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batsutousaiTitle: The Bloody Feather
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Rating: M/R
Pairings: Tom/Harry, others
Warnings: Clearly AU, OOCness, child abuse, anti-Dumbledore, pro-Hermione and Ron and Ginny
Summary: Even heroes need a saviour, and when an unknown admirer starts sending Harry letters the summer before his sixth year, it's time for Harry to meet his.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Papers and a move cross-country happened. And that's not much of an excuse, but it'll have to do. (I AM sorry this took a year, though.... *sweatdrop* )
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
Starlight had, indeed, tattled. When Harry stepped into the Great Hall that Sunday morning he was rather shocked to see the disguised Riddle standing before the Head Table, arguing with Professor Dumbledore.
Whether it was because Riddle felt Harry's presence or something in Dumbledore's face gave it away, Riddle motioned over his shoulder for Harry to join him.
"Go on, guys," Harry told his friends. "I'll go see what Raven wants."
"I can make a good guess," Hermione replied coolly before taking Ron's elbow and dragging him off to the Gryffindor table. She'd been on Harry's case since he'd arrived at Grimmauld Place to take better care of himself, and she'd only gotten worse in the past couple of weeks.
Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to Riddle. When he got close, Starlight – who was sitting on Riddle's shoulder – called out a cheery greeting.
Harry scowled. "I don't think so, you bloody tattletale."
Starlight let out a sharp hoot in return.
"And you were quite right in doing so, Starlight," Riddle assured the owl. "Why don't you go find Hedwig while Harry and I chat?"
Starlight let out a hoot of agreement, then soared up and away from his two wizards.
Riddle gently took one of Harry's hands in his. "Come on, Harry. We're going to find somewhere to chat where old men can't stick their noses." He shot Dumbledore a venomous look.
"Oh, stop that," Harry said with a tired sigh, then led the elder wizard out of the Great Hall.
Dumbledore shot Snape a look and Snape nodded. Dumbledore really hoped his spy had managed to find something on Raven Desdemona, because all he was finding were blanks.
-0-0-0-
Harry settled himself on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets while Riddle was touring the still-decaying basilisk carcass.
"Not bad," Riddle commented after a long moment. "I'm surprised you survived, honestly."
"It got me, but Fawkes was here," Harry replied dully.
"Good." Riddle picked at something on the carcass and said, "We could get some rare potions ingredients, at least."
"Could we give some to Snape?" Harry asked without thinking. When Riddle shot him an odd look, he quickly said, "It's just, when I was visiting yesterday, he made me take a nap."
"Hm..." Riddle turned back to the carcass. "I wasn't aware you and Severus were on a visiting basis."
"He kinda found me in the Owlery the first day back and asked me why I couldn't see out of my left eye..." Harry muttered.
"And it just went from there," Riddle continued knowingly. "Well, since he made you get some sleep, I suppose you can take him some of the ingredients."
"Thanks."
"I probably would have given him some anyway," Riddle added with a shrug. Then he turned and gave Harry a stern look. "You need to take better care of yourself."
"I'm taking care of myself just fine, tha–"
"Hippogriff shit."
Harry scowled. "What do you want me to do? Ask someone to knock me out each night? Eat so much I barf?" he asked nastily.
Riddle just frowned at him.
Harry looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Riddle walked over and knelt before the boy. When Harry turned back to look at him, he leaned forward slightly and brushed his lips against Harry's. "I know," he whispered against the younger's lips before pulling back.
Harry hid his face in his hands, blushing hotly.
Riddle smiled to himself, then gently ran a hand through Harry's hair. "Dear heart, I'm not asking you to make yourself ill with food, I just want you eating a little bit more than you do currently. I've seen how little you tend to eat, Harry; even another three or four mouthfuls would make me feel better, to be honest."
Harry nodded silently, not looking up from where his face was still buried in his hands.
"But I also want you to ask Severus for a basic Nutritional Potion."
Harry looked up at that. "But, Rid–"
Riddle gave him a chilled look. "The way you're going, you're likely to kill yourself, Harry. If you're not going to eat enough, you need something to make up for the lack of nutrients in your diet. If you won't ask Severus, then you can go to Pomfrey, but you need to take some. Understood?"
"Yes..." Harry agreed. What Riddle was saying made sense, after all, even if Harry didn't like it.
"Now, as for your sleeping problem–"
"There's nothing for it," Harry interrupted.
"There's Dreamless Sleep," Riddle shot back, false brown eyes hard.
Harry shook his head. "No!"
Riddle pursed his lips. "Why not?"
