Freedom!
Tom had been in many disgusting places over the years. You tended to frequent some pretty nasty venues as a Dark Lord. However, sitting in this ‘shrieking shack’ was the worst yet. Not that it was that bad physically. No, besides some wrecked furniture and debris it was actual okay. However, now he was sitting in a chair he had conjured trying not to look or blush at the two canine’s making out like teenagers in the corner.
When they had arrived the two had explained their involvement in the naming of the Shrieking Shack. Of course that lead to fond memories of their youth, which lead to gentle kisses, which led to the Dark Lords current situation. A soft moan rose into the air followed by a low chuckle; Tom blushed, his eyes going pink.
*Are you well Master?* Nagini hissed, *I didn’t know your new form could change colors.*
*I’m fine Nagini.* he said hurriedly, *I simply have a harder time hiding my emotion now that my soul is back together. It’s been so long since I’ve had any emotion to hide at all, I can’t control it.*
*And what emotion is pink Master?*
*Embarrassment.* Tom squeaked as another moaned echoed in the room. He quickly cast a tempus charm and saw that it was about twenty minutes before Hogwarts began dinner. He put his head in his hands and tried to tune out the sounds of pleasure coming from the corner.
“Padfoot, Moony, is now really the time to be making out?” came an amused voice.
Tom’s head shot up and took in the white stag patronus standing in the doorway, “Harry!” Remus exclaimed from the corner, scrambling out of Sirius’ lap to stand in front of the stag, “You’ve worked on your patronus!”
“Of course.” The stag said, it walked further into the room and lowered its head so it was eye to eye with Tom who was watching it with wonder, “Hello Tom. Nice to see you looking so human.”
Tom smirked, “Surprised to see you not looking human, Harry.” The stag let out a huff of breath that made white patronus smoke curl around Tom’s head.
The stag knelt in front of Nagini who reared up, *Hello Nagini. Your scales are looking very nice today.*
*Thank you hatchling.* Nagini hissed back.
The stag walked back over toward Sirius and Remus, “I’ve sent Hedwig here. She should stay with you until I get there.” He looked back to Tom, “We are waiting for Snape to join Dumbledore in the Great Hall. Then we will sneak out the side passage, through the tunnel beneath the willow and in here. Slytherin said that it would probably be best to remove the trace before we take the portkey to the Manor.”
“I can do that.” Tom said.
“Great see you soon.” The stag nuzzled Sirius then Remus before it vanished.
“Alright.” Harry said sliding his wand back in his pocket, “They know we’re just waiting for Snape.”
“Did you already call for Hedwig Harry?” Luna asked pulling up the hood of her new black and royal blue cloak that Hogwarts had materialized from somewhere. She wouldn’t tell Harry where she had gotten them but the material was thick and swirled out dramatically when Luna walked. Hogwarts had materialized similar ones for the twins and Harry. The twins’ being black and red and Harry’s black and silver.
“I sent her to the Shrieking Shack to wait with Remus.” Harry said, making sure he had his shrunken trunk safely attached to his belt. “Dobby are you ready to leave as well?”
“Yes Master Harry.” The little elf said with a smile, he held up the sock Harry had given him and a piece of cheese, “Dobby is most prepared for new living quarters.”
“Hogwarts are you ready to use the map the guide us?” Harry asked.
‘Yes little one. Are you wearing your pendent so I will be able to feel you?’ Hogwarts asked.
“Right here.” Harry said tapping the pendent that had the school crest and was imbued with her power.
“The Severus Snape dot has settled in the Great Hall!” Rowena announced
“Great.” Harry said, he looked to Godric, “Are you clear on the Maps password?”
Godric smiled, “Yes Harry. If we need to speak to you we will follow the connection between Hogwarts and her pendent.”
Harry winced, “Sorry. I want this to go well but I have the worst luck.”
“It’s the luck of a Gryffindor.” Slytherin chuckled, ignoring Godric’s frown, “You just love to get into trouble.”
“It’s the Gryffindor way!” Fred cheered.
“Seek the Danger!” George laughed.
“Defeat the Evil!” Fred said.
“Be the Hero!” they chorused. Rowena and Helga dissolved into giggles and Luna grinned.
Slytherin rolled his eyes, “Yes, yes, Heroes. Now quickly before people decide to leave dinner early.” He looked to Harry, “Don’t forget, the portkey activation is in Parseltongue. If you say it in English it won’t work.” Harry nodded.
The twins and Harry pulled their hoods up and Harry led the way from the room to a string of ‘Good lucks’ and ‘Stay safes’ being sent after them. They moved through the halls silently, Harry listening to Hogwarts who guided them through abandon hallways toward the side exit. Just as they reached the hall the exit was in Hogwarts hissed for them to stop.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
‘The Headmaster disappeared from the Map.’ Hogwarts stressed.
