Chapter Text
"Lucius, Severus, Stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed," Voldemort watched as his followers trickled out of the ballroom before turning to face the two members of his inner circle and allowing the glamours to fade away into nothingness.
Only five people at Hogwarts would recognize his revealed features for all that he still sported the ruby red eyes, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Harry Potter, and Ginny Weasley. A wave of the Dark Lord's hand conjured seats for the two other wizards and melted away their masks into white smoke. He gestured for them to take a seat before settling into his own conjured chair, ignoring their wary exchange of looks.
"I have a task for the two of you and young Draco. Bring me Harry Potter," Voldemort told them flatly. A raised hand aborted the objections he could see on the tips of their tongues. "I must have answers to certain questions. Answers that must come straight from Potter. To that end we will need the brat and a vial of Veritaserum. Depending upon when he is brought to me and in what condition will partly determine how he is questioned. For some reason I am disinclined to question him in front of a full meeting for all that the answers may be illuminating enough to require sharing the results."
"My lord, if I may ask? What brought this on?" Lucius asked softly, a hint of concern in his eyes.
"A... ghostly visit," Voldemort said with a smirk, his enjoyment of their discomfort with that answer was like a child with a secret until he relented a moment later. "I stumbled across an heirloom that has some... unusual properties. A temporary ghost formed and she took the chance to ask me a few questions, completely ignoring the fact that I had killed both her and her husband."
"Lily," Severus breathed, dismay and longing clear to both of the others.
"She's gone back across the veil," The Dark Lord said almost gently. They sat in sorrowful silence as they all contemplated the repercussions of having Lily Potter accidentally visiting Voldemort, even if she was a ghost at the time.
"What.. what questions did she ask my lord?" Lucius asked softly, breaking the moment of contemplation and earning a pained grimace from his lord.
"One of them was why no one had bothered to check on her son even if it was only to try and kill him. Another was why we were allowing Dumbledore to control the war and treat it like a giant chess board," Voldemort admitted grimly, the gobsmacked looks he got from the other two wizards earned a flicker of amusement from him. "She also asked me to tell Severus that he is forgiven for the original incident but that she's also displeased by how he's been treating Potter. There was something about him actually needing to learn the facts of the situation in her tirade. She ended her tirade by offering me a deal. I am to protect her son from all comers until such time as the three of us can honestly say that he is capable of protecting himself and functioning in society."
"What did she offer in return?" Lucius asked, intrigued.
"A full explanation of the prophecy and what happened the night they died as well as removal of the death curse the two of them cast. Curiously, she also offered to give me the location of where to find him if we retrieved him from her sister by the end of the week. She indicated that should I choose to fulfill my end of the agreement honorably her protection of her sister, nephew, and brother-in-law is to be exactly equal to how they've treated her son," Voldemort informed them an odd look in his eye.
"You agreed," Lucius said flatly. They ignored the quiet scoff that came from Severus, both of them fully aware of his opinion on the matter of how Harry was treated at home.
"I did. The woman was never a Slytherin, there are several ways of using the agreement in my favor and the brat can always die in an accident or I can out right kill him after we've trained him," Voldemort admitted. "She explained that she had previously found a blood ritual that would alter her son's bloodline, giving him a single trait of the new family bloodline, and providing a certain amount of protection from the family and person of the one to kill her. The fact that this required a willing sacrifice on her part to be killed in his defense and actually made him my heir isn't the really interesting part, what is is the way the ritual boosted an already existing curse. Apparently Salazar Slytherin cursed his own line, anyone involved in attempting to subvert or otherwise purposefully alter the succession of the Slytherin Lordship is punished for the attempt. As I had no heir the moment that Lady Potter died her son became my heir, as a result I was punished for trying to kill him. I became a wraith for 13 years mostly because the punishment magic is completely aware of all circumstances involved. She rather gleefully informed me that had I not tried to kill him again in his first year at Hogwarts the magic would have provided me with a new body the moment I made my way into Gringotts under my own power."
"Salazar truly is a great wizard," Severus said appreciatively, a hint of sadness in his eyes as he remembered the death of his childhood friend.
"Did she give you the address? Come to that what heirloom did you find that allowed the conversation at all?" Lucius asked thoughtfully, wondering if he should arrange for a cell or an actual room to house the Potter Heir.
"I looked it up before the meeting and even owled the Goblins for more information. Suitably its called Deal with the Dead and changes form to be noticed or received by the one that a particular spirit is trying to reach. The Goblins were quite adamant about buying it from me. Naturally, I declined," Voldemort informed them smugly.
