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Chapter 85:
Soon, it was time for them all to return to Hogwarts.
Pettigrew's Trial was being held at the beginning of January, just after new year, because the Wizenamagot was made up of a bunch old stuffy purebloods who all had long standing affiliations with Light or Dark respectively, and thus the operation was receiving some resistance.
It would happen though…one way or another.
At least they couldn't deny that Sirius hadn't murdered the rat.
Sirius…his godfather had sat him down for a rather forceful 'chat' about keeping things that were detrimental to his health to himself. Harry had spent a large fraction of the time mentally thanking whoever was in charge of these things that Sirius didn't know the specifics of all of his years at Hogwarts, then.
It was just…in his experience, most adults weren't that competent outside of their good intentions. At least, not competent in a good way.
Still, he'd nodded for the sake of not dampening Sirius' mood.
The dark-haired marauder was beginning to panic about all the things that could go wrong with the investigation into his freedom.
Harry was happy to be back at Hogwarts though, and he felt more connected to his friends again after the holiday. He also had a whole new bundle of crap to deal with, mainly involving the locket and Voldemort's new found hobby of haunting his nights as if the Dark Lord had nothing better to do with his time.
It was always disconcerting to wake up from then, and not just due to the pain…and it made being around Tom exceedingly difficult as Voldemort seemed intent to sweep all differences under the rug until just seeing the other's face made his stomach clench in anticipation of torture.
He hoped Tom hadn't noticed, though the Slytherin Heir probably had…he'd given Harry several suspicious scrutinising looks already, and Harry could only claim Death Eater screw ups so much to explain the flinches and trembling that were creeping up on his battered mind.
But other than that, he was happy, especially to be back at Hogwarts. The break hadn't been the most enjoyable, with the gloom of Mr Weasley's death hanging over the house, but it had been…good.
He'd looked through some of the pensieve memories with Remus and Sirius, and laughed his arse off at his father's antics, regarding Lily.
He wasn't sure exactly how they had managed to get together seeing some of the things, but at the same time he knew they did, and the later moments proved it.
He got to see his parent's wedding. It was a quiet affair, due to the war, but wonderful and filled with happiness. Lily had looked beautiful and carefree in a flowing white dress, and there was a hilarious scene of Sirius slapping James around the face when he got pre-ceremony jitters and almost threw up in terror that he'd say his vows wrong.
He would have liked to have known them better, but was sure that they would be different with him, being their child, then they would be with their friends. Still.
The other Slytherins were waiting for them when they entered the Common Room; Zevi, Abraxas, Lestrange and Alphard approaching immediately.
"Tom-you're back!" Lestrange gushed, "I have a present for you…come on, I'll give it to you, I think you'll like it-"
"-did you have a good Christmas?" Alphard.
"-Draco invited us to visit the family manor for New Year's…wouldn't you like to go? Can I go?" Abraxas.
There was also something about an experiment gone wrong, to which Tom pursed his lips, and another something about the fingers disintegrating which made Harry double take.
"Fingers?" he repeated incredulously, cutting through the noise, staring at Tom. "What the hell do you do when I'm not around? - they better not be bloody human!"
Tom waved a dismissive hand.
"Dementor fingers," he said, as if that explained everything. "I was experimenting…ignore it."
The young Dark Lord sent Alphard (whom had mentioned it) a cold expression, to which the Black paled, not saying anything further, glancing back at…Daphne Greengrass?
Harry noticed that no one else mentioned anything about fingers or experiments after that.
It was rather strange to get a full blast of Tom's system at work.
It was only Tom's original group…inner circle…that talked, but they were addressing the issues and questions raised by many other Slytherins. To Harry's mind, it brought back vague memories of the Patronage and royal court factions that he'd read about in muggle History class, when he was nine. Something like that.
It was hard to put down a finger of Tom's systems, except for the fact that most people vied for his attention, but ending up getting it via proxy…aka, either Zevi, Abraxas, Alphard or Lestrange.
He'd never get his head around Death Eater politics and slipped past, heading towards Draco and the current year Slytherins in an effort to avoid the distinctive aura of hierarchy.
Zevi caught his arm, discreetly as he weaved past, pulling him closer for a moment.
"Are you alright…? I heard about the Weasley Patriarch," the Prince heir murmured. Harry flashed a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine…thanks for the book."
Zevi studied him neutrally for a moment.
"You're welcome," he returned quietly, releasing him once again with a brief smile. "It's great to have you back…Tom's been driving people up the wall in his boredom."
Harry laughed at that, continuing on his way to the corner of the room. The current day Slytherins looked up at him as he drew to a stop by the table.
"Good Christmas?" he asked, when they didn't speak.
"Alright," Draco replied, seeming nonplussed by his effort of small talk.
"What about you?" Parkinson said, smiling sweetly at him, placing a hand on his thigh as he sat down. "Good Christmas? I have a present for you, you know."
Draco's jaw tightened, as did Nott's, though he didn't know why.
"That's…er…nice of you," he said, shifting his leg away slightly, casually. Blaise Zabini appeared marginally amused.
"Why are you talking to us?" Draco asked, impatiently, after a moment. "Have you and Riddle had a lover's tiff already-?"
"We're not-" Harry began, infuriated, before giving up and just shaking his head in despair. "No, Tom and I haven't argued. Why? Do you want me to not talk to you?"
"I don't know," Draco replied warily, "is Riddle going to bite our head off? In case you hadn't noticed, he doesn't like me…which is your fault."
