Hearing a grandfather clock somewhere in the mansion striking two o'clock in the morning, Harry's head shot up from the book he was absorbed in reading. He'd only intended to read for a short time before bed, yet he'd ended up so caught up in his book that it was the middle of the night. Chances were he was now the only person awake in the large house.

"I'll just get to the end of the chapter," he muttered to himself as he returned his attention to the spell book he'd been studying.

The book had been a gift left for him in his bedroom, and it was one of several he'd received over the last couple of weeks. The books had started to appear in his bedroom the same day he'd duelled Lucius to showcase his abilities. Harry knew that most people would consider the books he'd been reading as Dark Arts books, but Harry was beginning to see Voldemort's point about shades of grey. Yes, some of the spells he was reading about were darker than anything he'd ever learnt at Hogwarts, but some of them seemed no more harmful than the curses he already knew. He was quickly deciding that it wasn't necessarily the spells which were dark, but the way in which they could be used. After all, even a simple stinging hex could cause a lot of damage if the intensity of the spell was strong enough.

The more he settled into life in New Zealand, the more Harry was coming to believe that he'd made the right decision. Not only was he reunited with Hermione, but he had a very real chance to pay Dumbledore and the Order back for everything they'd put his best friend through. For two years he'd been disgusted with the Order and his hatred of them had been slowly bubbling inside of him, but being reunited with Hermione, and being reminded of everything she'd gone through, had only increased the hatred he felt towards the people he'd left behind. Slowly his outlook on life was darkening, and while he knew he would never be as open to the darkness as Voldemort, he definitely had a capacity for it.

As he reached the end of his chapter, Harry slipped his bookmark inside and reluctantly put it to one side. However, as he flicked off his light and settled down for the night, he found he was still wide awake. Rather than get out of bed, he remained snuggled under the covers and his mind turned to the people he was living with, and how living with them for a couple of weeks had changed his opinions on almost all of them.

Naturally Hermione was the first person to enter his head, and while on a whole his friend was the same person she'd always been, Harry had noted the changes in his best friend. She was still the bright, loving, caring witch he'd met at eleven years old, but there was now a harsher side to her personality. Whenever she spoke of the Order, especially Dumbledore, Sirius and Molly, there was a vengeful fire in her eyes that Harry had never seen before. Her heart had clearly been broken by the betrayals she'd suffered two years ago, and she often said it would never be whole again until she'd gotten her vengeance. Not that Harry could really blame her as it was clear that even after two years she was still recovering from learning that her entire life had been a lie. For Hermione, punishing those who'd hurt her, was one of the most important things in her life.

Another important thing in her life was something Harry hadn't been expecting – and that was her romance with Draco. Even though Harry had known all along that Hermione had been with the Malfoys, it had never crossed his mind that she would enter into a relationship with the blond wizard. Although to be fair until the last couple of weeks he'd been thinking of Draco as the boy he'd known at Hogwarts. It was only now that he realised that he'd never known the real Draco Malfoy. The boy he thought he'd known at school had only been the parts of Draco that he'd allowed people to see. As Harry was discovering, once Draco decided to let people in, he was quite a different person. He could actually be quite funny and pleasurable to be around. Then the fact he clearly doted on Hermione had helped him in Harry's estimation, as even though the blond wizard devoured books on the so called Dark Arts and was clearly itching to get involved with some real fighting, he obviously loved Hermione and would do anything for her.

To be fair loving Hermione was the thing everyone in the house had in common, and as unexpected as it had been for Harry to discovered that his best friend and Draco were a couple, it wasn't quite as surprising as it had been to find out just how much the other adults loved her. Given that Voldemort was her father, he'd expected the dark wizard to love his daughter. He just hadn't expected the other three adults to love her as well.

By now he was less surprised by the fact Narcissa loved Hermione. Of all the adults in the house, it had been Narcissa that had been the most welcoming towards Harry. It was obvious she was a devoted mother to Draco, and had taken Hermione into her heart, but she'd also opened her arms for Harry as well. She'd done everything she possibly could have to help Harry settle into his new life, and Harry knew that if he had a problem he could go to Narcissa and she would help him in a heartbeat. She really was a lovely woman and her maternal instinct was strong enough to encompass all three teenagers that were living in the mansion, even though only one of them was her own flesh and blood.

