A Strange Conversation
Chapter One
Harry wand wavered in his hand as he pointed it at the crazy woman lying on the floor in front of him. Bellatrix Lestrange lay crumpled at his feet as a result of the crucio that he had just fired at her. She was at his mercy; with just a word he could kill her. She deserved to die for what she had done to Neville's parents, for what she had done to him.
"You've got to mean it Harry." Came a whispered voice. Harry knew that voice; it was the one that had haunted his dreams all summer long.
"She killed him." It was so coaxing and Harry felt himself yearning to give in to that voice.
"She deserves it." The voice was right she did deserve it.
"You know the spell Harry." The whispered fact made Harry think of why he knew the spell. It was such a simple spell and it had taken so much from him. Such simple words had destroyed his life.
Harry felt a presence twist around him and something inside of him coiled to answer it.
"Do it!" the voice sounded directly in his ear and the impatience in the voice caused Harry to turn around and look for the source. What he saw made his eyes widen. Only a few feet away from him stood the very Dark Lord that he had been fighting against almost all of his life.
Neither Harry nor Lord Voldemort moved. They merely stared at each other, one in surprise and fear and the other in anticipation and impatience. Bellatrix Lestrange lay where she had fallen to the floor behind Harry, completely forgotten by the two who stood before her.
After the silence had dragged on for few minutes and neither of them had moved the voice whispered in his ear, "Well Harry? Are you going to do it?"
Harry's head jerked back slightly in surprise at the sound of Voldemort's voice when he hadn't opened his mouth.
Voldemort smiled at his surprise and then asked, "Well?"
Harry blinked at Voldemort in confusion and managed to get his voice back enough to ask, "What?"
Voldemort rolled his eyes in annoyance as he said, "Really Harry, all of my information says you're rather bright." He paused and took a few steps around Harry so that he could see Bellatrix easier before he continued, "So will you accept my gift?"
"What gift are you giving me?" asked Harry. His guard was up, but he knew that he stood no chance against Voldemort in a duel. His last encounter with the Dark Lord had shown him that they were on different skill levels entirely. It would take him years before a duel between them would be anything less then a joke. He knew that the only reason why he had escaped last time was because of luck and the help.
"Why, my gift of Bellatrix Lestrange." said Voldemort as he gestured down to where Bellatrix lay looking up at them. "She's already at your mercy. I will not step in to save her, so you are free to decide her fate." He walked over to Harry till he was standing directly in front of him. He lowered his head till he was right next to Harry's ear and he whispered, "I know how much you loved your parents and Sirius. I also know how much you suffered under the hands of those muggles Dumbledore calls your relatives. Consider this my gift of apology for inadvertently putting you through such an awful life."
"And what about the deaths of my parents?" asked Harry in an argumentative voice as he took a step away from the Dark Lord.
"I think I suffered as a disembodied spirit long enough for their deaths." Said Voldemort with a slight hint of humor in his voice, as if he found Harry's attitude funny. He continued, "So do you accept my gift?" This time his voice brooked no argument and demanded an answer.
"I-" Harry looked from Lord Voldemort to the crazy woman who was now looking between him and the Dark Lord in terror. The sight of her completely terrified of the fact that he had been put in charge of her fate made him feel powerful and he found he liked the feeling. He looked back at Voldemort and looked him straight in the eyes as he said, "I accept."
Voldemort smiled at him and bowed his head slightly as he said, "As you wish, she is yours." He backed away from the two of them, but was halted before he got very far by Bellatrix clinging to the edge of his robe.
"No Master, no!" she cried in terror as she crawled closer to him. "Please! I'll do better. Don't let the filthy half-blood kill me!"
Harry saw a flash of anger in Voldemort's eyes at Bellatrix's words and when he spoke Harry could hear the anger in his voice.
"Silence." hissed Voldemort. "You killed your cousin Sirius Black. Harry defeated you while you were trying to flee. I will not stop him from destroying you if he so wishes."
"But…" Whatever plea Bellatrix had been forming died on her lips under the Dark Lord's angry glare.
Voldemort ripped his cloak from her grasp and turning back to Harry said, "She is all yours."
