Butterfly 23 - LM/HP
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If you loved me enough you would have seen the message I left at the bottom of my profile on FFnet, so you’d know why I haven’t been updating. Let’s move on from that now... I’m back. For a while. Until the exams anyway. Enjoy the chapter!
Oh, and RL friends suck ass! I need new friends! Don’t you hate when someone gets a boyfriend and suddenly doesn’t have time for you anymore? And only ever wants to see you if YOU are third wheel? FML.
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Words: 4,522
Chapter 23
August 12th 1992.
The Hogwarts letters had arrived.
Three owls swooped in through the open window in the kitchen and dropped down onto the table. Evan scowled at the birds, but he reached forward nonetheless to relieve them of their burdens. Lucius held his hand out, taking the letter that was meant for his son and reading over it in silence. Evan did the same with Harry’s letter, but the held Theodore’s out without a word.
The three children were leaning against the kitchen counter, looking guilty and upset. Theo quietly took his letter and read it, before handing it to his friends to read. Harry and Draco shot each other quick glances, a half smile played over the blond’s lips before he caught his father’s glare. Draco sighed loudly, rolling his eyes, and his shoulders hunched over as he begun to sulk.
“Please father!” Harry whispered, blinking his eyes hopefully. “Oh please let us!”
Evan didn’t even turn around to look at him. Harry frowned at the back of the man’s head, his fingers tapping nervously against his thighs.
“We discussed this last night, child.” The man spoke softly, but Harry could still hear the subtle anger in his tone. Draco had been spanked last night, Harry knew, but Evan had yet to punish him. Harry knew Evan would never physically hurt him, not after what Harry had been through with Vernon over the years, but that didn’t mean that Evan couldn’t punish Harry in other, equally painful ways. “You are irresponsible and irrational. The behaviour you all exhibited last night was impulsive and stupid, and incredibly dangerous! If you are going to act like a child, my son, I will treat you as one. Children do not have the privilege of attending Hogwarts, so why should you have need to buy Hogwarts supplies?” He finally turned, meeting Harry’s eyes in a cold stare.
Harry lowered his in submission, ducking his head in shame. Beside him, the other children who hadn’t been told of Evan’s decision gasped loudly.
“I’m sorry,” Harry murmured.
“You can’t keep him out of Hogwarts! You can’t!” Draco cried, reaching over to squeeze Harry’s hand. “Father?” Grey eyes widened imploringly as Lucius turned his head towards them.
The elder Wizard took a sip of his coffee and allowed a smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. “As much as I would delight in Harry’s company throughout the entire day I’m afraid, Draco, you are right. Mr. Alfred is merely forbidding him from attending Diagon Alley this summer. He is… grounded, I suppose.” Draco’s jaw dropped, looking horribly surprised. “And so are you.”
“WHAT?” The child shrieked. Lucius fingered the head of his cane, and Draco immediately fell silent, biting down on his bottom lip.
“What about me?” Theodore whispered. He was shaking all over, eyeing Lucius’ cane with obvious fear.
“You are neither of our children to punish, Mr. Nott,” Lucius said softly. He eyed the boy in concern. “But as we intend to shop for our children, we may as well purchase your supplies also.”
“Unless you want to come alone with us?” Evan grinned at the child, baring his teeth.
Theo shook his head quickly, his eyes on the ground between him and the adults. He didn’t speak again until Lucius and Evan left the room.
“This is crap!” Draco scowled, throwing himself into one of the kitchen chairs. His father would be disgusted by the boy’s posture, but Draco felt rather smug with himself and what he considered to be a mild act of rebellion. “How dare father ground me? Wait until mother hears of this!”
“Are you going to tell her you ran away on the Knight Bus, broke into a hostile Death Eater’s home, kidnapped his son, and watched me get tortured after we all jumped out of a window?” Draco remained silent. Harry grinned, “didn’t think so.”
“I- I don’t think I thanked you,” Theo whispered.
