Finding Family in the Shadows

"So, Lord Riddle, what brings you into the bank today?" Tom was currently sitting in an office at Gringotts. He had finally found the time to slip away from his followers under a glamour to make sure that he would not be discovered. His account manager Silverclaw was sitting on the other side of the desk.

"I am in need of cleansing and help to recover memories that were either locked away in my mind or stolen from me. I need this situation handled with the highest level of security and privacy. I have reason to believe that Albus Dumbledore has been manipulating quite a few people to start this war. He is not the kindly leader of the light that everyone believes him to be. I would like anything discovered to be gathered in the proper ways so that if it comes to it charges can be brought against him," Tom told the shocked goblin. He didn't think he had ever seen a goblin shocked.

"If it is as serious as you say it is then I believe would should involve a few goblins with higher security clearance and power. If you will wait here a moment I will be right back," Then Silverclaw walked up to the wall behind his desk and it opened to show a secret passage that the goblin disappeared through. Tom waited patiently. He was happy to be patient if it meant that he would get results and help. The Goblins were a fierce race and would get him the results that he needed.

Not even five minutes later the wall opened back up to reveal Silverclaw with five other goblins. Two of them were in armor and looked like guards, another one was dressed in goblin finery and looked to be someone at least slightly important, and the last Goblin was bigger than all of the rest he wore even finer clothes and most importantly a crown on his head. Tom grinned and stood to bow before the Goblin King.

"You may return to your seat Lord Riddle. I am Nipmonger King of the Goblins. This is our advisor the the Wixen Ministry Fleshgutter. He has been given the authority by your Wixen Ministry to gather evidence from Wixen that come to us for assistance. Anything that he gathers and places his seal on will be admissible in a courtroom. He and I both will oversee everything that you say and all information gathered from any testing or rituals that are performed here today. We will both place our seals on anything deemed important to be reported or acted upon. Is this understood and accepted by you?" Tom was very glad that he had decided to come here for the help he needed instead of working on a way to fix it himself.

"Thank you. I am honored that you have taken the time to listen to my request. I am honestly surprised that it only took mentioning that it was against Dumbledore for me to be taken seriously. I was expecting a bit of resistance and at least one or two tests to be done before getting the proper attention," Tom explained to the goblins. This really did seem too easy to the former dark lord. The Goblins around him grinned viciously.

"We have known about Dumbledor's manipulations for quite some time. We have just never been able to get someone to come forward with enough power or evidence to get anything of significance done about him. We have seen many a Wixen come through here with at least some form of compulsion, spell, or potion on them tied to that man. We have had many a prominent family line ended because that man deemed them "Dark". If what you say is true and you have somehow become aware of his manipulations against you and are willing to allow us to gather evidence. We are quite happy to help. For a price of course," The Goblin King replied. Tom grinned. This was perfect. He would hopefully be able to completely fill in the remaining holes in his mind and get help.

"Perfect then let's get started," Tom offered. The goblins nodded and several sheets of parchment were placed on the desk. Then a very large needle was placed on the desk as well.

"The first parchment will require exactly four drops of blood. This will be to verify your identity. It will tell us who you are and any mates or children that you may have. The second parchment will provide us with any Creature inheritance that you may or may not have. Dumbledore has been known to prevent many Wixen from coming into their Creature Inheritance. It will require exactly seven drops of blood. The third parchment will reveal any spells, potions, or compulsions that are or were on you. This will require five drops of blood. The other parchments are for other things but he will not worry about them until after we have the results of these first three. Understand?" Silverclaw asked.

Tom nodded and picked up the large needle. He stabbed into his finger and allowed four drops of blood on the first parchment, seven on the second, and five on the last. Then he spelled the needle clean of his blood and healed the prick to his finger.

