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Weapon	By : uqui Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Voldemort Views: 105432 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 26
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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25/02/2012

Thank you to SuryaPrakash for the betaing. If there are mistakes, they are my fault.

roosickle- to a certain point I agree but I hope you can enjoy the fic anyway. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

unneeded - as always thank you for the review. On the basilisks, the shadows aren't completely sure they are with Narcissa. They've just reasoned that if they aren't anywhere else, then that's where they must be.

aple5973- thank you for the review.

I do love all reviews, and I will try to get back to you, but if you've got questions then I would ask you leave some way of contacting you so that I don't use up heaps of space here.

Thanks.

Weapon LXI Questions and Answers

Ginny smiled at Harry as he paced on the Quidditch pitch. She'd been a little worried in the first few days of the year when he had been distant but as he had said in his letters he wanted to start again, so while it chafed, she was patient. It was the little things that were beginning to make a difference. For example, he was sitting with her at meals. Ron, Hermione and Neville also sat with them, but Harry made the point to either sit beside her or directly across from her.

They were talking too. Not as boyfriend and girlfriend but as friends, which was nice and, Ginny conceded, the ability to talk as friends was more important for the long run than the ability to exchange sweet nothings. If she wanted Harry to stay with her or to accept her as well as the Dark Lord, then she had to be more than a bit of fluff he snogged when he felt like it. They had to be friends and it was obvious to her that he wanted his friends to stay with him for the future. He wouldn't be here, wasting time in classes otherwise.

As far as she could tell, Harry had been to most of his classes and even to a few special ones that he had picked up over the summer. When Ron had voiced a rather careful complaint, Harry had merely laughed and told Ron that he could come if he wanted but since the class was about bladed weapons with Snape, he really didn't think the other man wanted to spend more time with the Potion Master. Ron had demanded why Harry was spending time with the man, and Harry had just reminded them that he had gotten all of Voldemort's knowledge and that included his sword and hand to hand techniques, so he was using them too. There had been a smirk on Harry's face as he'd said the rest, that Snape didn't like the Dark Lord's techniques because they were crude. Even Ron had laughed at that and had let Harry get to his extra classes.

She was a bit nervous, standing in the crowd with the others who were trying out for the Quidditch team. Gryffindor desperately needed to replace people since most of the team had graduated and she'd decided to try out for a place as a Chaser despite the fact that she usually played Seeker for her brothers. No one was trying for Seeker since everyone knew that was Harry's spot. There were a few people trying for any position though, including Keeper. Last year's Keeper, the now Fourth Year Oswald Richards, had simply laughed welcoming the competition. He wanted the team to be the best team it could be, even if that meant he was only a reserve Keeper. Harry actually wanted the team to be bigger than it was in Woods' day and to have reserves so that the next Captain wasn't faced with replacing close to the entire team.

"All right, everyone," Harry shouted and the small conversations faded. "Let's do this by the book. You all know Gryffindor needs to replace most of its team, but I'm also not Wood, I want to have a reserve team, so if you don't make the actual team do not worry, You have a chance to make the reserves and that will give you the practice you need. We are going to do the try outs in this order, Chasers, Keeper, Beaters and then Seeker and I don't care if you decide to show up for more than one position's try out.

"Those trying out for Keeper, go over there," Harry pointed, indicating a section of the pitch near the goals. "Those trying out for Chasers, go over there." Once again Harry pointed, this time towards the middle of the pitch, though perhaps a bit towards the north-facing goals. "Beater try outs are over there." This time Harry indicated the middle of the pitch towards the south-facing goals. "Seeker try outs are there," Harry indicated the end of the pitch.

"It will take some time to get through each try out so please be patient. Do some warm-up flying if you want, but don't get in the way of the other try outs."

Harry paused for a moment. "One last thing," he said and his voice showed his seriousness. "If you make the team, I expect you to be on the team. That means you will make time for the practices and you will give it everything you have. If everyone is clear on that, then let's begin."

There was a small cheer as people began moving to where Harry had indicated. Ginny moved confidently with the others, but she was a bit surprised when Harry grabbed her arm gently and pulled her aside for a moment.

