Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Yayy! People like my story! :D Thank you to everybody who reviewed and shared their opinions with me! I really love to see what you think of what is happening! Keep it up! :D

To my guests:

Boblove321: I'm glad you liked that sentence, I was sniggering to myself when I wrote it. Very few people remarked on it though, strangely. Maybe it was too scandalous for them, hehe. Always a pleasure to make you splutter ;)

FanFictionLover: It's funny, but you're the second reviewer to talk to me about colour-changing cubs for Tonks and Remus. I find the imagery very sweet and cute, but I'm afraid that my story won't last long enough in time to cover the birth of "the cub". Feel free to dream it up though, it doesn't go against anything in the timeline I've planned :P As for the Dark Lord having sex with other people...well, come on. He's practically godly. He can have anybody he wants. He's just realising that the one he wants now is Harry and that all the rest of them are boring.

Warnings: slash...in my opinion, not very graphic...but well. Loosely contained between chapter breaks: o0o0o

Chapter 23: September 1st 1997, Part One: Soul-to-soul

Today, Draco would leave to go to Hogwarts and I would move to the Dark Lord's Fortress. I was nervous for both occasions.

I had become used to my routine at Malfoy Manor and I had begun to rely on the blond brat (as I called him even if he was older than me)'s company perhaps a bit too much. Even if I had come to value his friendship, Draco wasn't someone with whom you could get along easily. He was spoilt rotten, whiny when he felt comfortable enough with you and permanently demanding, whoever you were. He was even terrifying to the House-Elves.

Normally, from what I had understood of those strange little creatures, House-Elves loved to work and were very dedicated to making you satisfied. But Draco had such precise tastes, and his demands were so whimsical that they could never really anticipate what he wanted. It more often than not resulted in sessions of self-inflicted torture that Draco found disturbingly amusing. I did not, but I kept my mouth shut because I was only a guest here. However, I did ask Draco not to make them punish themselves in front of me, or because of me, citing for a justification my unrefined upbringing that didn't prepare me adequately for the customs of Pureblood society. He had compassionately agreed. Thank Merlin for small mercies.

It goes without saying that I had become the favourite among the House-Elves because I was easy to please and always polite with them. You never knew whose help you would need at some point, after all. Better to not alienate yourself to anybody. And, well, I just couldn't watch them hurt themselves without intervening.

It would all be for nothing after today, however, since I was leaving for the Dark Lord's Fortress, where he had supposedly cursed his House-Elves with some sort of binding contract that prevented them of having any original thought or personality. I imagined that they would be like those science-fiction robots without emotions that you read about in Muggle books. It wasn't sure what to make of this. It went with my theory that the Dark Lord was scared of being betrayed or killed in his sleep. It was also an abject decision and, in my view, a grave insult to the creatures' rights he was trying to promote in his regime in general. When I commented on this to Remus, he said that House-Elves were not perceived as 'humanoid enough' to be granted the same rights as werewolves, vampires, veelas or merepeople, for instance. At least, the distinction had been made by their level of consciousness, and not by their physical aspect, as I had first thought. House-Elves were too servile and simple-minded to be recognised as creatures worthy of rights, according to this regime. I put it on my mental list of things I didn't like about this government.

Currently, I was standing in the entrance parlour of Malfoy Manor. Draco, who had decided to work on his composure a bit before going back into 'the real world', was behaving with the dignity and maturity befitting a Malfoy heir. So, no, he wasn't begging or whining, he was demanding and compromising with his parents because he wanted me to accompany them at the Platform.

I was a bit torn on this issue, so I let them decide for me. On one hand, it would probably be my last occasion to see the Hogwarts Express where my father and his friends had met. It was also, perhaps, the last I'd see of Draco, depending on if I survived until the Yule holidays. One never knew. On the other hand, it was a bit risky and I didn't know if I really wanted to be seen. I was supposed to look a lot like my father, what if someone recognised me?

In the end, Lucius decided that I wouldn't go because the Dark Lord had plans for my first public appearance. He said that I could probably go there to welcome him home for Yule, however, if circumstances allowed it (meaning, if I didn't die beforehand, I completed in my head).

