Disclaimer: I am nothing but a worshipper of the great J.K. Rowling playing in her universe. Anything you recognize is not mine.

A/N: Updated 03-06-2005

°Parseltongue°

DARK PHOENIX

Chapter 12: Loyalty Spell

"GONE? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE GONE?" screamed Cornelius Fudge.

"They escaped. We're not sure how. By the time we sounded the alarm they were nowhere on the island," explained the Auror.

"WHAT? You…" the Minister stuttered, getting ready for one of his long rants. "Didn't you just tell me less than two hours ago that you had pushed back You-Know-Who's attempt? How did the Death Eater's escape, then? How did you let the worst criminals ever unattended long enough for them to escape? How…"

"Maybe if you let Auror Anderson here finish his report, we could know more, Minister," interrupted Dumbledore, the usual twinkle in his eye gone.

Fudge looked taken aback, but came to his senses. "Of course. Go on Anderson."

"Yes, euhm, well," continued the Auror, trying to recover from the Minister's rant, "All we know is someone infiltrated the fortress. We believe with a portkey, but the energy residues are too slim to be sure. The intruder slipped in unnoticed since most of our forces were outside repairing the damage caused by He Who Must Not Be Named's attack. Officer Moraine, who was in charge of the prisoners while we took care of the repairs, claims to have been put under the Imperius and ordered to unlock the cell doors…"

"Excuse me for the interruption," cut in Dumbledore, "but I thought Officer Moraine was one of the Aurors capable of throwing off Imperius."

"Yes, Headmaster. However he claims the caster's will was too strong."

"Indeed. Well, please continue."

"Well, after that, we can only guess. Officer Moraine was stunned as soon as he completed his orders under Imperius. All we found was a gaping hole in the wall of the West tower. Obviously they escaped there but how?..."

"Another mystery to be solved. However, there are other matters at hand for now," Dumbledore addressed the Minister.

"Other matters? Dumbledore, the Death Eaters just escaped Azkaban! A prison we thought was unbreakable! What could be more important then that?" complained Fudge.

Dumbledore looked severely at the Minister, the twinkle in his eye almost nonexistent. "The security of the public. Now that Voldemort—" the two others flinched, "—has his followers back, it will not be long before his raids begin again."

"Oh, God," breathed the Minister, "this is not good." He sighed. "Any good news in all of this? Any clues on Potter?"

"I'm afraid not. All we know is that he spent a day in Diagon Alley. After that he simply disappeared." Never had the Headmaster looked so sad. "We are facing dark days, indeed."

Harry was staring at Riddle Manor, gently stroking Hedwig. This was his last chance to back out. He could still turn around and head back to Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore would be overjoyed at having his Golden Boy back, but that wasn't what Harry wanted. He wanted to be away from Dumbledore and even his friends for a while. He had too much on his mind to face them for now. He was angry at Dumbledore for his manipulations and he wasn't ready to face his friends yet. He had too many secrets, too many burdens. It was as if they belonged to a different world now. He had a destiny and he was going to accomplish it alone. He cared too much about his friends to let them be involved.

This spell was his chance to protect them, so why was he hesitating? Simply because he was afraid of screwing fate. If he was the only one who could destroy Voldemort, this Loyalty Spell could really make the Dark Lord immortal. And as much as Harry wanted to protect his friends, he couldn't condemn the whole world to do so.

Then again, maybe fate was impossible to tamper with and he was meant to do this. God, this was going in circles. He sighed loudly, looking at his faithful owl. She had followed him to Little Hangleton, flying around the forest and keeping him company.

"What do you think, girl. Should I go through with this?" Harry wasn't really expecting an answer, but Hedwig gave a little hoot before turning towards the mansion. She turned back to him and gave what was unmistakably a nod.

Harry was amazed. He knew his owl was smart, but this? Well, Harry had wanted a sign and now he had it. Shaking his head to clear his hesitations, he let Hedwig fly off and walked resolutely towards the mansion.

Schooling his features in a confident mask, he walked to the mansion and silently slipped in. Surprisingly, it seemed that all the Death Eaters had left and the whole floor was dark. The only light came from what he remembered as Voldemort's room. Walking as silently as he could, he went up the stairs.

The old stairs, however, announced his arrival with their loud creaking.

"Come in, now. It's not nice to keep others waiting," came the cold voice of the Dark Lord. Squaring his shoulders and reinforcing his Occlumency shields, Harry stepped in the room. Voldemort was standing over a cauldron, his journal opened on the table beside him. Showtime, Harry thought.

"Good evening to you too, Tom. By the way, if you don't mind my asking, where is your entourage?" Harry asked with genuine curiosity.

