(TW: Mentions of suicide in this chapter)

Bad Blood, Bastille

We were young and drinking in the park
There was nowhere else to go
And you said you always had my back
Oh, but how were we to know?

That these are the days that bind you
Together, forever
And these little things define you
Forever, forever

All this bad blood here
Won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years
Won't you let it lie?

If we're only ever looking back
We will drive ourselves insane
As the friendship goes, resentment grows
We will walk our different ways

After much back-and-forth discussion, Ginny decided to brave the Slytherins while making it clear she wasn't a Death Eater. She needed two more Draughts. Cedrum—he'd been told, was sleeping, as: 'An old man like me needs rest to party.' Avalon had failed his accent. The girls had gotten ready rapidly—makeup, hair and nails, Avalon in green and Ginny in blue, while Eris and Harry did nothing, already in robes.

Cassiopeia entered the tent nearly an hour later, alone, dressed in a low-cut sparkling red dress, trailing behind her. The four of them lounging on the floor, Avalon and Ginny pausing their discussions on the ethics of love potions. A distraction for Ginny, somewhat working, as she was fervently against them. She hadn't stopped sending him alarmed glances, and he again he felt guilty for everything he'd dragged her through.

"…Hello," the vampire said awkwardly as she assessed the room's tone, her eyes mostly on Harry, "Private chat?" She pointed at all of the doors quickly, Tom pointed at their room and stood, following her in.

She silenced them and startled him by kissing him on the cheek, "Well done, snake boy. How are you holding up?"

"Oh. I mean. Great. Excellent," he nodded repeatedly, "…How do you think."

"Yeah. He took that… Well, I think. We've got him on the ropes," she pretended to punch him.

"No, we do not," Tom said.

"No, he took that terribly. But! You aren't dead. He stopped, and he hasn't come back for seconds. So, I honestly think we won that one, even if you don't. He says he'd rather eat glass than touch you, but we all know the truth."

"What's the truth?" Harry asked.

"…Everyone but Harry knows the truth," she tapped his nose, "I've got a whole bunch of Slytherins outside. Some new Deathlings, too."

"…Why? How many? Who?" His voice rose with each question.

"Well, because they've been bugging and bugging me, and Draco's been bothering his poor mother, and I figured you could use a party to let off some steam. I heard about your little thing at Avalon's estate. You like most of them," she took in the look on his face, "Also, unfortunately, you will be going out with me tonight. I can already tell you hate that idea, but sorry, you're to be seen frolicking and whatnot."

"…What? No?"

"Yeah, you might as well limber up. I smelled the Grave Dust in here anyway; someone's planning something."

"…What?"

"So, there's Draco and his usual group; I forget the new kids' names. Pops? Rose? Anywho, three new kids. A set of brother-sister twins and their friend. They seem fine, they know Pansy, one won't shut up…"

Harry sat down abruptly, "No."

"No?"

"Cassiopeia," Tom said.

"One more push, alright? I'm taking you back to the school tomorrow night."

He rolled his eyes shut and slumped.

"I know. His tantrum aside, we still need to keep you useful," she sat beside him and shoved him with her shoulder, nearly pushing him over.

"…He doesn't even care what I'm doing. He said I'm worth less than nothing. None of it has mattered."

"Are you an idiot?"

"…No?"

"He's mentioned that Morsmorde once. After the Azkaban raid? He was speechless. Kept opening his mouth to say something," she gestured wildly as though it was terribly significant.

"So?"

"He's thought about it. A lot."

Harry frowned, still not understanding why that mattered.

"He hates you because the thing in his head is you. He thinks whatever you two are doing…" She waggled her eyebrows, grinning, "…Is rancid because he can only see it from his perspective. He thinks you should hate each other. Like they do."

'She is right. He would find our magic… Tempting. And he would have expected us to form an uneasy alliance at best, not…' Tom thought.

'…Yeah, okay.'