"Now we wait and see what is revealed," Silverclaw stated. Tom sat back and watched the words begin to start forming on the parchments. Finally, the papers seemed to be done and Silverclaw motioned for Tom to be the first to see them. It was information about him after all. Tom reached first for the Identity Parchment. He was only slightly shocked to see what was revealed.

~~~
Thomas Marvolo Black nee Riddle
Birthday December 31, 1926

Bearer Merope Gaunt, Sire Thomas Riddle, Third Jackson Avery

*Circle Mates*
Bellatrix Druella Black
Rodolphus Isiah Black nee Lestrange
Pandora Svana Black nee Petrova
Bartemius Black nee Crouch -Deceased-
Evan Black nee Rosier
Rabastan Elijah Black nee Lestrange
Remus John Black nee Lupin

*Circle Children*
Harrison Serpens Black
Luna Rose Black
~~~
Tom was thrilled, confused, and anguished all at the same time after reading the results. How did one have three parents? How was he mated to seven people? What was a Circle Mate? He had Children? Tom looked up to the goblins and handed the parchment to Silverclaw. The goblin looked it over quickly and then scowled. He picked up the second parchment and handed it to Tom.

"This will hopefully explain at least some of this for you." Tom took the Creature Inheritance parchment from the Goblin and watched as Silverclaw handed his other parchment to the King and the Advisor.

~~~
Creature Inheritance for Thomas Marvolo Black nee Riddle

Creature Type: Dragel
Element: Nameless with Shadow affinity
Nameless Talent: Beast Speak
Rank: Alpha
Status: Suppressed
~~~

Tom remembered reading about Dragel back in school and learning about them in their defense class and History classes. They were considered Dark by the ministry and had been outlawed. It explained why he had three parents and why he had so many mates. He was furious that he had been suppressed. Someone had taken a part of him and locked it away. He was sure it had been Dumbledore. He was going to fix this and retrieve his missing mates and then get their children. Once that was all said and done they could start working on taking Dumbledore down once and for all.

He handed the parchment to Silverclaw and retrieved the last parchment. He did not like what he saw at all. Not even a little bit. His rage was causing the air to feel heavy with magic. There were just too many to begin to name properly. All of them were tied to either Dumbledore or one other person which surprised Tom just a bit.

There were seals on his Magic, Soul, and inheritance.

He had been dosed with so many potions ranging from Befuddlement Draught, Confusing Concoction, Chelidonium Miniscula (a poison), Drink of Despair, Essence of Insanity, Forgetfulness Potion, Hate Potion, and so many more meant to poison, confuse, and control him.

He had spells and curses used on him such as Imperious, Tongue tying Curse, Crucio, obliviate and so many more.

There were also compulsions to keep him obedient and oblivious. There were just so many things that it was a wonder that Tom had been able to function at all. He finally passed that parchment to the Goblin as well. Then he sat back to think and allow them to read over it all. Duplicates were made of all of them and then finally sat aside.

"Now we will take you to our ritual room. You will be cleansed of all potions, spells, seals, and compulsions. It may take you many days to recover are you prepared to do this now?" Silverclaw asked. Tom nodded.

"I am prepared to do this now. I want to be whole again as soon as possible so that I can work on rescuing my mates and children. Thank you," Tom told them and then happily followed them to their ritual room. He was given cleansing potions that made him throw up quite a bit of black sludge. It was exhausting and painful. Then he was led to the middle of a runic circle where he was tended to by healers while other goblins stood around the outside and chanted. He felt things inside of him snap and become clear. He could finally remember all of the things about his mates and children. The missing memories were returning and Tom now had proof that Dumbledore and his companion had done all of the things to him and his family as well as many others.

Halfway through things became too painful and Tom passed out. He did not wake again for three days. When he did though he was full of righteous fury and sporting all of his Dragel attributes. He was half feral and had to be calmed. Once he was calm he sat down once again with Silverclaw, Nipmonger, and Fleshgutter. He gave them memories and an official statement of all that had been done to him under Veritaserum. Then they schemed on how to free his mates and liberate his children. It was going to, unfortunately, be a long and tedious process. It could possibly take around a year to accomplish.

