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Rise of the Dark Angel	By : isabel88 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 61368 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does, as such, I am NOT making any money off of this....

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Title: Rise of the Dark Angel

Author: Izzyb09

Beta Reader/Co-Author: Tonks-is-cool.

Chapter: 10: Knowing Your Enemy: Voldemort’s Treasures, Harry’s Past

Settings: AU after OOTP: It's canon up to the beginning of the battle at the DOM when they are in the veil room, after that, it's AU and mine.

Pairings: HP/DM; LV/SS; LM/RL; NL (CL)/LL; RL/BL

Warnings: This story will contain mentions of Violence, Child Abuse, Adult Language, Alcohol Use, Slash/Het Sexual situations and Death. Please discontinue reading if such scenes or themes are offensive to you.

A/N: sorry guys that this chapter took so long to get out...forgive me, but Real Life (RL) got slightly demanding...again and also because we ended up writing the next two chapters as well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing…if I did, Ginny would have died in the CoS, Dumbledore would have choked on his lemon drops and Harry would have stood up for himself against Molly and Dumbledore.

Disclaimer 2: this story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Letter or commentary/introduction, Legilimency sequence and flashback

{Parssseltongue}

~…~ indicates scene change

O.P.D.: Saturday 19^th Feb. ’11.

Last time on RDA;

"You are all dismissed," Voldemort said. "Harry, I would like you to stay behind."

"Yes my Lord," Harry nodded; he gave a quick kiss to Draco and walked back over to stand next to Snape. As the others left the room, they could hear the twins teasing Bill and Charlie about coming over to the dark side; both Harry and Snape chuckled as Voldemort's lips quirked slightly in amusement.

"I must apologize for this morning," Voldemort said once everyone was gone and the room was warded once more.

"For what?" Harry's brows furrowed.

"Administering Crucio on both you and Draco," Voldemort clarified.

"Oh," Harry said. "Well, looking back now, it was completely understandable. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No, it is not," Voldemort sighed and looked over at Snape, who moved to lightly touch his lover's shoulder. "Harry, what do you know about Horcruxes?"

Harry stared at them in confusion as his brows furrowed; the word did not ring any bells at all in his memory.

After Harry remained silent for another minute, Snape spoke up and his snarky tone held a teasing quality to it. "Maybe we have overtaxed his mental faculties with the question."

"You haven't," Harry flushed slightly and looked between the two. "Well, ok, maybe a little. Ok, so, as I have never even heard of the word Horcrux before, could you please explain to me what it is?"

Snape and Voldemort exchanged looks, before the Dark Lord glided over to the window; he looked out for a few seconds before shifting his gaze back to Harry.

"Dark magic, soul magic, a means to ensure immortality," he answered. "A Horcrux is a special object, into which a small part of a wizard's soul is transferred, to keep it safe and to tether, to anchor the wizard's soul to this plane of existence, should the body of the wizard be killed."

"Holy-fucking-hell," Harry breathed; he was in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just been told. His mind turned the information over as he tried to fully understand it.

"That's...that's bloody brilliant and to be honest, slightly horrifying. I mean, to think that a wizard would go to such lengths...hang on..." His brows furrowed as he thought more on what he was told and what he knew. "Is that what you did? It is isn't it? That's how you survived all those years ago when you tried to kill me and the Curse rebounded."

Voldemort looked solemnly at Harry before he nodded. "You are correct."

"Cripes Marvolo," Harry ran a hand through his hair. He was silent for a few seconds before he looked at Voldemort. "So, what's the catch? I mean, it can't be easy or everybody else would try it. How exactly did you do it?"

Voldemort shook his head, "No, it´s not easy. This is considered the darkest of dark, very advanced magic. The exact method is irrelevant at the moment."

"Where do you keep this Horcrux?" Harry was very curious, his mind bubbled with questions. When he got no immediate reply, he looked from Voldemort to Snape again; both looked solemn, cautious, concerned and were intensely studying him. Another idea formed in his mind.

"Wait…you said 'Horcruxes', which means that you made more than one. What do they look like?" Harry asked, studying the pale face of the tall, powerful wizard. "If you don't mind, my Lord?" while he was a bit unsure about whether or not he should ask so many questions, he couldn't help but to think that maybe they wanted him to piece together the hints to find an answer on his own.

Voldemort and Snape exchanged another telling glance and then concentrated their intense stares on him once more, which spoke volumes, like shouting 'Come on Potter, figure it out.'

Harry saw the look and realized that he was right; they did want him to piece together the hints to get the answer. He looked to the side, subconsciously scratching his neck, going over everything in his mind he knew about Voldemort, or Tom Riddle.

"The diary!" he exclaimed suddenly as he turned back to them; his eyes gleamed with satisfaction and a smile showed on his lips, happy that he had figured it out. "The diary was a Horcrux! Tom was not only a memory, but also a part of you—

He stopped himself before turning a thoughtful look at Voldemort. "That's why you were so pissed off, and why he talked and acted the way he did. Well, I never..." Harry trailed off.

Suddenly he looked up at Voldemort with some unease. Should he have spoken so plainly about the diary while there was someone else in the room? The Dark Lord had ordered him to keep quiet about Tom and the diary. And what of Severus? Did he already know? As Voldemort had yet to frown or scowl, he took that to mean a good thing.

"Marvolo, I suppose since you allowed this discussion to begin in the first place that Severus already knows?" Harry asked.

Voldemort nodded. Harry let out a breath of relief, while Snape smirked at him. "I see you were telling the truth about hiding away some of your capable mental facilities under that mussed up black mop of yours."

Harry snorted, fighting to hide his smile; it was typical of Snape to deliver praise cloaked in mockery.

'Now what else,' Harry thought.'Several Horcruxes, hmm, now what could be another one? How should I know, when he won't tell me how he made them? It´s almost like with Dumbledore, not answering simple questions, letting me struggle to figure this out. Do all elder men get off on leading me along?'

Frustrated with their riddle game Harry huffed at them, raking his right hand once more through his unruly, black hair. "You're in the mood for guessing games today, aren't you, sirs? So there are some more Horcruxes beside the diary?"

Snape's scowl and a mild glare from Voldemort caused Harry to back track quickly, seems like he had spoken a bit too cheeky. "Sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect my Lord, sir, it's just that, I'm a bit frustrated."

When both men nodded and smirked at him, Harry sent his gaze around the room for an inspiration. In the corner besides the fireplace was still acosynest of blankets for Nagini and her little ones. Seeing this, Harry remembered that day of their first mission when he and Draco had been in this room together twice and the proverbial Lumos went off.

"Your locket, it's another one, it must be," he said. "That's why you wanted us to find it and why you were so angry two weeks ago. You discovered that it was missing. You told us that someone switched your locket for another one, which turned out to be Regulus Black's locket. Am I right?"

"Indeed, Harry," Voldemort answered. "So, what do you remember about that day when you and Draco brought back my locket? Do you remember how you felt?"

Harry tried to recall exactly how he had felt finding and delivering the locket. He scrunched up his face in thought, looking so cute, that he caused both elder men to chuckle quietly. It took a minute until the boy spoke again. "I was very confused…I felt so strange."

Biting his lower lip, he raised his emerald eyes to the crimson-brown ones that had not left his face the whole time and answered, feeling slightly awkward. "When we were in here the first time, I noticed that you had a new ring...that golden one with the black stone." he paused and his gaze automatically went to Voldemort´s hands.

Noticing the ring, Harry nodded to himself. "I felt...strangely curious as I wanted to ask you to give me the ring to hold it and to look at it. Of course, I didn't dare to ask you and even though I understood that you had wanted us to go and search for your locket at once, I would've rather stayed here in your room. Yet, at the same time, I was excited to go with Draco on our first mission; I wanted to please you, make you proud, so I pushed the urge to stay here with you and Nagini away."

Harry stopped, clearing his throat to form the words to express his emotions. He might've been more independent and assertive, but it was still a bit disconcerting to be talking like this with the Dark Lord.

"At Grimmauld Place, when I took the locket from Draco, it felt as if...as if I had found something that I had lost." he huffed and smiled sheepishly. "Completely ridiculous, I know, because I had not seen the locket for a year and it was always yours, never mine. It reminded me...yes, I think it reminded me of the diary in my second year, I guess. After I found the diary in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, I was so disappointed that the pages were all blank. I had hoped it would contain information on the Chamber of Secrets.

“Despite this disappointment, I often looked at the diary, turning over the empty pages when I was sitting on my bed behind the curtains in the evenings. It was only weeks later, on Valentine's Day, did I discover that the diary was not empty and could write back. The whole time, it felt as if it belonged to me, like something I had forgotten or lost years ago and found again. The locket felt similar."

He studied Voldemort while talking; did the man grow bored or impatient with his rambling? He saw that he didn't, but rather, he listened intently. Harry bit his lip and after a short pause to collect his thoughts again, he continued.

"Hedwig flashed us back here. We walked to your door, knocked and entered your room. I felt different compared to the other times I had been in here, like...like it must be to come home, a comfortable feeling and at the same time also exciting. Of course, I also felt happy that Draco and I had succeeded in the mission you gave us.

"As I came into your room, I reached in my pocket, to give the locket to you. It was as if I was in a daze; I didn't want to give it up...I wanted to keep it. It felt tingly and warm in my hand, so precious, as if a tiny heart was beating inside. I didn´t understand, but I felt a strange yearning to keep it...but at the same time, I wanted to step closer to you, to hand it over to you. It was very strange, normally I'm never so conflicted and I have never felt a pulsing like that from other metal objects. And no offence Marvolo, but the only person I want to be really close to is Draco."

Voldemort again nodded encouragingly, while Snape kept impassive and quiet, so Harry continued, "When you reached out your hand to take the locket from me, our fingers touched. That threw me. The sudden sparks felt like a strong tingle or an electric shock or something coursing through my hand, my arm, my heart, everywhere. It felt as if my magic and your magic reacted somehow. Did you feel that too?"

"Yes, I did," Voldemort answered, completely serious.

Harry hadn't understood his own emotions or reactions then and he had thought that he had imagined things and so, he was now quite astonished to learn that the Dark Lord had felt the same.

"I wanted to...forgive me, Marvolo, but..." Harry paused and was surprised to see that he had stepped closer to the tall man while talking; he had moved without realizing what his body did. He was so confused, again, he not only remembered how he felt that other day, but the strange tingling in his scar and the yearning to be as close as possible to the Dark Lord was back. He became aware that he was staring into the burning crimson-brown eyes above him as if he had a crush on Marvolo. What was going on? He felt embarrassed; his cheeks flushed red and he quickly took a step back, looking down and to the side. That's when he again noticed the ring on Voldemort's left hand.

