Chapter Twenty: Summer Holidays

"Wake up Harry!" Draco all but yelled as he entered his friend and adopted brother's room.

Raiden opened one eye and glared sleepily at him. "Why" he slurred, still not properly awake.

Draco shook his head and pulled the covers off Raiden before answering "World Cup remember? We're meeting Sirius there as well. You need to get up and get dressed now!"

Raiden rose from the bed and growled in annoyance. Were it not for the fact that Lucius had forbidden the two of them to curse each other Draco would have been in a lot of pain right then. "The match is not till this evening Draco so please tell me why I have to get up at such an ungodly hour of the morning?"

Rolling his eyes Draco replied, "Because although Sirius is meeting us at the match he's also coming over in half an hour so we can introduce him to your Master. You do remember that you felt he was ready to hear the truth about your affiliations?"

Raiden groaned. "Yes now I remember. Is breakfast finished?" he said, looking round for some clothes.

Draco shook his head and pushed Raiden towards the bathroom. "The house elves have prepared some for you, for some reason Father felt it better to let you sleep in today. Shower first though, you stink!"

"And I suppose you don't?" Raiden returned with a laugh before disappearing into the bathroom attached to both his bedroom and Draco's. Over the summer he'd finally grown used to having a family, and although he still reflexively backed away a bit whenever Lucius scolded him, which wasn't often, and still stiffened at times when Narcissa hugged him, which was a lot, he was growing used to the fact that reprimands were not a precursor of violence and hugs weren't designed to secretly hold him in place for any aforementioned violence. Lucius and Narcissa had also had to come to grips with what it meant to be effectively raising the Dark Lord's heir, as they had been told of the plan to resurrect Voldemort, and which ritual they were using.

The ritual, which Raiden had forgotten the name of, would leave Voldemort looking like an older version of Raiden, but with enough differences that they would not appear to be clones. This, accompanied with the sharing of blood, would make it easy to see the family resemblance between them, as it would be Raiden's blood flowing in Voldemort's veins.

Raiden snorted to himself as he began eating breakfast hastily. He had worked on Sirius since summer began first exchanging frequent owls with his godfather and gaining his trust and equally letting Sirius gain his trust as well. With the weekly visits as well, Raiden had let Sirius know quite a bit about him, but keeping the Voldemort issue a secret until now. He had noticed that Sirius' dissatisfaction with Dumbledore had grown quite a bit when Raiden had revealed that Dumbledore circumvented James and Lily Potter's will and deliberately placed him with the Dursleys, and moreover that he had known of the abuse and still tried to insist that Raiden be placed back there even after Lucius had revealed select details of his injuries to the Child Protection Services. There had been one hell of an uproar over that one, and Sirius had been restrained to prevent him from doing anything to Dumbledore that would warrant his re entry to Azkaban.

Raiden had also worked on changing his views on Voldemort. At first Sirius hadn't been able to get beyond the fact that the man had killed his best friends. Raiden didn't think that the arguments he'd used for himself would work with Sirius. Finally though, Sirius began to accept that the Dark Lord had been eliminating powerful threats to him, and that it was nothing personal. He had accepted that reluctantly, when Raiden had pointed out that James and Lily had eliminated many of his Death Eaters and followers, and it was only natural that Voldemort would retaliate. Raiden had also said that spending thirteen years as little better than a ghost was enough punishment for that offence and Sirius found himself agreeing with his godson.

Now, Raiden was waiting in the main lounge, nervous about the upcoming meeting. For all that Sirius was coming to accept that Raiden didn't hate the Dark Lord, it was quite another to tell him the full story. He didn't know how Sirius was going to take the news that his godson was the Dark Lord's apprentice, or their plans for the wizarding world. Finally the Floo flared to life and Sirius entered, brushing soot from his robe with ease.

Raiden scowled. "How is it that everyone but me can Floo easily, and I always end up flat on my face?" he said grumpily.

Sirius laughed. "Not sure pup, but I think that permanent cushioning charm in front of the fireplace was a good idea. Both here and at Grimmauld."

Raiden laughed and relaxed. "There is that" he agreed before tensing up again. Sirius noticed this and was curious. "What's wrong Harry? You're not afraid of me are you?"

Raiden smirked and gently punched his godfather's shoulder. He had got to the stage where he was interacting easily with the man and in a familial manner which had Sirius very happy. Sitting up straighter he said, "Not of you you mangy old mutt but of your reaction to some information I need to tell you."

