NOTE ADDED 4-28-05: As of today, has banned song lyrics of any kind in a story, under penalty of deletion of the offender's account. Thus, I have removed the song lyrics from this songfic. You can see the full version at my website, the link to which is in my profile.

A/N: Short songfic for Evanescence's 'Haunted'. Not my usual style; It's ominous, dark, and foreboding. Don't read this if you want a happy ending. -oneshot-

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"Today, we will be working on turning a bird into a bat. Cross-species transfigurations are especially difficult because of the difference in bone-structures..." Professor McGonagall droned in front of the class, as Harry Potter dully scratched notes onto his parchment with his quill. He was in Transfiguration class, and was listless beyond reason.

Harry had been exceedingly restless of late, pacing in the common room for no apparent reason, being paranoid and alert at all times, and never relaxing. His two best friends were worried sick about him. Even Dumbledore had noticed his strange behavior, yet no one knew what was wrong with him.

Except for Harry.

Harry knew exactly what was happening to him, and it was terrible.

But strangely, he didn't want to stop it.

Voldemort had begun a new plan of action to take over the wizarding world, by utilizing Harry Potter. Using the bond forged between them when Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, he had begun taking Harry's thoughts away, and replacing them with his own, molding Harry into a sort of second Voldemort, a new warrior for the dark.

Harry knew what was happening. He knew it was going to result in terror, and he knew he should tell Dumbledore. But for some reason, he didn't. He just continued on with his life, as if nothing were happening.

It wasn't as if he wanted to become a second Dark Lord. He just couldn't bring himself to tell Dumbledore, or anyone else, for that matter. It was as if his body wouldn't listen to him. He fought against Voldemort invading his mind, but he was fighting a losing battle.

He terrified himself often, as he found himself wondering what it would be like to cast the Cruciatus curse on an annoying first-year, or how he wanted to kill his teacher, Professor Snape. He hated that he now had an evil part of him, but all the same, part of him embraced it, loving it.

He struggled as hard as he could, fighting against Voldemort's power invading his mind, but he was being rapidly drained of his resolve, as Voldemort haunted his every thought. More often than not, the only possible savior of the wizarding world found himself wondering why he didn't just give up and surrender. Surely, it would be better than this mental and emotional torture and exhaustion. Anything had to be better than this.

If he surrendered, he could become powerful, and have anything he wanted. Having grown up with the Dursleys, he had never had control over any aspect of his life. He would get the attention he craved since childhood from Death eaters obeying his every command, and worshipping the ground he walked on. He could do anything, using Dark magic to manipulate the world. And no one could stop him, since Voldemort was the only one who could kill him, and they'd be working together, Yet he resisted the temptation.

Somehow, he held on. He held on to his last bit of resolve with all his strength, determined not to give in to the Dark Lord. The only thing that kept him going was a bit of hope, that somehow, someway, things would get better without him going over to the Dark side.

He sighed, flicking his wand randomly at the sparrow on his desk, changing its feathered wings into leathery ones. He had to keep going about life as usual. If he didn't, he would be giving into Voldemort, by letting him effect his normal life.

He was determined that that would never happen.

But who knew how long his stamina would last?

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I'm in a dark mood. I'll post something lighter soon. I need to get this out of my system first, though.

Remember, please review!