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The clean up of the Chamber was done in quick order, the Goblins wondering what to do with the Basilisk's body. For one as ancient as this one, just a scale would make them a fortune, but they could get too deep, they remember that there were surviving members of the Slytherin Line and thus they still had ownership of the Creature's remains. They grumbled a bit, but instead set to work preserving it for now. Amelia hissed as Severus finished casting a bandaging charm on her ribs, her other men, those who survived the fight, that is, were all in similar states of half mummy cosplay while the children were sat at the heart of their group. Ms. Weasley was still suffering from whatever happened to her and thus passed out about a few minutes after she had woken up. Mr. Weasley passed out as well, his nerves shot after the adrenaline had finally ran its course.
Mr. Potter, the poor dear had cried himself to sleep and young Mr. Snape was stubbornly fighting off the urge to sleep, growling whenever someone mentioned how tired he looked. Amelia found it amusing as Lucius and Dolohov just leaned back to back, wands in hand, keeping guard in case something else decided to pop up, but they highly doubted that. Amelia got up, hissing as she put strain on some of her injuries to do so.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost: an excellent job well done. Have our dead been gathered? Good, let's grab the children and get out of here..." Amelia says and they all nod.
Lucius goes to pick up Harry, ignoring Tom's growling and hissing, nestling Harry into his chest, the boy still holding onto the egg that Aldeztaile had given him while Dolohov picks up the Weasley children and Severus cocks a brow at his son, who refuses to be picked up, but at least holds his mother's hand as they begin making their way out. When they are at the tunnel leading up to the school, Tom hisses out:
"§Moving Stairs...§" and stairs appear from the walls of the pipe, perfectly dry and then Severus steps onto the first step and the stairs start moving like an escalator, Tom gets on with his mother, Lucius and Dolohov behind them as the others slowly get on and it is only a few short minutes later that they are back in the school proper and the entrance seals shut.
"Huh?" Amelia blinks and frowns confused for a moment, looking around the hallway that they were all standing in, not remembering how they got there.
"Do not try to recall the Chamber. Lord Slytherin would have placed protections up, only those of his line or who are Parselmouthes will be able to recall everything." Severus tells her when he noticed that she and the others, minus the Goblins, seemed to be wondering where they had been. They clearly recall a great chamber, water, fighting the Mog-Lathar and the Basilisk that died protecting them, but they could not recall how to get to the Chamber or exacting details. "The rumors of his paranoia seem to be true."
"Indeed... But that won't affect our report because it was ancient Magic that did it. Let's get to the Hospital Wing now..." Dolohov huffs out, hoisting the Weasley children a bit higher up. They were not little kids and they were quite heavy.
Everyone nodded and started trekking out...
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Harry whimpers softly as he awakens, Tom is curled up on the bed with him, there is a large egg, about the size of an American football, between them. The Alpha is awake, his deep blue eyes watching Harry calmly. There is muffled voices on the other side of the curtains, he can just barely see his Uncle Lucius's back where he was blocking the entrance to his curtained off room.
"Shh, it's alright, Mama's just yelling at Headmaster Dumbledore..." Tom assures him. "He wants to expel me, but only suspend both you and Weasel for two weeks. 'The Weasleys would be more than happy to house Harry during that time.' Mama's less then pleased."
Harry slowly sits up and then after taking a few sips of water to fortify his emotions, Enperadorea was curled at the foot of the bed and had a very depressed feel to his aura as Naragi was coiled at the ready to strike not to far from beside Lucius as Nagini was perched on the headboard, she looked glum as well. Aldeztaile's death was hitting them hard, but Naragi, a well rounded and adjusted Familiar, was channeling her grief into protective aggression. They look to him when he slips off the bed and puts his slippers on.
He's hugging the egg still, Tom wrapping his own bathrobe over the smaller male, when he sees him shiver in the chilly air. They walk up to Lucius's back and Harry touches his hip.
"Hadrian!?" He gasps, startled slightly. He's got a few bandages wrapped over his left arm and shoulder, a plaster on his right cheek and a couple of butterfly stitches over his brow.
His uncle had been mostly protecting the groups during the fight, his Draconian nature made him much hardier, though he had to be super careful to not alert the human Magicals of his Creature status. He might have taken a bit more damage than he meant to, but thankfully, he has a reputation in the dueling rings, not on the National Level like Severus, but enough so that he could cast powerful shields and reduce the damage taken by at the very least ¼, depending on the power of the spell. Harry gives him a small, if wan smile and slips against him in a half hug, nuzzling the dragon, who croons lowly, petting his Hatchling's head before he glares at the other adults in the room sensing a shift in the tension.
"Hadrian?" Severus asks, moving over with the potions he had been bringing up for the children, but got pulled into Albus's stupid political power plays and mind games. He's got a few bandages on his arms and a couple on his face from debris. "Should you be up?"
"I'm okay, Professor. You kept us safe and Aldez... Aldeztaile made sure we didn't get hurt either." Harry choked on her name, hugging the egg a bit tighter. "What's going on? How is Ms. Weasley?" He wonders.
"Harry, dear, you can call her Ginny, you know?" Mrs. Weasley titters softly, all aflutter about what her daughter and son had told her. Harry Potter had gone to save her little girl! He was starting to smarten up! He even offered to help her Ronnie! Though she was mighty miffed at her baby girl being in danger.
"Mrs. Weasley, I am only being respectful since I do not know Ms. Weasley on a personal level like I know some of my few female friends, to be calling her by name." Harry informs her politely and she cannot even muster the indignation at Harry stating that he does not know her Ginny as well as he should. No matter, they were arranged to be married after all, so there was plenty of time for him to get to know her Ginny on a personal level! "Madam Bones, I am sorry for not informing you sooner or waiting for you to help us properly. However, time was very limited and Mr. Weasley would have run off to try and save his sister without knowing where she is or how to get to her even if he did figure it out eventually. By then it would have been too late."
