Pardon Me, Incubus
An ominous landscape of never-ending calamity
I need you to hear, I need you to see
That I have had all I can take
And exploding seems like a definite possibility to me
So pardon me while I burst into flames
I've had enough of the world and its people's mindless games
So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flame
Pardon me, pardon me, I'll never be the same
Once inside the Slytherin Common Room, Tom used the map to find the Malfoy. He walked the copper gangway leading to the dormitories, pushed the seventh-year boys' door open, and pulled off the cloak. He summoned the curse in a dome over the blonde's bed to silence them, keeping the darkness gentle on the room with effort, his anger causing difficulty. He grabbed the blonde with Harry's right hand and hoisted him upright, startling him awake. Harry surprised Tom and himself by taking the lead.
"You want to know what happened, Malfoy? Do you? After you put me in that fucking cabinet? Do you? Are you sure? Huh?"
The blonde didn't say anything, eyes wide as he grabbed at his hand, mouth trying to form words as his eyes shot from him to the swirling, glowing darkness above their heads.
"He made me vow never to tell a soul what happened in that or any other meeting. In exchange, he swore never to harm a Hogwarts student. He threatened to keep me from returning to the school; he threatened to keep me captive if I didn't- if I didn't murder Albus Dumbledore. So, I did. I fucking did it." Harry's eyes were wild as he let it spew out.
"Afterwards, he left me here, freed me from the Vow so that I'd… In a few days, he's taking me to Azkaban —so you'll get to see your dear old dad again— he wants to use me to break the wards. Afterwards, he's going to announceto the entire world that I'm a Death Eater. Then he's going to kill me. I don't need friends," Harry had let him go and pulled his right sleeve up to show the writhing mark as he spoke —darkness snaking wildly from his left hand— amazed that he was able to deliver his rage-fueled speech with no hiccups.
"What!? What- what is happenin-"
Harry didn't let him finish. He cancelled the curse—which had woken all the Slytherins within, unsure at the sight of him, wands drawn but not raised—and stalked out, slamming the heavy copper door behind him before Zabini could get any ideas, replacing the cloak over his head.
He hadn't returned to Ginny in the Room of Requirement, too agitated to talk, so he ran. He first sprinted through the castle halls, out into the grounds, then into the forest, ducking and weaving through the trees until he lost his breath and sat down, relatively lost in the woods, strangely relieved to be somewhat missing.
"Do you remember when I said I was tired?" Harry asked, snapping sticks.
'Yes.'
"I had no idea what I was talking about."
Tom was quiet, orchestrating and hiding his thoughts. Harry couldn't even begin to understand how it was done or how to replicate it. And for all Tom's talk about him needing to learn Occlumency, he offered no guidance. So, he openly and accidentally thought about the dream—that it wasn't the curse or Tom's sensations making him want…
"We have more pressing concerns," Tom said out loud, startling Harry.
"When else am I gonna get the time to… Have a crisis…"
"You are homosexual. Better?"
"That's worse, actually, thanks."
Tom had walked a frowning Harry back to the castle and into the hall after he'd spotted Ginny there on the map with Luna and Neville over an hour later. They decided to join them. He was starving and no longer able to sit alone with his thoughts.
He sat down beside Ginny, smiled a small, insincere smile, and took a pastry from the pile in the centre. He nodded at Luna and Neville, the latter seemingly more concerned than ever to see him.
"Good morning, Harry. Did you see they made the trade of Diricawls and their eggs illegal without a permit? My father says they should consider Nargles next. Just because they're invisible and mischievous doesn't mean they shouldn't be protected," she looked at Neville, who nodded, wide eyes on the table.
"I did not see that, Luna," Tom said conversationally, "Have you seen the Occamies in the Vivarium?"
"No! But Neville was there with you when they were released, weren't you, Neville? I'd like to see them, but Rookwood says we shouldn't go looking for them."
"Sorry, Ginny. Again. About this morning, I'm…" He took a bite of the pastry, then a second one when he registered exactly how hungry he was.
"As long as you're sure you're okay?"
It seemed he was making her more and more anxious. With that knowledge came increasing guilt.
"I'm just tired. Hungry. Possessed. You know," he whispered the last part, though Luna was still talking about Occamies, drowning him out.
