A New Path
AN: Told you I'd continue writing.
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CHAPTER 8 - Games
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Dumbledore and the cursed ring played on Harry's mind the whole train journey. Ron and Hermione seemed to assume his distraction was due to Sirius' 'death' but Neville, who knew otherwise, was watching him thoughtfully. Just before catching the train Harry had confided in Neville the truth about their trip to the ministry. Many weeks earlier, during a routine DA meeting, Harry had told Neville to meet him later alone. He talked to Neville just like he had with the twins but stopped short of the parts to do with Voldemort.
Now all Harry could do was wonder whether Dumbledore was already dying and the only person he could talk to, who had a chance of understanding what he felt, was watching him. Harry caught his eye and Neville nodded just noticeably. At the first opportunity, Harry would spill all and Neville would listen and offer soothing words without prejudice.
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The platform came into sight and Harry found himself being led along by Ron, Hermione and Ginny towards the Weasley clan and several order members. He flashed a smile at Neville as they parted ways, the other teen still a little dazed from Harry's confessions.
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In the distance, on the muggle side of the platform, Harry spotted his uncle. The grimace it inspired must have been noticeable because Lupin patted him on the back almost instantly. "Don't worry about them, we'll be having a word." Harry forced down the second grimace but it still got noticed by Hermione, who replied with a slight scowl crossed with apologetic eyes. It was a unique look.
Following the mass of adults, Harry walked up to his remaining family, the Dursleys, lovingly referred to in his mind as his old family, never-have-to-actually-meet-again family, what-am-I-still-doing-here? family
"Why do I have to go back again? Can't I go to the manor? What am I still standing here for when I could be hijacking Malfoy's family."
"Behave. It won't be for long. You'll be back and causing all kinds of chaos in no time."
Harry grudgingly snapped back to reality in time to hear Moody and Vernon's debate about whether Vernon looked like the kind of man that could be intimidated. He didn't bother to hide his amusement, less so when Vernon proved that he did look like and was that kind of man. "See you next year." Harry said to Ron, Hermione and Ginny as he walked away, Vernon scurrying behind to catch up.
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Privet Drive was exactly the same as when he left and Harry wasn't glad to be back.
"How long?"
"Leave your unneeded in that hole they call your room and then head to the park. Take a football or something and after a moment's kickabout pretend to lose your ball in the large, dark foliage. There, there will be a, we shall call him a volunteer, give him your ball, or whatever, and take the portkey that will be left there for you."
"And simply walking out the front door wouldn't work because...?"
"I don't want your questions. Just get there before I have to come get you myself."
"Alright, alright."
Harry trudged up the stairs and dumped his things in his room before rushing back out the front door. He heard Vernon call something but ignored it and practically ran to the park. When he got there it was still light so there were a few parents and children in the area. As ordered, Harry kicked the ball he had liberated from Dudley's stash of forgotten toys around for a little while. Without actually needing to pretend, Harry lost the ball to the bushes and went to retrieve it.
He pushed his way into the bush and quickly found his ball but no other people. Starting to suspect he was in the wrong 'large, dark foliage', Harry started to back up when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.
Harry looked up to see his own face staring back at him. A little stunned, he passed the ball to his second self. The second Harry took it, but didn't look to happy about it, and then began to leave. Just as he passed Harry, he stopped and pointed at a button on the ground. Harry nodded and crouched down to pick it up.
As he began to stand again, the world began to spin. Harry closed his eyes as the portkey transported him to the private lounge of the dark lord.
When Harry opened his eyes he was surprised to see that he wasn't at Malfoy Manor.
After blinking a few times and taking several deep, soothing breaths, Harry looked around. Very quickly his eyes found crimson ones and he cocked his head questioningly at the older wizard.
"Malfoy Manor is currently under inspection by the aurors because Lucius was captured during the ministry fiasco."
Harry nodded.
"We will return to our usual quarters soon enough but for this evening we shall spend some time here, my father's house."
"Your father's house? But I thought-?"
"Don't."
Harry knew when not to push and this was one of those times. "So where am I allowed to go and not go? Are we staying overnight? If so, where will I be sleeping?"
Voldemort closed his eyes with a light growl. "So many questions." He moaned. "Harry, I have spent the day with death eaters desperately trying to promote themselves through mind-destroyingly stupid and transparent actions; dealing with the fallout from your little escapade and other stressful activities I would rather not have to deal with, so I don't really care as long as you don't bring the order or aurors to our door and the part of the house that I'm in still stands." He rubbed his temple. "I shall be in the potions lab. Waste your time however you wish. I will summon you when it is time to leave."