"Yes, what you boys did was dangerous, but considering where it was hiding and even if we did manage to track it down, there was no guarantee that we would have been on time and even with all of us casting our best and most powerful spells, we didn't even chip the armor of the Mog-Lathar." She admits, nodding her own head in acknowledgment and agreement.
"What you did not know is that it was planning to devour Ms. Weasley's soul to then transfer itself into her body and take over it so it could use her to lure in more victims to devour as well as picking out choice carriers for the souls of the other Mog-Lathars it was going to bring into our world from the Spectral Dimension. It then took an interest in me because I could speak to it and it threatened to simply eat Ms. Weasley and either take over Mr. Weasley's body or Tom's since it realized with a female body it would likely not work for whatever it was planning." Harry informs them and everyone pales.
Dumbledore was mentally cursing. Perhaps he had been too hasty to allow a Petrified Spider into his school, though he was upset that the body was left in the Chamber and none of the adults remember where it was located or what it looked like other than large, cold, wet and a lot of snakes. They couldn't tell him what the rocks looked like, mineral deposits or if there was a natural water spring or was it being fed in from somewhere! They did mention pipes and he had double checked the school's old schematics. He found that there were several deep subterranean pits that acted as waste pits where the pipes dump the collective waste of the entire school and once a week a group of House Elves will carefully burn the gathered filth.
And believe him, he's gone to look a few times himself as well as having the Dumbledore House Elf go scourer each pit to make sure there are no hidden chambers in or around them. He never wants to experience that ever again. He tunes back in as Harry finishes explaining about the Basilisk that lived in the chamber, how she had been running around freely in HIS school for the last few months trying to track the Mog-Lathar and end it before it became a threat, but it always managed to evade her, but she had felt like it was being helped to avoid her. Dumbledore either wanted to praise his little Minion, or kill him for his brilliance!
"She had remained wholly out of our fight, but joined at the last moment why?" Amelia asks softly, she knows how upset the boy was over the great Snake's death. "Did she know it would kill her?"
"Yes... She was actually chasing it around before you arrived, but quickly hid because she didn't want you guys accidentally killing her thinking she was a threat. According to her, she is Lord Slytherin's appointed Guardian for the school. There are three others who are guarding the school even now. She lived for over 1000 years here, but she had been steadily sleeping longer and longer, she was going to die eventually and she felt that she might as well take the Mog-Lathar with her. She would not have been able to forgive herself if another student had died under her watch. She used a technique used only by a specific breed of Basilisk to paralyze the Mog-Lathar long enough to crack and eventually break its exoskeleton. Once she did that, you easily killed it." Harry explains, sniffling sadly even as he hugged the egg under Tom's robe.
"Thank you for explain that for us, Mr. Potter." She smiles softly. "And thank you for getting us into the Chamber to rescue Ms. Weasley, we owe you a debt."
"No need!" Harry flushes and shakes his head. "We broke the rules, we didn't tell a trust worthy adult! Professor Snape figured out that we would sneak off and caught us as we were pushing Professor Lockhart towards the entrance! Kidnapping a professor is very bad, like all three of us should be expelled level of bad! It wouldn't be fair to harshly punish one of us and let the other two get off with fairly light punishments..."
"Indeed..." Lucius purrs, glaring at Dumbledore, who looked like he wanted to strangle his nephew. "And as Mr. Weasley had pointed out, 'Professor' Lockhart was packing up his things to run away when he and the other two boys found him. The man even fainted and had to be sent back!"
"I was able to call a House Elf into the chamber, but something seemed to cause the Elf to almost immediately pop off again, thankfully they heard my order before arriving and in the split second they had before the magic of the chamber forced them to leave, they grabbed Lockhart. I had meant for the children to be teleported out as well, but when I tried calling for an Elf again, nothing happened. It seems they were locked out or an ancient ward activated to keep them out." Severus lies easily enough. "But agreed, a world renowned 'Hero' making a run for it is not a good sign... and the fact the dolt is still passed out, is rather annoying."
"Indeed, Lord Malfoy, as Head of the Board, what will the Governors be doing about this?" Amelia asks.
"Unfortunately, since the Headmaster personally invited him to teach, he was not hired through the Department of Magical Education. And when we asked what could be done about him. He has no certifications for teaching, almost half of his students opted out of his lessons for self study instead and we would have been able to appeal to the House of Lords to have him removed, however we ended up using the meeting for that to get permission to hunt the Mog-Lathar and be allowed to use the Unforgivables if needed to get rid of it." Lucius sighs. "And before you ask, I had already spoken with the DME higher ups and they told me if we missed the meeting, we would need to wait three more months to appeal to the House of Lords to have him removed, assuming he has not shaped up by then or done something to get him fired and/or arrested. 'Perhaps the Curse will get him if you are truly lucky.' Madam Marchbanks had said before the office closed for the Hols."
".... Great." Amelia groans, she was already gonna be swamped in paperwork, with this Hunt of hers, now she will need to do a formal investigation into Lockhart and his activities to see why he was hired and how to get rid of him before he ruins anymore of the students who remained in his classes.
"I will be sure to tell the dithering dolt he's on thin ice and if he wants to keep his current job and 'possibly' be invited back next year as the professor, he will need to shape up." Severus drawls darkly. "He has admitted he had no idea it was so difficult to teach and there have been a few... useful lessons, though far and in between."
"Fine. I will do what I can to help sort this out, though as the Defense Professor and attempting to run away will definitely get you several votes in favor for removing him. And for someone who has faced Harpies, Werewolves and Banshees, he faints like a wilting lily. Granted it was a Titan Class monster with a double X (X=10, so it has a 10-10, or 20 rating on the danger scale) rating meaning: Kill on Sight, but that would be lovely if we could kill the damned thing in the first place without getting arrested!" Madam Bones huffs as the other Adults grumble their agreement.
"Alright, enough talk, bed, all of you! Harry, dear, would you care for some warm milk and honey to help you get back to sleep?" Madam Pomfry asks softly and he nods his head. "Mr. Snape?"
