Harry shivered as he arrived in the grounds of Riddle Hall, his apparition signaled by a quiet pop rather than a loud crack. He stood for a moment and his eyes were drawn to the churchyard and his own bad memories from three summers ago. He knew his experience in Azkaban had deeply affected him, even with only the trace affects of Dementors in hissecluded cell. His dreams every night were replays of his worst experiences, but then Harry could say his life had been one long bad experience liberally sprinkled with true horrors. He was amazed he could still produced his stag patronus but Dobby and Hedwig made him happy with their unwavering loyalty. Now, he was invited into the lion's den for a surprise. He could guess what the surprise was. Ron and Hermione were not arrested at Hogwarts. Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid and Sybil Trelawney had been arrested for conspiring to break the Statute of Secrecy. The grounds were overgrown, the house looked deserted, but as Harry approached he could feel the call of the host soul, the Dark Lord was in residence. The young visitor did not need any introductions or any directions as he followed the pull to the master of his fate. The stairs to the cellar were stone, older than the rest of the house. The sub-level beneath the Elizabethan house had vaulted ceilings, wide strong pillars and thick walls. Torches flickered and danced from the draft from the hall upstairs and the shadows were long and deep.
Harry entered what once had been a grand wine cellar or strong room with thick doors. Harry waited in the doorway, but from his vantage point he could see chained to the wall were his former best friends.
The dark Lord looked magnificently happy as he greeted his ever obedient Horcrux, "Beloved Harry, Look. An early wedding present or a late engagement present. The chief conspirators of Albus Dumbledore. They are on the hunt for my most precious possessions. Well, Harry, How should I punish them?"
"Long life and very slow demise... no escape, no hope, cold, hungry, forgotten. Maybe some Dementor exposure but I guess you want real stomach churning torture, blood and guts or maybe just screams. I guess you already had a taster as poor Ron dies not look well at all."
"Weak minded fool. His mind was open, no trace of any shields. By tonight all the Order will be under arrest. There is no more resistance to the Rule of Magic now." Vodemort gloated at the drooling boy and the weeping girl.
Hermione pulled in her emotions and struggled to free her hands, the chains were magically fitted, tight but the cuffs were not damaging. She sniffed and tried to see a way out of this prison but she sat and stared at the two wizards. She watched as Voldemort touched, caressed and completely dominated Harry, who seemed to loose himself in the sensation and loss of all inhibitions. The pair ignoring the prisoners lost in each other. She saw the results of complete isolation of an abused and love starved boy betrayed by his friends. Your enemies enemy had become your friend. She the saw the cold green eyes look at her briefly, no recognition of empathy just hard cold hate and disgust.
Harry no longer wanting to taunt or to include the shadows from his past to intrude on the present and he hissed "My Lord, master, darling Tom... I leave their punishment and treatment to you. I only ask it be slow, if they could suffer eternally I would ask that. I have no stomach for even looking at them. I want no reminders of my life before you claimed me. You are my everything." Harry's open guileless emerald eyes were staring into the dark fathomless depth of a dark wizard, a dark lord no longer drunk on power but thinking more and more of the truth of immortality, isolation and protection. They were touching and Harry stilled himself. "I have no self control. I... I am yours, completely. I .. " Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, centring himself. "Can we leave this dungeon. Take me somewhere warm and light."
Voldemort reached around and hugged the thin, shivering young man. "We will retire to the sun lounge. Hot chocolate will warm you. I forget you are still susceptible to cold. Narcissa will not be pleased if you catch a chill."
Hermione sat as the torches flickered and died. She was left in the dark listening to Ron's laboured breath. She had watched as his mind was ripped apart by a brutal legitimancy probe earlier. All their secrets, plans, co-conspirators laid bare by the master of mind control. She had not been touched, not hurt at all. She worried that her closest friend wa now a vegetable, his mind fractured. The thought of being made insane, to lose all sense of self, to be reduced to a gibbering idiot was her greatest fear. She had doubts over the treatment of Harry, none more so than now. Their actions had destroyed a kind soul, a brave true friend, would now see them tormented and destroyed and not lift a figure to help them.
The sun lounge was and Edwardian cast iron addition to the manor house, with raffia furniture and a colourful tiled floor. The room was warm, almost too warm but too Harry it was perfect.
"Galen..."
The elf cringed and shook in fear when he arrived to do the Dark Lord's bidding.
"We will have some refreshments. My guest is parched and peckish. Iced coffee, sandwiches and buns." The man then turned to take in his young companions happy distraction, too interested in the rays of the afternoon summer sun. "Do you wish for anything, lovely Harry?"
Harry smiled without opening his eyes at the gentle tone of most feared wizard in the World. "No, no. That sounds delightful." Harry then removed his outer robe to leave him just in a light silk undershirt and thin linen slacks. "If only you had a swimming pool, we could skinny dip."
Tom Marvolo Riddle never considered the pleasure of relaxing or just enjoying the moment. This mere child, seventeen, nearly eighteen was becoming a complete distraction. No wizarding home had a pool just for swimming, a purely muggle indulgence. Then Tom thought of a sauna and the thought of sitting in hot and steamy naked with his beloved. "I was 10 the last time I visited a pool. I leant to swim at a dingy municipal council pool in Islington."
Harry still could not equate this Lord of Magic with a muggle upbringing. A secret Tom had shared with him. Well, Harry was his Lord's biggest secret, his soul anchor. "Umm, the school in Little Whining had a small pool. I always wanted to swim, but I never owned a pair of swimming trunks. I sat on the side. Dudley looked riduculous in trunks. Like a blob of lard, rolls of fat on display." Harry then thought on a book in the library in Little Whining full of paintings of bright azure blue water, boys swimming or diving by the artist called David Hockney. "Do you hate muggle art, Tom? I want to own a large canvas depicting a pool and happy swimmers."
"Buy your art, Harry. I would even build you a pool and teach you to swim. Then again, I would be a terrible teacher. I have no patience."
"You are a wonderful teacher. You have taught me so much already. Anyway, I didn't think wizards swam for pleasure. I have never seen anyone in the Lake at Hogwarts apart from that stupid tournament."
"No wizards are quite insular in many respects." Tom looked at Harry, even with his desperately unhappy and deprived childhood he still longed for simple pleasures and took joy in the strangest of things. The Dark Lord mused he would never tire of this companion. In his search for immortality he had never considered the need for anyone to share eternity with. That had been a major flaw in retrospect. Harry would be his and his alone for decades, centuries, millennia even. Tom Marvolo Riddle smiled as he stared at his Horcrux, trapped in such a pleasing form.
