Chapter Text
There was an almost silent crack in the air as the older man appeared before Number Four Privet Drive, in Surrey. The man was the leader of the Light, amid a war and was running out of options to keep himself and the world as he liked it safe. The Dark had people in every nook and cranny, slowly changing the people’s opinions on things that should’ve never have been allowed in the first place. He worked hard to illegalize all things Dark, and he refused for his work to be forgotten.
The old man huffed, forcing himself to stop getting stuck in his thoughts. He knew this was the only option; he just hoped the boy understood.
---
Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, orphan, freak , monster, boy, disappointment, liar, murderer; all things he’s been known by, all things he could just wish he could forget. He knew he’d probably been called more, being ostracized by both the school population, and the public, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. His family was dead. He killed his own godfather. He was dragged back here, to this prison, against his will with no way to contact the outside world and no one to communicate with. He was alone; and as someone who had spent his entire life alone, it hurt worse when he finally had someone, friends, just for them to be taken away. He knew he shouldn't have opened himself up to the hurt. He knew better. After eleven years alone, he shouldn’t have expected anything to change. It was his own fault, this pain. It wasn’t like he even wanted to fight in this war, this war that started decades before he was even born, for things he could only wish he could fight for. Not like he could even consider which side to fight for, it had been chosen for him. He didn’t have the luxury of choice; he didn’t even have the luxury of living.
He knew this ended only one way, with his death. He wasn’t meant to live past the end. He was bred and raised like a pig for slaughter and while he knew that, understood it even, he couldn’t find it in himself to care; He couldn’t wait to die.
“- OY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING JUST STANDING THERE?!” Vernon spat at him, face purple in his fury and he walked into the kitchen where Harry was standing in front of the stove. Harry simply dropped his glamours, so Vernon didn’t notice he was healed, and turned to face Vernon as the whale of a man stomped towards him. He lowered his head in submission, he knew better than to fight back, talk back, or even explain himself.
Vernon wrapped a meaty hand around Harry’s small throat and shoved him against the wall. He squeezed his hand until Harry was ready to give in and pass out, but Vernon let go just before he could. He swung his fist and hit Harry so hard across the head that he dropped to the floor; the dizziness and black spots in his vision had him staying on the ground trying to get his sight back.
“GO UPSTAIRS TO YOUR ROOM, BOY! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE UNTIL I GIVE YOUR PUNISHMENT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME BOY?!”
“Yes, Uncle Vernon.” Harry muttered as he slowly stood up, using the wall as a crutch and made his way out of the kitchen to the stairs. He slowly made his way up to the prison cell that was his room, and sat on the edge of the barely there, mattress. A few minutes later, Petunia hollered up the stairs that they were going out and he was not to leave his room.
He was fine with that. His magic was spread thin from keeping him alive, healing his injuries and keeping his usual glamour up. He sighed as he laid back, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Merlin.
He was so tired.
He just wanted this to end.
He wanted to be free.
Free from this pain.
Free from this war.
Free from himself.
I just want to be happy.
---
Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, was pacing his study in the newly refurbished Slytherin Manor. In less than an hour he would be meeting with Albus Dumbledore at Malfoy Manor to exchange a peace offering. He was sickened at how easy it was for the man to agree; he didn’t even hesitate, nor did he even question it. He wondered just how much this man had done for him not to care about the consequences of his actions tonight.
It was currently the evening of July 28 th , a mere couple weeks after the debacle at the Ministry and he, himself, was feeling better than he had in decades. After possessing the boy, he had felt his mental capacities beginning to return to him and he was sickened by what he had done. He called Severus, who was once a loyal friend, and begged him for help. He, a Dark Lord, begged for help, he didn’t know who was more surprised, himself or the Potions Master. After a week, they were able to discover that he had made Horcruxes, as in more than one, more than he had planned. They were horrified at the damage to his soul, mind and magic and at once went to the ritual room to beg Lady Magic and Lord Death for help; Tom couldn’t remember ever wanting more than one and he was willing to beg the deities for their assistance.
Lady Magic was the one to discover that he had been compelled, potioned and even had magical blocks upon himself and his soul bonded. In his search for immortality is where it began, his fear of Death and dying drove him to research and in that research, someone managed to warp him into a monster. He had never felt more ashamed and humiliated in his life. His own soul was so mutilated that it couldn’t even recognize a soul bond. A bond so sacred and treasured that it should’ve been impossible to ignore.
Lord Death had made him swear to never again harm his soul, for it would not only harm him, but his soul bond as well. Tom didn’t hesitate. He didn’t want immortality if that was the price. Death had also warned him, that no prophecy would ever pit soul bonded against each other, and that should he investigate that he’d be surprised at what he’d find. Lady Magic and Lord Death has practically begged him and Severus to save Harry Potter, from what they wouldn’t say, just that he needed safety and a place to call home.
