FIC: Abandoned: The Re-Write ~ Harry Potter ~ HPLV/HPTR ~ Mature ~ Chapter 19

[batsutousai]

Title: Abandoned: The Re-Write
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: M/R
Main Pairing: Harry/Tom, Harry/Voldemort
Side Pairings: Ginny/Theodore Nott, Seamus/Blaise Zabini, past-Ron/Hermione, Hermione/Luna, others
Warnings: SLASH, mentions of child abuse/rape/torture, language, character death, minor Dumbledore bashing, Grey-to-Dark!Harry
Summary: A complete re-write of Abandon: Before the start of his seventh year, Harry Potter is abandoned in London by his muggle family and finds himself befriending Lord Voldemort.

A/N: Shara has commented - she knows my plans for future chapters (added as of posting: that means she knew more than I currently do, whoops; where, exactly, were we keeping our notes for this fic, 2012!me?) - that I'm in danger of turning this into another Xerosis. I'll try my best to avoid that, but I can't make any real promises. ^.^" Just, you know, if things start looking like I'm rewriting Xerosis, I know, but I'm really not trying to. Honest.

This chapter starts the Christmas holidays arc, which was chapters 27-32 in the original Abandon.

-0-
Chapter Nineteen: Holiday Plans
-0-

"You're not staying at Hogwarts for the holiday?" Ron asked Harry as they settled in at dinner the day the sign-up sheets went around. He and Ginny had both been told to remain at Hogwarts, where it was safer, and Hermione had agreed to do the same; knowing that Voldemort was at Hogwarts hadn't changed that, though it did beg the question of where Harry intended to stay, since the Order wasn't letting them stay at Headquarters.

Harry shook his head. "I was going to spend a few days with Remus at his place, then spend the rest of the holiday in London, at the hostel."

"Why are you going to the hostel? Why not spend the entire holiday with Lupin?" Dean asked.

"He's going out of the country on the twenty-fourth," Harry replied with a shrug and a flick of his eyes towards the Head Table. Those of his friends that knew who ran the Order of the Phoenix took that to mean it was Order business that was calling Harry's honorary godfather away.

"You could come stay with me," Neville offered. "I'm sure Gran won't mind."

"Or me," Dean added. "It'd be a little cramped, but Mum likes having people over for holidays." Seamus nodded from down the table, having gone home with his best friend for the holidays more than once. That year, he was intending to go home with Blaise and finally meet his mum, since Mrs Zabini hadn't thrown a fit over her son dating a halfblood Gryffindor.

"Thanks, guys, but I sort of like the freedom of the hostel," Harry admitted. "They don't know who I am, really, so no one makes a huge deal if I disappear for a day."

"Are you planning any long disappearances, Potter?" Draco asked drily.

"Well, yeah," Harry agreed. "Marcus' birthday is during the holiday." And, of course, he had his weekly training with Mad-Eye, but he wasn't about to tell them about that.

The group of students all fell silent as they processed the fact that the Dark Lord's birthday was during the holiday and Harry had something planned for it. On the other side of Hermione, Parvati leant forward and called, "You two are disgustingly adorable, Harry," covering the silence from Harry's friends.

"We are no such thing!" Harry insisted.

Ginny cleared her throat. "Yeah, actually, you sort of are."

"You-!"

"Have you got something naughty planned, Harry?" Seamus teased, waggling his eyebrows.

Harry blanched, then quickly covered it by leaning forward and snarling, "Was that a request to hear all about it, Shay? Every sordid detail, down to the way he looks?"

Seamus shuddered. "Merlin, no. I'm shutting up, now."

"That's what I thought."

"You're welcome to stay at Malfoy Manor, Potter," Draco offered primly. "None of us will care if you vanish for extended periods of time, and you won't have to spend your holiday around muggles."

"Will your parents be okay with that, though?" Theodore asked, eyes flickering towards the Head Table to subtly add the Dark Lord in the question.

"I don't see why they wouldn't be, but I can certainly ask," Draco replied.