To Harry's surprise Voldemort did not sound angry when he spoke, "It's alright, Harry. Go on; tell me honestly, how you felt that day and how you feel now. I know you're apprehensive and confused, but this is important for you to understand what has happened. I´ll explain why later."

Harry thought his head felt like a fried tomato. He gulped for air before finishing what he had wanted to say before; this time, the words came out a bit stronger.

"I wanted to step closer to you, to keep a hold on the locket, and to touch your hand with the ring and to hug you," he paused, recalling the moment. "Then Nagini hissed and she asked about us; I answered without thinking, that we were alright. I wanted to go to her and hug her and at the same time be held in your arms, and, it's weird, but I want that even now…" he trailed off, unable to keep looking at the concerned face above him.

Despite the fact that Voldemort had given him permission to continue, Harry was still a bit apprehensive about speaking like that to the Dark Lord. Sure, he had been cheeky and bolder when he had first reach out to the man, but that was before he fully started working for the leader of the Dark side.

When no reaction or reprimand followed, Harry continued, "I know I have no business Marvolo and I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds. I know that you and Severus are together."

Voldemort stepped closer to him. Reaching out, he gently took hold of Harry's chin with two fingers and lifted his face up again. A spark seemed to ignite the moment he touched the boy. It didn´t hurt, only tingled his nerves.

Harry's heart was racing a mile a minute; his breathing shallow. He started to tremble at the touch, at the sudden closeness, overwhelmed with the powerful dark aura of this man.

"Look at me, Harry," Voldemort commanded softly, when Harry did, he continued. "You did not overstep any bounds, as I did ask you to tell me how you were feeling and I do understand. You feel like you do about me, Nagini, the locket, and the ring for a reason. Can you guess why? Have you thought about your scar, why you got those strange headaches when I´m furious or those dreams or visions from me?"

Harry nervously licked his suddenly bone dry lips. He tried to think of what could explain it while he felt this own magic rising up in reaction to the powerhouse of dark magic in front him and around him. It felt as if the Dark Lord had enveloped him in a tingling, pulsating blanket, at the same time calming him and pulling at him like a strong heart beat. His scar throbbed gently in the same rhythm; his chin tingled where the fingers held him.

He wanted...no, he needed to be closer to him. He shuffled closer, forcing himself to keep his hands still and down so he wouldn't reach up and embrace the man. They were so close they could feel each other's breath upon their faces, the heat of their bodies; their eyes were locked firmly with each other.

Suddenly a thought fought itself to the surface of Harry´s muddled mind. 'Horcrux'.

"Horcrux...Horcruxes?" He asked in a whisper. "The locket and the ring are both Horcruxes also? They contain parts of your soul?"

Voldemort hissed the answer, {Yesss, they are. And...} He raised an eyebrow.

Harry stared mesmerized into the crimson-brown pools of fire above him, struggling to breath, as a shock wave of sudden understanding crashed down on him.

"Nagini and I are...my scar...we're Horcruxes too? That's the reason why we want to be close to you? Why the diary, the locket and the ring attracted me so much? How is that possible?"

"Indeed," Voldemort answered him. "You're mine; that is why I want to have you close, why I want to protect you. At the same time, I feel the strongest urge to lock you all up in the highest tower or the deepest vault beneath Gringotts, secure behind a dozen mighty dragons, so that no harm may come to you or Nagini or the other safeguards."

While saying these words, he embraced the astonished, shocked and overwhelmed young man and pulled him to his chest.

Harry felt the room swirling and his knees go a bit weak and he was glad for the support. Tentatively he raised his arms to return the embrace. It lasted only a moment, and then Voldemort took a hold of his shoulders and pushed him back a bit so that he could look in his face again. Harry glanced over to Snape, who was still standing impassively right next to them; was the potions master not angry or jealous that his lover was embracing Harry?

Snape watched them with a blank face, his emotions locked up for the past few minutes before his features softened and hefavouredHarry with the look he bestowed on Draco; he could easily understand Harry's concerns and while he knew that anyone else would feel jealous, he knew that there was nothing romantic about the embrace.

Harry took a few deep breaths and shook his head to clear it before he looked back up at Voldemort, who had by now released his hold on the young man, allowing Harry to step back a pace.

His mind went over Voldemort's words and he couldn't help but to stiffen. "With all due respect my Lord, I'm afraid I can't permit myself to be locked up. I'll be careful as to not get hurt; I'll keep your Horcrux safe and I will protect Nagini, always, but I refuse to be locked up." He paused, trying to control his rising anger. He had spent most of his childhood locked up and he refused to go through something like that again.

He sighed and looked at Voldemort. "How did this happen? How long have you known about this? I mean, you didn't know before this summer, did you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have tried to kill me in the past? I know the prophecy is a moot point now, but what did it mean concerning said prophecy? Does Dumbledore even know?"

When he had noticed Harry stiffen, Voldemort had stepped back slightly to better look at him. He was unnerved by it, but before he could comment, Harry had continued with his questions and he couldn't help but to chuckle, much to Harry's consternation. Both elder men shared a smirk that did nothing to reassure Harry.

"What?" he snapped, his anger spiking, once again, at his fate; it seemed that trouble always found him. Life was so unfair; you'd think that finally giving in to his dark side would make things easier. And why were they holding back laughter?

"Won't I get a say in this?" he asked, making sure to keep the anger and demanding note out of it.

"The thought is tempting," Voldemort smirked at Harry after winking at Snape. "Don't you think so Severus? No more trouble with the Boy Who Lived, if he is locked up miles under London, or even better, in a high, impenetrable tower like a princess in a fairy tale...with thorns growing all around it."

Harry gaped, forgetting his anger for a moment; he could not believe that the Dark Lord would taunt him this way.

Snape could not resist grinning evilly at the shocked face of the boy; now that they were on the same side and had spent so much time together, he truly enjoyed teasing him.

Both men were now chuckling at him, their eyes dancing full of mirth. How dare they? Harry´s anger spiked once again as he remembered his childhood; he had been locked up in the cupboard under the stairs or his shabby room enough years at Privet Drive, for his own good of course according to Dumbledore. He was furious! He would not allow anyone to do that again; he would fight this, Dark Lord or not. Harry stepped back a few paces, drew himself up, squared his shoulders, raised his chin in defiance and clenched his teeth and his fists. His magic, already close to the surface, seemed to coil in his chest; ready to strike out it began to swirl around him.

Voldemort and Snape noticed that Harry was really upset by their jesting and instantly sobered up. Obviously, this topic of locking him up was a sore subject for the young man as he had never reacted this way in the past weeks. On the contrary, he was usually polite, accepted Voldemort´s authority and any reasonable punishment doled out. The one time he had even moved to be mutinous, was when he had punished the young Malfoy. Harry´s magic had reacted then and though he felt a small surge of pride that Harry was confident enough to stand up to him for the one he cared most about, he was still their master and so he had had to punish him as well. Most likely Harry reacted so defensive subconsciously, because of something, those blasted muggles or the headmaster did to him.

At first, he tried to reach the boy with their mind connection to quickly diffuse the situation. [Harry! It´s all right, calm down.]

No visible reaction, Harry was too angry and upset to listen.

Voldemort was careful to keep his distance, his hands slightly raised and visible, making no sudden movements, to prevent the boy from lashing out at them. A glance and subtle headshake stopped Severus from stepping closer or drawing his wand. Normally he would not allow this disrespect and defiance from any follower, but Harry was special. He did not want a fight with him over such a simple misunderstanding, although he was sure that he could subdue the boy, but he might lose his trust and loyalty; especially now, when discussing something as vital his safeguards. Which was very risky, but Harry needed to understand what he was, before he could tell him what he wanted to do about it.

So he spoke in a calm, smooth voice, making sure to keep what anger he was feeling, under the surface, "Harry, come on, calm down. Don't worry; I will not treat you like an object. I spoke only in jest."

The words got through to Harry's anger and he listened and acknowledged them, allowing his anger to dissipate.

As soon as the teen had calmed down a bit, he went to his chair and invited him with a gesture to take a seat on the couch. "Come Harry, Severus, let's sit down, there is much more to explain. Tilly!"

An instant later, the house elf popped into the room, while Snape and Harry walked over the couch and sat down.

"What can Tilly be doing for master?" the elf asked.

"Tilly, get us some tea and a selection of drinks," Voldemort ordered.

"Yes master," squeaked the house elf before vanishing. A few seconds later, she reappeared with a large tray full of tea and various drinks like butterbeer, red and white wine, sherry, brandy and firewhiskey, setting it upon the coffee table. After they had each taken something to calm their nerves, Voldemort turned to Harry and began to explain.

"You asked how one creates a Horcrux and how long did I know about your scar containing one," he started, "To be truthful, I did not understand the true nature of our connection until a few days ago when I observed your strange behaviourand my own emotions on the day you retrieved the locket.

"To understand, you have to know the steps to create such a soul container under normal circumstances. One has to prepare oneself with a dark ritual, and prepare a suitable object as receptacle, a vessel, well in advance. The next step is to murder someone. It has to be cold-blooded murder for this purpose. I am sure you are aware of the difference that to murder someone is not the same as killing someone in offence or defencein a duel or battle, like in a war situation."

Harry nodded, "Yes, Lucius mentioned that in his history lessons, when we talked about morals in the context of the differences between light, neutral and dark magic. I have killed, but not murdered anyone so far."

"Very well," Voldemort continued. "This murder splits the soul, another spell is necessary to rip the soul piece out of the wizard´s body, transfer it into the vessel and to securely seal it in."

"Oh, so that's why you called this darkest magic," Harry commented thoughtfully. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes, it did," Voldemort nodded. "Do you have any question?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Yes. Well, what you described would be the creation of a 'normal' Horcrux, like your locket or the ring, right? What about Nagini or me? And the diary, that was special, different, wasn't it?"

Voldemort shifted in his armchair and sighed. "Believe me Harry, I did not turn you into a Horcrux voluntarily, that was an accident, caused by the repelled Killing Curse fifteen years ago."

"So then," Harry shifted slightly in his seat. "What happened? I mean, if you didn't mean to, then how did I become a Horcrux?"

