Draco reluctantly dragged down toward his father's study, feeling the weight of fate heavy on his back. It was St Mungos locked ward for sure … though once they told Lucius that his son was barmy and likely to remain so – maybe he'd just be confined to a wing of the Manor … well away from Spinners End and the sane part of the family.

The voices had gotten louder; more constant and now he could understand what they said – though all of it seemed nonsense. People talking endlessly about mice and other vermin, complaining about air currents and a lack of trees. Made no sense, he grumbled to himself.

The joke that Dudley had made about madness had touched a nerve, Draco had heard enough about 'the Black madness' from his mother during his childhood. Whenever he would fail to obey her or fail in something she'd asked him to do she would make remarks about him 'perhaps being as daft as one of his cousins', and if he starting drooling and grinning like a loon, she would know for sure.

Now, with not-stop idiotic chatter flowing into his brain, it looked like his mother had had the last laugh. The voices had gotten clear last night and had kept him awake, dreading the interview with his father. He hated the idea of being separated from his family. He and Dudley had become close, and he adored Petunia's almost-doting mothering. He'd gotten used to his imperious little sister and her aloof cat, Freya … two of a kind he huffed.

Well, he thought glumly, at least his father still had an heir, then. He knew his father loved him, but if he started to go as demented as his mother – or worse, like his Aunt – how long would it last? He hoped his godfather knew of a potion regimen that would keep him fairly lucid.

Draco hovered in the doorway, watching Lucius writing something out - likely finishing up the registration papers for his Runes Mastery … he'd taken his tests right after Hogwarts had finished up the year and had passed with very high marks. Victoria had a small desk shoved up against Lucius' desk where she could watch Lucius and imitate him … scrawling her alphabet on some spare parchment to practice her calligraphy skills.

Draco smiled sadly, he'd miss her. Draco cleared his throat and gave Lucius a rather desperate look, cutting his eyes over to Victoria with a speaking glance. Lucius frowned in curiosity, but sent Tori on an errand and waved Draco in.

Draco's carefully crafted confession of madness immediately exited his mind and he simply said, "I'm hearing voices, and all they're saying is utter nonsense – it was just muttering in the background until yesterday – now the voices are quite clear and I've obviously gone quite mad." Draco slumped on the couch and waited for Lucius to conjure a straightjacket.

Lucius sat back for a moment, uncertain of how to reassure his son. He finally got up and sat next Draco and pulled him close to his side.

"I've no idea of what is happening, son, but be assured you won't be facing it alone." Lucius felt Draco relax just a bit, obviously he'd been sure he'd be tossed in the nearest closed ward and forgotten. That irritated Lucius a bit … but he could recall Narcissa telling stories of exactly that happening in the Black family. With the Blacks, of course, some of them actually required it – though it was likely the madness had to be extreme for them to even notice it.

"We have no idea of what 'gift' was awakened by your accident. It could be that and you've simply not learned to control it." Lucius attempted to sooth him.

"Gift!" Draco growled. "How can hear voices muttering idiocy be a gift?" Draco felt a bit cheated if that's all the 'gift' he'd received.

"I will firecall Healer D'Este to come see you …" At Draco's alarmed look, Lucius added, "…he will not be taking you anywhere to lock up unless you start running around the house casting unforgiveables – and even then I might simply confiscate your wand."

Draco nodded in relief and Healer D'Este was called. He arrived and the situation was explained, with a pale Dudley and worried Petunia hovering nearby. Victoria frowned though and glared at Seti.

"Why can't Seti fix him? He did before." Victoria asked. Seti glare at her in return. Why was she looking to him? Draco wasn't missing … just barmy … and that wasn't his concern.

"Um, I don't think it works that way, Tori." Dudley answered, and picked Seti up to break up the glaring contest between Seti and Tori. Healer D'Este stopped scanning Draco and sat back.