Voldemort left and Harry found himself standing alone in the dusty, unloved living room of the manor that once housed the Riddle family with no rules except to not cause too much trouble.
Oh, the things a boy could do...
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It was dark out by the time Voldemort went in search of Harry. He hadn't intended to spend so long in his family manor but the chief auror in charge of inspecting Malfoy Manor had been none other than Mad Eye Moody. As such, it was by pure luck that his private quarters were intact with secrets still hidden and the inspection, that was practically a prolonged, repeated raid, had ended so soon. It was partly due to Dumbledore's insistence that Moody join recent order meetings meaning the man had little choice but to be less, thorough. Voldemort hated that. It almost meant he owed the goat.
He strolled down to where he sensed the boy was hidden. For some reason the teen was hidden from his mind and it not only puzzled Voldemort but immensely irritated him too. He was someone who had to be in control. Harry was someone who was adept at taking that very same control away without even trying, sometimes without even knowing. It was infuriating. And oddly enough, that was why Voldemort was determined never to lose him back to Dumbledore or the muggles. Or even Sirius.
"Harry?" Voldemort called as he entered what was most likely another lounge. "Brat, where are you?" He walked straight through and into a cavernous library that was full of fiction books and decorations but lacking in anything reference or educational, everything of interest - and there were very few to start with - Voldemort had taken years ago. "Potter, we may finally leave this place."
Retracing his steps back into the lounge, Voldemort stopped still and peered through the room, eyes narrowed. "Harry?"
He knew the boy was there somewhere, he could sense him, but where seemed to be a problem.
He looked at the wreckage of the room, someone had done quite a number on one side, almost certainly Harry, while the other seemed pristine. It occurred to Voldemort that the mass of broken furniture looked almost like a testing ground for something he didn't want to consider. The twins and Sirius would pay a great price if his assumptions were true.
It was when he was inspecting the rubble that it happened. A large, cloaked form pounced on him from behind causing the dark lord to fall over inelegantly into an unceremonious heap. From somewhere unknown, a mass of white feathers surrounded him, drifting lazily in the air.
Voldemort looked up just in time to see the same form, cloak falling loose around his shoulders, flee into the relative safety of the library.
"Harry." Voldemort warned, standing. The feathers continued to flutter around him, several refusing to leave his robes.
Harry could be heard laughing from the other room.
"We are leaving. Get in here now." A quick spell and all the feathers disappeared. "Now, Harry."
The teen walked in, cloak folded and tucked under arm, and walked straight up to the dark lord, a mask of full innocence.
He winced.
Voldemort smirked.
They walked out to the main lounge where the only floo-connected fireplace stood, passing no more than three mirrors.
Harry passed the first.
Frowned at the second.
Did a double take at the third.
"WHY DO I HAVE FEATHERS?!"
Voldemort laughed.
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Malfoy Manor was eerily quiet when they stepped out of the floo. Before they'd left Riddle Manor, Harry had slipped his glamour necklace back on. Voldemort's prank-spell had faded and most of the feathers had fallen away but the cat ears, which were currently flat, and tail remained. Voldemort refused to remove them and Harry ended up stalking through the maze of corridors to his room. On the way he passed an extremely confused Malfoy and his mother; Cissy simply chuckled which had the result of an even more confused Draco turning to look at her and walking into a door instead. Needless to say, by the time Harry reached his room he was a lot less moody.
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Now that he was back home, Harry unpacked properly. His wand, once again, had been confiscated but this time he had been told it wasn't for the whole summer.
It was quite late in the day now and Harry still hadn't had any dinner. He was determined to play the part of a moody teenager but hunger was calling. Harry considered that maybe the dark lord had already eaten and forgotten about him but, in the end, he decided it would just be simpler to call Dinky to bring him something than potentially have to avoid talking to Voldemort at the dinner table.
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Despite his plan to give Voldemort the silent treatment, Harry couldn't stop wondering about Dumbledore, so the following morning, around three quarters of an hour after breakfast, Harry sought out the pale wizard. It went to show how open his mind was to the man that he didn't have to explain what he was talking about anymore.
"Did he fall for it?" Harry asked as he entered the private study of the dark lord.
Voldemort looked up from the book he was studying. "We will have to wait and see."
Harry sat in what they both deemed his chair and stared at the man. "How quickly will the curse kill him? Is it curable?" He asked after a long silence.
Voldemort stopped mid-note, breathed in and out, placed his quill down and looked at Harry "Without treatment, hours, days at the most." He said slowly. "I will admit, it can be cured, but only by me. The best he can hope for without my mercy will be a year or two before it claims him wholly. He will blacken and decay while still alive and it will be no less than he deserves."