Draco looked at me, hesitating a bit on how he should bid me farewell. I smiled a bit at him and hugged him tightly for a brief moment, before letting him go. He shot an embarrassed look at his parents before sending me a small half-smile. For all his slightly annoying and demanding personality, I had become fond of him in the past month. I'd miss his biting humour and our impromptu Quidditch matches.

I bid farewell to Lucius and Narcissa as well, since I would probably be gone for the Dark Lord's Fortress by the time they came back from the Platform. I would see them again soon, however, or so Narcissa promised me. They left by the Floo and I headed to my rooms to finish my packing process.

I wondered briefly what I would do of my suddenly freed schedule without the Malfoys' company before a flash of the Dark Lord and a bed came to my mind. I flushed a bit. I wouldn't be against the idea of spending more...active evenings with him.

My mind drifted on the subject while I packed all of my new clothes in an equally new suitcase courtesy of the 'Thank you for saving Draco' foundation they had set up in my name. I exaggerated a bit, but they just kept on spending for me, even when I told them repeatedly that they shouldn't waste their money on someone who would be dead soon. Narcissa would then invariably reprimand me for saying such crude things.

I sighed and sat on my bed, looking around at the rooms. I wondered for the hundredth time this month how it would be at the Dark Lord's Fortress. Would I see him more often than now? Lucius had told me that he had been busier than usual this month because of an ICW meeting that was coming up.

I let myself drop back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The Dark Lord was supposed to send someone to pick me up in my room around this time. I relaxed a bit on the comfortable bed to wait and closed my eyes for few minutes. I began to drift off.

o0o0o

Then I felt it: His magical aura, seeping through every pore of my body. In my semi-conscious state, I sighed and arched up a bit at the feeling. The warmth, the power of it was delicious. I bit my lower lip to prevent myself from making embarrassing sounds. I felt his body hover above mine and the mattress dip on each side of my head where he placed his hands. I jolted a bit when I felt his nose tracing my collarbone and my neck up to my ear. He murmured in it:

"So beautiful, lying in the bed waiting for me and responding so eagerly. So very docile..."

My eyes snapped open, glaring at him. The Dark Lord was there in all his red-eyed glory, smirking knowingly at me. He was still so close above me that if I lifted my head slightly, it would collide with his. I wasn't about to let the insult slide. I wasn't docile and I was about to prove it to him.

I quickly wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled on him. He fell on me and I twisted rapidly to the side, mounting on his stomach and pining him to the mattress by the shoulders. I smiled at him smugly and he just lifted an eyebrow, still smirking superiorly. I was beginning to question his perception of reality when he suddenly grabbed my hips and pulled them down on his lap. My eyes widened and I looked at his knowing smirk. Damn. Bloody smug bastard.

I began to shift on the side to get away from him when he grabbed me again and twisted until I was lying on my back and him above me, reverting our position, except that he was now between my legs, of course. He gripped my hands and pinned them above my head on the mattress. I felt horribly exposed even if I still had all my clothes on.

I hesitated on what to do. On one hand, I did have enough of technique to throw him off me, but it would be quite the struggle and I wasn't sure of how the clause of Non-Aggression of the Honour Duel would react to that. On the other hand, it wasn't that I disliked that position per se. It could lead to interesting things, after all, but he had just teased me by saying I was submissive so the last thing I wanted to do at this point was submit. It would only prove the smug bastard right. I was at an impasse and the jerk was watching my face closely, probably reading on it every step of my deliberation while I pondered my dilemma.

I blanked my face before meeting his eyes. He narrowed them, trying to determine what I had decided but I didn't give him the time to discover it before I made my move. A stupid move, really, and halfway between both options.

I lifted my legs up and wrapped them around his waist, pulling him closer to me. He fell on me with a reflexive gasp and I took advantage of his surprise to free my hands from his grasp and slide them through his hair, angling his face towards me and kissing him suddenly.

At first, he just stayed there, shock still. Well, I thought he was in shock, but then, when he didn't react after a while and I felt my scar burning warningly, I knew that I had overstepped my boundaries and I began to feel quite self-conscious. After all, he had never said that he wanted to do some more stuff like that with me...

I began to withdraw my lips from his in dejection when he suddenly crashed his lips back on mine and kissed me forcefully. I understood the message: yes, I shouldn't have kissed him without his permission, but no, he wasn't against doing stuff with me. I sighed internally in relief. That could have ended badly.

