Andromeda Snape-Malfoy: Glad you like.
PsychicLunar: My first fic of the kind, note that I like Voldemort a lot more than I like Harry, so the fic will be neither Super!Harry, nor will it have Harry overthrowing/taking over from the Dark Lord. Voldemort's staying on top in this fic.
Loony Lisa Lovegood: I'm not actually trying to make Harry a Slytherin, he's brave, bold, and while he is clever he does tend to act before thinking. he's a Gryffindor, and a Death Eater. I don't see it written anywhere that you can't be both.
SerpentClara: It's a lot like your fic, although my Harry was somewhat less of a coward. I'm having fun writing all the little undercurrents while keeping, on the surface, the books the same. Although there won't been a Chamber of Secrets in this fic.
Silver Sailor Ganymede: Chamber of Secrets doesn't happen, as Voldemort's returned. He's keeping his belongings close and Lucius won't need to send the diary to Hogwarts to get rid of it, he'll just give it back to it's maker. Prisoner of Askaban, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.
The characters and places belong to JKR, the lyrics to Metallica and the book I referenced from to my housemate Katie, cheers!
Until it Sleeps
Chapter two
Just like a curse, just like a stray
You feed it once and now it stays
How it stays
-Until it Sleeps, Metallica
Harry shifted nervously. He was sure it had been a bad idea from the beginning, but he had started taking risks last year and wasn't going to stop now, not with something like this at stake.
It hadn't been easy to slip away, but this meeting couldn't take place anywhere else. He had been forced to give to wrong direction at the Weasley floo to get here.
Well, he was here now, He scrounged up his courage and fixed his eyes on the shadowy figure leaning against the wall. "You promised me answers, now talk."
He felt rather than saw Voldemort's smile. "Which question do want answered first?"
This was not the time for word games, Harry thought with a momentary burst of irritation. He had only a limited time before the Weasleys realised he was not in Diagon alley.
He felt bad for misleading them, but he had to do this. "Why did you kill my parents?" Harry said through gritted teeth. He hoped to Merlin the Dark Lord had a good answer to that one, he did not want to have resurrected him pointlessly.
He was not disappointed. "I killed your parents, Harry, because I wanted to kill you. I was made aware of a prophecy before your birth, that a child, which I took to be you, would destroy me. So I took... precautions. And we both know how that ended" The Dark Lord steepled his fingers, his red eyes- all that was visible of his face under the dark hood- fixed on Harry.
Harry flinched, "But why-"
"Why am I not trying to kill you now?" Voldemort laughed softly, a chilling sound. "Because, dear boy, I am immortal. Thanks to you. That alone negates any such prophecies. Thanks to you. Be grateful, if you hadn't given me the stone, you would have been forced to kill me at some point, and we all know how that would turn out."
Harry remembered the tales he had been told of the Dark Lord's power and was suddenly, deeply glad he would never have to fight the man in front of him. Gryffindor or not, there was a clear line between bravery and stupidity, and to think himself a match for Lord Voldemort was definitely the latter, prophecy or no.
"As to your parents... had they given you up, they would not have died. I killed your father when he refused to yield, and your mother when she refused to give you up. Is that what you wanted to know?" Voldemort's voice was completely free of emotion, he had done what he had to, and felt neither glee nor remorse over it.
Harry nodded, he knew enough, although in truth it hadn't helped much. Throughout the summer he had been torn between regretting his actions and trying to convince himself that it had been the only one possible. He had thought, when he finally confronted Voldemort and got his answers, that the rift inside him would be healed. It wasn't, if anything it was larger than ever. He had got the answers, that much was true, but the sheer lack of emotion in the Dark Lord's voice when he spoke of his actions made him wonder if he had done the right thing.
Had he released a monster out on the world? Or was Voldemort little more than a darker- yet more truthful- counterpart to Dumbledore? The Dark Lord wanted to rule the world, that much he knew, but who was to say that would be a bad thing?
Harry didn't know, and to be honest, didn't care. Politics was of little interest to him, all he knew was that he had been faced- he, Harry James Potter- with two choices. One dark, but giving answers to the questions burning inside him, and one light which concealed what he dearly wanted to know. He had made his choice and while it still troubled him, he had, in a way, found closure. With knowing his parents' story, he felt he could move on from that, release the part of himself that still clung to their murders. It was over, and right here, right now, they were dead and he was alive. To die in a futile attempt to avenge them would be unutterably pointless.
