Chapter Nine

"What are you waiting for, Draco? You're wasting my time!" Lucius was getting impatient. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Father. So, I guess it started when I was following Harry to an unused bathroom. He had gotten an unknown letter at dinner, and he took off running from the Gryffindor table." Draco started. Lucius motioned for him to go on.

"It was a howler, and I was surprised. I wondered who would send Harry Potter a howler. When he opened it, there was this horrible voice. It was wishing Harry a horrible year, and that when he gets home, some cupboards would be waiting for him." Draco shuddered at the memory of that voice.

"And then it said that he and some Dudley person missed Harry as their punching bag. Of course the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe he was being... abused with the muggles he lived with."

Draco stopped and gave his father some time to process this. Lucius was silent for a while.

"I would think that too. What happened next?" He asked.

"The person in the letter said that this was Harry's last year at 'that freak school' and that he would have nowhere to run to."

Draco, you done yet? I'm bored! Came Harry's voice.

I'm finished. I'm gonna apparate to you. Draco responded.

"I have to go now, father. Harry's calling me." Draco chuckled at the confused look on Lucius's face. "Soulmate thing."

"Ah."

Draco got up and walked out of the dining room. He sensed Harry outside, so he appeared there. He found Harry sitting on a bench petting one of their white peacocks.

"Hey Love." Harry looked up and smiled.

"Hey Draco. So, you told your father everything?" He replied. Draco nodded.

"He seemed concerned. I don't know." Draco sat down beside his mate and pulled Harry closer towards him. He sighed.

"If everything works out, Tom'll get his new body back tomorrow. We'll be even more powerful than before!" Harry giggled.

"Yeah. Tom might even find a special someone! I'm betting on Luna. He seemed pretty interested in her today."

"He would have a fit if he were listening to us now. Tom still thinks he's not capable of those types of emotions." Draco rolled his eyes.

Harry gave the blond a peck on the cheek and laid his head on his shoulder. They sat together for a while, content with just being close to each other. Harry fell asleep, so Draco had to carry him to his room. Not that he was complaining.

Draco gently placed Harry on the bed before climbing in after him. He doused the lights before closing his eyes and falling into a deep slumber.

Draco woke up earlier than Harry, like usual. He shook the Gryffindor's shoulders lightly, since Harry was very grumpy when he woke up.

"Harry, wake up." Draco whispered. Harry grumbled something incoherent and rolled over, exposing his bare back to Draco.

Draco laughed softly. "As much as I'd like to stay like this, we have to get up early. Tom's getting his body back today!" And with that sentence, Harry shot up.

"I'm up! I'm up! Let's go! We can't be late!" He screamed while scrambling out of bed. Draco watched as Harry slipped on his clothes from the day before and rushed into the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, Harry and Draco were back at the cemetery along with all the other death eaters. Everyone was excited for the return of their Lord. Was it the second return? Or the third?

The two soulmates watched as the contents of the cauldron bubbled. Suddenly, the murky green liquid turned sky blue. Harry grinned and threw his arms around Draco. Not caring that everybody else was there, he captured Draco's mouth with his.

"We did it! Tom's getting a new body!" Hermione, Ginny and Luna started cheering, and soon everybody joined in.

But then everybody stopped when a hand came out of the cauldron and gripped onto the sides.

"Wait, it hasn't been twelve hours yet! Is he supposed to come out?!" Severus cried as he ran over. Draco shrugged.

"Looks like Tom doesn't want to wait." Althea rushed over with a towel and waited to help her Lord.

They waited anxiously for what seemed like forever until a body climbed out of the cauldron. It was Tom, but he was unrecognizable. Instead of the pasty gray skin he had before, Tom had flawless tan skin. There were locks of brown hair on his head and he had an actual nose.

"That was a horrible twelve hours that I wish to never go through again." The new Dark Lord shuddered. He wrapped the towel that Althea gave him around his body. Lucius, Severus and the healer apparated him to Riddle Manor. 

A grinning Hermione ran up to the boys and jumped into their arms.

"You guys did it! I had no doubts, but this is just so exciting!" She squealed. Harry and Draco laughed.

"Thanks, Hermione. Let's go wait for Tom." The three got apparated by Severus to Riddle Manor and waited in the foyer. Hermione saw a library, so she of course went there, leaving Harry and Draco alone.

Draco noticed Harry was looking a bit down, so he decided to ask.