Harry’s eyes widened and he looked back to the others, “Go to the shrieking shack, I will be there as soon as I can or send Prongs with news.”
“But Harry….” Fred started.
“Now!” Harry hissed pointing to the tapestry hiding the tunnel.
As the other four ducked out of sight Harry heard the Headmaster’s voice, “There you are Harry. I have not seen you for meals today, are you well?”
“I’m fine professor just a tad sore.” Harry said.
‘Don’t make eye contact little one. He’s trying to read your thoughts.’ Hogwarts warned. Harry focused on the Professor’s shoulder.
“Your friends were worried when you didn’t show up for food. Ronald was quite torn up about it.” Dumbledore continued.
‘I’m positive he wasn’t.’ Harry hissed mentally, “I’m sorry professor.”
Dumbledore stepped uncomfortably close, “How long did it take you to recover from last night’s training?”
“One hour sir.” Harry guessed, knowing it took him a while to get up to the seventh floor last night.
“That is too slow.” Dumbledore growled, losing all semblance of his grandfatherly kindness, “If you are to succeed you must throw those off quicker!”
Harry bit the inside of his lip, ‘Who can fight off two crucios back to back with three blood boiling cures faster than an hour!’ he mentally screamed, “Yes sir. I will try.”
“You had better.” Dumbledore snapped, “Fail again and I will make sure the weak little wolf has no wolfsbane for the next three moons.” Harry flinched, Dumbledore smiled, “Just think of how devastated he will be when he finds out he killed people.” The Headmaster chuckled, “The mutt will try to stop him of course. But we both know what the wolf will think of that.” Harry kept his head resolutely down so he didn’t see the hand come flying at him in a smack hard enough to send him sprawling.
‘Little one!’ Hogwarts cried.
“Do you understand!” the Headmaster snapped.
“Yes sir.” Harry mumbled.
Dumbledore retreated to his grandfatherly mask, “Good. Then you can show me how much better you can do right now.” Harry flinched as Dumbledore raised his wand calmly, “Crucio.” He intoned pleasantly as anyone else might say Hello. Pain slammed into Harry and he writhed as Dumbledore held the curse.
‘Little one hold on!’ Hogwarts said, ‘I can’t doing anything without risking you. I’m sending the Founders!’
Harry barely heard her over the sound of his heart beating nearly out of his chest. Tears streamed from his face and he fought to make his mind blank and block out the pain hitting every nerve ending he had. The curse stopped and he breathed heavily, “What happens if you fail this?” Dumbledore questioned.
“You hurt Remus.” Harry whimpered.
“Will you fail?” Dumbledore asked, Harry shook his head quickly. “Crucio.” Dumbledore said again, offhandedly like he was telling the time, not torturing Harry.
Harry shook and curled into himself to try and temper the pain, but nothing helped. Suddenly the curse cut off and through the haze Harry heard the roar of a lion then power wrapped around him and he was gone.
While Tom was grateful that the making out was over he wasn’t sure the worried pacing and large black dog sitting and staring longing at the door was much better. “He should be here by now.” Remus was muttering, “It usually only takes him fifteen minutes to get from one end of the school to another.”
“He had to sneak around and avoid people and bring others with him. It might take a little longer.” Tom said, trying to soothe the couple. The dog at the door whined, “You probably shouldn’t go looking for him.” Tom warned as he saw the dog step toward the door.
Suddenly they heard foot steps outside the door and three children and an elf came in, Remus took in the twins, Luna, and Dobby, “Where is Harry!” he demanded.
“We don’t know Professor…..”
“Harry was talking to Hogwarts…..”
“Then he told us to come here….”
“He said he would be here……”
“Soon or he would……”
“Send Prongs.” Fred and George finished, trading worried glances.
Remus looked to Luna, “Anything?”
Luna looked up at him with wide eyes, “The Nargles say that Dumbledore is talking to Harry.”
Sirius snarled and padded over to stand by Remus, who was having a hard time with the news, “Okay.” Remus said trying to calm himself, “They’re just talking. He wouldn’t do anything in a hallway.” The twins exchanged looks and Luna looked sad, “Would he?” Remus growled.
“It has happened before Professor.” Luna said slowly, “Not in front of other students. He claims to want to build up Harry’s ability to work through the pain.”
Tom frowned, “Most torture curses paralyze the victim. What is that old man thinking! It could leave permanent damage to force them to move after taking one. Even I don’t make them move on their own!” Remus let out a whine.