Harry tilted his head slightly to one side and considered the pros and cons of staying at Malfoy Manor: the pros included the freedom of movement he would only otherwise find at the hostel, a lack of overly protective muggles, not having to do extra chores or cook for people, the freedom to use his magic as he pleased, and a good chance that he could see Tom every day; the cons included the Order freaking out if they learnt he was staying there - when, more like, knowing the Hogwarts grapevine - and his having to put up with the Death Eaters, many of whom he didn't really get on with (though, if he was, technically, on Tom's side, he should learn to at least tolerate them). 'Tom?'

'I don't see anything wrong with you spending the holiday at the Manor,' Marcus replied, proving that he'd been paying attention to Harry's thoughts, if not the conversation at the Gryffindor Table. 'I've already made plans to spend the holiday there, myself, and I can send word that the Death Eaters need to behave themselves around you. I would prefer it to you staying in that muggle hole.'

Harry snorted at his boyfriend's favourite insult for the hostel. "Sure," he told Draco, ignoring the odd looks he got for snorting without cause. "If your parents don't mind, it'd be nice to be able to use magic freely, rather than having to hide it."

"I'll owl them before curfew," Draco decided.

"Your people won't care?" Theodore asked.

"Of course they will," Hermione replied, voice sharp, "but that's never stopped Harry before."

"Yeah," Ginny added, "you should have heard them when they found out Harry was staying in London by himself."

"Remus told me," Harry said with a grin. "He and Tonks tried talking me into staying at Headquarters, but I turned them down. I'm sure your mum was an absolute terror; I was surprised she didn't bother me more when I dropped by."

"Dad talked her out of it," Ginny reported, grinning back. "Told her it was your birthday and she shouldn't pester you about your living arrangement on such an important day."

"Why were you staying in London, anyway?" Pansy asked. "Don't you have a family?"

Harry shrugged. "They kicked me out."

There was a moment of disbelieving silence, then Draco, Pansy, and Theodore all demanded, "They what?"

"I never did quite understand that bit, mate," Ron commented, ignoring the incensed Slytherins. "I mean, I know they hated you and all, but actually abandoning you in London..."

"I may have threatened to kill Dudley if he called me 'freak' again."

"Surely you've threatened to kill him before?" Blaise asked as understanding and some disgust crossed Hermione and Ron's faces.

Harry considered that. "Nope. I pretended to cast spells on Dudley to scare him off after first year, before they found out I couldn't use magic at home, and I told them about Sirius being my godfather summer after third year to get them to behave a bit-"

"And Mad-Eye threatened them summer after fifth year," Ron added with a grin, earning him some disbelieving looks from the Slytherins, Dean, and Seamus, the latter two not having heard about that bit of excitement.

"Yeah, there was that," Harry agreed, smiling when the disbelieving looks turned on him. "But I've never out-right threatened to kill any of them before, no."

"Well, why ever not?" Theodore demanded.

"Other than the fact that I didn't want to get kicked out?" Harry enquired, chuckling when the Slytherin grimaced. "They were my guardians, and Vernon could have easily snapped my neck before I could even get my wand out, so..." He shrugged.

"But he didn't when you threatened Dudley," Ginny pointed out while the others frowned at Harry's easy comments regarding his tense home situation.

"No, they abandoned me in London, instead."

"Probably afraid Mad-Eye really would come after them," Ron muttered. "Woulda served them right."

"What are you going to tell the Order, though?" Neville asked Harry. "I mean, there's quite a difference between staying in muggle London on your own, when no one really knows you're there, and staying in the home of a convicted Death Eater, whether he was officially cleared of charges or not."

"I'll tell them the same thing I told them over the summer: I can take care of myself."

"You can't be awake and alert the entire two weeks," Neville replied.

"Week and a half," Harry corrected. "I'm still spending a few days with Remus."

"Same thing," Ron interrupted. "Harry, they'll never let you go."

Draco sniffed. "I'll guarantee Potter's safety."

"They still won't go for it," Ron replied.

"Malfoy," Hermione interrupted before the two boys could get into a pissing match, "how's your family's library?"

"My..." Draco blinked a few times in disbelief, then leant around Harry and demanded, "What? Why are you asking, Granger?"

"Because I'm not finding what I need in the Hogwarts library, so I thought I could try yours," Hermione replied with a smile. "After all, if there's two of us, the Order can't complain."

"Sure they can," Harry replied even as Draco said, "Father would never accept a muggleborn in the manor."

