Things just felt like they were swirling around his head and Harry was just barely able to bring himself back out of the deafening silence in his head to note the woman running away.

Laughing.

Taunting.

Singing.

"I killed Sirius Black!~"

The words were all he could hear; it occurred to him that that seemed wrong, there had to be other things going on, voices, cries, screams, fighting, but no. It all was just…gone, and all that got through to the fifteen year old was that voice, that cruel evil voice, echoing over and over, not just in her repetition of them but within his own mind, like a broken record they repeated again and again. "I killed Sirius Black!~"

And before he even understood himself he was off and chasing and trying so hard to curse her. Harry had never really ever wanted to curse someone, never; he wanted to hurt people sometimes, more often lately than he ever knew before. When he looked at Dudley, when he saw Snape, when he was faced with the people who once hailed him as a hero and now looked upon him as a liar; violence was not a new thought to him but a curse? The Cruciatus Curse? It was Unforgivable, it was one of a set with that most henious of curses the Killing Curse; he had not even wished to curse Voldemort and the Dark Lord had killed his parents, made the last four-five years of his life more difficult than he even could explain and was getting away with it because of political bullshit.

But Bellatrix took away Sirius. Sirius, his godfather; Sirius, who had had to be in Azkaban for years for a crime he didn't even get a chance to actually commit; Sirius who spent those years being believed to be the one who betrayed his best friend, Harry's father James; Sirius who had been the only man who for a while Harry had been able to feel like actually cared about him. Not because he was the prophesied savior of the wizarding race, not just because he was his father's son, but because he was Harry. Sirius who had finally gotten out of the house, been able to do something, and now….Harry would never be able to escape the Dursleys and he would never get to talk to Sirius again or walk with Snuffles or see his godfather grin like he did when Harry did something against others wishes or just see Sirius again. And his last memory, his very last memory, set to haunt him forever would be the look on his godfather's face as he was shot by HER, by his own damned cousin, and fell through the Veil. He would never be able to forget and he would never be able to go back and she did that, Bellatrix Lestrange did.

She was still laughing and running about in a gleeful manner when, with every ounce of the pain in his heart, every bit of anger he kept so holed up in his soul, he screamed out, "CRUCIO!"

And with a scream of pain she fell; she collapsed and his wand stayed directed at her, eyes narrowed behind his glasses as she writhed and screamed in pain, no physical effect upon her body but there was no doubt she was in agony. And after a minute he released the spell, letting her catch her breath, and his mind rushed to how wrong this was. But even before she could speak, taunt him more, he spoke it again and set upon her once more with the Torture Curse.

Why did it feel so right? So much anger coursed through him and his mind became clouded; images of every time Dudley had chased him around and hit him when they were kids, and every time Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had locked him in the cupboard because of something he hadn't been able to understand back then. The time Draco had told on him and Hermione and Ron to Professor McGonagall about being out after hours. How he spent second year being mistrusted and called names because of his Parseltongue ability. Third year when he thought Sirius had been the one to betray his parents and how Marge had treated him and how much he found had been kept from him. Almost all fourth year. And then this year. And with each image, every thought, he shouted "Crucio" again, and again, and again. And each call made her scream and shriek, her body spasming with each new casting and Harry felt his anger just flow, surround him, encase him. And it felt so…good.

"Harry!" His thoughts were just barely cut into by the voice, so familiar but it took a moment to place it. And he lowered his wand to turn, slowly towards the source and there stood Dumbledore. The Hogwarts headmaster was frowning and looked quite concerned; looking at Bellatrix, panting and crying on the ground, he approached and gently reached out to take Harry's wand, "Harry, don't; don't let her poison you."

"Poison him?" said another voice, softer, lower, sinister and Harry glanced behind him to see the other side of this spectrum; Lord Voldemort, in all his serpentine glory, standing by his fallen lieutenant. She reached up to him and the Dark Lord looked at her for a second then gave a thoroughly cold smile before taking her hand, "Bella, can you stand?"

"Th-the b-boy is s-strong," she said and with great difficulty, and much more determination she got to her feet; her smile never faded, she was laughing more madly though before, and she watched Harry with bright eyes, "Master…."

"Yes," Voldemort said and looked at Harry, "Yes he is. More so than before. I must admit to some surprise; I did not really think you would have it in you to actually cast the Cruciatus spell on Bellatrix."

Harry frowned and spoke, calm and feeling odd still. "She killed Sirius."

"Yes she did," the Slytherin heir said and petted Bellatrix's hair, "She has killed many. I myself killed your parents. But do you wish to curse me?"