Step one was to get all of his followers cleansed. He was going to call a meeting where every Death Eater, well actually they had been originally known as the Knights of Walpurgis, it would be mandatory that they attend. Ahead of time, the goblins would lay a giant runic cleansing circle, the cleansing potion would be placed in their drink, and then they would do a mass cleansing purge. Then once he knew who was truly loyal to him he would move on from there and the goblins would put away any who were loyal to Dumbledore until the ministry was cleared and could be trusted.

~~~~~~~~~~

Harry had been back at school now for a month. Everything had gone on like normal. His body was still out of his control. Ron, Neville, and Luna were still his true friends. Hermione continued to slip him potions and keep Ginny from molesting him in dark corners. The only bad thing that had happened so far this year was the new DADA professor was out to get him. She was constantly antagonizing him just so that she could give him more detention. So far, he had served a detention every night since the first week of school.

She was making him write lines with a blood quill and it was carving the words into a horrible scar on his hand. The best part about the entire situation was that since he was locked away in his own mind he could not feel how much it hurt. He didn't have any proof yet but he was pretty sure that she was working with Dumbledore.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were just leaving potions, which was the last class of the day for them when Snape stopped them.

"Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would like to see you in his office. He wanted me to mention that he is having a craving for sugar quills," Snape said before dismissing them.

"We will see you at dinner, Harry," Hermione said as she pulled Ron off in the direction of the tower. Harry grew a bit excited. Maybe he would be able to learn some more important information from the man. This was a good opportunity, so he waited patiently while his body headed to the stone gargoyle and said the password to get in. Once in the room, he was curious to see Dumbledore and a hooded man in the office waiting for him.

"Aww here he is. My perfect weapon. Sit down, My Boy," Dumbledore said with a smile. He waved to a chair and Harry's body moved immediately to sit in it. Harry was still watching the hooded figure. He wanted to know who it was.

"Not perfect, Love. You had to take control of him. That isn't the boy who lived, that is your puppet," The hooded figure stated in a deep gravely voice.

So whoever this man is, he knows what Dumbledore has done. Also, 'love?', that was weird for Harry to imagine the old codger with a love life. Gross. Albus scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, almost perfect. I have been molding him since I stole him from his true parents." Albus stated calmly. "He will do what needs to be done. We have taken every step and precaution to ensure our victory. I have done everything from faking a prophecy, to wiping his families minds, and throwing most of them in Azkaban. His own father has been manipulated to try and kill him multiple times. I find that I am very happy with the way things have been going."

Seriously? James and Lily weren't his parents? Harry didn't know anything about a prophecy yet. He was sure that he would at some point. Harry was actually pretty sure that nothing could surprise him anymore. With his luck, his father was Voldemort and he was probably being controlled just like Harry was. He was learning a lot of things and he had literally been in the room for ten minutes.

"Also, take your hood off, My Love. The portraits have been spelled asleep and the boy will tell no one," Albus purred at the hooded figure. Harry gagged in his mind. That was just gross. The man pulled his hood down to reveal a man clearly on in years. But he was distinguished-looking and a bit handsome. Albus started to head toward him but the man held up a hand.

"Not while you look like that," The man stated. Albus chuckled and then right before Harry's eyes he transformed. The garish robes were replaced by a smart suit, his long white beard shrunk until it was just a well-trimmed salt and pepper beard pretty close to the face. His long white hair shortened until it was actually a stylish short, cut. Albus went from a wizened old wizard with one foot in the grave to a decent-looking older man. Then, Harry was covering his eyes when the two of them embraced and shared a passionate kiss.

"It is good to see you, Gellert. We shouldn't go so long in between meetings," Albus told the man now identified as Gellert Grindelwald. Harry thought he was supposed to be locked away in prison.

"Send the boy away, Albus. There is no reason for him to be here. Then we can properly greet each other," Gellert stated. Albus chuckled.