"Thank you, ma'am." He agrees and pulls Harry back towards the bed they had been sharing, Lucius going in to make sure they both got comfy, giving Tom the side eye the whole way as he snuggled against Harry before the Matron came in with two steaming mugs of warm milk, honey and a pinch of nutmeg!
Dumbledore hurried up to his office to try and get a jump on salvaging the situation. This could be considered a major fuck up, but thankfully because the Committee had been with him most of the night, they saw him working 'diligently' to find the threat to his students and be rid of it. Though, he doubts it will be enough. He would need to punish all three boys fairly because he will not be able to sway over half the Board, who had shown up to help hunt, into voting how he wants them too. If one of the three boys is expelled then all three of them would be. He could not afford for Ron Weasley to be booted from his school because he needed the boy to help mould Harry into what he needs him to be. And he most definitely could not lose Harry fucking Potter! His plans were so intricately woven around the child that if he were to be removed, they would all collapse and unravel beyond his control.
Dumbledore could not lose control. He would rather kiss Voldemort on the mouth than lose that! Ginerva had time to work her way into Harry's social circle and later his heart, even after they are married when he turns 17 and she is 16, she can work on making him love her! He hides his smirk at the iron clad marriage contract he made to keep the Potter brat essentially enslaved to Ginerva and thus himself and should anyone suddenly grow a pair of brain cells, he is a perfectly legal hostage and cannot be removed from his marriage by any means but death! And even then everything belonging to the brat would be Dumbledore's!
But those were thoughts to pleasure himself to later, right now he needed to figure out how to save his own ass from this mess as well as figure out how to get to the Chamber of Secrets! He can use the Mog-Lathar's body for armor and a few special ritual items and the Basilisk's corpse will certainly come in handy as well, and what's left will get him more than just a pretty penny, after all it was over 1000 years old. Thankfully, Dumbledore has so many friends and fools indebted to him...
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In the end, the Ron and Harry have two month's detention and about three months of helping Mr. Filch with cleaning up the castle, while Tom got a month and half of detention, mostly because he had been hospitalized and was still in recovery, though he had the same three months of chores with Ron and Harry. While not completely equal, it was understandable. The teachers broke the detentions up between the Four Heads of House for a week each, which they had give the boys assignments or tasks to complete in that time. The first two weeks Ron and Harry spent together, though they didn't talk much. Ron was still feeling the high of having brewed a high level potion that not even Potter had brewed before!
It also helped that he was suddenly very popular in Gryffindor when it got out that he fought a double X class Creature that had somehow gotten into the castle and nearly at his baby sister. Ginny certainly spun that yarn for all it was worth, getting free presents and attention. Fred, George and Percy kept a very close eye on their siblings, to make sure Ginny wasn't kidnapped again or that Ron ran off into danger yet again. Whenever the Twins could get away with, they hovered over their favorite group of second years, especially Harry, who had to rescue their younger siblings twice!
As any secret at Hogwarts, it didn't stay secret for long and soon the whole school had heard. Harry was stressed out because now everyone wanted to stare at him, fawn on him or even touch him like he was some sacred relic or a holy figure. It put Tom on edge, the newly minted Alpha's eyes were almost always red with his annoyance and anger whenever people got too close. Though there were still plenty that blamed the attacks on Harry or thought he was trying to again attention. Lockhart was another one walking a fine line because the next morning when he woke up, Lucius delivered a letter from the Board of Governors and told him that he had better shape up or he will be out on his arse before Easter.
Amelia also delivered her own warning that if he leaves, she will have him pulled in for questioning. The implied 'World Class Hero', and please tone the lovely dose of sarcasm, in her tone made him feel like she had cotton on to what he was doing and that if he leaves, she will know for sure that he is guilty. So he didn't have much choice. He thankfully found some old lesson plans and after some finagling, he managed a half decent lesson. The only good thing for him is that Harry Potter, due to his rather uncharacteristic misbehavior lost his self study privileges and now had to come back to Defense lessons until after his punishments are over.
So in other words, things were back to normal. Well as normal as it ever gets at Hogwarts. Without the threat of the Mog-Lathar looming over their heads anymore, the teachers were able to focus finally on finding a way to revive the students. Hopefully they weren't too late...
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Harry stood outside of the classroom, he still had about five minutes before he was due for detention. If he waited 10 minutes, he would be officially late. Normally, Harry would not mind being early, but because the Mandrakes were finally ready for harvesting, almost all the teachers with high Herbology scores and were at least maintaining their mandatory Potion license to help brew the restorative potions to revive the those still in the Hospital Wing. And of course that meant someone else had to take Harry's detention for the night. However, there weren't many teachers left to take over his detention since some of them had to House sit the common rooms, and keep the media hounds out of the school.
Harry wouldn't have minded if someone else took his detention, but sadly there was only two teachers available and he's never met Professor Trelawney and thus had no idea where to find her. So that meant he had to come here. To Professor Lockhart. Harry shivers and shakes himself because he shouldn't be scared of the man anymore, he's been rather busy actually teaching and getting materials together for his lessons. Not to mention him fainting and breaking not only his nose, but his prized smile as well had kinda ruined things. But that creeping feeling was back, the hair on the back of his neck kept rising and he was having phantom sensations, voices from his memories whispering in his ears.
'No! Focus... Enperadorea's only getting himself some dinner and then he will be here with me... I can handle 5, 10 minutes without him.' Harry thinks, trying to fight away the memories. Raising his hand he knocks on the door and walks in, he blinks seeing Daphne sitting at a desk with a huge pile of papers next to her.
"Daphne?" He blinks.
"I called Lavender a vapid moron and she accused me of threatening her. Madam Hooch gave me detention because Lavender's friends all vouched for the bubble brained idiot." She huffs. "So hear I am. Professor Lockhart is making me help with his autographs. You will probably get roped into it as well."
