I Kicked a Hole in Your Fence, Grand Commander
I kicked a hole in your fence
I kicked a hole in your fence
I swung my boot until it cracked
I kicked a hole in your fence
A fact
Of the utmost importance
Through the fence
I'll unleash
An army of rodents
A trained and vicious pack of rats
These rats have no fear
They've trained for weeks...months...years
Joy and laughter
Heartache and tears
Rats will penetrate your interior
The rats I released are hungry
And have incredible endurance
I made the hole at night
And left no evidence
He had wanted to head back to the tent and let Tom do things to him, but it hadn't worked out as planned. His head had begun to lull within the hour, and Eris—the only one capable— Apparated him back to the tent when he'd nearly face-planted the table the third time. He brought the rest back to the tent individually as Ginny dragged him to bed. He'd proceeded to sleep like the dead until near midday. He gasped awake, feeling as though his lungs had been empty and his limbs cold for days. He repeatedly swallowed air, starved of it, his head splitting open. He desperately needed the bathroom and water; his mouth was drier than a desert. He stumbled up, somehow stripped of his robes, boots, and glasses.
He opened his door and was startled by Eris, sitting at the table with a bottle of what looked like whiskey and a glass. A white rat with a blood spot on its head sat beside the alcohol.
"Hair of the dog?" Eris asked, raising his drink.
"What?"
"Sit," he gestured at a chair, and Harry frowned.
"What? No, I need water; I need to-"
"What is a Horcrux?" Eris interrupted casually.
His blood ran cold, "What."
"A Horcrux?" he repeated, reaching out to grab the rat and putting it on his shoulder.
"What is this," Tom demanded, not moving a muscle, the curse under his skin.
Eris smirked, "The Dark Lord is your Horcrux. You are his. He tried to kill you, yes?"
"…What," Harry repeated, though Tom watched the rat.
"Excellent hearing, rats," Eris said, flicking his arm in the air. As he did, twenty white rats with identical blood spots scurried out from under the doors, out of the kitchen cupboards, from between cushions.
Tom summoned the blackness then, coiled it up his arm. Harry's face was red as they replayed every conversation they'd had in the tent.
"Oh, why be rash," he said, sipping his drink, watched by his rodents.
"Because you've fucking spied on me?" Harry supplied.
"Mm. And you spied on us, no? Understanding what Avalon says…"
"Slightly different to planting rats," Harry was getting louder, so Eris silenced them, almost earning a face-full of the curse for drawing his wand.
"For her safety," Eris said easily.
"What? What. How? You've known her for how many weeks?" Harry scoffed.
"I didn't need a lot of time to know you were a danger to her," he said as he spun his glass slowly on the tabletop. All the rats looked at Harry.
"And so, you brought her here? He used her as leverage, you know?" Harry said, disbelieving.
"I heard."
Harry glared while Tom calculated.
'If he tells Cedrum, he may still run with her. The Dark Lord might let them go, but…'
"What are you going to do?" Harry asked.
"What are you going to do?" Eris repeated.
"…I asked you first." His heart was pounding. He couldn't kill Eris; Ginny would hate that, even though he was a git. But the information he'd stolen would likely get him murdered anyway.
"I don't care," Eris said.
'We could hit him, at a bare minimum,' Tom thought.
"Voldemort would kill you for what you know," Harry said, aware of the Vow but also aware of Tom Riddle's creativity.
"So, you told Ginny?" He retorted.
"She was there; she earned what she knows. She knew the risks. I begged her not to be here. If I told her you'd done this…"
"You didn't tell her what Avalon said to me. Didn't tell her about what that hemomancer said to Avalon. Why?"
"It was none of my business," Harry growled, anger bubbling at his flippant attitude, at what he'd done.
'We could Obliviate him,' Tom thought.
'Yeah, and wipe his mind completely blank with our stupid magic?'
'…Yes. obviously.'
"What are you going to do?" Harry asked Eris again through gritted teeth.
"That depends on what you're going to do," he sighed, looking at his fingernails.
"Well, I'm about to do something drastic."