Harry nodded and stepped forward as he pointed his wand at Bellatrix. "This is for killing my godfather." Harry's voice was deeper then normal when he spoke. His hand was steady as he held his wand. "Avada Kadavra."
As he spoke those two words a bright green light shot from the end of his wand and hit the cowering woman before him. She managed a mangled scream before the light hit her and she became silent forever. For a few moments after he uttered the killing curse Harry's eyes glowed a brilliant green.
A slow clapping sound echoed through the hall and Harry turned to see Voldemort giving him a small smile.
"I didn't think you'd be able to pull that off." said Voldemort with that smile still on his face. "It takes an awful lot of anger and hate to use that curse the first time. I wonder just how much rage you've had to bottle up in the past few years."
Harry shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It felt really easy."
"Really." said Voldemort with a raised eyebrow. "You know, you could very well be on the same level as me in a few years," he paused, "that is, if you got the proper training. If you keep learning at the rate you re at Hogwarts, you'll never reach your potential."
"You sound as if you want me to reach my potential." Said Harry, once again slightly confused. "I thought you wanted to kill me."
"Why would I want to do that?" asked Voldemort with another raised eyebrow.
"You've tried to kill me every year since I started school." Said Harry incredulously. "How are you saying that you don't want to kill me?"
"If I wanted to kill you I would have done so." Said Voldemort. "Besides I never really threatened your life. In your first year I offered you a chance to join me and tried to get the sorcerer's stone."
"You told Quirrell to kill me."
"I was angry, sometimes I say things I don't entirely mean. Quirrell wouldn't have killed you, he was just trying to get the stone for me."
"What about my other years?"
"In your second year that wasn't really me, that was my past self. I suspect that he had gone slightly crazy from being inside of that diary for so long. In your third year you didn't actually fight me. All of your trouble from that year was because of your godfather, Peter Pettigrew, and the Dementors. And last year that entire duel was to test your skills. Though I must admit I did not expect our wands to connect in such a way. I never intended to kill you." Voldemort spoke matter-of-factly and Harry realized that everything he had said was true.
"What about Cedric Digory?" asked Harry.
"Oh, the other boy last year. He should have never made it to the center of the maze. I had to kill him to keep my return a secret."
"But I saw you return."
"Yes," Said Voldemort, "but almost no one believed you, did they?"
Harry opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't think of anything so he closed it again and simply nodded.
"What now?" asked Harry.
Voldemort began to reply, but was cut off by one of the fireplaces along the sidewall bursting into fire and Dumbledore stepping out of the green flames.
"It was foolish of you to come here tonight Tom." Said Dumbledore as he walked towards them, his wand held ready at his side. He spotted the dead body of Bellatrix lying splayed out on the floor between Harry and Voldemort, Harry's wand held tightly in his hand at the ready.
"Harry, did you kill her?" asked Dumbledore, his voice filled with worry.
"Honestly Dumbledore," said Voldemort loudly, drawing Dumbledore's attention away from Harry, "you really don't trust him do you? You see one dead body and you instantly think your Golden Boy did it, even though I, a known murderer, stand right here." Voldemort waved his wand at Dumbledore in a scolding manner, "Really, I don't understand why he hangs around with people who don't trust him."
"I'm sorry Harry." Said Dumbledore in apology. "I shouldn't jump to such wild conclusions." He turned back to Voldemort and asked, "So how did she die?"
"She had failed me too many times." Said Voldemort simply.
"The auroras are on their way." Warned Dumbledore, his voice filled with relief at Voldemort's words.
"By which time I shall be gone, and you shall be dead." Said Voldemort as he backed a few paces away from Harry.
Before Harry could even blink he felt himself pushed to the side by a spell from Dumbledore. He watched in awe as the two spells Voldemort and Dumbledore fired at each other hit and connected.
Harry covered his head with his arms as one of Voldemort's spells hit the wall above his head.
"Sorry about that," Said Voldemort's voice in Harry's ear with a slight chuckle, causing him to jump slightly, "but I have to make Dumbledore think I want to kill you after all."
Harry decided not to say anything in response to that and simply continued to cover his head as Voldemort blew more of the tiles above him to bits.
