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Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness	By : Danyealle Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Voldemort Views: 297652 -:- Recommendations : 54 -:- Currently Reading : 184
Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. This is a work of fanfiction and no profit is being made. It is a for-fun endeavor and no infringement is intended.

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
This chapter is written by: Aya Macchiato

Beta done by tannne and Danyealle-sama

Again, I remind everyone that the amazing Aya Macchiato has given me permission to continue this story for her. This is another of the chapters that she already had done. All I've done with this one is some basic beta work, nothing more, it's as she wrote it!

Link to the first story...

http://hp.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600095391

-Danyealle

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Chapter 22

It turned out that Tom didn't have any specific exceptions as to what would be contained within the books. He merely saw them as a potential treasure trove of ancient and powerful magical knowledge.

The High Elves had never been much one for sharing their magical knowledge with witches and wizards. They also didn't write much of it down or they simply took all of their books with them when they left.

Luna's remarks about what her mother had 'Seen' in relation to the Dark Lord 'needing their knowledge' and it being Luna's 'task' to help him appeared noteworthy though. The words seemed rather prophetic in nature, and gave both of them pause.

However, it did very little good to dwell on the issue now since they wouldn't be able to get the books until the winter holidays.

Harry and Tom had ended up spending several hours in Hogsmeade together before Tom returned to the abbey. Harry went about the rest of his day like any other Saturday spent at Hogwarts and that night, after his nightly smoke with Draco and his prefect rounds, Harry returned to the abbey as well then used the time-turner to go back 24-hours.

It was difficult not to mention anything about the coming day to Tom since Tom hadn't yet lived through the Hogsmeade visit. But Harry held his tongue and never mentioned a thing about Luna to Tom the entire night or next morning. When Tom left the castle to go to Hogsmeade, Harry realized how utterly bizarre his life was, that Tom was currently leaving him alone in the castle in order to go have a date with his other self from twenty-four hours prior.

All of this excessive time-turner use was likely to drive him barmy before this year was up.

Now, having several hours to kill and very little to do, Harry set to doing something he'd been meaning to do for about a week now but had been hesitant enough that he kept talking himself out of it. He still wasn't convinced it was the wisest thing to do but he knew it needed to happen.

So Harry dug into his bag and pulled out the two-way mirror that Sirius had given him just before leaving Grimmauld Place on the morning of September the 1st. Harry hadn't actually used it yet and part of him felt bad for that.

He and Sirius had exchanged two letters over the past almost two months but they had been very simple and short.

Harry sat down cross-legged on his and Tom's king-sized bed, holding the mirror in his lap. Finally, he looked into the mirror and called out Sirius' name.

Several minutes passed with no response. Harry was about to just give it up and consider trying again later when the mirror suddenly warmed up a bit and Sirius' wet, disheveled face appeared in the mirror.

"Harry? Harry?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Hey, Sirius. Yes, it's me. Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah. I just got out of the shower. Had no idea how long ago you had tried to activate the mirror. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I er... actually I wanted to warn you about something. Have you got a minute to talk?"

"Warn me?" Sirius echoed as his brows knitted together with worry. Harry could see Sirius shifting around and sitting down with the mirror held in front of him.

"Yes. Um... something big is going to happen on Halloween night." Harry said after giving Sirius a moment to get situated.

"Big?" Sirius asked, looking even more concerned than before.

"Yes. Definitely big. And after it happens, I'm afraid the Ministry might tighten a lot of their security as well as increase the number of Aurors they've got roaming about. I wanted to make sure you'd be somewhat prepared for that. You'll probably need to lay low for a while."

"You're talking about some sort of Death Eater attack aren't you?" Sirius asked, gravely.

"Yes."

Sirius sighed heavily and rubbed his hand over his face roughly.

"Sirius?" Harry continued, regaining the older wizard's attention. "It might be a good idea to have an alibi with some of the other Order members or something. I don't know if any of them are doubting the whole 'you're not really a Death Eater' thing, especially considering your refusal to actively join the Order again, but I imagine that there could be a few of them that might suspect you were actually a part of this attack."

Sirius frowned. "I don't exactly associate with a lot of the Order members on any regular basis. If I suddenly showed up on one of their doorsteps just in time to have an alibi for a Death Eater attack, it might look suspicious."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking that too. Hey, that Auror Tonks is your cousin, right?"

"Yeah, she is. She's Andromeda's girl."

"Did you ever... I don't know, spend the holidays with them? Like, maybe you could spend this Halloween with them? You could use some excuse like you not wanting to be alone on the anniversary of the attack on me and my parents not to mention that it was also the event that caused you to go after Pettigrew and end up in Azkaban. You could say you're afraid you might drink yourself into a stupor or something if you're alone. Sounds convincing to me, at least."

Sirius snorted humorlessly. "It's not too far off, actually..."

Harry sighed softly and ran his hair through his hair. "Are you doing alright, Sirius?"

Sirius barked out a sharp laugh and looked away from the mirror. He was quiet for a moment before sighing and looking back at Harry. "I'm fine, pup. Really. You don't have to worry about me."

Harry nodded with a bit of resignation. "Have you spoken with Remus lately?"

"No. Haven't heard from him since he went back to the lycan pack."

"So are you still at that rented muggle flat?"

"Yup."

"...Okay."

Conversation was stilted and Harry finally let out a slightly frustrated huff. "Do you think you'll go to Tonks or to Andromeda?"

Sirius sighed heavily and rubbed his hand over his face again. "Yeah... I suppose I'll try for that. Nymphadora may be working that night, but being with her parents would be enough of an alibi for the Order."

"Good. Good."

"So... er, don't you have classes?" Sirius asked after a minute.

"I'm fine, but I suppose I should probably go soon."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Right..."

"Okay, so uhm..."

"Right. I'll call you again sometime?" Harry said, feeling exceedingly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, that's good." Sirius nodded.

"Let me know if things get sticky for you. I've got a place you could stay that the Ministry could never find you at."

"Are you talking about Voldemort's hide-out?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Technically, yes. Voldemort is using it as his base now. But you could stay separate from any Death Eaters."

"Yeah... probably not, Harry."

Harry huffed. "Fine. But keep it in mind."

"Sure, sure."

"Alright. See you later, Sirius."

"Goodbye, pup."

Harry felt Tom Apparate back to the castle an hour later. He was now sitting at his desk in his and Tom's shared office. They each had their own desk and a few bookshelves. The room also had a nice-sized fireplace that could be hooked up to the floo network but was currently sealed.