Narcissa's husband was a different matter though. Harry had now been living with the family for nearly three weeks, and he still had no idea if Lucius even liked him. He knew Lucius still had a business to run, and like Voldemort he wasn't always around every day, but when he was around he tended to watch Harry carefully. Not that he was ever rude towards Harry, but he wasn't welcoming either. Not like he was with Hermione where it was clear that he thought of her as a surrogate daughter. Harry did suspect that Lucius was just being cautious and was making sure that Harry wouldn't betray them, and considering that attitude was keeping Hermione safe, Harry could live with Lucius's indifference.

One person who wasn't indifferent towards him was Severus. The former Potions Professor clearly still detested Harry and wasn't afraid of showing it. Harry's dislike of Severus was almost just as strong, but he kept reminding himself that if it hadn't been for Severus, Hermione might well be dead. He was the one who saved her from the Order and got her to safety two years ago. Besides, even though he clearly disliked Harry, he just as clearly adored Hermione. If he hadn't known any better, he would have actually thought that Severus was Hermione's father. He was just as protective as Voldemort, and Hermione clearly cared for him just as much as she did for her father. It was for Hermione's sake that Harry didn't react when Severus threw barbs his way, and because of the affection his best friend had for Severus, Harry was determined to win over the frosty Professor and convince him that he also just wanted what was best for Hermione.

As much as Harry's opinions on everyone had changed, it was surprisingly Voldemort that he'd had the biggest change of heart about. From the moment he'd entered the wizarding world and heard about Voldemort, he'd painted him as some sort of monster in his head. And their encounter at the end of fourth year did nothing but reinforce that opinion. He was convinced that Voldemort was the very epitome of evil and was nothing but a monster, and while he hadn't been happy with the Order's actions in taking his baby, he had to admit he might not have felt as much sympathy as he did if that child hadn't been Hermione. However, since joining Hermione and her new found family a few weeks earlier, Harry had been revising his opinion of Voldemort.

He would never entirely trust Hermione's father, or even forgive him for what had happened to his parents, but he was coming to see that he was more than the monster he'd been portrayed as in Harry's mind. Firstly, Harry had witnessed how charming and persuasive the older wizard could be. When he turned on the charm, Harry couldn't help but be in awe of him and he could easily see why he'd amassed so many loyal followers. When Voldemort turned his attention on you, he could make you feel like you were the only person in the world who mattered. That wasn't to say he couldn't still send a chill down Harry's spine when he glared at him a certain way, and Harry was convinced that he was still a terrifying opponent.

But in truth, it was Voldemort' relationship with Hermione that had really altered Harry's opinions on The Dark Lord. Just watching the pair together it was clear that they'd formed a strong bond over the last two years. While Hermione loved her father, something which she'd admitted to Harry the first day they'd been reunited, Voldemort just as clearly loved his daughter. Harry had even witnessed the pair of them together when they thought they were alone, and he couldn't help but be touched by the devotion Voldemort had for his long lost daughter. Harry was in no doubt that there was nothing Voldemort wouldn't do for Hermione, and that was evidenced in the fact he'd yet to retaliate against the Order for taking Hermione in the first place.

It had always baffled Harry why Voldemort had never attacked after finding out that not only had the Order taken his daughter, but then a couple of them had planned to kill her. But now he was in the heart of The Dark Lord's inner circle, he could see the reason he hadn't yet attacked was Hermione's calming influence on her father. More than once there had been comments made about not rushing into danger without a solid plan. As Hermione was fond of saying, the people who'd hurt them weren't going anywhere. They could strike when they were ready, and there was nothing the Order could do to predict when they would be attacked.

Seeing Voldemort with such a calm, reasonable attitude only boosted Harry's suspicions that he'd acted so rashly with his parents because he'd been grieving for his daughter and wife. That wasn't to say he understood what Voldemort had done to his parents, or that he would even forgive him for leaving him an orphan at one years old, but Harry was convinced that if it hadn't been for what Dumbledore and the rest of the Order had done to Hermione then Voldemort never would have attacked the same way. With each passing day he was becoming more and more convinced that if Hermione hadn't been stolen as a baby, then his parents might still be alive. And of course the person to blame for Hermione's kidnapping was Dumbledore, and increasingly Harry was placing the blame for his parents deaths on the headmasters shoulders.

With thoughts of making Dumbledore suffer for all the pain he'd caused, not just to Hermione but to Harry himself, he finally drifted off to sleep. With dreams of vengeance on his mind, he had no idea that in another part of the mansion, Voldemort had been using the connection forged by the scar on Harry's head to tune into his thoughts. Satisfied that Harry was finally starting to embrace his inner darkness, Voldemort picked out a fresh book to leave for the young wizard the following day before he settled into his own bed and drifted off into a contented sleep.