Chapter 4: Eiusdem generis
A/N: Boy, am I happy to be done with this chapter. There is a scene here that I kept struggling with (I think I wrote 5-6 different drafts? o.O) But it's done now and I'm happy that it is because I've looked forwards to writing the next few chapters. I hope you like this one and thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!
"Now now... if it isn't the great Harry Potter himself. Tell me, what brings you to my humble abode?"
Every word Lucius spoke dripped of false admiration. Lucius knew this and Harry too, who could not help smirking at the older man. He sat down on the couch without receiving an invitation to.
"Just trying to find out why you are so eager to put me in the spotlight," Harry replied confidently. "I am sure that you have other puppets you could use."
"None as efficient as you," Lucius retorted. "But from what I saw the interview cannot have been a complete disaster. Philander Phillips forwarded your letter when I owled him about my... dismay. What is the girl's name again...? Yes, Luna Lovegood. How fitting."
Harry suddenly frowned at the mention of Luna's name. There was something about Lucius saying it that did not sound good. Perhaps because Lucius Malfoy never did something that did not benefit himself and he would never hesitate to use people to achieve what he wanted. His power over Philander Phillips and The Daily Prophet was well known to Harry although it only occurred to him then that power over those two also meant power over Luna.
"Miss Lovegood had a clear understanding of what was to be written, that is all," Harry explained. "And I happened to agree."
For Luna's sake Harry hoped that Lucius could not tell that he was lying. But the older man smirked in a way that revealed that he was very pleased with something. Unknown to Lucius, Harry gripped the arm of the couch with such force that his knuckles nearly turned white.
"I see..." Lucius said slowly and sat down on the chair across from Harry.
Leave her alone, she has nothing do to with you or your schemes! Harry thought furiously and tightened his grip on the arm of the couch.
But he could never say those words to Lucius. Doing that would only make things for the worse. The less Harry said about Luna, the better. He should have never mentioned Luna's name in the letter in the first place. If only he had found some other way for the article to go through without Lucius finding out.
Damn Philander Phillips for forwarding that letter.
"Harry, it's lovely to see you again."
Harry suddenly looked up as two people entered the study and closed the door behind them. One was Narcissa Malfoy, Harry's "aunt" although during his childhood she had been a very distant one. It was only after he became of age that she began to speak to him, since she did not bother herself with any children except for her own. Speaking of her child, Draco stood right behind Narcissa. Harry greeted him with a smile and Draco only rolled his eyes when his mother spoke.
"I can say the same, Mrs Malfoy," Harry replied. He got up and shook Narcissa's hand.
"It is a good thing that you are here," Narcissa said with a smile. "When I heard that you were here I owled the invitation right away."
"Invitation?" Harry repeated dumbly.
"Another ball," Draco explained before any of his parents could with another eyeroll. "Big social event. Very important. Highlight of the year."
"I'm... sure it is," Harry answered.
But his eyes met Draco's and both of them could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing. They would rather be dragged around London by two raging hippogriffs than to attend the ball. Draco had suffered most from it but Harry had attended his fair share of balls as well. The heir of Lord Voldemort never went a week without receiving invitations for something he was obliged to attend.
The article about Harry Potter and Hogwarts, written by Luna Lovegood, had been published on On September 3rd 1999 in the Mysterious Affairs and Sightings section of The Daily Prophet.
Least to say, the article had become a success. Any news concerning Hogwarts always made The Daily Prophet's sales go up. An article involving Hogwarts and Harry Potter sold out every single issue the day it was published. Several demands for a reprint were owled to Mr Phillips at the end of the day and the next day more of those demands came. Mr Phillips was overjoyed, despite what looked like a threat from Lucius Malfoy. He had scheduled the reprint immediately and only two days afterwards the article was published again and sold out all available issues of The Daily Prophet. Mr Phillips sent an owl to Harry Potter asking if it was possible to do a follow up in a few weeks and then went off to look for a house in Mallorca.
Even Hermione was happy about it. It was not two hours after the newspaper had been printed and owled to the subscribers that Luna received an owl about going to The Burrow and for a Resistance group meeting. The moment she had stepped out of the Weasley's fireplace she had been bombarded by praise by Hermione who was still holding the newspaper in her hand.
