Harry was able to perk up by lunchtime. Riddle and Tom were still worried for him, but Harry assured them he was fine. Voldemort was rather distant, and everyone was quite quiet as they ate.

"Harry," Voldemort called.

"Yeah?" Harry muttered, munching on some steak.

"Before you go, I will enchant you with a charm that will prevent you from revealing any information about what happened here. Even under vertiserum." Voldemort withdrew a piece of parchment and slid it over to him. "I've made these adjustments to the spell."

The sheet depicted a drawing of a person's throat with a thorned vine wrapped around it. There was writing to the side that told of a painful silencing charm, but the word "painful" was crossed out. The secrets could not be revealed to anyone, under any condition. The spell could only be taken off from the caster.

"What will that all entail?" He asked, a bit worried.

"Well, for first, the horcruxes," Voldemort gestured to Tom and Riddle. "Then the more personal details. All you could possibly talk about is being kidnapped, seeing torture, and not being able to leave the manor."

"We're going with him to Hogwarts." Riddle proclaimed.

Voldemort narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head in thought, and Harry could feel intrigue from his end of the connection. He sighed and hung his head in defeat.

"Fine. I would tell you to be on guard with him, but I do not think I need to proclaim that." Voldemort looked at the three, a slightly disgusted look on his face.

"Of course," The two answered at once.

"I cannot handle both of your whining if you were apart from him. And you - " Voldemort looked to Harry. "I will hold you personally accountable if anything happens to the horcruxes. Including the one in your scar."

Harry felt a chill run up his spine because of the coldness coming from him.

"Got it." He gulped.

"Good."

"Ah, how am I leaving the manor?" He changed the subject. Harry honestly had no idea how they would do that.

"The plan is for Lucius to try to transport you to another location, but you'll pull away while apparating and will land somewhere in muggle London. Then, you can find your way from there. Owl a friend, walk into Diagon, find someone's house, whatever you wish." Voldemort stirred his tea, eating the last of Harry's biscuits. "It is a rather common way to lose a prisoner."

The man sighed as well, "Amelia has also given us the needed information, so I need to discard her as well. I have yet to think of a reasonable excuse for that."

Harry stood up, his chair scraping again the wooden floor. "Can I do it?" Harry asked.

"Can you… free her? And how do you want to do that? She doesn't know you're missing nor would there be a reason for you to be here alive." Voldemort had a tone to him. As if he wanted Harry to challenge him.

"I have a plan."

Fire burned through Amelia's veins. She bit into her already raw and bloodied lip. Screaming will - and has - not free her from her binds nor cancel the spell. If anything, it only seemed to fuel her captors.

"Aw, even after all this time, resilient ittle Amelia has finally broken!" Bellatrix cackled.

Amelia remembered her. The two-year senior constantly talked or bribed her way out of trouble. But not her, not Amelia. The seventh year had stewed in fury after getting caught and sent to detention by Amelia in her fifth year. She had been Amelia's first person caught, the first of many.

"Y'know, most people," Rodolphus leaned over and nodded at Dolores Umbridge, "Learn quickly that your struggle is futile and you'll never be free. At least you could be useful before we dispose of you."

"F - Fuck - k o - of - f." Amelia snarled through clenched teeth.

"Ooh! Feisty!" From behind her, Barty Jr. shook her shoulders, "Do it again!"

Amelia threw her head back, colliding with Barty's face. A scream followed a satisfying crunch. Barty stumbled around her while the other two death-eaters howled in laughter.

"Ha!" Bellatrix doubled over, "Pulled a fast one on you, didn't she?"

A chime rang from Bellatrix's wand. She frowned and sighed.

"Looks like our catch-up time is over. Don't worry, Amelia, we'll have loads of fun tomorrow! I have the entire day off! It is so hard to have a little girl time here." She twirled her wand.

A strong force gripped her throat and hoisted her up, her bonds falling to the ground. She tried to find her footing, but Barty yanked her up by her hair before she could. Half-dragged and half-scrambled, they walked to the end of the room and threw her in her cell.

Dull pain throbbed in her body. The concrete scraped against her skin and opened small cuts on her skin. But she still held on to her dignity.

Amelia slowly, shakily, managed to get to her cot, and lay down on the straw-stuffed mattress. Her strength was failing each day, tomorrow she may not be able to walk.

"Bye, bye, Amelia! And Yaxley, make sure she's taken care of. I want her to be extra excited for girl's night." Bellatrix's voice rang through the cells.