“No,” Draco said with a scowl, “you didn’t. And don’t bother either. Look what came of it?” He leant back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, still scowling. The adults had left the Hogwarts letters behind, and Draco grabbed his and clenched it in his fist. “This is crap,” he said again.
Harry smiled softly at him. “It’s only three weeks, Draco. Hopefully they’ll get sick of us complaining by then.”
“But,” Theo said softly, “You shouldn’t do that. Your f-fathers have punished you, you have no right to argue with that punishment.” He stumbled over the word ‘father’, his eyes locking on Harry’s face as he tried to puzzle out who exactly Evan Rosier was to Harry Potter.
“Your father is an abusive prick. My father loves me.” Draco said with a roll of his eyes.
Harry chuckled lightly, smirking over at his friend. Draco simply glared back. “He has a point though. I would never have talked back to my uncle, but with Tennyson, there’s a time and a place. Sometimes it’s ok to argue, because that’s what makes you an individual person and not a clone or a servant or a house-elf.”
“Not elves like yours though Nott!” Draco muttered. “There are times, mainly in public places or you know when they are trying to save your life or something, when we would listen without question.”
“You’ll get used to it, and to Tennyson. He’s a bit much to take in at first, but I adore him.” Harry promised, squeezing Theo’s shoulder.
“Why?” Draco hissed, eyes narrowed. “It’s not like he’s staying here! You can’t expect Mr. Alfred to take in every stray you pick up! What about the Mudblood? Hmm? You expect her to live here too?”
Harry rolled his eyes, but Theodore didn’t hear what he said in reply. He was too busy staring at Evan Rosier, who was leaning against the kitchen door, and had been previously unnoticed. The Death Eater held his finger to his mouth, and Theo clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t know who Tennyson Alfred was, other than the fact that Harry lived with him and he was a friend of Lucius Malfoy’s. Theaodore Nott had never spoken about the man, even though they were both Death Eaters in the higher circles and should have known each other, and Harry didn’t seem inclined to share all that much about his ‘father’ either. It made Theo suspicious. It also kind of scared him a little too, but Harry obviously trusted the man and Harry had gone all the way to Canterbury with Draco to rescue him, so Theo supposed he could hold his tongue a little longer.
The twelve year old nodded at Evan, and turned away, forcing a smile as Harry bumped his shoulder and said, “isn’t that right, Theo?”
He hadn’t been listening, and he didn’t know how to answer. So he just grinned, and shrugged, and let the other two boys start another argument over nothing.
XXX
August 19th 1992.
The week had passed quickly enough, but it wasn’t fast enough for Draco. Lucius had brought the boy home on Friday the 14th and had yet to let him go back to Surrey to visit Harry and Theo. All three of the boys were still grounded, which for Harry and Theo meant house arrest. Evan wouldn’t even let them go as far as the café where Petunia worked! Every time they went into the garden, where the wards would not detect their underage magic, Evan made sure to take their wands off of them.
Harry had given up protesting. Begging hadn’t swayed the man, nor had pouting or crying, Draco had thrown the biggest temper tantrum in the world, completely with kicking and screaming and exploding priceless heirlooms, and yet neither adult Wizard had been moved. Each time the children had been met with level stares; cold and unaffected and piercing, until eventually they had to look away from their fathers, unable to keep their gazes any longer.
Being unbelievably bored out of their minds, Harry and Theo had completed all of their summer assignments. Lucius had appeared with Severus one morning, both of them ignoring Vernon Dursley who stood scowling in the background, and had presented Theodore with a certificate, declaring him a Ward of the ministry, and his trunk full of clothes and textbooks. Inside the trunk, unfortunately, was all of the homework Theo was expected to have done by the first of September. They worked on it together, and they exchanged owls with Draco and Lucius sometimes, and once a Wizarding Services worker even came by to visit Theodore but she hadn’t stayed long.
It had made Harry wonder why, though, no one from Wizarding Services had ever visited him as a child.
Harry looked over at his friend. Theodore was staring at him, and had been for the last hour and a half. Harry had finally decided to tell Theo the truth about Vernon and Evan and Tennyson, and Theo had taken it well at first. But then it had actually sunk in, and ever since Harry had felt eyes burning holes in the back of his head.