'He would if I told him to,' Marcus commented.

"Maybe he'd be more willing to accept a Weasley, then," Ginny suggested.

"No," Draco insisted with a horrified look as the other students all laughed, "absolutely not."

"You won't know until you ask," Harry pointed out.

Draco stared at him for a long moment, then looked towards where Marcus was chuckling at something Madam Pomfrey said. "Maybe," he agreed.

-0-0-0-

The next afternoon, they had all just sat down to lunch when the Malfoy family's eagle owl swooped down with a letter. Draco untied it and handed his owl over to Pansy and Ginny to coo at and feed. After a quick read, he sighed and rolled it back up. "Father says I am allowed to invite Granger and the Weasleys, if it is to their preference, and that I should, if it will help calm the Order."

Harry nodded and quickly swallowed his mouthful before saying, "I sent an owl out to a friend of mine this morning, to see if they'd help back me with the Order, but having 'Mione, Ron, and Gin along should help."

"Mum's going to throw a fit," Ron moaned.

"Harry'll take care of that, though, won't you, Harry?" Ginny said, voice just a little too sweet.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll try, but I don't know how much Dumbledore can do when it comes to keeping your mum from having conniptions."

"When are you going to talk to the Headmaster about it?" Hermione wondered.

Harry opened his mouth to respond when an angry-looking great grey owl swooped down and dropped a scroll to the side of Harry's plate before turning to give Dumbledore another letter. Harry frowned and untied the scroll, opening it to find a response to his question, written in a mix of Order and auror code. Harry cocked his head to one side and quickly translated the message, then rolled the scroll back up and shoved it into his pocket to burn later. "I'm to go meet with him after lunch."

"Okay, now I'm curious about this friend of yours," Hermione admitted. "That wasn't Remus' owl."

"Indeed it wasn't," Harry agreed.

"And that looked like some form of code," Draco added, having peeked over Harry's shoulder at the message.

"Indeed it was."

"It's gotta be someone in the Order," Ron suggested, "if you think they'll help you."

"Indeed they are."

"And it's gotta be someone pretty important if you think Dumbledore'll listen to them," Ron added, frowning.

Harry considered that for a moment, then said, "I suppose they are."

"And you're not going to tell us who it is," Ginny realised.

"Indeed I am not."

"Harry," the Gryffindors chorused, including Dean, Seamus, and Neville.

"You're not telling them because of us," Theodore guessed, resigned.

"Actually, I'm just not telling them," Harry corrected.

"Harry!"

Harry offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry, guys; I'm just not allowed to. I'm not even supposed to suggest I know this person any better than them just being a member." He touched his pocket and rolled his eyes. "Their own fault."

"Why do you know this person so well?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowed.

Harry shook his head. "Can't tell you that."

"Have we met this person before?"

"I should think so."

"Have we met this person before?" Draco asked.

"I dunno, have you?" Harry replied.

"He's not going to tell us," Neville pointed out tiredly. "And he's not about to slip, either."

Harry flashed his friend a smile. "What Nev said. Now, let it alone."

The group let out some quiet grumbles, but obediently returned to their food, Draco requesting, "You'll let me know for sure if you're coming?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you at dinner if I don't run into you sooner." Harry cocked his head to one side in thought, then looked at Neville and said, "If I end up running late to Care of Magical Creatures, tell Hagrid I'm in a meeting with Dumbledore, okay? And it's nothing serious, so he should stop worrying."

Neville grinned. "Sure thing."

Harry smiled back and returned to his lunch. When the Headmaster rose from his seat, Harry got up himself and offered, "I'll see everyone later, then."

"Go have your secret meeting, Potter," Theodore ordered, waving him off.

Harry chuckled and hurried to join Dumbledore at the doors of the Great Hall, falling into step next to him with a smile. "Hello, sir."

"Good afternoon, Harry," Dumbledore returned with a smile of his own and a twinkle of his eyes. "Is there a particular reason that I'll be required to keep Alastor from murdering you?"

"Is that what he said?" Harry asked, checking to ensure his wand wasn't stuck in his wrist holster. "Oh, dear..."

Dumbledore chuckled and didn't ask again what the meeting was about, content to hum to himself as they made their way up to the seventh floor. When they reached the gargoyle, he said, "Canary Creams," and it rumbled open.