Yaxley. She was so close to proving his involvement with Voldemort when she was captured. One of many, many others that would be in Azkaban right now. But instead, she was here. Along with four other high-ranking ministry officials.

The door to the cell block opened. A shorter, masked Death Eater entered, with gloved hands holding a slip of parchment.

"The Lord has requested you in the north quarters. Mask on." The voice was male, spoken in a light tone. He passed Yaxley the paper.

"And I presume you are taking over my guard duties?" Yaxley scanned the paper and then slipped on his mask.

The man nodded.

Yaxley handed over the ring of keys to the man. He briskly walked out the door with the other staring him down. As soon as Yaxley's footsteps could no longer be heard, the man sprung to his feet.

He jabbed keys into the lock on her cell, constantly glancing back and forth from shoving the wrong keys in the hole to the door of the block. Click. Amelia rolled her head to see him kneeling next to her with two potion vials in his hand.

"Drink these," He insisted, ushering an off-red and a lime-green one to her.

"Fuck off," She spat at him.

"Madam Bones, please." He pleaded. That voice was familiar.

"No,"

He nudged the edge of his mask to the side, barely enough for her to see the lightning-shaped bolt on his forehead and emerald green eyes.

"Pott - "

"Shh, no time for questions. Drink these," Harry Potter thrust the vials to her.

"Why?" She asked, then downed the sour potions.

A pounding beat took hold of her heart. Pepper-Up, but a different variety, and pain relief. She rolled her shoulders back, the muscles no longer tense and sore.

"Put this on." Harry reached inside his robes and pulled out a long Death-Eater cloak and mask.

"What are you doing?" Amelia rolled the mask in her hands. It wasn't an authentic one, the markings were a little shaky, and there was a single smear of silver paint on the temple.

"Breaking you out." Harry answered. "Are you able to apparate us if I get you past the wards?"

"Yes. How are we - "

"Just follow my lead. When we get past the wards, you'll apparate us. When we get out the other side, please, Madam Bones, for me, please, say this happened in reverse." Harry paused, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Say that I freed you?" Amelia shook her head. "Why?"

"Who will believe me?" Harry sighed. "No one would. Me, get past the Death Eaters while Amelia Bones couldn't? No, you will say you found me while escaping. You will tell them that I was being transported to the cell block when you broke out. You will tell them that you managed to pull me away. And you will not tell them I freed you in any way."

"But you should - "

"No, Madam Bones. I won't. I won't tell you how I managed to escape, but no one would believe me if I told the truth. Let's go, quickly. I don't know when Yaxley will realise he was put on a wild goose chase." He turned, looking at the door in apprehension.

Amelia nodded. "Okay. But I don't know - " Harry seemed to love to interrupt her.

"I know how to get out. I'll lead." He thrust the mask and robe to her. "Please be quick."

Amelia didn't waste any time. She threw on the garb, wincing at the idea of looking like a Death Eater. But she packed away her pride and stood tall. The two of them fled from the room, trying to walk as inconspicuously as possible.

The unrobed Death Eaters didn't even look their way as they passed through the foyer and into the front yard. Amelia tried to memorise everyone that she could. Disgust sat in her stomach as she recognised so many people. From co-workers to the average citizen, she saw countless faces.

And those were only the people there right now.

She shivered. How were they supposed to win? How were they supposed to stop all these people? Even if they were untrained, which she doubted, they could easily swarm the Aurors.

Leaving was surprisingly easy. Once they were past the wards, Harry took off his mask.

"Take off yours as well. Don't need to be getting attacked. Where are we apparating to?" Harry threw the mask over his back. He also ripped off the robes, revealing a slightly ripped green T-shirt and jeans underneath.

"Straight to the Aurors office. Are you sure you don't want credit?" Amelia frowned.

"Yeah. No credit." Harry ended the conversation.

Amelia offered her hand and the world spun around them.

The next hour was hell for Harry. The Aurors were miffed that he couldn't tell them anything and overall hesitant towards him. Not thirty minutes after he and Madam Bones arrived, the Order of the Phoenix barged in.

Dumbledore tried to talk to him, but another Auror (a Death Eater) threatened to kick him out as he was "obviously not suitable to look after a child". Harry was dragged from room to room while they tried to find someone to look after him.

The Dursleys, apparently, had moved to Spain.

Harry doubted their story. He wasn't sure what had happened to them, but he couldn't care less. They made life a living hell for him and harmed him more times than he could count. Neglected his needs. Forced him to be a servant.

