Harry laughed as everyone filed out of the defence classroom after Umbridge cancelled classes early… again.

"That was great!" Ron boasted. "I can't believe we managed to keep that up for an entire term!"

"I almost feel guilty about it, honestly." Hermione admitted. She looked around as silence followed that confession. "What? I said almost. Really, if that woman's not going to teach us, then the least she owes us is to not waste our time. O.W.L. year is busy enough without having to resort to self-study for an entire class."

"I hate to play devil's advocate, but we don't know for sure that her entire class was going to be silent reading." Greengrass said.

"It was." Hermione replied. "I snuck into her office when she was… indisposed, and took a look at her curriculum. It was all silent reading."

Ron laughed. "Glad to see that you haven't lost that mischievous streak yet. Anyways, I'll see you all after the break."

"Try not to hit on your cousin this time, Malfoy!" Seamus shouted as the Gryffindors parted ways from the Slytherins, causing laughs to come from both groups.

"I'm never going to get tired of that." Ron said with a grin.

"Yeah, I-" Harry began, only to be cut off by Neville.

"Oh no! I left my potions essay in the classroom!"

"Damn, I do not envy you, mate." Ron said sympathetically. "I don't suppose that there's any way you can rewrite it?"

"I already had to get an extension from Snape, and he demanded I turn it in by this evening! I'm doomed…"

"Look, Neville, just ask yourself an important question." Harry said. "Which do you fear more, a pissed off Umbridge who just had her class interrupted, or Snape?"

Neville paled. "Snape… Look, I'll just go get it. I mean, Umbridge can't be that mad, right?"

Harry wasn't so sure, but Neville rushed off before anyone could add to the conversation.

"Well, I've got to go." Harry said as they passed the fourth floor. "Mind healing session."

"Have fun, mate." Ron replied.

Harry sighed as he parted from the rest of the Gryffindors. He still didn't enjoy the mind healing sessions, but each one had left him feeling progressively less raw, and he'd been feeling lighter as they'd gone on. He didn't realise how much had been weighing him down until it was no longer there.

He slipped his hand into his pocket where his wand was resting. It too had felt lighter since lifting the Trace, and there were times where he swore he felt feelings coming from it. Harry wondered just how much the Trace had been stifling it. Was this a consistent phenomenon across all wands? Harry didn't think that his wand was alive, at least not in the traditional sense of the term, but were all wands… sentient? Harry was pretty sure that was the right usage of the term. Were all wands sentient, but the Trace was keeping them suppressed somehow, either deliberately or inadvertently? He didn't know which of those two possibilities would have been more disturbing.

Harry pushed that train of thought out of his mind as he entered the Hospital Wing, heading straight to the usual room where he met with Tina. For the first time, he arrived before she did, so he sat down in the chair he used and waited.

It wasn't a long wait, fortunately, as Tina came rushing in not five minutes later.

"Sorry about that." She said as she sat down. "The holiday rush has been a killer this year. It's been tough to keep up with everything. This is what I get for procrastinating on my gift shopping."

"Um… do you need a minute?" Harry asked.

"No, no, it's fine. Just give me a moment to secure the room and we can get started."

Tina went through a now familiar sequence of charms, before sitting back down.

"Alright. So, the Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow. Do you have any plans for the winter break?"

"I'll be spending it with my godfather in London. The Weasleys will be staying with us, too."

She nodded. "Sirius has been recovering extremely well from his time in Azkaban. I'm sure spending time with you will do him good."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"Oh, I've been acting as his mind healer as well. That's the extent of what I can tell you without breaking confidentiality, though."

"I didn't know that." He said truthfully.

"Many people, wizard or not, are averse to admitting to needing psychological help. Often, people are worried about seeming weak to their friends and family. That's been changing in recent years, but it's slow progress."

That made Harry feel self-conscious about the fact that his seeing a mind healer had received national press coverage. He tried to change the subject. "So, what are you doing for the holidays?"

"I'll be spending it with some close friends and coworkers." She replied noncommittally.

"No family?"

Tina let out a small scoff. "I'm an only child, my father died when I was six, and my mother was, to put it crudely, a total bint. I haven't spoken to her in over two decades. I don't even know if she's alive or not."

"You just… cut her off?" He asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you know as well as I do that just because someone is related to you by blood does not mean that they're entitled to anything from you, not even your acknowledgement."

"Right." Harry did know that on an intellectual level, but he never considered it as a thing that happened to people he knew. Tina seemed so functional and composed that Harry couldn't imagine her having a background remotely like his.

"We got a bit off topic there, so let's get back on track. Over the past few months, I think I've addressed most of the issues that tend to happen with people in your situation. I think that it's important that you start leading the conversations we have from now on, and my role will be to keep you centred and on task. Okay?"

The thought of that was a bit overwhelming, but Harry couldn't think of a reason to say no. "Alright."

"Good! So, is there anything you'd like to talk about?"

His brain froze as it tried to think of anything. "Like what?"

Tina shrugged. "Anything that's been weighing on your mind or consuming a lot of your focus. It could be anything from exams to teachers to friends to romance. It's up to you."

All sorts of options rushed through his head, but he couldn't narrow his focus to a single one. The one he kept returning to was the one he really shouldn't share.

"Take as much time as you-"

"I met with Voldemort." Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

Tina stared at him for a solid minute. He was convinced that she thought he was crazy, but instead she spoke softly. "Are you going to finish that thought? I feel like there's more context there that you're not giving me."

He stared at her with suspicion. "You don't think I'm crazy?"

She sighed. "Harry, despite the reasons the Ministry had for mandating that you see a mind healer, you're not suffering from psychosis, nor are you a pathological liar. Moreover, even if you were delusional or hallucinating in some way, then contradicting your claim would do neither of us any good. If nothing else, you clearly believe that you spoke with Voldemort, and until I'm given any evidence to the contrary, I'll believe you. Now, when did you speak with Voldemort, and what did you speak about?"

Harry let out a breath. "It was over the summer. She just… showed up at my house and struck up a conversation with me."

Tina chuckled. "That does sound like something Voldemort would do."

He stared at her again. "You make it sound like you know her."

"'Know' is a strong word. We attended a few of the same symposiums in the early to mid-seventies, though no one in attendance knew she was Voldemort at the time. She, like most of us, attended under a pseudonym. Nobody thought much of 'Marguerite Enigma' until Bellatrix Black attended as her apprentice in 1976, after which they were both banned." She smiled. "But we're getting off topic again. What sort of stuff happened when you met with Voldemort? Was it a one time thing, or did she keep showing up?"

"She kept showing up. She usually had food and she took me out to restaurants on two occasions."

"Well, you're certainly braver than most. Keep going."

"It's just…" Harry paused as he tried to find the words. "For most of the summer, I thought I was going insane. I know that I wasn't, but I kept thinking that I was. When you talked about Pathological Magiphobia and how the brain goes into denial when something too thoroughly contradicts its worldview, I realised that that was what was happening to me. I wasn't going crazy, I just couldn't cope! Everyone had told me that Voldemort was some evil monster, but she's been nicer to me than almost everyone I've ever met, and my parents died to protect me from her but now I'm just wondering if she was actually right the whole time and I don't know what to do!"

Tina lightly touched his shoulder. "Harry, take a deep breath. Focus on slowing your breathing and calming down."

He focused on that, trying to ignore the crawling sensation that kept trying to drown everything out. When he finally felt normal enough to continue, he nodded.

Tina leaned back into her seat. "This has obviously been weighing on you for some time, and I can't blame you for being hesitant to open up about it. Expressing sympathies towards the country's notorious insurgent would undoubtedly earn you a lot of ire. Now, why don't we break this down. Start from the beginning. Everyone told you that Voldemort was a monster. Can you elaborate on that?"

Harry took another deep breath before speaking. "It's just… everyone practically worshipped me when I first came into Diagon Alley. Everyone seemed so grateful that she was dead. They refused to even speak her name, despite most people believing her dead for the better part of a decade. People never talked about her like she was a person, but some monster in a human guise."

"It's very common for the villains of history to be demonised. People saw Voldemort commit acts of great terror and violence, cutting a bloody swathe through the country, and it was easier for people to imagine that only a monster could do something like that, when at the end of the day, Voldemort is just as human as the rest of us. She has her own depths and complexities and emotions, and you felt uncomfortable for the same reason many would — you looked at someone everyone else claimed was a monster, and realised that she was just as human as the rest of us." Tina smirked slightly. "A more cynical person would claim that being human is what makes her the most monstrous of all."

Harry didn't know if all mind healers could do this, or if Tina was just really good, but she had a way of helping him articulate his own thoughts. Having someone help explain why he felt a particular way was far more helpful than he ever would have expected.

"Let's keep going. You said that you felt like you were going crazy. I'm very proud that you were able to realise that what you were experiencing was a form of denial and rejection of reality, and especially that you seem to have mostly overcome it without my help. Is there anything you'd like to say on the matter?"

He shrugged. "Everything felt sort of distant? When I first got back from the graveyard where Voldemort resurrected herself, everyone said I was in shock, and while the feeling lessened, it didn't really fade. There were times where I didn't feel like I was in control of my body, and everything felt distant."

"What you're describing is called dissociation, and it's a natural response to experiences that are either traumatising or extremely overwhelming. You're not still getting these episodes, are you?"

Harry shook his head. "They fully stopped once I got back to Hogwarts."

Tina hummed. "Most likely because the academics provided you with much needed structure and familiarity. Such things tend to help. Regardless, I want you to tell me if you experience any further episodes, as such things can relapse and get worse with time. Alright?"

Harry nodded.

"Now, let's move onto the last point, the one that's no doubt causing you the most stress. You're wondering if maybe Voldemort was right all along."

He nodded again, his voice failing him.

"What more can you tell me about that? What's led you to that conclusion?"

"I just…" Harry took a deep breath. "Maybe I'm just unlucky, but my impressions of the Ministry so far have been… not good. Corruption seems to run rampant through every department, and their actual ability to solve problems seems to run the range from 'woefully incompetent' to 'actually evil'."

