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The Years After	By : Araea Swiftwind Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 2598 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money off the writing of this piece of fiction. The views expressed herein do not in any way reflect the views of J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros. and their affiliates.

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Part 8 – Chapter 6 – December 24, 1991

Severus was finally feeling well enough to be pulled back to Malfoy Manor and his position as trusted follower to Dark Lord Voldemort. He arrived on Christmas Eve, bearing gifts for the Malfoys as well as one for his master—knowledge.

“Severus, what do you know?” Voldemort was growing quite impatient and simply wanted answers.

The dour man sank to his knees and bowed to his master, letting the gifts he brought sit on the floor beside him. They could wait until after this meeting to be passed around. After waiting the requisite amount of time in his bow, Severus looked up and answered his master.

“Little Whinging is not far from Spinner's End. It is only a few hours west from London, in the northeast corner of Surrey. I can get us into Little Whinging, but beyond that, I have no knowledge of Privet Drive or its location in Little Whinging. It is my opinion that a small group of people go in and search for the street on foot. It should not take long, as I don't believe Little Whinging is very large.”

“Fine. Then Lucius, you, and I will go at once.”

“Very well, My Lord. Though, if I may be so bold, I believe a change of attire would not go amiss. Little Whinging, from what I can remember, is a very Muggle area. Our cloaks and robes would stick out, and if Albus has any spies in the area, we would be outed immediately.”

“How astute of you, Severus. I am glad you have finally decided to stop failing me. Go, work with Lucius on our attire while I decide what to do once we arrive at our destination.”

“Yes, My Lord. As you wish.”

Ten minutes later and all was ready. Severus and Lucius had transfigured their robes into Muggle business suits, and Voldemort had decided that once they found Potter, they would remove him from Petunia's care and bring him back to the Manor. Voldemort had even had one of Malfoy's elves set up a room for the child directly next to the Dark Lord's own so that he could keep an eye on the child.

The trio apparated into a back alley in Little Whinging. They didn't really know where they should start, as that had not been a part of the discussion earlier. Lucius was the one who came up with the idea to look for schools. It only followed, according to him, that if the Dursleys had a child, the child must attend school. He felt the chances were fairly good that they would live a relatively small distance from the school, as Muggles couldn't apparate or fly to make the trip faster. Severus found a telephone box and used the directory inside to locate the schools.

There was only a single primary school in Little Whinging. It was located near the center of town, on Zinnia Place. There was also only one secondary school-- Stonewall Comprehensive. Stonewall was listed as located on the other side of town from the primary school, on Marple Road. The three men decided that the family would probably live closer to the primary school than the comprehensive, as they had moved to Little Whinging before their son was born. Severus did note that, not far from Little Whinging, there were two boarding schools. One went by the name of St. Brutus' School for Incurably Criminal Boys, and the other, Smeltings. However, as the schools were of the boarding variety, they did not worry about the distance, so left them for last to check.

They went to Zinnia Place first and looked at the surrounding streets. To the east was Magnolia Road, to the south was Wisteria Walk, and to the West was Willow Court. Lord Voldemort decided to take the West. Lucius decided to take the South and Severus was left with the East. Voldemort found nothing in his fifteen minute search of the surrounding streets. Lucius also turned up with nothing on his search south. Severus, however, found a lovely play park and a street that's sign simply said "Drive", as if the rest had been erased. He sent his Patronus to the other two and told them he might have found something. They all met up on the mysterious "Drive".

Lucius thought that perhaps the family lived to the north of the play park. Severus and Lord Voldemort decided that they'd check south, just to be sure. The blond man went several streets north before he realized that all of the house numbers were increasing, and the lowest he'd seen was twenty. Severus and Voldemort had much better luck. It took them only two streets down to find number 5 "Drive". On the other side of number 5 was number 3. And on the other side of three was number 1. Voldemort was a bit confused at first, thinking that not only was number 4 missing, but so was 2. Severus was the one who informed him how homes were numbered. The odd numbers were on the right, while the even were on the left. And lo and behold, directly across the street from 5 was 4.

They knew they had the right street, despite the lack of name, once they took a good look at the front of the house. The house itself was of an average size, but what caught their attention was the fact that it had a neatly manicured lawn and hedges of privet—just like every other house on the street. There wasn't a car in the drive, but there were a few lights on in the house.

The two waited for Lucius to find them before disillusioning themselves and sneaking up on the house. They peaked through the front window into the lounge. Through the window they could see a tall, horse-faced woman sitting on the sofa watching the telly. Severus recognized the grown-up form of “Tuny” instantly. She laughed several times at whatever program she was watching, her eyes never leaving the screen. They watched her for several moments, and before long, she moved. Craning her head around, she yelled angrily at something behind her. They looked over her shoulder and could just make out the doorway that led to the hall, but nothing was there. They couldn't hear anything in the house, either, so assumed it must be a dog or something getting into things.

