Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

A/N: I know this chapter is 5 months late, but better late than never right? I know I said this story is going to end up being 32 chapters, buuuut...I think I didn't make my estimates right when writing out my rough outline. This story is probably going to end up being 35 chapters long.

Reaching Through Time

Chapter 32: A Stressful First Week

"SILENCE." It took a few minutes for Dumbledore to break out of his shocked stupor. His booming voice reverberated throughout the Great Hall and the students all fell silent. He cleared his throat and when he finally spoke he was smiling once more. "It is wonderful for you to join us Harry, my boy. Perhaps we should have your sorting in private though?"

"Of course not Headmaster!" Lucius made his eyes wide and his hand flew to his chest as if he were in shock. "That would be breaking with tradition. Mr. Potter must be sorted in front of the school so that he can join his house for the Welcome Feast."

"He's right Albus." A rather stern looking woman whose grey speckled brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun. "The school charter states that all students must be sorted in front of the rest of the school."

A few other teachers spoke up and soon enough Dumbledore was sighing. At least he hadn't had time to make the announcement that Harry Potter would once again be staying out of Hogwarts for private training.

It did bring the question though as to where Harry had been all this time and why the school attendance list hadn't been updated for the new term. Dumbledore did not like that the boy had suddenly popped up out of nowhere after years of searching for him.

"It is true that tradition should be followed," Dumbledore said calmly as he gently waved his hands for the staff to be silent. "But this would not be the first time a fake Harry Potter has shown up. I simply suggest we move this to a private setting to confirm that Mr. Potter is who he says he is."

"Why not let Hogwarts herself confirm me?" Harry spoke up at last. He reached up to adjust his glasses; it was so weird having to wear them again and he wasn't quite used to them. At least he had control over his magic sensitivity; he internally cringed at the thought of trying to see through glasses while dealing with seeing the blinding and beautiful magic of Hogwarts around him. "If I am not a legitimate student then the Sorting Hat will be unable to place me into an appropriate house."

"The boy is right sir." This time it was Severus that spoke up. He was sneering at Harry, looking down his long crooked nose at the teenager as he spoke. "Hogwarts will be able to confirm or deny him a place amongst the student body. That is if he is being truthful."

Harry sighed dramatically before reaching into his pocket to pull out a folded and slightly mangled acceptance letter.

"If I am not wanted then why send me this?" He asked as he lifted the letter into the air. His name was clearly visible in a simple cursive scrawl. It had been addressed to Harry through the Gringotts mailbox that he and Tom had been using. "I mean, really, I received this after just recently moving back into the country. If you didn't want me then why send it at all?"

Dumbledore's eyes had gone wide, as well as the gaze of the older woman next to him.

Normally either the Headmaster or the Deputy Headmaster wrote the acceptance letters, but neither remembered ever writing a letter to Harry after his first year.

And yet there Harry Potter was standing, holding a letter with the magical seal of Hogwarts.

"Albus," The woman whispered quickly. "Let the Hat sort the boy and then we can discuss this after the feast."

There wasn't much Dumbledore could do at that time. Making any more of a scene would not be good for anyone and he would not outright accuse the boy of being fake in front of the entire school only to be proven wrong. If he really was a fake, the sorting hat would take care of things.

Not to mention that the students at the four tables were all whispering quite loudly and many of them were standing to get a better view of what was going on.

"Quite right." Lucius was getting tired of waiting and he tapped his walking stick against the stone floor loudly. "Let Mr. Potter be sorted."

Dumbledore barely had time to nod before the stool was placed once more before the students and the hat appeared. McGonagall didn't even have time to stand up to fetch the hat herself.

He watched with narrowed blue eyes as the boy smiled and practically bounced over to the stool.

For the second time in his life, Harry felt the hat slip over his head and cover a large portion of his vision. He had to wonder about just how big Godric Gryffindor's head had been. The hat's voice filled Harry's mind cutting off his internal thoughts and making him smile.

"You know, I don't normally get to resort students."

Of course not, Harry thought, but then how many students got to travel through time repeatedly?

"Too true. I stand by what I said last time though. You've grown though and you could do well in any of the houses. You are the Heir of Hogwarts, after all." The hat sounded amused in Harry's head as it spoke. "But I can see you still desire to stay in Slytherin. Be warned though, times have changed since last you were here. Slytherin house is hounded by darkness and loathing. You will not have an easy time there."

When had Harry ever had an easy time?

"If you are sure…" The hat waited a moment just incase Harry decided to change his mind, before calling out "SLYTHERIN."

The hall was silent for the few minutes it took for Harry to pull the hat off his head, set it respectfully back onto the stool, and then walk over to the designated table. By the time he made it to the spot next to Draco his robes had gained the Slytherin crest and the silver and green trim of the house.

"Well then. I believe that solves the question of whether or not he is a student here." Lucius purred as he smiled a little over at his son, who was now whispering quickly with Harry.

Lucius frowned mentally at that. Draco still didn't know who exactly Harry and Tom were. He had been training his son in Occlumency for some time, but Draco still wasn't at the level he needed to be for Lucius to be comfortable enough to reveal the family secret. Tom had agreed with him.

"If that is all, then let us all enjoy the Welcome Feast!"

Piles and piles of food appeared on all four tables before anyone else could even attempt to interrupt the feast again.

"I think I'll join you for the feast." The words had barely left Lucius when a new chair appeared next to Dumbledore for him. "It would only behoove me to be present at the discussion with young Mr. Potter after the feast. I have a few questions that need answers before I return to the Board."

"Of course." Dumbledore smiled and nodded understandingly even though internally he was seething. He wanted to speak with Harry privately!

"Seeing as how Mr. Potter," It was Severus' turn to speak up and he was sneering the entire time "has been sorted into my house, I will need to be present as well as his school guardian."

Dumbledore's hand twitched and he had to fight the impulse to curl his fingers into a fist. Of course Severus would want to be present; he took his role as Head of the Slytherin House very seriously. If Harry had been sorted into Gryffindor, Dumbledore would have been able to get away with not having McGonagall there.

She rarely ever took up her full duties as Head of House since her duties as Deputy took up most of her free time. That and she was utterly loyal to Dumbledore. If he told her that he wanted to talk to Harry alone, McGonagall would respect his wishes immediately and without question.

Back at the Slytherin table Draco was having the time of his life introducing Harry as his friend.

"You met Potter over the summer and you never told me?" One of the girls, who had been introduced as Pansy to Harry, cried out with a gasp. "Draco! I thought we were friends!" It looked like there were tears in her eyes and she sniffed rather loudly through a nose Harry thought made her look a little like a pug.