Suddenly power swirled in the room and with a pop Harry appeared curled up on the floor surrounded by a lion, a snake, a badger, and a raven. Remus and Sirius ran toward Harry but Luna swirled into their path holding up her hands, “I know you want to help but Harry can’t be touched after those. Fred tried to the first time we found him like this and it put him in more pain.”
The animals morphed back into the Founders in their ghost forms, “Are you sure Luna?” Helga asked nervously, “That dreadful man cast the Cruciatus twice and held it for at least twenty seconds.”
Luna nodded, “He’ll be safe to touch in about two minutes and will be up and about in five.”
“I don’t know what to be more disturbed by.” Tom said, drawing everyone’s attention, “The fact that he can recover so quickly from that. Or that you three have seen him enough in this state that you can accurately tell how long his recovery will take.”
Dobby handed Luna his sock and cheese before disappearing, “Where is Dobby off too?”
“Getting my tea.” Harry moaned from the ground, still giving full body twitches every so often.
“Little brother…”
“Likes peppermint tea….”
“When he’s done recovering.” Fred and George said.
“He has an after torture ritual.” Remus distressed.
“It’s okay Moony.” Harry rasped, Remus gave him a weak smile and Sirius crawled past Luna to lay next to Harry, making certain not to touch him. “Snuffles is still a silly name.” Harry huffed, Sirius let out a whine.
Slytherin slipped over to Tom who was staring at Harry with a worried frown, “Tom.” He said softly, the Dark Lord shook himself and looked to him, “He’ll be fine.”
Tom blinked, “Of course he will be. He’s the boy-who-just-wont-quit. It’s just….He…..”
Slytherin smiled, “You care for him.”
“No.” Tom snorted before his face fell, “Yes….Maybe.” he glared at Slytherin, “No, it’s just the influx of emotions brought on by the sudden regaining of my soul that someone pushed on me.”
Slytherin quirked an eyebrow, “Is that what this is then?”
Tom frowned, “I’ve only met him a few times before when we were fighting. I don’t know him enough to care.”
Slytherin gave him a sly smile, “Right. Well while Harry is recovering from torture why don’t you cast the spells to cut them from the trace? It shouldn’t disturb Harry further.”
“Why would I care if it did?” Tom said drawing himself up, “He’s strong, he can handle it.” He stepped toward the group surrounding Harry and pulled his wand but stopped as weight on his feet drew his eyes downward to Nagini who was wrapping around his legs.
*Please don’t hurt the hatchling Master. I can taste his pain from here. He matches you but he will break if you hurt him.* Nagini hissed forlornly.
Tom glared at Slytherin who shrugged, “I would listen to her. Snakes are very wise.”
Tom rolled his eyes and looked back down at Nagini, *I’m not hurting him darling. I’m cutting his collar from him so he can come with us.*
*Setting him free?* Nagini asked.
*Yes, so he can leave the ones who did that to him.* Tom said patiently.
Nagini stared at him for several seconds before slithering off of him, *Good he will make you a good Queen.*
Tom choked and Slytherin snickered, Tom looked quickly to Harry who was frowning at Nagini. He was sitting up now and was sipping at a tea cup, Sirius was pressed along his side and Remus had fully transformed to his wolf and had his head on Harry’s leg. Harry looked up at Tom with a raised eyebrow, Tom just shrugged.
The twins were standing protectively behind Harry, “What’s with….”
“The wand….
“Dark Lord?” Fred and George asked protectively.
Tom rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to take the Ministry trace off of you so you can still use your magic out of school.”
Rowena nodded, “You will need to continue learning even though you are away.”
“Aw that’s no fun.” Fred whined.
Godric chuckled, “We are the Founders of a school. Did you really think we would let you out of learning?”
“The only reason they don’t like school is because there isn’t a pranking 101 class.” Harry rasped sipping his tea.
“Yeah, we’d ace that class!” George laughed.
“And it would help us with our products!” Fred exclaimed.
Tom ignored them as they went off on a rant about their joke shop and its various products. He started with the blond girl, Luna if he remember correctly. He cast the spell and the trace was removed with a soft snick, she looked up at him at the sound and smiled. He returned it before turning and repeating the process on the twins, who didn’t seem to notice the trace coming off of them. By the time he got to Harry, the boy was standing and stretching his muscles; ignoring the whining of the wolf and dog at his sides.
Harry noticed Tom raise his wand toward him and smiled, “Don’t bother. Dumbledore removed it ages ago.” All the chattered stopped and every eye turned once again to Harry.
“Why?” Tom asked.
“Because the trace also detects spells cast on minors as well as spells cast by them.” Harry said, “He removed it before we trained for the first time.”
“Maybe the Ministry is not corrupt enough to just let this happen, they just didn’t know.” Tom mused.
Harry smiled, “I like the hope angle. That’s new. But I’m pretty sure the Ministry turns a blind eye to most of it unless there is a major cry of outrage.”