After watching her for several more moments and finding nothing else interesting going on, Severus suggested simply going up to the door and asking after the boy. It would be the quickest way to find out if the boy was there or not. Lucius advised caution. What if she told them she didn't have the boy and alerted Dumbledore that they had been there? While they were discussing the best course of action, Voldemort had decided to do things his way. He was, after all, in charge.

He left the two men bickering under the window and snuck into the house. He could now hear the telly in the lounge and the sounds of something rummaging around in the kitchen. From upstairs he could hear rather loud snores. As he moved farther into the house, he could hear what he thought were soft sobs coming from under the stairs where a locked cupboard as located. Keeping some of his senses alert to the sounds of anyone else moving nearer him, he crept forward to just before the door.

Once he was even with the vent in the door, he whispered, "Hello?"

The sobs stopped at once and there was the sound of scrabbling, as if the person inside the cupboard was trying to get away from the door. Voldemort took that as confirmation that he had indeed heard something worth noting. He settled himself more firmly on his haunches and aimed his wand at the door so that he could unlock it. The lock clicked, so Voldemort replaced his wand with his empty hand and reached for the handle of the cupboard door. As the door opened a crack and a thin shaft of light eased into the room, the boy let out a frightened whimper. The noise, while soft, was still loud enough to attract Petunia's attention.

"Quiet, Boy, or you won't get a single crust tonight!"

Voldemort was angry at this. Sure, he was a bloodthirsty megalomaniac sometimes, but even he wasn't depraved enough to starve an innocent child for doing nothing more than being frightened. He dispelled the disillusionment charm so that Harry wouldn't be even more frightened when the door opened and no one was there.

Easing the door fully open, he sat quietly and gave the child time to look at him. It was almost comical how wide the child's eyes went as he fully took in the sight of the man before him.

"Daddy?" the boy whispered. The man before him looked exactly like the man from his dreams, the one with dark hair and eyes.

Now it was Voldemort's turn to widen his eyes comically. So, the boy thought he was his father. He wondered what these Muggles had told him. Deciding to leave that thought for later, he held out his hands to the child. When the boy merely looked at him quizzically, he said softly, "It's alright. I won't hurt you." Those were apparently the magic words as Harry threw himself into the arms of his savior. The child cried brokenheartedly, as if this simple action caused him physical pain. The increase in noise caused Petunia to mutter loudly to herself. Voldemort could hear her getting up and moving nearer. Even the noise in the kitchen changed, though the snores from upstairs continued on uninterrupted.

"I thought I told you to quiet, Boy! You're in for it now." As Petunia rounded the door to the lounge, she caught site of the pale man holding on to her nephew, who was crying. "Who...who are you? You don't belong here! Out, get out of my house!"

Voldemort drew himself up with the child in his arms and hissed at the unattractive woman, "Like you could stop me from doing as I please."

At that moment, Severus and Lucius entered the house. "Oh, Tuny, you look as awful as ever."

"You!” She pointed a shaking finger at Severus. “You're that awful boy who was always hanging around my sister.” She turned frightened and disgusted eyes on each man in front of her. “All of you...you're that way, aren't you? He promised! He swore in that dratted letter that if we only kept him alive, that no more of you...you...freaks...would show up!"

Lucius didn't fancy being screamed at by an ugly Muggle, so he stunned her. He quickly noticed a fat child standing in the doorway to the kitchen and stunned him, too. Wouldn't do to have him interfering. And through it all, the snores continued.

Harry lifted his tear stained face from its place on Voldemort's shoulders and looked at him with wet eyes. "Whadjoo do those people? They dead?"

"No, they are simply sleeping. Your Aunt didn't want us to be here, or to take you away from them, so we had to make her sleep so we could get you to safety," Voldemort replied.

Harry shook his head slowly, though the men weren't sure what he was denying. "She not my Aunt. Told me so. I not related to them at all. I nobody." His voice was incredibly soft and slightly hoarse, as if he didn't use it much, and never spoke very loudly. Severus, as well as Lucius, noted that the child didn't speak as if he were eleven, but more like he were four or five.

The three men could feel their hearts being affected by this sad little boy. Voldemort could feel himself softening, and it made him feel uncomfortable. "We'll talk about it once we get you cleaned up and fed. Okay, Harry?"

"Who Harry?" Harry asked after looking around for a moment, his head tilted in question.

Voldemort wrinkled his brow in confusion. "You are." He couldn't fathom why Harry would ask such a question. Surely he knew his own name?

"But...I thought my name 'Boy'. That all they ever call me."

Severus smiled sadly at the small child. Even for eleven, he was terribly tiny. He looked as though he hadn't had a proper meal his entire life and wasn't composed of more than skin and bones. "You don't have to worry about what that woman said ever again. She lies. She always has."

"You know her?" Harry clapped a hand over his mouth and looked down, terrified that he'd get hit for asking a question. "I sorry. I not s'posed to ask questions. I sorry, I not mean it. Please, I sorry..."

