During the following week, Harry was extremely jumpy and distracted. He would often look around, distractedly, as though there was an assassin after his life. He even jumped back when Severus went behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Harry's behaviour was extremely puzzling. It was too much of a coincidence that professor Voldemort's behaviour was also equally, if not more, baffling in that very same week. Professor Voldemort stalked the corridors often with a pensive look. He was distracted in Defence against the Dark Arts and his special Dark Arts classes were put on hold. At mealtimes, professor Voldemort would sit at the head table and space out, barely acknowledging the rest of the teachers sitting next to him. Of course his sudden mood change was the talk of the week.

Severus had heard a Slytherin rumour that professor Voldemort was searching for someone and that he had his eyes on five older Slytherins- Avery Nott, Lesalier Lestrange, Arthemus Black and Damien Mulciber. Severus frowned. Why was professor Voldemort paying them extra attention? Lesalier Lestrange was powerful and dark and Arthemus Black was extremely wealthy so his attention on them was justified. But the rest were your average typical Slytherins. Why would the professor...oh he was a fool for not seeing this earlier! All of them had black hair and green eyes! The question was why he was looking out for boys with black hair and green eyes. Again, coincidentally, Harry also had the same features. Did that signify anything? So many questions were buzzing in his mind. Severus was determined to get to the bottom of things.

"Look it's the Slytherin Squib! Where you're going? Finally going back to being a Muggle? Or perhaps you could be Filch's assistant and wipe the dirt off our shoes..." mocked Avery Nott in cruel tones. Lesalier Lestrange stood beside him, watching Harry intently. Harry shuddered involuntarily. He did not like the look in Lestrange's eyes. The seventh year Slytherin prefect had looked at him in that same way ever since he knocked the glasses off Harry's face while Harry was bending over to wash his face in the boys' lavatory. He had tried to catch Harry alone a few times, but luckily, there was always someone around to interrupt.

"Move along boys, you're blocking the way." Professor Voldemort appeared behind them, looking a little worse for wear.

He caught sight of Lesalier Lestrange and stopped. He looked him once over, and then went on his way without a word.

"Well, see you later Harrrryy." Lesalier purred and purposely brushed against Harry's shoulder as he walked past.

Voldemort was in a bad mood. He couldn't believe he had stooped down to stalking a bloody portrait in hopes of finding the other Parselmouth. Of course said portrait knew he was being followed and led a tired Voldemort throughout the entire castle on a wild goose chase everytime.

Voldemort was hell bent on discovering the identity of the Parselmouth. He prowled the school thoughout the day, and Nagini patrolled the corridors for him at night when he slept. He had already decided to take in this young Parselmouth as his protégé and raise him to be a great wizard. If the Parselmouth was also the person he had been looking for all these years, then all the more to bring him to his side. Later on he planned to make his love fall for him and take him on as a lover and magical match. They would be unstoppable, and rule the world side by side. He had no qualms about taking on a protégé as a lover. He was after all a dark lord, and was certainly lacking in the morals department. As for the age difference, such things were inconsequential in the Wizarding World, where power mattered most.

Earlier on when he caught a glimpse of the Lestrange boy, his hopes had soared. The Lestrange boy had power and skill and fit the image of Voldemort's young hero. He had proven himself to Voldemort many times in his special Dark Arts classes, for example by attacking a severely incapacitated opponent viciously, until his opponent was unable to hold up a wand. Though he revelled in the pain and suffering of his enemies a little more than Voldemort's hero would have. He knew Lestrange and Nott bullied Harry Potter, but did not do anything to stop them. He did not want to start off on the wrong foot lest one of them turned out to be him. Besides, nearly every Slytherin picked on the Potter lad. He couldn't very well put his entire house in detention. Goodness knows how many of them were the sons and daughters of his followers. Blame the boy for having being sorted into Slytherin, the house of snakes where only the powerful, ambitious and sly survive.

He couldn't fathom why that Harry Potter boy had been sorted into his house. He could not see power, ambition or cunning in the boy. He wouldn't go so far as to say he hated the boy though .Voldemort particularly disliked him for not standing up to himself when he was being bullied. Voldemort had been in his place before, and had gain revenge on his tormentors in a barbaric way. The boy had not. Such weakness was intolerable. He was also abysmal in spells, which were weak and had no power or intention behind them. Good thing he had some brains or Voldemort would have him chucked out of Hogwarts somehow since first year. He certainly is the disgrace of Slytherin, Voldemort mused.

Harry had hurried off to the library-which was his sanctuary this whole term- after hastily gulping down his dinner, aware of eyes on his every movement. He was tiptoeing to reach a book on the top shelf when suddenly, a larger, stronger body pinned him to the shelf and a hand covered his mouth to muffle his cry of alarm.

" Mmmpphh!"

" Shhh...be a good boy now. We wouldn't want anybody to hear us Harrryy." Lesalier purred.

Harry's eyes widened in shock and alarm. He tried to wriggle away from Lesalier but the older boy pinned his body against the shelf with more force and parted Harry's legs with his knee, straddling the youth.

" I've been watching you Harrrry. You look so exotic without your glasses, like a rare wild animal. Your eyes are the most beautiful...So exquisite...So desirable...." Lesalier whispered into Harry's ear. Hot breath tickled Harry's earlobe and Harry shook his head repeatedly, reaching out a hand but hesitated. His hesitation cost him.

Lesalier grabbed hold of Harry's wrists with one hand and held them over his head, against the top shelf, making Harry stand on the balls of his feet.

Harry struggled, tears pricking the corners his eyes, mind at a loss of what to do. He never been attacked sexually before and he did not know how to react. Hell, no one at the orphanage had bothered to give him the talk, or to explain the boundaries of a guy-girl friendship. He wasn't even sure he liked girls.

"Oh no..Don't struggle, my pretty baby...Your sinful lithe body under those big dirty robes only tempt me more...."Lesalier cooed and pressed his knee upwards into Harry's crotch insistently to prove his point.

Harry whimpered. He wanted to magically fling this boy away from him but his mind seemed to have frozen, unable to form a coherent thought. Oh gods no...Before his mind went numb with shock, he had briefly thought about summoning power from his inner core, but in this state, he would have most likely killed the other boy.

"No one is going to come rescue you, you know. I'm professor Voldemort's current favourite student and star pupil. I'm the most magically powerful and best at duelling in Slytherin. Do you think anyone would go against me to help Slytherin's disgrace? I think not. Madam Prince has been taken care of temporarily. So why don't we just enjoy this..." He whispered, caressing his captive's ear with his hot breath and nipped his outer earlobe.

Harry whimpered again as Lestrange's tongue licked the shell of his ear while his free hand ran up and down suggestively along Harry's torso.

"Ahhh...my pretty doll... you make such lovely sounds...I want to hear more..." Lesalier moaned as the heat due to the proximity of the younger boy seeped into him, pooling in his groin. Eagerly, his hand clamped down hard on Harry's crotch.

Harry bucked. His wrists flexed, but the grip on his hands was vice-like and brutal.

Annoyed that Harry was still struggling, Lesalier's hand left Harry's crotch for a moment. Cold long fingers curled around Harry's throat, cutting off his air supply.

"You forget that I'm the one in control. I can be more cruel to you, but I don't want to damage my pretty doll too much. I'm gonna let you go but resist one more time, and you will find what I have done earlier to be merely flirting." With that, he released Harry's throat, causing Harry to gasp for air as his body heaved.

Lesalier took advantage of Harry's momentary distraction to lick his neck, lavishing Harry's slender neck with long, possessive strokes. His knee between Harry's legs pressed upwards against Harry's crotch with more force, making Harry almost rest on his knee. His free hand then travelled south to caress his prey's crotch lewdly, earning muffled cries from Harry.

Harry felt sick and dirty. His mind was numb with shock and all he could think about was the mouth and wet tongue on his neck combined with the hand and knee caressing his crotch intimately. He wasn't even allowed to voice his protest as the hand covering his mouth never budged an inch.

Finally, for what seemed like an eternity to Harry, Lesalier finally released Harry, but not before biting on his pale neck hard, marking Harry. Harry slumped down to the floor, while the other boy hurriedly left the scene, after warning him that there would be consequences if he told someone.

For a long time, Harry sat on the floor of the library. Then finally, he picked himself up and slowly hobbled back to the dorms, feeling hands all over him the whole way there.

Severus Snape had just came back to the dorm when he noticed Harry sobbing quietly onto his pillow. He immediately rushed over, sensing the gravity of the situation. This was the first time that he saw Harry shed tears. Even when the bullying intensified to its worst, Harry never broke down like this. What the hell had happened?!

"God Harry, what happened? It's ok... There there you can tell me..." Severus comforted Harry as well as he could.

"Sev...." Harry sobbed.

"It's ok Harry. I'll help you...talk to me please..." Severus soothed. Then he paused . He caught sight of the lovebite Lesalier had given him earlier. He pried Harry's trembling fingers away from his neck and gently pushed his collar aside, revealing the angry dark bruise on Harry's pale neck. Severus stiffened in anger.

"Harry? Who did this to you?! How long has this been happening?! Tell me who did this to you so that I can prevent it from happening ever again...." Severus pressed.

That did the trick. "L-lestrange" Harry whispered so softly, as if afraid the walls could suddenly hear him.

I should have known! That sick bastard was always drooling after Harry like a dog in heat...Unfortunately, Lesalier Lestrange was currently in high favour with professor Voldemort and hence the Slytherins. There wasn't much that he or Harry could do, except maybe blast him nine times over. Still, he had to try for his friend.

Severus waited until Harry fell asleep due to exhaustion, then went and caught up with Lestrange just as he was leaving the dorm.

"Lestrange...Keep your hands off Harry. Or else..." Severus warned.

"Are you threatening me? Finally decided to stand on the same ground as your little squib friend and side against us Snakes?" Lesalier retorted angrily.

"Besides, what Harry and I have is consensual, so if you're going to hurl unfounded accusations at me, I suggest you actually present evidence otherwise I will be forced to take this matter to professor Voldemort." Lestrange sneered, and walked past Severus haughtily.

Severus knew there was no way he was going to win if professor Voldemort got involved. Unless....he took care of Lestrange first.

At dinner, Slytherins were rather restless. Harry looked up from his Defensive Spells book. There was something going on, seeing as more than a few Slytherins were whispering to themselves. Harry soon found out as Lesalier Lestrange approached him, holding something in his hands.

With a sinking heart, Harry realised that it was Sephora. She lay limply in Lesalier's hands. Luckily she was still alive, but her hisses were so faint that Harry prayed for the well-being of his trusted companion.

"Give her back to me now!" Harry demanded, anger starting to rise. How dare they hurt Sephora just to get back at him!

"My, my. The squib does have some balls after all. Touchy about your stupid snake? I warned you what would happen if you told anyone. No one disobeys me and get away with it. Accio wand! Accio glasses! " Lesalier said in a low voice.

Caught unaware, not that he could have stopped it much anyway, Harry's old glasses and wand zoomed into Lesalier's open palm. He dropped Harry's glasses onto the floor, and crushed them under his foot.

"What are you going to do now? You're defenceless without a wand and blind as a bat too....I must say, for a pathetic Muggle like you, this snake seems to be fond of you, though Merlin knows why. I was going to hex your bed, but this snake suddenly appeared and attacked me. Of course, I hexed her with a Blood Boiling Curse in self-defense." He taunted. " Not that I didn't enjoy it...She's not going to make it much longer..."He whispered the last part, so that only Harry could hear it.

Harry was fuming. A Blood Boiling curse? The bastard had used a Blood Boiling Curse on Sephora? It was immensely painful for wizards, even more so for animals who have a lower magical resistance. Harry thought about how much pain Sephora was in, and all because she wanted to protect him! She didn't deserve it! Combined with the stress of Lesalier's sexual assault earlier on, and with the threat to Sephora's life, Harry's distressed mind snapped. He was going to make him pay.

Harry's whole demeanor suddenly changed, making Lesalier a little nervous. His aura became dark and oppressive, heavily bearing down on Lesalier. Harry didn't notice, but the whole school became quiet, and all heads turned to watch him. Even the professors at the head table, Voldemort included, noticed his growing aura, and stopped eating to watch the scene.

Harry mocked in a cold cruel voice, " Need a wand? Why would I need a wand to crush you? You are going to pay for all that you've done to Sephora and me...."

"Wha.." Lesalier began but he didn't manage to finish the sentence, as he dropped to the floor, convulsing in pain. His body was on fire, and it felt as though hot irons were pressing into every available surface on his body. Spams wrecked his body, and he let out a chilling scream. He looked up, only to see Harry towering over him, hand outstretched, as he wandlessly and non-verbally increased the intensity of the Cruciatus Curse he had him under. Glowing green eyes looked at him mercilessly.

