Cornelius Fudge had been a bit aggravated by the appearance of the Hogwarts house-elf, it was late evening and he'd hoped for an early night. He had snatched the note, though, when the elf said it was regarding Harry Potter. His popularity had gotten a boost from the picture and story about his tea with Harry and the other two boys, and hoped this was another potential boost.

He read the letter with growing interest, and approval. Professor Snape was certainly living up to his promise to keep him in the loop. With this Tom being treated at Hogwarts it would be impossible to keep quiet, so having the Minister make a press statement would be best, just as Professor Snape was suggesting. He glanced at the clock and yelled at his assistant to gather up reporters and meet him at the Ministry Atrium and started to mentally put together a statement.

The disgruntled reporters were there, when he arrived at the atrium, and were obviously wishing they were at home. Cornelius greeted them smugly and thanked them for their cooperation.

"I wanted to make sure the public was given facts instead of wild rumors in the morning - when most of you would have likely heard this news.

Some of you might be aware that Harry Potter is receiving some home schooling to prepare his for his first year at Hogwarts - a Tom Riddle, and a young lady by the name of Nymphadora Tonks who will be starting her Auror training in the coming year are in charge of his education."

Cornelius was proud of being able to push that little tidbit of information - made it sound as if the Ministry had something to do with Harry's schooling and safety.

"Earlier today they were studying potions and there was a terrible explosion. Luckily Mr. Riddle was standing next to Mr. Potter and threw himself in front of his young charge and Mr. Potter was unhurt."

Cornelius paused dramatically while the reporters gasped and wrote furiously.

"Tom Riddle was severely injured by flying shards of glass and pewter - one shard even punctured a lung. Ms Tonks firecalled for help and Mr. Riddle was rushed by Albus Dumbledore and the Hogwarts mediwitch to their infirmary. An emergency team from St Mungo's arrived and I am happy to say he will make a full recovery."

There was frantic hand waving and a barrage of questions was hurled at him. The Minister answered a few quite happily and finally could not hold off Rita Skeeter any longer, and turned to her wearily.

"Minister - who is to blame for this tragedy? A tragedy that could have been a disaster - what if the ‘Boy who lived' had been injured - or killed?" She simpered. Didn't the minister realize they needed a villain - or at least a scapegoat?

Cornelius thought back to the letter - he understood now why the Professor had included those final lines and worded them the way he had - he'd known the question would come up - had likely known it would be Rita Skeeter asking it. He gave her his very best ‘speaking to an idiot voice'.

"My dear Rita, potions accidents do simply happen, and even when surrounded by protections and under the watchful eye of Professors at school - they happen. If even Harry Potter's guardian - Professor Snape - a Potions Master with very exacting standards has found no fault, you can be assured that there is no one to blame." The Minister ended with a smile.

There was some laughter in the crowd - anyone with children attending Hogwarts was familiar with their complaints of how ‘exacting' Snape's standards were. Rita frowned and scribbled a few things down. There had to be some way to stir up a froth over this - and boost her number of readers.

The Minister finally shooed them away to write their last - minute articles for the morning papers.

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Petunia watched the Malfoys exit through the floo. How horrible that Tom had been badly injured protecting Harry, and Dora must be feeling so guilty. Dora had told her how being a Metamorphmagus made her clumsy - her body would not get used to the sometimes uncontrolled changes her body made for a few years as yet. She likely had had no control over her hand letting the bottle slip.

She and Dudley's day at least had not involved a near death experience. Although, from Marge's glare she had likely been hoping for one. Under the court supervisor, Marge's lawyer and Roger Eastlake's constant observation Marge and Dudley had had their visit.

The visit had been tense, although Marge had made an obvious effort to be pleasant she hadn't been able to refrain from an occasional sniping remark aimed at Petunia. Petunia had brought her needlework with her and had airily pretended to not hear any of them.

Dudley wavered between fond memories of Aunt Marge's frequent treats and trips to places he wanted to see, and memories of her disdain of Harry and occasional cutting words for his mother. Guilt for being relieved at his father - Marge's brother's - death also mixed in. Aunt Marge was alone in the world, now, except for him and the weight of that was telling.

Dudley and his entourage had gone to a quiet restaurant nearby for a late lunch, and then a park to ‘continue the visit'. Late in the afternoon the court supervisor had called a halt.

"This visit seemed to go fine...well, at least fairly well. Would you agree to a visit or two around the holidays?" The supervisor asked Petunia.

"If supervised - not necessarily by myself. Then yes, although the dates would have to be worked around his friends and family's events that are yet to be planned." Petunia said calmly.