As he watched, Voldemort created a ball of fire, which morphed into a gigantic fiery serpent that attacked Dumbledore. Dumbledore destroyed the snake and sent the fire flying back at Voldemort, who made it disappear. While he was distracted, Dumbledore captured him in a floating sphere of water.
As Dumbledore struggled to hold Voldemort Harry got to his feet and staggered to stand behind Dumbledore. Suddenly Harry felt himself pushed back once again by a spell from Dumbledore and he fell to the ground. Voldemort used Dumbledore's lapse in attention to break free of the watery prison and then attack with a blast of pure dark magic. Dumbledore managed to reflect the magic back at Voldemort only to have him collect it and then release it all in one gigantic blast.
The blast sent Dumbledore to the floor and both he and Harry covered their heads as all of the windows in the hall exploded. While Dumbledore was struggling to stand, Voldemort sent the broken glass flying over his head like a million tiny daggers towards where Harry and Dumbledore still lay. Dumbledore managed to get to his knees just before the first of the glass reached them. He created a giant shield and as the shards flew through it, they turned into nothing but sand.
Harry covered his head once again as a giant wind blew the sand at him. When the sand stopped he looked up to see Voldemort still standing with his wand ready to attack. Then his arms dropped to his sides and he took a few steps back away from them.
Suddenly the sand swirled up from the ground to circle around him, it then dropped down, just as quickly as it had come up, to reveal nothing where Voldemort had stood a second before.
Harry gasped as he felt something strange enter his mind. A twinge of pain raced through him and he collapsed to the ground. His breath kept catching in his throat, he felt as if his blood was on fire, and his eyes glowed a brilliant green.
"I apologize for this as well." Whispered Voldemort's voice inside his mind. " Put on a good show for the old man, will you?" The voice paused to read his thoughts and then said, "Good."
Harry looked up slightly to see Dumbledore kneeling in front of him with a worried expression on his face.
"You've lost old man." Said Harry, but his voice came out a mixture of his own and Voldemort's.
"Neat trick, isn't it?" said Voldemort's voice in Harry's head. He read Harry's agreement and chuckled slightly, "Don't go to far with your act, or else Dumbledore might try to kill you to kill me." Voldemort read Harry's agreement once again and chuckled a little more.
Dumbledore leaned in closer, but jumped back slightly as Harry's head started jerking back and forth on the floor. Harry thrashed as if he was in pain as Voldemort's voice chuckled quietly in the back of his mind, clearly enjoying the show.
"Harry…" Dumbledore's voice died in his throat as Harry continued to writhe in pain.
"You're so weak, right now," Whispered Voldemort's voice, "so vulnerable. You need proper training." Voldemort could read Harry's agreement and then added, "You should end this charade now." A mental nod was Harry's only response.
"Harry, it isn't how you are alike. It is how you are not." Said Dumbledore, obviously trying to help him fight off Voldemort's control. His voice was filled with worry, "Harry."
Harry saw his friends standing behind Dumbledore and said, "You're the weak one. And you'll never know love…or friendship. And I feel sorry for you."
"You don't really mean that do you?" asked Voldemort's voice. Harry gave the mental negative and Voldemort said, "Oh, that's alright then. You may continue." After a pause he added, "Nice acting skills."
Harry thrashed on the ground a little more and cried out in pain as he turned over so that he was lying on his back. Suddenly the sand swirled up around him to form a column as Voldemort left his body in the form of pure black magic. Time seemed to freeze as Voldemort rematerialized above him.
The two stared at each other for a moment before Voldemort gave him a small smile and said, "You're a fool Harry Potter. And you will lose…everything."
"I don't really mean that." whispered Voldemort's voice in Harry's ear. "Though I think I will consider you a fool if you don't try to expand your education some more." Added the voice with a small chuckle. "Oh," he added still chuckling, "you might want to pass out or something so that you don't have to deal with the press once all of this is over."
A series of whooshing noises drew Voldemort's attention away from Harry to the Minister of Magic and the group of auroras that had just arrived. Without another word he straightened and the frozen column of sand swirled to life once more and he vanished in its center.
"He's back." Exclaimed the Minister in shock.
Harry watched his friends hurrying over to where he was and Dumbledore reaching out for him. He then decided to take Voldemort's advice and used the only silent spell he knew to make himself pass out.
