Apologies all around to everybody for forcing you to wait so long for the update. My god, has it been two months already?

Summary: Harry was forced by Dumbledore to return to the Dursley's over Christmas break. Managing to break out of the house for a little while, he stumbles over a snake in the street that he takes 'home' to his hellhole before it froze to death. While at the Dursley's, Harry begins to utilize the wandless magic he just realized he had. Impressing the snake with his abilities, he discusses with it various topics-the snakes favorite being the Dark Lord. What mysteries does this proud snake hide?

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I typed away any rights I may have had to Fanfiction when I published this story though them. I did not own anything anyways.

Warning: Watch out-beatings ahead. I hate to write them, and Harry hates to feel them, but Uncle Vernon loves doing it and my storyline needs it. Just cover your eyes until he leaves the room. Also, intense language.

Abandoned to the Cold

5

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*-*Mind Blocks and a Mother's Love*-*

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Riddle woke up hissing as he felt the body he had been resting on jerk. He began hissing at Harry to wake up, but Harry just moaned in his sleep and began twisting. Riddle hissed his displeasure as he slithered off Harry and onto the floor as he began tossing over and over. He watched through lidded eyes with the light of the lightning in the background as Harry thrashed and moaned some more. His spitting grew an annoyed tone as the sounds got higher and louder; swelled and shrill, it continued.

Riddle seemed become worried as he realized how vicious the night terror or whatever held Harry 'in its throes did not seem to let him go; instead, it just grew louder. A high whining sound grew in the air. Pressure steadily increased around them, and the air seemed to echo Harry's groans. Harry was groaning no longer, however. His pitiful sounds had grown into harsh panting mixed with silent shrieks, as his writhing grew worse. Riddle noticed how close his struggling was bringing him to the side of the pitifully small object called a 'bed' and hurried into a corner; just in time as Harry landed on the ground on his back with a muffled THUD.

All was silent for a moment and Harry seemed to calm, before his chest leapt upward as if it were pulled by puppet strings. He began screaming soft, blood-curdling screams. He screamed, and cried out as the pressure in the 'room' increased into an unbearable level. Riddle shuddered at all of the magic leaking off Harry and flooding the room and the house around them. The magic forced the lights to flicker back on and off, and a small wind rose inside the room. Outside, the storm grew, rising in tandem with the surge of magic. Rain beat against the walls as wind howled around and though the neighborhood, while lightning flashed its heavenly light and thunder played like the devils delight, scaring the mortals and outpouring fright. As the thunder boomed all around, Harry began to let out a horrible sound, a horrifying cry of piercing heights. He screamed, long, loud, and clear, until he just stopped.

A crash flew from where Harry lay, echoing the tempests thunder around them. The pressure in the room momentarily increased to bone-breaking amounts before flooding out. The room returned to normalcy as Harry lay panting on the floor.

Harry ached. Everywhere, every muscle, every bone, every cell, every fiber of his body just ached horribly. He felt like he had just run a marathon designed to kill everyone but those with the highest endurance, and then went and ran it again for fun. All of his muscles seemed stretched, torn, and mending already. He felt the adrenaline leave his system and the pain intensified. It hurt the most around his head and his chest. Every breath tested his strength, but he found the will to stay conscious and keep breathing.

Riddle slowly moved from his corner where he had hid once again and moved over towards Harry as another flash of lightning hit the room. Sweat was pouring off Harry's body, and his black hair was even wilder than before. His face was pale, a pasty color almost as white as Riddle's scales. The snake moved his long, thin body until he was lying next to the shaking Gryffindor.