"Yes Draco, I thought we were all friends here." A dark skinned boy said with a playful smile. There was a hint of an accent in his voice that Harry couldn't quite place. He didn't seem too terribly upset over being left out though, not like the girl that was practically clinging to Draco.

"Father asked that I keep our association quiet until school." Draco failed to tell them that he had only known Harry for about a week. "Harry, to continue, this is Blaise Zabini."

"Pleasure to meet you." Harry quickly shook the offered hand and inclined his head in greeting.

"Ciao, Harry. I may call you Harry, yes?"

"Of course." Harry smiled at Blaise and then at all the other Slytherins around him. "It is only polite to refer to each other by our given names seeing as how we are all in the same house. I really hope we can all be friends."

"Oh! Yes we should definitely be friends!" Pansy cooed happily, her cheeks a bright pink and her lips stretched out in a bright smile. She was still clinging onto Draco's arm, but she was now leaning a bit across him in order to see Harry better.

Draco rolled his eyes and huffed. He would rather not have to share Harry, but his father had told him to help Harry out if he should be sorted into Slytherin. Slytherins were ostracized enough as it was, so it only made sense for their entire year to try and get along at least.

"This is Theodore Nott, Millicent Bulstrode, and Daphne Greengrass." One by one Draco introduced Harry to their fellow 4th years. "And of course Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle." The two large boys were too busy eating to really pay Harry any mind.

"We're all so curious about you Harry." Pansy was batting her eyes at Harry and trying her best to flirt without being obvious. "Headmaster Dumbledore has told us that you've been away for private tutoring and training! We barely know anything about you."

Harry had to quickly squash the instinctual need to snarl when the old man was brought up. He forced himself to take several deep breaths before smiling slightly at Pansy. "I have no idea what he has been talking about. Up until this summer I have been living in France with my foster family."

Both Tom and Harry had been rightfully angry when they'd found out that Dumbledore had been keeping Harry's disappearance a secret and had been lying about his living arrangements. They decided to nip it in the bud by having Harry contradict every rumor about his life whenever it was brought up.

Eventually one of the students would send the gossip to someone at the Daily Prophet and if not, Lucius would discreetly let certain chosen information leak. In time Dumbledore would be flooded with so many inquiries that he wouldn't have time to try and do anything to Harry.

"Oh?"

Harry swallowed a snicker when he noticed several Ravenclaws not so subtly listening in.

"Yup. The Peverell family in France have been taking care of me since I was 5. My muggle relatives weren't very good care takers so I was removed from their care." As much as Harry wanted to say worse things about his aunt and uncle, his Malfoy parents had taught him better over the years.

His relatives had been muggles after all, and muggles did not deserve his ire let alone his respect. Better to just distance himself as far as possible from them seeing as how he was never going to see them again.

"Peverell? I think I've heard of that name…" Blaise murmured with a frown.

"It's an old British name. The main branch in Britain died out several generations ago, but there are a few lines in other countries still." Harry explained easily, repeating the same information that the goblins had given him and Tom at the beginning of the summer. "The Potter family can be traced back to the Peverells as well, which is why they took guardianship of me."

Blaise was nodding, but he was still frowning slightly. There was just something about the Peverell name that tickled at the back of his mind and he couldn't seem to figure out why.

"If you were living in France does that mean you went to Beauxbaton's Academy?" Pansy asked excitedly. "I hear it's such a beautiful school! It's supposed to be in the Alps right? There are supposed to be so many amazing and beautiful magical creatures there." She sighed in a rather girly fashion and her eyes had a far off glimmering look to them.

"Sadly I didn't." Harry shook his head and leaned a little away from Pansy. "I was privately tutored. Thomas was enrolled though."

"Thomas?" Up until then Theodore had been silent, just watching the newest addition to the Slytherin house.

"Oh. Right. Thomas Peverell is the current Lord of the family. His father, the previous Lord, passed away a few months ago which is why we moved back to Britain."

The story had been carefully crafted by the goblins in preparation for Harry and Tom's reentry to the present day magical world. Just as they had promised, the goblins had been able to forge Tom's school paperwork. With a combination of bribery and memory alteration, the goblins had created a very detailed history for one Thomas Peverell.

There were even records of the Previous Lord Peverell having passed away in a French hospital in late May. That way Tom's recent inheritance to the Lordship would easily be accepted.

An awkward silence descended on the group before Pansy attempted to continue the conversation.

"What was it like living in France?"

Harry shrugged a little, but he did give her a friendly smile. "It was alright. We never went out much, but when we did we mostly went to museums or to the summer villa at the beach." He'd spent enough time in Slytherin growing up to know how to lie; give just enough information to settle curiosity, but always be a little vague.

"Honestly though, my foster family was very private and we rarely went anywhere or had guests." Which would help to explain why Harry was never spotted anywhere.

The rest of the feast went by quickly after that. At the end of dessert, Harry felt a hand come down onto his shoulder.

"Mr. Potter...our newest celebrity." Severus Snape gripped Harry's shoulder tightly as he spoke. "Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to speak with you. Seeing as how you have finished eating," Severus looked at Harry's mostly empty plate "we will go ahead and leave for the Headmaster's office."

"Yes sir." Harry set his fork down and pushed away from the table. "I'll see you all later then." He smiled at the group before following after his new Head of House.

It was strange for Harry as the two of them walked silently through the castle. The castle hadn't changed a bit, but the residents were so very different. Severus Snape was such a different Head of House as compared to Slughorn. He was so stern and silent that Harry felt like fidgeting whenever the man looked at him.

"Sir?" Harry cleared his throat after a few minutes of tense silent walking.

Severus groaned and he eyed Harry out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, Potter?"

Sensing that the castle was keeping unwanted ears from listening in, Harry continued. "I never got to thank you, for the potion at Gringotts." The few times in the last week that Harry had seen Snape, Tom had kept the two from actually speaking with one another. Harry could tell that Snape didn't like him, his magic just had a rather cold and aggressive feeling to it, but also a deep sadness that made Harry ache deep in his bones.

Severus' eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"I know it was your job and everything, but you still helped me so...thank you." Harry smiled brightly up at his Head of House. "Tom appreciates your help too, even if he doesn't say it. He's not very good at expressing himself; especially when he's grateful." Harry chuckled a little.