Severus tried to object, his hatred for all things Potter appearing and it had Lady Magic looking closely at the man. The Potions Master fell to the floor in despair as he read the results; compulsions, potions, blocks and obliviates dating back to just before the Dark Lord fell. He had a soul bond as well, one that had been completed and yet he had no knowledge of it. No one had ever loved him like that. Who could? Tom had come over to comfort him, but Lady Magic got there first, kneeling on the ground before him and grasping his face between her two hands.
“Oh, my precious child, do not despair. All which was taken from you can be returned.” She had whispered as she swept the tears from his cheeks. She pressed a kiss to his forehead, and he gasped in pain as memories flooded his mind. Years of happiness and experiencing love from so many others had him sagging into Lady Magic’s embrace whilst he sobbed. She stroked his hair and rocked him side to side as he cried, his pain echoing to those in the room. Tom sat on the ground next to them and grabbed Severus’ hand to give his support. Severus turned his head towards Tom and Tom felt his heart break at the pain reflecting in the man’s eyes.
“My child Tom. They took my child.” He had whispered as he cried more, and Tom could do nothing but hold his hand as Lady Magic comforted his friend.
“We’ll find him, Severus. Of that I swear.” Tom whispered back, squeezing the hand that was between his own. After a few minutes, Severus regained control and drew himself back to thank his Lady for her comfort, but she had stopped him before he could.
“There is nothing to thank me for, my precious child. This is the beginning of very trying times and I ask of you to not shut yourself off. You must feel, and you must acknowledge, otherwise you will fail. You may all be my children, but you are among my blessed. You will regain all you have lost but it will not be without pain, it will not be without sacrifices, and it will not be an easy path. You must understand that both of you. Fate has foretold your path, now I may not change it, but I can help you along the way. If you do not succeed, my very being will cease to exist. Do you understand, my darlings?” Tom and Severus nodded, swearing they’d do all the can to preserve Lady Magic. Death stepped forward to draw their attention and he placed his boney hand on his sister’s shoulder whilst she still kneeled.
“You must remember what my sister has told you. We, as deities, cannot help as much as we’d like; however, for a few we are allowed to guide. My sister is allowed her blessed, whilst I am allowed a Master. My Master is someone whom you both know, and when he reaches his sixteenth birthday, he will come into his inheritance. He mustn't be where he is now when that happens, or he will cross into my domain too early to become what he needs to be, and I will be forced to accept his soul. The day after, I will be here. I will show him what he needs and give him the help he deserves.” His sister grasped the hand resting on her shoulder as she stood gracefully in front of two of her blessed.
“We must go now, too much time on this plane can throw it off balance. But know, my blessed, that I am always here; all you must do is simply call and I will answer. Please be careful, my darlings.” Tom and Severus promised to do their best and then the two deities were gone in a flash of light. The men sagged to the floor in a loose embrace to comfort each other as they digested what had happened that day. After what seemed like hours, Severus finally broke the silence.
“Tom, what are we going to do?” He whispered, his voice full of fear and lingering pain from the memories he had unblocked. Tom had tightened his arms, mind still reeling from what seemed like decades of torture.
“I do not know.” He croaked, his voice rough and strained.
They had stayed there hours before either of them was willing to move.
-
That led him too today. After spending most of the night on the floor of the ritual room with Severus, mourning and digesting what had happened, they planned; the first step of that plan was getting Harry Potter here, and once that was done, they were going to take their closest people to Gringotts for tests because they knew of whom had to be affect and could only guess how many in total were. They wanted to wait for Lucius and their family to be cleared before discussing with them how to check and save everyone else.
This is what he was currently waiting for, to meet Albus Dumbledore at Malfoy Manner to accept his peace offering. He cast a wandless Tempus and saw he should be appearing soon, so he donned his robes and swept from the room after summoning Nagini to come with him. She wrapped herself around him, reaching his shoulders as he walked into the entryway to Apperate to Malfoy Manner and in a slight crack, he was gone.
---
Harry woke to stomping on the stairs, confused about how he fell asleep, but he didn’t let that stop him as he stood to greet Vernon by the door. He made sure his glamour was down before Vernon slammed open the door with his belt in hand. Harry stiffened but made no other reactions to him, reactions were bad and often resulted in harsher punishments. Vernon turned him around and pushed him against the wall and Harry heard the buckle of the belt hit the floor as Vernon got ready.
