Harry and Sirius got quite carried away getting to know the werewolf pack and completely lost track of time until Picky turned up asking if they would be joining the others for dinner at the castle. Harry baulked at the idea of leaving his mates for another meal and quickly grabbed Sirius, calling a quick goodbye to their new friends as he darted back towards the castle, dragging his father reluctantly behind him. They were both massively out of breath and looking quite dishevelled when they burst into the main dining room causing raised eyebrows from both Severus and Tom.
"You are aware that it was traditional for people to dress specifically for dinner, aren't you?" Tom queried.
"Er, no, I didn't actually," Harry grinned sheepishly, taking a seat next to Tom. "I'll try to remember that for the future. I'm sorry we're late as well, we got a little carried away talking with the werewolf pack."
"I assume they're willing to work with us then?" Tom asked. "I know Greyback is their alpha so they will follow his lead but it's always better to have followers that actually believe in your cause."
"It's why Dumbledore always tried to spread such misinformation about your cause," Severus mused.
"Yes," Tom sighed. "Anyone with half a brain can see that there's a big difference between disliking the bigotry of muggles and seeing them for the threat they are and wanting to kill them all. Grindelwald showed what a bad idea that was and he had the benefit of piggybacking on a war. Open warfare would only result in our annihilation, history shows us that. We would be outnumbered and outgunned."
"So that's your only reason for not attacking muggles?" Sirius questioned.
"No," Tom smiled, "but it is a big one. I'm not going to pretend that I think muggles are wonderful and should be embraced but I'm not about to advocate genocide, especially as it would only end up hurting us more."
Sirius shook his head. "Yeah that is definitely not what Dumbledore told us."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Of course it's not. Heaven forbid he paints me as anything other than completely insane because then people might actually start looking at my manifesto and agree with me. Did you never wonder why so few people actually opposed me? They may not have been my followers but they weren't exactly fighting the change. I know that the wizarding world is small but you would expect at least, say, 1% of people to, if not actively fight me, at least offer your group help. Instead there was, what, maybe two dozen of you?"
"Something like that," Sirius frowned, "and I did wonder about that at times but Dumbledore said he had more people working behind the scenes."
"People he must have cared about more since he never worried about disguising any of you, painting large targets on your backs instead," Severus pointed out.
"That's because we weren't scared of facing the consequences," Sirius blustered, "or at least that's what I might have said before. Talking with the werewolf pack has caused me to question a lot of what I was told by that man."
"That's good," Harry grinned.
Severus smiled. "Agreed. It's good to see you using your head for once, Black, instead of blindly following whatever the old man says and not questioning anything, even when what he says contradicts the facts."
"No you just want me to blindly follow the Dark Lord instead," Sirius grouced.
"On the contrary," Tom denied. "I dislike people who don't question things, not in my inner circle at any rate. Yes men make excellent foot soldiers but terrible advisers."
Sirius frowned. "Dumbledore never did ask our opinion on any of his plans."
"He wouldn't," Tom scoffed. "Why would the great Albus Dumbledore need to ask for advice?"
"Did you not find it strange how not one person ever questioned his actions?" Severus queried. "Both in the Order and in the school. Not one of them ever questions his actions and the students are encouraged to act likewise. Anyone who does question him is almost instantly vilified."
Sirius went to open his mouth to protest then stopped and thought. "We did do that, didn't we?"
"Yes," Severus sighed, "but you were children then who didn't know any better. I hope that now you're an adult you might start looking at some of his actions objectively, away from the warm feelings that you usually associate with him. Stop and ask yourself if what he did was truly the right thing to do."
"Although when you start questioning why he didn't do the right thing you may find yourself in for a shock," Tom chuckled.
"Why is that?" Sirius questioned.
"Because when you think about what would have happened if he had done the right thing, the person who would have lost out would have been him," Tom explained. "Sometimes he even directly gains from it."
"That seems a little harsh," Sirius muttered.