Snape paled as the implications of the entire situation finally hit him. Lily had forgiven him but she was not happy with how he had been treating her son. A chill ran down the potion masters spine as he wondered exactly how upset she was for his callous actions in an attempt to keep himself both separate and close to the son of his childhood nemesis. Lily was going to kill him!
"Just worked it out did you?" Lucius asked in amusement as he saw the look on his friend's face. "When will we be retrieving the boy my lord? And where is he to be retrieved from?"
"Number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey as soon as Severus assures me he has Veritaserum on hand," Voldemort informed them smugly, having changed his mind to personally pick up Harry now rather than later, Severus could always provide the Veritaserum later. He quickly stood and headed for the arrival hall, both men easily following behind him. "After all I have to determine how much protection they have granted my Heir over the years."
"Then we should be on our way. I happen to know that he has a bad habit of carrying a small sample of it everywhere with him," Lucius teased, causing the Potions Master to flush in embarrassment. The light-hearted teasing set Voldemort in a good mood as they made their way out of the manor, transfigured their robes into muggle business suits and apparated to Surrey.
A loud crack signaled their arrival at the end of the street. Unconsciously Lucius began heading straight for Number 4, without even looking at the area. He felt something pulling him toward the utterly mundane house. He could not for the life of him figure out what was so important that he had to leave his lord's side to approach this utterly muggle residence. The blond never saw the look of concern exchanged between his two quickly following friends, nor did he hear their calls of concern as he reached the front door and instinctively rang the bell.
Harry had just finished making supper and hadn't managed to finish the long list of chores that his relatives routinely gave him whenever he stayed with them over the holidays. As a result he was hoping that the Dursleys weren't as ravenous as usual and would leave some scraps for him to devour as he cleaned up the meal they had forced him to make. Judging by the way they were demolishing the food with the occasional glower or malicious smirk sent his way that scenario wasn't exactly likely.
His mournful prediction turned out to be true, by the time the Dursleys were done there was almost nothing left. Aunt Petunia had decided to watch him like a hawk while Dudley and Vernon got to enjoy pie in front of the television in the family room with a second pie waiting for them on the kitchen counter. He was just finishing up washing the last of the dishes, unable to avoid soaking his overly large clothes, when the door bell rang.
"Boy!" Vernon yelled, causing Harry to grimace as he finished drying the last plate before putting it aside to be put away later.
"Coming Uncle Vernon," Harry called back a little breathlessly, his ribs still sore from the beating that Dudley and his friends had given him earlier. He flinched when Petunia smacked his bruised collar bone, caused by Vernon dragging him from the cupboard the previous morning.
"Show some respect!" Petunia scolded, a scornful look on her face as Harry quickly made his way to the front door. Taking a deep breath the young wizard quickly rearranged his features into that of teenage boredom rather than pain and opened the door, careful of his sprained wrist.
"Yes?" Harry asked, the word leaving his mouth before he registered who was standing in front of him.
For a moment the four wizards were frozen looking at each other. Then the tableau shattered, Harry stumbled backward away from them with a curse and tried to simultaneously shut the door in their faces only for it to be caught by Snape with a sudden snarl on the dour man's lips. That's when Harry registered the ruby red eyes of the second dark haired wizard and his magic reacted to his spiking fear. The second pie went flying from the kitchen and Snape stepped right into its path, ending with blueberry and whipped cream streaming down his face and front.
"Potter!" Snape yelled in fury, drawing the attention of the Dursleys.
"Shitshitshitshit," Harry said scrambling further backward into the house in an ungainly crab walk, unable to take his eyes off of the three wizards who quickly made their way into the house, past the entry hall, shutting the front door behind them.
"What is all this then?" Vernon demanded before seeing where their second pie had gone and turning on Harry in a fury. "You ungrateful whelp!!"
"Perhaps we can all calm down and discuss this?" Voldemort suggested almost hopefully as Lucius restrained his friend from trying to murder a slightly cowering Harry.
"Let me go Lucius, I'm going to kill the disrespectful brat!" Snape snarled, scaring Harry further and drawing out a flinch as he stayed out of arm's reach.
"No, you are not. You know perfectly well that was accidental magic," Lucius scolded as he drew his wand and cleaned up the mess. "Besides, its not like its hard to clean up and its certainly better than the time Draco set your robes on fire while you were in the middle of brewing a complicated potion."
