A/N: This is so late, and I'm so sorry. Life got in the way. I feel so bad for taking so long time, and it's not even 3k...

The first part of this took me like. Two weeks to write. The rest is more quality.

INTERLUDE

Except for the first letter, they had heard nothing from Harry. Remus, ever the voice of reason, had reminded them that Harry had written that he unlikely would be able to send more letters, and that it had only been a few days. It made them feel better until Severus pointed out that Riddle had more or less encouraged that they kept in contact through Lucius, as long as they didn't try to meet with Harry. Needless to say, the mood went down again after that.

As they all had taken leave from their jobs - except for Severus, as he was unable to without finding a substitute teacher - most of their time was spent trying to come up with various rescue plans and going through all locator spells and potions they could come up with. One of them should be able to find Harry, even if he was behind wards. At least, that's what they hoped. They had yet to have any success.

Currently, they were discussing the pros and cons of going to Dumbledore.

"He's Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock, so he definitely have contacts in high places, and he did defeat Grindelwald."

"Grindelwald was a Dark Lord, not a murderer." Remus reminded Sirius for the umpteenth time.

"A Dark Lord that murdered." Sirius countered with a look of triumph, until he remembered why they were discussing this.

"I hardly think Dumbledore can challenge Riddle to a duel." James cut in, since they had diverted from the real discussion. Lily sat quietly next to him. She rarely said anything since Harry had been kidnapped, likely blaming herself for it. James held her hand gently, as quiet support.

"This is not getting anywhere." Remus sighed. They had been talking in circles for hours by now. "Perhaps Severus can give us a new perspective when he comes over…"

"When is Snivellus getting here anyway?" Sirius asked, and cast tempus. His face fell when he realized that it was just 2 in the afternoon. Severus wouldn't come before 5 pm as earliest.

"Perhaps we should take a break." Remus suggested, after he saw what time it was.

"We can't." Lily interrupted, speaking for the first time in hours. Her voice was broken.

"Lils, Remus is right. A break would do us good." James said softly. "Perhaps some food will help us think."

Lily sighed, as if in defeat.
"Some food then." she agreed quietly.

James called for Tipsy and told her to bring them a light lunch. He had thought about moving to the dining room, but one look at Lily quickly made him discard that idea. If he didn't know his wife better, he would have been inclined to say that she had given up. Harry had not even been gone a week yet, and Lily seemed like a shadow of her former self. He was sure that she would get her strength back as soon as she stopped blaming herself, or they heard from Harry, whatever would come first.

He barely noticed when Tipsy served them food, lost in thoughts as he had been. They murmured thanks and started eating.

The meal was silent, making it impossible for them to miss when the fire in the fireplace suddenly sparked to life. They all recognized the green that could only mean that someone was flooing through. Barely had the realization hit them before Severus Snape stepped out, with a bunch of papers in hand.

"I came as soon as I could." Severus started, after he wandlessly and non-verbally cleaned his robes from ashes. "Riddle sent me the potion notes I had asked Harry about, together with a note."

Lily rose up.
"What does the note say?" she asked breathlessly. James placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"I'll tell you, but please sit down first, Lily." Severus said, as he sunk down in an armchair. Lily obeyed and looked at him expectantly. Severus sorted through his papers until he found the note in question.

"Severus,

I sincerely hope that you understand that I can't send you any information about what the potion is for. I remember you with certain fondness as you were my Head of House and a brilliant potion master, which is why I'm allowing Harry to trust you with this. I do suggest that you don't do anything to lose my trust.

Since I'm sure you're worried about your godson, it's my pleasure to inform you that he is well. I would much appreciate to hear back from you with a decisive amount of lacewing flies." he read.

"I would feel a lot better if we heard from Harry." James said with a sigh, breaking the silence that had followed.

"We all would." Remus answered. "For now, we can only trust that Riddle is telling the truth."

"Sev." Lily said quietly. "You know Riddle the best. Is he telling the truth?"

"He can be charming and manipulative, but he is not an outright liar." Severus said carefully. "The question is how he defines being well."

"It's better than nothing." Sirius said, and slumped back into his seat. Before anyone could say anything more, an owl flew into the room and dropped a letter on Lily's lap. The owl was gone again before anyone was quite sure what had happened.

"Is it from Harry?" Remus asked. Lily took the letter with shaking hands and opened it.

