Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe.

"dialogue"
"mental dialogue"
"parsel"
"mental parsel"

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed! This chapter was being especially stubborn so I had to leave it for a few days before I was able to come back and finish it.

Lucius steadfastly held onto his composure in the face of all the suspicious and and distrustful glares being sent his way. In truth, he could not care less about what these 'people' thought of him, but while he was sitting in the middle of the Lion's den, or the hovel that it was, he knew that he could not afford to show any weakness.

"Now I'll ask yeh one more time. What reason would old snake face have to send you here?"

He matched a cool glare to the eye that wasn't roving madly around, "Again, he has no knowledge of my presence here. Since his return, he has become little more than an insane monster and were it not for the wellbeing of my wife and son, I assure you that I would not be here."

Blue eye fixed on him momentarily before it started roving once more, he didn't hold back his look of distaste. How the paranoid auror hadn't killed himself by getting caught in his own traps he had no idea.

Moody snarled at him, "Then why not flee like the coward you are? Why come to us and put on this show? I know you Malfoy. Unless you are getting something out of this then you wouldn't be here. Trying to save your own neck like usual are yeh?"

He looked down at the grizzled man with all the imperious disdain he could muster, "Surely you have not strayed so far from your roots that you have forgotten the importance of family Moody." He stressed the man's last name. Even if other's might forget, Alastor Moody came from a long line of pure bloods and would have been raised accordingly. "I will not ruin my family's name and heir's future by fleeing like a coward as you say. Malfoy's always pick the winning side after all."

As much as the brat infuriated him, he would admit that Potter's side in this war would be the winning one. Had the boy truly gone against his Lord in his maddened state, Lucius suspected the dark faction would have crumbled. Not that he would ever say as much out loud. His Lord might be sane again, but that did not make him suddenly kind. More reasonable certainly, but his Lord still had limits to his tolerance.

The only sound that followed was the unsteady clopping of this paranoid fool's wooden leg as the man paced in front of him. The mismatched gaze never strayed from his face and the suspicion simply oozed out of the bedraggled man's expression. Lucius resisted the urge to cover his face with a handkerchief in the face of such filth.

Finally Moody halted directly in front of him. Squaring off and entering his personal space in a show of intimidation. Lucius did not so much as blink.

The man snarled again, "We'll see about that after you answer us a few simple questions." He pulled back enough to brandish of small vial of clear liquid in his face, "I'm sure you recognize this and if what you say is true, then you won't mind answering a few questions."

Lucius eyed the vial of veritaserum with concealed trepidation. Evidently the Weasley twins did more than simply produce useless pranks. As hard as it was to believe, Potter had had them researching various projects for him. Including, allegedly, a counter to the truth serum. It had to be taken preemptively, but they had handed it over to him in the form of a toffee of all things. Apparently Potter had requested it in that order form he had written up. They had given him plenty of suspicious looks, but had handed it to him without question.

That Potter could get Weasley's to help a Malfoy without question was a truly frightening thought. Especially Weasley's with a reputation like that demonic pair. He withheld a shudder at the implications of Potter's influence. He did not appreciate the treacherous thought that Potter might have more Slytherin in him than anyone realized.

A rough grip pulled his head back and three drops were administered. He felt the familiar haze, but his thoughts didn't feel as distant as they should. He wondered if Severus knew about this.

"What is your name?"

"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy."

"Are you a death eater?"

"Yes."

"Were you sent here by Voldemort?"

"No."

"Were you sent here by anyone working for Voldemort?"

"No."

"Are you here to spy for Voldemort or any other death eaters?"

"No."

"Why are you here?"

"To protect my family."

"Name the other death eaters."

He rattled off the names he had prearranged with his Lord and any other information, both falsified and true as it was asked. His Lord had been thorough in his preparation for such questions. The interrogation went on for a few minutes more and eventually he felt the effects of the potion wearing off. One final question did catch him slightly by surprise.

"Do you know the location of or had any contact in the last three years with Harry Potter?"

Now that was interesting. They must be getting desperate if they would go so far as to ask death eaters about the boy's location. Perhaps they thought him captured. He felt a kernel of grudging respect for Potter. Considering how long the boy had hidden from the entire wizarding world, there was definitely more than meets the eye with Potter. No true Gryffindor would be able to pull such a successful disappearance.