Tina smiled. "I can assure you that you're not biased in that regard. Ask anyone you meet on the streets, and there's a good chance they'll say the same thing if you ask them about the Ministry."

"And yet nobody's doing anything about it! All these people know that the Ministry is crap, and they just, what, sit there and shake their heads at it?"

Harry wasn't sure if he'd intended that as a rhetorical question or not, but given that Tina didn't answer, he kept going.

"The only person who seems to be doing anything is Voldemort, and maybe she's evil and going about it the entirely wrong way, but at least she's doing something! And I just… I'm not the sort of person who can just sit back and do nothing, not when there's a huge problem staring me in the face."

Tina gestured for him to continue. "And yet?"

"And yet… even if she's right and I agree with her, she still killed my parents, and I don't know if I should forgive her for that."

"Your usage of the word 'should' makes me wonder if you already have forgiven her, and feel guilty about it. You feel guilty because even if you have forgiven her, you don't feel like you should have forgiven her. Is that right?"

He nodded.

Tina sighed. "Harry, the only one who gets to dictate your ability to offer or withhold forgiveness is yourself. Your ability to do so is not beholden to anyone."

"I feel like I'm betraying my parents' memory by doing it, though." Harry mumbled.

Tina leaned in and gently touched his arm. "Harry, I did not know your parents personally, but I did know of them. They were both amazing people, but you cannot spend your whole life living for them. I'm certain that they did not sacrifice themselves just so you could live for their sake. The only person you need to live for is yourself."

"I'm not sure I know how to do that, though."

"You'll have plenty of time to learn. It's never too late to learn how to live."

Harry nodded. "Alright."

Tina closed her notebook and slipped it into her bag before turning to face him. "There's not going to be an easy or correct choice to make in this matter, Harry. While children's stories like to convey morality as a stark contrast between black and white, the reality is simply that most of the world is different shades of grey. The only important thing is that the choice you make is yours, and yours alone."

He sat there silently. This whole session had been a lot to process.

She stood up and made her way to the door. "I'm going to give you some time to compose yourself before you leave. I think you'll need it."

Harry nodded as the door was shut, leaving him alone in the room.

What did Harry believe? What did he want to live for? He'd spent so much of his life focused purely on surviving that he never had time to focus on what he wanted.

He sighed and stood up. It wasn't like he needed an answer immediately. As he left the hospital wing, Tina was having a cheerful conversation with Madame Pomfrey. Tina smiled and waved at him as he passed by them.

"Take care, Harry! Enjoy your holidays!"

Harry nodded at her and left the hospital wing, feeling both more and less sure of who he was than when he'd walked in.

"Harry's a good kid." Tina said as the doors to the hospital wing closed. "I'm glad that I've been able to help him heal."

"You and me both." Poppy said with mild exasperation. "Did you know that he's ended up in the hospital wing for several days at the end of every school year? He's got a reckless streak a mile wide, and I've been worrying that one year they'll be bringing in his body instead. It sets my mind at ease knowing that he's seeing you."

"It won't be easy for him, but I know that Harry's got what it takes." Tina replied confidently. "I just wish it hadn't taken this long for something to be done."

"Honestly, I frequently found myself wanting to contact you on his behalf. Alas, you were off on that blasted sabbatical of yours."

"I had some things I needed to work out." Tina said dismissively.

"And I can understand that, but really, Tina? It took you a whole decade?"'

Tina winced. "I really did have some personal issues I needed to resolve. It just took… a lot longer than I expected."

Poppy leaned over and hugged her. "I'm glad you're back. The letters were nice, but they were a poor replacement for your company."

Tina chuckled as she hugged back. "Hey, don't get all sappy on me now." She felt up and down Poppy's back. "You're really tense."

Poppy sighed and slumped down in a nearby chair. "I've been kept busy this year. Fred and George Weasley have started testing new products for their upcoming business, and I swear that every few weeks, someone comes in here with a malady that requires me to develop a brand new cure or countercurse. It's been running me a bit ragged."

"Poppy, you know that's not healthy. You need to take time to relax. In fact, I've got something here that might help with that — call it an early Christmas present." Tina rummaged around in her bag before pulling out a resealable plastic bag. "Here you go. My own special blend, pre-rolled and everything."

Poppy shot her a disapproving glare. "While I appreciate your offer, Tina, I am still on duty. One never knows when an emergency will arise."

Tina smirked. "Funny that you mention that, as I have a solution to that right here." She reached into her bag again and pulled out a dark blue potion. "Five doses of modified sobering potion, perfectly suited to counteract this little medley should an emergency arise."

The mediwitch was clearly interested, but still hesitant.

"Come now, Poppy, surely you can see the benefits to engaging in some nice relaxation. I mean, what if there was an emergency and you were so stressed you made a mistake! Surely it's better to take the edge off now, while you have the time."

"Augustine Rowan, you incorrigible woman! I will never understand how someone as corrupting as you is allowed around children!" Poppy said in mock affront.

Tina just laughed. "Gods, it always sounds so silly when you call me Augustine. The name is such a mouthful."

"Don't you change the subject on me, Augustine!"

"What, you mean my corrupting influence? Well, I suppose that if I truly am a corrupting influence, then I should distribute these among the students. Oh, if only there was a cute mediwitch for me to focus all my wicked attention on, saving the innocent students from my devious wiles!"

Poppy blushed slightly and let out a sigh. "I suppose it really wouldn't hurt to take the edge off. I have been feeling rather stressed lately…"

Tina pumped her fist in the air. "Awesome! Let's go hotbox your office!"

Poppy gestured towards the back of the wing. "After you, Tina."

Harry slammed his trunk closed as Ron frantically searched the dormitory for odds and ends that he'd misplaced over the term.

"Honestly, I don't even know how half of this stuff ends up where it does…" Ron mumbled as he pulled a spare sock down from atop his bed's canopy. "This is the third one missing its pair."

"You clearly have a gift." Harry deadpanned as he sat down on his bed. "Some people are good at magic, others are good at learning, and you have the ability to lose your belongings in the most improbable of ways."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Great." He pulled out the bottom drawer of his nightstand and grabbed a quidditch glove from the cavity behind the drawer. Harry giggled as Ron fumbled with getting the drawer back in place. "Well, that's all the important stuff, at least. I can worry about everything else after the break. You ready to go?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I've been ready. Hell, I think you're the last one to be packed."

Ron's eyes swept over the room. "What about Neville? His stuff's still there."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe he got lost again? Or maybe he's just staying at the castle this year."

Ron huffed. "We should probably mention that to a teacher or something, just in case he did get lost. Come on, let's get going before the Hogwarts Express leaves without us."

The two of them lugged their trunks down to the common room, where an irate Hermione was waiting for them.

"What took you so long!? The Express leaves in ten minutes!"

"Last minute packing." Ron said. "C'mon, let's go."

Harry turned towards the portrait hole, only to stop when Neville entered the room, clutching the back of his left hand.

"Merlin, mate, we thought you'd gotten yourself lost again!" Ron exclaimed. "Where were you? Nevermind, we need to help you get packed."

"Umbridge gave me detention." Neville said with a wince. "She wasn't happy about my intrusion yesterday."

"The day we leave for break?" Hermione asked. "That really shouldn't be… Neville… are you bleeding?"

Harry looked down and saw blood trickling out from behind Neville's clutched fingers. Ron stepped forward and pulled Neville's right hand away from his left, revealing a series of intricate carvings on the back of his hand.

"Shit, these are really deep. We need to get him straight to Pomfrey."

"It's not that bad…" Neville insisted.

"The hell it isn't. Come on, let's go."

"But what about the Express?" Hermione asked.

Ron shrugged. "This is more important. Worst case scenario, we end up flooing back to Sirius's place."

"How did this happen, anyways?" Hermione continued as they started navigating the staircase.

"Umbridge." Neville said as he hissed in pain. "She had me write lines with some sort of weird quill. It… it used my blood instead of ink and carved into my hand as I wrote."

"The fuck?" Ron asked rhetorically. "She did this to you?"

"Maybe we really did push her too far." Harry mused. "I mean, we have been making a constant mockery of her for months now."

"If anything, I think this vindicates our treatment of her." Hermione countered. "I mean, anyone willing to do that isn't a good person in the first place."

Harry wasn't certain that that was an entirely accurate assessment of the situation, but this was far from the best time to debate it. He shook his head after thinking that. These past few months had him thinking more about morality than the rest of his life combined.

It didn't take long after they arrived in the Hospital Wing for the place to turn into a whirlwind of activity. Once Ron and Hermione explained the situation to Pomfrey, she called in McGonagall, who then called in Dumbledore, who called in Umbridge, who called in Fudge, who called in Lucius. Harry was just glad that for once, none of the attention was on him.

The various parties in the Hospital Wing had been wrapped up in argument for some time. Harry had been idly watching them since they'd arrived when a small bit of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The door to Pomfrey's office had opened, revealing a dopey and underdressed Tina. She glanced around at the room's occupants before her eyes settled on Harry. She waved and held a finger up to her lips, then vanished into a shimmer with a quiet snap of her fingers. Harry watched the shimmer move across the room until she reached the doors to the main corridor. He wondered what that was about, but didn't give it much thought and instead turned his attention back to the arguing group of Dumbledore, Umbridge, Fudge, and Lucius.

"You were well within your rights to appoint her as a teacher, Cornelius, but using an instrument of torture on a student for a detention is far overstepping her bounds. I am demanding that Dolores be removed from her position posthaste." Dumbledore insisted.

"I did no such thing!" Umbridge insisted hysterically. "They're framing me for this! They're all in on it together!"

"Indeed, Dumbledore, surely you can understand my skepticism about this, especially in light of our recent… misunderstandings. I mean, you fetched this instrument that Dolores supposedly used, with no witnesses around to attest to its presence prior to your arrival. It does seem a tad… convenient."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "And Mister Longbottom's testimony of its use on his person is of no value?"