::Do something if you're conscious now. You should be, with all of the pain you were apparently in.::

Harry began to lift his hand in response, but his muscles just trembled weakly in response. He coughed harshly, scraping at his dry throat. ::What I would not have given to rather be under the Cruciatus just then.::Harry attempted to move again and managed to get a twitch.::Do you have any idea what the bloody hell that was just now? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.::

The snake took no note of Harry's sarcasm but remained in thought for a minute as Harry attempted to push himself up. By the time Harry managed to do so, the snake had apparently reached a conclusion. Harry weakly glared at it as he fought not to cry out. ::Your magic broke some restrictions placed on you. Your magic was sealed, and now it is released. It looked like you had some sort of mental block on you as well, with the amount of pain you are and were in.:: He ignored Harry's sharp intake of breath. ::I would ask you who did this to you, but the most likely Obliviator is-::

Harry suddenly snapped upright and cut him off. ::HE did it! How dare he! How DARE he seal my magic! How DARE he cut me off from my core! How DARE he cut off part of my personality, and how dare he try to take away from me what makes me me!:: With a shout, Harry spun and punched the floor. The house reverberated with the deep sounds of the thunder outside that boomed in time with Harry, as if growing angry for him. ::Oh HELL NO Dumbledore did not do what I know he did!:: Harry seethed, unmoving.

Drawing up all of his vast amounts of courage, Riddle queried the angry Gryffindor. ::What, exactly, did he do?:: He automatically tensed when he felt the negative emotions pouring off Harry.

::That damn piece of shit of a man-goat-fucker did plenty to me! The more accurate question is what did he NOT do! He has set the stage for the world, pulling us all along on the puppet strings he has attached! He forces us to play along with his country-wide game of chess, setting up both sides, and then he plans out how sacrifice all of his pawns for the best way for HIM! He makes us dance along, restricting us to the patterns he forced us into, Obliviating us whenever we stray. He twisted our existence and wrangles it until it benefits him in all the ways he could think of!::

Harry paused and took a deep breath before he continued his tirade. ::He screwed up my entire life. In the beginning after Voldemort's-:: Harry winced as he felts Voldemort's anger, curiosity, glee, and –concern?- ::-first downfall, he took me away from the people that loved me and gave me to the people who despised me and everything to do about me! He made sure I grew up miserable and hurt, a child who would cling to the first scrap of affection! Then he paid Ron Weasel to come and be my 'best friend' and 'guide' me though school! He set the Weasleys up to influence my views of the wizarding world, after giving a little background brainwashing with Hagrid! He molded and twisted my other friends mind until he came up with exactly what he wanted!::

Harry began wildly waving his hands around as Riddle wisely stayed back. ::He set me up, year after year with all the problems I encountered! Well,:: Harry backed down a little, ::Maybe only with Quirrel and Voldemort-::Harry felt his indignation, anger, glee, sympathy, some concern, and a deep undertone of satisfaction of having guessed right::-but he kept pushing my friends and I into one life-threatening situation after another! Yet, after each one, he questioned me extensively with Veritiserum and Legilimancy then Obliviated me afterwards!::

Harry grumbled and swore under his breath. ::It's no wonder I was crap at Occlumency last year for more than one reason, with all of the times he has broken into my mind and Obliviated me! Every single damn time I questioned him, or had suspicious thoughts about him, POOF went my memories!:: Harry glared angrily at the wall for a moment as he waited for his hatred to die down enough that he could talk again.

::That is not all he did though, oh no! No, he had to take away the most precious thing to me, MY MAGIC! The only thing that truly makes me happy and makes my life worth living, he bound up in a tight web! At the beginning of every single damn summer, he would have to reapply the 'life-long' seal! No, not even a life-long seal was enough for him! He rebound it Every. Single. Year, where I could not tell because I was unable to use magic over the summer! He sealed away my LIFE, my ALL.:: Harry paused, and listened to the storm fade in the background as he let out one last shriek. ::HOW DARE HE?::

Riddle was about to reply but both he and Harry froze when they heard locks turning in Harry's door. Harry's blood iced, and adrenaline rushed through his veins again as his fear of what was about to happen took over his whole thought process. "Oh shit…" he whispered, unable to do anything else. Riddle hurriedly slithered his way back into his corner, as the last of the locks were unlocked. Harry began trembling again muttering quietly to himself. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, nononono…" He knew, no matter whether it was his uncle, Dumbledore, or Voldermort behind the door, nothing good would become of it. He began praying to himself that it was the Order come to pick him up again, even as he knew it was not true.

