In Company
The following morning Harry woke up to find Nagini curled up next to him, she hadn’t left with Voldemort the day before, Harry suspected he’d told her to stay there to keep an eye on Harry. He slid out of bed, ignoring the angry remarks from the large reptile and after getting dressed he started to head to the kitchen, rubbing his forehead to try and rid it of the headache that was developing, while thinking as he did about the events of the previous day and feeling a certain sense of cathartic peace after his angry outburst. It was as Harry was passing the dining room deep in thought that his scar gave a twinge and he heard a sound coming from within the room, and he paused. He turned around to look back into the open doorway, and felt his eyes widen and his eyebrows rise at the sight before him. Voldemort, the Dark Lord, was sitting at the head of the table with breakfast set out before him and a place set around the corner of the table to his left. As Harry took a step or two forward he could see the man had one leg crossed on top of the other and was reading a newspaper. There was a mug of something steaming in front of him. Looking at the second place set at the table Harry began to back away, hoping desperately that he hadn’t been seen, but it was in vain.
“Harry. Come here.” Voldemort said without looking up. Harry paused again and was considering just walking away, perhaps bolting for the front door? “Now.” Came the stern reply and looking back Harry saw Voldemort glancing up from reading with a glare in Harrys direction. He walked in and not wanting a repeat of the previous day, Harry reluctantly went to sit at the table. He did however sit one seat down from where the place had been set, not wishing to entirely give in. Voldemort raised another eye at that, but continued his reading. Harry began to notice that there was indeed a hot liquid in the mug, and that Voldemort even had food on his plate. As Harry watched, Voldemort put down the newspaper and picked up a slice of toast and bit into it.
“What are you doing?” Harry asked apprehensively. Voldemort didn’t look at him and continued chewing his toast, after he’d swallowed he picked up his mug of what Harry could now see, and smell, was tea.
“Eating,” was all the man said. Harry found himself almost at a loss for words, he didn’t quite know what to make of everything, there was a toast rack, and eggs, there was a glass of what looked like pumpkin juice, a proper breakfast. And Voldemort was eating.
“Why?” Harry asked. Voldemort simply gave him a dark look that suggested he thought Harry was rather stupid, and granted on any normal person it would be a stupid question, but this was Voldemort. “What is all…this?” He asked, gesturing at the table.
“It’s called food, Harry.” Voldemort responded dryly, sipping on his tea before picking up his newspaper. “Eat.” As he says this Nagini slithered her way into the room and up onto the table, making her way towards Voldemort who placed down the newspaper again.
“Eat.” She hissed, “You have changed your mind, I can eat the boy after all,” She said, winding her way around Voldemorts shoulders and flicking her tongue at Harry, who was already feeling a bit sick from his headache and being so close to Voldemort, he didn’t want to consider being eaten by Nagini. Harry caught movement at the bottom of his eye and flicking his eyes away from Nagini nervously he could see a deranged woman screaming and then laughing maniacally on the cover of the newspaper, the same woman who had attacked him at Malfoy Manor. Voldemort let out a slight breath and disturbingly a small smile appeared on his face.
“No, but it’s tempting.” He hissed. “Harry, eat.” He said more sternly. Harry honestly didn’t think he could stomach anything at the moment. He was about to say he wasn’t too hungry when he saw Voldemort sit back and begin to finger his wand while watching him. Harry carefully avoided eye contact and reached out for a slice of toast that he began to nibble on, and then take bites out of, and then once the toast was gone Harry realised his appetite had returned with a vengeance and he decided he’d be as well eating, taking more toast, some eggs and bacon, and soon clearing everything off of his plate. He noticed Voldemort was still watching him, while one hand stroked Nagini, and his feelings of unease returned. Harrys eyes flickered to the newspaper again, and feeling brave he decided he’d be as well trying to get some information on what was going on out there again.
“Can I…er…read that?” He asked, nodding at the paper before looking at Nagini to avoid eye contact.
“No” came the immediate response, and Harry tried not to let himself be too disappointed by the answer. Voldemort sat and continued to watch him for a moment longer. “I will be staying here,” the man said suddenly and Harry looked at him confusedly. “In this house, clearly you need some sort of supervision.” Harry went pale, Voldemort was going to be LIVING here? “I WON’T be staying long, I don’t like this anymore than you do,” which Harry fully believed, “but I have a room you are not to enter, I will try to join you for meals but I may not be here everyday.” Voldemort stated.