Fudge dabbed some sweat off of his forehead with a handkerchief. "Yes, well…"

"Obliviation! False memory charm!" Umbridge shouted. "There's no depths to which they won't sink!"

"If I may." Lucius said coolly. "Surely you can understand the bad optics of the situation, Minister. Allowing the torture and mutaliation of one of the heirs to the Sacred Twenty-Eight to go completely univestigated would set a very bad precedent. The Wizengamot would be up in arms if word of this ever got back to them."

Harry swore that Fudge quivered slightly when Lucius said that.

"Yes, well, that may be true, Lucius, but surely you can understand."

"I understand perfectly, Minister." Lucius continued. "All I am suggesting is that Madame Umbridge should be placed on probation until the incident has been properly investigated, at which point appropriate disciplinary measures should be taken. Of course, as Minister of Magic, you would still be within your full authority to appoint a proper replacement to the Defence Position. I'm sure Dumbledore would have no objections to that…"

The entire room turned to Dumbledore expectantly, who cleared his throat before speaking. "While I am sure that Cornelius and I have differing standards about what makes one a good teacher, I am more than willing to make concessions to see that justice is done for my student."

Harry watched the exchange with sharp interest, observing as Lucius played those around him to get what he wanted — or what Voldemort wanted, as was likely the case. It was clear to Harry that Lucius didn't actually care about the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but he knew that Fudge did and exploited that weakness. He then steered the conversation in such a way that Dumbledore was forced to allow Fudge to place yet another lackey in Hogwarts. Harry didn't like Lucius by any means, but he had to admit a grudging respect for the man's ability to manipulate others.

Fudge nodded in response. "Very well, then. Dolores Umbridge, I am hereby removing you from your position as Defence against the Dark Arts teacher and placing you on probation until there has been a thorough investigation into the matter of-"

"You can't do this to me!" Umbridge yelled. "That-that little brat had it coming! He was in on it just like the rest of them! I had to show him that-that I…" She trailed off into hysterical tears.

"It seems that the stress of the job has gotten to her." Lucius remarked. "Teaching is a very strenuous position, and Dolores simply wasn't up to the task and cracked under the pressure. Such a shame."

"Indeed. Perhaps it would be wise to call in the aurors, given that it seems Madame Umbridge has just confessed." Dumbledore replied.

Harry continued to watch the scene play out, taking a small measure of delight in seeing Umbridge dragged out of the hospital wing kicking and screaming. Really, did she think she could use a device like that without repercussions? Once that commotion died down, Harry moved over to where Ron and Hermione were watching Madame Pomfrey treat Neville's wounds.

"I'm afraid there's not much I can do." Pomfrey said sadly. "I've had a look at the device that did this, and it's rather dark. There's not much I can do besides treating the wounds normally to minimise the scarring."

That caught Harry's attention. "Dark magic wounds?" He asked.

Ron and Hermione both jumped when he spoke. "Blimey, mate, I forgot you were here. Where were you?"

"Over there." Harry pointed towards the corner of the room he'd been standing in. He must have cast an aversion charm on himself without realising it. Again.

"Yes, the device in question is specifically designed to create scarring." Pomfrey explained, ignoring Harry's sudden appearance. "Such effects necessarily use dark magic."

Harry pulled out his wand. "I think I might be able to help with that."

Pomfrey just seemed exasperated by that. "Mister Potter, I don't know what you've been told, but-"

He wasn't going to give her a chance to stop him. He held his wand over Neville's wound and cast the spell. "§Fleshweaving.§"

Harry had never cast the spell on a cut as intricate as this. The wounds on the back of Neville's hand spelled out "I must not disrupt class", which was far more complicated than the cutting charms he'd been practising on. Thankfully, the cuts on Neville's hand were only a few milimetres deep, which greatly simplified the process. Harry worked his way across each letter, weaving the muscle fibres back together. By the time he was finished, the wound looked like mere scratches in his skin. Harry decided to finish the job properly, even though Voldemort had said it wasn't necessary.

"§Skinstitching.§"

Stitching skin back together was much easier than doing the same to muscle. A few seconds later, Neville's hand was good as new.

Neville flexed his hand. "Wow, that… what did you do?"

"Parselmagic." Harry explained. "There are a few healing spells that can prevent dark magic scarring, but they can only be cast in Parseltongue."

"A very useful trick." Dumbledore said as he strode over and examined Neville's hand. "I know quite a few people who could have used this sort of healing. If you don't mind indulging me for a moment, then could you tell me where you learned that spell?"

Harry's brain froze. He was not prepared for that question. Preparing a cover story for how he knew parselmagic was the sort of thing he should have been prepared for, but…

His first instinct was to mention Delphini, but that would put a lot of scrutiny onto her identity. He couldn't think of a way to share that information that didn't involve outing her as a parselmouth. It wouldn't take much digging to find her last name, and there was no way that a parselmouth with the last name "Riddle" wouldn't be immediately connected to Voldemort.

Harry apparently took long enough to reply that Dumbledore took his silence as an answer. "I see then. Mister Potter, can I speak with you in private?"

Thoughts raced through Harry's head as he followed Dumbledore through the corridors. He racked his brain for excuses about how he could have learned the spell. The Chamber of Secrets? Harry didn't see any signs of anything that could teach him spells down there, and for all he knew, Dumbledore had examined the Chamber himself after the basilisk had been killed. The Restricted Section? Harry doubted that there were any books on parselmagic there, and he wasn't sure that using that excuse so soon after using it for the Banishing Cage incident would be a good idea. Knockturn Alley? That would probably be the most believable, but when would he have had a chance to go there?

Dumbledore opened the door to his office and sat down behind his desk, gesturing for Harry to take the chair on the other side. "I do not like to pry, but this is very important. Do you know where you learned that parselmagic spell?"

Harry faltered. "I… Um…"

Dumbledore's expression only grew more solemn with that answer. "And what of the Banishing Cage? Do you recall where you learned that?"

"The Restricted Section." Harry squeaked. Why was this being brought up again now?

"Do you recall the name of the book you learned it from?"

"…No?"

"I see." Dumbledore folded his hands and closed his eyes. "I believe that it would be in your best interest to begin learning occlumency."

Harry didn't know what that meant. "Occlumency, sir?"

Dumbledore opened his eyes again. "As I'm sure you remember from your encounter with Gilderoy Lockhart, there are forms of magic that focus on affecting the minds of others. Obliviation is just the tip of the iceberg of magics that can influence memories or read thoughts. Occlumency is a way of protecting one's mind from these sorts of magicks."

Harry blinked as he processed that. "While that does seem useful…" He said slowly. "What does that have to do with…?"

"Tell me, Harry, do you know how many books there are in the Restricted Section that describe how to cast the Banishing Cage?" Dumbledore asked.

"…No?"

"Zero."

That answer hung in the room for a moment before Dumbledore continued speaking.

"After your trial, Amelia was very insistent that I remove the books containing information on the Banishing Cage from the Restricted Section. It was much to my surprise that I learned that no such books exist."

Oh. That was… problematic.

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "At the end of your second year, I told you that Voldemort transferred some of her powers to you when she first tried to kill you. I was not lying when I said that, but I did omit certain details. I believe that what actually happened was that it created a connection between your minds — a connection that is active now that she has regained a body. I believe that you have been unintentionally gleaning knowledge from her mind without either of you realising."

Harry took a moment to process that. Okay, he wasn't in trouble, so he could work with that. Best just to play along for now. "Is that really a bad thing, sir? Couldn't learning from her without her realising it be useful?"

"In theory, yes, it would be useful. However, Voldemort is a very skilled practitioner of the mind arts, and if she were to learn of the connection, then she could easily have unfettered access to your mind no matter where you are. I'm sure that you can see how that could be a bad thing."

"Right."

"Occlumency would not only help you block this connection, but control it. Given that we don't know how long it will take Voldemort to discover this connection, it's imperative that we act as soon as possible. You'll have your first lesson right away, and will be escorted straight to headquarters when you're done. Miss Granger and Mister Weasley are already on their way there, and I'll make sure that your luggage is transported there ahead of time."

"Who will be teaching me, sir? You?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "While I possess a decent amount of skill with the mind arts, I lack the necessary finesse with legilimency to teach the subject properly. No, the one teaching you will be Severus."

Damn it. Maybe playing along wasn't worth it.

"The Mind Arts are the most personal form of magic that there is." Snape explained. "None more so than occlumency. A thorough understanding of one's mind is necessarily required for defending it." He looked exasperated for a moment. "Truth be told, I consider this a waste of time. Fifteen year olds do not possess the capacity for introspection necessary for proper occlumency, but the headmaster has insisted that I try."

Harry rolled his eyes. He wondered if Snape ever realised that people would like him more if he wasn't such a dick all the time.

Snape pulled out his wand. "I am going to attempt to read your mind, and you are going to attempt to stop me. I do not care how you go about doing so — diversion, obfuscation, force, or whatever else you think will work. What is important is that you try. Neither of us are pleased about being forced to do this, so the less time we waste, the better. Is that clear?"

"Of course… sir." Harry said, sarcasm leaking into his tone.

"Then let us begin. Legilimens!"

Harry expected having his mind read to be far more obvious than it was. Instead of some overt presence in his mind, all he could feel was a slight, vague sense of wrongness. It was the same feeling he'd had earlier when Neville had come in through the portrait hole, hand dripping… Wait.

He tried to focus. Why was he suddenly thinking about that? It had come out of nowhere. That would be like randomly thinking about his crappy Yule Ball date last year, and how he'd…

Harry shook his head, trying to shake off the odd feeling.

"Well, you are at least able to identify my intrusions… barely." Snape drawled. "Now you just need to stop me. Legilimens!"

The pervasive sense of wrongness returned as Harry's mind jumped to memories without intending to. A few moments later, it stopped as soon as it had started.