Harry and Daphne roll their eyes because even though Lockhart's lessons have been actually educational, they still believed he's an airhead. Personally, Daphne would rather Harry be teaching the class, he's certainly more educated on the very Creatures that the lessons cover and how best to hand a situation with them. Professor Snape had told the Slytherins what had happened, though he obviously had to omit some things because Madam Bones said it was still an open case. They know that if it hadn't been for both Harry and Tom's ability to speak Parseltongue, Weaslette would have died and the school would have been permanently shut down and there was a high chance many lives would have been lost.
Harry had been the one to figure out that it was the Petrified Spider, heck she feels sorry because he's never been afraid of spiders before, but now he's a bit... skittish. Harry just smiles at her and she gives a soft one back, she cannot ruin her reputation as the Ice Queen of Slytherin; at least when there is a chance that someone outside of her circle of friends, could walk in on her being soft.
"Ah, Harry, my dear boy! Welcome, please come sit, sit... I have to finish my lesson plan for the morning, but why not help Ms. Greengrass with these." Lockhart says, setting down another pile of photos and handing him one of the specially made quills that will sign in his handwriting regardless of who writes it. "Now to work, darling boy!"
Harry valiantly hid his flinch, but apparently not as well as he had hoped because as soon as Lockhart went back up to his room, where he had been before Harry came in, Daphne gently touches his shoulder.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?" He gives her a small smile, that if she hadn't seen his flinch just seconds ago, she would not have thought twice that something was bothering him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah... just... just not fond of certain... endearments..." He says and quickly busies himself with filling signing the photos.
Daphne wants to ask about it, but gets back to work. Time moves by in a slow crawl, but at some point Lockhart had come down and moved to his desk and was writing at it. Neither of the Slytherins bothered to look up or ask him about it, he did mumble about something for a lesson plan every now and again, perhaps a few practice runs on some of the spells because mispronunciation has caused untold horrors and accidents since the beginning of magic. Harry knows why Hermione had stressed it last year to Weasley, but the boy hadn't cared and had made her feel bad. Harry shivers a bit at the memory of the Troll incident.
"Oh, I didn't realize it was that drafty! I will stoke the fire and prepare some tea, shall I? Take a small break, children, you still have another hour and half of detention left." Lockhart said startling them.
Harry blinks owlishly, his vision a bit warped form the hyper focus on the papers in front of him. Daphne seemed to have the same issue because she was rubbing at her eyes and grumbling about her neck and shoulders being stiff. The room wasn't really cold, but thankfully the small break will spare them some carpel tunnel. Soon the blonde man brought over two mugs of some nice smelling tea.
"A lavender and honeysuckle blend for Ms. Greengrass and for you, my dear Harry, a lovely blend that I personally make! It's a bit bitter, but it does wonders to calm the mind and warm the bones! Figured you'd need it since you shivered so much just now." the man says and turns back to the fireplace to toss in a few more logs just to make sure the room was sufficiently warm and then puttered around making sure the windows were properly closed.
The two children were sipping at their tea, chatting softly, mostly about what notes they would need to copy from who since they missed their usual study group tonight with their friends in Hufflepuff. Daphne soon gave a long yawn, shaking her head afterwards.
"Daphne?" Harry asks, and frowns because his mouth felt a bit funny, like it was half asleep. He leaned forward to touch his friend's shoulder, but he almost pitched himself out of his seat because suddenly he felt very weak and dizzy.
"H- Harry... I- I think... drugged..." She slurred and soon passed out, falling out of her chair.
"Oh, dear, poor girl..." Lockhart's voice coos and it doesn't sound the least bit concerned for the girl. "But finally, we can spend some quality alone time, my darling boy... You are the slippery little snake, but I am the determined falcon and finally I have caught you..."
"Wh- what--?"
"Oh just some Dreamless sleep for Ms. Greengrass, she will sleep until morning, which is good because she is a very pretty young lady and I've been dying to get a taste, but it is you who I've wanted to have for a long time... Do not fear, it's only a mild Weakness potion. You will remain conscious, but you won't be able to fight me or use magic for a few hours..."
"I- I will t-tell..." Harry tries to raise his voice and doesn't rise more than a half choked whisper, due to both how weak he feels and his growing fear, the memories are coming back in full force, the phantom sensations, the voices, everything! He wants to cover his ears and hide, he remembers the beatings when his Uncle found out he might be an Omega, but when a few of those men offered money, the beatings had somewhat stopped, nothing too damaging, not that it stopped the scarring he already had from before.
"Tell who? And what would you tell them? You see, one of the reasons I'm as successful as I am is because I'm particularly gifted with Memory charms and with only a swish of my wand and a single ward, I can wipe your memories." Lockhart chuckles darkly. "Now then, Incarcerous."
Harry yelps as he is wrapped up in robes, wiggling futilely to get free or to escape. He looked around, wondering where Enperadorea was, he should have been there long before now!
"Oh, are you looking for that oversized pair of shoes? I may have left some special rats roaming around and if that big snake of yours ate one of them, it will sleep until at least tomorrow afternoon, but if it ate more than one, there is a very high chance it will slip into a coma and die. And the best part, my darling boy? When it dies, it won't hurt you in any form because it will be a 'natural' death." Lockhart grins cruelly and Harry whimpers, tears filling his eyes. "Now then, let's have some fun, pet..."
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Tom had finished his detention with Professor Gabbling, wondering why Harry hadn't been there when he knows they both got the same notes earlier. He asked the older woman, who told him the only other two teachers that were free right now were Professor Trelawney and Lockhart. Harry wouldn't know where to find Professor Trelawney, not like the woman ever really makes herself known to the rest of the school outside of the Welcoming and Leaving feasts held at the start and end of the school year. So the only other teacher who could have taken his detention was Lockhart.
"Professor Gabbling... I do not mean to rude, but I think you need to come with me to restrain Professor Lockhart." He says and she looks shocked at first, mouth opening likely to scold him, but then she notices the minute ticks of an anxious Alpha and she gets up, grabbing her wand and a Muggle purse for whatever reason.