"Not a word about his political stands or the Death Eater's cause!" Hermione had said happily. "And you put so much about how he plans to change Hogwarts and all... everyone who has ever gone to Hogwarts will start to hate him for that!"
True, Luna could see what Hermione thought was so good about the article. For the Resistance, it was nothing but good. Generally people had a special place for Hogwarts in their hearts and after reading an article about someone who did nothing but change it people were bound to feel hate. Hate towards anyone associated with You Know Who or the Death Eaters meant good news to the Resistance. But later that night when she sat at home in her own little apartment, she didn't think it was that good of her to make people hate Harry.
But there was not just hate. The other day Mrs Carter had sent her to get some coffee for her at the cafeteria and the girls who worked there simply flocked around her. They had bombarded her with questions about Harry's looks and personal life.
"Is he engaged? Does he have a girlfriend?"
"Does he have close female friends around him?"
"Do you think you can get a bigger copy of the picture in the paper for me?"
Giggles. Giggles, giggles and more giggles.
She had been surprised at how much girls who were a year or two older than her could giggle. She had also slipped away with free coffee since the girls were too busy giggling and talking amongst themselves to take the money.
And people thought that she was strange.
Two weeks later things still had not returned to normal. Mr Phillips was ecstatic over the fact that Harry Potter had agreed to do a follow up and another interview by Luna had been scheduled to take place in another two weeks. Luna was still receiving weird looks from the intern she had met the first day, Marietta Edgecombe, but others told her that it was strictly a matter of jealousy. After all, who had been as lucky Luna to interview Harry Potter and then have the article become so successful?
The only one who treated Luna the same was Mrs Carter. Either Mrs Carter did not care or know about the success of the article, because she never spoke that much of it. Her mind was more occupied with an upcoming ball held by the Malfoys. Apparently the ball was to be the biggest social event of the year and Mr Phillips had already agreed to devoting four extra pages for Mrs Carter's report on the ball. As the only other journalist working in the Mysterious Affairs and Sightings section, Luna had to go as well.
"Perhaps you will meet that nice boy again," Mrs Carter said absentmindedly as she sipped her tea.
Luna did not even have to ask who she was talking about.
After two glasses of champagne, three conversations that consisted of smiling and discussing how wonderful the ball was, one hour of classical music being played by the live band, Harry Potter was officially bored.
It was more unofficially, actually. Although he was bored out of his mind he was still forced to give people the impression that he enjoyed being there and that he was not an asocial person who wished that he had locked himself up in his study back at Hogwarts. Despite of Draco's attitude towards balls, Harry suspected that even Draco was having more fun than he was. His friend had been on the dance floor for a long time, going from one pretty young lady to another.
Harry brought his third champagne glass to his lips and turned away from Draco to find something else to rest his eyes on. It was not exactly that he was asocial, it was the fact that he wanted to be when it came to this kind of crowd. Death Eater families, rich families, the top of society. Out of all the people here Harry was probably the one who was on top of the hierarchy, even above Lucius. Yet he did not feel as if he fitted in. He did not enjoy talking politics or grand plans for the future. Everyone at the ball had goals, whether they revealed them or not. Harry could guess that most of them desired power, but also fame and fortune. He desired neither and could not help but wishing that he was somewhere else.
"As usual, you're standing here doing nothing but drinking your champagne. Why am I friends with a closet alcoholic?"
Draco walked up to Harry after his fifth dance that evening. Harry cast Draco an irritated look.
"I'm not an alcoholic," he defended himself. "I just have nothing else to do."
"Right," Draco nodded with a smirk. "Of course, I suppose that your bad eyesight made you not see that there are other things to do than to discuss politics with my father... Not to mention a lot of things to look at."
He said the last part with another smirk and looking towards a group of young women standing and talking in a corner. Once they saw that he was looking towards them, they giggled and laughed. After the giggles came blushes and whisperings. Harry just rolled his eyes.
"And I suppose you did?"
He brought the champagne glass up towards his lips again. Draco looked around the ballroom and suddenly caught sight on something interesting again. Although this time it was not someone in his own interest. He turned back to Harry and tried to put on his most casual and indifferent facial expression.
"I think I just saw something... someone new," Draco told.
