Book 2: Binds of Blood

Chapter 3 - A Conversation Long Overdue


Dear Father,

I know you do not expect to hear from me so early into the year and you have no reason to worry, this letter is not to tell you that I miss you.

Regulus smiled, she missed him.

I had a rather interesting train ride to Hogwarts. You see I decided that waiting for the-boy-who-lived to come to me was a little dull of a plan so I went to him. I was surprised to find that in his compartment was not only his two close friends, Granger and Weasley, but also Heiress Greengrass and Tracey Davis.

Now this was interesting. The Davis family wasn't one that Regulus had much care for, it was a pure blood family that while they did not posses a seat on the Wizingamot themselves but the matriarch of that family Julie Davis was head of a the sub-department within the DMLE which focused on child abuse cases and worked very closely with the the Department of Magical Child Protection.

I know that you have formed an idea around just what sort of environment Harry Potter has grown up in but I can now confidently say that he is being mistreated by those muggles.

The rest of the letter was a detailed description of Harry Potter's appearance and Regulus could not disagree with the conclusions his daughter had reached for he himself had reached it after hearing Kreatures report.

Well that had been troubling. It honestly hadn't taken long for him to put together where Dumbledore had hidden the boy. Clearly it had been in the muggle world, which had only become clear due to Harry Potters clear oblivious nature when it came to the magical world, therefore the letters Lord Black had written were sent of to members of the magical world who would know the muggle one well. It had taken less than two weeks for him to get a reply of use.

The letter was not detailed but told him that Lilly Potter had grown up in a small little village called Cokeworth. Regulus had then, under polyjuice, taken a trip to the village. It hadn't taken long for him to come across a muggle who knew of the Evans family.

Petunia Dursley then became the clearest suspect for Harry Potter's caretaker. Something which Regulus had sent Kreature off to confirm. Strangely, anytime Regulus himself tried to go to Privet Drive he found that he could not. There was no floo network for miles and anytime he attempted to apperate to the street put Regulus miles off. Clearly the protections that Dumbledore had placed around the house were more than working.

Kreature had been unable to enter the house, the old elf had been enraged when he returned from his first visit. The wards protecting the house were old magic. Something that stopped even the strange magic of house elf's from entering. Luckily he was able to watch from outside, every report he gave made Regulus more and more certain that he could get Harry Potter removed from the family.

Pulling out a fresh piece of paper Regulus wrote a simple letter.

To my old friend,

I know I have been absent of late. The last decade has been hard for me and I know I have failed to maintain our friendship.

I hope you can forgive me and In my attempt to repair the damage that time has done to our friendship I would like to invite you over to the Black Manor for dinner and a drink.

Please let me know when you would be available.

Sincerely Lord Regulus A. Black

Sealing the letter with the Black seal he summons Kreature.

"Give this to one of the owls." The old elf bowed and disappeared.

Now Regulus would wait. He had other options but this would be the one to cause the least fuss. Hopefully Walden Macnair would reply with haste.


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Colin Creevy loved being a wizard. He was a week into classes and didn't think he had stopped smiling once.

His favourite lesson so far had definitely been charms, making a lock open without touching it was incredible but after his transfiguration lesson he decided that charms weren't as cool as turning a matchstick into a needle. Potions was a bit ruined by Professor Snape, the man reminded Collin of a grumpy history teacher he had back in year three but ignoring the teacher the subject was awesome. He loved adding random things to the potions and seeing what happened, admittedly this habit was probably why he got into so much trouble.

The only bad bit of Hogwarts had been how much he missed his parents. Which is why currently Colin was sitting in a small alcove of the Gryffindor common room trying his hardest not to let the tears fall from his eyes. He was holding one of his favourite pictures in his hand, it had been the one he had taken immediately after getting his camera last christmas.

It was of his mother and father, both wearing silly little paper christmas crowns and between them was his younger brother Dennis. He missed them all so much it hurt.

"Hello." The voice caused Colin to jump slightly. Looking up he saw one of the older students, not that much older though, a second year Colin thought.

"Hi, sorry I didn't see you there. My name is Colin." The older boy smiled at him.

"Neville. Do you mind if I sit?" The older boy, Neville asked, gesturing to the space next to him. Nodding to him, Collin moved over to make more space.

The two boys sat in an awkward silence for a minute and Colin was confused as to why Neville had asked to sit if he wasn't going to say anything.

"It's okay to miss them, you know. I know that when Dean, my best mate, came he struggled to adjust to not seeing his mum everyday." The words came slowly for Nevilles mouth, as if each word had been carefully chosen.

