Title: Who Wants to Be the Bloody Boy Who Wouldn't Die?
Author: Iskjif
Beta: Celena Amunet
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (eventually), mild not-so-one-sided Severus/Lucius
Warnings: Okay, if you have a problem with my pairings and are still reading this after my warning, well as far as I'm concerned you have no rights… there's a bit of torture and kidnapping … nothing much beyond that that I can think of…
Summary: Eventual HPLV. After the events of OotP Harry is apathetic and disillusioned. The Dursley's escalating abuse only serves to alienate him further. When Voldemort's followers come for him, the idea of torture isn't too unpleasant when it's at the hands of those who don't pretend to care.
Super Important A/N: Just as a reminder: This fic starts out in the summer just before Harry's sixth year. Seeing as HBP is out now, WWtBtBBWWD is going to be taking a decided turn into AU. We are now heading into the land of what-ifs. Right now my priority is not to reconcile my characterizations with those in HBP, but to make sure that my characterizations stay consistent with the way I have been writing characters. If I were to attempt to make it all work with the new book, I would have to rewrite this fic entirely from scratch… I so do not wanna do that… So yeah, while there might be some plot points that will be influenced, I'm going to try and stick with as much of my original plan as possible.
Thank you all for being so patient with me, I'm sorry it's been so long of a wait.
OoToO
"Crucio"
Voldemort watched, outwardly impassive, as his Potions Master went from silently bearing the curse to thrashing and screaming.
Much as the Dark Lord enjoyed torture, he never really enjoyed torturing those in his Inner Circle. As his most trusted they were also the Death Eaters that knew him best. He thought it was rather silly that most assumed that as a Dark Lord he could care for no one. He had never had anyone to call family in the past and while it was a little sentimental, he now considered his Inner Circle to be his family.
But of course he would never tell them that. Voldemort much preferred having them on edge, always wondering if he was just going to randomly curse them.
Turning his thoughts back to Severus, he realized that the curse was beginning to cause real damage and broke it off. It pained him to have to do this to his dear Potions Master, but if he let anyone get away with disrespect, certain members of the Dark would take it as weakness and might think to cause him problems. Even with his considerable power, he would not risk being sabotaged by his own Death Eaters. Well at least not anymore than he normally had to deal with…
As Voldemort glared at Severus' shaking form he realized that this demonstration would need to continue. Never had one of his Death Eaters had the nerve to speak out against him as Severus had. The Dark Lord actually admired the man for having the conviction to stand up for Potter, even knowing that he could have been killed for siding with the boy. Voldemort held back a wince, knowing what he would have to do.
"Moon!" He shouted sharply with anger he didn't feel.
He was pleased to see that she jumped forward into view.
"Heal him"
She scurried forward towards Severus to do just that.
As Voldemort waited for the woman to finish he looked around glancing at his Death Eaters' expressions. He was amused to see that most of his lower ranking servants made no effort to hide how they were feeling. Some looked confused and many looked hungry to see more.
Those in his Inner Circle showed no sign of their feelings but he could still sense their anxiety. He was slightly surprised, noticing the stricken expression that colored Lucius' face. For him to be openly showing such emotion… It was interesting…
Voldemort's attention was quickly drawn back to Severus as Moon stepped back from the gasping man. The Dark Lord quickly cursed the man again. He hid his reluctance behind a mask of dark satisfaction, knowing that it would be more than enough to fool his followers.
Watching his Potions Master scream and cry and writhe like this was truly painful. He discreetly looked away, turning his gaze to Lucius without seeming to. Under these circumstances he couldn't even enjoy the blond Death Eater's discomfort.
The Dark Lord finally could watch no longer and abruptly broke the curse.
He slowly began to rub his temples. Already this day was too frustrating for his liking. It had been tolerable before the boy had come in, but after… Well having the boy show up looking as he did had just completely ruined the rest of his day. And to his further annoyance, he couldn't connect his rising anger with the child. Voldemort's thoughts kept returning to Potter's blasted muggle relatives. He wished them to suffer for what they had done to the boy and that in itself baffled him.
