Chapter VII: A Secret Pranked is a Secret Kept II

By lunchtime, Draco was nearly positive and sure that his two best friends in Blaise and Pansy had noticed his new state of discomfort since this morning due to his high state of arousal and the damned cock ring Harry had put on him earlier that morning when they were together. The blonde however, gave an inward smirk, as he knew the two of them likely thought he was nervous about their 'common room meeting' tonight more than the fact he was uncomfortable from high arousal.

Oh, how wrong they were…

Draco had told Pansy and Blaise to spread word quietly to the whole dorm that he needed to call a serious meeting tomorrow evening and that everyone there was required to attend it. They had to be there by nine o' clock tonight, and even Professor Snape was going to be there since he had already told him of the meeting and agreed it was for the best that he was there.

They had looked at him strangely until Draco mentioned that a special guest was to be present tomorrow night and it would look bad if any were to be absent from the gathering due to his stature among the community. They nodded and understood more now than before, but still found it odd Draco seemed to notify them at the last minute.

So, it went without saying that Draco was a tad off today and his friends had noticed no matter what the reason they thought it was from. His concentration was shot to hell and he was glad that lessons were not in session still; besides the fact it was the weekend and there wouldn't have been any even if they were.

Draco sat in his room with the door locked and silenced as he groaned in dismay and irritation. Honestly, Pansy was starting to get really annoying more than usual. Normally, she would ask once or twice and if no answer was given she would stop and give up until an answer came directly from the source or she would just drop it altogether. But after the death of his father, Draco had noticed that Pansy seemed more protective of him as her friend as well as Blaise was too, but Pansy was just more visible about it.

Draco put his ear to the door and cast a hearing charm to allow him to hear through the silencing barrier despite his veela senses allow better hearing already. He wanted to make sure he heard this conversation right.

"Blaise, I know Draco can take care of himself…" Pansy sighed, "But you've seen how he just seems to disappear at times around lunch to go who knows where and to do who knows what. I'm really worried about him is all?"

"I don't want him to hurt himself from something he inflicted to himself out of blindness, and his vanishing acts have made me nervous. He hasn't been the same since his father was killed by the aurors and he barely talks to us anymore? Surely, you've noticed this too?" She said

Draco felt guilty in this instance for putting his friends through this by accident, but he did not regret it because Harry's safety as his mate was more important to him now though his friends were important to him as well. He continued to listen as Blaise responded to Pansy worries over him.

"Yes Pansy, I have noticed it and it does worry me too. However, we have to remember that Draco is of age and now he is Lord Malfoy. What he does is no business of ours unless he asks us to be involved." Blaise told her softly, "For all we know, he could just be visiting his mother and helping her sort through the many things Lucius left behind in a mess for them to fix whilst he helps her grieve."

"Lucius was and still is her mate even after his death, but he is gone now, and if Draco were not in her life either; I doubt Narcissa would feel as if she had much to live for any longer."

"You're right Blaise, and I think perhaps maybe I am worrying a bit much lately. I still feel as though something about the whole situation is off though." She said

Draco slumped behind his door in relief that Blaise had seemingly gotten through to Pansy this time. He still felt guilty, but he didn't want to endanger Harry as his mate or their new relationship yet more than he might have accidentally done already considering Pansy was still suspicious somewhat.

Hopefully, he would be able to hold out until after tonight's meeting.

Night fell over Hogwarts Castle that evening with an uneasy sense of foreboding to Harry's senses and the wind's silent voice carried words of despair and hopelessness in the near distance to Harry's elven hearing that most others would never hear. He hoped Tom would slow down soon or his visions would be back with a vengeance and Harry knew this time might be pushing his luck.

Harry stepped away from the window in his dorm as he grabbed the cloak and placed it in his pocket and went to get Ron and Hermione to carry out their end of this arrangement. As he came down the stairs, Hermione greeted him with a smirk on her face that said she was playing with the dorm and to follow-along. Then she gave a small smile that she made sure Seamus caught attention to as Harry smirked himself and nodded his head to her.

Harry held out his hand to Hermione for her take and she mischievously pondered momentarily until she shrugged and took it as Harry led her to where Ron was by the fire watching them with half-mirth and half-exasperation to his expense for the need to add this part to the original plan. Ron was never a very good actor, but tonight Harry noticed he was in top form.

Harry handed Hermione to him as the whole common area was watching them with whispers and rumors being spread. The three of them smirked at each other and then for the benefit of their common room…lightly laughed at something between the three of them Ron was to have said as they left.

Harry heard Seamus and Dean's steps a few minutes behind theirs, so he knew they need to be quick. As they entered the fourth floor and the prepared unused classroom, Harry hastily closed his eyes and his aura sparked before his body was surrounded by a medium red glow.

Hermione and Ron watched in awe of their friend's power as the 'human' Harry came from thin air and was seemingly as functional on his own as the real one was. His friends knew Harry was powerful and they felt reinvigorated with hope that maybe they stood a chance against Riddle now more evenly than before. After the glow dissipated, Harry put the cloak on and let go of the glamour guarding his true appearance.