"Mm, you strike me as the type. So, the Dark Lord is in your head, watching everything you do?"
"No," Harry spat.
"No? Ginny called you You-Know-Who. Tom Riddle. That's his name, right?"
Harry shook his head repeatedly, trying to remember everything he'd said to Ginny and Cassiopeia.
'What do we do?' He wondered, frozen, anxious, sweat pooling on his aching temples.
"My name," Tom said, "I am a piece of his soul, separated from him."
It had been meant as a threat, but Eris leaned in, squinted, and then gestured at the chair again. Tom narrowed his eyes and took it, curse spitting on his left arm, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The necromancer summoned cold water from the kitchen and Harry took it, poured, and drained two glasses, head hammering.
"How?"
"When he tried to kill me. When I was a baby," Harry remembered Tom's guilt over who he was in the threads of his mind, felt him recoil as he said the words.
"What are you going to do?" He asked again, forcefully, tearing his thoughts from Tom.
The necromancer watched him, still twirling his glass, the dead rat frozen on his shoulder, motionless as it gripped his robes.
"And so, you're…" Eris paused, seemed to short circuit, "You have your parent's killer in your head, and you find him attractive?"
Tom shot out of his seat, knocking it backwards, the darkness growing rapidly, "You will state your intentions now, or this ends differently than you envisioned."
"…You don't deny it?" Eris scoffed.
"Now," Tom growled.
Instead of sending the curse at Eris, he sent it towards Ginny's door. The necromancer faltered and seemed to realise that the youngest Weasley would take offence.
"I'll know what I know; that's what I plan to do," he snapped.
"You have told Avalon that I understand her," Tom said, not ceasing the darkness's advance.
"Yes. And I'll tell her what she needs to know for her to be safe."
"Such as?" Tom demanded.
"That you are also Voldemort. That he took Ginny."
"And Cedrum? Will you tell him?"
"No."
"No?"
"No," Eris' glare sharpened.
"Will Avalon tell him?" Harry asked, "Because if Cedrum takes Ginny, we don't know what Voldemort will do."
Eris paused again, eyes moving from the door and back to him.
"You would be fugitives once more," Tom purred, finding the weakness, "I learned French at Summer School."
Eris glared at him, and he glared right back.
"Fine," he sneered as he watched the curse retreat from Ginny's door, "Fotze."
Tom didn't say anything else, stone-faced as he backed into the bathroom, where Harry violently threw up.
He'd showered, scowling the whole time, both he and Tom assessing the possible damage and furiously working to formulate plans. Eris' comment about his parents repeatedly stinging, bringing waves of nausea and resentment—at himself, for Tom, the Dark Lord, Dumbledore, and Eris, for knowing, for finding it as repulsive as it was.
'…Harry.'
'Don't. I can't. Don't.'
Tom let it go. Instead, he checked Voldemort's head.
Nagini sat cross-legged on the desk in front of him on top of the paperwork he'd been neglecting.
"You think I am stubborn, but you're the most stubborn to ever have been born," she uncrossed a leg to kick a pile of parchment into his lap.
"Nagini, cease this. I will not. Enough. Help me work."
'WORK YOU CALL THIS WORK LETTING CRIMINALS OUT LETTING THEM FREE IS WORK HA-'
"No."
"No?" He repeated, shocked, "No?!"
"I won't," she crossed her arms. You need a solution—one that does not kill you or Harry. I have told you one."
"…Nagini," he warned, narrowing his eyes.
'HAHA FUCK YOU SHE WON'T BECAUSE SHE HATES YOU SHE LIKES HIM BETTER THAN YOU-'
"We can't keep putting my magic on it, and that's all. Harry thinks-"
"NAGINI!" He boomed, standing and scattering scrolls on the floor, "Help me or get out!"
"Neither," she glared at him, "I thought you'd killed it. The Horcrux. I imagined you as you were before, all trace of you, the real you, gone. GONE! We didn't read together, you only thought of victory, only thought of power, control, no sense to it. Now… Now, the things you're doing, these people, can't you see? This is different. You're different. You're you. This is the only way; I know you know-"
"…Stop," he said, but it was weaker. He gripped the arm of his chair and then fell back into it.