"Freaks! Out! Get out of my house!" Petunia screeched almost to the point of hysteria and opting to attack them with the marble rolling pin. Voldemort sighed heavily but also cast a sheild between the three new comers and the Dursleys, which Petunia promptly ran into, falling to land painfully on her butt.
"What the hell have you done to my wife!?" Vernon bellowed, as he lumbered up out of his chair in an attempt to evict the intruders only to find himself knocked back into said chair and stuck there. Dudley had barely squeaked as he sat terrified in his own seat, vainly hoping that if he kept his rear firmly planted on the couch they couldn't give him a pig tail again.
"'Tuny do you really think we would be here if we didn't need to be?" Severus asked in a long suffering tone, shaking off Lucius' hold as he banished the rolling pin back to its place in the kitchen and magically dumped her into the floral patterned chair in the corner. Using his wand he directed Harry to get up and toward his family, with Harry reluctantly obeying at the barked command. "Up, Potter! Where the devil is your wand? You know better than to be without it."
"I will not have magic in this house!" Vernon thundered as he struggled to get out of his seat for all the good it did him with the sticking charm in place.
"Locked away with my school things, Professor," Harry admitted reluctantly as he carefully got to his feet and stood near the couch, out of everyone's reach, tense and ready to bolt if the chance arose. He hoped that admitting he didn't have access to his things would be enough not to get detention for the rest of his school days for not having his wand on him to defend himself with. Harry ignored the shortness of breath and the pain from his various injuries, refusing to let his guard down.
"Sit down boy. We're not here to kill you," Lucius said with his trademark Malfoy sneer as he casually silenced the still protesting Dursleys.
"Frankly, I very much doubt that," Harry said boldly, eyeing the wands in the hands of three men that he was absolutely convinced wanted him dead. That's when they noticed the bruise on Harry's shoulder where his over large shirt had slid down his shoulder.
"How did you get that?" Snape asked with a careful intensity as he stared at the yellowing, almost hand-shaped bruise.
"I fell," Harry said quickly, unable to stop the flash of fear that skittered across his face and caused the wizards to stiffen at the obvious lie.
"Potter, come here," Snape ordered with a heavy sigh. Harry shook his head no, earning a light glare from the potions master before he eventually caved and warily approached the older trio. Snape gently directed him into the adjoining kitchen/dinning room area before having him sit at the table, back to the living room. He ignored the privacy charm that went up between them and the living area in favor of visually examining the Gryffindor. "Have you eaten?"
Much to Harry's embarrassment his stomach answered for him giving off a loud demanding growl for food, causing him to blush. Snape snorted in a combination of disgust and amusement at teenage priorities before raiding the fridge and placing a sandwhich accompanied by a glass of milk in front of the green-eyed menace. Harry eyed the food suspiciously until he again caved under the silent glare of his Professor and started to eat, only managing to consume half of the sandwhich and three quarters of the milk before feeling sick.
"That's hardly enough to keep a child your age going. I've seen you eat more at Hogwarts. Are you ill?" Snape asked with a frown. Harry remained silent and refused to meet the man's eyes, unwilling to admit that he hadn't eaten anything in a day or two and that was a slice of stale bread chased down by a stolen apple.
Just then Lucius came through the privacy charm ostensibly to retrieve the truth serum, having watched the interaction with no little bit of worry and confusion. Harry seemed to be far too passive for the spirited youth he heard so much about from both his friends, his son, and lost his temper with at the end of Draco's second year. Something was very wrong with the Gryffindor and Lucius suspected that before the evening was done all three of them were going to be upset if not downright furious over whatever was bothering the young wizard.
"Lucius," Snape said in acknowledgement, his tone carrying an inquiry. Harry flinched away from the blond wizard, as if he hadn't known the man was there until the potions master mentioned it, earning an unseen frown from the man.
"We may have a problem," Lucius said quietly. At Snape's raised eyebrow he elaborated. "There are tracking and compulsion spells littering both house and residents. The only reason we haven't had a howler from the ministry about underage magic is because I'm listed as someone authorized to investigate such things. The fact that two of my friends chose to accompany me in visiting an underage wizard in this dreadfully muggle area makes no real difference and probably helps since our magical presence is confirmed by the trace and thus we can reverse anything that goes awry."
"Anything else?" Snape asked with a light sneer gracing his features and Harry stubbornly kept his gaze on the remains of his meal.
