Dear readers,
I am deeply sorry for the absurdly long delay in getting out this new chapter. All I can say is, if you've ever heard that law school is a bitch, it's the absolute truth.
The good news is, I have the next two weeks mostly free, and I am going to work on this fic as much as possible in that time.
The bad news is, at the end of August, I will probably not be able to update again until Christmas break.
But I will not ever abandon this! So even if updates continue to take a while, in the immortal words of Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'!"
Chapter 24
The following morning, Harry arose early, and, following a sudden whim, headed up to the owlery to spend some time with Hedwig. It had been a long time since he'd last done so, and he found that he was missing the beautiful bird.
When he reached the room, he found himself immediately under attack by a blur of white feathers. Hedwig was apparently quite disgruntled with him for staying away so long. As the bird nipped at his ear, he reached out carefully to stroke her on the back.
"Easy there girl! I know it's been a while, but I've just been so busy lately! I've missed you though, and look here, I brought you something special." He pulled a premium owl treat out of his pocket.
Hedwig, now perched on his shoulder, simply ruffled her feathers and shuffled her feet so that her back was turned to him. She flapped her wings a little and gave out a low hoot, acting for all the world like a jealous girlfriend. Harry kept his chuckle to himself.
"Well, if that's how you feel about it, I guess I'll just take this treat and go." he said. "Maybe some other owl will want it, and the bacon I have in my other pocket, and some scratches under her wings."
Predictably, Hedwig screeched at this idea, then spun her head around so that her eyes were staring straight into his. With as much dignity as an owl could muster, she turned her feet around to bring her body in line with her head. And then let out a sweet coo and rubbed her head against his cheek, acting for all the world as if she had never had any problems with Harry. Sighing, he climbed the stairs up to the upper turret above the owlery. He wondered if human females were as troublesome as the owl variant, and decided that he was very glad he would never have to find out.
From the upper turret above the owlery, Harry had long ago discovered that he could see into the owlery itself, but it was virtually impossible for anyone in that room to see him. He had also discovered that early in the morning, between when curfew ended and breakfast, was the prime time for anyone who wanted to send mail without being seen, and this morning was no different. He watched as a parade of letter senders came and went.
Draco Malfoy, blushing furiously, sent a letter addressed to "Mummy and Daddy." Colin Creevey sent a note to his girlfriend in Hufflepuff-and one to his boyfriend in Ravenclaw. Harry was pretty sure each of them thought their relationship with Colin was an exclusive one. He had to admit, it took some serious Gryffindor courage (and stupidity) to try that sort of thing at a boarding school. Susan Bones sent off an owl to Aphrodite's Anti-Acne Aid. Some tall skinny kid with dark hair, whom Harry only recognized as a Slytherin in his own year, sent something off to some place called Ophelia's Ornaments. He'd seen the bloke hanging around Daphne Greengrass fairly often; maybe he was buying a present for her. Then there was Padma Patil, sending off a letter to Magical Romances Publishing Company. He supposed for a Ravenclaw, it must be extra-embarrassing to be seen buying that sort of book. The last person he saw before he headed down to breakfast was Professor McGonagall, sending off something to-no, it couldn't be. Yes, it was. Night-Tease, a shop that sold racy underthings.
He definitely could have lived without seeing that. He decided he should probably get to breakfast, before he ended up seeing Snape ordering bondage gear or something.
And instantly wished he could Obliviate himself to keep that thought from ever entering his head again.
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Lord Voldemort couldn't help the small smirk that formed over his face. He'd formed an absolutely perfect plan, one that would allow him to rid the world of the pesky old coot known as Dumbledore and punish the insolent brat known as Potter, all in one fell swoop.
Said brat arrived that evening, as usual, and Lord Voldemort put on his best mask. He kissed Harry in greeting, as usual, not giving away that anything had changed. It had nothing to do with wanting to take as many kisses from Harry as possible while he still could. Nothing at all.
"I have excellent news for you today, my little serpent," he began.
"Yes?" Harry smiled up at him eagerly. He hated that smile.
"I have formulated a plan to kill Dumbledore, and you will be the one to make it all possible."
Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It made him look absolutely moronic. "That's-that's incredible news! How are we going to do it?"
"Easily. Indeed, it is so simple that I wonder that I did not think of it before." He paused, deciding to wait for Harry to ask. He did not have to wait long. It was annoying how Harry always knew what Tom wanted.
"Were you going to tell me the plan tonight, or did you plan to keep me in suspense?"
He laughed. Purely out of delight that his plan was already working so well.
"Some details still need adjustment, but the essence of the plan is this: during the next Hogsmeade weekend, which I believe is planned for May 8th, yes?"
"That's right," Harry confirmed. A little less than a month left that he had to spend with...put up with Potter.