"Have you ever had one, sir?" Harry enquired, allowing the older wizard to precede him up.

"Once," Dumbledore admitted. "Fred and George brought them to a meeting and took great care in disguising them so we wouldn't avoid them. They really are quite good, in spite of the after-effects."

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "I've yet to try one, myself, but I know Nev liked them enough that he's had them on purpose a couple times. His Gran wasn't amused."

"No, I don't suppose Augusta would find that amusing. More the pity. Hello, Alastor."

"Albus," Mad-Eye replied, magical eye staring through the Headmaster at his pupil. "Potter. Have you cotton for brains?"

"Possibly," Harry agreed, deflecting the curse Mad-Eye shot at him as soon as he cleared Dumbledore without thinking about it. "The idea was for you to help me convince the Headmaster I can take care of myself, not ask after my sanity."

"Someone needs to," Mad-Eye snapped, shooting another two spells at the teen. Harry ducked one, which splashed harmlessly against a bookcase, and blocked the other. "I trust you on your own in London, but I don't trust you on your own in Malfoy Manor."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, perhaps you could explain what your argument is about?"

Mad-Eye gave Harry a sharp look. "You haven't told him?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "That was half the point of this meeting. Can I sit down in peace, or are you going to curse me again?"

Mad-Eye considered that for a moment, then pointed his wand at Harry. "Curse you again," he decided.

"Alastor," Dumbledore called, frowning, and the ex-auror grunted and put his wand away. Harry dropped into the free chair across from Dumbledore's desk, eyeing his tutor suspiciously. "Harry, my boy, what's this about?"

Harry shook his head and turned to Dumbledore after taking a brief moment to grow a couple eyes on his hair to watch Mad-Eye. "We were talking about the Christmas holidays, and when I mentioned I was planning to spend part of mine at the hostel I stayed in over the summer, Draco offered to let me stay at Malfoy Manor. He's promised that I'll be safe while I'm there."

"The word of a Malfoy is worth squat," Mad-Eye muttered.

"Oh, shut up, Alastor," Harry shot back.

"I thought I trained you to be less trusting, not more," Mad-Eye snapped.

"I don't trust Draco," Harry said honestly, because he really didn't trust any of the Slytherins. "What I trust is my ability to avoid any harm while I'm in his home."

"Oh, you think you're ready to take on Lucius, now?" Mad-Eye cackled.

"Harry, I have to agree with Alastor," Dumbledore interrupted before the two could come to curses again. "Going into Malfoy Manor, alone, is far too dangerous, no matter how well trained you have been."

Harry took a deep breath, then asked, "What if Ron and 'Mione went with me?"

The elder two were silent for a long moment before Mad-Eye burst out laughing. "That would be a good trick!"

Harry frowned. "Mr Malfoy already agreed; Draco asked him by owl last night."

Mad-Eye's mouth snapped shut and he stared at Harry for a long moment before saying, "Now I'm doubly suspicious."

"Of course you are." Harry sighed and turned to the Headmaster. "Sir, please? I'm staying with Remus until the morning of the twenty-fourth, anyway, and Mad-Eye and I meet every Friday, holiday or no. It's only a week and a half, and I'll have Ron and 'Mione to watch my back. Gin, too, if you'll let her come."

Dumbledore sighed. "If I allow this, you'll all be given emergency portkeys, to be used the moment something starts to go even a little bit wrong, do you understand? Not after you've already started duelling with someone, not after someone's been hurt, the moment things turn bad."

Harry nodded. "The minute one of us sees a Death Eater other than Mr Malfoy, we'll use the portkeys," he agreed. "I'm assuming you'll tie the activation together, so we don't have to go looking for each other if we're in separate rooms?"

"When would any of you be in separate rooms?" Mad-Eye demanded.

"Oh, I dunno, when somebody's taking a piss?" Harry snapped.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Gentlemen."

"Sorry, sir," Harry offered, looking contrite. Mad-Eye just snorted and looked away.

Dumbledore sighed again. "You'll have to agree to partner up while you're there; no one goes anywhere alone. If one of a pair needs to take a toilet break, the other one stays outside the door."

"Yes, sir."