"If you can give me one instance of where Albus Dumbledore has done something and lost out, in the end that is, I will take back my word," Tom challenged. "The attack on the Potters destroyed me and propelled Dumbledore to higher notoriety, even the opening of the chamber of secrets the first time ended up giving him one of his most loyal followers as Hagrid was beyond grateful to be given the chance to work as groundskeeper."
"Even the attack on the Longbottoms helped him as it stopped Crouch Senior becoming Minister of Magic," Severus added.
"How would that help Dumbledore?" Sirius queried.
"Because Crouch was pig-headed and would never have gone along with Dumbledore on anything whereas Fudge used to constantly ask Dumbledore for advice," Severus explained. "Admittedly that seems to have lessened somewhat since Lucius also gained his ear but it definitely gave Dumbledore almost unlimited power for a few years since he was headmaster, chief warlock, supreme mugwump and an advisor to the Minister."
"And all the while I rot in jail and Harry is forced to live at that shit hole," Sirius scoffed. "Alright, I accept Dumbledore is far from innocent in things. Outright evil is still a push for me but I can definitely see him as self-serving."
"Well that's progress at least," Tom smirked.
"Don't take all the credit," Sirius scowled, "the werewolves did a lot to persuade me as well. It's ridiculous to think that there are so many in this pack who are student age but aren't allowed to study like Remus was."
"Oh! Are they getting an education?" Tom asked.
"One of the elders, Eric, is teaching them what he can but his knowledge is quite limited," Sirius replied. "They actually asked if you and Severus could help, since you were going to teach Harry anyway, and Harry liked the idea of attending lessons with other students."Yes please," Harry smiled. "No offence but lessons one on one with either of you all the time might be a bit much for all of us."
"I will admit students tend to work better when they have people to share ideas with," Severus mused.
"True," Tom agreed. "In that case I'll send a message to Eric later saying we accept the idea and arrange a time for him to come over and work out a proper timetable. It will certainly benefit the werewolf community to have some truly educated among their number."
"Well they have one," Harry said, "but he's from France. He's their healer although he said he wasn't that great with potions which is why he wanted to talk to specifically, Severus, so that he could discuss the differences between humans and werewolves. Apparently there needs to be some changes in the potions for them to work."
"Of course there does," Severus grinned. "I can't believe I didn't think about that before."
"So I see I'd best write to this Link as well since Severus is going to be far too immersed researching in the library to remember something as pedestrian as that," Tom chuckled, causing Severus to scowl at him lightheartedly.
"For your information I am trying to help your cause. Too many of the former inner circle are incarcerated so if you want to expand your numbers, and quickly, we are going to have to find a way to recruit and if we can offer more werewolves a sanctuary then there is no way that they won't follow you."
"I even told them they can expand as much as they need and I trust Deliah to keep an eye on what we can support food wise," Harry informed them.
"She seems to be Greyback's lieutenant and appears to be quite competent," Sirius added.
"That is good news," Tom smiled, "although talking about that awful prison, may I ask, Black, how did you manage to escape?"
"Oh, that was easy," Sirius grinned. "I'm an animagus and the dementors tend to ignore creatures since they only feed on humans so I just spent as much time as I could in that form. I probably would have escaped sooner but that place doesn't see the sun so I had no idea how much time had passed until Fudge came to visit me and left the paper. I'd always planned on getting out before Harry started Hogwarts, I wanted to be the one to tell him about magic and everything, only I realised I was too late for that. To make matters worse I noticed Peter Pettigrew had managed to hide amongst the Weasleys and I didn't trust him that close to Harry."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Peter Pettigrew was the other marauder, along with James, Remus and I. He was your parent's secret keeper when they put their house under the Fidelius charm and he was the one to tell Vol- the Dark Lord how to find them," Sirius raged.
"He was also an animagus if I remember," Tom mused. "A rat if I'm not mistaken."
Sirius nodded.
"Scabbers!" Harry exclaimed.
"Interesting," Severus murmured, "that certainly explains the prolonged lifespan better than Dumbledore's theory that it was because of magic. I wonder whether he was aware that the rat might not actually be a rat?"