There was no response Severus could even think to give. His opinions on Harry Potter had been rocky and uncertain for the last week, but with him showing appreciation and actually thankinghim...Severus was at a loss. He had always assumed Harry Potter would be like his father if they ever met; obnoxious, rude, opinionated, thick headed, and a bully. But this Harry Potter, the one walking next to him, was nothing like that. Perhaps it was the Dark Lord's influence that had made Potter into who he now was…

Severus would just have to watch the boy. He was in Slytherin after all so there was probably something about Potter that he kept hidden.

"Potter. Dumbledore is an accomplished occlumens. Do not look him in the eye." They were getting closer to the Headmaster's office now and Severus had to make sure Potter was ready.

"Of course sir." Harry was confident that he would be safe from Dumbledore's mental intrusions. If his own shields weren't strong enough then the castle would protect him; though he did hope he wouldn't have to rely on the castle.

"He is a skilled manipulator and he will interrogate you thoroughly in the most polite and respectful way possible."

"Thank you for the warnings sir."

The gargoyle that guarded the stairs leading up to the office jumped out of the way even before Severus could give the password. The potions master blinked in surprise, but he said nothing.

Harry on the other hand had to hide a smirk behind his hand. Even though the gargoyle was the guardian of the Headmaster's domain, it was still a servant of Hogwarts and its loyalty was first and foremost to the Castle and its heir. Harry would never have to use another password within Hogwarts if he decided he didn't want to.

No room or space would be off limits to Harry so long as he was within Hogwarts.

Severus and Harry were the first to arrive at the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore had only just started making his beginning of the year speech when they'd left and Lucius would probably walk with Dumbledore.

The Headmaster's office was so different with Dumbledore in charge. Harry had only seen Dippet's office once or twice, but it'd been organized with very little extra bits and bobs. It had looked like an office. The Headmaster's office with Dumbledore in charge though? It was like looking into an organized mess. There were so many trinkets lining the shelves, most of them moving and making softs sounds, that Harry couldn't seem to keep his attention on one thing for any real length of time. There were carpets of various clashing colors and designs spread out on the floor with the edges overlapping here and there making it hard to walk without tripping every few feet.

"Fawkes!" Harry cried out softly when a flash of red caught his attention. Completely forgetting that Snape was in the room and that, technically, Harry wasn't supposed to know much about the school, Harry went straight for the phoenix.

"What are you doing here?!" He whispered as he released some of the control on his magic sensitivity to properly see the Guardian's magical signature.

"When I helped you escape, the Traitor caught me and bound me using several very dark spells." The phoenix trilled softly. "He can't remove me from the school, but I cannot disobey a direct order nor can I leave this perch without his permission."

Snape watched dumbfounded as the boy began speaking with the phoenix. The biggest surprise of the night was that the phoenix was actually talking right back to him! He had never heard of a phoenix being able to communicate, but there the phoenix was speaking as clear as day.

"It is so good to see you again young Heir." Fawkes leaned his beautiful feathered head down to rub against Harry's forehead.

"I can see the spells…" Harry murmured as he focused on the dark murky sensations that formed chain like structures around Fawkes. The magic of Hogwarts was still there around the phoenix, but Dumbledore's magic was almost like a layer of mold over the pure magic of the Castle. "I think...I think I can remove them."

"Remove what you can, but don't strain yourself." Fawkes cautioned the boy. "There is one that you should leave be. It connects the Traitor to me and if it is gone he will know, but if you remove the other spells he will not have control over me any longer."

Harry grumbled softly in anger. He would have rather removed all the disgusting spells, but he knew Fawkes was right. If he removed the spell connecting Dumbledore to Fawkes then the old man would know immediately. So long as Dumbledore didn't actually have control over Fawkes then that connection wouldn't have any real power.

"Hogwarts? Warn me when Dumbledore gets to the gargoyle." Harry murmured as he twined his magic and the magic of the castle around his fingers. He felt Hogwarts magic press against his skin in assurance that it would do as asked.

What he was about to try to do had no real spell, not one that he knew of at least, everything he was about to do was instinctual. He was just going to wing it and hope for the best. Since the Guardian bond that Fawkes had with Hogwarts was still there, Harry was pretty sure he could just scrape Dumbledore's magic off.

Like cleaning mud off his boots.

Harry took a deep steadying breath before reaching out to touch at Dumbledore's disgusting murky magic.

The moment his fingers made contact Harry was filled with a sense of wrongness. It wasn't just that the magic felt like slime against his own magic, but that there was a sickness there. In the time since Harry and Tom had been thrown back into the future, Dumbledore had gotten sick.

At least that's what Harry could feel as he began scraping the spells off of Fawkes. It felt like Dumbledore's magic was weak and stale. Harry had felt something off back at the Quidditch World Cup, but now that he was actually touching the old man's magic, he was positive something was wrong with Dumbledore.

Harry was able to get the spell that forced Fawkes to obey Dumbledore off of the phoenix, as well as the one keeping Fawkes chained to the perch, his magic acting like a knife to scrape off the dark sludge like magic off when Hogwarts warned Harry that Dumbledore was close.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more." Harry whispered painfully, but Fawkes just strilled warmly and rubbed against his hair again.

The entire time Harry was interacting with the phoenix, Severus had been watching in awe with wide black eyes. Such strong magic had built up around the boy, around his hands, that even Severus could see how the air seemed to waver and blur as if heat was rising from his skin. When Potter had scraped his hands through the air around the phoenix, sparks jumped from his fingers and strange dark tendrils dripped to the ground only to vanish with a hiss.

Severus was openly gawking and he didn't even notice until the boy stepped away from the phoenix and shook his hands as if to knock the magic off of them. The air around Potter returned to normal as the boy turned to look at him.

"Oh…" Harry winced and he rubbed at his arm as he remembered that he was supposed to be pretending to not know anything about Hogwarts. Only Lucius knew the full truth of himself and Tom; Remus knew just enough to know that Harry wasn't as ignorant about Hogwarts as he was supposed to be. Snape though had no idea about any of his history.

"We will speak of this." Severus had to clear his throat when his voice cracked softly.

"Talk to Tom." Harry was able to just get out before the door to the office swung open to reveal Dumbledore standing there along with Lucius just behind him.

"Wonderful! You're already here Harry." Dumbledore moved as if to give Harry a hug, but he stopped when Harry timidly moved away. Harry was looking at the floor and one of his feet was scuffing gently at the fringes of one of the many carpets.

"Headmaster," Lucius cleared his throat and waved his wand, which he had quickly pulled from his walking stick, to summon a couple more chairs. "If we would please move this along. I would like to return to my home before the hour gets too late."