"And you'll be meeting with me on that Monday, too," Mad-Eye added.

"The hell-"

"Or you can spend the holiday under Madam Pomfrey's care."

Harry snapped his mouth shut, having no doubt that the ex-auror would curse him bloody and unconscious just to keep him out of trouble. "Yeah, okay," he agreed.

Mad-Eye nodded and looked at Albus. "If he sticks with his friends and has an emergency portkey, they should be fine; even if Potter or the Weasley boy think to play hero, Granger and the younger Weasley won't."

"I wouldn't go around playing hero," Harry muttered.

Mad-Eye shot him a look.

"Very well," Dumbledore agreed. "Do you know how everyone is planning to get to Malfoy Manor? I don't want any of you going alone."

"Uhm, I don't know, no," Harry admitted. "They can probably stay here until the twenty-fourth and then we can set up a linked portkey, or I can apparate to the school gate and we can all head out together?"

Dumbledore considered that for a moment, then nodded. "A portkey would probably work best," he decided. "Floo from Remus' flat to my office on the morning of the twenty-fourth and I'll have one ready for all of you, as well as your emergency portkeys."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"You're dismissed," Dumbledore announced, and Harry made for the door with all due haste, needing to drop by his dorm to grab his things before class, and not particularly interested in seeing what curses Mad-Eye had in store for him.

-0-0-0-

"Alastor hates me," Harry informed Marcus once the last of the sixth years had vacated his classroom on Friday morning.

Marcus glanced up at the space where he could sense Harry, for all that the teen was invisible. "Why do you say that?"

Harry pulled off his Cloak and grimaced at the absolute fury that took over the Dark Lord's face, false gold-brown eyes glinting red. "It's really not that bad," he promised, fingering a bloody rip in his shirt. Mad-Eye had used the first hour of their usual training time to essentially curse Harry bloody, true, but he'd healed it all, then sat down and taught the boy saviour every protection and alert ward he could think of, as well as a couple auror-level detection charms that Harry shouldn't know.

"I should send you to Poppy," Marcus hissed even as he stepped over and gently checked behind a couple of the rips.

"Everything's healed," Harry promised.

"That's not the point. I thought that insane bastard was supposed to be teaching you to stay alive, not doing your enemies' job for them!"

"I love you, too," Harry replied drily. "Help me fix my clothing so my friends don't ask questions?"

"Put your Cloak back on," Marcus directed.

"Why?"

"You're having lunch with me."

Harry smiled at his boyfriend's protectiveness and pulled his Cloak back over his head to follow Marcus to his rooms.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, Tom dropped his Marcus disguise and turned to look Harry over again, as if seeing him with his real eyes would change things. "Tom!" Harry laughed, dodging the man's poking. "I'm fine!"

"We need to broaden your vocabulary," Tom informed him. When Harry rolled his eyes in response, the Dark Lord asked, "Why didn't you fix your clothing yourself before you came to see me?"

"I rather you find out when Mad-Eye beats me up while I'm around to stop you from murdering him," Harry retorted. "I knew he was going to do something like this as soon as I agreed to stay at Malfoy Manor, honestly. I mean, I didn't expect him to be quite so furious, but I expected him to beat me up a little bit for even considering staying with Death Eaters; he wasn't pleased when he found out I was hanging out with 'Death Eater spawn', and this is quite a bit worse."

"Still," Tom muttered, taking Harry's outer robes from where the teen had them draped over one arm with his school bag. "You could have fixed your clothing."

"Probably," Harry agreed and they both fell silent for a minute to cast the required spells on Harry's clothing. When Tom handed the robe back, Harry commented, "Maybe I wanted you to worry over me."

"Imp," Tom declared with far more fondness than one might have expected to come from the Dark Lord. "Go sit down while I have food sent up."

They spent the lunch period eating together and, once the food was gone, discussing some of the spells Harry had just learnt. Tom was entirely too amused to find that Mad-Eye had taught Harry more restricted spells, though he did agree with the ex-auror that Harry should take care and cast wards on the rooms Lucius gave the students; just because Voldemort told his people that Harry and his friends were to be left alone didn't, necessarily, mean that everyone would listen all the time.