Harry closed the book he had been reading and set it on his desk as he waited for his lover to make his way there. A minute later Tom walked through the door and shot Harry an amused smile.

"That friend of yours is quite a character." Tom said as he hung his cloak on a hook near the door.

Harry chuckled. "Luna? Yes. That she is..."

Tom made his way to his own desk and began to sort through some of his papers.

"Hey, Tom?"

"Yes, love?"

"I was meaning to ask you... you used Legilimency on Ginny, didn't you?"

"Yes," Tom replied simply.

"I'm assuming you were looking at her memories from her first year, right? Her interactions with the diary?"

"You assume correctly. I found some rather interesting things actually."

"Oh? Care to elaborate?"

"It would seem my younger self got her deeply questioning some of her family's beliefs and ideals. Their stance on the war and their unwavering faith in Dumbledore. However, she had mostly shoved all of those doubts and thoughts to the back of her mind after the incident with the basilisk. The thing is that it would seem that you have got her questioning everything all over again. Bringing up old doubts."

"I have?" Harry blinked in slight surprise but feeling a small sense of accomplishment at receiving confirmation that some of his efforts really were taking hold.

"Yes. It would seem quite a few of the things you've said to your little Gryffindor friends in relationship to the venerable headmaster's trustworthiness has made her start to recall all the doubts and questions she had formed during her first year and she has begun to wonder if, perhaps, I was right." Tom ended with a smug grin.

Harry chuckled. "Well, that's convenient for me."

"Yes, although it seems to be building some sort of conflict within her. She seemed rather tormented by the thought that she's beginning to agree with anything my diary told her. The idea of agreeing with anything that had come from the mind of the Dark Lord is rather unsettling to her."

Harry snorted.

"She also is afraid that she is betraying you by having such thoughts. It's quite a mess inside her actually."

Harry frowned. "I hadn't noticed there was anything wrong with Ginny at all..."

"She seems rather accomplished at masking and hiding her true feelings as well as her stresses. Oh, there was another fascinating bit of information I gleamed from her mind..."

"What?" Harry asked when Tom just smirked.

"The sorting hat wanted to put her in Slytherin." Tom said with an amused gleam in his eyes."

"What? Really?" Harry asked with a laugh. "A Weasley in Slytherin? Merlin! That would have been hilarious!"

"Yes, quite. She has tried to convince herself that it was solely because she had already been writing in the diary for a month at that point and I was simply affecting her but she had doubts buried deep inside. It's one of her greatest insecurities, amusingly enough."

"Yeah... who knows how her family would have reacted if that had happened." Harry mused.

"Quite. From her memory, the moment the hat suggested it she nearly went into a panic. She begged the hat to put her in Gryffindor instead."

"I don't doubt that at all. Hmm... Well, this is certainly something to think over. Maybe I'll have a heart-to-heart with Ginny. Confide in her what the hat had wanted to do with me."

"You think you can bring her over?" Tom asked skeptically.

Harry shrugged. "Don't know but I see little harm in continuing to fuel her doubts about the Light."

Tom chuckled and stood up, walking over to Harry and bending down to meet his lips.

"I do so love to see your devious side." Tom said with a smirk as he pulled back.

Harry gave him a wicked grin before reaching up to loop his hands around Tom's neck and pull the elder wizard back down for a much deeper kiss.

Because of how Harry's 'every-day-twice' schedule worked, he would be living through October 31st at Hogwarts first then go back twenty-four hours before living it again with Tom and the Death Eaters. He knew there was next to no chance that word of the Azkaban breakout would reach the school on the 31st though. Still, he couldn't help but spend the day of Halloween filled with anxiety and tension.

His friends took it as his normal annual concern and paranoia since bad things always tended to happen on Halloween. Harry had even pointed this out to Tom as a reason for them not to do the breakout on this day since he seemed to have perpetual bad luck when this particular holiday was concerned. He thought that even Tom had a history of a few rather bad things occurring on this particular day. Halloween was the night that Tom had lost his body in 1981 and the troll incident back in '91 hadn't exactly worked out well either.

Tom, however, was adamant about the date. Samhain was one of the nights that the Dark magic was most powerful and potent so the Light was at its weakest. He pointed out that Harry's 'luck' had seemed so cursed for this particular date because, at that time, Harry had been working against the Dark, so it was only natural.

Harry had sighed and gave in. All he could do was hope everything worked out well.

Halloween fell on a Thursday this year and Harry went through his normal routine for any regular Thursday. Dinner, however, was a special feast with a fully decked-out Great Hall.

There were carved jack-o-lanterns and thousands of candles floating through the air high above the tables and flocks of tiny black bats fluttered through the air.

Harry had noticed in past years that the Slytherins as well as some of the other students from old magic families would often scowl at the jack-o-lanterns and he had always wondered why. He was no longer ignorant to the reasons behind their irritation. Jack-o-lanterns were a muggle tradition. Wizards had no history of ever partaking in this particular holiday practice. At least not until Albus Dumbledore became headmaster.

It was a measure taken to try and make the muggleborn students more 'comfortable' but many of the old families saw it as one more level of insult. All of the old magic traditions that were practiced on Samhain were all but gone from Hogwarts. Only to be replaced with excessive sweets and carved pumpkins.

The previous night at Hogwarts, while talking with Draco, the Malfoy heir had scoffed at the festivities the Headmaster always insisted upon and remarked that next the students would be all dressing up in ridiculous purchased costumes then begging sweets from their professors all day in classes.

Harry found himself annoyed at the festivities as well. Making the muggleborns comfortable was one thing but doing so at the sacrifice of their own traditions and culture was unacceptable.

He had to fight with himself through the feast to keep the scowl off his face. Fortunately, Hermione and Ginny seemed to think that Harry's foul mood was entirely based on the reminder of his parents' death and gave him space.

After the feast and his prefect duties, Harry escaped through the Honeydukes passage and Apparated to the castle. He rarely bothered with the portkey these days since he was finally becoming accustomed to apparition and it made him slightly less dizzy than the portkey since he had more direct control over it himself.

He used Tom's time-turner and made his way back twenty-four hours in time. It was now Wednesday night and he joined Tom in some last minute planning for the attack that would take place the next night. Late into the night, the pair retired to bed, exhausted and both a little anxious for the following day's important activities.

The following day arrived and Harry, Tom, the house-elves and Barty spent the afternoon setting up the courtyard just outside the entry hall for the festivities that would take place before the actual attack.

It was Samhain and Tom had refused to allow the day pass without the proper traditions being addressed. He also insisted that now that Harry was a Dark wizard it was important that he learn about their customs and partook in the customs of their people. Harry couldn't argue with that and was honestly rather interested in the whole event anyway.

