To EIEN07, many thanks for your charming words, at least I know now that you like it. XD Hm, their relationship is OOC on its own, but I do hope that what I make of it seems halfway realistic. So really, thanks. And nope, the book has not really anything to do with Tom, but this chapter will make that clear.
To Ann, sorry about my choice of ending, but yes, I had to do that. ^_^ My mean streak shining through, you know?
Here's your answer, then.
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Standstill, Asphyxiating
Chapter 14
"You're not going to get involved in this," Voldemort told Harry in a hushed, but resolute voice, stepping out from behind a curtain as soon as Harry had closed the living room door behind Lavender. He did not even bother to pretend not to have listened in this time.
"Too bad you can't tell me what to do," Harry automatically whispered back and turned to walk up the stairs. He had not even thought about whatever part he was going to take in this newest issue, but he was certainly not going to take orders from a dead Dark Lord.
Voldemort blocked his way. His eyes had that dangerous gleam in them again. "Harry," he hissed threateningly, "I will not let you..."
"Shut up," interrupted his lover, "I didn't say I was going to do anything, I don't know what to do myself right now, anyway. Maybe I will get involved, and maybe I'll do something stupid and get myself killed, and maybe I won't. In any case, that is my decision and there's nothing you can do to influence that, so just get out of my way now and come upstairs. I'd hate it if Lavender saw you and I would have to kill you all over again."
He pushed the slight wizard out of the way and went back to bed. Voldemort followed in reproachful silence.
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She had come dangerously close to developing a little crush on a mass murderer, Lavender reflected. Nothing major, but the idea was nevertheless disturbing.
She was slumping on Harry's living room couch with a woolen blanket, clutching to the bottle of firewhiskey that she had taken with her from the kitchen. Mrs Chang's copy of 'The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore' was lying on the low couch table, continuing to draw her attention to it even in the dim light, mocking her.
Her instincts had failed her, convinced as she had been of her latest acquaintance's integrity and good will.
Then again, there was no way she could have known the likable boy she had met was a very much alive Gellert Grindelwald. How was this possible, though? What the hell was going on?
At least Harry had understood that at the moment she did not feel safe in her own home and had allowed her to stay.
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Harry did not find sleep that night. Disregarding the fact that the Lord was still sulking, he pulled the thin wizard into his arms and buried his face in the nape of his neck. The cool skin against his forehead and almost imperceptible smell of death had a calming effect on him that was unequaled by anything else.
"I know you're only concerned, and you might have a point sometimes, but leave it to me, okay?" he muttered gently.
"Fine," agreed Voldemort hesitatingly, "However, you should heed my advice at least when even you think that I might be right... you tend to act against me by principle, not by reason, even now."
"Might be... I can't help that sometimes, you know."
"Yes, I know."
They stopped talking for a while, until Harry asked, "So... since I don't need to tell you anymore what Lavender said, do you have any idea how it could be that Grindelwald is not dead? I thought you had killed him."
"I thought so, too... I did wonder why he was so unfazed about it, did not even make a move to stop me."
"So what could he have done, then? Made Horcruxes, too?"
"Most likely."
"God, that really is an irksome trend."
Harry was close enough to feel the dark wizard smirk. "It is a very prudent trend to follow, though."
"Not my cup of tea," Harry replied.
"Why not?"
"Hm... perhaps because you'd have to kill somebody to create one?"
"And if you had to kill somebody, anyway? To defend yourself? Creating a Horcrux would not make them any more dead, if anything it would give their death additional purpose."
"You are really not the kind of person I desire to have an argument on ethics with in the middle of the night," Harry told him dryly.
"Eh? Then tell me, Harry, what do you desire to do with a person like myself in the middle of the night instead?" the Lord asked suggestively, twisting himself around in Harry's embrace.
"Not now, Lavender is downstairs!"
"So what?"
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Dean brought Ginny to the door. "Goodnight, Gin," he said awkwardly, not sure whether to turn to leave or not.
