Hey guys!
I've got another update for you! Thank you so much for all your reviews, they helped me a lot.
So, here is a token of my gratitude; a nice, long chapter! Well, at least longer than the previous one.
CHAPTER TWO
For Harry, it was as if time had stopped.
Everything seemed to be frozen in time; the Death Eaters, his prat of a classmate, Dumbledore's still form next to him… everything.
All that mattered was the head splitting pain he was experiencing. And suddenly, as if inflicted by the agony, he was painfully aware of the fact that they were going to die.
'That's right.' Harry thought bitterly, 'If Voldemort comes here now, there's nothing we can do.'
The pain grew much too intense and the teen realized with a start what that meant.
He braced himself, gathering all the strength he could muster in order to straighten up just as the entire Tower was bombarded by an aura so dark and so menacing that nearly took his breath away.
But no, he refused to look so weak in front of Voldemort, refused to prove his claim from last year.
He was not vulnerable.
Somehow achieving to shove the pain away for the time being, Harry held his wand tighter, in return earning a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder from his Headmaster.
The gesture made him even more determined.
It wasn't only his life that was at stake here, and quite frankly, he had no doubt which one of the two was more important.
The Tower had grown completely silent.
It was so devoid of sound that Harry wondered for a moment if the Death Eaters were actually breathing, or if the mere arrival of their master had caused the very air they inhaled to become lodged inside their lungs.
And then he came.
He was exactly the way Harry remembered him. Black, silk robes covering his form, skin as pale as death and features that reminded Harry more of a snake rather than a human being.
Quite ironic actually; the heir of Slytherin looked exactly like the animal that represented the Founder.
But those eyes.
The redness of those eyes had been haunting Harry ever since he could remember. Eyes that resembled their owner's lust for blood.
'My blood.' Harry thought momentarily, swallowing the lump he didn't remember rising in his throat and reprimanded himself, 'Now isn't the time to fret.'
Voldemort's eyes swept about, the Death Eaters instantly falling down on their knees when their Lord's scorching crimson eyes landed on them, and Harry noted with disgust that Malfoy did the same.
Just when he thought that the other boy couldn't fall any lower.
And then, those orbs with snake-like slits instead of pupils shifted over to him and Dumbledore.
At the pleased smirk that crept over Voldemort's face, Harry's glare was so intense that for a moment he felt as if his own eyes had narrowed to the point they had turned into slits.
"Tom." Dumbledore spoke first, breaking that frustrating silence that had taken over.
Voldemort's eyes gleamed for a moment, his devilish smirk broadening. "Albus," he greeted in return, voice silky smooth that made Harry realize just how pleased the Dark Lord was with the outcome of events, "If you will excuse the presumption, but you don't appear half as lively as the previous time we met."
Harry's teeth grinded together at the sarcasm in the remark, but the only thing Dumbledore did was chuckle. "All thanks to you."
In a moment of shock, Harry cast a sideways glance at the Headmaster, not believing the words that had just left his mouth. What was Dumbledore thinking?!
But if only he knew the consequences of his action, he'd have never taken his eyes away from Voldemort.
When Dumbledore squeezed his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise, it was already too late. A startled cry escaped his lips when he was yanked forward by his arm, away from Dumbledore's arms and into the arms of another.
He nearly screamed at the excruciating pain that shot through his entire body, realizing with dread who was holding him exactly. He struggled and thrashed against Voldemort, but judging by the mirthful chuckle that reached his ears, the Dark Lord was finding his attempts rather amusing.
And then, Voldemort spun him around so quickly that for a second there Harry was certain he was going to throw up. His arms were now seized behind him, his back against Voldemort's chest and his wand no longer in his possession.
"Hello, Harry." the voice, nothing more but a mere whisper against his ear, sent unpleasant shivers up his spine.
"Let go of me." he hissed trough gritted teeth as he struggled to free his arms from that iron grip. This time, Voldemort laughed out loud, a cold and hollow sound that made Harry shiver unwittingly.
As if brought back by their master's reaction, his followers stood up from their bowed position, each one wearing identical grins on their faces. Bellatrix's was the maddest one of all, filled with twisted joy.
"Tom, let the boy go." Dumbledore spoke up, blue eyes betraying the restlessness that his impassive voice didn't.
As if encouraged by the man's words, Harry's attempts grew more violent and desperate. Something that didn't sit very well with Voldemort.
Hissing dangerously low, he gripped the boy's wrists so tight, that Harry couldn't help but scream this time, all motions ceasing for a moment from both the pain in his arms and his scar.
Obviously satisfied by the change in the teen, Voldemort didn't apply any more pressure but didn't lighten his grip either. Glancing up, blood red eyes met with sky blue ones, a dark smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, "Tell me, Albus, I take it you found my magic to your expectations?"
At first, Dumbledore remained silent, gaze shifting from Voldemort to Harry and back forth again. "It was quite impressive, actually. Not that I expected anything less from you, Tom."
Harry managed to take in deep gulps of air.