That evening at six o'clock the Death Eaters began to arrive en mass and gather in the courtyard. They were all supposed to attend this event although there were a few exceptions that were made. Snape and Rowle being two very obvious examples since they couldn't leave Hogwarts.

Once the festivities were finished, most of the guests would leave and only those Death Eaters who were to participate in the attack would remain.

In addition to the Death Eaters themselves, those who desired to do so were allowed to bring their spouses. The event wasn't a Death Eater meeting, per se and, as such, most were clothed in fine formal robes rather than the solid black Death Eater robes. Only a very few, those who were more paranoid than the rest about maintaining the secret of their identity, had chosen to wear their masks.

The large courtyard was framed on three sides by the castle itself and the far end opened up to the walled gardens. It was at the far end that two large bonfires had been erected. They were long straight lines side-by-side with a path cutting between them. Several feet before them, Voldemort came to stand with Harry by his side. He raised his hand into the air signaling for the attention of the gathered witches and wizards and they instantly began to quiet and focused entirely on him.

Excited whispering and reverent stares could be seen from the spouses that had, prior to this point, not yet seen proof of the Dark Lord's return with their own eyes. They looked upon him with a mixture of fear and reverence then the whispering was quickly silenced as he lowered his hand.

"Welcome my fellow Dark witches and wizards. I thank you all for coming this evening to join us in celebrating this important day with me and my faithful followers. Tonight marks the festival of Samhain. Oiche Shamhna. The Feila na Marbh; the Festival of the Dead.”

"Today marks the end of the Light's reign during the year and the beginning of the power of the Dark! Tonight we burn the sacred flames and we shall pass through them, cleansing ourselves of the taint of the Light and imbuing ourselves with the power of the Darkness! Strengthening our minds, bodies, magic and giving us the power to continue the fight for our rights then for the restoration of the power and respect that we deserve!”

"We are the Darkness! We hold the true power! The ignorant masses of the wizarding world have laid idle, comfortable in their delusional world of safety while they slowly destroy themselves and our world. They leave us vulnerable to the ever growing threat of the muggles!" Tom paused and looked out over the large gathered crowd that was enraptured by his speech.

"They would believe us defeated!" he continued. "They think us gone and that they have won! In the coming year, we shall remind them that we are far from being gone and it's they who will lose in the end! We are not weak, and we will not be squashed into obscurity by their foolish ideals and their willingness to throw away everything that makes us witches and wizards for the sake of assimilating the feeble, detestable, culture of muggles!”

"I have returned to you now to resume my noble work. To lead us to the victory that we all desire. Tonight marks the beginning of our return to power. But, before that, we shall celebrate! For tonight is a great night! A monumental occasion of great significance and it must be observed appropriately. Join me, my fellow Dark wizards and witches, as I celebrate this night the way it was meant to be celebrated!"

The crowd cheered at this and the Dark Lord surveyed the gathered group with a smug, accomplished grin. He turned to Harry and smiled before turning back to the gathered Death Eaters and their spouses.

"I am the Dark Lord. I possess powers that I earned through great trials that I completed in my youth. Powers that were granted to me by Magic itself. I have led the Dark for many years and quite a few of you served me faithfully in the last war, and for that, I am thankful. Through unfortunate means, my progress was put on hold for a decade due mostly to the actions of my only true nemesis, the Light Lord, Albus Dumbledore. But my time has come again. I would not be defeated by Death so easily! We resume our war in secret and someday very soon the rest of the world will know of my return and that we have stood up to fight for our rights once again!”

"Tonight, as is the tradition of our ancestors, we shall all pass through the sacred flames that lay behind me. Many of you shall make this journey with your beloved by your side. This is a night for remembering the dead and showing them honor but also for appreciating our lives and the lives that we will make for ourselves in the future. Lives set out before us still yet to be lived. Lives of those we care about, that we wish to protect. Many of you fight against the established government of our world not for yourselves but for those that you care for. For you spouses. For your children. It is the future that we fight for. You fight for your life, as well as for the person or persons that you wish to spend that life with.”

"This truly is a great night for celebration and for the first step that we shall take to resume our war. It is this night that I have also chosen to make an announcement of my own. For tonight, I will make this journey through the cleansing fire not alone, but with my chosen companion. Tonight I announce to you all, my consort."

Quiet murmurs and hushed whispers filled the gathered crowed and quite a few faces displayed open surprise, or downright shock at the statement. Harry felt his nerves in the base of his stomach but kept his expression passive.

"Many of you have come to know him as my apprentice. You have known him as Evan Harris. But today, I introduce you to him as my consort. My equal in all the ways that matter! A tremendously powerful wizard, whose contribution to our cause will expedite our victory and grow our base of power with tremendous force!”

"From this day forth, he shall be known to you, and to the rest of the wizarding world as Lord Raiodamorte! You shall address him with the same level of respect and deference that you would show to me and, one day soon, when this war truly erupts, the wizarding world will tremble at the mere mention of his name and shall fear to speak it just as they all fear and would never dare to speak mine!”

"I present to you, my chosen consort and your new Lord!"

The Dark Lord stepped sideways a bit and brought his arm out in a wide sweeping motion towards Harry. Harry stepped forward with an air of power and confidence as he surveyed the crowd. Many looked utterly stunned but all quickly pushed past their surprise and erupted in applause, knowing that only bad things would happen if they did not.

A mere few minutes later, the ceremonial cleansing ritual began. All lights in the castle died instantly with a flick of the Dark Lord's wand, leaving only the two large bonfires to illuminate the dark courtyard. Quiet ancient, chanting was begun by the oldest of the group and a long procession was formed. Together, with their arms linked, Tom to the right and Harry to his left, the pair walked first through the narrow path between the two walls of flame.

It was tradition that couples who passed through the flames together would embrace and share a kiss after emerging from the end. The pair finished their journey through the flames and the bright burning wall of fire turned blue from heat and magic. Harry felt the rush of magic coursing through both he and Tom at the same time, feeling nearly lightheaded from the intensity of it.

The level of excitement and energy that coursed through him in that moment was powerful enough to overwhelm his nerves and he turned to Tom, seeing past the man's guise as Lord Voldemort. The bald, pale white head with paper-like scaled skin and visible blue veins melted away from Harry's vision and he could only see the man he loved. The man who had once harbored a small bit of fear, deep inside him, about allowing the revelation of his sexual preference to ever get out to his followers but who now stood before a group of nearly two hundred witches and wizards and declared Harry to be his.