Severus' gasping intruded on his thoughts and the Dark Lord glanced at Moon.
"Go ahead and heal him again." Truly it was the least he could do for the man to have him healed. Even with the healing Severus would be next to useless until midday tomorrow.
Voldemort frowned slightly and tried to will away his developing headache. He could tell that if he didn't do something about his rage, that it would merely simmer beneath a mask of normal behavior until he went on a killing spree starting with everyone around him. While he enjoyed a good killing sprees, he couldn't just go and kill off his followers.
What he really needed was some course of action that would leave the boy's relatives at his disposal. Then at least they wouldn't be off living comfortably after all they had done to harm his little captive.
The Dark Lord's attention was drawn back to his Potions Master as the trembling man stood up off the floor with a look of determined readiness. Voldemort felt a flash of pride. Not letting his emotions show through, he casually dismissed the man.
Severus limped out of the room and Voldemort could see Lucius visibly relax. When he realized that the blond's attention was fixated on the limping man, he addressed Lucius sharply instantly regaining the man's attention.
"Tell me of the wards set at Potter's home."
Lucius looked at Voldemort, with a slightly confused expression. Then he seemed to pull himself together and answered quickly, "They are minimal, my Lord. There are no protections for the boy's relatives."
Voldemort smiled evilly. Dumbledore never ceased to amaze him. For being such a flaming muggle-lover he sure didn't watch over those in his immediate care. What a fool the man was to think that Potter's relatives would be safe from the Dark Lord's clutches…
Said Dark Lord turned his attention back to his Death Eaters. "Well then, let's go hunt some muggles."
A loud cheer filled the room and after a moment the Dark Lord waved for silence. He allowed a slight smirk to show on his face. His Death Eaters were certainly excitable today. Voldemort then looked pointedly at Lucius, knowing that the blond would know that he was asking for elaboration.
He was not disappointed when the blond Death Eater volunteered exactly the information that the Dark Lord wanted.
"The only protection in place is that Dumbledore will be alerted if any spells are cast on the premises, my Lord"
Voldemort blinked several times. Surely the old man knew how easy it would be to get past such an obstacle? Sometimes he couldn't believe Dumbledore's naivete.
"Crabbe! Goyle!" Voldemort shouted and the two lumbered into view. It was only because of raids like this that he tolerated such hulking idiots. Truly the only thing they were good for was physical support, and even then that was limited to certain situations. He glanced at the two idiotic Death Eaters.
"You two are coming with me to Potter's house. We're going to bring the muggles that live there back here. If you cast any spells, you will be punished… Understood?" He made sure to speak slowly and clearly so they wouldn't miss anything.
They nodded dumbly but seemed to comprehend so he turned to Lucius.
"Lucius, you are to come as well." At the blond's nod, he stood and stepped down from his seat. Voldemort then turned back to Crabbe and Goyle.
"I am going to apparate to Potter's home. When I'm gone I want you to apparate to me." The Dark Lord could barely hold down his exasperation on seeing their blank expressions. He quickly turned and stormed out of the room. If they were too stupid to follow him, he'd merely kill them later. It might be nice to be rid of their bumbling stupidity.
He reached the edge of the manor's wards with Lucius scurrying along behind him. The Dark Lord quickly apparated to Potter's home and much to his surprise and mild disappointment, all three of his Death Eaters appeared shortly after.
Lucius, ever efficient, quickly led them to a muggle car, parked just outside of the wards. Voldemort could feel his anticipation growing. Oh what he would do to those muggles! He kept himself relatively calm until they were all settled in and apparently safe, then he turned to Lucius.
"How many muggles can we expect there to be in the house?" He hoped that none of his impatience showed through.
If it did, the blond didn't react to it and he responded quickly, "Just a woman and a large boy for now, my Lord. There is also a man but he will not be here until later in the evening."
