A new chapter! Yay! Hope you all enjoy. Sorry it's quite short, I'll be writing more next chapter.
September first dawned, heralding the start of Harry's second year. To say that they were nervous was a gross understatement. Tom was practically having a heart attack he was so worried over Harry's safety. Harry was more concerned with his imminent confrontation with the Weasley twins and Neville. After much discussion, it had been agreed to reveal Tom's presence to the few trusted people Harry had now.
They made sure to arrive early and quickly set to work to ward their compartment against everyone except the few they trusted. It was actually a fairly simple ward as it focused solely on the will of the caster without any layers or fancy protective measures.
Soon enough, Neville arrived and entered the compartment, instantly wrapping Harry up in a warm embrace with a whispered,
"Thank you." As his only greeting. Laughing, Harry only said, "Good to see you too, Neville. It's been a long and eventful summer. I'll explain once the twins arrive."
Nodding, Neville sat down across from Harry and they fell to discussing the coming school year and all the things they were looking forward to. Harry had just promised Neville his help in potions when the compartment door banged open and the Weasley twins waltzed in. The dramatic entrance was so typical of the pair that the two younger boys burst out laughing. Huffing goodnaturedly, the twin menaces flopped down on either side of Neville and waited out the others' mirth. Eventually the twelve year olds calmed down and Harry started to talk. He was understandably nervous and it showed clearly in his voice,
"Um… Right. So. Yes. First thing would be that Dumbledore is a manipulative old goat that shouldn't be trusted with anything."
Snorts were heard throughout the compartment,
"Harry." Fred teased, "We already knew that, now tell us the rest."
Giggling slightly, Harry did continue,
"The reason I'm saying this is because not only is he clearly biased against Slytherin, but he also left me out on my relatives' doorstep in the middle of the night, all night. Then, he never checks on me, leaving me to be abused and neglected knowing nothing about the wizarding world. He sends Hagrid to re-introduce me and never mentioned my heritage once this entire time. Not forgetting the whole fiasco with the stone that was clearly set up."
Harry had to stop at this point as he was panting for breath. Neville was looking murderous and finally erupted in a way eerily similar to Tom's own explosion.
"He did what?!" He roared, his whole demeanour a far cry away from the shy boy of before. "That's illegal. He could go to Azkaban for years for that, Dumbledore or not!"
This continued on for quite some time, various comments emerging about contacting his Gran and re-establishing the old alliance. Harry had no clue what he was talking about but Tom kindly helped as usual,
"When the wizarding council was first created there was three alliances formed to represent the three magical affinities equally. It was meant to bring stability to the world and did for many years. The Light alliance consisted of the Ancient and Noble Houses of Longbottom, Potter, Abbott and Weasley and led by the Most Ancient and Noble House of Gryffindor. The Greys were formed of The Ancient and Noble Houses of Greengrass, Lovegood, Zabini and … They followed the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Ravenclaw. The Dark were led by Slytherin and were typically formed of the Blacks, Selwyns, Notts and Rosiers. There was a final faction that acted as the mediators and peacekeepers. This consisted of two families, the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Hufflepuff and the Ancient and Noble House of Bones."
"Well that system will have to change." Harry thought back firmly.
Returning his attention to the group before him Harry swiftly interrupted Neville's diatribe,
"Neville, while I will quite happily ally myself with you and the Weasley twins I will not shut out the other factions. You may not know this but Sirius Black is my Godfather in the eyes of Lady Magic herself. I am still unsure how he came to be locked away in Azkaban but that is a conversation for another time. My point is that as he is the new Lord Black, I will most likely be able to ally myself with the House of Black and I plan to make many new friends and allies this year without being influenced by their magical affinity. We are both Light wizards but Fred and George are Grey."
His last comment caught the interest of the twins even as Neville was nodding along thoughtfully, expression pensive,
"Now Harry," George started, "How would you know a thing like that?"
"You've not told us everything yet." Fred finished shrewdly.
This recaptured all their attention and focused it back on Harry, clearing his throat, the young boy continued,
"Yes, there is something else. When Voldemort attacked that Halloween and torn from his body, he left a piece of his soul behind. That little piece of soul latched on to the only living thing in that room, me."