"I only have one thing I need to do first," Albus said and walked over to Harry. "Stand boy." Harry stood. "You are going to start telling your friends about having dreams. The dreams are going to be of a long black marble hallway and a door at the end. You will only ever see Voldemort in the reflection and tell your friends that you believe he is after something. You will have this dream once every couple of weeks. Do you understand?" Harry's body responded in the positive. Albus smiled and Harry once again hid behind his mindscape walls as Albus reapplied his compulsions and imperious curse. Harry thankfully managed to once again avoid having Albus take over his mind as well as his body.

Harry left the room and closed the door behind him just as the sound of kissing and moans was heard. Harry shivered, that was seriously just gross. He didn't need the mental image of the headmaster doing things like that with anyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Harry watched as his body woke in the middle of the night yelling and clutching his scar. Ron of course, being the great friend that he was, woke up instantly and was at his side asking him if he was ok and what he could do to help. When Harry managed to break free and had control of his body he was going to buy Ron anything he wanted like a house, or a quidditch team, or whatever he wanted. Ron was proving every day that he was the best friend anyone could ask for.

Harry listened as his body asked Ron to help him to the common room and to please get Hermione so that he could tell them both about his dream. Five minutes later False-Harry was telling Ron and Hermione exactly what Dumbledore had told him to tell them. Hermione steered Ron to react exactly like she wanted him to. Seriously, the girl was a great actor. Harry would have never known that she was so fake.

"It seems to me that you are somehow connected to You Know Who. Maybe, whatever is behind the door is important to him. We just need to figure it out before he gets to it so we can stop him," Hermione exclaimed. Ron nodded in agreement and gave Hermione a love-sick look. Last time Harry remembered talking to Ron about Hermione he had stated that he didn't like her like that. That he only saw her as a good friend. Ron hadn't actually expressed interest in anyone other than the one time he had dated Lavender.

"Yeah, we are going to have to figure it out. Maybe I will have another dream that gives me more information," False-Harry replied. Ron frowned and looked at Harry hard.

"Mate, you just woke up screaming in pain clutching your head. I don't think we should be hoping an evil, Dark Lord invades your mind again," Ron exclaimed. Merlin Harry was going to buy him two houses and the fastest broom ever made. False-Harry and Hermione just sighed and shook their heads like Ron was an idiot. Harry was going to start working harder on getting back control of his body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later found Harry and Hermione in the Headmaster's office.

"How are things progressing, Mrs. Granger?" Albus asked the bushy-haired girl.

"Everything is going exactly like it should be. Harry pretended to have the dream a second time and Ron is really worried about him. The mild love potions that I have been slipping Ron are still working beautifully. Oh, and I got a letter from Mum and Dad. They want to know a timeline on when they will get to rejoin the magical world," Hermione reported. Harry was furious. Hermione was dosing Ron with love potions? This was getting ridiculous. Just how many people were these people manipulating?

"Tell Lily and James that I have it worked out that they will be able to rejoin the magical world hopefully at the end of this year," Albus told her. Harry was shocked and seething. He was so angry. Not only were James and Lily not his real parents but they were also very much alive. He had been stolen from a family that probably loved and adored him and given to people who left him alone with awful people who abused him on a daily basis. Harry was staring so hard at the hand in his lap lost in his anger, then suddenly he saw the hand twitch and begin to form a fist. However, it lasted only a moment and then the hand was once again sitting loose and relaxed in his lap.

He had made his hand move. It was just a twitch but he had finally influenced something outside of his mindscape. This was great. The hold on his body was weakening. He was going to have to be very careful from now on to only try and move on his own when he was alone so that he wasn't caught.

"They will be happy to hear that Headmaster. They are ready to retake their rightful place as Potters once again. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley are going to be very unhappy when they realize that you have been lying to them this whole time about Ginny marrying Harry," Hermione responded with an uppity attitude.

