Disclaimer: J. is the proud owner of the Harry Potter universe and I'm only burrowing them. I mean no offense. I make no money (at least not with this).

Author's Note: Yay! Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and thanks to everyone who reads this story. I've got a cold, my eyes hurt , my throat hurts and I had to take a lot of cough syrup, so if this chapter seems kind of weird, it's not really my fault, because to my sick little self it doesn't seem weird.

Well, anyway, I decided to leave out the sign explanations, since I trust all of you to either remember them from earlier chapters or to gather it from the context.

21. ESCALATION

"I really don't understand why you two look like you didn't get a wink of sleep, when I was the one who was awake all night", Rabastan said, as they walked into the breakfast hall the next morning.

Indeed his two companions looked remarkably like death warmed over, with dark bruises under their eyes. Rudolphus hadn't slept well, because the pain-killer had lost its effect around two o'clock in the morning and he couldn't take another one for fear of becoming addicted. On the positive side however he felt much better now, Harry had renewed the bandage once again, though all the wounds had already closed, the not so deep ones had already disappeared completely, leaving the skin only slightly reddened. All in all he felt more like he had overexerted himself a little.

Harry had been plagued by nightmares. The first few times he started whimpering, Rabastan had thought it a good idea to wake him up and soothe him with a cup of hot chocolate. Harry didn't mind that this way he didn't get any sleep at all, but the younger Lestrange had got into his head to make Harry sleep and so the next time he didn't wake Harry and instead tried to take him in his arms- Harry had reacted so violently, begging to be let go that he had confined himself to murmuring comforting words and to hold him, after Harry eventually woke on his own and his trembling had ceased to small shivers and choked sobs. This had repeated itself twice, before Harry absolutely refused to go back to sleep. Of course he had tried to make Harry talk about his dreams, but Harry would just shake his head every time he brought up the subject. And so he was left alone with his jumbled thoughts, at least until Rudolphus was completely okay again.

Even in his dreams Harry seemed to be holding back, his whimpers were almost inaudible, his pleas incomprehensible, except the few "no"s and "don't"s that broke from his throat like desperate cries of a wounded animal. He wondered how Harry could keep something like this a secret and what secrets he held to have such nightmares. Also it seemed to him like their were to different sorts: the ones were he absolutely refused to let Rabastan hug him for hours afterwards, shying away from the softest noises and the lightest touches, while his eyes were completely dry and the ones after which he cried for hours, winced when touched or when he moved, but allowed Rabastan to comfort him, sobbing in his pyjamas, but not talking, either.

"Don't complain, Rabastan, you insisted that I sleep", Harry grumbled, understandably not in the best of moods, "Morning, Tom."

"Good morning,... Harry", the Dark Lord had hesitated a moment, used to whispering an endearment to his young husband every morning.

But he couldn't do this in front of his Death Eaters, hell, he couldn't even do it, when Harry was aware of it. He eyed the green-eyed boy up and down, noting with some concern that his hands were shaking slightly, as he took the offered coffee from Lucius, but couldn't help to feel satisfied and relieved that hisHarry obviously hadn't slept so well with the Lestranges as in his arms.

Harry had just finished his usual round, which had taken longer, because he had traded his well-filled plate with Mr. Nott's strawberry jam roll, and then the newly acquired food with Rudolphus cheese sandwich ordering him sternly to eat it, when the double doors burst open and Bellatrix Lestrange stormed in, looking more than ever like a banshee with the small trail of saliva that ran from her mouth and blood-shot eyes.

"Where were you Lestrange?", she snarled, "Where were you all night, we had something to discuss."

"Oh, didn't you know, Bella?", Harry said, gracefully standing up from his seat next to Rudolphus, who was tightly gripping his wand, "We slept together", he walked towards the furious witch with measured steps.

"You little slut, you'll pay for this!", Bellatrix screamed, advancing as well with her wand poised for attack, missing in her fury the calculating look in the green eyes.

"I don't think so, good bye", he said, waving mockingly/Know Thy Enemy/

Beneath Bellatrix' feet the stone began to grind and, leaving her no time to react, dropped with enormous speed and with it dropped the witch, shrieking in terror. Moments later the hole closed again, leaving no evidence, the stone had moved moments later.

"Where is she?", Goyle Senior asked dumbly.

"Why don't you ask her, if she comes back?", muttered Harry.

He meant to turn around and retake his seat, but instead he banged into Tom's hard chest. He tumbled back, almost losing his balance, before Tom's hands painfully bit into his shoulders.

"What was that? You slept with Rudolphus?", his red eyes glowed dangerously and he shook the small boy, totally forgetting to keep their conversation private.

