Bonded chapter 88

Chapter 88 -

"Thank you so much for allowing me to stay in your home," Fleur said appreciatively.

After the 'enthusiastic reunion', Harry and the girls had gone over to Grimmauld Place to meet up with Sirius, who had taken one look at the two girls hanging off of his godson and all but squealed with delight before inviting them all in. As of right now, the group were all sitting at the dinner table, eating a lovely meal.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius grinned at her. "Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine, speaking of which," Sirius turned to Harry. "Details, now." He all but demanded.

"Details about what?" Harry asked innocently.

"Harry," Sirius let out a very long sigh. "I'm a surprisingly patient man, really, I am. It's something you pick up after being locked in a hellhole for more than a decade. But my patience draws thin, and there is a line, and that line is when my godson comes into my home with a veela hanging off one arm and my shapeshifting relative hanging off the other. Now, details, please."

"He banged us both, Sirius," Tonks told him bluntly.

"That is literally everything I've ever wanted since I came out of prison," Sirius said solemnly as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. Sirius's eyes glistened slightly as a proud look made its way onto his face. "Your parents would be proud of you, as am I." He said, sounding as serious as an unserious man named Sirius could seriously sound.

"You realise that we're both still right here?" Tonks asked, gesturing between her and a slightly confused Fleur.

"Let him have his moment," Harry told her, before Sirius finally removed his hand. The exchanged nods before Sirius patted him on the shoulder once more. "Anyway, the food is great," Harry said, once he believed Sirius had been sufficiently indulged.

"Yeah, that house elf you recommended is pretty good, all things considered," Smiled Sirius just as the elf in question popped in the room, wearing a large, woolly hat and a red jumper and three socks on each foot, plus a pair of purple, fingerless, woolly gloves.

"Hi Dobby," Harry smiled at him. He remembered the first time he met Dobby, it was a few years ago, before he had met Venom. The elf, not the brightest spell in a wand's arsenal, had done his best to prevent Harry from being killed. In doing so, he also ended up nearly killing him with a bludger, but still...it was the thought that counted. Harry had helped free him from the Malfoy family, and last he had heard, Dobby was working in the Hogwarts kitchen. Harry had approached the elf during the school year to see if he was interested in working for Sirius; he felt it was a fitting thing to do, given that he was at last minimally responsible for Sirius not having a house elf. "How's it going?"

"Dobby is so pleased to once again see the great Harry Potter!" Dobby said enthusiastically.

'This is the kind of respect we deserve,' Venom said in a pleased voice. Harry could practically feel the symbiote preen.

"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said, ignoring the chuckles from the rest. "How has Sirius been treating you?"

"Oh, very well, Great Harry Potter. Much better than Dobby's previous masters," Dobby assured him.

"Yeah, well, the bar wasn't set very high." Harry snorted. "Anyway, Dobby, this is Tonks and Fleur."

"It is a pleasure to meet the Great Harry Potter's Miss Tonks and Flour," Dobby bowed deeply. "Dobby must finish his work now." He nodded to them all before popping out of sight.

"Did the little elf just call me 'Miss Flour'?" Fleur frowned.

"No, he called you 'The Great Harry Potter's Miss Flour'." Tonks grinned.

"He called you the 'Great Harry Potter's Miss Tonks'," Fleur pointed out.

"That's nothing. He called me 'The Great Harry Potter's dog-father,'" Sirius cut in.

"Well, there are worse things to be known as," Harry said in an amused voice.

"If you say so, 'Great Harry Potter'." Sirius snorted. "So, what do you guys plan to do now?"

"Spend some time together and enjoy my holidays," Harry answered.

'Plus a bit of hunting,' Venom couldn't help but add.

(.)

"Good evening to you all," Professor Dumbledore said as he gathered the order in front of him.

It had been a few weeks since the school year had ended. He had expected it to be the calm before the storm, as the muggles would say. Instead, it seemed as if the storm had already started, only it wasn't his side that was feeling it. There had been numerous attacks on all known and many suspected Death Eaters; the body count was slowly but surely piling up. At the current rate, it would appear that Voldemort wouldn't have any Death Eaters left soon. His sources in the ministry had told him that half a dozen men had given themselves in for protection. Dumbledore ended up restricting Snape to Hogwarts, only letting him go anywhere if Dumbledore was with him; much to the sour man's displeasure, he couldn't afford to take the chance of Snape being killed by whoever was hunting Death Eaters. And if Dumbledore was right about who it was, and he did believe that he was, then the person had already tried to kill Snape.