This was already their fourth date now. Dean supposed that this could indeed be seen as a real date now, certainly more than a mere get-together between two old friends. Had it been another woman, he would already have kissed her, perhaps even more than that if the circumstances allowed it, but since Ginny and Harry's breakup was still so recent, he did not want to instigate anything that might end up making her feel worse.
His pondering was cut short when Ginny closed the distance between them.
Crouched low in the shadows of some bushes just outside the garden gate, Antonia was watching the red-headed woman kiss her dark-skinned escort who was obviously quite enamored with her. She felt a little contempt at how quickly this woman had apparently given up and forgotten about her lawfully wedded husband. Even though she did not know what had gone on between them, she doubted it justified this kind of behavior. And that called itself a pureblood... She shook her head, wondering what was wrong with the world. In any case she just hoped for the sake of the plan that at least Harry had more sense of duty left towards his wife.
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"The thing that I find the most disquieting..." began Voldemort who was lying draped across Harry's chest. He caught the alert green eyes that were reflecting the light of a streetlamp outside the window before he continued to speak. "You put the Elder Wand back into Dumbledore's tomb, did you not?"
Harry startled. "Damn... I did, I hadn't thought about... Grindelwald could take it back from there!"
"If he has not done so already."
"You think he has?"
"He would have to be a fool not to."
"I'll have to check that first thing tomorrow... but even if he has it, I'm still its master."
"That is precisely what is bothering me about this whole thing. You're on the list."
"The list?"
"Of people to kill, idiot."
"Oh. Yeah, that list... don't worry, that is like a red line through my whole life, I'm used to it by now."
"I warn you, Harry..."
"Don't do anything stupid, yes, yes, I know."
"And yet you keep ignoring it. Don't you agree that now would be a good time to take me up on my offer to accompany you when you go out?"
"No, I do not think so."
"Why not? I could protect you. Failing to guard you would be failing to guard myself, so you really need not worry."
"No."
"And this is another one of those cases where I am right, and you object merely because it is me."
"Well what can I say? You know me. And I am still not about to let you anywhere near the poor, unsuspecting public. Anyway, I can take care of myself, I've always gotten out of everything okay, have I not?"
"Foolish child."
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Julius banged on the door again, then threw himself against it with all his weight. The abrupt impact was too much. Sharp pain reared up inside his head again, and he slumped down against the door and pressed his fingers against his temples.
"Leave it, hun," Cho told him, sitting in a corner of the room, "There's no point, no one's gonna come."
"Someone must at least be there, though," Julius answered back, "If they wanted to lock us up in here forever they might just as well stop giving us anything, they could simply eave us here to starve. They're not doing that, so I take it they have something in mind with us."
"Yes, but making a racket is hardly going to do any good," Cho groaned, "Just come back over here."
Glaring daggers at the door that would not open, Julius stumbled into the middle of the room and dropped himself down onto the floor next to the plate with food. He took some grapes and rearranged them to form the word 'BED'.
"What are you doing?" asked Cho from her corner.
"I don't know about you, but I'm hurting all over from sleeping on this godforsaken floor, and seeing as they only ever seem to come when both of us are asleep, not even when we are pretending to be, I'm letting them know we'd like a bed."
"Fat chance," sighed Cho.
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True to his word the first thing that Harry did in the morning was to go to Hogwarts with Lavender. To avoid causing unnecessary disquiet, they used the tunnel from Hogsmeade to the Whomping Willow instead of the main gates.
Albus Dumbledore could as well have been sleeping, if not for the bloodless color of his skin. He looked peaceful, and exactly like Harry remembered him with the spells on his body preventing decay.
Lifeless, of course, but somehow much less so than Voldemort had been before Harry had called his consciousness back into his dead body. Not as much of an empty shell as the Dark Lord had been... an echo of the presence of the greatest wizard that Harry had ever known still seemed to linger here.
The wand was gone.
