Chapter 33
The Dark Lord took a second to comprehend what Potter was saying, the child wanted him to get the mark too. He wanted to make them closer to equals. The thought didn’t sicken him like it used to, but it certainly didn’t please him. But if he let Potter mark him, in return Potter will allow himself to get marked. The problem is that if someone good at Legilimency could use his mind to figure out where he is, and he is not advanced in lying under Veritaserum. All those things he could do. But he also considers the fact that the majority of society does not know he is alive, and nonetheless, why would they think Harry Potter would be working with him. The media thinks that he is an independent and does not support light or dark. Also, he could personally train Potter to lie under it, he has two months to do so. Still, he does not want that power to be over him. But it could also ensure that Potter never betrays him either.
“Sir, are you alright? You just suddenly went silent, and you’re staring at me...” Potter asked breaking Voldemort’s train of thoughts.
Clearing his throat he stated, “Fine, but there are also conditions I require.”
Potter smirked at the success, and asked devilishly, “And what would that be?”
“I require your presence three days a week for training, you need to find a way to defend yourself from mind attacks. I know Severus has been teaching you, but if we do this you need rapid succession. If anyone figured this out it, it would make you an immediate target.” Voldemort explained to the boy, who seemed oddly excepting of that.
The boy nodded and stated, “Sure, I was expecting that anyway.”
“Anyway, in order to do the spell…”
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The old man frowned, the restrictions on werewolves and some magical creatures have increased. A new bill had passed that said that they cannot get a job that is near children and takes away their right to live in areas more than 5000 people. Albus noted that the person who had started the whole thing was put under an anonymous name. It was obvious that this had deeper meaning then them being “dangerous”. It made him sad, the laws against magical creatures started small. At first werewolves were forced to take a potion which made them weaker, then they took away their adoption rights, and now it’s taking away their rights to live in public. He wondered what plan the Dark Lord had by doing this, but all he knew it wouldn’t be goof. But Albus wasn’t thinking about this for no reason, no, he was thinking this for a particular reason. Remus, the man who was going to be the 3rd year defense against the Dark arts teacher is a werewolf. So now he was at odds on what to do. It took at least three months to find a new replacement, and sadly he did not have the time. He had no choice to do this.
He apparated to his brother’s bar, unexpectedly of course.
Almost seconds after his entrance his brother, Aberforth, came to greet the new costumer. But Albus noticed the man slight disappointment that it was not what he was expecting, and the younger brother couldn’t help but smirk. They may be over hundred years old, but the petty disagreements were still there. He was the first to talk as he said, “Hey, Aberforth. How has business been?”
“It was good until you came.” His brother said sarcastically, before continuing in a more serious tone, “What do you need? Surely you didn’t come here for a random visit.”
“You give me too little credit, is it really that unheard of me to visit?”
“Yes. You only visit on the muggle holidays, or my birthday.”
Albus raised both of his hands and conceded, his brother was once again correct. Sighing he said, “You caught me. I really do hate coming here and asking you for help, but I do need it. Unfortunately, I need a defense against the dark arts teacher. A new law passed last week, and my replacement happen to be a werewolf. And you know how hard it is to find a replacement in Hogwarts, almost everyone knows that something happens to the defense teachers that makes them unable to work for more than a year.”
Aberforth eyes widened in surprise, obviously surprised that his brother was willing to let a werewolf in the school and work with children. “You were going to let a werewolf work in a school? My dear brother of course it wasn’t going to work. Ugh, what were you thinking? And of course, you must drag me into your mess.” He couldn’t help but feel a little peeved at the clear discrimination, his brother isn’t stupid or gullible. But he always had a slight dislike to werewolves and muggles.
“Please? I really don’t want to hire some ministry bootlicker. It will only last for a year.” He begged his brother. Finally, Aberforth stopped to think about his offer, evidently thinking about it.
Finally, his brother nodded and said, “Fine, but its mainly because some underpaid ministry teacher won’t teach those kids. And I will teach them, not coddle them. When you were a teacher, you especially had a habit of coddling them.”
He winced the slight insult, but he was moderately happy. Albus then smiled warmly and said, “Thank you, Aberforth. I appreciate it a lot.”
“Yeah, yeah. Now since you’re here anyway let’s have a cup of tea and catch up.”
