Two for One

Chapter 39: Minor Remodelling

Harry wakes to Credence being a giant cloud in the sky, Tom braced over him and Gellert facing off against the dust, the entire wall (and Albus' protections) torn down to rubble.

Harry tries to sit up and Tom grabs him immediately.

"Don't do it," Tom warns.

"It's fine," Harry assures and wobbles when he gets halfway up. "Wow, okay, blood should stay on the inside. Got it."

Tom stands up and hovers around Harry as he stumbles, with liberal help from the wall and pointedly none from Tom, to the giant hole in the house.

Harry grabs Gellert's face and ushers him backwards. Harry takes one more cautious step towards the edge of the broken floor as winces as it creaks threateningly under him. "Credence? Hey, you want to come down for a bit?"

A roiling cloud of dark powder is pressed up against the outer wards, eating through it at an impressive pace. Or perhaps the Unspeakable is more impressive, for making wards able to contain something like this for even a moment.

"Just let it leave," Tom hisses, huddling up against Harry's back with Gellert, ready to attack.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Harry calls up. He throws on another cleaning charm to make sure all the blood is gone, even though Tom did very good work speedily fixing his jumper to better see the wound.

"Scared it?" Gellert snaps. "It damn near killed you, Harry. It would have if Death didn't tell us to come upstairs."

Death is waiting down below, on the grass outside, head tilted back to stare at the Obscuro, figure edged in deep shadows.

Mooney has retreated to the back edge of the expanded yard, whimpering quietly now that the true form has emerged. Maybe Mooney is scared of Credence. Maybe he's just scared of Death.

"Credence, it's okay, I'm better now," Harry tries. "You did nothing wrong."

Tom and Gellert nearly lose their minds, basically at the point where they just want that ash away from their home, and they're willing to knock Harry out and hide him somewhere if he insists on being difficult like this – but they can't because Harry needs to be able to defend himself if the form of dust attacks them.

Except Credence, the dark cloud, he shrinks a bit, turns his edges away from the wards.

Harry laughs tiredly. "You know, the first time I met Tom, he grabbed a knife. If I had sprinted at him and picked him up, he probably would have done a lot more damage than you."

The cloud shrinks further, the particles warping and settling into an inward spiral.

"The boys are the same age as you," Harry says. "You scared them a bit as well, I'm sorry if they did anything too mean."

Gellert is pulling at his blond locks, fucking done with Harry's good guy bullshit. Tom is trying to talk Harry down but all that's coming out of him is Parseltongue because he's furious.

"I'm really okay," Harry promises. "Nothing a nice meal can't fix. Are you hungry, do you want some breakfast?"

"Harry," Gellert gasps, the name wrenched out of him. "Harry, if that thing comes anywhere near you, I will kill it."

Harry turns around and pulls Gellert closer, doesn't touch Tom -not when he's like this- but locks eyes with Tom instead. "You fixed me," Harry says seriously. "I feel fine, and you're so brave but I need you to keep going just a bit longer."

"Why?" Tom demands, clawing at Harry's arm with the hand that doesn't have a death grip on the holly wand.

"Because I was very close to being like Credence," Harry admits. "And I need to do this for myself."