Sirius frowned. "What information? Whatever it is pup we'll deal with it. It's not Daphne is it? You haven't gone and done anything, er, inappropriate?"

Raiden blushed furiously and said, "Merlin no! We haven't progressed beyond a couple of kisses and the occasional hug in public. Neither of us is ready to take our relationship to the next level, especially since we're not officially together."

Sirius' response was a raised eyebrow and a question. "Why not? It's not unheard of for fourteen year olds to be in relationships, or at least be starting them. Especially purebloods."

Raiden smirked. "Yes Sirius I know but both of us want to take things slowly. We're not mutually exclusive yet but everyone seems to be thinking that we are."

Lucius entered the room at that point and sat down on the sofa. "Hello Sirius" he said.

Sirius nodded and replied "Hello Lucius." Both men had become friendlier over the summer as Sirius proved he really did have Raiden's best interests at heart, and Lucius had fully approved of, and helped with, Sirius' estrangement from Dumbledore and his way of thinking. The result was that Sirius was fast approaching Severus' position regarding the Malfoy family, that of trusted family friend.

"Why are you here Lucius?" Raiden asked. He had tried once, to call Lucius Father but it was awkward, and felt like a betrayal of James Potter. Lucius had noticed the awkwardness and had told Raiden that he could use his name and not to worry about familial titles.

Lucius shrugged. "I came to see how the conversation was going and to offer some support should you need it."

"Support for what?" Sirius asked, getting more and more suspicious.

Raiden sighed. "Sirius, I've not been entirely honest with you. You know those conversations we've had about Voldemort?" Sirius nodded, wondering why Raiden was bringing them up. Raiden looked uncomfortable when he continued with, "What would you think if I told you that his views on the wizarding world had changed?"

Sirius looked thoughtful. "I would wonder how you came by this information and I would wonder exactly how his views had changed. Why?"

Raiden shrugged. "His views used to be the extermination of muggles and muggleborns. Now they've changed to having a sort of test to determine the magical strength of muggleborns before they enter the wizarding world. If they are above a certain level then they can enter and a spell of some sort would be placed upon them and their immediate families, preventing them from telling anyone about magic, except for talking about it amongst themselves."

"And those deemed not strong enough?" Sirius questioned, a suspicion forming in his mind about the reason for the questions. Raiden shrugged once more and replied, "Magical ability suppressed, essentially turning them into squibs and all memory of accidental magic erased from their minds, as well as their family's."

Sirius nodded. "Sounds different to what he used to do. Why the change of heart so to speak?" Raiden looked uncomfortable. "Remember that mentor I told you about. The one who began training me in magic at age 8?" Upon Sirius' nod he said, "That mentor was the spirit form of Voldemort. He managed to protect me from my relatives by teaching me the basics of controlling my powers and by teaching me the manipulative skill required for me to survive. I've been doing wandless magic for several years now although I still use a wand as well. He's taught me for the past six years and he genuinely cares about me.

Sirius was in shock at learning that Raiden was Voldemort's apprentice. Finally he blinked and replied slowly, "Right. So you're the apprentice of the Dark Lord. May I assume that he changed his mind because of you?" Raiden nodded, still wary of being rejected.

Sirius shook his head. "This will take some getting used to. Can I at least meet him in spirit form – I do need to ask him a few things?"

Raiden thought for a moment, mentally conversing with Voldemort at the same time before saying, "He'll be along in a few moments. Do you have any questions for me before he does?"

Sirius nodded. "If he's your mentor I suppose he can discipline you if you step out of line?" Raiden nodded, wondering why Sirius chose this topic to start with. It was made clear a few seconds later when Sirius asked, "He can't hold a wand so how does manage it?"

Raiden flushed and then tapped his scar. "The scar caused a mental link between us and although it isn't usually painful, he can activate part of the link which causes pain. He only does it for serious offences though, mostly he just tells me off. He has promised to Crucio me when he gets his body back if I step out of line."

Sirius nodded. "Painful method but whatever works" he muttered. Seeing Raiden's look of disbelief he held up his hands. "Hey I'm not advocating using Unforgivables on you, you're my godson after all, but I do think that if you overstep the boundaries in a big way, then the punishment should be memorable and the Cruciatus curse is certainly that."

Raiden looked at him for a few seconds before nodding. "I don't ever expect to actually be under it, I certainly will be doing everything possible to avoid it. However, if you wish to ask him yourself please do so. He's right behind you."