They hurry towards the Defense Hall and there laying unmoving was Enperadorea. Naragi and Nagini were trying to rouse him, but he would not wake.
"Oh no!" The woman gasps, she knows that this particular snake is Mr. Potter's familiar and if he was in this state, something bad must have happened. She rushes over and sees a half digested rat, clearly spat out and she winces. Her Muggle brother raises snakes to farm their venom so hospitals can make anti-venom in the even it is ever needed. While she knows a snake will vomit the remains of their meal, the parts that they could not digest, it is normally a much smaller size and causes less stress on their bodies. But a half digested meal? The poor thing must be in pain and feeling quite miserable! "Oh...." She didn't like how unnaturally still he was.
"...." Tom's eyes were wide, his face pale and then bolted down the hall to Lockhart's classroom before the woman can say anything or react.
She looked at the snake and hurried after the boy, if the snake was dead there was little she can do for it, but there was a chance to save the student. She hurries and gasps seeing Tom trying to rouse one of his fellow housemates, the girl left where she had clearly fallen, her skirt flipped up and her legs splayed in an unladylike manner.
"Oh!!" She quickly sends off a Message Charm, demanding help. As Tom, looks around and does not see Harry or Lockhart, but then a muffled scream was heard from the door at the top of the small stairs and he rushes up them, slamming his shoulder into the door when it would not open.
"Harry!! Harry!!!" Tom screams, banging on the door.
"Help!!" Harry's voice is terrified and so small, he could barely hear it.
"Damn it!" Tom grabs the handle, bracing one foot on the stone frame of the door and begins to pull on it, cursing that oak wood was so damn strong without magic and practically unbreakable with it.
He keeps pulling and pulling until he has to stop. Glancing back at Gabbling, he sees she is distracted still trying to rouse Daphne. So he quickly allows his Creature side to take over, using his claws he starts to carve at the wood around the handle and the spot closest to the jam, carefully adding small doses of his acidic venom from his claws to eat at the wood, weakening it. When he thinks he got it soft enough, he steps back and using the the knockback charm, he sends the bust of Lockhart into the spot and it breaks the door open finally. He rushes in, dropping into a slide on his knees and flinging his torso back, just barely dodging whatever hex the bastard had sent at him, quickly flinging himself to the side, dodging another spell, rolling until he got behind a desk. The spells kept coming, which made peeking around his hiding spot difficult, that is until he spotted several mirrors.
'Thank the gods the man was a narcissist', he thought bitterly before using a mirror to see where he was, he pokes out of a corner and sends three stinging hexes and the Batboogey jinx at him, catching the man off guard before he jumps up and charges the man, tackling him as hard as he could off the bed where he had Harry naked, tied to the bed and he had no idea what he was trying to do, but Tom saw red. He only saw a threat, heard the terrified sobs and whimpers from Harry behind him and the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears as he begins to punch the adult, dodging around his swings, but not getting away fully unscathed.
Spitting blood out, he snarls, hissing darkly at the older Alpha, who growls back, his eyes a pale red, meaning he was a weakling. Tom's eyes were as red as blood rubies, and glowed like hellfire as he kept himself between the threat and his friend.
"I don't have time for this! Avad—"
"Expelliarmus!!" someone shouted from the door way at the same time that Tom dove at the Alpha again.
Lockhart's wand went flying from both the disarming spell and being tackled. Tom grabbed the man's wand arm and wrapping his legs over the shoulder joint and his arms over the forearm and wrist, he flung himself as far back as he could, and the loud, satisfying snap of the man's arm breaking in his grip made him purr in dark pleasure before he let go and began to kick him in the stomach as much as he could before someone grabbed Tom and pulled him off.
"Easy, my prince... the Fool is here..." a voice he somewhat recognizes breaks through the haze.
"...rian?" He croaks out past a hiss.
"The queen is look at him..." the voice assures and he is turned to see that indeed his mother has untied Harry, has wrapped him up in his robe, the man looks paler than he's ever seen him and there is a furious growl before several people are shouting and struggling to keep Uncle Lucius from entering the room. Madam Bones quickly hits him with both a full body bind and three stunners before he finally goes down, but even then his severely pissed off growling can still be heard.
Tom focuses on his mother and Harry, the man keeping the child covered and moves only when Professor McGonagall comes, taking off her own cloak and draping it over the younger Omegas and with Professor Sprout's help, ushers them from the room. It is only once Harry is away from the danger that Tom finally calms, his world shifting back to color and it is dizzying.
"Good, my prince... rest now..." he feels a wand tip against his neck and before he can react, he's asleep...
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Dolohov huffs tiredly as he slings Tom's body over his shoulder, the kid was too fucking strong for a newly made Alpha and being 13 years old. He knows that his Lord was a Naga and they were notoriously strong, but his brat? Much stronger, it felt like he was wrestling with Lucius. Speaking of the Alpha Drake, he is glad to see that Shacklebolt and some of his fellow Knights had finally dragged him out of the room. And thankfully Alpha Rages were known for giving an Alpha a boost in power and strength when triggered, so no one will realize he is a Creature as long as you don't look at the fine swirls of ice and frost that had started to creep around the door frame.
"Gilderoy Lockhart, you are under arrest for kidnapping, sexual harassment of a minor and once I get the results of the medical exams, both attempted and actual rape of a minor. Also drugging two unpresented Magical Children with the intent to molest and rape." Amelia growls out, her scent changing from the honey and honeysuckle scent he normally associates with her to mulch and burning sugar. "Dolohov, please hand Mr. Snape off to Mr. Filch and get that son of a bitch into irons. Don't be gentle about it. Headmaster, you invited this bastard here, so you had better have a fucking good reason for me to not toss your wrinkly old arse into High Security with him!"
"Yes... you see a good friend of mine had written a letter of recommendation for him and I had little reason to doubt him! Here is the letter, from the start of the year. However after the Chamber Incident, I wrote him again and he sent this not too long ago and I find myself distressed by it." Dumbledore says in that frail old grandfatherly tone that often fooled those who didn't have more than 5 brain cells to rub together.