"I just haven't been away from home, from them, before." Colin couldn't stop the tears anymore and he hoped the older boy didn't mind. It was so embarrassing.

"Yeah, a lot of people at Hogwarts haven't. I think it's probably harder for students coming from no magical families because those who had parents at Hogwarts have been preparing for this day for years. It's funny actually, so many spend ages dreaming of their acceptance letter and everything that comes after yet you would be shocked at how many still don't consider how leaving home will feel."

Colin stared at Neville. Not sure why the older boy was telling him all of this. "Did you miss your parents when you first came?"

The question was innocent enough so Colin was surprised when Neville flinched.

"No. I got used to missing them before I came." The answer was short and left it clear to Colin that he shouldn't ask anything else about Neville and his parents. "Just don't be embarrassed to cry, that's all I am saying. No one here will give you grief and if they do well then they aren't worth the time of day." Neville turned to face Colin now and Colin could see the genuine care that he had.

"Thank you." Colin managed to get out before the dam broke and the tear truly began to fall but it didn't seem to matter to Neville who simply put his arm around the younger boy and held him close while he cried, not saying a word.

Colin couldn't be more grateful to the boy.


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Harry Potter was feeling a lot better. After arriving at Hogwarts he had quickly been frogmarched by Ron and Hermione to Madam Pomfry's office. The matron had been confused at first but after Ron had cancelled the glamour charms she had quickly gone into full care mode. Sending away his friend, the elderly woman had quickly confined him to a bed for a night. Taking note of all of his pains and issues, though Harry refused to tell her what the cause of each issue had been. This had angered the matron but in a display of impressive self control she had pushed all of it aside and focused on helping the boy.

A pain relief potion had allowed Harry to sleep for the first time in a while. He remembered that he awoke before Madam Pomfry had come to do her round. It must have been early though, Harry had no idea of what the time could be. The pounding headache was still being kept at bay by the potion, Pomfry had said it would ease the pain for him for at least twelve hours. The silence of the hospital wing had been a comfort to him but it meant his mind had wondered. He could still clearly remember the suffocating feeling of that damned wardrobe. How completely helpless he had been,at least when he had been at the mercy of Voldermort it was because the monster was far stronger than him, the Dursleys weren't, he had just been weak. Again.

Come the morning Pomfry had prescribed him with some simple potions to help make up for the lack of nutrients and she ordered to drink as much water as he could stomach. Returning to the hospital wing after dinner had been frustrating but Harry had found his strength returning quickly and by Thursday he was almost back to full health. He had visited her early on Friday, just before breakfast, Harry had desperately hoped that he could convince Madam Pomfry to give him the bill of clear health in the morning since tonight after Dinner he had plans, more Cassiopeia had made plans for the two of them.

The slightly creepy third year had been watching Harry through the week, as though she thought he would disappear before Friday, not that Harry hadn't considered ignoring her demand for a meeting but he had decided that pissing off someone who according to both Ron and Daphne, who along with Tracey had become a constant companion to the trio, was the heir to one of the most dangerous families in Wizarding Britain.

Neville had been so worried when Hermione had told him that Harry was in the hospital wing, worried enough that as soon as Harry left it on Monday morning he had found the boy standing waiting for him. The two boys had quickly hugged before Neville had begun to press Harry on just what had happened, dodging the questions had made Harry feel bad but too many people had already seen him vulnerable and this wasn't a list that Harry was eager to add too. The boy had left Harry when they arrived at the great hall but Harry had first been made to promise to come find him in the library during the week, apparently his Gran had forced him to agree to spend the first week in the library improving his grades in wand based subjects, a promise that Dean had been ordered to make sure Neville kept. A promise that Harry had been happy to give.

Finding Neville at lunch on Friday had been extremely easy, Harry wished he could have gone earlier but Hermione and Ron had refused to let him out of their sight and he wanted to find Neville and his Gryffindnor friends alone. Not that the two groups didn't get along but Harry had wanted a break from them. A break he had only gotten after Pomfry said he was well enough to no longer need check in.

"Hey Nev, sorry about taking so long to come find you." Harry said as he took a seat at the boys table. Dean was currently folding a piece of parchment into the smallest size he could manage and Seamus was dozed off, waking at the sound of Harry's voice.

"No worries Harry, I assumed you would have to take it easy." Neville seemed to perk up as Harry sat. Looking over at the work the Gryffindor trio had been doing Harry noticed that very little seemed to be actually finished.

"Is work going well for you?" Said Harry

"Ugh it is so boring, I get his gran wants better results but why did you get involved Dean." Came the sleepy voice of Seamus.