Voldemort smiled darkly. That made things a bit simpler. He turned his smile on Lucius, "Well, should we go now and invite the woman and her boy to enjoy our hospitality?"
The Dark Lord didn't give time for a response; he kicked the door open and swung out of the car, heading for the house. Well, it had felt like he had done that but he was sure that it had looked much more dignified than that.
He reached the door with Lucius a step behind and the two idiots not far behind the blond. He sent Lucius a sickly sweet smile knowing that it would unnerve the man.
Shortly after that, the door was opened by a thing that was presumably the boy Lucius had mentioned. The creature was so grotesquely fat that it turned his stomach.
Filthy muggles.
It seemed that it was at least intelligent enough to see that they were dangerous.
The fat-thing took one look at them and stuttered out a weak, "W-what do you want?"
Voldemort smiled the same sickly sweet smile that he had thrown at Lucius.
"Hello my dear boy, I need to have a word with your mother. Is she in?" It took all his Slytherin skill, but he was able to match his tone to his expression. Oh Salazar, how that thing made his skin crawl!
The foolish creature seemed to be become less fearful on hearing the Dark Lord's tone and quickly invited them in. It then lumbered into another room, presumably to get its mother. Deeply amused, Voldemort smirked at Lucius. He must have given the land-whale too much credit intelligence-wise if it had invited them in so readily.
The Dark Lord had to resist the urge to tap his foot in annoyance; his patience was all but nonexistent. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long. The woman came around the corner, wiping her hands with a small towel. The creature peeked out around that same corner. When the woman looked up her features became twisted with disgust and he wondered idly if she was even making an effort to hide her feelings.
"What do you want? If it's about that Potter boy, he ran away this morning." She sneered and tapped her foot.
He felt his rage as it rose up in response to her disdain. How could she assume that the boy had run off? Had she no concept of the boy's enemies? He quickly squashed the inexplicable emotion. Why should he care what she thought of his little captive?
"My dear Lady," Voldemort purred, putting all his anger and disdain into his sarcasm, "We wish you to come with us, to enjoy our hospitality." He grinned nastily, pulling out his wand. He knew that she would understand the threat for what it was.
He was not disappointed as she dropped to the ground in a dead faint.
The fat-thing flopped and jiggled its way to kneel gracelessly by its mother's side. It was probably the most running that the creature had had to suffer through in its entire life.
"Mummy! Mummy, what did they do to you!" Surprisingly enough the creature glared Darkly at the Dark Lord and made as if to rush the pale man.
Voldemort stood casually as Crabbe and Goyle intercepted the thing. Once the creature had stopped trying to grapple with them, they turned and looked at their master for instruction.
He spoke slowly and carefully, hoping that his luck with the two imbeciles wouldn't run out, "Take the boy to the car. Once there, I want you to apparate with him to the base dungeons. Leave him in a cell and come back." At the last part the stupid thing started blubbering and making even more of a mess out of its face.
The Dark Lord sneered after the wailing mass of fat as Crabbe and Goyle dragged it out of the house. Voldemort then turned to Lucius.
"I want you to take the woman. I will wait in the car for you to return." He stormed out of the house feeling extremely disgusted and sure that he looked it too. He was also sure that he sounded rather pensive, but wasn't sure that he cared.
He stalked to the car and threw himself in, knowing that there would be no one important to witness it. Voldemort was sure it would take Lucius several minutes just to pick up the emaciated horse-woman.
The Dark Lord leaned forward and rested with his elbow on the dashboard. He held his chin in his hand and tapped his finger against his cheek. Voldemort gazed out at the street beyond the windshield and sneered.
Muggles were such disgusting creatures.
Even after the screaming whale-thing had been dragged from its home, they had paid no attention. They were content to sit in their ugly little uniform homes and not wonder what had caused so much of a disruption.
No wonder Potter had so apparently lost his faith in the light. Being forced to live among such idiots would be enough to disillusion even the most fanatical.