His first instinct was to flee, No, Uncle Vernon, leave me alone, please, no, but he couldn't panic, he couldn't or they would find out, they would know, Tom would know and then he would hate him again, no. Fleeing would make it worse, I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon, I'm sorry, I'll be good, please, not again, please, so instead he moved closer, bringing himself not to flinch or to whimper, and leaned his head against Voldemort's chest in a submissive gesture, his small hands resting next to it.

"I'm sorry, but I only said this to provoke Bellatrix", he whispered, please, "Don't you know that?", he pressed even closer, causing Voldemort to step back, another step and one more, he was again sitting in his chair at the head of the table.

Harry slid sideways in his lap, his head buried in the crook of his neck and Tom's strong arms reflexively closed around the pale youth: "I'm sorry I made you angry. I shouldn't have said this, it was uncalled for, please forgive me?", don't hurt me, please, "I'll do whatever you say all day long to make it up to you, please?"

"I don't like sharing", Voldemort growled warningly.

"That's good", Harry whispered, nuzzling his neck, "Would you want my sandwich? I don't like cheese sandwich all that much", Harry made an attempt to sit in his own chair again, but Tom tightened his hold: "Stay!", he ordered.

Harry complied, taking his coffee with him, as he leaned back again, cradling the pot between his long, elegant yet slightly too thin fingers. What had he got himself into now? He didn't regret what he did per se and he didn't have another idea at the moment, but still, to do whatever he- Tom, his husband, his enemy- said for a whole day? No, definitely not one of his strokes of genius! He sighed deeply but quietly, so lost in thought that he missed it, when Tom tucked his head under his own or the worried looks Lucius, Draco, Severus, Rabastan and Rudolphus were throwing at him, though to Harry's credit they were doing it very secretly and in a Slytherin-fashion.

"I have a meeting with Dumbledore this morning, which I can't cancel", Tom said, breaking the long silence, which had only been interrupted by the usual eating noises from Crabbe and Goyle, "But we'll spend the afternoon together. What's on your schedule for this morning?"

"Martial arts", Harry tensed and Voldemort wasn't sure, if he did so because of his own feelings or because he himself had stiffened at this new information- no way was Harry going to spend even more time with the Lestranges!

"Not today. Severus will review you and young Mr. Malfoy on Potions", he decided and Harry nodded mutely, "That'll be all for now. Rudolphus we'll talk after breakfast."

"Tom, please", Harry said warningly, preparing to convince Voldemort once again, but Draco sensing the danger, Harry was putting himself into once again, and figuring that the Gryffindor had pushed his luck far enough for one day, intervened.

Oh, he didn't doubt Harry could avert damage from his uncle, he was just afraid what the small boy would take upon himself to ensure it: "Harry, you have to help me find my book", he exclaimed, feigning anxiety, "I put it somewhere... maybe it's already in my trunk? I forgot everything- I don't even know what the key ingredient for Polyjuice Potion is- do you know it?", he rambled quite undignified, but the end justifies the means, and grabbed Harry's hand, dragging him from the Dark Lord's lap and to the door.

"If you don't even know the basics, we should start right now", Severus snapped, obviously catching on on Draco's plan, and swept from the room, his black robes billowing behind him.

The black-haired boy tried to protest, but Draco was quite effectively pushing him through the door, leaving him only the time to throw a pleading look at his husband.

"Why are you doing this?", Harry asked almost desperately, struggling against Draco's hold, "Let me go! I can't just let Tom use Rudolphus to release his anger, he's my friend, he helped me!"

Draco didn't let go though and Severus locked the door to his rooms with a spell: "Harry, will you listen to us? I know my uncle, he can look after himself and he wouldn't want you to risk even more for him than you already have. What did you think you were doing, offering something like that to the Dark Lord?"

"This whole mess is my fault", Harry sobbed miserably, "And now Rudolphus has to suffer because of my mistake."

"You did nothing wrong, Harry", the blond boy argued, brushing one of the black strands out of his face, "What you did was very honourable- stupid, but honourable- you only did what your caring, brave, irrational Gryffindor side told you to do. You and the Dark Lord are complete opposites, it was only a matter of time, till you would clash. I'm sure you prevented the worst and to me the Dark Lord didn't look very angry..."

Harry closed his eyes briefly, as if listening into himself, before a small insecure smile flitted over his pale face: "I think you're right: it doesn't feel like he's angry, definitely not over the moon, but not angry anymore. Do you really think Rudolphus will be alright?"

