Ch. 7
Learn
Harry woke up staring at the potion. He frowned, sitting up and putting on his glasses. He checked the time, he had two hours to prepare for his lessons with Voldemort. He sighed and dressed slowly, his eyes darting to the potion every now and again. He couldn't do it, he couldn't rationalize or justify doing it. The Dursleys were awful, yes, but he couldn't take their will away, make them forcefully obedient to him. It was too harsh, even for them.
Harry took the potion and opened his sock drawer, putting it in the back and hiding it in a mountain of socks. When he was done, he heard Uncle Vernon's voice yelling at him to come down and "help" with breakfast. He cooked and had his meager portion while Uncle Vernon and Dudley ate almost most of it. When they were done, Harry had to do the dishes while Dudley went out to be a bully with his friends, then returned to his room. His mind went back to the potion only once before the Shadow-Walkers appeared at ten.
The darkness took over, and Harry took a breath before walking towards it, following the flood of red eyes. He did not know again how long he walked, however with a step, the darkness suddenly vanished, and he was once again in the basement of Malfoy Manor, and the Dark Lord was once again waiting for him.
"Ten exactly," the Dark Lord said. Harry looked surprised, he was sure he was walking for some time. The Dark Lord didn't entertain his surprise as he simply went to the desk and chalkboard, "Sit," he commanded.
Harry went to the desk and sat down. On it were several textbooks and a large notebook, which was blank. "You will obviously take notes in there," the Dark Lord began. "We shall begin with the Dark Arts. Now Potter, I am sure that you know at least of some Dark Magic?"
"Yes, sir," Harry nodded.
"Tell me about them."
"Besides the Unforgivable Curses… I know spells that would give a man a working uterus, bind two people together in the old submissive marriages… as well as…. As tying one's mind and body to a superior…" Harry admitted.
"So, the minor spells," the Dark Lord said, looking a little disappointed. He took out his wand, and most of the textbooks on Harry's desk disappeared. "As my apprentice, Potter, you will need to know how to maim, how to hurt, how to kill, and how to torture…" Harry's eyes widened with fear. The Dark Lord seemed to revel in it. "Yes, Potter, I will be expecting you to do all of that and more… I will not have a useless tool as my apprentice."
"I understand, sir," Harry said.
"Good. Now," Voldemort tapped his wand again and the only remaining textbook opened. "Read, take notes, and afterwards you will try out the spell on a few subjects." Harry felt something heavy roll inside his stomach but swallowed it.
He looked down to see the spell the Dark Lord want him to learn. It was a severe cutting spell, as shown by an animation on the page where, with a swipe of the wand as though the caster was swinging a sword, the opponent was sliced cleanly in half. The heavy feeling in his stomach rolled again, but started to read, scared to look up at the Dark Lord in case he decides to punish the boy.
Severo The Slicing Curse
A simple Dark Curse, the caster fills his wand with anger and swipes as his target like a sword, speaking the incantation clearly. The effects of this spell is gruesome, being able to cut through flesh and bone easily. The spell must be cast close up as the efficiently of the spell decreases with the distance, up to only giving a feeble paper cut to the enemy across the field. The wand needs to be slashed from the dominant side to the other, alongside with the incantation.
Harry frowned and the heaviness inside him flipped once more as the Dark Lord called him to his side. Harry expected to see a muggle or animal but was thankful to see a training dummy frozen on its knees. It looked realistic, but it was clear to Harry that it was not a real human. "Tell me the spell, Potter," Voldemort demanded.
"It's the Slicing Curse… my lord," Harry said, "Severo… it's like an invisible sword, slicing anything and everything in it's path but you have to be up close for it to work."
"Correct," Voldemort said. "The spell is powered by your anger, Potter, just as the Killing Curse is powered by your malice. Now, you have ten minutes to cut the target in half."
"My lord?"
Harry screamed suddenly as pain overtook his body, the Dark Lord staring at him uncaring as his Cruciatus Curse hit the boy. "Do not question me," he seethed. "You have ten minutes or I will keep the curse on longer boy."
Shaking slightly, Harry nodded and faced the dummy. He aimed his wand at the dummy before swinging it like a sword, "Severo!" he yelled out. The dummy did not move at all, barely a scratch appearing. Harry tried again, swinging his arm, "Severo!" and again the dummy did not move, no marks appearing on it's body.