"Well, I pretty sure that what is happening is indeed your gift getting stronger – I'm not sure what or who you are hearing. We have a man that we contract with – he isn't needed all that often, but he does offer his services." The Healer explained. "He can 'see' gifts … the way some can see auras or magic or magical levels." The healer soon had a wizened old wizard who reminded them of Olivander peering at Draco with exited interest.

"Ah … very interesting – not all that unusual a gift, but it was obviously dormant until recently … likely would never have manifested without that accident …" The man turned to Lucius and smiled. "Not to worry … young Draco has a bit of Air Elemental in him – not all that much, but enough that he had a latent talent for speaking to winged creatures – those of the air. Not very strong, he'll likely only 'hear' magical winged creatures unless it becomes much stronger."

Draco flopped back in relief and Lucius relaxed as well, though he and Petunia and already quietly agreed to keep Draco with them 'no matter what'. Dudley smiled and said, "Well that explains the voices running on about air currents."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Draco snarked, feeling relaxed enough to get back to arguing with his brother.

"You're welcome Lieutenant Sarcasm." Dudley returned – it was an old, well used exchange between them.

"If you wish to limited the 'conversations' you hear I would suggest Occlumency – Draco is young but even the rudimentary skills and shields should block the voices since the winged creatures aren't actually trying to speak to him." Healer D'Este cut into the teenage banter.

The Healer and his helper left, leaving the family relieved that no one would need a rigorous potion regimen and a straightjacket to remain in the family. Dudley and Draco went out to see if Draco could talk to owls, followed by a faintly jealous Tori. "I want to talk to birds, too!" was heard several times.

Lucius firecalled Severus with Petunia sitting at his side to listen. The call ended with Severus tossing through a beginning book on shielding the mind.

"Tell him to do the exercises in the first chapter – and go no further than that or his loving godfather would ensure he has a headache at the end of his lessons." Severus said just before closing the floo.

After receiving the firecall, Severus was deep in thought. He did need to teach Harry some of this as well, so having Draco over for lessons would encourage Harry to advance the learning he'd started when studying to control his animagus abilities.

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Sirius returned to Grimmauld Place the week before Harry's birthday, eager to get things in order. Dedalus looked horror-stricken at the idea of helping clean up – even with magic - and muttered about a family gathering and disappeared quickly. Dung was eager to help, of course, though Sirius realized he likely intended to steal anything not nailed down. Sirius didn't care – he wanted to strip the place and start new, though his vault was looking a little less full with the price of the Firebolt and vacation taken from it. Budgeting was a new concept for him.

As a Black heir he'd never counted the cost of anything and even after his 'disowning' his outcast Uncle Alphard had given him a huge amount of gold, so there'd been no reason to worry about spending, which he'd done rather freely before his incarceration. His vault still had an impressive amount – but he knew the likely cost of a complete renovation. He would need the free help the Order was offering. It was galling, though to know that Severus was considered part of the Order and that Lucius Malfoy was welcomed by them as well.

Sirius shooed Dung off, with a promise that he could 'help' as soon as Sirius got the 'cleaning' started, and sat down to plan. Sirius soon had a list of people he planned on inviting over 'for a cleaning party'. They were ones he hoped would help him talk Harry into preferring to live with Sirius. Once Harry wanted to stay it should be easy to get the ministry to agree.

The adoption was a bit of a problem, but he could still take custody once Snape agreed. It wore hard at Sirius' control that James' son was now Snivellus', he couldn't believe Harry had allowed it. He just needed Sirius to explain that James would have been horrified at what was happening.

Sirius quietly got in touch with Andromeda along with Ted – they couldn't want Harry in Snape and Malfoy's clutches. Plus their daughter was training to be and Auror – and was involved with that Gryffindor boy that was also somehow now Harry's brother. Sirius hoped that this Tom Riddle could be an asset. Surely Nymphadora would side with Sirius … she could persuade Tom Riddle that Harry needed to be away from all these Slytherins.