"Yes, well the girl was so desperate when she asked if she could please marry him that I knew it would be the perfect way to keep her and her gold-digging mother under control. She has no idea that I plan to have Potter die at the end of this year and not after they graduate. So when he dies before she can marry him and it comes out that James and Lily are alive and that she won't inherit the Potter fortune I will appease her by allowing her to marry Longbottom. They are a proper pure-blood family with quite a bit of money to their name as well. She will be satisfied," Albus insured.

"That sounds like a great plan. You really do think of everything," Hermione praised. Harry rolled his eyes and made gagging noises. Merlin, she was such a brown noser.

"I do believe Mrs. Granger that it is time to implement our idea of a defense club," Albus stated. Then he turned to Harry. "You are going to make a good show of being reluctant. You are going to act like you don't want to do this at all. Resist while she tries to convince you for days. Then I want you to give in. I am going to have an elf put the idea of the come-and-go room into Neville's mind so that he suggests it at the meeting when you are trying to figure out where you can all practice. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand Headmaster," False-Harry responded.

"Good boy. The two of you are dismissed," Albus stated waving them off. Harry and Hermione left to head to lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom was standing in the grand ballroom in Malfoy Manor. It had taken them two months to prepare and make sure everything was planned perfectly for the mass cleansing of the Death Eaters. Finally, it was time. He had given them the purging potions and the goblins were currently finishing up with the healing and ritual part of the evening.

"We are all finished now, Lord Black. We have placed everyone in a body bind and now they can start being checked for loyalty and there are Goblins on standby to portkey anyone who shows loyalty to Dumbledore straight into the holding area that we prepared for them," Silverclaw informed Tom.

"Thank you, Silverclaw. I will start with Severus and Lucius. They were always my most loyal even before my mind was tampered with. They are also very skilled in mind magic just like myself so they will be able to help me check the others," With that stated he strode to where Severus was lying bound and unconscious near the dais.

"Enervate," Tom cast the spell to wake up the man. Severus came awake with a jolt and looked up at Tom with confusion.

"I remember everything," Severus stated as he looked into his friend's eyes. Severus had chosen to back Tom when he had chosen to run for minister. He had believed in everything that the man wanted to change about their world. Tom was his friend, not his Lord.

"I must look into your mind to be sure of your loyalty old friend," Tom stated in a calm voice.

"Of course, my friend. I have always been a loyal friend to you. I have no issue with allowing you access to see it for yourself. I only ever turned from you when Dumbledore managed to get his claws in me," Severus stated and looked Tom straight in the eye and dropped all of his walls to allow him complete access. Tom spent a few moments sorting through everything. When he pulled out of his mind he smiled and released the binds on him.

Immediately, Severus shifted his shoulders and wings popped out from his back. Scales dusted his skin and fangs and claws made themselves known. He sighed in relief and just sagged for a moment from how nice it felt to have his Dragel unsealed. It had been so long. Tom chuckled and clapped Severus on the shoulder.

"It is good to see you old friend. It has been too long," Tom stated. Severus just nodded before he reluctantly put his Dragel away again. "I am going to wake Lucius and test him as well. I want you to start on the others. Look into their minds, and see who is truly loyal to us and who was manipulated or is spying for Dumbledore. Those who are truly loyal release them and then have them wait on the dais until we are finished. Once, we are done we will address everyone at the same time about what is going on and what the plan is. The goblins are also going to need statements from everyone. We are gathering information to use against Dumbledore and his so-called light side." Severus nodded and headed to the closest person while Tom went to Lucius.

When they were finished, about eight people had proven to be loyal spies for Dumbledore. Those eight were taken to the hold that the goblins had prepared for them. Tom spoke to those that were left. They were given a choice. Their dark marks had been removed during the cleansing ritual so they were free if they wanted to be. They could walk away from the fight for good or continue to fight with Tom and not for him. There were some who chose to leave, those people were made to take an Unbreakable Vow that they would not speak of anything that had happened that day. They would not reveal that Tom was sane and that everyone had been cleansed of Dumbledore's manipulations.

