Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friend or Foe
Chapter 12: Repeating History
"You want to join me?" Voldemort's cold voice broke through the silence that followed Harry's statement.
Harry took a deep breath. "Yes," he said as steadily as he could manage.
Green eyes met red eyes. Harry winced involuntarily at Voldemort's appearance. The difference between Voldemort and young Tom Riddle was so huge that no one could ever imagine them being the same person. Harry felt his heart beat rising to an alarming rate when Voldemort finally spoke again.
"Why?" Voldemort's quiet voice betrayed no emotion, his wand still pointing directly at the kneeling Harry.
"Does it really matter?" said Harry softly. "I am loyal to you and you know I am not lying." He looked into the pair of crimson eyes and lowered his Occlumency shield. "Won't it be a great boast to your side?"
Voldemort narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning, Potter?"
"I told you I'd find a way to reach you," said Harry, "I'm merely trying to fulfill my promise."
From the connection he shared with Voldemort, Harry felt a flick of emotion, though it disappeared almost immediately.
"My Lord," Lucius Malfoy chose that moment to speak up, "The boy-"
Voldemort flicked his wand towards Malfoy and the blond Death Eater was twitching in pain on the floor before Harry could blink.
Harry swallowed. A non-verbal Cruciatus Curse. Cast easily and casually as if it was nothing.
Voldemort stopped the curse after a while and pointed his wand back to Harry, his gaze never left Harry once. Voldemort stood up and took a few steps forward. Harry held his breath, but refused to look away from the advancing figure. From his position, he could be killed easily at any moment. Yet he stayed, kneeling in front of the man who killed his parents and wanted him dead ever since his birth, the same man who was whom his best friend had become.
From the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Lucius Malfoy stumble back to the Death Eaters' circle. Every single Death Eater seemed to have held their breath, not daring to make any noise. The Cruciatus Curse was a clear warning that no one was to interfere.
Voldemort stopped directly in front of Harry, pointing the wand Harry had seen so many times in the past between Harry's eyes.
"Do not lie to me, Harry Potter. You do not want to join me," he hissed dangerously.
"Tell the truth, or I will kill you now."
"The truth?" said Harry softly. "Do you really want to know?" He looked into Voldemort's eyes and called out one past memory.
"Why are you coming down here? That's suicide!" said a young Tom Riddle.
"I don't know why," said Harry. "I just... well, the only thing in my mind when I was standing before the entrance was that I wanted to save you. And if I wanted to drag you out of here at least I needed to jump down myself."
Tom stared at him in disbelief. "You're mental!"
"Well, maybe I am mental," said Harry. "But that is my motive-"
"Crucio!" Voldemort's bellowed.
Harry braced himself for the pain and blinked as nothing happened after the curse had hit him. Several Death Eaters gasped. Harry widened his eyes in realization and pulled out his now glowing necklace. He had never thought the protective power of the amulet was strong enough to block an unforgivable.
"Do you recognize this," he asked Voldemort. "Ironic, isn't?"
Voldemort's expression remained unreadable, but Harry, from the connection they shared, knew that Voldemort was confused at his own feeling. He did not like confusion at all though, so he reflexively attacked the person that caused it by an offensive means. Before Harry could further analyze the feeling he felt through his scar, the new emotions disappeared quickly with no trace left, replaced by the usual hatred and suspicion.
Harry sighed inwardly. Was there any chance for him to overcome the darkness of such intensity?
Voldemort stared at him piercingly. A sadistic smile slowly formed over his snake-like feature.
"Avery!" he snapped suddenly. "Bring Jones out."
Voldemort lowered his wand and took a few steps backwards, clearing a space between Harry and himself.
"Then let's see if you've got what it takes to be a Death Eater, Potter," he said.
A movement behind him caught Harry's attention. He turned and caught his breath at the sight of the witch brought out by Nott. He could not remember her name, but he was certain that the witch was one of the Order members that had come to fetch Harry from the Dursleys' to the Order headquarter.
Jones appeared to have been tortured. Severely tortured. She was so weak that Nott needed to half-drag her before Voldemort.
"Ah, Hestia Jones," said Voldemort, giving her a horrible smile. "Are you enjoying your stay?"
She spat. "Kill me, you bastard."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, then shifted his gaze back to Harry.
"Kill her," he said simply.
Jones turned, her eyes widened when she finally noticed Harry. She was as surprised as Harry when she saw him, and what seemed to be fear crossed her face, though she managed to recover from her shock within seconds.
"Run, Potter," she said under her breath. "Run when I distract him."
Harry took in a sharp breath. She thought he was captured? And she feared for him… not for herself.
Harry shook his head. "I-"
Gritting his teeth, Harry lifted his wand and pointed at the weakened witch shakily.
"What- Potter?" Jones looked startled, and confused.
Harry hesitated.
"Kill her," Voldmort repeated.
Harry had known it would come to this. He thought he could do it, but no… Killing spiders and killing a person was totally different, especially when the person had been trying to save his life, regardless of her own.
He shook his head. He couldn't do it. He knew even if he managed to bring himself to utter the incantation, the curse would not work for lack of intention.
"It seems we've made it clear, haven't we, Potter?" Voldemort smirked. He must have felt Harry's desperation. "You have no place here."