"You, need to chill out."
Voldemort gave him a look. "Do I?"
"Yes. I'm sure no one deserves a horrible death even if you don't like them."
The dark lord snorted. "You have a lot to learn." He said going back to his book.
"Or maybe you do." Harry countered.
Harry didn't see Voldemort's stunned expression because, as taught by the same man, just for the extra impact, he rose from his chair and left the room as casually as if he had said 'goodbye' instead. Unfortunately he forgot about his tail which had handily wrapped itself around the leg of the chair so his casual exit turned a bit slapstick in the middle after which he had to right himself and put the chair back to where it had been before.
Pretending nothing hilarious had happened Harry strode from the room and headed to the guest quarters that had been warded almost as tight as Voldemort's and was currently the home of a certain not-really-dead wizard.
When he arrived there were three wizards chatting, they looked up with questioning, unsure glances. Harry smirked and removed his necklace, the glamour falling away instantly.
"Harry!" The dual cries of the Weasley twins filled the room. Harry grinned in greeting.
"Great to see you, Pup." Sirius added as the crush of the Weasley-Black-Potter hug began.
After a very short, awkwardly tangled, moment Sirius and the twins stepped away from Harry so that he could breathe again.
"Uh... -" Fred.
"- Harry?" George.
"You have cat ears." Both.
"And a tail." Sirius.
Harry's grin widened. "Yep. Present from Voldie."
"Oh...kay...?"
Over the morning and previous night, Harry had gotten used to the tail and ears and now was rather fond of them. In all honesty, he'd be sad when the spell finally ended.
"It wasn't really a gift. It was because I took advantage of a perfect moment to knock him on his backside so he hexed me. I had feathers, too, to start with."
Sirius grinned. "Never miss an opportunity to get a dark lord to fall over."
The twins bowed their heads in unison, reminiscent of students to their sensei.
"I was trying to set a prank but he came in too early."
"Ah, too bad." George told him. "Better luck next time."
"When d'you reckon the cat bits will go?" Sirius asked.
Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Voldemort's saying nothing and I've got no clue. The feathers were all gone in under half an hour."
They spent the whole morning catching up on the gossip before Fred and George had to bid goodbye due to their new shop. Harry stayed with Sirius for the rest of the day, Cissy popping in at one point for a chat and to examine Harry's new additions. It was everything Harry had wanted for the longest time but he knew it couldn't last, not yet.
"When do you have to go back?" Sirius asked, having just caught his breath after the last round of side-splitting laughter.
Harry shook his head. "I don't know." He said. "When Dumbledore decides to check on me? When the ministry do something else stupid? Could be any time. I don't want to think about it."
"You want to stay here?"
Harry laughed. "Well, duh. Yeah, I want to stay here. I wanted to stay here last summer but the searches kept getting worse."
"We were worried." Sirius argued.
"Yeah, well, I was safe. For the first time in a very long time. And I was happy too."
Sirius shook his head. "We didn't know that at the time."
"Well, if Dumbledore, or any of the others for that matter, had known at the time, I would probably been locked up or something and had brainwashing sessions."
"I doubt that, he would have been happy you were happy. We all would."
"Living with Voldemort? At Malfoy Manor?" Harry chuckled sourly. "Some of the order might have managed it but not many. And certainly not Dumbledore. He would hate that his pawn was so near Voldemort's hands."
Sirius nodded and was about to respond when there was a knock at the door.
They both looked up to see who was entering, Harry hastily shoving his glamour-necklace back around his neck.
The door opened to admit a somehow familiar looking man. Harry had to think about it for moment before his memories clicked.
"Rodolphus." Harry greeted cheerfully.
The man bowed. Beside Harry, Sirius laughed at the action but then lowered his head in greeting to the man who returned the gesture.
"Should I return another time?" Rodolphus asked.
"No, that is alright. Uh,..." Sirius started, hesitating at Harry's name. He glanced at said teen in a silent plea for words. "Uh... the young man and I were just catching up. Feel free to interrupt."
Rodolphus smiled in the dual meaning way all Slytherins master, it was clear he had caught a meaning in Sirius' pause but wasn't going to ask directly. "The dark lord would like me to introduce myself, my prince." He said to Harry. "He wishes for me to tutor you in your studies and would like for us to begin as soon as you require. He informed me that you are studying ahead of your years and therefore may wish coaching in a few subjects."
Harry nodded, quickly sending Sirius a sharp look for his amused expression. "Yes, um, I've covered most of the first five years syllabus but should probably go back over them with you just to make sure I understand them properly so that I can start on the sixth year syllabus."