Finally, it was only Tom, Severus, Lucius, and Narcissa left having tea in the sitting room.

"Tom, I remember many things from being privy to Dumbledore's conversations while I was under his compulsion spells. I know who and where both of your children are," Severus said at last. Tom turned his head sharply to Severus giving him his full attention.

"Tell me, please," The Alpha Dragel pleaded. Severus nodded.

"Your son is none other than Harry Potter. Dumbledore's pet Gryffindor," Severus stated. Tom gasped and paled. He had tried to kill his own son many times. How would he ever be able to fix that? "He will listen. Once we show him undeniable proof that Dumbledore is a bad person and the actual Dark Lord he will listen. He is a good boy Tom. Now, your daughter goes by Luna Lovegood. She is a flighty little Ravenclaw. Dumbledore doesn't really mess with her much. She isn't important to him which is a very good thing."

"Thank you, Severus. Please keep an eye on my children while you are at the school. Keep an eye on Draco, Theo, and Blaise as well. We all know that Dumbledore is not afraid to use children to hurt people," Tom replied. Lucius and Narcissa made noises of agreement.

"Of course, I will watch over them. On that note, I need to go. Someone will notice soon that I am gone. I will keep trying to get information out of Dumbledore and you let me know when you plan on breaking into Azkaban to free your mates. I will start brewing healing and nutrient potions for them." Severus said his goodbyes and then left the Manor and headed back to the school. He hoped that he could manage to continue acting the way he needed to until they were ready to make their move.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albus was a bit upset. Voldemort was not doing what he needed him to do. He was supposed to be doing. There had been no reports of Death Eater attacks, no missing persons, and absolutely no signs that could be used to prove he was back. Albus hadn't actually checked in on him at all. Severus had assured him that the man was as insane as he had always been and none of his other spies were reporting in. Severus told him that Voldemort seemed to be planning something that was taking up all of his time and he was laying low on purpose to make Dumbledore and Harry look even worse for the papers.

"Severus, I want you to start asking questions about the prophecy. Harry has mentioned having dreams about someone trying to break into the Department of Mysteries. I am going to start setting up a patrol to keep a lookout, but any concrete evidence that you can get from him would be very helpful," Albus stated to his spy. Severus could feel the compulsion in the words. But he and all of the others had taken precautions after their cleansing to ensure that they could not be caught in Albus' web again.

Severus, Lucius, and Tom had actually been discussing taking the same precautions with the five kids in the school. It would be easy to do with the Slytherin boys during the holidays it would be harder to do with Harry and Luna. He would have to maybe start with the potion that he had invented to prevent any further tampering with them. Then he would have to get them into a detention so he could subtly question them and see what information he could get from them. Maybe even go into their minds and look around.

"Of course, Headmaster. I will start carefully asking questions about the prophecy and see what he is planning about it," Severus responded to the headmaster.

"Very good, Severus. You are dismissed," Dumbledore dismissed him. Severus was happy to go he had plans to make.

Once Severus was gone Dumbledore made a fire call and soon Gellert was stepping through into his office.

"What do you need Albus?" Gellert asked.

"Voldemort is not reacting the way that I need him to in order to move things along. I want you to get your hands on a very large poisonous snake that resembles Nagini. Right before the Christmas holiday, I am going to have Arthur attacked and blame it on Voldemort. This should motivate Harry and his people and possibly piss off Voldemort enough that he will actually retaliate and expose himself," Dumbledore suggested. Gellert snorted.

"So plans aren't going very smoothly then?" Gellert teased. Albus huffed angrily. Gellert held his hands up to placate his angry lover. "I will get the snake for your plans. It will be done, Love."