“I’m trying to read here, Theo!” The child saviour hissed, narrowing his eyes at his friend.
Brown eyes widened, “I can’t believe you live with Evan Rosier! He’s supposed to be dead! He’s meant to be horrible! Everyone was afraid of him!”
“Yes,” Harry said, sounding rather put-upon, “you’ve told me twelve times already, thanks.”
The bedroom door opened and cut off anything that Theo was going to say in response. Evan stood there, looking between the two of them quickly before settling his gaze on Theo.
“Make yourself presentable. The Ministry requires your presence.” He said shortly. He made his way into the room and paused beside Harry. The boy looked up and smiled widely, leaning forward so that Evan didn’t have to reach far to cup his cheek. “I presume you will be fine alone for an hour at the most? I need to apparate him to Malfoy Manor and apparate him back when he and Lucius are finished at the Ministry.”
“I’ll be fine!” Harry said softly, still smiling. Evan’s thumb pressed gently across Harry’s cheek, almost like a caress, and Theo’s eyes locked onto the movement.
“Be good.” Evan warned, turning sharply to pin Theo with a narrowed eyed stare. “Are you ready?”
Theo sort of wanted to brush his teeth again, before going to the Ministry, and he wanted to change his robes and socks. But he didn’t want to admit that he had been too busy staring at the couple, watching them interact, even though he knew Evan probably had noticed. So he just nodded furiously, and silently followed Evan from the room. Harry watched them from the top of the stairs, leaning over the balcony as Theodore went towards the garden as if it were a gallows. With one last look over his bony shoulder, Theodore smiled at Harry and gritted his teeth. The moment he stepped outside, Evan apparated him away.
Harry sat back on the top step of the stairs. He rested his hands on his knees and sighed loudly. This was the first time he had really been alone since they had gone to rescue Theo, and it felt a little unusual. Harry half wished Evan had brought Draco over when he had come to collect Theodore, but then again, if Draco was here Harry would never finish the book he was reading. Evan wanted a report on the principles of transcendentalism, which was philosophical and therefore rather confusing, done before Harry headed back to Hogwarts. The book had 216 pages and Harry had only read about 50 so far.
He snorted lightly. “I’m screwed,” he whispered to himself, a little annoyed over the fact that Evan even wanted him to learn about something so obscure and useless! “That’s what I get for telling him I had finished all of my summer work, I suppose.” He mumbled, as he headed back towards his bedroom.
Harry stopped short at the threshold. Green eyes widened in shock and he took an involuntary step backwards. There was a house elf in his bedroom; one he didn’t recognize. The creature tilted its head to one side when it noticed Harry, studying the child curiously as it blinked its large tennis-ball eyes. Wrinkled hands smoothes down the pink pillowcase it wore, palms pressing against the gold and turquoise ‘G’ engraved on its chest, and then it bowed at the waist.
“Harry Potter,” the house elf drawled. “I’m so excited to meet you.” It spoke English perfectly, so unlike Misery and Ruin and Dobby. Harry frowned at the creature that had jogged forward and taken hold of his left arm. Its fingers were pressed against his left forearm: pressing against where the Dark Mark would have gone should Harry ever choose to be marked, rubbing the clothed skin almost reverently. “There is someone else who would like to meet you.” Yellow eyed rolled once in their sockets and fluttered closed. When they opened again, they were red. The House Elf’s mouth was wide with a smile, teeth displayed, as nails bit into Harry’s skin. “He’s half-dead from anticipation, Harry. It’s been such a long time.”
Harry opened his mouth. The sight of those red eyes staring at him had him flinching backwards, struggling to free his arm from the elf’s surprisingly strong grip. Without a sound, the Elf disappeared from the room. And it took Harry with him.
XXX
Same time.