Snape tutted. "A pitiable attempt. I suppose I'll have to forego all attempts at subtlety if you want to have any hope of stopping me. Surely even you will be able to detect me like this. Legilimens!"

The force of the spell slammed into Harry's train of thought with the force of… well, a train. His mind was wrenched into a specific memory.

"Malfoy was acting really odd, though." Hermione said. "I mean, he was polite to us the whole time. No name calling, no snide remarks, nothing. I'm worried that he might be up to something. Ron and I were discussing whether Voldemort could possibly be involved."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What, you think Voldemort recruited him? Of all the people in school, she wanted him? He's not even of age."

"Actually, I think it fits her MO." Ron replied. "I mean, Voldemort liked to recruit people when they were still in Hogwarts. Take advantage of youthful idiocy to bind others to her before they knew better, and believe me, I know a thing or two about youthful idiocy. Besides, you know what a sycophant Malfoy can be. If he found a way to get in her good graces, he'd do it."

Well, that much was undoubtedly true from what Delphini had told him. She'd frequently vented about her desire for her-

Harry used every ounce of willpower he had to change the memory before that potentially incriminating thought completed itself.

Harry slumped back on his bed. He went to cast a Tempus charm before remembering that he didn't have a wand. This was going to suck.

A knock sounded on the door. "You two are decent, right? You're not playing a game of strip exploding snap or anything, right?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yes, Tonks, we're decent. And I have never played a game of strip exploding snap."

The door was kicked open and an androgynous woman with bright pink hair tied up in a loose ponytail bun barged in. "Wow, you Gryffs really are sticks in the mud, aren't you? We played strip exploding snap all the time in Hufflepuff. There were some really fit guys and gals in Hufflepuff, let me tell you. Anyway, here's your stuff, Harry. Nicked it from your relatives while they were fussing over your cousin." She dropped all of his things at the foot of the bed with a resounding thud. "So, how are you holding up? Dementors are nasty things."

Harry shrugged. "Well enough."

The agonising feeling stopped suddenly, leaving Harry gasping on all fours.

"A passable, if dreadfully clumsy attempt." Snape said coolly. "Something like that might work once, but don't expect it to work repeatedly. Again."

"Wait!" Harry gasped. "Don't I get a moment to compose myself?"

"No. Legilimens!"

Harry grinned. "Oh, just a plan I came up with to mess with Umbridge. It'll work best if everyone's in on it, though, so I'll need you to fill in the Slytherins."

Draco looked skeptical. "Okay, but why should I? Just because I'm not going to antagonise you doesn't mean I'm going to join in on your stupid plans."

"Well, first of all, she's a horrible teacher and she treats us all like children. If anyone's deserving of being messed with, it's her."

"Uh-huh. You're not really convincing me here, Potter."

Harry shrugged. "Well, it would also win you quite a lot of good will with the other houses. I mean, all of us united against a common enemy? It would certainly improve Slytherin's reputation among the rest of the school." He turned around and started to walk away. "But if you're not ambitious enough to see the value in that, then I won't waste any more of your time."

Harry resisted the wave of nausea that passed over his system.

"At least try to stop me." Snape drawled. "Or are you really so incompetent that that's the best you can manage?"

"If you'd at least give me a chance to-"

"Legilimens!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, I have absolutely no idea what it's like to be constantly approached for something that happened when I was a baby and can't even remember."

"Uuuuuugh!" She groaned, raising her voice as she went on. "Fine, I'll give you one chance to convince me why I should tell you anything."

"Because I'm confused." He said honestly.

"Not my problem. Goodbye."

Greengrass picked up the pace of her walking, leaving Harry struggling to keep up with her.

"Fine!" Harry said in exasperation. "You want the truth? The truth is that Voldemort arrived on my doorstep multiple times this summer and took me out for lunch on a few occasions. She's nothing like I expected and I don't know what to believe anymore. And don't try to play coy with me, because I know for a fact that she visited your family this summer. I want to figure out her motivations because I genuinely don't know if she's right or wrong and I'm not comfortable standing on the sidelines!"

Shit. Harry had been trying to avoid thinking about the memories related to Voldemort, but he completely forgot about that one.

Snape and Harry stared at each other for a moment. Snape was uncharacteristically silent, staring at Harry with an expression of muted horror.

"Legilimens."

Harry knew what was coming and focused purely on diverting Snape from whatever he was looking for. He wanted memories about Voldemort? Well fine, Harry had plenty of those.

Harry's voice caught in his throat as he stared at the grotesque form on the back of Quirrell's head.

"Harry Potter…" It said slowly. "I see you're continuing your trend of being a nuisance. You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"

He tried desperately to run away, but his feet wouldn't move. He couldn't tell if it was magic or fear.

The face of Voldemort watched him with an indiscernible look. "Really, showing up in the forest when I was drinking unicorn blood, and now again when I am moments away from obtaining the ticket to my resurrection. I can't tell if this is intentional on your part or if it's just demented bad luck on mine. I suppose it doesn't matter, in the end. No, all I need is the beautiful crimson stone lying in your pocket. Be a good boy and hand it over."

Harry stumbled backwards as feeling surged back into his legs.

"Be reasonable, Harry. I have no reason to harm you if you cooperate, and Lady Voldemort always rewards those who serve her well." The voice purred.

"Never." Harry gasped, his voice returning to him. "I'll never serve you!"

"Oh? Not many would deny a favour from one of the greatest mages in existence. Surely even a child such as yourself could see the advantages to be gained."

"You killed my parents!"

"I did, and believe me when I say that it was the most regrettable loss of life I've ever been responsible for. Last chance, Harry. Hand over the stone."

"I'd rather die!" Harry yelled.

Voldemort sighed. "So be it. Kill him."

Harry tried to stay in the memory, but Snape was relentless and forced his way out of that memory and into one that he was looking for.

"So, you're still insisting that you don't want to kill me?" He asked, still not totally believing it despite the circumstances. He didn't know if he'd believe anything coming from her.

"Of course I don't want to kill you." Voldemort said without moving from her current pose. "As I said back in the graveyard, the prophecy between us is fulfilled. You vanquished me, after all. Luckily for me, vanquishing is not the same as killing. I wish I'd realised that earlier…"

"What is this about a prophecy, then? The first time I ever heard about a prophecy between us was when you mentioned it in the graveyard."

Voldemort opened her eyes, a faint flicker of surprise visible on her face. "'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lady approaches, born to those who have thrice defied her, born as the seventh month dies.' There's more to it, of course, but that's all I know. Learning the rest is a low priority, as I have no reason to suspect that it hasn't already been fulfilled."

Snape pulled out of Harry's mind, the horror on his expression growing.

"You idiot boy." He whispered. "What have you done?"

Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and tried to defend himself. "Prote-"

Snape was faster. "Legilimens!"

Harry tried once again to divert Snape.

"Hagrid is my friend." Harry said angrily. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you must have made a mistake but-"

Riddle laughed. "Of course I framed him. He was raising a highly dangerous acromantula, and Dippet was more than happy to have a scapegoat. The only one who knew the truth was Dumbledore, and he was able to get Hagrid off lightly."

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you, didn't he?"

Riddle scoffed. "Of course he did. He's Dumbledore. It didn't matter, though. I got what I needed out of the girl's death, and soon I'll have what I need from Ginny, too. All year, I've been slowly tapping into her lifeforce, using it to restore myself. It was so easy to take advantage of her insecurities, her increasing guilt as she became convinced she was responsible for the attacks." Riddle grinned sadistically. "Once I'm done with her, that leaves you as the sole loose end. Before we get to that, though, I have so many questions I'd like to ask you. For example, how did you find yourself on the wrong end of Voldemort's wand, and come out of the encounter with only a scratch while she was reduced to near nothing?"

"Why do you care?" Harry said defensively. "Voldemort was after your time."

She laughed. "Do you think that Voldemort appeared out of thin air? No, she started out as an orphan girl born to a squib and a muggle, a mudblood sorted into Slytherin among all the blood purists, a girl with a horrid first name and the last name 'Riddle'."

Harry took a step back in shock. "You're…"

"Oh yes, I am. I abandoned the name I was born with, of course, one bearing the delusions of my idiot mother and the stain of my filthy muggle father. I fashioned a new name, a new identity, one fitting of the greatest mage in the world."

"You're not." Harry said quietly. "The greatest mage in the world is Albus Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore betrayed me!" Riddle yelled. "Ripped away the foundation of trust I mistakenly gave him!"

"You deserved it!" Harry shouted back.

Riddle screeched in incoherent rage and waved Harry's wand through the air. He felt a wave of force impact his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and sending him flying backwards. He rolled across the floor before coming to a stop at the bottom of one of the pillars.

Harry coughed and tried to push himself upright as Riddle walked towards him.

"There is no justice in the world save that which we make ourselves." She said calmly. "Treachery must be met with treachery. I will tear down everything Dumbledore stands for and burn his legacy to ash. Dumbledore has already been driven from this castle by the mere memory of me. What could a fully realised Voldemort do, I wonder?"

"Dumbledore will never be truly gone." Harry gasped. "Not so long as some of us still believe in him."

With a shrill cry and a flash of fire, Fawkes appeared in the Chamber, circling around the room and dropping the Sorting Hat next to Harry. Riddle paid no mind to that though, her attention focused solely on the phoenix.

"You…" She growled. "What are you doing here?"

Fawkes chirped and trilled at her.

"I'm not interested in any fucking excuses, least of all coming from you! He had his chance!"

More trills and a sad caw came from the phoenix's beak.

"Don't you dare lecture me on that, you fucking bird! That is firmly his responsibility, not mine. If he wants it, then he can show me, not the other way around."

Fawkes chirped sadly at her.

"You'd change too, if you were trapped in a diary with no outside stimulus for several decades, your last bit of information from the outside being one betrayal."

Fawkes began singing a song of otherworldly harmony, the sound of which caused Riddle to clutch her ears in pain.

