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batsutousaiTitle: Xerosis
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta:tsuki_no_suzu & magickmaker17
Rating: T
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (post-Harry/Ginny)
Warnings: SLASH, AU, character death, super!Harry, Dark!Harry
Summary: Harry's world ends at the hands of those he'd once fought to save. An adult-Harry goes back to his younger self fic. Super!Harry
Chapter Four, Part One
-0-
By the end of the first week of school, Harry had won the bet about their new professor. He put his winnings to one side, fully intending to use them during their first Hogsmeade visit to buy everyone some chocolate. In the meantime, he simply enjoyed having Remus Lupin as a professor again, for all that he was mildly ticked that the man was avoiding him. He'd been avoiding Sirius, too, from what little he could get from Sirius. (Getting anything about Remus from his godfather was proving quite the chore, as Sirius was avoiding thinking of the man after his first four letters went unanswered.)
Finally, a month into term, Harry got sick of the dance and pulled out the Map and Cloak to stalk the werewolf. He wasn't quite certain what he'd say to the man, but he was going to catch him and Remus was going to damn-well explain himself.
The werewolf smelled him before Harry was close enough and sped up to get away. But Harry would have none of it and, using his vampire speed, which he usually avoided, quickly caught up to the man and grabbed his arm. "You are, quite possibly, the most obnoxious non-human I've had to deal with," Harry grumbled as Remus tried tugging his arm out of the teenager's grip.
Remus froze, complexion fading to white. "Did Sirius–"
"No, Sirius isn't going around blabbing your secret to everyone," Harry snapped, pulling his Cloak off. "I can sense whether or not people are human. I can tell you, for example, that there's a sixth year Slytherin with diluted veela blood, for all that I've never even met him. I don't know why I can do it, but it's useful. And you have been avoiding both myself and my godfather. I want to know why."
Brown eyes darted around the hallway for a moment before saying, "Someone might..." His voice died off when Harry held up the Map, which showed that no one was anywhere near them. "Where did you–?"
"Stole it from the Weasley twins," Harry answered, scowling a bit. "Look, I really don't care that you're going out of your way to avoid me. Really, I don't. I don't even care that you wouldn't let me have my turn with the boggart because, honestly, I don't want to know what it turns into. But all this avoiding Sirius? You're the last friend he has left. Hell, he's the last friend you have left! So why aren't you responding to his letters?"
Remus trembled ever so slightly. "I-I left the country and–"
"Don't you dare tell me you didn't get news outside Brit–"
"I left!" Remus snapped, something in him lighting at Harry's assumption. "I didn't question anything, I let them put Sirius in Azkaban, I left you to..." Remus swallowed and looked away.
Harry let go of the arm he'd still been holding, understanding in his eyes. "Guilty conscience," he murmured, nodding when Remus flinched. "Ah, I love Gryffindors. You should hear Sirius go on about how he and my father had thought you were the spy and he needed to apologise–"
"Why would he–"
"You two are funny," Harry decided. "First Hogsmeade visit is on Hallowe'en. Go visit my godfather. Get drunk. Do something. I'm tired of him moping around the house when he thinks I'm not paying attention." He turned away, pulling the Cloak back on. "And stop avoiding me, would you? You're making my friends suspicious, and when one of my friends is a Slytherin, well..." He chuckled to himself before starting back down the hallway.
He should have known it was a Gryffindor thing. Now all he had to do was talk Hermione into using her time-turner to get some extra sleep, preferably without letting her know that he knew what she had.
-0-
"Murder and mayhem, two of my favourite things," Xerosis commented as he as Voldemort walked down to the ballroom, where all the Death Eaters but Snape had gathered. "You know, I don't usually like Hallowe'en, but this year might just be awesome."
" 'Awesome'?" Voldemort repeated, amused.
Xerosis waved a hand at him. "I spend all day surrounded by teenagers. Shush."
The Dark Lord chuckled and swept into the ballroom, followed by the slighter figure. They walked together up to the head of the room, neither missing the distrustful looks the apparent vampire received. "This is Lord Xerosis," Voldemort announced to the Death Eaters. "He is a valuable ally, and you will treat his words as if they were my own." Voldemort cast a sharp glance over his people, picking out those he thought would give the boy at his side any trouble. Xerosis had already assured the Dark Lord that he could easily handle any trouble, and Voldemort didn't doubt it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try and keep his people in line.