Harry's arms looped themselves around Voldemort's neck without a moment's hesitation and the two wizards kissed. It wasn't a deep kiss, but the power of the magics around them was like fuel to the fire and Harry found it difficult to part from the other man.

Finally, he pulled away and stared up into the familiar red eyes that never changed, no matter which form his lover was in, and smiled. The Dark Lord smiled back, and Harry nearly laughed at seeing the expression grace the face of his lover's snake-like guise. Harry wasn't sure he'd ever seen Tom smile like that while in this form. He was quite sure that had any of the Death Eaters been close enough to see it clearly, they would have fainted from shock.

The two turned to face back to the fire and the waiting procession on the other side. They each gave a small nod of their heads to the fire, and to indicate the others to follow before turning and walking the path around the large bonfires to stand at the side.

It took an hour for the ritual to be completed and everyone in attendance to have passed through the purification fires. Afterwards, everyone was ushered inside and up to the second floor. The house elves served a feast in the banquet hall and Harry was faced with participating in his first social gathering with Death Eaters that had nothing at all to do with training or planning.

There was alcohol served but any Death Eaters who were to participate in the attack on the prison later that night were forbidden from partaking in any. Half the hall was filled with tables while the other half was open for mingling and dancing while traditional wizarding ballroom music magically filled the hall.

After eating a wonderful meal, the mingling and dancing began in earnest. Harry and Tom sat at a table all to themselves on a slightly raised dais at the head of the room. Many of the Death Eaters came to the table to introduce their spouses to the Dark Lord, as well as to thank him for hosting the festival and banquet. It was during these introductions that Harry found himself referred to as 'my Lord' for the first time. Many of the Death Eaters who approached greeted the pair of them as 'my Lords' but when Harry was specifically, individually referred to with the label, he found he rather liked it. It was strange but, at the same time, filled him with a smug sense of accomplishment and power.

Voldemort gave him a knowing glance as he sensed Harry's emotions over the link and smirked at him.

None of them used his new name just as none of them would ever dare to say 'Voldemort'. Harry had wondered what exactly the point was to making a name that no one would be allowed to use but Tom had felt it was important. The name had actually been his idea almost entirely. ' Raiodamorte' was similar to 'Voldemort' in many ways. It was Portuguese, while Tom's chosen moniker was French. Voldemort was an anagram, but it also meant Flight of Death. Harry's was not an anagram but it did have a significant meaning. 'Lightening Death', which he thought was a bit obvious, honestly but Tom had brushed off his concerns.

At one point, while Voldemort was speaking with one of the Death Eaters, Barty came over and gave Harry a pointed look. He let his eyes go from the Dark Lord back to Harry, and then his eyebrows rose in silent questioning. Harry felt his cheeks heat up a bit and he had to fight against the urge to duck his head sheepishly. He could not appear bashful in front of all of his and Voldemort's followers. Most certainly not after having just been announced the hour earlier.

Barty seemed to end with another look that said 'we will be talking about this later', and Harry had nodded in silent acknowledgment.

It was nearly 9 o'clock when all of the introductions and the bowing, and the thanks had finally dwindled away. Voldemort stood and Harry looked up at him curiously, unsure what the elder wizard was doing. Voldemort merely offered his hand out, beckoning Harry to follow. He did so with a slight air of reluctance as he sensed a bit of mischievous intent leak over through the bond.

"I seem to recall Barty mentioning that you put on quite an impressive show of dancing last year during the Yule Ball." Voldemort remarked airily as he began to lead Harry away from their table and towards the dance floor.

Harry blinked with dawning shock at what was about to happen. "You want to dance?" He asked with a tinge of incredulous disbelief.

"Is that a problem?" Voldemort shot back with a smirk.

Harry's eyes darted out to the crowds of gathered witches and wizards before looking back at his lover. "I just wonder how many of the minions will faint if they see you dancing. I think they already got a pretty huge shock just with being faced with the idea of you having a consort."

"They witnessed us kiss and no one passed out. They can certainly survive seeing us dance."

Harry chuckled weakly and shrugged. "Fine. I'm game."

Voldemort snickered quietly under his breath and led Harry out onto the dance floor. The Death Eaters and their spouses cleared the way for them, and the chatter in the hall quieted dramatically as more and more of those gathered realized who was making their way to the ballroom floor.

The next song began to play in the great hall and Voldemort took the lead with a fluid grace. It took Harry a few moments to grow accustomed to being led around the dance floor, since he had learned to be the one doing the leading. But the adjustment came easily to him and he quickly fell into the comfortable rhythm of the music and Voldemort's strong arms. He lost himself in the music and in Voldemort's familiar eyes.

He found himself laughing when his partner actually dipped him then pulled him back up and twirled the two of them across the floor. He truly was shocked that the other man was willing to let himself go so freely in front of his followers. Willing to appear so human to them. Tom had always considered appearing 'human' in front of them as showing weakness. As long as he appeared inhuman, he appeared omnipotent. Powerful above anything a mere human wizard could be. But in this moment, it was more important to him that he was with Harry. That his followers know that this young wizard in his arms was important to him.

Harry had never entirely agreed with Tom's concerns about appearing human. While he agreed that coming off as super human and as something great and tremendous to be feared reduced the chances that some would try to overthrow or contest his power, Harry also felt that it made him less approachable. To be feared was one thing, and Harry appreciated the very great value in it, but to be respected and admired was also important. Sometimes Harry truly thought that if Tom allowed himself to be seen as more human, that more people would willingly follow him.

He and Tom had discussed it several times and even Harry wasn't entirely sure where he stood on the issue. He figured that it really needed to be some sort of middle ground. There was no perfect solution.

The dance ended, but the pair didn't leave the dance floor. They shifted into the next one without a missed beat and the others in the hall soon resumed their own dances as well. Eyes still tended to linger on the pair of Lords, but people seemed willing to accept the odd event that was happening before them and keep going.

By ten, the festivities were brought to a close and all of those but the ones who were to partake in the attack left the abbey. Voldemort had given some traditional closing word to the guests just before they all departed, and thanked them again for attending. Everyone who remained behind was given time to change and then regathered in the banquet hall that was now cleared of tables thanks to the quick work of the house elves.

Everyone was separated into their individual units to be debriefed one last time by their squad leaders. Finally, everyone was ready and they gathered in front of the Dark Lord and his new young consort, beside him.