"I said NO! Now get out!" She cast several spells at the bird, causing the phoenix to retreat.

Harry stood up and clutched the Sorting Hat. "If Dumbledore isn't around to stop you, then I will."

She turned to face him. "I'd like to see you try."

Harry held onto that memory for as long as he could, but his control eventually slipped and Snape honed in on another memory.

"Um…" Harry stammered, still trying to get his thoughts in order. "Why are you here?"

Voldemort glanced at him, appearing almost hesitant. He was wondering what she was thinking until she shattered his whole worldview once again with her next words.

"My daughter is alive."

"Huh?" Harry said, dumbstruck. Voldemort had a daughter!? How!? Why!? Then he had to resist the urge to gag as the implications caught up to him.

Voldemort rolled her eyes. "I don't even need to read your mind to know exactly what you're thinking, so let me nip that thought in the bud — I've never had sex."

Harry grimaced. "I don't think I needed to know that either."

She just rolled her eyes and muttered something about similarities before turning back to him. "Look, I'd love to chat more, but I'd rather not do it outside, if it's all the same to you. The weather's really hot today, and I'd rather not have to cast cooling charms every ten minutes to stay comfortable when an air conditioned building would be easier. Is there anywhere you'd like to go for lunch? My treat."

No sooner did Snape withdraw from Harry's mind did a new presence make itself known.

"Harry, are you alright!? It felt like you were in a lot of pain."

He didn't have a chance to reply, as the new presence vanished as soon as Snape re-entered Harry's mind.

He was not going to address the fact that Voldemort was casually reading his aunt's mind. If anything, he pitied her for having to see Petunia's thoughts again. "Uh, no, I've never eaten much foreign food. The Dursleys periodically got curry, but it was so bland that it was almost unpalatable."

"Right then. Really, I don't understand why there are still people in this day and age who refuse to try new food, even when it's so accessible… Do you want me to order for you? I know the menu better than you, so I can pick out some items that would be better for someone new. You'd be amazed how many people get hung up on the idea of raw fish."

Harry couldn't say he was that big on the idea of eating raw fish, but it wasn't like he'd tried it before. Unlike the Dursleys, he at least liked to try something once before deciding he didn't like it. Some types of sushi were likely to be acquired tastes, though, so… "Sure, that sounds fine."

"Alright then… Oh! There they are! Harry, this is Fenrir Greyback, infamous werewolf and a dear friend of mine from Hogwarts, and Delphini Riddle, my daughter."

The presence made itself known again. "Oh Severus, you utter bastard. Do you want me to do something about him?"

It vanished again as Snape smashed into Harry's mind.

Voldemort seemed to realise that at the same time that he did, as she looked over her shoulder to face behind them. "Son of a bitch, there's another."

Harry turned to see a dementor cornering Dudley against a tree. Dudley seemed almost comatose.

"What are you waiting for?" Harry asked. "Destroy it!"

"That spell takes a lot out of me. I need a moment before I can cast it again."

Dammit, they didn't have a moment. As the dementor began to pull down its hood, Harry made a snap decision.

He levelled his wand at the dementor. Five swishes in the shape of a star. One clockwise flourish. "Profligare Carcerem!"

"I mean it, Harry. I can stop him, but I won't do so without your permission. Just say the word."

It vanished before Harry could reply, Snape cutting straight through Harry's thoughts and filling his mind in agony.

"That's not important." She insisted. "That locket belongs to me, and it was evidently stolen from where I was safekeeping it. Please give it back."

"Why is this so important to you?" Harry asked as he took a step back. "We tried examining this amulet and we don't even know what it is." If it was so important to Voldemort, then maybe it wasn't safe after all. He hastily pulled it off of his neck and held it away from himself.

"It belonged to my mother." Voldemort said, a slight tone of desperation entering her voice. "Please."

Oh. Harry was about to give it back to her anyways, but Voldemort sweetened the deal further.

"Return it to me and I will give you one favour of your choosing. Anything that is within my power and will to give, and you'll have it."

Well, there was no way Harry could decline that sort of leverage. What would he even ask for, anyway? There was no way she'd stop her war if he asked her to, and it wasn't like she could return his family to him. Although she could…

"I want Sirius." Harry said firmly.

"Yes, stop him!" Harry shouted internally as soon as he felt the voice return. "Just make him stop!"

"As you wish."

Harry looked up and made eye contact with Snape, who was halfway through casting another mind reading spell. Harry braced himself for the pain, but it never came. The presence in his mind had grabbed onto Snape's presence and was holding it firmly where it was.

"Bad choice, Severus."

Snape's eyes widened in fear.

"Now, let's see what's on the other side…"

Harry felt the presence tug sharply on Snape's spell, and then it felt like he was falling into Snape's eyes.

A young boy with lank, dark hair entered the clearing where the two girls were playing.

"Lily!" The older of the girls said, pointing toward him.

"'M sorry." The boy mumbled. "But, I saw you playing, and… you're a witch!"

The young redhead put her hands on her hips. "That's a mean thing to say, you know!"

The boy faltered. "No, I mean… you can do magic! I've never met another person who can do magic before."

Her vibrant green eyes lit up. "Magic? You know what this is? You can do it yourself?"

"Um, not like you, but I have read about it, and-"

The girl grabbed his arm and dragged him off. "Come on, you have to tell me everything! My name's Lily, by the way."

"Severus…" The boy replied.

The memory shifted forward several years.

The eleven year old Snape watched with dismay as Lily was sorted into Gryffindor. The expression on his face was disgruntled, to say the least.

"What's so great about bravery, anyway?" He mumbled to himself.

His own sorting was far shorter than Lily's, the Hat declaring him a Slytherin in seconds.

The memory shifted again.

Snape was browsing through the shelves of the library when he heard a familiar voice the next aisle over.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked aggressively.

"Hey, look, I'm just here to talk. No tricks this time, I swear."

She huffed. "Fine, what do you want?"

"So, the boys and I have been working on a little project for some time, but we've hit something of a roadblock recently, and I figure asking the smartest girl in school would be our best bet for progress."

"Flattery will only get you so far, Potter. I'm not interested in helping you out with one of your pranks, nor would I have any reason to do so."

"It's no prank." There was a sound of parchment unfurling. "Behold, the Marauder's Map. Or the prototype, at least. It maps the castle perfectly, secret passages and all. We want it to do more than that, though, and that's where we've been running into problems."

Lily's tone of voice sounded interested, much as she tried to hide it. "As fascinating as that is, I still have no reason to help you — not with our personal history."

Potter sighed. "Look, Evans, while I have enjoyed the little back and forth between our groups, I think it's time to move on. Pranks are all well and good when you're younger, but there are more interesting things to do now, and with O.W.L.s coming up, I'd like to have more time to dedicate to other endeavours. You help us out with this, and we can bury the hatchet. We won't target you or Snape anymore, nor will we seek vengeance for past transgressions. Fresh start."

Lily sighed. "When did you learn to negotiate, Potter? I'll admit that our little conflict has grown stale lately, so a change of pace would be nice. You mean it about leaving me and Sev alone?"

"Promise. Now, how about helping me with that project?"

"Let me see here… So, what is it that you're trying to do?"

Snape didn't hear the rest, as he stomped out of the library in a fit. Lily may be willing to forgive them, but he sure wasn't. If he could set it up to look like Potter had violated his word, though…

"How very… like you, Severus." The presence remarked.

The memory shifted forward slightly. Harry watched as Snape tried and failed to set the Marauders up, ending in a huge row between him and Lily. And then…

"Honestly, Severus, you're being ridiculous! Just because I'm friends with him doesn't mean that I can't be friends with you too!"

Snape's face flushed in anger. "Well be his friend then! See if I care!" He stormed off, stopping only when Lily grabbed his arm.

"Really, Sev, what's gotten into you?"

"None of your business, you filthy little mudblood!"

Lily's face hardened. "Fine then. Be that way." She turned around and walked away.

"Now let's get to the good stuff." The presence said.

The memory shifted to Snape standing in front of Voldemort.

"Really, what brings a halfblood like yourself to one of my rallies?" The Dark Lady asked. "Surely you don't buy into all of that nonsense about blood purity."

Snape was taken aback by the frankness of the statement. Surely, this was a trap.

"No traps." She said plainly. "I can see it in your mind that you consider this a waste of time. It is for that reason alone that I brought you back here for a personal chat. You show… promise."

Snape gulped. "I was… the other students from my house were all attending. I didn't wish to single myself out."

The Dark Lady hummed to herself. "Peer pressure is a nasty thing, is it not? Well, I think we can help each other. I can see in your mind that you hate the purebloods just as much as I do. You help me in my crusade to destroy them, and I can help you get some of that revenge that I see your heart so clearly desires. What say you?"

The memory changed to a slightly older Snape kneeling in front of Voldemort in a new location.

"I wasn't able to hear the whole prophecy, but I did hear the first part. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lady approaches, born to those who have thrice defied her, born as the seventh month dies.'" Snape said.

Voldemort hummed from her seat. "Prophecies can be rather tricky things." She turned towards one of the inner circle Death Eaters, the one who was constantly concealed under baggy robes. "What's your analysis of the situation?"

"Prophecies are tricky things." They replied. "They cannot be prevented outright, but they can be circumvented. After all, there's more than a single way that a prophecy can be fulfilled. I would recommend a cautious approach. Doing nothing would be inviting disaster, but an overly zealous approach would attract the ire of beings best not angered. Best to tread the middle ground in a case like this."

"Do you have any idea who the subject of this prophecy might be?" Snape asked.

Voldemort chuckled. "Oh, there's only one person who could be the subject of the prophecy. James and Lily are expecting a child near the end of July, aren't they? We'll have to wait and see when the birth date is, but regardless, I believe that it's time that the Potters made their final choice."

Snape's blood ran cold.

The memory shifted to a similar one with Snape in front of Dumbledore.

"Save her, please!" Snape begged.