The three men looked at each other and nodded almost imperceptibly. Something had to be done about the boy's mental state. None of them wanted to see him this broken, even Voldemort, who had wanted him dead at one point. Taking a second to reassure the boy and quiet his crying, they then took him back to Malfoy Manor.

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

Once back at the Manor, Harry had been cleaned up and fed a small dinner and some nutrient potions before being bundled in bed. His room had been hastily redecorated by the house elves so that it was as opposite the cupboard they found him in as possible. His room was still situated right next to that of the Dark Lord. Severus, after finishing assisting the Dark Lord with Potter, left for his own rooms just down the hall. Lucius had long since left to spend the remainder of the evening with his wife and son who were in their own wing of the manor.

Voldemort was the last left in the room with Harry. He sat next to the boy on the bed who looked much too small, buried under all of the blankets. Harry looked up at him and chanced asking softly, "Daddy? Where mummy?"

Earlier, as they had been cleaning the boy up, Severus and Voldemort had told Harry over and over that it was okay to ask questions, that they wanted him to ask questions. At first, he shook his head and trembled, wondering if they were lying to him so that they could hurt him more. It had taken him hours to get at all comfortable with the idea, but his need to please the people taking care of him slightly outweighed his fear of asking questions.

Voldemort debated with himself on whether or not he should tell the boy that he wasn't his father. If he told the truth, then perhaps the boy wouldn't care for him as much and would want to be with his parents--who would never let their son be around the person who tried to kill him and sent them into a magical coma. But, if he lied, the boy might get angry if he ever found out the truth.

Though, thought Voldemort, James and Lily were still in a coma...and no one else knew where the boy was... No, it would be best to tell a half-truth. Confide that he wasn't the boy's father, but a caring Uncle instead. Yes, that would be better than telling the whole truth or an outright lie.

"Harry, I'm afraid I've let you think something that wasn't entirely true for too long."

The boy's brow wrinkled in confusion, much like Voldemort's had done earlier in the day. "Huh?"

"I let you believe that I am your father... And, I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not."

Harry's brow wrinkled further, making him look a bit like a confused shar pei. "But...I 'member you...from a long time ago...I 'member the lady who said the soft words, and I 'member you, standing by me when I was a baby...a'fore the green light was all over. I 'member you was there..."

Voldemort inwardly cringed. This might be more complicated than he thought. 'Quick, lie a little more.' His conscience whispered. "Well, Harry, you're right that I was there. Your mother and father fell into a deep sleep that they couldn't wake from, and I tried to take care of you. But a very bad man took you away and hid you with your Aunt and Uncle. He made it very hard for anyone to find you...I've been looking for you for the last ten years."

Harry looked more confused than ever. He didn't fully understand everything that the tall man was saying, but he was trying. Most of the time, when people talked to him, they didn't use big words. Voldemort was worried he might hurt himself if he frowned anymore.

"So...if you not my daddy, who is?"

Voldemort couldn't help but give a small smile at the childish way Harry spoke. "His name is James Potter. You're named after him. Your full name is Harry James Potter. Your mother is Lily Potter. Her sister is that mean woman you had been living with. When your parents fell into that deep sleep, the bad man sent them away and told their two best friends that you were dead so they wouldn't look for you. But I knew the truth, and Severus and Lucius and I have been searching for you ever since."

"Why he do som’thin’ so bad?"

"Because he likes to be in control. He wants you to do something very bad for him, and he thought that by hiding you away, he could have you all to himself when he was ready for you to do that bad thing. But you don't have to worry now. We won't let anything bad happen to you."

"If you not my daddy, and Mr. James is...then who you?"

Voldemort smiled wider—a rare sight for anyone other than Severus or Lucius, and even they hadn't seen it much in the last ten years. "You could say that I'm like an Uncle. While I'm not directly related to you by blood or marriage, I care for you as if you were family. Severus is...well, almost like a son to me. And he was a very good friend of your mother's. So, it's almost as if we are related, you see?"

Harry didn't see, but he thought it probably wasn't that important. "Ok."

It was obvious to Voldemort that Harry was simply humoring him, but he felt that it wasn't terribly important to point that out to the boy. "Do you have any more questions, Harry?"

"Will I ever see mummy and daddy?"

"I really don't know. I don't know where the bad man sent them, but I can ask Severus to look into it for you."

"Thank you Mr...um...what your name?"

Voldemort paused for the briefest of moments to think. Uncle, for certain, but Uncle what? Not Uncle Voldemort...that was just too strange. Definitely not Uncle Tom...there was a Muggle book with a similar name, and he was definitely not an aged colored man... Ah, Uncle Marvolo...that would do nicely. "You may call me 'Uncle Marvolo'."

"'Kay, Uncle 'Volo."

Voldemort gave another faint smile at the shortening of his name, but didn't complain. In fact, it was quite...cute. Deciding that Harry had enough excitement for one day, and the next was Christmas—which was sure to overstimulate him enough—'Uncle Marvolo' got up and kissed the child on his unruly black hair. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Night, Uncle 'Volo," Harry responded, closing his eyes and quickly falling asleep.
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The Years After