Voldemort took a sip of his brandy before he continued to explain. "I had planned creating another Horcrux that night. Your death, the death of my prophesized vanquisher, would have been the catalyst. However, when your mother sacrificed her life for you and your own heritage came out to play, the Killing Curse rebounded and struck me. Now, since I had already done the first part of creating the Horcrux, my soul was severed once more, but as the spell to secure the piece of soul into an object was not cast, the soul piece was drawn to, and went into, the only living body nearby...yours."

Harry remained quiet as he listened to Voldemort explained just how he came to be a Horcrux; he couldn't say anything...he didn't think there was anything to say...at first, but then, a thought came to him.

"But," he asked, "how is it that I didn't know? I mean, how can two souls occupy the same body...that's not possible is it?"

"If we have to go into technical details," Snape spoke up, "Marvolo's soul piece wasn't in your body per se, but rather somehow contained in your scar...a secluded part in your mind; that is why you were able to receive visions from him."

"Any why you were, are, able to feel really strong emotions from me," Voldemort added, "it is also why I was able to possess you so easily back in May."

"This is..." Harry sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I mean...this is...you're telling me I have a piece of your soul in my head."

"Yes," Voldemort nodded.

"I don't know what to think," Harry breathed. "It does explain everything."

"What are you thinking?" Snape asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted, "I mean, I'm amazed at what you accomplished, but I'm a little worried. What does all this mean for me or us? Will your soul piece take control now that you're within distance? Did it have any influence over me throughout the past years?"

"I would think that if my soul was to take control over you," Voldemort explained, "then it would have done so already, and I do not think it had much influence over you. Maybe it enhanced your dark tendencies, your Slytherin side. As to what it means, Severus and I were talking and we think it´s best to remove the soul fragment from your mind and reunite it with my own, quite mangled soul."

"Oh," commented Harry and he waited for more explanations.

Voldemort frowned, and then he suddenly rose and walked over to the window, staring out of it deep in thought, before he looked back at the two young dark haired men on the sofa; so alike, so different and yet, so important to him. He debated internally whether he should tell Harry the truth and how much of it. He was not good at understanding emotions or talking about his secrets at all. He never, ever had revealed this much information to anybody besides Severus, shown himself so vulnerable, so human, as he did today.

Perhaps he should leave it, simply try to possess the boy again and force his soul piece out and back into himself? But, what if it didn´t work with brutal force? The possession at the Ministry had been incredibly painful for Harry; of course he had fought back like mad. If attacked now unexpectedly, he would strike back and never, ever trust him again.

Thinking back to the young man´s defensive reaction to their jesting a few minutes ago and to the display of vicious, powerful magic when Harry turned against Gibbon or Narcissa, Voldemort decided that it was much more important to keep Harry´s trust and cooperation. He could always ask Harry to allow him to obliviate the most sensitive Horcrux information after he regained his soul piece. He'd have to test Harry's Occlumency skills first...

Harry studied Voldemort´s face, at least, the part that he could see at an angle, the deep frown on his brow. Glancing over to Snape, he noticed the dour man looked uncharacteristically concerned. Whatever the Dark Lord wanted to tell him must be big. By the way, just how did one get out such a Horcrux soul fragment without destroying the soul´s container and reunite it with the master soul? Would Harry be hurt in the process? How dangerous was this?

He had never before thought about souls and what that concept meant at all. Splitting ones soul? It sounded fascinating, but like madness. Sudden apprehension coursed through him. It looked like Voldemort didn´t want to talk anymore about these Horcruxes, but forced himself to go on when he straitened his shoulders, walked back to his chair and locked his red-brown orbs again with Harry´s green ones.

"Harry, I don´t like talking about this at all, but I feel you can only decide to help me if you have more information. You told us how much you despised being kept in the dark for your own good." Voldemort sneered the last part.

Harry nodded emphatically and agreed, "Yes. I´d rather face whatever I must head on, actually knowing what´s going on. Please explain. If I can help, I will."

Voldemort smiled ruefully. "I recently noticed that I do feel better when you, my Horcruxes are here, close to me. I never believed it would make any difference, but, it seems it does. I have come to terms with this revelation and my emotions over the last few days. I have thought about what this means concerning the prophecy. When I started upon this darkest path as a young man, all I cared about was attaining more power and immortality. I started to voluntary mutilate my soul, because I believed the risks to be minimal and worth the gain. I believed that it would be a splendid idea to split my soul into several parts to attain immortality. I went further on this path than any mortal man before me."

Voldemort sighed again and ran his hand through his hair. After a glance at Snape, he locked eyes again with Harry. "Because I didn't know that I had inadvertently created a Horcrux in 1981, I turned Nagini into a Horcrux in the summer of 1994, thereby splitting my soul one more time."

Harry's eyebrows disappeared under his fringe and his mouth fell open; shocked and surprised, he couldn't help but to cry out. "You tore your soul up once more? But, how could you do that when you hadn't even regained a real body then? I suspect that creating these Horcruxes affected you in some way."

Voldemort nodded with a contrite look. "Yes, that was too much obviously. And yes, creating these Horcruxes affected me more than I was ready to admit until now. I didn´t want to see it, to acknowledge it, but...not only did my looks change, but I did as well; I became unstable...I turned insane." Voldemort paused, and to Harry, he looked angry with himself, he was. "I nearly destroyed myself and all chances of the dark side. I nearly lost this war because of my obsession to become immortal, to kill you and to learn of the prophecy. I lost track of everything else."

He stretched out a hand to touch Harry, and the boy reached out and responded by clasping his hand in a firm grip, despite the initial slight shock upon their skin on skin contact. Harry had never seen the Dark Lord act like this and he gaped in astonishment at his next words which were spoken in a quiet yet incredibly intense voice.

"Harry, you, you have saved me, however inadvertently. You fulfilled the prophecy in an unforeseen, unique way. You helped to resurrect me just over a year ago, albeit not willingly. We both share the same blood now and tether each other to life. You are my Horcrux, and I am kind of yours. So that line of the prophecy could be true, that we can only die at the hand of the other. Through your decision to contact Severus and to come to me in June, we both live and not merely survive anymore. Over this summer, I have...changed. I have found my sanity, my purpose again. You have caused and witnessed this change firsthand, since I possessed you in May. Despite the possession and the pain I caused you, you came to me of your own, free will, to join me, not to kill me. It's very unfortunate that you had to lose your godfather in the process." Voldemort squeezed Harry´s hand, and then he released it and sat back.

Harry gaped at him, until he became aware of it – without a scathing commentary from Snape about him impersonating a bubbling fish, although he could almost hear a Snape-like voice sneering that in his mind - and closed his mouth with an audible snap.

Voldemort and Snape shared a look and smiled indulgingly, no wonder the boy was so shocked and overwhelmed.

"You told me about the opening of the Chamber of Secrets in your second year and the fate of my diary, thereby alerting me to a great danger, that my Horcruxes are not as safe as I believed. I would not have checked upon them or retrieved them on my own so soon, without your interference," Voldemort mused, leaning back to the side of his arm back chair, "and for this warning I am very grateful, Harry. When you return to Hogwarts, you will check upon one other, which I hid inside the castle a long time ago."

Harry smiled and nodded, "Um, OK."

"However, once I understood that my soul was inadvertently split into too many parts, and that you carry another part of me inside your scar, I thought about getting this soul part back."

"How?" Harry sat up straighter and looked at the two men he respected.

Voldemort sighed again and raised his glass to take a sip, clearing his throat he spoke, "Well, I believe the Horcrux contained in your scar, is the only soul part I can get back without tremendous difficulties."

"Oh? How? Has anyone ever tried this?" asked Harry.

Voldemort looked over to his desk and stretching out his hand, he summoned a large volume, bound in faded black leather. Handing it over to Harry, he said, "Well, I do not know if anyone has ever succeeded. As far as I know, nobody has ever created more than one Horcrux at a time or used a living vessel. In this book I read as a teenager, Secrets of the Darkest Art, it says that there is a way to retrieve a Horcrux soul piece and rejoin it with the master soul. Look at page 370."

With a flick of his fingers, the pages rapidly turned open. Harry scanned the page. "Dangers of creating a Horcrux... ah, here: re-uniting your Soul. Oh, you have to feel remorse and regret the murder that created the Horcrux."

"Hmm," Voldemort nodded. "At the bottom is a footnote."

Harry read it and looked up into Voldemort´s eyes. "Do you really want to try? It will be excruciatingly painful; it says the pain can destroy the one attempting it. Are you even able to feel an emotion like regret or remorse? I thought you killed so many people over the years, it never bothered you anymore."

He had told Severus this already, and now he had to repeat it for Harry´s benefit. He looked off into space as if contemplating the past for a moment, and then he spoke in a low, halting voice.

"You have helped me to regain my sanity. I have rediscovered emotions in myself that I always despised. I considered feelings a weakness, to care for somebody a most foolish weakness. I was proud to be self-sufficient, to have allies or followers or enemies, but never friends. But now, now I begin to feel differently, because of you and Severus." He shared an intense look with Snape, before focusing again on the young man next to him and puffing out a breath, rubbing a hand over his face uncomfortably, before he said, "So yes Harry, I happen to regret killing your mother and attempting to kill you."

Harry drew in a short breath; he had thought he had come to terms with this topic long ago, but it seemed it still affected him.

After a short pause, Voldemort spoke in a more determined voice, "Normally, I simply don´t do that. I never questioned myself. I am Lord Voldemort, I do, what has to be done for the cause. However, after all that has happened, all what we discovered...I think, these are the only two times I cast the killing curse, which I could ever regret. I remember well that I didn't plan to kill Lily Evans."

"Why?" Harry asked, "I've always wondered why you gave her the chance to step aside."

"You—wait, how do you know that?" Voldemort was slightly confused.

"Whenever Dementors get near me," Harry bit his lip as he explained, "I hear my mom's voice as well as yours and then I see the green light of the Killing Curse. It's the only clear memory I have of her...of both my parents." Harry paused and looked away briefly before looking back. "I always hear James, my dad, first; he's shouting at mum, a warning I think, then I would hear you and you tell her to step aside, you called her a silly girl. But she doesn't; instead, she pleads for my life. She screams my name, you laugh before crying out Avada Kedavra and then the memory ends with the rushing green light of the Killing Curse."

Voldemort and Snape stared at him with incredulous looks on their faces.

"What?" Snape's voice shook and his face took on a troubled look. "You remember that? You remember hearing Lily?"

