The Test Subject
There lied a house in Godric's Hollow, a small house with triangle windows and flowers of all kinds in the front. To anyone outside, the house was of no importance. But to the Executive Chancellor of Europe, it was of most importance.
No one asked why the Chancellor was obsessed with this house. The house itself wasn't special, with some basic Auror wards and no particular plant grown, one might even call it a perfectly normal house (for the wizarding world).
It could be that he was interested in making a manor himself, some whispered among each other in dark rooms where no one listened to them, and wanted that spot.
Perhaps, others wondered, it was the occupants that interested the Chancellor. The Potters, a pureblood father, a mudblood witch, and two half blood children, lived in that house. They acted as a soft rival of sorts to the pureblood campaign in Britain, only there to act as an opposing force to pureblood laws, but not gathering enough votes to succeed.
But, for the life of the Ministry, none of their explanations ever explained why their lord wanted protections on the house, or wanted it to stay out of the newspapers as much as possible. Most chalked it up to a brilliant, clever, and partially insane plan that their lord was quite fond of. But some still remained unsure.
Their questions could've been answered if they had watched as their lord apparated right in front of their door, bypassing their wards, to talk to the Potters. But no one had watched, as their lord had kept his outing to the house a secret that not even his advisers knew of.
Their lord, Voldemort was his name, but no one used it anymore, placed his charming smile that had won him the government on his face, and knocked on the door to the house. Of course, he could've barged in, blown the door open and broken through all the other defenses. But he didn't. Instead, he watched as the door opened to a small black haired girl, pale skin with soft black eyes.
"Hello?" The girl tilted her head slightly sideways, her eyes full of confusion. "Who are you?"
Voldemort smiled at the girl, offering his hand. "My name is Tom. What's your name?"
The girl frowned. "I'm Karen. Why are you here?"
"I would like to talk to your parents. Are they home?"
She nodded, before turning around. "Harry! Someone's at the door so go get mum and dad!" She turned back to Voldemort, smiling. "Do you want to play a game with me while they take forever?"
Voldemort smiled at the small child as she led him into the house, pulling out a game of Exploding snap, wanting to laugh at the ease to manipulate the child into doing his bidding.
While the two parents didn't take forever, as Karen had said, they did take a little while to come over. But as they entered the room with another child, a son, their laughing cut short and grew in the silence of fear. Voldemort could feel their fear even from across the room, and allowed himself a small smile.
The son was why he was here. The son had a power that no one else but the Chancellor had, and he would find out why. Soon, so very soon.
Even as the parents froze with fear, Voldemort made sure to ignore them. It took almost a full minute before one spoke, the mother.
"My lord. It is a... surprise to see you here." The mother quickly came quickly up to him, to shake his hand and place herself in between her child and the Chancellor.
"To you, perhaps. You took some time, but I'll forgive you. After all, every minute you spend wasting I played with your daughter. She is a very good gobstones player." Voldemort smirked at the blatant fear on the mother's face. So easy to read. How they have become a soft political power Voldemort would never know.
The father spoke next, coming closer and protecting the boy as well. "My lord, perhaps we should take this conversation to a more secure room?"
Voldemort smiled. "That would be wonderful."
The parents quickly hushed any complaints from the children, and sent them up to their rooms while leading Voldemort to their office. A small room, with a single desk with a chair behind it, and two chairs on the other side. It was good to know that they still knew their place when they gave him the larger and single chair that was closest to the desk, letting him look down at them from the desk.
"Fetch me some wine," Voldemort commanded, and watched, amused, as the two stumbled over themselves to summon their house elf to fetch a glass of their best wine. Soon, the glass of the red blood-like liquid was in his hand, and he took a simple, small, and very deliberate sip from the glass. "You have two very beautiful children. Remind me of their names again?"
"Karen and Harry," The father said, his voice a sort of hushed fearful whisper.
"Ah, yes. A girl and a boy. Neither of them Hogwarts age, of course. In fact, neither of them look too special. That boy, Harry. He looks like a mirror image of you, Mr. Potter." There it was, that flash of fear again. "But he has his mother's eyes, isn't that right, Mrs. Potter?" Her face nodded shakily. "Your daughter, now she is harder to place. A few years younger than young Harry, has you classic black hair, Mr. Potter, and has your nose, Mrs. Potter. However, I don't ever remember either of you two having that pale of skin or those eyes. Truly, a predicament. Where did she get those traits, I wonder?"
All the confirmation Voldemort needed right then was their faces, their cheeks lost all blush in favor of white fear, their eyes widened with surprise, or their mouths fell slightly open. All three occurred, so Voldemort continued.
"Mrs. Potter, before you were Mrs. Potter, you grew up with Severus Snape, didn't you? I wonder what happened to that relationship. Of course, the timeline wouldn't make sense, as Harry is clearly yours, but perhaps after the war a rekindled relationship began again..."
"What are you implying," Mrs. Potter growled, an impressive feat in her scared state.
"I am implying nothing, Mrs. Potter. However, I must say that if the public ever found out about this, they might make," he paused, lowering his voice ever slightly, "Assumptions."