"..." Amelia was someone who had more than 5 brain cells, but Dolohov knew there is a limit to what she can do and if the old fool has enough evidence to prove himself innocent, she will have no choice but to believe him.
It was looking like this is one of those situations. Dolohov quickly passes the passed out Alpha to the caretaker, who huffs at the boy's weight, but thankfully his assistants quickly take him from the older man and the three hurry out. Once that is done, Dolohov grabs the blond Alpha, not being gentle at all, by his broken arm and shoulder, impressed by the brat's quick thinking to break his wand arm, leaving him useless since almost 89% of Magicals the world wide strictly use their dominant hand. The remaining 11% are ambidextrous, which comes in handy when in a dangerous situation. Dolohov quickly cuffs and binds up the man, muzzling him just to not have to listen to his prattling, not that he had any hope of convincing them otherwise. He all but drags the man through the door.
"Oh and before I forget, if Enperadorea, Familiar of Heir Potter, dies, I will be tacking on murder of a Magical Familiar and attempted Murder of an Heir to an Ancient and Noble House!" Amelia calls out making the few men still their give a soft snort of mirthless amusement. Dolohov nods at Shacklebolt, who he knows was in the Order back during the war, but the two men a had mutual relationship built on respect and getting their jobs done effectively and within the confines of the law.
Said black man gives a grim nod and goes to keep guard over Amelia. She was a very formidable woman and many on all sides would love to get at her for one reason or another so between the two of them, they always try to make sure she was safe, not that she really needed protection. Badgers were a wiley bunch and she certainly proved that at times during sparring matches. Woe be to the fool who crosses wands with her...
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Severus hovered over Mind Healer Amber's shoulder as he was in a Legilimency Session with Hadrian. Narcissa was wringing her hands nervously, Artemis was at home being watched by Dobby and the other Elves since it was so late and she didn't have time to call anyone to properly babysit her chick. Lucius was sedated a couple of beds over with Tom next to him. Around them the students who had been petrified were being given the Restorative Potion, which Severus had thankfully finished only a handful of hours earlier. They would be on a strict three hour dose regimen until they woke up. The 'if they wake up' was left unsaid because Severus would be damned 1000x over before he had to explain to his Shadelings why one of their friends was never going to awaken again, never mind telling Mr. and Mrs. Granger that their daughter was gone.
Severus snaps at the stray thoughts, his anxiety making it hard to focus on the matter at hand which was allowing the Mind Healer to read Hadrian's mind in full. This was normally not allowed, not without express permission of both the guardians and the Healer's supervisor. However considering the situation, it was permissible. Severus had an inkling from Harry's first interaction with the man, how he had withdrawn and the night terrors, but as the boy had slowly gotten back to a normal pattern, he had hoped it was just a one off, but now? Now, he was berating himself for not stabbing the fool much sooner. He could always sneak into his cell and just kill him there, but now, death was a mercy.
Perhaps he can test that nightmare potion he was working on to torture traitors with? Yes, that sounds like it would be fun to watch. Perhaps he can get in to the bastard's head and setup a lovely little trigger and response net in his subconscious so whenever he things of the trigger, it results in the corresponding response. Like whenever he things of Hadrian, he is cock feels like it is being boiled in acid, shriveling like a tomato left in the sun for too long and then minced into teeny tiny pieces. He will even put in a second little suggestion to keep him thinking of the triggers so he suffers forever! He almost grins evilly at that, but thankfully Healer Amber's gasp as he surfaced distracted him.
"Healer Amber?" Narcissa asks, wringing her hands even more, her face pinched and pale. Her grayish brown eyes flicking between the man and her nephew, who was still unconscious.
"I'm... I'm alright... I just..." He gasps, rubbing his temples as he processes what he's seen, soothing the headache that was shadowing the memories he took into himself. Once he has them in order, he nods once and Severus points his wand to the man's temple and carefully pulls them free, feeding them into the vials he had set up earlier, copying them at least 4 each so if someone tries to brush this under the carpet in any way, they had back ups. Once he was done, Healer Amber sits up fully. "Thank you, Master Snape. If you or Lady Malfoy would be so kind as to put up a privacy barrier?"
Severus and Narcissa flick their wands in matching motions, moving in perfect sync with each other to opposite sides until the air around felt close and all sounds around them faded to nothing. Once that was done, they both look at him expectantly, Narcissa grabbing Severus's hand to both steady her own nerves and to keep the other Omega from going off on a murder spree, though she might let him do it anyway.
"Heir Potter's previous guardian, Vernon Dursley, has beaten him viciously since the Primary School did a pre-presentation test to see what the child's future designation was. Apparently, he's one of those view Omegas as useless and male Omegas as freaks of nature. But then he met so men who... have a taste for young boys. He would send his wife and their son out, but keep Heir Potter around for those 'business meetings' and allowed the men to watch and touch Heir Potter, calling him 'Darling boy', 'Sweet boy' and even 'Pet.' There were a view who even offered money to take Heir Potter's virtue after he represented if he was truly an Omega, one even wanted to buy him as his sex slave." Healer Amber says, his voice forcibly neutral, but you can hear the anger and disgust still in the Beta's voice.
"Oh dear Morgana...." Narcissa gasps, covering her mouth in horror.
"And Lockhart?" Severus growls out, his head bowed to hide the burning gold of his true eyes and the flickering of purple form his true gender.
