Hehey, quick update!

This chapter isn't very action-filled, but there is a lot of explanation. Thanks to dead feather, who pointed out some parts that demanded some explanation, I have used this chapter to hopefully clear up any vague parts of the story. I really appreciate being called out on plot holes etc., as I'm quite busy in RL and might forget parts. The story is fully written in my head and sometimes I forget that I never really wrote a part down. So sorry to those of you who were confused!

Also, Harry is not a horcrux in this story. Neither does he have a scar, as Voldemort never tried to kill him and Dumbledore never thought of marking him in that way. To him, having the story surrounding Harry was good enough. I never really got a good chance to explain that Harry doesn't have a scar, unless I included a scene with Voldemort 'brushing the black hair away from Harry's clear, pale forehead' or whatever...

So there you go! Hope you enjoy!


For must have been the hundredth time, Harry turned around in his bed, unable to fall asleep. His body felt strange, like something was pulling away and fusing together at the same time. He had never experienced anything like it before and, though it didn't hurt, it worried him. It had started just a couple of days after they had gotten back from Diagon Alley, actually, it was the day after, now that he thought about it. After having spent hours trying to analyse the reason, Harry had reached the only possible conclusion he could think of. Voldemort must have something to do with it. Suspecting that it had something to do with his magic, Harry's fears that the man was only using him for his own gains had rekindled and now the boy couldn't help but keep a close eye on the red-eyed man, just to see if he could see any signs that would give him away. Of course, no such sign showed itself and Harry was getting frustrated.

With a snarl, he threw the covers off, grabbed his bathrobe and slippers, before heading down the hallway towards Lucius' office. It was still only before midnight, so the man would still be awake. It was strange, Harry mused, how accustomed he had become to asking the blond for advice or help. More often than not, the man would help him, though often through ambiguous words that were intended for Harry to decipher for himself and reach his own conclusions as to what was meant. At first, Harry had been annoyed by this and thought the older Malfoy unhelpful and spiteful, but then he realized that this way of making him think about matters actually was rather helpful. It made him consider the topic at hand from various angles, before drawing his conclusion. Usually, he would've just gone with his gut instinct and dived straight into whatever outcome that led him to.

Knocking on the now familiar door, and hearing the usual, cold 'enter', Harry pushed the handle down and walked in, though only a few steps into the room. Lucius was not alone this evening, on the sofa in front of the fireplace sat Severus Snape, holding what appeared to be a glass of fire whisky in his hand.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you. I'll come back tomorrow." Harry mumbled and turned, anxious to avoid having to interact with his snarky potions professor. However, Lucius called out to him.

"It's okay, Harry. You were only interrupting a rather brooding silence, one which keeps reappearing every time Severus comes visiting." The pointed tone and look Lucius directed towards the greasy haired man, raised Harry's curiosity.

"Ah, it seems I might've said something unpleasant, my dear Lucius?" Snape smirked and Lucius rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore his old friend, and turned towards Harry again.

"So, what were you wondering about? You never come here unless there's something troubling you."

Drawing his breath, Harry decided that it was best to just say it all outright and get it over with. Hopefully, Snape would keep his snarky remarks to a minimum, though Harry knew that the man enjoyed every opportunity to take a stab at his least favoured student.

"I feel… strange. I can't sleep, I'm stressed and it feels like something is fighting within my body, like a tug-of-war between something outside of me and my own body." Realizing that he had sounded rather childish, Harry nevertheless chose to ignore the rather sarcastic look Snape had shot his way, and kept eye contact with Lucius. To his surprise, however, the blond smiled and placed his head in his palm, supporting himself by his elbow against the tabletop.

"I understand this might be confusing for you, Harry. It's my fault actually, for not telling you sooner, though I didn't expect it to start this early on."

"Tell me what? What has started?" Harry's quizzical look was enough to make Snape stand up with an impatient snort.

"Rubbish, Lucius. It's not your responsibility to feed every single piece of information, information which, by the way, the boy should've found out on his own." Snape's dark eyes met Harry's and Harry was surprised at how little malice he found. He had been used to that stare being full of scorn and, though not hate, passionate dislike, every time their eyes met. Now it was impatient, yes, but he didn't get the feeling that Snape thought him excessively stupid. It was the stare of someone who had explained the same thing many times, and who was loath to have to do it once again. There was nothing in those eyes that signified that the potions master had any active dislike of Harry himself.

