Harry groaned in despair as he spotted the familiar hawk coming towards him in the Great Hall during breakfast. Why couldn't Tom get another bird to deliver his letters?Preferably a nice, cuddly one, who didn't send death-glares his way every ten seconds.

He was quick to take the offered envelope, not wanting to have the hawk stay at the table any longer than necessary. He noticed some of the students glanced over, all looking curious about who the hawk could belong to; they had never seen its kind before. Up at the staff's table, Harry noticed Dumbledore looking over with barely veiled curiosity, and couldn't help but grin. Anything that could help him anger the old coot he welcomed with open arms, even if it meant having to endure homicidal hawks.

Deciding to escape his friends rather intrusive glances, he got up from the table and headed for the library. It would be practically deserted this time of day, therefore the perfect place to read a rather private letter.

-0-

As predicted, the library was empty. Harry chose a table in the far corner, hoping to remain unseen if some student would pass by. Hopefully Granger wouldn't come barging in, she usually waited an hour or two more. He scoffed as he thought back on the years at Hogwarts, how both Granger and Weasley had practically fed on his fame and used it to make themselves known in the Wizarding world. They were nothing but greedy wankers.

He settled back in his chair and opened the letter, trying to squash down the feeling of eagerness that rose every time he thought of his and Tom's newly founded 'truce', if one could call it that. Harry wasn't really sure what it was they had, but he wasn't about to complain. He preferred being pen pal with Tom than his enemy. He chuckled lightly at the thought. If Tom ever found out Harry thought of him as his pen pal, he might as well say 'bye-bye' and throw himself of the astronomy tower, before Tom would get the chance to do something even worse to him.

"Potter

I should have known you wouldn't be like the rest and actually call me by my preferred name, you have always been different. Though if it's a good thing or a bad thing I haven't yet decided.

And, referring to your last letter, you had a point. It seems my temper has gotten the better of me every time we meet one another. It's something that always have been a fault of mine, even when I was a student I let my temper run off, sometimes in the worst situations. I don't think Abraxas Malfoy every really recovered from all the hexes and curses he suffered through.
You've made me curious, Potter, and I don't like being curious. It means there something I don't have any knowledge of, and I don't like not knowing. If I say please, could you at least tell me some of it? Or maybe if I'd give a Wizard's Oath? I think I'd prefer to take the oath than to say please, I have my pride, you know.

What the Hat told you is quite strange, it told me the same thing. We're quite alike, Potter, though I'm not sure those are words you want to hear.

As promised, here's the Oath:
I, Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, hereby swear on my magic that I will never use any information Harry James Potter reveals against him, or the ones he think of as friends and family. So mote it be.

Hope that is good enough for you, you little brat. I hope you realize that I rarely give an oath to receive information. But, as I said before, you've always been different.

T.M.R.
Lord Voldemort

That man had it in his sights to shock Harry to the core, didn't he? Giving a Wizard's Oath, just like that? Well, he's the Dark Lord, so Harry assumed the man knew what he was doing. Now; what should he do?

Harry reasoned that if both he and Tom were against Dumbledore, they were on the same side...kind of. Harry didn't agree with the way Tom decided to handle things, killing-spree after killing-spree), and he probably never would. But perhaps Harry had been wrong about the man's goals, too, just as with the thought that all Slytherins were evil? He realized now that he had never actually heard either sides arguments; he was just thrown into battle the minute it happened. Maybe there was something more to it? Had he missed something along the way?

Well, now was the perfect time to find out. He wondered if he told Tom his reasons for going against Dumbledore, maybe Tom would tell him why he had decided to start a war. It was worth a shot.

"Harry?"

Harry stiffened at the voice. Granger. What was she doing? He thought he'd made it clear just where they stood. They were no longer friends. Her attitude towards him had been the last blow.

"What do you want, Granger?" Harry asked while putting the letter back in the envelope. Knowing her, she'd try to see who it was from. She had a talent for minding everyone's business but her own.

He held back a smile at the faint look of hurt in her eyes, before it got replaced with indignation and anger. "What have I done to you to make you so cold?" She asked.

Harry laughed, as if he hadn't told her already! "Granger, you know very well what happened, you just thought you'd might get a chance to see who the letter's from."

"Harry! I would never do something like that", said Granger and took a step towards him, eyes narrowed and mouth in a thin line.

"But you would, Granger", said Harry, the amusement he'd felt a few moments earlier now gone. "And frankly, I don't want to be around you or Weasley anymore. And let me guess, Dumbledore asked you to try and patch things up between us? That would certainly be like him. Well, you can tell him that the odds that we will ever go back to being friends are... when Hell freezes over, which will never happen. But it's not exactly a loss I'm crying over."

His former friend stood rooted to the spot and stared at him with wide, tearful eyes. Her lower lip was trembling, and Harry wasn't sure if it was an act or if it actually was genuine.

She opened her mouth, and Harry really didn't want to listen to anything she had to say, but was saved when she instead spun around and walked away, her steps quick and with her hands curled into fists. Her head was bowed as if she was trying to hide her tears. Not that Harry really cared.

-0-

Tom

Please do something about your hawk! It's been sending me death glares since the moment he saw me, and I don't know what I've done to deserve such hostility, because I even offered it food and it still didn't stop glaring. He really knows how to ruin the day.

And I know what you mean about the bad temper-thing, I've found myself blowing up over rather mundane things, so, I guess we are quite alike. It's kind of weird.

About you giving the Oath... I must admit I'm rather speechless. You keep surprising me, and I'll tell you now, my nerves won't be able to handle any more surprises. But I suppose that since you actually gave an Oath, I might as well indulge you.

I discovered that Dumbledore had hidden my parents' and my godfather's wills from me. Let's just say it did not make me very happy. Thanks to a faithful friend I managed to escape from under his thumb and try to live my life as I wanted to live it, not the way he wanted. Another thing he kept from me was the matter where Sirius, my godfather, had me emancipated, should he die before I turned seventeen. I don't think he ever planned to tell me. When I confronted him about it, he tried the 'I-simply-didn't-want-to-burden-you-thing, but I saw through immediately. You should have seen the look on McGonagall's face when she found out, it was hilarious! You know that ever so annoying twinkle? It's gone now. I wonder what that really was. Knowing him it was probably some charm or something, no eyes twinkle like that naturally.

There's something I want to ask you, but I'm not sure how to ask it. This whole thing, me transferring to Slytherin, finding out Dumbledore's a crazy manipulator, has had me questioning things. I realized that no one ever really explained to me why we're at war. All that everyone ever told me was that you were the enemy and that we, I, had to defeat you. Why? Because I was the chosen one. And before Draco and I became friends, he kept talking about how you hated muggles so badly you want to eradicate each one of them. Is that really your goal, or was that just something he made up?

Bye for now, and don't forget to tell that hawk of yours to stop glaring at me!

Harry"