Madam Bones was taken to Saint Mungos to treat her injuries. Eventually, after the fourth time he had moved rooms to be babysat by someone else, Harry had enough. He snuck out of the Aurors office and went to visit her. He didn't have anything else to do.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked as he snuck through the curtains.

"A lot. Not anything they can't solve within a month. Mostly malnutrition. I'll be left with a good chunk of scars." She looked away from him. "And, you?"

Harry shook his head. "Can't say. I'm not hurting and they tended to heal me after inflicting any harm."

Amelia looked at him sadly. "What did they do to you?"

Harry bit his lip. It felt wrong to lie to someone like her. "Can't say. They put some odd charm on me and now I can't say what happened while I was there."

"Oh, my apologies." She stared blankly up at the ceiling. "You know, if you don't think you can handle Hogwarts, you can homeschool and just take your N.E.W.T.S at the ministry when you come of age."

Harry paused. Did he want to go back? "Um, no. At least not this year."

Amelia nodded. "Just owl me if that changes." She paused. "Do you know what happened to Susan after I… disappeared?"

Harry tried to think back to the gossip mills. "Well, I can't be certain, but - "

The sound of quick footsteps approached the room. In an instant, the curtain was flung open and a distraught Susan Bones came rushing into the room. She froze when she saw Amelia, then launched herself at her.

"Aunty!" She cried, clinging to Amelia's hospital gown.

"Susie," Amelia patted her back. "Glad to have you back."

Harry felt his heart ache at that moment. He wanted to have family that threw themselves at him the moment they found out he was safe. It wasn't fair.

He pushed down those feelings, hiding them deep within his occlumency walls. He rose and quietly exited the room. It's best not to disturb the moment between them.

He wanted to bring out Tom or Riddle at that moment. He needed someone. And they wouldn't let anyone else in, so he couldn't tell if Ron or Hermione would be on the other side.

Harry exhaled hard.

He was living in a fantasy for so long that he forgot what the real world was like. Swathed in his cocoon of his loving partners, protected from reality. But now, there was nothing to protect him.

An Auror entered Amelia's room. Harry wandered off, sightseeing the hospital. He was steady, at two newborn babies through a window when the same Auror found him, now holding a cage. Harry knelt, smiling happily at Hedwig in the cage. He missed her dearly.

"Potter?" She spoke as she filed in next to him, also looking at the babies.

"Yes?"

"Amelia Bones has volunteered to take over guardianship until you reach your majority. She has paid for a room in the Leaky Cauldron for you to stay in, as you leave in the morning." She briefly glanced at him.

"Okay, I'll head over there."

His walk to the Leaky Cauldron was met with stares. He figured, he had been plastered on the missing pages for weeks.

Blood boiled in his veins as he saw Rita Skeeter approach him, notepad and quill at the ready, with her cameraman trailing behind her. There was a flash of light as he had his picture taken. He blinked, momentarily blinded. Hegwig hooted in displeasure.

"Harry Potter," She drawled, "how unexpected to see you here. I'm sure we've all been dying to know where you've been."

Harry stayed silent, trying to speed up his walking. Nails dug into his fists as she hurried along next to him. If she continued on her way, he might do something to make him end up in Azkaban.

"Hm? Can't talk? A side effect of your kidnapping? Did they take away your vocal cords?" Her quill scribbled on the paper.

Harry growled. "Not now, Skeeter."

"Oh, so you can talk." Her quill scribbled faster. "But can't? The experience was too traumatising?"

Harry stayed silent, stalking to the Leaky Cauldron. Skeeter had a sour look on her face as the manager at the bed and breakfast shooed her away. Apparently, she had landed a lifetime ban from the place unless otherwise cleared with the staff.

He sighed as he collapsed into his bed. It had been a long day. It started out so fun as well. But a smile spread across his face as he took his shrunken trunk from his pocket and filtered through it.

"Who upset you, love?" Tom wrapped his arms around Harry's waist.

"Rita Skeeter, then about everyone?" Harry sighed, lacing his and Riddle's hand.

"Ah, the news reporter?" Tom ruffled his hair.

"Yeah. Such a bitch." Harry rolled his eyes.

Tom noticed Hegwig and cooed. "And who is this?"

"Hedwig. My little birdie." Harry answered. Tom stuck his fingers in the cage and let her nibble his fingers.

"Very cute, little chicken strips." Riddle joked, lightly pulling Tom away from her.

"Can we lay down now?" Harry yawned.

"Anything you want, angel." Riddle gently kissed his lips.