"What friends? All his friends are at Little Whining. Piers, Dennis and Malcolm miss him terribly. And the only relative besides me is that ingrate nephew of yours that started all this..." Marge broke off as the Court Supervisor cleared her throat in warning.

Roger Eastlake broke in to answer in a calm voice. "The house on Privet Drive has been sold, and Dudley has moved on to new friends, although if he wished to write to his old friends he knows he could do so through us. Harry and Dudley get along quite well, now."

"It isn't decent that she started living with another man before Vernon was cold in his grave!" Marge shouted.

The supervisor looked at Petunia in inquiry while Petunia flushed in anger at the inference. "I was in hospital until just a week or two before Severus Snape went to his job as Professor at a boarding school. I was quite ill for a long time, and I'm only now able to walk any great distance. I needed the help I received at the home we've been staying in. However I've recently acquired another residence where I will be starting work. We'll be completely moved in there before Professor Snape returns next summer." Petunia took a deep breath and looked at Marge and the Supervisor squarely. "It was very kind of Severus to allow me to stay in his home - he was an old friend from when my sister and I were in school."

The supervisor nodded in acceptance of that, and Marge's lips tightened in displeasure. She'd hoped that the aspersions she'd made would count in her favor. Her lawyer and Roger made provisions to arrange the days at Christmas for Dudley to visit.

Then they had arrived to Dragonsrest to find Lucius and Draco waiting for them. At least Lucius had been able to reassure them no permanent damage had been done. An early supper and hot chocolate in bed at an unusually early hour was called for. Dudley had looked wrung out as well as he hugged her tightly before bed.

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Yvane watched the three sleep and sighed tiredly. Keeping Tom alive but unconscious, and therefore pain-free had taken a toll on his magic. Most of his magic was now mixed in with Tom's - he did have access to their magic, but he disliked using the magic without Tom's consent - or at least Tom being aware of it.

Yvane wondered briefly how much longer he would be able to stay with Tom. The vow and spell he had made to be able to keep most of his consciousness with Tom had left little magic that was just his alone. He could not be snatched from Tom before Tom was ready for him to leave, but he had hoped to stay for a time, even after Tom was doing well.

The rest of his consciousness was somewhere waiting for him to cross over - to somewhere else. That part of him was in no hurry, time seemed to not really matter, and dragons always did have patience. But the vow was beginning to press at times. Tom was happier and settled. The times he became irrationally angry were less and less. Yvane was happy that Tom was healing, but he would be sorry to leave Tom behind.

The impromptu rescue that Tom had done - saving Harry at nearly the cost of his life had shown Yvane just how far Tom had come. When Tom had better control of his temper ... Yvane's work would nearly be done.

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Rosemerta had received Severus' doe Patronus with the message about Tom soon after the Minister had gotten his letter. It had asked her to wait until morning to arrive, as Tom and Harry were settled in and everyone needed rest. Rosemerta got little sleep - she was fond of the quiet, introspective lad, and she knew Harry would be devastated if anything happened to Tom.

She arrived at Hogwarts soon after dawn and made her way to the infirmary. The doors were tightly warded, but a knock produced a tired looking Poppy. She smiled and granted her entrance.

"You wouldn't believe the lengths the students have gone to in an attempt to see Tom and Harry." The mediwitch muttered.

Rosemerta smiled ruefully and held up a very early edition of The Daily Prophet with headlines screaming the news that Harry Potter had been snatched from the jaws of death by a heroic Tom Riddle. They had apparently scrounged through the numerous pictures that reporters had managed to snap during the boys' Diagon Alley shopping trips. They'd found one with Tom close by the boys and he was even wearing a protective look as he glared at the reporters - a picture perfect for the paper's needs, of course.

Rosemerta had not read all of the articles; she had just picked up the paper and brought it with her after reading the headline. Now she and Poppy lay the paper out and read it together. Most of the articles reiterated the Ministers information and simply added a lot of adjectives and waxed poetical about Tom's selfless act.

They had re-told the story of ‘The Boy Who Lived' surviving ‘He who must not be named's' attack for the hundreth, and the Dark Lord's apparent destruction. Professor Snape's guardianship after Harry's Aunt's ‘injury' was mentioned and anything they could dredge up about nearby Dragon Reserves that Harry might live on was discussed.

Rita Skeeter's article, though made Rosemerta's blood boil. In amongst the cooing hope that Tom would make a full recovery was her inference that the tutors had somehow been negligent, although how, exactly, Rita did not know. The article wound down to the conclusion that Professor Snape had hired ‘much too young tutors' and perhaps he was being tight-fisted, not wanting to spend extra money on older, more competent tutors.

