Welcome!

Some key points if you want to know what you're getting into:

AU from the Battle of Hogwarts. Point of divergence: Voldemort doesn't kill Snape instantly but invades his mind first, wanting to see the secrets that had stayed hidden from him for so long. He learns about the Horcrux in Harry's head before Harry does. He avoids killing Harry and proceeds to conquer the castle instead. The rest of Europe soon follows.

This never aspired to be an ever-expanding AU. Quite on the contrary, I firmly intend to stay within the possibilities of Rowling's world. I gave our beloved characters time to grow, and the world has changed whilst they were at it; that's all. In other words, this won't spin out of control. We start far off but we'll only be getting back to canon - to familiar places, faces and magic.

Canon-compliant, up till the end of the seventh book.

The story's rather dystopian. But it's not pessimistic. We enter the world when things stop getting worse and start getting better. Relatively.

POV: the narrator is Neville, the protagonist is Harry. This is fully Harry's story.

Brevity: I'm planning to say what I want to say in fewer than 200k words. Watch me inevitably fail at that but hopefully, it won't be by much.

Language: I studied English at university and I have a beta-reader. I'm not a native speaker though. I know my grammar and spelling (at least in theory) but I struggle with stylistics and vocabulary.

No (important) pairings

Enjoy!

FIRST PART: THE PAST

Prologue

. . .

November 2000 – Two and a half years after the Battle of Hogwarts

"You can't imagine how fascinating this is."

"'Fascinating'? Really!"

Harry Potter lay in the centre of a dark chamber, tied to the cold stones underneath his bare back with heavy chains.

Tom Riddle was there with him, sitting in a comfortable armchair. Floating around him were numerous parchments with quills scribbling notes down seemingly on their own accord.

"Yes, fascinating! I was doubtful at first, but now... I see the possibilities now. A wizard's body, with all its instincts, as a Horcrux! It shows so much potential it's almost a shame I'll never share my findings with the public," Riddle remarked without glancing away from his scrolls.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, just admit you screwed up royally! You accidentally put a piece of your soul into your enemy. That's not exactly some scientific achievement!"

"I'm going to make you immortal, Harry. The least you can do in exchange is to stay civil. As for your observations - some of the most important discoveries in history were the result of a lucky coincidence. I'm not ashamed to admit mine is one of them."

Harry Potter scoffed at that but otherwise, he stayed silent.

Tom Riddle looked up from his notes at the absence of a spiteful response.

"Ah. You still doubt me," he surmised, seeing the defiance in Potter's face. "After all the rituals we've been through, you still harbour hope that you'll be able to kill yourself. How foolish of you."

Potter grumbled something unintelligible before he spoke up. "You've done a miserable job trying to kill me. You won't do any better trying to keep me alive."

Riddle chuckled. He seemed to be in high spirits. "And that, Harry, is where you are mistaken. Destroying one's Horcrux is no easy feat; you know that by now. After I've finally finished what I started on that Halloween all those years ago, you'll be as indestructible as any of my Horcruxes."

"The Horcruxes we've destroyed all?"

The quills stopped writing for a second. There was a rattling of his chains, and Harry Potter gasped in pain.

"That ends now. There is no chance you will ever leave this accommodation, Harry. But I do not underestimate you anymore, nor your infamous luck. Even if you managed to escape, you would not be able to end your life. Even now there are but a few ways to destroy a Horcrux, and I plan to eliminate them all."

He paused in his speech, glancing down at his captive. When Potter didn't offer a reply, Riddle carried on.

"And even if you did encounter a basilisk or conjured Fiendfyre, the magic of the Horcrux would push you to prevail. Here comes the reason why a human Horcrux is so fascinating; a diadem could hardly ever defend itself against something as raw as Fiendfyre, but a human body with its instinct for self-preservation..."

That finally provoked a reaction. "You doubt I'd be able to kill myself? You have no idea what I'd sacrifice to defeat you, Riddle! My life is the lowest price I am willing to pay."

"I don't question your willingness to die, Harry - I realised a long time ago what a fool you are. No, I doubt your ability to fight off one of the most powerful magics ever discovered."

They fell silent after that, the atmosphere tense.

"How does it feel?" asked Harry Potter softly. "To have your soul so shattered that a piece peeled off without you ever noticing? Are you even killing people these days, or are you too scared it could happen again? Scared it could happen with any other cold-blooded murder you commit?

"And how does it feel," the young man continued, his body tensed in anticipation of another dose of pain, but taunting his captor anyway, "to have the boy you want to kill the most be the only thing that keeps you alive?" Potter gave a harsh laugh. "One has to wonder where Trelawney made a mistake…"

The pain never came but when Tom Riddle looked up from his notes, his eyes were on fire. "Do not anger me, Potter. After all, you and I are going to live side by side for a very long time."

To be continued - 19 years later.