Lord Voldemort's encounter with the Gray Men

Lord Voldemort prided himself on only acting on plans that were very well thought through.

Of course there were a few mistakes made by him in the past. He wouldn't deny this (well, at least when he was alone) like his attack on the Potter family, without knowing the whole prophecy or, well, a few other things too. But he had analysed this one quite thoroughly.

He had first heard of these people through rumours. Gossip his death eaters talked about, or scary tales they told to their children, so they would behave.

'Don't do that, or the gray man will come.'

'If you don't behave the gray man will get you…'

Things like that. Scary tales for children.

He hadn't really believed it too, when one of his subordinates cried about having seen one of those. Not to him, of course (he couldn't be bothered with his underlings ailments) but to another Death Eater.

The one that had claimed to have seen these grey man had vanished only shortly after. Not by the Dark Lords hand, mind you.

This had peeked Voldemort's interest eventually and he had started to research.

As it turned out these gray people did exist.

He had first read many books, that could even remotely have a chance of saying anything about these rumoured gray people. He found close to nothing there.

He tried to remember if he'd heard anything of use about these mysterious people while on his wanderings and was pretty sure that there had been something… about demons or at least something close to that.

It took him longer than he cared to admit, as autumn had already started to end. Winter would be coming soon (and he had started his search sometime during summer), but he had finally found something. More than something.

A name.

And someone that knew how to contact that person, this Earl of Millennium, who seemed to be controlling these gray men.

Said person called himself a broker. It was a muggle doctor who lived on Bulgary. Apparently these brokers somehow worked with this Millennium Earl, giving him information on people who were mourning and thus easy prey, or something else that could be of interest for the Earl and in return getting money.

Voldemort of course wasn't interested in money. At least not so much, that he would take such a great risk for it. What he was interested in, was getting the assistance of these gray man in the coming war.

And he would get it too. Who in their right mind would after all decline the possibility of working with the greatest Dark Lord of this century? (aside from a very annoying boy-who-lived and a few of those asinine Dumbledore worshippers)

He had talked to the broker, personally even (if you wanted to get something done, you had to do it yourself.) and that doctor had promised him to ask the Earl for an audience with him. The Earl had, of course, agreed.

And now he was waiting.

They had agreed on meeting at 4pm, and so Voldemort had taken his most trusted followers, in case something didn't go as planned, to the throne room and waited. He wasn't exactly sure how this Earl wanted to meet him here, as he had several anti-apparition wards installed, but he supposed you could see that as some kind of test. If these people were able to get here, then they were at least worth listening to.

It just seemed that they weren't able to get here, as it was now already 4:45pm and there was no sign of any kind of infiltration to his headquarters.

He was getting impatient. And he didn't like having to wait for someone. His ire was rising and his followers became agitated too observing their masters bad mood.

The time ticked away further, his followers fidgeting got worse and Voldemort was already fantasising about how to torture and kill this useless muggle doctor, that had obviously messed with him.

Just as he decided that a simple crucio wasn't enough pain to compensate with this embarrassment something happened.

A door suddenly shot out of the floor, right in the middle of his throne room. It wasn't a normal door either, but a red and black chequered one in heart form. It was quite ugly if you asked him. And if he hadn't been waiting for something to happen he might've been just as surprised as most of his death eaters. But he had already expected that this Earl wouldn't simply knock on his door.

He signalled his Death Eaters to at once form a passage from the door to his throne, so that the Earl would have a suitable reception.

Slowly it opened and the silhouette of a rather small boy stepped out. He wore relatively formal clothes, black slacks, a white button down shirt with a red ribbon and an enormous top hat, with flowery decoration on it, under which unruly black hair peeked out, that partly shadowed the newcomer's face.

Voldemort's first thought was, that the Earl was smaller than he had expected. His second was, that he was being messed with again, as that couldn't be the Earl.

But he wouldn't act too rashly, first he'd listen to what this stranger had to say. That didn't stop him nodding to the Death Eaters in the back, motioning for them to point their wands at him.

A broad grin spread on the unknown boy's face as he put one hand in front of him and with the other took off his top hat, bowing to him in a most exaggerating way.

"Greetings to you, Lord Voldemort," he said, still grinning wildly and looked up. A pair of startlingly emerald green eyes met his blood red ones. A lightning bolt scar was on the boys forehead. Both him and the rest of his servants lifted their wands.

„Tut tut, Mister Dark Lord. I wouldn't have suspected such hospitality from you," the boy said, not making any move to defend himself instead swinging his finger at him as though reprimanding a small child "and that after I have taken it upon myself to secretly get away from Hogwarts, only to meet you! I am truly, deeply disappointed mister," he went on, a pout coming to his face and he crossed his arms.

