Harry twirled the wand between his fingers, looking right at Dumbledore, his scared little boy persona dropping right off his face, replaced by what Harry imagined Dumbledore thought looked very much like a young Tom Riddle.
Dumbledore began to pale as if he had finally realised the gravity of his mistake.
"Now, my boy," Dumbledore started, but Harry cut him off.
"Oh, cut the shit, Dumbledore." Harry scoffed, "You just tried to kill me."
"It was for the greater good," Dumbledore tried to reason.
"The greater good," Harry sneered, " Can suck my dick."
"I knew the Horcrux was influencing you, Harry," Dumbledore said gravely.
"Oh, go fuck yourself, you stupid old man," Harry pointed the wand at Dumbledore, not really sure what he was going to do. Not that it really mattered, because the second the wand moved, Dumbledore had clapped his hands over his head and flamed out of the room with Fawkes.
Harry scoffed, "Bloody coward."
Harry made his way back down the stairs of Dumbledore's office, the Elder wand clenched tightly in his hand, to find Snape pacing up and down the corridor. Upon hearing the Gargoyle move, Snape snapped his eyes to take Harry in before letting out a soft sigh.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Snape asked softly.
"Fled the Castle, look, I really need to talk to Tom. Can you cover for me?" Harry asked.
"Of course, go," Snape said with a quick nod.
Harry ran up to Gryffindor Tower, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him, to grab his cloak, before making his way into the Forbidden Forest, where he knew the anti-apparition wards ended.
Quickly apparating to Riddle Manor, Harry practically sprinted up to Tom's study, hoping to all hope he was there.
When a soft 'come in' answered his knock, Harry let out a soft sigh before entering.
Tom looked up as Harry walked into the room, "Harry? What are you doing here?"
Harry flopped himself down on the chair and took a deep breath, "Dumbledore tried to kill me."
All the windows in the office shattered.
"What?" Tom hissed, almost in Parseltongue.
"Dumbledore called me into his office; actually, he asked Snape to bring me up and essentially guard the door. Told me I was a Horcrux, tried to kill me, I disarmed him, and then he used Fawkes to flee the castle and now I'm here," Harry said, probably a bit brightly considering the circumstances.
"And Severus just took you up?" Tom was practically frothing at the mouth with rage.
"Because I told him to!" Harry replied passionately, absolutely not wanting Snape to get in trouble, and wasn't that a bizarre feeling.
"You did what?" Tom hissed again.
"He practically begged me to leave the castle, pretty sure he had fucking passports ready to get me out of the country, but I told him to do what Dumbledore said because we need him as a spy," Harry replied.
"You are far more important than a fucking spy, Harry! For Merlin's sake, you could have died. I could have lost you!" Tom yelled at him.
"You would still have Nagini as a Horcrux; it's not like I'm your only one," Harry said with a roll of his eyes.
Tom threw his hands up in the air, "I don't give a fuck about the damn Horcrux, Harry! I care about you!"
Harry stilled, "What?"
"You idiotic child, did you think I only cared for you because of the Horcrux?" Tom asked.
"Well, yeah. Sort of," Harry replied, not looking at Tom.
"Harry, look at me." Tom said quietly, and Harry looked up, "Yes, my initial care for you was due to the Horcrux, but I wouldn't have made you my heir if that was the case. I care for you like you're my own child, Harry and I couldn't bear it if something happened to you."
"Bit old to be my dad, Tom. Maybe like my Grandfather," Harry mumbled awkwardly, not really sure how to react to such a heartfelt declaration.
Not that he didn't have the same feelings towards Tom. It felt a bit like a betrayal to his actual parents considering he had been the one to kill them, but no one had ever looked after him the way Tom had. No adult in his life seemed to care about Harry beyond his role as the Boy-Who-Lived, and don't even get him started on the Dursley's. And don't get him wrong, Harry loved Sirius, but Sirius was never a father figure to him; he was more like an uncle or a weird older brother. But Tom had looked after him, cared for him, looked out for him, and it was a very odd feeling.
Tom laughed and came around the desk to pull Harry into a hug, "I'm glad you're safe."
When Tom pulled back, he noticed the wand in Harry's hand, "Harry, is that Dumbledore's wand?"
"Oh yeah, it's mine now," Harry said, "Oh, um, also, I think I'm the Master of Death."
Tom choked, "What did you say?"
"Well, see, I caught the wand, and then I felt all this power, like crazy power, and then I was in this white space, I guess, and then this car pulled up, and a lady got out and was like 'Hi, I'm Death, wasn't expecting you yet, you got my Hallows' blah blah, and then said I could be a necromancer if I wanted and like I'm still not really sure what happened, but she said I could call her anytime I wanted, maybe I should call her now?" Harry rambled off, not even taking a breath, as a very bewildered Tom watched on. "Um, Death?" Harry called out.
"Hello, Little Bird," Death appeared next to Harry.
Tom screamed, like actually screamed.
"Hello, Tom," Death said with a tilt of her head, "I've been wanting to meet you for a very long time."