"You two know what to do now. Seamus and Dean will be here in about five minutes, and when they do just say 'activate' and the clone will respond with the intention it was made for. My magic made it usable this way. Do not mess this up, or there is going to problems later." Harry said quietly as he exited invisibly

Ron and Hermione just sighed and tried to ignore the clone for the moment as they started the process of fooling Dean and Seamus by making out as much as possible by themselves before Hermione had to activate the clone.

Draco stood outside the common area with anxiousness about wherever Harry was and did they manage to escape Seamus's plot to uncover the secret threesome rumor. Draco was about to die of need for relief, but he knew he was in a very precarious position right now.

All of the Slytherin students were awaiting them with Professor Snape inside the common area anxiously and he hoped Harry would be there soon.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise." Harry practically purred in a pleasing tone

Draco's eyes looked up instantly to the sound of his mate's voice though he had yet to see anyone. Harry then slowly took the cloak off of himself and removed it and the blonde's eyes roamed his person momentarily.

This was the persona of Harry Potter as Lord Peverell tonight they would see, and this was the one persona the world would soon recognize as his mate's to the war and much more later on. Strong elven features of an angular face with high cheekbones and long midnight locks that reached just below the shoulder blades and locks that felt every bit silken as they looked now he guessed. Sharp and verdant emerald eyes that held knowledge, wisdom, and power amid a reserved smile were gazing at the wall as Draco took in his new appearance tonight. Clothing of the finest silks and satin woven into the robes most would assume were worn by royalty alone was what he was wearing this evening. Robes that Draco knew without a shadow of doubt hid a body of muscle that was stronger than it looked to the normal eyes. Not just because of Harry's years on the quidditch pitch here either.

"See something that you like there, dragon?" Harry asked with a knowing smirk

Draco remained quiet as his face tinged with a pale pink blush a bit when he finally noticed he was staring now more than observing and Harry had become aware of this too due to his comments. Draco sighed and took a deep breath as he tried not beg for release right now in the hallway and slowly regained his cool composure.

"We need to move or we'll be late." Draco said softly

Harry nodded in acceptance as his mask replaced his smile and then a calculating and blank face appeared where it had been. This facial mask was devoid of any emotion other than indifference to the settings. Draco appeared fascinated by this new look at his mate's abilities as he led the way for him though Harry neglected to tell Draco he already knew where the Slytherin dorms were. Perhaps that would be another story to tell another day...

They arrived outside the dorm directly at nine and when the dormitory opened for them to be admitted, Harry could hear the anticipatory breaths as he entered the room in his true appearance and they felt the power he commanded and radiated from his aura now since it was not being restricted before like it had been. The headmaster remained unaware of it due to Harry asking Hogwarts's spirit to hide it from him and she happily obliged him though she had been doing it all year and it taxed her reserves as the castle somewhat as an extra job she didn't really need to do, but one Harry was thankful the spirit did for him.

He walked gracefully as a cat that stalked prey and as silently as the softest summer breeze blowing through the slightest rustle of leaves on the trees around you whilst sharp green eyes observed the room of people with a piercing stare and observatory gaze. His appearance seemed to have captivated the audience and Professor Snape even seemed wary of this powerful wizard in the room now among his charges as he had shifted himself slightly in case of a need for his wand.

Draco stepped forward, "I called you here tonight to discuss a matter of grave importance and one that will quake the ground under many of your feet tonight. It will change the tide of the war between Harry Potter and the Dark Lord if all goes accordingly. First, as you all seem more interested in the guest with me than the actual discussion, let me introduce you."

"The guest is special in many ways. Slytherins and Professor Snape, this is Lord Peverell of the Ancient and Noble House of Peverell. The last descendant of one of the three brothers told of in the tale of the three deathly Hallows." Draco said respectfully

All eyes went from Draco to the imposing figure that was radiating magical power in silent awe and respect.

"Greetings to all of you tonight, though I wish I had come sooner. I sense a terrible foreboding power that lingers uneasily tonight in the the distant outside barriers of the castle and it concerns me greatly." Harry said as though he wasn't Harry Potter right now but truly Lord Peverell and they were two different entities.

"I assume you all wish to know how I know Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy and Narcissa Electra Malfoy nee Black? That is understandable; but quite frankly, many of you already know me as well though you do not connect this person with the Lord Peverell that you all essentially see before you right now. Look at my appearance closely for the answer you all seek." Harry said

The room was deadly quiet as they surveyed the one called Lord Peverell cautiously. The students seemed to not understand why he asked them this, but they did as was requested of them. Professor Snape was now very quiet and his eyes had narrowed to near slits as his years of spying came into activity with this news. His brain was in overdrive at who this person really was before them all and did he truly know them from somewhere else?