"Due to the nature of this attack and the need to keep under the Ministry's radar for a while longer, there will be no Dark Marks cast. However, you may have whatever fun you wish. Use this attack to stretch your magic and apply your creativity once again. These muggles are worthless, and it was time we reminded them that we are the greater species!"
Under the sound of the Death Eaters' cheers, Xerosis murmured, "Don't get too cocky."
Voldemort glanced at him. "No, but do you honestly think they would believe that muggles might one day wipe us out?"
"Hmm... Good point."
As the Death Eaters finally calmed, Voldemort gently took Xerosis' arm – taking care to touch only cloth, as neither of them wanted to test the weakening protection that still lingered – and apparated them both to just outside the research lab Voldemort had targeted. The Dark Mark acted as something like a portkey when the Dark Lord wished it to, so all his people appeared moments after them.
Despite the late hour, the lab was still quite active, as the scientists were dedicated to their research. And Xerosis had used his time-turner to bring him back to just before the feast, so they had more time for the attack.
When Voldemort motioned his Death Eaters forwards, it was rather like watching a black tide of destruction. They all flowed forward, blasting their way into the building and grabbing whatever mundane they could.
Voldemort and Xerosis let the Death Eaters go first, content to just watch the destruction for a moment.
"How long are you giving them?" Xerosis wondered.
Voldemort shrugged one shoulder. "Most of them aren't recovered enough for more than twenty minutes or so. I'll give them a little over half an hour before dragging them back." He glanced down at the teen. "You'll take care of the building?"
Xerosis nodded a bit absently. "Yes. It's not hard to make it look like something exploded and set off a chain reaction; it just requires you to be familiar with the layout of the experiments. I did my homework a couple days ago."
Voldemort snorted. "Ravenclaws," he replied, then swept into the lab to find his own target.
Xerosis chuckled to himself and shadowed to the part of the lab where he intended to start the explosions. The Death Eaters hadn't gotten that far yet, so he slipped around, occasionally stealing souls or using Dark spells to destroy mundanes' bodies.
The first couple of Death Eaters he saw either didn't see him or glanced at him, then hurried past without a word. Xerosis was mostly amused by their reactions, though he was curious if anyone would dare challenge him.
Xerosis was just finishing off another mundane when a curse hit him in the back. He bit back a shout of pain and turned on the offending Death Eater, who had the most peculiar expression of disbelief on his face. A quick jab of Legilimency made Xerosis bare his lengthened teeth in fury; the spell he'd been hit with was supposed to kill a vampire as soon as it hit. "You son of a mundane," Xerosis spat, slamming the man against an opposing wall. The air around them practically froze with his fury and the Death Eater in his grasp choked, nightmares flashing through his eyes.
"Why are you manhandling my Death Eater?" Voldemort wondered a bit idly from behind him.
"He tried to kill me," Xerosis growled. "I'm debating the best way to punish him."
Voldemort snorted and turned away. "Have fun," he called over his shoulder.
Xerosis' lips twisted with an evil smile. "There's this wonderful spell," he commented cheerfully to his victim as his power backed off a bit, "that drains the magic out of someone. It's useless against mundanes, but used on a squib or witch or wizard..." He chuckled a bit, eyes flashing, and let go of the Death Eater, who crumpled to the floor without the apparent vampire's support.
"No, please. My Lord, please!" the Death Eater cried, eyes wide behind his mask.
Xerosis silently cast the spell, seeing no reason to let his small audience know the incantation. The spell had been discovered when he was in his forties by an Unspeakable who'd been trying to replicate the effects of dementors. She'd never managed to create a spell version of the infamous Kiss, but she created any number of spells that drained other things, such as magic or blood. The benefit to using the magic-draining spell was that it gave the caster the victim's magic, which was great on the battlefield, not so good among friends.
He turned from the sobbing wizard and cast cold pale eyes over his audience. "Anyone else want to debate my leadership?" he offered with a twisted little smile.
The watching Death Eaters fled.
Xerosis looked back at the magicless-wizard and debated between leaving him alive and aware – at least until the building exploded – or taking his soul. While he might very well have knowledge Harry didn't have, the idea of leaving him to suffer was...
"I do believe you've sufficiently cowed my minions," Voldemort said from behind him. "What did you do?"
"I stole his magic," Xerosis replied absently.
"You can do that?"
The apparent vampire glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the horrified look on the Dark Lord's face. "Certainly. An Unspeakable trying to re-create the Dementor's Kiss created it."