"Because then I can't wake up," Harry replied in a monotone. "And I can't not wake up. It–it..." He wiped at tears he couldn't remember letting flow.
Riddle frowned and drew the boy into a hug. "What scares you so, dear heart?"
Harry tightly clutched at the older man, wishing he wasn't so weak that he needed comfort from everyone around him to function. "My dreams," he whispered against the other's robe.
"Harry, Dreamless Sleep doesn't allow you to have dreams. That's why it's called Dreamless Sleep," Riddle replied, confused.
"It's never worked against my visions from you," Harry replied softly. "And it stopped working against my normal dreams after you returned."
Riddle closed his eyes. He'd caused this boy so much pain, yet Harry was giving him a chance to make it up, was letting himself be hugged by Riddle without complaint. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I know," was Harry's quiet response.
-0-0-0-
"Anything?" Dumbledore asked once they both were seated and Snape had refused his offer of sherbet lemons and tea.
"Very little. He's a Canadian wizard who claims neutrality in 'our' war, but practises the Dark Arts himself. I couldn't find anything beyond that," Snape answered evenly.
Dumbledore sighed. "Keep looking, please. I'll try and get something from Harry."
Snape nodded stiffly. "May I go, Headmaster?"
"Of course."
As Snape left the office, he was eternally grateful for his Occlumency. He wanted to discuss Raven Desdemona siding with the Dark Lord with Potter before mentioning it to Dumbledore.
-0-0-0-
Riddle left after lunch. He'd sat with Harry and his friends at the Gryffindor Table, surreptitiously making sure that Harry ate enough. He also made sure that Hermione and Ginny knew to make sure he was still eating well, even going so far as to give both witches the owl post address he used, so they could owl him if Harry decided to go against their orders.
Harry hadn't been sure whether to be incensed or pleased that Riddle was setting his friends on his case, so he'd just pretended to he hadn't noticed the exchange.
After Riddle left, Harry told his friends he wanted to have a word with the Headmaster. Alone. Once they were gone from sight, he pulled out his map and hunted down Snape.
The Potions professor was working in his private lab when Harry found him and he let the boy in without a word, then went back to the batch of Burn Salve he was making for Pomfrey. The boy wisely remained silent until Snape looked at him curiously, knowing the potion would be fine for a while if he ignored it.
"Raven said I should ask you for some basic Nutritional Potion," Harry offered softly.
Snape nodded in understanding and accio'd a bottle of said potion. "What of Dreamless Sleep?"
"It doesn't work." Harry sighed and shook his head. "It hasn't worked since the Dark Lord returned."
Snape hid a smile at how the boy hadn't called the Dark Lord by his name, like he usually did. "I see. Any idea why?"
Harry shrugged. "It keeps me from waking up, and it's never blocked any of my visions from him, but the inability to block my normal dreams is only since the TriWizard Tournament."
Snape frowned to himself. "I'll see if I can tweak the potion to overcome this difficulty. For now, take a tablespoon of this at least twice a day." He handed the Nutritional Potion over. "It is not, however, a substitute for food. If you stop eating, you're likely to end up in the Hospital Wing."
"No worries there," Harry offered drily. "Raven's got Hermione and Ginny reporting back to him on my food consumption. Or lack thereof."
"Good," Snape decided, returning to his potion.
Harry smiled faintly and drank a tablespoon of the Nutritional Potion before putting it into his robe pocket. When his fingers brushed something else, he recalled the potions ingredients they'd harvested from the basilisk and pulled the bag out. Riddle had spelled the bag to be small, but still be able to hold all the ingredients without affecting their magical properties. Harry had found it impossibly cool, so Riddle had taught him the spell, even though he'd been certain they'd be covering it shortly in Charms.
"What do you have there, Potter?"
Harry glanced up nervously. "Uhm, it's a thank you gift, of sorts, for not kicking me out on my bum yesterday and today." He held out the bag with slightly shaking hands.
Snape took the bag and looked inside. When he realized what the ingredients were, he found himself unable to speak for a long moment. Not even Hogwarts could afford to get basilisk parts for Snape's few studies, so he'd always had to go without them and find some other ingredient to make a potion that called for them. When his voice returned, he asked, "Where in Merlin's name did you find these? And please don't tell me you ordered them yourself!" He didn't really care that his voice was filled with awe and not a little shock.
"Uhm, the Chamber of Secrets. Raven and I went down there, and when he suggested harvesting the basilisk for potion ingredients, I asked him if we could give some to you."
Snape's joy disappeared to be replaced with horror. "Potter, you are aware Raven works for the Dark Lord, right?"
