Death's Gift - Chapter Eighteen
A Friendly Chat
Harry made his way home with Remus and Sirius, unpacking and eating dinner with his fathers. When he returned to his room later that night to go to sleep a man entered his mind.
'When will you be able to meet with me?' Voldemort asked.
Harry rolled his eyes, 'Geez Voldemort. You can't even let me have a day with my family without protruding my thoughts.'
'Must you always be so unpleasant? You always shave some kind of snarky remark, don't you?'
Harry smirked, 'Yeah, a specialty of mine.'
Harry could practically feel Voldemort roll his eyes.
'Anyway, it'll have to be a few days, possibly a week or two before I should ask to meet up with anyone. I just got back from months of being at school with my friends, if I ask to visit people too soon then they'll get the idea that I don't want to be around them.' Harry told him.
'Why do you want to be around them?'
'Because they're my family. I love Sirius and Remus.' Harry told him simply.
'Just because people are family doesn't mean you love them.' Voldemort said.
'Like my aunt and uncle, yeah great muggles. Sirius and Remus aren't anything like them.'
Voldemort hummed in response.
Harry rolled his eyes, 'I know you see emotions as a weakness, but it's actually the complete opposite. If I can actually think that maybe at some point I would've join you anyway without being forced into it this soon then you can at least consider the idea that maybe emotions make you stronger other than weaker.'
Voldemort didn't reply, instead he pulled out of Harry's mind, the boy shaking his head in response. Harry got up and dressed into his pajamas, pulling the curtains around his bed closed, he drifted off.
. . . . . . .
A few days later, maybe a week had passed by, Hermione came over to the house. Sirius had opened the door to the twelve year old holding a book.
"Hello Sirius," Hermione greeted, "I brought a book over that Harry asked to borrow. Is here here right now?"
"Yeah, he's in his room." Sirius told her, stepping aside to let the girl in.
"Thank you!" Hermione said before running up the stairs.
"Harry!"
Harry's head shot around as Hermione burst through his door.
"Happy early birthday! I know it isn't for awhile, but I finished your gift and I thought it would be better if you had it sooner rather than later."
Harry smiled, "You made a book?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and opened the book half way to reveal that it was a box. Inside were a mixture of potions. Ten blue and ten red. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"They're aging potions. They will age you twenty five years. The blue will age you up and the red will bring you back to your normal age. The effect won't wear off until you drink the red one." Hermione explained, practically shining with pride.
Harry's eyes widened and he grabbed the book, "Hermione, are you serious?!"
Harry had died when he was twenty six, he came back when he was one. If he could age twenty five years then he could be his actual age again!
Hermione beamed, "One hundred percent."
Harry set the book on his desk and pulled his best friend into a hug, "Thank you." He whispered.
Hermione giggled and hugged him back.
. . . . . . .
Another week passed and Harry finally felt like it had been a long enough time to ask Sirius and Remus if he could go visit "Luna", who he'd told them he'd befriend since the day he got back. He'd written a letter to the girl and gotten a letter in response saying that she would happily pretend that he had come to visit her, not asking any questions. Harry was pretty sure she already knew the answers anyway. She even offered to fake pick him up along with her father, which Harry agreed to. It was at breakfast that he decided to ask.
"Sirius, Remus, could I visit Luna today? She invited me over."
"I don't see why you couldn't, Remus?" Sirius asked.
"It's perfectly fine with me." Remus told them, "I'm just glad you made another friend."
Harry smiled, "Thank you!"
He finished eating the rest of his pancakes and went upstairs to get dressed. When he came back down he had two of the potions Hermione had given him secured in his pocket.
"Will they be picking you up here?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, she'll be coming to pick me up-"
The door bell rang and Harry made his way to the front door opening it.
"Hey Luna." Harry greeted.
"Hi Harry!" Luna greeted airily.
Sirius and Remus walked up.
"Ah, so this is the Luna that we've been hearing all about." Sirius teased.
Luna giggled, "Hello Sirius."
The man in question raised and eyebrow. He looked over at Harry who just shrugged. A few words were exchanged between Luna's father and Harry's adoptive parents, but soon Harry was leaving with the Lovegoods. They walked away, heading for an alley way so Luna and her dad could apperate away. Harry waved a goodbye to them before he drank down the blue potion. He felt his body grow, but he surprisingly felt no pain or discomfort, like he did with the Pollyjuice potion in second year. Harry still had no idea if the trace was on him or not, but he didn't want to take the risk. Instead he called out to Voldemort in his mind.
