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Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness	By : Danyealle Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Voldemort Views: 297597 -:- Recommendations : 54 -:- Currently Reading : 184
Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. This is a work of fanfiction and no profit is being made. It is a for-fun endeavor and no infringement is intended.

Chapter List
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Chapter 31

Beta'd by Tenchi (love you, woman!)

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Despite what most people would think, Ron Weasley was more than he appeared to most of the world. Buried under his faults, jealousy, covetous nature, he could be, at times, a very deep thinker. He knew that most wouldn't ever believe that with the way he acted at times, but it was true. There was also the fact that he was well aware of what faults he had and despised them. It was just, despite wanting to do so, he couldn't control himself with some things. This past year, more so than any other, he had been forced to face what they could lead to and was unhappy about what came from it. All along, because of the way Harry and Hermione were, he had taken for granted that though they may fight, they would eventually patch things up and it would all go back to the way it used to be. But he was wrong about that. This time, the damage had been bad enough that it hadn't happened. Harry had changed, a lot, and there was no fixing what had happened since his name had come out of the goblet the year before. Though Harry had allowed him to try, they were drifting apart. That was something Ron hated.

Now, Ron had never been alone in his life. His huge family meant he always had someone around him to talk to even if a few members weren't speaking to him or each other. That happened even in the best of families. In time, though, it always rectified itself and everyone acted the family once more. It was that history he had fallen back on time and again when it came to Harry and Hermione. Which is why he was now hurting in a way he hadn't before. Sure, he still had friends, lots of them, and his family but it wasn't the same. When Harry, followed later by Hermione, started to drift away, he hadn't thought much of it. There were pangs of missing them but he assumed that it would right itself like it always did. This time, though, that hadn't happened. Nor, really, as it grew worse and they had a circle of friends that did things he wasn't included in, did he know what to do about it to set it to right. They were doing things he had no interest in and didn't seem to want to be bothered with things he found enjoyable. That left him on the outside looking in. And he didn't want that. He wanted to be on the inside once more but didn't know how to go about getting back what he once had.

Sitting in the Great Hall by Seamus again, Ron couldn't help himself and, once more, was casting longing glances down at the group at the far end. He wanted to be there. Especially after the excitement of the night before. In the past, when something had gone wrong with Harry, he had always been in the know or his friend told him what was going on after the fact. This time, though, that hadn't happened. McGonagall had helped Harry up into the dorm with the assist of a worried Hermione. As would be expected, she had shooed everyone away, telling them to let Harry rest. Unlike the past, after she had left, so had Hermione without a word of what had gone on. Nor had Harry said anything when he asked what was wrong. All he had gotten was that he needed sleep. Now, that hurt, a lot.

With a heavy sigh, the youngest Weasley son went back to eating his breakfast but his legendary appetite just wasn't there this morning. He was hungry like always but the food didn't seem to have any taste and he didn't enjoy it like it he always had. Stopping, while he forced himself to swallow what he had in his mouth, he looked down at his plate of bangers and eggs then thought sourly that he only had himself to blame for the whole thing. If he hadn't let his more undesirable traits get the better of him, this wouldn't have happened. Nor, honestly, could he think of a way to fix the damage. His friends had moved on and he was still in the same place, following his own lazy way of going about the world.

Not liking that thought, he shoved his plate away with a grimace. He needed time to think, to come up with something to repair what was done. Though he didn't know what would work he was sure he could manage if he put his mind to it. After all, he was used to solving difficult things when it came to chess, he just had to apply some of that strategy to this problem to get it to work. For that, though, he needed time.

Giving over eating as a bad job, he made an excuse to Seamus about getting one of his books from the dorm then walked out of the Great Hall alone. He had the book for his first class but thought a long walk alone might do him a world of good and give him some quiet time to think.

Wandering the halls as he made his way to the room on the top floor where his first class of the day would be, he tried to suss out the problem but couldn't quite manage to figure it out. From what he saw, none of them had the same interests anymore, sharing nothing in common when it came to things they did. His love of chess wasn't shared by the others. Being buried in his studies wasn't something he had any interest at all in like Harry and Hermione did. The only thing that he had in common with Harry anymore was Quidditch. Even then, from what he had seen, Harry wasn't all that into it like he used to be. You could tell, at practices, that his old friend's mind was elsewhere and he would be happier doing other things. That was startling the first time he realized it.

Sighing heavily, not looking where he was going, he was running possible ways to reconnect with his friends when he bumped into something. Quickly, he realized it was a body then started to apologize before he even lifted his eyes. When he did glance up, however, his eyes widened more when he saw Dumbledore standing there. “Sorry, Headmaster!”