They all curled up in bed in their usual position, with Tom tucking him under his chin and Riddle resting on his shoulder. Both of his arms were caught under them.

Tom hummed lowly as Riddle rubbed circles on Harry's hips. It eased him more than normal, and he fell asleep not long afterwards.

Eyes bore into him as he walked onto the Hogwarts express. He glared back at them. It wasn't their business where he was at. He was back and that was all their prying eyes and eavesdropping ears needed to know.

"Harry!" Yelled a voice. He almost crumbled as the weight was thrust onto his back.

He whipped around and drew his wand. Behind him was Hermione, a spooked look on her face. A ping of guilt ran through Harry, and he lowered his wand.

"Sorry." He stated.

"Harry! Where have you been? We were - you just - " Hermione rambled.

"I'm fine," Harry answered, hugging her back.

Perhaps he didn't need family to welcome him back.

She pulled him along and shoved people aside for them to get to their compartment. Inside, Ron was sitting, setting up a game of chess. He, too, had a worried expression on his face when he saw Harry.

"Mate, what's with that look? You look like you crawled out of detention with Lockheart." Ron tried to smile, but he didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Just tired," Harry answered, collapsing in the seat.

"Ron! Be sensitive." Hermione chastised.

Ron shrugged. "Want to play chess, Harry? Hermione's been complaining about playing with me."

Harry thought for a moment.

"Yeah, sure."

Five games of chess later, the door to the compartment slammed open. Harry's back was to the door, but he already knew who it was. No one else had the audacity to barge into a compartment without knocking.

"So it is true. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." Draco sneered.

Rage roared under Harry's skin. Of all the days to test him, today was not the day. He hardly had time to stay with Tom and Riddle that morning, and on top of everyone staring at him,- he was in a more than sour mood.

"Potter, I'm surprised to see you alive. We all thought you had been smeared across a courtyard somewhere." He nudged Harry's back with his shoe.

Harry spun around. He lunged for Draco, one hand reaching for his thin throat and the other flicking out his wand. Grabbed by the throat, Draco was thrown into the compartment and pinned against the wall. His feet scraped at the seat, trying desperately to escape by pushing off of it.

Harry slashed his wand, casting the jelly-legs jinx.

"Listen here, Malfoy." Harry breathed, "This year is going to be different. This year, I'm fighting against you no matter what. You give the call, and I will do everything in my power to send you to the hospital wing. It doesn't matter who watches, who stares, or who punishes me."

Draco's eyes widened. He tried to claw at Harry's arm, making small scratches in his skin. But Harry didn't react. He had it worse before.

"You don't have the guts - "

Harry pointed his wand at Draco's throat. He lightly hissed a string of curses that Riddle had taught him. He wasn't entirely sure what they did, but he knew they were phrase activated. If the caster or the victim said certain words, they'd experience a side effect. Harry took great pleasure in listing the speech Draco could no longer say without punishment.

"See what happens." Harry spat.

He threw Draco to the ground. The boy scrambled to get out of the compartment. Harry slammed the door closed, his hands planted on either side of it. His breath came out hard.

Harry, too, didn't think he had it in him.

"...Harry?" Hermione called from behind him.

Harry pushed down his anger and hid his adrenaline behind his occlumency walls. "Yeah?"

"You were a bit … do you need to rest?" Hermione seemed to not know what she wanted to say.

"Yeah. I might ask Angela for the password and sleep after eating a bit. I'm just tense." Harry sighed, taking to the empty seat and curling up.

He wanted to call for Tom. Riddle was good as well, but Tom connected better to him emotionally. Tom also advocated less for murder. Not completely, just enough.

Ron glanced at him oddly, then looked away the moment they locked eyes. Harry sighed. It was all him again. Harry had once again damaged their ties and now there was an awkward silence in the compartment.

Why did he have to attack Draco? He could have just taken it; he had many times before. But no, he had to lunge at him. Had to curse him in parseltongue.

"You're rubbing off on me."

Was that true? Tom and Riddle were friendly to him, but that didn't mean they were to other people. Didn't mean that they wouldn't attack other people.

Harry rubbed his temples. He loved both of them so dearly, but had they influenced him? Not really certain how. Or was it Voldemort and his teachings?

The silence permeated through the compartment throughout the journey.

Everyone stared at Harry at mealtime and he couldn't have escaped faster. He stormed up to his dorm, ignoring anyone who looked at him. He unshrank his trunk and rifled through for his lovers.

Tom and Riddle both appeared in his bed, in a swirl of ink and a bit of smoke. They saw the concern on his face and drew him in.