"My servants will stage an attack on the village with one goal: the capture of Harry Potter. You, of course, will put up quite an impressive fight, but eventually be overcome. My servants will bind you and bring you before me. If at that time Dumbledore has not yet arrived, I will send a messenger to the castle requesting his presence."
"I think I see where this is going," Harry grinned. Honestly, he despised that stupid grin. "You plan to propose a trade."
"Yes. His life in exchange for yours."
"It is brilliant," Harry said. Of course it was brilliant. It was his plan. He didn't need or want to hear Harry confirm that. "There's just one thing," Harry continued.
"Oh?" Tom was pretty sure he knew what Harry meant, but he was going to let the boy say it. Not because he was reluctant, of course, just because it was more fun that way..
"It's going to look pretty suspicious if you don't torture me at all." Harry said bravely. Idiotic Gryffindor.
"Not to worry, dear little serpent. I will have one of your captors feed you a powerful numbing potion. They will be told it is a potion to increase your sensitivity to pain. Though I will use the Cruciatus Curse, multiple times, you should not feel anything, except perhaps a mild tingling. I trust that you can act well enough to simulate the extreme pain."
Of course, in reality, it would be neither of those potions. It would be the antidote to the Erodition, and Potter would be feeling every one of those Curses. And that would be in addition to the agony of knowing he had served Lord Voldemort for almost a full year, had volunteered to take the Dark Mark, had lied, stolen, tortured, and killed for the Dark Lord, and had caused the death of his beloved Headmaster. And of course, how he had willingly given himself to Lord Voldemort for his physical pleasure. He could admit that it had been pretty damn pleasureful. But that was all Potter was really good for.
The two dark-haired men continued discussing the plan late into the evening. Throughout the night, Tom kept having to reject the thought that he would miss these meetings. Lord Voldemort thought instead of how he wished to see the idiotic brat writhing in torment, begging for his mercy. Mercy that would not be granted.
If Tom was going to hurt, then he was damn sure going to make sure somebody else hurt even worse than he did. And in the meantime, he was going to take all of the physical pleasure he could. Because honestly, that was all he liked about Ha-Potter.
Tom started his ministrations gently, stroking Harry's arm. As the night progressed, he gradually moved closer, one step at a time. Soon he was stroking Harry's neck. Then the stroking became more vigorous massaging. The massaging moved from the neck to the shoulders, and then to the back. His hand drifted lower and lower, finally starting to stroke Harry's arse.
"I think we really have the plan down," Harry was saying. Tom decided he'd had enough conversation. It was a boring conversation, anyway.
"Indeed. Of course, it seems that, in the course of our discussion, something else has...popped up," Tom said, with a meaningful smirk at the growing bulge in Harry's lap.
Harry, rather than blushing and stammering as Tom had expected, replied boldly. "Yes, well, there is that. And a related issue seems to have just arisen." He nodded at Tom's equal problem. "I think we should take care of these issues tonight, don't you?" And his boldness certainly wasn't attractive, it was just insolent and impudent.
Tom pulled Harry into his lap. "They are...quite...pressing," he purred, emphasizing each word with a thrust of his hips that pushed their groins together in a delicious heat.
Slowly and sensually, the two undressed each other. When Harry was about to go to his knees in front of Tom, the elder wizard stopped him.
§"Let's try it this way,"§ Tom hissed, as he magically changed the loveseat into a bed. He pulled Harry up onto the bed next to him, with his head at the opposite end of the bed from Tom's. Harry quickly caught on to what was wanted, and hissed back §"As my Lord wishes"§ before taking Tom's member smoothly into his mouth. As Tom reciprocated, and their mutual pleasure mounted, his last thought before release was of how much he was going to miss this.
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As Harry was leaving his last class of the day. and heading to the Great Hall for dinner, he found himself walking next to one Luna Lovegood. They hadn't spoken in a while, and Harry suddenly felt rather guilty about that fact.
"Hey Luna," he called out to her. They had a normal conversation for a while, or at least, as normal of a conversation as anyone could ever have with Luna Lovegood, and then Harry remembered that he'd been wanting to ask someone in Ravenclaw about the entrance to their common room. And Luna might be a tad -off- but she was still a Ravenclaw, and presumably did know how to enter her own common room. And she probably wouldn't ask him why he wanted to know, or tell anyone else that he'd asked.
He tried to think of a subtle way to broach the question, but he couldn't, and since it was Luna, he decided to just plunge right in.
"So, there's something I've been curious about for a while now, and I'm hoping you'll tell me the answer," Harry declared.
Luna didn't say anything, and just looked at him expectantly.
"How do you get into the Ravenclaw common room?"
"Oh, that's easy. Come on, I'll show you."
"Er...all right...but...don't you want to eat dinner?"
"Tonight isn't a good night. There are Skreekels about, and I don't have any Cymetoins to ward them off."