Harry blinked slowly, trying to get used to the sudden light that was blinding him. He didn’t know where he was, but he definitely wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The elf was waiting patiently beside him, one hand still locked onto his arm, and Harry tugged harshly, trying to free himself. The house elf didn’t so much as sway at the movement. Instead it turned its yellow eyes up to meet Harry’s gaze and smiled warmly.
“This way now, please, Mr. Potter.” It pulled Harry out from where they had been standing. Harry looked around in confusion, surprised to find them coming out from a small alleyway between two shops on Diagon Alley! How the hell did the House Elf apparate inside of the Alley? “My magic is a special kind, Harry,” the house elf murmured as if it had read Harry’s thoughts. “We can do things here that Wizards can’t, that Wizards won’t, that some would never dare.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. He had been listening intently, following without protest, but when the house elf had switched from using the word ‘Wizards’ to ‘some’ it put the child on edge. “Who are you?” Harry asked lowly, not wanting anyone to overhear the conversation just in case he was right. “What are you?”
The elf laughed; its head thrown back and mouth wide open. It didn’t stop walking or slow down though, and Harry nearly had to jog to keep up. “I am a house elf.” The creature said, glancing at Harry from the corner of his eyes. “My new name is ‘Fluturim e Vdekjes’1. I cannot remember my old name.”
“Can’t remember?” Harry asked softly, “or was made to forget?” The elf laughed louder this time, as it steered Harry into Flourish & Blotts, but it didn’t answer the question either way. Harry took that to mean the second answer was probably nearer to the truth.
“FLUT!” Someone called, sounding furious. Harry looked around, searching for the voice and his eyes widened as they landed on Gilderoy Lockhart. The man was classically handsome, with shinny white teeth, golden hair and a perfect smile, but at the moment he looked terrible. Anger marred his perfect features, and he pushed through the crowd of simpering girl-fans to grab hold of his house elf’s arm.
The moment there was skin on skin contact, the elf lost its calm composure and begun to tremble and stutter sounding just like all of the other house elves Harry had ever met. Lockhart, on the other hand, calmed down almost immediately. Pretty blue eyes pierced Harry’s soul; gazing into him with such purpose that Harry actually felt a headache coming on. He finally managed to yank his arm out of Flut’s grip, and used that hand to rub at his forehead.
“Ah!” Lockhart said. Harry’s eyes narrowed. Earlier, even while furious, Gilderoy’s voice was light and airy, but now there was a different feel to it: something deeper and darker, but somehow more pleasing. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, Harry Potter.” He held out his hand, and Harry did as manners dictated he do. He shook the hand, wincing as Lockhart gripped his fingers tightly. When Harry tried to pull away, he found he couldn’t. It was just like when Fluturim had been dragging him along by the arm.
Harry narrowed his eyes again. “Who are you? Why did your house elf kidnap me?”
“Oh Harry!” The man said lightly, waving his free hand dismissively. “We have all year to get to know one another,” he said this casually, but there was a look in his eyes, as he let them travel across Harry’s face before settling on his scar, that Harry didn’t like. “I’m your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor!”
Lockhart pulled Harry through the crowd, making his way back to the middle of the bookshop’s ground floor. The house elf trailed silently behind them, but whenever Harry chanced a glance backwards, the creature began shaking and refused to meet his eyes.
“It’s good to finally meet you Harry. There’s so much I want to talk about with you!”
It was starting to creep Harry out, the way Lockhart was looking at him. It was almost as if the man was devouring every inch of him with his blue eyes, looking for flaws and imperfections, while cataloguing all of his best points. Harry wasn’t sure if he felt more like a piece of meat waiting to be sold off or an animal to be bred. If it had been Lucius staring at him, Harry’s first thought with have immediately been that the blond was attracted to him, but Gilderoy’s gaze wasn’t quite like that. Harry was a pretty boy (unfortunately, he felt), but there seemed to be a different motivation behind the elder Wizard’s actions than simply lust.
“Right. Nice to meet you too, but I really have to go now.” Harry went to move away, but Lockhart tugged on his hand.