"Lockhart molested him at the book signing when they were getting their picture taken. And has tried multiple times to corner Heir Potter throughout the school year, but was too busy or distracted to really try until tonight. He slipped Dreamless Sleep into Ms. Greengrass's tea and a Potion of Weakness into Heir Potter's. He was planning to rape both children and then erase their memories of the incident. He even drugged a number of rats hoping that Heir Potter's Familiar would eat more than one and die. It would count as a natural death, so the backlash would be minimal to Heir Potter and will not cause any catastrophic issues other than perhaps depression for a handful of years." Amber growls out, unable to maintain his professionalism in light of what he learned. "He stripped the boy down, bound him to his bed and had been in the process of rubbing a cream that mimics an Omega's Heat response to rile the child up. Young Mr. Snape's sudden barrage on the door distracted him, he began to gloat and taunt even as Heir Potter's weakened cries barely made it to the door. Heir Potter will likely be severely wary of Adult Males for a while after this incident, so please do not take offense and be sure that Lord Malfoy maintain his distance for the time being."
"Yes, thank you Healer Amber... You have my permission to share this information with Madam Bones, I have no doubt that she will ask for it shortly." Narcissa grants.
"I would have had to tell her regardless, but thank you for the permission, ma'am." He nods his head. "Now then, I have a report to start drafting and once my meeting with Madam Bones is over with, I have some steam to work off." The man growls darkly as he stands up, brushes off his robes and bows to the two before he leaves once the wards are dropped, only to see Madam Bones waiting on the other side of the screen.
"Excellent timing!" He gives a false cheerful tone, handing her one set of he memories he copied. "This is your set. I need to draft my report and make the copies for my superiors as well as for the Goblins since Lady Malfoy wishes for them to be made aware of the situation as well as aid in any way possible in dealing with the criminal."
"Thank you, Healer Amber, if I may accompany you and get your verbal report and once it is written a copy of that as well for my records?" Amelia asks.
"Certainly, Madam, this way please." He guides her to his temporary office and Severus closes the curtain, both him and Narcissa sitting on the chairs by the bed, looking at Harry's sleeping form, the pinched expression making both mothers furious and sorrowful for the child.
"Do not kill him, Severus." Narcissa hisses softly.
"Wasn't planning on it.. I will leave that pleasure for Lucius, his Alpha will not be satisfied by anything but the miserable pissant's life blood over his hands." Severus purrs darkly. "But I will be making what little time he has in this life as miserable as possible... DeMarcus is doing is best to treat Enperadorea. Why do these idiots always go for the snake? Granted I would rather the animal take the brunt of the abuse than Hadrian, but it is twice as bad on his emotional and mental stability."
"Indeed." She sighs, gently petting her nephew's head. "We didn't know... He didn't tell us..."
"It is not that he doesn't trust us. Children who have suffered abuse often omit things because they feel that it would change how they are viewed by others, or that they feel they deserved what happened. Hadrian's made remarkable recovery from the abuse that we had found almost two years ago, with little to no issues. He was bound to back slide at some point. We just weren't expecting... this." Severus explains. "And especially with sexual abuse, the victims are often made to feel that they asked for it happen, that it was their own fault for it to happen to them. And as such, they more often than not say nothing when they are being molested or attacked. In other cases they become hyper sexual and will seek out sex, even when it causes them pain."
"It's a form of self harm..." Narcissa gasps horrified, worried about how this will affect Harry.
"Yes. Though I am not sure if should be thankful that none of those who molested Hadrian never raped him or not. Since he never mentioned it, we do not know how he coped with it back then. Now we will have to watch him closely and try to rebuild his trust in Alphas as well as Adult males..." Severus sighs, rubbing his face. "How we are to do this is beyond what I know of abuse. My father only ever beat me and verbally abused me. He never once tried this and he was so ashamed of my being a wizard that my second gender was never a blip on his radar."
"I don't know either, but whatever happens, we will think of something... Oh! I almost forgot because of the Mog-Lathar and now this, but Sirius finally had his trial and he was proven innocent! He's been in rehabilitation since and he's showing great progress! He actually wrote me not too long ago requesting if it was possible for him to meet with Hadrian to introduce himself to him again. He said we can pick the time and place once summer has started. He also wants to meet with you sooner to speak privately." Narcissa says, Severus doesn't call her out on the poor Segway from their current topic to the new topic, but is thankful for it nevertheless.
"... I might need that talk, perhaps a duel with him would certainly help with my current mood... And we do have to try and get along for Hadrian's sake, I do not need Lily haunting me." Severus snorts softly.
"Indeed. Have the meeting in a Muggle location. It will force both of you to behave yourselves and talk like actual adults and not children. Just so you know, Remus will be with him... I know you're still wary around him."
"... Yes... But it wasn't Lupin's fault... He had already changed and had seen prey and acted accordingly..." Severus manages to rasp out around the knot of something that he refused to acknowledge as fear formed in his throat at the memory.
Narcissa gets up and hugs her friend and little brother in all but blood, he just leans on her for a moment to gather himself, but they pull apart and she is gently fussing with the blankets when the curtains open and Dumbledore pokes his head in, his expression twitches slightly seeing the two of them there. Both Omegas are thinking that the fool must have rotted his brain with all that sugar if they seriously thought they would leave Harry alone after what just happened. Narcissa would gladly roast everyone who came near her chick and Severus was the only thing keeping the Veela in check. But that the same time Naricssa knew she was keeping Severus from drowning everyone in their own shadows.
"Severus, my dear boy, it's time for the next round of potions." He tells the Potion Master, who sighs and gets up.
"Very well. Oh and Headmaster, I wouldn't waste my breath if I were you. Lady Malfoy is liable to curse first and sip tea after; she never asks." Severus warns and goes to help administer the potions.
Albus looks back at the Lady Malfoy, only to see her wand in her hand, the tip sparking softly as she taps it on her free palm, a finely plucked eyebrow cocked in challenge. Albus does not gulp nor does he speed walk out of there like the hounds of hell are on his heels. No, he realized his throat was very dry and he needed a nice long drink of tea and was walking at a brisk pace because he wanted to get to his tea before it got too cold. Not at all running from a Daughter of the House of Black, notoriously protective of her family and rumored to have stood toe to toe with her insane sister, Bellatrix LeStrange...