Again and again Harry tried, the most he was able to do leave a small cut. With each failed attempt, Harry found himself stepping closer and closer to the dummy, his tolerance and patience draining slowly as annoyance and anger filled in with a bit of desperation. He did not want to know how much time he had left—he just knew that he had to get the spell to work. "Severo! Severo! Severo! Severo!" The cuts on the target started to become deeper, and for a moment Harry was scared that there would be blood. However, there wasn't, just the fibers that held the dummy together.
When he saw this, Harry started to become more confident. Standing barely half a foot in front of the dummy. With one final swipe Harry yelled out, "Severo!" There was a sickening slice and a hard sound before the dummy's left arm fell off of the body, dropping with a dull thud.
The Dark Lord stepped up and picked up the arm. "Ten minutes to cut off an arm," he muttered. "Potter, you are far from him. …We will do better." He threw the arm away and walked away. Harry followed him silently as they moved onto the next subject, which was surprisingly Transfiguration.
What surprised Harry even more so was that the Dark Lord seemed to be following Hogwarts curriculum with the other subjects he taught Harry, going over the spells in an overview that Harry learned in his fourth year. The Dark Lord was pleased that Harry wasn't an imbecile in Transfiguration and Charms, which they both went over in ninety minutes; however, Harry did feel that the Dark Lord was disappointed in his progress, and that made the boy himself feel disappointed as well.
"Potter, for tomorrow you will review your Charms and Transfiguration textbooks," the Dark Lord commanded. "I will not accept any mistakes tomorrow. Understand?"
"Yes, my lord," Harry nodded, looking a little shameful of himself.
"Good. Now, yesterday your potion was adequate. I've used it on a minion, and he did not die, today however, you will learn how to make a simple poison," the Dark Lord said. "It is imperative that you understand the basics of poison-making if you are to be my apprentice. There will be many people out there that will try to poison you, boy. Mastering poisons will make it simpler for you to create their antidotes."
"Okay, sir," Harry nodded. A thought came in his mind and, feeling courageous, he looked up to his Lord and asked, "Master… was he a good poison-maker? Your last apprentice…"
He expected a curse, or pain, but instead the Dark Lord stopped. Harry did so too, there was a pained expression on the Dark Lord's face for less than a second. "No," he finally said. "No, he was not… which is why you must be Harry." His voice was oddly soft. Harry did not know why, but he felt a little closer to the Dark Lord, and maybe it was because of that that he decided that he was going to put more effort into Potions than he ever had before.
The two moved to the stone table and cauldron. The poison that Harry was going to make required the use of snake venom, which the Dark Lord provided. "This poison needs to be clear Potter, undetectable. There are spells, charms that can be used to detect poisons. You must be vigilant in both using them, as well as avoiding," the Dark Lord instructed. "Pour the snake venom into the cauldron, and use the different herbs and mints provided to mask it's texture and color."
Harry nodded. He took the two vials of snake venom and poured both under the Dark Lord's watchful eyes. The boiling water turned into a simmering toxic green. He gave the poison a few stirs, the toxic green color darkening, before he began reaching for herbs, adding foxglove, a poisonous plant, as well as mint and sage. The dark green color lightened slightly with each stir, the green slowly transitioning into a light shade of blue. Harry stopped, at a lost on what to do as he looked at the ingredients that the Dark Lord had provided. There were various mushrooms that Harry didn't know the names to, as well as greens that Harry would see normally in food. He decided to keep to the greens, chopping them finely and adding slowly at the time, smiling as he saw the light blue lightening even more so. However, he was still stuck just before the poison becoming completely clear.
He could feel the Dark Lord's eyes burrowing in on him, and he did not want to fail. He went to the cupboard and quickly found bottles full of wormwood and baneberries. Grabbing both, he cut the wormwood in half before adding and squeezed the juices out of the berries. Than he began stirring. Once, twice, thrice, ten times he stirred before, suddenly, the water turned crystal clear and sat still, as though chilled over the roaring fire underneath. Harry turned the flames off and stepped away, sweaty and nervous.
"Half an hour," the Dark Lord commented, "let us see how you have done." He stepped to the cauldron and produced a silver chalice with his wand. He filled the chalice with the poison and began waving his wand around it. "You have done well for the first attempt," the Dark Lord said, "I cannot smell the venom, nor can I barely trace the poisons in this. And it looks like a regular cup of water. However, we must try the toxicity and effectiveness. The Dark Lord moved away with the poison, and Harry followed obediently.
There was a cage in the corner of the basement behind a large stack of old yet expensive looking furniture. In the cage were an endless supply of rats it seemed. "Wormtail will be useful even in death," the Dark Lord commented before taking a rat. He forced the rodent's mouth opened and forced the poison in it. The rat squealed as Voldemort held it by it's tail. It thrashed and struggled, it's black beady eyes looking to strain before droplets of blood seeped out of the corner, and its movement stopped.