“You’re too take the whipping without a sound boy. Any sound and the whipping will get doubled. Got it, boy?” Harry nodded before he felt the wind shift and heard the snap of the belt as it came towards him. He felt himself retreat into his mindscape as Vernon wore himself out tearing the skin of his back, he taught himself how to do this when he was young, it kept him safe, and Vernon never noticed the dissociation. While he was walking through the calming forests in his mindscape, he became aware of Vernon stopping because of a knock on the door and Petunia yelling at him.
“WHO IS IT PET?”
“IT’S ANOTHER ONE OF THEM.” Vernon dropped the belt, and Harry refused to leave his mind. He knew if he came back, he’d be in a lot of pain, and he was so tired of pain.
“Get your ass downstairs boy and tell that freak he’s not welcomed.” Harry’s magic pulled up a glamour and a notice-me-not on his back after a quick wandless scourgify to his clothes. He slowly walked downstairs, feeling his magic start healing his back as he continued to walk the forests and ignore the outside world.
Dumbledore stood at the foot of the stairs with a twinkle in his eye, and a small grandfatherly smile on his face. Harry, however, could see the sadistic gleam in his eyes and was worried about what this meant for him.
“Ah, Harry, my boy. Please do grab your things, I’ll be taking you away from here.” Dumbledore’s smile widened, perhaps he wanted to appear more welcoming, Harry though, felt on edge. Only one thing came when he was smiled at in that way; pain. He nodded in acknowledgment and turned around to grab his meager belongings as his uncle retrieved his trunk from the cupboard. Once he was done, Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him out of the house to the ward lines.
“Hold on tight, my boy.” Harry nodded and took a deep breath as they disappeared.
-
Severus, Tom, Lucius, Narcissa and Nagini were the only ones in the entryway to greet Dumbledore. The manor had been evacuated from any other person to keep them, and their soon-to-be new guest, safe.
Narcissa was speaking quietly to Severus as Lucius and Tom spoke about the upcoming plans. Tom couldn’t speak about much, not without the two being cleansed but he could be vague about what was coming. All they were aware of was that Harry Potter was coming to stay as a peace offering from the Light to keep the war from developing more. No side wanted more bloodshed, and this was the only way they could get Harry out safely before his sixteenth birthday.
They were still all quietly talking as Lucius stiffened with the feeling of the wards opening to an upcoming apparition, making the others turn their attention to where Dumbledore would appear. With a sharp crack, as if to prove something to those gathered, Dumbledore appeared with the boy. A boy they were all surprised to see the state of. The old man levitated Harry’s trunk over to Tom, clapped Harry on the shoulder and let a small smug smile show on his face.
“Tom, my boy. Harry Potter as promised. I assumed you are ready to swear that oath now?” The twinkle in his eyes almost glowed with the amount of smugness the other adults could feel wafting off the old man. Tom’s attention wasn’t on him however, no, Tom’s attention was pulled by the small, quiet boy standing beside Albus. He was wearing clothes three sizes too big, the collar of the shirt hanging off one side, showing a bony shoulder. He had shown no reaction being where he was, and Tom knew he wasn’t the only one that noticed. Harry’s eyes were dull, nothing like the usual Avada Kedavra green they were usually, and they were glazed, as if the boy wasn’t aware of anything. His shoulders were slumped, and his magic wasn’t present at all; usually it wrapped around him like a protective cocoon that made others want to be embraced with it. It made the adults on edge; where was the Harry Potter they knew and just who was this boy that replaced him? What happened to make him withdraw so much?
‘Mother Magic, may I lie during this oath? I fear once I learn who was responsible for the boy’s pain, I will be unable to stand by and allow them to live.’ Tom broadcasted to himself and Severus, making the Potions Master snap to attention. The men felt a warmth embrace them and relaxed unconsciously.
‘Yes, my darlings. Your side of the oath will not need to be upheld. It would hinder our plans to the point of destruction. He however, will be held very tightly to his oath. Make sure to make it good, my blessed.’ They felt her leave, and locked eyes with each other as they planned.
“Yes, Albus. One we must both swear, otherwise the point of all this is worthless.” They saw his stiffen before he relaxed, most people would’ve missed it; but he was surrounded by Slytherins, they were trained for seeing what most miss.
“Of course, my boy, what may we swear?”
“As long as Harry stays with me, meaning no one takes him, no one attempts to ‘rescue him,’ harm him in any way, with potions, compulsions, or other means, or to sway him to either side this oath will stand. We must both not shed blood of either side, the Dark will not disband but we will be lawful and do things the right way if the Light does the same. No tricks, no manipulation to get ahead of the others; we do things right or not at all and every prisoner of Azkaban will have a retrial with no bias or simply because they wear my mark. Agreed?” Dumbledore looked shocked but quickly schooled his features. He looked almost gleeful with this oath and very quickly agreed. He dropped his hand from Harry’s shoulder and walked to meet Tom in the middle to swear the oath with Lucius as the bonder. Severus and Narcissa got closer to Harry to observe him more closely, one as a Potions Master with healing knowledge and one as a healer.