Harry nodded solemnly, biting his lower as he struggled to keep his composure; that memory always affected him and he was sure it always would.

"Oh, I never...this is unbelievable," Voldemort exclaimed. "You were only eighteen months old!"

Harry shrugged with a casualness that he didn't truly feel. "I know."

Voldemort cleared his throat and continued with his explanation. "I did give her a choice, but it was only because of—

"NO!" Snape cut him off abruptly, raising his hand as if to hold Voldemort back, but the elder wizard continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.

"Severus. He had asked me to spare her," Voldemort finished.

Hearing this, Harry glanced at Snape astonished. Maybe Snape would explain this later. It obviously was something he´d rather kept private, to gauge from the scowl he threw at Voldemort.

"You don´t have to tell the boy everything!" Snape spat out.

Voldemort just shrugged one shoulder and addressed Harry again with a scowl of his own; pulling out his memories of that fateful night was like a sore tooth that really hurt. Harry though, listened with rapt intention, internally comparing this talk with how different Voldemort had spoken about his mother that night in the graveyard, full of contempt that a mudblood had bested him with love.

"I asked her to step aside. She did not, she pleaded for me to kill her instead and she screamed your name. I felt anger at her stubbornness and killed her, easily. I hesitated a moment before cursing you, Harry. You were standing there in your crib, clutching the rim, staring at me with those Avada bright green eyes. It was eerie. According to the prophecy, you had the power to vanquish me. I felt something, a connection between us, but I pushed that from my mind, so sure of my superiority." He paused, again, and rubbed his chin in contemplation for a moment, frowning as he examined his memories, trying to separate what had actually happened and what he had thought and felt in those critical seconds before the Killing Curse rebounded and excruciating pain ripped him away from his exploding body.

"I should have listened to my instincts and taken you along, to raise you as my apprentice, instead of attempting to kill you. I should not have acted as I did on limited information, knowing only the first lines of the prophecy. But, I convinced myself that killing you then, when you were just a weak toddler, was the right thing to do to protect myself from a potential threat in the future. After all, Dumbledore took this prophecy at face value and the Potters went into hiding upon his continued insistence.

"Wormtail was such a good spy. Ha! I laughed at myself, for hesitating and even considering sparing you. I cast the killing curse, as I had done hundreds of times before, watched the green light speed towards you and then - it all blew up in my face. The curse simply bounced of your head, like a ball! You screamed and a terrible explosion occurred, ripping me apart; I couldn´t believe it," he ended viciously and shaking his head at his own stupidity fifteen years ago.

Harry had held his breath as he heard for the first time in his life, a detailed account of that frightening scene he had relieved in his memories countless times when he had faced Dementors in his third year and in the summer before fifth year; again and again hearing his mother plead for his life and the cold voice laughing before intoning 'Avada Kedavra'.

Voldemort was lost in thought, looking down at his hands, which had played and twirled around with his wand unconsciously while he recounted this night of Fate. After a moment, he seemed to find his usual confidence again and slipped the wand back into his right sleeve.

He spoke, his voice now cold and full of contempt, "In contrast, I'm sure I will never feel any remorse or regret for killing my worthless muggle father for the ring or that filthy muggle tramp I caught snooping about my mother's old home, whose death I used for the locket Horcrux."

Harry stared at him and then lowered his eyes, seeing nothing, completely overwhelmed by what he had learned and relived in the past minutes.

Voldemort and Snape watched the young man intently, but stayed quiet; they wanted to give him space. How would Harry react?

Harry blinked and looked at the dark arts tome in his hands, feeling the old leather cover, its heavy weight in his hands and on his lap. He reread the paragraph about dangers and re-uniting ones soul. It said it was tremendously painful and could destroy the wizard, but it did not explain any method or ritual of how exactly to do this re-uniting of souls.

"There is no method described here. There is no mention of turning a person or an animal into a Horcrux. How...?" Harry choked on his confusion and fear and coughed. "You could die from the pain. I could probably die...?"

"Well, we will have to simply try; Severus and I discussed some possibilities and rituals. Normally, a Horcrux is an object, like the ring or locket. Because nobody has ever created a living Horcrux, the book does not mention it. I may be weak afterwards and you too, but Severus has brewed enough pain killers and pepper-up for us, don´t worry."

"So, you´re not sure if it will work at all? What will happen to me? Will I lose my ability to speak Parseltongue? What about our mind connection?"

"We believe that your Parseltongue ability will not be impaired, remember what the portrait of your ancestor Harrison Potter told us?" Severus answered.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that´s right."

"The mind connection, I believe that will disappear," explained Voldemort. "Which is unfortunate as it could be an asset in a situation when enemies surround us and we could speak to each other in secret while fighting or it might distract us, it´s hard to tell. Because you told me that two weeks ago you were actually sick, incapacitated from the headache, when I was investigating where some of my safeguards where stored and I realized they were not safe anymore. Of course, I was furious, and you felt that anger through our connection. Without the Horcrux inside your head, you should not get any more headaches if I lose my temper or experience other strong emotions. And I will certainly welcome total privacy again in my mind."

Harry nodded; no more unexpected and inconvenient migraine attacks sounded very good! Second bonus, he did not want to peak in on them during any intimate encounters, especially after what Nagini had let slip. And the other way around too; Merlin, what a mortifying thought, to broadcast his pleasure with Draco to his lord and Snape by proxy, should their mind connection continue or get stronger over time. Occlumency seemed to help, but sometimes emotions or impressions from Voldemort broke through his shields despite how good he was at Occlumency now. Voldemort had never mentioned that he got dreams or emotional snapshots from Harry, but perhaps he did and was only to polite or embarrassed to say anything?

"Hmm, ok than. What ideas do you have, Marvolo? Some complicated, gory ritual or other?" Harry asked nervously.

"Well, as I said, there is no viable information in any Dark Arts tome we have access to, and between the Malfoy´s, Severus´ and my personal collection that covers nearly every English or Parseltongue soul magic or necromancer book or scroll in existence. Severus and I looked up several curses or rituals that work to summon spirits or animate corpses or possess a still living body while getting rid of the already occupying soul, and I also thought about my own experiences when I was possessing animals and Quirrell, but they all had a major drawback."

Harry´s eyebrows rose and he send him a questioning look.

"In the end, all those curses or rituals would require or risk us to kill you in the process, and there would be a high risk that my soul piece was killed too, so they are not an option we considered feasible. I think we have to come up with something completely unique to our unique situation, follow our emotions, our instincts, be close together, letting our magic out, be one...”

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked from Voldemort to Severus and back again. His mind raced over the sparse knowledge he had picked up about rituals in general over the years. What did Voldemort mean? Did he come up with a new ritual where they became one?

The tension rose to an unbearable level, until Harry blurted out his fears, "What, do we have to strip naked and fuck each other inside some bloody Pentagram or Heptagram on a new moon night or on Halloween or another special date or what?!"

Voldemort smirked at him. "Now, would that be so bad? You´re a very handsome young man. It certainly wouldn´t be a great hardship for me."

Harry gaped, blushed furiously and spluttered in outrage before he remembered himself. When he was composed, he spoke calmly. "Not that I don't think that you're attractive yourself Marvolo, but, and no offence once again, I only want Draco; I'm his, he's mine, just as much as your Severus' and Severus is yours."

Severus and Voldemort both held an otherwise blank face with an evil smirk for a few more seconds and then dissolved into chuckles and laughter, again. Harry fumed and huffed. These two bastards! They just loved to rile him up, and a part of him loved it; that the two stoic men could feel so relaxed and comfortable in his presence and they trusted him enough to act like this felt good.

"Harry, calm down, I was only teasing you," Voldemort placated the young man. "Although, if a ritual existed, with any chance of success that would require something like that, I would take you without any qualms. This would not be about love or cheating on our partners. There is a lot of power in a sexual union that one can tap into for magical purposes. However, you have not have learned anything about this special branch of magic yet, it's not on the Hogwarts curriculum for sure. Lucius and Severus trained you only in combat andduellingthis summer with a bit of history, traditions and politics. If you´re interested, just ask Lucius or Severus, they can point out some useful books, there is quite a collection of erotica and sex magic in the back of the library."

Hearing this, Harry's mind drifted off, and a dazed look along with a slightly goofy smile came on his face, as he thought on what the books could possibly contain and what he and Draco could do. He caught himself and flushed when he remembered he was still in the presence of Voldemort and Snape. His mind then registered the rest of Voldemort's comment, and he shuddered.

"Uhm…ewww…no thank you, erotic literature, or sex magic, is not something I'd ever like to discuss with Severus or Lucius." He shuddered again. It wasn’t that he was uncomfortable about reading erotic literature or experimenting with sex magic together with Draco, what made it uncomfortable was talking about the topic with Lucius or Severus, both of who were like father figures--future father-in-law in Lucius’ case-- to him.

Voldemort exchanged a glance with Severus, smirked and continued in a reasonable, matter of fact tone of voice, "Harry, we can be close without sex, like when I hugged you, remember how our magic sparked and reacted? Now, if you concentrate on your Occlumency, your mindscape, can you try to feel, to find my soul piece? It seems to be confined to the area of your scar, separated from your own soul and mind. Is there any manifestation in your mindscape, now that you know there is something different? What do your instincts tell you how to proceed?"

Harry nibbled at his bottom lip, brushing his hands over his face. He smiled ruefully. "Yeah, my famous instincts; usually they work fine and help me to survive, don't know though what use they´ll be here. This is no troll or dragon to trick or duel to fight... "

Suddenly he shifted, wriggled and snuggled behind Snape´s back, stretching out on the couch. Snape looked at him with a raised eyebrow without commentary, briefly squeezed his shoulder before he rose to his feet and sat down in another chair.

Covering his eyes with his hands, Harry tried to get his breathing and churning thoughts under control. He did his standard meditation breathing exercise, relaxed his tense muscles from fingers to his toes and made an effort to calm himself and to clear his mind. After ten minutes of tense quiet, with Severus and Voldemort waiting patiently, while they felt Harry´s magic alternately flaring up and settling down again, he lifted his head a bit and propped himself up on his elbow.

Determined, he locked eyes with Voldemort and spoke, "I´m feeling so strung up and raw just now. To think, mum and dad could be still alive, if you had not attacked us, or that you could have taken me along to raise me...I could have had a real home."