"What do you want?" Mr. Potter stared at Voldemort, a stare which he returned, and caused Mr. Potter to flinch.
"A year ago, today, I was at the most particular occasion. Wandering through the back alleys of Knockturne, in disguise, I came across a rumor of a young parselmouth. Of course, I had wondered who would keep this great gift a secret from me. It was not hard to find out, once you had the rumor. Harry Potter, the snake charmer. Talked to a Boa Constrictor, am I right?"
"What do you want with my son?" Mrs. Potter asked. Voldemort ignored her.
"Now, I can't test the limits of Parseltongue myself, of course. However, your son can. And so, I offer you an exchange. You tell me how Harry got this gift, and let him be tested once a week, and I will prevent any nasty rumors about you and Snape from floating about."
They sat, in silence, just for a few moments. Then, in a small voice, Mr. Potter said, "No."
Voldemort's charming smile dropped, his brow furrowed, and his voice got low. Dangerously low. "No. Tell me, Mr. Potter. Do you not care for your wife? Do you not love your daughter? Do you not want to protect those being persecuted by the law? Do you think that your wife's affair is the only information I have on you!"
Mrs. Potter spoke next, her voice louder. "We are over that. It's time that we let the world know we are human too. They will understand."
"What about Lupin? Or the Black Brothers? Or Pettigrew? What if word got about them? I would have to clean up some... loose ends. It would be a shame to lose a good servant, but I will not have a leak in my government."
The couple were shocked into silence again, not speaking but communicating in small gestures, hand squeezing, fearful looks, and irregular breathing.
"Could we have a minute alone?" The mother asked.
Voldemort slowly let his smile back into place. "Of course." He left the room, stepping quietly out the door, and shutting the door. While he expected to see an empty hall, he instead saw the young boy from earlier.
The Boy looked up at him, an expression somewhere between fear and awe, before mustering out, "Hi, sir."
Voldemort felt his warm smile used on manipulating children slide into place. "Hello there, Harry. I've heard many things about you."
Harry bashfully looked down at the floor, blushing slightly. "I'm not that great."
"But I have heard you can speak to snakes. Is that true?"
"Ya."
Voldemort gently placed his hand on the child's chin, and lifted it so Harry was looking at him. "I've got a secret too." He leaned down to the ear of the small boy, and hissed quietly. "So can I."
The boy's face morphed to one of surprise and awe, and Voldemort backed away from his ear, his job done. "I've come to make a deal with your parents, to have others learn about the language from you. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Harry nodded without thinking. "Ya."
"You're a smart kid. Now let's hope your parents are as smart as you. Now tell me about the snakes you've talked to."
The small kid took the opportunity to launch into the long conversation he had with the boa constrictor at a zoo, a garden snake in the garden, and a rattlesnake while hiking. It was boring, but it had the effect on Harry as Voldemort wanted it to.
Soon, the door opened, and Voldemort went inside, without Harry. There, they had moved their seats to where he was seated before, making them seem like they had the power. An interesting dynamic which Voldemort wasn't accustomed to, but he could make work.
The two glanced at each other, before Mr. Potter looked at Voldemort, not flinching as he stared into his Lord's eyes. "We are sorry to not accept this deal, but our answer is no. You will not come after our children."
Voldemort sighed as he placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. He had hoped that they wouldn't make that decision, but now that they have, he'd have to kill them. His hand slowly descended down to his wand handing in a holster at his side, feeling that glee he got any time he was about to kill.
It was most unexpected when the thing that saved the parents their lives was the subject of their talk. Harry Potter suddenly was in the room, his eyes alight with disbelief, but not at Voldemort. His gaze was directed at his parents.
"Mum! Dad! Why can't I do it? All you want me to do is sit around with my sister all day! I want to go somewhere, do something! I've told you that! But when an opportunity comes for that you say no? He wants me to talk to snakes! Do you think-" His voice went down to a whisper, "That I'm a monster because of it?"
Mrs. Potter quickly came forward, hugging her child as tears started to form in his eyes. "No, no, no, no. We think you are perfect. We just don't want to let you go off with him. He'll keep with him, never letting you see us again, and..." And then she too started to get tears in her eyes.
Harry turned to Voldemort, an unspoken question in his watery eyes. Voldemort answered it with a small shake of his head.
Mr. Potter joined the three person hug, and Voldemort could hear Harry whisper something to the two parents. The Chancellor could have listened, of course, but the battle had already been won. Why push it?
After a few painful moments, for Voldemort at least, as the three Potters sat and cried together, Harry slowly stood, and took a breath. "I'll do it, Mr. What's-your-name. I'll speak to snakes for you."
Voldemort smiled, a real smile this time. "I knew you would come to your senses. A mediwitch will be here next Friday for an examination. Do try to stay healthy until then. I'll be in touch." He left the room, leaving the three, and made it all the way to the door before he even saw the girl.
She stood there, waving slightly at him as he left. "Goodbye Tom! See you later!"
Voldemort nodded at the girl, whispering a quick, "see you later", before walking out the front door. After the door was shut, he looked back at the house. "See you later in deed." With a loud crack, Voldemort apparated away.