"But it's wearing him down. He has no other options, so maybe he won't be munching any windows. Get it?"

"I don't want him to touch me," Harry frowned, more repulsed by the idea now that the Dark Lord knew what they'd been doing. What he'd been feeling.

"Trust me, he doesn't want to hold your hand either. It will buy us time. though. And maybe, like you said, we can condition the little parasite. How is it?"

"He's mad Voldemort didn't succeed in killing us all," Harry said.

"That's troubling..." She crossed and uncrossed her arms, "Anyway, like I said, one last night. I've left them stood outside the tent. Are they coming in? If not, I think Parkinson will cry."

"Fine. Fine. We need to warn Ginny about the new people first; she wasn't planning on being seen here," Harry tried to scald her with his tone, but she just shrugged, got up, and opened the door.

"I've brought strangers here. They'll be students by the end of the week. Up to you if you want to hide about it," she announced.

"Oh. Uh," Ginny looked at Avalon, who clapped at high speed, squealing:

"Strangers? How many?"

"Three. Along with the Slytherins."

"Zabini?" Ginny asked.

"Yes."

"I'm not going out there with him," Harry snapped while Eris groaned.

"Going out?" Ginny repeated, standing up from her place in the cushions, followed swiftly by Avalon.

"Yes. He needs to do one more lap of the camp. Be seen in the tent," Cassiopeia said.

Only Ginny seemed to find it appropriately distasteful, giving him a sad look, "I guess I'm going with you then."

"…What? No. No? You can't do that. There will be photos, Gin."

Her eyes were wide, but she didn't budge, "It- it was going to happen anyway, right? I- I want them to know what I am- I'm tired of… It's not against the law anymore, and if they can't understand me… I'll tell them I'm not- that I don't support You-Know-Who, and I don't," she snapped the last part at Cassiopeia, who shrugged, "But I am who I am. And I- I'm here. And I'm with you. You know that."

Eris popped up from the floor, where he'd been lazing. Then he tried to act casually when Ginny looked at him, reminding Harry of a recently punched mullet.

'Should we just tell him that I'm not dating Ginny?' Harry wondered.

'No, this is more fun.'

"So, I'll bring them in then," the vampire said, then as she passed Ginny: "That's the spirit darling."

"…Wait. Are you sure? I can do this myself," Harry stopped Cassiopeia's retreat, and she rolled her shoulders, not turning to look at him.

"Yeah. I'm… Okay. I'm going with you," the youngest Weasley insisted.

The vampire shot out the door like a bullet at her words, apparently done with the discussion.

She brought no less than nine people back through the door, one of them giggling uncontrollably. surprisingly it wasn't Pansy laughing. She startled Harry by hugging him, squeezing his arms into his sides and rocking him.

"Let him go Pans," Draco sighed.

"I've missed him," she said, partially letting him go, holding his forearms and looking at his face.

The groups stood staring at each other for a long moment. The twins, the brother much taller and paler than the shorter sister—the one giggling nervously. His eyes were like saucers under a mop of curly brown hair, much the same as his twin's. The third stranger, a girl with a buzz cut, a nose piercing, and black silk gloves, frowning at the room and standing close to the bug-eyed one. Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle, and Daphne flanked them while Draco and Pansy stood by Harry. They all dressed to the nines in their finest robes and dresses, apart from the girl with the shaved head, who wore a black hoodie and jeans.

Cassiopeia sat down on the pillows on the floor, summoning bottles and glasses from the kitchen cupboards, though she couldn't drink.

"So, you did come after all?" Pansy said to Ginny, who nodded sheepishly behind him, then said.

"I don't support You-Know-Who. I'm a necromancer. That's it," her conviction increased towards the end. No one made a comment.

Harry thought he might as well get it over with and sat down next to Cassiopeia, Ginny, Avalon, Eris, and the rest, taking pillows. Cassiopeia dispersed glasses of firewhisky.