Harry's face darkened and he almost snarled out. "Then I would never have had to stay at the Dursleys." He could feel the old bitterness and rage rising and quickly pushed the memories of the childhood hell of Privet Drive away. He paused, and he thought on what a childhood raised by Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters could have been like. "But perhaps you would have been a very strict foster father, with very high expectations and your wand always ready to curse me as punishment. Don't know, what would have been better or worse...although I think after growing up like you did, you would not have treated me like the muggles did to us. Sorry, I feel so confused..." he stopped again and shook his head, and closed his eyes to better concentrate on his Occlumency.

"I think there is something in my mindscape, something that I haven't really noticed before. There is something hidden in a far corner; if it is your soul piece, then maybe you can find it and if you can touch it, then you can take it back, I guess."

Voldemort rose from his chair and moved over to the couch to sit down slowly besides Harry. The young man blinked, watching him nervously. The elder wizard turned toward him, so that Harry´s right side was in contact with the side of his right leg and hip, both feeling the hard body and the warmth of the other man through their clothes. With his left hand, he took Harry´s right hand, briefly intertwining their fingers and rubbing his thumb in small circles over Harry´s wrist and pulse point. The moment of skin on skin contact caused a strange, tingly feeling again. Harry flinched, gasping for breath, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"It's alright Harry," Voldemort spoke in a gentle, calming, hypnotic voice. "Relax, calm down; I will enter your mind through Legilimency and seek my soul part out. Perhaps I will have to possess you, but it might work just as well with a combination of Legilimency and that mind connection we have already established between us."

"Calm down, drop your shields and get ready to accept me, to open up your mind. You have nothing to worry about, you are safe with us. Severus is going to keep watch over both of us and this room is well warded; nobody will disturb us."

Voldemort continued to sooth and reassure Harry with small, gentle, circular touches and calming words. He wanted Harry to become more comfortable with their close contact so that he could work on dropping his mental fortifications as well as keeping a reign on his volatile magic; he did not want it to lash out in selfdefencebefore he was able to establish a full mind and soul connection.

Harry searched Voldemort´s face for a moment, his heart hammering in his chest, and then he glanced over to Snape, who was hovering in the background, leaning against Voldemort's chair and watching them intently, wand at the ready to conjure up a shield, should their magic go haywire.

"Alright Harry, calm down, nothing is to happen yet. Severus will keep watch over us; you know he is strong and powerful. You can relax. You don´t have to fight today. Easy, Harry. Let go; yes, breathe, concentrate on your breathing, in...and...out. Easy, follow me; one, two, three, four...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And in again, yes, and out, slowly, five, six, seven, eight; easy...yes, that´s good, like I do," Voldemort´s voice repeated softly, calming the younger wizard and beginning to guide him through this difficult mind exercise, dropping the shields instead of building up mentaldefences. To succeed, they needed trust and calmness between them.

Harry listened to the alluring voice that was trying to calm him down, that was enticing him into lowering hisdefences. He tried to relax, to push back the instinctive reaction of fleeing or defending himself, of shifting away from someone as strong, powerful and dangerous as Voldemort. This instinct battled inside him with the urge to be closer, to reach up and pull the tall man down upon him; to lose himself in the powerful wash of comforting, compatible, intoxicating dark magic and the promise of strong arms and hands. His scar throbbed. His mind screamed No, but he realized his body welcomed the potential domination. Everything was so confusing.

Voldemort smiled reassuringly while he let go of Harry´s hand. Reaching up in a fluid motion, he slowly and gently pushed back the dark locks from Harry´s forehead. At the same time, he flicked his right wrist so the yew wand fell into his hand, careful to keep the tip well averted to the side of Harry´s face for now. Emerald eyes followed his movements warily; the young man lying on the couch beneath him trembled, obviously struggling with conflicting emotions and his strong fight or flight instinct.

Harry tried to follow the orders of the soothing voice, to deeply breathe in and slowly out, to relax, to let hisdefencesdrop, to allow Marvolo in. He realized that he had to consciously think of the dark wizard hovering above him as Marvolo and not as Lord Voldemort or he would panic. This was different then last time when Voldemort had looked into his eyes to read his mind, when he had told him about the Chamber of Secrets. He had shown him the memory, but he had stayed in control; he had kept all his defences up, presenting only a setting with a certain memory, but keeping the rest of his mind protected.

It was so difficult to let go, to open himself completely up to a man that was his former mortal enemy, even if his mind was convinced that he wanted to be on the Dark side, that he belonged here, and that the Dark Lord was like the head of house of his new family. The leader of the Dark side and his master.

Suddenly an old fear broke through to the front of his mind. What if... what if he was tricked again? Nearly every time he had trusted somebody, he had been betrayed in the end. The Dursleys had starved and beaten down any naive trust of the child Harry years ago; Dumbledore had manipulated him for years. Even his batty neighbour, Mrs. Figg turned out to be a squib, watching him for Dumbledore. The Weasleys and Granger did not become his friends on their own. Voldemort had sent him a vision that led to Sirius’ death in the end. How could Harry be sure that Voldemort and Snape didn´t do the same now, lull him in to use him, to manipulate him?

Snape was an excellent Occlumens, a double agent, a spy for both sides of the war. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore were sure that Snape was only loyal to them and spying on the other for them. He must be an absolute master of deception to pull this off for years. Why did Dumbledore trust Snape? Harry had always wondered and never gotten a sufficient answer.

And Voldemort – he had said that Harry was his, his Horcrux, that he wanted to protect Harry; but, not because he liked Harry or cared for him, for 'just Harry', but because Harry was his precious Horcrux, like Nagini, the ring and the locket. How could Harry be sure that - he shied away from the thought like a skittish Thestral colt, but it wouldn´t shut up – how could he be sure that Voldemort and Snape would not attack him when he let down his guard? In this position, he was so vulnerable and completely at their mercy. They could have planned to kill him the moment the soul piece was out of him and reunited with the master soul of Voldemort.

What was Harry´s value to Voldemort, if Harry was not a precious container for a soul piece of the Dark Lord anymore? An ally, yes, of great political value, yes, maybe that was enough. But what if Voldemort deceived him? Did he really feel regret for killing Lily and trying to kill Harry, or was this just another well played manipulation, the same as their friendly banter?

Harry panicked. Eyes wide, gasping for breath, heart hammering in his chest, he cried out, "No! Stop! Let me up!"

Suddenly pushing Voldemort’s hands away, he scrambled of the couch over the backrest in a desperate move. He fell down on the other side, but jumped to his feet instantly, calling forth his magic, wand slapping into his hand, raising a shield up in front of him in the blink of an eye.

Voldemort and Snape stared at him and quickly glanced at each other, utterly surprised and bewildered. What was wrong now?

Snape straitened up beside the chair, wand already in hand, but lowered. Voldemort turned and rose to his feet, holding his wand besides his leg and down too, to appear non-aggressive. He sensed fear, doubt and panic radiating off the young man on the other side of the couch.

"Harry? Harry, what´s wrong? What do you fear? Don´t you trust us?" asked Voldemort.

Harry looked from one man to the other, breathing heavily, adrenalin pumping through him. He bit his bottom lip nervously.

"I want to trust you, but – but it became too much. I couldn´t take it anymore. I – I want to trust you, but I am afraid that you will turn against me when I let my guard down. That you – that you will use me like everybody else did, and when you have what you want, you will kill me, stab me in the back with no warning."

"What! No!" cried Snape, looking aghast.

"Harry, I promise you are safe. I don´t plan to kill you and I won´t hurt you. Well, I might while trying to get my soul piece out of you, but not intentionally anyway." Voldemort spoke, trying to convince the young man.

Harry shook his head and laughed a harsh bark of hysteria and cynicism. "Ha! I´m safe? Really? You two are the ultimate Slytherins, masters of survival, manipulation, lying and deceit. Dumbledore believes you, Snape, are completely loyal to him. And you, Marvolo? If you have your soul piece back, then I become worthless. Kill the spare you said. You ordered Wormtail to kill Cedric only because he was there, along with me in the graveyard. I can´t forget that. If you two attack me together when I´m weak or unconscious after the Horcrux removal, I don´t stand a chance. You said we must trust our instincts. Yeah well, my instincts are screaming warnings at me; that´s it. That´s wrong," Harry babbled, his overwhelming fear causing the words to pour out of his mouth uncensored.

"Oh, Harry..." Snape sighed, slipping his wand in his sleeve. "Harry, I´d never hurt you."

"Harry, you are under my protection, regardless if you are my Horcrux or not. You are never worthless," Voldemort assured him, while he too put his wand away, to show Harry that he meant what he said.

"Severus, Marvolo, I do want to believe you. But, how can I trust you in this situation? How can I trust that you won’t kill me Severus, if Marvolo orders you to do just that? Who would you chose? Your lord, master and lover, or me, a boy you have despised and hated for years. What did you say to Dumbledore that makes him so sure you are only playing the loyal Death Eater? That you are loyal to the light, to the headmaster?"

Snape stared at Harry, a shadow of anguish and bitter regret twisting his face. "I could not kill you, even if I wanted to, which I don´t. Marvolo only requests his soul piece back. That's all. He doesn't want to kill you."

"Why can´t you kill me, even if you wanted to? That doesn´t make sense," argued Harry. "What about Dumbledore? Tell me. It must be a hell of a secret."

"Harry, believe me, your fears are unwarranted. I shall always protect you," Snape tried to placate the young man without actually revealing his own secret.

"Severus, tell him. It's the only way he will trust you," whispered Voldemort to Snape, before he turned and continued to speak louder to Harry. "Harry, I understand your fears and misgivings. I found it incredibly hard myself to trust Severus, to trust you, to tell you about my best-guarded secret, my Horcruxes. Do you think that was easy?"

"No, Marvolo, of course not," answered Harry, relaxing his defensive posture a bit and already feeling ashamed that he had doubted the Dark Lord.

"Good, then will you believe me if I not only promise, but if I swear on my magic that you are under my protection regardless if you are my Horcrux or not and that I have no intention of killing you, as long as you are loyal to me. So swear I, Tom Marvolo Riddle, known as Lord Voldemort, so mote it be."

Harry stared at the elder man with an incredulous expression. "You would do that?"

"I believe I just did, Harry," Voldemort said

"I...wow. Thank you Marvolo, I…I didn't think you would...I´m sorry I lost my nerves and freaked out like I did,” Harry looked at the man in slight awe.

"It's alright Harry, completely understandable with your previous experiences. So, let's move on. Come back here and sit down. Please," Voldemort said, while sitting down on the couch again.

