Harry flopped onto a seat on the Hogwarts Express, feeling like he been runover by a dragon.
"That potions exam was vicious." He muttered.
"Oh, I can't remember if I included the fifth step in creating a forgetfulness potion!" Hermione worried, rifling through a book.
"Eh." Ron said. "At least they're over now."
They were done. It was end of term, they'd finished exams, and Harry was about to spend his first summer holiday with Sirius. He couldn't wait.
"Isn't there a quicker way to get back to London than this?" He complained. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but surprisingly it was Ron who answered.
"The Knight Bus will take you anywhere really fast, but not everyone would fit on it. Mum used it a lot when we were kids. You just raise your wand, and think of trying to get somewhere." Ron shuddered. "It's a right joke though, though I was gonna die last time I was on it. Not worth it."
Harry huffed. "Stupid magical transportation." Baneofallrodents stroked his cheek with her tail to soothe him.
The mirror in his pocket buzzed, and Harry withdrew it.
"Sirius?" His godfather was looking entirely too panicked for anything good.
"Pettigrew's escaped!" Sirius growled.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Ron shrieked. "He's coming for me! After all this time sleeping in my bed, he's coming for me again, oh no, what am I going-"
"Stupefy." Harry muttered, and Ron collapsed to the floor. "Please, Sirius, continue."
Sirius' lips twitched in what Harry thought was amusement. "Did you just stun Ron?"
"If I say no, will you believe me?"
Sirius grinned. "I suppose I'll have to." Hermione was quietly snickering in the corner. She levitated Ron onto a seat so that he was slumped over 'asleep'. "Now, be on your guard when you get off the train. Remus and I will be waiting for you under the sign for the platform, so come straight over, okay?"
"Roger that." Harry said, and slid the mirror away. Hermione picked up a book, and Harry grabbed one of his own, hoping he'd be able to enjoy a peaceful ride back to London before becoming immersed in the chaos of living with Sirius.
"Potter!" Malfoy spat, barging unannounced into their carriage. Harry sighed.
"We're busy right now, Malfoy, so just go away." He made a shooing motion with his hands. "We'll assume that whatever it was that you came in to say was suitably witty and your goons cackled in amusement while I flushed with indignant embarrassment and rage."
"I-what?" Malfoy said.
"Yes yes, you're very scary, off you pop now." Harry flicked his wand and a blast of wind blew Malfoy out of the room and into the corridor, slamming the door shut behind him. "Colloportus." Harry muttered and the lock clicked shut. The door knob rattled several times, but eventually Malfoy stalked away.
Hermione gave him an appraising look.
"You've really improved with your studies lately." Harry flushed. "Were you holding back before?" Harry smiled weakly.
"Well. I wouldn't say holding back… exactly." He hedged.
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione growled, and Harry was lectured about academic achievement and reaching his potential all the way to Kings Cross. He even considered waking Ron up, but realised that just meant two of them would have to suffer. He then considered jumping out of the carriage window, but figured he was just making Voldemort's job easy for him.
By the time they reached the station Harry was more than ready to get off the train. Ron had woken up halfway through the rant and was curled up in a corner with his hands over his ears, whimpering. Harry wasn't far from that state himself.
"See you in a couple weeks!" Harry yelled, and grabbed his trunk, running off the train.
"Sirius thank Merlin, you have to save me!" He cried as he almost instantly ran into his godfather. Sirius sneered and Harry frowned. "Wait-"
"Morsmordre!" Sirius cried, pressing a scarf to Harry's neck. Immediately it felt as if something had hooked about his navel and yanked. Harry yelled as he was pulled through space, and he landed on the ground with a thud. He rolled with the movement and came up with his wand in his hand.
"You're not Sirius." Harry said. Polyjuice, perhaps? Sirius' doppelganger grinned, and licked his lips. A jet of light flew from his wand and Harry ducked, hiding behind a massive stone. As Harry glanced about he realised he was in a graveyard, nowhere he'd ever been before.
Suddenly, there was a burst of pain on his forehead and Harry screamed, clutching his scar.
"Master?" Baneofallrodents hissed. Harry fell forward and curled up on the ground. The pain was fading but it was still there, as if his scar was being created anew, splitting his skull apart.
"Run and hide." He replied through gritted teeth and she slithered away.
His wand was snatched from his grasp, and Harry was bound to a stone angel. He squirmed, but the ropes only tightened, almost choking him. A cauldron bubbled before him and Pettigrew approached, holding something in his arms.
"Ah!" The Sirius doppelganger cried, and clutched his leg. "A fucking snake bit me!"
"There are only adders and grass snakes in Britain." A sibilant voice hissed from the bundle in Pettigrew's arms, and if Harry hadn't guessed it was Voldemort before, he knew now for certain. "You will survive." Harry squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the blinding pain.
"Eep!" Pettigrew shrieked. "It bit me too!"
"Stop this nonsense!" Voldemort in roared, although as he was currently inhabiting the body of a small child it was more of a squeak. "Ignore the bites, and return me to my former glory."