Harry wondered if this was just her way of saying she didn't like fish, which was the main course for dinner tonight, but didn't say anything as he followed her up to the common room.
When they reached the door, Harry noticed that it had no knob or keyhole, but only a brass knocker in the shape of an eagle. Luna grabbed the knocker and banged it against the door.
Much to Harry's surprise, instead of demanding a password, the eagle asked them a riddle:
"What is broken every time it's spoken?"
Luna looked over to Harry. He shrugged. She sighed and said "silence." The door clicked open.
Harry followed Luna in, since he was curious about what the inside looked like. He sat down at one of the large study tables, enjoying the view out of the large windows.
"So does it always ask a different riddle?" Harry asked Luna.
"Oh, it's probably repeated itself a few times over a thousand years, but no one I know of has ever gotten the same riddle twice."
"But what happens if you don't know the answer?"
"You wait until someone else comes along who can help you."
"Seriously? But what if it takes hours?"
"Then you learn, don't you? Rowena wanted her students to prove they were worthy, not just once, but continuously. She always thought anything you get for free, you'll take for granted. It's why she never answered questions directly, only in riddles."
"You mean, she thought if you had to work to get your answer, you'd be more likely to remember it than if she just gave it to you?"
"That's right," Luna beamed at him.
"Wait a second, how do you know so much about her?"
Luna only smiled a mysterious smile and said, "Did you know that Panbusccis can resurrect themselves, but only if they're in the presence of Irkloids?"
Harry decided that was as much of an answer as he was going to get, sighed, thanked Luna, and headed down to catch the tail end of dinner.
Strange girl, that Luna.
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Arietta had continued to grow quickly, and was now about the size of Harry's leg. Like any youngling, she loved playing games. Harry still hadn't quite gotten over the oddity of playing fetch with a snake, but since it undoubtedly made her happy, he would keep doing it. It was amazing how fond he was of the young snake, especially given what had happened with her predecessor. But he couldn't help himself. She was just too...adorable. He'd really started to like Nagini in the week he'd spent with Tom, too. Maybe he'd have to get himself his own serpentine familiar someday. But not yet. It would look extremely suspicious if he were to do it now, and suspicion was something he couldn't afford.
Anyway, he hadn't come down to the Chamber just to play with Arietta, although that was certainly a plus. He needed to talk to Salazar. "Hey Sal," he called out.
The spirit of the founder appeared in front of him. "Good evening, Harry."
"Good evening. I can't believe how fast Arietta's growing. Or how beautiful she is."
Salazar smiled fondly at his pet. "She certainly is amazing. Perhaps you did not know, but I did not hatch her predecessor, and so he was never truly bonded to me. It makes quite the difference."
Harry echoed Salazar's smile, though a bit sadly. "I'm glad I could make it up to you, at least in part. Anyway, I had a question I needed to ask you."
"Ask and ye shall receive, lion cub."
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "I thought you agreed to stop calling me that!"
"I did," Salazar smirked, "when you had something to hold over my head. You lost that hold. Find something else to bargain with, and make your bargain more carefully next time."
Harry grumbled. "Fine, whatever. Anyway, back to my question-"
"Yes, lion cub?" Salazar interrupted with a wry grin.
"What does it mean if Godric refuses to give me his permission and blessing to marry Tom?"
The grin was immediately wiped off Salazar's face. "Did he?"
"Conditionally."
Salazar decided to answer Harry's question before finding out the rest of the details. "I assume he magically accepted you as the family's heir?"
"Yes," Harry answered.
"Then it means that, as he is your Patriarch, no magically-binding wedding can take place without his permission. Any attempted binding ritual will fail."
Harry sighed. "That's pretty much what I figured."
"Can you meet his conditions?"
"There's only one, but...I honestly don't know." Harry's head hung between his hands.
Arietta, sensing his sadness, slithered over to him and climbed up in his lap, draping herself over him comfortingly.
"Well, out with it already," Salazar said gently.
"I have to prove to him that Tom loves me."
Salazar stared blankly. "I can see how that might cause difficulty," he said finally. "You might not realize this, but it was actually a common test put before potential bridegrooms in Godric's day."
"How did people do it back then?"
"The most common way was to take a truth potion and declare the feelings of love while under its influence. But there was also allowing the use of Legilimency, saving the bride's life at the risk of your own, and let's not forget the classic 'donation' of a large sum of money to her family."
"I'm pretty sure Tom wouldn't be willing to do any of the first three, even if I could get him and Godric in the same place.. And I don't think Godric would accept the last."
"You may be right about that."
Harry sighed. Arietta reached her head up, and tickled his ear with her tongue. §"Don't be sad, silly nestmate! Ari loves you! No more problem!"§
It wasn't quite true. There was still a huge problem. But as he cuddled the baby snake, he couldn't help but feel that somehow, everything would work out.
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