Draco didn't have to gesture or point. Harry automatically looked in the same direction as Draco did. His eyes drifted across the ballroom and found a group of wrinkly, gossiping old ladies. All of them were over the age of fifty and although some dressed in fashionable gowns and robes, it was clear to Harry that the best years of their lives were as far away as Pluto. Perhaps Draco had had more champagne that he had.
"I know you used to have a thing for older women, but this is just too..." Harry started but was interrupted.
"Not them, you Siberian four eyed idiot!" Draco hissed furiously, referring to the years Harry spent at Durmstrang.
"I'm as English as you are, thank you very much."
Draco rolled his eyes and Harry raised the glass again to finish the little champagne he had left.
"I meant her."
He spoke the last word with such empathises that Harry had to look again. This time he saw it. Saw her. The champagne glass touched his lips but he never drank from it. A million words seemed to rush to his minds, a million thoughts and impulses, yet he found himself unable to act upon them. His lips felt dry. He had not expected to see her there. But there she was, standing not that far from the group of old ladies Harry had seen before.
"Like a schoolboy," Draco snorted when he saw Harry's reaction, although he looked very amused. "Perhaps I should ask her for a dance. She's not as pretty as the others but she'll do."
Draco took a step forwards but Harry quickly stopped him by grabbing his shoulder firmly. Then he shot Draco a glare, shoved the champagne glass into his hand and walked off into Luna's direction before Draco could. He couldn't see it, but once he was a good four feet away an amused smirk formed on Draco's lips.
Once Harry was halfway, he suddenly stopped and wondered what in the name of Merlin he was doing. Why was he going there, what would he do? Those questions, often so simply answered, came up with blank answers in his mind. Just because he saw Luna it did not mean that he had to rush over there right away to say hello. It was not like they were friends.
Far from friends, Harry assured himself. More like acquaintances. Distant acquaintances.
But it was too late to turn around, Luna had already caught sight of him and was staring on him openly. Harry managed to force a halfhearted smile to his lips. Deciding that it was too late to turn around, he kept walking towards her.
The close he came to her the more he could tell that there was something about her. She looked different, he could tell. It was her dressrobe, new hairdo and that she was actually there at the ball. The dressrobe she wore was blue and seemed to glimmer slightly. Her hair had probably been professionally put up in a loose bun with a few strands coming down and framing her face. She looked like a princess at the ball. But that was what Harry found wrong. She looked so restrained by all those hairpins in her hair and by the expensive dress that was too fancy and fashionable for her. Although he had not known her for long and was far away from knowing what she was normally like, he felt like she was out of context of the ball. She did not belong there.
Just like him.
"Hi."
"Hello."
Harry could practically feel Draco's smirk burning at the back of his neck. Looking over his shoulder, he shot his best friend a quick but very efficient glare. The next moment Draco wandered off, probably in the search of some pretty girl he could spend the next few hours with. Harry turned back to Luna and when he saw the smile on her lips he felt some of his reluctance to be at the ball fade away.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Harry said.
"Mrs Carter wanted me to come." Luna played with the hem of her sleeve casually. "She likes to write about these things and wanted me and Timmy to come along in case she has too much punch."
"Timmy?"
Luna gestured towards a skinny young man standing far away on the other side of the ballroom. He was holding a camera in his hand although instead of taking pictures he looked like he was trying to make himself as invisible as possible. Harry wondered why although he did not dwell on it for him.
"So he's the photographer?" Harry asked, not really knowing why he felt the need to clarify that. Luna just nodded in response.
"I think he's afraid of the nargles, the decorations here are full of them," Luna stated informatively. "I'm going to head over and see if he is okay."
Before Harry could do or say anything Luna set off towards Timmy. He had barely the time to question what nargles were before he noticed that Luna was about to cross the dance floor instead of walking around it. It all happened much to the horror and the amusement of the crowd, the ones that were dancing kept glaring furiously at her for walking around while the ones who did not stood there and watched with the occasional laugh. But Luna gracefully dodged any dancing couples who twirled around and never once came in contact with the silks and satins that were being worn.
"What does she think she's doing?"
"Who is that girl?"
Harry looked to his left and found that the remarks came from the group of young women that Draco had pointed out to him earlier. They were all looking at Luna with looks of superiority in their face, as if somehow they were better than her for knowing the inconveniency to cross the dance floor like she had. Although at some level Harry agreed, he could not help but to feel angry with them. He chose to pay the young women no attention as he walked past them on his way to Luna and Timmy, much to their disappointment.