"Fast working and efficient… you have done well boy," Voldemort said. He dropped the dead rat. And transfigured the chalice into a sealed bottle. "I believe with this poison you have earned your lunch. We will resume in an hour. Do not look for me."
And with that, the Dark Lord moved passed Harry, not even giving the boy a glance back. Alone in the basement, Harry walked around for a couple minutes before an idea came to him. He was going to find Draco.
Taking out his wand, He looked around and whispered to it, "Point me to Draco Malfoy."
The wand spun in his hand before pointing upwards and towards the left. Smiling to himself, the boy quickly moved to the steps, leaving the basement and following his wand. The basement steps led to the kitchen, which was full of house-elves moving quickly, dressed in nothing but a sack with the Malfoy emblem. Harry ignored them and moved through the kitchen, always following the direction his wand pointed as he moved through empty room after empty room, lucky to never run into anyone else, until he found a skinny curved staircase, which he climbed to only come to a terrace where Harry saw Draco Malfoy sitting with another boy at a simple table outside. It looked as though they were talking, and Harry stopped, at a lost on how to approach them.
He stared at the two for a moment, they seemed friendly and the boy looked around Draco's age. He had black hair, fair skin, and looked rather short. It took Harry several moments to recognize the boy as Theodore Nott. Wondering what they were talking about, he crept towards the door, wishing he had his Invisibility Cloak.
He pushed the door open gently, leaving enough room to let in a cool breeze, which carried both their voices.
"… absolutely stupid."
"I disagree, Draco. It can be argued that it's worth it," Nott said. "Just because you may not see the worth of the charm—"
"Transfiguration is absolutely the most boring and non-necessary class of them all," Draco said, "as well as this game we are playing—where is that damn elf with our food anyway?" he grumbled.
Harry took this to step in. He opened the door and said in a confident voice, causing both boys to jump, "I find Transfiguration rather useful, Draco. Imagine being able to transfigure your body…"
"Potter! What are you doing here?" Draco said, looking shocked and at a lost for a moment. Nott stood up as well, looking confused.
"Potter?"
"I am on lunch break from my lessons Draco," Harry said, "I thought that we can talk."
Draco's eyes flashed with recognition, and a superior look replaced his shock. "I see," he said, he looked towards Nott and smirked, "Potter here's desperate for command. So much so that he joined our side just so he can lick my boots."
"Excuse me—"
"Shut up Potter!" Draco sneered. He stepped towards Harry, "You're a sub, so get on your knees and lick my shoe." Harry glared at the blonde, anger filling him. He stepped towards the blonde and did not move, their eyes staring at each other.
"You want my submission, Malfoy?" he breathed. "You have to earn it. The train was just my treat for you, you have to work for the rest of it."
"How dare you—"
Draco was interrupted by Nott's laughter. "I think I like this Harry," he smiled. "Come! Join us, we were just about to eat."
Harry turned to Theodore Nott and smiled, "Thank you Nott, I think I will," he said pleasantly.
"Call me Theo, Harry," Nott said, "and I must say, if Draco doesn't fit your needs, I am more than prepared to satisfy them and more… my lovely boy."
Harry blushed and smiled, "Thank you Sir," he said respectfully, his eyes glancing at Malfoy. Theo did the same and smiled innocently. "Draco," Theo said, "why don't you sit down? Isn't it rude to stay standing in the presence of a beautiful boy?"
Draco glared at him but sat down. "Anyway Harry," Theo said, "what did you say about transfiguring your body?"
"I mean, Transfiguration is good for that," Harry said. "We may be focusing on turning bugs into animals and objects, but we can work up to transfiguring your own body—maybe into a form that you find better suited or if our Lord needs us to infiltrate a place and we do not have the means to get a Polyjuice Potion."
Draco frowned, "That does sound useful," he muttered.
"And what form would you find better suited?" Nott asked. "I'm sure that we all want better bodies—right Draco?"
"Yeah," Draco muttered.
"So, what would you change, Harry?" Theo smiled.
Harry gave a thought and looked at his own body, feeling himself up experimentally, "Well… I like that I'm short, but I could be a little taller… with a bigger butt, I heard that guys like that, and maybe my chest? But I don't know how that would work…"
"Muscles maybe?" Theo suggested, "What do you think Draco? Would you think Harry would look good with a nice big butt and thick muscled chest?" Draco blushed for a moment.