"The magic and wards that Dumbledore invoked when he left Mr. Potter here will make it hard to transfer custody and would be nearly impossible if Lady Potter had not struck that deal with our Lord," The Malfoy Lord admitted worriedly. "I keep finding more and more enchantments. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dumbledore, or one of his people placed bindings on his core simply to keep him manageable."
"What deal? What spells?" Harry demanded, his gaze snapping up from his food to the two wizards as he stopped pretending not to listen.
"We will have to work through the goblins in any case," Snape said thoughtfully, ignoring Harry's questions. "If necessary we can pay for the goblins to help purge him of any spells or potions, though I doubt there are any with how difficult he tends to be."
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Harry asked warily, eyeing both older wizards as he once more tensed to flee.
"I doubt it but its less embarrassing than having one of your more famous victims return simply to berate you on how you've not bothered to check on her son, even if the check was simply to attempt to kill him again," Voldemort pointed out with a grimace as he joined the three of them near the table. Harry risked a look toward his relatives and saw that they were mostly unharmed if obviously fuming. "Incidentally, the agreement I made with the spirit of Lily Potter prevents me from trying to kill you until you are fully trained and able to function easily in our world. It also granted me the right to become your guardian. That being said, one of the first things we'll be doing after getting your guardianship transferred is a medical exam and elimination of any potential weaknesses such as those glasses. I very much doubt that you will be sufficiently trained to release me from protecting you until you are well past your majority."
"I don't get a choice do I?" Harry asked miserably, thinking he was going to be in hell until he completed whatever nightmarish training that his three enemies had come up with, not really believing them yet.
"The seven of us will be making a trip to Gringotts to sort this entire situation out and make the arrangements both magically and legally binding. After which we will be burning your current wardrobe if it is anything like the rags you are currently wearing and buying you a new one," Lucius said primly, giving said rags a look of obvious disgust that Harry misinterpreted as being aimed at him rather than his clothes.
"At least its something," Harry snapped back before instinctively cringing as he waited for the blow he would normally receive from his relatives. All three of the older wizards exchanged grim looks. This was not a normal reaction for someone Harry's age.
"Why am I suddenly resisting the urge to walk over and either torture or kill them? Aside from the obvious?" Lucius asked with a frown.
"You also knew exactly where the house was," Severus said thoughtfully, absently yet gently pushing Harry back into his seat as he tried to sneak away.
"The only thing I can think of that might be causing this is... Oh," Voldemort said softly. "Now how did that happen?"
"What?" Snape asked sharply. He really wanted to know what put that dumbfounded look on his friend's face.
"Abraxas Malfoy magically bound himself and the rest of his bloodline to me, against my original wishes," Voldemort explained. "If the magic somehow believes that Potter is a part of me then it would compel everyone who is of Malfoy blood to try and protect him. However, since we've been attacking one another up until now the magic could have become confused and tried to decide if I or Potter needed the greater protection or had the greater loyalty. It could, conceivably have blocked or subsumed parts of the bond that formed when Abraxas gave that oath of allegiance for his bloodline."
"Which would explain why I couldn't order Dobby to ignore him when I accidentally put the school in danger during his second year," Lucius said with a gusty sigh.
"Severus? Have I found an appropriate punishment for that unending act of stupidity?" Voldemort asked as he looked over at a sheepish Lucius thoughtfully.
"No my lord," Severus said with a wide grin that had Harry distinctly unnerved.
"Right," Voldemort said with a decisive nod. "Lucius I sentence you to... take Narcissa shopping in Paris for a new wardrobe for her, you, Harry, and Severus."
"What?!" Both men practically squawked drawing a giggle from Harry at the horrified expressions they were sporting, then the fact that his name had been part of the list registered.
"I don't need anything," Harry said as he looked down at his half finished meal.
"Finish your milk at least," Severus said in exasperation. Harry just looked uncomfortable and started to fidget as he mumbled something.
"Speak up, no one can hear you if you mumble," Lucius scolded lightly.
"I can't, I'm too full. I'm also not allowed new clothing," Harry admitted, refusing to look any of them in the eye.
"Gringotts?" Severus asked, fighting to keep his temper over Harry's obvious mistreatment in check.
"Gringotts," Voldemort confirmed before waving a hand at the still restrained Dursleys, transfiguring them into three mice and dumping them into a conjured cage for transport to the bank.
"This is going to set off so many of the alarms. The paperwork is going to be a nightmare," Lucius grumped but still led the way out of the house, trusting Severus to bring Harry and quiet happy not to have to deal with the muggles as they finally apparated away.