Chapter 13
“Master Dark Lord sir, it be time for lunch sir,” Dobby said when he popped in an hour later. Tom looked up from his task at hand and offered a soft smile to the trusted Malfoy elf.
“Thank you, Dobby. We will be down in a few minutes.”
With the blink of an eye the elf returned to the kitchen to set up and Tom rose to go and wake the children. Twisting his back, the man sighed as relief flowed through him when his spine popped in all of the right places. He shook out his shoulder and made his way over to the bed. He kneeled down on the side where Harry was lying and gently ran his hands through his hair to rouse him from his slumber. He found Harry to be a light sleeper since his actions caused the boy to shift around after about thirty seconds or so.
“Come on Harry,” the man cooed. “It is time to get up. It’s lunch time.”
The little gryffindor whined and tried to move away from the hand pulling him away from his sleep.
“Don’ wanna. Sleepy.” The boy mumbled before turning his back on Tom. A split second later, he watched the child spring up with wide fearful eyes as if he were afraid that he would be struck for his disobedience. Tom pulled his hand away and was filled with sadness when Harry wrapped his arms around himself as a form of protection.
“I-I’m sorry sir. I-I m-m-mean M-M.r Riddle.”
Tom held back a sigh. He knew he shouldn’t have automatically assumed that Harry would be all better in just a day. Hell it hadn’t even been a full 24 hours since he had come to the manor, but there had been a shred of hope that the boy would feel at least remotely comfortable here. At least that is what he went off of after taking off the cuffs. He turned his eyes back to the trembling child. Harry’s fear was palpable and he wasn’t the only one who thought so because Draco was beginning to shift in his sleep, letting out little whimpers all the while. Tom had to defuse the situation lest he be pulled into a crying session with both children.
“You are not in trouble, Harry child,” the man said while raising his hand to card his fingers through Harry’s messy locks. He made sure to keep his movements slow and sure so that the boy could see he meant him no harm. Long, pale fingers ran through the soft hair and after the initial flinch Harry relaxed considerably. “It is time for lunch. Everyone is waiting for us down in the dining room.”
“Everyone?”
Tom hummed. “Yes, Severus, Lucius, and Narcissa. And I am fairly certain that the Lestranges are here as well.”
Tom wasn’t all that sure he should have mentioned them for Harry’s eyes widened a moment later and the fear was back.
“The-they-,” the boy’s breathing was becoming labored and he seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating. Tom placed the scared child in his lap and rocked him.
“Breath, child. It is okay. You have nothing to fear here.”
“B-But they hurt Neville’s parents. T-they-,”
Tom looked up due to the shuffling on the bed and watched as Draco rubbed at his eyes. The little malfoy took one look at Harry and scooted close to the pair.
“I know that is what most people believe, but I hope you know by now that everything is hardly ever what they seem.” He looked down into green doe like eyes. A small smile graced his lips. “I will not tell you not to be wary of them as I can only imagine the terrible things you have heard about them, but I will say now that I trust those two with my life.”
Tom ignored the little O that Harry formed with his mouth. He tried to hold in his laughter.
“I would never allow anyone untrustworthy around myself nor my family. I know it’ll be hard but I only ask that you give them a chance; both to explain themselves and to simply get to know them. You may find that you like them more than you think.”
There was a smirk on his face when he finished and looked up at his grandson. Harry looked towards Draco for confirmation.
“Yeah Harry, Auntie Bella and Uncle Rod are really cool- they’re really nice and they always play with me after lunch.”
The two slytherins watched with bated breaths at Harry contemplated their words. Draco had yet to prove him wrong in his deduction about his family members. Plus ever since he woke up, he had not been hurt yet. He supposed that was reason enough to let go of a little of his fear. If they were willing to try, Harry didn’t see why he couldn’t either. He knew it would be hard but for some reason he really liked it here and was willing to give it a shot. He nodded.
“O-okay.”
He received two smiles, which he returned shyly. Tom gently ushered him off of his lap and stood. He offered his hands to both of the children which were immediately grabbed between small fingers. Well at least in Draco’s case. Harry showed slight apprehension, but wrapped his small hand around Tom’s two fingers nonetheless. The dark wizard would take it for now.