"Nonsense," Pansy said airily. "I'm sure Tom doesn't mind, and I certainly don't mind Harry talking to us, he can talk to us all he pleases."
"Parkinson, don't you have homework?" Nott snapped. Harry was starting to feel bewildered, but recognised the situation well enough, and didn't show it.
He'd just unwittingly walked straight into the middle of an in progress Slytherin power shift. Which he, apparently, seemed somehow involved in.
He debated silently for a moment for his response, more used to it than his Gryffindor sensibilities would admit. He didn't like ordering people around, except Tom, but Tom needed to be ordered around every now and again for the sake of his overwhelming ego…but Pansy Parkinson was really annoying and he thought her smile was too close to a flirtatious leer for his liking…and to not do anything would be sign of weakness. But nor was he one to abide by peer pressure. Damn.
"Homework…" he murmured, instead. "We have that essay due in for Snape, don't we? On the effect of Boomslang skin in Potions, right? Have you lot all done it?"
They eyed him in a speculating manner, before Nott shrugged.
"Did it ages ago, it's better to get Potions done early to get all the researching done."They talked about classes for a bit, and Harry breathed an inward sigh of relief as the conversation continued smoothly.
He honestly didn't understand how Tom could gain such pleasure from always directing conversation, it was tiring.
"I think Riddle wants you to come over," Zabini said quietly, in a lull of the conversation. "He's staring at you."
"He does that," Harry replied, but looked around nonetheless. Tom arched his brows at him, questioningly, subtly tilting his head to the main sofa they were occupying. Harry wondered how the original Slytherins felt about being kicked from their spots.
He looked back at the current day Slytherins, who were watching the exchange with veiled curiosity.
"Are you not going to go over there?" Draco asked nervously. Harry's brow furrowed at the anxious hint in the younger…same age but current day…Malfoy's tone.
"Salazar, he really does scare the crap out of you, doesn't he?"
"Eloquent," Zabini smirked, causing Harry to pull a face at him, automatically. Draco shifted, but didn't say anything.
All the other Slytherins had gone oddly quiet as well.
"Okay…is he really that scary? I mean, sure, he's not…cuddly, and he has his moments, but he's not…I'm not scared of him," Harry stated, slowly.
"That," Draco mumbled, "is because he likes you."
"And the Dark Lord tries to kill you, so most things would pale in comparison," Zabini added calmly. Harry blinked.
What exactly had Tom got up to when he was away? He sighed.
"What did he do while I was…away?" he demanded. They just looked at him.
"Tell me. I won't mention it to him."
"Mention what to whom?" a voice asked behind his back.
Harry flipped his head back onto his chair to see a familiar upside down face, regarding him with slight amusement Tom. Of course.
"Mention to Lestrange that I got him dog biscuits," he said.
"You're not giving them to him?" Tom questioned, in a disappointed tone of voice. "Buzz kill."
"He doesn't need my torture on top of yours," Harry said, glancing at Lestrange who quickly averted his gaze.
How had he not noticed Lestrange fancied Tom? He must have simply put it down to Lestrange being a total sycophant who stared after Tom, regardless.
"But his expression would be so very entertaining," Tom returned, grinning like a shark.
"Sadistic bastard," Harry remarked. Tom tipped an imaginary hat as if in acknowledgement, before settling into a seat next to them.
Harry noticed that the current day Slytherins had got very tense, and still, but were all slightly leaning towards Tom in spite of this, as if drawn like magnets.
The past day Slytherins looked at them, as did many of the other Slytherins…attention followed Tom.
"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Tom asked, suddenly, smiling as if he were slightly cautious of doing so.
Sometimes Harry wondered if Tom had a "inconvenient time to cut in" device to go with his "dramatic moment" detector.
It was much later at night when Harry walked into his dorm, before stopping. There was an extra bed.
"That's from us, Slytherins, collectively," Alphard drawled. "We petitioned to Snape."
"And he agreed?" Harry asked, gob smacked that Snape would do anything that benefited him.
"He seemed to find the fact you normally share a bed with me disturbing," Zevi said, innocently. "I can't think why…but he was a peculiar green colour, it was quite fascinating."
Harry snorted, amused.
"Has he stopped giving you detentions yet?" he asked, remembering. Zevi's smirk broadened, but he didn't comment.
Harry chuckled, moving over the bed to dump his stuff. It was the traditional four poster, but instead of being green and silver in its hangings it was silver and gold. He looked back at them, brows raised at the thought they willingly represented his Lion roots .
His mind flew to snake on his arm, of the same colouring.
"Tom suggested the colour scheme," Abraxas said, glancing at the Slytherin Heir in question. That of course meant none of them would ever dream to protest. He smirked to himself.
"But I charmed the gold green," Abraxas added.
"Nice charm," Harry complimented, and the past Malfoy smiled.
"You're welcome."
Harry sat down, feeling oddly at home. He felt a surge of affection for the Slytherins.
For now, it was good to be back home.
A/N: Another filler, maybe, but I liked this one. It's also long…which might be some consolation if you guys didn't like it. But you know, for once I'm going to be optimistic and assume you did…not in the least because if I was being pessimistic I'd then have to get into a debate as to whether a longer chapter if the chapter sucks is actually preferable to less suck to force through like treacle…hmmm, I think I might be in an odd mood. Oh well.
Thanks for all the support and reviews =) You guys are amazing, and I'd dedicate the story to all of you if I could, in fact, I do…I've always been writing it for you anyway (and my own enjoyment, of course.)Remember to vote on endings!
I was going to have something else happen, but this seemed like a good place to cut it off...so...I suppose you'll find that out next time...