"Ah, yes, of course Mr. Malfoy."

As Dumbledore took his seat, Harry couldn't help but notice just how old the man looked. To Harry it had only been a few months, but for Dumbledore it had been decades. He didn't just look old though, he also looked tired.

If Dumbledore hadn't ruined so much of Harry's life, he might have actually felt bad for the old man.

Lucius and Severus took seats on either side of Harry once he was sitting across from the Headmaster.

The four of them were silent, each waiting for someone else to speak. Harry was very carefully not making eye contact with Dumbledore, either by looking at his forehead or at his beard. Both Severus and Lucius had their hands very carefully resting on their wands and both were watching Dumbledore closely.

"You've been away for a long time, my boy." Dumbledore very carefully said as he laced his fingers together over his desk. Since he had fought so long to keep Harry's disappearance a secret he had to be careful as to what he said with Lucius in the room. "I was unsure if you were ever going to accept enrollment at Hogwarts."

"I probably wouldn't have, had my guardian not passed away." His heart clenched painfully in his chest as Harry remembered that Drake and Demeri Malfoy were dead. The pain of that loss was real and fresh and the three adults could not deny that Harry really did look to be upset.

"I am sorry for your loss, my dear boy." Dumbledore murmured with a sympathetic droop of his lips.

Harry had to give it to the old man; he knew how to play the role of a caring Headmaster well. He knew the truth though. He knew exactly who and what Dumbledore was and he would not fall for the warmth that the old man was trying to portray.

"Headmaster," Lucius cleared his throat and brought his walking stick down to get the old man's attention. "If we would please get down to business. I want to know why Mr. Potter's name was not on the attendance list for this year and why his acceptance response was ignored."

Dumbledore waved a hand to summon a large tome that was shelved behind his desk. "I assure you Mr. Malfoy that Harry Potter's name is not on the attendance list. Minerva and I check every year in order to send out letters, but Harry's name has not been on the list since his first year."

To prove his point, Dumbledore opened the large book to the list of fourth years. "Take a look for yourself."

Lucius leaned forward a bit and his grey eyes quickly scanned down the list. After a moment of looking, the corner of his lip twitched as if he were trying to suppress a grin. "What are you playing at Dumbledore?" He demanded as he scowled at the book. "The boy's name is clearly written right after the Patil's."

Even Severus was quick to lean forward as Dumbledore was instantly looking down at the book.

Sure enough, Harry's name was there in the book in legible scrawl that had been on his letter.

"When did- How did-" Dumbledore stuttered in shock. Potter's name had most definitely NOT been there over the summer! And yet it was there in black and white in the book. Dumbledore was tempted to claim that someone had tampered with the Book of Admittance, but it was an ancient magical artifact that was so saturated with magic that not even he could change anything.

"Even if you hadn't noticed the boy's name," Lucius was now sneering coldly at the old Headmaster. "You surely would have received his acceptance response."

"W-well yes, but we have received many false letters and responses from fake Harry Potter's over the years." Dumbledore was pale and trying desperately to recompose himself. "I had assumed the letter was just another fake. Another attempt to get at the Potter inheritance."

Perhaps he should have checked the tracking spells over the summer, but he had been so busy planning for the coming events for the year he hadn't thought to check. Dumbledore had long given up hope that Harry Potter was still alive; after all the tracking spells and potion had never revealed Harry Potter in the past.

"And you didn't think to send a professor to check on the legitimacy of the letter?" Lucius felt actual anger towards the old man. Just how many students had been allowed to slip through the cracks due to Dumbledore's lack of care and responsibility? "There are protocols to follow, Headmaster, did you not think to follow them?"

"Now see here Mr. Malfoy-"

"It's Lord Malfoy." Lucius hissed. He was tired of putting up with Dumbledore's disrespect. "It is a damned good thing that Mr. Potter's new guardian saw fit to notify the board of this oversight. Otherwise Mr. Potter would have been left waiting and confused as to whether or not he truly was going to be enrolled."

"N-new Guardian?" Technically speaking Dumbledore was supposed to be Harry Potter's magical guardian, but it seemed even that had been stripped from him. He should have been notified the moment Harry had been adopted or taken out of the country, and yet it had never happened.

"My foster parents son has taken up the responsibility of being my guardian." Harry offered up. That information was readily available so it wasn't like Dumbledore wouldn't find out if he asked around. "He was made the new Lord Peverell so the goblins didn't see a problem with transferring guardianship to him."

Which was the truth. To protect Harry from Dumbledore, the goblins had made Tom his guardian seeing as how Tom was of age and a Lord.

"P-Peverell!" Just how many surprises were going to be dropped on Dumbledore that night? "The Peverell family died out generations ago."

Harry wrinkled his nose and shook his head at just how stupid Dumbledore was. "Just because one branch dies off doesn't mean the entire line has." He pointed out with a small sigh. "There are family members in France and America, not many, but a few."

"Shouldn't you know all this Headmaster?" Lucius asked with a small smirk. "You have been telling everyone for years that you knew where Mr. Potter was and what was going on in his life. Surely you knew he was under the care of the Peverell's?"

Dumbledore's mouth snapped shut and he was trying desperately to figure out how to get out of his blunder.

"Never mind." Lucius sighed and stood up. "I have my answers for the Board. I will not waste any more of my time watching you gape like a fish." He smoothed down his robes and turned to leave. "I expect the Board will have more questions once I inform them of what I have learned. I would expect an inquiry if I were you Headmaster."

Lucius turned to smile down at Harry, completely dismissing Dumbledore from any further conversation. "It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter. If you have need of anything, feel free to contact me."

"I will, thank you Lord Malfoy." Harry smiled warmly up at Lucius which had the Malfoy's expression soften just a bit before he spun around on his heel and swept out of the office.

"Severus, if you would give us a few minutes alone? I have a few things I need to discuss with Mr. Potter." Dumbledore had taken the moment to collect himself and now that Malfoy was gone he was sure he could get the answers he wanted.

Severus sneered and shook his head. "Now that Mr. Potter is a member of my house," He grimaced as if he had eaten something not very pleasant at that. "I must be present when you speak with him."

"Ah Severus, your dedication to your students is quite admirable." Dumbledore gave the sneering man a genial smile. "But I just want to have a little chat with Harry. To catch up."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, sir." Severus felt the mark on his arm twinge slightly as the order from his true master rang through his mind. "You are the headmaster of the school and as you are not the boy's guardian any interaction between yourself and Mr. Potter can only be about his school performance."