"I missed you for decades," she reached out, and he broke, sobbing into her lap.
'GOOD! GOOD! CRY YOU FUCK-'
Tom snapped them out, and Harry steadied himself on the shower wall.
When he exited the bathroom, Ginny was cooking. He smelled bacon and suddenly needed it more than air. Pansy and Avalon sat at the table, nursing their heads.
"Have you seen Eris?" Ginny asked him as he shook the water from his hair.
"…No," he lied, slightly forcefully.
Ruby, Pollux, and Reed emerged from a room together. Ruby's face was grey, and Reed looked sheepish. Pollux was fiddling with a magic device, glowing amber in his hands.
"So…" Reed said, "We better be going. Thanks for… Er. Sorry about…"
"No, stay, eat. I'm making loads," Ginny said, and Avalon shook off her stupor to summon more chairs, groaning.
Harry sat down, too, glaring at the table. He was desperate for greasy food, which momentarily outweighed everything else.
'Do you think he's gonna decide to… Actually do it? Like…' Harry swallowed instead of finishing his thought, not wanting to fully acknowledge the possibility of being touched by Voldemort. He watched Ginny manage several pans with her wand, looking back at him multiple times.
'I don't know.'
Draco exited Avalon's room, sheepish. His hair was a mess, his shirt was buttoned unevenly, and his eyes squinted against the light. He silently sat beside Avalon, and she smirked at him, still nursing her chin.
"The human bloodstream contains zero point two grams of gold," Pollux announced, then he said, "Thank you, Reed."
Tom looked at the girl in question, "Tell me. About your magic."
'You don't know?' Harry wondered.
'I have heard of it. I have never met a cerebromancer, though.'
"Er. Well," she looked at Ruby, who offered no help, head rolling in her hands.
"I can- I can enter people's minds. Whenever. If they're in the room with me, I can-"
Ginny dropped a pan and swore.
"I don't usually do it without permission. Last night was… I broke my own rules. I am sorry. It's just… Pollux," she gestured at him helplessly. He didn't pay her any attention, focused on the amber puzzle.
"I can also," she sucked in a breath, "Control people. Make people think what they're doing is their idea. Not like an Imperius, it's…"
"Genuine thought control," Tom supplied.
"Yeah. That," she seemed to be on the verge of crying.
"It's worse if she touches you. She can't control what she makes you do," Ruby muttered.
"I- yeah. I get these- thoughts- it's fine if no one- But…"
"Ruby grabbed her wrist, and Ruby head-butted Reed's front teeth out," Pollux supplied, not looking up.
"That's how we met," Ruby said, a small smile fighting to appear on her face.
"Yeah. I accidentally… Imagined her head-butting me, and then we needed to put my teeth back in," Reed mumbled.
"Ruby was bleeding all down her face," Pollux said.
Tom was taking all three of them in, Reed especially. She still wore her gloves and hoodie, but in the daylight, he could see that the colour was worn, nearly grey, almost threadbare.
"And how did you come to be at Skulmadras?" Tom asked.
Ruby and Reed both went stiff and looked at each other with big eyes.
"Uhh. My uncle... Was in Azkaban. He got out and- and he came to get me," she begged him with her eyes to stop asking questions as Ginny brought them hovering plates brimming with greasy breakfast food despite it being afternoon.
"Your uncle?" Tom pressed anyway.
"Yeah…" Reed said. Ruby was holding the sleeve of her hoodie and glaring at Harry, "I-I lived with my father."
"Who's your dad?" Pansy asked, joining in on the inquisition.
"…Reginald Ironwood," she shrunk while she spoke, "Like I said, we can- we can go. It's not like it's a secret-"
Draco clashed his fork on his plate while Pansy gasped loudly.
'…Right,' Tom thought, his mind suddenly racing.
"You said your last name was Harlow?! I sure as heck didn't know he had a daughter?" Pansy gasped again.
"Who's that?" Harry asked, and everyone frowned at him.
"My last name is Harlow. My mother's name. When she died, there was no one else… My uncle—my mum's brother—was in Azkaban. So, I went to Reginald."