"Good, when you acquire the snake let me know and I will put plans in motion. Now enough business, let's get to the pleasure part," Albus stated to his lover. Gellert grinned and pulled Albus close. Albus would always be grateful to have his lover with him. He was still working on a way to get him to agree to change his appearance and name so that they could be together after this last war. He would never agree to announce that he was married to a previous Dark Lord.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry was lounging under his tree in his mindscape. False-Harry was currently teaching his defense class. Harry was quite proud of himself. It had been about a month since he had managed to make his hand move in Dumbledore's office. Since then, he has been working very hard to do it again. At first, he hadn't made any progress and he had almost convinced himself that he had imagined it. Then, he had done it. He had managed to make his hand move again. Now he was able to move almost that entire hand whenever and however he wanted. It was only one hand but it was progress.

He was most proud of the fact that he had managed to write a note for Ron to find. It was a simple note that he didn't sign and wasn't able to be traced to him at all. It was short and sweet.

Hermione is slipping you a love potion. Be careful.

That was it. Ron never mentioned it to Harry, Hermione, or anyone else as far as Harry knew. But, Harry had noticed that Ron stopped drinking things that Hermione offered him. He was very subtle about it and Hermione hadn't noticed anything yet. What really surprised Harry was that whenever Ron could manage it, he would take Harry's cup when Hermione offered him something to drink. Harry watched as Ron quickly banished and refilled his cup before handing it back to Harry. He was pretty sure that he had been making faster progress with getting his body under control since then.

Harry was going to owe Ronald Weasley a life debt.

The secret defense class ended and Harry watched as Ron beat Hermione and Ginny to Harry to offer him a drink. False-Harry took the water without any hesitation. Harry was however watching Hermione and Ginny try to hide their irritation about it.

Later that night, he put Dumbledore's latest plan into action. False-Harry sat up quietly in bed and drew out a dagger. He sliced into his scar and waited until there was a good amount of blood flowing. Then he hid the dagger and lay down on the bed. A moment later he clutched his scar and started screaming like he was being murdered. Harry watched as False-Harry told Ron about his father being attacked by Nagini at the ministry. He watched as McGonagall was brought to the room and Fred, George, and Ginny were called. Harry was swept away to the headmaster's office with the Weasleys while they waited to see if what False-Harry had said was true.

Sure enough, Dumbledore came back and sadly announced that Arthur had in fact been attacked but thanks to Harry he was being taken care of in St. Mungos and there was a good chance that he was going to make it. Then the Weasleys were taken to the hospital and Harry was sent to the infirmary. The next morning, Harry was informed that since Christmas break was only three days from now the Weasley kids would be staying home and that he would be going to their home for the break.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus was furious. A week ago, Severus had come to him and informed him that Dumbledore had a mission for him. He was to go into a forest not too far out from London and meet with a pack there to convince them to join their side. When he had gotten there he had been ambushed. Three hours later he was sitting in Malfoy Manor.

His ambush had been to get him to the goblins and have him cleansed. When he had woken up all of his memories were intact. He remembered back when he was in school and had finally decided that he was done being friends with James and Sirius. It was when they had pulled 'The Prank' and lured Severus to the shrieking shack and Remus had almost killed him. After that, he stopped being friends with them. He had checked in on Severus often and had tried everything he could to get someone to punish James and Sirius for what they had done. But he was ignored because both of them were pure-blood Gryffindor boys protected by their family names and Severus was just a poor half-blood Slytherin.

Severus had introduced Remus to Tom and his mates and he had loved everything that the man stood for. Barely, six months later Bellatrix and Tom had come to him and asked if he would agree to a courting with them. He had absolutely agreed. Remus had found himself spending more and more time with the Black Circle and had grown close to most of them. After he had graduated he fully mated with them and became a part of their circle. Life had been good. Bellatrix had given birth to Harry a few years later and he was perfect and spoiled and loved by everyone.

A year later Pandora got pregnant with little Luna. Around that time, things started to go very wrong. Dumbledore, Grindelwald, James, Sirius, Lily, Molly Weasley, and a few others had ambushed them in their home. They watched as one by one Dumbledore and Grindelwald altered memories, forced them to take potions, cast horrible curses, and tore their family apart.

