Harry Potter and the Vulnerability Charm Part II

Chapter 9: Revelation

Snape says trans rights, even if his creator doesn't.

Tommy arrives at the castle doors, staring up at them from his tiny height. They swing open with a defeating low creak, revealing Severus Snape standing there imperially. Dressed in loose robes, he regards Tommy with a steely but soft gaze.

"Welcome to the castle," he looks over, down the bridge. "Where's your caregiver?"

"Mummy um, isn't allowed on the gwounds,"

Snape hesitates for a second, nodding. "Alright, you may enter. Follow me, and keep up,"

Snape turns, beginning to walk. Tommy looks around, focusing on the jarring paintings in gold and red. Shifting and moving, they observe him right back. The teacher's back is turned, this is his perfect chance to slip away and search the castle. Find another teacher, question them for information. Then claim to be lost. The perfect plan.

A plan Tommy doesn't want any part of.

The room he's led into has a stone staircase leading up to it, the top stair boasting a shining golden statue. The eagle is etched into the gold, however it's eyes glisten with rubies. Harry is sitting on the couch with the man his Mummy describes as Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry!" Tommy runs up and hugs him.

"T-Tommy!" Harry smiles.

"Are you still sickie?"

"A little bit," he admits. "Grandpa, why are we all here?"

Where is here? "Where are we?" Tommy asks Harry.

"Hello Tommy. I am Remus Lupin," smiles another man who walks downstairs casually, smiling over at him. "I have some things to ask you about. It'll only take a second. Then you can go and play with Harry,"

"Okay!" Tommy agrees.

"Your Mummy is Bellatrix Lestrange. Is your name Tommy Lestrange?"

Tommy frowns. "That doesn't sound right at all!" He shakes his head. "She doesn't call me that,"

"Why not?"

To this, Tommy just shrugs.

"What's the first thing you remember about her?"

Interesting question. Tommy has memories, but they aren't of her. They're of a dark room that smells of damp, is cold and sends chills through his bones. Except his eyes shoot flames through the wooden furniture to ignite it and warm himself. Only a little.

"My first memory of Mummy... she met me. She met me in um. The woods? Close to here!"

"Close to here," Dumbledore nods. "Tommy, do you want to help me do some magic?"

"Yeah okay!" The child agrees.

Dumbledore smiles. "I just need you to give me all your memories of me,"

"Mem'ries of you? I don't know you,"

"We think you do!" Harry chirps. "Daddy says I have memories of him too, from even before I met him!"

"Before you...?"

Tommy knows this isn't what Mummy told him to do. She told him to gather information. But if he remembers things about Dumbledore, maybe this is what she wanted anyway? He's still getting the information just in a different way.

"Okay Mr! Let's do it!"

*

"That's tickles!" Tommy giggles as the memory is extracted. Placed into the fountain. The water shifts and begins to spin, incoherent voices and images ululate around the office.

"There's something in your wardrobe trying to get out, Tom..."

Tommy frowns. The voice definitely belongs to Dumbledore, but when have they met before?

"Is there something you wish to tell me, Tom?"

The fountain of wispy flashes of spiralling light suddenly cracks. Water flows in torrents into the floor. The memories disjointed and lost forever.

"Severus!"

"Daddy!"

Snape continues to beat the fountain with a metal cane in his rage, cracking the ceramic base. "I knew it! I fucking knew it!"

"Daddy!" Evading Lupin's grip, Harry rushes up and grabs the back of Snape's legs, paralysing his adoptive father. A single movement and Harry cold get hurt, ether slipping on the water or stepping on freshly smashed glass.

Snape drops the cane. He looks over at Lupin gravely, who's evidently still perplexed.

"Bellatrix Lesteange has revived the Dark Lord," he stares at Tommy. "Voldemort,"

*

"The Minister will be here any second now," Lupin checks the clock which ticks by arrogantly slowly. Harry has been placed with Ron and Hermione in Gryffindor Tower. Tommy remains confined to a trance. "What's your theory? He's placed himself inside that body to infiltrate us?"

Snape and Dumbledore exchange glances.

"I believe he undergone the same transformation as Harry," Dumbledore explains. "He was too weak to cast such a charm. It would have demanded all his energy, and certainly wouldn't have been perfect. And with Harry's defences, it may have mirrored on himself. It may be why Harry retains so much of his precious self, remembering more than I'd  expect,"

"He's... reversed his age? He just a child again?"

"I've suspected Lestrange for a while," Snape elaborates. "After I adopted Harry I researched a lot into child abuse. Harry was physically abused by the Dursley's but most of the effect on him came from emotional abuse. I detected the same thing in... that child... the first time I met him. One of the major components of child abuse in younger children is an inability to show affection properly. Tommy wanted to be Harry's friend so he pushed him,"

"And you didn't think to tell me any of this?"

"I didn't know if I was right,"

"We're supposed to be a team!"

"Besides, even if she was abusive, I never expected... this. How did you figure it out, Albus?" He turns to Dumbledore, just as confused as Lupin.

"During my research, I realised that if not child matched him, he had to either be a victim of kidnapping and identity theft, or... I know Tom Riddle when he was a child as well. I met him when he was only a few years older than Tommy is now. I thought I recognised him,"

Silence befalls the office. A strange silence but not a strained one, patiently waiting for them to absorb the information.

"What'll happen to him?" Asks Lupin.

"The Ministry will run tests. If it is confirmed he's Voldemort under the influence of a Vulnerability Charm, Lestrange will be taken to Azkaban and Tommy... to an orphanage,"

"Because that worked perfect the first time," Snape looks away.

"In that case, I'll take him in,"

"What?!" He growls. "Are we forgetting the last time you tried to deal with a child? What happened to Harry?!"

"I made a lot of mistakes with Tom as I did win Harry," Dumbledore admits. "That is why I must do this,"

Snape stares Dumbledore in the eyes, the same menacing stare used for his students. Exerting his extreme authority even when it doesn't exist. "No. It's why I must,"