By the time they made it to the dining room everyone was already sitting in their respective seats and waiting on them. Tom moved to sit at the end of the table opposite from Lucius.
“My apologies for the wait,” he said as Draco moved around the table to sit next to his mother and Harry opted to sit in between him and Severus. This placed him directly across from the Lestrange matriarch. Despite their previous conversation, Harry couldn’t help feel on edge. He raised his eyes slowly to meet the dark eyes of the witch across from him and was met with a gentle smile. He quickly shifted his gaze down to his lap. Lucius, who saw this, cleared his throat causing Harry to look in his direction.
“How was your nap, Harry?”
Harry felt all the blood rush to his face when all eyes turned to look at him. He suddenly wanted to melt into the floor and slouched down in his chair a little.
“I-It was fine, Mr. Malfoy,” he pushed out.
“Lucius will do just fine, Harry.”
The boy couldn’t find the words to reply and was thankfully saved when the blond aristocrat turned his attention to his son. “And you, Dragon?”
“It was good, Papa,” Draco exclaimed. “I had a dream where I was riding Zeus over the quidditch pitch fighting against a fire breathing dragon.”
Most of the adults at the table listened to the child go on about his dream, everyone except Severus who had his attention discreetly directed at Harry. The child was actively trying to make himself disappear. Severus spoke to the child in a hushed tone to not draw the attention of those present.
“Are you alright, Harry child?”
Harry jumped a little at his teacher's address. He didn’t think he had noticed him, he thought he was listening to Draco like the rest of them were. He looked up at Snape through his eyelashes and opened his mouth to speak but only looked back down at his lap and shook his head.
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Severus asked. This time the boy did not try to look up at him. Their sandwiches had appeared on their plates, but were ignored at the moment. “Why not?”
“C-cause,” Harry whispered.
“Because what, child?” His teacher pushed. He knew there was something bothering the child and it was only a matter of time before it came out one what or another, better to clear the air now than to let things fester.
“It’s weird.” this was the only explanation given as if it should have been obvious.
“What is?”
That was the final straw and Harry glared up at his teacher. “This! All of this!” Harry said, gesturing to everyone at the table. “Here I am, the savior of the wizarding world, having sandwiches and tea with some of the most notorious dark wizards of our time and everyone is just okay with it!” The chair scraped the hardwood floor as Harry stood up. He pointed to Draco, “We have hated each other from the very beginning and all of a sudden you want to be my friend. You,” he said, turning to look at Lucius and Narcissa are acting as if you are just fine having the person who killed your leader here eating your food and sleeping in your bed. You two are two out of the three insane wizards that tortured one of my friend’s parents to absolute insanity!” The Lestranges flinched, but said nothing. Harry turned to his professor, “ you’ve hated me since you’ve laid your eyes on me for simply existing!” Severus had the good grace to look ashamed. However, Harry was far from done. He turned his attention to the end of the where Tom was sitting looking over the explosive child over his fingers. “And you took away probably the only two people in this world who could care about me- who were supposed to love me. I don’t know what sick game you guys are playing at but-but I won’t stand for it! I want to leave. Now!”
By the end of his rant, Harry was panting and staring anywhere but those sitting around the table. The silence was thick and everyone could see that the small child was beginning to work himself up. His head dropped and they could just make out his shoulders shaking. It was again Severus who moved to the child’s aid. He rose from his chair and knelt before him. Reaching out his arms, he pulled Harry into his arms. The security the gesture brought caused him to let out all the emotions he had been feeling. He sobbed heavily into his professor’s chest while the man ran his hand up and down his back.
“I know, I know,” he cooed. “It’s all been too much hasn’t it?”
Harry nodded into his shoulder, his sobs tapering off to just small sniffles. The pair moved off of the floor with Harry seated securely in Severus’s lap.
“Can you eat a couple of bites of your sandwich for me? I know you must be hungry.”
The child in his lap shook his head, he hardly had an appetite and only wanted to sleep. He didn’t like surprises and at least at the Dursleys he didn't have to worry about that.
“Just a couple bites,” Severus pleaded. “ And then we can talk about anything you want.”