"…You'd tell me, right? If something was… Really wrong? More wrong than…" She frowned and didn't finish.
"Yeah. Yeah, Ginny," he lied, ducking his head.
Tom bristled but said nothing. Harry watched the Slytherins enter: Malfoy, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Eris, and Avalon, through the open hall doors. They didn't head straight to their table. Instead, the blonde in front paused, scanned the Gryffindor table, and then they beelined for Harry, making him drop his remaining pastry.
Malfoy sat beside him, Avalon and Eris next to Ginny, the rest sandwiching Luna and Neville on the other side.
"What are you doing," Harry hissed at the blonde, who said:
"I'd already decided. That we were friends. Before."
Avalon and Ginny were already locked in conversation about a Witch Weekly article; Neville looked distraught while Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle picked out their breakfasts. Luna watched Pansy on her left with an absent smile, and then she looked at Harry and shrugged.
"You can tell me to sod off again, but I thought you should know. That it hardly factored in," he continued beside him.
Tom made eye contact with the side of his head and then commanded, "Look at me."
Malfoy froze, visibly swallowed, and then turned. Tom entered his head and found the memory —neatly presented, at the front— of Malfoy, sitting down heavily in a sitting room in the Manor after Tom had given the history of Armand Malfoy, overcome with the knowledge that he was suddenly friends with Harry Potter, followed by being called to the Dark Lord by Narcissa not long after Harry was forced to show his mark.
"Good," Tom said, biting the pastry Harry had picked up and returning his eyes to the rest of the hall.
"How… Since when-" Draco's thoughts were visible without Legilimency.
'We might as well wear a name tag that says, 'I am the Dark Lord Voldemort',' Harry thought.
'We might as well.'
'…I can't believe I told him all that, and he's…'
'He is a Malfoy,' Tom thought like that explained everything.
Hermione, Seamus, and Lavender chose that moment to enter the hall, and they froze at the sight of the bizarre mix of people at the Gryffindor table. Harry was the only one who'd noticed them; the rest of the group was locked in animated discussion, apart from Eris, who watched Ginny and Avalon motor mouth at each other.
Draco followed Harry's intense stare to Hermione, "…I'd ask what happened there," he swigged juice instead of asking what happened there.
"She testified against me in the Wizengamot. She thinks I—Ron. She put a half-dozen tracking charms on me. Still is, actually. She did it again yesterday," he hadn't said it above a mutter, but Ginny swivelled anyway, looking at Hermione, who was turning to huff away with the other Gryffindors.
"You're joking?" She asked, and Harry shrugged.
"…They're…" He shrugged again, exhausted by them. By everything.
That evening, he'd been sitting with Ginny, Draco, Avalon, Pansy, and Eris in the library, watching them talk. Or watching everyone but Eris talk. The sun would have had to have set only minutes earlier, but Cassiopeia appeared beside him despite how early.
"Talk?" She gestured at the library door, and he nodded, ignoring the silence that had fallen at her appearance as he followed her.
She was quiet as they walked, leading him to the astronomy tower, up the dozens of winding staircases, gesturing for him to climb the ladder first. He did, waited for her to climb up and cast wards, then Tom said:
"Going to push us off?"
"Would be easier than all this. Would you just bounce?"
"Good question."
She sighed and sat down on the stone tiles next to the largest telescope, "You know, when Emily Stintston told me that there was a kid in Slytherin who could talk to fucking snakes, I tell you what, I did not foresee this series of events."
"Emily Stintston… Didn't she put her arm in a Hungarian Horntail's enclosure?" Tom asked.
Cassiopeia snorted, "Yep. Yanked her right in. Anyways. Bad news, probably."
Tom sat them down, too, and closed their eyes momentarily before he fixed Harry's face and locked their eyes on the spinning, levitating model planets in the tower's centre.
"Nagini said it's not a good plan for him ever ever ever to know it was your idea. He'd kill you for the audacity. Unironically, he possesses the very same audacity. She said she would try to get it out of him, but… She shouldn't know, and you know you, you fucking asshole. It has to be Tom's goddamn idea, or he'll throw a goddamn tantrum."