"We have been planning tonight's attack for a month. I have great confidence in all of you that this night will be a great success for us!" Voldemort began. "We shall finally recover those of our numbers who have, in their loyalty and service to me, been captured and incarcerated by the enemy. With the power we hold, we shall crush those guarding the prison with ease and gain the freedom of those trapped within the walls of Azkaban! We will likely gain even more to our cause while at it.

"We've covered the plan for weeks and I expect you all to perform to your absolute best. I shall bring down the prison's wards. Lord Raiodamorte shall lead the group that brings down the front gate! Watch for the signal and proceed as planned. Tonight shall be a great night, and when we are done, the Ministry will feel its first sting of defeat of many to come!

"We leave for Azkaban!"

With a wave of his hand, the anti-apparition wards around the banquet hall, and the infirmary were lowered and cracks filled the air as everyone began to Disapparate. A moment later, the group of nearly fifty men and women reappeared on the very edge of the shore of Azkaban Island.

Harry stood at the head of the group, just before the warded gates of Azkaban. Voldemort was quite a bit further away near one of the key ward stones finishing up his work at bringing them down.

He was truly the most highly skilled wardbreaker there so he was the only one who could do it. He was aided in his efforts by some very useful insider information thanks to their agents in the department of magical law enforcement and Jeno Vass. Despite the inside info, it was still a difficult task to accomplish. Wards were tricky business and the wards of Azkaban were some of the oldest and most powerful in magical Britain.

Harry felt the moment the wards were ripped down and the designated Death Eater warding team instantly threw up their own set of anti-apparition, and anti-floo wards to prevent any of the guards or Aurors from escaping. With a triumphant smirk on his lips, Harry raised his fist into the air, opened his palm and moved it forward. The inner circle 'generals' each gestured to their individual units and the group as a whole moved forward.

A moment later, they heard yelling in the distance and several Aurors appeared from the gatehouse, apparently bewildered by the sudden shift in the prison's wards.

Their eyes widened comically as they saw the large group of black-clad wizards with white masks approaching them. More yelling was heard and one of the Aurors disappeared back into the gatehouse. Most likely attempting to call for reinforcements.

Guards appeared at the end of the path from the prison and began to make their way down the road towards the Aurors at the gatehouse.

Harry's wand instantly trained on one of the Aurors and a green jet of light shot out from it. It hit the man square in the chest and he fell to the ground in a heap. Harry was almost stunned at how sickeningly easy that had been. The man had been utterly unprepared. Some Auror.

The one who had been standing beside him didn't seem nearly as stupid or eager to die and quickly began shooting off curses of his own at the approaching group of wizards. Battle quickly ensued as the Death Eaters engaged the Aurors and guards. Green lights lit up the air, intermingled with a wide assortment of other colors and the glowing gold of shield charms.

Harry sent a severing curse at the ankle of one of the Aurors who kept conjuring mirrors to block the killing curses. The man yelped at having been caught off guard and stumbled. An orange body bind curse caught him the next moment and he felt to the ground unable to move. Harry walked right over the man and continued past as the Death Eater forces continued to push their opposition into retreat.

The guards were calling out for the Dementors but no backup seemed to be coming. Finally, a group of the black clad horrifying beasts emerged from the prison and hope seemed to gleam in the eyes of the Ministry workers. Harry's smirk grew wider as he saw their hope morph into dawning horror as the Dementors stood aside and allowed one of the Death Eater contingents into the prison unimpeded.

Their horror only grew exponentially as they saw Harry levitate a couple of the bound Aurors towards the group of Dementors. Offering them down payment for their services.

Harry was leading one of the units through the main body of the ancient wizarding prison towards one of the upper-most floors. There were no Death Eaters held captive here but some of the wizarding world's most dangerous and magically powerful wizards were. These were wizards who the government feared more than others. Many of them here had earned themselves life sentences.

Harry and his contingent of Death Eaters gathered in the long corridor lined with cell doors while a few of the Dementors gathered at one end of the hallway and waited there hungrily. Tom had promised them any prisoners from this ward that refused to join him. Many were powerful and strong-willed. If they refused to join Voldemort's side, the possibility remained that they could become a hindrance in the future. Harry heard the faintest echo of his mother's screaming voice and quickly shook his head, fighting to clear the feelings of despair and the chill of fear that was slowly seeping into his skin.

The Dementors had stayed back as the Death Eaters breached the prison. But standing aside did not negate the waves of crushing despair that radiated from them at all times and it was quickly affecting some of the Death Eaters.

It had been a while since Harry had cast a Patronus. He had hesitated in casting it in front of the Death Eaters during the training sessions since his stag Patronus was known among some circles and there was no telling who all knew of it at this point. But, he finally decided that it was more important to get their job done quickly than avoiding questions regarding his Patronus.

He could see that the other Death Eaters around him were having even more trouble with the Dementor's presence than he was so he pointed his wand down the hall at the Dementors gathered there and brought forth the memory of Tom, standing with him in the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron telling him that he loved him. With a small smile upon his lips, he called out "Expecto Patronum!"

Out of his wand shot, not a stag, but a snake! It was an enormous snake. Larger than Nagini and even larger than Harry himself was in his Sea Krait form. The snake Patronus landed and slithered across the floor to coil on the ground in front of the Dementors. It posed ready to strike and extended its hood. It was apparently a cobra of some sort. The Dementors recoiled from it, pushing back against the wall.

The cold feeling of despair that had filled the air quickly vanished and the masked Death Eaters all looked grateful at the reprieve. Harry noted that a few looked rather impressed that he'd managed the spell. Being such a powerful Light spell, not many of them were capable of it. They quickly set to unlocking each of the cell doors and identifying which of the prisoners actually had enough of their minds left intact to listen to their offer.

The ones that passed the first inspection were dragged from their cells and lined up in front of Harry. Everyone of the intruders was in black robes with white Death Eater masks save for Harry, who was wearing his silver half-mask, and it didn't take a genius or even a very sane man to figure out that something big was going on in the prison.

The eight men and two women who were lined up before him were all staring up at the group of wizards with a mixture of fear, resignation, or hope. Harry was almost surprised that anyone who had spent any prolonged period of time in this place had any hope left in them. The bonus of recruiting some people from this part of the prison was that not all of these people had been here all that long. All of the Death Eaters they were rescuing had been here at least a decade. Some of these prisoners had only been here a year or two and hadn't gone quite as mad yet.