"Fuck," said Lavender again, voicing Harry's thoughts in a nutshell. "We'll have to inform the Minister, and quick."
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Percy rested his head on his desk, clenching and unclenching his fists.
Great, just great.
After seeing the memory that Lavender had showed him, he was convinced that she and Harry had drawn the right conclusions... the theft of the Veil of Death started to make some sense now, too. Perhaps he had made a mistake in not pressuring on investigation on a larger scale right away, but he doubted that would have done much good, anyway.
He hoped that this whole problem would go by without greater impact on Britain... the country had had just about enough time to mostly recover from the last war. They really could not use another one.
As it was, the public did not need to know, at least not yet. At this stage of development that could easily do more damage than good.
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"Harry?" Lavender asked after they had left Percy's office.
"Yes?"
"I'm wondering... I can still not stay at my apartment, so perhaps..." She fidgeted around with her sleeves while trying to find the right words to ask this favor while not being too forward.
"You want to know if you can stay at my house?"
"Yes. It's okay if not, I don't want to force myself on you... I think I would feel safest there, though."
That is because you're completely oblivious that there is another occupant there, namely Lord Voldemort, Harry thought to himself. "I'd really like to let you stay, but there is something of a problem with that."
"What problem?" asked Lavender curiously.
"Can't explain. Anyhow, it would be really difficult..."
"Can you think about it, maybe? Otherwise I'll get myself a hotel room, that's no matter... I'd just prefer your house, no hotel room would be anywhere near as safely guarded."
"I'll see what I can do... you can stay for another night in any case... only please come late, after ten perhaps. I have to do something first that I need to be alone for."
Lavender still seemed rather curious, but luckily refrained from questioning Harry on what it was that he had to be alone to do.
"Okay, fine. I guess I can stay here until then. Are you coming with me to get some things from my place?"
"Sure."
"Harry?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
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Voldemort had made the same tomato soup for Harry again that Harry had loved so much yesterday.
"Thank you," Harry said.
The dark wizard nodded. "So, news?" he asked, straight to the point.
"We looked into Dumbledore's tomb, too late. The wand is gone."
"I thought it would be."
"Percy asked us not to go around telling people yet... He does believe us and all, he just thinks we shouldn't trouble them at the moment. I'm not sure about that, I mean, I sort of understand where he's coming from, but they have a right to know, don't they?"
"A single person tends to be intelligent on their own... however, you know what they say about a crowd. I'd say you might want to listen to your Minister, my dear. As long as the people who actually matter are aware that there is a problem, I see no reason why all the rest should be."
"Yeah... maybe more trouble than it's worth, isn't it?" Harry shrugged. "There's another thing, though..."
"And that would be?"
"Lavender is coming sometime later, I told her she could stay for another night... perhaps longer, if you can manage to stay out of her way. I'd really appreciate it if that could work."
"Why do you want her to stay?"
"She can't go home, and I'm worried about her. In an entirely platonic-friend-kind-of-way," he added at the dark wizard's expression, "She asked if she could stay for a while, and she has a point. This house is pretty damn safe, at least provided that you leave her alone. Can you do that?"
"Fine. I will stay out of her way, don't you dare lock me up again though. Anyway, Harry... I feel that I have to bring this up again. I know you don't want to hear it, but it matters to me, so I ask you to at least consider what I have to say. It would be most sensible of you to create a Horcrux, at least one, but I will not pressure you to do so. I wonder, though, if it is possible for us to come to a compromise?"
"What kind of compromise?"
"I realize that you wish to avoid having to kill, even though I don't see why would go out of your way for that. However, you cannot entirely eliminate the possibility that you may at some point have no choice but to do so. I have to say that I am amazed that nothing like this has ever happened so far, actually. My proposition is that you learn from me what is needed, and should it commence that you unforeseeably find yourself in any such situation, and you have for any reason taken a life, you will seize the opportunity and split your soul."