Eventually he made his way over to Luna and Timmy, although he had to admit that he had taken much more time than Luna had since he had walked around the dance floor. Luna was saying something to Timmy, although Harry could not hear what. But whatever she said it seemed to do very little to help. Shortly after Harry had arrived, Timmy made some excuse to check on Mrs Carter and left them alone. Harry just gave him a weird look.
"He's always like that," Luna explained casually. "He didn't even want to come along to take your picture."
She then turned around and slipped through an open door. Harry followed her, not really knowing why and where he was going until he was greeted by the cold freshness of the night air. They were on a large and open balcony, empty on people as well as decorations. In daylight Harry knew that the balcony offered an excellent view of the grounds of the Malfoys but it was dark aside and hardly anything could be seen. The quietness and darkness of the balcony contrasted against the bright ballroom and it seemed as if the walls and the glass doors were borders between two different worlds.
Harry walked up next to Luna, looked at her and said the first thing that came to his mind.
"You look different."
"I know. Mrs Carter's daughter insisted on dressing me up. But... I don't really like it."
Luna casually reached both of her hands up and started to pull down the pins in her hair, one by one. In the end she stood there with her hair down and with over a dozen pins in her hand. She smiled again, then turned around and faced the darkness of the night, turning her back to the glitter of the ballroom.
They stood there for a long time, hardly speaking to each other. The orchestra was still playing although Harry could scarcely hear it. Luna stood leaning against the banister of the balcony, staring at the dark sky. There were no stars that night but Luna stared and watched even when Harry wondered what there was to see.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
"The clouds. Can you see them?"
Harry looked and even though it was dark, he could see the faint outlining of the clouds in the sky. A part of him found it strange for Luna to stare at them with such interest when he or any other person never paid any attention to it.
"At least it's better than looking at what's inside," Harry murmured.
As if it had been on queue, the next moment two girls, one blonde and the other brunette, placed themselves next to the open balcony door. Not knowing that the balcony was not empty the two girls thought that they had finally found a place where they could speak freely to each other. Harry rolled his eyes when he heard them discuss the dressrobes and the couples and occasionally saying how much they wished that Draco Malfoy would dance with them. Out of boredom he did the same as Luna, leaned against the banister and stared at the dark clouds.
"...I heard her name is Luna Lovegood..."
Harry suddenly twitched.
"She's the one who wrote that article in The Daily Prophet! I didn't think she'd look like that!"
There was something about the way the last word was pronounced that made Harry silently clench his fist and listen more carefully to the conversation.
"Yes, she looks quite dreadful, doesn't she? I have a friend who works at The Prophet too and she says that that girl is crazy. Did you see the way she walked across the dance floor before? Typical example of how the uncivilized are trying to worm their way into good society."
"I bet she's a mudblood!"
This was followed by a loud series of laughter from both girls and Harry feeling heat rise to his face while his fingernails dug further into his palm. But upon catching a glance of Luna, the anger he felt turned into something else. She had not moved or even looked over her shoulder but she was no longer looking at the clouds. There was no doubt that she had heard every word that had been said but her face was not red of anger and her hands were relaxed.
The laughter from inside the ballroom died out and after a few moments the silence returned. Harry looked to his left and saw that the two girls who had spoken where gone. Looking back at Luna, he saw that she was now looking at her hands. He could not read the expression on her face.
"Luna...?" Harry said, uncertain of what was going through her head. Then again, he always was.
He watched her and after a few seconds of silence her lips slowly curved into a smile.
"I don't like it either," Luna confessed, in response to what Harry had said earlier. "They whisper and scheme too much. I don't think they like me either. I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Back in Valhalla, some people used to call me 'Loony'."
"Loony?" Harry repeated.
Luna just nodded.
"But it's okay," she said and left the subject at that.
The orchestra started to play a more calm and subtle tune. Harry heard Luna hum her own tune along with the violins, cellos and piano that were being played inside the ballroom. He recognized the song that was playing, it had been played at the first ball he had attended at Durmstrang.
"I like this song," Luna suddenly said. Harry looked over his shoulder and saw that a few couples were dancing to the song.