"What's wrong, angel?" Riddle asked, positioning Harry to lie on both of their laps.

"I - " Harry knew that they wouldn't judge him. "I attacked Draco Malfoy."

"Good." Riddle patted his thigh.

"Why?" Tom asked, brushing Harry's bangs away from his scar.

"I - " Harry thought for a good explanation, "He just - He - "

He existed.

Tom seemed to know what he was trying to say. "Sometimes we build up our emotions and they all come out at once. Did you hurt him?"

"You don't need a reason." Riddle reached over and brushed his hand through Harry's hair.

Tom glared at Riddle.

"Not yet? I might have bruised him a bit? I did the phrase-curse-thing on him." He honestly didn't know what it was called.

Riddle had a smile on his face. "Good, good. What level did you do it at?"

"Medium, or at least I hope. He won't end up in the hospital wing for saying something once. I tried to use multiple different words at different intensities. If he says my name, he will have some pain. Saying slurs… more punishments." Harry explained.

Tom patted his cheek. "It is nice you are finally standing up for yourself."

"I don't usually strike before being struck, but I'll make an exception." Harry yawned.

"Why not?" Riddle said, "That's what I started to do. And a lot more people respected me."

"Feared you," Harry corrected.

"Well, it still works, kind of." Riddle waved him off.

Harry and Tom raised their eyebrows at each other but didn't say anything.

Tom looked at the bed and frowned.

"Love, do you feel confident in casting a spacial expansion charm? Like we practised? We need a bigger bed." Tom asked him.

"I think so? Would it be easier to tie it to the curtains? So it's only bigger when all the curtains are drawn?" He didn't want the others to think he got a bigger bed. They'd sight favouritism and then they'd get angry. Then, well then Harry would have to fight them.

Harry withdrew his wand and carefully wound the spell that he needed. He carved the small marks that contained the spell on the curtains, only connecting when they were fully closed.

"Good, good. Now, let's ward them so that only you can open and close them."

Together they all worked on warding the bed. Warding was more difficult and Harry only helped with it rather than casting it himself. It was something they would have to work on more.

"Would we like to lay down?" Riddle gestured to the bed.

"Of course," Harry replied.

They quickly changed out into their silken green shirts (red, in Harry's case) and crawled into bed. Harry had never needed their cuddles more than today. He knew tomorrow would be worse. All the staring. The professors looked at him.

He sighed, settling in as Tom lay above him and Riddle took his rightful place on his shoulder. Riddle rubbed soft circles on Harry's thighs and Tom gently brushed through his hair. Little by little, his muscles lost their tension, and his jaw unclenched.

"Do you need anything else, love?" Tom asked after a long silence.

"Would you be able to summon Pipskey? I kind of want a dreamless sleep. I can't deal with… anything tonight." Harry bit his lip.

They both knew he was talking about their memories. He often woke up crying due to them, clinging to each of them for at least an hour. And Harry didn't wake up early enough to deal with that.

Pipskey was, surprisingly, able to be summoned. She was only gone for a few minutes but came back with a full green box with a little bow. Surprised, Harry undid the shiny yellow ribbon.

'Payback for last week. -LV'

Harry asked Pipskey to put the note in his trunk while he investigated the contents of the package.

Inside was an array of food, drinks, and potions. It expanded, larger on the inside than the outside. Each was clearly labelled as well. He could see wards carved into the side to keep the items cold and warm.

He withdrew a package that said "lambchop and mashed potatoes X3" and a bottle of non-alcoholic wine. Inside were three portioned plates of the meal, forks and knives included.

Each of them got a plate and began to munch their food. Harry wasn't that hungry until he started to eat. Warding and casting spells must have drained his energy more than he thought.

Once they had their fill, they settled back into place. Harry knocked back a dreamless sleep and was unconscious before he could recork the bottle.

Harry: Sigh, I'm gone
Tom and Riddle: Gone with us
Voldemort, already sick of them: fine

Amelia: wtf Potter why -
Harry - shut it, roll out

Harry: omg Hedwig
Hedwig: hoot
Tom: Adorable, I want
Riddle: easy there
Harry: ... okay now cuddles

Harry: (angsting)
Draco: haha Pottah
Harry, frothing at the mouth: listen here you little shit
Ron:
Hermione: let's just take a nap, okay?

Harry: more cuddles plz
Tom: of course
Riddle: we'll indulge you
Voldemort: here is food, thx for taking care of me while I was almost dying