"As all of you are aware, or at least you would be if you read the Quibbler, as I do," Dumbledore said, unable to not sound slightly smug. He had been a fan of the Quibbler since the day it had started. Xeno's articles were so fascinating, though Nymphadora's articles were quite good as well. He felt a small bit of amusement when he saw a slight frown appear on her face, almost as if she had known that he had thought about her first name. "Many Death Eaters had been found dead over the last couple of weeks."

"Good riddance," Sirius snorted. A great many of the order echoed his sentiments. "Has he gotten Snape yet?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm right here, Black." Snape glared at him from his position behind Dumbledore.

"Is that a 'no'?" Sirius frowned deeply.

"Please behave, Sirius," Dumbledore requested as Snape attempted to end Sirius through sheer willpower. "We have more important matters to focus on. I believe I know exactly who it was that is responsible for this. It's someone that a few people in the room have encountered before. A creature known as 'Venom'." He announced. He saw most of them look confused, though Nymphadora did stiffen slightly, understandable given that she was the one who knew the most about him.

"Venom?" One member repeated. "Who is he?"

"What is he?" Amended Lupin. "You referred to him as a creature." He noted.

"As of right now, I am unsure if he is simply a powerful wizard, or as I said, a creature," Dumbledore said with a thoughtful frown. "Though all I've seen and heard have pointed to the latter. I believe we should start with the first of us to have interacted with him." He gestured to Nymphadora. "My dear, would you please tell us what you know of him?"

"Umm...okay," Tonks took in a small breath before standing up from her seat. She was fairly reluctant to reveal anything at all, but it was clear to her that Dumbledore was doing it more for the benefit of the rest of the Order, so she decided to tell them nothing more than what she had already made known to others. "I met him for the first time a few years ago, I was captured by some human traffickers, and he saved me from them."

"How fortunate," Snape drawled.

"Yeah, it is, dingbat," Tonks scowled at him.

"Enough, please," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "Now, this is not the only time we've encountered Venom. Quite recently, he made an attack on Severus at his home and tried to kill him. Severus barely managed to escape with his life."

"How fortunate," Tonks drawled, glaring at Snape when he glared at her.

"Actually, it isn't," Sirius mock-whispered.

"Venom was not alone," Dumbledore continued. "With him was a large creature, that with the exception of its size, fitted the description of a creature that had attacked Draco Malfoy. It is my belief that Venom, along with this creature, have shapeshifting abilities."

"You mean like Tonks?" Moody asked.

"Not quite," Dumbledore shook his head. "He can spawn tentacles that come out of any point in his body, and he can change size," Dumbledore said before he gestured to Kingsley.

"A week ago, there was an attack on a wizarding village near Wales," Kingsley began. "It was during a full moon, and it involved Fenrir Greyback and his pack." He said, causing many people to stiffen, and Lupin even growled. Fenrir Greyback was legendary, not just in Britain, but across several countries, for finding young children and turning them into werewolves, Lupin being one of his many victims. "He wasn't alone; there were a couple of wizards with them as well, along with two trolls. Myself and many aurors arrived to fight them off, we were holding them back when the werewolves started transforming, we knew we'd be run down easily, so we were about to retreat when...he came." Kingsley shivered. "He looked like he was covered from head to toe in black goo; there were no distinguishing features besides the spider logo on his chest and his white eyes. He entered the fight by kicking one troll in the face, knocking it off its feet. He grabbed the troll's club and smashed it off the head of another troll, even though the club was twice his size. Then the werewolves came close, black blades shot out of the creature's body, taking out most of them. The aurors took out a couple, and soon there were three left, three that hadn't run off at least. They all leapt towards him, and he caught the biggest one in his arms. We later recognised him as Greyback. Two tentacles shot out of his body and grabbed the other two, snapping their necks. He wrestled Greyack for a few seconds before the goo on his mouth opened up to reveal some very inhuman teeth. He ripped into the back of Greyback's head and ate his brains out, right in front of us."

"Sweet Merlin," A member gasped. Lupin's scowl shifted into a look that quite clearly said he didn't know what to think about that.

"Believe me, I wish that were the end of it," Kinglsey sighed deeply. "But it wasn't, one of the wizards apparated behind the creature while the others retreated and shot it in the back with a killing curse."

"I don't understand," Molly Weasley spoke up. "Why call the order to discuss a meeting about a dead creature?"

"The creature didn't die, Molly." Revealed Kingsley, shocking everyone else. "It brushed it off as if nothing happened, turned around and grabbed the Death Eater by the arm before shapeshifting into a much larger version of itself and then..." Kinglsey paused, taking a moment to swallow the lunch that nearly came out of his mouth. "...it ate his head off in one bite."