Sirius spun in his seat to face Voldemort, and then slowly turned back round as Voldemort floated back round to the empty space near the furniture. What followed was a question and answer session which answered all of Sirius' questions and also eased his fears. By the end of it Sirius had only one more question left.

"If I want to be on your side but not a full Death Eater do you have any objections?"

Voldemort looked at Raiden and then replied, "My apprentice here suggested forming a sub-group of his friends and family that wished to be on our side but not necessarily a Death Eater. You I believe were mentioned as one of his advisors in this group if you agreed to switch sides."

Sirius snorted. "You know my family heritage sir, I'd expect that my mother would be quite pleased that her wayward son had finally "seen the Light" as it were and taken his proper place in the Dark."

Voldemort nodded. "Yes, I was rather disappointed when you didn't join me last time. Do not betray us Sirius; it would be a pity to have to kill you."

Sirius looked at him evenly and then replied, "My loyalty is to Harry, and whatever side he's on, I'm on. I refuse to fight him." Voldemort nodded and turned to Raiden.

"This will be the last time I will be in this form. I begin the process of gaining a temporary body tomorrow night and then we wait till the end of the year for the ritual to restore me to a proper body. You remember what the ritual does?"

Raiden nodded. "Yes Master. It will essentially give you a body which resembles an older version of me but with enough differences that we won't be clones. Not that it would be difficult, your sixteen year old memory self seemed somewhat similar in appearance to myself." Looking embarrassed he added, "What was its name again Master?"

Voldemort looked vaguely amused and replied, "It is called the Cognatus Familia Raiden and essentially it means family related by blood. This is why I need your blood for the ritual, it will only take a few drops, don't worry. Once the ritual is over we will be bound as blood relatives and you will be the next Heir of Slytherin."

"Next Heir? I thought the youngest was the Heir?" Raiden asked, confused.

Voldemort smirked. "Slytherin's line held that the oldest male descendant was the Heir. All the other Founders had the oldest male child of the previous heir as the heir. Salazar was a bit different."

Raiden nodded. "Interesting."

Voldemort nodded. "True. One last piece of advice before I leave. Don't fight anything that happens this year. It will have a purpose."

With that he disappeared but not before sending a mental message down their link, consisting of the message that all their communication now would be mental until the end of the year when he would start using their diaries to communicate. Raiden started, he had almost forgotten the diaries, one of which had been the one that contained a piece of Voldemort's soul and the other which had been a duplicate of it once the soul piece was removed by Voldemort himself. Now they were simple communication devices, designed to go through any wards since they weren't malignant in any way.

Shaking his head, Raiden turned to Sirius who was looking rather gobsmacked. "Er, Sirius, you OK?"

Sirius shook his head to clear it and replied "Yeah. I think I made the right choice just now, joining the Dark Side and all. Or rather, joining your side. Next Heir of Slytherin, bloody hell you're going to be powerful when you come into your inheritance."

"Why?" Raiden questioned.

Sirius smiled slightly. "Not many knew it but the Potters were one of the surviving family lines that relate back to Gryffindor. I did my research back when I was in school and from what I can tell, you're the last surviving male of Gryffindor descent. All the other lines were wiped out in the war or died out naturally over the past few centuries, or inbred themselves out of existence."

Raiden banged his head on the conveniently placed table and muttered, "Why me" before looking up at his guardian and adoptive father even though he couldn't bring himself to call Lucius that yet.

"Do you know what Voldemort was talking about when he mentioned an interesting school year?" he asked.

Lucius nodded. "I do, Harry but Draco should be here too. Hold on."

Draco soon came into the room, greeted Sirius casually, and flopped down onto the couch, ignoring his father's glare at the lack of proper decorum. Shaking his head and reminding himself that they were with family and that Draco knew how to act in public, Lucius said, "The school year is going to be interesting this year because the Triwizard Tournament is being held at Hogwarts." Seeing the blank looks on the faces of the two boys he sighed before explaining what the Tournament was.

"Wow, so Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students are coming to Hogwarts to compete in this insanely dangerous Tournament that any student can enter?" Draco said. Raiden shook his head. "I wouldn't think that anyone could enter Dray. They'll probably restrict it to students that are seventeen years old, in the interests of making it as safe as possible."

Lucius nodded. "That is precisely what they're doing, Harry. I have no idea what this year is going to be like but do keep your schoolwork up to its usual impeccable standard won't you."