Voldemort continued to ponder how frustrating the boy's life must have been for a while but then decided that it was too frustrating a line of thought. His mind wandered from subject to subject until he could think of nothing more to think about.
He really hated waiting.
That was truly the biggest reason why he rarely went on raids. He simply didn't have the patience for waiting. He didn't mind watching plans play out, but just sitting around and doing nothing… Well it made him cringe.
The Dark Lord held back a surprised reaction as the car door swung open and Lucius gracefully slid into the car. He must have been much more preoccupied with being bored than he had thought. Voldemort also noticed that Crabbe and Goyle were already in the back of the car. He pinned the blond with what felt like an extremely bored glare.
"How much longer until the other muggle arrives?" He was mildly annoyed at how pensive he sounded.
"It shouldn't be long, my Lord." The blond man was quick to respond and sounded rather anxious. Had Voldemort been feeling a little less annoyed he would have been highly amused by that anxiety, but the promise of more waiting, even if it didn't end up being much, killed any amusement he might have felt.
Just as the last of the Dark Lord's meager patience was threatening to leave entirely, a car pulled up into the driveway of Potter's former residence. The blond Death Eater glanced at him, silently asking for instruction.
"Persuade him to come to the car, Lucius."
Lucius nodded and quickly slid out of the car.
Voldemort glanced at the muggle to check the fat man's reaction and just in that glance he instantly saw that this filthy muggle was the relative who had harmed his little captive the worst.
A black rage welled up inside him and he had to clench his teeth against it. In his struggle not to hex the man dead on sight, he missed what words Lucius used to fool the filthy muggle. The Dark Lord watched the man approach with barely controlled wrath. It was all he could do to wait until his car window was open to fling a stupefy in the muggle's face.
The Dark Lord watched as the overly large muggle dropped to the ground with a satisfying thud.
He slipped out of the car with a casual air that he didn't feel and gave the man a sharp kick to the side, hoping that it would ease some of his rage.
It didn't.
Voldemort glared down at the muggle as Crabbe and Goyle stumbled out of the car and stood over the unconscious man. With a glance they picked the man up between them and looked at their master blankly. The Dark Lord sneered at their need for continuous instruction.
"I don't want the muggle put in with his family. Put him in a cell where they can see him." Voldemort waited a moment as they obeyed and then apparated himself.
As soon as the Dark Lord could feel soft turf under his feet, he all but rushed towards the manor in his agitation.
He wanted to make those filthy creatures suffer. They had harmed his little captive. They would bleed and scream and cry and tremble. Oh how he would make them suffer…
Just as images and plans started forming in his head, he stopped himself. In his rage he would kill them all and that would not do at all. He wanted to draw out their torture as long as possible. That meant that he could do nothing to them tonight.
But he couldn't just leave them to themselves. The fear of being trapped in a strange, cold place was not enough for them.
Voldemort stopped abruptly and turned toward Lucius, who had been scurrying along after him.
"Tell my Death Eaters that they may do as they wish with our new prisoners, but that no one is to kill them. I will deal with them at my leisure." He let some of his rage leak into his tone to emphasize the importance of his instructions. Then just as abruptly as he had stopped, the Dark Lord spun back towards the entrance and stalked into the manor.
He had to soothe some of his rage; it would be unfortunate if he were to take it out on the boy.
Voldemort paused momentarily in his hurried steps. He had been headed to his rooms, but was that really where he wanted to go?
He could always go to Bella's rooms. She was always willing to allow him to torture her for a little stress-relief… But then she usually liked to try and lure him into her bed afterwards, so no, he didn't want to go to Bella's rooms.
As he pondered his options, he came to the conclusion that the best place for him would be his rooms. He still needed something that would take his mind off his newest prisoners and to keep him doing anything to ruin the boy's potential. He thought about the problem for a bit longer until the solution suddenly came to him.
He would take a bath.
A little relaxation and some time to think would be just what he needed.
