Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Written for Andrea Gibson Appreciation Competition (I'm not sure what hatred means)
Different Paths
Harry knew that he should hate Voldemort for killing his parents and forcing him to live with the Dursleys, for depriving him of his childhood and for making fight a war he was too young to fight.
Harry could not find it in himself to hate the man though. How could he when he found so many similarities between them.
Harry understood the need to be different, to stand out, to want retribution for all the wrongs done. Harry had understood what the Tom Riddle from second year had wanted to accomplish with the basilisk, Tom Riddle had wanted to be different, to be important, to be noticed. Harry understood that, it was not right but he wished for the same in some deep part of his mind. That was a part he usually suppressed, thinking it was evil.
How could he hate the adult Voldemort? The man who had wanted to survive, to see his dreams become a reality. He fought for what he believed was better for the wizarding world. Was that not exactly the same thing as he was trying to do? He fought for the people and their lives while Voldemort fought for an idea, something that would probably have been warped as his mind lost its hold on sanity.
Harry was a threat to Voldemort, that was the reason he was always targeted. It was a matter of survival, something Harry knew all too well. Survival drew anyone to desperate measures because living was a base instinct to anyone. Not many would simply roll over and die without putting up a fight even if the fight was hopeless. They were both surviving, Voldemort and Harry Potter's fates were locked together. Their life and death depended on each other.
Harry could even go so far as to believe that Voldemort's original ideals were actually for the better of the wizarding world and not solely based on killing muggleborns or he would not have had as many followers as he did because despite his dislike for Snape, Harry knew that Snape would not have joined Voldemort if Voldemort had been determined to kill all muggleborns especially since Snape had loved Lily.
Even as he stood facing the Dark Lord with his wand drawn and the other man mocking and taunting him, he could not hate him. He was not sure what hatred meant, especially if everything that would have caused hatred was clearly understood by him. Harry could not condemn a man that was so similar to him. In a way Voldemort was him, Voldemort was exactly what he would have turned out like had he not met Ron on the train to Hogwarts or even if he had not met the Weasleys on Kings Cross Station, if he had not argued with the hat and had been Sorted into Slytherin. So many different turns could have led him down the same path as Voldemort.
Harry had chosen a different path though, a path that was completely unlike Voldemort's path. A path that had led him to this very moment.
Their spells collided.