"Well, I'm sure she could have been worse, and anyone with a smidgen of sense will know that hiring someone accepted into the Auror program could not be cheap." Poppy said. "She's just upset she couldn't find someone to throw under the bus."

They read through more of the paper companionably until they heard stirring from one of the three beds. Rosemerta saw the Severus was stirring and went to sit by him in the bed. "Well, an exciting time at Dragonsrest, then?" And dropped a kiss in his forehead.

"Too much so, I assure you." Severus answered, returning a light kiss to her lips.

There was a muttered "Get a room." From the direction of Tom's bed, which caused snickering from the mound of blankets that was apparently Harry.

Severus stood and he and Rosemerta walked to the side of Tom's bed. Harry sat up and looked at Tom happily.

"You're going to be alright!" Harry said happily. "They said you would be ... but I wasn't sure. You look like you'll be okay, now."

A disgruntled Lucius, being pulled along by an eager Draco soon arrived. He'd had the foresight to bring Petunia and Dudley along with them, and Petunia had had the forethought to bring Tom fresh clothing - which he accepted from her with relief. Lucius yawned and ordered some very strong coffee for he and Severus. Petunia joined Rosemerta and Dudley and Draco sat on either side of Harry to chat with Tom. Breakfast soon arrived as well. Tom ate slowly and opted for oatmeal - chewing made the muscles in his injured face hurt.

Dora arrived after breakfast with both parents in tow and a nervous look on her face. She had been up quite late, worrying. Both Ted and Andy had given quiet comfort and a lot of hot chocolate until she had calmed enough for sleep. Lucius and Severus were introduced to a wary Ted Tonks. Ted had been a year or two ahead of Lucius and several ahead of Severus, but he remembered them a bit. Not to mention hiding well away from Voldemort and Death Eaters made him wary of anyone carrying a dark mark for any reason.

Dora walked slowly up to Tom's infirmary bed, tears threatening again. "I'm so sorry, Tom...it's so stupid that I have to be so clumsy...I could have killed you."

Tom squirmed uncomfortably. He was not used to sincere apologies of any sort. At the orphanage any slights or injuries were just a part of survival and no one ever said they were sorry - especially not to the freakish Tom Riddle. At school any apologies for injuries were obtained at the end of a wand - they were not offered freely.

"You didn't hurt me on purpose, Dora. You don't have to ... apologize for something you couldn't help."

Tom managed a disjointed acceptance of the apology.

Dora smiled a slightly watery smile. She knew Tom was uncomfortable with her tears, but she couldn't seem to help it. She settled for willing away as many tears as she could and smiling. "Thank You, Tom."

Tom relaxed marginally, glad that Dora was not going to make this a lengthy scene. "You're welcome." Tom answered formally, hoping that would be the last it was ever brought up.

The Minister, along with two aides arrived. Lucius and Severus sighed. This was inevitable, they knew. The upside was that the group was led by Auror Hugo Savage. Tom smiled at the sight of the beaming Auror. There were greetings all around and the Minister thanked Tom formally for his ‘saving the life of the Boy Who Lived'. He got a bit lengthy in his praise, but Tom managed to keep the smile on his face, especially as Hugo was making funny faces behind Cornelius' back.

The Headmaster arrived and Cornelius sat to have tea - and a few photo opportunities with Tom and Harry, with Dudley and Draco included in the picture, again. Cornelius felt the more ‘homey and cozy' the picture looked, the better.

Cornelius along with the aides and Hugo left after the tea, with Hugo telling Dora to ‘visit him soon at his office for tea, he wished to speak to her'. Dora felt a thrill at being invited to tea by her biggest Hero, and trepidation about meeting after such a big screw-up on her part. She wondered if he was going to tell her that the Auror program had changed its mind about including her.

Dora and her parents left soon after, Dora satisfied that she hadn't offed one of her students. Andy and Rosemerta had promised to visit Petunia soon, to hear about her ‘new job'. The Healers from St Mungo's arrived to check over their patient. The declared him well on the way to complete healing and promised to send their recommendations to their own Healer on Diagon Alley, so he could follow-up on Tom.

The group was relived and happy at the Healers pronouncement. Lucius and Rosemerta took Petunia, along with all three boys back to Dragonsrest before returning to their own homes. Severus promised that Tom would be home ‘very soon'.

Tom was changing behind the curtains while Severus listened to Albus ramble on about something when Tom's final visitor arrived. Severus straightened at cursed, making Albus turn to look at the angry looking man walking toward them, carrying a paper. Severus had not seen his distant cousin, and now Head of the Prince family, Samuel Prince in ... well he thought ruefully, it had not been long enough if Samuel planned on causing trouble.

