Yo! Guys, after the crazy response I got for the first chapter, I feel like everyone's going to be disappointed by how I did the rest of it. I guess I should have explained this earlier, but this isn't going to be a long fic at all, four chapters and an epilogue as I said before, but all the chapters (except four (because smut is hard to write) and the epilogue) will be around the same length, give or take a couple hundred words. Things also won't be all too detailed, because I'm going through them fairly quickly. I wrote this literally for the sake of just writing SOMETHING. I've been incredibly stressed recently-more so than usual, and have had a migraine at some point every day for the past twenty days (four more days and I'll break my old record). So I haven't really been doing very much. But I really wanted to write something, more for my own sake, really, and had no inspiration for anything already posted. So I just started writing, and then this fic happened. There was no plan in mind at all. I just wrote and when I went back through the first three chapters, realized I actually really liked it, so I decided to post it. Also, a number of people mentioned Harry getting his belongings-that's addressed in this chapter. Anyway, thank you to all readers so far!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters...
A month had passed. The end of August was in sight, and for the first time in his life, Harry Potter was looking forward to not going to school. He should have been preparing to return to Hogwarts in September to begin his sixth year, but he wasn't going to be doing that. It was too dangerous.
He was surprised at how well things had gone since he had accepted Voldemort's hand that chilly, dreary day in July. He had expected there to be so many problems, so many complicated conflicts, and while there certainly had been some issues, most everything had been resolved fairly quickly.
That day, after Voldemort had brought Harry to his manor, the teen had immediately been healed of his few injuries (which hadn't included a concussion, fortunately), then sent off to take a bath and warm up, after which he had been given a set of clothing that was a bit big for him, but nowhere near as big as Dudley's, and a hot meal-the first thing he had eaten in just over twenty four hours. And in just an hour, Voldemort had done more for him than the Dursleys ever had over a period of about fourteen or fifteen years.
That night, Voldemort had returned to Privet Drive on his own, and using the information Harry had given him, gathered the teen's important belongings from Number Four, to ensure the Dursleys didn't manage to somehow destroy anything of value, if they decided to try at all. There wasn't much. The Invisibility Cloak, the Marauders' Map, the photo album, the Firebolt, the wand, the two way mirror, the special knife, and the Weasley jumpers. Those were the only things Voldemort took with him before leaving-the only things Harry had asked him to get.*
Harry knew the Dursleys wouldn't notice those things missing unless they really looked, and he knew they wouldn't, because they were too scared to touch his stuff. Everything else were things that could be replaced-pretty much all of it school things that he wasn't going to need anymore, because he knew almost immediately that he wasn't going to be going back. With Hedwig being taken care of by the Weasley twins (she would have just been locked up by his uncle again otherwise), Harry knew he didn't have to worry about her. In fact, she turned up at the manor on her own just two days later, and seemed to have become quite close to Xander, Voldemort's owl that Nagini had, for some strange reason, been adamant to name. (Bizarrely, hearing that name had Draco Malfoy blushing like a schoolgirl, according to Voldemort. No one had any idea why.)
After that, Harry and Voldemort had sat down and really talked things out. The Dark Lord had told him what his goals were, what he wanted, what had been and was going right or wrong. And Harry had told him more about his life, his childhood with the Dursleys, his years at Hogwarts.
Voldemort had been surprised and a little perturbed to learn Harry was a Parselmouth, and had spent the next few days doing research, only to return to the teen with the information that he had, completely by accident, turned him into his Horcrux when he had attacked him as a baby.
Harry had been shocked to hear that, even more so when he had learned what exactly that meant, and while he knew all this meant he should have been deeply disturbed by the knowledge, he found that he just...wasn't.
If this was true, then he had been like this for what, fifteen years or thereabouts? It didn't seem to have affected him negatively in any way, and had given him the ability to speak Parseltongue which, now that he spoke it more often thanks to Nagini, he realized he really liked. Voldemort didn't really have any desire to remove it, since it was his soul piece and all, and Harry didn't really care to have it removed. So they simply left it be as it was.
After that, Harry had written to his friends-to those who he knew cared about him and would be pleased to know he was safe, and had Dobby, still as eager as always, deliver the letters so that they wouldn't be intercepted.
In the beginning of August, all of those people had come to the manor with the both Dobby and Winky's (who was finally ready to heal from her ordeal) help. Harry had found it so strange to be sitting in a room with Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Remus, Snape, Malfoy Sr, and Voldemort, drinking tea and discussing things calmly.
They had remained there for hours, talking things through, discussing why they wanted to change their stance, figuring out what they could and couldn't offer if they became neutral or joined the Dark. But eventually, they had reached a conclusion.
Those who had been 'Light' would remain neutral, and aid the Dark if they agreed with what it was that Voldemort wanted them to do, or if Harry himself asked for their help. They would not be marked, and a different method of contacting them would be designed. Since they were not going to be entirely on the Dark's side, torturing and killing was something they would only do if strictly necessary.
For now, while certain plans were still up in the air, Bill, Charlie, and Remus would remain as Order members-spies of sorts, just for the time being, just until Harry turned seventeen. None of them were there all too often anyway. Remus was always being sent off to recruit werewolves, even though he had said multiple times that it was pointless, Charlie was still mainly working in Romania for the most part, and despite now working in London, Bill was still very busy with everything he had to do with his own job.
While Fred and George were of age, they had never really been welcomed as members of the Order. They suspected Dumbledore thought them too idiotic to understand what he was talking about. ...Maybe it also had to do with the fact that they would question most everything he said. Because of that, they rarely attended the meetings, preferring to spend their time at their new joke shop, or creating new products and ideas.
Ron and Hermione, along with Neville and Luna, the latter two of whom hadn't been able to meet the Dark Lord yet, but who their friends had spoken for, were just going to continue on pretending everything was normal. They would go back to Hogwarts and continue their studies and act as if everything they were told was perfectly true. But only for now.
And it was then that it was decided that Harry definitely couldn't return to Hogwarts. The Order, unsurprisingly, was aware he was missing. It was Mrs Figg who had noticed, and she had informed Dumbledore immediately, who had sent Tonks and Vance to investigate. The Dursleys hadn't seemed to care either way, but the two Order members had found Harry's belongings, and it was only when they had gone through them back at headquarters that they had realized a couple of things were missing.
They weren't sure what that meant. Some of them thought Harry had been kidnapped. Others thought he had taken his prized possessions and run away. After all, why would his kidnappers take his wand, Invisibility Cloak, and broom? They didn't seem to know about the other things. Taking his wand made sense, the cloak as well, but the broom? Why would a kidnapper take that?
No, it was more likely that Harry simply ran away. He was a teenage boy, was at that rebellious stage, and after his godfather's death, perhaps he simply wanted some time alone. Surely he was smart and savvy enough to keep himself safe over the summer. Surely they would see him again on September first.
Oddly enough, it was Dumbledore who said all this. Dumbledore who assured all the others of this.
Harry knew he wasn't going to be able to explain where he had spent the summer, if he went back to Hogwarts. His Occlumency skills were basically non-existent, and it would be all too easy for Dumbledore to learn the truth. He didn't want that truth revealed just yet.
And according to Voldemort, he wasn't really missing out if he didn't go back to school. Harry could still learn everything he would have in the castle, here at the manor. There were hundreds of books in the library, intelligent and slightly more neutral Death Eaters to tutor him, and the Dark Lord himself was no slouch when it came to academics. In fact, he was far superior when it came to that. It was only because he was so busy that he couldn't teach the teen everything on his own.
Harry wasn't going to be able to see his school friends all too often, but the others were allowed to visit him whenever they pleased, so at least he wasn't going to get lonely or anything. And with the massive, warded backyard, Harry, while unable to actually play Quidditch, was at least going to be able to fly to his heart's content.
All in all, it didn't seem too bad, and would give him a year to think about what he really wanted to do in terms of the war...
With September first and the start of the new school term approaching, Harry and his friends had gathered in one of the many large sitting rooms at Riddle Manor. This was to be their last time seeing one another for a while.
Hermione, sitting beside Ron on the couch, sighed. "Oh, I'm going to miss you, Harry."
"Hey, at least things'll be quiet with him gone!" Ron pitched in, sounding more than a little amused.
Harry laughed. "You'll probably have the most peaceful school year ever without me around! And you can still write to me, Hermione. I'm not dying or anything. I'll be right here! You can come visit over Christmas break!"
"Yes, I know, but-!"
