After three days, Harry was at the end of his tether. He had no idea how he dealt with life before. He was failing magnificently in almost every class, except potions. He felt constantly lethargic and Hermione watched him smugly all the time, as if to say, 'yeah, I knew it was a fluke.' Harry snarled openly at her now, not giving a shit about trying to fake it.
Ginny was the only one he could talk to about it. Besides his and Malfoy's odd relationship, there was no one else to talk too.
Harry felt insanely weak without the Darkness. And he hated himself for it. Who needed a voice in their head to complete simple spells? He felt weird using his wand. Even with it, he could barely perform a proper spell. Just like before.
He had cast some dark spells, and was happy to say that they turned out just fine. But that didn't help him while in school. Even with the Darkness he still had to put a lot of time into his school work.
He sought Ginny's help a few times, but everything she said was like gibberish.
He could only think of one thing to do at this point. He had to get it back. No matter what the Dark Lord made him do for it. He had told himself, as soon as the Darkness was gone, that this was what he wanted.
Apparently, he was wrong. Though he wasn't going to admit it, he missed it. Not just because it made everything easier, but because he simply missed its company. Ginny had guessed while they had been in the Room of Requirement, she had noticed that, for the thousandth time, Harry was running his hand back and forth across his stomach.
"You're acting as if you're mourning, Harry. You miss it, don't you?" Harry shook his head vehemently.
"No,"
Ginny laughed. "You do. You might as well admit it." Harry didn't reply.
Though he knew, at this point, he wasn't going to be able to take it much longer, he also knew that he couldn't just pop into the Dark Lord's hideout randomly. Anyone could be there. And he could hardly disillusion himself anymore.
He decided to send a letter, but he almost couldn't stand the thought of waiting. When he finally figured that he had no other choice, he sent the letter. He tried to make it seem slightly urgent without seeming desperate.
It took two days for the reply. And by that time, Harry had nearly lost it. He had almost physically attacked Hermione three times. All in one day. The reply came late at night, and Harry was glad that he had been lying awake.
He read the letter quickly and grinned when it said that he could come anytime between now and morning.
He straight away activated the Portkey, and without even skipping a beat, he got up and took a seat across from the Dark Lord.
"I need the Horcrux back." The Dark Lord smirked.
"I did wonder when you would request that." Harry raised his eyebrows.
"You knew I would, did you?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I did." He said.
"How?" How would he have known that?
"Can't say." Harry frowned.
"Whatever, are you going to do it or not?" Voldemort made a sound not dissimilar to a laugh.
"You know that someone has to die?" Harry waved his hand.
"At this point, I don't care." Harry told him.
"You surprise me. I knew you were experimenting with dark magic, but I didn't think you would come to think of people as disposable so quickly." Harry laughed.
"I surprise you? You have no clue what I'm capable of." He laughed again.
"So are you going to do it, or not?" He asked.
"Maybe, but not for nothing." The Dark Lord replied.
"I knew you would say that."
He frowned. "Well, nothing is free."
Harry groaned.
"What do you want, then?" Harry thought he might as well cut to the chase.
"You. On my side. See, I've thought about it, and your necromancy powers will come in very handy." Harry laughed.
"That might not even work, anymore. Not without the Horcrux." Voldemort cocked his head.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Ah, it tended to amplify things. When I say things, I mean, everything." The Dark Lord flicked his hand.
"I wouldn't think so. Why would Death give you a gift so easily removed? Try it." Another rabbit was conjured and killed.
"What is it with rabbits and you guys?" Harry muttered.
Harry concentrated and almost hoped that the usual explosion would happen. To Harry's surprise, it did. Though something else happened, too.
As Harry was squirming, he noticed that the Dark Lord was doing the very same thing. Harry wondered if he might have been injured, but it seemed too intense to be an injury. And the Dark Lord could just simply heal himself.
So what was going on? Was Harry still feeding the Darkness? If so, how? Why?
When it was finally over, Harry looked over at the Dark Lord, who was also just getting up. The Dark Lord laughed.
"Is this what happens with you?" He asked. Harry shrugged.
"I don't know. I have no idea what it feels like to be you in this situation." Harry said.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I have a few ideas." Harry told him.
"I can smell colors." Voldemort said. Harry laughed
"What ideas?" He was waving his left hand in front of his face.
"I think I was feeding the Horcrux, though it's now back in you." Harry was feeling much more level headed than he had the last time, and he was slightly disappointed. The Dark Lord, on the other hand, looked completely screwed.
"Feeding? How peculiar. Why ever for?" Harry sat across from Voldemort, who was now cross legged on the ground.
"I don't know. I'd just end up feeling terrible if I didn't. For some reason it doesn't affect me like it used too, though." The Dark Lord just stared at him.
"Anyway, it would get stronger if I cast dark spells." Harry said.
"Well, I feel ridiculous." Voldemort stated.
"Feels funny huh?" Harry had a thought then.
"I'm going to try something," Without warning Harry grabbed the Dark Lord's arm, and cast a simple wordless and wandless silencing charm. And it worked.
"Don't grope me," Voldemort said distractedly. Harry let his breath whoosh out, ignoring Voldemort.
"What the hell is going on," Harry muttered. Voldemort snorted.
"I have no idea, but I'm tired." The Dark Lord promptly fell asleep on the floor. Harry decided to wait, they had a lot to talk about.
Though he was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea that the Dark Lord was passed out on the floor beside him.
Harry was lost in thought when the Dark Lord awoke.
"Let's just forget that ever happened," He said, taking a seat in his chair, and conjuring one for Harry.
"Agreed." Harry said.
"Well, you said something about feeding the Horcrux. What did you mean? You said that it had no effect on you." Harry smiled.
"I lied. It did have an effect. And I think that at the end of it, it started to gain a corporeal form. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It started when I first cast the Crucio on Bellatrix. It all just went nuts from there." Harry told him everything that had happened, not skipping anything, except for Ginny being a necromancer. He didn't want to bring her into it.
"How interesting. Do you intend to get the same soul piece back?" Harry nodded.
"And why is that?"
Harry frowned. "Why do you care?"
The Dark Lord shrugged slightly. "Just curious. Were you attached to it?"
"It's none of your business," He snarled.
"So you are attached. How interesting." Harry got up and went to leave.
"Oh, just one more thing, before you go. Are you going to work for me, or not?" Harry's shoulders slumped.
"Yeah, gave me no choice really, huh?" Harry turned and faced him, his face expressionless.
"When do I start?" Harry asked with mock excitement.
"Tomorrow night. I'll get you a time turner and a more permanent Portkey when you get here." Harry scowled. He hated the idea that he was stuck doing this. He hated the feeling of being trapped. It was a new development in his personality.
It most likely came from his distrust of Dumbledore.
Harry sat down hard on his bed, ignoring Ron. He was still trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. Would he be destroying the world by doing this? He felt like he had no choice.
Death had told him that he already knew, but he was sure that he didn't. He had no clue what to do.
