Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Just Cain, Tobias and Aviva belong to me.

Oh, and as a note to everyone (regarding both this story and Providence), my University semester is starting on Monday, so updates will be spaced out a bit more. As far as this story goes, I think I'm somewhere between a quarter and a third of my way through it, but I'm really hoping to be at least halfway through the story by my spring break. Unfortunately, schedules being what they are and all, that might not happen. At this point, I'm going to try to get at least one chapter up every two weeks.

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Chapter 14: Genesis

...

This time when Harry woke up, he found himself not in pain, but instead rather comfortable. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace, the curtains were drawn, and Aviva was draped over his back, conversing quietly with Nagini.

He glanced over at the Dark Lord's serpent and smiled lazily when he realized she was watching him. "Good morning," he hissed quietly.

"And the same to you, boy-child," Nagini replied. "Are you feeling well?" she asked.

Harry nodded a bit, but didn't say anything.

Aviva moved up closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"How long have I been asleep?" Harry asked.

"Just a few hours more than four days," Tom said as he walked into the room. "I see you're much more comfortable exercising your Parseltongue," he said.

Harry nodded slightly and sat up a bit. "I was unaware that you'd be checking in on me," he said, looking around the room. He noticed two doors, one on each side of the fireplace, and scowled lightly.

"The door on the left is a closet, which has a number of your clothes that the demon decided to send here by Owl, and the door on the right is a bathroom. There's another door in the bathroom that leads into the closet as well," Tom said with a knowing smirk. "Nagini, Wormtail has decided to make his presence here a bit more than temporary," he hissed, looking over at his snake.

Nagini smirked, as much as a snake could, and looked down at Aviva. "Come with me, little one," she said. "You will enjoy meeting this man."

Aviva paused a moment before nodding and following the much larger snake out of the room.

Harry looked over at Tom. "What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"I came in to check on you, actually," Tom said, walking further into the room. "I wanted to make sure that you were not suffering from any adverse side effects from either my attack or the Aurors," he added.

"And what else?" Harry asked as he slid out of the bed.

Tom watched him pull on the shirt that he'd discarded before falling asleep. "I have a meeting in about an hour, and it is concerning someone that you may be interested in," he said.

Harry shrugged, not sure what to say.

"Alert the house elves when you're done in the bathroom and they'll point you to the dining room," Tom said. "You've managed to wake up in time for lunch."

Harry paused a moment. "Where is the meeting with this person?" he asked.

"In the sunroom," Tom said. "Will you be attending that meeting?"

"I'll give you my answer at lunch, if you don't mind," Harry said. "And I know that I owe you answers as well."

Tom nodded slightly. "I will allow you some time to adjust to staying here before I require you to give me those answers," he said.

Harry shook his head and picked up the sweatshirt he'd tossed on the ground in front of the bed. "No," he said, evenly meeting Tom's gaze. "I've got a feeling that these answers might help you in whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish." He glanced down at the sweatshirt. "I don't suppose you're the kind of Dark Lord who likes to wait for answers, either."

Tom smirked and said nothing for a moment. "This meeting will require you to wear something a bit more formal than jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt," he said. "If there is not the proper clothing in your closet, have one of the house elves let me know and I'll find something appropriate."

Harry nodded before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. He hesitated a moment before locking the door behind him. He heard Tom chuckling quietly and waited a long moment before he stripped down and took a shower.

...

Just over half an hour later, Harry walked into the dining room, ignoring the house elf leading him, and saw Tom sitting at the head of the table, speaking quietly with a blonde man that Harry had never seen before. He noticed a wealth of food on the table, and all of it looked exquisite.

"There you are," Tom said, looking over at Harry. "Have a seat."

Harry hesitated a moment, watching the blonde man with a mix of curiosity and wariness.

"I will introduce the two of you once you sit down," Tom said. "I'm sure you must be hungry."

The blonde man watched Harry for a brief moment before turning his focus back onto the parchment notebook on the table in front of him.