Harry turned to him and looked directly at him, "Severus Tobias Snape, Professor of this school and the son of Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince, your students seem to not be able to solve my riddle tonight, but you should be able to if you look carefully." Harry said to his Professor

Severus's eyes narrowed further as he surveyed the person known as Lord Peverell within the common room for his house. This young man was of dark Elven descent surely, since the long and pointed ears gave him away to this end, but he did seem awfully familiar and oddly so. Then Severus's eyes widened as he took in the small details that his students had all overlooked as his mind went to a state of shock and nearly broke down.

His hair was the color black and it was as dark as a midnight sky with no moon or stars to light a path at night. It was long a silken, versus the normal shorter head of shaggy and messy locks they were used to seeing each day. His eyes were emerald colored and they were brighter than any gem to be seen anywhere in the world. Eyes that he knew he only ever seen on two others in his lifetime. It couldn't be, could it?

Severus cautiously looked to his forehead with respect now as his brain caught up to his eyes that observed the figure and there it was behind the very carefully applied light make-up to make it visible yet not as visible as it normally was each day.

"Harry Potter." Severus said uncertainly as his students eyes widened and turned to the figure who now wore a gentle and reserved smile.

"Yes, it is me Harry James Potter in reality before all of you." He said, "However, my being Lord Peverell is no joke as that would not be something to joke about. I am the son of James Alexander Potter and Lily Etaine Potter nee Evans."

"The Potter clan is directly related to Ignotus Peverell in lineage and as the tale of him and his three brothers goes; I hold a very precious artifact from Ignotus that has been in my family for generations now and one I believe Professor Snape has even been suspicious about for years. The god of death's own cloak of invisibility given to him by death himself as the tale says he did." Harry said as he drew it out and showed it to them.

Blaise was the first to speak and break the student's silence, "This is all well and good but why have you come here with Draco and for what purpose?" He asked

Harry looked to Draco softly with concern, "You can tell them or I can do so. It's your choice." He said quietly

As Draco sighed and nodded, Severus was wondering where this new closeness between Harry and Draco came from since they had not seemed to be close as this at the beginning of the year for certain.

Draco stepped forward, "This meeting was called for a reason and I said it was serious because it is. My father's murder was not done by the aurors on a raid and it was not an accident either. The dark lord murdered him in cold blood and petty anger after he failed him on a mission my father likely knew was going to be impossible to succeed at. He was held captive for three days before he was called to give a report and during these three days he was tortured as well. The torture was dealt by his fellow death eater comrades on the orders of their lord. My father was then further tortured by the dark lord after his report when he was called to give it before he was killed by him in petty anger to his failure." Draco said icily

The whole common area was quiet and the silence now was chilled.

Harry stepped forward now, "He speaks the truth as it was I who told him of the details pertaining to the true reasons his father was dead."

"You will all remember that at the beginning of the year I was laid up in the hospital wing for the first two weeks of the term after our arrival here? The headmaster may have given some kind of reasoning to the student body for my extended stay there to decrease the underlying panic evolving due to the war ahead, but his reasons were given to keep me safe from the dark lord more than anything else and they are not what he told you they are." Harry said calmly

Severus's eyes widened as he realized what Harry was going to do and tried to stop him as he shifted to move his wand. Severus had almost cast the stunning spell when Harry's eyes turned to him with a glare and the gaze had immobilized him, but it had also kept him awake and aware wordlessly. Severus's eyes narrowed on Harry now; where had these new abilities come from and why did he hide them instead of parade them before everyone else here?

"The real reason I was there is due to my visions." Harry said calm as ever, "You may have heard these visions were fake most of the time or have heard that the papers seem to think they make me crazy; but in truth, they are very real and very painful."

"My scar given to me sixteen years ago by the dark lord when his killing curse had back-fired on him created a connection between my mind and his. When the dark lord is very angry and he feels violent more than normal, the connection becomes more sensitive to the magic between him and I. This sensitivity allows me to at times, enter his mind unaware on both ends that I have done so and I am to be witness to the atrocious acts he commits whilst my body feels the pain he inflicts on those he tortures as if it were on me personally."

"This is how I know Lucius Malfoy was murdered by the Dark Lord and this is how I know that the Dark Lord is moving quickly now as he prepared his new vampiric and werewolf allies for an attack." Harry said as he met Severus's eyes with a hard line.

"How-" Severus began as Harry waved it over for later.

"I am aware though, that such words of a grievous matter cannot be said without evidence to back it up. I have the evidence you seek to know, but I cannot guarantee that it will change your opinions about the matter and allow you to see the truth that the dark lord is not what he appears. It will be up to you to decide this for yourself in time." Harry said as he went quiet

Draco nodded to Harry as he then stepped back and closed his eyes and began to chant some strange words softly to the room. The words were foreign to most there, but sounded beautifully musical to the ears. Severus knew a little dark elven drow and wondered now just how much he may have misjudged Harry over the years. The common room grew warmer slightly, though unnatural, as Harry's aura spiked its power again and everyone but Harry and Draco were on alert.

Harry kept chanting until he had a bright aqua ring of color around him. He made a several hand motions into symbols used by elves for summoning magical objects Severus noticed and suddenly a pensieve of unknown origin to the dour professor had appeared in Harry's hands before the room as the aqua glow receded from Harry's body.

"This is a pensieve, though I am sure most of you know that and of what it does or it is technically used for. However, this one is rather unique I came to find over the last summer holidays. This was Ignotus's as well and this pensieve has abnormal abilities due to the number of enchantments placed on it through its many generations of use. Gringotts is still unsure that they have uncovered all its secrets and abilities, which says something considering how goblins are about secrets." Harry said with slight smirk and Severus wondered what was meant by that.

"One such ability of this pensieve is that any memory put in here cannot be changed into another similar one to fake a lie and give deceptive views to others if they had desired to do so. There are loopholes to this one as a discrepancy due to the fact that fake memories could be made for protection in case of emergencies or other serious circumstances, but on the whole, it will not be able to tell you anything but the truth within the memories. This is the very same pensieve I showed Draco the memories I had of his father's captivity and murder from the visions I spoke of with and now the same one I will show you from as well." Harry said

"Draco has consented to allow me to show you the contents as he believes it is crucial you know of them. Be warned that whatever happen in here is not truly occurring and that if you try to tamper with the memory whilst inside of it; you will not like the consequences that come from doing so. Draco and I are willing to answer questions you have, but not until this over." Harry said as he tapped the basin with his wand.

The students and Severus watched in amazement as the room before them fell away and dissolved as they now reformed inside the memory. Severus had never seen a pensieve that had been powerful enough to do this, though he had heard rumors that they existed, so this was fascinating to him and he wanted to study the pensieve if Harry would allow him to.

Harry showed them the memory of Lucius and Narcissa being put in lock-down at Malfoy Manor with Antonin Dolohov and Augustus Rookwood as guards to the home. They watched in horror as Lucius was dragged from the den down into the dungeons of his own home and chained there. They saw torture on a new level as Rookwood and Dolohov broke Lucius's body down before he was to be seen by the dark lord.

Harry then showed them Narcissa as a fearful wife who feared for her husband and watched as he told her that if he was to die that she had to tell their son not to make the mistakes he made by not being able to say no to his father when he wanted him to join Tom's plight. They watched in sadness as Lucius apparated away and Narcissa gave a silent prayer that said she hoped he came back to her.

Harry showed Lucius having given his report and the insane anger the dark lord had over this minor failure. Tom murdering Lucius for failure, then another as the traitor was caught, tortured and killed before his body was desecrated by a polyjuice potion as double body of Lucius Malfoy for the aurors to find in the Ministry atrium later since Tom at least had enough decency to let Narcissa bury the real one as it should be. Then he showed the memory of Narcissa finding her his husband's body after the dark lord murdered him and she cried and screamed in loss of her mate as the room swirled again and they were brought out of the memories to the present again.

The students were silent after this and knew not what to think of this. Many of the older ones seemed pale as they knew soon enough that could be them and the younger ones seemed afraid and unsure of what to do. They all had been groomed and reared from the time they were born practically to know they would one day serve this man who called himself the dark lord.

"He's not what you thought is he?" Harry asked them in generality, "The dark lord is actually half-blood though he parades himself as pureblood. His mother was Merope Gaunt and an heiress to Salazar Slytherin himself. She died giving birth to him in an orphanage." Harry told them

"His father was Tom Riddle Sr. and he was the son of a wealthy muggle man who lived near her in the village of Little Hangleton in a great white manor home. Where Tom still resides despite its derelict state and his convictions to hating all things muggle in any form. Anyways, Merope loved him though he did not love her back. She managed to douse him and keep him under the effects of the Amortentia love potion for many years and when she became pregnant by him; for some reason, she stupidly decided to release him from the potion."

"Perhaps she thought he had been under it so long that he wouldn't abandon her because he had come to care for her and to love her? Or maybe out of a sense of responsibility he would stay for his child...I don't really know the answers to this, but the dark lord's father abandoned her after she explained she was a witch and pregnant with his child to him. He didn't want anything to do with her or the child she would have and he considered them both as abominations to the earth." Harry told them sadly

"The dark lord's real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. He was named Tom after his father whom he despised for his muggle blood and Marvolo for his mother's father from pureblood lineage."

"The dark lord only desires truly two things right now. The first is to be rid of me and Professor Dumbledore who stand firmly as obstacles to his full control of our world. A world that if he controlled it; would be turned over upside down with utter carnage and murder all the time. The world's roads would be paved with blood as the number of people who died would triple and quadruple each day."

"The second is a world where he can control all that is his in whatever manner he pleases. This is his means of saying he will recruit you under the pretense of a set level of goals and guidelines to lure you in. Once you're marked though, you're at his command and you are now considered disposable to him if he needs you to be."

"Riddle doesn't care if he punished his followers with the same methods he would torture muggles with, and you saw this from the memories we just watched together. He's insane and he only wants to utterly destroy our world as quickly as possible before he moves on to the next wizarding area outside Britain."

"You all know me as Harry Potter, icon and epitome of the light. The savior guided by a mentor of a man you deem unsatisfactory for your own reasons. I have fought Riddle from day one since I came back to this magical community five years ago."

"It would be understandable to let you think that Albus Dumbledore was my mentor all these years, since most wouldn't know otherwise even if they looked as hard as they pleased. However, I will make one thing quite clear here and now." Harry said firmly

"I have taken advice from the Headmaster as cautiously as I could these last five years, but no longer will I do so. I am in no way his puppet he can tell what to do by pulling on strings he thinks are attached to me. I gave up trusting him fully about a year ago when he would not give me a straight answer to things that should have been simple answers to the questions I had asked him."

"I am Lord Peverell now and my decisions are my own. I will not allow myself to blindly follow a man like him as I had before in knowing what he has done against me and my family line. I may in time indulge the answer you are likely to want from this statement, but for now I remain silent to this issue."

Blaise and Pansy seemed to be thinking as they looked to the other.

"Harry, pardon me for asking, but I think many of us here understand about the dark lord and his lying ways due to the number of us who have Death Eater parents, which I am sure you know about by now. But what would it matter now? We were all given to him as though we were his personal property literally from the day we were all born?" Pansy asked

Harry stared hard at her with a piercing glare in his verdant eyes as she flinched to the look, "Is that truly what you believe Pansy Delorea Parkinson? You are the daughter of Lord Richard and Lady Reina Parkinson; a lineage of pureblood prestige and honor, and yet you have a mind of your own as do all who are in this room? You all are not dogs that are guided by a master to a food dish!"

"Your parents carved the path they were put on due to their parents because for them they were no other options to them they could see, but you are a Slytherin and a daughter of noble birth who has enough common sense to see that if you follow their steps… that the chances for your own survival are slim because you know this is not the type of life you want." Harry told her

"Salazar Slytherin prided his students on their cunning and ambitions in life. This was not meant in way to be offensive, but as way for you to see truth. Cunning enables a person to see where opportunities are and aren't and their ambitions allows them to seize the opportunities before they die out. It allows them to see where their own personal survival is more level than where it is going to get them killed."

"The battlefield is a cruel scene to all who are put on it and cunning allows those who use it wisely to escape unharmed or less injured than most. I have battled the dark lord since I came here five years ago, and I have seen my share of the battlefield while knowing I will see much more if Riddle is not stopped soon. Tell me now Pansy Delorea Parkinson, that if you follow your parents footsteps and were to become a death eater as they did; do think the dark lord would spare you if he needed to escape the battlefield and you were closest one to him? You are marked as a follower under his lead, and his followers are disposable to him, so you tell me if you want to live a life like this or not?" Harry hissed at her

Pansy's eyes narrowed at Harry for his words, "No, I don't wish to live like that but what other options are there for all of us here? The Headmaster would never believe we were not up to something if we all just decided to seek sanctuary with Hogwarts." She said

Harry sighed in pretend dismay, "You're right, the headmaster would do this. You are forgetting something Pansy, though." He smirked now

The brown-haired girl seemed confused.

"It is not the headmaster who is destined to take down the dark lord this time. I am and I have been prophesized from birth to do this. I do not let the headmaster tell me what to do anymore, and I am Lord Peverell. This angers the dark lord because technically he should have inherited the title."

"He did not because he gave it up when he made seven horcruxes to ensure his immortality to this world." Harry said, "You can be neutral and no one will say anything bad about if you do, but that doesn't mean you might not be affected by the war because Tom punishes those who do not pick either his way, the light side, or the highway. He will try and recruit you again and again. The more you refuse his terms, the more you suffer."

"The Peverell lineage has dark secrets, and among many of them are the rumors of it descendants being dark wizards as dark as they come. I am no dark wizard, but neither have I truly been light. I fought for my survival in this world as it was the only way I knew to when the headmaster of the school led me into danger at the end of each year because he could not give me simple answers to questions that needed to be answered. I am a gray power, but one of great potential in terms of the war."

"You could serve a madman in a grab for self-serving power, and take the chance you may not be alive next year or be alive. But your personality and views of the world are forever changed."

"You could seek sanctuary here with the headmaster, but he will not allow it for all due to his suspicions and distrusting nature towards Slytherin house."

"Or, if you want to change the way the school looks at your house for the better and so it won't looked with condemnation all the time and then to change the distrust of the community to people from Slytherin due to the war, you can seek sanctuary with me at Peverell Manor next summer. I don't care if the headmaster says I have to go to my relatives home for safety or not, because I am emancipated now and I can and will do as my destiny drives me to. Whether he likes it or not."

"I say this to all of you here. Peverell Manor is large enough three times over for us all there. You could seek sanctuary there and remain neutral. But, you could also have safe shelter there if you side with me and escape the discrimination of your family for deciding not to follow a man bent on destroying our world."

"I am a pinnacle piece of this war and I will see it finished, but it is foolish to think I should be able to do this on my own. I need however many allies I can have to call on. I may not have shown an inclination to be allies or friends with any of you, but just the same, none of you tried to make amends to the other house for the risk of being found out."