"Come on, Hermione, we'll be fine," Neville assured her.
"What about the DA?" asked Luna curiously, head cocked and wide eyes on Harry.
Harry blinked in surprise, then cocked his own head in thought. "Well, there isn't anything I can do about it myself, but if you guys think it's still necessary, then I don't see why you can't continue it on your own."
"That's a fair point," Hermione agreed with a nod. "Umbridge will be gone, of course, but the Headmaster hasn't informed any of us who the new Defence professor will be. I doubt they can be any worse than that-that vile excuse for a woman, but it is possible."
"It doesn't have to only be Defence either," Harry pointed out. "You can use the DA to help everyone with other subjects as well. It isn't as if everyone has an easy time with every class other than just that. Take Potions for example. You're probably the only one at the proper level for that, Hermione. So you can help the others with that. And Neville's a genius at Herbology, so he can help with that. And Ron's pretty damn good with Charms, and Luna with anything related to magical creatures."
As Neville blushed and Luna smiled contently, Hermione eyed Harry in surprise. "You know...I never thought of that before. We can treat it as a study group of sorts. Those of us who won't or can't get the extra help we need, can get it here instead."
"We'll have to change the name though," Ron added with a frown.
Hermione's face twisted into a look of distaste. "Yes, that we will most certainly have to do."
"Shall we go?" asked Luna abruptly. "It's getting late. Daddy will be worried if I don't get home soon."
It was Neville who first agreed. "I think we should head out too. Gran won't be happy if I get back after dark."
Ron nodded, then stretched. "Damn, you're right. Mum'll get pissed too. She thinks Hermione and I went to see Luna, so if we aren't back-"
"She might contact Luna's dad to check on us." Hermione sighed. "Alright, let's get going then. I'd rather the entire Order not lecture us for this."
And that was that. Harry accompanied his friends to the foyer where Dobby and Winky were summoned to get everyone back where they were meant to be. The group said their goodbyes, and it was when they disappeared, that Voldemort silently entered the room.
"Your friends have returned home?"
Turning to him, Harry nodded. "Yeah. Dobby will come back to let me know they got back safe, but it should be fine."
"Hmm, dinner has been prepared. Are you hungry enough to eat right now? It's a bit early for you, I know."
"I'm starving, actually." He grinned. "I spent lunchtime talking more than I did eating." He fell into step beside the Dark Lord as they left the foyer together.
"Come now, Harry, you know how Nagini fusses when you don't eat properly."
"Hey, she only knows about it when you tell her!"
"You would be surprised with what she can learn on her own."
"Yeah, right!"
Even though Harry had had nearly two months to come to terms with not going back to Hogwarts, he still felt rather down when September first came around. Fortunately, Fred and George came to visit, perhaps because of that very reason, and kept him distracted all day by chatting about this and that, discussing their shop and pranks, and flying out back.
Harry's own tutoring sessions were to begin in a few days, but at least today he had the twins to keep him busy. Voldemort was busy planning a raid, he knew, so the Dark Lord remained out of sight all day.
As promised, Harry currently had very little to do with the war. He was still aware of what was happening, of course. Voldemort made sure he knew, and Harry sometimes sat in on Death Eater meetings while hidden under his Invisibility Cloak. Voldemort also often asked for his opinion on things. He said that even though his mind likely wasn't going to change, he wanted to know what the teen thought about whatever the topic was. Harry didn't mind. He liked being heard for once. It felt nice.
A week later, Harry's lessons began, and a schedule was prepared for him, a different Death Eater teaching him a different topic on a certain, set day of the week-including Potions, which Snape (who was definitely on the Dark Lord's side-take that, Dumbledore!) taught him for two hours every Sunday morning. The schedule did change around at times, since his tutors had jobs of their own or had to go on raids or missions, but things remained steady for the most part.
The Dark Lord taught Harry when he could, and though his lessons didn't occur quite as often as the others, Harry was really enjoying learning Parselmagic. But beyond that, he was also enjoying spending time with Voldemort himself.
He knew how weird that was-knew how messed up that was, but he didn't care. What did it matter anyway? He was doing all this because he wanted to be selfish, so if he enjoyed himself while doing it, that was good, wasn't it?
*I think that's everything Harry owns that he really cares about, at least. Please do let me know if there's anything else. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!