Remus remembered everything that happened after that as if he was just a passenger along for the ride with no control. Mooney raged on the inside all the time. It was the reason why he had become a horribly disfigured wolf and tried to kill Sirius back in Harry's third year. Mooney had remembered.

Remus had sat snuggled close to Tom while the Alpha ran his fingers through his hair. They were letting him in on all of their plans and giving him the things that he needed to protect his body and mind from Dumbledore. He was going to help put his family back together. He had been reluctant to leave Tom so soon but he knew he had to. It didn't mean that he couldn't spend at least one night with his mate before he headed into the lion's den.

Now a week later he was sitting at Grimmauld Place watching an entirely insane Sirius pace and talk to himself. More often than not Sirius didn't know where or when he was. He was utterly unstable from his stay at Azkaban. Remus couldn't find it in himself to care. This man had helped Dumbledore destroy his family. He only worried about Harry being around him during the Christmas break. Sirius had a hard time remembering that Harry wasn't James. His mind had been messed with so badly even before going to prison that he truly believed that Harry had always been James' son. Remus would just make sure to always be close to Harry while he was there.

The next day the Weasleys had all arrived with Arthur in tow straight from the hospital. They would be taking up residence at the Black residence from then on. For safety reasons according to Dumbledore. Just more people for Remus to keep his eyes on. He didn't know who he could trust at this point besides Severus.

Two days after that, Harry arrived with the Granger girl. Harry didn't seem like himself. His responses to things were wrong. It wasn't a noticeable thing. It was very subtle; Remus was sure he wouldn't have noticed at all if he didn't have all of his senses tuned so acutely to the boy. He also noticed that Ron had become Harry's shadow anytime Hermione or Ginny was around Harry. Remus noticed Hermione hand Harry a cup that smelled just a bit off to his senses, but before he could find a reason to take it from him, Ron had plucked it out of Hermione's hands. There was a very subtle feel of magic in the air and then when he handed the cup to Harry the smell was gone and it just smelled like tea again. Apparently, Ron had become suspicious of something and had been looking out for Harry.

"Mr. Weasley, can I speak to you for a moment?" Remus asked Ron when he had finally caught him alone. Ron nodded and joined him in a corner of the library.

"What can I do for you, Professor?" Ron asked quietly. Remus smiled.

"You know that I am a Werewolf, correct?" Ron nodded. "It means that my senses are very enhanced and I can pick up on things that others can not. I have been watching you and noticed that every time Hermione or Ginny hand Harry a cup you find a way to take it. It smells like a potion of some sort before you take it and then I can feel your magic and suddenly the smell is gone. What is going on?" Ron paled a bit.

"So he is being potioned. Damn it. Over a month ago someone left me a note stating that Hermione was slipping me a love potion and to stop taking drinks from her. So I did. Well, after that I started to notice that Harry has been acting a little off and that Hermione or Ginny always made it a point to offer him a drink at least once a day. It made me suspicious so I started trying to find ways to either intercept them or do a simple cleansing spell on his tea before he drank it just in case. His behavior hasn't changed but I still do it just in case you know. Harry is my best friend and I thought Hermione was too but Hermione and Ginny have been weird and I think they have done something to Harry." Ron just spilled everything to Remus. The wolf figured the boy had seriously been in need of talking to someone. He leaned over and patted him on the knee.

"You are a very good friend, Ron. And you are very right to be concerned. Like I said I could smell the potion before you cleansed the tea. Keep doing what you are doing. I have noticed something different about Harry as well. We will figure it out," Remus told the sixteen-year-old. Ron looked so relieved and proud of himself. They parted ways and both of them continued to watch over Harry.

Two days later when Severus dropped in Remus cornered him and told him what he had learned. Severus nodded and told him that he would work on something and then get Harry in detention once they got back to school and then he would take a look around in his mind and see what he could find. He would also get some cleansing potions on hand and see what they could find out about what Dumbledore had done to the poor boy. With a plan in position, Remus did his best to enjoy his time with his pup. He had faith that they would be able to work the problem out.