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In Servitude of the Dark : My Obiesance	By : xXxLuckyxXx Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Voldemort Views: 39418 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: This story is based off of J.K. Rowling’s amazing Harry Potter series. All characters, locations, themes from the world of HP belong to her. This is not for money or profit. I am just having fun playing in her magical world.

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(¯`•._.•(¯`•._.•(¯`•._.• In Servitude to the Dark •._.•´¯)•._.•´¯)•._.•´¯)

My Obeisance

Chapter 10 : Off to Riddle Manor We Go – November 15, 1994

It was two weeks before the First Task when both Harry and Ron were summoned out of their Herbology class for the Weighing of the Wands. On the way to the castle, Harry sent out a patronus message for his lawyer, practically startling Ron to death.

"Why in Merlin's name do you have a cobra for a patronus?" he demanded, clearly not remembering the cobra's appearance last year when the dementers attacked the quidditch game.

Harry gave him a withering look, not bothering to answer. He was quite fed up with Ron's attitude. Ron was operating under the delusion that in competing in the First Task, he and Harry were best mates again-like they were some kind of team defending Hogwarts honor against the other two Champions.

The timing was perfect. Just as they passed by the Black's office, Andromeda was there to greet Harry. She gave Harry one look and tsked. "Oh, this won't do at all. Did you just come from Herbology? Of course you did." With a flick of her wand, gone were the dirt caked on his shoes and the grass stains on his robes, and another flick parted his bangs to expose his scar.

"Thanks, Andy." Harry grinned sheepishly.

Seeing this, Ron self-consciously brushed down his robes, but only managed to smear the dirt on his palms into his clothes.

When they arrived at the conference room, where the Weighing of the Wands ceremony was held, they found Ollivander, Dumbledore, Fleur and her Headmistress, and some reporters were already present. Krum and his Headmaster hadn't arrived yet, having to come all the way from the Black Lake.

"Harry! Rita Skeeter is here!" Ron hissed excitedly, pointing none too discretely at the woman who were looking at them rather ravenously. "Mum reads her column all the time!"

"Oh, so that's Rita," Harry responded rather disinterestedly before striding to the other Champions, leaving a flustered Ron behind.

At that moment, Rita swooped in, her eyes locked onto her prize. "Harry, so glad to see you!" she said, sounding like they were old friends. "I can call you Harry, can't I?" Before Harry even got a chance to open his mouth, Rita plowed on. "I was just wondering what made you decide to compete…"

Harry wasn't paying much attention to the woman, but at the quill that had begun writing on its own… "Harry Potter, the youngest champion, stands alone lost and frail among Victor Krum and Fleur Delacour…"

"That will be quite enough, thank you." Andromeda came up and neatly plucked the quill from the parchment, causing it to splatter some ink.

Rita sputtered indignantly. "I was invited here to cover…"

"...Cover the Weighing of the Wands Ceremony," Andromeda interrupted. "Not for personal interviews, and seeing as how my client is still underage, I suggest you get his guardian's permission first." Then she pointed her wand at the parchment, causing it to go up in flames.

Rita humphed, but then her sharp eyes landed on her next victim, and this one was standing all alone, looking quite clueless. Smelling blood, a shark-like grin split her face and she pulled out another of her Quick-Quote's Quill from her crocodile skinned purse. "Mr. Weasley!" she called out. "I would like a word with you…"

Harry watched with morbid curiosity as Ron perked up and eagerly strode forward. "I feel like I should warn him, or something," Harry muttered.

"Eh, let ze boy learn," Fleur said, glancing at Ron with a rather contemptuous look.

"Right."

Of course the other two champions were aware of why Ron was allowed to compete, and they simply sat back to enjoy the entertainment. In fact, Harry had bonded with the other two champions over Ron's unfortunate circumstance. They all found it hilarious how Ron strutted around the school declaring to all who would listen that he'd talked the judges into letting him compete as an 'Honorary Champion.' The funny thing was, some people actually believed him.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Krum and Headmaster Karkaroff finally joined them. Ollivander was charged to examine all their wands, starting with Delacour's first. Meanwhile, Harry noticed how Ron had broken away from Rita with a dark look on his face. "Something wrong?" he leaned over and whispered, wondering how the short interview went.

In return, Ron glared back. "All she wanted to talk about was you," he practically snarled. "Harry Potter this, Harry Potter that…just you wait. When I finish first on this Task, then we'll see who's the hero…"

The last part was mumbled, but Harry could hear it easily. He turned to Andromeda with a look of dismay. Who knew what Ron had told Skeeter.

