A/N
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers. Anything you don't, well, I'm laying claim to that.
Hi guys! I've given up on apologising for lack of Demons. Ideas keep appearing and then I keep failing to develop them in the right way! I have a rough, EXTREMELY rough structure in my head, and I JUST CAN'T GET IT RIGHT! Anyways, I had another idea for a fun story; It's an on-running thing, so, uh… Have fun!
He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his destination at last…
A black shape moved on the floor like a wounded animal… Harry thought he knew them… Just need to get closer…
A voice issued from his own mouth, a deep, rich voice, yet strangely familiar despite Harry knowing for certain he had never heard it before…
"Take it for me… … I must have it… Do you understand? Do you know what I'm saying? I can't touch it… He's protected it somehow… But you can… I know you're there…"
The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a gaunt face, familiar features, raised to his own in defiance.
"Lord Voldemort is waiting."
Somebody screamed, and he turned around, searching for the source. Somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold floor; Harry awoke, still screaming, his scar burning as it had never done before. And saw the great hall erupt around him.
Only an hour later, Harry was released from the hospital wing, and ran to find his friends.
'No, no, no! He can't have Sirius, not now! I... I… Wait. Wait… I can use this. I just need to get him alone so we can… Discuss things…'
"Harry! What's going on? Was it another dream?" Hermione had found him. Clever girl… Always one step ahead.
"Hermione, Ron! He's got Sirius!"
"What? Who, Harry?" Ginny? What was she doing here?
"Who do you think? Voldemort!" He barely registered the two flinches.
"How could You-Know-Who have him, Harry?"
"I don't know! Maybe he just left the house, he's been wanting to for ages!"
"How do you know?" How could Ron be this dull? Harry was pretty sure he wasn't this stupid when they first met… Then again, he'd been so desperate for friends he'd have ignored anything…
'Damn, I'll have to tell them about the mirror… Wait… Maybe not…'
"I've been talking to him." There. Even Ron should see I'm not willing to continue here… Certainly not in the hallway.
Harry was ripped out of his thoughts by Hermione muttering to Ron, something he certainly shouldn't have been able to hear…
"We're not supposed to know about the mirror, Ron…"
'I can address that later. Sirius!'
"We have to help him!"
"Where is he Harry?"
"Department of Mysteries!"
"So you're saying we, what? Run all the way there, steal some brooms? Umbridge took yours." Damn. Hermione was right.
Wait! Hmmm…
"You're right. Where's Luna?"
"…Huh?" Really Ron? That's all you're going to say? Merlin…
Here it is… Row 27. Where's Sirius? What's going on?
"H-harry…"
"What is it Neville? I know he's not here, but where is he?"
"Not that Harry, l-look… It has your name on it."
"What?!"
"The p-prophecy here. It says it's about you."
Harry turned, and looked where Neville was pointing. There was a prophecy with his name on it… Strange…
"You can touch prophecies about yourself, can't you?"
"I-I-I think so, H-harry…"
Hmm…
Wait. What was it Voldemort said?
"I can't touch it… He's protected it somehow… But you can… I know you're there…"
He wasn't talking to Sirius. Tom had been talking to him! He'd been tricked!
'He is the heir of Slytherin. What did I expect?'
Harry took the prophecy. It was obvious Voldemort wanted it for something, so, he'd need to send some…
"Well, well, well… What do we have here? It looks like you've come, then, Potter…"
Death Eaters. Lucius, even, along with… Is that Bellatrix?
"Aaaww, can't the little baby speak?"
Yep, Bellatrix. Joy. Not the best person to have around when you want to negotiate…
"Your master not with you, Lucius? How odd… I'd have thought Tom would want to be here for this…"
"Be quiet you little brat! Give me the prophecy, and I won't kill your little friends…"
"Stupefy! Run everyone! Go, I'll hold them off!"
Lucius easily blocked the weak stunner.
"Do you really think you can hold us off to let your friends escape, Potter?"
The others rounded the corner. Even in this situation, Harry was amazed at how fast his friends had managed to be…
"No. I did, however think I could for long enough for them to run out of earshot."
"What?"
"'What', Lucius? You're a Pureblood lord, and you say, 'what'?"
Bellatrix chose that moment to send a crucio at Harry, forcing him to jump out of the way, and send back a disarming curse followed swiftly by a Stunner. Neither hit their target, however, as Bellatrix chose twirled out of the way, and return with another crucio, and then both were sending the Unforgivable at Harry, forcing him to finally block. He threw up a shield which had the unfortunate side effect or blinding his two opponents.
