Silent Suffering

Spells

'Thoughts'

::Parseltongue::

::Parseltongue Spell::

Tom walked back into the room to find Harry asleep. He sat back down in the chair he was in earlier, next to the four-poster bed, ignoring his instincts to climb into bed with his injured mate. As he sat there he, he stared at the glamoured boy in front of him, thinking of how he achieved the impossible.

After all of these years, he had grown bitter yet accepting of his fate in not receiving, perhaps not deserving, a mate. But finally, he had come. His little mate was right in front of him, but he had no idea if this boy would accept him as his dominant. It would break his heart, and possibly kill him if his little mate rejected him.

Tom reached out and grabbed his little mate's hand carefully, wanting to at least be able to hold a small part of him if he is unable to curl up in the bed next to his poor injured body. He could feel his creature part's raging anger at being unable to see the full extent of his little mate's injuries, but be able to smell the blood and infection coming from him.

Tom held Harry's hand tighter and waited for Severus to bring back the potions he needed.

Harry awoke from his light doze when he felt a hand tighten on his own, and immediately realized that his magic-enforced occlumency barriers had been taken down somehow. He tried to open his mind and peek around to see what was going on before he let full on panic consume him, but he soon realized that the only thing that he could feel was a rumbling purr from his creatures in what sounded like contentedness.

Harry waited for the panic to set in, but it seemed that his creatures were too content and in the forefront of his mind to let him freak out. He opened his eyes and turned his head to find the one and only Tom Riddle sitting next to him. Surprisingly, he was also the one who was holding his hand, but Harry had no urge to pull away from the odd comfort the man was providing him.

"Will you tell me how you were injured?" Riddle asked, apparently reluctant to let go of his hand.

Harry sighed and winced at the pain it caused in his ribs, "Does it matter how I was injured when you can't even see how injured I am?" he said quietly staring at the blanket covering him. He couldn't quite understand what was happening with his instincts, except that he felt inexplicably at peace with the man next to him holding his hand.

Tom rubbed small circles on the back of Harry's hand and responded, "Of course it matters. It may be something I can... help with. But, of course, it would be much more helpful if you would allow me to see you without your glamours up. I would like to know the extent of your injuries, I can promise you that I will in no way take advantage of this situation to attack you."

Harry lay there and thought about it for a few moments. His automatic human reaction was to say absolutely not, but his creatures were urging him to trust Riddle and let him know. Not knowing whether or not to fully trust his creature sides yet, he decided on a compromise.

"I'll make a deal with you," Harry said, looking at their entwined hands, "if you tell me why I am feeling the way I am towards you, and obviously why you're feeling differently towards me, then you can choose whether I drop my glamour to show you my injuries, or I tell you how I was injured. One or the other, though."

Harry watched as Tom thought about it for a moment and then began speaking hesitantly, "Since I was 17, I knew I was a creature. Since then I have also known I was a dominant dark elf who would have a submissive mate gifted to me by lady magic. For years, I waited to meet my mate, to find someone I could love, but I never found them. Eventually, I gave up hope. Until you showed up. I first recognized you as my mate by your scent, but it was confirmed when I caught you earlier. I could feel it, and so can you apparently. You, Harry Potter, are my mate, as I am yours. I will court you according to tradition, and further as I have much to make up for with you."

Harry could not believe what he was hearing, even as his creatures were rejoicing at hearing their mates declaration. Tom Riddle- Voldemort- was his mate. He wasn't sure what he was thinking when he opened his mouth, but the first thing he said was, "Remy and Sirius are going to bloody well kill me, Oh Merlin."

Harry wasn't ready for the fierce snarl that came from Tom- his mate's?- mouth. "They will not touch you. You will have no harm done to you again," Tom growled as his eyes glowed red.

Harry whimpered and cowered into the bed and Tom immediately stopped. Harry spoke quietly, "I just meant that they're going to be furious that Voldemort is my destined mate. They would never actually hurt me."

Tom held tightly onto Harry's hand and continued to rub soothing circles. "I apologise for frightening you, little one. It was not my intention. I would like for you to drop your glamours I believe. That is my choice," he spoke soothingly.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to relax, he could feel his panic behind his creatures. He thought about his surface glamour and all of his injuries and let it melt away, revealing what he really looked like. He could tell it worked by the sharp intake of air by the body next to him and the tightening of Tom's hand on his. He opened his eyes and stared back down at the covers.

Tom sat still, trying to reign in his fury. "How could this have happened to you? There are people who are meant to look after you," he whispered tersely.

Harry closed his eyes in response, he wasn't quite ready to just tell everything right now. They sat in a tense quiet for several minutes until a quick knock at the door occurred and Narcissa Malfoy and Snape entered with a wooden box filled with, presumably, potions. Narcissa's gasp when she saw Harry reminded him that he hadn't put up his surface glamour again.

Snape put the box of potions on the end table next to his head and Tom, glancing briefly at their intertwined hands. He then moved off to lean against the door frame again.

Narcissa stood by the end of the bed and spoke only to Harry, "I have to cast a few more spells and then administer some potions. You can decide whether you want them here for all of it or not, but there are some issues we need to discuss with both Severus and Marvolo."