"Or was as the case may be," Sirius growled. "I don't know if Dumbledore knew though. We managed to finally become animagus in our 5th year and then spent every full moon together but no one ever said anything about it."
"So either Dumbledore was fully aware of what was going on and willfully turned a blind eye to it not only at the time but also afterwards, when Pettigrew turned up again, or else he was highly negligent and ignored a werewolf near a school on a regular basis, as well as students who were missing on the nights when there is that risk," Tom mused.
"You think Dumbledore could have known what Peter was all along?" Sirius queried.
"It's possible," Tom nodded, "especially as it seems highly unlikely that he wouldn't have been told about your wanderings by the portraits and ghosts who usually report to him."
"Well we usually used the secret passages to get around so he might not have realised," Sirius suggested.
Tom scowled. "What secret passages?"
"The secret passages we found when we were making the marauders map," Sirius frowned. "I figured Peter would have told you about them when he joined your side."
"Pettigrew did nothing of the sort!" Tom hissed and slammed his hands down on the table. "That filthy rat! If I'd have known there was an easy way to infiltrate Dumbledore's base of operations then I would have prioritised that instead of going after a baby! I should have known that Pettigrew's information was suspicious, especially when he said that the Potters would be moving so I had to act soon."
Sirius frowned in confusion. "There was never any talk of them moving."
Tom sighed. "I figured as much, unfortunately I was too worried about the one person who could be my downfall slipping away that I didn't stop to think before acting. If I had I'd have probably realised that there was something up."
"I always wondered why you picked that night to attack," Severus mused. "I assumed it had something to do with Samhain."
"It did seem fitting that it was the pagan new year and I will admit that I saw that as a sign of new beginnings but I will admit I didn't purposely choose the date," Tom grouced. "Now I'm wondering if the entire thing was a set up."
"It certainly worked at separating me and Harry," Sirius sighed.
Tom hummed. "Perhaps we can use it to our advantage, however, cause Dumbledore to get distracted from a possible search for Harry, keep him on his toes as it were."
"What are you thinking?" Severus queried.
"Black said that the rat is posing as the Weasley boy's familiar and, since it will soon be time for students to get their school things for the coming year, the family, along with many others will be heading to Diagon Alley. I imagine Aurors will be posted as well, especially if it's suspected that the notorious Sirius Black is on the loose. It would cause quite a stir if a wizard who was thought to be dead suddenly appeared in the middle of the thoroughfare," Tom smirked.
"Oh yes please do," Sirius cackled, "especially if I can see the looks on everyone's faces when it happens."
"I'm glad you agree," Tom grinned. "I will send word to Lucius to be on the lookout, since no one will think twice about him being there. I also want to try and contact Barty Crouch to find out how he got out of Azkaban, since I don't see us being able to get all of the inmates to become animagus while in there."
"If you're talking about Barty Crouch junior I'm afraid to tell you he died," Severus said, somewhat cautiously.
Sirius nodded. "I remember them dragging the body past my cell. I think old Crouch Senior had been to visit the day before with his wife. Always figured the old bastard had slipped his son something to end him quickly."
Tom shook his head. "I am connected to everyone who has a mark and can tell how they are fairing, as well as a rough idea of their location. I did it so Dumbledore would never be able to kidnap any of you for questioning. It was also part of the reason for the taboo so that you could always call for help if you were in trouble. It's how I know for sure that Barty is definitely alive. He is suffering but not in the same way that those in Azkaban are and he is nowhere near the North Sea. In fact he isn't too far from our current location."
"If I remember correctly Crouch's family home is the only one in this area," Sirius said.
Tom frowned thoughtfully. "In that case we may have to put our plans with the rat on hold for a while." Sirius pouted. "I'm as upset about it as you are but I'm afraid my priority is getting my loyal supporters out of that hell hole. Like you, most of them were imprisoned without a proper trial and my worry is that if its found out that you were actually innocent then people may start looking into other cases that Crouch oversaw. I doubt any of them would see the light of day legally, not with Dumbledore as chief warlock, but I don't want Aurors and Ministry officials poking their nose around that place and making it harder to help people."