"What you are going through, Potter, is the same thing Lucius here went through when he was courting Narcissa, the same thing as every witch or wizard goes through during their courting period." Harry fought to keep a blush from flooding his face.

"This 'tug-of-war', as you so eloquently put it, is simply a matter of two magical cores fusing. Your magic is reacting to that of the Dark Lord's, which will obviously feel strange and uncomfortable at the beginning."

Lucius had now stepped out from behind his desk and walked over to where Harry was standing, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know that you were rather upset after the trip to Diagon Alley, but the Dark Lord was simply doing what his instincts told him to, which was to make sure you were out of harm's way."

"Yes, I can clearly remember you, Lucius, when you kept stalking Narcissa and me when we were out shopping for courting gifts to you. It was rather tedious to pretend not to see you as you hid behind the corners, thinking we hadn't noticed you." Snape casually remarked, staring down into his fire whisky with an amused little smile on his lips.

To Harry's surprise, the usually stoic blond blushed a little. "You don't have to bring that up here, Severus. I was young and, also, who could blame me?" he added in a rather haughty voice "Narcissa was remarkably sought after at the time, as well as being from an important pureblood family. Of course I had to make sure no pesky stranger tried to woo her behind my back."

Now it was Snape's turn to roll his eyes. "You keep telling yourself that." He shot back in his usual, sarcastic tone. This bickering made Harry smile a little, and he turned towards Lucius.

"So, what you are saying is that I don't have to worry about it? It's just a part of the process? I mean, of the courting or whatever Voldemort and I are doing now?"

"Yes, that's right. Don't worry about it. It will be over in about a week, though your cores will keep merging throughout the courting period. You just won't notice it as much."

Thanking the blond, and with a careful nod in Snape's direction, Harry went back to his room feeling quite relieved that this wasn't all some sort of dubious plot on Voldemort's part. He still felt uncomfortable with the thought that they were courting, that in the future he would be expected to marry this man. However, during the time Harry had come to know the Dark Lord a little better, the man had done nothing that would signify any sort of maniacal personality traits or evil intentions. Though he certainly had proven to be rather overprotective, even at Malfoy Manor, Voldemort had actually respected Harry's wish for privacy when the boy had told him to leave him alone. This was the most surprising aspect of him, as Harry never would have expected a Dark Lord to care about the wishes of a twelve-year-old boy.

Stopping outside the door to his room, Harry paused with his hand on the handle. It was all so much to consider. He was only twelve years old, for Merlin's sake! Yet everyone around him expected him to follow the course they had prepared for him, which included marrying the Dark Lord once he became of age. Though Harry certainly felt grateful towards the man for the things he had done for him during the last few weeks, love was not even a feeling he considered himself capable of feeling for Voldemort. Despite the youthful look he used, the man was old enough to be his grandfather. Surprisingly though, Harry felt like age was the least important reason when it came to the question of whether or not to accept his coming future.

With a sigh, Harry pressed the handle down and walked into his room, as usual heading straight for the window, where Medusa had taken up temporary dwelling. Kneeling down in front of her, Harry relished in the way the moonlight streaming in from the tall windows reflected on her scales.

"I'm so confused, Medusa. There's just too much going on at once and I don't feel like I'm capable of handling it all." He sighed. "I wish you could talk. I'm sure you would make an excellent conversation partner."

What happened next made him start back in shock. The snake looked at him, her golden eyes suddenly seeming full of meaning and emotion. Then she raised her hand and with a hiss, answered him.

"Stupid human. I have always been able to talk. It's just you who have been too narrow-minded to listen to what I have to say." Her voice was arrogant, but Harry could hear that she was quite amused by the situation.

"W-w-why am I able to understand you?! I have never talked to a snake before, why am I suddenly able to?" he stammered and Medusa hissed, as if she was sighing dejectedly.

"You might be my master, but you certainly are not very bright, are you?" she hissed and Harry opened his mouth to interject, but she cut him off. "Never mind. I'll explain it to you. I'm sure you're aware that red-eyes is a Speaker, right?"

Gathering that by 'speaker' Medusa meant having the ability to talk to snakes, Harry nodded.

