(TW: Mild torture here.)

Come and Get it From Me, Sun Heat

Cold blood running through my veins
Born wild, it's my DNA
No mercy, feel no pain
I got a heart like a hurricane

Tell me is the colour of midnight different to the colour of sun
Is the bottomless ocean deeper than the heavens above?
No matter what's in front of me I'll keep fighting until I've won
Who's gonna stop me, the fire is in me now

I'm a lion in a field of lambs
Better get out while you can
I'm taking over, don't you understand
Come and get it from me


"Oh, there he is. That's one hell of a way to dodge an interview. Rescheduled, by the way."

"Cassiopeia." He tried to sit up, confused to find himself in a bed in the hospital wing, hands and ribs healed. "What happened? What did he do?"

"We're in mixed company, Harry." She pointed at Lydia, who was sitting at her desk and pretending not to watch them.

Cassiopeia cast a muffling charm and gave her a wave. Lydia made a 'shoo' motion with her hand and returned to writing. The vampire gave him a glass of water from his bedside, and he nearly choked on it, draining the cup in record time and requesting more.

"What did he do?" Harry repeated.

"Lots of prisoners, some casualties." She nodded as she spoke and took a small leather-bound notebook from within her robes, "But, here's what I find interesting-"

"No, nothing's interesting, who died? Prisoners?" He put his empty glass back on his bedside and scowled at her.

"I'm getting to that, Harry. None of the Weasleys are dead; I'll relieve you. Charlie was captured, though. To the parts I find interesting," she opened the notebook and cleared her throat. "He ordered that several Order members be taken and not killed. I stole this from his desk. He'd do a backflip. But these names are underlined. Why would they be underlined?"

"…Who?" Harry asked.

"Seamus Finnigan, Charlie Weasley, Hermione Granger."

"Did he… Get them?"

"The whole set and then some." She clicked her tongue.

"Who died? Who else did he take?"

"We killed Kingsley last night. Everyone was a bit… Antsy. Three died tonight. I don't know their names. Seven hostages from this evening. Twenty-one were taken from their homes, etcetera, when they first nabbed you. Six of those were Obliviated and released—not actually Order members it turns out. Now, the second thing I find interesting." She closed the notebook and tucked it back in her robes. "He spoke about you two. Better if you just look," she leaned forward, staring purposefully into his eyes.

Tom didn't hesitate and dove into her mind to find undiluted chaos. She yanked them through her head, shredding their magic on the writhing, thorned branches within to land on a memory.

"They are… Symbiotic, almost…" The Dark Lord sat back in his seat, waiting for midnight in a sitting room at the Malfoy Manor. The sun had just gone down.

"I mean, you knew that, really, you've seen in his head." The vampire leaned in.

Nagini looked up at Cassiopeia from her drawing on the floor and raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, but…" He said, gesturing uselessly with one hand, nearly frowning.

"But what?" Cassiopeia persisted, but he squinted his eyes, and she knew she'd lost the fish.

She ejected them from her head and held her arms wide, "See?"

"What? Who cares? You haven't told me who else he took," Harry said.

"Here's the third thing that I find interesting. There were far more prisoners than casualties, and most of them escaped. What would that indicate, Tom?"

"What would that indicate, Tom, because she's not gonna bloody tell us anything."

"Oh, don't be like that, Harry." She shushed him.

Tom was silent.

"Not a single dead Weasley. Yet. Underlined? He doesn't underline unless he's being so serious. Let a bunch go? A singular focus, I would say, almost. Right? Tom?"

"Who was taken please?"

"Oh my god. Granger, Finnigan, Brown, the Weasley, and three of their new recruits. Do you need their names?"

The way she'd said it made him say yes.

"Mai Sterling, Dale Freebird, and Avis Summerset. Feel better?"

"Not really, no. What about the ones taken from their homes?"

"No one you know. No one I know, either. Your friends noticed your absence. I lied to them; feel free to tell them the truth. I didn't want to deal with that nonsense."

"Lied to them?" Harry asked.

"I told them you were away doing some secret mission. I was vague. I do think it best you speak to Ginny before sun-up, though. I've been stopping her mail, but her family know about her necromancing her brother. There is also, of course, the fact that Tom has another of her brothers and underlined his name in his lil' journal."

"You should not have that," Tom said.

"Psh, what's yours is mine. Nothing in there but smut anyway."

"What?"

"Of course, it's not smut, Harry. Gullible. I'll go and get Ginny for you. Then you're needed to settle the Horcrux." She stood up and left him before he could object, practically dancing out of the ward.

"Er, okay." He would have preferred a minute to breathe.

While he waited for Cassiopeia, Lydia approached him with potions.

"You're lucky I'm as skilled in nerve repair as I am. Your hands were almost degloved. Broke a ton of bones to dust. And the ribs! Days old?"

