Title: Diverging Reality
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Voldemort, Severus
Chapter: 12
Word Count: 2036
Warnings: nothing

Edited by: eiliagh
AN: Colds suck so much ass. I swear.


Stroking a long fingered hand over the damaged hole in the diary, Voldemort huffed, shaking his head as he placed it next to the goblet, diadem, the Gaunt Ring and his locket. He had been rather surprised when Narcissa Malfoy had suddenly appeared with the locket and diadem in his wing of the mansion, everything tucked into a heavily warded bag. She had told him to eat his soul before she forced him to.

That had been what started him getting the rest of the pieces, or at least what he could after Severus had returned with the diary, the hole from a basilisk fang telling him what had happened. Luckily for him, all it had done was seal the wounded piece of his soul into the diary. The scarring on the piece had transferred to his body, wrapping around his lower back in a tangle of scars.

It had taken him nearly a year from start to finish to find where the rest of his Horcruxes were, and decide which ones to pull back into his body after Narcissa had gone through on her threat of feeding him his own soul piece. He sighed as the bit of his soul that had lodged into something in Harry Potter's soul scar tugged at him again. He rather doubted that the young Potter would even think of listening to him at the moment though so he would need to research on pulling it to him from afar.

Looking away from the collection and to Severus when he walked in, he watched as the young Master bowed as their status dictated, Voldemort's lips twitching.

"My Lord," Severus greeted as he placed the potion rack in his hands onto the desk. Voldemort sighed and eyed it. "Yes, you must take your potions. Lady Malfoy is still watching you like you're a mouse and she's the hawk. She's just waiting to force you to take them," he reminded the man when he caught the look. "And with her preparations for various things, she will not be nice about it."

Voldemort tsked and shook his head, picking up the first vial. "To think that one of the greatest Dark Lords in history is being reduced to a meek man in the face of a woman," he said.

"I hate to say it but Black women are a breed unto themselves," Severus stated. "I just gave Bellatrix her potions and I don't think that I had ever seen a Black family woman slam potions back like a non-magical woman in a bar with a line of shots," he snorted, "but I have now."

Voldemort hummed as he drank down the potions one by one. One was created by Narcissa herself, her necromancy skills being above any other in England. It was to help his soul tears heal properly. Another one was to fuel his body as it settled into being a true body after the long blood ritual that had returned the rest of his soul pieces beyond the one that still sat in the ring. The last two were more or less nutrient potions and magical core healing potions.

The ring glimmered at him and he smiled at it as he placed the last of the vials back into the rack. "Do remind me to send Lady Malfoy something delicate and pretty, when I can, for her helping me regain my sanity," he said.

Severus hummed as he handed the rack off to his personal elf when he was at Malfoy Manor, who bowed and left, leaving a fresh tea service on the desk. "I will remind you of that later. Heir Black-Potter has received your request to meet at Gringotts as a neutral ground to talk."

"How did he receive it? I'm hoping I don't have to beg for this meeting," Voldemort said, looking at Severus.

"He has requested that from now on you only send letters through either me or through Draco. There is no need to send it through Gringotts since that would most likely gain some attention about the fact that he has a mailing box that he doesn't want to have, nor need to have, at the moment," Severus said as they sat. The teapot rose and poured itself, the cups floating over to each man and perfectly made. "He is currently working on rebuilding the wards for the Potter Mansion and for Grimmauld Place. It seems as if he removed the Fidelius Charm that Dumbledore had placed onto it, and raised the war wards after Narcissa had entered the home, before the marriage contract came to light."

"Well then, I'm glad that she was able to get in and get the locket personally," Voldemort said, shaking his head. "Did he say why he had given her the location to it?" he asked.

"Because she has proven that she does not wish to kill him, and she had been warned that if she had tried to bring anyone but herself into the house, the wards would end up taking them out. Either by turning them into ash or just tossing their parts around the world," Severus told him. He hid his smirk at the mildly horrified look on Voldemort's face, knowing that he was now one of the few that had access to Grimmauld place. Harry had turned it into a kind of sanctuary for those he cared for, or were friends with.

He wondered how Ginevra Weasley would end up acting once she knew that she would have no access to it. Even after becoming Mrs. Black-Potter, the wards would deny her. They wouldn't kill her, but she would land on her ass outside of them if she tried to enter without permission.

Voldemort stared at him and raised an eyebrow. "You are radiating glee. What is it that you're thinking about now?" he asked.