Voldemort's anger had flared up so suddenly back then and so strongly, that his scar had nearly exploded. But now it had diminished again. Honestly, Voldemort's mood swings were going to be the end of him. It was then that he heard the exchange between the two most powerful wizards.
And just like that, his attempts to break free returned with full force. "P-Professor… stop." Didn't the Headmaster realize he was risking too much? Just a little more and next he would be telling Voldemort about the-
"…Horcrux?" Voldemort whispered next to his ear, and Harry could practically feel the smirk that was plastered on the man's face.
Emerald eyes doubled in size, horror dancing all over the teen's features.
He knew?
Voldemort knew about the Horcrux they had taken? But how? This wasn't possible.
And it was precisely at that moment that Severus Snape chose to join in, his body freezing for a moment at the scene before him.
His onyx eyes surveyed Dumbledore's barely able to stand form and then moved to the person in the clutches of the Dark Lord, a mask of indifference soon taking over, his usual, cold demeanor back in place.
With slow, steady steps, he strode over to the Dark wizard and gave a low bow. "My Lord." he greeted respectfully, just as it was required of him.
"Ah, Severus. Glad you decided to join us." Voldemort said, his eyes never once leaving the boy in his arms. It was quite fascinating how his emotions would sway from confusion, to horror and then confusion again.
Glancing at Harry one last time, Snape stepped backwards, taking his respective place in the circle of Death Eaters behind Voldemort.
"Tom," Dumbledore said, effectively attracting the said person's gaze, "Harry has nothing to do with this."
The raven haired teen seemed to snap out of his trance at last and he began pulling at his captor's grip anew, anger seeping in to cloud his thoughts.
Why wasn't Dumbledore worried about the Horcrux? Now wasn't the time to be worried about him.
Voldemort sneered, tightening his hold on the boy's definitely already bruised hands once again and eliciting another cry of pain. "Cease this nonsense at once, or I will not hesitate to break your wrists."
But Harry was far from listening.
Twisting his head to the side, emerald eyes narrowed upon connecting with blood red ones. "How?" the teen spat angrily, "How the hell did you know?!"
All of their efforts…
Dumbledore was poisoned, they had nearly died by that bloody army of corpses and all of it for what?
Nothing.
It was all for nothing!
Voldemort gave him a feral grin, but yet remained silent, purposely taking his sweet time to answer.
Harry's teeth grounded together. "Answer me!" he seethed, his words accompanied by a violent pulling of his hands.
The Dark Lord let out a hearty chuckle before finally deciding to have mercy. "Tell me, Harry, did you honestly believe that our mental connection was merely one sided?"
Harry was actually taken aback by this. One sided? What was that supposed to mean?
Voldemort must have seen the display of confusion across his face for he went on, "Our bond works both ways. Just as you are able to glimpse my emotions no matter the distance between us, the same applies to me."
Harry blinked.
Voldemort could sense his feelings too? He had never thought about that aspect, and he had to admit, it didn't sound too appealing either.
"That still doesn't answer my question." Harry countered back, eyes trained at the wizard with suspicion, "Somehow, you knew exactly where we had gone and you purposely didn't do anything to prevent us, because you knew what we'd encounter there, and-" Harry froze in midsentence, realization finally dawning upon him, "You knew that professor Dumbledore wouldn't let me drink that potion, didn't you?"
To his dismay, he saw the corners of Voldemort's lips curl into a vague smirk, one that held such a strong resemblance to that of a cat that had just eaten the canary whole.
It infuriated him as much as it horrified him.
"That's why you came here yourself. You knew he'd be weakened by the potion's effect."
Voldemort was pleased. How perceptive the boy was!
He had managed to see right through his plan with the very first try. "Well done. You see, Harry, when things took a steep dive for the much worse in the cave, your emotions went, quite literally, on a rampage. Imagine my surprise when out of the blue I get bombarded by a flurry of overwhelming emotions that I knew couldn't possibly belong to me."
"Yeah, I think I get the picture." Harry grumbled, remembering all of his past experiences when Voldemort's feelings went out of control. Well, at least now he understood the phrase 'revenge is sweet'.
Whether Voldemort heard his little remark there, he never commented upon it. "Of course, when later on I reached into our link and caught sight of your little adventure, I couldn't have let this opportunity that you so courteously gift wrapped for me slip by, could I?"
Harry felt a throaty growl leave his lips. Oh, how he'd love to wipe that haughty look off the man's face.
He was just about to retort back with the appropriate comment when all of a sudden, Voldemort released his hands and grabbed his shoulders, whirling him around until he was face to face with the Death Eaters, and then promptly shoving him forward.
Before Harry had any chance to react, Bellatrix had already taken hold of his throat from behind, the tip of her wand pressed against the crook of his neck.
His arms instantly shot up, clawing at the hand gripping his throat, but Bellatrix in return only dug her nails deeper into his flesh.
"Now," Voldemort began, nearly purring the words, "be a good little boy and let the grown ups talk about more important matters."
"I'm not a child!" Harry yelled, cheeks flushing ever in both embarrassment and anger, but the Dark Lord paid him no heed.
His attention was now focused on his former professor.