Harry took a deep breath and reined his magic back in, quickly slipping his wand up his sleeve as the others already did; now all three of them were unarmed. He walked around the couch and sat down again next to Voldemort. He looked uneasily up at the older man and then glanced over to Snape, who had remained standing, leaning against the side of the wingback chair, his arms crossed in front of himself, shoulders rounded, his head slightly bowed so that his long dark hair partly obscured his face; a pose Harry had seen countless times at Hogwarts.

"Severus?" Harry asked tentatively. "Why does Dumbledore trust you and why did you say you cannot kill me?"

The room was quiet for a minute. Snape seemed to struggle with himself, his face blank, eyes vacant, the thin lips pressed firmly together.

"Severus, just tell him. He will understand. If he can accept me, after all that I did..." Voldemort prodded the potions master again.

Snape jerkily pulled himself out of his troubled thoughts and moved to sit down in the wingback chair right next to the couch. He turned towards Harry, looking into his bright green eyes. These eyes, he could never deny them anything. But what would Harry think of him once he had spilled the beans? Would Harry hate him again; hurt him, kill him when his magic angrily lashed out at the man that was responsible for all of the lad´s troubles? Severus blinked, cleared his throat and struggled to find words to explain his deepest shame, regret, self-hate, the pain of torn up loyalties.

"Lily, your mother Lily; Dumbledore trust me because of Lily," he finally bit out.

Harry opened his mouth to comment, but Voldemort raised his hand and shushed him. "Wait, let him speak," he whispered.

"Harry, you are Lily´s son. I made a vow to Dumbledore, to spy for him on the Dark Lord and to always protect you, for Lily Evans."

Harry was astonished; there it was again, his mother´s name. Snape must have known her before; earlier Voldemort had revealed that Snape had asked him to spare Lily´s life that night. He asked quietly, "Why?" and added "Sir?" to express his respect for his teacher.

"Lily and I, we…we grew up together in the same muggle town. She was my friend, my only childhood friend. We were best friends at Hogwarts, until…until the end of fifth year. I believe you saw what happened in my pensive?" Snape´s voice shook.

Harry was shocked, his mum and Snape had been childhood friends? He gulped and nodded. "Yes sir, I´m so sorry I looked into your pensive. I had no right and I was shocked by what I saw. I apologize."

Snape brushed the apology away. "Doesn´t matter anymore, I did so much worse, later." After taking a fortifying breath, he ploughed on, locking his pitch black eyes with Harry´s emerald orbs. "You know I hated your father and his friends. I believe Lupin told you how he nearly killed me, because of Black, and the role your father played in this prank? Potter didn´t save my life because he had a problem with killing me, a slimy Slytherin student, only because his friends Black and Lupin would have gotten in serious trouble had Lupin torn me to shreds." The last part Snape growled out, the old anger and bitterness making his voice rough.

"Lily didn´t want anything to do with me after fifth year, she didn´t want to hear my apology. She married James Potter. They were both in the Order of the Phoenix, as you know."

Harry nodded, he remembered the old photo of the Order of the Phoenix and the stories Sirius and Remus had told him.

Snape continued after a moment of collecting his thoughts. "I hated the hypocrisy of Dumbledore and the light. I was always a dark wizard, don´t doubt that for a moment. After Hogwarts, I was able to study potions, because Lucius paid for the apprenticeship and my research to become a potions master myself. So I was indebted to Lucius and the Dark Lord, they opened up great opportunities for me. I gladly joined the Death Eaters and was proud to become the potions master of the Dark Lord. In 1980, I was sent to spy on Dumbledore. My lord wanted me to try to get the position of the potions teacher at Hogwarts, because Slughorn wanted to retire.

"Dumbledore had asked me to come to the Hogshead, were he would conduct an interview for the vacant teaching position. I – I waited down at the bar. There was another woman, thin and batty looking, with glasses, who claimed to be related to a Cassandra Trelawney and said she was going to speak to the great Albus Dumbledore. She was drinking down half a bottle of Sherry to bolster her courage. Then I watched as she went into the room upstairs, and I followed, to listen at the door." Snape stopped his narrative, and rubbed his face with his hands. He trembled.

Harry watched him uneasily, a terrible suspicion rising up in him. That woman in the Hogshead was Trelawney, which meant that Snape was the Death Eater that overheard the prophecy and caused Voldemort to come after the Potters. It wasn´t even such a shock to Harry anymore after all the revelations of this afternoon, and it explained so much.

Snape looked at Harry, a tear glittering in the corner off his eye, despite his iron control on his emotions. In a low voice, he voiced what Harry already anticipated. "I heard them talking, muffled through the door. Dumbledore was not impressed with her at all. The woman claimed to be a seer. And suddenly, the woman´s voice changed, and she--"

Harry calmly interrupted him. "I know Snape. I know, and I understand. You heard the beginning of the prophecy, someone interrupted you, and then you went to your lord and told him."

Snape stared at Harry, completely floored. "And? Aren´t you angry with me? Don´t you want to take revenge or hurt and kill me? I killed Lily. I killed your father. I condemned you to live with those muggles. Had I not heard the prophecy and told my lord..."

Harry shook his head and smiled a bit, a sad smile. Voldemort and Snape watched him.

"No, you did not. You tried to save her. Marvolo killed my dad and mum, because Dumbledore believed in the sherry induced ramblings of that crazy, loony woman and sent my parents into hiding. He painted a bright red target on our heads. If you had not overheard the prophecy that day, I am sure in some way or other the information would have reached the Dark Lord.

“Dumbledore believed in it. He believed that I was the foretold saviour. For example, Wormtail would surely have heard something and told Marvolo. You already told me that you were loyal to Voldemort from day one, so that tells me that despite that loyalty, you still felt guilty over my mum dying and going to Dumbledore to by his spy and to protect me was the only way you could absolve yourself of that guilt…not that I made that easy for you.” he grinned at the potions master before continuing. “You loved my mother, isn´t it so?"

Snape couldn´t believe his ears, he clenched his eyes and fists, nodding jerkily. He could not say it. How could Harry understand him so well? When Harry spoke again, Snape´s eyes snapped open again, what the young man said surprised him.

"Well, you should have told me sooner. I hope, I believe, after some yelling and angry tantrums we might have come to an earlier understanding. After all the deceit and lying, I always valued that you didn´t treat me as if I was special. You were honest in your dealings with me over the years, in your disdain, yes, you were unfair, but you never lied to me the way most others did. I think I would have believed you that you regretted telling your lord of the prophecy because of my mum, not because of my father of course. Sirius could be still alive if I had trusted you and told you about my visions."

Harry laughed again, frustrated and grim, shaking his head. "If I had heard earlier about this dratted, trice dammed prophecy from you and that there was something like a Hall of Prophesies at the Department of Mysteries, I would have known why your master wanted for me to go down that corridor I always dreamed about. If you, Snape, had told me that there was a prophecy about me and that your lord also wanted to know, I would have said: Yes, I want to know too! We could have arranged something different. I could have tried to needle the truth out of Dumbledore. Or, I would have gone to the Ministry of my own during a Saturday night or maybe the summer holidays."

Harry turned to Voldemort, green fire blazing in his eyes. "Heck, I would have gladly accepted Snape´s or Lucius´ help to sneak out of Hogwarts or to escape from of my relatives without the Order noticing and to sneak into the Ministry. I would have gotten the dammed prophecy all right, for both of us, anything to finally know why you were always after me! That´s what I´m really angry about, that Sirius did not have to die the way he did. Too many secrets kept from me. Arrgh!"

Harry couldn´t contain his anger anymore and jumped up to pace around the study, prowling like an angry lion, his magic causing the windows to rattle and his hair and clothes to whip around him. Snape and Voldemort exchanged telling looks and simply waited until the storm had passed.

Finally, the young man stopped his pacing, took a few deep breaths to calm down and turned towards them. "Ok, I know, it's no use crying over spilled milk. I was just so angry."

"No, it isn´t Harry," said Voldemort. "Well, let's resume what we started earlier. That is, if you believe you can now trust us enough to lower your shields and allow me into your mind this time?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, ok." He walked over again to the couch and sat down, then pulled his legs up and settled down besides Voldemort, his head resting on the armrest. He stretched out his right hand and clasped Voldemort´s left hand, briefly squeezing it. "OK, go on sir. I´ll try not to freak out again," he said with a lopsided smile.

The elder wizard started to calm Harry down again with repeating the breathing exercise and rubbing small circles on the back of his hand. As soon as the young man was more relaxed, he led him through dropping his mentaldefences.

"Yes, that´s good. Easy now Harry, trust me; I won´t hurt you. Severus is keeping watch over you and me. Imagine yourdefences. Your magic is powerful. Your walls are so strong, they are impenetrable, but you don´t need them for a while. Don´t worry, you are safe with me, with Severus. He´ll keep watch over us. You can trust us to keep you safe. Alright, Harry? Good, now, open up and let me in; only for a short while though. Imagine, these strong walls retreating into the ground.

“They are still strong, they can always protect you. You will pull the wall up later again, when we are finished. I will not hurt you. I will not tear yourdefencesdown, I will not damage them. I´ll just come in and look around. Take down your walls, Harry. You take them down, release them, you are in control. You can open up. Prepare to let me in, open up...easy Harry. Yes, that´s good, easy, let them go, open up to me. You are safe, Severus is keeping watch.

"Alright, Harry? Brace yourself. I'll cast Legilimens in a moment. I'll touch your scar while entering your mind; the physical touch should help to guide us. When I do this, I want you to open up and show me where my soul part is hiding and I'll try to pull it back and reabsorb it. I'll be as careful as possible, but it might still hurt," Voldemort assured the younger wizard. He pulled out his wand slowly and laid it besides Harry´s head on the cushion.

"I understand Marvolo. I won´t resist you. I´ve dropped all my shields as far as possible," Harry answered. "What you said and did really help a lot in calming me down, so thank you."

He smiled up at Voldemort. "If you wanted to change jobs, you could teach Mind Arts as you're really good at reassuring your student. Much better than certain other teachers," he glanced over at Snape, who only sneered in answer and snarled under his breath about obnoxious, impertinent, dunderheaded brats, which didn't really faze Harry anymore because there was no longer any malice behind the words.

He looked back at Voldemort. "So, I'll try to focus only on that dark spot in the corner of my mind." He took a few more calming breaths. "OK. I'm ready."