Molly Weasley … a cousin of some sort - very distant, but still family and part of the Order. Molly couldn't possibly approve of Lily's son being in Snape's clutches.

Lily, that brought up a whole new idea … after all, Snape was married now. Rosmerta might help as well…

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Three days before his birthday Harry and Tom flooed over to Grimmauld Place together. They'd heard from Albus that Remus, the Tonks' and Weasleys had started going over to help clean two days before. Tom had explained to Dora that they needed to find a certain necklace – that it had been enspelled by the Dark Lord. She and Molly – who was given the same story by Albus agreed to keep an eye out for it.

Remus was also looking; he'd been there for the search for the necklace in the cave. He didn't know the object was a Horcrux, but he knew it was important. So far no one had had any luck.

Now Harry was arriving with Tom – they hoped that Tom would be able to sense the Horcrux – or Harry would, with the scar guiding him. Sirius greeted Harry with enthusiasm, making Harry feel a bit guilty that he was mostly here to track down a Horcrux.

Sirius pulled them into the kitchen to order the house-elf to make them tea and scones … a bit harshly, Harry thought, though the elf's remarks about blood-traitors and mudbloods was a bit off-putting. Sirius started by happily trying to draw Tom into reminiscing about Gryffindor House. Tom had expected Sirius to try 'recruiting' him and uncertainly responded in what he hoped were positive tones about 'being a lion'.

Yvane snickered in the background and Tom finally excused himself to go find Dora and 'help her out'.

Sirius had heard about the romance going on between them and winked at him knowingly and shooed Tom out the door with a grin. Tom slunk away, feeling somehow a bit put upon. He found Dora and they updated each other quickly.

"There's no sign of it … and we've been pretty thorough." Dora whispered, keeping an eye on the Weasley twins. They liked to stun the doxies and put them down the back of people's shirts. It was quite startling when the things woke up.

"I'll do a quick run – through … okay?" Tom hated to make it seem that he didn't trust Dora's work. It was more and more difficult to keep things from her. How could he think of marriage when he could not even tell her who he really was? He hadn't even revealed the persona he'd taken on … that of being 'Voldemort's son'. It felt too much a lie.

"When the time is right to tell her things you will know … and it could be you will have to accept not being able to reveal everything … it may be too difficult for her to accept." Yvane said quietly.

"Maybe that's my punishment … never being able to be totally honest with the woman I love." Tom answered ruefully. Dora had gotten one of the 'condo's' at Spinners End, gleefully showing it off to Tom and handing him a key to it. He'd desperately wanted to propose then and there. He'd managed to mutter that he was likely to be in the thick of upcoming battles … he wanted things to be safe before they went further than they had already.

Dora had smiled and kissed him, saying she was willing to wait. Tom had been relieved but curiously saddened as well. How long could he really ask her to wait?

He let Dora lead him through the dusty and dark Black townhouse from the attics all the way through to the basement. He didn't feel a single twinge that was similar to the itch the other Horcruxes and Voldemort had given him. Though with the pervasive dark feel over the house it was hard to sense anything but the dark magic in the warding and spells woven through the entire house.

Tom couldn't help but feel that they'd somehow been too late. It was horrifying – they had only the necklace left to destroy … well, and Harry's scar … and they needed to prevent Nagini from being turned into one. He sighed. They did still have much to do.

"Don't worry about Harry … the Dragons and I will have a solution for you." Yvane said more confidently than he had in months.

"You've been holding out on me, Yvane!" Tom answered mentally. But he wasn't really angry – he was relieved. At last – a solution was on the horizon, then.

"A rather obscure bit of magic has to be unearthed, and we don't know that it will work …" Yvane said with a sigh.

Still, Tom went with Dora back to the kitchens for a late lunch and to check on Harry with a lighter heart.