"Potter," Voldemort growled.

"Riddle," Harry Potter chirped, a sweet smile forming on his lips.

"What in Merlin's bloody name are you doing here?" Voldemort asked, suppressing his anger. He could kill the boy later, first he wanted answers.

"What are you talking about? I was informed, that you wanted to meet today?"

What was the Potter brat playing at? Did he maybe, seriously think he was the Millennium Earl? If so, the boy really needed a reality check.

"Potter, I ask you again. What. Are. You. Doing Here? You are surrounded and without any backup as far as I can see, so if you had planned on killing me here you should have prepared better," he explained, watching the boy's face shift as he was talking. Potter's face was being more expressive than he had ever seen before and at the moment he looked confused, his head tilted to the side.

"Why'd I try to kill you? As far as I've been informed you were interested in being a broker, right? Or did ya change your mind?"

"How did you get that information?" he growled out lowly. And how was Potter able to get in here? There were wards preventing people, other than his Death Eaters, from apparating in and even so, that hadn't been apparition.

"I told you, I was told. Millenny send me!" Harry exclaimed petulantly, arms still crossed defensively. "But we don't need to make a deal, you know, I could just blow it off," he continued, suddenly smirking in a way that send chills down a few of his lesser Death Eaters.

"So, you do not pretend to be the Millennium Earl?" Voldemort asked, making Potter snort.

"Of course not! I'm far too small for that. And I didn't even get to take Rero. It'd be completely unrealistic to try and imitate the Earl without Rero!"

"Rero?" he asked perplexed.

"Yeah, it's so mean! Road's always hoarding him for herself! I wanna play with him sometimes too, you know. But nooooo. She's the oldest so she gets the Playing Right... and by that logic I'll be never be allowed to take him along! I mean, even if she died I wouldn't! in that case Tiky will take him long before me an-"

"Stop it Potter, I have no idea what you are talking about." And he felt like he'd get a headache "Just tell me how you came here first," he decided to ask. Potter shouldn't be able to get off topic from that question

"Through the door of course," Potter said, pointing behind himself at said heart shaped door. Okay, how come the boy wouldn't stop talking when he only asked about Rero, and when it was something important he wouldn't spit it out? Had he learned how to keep secrets?

He took a deep breath.

"How did the door appear here?" he asked exasperated

"Road made it."

"Road?"

"My big sister! The one who's always hoarding Rero, you know," he said smiling again.

"Yes, how could I have forgotten?" he asked rhetorically.

"Really, how could you? You were after all the one asking after him before! It'd only be polite to pay attention when someone explains something you asked after, if you want to know about it, you know? If you aren't capable of remembering what you're told..." Voldemort felt like a vein might burst in his head if he had to listen to that boy anymore than he already had, and he just wouldn't stop talking again! What was wrong with that child? Didn't he realize that he was in enemy territory? That he was quite close to being tortured and killed?

"Potter, do shut up for a minute," he ground out at last, realizing that the brunette was still blabbering on.

Maybe he should simply Avada Kedavra him right now...it'd most likely save quite a bit of time... but then he wouldn't get any answers. What if the Order had somehow found a way to get into his hideout? Or there was truly a spy amongst his subjects?

He looked at the boy again who had started singing some weird song while looking around. He truly didn't seem too sane at the moment...

And he was just so annoying...!

"Did the order send you?" he asked as calmly as he could.

'~Sennenkou wa saggashitte yo~'

"Potter, I asked if the order send you."

'~Daiji na hearto saggashite yooo~'

"Sectumsempra!" Voldemort screamed, finally losing his last nerve. He missed, or rather Potter jumped out of the way in a rather artistic way and stuck out his tongue childishly.

"You missed me! You missed me!" he shouted gleefully, dancing around in front of him while laughing loudly, nearly taking on a maniacal tone.

"Really now Voldylord I thought you were better mannered than that? Actually attacking your business-partner like that."

"You are no business-partner! I expected the Millennium Earl, and instead I get the boy-who-lived!" Voldemort finally screamed enraged.

"Eeeeeh, you really thought Millennie would come personally? He's got better things to do, than visit every possible broker."

This made Voldemort stop in his tracks. Maybe... maybe this wasn't a trick by the order, but really truly someone send by this Earl...

"Tell me boy, are you really Harry James Potter?" He asked, having to make sure.

"That's me to a tee!" Potter smirked, looking decidedly too dangerous for Voldemort's liking "Hey that rhymed!" the boy laughed again, ruining the effect. Or in a way, acting creepier than before, considering that he seemed decidedly mad.