He began to pace back and forth before the group earning their undivided attention. "I am sure I do not need to tell the lot of you who we are." Harry began. "The Dark Lord has returned! Right now, the rest of our forces are busy freeing those of our numbers who have been imprisoned here. The Dark Lord himself is here! He personally tore down the wards of Azkaban single-handed! We have the loyalty of the Dementors! The Aurors and guards of the Ministry that were stationed here were mere child's play for us! I am here, before you, to offer you an opportunity. You have two choices. Your first choice; join us. Become one of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters and aid us in our revolution! Aid us in our war and we shall bring the Ministry down to its knees! We seek to restore the Dark to our proper place in magical society. A position of power and respect! To restore and protect our traditions, and our rights!"

"And if we refuse?" One haggard, yet proud, looking wizard asked.

"Then we leave you here." Harry said simply. "However, with the Ministry no longer in control of the Dementors, they will have free reign to feed to their black heart's content. Anyone left behind today will likely have their soul devoured within the hour of our departure."

He paused and gave them all a hard cold stare. They all paled as his words fully impacted them.

It did not take long for the group of Azkaban prisoners to agree to take the Dark Lord's mark and join the Death Eaters. Only two refused, and Harry realized that neither one had any sense of Darkness to them. He guessed they likely had Light affinities so it was best they stayed behind anyway.

Harry signaled his team to head back towards the prison's main staircase. Several of them were now supporting the sickly prisoners while a few prisoners who had far too much pride for such a thing, despite their weakened state, ambled along on their own.

Harry waited until the group had exited out the door before he called back his Patronus that had taken up the post of patrolling back and forth along the end of the corridor to hold off the Dementors. He flicked his wand and cast a simple finite to end the spell. As soon as the giant cobra disappeared, the Dementors sprung forward and came to stop about six feet away from where Harry stood. He pointed his wand to the cell with the two Light wizards who had refused their offer.

"Them first."

He could almost feel the hungry glee of the horrendous Dark creatures as they descended upon the cell. Just as Harry was exiting through the large heavy door, he heard the screams of the two men begin.

On the second floor of Morhda Abbey, at the opposite end of the hallway from the entrance to the Banquet Hall, was an infirmary. It had originally been one of the master bedrooms so it was a larger room than most. It was now filled with twin-sized cots and each and every bed was currently occupied by a sickly witch or wizard.

They had three Death Eaters who were trained healers and one licensed mediwitch. All were in the abbey that night to help tend to the Azkaban escapees. They were also attending to any of the Death Eaters who had sustained injuries during the attack. Fortunately, very few had been hit and even those wounds weren't that bad. They had been patched up quickly and dismissed after some closing words from Voldemort on how pleased he was with how smoothly the entire mission had gone.

Not a single Auror or guard from Azkaban had survived the attack, so there were no witnesses to report back exactly what had happened or how. Many were killed during the actual battle. Any Aurors that were captured alive were given to the Dementors as payment for their services.

The ones that had been kissed had then been killed and had their bodies destroyed through magical means so there was no evidence that of the Dementors role in the attack. Ideally, Tom wanted the Ministry to believe that they still had control over the Dark creatures and continue to use them in the prison.

That way, if any of his followers were captured again at some point in the future and he ended up having to launch another attack upon the prison, it wouldn't be a problem.

The attack hadn't even started until 10:30 pm, which was the time that Harry usually returned to Hogwarts each night. When he re-entered the abbey it was already past one in the morning and he could feel the slight magical vibration in the wards the signified that his other self, from 24-hours in the future, was in the abbey already. Most likely waiting in his and Tom's bedroom. Perhaps, even already asleep, although he doubted as much. He would probably wait up for Tom.

He helped to organize the healers and a couple Death Eaters who were to spend the night, and then switch shifts to observe the unmarked prisoners who had agreed to join in exchange for their freedom from the prison. Barty was also going to help relocate some of the Death Eaters into their own rooms as soon as the healers OKed the move since the infirmary was very crowded at this point.

Finally, just after 2am, Harry bid Tom goodnight and Apparated back to the Hogsmeade tunnel and slipped back into Hogwarts. He used his student time-turner to go back just after 10 pm. He hung around under his invisibility cloak until 10:30 then he went and met up with Hermione, as they did every night once they were finished with their rounds. They returned to the common room before parting ways at the stairs to the dorms. Harry collapsed into his bed, exhausted from his extremely long night.

The attack had gone flawlessly and exactly to plan. He had done his fair share of battling but their forces had quickly overwhelmed the Aurors and guards. Mostly, he realized, he was exhausted from exposure to so many Dementors all confined in such an isolated space.

As he let himself begin to drift off to sleep, his mind wandered back to his Patronus. How strange that it had changed. He'd never heard of a Patronus suddenly being different although he admittedly had never really bothered to read up on Patronuses. He'd learned about them from Lupin directly and had relied entirely on his professor's instruction without ever bothering to do any research on his own. Stupid, yes, but that was just the sort of student he'd been in his third year.

He hadn't read up on them during the last year or so because the Patronus was a Light spell and he simply hadn't bothered to do much reading on Light magics. He decided to look into it later and see if it meant something. It was probably related to his affinity change or something. But he would have to be cautious about casting the spell around anyone at Hogwarts from here on out. If Ron, Hermione or Dumbledore were to see that his Patronus had changed to a giant snake, it would definitely raise some red flags.

Fortunately, he rarely had any cause to cast the spell around school. None of the members of the Dueling and Defense Association were ready for such an advanced spell and they had more important things to cover in the Dark Arts Association, not to mention teaching that group a Light spell would be counter-productive to their overall goal.

He finally drifted off to sleep wondering what the next morning would bring.

Harry had established a habit of getting up earlier than any of his housemates. Sometimes he would wait in the common room for Hermione, who was often also an early riser, but sometimes he would simply head straight down to the Great Hall and his 'friends' would slowly trickle in as they each got up.

While sitting in the Great Hall, Harry's breakfast was frequently interrupted by people from other houses coming to ask him questions about defense and, occasionally, other subjects. As long as he got up early enough, he stayed in the Great Hall for the entire two hours of breakfast. He spent most of his time there reading, answering questions, or chatting easily with a wide variety of students.

Ron seemed to be having the hardest time getting accustomed to Harry's very different, inter-house social endeavors and, more often than not during the last few weeks, he simply sat with Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati. Harry noticed that, from time to time, Ron would look over at him with a sad, longing expression that would quickly get covered up by a disgruntled scowl or a sigh. Ron was clearly beginning to realize that he and Harry were drifting apart but had no idea what to do about it. Harry had little interest in going the extra mile to bridge the gap when he had far too many more important things to tackle.