"You all are living in a wartime period and soon enough we will be called on from either side to do our part. I will not stand by idly let Tom Riddle destroy the world that took my parents from me, or the world that allowed me freedom to be who I was."

"Can you do the same?" Harry asked them all

Draco watched with observing eyes as his mate tried to reach out to his friends and his classmates with wisdom and experience behind the words. He had dealt with Tom too many times before, yet his friends were being difficult.

Harry noticed the uncertainty in the room, "I think you don't believe you're disposable to him. I think you need convinced the dark lord has no care for any person other than himself."

"Do you want to know how the dark lord was resurrected? Do you want to know how Cedric Diggory was truly murdered? Do you want to know how cruel he truly is? I can show you if you need the persuasion?" Harry said with a dark and bitter laugh that sent chills through the room

The room swirled again as an old memory came up while the present faded.

:Flashback:

Harry and Cedric landed into the middle of a dark graveyard and seemingly alone.

"I didn't know the Cup was a port-key, did you?" Harry asked as he panted and blood oozed from a wound on his arm from those damnable Skrewts of Hagrid's.

"No. Wands out, do you reckon?" Cedric asked

Harry nodded and they pulled out their wands.

Cedric was about to cast a Lumos when a quiet and eerie voice sounded.

"Kill the spare." It said

The words were followed by a flash of green light that jetted towards Cedric and hit him square in the chest. His body fell to the ground as Harry trembled with shock. Where were they now and why would that happen? Unless this was a plan of Riddle's and someone tampered with the Cup turning it into a port-key.

The next thing Harry knew he was slammed into a tall headstone and magically bound by invisible ropes as a dense fog cleared and a large cauldron on a fire bubbled in the distance before him. He looked up to the name on the tombstone, 'Tom Riddle' was what it had read.

He noticed Wormtail, the true betrayer of his parents on that fateful Halloween night thirteen years ago, was attending something inside the cauldron.

"Let us begin, Wormtail." Said the eerie voice again

Wormtail trembled but nodded, "B-bone of the f-father unknowingly g-given, you will renew your son." Wormtail said

Harry by now realized Wormtail was reviving his master as his scar started burning painfully when the ritual began.

'Let it drown, please whatever that ritual is doing to Voldemort; let it fail and let him drown' Harry thought though he knew it was hopeless.

"Flesh of the servant, w-willingly given, you will revive your m-master." He continued as Harry winced in intense pain

Then Harry watched as Wormtail brought up a hand, the one he framed Sirius Black with thirteen years ago with and had one missing finger on it; Wormtail gripped the dagger in his hand and swung it upward quickly.

Harry realized the second before and closed his eyes to the act though he could not block the scream of pain that pierced the night air and Harry felt as though he had been hit by the dagger too.

Harry heard the hand fall to the ground and then a sickening splash of water, as it was then added to the cauldron. Wormtail was panting for breath, and moaning in agony from pain.

It was not until Harry had felt Wormtail's anguished and disgusting breath that he realized the man was in front of him. What happened next…there was nothing Harry knew he could have done to prevent it from happening.

"B-blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will…resurrect your foe." He gasped

Harry couldn't prevent it; he was tied to tightly. He squinted down and struggled helplessly to break the ropes as he saw Wormtail's silver dagger shaking in his only other hand.

Harry then felt the point put pressure into the crook of his right arm and penetrate the skin's surface. Blood, his blood, it seeped down the torn sleeve of his robes. Wormtail fumbled in his pockets for a glass vial as the blood dripped to the glass and then into it when he found it and held it to the cut he made on Harry.

Wormtail staggered to his master in the cauldron and poured Harry's blood inside it. The liquid in the cauldron had turned bright white and Wormtail slumped to the ground now that his job was done.

The cauldron simmered violently as it spewed diamond sparks in all directions. The light was so blindingly, that all around them seemed nothing more than an enticing blackness made of velvet. Then nothing else had happened…

'Let drown…" Harry thought, "Let it have gone awfully wrong somehow."

Then the cauldron stopped sparkling and the simmering ended while a surge of white steam emanated directly from the cauldron.

Then through the mist in front of him, Harry saw it, with an icy surge of utter terror in his gut; the dark outline of a man who was tall and skeletally thin. He rose slowly from the inside of the large cauldron.

"Robe me." He said in a high, cold tone from behind the steam

Wormtail, who was still sobbing and moaning as he cradled his left hand scrambled to his feet at once to pick up the black robes from the ground and then reached up and pulled them over his master's head one-handed.

The thin man then stepped out of the cauldron, and stared directly at Harry and Harry stared back at the figure. To the face that had haunted his nightmares for the last three years after he came to Hogwarts. Whiter than any skull bone with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was a flat as a snake's with slit's for the nostrils.

Harry knew it only a matter of time.

Lord Voldemort had risen again…

:End of Flashback:

The memory ended and the room swirled again and when they came to the present; Harry saw many faces who were just as pale as he had been that night during that atrocious event. Some looked sick too now and were turning green. Even Professor Snape, a war-hardened spy and veteran, looked rather pale now as he now had witnessed the true events of that night from last year when he and Cedric had taken the Cup together.

