Change of Heart

by magic-box

When everything gets on top of TheBoyWhoLived, where can he turn? Has now been taken over by ASHLEY more details inside!

3. Snakes and Veritaserum

Change of heart.

WARNING: SLASH! Still not properly yet, but it's getting there.

Rating: R

AN: ~ Shows Parseltounge ~

Disclaimer: I can't believe I forgot it! Well, I don't own Harry Potter, Voldemort or anything else you recognize.

AN: I think I should warn everyone now, although this story has the pretence of having a plot it really doesn't. I'm ok for about the next 3 chapters, then I'm writing in the dark; so if it takes a while to update, please bear with me! Thanks. Answers to reviews at the end again.

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 Snakes and Veritaserum.

Harry wanted to get some space between himself and the Dursley's before he mounted his broom, so he went to Magnolia Crescent and lent against the wall. This was where he'd first seen Sirius, he remembered vaguely. After a moment, he opened his trunk to get his Firebolt and his invisibility cloak out.

As he wrapped the cloak around him, he thought about how he'd discovered where Voldemort was, in the first place. It had been at one of the Order's meetings. Fred and George had been working hard on their extendable ears and they could now pick up mostly everything.

Snape had been talking about the last Death Eater meeting, when he mentioned that Voldemort was at Riddle Manor, and would remain there all year, as an army of wizards and other dangerous creatures where just an incantation away.

 Harry shook himself; he didn't have time for his mind to wander, not if he wanted to reach Riddle Manor by daybreak.

He fixed the broom-compass that Hermione had given him onto the Firebolt and kicked off.

 Harry had looked up 'Little Hangleton'  (the place he believed Riddle Manor to be, based on the Order's intelligence) on a Muggle Atlas before he'd left Hogwarts. He flew northeast and hummed his favourite song as he went, one that Blaise Zabini had taught him off the Wizarding Wireless Network chart.

As the journey grew longer and longer, Harry's thoughts drifted further than the top 10. He remembered what Draco had told him about the Death Eaters. They hadn't discussed this side of Draco's life much, as Harry was still Harry Potter in the eyes of the Slytherin, and still working for Dumbledore. However, Harry had managed to get certain pieces of information from him, when Draco was not in a position to argue. Draco was very ticklish.

 He wasn't sure of what to expect when he arrived, would there be hundreds of Death Eaters? Would he stumble into a meeting, or would the Dark Lord be alone? He hoped for the latter, as he didn't want Snape to go straight back to Dumbledore with the news of Harry's turn.

This was another matter Harry was uncertain about. Dumbledore had taken him in, been nice to him, treated him like a grandson, and now here Harry was joining the opposite side.

 Also, there were other things, like leaving Hogwarts. The old castle had been his home for 6 years now, and he was reluctant to give it up.

 But, he thought, once we win the war, perhaps Draco and I can start our own school there. With these closing thoughts, all doubts were pushed out of his mind as the village of Little Hangleton glistened underneath him.

Harry stained his eyes (behind his new Magi-contacts) and saw an old Manor house, resembling the one in his dreams. Fortunately, it seemed empty, so he could put Snape off for another day, probably Draco's initiation.

 As he brought his Firebolt down into the huge gardens of Riddle Manor, he pulled off his invisibility cloak and replaced it with a warmer one that

Blaise had given him for Christmas. It was a beautiful one, midnight black with little stars of silver and purple, and green fur lined the inside. He suspected Blaise had a crush on him.

As he straightened up, he drew his breath in at the sight of the magnificent old house. It had ivy growing up the side and what looked like a newly repaired roof. The whole house seemed to have a glow of power around it. Harry took a few steps forward, then stopped. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't expected to be able to walk straight up to the house. He thought he'd…he didn't know what he'd thought. What was he supposed to do now? Walk up the drive and knock on the door? Or stand down here, waiting for the Dark Lord to come and get him?