Both Draco and Raiden nodded, having completed their homework the week before. Sirius snickered and then said, "Well well, and here I thought Slytherins didn't do homework." Both Draco and Raiden glared at him before a sudden thought struck Raiden.

"Hey Sirius, you told me about the Marauders. My friends and I have our own group, not really into pranking but it would be cool to be animagi. Would you consent to teach us?"

Sirius, who had registered his form with the Ministry as soon as possible, was able to teach them and agreed to do so if the other members of the Quartet were agreeable. That included their parents. He found it amusing that Draco and after a moment's hesitation, Raiden as well, turned to Lucius with wide eyes. Lucius for his part merely looked like he was considering it, before slowly standing up. The next instant, a large boa constrictor was on the floor in front of them. It stayed that way for a few moments, exchanging a series of hisses with Raiden before transforming back into Lucius.

Raised eyebrows from his audience caused him to look faintly embarrassed if you knew what to look for. "Yes it's unregistered. Nice form though."

"Yes it is. I wonder what we'll be" Draco muttered.

Lucius and Sirius exchanged glances before Lucius pulled his wand out of his cane. "I can do a spell that would show us what your potential forms are if you'd like to know?"

Draco and Raiden didn't have to think before they answered, "YES" at loud volume. Lucius and Sirius shrugged before each casting the spell, Lucius cast it on Draco and Sirius cast it on Harry.

The two boys changed form immediately, Draco to a pure white ferret, and Raiden to a large black king cobra. A few minutes later they changed back and looked at each other.

"What were we?" Raiden asked.

Lucius and Sirius smiled. "Draco was a ferret and Harry a king cobra."

"OK now what?" Raiden asked.

He didn't like the smile on Sirius' face when the man replied, "Now you get to research the anatomy of your animal, you can't change into it if you don't know how to change your internal organs to match those of your form. You also need to study some things what they eat, habits and other things that you'll need to know in order to control your form when you first change into it."

Both boys groaned at the thought of more research but they were motivated by the possibility of being animagi. Turning to Draco, Raiden smirked and said, "Now we just need to convince the others."

Later that afternoon, the small group headed for the Quidditch World Cup. They would stay for the match and leave afterwards but the boys had begged to be allowed to see some of the stuff that went on beforehand. Against his better judgement, Lucius had given in and so they were wandering round the campsite seeing the sights as it were.

They ran into their other Quartet members as well as Hermione during this time and all three agreed to animagus lessons. Hermione had lightened up quite a bit from the rule bound first year she had been and any new branch of magic was intriguing to her. Blaise and Daphne simply liked the thought of breaking the rules in that manner. Daphne and Hermione gave each other a cool stare when both tried to take Raiden's arm at once and Raiden sighed before pulling Daphne to him and giving her a kiss. He didn't mind beginning a relationship but he didn't want his two best female friends fighting over him and he didn't care for the practice of having a wife and then a mistress on the side, even if Lucius and Sirius had assured him that it was still a common enough practice that it wouldn't' be frowned upon and Hermione would not be looked down on either as mistresses were considered part of the family if the wife knew and approved. It was a sort of legal way of having polygamous marriages as it were, even if it was not truly that. At best it was a way of two women sharing the same man, if he was attracted to both but loved only one.

Daphne melted at the kiss and Raiden wrapped one arm round her and then held out his other arm to Hermione. "I can't be in a relationship with you yet Hermione, and possibly not ever as Daphne and I are still finding out where this relationship of ours is going. However, I don't like being fought over when it's clear I'm taken."

Fixing both Hermione and Daphne with a look he said, "I love Daphne in a romantic sense and Hermione in a best friend sense. I have no problem with having both of you beside me but no fighting over me alright? I won't have it."

Both Daphne and Hermione looked vaguely ashamed of themselves. Daphne let go of Raiden and turned to Hermione, holding out her hand. "Sorry Hermione. I just, this relationship is so new still that I'm scared of losing him to another girl, and I'm also naturally a bit possessive as well. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Hermione smiled and took the offered hand. "No problem Daphne. I wasn't trying to take him off you, I know he's taken, I just wanted to walk with him as a friend."

Both looked at Raiden who looked pleased. "Thank you both of you. As good as it might be for my ego to have two gorgeous young women falling for me, I am a one woman person only."

As they walked back to where the parents of the Quartet had assembled, Daphne leaned up to whisper in Raiden's ear, "What would you have done if I'd continued fighting Hermione over you?"