"For Merlin's sake! I want to talk to The Dark Lord!" Bellatrix's face contorted in a snarl.
"Why should we…"
"Wait, Bella." The order and use of her school nickname actually shocked her enough to stop. "I want to join him."
That served to effectively shock the two enough for Harry to safely walk towards them. He stopped a few paces before them and held out his wand.
"Take me to him." Lucius took it from his hand, all the while looking at Harry as if he had never seen him before. Harry waited patiently a few moments while the two senior Death Eaters inspected him, until he started getting impatient.
"Do you have anyone chasing the others?"
"Of course we do."
"Then shouldn't we move quickly so that they don't stumble across this?"
This snapped them out of their daze.
"This way." Lucius and Bellatrix both turned then, gliding swiftly down the endless rows of prophecy orbs, leaving Harry to hurry along behind them. Lucius quickly pushed up his sleeve and put his wand to his Dark Mark.
"I thought that called the other Death Eaters. That's how Voldemort summoned you all the night he was resurrected?" He asked Lucius. To his great surprise, however, it was Bellatrix who answered.
"It depends on the wand. If it's The Dark Lord calling, the summons goes to his followers. If it's one of us, it tells him we need to speak with him, and he may come to us."
Shadows coalesced in front of the group, and slowly gained form to reveal…
A man. He was tall, taller even that Lucius, and elegant, dressed in black robes that seemed to almost flow around him, and he stood with the assurance of power and leadership. It was only when the two Death Eaters dropped to their knees in front of him that Harry realised the tall, powerful, handsome man in front of him was Voldemort.
"Harry…" The voice was the same as he'd heard in his dream: rich, but soft, and filled with power.
"Tom."
"You got my message?" It appeared he's decided to ignore the name. Harry smirked. This was going to be fun…
"Yes. We need to talk."
"Would you like to go somewhere more comfortable to do so?"
"That would be good. It's not always best to discuss terms where anyone could hear you…"
Voldemort stepped up to Harry, and, before he could even move, grabbed his arm and apparated away.
They reappeared in a comfortable-looking office, the walls covered with bookshelves, with at least 200 books arranged neatly around. The floor was covered in a dark green carpet, and in the centre of the room was a large, dark oak desk, with a comfortable chair on either side. Harry allowed himself to be led to the desk, and took a seat opposite the man who'd been trying to kill him for the last 4 years, and grinned.
"So… You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes. I'm tired of the Light. It's not what I want. They're hypocrites, liars, and all worse bigots than a Malfoy, all led by the manipulative old goat himself, Albus fucking Dumbledore."
"I… See…" Was that… Surprise? He'd managed to surprise the man, again?
"Yes, so I wanted to speak to you about a… Partnership."
"A partnership? You know that's not how I generally work things."
"But I'm where you should make an exception. I don't do well at submitting to others, and, to be quite honest, I'm a lot more powerful that your normal follower."
"Oh really? How powerful?"
"I fended off over a hundred Dementors with a fully corporeal Patronus when I was 13. I killed a Basilisk at 12. I won the Triwizard Tournament when I was 14. Take a guess."
"A Basilisk? What are you talking about?" Harry's eyes widened.
"You don't know? When I was twelve, the Chamber of Secrets was opened."
"What?!"
"Lucius had given Ginny Weasley your Diary, and she was possessed, and unleashed a Basilisk on the school, which I was blamed for, by the way, having revealed my Parseltongue ability accidentally, and then Hermione was petrified, so Ron and I found the entrance in the bathroom, with a little help from your last victim…"
"Wait, what? My last victim died…"
"… And now haunts the bathroom she died in."
"Ah."
"Anyway, we went down, Ron got trapped with Lockhart, who'd accidentally obliviated himself with Ron's broken wand, so I went ahead, confronted your 16-year-old self, who talks way too much, by the way, found out your name, killed the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor, got bitten, and then was healed by Fawkes' tears."
"I see."
"By the way, I hope Lucius and Bella haven't gone back to the action?"
"No, they're waiting outside my office." Well, that's a relief. It would have been awkward to explain if they just appeared and I appeared a long time afterwards."
"So? Do we have a deal, Tom? We work as equals, and I provide you with another spy in Hogwarts, and the two of us work against the Light?"
Voldemort smiled. Smiled!
"I think we do."
A/N
Well, what do you think? Please leave reviews, I really do appreciate them! Look for updates soon! I plan on updating this hopefully more often than I do Demons. Cya guys!