"No."

Interrogation complete, there was a slight release of tension in the posture of many present. Although the disdainful looks didn't abate, they appeared far less wary of his presence. Fools.

Moody resumed his pacing and glaring. Fake eye constantly spinning as if possessed of it's own will. Lucius remained silent presenting a mask of disinterest, not about to let Moody think he was the one in control of this conversation. He could snarl and clomp his way around the room all he liked, Malfoy's would always remain superior to his like.

The retired auror broke the silence, "You say you want our protection, but what can you give us in return? Why shouldn't we just hand you over to the ministry?"

He simply raised an eyebrow at what they both knew was an empty threat. Moody would more likely kill him himself before handing Lucius over to the ministry. Rufus might be publicy proclaiming the ministry's competency, but it was only a facade. The ministry was tearing itself apart and Lucius would either be made an example of and Kissed on sight or would be out again before nightfall depending on who got to him first. Moody had been a Slytherin in school, he wouldn't let such opportunity as Lucius represented pass him by.

"Information of course. I am after all one of his higher ranking lieutenants. I will alert you to any future raids and attacks that I hear of and you will vouch for myself and my family when this war is over."

Moody limped over and took a chair, plunking it down right in front of Lucius. He sat, but never removed his wand from his grip, "Fine. Start talking blondie and remember I'll be watching. So don't even start thinking about trying anything funny."

He allowed a look of contempt to leak through at the other man's conduct, but began describing the the upcoming raid the Dark Lord had notified him of.

"This cannot be a good idea."

Tom shot him unimpressed number five at that, "Are you saying you doubt me Potter?"

Harry threw his hands up in his agitation, "Yes! How is this possibly a good idea? You're always going on and on about me being too reckless and now you want me to go on this raid of yours! Your death eaters will be there! The Order will be there! The ministry might even show up!"

At a look from Tom he conceded, "Well maybe not the ministry, but still! There's so many ways this could go wrong I don't even know where to start."

Tom gave him another look and Harry got the distinct impression that he was somehow rolling his eyes even though the man's gaze did not waver, "I am well aware of who will likely be there Potter. However, you need the experience before our battle and this situation will be relatively controlled."

Harry just stared dumbfounded. Maybe Tom hadn't regained as much of his sanity as he believed. "I have some experience. There was the graveyard and my fifth year. Those were combaty." He really had no other idea how to convince the man that this was a terrible idea.

Exasperation lining his voice Tom kept talking like this was perfectly reasonable, "It is a simple raid Potter. We will go to Diagon Alley, cause some property damage, allow a few of the more troublesome low tier members to be captured, then we will leave. I will allow you to bring Nagini for extra protection and eyes if it will stop you overreacting."

Harry gazed on in horror, trying to find the words, "Tom you know what my luck is like right? Something is going to happen or go horribly wrong and I'm going to get caught in the middle of it."

A flicker of uncertainty crossed the other's face, but was just as quickly wiped away by annoyance, "Enough with the histrionics brat. You are making far too big a deal of the situation. It is a simple raid. Nothing more. Not even your courtship with chaos is likely to interfere in the matter."

Harry considered just outright refusing. Tom couldn't force him to go on this raid for all the man would say otherwise. Then again, maybe he was right. The plan was simple and it would be useful for him to experience a more open combat situation. Perhaps Harry really was getting worked up over nothing.

He continued trying to convince himself that nothing would go wrong (not that it was working) and decided to move onto less stressful topics, "I take it from you planning an actual raid that good old Lucy made contact with the Order?"

Oh unimpressed number two, Tom was apparently trying to mask his amusement at the comment, "He did. He even reluctantly admitted a degree of admiration for your antidote to veritaserum. It is an impressive accomplishment. In fact it makes me wonder what else you and your cohorts have managed to create."

Harry grinned, but said nothing. He knew it would irk Tom to be so blatantly ignored. He couldn't help it though. The man was much too fun to get worked up. Perhaps he could guilt Dumbledore's portrait into divulging the secret of the eye twinkle. Tom would probably have a fit when he used it. Harry barely contained his snicker at the thought.

