Hello Lord

The end

What happened next was a blur of change and uproar. Those first few months had been tremulous, with several strictly light families attempting to revolt. Those were quickly dealt with though, and things finally settled. The ministry was hard at work to cut off any unnecessary contact with the muggles, even going so far as to shutting down several Muggle-related departments. If the Weasley's hadn't already been arrested, they would have been badly effected. He knew the Malfoys were hard-working on changing the laws so skewed to the light, Draco having followed in his father's political footsteps. Harry had been there when all the restrictions against creatures had been removed. That had been a brilliant day for business, hundreds of customers coming to his chain of bars and shops, tailored specifically to their kind.

Now he didn't have to hide his endeavours, his enterprise had increased massively. He now owned the vast majority of Diagon and Knockturn Alley, with shares in many other areas. Once his alternative identity had been revealed, people had....... Mixed reactions. Some simply didn't believe, light and dark sure it was some plan. Once reassured by the Dark Lord, dark wizards and witches had been extremely excited, papers crediting him for the changes for months and months. Luckily Voldemort didn't seem to mind so much if the shared glory. Unfortunately, the light weren't so endeared. In fact, there had been a few attempts on his life, none of which had succeeded. After all, trying to attack him when surrounded by hungry vampires and werewolves was just plain stupid. Tom had been particularly amused by that story.

He hadn't seen the Dark Lord very often, with both of them being very busy in their new roles. But they had almost become friends in a way, which was why Harry was now headed to Riddle Manor. "Tom!" He received a reproachful look at the address, but ignored him, taking a seat by the fireplace and accepting a drink from the house elf. "Harry, good to see you again. His are you?" He grinned, pushing his curly hair from his eyes and taking a sip of tea. "Very well thank you! Fenrir and François have signed the contract. My creature oriented businesses now have official royal and alpha backing. They've been very nice to me since the laws passed."

The dark lord nodded, genuinely listening, and interested in what the wizard had to say. After all, Harry was the only wizard equal to him in power, and had aided him to claim his empire. "And you? Is this little meeting for a reason, or have you simply missed me?" The man teased, and Tom rolled his eyes, used to Harry's antics. Sighing, he set his cup down on the table, turning to look at his guest. "Well, I finally finished the plan for Hogwarts renewed education plan. It took longer than hoped, I had to create an entire new department to ensure everything is kept to, but it's finally done!"

Harry praised him, glad. He'd spoken to Tom about some of the new proposals, and frankly it sounded amazing! Professional duelling classes, splitting DADA in Magical defense, and Dark Arts. History of magic had been given a much better teacher, hoping to remove the bias against dark magic. Tom was hoping to even eradicate the distinction one day. "That's amazing Tom, who did you pick for the teachers?"  The Dark Lord rattled off a few names, most being his old death eaters, though a few were new. Most surprising was Lucius. Apparantely he was retiring from full time ministry work, and was instead to teach the Political Etiquette elective for the older years. "So what's your next project then? You must have something, you'd get bored otherwise!"

It was true, Tom had certainly felt restless once the new plan had been drawn, and had decided now was as good a time as any to sort through Dumbledore's things. Many cursed objects, and interesting books had been found in the man's office, but most intriguing were the memory vials by the pensieve. Of course he'd had a look, and what he'd discovered had been ...... disturbing. "I decided to investigate that which Albus had left behind." He smirked as Harry rolled his eyes. The wizard didn't like talking about the man he'd murdered, for some reason it amused Tom. "I found something interesting in his pensieve."

Harry quirked an eyebrow, leaning forward. "Most were memories of my past and I. A few however concerned you."  Well that wasn't so surprising, the headmaster had always been meddling in his business. So why did Tom seem so tense? "Harry, have you ever heard of a horcrux?" Of course he had. Some of the darkest magic, tearing apart the very soul. It seemed too risky frankly, and had been surprised when he realised exactly what the Diary had been. That Voldemort was immortal. "Yeah... Sorry about your diary." He looked to the side awkwardly, relieved when Tom simply waved it away. "Yes well, you are not the only one who realised what it was, and it would seem Dumbledore had been searching for the others." Others!

Tom only rolled his eyes at Harry's shocked face, before pressing on. "Yes, I had six, or so I believed. The diary, a locket, a cup, a ring, a diadem and Nagini. However, it appears I was incorrect about this." Harry simply stared at him blankly, and Tom sighed. "That night, the one where it all began, a piece of my soul entered you, through that scar." Only quiet replied, as a trembling hand brushed over the bolt of lightning. "I'm a horcrux?" He nodded, sitting back and waiting for him to digest the information. Harry sat in stunned silence for a while before speaking, drawing Tom's attention. "Merlin! That explains our connection at least." It certainly did. He nodded slightly, hoping Harry wouldn't notice that there was more.

Harry narrowed his eyes upon seeing the worried look on Voldemorts face. "There's more, isn't there? What more could there possibly be!" Voldemort sighed, before looking him in the eyes, flames reflected in wine red orbs. "You can't die." He simply raised an eyebrow. Did he seriously think he could just say that and then move on. "You are my horcrux, my soul is inside you and I have no idea what kind of effect that may have. It's possibly you are already immortal, but if not, we will have to find a solution." Harry laughed. He couldn't help it, the sentence alone was ridiculous! "What do you mean a solution? A solution to me dying?" Tom simply nodded. He shook his head, rubbing his hands over his face and staring into the fire. "We will have to wait and see if you age, or if your powers begin to wane, and if so, the best course of action would be to create a horcrux of your own." He looked up at the man incredulous. Seriously! For some reason, only one thought rattled around in his head. "What if I don't want to be immortal? What if I want to grow old, have a family, die happy and all that?" 

Tom simply looked at Harry. The idea was ridiculous. That was the life the light had wanted for Harry, the exact opposite of what the wizard wanted. "You'd hate that and you know it. Why wouldn't you want to be immortal?" The wizard simply sighed, looking back into the flames. "Immortal. And do what? Run my business, watch over the wizarding world, alone?" Tom frowned, leaning forward until Harry looked him in the eye. "You wouldn't be alone. You'd have me." It was a simple statement, but mirth lit Harry's eyes. "I'd have you huh Tom? You and me, for the rest of time?" He smiled. Really smiled, looking into the bright green eyes of Harry Potter. "Well yes. You are my equal, after all." Harry smiled back, nodding. It wasn't a promise, but it was enough, and the duo leaned back, looking into the flames. It's how it would always be. Harry and Tom. Until the very end.