"How old were you?" Pansy whispered, her voice shaking.
"Eight."
"Oh. Oh, I'm going to be sick; I'm so sorry I'm—" Pansy escaped the table while everyone else went silent.
'Tom who is Reginald?'
'He is…' He seemed to struggle to find the words, 'Vile. I could not stomach him even at the height of my… He trades in flesh. Human trafficking.'
"My uncle supports the Dark Lord. So did my mum. Reginald- he should have been the one rotting in there," Reed snapped, and Pollux leaned into her, though she was a distance from him, making him lean precariously far.
"He'll die painfully," Pollux told her.
"Yeah. Thanks. And thank you for breakfast. This is really good. Who taught you to cook?" Reed asked Ginny, trying to shift the mood. The youngest Weasley burst into tears and fled.
"Oh. Sorry," Reed muttered, looking like she was in physical pain.
Nightfall couldn't come fast enough for Harry, watching the hours snake by on his Tempus. Ruby, Reed, and Pollux left after an extremely painful brunch, and Ruby had said that they'd see them at Hogwarts.
"Merde," Avalon had said when they were gone, and Harry agreed internally.
Pansy and Draco had stayed, and Eris was still missing, not returning to the tent as the moon rose. Cedrum had returned and muttered something in Avalon's ear, making her nod rapidly, eyes wide. He entered his room, still in his lemon-yellow robes.
Harry bounced his leg as he watched the tent entrance, willing Cassiopeia to appear and take him back to the solitude of the castle. He did not think about the fact that when he returned, they'd all know what he was.
When she did pop through the opening, she looked sheepish, making Harry narrow his eyes when she said:
"Talk?"
"Outside," Harry grumbled, unsure if there were still rats.
"What?" He snapped when she silenced them. A gathering of Voldemort's supporters formed a circle around them as they spoke.
"So, look, this might be inadvertently my fault, but it's also yours!" She put her hands up in surrender, "Why are we outside?"
"Not now. Later. What?" Tom said, agitated.
"Well, last night, your dramatic carrying on with the snake and that reporter, the Morsmorde in the tent…" She sighed, "You did too good a job, and Enos insists that you join us for a private dinner tonight."
"No. No? Are you serious?" Harry gripped his hair and whined.
"Listen, Tom, make him listen. Tonight seals the deal with the vampires. We do this well; we get them all eating out of our hands…" she said, then continued, when Harry did nothing but rage glare at her, "You impress Enos; get this stupid deal done; Tom will have to concede on some level that you're a useful political tool."
"…And Voldemort wants me at this dinner?" Harry snapped, incredulous.
"Oh, fuck no," she paused to laugh, "No. Don't be stupid. He's throwing a tantrum as we speak. About to yoink the whole arrangement and have all this be for nothing rather than sit at a table with you. So, we're in agreement?"
"No?" Harry scoffed.
"Tom?" She said, cocking her head.
"Don't ask him; I said no," he snapped, but he could feel Tom thinking.
'Knock it off,' he thought.
'She is right. This might be advantageous.'
'He doesn't want us there? He's gonna skin us on the table.'
'He wants this arrangement. He has put in monumental effort. If Enos has requested our presence it would be in our best interest to accept.'
Harry screamed into his fists, then jabbed Cassiopeia in the chest with one finger, making her raise an eyebrow.
"Fine. Fine! Then I'm going home, yeah? Straight after. Not dead or maimed, alright?"
"Just remember what I told you. Don't give the sisters much attention, don't look at them—thanks for letting me latch onto them last night. By the way, they're going to be a problem for centuries; I can feel it. Don't say anything provocative to Enos—he'll want to talk to you. Try and garner some favour with Tom, but don't pander. I mean, you know what to do with him," she wiggled her eyebrows.
"Piss off," Harry said weakly.
"We'll get you ready. Come on."
Ginny took in his face as he re-entered the tent and immediately asked what had happened.
"I have to go and be a monkey on a leash," Harry snapped.
"We've got one more dinner party," Cassiopeia said, slapping him on the back.