AN: Sorry about the delay. My windows vista crashed and I didn't put a new one until I had finished the practical exams. The writing exams start in 2 weeks time and I really got to study. I might squeeze in chapter 4 in a few days. I'll start posting again after 27/6.

Wish me luck. I need it

Chapter 3

"Welcome Severus" Voldemort said after Severus Snape did the ritual of bowing and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robe.

"I want you to tell Dumbledore that I offer him little Harry for the content of the prophecy… the whole prophecy" Voldemort said.

"You are going to give back the boy?" Bella asked hesitantly.

"Of course I will, I have given my word. I didn't say if he would be alive though" Voldemort answered her with a quirk to his lips in amusement.

"And if they ask about the boy?" Severus asked

"We are treating him as we would an honored guest of course, aren't we Bella?" Voldemort said with an amused smile.

Just then the door opened with a breathless Lucius Malfoy "the potter boy escaped through the floo my lord"

"WHAT?"

"He had a wand my lord. He was able to escape. Bellatrix didn't take his wand apparently" The cowering Lucius answered.

"What are you waiting for imbecile? Why haven't you gone after him? Go get him now" the seething dark lord ordered.

"I flooed after him but he landed in the wrong floo and by the time I got to Knockturn alley, he had already escaped or someone took him. There was no sign of him anywhere my lord. He had his wand with him somehow my lord" Lucius answered hurriedly so as to divert the dark lord's anger away from him.

"Organize a search now, I want him found" Voldemort hissed at them.

Voldemort stayed silent as Bella started stuttering excuses rage apparent in his blood red eyes. 'Crucio' Voldemort held the curse for long until she could no longer scream but lay whimpering and gasping twisting this way and that way trying to find purchase from the pain. He was obviously seething. After he released the curse "You will not fail me again Bella. Avada Kedavra," Voldemort incanted with the undertone hisses in his voice. He always did that when he is angry. It always sets Snape's teeth on edge. Voldemort then turned to him and surveyed him for a moment then said "Proceed as planned immediately, don't let them know that I don't have the boy. Keep tabs on them and should you encounter the boy before he gets to them get him to me immediately. Now get out of my sight"

Snape walked into the headmaster's office without knocking, looked around then sat before Dumbledore with a sigh. "What happened my boy?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape didn't even scowl at being called 'my boy' as he answered the headmaster "The dark lord wants the content of the prophecy in exchange for the potter boy".

Dumbledore sighed tiredly "He will kill him anyway" said in a heavy voice.

"Yes, that's if he has him" Snape answered with a blank face.

"I know. WHAT? What did you just say?" Dumbledore said for the first time sounding surprised and hopeful trying not to scowl at Snape who was smirking victoriously as he for the first time caught him by surprise.

"The boy was lucky. Bellatrix didn't take his wand. It was her lat mistake. He was able to escape. The boy has his father's luck it seems" Snape said in disdain.

Dumbledore jumped of his seat and summoned the order through the phoenix pendant.

As all the members of the order settled themselves in the warded chamber in the headmaster's tower they used occasionally for urgent meetings, Dumbledore raised his hand and 'leaked' a little bit of his aura to bring order quickly.

"I have been informed by several of my contacts of good news. Harry Potter has done the impossible. He has succeeded somehow in escaping lord Voldemort tonight" Dumbledore continued over the chorus of questions and disbelieving cries of the order and demanding pleas of the parents "He was seen running away in Knockturn alley. He apparently mispronounced Diagon alley and landed in the wrong floo. I want a search organized immediately in the magical alleys of London and the immediate muggle area as well as Hogsmead".

James and Lily tore away to search for their son on their own most likely while order members divided between themselves sections to search and the most likely places he could be at.

For 2 days the Parent of the little Harry who had miraculously escaped the dark lord searched but it was futile. James repeated blood dependant tracking charms that he had done all week to try to find his son but it yielded no result. He tried to deny the possibility of his little kid being recaptured, of him being not fast enough, not good enough to save his son. There was no denying it now. He has been recaptured but they didn't know who. Their death eater informant who James was willing to bet was 'snivilus' informed them that as of yet Voldemort doesn't have Harry. May be someone wanted ransom or may be the death eater informant was just deluding them, giving them false hope only to crush them again but he just couldn't imagine that someone could be so cruel as to crush another this way.

Deciding that they would continue searching for the elusive kid for the rest of the week and trying to give the disheartened parents hope, that they would find young Harry, they parted ways.

As James and Lily with a depressed Sirius entered their home they came upon the site of a panicked Lupin shaking a hysterical Rose who was staring into space with an intense look of grief and despair on her face. They had pulled her from Hogwarts for safety. James froze but Lily shot towards her daughter cradling her in her arms whispering comforting words in her ears but it didn't seem to help this time. For the past week they had been comforted by knowing that Harry was still alive by some weird connection between Rose and Harry. Rose had said that she and Harry had always had a connection that strengthened as time passed, that she could always tell when he was happy or sad and in this case he was alive. Even though they knew Harry was still alive it didn't bring too much reprieve for they also knew that he was in pain, that he was tortured.