"Would you like to go inside and dance?" Harry asked, struggling a little to get the actual words out of his mouth.
Luna looked into the ballroom and at its people. She gave them a long look, before turning to Harry and giving him a long look as well.
"Would you like to be inside? With them?"
"Not really, but I thought..." Harry started, not knowing how to finish that sentence.
He did not have to give it much thought because the next moment Luna walked over to him and without a word she took his hands and placed them on her waist. Harry's face turned slightly red and he opened his mouth to speak but only some kind of gurgling sound came out. Luna gave him a curious stare but put her hands on his shoulder and rested her own arms against his.
"Then here's fine."
Then slowly, she started to sway back and forth, taking very small steps and bringing Harry with him. Harry looked down at his feet, trying to figure out what kind of dance he was supposed to do but quickly realized that Luna was simply moving around as she pleased. At that point he could not help smiling and whatever embarrassment he felt it soon faded away. The music was quiet and the way he and Luna simply swayed back and forth together made it all very soothing.
He turned his eyes from his feet and looked up. Naturally he looked at Luna's face first and he even admitted to himself how cliché it all sounded when the first thing that caught his attention were Luna's eyes. Perhaps it was because he had never been so close to her before and therefore never really gotten a good look of her eyes, but now that he saw them he felt unwilling to look away. He had known that they were misty, that they sometimes held a weird surprised look. What he did not see until now was some obscure, something beyond confusion. It was as if behind those eyes was a different world. A whole new world full of dreams.
Without thinking about it Harry drew Luna closer to him, as if he was trying to see more and enter the world that she was offering him.
"Harry...?"
"Yes?" he meant to say but it came out as a whisper.
Their faces were close and he bent his head down a little and leaned his forehead against hers. A shiver ran through him as they touched and he became fully aware of how close to each other they really were.
"I..." Luna started but then became quiet again. By then they had both stopped dancing and were standing completely still. Harry, who was still looking into her eyes, started to notice how her eyes changed. It was a very small and subtle change, yet Harry could clearly see a hint of sadness. He wanted to wipe the sadness away from her eyes, to have her smiling and dancing again.
"Harry, I'm..."
CLICK!
Harry almost stumbled back when the strong white light suddenly flashed across the balcony. He squinted his eyes and instinctively tightened his hold on Luna a little. Both of them turned to the source of the flash, a camera in the hands of Timmy. He had an apologetic look on his face.
'She made me do it!' he mouthed silently and pointed at another person who was standing next to him.
Harry saw Luna's eyes widening as she saw Fanny Carter standing there, grinning innocently but armed with a notepad and a Quick-Quotes Quill.
"From The Daily Prophet: It has been love at first sight for the young couple! From Witch Weekly: Sources close to the couple reveal that they see each other as soul mates and that a wedding might be on its way. Luna?!"
Hermione dropped the magazine on the kitchen table and looked at Luna for an explanation. Ron, Cedric, Cho and Neville, who were also present, hoped for Luna's sake that she had one. Hermione had not been happy at all with The Daily Prophet as she had been when Luna had published her article. All sorts of rumours were floating around after the picture of Luna together with Harry Potter had been published in The Daily Prophet, on the first page even. Shortly afterwards Witch Weekly had adopted those rumours as well and now Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood were the talk of the wizarding world. To the media and the part of the public that had good opinions of Harry Potter, it was all good. To the Resistance, it meant disaster.
But Luna simply stood there, in the kitchen of the Burrow, with the same kind of calm and serenity she usually possessed. While Hermione had laid down all kinds of demands of an explanation she had not uttered a word about it yet. The clock kept ticking and the ghoul in the attic dragged its ghostly feet. After a good five minutes of nothing but ticking and dragging, Cho picked up the issue of The Daily Prophet and looked at the article.
"At least it's a nice picture," she said lightly, hoping to break the silence. When neither Luna nor Hermione spoke, Cho turned to Cedric and elbowed him lightly. The latter took the hint quickly and began to speak.
"Look, we know that what the newspapers are saying isn't true and that it's just false gossip," Cedric told Luna although it seemed to serve as a reminder for Hermione as well. "You only met him twice or something. What we have to figure out is how to deal with all of this without letting anyone know that you have connections to the Resistance. The last one who needs to know our secrets is Harry Potter."