The Dark Lord started off again towards his room at a brisk pace. It wasn't long before he reached his destination and stopped short of the door. If he could slip in without Potter noticing he could probably go undisturbed for quite a while. Hopefully luck would be with him and the boy would still be asleep.
Voldemort couldn't sense anyone in the front room and so he eased the door open and slipped in without a sound. The Dark Lord glanced around and then started towards the bedroom. He kept his steps soft so he would make as little noise as possible.
As he passed his private library, he caught a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye. Voldemort glanced into the room to see the boy so absorbed in a book that his face was practically glued to it. He blinked, a bit surprised to have found Potter so interested in his books. He wouldn't have thought of the boy as the type to spend any time reading. Then he smirked as he realized what the boy was reading. Not the sort of thing that a truly light-sided individual would be interested in…
The Dark Lord shook his head and continued on to the bathroom feeling rather amused. The Potter boy sure wasn't what he had expected.
He had fully expected the boy to be dragged in kicking and screaming about how he was good and Voldemort was evil and all the other nonsense that he always seemed to spout whenever they saw each other. He had also thought that whatever the little nuisance was angsting about, that it would be unimportant. They wouldn't let him have a new broomstick or unlimited pocket money or some rubbish like that.
Voldemort reached down and turned on the bath. He began to strip off his clothes as the tub filled.
But instead of acting like he had been captured by the enemy, the boy had come without a fight. Potter had shown a listlessness and apathy had completely shocked the Dark Lord. The boy had always shown so much passion in the past. If Voldemort hadn't known any better he would have though that the light had broken the boy. But the power that the boy had brought with him, that was not the power of a broken toy of the light and it could not be ignored.
No the light had not broken him, they had done something far worse for their cause.
They had lost the boy's trust.
The Dark Lord turned off the tap and eased himself into the hot water before continuing on his train of thought.
It had only served as a further shock, when the apparent cause of the boy's distress turned out to the abuse his 'family' had rained down upon him. At first Voldemort had been barely able to imagine how it could have been allowed. The Savior of the wizarding world being under-fed and beaten by his muggle relatives?
It was preposterous.
The amount of damage a naïve, well-meaning old fool could do never ceased to amaze him.
Voldemort shook his head. Even now, his little captive refused to be bound by the Dark Lord's expectations. He snickered. Off reading dark tomes in a mysterious library…
Potter didn't seem to mind that he might be killed or tortured at any moment. That apathy both impressed and slightly unnerved Voldemort for some reason. The idea of torturing or killing an enemy that almost seemed to want it really bothered him. So really Potter's safety was ensured by the boy's almost suicidal apathy. The irony amused Voldemort greatly and made up for any discomfort on his part.
The Dark Lord frowned slightly. His inexplicable rage was something else that bothered him. He knew that its root was the way that his little captive had been treated by his relatives. He was sure that his Inner Circle had probably figured that much also. Why it bothered him still baffled him. It could have been that it was reminiscent of his own childhood, but that had been a long time ago. He supposed that it probably had to do with the prophecy that his followers had failed to get or something like it.
He dismissed the thoughts, brooding would only make things worse and that was really all he could until he had more information. Voldemort could take his time with making the muggles that had harmed his little captive suffer. In fact the longer he took to take care of them, the longer his Death Eaters had to play with them.
Voldemort stretched and realized that the bath water had gone cold. How long had he been thinking? He scratched his nose and picked himself out of the water. The Dark Lord snatched a towel and starting drying his hair, working his way down his body from there. When he was completely dry, he summoned a pair of soft cotton pants and slipped them on. He fiddled with the drawstring a bit and then headed out of the bathroom.
He entered the bedroom just as the boy did and was very amused at the shock that colored his little captive's face. He looked caught between embarrassment, anger, and strangely, for the first time since Voldemort had seen the boy dragged into the audience chamber, fear.