'I'm outside of the house in an alley way.' Harry told him.
There was no reply but soon he heard the crack of apperation and Bellatrix appeared.
"Let me guess, Voldemort sent you to take me to him?" Harry asked the witch.
Bellatrix's eyes widened when she saw a thirty six year old standing in front of her instead of the twelve year old that she expected.
"Potter?" She questioned.
Harry smirked, "The one and only. Who else would be dumb enough to be forcefully allied with the dark lord."
Bellatrix glared at him, "You will not speak ill of the dark lord." She told him, brandishing her wand.
Harry raised an eyebrow, "How am I speaking bad about Voldemort? I'm insulting myself over here."
Bellatrix lowered her wand but continued to glare at him, "What happened to you? Aren't you twelve?"
Harry's smirk widened, "You see, that's a very long story, which I do not have the time to tell seeing as Voldemort had been pestering me about this meet up since Christmas and I'm sure he'd absolutely love it if I was late."
Bellatrix begrudgingly grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him along with her, apperating to the outskirts of Riddle Manor.
"Stay here. You must be added into the wards." She told him sternly, walking up the long pathway to the manor.
Harry rolled his eyes and waited. Soon someone came out of the manor, walking up to him. Harry could tell that it was Voldemort from the crimson eyes but his skin was pale and creamy, his face completely human, neat and styled hair, as well as robes that bellowed in the wind. He appeared to be in his mid thirties, just like Harry.
"Harrison?" He asked, standing right before the ward line.
"Who else would I be?" Harry drawled.
Voldemort looked him up and down, "You're a thirty year old."
"Thirty seven, but nice going captain obvious." Harry told him, mock cheerfulness.
Voldemort glared at him, "Just because I cannot kill you doesn't mean I will not curse you."
Harry smiled sheepishly, "Believe me, I know. You make my bloody scar hurt every time I piss you off."
Voldemort smirked, "Yes, a part of the connection I quite enjoy."
Harry rolled his eyes.
Voldemort stepped out of the wards, "Stick your arm out, I need to add your blood to the wards."
Harry glance down at his arm, "You're not going to carve into it like you had Pettigrew do last time, right?"
Voldemort's gaze hardened, "Of course not. If I was in my right mind in your past life then I would've merely had Pettigrew prick your finger, such excessive cutting is a waste of magical blood."
Harry nodded and stuck out his arm, Voldemort made a slight cut on his wrist and took six drops of blood before healing it with a wave of his hand. He then turned around and started working on adding Harry into the wards. When he was done he lowered his wand.
"Now follow me. It is better if we have our conversation in private."
Harry didn't say anything as he followed Voldemort up the pathway and into the manor. They walked through an assortment of hallways and doors before they entered a sitting room. Voldemort sat down in a seat, offering the other to Harry who awkwardly sat down.
"We should discuss our next move. You obviously want revenge on Dumbledore, as I do, as well as the Weasleys. As you are my ally I expect you to aide me in reforming the Wizarding world. As such, we have to have a plan on what to do rather than just walk into unknown situations blindly."
Harry remained silent.
Voldemort continued, "I understand that you do not like my course of actions, but it will not work any other way. Dumbledore has too many people wrapped around his finger that there is no way anything political within the Ministry will go through. This is the only way to bring about the changes we both want to see."
Harry nodded, "I know that, but I still don't see where I come into play. I won't rat out or attack the people I care about, the only reason I decided to join you in the first place was so that I could keep them safe."
Voldemort hummed, "Yes, although Dumbledore is not someone you care about. Even someone who's blind could see that he is desperately trying to get you under his thumb, you merely have to let him think that you are. Get into the order meetings which I'm sure have started back up now that my Death Eaters are starting to attack more and more."
"So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you want me to get close to the old coot and make him believe that I'm the same little golden boy I was last time?"
Voldemort nodded, "If you can gain his trust we can get key information about his plans, possibly even delay them in some way."
Harry had to admit that it was a good plan, and he'd love to see the look on Dumbledore's face when he realized that Harry had been playing him the whole time as he'd done with Ginny. Although that thought brought him joy, the thought of having to pretend to look up to him and even be close with him made Harry's stomach turn.
