Title: Is It Worth It 2: The Final Battle
Summary: The temptation of darkness ebbs away at Harry's last nerve as he attempts to keep his views out of public eyes. Everyone believes he has returned to the light, but has he really or is he fighting for both dark and light, inside himself and in the impending war. Sequel to: Is It Worth It?
Pairings: I don't think I'll have one. Maybe keep Harry and Ginny, or I might make them break up, they're not doing so good as boyfriend/girlfriend kind of thing.
Rating: PG13
Chapter 3 "Meeting with the Dark Lord"
Harry sat in a dreary and almost deserted pub in Knockturn Alley. He was cloaked in all dark, the only things visible were his piercing green eyes that followed anyone who came into the pub, though to tell you that wasn't a lot.
Only a couple of people came in or out and Harry's eyes followed them through. He knew that if Mr. LeVitz came in, he would notice him immediately. The name Anthony carried around with him told that he was more French than he was English. Harry still sat in that one same chair he had first sat in when he came in. His corner of the pub was dark, a perfect place for someone to hold a meeting without arousing suspicion.
Harry's eyes once again strayed to the entrance when he heard the bell ring faintly. A figure came inside and went to the bar and ordered what to Harry looked like firewhiskey. Harry himself wanted something to drink, but he couldn't because he would have to speak and than he would be recognized.
Harry looked up again to see where the man had sat, only to find himself looking up and coming face to face with the figure.
"Harry Potter I presume?" He asked softly, his voice was deep but warm, like a man that had a lot of laughs in his life. His hair was white, but you could still see brown hair mixed in with the white.
Harry looked at him suspiciously, though he had some idea who the man was, he still needed to know.
"Who wants to know?" He said turning his eyes away to look at another person that entered.
"Is that anyway to treat a guest, especially a guest from a different country? Are all wizards as cold as you towards strangers?" The man asked.
"People who don't know me, don't talk to me." Harry said simply. He was eyeing the man at the corner of his eyes, never leaving him.
"All right, my name is Anthony LeVitz." Harry sat up straighter and turned around to fully face him.
"Prove it."
Anthony stared at him, then shifted his drink to his other hand and stared at Harry even more. Harry bit down on his tongue, trying not to snap something rude to the man.
"Alright, I can see that I cannot convince you just because of my name. How about Tom Riddle?"
Harry's firm lined mouth twisted into a smirk and he motioned for the man to sit down.
"So you are Anthony, you look kind of young for a seventy -something- year- old man." Harry said.
"And you are a rude young man that does not know how to treat guests or his elders. I guess we are on the same level."
Harry laughed slightly, "I like you. You remind me of someone."
"Of all the things I have heard about you, I see now that none of them were true." Anthony said. He was looking at Harry, probably trying to figure the teen out.
"Don't believe all that you hear Mr. LeVitz, many of these people here would say anything to get a bit of publicity. As for me, I just like to stay away from it."
"Oh? Is that why we are meeting in this place?" Anthony said looking around in disgust.
Harry scoffed, "Course, can't let the people know that I'm not who they think I am."
"Yes, well I have heard a lot about you for many years, than I have heard about you last year and what you have done."
"Not by choice, though some I would have done without being forced to." Harry's eyes strayed yet again to the entrance, this time looking for anyone suspicious that can get Harry into trouble with either the Order or the Ministry. The figure that entered went, got his beer and walked to the other side of the pub. Harry turned to Anthony.
"Mr. LeVitz--"
"Anthony please, LeVitz makes me sound old."
Harry gaped for a couple of second before recovering and smoothly covering up his delay, "Anthony, how come you know about the wizarding world and how come you found it. I hear that it is impossible for a muggle to know how to get into the wizarding towns."
"Well you see when Tom and I were young and lived in the orphanage, Tom would tell me everything about the Wizarding World. He would point out to me where everything is when we had the chance to escape from the orphanage. The entrance to Diagon Alley was the only entrance he showed me. I must have had some magic inside me because I was able to open the brick wall and join Tom. It is supposed to be an impossible task for a muggle such as myself."
"Oh okay, do you know if anyone from your family is magical?" Harry asked.
"My two nieces, all my grandchildren and two of my great grandchildren. My nieces and my grandchildren are all grown up now and most of them have never crossed the sea to come to England. After I left England many years ago, no one from my family returned until now."
"Great, now I know this is short and I would love to hear more about your family, but there is some stuff that we must get done today before I have to sneak back to my prison."
Anthony looked at him funny, but seeing as Harry ignored him, his face returned to its normalcy.
"When will I see Tom?"
Harry grinned, "Abrupt aren't we? As a matter of fact I sent him a letter when I sent you yours. I just have to say that he is a bit mad at you right now, maybe I'm exaggerating, but with Tom you can never be too sure."
"Why? Why would he be mad at me, a person he hasn't seen in over sixty years?"
"Umm you are going to have to ask him that, but I'll answer why I think he is mad. It could do something about last year when I stayed at his -uh- house and bet him that I would find out about his past. He hasn't been happy with me."
"When will I see him?"
"I don't know, he said he would tell me, but I never got a reply."
"That's because you didn't need one."
Harry jumped up, wand in hand and turned around to come face to face with another person yet again. This time though blazing red eyes glared into his. Harry gulped.
"Hi." He meekly greeted.
Voldemort glared at him again, before gracefully sitting in one of the chairs across from Anthony.
Anthony, for his part, stared at the new arrival with loathing.
Harry could feel the tension around the small table, as if all the air was compressed into that small little cubicle they used as a meeting.
