A/N: Hello my dear readers! I am so sorry this took so long, but I just ran into a wall and didn't really know what to write for this! I know I was terrible for making you wait this long with that Cliffhanger I left you with, but please forgive me!

Now, I have finally gotten this chapter together, though it might be a little messy due to lacking continous writing. I hope it is still readable and understandable though, because it contains some really interesting stuff.

On another note, my Pokemon Story Serene Phoenix have now passed this one in reviews! Come on guys, are you going to be outmatched by a fanfic about a children's cartoon? Go for it guys! You just need to write a single sentence, saying I'm doing OK! =) If you think I do, that is of course...

Now, you have been kept waiting long enough so here we go: Chapter Fourteen!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Chapter Fourteen: The Darkness Within

No one said a word as Lily opened her mouth to answer Severus plea for forgiveness. Harry looked up at his mother's spirit, hoping she would forgive the man who had been so important to him for all his life.

"Severus... you know I can't forgive you for that... but I do accept your apology." she said as she looked into her childhood friend's eyes.

Severus eyes widened. The tears that were streaming down his face was glimmering in the rays of light that the two locked together wands were sending out. Lily offered her childhood friend a sad smile as she continued.

"I have seen how truly sorry you are over your past actions and after all you have done for Harry, I am glad you were my friend, even though we didn't see each other as such when I left this world." she said in her melodic, echoing voice.

Over by the crowd of Professors, Dumbledore had shaken himself out of his stupor at hearing Lily talk to Severus. This should not be possible. The projection of Lily should only have been an Astral Projection, an echo of her thoughts, yet this Projection seemed to have the conciousness and personality of the real Lily, the one that should be dead. Was this a result of Harry's and Voldemort's connection? Or was it something else? Well, he could worry about that later. Now, there were things they needed to do.

"Minerva, I need you to help me set up a barrier around the barrier. When the wand connection is broken, we have to catch Pettigrew, no matter what!"

He received a confirming nod from his Tranfiguration Professor and the two immediately went to work when a second Astral Projection appeared from Wormtail's wand. This time, the projection floated all the way over to Harry's side before it took the shape of a human... The shape of James Potter.

James' eyes scanned the scene in which he had landed, until they finally settled on the terrified Pettigrew, who was standing opposite to James' son. When his eyes landed on his former friend, they narrowed and took on a disappointed look.

"Peter..." his voice was as much an echo as his wife's was. "I entrusted you with my life. I entrusted you with my family's life. I thought we were friends. Why did you betray us?"

Pettigrew shook his head, not knowing what he was supposed to say. He could hardly make a sound. He had not expected this to happen. He swallowed hard and tried to refocus his energy into pushing Harry's spell back, but in his heart, he knew that he had lost. He had lost the moment his wand locked with Harry's and slowed down his escape.

Meanwhile, James had turned away from his former friend and was looking down at his son with a proud look on his face. Harry looked back up into his father's face, so much like his own, with tears in his eyes. Never had he imagined that he would get to see his parents, but here they were, both standing in front of him.

"Dad..." he croaked out with emotional voice.

James gave him a sad smile and put a hand on his son's shoulder. Outside the barrier, Snape scowled at seeing his former sworn enemy and school bully again, acting all fatherly towards Harry, but he bit back the nasty comment that had been threatening to escape his lips and reminded himself that James after all was Harry's actual father.

"Harry, my son. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am about the way you have been forced to grow up. This wasn't how it was supposed to be." he said with his voice echoing all around the school grounds, as if there were at least 10 James' speaking in conjunction.

The boy in question was trying to wipe his eyes with his sleeve while still holding on to his wand with both of his hands. The wand was shaking in his hands and he almost lost grip of it.

"But I didn't come here to apologize for something that was completely out of my hands. I came here because I wanted to tell you how proud I am of how much you have grown and how proud I am to be your father."

Harry just swallowed as he took in his father's praise. Hearing his father's voice, seeing him standing beside him... this was all that he had dreamed off. To be able to see and talk to his parents, even if it was only like this, for a short time. He didn't know what was happening but somehow he knew that when he broke the connection between his own and Pettigrew's wands, his parents would disappear. The thought of losing them again burned at his insides, but he tried to savour the moment instead of letting his sadness ruin it.

"Thanks dad. Y-you have no idea how much that means to me." he managed to croak back.

James just smiled a thim and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly, trying to project his own power into Harry so that his son could keep the wand lock a little longer. There was still something he needed to do before he was sent back to the afterlife. However, as he was about to turn around to face the man he wanted to talk to, he felt himself getting a bit nervous. After all these years...

"James..." his wife said and gave him an encouraging smile.

Feeling his resolve strengthen from Lily's encouragement, James took a deep breath and turned around, towards the man that was standing just outside the magical barrier. His hair looked a lot cleaner than James remembered it from school, though it was still as black and hanging down in front of his face as it always had. The abnormally long nose that had been the reason and victim to so many cruel jokes during their time at Hogwarts seemed to have gotten even longer and more crooked than it used to be and the man's black eyes squinted with an almost disgusted look as James Potter locked eyes with Severus Snape for the first time since they left school.

Severus had spent years trying to not let his hatred of James Potter cloud his judgement and view on Harry and after a time, it had slowly started to ebb away, as if time was slowly wearing it down, like the waves of the sea slowly wears down a rock. But now, seeing his old nemesis again had brought all those feelings back up to the surface. Years and years of detestment came bubbling back up inside of him and he couldn't help but scowl at the man that had made his school years a living hell at times.

"Potter..." he growled as he clenched his hands against the magical barrier that was still trying to reject him.

"Sniv... Severus." James was quick to correct himself. While he still did not think too highly of the man and, unlike Lily, still refused to regard him as a friend in any way, he knew that he had Harry's raising and life to thank Snape for. And so, he tried to keep as neutral a voice as he could.

Surprised to be spoken to by his real name, the scowl on Severus' face faded slightly and was replaced with a frown. The slip at the start hadn't gone unnoticed by him, but he was surprised that James was actually making the effort of trying to talk to him in a civil way. As far as he could remember, this was the first time that James used his real name, rather than a bad nickname or his surname.

While Snape was trying to think of any other occasion where James had used his real name, James himself was trying to muster up the courage to say what he wanted to say. He could feel Lily giving him a calculating look from behind, but tried to shake it off. He wasn't doing this because Lily wanted him to. Heck, he wasn't completely sure why he was doing it at all, but at least he felt it was right. Spurred on by that thought, he took a deep breath and swallowed before he started speaking.

"I never thought I would say this, and I doubt you did either, but thanks for what you have done these last years, Snape." Severus noted James' return to using his surname." I can't say I particularly like you still, but after all you have done for Harry, I believe I owe you an apology. I was a complete jerk in school."

Behind him, Lily nodded in agreement. Harry on the other hand tried to listen in on the conversation but seemed to be having trouble as whenever he tried to catch on to more than 2 words, the sphere of magical energy that was hovering between him and Pettigrew began to move towards him. Figuring that he would have to ask Severus about it later, he instead focused all of his energy into forcing the sphere back towards Pettigrew.

Meanwhile, Severus was looking at James as if he thought he had gone mad. James apologized to him?! He would have thought that the man would be furious with him. After all, he was the reason that James and his wife was dead. He was just about to answer when Pettigrew gave off a pained yelp and somehow managed to tear his wand away and break the connection. Seeing that their time was just about up, both the older Potters turned to face their son one last time before they disappeared.

"Harry, whatever happens don't give up! You have a hard time ahead of you, but never doubt yourself. We know you can do it!" James said as he felt his soul starting to leave the realm of the living once more.

"We will always watch over you! Keep your friends close and believe in your own potential and powers! And never forget that we love you, Harry!" Lily managed to get through before her image began to fade away.

Harry looked up at his fading parents with tears in his eyes. He felt his chest constrict painfully as he watched his parents fade away. He had just met them for the first time in his life, he had barely spoken to his father and already were they disappearing. He tried to say something but as soon as the wand lock had been broken, he felt his energy drop drastically. He had used up too much energy during his struggle against Pettigrew. His vision began to blurr and he found that he had trouble breathing. As people began moving around him, Harry felt his knees hit the ground.

"Harry!" came a few worried shouts from behind him, but by now Harry could barely hear them.

"Now Minerva!" Dumbledore's command rang above all toher voices as he and McGonagall cast the Barrier Charm around the two combatants to try and confine Pettigrew before he could make another run for it. The mere fact that he had managed to escape them the first time was embarrassing enough.

They however, hadn't need to worry. Pettigrew seemed to be just drained from this struggle as Harry had been, and to top it off he was still magically drained from having spent 10 years as a rat and the stunt he had pulled in the headmaster's office. As Harry fell to his knees, Pettigrew began to feel the strain of using up too much magical energy in a too small amount of time. He recognized it as Magical Exhaustion, something he had suffered a few times during his first year at school before his magic had really awoken completely.

With his vision blurry and limbs unresponsive, Harry tried desperately to see what was going on around him, but it was all a big blur. He could barely make out the silhouettes of the people that began to race towards him when the last of the golden glow, that he was pretty sure was the last remnants of the barrier that had been created when his wand had met the spell cast by Pettigrew's wand. Thousands of questions raced through Harry's head as he fought to stay concious. What had just happened? Who was that strange man? How had his parents shown up here? Weren't they dead? Or had it been their ghosts? But despite his struggle to stay concious, Harry could not fight of the exhaution that was sneaking up on him and after just a few seconds, he felt himself being claimed by darkness.

-:-:-:-

Ginny sighed contently as she threw herself down in her bed at The Burrow. Hotel beds were comfortable, but there were nothing like home. This was the first time she had been away from The Burrow more than just a day at a time and strangely enough, it felt good. She had been a little homesick of course, but there had been so much to see and so much to do in Romania that she had barely thought about it. And it had been nice to see Charlie again. She hadn't seen him since he finished school and went off to study dragons. Those had also been cool to see, though her mother had clearly been against letting Ginny anywhere near them.

'Imagine, in a little less than half a year I will be going to an even more magical place.' she thought. It would be the best thing to have ever happened to her. She would be going to Hogwarts and she would not be alone. She knew that Luna Lovegood, a girl who lived nearby, would also be going and then of course there was her brothers and Harry. Yes, Harry...

As she thought about him, Ginny reached inside her shirt and closed her hand around the golden locket that was hanging around her neck. She couldn't believe that Harry had actually bought her something out of pure gold. This locket alone was probably worth more than all that was in currently in her room, including the bed and the desk. The thought that she was carrying something around her neck that was worth more than the bed she slept in made her feel a little uncomfortable, because it really made her feel the difference between her own finances and Harry's. It made her feel inferior in a way and she didn't like that one bit. Ginny had never been one to just accept that she was inferior to anyone, not even her brothers or her parents. That stubborness had been the scource to a lot of rows between herself and her mother, both of whom shared a very nasty temper. She knew that Harry had not meant to make her feel like this, but she couldn't help feeling at least a little inferior to him in a way. You just can't compare a handmade photoframe to a golden locket.

"MEOW!"

The irritated noise brought Ginny out of her thoughts. She looked around vividly and found the closed basket still resting on her bedside table. She had forgotten to let out Kurt! Shaking her head to clear it of the depressing thoughts, she swiftly sat up and reached over to remove the lid. Kurt wasted no time and took a leap out of the basket and onto the bed almost the same moment the lid was off. He stretched his stiff limbs, then fixed his green eyes at Ginny.

Meeting his eyes, Ginny felt herself relax. She had found that Kurt's eyes tended to remind her of Harry's own and looking into them always made her feel more relaxed.

"You think I'm being silly, don't you?" she asked as she scratched the little kitten behind the ears.

Kurt gave a content purr and laid down to try and rest a little. Ginny just smiled and mentally reprimanded herself for feeling inferior to Harry. Of course she was a little inferior to him. Harry had no brothers or sisters that he had to share his money with, and to top it off, he had no parents so all the money owned by his family was rightfully his. She could not compare to him in terms of money, because she still had both her parents and on top of that 6 brothers. And, she reminded herself sadly, Harry had no people he really considered friends, and very few that he considered family so he had no other people to spend his money on. Well, he could save it of course, but according to what she had heard, the Potter Family had been quite well off so he probably would have no problems with that. She would just have to accept that Harry might be a little more well off when it came to finances than her. However, she would have to talk to him about giving her things this expensive, the next time she saw him.

With that thought in mind, Ginny was just about to get up to unpack her bag when she heard a knock on the window. She looked over to the closed window and spotted a snow white owl just outside, flapping her wings to stay airborne.

"Hedwig?"

She rushed over to the window and opened it to let in the familiar bird, who as usual took her spot at the back of the chair by the desk. Ginny curiously made her way over and began to detach the parchment roll, wondering what Harry could possibly have to say this time. However, as she got it loose, she felt her heart skip a beat. This was not Harry's handwriting. He could write way better than this! It looked more like... Ron's?

Not knowing what to expect or why her brother would write her a letter and send it with Hedwig, she decided to just open and read it to find out. However, as her eyes travelled down the parchment, which was only long because the person on the other side had written it with very large letters and by the looks of it been quite unsteady at the hand when he wrote it, she felt her chest turn cold as her mind wrapped itself around what it said. No... NO! This just couldn't be!

Not realizing that she had shouted that last part out loud, Ginny fell to the floor, clutching the letter in her hand. Harry was knocked out? And he had been unconcious for 3 days straight?! She swallowed hard, trying to calm her beating heart and hysteric breathing. Not again! She had been close to fainting when she had heard that he had faced off against a fully grown mountain troll on Halloween and now he had somehow managed to land himself in a coma?! Ron hadn't even had the decency to write down what had happened!

"Ginny?! What is it?" a worried voice came from the doorway and a second later, her mom and dad came busting into the room.

Ginny barely recongized the fact that her cheeks were tearstained when she looked up at her parents' worried faces, but the look they gave her told her as much. Molly wasted no time and quickly bent down to scoop up her daughter into what she hoped was a comforting embrace. Ginny hiccuped and leaned into her mother's shoulder while her father just stared at her, worried what could possibly be wrong with his daughter. She seemed to be fine, well physically at least.

"Ssh, Ginny. It's ok, mommy's here." Molly tried to soothe the little girl whose sobs shook the pair.

"No...No, no it's not ok." Ginny managed to get out through her sobs.

By this time, Arthur had managed to regain his normal state of mind and had made his way over to his wife and daughter. The two red-haired women didn't take much notice of him and he felt like this was a time where he should not interrupt them, but he still wanted to be of some help and show his comfort so he reached down and wrapped Ginny's tiny hand in his own. The girl looked up at him when she felt his touch, but then just nodded in appreciation when he smiled warmingly at her, trying to wordlessly give her his support.

For a while, they just stayed like that, with Molly whispering comforting words in Ginny's ear. She didn't know what had caused her daughter to become like this, but it had to be something bad. After what felt like an hour, but actually was only 5 minutes, Ginny had finally composed herself enough to steady her voice.

"I-it's Harry. R-Ron just s-sent me this letter to tell me that Harry is in a c-coma."

Molly gasped at that declaration. Arthur didn't gasp, but his face became white as a sheet. He may not know the boy very well, but from what he had heard Harry had already managed to get himself into a life-threatening situation once during this year, during the Halloween evening.

"What do you mean "he's in a coma"? What happened?" Molly asked.

Ginny just shook her head and handed her the letter. Molly frowned and took the letter. Arthur bent down so he was on eye level with Ginny and tried to give her a reassuring smile. Ginny let go of her mother and instead found herself in her father's embrace, so her mother could read the letter.

Dear Ginny

I'm sorry this letter isn't from Harry, but right now he isn't really capable of writing. We had some crazy stuff going down and Harry have been unconcios for 3 days. At least I think it is 3 days now, didn't really count, but he's been in the Hospital Wing since Christmas. Anyway, I thought you deserved to know since he is your friend.

Your brother,
Ron

The way it was written clearly showed that Ron was not used to writing letters. Molly read the letter one more time, trying to make sense of her son's writing. What Ron considered "some crazy stuff" could be practically anything, so there was no clue to what had really happened there. The fact that Ron hadn't said what had happened and just hinted that it had been something bad did nothing to soother Molly's nerves, and it was probably even worse for Ginny, who regarded Harry as her best friend.

"I want to go see him."

Molly was brought out of her thoughts by Ginny's voice. It had regained some of the usual strenght it held and looking over at her, Molly saw that Ginny seemed to have somehow managed to swallow down her sobs. She was now trying to dry the tearstains off her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Don't be silly, you can't go there." Molly tried to reason with her daughter. Arthur didn't say anything. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Ginny was about to give a snappy answer that her mother couldn't rule of her, but managed to hold it down at the last second. It wouldn't help to get angry now. She was emotionally unstable as it was, even without snapping at her mother.

"Please mum! I want to be there for him! He's my best friend!" she pleaded, feeling herself shiver slightly when she heard how weak her own voice sounded. She had thought she was past sounding like a scared, lonely little girl but it would seem like that had come back now that Harry was in a coma.

Looking down at her daughter, Molly had to bite her lower lip to keep from giving a snappy answer. Ginny hadn't sounded that weak since before she met Harry. She could see that her daughter was really worried about her best friend and giving it a second thought, Molly couldn't blame her for wanting to go see him. Honestly, she kind of wanted to go see how he was doing herself. The boy had seemed so kind and gentle when she met him and he had done nothing to put himself on her bad side and despite the fact that he seemed to have a habit of spoiling her daughter a little too badly, she had found that she regarded him quite highly as well, despite not really knowing him. He had managed to bring out the best of Ginny in a way no one else had, not even Molly herself, and that in itself made Molly want to make sure he was alright. But that kind of caught her between a rock and a hard place, because it would be hypocritical to deny Ginny the right to go see her best friend and then go herself to check up on him. Struggling to find an answer to what she was supposed to do, Molly found herself looking at her husband for guidance.

"It might not be that easy, Ginny. Since you are underage and not a student there, we will need the Headmaster's consent before you can go visit and I'm not sure Albus will agree to that. So how about we first contact Albus and see if it is even possible for you to go visit Harry before we make any descisions?"

Ginny looked like she wanted to argue, but before she could come up with a good argument, she realized that there would be no point. If her father had made up his mind about this, then there would be no arguing about it. She reluctantly hung her head in acceptance.

Arthur studied his daughter for a moment with mixed feelings. He really didn't want to disappoint her, but truth was that they would need Dumbledore's or another Professor's consent to visit the castle with Ginny. He tried to give his wife an encouraging smile when Molly looked up at him with a grateful look on her face, letting him know that she was at as much a loss of what to do as he was.

"Well, I'll go floo Albus straight away. You just stay here with Ginny." he said to his wife and left the two Weasley women alone. He made his way down the stairs while thinking about what could have possibly happen to put Harry in a coma. He had heard about the Troll Incident earlier that year and that had shaken him up greatly as nothing of the like had ever happened during the time his other sons had been at the school. And though that one could have just been a coincidence, he felt that it was starting to look like someone was out to harm Harry. Something told him that there was a dark cloud hanging over Harry Potter, and that put him slightly at unease, knowing that Harry was good friends with Ron and best friends with Ginny. Not to mention the boy himself had inserted himself as a person whom Arthur held in high regard. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep them apart, even if he wanted to do so (which he honestly didn't), since they would be going to the same school, but it still unnerved him that so much was starting to happen at the school now that Harry Potter was back there. It was a little too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.

-:-:-:-

Harry felt his head throb painfully in the darkness. He felt like he was floating endlessly in darkness and had been like that for quite some time. What had happened? He remembered Pettigrew breaking the wand connection, but then everything went blank. What had happened back then anyway? It had all went by so fast his mind hadn't had the time to really register what had happened. One minute, he was on his way to the castle to eat lunch with his friends and the next he was locked in combat, if you could call it that, with a to him unknown man who had come rushing out of the castle with several Professors hunting him. Thinking back, it all felt so bizarre, like a strange dream that he had now woken up from.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. Just as when he had done it just a few minutes ago, he was still floating in endless darkness. What was this place? It felt familiar somehow but foreign at the same time. He didn't know how long he had been here, but it felt like he was stuck somewhere between the confines of time and space, if that made any sense. At times, he had thought he could feel the touch of a cold stone floor underneath him, but when he had opened his eyes he was still floating.

"Harry..."

Harry froze. What was that voice? Or was it even a voice? It sounded more like a hissing of some kind. Feeling his heart tremble with fear that came floating to him with the voice, Harry had to bite his jaws shut tightly to not stutter out a terryfied answer. That voice sent shivers down his entire body, it felt like it was the sound of coldness.

"Come here... Harry..." the voice echoed against and suddenly Harry felt himself being jerked upwards, as if he was rapidly being dragged towards the sky. He felt a tickling sensation somewhere in his belly and then, it all stopped and he suddenly felt himself falling onto a hard stone floor. He yelped in fright and surprise and opened his eyes in shock.

But this time, he really was lying on a cold stone floor. It was not an illusion. Or was it? No, he could see it and feel it clearly now. He was in what appeared to be a cubic room made out of stone. It looked similar to the same kind of stones used to build Hogwarts. Was he in some kind of secret room in the castle? He looked around for any clue on where he could be, but there was nothing that could hint at any place he knew off. The room was completely cubic, and was lit by torches that was hooked to the walls and that was flaring with light blue flames. The room was divided in half at the middle by large iron bars and there was no door. Was he in jail?

It took a moment for Harry to compose himself to sit up correctly. His entire body ached from hitting the floor too hard and he felt numb in his arms and legs, as if they hadn't been used for days. What in the world was this place? And why was the other half of the room shrouded in darkness? The torches should be able to pierce through that without trouble, they lit up his half of the room easily so why did the other half of the room look like someone had covered it with a large, black cloth or something?

"Hehe, it's because this is the dark part of yourself... Harry." came the hissing voice from somewhere behind the bars.

Harry jumped and immediately got to his feet and staggered backwards, trying to get away from the hissing voice. He reached the opposite wall in no time and looked over in the direction where the voice had come from... only to find a pair of big, glowing, yellow eyes glaring back at him from within the darkness. Nothing else could be seen, but the creepy, piercing glare from the seemingly floating eyes was enough for Harry to feel his heart tremble. It felt as if the eyes could see straight through him and read his mind. Wait, perhaps they could? He was pretty sure that he had not said his question out loud, yet that... whatever it was, had answered him.

"You're right Harry. There is nothing you can hide from me. I know everything about you. I see everything you see. I think everything you think, because I am part of you!"

Swallowing hard, Harry tried to muster up the courage to look the eyes in, well... the eyes. He didn't know what was going on, but this whole situation made the hairs stand on edge on his back.

"You don't know what's happening?" the hissing voice mocked. "One would think you would know your own mind, foolish boy."

Despite his shocked state, Harry managed to hang onto the meaning of what the voice was implying. His own mind... Was this his mind? He was inside his own head? That revealation shocked him enough to cause his body to stop trembling. Suddenly, the instense fear he had felt just a moment ago seemed to vanish. He looked over towards the yellow eyes. They looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't ever remember seeing eyes that radiated this much coldness and hatred. Then... could it be from an occasion that he didn't remember?

"I see that you are catching on, Harry." the voice chuckled.

Hearing the voice confirm his suspicion that he knew it from an occasion he couldn't remember, Harry felt his chest freeze over, as if someone had just dipped his heart in ice cold water. It made all too much sense. Eyes that radiated hatred and coldness, a voice that sounded more like a hissing... and he knew this someone from a time or occasion that he couldn't remember.

"V-Voldemort?" he managed to croak out, scared by how weak his own voice sounded.

The hissing voice cackled in glee at the weakness his voice gave away and the yellow eyes gleamed with malice.

"I see that even the great "Boy-Who-Lived", tremble in fear of my name, Harry Potter."

Harry swallowed hard, trying desperately to get free of the fear that had gripped his heart again after the revealation of who it was he was talking to. This made no sense. If this really was inside his mind, then why was Voldemort here? He felt his shirt grow wet from sweating and had to steady himself against the wall to not fall.

"H-how? Why are you in my mind?" Harry asked weakly.

"How and why, even I don't know. I am merely a piece of the man known as Lord Voldemort, a shadow of my real self."

Harry's mind, despite his state of shock, was spinning wildly to try and comprehend and make sense of every word that Voldemort told him. This all felt so surreal, yet he knew it was real or he wouldn't be this terryfied. A piece? A shadow? What was this all about.

"You see Harry, I am not really Voldemort. I am simply a piece of his soul that was somehow tore loose and absorbed by you, the night I tried to kill you. Up until that point, me and Voldemort were one and the same, but ever since then I have been separate from him, existing only as a mere parasite inside of your mind."

Harry didn't know what to think. His mind seemed to have stopped working. He still hung on to every word Voldemort said, but he couldn't make any sense out of it. Despite what he was being told, he couldn't understand how or what had really happened or even how it had come to the point that Voldemort was in his mind. Was Voldemort possessing him? Or was Voldemort locked up inside him? What exactly was the nature of this state, with Voldemort being inside his mind and how did it work?

"Your second guess was more accurate than your first. I have tried to take control of your body or free myself for more than 10 years now, but it seems I am stuck behind these bars, locked up by your mother's foolish sacrifice. You see, when she died to protect you she unknowingly summoned a protection around you. A protection that makes even me unable to even lay a finger on you."

Despite not really answering his question, this statement made Harry release a breath he had not been aware that he was holding. It felt good to know that he was protected, despite the close proximity of his mind and Voldemort. Feeling slightly more courageous, Harry took a deep breath and sat down on the floor, looking at the floating eyes expectantly, hoping that Voldemort would tell him more. The eyes narrowed in anger at this, in his mind, nonchalant gesture but ultimately decided that he had nothing to gain from not telling the boy what he knew.

"It was love." Voldemort spit the last word with disgust. "When dumb, sweet Lily Potter gave her life to protect you, her love for you became a protection that protect you from anyone who tries to do harm to you. I do not know to what extent, but I cannot leave this dark part of the room. My guess is that these bars here represents the protection itself. This entire room represents your mind, I guess you could call it your "mindscape", and this dark part contains all your dark thoughts and feelings, while that part where you're sitting contains all your happy thoughts and feelings. I cannot venture to the other side of these bars and only during certain circumstances can I influence you in any way."

Having let go of most of his fear when he had been told that he was protected from Voldemort inside his mind, Harry's mind had cleared up a lot and he found himself listening intently, trying to make more sense of it all. And so far, he had somehow managed to wrap his mind around most of it. From what he could understand, his mother had given him some kind of protection and it protected him from this piece of Voldemort that was inside of him. He still didn't understand how a piece of Voldemort had ended up in his mind though.

"So you're saying that my mind is kind of like your prison, of sorts?" he asked, feeling his strenght return to him now that he wasn't so terryfied anymore. Aparently, Voldemort felt it too, because he narrowed his eyes angrily at the lack of fear in Harry's voice when he spoke, as opposed to just a few mintues ago.

"In a sense, yes." Voldmeort growled. "My being and the residual magic I got from my real self is locked up and I have no way of getting loose, because I don't know what it is that has happened. All I know is that murdering by using magic tears the soul apart, but I didn't perform the ritual to separate the soulpiece from my body so what happened after that is a mystery, even to me."

Listening to Voldemort's explanation, Harry found himself surprisingly calm considering he had just gotten to know that he shared his mindscape with a part of the man who had killed his parents. It still unnerved him greatly, but somehow it felt like he had always known it on some kind of subconcious level. And knowing what he now knew, a lot of the weird stuff that had been happening to him got a possible explanation. That feeling he got that he knew his studies since before sometimes, the cold rage that he felt when he was really angry that wasn't his own, his large magical reserves and trouble controlling his magic and that sudden increase in power during the fight with Pettigrew...

"You're catching on quickly." Voldemort said, though it lacked any actual praise and was said with a rather dry voice.

Harry took that as a confirmation. So that was the reason he had so much trouble controlling his magic and why his magical reserves were developed beyond his years. His reserves had adapted to having 2 magical cores within him, that's why the magic was so out of control when he used his wand. He could still do wandless magic, because that required the ridiculus amounts of magical energy he had but using a wand he needed to focus his magic better and that was a problem when the power came from two directions. It was like when two rivers met, the flow in both rivers got disturbed and the same thing happened when he tried to focus his magic through his wand.

Voldemort eyed Harry as his thoughts were projected. For someone so young, he had to admit that the boy was very intelligent. No wonder the prophecy had foretold that this boy could very well be his downfall. No... not his dowfall. He himself was no longer part of Voldemort. The man Voldemort was still alive, somewhere out there, but powerless. He had stopped being Voldemort when he separated from the man's body. But at the same time, he wasn't a horcrux in the same way as the others were either, because he was a concious, separate being. While all the horcruxes had a set task they could perform and act on their own accord, none of them was actually a separate mind and simply had a programming. What was he really?

"You can't hear my thoughts anymore?"

Voldemort, or whatever he was, got brought out of his thoughts by Harry's question.

"What?!" he snapped, angry to have his thoughts interrupted.

Harry felt shivers run down his spine at Voldemort's harsh voice and the angry glare that he fixed him with did nothing to soothe out that feeling. However, he had asked a question and intended to get an answer out of it.

"I asked if my magic drains yours when I use a simple spell." he tried to push his question.

Voldemort didn't answer. He just glared at Harry, who had to swallow to fight down the urge to look away. Even if he knew that Voldemort could not hurt him while they were inside his own mind, that cold and hateful gaze still made his insides feel cold.

"Your body have accustomed to having 2 magical cores, however you do not pull upon my magic when you cast a simple spell. My magic is linked to what is behind these bars, your dark emotions, such as pure rage or desperation or desire for more power. When you experience these emotions, the darkness from in here will leak its way into your system and along with them comes power from my magical core. A small amount leaks from my core constantly because the bars can't completely hold it all in, but that small amount is absorbed by your own core and that's why it's prematured."

Harry found himself wondering why Voldemort shared this information with him. While he did not particularly like the scource, he still felt that it all sounded reasonable and like a likely view of this whole thing. To say that he hung on to every word would be an understatement. He was practically entranced by what he was being told. He didn't know why he even was this interested in Voldemort's theories. He felt like he should be furious with this... thing, even if it was not technically the real Voldemort. This thing had declared that he had tried to kill Harry and not shown any sign of regret. But he also felt that this thing... whatever he was, was not really the same as Voldemort. In a sense he was, but in another he wasn't. This Voldemort had stated himself that he no longer was part of the "being" known as Lord Voldemort, so who or what was he? Aww, this was getting really confusing!

"I am as confused as you on that point." Voldemort muttered, barely hearable.

Looking at the eyes of the soulpiece, Harry could almost feel the great confusion within it. Well, perhaps he could really feel it, since they shared his mind? He wasn't sure, but looking at this thing now he doubted it was just Voldemort. From what he had heard, Voldemort had always been very sure of himself and even overconfident in his own abilities at times (at least according to Uncle Al) but this thing had not displayed any of those traits. Well, it had shown that it clearly didn't like Harry and he was pretty sure that if it just got lose he would be dead by now, but at the same time it had been surprisingly cooperative when Harry had asked a question. It was as if it didn't know quite what it wanted itself.

"I think we should get you a name. You aren't really Voldemort, right?" Harry said.

"What are you talking about? Of course I am!" Voldemort hissed angrily.

This time, Harry didn't flinch at Voldemort's voice. Naming this... whatever this soulpiece-thing was would be a good way to keep him apart from the real Voldemort.

"You said yourself that you were just a mere fragment of Voldemort's soul, right? So you're not really him! You said so yourself!"

The soulpiece gave off an angry snarl, but didn't say anything. He had said so, after all. Why had he even said that to Harry? It wasn't really relevant to their conversation... why was he having this conversation anyway? And what was this stupid idea of giving him a new name? He was Voldemort! But yet he wasn't... Gah! Curse this whole stupid imprisonment and all that came with it!

The soulpiece was however saved from getting a new name as suddenly, the room began to get enveloped in a bright light. It wasn't blinding, but it was a sure difference to the gloomy light that had filled Harry's mindscape before.

"It looks like you are waking up, Harry." Voldemort's soulpiece chuckled. Truth to be told, he felt relieved to finally be rid of Harry. The boy had gotten a little bit too comfortable in his presence. He was used to being able to instal fear in those who saw him, but the fear had ebbed away from Harry when he got to know that Voldemort could not hurt him here. Stupid to even mention it. Why had he even told Harry anything?

Harry looked at himself and saw his form fade, almost similar to how his parents had faded from reality when the wand connection broke. His parents! Perhaps Voldemort knew something about what had happened! Why hadn't he asked before? He tried to voice his thoughts, but before he managed to ask about his parents, he felt that strange sensation of being jerked upwards as his mindscape faded around him and he floated back to the land of the living.

A/N: So as I said, lots of crazy stuff going down here. I'm telling you, these were among the hardest scenes I have ever written, both with Harry's parents and then with Voldemort's soulpiece. Anyway, I don't have much to say here so I'll just say once again: Review to let me know how I did. This chapter was a really hard one to write so I would really like to know what you think! And with that, MrOakzzz signs out yet another time, with a promise of faster updates that this last one!