His eyes rolled backwards and saliva dribbled out of his mouth. God he was in so much pain that he wanted to die...Help....

"Harrry...Sssstopp...You're going to kill him...If you continue, you'll destroy his mind at the very least....I'm going to be fine so you can ssstop now..I don't care about him but I care about you...You might lose your sssanity...Harrry pleasssee...." Sephora hissed weakly.

Then, to everyone except Severus's entire shock, Harry hissed back, immediately releasing the spell and rushing over to Sephora. Everyone stared at him openly, as though he had suddenly turned into a Basilisk, as Harry hissed at and gently stroked his snake. Good lord! The "disgrace of Slytherin" a Parselmouth!!! Everyone looked on stupidly as their brains digested this piece of information. Harry was the last person they would have guessed to be a Parselmouth. Most of the Slytherins had thought the Parselmouth professor Voldemort had been looking for was one of the five specially hand-picked by him. Who would have ever guessed it was the "powerless", "dirty", "Mudblood" with his hideous glasses?

Voldemort stoop up abruptly, pushing his chair backwards with a loud screech that reverberated throughout the silent hall. Dumbledore, however, was away on business, as so did not witness Harry's amazing display of his powers. Good thing though, the old coot would not have approved anyway.

He stood rooted to the spot, a thousand things running through his mind, wondering how to best approach Harry.

He shouldn't have stood there like a statue, for Harry suddenly picked Sephora up, and fled, with Severus hurrying behind him. Voldemort too followed hastily.

Voldemort guessed Harry would go to the Hospital Wing to get medical help for his snake, so he took a teacher's shortcut, and arrived before Harry. His heart hammered as he waited anxiously to see the person he had loved all these years.

It was Harry! It was him all along! There was no mistaking that power, and especially those beautiful emerald eyes that Voldemort loved so much. Those green orbs glowing with power, those same Avada Kedavra eyes that looked upon him kindly once... Voldemort cursed himself for being blind and not seeing it earlier. How could he have been so terribly mistaken? Vodemort remembered with dread and horror how he had treated Harry for the past years, how he mocked and scorned Harry in class, how he just watched on as Harry was being bullied, and worst of all, how he shot Harry down as they met for the first time. He was so prejudiced about Harry's appearance, that he had said cruel things to him as Harry, Voldemort now realised too late, attempted to tell him that he was the boy from the bar. How could he have screwed up so badly?! His love, his saviour, was alone and hurt all this time, and Voldemort had a share in it. How was he ever going to get Harry to talk to him, much less court him?

His thoughts screeched to a halt as the doors of the hospital wing slammed open. Harry barged in and immediately banged really loudly on the door to Madam Pomfrey's private office.

Madam Pomfrey opened the door angrily, about to reprimand the student who dared to bang on her door, when she saw that it was Harry. Her eyes softened and she asked Harry gently, "What is it Harry? Those bullies again? Where are you injured?"

" It's not me! It's Sephora! Please m'am, you gotta help her! She's my treasured snake and she's injured ! Lesalier used a Blood Boiling Curse on her !" Harry said urgently.

Voldemort then watched on enviously the interactions between Harry and the mediwitch as she healed Harry's pet snake. It should have been him that was close to Harry, whom Harry turned to for help. If only he hadn't driven Harry away....

Severus Snape then came in, with a worried frown marring his features. He saw Voldemort, greeted him respectfully and went over to Harry's side.

" How's she?"

" Madam Pomfrey says she'll be fine. She's been given some painkillers and is sleeping now."

"Thank goodness. I was worried for you Harry. You could have lost your sanity ,lost in the thrill of casting the Cruciatus Curse. You surprised me again Harry. A wandless and non-verbal Cruciatus eh? You've got the whole school buzzing."

Voldemort observed that Harry and Severus were close friends. Severus must have known he was a Parselmouth already! He should have paid more attention to him. Nevertheless, he knew Severus admired him and wanted to be his follower. Things just looked up a tad bit. Severus would be his ticket to Harry.

Voldemort cleared his throat. His heart skipped a beat as emerald eyes turned to look at him.

" Harry...."

Hey guys!

Hope you like it so far. I haven't have much time lately but I did my best with the little time I had... See you next chappie, where Voldemort begins to court, or rather attempts to court Harry....

Love,

Gab