Harry ended up stumbling forward, falling against the man’s chest. Lockhart caught him easily, and he gave Harry a wide smile, before turning his face just in time for the cameras to start flashing. Gilderoy almost preened before the press and the fans and the cameras, and all the while he held Harry tucked against his chest.
At one point, he bent his head to whisper into Harry’s ears, “do you keep a diary, little one? I find that it is a… release, of sorts. Maybe you should try it.” There was a shark like grin on his mouth and Fluturim, who was standing behind them, gave a horrified squeak. For a second, Harry thought that there was something wrong with Lockhart’s eyes, but then the cameras started going off again and he couldn’t see much more than a white light as photo after photo blinded him.
It was almost an hour later before Lucius and Evan entered the shop. Both men froze in the doorway, sensing that something was different about the store. The journalists were still crowding en mass around Harry and Lockhart. The child had handprint shaped bruises around the tops of both arms and on his shoulders from where Gilderoy had held him tightly. When he caught sight of his father, he waved his arm frantically.
Vernon Dursley stalked towards them, Lucius following furiously in his wake. “Unhand. My. Nephew.” He said through gritted teeth, pulling his wand on the smirking blond Wizard.
A laugh, the same laugh that the house elf had given when Harry asked what it was, echoed through the room. 2“Mos budalla, Evan,” the Hogwarts Professor whispered so low that only Rosier could hear him.
Evan’s eyes narrowed in contemplation. He looked between Harry and Lockhart with a frown on his mouth, and the conclusion he came to was obviously not a pleasant one, because he lowered his wand and ducked his head. He gritted his teeth.
“My behaviour was uncalled for,” he forced out after a moment of silence. “Harry, come now.”
Harry tugged at the hand on his shoulder, and it fell away easily. The child moved towards Evan and Lucius, both of whom looked a little confused and uneasy, and rather annoyed. “What’s going on?”
“Get out.” Evan hissed at the child. He didn’t know how Harry had gotten to Diagon Alley, but he could guess it had something to do with the smirking author in front of him. The house elf at the man’s side trembled harder as Harry got further and further away from them. Lucius had followed the boy, waiting down the street for Evan to join them. “Who are you?” Evan asked slowly, half knowing the answer already.
Perfect white teeth exposed themselves as Lockhart pulled his lips back. It was less of a smile, and more like a face someone would pull while they were being tortured, and Evan felt a chill go down his spine. If this wasn’t who he thought it was, Evan didn’t know what he would do. He wanted so badly to be right. He wanted this to be-
Red eyes flashed at him in warning. “It’s a surprise.”
Evan gave a grin to match the other Wizard’s. The Death Eater’s shoulders straightened in relief and his eyes brightened in excitement, having received a positive answer to his suspicions.
Now there was only one thing to worry about.
“And Harry?” Evan asked, crossing the fingers of one hand behind his back.
Gilderoy tilted his head to one side, studying Evan carefully. 3“Unë do t'i jap dobi të dyshimit për hir tuaj, Muggle.” A blond eyebrow rose in distaste, and blue eyes ran over the form of Vernon Dursley.
Inside, Evan was grinning. But in response he merely shrugged. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” he said at last, before tucking his wand into his pocket. Then he turned and shouted at the nearest store clerk, demanding three sets of Hogwarts Second year books.
“Here,” Lockhart said. He handed over a full collection of Gilderoy Lockhart’s works, the top one covered in squiggles and lines that Evan couldn’t understand but it looked like a badly done signature. “This set is for Harry. Make sure he receives it.”
Evan tilted his head forward; the miniscule motion going unnoticed by the others surrounded them, but Lord Voldemort gave a pleased smirk nonetheless.
XXX
August 24th 1992.
Harry could still remember the last time he had broken into Lucius’ office. Well, the last time he hadn’t actually broken in. He had been playing hide-and-seek with Draco and something within the room had called to him, and the wards had fallen around the door just as Harry had touched it. This time, Harry had left his bed fully intending on sneaking into Lucius’ study.
The diary would be inside.