"No." she whispered. "It's from Riddle."

James carefully took the letter from her so that he could read it in her stead.

"Mr and Mrs Potter,
I took the liberty to perform a lineage ritual on your son. Are you aware that both Mr Potter and Harry are of creature blood, thanks to the late Euphemia? I assume not, as Harry's creature inheritance was bound.

You have a powerful son. His magic has been fighting the bind for a while.

Mr Potter, if you know anything about your mother's side of the family, Harry would be delighted by the information. As for who bound your creature inheritance, I'd suggest a certain Headmaster.

Do not worry, Harry is safe and well. He's adjusting to his inheritance."

Silence settled once more after James finished reading the letter. James reread it twice to himself while the others were staring at him. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"This was news to me." he admitted.

"You don't know what sort of creature blood it is then?" Severus asked.

"I have no idea." James mumbled, before looking over at Sirius and Remus. "Hey, Remus. Can you smell anything? Do you know anything? You did meet my mum."

"Sorry, James. I can't smell a bound creature. If we get another letter from Harry, I might be able to smell that… or you can go through with the lineage ritual."

"I don't know any lineage rituals though." James answered.

"You could visit Gringotts." Sirius suggested. The others gave him odd looks. "Why are you guys looking at me like that? Everyone knows that goblins are the ones to turn to when you need something done."

"Must be a pureblood thing." James said after a while, which directed the odd looks towards him. "I actually knew about the goblins, I just didn't connect it to Gringotts at first." he defended himself.

"Had you decided on anything before I arrived?" Severus asked, and efficiently changed the subject back to the pros and cons of going to Dumbledore.

They had just entered Grimmauld Place to have a conversation with the portrait of the late Walburga Black when they overheard a conversation from the kitchen. Curious, they decided to investigate.

"Have Harry sent anymore letters?" Tonks asked, from where she was making a cup of tea. They blinked, their curiosity spiked once more. Why would Harry need to send letters?

"No." Sirius sighed. "Riddle, on the other hand…"

Oh, this didn't sound particularly good. They only knew of one Riddle, and if they spoke of letters that hadn't come from Harry but from Riddle… they couldn't be serious, could they?

"I wish." Tonks groaned. They must have missed that Sirius said something more. "Not even Mad-Eye has any idea, and you'd expect him to know at least something with all those wards on his house."

They considered making their presence known, because what the actual fuck was going on?

"Riddle seems way too fascinated with Harry, so it's doubtful he'll let Harry go." Sirius grumbled.

"How's Lily taking it?" Tonks asked, changing the subject somewhat.

"She's blaming herself, thinks she could have stopped Riddle from kidnapping Harry if she had reacted faster." Sirius answered, his voice tired.

They slapped a hand over their mouth, and pressed their nails into the palm of the other to not make a sound. Harry was kidnapped and no one had told them?! What the hell! They took a deep breath. Talking to Walburga had to wait, they needed to know about this. With a decisive nod to themself, they apparated to see Severus.

A bowl of lemon drops was within easy reach on his desk. There was an inkwell on his other side, with a quill waiting to be used. In front of him where an empty parchment. Albus sighed as he went through possible wordings. Writing to Aberforth was never an easy task. Of course, he could have gone down the Hog's Head but it was very likely that his brother would throw him out. Exchanging letters was where their shaky relationship was still stuck after all these years.

Suddenly remembering a funny anecdote to start the letter with, Albus put his quill to the parchment. He had just gotten to the best part when something suddenly exploded in his office. He calmly put down the quill and turned to the silver instrument in question. It was whirring too quick for him to see the movements and smoke was coming from it. He froze it with a spell before it would either fall apart or catch on fire. When it stopped, he recognized it immediately.

"Oh, Tom, what have you done…" Albus sighed. It was the instrument that told him if young Potter ever got into his creature inheritance, an extra assurance since he had bound the inheritance himself. He doubted that the boy was strong enough to break his bound alone, which led him to believe that Tom Riddle was involved. Albus could only hope that young Potter could take care of himself.

As he turned back to his letter, there was a knock on the door to his office. Albus glanced on one of his other colourful instruments before looking towards the door.

"Come in, Severus." he said, loud enough for his voice to carry through the door. Severus entered, in company of James, Lily, Remus and Sirius. His instrument had of course told him, but it was still odd to see.