---
The pair sat on the couch in silence, Voldemort was reading a book, but he seemed to last on pages a little too long. It burned. No, it was worse than burning, it felt like his hand was burnt then it had been stabbed multiple times. Normally, he would have whimpered at the sensation, but the bloody Dark Lord was watching him, and he couldn’t cry in front of him. Especially since he was experiencing the exact same thing, but he managed to keep his face calm and serene. Voldemort told him that the pain should fade away, but it should take around two days for it to go away completely. He looked at the mark at his hand, it was a black line circle in the middle of his hand with a small snake inside it. It was around two inches thick, and the area around it was red and swollen. This was for the greater good, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but feel slight regret at his decision. Harry looked at Voldemort, his brown hair was messier, strands of his slicked back hair fell on his face. His posture was relaxed as he sat on the couch. Harry had never seen the man so relaxed, it was just so domestic, even with the circumstances and pain in his hand.
He didn’t know why he wanted to ask this, but he was curious. “Hey, sir? May I ask you a question?”
The Dark Lord looked up from his book and responded, “It depends on the question. But you may ask, I might give you an answer.”
“Why did you create horcrux’s? I mean once Naghini and I die, is our body still a horcrux, or does it like break?”
Voldemort chuckled adding more confusion to his thoughts, he wasn’t joking if that’s what the Dark Lord thought. But he soon turned more serious as he explained, “No Potter once you die the Horcrux does not break. This is a lot to tell a twelve-year-old boy like yourself, but it is necessary to know now instead of figure it out later. You can’t die, unless I die first, which is unlikely given how hard it is to kill me. If I tell you why that is, I will basically be telling you how I die, so you have to deal with my answer. As for why I created Horcrux’s in the first place, I want my ideals to stick for all eternity, I don’t want to die and in twenty years my work to become all undone. And you can’t tell anyone if you do it could be terrible for both of us. Do you understand?”
His eyes widened in shock; he would stay on this earth for all eternity. Harry wasn’t even sure if he wanted that, all his friends would die, and he would be alive. He suspects there is another reason for his need of immortality. There is so much that we wanted to know, but the Dark Lord is obviously guarded on this subject. Clearing his throat he asked, “Do I age?”
“Somehow, I am surprised that’s the first question you ask out of everything I told you. But the short answer is you stop once your done growing, so maybe around twenty-five. And in case you haven’t noticed you still can get hurt, so don’t do anything reckless just because you can’t die. Your body can still get injured.” Voldemort informed him softly.
Harry sighed and said, “When can I get home? I need to think on things.”
The Dark Lord nodded and said, “I will take you home in around thirty minutes, your high on adrenaline so the pain in your hand is still there. By thirty minutes the pain should be more adaptable.”
---
It was late afternoon when he had picked Potter up from Riddle Manor, and Draco was just starting to calm down for the day. But he immediately knew something was wrong. It was just something in his eyes that seemed duller than usual. Lucius noticed when potter came home something seemed off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He was also wearing gloves, something he’d never seen Potter wear before. His Lord informed him that he wanted to see Potter on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday every day at 3:00 PM. He wondered what the Dark Lord had in plan for the boy, but whatever it was, it was important. And to be honest he was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable; he didn’t understand why his Lord was so focused on Potter, after all there where death eaters that where so much more submissive and stronger compared to the boy. And to be honest he was slightly parental towards Potter. The boy may be different compared to him and his family, but he still can’t help but feel somewhat affectionate towards the boy.
The two men were walking in the hallway ready to meet Draco and Narcissa up for dinner when Lucius asked Potter, “Does everything seem to be alright? You seem a bit more tense than usual.”
“I’m perfectly fine, just that I’m worried that I’ll die during the Dark Lords training session.” The boy joked, a clear attempt to change the subject. Lucius tensed slightly; it was weird hearing someone joke about the Dark Lord. No, matter of fact it was unheard of. The average follower would be killed, or at least cruciod till they suffer from permanent nerve damage if he got any whiff of his name being disrespected. But he had said it so casually Lucius doubts that the boy truly understands what The Dark Lord could do to him.
“Don’t joke about that, the Dark Lord would punish you if he heard you speaking like that. You may be in his good graces but don’t get too cocky, no matter what.” He warned, his voice altering to more dark tones.
“Yes, I understand. I’m sorry for offending you.”