"And what of her husband and child? Do you care so little for them that you'd consign them to death?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape bit his tongue. "I want your word that you'll do your best to save her."

"And why should I give you anything, Severus? I may have forgiven too many antics while you were at school, both by you and against you, but you're not a child anymore. None of the information that you are offering me is something that I don't already know or haven't been able to infer. Why should I give you anything instead of turning you over to the aurors?"

"Please… I'll do anything." Snape begged.

Dumbledore stared down at him. "Even if it risks your own life? Betraying the group you've become a part of?"

Snape nodded.

"Then perhaps we can work out a deal."

The memory changed again to one in front of Voldemort.

"I'm begging you to save her, My Lady." Snape pleaded.

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "Spare the mother at the cost of her husband and child? That's callous even by your standards, Severus."

"Please, the boy and the father need to die, but she does not. Sparing Lily wouldn't be a hindrance to your plans."

She sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I cannot offer any promises, though. I'm sure you know as well as anyone how headstrong Lily can be."

"I want your word-" Snape began, only to be cut off by Voldemort.

"You ask for something that I cannot give. I will make my offer to her the same way I make it to others. I cannot guarantee her response."

The memory changed back to Dumbledore one last time.

"You said you'd keep her safe!" Snape shouted. "You said you'd protect her!"

"They put their trust in the wrong person, Severus. I did all that I could, but there was nothing I could have done to prevent that." Dumbledore said sadly.

"You… you said…" Snape collapsed onto the ground. "Why do I ever bother with anything?"

"Because there are still people who need you, Severus. Lily may be gone, but her child lives on, as does Voldemort… after a fashion. When she returns, I cannot face her as I have. I'll need someone within her ranks, keeping me abreast of her plans."

"Why should I?"

Dumbledore's face hardened. "Because you're still a marked Death Eater with several crimes on your hands. Because you spent more time serving Voldemort in earnesty than you did spying for me. Because someone is going to have to help finish Voldemort, and I cannot do it without someone in her midst."

Snape felt the familiar fires of revenge burn deep inside him at the thought of destroying Voldemort for good. Lily might be gone, but he could at least finish off her killer. "Alright, fine. I'll help you."

Harry felt his awareness snap back into his body as Snape collapsed to the ground, clutching his head.

"Well that was enlightening." The presence in his mind said to him. "You'll want to get out of there as soon as you can, Harry. Severus is not going to be in a good mood when he composes himself."

Harry grabbed his wand and scrambled to his feet, making a mad dash for the door. He tugged at the handle several times, but it was firmly locked. Even an Alohomora didn't open it.

"You utter imbecile!" Snape shouted, causing Harry to jump. He turned around, seeing that Snape was already pushing himself to his feet, though looking much less composed than usual. "Do you have any idea what you've done!? How many plans you've endangered!?"

Harry didn't bother answering Snape's question. His only priority was finding a way to get out of there in one piece. "Protego!"

His shield sprang into existence just as Snape cast a stunner in his direction. It was deflected off of his shield, striking one of the jars on the walls.

Snape's spellcasting was relentless, though. He was far more experienced than Harry would have guessed, and there was no way he'd be able to keep up. Harry felt his shield about to break when the presence in his mind spoke up again.

"Alright Harry, I need you to listen closely to what I'm about to tell you. You've done freeform magic before — you have a natural talent for it. If you're ever going to have a hope of pulling this off, then now is the best time to do it."

Harry's shield cracked under Snape's assault.

"You're in danger right now, and you need to escape. Focus on that need, the need to be away from here, to be out of danger, and let your magic answer the call!"

His shield shattered. Harry focused on what the presence had told him, to focus on the danger he was in and the need to be out of its path. He saw Snape starting to cast another spell, and let his magic flare up to actualise that feeling.

Harry Blinked.

The next thing he knew, Snape was gone, and the walls that had been behind Snape were much closer. Harry took a second to process what had happened, before he turned around and saw an awestruck Snape behind him.

Harry had teleported. Within Hogwarts. He was going to have to process that later.

Snape turned around to face Harry. "You…"

"Get out of the room!" The presence shouted.

Harry focused on the need once again, how he was still stuck in a room with Snape, and how that meant he was still in danger. He focused on the hallway beyond the door, and the freedom it offered.

Harry Blinked again. This time, he opened his eyes to the dungeon corridor.

"Run!" The presence shouted again. "Make your way to the gate! I'll meet you there!"

He didn't need to be told twice. He made a mad dash for the stairs, reaching the top just as he heard the door behind him slam open.

"POTTER!" Snape bellowed. "Get back here this instant!"

Harry ignored him, ducking under another curse that was sent his way. He pulled hard on the massive door leading out to the grounds, slipping out as soon as it was open enough for him to slip through. He looked back just in time to see Snape blast the doors open before casting another spell his way. Harry closed his eyes and focused on the need to avoid the spell, and suddenly found himself several feet to the right.

Harry ran straight into the forest, ignoring the path leading straight to the gate. The trees would give him more cover, and would hopefully help him lose Snape.

"Homenum Revelio!" Snape shouted, sending a pulse of magic through the woods. The moment it passed over him, Snape seemed to instantly know Harry's location.

Well, the woods wouldn't help him lose Snape, but they'd at least help give him cover. Harry swerved under another spell shot in his direction, and focused on moving. He tried to teleport when he could, but Snape still seemed to be gaining on him no matter what he did. Harry tried to slowly steer his course to the right as Snape chased him, so he could still reach the gate without losing his cover.

Harry finally caught sight of the gate, illuminated by the orange glow of the lanterns that hung there. He had to pass through a clearing to get there, but he was so close that he decided to go for it. He pushed his strained muscles to the limit, but roots raised themselves out of the ground and sent him sprawling.

Snape walked up to him as Harry tried to recover his bearings. "You… have caused so many problems tonight. You cannot even begin to imagine the damage you've caused. I'm going to enjoy- Augh!"

A loud boom and flash of light filled the clearing, sending Snape to his knees as something struck him in the back. As Snape fell, Harry got a good look at the attacker. Voldemort was floating in the middle of the clearing, looking very much like the heart of a storm.

Her entire body was glowing whitish-blue, and lightning coursed up and down her body. The hair that she kept tied back in her ponytail was waving and flailing behind her head like tendrils.

"Bad move, Severus." She said calmly, her voice echoing through the clearing.

Snape pushed himself to his feet and pointed his wand at her. "You can't have the boy. I won't let you."

Voldemort gave a cockeyed grin. "That's not up to you, though, is it? The only one who can make that choice is Harry himself. Now, stand aside before I make you."

He levelled his wand. "You know I'd never go down without a fight."

Her grin grew wider. "So be it. I'm going to enjoy this."

Snape immediately began casting spells faster than ever before. He only recognised a small portion of the spells flying out of Snape's wand, and he was pretty sure most of them weren't legal.

Voldemort didn't even bother returning fire, instead choosing to dodge every single of the spells. She flew left and right, up and down, and spun herself around everything that came her way. Snape's frustration continued to grow as he failed to land a single hit, at which point he began breaking out the really extreme spells.

"Avada Kedavra! Crucio!"

Voldemort dropped to the ground under the killing curse, and leaned backwards under the cruciatus.

Snape looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel. "Sectumsempra Maxima!"

Harry had no idea what that spell was, but apparently it was on the same tier as the unforgivables. For the first time in the whole fight, Voldemort didn't bother dodging. Instead, she focused all the lightning that had been surrounding her body into her right hand, and punched the spell while discharging a large amount of electricity. Harry felt himself pushed back by a shockwave as the spell exploded midair, and Snape barely seemed to keep himself upright.

"My turn." Voldemort said.

Electricity arced up her arm and shot out at Snape with a bright flash and a loud boom. Snape managed to get a shield up, but he still flinched as the electricity hit it. Voldemort let loose another bolt of lightning. And another. And another. And another. Snape seemed to be putting all of his power into bracing against the attacks, not having any openings to return fire. Voldemort pulled the electricity into both her arms, and then thrust her hands out together. Instead of coming out as individual bolts like her previous attacks, the lightning came out as a continuous stream, illuminating the entire clearing and arcing over Snape's shield and into the ground. Snape groaned under the strain until his shield cracked and shattered. The next thing Harry knew, Voldemort was standing right behind Snape and pressing her hand into his back. Snape wailed as electricity arced down his spine until he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Voldemort cast several spells at his collapsed form, leaving Snape thoroughly incapacitated. She then picked his wand up off of the ground and snapped it clean in half. She threw the two pieces onto the ground and set them aflame with a snap of her fingers.

The remaining electricity in her body was discharged into the ground, and she turned her gaze back to Harry. "Doing alright, there?"

Harry slowly pushed himself upwards. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." Voldemort stepped forward and grabbed him in a hug. "You did a really good job tonight. I'm very proud of you."

He tensed when she initially grabbed him, but slowly relaxed into her embrace. "I… thanks."

She released him and smiled. "I mean it — I've never been able to teach anyone how to Blink before, and you managed it on your first go! That's incredible!"

Harry felt himself flush slightly.

Voldemort pulled a bundle of rope out of her handbag and kneeled down next to Snape. "Mind giving me a hand with this? I'd like to have some words with him, but I need to make sure that he won't try to escape. Conjured ropes are too easily dispelled, so we need to do this the old fashioned way."

"Right." Harry kneeled down on the other side of Snape while Voldemort lifted the man's torso. "So… what was all that?" He asked as he slid the ropes under Snape's body.

"The lightning? It's a combat technique known as storm harvesting. I use magic to contain a large amount of natural lightning within my body. It takes some setting up, but it has a lot of advantages. I used it in this case because I fought Severus inside the boundaries of the Hogwarts wards. The wards are configured to alert someone if a teacher is wounded with magic, but storm harvesting is just natural lightning, so it doesn't trip that alarm."

Harry glanced back at Voldemort, who was in the middle of tightening a knot around Snape's knees. "That's… interesting, but not what I was asking about. What happened with the… mind reading?"

