Radix Acclaro

20 - Fallout

Tom still wasn't sure how Fudge had seen through his disguise in Diagon Alley after the killing cause failed to do its job and, six months after the fact, the Slytherin didn't much care. He was sure, however, that the bastard did not get what he deserved and Tom wished everyday that there was a way to bring back the dead so he could kill the man a few more times for what he'd done.

Harry hadn't been the same since that fateful day.

Tom leaned back in his chair, disregarding the mounds of paperwork on his desk and studying his little mate, asleep on a divan by the fireplace.

The wing that had burst from Harry's back and speared the late Minister had not disappeared like the other physical manifestations of their heritage. Doctor Meriwether attributed it to Harry's severe magical depletion. The appearance of the appendage had drained what little magical power Harry had managed to build up while resting after the explosion at the Dursleys. Now with the advancement of his pregnancy, there simply wasn't enough magic to retract the wing.

Things might not have been so bad except for the media frenzy that occurred after the battle and the public nearly rioting when their demands to see the Boy-Who-Lived were not immediately acquiesced to.

Tom had put them off as long as he could as they all scrambled to find a way to hide or disguise the wing and Tom sped up his takeover of the Ministry. He had no problem revealing himself as a Draconian but the Wizarding public had grown fearful in the last three hundred years and he would not allow their prejudice to ruin his plans.

With Dumbledore's grudging help he'd rooted himself so deeply into the shattered Ministry that when Harry's heritage and Tom's tie to him was revealed, there was no way to oust the Slytherin – and they did try, not as hard as he'd thought they would, but they did try.

Harry, however, did not handle his unmasking well and some of the more violent reactions of the public had reached the teen. Oh, not violent in action, but Tom was horrified by the damage done by a few well chosen insults and slurs printed in the Daily Prophet.

The Gryffindor had become withdrawn and solemn and as speculation began about the explosion at the Dursley's and how such a young 'boy' wound up in a relationship with, not one, but two older men... Harry had become virtually non-responsive to everyone around him.

Tom had gone on a rampage.

Figuratively speaking of course. The Slytherin had first given a speech, the most scathing and, in parts, downright insulting speech the Wizarding World had ever heard. The shockwaves from the very public dressing down of every Witch and Wizard in the United Kingdom had rippled across the globe for weeks.

Tom had then instigated new laws and ethical guidelines for the press using the Muggle Americans model as a guideline. His mandates, of course, were much stricter and the penalties a bit harsher, but he was the King damn it, even if his subjects hadn't quite figured that out yet. He was tired of the people's appalling lack of decorum and respect for anything besides themselves. It was time they learned that words had consequences.

Harry had perked up a bit after the speech and after Tom had assured the Gryffindor that he wasn't angry at being 'outed' by Harry's 'freakishness'. It was then that the Slytherin truly grasped how much damage the Dursleys and the Wizarding public had done. He also realized just how well Harry had been doing in accepting all the changes in his life up to this point.

As he'd sat there that day and looked into the desolate green eyes of his mate, he'd realized what a miracle it had been that Harry hadn't just shattered that first night when their heritage had manifested. Tom was ashamed to admit that it had never occurred to him just how hard this whole ordeal had been for Harry, even before the explosion and he was struck dumb by the realization of just how strong his mate truly was.