Harry Potter And The Breeding Darkness

Chapter 24

Harry spent a couple hours in his and Tom's bedroom reading while he waited for his past self and his lover to come back from Azkaban with the Death Eaters. He felt the wards alert him when everyone began returning to the abbey, and sat reading for another hour after that waiting until he could tell that his other self had left the abbey. By that time, Harry's eyes were drooping and he was fighting the need to sleep, but was determined to stay up until Tom went to bed.

He left his and Tom's room, slipping his glamour ring on as he walked, and made his way through the west wing to the first floor, through the entry hall, into the east wing, and up to the infirmary where he knew Tom was. He had with him a self-inking quill and one of his bound notebooks so he could make note of any of the things he would need to be addressing the next day in regards to the new still-unmarked escapee recruits.

He strode into the infirmary and saw Tom, or rather, Voldemort, standing off to the side by Barty and the two Death Eaters who were assigned to guard the unmarked escapees for the night. Voldemort's head rose and as their eyes met he smirked.

"Welcome back, love," Voldemort said with a vicious smirk and Harry grinned widely. A small thrill shot through him at being called that in front of any of the Death Eaters. Part of him still had trouble believing that the Death Eaters now knew the nature of he and Tom's relationship. Even though they still didn't realize who exactly Harry really was, this was still one step closer to really being out.

Harry couldn't help but notice the wide-eyed double-take one of the guard Death Eaters did in response to Voldemort's greeting to 'Evan'. The other hid his reaction better, but his brows still rose into his hairline a bit and his eyes danced between Harry and the Dark Lord with something akin to shock. They'd been at the festival, seen the two kiss, and dance later in the banquet hall, but it was no doubt still difficult to truly grasp the concept of their Lord being in a romantic relationship with anyone. He didn't exactly come off as a loving person when with his Death Eaters.

One of the very few people who did know who Harry really was, was presently giving him another pointed look. Barty was standing beside the two guard Death Eaters and looking at Harry with an air of curious amusement. Harry dodged his gaze and refocused on the Dark Lord.

"How were the... reactions?" Voldemort asked with a smirk, Harry knew he was referring to how the the Prophet and the populace of Hogwarts had reacted the morning the attack had been announced – something which Harry had experienced even though it hadn't actually happened yet – stupid, confusing, time travel...

Harry snickered. "Amusing."

"I'll bet. You'll tell me more later."

"Of course."

Harry continued striding forward and looked around the packed room, focusing on the side of the room that held only the unmarked escapees. "Do we know any of their names yet?"

Barty stepped forward and pointed at the first cot. "That one is Louie de la Pole. Next is Terance Deverux, then Eli Ferrers, Silas Fairfax, Tate Dudley, we don't know her name yet, she passed out the second we put her on a bed and the healer doesn't want to risk waking her yet. Next is Elijah Herbert, Silvia Fiennes, and Jackson Montague."

Harry was writing in his notebook while Barty spoke and nodded his head when he was done. "Good. I'll go through the prisoner files we got from Vass on the high security ward and pick out the ones we got." He looked over at Voldemort. "Are we going to mark them in the morning?"