I was distracted from my thoughts when I felt the Dark Lord's hand pulling my shirt out of my dress pants. I jolted when his warm hand touched the sensitive skin of my side and I hummed in his mouth when it roamed higher to skim my waist and my rib cage. His teeth bit my lower lip slightly before nibbling at the skin of my jaw and at my ear. His warm breath on my neck made me shiver and I roamed my hands on his chest before reaching down to pull his shirt out as well. I suddenly desperately wanted to touch his skin, to explore the vast expanses with the tip of my fingers and the flat of my palms. I had finally managed to pull out the shirt just enough to start unbuttoning it when I felt the Dark Lord bite my neck sharply like last time. I cried out and hissed in pain as he sucked on the sensitive skin.

"What...what is it with you and...biting my neck?" I said through my clenched teeth.

He hummed in answer, and I could feel the vibrations of his vocal cords resonate in my throat. It was a weird sensation. He pulled back, looking me over like last time before he smirked.

"I'm marking you."

I looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"Why? It's not like anybody could see it beneath my collar.

-No, but every time you will look at yourself in a mirror in the next..." He looked at the bruise he created, evaluating. "Three days, you'll see it and you will know that you are mine."

He punctuated his declaration with a deep roll of his hips that made me arch into him, gasping. What? I'm his? What does he mean?

"But..." I tried to articulate a protest.

"No buts, until the day you die, you are mine, Harry Potter." I felt like my brain had stopped working and his movements against my body didn't make it easier for me to concentrate.

"What?! Why would I...let myself...let you...why...say things...like that?" There, that was vaguely coherent.

I gasped out loud when I felt his hand knead my butt.

"What if..." I started again, still panting. "I wanted...to do...stuff...with other people too?"

The Dark Lord barked out a dark laugh as he pinned my arms back above my head and looked me directly in the eye.

"I'm afraid I will ruin sex for you. It will never be enough with anybody else than me, not after living something like this..." he said confidently while his magic wrapped more tightly around me and battled with mine with a renewed intensity.

It felt like an electric current pulsing through my body and making it hum with power. I felt my chest rise off the mattress and my eyes roll towards the back of my head. I involuntarily let out a throaty groan and clenched the muscles of my arms and legs.

The magic...it was...intoxicating. It reverberated through every fibre of my body, inflaming them, stimulating them. I nearly blacked out as I climaxed. I couldn't have stopped myself. He didn't even touch me and it was too much.

I came down from my high, panting harshly, my eyes still closed. I felt humiliated. It wasn't supposed to happen this quickly. I gathered my courage and peeked my eyes open. The Dark Lord was looking at me, sitting back on his heels, a smug smile on his lips and a mocking eyebrow lifted. He hadn't even touched me, for Merlin's sake! I felt my face burn up in shame.

His smug expression dimmed down a bit and he frowned his brow. He lifted his right hand and brought it up to the side of my face near the scar, caressing it lightly. I could still feel his magic humming beneath his skin, teasing, reminding me of what I had just lived.

"Harry" called the Dark Lord. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You react exceptionally well to my magic and I sent so much of it toward you for that direct purpose. Anyway, you shouldn't worry too much about it. Most people can't really control themselves around me. It's a flattering fact of life. I am overwhelming, I can't help it." He let out a small chuckle. "It's good news, really! It means that I can always make you satisfied without having to invest too much effort on you. Then you wouldn't complain if we focus our energies on satisfying me, would you?" He said, teasingly.

Strangely, his words did reassure me enough to go back to a vaguely normal behaviour so I glared up at him again.

"Ahh, there he is again, back to normal. You do know you look like a little frustrated kitten when you glare at me like that, right? I'm not intimidated in the slightest." I felt myself burn up.

"Stop talking to me as if I was a child! And I don't look like a kitten either! I'm a man!"

I pushed him off me and hurriedly climbed out of the bed. I darted to the bathroom, grabbing a new pair of underwear and pants before heading in. I turned back right before I entered to glance at the Dark Lord. He was still smirking at me from the bed. I huffed under my breath and closed the bathroom door loudly.

