Into the Arms of the Night

Chapter I: The Night's Touch

It had been several days since Tom healed Potter and had rescued the younger wizard from his personal hell with his muggle uncle. The circumstances that the dark lord had found the younger man in had been very eye-opening for him. Normally, he wouldn't have given a damn about any of it; but, things between himself and the boy had never been simple. Beyond that, Tom was furious with what he had found on Harry for injuries because of his forced imprisonment with the muggle for the summer.

It was conflicting in his nature to want to help and to protect, so un-strangely; he was rather annoyed with himself and confused. He was angry for the first time in many years because he knew that his past actions had led this powerful magical child; despite his half-blood status like his own, to become treated as he was. The blame wasn't his only, however, as he had not put the child there. And what was worse than his own part in the whole scandal was even more infuriating to the dark lord than anything else though.

Albus Dumbledore was the boy's headmaster and the man who was supposed to be Harry's magical guardian; he had been seen as his mentor, and the old man had known of the abuse and condoned it...just as he had condoned the abuse Tom himself endured as a child at the orphanage when he learned of it and figured Tom was already too lost to be salvaged.

Which had been partially correct, but that should not have stopped Albus from trying harder to see underneath all of his mask to help...

His rage had come rolling off of him in waves of late. He had not dared to leave the fortress anymore because of the possibility of being detected. He had initially left once when he had been self-assured that his work had allowed Harry to become mostly stable, and while the teen had continued to sleep on in dreams while inside of his recuperative slumber; Tom briefly left to try and go gather more intel of his former comrades.

Anything of them that could have allowed him to better comprehend how this situation had come about; why it had and why it had been allowed to continue on while others looked away.

The Dark Lord had not been happy when he realized what was likely going on with the Order and Harry. It left a bad sensation of dread within him for the teen, too reminiscent of his own past in some ways; which in turn made Tom hope that Harry remained with him and stayed safe there.

Tom had learned that with the death of Lord Sirius Orion Black, and without anyone with personal familial ties to the boy left alive now besides those detestable muggles that would answer soon for their actions in his mind; Harry had been named Heir to the House of Black.

It was one of Sirius's last maneuvers against Albus to see his godson not so manipulated; which had earned Tom's respect. However, it had made things complicated for Albus because he had hidden a lot from Harry.

As Heir, Harry inherited not only the title of Lord Black and all of its wealth, but all of its other assets besides anything Sirius himself had set aside for others. With Albus keeping Harry in the dark of his heritage, the Order had been forced to find a new hideaway for their meetings. Albus may have held the Fidelius over it, but Black had not given him ownership of the place.

That meant the new headquarters was far more accessible than they probably knew; at least to him, who knew all the tricks they could put on it. Barring the Fidelius, he had an entry, and even then, there were ways around that without breaking the ward itself.

He had learned far more than he thought was possible; the Order had sunk deeper into depravity than he had first thought, which meant Albus's mind was slowly but surely deteriorating as he became more paranoid to how long the war was lasting. He had returned to his fortress with even more rage than before and to only turn his wand to the nearest follower, which had happened to be MacNair, and used his favored unforgiveable at him.