With a flourish of his black robes, Severus stood up and motioned for Harry to do the same. "I would suggest you get in contact with his guardian should you wish to speak with Mr. Potter about things outside of your purview." He bowed his head a little. "It is best if I escort Mr. Potter to Slytherin house before curfew. I would rather not risk having him get lost in the castle on his first night."

Once again Dumbledore was gaping in shock as Severus Snape quickly escorted Harry out of the office. Never before had Severus spoken to him like that; at least not when Dumbledore had given him an order. He was protective of his Slytherin students, yes, but this was Harry Potter! The man should be more than willing to disregard the boy.

Harry was quick to follow Snape out and away from the perpetual danger that was Dumbledore.

"Between the inquiries from the Board and Lord Peverell's interference, you should be left alone for at least a little while." Severus murmured once they were far enough away from the Headmaster's office. "If Dumbledore does request your presence, notify me immediately."

"Is it true what you said?" Harry asked with a small frown. Truthfully he didn't know all the rules surrounding what the Hogwarts staff could and could not do. He knew what he as a student wasn't supposed to do, but not really the staff. "That he can only talk to me about my school performance?"

Severus nodded slightly before shrugging. "Technically if he requests your presence you have the option to talk to him of your own free will, but he cannot force you to talk to him about anything that is not school related. The school charter states that the Head of house of the student, or their legal guardian, must be present whenever the Headmaster wishes to discuss school performance. That does not and has not stopped Headmasters in the past from speaking with students in private though."

"He'll not let this go." Harry sighed tiredly and he pulled his glasses off so he could rub at his eyes. "Good thing Tom is in Hogsmeade. If anything happens he can get here fast."

The potions professor made a noise in the back of his throat in agreement. "If worse comes to worse you can submit a request to the Board of Governor's to live in Hogsmeade. Staying in the dorms is only required of students that live outside of the area."

"Seriously?" Harry stopped short in surprise. Why hadn't anyone told him and Tom that earlier?

"Yes. It is not a common request and most people have forgotten about it. The request must also go through the Board so they do have the option to deny the request." After Tom had ordered Severus to protect Harry, Severus had felt a compulsion to learn everything about the School charter and rules no matter how obscure they were. "I would honestly not be surprised if Lucius did not know about it."

It was something that Harry would have to bring up with Tom when he snuck out of Hogwarts the coming weekend.

Severus escorted Harry into the Slytherin common room. They arrived just in time to hear the end of the prefects listing of house rules ot the newly sorted first years.

Harry ducked away from the potions master and made his way over to where Draco was lounging on one of the green couches with Theodore on one side and Pansy on the other.

"Harry! I was getting worried." Draco called out when he spotted Harry walking towards them. He smirked at his new friend in a calm and cool way, but Harry could see the lingering worry in the teen's silver eyes. "We thought Dumbledore would force you to be resorted."

"The Gryffindors will not be happy to have lost a Legacy to the Slytherin house." Pansy Parkinson stated with a stiff sniff. She tilted her head up and glared down her nose as if she was disgusted with herself for having to mention the lion house.

When poked at by Draco, Theodore stood up and took a seat in the only other available seat in their semi circle. Harry sent the young heir a grateful smile before sitting down next to Draco.

"The Headmaster didn't mention being resorted, but he did ask several prying questions into my private life." Harry grimaced and crossed one leg over the other knee as he leaned back on the couch. "Professor Snape informed me afterwards that I am not required to speak with Dumbledore about anything that is not school related. If the Headmaster pushes, I'll inform Tom and he'll do something about it."

Harry didn't mention that that 'something' would probably be making Lucius file an inquiry with the board. They had all sorts of plans on how to ruin Dumbledore's reputation during the coming year.

"Honestly, for someone as old as the Headmaster you would think he would have more tact!" Pansy huffed and sneered angrily. The anger was quickly masked after a moment with a purse of her lip.

"He believes himself to be beyond reproach, at least that's what my father says." Draco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He physically turned his body to give Harry all of his attention. "You missed the end of the feast speech, by the way. Dumbledore revealed something quite startling."

"It's only startling because your father hadn't told you yet." Theodore, by that point, had gotten his hands on a rather old looking book and was reading as the others conversed around him.

Draco's cheeks colored and he grumbled a bit. He couldn't deny the truth of what Theodore had said; his father really had kept this little tidbit of information to himself.

"Well?" Harry asked after watching Draco fume for a few minutes. "What did I miss."

"Nothing much." It was Zabini that spoke up when Draco continued to pout and fume. "Apparently Dumbledore agreed to host the Triwizard Tournament here at Hogwarts this year."

Harry blinked several times, slowly, as the announcement filtered through his thoughts. "The triwizard-" He sputtered a bit. "Is that not the death tournament that was discontinued a couple hundred years ago?" He'd read about it in Hogwarts, a History as well as from several other history books that his Malfoy parents had insisted he study growing up.

Daphne, the only one of their group that was actually interested in history, nodded and sighed softly. "The very same one. Dumbledore insists that there will be strict security measures in place, but there is only so much you can prepare for when it comes to magic."

"It's like inviting a grim to a Samhain celebration and expecting no one to drop dead." Draco scoffed as he rejoined the conversation.

"I'm guessing the other schools participating are Durmstrang and Beauxbaton?" It wasn't that far of a leap; they were the only other two schools in Europe. As far as Harry knew the schools in the other countries and continents were more than happy to keep to themselves.

"Of course."

Harry hummed at that and the conversation changed to what the coming years classes were to be like. He hadn't been able to select his extra classes yet, seeing as how his returned acceptance letter had been ignored, but Harry knew Professor Snape would talk to him about his classes soon. Probably in the morning.

In the first few days of school, Harry was almost cornered by Dumbledore no less than a dozen times. Each and every time at least 3 other Slytherins had been around and one of them had always gone off to get Snape. Dumbledore had also invited Harry to 'lunch' or to have tea after classes every single day.

A few Slytherins had even reported seeing Dumbledore wandering around in the dungeons as if to 'randomly' bump into Harry.

It got so bad that Harry had started taking his lunches down in the kitchen just to make sure no one would be able to deliver the notes.

Only a week had passed and already Harry was really considering making the request to the Board to allow him to stay in his Hogsmeade home with Tom. He'd wait to speak with Tom in person during the weekend though.

"Hello Harry."

Harry was pulled from his thoughts suddenly when a soft airy voice spoke just across him in the library. He'd been waiting for the library to clear out for the night so he could go and speak with Madam Pince. It was already Friday and he'd been trying to speak with her in private for the entire week.