"I-uh I'll just go get something to drink." He said and swiftly left before the two could stop him.
After much talk between him and the bartender, he returned to the table, only to find it almost electrified with tension.
"Anthony meet Voldemort aka Tom Riddle." Harry sighed, he mentally counted to five than simply grabbed his right arm in pain, but didn't say anything and sat down. When he did he glared at Voldemort. He knew the pain should not have come through the forearm but his forehead.
Voldemort ignored him and watched Anthony's rigid form.
"Harry, what is the meaning of this?" Anthony asked, still glaring at Voldemort, but also somehow managing to glare into Harry's direction at the same time.
Harry gulped down the pain he was feeling and turned to face the man. "Umm I thought that you'd be happy to see your old fr-acquaintance."
His serpent mark had appeared suddenly and began to burn fully. Harry gritted his teeth in anger, well maybe not in anger but in annoyance.
"Would you cut that out?!" The words slipped out before he even got the chance to slap his hand across his mouth.
Voldemort's blazing red eyes turned to him and surveyed him. "You know you deserve it. You know that I did not even want to hear from him."
"I did not know and how was I going to know? Anthony asked to talk to Tom Riddle and I agreed. It's not like I received a reply from you or anything."
"Careful Serpent. You did not give me ample warning on the meeting."
"I did. I sent that letter."
"Serpent..." Harry gulped. That was the second time Voldemort had used that name in two minutes. Not good, it usually meant Voldemort was extremely pissed off.
"Okay fine, Ginny researched and Anthony got a wind of her and sent her a letter, he told her all about you and that he would want to see you again. I didn't expect to see that you two were um not so hot with each other?" That last comment earned him two glares that if they could kill, Voldemort's sure could, he would have been six feet times twelve under the ground.
"Harry, I do not know what you are playing at, but you certainly do not have me fooled. I am going to leave and please don't try to contact me again." Anthony said getting up from his chair.
Harry was glued to his, staring at the old man. His eyes were hard and accusing, but Harry couldn't help but notice a bit of sadness in them?
"Anthony, please wait. This wasn't the way I wanted you two to meet again. And even if I did have you two meet in no matter what way, no friend would ever walk away from another friend."
"He is not my friend, Harry!" Anthony growled and Harry stood up.
"He is your friend, I could see it in your eyes. Mr. LeVitz, if you knew who Tom Riddle really was when you were younger, would you have abandoned him like you are now?"
"That's enough, Serpent. Anthony if you want to leave than leave, our friendship ended years ago and it would not matter now anyway. There is too much hatred between us to try and forget." Voldemort said. Though his voice was menacing and his eyes were hard, there was a hint of regret lacing his voice.
Anthony stood rooted to his spot, not knowing which way to go. Did he want to sit and talk with the man he once called a friend or did he want to leave and forget the meeting ever happened? He knew he couldn't, if he did he would feel guilty like all of the years that he felt guilty because of one stupid fight they had gotten into. A fight that ended their friendship and forced Tom to probably become who he was.
His mind made up, he went back to his seat and sat down again. He heard Harry sigh in relief next to him and he turned to the boy. Harry had schooled his features and pretended not to notice him.
"So what should we do now?" He asked quietly. He did not know how to begin nor did he know what to say.
"Anthony, there is nothing to be said between us. We were young and we did not know what we were talking about. I guess I was the one at fault." His head snapped up as Voldemort, the Dark Lord, just confessed to him that it was his, his fault.
He wasn't going to have it, after all he was the one who started the whole thing.
"Tom, you know that it isn't your fault about what happened. The stuff I said was not fair and should never have been said. I know that we both feel guilty and that we did not know how to act about what we've done. All that is in the past now, if we had sat down and thought about it instead of ignoring each other and our problems, we would not be in this mess right now."
"All that you said is true, Anthony. I was a monster when I was young and as you can see I still am. The monster you and I knew I would become, had surfaced when we went our separate ways. I was furious with you and I wasn't thinking clearly, so I started dabbling in Black Magic. Over the years I became who I am. I did not care about anything except revenge. I did not care about what happened to anyone. All I wanted was power. Just like you said."
"And I ended up being the sorry excuse for a friend like you told me I would." Anthony said glumly.
"After you saw me kill that boy, you saw the monster inside me. Yet you still wanted to believe in me but I did not want to hear it. I couldn't because I knew what I had become. All the pain I endured hit me full blast and I could not fight back. The only thing I could do was cut ties with you before I killed you too."
"You wouldn't have. Just because you became what you are now doesn't mean you don't have a heart."
Voldemort stared at his old friend, for once he didn't have anything to retaliate with to take the blame to himself.
"Bloody Potter."
Anthony looked up at him in shock, "What?"
"Potter said something similar to me before he left. That boy will be the death of me."
Anthony laughed and Voldemort's eyes widened mentally when he went over what he had said. He sighed.
"Anthony would you like to come and talk somewhere better than what Harry has found. Over lunch maybe?"
"Like that? Wouldn't people notice you?" Anthony asked, pointedly staring at Voldemort's form that struck people dumb when they had the misfortune to meet him.
Voldemort shot him a glance before waving his wand and a glamour spell quickly popped into place.
"Very useful that is." Anthony said and Voldemort smirked.
"Where's Harry?"
The two had completely forgotten about the third party with them when they began to talk and Harry had somehow disappeared without them knowing.
"I don't know where the boy got to." Voldemort said, but his eyes strayed in the darkest of the corners and met the pair of green eyes. Mouthing a "we'll talk later," the two older men disappeared leaving Harry to smirk in satisfaction.