"…Yeah, I guess."

"You're keeping me in business at this rate." She gave him three Calming Draughts, which he took immediately. She returned to her desk, tsking and shaking her head.

When the doors opened Ginny was questioning: "Why is he in the hospital wing?"

The vampire ignored her and silenced them, taking one of the two chairs by his bed. Ginny took the other, frowning at him.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

He told her all of it. From the Bludger to the chains and how he'd escaped them. What that meant, what her family knew, and who the Dark Lord had in custody. She'd cried throughout, Cassiopeia collecting draughts for her from the healer. He omitted that Charlie had attempted to Crucio him, and that Seamus had been the one to break his ribs.

Cassiopeia put her in her own hospital bed when it became clear that she wasn't going to stop sobbing, leaving her in Lydia's care as she dragged Harry out of bed, claiming a tight timeline. He apologised to a wide-eyed Ginny, who didn't look at him as the doors swung closed.

Four Death Eaters waited for them outside the ward, and followed, masked, with their wands drawn. She took him through the castle and out the main entrance, side-along Apparating him when they reached the edge of the wards.

They reappeared at the Malfoy gate, and a few seconds later, the Death Eaters that walked with them appeared with cracks and pops, moving with them to the door.

"Is this going to be a permanent thing?" Harry asked, glancing at them as they approached the large dining room. His heart flopped into his stomach, knowing that the Dark Lord was likely furious.

"You'll need to ask someone who knows," she said, gesturing at the door when they reached it.

Tom nodded and pushed it open, leaving her and Voldemort's followers outside.

His eyes found the Dark Lord first as though they were magnets. He sat at the head of the table, concealed.

Nagini was draped half on a chair with her legs on the tabletop, grinning and bouncing out of her seat at the sight of him.

"We were worried about you," she said in Parseltongue as she approached and took his hand. Harry found it hard to believe that Voldemort was worried—enraged, maybe. She turned him around to face the wall behind him, and his eyes bulged.

Hermione, Seamus, and Lavender, all missing their mouths and faces smooth where they should have been, as they struggled silently against their restraints. Lavender was extremely unsteady on her feet, pale as she shook uncontrollably. Granger and Finnigan glared at him, the former with tears in her eyes.

He shot a look at the Dark Lord, silently questioning before he tore his gaze away.

"You have my permission to kill them," Voldemort said.

Harry snapped his head to look at him again, then back at the hostages, who were pressed further into the wall behind, wild-eyed at his words. Tom summoned the curse on his left arm immediately, and Harry stepped toward them, a smile forming.

"I do have a suggestion," the Dark Lord said in Parseltongue, freezing Harry in his advance and firing goosebumps up his neck.

"As prisoners, they can be used to manipulate the Order. And of course, there are laws in place; they are British youth…" He continued in the serpent tongue.

Nagini stood beside Harry, holding his sleeve as she glared at Hermione, Seamus, and Lavender.

"You want to keep them in the school?" Tom hissed.

"The shackles are being reverse-engineered. When they are ready…"

Harry laughed, a shocked sound, his mind sprinting with the idea as he took another step forward.

"You must forgive me for what I said in anger, Granger." Tom snaked the curse at her as he spoke, "I feel murder might be too final. Wouldn't you agree?"

Seamus stepped in front of her, so Tom let him take it. He sent the darkness like a dart into his chest, dropping him to his knees.

Harry kicked him four times in the ribs before Tom stopped him.

Lavender had fallen, her eyes rolling as she struggled to stay upright, her breathing rapid and laboured. Hermione was struggling in her restraints, tears streaming down her face. Tom stepped closer.

"You can watch it all fall," Harry told Hermione, "With me." He wrapped her in the sparking blackness, held it around her arms and chest, and dropped her to the floor with the others. She kicked uselessly, muffled screaming coming from her non-mouth, head arched back. He didn't let go until her eyes closed and she stopped moving. His heart hammered all through him, in his head, chest, stomach, and legs. The force of the beat felt like it was shaking him.

"Sit down," the Dark Lord commanded. Harry spun and moved before he fully registered his words.

He took the chair to the right of Voldemort, his eyes still on Seamus, Hermione, and Lavender, all on the ground. Finnigan was the only one looking at him, sneering, dripping sweat as he fought to stay on his knees with his arms bound behind his back. Harry held his gaze until Finnigan looked away.

Rage, satisfaction, and a fair amount of concern at how he wanted to continue held most of Harry's attention.

The Dark Lord pressed his wand to his Dark Mark, and the door swung inward instantly. Three Death Eaters entered, and Cassiopeia followed. She stopped in the middle of the room to look at the hostages and at Harry, grinning madly before she backed out without a word.