Harry looked at both men briefly, then back to the healer before speaking quietly, "Might as well just let both of them stay. Not like Riddle won't harass you about it later even though you can't tell and Snape will harass me so what's the point? What are the issues?"

Narcissa sent quick glares at both men and spoke to Harry directly, "Well some of your bones are broken so bad or remodeled so poorly that I have to remove them all together and we have to use skele-grow to regrow them instead of just healing it. The problem with this is that regrowing bones is a very long process and one that you do not currently have the time for here without causing suspicion. I'd like for you to take it when you get back to your dorm room. Severus will have to give an excuse for why you are unable to attend your classes tomorrow."

Severus sneered in response, "Lucius told me that the governors are forcing Dumbledore to postpone classes for the first week and have the first Hogsmeade weekend this first weekend, in order to allow kids to adjust and encourage more house unity. Each Head of House will inform their houses in the morning. I will, therefore, have no reason to make up any falsities for the child."

Narcissa sighed, "Fine, that solves that issue. That also means it will be fine if we do it here. It is safer that way, and the Slytherins won't ask questions about where Harry has been if they're told to leave it alone. I would like for you to take these potions first. I'll help you sit up, okay?" She gently helped him scoot up so he was leaning against the pillows behind him, without being in immense amounts of pain. She handed Harry two different potions.

One of the potions she handed him he recognized, but the other he had no idea so he asked, "What are these?"

She smiled gently at him, "One is a magic replenisher because you're quite drained. The other is a Fever reducer because your body is fighting off some infections." With her explanation, he gladly took both, not even gagging at the horrid taste.

Her face softened as she took out a jar that he did recognize. He thought briefly and realized that he couldn't be bothered with caring about whether the other two men in the room saw his burn because neither would probably realize what it was from. He nodded his head at her and unbuttoned his shirt, realizing just now someone must have moved his robes and tie somewhere else along with his shoes. He slid his shirt carefully down his arm, trying only to reveal the burn to his mate.

Narcissa gently scooped some of the cream out from the jar and smeared it on his wound, successfully numbing it while it attempts to heal, but making him flinch from her touch. She used magic to stick gauze to the area and moved on.

Harry saw the next jar she grabbed and started shaking his head, "Can't I put it on myself. I don't want them in the room. I don't even want you to see it," he spoke rapidly, unconsciously gripping Tom's hand tighter.

Narcissa shook her head sadly and said quietly, "Remember, Severus has already seen your external wounds on your upper body. And somebody else has to put it on for it to be as effective. You might not want to hear it, but you can allow for Marvolo to put it on for you as you seem more comfortable with his touch than mine. I can do it if you'd like, but you may be more comfortable with him."

Harry thought about it and decided if it was going to happen no matter what, then he was going to be as comfortable as he could be. "I'll have Tom do it. You can stay if you'd like. I also need help laying over on my stomach." Harry felt Tom let go of his hand and looked over to see him stand up and help him scoot down onto the bed and remove his shirt then roll over without bringing immense amounts of pain.

Harry knew he didn't want to see Tom's reaction to the state in which the rest of his body was in. He didn't see the pain in Tom's eyes or the tears form in Narcissa's.

Harry winced as Tom rubbed the healing cream into the open wounds on his back and shoulders, but his creatures were purring at the absolute attention and care they were getting from their mate trying to make him feel better.  When Tom finished applying the healing cream to the assorted open wounds, he cast a wandless cleaning spell on his hands and grabbed the burn cream to apply, even against Harry's wishes.

Harry felt Tom finish and apply gauze to the entirety of his back. The elder man then helped turn him and did the same thing to the rest of his chest with both balms, obviously refusing to ignore any injury he could see. He winced more as the front of his body was much more tender, most likely because of his rib injuries.

Tom finished, and Narcissa spelled gauze onto his entire upper body too. "We can get you a bruise paste after those have healed if you still need it," Narcissa said quietly.

Harry sighed and cast a wandless and wordless tempus with a wave of his hand to display the time 12:16 and all he could think was that he wanted to get to bed.

Narcissa pulled out the bottle of skele-grow and placed it on the table. She looked at Harry before speaking very clearly, "You have a lot of bone injuries. Right now I am going to heal 3 of your ribs, your sternum, your left wrist, and your cheek and skull which both have fractures. I'm going to use my magic to focus it in on these specific parts to it doesn't fix the things we have to regrow. In about an hour and a half, the potion will have healed those bones and then we will regrow 5 ribs, from your knee to your ankle in your right leg, your entire left foot, your collarbone, both shoulder blades, three fingers in your right hand, and 2 fingers in your left hand."

Harry sighed and stuck out his hand for the potion that he was unfortunately accustomed to. Narcissa handed it to him and he didn't hesitate in drinking it in one swallow. As soon as he drank it, Harry could feel her magic working through his body, forcing the potion to form around the bones she wanted like soft silk wrapping around him.