When lunch was nearing a close, the two wizards made their way down to the Defence classroom and Harry helped Marcus set up for the theory part of their class before dropping into his usual seat. When his friends poured in, he smiled at them and chucked when they all visibly relaxed. "What? Afraid I'd been kidnapped while on school grounds or something?"

"We were just a bit worried, 'cause you weren't there when we got up and you never showed at lunch," Dean explained as the group settled into their usual seats around him.

"Sorry. Got up a bit early and went for a walk, then ended up agreeing to have lunch with Marcus in his rooms when we ran into each other on our way to the Great Hall. I didn't miss anything particularly exciting, did I?"

"No, not really," Hermione allowed.

"Dumbledore did seem rather interested in checking your usual seat, though," Pansy informed him airily.

Harry winced. "I'm sure he's worried one of you lot's run off with me early or some such," he retorted. "Fool him, since we all know you're just waiting until I visit to do terrible things to me."

The Slytherins traded smirks while the Gryffindors rolled their eyes. Then Marcus called the class to order and Harry's absence from lunch was forgotten.

Harry couldn't help but notice, when he walked into the Great Hall with Marcus for dinner, how Dumbledore seemed to relax at the Head Table.

'If he's so afraid Moody will kill you, why doesn't he put his wild dog on a leash?' Marcus snarled as Harry joined his friends.

'Alastor is an expert at dodging leashes,' Harry retorted with a smile for his friends. "Hey."

Hermione dragged Harry down into his spot between her and Draco, talking a mile a minute about a spell she found in the library after class that they could maybe use as part of a ward to protect magical buildings, but she'd have to find a way to alter it to work with a warding scheme and-

"Hermione!" Harry called, laughing. "Deep breaths."

Hermione took a deep breath and offered him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Harry. I just got so excited-"

"I know," Harry replied fondly. "Slowly, what were you saying about working some spells into a warding scheme?"

Hermione nodded and started piling food on Harry's plate as she explained, "I know that there's a variation on the Shield Charm worked into the Hogwarts wards, so I was wondering if we could work a variation of the Reflecting Shield Charm into a ward scheme."

Harry considered that for a moment, then commented, "Would it work against solid objects? All Shield Charms are created to be used against magic, rather than solid objects. Even now, the Hogwarts wards can only protect the school from so much damage from an attack made up of solid, non-magical objects."

"Wait, what?" Draco asked, scowling. "The Hogwarts wards can protect just fine against solid objects!"

"Solid objects imbued with magic, yes," Harry disagreed, having argued the point with the Dark Lord previously. "The wards draw magic from whatever's attacking it to help power themselves and keep from taxing the ward stones. If you were to throw pebbles at the wards that came from a non-magical area, the wards would be required to power themselves from the ward stones. If you were to base your attack from the ground, closer to the ward stones, it would take quite an effort to overpower the ward stones, but it you were to use an aerial assault, it wouldn't take all that much to get through."

"And any muggle bombs would come from above," Neville murmured, frowning in thought. "You'd need to find a way for the wards stones to power all parts of the ward equally."

"You'd need more ward stones," Theodore pointed out. "Does anyone know how many ward stones Hogwarts has? I know my family's manor has six, but it's only about one-eighteenth the size of this school."

Everyone turned to Hermione, but she shrugged. "It's not in Hogwarts: A History."

'Tom?' Harry called, figuring that if anyone knew, it would be the Dark Lord.

'One hundred fifty,' the Dark Lord reported.

Harry blinked a few times, surprised, then reported, "One hundred fifty."

"We'd need to, what, double that number to fully protect the school?" Ginny asked quietly into the silence that followed Harry's answer.

Pansy cleared her throat uncomfortably. "That still doesn't answer how we'd reflect back something without any magic."

Hermione moaned and covered her face with her hands. "And I thought I'd found an easy solution, too!"

Harry chuckled. "It's not a bad solution, per se, it's just not particularly feasible. If we can find some way for those spells to affect items without any magic and have that translate into a ward without losing integrity, we might have a solution."

"Well, when you put it like that," Blaise said drily.

Harry smiled, unapologetic, while the others let out stressed laughter.

"What are you lot up to, anyway?" Parvati asked from the other side of Hermione. Across from her, Lavender had also leant forward, curious. "Talking about the Hogwarts wards and using them against the muggles?"