Harry knew where Lucius kept it hidden, and he had known since he overheard the elder Wizards talking about the diary and the house elf that it was important somehow. Lord Voldemort had told him to keep a diary, and what better one to keep than the one Lucius guarded so carefully? It might have been stupid, to steal the diary Voldemort (while possessing a house elf) had told Lucius to take care of, but then again why would Voldemort hint about the diary unless he wanted Harry to have it?
Harry stopped before the study door, his wand dangling loosely from his fingers. He didn’t know how to dismantle wards. His plan had been stupid and compulsive, and he suddenly felt unworthy of his Ravenclaw title. His free hand clenched at his side in frustration. He pressed his forehead against the door, and took two deep breaths to calm himself.
“I’ll just try the lock,” he whispered to himself. His hand closed around the doorknob and jiggled it. Harry knew for a fact that the door was locked because he had hidden behind a tapestry as Lucius locked and warded the room. The door swung open silently, and Harry let his hand drop to his side limply. “Oh,” he gasped, taking a slow step into the room.
As soon as he was over the threshold, he could feel it. There was darkness somewhere in this room, and it curled through the air like a fog towards him and hovered around his head and hands. Unconsciously, his feet moved forward, until he found himself crouched in front of the desk drawers. Without a word, one drawer clicked open, as if someone had cast an ‘Alhomora’ on it, but there was no one in the room but Harry.
A small black diary sat innocently inside the drawer. Harry stared down at it, trying to see why something so pointless could be considered important to the Dark Lord. What could it be that made this little book useful? It didn’t look like much, but perhaps something important was written inside.
Harry slowly pulled the book from the drawer and began to flick through its pages. His forehead creased in confusion as page after page appeared to be blank.
“Worthless,” the boy scoffed, throwing the book down onto the desk. Unfortunately, the diary bounced into a vial of ink, knocking them both onto the ground. The vial shattered and soaked Harry’s shoes and the diary in dark purple ink. “‘Evanesco’,” Harry said twice, cleaning the ink off of his feet and the floor. But the ink remained on the cover of the diary.
Harry picked it up, wiping at it with his sleeve. He flicked it open again to check how badly damaged the pages were, and his mouth dropped open in surprise as crisp, yellow pages fluttered under his fingertips. They were unblemished and dry, just like they had been when Harry had first opened it.
Curiosity welled up within him, and Harry couldn’t help himself as he grabbed one of Lucius’ quills and messily wrote, “where did the ink go?” onto one of the pages.
I absorbed it, the diary wrote back almost instantly.
“Curious and curiouser,” Harry mused, a small smile tugging at his mouth. He tucked the diary into his bathrobe pocket, and quickly cleaned up the mess he had made. He hoped Lucius wouldn’t notice anything amiss in the morning as he pulled the door closed behind him, feeling the wards snap into place again. As he climbed into bed, Harry lay the diary down onto the pillow beside his head. One hand traced the faint gold letters on the cover, reading, ‘T. M. Riddle’, and he said, “Maybe you aren’t so worthless after all.”
XXX
1 - “Fluturim e Vdekjes”: it means ‘Flight of Death’ in Albanian. Do you think Harry will figure it out?
2 - According to the same translation website, “Mos budalla” means ‘don’t be a fool’ in Albanian. There wasn’t a word for ‘Evan’.
3 - “unë do t'i jap dobi të dyshimit për hir tuaj” apparently means ‘I will give him the benefit of the doubt for your sake’ in Albanian. Do remember that Voldemort was someone that Evan counted as a friend, and vice versa. Evan was the only Death Eater who was never afraid of the Dark Lord. As such, it is probably safe to assume that since Voldemort spent time in Albania, before and after his defeat by Harry, Evan would have attempted to learn the language with his friend. Perhaps they holidayed together? Sipping cocktails, torturing Muggles and planning world domination while kidnapping snakes from an Albanian forest!
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Thanks for reading. Please review? I’m going to try and update Brothers in Arms this weekend, and then work on Chapter 3 of The Abyss. Any new one-shots that have been promised will have to wait until after my exams; sorry, but I’ll have more time then! All summer in fact!