His eyes snapped open, and he stared at her in amazement. "What kind of magic is that? It's amazing," Harry breathed in awe. He couldn't believe that she could manipulate her own magic to force the magic of the potion to affect only certain bones, causing barriers around certain parts of him, it was almost impossible for him to even describe to himself.

Madame Malfoy looked at him confused, "what do you mean, dear? Do you- I mean, could you feel my magic through your body?" she asked amazed.

Harry nodded eagerly, "I could feel your magic, like silky softness in my bones. It's like I knew what it was doing in me, and I can still feel it there, keeping the potion contained to the bones it's supposed to heal."

The Lady Malfoy looked amazed and they all just sat there in silence until the time was up.

After the 1.5 hours, Narcissa cast another diagnostic to see if the bones were healed and found, to her pleasure, that they were.

"Now," she said, "I'm going to spell the bones that are required to be regrown, gone. Just a warning, it will feel strange being boneless in most of your body so just lie there and remember that as your healer it is currently my duty to take care of you. None of here will injure you right now."

Harry tried to relax, but nothing could have prepared him for steadily having so many of his bones disappeared. Narcissa helped him to swallow to cups of the skele-grow since he wasn't able to do it himself.

"I'll be back in the morning to check on you, try and rest as much as you can. I know it can be quite an unpleasant experience," Narcissa said. She then picked up the box of potions and left the room along with Snape.

Harry was then left alone with Tom. He wasn't sure what to do around the man seeing as less than 12 hours ago he was trying to kill him constantly.

"You may sleep. I will watch over you. I will not leave you unprotected here," Tom said, interrupting his thoughts.

Harry decided to not respond and closed his eyes, clearing his mind and falling into a restless slumber.

Tom had no idea what to do anymore. His little mate was so injured. He had massive amounts of broken bones and poorly remodeled ones. He was covered in whip, belt, and knife marks along with burns scattered all over his small body. He could also tell his little mate was wearing another glamour, one he hadn't yet let anyone else know about.

Tom didn't want to pressure his dear mate into telling him, but he was so worried. And his elven side wanted vengeance for the crimes committed against the small boy lying in the bed next to him. It's his right as mate to shred whatever did this to the sweet soul. He watched while the boy's breath evened out and he fell into a deep sleep, waiting for Nagini to find him.

Eventually, when the enormous snake finally made her way into the room, she curled up onto the chair he was on and around his neck, into his lap. He itches her head and hissed quietly to her, ::Nagini, what have you been up to?::

She hissed out in agitation, ::You do not act like that, now. You are not normally here. Who'sss this new hatchling? Sssmellss sweet.::

Tom chuckled and hissed back, ::He'sss my mate. I found him today.:: Nagini immediately uncurled herself from his shoulders and slid onto Harry's bed curling around him protectively.

::Massssterss mate be well protected. You finally found mate, Massster. Hatchling will give many hatchlings's don't worry,:: Nagini hissed quietly and then fell asleep, leaving a stunned Tom.

Grimmauld Place was not somewhere anyone wanted to be after no one was able to find Harry on the Platform at King's Cross. The tension was high as everyone was waiting for a letter to be sent from Hermione telling them what happened and if she found him. No one was quite sure what was stopping them all from going to Hogwarts themselves and barging in, but they knew it wasn't a sensible idea. Well, some of them did- the twins and Sirius had already been stuck to chairs and had their wands taken away.

Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Remus, and Sirius were all in the kitchen waiting together for some form of communication, unable to rest until they were sure everything was alright. At around 2 in the morning, a letter finally flew in and dropped in Remus' hands.

Bill unstuck the twins and Sirius while Remus tore it open and read aloud:

"Everyone,

    Harry is here. I couldn't find him on the train, but apparently, he accidentally sat in the Slytherin section and had an interesting ride. I guess he made friends with Malfoy, Zabini, and Nott. Luna and Neville were with him too, I think, but I can't be sure. Harry looks quite tired...

This year is a little different. The sorting hat's song was worrisome. Lucius Malfoy is our defence teacher- a direct order from the Board of Governors. That could be alright, except we also got resorted, years 5-7. I got put into Ravenclaw. Harry is in Slytherin. I can't help him there.

I think Harry already got a detention with Snape tonight, the man looked quite furious when Harry was sorted into his house.

We don't have classes for the first week due to an adjustment period thanks to the resort. We also have a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend this weekend to encourage 'House Unity' in between the years 5-7. They told prefects and Head girl/boy before the other students.

I'll make sure Harry is at Hogsmeade this Saturday. I'll send another letter soon.

Hermione"

Sirius jumped out of his seat and stormed towards the parlour room. Everyone looked at each other uneasily and followed after him, only to find him next to the open liquor cabinet trying to chug an entire bottle of firewhisky.

Remus stormed over to him and tore the bottle from his hands and landed a firm swat on his butt. "Just because you're upset doesn't mean you can try and give yourself alcohol poisoning. You are not getting wasted because of this right now. We know that Harry is okay and at school. If something goes wrong, we can always go there, okay? He won't be hurt there."

Sirius nodded his head and curled into his mate's body, wishing desperately that they had their cub.