"Who do you think did most of the work raising the dead?" Avalon asked Pansy, sipping her drink and not reacting at all to the powerful alcohol.

The giggly twin muttered something to Pansy, who said:

"This is Ruby. And her twin brother, Pollux Sallow. And Reed Harlow."

"Hello!" Ruby said, loud, waving, sipping from her cup and then choking on it. Reed slapped her on the back, still frowning.

"Er, I'm Harry," he said.

"Potter! Right! We know! That was so wild last night-" Ruby began, but Ginny blessedly interrupted her.

"Ginny. Hi," she waved from beside him and gave an awkward head wobble.

"Avalon Delacroix, so nice to see new faces," she was scanning all three of them, seemingly the most interested in the gloves on Reed's hands.

"Eris." He didn't offer a facial expression.

"We met Pansy a while back. Her dad knew our dad, so when I saw her—" Ruby began, looking at Harry specifically.

"He killed himself," Pollux stated, his face still expressionless, blank, wide eyes on Harry, "I found him."

"Er, yeah. Stop. Anyway…" Ruby's eyes were huge, and she sucked in her lips before she continued, "I saw Pansy, and I was like, 'Oh, no way, I know her,' so we got chatting. I told her I wanted to see if I could find someone to talk to about the laws, and she said she knew you, and I was like, 'No WAY,' and she said, 'Yes way,' and here we are," she looked at him expectantly. Then she interrupted him before he could fully open his mouth:

"…This is bonkers. Last week, I was degnoming Nan's garden for the ninety-second time, and that was the highlight of it, right, Pollux?"

"Can I ask for his blood now?" he asked her, still staring into Harry's soul.

"No, too soon and too weird!" She chirped, "Sorry, he's got something… Different about him. He's a bit," she shrugged and shook her head, "Harmless though, promise."

Pollux continued to watch Harry with unblinking eyes.

"Err, why would he want my blood?" Harry asked, wary.

"Oh! He's a hemomancer. He gets visions from blood. He's gifted with it. Our mum is a hemalurgist. Like me, I'm not as good as her though—we can manipulate blood. That's why she was in… Azkaban. She was there for- for ages. The Dark Lord recruited her right out of her cell, and then she- she came home," she swallowed visibly, then went glassy-eyed, staring at the far wall.

Everyone had leaned in, particularly Cassiopeia, who was grinning.

"Well, you've come to exactly the right tent for legislation, but I can tell you blood magic is already on his desk, and you needn't worry about it. Sallow, she said your last name was?" The vampire asked.

"…Yes, ma'am," Ruby said, eyes wide.

"What's your mother's name?" She asked.

"Eugenia, ma'am."

"Stop calling me ma'am immediately."

Harry laughed, and it felt weird in his throat, making him hide his face behind his glass for some reason. He took a sip and forgot it was firewhisky.

"…So how about that Morsmorde, Death Eater?" Zabini asked, interrupting Harry's coughing, "Compensating for something?"

Cassiopeia screeched a laugh louder than anyone could speak before she stopped abruptly, "I'll kill you. No one will care. Maybe your parents, but they love money more than you, right, Zabini? Your mother will dry her tears with the silks I buy her, I'll munch her out at your funer-"

"Okay," Tom said, raising a hand, "I think he hears you. Though he has shown himself to be particularly deaf."

"Lay off, Zabini, or you can go alone," Draco said, swigging his firewhisky.

"Fuck it. I will. Let me know when you climb out of Golden Boy's ass, Malfoy," Zabini stood up—paler after the vampire had leaned across the pillows to snarl at him— and stomped out. Harry relaxed and sipped his drink again, glad he was gone.

"There are one hundred and fifty billion red blood cells in one ounce of blood," Pollux deadpanned. Reed finally stopped frowning, fighting a grin, her lips wiggling.

"My mum's a nurse at Saint Mungo's," Goyle said.