The door was flung open and once again crashed into the wall. Uncle Vernon's furious face filled the room as he fixed his sight on the shaking boy. "YOU! What in the blazes do you think you're doing, shouting freaky things and yelling at the top of your lungs at 3 in the MORNING?" He advanced towards Harry who seemed to shrink in on himself. "You WILL be quiet!" He grabbed Harry's arm and yanked him forward, dislocating his shoulder. Harry bit back a sharp cry as his uncle continued. "No, your kind can't SLEEP like normal people!" He gave Harry's arm a violent shake and Harry's vision blurred out on the edges as the pain rushed into his head.

Vernon threw Harry onto the ground where his arm violently hit the floor. Harry could not hold in his reaction at the sharp pain that accompanied the move and haunted his brain and let out a small cry. "SHUT UP!" Vernon yelled as he kicked Harry into the bed. He was forced against the frame with a THUD. "SHUT-UP-YOU-RUDDY-FREAK!" Each syllable was enunciated with a kick that tore Harry apart from the inside. Harry began to feel his ribs crack under the pressure and bit back another scream that came out as a whimper.

"We NORMAL people are trying to SLEEP here! So-SHUT-UP!" Harry's uncle yelled, far louder than Harry had been. Every word came with a blow, and with every blow came an unbearable amount of pain. Vernon carried on for a while, Harry alternately whimpering, giving out little shrieks, and crying out as his body was bruised and broken beyond recognition. Vernon gave one last sickening kick and Harry felt his ribs practically dissolve before he walked out of the room muttering about freaks, slamming the door behind him.

Tears streaming down his cheeks, Harry tried his best not to breathe as he slowly, oh so painfully slowly pulled his body so he lay flat on the floor. Wheezing, he laid his arm on his chest, and focused healing energy into it until he blacked out.

Several hours later, a bruised, bloody, and sore Harry Potter woke up to the hissing of a snake. ::Damn it all, how the bloody hell am I going to fix this mess? First the potion, then the snow, and now I feel for the brat! God damn it all!::

Harry stayed quiet as he thought about what he just heard. Riddle had not noticed he was awake yet, and he watched as the snake moved from near Harry to 'his' corner of the room. So, his suspicions were not entirely unfounded. Could Riddle actually be Tom Riddle? Harry gave a mental shrug. He did not really care at this point. He thought about Voldemort's recent emotions, and the possible scenarios for that could have caused them, and sighed. Yes, they were what he would predict Voldemort's mood to be if he was Riddle. Harry knew Voldemort fairly well, so he knew he was safe in saying that. Harry decided to let this information slide for a little while until he knew how to better deal with it.

He waited a few minutes, then coughed weakly as he sat up. ::Riddle? What time is it?:: As he waited for a response, he examined his chest. He had only been able to heal it a minimum amount before he lost consciousness. He imagined knitting the bones and muscles back together, and pleaded for his magic to do just that. He sighed as he felt his torn insides begin to heal and a soft warmth cover him and ease the harsh burns.

::It is almost 9 o'clock in the morning. Your Aunt stopped by for a minute, but after screeching through the door and then checking on you, she walked away muttering about having to cook supper herself today.::

Harry grinned as he kept his magic focused. ::Awesome! That means she does not expect me to be able to move for an entire day! Now, I can ask you something about what you might have learned from your 'former master'.:: Harry lightly teased Riddle, knowing he would not realize Harry knew who he was, and Voldemort had no master! As Riddle huffed, Harry grinned. ::Oh come on, you knew a lot about Occlumency earlier. I am guessing your old caretaker (Riddle noticeably relaxed at the change of words) was paranoid enough to think everyone was trying to steal his secrets and read books about Occlumency. Can't you please tell me whatever you overheard? He sounds the type to mutter to himself while working.:: Harry had begun to imagine Wormtail as Riddle's fake caretaker, and grimaced at the picture of the disgusting rat muttering to himself. He had thought about the excuse he was going to provide Riddle with while he had waited.