Raiden thought for a moment before allowing a wicked grin to come over his face. Leaning down slightly he murmured, "You don't want to know, but it would have left no doubt that you're mine and I'm yours." Leaving Daphne with a surprised blush on her face he joined Sirius and began talking Quidditch, discussing the merits of the Irish and Bulgarian teams and who had the best chance of winning.

The match itself turned out like Raiden had predicted, Ireland won but the Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum had got the Snitch. The party that night was loud and long but the Quartet plus Hermione was at home in Malfoy Manor, the students were having a sleepover with their parents' permission. This gave them the chance to discuss animagi lessons and Lucius obligingly cast the charm to show the forms. Blaise was a large Alsatian dog, Daphne was a python, and Hermione was an owl. The five students fell asleep vowing to become Animagi as soon as possible and dreaming up names for their forms.

The next morning, the Daily Prophet carried a headline, "TERROR AT THE WORLD CUP!" It had a picture of a gleaming Dark Mark floating in the sky and everyone at the breakfast table shared a look. It would seem that Voldemort was announcing his planned return a little earlier than planned. Raiden was impressed with the spellwork that must have gone into creating it. Hermione shivered slightly and Raiden looked round at the group, silently asking if it was time to reveal the truth to Hermione as well. The rest shrugged, indicating that it was up to him. Catching her attention, Raiden asked, "Hermione, would you mind coming up to my room after breakfast? I need to tell you something that the rest already know. All I ask of you when I tell you is that you not interrupt until I'm finished, and that you keep an open mind. Alright?" With a shaky nod, Hermione agreed and after breakfast she and Raiden disappeared upstairs, leaving the rest to worry in silence.

A hour or so later they emerged, both pale but happy. Hermione was in shock over learning that her best friend was the apprentice of the most feared wizard in Britain, but she had been encouraged when Raiden had told her that she would most definitely pass the tests that he and Voldemort planned to introduce once the revolution was over. She had promised to work to overcome her hero worship of Dumbledore as an authority figure, having had her views on the man quite thoroughly shredded over the hour with Raiden's listing of the man's faults and what he'd tried to do to Raiden. Raiden had had her sign the parchment before he told her anything so his secret was in fact safe.

When they got back to the sitting room Draco asked idly, "Should it become the Slytherin Quintet now?" Raiden shook his head. "No. I think we should come up with a name for ourselves that doesn't really have House affiliations. The Slytherin Quartet was cool but now that we've added Hermione as a full member as it were, it doesn't work. So, name suggestions anyone? We won't be having the Marauders either."

None of them could think of any names off the top of their heads though and they all promised to think about it over the next school year. A few days later they were all in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express discussing what might happen with the Triwizard Tournament and all the fun the coming school year was going to hold. For Raiden, the year was going to be both fun and insufferably long as at the end of it he was finally going to get to see Voldemort in the flesh again and he couldn't wait until it happened. There was a chuckle in his mind and Voldemort quoted a line from the Star Wars movie saga at him, that being, Patience, young Jedi.

Rolling his eyes, Raiden sent back, that's young Sith to you Master. There was another chuckle before Voldemort closed the link. Raiden settled back into the seat on the train, his mind filled with the endless possibilities his fourth year might bring. Smiling, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep. His friends left him alone, knowing he needed to sleep and instead chattered on about the upcoming year, and the excitement that would accompany the Triwizard Tournament.

Author Note

Hi everyone. Yes, I've finally got back round to posting more of this story again. Real life kind of took over the last couple of months, I've finally landed myself a permanent full time job again but it requires moving to a new city, and then I was told last week that the job's starting a month earlier than originally planned so my moving schedule had to be speeded up even more than it already was. The good news is that I'm moving up to the new city this coming Sunday, the 27th of June, and once I'm settled, and the internet connection's been re-established, you should hopefully start seeing more regular posts from me, both of this story and of Erasing History. For those who thought Orion's reaction to the Marauder's spying on him in the last chapter was a bit lenient, well, it was a mistake on their part, and one they won't repeat. He knew that, and therefore didn't react as badly as he might otherwise have done. I am planning a big event around the Marauder's fifth and sixth years, ones which will firmly establish that Orion doesn't take betrayal well at all, even and most especially from family but that's all I'm saying at the moment.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and there will be more coming just as soon as I get myself moved and settled.

Padawan Lynne