"I'll see what I can do," Andromeda whispered, also having overheard what Ron said. "Depending on what Skeeter writes, I may be able to get her to retract it."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a grateful look before turning to the Wand ceremony. Ollivander had already finished with Fleur's and was now studying Krum's-a hornbeam with dragon heartstring made by a crafter named Gregorovitch. It shot out a screeching murder of crows when Ollivander tested it.

"Excellent condition, Mr. Krum," Ollivander said approvingly. "Now, Mr. Potter?"

Harry made sure to take out his holly wand and presented it to the other man.

"Aaaah, yes. One of my favorites," Mr. Ollivander said, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember this one…holly with the core of a phoenix feather…Orchideius!" A bloom of flowers shot out from Harry's wand, and Ollivander nodded. "You treat it regularly?"

"Yes, sir," Harry answered proudly. Even though this wasn't his primary wand anymore, it still held a special place in his heart for being the first confirmation that magic was real and that he was an actual wizard.

"Keep taking care of it, and it will take care of you," Ollivander said, handing the wand back. "And now, I understand there is an honorary competitor as well?"

"That's me," Ron announced, sticking his wand out.

They all looked down at it with a slight grimace. The shaft was covered in smudgy fingerprints with large and small dents all along its length. The handle was even worse, looking like there was some sort of yellow food stain on one side and fresh dirt from Herbology class clung on the ridges of the handle. Ollivander received it with a two fingered grip, like he couldn't bear to touch it. "This is your second wand isn't it? Your first broke a couple years ago?"

Ron shifted awkwardly. "Yeah, but it wasn't my fault. It had a run in with the Whomping Willow…"

"Never mind," Ollivander interrupted. "This one's 14" willow, with a unicorn hair core. A rather swishy wand, good for charms." He gave it a wave and a melodious song floated to their ears. "Well, considering its sad state, I am surprised to say it is in working order."

Ron scowled, taking back his wand. "It's not swishy," he muttered mutinously.

"Well, my services are complete here," Ollivander announced. "Thank you for having me, Albus, and I look forward to the upcoming events. Good luck, all."

The group suffered through another hour of photo shoots, with Rita Skeeter making one more attempt at Harry in the last second, grabbing at him and trying to pull him into a broom closet…a broom closet of all things! Thankfully, Andromeda was ever vigilant and threatened Skeeter with a charge of inappropriate behavior towards a minor.

"It was my pleasure," Andromeda replied, smiling. "You do look stunning in those photos, if I may say so."

Harry ducked his head and blushed. "Er…thanks," he muttered. "Let me walk you back to Sirius' room. You can use the floo there." When they got to the door, he whispered the password, and allowed Andromeda to walk through first. "Would you like some tea before you go?" he asked, heading straight for the kitchen. "I'm sure Sirius…"

Suddenly, a loud scream, close to the floo, made Harry drop the tea pot he was preparing. "Andy!"

Harry ran out of the kitchennette to find Andromeda had clambered onto the coffee table, brandishing her still smoking wand in front of her. "Stay back, Harry," she ordered and cast some kind of spell but it simply bounced off the snake's head.

It was then Harry noticed the tiny snake hissing back at her, its mouth wide open, with clear venom dripping out of its pointy fangs. It was black and had a white stripe down its body, so Harry mentally dubbed it Stripes. Stripes was no more than half a foot long and as thin as a pencil. But with most things in nature, the smaller they were the more deadlier its poison was.

"It's got some kind of shield on it," Andromeda said.

Yes, Harry could sense a layer of parselmagic over the serpent's scales that protected it. Parsel magic was rather limited, being the magic of serpent-kind, but when it was used, it was highly effective because it could only be countered by another parsel-spell. §Stop!§ Harry commanded in parseltongue.

The snake froze in surprise. §A speaker…!§ it seemed to be stunned, not knowing what to do with this information.

Its confusion bought Harry some time to look around the room. His blood ran cold when he spotted his godfather's prone body lying haphazardly on ground behind the coffee table. For a moment, Harry's mind just stopped, but then he could see the slightest rise and fall of the man's chest. His lips were bluish and his face was sickly jaundiced, but at least he was alive. Thank Merlin! This was too much like how Ginny looked in the Chamber for Harry's comfort.

But this time, he wasn't powerless.

Harry took a cautious step forward to keep the snake's attention on himself. "I'm going to distract him," he told Andromeda, not taking his eyes of the serpent. "Take Sirius and floo to the Infirmary. Might be a good idea to get Severus too."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Andromeda asked.

