Harry bolted upright in bed. He could feel something different, but what was it?
Slither appeared with a quiet pop, circling near the ceiling. "You feel it too, don't you?" Harry asked. Maybe now, he would get some answers from his amazing familiar.
Slither settled on the foot of Harry's bed, made himself comfortable, then began to tell Harry everything. "You are special to me Harry, you are the Heir, as am I. You are basically the Heir of Merlin, and I am the heir of his familiar. He was brilliant, you see, and he experimented with different magics, before they were considered light or dark. He made his familiar powerful by adding aspects of other creatures by infusing their magic into The One's core. The One became the ancestor of all of my race, for when we breed, our magic overcomes the magic of any snake, making a perfect replica of The One. Magic and memory are transferred, and we continue on."
Here he paused, letting what he said sink in. "In order to expand our core from birth to the magical core of The One, we must find and bond with the The Heir, which in my case, is you. There are other heirs, but none powerful enough to claim the connection. You, and you alone, made it possible for me to become all that I am. In return, I share my core with you. However, to protect you from degeneration from too much magic, you must share the Heir Bond with your Father. Him, I had to find to set up the circumstances to force his hand into performing the ritual. The Heir is never supposed to be raised without the basic knowledge of who he is, much less as an orphan with no knowledge of magic at all. I did all I could to protect you, feeding you emotions while you slept to make you question your situation." Here Slither paused, taking a deep breath. "My task was always to protect, but in spending time with you I grew to love. I love you, my friend. To ensure your power and happiness, I encouraged a bastardization of the Heir Bond Ritual. Tom Riddle believes he now owns you, but he will be unable to use you as he wishes. You see, I laced this ritual with your core essence, which is love. He cannot force you into anything without loving you, yet when he loves you he will no longer desire to force you. In the meantime, your magic is balanced and unable to unravel, to cause you damage or hurt you." Slither slowly approached Harry with his head hung low, knowing he was making Harry upset with all that he disclosed.
"Please, forgive me for not telling you. None of this could work if you had prepared yourself for it, and I needed for you to be free. Now, my friend, you may do as you wish, as your conscience dictates. No one may take from you what you would not willingly give." Slither lifted his soulful eyes to Harry, silently begging for forgiveness.
Harry was furious and touched, unable to stay angry. "So, Riddle thinks he owns me, but he can't until he learns to love me?" This was truly important to him. It all comes down to family. Harry wanted one, and if he didn't have to fear Voldemort, maybe there was hope, after all.
"You are still able to be yourself, and you won't have to obey a direct order if it goes against your conscience. Everything else, you will have to do. However, when he commands you in love, you will have to obey. I am sorry, but you need him. You will, from time to time, have more magic than your body can tolerate, and he can absorb the excess. He will not even know it is happening, he will just feel good. Hopefully, he will think it is all you, and he will grow to love you quickly."
Harry thought about it for a minute. Then it hit him, this was all well and good for a normal person, but Voldemort was anything but. He was evil. Harry didn't know if it was even possible for evil to love. Where did that leave him? And, what about poor Draco? Was he involved with this madness too?
As confusing as it all was, he was tired. The anger knotted in his stomach needed to be dealt with before he exploded or vomited. Harry wondered which it would be. Tomorrow was soon enough to find out.
When Harry woke up the next morning, it took a minute to come to his senses. Once he did, he thought he just might stay in bed. He was still angry and in no hurry to face down an evil father. He was not Luke, he didn't really think there was any good left in Voldemort. He startled when he heard voices approach in the hallway, it seemed yesterday was fixing to crash into today. Just what he wanted, more destruction in his life. Harry wondered what was wanted from him now. Did he even want to know? He looked around for his invisibility cloak.
"He is officially my child. I will see him now. I do look forward to explaining his future to him." That was definitely the evil father. Wasn't there also supposed to be an evil butler or something?
"My Lord, let me take down the wards first. They are keyed to Malfoy blood." There he was. Maybe not a butler, but close enough. Sicko, setting wards for guests keyed into his blood. He hoped spilling the blood for them hurt. And what was his 'faithful servant' doing locking him in? That knot of anger in him began to simmer.
Harry found the closet roomy enough for a boy under an invisibility cloak. He tried to breath quietly, hoping to make no noise at all. As he tried to make himself invisible, his anger began to bubble. Seemed he had spent most of his life hiding from someone or doing their bidding, and he was tired of it. His magic fed off his anger and began to stir, itching for release.
"I thought you said he had not left his rooms, Lucius." The threat in those words was not lost on Lord Malfoy. He quickly tried to save himself.