Tom glared again and Harry decided to take a tiny bit of pity, "People severely underestimate the genius of the Weasley twins. All they see are a couple of pranksters and they never take into account the sheer amount of planning and ingenuity that goes into their pranks. They are both excellent at charms, transfiguration and potions. They have to be after all to make any of their products. If ever I need something new invented, they are always my first choice. Considering how many times I've been threatened with it, something to counter veritaserum was an obvious choice."

Harry hummed thoughtfully, "So if I really am going on this raid, I still say it's a terrible idea by the way, then am I going to be posing as one of your death eaters? After all having Harry Potter show up randomly after years of absence during the middle of a raid on the wrong side would be a bit much. I'm not sure the sheeple's little minds could handle the paradigm shift."

Tom shot him an amused look, "It would likely more confirm the rumors of you plotting to be the next Dark Lord. I'm sure the Prophet would love to speculate whether you are in fact my illegitimate son or if you are just posing as a follower to bide your time before stabbing me in the back and assuming control yourself."

Harry wished he believed that wouldn't actually happen. He knew it would though.

"Dark Lord Potter. Has something of a ring to it. Dark Lord Harry just wouldn't work. I wonder what I should make my agenda when I take over. Since you went the pro pureblood route, maybe I'll try pro creature. Convince everyone that wizards and witches are gifted with magic for the sole purpose of their ability to breed with other species. Become a creature of magic or marry one so that your kids gain creature inheritances. Being a human is inferior. Fur and fangs or bust!"

Tom was eyeing him apprehensively by this point, "I think it best that you choose another occupation Potter. I doubt the world would survive even superficially intact if you were running it."

Harry huffed, "Says the person who was a snake hybrid not so long ago."

Tom merely gave him a flat look and failed to rise to the bait, "Your stance on creatures aside. Be here by 11 tomorrow. Do not be late Potter. You need to be disguised before any of my followers show up. We commence the raid at noon."

Harry groaned, "When this goes wrong, I'm blaming you. Just so you know."

Harry ducked into an ally just narrowly avoiding spell fire. He knew it. He had told Tom that something was going to go wrong. That this whole take Harry on a raid plan was a terrible idea. He had really been hoping to be proven wrong. No such luck.

"Run faster. They are still chasing us. If you would just let me bite them then we could be done with this and I could go back to my rock and nap."

Harry skidded to a halt and cursed when he came upon a dead end. The anti apparition wards covering most of the alley meant he was stuck.

"Nagini I'm going to need you to struggle and pretend to escape from me once they are in view. Then go back to Tom and tell him what happened."

"Only if you give me a rabbit to eat. Or you could let me eat one of the fussy blonde's house elves."

Harry incredulously glanced at her, but agreed, "Fine you can have a rabbit. Start struggling with me. Make sure it is convincing."

She barred her fangs at him and made a good show of trying to take a bite out of him. Harry wasn't entirely convinced that she was actually faking, but the thought was quickly drowned out by the appearance of three figures at the alley's entrance.

"Potter!"

He spun to face the figures and in his 'distraction' Nagini got away and slithered off. He swore at her absence for effect and used the moment to study his pursuers. One man he vaguely recognized from the twin's reports as a newer Order member. Another he couldn't place at all, but he could only assume he was also in the Order. Most troubling was the fact that staring right at him was Mad-Eye himself. He was cornered in a dead end, facing three opponents, one being a crazy retired order, and he himself was dressed like a death eater. He was going to kill Tom if he got out of this.

"Moody! We can't let that snake escape! I've been trying to find a chance to capture her for months and if she reports back then I might not get another!"

"I don't care potter. You're coming with us."

It was a good thing he didn't actually need to catch Nagini or Mad-Eye would have just let a horcrux go. Paranoid old coot. It was no wonder the Order never made any progress in the war. Everything they did was reactionary.

Harry prepared himself and quickly grabbed one of the anti-veritaserum candies from his pocket and ate it. If the order had used the truth serum on Malfoy, he had little doubt Moody would dose him at the first opportunity.

The spells started flying and while Harry had improved greatly since he started training with Tom, that didn't mean that he was a match against three people. Especially when one of them was Alastor Moody. He held out for a little while, but eventually a spell clipped his shoulder and his whole arm instantly went numb. His wand went flying off to the side somewhere and disappeared in the shadows. The next thing he registered was a red light of a stunner and the world went dark.