"If that is what he wants…" the blond said. Harry smiled and leaned back, "I just might," he said, "and find a more… permanent way to get it. If I can have a break from my lessons."
"What are you exactly learning?" Draco asked, looking a little curious.
"The Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration… the Dark Lord is teaching me everything," Harry said, looking at Draco. "He's tough but… I'm actually learning—today I actually made a poison and he praised me!"
"What about the other thing?" Draco asked.
"Pureblood society… no, no I am on my own about that," Harry said, looking a little bashful.
"Why do you even want to learn about it?" Draco asked. "I know that we are superior but—"
Harry's face turned red and the two Slytherins leaned forward, silently demanding an answer. "The submissive marriage clause…" he answered. "I just… I like that idea very much."
"Such a submissive," Draco smirked. Theo shared the same. "You want to be a submissive wife Harry?" he asked, "I wouldn't peg you as the type."
Harry's cheeks blushed, "Yeah but… but I'll still argue if I need to!"
"Good thing," Theo nodded, "I like my boys to be a bit argumentative, don't you Draco?" he chuckled.
"Shut up Nott," Draco muttered. Harry didn't know why but he smiled at Draco's reaction. House-elves appeared, along with food that filled the table, "Finally—you," Draco snapped, "get more food for Harry! He is joining us. How long do you have?" he asked.
"Forty minutes left I would say," Harry said.
"Good. Move closer to me," Draco said. Harry glanced at Theo, who looked amused, and moved his chair a little towards Draco.
"This doesn't mean anything Draco," he said softly, "you haven't won my submission."
"I haven't figured if I wanted it or not," Draco mused. "I need to see if you can be a good girl…"
"Don't you mean good boy?" Harry asked, tilting his head slightly.
"That too," Draco nodded. Harry laughed and, as if by magic, tension loosened between the three of them. Harry found throughout lunch that his smiles and laughter came freely and easily, especially with Theo. Both boys welcomed him and questioned him on everything he knew on Pureblood Society, which he answered with surprising accuracy. By the end of his lunch, Harry looked between the two of his new friends. "I know that blood purity means a lot … but to be honest I am a bit scared of it," he said.
"Why is that Harry?" Theo asked.
"The submissive clause can be used with Half-bloods… however there is a way… for me to become pureblood," Harry blushed. "I don't know why but… thinking about it, it makes me feel weird. I'm disgusted by it and also drawn to it, like I am with the submissive clause. I just want to know what your thoughts are on it."
"Do it," Theo said. "It will give you a better standing—make you a better candidate to marry. Isn't that right Draco?"
"It is," Draco nodded. "I will be honest with you Harry, if you want to be my boyfriend, we can date as you are a half-blood… however our society will never allow me to marry a half-blood, not as long as they are not willing to cast away his muggle blood. I've heard of the way, but not it's specifics. If you want boy, I can look into it."
"I would like that," Harry found himself blushing. His time was up, and he said goodbye to the two purebloods.
Draco and Theo watched Harry leave before turning to each other. "Well, that was interesting," Theo said, leaning in his chair. "Do you think Potter would do it?"
"What? Throw away his muggleness? As if," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "He doesn't have the courage."
"Either way," Theo hummed, "it is very interesting that Harry is interested in the submissive clause… I think he would be a good boyfriend, and submissive."
"And what do you know about that stuff Nott?" Draco sighed, "you haven't even kissed a boy."
"That you know of," Nott smirked. "Anyway, I think I'll visit you more over the summer, I want to spend more time with Harry… and give him some tips on getting that body of his."
"Whatever," Draco scoffed. "Just watch, Potter will run from it. You'll see." Nott didn't look convinced and just shook his head. Draco made a face and looked back at the door, secretly hoping that he was wrong.
A/N: This is going to be a long summer…
: Thanks! I would argue about the pacing, issue however I am happy that you're enjoying the story! I'm glad that this is your first Dark Harry story and I hope that I do a good job at convincing you to read more! As for your stab… no it is not Lucius, however that is a good guess. Voldemort's first apprentice was a student that was in Hogwarts with him, and that's all I'll say.
Chris: Thank you Sir! I love Dom! Cedric as well, I have a lot of interesting ideas that I want to do with them, some might be one off one-shots.
Littlesprout: Thanks! I love the twins too
DZ2: Hello old friend! I hope you like the small meeting between Harry and Draco in this chapter, as for who the first apprentice is, I'll reveal it slowly over time. All we know so far is that he was horrible at potions.
Ilamay: Thank you for reading!
DS2010: Nope, and Harry is getting better with each visit—and Cedric will have his hands full if you know what I mean.