In answer Harry just waved his hand, urgently, for her to go. When she tried to levitate Sirius' unconscious body up, the snake hissed angrily, but Harry took a more threatening step towards it. §Tell me, what is your business here§ Harry ordered, compelling it with his voice.

§I was sssent to kill the one that ssscents like a dog…§ it answered.

The floo suddenly ignited, and Stripes coiled himself in preparation to lunge into the green fire.

§I command you! Stay where you are, Serpent§ This time he put more power into his compulsion, and the snake quivered slightly trying to resist, but couldn't.

§My prey…It isss escaping…§ Stripes complained. §Massster will be ssssooo mad!§

By now, the floo was extinguished, and Harry allowed himself to relax a little. §Who is your Master?§ Harry asked, although he already had a good idea. Who else had the same power over snakes as he did?

§Massster is Massster…§ Stripes answered as if it were obvious.

Harry almost wanted to roll his eyes. He supposed he deserved that. §Why were you suppose to kill the one who smells like a dog?§ he asked.

§I only do what we are asssked§ it answered.

Harry sighed. As a snake, it could be compelled to follow the orders of a Parselmouth, and it appeared Stripes was only given orders to kill, without being told the reasons. Using the parselmagic that Marvolo had been teaching him, he could penetrated the magical shield that protected the snake from Andromeda's spells. So Harry stunned it, shrunk it, and contained it in a potions jar similar to the one he used for Pettigrew.

Maybe Marvolo would have some ideas on how to deal with it.

As the Dark Lord grew in power, Marvolo received more than just disturbing emotional spikes and discombobulated images; he also received a measure of power too. To Harry, Marvolo was so opaque now that he was surprised other people could not see him. Marvolo's magic had also shifted, when before his signature was very much like Harry's, but now there was a darkness to it that sometimes made Harry shiver. That wasn't to say it was a bad thing because it wasn't. It was just spicier; if Harry had to describe it, it reminding him of cinnamon.

With the extra power boosts, Marvolo spent more time out of the diary and practically taken over the Room of Requirements. The Room's special magic allowed him to interact with physical things, and he was devouring books and researching things that reminded Harry of Hermione at her most zealous state.

So after locking up Sirius' room, that was where Harry fled to, not the infirmary. "Marvolo, we have a problem," Harry said urgently as he stormed into the room.

Marvolo paused in midstroke of the quill and looked up curiously.

"Voldemort…your other self, sent a snake to kill Sirius," Harry answered the unasked question, earning him a rare look of shock from the other man. "I was escorting Andromeda back to Sirius' room after the Weighing of the Wands, and when we went inside, Sirius was already lying on the ground unconscious, and Andromeda threw some spells at the snake, but it only bounced off. I had her take Sirius to the Infirmary, contact Severus, while I interrogated it." Harry fished out the jar from his robe pocket and placed it onto the table.

Marvolo leaned forward to study the shrunken serpent. "You say you interrogated it?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get anything out of it," Harry huffed in frustration. "Sirius has been feeling like someone's been following him and watching him all year long."

"He has?" Marvolo raised a brow. This was news to him.

Harry grimaced. "All this time we just thought it was his dementor induced paranoia, so I didn't say anything about it. What do you think Voldemort wants with him?"

"That is a question that can be addressed later. Right now, time is of the essence. Aside from Andromeda, does anybody else know about this?"

"Sirius, of course," Harry answered. "But I bet by now at least the Heads of House will know something. I doubt Andromeda will be discrete about reporting this incident. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she sent a teacher to come check on me." Harry looked at his friend quizzically. "What do you want me to do?"

Marvolo nodded. "You will go immediately to infirmary to check on your godfather. Most likely, all the necessary people will be crowded in there, and the Old Man will insist you interrogate the snake in front of him. I want you to do it."

"Should I lie?"

"There is no need," Marvolo said. "Once you take off the stunner, it will immediately die, having failed at the task assigned to it. Do act appropriately alarmed when this happens. After that, just feign ignorance. That should be enough for now."

"Alright." Harry picked up the jars and the diary, and asked the Room to provide them with a floo to the Infirmary. Harry and Marvolo stepped through.

It was exactly as Marvolo had predicted. The room was indeed packed full of people, including Dumbledore, McGonagall, Pomphrey, Andromeda, and even a couple house-elves. Severus was bent over his patient and administering some kind of potion.

"Oh Harry, you're okay!" Andromeda cried out in relief. "I had asked Professor Flickwick to go check on you."