He woke up to the uncomfortable feeling of being bound to a chair and cracked open his eyes to see a room full of people. He recognized Moody and Shacklebot, grunts one and two from the alley, Vance and Doge. There were a handful of others that he couldn't place. Snape and Malfoy were absent which was hardly a surprise. McGonagall was also absent, but she had a school to oversee so also not much of a surprise. Unfortunately, the twins were also not present. He wasn't sure if it was because Moody didn't trust them near Harry or because their shop was in Diagon and might have taken damage. Actually now that he thought of it, none of the Weasley's were there. Too close to Harry then.

Moody paced intimidatingly in front of him, "Normally I'd ask where you've been this whole time lad, but I don't trust that you'll answer me truthfully. So I'm just going to skip that and go straight to other methods."

He nodded to some one and they approached him with a small vial of clear liquid. Harry was going to have to get the twins something very nice when he got out of this. The drops where administered and he felt the fuzzy feeling coat his mind.

"What's your name?"

"Harry James Potter."

"Are you a death eater?"

"No." Like he would ever agree to be a minion. Those tattoos were ugly.

"Do you work for Voldemort?"

"No."

"Why are you dressed as a death eater then?"

"It was a disguise so that I could get close enough to capture Nagini."

"What do you want with the snake?"

Harry thought quickly. Should he mention the horcruxes? Tom wouldn't be happy, but it wasn't like she was still a horcrux. It would probably get Moody to back off a bit though.

"She's one of Voldemort's horcruxes."

Most people had confused looks on their faces. It was a rather obscure bit of magic. Moody however focused on him intently. He obviously knew what they were.

"Horcruxes. Plural. How many are there boy?"

"There were six. Nagini is the last."

"So that's what you've been doing this whole time? Why did you not tell the Order?"

"Yes. Dumbledore told us not to. The less people that knew the less chance he would find out and move them."

Moody just grunted, "Where are Granger and Weasley?"

"I don't know."

Moody didn't comment. He just raised his wand and pointed it at Harry. Another stunner was the last he knew.

Tom was in a foul mood. They had just returned back from the alley and he had dismissed his death eaters. The raid itself had been successful with one glaring exception. His eye twitched in annoyance just thinking about it.

Nagini had come back alone carrying the brat's wand in her mouth. He looked down at her where she sat wrapped around his shoulders and resigned himself to the upcoming conversation.

"What happened Nagini?"

"Everything was fine. There were flashing lights and a lot of noise, but I was keeping them at bay with my fierce and majestic presence. None would dare come close and face my mighty venom."

Tom withheld a sigh, "While I don't doubt your prowess in battle Nagini, if you could move on to what happened to the boy?"

She shot him an annoyed look, "One of the lights bounced off something and knocked off the white face he was wearing. He ran and said we would be leaving so that he wouldn't be recognized. He was spotted though and we were chased." She pouted, "He wouldn't let me bite them."

"We ended up in a place where he couldn't run anymore so he told me to pretend to be struggling with him and trying to escape and find you. I put up a worthy fight and hid in the shadows. Then they took him away and I grabbed his stick and found you."

She suddenly raised her head to eye level and very seriously stated, "You owe me a rabbit. The boy said I could have one. I don't want one of those stringy ones. It must have plenty of meat. Nothing with long hair. It should be-"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Nagini I will get you a rabbit. Let me find the boy first and you can have two."

She appeared to consider his offer then flicked her tongue and nodded in agreement. Tom spared a moment to wonder when she had picked up nodding as an action, but pressed on with more important matters.

"What can you tell me about his captors?"

"There were three. The one in the front had a fake leg and looked like a gnarled tree."

Damn. Of all the people to catch him it was Alastor Moody. He checked his connection with Potter, but he must be unconscious. He wasn't getting anything over their link.

He walked to his study and sat down behind his desk. There wasn't much he could do until Potter regained consciousness and contacted him. He could only hope the boy had had the presence of mind to take the antidote to the truth serum. Things would go very badly if the Order found out their plans too soon.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out Potter's wand. It was an unusual sensation. He didn't feel the same connection as he did with his own wand, but he could tell that Potter's wand would work well for him. It brought to mind the long shelved thought about how their wands connected back in the graveyard.