Voldemort nodded and carefully moved his left hand until his fingers touched Harry´s scar. Both felt a sudden shock, like a small electric surge course through them; Harry flinched a bit and both gasped. His scar tingled and throbbed, but it did not hurt - yet. Very different from the agony in the graveyard that Harry vividly remembered.

'Maybe because Marvolo tries to project calm and does not want to hurt me,' he thought.

"Legilimens," Voldemort whispered, for Harry´s benefit, casting carefully with only a fraction of his power, pointing his wand at Harry´s temple and falling into the emerald green orbs staring up at him.

He slipped into Harry´s mind with ease and found himself standing in a small dark room, with a strangely uneven roof right above his head. A bit of light filtered in from behind his back. Turning around, he curiously inspected this bizarre manifestation of Harry´s mindscape. Harry sat on the floor, his back resting against a board wall, arms curved around his bent knees, head resting on them, eyes closed. He was barefoot and wore simple dark muggle clothes, jeans and a T-Shirt.

The boy raised his head, green eyes sparking in the gloom, and gestured with his hand towards a cot beside him. The cot stood parallel to the back wall of the small room, at a right angle to the other wall against which the boy rested.

"Welcome, please sit down, Marvolo. Be careful, there isn´t much space in here," Harry greeted him.

"Thank you, Harry," replied Voldemort, settling his long frame upon the rickety cot with caution and looking around with a puzzled expression.

He was bewildered, what was this place? This experience was completely different from the last time he had intruded upon Harry´s thoughts. When Harry had narrated the events in the Chamber of Secrets, the fight against the Basilisk and how he destroyed diary Tom, he had shoved these memories to the forefront of his mind, so that Voldemort could watch for himself that Harry told the truth as he had experienced the situation. That mindscape had looked like the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry had pushed him out, as soon as he was finished watching Harry´s memories of that adventure.

This was something else entirely. After a moment, Voldemort´s eyes had adapted to the dim light, so he could discern more details. On the cot lay a bundle of rumpled blankets. Across from the cot was a door in the wall, light filtered in through the crack at the bottom and a tiny window near the top, shuttered with something thin, like mesh? The wall besides the small door was painted off white, there were a few pieces of paper tacked to it, looking like primitive pictures, childish drawings. Above the door were two words, messily scrawled with crayon: Harry's room.

Along the back of the room were a few rough boards fixed horizontally, filled with what looked like a collection of folded clothes, muggle toy soldiers, stones, feathers, ripped paper, muggle children's books, broken muggle crayons and pencils, and other indiscernible junk, everything covered in dust. The strange sloping roof reminded him of a stair upside down, and that was exactly what it looked like. The foot end of the cot he sat on stretched out underneath this sloping roof, one could only crouch there, because the roof came down so low.

Voldemort shuddered briefly in revulsion; he recognized this place from something Severus had mentioned last winter after another of those incredibly frustrating Occlumency lesson with 'the Potter brat'. This was the infamous cupboard under the stairs. Lucius had mentioned last year that Draco had once written him a letter about a rumour at Hogwarts that Harry Potter was raised by abusive muggles and had lived in a cupboard under the stairs for ten years. Of course, nobody had believed such ridiculous gossip. Severus and Lucius had been sure that the boy had grown up a pampered prince, just like his arrogant father. Obviously, that rumour was the truth.

"Harry, why are we here, in your cupboard under the stairs?" asked the Dark Lord.

Harry stretched out his legs and leaned back against the wall. "This was once my home, the only place where I was relatively safe from the Dursleys as a kid," he explained.

Voldemort raised a questioning eyebrow and waved his hand around to encompass the small, dingy room. "Safe? This looks more like a prison cell, not a nursery or a boy´s bedroom. Your relatives are truly disgusting muggles. How could they treat you like this?"

Harry shrugged. "Yes, they are awful wastes of space. They despise, hate and fear me. You see, when I was a small kid, before I could fight back with magic, they let me be if I was in here. Yes, they locked me in often for long periods as a punishment, which was incredibly boring, humiliating and dreadful. Aunt Petunia let me nearly starve a few times." Harry shuddered while explaining; he hated the feelings of loneliness, hunger pains, thirst and desperation that bubbled up inside his chest from remembering the Dursleys torment long ago.

"But mostly when I was inside this cupboard, I could rest; they did not belittle me or force me to do chores or push me around or beat me up like it happened outside all the time. They never crawled inside; they did not bother if I kept things I found and hid in here, because they didn´t know. So, my cupboard was a prison and a safe place at the same time. Now, it is my innermost mindscape, a secure place to keep my memories sorted and hidden away.

"Anybody trying to snoop around in my mind will only see dust and junk, if I want that. Or, I can pull out certain memories and shove them to the front of my mind; I can create other rooms outside, around this one to show as if that was my true mindscape. Like the Gryffindor common room or the Chamber of Secrets for example; it all depends on who's trying to catch a peek into my mind."

Voldemort nodded and looked oddly proud of his young protégé. "Ingenious. Well done, Harry. You showed me the Chamber of Secrets when we talked two weeks ago, and I never got any hint that that was only the antechamber of your mind, a kind of entrance hall, that you chose to open up for me. Of course, I did not search around at all, as I would have normally done, because you pushed your memories at me so quickly and I was so preoccupied with them. And I was very distracted, very angry at you for killing the Basilisk and diary Tom. Furious, that Dumbledore got his hands on my diary."

Voldemort took a deep breath and calmed himself again. He was impressed; Severus had never noticed that Harry was that well versed in Occlumency. The sly brat had presented his teacher with a perfect fake front, playing clueless and incompetent. The memories Harry wanted to keep private were hidden away inconspicuously, most likely between that junk on the boards, in some nooks, behind wall planks or underneath the bed.

He shifted to the side on the cot and inspected the things on the board closer. Now, where was his soul piece? He tried to stretch out his magic, to scan the dust and the things lying around on the boards, the bed, the opposite corner, but he could not localize anything that felt like himself, and not like Harry.

Harry cleared his throat and pointed to the foot of the bed. "Marvolo, look there, behind the bed, in that far corner where the stairs meet the floor. There is a certain shadow, blacker and colder than the other shadows. It has always been there, I did not pay it any attention until a few minutes ago, after you told me to search for your soul piece. I think that shadow is it. I cannot touch it, it is behind a kind of wall of magic, or like under an invisibility cloak, which I seem to keep up unconsciously, because I never thought of it before today. Where do you think this barrier came from?"

Voldemort peered to where Harry had pointed. There was nothing; inky blackness concealed that far corner. Crouching down as far as he could on the cot, he stretched out his wand hand towards the shadows and concentrated again. It did not feel colder or different from the rest of the other space to him, but whatever it was evaded his touch and his sight. Suddenly his wand fell into his hand, and he thought Lumos, lighting up and illuminating the back of the cupboard. Shadows moved rapidly and fled in all directions. Still, there remained an area of darkest blackness. The bright wand light was not reflected, but was swallowed or absorbed by the shadows.

"Hmm, fascinating," Voldemort nodded, "I think your accidental magic created this right after my soul piece invaded your head through the curse scar. Your magic felt an intruder, tried to fight against it, but could not push it out of your head again and instead sealed it in to contain it. Can you concentrate and dissolve that barrier in front of that shadow? I could try to rip it apart with force, as if casting a spell. Sectumsempra, Confringo, Bombarda or Expulso would damage a real target, but that might hurt you or injure my soul piece, so we should first try that you take it down on your own, like your outer mentaldefence."

"OK," Harry answered. He got up from his place on the floor and crawled on hands and knees towards the foot end of the cot at the back of the cupboard, as close as possible to the shadowed corner. He knelt down, supporting his weight with his left hand against the boards and stretched out his right hand towards the inky blackness. Marvolo's Lumos spell illuminated the space above and around the lurking shadow, the man hovering right beside his head. Harry could hear his breath and see the glittering, intense ruby eyes fixed on the shadowed corner.

His probing fingertips felt colder air, as if there was snow lying right before him. Wishing for his wand, it materialized suddenly on his palm. Carefully he prodded it against the blackness. He was surprised to feel resistance, but not as firm as from a stone or wood wall. The enclosure his magic had created was now physical, but flexible. Until a moment ago, he had not been able to mentally touch it at all. So, there was some progress, good. He wanted to see behind the barrier now, wishing for Voldemort to just grab the shadow and take it away. Harry considered what spells to use. He knew from experience that if he imagined the effect of a spell, or wished for a certain reaction or an object, it would have a similar effect as in the real world. Fascinating, how this mind magic worked.

Hmm, it didn´t feel like a solid stonewall, was it a kind of containment ward? They had not covered that jet in his studies; wards would be covered in Advanced Charms. Whatever it was, it felt cold. Maybe he could imagine it was like an ice structure? Perhaps simply melt it with warmth, dissolve it, or vanish it? On the other hand, could he try to open it up with Dissendium, like the statue of the humpbacked witch hiding the secret passage to Honeydukes?

What would happen when he did that? Would the soul piece felt threatened and attack him, would it try to wrestle control over his mind and body from him? Fear flickered through him. Oh, right, Marvolo was here with him, he would catch whatever was lurking behind the ward. Marvolo would not turn on him now, would he? No. Harry trusted the man, well somewhat after spending so much time with him over the past months. He never trusted anybody completely. The thought flittered across his mind, how strange to feel safe because he was here inside his own mind with his former mortal enemy. Half a year ago, the idea that Voldemort could have free access to his mind and control him had terrified Harry.

First, he decided, he would try to simply vanish whatever this barrier was. "Evanesco!" he called out while waving his wand at the far corner as if he would wipe down a window or blackboard.

Nothing, no reaction whatsoever.

Harry narrowed his eyes, tapped his wand at the blackness and intoned clearly, "Dissendium."

The blackness rippled and stilled.

"Dissendium!" Harry spoke forcefully, pushing more power into the spell. The shadows shifted and rippled, but still the magical barrier held, swallowing all light and letting nothing through.

"Hmm, ok, I´ll try something different," he said, glancing over to Marvolo, who nodded, waiting patiently, but ready to act should the barrier come down.

"Tepidus ventus!" Harry called out, while picturing a frozen waterfall melting from a warm spring wind, water falling to the ground in a quickly expanding puddle. At once, his wand began to emit a rush of hot air. Harry had remembered this charm from last winter, when they had used it to dry off robes, or to melt snow. Would it work? He waved his wand up and down, to the right and left, brushing the hot air against the blackness as if he was using a muggle hair dryer, willing it to dissolve the barrier.