"Legilimency." Voldemort corrected. "Severus was using it on you, I assume as a way of teaching you occlumency, at least until he stumbled upon some of your more incriminating experiences. Is that correct?"

Harry nodded.

"Yes, well, legilimency is interesting, as it deals with a conceptual realm that's tied more closely to souls than neurology. Those sorts of connections are never one-way. When Severus tried to read your mind that last time, it was a trivial matter to reverse that connection and enter his mind instead."

"I heard you inside my mind. How?"

Voldemort sighed. "Harry, are you sure that you want an answer to that question?"

"Of course I-"

"Harry." She said firmly. "Consider how Snape reacted to finding me inside your mind. How do you think other people would react if they knew about that? How do you think they would act if they found out why? Yes, I understand that you aren't going to tell anyone, but as tonight has illustrated, there are ways to extract that information without you choosing to disclose it."

Harry grumbled as he pulled the slack out of the ropes around Snape's torso.

"I'm not saying that I won't tell you." She clarified. "But it is important that you understand the risks associated with this sort of knowledge. Even if you decide that you don't want to know right this moment, I'll tell you if you ever change your mind. Okay?"

He nodded. Now was probably not the time to have that sort of information dumped on him. "So, what's the deal with Snape? I thought you said he was your spy in the Order, but…"

Voldemort shot a spell at Snape that caused him to awake with a jolt. "The thing you need to understand about Severus is that he is a person who has always been motivated by revenge. Revenge against his mother's pureblood family for abandoning him to the muggle world and his abusive father, revenge against his abusive father for the way he was treated, revenge against you for the way your father treated him-"

"But I didn't even do anything!" Harry protested.

"I know that, Harry, but Severus has always had more spite than sense. I suppose it only makes sense that he'd turn his lust for vengeance against me for killing the only person he ever cared about."

"He sure had a funny way of showing it…"

Voldemort laughed. "He certainly did, didn't he? As I said, more spite than sense."

Harry looked down at Snape. "He saw into my mind, though. He saw the times we interacted, he learned about Delphini, and-"

She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Harry. I'll take care of it."

His gaze went back to Snape. "Are you going to kill him?"

Snape's eyes widened.

Voldemort hummed. "Well, what do you think I should do, Harry?"

He looked back at her. "Me?"

"Of course. You saw into his head. You saw how he tried to sabotage the relationship between your parents out of jealousy, how easily he took that rage out on you, an innocent bystander. How he brought me the prophecy that led to your parents' deaths, and begged both me and Dumbledore to spare your mother with no thoughts for you or your father. How he's tormented and belittled you at every opportunity for the past five years. If anyone has a right to decide his fate, it's you."

Harry stared down at Snape. He tried to muster any sort of rage for the man, like he'd so often felt before, but the feeling wouldn't come. All he felt was… pity. Snape was a man who'd dedicated his whole life to tearing other people down. Had he ever experienced any genuine happiness? Any sort of joy that didn't come from destroying someone or something else? Snape wasn't evil — he was just a sad, pathetic excuse for a human being.

"I don't like Snape, and I'll never forgive him." Harry said. "But I don't think he deserves to die."

"Then he won't." Voldemort gave a small laugh. "You're a much better person than I could ever hope to be. Hold onto it." She whispered something in Snape's ear before knocking him out with a stunner and throwing his unconscious body over her shoulder. "For now, though, you should be getting home. You've had an exhausting day, and I'm sure that some rest would do you some good."

Voldemort began walking towards the gate, and Harry hastily followed after her. "So, you're just taking me home? You're not going to ask me to join you or anything?"

She smiled at him. "Harry, you've had an emotionally exhausting experience. I wouldn't want to take advantage of that. If you're going to join me, then I want you to be of sound mind and genuine agreement with what I stand for."

Voldemort Blinked to the other side of the gate and looked back at Harry.

"You coming?"

Right. Harry closed his eyes and tried to focus on the need to be on the other side of the gate, but without a threat to hone the emotion, he couldn't manage it.

Voldemort laughed. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to master the skill immediately." She Blinked back inside of the wards, grabbed his arm, and Blinked them back out. "You should practice it again once you've had some rest. I imagine that your body is crashing pretty hard now that the adrenaline is wearing off. Let me just take care of one last order of business, and then we can be off."

Harry watched as ink concentrated itself beneath the skin of her left forearm. Where before the skin had been barren, a tattoo of a snake now coiled around her arm. Voldemort pressed her wand to it and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, a man with dirty-blonde hair apparated in front of them. Harry recognised him as the same man who had sworn the unbreakable vow between him and Voldemort over the summer. "You called?" He asked.

"Here, catch." Voldemort grabbed Snape from where he was slumped over her shoulder and tossed his unconscious body at the man. "Take him to one of the holding cells until I decide what to do with him."

The man staggered back as he tried to catch Snape. "Holy fuck, Voldie." He groaned as he tried to lift the unconscious body. "Are you going to be long? I made lasagna for dinner."

"Ooh, tasty. No, I won't be long. I just need to get Harry back home. Keep my serving warm until I finish up."

He nodded and apparated away, leaving him alone with Voldemort once again. She held out her hand, waiting for him to grasp it. Harry grabbed it, noting how she briefly tightened her grip on his hand.

"Let's go."

Harry felt the suffocating feeling of apparition and staggered when he landed back on solid ground. It took him a moment to identify his surroundings, but it was easily recognisable as the cul-de-sac of Grimmauld place. He turned to Voldemort. "So that's it? You're just letting me go?"

"Of course. As I said before, I want you to be of sound mind when you choose to join me. Now, you've had an exhausting day. Go get yourself some dinner and some much needed rest."

"Won't they think it's odd that I'm arriving on my own? I mean, Snape was teaching me — or supposed to be, anyhow. Won't walking in through the front door be suspicious?"

Voldemort tapped her chin pensively. "Tell them that Severus had to cut the meeting short due to an 'emergency'. Say that he was gripping his left forearm and dropped you off as quickly as he could. If anyone notices his disappearance, then it will be placed firmly on me."

Harry nodded. "Right, so I guess I'd better be…"

"Yes, you should. We do have one piece of business we still need to tie up, but I think that's best saved for a later date. Why don't you meet me here again on Monday morning? Some time around 6:30?"

That was a bit early, but Harry supposed that was the point. No one could stumble upon their meeting if they weren't awake. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Great!" She leaned in and hugged him once more. "You really did a great job today. You were put in a bad situation and really managed to make the best of it. If you ever need my help again, then just let me know, and I'll be right on my way."

"I will." Harry said, his voice muffled against her shirt.

Voldemort let go and stood back from him. "Now, you really should be going. Enjoy your break! See you soon!"

Harry nodded and turned around. This didn't feel like the sort of situation he should be able to walk away from. The person who hated him the most had learned the truth of his… dubious loyalties, and had chased him for what felt like hours after Harry learned the same of him. This wasn't the sort of thing that people were supposed to be able to walk away from.

Harry took a deep breath and tried to centre himself. This was probably some form of shock, if his previous experiences were anything to go by. The best thing he could do would be to give himself time to process everything.

Walking into Number Twelve felt like stepping into another world. The interior felt bright and cheerful despite the gloomy décor. Molly had obviously done her best to spruce the place up for the holidays, with lights and garlands providing a splash of colour against the dark floors and walls. Harry's gaze was drawn in by the strings of lights, which looked very much like they'd been plucked from a muggle household. The bulbs seemed to have some sort of carvings on them, so he leaned in to get a closer look.

"Harry! When did you get here?"

Harry turned to see Hermione standing at the end of the hallway, and her exclamation drew the attention of several others in the house.

"Snape dropped me off." Harry said, repeating the story Voldemort had told him to use. "He said he had to go and was clutching his arm. He dropped me off out front."

Sirius scoffed from the back of the crowd. "And he didn't even bother to see you inside, I see. That sounds just like him."

Harry pushed his way through the crowd and embraced Sirius. "Hey." He said quietly.

"Hey." Sirius said, gently patting him on the back. "Long day?"

"You have no idea."

Sirius chuckled. "I can only imagine. Come on, Molly has been cooking up a storm, and I'm sure she'll be delighted to know you've arrived."

He grinned. "That sounds great."

Harry woke early on Christmas morning. It was Monday, the day Voldemort had asked to speak to him. He dressed himself in some muggle clothing and donned a self-warming cloak on top of them.

The brisk December air made him shiver despite the protection. The sun had yet to fully rise, leaving the courtyard of Grimmauld Place lit mostly by the streetlamps. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the air, letting the cold shake the lingering cobwebs of sleep from his mind.

A crack echoed through the street, and Harry opened his eyes to see Voldemort in front of him, looking as irreverent as ever. Her usual white blouse had been replaced with a red satin one that matched her eyes. Her hand was resting on her hip and a cockeyed grin was spread across her face. "Hey, Harry."

Harry nodded at her. "Voldemort. You said we had unfinished business?"

"Indeed we do. I said that if you managed to break the Trace on your wand by this time, then you could ask me anything you wanted. I can already tell that your wand has been freed, but would you indulge me with a demonstration anyways?"

He pulled his wand out of his pocket and thought of everything that had happened in the past half year. He thought about the friendship he'd formed with Delphini, the freedom he'd won for his godfather, Draco being a decent person once Voldemort forced his head out of his arse, the fact that he never had to return to the Dursleys, and the fact that Voldemort not only didn't want him dead, but actually liked him. All the burdens that had been weighing on him for years, now lifted from his shoulders. Like the wand that he held in his hand, he felt freer than he'd ever been.

"Expecto Patronum."

The brilliant stag sprung forth from his wand and slowly pranced around them. Voldemort looked absolutely giddy. "Beautiful. Did you know that your father used his animagus form on me in battle once? He actually succeeded in goring me with one of his antlers before I recovered." She sighed wistfully. "What a fight that was. Well, you've more than earned it. Ask away."