"Harry, did you really think that this was my headquarters?" Voldemort answered, laughing. "I'm only here because it was easier to meet with you. My entourage, as you call it, are restoring my true base of operations. Besides, there isn't enough room for them here."

"And will we be going there once the ritual is over?" Harry asked, leaning over the table to see the potion.

The Dark Lord looked at him, a sneer on his lips. "I do not trust you, Potter. I am not taking inconsiderate risks. There are more ways than one to defeat someone and I will not hand you weapons to defeat me."

"That's reassuring," Harry smirked back, "I was afraid you had lost your touch and started going soft on me." Voldemort stared back, an ironic eyebrow lifted in response. "So this is the potion for the Loyalty Spell, huh," Harry continued, "Looks pretty bloody to me."

Voldemort actually rolled his eyes at this. "It is blood, you idiot. Phoenix blood."

"Oh… right. So.. did you put the unicorn hair yet?" In response Voldemort lifted a spidery hand up, holding a fine silver hair. Harry extended his hand to feel it. Its silky texture was unmistakable: this was a genuine unicorn hair. Harry mentally thanked Snape for his demanding potion classes. Harry looked at Voldemort in the eye and nodded. The Dark Lord took the hair and dropped in the cauldron. The hair dissolved quickly, giving the deep red potion silver highlights.

"Do you know the incantation for the ritual?" Voldemort asked.

"Of course. I did my homework this time," he sighed, his thoughts drifting back to all he could have done to save his godfather. Knowing this certainly wasn't the time to think about such things, he focused back on the task at hand. Voldemort was pouring the potion in two glasses. Without another word, he handed one of them to Harry.

Harry took the glass, looking directly into Voldemort's blood red eyes. The tension in the room was thick as the two wizards faced off. This was it. With this ritual any chance of one harming the other was going to be annihilated. A second, a minute, a whole eternity passed between them, broken when Harry nodded, taking a gamble that could cost the lives of millions.

They both downed the thick crimson potion at the same time and followed by speaking the words that were going to bind them together:

"Addictus en aequalitas, nullus letum y nullus malum accedo ceterus. Obligatium iam akaremea."

A strange and powerful wind swept through the small room snuffing the torches. However, the loss of firelight did not matter as a blinding white light surrounded the two wizards. The magical glow flowed form one body two another in a never-ending circle. There was no pain, only an alien feeling of having something missing and a brief sensation of being powerless. After a certain time the light faded back, leaving both of them in darkness. Neither could tell how much time had passed. The ritual had been otherworldly and it seemed that only a second yet hours had passed.

Their confusion passed quickly and both were relieved, for different reasons, that everything had gone as it was supposed to.

Harry glanced up at Voldemort just in time to see him raise his wand. He immediately realised what the Dark Lord intended to do and stood his ground.

"Osum brisearox" he called. The yellow Bone-Shattering Curse flew at him but sizzled out way before it even got close. Voldemort gave a triumphant smile.

"Everything seems to be in order," he said, obviously pleased.

"And will you be keeping the other part of our deal, Tom?" Harry retorted, relieved by the fact that he couldn't change his decision anymore.

"You mean the one about tutoring you? Of course. I do keep the real promises I make. Meet me here tomorrow, we can work noon to sunset. That is, if you're not afraid of the topics I can teach you." It was obvious what he meant by that last comment.

"No, Tom, not afraid at all. Though, I do wonder, what is the difference between your fake and real promises?"

"Simple. It is all in the wording, something every Slytherin knows. I can use words to make someone believe that I promised something, but it is not necessarily true," Voldemort answered, a sly smirk on his face.

"I see. Well, I guess I'll be leaving you for now." Harry was starting to feel faintly sick. He hoped it was just a normal after effect of the Loyalty Spell.

"May I inquire to where you are staying?"

"Of course not, Tom. If I can't know where your Headquarters are, why on earth would I tell you where mine are?" With that Harry swept out of the room, trying to get out of the house as fast as possible. He was feeling sicker by the minute and that was something he didn't want Voldemort to know.

The sickness receded when he hit fresh air, but it soon came back with a vengeance. He stumbled to the forest, feeling as if his organs were rearranging themselves in his abdomen. He was trying to get to his small campsite but he couldn't find his way through the dizziness. His head was starting to pound and he could barely see with his now black-spotted vision. He crashed to the ground as a wave of pain washed through him. He had no idea where he was right now but such concerns were quickly pushed away from his mind as the pain increased. Dimly, he realised that the pain was mostly focused on his upper back and eyes, but the burning spreading through all his bones and muscles was still horribly intense. The agony increased again and again until Harry could take no more and fell into oblivion.

The last thought that went through his mind was: This wasn't supposed to happen.

TBC