Rodolphus smiled. "Am I correct, my prince, in saying that you are only thirteen?"
Harry hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yes, that is correct."
Sirius held in a laugh and Harry fought off a blush. Rodolphus clearly noticed but didn't comment.
"And may I ask which of the schools of magic you attend, your father did not mention."
"If he did not say then it is not my place to tell you, "Harry answered without missing a beat, "I should trust his judgement where my education and safety is concerned. But you may know that he has me following the standard Hogwarts syllabus when I am here."
Rodolphus nodded. "Perhaps a training session later tomorrow, my prince?"
Harry glanced at Sirius who was now sporting a very stiff, pureblood-trained blank face. "Yes, that will be good.I'll talk with V-my father before hand and send an elf about the time."
Rodolphus bowed again and, just before he left, turned to Sirius. "Lord Black, my wife requests your company for lunch tomorrow. May a pass on your acceptance?"
Sirius blanked for a moment. "Yes. Um, yes. Tomorrow, lunch. Yes, that's, I'll be there."
When Rodolphus was gone Harry turned on Sirius and Sirius on Harry.
"Thirteen? Father?"
"Lunch with Bella?"
They stared at each other for several long seconds.
Then burst into laughter.
"Look at us. Me living like I never left the family and you cosying up to the dark lord as his son." Sirius chuckled. "Father?"
"His idea."
"And the thirteen years old thing?"
Harry blushed. "That was me. Originally I was older but his plan fell through at the first hurdle."
"So he does make mistakes!" Sirius said victoriously. "Just goes to show the man's human after all."He added with difficulty as they were laughing full out again.
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The days passed between messing around with Sirius, training with Rodolphus, fleeing the strange attentions of Bella and Nagini and pestering the dark lord. Near the end of the first week, Harry decided it was time to introduce a new piece to the party and as such spent the first half of the morning tailing Voldemort. By the end of the morning all the preparations had been made and Harry was stood happily waiting at the floo.
It took a few minutes but soon a figure emerged from the green flames.
"Neville!" Harry leapt at his friend the second he was clear of the fireplace.
"Harry, you're lucky I could persuade Gran to let me out of the house after everything that happe- whoa! You've got ears!"
Harry reached a hand to one of the appendages with a grin on his face, stroking it absently. "And a tail." He flicked it up and into sight. Neville gaped.
"Do I want to know? And why do you look so different?"
Harry beckoned Neville to follow, saying nothing.
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It was an odd meeting, and Bella turning up in the middle of it didn't help make it any easier. The presence of Sirius and the Weasley twins did a little though.
Neville looked up at Voldemort only to quickly look away again.
The dark lord remained quiet and impassive.
"Oh, I've told you before. Play nice." Harry was currently being babied by Bella and Nagini. He didn't complain. It was heaven when they rubbed behind his new ears.
"You are the Longbottom heir, I take it?" Voldemort asked, his tone flat. It was obvious to everyone it was only for conversation.
"Y-yes, sir." Neville's eyes danced quickly around the room. Harry noticed they stopped on Bella the longest.
"Gryffindor?"
Neville nodded, unable to speak again.
Harry rolled his eyes and whispered to Nagini in parseltongue. It had been a long time in the making but the large snake now saw Harry as her child. Harry considered it a little weird that Nagini thought of Harry as her son when Voldemort was supposedly his father but didn't comment about it to either of them. He simply thanked whoever would listen that the reptile was no longer trying to eat him.
After a few seconds persuading and the offer of a juicy rat- Pettigrew watch out -Nagini unwound herself from Harry's lap and slithered over to her master.
/The young one has a message for you, Master.\ She hissed.
Voldemort raised his still missing eyebrow. /Go on.\
/He says that this Neville-hatchling is a great friend of his. He is nervous but he worth knowing.\ Nagini flicked her tongue in and out before finishing. /He also says that if you scare him away the young one will,\ she paused, ready to repeat the message word for word, /magically superglue antlers to your head while you sleep and give Rita Skeeter your personal floo address.\
Voldemort turned his gaze to Harry, who was staring at him with the sternest glare he could muster while being petted and preened by Bella.
/Tell him to never start a battle he can't win.\ Voldemort hissed to his snake. /Then flick his ear or tail.\ He added with a grin.
Nagini relayed the message. Harry's reaction was funny in its simplicity. He crossed his arms and pouted.
The entire back and forth was watched with amusement by the twins and Sirius, Neville too on edge to be amused and Bella too busy pampering her new 'brother'.
"May we intervene in this -"
"- lovely family feud-to-be."
"Neville come here." Sirius finished with a wave of his arm.
Neville didn't need another word, he was up and over to the Black lord like a flash.