Harry had stood there, considering, for a good 10 minutes or so, when he heard a slithering noise along the grass. He whipped out his wand, on trained reflex, and muttered, " Lumos."  A faint light spread across the immediate area. A first, he could see nothing, but then a huge snake came into view. He remembered it from his last run in with Voldemort. Nagi…no, Nadie, something like that.  The snake stopped at his feet, but didn't attack. Then, it said, clearly, in Parseltounge, ~" Could you turn off that light, please, it hurts my eyes."~ (AN: do snakes have eyes??) 

Harry blinked, then shrugged. " Nox."  He bent down next to the snake, and replied in Parseltounge. " ~That's better?~"

The snake nodded. ~ " Yes, thanks. You are Harry Potter. My master often speaks of you." ~

Harry half-smiled. ~" You are Lord Voldemort's snake, yes? What is your name?" ~

Again, the snake nodded. ~" Yes. My name is Nagini. What are you doing here? I don't think master likes you." ~

Harry looked towards Riddle Manor. ~" No. He does not like me. I come here to change that.  Can you take me to him please Nagini?" ~

Nagini cocked her head. ~ "Are you sure you wish to meet him?"~  

Harry looked back to the snake. ~ " Yes, Nagini. I do. Tell me, though. Is he alone? None of the Death Eaters are with him, are they? " ~

 Nagini seemed put out for some reason. ~ " Yes. He's alone now, I expect. Lucius Malfoy was with him when I left. Master Tom never pays attention to me when Lucius is around. I come out here to look at the sky whenever he comes over." ~  

   Harry considered. What would Lucius Malfoy be doing at Riddle Manor alone at this time? Harry thought about what Snape had told him about the Death Eaters and decided he didn't really want to know. (AN – not yet, maybe…)

~ " Take me to Voldemort please Nagini." ~ He demanded. Now he'd come this far, he would not turn back.

Nagini nodded. ~ " Follow me then Mr. Potter, if you are so certain." ~ Then she slithered away through the grass. Harry lit his wand again and followed the snake.

While walking up the cobbled stone path to the Manor, Harry took in the beautiful gardens. On either side of the path were rose bushes, rather like the ones at Hogwarts. They looked newly planted and had obviously been on the end of an Engorgement charm. In the distance, there was a fountain of some sort, but he couldn't really see it. Harry made a mental note to check it out if he was still alive tomorrow.

 As they reached the huge wooden doors of Lord Voldemort's home, Harry looked up to the sky and found sirius, the Dog Star. His heart gave a painful wrench when he thought of his Godfather. Sirius, he thought, in something more like a prayer than random thought, I'm sorry. I wanted to be a perfect godson for you after Azkaban, but I can't be anymore. You still have Remus and maybe you'll both forgive me someday…

Harry was brought back to reality by the door opening in front of him. There was nobody on the other side of it. Nagini turned back to him. ~ "Master Tom is in there."~ She gestured to a door nearby. ~"Lucius is gone. Stay here and I will go and get him." ~ Nagini hissed before making her way to the door and sliding underneath it.

Harry gulped. He could still hardly believe, even standing here in Riddle Manor, that he was about to come face to face with Lord Voldemort.

Some minutes later, the door was flung open to reveal the Dark lord.

 Harry gaped at the man before him. He was gorgeous. His eyes shone like rubies and his lips were full and pink. He looked around 20, and bore a great resemblance to the Tom Riddle from the Chamber of Secrets, and, indeed, to Harry himself. Nothing like the snake-like creature that had been resurrected 2 years prior.

Harry was struck with a sudden urge to kiss him, touch him, hold him…Harry quickly pushed the thoughts from his mind. 

The Dark Lord was staring at him and just when Harry thought he couldn't take the gaze any longer, Voldemort spoke.

" Well, well, well, Harry Potter, what a surprise. Nagini tells me you wish to join me?" His voice was silky and his words flowed together perfectly. Harry couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. 