Dumbledore frowned deeply as he looked around, noticing the disgusted and scared looks on people's faces, most of them anyway. Some of them, like Sirius, looked pleased that something was finally being done to stop the Death Eaters, no matter who was doing it. Snape was paler than usual; it seemed to hit the man that he had managed to avoid getting his own head bitten off.

"When I encountered Voldemort..." Dumbledore paused, allowing people their moments of flinch. Fighting down his urge to lecture them on their fear of a name, he continued speaking. "...He mentioned something to me. He stated that if he didn't kill me, then 'they' would. Talking with Severus and looking through old auror reports, it had been mentioned that Venom always refers to himself as 'We' for some reason. It is a possibility that Voldemort encountered this Venom in the Ministry of Magic."

"So, what's the issue?" Sirius asked with a frown. "This guy is dealing with the Death Eaters for us, sure, we might lose Snape, I'll say something nice at his funeral."

"You sure as fuck won't be invited!" Snape snarled.

"As of right now, Sirius, we cannot say for sure if Venom is entirely our ally. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend, unfortunately. Not to mention that we don't know what this 'Venom' intends to do once Voldemort and his ilk are vanquished." Dumbledore replied. "I bring this up for two reasons. Firstly, so that you all stay aware and vigilant."

"Constant vigilance," Moody said approvingly.

"A tad," Dumbledore said with a brief smile. "But also because I have recently come into contact with this very individual. Earlier today, I received a letter from him. Untraceable, unfortunately, but the contents of the letter indicated that he wished to meet. Tomorrow evening, I will be meeting him. Any who would like to accompany me, now is your time to let me know."

'I sure hope you know what you're doing, Harry,' Tonks thought just before she raised her hand to volunteer.

(.)

"This is the place?" Mad-Eye Moody asked with a frown.

"Yes, this is where he wanted to meet," Dumbledore replied with a matching frown.

The location he had chosen was an old bread-making factory near Charing Cross Road, the Muggle entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Dumbledore had looked into it; the factory was burnt down several years ago when the factory's head engineer had accidentally started a fire while doing some work near the top of the building. The fire spread down and consumed machinery, many flammable materials and ingredients and eventually became one of the largest muggle fires in modern-day history. As of right now, the factory hadn't been repaired yet and stood as a charred mess. The walls were intact, but everything was more or less burnt, and it looked like it was barely standing.

Dumbledore let out a sigh before glancing back at those who accompanied him. Along with him were Moody, Kingsley, Sirius, Remus, Arthur Weasley and Tonks. He hoped that this meeting wouldn't descend into violence, but it was good to have backup in case it did. Taking in a deep breath, he walked into the factory, followed by the others. The inside didn't look much better than the rest; everything was covered in black soot. Burnt factory equipment everywhere, and some walls were barely standing, while others had holes in them or had crumbled into nothing. Eventually, they made their way into the largest room of the factory. The pillars and support beams seemed to be mostly intact, as did the rest of the walls. Burnt plastics and metals were scattered around the room. At the end of the room was a large, long, rectangular oven fitted into the wall.

"Is he even here?" Lupin whispered to the others. "Moody?" He asked.

"My eye is picking up nothing," Moody said irritably. Tonks resisted the urge to smirk. Harry did tell her that Venom could turn invisible, apparently it was the type of invisibility that allowed him to hide from Moody, of all people. "You sure this isn't a wild goose chase, Albus?"

"Decently," Dumbledore frowned, looking down in thought. After a moment, he looked up, and it took all of his control not to jump back and scream. A few inches from his face were milky white, tear-drop eyes. Taking a step back, he saw Venom hanging upside down from what appeared to be some sort of black wire. Upon closer inspection, he realised that it was one of his tentacles. The others had all taken steps back and aimed their wands in his direction.

"Albus Dumbledore," Venom spoke, his voice deep and demonic, sending a shiver through all of the Order, even Tonks, who hadn't ever really heard Venom sound angry. She had no doubt that right now, Venom was angry and barely remaining civil. "We finally meet."

"You know of me?" Dumbledore asked lightly, resisting the urge to use legilimency on the creature in front of him. Reading the mind of non-humans was never a great idea.

"Who doesn't know 'The Great Albus Dumbledore'?" Venom said with a slight growl.

"And you must be the illustrious 'Venom'," Dumbledore replied. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Of course it is," Venom tilted his head.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but just what exactly is it that you want?" Dumbledore asked. "You wanted this meeting, why?"

"We have a mutual enemy," Venom replied. "Voldemort."

"And just what makes our beloved dark lord your enemy?" Moody asked suspiciously.