"You try saying no to his Gran, she's terrifying." Dean dramatically shuddered.

"Imagine living with her all year round Dean." Neville said as he closed the book. "Hopefully this is enough to push up my grade in charms and transfiguration."

"They weren't bad Nev so why do you need to improve?" Asked Harry, the boy had been top of the year in Herbology and had gotten an Acceptable in almost everything else, potions had been a Troll but Snape wasn't a fair marker.

"Gran can't stand that I am not top in transfiguration. Dad was apparently a natural at the subject and she wants me to live up to his legacy." Dean and Seamus stilled slightly at the mention of Neville's parents. Unlike Harry they didn't know the truth behind what had happened to them but his Gryffindor friends knew they were a sore subject.

"He was good at transfiguration?" Harry asked, he knew that while Neville hated talking about his parents, he did enjoy talking about their achievements.

"Yeah, one of the best. Apparently the best student at Hogwarts until your dad came."

Harry blinked in slight surprise, he hadn't known that his dad was good at it and clearly the surprise was clear as Neville kept talking.

"James Potter was meant to be a prodigy when it came to transfiguration. Some say that he could have one day rivalled Dumbledore." Neville watched as a myriad of emotions fell across Harry's face.

Harry knew his parents were respected in the wizarding world. Of course they were. The last victims of Voldermort, the wizard and witch who fought to defend the boy-who-lived and gave their life for him but this was different. This was information about them that felt personal, he knew what his dad was good at. For the first time in his life a piece of the puzzle that was James and Lily Potter fell into place and Harry couldn't stop the smile that spread across his lips.

"Well if we are giving up on this studying rubbish can we do something else?" Asked Seamus. "Lunch still has around half an hour left."

Everyone around the table agreed that a change of scenery was needed so the Gryffindor's packed up their bags and Harry followed them out. The four boys laughed and joked with each other as they walked around the castle.

"I heard about Lockheart's lessons. Is it true he tried to get you to perform parts of his books with him?" Asked Seamus.

"That man is useless, I have never met more fraud in my life. It was so embarrassing, I thought Malfoy was going to burst a vein laughing at me. What's more annoying is that Hermionie still won't let me or Ron say a bad thing about him in her presence."

"Really?" Asked Dean. "I would have thought she had more sense than to trust him, it's so clear he's useless."

Neville added. "Quite a few of the girls are refusing to hear any criticism of the man. You should have seen the rant Dean got from Lavender."

Dean went slightly red at the memory. "All I said was that he wouldn't be able to tell us how to deal with a big spider, never mind any other of the dark creatures he claims to have beaten. She tore me a new one that's for sure."

Neville laughed at the memory, Harry smiled and Seamus made a comment which caused Dean to push the boy. As Lunch drew to a close they began to head their separate ways.

"So what are you doing tonight Harry?" The question was innocent enough yet Harry froze, tonight was when he was meant to be meeting with Cassiopeia, a meeting he hadn't mentioned to Neville.

"Nothing, just going to catch up on some homework and relax with Ron and Hermionie." The lie came out far too easily from Harry's mouth, it left a slightly bitter taste on his tongue. He remembered how emotional Neville had been at the end of first year when Cassiopeia had come into the compartment. He was missing something but he needed this meeting, to know why this dangerous house was so invested in him.

"Ah well enjoy, see you around Harry." And with that the boys parted ways.


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Cassiopeia was bored, really bored. The first week of school always bored her, too many lectures from teachers about how she needed to prepare herself for the challenges to come. As if a daughter of House Black would not already be prepared. Tonight was however something she was looking forward to, finally getting the meeting with the Boy-Who-Lived. Honestly she didn't know what to expect from tonight, perhaps that was why it excited her so. Rarely did social interactions excite her. Cassiopeia found them often boring, people could be easily predicted.

Take Evelyn for example, the girl enjoyed gossiping. Most conversations with the girl were about some new drama unfolding at the school. She couldn't care less about who was dating who and which couples were going strong or falling apart. However the girl could be entertaining which is why Cassiopeia kept her around.

But now as she sat on a chair in one of the empty rooms within the dungeons, her legs crossed and arms folded she waited patiently for him to arrive. Dinner must have ended, enough time had passed now that he should be close.

Shr was correct of course, within a couple of minutes Harry opened the door and entered the room. Closing it behind him the two magicians simply stared at each other, a small battle for who would speak first. Harry lost.

"So you finally got me here."

"Indeed I did."

A pause, not a word spoken.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you so insistent on talking to me? Why did your father send that letter? What did your father mean by his letter?"

"So many questions."