"Harry, love? Are you alright? You look sad..." Harry looked up, startled. Then he smiled and Draco could tell it was a fake one.

"I'm fine, Draco. Thank you for asking though."

Draco led Harry over to a couch and sat him down. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right, Harry?" The Gryffindor nodded.

"Well, it's just... I'm suddenly comparing what life was like at the Dursleys and what it's like here. There, I had to live in a cupboard. I had to do all the chores and I got daily beatings for either no reason or for something Dudley, my cousin did."

No one realised that Tom was standing beside the door, listening to their conversation.

"Here, I actually feel loved, and I have people who care about me. You, Hermione and Ginny. Maybe even Tom. I kind of think of him as an older brother now." Harry laughed. Draco smiled down at his mate and gave him a kiss on the nose.

"You and I aren't so different after all." Harry and Draco turned around to see Tom walking towards them. His voice was calm, but you could see the anger in his eyes.

"How are you feeling, Tom?" Harry asked, running up to him.

"I'm fine, thank you Harry. But we're going to have a talk about these muggles you were living with later." The younger boy gulped and nodded.

***

Harry, Draco and Tom were standing in front of Number 4, Private Drive. They decided to get payback. Well, Tom and Draco decided to get payback. Harry didn't really care.

They knocked on the door and waited. Hopefully everyone was home. The door opened to reveal a bony looking Aunt Petunia. Her eyes widened.

"Vernon! It's the freak! And he brought others!" She screeched. They heard someone very large coming down the stairs. It was Vernon. His face was purple and red with rage. Behind him was Dudley, who was looking at all three of them. Mainly Draco.

"Get in! We can't let others know we have three freaks in our house!" Vernon shoved them inside and raised his hand as if he were about to hit them.

"Wait, dad!" Dudley cried. He went over to Harry. "Who's your friend there, cousin? The one with the blond hair?" He batted his eyelashes at Draco. The Slytherin made a sound of disgust.

Harry growled and stood in front of Draco protective.

"This is Draco Malfoy. MY soulmate." Harry smirked at Dudley's shocked face. Dudley turned to his parents.

"Mum! Dad! I want him as my soulmate!" Harry knew that voice. Dudley was about to throw a tantrum if he didn't get what he wanted.

"Merlin, Draco. He's even more spoiled than you ever were." Tom snorted.

"I was not spoiled! I was a well loved child!" He snapped back. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Guys, remember what you're here for! Tom, take my Aunt and Dudley upstairs. Make sure that they can hear everything that's going down here."

Tom nodded. He pushed Petunia and Dudley up the stairs and into a bedroom.

"Who are you?! Harry never mentioned you when he told us about his freak friends!" Petunia asked, trembling with fear.

"Ever heard of Tom Riddle?"

"N-no..."

"What about Lord Voldemort?" Dudley gasped. "Oh good. So you have heard of me."

Without another word, Tom locked the door.

Draco already had Vernon tied to a chair and under the Cruciatus Curse. The man was screaming in pain and begging for them to stop.

"Harry, show me this cupboard you were talking about."

Harry led his mate over to where he had stayed for most of his life. He used Alohomora to open all five locks on the door. Draco walked in and after a few minutes, he came out eyes blazing with anger.

"Your blood is in here. You had to stay in there for your whole life." He hissed. Harry wrapped his arms around the blonde.

"I'm fine now, Draco. You don't have to worry anymore."

"You know I'm always going to worry about you." Draco returned the hug and ran his hand up Harry's back. He felt strange bumps there that could only mean one thing.

"Your wings?" Harry nodded. "Does it hurt when I touch them?" Draco asked.

"No, it feels really good. I wish we could stay like this forever, but we should probably get back to Tom. He gets impatient very quickly."

The two walked back to see Tom and Vernon staring at each other, neither one blinking. Except Vernon was frozen in fear.

"I just want you to know, when we're done with you, there won't be a breath left in your body."

Tom rolled his eyes and sighed. "Merlin, Draco. Thanks so much for spoiling the surprise."

"Oh, Sorry." Draco shrugged. 

"Fine then. I'll let you have your fun first." Tom said, moving aside.

Draco went forward and leaned towards Vernon. "Have you ever seen a tiger eat live prey, Mr. Dursley?" He smirked. "I'm telling you, it's not a pretty sight. Maybe I should give you a firsthand look, yeah?" Draco stepped back, and to the other man's horror, he dropped to his hands and knees and turned into a huge white tiger. He showed his extremely sharp teeth and let out a deafening roar.