I'll never live it down.

o0o0o

When I was done washing myself quickly and changing into new clothes, I went back to the room resolutely. If the Dark Lord felt generous enough to try to reassure me after my humiliation, I wasn't going to worry about it anymore. Well, I'd try to not wallow on it too much.

When I entered the room again, I saw Voldemort sitting at my desk, reading through some of the notes I had taken about the Rebels.

"Hey!" I shouted a bit angrily. "You can't look at that!" I hurried next to him and tried to claw the documents off his hands, but he swiped them away quickly.

-Ah? Wasn't it intended for Lucius and me?" He asked, one eyebrow lifted at me and still holding the papers out of my reach.

"Yeah, but I kept it for negotiation purposes!" He paused at that.

"What do you want for them?" His words reminded me a bit of what he had asked me at my birthday. I blushed slightly at the thought, and definitely reddened when I saw the enormous bed standing in the corner of the room not too far away and thought of our earlier activities. I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. No, this is more important than some silly crush on the Dark Lord.

" I'm not sure of everything yet. I know I want full access to my vault, no more probation time. I also want some sort of diplomatic immunity in case you die in our Duel...

-You should get that notion out of your head. If we duelled to death, I would win. You could be training for twenty more years and I'd still win."

I frowned at him. It's not as if I didn't know that there was quite the gap between our age and abilities, but I thought that he was too categorical in his judgement.

"Do you know why?" He asked, sure of himself as always.

"No, why?" I bit out, annoyed at the man.

-Because you have never killed anyone before and because you don't hate me enough to finish me off when I'm at your mercy. Not that it will happen, but still. You don't have the ruthlessness needed to kill me in cold-blood. I think that's part of why you challenged me to this Duel, as well. In your head, it would be a more honourable way to commit the deed. But well, let's face it, it would still be a murder, you would still be killing someone, shattering your soul, tainting your magical aura. You would have to look me in the eye, slash my throat open and watch stoically by as the blood would pour out of my body and my life would start fading away...Do you like to picture it, Harry? Do you think you would feel pleasure at killing me? Earlier, were you thinking about how you would like to stick a blade through my heart and watch my life wither away when I was pinning you to the bed and you were moaning my name in desire?"

I was shaking my head rapidly in denial throughout his entire speech. I wanted to throw up at what he was describing. How could I do that? I never thought of what killing him would be like. I had always evaded thinking about the subject. 'Kill' was just a word I had heard often enough to feel comfortable using, but, if I thought about it more attentively, I knew that I didn't want to do it to anyone. I just wanted to be free of my 'Destiny', but Voldemort didn't even believe that I had a 'Task' anyway, so I was even more uncertain of what I was doing here anymore. Why a Duel at all? Was it really necessary, or was I the one who caused this whole situation by challenging him?

"Of course I wasn't thinking about that when we were..." I interrupted him, frustrated, before stopping myself again. "I never wanted to kill you in the first place. Not even before I started to have my doubts about the Rebels."

"And that's precisely why I would win if we duelled...Now, how about forfeiting? The problem would be settled. That way, none of us would have to die." He said that as naturally as if he had just informed me that there would be rain tomorrow.

"That's a lie and you know it. What would prevent you from killing me the second I forfeit?

-Well, apart from the fact that I don't have any reasons to want you dead, which I thought by now was fairly established, if you had done your research on Honour Duels as well as I did mine, you would know that there is a clause in them that prevents either parties from taking revenge on the other after the conclusion of the Duel.

-Oh...I didn't know that...but I'm sure there are ways to go around this clause. I'm not sure I believe you when you say you don't want me dead either.

-Because you think I am of habit to kiss and bring to completion people I want dead? I assure you, you would probably be stalling in a dungeon right now, preparing anxiously for our upcoming Duel and your fatal humiliation if I wanted to kill you. Not living under my Minister's roof in one of the most luxurious room he owns in his Manor."

By now, I was not only confused, but also probably blushing at his question. I calmed down and sighed, turning my head to face him.

"What do you want from me then? Why did you say..." Mine! "that I belonged with you until my Death if you weren't planning on me dying soon?"

He sighed, turning his eyes away from me. I got the distinct impression that he regretted saying that. I felt a pang of disappointment thud in my chest.

"I am a very possessive man, Harry. It's in my nature. And I don't take well to sharing what is mine with other people."