For a time he had been obsessed with getting a different wand, something that could overpower the boy's own. He had looked into myth and legend and tried to follow the path of the elder wand throughout history. After all what more powerful wand could he find than the death stick? He had eventually tracked it down to Dumbledore, but the man's wand had gone missing after his death and Severus didn't know if his defeat of the man had transferred ownership or not. Now that he knew the old man had allowed himself to be killed, he doubted that it had. Would the power of the wand have died with Dumbledore or could anyone claim it now? Assuming the wand was ever found.

With Potter going missing shortly after that incident he had let the matter drop. Now that he held the boy's wand in his hand, all those old questions resurfaced. They felt too alike. Although still different. His white yew contrasted sharply with the black of Potter's holly wand. He could only conclude that they shared similar cores. Two Phoenix feathers from the same bird would certainly explain why their wands had connected that night. It was curious how he and the boy were destined for such similar wands.

He felt a niggling at the back of his mind alerting him to Potter's return to consciousness.

"Potter please explain to me how you managed to muck up something so simple in such a grand fashion?"

A flare of annoyance, "Hello to you too Tom. I'm doing just lovely here. Don't worry they haven't done anything too bad to me. I still have all my limbs after all. So good of you to ask."

"Save yourself the sarcasm Potter. I can tell you aren't hurt. To get captured by Moody of all people. You really don't do things by halves."

"I did warn you. Multiple times. You are the one who insisted I go on that stupid raid. I don't know whether to be relieved that more people didn't recognize me or annoyed that the ones who did were from the order. Moody wasted no time in using veritaserum by the way. Don't worry though. They think I was just disguised as a death eater to get close and capture Nagini."

Tom narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Precisely what reason did you provide them for wanting to get close to my familiar Potter?"

A sense of unease leaked across their link. Potter didn't respond.

He repeated with more force, "Potter what did you tell them?"

"It isn't like she still is a Horcrux! I had to explain my absence somehow and Moody wouldn't have accepted anything less as an excuse. I told them Nagini was the last one so there really isn't anything for you to get worked up over. Just tell her to avoid the Order and she'll be fine."

Tom forcibly reigned in his temper. The damage was done and there were more pressing problems. He would just take his frustration out on Potter during their next training session. Which of course meant he had to get the brat out of there first.

"Where are you?"

"No idea. Some house I think, but I haven't seen much of it. I think I'm in an attic going by the pointed roof and tiny window. I'm locked in though and don't have my wand."

Tom idly started twirling Potter's wand as he thought on the situation, "I know. Nagini brought your wand back with her. Tell me Potter, did you know that our wands share a core?"

A fleeting moment of confusion at the topic shift, followed by a rush of comprehension, "Yeah I know. Ollivander told me when I first got my wand when I was eleven. The feathers in our wands came from Fawkes. They're the only two feathers he ever donated."

Tom felt his eye twitch again. He spent years trying to figure out the reason their wands connected and Potter had known since day one. He really needed somebody to torture in order to vent. The amount of frustration and stress originating from Potter was getting ridiculous.

He rubbed at his temples to stave off the growing headache. He had to think of a way to get to the boy without creating more problems. They could maybe just leave Potter with the Order, but many of their plans hinged around people being in the right place at the predicted times. While they could reliably assume that the order would show up anywhere Potter was spotted, the same could not be said if they already had the boy. No they had too much left to prepare for Potter to stay where he was.

"You need to escape from there Potter. We do not have the time to rework our plans around your capture."

"That's easier said then done. I don't have a wand and Moody is as paranoid as ever. This room is completely empty. It's just the door and the window..."

Potter trailed off and suddenly Tom was hit with a smattering of feelings. Dread, excitement, trepidation, and curiosity flooded from Potter's side. Tom had the sinking feeling that Potter had just come up with another of his reckless plans.

"What have you realized Potter?"

Hesitantly as if he were thinking it over as he spoke, "I think I have an idea. I'm not sure I can pull it off, but it's probably my best chance to get out of here quickly."

