Death's Son (Originally done by Little.Miss.Xanda)

Much to Barty's Horror

"Hey," Harry greeted, falling into one of the sofas in the Hufflepuff common room. He didn't even try to understand why he was there. He hadn't made a conscious choice of going to the Hufflepuff common room, but, before he knew it, he was in front of the entrance and whispering the password.

It had been such a common occurrence that the Hufflepuffs didn't even glance at him. How strange was it that he felt more comfortable with the Puffs than with the Gryffins? Though, maybe it was because he hadn't truly known any of the Hufflepuffs. Sure, some had been friends, but never close. He had no idea what had happened to most of them in the war.

"Hey," Zachariah replied, "I thought you would be in Hogsmead. We were planning on finishing this and then go join you," he waved his half-finished transfiguration essay.

"I went early this morning. Though, everyone would not stop starring, so I came back."

"Starring more than usual?" Wayne asked, looking up from his own essay.

"Yeah," grumbled Harry, "You'd think that they would have gotten over it by now."

Zachariah snorted, shaking his head, "You're the Boy-Who-Lived. They'll never get over it."

Harry sighed and slumped back on the sofa. They had no idea just how true that was.

"We don't have to go," Wayne offered, "We could stay here."

"You wouldn't mind?" 

"Nah. We don't need anything from Hogsmead. Though, you could help us with this essay, as thanks for our selfless sacrifice," Zachariah teased slightly and Harry laughed. Really Zachariah was quite funny; it's a shame they hadn't gotten along in the other timeline.

"Sure. What's it about?" he shuffled a little closer to them and focused on what they were telling him, relaxing in the comfortable atmosphere.

____

Harry had expected many things when he stepped into Riddle Manor, the following morning. Chaos, destruction, and death among those many things. Well, hopefully not death, but at the very least, blood.

He didn't know if the silence was a good thing or not when he was greeted with it. It was eerily silent. Far too silent for a manor that harbored the Dark Lord and Sirius Black.

Slowly, he made his way to Tom's office. He would never admit to being a little apprehensive, but he was. He opened the door to the office and peeked inside. Then he opened the door and stared. He blinked. He blinked again.

"Oh, you're earlier than I expected," Tom remarked when he saw Harry at the door. He sounded slightly relieved.

"Wha-" he stopped when he heard a pitiful whine. He aimed a slight glare at Tom.

"It's not my fault!" Tom defended himself, "He would not shut up."

"So, you turned him into a dog?" he couldn't quite hide the amusement in his voice if the betrayed look he got from Sirius was any indication. How a dog could look betrayed, he had no idea, but it did.

Sirius was in his animagus form, though Harry had an idea that Tom had made it impossible for him to turn back, and had a muzzle on his snout. He looked really pitiful and Harry felt his lips twitch slightly. The betrayed look grew in intensity.

"Well, it could have been worse," Harry remarked, shaking his head in amusement.

After a moment, Harry turned to Tom, looking as stern as he could, "Turn him back, we have things we need to get done today."

"Fine," Tom said, almost pouting, and Harry couldn't quite contain the chuckle. At least both were in one piece, as far as he was concerned, the night had gone without a hitch.