"Try out for Seeker too," Harry whispered to her, so the others would not hear. "There might be times when I'm not here and I don't want us to forfeit. Now give me a hug and pretend I was just telling you to be careful." Harry smiled and quickly embraced her, something Ginny returned whole heartedly before they split and she continued to walk towards the gathered Chasers for the try out with a much lighter heart.

Dumbledore set the last candle down to Fawkes' specification before he sat at his desk. Fawkes hopped about the office for a few moments, investigating the set of the candles and occasionally nudging one with his beak into a better position before he returned to his perch. The Phoenix had been insistent upon these candles and if Fawkes had of been human Dumbledore would have called him twitchy about this. Still the precautions were probably warranted. Dumbledore wasn't sure. The information he'd been able to find was sketchy at best, so he had deferred to his Phoenix's experience.

:Have you got all your protections in place?: there came a whispered question and Dumbledore followed Fawkes' line of sight to spot the Shadow that was now on the ceiling. Fawkes' eyes burned with his natural fire but the way he was holding himself showed his dislike of the Shadows. :All those protections are not necessary, you know,: the Shadow continued. :I won't hurt you. Why would I hurt you?: it questioned. :I can only hurt you if my Master wants me to hurt you and by all of this are you suggesting that young Harry wants to hurt you?: the Shadow laughed slightly as it flowed down the wall, darkening the light from the candles before it took up a position in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"That only works if Mr. Potter is your master," Xeoaph's voice echoed from the far side of the office.

The Shadow showed no signs of movement or surprise at the Vampire's presence.

:I know what you are trying to believe, Vampire, that we are creatures who will betray anyone for our desires but what you perceive about us and what is reality is not linked as closely as you would like.: The Shadow spat the words. :The one you call Harry Potter is my Master and for the duration of his life will remain my absolute Master and I am bound by his will and his desires, even more than you can ever be bound by your creator.:

Xeoaph snarled and started forward.

"Enough!" Dumbledore ordered sharply. "This is meant to be a discussion not a brawl, and I'm sure the both of you will find other opportunities to discuss the differences between Vampire and Shadows." While his tone held a note of amusement, it also indicated that they had better have that discussion after the Dark Lord was deposed. As the Leader of Light, Albus was quite happy to have dark creatures fight amongst themselves.

Xeoaph looked to the side, almost like a child prepared to fight further. "We can discuss the true nature of dark later," the Vampire agreed.

:Of course,: the Shadow agreed almost serenely. :What did you want?:

"To talk," the Headmaster said. "There is only myth, legend and conjecture about you. When we met in the Infirmary, I was surprised you could talk, but you informed me you could do so much more. I wish to explore that."

:There is nothing to explore. Everything I do, everything I say, everything I feel is for the betterment of my Master and I will not act against that.:

The Vampire snorted his disbelief but otherwise remained silent.

The Ancient wizard was patient. He'd dealt with those who didn't really want to speak to him before and he wasn't sure at the moment if the Shadow wasn't willing to speak, or just didn't know the right words to tell the Headmaster what he wanted to know. Either way, Dumbledore expected to get answers tonight.

"There may be nothing for you to explore," Albus said, projecting his kindly grandfather image for all he was worth. He didn't know if he would work on a Shadow, but it probably wouldn't hurt. "But there is much I do not understand and that is what I seek to clarify."

Silently the Shadow applauded Dumbledore. The man was good. He sounded genuinely interested in merely expanding his knowledge without looking for ways of controlling them. He sounded like he wanted to help their Master but they had seen the proof that this was not the case; they would not be blinded by the wizard's petty explanations of 'for the greater good'. There was no greater good. There was only what made their Master happy. :I would suggest then that you ask. My understanding is instinctual, but I will attempt to explain the aspects of that which you do not understand.:

Dumbledore sighed beneath his breath. It would appear the Shadow was going to try to be helpful without telling them anything. He may have to order Harry to enforce his will upon the Shadows so that they may understand and know truly who was in control.