"If you truly are Harry Potter, then why are you here, who are your alliances truly lying with?" he asked lowly.

"My family of course," Potter stated seriously.

"The Muggles?" Voldemort questioned slightly shocked. As far as he had heard (from Snape) the muggles Potter lived with weren't of the most loving kind. By the wrinkling of his nose, and the slightly disgusted look that came to Potter's face it was not the muggles.

"Of course not! These stupid humans were never my family," the brunette stated, a sneer on his face. Voldemort wondered shortly about Harry using the term 'human' instead of 'muggle', but let it go for now.

"If not them, then who is that family you are so loyal to?"

"I don't think you need to know that Voldemort. My family is with the Earl, and that is all, that you need to know. Plus, I'd have thought that you would have been better informed, when dealing with someone like Millenny." Even though the context was quite serious, Voldemort felt like dealing with a child that was pouting. He wondered, if he gave the boy some sweets, would he act like one too and just tell him what he wanted to know?

Then something came to him. the people that were with the Millennium Earl... could it be "... the gray man...?" he mumbled mostly to himself, but the boy seemed to have heard anyways, if the loudly screamed "BINGO!" (and the jumping up and down waving flags) was anything to go by. Quite a few of his Death Eaters took several steps back at that.

"But... why is it called gray man? You're neither wearing anything of that colour, nor is anything else about you grey," he commented and a shit eating grin spread across the boy's lips.

"Is that so?" he asked lowly, and right before his eyes a change occurred.

The boy's brown hair turned a shade darker, nearly being black now, his pale skin turned to a dark grey and the eyes, that sparkled like emeralds turned to molten gold. In the middle of his forehead a cross-shaped scar appeared, then on both of its sides another smaller one. This continued, until there were seven cross shaped scars on his forehead, even obscuring the lightning bolt one that Voldemort had given him.

All in all, the boy looked decidedly inhuman now.

"So, Voldymort, are you happy now?" the boy asked, still grinning widely showing of his white teeth, that now contrasted quite with the grey skin. And was it only him or were those teeth sharper than before?

Voldemort scowled at being called by a stupid nickname yet again, but he smothered the desire to once again attack the boy. It seemed, that he had spoken the truth... he didn't think Potter would be quite stupid enough to pull a prank of these proportions, not with the danger that was involved with something quite so stupid.

But then... how'd Potter of all people, Gryffindor's golden boy, the saviour, end up with these kind of people? Also, the boy seemed to be slightly unstable... right now, he was humming some relatively creepy melody to himself, while balancing three sharp knives that were put upon each other at their smallest point on his index finger.

Maybe the graveyard and his revival ritual had done more to the boys psyche than he had thought?

"Aaaaanyways, mister Voldymoldy, what do you want now? We were told you wanted to be a broker, what do you want in exchange?" he asked happily.

"What could I gain? And what exactly would you want in return?" he asked to make sure. He had thought, that he wanted control of the gray men, but he wasn't so sure anymore...

"Weeell~ that would depend on what you want. You aren't really a person in a position mourning people come to for comfort, but since you are leading a war, you will make quite a few people turn into mourning ones. So for now, it'd be enough to just kill a few people and then tell us which families those were. We'll just check if they're worth visiting.

"As for your exchange... most people simply want money?" the boy said, starting to juggle with his knives.

"I see... and Potter, I hope your people are able to give more than money. You should know, that I have enough of that," Voldemort sneered, gaining a resounding laugh of the grey boy.

"No, I didn't think you'd want money. You've got Malfoy after all. Well, maybe we could give you command of a few Akuma around here?"

"Akuma?"

"Yes, they're these nifty little weapons Millenny creates. They can be quite useful, you know,"

"Why can't I have control of you grey people?" Potter snorted, and then he laughed out loud.

"How the heck did you get that idea? We wouldn't follow you. We've got better things to do!" The boy laughed on, as if that were the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Then, what if I decide, that I do not want a deal anymore?" Voldemort asked slightly miffed.

"I'll kill you of course!" the boy still laughed slightly "Really, now mister Dark Lord, did you think I would give you all of that information and then let you live?" a smirk started to form on the boys lips again, and several of his death eaters (and even him slightly) blanched "I actually wanted to kill you from the beginning, you know? It's only because Millenny said you'd be useful to us and then he said, that I'd have to go!" he started to rant "Only because I'm closest –locally speaking– and know most about wizardry! It's so mean, don't you think so too?!" he cried, and the floor around him seemed to form some frost...

Voldemort laughed at that "How do you suppose you would be able to kill me?! You are alone in the midst of my best and most loyal death eaters! You would be the one to die here, should I wish to not make that deal"

"We'll see..."