"…A pleasure knowing you, Cassiopeia," Tom said, almost entirely seriously.
"Yeah. Sorry, buddy."
"Did you tell Nagini that he plans to…"
"No, the poor dear is fond of you for some reason. She seemed to have concerns."
"Do not tell her," his heart palpitated at Tom's words, Harry getting a sense of certainty that made his limbs numb.
"It won't come from me," it was dark but they could see her frown, "He wants me to collect you the night before Azkaban. On Saturday. We won't be back for… I don't know how long, so, say any… Goodbyes."
Afterward, he found the Slytherins and Ginny still together, though moving to the Great Hall. He'd made a counteroffer and suggested they make their own table in the Room of Requirement. Draco had summoned it, a table and a room that was too large and too green.
"You know, now that you're…" Draco's eyes flicked to his right arm from beside him, "I can tell you," he leaned in to whisper so the others didn't hear, "You were right about Trelawney."
Harry couldn't control the weird smile on his face, which evolved into giggles. Then he was laughing, and soon he couldn't breathe.
"No—no way!" He guffawed. "No, I can't believe it! I had no idea. Wow, that was— was so sneaky of you." He wheezed, gripped his sides, and cried tears. His laughter was the only sound in the room.
"I sent Dobby and Kreacher to spy on you in here," Harry said when he got control of his lungs. "They came back and said—" then he was laughing again, Ginny was frowning across the table at his hysteria, "They said, 'He's fixing a cabinet'," he lost it entirely once more, rendered silent in a fit of giggles, folded in half, face near his plate of sausages and mash.
There was a long, awkward quiet after he truly got himself in check, Ginny squinting at him, Eris' expression mirroring hers. Avalon watched him with sparkling eyes, a small smile on her face as Draco shifted uncomfortably beside him. Pansy broke the silence:
"Had me standing guard so many nights," she rolled her eyes, "Blaise and Draco were so paranoid after you…" She made a hacking gesture, "And he wound up in the hospital wing."
"…Why were you in the hospital wing?" Draco asked, his eyes narrowed, "I know I didn't put you there."
"That's a long story," Harry said, eyes on the table, cheeks red from his fit.
"Ce que? I, for one, want to hear this story: what did you do? Why was Draco in the wing?" Avalon leaned in, and so did Pansy:
"Well, Draco was in here, in the Room of Requirement, fixing a Vanishing Cabinet that's been broken for years. To kidnap Harry and take him to…" She looked at Harry then, a hunger evident on her face, desperate to know why, "…To the Dark Lord, and one night Harry was just waiting for him, outside. Absolutely blitzed him. Draco couldn't fight back because the Dark Lord said no one could harm Harry way back in July last year," she told her.
"They fought after Trelawney disappeared," Ginny said, looking at Draco with heavy distaste.
"That sounds right," the blonde said, appearing bored.
"And now you're friends?" Avalon laughed.
"It's been a crazy year," Harry said. Tom stood up to pace and said, "I'll drink to it."
He swigged the wine that he'd summoned as soon as he'd noticed Draco hadn't.
"Why did he order his followers not to harm you?" Eris asked Harry, and the room stilled.
Tom smiled and narrowed his eyes as he pointedly ignored the question. Avalon and Ginny glanced at each other.
"…Yeah, why did he order that?" Pansy agreed, looking between Harry and Draco, who sat forward beside him.
"Maybe it's none of our business, Pans," the blonde said, looking at Eris, who picked up his drink, nonplussed.
"We'll get to the bottom of the Harry Potter mystery. Did you tell him about Skulmadras?" Avalon muttered at Ginny, loud in the silence.
"Skull what?" Harry asked as Tom brought the wine to his lips, swigging two quick mouthfuls, already making him nervous.
"Uh, Skulmadras. It's um," she frowned at Avalon, and Tom paid more attention.
"It's like a festival, I guess. Avalon and Eris are going. Next week," she continued, staring into her glass, "I was thinking of going too."
Harry wasn't sure why she seemed nervous.
"…You're thinking of going to Skulmadras?" Pansy scoffed while Draco barked a shocked laugh.
"I'm sorry, what is Skulmadras?" Harry insisted, still not clear.