Harry took a moment to think before answering, trying to meet Voldemort's request to really consider his opinion. "I don't know..." he said then, the image of the Lord's child-like splinter of soul that he had seen at his King's Cross that was forever burned in his mind surfacing, "It is not only that somebody would have to die... I mean, it does do a great deal of damage to you, does it not?"
"Nothing that is not worth trading in for the benefits," the Lord said, meeting Harry's eyes. Beneath the cold, calculating expression in them, Harry could make out traces of desperation, a hint of a pleading look.
Harry's mouth was dry, and he bit his lip, feeling a bit lost and torn between his resolve not to let himself be at all negatively influenced by his prisoner, and the strong desire to please him that suddenly welled up in his chest.
"Please, Harry," Voldemort said and put a hand on top of Harry's, "Do it for me. I will even offer myself to be your Horcrux. Assuming you wish so, of course. It would be the safest bet. And as I said, agreeing with this does not require you killing anyone... this would merely be the plan for the case that for any reason you end up doing so."
There was a large, constricting lump in Harry's throat. He let his eyes wander through the room, not really taking anything in. Then, with great hesitation, he almost imperceptibly nodded his head.
"Will you promise?"
Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. "I promise."
With an ever-so-subtle smile, Lord Voldemort brought his Harry's hand to his icy thin lips, ghosting them over the smooth skin as if to seal their agreement.
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Lavender took Harry's request to come late seriously. It was nearly midnight when she turned up, and Harry was still awake, although obviously dead on his feet. She guessed that he had not been able to sleep any better than she had the night before.
This time, he had made the living-room couch into a very adequate replacement for a bed, brought linen and blankets down for her.
"I've solved the problem," he told her, "You can stay for as long as you need to."
"Thank you," sighed Lavender in relief, "I won't be much of a burden, and I will be gone as soon as possible, alright?"
"That's okay, there was only this one thing I had to take care of first. That bathroom down the hall is yours for now."
The young woman nodded. "Anything else I should know?"
"Actually, yes... please don't ask me why, but always stay in the ground floor. Don't go anywhere else. If you need me and I'm upstairs, shout for me, but don't come looking. I know this sounds a bit strange, but just accept it, okay?"
Lavender tried not to let her confusion show too much, and nodded again. She was very grateful to Harry for allowing her to stay, and it was the least that she could do in return not to pry.
"That's great," said Harry, "apart from that, if you need anything from the kitchen or so, feel free to serve yourself. You don't mind if I go to bed now, do you? I'm pretty tired."
"You go to bed, I'll be fine. Merlin, tired is an understatement for how I'm feeling myself... Night, Harry."
"Night." Harry saluted to her and went upstairs.
"Are you quite sure I should stay completely away from her, though?" asked Voldemort once Harry had closed the bedroom door. He was sitting on the windowsill and looking out on the street. "How do you know she would not be pleased to have me to keep her company as well? You have not even asked her, have you?"
"Hardly." Harry sat down opposite Voldemort and rested his head against the cool glass of the window. He felt dazed, his head felt like it was packed with bricks and considering how physically exhausted he was, he should have been able to drop on the bed and fall asleep without delay. The catch was, he could not. Too many thoughts running through his head, mixed up and all at once.
He kept thinking about the promise that he had given the Lord. Granted, it would only apply under special circumstances that at this time, at least he hoped so, were unlikely to occur. He could not shake off the feeling, though, that he might have made a decision with very far-reaching consequences... He would not think about that now. He had no way of telling what was going to happen, or if anything much was going to happen at all, so he settled for a good old, proven and tested time and again method of his.
Just let it happen, and then think about what to do.
Moving slowly, he extended a hand towards his dead companion. Voldemort regarded it for a second in confusion before he took it into his own.
No spoken words were needed between them.
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A/N: If anyone is wondering, the Ginny scenes still seem a bit pointless at the moment, but we can't let the little slut entirely out of our sight just yet. And neither can Antonia. ^_^