There were lots of things Harry had wanted to ask, but one question stood out in his mind. "What is your real motivation? What are you trying to do with this war?"

Voldemort's grin grew wider. "I'll answer that question, but let me ask you a question first. What do you think I'm doing?"

Harry closed his eyes and thought of everything he'd learned from his research, his asking around, and even from his glimpse into the mind of Severus Snape. "You're trying to destroy the purebloods."

She cocked her head to the side. "Close, but not quite. Come on, Harry, you're a smart kid. I'm sure you can do better than that. After all, if I truly wanted to destroy the purebloods, then I would have wiped the Weasleys out the way I did so many other families. Instead, they remained firmly out of my line of fire."

He thought about it further. "You're not just trying to kill the purebloods." Harry said slowly. "You're trying to dismantle the Ministry completely."

Voldemort's grin remained as wide as ever.

"But I don't get why!" Harry continued. "Why use all these smoke and mirrors? Why fake an entire conflict if your real goal is something else altogether?"

Her grin vanished. "Tell me, Harry, do you know how the magical government works?"

Harry was ashamed to say that he didn't.

"The Wizengamot acts as the parliamentary body of the government. It originally had twenty eight seats, one for the head of each family from the Sacred Twenty Eight. The Minister of Magic is actually a comparatively recent invention, only introduced shortly after the institution of the Statute of Secrecy to handle the increasing bureaucratic workload faced by the Ministry. The Minister is elected by popular vote, but all candidates are nominated by the Wizengamot."

"So it all comes back to the Wizengamot, then." Harry concluded.

Voldemort nodded. The next thing Harry knew, she had vanished from in front of him and was now standing to his right. "Our entire government is ultimately controlled by a single body. A single, hereditary body with no accountability to the public. Even the muggle government has the elected House of Commons as a counterpart to the hereditary House of Lords."

Harry… vaguely felt like he could see how this could be a problem.

"As I'm sure you've gathered, the Wizengamot is highly self-serving. After all, why would they care about the common folk when their position is assured? Sure, the more progressive purebloods will spout rhetoric about how muggles and muggleborns should have basic rights, but at the end of the day, they still act in their own interests first and foremost. The entire body is a festering pool of corruption, and they need to be destroyed if this country is ever to have any chance of moving forward."

"Surely they're not all that bad." He said halfheartedly.

She sighed. "Occasionally, you do get the odd person who genuinely wants to use their position to help people, but they're always a minority and are easily outvoted by the self-serving majority. Moreover, just because they have good intentions doesn't mean that the same will hold true for whoever inherits the position after them."

"So how does that tie into your methods?" Harry asked. "Surely there's a less complicated way to get rid of them."

Voldemort leaned against a nearby lamppost. "It's a lot harder than you might think. For one, the body is magically enforced. Even if the immediate line of inheritance is wiped out, then it's possible for further descendants to claim the line. The McKinnon line was once completely wiped out, but the granddaughter of a squib sibling of the last Lord was able to claim their seat on the Wizengamot. Who knows how many of the country's supposed muggleborns are eligible to claim deactivated Wizengamot seats? No, wiping out every family would just be putting off the problem for a future generation. Besides which, while I do not feel guilt about most acts of killing, I do see excessive loss of life as… wasteful. Barty and Bellatrix are both eligible to inherit Wizengamot seats, and they're both some of my favourite people. No, the only permanent solution is to completely dissolve the magics holding it together, and that requires some very specific circumstances to happen. I'm not sure if you know this, but there is a more permanent way for seats to be removed from the Wizengamot."

Harry dug through his memories. He had to go fairly far back, but he did find the answer. "The seat can be forfeited."

Voldemort's grin returned. "Exactly. For a seat to be forfeited, the current holder of the seat and all eligible heirs must consent to the seat's permanent dissolution. Thankfully for me and my goals, parricide is not an obstacle to that. A fortunate side effect of so many pureblood families forcing duties on their heirs from a young age is that it has fostered much intergenerational strife. Bellatrix loathes — or loathed, I should say — all of her family except her sisters and cousin. She took great glee in wiping them all out."

"How does one dissolve the Wizengamot?" Harry asked, trying to steer the conversation back to his original topic.

"In order for the Wizengamot to be dissolved, all active seats have to be forfeited in the same session. Once all active seats have been forfeited, then the Chief Warlock has the power to undo the magicks binding the body throughout the remainder of that session."

"So why the war, then? Why not just wipe out everyone who doesn't agree with you and be done with it?"

Voldemort sighed. "I would have done that if it was an option, but there are two complicating factors." She held up a finger. "Factor number one is the ICW. They will provide aid to any country among their number whose government is being directly targeted by insurgents or terrorists. What they will not interfere with is a civil war, as they believe that such things need to be resolved internally." She held up a second finger. "Factor number two is the Wizengamot themselves. Back when Abraxas and I were first trying to find a way to destroy the Wizengamot, we decided to look into what previous attempts had done and how they had failed. Learning from the mistakes of others and all that. There have been previous instances where vigilantes attempted to wipe out the Wizengamot, and they evidently have measures in place to combat that. It is possible, through unanimous vote of all active members, for them to declare someone an 'enemy' of the country. The results of this were varied and ill-defined, but consistently catastrophic. Results varied from high level cognitohazards to mid-level reality bending to antimemetic phenomena. It wasn't something I wanted to risk facing.

However, that requires the vote to be unanimous. If half of them think that I'm on their side and fighting for their values…"

"Then they wouldn't vote for it. But what if what comes after is worse, though? What if the body that replaces the Wizengamot is even more corrupt?"

"Then I will tear it down, too. I will keep tearing down the Ministry again and again, until it finally becomes something worth keeping."

Harry closed his eyes and paused to take all of that in. Voldemort had called herself a revolutionary back during the summer, and knowing what he now knew, he was inclined to agree. She was trying to strike at the longstanding roots of political corruption, and the results were just as messy as he would have expected.

When Harry opened his eyes again, Voldemort was holding her hand out in front of her. "Come on, Harry. Help me make the world a better place."

Harry stared at the offered hand, trying to process everything that he'd just been told.

What Voldemort was doing… wasn't right.

Even if the government was as corrupt as it appeared to be, was murdering entire families the right away to go about fixing it? Voldemort said she saw excess killing as wasteful, but she also admitted that she had no problems with it, either.

And yet…

Harry thought of Hagrid, who'd been arrested and sent to Azkaban because Fudge 'needed to be seen doing something'. He thought of the muggleborns that had been petrified in his second year and left in that state because they weren't purebloods.

He thought of Sirius, who'd been sent to prison for over a decade without trial, and had only earned his freedom because Harry had coerced Voldemort into providing it. He thought about Neville, who had been tortured by a teacher at school and only received justice for it because he had been pureblood.

Harry thought about the fact that he had been brought on trial for defending himself against a literal demon, and was only allowed to go free because Voldemort had been behind the scenes, pulling the strings in his favour. He thought about how the head of law enforcement was seemingly nursing a personal grudge against him for not sharing information that he wasn't obligated to.

What Voldemort was doing wasn't right.

But it wasn't wrong, either.

Her methods had hurt lots of people and were going to hurt more, but how many more would be harmed if things were allowed to stay as they were?

Accepting Voldemort's offer felt like it was betraying his parents, and yet…

They had given their lives so Harry could live. Tina had told him that the only person he needed to live for was himself.

And at the end of the day, Harry was the sort of person who felt the need to do things about his problems.

Slowly, reluctantly, Harry reached out to Voldemort's hand. She squeezed it tightly for a moment and looked to the sky.

"Let's go. We have places to be."

Harry felt the ground fall from beneath him as Voldemort apparated them away.

Shortly after the two disappeared, the rising sun finally broke past the horizon, spilling the light of a new day into the now-empty courtyard of Grimmauld Place.

A/N (Tendra): Anyone remotely familiar with my politics shouldn't be at all surprised by Voldemort's motives.

The notion of the purely hereditary Wizengamot is an interesting fanon concept, but what has always bothered me most is that almost no one is critical of the idea. Most fics fall somewhere on the scale of actively embracing the idea to blithely accepting it. Very few people seem to ask if having a purely hereditary parliament with no known source of public accountability is actually a good idea.

I actually had to research how the UK government works, since I didn't actually know much beyond "constitutional monarchy with a parliament". Thanks, American education system! Repeatedly learning the history of my country three separate times throughout my schooling was obviously more worthwhile than learning how other governments throughout the world work.

I started writing this chapter with the idea that Tina and Poppy are longtime friends. Once I started writing them interacting, though, I quickly realised that they are very gay. Tina's identity is probably obvious to astute readers by now, but I had to literally spell it out to all of my betas, so idk. The next chapter will delve into her history further.

This chapter had so many lines that I was dying to write. The action scene between Snape and Voldemort is probably my favourite part of this chapter.

E/N (Xgenje): To be fair on the whole "Tina's Identity" thing… I have The Stupid™ and it is very contagious (you've been warned). I straight up did not connect the dots until Ten basically explained it to me. I need a lot of time to think on all of the exposition before really making a judgement on this chapter… I say that as I read this entire thing in one sitting and only found 2 errors total.

E/N (Foadar):

That was one hell of a rollercoaster. Yeah, I didn't have a clue either. I am a beta, not Sherlock Holmes. As for the political side of this story, it is a tale as old as time. A corrupt government getting assailed by rebellion and revolution? Surprisingly relevant to this day, however.

I do think it is important to mark that this is definitely not your traditional corruption arc. If it was, we'd no longer have Severus Snape after this chapter. Though his death would have been quite epic. I personally saw this lightning ability as a bastardized force lightning, naturally, as a Star Wars fan, and I was fanboying to some degree. In the end the Umbridge subplot is barely even worth mentioning. The Witch is gone, thank fuck. I do think it is important to consider Voldemort's future plans at this point. I do not necessarily think of her as a democrat…