"I'll do it, only I have to get a good look at his face when he realizes that I've manipulated him the whole time, and not the other way around, before you kill him." Harry told him, a slight smile on his face at the thought of Dumbledore's reaction.
Voldemort smirked, "Deal."
"What do we do now then?" Harry asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"Now, we have to decide the best course of action to take. You have to make Dumbledore believe that you will go after me, but first, you need a reason to. Seeing as there is no way that I can get into Hogwarts, we will need to do something outside of the school. I can only think of one thing, however, you will not like it."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "What is it?" He asked.
Voldemort looked him in the eyes before answering, "It's simple really. Dumbledore knows how much you care for those close to you, how much you get angered when one of them merely had an insult thrown at them."
Harry's eyes widened, he stiffened, "You are not implying what I think you are?" He sated, though it sounded like a question.
"The most obvious answer which will give us the best outcome is to have my Death Eaters attack an area where one of your friends live."
"No." Harry stated firmly, "No. there has to be something else that will work. I am not going to help plan an ambush on one of my friends. You can forget about me sucking up to Dumbledore for your sake as well if that happens."
Voldemort glared at him, "Do you have a better suggestion then? Or should we just throw aside a vital opportunity to get back at Dumbledore because you couldn't think to warn your friend before hand to take their family and leave the area."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but he closed it, he hadn't even thought about warning them before hand.
Voldemort sighed, "Honestly Harrison, you need to think about things more before you just reject them."
Harry rolled his eyes, "I guess if I warn them to leave and not come back while the attack is happening then they would have no chance of getting hurt... If they ask about it I can just tell them it was a feeling..."
Voldemort nodded, "However, it will need to be someone close to you, as well as in a muggle area since I will have no wizarding blood spilt."
Harry froze, "That means..."
"Your Granger friend."
Harry stood up, "No, no way. I don't care whatever you say, I am not letting anyone attack the area where Hermione lives."
"Have you even thought about the outcomes of this?" Voldemort hissed.
"Houses will be destroyed, muggles will be killed, the Grangers will most likely have to move. In case you haven't noticed I live in the same area as Hermione. My house will be destroyed. There's no way I'm letting you attack Hermione. She's the only one who's been there through it all and I'll never forgive myself if I let you." Harry declared.
Voldemort stood, "In the grand scheme of things what does it matter if you and her are forced to move? You will get them out of there before hand and return only after it's done. No one you care about will be put on any danger."
"I don't care! I can't do that to them!"
Voldemort stepped right in front of Harry, grabbing the collar of his shirt, "Just shut up and listen!" He hissed, "Aurors will appear on the sight before much damage can be done. Houses can be magically rebuilt and the muggles can be obliviated, as for the muggles who died they will cover up as some sort of gas pipe leakage. Your family as well as your little friends family will be perfectly safe if you just do what you need to do to get them out of there. Once that is done you can demand to know more about what happened, using the leverage of the attack at the festival in Pairs to your advantage. Play this right and you could get in on every single order meeting, know everything there is to know about their plans, and know just how to manipulate Dumbledore into doing what we want. Do you understand?"
Afraid to say anything Harry nodded. He'd never seen Voldemort this angered before and it made him slightly worried. Voldemort let out a breath. His grip on Harry's shirt collar was still firm and Harry could feel his warm breath on his face. Their eyes were just inches apart and Harry stared into the dammed crimson red eyes that haunted his subconscious. Harry was frozen, he could get lost in those eyes at any point, it was almost as if they were drawing him in.
"Good, now..."
Voldemort trailed off, staring into Harry's eyes. His grip on Harry's collar loosened and it almost appeared as if he was going to move is hand up to touch the man's face but he quickly snapped out of it and pulled away.
"Now do you see why this is the only sufficient course of action?" He asked.
Harry blinked and sat back down, putting his face in his hands, "There's no other way, is there?"
Voldemort shook his head, "No. Not one that will work this well."
Harry groaned into his hands, pulling them down his face and looking up at the ceiling.
"Just-" Harry sighed, "Try not to kill anyone. I'll have them out on the designated date. As long as the houses can still be repaired and the attack can be covered up by Aurors then I guess there's nothing too threatening with it... but I still don't like the idea."
"I am certain that at least one muggle will drop dead, although I will tell my Death Eaters not to shoot to kill. We merely want this to be a warning."
Harry swallowed thickly but nodded.