“But…why you? Why not someone else?” Harry asked, confused as to why if Voldemort didn’t want to see Harry why he was bothering himself with this task.
“Because there are few I trust enough not to harm you, even fewer I trust would actually make sure you were doing well and none I trust with my secret.” Voldemort paused, “and besides, I can’t bare to stay with the Malfoys another moment.” he added as an afterthought. Harry almost smiled at that, thinking of the mansion and how he wouldn’t want to stay with the Malfoys any longer than he had to either, and he didn’t even have to interact with them for the most part. He still felt horrified that Voldemort would be here so much though, he hoped that wouldn’t be the case, perhaps if he showed that he could look after himself Voldemort would begin to back off again. Voldemort stood up, placing Nagini into the chair he had just vacated. “I’m going now. Nagini will be here, she will find a warm spot to sleep in most likely, and will require little attention.” Voldemort said before he turned and walked out of the room without a backward glance. Harry looked over to Nagini who was coiled in the chair watching him.
“When I am not sleeping or eating, you WILL give me your attention,” she hissed threateningly. Harry let out a sigh. This certainly complicated things.
Harry had spent the day going through his new books, trying to distract himself from the strange morning he’d had and his lingering feelings of unease. After he couldn’t stand to spend any more time studying Harry had made himself something for lunch and then he’d closed his bedroom door and hid in his room from Nagini while he told Tom Riddle everything that had been happening. Tom had, as usual, some insights on Voldemorts behaviour and had suggested that the man was probably beginning to try and manipulate Harry into joining his side, as he’s no use to Voldemort if he was so strongly opposed to him.
Opposed to him? He killed my parents, he tried to kill me as a baby!
Yes, you’d mentioned that. You should go along with it as much as possible, but not too much, you don’t want to arouse suspicion. Hopefully he will have to leave for a while soon and then I can help you get out of this whole situation. I hope you don’t mind me asking this Harry, but you haven’t said, why is it that Voldemort hasn’t killed you yet? What is it that makes you special to him?
Harry froze. He…somewhat trusted Tom, he didn’t like this whole situation, but if he didn’t have Tom then he had nothing, so he was sure he did trust him…but he hadn’t told him about being a horcrux, he wasn’t sure if that would disgust the other boy and cause him to stop helping, he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t tell someone later. But then if he didn’t tell him perhaps Tom would stop trusting HIM. Harry decided he would just have to hope that wouldn’t be the case.
I’m sorry Tom, I know you’ve been helping me but I can’t tell you. Maybe someday, but I just can’t now.
I understand Harry, perhaps when I have my body back I can prove I am trustworthy to you.
Of course, Harry wanted to help Tom…but he couldn’t help but notice a sense of unease at the back of his mind whenever he spoke to the other boy.
Harrys stomach notified him as to how late it had gotten and he went down to the kitchen, after hiding from Nagini whose tail he saw disappearing further upstairs, presumably to lie in the last rays of sunlight, and began to make himself some food. It was only as Harry turned from the counter to sit down with his plate that the door opened, causing Harry to drop his food in surprise, which magically floated back up and neatly placed itself on the table.
“You should be more careful Harry,” Voldemort said with a small smirk on his face, but a colder look in his eyes. Harrys appetite vanished and he stared stonily at the man in front of him, managing to remember at the last minute NOT to look into his eyes. The man turned and walked to the opposite end of the table and settled himself into the seat there, like a king on his throne. Harry began to berate himself for not cooking quicker, for not fleeing from the room with his food the moment it was done, for sure enough-“Please Harry, don’t let me disturb you.” And he gestured at the food on the plate as the chair pushed itself back from the table. Harry paused for a moment before tensely sitting down and beginning to try to quickly eat his food so he could get out of there. Voldemorts eyes unnervingly watched him the whole time, and Harry was glad when he was done and began to get up. “What have you been up to?” Came the question from Voldemorts mouth, startling Harry back into his seat.
“What?” He blurted out.
“What, have you been up to?” Voldemort asked again, and Harry was amazed at the calm on the mans face and what LOOKED like genuine interest.
“Er…reading?” He said, uncertainly.
“What have you been reading?” The man responded.
“…book-“
“-What KIND of books, Harry?” Voldemort cut in harshly, and Harry could see a glimmer of the annoyance simmering under the surface. Voldemort hated this as much as Harry did.
“Er- the new books,” Harry said again uncertainly. Voldemorts head was perched upon his thumb and forefinger again, leaning on one of the chairs arms, and he sat staring at Harry for a moment, who shuffled awkwardly at the scrutiny.
“Very well, keep it up,” Voldemort said as he briskly stood and in a blink had strode past Harry and back out of the kitchen door with such a brusk “Goodnight Harry” thrown over his shoulder that Harry wondered if Voldemort hadn’t hoped he wouldn’t be heard. And then he was left, blinking in the silent room, the lonely house, the emptiness. Harry wished he was back at Hogwarts so badly in that moment, with Ron and Hermione, in the Great Hall with a feast before him and then sleeping in his bed with the Gryffindor colours around him and other beds with other sleeping boys. His plan, Toms plan, Harry was feeling more and more unsure of it and he didn’t want to be going into this blind and so…helpless. He decided that if Voldemort was going to provide him with books to study from, then Harry was going to use them, he had no hopes that he could beat Voldemort with a couple of spells, but maybe he could make it at least a bit more difficult for Voldemort, or Tom should he prove to be false, to catch him, or find him, or even make it easier for him to escape. He would at the very least go down fighting, like his parents. With a new hope stirring in his chest and a plan for the coming days or weeks or months, he decided he was ready for this particular day to be over and, heading upstairs, he fell asleep the minute his head sank into the pillow.
The following days fell into a similar pattern, with Voldemort making Harry join him for breakfast, before he disappeared for the day, with Harry occasionally making a venture to acquire Voldemorts newspaper or ask more about what was going on out there, which was always shot down, and so then Harry would get stuck in with studying. He would find his concentration drifting around lunch time and after eating would spend a few hours basking in the sun outside, which for the first few days was unaccompanied. Nagini, however, began joining him, bemoaning the coldness of the house and the lack of a good human to sleep on, and while Harry tried to protest, she would drape herself over his body and make it very difficult, sometimes impossible, to return to studying. He tried to avoid her after that, but she would find him in the house and make attempts to bite him or strangle him if he tried to walk away, he found that when the giant, fanged snake was set on something she was very difficult to dissuade. He started taking his books outside with him after the first few days of this. Voldemort would show up in the evening and either catch Harry in the kitchen and sit asking him questions about his day and studies while Harry ate, or he would already have dinner set up in the dining room and would have to come and extricate Harry from under Nagini. Harry felt exposed and humiliated when he found himself in this position, but Voldemort would just pick up the snake and walk inside. After the first week of this though, Harry felt himself settling into the routine. He was still set on escape, and he did his best to answer Voldemort shortly, he refused to be drawn in or tricked, but at least there was someone to talk to, at least he wasn’t wallowing in hopelessness. Halfway through the second week Harry began to catch the occasional glimpse of Voldemort leaving or entering the locked room some of the mornings and nights, and had a horrible suspicion that the man sometimes stayed the night in the house.
After the second week however, Harrys scar began to prickle more often, he wondered what Voldemort was up to that he was so irritated all the time. Harry found his concentration was suffering and was spending more and more of his time outside, trying to ignore the pangs of pain he was experiencing. “You should be studying, child” Nagini said in a belittling tone, if snakes could have tones in their voices Harry thought as he tried to ignore her and pretended to be asleep. “The Dark Lord won’t like you ignoring your studies” she said again as she coiled herself more tightly on top of Harry.
“Well why don’t you get off me then and I’ll go do it,” Harry said, briefly opening his eyes to look at the snake, who didn’t look at all pleased by this idea. “exactly, and besides, I would study if I could actually understand what I was reading, there’s only so many times I can read a transfiguration chapter on reparifarge,” Harry was finding that he was only getting so far with the books before he would get lost, with no one to help him understand, and found himself getting bored by the material. “And if he wanted me to study then perhaps he should watch his temper so I’m not suffering from it,” Harry said with a slight wince as a particularly painful jolt went through his scar.
“You should be more careful how you speak of master,” Nagini hissed warningly. Harry let out a huff of laughter.
“YOUR master isn’t here though, is he? He can’t exactly hear me from wherever and whatever it is he’s off being angry at.” Harry said rubbing his forehead.
“Can’t I?” A soft voice spoke up from the doorway. Harry bolted upright, Nagini falling to his side and making hissing snaps at him in displeasure as Harry turned around to see Voldemort glaring at him from the entrance to the house. “Harry,” the man said in a dangerously calm voice, but Harry could FEEL how badly the mans tone belied his true feelings, he supposed that this time it was Harry that was making Voldemort so irritated. “Nagini is right, you should be studying,” he spoke again. Harry remained silent, glaring back. After a moment with no reply from Harry, Voldemort took a step forwards “I shall rephrase, WHY aren’t you studying Harry?” Harry found himself getting more and more annoyed at the man in front of him and decided to answer.
“Why would my studies matter to you? It’s not like you’re going to let me back to Hogwarts at any time are you, I’ll never be allowed to leave this house, I’ll never be ‘permitted’ to be in danger so why would you care what I get up to and how far along in my ‘studies’ I am?” Harry returned heatedly, feeling anger beginning to flood through his veins as the pain in his head got worse.
“I don’t like you speaking to me like that Harry, I am hopeful there will be a bright and prosperous future for you beyond my simply keeping you locked up somewhere for eternity,” Voldemort said warningly and mockingly. “Therefore you WILL continue with your studies,” he said, again with a calm that showed nothing of the waves of irritation Harry was beginning to recognise coming from his scar. Harrys vision was starting to become a bit blurry and he suddenly found the whole situation very strange and almost comical, the dark lord, the man who had killed his parents, badgering him to keep up with his studies. Harry started to laugh, his head ready to burst, everything feeling very strange and wobbly.
“You-what?” Harry managed to get out before
he was looking down at the boy as suddenly his face scrunched up and he fell to the ground, groaning and clutching at his forehead, writhing in agony. Voldemort felt some concern at first before realising what was happening. He began to use occlumency to shroud his emotions and took a deep breath before noticing…something niggling…Get out of my head Harry.
And he was on the ground again, he rolled over and threw up causing Nagini to begin to slither away inside, hissing angrily the whole time. The pain in his scar lessening, Harry was gasping for air and he curled himself up to fight the tremors wracking his body. He stayed curled up with his eyes shut until his breathing had calmed somewhat and the pain had almost entirely gone from his scar. “Get up,” a disgusted voice spoke above him and as Harry opened his eyes, he felt the sunlight stab his pupils and after blinking he noticed Voldemort was stood above him. Harry slowly began to climb to his feet, and when he stumbled he felt a hand grab his upper arm and began dragging him into the house and towards the library where all his books were set up for studying. The man pushed Harry into the chair and then pulled up another one on the other side of the table, Harry sat back in the chair and stared at Voldemort warily for a moment, his breaths still laboured as Voldemort stared back annoyedly at him. “Open your books.” He finally said.
“What?” Harry replied.
“Open them, Harry” Voldemort said warningly, his eyes narrowing to a glare and Harrys scar gave a pulse of pain. Harry winced and, sitting forward, opened up the transfiguration book he’d abandoned hours previously. “Start reading.” Voldemort commanded, and to Harrys horror the dark lord sat there and watched as Harry slowly got to work reading the chapter before him. Even worse was when he got to the end of the chapter and Harry found himself being quizzed on the chapter and when he answered wrong, which was often, Voldemort sat and explained the concept to him. Harry struggled to take it in, he was struggling to understand the bizarre situation before him of Voldemort trying to teach him transfiguration and, Voldemort actually being surprisingly good at giving explanations as Harry found himself understanding the material before him. It couldn’t have been more than an hour or two later that the sun started to dip and Voldemort stood up to leave. “I’ll leave food in the dining room, I’m sure we have both had enough of one anothers company for one day” Voldemort said shortly and, tiredly? “I want you to write an essay on the uses of reparifarge…by tomorrow night,” he said before he left the room and Harry, taking a deep breath, sat back in the chair and thought over what a strange day it had been. Voldemort had just set him homework. Voldemort. He had given Harry a transfiguration lesson and then set him homework. Harry began to laugh quietly, holding his face in his hands he laughed at how strange and awful everything was. He laughed and laughed until he felt his laughter begin to slip dangerously close to becoming tears and then he stopped, and began to try to pull himself together.
After a while Harry went through to the dining room and sure enough there was dinner set out for one and a book sat beside the plate. A book on occlumency, whatever that was. Harry ate his dinner, took the book upstairs and fell asleep without managing to read a single page.