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The visit wasn't going all that well. Sirius had launched into a lengthy monologue about how relieved he was that Harry had a 'pretend brother' that was a Gryffindor. This had led into a long series of tales of how tricky and untrustworthy Slytherins were "Except for you, Harry – but you're not really one." From there he'd told Harry in detail how horrified James would be at Snape adopting Harry … and Lily as well.

Harry had managed to remain silent during all this and he'd not said a single word … he'd kept his face stony and watched Sirius impassively during it all, which had made Sirius nervous and talk faster. Harry felt that he should know exactly where Sirius' mind was on all this before telling him off … plus Tom needed the time to look for the necklace. If the cost of that time was listening to Sirius' drivel – well that was alright.

Sirius finally couldn't think of anything else to say, and looked at Harry uncertainly. He'd expected some sort of argument by now. Most of the script he'd written in his head required that Harry try to defend that worm Snivellus. But Harry was not following the script, he was just staring Sirius down with steely eyed contempt.

"Harry?" Sirius asked uncertainly, not sure he wanted to hear the boy's rebuttal.

"First …" Harry said, his voice level, but with an edge of real anger. "… Tom and Elizabeth are my brother and sister – by blood adoption they are my family, and any magic spell will say so – and I consider them so … they aren't 'pretend'." Harry held up a hand when it looked like Sirius would interrupt. "You had your say – and I didn't interrupt you … give me the same courtesy." Sirius subsided with reluctance. "I am a real Slytherin – and I'm glad I am … I'll need every bit of strategy I and my friends can muster. I have friends in all houses, because all of them have talents I need. Lastly … I consider Rosmerta to be my mother now, and I don't think that my mother Lily would want me to not ever know a mother's love ever again. And, yes, James is my father – and I'll never forget him … but Severus is now my dad."

Sirius had felt increasingly agitated as Harry spoke, but the last sentence lit the fuse to his temper. His worst fear had been realized. Harry now considered Snivellus his father. It was an outrage … a crime against James' memory for Harry to feel this way. Harry just had to see that.

Sirius lunged to his feet, face twisted in anger. He was really angry with Severus, but Harry could not know that and jumped to his feet as well. He'd half expected anger from Sirius and had his wand slipping into his hand from where he'd hidden it in his sleeve.

"James was … IS your father, no one else!" Sirius panted. "He would disown you for ever thinking of Snivellus as your father. You're no Potter if you want that snake to raise you …" Sirius had made his way around the table and reached for Harry.

Harry dodged and raised his wand, feeling a stab of hurt and betrayal. "Shut up, you loon! You've no idea of what you're talking about …"

Tom raced in with Dora right behind him. He'd heard Sirius' last remark and Harry's response and they had run to rescue Harry from further verbal abuse. Harry didn't need to hear any of that from Sirius. They had worked too hard to make Harry feel that he had family for this selfish idiot to ruin it all.

Tom pulled Harry behind him, shoving between Sirius and his brother. Harry frowned, feeling a little put out that Tom thought he needed that much protecting. He would be fourteen in a couple days! Dora quickly pulled him through the door and toward the floo.

Tom glared at Sirius furiously. "You utter bastard." Tom ground out. "Harry finally has a sense of security and family and you want to rip that away over a schoolboy grudge."

Sirius flushed and started to respond, but Tom had turned swiftly and stalked to the floo to follow Harry and Dora to Dragonsrest. To no one's surprise Severus was sitting in a chair right next to the floo pretending to read a book. He looked up, he'd thought that Harry would be gone longer … then he noticed Harry's face. Harry was flushed with temper and panting in anger, fist clenched around his wand – which was dripping red sparks to Severus' alarm.

Severus started to bark at him, but the pain he saw in Harry's eyes halted him. "Harry …" Severus said quietly, but firmly. "… you need to keep in control …" He cut his eyes down to the wand. Harry looked as well and seemed startled. He put the wand away and took deeper breathes. Dad didn't like it when he let his magic leak out.

Harry firmed his resolve. James was his father … Severus was his dad. He did not care what others thought … he didn't … he wouldn't.