The serpent still seemed hesitant. Harry could not blame him. After all, he was considering to offer help to the enemy! However, on the other hand, Harry knew he seemed against Dumbledore, and he was, oh, how much he was against Dumbledick… ::Well, I suppose it cannot hurt too much…:: Harry cheered inwardly. ::...but I don't know how good my instruction will be.::

Harry almost giggled. The big, bad, Dark Lord was nervous about helping someone else! ::I am sure it's fine; you can help just by saying whatever he was doing.:: Harry hid his huge Cheshire Cat grin behind his Slytherin 'eager' mask.

Riddle just sighed. ::Of course. Well, I suppose, the first thing he did was breathing, kind of like how you do it already.:: Harry snorted. He hoped he breathed already! ::I meant breathed properly, you imbecile! Of course you are breathing already, but to breathe properly, you need to inhale though your nose, hold it for a moment, and then slowly let it out through your mouth. Do that for a while.::

Harry removed his hand from his chest because he could 'feel' it was almost back to normal after their long conversation. He began breathing slowly, and felt his mind slowly relaxing. After a few minutes, Riddle began hissing softly. ::Good, keep going.:: Harry drew in another breath. ::Now, in your mind, begin visualizing a place, any place. The first thing that comes to your mind.:: Riddle hissed so softly, Harry felt himself easily concentrating on the words without losing his focus. He began drawing up a place in his mind, and he found the Room of Requirements taking form in front of his closed eyes. He slowly drew in the room he was picturing until he could see the fire, the two cozy green armchairs, the soft black braided rug, the dark green walls, and the silver polish covering a mirror near the ebony bookcase. The carpet he imagined to go with it shone a dull, cozy silver as well.

Riddle asked quietly, ::Do you have it?:: Harry gave a slow nod. ::Hold the image there. That is your mindscape, a visual representation of your mind.:: Harry looked around in awe of the simple elegance of the room. ::Imagine that you are actually there, walking around inside your mind.:: Harry gave a small frown, but began concentrating on appearing in his room.

With a frown still on his face ten minutes later, he realized it would help if he just pictured the room from his height and from a single person's point of view. His frown morphed into a grin as he found himself walking around. ::Good. Now, right now you are at the beginning point for any Occlumens. From here, you will organize your memories and build up a defense. I will leave you to it, but call me if you need help. Work with sorting through your memories first, and organize them somehow.::

Harry slowly tuned out the snake that was on his lap and focused completely on his mental room. "Memories first, eh? He grinned, and asked the room to come up with a holographic projector and more bookcases to put the memoires on. He would arrange it so you could pick up a book and insert it into the projector so he could see the memory against a blank solid object. He saw the requested items silently lift up out of the floor around him, already exactly where he wanted it. He wondered if it was because he was in his mind or because he was replicating the Room of Requirements, before deciding it was the former rather than the latter. He spotted a slightly open door out of the corner of his eye, but he decided to explore it later.

Harry began pulling up memory by memory, from his worst moments at the Dursley's to spending a day in the library with Hermione to flying alone over Hogwarts grounds.

Harry started with his most recent memories and slowly worked his way back. He first faced what had happened just hours ago, and placed the blood-red 'book' on a shelf near the back of the room where he would not have to think about it. Harry decided to call this bookcase the 'Forget Everything About Me You Remember" bookcase, or the FEAMYR. He went ahead and set aside several shelves for the Dursleys, since he knew there would be plenty of abuse to put inside it.

He turned to another recent memory, talking to Riddle and what he overheard from Riddle. He went over to the bookcase he was creating for friends, and after some deliberation, placed it on a large shelf. He decided to concentrate on that topic for a minute and continued to put all the memories he had of the snake onto the shelf. Most of the memories came out as books with a silver cover on them. Harry added what he had noticed about the serpent as a small book attached so it was hanging from the bookshelf.

Cautiously, he began a separate shelf near it for Voldemort, before shaking his head and deciding against it. He knew enough about Voldemort to fill up an entire bookcase- or, he would if what he suspected about the snake was right. Harry put his worst memories of Voldemort at the top, with the night of Voldemort's first fall at the top. Harry shuddered as he remembered the horrible green light his body had absorbed, and felt an echo of the pain that had screamed through his body as he managed to spread out the spells power and send most of it back at the man. Harry blinked his eyes open, startled out of his meditation.