The two of them had made eye contact a few times, and Harry had seen the woman suppress a twitch of a smirk, but they had yet to actually speak.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked as he eyed the girl that was smiling serenely across from him. Her hair was almost as blond as the Malfoy's, but instead of the platinum blond color it was more of a sunny blond. Her blue eyes were a little glazed and she couldn't seem to look right at him. Harry couldn't help but stare at the turnip earrings hanging from her ears or the butterbeer bottle cap necklace around her neck

"Oh no! That's nice of you to offer, but I'd rather be helping you." The girl giggled lightly as if the two of them were sharing some funny secret. "I know you want to see Madam Pince, but there are so many wrackspurts around her right now it probably wouldn't be such a good idea."

The girl was so strange that Harry wasn't sure how to respond. He had no idea what wrackspurts were or who the girl was, but she was acting like they had known each other for years.

"The headmaster asked that I give you a note, but I seem to have misplaced it on the way here. The nargles probably took it. I hope it wasn't important." The girl tilted her head in thought which made her strange turnip shaped earrings swing back and forth. "Oh well."

"I'm sorry," Harry shook his head and stood up from his seat. "But who are you?"

"Did I not say?" The girl tilted her head the other way. "Perhaps I have a few wrackspurts around me as well. I'm Luna Lovegood." Luna didn't offer him a hand to shake, she just kept smiling.

Harry had never cared about houses and house proud in the past, so he'd never taken the time to take note of house crests, but the blue of her robe was a simple indication that she was in Ravenclaw. He couldn't remember seeing her in any of his classes so Harry assumed the smaller girl was probably younger than him. Then again he had always been on the short side so it was possible she was older.

"I'm a year below you Harry." Luna just kept smiling even as Harry eyed her suspiciously. "Apollo was right when he said your thoughts are very loud."

The use of the Ravenclaw Guardian's name had Harry instantly on alert.

"Of course I know him. We have tea every weekend and discuss all sorts of interesting things." Luna still wasn't meeting his eyes instead keeping her gaze over his shoulder. "You should return to your common room. The Traitor is going to try and ambush you again if you don't show for tea today." She turned away quickly with a small frown. Luna was lost in thought and was just about to leave when she heard a quiet voice behind her.

"Thank you."

Luna turned and smiled at Harry. "Maybe this weekend sometime we can go and see the Thestrals. Albino would love to see you again Harry. Have a goodnight." She turned and lightly skipped out of the library, humming some random song softly the entire way out.

The girl knew two of the Guardians! For a moment Harry feared that Hogwarts had been trying to select a new heir since he had been gone for so long, but a comforting press of magic against his skin assured Harry that Hogwarts would never try to replace him while he was alive.

Perhaps the girl was the heir for one of the other houses? If she knew Apollo and Albino then she was probably the heir for either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Seeing as how she was in Ravenclaw it was possible that she was the heir of Ravenclaw. Apollo had said Rowena had made contingencies for when her line had died out.

It was something to think about another time. If Lovegood was right then Dumbledore would probably be on his way down and Harry did not want to deal with being cornered again when none of his housemates were around.

As much as he really wanted to speak with Madam Pince, which he had yet to do, Harry would have to wait.

He almost made it to the common room entrance when he felt the murky presence of Dumbledore not far from him in the dungeons.

"Keep him away from me!" Harry hissed in irritation as he hurried his steps. He felt Hogwarts respond and the castle's magic was suddenly swirling in the direction of the Headmaster. Suddenly Harry was moving forward twice as fast while the Headmaster seemed to have slowed his steps.

"Harry, my boy!"

Harry ignored the call and flicked his hand up towards the wall that he was rushing towards. The wall slid open without a password and he was through well before Dumbledore could catch up, thanks to Hogwarts.

"There you are Harry." Sitting on one of the couches over by the fireplace was Draco and a few of their classmates. He waved at Harry when the dark haired boy rushed through the entrance. The wall closed up behind him faster than Draco had ever seen before. "Everything alright?"

Harry smiled, grateful for his friend's genuine concern. Draco kind of reminded him of Eileen in a way; proper and serious, but caring towards friends.

"I'm fine. Just barely avoided Dumbledore. Again." Harry went over to the couch and sat down between Blaise and Draco with a groan. He was really getting tired of having to dodge the old man whenever he wasn't in class.

"Is it just me or does it feel like he's stalking you?" Blaise was frowning a bit as he leaned against the armrest of the couch. "I can't ever remember seeing him around the Castle so often. Normally we only ever see him during meals...if at all!"

"It's true." Pansy piped up from where she was sitting on the floor next to Daphne. The two of them were sharing the Witch Weekly magazine and reading through articles together. "Sometimes he's gone for weeks and no one will explain why."

Draco sneered and scoffed loudly. "My father says Dumbledore is the worst Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. The man can't even be bothered to do his job. He's too busy sticking his wrinkled nose into other people's business."

The other Slytherins bantered back and forth and slowly Harry relaxed in his seat. He'd gotten so tense during the last week that he was surprised that he was getting any sleep at all. He hated that he had to worry so much about Dumbledore all of the time on top of worrying about his schoolwork.

Harry was about to say something when he heard the stones in the wall of the common room entrance grind against each other. A sense of dread went through him and in slow motion he turned towards the entrance.

Sure enough his fears were realized. Dumbledore, in his bright purple and yellow spotted robe, was standing there with his hands clasped behind his back.

Slytherins were taught early on to not show emotion, especially in the presence of someone that could be an enemy. The moment the entrance moved to reveal the Headmaster, Harry could see every Slytherin mask slip into place.

It wasn't that Slytherins were rude, far from it, Slytherins were calculating, aloof, and ambiguous. They hid their emotions and to outsiders it made them come off cold and sinister.

"Harry my boy! There you are!" Either he was unaware of the guarded glares he was receiving or he just didn't care, Dumbledore came striding straight into the common room and made for Harry on the couch right away.

From the corner of his eye Harry spotted one of the prefects hurrying out of the common room; probably to go and get Professor Snape.

After the first few days of Dumbledore practically stalking Harry, an unspoken rule had been put into place that all Slytherins were to watch out for the unlikely fourth year snake.

"Headmaster." Harry kept his expression as neutral as possible as he stood up from the couch. "May I ask why you are here?"

Dumbledore's steps faltered for a moment, but he refused to let the young boy's emotionless voice unnerve him. "Why, my boy, I just want to have a chat with you." He chuckled softly as if they were sharing a joke. "I thought you might be interested in hearing stories about your parents. I was rather fond of James and Lily. I always thought of them as my own in a way."