"Are you going to answer any of them or is this just a complete waste of time?" Harry snapped.

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Mind your tone Mister Potter."

"You and your family have pushed me into this meeting so my deepest apologies if I am a bit snappy."

"Oh stop it. It is a pathetic act Potter. You want this conversation just as much as my father wanted me to speak to you. You are clearly new to this world, missing information about your past and you are hoping that my family can provide answers."

Harry stared at her, she stared back. Taking a seat across from her, Harry sighed. "Then give me your answers."

"Okay. Firstly as to why my father sent you that letter I need to know what you know about your parents death."

"They were killed by Voldermort and I know that your uncle was somehow involved. Daniel told me last christmas."

"Okay then. My father wasn't always meant to be the lord of my house. Originally that title went to his older brother, Sirius Orion Black. From what my father has told me Sirius was completely against everything the family stood for. His sorting into Gryffindor didn't come as a surprise to Father, he always said that Sirius was as unslytherin as you could get." Cassiopeia paused, thinking of how her father always spoke highly of Sirius even if Aunt Narcissa hated it he refused to say a bad word against the man, it was strange.

"He quickly made friends with a group of Gryffindors, they called themselves the Marauders. There was Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, my uncle and your dad." She watched Harry face at the mention of his dad, a strange look past over it. He seemed conflicted. "They were apparently very close, eventually Sirius was cast out from the family and went to live with your grandparents."

"Why?" It was a simply question but one that Cassiopeia was reluctant to answer. Her father would often speak of Sirius but rarely touched on his own parents, they had died just before she had been born.

"Honestly not too sure, my father doesn't speak about them much. From what I can gather they were as nice to him as your aunt and uncle are to you." This caused Harry to still, clearly, disliked the fact she had put together the abuse he suffered. Deciding it was best to move on she pushed ahead. "Everyone was shocked when Sirius later betrayed your parents, how exactly he did this is still a bit murky and even my father doesn't know but the night after they died Sirius was confronted by Peter Pettigrew. Peter openly accused him of betraying the Potters and they fought."

"What happened?"

"Both Sirius, Peter and five innocent muggles were killed."

Silence filled the room. Harry was digesting the information.

"Good." The word surprised Cassiopeia, she looked into the younger boy's eyes and was startled by how much hate seemed to pour from them. "Now I have my answers, what do you want?"

"My father simply wanted you to know the truth and to apologise. He also wanted to offer you what your grandparents offered his brother. Safety. Know this Harry Potter, you will always find safety within the halls of the House of Black."

Harry didn't trust the offer, that much was obvious but he nodded, accepting.

"Thank you but that can't be everything. You have been very pushy for this meeting."

Untrusting, suspicious. Cassiopeia couldn't help but approve, even if it made her job harder. "My family is powerful, not trusting us is wise but ignoring our help is foolish. This is all my father wanted to offer you." Standing as she finished speaking Cassiopeia made her way towards the door. She had lied of course, her father was planning something but whatever it was she wasn't privy to the plan but was happy to play her part regardless.

She left the boy in the room to think about what she had said. The conversation hadn't been long but she had enjoyed it. Harry Potter was more interesting than Draco had described.


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Tom Riddle Opened his eyes, not that eyes were something he currently possessed. It felt like he had opened them however, as if he had just awoken from a long slumber.

He should not be conscious, this was not meant to be possible. The horcrux was a simple anchor made to tie the soul to the mortal realm. He should not be a he. He should not be able to think yet he could.

Magic, he could feel it. Old. Older than anything he had felt since… Hogwarts. He was at Hogwarts. A flash of confusion. He could sense the other pieces, hidden away in their hiding places. The original was broken. Trapped without a body.

If he was back at Hogwarts then his followers must have a plan.

That's why he had awoken, the magic of the diary must have been feeding off the school, not enough for anyone to notice but enough for Tom to regain his thoughts.

His thoughts were scattered

Whatever it mattered not anymore.

Tom was awake and he could feel someone writing.

Hello Ginny,

My name is Tom, I will be your Friend.


Dear Readers,

This last conversation between Harry and Cassiopeia was long overdue and writing it was hard since I wanted it to be perfect. I am unsure if I managedpull it of but they will have many more conversations so that's okay.

I am happy with the ending, the confusion that Tom Riddle felt when he wakes up is something I wanted to get right. I will be changing how horcrux work slightly and this is the start of that.

and to reply to the comment about the chapter in book one called Snakes den and how it should be call Snakes pit. You are correct, sort of. Technically it would be a nest but it definitely isn't a den.

anyway enjoy, leave a review please.

sincerely Paddington123.