"Why not just use a dementor?" Voldemort wondered, sweeping closer to Xerosis and the still-whimpering Death Eater.
"They were destroyed. The Minister decided they were more trouble than they were worth, and I hated them." Xerosis reached forward and removed the mask from the magicless-wizard. "Still do, actually."
"For all that you're practically one yourself," the Dark Lord muttered, watching the boy's actions a bit suspiciously. "Are you going to Kiss him?"
Xerosis made a face. "Ugh. My brain just combusted."
Voldemort snorted.
"And, yes, I think I will." So saying, he opened his mouth and sucked the Death Eater's soul down. "Hmm. Tasted a bit like two-day-old mouse..."
"That was a little disturbing to watch," the Dark Lord decided as Xerosis left the body to slump to the ground. "And when have you had two-day-old mouse?"
"Small rodents survived the radiation fall out longer than the larger animals," Xerosis reported, glancing around. "You already sent the Death Eaters back?"
"Yes. I am... curious about this explosion you intend to start."
Xerosis shot the Dark Lord a smirk, then crooked his finger in a 'come hither' gesture before leading the way to where the most explosive experiments were being carried out. "A basic knowledge of chemistry helps a lot in knowing where the best explosion has the chance of happening," he offered, winding his way through the counters to the storage room in the back. "None of their experiments are particularly explosive, unlike some other labs I've blown in the past, but they do keep quite a few chemicals near each other in the storage rooms. Mundanes are always stupid like that."
The door had a passcode on it, but Xerosis just shorted it with a burst of magic, then pulled the door open. Inside were shelves and shelves of powders, liquids and gases. "I'd take my shoulder or arm, if I were you," he warned as he gingerly moved a couple of bottles forward on the shelf so they were teetering a bit. "You're not going to be fast enough to apparate out of here before everything goes 'boom'."
Voldemort placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, then watched as he pulled a bottle forward, apparating them just before the bottle connected with the next thing on the shelf below. They appeared on a small hill a short distance from the lab and watched as, slowly but surely, a series of explosions rocked the building, each one setting off another and another until the lab was little more than a burning pile of rubble.
"That was impressive," a voice commented from behind the two wizards and they both spun, wands out. Death stood behind them, leaning on his scythe. "You mortals are cute."
Xerosis sighed and slipped his wand away. "To what do we owe the dubious pleasure of your presence?" he wondered.
"Counting souls," Death replied. "After the Death Eaters got through, and not counting the ones you took out before the explosions, that finished... twenty-seven. Just in case you're keeping track."
"I'm not," Xerosis admitted. "I'm leaving that to you."
Voldemort cleared his throat. "Counting souls?"
"I gave him his dementor ability in return for a promise for him to match the number of people he killed during his last life," Death explained, turning his head up to the Dark Lord. "You. Your Horcruxes."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on his wand. "What of them?"
"I don't like them," Death declared. "They're cheats."
Xerosis snickered.
The Dark Lord spared a brief scowl for the teen before looking back at Death. "Well I'm not about to get rid of them."
Death huffed a bit and picked up his scythe to hold it threateningly towards the Dark Lord. "I'll hunt them down."
"You can't hunt them down," Xerosis commented with amusement. "If you could, the ability to make them never would have existed."
"You have had far too much time to think about things," Death decided.
"You set me the task of decimating the ranks of vampires because you don't like them," the apparent vampire pointed out. "I figure, if you hated them that much and could affect things, you'd have done them all in yourself. Instead, you get mortals to do it."
"Don't make me take your gift back," Death threatened.
Xerosis held up his hands in surrender. "I'm silent as the grave."
Death turned back to Voldemort, swinging his scythe back to rest over his shoulder. "You can have one Horcrux, the one in him. Get rid of the others."
"Why should I?" Voldemort asked, finally slipping his own wand away. "What would I get out of only having Potter as a Horcrux?"
"My eternal thanks for ending your perversion of the world."
Xerosis covered his mouth and quickly turned away, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
"What do I care for that while I'm immortal?" Voldemort replied, smirking a bit.
Death let out an irritated sigh. "I really hate mortals," he told them. "You all spend your lives avoiding me like I'll never get you. You create Philosopher's Stones and Horcruxes and make deals with vampires just to keep from ever meeting me. I mean, what did I ever do to you, anyway?"
The two wizards traded looks. Xerosis snorted and started silently laughing again while Voldemort looked back at Death like he was the insane one of the three of them. "Do you really want an answer to that?"
"You're not funny," Death declared, pointing his scythe at the Dark Lord. Then he turned to Xerosis. "And, you, stop laughing."
Xerosis coughed and turned back around, covering a smile with one hand. "He's not going to just give up his Horcruxes," he pointed out. "Can't you make a deal with him, like you did with me? You gave me this ability, I kill, erm..."
"Three thousand, nine hundred fifty-seven," Death intoned.
"Yes, I kill that many people."
Voldemort gave Xerosis an impressed look. "Seriously?"
"I have mad skillz," Harry replied drily. "I also blew up a lot of buildings."
"How many of them were muggles?" the Dark Lord wanted to know.
"Most of them. I never really bothered with magical people, since we're already so few."
"You bring your Horcruxes down to one," Death interrupted, "I'll absorb any Killing Curses that would hit you until you've either got the magical world under your thumb, or he finishes his end of our bargain, whichever comes last." He paused for a moment, then turned to Xerosis. "You can't die until you finish your end of the bargain, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that."
"Must have slipped your mind," Xerosis replied drily.
"Only Killing Curses?" Voldemort wondered, but his eyes sparkled with victory.
"What do you think I am, some sort of god?" Death snarked. "I can stop instant death, but anything else you'll have to resurrect from in your usual pathetic mortal way. Deal or no deal?"
"Deal," Voldemort agreed without pause. He'd take what he could get.
Death nodded and waved his scythe in Voldemort's direction. After a moment, all the items holding Horcruxes were surrounding them, including one very irate snake. "I don't trust you to behave yourself," Death commented at the Dark Lord's frown. Then he waved his scythe again and disappeared as all the broken pieces of soul jumped out of their receptacles and back into Voldemort.
Voldemort screamed in pain and fell to a ball on the ground, his snake-like visage fading away to the more human body. The pain was... He didn't have a word for it. It felt like his whole body was being simultaneously torn apart and put back together again while also being held under the Cruciatus. It was, without a doubt, the worst pain he'd ever been in.
Harry dropped to his knees next to the Dark Lord, his own fake face falling away. Wide green eyes watched on in fear as Riddle gasped and wheezed, tear-tracks marking his cheeks.
:What is happening to Master?: Nagini whispered as she slithered over to Harry and sat next to him to watch her master in concern.
:He made a deal with Death,: Harry replied, gently stroking the serpent's head. :Death was...not kind.:
:Death is never kind,: Nagini pointed out.
Harry thought about running through a forest, surviving by the skin of his teeth. About celebrating the finding of a two-day-old mouse or searching through dying berry bushes just for something to eat. :Sometimes,: he murmured, :Death is kind. When he's all that's left; when it's dying and finding peace or living forever and being tortured every day...:
Nagini bobbed her head. :Death is many things,: she decided.
Riddle gasped and tipped forward as the pain finally faded away. Harry grabbed him around the shoulders and braced him as he shuddered. The Dark Lord buried his face against Harry's neck, finding comfort in his equal and falling asleep before he even realised he was tired.
Harry tightened his grip on the Dark Lord as he heard the man's breathing even into sleep. :We need to take him back to the manor,: he told Nagini quietly.
:Don't forget his treasures,: Nagini reminded him, raising her head so she could slither part of her body into the boy's lap.
Harry nodded and summoned the ex-Horcruxes into one of the pockets of his robe, then shadowed them to the Dark Lord's bedroom. Once Nagini had moved, he hefted the man into his arms and carried him to the bed, silently thanking his vampire strength. He removed Riddle's shoes and outer robe, then pulled the covers over him and helped Nagini onto the bed. :I need to see to the Death Eaters. Stay with him?:
:You needn't ask,: Nagini replied, curling up at Riddle's side. :He is my chosen, my master.:
Harry smiled at her, then quickly cast the series of complicated glamours that made him look like the vampire Xerosis. A step backwards into a shadow shortly found him in the ballroom, where all the Death Eaters had gathered. They were getting restless and Xerosis sighed silently. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with them, but they had to be dismissed and the Dark Lord was in no condition to handle them.
He took a fortifying breath, then stalked up to the head of the room, smirking a bit as the men and women in the room quieted. Once they were silent and he was in the Dark Lord's usual spot, he turned to them. "Lord Voldemort is currently busy with other matters, so I get to debrief you." He smiled darkly at them. "I hope there are no problems with that?"
A quiet murmur of agreement went around the room.