"Yes. Now that that's settled, we only have to worry about our favourite Gryffindor with a hero complex", the Potion's Master sighed, indicating for Harry and Draco to take the chairs opposite of him, "Have you any idea, what you agreed to, Harry?"

"It's not that bad", Harry voiced under his breath, "What could he possible do that he hasn't done yet? Should we start reviewing?"

"Harry", the Potion's Master started, but Harry cut him off: "Can we not talk about this, Severus?"

The no longer greasy haired man nodded reluctantly and began his lesson, relieved to find that both of his students knew how to answer most of his questions and that Draco hadn't really forgotten the key ingredient of Polyjuice Potion, though his mind wandered more often than no to the small Gryffindor. Why would someone do this for a man, they had barely known a few weeks? And why had he shaken so violently, as he approached the Dark Lord. Did the Dark Lord abuse the small boy? He couldn't wrap his mind around this notion by any stretch of the imagination. Sure the Dark Lord was far from nice, but one would have to be blind, deaf and generally oblivious to not notice the fondness, with which the red eyes rested on the petite wizard. Could it be that Harry's relatives had done more harm than Harry let on? Could it be that the memory hadn't been a one-time occurrence. Salazar, he still felt sick, when he thought about what Harry had told and showed him. He really needed to talk about this with Harry. It was pretty short-sighted to assume Harry would be alright after something like this. And it was even more careless to just let the abuse continue. The Dark Lord might not see it like this, even be more then gentle with his husband, but he was now sure that Harry saw it very differently. They really needed to talk, Harry couldn't keep on brushing everyone's concerns aside.

Meanwhile in the breakfast hall, everyone had finished their breakfast and had gone to do whatever they had to do, leaving Tom and Rudolphus alone. The younger man (Rudolphus, though Voldemort actually looked younger) was quite nervous.

"There are two things I want to talk about", Voldemort focused his red eyes on him, sending chills up his spine, "First, there's a warning: Let's just assume neither you nor your brother have touched Harry in an inappropriate way, which I believe to be the truth or you could now watch the grass grow from a completely different perspective. But should I ever find out that you or anyone else did touch what is mine or if there's anything more than friendship between you and my husband, I will wipe out everyone who shares even a drop of blood with you, before I cut you in so many pieces that each of their graves can have a piece of you as a burial object. Understood?"

"Yes, Mylord", he bowed his head, resisting the urge to shift uncomfortably.

"Good", the other man, brushed off his dress pants casually, "I have another assumption. Do you want to hear it? Well, you see, I think you're Harry's friend. I don't believe this nonsense about you helping him. You're a good actor and surprisingly enough Harry is fairly good as well, but that doesn't mean that I don't notice it, when he's mothering you and you allow it. From Harry's reaction to your wife today, I also assume that she's at least partially at fault, so I have changed the password to your rooms into 'Prometheus', but I don't think we'll see her in the near future, anyway. I'm quite sure Harry with his overbearing Gryffindor qualities has coddled you up, so the only thing, I want to know, is if you're okay now."

"Yes, Mylord", he nodded once again, quite surprised, his Lord had asked such a question.

Sure it had been more of an order and it clearly didn't invite him to elaborate or even answer with "no", but the Dark Lord had just shown more concern than in the whole year since his resurrection.

"Mylord, before you go...", he hesitated, but Voldemort was already scowling at him and most likely wouldn't take kindly to being delayed and then not even getting to hear anything of importance- he wasn't sure if he considered it important, "Harry did nothing wrong. He doesn't deserve to be punished for being himself, Mylord. I would hate to see him hurt."

"Not that it's any of your concern, Rudolphus", he was already on the way to the door, "But I have no intention to take advantage of Harry, only of the situation", he smirked smugly.

Now there was only the problem what he should do with his husband in the afternoon. Of course it was irksome that he had to go to this teacher's meeting of Dumbledore's first, but at least he had time to come up with something good. And there was no way around it in any event, because he had signed himself to it in this work contract, Nott had supposedly looked through for him, however he had either missed the little detail that he had to be present at every teacher's meeting or he hadn't found it bothersome. Wasn't Severus to come as well? He seemed to remember Severus telling him that he was excused from the meeting in order to have an eye on Harry. Harry, right, what should he do with Harry? Of course they could always take a stroll like the other times, but that wouldn't satisfy him in the least and his husband would probably be so tense that he wouldn't be enjoying it either. He had to think it over and what better time than while Dumbledore was droning on about the following school year, handing out timetables and offering lemon drops? If he forced Harry into doing something, the boy didn't want, he himself would enjoy himself without doubt for that one afternoon, but afterwards he would realise how much he had destroyed in Harry. He didn't want him to hate him again or worse yet fear him. He had worked too hard for Harry's trust to risk it to satisfy his desires for his petite husband. No, that wouldn't do. On the other hand, if he just pretended this was another one of their normal Tuesdays, he would squander this opportunity and that wouldn't be fitting for the heir of Slytherin, now would it? Maybe if he... Yes, that could work out. He would have to ask Nott for the directions, but the lawyer owed him for having to endure this stupid meeting, which thankfully had ended a minute or so ago and since all the other professor stared at him rather than to strike up a conversation he had no reason to stay longer than necessary.