"I can understand that," Sirius admitted. "That place is truly awful and I would frequently have chosen death over having to endure another day there."
Tom smiled. "Thank you for understanding. I am sorry that you had to endure it as well. It always surprises me that none of the so-called 'light' ever complain about it, though, especially the Muggleborn, as it would surely go against the human rights act that is held so highly in their society."
"Do wizards have another option though?" Harry queried.
"Of course," Tom scoffed. "There was actually a plan to have a different island for a wizard's jail, man by people and not creatures. Damocles Rowle was the Minister at the time and he ignored the other plan in favour of using dementors and earned a lot of censure for it, especially from the International Confederation of Wizards. Many people derided him for being dark but, ironically, there have been many so-called light Ministers since and not one of them has thought to implement the other plans, even though the other plans were apparently practically complete."
"Why is it that I get less and less surprised the more I hear about just how little Dumbledore and his lot have done over the years," Sirius moaned.
"Dumbledore is a lot of talk and little action," Severus agreed.
"Definitely," Tom nodded. "Thankfully I have people in good positions in the Ministry so I will hopefully be able to look into the situation with Barty soon. With any luck I can find him, and find out how he escaped Azkaban quickly, and we might still have time to reveal Pettigrew, possibly even at platform 9 ¾."
"Even better," Sirius grinned.
Dinner was a relatively lively affair thanks to the good news from both the werewolf colony and the idea that they might be able to start moving forwards with plans, or getting revenge in Sirius's case. They were just clearing up at the end of the night and thinking how best to spend the evening when Kreacher suddenly popped up.
"Sorrys to bother yous, sirs, but wolfman has arrived with the one he calls cub. He says he will keep the cub one in the cells for safety because he not wanting to be here."
"That's good," Tom mused. "Perhaps one of us should go and try to explain things. It's no guarantee but it might help calm him down sooner if he's aware of what is actually going on."
"I'll go," Sirius said. "I used to be his friend so hopefully he'll trust what I have to say more plus I have some questions of my own that need answers like why the hell he didn't check on Harry all these years."
"Ok," Harry smiled, "but it's probably going to gey quite heated down there. Do you want me to come with you for support?"
Sirius shook his head. "I should be fine but thanks for offering."
"Of course, we're family," Harry smiled.
"That we are kiddo," Sirius grinned. "Now go spend some time with your partners, I'll bet they missed you all day."
"Ok,but remember to come by later and let me know how things went."
"That is unless he's got plans with Greyback," Severus smirked and punched his arm.
"Play nice you or I might just go back to the werewolves tonight."
"No you will not!" Severus growled.
"Indeed," Tom murmured. "I do believe you promised to let me feed tonight?"
Harry gulped. "Oh yeah, best get that sorted then. I'll probably see you in the morning then Sirius."
"Ok Harry, just remember not to let them push you into anything you're not ready for and you can always come and stay in my suite if you want."
Harry was about to say that he doubted that would be a problem but then he clocked the heated looks that Severus and Tom were sending him and he wondered if maybe it would be a good idea not to push them too much tonight. Giving Sirius a quick hug and a reminder to take care, he quietly followed Tom and Severus to their rooms.
"Is everything alright Harry?" Tom asked, as soon as they were in the main living area.
"Yeah," Harry sighed. "It's just I've only done this once before and it was, well, quite intense."
"That is normal," Tom reassured him, "and I promise not to push you into something you're not comfortable with. If you don't feel like you can do this with me then I'll understand and try to find an alternative." His voice, however, conveyed disappointment at the idea.
"No!" Harry exclaimed, "I'll do it, I just need to be sitting down I think."
"Whatever is best for you," Tom smiled. "Severus has a blood replenishing potion for afterwards so we don't have to worry about that either."
"Ok," Harry whispered, suddenly feeling a bit bashful now that he knew Severus would be there as well. "Can you, you know, sit down on the sofa?"