Severus chuckled lightly. "I was just thinking that Miss Weasley and Dumbledore are, as the New Bloods from the Americans have said, fucking themselves over with their grand plan," he said, chuckling again. Voldemort tilted his head. "I discovered that while Heir Black-Potter is being forced into this marriage, he will be dropping off his new wife at her home and he will be attending a meeting right after. I discovered that while Heir Black-Potter has plans on taking up his Lordship right after the marriage has been gone through. He has an appointment set for right after he drops off his new wife at their home. What Dumbledore didn't realize was that when Heir Black-Potter was forced into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he was emancipated. He had been able to sneak out to Gringotts to talk with them, make some plans. He had planned to wait until he turned seventeen but they are forcing his hand."

"I suppose that this is why Dumbledore was able to create the contract," Voldemort mused, shivering as his organs started to shift and swell as the potions started to do their work again. "I hate these potions," he muttered.

"Unfortunately for you, they're having to create and rebuild a lot from that piss poor job of a resurrection ritual that the rat performed. If you'd let her, Narcissa would use Pettigrew to do it fully and properly instead of just taking his blood and scraping off his skin for the potion," Severus stated. Voldemort muttered about just letting her do it since the rat was starting to annoy him. "To continue on, also because of that particular decision of Heir Potter-Black, she will not be able to claim the title for Lady for either house since he is still not the Lord, just the Heir. If he had agreed to marrying her, he would have been able to take the Lordship anyways and given her that title seeing as he is the only one alive. Usually it would have been his parents' decision if she got the Title. Since they're not alive..."

Voldemort paused, more so as a thought caught his attention instead of the feeling of his lower intestines complaining about the potion as they were being forced to grow another inch. "Are you telling me that because of their decision to push him into this marriage, she will have none of the societal or political power that Dumbledore so hopes to use when she marries Heir Black-Potter?" he asked, incredulous. Severus gave him a serene look and sipped his tea. "Dumbledore really out-thought himself this time," he snorted.

"Indeed he did," Severus agreed. He turned to stare at the fire, a silky bit of hair sliding down over his neck. When Voldemort had regained his sanity with the returned bit of his soul, he had looked to the mark that he had left on his inner circle's arms and twisted it. He had returned the years that the mark had stolen from them, leaving all of them feeling and looking younger. Severus was looking much healthier, too.

While he was still pale as porcelain, the yellow undertone, that had come from years of potions making, had returned back to a soft pink. His hair was softened and the curse to his hair that apparently his mother had placed on him, a casualty of a fight between his parents, had been lifted.

He looked as he should have for a wizard of his age.

Lucius himself had also regained his looks, returning to the more fae like looks that were the Malfoy family genetics. Even Bellatrix, her husband and her brother-in-law had all regained the years that they had lost to Azkaban.

"I really do not think that Heir Black-Potter is as Light as most think that he is," Severus finally admitted softly, breaking into Voldemort's thoughts. Black eyes turned to him as the man frowned.

"No, neither do I. Not really and not if what I'm hearing is going on is true," he stated, placing his teacup to the side. "Did he send a letter to me about anything?" he asked. Severus huffed as he remembered, putting his cup to the side and dug around in an inner pocket, removing the rather thick letter that Harry had asked for him to send to Voldemort. On the front was a single name and nothing more.

Voldemort took a moment to stare at the name before he decided that he could stand his middle name being used if it meant that no one would snoop into their conversations. It also meant, with it established as his used name, he could use it for his future plans. Opening the letter, setting the thought to the side for later perusal, he started to read through it. He smirked at the list of questions that Harry had for him, along with the request to send all of his replies via Severus or Draco seeing as he didn't want those letters to be seen by his betrothed.

"He is incredibly smart," Voldemort stated as he folded the letter up. "I will need you, young Draco, Heir Zabini and Heiress Greengrass to write out all your thoughts about Heir Black-Potter if at all possible," he requested. "Nothing that would be considered a secret, but just thoughts about where his loyalties may lie, and what his magical affinity might be. I have a few ideas myself but I would like to see the thoughts of those who are around him. If they wish to, they are allowed to tell him that they are writing something out for me about him. I do understand that they have gotten close to one another."

"Very close indeed. Heiress Parkinson is also close, but not as much," Severus told him as he stood, having finished his tea cup. "I will make sure that they know this. Did you know that Ronald Weasley was thinking of taking on the Prewitt heirship? The rest of his family don't want it and his sister cannot claim it. He wrote to Master Krum in Bulgaria to get ahold of the Prewitts over there to get the original copy of the charter," he said as he stretched out his back. Voldemort made a curious sound and the two started talking about all of the changes that were going on.