Still Harry refused. “Don’ wanna eat. No’ hungry.” He looked down and began fiddling with the button of Severus’s sleeve. A whine escaped his lips when the man moved his arm. Harry pouted up at his professor.
“Just a little bit, for me?” Severus said, offering the child in his lap the turkey sandwich from his plate.
This seemed to persuade him as Harry opened his mouth and took a bite of his sandwich. After a couple of bites, he turned his head at the offered food and snuggled into the man’s chest. Lunch was stiff and a somewhat awkward affair after Harry’s rampage, no one felt the need to speak to each other. Plates and cutlery were popped away and sent to the kitchen and everyone waited to see who would start the much needed conversation. Taking a chance, Severus cleared his throat to gain the attention of those present.
“I will be the first to say that this talk is long overdue. I will begin by saying: I am sorry Harry. You were right in saying that I was a bully, but I have never hated you. All this time I saw you as your father with your mother’s eyes, and it wasn’t until you came to be under my care that I realized you are neither Lily or James.” Harry stayed focused on his teacher. “You are a sweet child yearning for approval and affection. You are not Harry Potter, Savior of the Wizard World nor or you Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. You are just Harry and deserved to be treated as such.”
Tears pricked at the corner of Harry’s eyes, but he did not let them fall. He had to admit that Snape’s words warmed him on the inside. There were so many times in his young life that he wanted nothing more than to be around people who just saw him as Harry and not his parents. It felt nice to know that there was finally someone who did.
“With that said, you deserve an explanation and apology for the unfortunate events that took place in your life.”
Bellatrix raised her hand. “I will start. I would first like to say that I know what most of the world thinks about us. I know how they perceive us as evil or bad or even insane, but that is not the case. We know that our names will forever be attached to the torture of the Longbottoms, but the thing is Harry: we didn’t do it.”
“We had been there, yes,” Rodolphus continued. “But by poor timing.”
“Why were you there?” Harry asked.
“They had been running an errand for me.” Tom answered. “We had been working to establish an alliance with the Veela tribes around the area and I had asked Bellatrix, Rodolphus and his brother Rabastan to go for me.”
“Then if you were all innocent then why is Rabastan in prison?”
Rodolphus coughed awkwardly. “My brother, my idiot brother, has always had a problem with controlling himself. I knew there would be some kind of issue that night. I just didn’t think it would be on our mission. You see, Veelas have laws that protect them against outsiders. They are protected by their government and will not hesitate to use force to do so if necessary.”
“The night of the meeting, there was this particularly beautiful Veela witch who had captured Rabastan’s attention.” Bella added. “Everyone in the wizard world knows about them and their allure. Well...that night, the witch had hers on and Rabastan could hardly resist her.”
“He asked to court her and was thoroughly rejected.” Tom stated. “Thus prompting him to later try to force his way on her.”
Harry looked at them in confusion until the pieces clicked and his eyes widened in horror.
“I had that same thought when I found out,” Rodolphus chuckled bitterly. “They wanted to kill him, but with the relationship Tom has with the leaders of their council, they agreed to send him to prison without trial as they had all seen what had happened.”
Draco looked at his uncle from across the table.
“Do you miss him, Uncle Rod?”
“Draco!” Lucius hissed.
Rodolphus shook his head at Lucius and held up his hand. “It’s alright, Lucius.” He smiled at his innocent nephew. “I do, Dragon, more than I could say really, but actions have consequences and Rabastan is dealing with those that he caused.”
Bella reached over and laid her hand on her husband’s, giving it a squeeze. The man looked at his wife with a sad smile and brought her hand to his lips where he placed a gentle kiss upon her knuckles. Bella looked at Harry.
“I do hope that cleared things up a little better, Harry.”
The boy nodded and then turned to Tom.
The man sighed.
“Why don’t we all go to the sitting room and we will finish our talk there.”
He received nods of approval and then moved back from the table. Severus stood and moved to place Harry on his feet, but the boy whined and clung onto his robes so he simply opted to carry him. Draco waited until his daddy had made it around the table to walk next to the pair. He just knew that Harry would need all the support he could get.