Harry Potter and The Shadowed Light

It all comes tumbling down

Previously

The magic which had been building reached a crescendo with the last of his words, and Harry saw it start to take shape, on Neville it formed around him before settling on his chest above where his heart rested, on Luna it seemed to hesitate before settling on the back of her neck and on himself he felt it on his wand arm.

Both let out sounds of surprise as the magic settled into their skins and Harrison took a step forward worried he had somehow messed up, until they smiled.

Luna hummed and lifted her hair, turning around to show Harrison the mark. One her neck sat a perfect triskelion, Harry knew without seeing that on Neville's heart there would be the same mark, just like the one he now sported.

"Thank you my lord," she said as she released her hair and turned to Harry.

Harry smiled, he could feel them both through his own mark, could sense their presence and magic, he knew they were both overwhelmed with a sense of peace and pride.

"No thank you, thank you for trusting me and for believing in me."

"Always my lord," Neville said, bowing his head to Harrison with reverence.

"None of that now, you two are my friends, my best friends, there is no formality, not between us."

"As you say my lord," Luna giggled, before skipping over to Harry and throwing her arms around him, "I knew you could do it," she whispered.

///

Harrison woke up with a groan, it felt like he had only just closed his eyes to go to sleep but he knew that wasn't true. With a quick wandless tempus, he saw that he hadn't been far off with his initial thought, as after finally settling his friends into their own rooms, Harrison had struggled to fall asleep himself.

...What he had done, the impact of his actions and what it would mean for his future... thoughts kept swirling in his head, doubts and worries filled him...

Still, he knew he had too much to do today to remain in bed, the Yule log would finish its burning at 5pm, at which point he and Marvolo would add not only their own blood but the blood of their friends and families, or followers in Marvolo's case.

He wanted to finalize his plans for Marvolo's birthday present, he had an idea, something he had thought of the night before when they were discussing Umbridge, but he didn't know how or if he would be able to pull it off as Marvolo's birthday was the 31st, giving him only a short window of time.

Going down for breakfast Harrison smiled at Remus and Sirius, both men seemed to be discussing the latest copy of the daily prophet, which was featuring Dumbledore's escape and new title of 'Undesirable Number 1', the irony of which wasn't lost on Harrison.

"Anything of note?" he asked

"Skeeter is doing a marvellous job of painting him as a monster," Sirius commented.

"Truly inspired in her creative use of alliteration," Remus pointed out, a wicked glint in his amber eyes.

Harrison hummed, he no longer had to meet up with Rita to ensure she wrote what he wanted, the woman had gained more leeway and more freedoms from him by following his previous instructions so well, "Miss Skeeter does have a certain flair," he agreed.

"Are you all excited for tonight?" Sirius asked after a few moments.

"It will be nice to celebrate with such a large group," Neville responded.

"It will be something to remember," Luna said, "the magic will truly be something special."

"I'm looking forward to being with Marvolo," Harrison admitted to his family easily enough, "this will be our first ritual where we lead it together, the first one where he is able to not only take part but experience the full effects."