"Potter what is this plan? Why do I get the feeling that I am going to disapprove of it?"

Amusement, "Probably because you will. I think I'm going to try it. If it doesn't work then I'll just have to figure something else out. Hopefully I'll be able to at any rate. Now hush I need to concentrate,"

"Potter! What are you doing?" He didn't continue as he was suddenly hit with a wave of pain coming from the boy and then all the feelings muted.

"Potter?"

No response.

"Potter answer me now or I swear I will crucio you at the first opportunity!"

Nothing. With a growl of frustration he stood from his desk and stalked off to the training room. He needed to let off some frustration or he was going to flay the skin off the next person he met. He conjured a slew of dummies with an uncanny resemblance to a certain green eyed imbecile and started casting.

Tom was back in his study. Hours had passed since he had last spoken to the brat and nothing had changed. At least he was calmer after his session demolishing Potter clones. That had done wonders to relieve his frustrations.

He once more reached for his link with the brat-who-lived-to-drive-him-crazy and encountered the same muted feelings as before and nothing else. He didn't know what Potter had done, but the only thing he could do was wait.

He reached for the link again and sneered at the lack of change. He hadn't gotten any work done since he last spoke to the aggravating boy. He just couldn't focus and all the complications Potter's imprisonment or whatever he was now kept swirling through his mind. He did not appreciate this inability to do anything or even know what was happening. Potter would regret putting him in such a situation.

His mental plotting of Potter's soon to be misery was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings. He turned to his window expecting an owl and raised an eyebrow at the large black bird that was winging it's way into his study.

It landed in front of him and Tom noted that it held no letter. He looked at it curiously. The bird looked back. Upon closer inspection it was a raven. The bird broke their staring contest with a dismissive caw and then started to preen it's feathers, ignoring Tom.

He raised a brow at the bird's behavior and reached out a hand towards it. He quickly pulled it back when the bird snapped at him and gave him a hard look with it's green eyes before resuming preening.

Tom paused. Green eyes. Raven's typically had black eyes. He closed his eyes and fought to maintain calm. Well at least he knew what had happened to Potter. The brat was sitting on his desk right in front of him.

Tom couldn't contain the sigh. Potter had obviously attempted the animagus transformation and not quite gotten it right. That explained the pain he felt from the boy earlier and the odd muted feelings coming from the link. Potter likely hadn't been fully prepared for the transformation and the bird instincts had won out over the boy's own mind. It was a wonder he had flown directly to Tom and not gotten sidetracked by some park on the way. So stupidly dangerous. Potter could have completely lost himself and nobody would have found him.

He eyed the bird again and half debated just shoving the brat in a cage and keeping him there. At least he would be less prone to getting himself into trouble. He knew it wasn't a viable option however. The longer Potter spent like that the harder it would be to restore him. Also if he was honest with himself a bird Potter would still find a way to be a menace.

He pointed his wand at the brat and shot off the spell to reverse the transformation. Potter quickly grew to his larger size and promptly fell off the desk. The thump followed by a groan of pain when he connected with the floor was deeply satisfying.

"Ow. My head feels like it was trampled by a herd of hippogriffs."

"You are very lucky that is all you have to show for that reckless stunt you just pulled. Surely you are aware how dangerous forcing the transformation is?"

He saw a hand appear over the edge of his desk and wave haphazardly, "I know. I know. I've been working on it for awhile though and I am getting pretty close. I just haven't quite worked up to the full body transformation. The window wasn't big enough for me to get out of otherwise and it really was the only way I could think of to get out of there."

The hand flopped back down to the ground, "Uhg everything hurts. I think I'm just going to lay here for awhile. Don't mind me. Carry on with your Dark Lordy duties."

Tom gave up. If Potter wanted to lie on the ground let him.

"Oh right. Before I forget, you owe Nagini a rabbit. Try to make it a good one."

"Potter?"

"Yes?"

"Do be quiet."

Silence reigned for about half a minute then a snicker, "Moody's going to be so peeved when he finds me gone."

Tom threw a silencing charm at the brat and called Nimsey for a headache reliever. He decided he wasn't going to get anymore work done that day and settled in with a book. The stress of the day slowly dissipated and Tom would forever deny the kernel of relief he felt upon Potter's safe return.