"I am partially to blame for the resurrection of your lord. He is the way he is in a functional form, as it was my blood he took from me to be in that ritual. However, what you did not see is that Wormtail was missing several toes and other assorted flesh pieces to his anatomy unless you looked very carefully."

"The dark lord had tried to do this ritual several times with other young wizards around my age who looked similar to me before the term had even started that year at the time and they failed because these young wizards were not as strong as I was, so therefore died due to their inadequate power and the dark lord's greed for a new physical form. Wormtail tried to get his master to use another as he had thought that with me being at Hogwarts; it would therefore make things more difficult to accomplish, but the many attempts had proved futile to the ritual."

"But when the dark lord will settle for nothing less than what he wants done; he plans to get it and so he got my blood by the time the tournament was over. He got the power to touch my skin by using my blood in this ritual. We all remember Professor Quirrel yes, and how he was not at our first year ending feast? Well, he had your lord living as a parasite under his turban on the back of his head that year. When Quirrel tried to steal an artifact placed at Hogwarts for safe-keeping, I went after him with Ron and Hermione to keep him from getting it. I ended up facing him alone as Ron had gotten hurt in a challenge before we arrived to where he was and there was not enough of a specific substance to allow both Hermione and I through the last barrier to even get to him."

"Quirrel tried to use me to get the object he wanted by coersion, but he inevitably failed, so his master told him to kill me and he probably would have if something they had not taken into account had not happened. Tom's killing curse back-fired on me because my mother gave her life for my own in her stand to protect me from him. When Quirrel grabbed me by the throat to strangle because he knew that he did not have the power to match me with his lord so vulnerable to my casting in that room, his hand started to burn and the flesh rotted rapidly and so he let me go."

"The dark magic from Tom's parasitic form against my strong magic that was yet untainted by dark magic had then allowed me to survive him from strangling me to death. I killed Quirrel that night but not with a curse or hex of any kind. I simply had realized my skin contact alone had burned his hand to a decayed sand at prolonged contact point, so after he let go of me; I lunged at him and I placed my hands on his face and held them there where the dark lord was most vulnerable as well as Quirrel to this attack. Quirrel's body decayed rapidly and he then died almost instantly after another few seconds and turned to dust as the spirit of the dark lord fled the room as it flew through my body."

"The full story is one kept for later if any are interested in it, but for now it is time for Slytherin house to decide its fate for the next few years as the war rages."

"I will give you sanctuary in my home should you ask and if you side with me in the war; you have my complete protection from the Ministry or the Headmaster if it goes that far and I assume it will for some of you before me due to your parents notoriety, but I won't push you further." Harry said

"Is there anything you would like to ask me?" He said

"Even if you give us sanctuary and we side with you for your fight, if we are disowned after this; what will you do?" Blaise asked him

Harry nodded, "A fair question I think since it is possible that this could happen. To answer it though, I will fight the Ministry that if you are disowned and your parents are charged to Azkaban for being Tom's follower; that you had no connection to their crimes and to ensure that any of you who hold titles from your lineages will not lose them due to your parents mistake."

"For those without titles, I will still fight the Ministry tooth and nail to ensure you have freedom after the war and will not be imprisoned for crimes based off of false allegations." Harry said

Blaise raised a brow, "How would you be able to do this?"

Severus snorted before Harry could answer, "I can answer that Mr. Zambini. Mr. Potter will have defeated the dark lord so he will be considered a hero. He could call in favors, but I'm sure that is not his style of doing things. He is however, Lord Peverell, and will hold a lot of sway over the Wizengamot if he wished. He will fight the Ministry I'm sure."

"Not only that, but most of the Ministry workers actually respect Harry for his deeds against Tom Riddle already. The Minister, while he respects him, is utterly scared witless of Harry and how much power he could have there over his hold due to his influence and respect among the workers in the Ministry and our community. He will fight Harry at times and it will seem discriminatory from the Ministry to do so, but it would be useless because the Minister already knows Harry well enough to know that when he sets his mind to something; he doesn't give up easily and if it is a fight he wants...a fight he will get in return." Severus said easily with a smirk

Harry was silent but rather surprised by the answer Severus had given them before he too smirked of his own accord now.

"Damn right Minister Fudge should know that by now. I mean, I only broke about-what two dozen time-turners and the glass cabinet they were in last year during the department of mysteries fiasco when my anger spiked at Bellatrix after she killed my godfather and then was dead set on revenge." Harry said to Severus sideways

"I believe that was the point in which you shattered the sphere of prophecy you had obtained in the hall of prophecy beforehand and ran after Bellatrix Lestrange to the atrium and then had tried to cast the Cruciatus on her and it failed?" Severus asked nonchalantly as he smirked too now

The room stared at Harry with wide eyes as he smirked, "Oh, it failed that time because my heart wasn't in it or as Bellatrix said to me when she laughed at me; you have to mean it for it to work, but next time she won't be so lucky. Ignotus gifted me during my impromptu early majority and inheritance." Harry smirked with a gleam, "Of course, the second time I tried it on her, I actually knocked her to her feet and made out of breath." Harry said slyly

Severus stared now as he watched Harry think about getting back at Bellatrix Lestrange for the murder of Sirius Black. He had not been told that Harry had attempted the curse twice on Bellatrix during that fiasco of an adventure, and Severus grit his teeth when he knew it was likely on purpose that he had not been told this.