:: I remember! :: Harry whispered to Riddle, who was still curled on his lap. Harry suppressed a small shudder at the creepiness of it as he pictured another body.

Riddle gave a quiet, whistling chuckle. :: Of course you will! This helps focus your memories, and sometimes it helps you recover your memories that might have been lost to you at a young age where your brain was not quite developed enough to store them properly. Most Occlumens discover memories from when they were three and four years old. Why? Did you remember something startling? ::

Harry shuddered as he again remembered what had happened. :: Yeah, I guess. After all, it is fairly startling when someone tries to kill you with a bolt of painful green light out of the blue, right? :: Harry paused to let that sink in and Riddle twisted up so that he was seeing eye to eye with Harry.

The owner of the crimson eyes spoke, :: So you actually remember that night? Can you remember how you, a mere child, could defeat the great Lord Voldemort? ::

Harry almost laughed as he remembered the specter of Tom Riddle saying almost exactly the same thing. If only Riddle knew! ::Before, all I could remember was, well, mad cackling-:: Riddle looked affronted :: and a flash of green light after His quick talk with my mum. Now, though, I could feel what happened after. I saw that horrible :: Harry jerked unconsciously as he remembered it again :: horrible, green light. It hit me, and it spread throughout my body. I was doing my best to keep it from immediately killing me as I tried to…I don't know, diffuse the power so it was not concentrated all on one spot. I felt the familiar presence of my Mum help guide me as I manipulated the power, whispering to me how to survive and use her sacrifice. Through the pain, I absorbed most of the power and then shot it away from me, and well, I guess it just hit you. :: The snake gave a small flinch, but it saw that Harry was gazing up at the ceiling with his eyes blanked over, so he decided he was just caught up in the memory. :: It hurt, but I could not handle it all, and He could not handle it all either. The energy formed a connection between us that I controlled, linking us together. I remember flashes of looking down at a baby and staring up at a man, and then agonizing pain when the spell could be held at bay no longer. I knew the green-light man was bad since he had made Mum collapse, so I focused all the rest of the energies on him. I watched as he imploded, just dissolving into the air. His clothes crumpled the floor, empty. I guess that was why Dunderdore never thought he was dead…::

Harry trailed off, lost in memory, before he shook his head and returned to the present. He faintly remembered referring to Riddle as Voldemort in his story, and his reaction had fueled his suspicions. Pretending it was just an accident, he ignored the incident and looked back down at the snake with surprised eyes, trying to fuel the idea that he had not realized what he was saying. ::Oh, I'm sorry. I got completely lost in the memory, didn't I? :: Harry shrugged and sheepishly rubbed his head before lowering it and taking on a serious face. :: Now, I know you admire Riddle, :: -the snake almost flinched, Harry could see- :: But there was really nothing he could do. I had the unpredictable, wild magic of a toddler and a will to live, combined with obscenely large magical resources, obstinate stubbornness, and sheer dumb luck! With all of those weapons at my disposal, I am afraid Riddle did not have a chance, especially with my mother's sacrifice. :: Harry grew sad and could look at the eyes no more, the eyes of his mother's killer. He closed his eyes.

He tried his best to stay stoic and calm, but his feelings could not be repressed. It felt like she had just died, mere moments ago before his eyes, and he had just sat there explaining it to her killer! It was not fair! Harry began shaking with the effort to not cry, hands clenched into fists at his side.