Before Harry could respond, Severus was motioning him over. "Your dogfather is stabilized for now, but I will need to see the snake that bit him in order to administer the correct anti-venom."

"I thought you might," Harry said, again fishing the jar out. "It's stunned."

All the adults leaned forward to study the tiny serpent, which was no bigger than a caterpillar in this shrunken state. "Yes, I recognize the species," Severus murmured and looked at Harry. "More importantly I have their anti-venom stored in my personal cupboards."

"How did you get your spells to stick?" Andromeda asked.

"I just cast the spells in parseltongue," Harry answered honestly.

"Just stunned, you say?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded. "Have you tried to interrogate it yet?"

Harry shook his head. "My only thought was to capture it and give them to Sev…er Professor Snape because I know he'd need to see it. I'm glad I'm not too late."

Dumbledore nodded. "I too am glad," he replied. "But since your godfather is stabilized, I think it will be prudent to question it now."

Harry vanished the potion's jar and conjured tight meshed cage, large enough to comfortably cotain it. Then he enlarged the serpent and cast a parsel verson of finite incantatem. Everyone but Dumbledore and Severus shivered at the sound of parselwords slipping through Harry's lips. Stripes immediately woke up and upon finding itself captured in a cage, instantly burst into flames with a horrible screeching, hissing sound.

Harry didn't need to act surprise. He jumped back like all the rest of them in shock. He knew the snake was going to die, but for some reason, he had envisioned a quick clean death, something like getting hit by the AK. But instead, it took long tortuous seconds, in which its serpentine body writhed painfully inside the cage, until finally it laid still. But even then, the fire burned on until everything was consumed and only ashes and a couple persistent bone fragments were left behind.

For a moment, they could only stare, horrified at the remains. Dumbledore was the first to recover and quickly cast an air freshening charm to dispel the stench of fried snake. "Horrible as this is, I am not surprised at the lengths Voldemort would take to secure his plans and secrets," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

"You-Know-Who!" McGonagall whispered, as if by saying it any louder could conjure the man right before them. "You think this is his doing?"

Next to Harry, Marvolo snorted rather rudely and both Harry and Severus had to fight to keep from snickering out loud.

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "It is obvious who sent this assassin," he answered, gesturing to the cage. "My concern now is what he would want with Sirius." At that, they all turned to stare at the man lying unconscious on the bed.

"Or perhaps the real target is Harry," Severus suggested.

"I'm afraid that may be true as well," Dumbledore agreed. "I must adjust the wards. If you all will excuse me. Minerva, your assistance will be most appreciated."

"Of course, Albus," she replied and the two left the infirmary.

Severus had one of the elves bring the anti-venom, which he administered. "He will be back to his irritating self by tomorrow afternoon. Poppy, I am sure you can handle it from here."

Poppy gave him a withering look. "Yes, yes, get out of here. All of you."

"I'm going to stay with Siri for a while longer," Andromeda volunteered.

Once Harry and Severus vacated the infirmary, they immediately went to Severus' private rooms. "I assume our plans will be changing?" Severus asked, immediately once all the wards were activated.

"No, they will not," Marvolo answered firmly. "But it is…inconvenient to have my other self unknowingly working against us. If he continues as he is, he will end up exposing himself."

"So what do we do?" Harry asked. "It's not like we can send him a letter to ask him to be patient and wait for Yule."

"Not a letter, no," Marvolo said thoughtfully. "But it is time we speak to Him face to face."

Harry and Severus traded looks of alarm. "My Lord, I do not think Harry is quite ready. I will accompany you in his stead."

Marvolo gave Severus an amused look. "Your…Gryffindorish bravery is admirable," he said to which Severus scowled. "However, you misunderstand me. I said we, meaning all three of us. I wish for my other self to know of your valuable services as well."

For a moment, Severus was stunned, and then he quickly inclined his head. "Yes, My Lord."

Since both Harry and Severus missed dinner, they had the house-elves fix up something light. Harry couldn't really eat even that, his stomach feeling all tight and queasy at the prospects of meeting the rest of the Dark Lord's soul. Judging by the pinched look on Severus' face, he was also suffering from a little nervousness too. Marvolo, however, was floating at the corner, eyes closed, presumably meditating to get in touch with whatever connected him to the main soul piece.

Finally, Harry couldn't stand the tension anymore and blurted out, "What do I do?" he whispered to Severus urgently. "Do I bow to him? Call him, My Lord?"