With a genial smile and a twinkle in his eyes, the aging headmaster nodded then gave a soft chuckle. Patting the redhead on the shoulder, he said, softly, “Quite alright, my boy. Often times I get lost in thought and don't pay as much attention as I should. No harm done.” Peering at him closer, he then asked, “Is something troubling you?” It was more of a rhetorical thing, honestly, because Albus has spent most of breakfast paying attention to the youngest Weasley boy, liking what he was seeing. After a quick brush against his thoughts while their eyes met, he liked what he saw even more. That made him ripe for what he wanted to do. No, he didn't like doing such things to children but time was short and his plans had to be in motion as soon as he could get them. That meant that he needed Ronald to be back by Harry's side quickly and things to be set right once more.

Shrugging, Ron was leery of getting into anything with the Headmaster. Though he still trusted the man slightly, he was also wondering just how much Harry had said about him was true. Those things that had been explained made him doubt what Dumbledore's motives were. “Just...thinking over some things is all, Headmaster.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, there is always a time to ponder things that trouble you. I'm sure, with time, things will right themselves, Ronald.” Dumbledore told him gently, twinkling eyes locked with the young man. While he did that, he quickly implanted the suggestion to make a concerted effort to patch things up with Harry and Hermione. He knew there was little chance the other part of the trio was going to revert back to the way they were, especially with Harry being suspicious of him, so it was up to this third of them to do so. It was just going to take some nudging him that way was all and a little changing. Since Ronald was malleable, more so than either Harry or Hermione, it wouldn't look odd for him to do the changing in an attempt to get his friends back. After all, everyone, including staff, knew that the other two parts of the trio were really the only ones he had a close friendship with.

Nodding, Ron pulled his eyes away from Dumbledore's, nervous about making eye contact anyway, then said, “I'm sure it will. If you'll excuse me, Headmaster, I need to get to class.” Scuttling away, trying not to glance nervously over his shoulder, Ron made a beeline for his classroom. He would be early, something that rarely happened with him, but he would be away from Dumbledore.

Seeing the boy hurry off, Albus couldn't help but give a small smile. The suggestion was a small one but he was sure it would work. It wouldn't be long before Ron was right back where he belonged. Turning, he made his way towards his office to get some more Pepper-Up Potion. Even the smallest amounts of magic now took a lot out of him so, to even function, he was ingesting a lot of it.

Sitting next to Seamus while the professor began to drone on, Ron, as usual, wasn't paying a damned bit of attention to what was being said. Instead, he was picking through what he had been thinking about at breakfast and solutions to it. The divide between them, though, was so great that he was having a hard time bridging that chasm with anything. Then, almost like it came out of the blue, the solution came. It was time that he quit worrying about trying to get them to do what he wanted or go about it his way and bend. He could do that. Hell, he did it all the time! Rather than tune it out while they talked, he would listen. Maybe, if he paid attention, it would be something that he liked. Just because it was complex didn't have to mean it was boring. Yeah, it was probably going to be more work piled on him with all they were doing but he could handle that. He would just figure out a way to manage to do it. It would take effort, yeah, but he would do it. Plus, he would learn things he could probably use.

Figuring that was the solution, he relaxed where he was sitting a little more confident. He could do it! They would include him if he showed interest then would include themselves in what he wanted. After all, things like this were a two-way street. Perfect! It would work.

Committed to the plan, he started to plan out what he was going to do, ignoring what was going on around him.

During one of his free periods, Ron was up in the common rooms. Sitting by the twins, he was pretty much ignoring them while trying to do some of his work so he didn't get too far behind. As they were all fairly overloaded with work, this was common. He was always behind anyway so he didn't want to get too much behind so he had to work all weekend.

While working on a nasty essay for McGonagall, his mind began to wander. He never tried for that to happen, but it just did because he hated doing this shite. Putting his head in his hands, he tried to focus, reminding himself that if he didn't, it was going to be all the worse with Quidditch practice and everything else. While doing that, though, he happened to catch what his brothers were talking about, well, part of it anyway. They were talking about some kind of map, he assumed he knew which one they were talking about, that they had given Harry and how they thought Dumbledore had done that mind trick thing with them in a way to get them to give it to Harry. Brow furrowed, Ron tuned that out then thought back over his interaction with the headmaster earlier. He hadn't felt anything when he had run into him, even when he looked him in the eyes, but that bit later, figuring out what might work was curious. Honestly? He was willing to bend a bit on the topic to make things work but to completely throw himself into what was certain was more work when he was already overloaded? He couldn't see himself doing that. He was already stretched thin as it was.

Leaning back in the chair, he looked around. Seeing that the few that were in the room weren't paying attention, he slid back then asked quietly, “Did you feel anything before you decided to give whatever it was up? Or just have a chance encounter with Dumbledore?”

Shooting their brother a wary look, the twins then just looked at each before Fred said, “We didn't feel anything.”

