HP:The Chronicles of Black.

If he had any lingering grudges with Rowle or any feelings to do with the vile man at all then he'd transfer them into his plans for Rhadamanthus, who was admittedly going to be much harder to kill off and whose death would be much harder to hide as he was very involved in the Ministry. He was an employee of the International Magical Cooperation Department and, in particular, the International Magical Office of Law. Unlike Rowle, who only performed his lordship duties to the Ministry as he didn't work and lived off of his ancestors' wealth, Rhadamanthus would be missed as soon as he went missing because of how involved he was with the laws of other magical communities of other countries. He worked six days a week and would even work the seventh if it was needed of him and due to differing time zones, Rhadamanthus was on-call throughout the night as well. He regularly went to work at strange, odd hours. If he suddenly went missing with no warning, his work colleagues and friends would immediately be alerted. It was just another obstacle in his plans that he had to fully consider and take into account before he could act to remove Rhadamanthus permanently from his and Rabastan's lives.

He ate his breakfast in silence and when he was done he just sat and waited for…something, anything. Without Rabastan to talk to and interact with, he found himself strangely bored and unoccupied.

He was tired too, he had not slept well last night, not only because of the discomfort of trying to sleep with a thick paste slavered over his neck and getting into his hair and all over his pillow and sheets, but he'd also suffered from several nightmares and as a result, his sleep had been disturbed and broken.

The nightmares had all started normal enough, memories plaguing him from the attack, scenarios where he hadn't had his wand on him and hadn't been able to get Rowle off of him, where Rabastan hadn't wanted him afterwards or had, for whatever reason, blamed him and the like, but they had changed to the one, persistent problem that was plaguing him. Rhadamanthus. His nightmares had changed to Rhadamanthus attacking him, to Rhadamanthus doing those vile things to him and then Rodolphus had been accusing him of being impure and Rabastan had been shouting at him that he'd slept with his father and he should be disowned for the shame of it. He'd woken up in a cold sweat, panting for breath.

He needed to see Rabastan in order to push those nightmares away. He hadn't personally killed Rowle, Greyback had by eating him, but there were no doubts that he had been the catalyst to Rowle's untimely death by severing his leg so close to his groin. He had died by bleeding out, but if he hadn't of bled out, then Greyback would have killed him by eating him. It was like they'd worked together to kill Rowle in a way.

"You look entirely unproductive." Lucius told him.

"It's the holidays." Harry whined. "I've done all my homework, I've been observing the night skies for Astronomy and I won't see Rabastan until later. I have nothing I need to do."

"Oh? Allow me to rectify that for you. Follow me."

Harry groaned and hefted himself up and slouched after Lucius.

"Stand up straight or the hex aimed at you will hit your bottom." Narcissa called out after him.

Harry scowled and straightened his back and shoulders, measuring his steps more so that he looked perfectly eloquent and graceful.

He was taken to Lucius' study and, after being told to take a seat, he sat in the chair in front of his father's desk while Lucius perused the bookcase to his right.

"Ah, here we are. Read this." Lucius told him, handing him the thick, ancient-looking book before going around his desk to sit down in his own dragonhide chair. Lucius pulled his paperwork towards him and picked it up where he'd left off by dipping a quill into his inkwell and commencing a new paragraph on the parchment.

Knowing that arguing was pointless, and would likely lead to a punishment, Harry cracked open the book and started reading it. He couldn't wait until later when he could not only see Rabastan again but they could have their first official date together. He was very much looking forward to it.

Albus Dumbledore dismissed Severus with a wave of his hand and he sighed heavily, steepling his fingers and resting his chin on them. Things were going from bad to worse and with the coming war, he was frightened of what it would mean for the wizarding world as he knew it.

The Ministry were still resolutely denying Voldemort's return and with Harry's adoption to the Malfoy family and into a respectable pureblooded household, the wizarding public believed that Harry had 'stabilised' and that he was no longer deranged or delusional. It didn't help in the slightest that Lucius Malfoy had released a statement in the Daily Prophet on his 'son's' behalf claiming that Harry Potter had never told anyone the 'lies' about Voldemort's return and that it had been a cheap ploy, by him, to discredit Harry Potter and to use his famous name to try and confuse and terrify the wizarding public. Lucius Malfoy had carried on to say that Harry couldn't have said anything that he was claiming he had as he had been deserted into the muggle world and had no access to anyone in the magical world in order to give a truthful statement. That he, Dumbledore, had been doing it for him and passing his own 'poisonous' and 'dangerous' lies off as Harry's own.