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Harry slowly woke up, at first he was in that haze of not sure where he was or what was happening but then it clicked and bolted upright. He looked around quickly and when he saw he was in the Hospital Wing, he calmed down. He closes his eyes and tries to re-order his thoughts. He had detention, he was with Daphne and they had spent almost three hours signing autographs before Pro- Lockhart offered them tea which he drugged. Daphne had passed out and Harry couldn't fight back, he was carried up to the man's room and had been tied to the bed. He starts to shiver, tears welling up in his eyes at the fear, the weakness and he covers his ears, counting to 1000 in his head, slowly. After that he thought of the names of every flower he can remember, what colors they came in and what each color meant.
He slowly released his head, looking up and seeing his aunt, he cannot help crying as she comes and hugs him. She coos and croons, petting his head. She promised him he was safe and that Lockhart was gone. He just purred and nuzzled into her neck, feeling better holding someone who loves him and will never hurt him. He sniffles and then starts to apologize for never mentioning about what Uncle Vernon use to do. About the 'dinner meetings' he hosted for certain clients. How the men always called him pretty and touched him. He admitted that he tried to tells someone once, but somehow Uncle Vernon heard about it and because some of the men wanted to 'buy' Harry, he had come up with new ways to punish Harry.
He admitted that his uncle had dunked his head into a large tub filled with water and held Harry under until he almost drowned several times. Narcissa held him the whole time, petting his hair and assuring him he is safe and never going back to the Muggles, not while she's still breathing. When the sobs finally calm down, she pulls his head back and wipes at his eyes with a silk hankie.
"You're Uncle Lucius is on the other side of the curtain and wants to see that you are alright, but if you are not comfortable--"
"I want a hug from Uncle please!" Harry nearly shouts and she is startled by this, but she gets up to let her mate in and Harry jumps off the bed and into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Hold me, please?"
"You.. You're alright?"
"Hm..." He nods and Lucius sits on the bed's edge, adjust Harry to sit across his lap and he croons a soft Draconian lullaby. "I don't want to be alone... If I'm alone, I hear them... feel them... I don't like it... Uncle Luc, you smell like safety... please stay?"
"Of course..." He murmurs and keeps humming as Harry slowly drifts off again, clinging to the Drake.
"I wonder if he will feel this safe around someone else?" Narcissa asks, confused.
"Big Brother's magic knows who's is safe and thus he does not fear you..." a little girl's voice startles them and they turn to see Luna Lovegood. "Uncle Lucius." She curtsies. "The Nargles told me something bad would happen, but I wasn't allowed to tell anyone... I'm sorry..."
"Shh, Luna..." Lucius assures the blond girl, beckoning her closer and she carefully climbs onto the bed and leans on his side. "How is your father doing?"
"Papa's getting better and busy. The Bumblebee will not be caught in the net, so don't get mad... Big Brother should go home for a week and hold Artie. Pups do wonders for helping one to get over trauma, especially young Queens." She hums soft, reaching over to pet Harry's head, smiling softly. "You should tell the WolfStar to wait until after this Queen has been crowned..."
Lucius pales and looks at Narcissa, who is repressing a squeal of delight. Luna just leans up to kiss her uncle's cheek and then hops off the bed.
"The Little Prince hasn't yet become a King, next summer will be long and difficult." She hums and skips over to Narcissa and hugs her aunt, who croons and pets her pale blonde hair before kissing her temple and off she skips.
"I'm glad she's doing better after dear Pandora's passing... I'm glad she and Xeno are doing better... perhaps... you can invite him back into the family?"
"I've tired... father's last will as Lord Malfoy cannot be undone: All Offspring who are not born Draconian cannot keep the name Malfoy as long as he lived... When I became Lord Malfoy, I tried to undo it, but could only amend it for the children to be born from then on, that regardless of their status, as long as they have Malfoy blood they will always be welcomed. Luna does not want to visit without her father and for appearance sake as well as their safety, I do not interact with my brother." Lucius says to his wife softly so only she can hear.
"Well, I will have to simply find some way to invite them over then. I am Lady Malfoy and I rule this roost." She huffs softly. "Now then, I will go check on Tom and see if Severus has finally surfaced from wherever he slunk off to last night."
"Oh, Lord and Lady Malfoy!" Madam Bones gasped when she came through the curtain. "I wish I could say it was a good morning, but that's only the sleep deprivation. Oh, is it alright for you to be near him?"
"It seems that Hadrian's proved that once again he will fit to no one's mold. His magic knows who is safe and who is not and it was demanding that Lucius be close by. I do not blame poor dear, growing up in a Muggle household, a Muggle pack and being denied the love and protection of a Pack Alpha... But to have that now and know that at least with this one Alpha he is safe, I don't blame Hadrian wanting to be cocooned by that security he was sorely missing after Lord Potter's death." Narcissa explains.
"I see, as long as he's not distressed, then I will leave you to tend to your own. But the reason I am here. Enperadorea has awakened finally as did Ms. Greengrass and I need to steal Lord Malfoy for an Emergency trial for Lockhart that is in about an hour. My men are investigating Lockhart's claims and history, but in the meantime a temporary sentencing will be decided on-- Believe me, I would love to see him be Kissed 1000x over, but there is little to be done until all crimes are brought forward. Heir Potter was just one victim that we know of, who is to say there were not others?" Amelia was not shocked by the upset growl that Lucius let out, though the pitch and timber did rattle her bones and left her feeling chilled.
"..... Fine, but when his official trial happens, I will duel him to the death. What he attempted to do is unforgivable and a quick painless death is too good for him... I will make him suffer long after death when I am finally done with him." Lucius growls out.
"We will see... Though, I pity the fool who would dare to deny you your pound of flesh..." Amelia gulps out.
"Oh... shall I write you a list of spells I want to use on him and have you do it for me, my love?" Narcissa croons darkly, her eyes lit with the Black Madness at the promise of pain and suffering to a fool who dared to come after one of her own.
"I will ask Severus for a similar list as well..." Lucius agrees and she hums pleased.
Amelia shivers, she would feel sorry if it was someone less deserving than Lockhart....