"It's a huge gathering of Death Eaters. It's new and going to be annual; the first one is supposed to be big," Pansy answered beside him.
"…Is it in Bulgaria?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, it's hosted by some scary vampire lord this year. Blaise said he was a Viking, and I'm actually so excited. Daphne said he has a voice like… What did she say, Draco?"
"No," Harry said.
"No?" Ginny asked, detecting it was directed at her.
"No. Don't go. Are you kidding me?" He shot up, knocking his chair over and dropping his drink on the carpet with a thunk, "After all that I've done… I can't—I can't let you go. It's not safe. It sends a message to Voldemort, don't you understand?"
"I think she is capable of making her own judgments," Eris said, putting his wine on the table and standing as well.
"Oh, piss off," Harry growled, "Gin, listen to me, you don't want to be there. Don't be there."
Instead of agreeing, instead of seeing sense, her eyes narrowed, "I'm not joining the Death Eaters; I'm… I'd be in disguise, and I'd be doing…. I'd be doing what I want to do. Necromancy. With Avalon, Eris and Cedrum. As long as I'm his student and not in the Order-"
"Ginny, you're not hearing me-"
"You're not hearing me! You're never hearing me!"
"Out. Everyone." Tom snapped, his emotions slipping from his vice grip and swimming Harry's head. His voice cracked like a whip, and Draco and Pansy instinctively left the room while Ginny, Avalon, and Eris resisted. He shepherded them and forced them out without another word while Ginny argued until he closed the doors. He paced the room back into his bedroom.
"If she goes she gets front row seats to- and he wants to kill us, so she's in danger, to top it off," he said, and Tom summoned another bottle that Harry swigged from directly, discovered it was bourbon and not wine, choked, shrugged, and chugged it again.
"She is right about Cedrum protecting her. I value his opinion, and Cedrum values her. She is wrong about the Order. His Vow regarding her is void. She is only protected by his word and our subservience. But we cannot stop her, Harry. You paid for her to have the choice. We could tell her that he plans to reveal us there. That he plans to kill us is another thing entirely…" Tom drank like it was water for a few seconds.
"So, you've given up then, we're going to just die?" Harry said once his throat relaxed after the burn.
"No. I have not given up. We are outmatched."
"No, we aren't," Harry lied, knowing full well that he didn't have the upper hand, "Once… If he kills us, what happens to Ginny? Tell me. What happens?"
"…If she went to the Order, he would not spare her. And he would never trust her loyalty if she supported him—through some wild twist of fate."
"I want to talk to Cedrum. Could we talk to Cedrum? Maybe vaguely? Or—would he tell Voldemort?" Harry was already checking the map. He was in his office, alone. Eris, Avalon, and Ginny were missing from the paper.
Tom didn't answer his questions, taking them out of the Room instead.
He jogged up and down several staircases through the castle to the Transfiguration professor and waited, catching his breath, for the room to swing open; the man was already opening the far office door, alerted to his presence.
"Harry?"
"Yeah, sorry. I know it's late… If I told you that Ginny might be in danger, what would you say to that?"
"First, I would ask why," he sat at his desk and loaded his pipe with one eyebrow raised.
"She's… I mean, you know who I am, right? And Voldemort—He's…" Harry let out a shaky breath and drew another in, still partially out of breath from running half the length of the castle but mostly scared out of his mind, "She's a target because of me. If something happened, would you… Could you help her?"
"I know who you are, boy. I would put my utmost into protecting her, but I am one man," he lit his pipe.
"She wants to go with you. To Skul… Skulmadras. If she does, will she-"
"The Dark Lord's influence is fast becoming a part of everyday life. She would need to travel quite a distance to escape it. If she were with us, she would be under my care."
"And you have a plan? If things go wrong?"
"Most often."
"I don't want her to go," Harry said, genuinely sick at the idea of her being there while…
"That much is obvious."
"…She said she'd be in disguise? How much has she discussed this with you?"
"With me? Very little. With my kids? Apparently plenty. She will be robed and masked. Not your Dark Lord's follower's garb. Ours. Ceremonial. It would hide her identity. I will see that Avalon suggests she put her hair away."
"…I don't want her to go," Harry repeated.
Cedrum shrugged and released a puff of smoke.