 Harry blushed. " Y-yes, my Lord."  The Dark Lord looked him up and down, a smile appearing on his lips. Such beautiful lips… shut up, Harry told himself firmly. The blush deepened and he cursed mentally.

Voldemort's smile widened when he saw and chuckled. " Well, Harry, you certainly seem enthusiastic enough. Come inside."  He gestured to the door behind him and moved inside.

Harry looked around the room, mesmerized. The room was so…cosy. Warm and cosy. The kind of place one may expect a richer version of the Weasley's to live. The floor was a dark shade of pine and the walls were painted a cheerful orangey yellow. There was a fire burning away in the hearth. Nagini was curled up on a white fur rug next to it.

There were also many armchairs in the room, some looking hard and uncomfortable, but most looked soft and comfy.

Voldemort gestured to a large, red leather chair. " Sit down, sit down." He said.

 Harry did, feeling dubious and rather suspicious – why in Merlin's name was the Dark Lord being so…nice?  He shifted uncomfortably, then looked up and said, " Can I join the Death Eaters?"

Voldemort put his head to one side. " After some tea. You really must have some tea first."

Harry nodded. What the fuck was going on? Had Voldemort lost it? Perhaps he was going to give Harry some death potion? Maybe this whole thing had been a very bad idea… Too late now, he thought, as The Dark Lord handed him a cup of tea.

Harry drank the tea quickly and settled back into the chair. Not drinking it didn't occur to him. If Voldemort was going to kill him, he would. There wasn't a great deal Harry could do about it. 

The Dark Lord looked over to him. " Did the Order send you? Did Dumbledore?"  His voice was calm, as though he were asking about the weather.

Harry blinked and then answered, " No. Nobody sent me." Which was the absolute truth. Veritaserum, Harry thought suddenly. Voldemort had put Veritaserum in the tea. He should have realized, but his mind had been elsewhere, wondering why in the hell the Dark Lord was giving him tea.

Well, perhaps the Veritaserum's not so bad, he thought, now Voldemort can know the truth and be more likely to trust me. 

 Voldemort, meanwhile, was staring at Harry in surprise. Clearly, he had expected a nice little, ' The Order sent me.' No such luck. He tried again;

 " No-one sent you? To spy on us?"

Harry shook his head. " No, my Lord. I chose to come here."

The Dark Lord shook his head. No, this is not the way it was meant to go, he thought to himself. Perhaps the boy had not understood him correctly. He gave it another go; " It is your decision to join us? The Death Eaters? Of your own free will?"

  Harry, however, nodded. " Yes. It's my choice to join you and become a Death Eater. Of my own free will. You can be certain that I am not under Imperio, because, as you know, that does not work on me." 

Voldemort shook his head and sat down. " Does anybody else know you're here?"

 " No, my Lord. Nobody knows that I am here, nor of my decision to join you." 

Voldemort seemed to consider for a moment, then looked up sharply. " Who told you where to find me?"

Harry smiled; this was proof he wished to swap sides. Good, solid proof.

" Severus Snape told us – the Order. He has been Dumbledore's spy for years."

Voldemort did not seem much surprised by the news. " I suspected as much. He never was Death Eater material. Only reason I've kept him on this long was because he's the best potions master in England.

So Harry Potter, Golden Boy of Gryffindor, why the change of heart?  Why do you want to join me?"

Harry stood and paced the room. " Well, sir, I've realised that they don't care about me. I'm just the boy-who-lived to them. They expect me to kill you but I don't want to. All I really want is to be left alone to be a teenager. I had my childhood ripped away from me by my 'family' and now I'm having my teenage years taken away by those I trusted. I think that, if I joined you, my life will be easier cos I won't have to worry about killing you all the time. That, and the power and money, of course." He added. (AN: sorry, had to add that..)

Voldemort smiled and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry shivered. " Do you know, Harry, the full responsibilities of being a Death Eater?"