It was Xeoaph that answered though. "Why?" the Vampire demanded. "Why are you supposedly loyal to your master?"

:Because Harry is our light. We exist, we always exist and we are the dark but that existence is hollow. It is only in the times when our Master is active do we truly live.:

The Headmaster could see the Vampire twitching at the answer. To the Shadow the answer was probably reasonable but it missed out some key points, possibly deliberately or maybe simply because to the Shadow it was assumed information. "What makes young Mr. Potter your master?" Dumbledore asked. "Why not James Potter, why not Charles? Why young Harry Potter?"

:Ah...: the Shadow sighed. :I understand now. You wish to know why so few of those who bear the power to be our Master, are actually declared and acknowledged as our Master?:

Albus nodded, indicating with his eyes that Xeoaph should remain silent for the moment.

:The concise answer is pain. The longer and more technical answer has to do with magical frequencies.:

"Go on."

:Each magical being and to some extent each bloodline bears magic of certain properties. For example, some bloodlines are capable of the animagus transformation, while others no matter how much they want or desire, they will never achieve that part of magic. Thus it is with us. The Potter bloodline bears the correct magical affinity for us. No they are not dark, rather they are the opposite. Embedded in their magic is light and that is what attracts us.:

"It attracts you but does not force you to call them Master," Xeoaph interrupted. "Why do you call Harry Potter 'Master'?" The Vampire asked the question, hoping to catch the Shadows in the most basic manner. If they could not explain why they called Harry Master, then there was very little reason to believe that the young wizard could control the Shadows and every reason to believe that the false darkness were just pretending to be subservient.

:That is where the pain comes in,: the Shadow answered easily. :I do not mean physical pain. There are other forms of pain.:

"You expect me to believe that?" Xeoaph snarled.

:I have no control over what you believe,: the Shadow almost shouted in return.

"Enough!" Dumbledore roared again, and then blinked into the silence. He could almost feel the ancient Vampire sizing him up but he held firm. "My esteemed Vampire friend does have a point," Albus continued, looking at the Shadow. "While the Potter bloodline may bear the magical affinity that attracts you, affinity does not bestow control, yet you have said that young Harry may and does control you. I believe that is what Xeoaph is asking about."

The Shadow seemed to condense and Fawkes tensed, though the Headmaster could almost read in the Phoenix's body language the tell-tale 'I told you so.' He resisted the urge to shake his head. He would get answers today, one way or another.

:You are correct,: the Shadow said finally. :Affinity does not allow control. Nor does it explain why some of our numbers follow this Dark Lord. I will try to be more concise. We are creatures of Dark,: the Shadow continued, :And like all beings we need to eat, but we do not eat food such as you do, rather we eat our opposite, we eat light. Now I can see the question, why don't we just eat Mr. Potter and be done with it?: The Shadow seemed to look up at the Vampire who had opened his mouth to speak but had fallen silent as the explanation had continued. :We can't. Or rather we can but if we did, we would die. As we are creatures of Dark, Light is both food and poison to us. We both crave and somewhat fear it. And again all this tells you nothing about why Mr. Potter can control us.:

The Shadow seemed to sigh. :Every now and then, in each bloodline, there comes one who seems stronger. To take my animagus example, it would be perhaps someone who can achieve that transformation very young and who seems so comfortable in their animal form that it's sometimes hard to know which was meant to be their natural form. Mr. Potter has everything about his bloodline and he is just that little bit stronger in his ability than his father or grandfather. He is our Master because within his magic is that spark that revitalises us. We have always existed. But we have not always been active, and we have not always been how you see me. Usually we are much more insubstantial. We exist, but we do not have the power to act, to speak or to be very much at all. The day Mr. Potter was born that began to change. The day he first used his magic, we awoke entirely. Between each of those who can be our Master, we observe, we advise and we sleep. We obey him because without Mr. Potter's regard, we are nothing.:

"So why do some of you follow Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked quietly, aware that the Shadow had explained as best as it could.

:I don't know though I can offer conjecture.:

"Go on."