The Dark Lord's followers dragged the prisoners out without the Dark Lord's direction, leaving him alone with Nagini and Voldemort. He warded the room and vanished his mask and gloves, took his hood back and glared at Harry.

"You will be surrounded by a guard at all times, at least four Death Eaters, as you have proven incompetent at detecting threats."

Harry said nothing, and Tom nodded once. He pre-emptively put his hand on the table and couldn't take his eyes off the Dark Lord's arm.

He could see his glare in his peripherals and saw Nagini drop a stack of scrolls on the table, some rolling onto the floor, that she ignored. She took the chair across from him and smiled again before she pulled her book and charcoal towards herself, used her arm to block them from looking, and began to draw.

The Dark Lord put two fingers on the top of his wrist. Both he and Harry exhaled heavily as it kicked in. He put his forehead on his arm and felt every muscle relax. He smiled into the tabletop as he began falling into an irresistible sleep, exhaustion and bliss washing out the adrenaline.

"Would you shut up," the Dark Lord snapped, jerking him awake.

Nagini was grinning into the back of her hand.

"What?"

"Shut up. Stop making noises I am trying to read."

"Oh, okay." Harry returned his head to his arm, eyes closing. "I'm starving."


Nagini woke him with breakfast at sun-up, the smell stirring him more effectively than her poking. A full spread greeted him, foods that he knew and that he didn't; Narcissa outdoing herself. Six platters of food, along with coffee, juice, iced water, and tea.

The Dark Lord was gone.

Nagini took three strips of bacon and put them all in her mouth. Harry's stomach moved him. He loaded a plate with some of everything, even the nameless things, and attempted to inhale it. He washed it down with water, then juice.

"Tell Narcissa thank you?"

Nagini nodded, still eating bacon, sitting on the tabletop.

"He says the feast at the school tonight is mandatory," she said when she swallowed.

"Mandatory? Why?"

She shrugged one shoulder and slid off the table—made effortless by her silk dress. She gestured for him to follow.

Four Death Eaters were waiting outside the dining room doors, and they followed them through the halls. One side-along Apparated him to Hogwarts after they reached the gates, reappearing at the long, uneven bridge, where he would have taken himself anyway.

When they reached his room, he found Ginny and the rest of them sitting cross-legged in the hall in a wide circle, blocking the way.

"Harry!" Pansy got to her feet first, the rest following.

"I… Told them. It all just came out," Ginny said.

"S'fine," Harry said, wondering if she'd also told them about Ron. He doubted it because no one seemed wildly shocked.

"What did he do? With them? Hermione? Charlie?" She asked.

Avalon held her arm while Eris glared. Ruby and Reed looked uncomfortable and out of place, glancing at each other. Pollux was non-plussed as he leaned against the wall with a book in front of his face.

Draco looked the most casual of all of them as he took in Harry's masked Death Eater entourage. " Should we take this inside?"

Harry agreed and opened his door, leaving his guard outside. He summoned more cream-coloured armchairs and expanded the room. He sat down, and they took his lead, the eight of them staring at him.

"I don't know what he did with Charlie," Harry said, looking anywhere but Ginny. "But Hermione, Seamus, and Lavender… They'll be here. I don't really know where or how, but he plans to keep them in the school. In accordance with the- the laws."

"He what?" Draco asked, and Pansy guffawed.

"Yeah. I know."

Eris' stare grated on Tom; Harry felt his irritation in the form of an urge to burst out of his seat and strangle the necromancer.

"So, Charlie's not dead?" Ginny asked.

"He didn't say anything about him," Harry didn't say that he didn't ask. "But Cassiopeia said he didn't kill any Weasleys, so maybe he won't…" He didn't feel like it was much condolence.

"Who are we talking about?" Ruby asked.

"Apparently, the feast tonight is 'mandatory.' Did you hear that?" Harry asked Draco, who nodded and leaned forward.

"Do you know why?" The blonde asked.

"No, do you?"

"No." He sat back, disappointed.


They stayed with him in his room, all of them skipping classes. He'd showered and changed into his Wizengamot robes, and they were still there.

Avalon, Pansy, Ruby, and Draco were mostly locked in gossip.

Ginny was quiet, watching Harry and chewing her thumbnail. He found he shared her sentiment, though it was intertwined with a full-grown animosity for the Order of the Phoenix.

Pollux continued to read, sometimes spouting random facts about blood and blood magic, making an otherwise silent Reed snort.

Pansy and Draco were too enthused about what 'mandatory' meant, so their group were some of the first students to make their way to the Great Hall just before sundown. They occupied the head of the Slytherin table, closest to the staff seats, taking advantage of the nearly empty hall.

His guard had escorted them and stood off to the side, wands drawn.

Ginny sat beside him, still gnawing her thumb so intensely he was worried for its safety.