Harry shook his head, slowly. " No, my Lord. But I'm more than willing to take on all of them."

The Dark Lord smiled again. " Good. Are you a virgin Harry?"

Harry was only slightly shocked, as he had gathered from Draco and Snape that being a Death Eater sometimes included sexual acts with the Dark Lord. This hadn't really bothered him, and especially not now Voldemort was so gorgeous… again, Harry chased the thought from his mind.

" No my Lord. I'm not."

Voldemort seemed surprised. " Really? Whom have you slept with?"

Harry blinked and answered, " Seamus Finnigan and Draco Malfoy."

Now it was Voldemort's turn to blink. " Boys? You're gay? Draco Malfoy, you say? Lucius' son – does he know? Are you in a relationship with Draco?"

Harry shook his head. " No. We only slept together once. We remained great friends though. And Lucius doesn't know."

Voldemort noticed the regret in his voice. " Do you want to be in a relationship with Draco, Harry?"

Harry nodded. " Yes, my Lord. I like him a lot." 

The Dark Lord smiled slightly. " I thought as much. We'll see what we can do." He paused, and then continued, as if a sudden thought had struck him.

" What about the Mudblood factor? I thought you were best friends with one of them?"

Harry hung his head slightly. This topic had been the one his inner voices had argued over the most. On the one hand, Hermione, Colin, Dennis and countless other's like them did not deserve to die. On the other hand, Draco had given him the 'other' point of view. Muggleborns did not know many of the things that Purebloods did. Even if they were exceedingly clever in schoolwork, like Hermione, they did not notice other things, like formalities in duels, and a 'wave' of energy that occurs as one cast's a spell. No matter how talented in Magic a Muggleborn is, they do not have this energy. 

Of course, they didn't deserve to die. But perhaps he could work on this from the inside.

What Harry answered was; " She deserted me. Took sides with Weasely when they found out I was gay. I hate the bitch. The others. No, I don't believe they deserve to die but that's your deal."

 Voldemort didn't press the issue. In fact, Harry could feel the Veritaserum wearing off.

" Are you hungry?" The Dark Lord asked.

Harry considered and shook his head. " Not really sir. Just tired."

 Voldemort nodded. " Of course. I'll have Nagini take you to your room. We can talk more in the morning."

He turned round to the curled up Nagini, who immediately looked up at her master's gaze.

~ "Nagini. Please take Mr. Potter to his rooms. I believe the Slytherin tower will do." ~  

Harry looked at Voldemort. " The Slytherin tower?" He asked.

The Dark Lord raised an eyebrow. " You speak Parseltounge Harry?"

Harry nodded; he had forgotten that this Voldemort didn't know.

 The Dark Lord grinned. ~ " I knew we were more alike than I first realised, Harry." ~ He hissed.

Harry smiled. ~ " The Slytherin Tower, then? " ~

Voldemort nodded. " I have been making great changes to Riddle manor since my excuse for a father lived here. I have turned the four towers into special places. One is Slytherin, one is Ravenclaw, one is my special tower and the other is a meeting tower. Though I do prefer to meet outside, sometimes the weather doesn't allow it."

 Harry raised his eyebrows. " No Gryffindor or Hufflepuff towers then?"

The Dark Lord chuckled. " Absolutely not. I accept into my ranks only Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Of course, I sometimes make exceptions. But rarely. The youngest Weasely girl was one such exception. You are another. I believe the Slytherin tower will suit you. Follow Nagini."

Then Voldemort turned away and Harry was left blinking. Ginny was a Death Eater? . Well, not a proper one. You must be 17 before joining the ranks, like he was next week.  Maybe she's a spy. But, no, Voldemort will have given her Veritaserum. Well, at least I'll have an extra friendly face as well as Draco, he thought.

Ginny and Seamus were the only ones in Gryffindor who had not shunned Harry.

