He'd only been working with the thing for little over a week, but he'd already decided that he hated the charged crystal he'd been given to practice with.

Learn to control whether you take magic or not, he said. Learn to control how much you take when you do, he said. It should be simple, he said! Naturally the bloody thing is locked against taking more than the smallest amount possible at a time and I can't figure out how to do that!

Harry glared at the two foot column of cloudy quarts in front of him as if the hunk of inert rock had personally affronted him in some way. He'd tried pushing it over some days before after his anger had gotten the better of him only to discover, with great disappointment, that his benefactor had conspired against him and spelled the damned thing to be unbreakable. The heavy thunk of it colliding with the floor had, however briefly, made him feel at least a bit vindicated for a short time, though.

Now with the annoyance once more beginning to boil over, the raven found himself considering pushing it over again simply out of spite. Hissing under his breath, he glared harder. Green eyes narrowed at the badly distorted reflection in the crystal's murky surface. He was so focused on giving his warped double the evil eye that he didn't notice the other presence In the room until he spoke, causing him to whip his head around so quickly that he nearly snapped his neck.

"Harry," Voldemort was-to the raven's muted amusement-back in his usual robe, watching him from the doorway of the bedroom. "Leave the crystal for now and grab your cloak. Lucius has returned with news which I feel you need to hear, but I can't have you seen."

"Right." Relieved to have an excuse to abandon beating himself against a hunk of rock which was a great deal more skilled at holding on to what it had been given than it had any right to be, Harry nodded and rose from his position seated cross-legged on the floor. Stiff joints popped and crackled as he stretched before heading over to where his still-packed rucksack hung from the back of the chair positioned in front of his desk. "I'll be right down."

But the Dark Lord had already moved out of the doorway and down the hall. Grabbing his cloak from within the rucksack and draping the silvery fabric over his arm he followed him out.

Voldemort hadn't gone far: Harry found him waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

"Put it on. We don't have the time to waste." Harry obediently threw the cloak over his head and, after crouching down slightly to make sure that his feet were covered, descended the stairs on the black tails of the Dark Lord's robes.

Lucius Malfoy awaited them in a smaller version of the study from upstairs: between its size and sparse decorations Harry assumed that this was merely a staging room of sorts which Voldemort could use to meet with smaller groups of his followers without the length of a massive table getting in the way. The moment that they entered the room, Harry quick to slip through the door before it could close so that he didn't get hit by it, the Head of the Malfoy family fell to his knees and all but pressed his forehead against the floor.

It reminded him so much of Dobby that Harry practically had to shove his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing,

"My Lord!" The man simpered as Voldemort glided across the room to seat himself behind the desk. Harry carefully perched himself on the edge of the desk, provoking a quiet annoyed grumble from the Dark Lord. "My Lord, I have good news in regards to your request that Potter's expulsion be rescinded."

When Voldemort didn't speak the blonde continued with delivering the news he'd come to the manor to give him.

"Cornelius Fudge was stubborn on the issue, but a…campaign donation of near record size managed to swing his views on the matter in the end. Similar bribes have been extended to all susceptible officials. Where I cannot completely guarantee the outcome, we can be all but certain that things will be as you desire: the insufferable boy will return to Hogwarts for another year. Provided that he doesn't remain on the lamb."

"Dumbledore and his drooling sycophants haven't found him, Lucius?" Voldemort hissed. "Albus Dumbledore, the Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, founder and leader of the Order of the Phoenix, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, falsely lauded as the only one I've ever feared, his pack of Light-zealots and the entire Ministry of Magic are unable to find a 14 year old boy incapable of using his wand without triggering the Trace who has yet to even take his O.W.L.s?" sharp teeth were bared in a smile. "Our prospects are all but certain with their 'hero' flown away."

"They are all looking for him, My Lord. Desperately. Should we join the search as well? Bring him to you before they can take him back into their protection?"

"No." The Dark Wizard replied. "I know precisely where the Boy-Who-Lived is at right this very moment." Sitting on top of the desk not three feet away from them. "Precisely where I want him. Precisely where you'll leave him."

"My Lord?"

Voldemort's flourish as he stood up nearly sent the cloak flying off of Harry: he had to cling to it in order to avoid being revealed. "I have plans for the Little Gryffindor Lion: he will serve his purpose at Hogwarts and, at the end of the year, the Golden Boy will die."

Publicly. Privately, he'd been dead for a while now. The raven smirked to himself as he watched the Dark Lord open the study door again in a clear expectation that the Malfoy Head would leave; getting the message, Lucius seemed all too glad to vacate the area.

Once certain that the Death Eater would not return, he removed the cloak from his shoulders and dropped it into his lap. Allowing the diaphanous fabric to pool across his legs.

"Serve a purpose, will I?" Harry was well aware of the suggestive tone in his voice, a smug smile curling on his pink lips. "Might I ask you what that purpose is?"

"The same one you're serving now. You know what it is."

"I don't know all the details, though."

"You've never required them to act before, Potter!"

The raven dipped his head and shrugged, allowing his legs to fall from their crossed position and dangle off the edge of the desk. "Got me there?" He permitted resignedly. "I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, but other things seem to keep stealing the spotlight of importance: what's this 'Order of the Phoenix' that I keep hearing about? I've picked up that it's founded and led by Dumbledore and that it's apparently full of Aurors but that's about it."

Voldemort's red eyes regarded him for a moment before the Dark Lord answered him. "It was, as you've said, founded by Albus Dumbledore in 1970 during the First War and though it isn't entirely comprised of Aurors a fair number of its members either are or have been Dark Wizard Hunters." He said. "The Order of the Phoenix is, essentially and in its most basic terms, a secret organization formed with the intention of protection both the current establishment of Wizarding Britain and the Muggles from me."

"And they've been looking for me?"

"Desperately. But why wouldn't they be? You are their hero. Their shining beacon of hope."

"The viper in the nest." Harry's green eyes gleamed brightly with anticipation. "That's what your plans are for me are: to infiltrate the Order and-."

"No!" Voldemort was across the small space in an instant, his hands curling around the shoulders of the smaller male. "You will do nothing of the sort. Will not act in any manner which would jeopardize your safety or give the truth of what you are away. I already have a spy within the Order of the Phoenix and do not need another."

The raven pouted. "Who is it? Just so that I know who I can turn to for help in an absolute emergency."

"You're not to reveal yourself to Severus unless under the most dire of circumstances. Am I understood, Potter?"

"Snape? I knew it! Time and again I told the Headmaster that he was really your man and he wouldn't hear it!" Harry's pleased shock ended rather abruptly his eyes narrowing. "You know he hates me, right?"

"You will tolerate his behavior for the remainder of your stay at Hogwarts. It will be curbed, steeply, once you've taken my Mark and officially joined the Dark."

The raven let out a disgruntled sounding snort.

"How are you progressing with her control, Harry?"

The teen blinked, then looked away. "…Horribly."

"Continue to work at it; add meditation as well. You must fully embrace what you've become before I allow you to leave my protection. We cannot afford for you to lose control while you're still under the watch of the Light."

Harry sighed heavily, but nodded. "Alright." Great. Exactly what he needed now was more work to bother with. His lack of enthusiasm was quite obviously noted, but the Dark Lord didn't comment on the matter.

"You at your own power for the remainder of the day; others will be arriving soon to report on matters which, for now, do not concern you."

Recognizing the comment as the dismissal that it was, Harry rose from his perch on the desk and exited the room.