Chapter 3
"So," Harry looked down at the snake enveloped around his arm. "How come you know who I am? Do all snakes know about me?"
"Words travel fast." Was all the snake said before changing the subject. "Your uncle did that to you." It wasn't a question. The boy's bloody face was swollen, blue and red bruises marring his face. One of the eyes was so swollen he could barely open it, and his nose was obviously broken.
"Yeah... He likes to hurt me." He answered unperturbed. "Where are we going?"
"A safer place than here out in the open. I'm expecting someone to appear soon." Replied the white snake, his tongue getting out to make sure there were no threats.
"Who?"
There was no response to his enquiry, unfortunately. So he kept walking, pushing plants out of his way. The sun has already settled, taking all the warmth with it, making the boy shiver. It was also very dark, his poor eyesight not helping in the slightest.
"Go to the right." Ordered the snake. Harry followed his instructions, finding a clearing with what appeared to be a tent. It was a poorly made shelter, but a shelter nonetheless. Harry got inside, mindful of the spider webs. It was still cold but it was better than outside where he was exposed, thought the boy.
"Sleep."
Harry accepted begrudgingly, only because he was exhausted after getting beaten, appearing in this place and walking for hours.
-
It was way past midnight. Voldemort was awake, his ruby eyes not moving away from the sleeping boy. The Dark Lord took note of the position the child was in, his legs against his chest to take as little space as he could, arms around him in a clear attempt to protect himself even in his sleep.
Meeting Harry Potter in Albania was unexpected, let alone in such a deplorable condition. It was also a surprise to discover that the young wizard could speak parseltongue. Not only that, Potter acted differently than he remembered, more chill and careless, and not in a good way. The news about his relatives being abusive also shocked him. One would have thought that the boy who lived would have a good life, with luxuries and surrounded by people who adore him. Voldemort knew very well that the only one who could have brought the boy to that family that night was Dumbledore. No one else. If that's the case, what was the old man's plan?
As the night wore on, the snake coiled on itself, managing to sleep for a few hours before being awakened by sunlight. Stretching, the snake moved toward Harry still in his corner, hissing as he went. The morning chill was starting to get too uncomfortable to his liking so he wrapped around the boy's neck to absorb his heat. Luckily, he didn't need to wake up Harry as he did it on his own at the touch.
"'Morning..." The raven greeted, rubbing his eyes, soon taking his glasses from the ground to put them back in their rightful place. "Ugh, it's still too cold."
"Quit complaining."
"When is your friend coming to get you?" Harry continued as if his companion hadn't said anything.
"Not a friend." Managed to say the Dark Lord, irritated, squeezing the other's neck in warning. Now that is was mentioned, his mind started to think back to the last time any of his Death Eaters came to him voluntarily. He hissed again at the realisation, rage filling him at the betrayal. His Knights would have never left him abandoned.
"Hey, what's wrong?" A dark skinned hand was reaching to touch the animal's scales to calm him down when the snake lunged at him, baring his fangs.
"I don't need your pity, Potter." The wizard frowned at this, his hand returning next to his body without complain.
"I didn't mean to pity you. That's what my friends do when I'm upset, they touch me in some way." He explained patiently at the snake.
"I don't need it." Was repeated.
"Not even for my warmth?" Wondered the boy, smirking, and moved his shoulders so the animal understood his meaning.
"That's different, it's a question of survival." Despite his words, Voldemort relaxed in his position, letting Harry stroke his scaly body this time. The boy hummed happily at the permission, entranced at the feeling of it, only realising now how cold it was. He must have been freezing during the night, Harry thought, something sharp twisting his insides. I know I was.
They stayed like that for a few more minutes before the Dark Lord decided it was enough. "We need to keep going. It's too dangerous to stay in one place."
"We won't be waiting for your not-friend?"
"No need."
"Why don't I teleport us?" Suddenly exclaimed the raven, jolting the snake from his place in his shoulders.
"Stop moving!" Hissed the other. When the kid calmed down, he continued to educate Potter since it's obvious the boy doesn't know anything, in the Dark Lord's opinion. "You're too young and inexperienced to apparate. You would splinch us horribly."
"But I did it before!" Protested the other, pouting.
"One time is not enough experience." Voldemort was getting impatient with the boy's audacity to disrespect him at every turn.
"This isn't the first time, though. I know that, if I will it, my magic will do all the work! Or at least it had always work like that for me." Explained the younger one, resisting the urge to shrug his shoulder.
Dark eyes starred at him, unmoving. "What." Voldemort started, "Do. You. Mean?" The young wizard swore the voice sounded colder.
"When I was a kid,-" He was interrupted.
"You're still a kid."
"-I was running from my cousin Dudley and his friends. They were playing Harry Hunting. But that day I was more tired than usual and I couldn't run for much longer. I thought I was done for when I suddenly found myself on top of a roof." He finished, unbothered by the interruption.
"How did you feel?"
"What do you mean?" Harry cocked his head to the side. "I was scared. I wish I could escape them, so I did."
"You felt threatened." Voldemort moved around the boy's neck, his head getting nearer to his forehead. "Most accidental magic is used when feeling strong emotions: angry, scared, or confused, as a form of self-defence. When one is extremely happy it can happen also. However, there's a limit to how much you can do." A forked tongue touched the scar lightly, making Harry giggle at the tickling feeling. "Stopping yourself from dying unless it's an illness. Changing colors. Growing flowers." He continued, his head moving farther from the boy. "Throwing objects, moving them, creating lights. However, Apparition is not one of them."
The finality of his words broke the entrance Harry was finding himself in, blinking fast to come back to reality.
"Then how do you explain what I did?"
"I... might have a theory." Admitted the snake. The raven didn't have to wait long to get his answer. "It wasn't you."
"What?" He whispered, perplexed, an incredulous laugh escaping from his dry lips. "There was no one else! No one else could have done it!" Protested the boy. "And what do you know? You're just a snake! A dumb animal!"
"Silence!"
The force of the voice paralyzed him, eyes wide as saucers. His body had acted on its own, ceasing all movement, including his breathing. When he managed to relax his body back to his previous state, he took a shaky breath, one after another. He barely noticed the snake on the floor in front of him. He didn't feel it moving.
"I-" He stopped, remembering his order.
"I didn't say it was someone else from around you. No, it was someone from inside of you." Voldemort corrected, his piercing bloody eyes staring up at his emerald ones. "Your magic alone wasn't enough, It had been protecting you."
"It?"
Still sitting on the ground, Harry scrambled to the exit after the snake, waiting for the response. He momentarily covered his eyes from the light before following the other.
"The Horcrux. A piece of a foreign soul resides inside of you since the night your parents died, Potter."
"Since..." He frowned. "But that would mean..." He was speechless. The idea of having something so intimate as a piece of a soul inside of him, one belonging to the killer of his parents, the Dark Lord, was too much. He was getting dizzy.
"Breath, Potter." Reminded the snake, forcing the kid to do so.
"How?" He hoarsely questioned after some minutes, taking the snake from the ground despite his protests, and putting him close to this neck so he would slither there. The weight was comforting.
"It must have been an accident." He heard his companion mumble, although he was unsure how a snake could mumble at all. "Voldemort was too unstable at that time. I should have realised it sooner." Now it was talking nonsense.
"Don't be ridiculous, you couldn't have known. You're not him." Said Harry, amused. Unless the snake had been there the night his parents died, he doubts his companion knows anything related to that.
"Potter. Who do you think I am?"
A heartbeat later. "What do you mean?" Harry looked at his side, their eyes locking. "I didn't ask for your name, I guess. Do snake even have names?" He wondered absently.
"Potter. I am the Dark Lord." Harry chuckled at the possibility of having slept with Voldemort. Nah, he thought. He would have killed me.
"Yeah, right. And I'm Merlin. You're not him." The denial annoyed the snake who hissed at him, baring his fangs.
"And how, do pray, do I know so many things about you? About him?" There was an obvious warning in his words, so Harry took his time to consider his answer. Voldemort did possess his teacher last year, and he's powerful. It could be possible but...
"If that were true, why didn't you kill me the moment you saw me?" Really, that was the only reason he couldn't believe it.
"I'm nonvenomous." Was his dry reply.
"You could have suffocated me in my sleep. Hell, you could have done it when I appeared in front of you." The raven rolled his eyes, crossing his arms against his chest. "You could do it now."
"And why would I do that? You pose no threat to me." Voldemort pointed out.
"No? Why's that?" Now he was curious. All the times they've met, the Dark Lord tried to kill him.
"Because you're my Horcrux." That word again. Harry frowned upon hearing it.
"And what does that mean for me? For you? What's a Horcrux for?"
"It stops someone from dying, tethering them to the living world even after they physical body had been destroyed."
"Oh." The silence started to get too long for Harry's comfort, who was still mulling over the supposed Dark Lord's response. He gulped down all his other questions, choosing only one. "So that means you can't kill me." That was a relief to know.
"You cannot kill me either. Unfortunately for you, my piece of soul had fused with your own to the point of no return." Harry wasn't complaining.
"We're stuck together." He whispered in understanding, clenching his hands to stop the tremors. But that doesn't mean he was okay with it. Tears began to slide down his dirty cheeks, his black eye stinging at the sensation. He doesn't have to fight for his life anymore. He can live his life calmly. Stopping in his tracks, the boy closed his eyes, just breathing and enjoying the freedom. Voldemort left him to it. He was in no hurry, satisfied one of his Horcrux was with him. It was a mix of emotions but he could deal with that.