~ "Mr. Potter, please follow me." ~ Nagini hissed. Harry jumped, having all but forgotten about the snake in his thoughts about Ginny.

Silently, Harry followed Nagini from the large room and down the hall. They then went through a door and up a narrow set of stairs. Nagini stopped at a door in the middle of a dark corridor. ~ " This is your room, I will leave you now. A house elf will escort you to breakfast at 8:00am. Goodnight Mr. Potter." ~

Harry nodded absentmindedly. ~ " Goodnight Nagini."~ He hissed back, before turning away and opening the door in front of him. He heard Nagini slither away. Harry stepped into the room and looked around.

It was a large room with a high ceiling. It rather reminded him of the Slytherin common room, but much grander. The walls were painted green with a silver banner round the middle. ' Talk about House Pride ' Harry thought, amused. There was a green leather sofa in the middle of the room and near that a hearth with a fire burning. Harry wondered if he should put it out but decided against it. The Dark Lord must have some house elves.

He yawned and turned toward a door he presumed led to the bedroom, promising himself that he could explore some more in the morning.

Harry entered the bedroom smiling at the comfortable looking four-poster. He stopped; he thought he could hear a noise coming from the other side of the bed. Yes… there it was again. " Hello?" he called warily, raising his wand.

A moments silence, and then – " MRHARRYPOTTERSIR!!!!!!!" the shriek of what sounded like a hundred house elves filled his ears. He squinted his eyes shut. When he opened them, he found a solitary house elf jumping on the bed.

He smiled and sat down on the bed next to the elf, who had stopped jumping and was looking rather ashamed. " Tilly is being sorry that she jumped on MrHarryPotterSir's bed!"

" That – that's alright, Tilly." Harry assumed the elf, who looked very distressed. He hoped she wouldn't start banging her head on the wall.

" Please, sit down." He said kindly, gesturing to the space next to him. Immediately, he wished he hadn't, remembering Dobby's reaction.

Tilly, however, did so without comment.

" So…" He searched for something to say. Although he was tired, he didn't want to let the opportunity to question Tilly about the Dark Lord pass. " So… how long have you been here?" He asked.

Tilly smiled. " Tilly is being born here, sir." She replied.

Of course, Harry thought, feeling stupid. " Oh. When did your master stop looking…snakey?" He asked, getting braver.

Tilly covered her mouth with her hand and sniggered. " 6 months ago, Sir. MisterSeverus made him a de-aging potion."

Harry grinned. " What's he like? Really -Voldemort?" He said.

Tilly considered. " He's ok. It's like he is two different people, one is a leader, a lord, and dark. The other is just a boy. Kind, a little lost. Both can love, both have a soul, despite popular opinion." There was a thoughtful pause, then Tilly said, " well, goodnight sir, I must go and put out the fire and see to Mistress Nagini."

Harry smiled and nodded. " Goodnight Tally." He replied as the house elf slipped out of the room. 

He looked around and found that his trunk had been brought in and laid on the floor by the bed. He opened it and found some pyjamas. He put them on and looked at himself in disgust, making a mental note to by clothes that fit as soon as possible.

He got into bed, pleased to find it had been heated by Tilly. He thought he would lay awake for ages but no sooner had his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.

AN: Thanks so much to all my reviewers! They all meant so much to me!

Reviewer

SilverDark

Skull Bearer – thanks! To answer your questions, Harry is nearly 17, in a few days. And I'm trying to include some things from OotP but it won't be that important in the story. I'll try to have Bella make an appearance in the future – I love her too! Thanks for putting me on your faves list! J

HoshiHikari4ever

Tiamat

SlytherinEvenstar – Is that better? I tried to describe things a little more. Thanks for the review.

Hyperbole – LOL, thanks!

SlytherinatHeart

aspid – Harry's 17 soon, as this is set in the summer after 6th year.

Spideria- thanks for putting me on your faves!