Tom and Albus swore their sides of the oath and the old man turned to leave; but not before stopping before Harry to speak to him.
“Please do understand, my boy, is it for the greater good.” With one last final clap on the shoulder, and no reaction from Harry, Dumbledore was gone with a sharp sounding crack. The four adults turned their attention to Harry who still didn’t seem to notice where he was. Nagini slid to the hatchling, feeling a connection to the little one and wanting to soothe the despair she smelled coming from him.
‘Hatchling, my hatching is sad. Why is my hatching sad, Tom?’ she asked, twirling herself around the boy to bring her head to his. She sniffed around his face before turning her attention to his back. She didn’t hear Tom’s response as she smelled blood but couldn’t determine where it was from. She could also smell the magic in the area and thought that maybe the magic was hiding her hatchling's injury. She reared her head back and turned towards her other hatchling and Master.
‘Who injured my hatchling?!’ That snapped Tom out of his shock of Nagini adopting Harry.
“Injured? Where is he injured Nagini? We cannot see anything.” She sniffed around his back some more before poking it with her nose; Harry hardly flinched, but he twitched enough that Narcissa was able to determine that there was magic blocking their gaze.
“His back, my Lord. There seems to be a notice-me-not charm attached to his back.” Tom raised his wand and noticed Harry gaze start focusing on it, so he slowly waved his hand to dissolve the charm on his back.
Harry blinked as the charm dropped and there was four gasps of surprise and a sharp hiss of anger from the snake on his shoulder. Harry felt himself start fading from his mindscape as he became more aware of the outside world. He knew where he was, knew what had happened but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Maybe Tom would be merciful enough to end his pain. His gaze locked onto Tom’s wand, silently hoping the killing curse would stick this time and that he wouldn’t have to be a pawn in this war anymore.
“Harry?” Tom’s soft voice had his eyes leaving his wand, to look at him in confusion. Why wasn’t Tom killing him? Harry just wanted to wander his forests again, there was no pain there. No confusion or bone deep exhaustion. He was free there. He felt himself start retreating again, and Tom who was watching seemed to understand what was happening. He stepped forward, slowly and put his hands up to show Harry he wasn’t a threat.
“Harry, it’s okay. Harry, you’re safe here, of that I promise. None of us will do you any harm.” Tom could see it wasn’t working and shared a worried gaze with the others.
‘Harry, darling, it’s okay. You are safe. I swear to you that you are safe, that you can relax here, with me.’ Harry’s eyes started to clear, and Tom could see him start responding, even if it was subconscious. His body sagged in exhaustion and his magic whipped around the room too as if to assure him what Tom was saying was true.
‘Darling, you’re so tired. It’s okay to be tired. You can sleep now; I promise you everything will be okay.’ Tom kept trying to speak to him in Parseltongue to get him to react, at this point any reaction would be fine with the adults here. Harry’s eyes locked his Tom’s and Tom felt his soul bond sing; it took everything in Tom not to react, clearly something was keeping Harry from also sensing the bond and it would have to be addressed another day.
‘Tom?’ Harry’s whispered hiss echoed the room, and the adults breathed a sigh of relief. Narcissa gestured for them to be ready for Harry to drop because she could see the tenseness of his body relax and knew his exhaustion would catch up to him.
‘Harry, darling. I’m here.’ Tom walked closer to him, stopping just out of arm’s length.
‘I’m tired, Tom.’ He knew what Harry meant.
‘I know, little one. Know that I’ll protect you with everything I have, of that I promise you. Would you like to rest, darling?’ Harry’s body sagged into Tom’s embrace, and Tom was careful not to disturb the wounds on his back as he softly ran a hand through Harry’s hair.
‘I’m so tired.’ Tom’s heart broke at the desperation in Harry’s voice and now understood what Lady Magic said about rescuing the boy. Harry would not have lasted much longer, whether someone else ended him or Harry did it himself.
‘Rest now, darling. I promise all will be better soon.’ Harry’s body dropped as Tom sent him a wordless sleeping charm and caught his body before it hit the floor. He cradled his soul to his chest as he turned to the others; Narcissa had tears in her eyes and a hand to her mouth to stop herself from crying, Severus’ face was blank as he blocked his emotions from showing behind his barriers and Lucius face was tight with anger, whether it was at Dumbledore or the fact that a magical child was in this state Tom could never tell.
“Come, we must get him settled and healed.”
Tom turned with Harry in his arms, Nagini wrapped around his shoulders and soon the three adults following as they were all lost in thoughts about a boy, a troubled, wounded boy.