"Of course my failed Cruciatus only led my ager to being spiked more. I almost bet that had I been allowed to test it again for a third try; she would have screamed like I wanted her to considering the pain she caused me emotionally that night by killing one of the few living people left who knew my parents and could tell me more of them. However, my good friend the dark lord Tom Riddle showed up there in person to save her hide and I didn't get to." Harry said sarcastically with a pout on his face while some of the slytherins looked at him as if he were crazy and others were awed that he had tried to take Draco's aunt on by himself.

Severus smirked again, "And that's when the dark lord nearly got permanent possession of you by possessing your mind in the atrium, if I recall? Luckily for you Harry, Albus showed up to thwart Tom's spell by distracting him with his arrival there."

Harry glared at him, "Shut up, that's not anything funny even if it is true. I am however, not controlled by an insane madman hell-bent on world domination by using dark magic."

"Touche…" Severus said with a smirk

Blaise and Pansy looked at Harry, "You must have some interesting stories to tell, Harry. Considering you mentioned turning people to dust, knowing of the dark lord's past, shattering time-turners, mind-possession, and more in that little spiel." Pansy said

"I would tell you some if I could, but I can't right now." Harry said, "I have…somewhere I need to go before I head to my dormitory. However, before I leave; I have to make sure of one thing."

"I want to know if Slytherin would be willing to aid me in the war ahead?" Harry asked, "I gave you my offer of my personal protection and sanctuary within my home that is well warded from generations of my ancestors living there. This would mean you could be friends and allies and more if all goes well in time. The dark lord will wait for no one nor will he stop for anyone, but neither will the headmaster and I will break my ties to him soon enough as is."

"I respect him as one fellow wizard to another, but there have been issues that have complicated our continued friendship any further and if at worst; we will no longer speak to the other at the end of this."

"I am Lord Peverell now, and the descendant to an ancestor who was said to be aligned to all of the houses in the castle and all of the lineages of noble and common birth alike. I am the prophesized child said to defeat the dark lord and I ask for your willing aid if you will lend it to me." Harry asked of the houses and lineages formally

To the shock of the house, Draco bowed low first and foremost of his acceptance.

"I, Lord Draconis Lucien Malfoy, willingly of sound mind and body accept the offer you gave us and I promise to lend assistance to Lord Peverell in any way I can during the war ahead as I chose of my own free will to fight here and now beside him whether I live or die."

Harry nodded and looked to the rest of the house for their answers.

One by one each of them made up their mind on their own and they all came forward and pledged the same oath as Draco had done to Harry in their willingness to side with him and to know they would not suffer for their parents faults any longer.

Then as Harry was leaving, he slipped his invisibility cloak to Draco and he knew why as he tried not to get too excited now about it and covered himself with it. He carefully followed Harry out of the dorm to avoid notice that he wasn't there any longer either. Surprisingly though, Severus stopped Harry momentarily after they had left as he seemed to have something he wanted to say.

"Harry, I know you said you were going back your relatives these holidays, but now for some reason...I don't think that this is what you intend to be doing for the holidays at all. I need to ask you some things and so I would like to know where you will reside?" He asked him carefully

Harry glanced at his professor warily, "You won't tell the headmaster, will you?" He asked him

Severus shook his head, "No, because for some reasoning I cannot understand; it sounds as if you don't believe in his goals any longer other than defeating Riddle and that he has essentially lost your trust. I imagine it was for a good reason if he did, and that makes wary of the headmasters intentions considering how he uses me as a spy among Riddle's followers. I have long felt out of place with the headmaster and his group, as you know."

"I felt more as though you knew what being a true leader in war does and is about despite your age, and so I want to know where you will be to talk over some things with you that might be important for you to know. As well as the fact that I feel as though I have perhaps severely misjudged you and your character when you arrived here five years ago, and I intend to correct what I can." He said slowly

Harry looked at him, "I think that is one of the few times I've heard you call me my real name without malice. It's a nice change, but in answer to your question originally…I will be at Malfoy Manor with Narcissa and Draco as Peverell Manor is still being updated on a lot of things there for now."

"It will be done by the end of the term though." Harry said when Severus seemed concerned and then relaxed at the words.

The normally dour man nodded, "Very well, I will see you there when you arrive and forewarn Draco I will be stopping by as he probably forgot to re-add me into the wards at his home, since I am assuming you two are going somewhere to finalize how you will be getting there without the notice of the Order and our meddling headmaster."

Harry nodded with a blank face as he left the dungeons with Draco and himself under the cloak when they reached the outside hallways. They went back to the room of requirement for 'planning,' or whatever else Severus thought they would we be doing there.