"If you'll excuse us, I'll just take this young wizard somewhere before he becomes permanently scarred." Sirius swept out of the room with Neville under his arm, the twins following with playful watching-you gestures at Harry and Voldemort.
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Several more days passed, equally as full and playful. Neville came to visit only once more but that time seemed a lot more relaxed. Whatever the twins and Sirius did or said to him, it seemed to have worked wonders.
Harry was lazing in the dark lord's study, still with catly additions, when the letter arrived.
It was from Dumbledore.
As he read it, Harry's heart sank.
"What is the issue?" Voldemort asked without looking up from what he was doing. He had gotten used to Harry's company just as much as Harry had got used to his and knew when there was something upsetting the teen.
"Dumbledore." Harry said sadly, chucking the rolled letter at the older wizard's lap. "He wants to meet me at the Dursley's on Friday."
Harry slouched over the side of his chair, looking at the pale man opposite over his folded arms.
Voldemort read the note with a blatant look of distaste.
"You will have to go." He said simply. But Harry could hear the small sign of sadness in his tone.
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The man currently wearing Harry's face look relieved when Harry met him in the same bush from before. They repeated the exchange, only this time in reverse, and Harry was soon ambling back to his muggle family's home.
Voldemort had regretfully removed the spell from Harry, the tail and ears disappearing as if they had never been. Harry didn't know what was worse, going back to the Dursleys; leaving the manor or losing his cat bits. Either way, he was sad.
It was later that day that Dumbledore turned up, just as he'd said in the letter.
Harry sat and listened to what Dumbledore had to say. When he crossed the topic of Harry's inheritance, Harry's ears perked up. Had Sirius sorted it so that Dumbledore wouldn't be any the wiser? Apparently he had. Kreacher, following orders from both Sirius and some stern, and more importantly confidential, goblins, treated him just like he would his master.
With all the talking done, Dumbledore called for Harry to accompany him on a trip. Not that he had any other option, Harry grabbed hold of his arm, carefully avoiding contact with the other, blackened, limb.
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"So? What did the old fool want?" Voldemort asked inside Harry's head.
"I thought you wanted us to talk in parseltongue?"
"Only the important things. Things we really don't need Dumbledore hearing if he takes a look inside your head. So?"
"I've only just got here! And by the way, side-apparition with you is sooo much better than with Dumbledore."
Voldemort laughed. "Of course it is, but where has he taken you? I know you're not at the burrow, order headquarters, Hogwarts or the muggles' house and he has no right to take you anywhere else so tell me."
"Some other muggles' house. And it's a mess. Oh! That settee just turned into a man. Take a look through my eyes, see if you know him."
There was a pause while Voldemort did just that.
"Slughorn? Why him? Is there something Snape forgot to tell me?"
"You're still talking to me you know. Who's Slughorn? Apart from obviously the, large man in front of me. Oh and if you're going to torture Snape please can you keep it to a minimum? I'm sure he didn't mean to keep it from you and if he did there's probably a very good reason."
"I thought you didn't like Snape."
"I don't. Not much. Okay maybe I'm starting to like him when he forgets it's me because I'm wearing the glamour and he's distracted. He's quite friendly then. I think he knows I quite like potions when given the chance."
"You didn't say that before."
"That was before I knew what it was like to brew a potion without someone effectively making me mess it up all the time. I like brewing without the pressure he used to put on me. I'll admit, I'm still not the best potions student but I've learnt it can be fun. So, who's Slughorn?"
"By the sounds of it, your new potions professor. His name is Horace Slughorn, he used to teach me when I was at Hogwarts."
Harry snapped back to reality when his mind flagged up that Dumbledore was leaving the room.
"I'm alone with him. What should I do?"
"Play nice." It was accompanied by amusement and what Harry knew would be there if he could see the dark lord's face, a smirk.
Eventually Dumbledore returned and they left Slughorn alone in the muggle house.
"He used me."
"He did." Voldemort agreed.
"He didn't even try to pretend he wasn't either."
"But he didn't tell you he was going to, did he? Where are you going now?"
"The bee says the burrow."
"The bee?"
"Blame Sirius, it's his nickname. Says Dumbledore's always buzzing here and there like a bee."
Harry's stomach clenched as they apparated to the burrow. He sighed. Another summer with the Weasleys, and this time he would have to pretend he'd just lost his godfather. Well, in some respects he had, there would be no talking with Sirius until the start of school. As Harry knocked the Weasley's door a lonely thought went through his mind: it was going to feel like a long summer.
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AN: This chapter was supposed to be Harry and the order but apparently neither of us wanted him to leave Voldie and co just yet.