The Boy Who Fell

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Good thing, too.

Story: AU where Voldemort Oblivates Harry in the final battle and turns him evil. Very dark. It takes place three years after Harry turns seventeen.


Screams. Terror. Fire.

Death Eaters run throughout the building, killing all they cross, stealing any items that might be of value to the Dark Lord. There is not much he needs now. In three short years after the fall, the world fell in turn. There is none now who speaks the Dark Lord's true name; only one remembers it. In a twist of irony, it is the Fallen.

There is one hooded shadow who does not take part in the plunder. He merely walks, with flame, conquerors, and conquered all fleeing from his path.

When he exits the raid, the Fallen raises his wand skyward. Silhouetted against the burning building, he murmurs an incantation and the Dark Mark shoots out of his wand, blemishing the field of stars.

The Fallen never was a Death Eater; his arm bears no tattoo. He was the Dark Lord's right-hand man for as long as he can remember. And rightly so, he and his master are linked; he can hear the Dark Lord's thoughts. We share a bond, the Dark Lord says. That mark on your head proves it. It's a pity I wasn't able to connect us without it. I daresay there will be times when you'd prefer not to have a sign on your forehead. The Fallen never recoils, despite the pain in his head. The Fallen always says that a scar is a small price to pay.

He can't remember his life before his seventeenth birthday. In his earliest memories, he was terribly confused about good, evil, and his place in the world. Patiently, graciously, the Dark Lord made him understand that his place was by the Dark Lord's side.

He does recall a few, disjointed memories: perhaps they were only dreams. A blood-red stone, a book stabbed by a fang, a headstone that read "Tom Riddle", a gently swaying veil, a man blasted off a tower, and a green light accompanied by a pain in his forehead and a high, chilling laugh.

None of these recollections makes any sense to the Fallen, but he knows two things of his past that do. His name was once Harry Potter, and the Dark Lord's was once Voldemort.