"Of course, master." The Death Eaters replied and bowed to Babymort, then deposited him in the cauldron. Harry really hoped Babymort drowned.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given." Pettigrew rasped, and a thin trickle of bone rose from the ground and flew into the cauldron.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given." Pettigrew raised a knife, and his own hand, and sliced it off. Harry flinched and looked away from the bloody stump.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken." Pettigrew dug the knife into Harry's arm, even as his own fingers trembled.
"I give it freely!" Harry cried, but Pettigrew merely snarled at him, dripping the blood into the cauldron. Immediately it began to boil.
The Sirius doppelganger was swaying on his feet, and Pettigrew had already collapsed.
"Baneofallrodents, get my wand!" Out of the shadows Baneofallrodents appeared. She tripped the doppelganger, then wrapped her tail around Harry's wand and slithered over to him. Harry grabbed it.
"Diffindo." He cut the ropes and scooped Baneofallrodents up. While he'd been planning his escape, Voldemort's body had been forming from the cauldron.
"Robe me." Voldemort demanded. Harry sprinted away toward the nearest country path. "Wormtail? Barty! POTTER!"
Harry raised his wand. "The Knight Bus!" He yelled, hoping it would work.
With a loud honk an enormous purple double decker bus appeared from out of nowhere.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency transport for the stranded-"
Harry leapt on board. "Go! Go! Go! He's trying to kill me." The conductor blinked, looking up from the notecard he was reciting from.
"Wut?" A flash of red light flew toward them. Harry ducked and it crashed into the seat behind him, which shrivelled and curled in on itself.
"Oh bloody 'ell, go Ernie go!"
"Take it away Ern!" Was that a talking skull?
BANG.
Harry was thrown to the floor as the bus shot forward. The conductor sniffed.
"As I was sayin'. Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be yer conductor for this evenin'." He said in a nasal voice. "Now, where is it that yer goin'?"
Harry blinked. "Ministry of Magic, please." He suddenly realised that his mirror was buzzing frantically, and had been for some time now.
"Sirius." Sirius' eyes were wild, but a massive grin split across his face when Harry answered.
"Harry! Oh Harry, thank Merlin you're all right!" Harry grimaced.
"Relatively... I was kidnapped! I'm on the Knight Bus to the Ministry. Shall I meet you there?" Sirius nodded.
"I'm there already!"
They jerked to a stop, and Harry handed over payment. He sprinted off the bus and into Sirius' arms. Sirius squeezed him tight, and Harry hugged back. It felt like home.
"You're safe now." Sirius muttered and patted Harry on the head. Harry took a deep breath and disentangled himself. Behind Sirius was a massive group of people including the Minister for Magic, Dumbledore, Snape, and the Weasleys.
"Mr Potter." Said a woman Harry didn't recognise, wearing a monocle and a stern look upon her face. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear what happened to you. My office is just inside the building."
"Oh yes, excellent idea Amelia." Minister Fudge said. Harry realised that she must be Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE. He nodded. Sirius and Dumbledore followed hot on their heels.
Director Bones' office was a tight fit, but Dumbledore conjured enough chairs for everyone. She called for a healer, and St. Mungo's sent one right over. Harry's arm was healed, and he was given a blood replenisher. Finally, they were all settled, and she gave him an expectant look.
"It's all right Harry." Sirius whispered. "Just take your time."
Slowly, quietly, Harry regaled his tail.
"Codswallop!" Fudge announced at the end.
"Are you accusing the Heir of House Black and House Potter of lying?" Sirius hissed. Fudge gulped.
"It can't be true! He can't be back!"
"May I inspect your memory?" Director Bones asked, ignoring their arguement. Harry nodded, and tilted his head. She withdrew a silvery stream of liquid from his mind and placed it into a vial.
"I refuse to believe You Know Who is back!" Fudge cried.
"He might not be." Harry spoke up. Fudge gazed at him, an expectant look upon his face. "It was definitely him, but my snake had bitten both Pettigrew and Barty, that's why they collapsed. She's an Eastern Brown Snake, and the venom is quite fatal." Baneofallrodents chose that moment to poke her head out from underneath his shirt and Fudge jumped back in surprise, nearly toppling to the floor.
"They tasted like rotten rodents."
"Pettigrew used his hand to regenerate Voldemort… he may have passed the poison in his blood stream onto Voldemort." Director Bones gave both him and Baneofallrodents an appraising look.
"There you go, Minister. Perhaps we should put the Aurors on high alert, just in case." Fudge huffed.
"Do as you wish." He snarled. "But I will not believe that You Know Who is back." Harry glanced at Sirius and raised his brows. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"My Heir, Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, was still kidnapped. So, regardless of whether You Know Who is back, we need better security. The public will think you wise for putting precautions in place." Sirius said. Fudge nodded, his forehead creased into a frown.
"Yes, yes, the public will think that won't they... Yes, Amelia, put the Aurors on high alert. We cannot have an incident like this happen again!" Fudge bid them all good day, and stormed out of the room.
"Come on Harry." Sirius said. "Time to go home. May we use your floo?" Director Bones nodded, a frown upon her face.
"Dark times are upon us." She muttered. "Stay safe."
For the first time in eleven years Severus felt something that chilled him to the bone.
His mark was burning.