Strength of a Child's Mind
Summary: Disaster and Harry Potter does not bode well… at all. And this particular disaster is determined to change both Harry's and the greasy potions master's lives!
Pairing/s: None.
Warnings: Severus!Father, Child!Harry. Spoilers up to the fifth book? Sirius not dead. Maybe something else but you'll see that.
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter.
Note: When Harry is with Voldemort, I will call him Coran.
-o-
UPDATED: 6 January 2011
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Chapter Seven
Severus looked at the sleeping child cradled in his arms and sighed softly. The man had mixed a glass of warm milk with a few drops of Dreamless sleep potion and given it to Harry after the whole ordeal. The Order had been shocked when Harry wanted his enemy alive, but more so when Harry claimed that said enemy was dying.
Now the child was out as a light though, and dried tears were on his cheeks. Severus made them vanish and slowly walked to Harry's room. He carefully placed the boy down and tucked him in. Harry squirmed around but did not wake up. The man walked out from the room and shut the door half-way; he needed to think about what Harry had said about Voldemort.
-o-
The Dark Lord coughed violently, each sounding wet yet harsh. When he finally managed to calm down, blood was dripping down his chin. He wiped it away from his mouth and Nagini wound herself lightly around him, offering some comfort.
He had to know why this was happening. He had a vague idea already, but he had to have it confirmed. Yet he had no one he trusted for that task except himself and Nagini. Well, he did trust Coran but it was a child! He was not about to ask such things to a child, a small boy who was still innocent to the cruelty to the world.
He lay down carefully and suppressed the urge to couch again. He had to rest, before he started to do his research. Nagini held him company.
-o-
Scratch that. He was not doing any research at all. Voldemort coughed violently and appreciated Lucius' hand on his back. The blonde was genuinely worried about him despite popular belief. He was just good at not showing it. Damn Malfoys, always acting so stoic. Although Coran gave Voldemort a funnier version of Draco, and had given the man a few times to laugh.
"My lord?"
"There is something you have to do for me," Voldemort wheezed. "I'm going to die soon, but I'm going to know why."
"My lord…"
"Lucius, do this for me or walk out right now."
"… What do you want me to do?"
"First of all, get a healer who won't speak. None of us can make a scan even if it meant saving our own lives," Voldemort said and Lucius winced as he knew it was the truth. "And then check up what's written on that parchment."
Lucius took up the parchment and read it through. Swallowing, he looked over at the Dark Lord who was holding a fragile hand on his chest, Nagini rubbing her head against his neck to comfort him.
"As you wish, my lord," the man said before leaving the two alone.
-o-
Harry looked at the wall, not seeing any of the books he had recently enjoyed. Not since he returned from Voldemort's lair though; ever since he had been thinking it seemed and he had not wanted to do anything that did not involve the Dark Lord. Which meant, practically nothing.
Hence the reason he was staring into a wall. Severus was growing slightly nervous, and that did not help him correct the homework he had assigned to the students.
Nothing would cheer the boy up, unless you let him ramble on about Tom. Severus sighed; seemed like it was time for one of those moments. He rose up and walked up to the boy, lifting him up and seating himself comfortably on the spot Harry had recently occupied on the couch. Now the child lifted emerald eyes to the man's black ones and Severus said:
"You've been quiet lately."
"Is that wrong?"
"No, not at all. I'm just worried about you. Are you thinking about Tom?"
"I want him to be okay."
"I'm sure he is going to be fine. T… Tom is strong." Merlin it was weird saying the Dark Lord's real name.
"It's not helping, being strong," Harry said, "when you can't stop something. You can be as strong as all wizards and witches in the world and it still won't be enough."
"What is making Tom die?" Rather a direct approach than beating around the bush.
"I don't know," the boy replied. "Someone. I wish I knew."
"I know. We will try to figure something out."
-o-
Voldemort looked at the pile of papers on his desk as he staggered there. Plans to approve, raids to plan… people to kill.
A few weeks ago this would have made him happy. Now… it only fuelled his anger.
He leaned heavily onto the desk as the door opened.
"My lord?" Merlin, that annoying Rabastan Lestrange. "My lord, you haven't looked at the plans I and Avery gave to you two weeks ago, and the attack date is tomorrow so-"
Avada Kedavra. Rabastan fell down, dead before he hit the ground. Voldemort's hand was shaking, and in rage he tore down each and every paper from his desk, screaming. He threw away his wand, the pain of using his magic working itself up his arm. It was happening. It was really happening, what he feared.