Hesitantly, Riddle lowered himself until he was wrapped around Harry in a vague copy of a hug and gave a little squeeze. Sadness leaked through his tone as he spoke. :: Go ahead and cry. I cried for my mother when I realized she died before I could meet her and I realized I would never be able to speak to her, never be able to make her proud. It's alright for you to feel sad that your mother died protecting you. She loved you so much that she chose to protect you and sacrifice her life, rather than move out of the way. ::His voice was amazed. :: Go ahead and cry, little one. Cry for the chance lost to know her, cry for the chance lost to run up and hug her, cry for the chance lost to thank her for anything. ::

By now, Harry was sobbing and the snake actually had similar tears reflected in his own eyes as Harry gave the snake a hug in return. :: Cry for the lost opportunities and the activities you will never do together. Cry for the love she gave you that you only got to experience for a short few months. Go ahead and cry, let your heart weep and heal. Not even Lord Voldemort himself can stoically stand such a display of a mother's love. There are only a few things he cannot take with his new sanity, and one is a mothers pure love for her child. Let yourself cry, and take comfort in the little I can give you. Take it in the name of the one who gave you this pain, for with his new sanity, surely this would tear at even his heart as well. Cry, my sweet little snakeling. ::

Harry cried and cried, burying his face into Riddle's scales. Part of his mind was detached, and wondered at this display of emotion from his worst enemy. He could feel the empathy and sympathy flowing from the connection in his scar, so he knew it was no trick. Any shreds of doubt left disappeared, even as took solace in Voldemort's scales. He wondered how much he had affected him if Voldemort was willing to do this, but he was just grateful that someone understood what he lost and attempted to help him through his pain.

He rocked back and forth, holding tightly onto the snake and sobbing silently so he would not have a repeat encounter with the Dursleys. :: Thank you :: he said after an hour of his quiet crying. :: Thank you for understanding. Thank you for putting it into words, and thank you for helping me through this. Thank you for showing some care, and thank you for holding on to me. Thank you for acknowledging me and not using it against me. Thank you for listening to me and not scorning me. Thank you for not hearing me and putting it off as exaggeration and ignoring me. Thank you for empathizing and sympathizing with me. Thank you. Just thank you, Tom. If you can truly feel that for me, then I forgive you for killing her since she was the one in your path to achieving what you thought was right. Pretty pathetic of me that I can just forgive you like that, huh? ::

Harry chuckled weakly and stroked the frozen snake before his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the floor unconscious again.

Voldemort just stayed wrapped around the boy in shock, before he gently nuzzled his neck. He played sentinel for the boy whose life he had destroyed beyond belief, yet still had the capacity to forgive him when he had done something to help the boy. He shook his serpentine head in shock and awe as he took in the boy. He swore to help protect him. There had to be some way to help him, in return for what he had done.

Voldemort stayed coiled around him as he had barely had enough weight to be noticed, and because he wished to offer the little comfort he could. If it was possible, he would keep the boy safe and try to reverse the irreparable harm he had done to him. He silently comforted him as the day passed and night dragged on, and he fell asleep to the moon's glow.

Aw! The secret is out, and now you know beyond a shadow of a doubt who the snake is. That's right, it was the Dark Lord Voldemort all along. WHY he is where he is will come up later, just know that he did NOT mean to be trapped as a snake and locked up with Harry Potter.

I know he was a little too…OOC at the end, but Harry's emotions were reflecting a little in him and he has lost his own family, remember? He understands what poor Harry is going through, and he admires him for his courage. His opinion of Harry has been rising as the days went by, and now, he holds nothing but utmost respect for harry (or something along those lines). I really did NOT intend for that to be so…sweet though. It was totally unplanned, and I actually was not going to reveal Voldemort for a while yet, but Harry demanded for him to be known. *Shrugs* I just write for the characters, and they were all yelling for that to happen. Cleared up my writers block though.

I am SOOOOOOOO sorry it took so long. I am no longer making empty promises .

I think I will copy what I started for my other story. I will ask a question at the end of each chapter, and you leave a review with the answer and your house. The first person to answer correctly gets five points, and the rest get two. If you get the answer half-right, you get just one point. So, onto the first question!

What does the open door Harry saw represent?

Stay tuned to for another chapter of Harry: The Founder of the Slytherin Family within a week! (If all goes well. This one will take significantly longer, but hopefully not another two months.)

Original chapter published: October 12, 2010
Words: 4,786 w/o authors notes, 5,289 with.
Pages: 10 w/ Bookman Old Style size 11 font