"Have you told the boy about the seventh piece yet, Albus?" Voldemort inquired softly, not wanting the others to overhear.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled strangely if only for a moment, but rather than that, the old man kept his silence.
"Of course you haven't." the Dark wizard's words were accompanied by a shake of the head, having already expected the kind of answer he'd be receiving.
"However, I do believe you have something that belongs to me, Albus." Voldemort said, this time loud and clear, and with a swift wave of his wand, not one, but three items flew over from the depths of Dumbledore's robes and landed on the Dark Lord's outstretched palm.
A locket, a ring and a wand.
Voldemort placed the locket inside his robes while he brought the rest of the items close to his face to examine them.
A chuckle left his lips, his eyes locking with Dumbledore's once again. But there was an unreadable look in the red eyes that didn't exist a little while ago.
"How long have you known?" was Dumbledore's single question, causing Harry to actually pause in his struggling and listen.
"A while."
At Voldemort's words, something seemed to stir in Dumbledore's posture, a sudden tension. "Tom, surely you didn't-"
"No need to worry, Albus. Your dear friend is alive and well, or at least as well one can be while being offered Nurmengard's grand hospitality. Regrettably, however, I couldn't possibly say the same for Gregorovitch."
Silence enveloped the Tower, nobody daring to move or even make a sound while the two wizards regarded each other.
In the end it was Voldemort that spoke first, "Well then, shall we draw this unsightly charade to an end?"
The Headmaster's eyes strained over to Harry's confused face for a moment, then glanced briefly at Snape's direction before finally shifting back to his old pupil and giving a curt incline of the head. "Yes, I believe we should." the words were spoken without a single trace of fear, something that made the Dark Lord scowl.
It was only when Voldemort raised the all too familiar bone-white wand, that Harry realized what was going on. The conversation had made pretty much no sense to him, but that action certainly did.
"No! Stop!" the boy screamed as he struggled to free the grip that Bellatrix had on his neck.
An irritated growl reached his ears from behind, the female Death Eater tightening her grasp to the point that Harry choked on his own breath, a coughing fit taking over him.
He vaguely felt some kind of liquid substance trickle down his neck, but he paid it no mind.
"Bella!" came the hissed warning and Harry was able to breathe again.
Somewhere behind him, he sensed Bellatrix flinch before her hand was gone completely.
Coughing still, he lifted one arm and placed the palm of his hand to the side of his neck, not surprised to see blood all over it once he removed it.
Realizing that Voldemort had probably just saved his life, he raised his eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of the Dark Lord's red ones before the latter turned to face Dumbledore.
"No, don't do this!" he yelled and made to move forwards but his arm was suddenly snatched from behind, preventing him from taking a single step.
He sent a venomous glare above his shoulder at Bellatrix's direction when his eyes suddenly caught sight of his Potions professor.
How long had Snape been standing there?
"Sir, do something! You've got to stop him, he's going to-!" But Snape's expression never changed, making him stop abruptly.
In fact, the Potions Master didn't even look at him. He just kept staring blankly ahead.
'Why aren't you helping him?' Harry thought, eyebrows creasing into a frown.
And no matter how much he pulled, Bellatrix's iron grin wouldn't let up in the slightest. His eyes widened in horror as he watched Voldemort open his mouth to utter the curse that would deliver the finishing blow.
"Kill me!" he screamed desperately, inhaling sharply when Voldemort actually paused. The Dark Lord turned towards him, an eyebrow rising slowly.
"Kill me," Harry repeated, "not him."
Voldemort's face scrunched up into a grimace before it was wiped away, replaced by a much too indiscernible expression. "Such remarkably brave words. Sounds exactly like the foolish thing a Gryffindor would say." A couple of snickers and chuckles rose from the crowd of Death Eaters all around them.
But then, the Dark Lord's red eyes narrowed, pinning Harry in place with their piercing gaze. "It shows all the more how ignorant you are. If you honestly believe that only lion blood courses through your veins, then you really are a fool, boy!"
Before Harry had time to make any sort of sense out of those words, Voldemort had already whirled around, wand aiming straight at Dumbledore's chest.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry's whole body froze, vivid green eyes watching the equally colored light soar across the room. And then his eyes connected with Dumbledore's.
A calm, serene smile graced his features, his bright blue eyes glowing with their usual twinkle.
… And then, they glowed no more.
END OF CHAPTER TWO
I sure hope you enjoyed it! Chapter three will be shortly up.
And yes, Voldemort already knows about the Deathly Hallows. Wonder what's gonna happen next?
Actually, I was wondering if any you can help me. Do you know what's Tom's eye color? Tom as in Tom Riddle. I believe that in the movie his eyes are dark brown or something like that, but I'm not sure.
I've read fics where his eyes are brown, or blue or emerald like Harry's.
If any of you has read the second book, it'd really help if you told me.
You can either private message me or tell me in your reviews.
And thanks for all those wonderful reviews you left me! If you spot any mistakes, either grammar or spelling ones or even about the plot so far, like character names, then please, do continue to point them out for me. It helps me improve my writing. ^-^