Ginny snorted, and then she was breathless, her face in her knees. Avalon joined her, then Pansy, giggling, then cackling. Daphne cleared her throat, scowling, before she put down her drink, stood up, and followed Zabini out.

"…I should go after her, but Blaise is being such a git," Pansy frowned at the exit. Ginny was still stifling giggles and looking appalled at herself.

"…Show me this blood magic?" Cassiopeia said, interrupting Parkinson's moral dilemma, "I've read things, but obviously, another art hunted to near extinction and all that."

"Oh, sure, okay," Ruby said, raising her arm and flicking her wrist. A burst of blood sprang out from her fingers, bigger than her head. It hovered in the air, attached to her hand, where she shaped it, forming points and individual bubbles, her face neutral, seemingly not painful.

"Pollux can tell you your future. It might be major information, or it could be totally useless. He might not even tell you what he saw. But he'll see something," she pulled her blood back into her hand as she spoke, no trace of a wound or a mess, "Any volunteers?" She looked at Harry as she asked, but he wouldn't offer.

"Me! I'll do it!" Avalon gave her hand, and Eris rolled his eyes. The door behind her opened, and Cedrum appeared in his pyjamas.

"…Don't let me stop you," he said, stepping from behind Avalon for the bathroom, robes in his arms, lemon yellow, "…Cassiopeia."

"…Cedrum," she seemed stiff, and Harry asked Tom why in his head.

'They had an argument at an auction before she was turned.'

'What about?'

'He outbid her on some vampiric relic. I do not remember specifics.'

Ruby leaned toward Avalon, who re-extended her arm. "It stings just a tiny bit. I try not to break the skin. Have you got your potions?" She looked from Avalon to Pollux, who searched his robes and pulled three vials out to show her.

She then pulled blood from Avalon's hand, a small globlet no bigger than a fingernail, and hovered it into her brother's mouth. Crabbe gagged repeatedly as though he was going to vomit.

Pollux uncorked the vials methodically, slowly. One after the other, he lined up the corks, then the bottles, before he took them one by one. He then closed his eyes and straightened his back.

"What are the potions for?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Oh, they prevent blood-borne diseases and stuff. Can't be too careful," Ruby answered in a whisper.

"…In June your sister will seek you out to tell you that your grandmother is dead. She says: 'C'est légal maintenant, et notre mère est différente sans notre grand-mère, tu le sais. S'il te plaît, je t'en supplie. Reviens à la maison. Personne ne parle d'Emilien depuis des années. Je n'ai pas réussi à pardonner à notre père,'" His tone changed as he spoke, perfect French in a woman's voice.

Avalon was frozen. His eyes popped open as he finished speaking.

"…Non. Non, Émilien… Eris—Eris! Enir ici," she shot to her feet, dragging Eris with her. She pounded on the bathroom door and was met with shouts from within.

'It's legal now, and our mother is different without our grandmother, you know that. Please, I'm begging you. Please come home. Nobody's talked about Émilien for years. I haven't been able to forgive our father,' Tom recited in Harry's head as Avalon jammed Eris into a room.

Ruby clapped, "Who's next!" While still looking at Harry.

"Me!" Pansy exclaimed, also looking at him.

Ginny seemed to be struggling, looking between the door the necromancers had disappeared behind and Harry.

Ruby took her blood and brought it to Pollux, who bit it out of the air like she'd tossed popcorn before he closed his eyes once more. Cedrum exited the bathroom in his yellow robes, looked at them momentarily, and then entered the room that held Avalon and Eris.

"You don't get what you want," Pollux told Pansy.

"…What? What do I want? What does that mean?" She was taken aback, gesturing at Pollux.

"Sometimes, he just won't tell you. I like to think it's because it's for the best that you don't know, but he won't say why he doesn't tell either. Next?"

"How does it work? Has he ever blurted out, like, super private stuff?" Ginny asked beside him.