"Voldemort and his men cost us our family." Explained Venom with a snarl. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters will die. All of them will die or spend the rest of their miserable lives in Azkaban."

"I can live with that," Sirius said approvingly.

"You wish for us to help you?" Kingsley guessed.

"We don't need your help," Venom grunted. "We need you to stay out of our way. Voldemort will die, as will his men. One of which... is currently in your employee." He growled at Dumbledore.

"Severus Snape is a changed man," Dumbledore said firmly. "He is no more a Death Eater than I am. "

"He was charged with mind-assaulting one of your students not long ago," Venom pointed out. "Many students reported him for years. It seems to me that he is not reformed, merely protected. By you. You had him as a teacher," He said to Tonks. "Did he act like a reformed man to you? Don't lie."

"Well...not really," She said, managing to sound apologetic for Dumbledore.

"This is our offer to you, Dumbledore. You will remove your support and send Severus Snape to Azkaban with a full list of all of his crimes, or you will hand him over to us so that we may remove his head." Venom continued. "Or perhaps we'll simply just crush his head in our hands, or just smash his brain in. Hmm, we'll think of something."

"I cannot allow that," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "Severus Snape isn't a perfect person, I don't deny that. But he is a member of Voldemort's army in name only; he is on our side, of that I am sure."

"So because he serves the all-powerful Albus Dumbledore, his crimes are washed away?!" Demanded Venom in a furious voice, causing everyone else to tense and back up. "His sins, his victims, all gone because he serves you?!" Roared Venom before he ascended up and into the shadows of the rafters.

"Dumbledore, I think you just pissed him off," Moody grunted just before Venom landed near the oven. He grabbed it and, with impressive strength, ripped it out of the wall before tossing it straight at Dumbledore. Dumbledore reacted quickly and, with a wave of his wand, sent the oven flying to the side. He looked up and saw that Venom had once more disappeared.

"Voldemort," Venom's voice came from the shadows. "You. You both protect your criminals, letting them do whatever they want. Damn their victims, so long as they serve you."

"Please, we can talk about this," Lupin tried.

"There will be no discussions!" Shouted Venom. "Severus Snape is responsible for dozens of deaths. Why should he avoid justice?! What of his victims?! The Bones family! The Longbottoms! The Potters! The McKinnons!"

"WHAT?!" Blurted out Moody, looking positively livid. His sister had married into that family, and it had burned him deeply inside when they had all died. Now, he was being told that Albus's pet Death Eater was somehow responsible.

"Severus had nothing to do with that," Dumbledore said at once.

"Did he not? When he was scouting their manor for a week? Did he tell you that, or are you just hiding it?" Venom demanded.

"Albus, is this true?!" Moody snarled.

"Alastor, I..."

"What of you, Lupin?" Venom asked suddenly. "Severus was part of the group that murdered your parents."

"Are you..." Lupin trailed off and looked at Dumbledore. "Albus?"

"And the list keeps on coming!" Venom said victoriously. "He was also involved in the deaths of the Rosewoods. A branch of the Smith family as well, plus Fabian and Gideon Prewett."

"What?!" Arthur spoke up for the first time since coming here. "My...my brother-in-laws?"

"And their mother," Venom's voice confirmed. "He was once scouting Dumbledore's brother for a potential attack! Did you know that, Dumbledore?!" He demanded, it was true, it had been why Snape had been hanging around the Hogshead when he heard the prophecy. "HOW MANY MUST BE KILLED BEFORE YOU LET HIM BE PUNISHED?!"

"What about you?!" Tonks called out suddenly. "What did he do to you?!"

"Nymphadora!" Snapped Dumbledore.

"I told you not to call me that!" She snapped back.

"Snape killed our family!" Venom's voice roared from the shadows before he landed on the wall to their left, sticking to the side. They all pointed their wands at Venom. "He killed our father!" Venom climbed up the wall before leaping across the room and sticking to the opposite wall. "He murdered our mother!" He turned to face the order. "DESTROYED OUR SISTER!" He let out a large roar that shook the very foundation of the factory they were in, vibrations shook through their bodies as their ears protested against the noise. "We gave you a chance, Dumbledore, we tried, we really tried. But if you won't grant us justice, then we will get it ourselves!" He leapt up and smashed through the ceiling with a loud crash.

"Damn," Kingsley said, looking up at the hole that Venom had just left.

"Albus," Moody growled. "You've got some explaining to do, and you better do it quick. If not, I'm going to go kill Snape myself." Sirius looked at the shell-shocked Lupin before turning to Moody.

"I'll help," He offered.