Upon the mention of Harry's name Luna looked up at Cedric and spoke for the first time since the group's meeting had opened.
"He wouldn't do that," she spoke clearly. "He's not like that."
"Luna, think about what could happen," Hermione said, in a softer voice than the one she had used before. "If he or someone around him finds out they could force you to drink Veritaserum and you'll be spilling out everything in no time..."
"He wouldn't do that!" Luna suddenly retorted, startling everyone by raising her voice even if it was just a little.
"How do you know? You've only met him twice!"
"And you haven't at all. I believe he wouldn't... or won't."
Before the discussion to escalate further Ron suddenly stood up and walked over to Hermione's side of the table. He gently pulled her up on her feet, then lead her out of the kitchen and upstairs without as much as a word.
"Ron! What are you doing?! We weren't done yet!"
It was only after they were both in Ron's room and the door was properly closed that Ron let go of Hermione and spoke.
"I got this from Lee this morning," he told and put a piece of parchment in Hermione's hands.
Hermione looked at Ron suspiciously, but unfolded the note and began to read. Her eyes widened slightly for each word that she read. When she was finished, she looked at Ron but all thoughts of being annoyed because he had dragged her away were long gone and forgotten.
"So we're all set..." she said slowly. "Now all we have to do is to find someone who's willing to speak."
"I think we both know who has to do it," Ron murmured.
He sat down on his unmade bed, looking very grave and felt so much older than the nineteen years that he really was. Hermione only took a few moments to think, then almost violently shook her head when she realized whom Ron was talking about.
"No, we can't let her do that!" she protested.
"There's no one else. I know it's dangerous... but think about it. If things continue like this it's going to turn out this way sooner or later. The reporters will start digging into her life, they're going to find out. When they do she'll have no time to escape."
"As opposed to this where she reveals herself instead and then escapes?" Hermione snorted and turned away from Ron to look out the window.
"You said it yourself downstairs," Ron reminded. "What if Potter or someone finds out about her? We can't save her then. She's become too involved with him. If she agrees to do this, we could send her to Professor McGonagall and the others before the Death Eaters start to look for her. Or would you rather someone else do it and then put two people on the run instead of one?"
Deep down, beyond the brilliancy of her mind and logic, Hermione's heart screamed no to what Ron was suggesting. But in war no one could afford to act with his or her heart and Hermione's mind was coldly telling her that Ron was right. One in danger was always better than two.
On. Off.
Light. Dark.
On. Off.
Light. Dark.
Harry sighed and sat up straight, placing his wand back into the pocket of his robe. Normally he was not that much of an impatient person but spending an hour casting Lumos and Nox back and forth out of boredom was something he had never thought he would resort to. He was starting to feel stiff and aching after sitting on a hard wooden bench for so long.
There was not exactly anything to look at either. The hallway where he waited was empty aside from him, the wooden bench and a few small windows. For being a large and impressive from the outside it was unusually empty on the inside. The walls lacked paintings or any decoration, the floors lacked rugs and wherever Harry went his footsteps always echoed. There was furniture but very few of them. The ones that were there, such as the wooden bench, were Spartan and made of uninteresting dark wood. To a normal person the manor would seem cold and unwelcoming. But then again normal people had no business there and it was not meant to be welcoming.
A slow and rumbling sound echoed through the hallway. Harry looked up and started to see the faint outlining of a door on the wall. The louder the sound became, the more visible the wooden door became until it had fully emerged and it all became quiet again. Harry immediately got up.
He could not keep his lord waiting.
The moment he stepped through the door everything began to spin around him. Colours and lights dissolved into a strange mass and then spun around him. Harry closed his eyes, remembering that it was the best way to avoid feeling motion sick at the end of it all. After a while he finally opened his eyes and instead of being surrounded by a spinning tunnel he was now in a library. Books of the Dark Arts were lined up perfectly in the shelves, artefacts and tools were stored in dozens of cabinets. The curtains had been drawn to let in as little light as possible and at the end of the library a few floating candles burned just above a desk.
Harry immediately went down on his knees. He did not say a word and simply waited to be spoken too. It was a rule, never speak unless you were spoken to first.
"Harry."
"My Lord," Harry greeted politely, bending his head down even more so that all he could see was the floor. He heard footsteps behind him and after a while saw a glimpse of dark shoes.