"Harry get behind me," Dumbledore said stepping forward and the young boy watched the headmaster. He frowned further as the elder wizard drew his wand and yet all Voldemort seemed willing to do was smirk.

Then speak, "Harry? Do you want to come with me?"

Harry furrowed his brow. Was Voldemort kidding? "You murdered my parents. I'm destined to fight you. You tried to kill me multiple times. You killed my friend Cedric-"

"Wormtail killed the boy."

"On your orders."

"True enough," Voldemort admitted and stepped closer, Bellatrix clinging to his arm, "But wouldn't you rather come with me?"

"Harry does not wish to go with you," Dumbledore said and raised his wand.

"Oh really? Let's ask him." Voldemort looked at the old wizard for a moment before turning back to Harry; Harry himself looked uncertain and so Voldemort went on, "I may be evil and dark and I have killed people. I took your parents from you as a child. I have indeed wanted you dead multiple times. But I'm telling you such; I'm an obvious evil before you. Can you say you can trust your beloved headmaster to be so transparent?"

Harry turned his gaze to Dumbledore as Voldemort spoke and continued to speak, "If you come with me I can make you stronger, I can give you further strength. Before I told you I would give you back your family but I see now how wrong that was; no, what you need isn't your old family."

"Harry, don't let him sway you," Dumbledore said but the elder wizard wasn't looking at him and he hadn't.

"You need a new one, you need people who won't hurt you, won't abandon you; come and I can help you nurture your skills, learn to speak Parseltongue properly, learn spells and curses that you could only ever dream of at Hogwarts. I see now I was wrong to try to kill you," the serpentine wizard spoke, in hisses and sweet words and it left Harry's head fuzzy. He wondered if this was how he enchanted his followers, made them follow him, made them so loyal; his handsome face was melted away to show the snake within but there still was Tom Riddle's smooth words and he couldn't help but keep staring at Dumbledore.

Just look at me, Harry's eyes seemed to plead, just once; actually look at me and see me and…. And what? The anger spoke; would it change this year? Would it magically make the summer less unbearable as no one would tell him anything? Would it change the stress he went through when he almost got expelled? Would it fix how ostracized he felt as Dumbledore had seemed to put so much work into avoiding him, and only him, as his fellow students who read the Daily Prophet treated him as if those stories were true? Would it bring back Sirius?

"Harry is a smart boy," the headmaster said and there was so much confidence and there finally, there was the look; he turned to look at Harry and as always was that fondness, that kindness Dumbledore always had and it filled the boy with hope, "You're free to make your choice of course, Harry, but remember; Voldemort doesn't really care for you. And he never can; you are safest with the Order, you cannot let his sweet words distract you."

"Professor," Harry said softly and Dumbledore gave him that knowing smile of his.

It didn't make him feel bad though as he thought at first it might as he raised his wand and spoke calmly, "Stupefy". Dumbledore's eyes behind his glasses widened and Harry watched him fall over, stunned; there was nothing to his gaze though, even as Voldemort laughed and clapped and welcomed the boy to him with open arms. Harry walked over of course and as he did others approached, Remus and Hermione leading the charge over; they had their wands out and pointed once they noticed Voldemort but then Luna cried out for Dumbledore and most of the small force rushed over to the fallen headmaster. Hermione alone though continued to stare over, her gaze on Harry specifically and he glanced at her for a moment too; their eyes met and she opened her mouth to speak but Voldemort, with a victorious smirk, took him into his arms and spoke first, "This is checkmate then."

With that he Apparated away, followed soon by a laughing Bellatrix. There was noise, the busyness of concern and confusion but Hermione continued to stare where once her best friend stood.

She couldn't help the tightening in her chest.

Vene: The title means "Guardians of the lost memories" according to Google (at least that's what I wanted it to read XD). Basically wanted to do a Harry Potter story where Harry, having gone through all that crud from book five/Order of the Phoenix, decides to not go with Dumbledore and his manipulations and go instead with Voldemort.

Nihon: Makes sense when you think about it; Dumbledore didn't really expect him to just go along with everything still despite the old man ignoring him so much and keeping him out of the loop and for what?

Vene: Stiiiilll as you'll see in following chapters, this isn't the end of it. Spoiler: like the title says, this isn't a story about Harry. It's actually about someone else we all know and many of us love

Nihon: And others hate

Vene: Yup!~ Hopefully you'll stick with us and we'll stick with this while we try to make it through everything; we promise to try to make it get interesting sooner rather than later

Nihon: For now we give you the prologue and the first chapter; hopefully you enjoy.