“But there was an encounter with Dumbledore over a prank.” George continued on.

“Wasn't a big thing, though,” Fred added, glancing around.

“Didn't even get into trouble,” George tossed in.

Motioning for Ron to scoot closer, something he did, Fred then asked, “Why? Something happen?”

Though he was always wary of giving up any info to the twins that could be used against him later in any way, Ron quickly told of the encounter then the epiphany he had. Shaking his head, he whispered, “Shite, I’m not about to dump more work on myself than I already have. Why would I want to do whatever it is they are? It sounds complicated! I sat through listening to some of it before and it bored me to tears. Why would I want to do it again? It's just not something I would do, yeah?”

Exchanging an uncharacteristic grave look between them, the twins then faced Ron with George saying, “I think we need to talk to Harry tonight. This is all so strange. Maybe he can walk us through something to figure it out.”

“We wouldn't have given it to him, normally. With what we know now, yeah, probably and we don't begrudge him it but at the time...” Fred said.

Picking up where his brother left out, George finished, “We didn't know him well enough to do something like that.”

Nodding, Ron said, “Yeah, we need to talk to Harry. Probably Ginny and Hermione as well. Because if he did it to us...” Trailing off, Ron just looked down, concerned.

Faces darkening at that thought, the twins looked at each other then nodded. “Yeah, you're right.” George sighed.

“They probably have been affected as well,” Fred sighed.

Alright, Harry was nervous. The twins and Ron had all but pounced him when he poked his head into common room after class. Then they had dragged him off into a corner and told him they had to talk to him later. Added onto that, they insisted that Ginny and Hermione be included as well. That had him worried. Though he was certain that the dance he was doing was complete enough to fool everyone, this made him wonder if something, somewhere hadn't given him away. He shoved that idea back, though, figuring it was probably about the night before and what happened with him. Now, though, that left him with trying to figure out where to put everyone where no one could overhear them. Of course, the Room of Requirement came to mind. Quickly, he arranged for everyone to meet up there after dinner. He just hoped this wasn't going to be long drawn out thing was all. He had too much to do to take time out for a dramafest. Though he was careful to make himself looked concerned when they told him they needed to talk to him.

At the appointed time and place, he led them to the room and had it make itself look like a common room of sorts with comfortable places to sit and a soothing atmosphere. After seating himself and listening to those that weren't familiar with it ooh and ahh, he cleared his throat then said, “Alright, what's up?” Looking back and forth between the three, he could see them shooting each other dark looks. That had him slightly confused. What in the hell could this be about? Finally, after what seemed like forever, they started.

Rubbing the back of his neck, ears turning red, Ron said, “Look, mate, this is strange, alright? You know that thing that you talked about with implanting thoughts and how you're sure Dumbledore did it to you?”

Looking at the youngest Weasley male, Harry's eyes widened slightly then he nodded, “Yeah. Legilimency. What about it?” Eyes shifting between the three, he waited, wondering.

After glancing at the twins once more, Ron sighed then said, “I think he did it to me. Not long ago as a matter of fact.”

“Us too, mate,” George said with a nod.

“We were just figuring that out when Ron mentioned what happened to him,” Fred continued.

Looking between the three, Harry said, “Alright, tell me what happened and what makes you think that he did that.” Already, Harry's mind was racing. Ron, maybe, might be the one that was the most telling. With the twins, he wasn't sure what that could be about. They really didn't have much contact other than in the common room. He couldn't see why Dumbledore would do that to them or what they could give him.

Very quickly, the three of them ran through what they thought were instances of Dumbledore implanting things. Ron's because it had happened earlier in the day, was the freshest and probably the most telling. Harry listened, brow drawn down and a frown on his face. Asking some questions when they finished, he leaned back and pondered all he had heard. To him, it did very much sound like a case of manipulation to him. Clearing his throat, he told those gathered that then added, almost as an afterthought, “I wonder why though. The map... as far as I ever knew, he didn't know about that. And, Ron, I don't get it! Why does he want that? I'm confused!” That part, truthfully, Harry understood. It was the Weasley's and their light affinity that was behind that. The old coot wanted that influence heavy in his life. He was sure that was behind it because of his good relationship with all the Weasleys.

“Look, mate, no offense, alright?” George started.

“Yeah, about the map.” Fred continued.

“That wasn't something we would have given up to you.” George told him.

“We used it too much and it would come in handy,” Fred nodded.

“Knowing now that it was something your dad did...”

“... yeah, we would have handed it over.”

“But not at the time.”

“You understand, right mate?”