Harry kept a wary eye on the two men as he sat down across from the blond, to Tom's immediate left.

The blond man's eyes widened when Harry made himself comfortable in the chair and Tom made no move to object to Harry's choice in seating.

Once Harry was seated comfortably, Tom glanced over at the man, arching a black eyebrow at the speculative look on the blond's face. "Lucius," he said, and the man immediately schooled his face into a blank mask. "This is Harry. He'll be staying in my Manor for the foreseeable future. Harry, this is an associate of mine, Lucius Malfoy."

Lucius looked over at Harry and nodded slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

"And the same, I'm sure," Harry replied, looking the man over. At first glance, he reminded Harry of Tobias, though upon further inspection, he noticed that Lucius was more ... regal in appearance. Where Tobias had a perpetually rough around the edges look to him with his tendency not to shave, this man had a pristine look to him. His platinum blonde hair reached just past his shoulders and was tied together with a dark blue ribbon, and his eyes were silver to Tobias' gold. His robes screamed expensive, and he held himself like a king.

"Where did you meet my Lord?" Lucius asked quietly, not missing the partially hidden scar on Harry's forehead.

"I worked in a snake shop," Harry said, watching Lucius. "You work for the Ministry, don't you?" he asked the blond.

Lucius nodded.

Tom smirked. "You, Harry, have the fortune of meeting our newest Minister before he takes his office tomorrow morning," he said, looking over at Harry. "His predecessor passed away late last night."

"Did the old Minister meet his demise through natural means, or did you help him with that?" Harry asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Tom said nothing, choosing instead to summon a glass of red wine and glance over at Lucius.

The blonde man nodded. "It was a well known fact that my predecessor, Cornelius Fudge, was not in the best of health. He favored alcohol a bit too much and that, while not a widely known fact, was ultimately what led to his death," he said. "In what capacity do you serve the Dark Lord?" he asked.

Harry said nothing.

Tom chose that moment to lean forward. "Harry, help yourself to lunch," he said. "He is here because he asked for my help, and because he has information that I cannot afford to dismiss."

"What sort of information?" Lucius asked.

Tom frowned slightly. "You are dangerously close to overstepping your bounds, Lucius," he hissed glacially. "Harry, what would you like to drink?" he asked.

"Just water, please, sir," Harry said as he put a small steak on his plate.

Tom nodded and summoned a glass of water, setting it closer to Harry's plate. "Do not be shy about the food," he said before looking back over at Lucius. "Do you have any more questions relevant to your promotion?" he asked.

The blonde man shook his head, glancing momentarily at Harry.

Tom nodded. "Very well, then, Lucius," he said. "You are dismissed for now."

Lucius stood and bowed to Tom. He looked over at Harry.

"It was nice to meet you, Lucius," Harry said evenly. "And I wish you luck with your promotion."

Lucius nodded his farewell to Harry before leaving the room.

Tom was silent for a long moment. "You will likely be seeing much more of Lucius," he said. "He is not an infrequent guest in my Manor, and if you decide to stay for some reason other than the fact that I can protect you against almost anything, the two of you will get to know each other rather well."

"And how will he react when he finds out that we're Matches?" Harry asked, absentmindedly stabbing the steak on his plate.

"I had not planned on telling anyone, other than you, that fact," Tom said. "At least not until I am sure that you are properly trained."

Harry scowled. "Like a dog?" he asked.

Tom smirked. "Like an appropriate Match for a Dark Lord," he said. "I am not looking to put you on a collar and display you as a pet," he added.

Harry grinned wolfishly. "Then what, exactly, are you planning?" he asked.

"I have no doubt in my mind that you are powerful, but I am positive that your training and dueling proficiency is not what it should be," Tom said quietly. "That needs to change, as does your wardrobe, by the way," he added, looking over Harry's clothes with a mildly annoyed look on his face.

Harry glanced down at what he was wearing - a pair of black slacks and a lightweight green sweater that Pepper had given him for his birthday the previous year. "You said not to wear jeans," he said, hoping that Tom wouldn't notice the mismatched black and dark grey socks he was wearing.