~oOo~

"Tykiiii~!" Harry shouted as he jumped out of the door and right on Tyki Mikk, swinging his arms around his neck and thus hanging off of him.

"Harry, you're back already?" the older boy asked as he took a drag from his cigarette, not at all bothered by the boy on his back.

"Yup. It was really boring, you know! I could kill just about no one!" he complained "And you could be just a teeny-weeny bit happier that I took the time to visit you! I could have gone back to school at once too, if I'd wanted!" he exclaimed, hugging Tyki even tighter.

"Yaay...I'm so glad you came over~" the teen said 'enthusiastically'.

"Good enough," Harry decided and then wrinkled his nose "You stink, you know? Have you been spending your time with the humans again?" he asked perplexed. He never really understood, why Tyki felt so attached to his human friends. Sure, the first few weeks after his awakening he'd wanted to keep his friends too, but after having stayed at Hogwarts for a while, he could tell, that Noah and humans just didn't mix. If it weren't for the fact, that Millenny had told him to stay at Hogwarts undercover for information, and looking for innocence he'd have gone back to live with his family ages ago. Or, well, months ago. He hadn't been a Noah for THAT long after all.

"You are with humans too, but do you ever hear me complaining about your stench?" Tyki said exasperatedly.

"Of course not. I'm still taking baths after all," Harry said sticking out his tongue, but then sat down on Tyki's lap again.

"I mean, seriously. You do know that most humans wash themselves these days at the very least once a week! You don't need to act like an animal. Homo Sapiens are still a bit different from them," Harry lectured on, while leaning back. He could wash his clothes later, and it wasn't like he didn't stink of humans himself, what with him being surrounded by them every day.

"Harry the people I work with don't have the luxury of taking baths," Tyki tried explaining as he leaned his chin on Harry's head. The boy's hair was really soft and he had the perfect height for this.

"But you have," Harry pouted.

"And it wouldn't be suspicious at all if I were the only worker there that's clean," Tyki said sarcastically. There didn't come a retort from Harry, so he guessed he had won that argument... for now. It was one that they'd had since forever and Tyki supposed that it was more about him spending any time with humans at all and less about his hygiene... Time to change the subject!

"So, aside from you not being able to kill anyone, how did the mission go?" He asked as he lightened another cigarette.

"Oh, alright I guess. Voldy agreed to be a broker for the use of the Akuma there. And I did get to freeze a few Death Eaters..." He said, not very enthusiastically.

"Well, that's good right?" Tyki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but it's sorta boring that I wasn't allowed to kill him... I really don't like him you know. But I guess, it's still better him than Dumbledore."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh! And I agreed to go and play traitor in the big war!" Harry exclaimed suddenly happy again "Totally forgot about that one!"

"You forgot about it...?"

"'Uh-huh! Well, so long as I don't forget it on the battlefield! Ooooh~, I can't wait to see everyone's shocked faces!" Harry laughed at that and Tyki looked down at him fondly.

The kid had changed so much since his awakening, but he seemed more like himself then before... being the child he was never allowed to be. And well, he supposed the usual madness that seemed to circle his family played a role in that too.

Still, he was glad that Harry allowed himself to be himself with his family.

...And other people now too it seemed...

He stood up and sat Harry down on his feet. Then he leaned down and gave Harry a short peck on the lips.

"Well, I gotta go now. And you need to get back to that school of yours too, if you don't want your disappearance to be noticed," he said.

"Oh, okay," Harry said pouting slightly, then he crinkled his nose "You taste like smoke," he complained making Tyki chuckle.

"Don't laugh! That's not yummy at all! At least brush your teeth before you try kissing me again!"

"Aww, come on you don't mean that!" Tyki complained at that. Brushing his teeth every time he wanted to kiss? Harry knew that he was a chain-smoker!

"Yes! Every time! Or no more kisses," he grinned cheekily at that.

"That's not fair, Harry!" But instead of listening the other just laughed.

"Well, gotta go back to Hogwarts now! See you!" he chirped and jumped through Road's door, which closed right behind him, cutting of Tiky's complains.

"Cheeky brat," he mumbled to himself and took another drag of his cigarette "I hope he'll have forgotten about that by next week..." he murmured as he went back to the coal mine.

~The End~

A.N. Alright... I have no idea how that turned out the way it did... I just wanted to write a Noah!Harry story, and I like reading stories where he's slightly mad, so it started with an idea and then somehow wrote itself ;D

Hope you liked it! And thanks for reading! :)

Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of it! :D Even a simple 'nice story' will be very much appreciated by me! :)

Constructive Criticism is welcome as well!

P.S. I'm really not sure what Genre this should be considered as (aside from humour maybe)... any ideas?