Harry gave him a horrified look, face paling. "Oh, please don't tell the Headmaster!"
Snape shook his head. "I wasn't going to." That certainly wasn't the response he'd been expecting. "But, really, who are you and what have you done with Potter?"
Harry looked away. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to finally have someone who sees you as you, and not some image based on hearsay? To have someone who cares about you, and will risk everything to let you and everyone around you know it?"
Snape shook his head. No, but there were certainly times he wished there were such a person for him.
Harry nodded. "He hasn't tried to kill me yet or take me to the Dark Lord, Professor, and I doubt he ever will. He's dead set on protecting me in any way he can, and I don't think he'll tell Him about you helping me, because that wouldn't really help, would it?"
No, it wouldn't. "Be careful anyway, Potter," he suggested.
"I know," Harry assured him.
Snape nodded. "Dumbledore might ask you about Raven sometime in the near future. All I've told him so far is that Raven's neutral, but practises the Dark Arts."
Harry nodded in understanding. "The closer to the truth, the less likely he is to recognise the lie." He walked back over to the door under Snape's surprised look. "Good day, sir."
"Good day, Potter," Snape allowed. 'Who are you and what have you done with Potter,' he silently asked as the door closed behind the boy.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Again, I apologise for the wait. I'll get working on chapter six directly, and I hope it won't take me as long as it did this one. O.o I do still have Wand and Dagger to work on, though. (As well as Broken, but that one is ahead a few chapters, so I'm not quite so worried. I'd like to get enough chapters pre-written on both of those before NaNo starts again so I can continue posting throughout November, though. XD)
Cheers!
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
One ||| Two ||| Three ||| Four |||Five
Six ||| Seven ||| Eight
Incomplete
Author:
batsutousaiRating: M/R
Pairings: Tom/Harry, others
Warnings: Clearly AU, OOCness, child abuse, anti-Dumbledore, pro-Hermione and Ron and Ginny
Summary: Even heroes need a saviour, and when an unknown admirer starts sending Harry letters the summer before his sixth year, it's time for Harry to meet his.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Papers and a move cross-country happened. And that's not much of an excuse, but it'll have to do. (I AM sorry this took a year, though.... *sweatdrop* )
-0-0-0-
Starlight had, indeed, tattled. When Harry stepped into the Great Hall that Sunday morning he was rather shocked to see the disguised Riddle standing before the Head Table, arguing with Professor Dumbledore.
Whether it was because Riddle felt Harry's presence or something in Dumbledore's face gave it away, Riddle motioned over his shoulder for Harry to join him.
"Go on, guys," Harry told his friends. "I'll go see what Raven wants."
"I can make a good guess," Hermione replied coolly before taking Ron's elbow and dragging him off to the Gryffindor table. She'd been on Harry's case since he'd arrived at Grimmauld Place to take better care of himself, and she'd only gotten worse in the past couple of weeks.
Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to Riddle. When he got close, Starlight – who was sitting on Riddle's shoulder – called out a cheery greeting.
Harry scowled. "I don't think so, you bloody tattletale."
Starlight let out a sharp hoot in return.
"And you were quite right in doing so, Starlight," Riddle assured the owl. "Why don't you go find Hedwig while Harry and I chat?"
Starlight let out a hoot of agreement, then soared up and away from his two wizards.
Riddle gently took one of Harry's hands in his. "Come on, Harry. We're going to find somewhere to chat where old men can't stick their noses." He shot Dumbledore a venomous look.
"Oh, stop that," Harry said with a tired sigh, then led the elder wizard out of the Great Hall.
Dumbledore shot Snape a look and Snape nodded. Dumbledore really hoped his spy had managed to find something on Raven Desdemona, because all he was finding were blanks.
Harry settled himself on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets while Riddle was touring the still-decaying basilisk carcass.
"Not bad," Riddle commented after a long moment. "I'm surprised you survived, honestly."
"It got me, but Fawkes was here," Harry replied dully.
"Good." Riddle picked at something on the carcass and said, "We could get some rare potions ingredients, at least."
"Could we give some to Snape?" Harry asked without thinking. When Riddle shot him an odd look, he quickly said, "It's just, when I was visiting yesterday, he made me take a nap."
"Hm..." Riddle turned back to the carcass. "I wasn't aware you and Severus were on a visiting basis."
"He kinda found me in the Owlery the first day back and asked me why I couldn't see out of my left eye..." Harry muttered.
"And it just went from there," Riddle continued knowingly. "Well, since he made you get some sleep, I suppose you can take him some of the ingredients."
"Thanks."