Nodding his head, used to the bouncing speech by now, Harry waved a dismissive hand. “Understood completely. No offense taken.” As he thought about it, Harry realized that much of what he had done since getting the thing, including some of the bit with Tom, depended somewhat on that map. Dumbledore had to know it would be useful to him, hence the reason he got it. Filing it away for later, he looked to Ginny and Hermione then asked the Weasley males, “Why did you want Ginny and Hermione here? Do you have an indication they are involved?”

“We thought, maybe, that it might have happened to them too. That listening to it might jog some things loose, you know?” Ron shrugged. “Let's face it, mate, if he did it to us...” Trailing off, he waited for Harry to catch on.

Harry did, very quickly and nodded. “Yeah, good call on that one.” Looking over to the two females, he waited to see what they had to say on the topic. Hermione didn't look like she was going to jump right in but had a thoughtful expression on her face. Ginny, though, was looking down at the floor, worrying her lip with her teeth. Clearing his throat, he asked, softly, “Ginny? Something wrong?”

Looking away, blushing slightly, she cleared her throat in a nervous way then started, voice somewhat soft and mumbley, “Maybe, I don't know. I've thought about it and it makes sense but...” Trailing off, she was looking at the floor, not able to look at anyone in the room.

Figuring this was bound to be interesting, Harry leaned forward in his chair and told her, “Just say it, Ginny. Then we can sort it out.” Glancing around, he could see concerned looks on the others faces.

“Well, it's that crush I had on you, you know?” Blushing harder, she stared down at her clasped hands, unable to look at anyone.

Remembering all too well about that crush, Harry prodded gently, “What about it?”

“Look, at first, it was the hero thing, alright? You were, after all, Harry Potter. Understand?” Looking up at Harry, she saw him nod then continued, “It was just one of those things. I'd had them before and since. But nothing was as long lasting or seemingly all encompassing as that was. To an extent, though I know you have someone and aren't interested, it's still there.” Huffing, she slouched a little then said, “I know, honestly, that it shouldn't be. Heck, I like the relationship we have now more than that wistful fawning thing I was apt to do! It's just... I'm wondering since all crushes I've ever had have faded out if it wasn't caused by what we're talking about, you know? There was a visit from Dumbledore the summer before I started. It went a bit like the one that Ron talked about when we first discussed this stuff. I mean, there was a reason he was there, he had to talk to mom and dad about something or other, then I had just wandered into the kitchen while he was there. It wasn't a big deal but...” Stopping she blushed harder and looked away.

Nodding, Harry got it. Oh, yes he did. It appeared the manipulative old goat had made sure that he was seriously attached to the Weasley family and they to him. It had to be about keeping him on the straight and narrow. Seeing Ginny in the state she was, he held up his hand then said, “Don't worry about it, Ginny. And, yeah, it's probably just as you said. He did.”

“But why?” She said in an exacerbated way, hands wringing together. “I don't get why! Why all this manipulation? The map, making sure that you and Ron are close, making sure Ron is your friend, why all of us? Do you think he did it to mom and dad too? I mean, it's nuts! It makes me question whether we should have even been friends to start with!” Stopping, a panicked look came across her face then she added, “Not that I don't see you as a friend, you know! It happened for different reasons than what was originally there.”

Nodding, Harry grinned at her, “I get it, Ginny, trust me. We're all friends because we want to be, not because of whatever he did. The bit about your parents, though... Yeah, that makes me wonder. They've all but adopted me. I've not seen them do that with anyone else. You mom always tells everyone they are skinny but I’ve not seen them do what they did for me before.” Looking around, he asked, “Have they?”

Ron looked away and the twins looked down, a guilty expression on their faces. “Look, Harry...” Fred started but trailed off.

“I was a special case then? Don't worry, I get it and am not mad if it was,” Harry soothed but seethed inwardly at Dumbledore's manipulations. Still seeing the guilty expressions, he added, quietly, “And, trust me, it was the best and I appreciate all you and your parents did for me. It was like having a wonderful home and still is! You all are my family! Just not in the way you are to each other.”

“We feel the same about you, mate,” George finally said.

“Right,” Ginny said firmly, nodding. “No matter why it started, that's the way it is!”

“Hear, hear,” Fred added with a determined look.

Smiling, Harry nodded. Though still seething, he kept it under control. Rather than focus on that, he said, “Yeah, he might have your parents too. I mean, really, the way your mom was going on in Kings Cross that first time was odd now that I think about it. But it doesn't matter.”

“Any way you can think of to figure out if he did or not?” Ginny asked.

Shrugging, Harry said, “I could try but I don't know if I can tell or not. It doesn't matter though, really. I don't think, by now, it matters to them either. Why worry about it?”

Seeing a relieved look on their faces, he nodded, hoping that diffused things then he began to walk them through everything, including their parents reactions around Dumbledore. It wasn't, in a real sense of the word, going to help much but it would give him and Tom more information.
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Harry Potter and the Breeding Darkness