This morning was progressing as had become normal. Harry had gone straight to the Great Hall after getting up and going through his morning bathroom ablutions. Hermione had showed up in the great hall about fifteen minutes after he had. When she arrived, she found Harry sitting there with a couple books closed on the table in front of his plate of eggs, toast, and a thin ham steak surrounded by a group of students. During the first hour of breakfast, the Great Hall tended to remain mostly sparse in population. Since fewer students were present, fewer people cared if people from other houses sat at the wrong tables. When Hermione showed up, Harry was sitting across from a fourth-year Ravenclaw girl, a pair of fifth year Hufflepuffs, a sixth year Ravenclaw and her friend, another sixth year but from Slytherin, and past them, was Cedric Diggory, Head Boy from Hufflepuff.

Hermione didn't give the sight a second thought because it had actually become quite common, although the group of visitors cycled and seemed different almost every day. The first time a Slytherin had actually sat down, everyone else at the Gryffindor table had stared and looked as if the Bloody Barron had just flown past. They all looked at Harry as if they expected him to send the Slytherin away but he hadn't. In fact, he'd treated the Slytherin just as he treated any other student coming up to ask him for help. Harry's pointed refusal to react to his housemate's shock had resulted in the group slowly slipping back into their own conversations and meals.

At this moment, Harry seemed to be in the middle of explaining some sort of offensive magical spell theory to those gathered around him and Cedric was helping. The fourth year, who was probably in over her head, looked the most confused and was actually scribbling down notes as Harry spoke. The sixth years from Ravenclaw and Slytherin seemed eager to debate some theoretical aspect behind the origin of the spell and the fifth years were asking Harry if he had any idea how the spell was originally invented in the first place.

Hermione quickly loaded up her plate and leaned in, trying to catch up and quickly finding herself interested in the conversation as well.

When Ron showed up, he grimaced at the odd group, rolled his eyes, and headed straight over the other end of the table with his group of friends that didn't intimidate or frustrate him so much.

As the second, and more heavily populated hour of breakfast arrived, Harry's table companions all made their ways over to their own tables to actually eat breakfast. It was at that point that the post owls arrived. Harry's eyes subtly followed the sight of an owl approaching Hermione with a copy of the Daily Prophet in its talons.

Harry leaned back in his seat a bit with one of his books now open in his lap while he lazily ate a piece of bacon, playing oblivious as Hermione paid the owl and unfolded the paper.

Silently, he counted down in his mind from the moment Hermione flattened the paper to the moment she gasped in shock.

Harry's head jerked up and he feigned concern. "What is it?" he asked.

Hermione's eyes were glued to the paper but she quickly pushed the plates and goblets that sat between them aside and slid the paper closer to him.

There, in huge print across the top of the paper read, 'MASS AZKABAN BREAKOUT! More than Thirty Prisoners Missing, 13 Ministry Aurors and Guards Missing, 12 Found Dead!'

The number of thirty prisoners freed sounded awfully impressive. The reality was that they had only taken 19 prisoners with them. The rest of the 'missing prisoners' were payment to the Dementors for their loyalty and service. Anyone, prisoner or guard, who had received the Dementor's kiss had been then killed and transfigured into rocks then tossed into the ocean or their bodies had been blasted to dust. They'd left the bodies of any of the Aurors felled by the killing curse, or some other curse, behind to receive a burial.

Harry looked appropriately horrified at what he saw on the paper before him and quickly set to reading the article along with Hermione. At this point, he could hear the terrified mutterings and gasps of numerous other people in the hall.

About two paragraphs into the article, Harry's frown became real. It appeared that the Ministry was pinning the blame as to who was behind the breakout on Sirius Black. It was suggesting that, since the man had experience with breaking out of Azkaban, he was the most likely candidate for the person who staged this breakout as well. It was fortunate in the regard that there wasn't even a mention of 'You-Know-Who' anywhere in the article, let alone giving weight to any suggestions that he could have returned or have anything to do with the break-out. Still, Harry was annoyed that his godfather was going to be under even more heat because of this. Not that he hadn't suspected it could happen. It was why he'd warned Sirius, after all.

Statements from Fudge and several other authorities in the Ministry assured the public that they were ramping up security also that patrols of Aurors and hit wizards would be stationed at all major wizarding villages and businesses, that search teams were already working on tracking down the escapees.

The second page featured photos of every one of the prisoners who were missing from Azkaban as well as an even larger re-print of Sirius' wanted poster.

The escapees who were known Death Eaters were listed first. They were Antonin Dolohov, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Mikhail Mulciber, Lenox Cecil, Caius Travers, Marcia Altard, Marcus Bainard, and Leo Rogers. Harry hadn't yet memorized what the names of the eight prisoners from the high security ward he'd acquired the previous night were. He would have to make sure figure out which ones they were and get files started on each of them.

Beneath each of the prisoners' animated photos was a small blurb about what crimes they'd been incarcerated for. Harry's eyes fell upon the Lestranges for a moment before they darted cautiously over to Neville, sitting a bit further down and across the table from him. To say that the boy looked ill was putting it mildly. His face seemed to be warring with itself. Unsure whether to look nauseous or furious. Harry's frown deepened. It seemed unlikely that Harry could keep Neville neutral in this conflict. But, then again, Harry was sleeping with the man who killed his parents so who knew? Clearly anything with possible.

Harry let his eyes travel to the Head Table next. Dumbledore was sitting there and was frowning deeply. McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick all looked equally concerned. Snape was keeping his blank mask up with considerable success. Thor was making it look as if he were displeased and was frowning thoughtfully. Harry's eyes met with his for an instant and the corner of Thor's mouth turned up in a subtle smirk before his mask was restored.

Thor hadn't been at the meeting so he had not yet heard about Harry's status as Consort. Barty had been there, of course, and when the two had briefly talked in the infirmary after the attack, Barty had once again made note to Harry that they would be discussing recent developments in the near future. Harry wasn't sure when the next meeting Thor would be having with the other Death Eaters would be since he was mostly kept separate to maintain his cover. He knew he was probably going to have to tell the man himself about his change in status soon. He was anticipating an awkward situation and wasn't looking forward to the conversation at all.

Next, Harry let his eyes trail over to the Slytherin table. Most of the older students were doing a commendable job of not reacting at all. The younger ones weren't skilled enough at maintaining their public reactions yet to completely mask their excitement. He knew that one of the sixth years was Marcia Altard's niece and that Mulciber's son was a seventh year, although he was enrolled under his mother's maiden name.

