The ride home for the Easter break was considerably grimmer than usual. Even though Harry's friends differed in how much they believed Riddle was back, they all trusted him, at least, that something truly serious has happened, and that there was a danger of more attacks like this – at the very least on Harry, if on no one else.

"I don't think I can really meet you in the Alley, under the circumstances," Harry told Parvati apologetically, "but would you be willing to come to the Manor?"

"Oh- sure," she said, "of course, if you don't think your cousin will want to, you know, limit visitors? Because of security?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't think he suspects you of any nefarious intentions, so I'm sure it's going to be fine. Would next Saturday or Sunday be all right?"

"Oh, yes, perfectly fine," she assured him. "You know I want to spend time with my family, too."

Harry did. It was one area where he was very grateful they understood each other better than he had with Cho – Parvati, too, though the breaks were mainly for reconnecting with family she couldn't see during the school year.

They went to sit with the Ravenclaw girls for a time, though Parvati of course would have plenty of time to talk to Padma for the next two weeks, and as they were returning to the Gryffindor compartment, Susan stuck her head out of theirs and said: "Harry, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Harry gave Parvati an apologetic look, and she nodded in understanding and disappeared into the compartment whil Harry waited for Susan in the corridor.

"My Aunt asked me to talk to you," she said when they were alone. "You know, to ask about what happened during the Hogsmeade trip."

"I'll be giving an interview over the break," Harry replied. Apparently, Susan was another on the long list of people who wanted to know details after Kingsley's and Alduin's relatively brief statements for the papers.

Susan frowned at him. "But I don't think you will tell them everything, will you? I mean, it's the papers," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry sighed. "No, but..."

"You don't want to tell me everything either," she realized, and pursed her lips in thought. "I understand, of course," she said when Harry began to apologize, "it's not like we're best friends, but it's just that there's such a huge confusion and secrecy at the Ministry right now...it's hard for my aunt to be a proper head of MLE when she doesn't really know anything, you know? So..."

Harry thought about it. It made sense, but still, when he hasn't even told Sophie yet…

"I'll talk it over with my cousin, all right? And if he says it's okay, I'll Floo you..But in the mean time, just tell your aunt to trust whatever Kingsley Shacklebolt tells her. Both me and Alduin trust him completely, and I think he'll inform her about all she needs to know, really."

Apparently, Susan found that acceptable, and disappeared back to Hannah as Harry returned to the Gryffindor compartment.

He found it harder to spend time with his house-mates – excepting Neville, Ron and Parvati – than he normally did. Their reactions to his news from the graveyard had settled down in the last two weeks, but not into anything Harry could be too understanding of. Seamus, he thought, was just terrified. Apparently he'd heard many stories about the war from his mother and didn't want to even imagine it could come back. Unfortunately, the way he chose to express it was repeating over and over again that Harry's experience had to be just a bad joke, that was all, which Harry found rather grating. Sophie and Dean, on the other hand, were both sure everything was going to be fine. Being Muggle-Born, they didn't grow up with the stories about Riddle, and they didn't lose any family members to him. And even though they knew that Harry, Neville and Ron all had, it was sort of an abstract knowledge for them, they couldn't imagine anything concrete. Harry had considered, more than once, borrowing Alduin's Pensieve over the break and showing them his memories of the encounter with Riddle. He knew he couldn't, but...perhaps that, at least, would finally convince them this was no joking matter.

-hp-hp-hp-

The garden party season had arrived just before Harry, and with it the question of what to do about Wynn's birthday. He had stayed in the safe house for the three weeks preceding it, just as they'd planned, but now there would be an important decision to be made.

The situation seemed stable for now, with Riddle making no overt moves, and so after much deliberation, they decided to hold the party after all. They moved the date a little, to make it possible for Harry to participate when he arrived for his break – Easter was late that year – and spent the week this bought them debating security measures.

One option was not inviting the Malfoys and the Yaxleys. It would certainly make the whole thing much more secure, but it would also be a very obvious slight. Alduin needed Lucius' cooperation now more than ever – Alexandra had only had a brief contact with Narcissa since Riddle came back, but the party could serve as an excellent cover – and he would rather avoid a statement quite that loud about what he believed had happened in that graveyard for now.

The party would be full of witnesses, and everything, including Snape's testimony, still pointed to Riddle laying low. It should be safe enough to have Death Eaters present – in regards, that was, to any kidnapping or direct harm attempts.

They would, however, without a doubt be sent to spy, and even if Lucius intentionally tried to see as little as possible – which was not a given by any means – Perseus Yaxley certainly would not. The man was no fanatic, but he was just the kind of short-sighted fool that meant he would do anything to gain Riddle's favour.

Which meant that the whole party would become an elaborate performance of how unconcern the Traverses were for their own safety. If they and their security measures were underestimated, that could only be a good thing. If, as a result, Riddle also believed that Alduin didn't trust Harry and there was a gulf between them, all the better. The more false leads and weak spots he got, the less of a chance that he would dig for some real ones.

Alduin would just have to make sure that his actual friends knew that it was merely a performance – the last thing eh wanted was to lure anyone into a false sense of security.

Yet another tight rope to balance for him. He supposed that, by this point, he should be a pro at that.

With all his meticulous planning, though, Alduin was still nervous as the party approached, and obsessively made Alexandra check that she had her emergency portkeys on her, and bothered the house-elves with repeating their instructions in case of an attack over and over again.

At least he could see that Harry was genuinely happy to be there and able to enjoy the party, something that made Alduin feel the risk was truly worth it. Gods knew Harry deserved some good things in his life, after what had happened to him and what his near future was likely to be like – even disregarding the Horcrux issue.

It was especially exciting for Harry once he saw the shape of the biggest gift on Wynn's pile – the boy would finally be given his first grown-up broom. It was still a 'starter' broom, one that flew only very slowly and couldn't go all that high, but it was, technically, possible to play Quidditch on it, fly long distances, and do all the other things considered basic properties of a flying broomstick.

Alduin and Alexandra had agonized over this gift, as well, given that Alexandra would be alone in trying to manage Wynn on it, but in the end, they decided it would compensate Wynn for all the loss of friends and freedom he was suffering at the moment. Plus, it would further demonstrate to Perseus Yaxley how completely unworried they were.

And Wynn, when he unwrapped it, was completely thrilled. "Bwoom!" He shouted in his loudest voice. "It's a big bwoom! Yaaay!" And he grabbed it- it was bigger than him, almost twice his size – and began to try and dance with it, leading to an inevitable fall on his bum and laugher all around.

Wynn, however, was undeterred. "Wanna fly," he announced, ignorign all the rest of his gifts, and it took all of Alexandra's diplomacy to convince him to unwrap them without a tantrum before he settle dont he broom with Harry behind him and they began to slowly fly around the centre of the party.

Kingsley, whose current workload unfortunately only allowed him to stop by for a very short while, looked at them soaring at the altitude of whole of two metres – Harry, at least, was very responsible with Wynn – and commented: "You were so unhappy with my gift, and now you're buying him brooms yourself!"

"I'd like to say it was all your fault that the demand even existed," Alduin muttered, "but unfortunately, I'm all too well aware that I have a Potter at home, and it would have been brought up anyway."

At least Edric had so far shown relatively little interest in his brother's toy broom. He was a calmer, quieter child in general – something that various relatives of Alexandra's exclaimed about, since apparently it was usually the second children who were wilder. Alduin wondered whether Harry's presence had changed the dynamic somehow.

Once the focus of the party became more dispersed, Alduin, keeping one eye on Harry and Wynn, sought out Lucius Malfoy. Alexandra was doing the polite rounds, chatting about her pregnancy they'd announced after Wynn finished unwrapping the gifts, and so Alduin was free to engage in some very necessary politicking.

It was not much of a sacrifice – given Merciurius and Eliza's grief, and the Crouches' shame after Bartemius was proven to have freed his son from Azkaban, very few of his actual friends were present. Only the Shafiqs were there, though Isobel was finding it hard to be as cheerful as usual, the news about Barty having hit her badly as well. He'd chatted with them for a while when they first came, but for now, it was time for much heavier conversation.