Harry tightened his grip on his wand, his hand still shaking violently. He tried to convince himself that no matter if he did it or not, the witch was going to die anyway; he even tried to manipulate his mind with Legilimency, but all to no avail. He simply did not have any the inclination to kill. But Voldemort did, could he…
He closed his eyes in concentration. He reached out to Voldemort's mind, then came to a stop at the Dark Lord's Occlumency shield. He could not reach out any further, but that was enough. Occlumency could not block feelings and emotions. Through the bond they shared, Voldemort knew exactly how Harry was feeling, and vice versa. Except for the few times Harry managed to provoke the long hidden memories in Voldemort's mind, he could not feel much emotions coming from the Dark Lord other then hatred, or sometimes annoyance.
He focused on all those negative emotions coming from Voldemort. His hatred and his will to kill…
"Avada Kedevra," Harry uttered the curse quietly.
He shivered when power passed from the body to his wand, then transformed into a bright green flash that shot towards the broken witch, who was staring at him with disbelief and… betrayal in her eyes.
Harry shut his eyes as the curse hit Jones in her chest. When he opened his eyes again, he could only see the witch's unmoving body on the ground.
His whole body was trembling. His wand arm fell back lamely to his side. What had he done? He felt as if his soul was being torn apart.
He heard someone drew in a sharp breath from above him and looked up weakly. There stood Voldemort, staring down at him. For a short moment, Harry thought he saw an odd gleam in the pair of crimson eyes. Did Voldemort feel what Harry had felt?
"Have I… proved myself, then?" he asked weakly.
What seemed like hours had passed before Voldemort responded. He stepped forward and grabbed Harry's left arm. He pulled back the sleeve but stopped after he had bared Harry's left forearm.
On the pale skin were many deep red scars, lined in perfect pattern of a Chimaera's dentition across Harry's forearm. It was a mark that only Alex Salutor and Tom Riddle could understand.
Voldemort stared at the scars for some time, then gritted his teeth and grabbed Harry's arm tighter. He looked back at Harry.
"Cling to your childish hope if you want, Potter," said Voldemort in a merciless voice. "But if you betray me, I will make sure you will get more then these little scars of yours."
Voldemort passed his wand on Harry's arm. Within seconds, pain shot through Harry. He shut his eyes tight and screamed. The pain was so much that it made the Cruciatus Curse feel like nothing.
He didn't know how long he had stayed twitching and screaming, but when the pain had finally subsided enough for him to regain some control over his body, Harry found himself panting heavily on the wet ground, his hand clenched tightly over the burning Dark Mark on his arm. Pushing himself from the ground with the little strength that left in him, he kneeled before Voldemort again.
Harry knew what he was required to do next. Death Eaters used to kiss the hem of Voldemort's robe in a gesture of submission.
He leaned forward weakly, pushing his Gryffindor pride and thoughts of what his parents would think of him right now aside, and attempted to kiss the hem of the black robe, but the robe was pulled away from him abruptly the moment he touched it.
"That's enough!" hissed Voldemort, taking a step backwards, again eyeing Harry with that odd gleam in his eyes. "Stay at Hogwarts for now, Potter, until I summon you again."
"Yes-" Harry stopped at mid-sentence. Another memory surfaced.
"Lord!" Tom laughed out. "I'm not that ambitious. I don't want to become a lord or something."
"But are you telling me you want to insert four more letters in the name? That'd be awfully long," said Harry, pointing at the flying alphabets. "Besides, I like the name Voldemort."
"So do I," said Tom.
"Lord Voldemort, then." Harry grinned. "What say you, My Lord?" he added playfully.
Tom flinched. He shot Harry a glare. "Don't you ever call me that. It makes me uncomfortable."
Harry lowered his head, then added softly, "My Lord."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: So, how do you feel about the meeting between Harry and Voldemort? Sorry for the short chapter, but this seems to be the right place to stop.
japanese-jew is right, This is foreseen. Take a look at the last few chapters of Learn from the History and you'll find out what I mean by history repeating itself.
As JKR's Tom Riddle is so different from mine, there's no way I can change the plot to fit HBP. So, I have no choice but to ignore several major details we learned in book six, including Tom's past and a certain secret of Snape.
As for my problem with Snape… Well, I don't think I can like him again as I used to, but at least that scene on the tower did not popped up in my mind anymore whenever I read or write about him.
Anyway, again, thank you for all reviewers and Irihi Safaia for editing this for me.
Amayaris: Yes, Draco's the reason Harry knew when and where the meeting was held. He didn't know this was what Harry's planning though. You'll see his reaction in the next chapter, which is… definitely not pleasant.
Sylvia Snape: Sorry for the spelling mistake, I've already corrected it.
SBR: Yes, Draco's in the crowd and he'll most definitely kill Harry for it ;P
kabab: Snape's not there, he's dismissed before Harry came out from his hiding place.
zatusik: Yes, book six is published. As for who died, I'm sure you can find the answer from some post HBP fics out there. I'm not going to spoil it here.
KatSakura: Tom already knew that Harry is Alex. Harry has told him during their mind conversation.
Enelen: How many chapters? Honestly, I'm not sure. I know where this is going, more or less, but I don't know the exact number of chapters I'm going to write. Six or seven more I guess?
Please Review!