"I've seen him whisper in people's ears, and he's a good whisperer, but Pollux's definition of private might not be the same as yours," she shrugged, and Ginny chewed her lip.

"I'll go," Goyle said, sweating and swallowing visibly as he extended his hand.

Harry took as large a sip of his drink as he dared while Ruby took Goyle's blood and gave it to Pollux. He could feel that Tom was fascinated, but neither thought it was a good idea to witness whatever future they had in the present company. Reed hadn't said a word, watching everyone interact almost as though stunned, occasionally gripping the robes of Ruby or Pollux without speaking.

"As soon as he's dead, you're free. The sooner, the sooner," Pollux said.

"See? That seems private," Ruby said, "But we just-"

Goyle had burst off the floor and out of the tent, followed by a flustered Crabbe.

"…Who's next?" Ruby said, undeterred and bright-eyed.

Ginny and Draco both extended their arms, and he quickly retracted his. Reed had taken to staring at Harry, no longer frowning but intense regardless. There was a flutter of something—magic—at the back of his mind. Tom instinctively threw shields up inside, and the feeling faded.

'What was that?' Harry wondered as Draco spoke.

"Ladies first," he said.

"Er, okay," Ginny said.

'Her. Reed,' Tom thought, watching the girl in question. She gave no indication that she'd done anything, so Harry wasn't sure why he thought it was her.

Ruby took the youngest Weasley's blood to give Pollux, and Cassiopeia nudged Harry in the ribs, bouncing beside him. Harry sipped his drink nervously, glancing at Ginny, who intently watched the hemomancer.

'Was that Legilimency?' Harry wondered.

'No, we were not making eye contact. Something else.'

That worried them both, and Tom moved to strengthen their protection.

"Your only path is the one you're on," Pollux locked his huge eyes on Ginny, "You shouldn't stray."

"He doesn't usually give advice, I'd take that," Ruby said.

Reed stared at Pollux, finally taking her eyes off Harry as Eris, Avalon, and Cedrum exited the side room. Eris and Avalon sat down, but the professor left the tent. All of them frowned to varying degrees.

"Oh, does that mean I should- that I should keep studying with Cedrum?" Ginny asked, and Pollux blinked at her in return.

Her eyebrows drew together, "Harry, can I talk to you?"

She got to her feet, and he followed, taking his drink, which Cassiopeia refilled. She took him into his room and muffled them.

"What did Avalon say? Earlier? To Eris? At the table?" She continued to clarify as Harry looked confused.

"…Uh, she said… Oh, that there's something wrong with me. To him. That she agrees with him. He told her it took her long enough."

"What? No, when he stormed off."

"Er, that seemed like a private- a private argument," Harry said awkwardly.

"What do you think Pollux meant? Don't stray? That means stay with them, right, with Cedrum and the others?" She nodded as she spoke, and Harry saw that that was what she wanted it to mean.

"Ginny, I don't know. We don't even know him."

"What did Pollux say to Avalon?" She pressed.

"Uh… I think you should ask her that," he said, almost ready to leave the room. Instead, he took a mouthful of his searingly hot drink.

"But the Horcrux can understand them," she whined, and Tom narrowed Harry's eyes.

"Please don't- don't call him the Horcrux. That's… I don't know. It's weird. If you can't…" He took another sip to disguise his red cheeks, "…Just don't."

"You want me to translate for you, but you will not acknowledge my name," Tom said, conversational, but Harry detected the edge and shot Ginny a look.

"Err. I mean, it's not that I don't acknowledge—I know you're—" She stopped to frown at the carpet and then at him, "It's still crazy. I can't… You're Tom Riddle. Vol—You-Know-Who. In Harry's head. It's… Hard to —I don't like to remember that you're there…" Her gaze went back to the floor.

'Go easy on her,' Harry thought; Tom rolled his eyes and drained the rest of the glass.

"You should talk to Avalon," Tom repeated before he opened the door, returning their thoughts to Reed and her attempt on his mind.