"I probably would have given him some anyway," Riddle added with a shrug. Then he turned and gave Harry a stern look. "You need to take better care of yourself."
"I'm taking care of myself just fine, tha–"
"Hippogriff shit."
Harry scowled. "What do you want me to do? Ask someone to knock me out each night? Eat so much I barf?" he asked nastily.
Riddle just frowned at him.
Harry looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Riddle walked over and knelt before the boy. When Harry turned back to look at him, he leaned forward slightly and brushed his lips against Harry's. "I know," he whispered against the younger's lips before pulling back.
Harry hid his face in his hands, blushing hotly.
Riddle smiled to himself, then gently ran a hand through Harry's hair. "Dear heart, I'm not asking you to make yourself ill with food, I just want you eating a little bit more than you do currently. I've seen how little you tend to eat, Harry; even another three or four mouthfuls would make me feel better, to be honest."
Harry nodded silently, not looking up from where his face was still buried in his hands.
"But I also want you to ask Severus for a basic Nutritional Potion."
Harry looked up at that. "But, Rid–"
Riddle gave him a chilled look. "The way you're going, you're likely to kill yourself, Harry. If you're not going to eat enough, you need something to make up for the lack of nutrients in your diet. If you won't ask Severus, then you can go to Pomfrey, but you need to take some. Understood?"
"Yes..." Harry agreed. What Riddle was saying made sense, after all, even if Harry didn't like it.
"Now, as for your sleeping problem–"
"There's nothing for it," Harry interrupted.
"There's Dreamless Sleep," Riddle shot back, false brown eyes hard.
Harry shook his head. "No!"
Riddle pursed his lips. "Why not?"
"Because then I can't wake up," Harry replied in a monotone. "And I can't not wake up. It–it..." He wiped at tears he couldn't remember letting flow.
Riddle frowned and drew the boy into a hug. "What scares you so, dear heart?"
Harry tightly clutched at the older man, wishing he wasn't so weak that he needed comfort from everyone around him to function. "My dreams," he whispered against the other's robe.
"Harry, Dreamless Sleep doesn't allow you to have dreams. That's why it's called Dreamless Sleep," Riddle replied, confused.
"It's never worked against my visions from you," Harry replied softly. "And it stopped working against my normal dreams after you returned."
Riddle closed his eyes. He'd caused this boy so much pain, yet Harry was giving him a chance to make it up, was letting himself be hugged by Riddle without complaint. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I know," was Harry's quiet response.
"Anything?" Dumbledore asked once they both were seated and Snape had refused his offer of sherbet lemons and tea.
"Very little. He's a Canadian wizard who claims neutrality in 'our' war, but practises the Dark Arts himself. I couldn't find anything beyond that," Snape answered evenly.
Dumbledore sighed. "Keep looking, please. I'll try and get something from Harry."
Snape nodded stiffly. "May I go, Headmaster?"
"Of course."
As Snape left the office, he was eternally grateful for his Occlumency. He wanted to discuss Raven Desdemona siding with the Dark Lord with Potter before mentioning it to Dumbledore.
Riddle left after lunch. He'd sat with Harry and his friends at the Gryffindor Table, surreptitiously making sure that Harry ate enough. He also made sure that Hermione and Ginny knew to make sure he was still eating well, even going so far as to give both witches the owl post address he used, so they could owl him if Harry decided to go against their orders.
Harry hadn't been sure whether to be incensed or pleased that Riddle was setting his friends on his case, so he'd just pretended to he hadn't noticed the exchange.
After Riddle left, Harry told his friends he wanted to have a word with the Headmaster. Alone. Once they were gone from sight, he pulled out his map and hunted down Snape.
The Potions professor was working in his private lab when Harry found him and he let the boy in without a word, then went back to the batch of Burn Salve he was making for Pomfrey. The boy wisely remained silent until Snape looked at him curiously, knowing the potion would be fine for a while if he ignored it.
"Raven said I should ask you for some basic Nutritional Potion," Harry offered softly.
Snape nodded in understanding and accio'd a bottle of said potion. "What of Dreamless Sleep?"
"It doesn't work." Harry sighed and shook his head. "It hasn't worked since the Dark Lord returned."
Snape hid a smile at how the boy hadn't called the Dark Lord by his name, like he usually did. "I see. Any idea why?"
Harry shrugged. "It keeps me from waking up, and it's never blocked any of my visions from him, but the inability to block my normal dreams is only since the TriWizard Tournament."
Snape frowned to himself. "I'll see if I can tweak the potion to overcome this difficulty. For now, take a tablespoon of this at least twice a day." He handed the Nutritional Potion over. "It is not, however, a substitute for food. If you stop eating, you're likely to end up in the Hospital Wing."
