The Shadows Solace Book I: The Growing Years Prequel

Chapter XVIII: The Media Strikes

The next six months were busy for the Dursley family and Tom; along with all their associates in the new alliance. The group had decided it was best for the leaks to begin while they were absent from England, and the pure chaos that erupted in their homeland of Great Britain when Tom was revealed to the public...it had been nothing short of fantastical for them.

Albus and his Order were now at a stand-still; many of the members were conflicted on whether or not they should stay true to the cause and to remain, or to bow out of what might become a plot they did not want a part of and to become neutral. Their trust in Albus as their leader was now slightly diminished; in realizing he had been using a child to wage war.

War against a fated couple; no matter how odd and bizarre it was to think about it, nor how some felt cheated for the losses they had suffered and not been able to get retribution or vengeance from. They only had to then remind themselves that their feelings of being cheated were nowhere near as strong as Harry's should be when he is older; his own soul-mate had taken his parents and grandparents from him.

Along with many of his extended family. Their friends and other people they had known and cared for.

And, he had nearly killed him too.

Yet, indecision remained because of the headmaster's former actions and decisions. That he knowingly had been and still was tampering with sacred bonds and other magicks that mortals ought not put their noses into. Many of the Hogwarts staff that were also a part of the Order and had more concrete knowledge of the Dark Lord; they were not knowing how to proceed due to the vast array of changes that were seen to Tom from the memory photos placed into the articles.

Articles that had begun to circulate not mere weeks after Tom's disappearance from the hospital with young Harry and his family in tow.

The former Death Eaters who were not in on the new alliance and had yet to decide if they should follow Bellatrix in the absence of their master; they were all quiet and hadn't made a move. Indecision running rampant on whom to follow now; their lord and his child soul-mate that brought him back to them, or Bellatrix and her mad ways to cleanse the impure from the wizarding society.

Especially as a lot of new information was brought forth about their master and his true goals; goals that had not been all of what they had thought them to be. Even Bella and her few followers hadn't made a sound; most likely waiting and biding time to see what this new chaos would bring.

Bella was many things; she was known to be crazy, sometimes rash, definitely erratic and equally unhinged. But she did not ever and had not ever been considered stupid; she did not want to act now while all this was going on, and then make a target of herself more than she already had when she attacked Potter mansion at Yule.

The burns to her body had not mended nor faded. They constantly seared her and caused her pain when moving, and she was not eager to test the child again. The burns had even dug so far into her body that the demon she now hosted was affected; the child's magic making it difficult for her to access it.

She didn't wish to act without more information. Knowing her former master would protect him with his life now. It ate at her; Tom had hidden his true blood status from them all. He had acted as if he cared for her at times, and even led her to believe she was someone he might have chosen.

Only to have it thrown back into her face; he would have soiled her blood had she dared to take him as hers. Not that he would have actually allowed it; the man would have distanced himself when she tried to get closer...as he had always done.

Now, the revelations that he had never enjoyed female attentions; it stung. It had caused a lot of reactions of mocking towards her for her actions as well as other looks. She hated it; he had used her emotions against her. To help her be stronger and allow her to do as he bid of her, but not because he wanted her.