"If you were performing your unconcern any more loudly," Lucius muttered when Alduin joined him, "you'd have thrown your gates open with an invitation for Him."

"Do you think it's obvious enough Perseus will notice?" Alduin wondered.

Lucius scoffed. "No. I might not have either, if I hadn't gotten to know you better in the last two years, admittedly. As it is, it's a good thing Narcissa excels at mental magic, otherwise all those obliviations would leave me a drooling vegetable."

Alduin supposed he wasn't making it exactly easy for the man, but it wasn't like he didn't deserve it. "How has it been going?"

"He's mad as an Azkaban escapee," Lucius said frankly, "but, it seems, no less powerful for it. I spent a...long time recovering from the punishment for losing his diary. He didn't use to be this bold towards me, as his main source of funding, but it seems such mundane concerns do not bother him any more." Lucius kept his tone light, but it was clear it bothered him.

Good.

-hp-hp-hp-

By now, Harry felt like he knew Alberta Fenwick a little, but he'd also never given an interview that important or personal before, and so he he was still very glad for Alduin's presence by his side when, the day after Wynn's birthday party, she arrived to conduct it.

They took photos first, this time, of Harry sitting curled up in an armchair with a mug of tea and a blanket over his back and him staring blankly out of a window – Alduin had warned him in advance that the pictures would be taken to emphasize his vulnerability, so Harry had been ready for it at least, but he still felt extremely silly.

At least, he thought, this was not the Muggle world and he was not expected to give interviews on the telly. His voice was breaking something terrible lately, and he didn't think it would exactly add to his trustworthiness if every word he said was in a different octave.

He just hoped that Mrs. Fenwick had as good a self-control as Parvati and wouldn't laugh at him. Could the stress form the kidnapping have made it worse?

Was he trying to distract himself by thinking about stupid stuff?

The answer to the second, at least, was definitely yet.

Finally the pictures were done, and Harry settled in a hair normally, without a blanket or tea, as Mrs. Fenwick said: "There are many wild rumours flying around about what happened to you, Mr. Potter, so thank you for giving me this opportunity to ask you in person. Is it true that you were kidnapped?"

"It is," Harry said grimly. "I'm sure my cousin said as much o the papers, and it's not like he's making things up about me. I was taken right from Hogsmeade."

"How did that happen? I am sure many parents will be worried to read that..."

Yes, that was what Alduin was counting on. "It was terrifying," Harry replied entirely honestly. "I was on a date," Alduin had insisted mentioning that would make his story more relatable, "and I was, you know," he tried not to blush, "walking through Hogsmeade with my girlfriend, when suddenly I tripped over nothing." He frowned. "Thinking back, I'm pretty sure someone sued a tripping jinx on me. Looks like an innocent prank, right? But the moment I was on the ground, I suddenly felt a portkey pulling at me."

"A porkey?" Mrs. Fenwick asked in some surprise. "How did they slip that to you?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. I've discussed it with my cousin, because I thougth you had to hold onto the Portkey firmly, but he says technically it's enough to be touching it, so I suppose they could have just put it on the ground and made me fall over it? But I honestly have no idea. I didn't feel anyone touching me or anything like that, so that seems like the only solution." Harry shook his head. "I'm just so grateful that I let go of my girlfriend's hand when it happened," his voice broke on the word girlfriend because of course it did, but Mrs. Fenwick thankfully kept her face in a uniform mask of concern, "because I don't want to imagine what would have happened to her if I took her with me."

Harry honestly thought it was owing to his training with Snape that he didn't have the instinct to cling on as he went down. He'd thank the man profoundly, if it wasn't too embarrassing for words to imagine talking to him about saving his girlfriend.

"The same thing as to you, I assume," Mrs. Fenwick prodded.