It was a low blow and Harry had to fight back a flinch. He had always wanted to know about his parents, especially after hearing the lies from his aunt and uncle about how his parents had died while drunk driving. Remus had quickly assured him, after they had gotten to know each other, that Lily and James had been wonderful people that would have loved and been proud of Harry.

Harry could feel support radiating from his newly made friends who were sitting and standing around him silently. He took a deep breath and smiled ever so slightly and calmly at the old goat before him. "I appreciate the offer, Headmaster, but I have to decline." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed as Harry continued. "I have placement exams for my selected extra courses that I need to study for, you see, as well as homework from my required courses."

"Quite right, Mr. Potter."

Standing behind Dumbledore was Professor Snape. The prefect that had gone to fetch him slipped back into the common room and returned to his own group.

Dumbledore turned a little to smile at the potions professor, but the smile looked forced in his elderly face.

"Ah. Severus. I was not expecting to see you here."

Snape sneered at the Headmaster and gave him an incredulous look. "The Slytherin dorms happen to be in the dungeon, Headmaster, as well as my classroom, office, and personal quarters." His words were slow as if he were trying to explain something extremely simple to an idiot. "It would make sense that I would be in the dungeons regularly."

"Yes. Of course." Dumbledore's hand twitched and the movement caught Harry's eye.

Having avoided the old man as much as possible, Harry had missed the magic that was swirling around the headmaster. It stuck to the man like a second skin and Harry came to the conclusion that Dumbledore was wearing some sort of glamour.

Since glamours were just magic layered over a person, they were easy to see through if you knew how. And Harry definitely knew how.

His eyes narrowed for a moment and he changed the strength of his dampening charm just enough for him to see through the magic that surrounded Dumbledore. He sucked in a sharp and silent gasp. Dumbledore's hand was black and withered looking. It looked like it had been burnt black and then mummified. There looked to be no muscle under the wrinkled and dry black skin and the old man's fingers moved stiffly whenever he used the damaged hand.

Cursed dark magic leaked from the corpse like appendage and Harry felt sick just looking at it. He powered up the dampening charm again so that Harry wouldn't have to keep looking at the disturbing sight.

No wonder the man's magic had felt so sickly; he was literally decaying and his magic was dying right along with him.

Dumbledore and Professor Snape were saying something to each other, but Harry wasn't listening. He was trying to think about the implications of Dumbledore being this sick. That sort of curse couldn't be stopped or cured; it was a death sentence that could be slowed down a little. Where and how had the Headmaster come across such a curse?

Harry felt the magic of Hogwarts press against him and he got the feeling that the castle knew exactly what had happened to the Headmaster. The castle felt justified and there was a hint of pride there as well. When Harry wondered if Hogwarts had cursed Dumbledore, he got the feeling that no, the castle hadn't. But the castle knew who had.

The curse had been growing slowly, painfully, for decades. Hogwarts pressed the understanding into Harry that Dumbledore had performed dangerous dark rituals to slow the curse to an absolute crawl for decades, but the man's time was running short. The dark rituals were no longer working and the curse had started spreading faster.

"- some tea Harry?"

Harry pushed himself mentally away from the silent conversation he had been having with Hogwarts to focus once more on Dumbledore.

"Again, Headmaster, I appreciate the offer, but I must decline." Harry was really getting tired of repeating himself to the old man. Perhaps he was hard of hearing now that he was so old? His annoyance must have been on the strong side because he could almost feel Tom frowning through their bond.

"Seeing as how Mr. Potter has said no, Headmaster," Severus practically purred as Dumbledore's warm smile faded a bit. "Perhaps you can leave the Slytherin common room now? Many students are trying to study."

"Yes. Of course." Dumbledore paused for one more moment, as if hoping that Harry would change his mind at the last minute. When Harry simply took back his seat on the couch, Dumbledore sighed and made his way out of the Slytherin common room.

"Loony old goat." Someone from their group said once Dumbledore was gone and the entrance was sealed again. The rest of their peers chuckled and they returned to their previous conversations and readings.

The stress Harry was feeling from avoiding Dumbledore for a week finally got to Harry that night. He'd been relying on the steady and calm pulses Tom would send through their bond, but there was nothing either of them could do when the nightmare struck.

Dreams of sirens filling the air in loud and long blasts were followed by images of bombs falling from the sky over a terrorized London. Screams from people caught outside during the German raids were the only thing Harry could hear just before a bomb would hit the ground or a building. The backlash of magic when Diagon Alley was hit for the first time had Harry's head pounding in rapid bursts of pain.

Stress from dealing with Dumbledore brought back memories of the war to Harry in his nightmares. His parents had tried to shield their children from what was going on, but with Harry's sensitivity and partial Sight, he could never avoid it.

Harry woke screaming as he watched another bomb in his mind's eye fall right next to St. Mungos. Only the strengthened wards had protected the magical hospital, but only barely.

"Harry?"

He flinched violently when a hand touched his shoulder and Harry scrambled off the other side of the bed as his mind raced to catch up to his newly awakened state.

Seeing Draco standing there, on the other side of Harry's bed, confused his tired and nightmare ravaged mind. "Abraxas? Th-the bombs. They fell again. I know they did." He babbled insanely and his green eyes shifted around unseeingly only barely recognizing the Slytherin dorm room he was in.

"Blaise! Go get Professor Snape!" Draco hissed when Harry continued to babble nonsense. He watched as Harry sank down to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself.

"When will it stop 'braxis? I'm scared. I hate seeing those...those things. Please! Where's Ladon? Where's Tom?" Harry couldn't stop seeing the scared faces of the poor muggles that had been caught up in the bomb explosions. He couldn't stop seeing the ruined buildings and hearing the wailing siren that sounded so much like the call of a banshee.

Those sirens were probably the worst part of the visions. Every time Harry heard them, he knew so many people were going to die. They truly were like banshees, heralding death in the worst way.

Harry whimpered and covered his ears to try and cover the ghostly sound that was all in his head. He hated this. He wanted Tom! Tom was always able to chase away the nightmares. Where was Ladon who would always hiss soothingly to him whenever one of those horrifying vision dreams would invaded his mind.

"Move aside." Harry felt hands on his shoulders suddenly and he flinched back when he failed to recognize the magical signature that was invading his space. It seemed familiar, but not enough so. His own magic lashed out and he heard a sharp gasp from the man that had been trying to pull him from the curled up ball Harry had ended up in.