I watched him and frowned. That wasn't all. He was hiding something.

"That still doesn't explain the 'until my Death' part. Do you kill your lovers when you are done with them?" I asked, struggling to keep an aloof and detached voice. Maybe nobody knew any of his lovers because they all died before they could speak of their trysts?

He huffed out a dark laugh, of course. I didn't see anything funny about it and I crossed my arms on my chest, waiting expectantly.

"Was that another of the rebels' theories? I want to repopulate the Wizarding population, not divest it of some its better elements." He shot me a sharp grin.

"Why, are you worried you are going to stumble on a room full of their cadavers in my home? Maybe I should give you the keys of my Fortress and tell you not to open a certain door, like Bluebeard did in the tale. We would see how much time it would take before your curiosity got the better of you and would convince you to open it..."

Ok, that sounded ridiculous. One, he wouldn't have kept the bodies in his fortress. Two, it was probably unrealistic to think that he killed his lovers after he was bored with them. Three...did he really have that many lovers that it would do a sizeable hole in the Wizarding population of Britain if he killed them all? That didn't make me feel good about it at all. I knew that a powerful and handsome man like him could probably have whomever he wanted, but still...No, I didn't want to think about that.

He laughed again at my frustrated expression.

"Harry, Harry. Don't worry about it too much...Unless you want to add this to your lists of trade? 'Thou shalt not kill thy lovers?' I can accept that, as long as there is an expiration date to the rule. A year, perhaps? I don't want it to limit me too much in who I can kill, after all."

I interrupted him.

"Listen to yourself! All you do is tease me and laugh at my expense, how should I know when you tell the truth or not? That's what I was trying to say! I can't trust you to tell me the truth; you're the Dark Lord, for Magic's sake! Of course you lie, of course you cheat, of course you kill everyone that annoys or bores you! It's in your job description! Why should you be any different with me? You can try to convince me as much as you want that you won't take advantage of my forfeit to ask impossible or horrible things of me, but I'll never believe you. I'll never trust you enough to believe that you would go along with a pre-negotiated deal when you could ask for anything and everything I am or have. There. That's my problem. That's why I won't forfeit. And that's why the information in your hand is the only negotiation platform I have at the moment. Please, give it back."

I felt weary and tired, but I looked at him attentively, trying to gage his reactions to what I have said. He wasn't looking at me. He was turned, facing the front of the desk, his features impassable. He was looking out of the window, at the wind swaying the trees gently, at the bright flowers colouring the garden, or maybe he didn't see anything at all. Lucius had talked to me about this type of occurrences. According to him, when the Dark Lord was like that, it was better to not interrupt him because that was when he conjured up the better plans, when he had his most original ideas. I wondered if he was thinking of something related to me. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to let him scheme if that was the case. Something told me that I wouldn't like the result.

I went closer to him, slowly approaching, as if he was a dangerous beast that could attack me anytime. It wasn't so far from reality. I reached forward with my hands, to both give him a warning that I was approaching and to show him that I was unarmed. I wasn't sure if I was doing too much, but, in this case, an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure.

He was watching me from the corner of his eyes, but he still didn't say anything. I reached for his shoulder, grasping it lightly. It was strong and warm under my skin. The tingles I suddenly felt reassured me. I looked back at his face. It was turned toward me and one of his eyebrows lifted elegantly.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice thankfully not angry.

"You aren't mad at me?

-Why would I be? You only told me what you thought of me. I never expected it to be positive. I expect it to be worse than what you said, in fact. But why should it matter, what you think of me?" His eyes were scrutinising me, observing my reaction to his words. They stung a bit, but I never expected him to really care about my opinion anyway, so I felt reinforced in my judgment. He stayed quiet for a moment and then inhaled deeply, as if he was bracing himself for something unpleasant.

.

"Tell me, Harry, have you ever heard of soul mates?" he asked in a measured voice.

I felt my eyes widen and my hand dropped from his shoulder.

"What? Er, yeah, I heard of it before, briefly..." I looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

-Do you think that you have a normal reaction to my magic? To myself?"

I frowned. No, I didn't think I had normal reactions to him. When he was there, it was as if my brain became mush. He abnormally entranced me. I had always been that way with him. But whenever he left the room, or I left his proximity, I always questioned my previous behaviour with him and never understood the reason behind it. Was he trying to tell me that I behaved that way...because I was his soul mate?