Tom said nothing, just continued to stare at Death in abject horror.
"I think he went to great lengths not to meet you," Harry said, looking between Tom and Death.
"True enough," Death said, not taking her black eyes off Tom, "And now he's bonded himself to the Master of Death, funny how Fate works, the scruffy bitch."
"Bonded how? Through the Horcrux? And did you just call Fate, like the entity Fate, a scruffy bitch?" Harry asked a bit incredulously.
Death scoffed, "Well, she is! She keeps messing with my favourite people," Death rolled her eyes, well at least Harry thought she did; it was a bit hard to tell with the whole, soulless voids for eyes thing, "And yes, you are bonded through the Horcrux, but moreover, you heard what he said, he sees you as a son. He made you his heir. That's a serious bond in the eyes of Magic."
"Oh," was Harry's only response.
Tom, who finally regained his voice, cleared his throat, "What does being Master of Death mean for Harry?"
Death turned her gaze back to Tom, "Interesting. I would have thought your first question would be, what does Harry being Master of Death mean for you?"
"My current concern is Harry, but I would like to know what it means for me as well," Tom said, still eyeing Death warily.
"Currently, it really means nothing for either of you. Harry has come into his powers earlier than he normally would, but as he has reached his magical maturation, it won't have too much bearing on him as long as he is trained, as I explained to him," Death said.
"Powers?" Tom asked, his innate curiosity winning over his terror of Death.
"Death Magic," Death said simply.
Harry sat and listened to Tom and Death conversing, having heard much of what they were talking about before. It was more than a little amusing when Tom went all Ravenclaw.
"Do you have any questions, Harry?" Death asked, snapping Harry back to the conversation.
"Oh no, honestly, I mostly just called you to make sure it wasn't some giant hallucination that I had," Harry said a bit sheepishly.
"Alright then," Death said with her melodic laugh, "I should be off then, souls to reap and all that rot," and then she was gone.
"You, Harry Potter, are a magnet for the insane, aren't you?" Tom said with a slightly hysterical laugh.
"Whatever could you mean? I'm sure people become human Horcruxes, find out they come from a long line of Necromancers, meet Death and are adopted by Dark Lords all the time," Harry said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Tom just looked at him for a minute before shaking his head, "I genuinely do not know what to say to that."
Harry laughed, "Is Barty around?"
"Yes, he's sulking around somewhere," Tom replied.
"Alright, I'm going to say hi before I go back to school," Harry said as Tom waved him off.
Harry made his way around the manor to Barty's room. He knocked on the door lightly to be met with a slightly grumbled 'Go away.'
"Ok, I just thought you'd want to see me before I went back to school," Harry replied cheekily through the closed door. Harry heard a thump and a scuffle, and then the door was thrown open, quite forcefully.
"Harry?" Barty breathed, staring at Harry in disbelief.
"Hi, love," Harry said with a smile.
Barty stood frozen in shock for just a second longer before throwing his arms around Harry, lifting him and spinning him around. Harry shouted for Barty to put him down, but Barty silenced him with a kiss, causing Harry to moan into his mouth.
"What are you doing here?" Barty asked when he finally put Harry down.
Harry winced, "Oh um, I had to see Tom."
"Why?" Barty asked suspiciously.
Harry mumbled something incoherently, looking down at the ground.
"Harry," Barty repeated, lifting Harry's face up, so he was looking him in the eye.
Harry sighed, "Dumbledore tried to kill me."
Barty's grip on Harry's face tightened, and Harry winced, "What did you just say?"
"Merlin Barty, I just had this conversation with Tom, and I'm going to have to have it with Sirius and Remus and then everyone else. So can you just be happy I'm here and go back to kissing me, please?" Harry asked, pouting a bit.
Barty sighed and loosened his grip on Harry's face, "You're ok?"
Harry laughed, "Obviously."
"Ok then," Barty said, grinning wickedly, before slamming the door with his foot and pressing Harry against it, his mouth moving straight to Harry's throat.
When Harry finally emerged from Barty's room about an hour later, he quickly made his way to Sirius and Remus' rooms, knowing instinctively that this conversation would not go well.
He wasn't wrong. Remus had to tackle Sirius to the ground to stop him from storming out of the manor to try and find Dumbledore and rip him apart. Not that Remus was much better, his eyes had started to glow gold the minute Harry had started the story, and he heard him growl more than once. Harry decided to leave out the whole Master of Death thing for now because he honestly wasn't sure how much more the two men could take at this point.
Sirius didn't want him to go back to Hogwarts. Harry got the distinct impression that Sirius wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool and never let him out of his sight again, and Remus was probably in agreement with him.
After quite a lot of cajoling, Sirius and Remus finally let him leave and, after throwing his invisibility cloak on, Harry apparated himself back to Hogwarts and made his way to the safety and sanctity of the Slytherin common room.
After letting Snape know that he was back, Harry walked into the common room and flopped himself into Draco's lap.
"You will not believe the day I've had."