The boy blushed violently looked everywhere but at Voldemort's chest. The Dark Lord felt like he could have died laughing, seeing the boy's discomfort, but held it in.
Finally the boy sputtered angrily, "W-what are you doing here!"
Voldemort fought to keep a straight face and merely raised an eyebrow.
"This is my room, why wouldn't I be here?" The Dark Lord allowed some of his amusement to leak into his tone. He would have thought that it wouldn't have been too difficult for the boy to figure out whose rooms he'd been in after Voldemort had shown up…
His little captive paled, still fighting to keep his eyes off of the Dark Lord's bared flesh. Voldemort could see that the boy had to work to focus.
Then suddenly the boy looked up and shouted, "Well I'm not sleeping on the floor!"
Though the boy's implication was amusing, Voldemort didn't let it show on his face.
"It's my bed, if you have a problem then you sleep on the floor." Voldemort snickered at the look on the boy's face and received a glare in return. He could tell that his little captive was going to give in soon. His protests seemed like he felt that he had to make them and the boy was truly too tired to make himself care for much longer.
Sure enough, when the boy finally spoke again it was to shout "Fine!" Potter then threw himself on the bed like a sulky two-year-old and slipped under the covers.
Voldemort smirked and got into bed, almost laughing when the boy moved as far away as possible. His little captive turned away quickly but he caught the boy's blush anyway.
The next thing he knew he felt the slight fuzziness he always felt upon waking. He also felt that he was wrapped around a smaller body.
The fuzziness was gone.
Voldemort's eyes snapped open and he looked down at the boy that was cuddled so close to him. He was sure that there would be hell when his little captive woke up but he couldn't make himself upset over how they had ended up. The Dark Lord decided that he liked having Potter's body pressed against his.
He sighed and the boy shifted and mumbled apparently slightly woken up by the action. He expected the boy to immediately push away and start shouting but instead of all that Potter mumbled some more and cuddled closer. Since they had been pretty tightly entwined in the first place, this movement left the Dark Lord feeling rather… uncomfortable.
They lay like that for several minutes before Voldemort got the reaction he had expected. The boy suddenly looked up at him blearily and then pushed away so violently that he fell off the bed.
Potter jumped up, snatching up his glasses. "What are you playing at Voldemort?"
"What do you mean what am I playing at, do you think that I made you cuddle up to me?" He frowned. He sounded grumpy. He hated when he sounded grumpy. It was so un-dark-lord-ish.
"I did not cuddle up to you!" The boy sounded extremely indignant.
"Oh really? And what was that just a few minutes ago? Were you secretly trying to squeeze me lightly to death?" That caused the boy to flush furiously.
"I wasn't- That was- I was barely awake…" Potterfinished lamely.
"Oh, I see! Of course it's my fault then!" His tone was harsh and sarcastic and it made the boy wince.
Potter looked at a total loss for words. He paled slightly and rushed out of the room. The boy slammed the bathroom door shut and Voldemort heard a click as it was locked.
The Dark Lord swore. That door was spelled so that once it was locked, nothing short of blasting down the door would open it from the outside. He had set it up to keep some of his bolder admirers out when he needed use the facilities.
He could already tell that the boy was angsting.
He walked to the locked door and pounded, shouting through it. "Get out now Potter! I have things to do and if you're in here angsting it'll bother me!" He didn't receive any answer. He stood there like that for several minutes
He didn't have the patience for this.
"Go ahead and have a good cry in there then, child!" he growled out with all the disdain he could muster.
Voldemort stomped out of his bedroom and then out of his rooms. He headed for the dungeons.
He needed to make something hurt.
OoToO
A/N: Yay! It's done! Dances Whew! this chappie was hard… I was a little worried at how it had turned out when I sent it off to my beta, but now I feel really happy about it! But yesyes, if you guys didn't know already, I have a place on my profile where I talk about my update progress. So if you ever find yourself wondering, you can check that out. I keep it pretty up to date… but yes! Please review my dears! I'd love to hear what you think about this chappie!