Dora and Tom repeated the part they'd heard and Severus gritted his teeth. It would figure that Sirius would hone in on Harry's jugular when he didn't get what he wanted … Harry's defection to Sirius' camp. Much as he would like to simply go and hex Sirius, he needed to reassure Harry. Dora loudly whispered that she was going to go sic 'mum and Molly onto Sirius', while Severus walked Harry up to his bedroom and sat him on the bed, pulling a chair up in front of him.

Hedwig winged over to the footboard and groomed a few errant locks of Harry's hair, chirping at him softly. Her Harry was upset and she didn't like that. He relaxed a bit under her ministrations and smiled a little. Severus was relieved - Harry couldn't be too upset if a little grooming from his familiar made him smile. Still, he wasn't happy to have to reassure Harry once again that he was deserving of family.

"What did you say that brought on the tirade that Tom and Dora spoke of?" Severus asked.

"I told him that Tom and Beth really are my brother and sister – not 'pretend' ones like he said, and that my mom Lily wouldn't mind Rosmerta being my mother now." Harry stopped and swallowed hard, his voice becoming shaky as he finished. "And I said that while James was my father and I would never forget that, you were my dad, now." Harry ended on a whisper.

Severus sighed, yes that would set Black off for sure.

"Harry, I need you to listen and not forget this …" Severus took his hands. "When someone becomes a parent their priorities change. Before you were born James would likely have loudly objected to the very idea of my caring for you, no matter what danger you were in. Afterwards – I'm willing to guarantee that he would agree to anyone who could best keep you happy and safe. I can swear to this because I'm a parent now … and if something happened to Ros' and I, I would agree to you being with whoever could keep you safe and happy even if it was … was … Gilderoy Lockhart."

To his relief that surprised a laugh out of Harry. "Please don't die, dad. He'll have me co-authoring books and signing pictures of the two of us together."

"Well, I wouldn't have to worry about him neglecting you or ignoring you." Severus smiled innocently at the giggling Harry.

"Thank Merlin I'm already of age." Came Tom's voice from just outside in the hallway where he had apparently been eavesdropping.

Severus hauled Harry up by the hand he was still holding, and Hedwig giving him an approving hoot. They joined Tom downstairs for the lunch that had been missed at Grimmauld Place.

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Harry's birthday arrived and Severus braced himself for in invasion of adolescent males – and a few females as well for the celebration. Dean and Seamus arrived thanks to Lucius, along with Draco and Dudley of course. Teddy arrived but looked a bit wan, his mother had died after a long illness and his father was becoming 'unpredictable'.

Dora arrived with a gift and a smirk. She was joined by her mother and Molly Weasley who had brought most of her brood. The three gave Severus and Lucius a rundown of the lecture they had shouted at Sirius after Tom had left.

"… we let him know that you took excellent care of Harry. He didn't look convinced though – just sullen and deciding to not argue anymore." Andromeda ended.

Severus just nodded. Black wouldn't give up so easily. He would believe them when he decided to believe them.

Dudley and Ted Knott talked about Neville's increasing closeness to Blaise. Vincent Crabbe had told Gregory Goyle that Blaise was boasting that Grandmother Longbottom had decided Blaise was a 'fine young man' and had let Neville stay over at the Zabini's several times. Goyle wasn't a skilled spy – but he could let Ted know what was up with Blaise and Neville.

There were rumors and stirrings among the 'true believers' of the Dark Lord's. There was talk of some meetings among them – just in 2's and 3's. The rumors though, were just that and no one seemed able to say if it was true or not.

Draco immediately went to try out his new ability on the dragons. He'd learned to shield quickly enough, relieving him of having to hear the constant chatter from owls, etc. He and Harry sought out the Welsh Green that liked to share the swimming pool and Draco launched into a lengthy conversation with the dragon. They went back to Dragonsrest with Draco sure that he had found his calling – to be a Dragonrider.

