A Deeper Connection: A New Beginning

A Deeper Connection - Part II

"I am ready," Harry answered, his voice steady, "are you ready?"

A few minutes later, the two of them once again had assumed their positions.

Only that everything was different now. While Harry was still standing in the area of the Rune circle designated for the 'Donator', Tom was no longer standing behind him. The tin soldier was also no longer in sight. In its stead, the Dark Lord had taken the place of the 'Receiver'.

They had debated about this step endlessly. The only explanation about the origins of the weakened link between the two of them had been the Horcrux, which had miraculously stayed with Harry after the successful Resurrection Ritual. Since it was the Dark Lord's Horcrux, it was only natural that he would be able to communicate with the slither of his soul and by extent Harry. After more than a decade of symbiosis, his Equal's soul and the slither of his soul were deeply entwined, thus making the border between the two entities so narrow to the point it was almost non-existent. At least for Tom.

But not for Harry.

At least not yet.

That was the sole conclusion they had reached. It must be the missing link on Harry's behalf that made mental communication with the Dark Lord nearly impossible for his Equal. Hopefully, they were right.

Without further ado, Vernon Dursley's massive carcass was Levitated out of the Rune circle with a mere wave of Tom's hand. They had decided to eliminate any possible interferences. Because of that, both of his wands, the Yew, and the Apple wood one, were currently kept safe by Corvus, leaving Tom to perform all tasks with wandless magic. Thankfully, this would not be a problem for the Dark Lord.

With one hand, Petunia Dursley was Levitated out of her magical cage. Still in a state of shock, the Muggle woman was not struggling but rather looking in the distance, her puffy, bloodshot eyes unfocussed as she was placed above the Sumerian 'Offering' Rune just like her dead husband had been moments prior. Thankfully, her current state made the task of reactivating the Rune circle a lot easier. Once all Runes had been activated, the Dark Lord started to lower his Occlumency shields to the barest minimum possible without risking serious repercussions. While they did not know if this step was truly necessary, it was better to be prepared. After all, this would be a severe breach of his privacy, even if Tom did not oppose the idea but rather welcomed it for Harry's sake.

Once he was ready, he waited for Harry to begin.

Instead of simply firing off the Killing Curse, it seemed like his Equal had different plans.

"Do you have any last words?" Harry asked, his words cold, lacking any sympathy as he stared at his aunt, "anything you want to say? Anything you want to apologise for?"

For a moment, Petunia Dursley did not react at all. Then, very slowly, she looked up from her trembling hands.

"I... I regret one thing... and one thing only," the Muggle woman hissed as her eyes met with the Avada-green ones of her nephew, "I regret that I did not listen to my husband when we found you on our doorsteps. We... we should have drowned you... You ruined everything. We were such an ordinary, perfect family until you arrived, a freak just like your moth-"

"Avada Kedavra!"

The air was singing with Harry's magic as the lifeless form of Petunia Dursley dropped to the ground. As he was standing there, his shoulders moving upwards and downwards in tune with his erratic breathing, his wild raven locks having escaped his control, and his eyes shining brighter than ever, Tom could not help but admire the beautiful creature in front of him that was his Equal. While the Dark Lord had been sure before, the sight of his Equal, all consumed in his magic and rage, perfectly underlined why they were made to go into battle together, scheme together, and eventually rule together.

The thought had not even completely crossed his mind when the chanted Sumerian mantra once again filled the dimly lit Ritual chamber. Somehow, time seemed to move faster as the Runes on the floor had already turned a deep crimson as Harry had already started his search for the perfect slither of his soul.

While his soul had already been fractured before, the rules of The Sacrifice were rather specific. One death per Horcrux. It was impossible to use one Offering for the creation of multiple soul vessels. Therefore, it had been rather handy to have two Muggles at hand. Originally, they had also debated about taking along dear Dudders as a backup. In the end, Harry had decided against taking his cousin, stating that he deserved a second chance since he was still a child and probably would have acted differently without the influence of his parents. Despite Harry's decision to spare his cousin, the Dark Lord knew that a big part of his Equal wanted nothing more than to unleash his magic to eradicate the Dursleys family once and for all. For now, reason had won over revenge.

In front of him, Harry had lifted his right hand to his temple, the tip of his wand already glowing as he was starting to extract the slither of his soul designated to be his second Horcrux. Again, time appeared to be moving faster and faster as the light at the tip of the unregistered Alder wand turned brighter and brighter. Suddenly, Tom felt rather unprepared, nervous about the things to come. The books had been rather imprecise about using a human vessel since witches or wizards of the calibre of Tom and Harry rarely if ever trusted another magic wielder enough to carry a piece of their soul. Before meeting his Equal, the Dark Lord himself would have never done so. While he had trusted some of his followers with some of his heirlooms which had been turned into Horcruxes, he simply could not imagine attaching a piece of his soul to someone like Bellatrix.

Only Harry.

Just as this though crossed his mind, a blinding light illuminated the Ritual chamber, forcing all in attendance to shield their eyes. Knowing that he had to see this, Tom kept on looking at the source of the light, even though there was nothing more than he wanted than to avert his protesting eyes.

Thankful for his foresight and persistence, the Dark Lord was not caught off-guard when the freed slither of his Equal's soul was being directed towards his form at high speed. One moment, it was still a few metres away, the next, it was there, trying to get in.

His head exploded with pain.

Truly agonising pain.

Every fibre of his brain was on fire.

Somehow, Tom knew that the slither of Harry's soul wanted to get in, but something was preventing it. Like an invisible barrier that his magic was still keeping up. With horror, he realised that his Occlumency shields were causing the backlash which already were at their barest minimum, blocking the slither of Harry's soul from entering.

He had hoped to be spared from this experience, especially so close after the Resurrection, the last time he had completely lowered his Occlumency shields. Before that, it had been decades since he had last been confronted with his worst nightmares. It seemed like he had once again run out of luck as he lowered his mental shields. He did not know what was worse: the Horcrux violently carving its way towards the centre of his soul, or the demons of his past tormenting the Dark Lord worse than ever, now that they were fully free of their restraints. Not being able to keep quiet any longer, a truly agonising scream escaped his lungs, not even his immaculate self-restraint preventing him from lashing out.

Praying that this struggle would be worth it, Tom's last thoughts were with Harry, hoping that he would be fine.

After that, everything turned black.