He was already late for lunch and when he stepped into the hall everyone was seated already. Harry smiled shyly up at him, before he turned back to his meal and his conversation with Draco.

"I don't know what you have against Neville", Harry argued, scowling slightly, "He's really nice, you know."

"He's fat", Draco said right back, "And dumb."

"He grew up, Draco, he may have been a bit chubby, when we were eleven, but he isn't anymore and he's not dumb! He has a low self-esteem I admit that, but his spell-work really improved during the last year."

"He's still far below average let alone me", the blond replied haughtily, "And he's an absolute disaster, when it comes to potions. And really what kind of Gryffindor is he, when he's afraid of Sev?"

"What are you afraid of, Draco?", Harry changed the subject, raising an eyebrow, "You don't have to tell me, but you really shouldn't judge a person, if you don't know what motivates their fears. Believe me, Neville has a good reason to be afraid of someone like Severus. But unlike you he has to face his fears every day and still he gets up every morning, he's a better Gryffindor than anyone else I know."

"Fine, but I still don't know him and I surely won't ask him to be my boy-friend", Draco insisted.

"You don't have to", Harry agreed immediately and Draco sighed relieved, prematurely as it turned out, "I'll ask him for you!"

"Don't you dare do this, Harry", he snarled, "I can ask people to a date on my own!"

"But you just said you wouldn't, Draco", Harry smiled innocently.

"It's really unfair you're already married or at least I could set you up as well", the blond Slytherin growled, stabbing his potatoes.

"Just out of curiosity, who would you have tried to set me up with?", Harry asked interestedly.

"Well, first I would have to know whether you like girls or boys."

Harry shrugged helplessly: "How am I to know that? I suppose I don't mind either, if I love them."

"Have you never had a crush on someone?", Draco inquired incredulously.

"I liked Cho Chang since third year, but she got pretty teary-eyed after Cedric's death, not that I blame her, but I'd rather like it, when the someone, I'm kissing, is at least thinking about something happy, even though not about me", confessed Harry, "Since then? No. So who would you set me up with, only hypothetically of course?"

"Me", the blond answered seriously without hesitation, but Harry laughed him off: "Oh, be serious, will you? You can admit that you don't know anyone who would want to go out with me, that's okay."

"Why would anyone not want to go out with you?", Draco asked, more concerned about the Gryffindor than about himself.

"Please, do you think you're fooling anyone?", the small boy said, "There's nothing about me that would compel anyone to want to date me, I'm ugly, barely look like a thirteen year old, probably failed all my OWLs, endanger all the people near me, have a maniac killer after me- sorry, Tom- I'm no pureblood, not that I mind, and if you can trust Trelawney, I'll die a horrible and sudden death."

"And you say Longbottom has a low self-esteem!", the blond muttered, "I disagree on all points, except perhaps the pureblood thing and the maniac killer bit, but that's no reason not to date you, Harry! I would ask you to be my boy-friend right now, if it wasn't like signing my death sentence!"

"Really?", Harry asked hopefully, ignoring the growl from his husband.

"Really!", Draco answered emphatically, "Or do you think I'd let just anyone set me up with Longbottom of all people?"

Harry burst into laughter at this, gasping for air, starting anew every time he looked into Draco's supercilious face, finally burying his face in his hands. The Slytherins watched him confusedly.

"Does someone know what is so funny?", Voldemort inquired to his Death Eater, but they had no other response than to shake their heads.

"What are you laughing about, Harry", he reworded his question this time to his husband.

"Did you really think, I would set you up with Neville?", the green-eyed wizard said, still chuckling, "He's straight as an arrow and he and Luna have been together for five month now."

"And that had you laughing your head off?", Draco demanded unbelievingly.

"No, but when I thought about them together, I thought about Luna and then I imaged you two having a conversation...", Harry was laughing again and Lucius' face crossed a look of realisation.

"What were they talking about?", the older blond cocked an eyebrow.