He banged his weak fists on the desk, tears rolling down his face. He did not know why but one thing he knew.
He was losing his magic. And after that, if he could not stop it, he would loose his life.
-o-
Yet again the Order members tried to make Harry speak about Voldemort, tell him all of the things the man had told him. They apparently had not listened to Severus who stated it would only make Harry angry.
"Potter, think really hard before you refuse to say anything," Moody said wisely. "We really need this information."
A vein ticked on Moody's temple when five minutes later Harry had not said a thing.
"Don't force him to do anything," Severus hissed. "Harry would tell us if he was worried about something the man would do, and since he doesn't say anything then the Dark Lord has nothing planned."
"Bullshit, Voldemort always plan something!" Moody screamed and sprang from his chair. Several others rose up to calm the man down.
Harry did not say anything.
"Boy, I'm telling you-!" Severus slapped a hand over Moody's mouth, preventing him from speaking anymore.
As if 'boy' triggered something, they finally got a reaction. Maybe not the one they wanted though.
Burning emerald eyes looked up at Moody and suddenly books flew in from everywhere, hitting everything they could hit. The members got up their wands and began banishing the books or shielding themselves.
Once it had calmed down, they all turned to look at Harry. The boy was glaring at Moody, standing up on the chair he had been sitting, hands clenched into small fists on his sides and magic sparkling around him.
"Don't call me that," Harry said. Memories flashed by, memories he did not know was his, a man, a fat man, screaming, calling him 'boy', hitting him, telling him to shut up… unconsciously Harry compared the fat man to Moody and suddenly he wanted both of them dead.
A small soothing twirl of weak magic came, stroking across his forehead and suddenly all anger left Harry. He fell down on the chair, exhausted.
He did not speak anymore that day.
-o-
Harry was quiet the following next days, refusing to talk about anything that had to do with Voldemort after Moody trying to force him to talk. He would not wish for company, or for Severus to read aloud… in fact, he did not want anything but going back and seeing 'how Tom was feeling'. Severus knew no one in the Order would allow him to go with Harry unless Voldemort demanded the child there.
He looked around the room uncomfortably, seeing the child of the Order's attention being lightly bounced on Hermione's hip, the girl whispering comfortingly to him. Harry's normal vibrant eyes were dull and for a moment the potions master wished to take him to the Dark Lord, if just to see those eyes sparkle in happiness again.
He violently crushed that thought, and mentally smacked himself. What was he thinking? Voldemort was crazy, remember that!
"He's still not talking?" Moody asked Severus gruffly.
"Not about the Dark Lord," Severus replied. "I haven't asked him lately."
"Why not?" Moody demanded to know.
"I would like that he still liked me," Severus snapped. "Thanks to your demands and that stupidity you sprouted a few days ago, he hates you now. Forgive me for not wanting the same thing."
Harry looked over as they began to argue again. He did not listen, just as Tom had told him to. All they talked about was boring anyway. But he did not like when they began to yell at his Sev'rus. The man had done nothing and yet it was all they did; yell and be angry.
He began to squirm, wanting down. Hermione let him down, smoothing down his hair gently. He looked up at her and smiled a bit. She was nice, and more importantly she was on his and Sev'rus' side. So with Ronnie and Fred and George. That was good, he liked that. And of course Drake was on their side, and Pansy. He had such good friends.
The volume got louder and now Severus was rubbing the bridge of his nose, feeling a massive headache coming. He wanted out of this room, now. He was going to kill something otherwise.
Harry felt a strange tingle on his forehead and rubbed on the spot. It grew a bit stronger instead and his brow furrowed. His head hurt.
"Sev'rus," he said and they all quieted down. It had been a while since he had spoken.
"What's wrong, Harry?" the man asked worriedly as he saw the child holding his hand… right where his scar had been.
"My head hurts," the boy said and rubbed on the spot. "It really hurts…"
Severus got out from the chair and kneeled by the child. He gently removed Harry's hand and felt on the forehead. Nothing.
"Harry, I'm going to make a spell to make sure nothing's wrong, okay?"
Harry nodded and Severus got out his wand. Performing the scan he waited until a parchment popped up with a few notes scribbled down on it. Poppy came forward and read it together with the potions master.
Harry squinted to look at the two, it was getting dark in the room.
"Sev'rus?" Was his voice supposed to sound so far away? And what… was the thing running down from his nose? He touched it, head bowed forward and the hair hiding his face.