"Come on, you don´t need to protect me anymore. Marvolo wants only to take his soul piece back. Please, give in, let it out, please." Harry spoke to himself, willing his own magic to understand. It had created and maintained this barrier for nearly fifteen years, to protect him. He pushed all his power into the spell, heating the air, pushing gusts of warm,cosywind at the blackness.

Voldemort and Harry watched with baited breath, as the shadows rippled and bent. Harry felt a sudden twinge in his scar. Then the cold blackness slowly shrank and appeared to seep down into the floor. The wand light rushed into the corner, illuminating something red hidden in the dark shadow, in the form of a small child huddled on the floor. A wailing, keening sound broke the silence. His scar throbbed again and now it really hurt.

Whatever it was, it suddenly moved, emitting a shrill, bone-chilling shriek. The red black shadow rushed forward towards the elder man. Voldemort dropped his wand just in time to catch the shadow, enclosing the shuddering, wriggling form into his arms, pressing it into his chest. He bit his lip and scrunched his eyes from the sudden burning pain ripping through him, his heart and chest hurt as if someone had stabbed him with a sword. Nevertheless, he didn´t relent his firm grip. He had to go through with this; this desperate entity was his, a part of him. Mine; the word echoed through him.

Remorse and regret, that was the key; he thought of that night at Godric's Hallow, immersed himself in that memory of Lily´s desperate pleading, protecting her baby until the last second. The rushing of deathly green light, ripping her soul from her body; of Harry staring on in surprise as his mother fell down to the floor, her green eyes empty; the green eyes of the boy, sparking with life and confusion.

Voldemort remembered the sudden agony of his own body exploding and being cast outside by the terrible force of the rebounded Avada Kedavra. Endless years followed as a disembodied spirit, lost, lonely, powerless and weak. Wandering through England and Europe, drifting around, possessing small, disgusting animals like rats, sometimes a snake, but these small animals were all weak and died quickly as their bodies could not endure the possession for long.

At the same time, Harry grew up here in this cupboard with despicable, cruel muggles, a hungry, dirty, lonely child, neglected, abused, tormented only because he was a wizard child. Oh yes, he could relate to the small child´s pain, he remembered his own childhood, until he mastered wandless magic to pay his tormentors back.

All that suffering could have been avoided, if he hadn´t been so stupid and ruthlessly attacked the Potters like he did. He should have been patient, waited and further researched the prophecy. He could have arranged for Wormtail to kidnap Harry, to raise him and watch how the child turned out. It had not been necessary to kill Lily and Harry at once. Suffocating, painful regret filled all his mind and soul. The trembling and sobbing shadow child squirmed and burrowed further into his chest, causing endless, burning white-hot pain.

Voldemort became aware of warmth, of strong arms around him, of murmured words of comfort near his ear.

"Everything will be alright. Trust me."

Harry was embracing him, holding him together with the strange shuddering red shadow child. Harry Potter held him, Harry Potter wanted to give him comfort, he wanted to help the very man that had killed his parents. In that instant, Voldemort knew, Harry had forgiven him. He felt his heart squeeze in searing agony and a hot lump choking him. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes against the overwhelming onslaught of emotions. He was not weak; he could and would endure this torture because Harry had endured what he had put him through all those years.

The creepy shadow child suddenly wriggled into his chest with a final burst of stabbing, excruciating pain. "Ahhh!" Voldemort screamed, before slumping down, blackness encroached on his senses, there was only the terrible pain in his chest, and nothing else existed anymore.

Harry knelt beside the cot and held the man in a tight grip; suddenly the repulsive, shuddering, wriggling shadow child was gone and Marvolo was only a dead weight in his arms. Gently he released the elder man and settled him onto the cot. Did he die, or was he only unconscious?

Quickly Harry felt for the neck, feeling relief as soon as his questing fingers found a faint pulse throbbing under the cold skin. The man was drenched in cold seat. Watching the face and chest closely, Harry noticed a minuscule movement. Oh, good, so the Dark Lord was only knocked out by the pain, which was not unexpected, according to that description in 'Secrets of the Darkest Arts' the pain of reuniting a torn soul was excruciating.

What now? Harry blinked and sat back down on the floor, leaning against the cot, he felt dizzy and exhausted. Quickly encroaching blacknesstunnelledhis field of vision.

~...~

"Potter!"

"Potter, wake up!"

Someone gripped his shoulder and shook him.

"Harry! Wake up."

Oh, that was Snape´s voice. Harry blinked again and took stock of his body and his surroundings; after all, he was so very used to this, waking up after accidents and near death experiences. Everything felt fine, well for him, he only had a slight headache and felt weak. Where was he? Oh, still lying on the couch. Carefully he pushed his hands against the fabric of the couch and raised himself to a sitting position. Whoa, he was still dizzy, better don´t move to much just yet. He opened his eyes.

"Alright there, Harry?" Snape was kneeling close to him besides the couch, with a potion vial in his hand and raking his scrutinizing gaze over the young man.

"I´m fine, just a headache and a bit dizzy," Harry answered.

"Here, drink this," Snape gave him a small vial. "It's a Headache potion."

"Thanks Snape, just what I need," Harry said, smiling at the potions master, before he gulped down the potion. "Do you have some pepper up or restorative draught? I´m quite tired."

"Better wait a moment, lie down again. If you don´t feel better in a few minutes, you can take some."

"Ok." Harry looked around. "Where is Marvolo? What happened? He fell unconscious from the pain in my mindscape while reabsorbing his soul piece. Is he alright?"

Snape rose to his feet and gestured to the side. Voldemort was lying asleep on a chaise lounge that Snape must have transfigured from Voldemort's own wingback chair.

"He is deeply asleep. I watched how he cast Legilimens. Both of you went completely still, staring at each other as if in a trance. His left hand was on your scar while the other held his wand. Suddenly he dropped the wand and snatched his hand back as if your scar had burned him. Your scar became all inflamed and red, it bled. Marvolo started to scream, clutching himself, scratching and clawing at his chest. You reached up as soon as he started screaming and embraced him while pulling him down on you. He curled up and seemed to be in horrible pain, and then fell down unconscious upon you. After that, you passed out as well. He looked as if he had been tortured, completely drenched in cold sweat."

"So it worked then," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin."

"Yes it did," Snape nodded; his gaze shifted to where Voldemort rested and he started when he heard the man moan.

"Severus," Voldemort shifted on the chaise lounge as he slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm here," Snape moved to his side and held out a potion. "Here; it's a painkiller."

"Thank you," Voldemort took the potion. After a moment, he asked, "Harry? Is he alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry moved into Voldemort's line of sight so that the man could see him. He noticed that Voldemort was staring at his forehead in wonder. "Is something wrong?"

"You scar," Voldemort cleared his throat and continued, "It is nearly gone, all faded."

Harry's hand flew to touch where his scar was and his eyes widened when he just barely could feel the shape of the infamous lightning bolt on the now smooth skin of his forehead. "Yeah, that´s great!"

"Harry," Voldemort shifted to see the teen better. "I want to thank you for doing this. You did not have to and you chose to."

"It's ok Marvolo," Harry smiled, "I was happy to help."

"Because you did help me," Voldemort said, "I shall grant you a boon."

"A boon?" Harry's brow furrowed. "What is that?"

"A favour," Snape explained, "you can ask him of a favour and he shall grant it to you."

"Truly?" Harry looked at them with wide eyes. "I don't know what to say to that."

"Is there something you would like me to do for you?" Voldemort asked.

"Can I think about it?" Harry asked, "I don't want to waste the favour on something trivial; I want it to be something really important...something of value."

"Very Slytherin answer," Voldemort smiled, "very well, you can think of what you would like."

"Thank you my Lord," Harry bowed his head briefly.

"You are most welcome," Voldemort acknowledged his thanks.

"Is there anything else we need to go over?" Harry asked.

"No," Voldemort shook his head, "Not at the moment.

"Alright then," Harry nodded, "I'll head back home. And I know, breathe no word of this to anyone."

"You are wise," Voldemort chuckled. "Go home and rest Harry. We do not know what the effects of having the soul piece removed are and I would hate for you to be doing something serious only to taken down because we were not careful."

"Alright Marvolo," Harry nodded, "I will. And you get some rest as well."

"Impertinent brat," Voldemort glared slightly, though his tone was amused.

"I know," Harry grinned. |Hedwig|

Hedwig flashed into the room. She looked at the three of them before trilling softly. |What have you three been up to?|

"Nothing much," Harry smiled.

Hedwig ruffled her feathers before softly thrilling; the sound moved through the room and the three found themselves feeling more relaxed and calmer.

"Thank you girl," Snape smiled. "Take him home and make sure he rests."

Hedwig nodded and she and Harry flashed out.

"It is done," Voldemort looked at his lover.

"Yes," Snape nodded, "Now come, despite the potion, you should still get some rest. We do not know what effects the sudden rejoining of your soul will have on you."

"Rest with me?" Voldemort asked as he allowed himself be pulled from the chaise longue and over to the bed.

"Always," Snape replied and the two settled on the bed, with Voldemort curled around Snape, and drifted off to sleep.

A/N 2: so, that was chapter nine…finally! I hope you guys liked it; it took a little time to get this one just right and with the information and, it’s shorter than the last one, so that’s a plus. Anyways, read and review.

A/N 3: like I said, chapters 10 and most of 11 (only one more scene to add on to 11) are already pre-written; just have to look over them to make sure everything is in order before they are ready for posting. Thanks to everyone for sticking by us and waiting patiently for this chapter to come out.

A/N 4: I know I forgot to post this for other chapters, so here it is; all Additional (in other words, Missing) scenes can be found at either of these links (remove the spaces) at the hands of my wonderful beta/co-author (who is basically the main reason the characters are so close to canon);

www. fanfiction. net /u/1957989/Tonks_is_cool

www. fanfiction. net /s/6643685/1/Our_Choices_Shattered_Illusions_of_Safety_III

A/N from T-i-C: Inspiration for the Horcrux removal scene came first from HP and the Decent into Darkness by Aya Macchiato and secondly from Return to Sanity by Ventus Princeps. Both stories can be found on fanficion(dot)net. Please check them out, both are very interesting stories. Thank you, Tonks-is-cool.

Much love *blows kisses and send hugs*
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Rise of the Dark Angel