Marvolo, having overheard, cracked his eyes open and glanced over with a raised brow. "No. You do not belong to him yet," he answered in an oddly calm voice, not at all strained, unlike the apprehension the other two suffered. "Not until we've merged and he has proven worthy of your servitude. That goes for you as well, Severus."

They both nodded, but neither Harry nor Severus knew what to say to that, so they simply lapsed back into silence. Finally, in some undetermined time, Marvolo moved away from the corner. "I have warned him of our arrival, and he is expecting us. We will be using your dark mark to reach him. Come."

With that, Marvolo floated out the room and right through the door, forcing Severus and Harry to hurry and catch up to him. The corridors were basically empty at this time of night, and any prefects wandering the halls wouldn't dream of approaching the ascerbic Potion's Professor, especially not when the man looked so grim and determined to get somewhere. It also wasn't unusual anymore to see Harry Potter trailing after the Professor.

Once they reached the border of the wards, Marvolo had Severus expose his Mark. "I will open the connection," Marvolo explained. "Severus you will remember that the Mark will guide you as you apparate. Whenever you are ready."

Harry's second side-along apparition wasn't nearly as bad as the first. He still lurched though, and was infinitely glad he hadn't eaten much earlier. Straightening up, Harry found himself staring up at a great runned down mansion. It was so old all the paint had been worn away, the shutters hung off their hinges, and various vines and plants threatened to take over. But beneath all that, you could tell that it was once a very rich and magnificent mansion.

"Where are we?" Harry whispered, wide-eyed.

"My muggle father's manor," Marvolo sneered and then turned around. He lowered himself so he was at eye level with Harry.

When Marvolo's cool hands came up to cradle his face, Harry blinked in surprise. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing how worried and concerned Marvolo was.

"My other self will be able to see me, so I will be doing most of the talking," he explained. "And there is a good chance that I will have to say certain things that will make you feel uncomfortable. All I ask is that you play along. Do you understand?"

Harry smiled gently and nuzzled at the hands cradling his face. "I trust you, Marvolo."

Marvolo nodded and rose to his full height and led them into the manor. It reminded Harry of a muggle haunted house with creeky floorboards and all.

"There is a Death Eater here, however he was told to vacate the premises," Marvolo said as they climbed the windy staircase.

"Was the situation explained to him?" Severus wondered. He knew better than to ask for the Death Eater's name, if Marvolo didn't volunteer it himself.

"He was only told that there were special guests arriving tonight and that he was not to approach us," Marvolo answered. "It is one of the conditions that I insisted on to protect your identities. Needless to say, my other self was not too impressed."

As they passed over several unmarked doors, Harry began absently rubbing at his scar. He hadn't realized what he was doing until Severus gave him an irritated look. "It feels tingly," Harry said, frowning. "I think we are getting closer."

"Indeed," Marvolo agreed. "Your scar should not become painful, however."

Harry realized Marvolo was right.

Finally, they arrived at a set of double doors that opened on its own upon Marvolo's touch. Inside was what looked like a large, comfortable sitting room with a great fireplace crackling merrily away, throwing odd dancing shadows against the curtains and walls. There were two high backed chairs, but their host was not in either of these chairs. Basking near the fire was largest snake Harry had ever seen, seconded only to Salazar's basilisk. It rose up on its black coils at their entrance.

A thin, wispy voice brought their attention to the other side of the room. "Welcome, to Riddle Manor."

A/N:Uhhh….sorry, didn't mean to end it there. It's the whole reorganization thing I'm going through. If I didn't stop it there, this chapter would be ridiculously long.

Okay, as many of you pointed out, Molly should somehow react to Ron getting put into the Tournament. I believe it could happen in two scenarios:

1) she shrieks like a banshee and sends tons of Howlers, wailing at how her poor baby will get hurt, or…

2) Ron's mislead her into thinking he really is an honorary champion and that he was going to bring glory and money to the Weasley family, in which Molly would shower him with pride and affection, the way she does when one of her children gets a prefect badge or something.

Because I don't want to go back and write more about the Weasleys, and I am sure you guys don't want me to waste an update on covering that, let's all assume that scenario number 2 happened in the background of the story. Basically, Ron wrote a letter to his parents, boasting and bragging about how he's allowed to compete, how it can't be too dangerous if Harry Potters allowed to compete too, and Molly's faith in Dumbledore's ability to keep her children safe has wiped away her maternal instincts.

If someone does want me to write out a scene about the Weasleys, tell me and I can incorporate it in the Family Night scene just before the First Task. Otherwise, there will be no Family Night so I can move the plot along.
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In Servitude of the Dark : My Obiesance