"My Lord, he has to be here. He most certainly cannot leave the manor even if he managed to leave this room. I will find him, I swear it."
When Harry heard that, he became furious. Always trapped, always wanted for someone else to kick around. And trapped in Malfoy Manor when they swore to help him! It was too much. Harry drew on Draco's stability. He knew he was dangerous and powerful, time to find out how much.
Harry released his magic and gave it free reign, asking only to be allowed to come and go as a free man. He wanted to make his own decisions without fear, damn it! His magic became a whirlwind of destruction, leaving nothing untouched.
After the wind died down, Harry took a deep breath and a good look. He was amazed at what he saw. He could walk directly into the hallway through the wall! Very satisfying. He saw no sign of the traitorous Malfoy or his evil parent, so that is just what he did.
Harry made his way down to the foyer, hoping to find some signs of life, and if he was lucky, some remorse. All he found was the front door, so he left. After all, if he couldn't trust someone who had promised to serve and protect, what did he have? He needed to make a new plan, so he made his way to Gringotts. Goblins may be creepy, but they were more trustworthy. He swallowed his anger, no need to take chances. After all, Harry still saw those toothy smiles in his sleep.
Lord Voldemort pushed aside the mattress that was covering him, rubbing at the cut on his head that he was sure was the source of his headache. He made it to his feet, then he kicked Lucius Malfoy to encourage him to get up as well. He scanned the room, unable to feel any magic but their own. Harry was the source of the destruction. The amount of magic that it took to obliterate the Malfoy wards, the destruction of magical objects, the smell of ions in the air all pointed to a very pissed off powerhouse.
Most certainly it would hurt to feel that himself, even if he couldn't be killed. Killing Harry was impossible too at this point. Lord Voldemort rolled a few ideas around in his head and made a very wise decision.
He decided to change tactics.
Harry talked fast, explaining his situation to the goblins. The nearest goblin smiled at Harry. Harry shuddered. Harry looked at them after finishing his story, since he had been staring at the floor after that goblin smiled at him. Did goblins smile to show affection, or to warn? He decided it didn't really matter as long as they didn't eat him.
"Mr. Potter, we can set you up with a credit card for the magical and muggle worlds so where you stay matters not. As long as you can pay, you will be welcome anywhere." With goblins it was always about money. He had forgotten.
"So, I can disappear if I want. I don't want to be found. Is there a spell for that?" Harry hoped so, he needed to stay away from the people he trusted for a while, and those he didn't for good.
"Of course. We don't recommend it, as it has side effects most young men avoid. However, we can place a spell on you that only allows someone who loves you or is loyal to you to be able to find you. Would that be acceptable, Mr. Potter?"
Harry was ecstatic. "Perfect! Can you cast it right away? I've always wanted to stay at an expensive hotel and be treated like royalty. I want to leave as soon as possible!"
The goblins smiled that toothy smile. "Anything for our allies, Mr. Potter. We have grown fond of you, so it will be within the hour. We will also set you up a muggle hotel, with a portkey to take you there safely. We must warn you, your guardian will be able to find you since they are responsible for your safety as well. Are you ready?"
Harry was shocked. Was he screwed if no one but Voldemort could find him? Then again, if he had a chance to prepare, no one would see their confrontation. It was bound to be humiliating for him. Everything big seemed to be. "Could you keep me hidden, say, about three days from my guardian?" That would be enough time to set a few booby traps. Non-magical means of persuasion, that is.
"Three days, mister Potter? We can give you four, but after that you will be exposed. What is your decision?" Goblins couldn't even give you good news without making you feel fear.
"Four is even better. Thank you." Harry stood up when a flurry of activity started all around him. Staying out of the way of focused goblins was a real good idea, especially when it was all for you.
A short toothy goblin silently handed Harry a sandwich with a glass of something cool. He disappeared as silently as he had come. Harry ate his food, thinking about all of this. He wanted to start over. Nothing happened the way he wanted it to. Why was his life always out of his control? To be safe in the muggle world would be wonderful, but if the only person who could find him was the one person guaranteed to make him miserable, would he be able to handle it? It seemed the only solution to getting a life of his own would be to make Voldemort love him. Since Voldemort was evil and incapable of love, there was nothing he could do. He supposed he could ride it out and expect magic to protect him. Or he could make Slither be a guard dog, since he wasn't too happy with him right now. He needed to redeem himself. Hard to stomach the fact the he was currently bound to Voldemort was Slither's fault. Stupid snake thingy. First blah, blah, heir blah, blah, Father blah, blah. Harry didn't care about all that any more.
All he wanted was to live.