After sometime when Rose was pulled back from her shock, Lily tried prying into what had her daughter in such a state from Lupin who said "She just tensed up and started wailing for sometime then stopped and just sat there like that. I didn't know what to do I swear, I tried everything but it didn't seem to work"

"Rose honey, what happened? How do you feel? Talk to me dear" Lily spoke in a low motherly voice.

Rose looked up at her vacantly and said in a hollow voice "I can't sense him anymore mum, it is like trying to lean on a wall only to find there is no wall and fall on my face"

Lily and James paled while Remus stared between them in confusion trying to understand what Rose had just said, paling too when he finally caught up with them. Over the next week, they searched and searched trying to find a trace of Harry anywhere but there just was no trace of him. Rose was sent back to school.

The distraught parents gave up the search after a year. Death eaters gave up much earlier. The potter family couldn't escape the truth anymore; Harry must have died somewhere alone. He might have survived enough to escape and must have died somewhere alone before they could get to him. If only they were fast enough…

It has been 6 years for him but only 4 years for the real world. They had made him use a time turner for the last 2 years when his magic has been deemed stable enough so that they could accelerate his magical growth so that they can get on with turning him when it was deemed safe. For immortal creatures they sure aren't patient. The vampire scholars had taught him much over the six years; Languages, Etiquette, dancing and general history. Physical fitness was not left out. He knows kung fu, karate, a little Aikido and not to mention dancing with a sword. Oh how he loved handling a sword. The mind control they had on him didn't prevent him from beheading the master swords-vampire who taught him during training after all they didn't say anything about not offing the bastard. They had also brought certified masters of different magical subjects from Canada, France and Australia to teach him things about magic that he hadn't known were possible. Harry considers himself a natural in defensive and offensive magic and charms. In the span of six years he had the ability and knowledge to out duel any auror except maybe the famed Mad-eye Moody.

Many times he had tried to escape but his limbs simply wouldn't obey him. Vampiric mind control of wizards is different to muggles. In muggles, the vampire can alter the very mind of or 'enthrall' the muggle making him do his bidding without conscious thought to his own safety or whether it is right or wrong without resistance. While in wizards it is not completely understood. They cannot control an adult wizard but it is possible to control young wizards to an extent. Vampires can, for the better word 'limit' what a controlled wizard do. While they do not alter the very perception of a wizard's mind or enthrall him, while the wizard is still conscious and capable of rational thought, his limbs simply will not obey the brain's orders. If the vampire orders a young wizard to kill for example, the wizard will kill despite every effort trying not to. If a wizard matures into his magic while controlled he will always be under the vampire's control. Fortunately only master vampires can utilize this ability to its full extent but unfortunately if he happens to turn a controlled wizard, the new vampire will be at the master vampire's beck and call.

Harry didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse to be able to think for himself when under a vampire's control. He had been taught Occulemency last year and had been trying since then to remove the controlling 'tendrils' that infected his mind but he has not succeeded yet. It had reached 'in' far too deep to get himself free of them but he wouldn't stop until he was free of them.

Harry has endeavored to create trouble where he could, trying to outwit the orders given by the master vampire but so far Erik has proved to be very patient except for one time when he had nearly been successful in escaping. Harry had studied animagus transformation secretly. He accomplished the transformation gaining not only one form but two but he had only succeeded in accomplishing the easier form. He had been able to transform into a sleek black panther with marking around his eyes for when he used to wear glasses most likely. Yeah, they had found a solution to that too and he couldn't help but hate them for it. While they made him more powerful, more knowledgeable than he would have been at Hogwarts they had also changed him, they had torn him away from his family and controlled him like some trained dog to release at whom they want to maul.

Harry found that while in animagus form he can 'disobey' the orders. The animalistic mind was different and the 'tendrils' could not hold his mind and infiltrate it like when he is human. It was as if his mind was slippery and the tendrils couldn't just get a good hold on him. They caught him before he could get out of the manor grounds. Harry forgot that they can still smell him even when transformed.

Harry felt amazed sometimes that he could do wandless magic at all. He had not thought that he was THAT powerful. He found that he could do simple wide area spells not 'concentrated ones' like summoning and banishing charm while stunners were out of his league unless his hand was on the subject's body only then could he stun them and even then it was too draining.

Harry felt like he had understood magic more than he would have ever been able to otherwise. They had taught him dark magic too. Dark magic worked with mostly the same principles the Patronus charm worked. They use the negative feelings to fuel the spells, anger, hatred and even fear. Excessive use of dark magic though corrupted a person for any person feeling such anger and hatred for long can only lose sight of what is good in life.

Harry turned away from the balcony after the sun had hidden out of sight and threw himself on the bed. It has been 7 days since he has gotten that tingly feeling and it has been intensifying every day. It felt like an itch that no matter how much he scratched, it just won't stop itching. Something was wrong with his magic but he couldn't tell what and none of his trainers noticed and he didn't bring it up. He found himself scratching his chest over his heart when suddenly he felt the annoying buzz in his mind that he gave no particular attention for the past few days shift, he felt its true nature. There was someone in his mind that has been prowling free over the last few days. Someone had succeeded in infiltrating his mind.