"Just trying to find a solution to a problem Marcus - Professor Brutús - gave me for fun," Harry lied smoothly. "I mean, it's all theoretical and it's not like we're getting points for it, but he mentioned it and now I'm curious if we could find a way to protect the school against a full-fledged non-magical attack."

"You would think that was fun, wouldn't you?" Lavender commented, rolling her eyes at Harry's eternal love of Defence.

They all shared a round of slightly nervous laughter, then returned to their food in silence.

-0-0-0-

The thing about waiting until what was, essentially, the last minute to sort out their holiday plans, was that there wasn't really time for anyone in the Order - save Mad-Eye and Dumbledore - to chew Harry out for his bad life choices. Or, well, there wasn't time while he was at Hogwarts. Once he got off the train at King's Cross, it was a different matter, as evidenced by the fact that Remus was not waiting alone.

"Quite the welcoming committee there, Potter," Theodore said, nodding towards the group awaiting him.

Harry sighed and hitched his bag a little higher up on his back. "Joy," he muttered before nodding to his friends. "I'll see everyone in a couple weeks, if not at Malfoy Manor," he offered. Upon receiving nods or affirmative noises in response from everyone, he headed for his godfather, Tonks, and the Weasleys. "Can we skip the dire warnings and disapproving stares?" he requested plaintively.

Remus and Tonks both glanced away, clearly hiding smiles, while Mr Weasley sort of sighed. Mrs Weasley, however, narrowed her eyes and looked like she was about to start in on him, only to be stopped by Draco coming over, his mother following close behind.

"Potter," Draco called, looking more irritated than anything else as Harry turned towards him. "Mother told me to make sure you Gryffindors know that you're expected to wear formal robes on Christmas day. And not that eyesore Weasley had a few years ago." He sniffed and very pointedly didn't look at the two Weasley adults.

Harry coughed to hide a smile at the reminder of Ron's robes from the Yule Ball. They'd met an unfortunate end somewhere between being packed into Ron's trunk at the end of the year and when he'd unpacked them at home that summer, from what Ginny had told Harry last year. She'd been pretty sure it had been his fault, but he'd blamed it on Fred and George switching their luggage around on the way down to the train.

The only problem, of course, was that while Ginny's robes would still serve (and still fit, last Harry'd heard), and Hermione could easily get the money from her parents to get a new set at Hogsmeade over the next couple days, Ron didn't have that option. Unless Harry did something, which would very likely end with Ron or his parents being difficult about the cost. Like always. He tried not to sigh as he smiled at Draco. "Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure the others know before we portkey over."

Draco sniffed and turned away. "Good."

Harry turned back to his welcoming committee as the Malfoys left, eyeing the worried frown Mrs Weasley's scowl had morphed into. "I can send Ron money to get new dress robes," he offered. "Gin, too, if she wants them."

Mrs Weasley shook her head. "Oh, Harry, no. We can't ask you-"

"You're not," Harry insisted. "I'm offering. I'll mark it as a birthday present." Not that he wouldn't 'accidentally' forget he was calling the robes a birthday present and get them both something else on their birthdays. He put on an apologetic expression and ducked his head. "I mean, they wouldn't even need them if I hadn't decided to try spending the holiday with Draco when he offered, so it's only fair I cover the additional cost, right? Sort of a 'thanks for watching out for me even though I'm doing something stupid again'?"

"It's a bad habit of yours," Tonks commented, and Harry resisted the urge to grin at her.

"Let him, Molly," Mr Weasley suggested. "If nothing else, it'll be a good show at Lucius."

Mrs Weasley huffed. "Oh, is that what you're taking from this? Never mind our children's safety, so long as you get to pull one over on Lucius Malfoy!"

Harry looked hopefully at Remus and mouthed, 'Can we go?'

Remus' eyes fairly sparkled and he motioned Harry forward. As soon as the teen was within reach, Remus apparated them both away.

They landed in a small flat that Harry knew his godfather had bought after Sirius' death, as uninterested in calling Grimmauld Place his only home as Harry was. He'd paid for it with the money Sirius had left him, though Harry was pretty sure Sirius had intended the money be used to update Remus' wardrobe.