"Yes, and while your clothing was appropriate while living and working with a number of snakes," Tom said. "You are no longer living in that situation. The proper clothing is required."

Harry frowned. "This isn't one of those elitist things, is it?" he asked as he finished off the steak and picked up a croissant.

Tom smirked. "Part of it is ego, yes," he said. "But the fact remains that you will not be taken seriously as my Match unless you both look and act the part." He picked up a croissant himself and took a bite from it. "I'll have to take you out sometime to make sure that you get the proper clothing."

"Out where, exactly?" Harry asked.

"That depends entirely on how much training you require," Tom said. "As the more time I spend training you, the less I have to make sure that you look the part." He cast a quick Tempus and frowned lightly. "Though we will have to deal with that later on."

"Why?" he asked.

"My guest will be arriving in about ten minutes," he said. "Will you be joining me?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "If you don't mind," he said.

Tom shook his head. "If I'd minded, I wouldn't have extended the offer in the first place," he said as he stood up, setting the glass of wine and the croissant on the table. "There are a few rules that I need to establish before my guest arrives, though."

Harry stood up and followed the Dark Lord out of the dining room. "Sure."

"The man I am going to introduce you to has been a thorn in my side for quite a while now, and you may recognize him. However, I want you to stay quiet until I address you directly. Do not acknowledge the man, ignore any questions that he may ask of you, and no matter how he tries to bait you, do not react to what he says," Tom said. "There is a high likelihood that he will be bleeding heavily before he leaves this meeting."

"Blood and pain don't make me uncomfortable, sir. And I've seen a man tortured before," Harry said.

Tom glanced over at him, arching an eyebrow. "And when was this?" he asked.

"During one of the more brutal raids in the shop, one of the Light soldiers made the mistake of trying to sneak up behind Cain to slit his throat. Tobias sort of absconded with him until the rest of the soldiers were gone," Harry said. "And once they were relatively certain that it was safe, Cain and Tobias took turns torturing the man until he went insane," he said. "I watched, from the couch, and Bull kept trying to convince me to join in."

"What stopped you?"

"Cain," Harry said plainly. "He told me that I didn't need to corrupt my magic before the war had reached full scale, but he did let me watch."

Tom smirked. "So that you could see the descent into insanity, and so you could recognize the signs that the torture is no longer effective," he said. "A number of my followers teach their children the same thing, though more often than not they use kidnapped Muggles instead of Aurors."

Harry shook his head. "The man wasn't an Auror," he said, thinking back on the memory. "He was with them, and he had the proper authority to participate in the raid, but he called himself a Light Warrior. That the Phoenix had sent him to clean up a mess that shouldn't have been allowed to be made in the first place," he said.

Tom stopped walking and backed Harry against the wall, watching him carefully. "Did he happen to mention who the Phoenix was?" he asked.

Harry paused. "I don't remember everything clearly, but aren't you able to read minds?" he asked.

Tom nodded. "I am one of the most proficient Legilimens in the world today, yes," he said. "Though I am not gentle when entering someone's mind."

"But when the memory isn't being hidden?" Harry asked.

Tom smirked. "You are giving me permission to enter your mind?" he asked. "You are rather naive, aren't you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm allowing you to look at one memory alone," he said.

Tom's smirk, if anything, grew more predatory. "Close your eyes and rest your head against the wall," he said. "This is still not going to be painless for you."

Harry did as told and, as soon as he'd closed his eyes, he felt the painful sensation of someone ripping apart his weakest mental shield. The portion of the memory in question was simultaneously pushed and pulled to the front of his mind, so that both he and the Dark Lord could recall it.

...

The man had had his arms restrained behind his back for the better part of six hours, and his face and torso were a mess of bruises, bloodied flesh, and burnt bits of skin. His voice was hoarse from screaming so often.

Tobias motioned for Harry to walk over to him. "You should learn how to do this," he said quietly, pulling a nine year old Harry next to him and resting bloody hands on the boy's shoulders. "Pay attention."