"Definitely not the same thing", Harry smirked at him and Lucius returned the expression: "Indeed. So who are you meaning to be Draco's boy-friend?"

"Excuse me, could you two stop talking about my love-life?", Draco asked annoyed, however Harry just ignored him: "That, my dear Lucius, is for me to know and for you two to find out, when it's too late to do anything about it!"

Lucius mock glared at him: "Cheeky brat!"

"Snob!"

"Imp!"

"Henchman!", Harry said triumphantly, sticking out his tongue.

"How very mature!", the older blond teased, "Not that you earned it, but your owl is at the window!"

Harry craned his neck in order to check, if Hedwig was really there and as he saw the white-feathered bird actually hovering outside, he jumped up to let her in. Hedwig hooted gratefully and perched herself on Harry's shoulder, sticking out a clear white envelope. Harry immediately knew that the letter was from Neville, since Luna's letters never were plain white, but decorated with glittering embroiderers or sketches of what she had supposedly seen and the letters from Sirius and Remus were always delivered by Remus' barn-owl.

Hey Harry,

how are you doing?

He could clearly imagine Neville's breathless a bit squeaky voice, when he talked about one of his new plants and the family dinner, where his uncle Archie had fallen over a chair and broken his nose. Of course that could be fixed without problems, but his grandmother was still cross about the blood on her carpet. But something was amiss, Harry decided, when he had finished the first three paragraphs, it was almost, as if the other boy was only beating around the bush.

I visited my parents yesterday with my grandma. Mum talked! She gave me a blowing gum wrapper again, but this time she said "For Lily", can you believe that? I took it and said I would give it to 'Lily' and she nodded and went back to bed. I asked one of the healers there and she said that it was a good sign and that she may finally be recovering. Grandma said that my mum and your mum were good friends before, well, all this happened, so I think the wrapper is for your mum. You don't have to keep it, of course, I just thought I'd give it to you. I still can't believe it! Maybe you could come visit them with me sometime? I've got to go now, sorry, hope you're alright. And you will tell me, if you're not, understood?

Bye Neville

"Harry, is something wrong?", Tom asked, startling him from his thoughts.

"Huh? No, Neville's mum is doing better", he murmured absent-mindedly, a frown marring his face, "I just have a bad feeling that's all. Does anyone now, when my mother's birthday was?"

"She never celebrated her birthday at school if that helps", offered Severus when no-one else gave an answer.

Though he was still angry with his student. Harry had brushed him off- again. He had wanted to talk about Harry's quite obvious problems, he had sent Draco ahead, he had warded his rooms so that no-one would be able to eavesdrop and Harry had brushed him off, saying that he was fine, that he had it under control, that he didn't need any help. Not even, when he brought up that dratted godfather of his, did he react, just repeated his mantra and nothing he did or said got another reaction. Harry had completely blocked him out. It was obvious that he didn't want any help- Stupid, stubborn Gryffindorks!

"Not really, but thanks anyway", Harry sighed, folding the letter and putting it back into the envelope, careful to not crack the wrapper, "So what do you want to do this afternoon, Tom?"

"That's a surprise", he smirked down at his smaller husband, "How about we leave in half an hour? I still need to fetch some things and you can reply to your letter."

Harry nodded obediently, before he excused himself from the table and went to the library, where he kept his inkstand.

Okay, someone pointed out a while ago that I should try writing two stories at the same time (I can't remember the name, sorry, but if you tell me I'll make sure to thank you very officially for giving me that idea), so now here I have a few suggestions, though I won't post this story until this one is finished. I might not even write it. At the moment I just have the initial situation and I like to have everything planned out, before I start a story, so I'm only trying to find out in which pairing your most interested. Then I'll start looking for ideas and then maybe I'll start writing. But I can promise you that it won't interfere with this story, if I am not able to post everyday that will most likely be due to school, this absolutely unnecessary institution. So just tell me what pairing you like best:

1. Tom/ Harry again (I really like that pairing, but the idea that I have sounds a bit like a story, I've read the summary, and though I'd rather write something else...)

/ Harry (postwar, slave-fic: that's an idea I cam up with a long time ago, so I don't know if I'm still able to come up with a complete story...)

3. Sirius/ Harry (it's a bit like this one, though of course different since it has a different pairing and different characters in general- though well, it's not all that much like this one...)

4. Sirius/ Harry (time-travel; I really like that pairing, mostly because I like Sirius so much... D)

5. Draco/ Harry (with Sirius as a father figure, completely AU...)

6. Lucius/ Harry (time-travel; blonds are just sexy #smirks#...)

Well, tell me what you think or just review...