the meeting finally came, Serpens was shaking nervously as he went through his daily routine. He dressed in all black and broke the color with a bit of silver, which complemented his eyes exquisitely. He styled his hair back properly, smiling grimly when it stayed in place. Last but not least, he put on a silver necklace with a snake pendant. Tom had given it to him the night before. It was an emergency portkey and would bring him to Malfoy Manor, where the rest would be waiting.

Serpens sighed as he studied himself in the mirror. After a few moments, he walked to the living room, where his family was waiting. They flooed to Malfoy Manor, where they had breakfast with the Malfoys before Serpens left with Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Lucius. The four only had to wait a few minutes before the Floo activated and one by one, people from Serpens' past stepped into the old house. First, it was Remus, then Molly, then Hagrid, then the Twins, followed by Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and, surprisingly, Neville last.

Bella and Lucius stood on either side of Serpens while Narcissa stood next to Bellatrix.

"Harry!" Hagrid was the first to move forward, not paying attention to anything as he moved to hug the teenager. Just as he started moving, however, Bellatrix stepped in front of Serpens, her wand aimed high as she snarled, "one more step and I'll curse you!"

Hagrid stopped in his tracks. He stared angrily at Bellatrix and turned to look at the others with him. They'd pulled out their wands and aimed it at Bella just as the Malfoys pulled out their own wands and aimed them at the group of seven.

"You have five untrained children and only two capable adults. Bellatrix, Narcissa, and I are each capable of dueling three trained wizards at once. The odds are not in your favor. I suggest you lower your wands immediately," Lucius drawled.

Serpens took one look at the scene and turned to his past friends, "please. I didn't come here to fight. I came to talk to you. Please lower your wands. I promise they won't hurt you if you don't do anything. They're only here to protect me"

Neville was the first to lower his wand, followed by the twins, then the others slowly did the same. Serpens sighed with relief when his mother, aunt and uncle finally lowered their wands as well. He then gave a strained smile as he started introducing his family, "guys, this is my mum, Bellatrix Black, and my aunt, Narcissa Malfoy, and my uncle, Lucius Malfoy. Aunt Narcissa, Uncle Lucius, you know them all. Mum..."

"I already know most of them. That's the mutt Lupin, the imbecile Hagrid, the blood-traitor Molly Weasley and that's no doubt her children"

Serpens cringed as he saw everyone, but Neville (again surprising him), turn red with anger.

"Yeah, that's Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny, and the other two are my friends Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom"

Lucius sneered and Narcissa stared disdainfully while Bellatrix glared at them all, although she made a point of ignoring Neville, "if you even try to harm my son, I'll curse you so bad the Healers at St. Mungos won't know what to do"

Molly narrowed her eyes at Bellatrix, unsure of how to respond to the witch. The room fell into a tense silence, broken finally by Serpens, who spoke agitatedly, "will you all calm down?! I didn't invite you here to fight! All I wanted was to speak to you but you won't even stop glaring at my family long enough to look at me!"

At that, the group of nine had the decency to look guilty. The first two to move were Fred and George, who approached him with small smiles. They pulled him into a hug, which was rather awkward as they had never hugged before. "They don't know about the letters' purpose. It was all Dumbledore and his circle. They just told us to write how we feel," Fred whispered in his ear.

"So they all truly care?" Serpens asked.

"Yes," George answered.

"Alright," Serpens said as he pulled out of the hug. Hermione was the next to pull him into an embrace, followed by Hagrid, then Molly. Ron and Ginny stood to the side, refusing to approach him, while Neville stood awkwardly, waiting for the others to finish speaking to him first. Remus was the last to approach him, smiling sadly before pulling him into his arms.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," he whispered.

After they separated, Serpens decided to tell them all what happened to him after the trial, even though Bellatrix advised him against it. He'd comforted her by promising not to reveal the truly important things.

"I don't think I have to tell you everything from the start, right? You've all read the news?" After receiving nods of affirmation from everyone, Serpens started speaking again, "well, I think what you need to know is that my family has taken great care of me. There's really no need to worry. I've been spending the past weeks doing many things. I'm getting private classes to help me get back on track with my education and I've spent most of my free time just getting to know my family, bonding with them, and to be honest, I love them. But that doesn't mean I don't love you all. I've missed you all so much and I don't want to lose any of you. That's why I'm here today. I hope you can accept and care for Serpens just as you did for Harry"

Remus smiles gently, "Of cour..."

"You've sunk so low," Ron interrupted.

"What?" Serpens furrowed his eyebrows with concern.

"You've sunk so low. Joining the Dark Side? Going along with their lies? Speaking ill of Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of our time? Getting my dad into AZKABAN? You've sunk so low, Harry. You're not the person I thought you were"

Serpens stared at Ron's angry face, hurt at his words and unable to say anything. Bellatrix was about to hex Ron into oblivion when Narcissa placed a hand on her shoulder, silently communicating why that would be a bad idea. Bellatrix glared at her for a moment before swallowing her anger, knowing her sister was right.

Meanwhile, Remus had gotten out of his chair and was kneeling in front of Serpens, speaking sincerely, "Harry, Serpens, whatever. It doesn't matter. To me, you'll always be the little troublemaker with a boggart of a dementor and the Marauder's Map. That is, unless you turn into a homicidal maniac. Then, we're gonna have a long discussion about why that's wrong and why you could do better"

Serpens grinned. Remus was the first person to accept him just as he is. The joy was not to last though, "HARRY, NO. Professor Dumbledore is the good guy! Yeh can't join the Dark Side. They're bad people. Those Malfoys are bad people. Tom Riddle as well. They're all bad!" Hagrid exclaimed.

Lucius rolled his eyes at the half giant's argument while both Narcissa and Bellatrix seemed unimpressed.

"They're not bad, Hagrid," Serpens defended, a scowl on his face.

"No, Hagrid's right, Harry. The Malfoys and Bellatrix really are terrible people. You have no idea what they've done. Bellatrix tortured the Longbottoms into insanity and Lucius is a Death Eater"

That time, Narcissa didn't even try to calm Bellatrix, who had turned to the Weasley matriarch with a feral look on her face.

"The Longbottoms killed Polaris! They fucking killed my baby girl! I wouldn't expect you to understand that though because your head is filled with crap Dumbledore has fed you! I spent thirteen years in AZKABAN for my "terrible actions"! None of you looked twice at the fact that my daughter was murdered! Because Dumbledore was in charge of my case! Because that's how your corrupt system works! That's how Dumbledore works! And you all still insist he's the greatest wizard! You're all fucked up!"

Bellatrix was about to commit murder, Serpens just knew it in his gut, so he got up quickly and moved to stand in front of his mother, he pulled her into a hug forcefully and whispered, "Mum. Mummy. Mummy, please, calm down. I don't like seeing you hurt, Mummy"

Immediately, Bellatrix started to relax, if only for her son.

After he was certain that she wouldn't kill Mrs. Weasley the moment she laid eyes on her, Serpens pulled out of the hug, turning back to the people in the room. "This is going to be a long day," he sighed.


And that's it for now. Reviews welcome as always. Suggestions appreciated.

To those that have commented before, thank you so much, it means a lot. You guys rock!