Thanks to this newspaper interview, his name was now mud as a lot of people now believed that he'd been using 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', an orphaned, underaged boy, as a way to further his own agenda.

He was losing ground and he was being discredited by everyone around him and at every turn. There were even calls for his dismissal from Hogwarts as headmaster and even his imprisonment on the charges of using a minor, and a famous name to boot, for his own political gain. Things were such a mess and he really needed to get back into Harry's good graces and put a stop to all of these lies.

The boy knew that Voldemort had returned. He had seen his rebirth with his own eyes, he had been one of the ingredients used in the ritual even, and he had fought Voldemort in that graveyard and in the Ministry Atrium. The boy had even been possessed by Voldemort. Harry knew that Voldemort was back, he knew what it meant. He just didn't understand why Harry was suddenly claiming that it had all been a lie. Unless Harry had no knowledge of Lucius releasing that statement on his behalf. That would make much more sense than Harry claiming that Voldemort's return was a lie and as he had checked the boy for any potions or enchantments personally, he knew that Harry wasn't being outwardly influenced. He hadn't found anything more than a few everyday potions, which even taken together couldn't explain Harry's behaviour and attitude change. The only thing he could think of was a very dark curse that was resistant to detection spells, he just didn't know how to go about proving such a claim.

Severus was having no luck in finding out Voldemort's future plans or attacks and even worse, Severus had no idea what Voldemort wanted to do with Harry. He was worried that it meant death for the young boy and if Harry was under a curse, then he would walk into the trap unknowingly and uncaringly, like a lamb led to the slaughter by the farmer who had cared for it. He couldn't let this happen, he had to do something.

He needed to get Harry into his office under the guise of something else so that he could find the curse or potion used upon him so that he could research a counter curse and break its hold over Harry. Only then could they have some hope, a ray of light, in this coming war. Without Harry, all was lost.

A solid knock on his office door had Albus calling out a cheery greeting, which slipped away as Remus Lupin entered his office. Remus, as well as a few others, knew of his concerns and his thoughts on the matter of Harry.

"Sir, have you had any word?" Remus asked him.

"I'm sorry, Remus. I haven't. Harry hasn't once sent anyone an owl and Hedwig has not been seen since he left for the holidays."

Remus swallowed visibly and audibly.

"I'm so worried and if it is a curse or a potion like you believe, then he's in danger. I can't stand being here, doing nothing, while he might be, even now, being hurt or even killed."

"I don't believe that the Malfoy's would kill Harry during the holidays, Remus. They'll wait, build up the public's trust in having them look after Harry and then, once they have that trust, that is when I believe they'll harm Harry. It's too dangerous for them to act now, they'll want to wait for a time that they can do it and pass it off as a tragic accident so that they aren't implicated in his death."

Remus looked more distressed at hearing that. "We're running out of time then. The public are happy that Harry is being looked after by a pureblooded family. They're happy that he's showing more interest in the magical world. They're happyabout this arrangement, Dumbledore! We need to do something to help him!"

"I have been trying, Remus, my boy. There is little I can do myself with Harry being so uncooperative. If I could just find a way to get him on his own and calm enough for a small amount of time, then perhaps I could find the curse or potion that is influencing him and break it, but until then, Harry is firmly under Lucius' thumb and if the talk that Severus has heard is true, then he is going to be betrothed to a dark affiliated witch very soon."

Remus' eyes widened. "No, please don't let that happen! Merlin, James, Lily, and Sirius would be rolling in their graves if they knew that Harry was being married off like a raffle prize. We have to stop this!"

"There isn't anything that I can do, Remus. Lucius Malfoy is Harry's adoptive father and his magical guardian and, as such, he has the right and the power to betroth Harry to whomever he pleases, though it'll be up to Harry if he wishes to marry his betrothed afterwards. However, if he's being controlled by a curse or a potion, then it may not be his true desire. I suppose we can be thankful that Bellatrix Lestrange is already married."

Remus was hyperventilating and he collapsed into a chair and put his head in his hands between his knees to calm himself down.

"This can't be happening." He whimpered painfully. "We need to get him away from Malfoy. We can't just do nothing."

"I'll see what I can do during the next school term. I will find this curse and I will break it, Remus. Perhaps if you came to visit him during the weekends too and remind him of his actual parents, and of Sirius too, of course. It would be easier if he had his friends around him as well, but alas, I believe that things there have gone too far to be brought back, especially after the Firebolt incident."

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