:We have been asleep for a very long time.:

"Since Godric?" Xeoaph asked, seeming a bit more at ease with the Shadow.

:No, there have been a few Masters since Godric. You just have not known about them because they didn't do anything. I think that could be part of the reason some of us are obeying Voldemort, even though he isn't Mr. Potter. The one you call the Dark Lord is doing something. He is prepared to act, to fight and to use us and no doubt he is prepared to pay very well for our services.:

"Yet with what you are saying, if the Dark Lord kills Harry Potter, then your existence, your will is gone," Xeoaph stated leaving the question implicit.

:Yes,: the Shadow agreed. :They may have some way of keeping our Master safe. It's possible they will allow the Dark Lord to believe he has killed our Master, while they harbour him. That is something that we could do... Or it's possible they intend to see that Voldemort succeeds in his seduction. Beyond that I don't know and the only way I can find out is to be contaminated by their madness... which is not something I wish to do, not even for my rightful Master.:

Dumbledore nodded, feeling more at ease now with the Shadows. He could see that they were dangerous and would always be dangerous but in so far as the Shadow had explained, he could also see that they were tied to Harry. That would have to be tested of course. He wasn't about to take the Shadows unsubstantiated word for it, but it also meant that in the event of Harry's death, the Shadows would no longer remain an active player. Not that he wanted Harry dead. He just wanted to plan for every eventuality.

Xeoaph also looked a little calmer. The Vampire would never accept the Shadows; the two would argue forever about which was the true dark, but Dumbledore could see that the elder Vampire was more tolerant now. The concept that the Shadows slept between masters probably appealed to him.

:Well, that was interesting,: Harry said silently as he wrote his Charms essay.

:Indeed,: the Shadows replied, flickering very gently in the soft light of the common room. It was late but, there were a few students about, mostly working on essays as Harry was.

:Do you think they believed you?:

:None of it is a lie.:

:No, but some of it they will ask me,: Harry replied. He was letting his true self discuss things with the Shadows as Fawkes was currently too busy discussing what he had heard with Dumbledore and Xeoaph. The Phoenix had checked on him once or twice that evening, mostly to confirm his location and a few times to check that he was not 'listening in' as it were. As if Harry would be that obvious! :They will misinterpret that sleeping bit.:

The Shadows laughed. :Some of us do sleep though. And our interest in controlling and in knowing the whole picture is dramatically reduced when we have no Master. Why would we care about it, when there is no one to share it with?: They asked the question rhetorically.

:So you want to know everything so that I can rule the world?:

:We want to know everything so that nothing can hurt you, though even if you were like Laharan with no interest in anything beyond using our information to get into anyone's bed, you would still be our Master.:

:Why?: Harry demanded, wanting the full answer to the question Dumbledore and Xeoaph thought they had had answered.

:Because you know pain.:

:No,: Harry put down his quill, focusing on the discussion, though to the other Gryffindors it probably just looked like he was deep in thought. :That explains how but not why and the how is such that if Father had survived that night, then you would call him Master and I'd either be dead or his heir. I want to know why.:

:Harry, you are our Master because without light there is no dark. We are not evil, though so many assume us to be, we are Dark. We know that without light there we cannot exist, but it is also more than that. If the world was fully dark, it would most likely descend into evil and that is not what we want. There has to be a balance, both between light and dark and between good and evil. You are a part of that balance.:

:No,: Harry said again. :None of that explains why you almost seem compelled to obey me.:

:We did not have to obey you,: the Shadows finally admitted. :If we had ignored your calls then we could have continued as we were, but we did not lie, you do revitalise us and you have from the moment of your birth. You are our true Master because you have known pain but we would have still been around you if you didn't, just we would not be this active, this awake or this powerful. We would have eaten your radiant light, never your actual light. We obey you Harry, because when the time came to choose, we chose to appear to you, we chose to obey you and in doing so we are now compelled. We obey you, Harry, because you are so powerful, your light gives us the power to do whatever we want. We want you happy with us because you also have the power to turn us away and send us back into the half-life we knew. So no, we did not have to obey you, though you could have compelled some things via your light. Because we chose though, you can now compel more. If you chose, you could make us into nothing more than light fearing little whipped spies for you, with no more thought than doing exactly what you tell us but the only reason you can do that is that we chose to answer your call initially. It has always been and always will be about choice but know this always, you are our light, we are your darkness and we exist in balance.:

:Thank you,: Harry said after several long moments of silence. He had never feared that the Shadows would turn on him, but he had not realised how completely they were bound to him. He had known they were bound to him, that much he could feel but he had never known he could abuse them the way they implied. Not that he would ever do that and the knowledge now sickened him and he could feel snot gathering in the back of his throat.

:Harry,: one of the Shadows said softly, and he felt a caress against his cheek. :One of the reasons we did chose to obey you is because we know you won't do that.: The Shadow seemed to giggle. :You are a good man, never forget that. You might send us away, that's always a risk, but you won't deliberately hurt us. You see other witches and wizards and you see them as your fellows, not something you can use. You see other magical creatures and you see the good, the humanity in them. Even if they are your enemy, you still respect them and try not to cause them pain. You do not attack or abuse, though you will defend. You even see the Muggles, a group most wizards and witches view as a sub–species, but you don't You see them as human still and you see the almost unlimited potential they have. There is no reason why we wouldn't have chosen to obey you.:

:But I love Lord Voldemort.:

:Yes,: the Shadow's full voice said. :And you will love him even if he destroys the world, even if he kills everyone you hold dear because he had shown you the truth and he has been honest with you. But while you would still love him, you would not be happy and you would not be with him or willing to let him rule. You would try to stop him, to reason with him and to show him that the path of destruction is the path of ruination. Though Master, you also know, the man your blood resurrected is not the same man who cast the killing curse against you. By taking your blood and the weak flesh of the traitor, he has altered somewhat and by taking in Xatarass, he altered further though all those changes could have been hidden. The day he admitted to himself that you were his leman, was the day the changes were forever embedded. He wants to please you as you want to please him, and in that desire lies the ability for your combined rule.:

Harry closed his eyes, leaning into the Shadow's caress. :You don't lie, but you do exaggerate,: he said to them silently. :You mean my rule.:

The Shadows somehow felt chagrined but unrepentant. :Your rule yes, in so far as we obey you but you are a sensible Master. If Voldemort truly has a good idea about something, you aren't going to deny it, simply because it wasn't your idea. Each of you will temper the other but in the end, for us, you are our Master. Not him and he is well aware that should you ever desire it, we would use our power against him. He's already discussed this with us.:

:I chose a sensible mate.:

:You did. Sensible in realising your power, but sensible also in realising that change is what will allow him to survive.:

Harry was silent for a while as he packed up his parchment and quills. After he put everything back in his bag he walked slowly up the stairs. :You give so much to me, yet I feel that I give you so little.:

:You give us everything, Master. It may seem inconsequential to you, but it is everything to us. The consumption of light allows us thought, allows us to suggest and manipulate. That is how we have existed for centuries and how we exist between Masters. Your light though gives us definition, gives us intelligence and gives us the ability to act, to do what we want. That is not something that is little or insubstantial. In return we give you our information and our service. It makes sense, Master. If we existed as your power allows us to, but without your guidance, why would we need such power, such abilities? We don't need to control humans, or wizards or witches, they cannot hurt us. We do so because they can hurt you and we use the abilities your power gives us to see that your desires are met because we simply do not have desires. We have will, but it is you who provides us direction.:

:All right,: Harry said finally, after he had changed and gotten into bed. He stared up at the canopy on his bed. The Shadows lined it so he could not see the red of the fabric. They were also wrapped around him, not tightly but gently, as if holding him. "I will give you direction," he whispered aloud closing his eyes as sleep began to creep up on him. "But you may not always like that direction."

As their Master fell asleep, the Shadows watched indulgently. He was young, but he was their Master and he had yet to learn that to them, the direction mattered very little. For them, there was only one direction and that was towards their Master. Beyond that... nothing mattered.

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