Lucius listened with resignation. He'd guessed that this would come up when Draco's ability had finally been identified. He just hugged Draco, "It's good to have a goal … just remember you don't have to make a decision right now."

Draco nodded absently, already making plans about what he wanted to do as a Dragonrider. Yuan and Yao had observed it all from a distance. Someone with an Air Elemental gift was unusual … and to be encouraged. He would keep an eye on young Draco – not difficult since he spent a lot of time at the Reserve. Yuan felt a twinge of envy that Draco would never have to endure the usual migraine headaches while learning to communicate with dragons. Still, having a skilled Dragonrider that could talk to any dragon … well, any willing dragon ... was invaluable.

He would have to hope that Draco retained his interest. Yuan quietly considered the distant form of Lucius Malfoy who was hugging Draco at the time. He would have to hope that Lucius would not mind his heir becoming a Dragonrider instead of taking up the reins of the rather large Malfoy financial empire.

Albus stopped by, looking a bit apologetic about Sirius. He agreed with Tom – the necklace was not at the house and they were quite mystified as to where Regulus could have hidden the necklace. The hunt was at a standstill for the moment.

"I've sent Sirius on a bit of a mission. He needs to take his mind off his problems." Albus said in a somber tone. "I would have preferred to send Remus with him, but Remus is doing more important work among the werewolves in the Village they are occupying. It is imperative that we keep them out of the war."

Severus nodded in agreement. Perhaps some actual work would get Black's mind working in a more rational manner.

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August flew by – but not without problems. Harry began having difficulties with nightmares about Peter and a stranger and a malevolent little man that soon turned out to be Voldemort. He told Severus as much about them as he could remember … sometimes it was a glimpse, sometimes he could recall an entire conversation.

Severus hadn't wanted to believe that the connection between Voldemort and Harry was growing so strong so quickly. But if Voldemort had indeed acquired a body – even one he likely found unsatisfactory as that, he was now a force to start fearing. Harry was soon being encouraged to learn more shielding of his mind along with Draco.

The World Cup arrived a mere week before school would start, but Harry was eagerly looking forward to it. Rosmerta pleaded needing to see to the pub – she really did not enjoy the matches and she stayed home with Beth. Petunia and Tori grabbed the excuse to not go as well with relief.

Lucius had the house elves bring the big tent from the Manor. They intended to just use it as a place to rest until the match started – perhaps stay the night if the match ran very late. There was more than enough room for everyone. The Weasley tent was next to it, and soon Draco, Dudley and Harry were going with the Weasleys to get their faces painted. Hermione and Mafalda had been invited by Ginny, who didn't want to be the only girl there. Mafalda was family – and Hermione was Mafalda's best friend.

Arthur had obtained the tickets, so they were in what Lucius described as 'the nosebleed seats'. "If it rains, we'll be the first to know," He muttered. The view of the pitch was rather spectacular and there were no politicians in the section to fawn over them – a definite plus.

Harry and Draco rooted loudly for Krum and the Bulgarian Team, cheering every time a goal was made. Harry bounced excitedly as Krum grabbed the snitch, until he realized that Ireland had still won. A strategy the Slytherins had been employing for several years, now – make so many goals that the other team catching the snitch meant nothing.

They all trooped back to the tents, Arthur retiring to his tent and to a comfortable chair with a sigh. Severus and Lucius along with Tom went to the Malfoy tent to relax and discuss the coming school year. Severus was quite smug that being Head of Slytherin was totally on Sinistra's shoulders this year. He would have so much more time with those duties no longer weighing on him as well.

The teenagers were all still outside, milling around with friends from school, with orders to return well before midnight. There was suddenly the sound of screaming, causing Lucius and Severus to frown – whatever were they up to? If the twins were using trick candy on the unwary Arthur would hear about it from them.

Percy ran into the Malfoy tent. "Death Eaters … there are Death Eaters."

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