There was uproar. All three of them were shouting questions or shuddering in horror. Finally, Harry managed to shout them into silence again,
"Thank you. That soul piece was then forced to emotionally mature all over again while trapped in the very core of my being and unable to interact with the world. That had a profound effect on the soul piece, causing it to not only regain its sanity, but also changed its magical affinity from Dark to light Grey. I know all this because he spent the last year stealing energy from the Master Soul living on the back of Quirrell's head in an attempt to communicate with me. He succeeded in the Hospital wing when I finally came out of my healing sleep."
"How do you know he's telling the truth?" Neville asked tentatively.
"Because he spoke his intentions while standing in the middle of a Goblin Warded managers office at Gringotts bank."
That instantly cleared everything up, Goblins were known for enchanting their offices to ensure that the truth was always spoken within its walls.
"I've spent a bit of my summer helping him retrieve the bits of his soul that he ripped off over his years of being Voldemort. That's actually what that diary was that I got you guys to get from Ginny. That held half of Voldemort's soul."
Fred and George visibly paled at the thought and Harry quickly hurried on,
"Would you like to meet him?" He asked hopefully.
The group nodded slowly and the next instant Tom was sitting on the seat beside Harry.
"Hello." He greeted evenly, "I loved your prank on Quirrell. I got such a kick thinking about those snowballs smacking the snake-faced monstrosity over and over again."
Fred and George glowed at the praise and whooped aloud when the realised that they'd pranked the Dark Lord Voldemort himself. Tom smirked at them both,
"I would like to offer me and Harry's assistance in pranking the old goat."
The grins that were exchanged at this offer were positively feral, and Neville burst out laughing, finally choking out,
"The old coot won't know what hit him. He… he doesn't stand a chance."
This caused everyone to join in the laughter before settling down to plan. The New Marauders were soon formed, and Hogwarts shivered with anticipation. This year would be fun.
The Sorting and Welcome feast passed quietly. Harry was glad to hear that there were no warnings of death and decapitation this year. However, once he entered the common room, he was set upon by Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, why didn't you answer my letters?" Hermione screeched angrily, sounding suspiciously close to a banshee.
"Yeah, are we suddenly not good enough for the precious Boy-Who-Lived?" Ron butted in, face bright red.
Drawing in a calming breath, Harry replied, "What letters? I haven't received a single letter from either of you all summer so I decided that if you couldn't be bothered writing to me, I wouldn't write to you."
That said, he swept past the pair and towards an armchair placed next to the fire. Recovering themselves quickly, the two followed him.
"But Harry," Hermione whined, "We're your best friends."
"Hermione." Harry said firmly, "If you are my best friends then you have a funny way of showing it." "But-"
"Don't interrupt." Harry stated firmly, "You, Hermione, spend far too much of your time needling me over my school work and forcing your own opinions down my throat. You never bother to check if what you're doing is what I want as you've already decided what's best for me. Your love of authority figures blinds you to their faults which causes issues as I've never had an adult figure to rely on since my parents died."
Turning from the spluttering witch, he faced Ron,
"You are a petty and jealous boy who can't see beyond his own imagined problems to see how much others may be suffering. You are a bigoted, close-minded individual who is too lazy to work for anything. Your jealousy is poisonous and drives everyone away. Maybe one day we can be friends, but you are both far too harmful to my own development and sense of worth at the moment. I hope you can understand."
His piece said, Harry stood up and calmly walked upstairs to his dorm. Once there, he hurriedly scrambled on to his bed and pulled the curtains. A silencing charm washed over the hangings as Tom appeared and gathered Harry close as the younger male shook with suppressed emotion. That had been far harder than Harry expected and he was once again grateful for the support offered by his guardian. It had physically hurt to see how little the pair understood what he was saying and Harry knew that he wouldn't regain their friendship for many years. Gently rocking his charge, Tom silently ran through every curse word he knew, directed at the two people who had reduced Harry to this state. Tom got the distinct impression that he was going to need to find a way to get Harry's Godfather out of prison. Harry needed the support of someone who didn't have to hide from the world. Tom couldn't give that to Harry and might not be able to for a long time.
"Sirius Black," Tom swore, "You better still be sane. Your Godson needs you now more than ever."
On a small, rocky island, battered by huge waves and howling gales, surrounded by darkness and despair, a Grim slowly lifted its head.