"Very nice, Draco. No stripes either. How strange." Tom stated.

"T-this only proves me right! You freaks want to drive the world mad!" Vernon shouted, ashamed his voice was trembling as much as his body was.

"Oh shut up! Do you think we would be here if you had treated Harry properly?" Tom moved forwards to stroke the tiger's head. Harry stayed back to watch. "You abuse children and ostracize anyone different from you, and you call us freaks?! What we want is to be left alone by you muggles. To keep YOUR kind from destroying us."

When Tom had finished his tirade, Draco was back to his human form with a very annoyed look on his face.

"Do you mind? May I go back to stalking my prey now?" He asked acidly. "You said it was my turn.

"My bad, Draco. Please proceed." 

Draco turned to the muggle. "I have a better idea. Instead of eating you, because that would be gross, I'm going to make you feel everything Harry felt living in your house. You'll feel all the mental and physical abuse you ever put him through."

Draco clapped his hands and closed his eyes. As he did so, all the air in the house seemed to swirl around them. Vernon started coughing uncontrollably, gasping for air.

Harry walked towards Draco and sneered at his uncle.

"Feel that? That's the horror I felt everytime I had to come back here. The terror I felt when I

thought you were going to punish me for something Dudley did." Harry snapped his fingers and Vernon started to scream when he felt several of his bones snapping. "Oh yes. Every time you broke a bone." The three wizards tried not to flinch when the muggle's continued to break.

I never knew you were hurt that much, Harry. Draco said.

It's fine, Draco.

Draco scowled and added onto the emotional pain.

"Did you ever stop and think about how much you were hurting Harry?! Did you ever think about the damage you were causing him?!"

At one point, Vernon's collarbone broke and tore through the flesh. They heard a rib break and he started to cough up blood. Draco turned to Harry.

"When did this happen, Harry? Was it more than once?" Harry cringed at the memory.

"I-it happened first when I was eight. The second time was when I came back after fourth year. The third time was this summer."

"You were eight the first time..." Draco felt such sadness and pain that he had to squeeze his eyes shut to keep the tears at bay. He wrapped an arm around his mate.

"Tom, finish him." Tom nodded and pointed his wand at Vernon.

"I hope you know that no one will miss you when you're gone. Avada Kedavra."

There was a flash of green, and then it was done. Vernon Dursley was dead. Finally.

"Let's go back to Riddle Manor. The others might want to see your new body, Tom." Harry said with no sign of emotion in his voice.

The three walked towards the door, but were stopped with a tear stained face Petunia.

"You can't just leave us here! I don't have a job and Dudders is a growing boy who needs to be fed!" She cried.

Harry sighed. "Draco, can you let them stay at Malfoy Manor for a bit?" Petunia's eyes widened at the word 'Manor'. "Only for a week or two. As much as I hate them, I can't let them be homeless. Please?"

Dudley looked at Draco with a hopeful expression on his face. The blond scrunched up his nose and was about to refuse because his father would never let it. But it was what Harry wanted, so how could he say no?

"Fine. But Father will NOT be happy about this."

Tom motioned for Petunia and Dudley to stand beside them to be apparated. With a flick of his wand, they were transported to Malfoy Manor

The two muggles looked uncomfortable, since there were death eaters surrounding them. One of them that looked like an older Draco walked up to them and towered over the newcomers.

"My Lord, who are these people? And why are they in my house?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Draco led his father away to tell him what was happening, leaving Harry, Tom, Petunia and Dudley together.

"Harry, where are we staying? I want a big room! One beside Draco's room! And I want lot's of servants." Dudley exclaimed. Harry rolled his eyes.

"You and Aunt Petunia will be staying in the same room, far away from Draco's room. And there will be no servants. You will do everything yourself." Harry smirked at their gobsmacked expressions.

"But-"

"No buts! We're already letting you stay here, so don't complain!"

Tom motioned for a death eater to take Petunia and Dudley to their room. Lucius came back looking very pissed.

"Draco, you brought two muggles into my house without telling me first?! Not to mention they're the ones who tormented Harry all his life!"

"I know, father. I don't want them here either. But Harry wanted it." Draco responded. Lucius sighed but said nothing more.

"Draco, I'm going to your room. I need to take a shower. It's been a long day." Harry said. Draco nodded and followed after him.