---
-Time skip-
To say the last few weeks have been exhausting for him and Draco would be a severe understatement. His bones ached and he was constantly tired from training, he had almost forgotten how hard Voldemort’s training sessions where, when they dueled, man would always beat him in five minutes tops. The Dark Lord always stated that he wouldn’t hold back because in a real fight the opponent would hold back either. But mostly he was just told to duel against Draco, but he usually won most of the time, but there were times his friend impressed him and had beaten him. Draco is startling good at casting spells super-fast, while weaker then Harry’s spells, Draco would win in an endurance test. But Draco didn’t join the pair that often, no, usually it is just Harry and Voldemort. As for their occlumency training he had improved very little, but improvement, nonetheless. Voldemort says that he could push the average olccumencer out of his mind, but that was no impressive feat since most people have little grasp of the concept. Not that he was complaining, he enjoyed the sessions most of the time. But still, it got tiring enough to where he didn’t want to move for the next four years.
But now he wasn’t thinking about that, no, he was more focused on the fact that the Malfoy’s have seen it fit to celebrate his thirteenth birthday. Harry didn’t have any training because of this, apparently the Dark Lord allowed for him to take the day off. Not that he didn’t want to celebrate his birthday, but he had never officially celebrated it, so he felt a little awkward. But he did keep a faint smile on his face and thanked everyone for the gifts, so now he and his friends were hanging out in his room talking about how the summer has been going on. It was just him, Theo, Blaise, Pansy, Neville, and of course Draco. Harry concluded that he preferred the after party compared to the actual celebration.
He was sitting on the couch next to Theo, and his friend seemed to have noticed that he was wearing gloves. Grabbing his hand, which made Harry blush slightly, he asked, “Why are you wearing gloves? Quite frankly I have never seen you wear them before.”
“Oh yeah, he had some training session with my relative Leon. since he wore those, Dad told me he got a nasty burn that wouldn’t heal. Oh, by the way Leon like a personal trainer for Harry, but sometimes I get to duel and stuff.” Draco told Theo with a smile; Harry couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed at his friend for answering for him. But that thought quickly vanished when he realized that he and Theo were still holding hands, not only that but he was gripping back. A slight blush appeared on his face, and he loosened his grip giving Theo a chance to let go. But he didn’t. A sudden warm feeling crept up on Harry, he couldn’t help but feel comfortable with the gesture.
“What? Mother told me that using magic outside of school is prohibited, I rarely get to use it!” Pansy exclaimed with an annoyed expression.
“That is technically the truth, but its really only enforced in the muggle world for obvious reasons. But Wizards and witches have a hard time tracking magical trace in areas where magic is commonly used. I mean why do you think we bring our wands everywhere?” Harry explained to the girl as the rest of his friends where slightly giggling, as Pansy soon turned a bright red.
Blaise decided to make an example by wordlessly flicking his wand up and causing a pretty illusion with purple sparks. The boy raised his eyebrows and said, “See Pansy? Where not going to get in trouble.”
Pansy rolled her eyes but nodded.
----
Eventually one by one everyone left to go to their own residences, the only remaining friend is Theo, who is admiring the Malfoy’s flowers in the greenhouse with him. Draco got bored of smelling flowers and decided he was tired and wanted a nap, leaving he and Theo in the greenhouse. The two friends were comfortably silent, but Theo was the first one to speak.
“Harry, be honest what do you think of me?”
“Well, you’re my very best friend of course, your smart, funny, and kind. Sometimes you are a pain in the ass, but so am I. Why?”
Harry observed Theo, he looked nervous but determined to say something, whatever it was Harry knew it must be important. His friend hesitated for a moment, obviously trying to collect his thoughts before speaking. Finally, after a few seconds he asked, “Don’t you ever want to be more? I-I mean you and I are very close, and we even held hands for a bit earlier. Harry, I am going to say this now because it’s killing me from the inside not saying this…” His friend walked closer to him and took both his hands. friend continued, “I think you are the most beautiful, intelligent, and most powerful man I have met. Harry, I love you. I don’t expect you reciprocate it, but I just had to tell you.”
His face was a shade of pink, and a small uncomfortable feeling twisted inside him. Taking a deep sigh, he clenched Theo’s hands and said softly, “I love you too. B-But if we do this, we can’t tell anyone, I’m not comfortable with people knowing.”
Theo didn’t respond and only hugged him; and Harry hugged back.