"No worries there," Harry offered drily. "Raven's got Hermione and Ginny reporting back to him on my food consumption. Or lack thereof."
"Good," Snape decided, returning to his potion.
Harry smiled faintly and drank a tablespoon of the Nutritional Potion before putting it into his robe pocket. When his fingers brushed something else, he recalled the potions ingredients they'd harvested from the basilisk and pulled the bag out. Riddle had spelled the bag to be small, but still be able to hold all the ingredients without affecting their magical properties. Harry had found it impossibly cool, so Riddle had taught him the spell, even though he'd been certain they'd be covering it shortly in Charms.
"What do you have there, Potter?"
Harry glanced up nervously. "Uhm, it's a thank you gift, of sorts, for not kicking me out on my bum yesterday and today." He held out the bag with slightly shaking hands.
Snape took the bag and looked inside. When he realized what the ingredients were, he found himself unable to speak for a long moment. Not even Hogwarts could afford to get basilisk parts for Snape's few studies, so he'd always had to go without them and find some other ingredient to make a potion that called for them. When his voice returned, he asked, "Where in Merlin's name did you find these? And please don't tell me you ordered them yourself!" He didn't really care that his voice was filled with awe and not a little shock.
"Uhm, the Chamber of Secrets. Raven and I went down there, and when he suggested harvesting the basilisk for potion ingredients, I asked him if we could give some to you."
Snape's joy disappeared to be replaced with horror. "Potter, you are aware Raven works for the Dark Lord, right?"
Harry gave him a horrified look, face paling. "Oh, please don't tell the Headmaster!"
Snape shook his head. "I wasn't going to." That certainly wasn't the response he'd been expecting. "But, really, who are you and what have you done with Potter?"
Harry looked away. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to finally have someone who sees you as you, and not some image based on hearsay? To have someone who cares about you, and will risk everything to let you and everyone around you know it?"
Snape shook his head. No, but there were certainly times he wished there were such a person for him.
Harry nodded. "He hasn't tried to kill me yet or take me to the Dark Lord, Professor, and I doubt he ever will. He's dead set on protecting me in any way he can, and I don't think he'll tell Him about you helping me, because that wouldn't really help, would it?"
No, it wouldn't. "Be careful anyway, Potter," he suggested.
"I know," Harry assured him.
Snape nodded. "Dumbledore might ask you about Raven sometime in the near future. All I've told him so far is that Raven's neutral, but practises the Dark Arts."
Harry nodded in understanding. "The closer to the truth, the less likely he is to recognise the lie." He walked back over to the door under Snape's surprised look. "Good day, sir."
"Good day, Potter," Snape allowed. 'Who are you and what have you done with Potter,' he silently asked as the door closed behind the boy.
A/N: Again, I apologise for the wait. I'll get working on chapter six directly, and I hope it won't take me as long as it did this one. O.o I do still have Wand and Dagger to work on, though. (As well as Broken, but that one is ahead a few chapters, so I'm not quite so worried. I'd like to get enough chapters pre-written on both of those before NaNo starts again so I can continue posting throughout November, though. XD)
Cheers!
~Bats ^.^x
One ||| Two ||| Three ||| Four |||
Six ||| Seven ||| Eight
Incomplete
.
Why do you do this to me? ;>)
Date: 10/10/09 00:49 (UTC)On another note I really need to say that I love Abandon and Reclaim. Those two are my "Comfort" fics. I reread them when the rest of my life feels like it is going so horribly wrong that I want to crawl into a hole and pull it after me. I am reading them now because they just make me feel better thank you for that.
Re: Why do you do this to me? ;>)
Date: 10/10/09 03:26 (UTC)I'm glad they help. (Though I'm a bit of the opinion that Abandon especially needs some serious help... ^.^" But that's just me. ^.~)
no subject
Date: 10/10/09 07:48 (UTC)I started reading this just a few minutes ago and I totally love it...
OMG!! I love the way you describe Snape, I love him ^^
And everyone are so awesome!! Ginny with Luna!! OMG!! I love those two!!!
Tom is soooooo cute, he is super worry about Harry
I will wait for the next chapter ^^
Kisses!!!
P.S: I hope don´t bother you, I add you to my LJ-list friends ^^
no subject
Date: 10/10/09 20:07 (UTC)(No, not at all. I've got an open friending policy. ^.~)
no subject
Date: 2/8/11 07:57 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/8/11 16:07 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/8/11 19:25 (UTC)