“Yeah, the Pink Lord…..”
“is from the Ministry……”
“And she sure as hell……”
“isn’t afraid of using……”
“Blood quills in her…..”
“Detentions.” Fred and George said angrily.
“Blood quills!” Helga exclaimed, “Those were looked down on in our time. I was sure they would be made illegal by now.”
“They are.” Remus growled, transforming and stalking over to the twins, “Are you two alright.”
“Just fine professor.” Fred said.
“Just a bit sore.” George added.
“Nothing we can’t handle.” Fred said.
“Yeah it only stings a little after the wounds close.” Harry said.
“You used one too?” Sirius growled, transforming and taking Harry’s free hand, looking at the scars.
Harry smiled, “Let’s face it I’m not one to pass up a detention.” Sirius pulled his wand out and started casting healing spells on the scars. “I’m fine Sirius. After training with Dumbledore this was a walk in the park.”
“It doesn’t mean it was okay Harry.” Godric said gently.
“Of course it’s not.” Harry agreed, “But I’m not as worried about me. Students from almost every year have had detentions with her. She has even first years using them. I’m more worried about them.” The pendant around Harry’s neck flashed and he blushed, he quickly switched the focus, “Anyway, Tom is going to take over the Ministry. I’m sure he’ll thoroughly destroy Umbridge and make sure the quills are only used for naughty Azkaban prisoners.” His eyes flashed and he grinned, “Maybe Delores should have to write with one as part of her punishment.”
Tom felt a little bewildered at Harry’s support and the bit of blood lust he showed toward the Umbridge woman. Even more surprised when there were nods at Harry’s words, “I’d be glad to help with the takeover of the Ministry.” Sirius said, “I won’t take the mark as my loyalty’s lie with Remy and Harry but if you need an extra wand I’ll help.” Remus repeated the sentiments, followed by the twins, and Luna who simply wanted to “test a few spells I saw on some Ministry workers”.
*See?* Nagini hissed happily, *He makes a good Queen.*
Harry shifted a bit, *Nagini I am not female.*
*You don’t need to be female to be a good Queen. A Queen thinks of what’s best for the people and talks them over with the King. A Queen also protects the children.* Nagini hissed slowly, like she was explaining it to a child, *You are good Queen. You fit well with my Master.*
Tom and Harry were both blushing at that and studiously trying to ignore each other. Slytherin clapped his hands to draw the curious gazes from the two, “You should be going before they come looking for you here. We will check in every other day as we discussed. Tom knows how to contact me if you need to see us sooner.”
After a round of goodbyes the Founders disappeared, Harry ran his thumb over the pendant as it pulsed again. “What is that Harry?” Remus asked.
“Oh.” Harry gave him a lopsided smile, “Hogwarts was really unhappy with me leaving her. She put a bit of her magic in this so she can always tell where I am. When it pulses she’s trying to talk to me.”
“So the school is alive.” Tom said with a smile, “I thought that was just a bunch of stuff made up by the staff.”
Harry laughed, “No she’s really alive. Pretty feisty too.” He rubbed his hands together, “Alright, ready?” Everyone gathered in a circle; Nagini slithered up onto Tom’s shoulder and Hedwig glided down from where she had been sleeping in the ceiling to sit on Harry’s shoulder. Harry pulled a silver snake from his robes, it was curled into a circle and had its tail held in its mouth, little bits of emerald shone among its scales.
“Is that…?” Tom breathed.
Harry grinned, “Slytherin’s circlet? Yes.” He held it in the middle of the circle, “Grab hold.” Tom was naturally the first to touch it being so excited, the snake’s eyes glowed at his touch. As everyone grabbed hold Tom studied it with a bright smile, not noticing Harry studying him with a smile of his own. “Everyone have a good hold?” there was a round of nods, *The Snake’s Den.* Harry hissed and the portkey activated.
They all felt the hook in their bellies and they were pulled through in a swirl of color and power. They all landed up right in the center of a dark, chilled room. As everyone let go Harry left the circlet with Tom who was staring down at it in wonder as fires sprang up in torches along the wall and everyone else looked around in awe. Harry nudged Tom, “Slytherin said you would be happy about the circlet but I figured you’d want to see your new house.” Tom blinked and looked up at Harry with wide eyes, clutching the circlet. Harry smiled, “I won’t take it back. You’re the heir. It’s yours. And while I’m flattered you want to look at me, there is a ginormous manor filled with everything Slytherin that you’re standing in right now.”
As if he forgot Tom shook himself and spun to look at the grand entrance hall they had appeared in. His mouth went dry instantly and, as if he was back in his snake hybrid form, he rasped softly, “Slytherin Manor.”