"Well, since you are going to mate, some of his abilities have been transferred to you. You're correct in that you weren't able to understand us before, but now that you're preparing to make a nest together with red-eyes, you are sharing some of your qualities with each other." The look she was giving him was utterly self-satisfied, as if she highly enjoyed being able to lecture a wizard on what was going on around him.

Harry, who was still slightly shocked, was going to deny even the possibility of this, but then he remembered what Lucius had said earlier. If their magic could fuse, surely some abilities could also be transferred between them, right? Deciding that calm consideration was the best approach in the situation, Harry crossed his legs and once more sat down in front of the snake.

"Okay. Let me get this straight. So because Voldemort and I are going through a courting period, and our cores are merging, I get abilities that he has? Does that work in reverse too?" he asked, but couldn't really think of anything that he had which Voldemort didn't. After all, what was he, a twelve-year-old boy, compared to the most powerful wizard in the world?

Medusa didn't deem it necessary to answer what she obviously thought a stupid question. Instead, she flicked her tail in an impatient gesture.

"Sorry" Harry rubbed his head sheepishly. "It's just that this seems a little confusing to me. I'd never even heard of courting periods being the norm until just a few weeks ago, you know?"

The snake's eyes softened a bit, if you could say such a thing was possible, and she hissed softly. "I understand, hatchling. I will answer your questions if I can, but you should talk it over with red-eyes over there. He will give you much better answers than I can." Her golden eyes had left Harry's and were looking at a point behind his shoulder.

Tensing slightly, Harry slowly turned and saw Voldemort standing near the door. Harry had been so occupied with his discussion that he hadn't noticed the man coming in, and now those red eyes were watching him with something of a mixture between intrigue and shock, though was there also a small sense of pride in that little smile he wore?

Seeing that Harry had discovered him, Voldemort calmly walked over to them and sat down on the windowsill, next to Medusa.

"Should I have waited for your 'come in' before entering?" he said, still with that little smile on his face.

"No, it's fine." Harry mumbled, but shot him an accusing look. "Though it would be nice if you'd do it from now on."

Voldemort was stroking Medusa's head, to her obvious pleasure, and only nodded absentmindedly. Harry sighed dejectedly, before leaning back a little so that he could look the man in the face.

"So what did you come here for? You only come by my room if there's something you want to discuss that you don't want Lucius or Snape to hear."

Voldemort nodded. "You're right, Harry. I thought it was about time that you and I sit down to have a serious talk about everything. I want you to know just what happened in the past, as far as I am able to answer it, and also what should happen from now on."

The sincere look on his face took Harry by surprise, and it took him a few seconds to absorb what the man had said.

"Um, okay? I think I know much of it, but I'm sure you know something that could shed some light on a few murky bits." Thinking it over for a few seconds, Harry then added. "So, I know that you never intended to kill my parents, and that Dumbledore was the one responsible for placing me with the Dursleys."

Suddenly, he remembered something. "But what about last year, with Quirrell? Didn't you try to kill me then? And Sirius, why was he accused of betraying my parents?"

"This was part of what I wanted to explain to you, Harry." Voldemort said and fixed his eyes on Harry's, and Harry could sense the deeply felt emotion behind that stare.

"To be understand what happened last year at Hogwarts, I should tell you what happened after I had to flee from Godric's Hollow that night. I was wounded, as you know, and spent much of my time afterwards in hiding. During that time, I continued an experiment that I had started several years earlier. I was researching how to make myself immortal, and I found a way to do this by essentially splitting my soul into several parts." Voldemort rubbed his forehead with a drained expression on his face, as if the memories of that time annoyed him.

"I didn't understand the process enough, and my mind didn't take the strain of splitting my soul well. I lost most of my emotions, except rage and hate, and though I remembered that you had a special importance to me, I confused the wish to keep you safe with the wish to kill you. The thing on the back of Quirrell's head was indeed me, weakened by my experimentation and crazed with what I thought was my most deep-seated desire; to kill you. It was, honestly, a streak of luck that I, in a lucid moment after having fled Hogwarts, remembered my original intentions. With the help of someone who shall remain nameless, I gathered the objects in which I had placed my soul-pieces, or Horcruxes, and performed a ritual that once more fused those pieces to me."

Harry had been sitting completely still, mesmerized and disturbed in equal part, by what the man was telling him. It didn't once occur to him to doubt what Voldemort was saying, the expression on his face told Harry everything he needed to know. Without making a conscious decision to do so, the boy stood up, walked over to the other wizard, and slowly, as if to give the man time to withdraw, hugged him.