I gaped at him. I felt as if all thoughts had suddenly fled away from my head. Flabbergasted. I didn't know much about soul mates. I always thought they were stupid tales for girls who were waiting for 'the One'. I didn't expect the Dark Lord to believe in it either. That certainly gave unexpected credibility to the notion.

Soul mates? I looked at him; he returned the gaze unwaveringly. No...but then, the Prophecy? It pitched two soul mates one against the other...and...of course! 'Neither can live while the other survives!' I never really understood that line, but soul mates are supposed to die when the other does, right? Is THAT why he didn't want to kill me? But, why wouldn't he just...tell me that before?

I observed his stoic attitude; the way he looked at me oddly expectant, but maybe a bit...worried of my reaction? He said he expected my opinion of him to be even worse than what I said to him...Was he afraid of rejection? I nearly scoffed in my head.

It's the Dark Lord, come on! Be realistic! He must be playing with you, screamed my conscience.

But, at the same time, my mind was transported to the story I heard, all those nights ago, lying on the grass at the Rebels' camp, the story of a young Half-blood orphan who struggled to find a place in society and decided to carve himself one at the top of everything. And Voldemort nearly plainly said that he was lonely; he tried to deflect it by calling it being bored but...maybe he was in fact worried; maybe he did want my company as his soul mate.

I suddenly realised that I had gaped at him for the last few minutes. I shut my mouth abruptly and swallowed.

What do you answer to someone who just told you that you were his soulmate?

I looked around at the room, searching for inspiration.

"Shouldn't we be going at your Fortress?" I blurted out.

The question slipped from my mouth and I berated myself mentally. It nearly sounded like a rejection or a dismissal. I turned to watch his reaction to it. He had sat up and turned his back to me in a short movement. As if he didn't want me to see the expression on his face. It was hard to believe he was that affected by my clumsy reply. I felt a pang of guilt in my stomach. I couldn't leave it like that.

I stepped closer to him and pressed my forehead against his back. I sighed, revelling in the magic pulsing around me and in his nice smell. I didn't know what it was...some sort of spice...musk? It could even be cloves. I had always been bad at identifying odours.

I tried to reassure him, even if the role reversal felt a bit absurd to me.

"I'm not sure of what I feel at the moment. I just need some time to digest it. I didn't think soul mates really existed, but I guess it does explain a lot of things, right? You have always fascinated me, always... I remember the first time I saw you. It was on a Victory Day, when I was, what? Eight, nine years old?" I huffed out a laugh, remembering the scene.

" I thought you looked like a King straight out of a fairy tale up on your carriage. Sirius was there, trying to make me angry at you, at what you had done to my parents, but I just couldn't hate you. I think I still can't. You looked at me and the only thing I could think was that you had beautiful eyes."

I smiled a bit melancholically when I thought of Sirius. He had been a bit extreme that day. I was too young to understand what he told me; he should have realised that, but he never had the best of judgements for that kind of things.

I felt the Dark Lord moved under my head. He turned around and looked at me, his brow creased, but with a small smile at the corner of his lips. He lifted a hand and caressed my cheek softly.

"You are too nice for your own good, you know that? One day someone will take advantage of that and hurt you badly.

-But you'll be there to protect me, right?" I joked with a cheesy cliché. His tenderness made me ill at ease, as if it didn't work with the image I had of him. As if something wasn't quite right in this whole scenario.

He barked a laugh. I relaxed and felt a bit proud to have made him laugh despite his weird mood. I grinned up at him.

"Now, now, come on, I want to see where you live. I've heard tales of your impregnable Fortress all my life. I want to test if the Rebels had something right at least." I bumped his side to make him move on. He snorted another laugh and wrapped an arm around my shoulders before he pulled us in an Apparition.

Soulmates, hum? That changed a lot of things...

Before anybody points it out, I am aware that the end of this chapter is in contradiction to something I've said before (Chapter 8). The contradiction partly explains the Dark Lord's OOCness here.

Anyway, no flaming, please, keep in mind that you see here isn't all there was to it. Clarifications in the next chapters.

Thank you in advance for reviewing!