"I'm sorry your room's so small," Remus offered as he led Harry to one of the doors off the living room and pushed it open. It led to a cupboard of a room, with a single bed and a short wardrobe that was clearly meant to double as a bedside table crammed into it. There was just enough floor space left for two people of moderate girth to huddle together and avoid being hit if someone else decided to open or close the door.

"It's perfect," Harry promised, a part of him helplessly in love with the simple fact that he had someone in his life who cared about him enough to set aside a bedroom for him, no matter how small it was. Especially since he knew Remus had bought the place before he'd approached Harry about filling the space Sirius had left as his godfather, which meant he'd gone for a flat with a second bedroom before he'd known if Harry wanted anything to do with him at all. (Which, given, the room could have been intended for any Order member looking for a place to crash, but they could have, just as easily, been shown to the couch.)

Remus smiled at him. "I've got a book of charms to do things like paint the walls or the furniture, if you'd like," he offered. "I'd suggest expanding the room, but I don't want to chance the building owner dropping by for something and wondering why your room is so big."

Harry grinned and shook his head. "It's really fine, Remus. I have nothing against a small room. After Voldemort's gone, if I haven't got a place of my own, we can revisit the size, but this is more than fine for a few days on the holidays. Though," he added, eyeing the empty white walls, "I might take you up on that painting charm."

Remus laughed. "Tomorrow. For now, how about some dinner at the pub 'round the way?"

"Sounds good," Harry agreed and followed his godfather out.

-0-0-0-

Remus, politely, didn't harp on Harry about his plans to spend the rest of the holiday at Malfoy Manor. He did ask, once, "Are you sure about your holiday plans?" while they were in Diagon Alley, considering dress robes, since Harry had left his old set in his trunk back at Hogwarts and rather wanted a new set, anyway.

Harry ran his fingers over the delicate rune-work sewn in to the hem of a dark green robe he was standing next to and shrugged. "I trust myself to handle any trouble that arises, and I trust 'Mione to be overcautious and pull me out if I get in over my head." He glanced up at his godfather. "I can't tell Draco no, anyway. Not now."

"I'm sure you'd be forgiven the faux pas," Remus muttered quietly enough that Harry could pretend he hadn't heard him. The werewolf sighed after a moment. "All right, Harry. At least you're not going in unknowing and alone."

Harry bit his lip. No, indeed, he knew exactly what he was getting in to. And, better, he had one ally that no one in the Order would have dared expect.

"Now, how about something red?" Remus suggested, a teasing note in his voice.

Harry turned and grimaced at the bright red robe his godfather had found. "How about not," he replied drily and Remus laughed, even as he put it away. "Green served me just fine last time."

"Sirius and James are rolling over in their graves," Remus joked, even as he pulled out the dark green robe Harry was still semi-consciously fingering the rune-lined sleeves of.

"What about Mum?" Harry asked, curious.

Remus snorted and held out the robes for Harry to take. "She liked green and would wear it to irritate James."

Harry laughed as he accepted the robes. He looked them over, considering them against his memories of his older green robes. These were a much darker shade, but also of a finer weave, and the rune-work was done in a lighter green than the robe, fading in to the hem at a distance. They were nice, and would very likely make an excellent impression on the Malfoys. Better yet, Tom would approve.

"Get them if they're what you want, cub," Remus said when Harry glanced back up at him. "I'm certain they'll look good, and Merlin knows you'll fit in best wearing green."

"Funny, I was just thinking that exact thing," Harry replied with a chuckle as he turned to take the robes to the shop assistant, so she could fit them properly and he could pay.

-0-0-0-0-0-

-0-0-0-0-0-

Spell Explanations:

• Repercuto -- meaning 'to reflect' in Latin. Reflecting Shield Charm
  A neutral shield spell that reflects spells back on their caster; however, reflected spells can go awry if reflected at the wrong angle or if the caster avoids it. Spells already reflected by one shield cannot be reflected by a second one.

Abandon & Reclaim Series:
Abandon the Prequel: Sixth Year
Abandon chapter 01
Reclaim chapter One
Abandoned Chapters:
One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten
Eleven || Twelve || Thirteen || Fourteen || Fifteen || Sixteen || Seventeen || Eighteen || Nineteen || Twenty
INCOMPLETE

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