Voldemort froze, but then he placed a hand on Harry's back in a somewhat awkward half-hug.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that." Harry whispered, drawing in the smell that surrounded the man. He smelled just like a forest after a heavy downpour, like pine needles when they are all gathered together in a thick blanket covering the forest floor.

Voldemort smiled and shook his head. "No, Harry, don't be sorry. What I did was a mistake, but I nevertheless went through it knowing that there were serious complications to the process. You have to understand, at that time my most important goal, my only dream, was to become immortal, to conquer death. I have since realized what a juvenile dream that was, but I still will not be pitied for it, as it was my conscious decision to go through with it."

Harry stepped back from him a little, a little embarrassed by having actually hugged the man. "So what about Sirius? Why was he imprisoned for betraying my parents? I mean, he was with Dumbledore when they all came to rescue my parents and me from what they believed was you trying to murder them."

Voldemort rose and started pacing, something Harry had noticed the man did whenever he wanted to either clear his thoughts or something caused him great emotional distress.

"The reason why your godfather was arrested for being what the Wizarding world thought was my second-in-command is Dumbledore. After I left your parents' house, Dumbledore decided he would use the situation to further his own goals. He obliviated the Weasleys and Black, making them believe that I had come to Godric's Hollow only to kill two prestigious members of the Order, along with their young son. He made up a story, which revolved around me trying to kill you, after having killed your parents, but that the killing curse didn't work, and I was forced to flee. The secret keeper to the Fidelius charm surrounding your house had been changed from Black to Peter Pettigrew, and because of this Black went after Peter to kill him. However, Pettigrew, being a slimy, but cunning little rat, tricked Black and faked his own murder. Black was found in a busy London street, in front of the dead bodies of several muggles, along with a single finger belonging to Pettigrew. However, Black never killed those people and the rat had cut his finger off to fake his death. Thus, the Wizarding world drew the wrong conclusions and imprisoned Black. Dumbledore, of course, pretended to do all he could to get Black out, but the truth is that your godfather is a little too impulsive to really suit Dumbledore's carefully planned out scenarios. So, it simply suited our dear headmaster to keep Sirius hidden away. The Weasleys, being avid followers of Dumbledore, never suspected a thing."

Harry felt himself sinking down onto the floor, trying to let the information Voldemort had given him sink in. It was simply incredible how far Dumbledore's lies and manipulations went and Harry felt a new surge of hatred for the man, along with a new level of pity for his godfather, who had been so drained with physical and mental exhaustion that he, soon after arriving at the Manor, had collapsed and was now resting peacefully in one of the bedrooms.

"So the whole 'Boy-who-lived' thing is simply a ruse created by Dumbledore? A way of making me seem like a tragic boy-hero whose ultimate goal is to kill you for murdering my parents?" His voice was thick and his tongue suddenly felt clumsily out of place.

Voldemort only nodded, but then his lips drew back into a wry smile. "But now you know the truth and you're out of the headmaster's clutches. Also, it seems like I now have someone to share the gift of Parseltongue with. The ability to talk to snakes." He explained, when seeing Harry's puzzled expression.

Harry blushed and decided not to comment on that. Instead, he decided to ask the man about something he had been wondering about for some time. "You said that I am to go back to Hogwarts for some of my classes, right? But the term started just a few days after I come to the Manor, and neither Draco nor I have been sent back there. I don't understand why Draco at least isn't back at the castle?"

"You're right about that. However, Lucius is on the School Board and thus has some level of autonomy when it comes to when to send his children to school. If he chooses to delay your return, he is free to do so for as long as he likes."

The political power Lucius Malfoy had never ceased to amaze Harry and he nodded dumbly.

"And from what I understand, you wanted your muggleborn friend to visit before returning to school, right?" Voldemort said, the smile on his face now broader than ever. "I think you should owl her as soon as possible to arrange a day for her to here. After all, you don't want to delay your studies for too long and I have a feeling, if what you have told me about her is true, that she might be a positive influence on your study habits."

With that, he sauntered out the door, leaving Harry with a mixture of confused emotions, ranging from anger to excited joy.


Dear Merlin, I love Medusa! Such a sassy little snake!

Also, Hermione in next chapter! That's bound to be interesting! :D