Harry looked over at Cain, who held the blade of a small, sharp knife just under the man's left eye. "Start talking," he said.

The man hesitated for a brief moment.

Cain shared a feral look with Tobias before pressing the blade of the dagger into the skin. "You've got two eyes," he said, his tone of voice colder than Harry had ever heard it before. "And I am not averse to taking both of them," he said as he drew blood. "And then moving on to your fingers, and toes, and -"

The man pulled his head as far away from the blade as he could. "I was sent by the Phoenix," he said hoarsely, staring in horror at Cain. "He told me to clean up a mess that shouldn't have been made in the first place."

"What mess?" Harry asked abruptly.

Tobias chuckled. "Good question, kid," he said quietly.

The man's jaw dropped when he noticed Harry standing there. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Bringing a kid to this bullshit?" he yelled, before coughing up blood onto Cain's jeans.

"I don't think insulting any of us is entirely wise of you," Tobias said conversationally. "Who is the Phoenix?" he asked.

"He's the one who's going to make this world a better place," the man said, sounding oddly triumphant. "And he's gong to do that by getting rid of everyone like you."

"Really?" Cain asked.

"By the time my Phoenix is done," the man said, deliberately spitting a mouthful of blood onto Cain's shirt. "Not even the boy will be left alive."

Tobias growled lowly, catching Cain's attention. "Cain, pet," he said, his voice little more than a snarl. "Take the little boy up to his room and make sure that he knows exactly why we have to do this to these kind of men."

Cain nodded and did so, keeping Harry close to his side as he escorted the boy up to his bedroom. They both ignored the screams that Tobias pulled from the man.

...

As soon as the memory was over, Harry shoved the Dark Lord out of his mind and re-established all of his mental shields, making sure that no one would be able to get into his mind without him knowing about it.

Tom stepped back. "That is an impressive talent you have," he said. "Though the memory was a bit disturbing. How long was the man under torture?"

"When he threatened me, even in the abstract manner that he did, Tobias killed him. When Cain and I went back downstairs later, the man's ribcage was pulled apart and his heart and lungs had been eaten," Harry said. "Which way to this meeting room?" he asked, stepping away from the wall and looking down the hallway.

"The second door on the left," Tom said as he started walking toward the room in question. "I understand that Tobias is a demon, but how soon after you met him did he start showing such possessive behavior?" he asked.

Harry grinned. "Almost immediately," he said. "It was weird and scary at first, since it was the first time that a grownup considered me his favorite. What is this meeting about?" he asked.

"I am in the final stages of deciding whether or not this man will live. He has overstepped his bounds one time too many," Tom said as they reached the door in question. He held it open for Harry to walk into the room before him. "Behind my desk, there are two chairs. You can take the seat closest to the fireplace."

"Why are you being so accommodating?" Harry asked as he walked into the room, just a step in front of Tom.

"Because once I'm done with this meeting, the two of us are going to have a conversation that is already overdue," Tom said. "Make yourself comfortable, and remember what I told you to do."

"Ignore the man unless you tell me otherwise," Harry said. "How long will this meeting take, do you think?" he asked.

"Not long, I'm sure," Tom said as he took a seat in the chair immediately behind the desk in the room. "Keep composure of yourself and watch the man carefully."

"What for?" Harry asked.

"Any tell-tale signs that he's lying to me," Tom said.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair, watching the Dark Lord. "This is some kind of test, isn't it?" he asked.

Tom smirked at him. "Interpret it as you well," he said. "But f you consider this to be some sort of test, keep in mind that I may quiz you on what you see."

Harry nodded. He opened his mouth to ask the older man a question, but the fireplace flared to life and a familiar face stepped out of the fireplace.

"Good afternoon, my Lord," the man said.

Tom motioned at the chair on the other side of his desk. "Sit down," he said coldly. "We've got quite a bit to discuss."

Harry schooled his face into a blank mask of emotion and leaned back in the chair to watch the interaction between the Dark Lord and his guest.