"What can I help you with? Lemon drops?" he offered, and gestured towards the bowl. They all politely refused his offer of sour candy.

"It's about Harry, Albus." Severus started. "Riddle kidnapped him a week ago."

"Over a week ago." Lily corrected in a whisper.

"That's a long time." Albus said carefully. "Do you have any evidence that Harry is still alive?"

"Only a letter where Riddle promises that Harry is well." James said, and handed Albus the letter in question. "He also mentions you as responsible for a bound creature inheritance…"

Albus nodded solemnly. He should have expected Tom to try to put him in a bad light.

"I am." he confessed. "But it was for the Greater Good™."

"Greater Good? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!" Remus asked, with tightly controlled fury. "Creatures are not meant to be forcibly bound! It's even worse when you don't let him come into the inheritance at all! His magic could be damaged, trying to undo the bound, or you could have bound too much! What creature is he that made you think you had the privilege to do that without consent?!"

"The Echidna." Albus answered, his tone calm. Remus quieted down at once.

"The mother of monsters…" Severus breathed.

"Did you bind me as well?" James asked, as he tried to puzzle the pieces together.

"I had to, my dear boy." Albus answered. "I can undo it for you now. There can ever only be one Echidna at the same time, and if Harry's inheritance is unbound, you're in no danger."

James nodded weakly, unsure what there was to answer. Albus lifted up his wand, and with a long chant he unbound James' inheritance. Except for a rain of white sparks, nothing happened.

"There's a chance that you'll feel more in touch with your magic now." Albus offered when he noticed their confused faces.

"What about Harry?" Sirius asked. "We need to save him."

"Ah." Albus agreed with a nod. "That, we do."

Undesirable no. 1 - unexpected saviour?
by Rita Skeeter

Yes, you read correctly my dear readers! A source that wish to stay anonymous came to me with this juicy information, and I found it my duty as an reporter to share it with you.

On the 21st of September, Harry James Potter was involved in a kidnapping at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. Riddle dutifully left his infamous mark over the well known pet shop. Why have you not heard about this before, you might ask. Well, my faithful readers, it's because the Ministry kept it secret! Riddle broke his pattern by kidnapping Mr Potter, and the Aurors were at a loss as to why. I'm delighted to be able to share the truth with you.

The kidnapping was staged! Riddle had before the kidnapping visited the pet shop and gotten acquainted with Mr Potter. It was during one of these meetings that Mr Potter revealed himself to be a parselmouth, a trait unheard of in England outside of the Slytherin line and creature lines. This revelation was unexpected for both parts. My source says that Mr Potter reaction to the news where "Impossible. There's no parselmouths in the Potter line, and my mother is muggleborn." - two well known facts.

Of course, this information still left other possibilities. Riddle deduced that there could be creature blood in the Potter line, and offered to perform a lineage ritual. Mr Potter agreed, and it became clear that there is indeed creature blood in the Potter line, from the late Euphemia Potter.

It's extremely rare that a creature status is unknown, which led to the suggestion that someone had bound Mr Potter's inheritance. Can you imagine, dear reader, that someone dared bind Mr Potter's natural magic without consent? It's revolting!

Riddle and Mr Potter planned the kidnapping together, as to give them an opportunity to break the bind on Mr Potter and let him safely come into his inheritance.

My source finished with informing me that no other than our highly esteemed Albus Dumbledore is the main suspect for binding poor Mr Potter's natural magic. I promise, I'm as shocked as you are, my dear readers! I have decided to take it upon myself to learn more about Headmaster Dumbledore's past in hopes of either confirming or denying this accusation.

Until then, I advice you to think twice about Headmaster Dumbledore's role in our society. Has the power finally gone to his head?

In the topmost cell of Nurmengard, laughter could be heard echoing between the walls. A once feared man sat with his back against the door, an English newspaper clutched in his hands.

"Oh, Albus… what a mess you've created for yourself." was said in between bouts of laughter. "I wonder how you'll clean up after yourself this time."

A/N: The mysterious person spying on Sirius and Tonks is the same person that sent Harry a letter using Hedwig. I'm going to be using they/them pronouns for them even after they are revealed because there can never be enough trans characters.

There's a poll on my profile related to the summary of this fic, please vote!

And as always, please review x I'll try my best to get back on track with weekly updates!