The boy sighed and closed his eyes, feeling a weight lift off him. "So what now?"
"That matters." Voldemort stood up straight, "Are you going to run to Dumbledore and tell him everything?"
Harry choked, the idea had not occurred to him since that evening in the infirmary. "No! I'd be expelled!"
Another laugh, more amused, "Very well, do you plan to oppose me?"
Harry looked at the shadowy form of the Dark Lord, "Would you let me walk away if I said yes?"
The long boned hands were spread, no wand. "This is a discussion, should you say yes, I'll let you walk away, this time. But if I ever saw you again, it would be to kill you."
Harry nodded, not bothering to ask what would happen if he lied. Voldemort had read his mind last year, he could tell when someone was lying. "I won't. I just want to be left alone."
"That, I'm sure, is something we can agree on. Now, I think your guardians will be looking for you, so let me tell you one last thing." The Dark Lord leant in close, close enough for Harry to see the ghastly pallor of his face. "I will be lying low for the next few years, and I would /not/ like my return to be discovered. I expect you to keep that secret, and to that end I will be setting one of my servants to watch over you."
Harry took a step back, "I won't tell-"
"I know," Voldemort waved a bone-thin hand idly, "I can see it in your mind, but Dumbledore has means of finding out such information, my servant will be at Hogwarts as much to keep an eyes on the Headmaster as to watch you."
He waited until Harry nodded, then continued, "Do not bother in looking for him, he will be very well hidden, and he will not interfere in your life. Now, I believe the Weasleys will be rather anxious over your whereabouts."
Again, Harry nodded, gave a short bow and backed off until he was out of the side street and Lord Voldemort was lost in the shadows.
Now, he just needed to work out where Diagon alley was from here, he had seen a sign nearby, proclaiming this to be Knockturn alley. Hopefully he wasn't too far away.
A few steps away and he was starting to second guess himself again. What had seemed so obvious while he was talking to Voldemort now seemed shaded and unclear. He felt at once guilty for betraying the Weasleys' trust and being angry at them for their blind faith in Dumbledore and particularly with Mr Weasley. The man was nice, but his muggle obsession seemed more than slightly warped to Harry, who knew all too well what muggles were like.
It was with a sudden shot that he realised he had forgotten to ask Voldemort that question. Why had Dumbledore left him with muggle? But then, he could work that out for himself. They were his only living relatives, and Dumbledore probably wanted him 'toughened up' for whatever trials the old man was planning. That question- why Dumbledore was testing him- was easily answered too. He must believe in the prophecy too.
It was with a sinking heart that Harry realised that although the prophecy now meant nothing, he would still have to act as though it mattered. Dumbledore would shove him into confrontation after confrontation with the Dark Lord, and Harry was only glad that he would have a few years grace before this happened.
He wondered who Voldemort's spy would be. One of the students? Probably not, by what he'd heard, Voldemort never recruited students- unlike Dumbledore. The teachers then? Another Quirrel? There was an empty Defence Against the Dark Arts post. Perhaps, although it seemed a little obvious-
"HARRY!"
The boy jumped, he had been so lost in thought he had barely noticed where he was going. He only now realised he had almost walked into Hogwart's giant gamekeeper, Hagrid.
The enormous man was clearly not happy to have seen Harry in Knockturn alley, and dragged the boy off, muttering to himself about how he shouldn't be here, that this place was dangerous.
Harry fought down a smile and sighed, oh well, at least he was going in the right direction, hopefully he could meet up with the Weasleys, buy his stuff and get back to the Burrow. He had a lot to think about and hoped Ron wouldn't rope him into another round of 'finding Scabbers'.
He shook his head at the thought, Ron's rat kept on running off for days on end and his owner often turned the whole house upside down looking for him.
The white building of Gringotts glimmered in the distance, and Harry could see a huddle of red heads, the Weasley clan. He sighed, and hoped his excuse of getting off at a wrong grate would be accepted, although he might have to embroider it a bit, he had been gone a while.
Skull Bearer.