Ruby and Reed seemed far more comfortable outside of Harry's room. Both talked rapidly at Pansy, who couldn't get a word in for a change.

As the hall began to fill with students, Pollux had taken to staring at him, reminding Harry of an owl.

Eris was also looking at him, though it was far less neutral.

The staff filed in as normal. Snape stared at Harry openly when he took his seat, expressionless. Rabastan, Rodolphus, and Barty were among them, the latter giving Harry a goofy, sarcastic wave.

"Did you know about that? I forgot to tell you," Ginny mumbled. "Crouch."

"Yeah, I did."

Cassiopeia was the last member of the faculty to join the table. She smirked at Harry as Lydia spoke into her ear.

"Look," Draco said, pointing, eyebrows raised.

He turned halfway in his seat to see the main doors, through which Hermione, Seamus, and Lavender were being guided by no less than twelve masked, armed Death Eaters. The hall erupted into murmurs as they were seated at the end of the Gryffindor table, a wide berth enforced by the Dark Lord's followers. All three of them were distraught, Hermione and Seamus watching him as though they weren't physically capable of anything else, Lavender weeping into the table.

Tom turned away nonchalantly, reaching for a goblet to pour pumpkin juice into.

"Harry…" Ginny said, still looking at them.

"I can't and won't do anything for them, Gin. I'm sorry."

She frowned deeply but didn't say anything else; her eyes locked on the Gryffindors.

Cassiopeia stood up, and instead of walking around the table, she climbed over the top of it, skirting the food and jumping down to address the room:

"You'll notice some students surrounded by Death Eaters. That's not a clerical error," she said after she amplified her voice, "Consider it a warning to you all; interfering with Harry Potter will see you severely punished." She paused to let the message sink in, her eyes on the doors. The hushed conversations picked up again, everyone looking at either the Gryffindors or Harry.

Cassiopeia silenced them by continuing, "To that effect, you'll find that no secret passages are in working order. You will also find that Hogsmeade has become a privilege that must be applied for and approved. You can thank the wonder trio over there for your troubles; do not bring it to me."

A grin formed on her face, eyes still on the open entry. Harry turned to look but couldn't see anything from his angle.

"There will also be a significant increase in security."

At her words, several students gasped, and a large amount of cutlery clattered. He turned to the entrance again and dropped his nearly empty goblet on the table.

Voldemort, Nagini, and a large group of unmasked Death Eaters—difficult to count immediately—Lucius and Narcissa among them. Nagini spotted Harry nearly immediately, smiling wide as her eyes glittered, turning yellow and black as she nearly skipped into the hall.

The pull signifying the Dark Lord's presence tugged as he got closer, not helpful at all because his eyes had already seen him, masked, gloved, and hooded. His stomach rolled with nerves at the sight of Voldemort as it dawned on him what it meant.

The hall had fallen dead silent. Barely a whisper could be heard as they made their way to the staff table. The Death Eaters split ranks at the head of the hall and spread around the walls.

"…What?" Draco asked.

Cassiopeia extended the table with four extra seats, then retook her own. The Dark Lord, Narcissa, and Lucius took three, the remainder of his followers surrounding the outskirts of the hall, almost shoulder to shoulder. Nagini whispered in Voldemort's ear, and he shooed her. She grinned, bolted around the table, and skidded to a stop in front of Harry, her skin scales, her eyes reptilian.

"We're staying," she told him in Parseltongue.

"I see that," Harry said, a small smile forming at her enthusiasm, but his eyebrows knitted together.

"I can't wait to see the rest. The library!" She leaned on his shoulder, and Ginny shrank away.

"I will show you some of the castle. Don't let him show you all of it," Tom hissed.

"I'll convince him. Or I'll tell a lie." She put a finger to her lips and smiled before she let her transformation overtake her. She became a serpent on the stone floor—causing some muffled screaming among the students—and moved back to the staff table, then under it.

The Dark Lord reached for her, and she climbed onto his shoulders, yawning her jaw at Lucius and making him flinch.

"…Merde," Avalon said.

"What did she say? What did you say?" Ginny asked, and they all leaned in.

"They're staying. She's excited about the library. The castle. I said I'd show her some."

"…You said to Voldemort's familiar that you'd show her the castle?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah. Nagini's cool." His eyes widened as he said it, as well as everyone else's.

"He's staying?" Ginny repeated, her eyes flicked to the staff table, braver than Harry.

He didn't answer, could feel the Dark Lord looking at him, the thread pulling in his middle as he sat barely metres away. All he could think about was whether he'd be required to soothe his Horcrux. Each time he shook it off, it came rocketing back. He frowned at his plate, annoyed that Tom watched him want it; Harry knew it was a matter of time before he had a fully formed comment.