Albus looked Samuel over. Samuel had been home-schooled, but had still managed to apprentice to a Potions Master and eventually had gotten his own Mastery. He certainly was no competition for Severus, though. Samuel was shorter than Severus, and his hair was a very dark brown - similar to Tom's Albus mused. But his eye - they were the same glinting black that told Albus that Severus' eyes, at least had likely come from the Prince side.

Samuel marched straight to Severus, ignoring Albus and thrust the newspaper toward Severus. "What is this nonsense, Snape? Serena had no children ... it's totally preposterous."

Severus just smirked at him. "Seneca found him at an orphanage and brought him home. He spent the next five years or so with Seneca. You recall - Seneca more or less banned you and your siblings from the Manor during that time. I guess he didn't miss you with Tom there with him."

Samuel sputtered a bit before recovering. "I don't believe it. Serena did run off in a panic when ‘he who must not be named' was after some grimoire or other we had, but she'd have let her family know if she'd had a child." Samuel said doubtfully.

Tom stepped from behind the curtained area and looked at Samuel calmly. There was no way to pretend that he hadn't heard everything. He waited while Samuel looked at him closely, trying to find his cousin Serena in the teenager standing before him. Tom felt a twinge of guilt at deceiving the man - but he'd had the adoption potion, so he was a Prince - just not the one Samuel thought.

"His bark is much worse than his bite - he's not very pleasant, but he'll do nothing to really harm you." Yvane summed up what he had learned of the man from scanning his emotions briefly.

Tom silently acknowledged Yvane and calmly addressed Samuel. "My mother died right after having me, she had no chance to try and contact the wizarding world while she was on the run."

Samuel seemed to slump in defeat a bit. "Well, it's good that you've found a guardian, and you seemed to be doing credit to the family." He said reluctantly. "Welcome to the family." He added to Severus' surprise, and Samuel shook Tom's hand. Perhaps the snotty brat he'd remembered had grown up a bit.

Albus, of course was twinkling madly, he was always a sucker for an apparent family reconciliation.

Samuel left with an admonition to Severus and Tom ‘to owl him' - and a warning. "You know that Edwin will have something to say."

Severus smirked Edwin was Samuel's much younger and very spoiled brother. Severus couldn't wait to hex him again.

Tom and Severus left for Dragonsrest where they knew Tom would receive the very best of coddling. Tom sighed - he'd just gotten them off his back from his bout of ‘exhaustion'.

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Neville read the Daily Prophet with jealousy boiling hotly in his stomach. He was perched snugly in the small alcove at the top of the fourth floor stairway he had discovered years earlier. He only had to peer out from behind the tapestry to be able to see all the way to the first floor entryway. No one could sneak up on him by the stairs.

He had put some plants in the window and books he was reading from the library were stashed there as well. No one had ever bothered him here in his cave. Uncle Algie had never found him here, not that he sought him out often. Neville was rarely missed by his family, as long as he showed up for breakfast and supper.

Uncle Algie had only ever looked for him if he had thought of a new torture to ‘frighten his magic to the surface'. Now that he had done so, he seemed at a loss as to what to do. Algie had taken to staring at him at mealtimes even since the fateful day he'd dropped him from the window. At last, with a sinking heart, Neville watched a familiar, calculating look come into Uncle Algie's eyes.

Uncle Algie had started in on conversations with Grandma Augusta with a new twist on the subject of Neville's magic. To Neville's disgust Algie even managed to sound concerned while he speculated that Neville's magic ‘might be quite low, since it took so long to manifest'. He'd then revealed his answer to the possible problem.

"Neville should use his father's wand, it is sure to give his magic a boost." Uncle Algie had said with triumph, while giving Neville a faintly malicious look.

Augusta had been charmed at the thought and had declared she would unearth the wand right away.

Neville had been suspicious, sure that there was a trap in that, but unable to see what it was. The next day he had raided the library for every book on wands and wandlore he could find and spent most of the week reading them with increasing fury.

According to the books the likelihood of his father's wand working for him were low - there was a faint possibility that it would, of course, but it wasn't something to bet your life on. The books said that many families had ‘boxes and chests full of wands' and it was considered lucky to find a family wand that matched well with you, but the unspoken rule was that if you did not find one, you went to a Wandsmith to be fitted.

As the book by Ollivander said "The wand chooses the wizard." Obviously Uncle Algie hoped Frank's wand would be a poor fit and Neville would never learn anything useful - and maybe get him killed.

Neville sank back and glared on the paper with the tall, protective looking Tom watching over Harry Potter and his friends. He was willing to bet that Potter had a wand that suited him and didn't hide from his family.

He really hated Harry Potter.

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