"You need not to kneel like a common rat," Lord Voldemort said once he was next to him. "Rise, my son."
"Yes, sir."
Harry did as he was told and for the first time in over two years saw Lord Voldemort to his face again. His lord, his master and in so many ways his father. He had hardly changed since last time they had seen each other. There were very few grey lines in his dark hair but the sharp features of his face had not changed at all. His eyes, red as blood had somehow become a little more snakelike. The robes he wore were dark and long, almost melting into the darkness.
"You have grown," Voldemort pointed out, recognizing that he and Harry were exactly the same height. "Has Hogwarts been to your liking?"
"Yes, very much," Harry answered sincerely. Voldemort looked very pleased at his answer and the two of them began to walk towards the desk at the end of the library.
"You have questioned why it took so long for me to summon you," Voldemort said and then continued before Harry could protest. "I shall tell you why, Harry."
They reached the desk and Voldemort sat down on the chair behind it. Even though he was sitting down and physically lower than Harry, still Harry felt as if his lord grew tall. Harry resisted the urge to slouch his shoulders a little, they were still hurting after all the waiting and sitting outside in the hallway.
"What do you see?" Voldemort ask and pointing his index finger up.
Harry's eyes followed and he looked up to see the burning candles floating a few feet above their heads. Something inside him was wondering why Lord Voldemort would ask such simple question.
"Burning candles, sir."
Voldemort smiled, again pleased with Harry's answer. Harry suddenly found himself thinking about Luna and the way she smile. She smiled out of joy, out of laughter. Harry had seen his lord smile before but now he suddenly became aware that he never smiled for the reasons others did. It had never occurred to Harry before, how cold lord Voldemort's smiles were. They froze and shattered.
"The fire requires the candle to keep on burning," Voldemort mused. "Without the candle, the fire cannot burn." He looked into Harry's eyes. "I seek to burn without a candle, to live without dying."
Harry narrowed his eyes, comprehending perfectly what Voldemort had meant but yet something in him had a difficult time to. Immortality was virtually impossible, even for wizards. At least that's what Harry had been taught by teachers and books. But slowly he began to understand. While Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters had the power and ruled over the Ministry, Lord Voldemort spent most of his time in his manor, in this very library that he and Harry was in. Lord Voldemort was not like Lucius Malfoy, he sought something beyond what any other person could ever imagine.
And he will find it, a voice in Harry's mind whispered.
"My lord... " Harry started, unsure of what he could say in response. "How would you..."
"I have tried for many years, Harry," Voldemort cut off, relieving him of the burden of forming a good worded question. "Tried many things. But I believe that there is something out there that will help me for certain."
Voldemort smiled again.
"Are you familiar with the Philosopher's Stone?"
Several hours later, Harry emerged from the library with his head almost spinning from all the things that he had discussed with lord Voldemort. He had hardly the time to recover before the sound of footsteps echoed through the hallway. It took a minute or two before anyone actually came into Harry's sight and he couldn't help letting out a sigh when he saw none other than Lucius Malfoy come walking towards him.
"I did not expect to see you here, Lucius," Harry spoke, frowning.
"I have business with the Dark Lord," Lucius replied but stopped in front of Harry.
He smiled, but it was neither a cold one nor out of joy, but the smile of a man with ambitious plans for himself in mind. Harry rolled his eyes and mentally told himself to stop reflecting on people's smiles before he went mad.
"I hear you had quite fun at the ball."
"Tabloid information, it's false," Harry muttered and his frown deepened. The last one he wanted to bring up the subject of all the rumours flying around was Lucius. He had enough with the owls that came everyday from tabloids asking for more interviews.
"Yes, probably," Lucius agreed but Harry could have sensed the dishonesty in his voice even a continent had laid between them.
"I'll be on my way then," Harry said briefly and then walked past Lucius without bothering to utter a farewell.
He considered himself very lucky that Lucius or anyone else did not stop him. All he had to do now was to get out of the manor and to the carriage that was going to take him back to Hogwarts. His day could still turn out to be fine, or at least okay. But halfway through the hallway Lucius' voice echoed.
"I also bring a message from your mother that you shall be joining all of us for dinner tomorrow. She and Narcissa are looking forward to having a chat with you."