"Of course," Tom smirked, elegantly taking a seat and then patting the spot next to him for Harry. Harry gulped again and gingerly sat next to him. Tom did nothing except smile at Harry which helped to reassure him a bit that he was in control and the others wouldn't push him further than he was ready for.
Taking a fortifying breath, Harry leaned towards Tom and tilted his head, offering his neck to the vampire. Tom wasted no time in accepting the offer, gently rubbing his nose along the length of it. Harry shivered but relaxed into the soft touch. Light kisses followed, barely more than a brush of the lips, and Harry felt himself sighing at the gentle ministrations.
He was so relaxed he nearly jumped off the sofa when Tom's tongue first touched his skin, but soon sensations of a different kind began coursing through him and Harry almost moaned out loud.
"None of that, little one," Tom murmured against his neck. "I need to hear you to make sure I'm not hurting you."
"You're not, Harry said, although he found himself panting for some reason.
"We still need to know," Severus said, his voice suddenly sounding very close and Harry's eyes darted to the side to see Severus sitting next to them on the floor. His eyes locked with Harry's and Harry could have sworn he felt Tom smirk against his skin but he didn't have time to think about it before Tom's fangs elongated and pierced his skin.
The sharp scratching sensation caused Harry to gasp but his eyes never wavered from Severus's. He felt somewhat exposed under the other man's gaze but he couldn't seem to look away, almost falling into the darkness as the pleasure from Tom's feeding grew. He wasn't even fully aware of what sounds he was making, only that he felt wonderful and he didn't want it to end.
Tom's hands came around his waist and Harry felt himself shifting slightly, moving to straddle Tom's waist. His cock, that had become erect at some point, brushed against Tom's stomach, causing Harry to moan again. To his credit, Tom simply tightened his grip on Harry's waist to hold him still, something Harry was extremely grateful for.He didn't know if he said something or Severus simply read his mind but he moved forward and carded his fingers through Harry's hair.
"That's its little one, just relax and feel. It's ok, there's nothing to be scared of."
Harry smiled at him briefly before another wave of pleasure washed over him, causing him to moan out loud again and grip on to Tom's shirt.
"Please!" Harry begged, although he didn't know what he was asking for. Severus did though, apparently, and leaned forward, gently pressing a kiss to Harry's lips. It was still very caste, closed lips against closed lips. Harry briefly considered pushing for something deeper but Tom kept a secure grip on his lips and the hand that Severus still had in his hair meant that Harry was effectively trapped, something that should have scared him but it didn't. If anything it actually increased the feelings and Harry moaned again into Severus's mouth. The hand in Harry's hair tightened its grip but the kiss remained fairly light. A feeling burst in unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He was cherished, truly, for the first time in his life, and he felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he basked in the warmth of this realisation.
Severus pulled back and looked at Harry with concern. "Are you alright little one?"
Harry smiled at him somewhat dopily. "Yes, I just realised that I'm happy. I don't think I've ever really felt like this before."
"We're glad you feel that way, pet," Tom said, licking the wound clean as he pulled away. Severus released his grip in Harry's hair and Tom took his turn placing a gentle kiss on Harry's lips before Severus pressed a vial to them and encouraged Harry to drink the potion. He still felt a little light headed afterwards and was glad that Tom didn't even bother asking and simply picked him up, carrying him to his bed. His dungarees were undone and Tom carefully removed his jumper as Severus passed him one of the new silk nighties that Binky had commissioned earlier that morning. The pair then helped Harry arrange himself against the pillows and finish undressing, maintaining his modesty throughout.
They were just tucking him in when Harry held out his hand. "Stay. Please." He didn't know why but the thought of being alone at that moment left him feeling empty and cold.
Tom smiled and placed a kiss on Harry's head. "Don't worry pet, we'll be back momentarily."
True to their word, Tom and Severus returned as soon as they had changed and curled up on either side of Harry, making him feel like he was wrapped in a bubble and he practically found himself purring as he fell into a deep sleep.