"Mr. Potter, you need to calm down."

In the time it had taken Blaise to run to Severus' rooms, Harry's magic had built up and had started attacking the furniture in the dorm room. The other boys had quickly left, leaving Draco to try and calm the hysterical Harry down. Draco was the only one that Harry's magic didn't attack.

Severus hissed when the boy's magic slashed out again to keep him away. In his hand was a calming draught, but he couldn't even get close enough to magic the potion into Harry's stomach.

"Please Mr. Potter. I'm not going to hurt you." The potions master tried to gently coax Harry into a more stable state. "Everything will be alright."

"No it won't! It never is." Harry whispered between sobs. "They keep coming and coming! There's something strange about the last ones, they did something to the wards. The wards almost broke and I can feel them screaming! Where's Tom? I need Tom!"

The things the boy was saying made absolutely no sense, but Severus had practice dealing with the mad ramblings of the insane. At least the Potter boy wasn't cackling gleefully and casting a cruciatus ever five seconds.

"Get away from him."

"Tom!" Pure relief filled Harry when his bonded's magic filled every corner of the dorm room and cocooned around him tightly. The nightmare that Harry could not shake, even while he was awake, started to finally clear from his mind as Tom knelt down next to Harry and began petting his hair.

Severus looked at his Lord in disbelief. How had he gotten into Hogwarts so quickly and when the wards were at their strongest at night? The older teen arched a brow at Severus and twitched his head toward the door to tell him silent to leave. Severus did so with a small nod and bow.

"Draco, thank you for keeping Harry company until I could get here." Tom didn't look away from Harry, but he spoke to the youngest Malfoy all the same.

When Harry had first started screaming in his sleep, Draco had woken up and gone instantly to his friend. He hadn't really noticed when Harry had called Draco by his grandfather's name. Now that Harry was calming down, Draco was starting to connect the dots of what had just happened.

"He called me Abraxas." Draco's voice was hushed as he watched the man that his father had befriended rock Harry in his arms.

Tom stilled and he glanced at Draco sharply. They still hadn't told him about who he and Harry were.

"Tom?" Harry's timid and tired voice pulled their attention back to him. "Where's Ladon? I can't...I can't remember…" His mind was still foggy from the nightmare, but he was slowly coming back to himself.

Tom swallowed hard and he took a deep steadying breath. When they'd first arrived in Harry's original time, they had been too stressed and too busy to at first notice what they were missing. Ladon and Ophion had been resting in their dorm rooms the day Dumbledore had attacked them. They were old for snakes, their constant contact with magic had lengthened their lives, but they still tired easily.

"They weren't with us when we," Tom cleared his throat and glanced again at Draco. "When we left home."

The boy in his arms blinked several times, but Tom watched as total clarity finally came to Harry. He heard Harry whimper and sob softly as he remembered that their family had all been left behind in the past.

Harry and Tom were alone now. Their family were all dead and in the past, only a few of their friends remained and they were all so aged. Harry hadn't even gotten the chance to speak with Eileen and he wasn't even sure if he should and risk her cover.

"What's going on?"

With Harry finally wide awake and free of the nightmare vision, he blinked up at Draco and saw him for who he really was. "I'm so sorry Draco!" Harry hurriedly said with a gasp and he realized he had mistaken his new friend for his older Brother.

"This weekend, Draco, you and Harry will be coming to Hogsmeade. I think it's time for you to be told the truth." Tom's words were steady and strong. Draco needed to know the truth so he could help protect Harry if something like this happened again.

"Now then...Harry, tell me what happened?"

Harry whimpered and he buried his nose into Tom's sleeping shirt. He must have woken Tom up through their bond and had called to him with his magic. Tom must have apparated into Hogwarts using the Founders magic that he had access to.

"The war...I dreamt of the war." Harry's voice broke and he tried to swallow the sob. "We never did learn about what happened after we left…"

It was obvious that Britain had survived the muggle WW2 and had rebuilt itself once the fighting had stopped. "I'll get some history books and give them to you this weekend." Tom gently pressed his lips to Harry's temple. "The war is over now Harry. Those visions are just nightmares now. They can't hurt you."

"I know." Harry whispered tiredly. "But magic will always remember what happened Tom. As long as magic remembers, I have no choice to remember as well."

The three teens were silent after that for a long time. Eventually Tom called Severus back into the room and was handed a vial of dreamless sleep. Harry was reluctant to swallow it down, but Tom coaxed him into taking it.

Harry fell off to sleep again while Severus used his magic to fix up the room that Harry's magic had practically torn apart.

The other boys were allowed to return to their beds, each glancing worriedly at Harry before slipping their bed curtains shut again.

Severus and Tom left the Slytherin dorms and the two of them went to the potions master personal chambers.

"I think for the next few nights Harry should be given a dreamless sleep." Tom instructed his follower. "It's obvious the stress of dealing with Dumbledore has weakened his occlumency shields. His nightmares haven't been this bad in years."

"Of course my Lord." Severus kept his eyes downcast as he listened to his young Lord speak. Even after reacquainting himself with Tom Riddle, currently known as Tom Peverell, during the summer Severus still couldn't get over the fact that his Dark Lord was barely old enough to be out of Hogwarts.

"And Severus?" Tom waited until the dark eyed man looked up at him. "I know you're doing your best at protecting Harry from Dumbledore. I thank you for that, but we need to start the next phase of our plan."

Severus' eyes went wide, but he nodded all the same. They had been planning on starting the next phase of their plans in October or early November. It was barely a week into term.

Tom knew exactly what was going through his followers mind. "With the Triwizard Tournament happening this year and how sensitive Harry's magic is right now...I have a feeling something bad is going to happen."

Harry only ever had visions like that when he was stressed or when his magic was reacting to something else going on. Normally Harry's occlumency shields kept his mind safe at night from nightmares and visions.

If something really was about to happen, then they needed to move up their time table. For Harry's safety, Dumbledore needed to be made a laughing stock to the magical community. People needed to lose faith in the old man so that when Tom took his rightful place in the Wizengamot, the old goat wouldn't be able to fight back.

"Start gathering memories from people who have seen Dumbledore harassing Harry. Once you have all you need, send them to Lucius. He'll know what to do."

Severus bowed to the teen Lord before him. Even though he looked so very young, Severus could only see the regal and powerful Dark Lord that Lucius Malfoy had always dreamt and talked about.

"As you command, My Lord."

A/N: Here ya go. Chapter 32. I'll start working on the next one.