Harry grimaced. "I'm not so sure. You see, when the Portkey let me go, I was in a gloomy looking graveyard, which I'm sure you can imagine didn't exactly make me feel any more cheerful about it. Still, could have been a prank in bad taste. Might have not, though, so I called my cousin and he told me to try reading the names on the graves." He took a deep breath. They'd discussed long and hard with Alduin whether they should make this bit public, but ultimately it seemed like lying would make the story extremely complicated. So Harry said: "The first name I read...well, as I'm sure you know, my cousin's wife is a historian. So she knows people who'd tried tracking Voldemort's possible bloodline, and she's discussed it with me. And the surname I saw...it was the family name she said was most likely his."

Mrs. Fenwick gasped.

"I reacted much as you did," Harry said with a smile, "but before I had the time to do anything else, I was Stunned from behind. When I woke up, I was tied to the same gravestone..."

"That is truly disturbing!"

"It was – and what was worse, Peter Pettigrew was standing right before me!"

"The convinced murdered and Death Eater, who betrayed your parents?"

"The very one! You can imagine that I was really scared at that point. I had no idea of the one name I managed to read off a gravestone would be any help in my cousin tracking me down...at least Pettigrew wasn't doing anything to me at that point, but I soon realized that that was maybe worse."

"How could it be worse?" Mrs. Fenwick, clearly knowing how to play into a good story, asked.

"Well, there was this huge cauldron set up in front of the grave – and I mean really huge, enough to fit me, which scared me even more – and Pettigrew was doing something with it. I don't know what exactly," it wasn't hard to agree with Alduin that it was better not to give people step by step instructions for dark rituals, "I'm not the best at Potions, and like I said, I was really scared at this point – but it looked like he was cutting its of himself to put inside? It didn't make me feel any better – it seemed obvious enough that whatever he was doing was some kind of Dark magic – and then he came and took a bit of my blood."

"Your blood?" This time, Mrs. Fenwick seemed genuinely alarmed.

"Yes. I was tied up and didn't have my wand, so I couldn't really do anything to stop him, and he poured that blood into the cauldron, too. By that point, I was feeling pretty sick, and I wanted to be away from it all, so I think I looked away from the cauldron or closed my eyes or something – I don't remember exactly – but I looked again when I heard voices, and there was a person stepping out of the cauldron!"

"A person?"

"Yes! The whole time I was worried the cauldron was waiting for me, but no, there had clearly been someone there the whole time, doing who knows what with my blood!"

"Do you know who it was?"

Harry gave an exaggerated sigh. "That's the question, isn't it? He didn't exactly introduce himself, but Pettigrew called him master, so I was pretty sure I knew what was going on."

"You believed it was You-Know-Who."

"I did – I still do. I mean, creepy blood rituals, kidnappings of children, Death Eaters serving him...it fits, doesn't it? And he was about to do something with Pettigew's Dark Mark, too- I don't know what – but the Aurors arrived before I could see that, thankfully. I don't think it'd have gone too well for me otherwise."

Mrs. Fenwick grimaced. "Probably not, no. Thank you for being willing to talk with me about this, it couldn't have been easy. I just have a few more questions. You know, I assume, that the man who kidnapped you has since been discovered to be Bartemius Crouch Junior?"

"I do," Harry said grimly.

"It also seems he'd been posing at your school as a teacher. What do you think of that?"

"It's not an entirely new experience for me – remember Quirrell? - but no one has gotten this close to harming me before, no. It's pretty disturbing, to be honest. I just hopes Hogwarts learns from it and vets its teachers more thoroughly in the future."

"Mr. Bartemius, I gather, also asserts that he was serving You-Know-Who in workign against you."

Harry shrugged. "Like I said, it would fit, wouldn't it? But I'm not the expert here, and whether it's him or not, this guy is clearly crazy dangerous and the Death Eaters are willing to follow him. Do you know he claims it was also him who came up with a way to get my name into the Goblet of Fire, allegedly? How powerful must someone like that be? It's no joke. I guess, if there's one thign I'd like people to take away from this interview, it's this: don't take this man lightly just because you think he isn't You-Know-Who. It could cost you."