Harry couldn't help but notice quite a few Gryffindors glaring angrily at the Slytherin table. He sighed. It would never really end. There would always be a divide in their world. Us against them. Old feuds would never really die. But it wasn't his goal to fix that aspect of their society. He wasn't stupid or deluded enough to think he could accomplish such a blissfully stupid, ideological goal. His goal was switching the balance of control for a while, ideally a long while, until things were a bit more even and taking advantage of their control to try correcting some of the more grievous mistakes while the problem of the muggles' 'End of Days' was addressed.

The Light had been in control for far too long. And they were completely fucking everything up. They didn't even see how badly they'd screwed up. They'd lost the right to keep ruling. It was the Dark's turn now.

Once he and Tom had seized control of the British wizarding government, they could finally begin to tackle some of the larger problems. It was only a matter of time now...

Harry's eyes landed on Draco, who looked up and responded with a raised, questioning eyebrow. Harry gave the blond a wide smirk for the briefest of moments before wiping it away. Draco smirked back and appeared to chuckle quietly before he turned to face Blaise Zabini who was sitting beside him.

"Arrogant, pompous git," Harry heard Ginny mutter from the other side of Hermione. He glanced over at her and saw her gaze trailing back to the Slytherin table, and glaring at Malfoy.

"Hmm?" Harry responded, feigning ignorance.

"Malfoy. He's so smug about this. Look how pleased he looks." she scoffed.

"Isn't Bellatrix Lestrange his aunt?" Harry asked.

"Is she?" Hermione asked, surprised.

Harry nodded his head. "Yeah, she's Narcissa's sister. Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Andromeda Black were all daughters of Cygnus Black. They're Sirius' cousins. Andromeda Black is Tonks' mum. You remember, that Auror with the pink hair?"

Hermione and Ginny's jaws dropped open.

"No way! Tonks is Malfoy's cousin?" Ginny gasped.

Harry chuckled weakly and shrugged.

"But I like Tonks!" Ginny said with a mild whine.

Harry laughed. "And I like Sirius. You can't judge a person by their family. Heck, look at Percy."

Ginny grimaced and sat down, a bit deflated.

"Well, we know that this breakout had nothing to do with.." Hermione began to say but paused and glanced around for a moment before whispering, "Sirius." She sighed and folded the paper closed. "Can we assume it's safe to say that this was really orchestrated by V... by V-voldemort?"

Ginny flinched a bit at the name.

Harry sighed and shrugged. "Who knows. But yeah, probably."

"How can people be so blind?" Hermione huffed in frustration. "They're just living in denial! Deluded themselves, thinking that he's gone when he's not. We could be using this time to prepare but we're not!"

"I know from Fred and George, when they managed to listen in on some of the Order meetings over the summer, that Dumbledore has been trying to convince the Minister that You-Know-Who is back but Fudge refuses to believe it." Ginny said. "This just proves how bad off he is. He's so desperate to point the blame at anything besides You-Know-Who that he's saying that one escaped prisoner could break back in, and free thirty others and kill off twenty-five trained Aurors and guards. It's just stupid."

"I wonder how they managed it though," Hermione said in a thoughtful voice. "I mean, what about the Dementors?"

"The Dementors sided with You-Know-Who in the first war." Ginny said with a nod. "I bet they let him in Azkaban."

"That's probably why so many of the Aurors and guards were 'missing'." Harry said, knowing that if he didn't contribute to the conversation at all, it would look odd.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, looking confused.

"Anyone that's missing was probably kissed. But they didn't want any evidence left lying around that could incriminate the Dementors for betrayal so they killed them and destroyed all of those bodies."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "That makes sense," she whispered, looking rather horrified.

"Wait, you don't mean to say that the Ministry is actually going to keep the Dementors in Azkaban?" Ginny exclaimed.

Hermione nodded her head quickly. "They are! It says so right here," she said as he pointed to one of the paragraphs in the front-page article. Ginny leaned in and quickly re-read it.

"Those idiots!" she growled as she slumped back into her seat. "And the Ministry is being so willfully blind in all of this that they'd probably keep the Dementors around even if another breakout happened five months from now!"

"Even if Dumbledore went to them about it, it probably wouldn't do any good." Hermione said with a defeated groan.

Harry nodded his head, with a mixture of sympathy and outrage on his face.

After a moment's pause, Hermione turned her attention, fully, on Harry. "Hey, Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you said it was all supposed to be secret but is there anything from those meetings you've had with Dumbledore that is... I don't know... relevant with all of this?""

"Yeah, Harry, can you tell us anything about what he's teaching you? Is it all dueling or defense, or something else?" Ginny asked.

"Oh. Actually, it's nothing like that at all. He's sort of giving me... intelligence, I guess."

"Intelligence?" Hermione echoed.

"About Voldemort. Memories that Dumbledore has collected in his search to understand the man and stuff. Trying to find a weakness, I guess. I'm not really sure."

"But why is he showing you this stuff?" Ginny asked, looking a bit confused.

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He'd managed to dodge this topic before now, but wasn't sure how much longer he could manage it.

"It's not something I can talk about in the Great Hall. But let me just say that the reasons that Dumbledore has given me don't entirely convince me. I mean, given my past history with the man, I'm not particularly inclined to believe what he tells me, at face value."

The two girls nodded their heads gravely, and shared a meaningful look for a moment.

Harry looked at his wristwatch, widened his eyes in surprise a bit and quickly began to stuff his books and things into his bag.

"Class is soon, we'd better get going Hermione."

Hermione gasped, noting the time as well and quickly began to pack up her own things. Harry glanced down the table and saw that Ron was engaged in a rather heated talk with Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati. They all appeared to be rather riled up, undoubtedly about the Azkaban breakout. Harry realized that he was going to have to keep an eye on Ron to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, like try to start a row with some of the Slytherins in the halls or something.

He and Hermione bid Ginny goodbye, she had a free period so didn't have to rush, and made their way down the table to Neville then to Ron and their other year-mates, reminding them of the time. They also quickly packed up their things. They all had History first period so they all walked together. Ron instantly set onto Harry to get him to back him up. Apparently, Ron had insisted to Seamus and the others that it wasn't Sirius Black who was behind the breakout but rather You-Know-Who himself. Seamus had insisted that Ron was a lunatic.

Harry had elbowed Ron in the ribs and whispered a harsh reminder that they weren't supposed to do anything that might clue people into the fact that they knew Sirius. If it got out that any of them knew anything about Sirius Black, the Ministry could try and question them about it. Ron's eyes had gone wide with realization and he'd hung his head with embarrassment and a bit of shame. Harry had huffed and simply walked faster to get to Binns' class.
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Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness