"Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old."
~ Winston Churchill
Entering the arena for this lesson, Harry stiffened slightly upon seeing he was alone, but nonetheless continued walking towards the centre of the room. Closing his eyes he reached out with his senses, occluding his mind so that his thoughts wouldn't distract him. Hearing a soft heartbeat Harry's eyes snapped open and he cocked his head, scanning the area for any sign of life. Crouching, he felt his muscles coil in anticipation. Reaching out again he heard the heartbeat once more and, wasting no time, lunged forward, his hands outstretched as he tackled a seemingly invisible object. Feeling his opponent escape his grasp, Harry wheeled around, lashing out with his magic and sending it out in waves. Feeling a spike in the furthest corner of the room Harry moaned a little as the pleasure washed over him, his eyes rolling back as it pulsed slightly filling him with desire. Gasping, he felt something throw him back, in his distraction he hadn't felt the air displace as Tom rushed at him - he was sure it was Tom, only his magic would invoke that reaction out of him. Slamming into the wall, he bounced slightly as the cushioning charm absorbed the impact.
Landing in a crouch, he reached out with his magic, feeling his insides warm up a little as he located him. Not allowing himself to be distracted again, he ran forward, lifting himself up and hurled shards of ice in Tom's direction. Seeing them melt in midair, Harry watched as the water droplets splattered on the floor before seeping into the cracks in the stone. Slowing down, he felt himself drop and landed lightly on the balls of his feet. Listening, he thought he could hear the air molecules being displaced, the atoms crashing against one another as Tom moved. Following the sound, Harry averted his eyes from Tom's location, making it seem as if he was just wandering. No longer hearing the atomic symphony, Harry reached out once more with his magic, confirming that Tom had indeed stopped. Conjuring a rope of flame he spun it in his hands before throwing it at Tom, the rope coiled around the invisible man and whilst he tried to shake it off, Harry whispered 'finite incantatum' effectively magicking away the rope and feeling drained, walked over to a wall, intent on resting. However as soon as he had turned his back Tom launched himself at him, and Harry - taken by surprise - never had time to prevent it. Crashing to the ground Harry watched as colour spread over the once invisible surface. As Tom appeared, Harry found that he couldn't get up as he was pinned underneath the older vampyre. Seeing this, Tom stood up and straightened his shirt, trying to remove the creases that his fall had generated. Once he was satisfied he looked down at Harry, an eyebrow arching, morphing his usually impassive features into an amused expression as he saw his pupil still sprawled in the ground. Seeing Tom hold out an hand, Harry grabbed it and let himself be helped up.
"What was that for?" asked Harry irritably.
"Never turn your back on your enemy" said Tom simply, healing the burns the rope had made.
"Your not my enemy and how could I know if I was turning my back on you, you were invisible!" exclaimed Harry, creating a ball of snow and throwing it at his mentor. Sure it was petty but he wanted some sort of revenge.
"Imagine that I am, when training like this you must forget that I am your mentor. Many enemies have the power of invisibility and this way your senses shall heighten making you less of an easy target" said Tom, his voice emotionless as he deflected the projectile with a wave of his hand, "I see you've been practising your magic."
"Its two weeks till term starts, I need to be ready" said Harry automatically, his stomach muscles clenching at the thought. He was nervous about returning, so much had changed and it was strange viewing the place he'd once called home through what he supposed were now enemy eyes.
"You may be ready physically but I fear that you haven't been told enough not to be swayed back to the Light" said Tom impassively.
"I would never go back after what they have done" spat Harry venomously, offended that Tom would think he was that weak.
"You may say that now but Dumbledore is very persuasive, you have no idea how strong he really is" said Tom, still infuriatingly emotionless.
"Then tell me" said Harry, trying to rein his temper in. He wasn't some little boy and if they were keeping secrets from him they would rue the day.
"I intend to, however I would rather move this conversation to a more comfortable place" said Tom, nodding his head towards the door at the far end, behind which Harry knew his chambers were.
"Of course" replied Harry, his anger dissipating at the thought of going into Tom's chambers, for some reason it made him nervous and he felt more jittery as they got closer. Opening the door, the elder vampyre motioned for him to go in and, upon entering, Harry was once again hit with the feeling of belonging, quelling his anxiety immediately.
Taking a seat on the couch, Harry stretched and allowed himself to relax into the cushions. Eyeing the coffee table he thought better than to put his feet up no matter how tranquil he was now feeling, besides there was a book in the way. Curious, Harry leaned forward, picking up the old volume. It was paperback and well worn if the creases marring the spine were anything to go by. There was no picture on the front, just the title: The Great Gatsby. Flicking open the book he read the first page and one line seemed to linger in his memory:
'In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since 'Whenever you feel like criticising anyone,' he told me, 'just remember all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had'
Harry felt like he should send that to Dumbledore, it seemed oddly fitting somehow. Feeling Tom sit down next to him, he leaned back, the book still in his hand. Seeing Tom glance at it, Harry realised that he hadn't asked if he could look at it.
"Sorry, I was curious and-" However instead of the lecture he thought he would get about respecting other peoples property, he was taken aback as Tom began laughing. His mask seemed to melt away, revealing a youthful face alight with mirth, and Harry couldn't help but notice how much more attractive he looked but violently suppressed this thought as soon as it announced it's presence.
"Have I missed something?" asked Harry, his eyebrows knitting together as he wondered what he had done to elicit this reaction from the normally impassive man.
"No but judging by your expression you I was going to hex" said Tom, his eyes still shining with amusement.
"I wouldn't put it past you" muttered Harry, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Good. Are you interested in that book?" asked Tom, looking back Harry saw that the mask had been put back on and felt a shock of disappointment jolt through his stomach.
"It was the title that intrigued me, its interesting that it is called The Great Gatsby when the narrator said Gatsby represented everything that he abhorred" answered Harry.
"Yes but not everything is as it appears, remember that" said Tom.
"I assume you like it" guessed Harry.
"It is one of my favourites yes. Oh and before you say it I know it was written by a muggle but that doesn't make it any less of a literary masterpiece" said Tom, Harry never had a clue what it was about, let alone that it was written by a muggle however he held his tongue and just went along with it.
"I thought that you wanted to eradicate all muggles though?" asked Harry, his mind trying to come up with a question to break through the deafening silence.
"Do you remember anything I told you in your dreams?" asked Tom, his voice tinged with frustration.
"Yes but you never really explained it in detail" defended Harry.
"I never had much time, I thought I would have had days but the acceleration prevented that something which I now hope to rectify" said Tom, slipping into what Harry called 'lecture mode', "Now just like we have a realm the light too have a realm. The leaders of the realms however cannot intrude on wizarding soil, that was designated as neutral territory in the first meeting of the clans. However the Light got around this by using someone who was already in the wizarding world as a puppet and acted through him to enforce their ideas and slowly take over-"
"Dumbledore" interrupted Harry.
"Indeed" said Tom grimly.
"So that makes you the servant for the Dark" concluded Harry.
"It does. Alderan was waiting for someone who was strong enough to carry the burden. He watched me from afar as I grew up, keeping an eye on my clashes with Dumbledore. He probably sensed the darkness in me from a mile away! The strength of my magic activated the gene early and seeing this he introduced me to the realm when I was fourteen, training me personally and honing my skills so that I could hope to lead the forces of the Dark successfully. When I returned my friends were awed by my newfound abilities and I gathered followers quickly. We knew eradicating the muggles would be a fruitless endevour, and so we decided that isolation was more practical. This would benefit everyone as the muggles are always after knowledge, for new ways to kill each other. It is only a matter of time until they pursue magic and when that happens all that we know now will end. Isolation is in everyone's best interest and will also prevent the dilution of the creature blood needed to activate the genes in out fellow kinsmen and women. However in order to do this we must take over the Ministry, the Light are using this weakness to wipe out our ancient races and by spreading lies about us Dark creatures are persecuted and shunned in society. They think too highly of muggles, believe them to be understanding creatures and this belief shall destroy our world if we let them continue. We are hoping that we can take over the Ministry and with that the wizarding world, then we shall draw up a new contract, this one with no loopholes and balance shall be restored between the magicks once more. Your power plays a key role in these plans. It has brought hope to the hearts of many, Apollo has never given a false prophecy and the abilities you have displayed are unknown to younglings. With the sheer size of your magical core it is unimaginable the power you could wield" finished Tom fervently, his voice burning with curiosity.
"Thank you for telling me all of this" said Harry quietly, his mind reeling from what Tom had just divulged.
"I felt that it was your right to know, Alderan wasn't sure about me telling you all of this. He wasn't sure giving you this much information was wise considering you were going to be infiltrating the Fortress of the Light. He was worried that they would get it out of you somehow if you betrayed us or were forced and therefore know our whole plan. However I insisted" said Tom, his tone of voice clearly showed how highly he thought of Alderan's fears.
"Why did you want to tell me so badly?" asked Harry.
"I know what it's like to feel like not to belong" said Tom quietly.
"What happened to you?" It was only later he realised the highly personal nature of this question.
"I was in a muggle orphanage for the first eleven years of my life. There I was ostracised by the fellow children because my random bursts of magic which thereby made me a freak. I believed this until Dumbledore came and visited me, telling me I was a wizard. When I was sent to Hogwarts I was placed in Slytherin and immediately the rest of the school automatically hated me because of my house. It is Dumbledore's way of alienating the so called 'dark' wizards and further promoting prejudice against us. I'm sure you've noticed that he does nothing to prevent the other houses ganging up on Slytherin. I was so adamant about you knowing as I wanted you to know about our aims so that you could trust us more, feel you belonged here which would only be possible if you knew everything. Without that there would still be an underlying doubt that we are merely tricking you and so this could easily be manipulated by Dumbledore to coerce you into tell him our plans. Understanding is usually the key to acceptance after all" replied Tom, examining his nails as if he were bored however Harry could guess how much it took to tell him all that.
"I trust you and I won't tell Dumbledore anything willingly" said Harry, the words tasted strange on his tongue but nonetheless he knew that they were the truth.
"Then its good to know I was right."
They sat in silence for a moment, Tom gazing out of the window whilst Harry tried to organise his thoughts. So there was another Light realm, the Dark never wanted to take over for their own agenda they just wanted peace and from his experience with muggles he concurred with the conclusion Tom had reached about the future if they never acted. This wasn't what was freaking him out at that moment however. He knew Tom had already told him vaguely of the prophecy but now it seemed to fully hit him. In essence he had to take down a whole regime on his own. Even in his mind it sounded impossible, let alone actually applying it.
'Your not alone' came a voice in the back of his head.
'What?'
'Remember the prophecy?'
'What prophecy?'
'Bellatrix' one, matched they shall be powerful, separate they pave a path of destruction'
Harry felt the pieces fall together, joining and creating the full picture. Taking a step back Harry looked at the scene. He and Tom were fighting side by side, weaving between enemy spells as if they were one entity. Tom fired off a series of hexes whilst Harry, as if reading his mind, watched his back, shielding him from the oncoming jets of light. Then the picture dissolved, disintegrating into pieces and fluttering away into his imagination. As soon as this one had left however another appeared. This time the air was thick and everywhere he looked was blanketed in white. The few buildings visible underneath the snow were crumbling, groaning under the strain. He knew instinctively that this was what was going to happen if he and Tom never teamed up. The muggles would start their war with the wizards and when normal weapons were found to be ineffective they would resort to drastic means. Gazing at the nuclear winter, Harry wasn't sad to see this image go back into his subconscious. Opening his eyes he was almost surprised to be greeted with Tom's lounge, the warmth of the room contrasting sharply with the scene he had just seen. Shuddering slightly he saw Tom turn to him.
"What is wrong?" asked Tom, his face impassive but his voice had a slight hint of concern.
"I've just realised what the prophecy Bellatrix made meant" said Harry quietly. Immediately Tom's eyes gained a glint of understanding.
"Yes, I imagine that is why Alderan wanted you there, by getting a first hand account you are more likely to accept it as the truth."
"So we are going to be partners, together our combined powers can bring peace?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I am sure you have notice, or at least your friends have noticed that we have been training you slightly differently from the others. Alderan wanted our magic to become accustomed to one another, instead of clashing like it has done every other time we have met. In this way we can fight more efficiently and create greater unity amongst the ranks, as once they see that you are not our enemy anymore then there is bound to be some unrest."
"Wait, I have to join the Death Eaters?" asked Harry, he knew he probably shouldn't be surprised by this but his mind had other ideas.
"No, you shall be a Lord by my side, making you a servant would be detrimental to our efforts for partnership, together we shall lead our army against the Light and bring their regime to an end before they destroy our world" said Tom, his eyes lighting up as he painted the future.
"But what will you say about my defecting to the Dark side and how can I rule with you when I'm at Hogwarts?" asked Harry, surely this was unrealistic, how would he be able to do all of this without Dumbledore finding out or getting cursed by Death Eaters.
"They will do as they are told," hissed Tom, his voice sounding much more like Voldemort, "As for Dumbledore, you can Phase to Riddle Manor in seconds so all you really have to do is make up some good excuses that will give you a couple of hours of free time."
As easy as Tom made it sound, Harry couldn't help feel the ever looming shadow of misfortune pass over him for a moment before slinking away to the corner biding it's time.
A/N: Thank you for the feedback, I was surprised by the amount of reviews, I'm not used this story getting that many for one chapter! Sorry for the late update I've got impending exams and I have been finishing up another story that took a lot of my allotted FF time.
The training session at the start was Tom testing Harry's senses and what better way to do so than by making himself invisible! Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - actually I seriously recommend The Great Gatsby as it is such a beautiful piece of literature... okay I'm going to stop now as I could go on for hours...
I apologise for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes contained within this chapter.
Please Review, your reviews really encouraged me last time :)