I own none of these characters

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Icarus
by MarbleGlove

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Dear Icarus,

Flattery works on both the high and the low, and I am pleased to be known as the living expert on Controlled Self-Transfigurations. You obviously know of the mixed results I have had from my various attempts along these lines, although I believe I have achieved more than any wizard before me.

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When Lord Voldemort had placed wards around the orphanage one night to allow none exit and then burned the building to the ground, the minister had not been inside. Over the years, the minister had bored all the children with his lengthy sermons and his moralizing about reputing all earthly gains and placing ones faith in a higher power, however it was only Tom Riddle who was beaten for being possessed of a demon.

Tom Riddle had seen no reason to trust in a higher power and apparently no higher power had seen a reason to stop the beatings. So while the orphanage burned, the minister was not allowed what little mercy lay in a fiery death but had instead died a week after his disappearance. No body was ever found. No higher power had stopped that from happening either.

None the less, the idea of higher powers had stayed with Tom Riddle. Since he had seen no evidence of such a power already existing, then in his transformation into Lord Voldemort he decided that he would become such a power.

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Frequently what it means to be an expert is to have a better idea than most as to what one does not know and a feeling about how to go about correcting that ignorance.

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The realization that a prophesy foretold his own fate infuriated Lord Voldemort for here at last was a higher power acting in his life but it was on the wrong side. It fought against his ideals rather than aided them. He became ever more determined to make of himself something omniscient and omnipotent. He didn't even consider omnibenevolent.

After all of his studying though, it was his death that taught him the fine manipulations of intangible fate and the incredible patience necessary for a spirit to manipulate matter. It sent him a little closer to madness as it increased his abilities and power tenfold.

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The theory behind the One Wizard One Animal Form rule has never been well established and gaining a better understanding of this would be a useful achievement. You also appear to have a good starting point for your research with the interactions between animagi and lycanthropes.

As should be clear from my politics, I do not follow muggle science, and I remain dubious of the value of any scientific discovery. However, I believe that anything, whether muggle, wizarding, or demonic, can be an inspiration for greater thoughts and ideas. If you discover the map of the body then you will surely win great acclaim for yourself.

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While death had given him the ability and the experience of flexing intangible powers, it did not, much to his frustration, give him the understanding of the finer details needed to perfect his results. Thus the first body he made for himself was a miserable shriveled thing barely capable of containing his spirit. His second attempt was closer to the mark, but it was still a far cry from the desired outcome. It was good enough though to continue the fight, to rally his Death Eaters, and to bring about the defeat of his enemies. Intense research was needed before he could again try to shape his form without fear of making matters worse and he knew from experience that he could not both research this problem and head a successful revolution at the same time. The revolution came first.

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What you have written to me has certainly peaked my interest and I volunteer myself as your advisor. You may send your thoughts and questions to me upon the understanding that you also send me your results and discoveries.

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Fate and prophesies were always double edged, and he knew the capabilities of this to backfire. But all such dark manipulations could backfire and he had studied the dark arts for more than fifty years and was still here to tell the tale. Albus Dumbledore might think it madness if ever he learned that Lord Voldemort did this, his Death Eaters would think it arrogance, but Lord Voldemort knew it to be the well deserved confidence of a master of his art. He felt no qualms or worry as he spoke his desire for information and sent it out into the world.

He had sat in deep meditation for a week and carefully pulled the strings of fate, forming an almost-prophesy, much as he had done to summon first Quirrel and then Wormtail t his side. He created an opening in the world that could only be filled by one of his Death Eaters, and then he had waited. Twice, fate had brought to his side loyal wizards to fill the void created.

This was a much more complicated request. He desired knowledge. Knowledge had to be contained in something or someone, but Lord Voldemort didn't want to restrict that, so long as the knowledge came. But he, himself, was the only wizard who had anything close to the knowledge that he needed. So it wasn't even knowledge, but the potential for knowledge that he called for into the aether. After request was sent out he forced himself to think of other things.

It was nearly a year later that an owl glided over him and dropped a letter in his hand.

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As my first act as an advisor, I suggest you read Wizarding Animals: Centaurs, Mermen, and Naga by Phineus Darwin. If you can find a copy, also The Creature Creations of Helga Hufflepuff by Francis Styne, paying particular attention to the chapters on hippogriffs and griffins.

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Lord Voldemort had laughed as he first read the letter from Icarus. It was a high pitched giggle that seemed more the laugh of a malicious schoolboy tormenting some small creature than it did the laugh of a Dark Lord.

Manipulations of fate were more subtle and less controllable than casting Imperio, but they were also much more thorough if given time to properly sink in. Fate couldn't force someone to act against their will, but it could nudge a person in the right direction. Fate had done it's work, his request had been met, now it was time to gently, gently offer temptation and lure this wizard, this Icarus, to his side.

He took care in his response. He had spent seven years as the top student at Hogwarts, and a further thirty years deepening his knowledge of the dark arts with other scholars around the world and with his own studies. One thing he was very capable of was hiding his political leanings and giving the appearance of mere scholarly ambition. For a time. Until it was too late for the other to back out.

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For the time I will allow you your anonymity although I think eventually we will meet and speak as colleagues. Given this present distance however, I think you would not accept any present from me and thus I will tell you merely the titles of books I suggest that you read to further your studies rather than sending you any texts from my personal library. Some of these you may have difficulty finding elsewhere and you may request them from me at any time.

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Lord Voldemort remembered when he was still just Tom Riddle but he was already discovering the secrets of Slytherin. He had been terrified when he had gone down into the Chamber of Secrets for the first time and the terror had stayed when he returned the second time and the time after that. But he had suppressed the fear and now he didn't even know when it had actually gone away. He had gone down there and he had kept his eyes shut, resisting the urge to peak. He had sung lullabies over and over again in parseltongue until his mouth was dry and his voice rasped.

Eventually the basilisk had become accustomed to his presence. In it's loneliness and desire for a purpose, any purpose, the basilisk had followed every suggestion Tom had given it. After that, when he had gone down to the Chamber of Secrets he had kept his eyes open and looked around and it was the basilisk who lowered its gaze to avoid harming the boy.

Power, purposelessness, and loneliness were a heady combination in beast or man, and from it, Lord Voldemort knew, he could create devotion. He would give knowledge and a sense of purpose to Icarus, and in return he would receive everything.

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I remain as ever,

Lord Voldemort

Master of Transfiguration,
Master of Divination,
Master of the Dark Arts
Master of the Unspoken
Dark Lord and Leader of the Death Eaters