Severus and Poppy got nothing from the parchment and they crouched down by the child again. He had bent his head and they could not see his face.
"Harry?" the medic witch said.
"Sev'rus… I'm bleeding."
Severus caught Harry as the boy lost consciousness, blood dribbling out from his nose.
-o-
Lucius held Voldemort down as the man screamed, the blood vessels in his eyes broken and blood bubbling up from his lungs, staining the sheets. Nagini hissed and moved her head back and forth, making the blonde freak out. He had never seen the lord or the snake act this way.
The man on the bed lifted, his body stretching like a bow, trembling in pain. Lucius pushed down at his chest, feeling the bones underneath his hand, only a layer of skin between them. The lord had grown so thin, so weak, so vulnerable… it made Lucius want to cry. He knew what was happening.
Voldemort was going to die.
-o-
Severus did not know if Harry cried due to the pain or something else but it was a sound he rather lives without. The heart-wrenching sobs made him cringe, and the sight of blood made his knees weaken.
He and Poppy desperately tried to stop the flow of blood from Harry's nose on the floor in the headmaster's office, the Order members looking on anxiously.
"Tom!"
The hoarse yell for his worst enemy shocked them all, but Severus knew something was happening. Something was happening to Voldemort that much did he know. Had it to do with Harry turning into a child? Had something happened to make Voldemort start dying once the teen had turned into a boy with no scar?
In that moment, the potions master knew he had to get Harry to Voldemort.
-o-
The Dark Lord was barely moving, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe. His eyes were wide open but tired. His skin was a ghastly tone of white, the bed containing more blood than what it currently existed in the wizard's body.
Lucius sat on a chair not far away, staring at the man. Voldemort was dying at this very moment… every breath he took was closer to his last. Lucius felt he was dreaming. If he really was, he would like to wake up now.
When he had met Voldemort, the man had looked young, charming and deadly. Not this vulnerable, not this… weak. He looked so defeated, his snake hissing comfortingly in his ear, trying to ease the way. The blonde thought Nagini could be crying.
The door banged open, and the man whipped his head to see who dared to enter.
To his shock Severus stood there, holding… Coran. Who was currently not looking much better than Voldemort.
Without giving one explanation the potions master moved swiftly over to Voldemort's bed and shook Coran a bit before saying:
"See? We're with Tom now."
Coran opened his eyes. They were bloodshot just like Voldemort's. He turned his head and his small hand stretched out. Without saying anything, Severus put the child down as Lucius closed in, eyes wide. What was going on?
The moment Coran touched Voldemort's hand, they had to shield their eyes. Nagini gave out a shocked yelp before moving back.
It was like magic came right out from their skins, burningly raw and hot. They shone up, a strange bright light, and when it faded away the two men plus the snake gaped.
They had both fallen asleep, Voldemort and Coran, and both looked much better as if a miracle had occurred. Coran snuggled up to Voldemort's side and the Dark Lord's arm curled loosely around the child.
"Severus… I don't really care about anything that has to do with dark and Light right now but can you at least tell me if you know what's going on?"
"I'm sorry Lucius. I have no fucking idea what's going on."
"Why did I have a feeling you didn't?"
Severus looked at Lucius and swallowed. It had to do something with their connection, that much had Severus figured out but…
"Severus?"
"Yes?"
"Potter never really went away did he?"
The potions master glanced at Lucius and saw the man had not moved but looked calmly at the bed where the Dark Lord and the child were resting.
"It was so simple we didn't even think of it," the blonde murmured. "Was it Dumbledore's plan?"
"When is it not his plan?"
Lucius snorted, muttering 'True' under his breath.
"Are you going to try killing him now?" Severus asked, wand in hand.
"I think I'm starting to make sense of it all, so absolutely not," Lucius said. The potions master gaped but had no chance to reply to that: "Severus… I have always said I hate people without magic."
"Yes."
"That generally includes Squibs."
"Yes, your point?" The man's nerves were on edge, yet Lucius was acting like he did not know it was Harry next to the Dark Lord.
"If I'm thinking right, I'm changing my opinion."
What?
Tbc…
I realized quite stupidity the story is coming to an end. What a pity; I was enjoying writing it.
Chapter eight: Severus is forced to return to Hogwarts due to angry Death Eaters attacking, leaving Harry with Voldemort and Lucius… (and Nagini of course! -smile-)
Until later,
Ja,
Tiro