"Excellent. Everything went as we'd planned. Good work. For now, I'm sure many of you are wobbling on your feet, so you're dismissed." He waved them away and they all turned to the doors to leave.
All but two, who came up to him and removed their masks to show them to be Lucius and Barty. "Is my Lord okay?" Barty asked, his eyes dark with concern.
"We were not aware of any other matters he had to attend to," Lucius added, holding himself stiffly.
Xerosis glanced past them to where the door had fallen closed, the other Death Eaters gone. As he faded back into Harry Potter, much to Lucius' surprise, he commented, "He's fine. An old... companion of mine stopped by for a visit and he and Voldemort don't really get on. He's just a little drained, so I helped him to bed."
Lucius shook his head. "You're thirteen," he commented.
"And you're thirty-nine," Harry retorted, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "What of it?"
"You're–"
"He defies all explanation," Barty helpfully cut in before Lucius could tick off the teenager. "And he won't tell me why. It's not worth the headache."
Harry shot Barty an amused look. "So I'm a headache, am I?"
"You're often the cause behind mine," Barty agreed cheerfully. "And, if you'll forgive me, you look like crap."
Harry's lip curled with a tired smile. "It's been a long day," he allowed, "and it's still too early for me to return to Hogwarts."
"Too early?" Lucius repeated.
"I have a time-turner. I believe I am currently debating shield spells with Anthony, Terry and Padma in the Ravenclaw common."
Lucius blinked, then shook his head. "I can lend you a room to rest in until you can return?" he offered, grimacing a bit.
Harry shook his head. "Thank you, but no. I'll make sure Voldemort is resting and not being his usual obnoxious self." He waved a hand over his shoulder, then stepped into a shadow and faded away as the two Death Eaters offered him faint good-byes.
Up in Riddle's room, Harry pulled the chair closer to the Dark Lord's bed and sunk down into it. He'd just rest for a moment, then shadow back to Hogwarts...
-0-
He woke to the sounds of voices quietly conversing. He groaned and straightened, his neck aching from the strange angle. The voices stopped and he opened his eyes to find Riddle and Nagini watching him. Nagini looked as pleased as a snake ever could, while Riddle looked a bit uncertain. "Erm, hi?" Harry asked, absently casting a silent tempus and glancing at the numbers. "Ten in the morning... Shit!" He jumped to his feet. "Classes started an hour ago!"
"Sit down, Potter," Riddle ordered drily. "You have a twelve-hour time-turner."
Harry flushed and sat back in the chair. "Oh, yeah. I, uh, forgot." He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.
Riddle shook his head and leaned back against his headboard. "You weren't required to stay," he commented neutrally.
Harry shrugged. "I hadn't meant to sleep that long. I still had to wait a bit before I could go back, so I thought I'd take a quick nap, and, well..." He trailed off and grimaced. "I can leave now, if you want?"
Riddle frowned. "I don't..." He shook his head and glanced up at Harry. "Nagini said you have my..."
"Treasures?" Harry offered when the Dark Lord couldn't find a word for the ex-Horcrux receptacles. He pulled everything out of his pocket and held them out.
Riddle carefully collected everything, setting all but the ring to one side, which he studied. "So, this is one of the mythical Hallows..."
Harry relaxed back in his chair and watched Riddle examine the ring. "I called the shades of my parents and Sirius when I was walking to my death," he offered. "It had even been broken in half at the time. It's the real thing."
"Walking to your death?" Riddle repeated, glancing up at the teen.
Harry shrugged. "The only way to remove the Horcrux in my scar was to be killed. The soul fragment passed on, I returned to my body."
Riddle gave him a disbelieving look. "I'd ask if you're suicidal, but you picked life over death..."
"I was a tragic hero," Harry replied drily. "The archetype says I have to lose everything important to me before I can defeat the villain."
Riddle snorted and covered his mouth with one hand. "Sorry."
Harry grinned at him. "You should have seen my reaction when Hermione forced me to realise that. Ron had to be force-fed a calming potion, he was laughing so hard."
Riddle snorted again and shook his head. "Who fed him the potion?"
"Hermione, of course. I was too busy trying to excuse my behaviour," Harry replied, old enough that he was comfortable with the faults of his youth. He'd been a bit of a fool back then, but he was past most of it. He still occasionally had to save people, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself or put up with people's shit.
The Dark Lord shot him a considering look. "I have a question, but I'm not sure how you'll receive it."
"My hormones haven't kicked in yet," Harry replied with a smile, "so I should be fine."
"Your... hormones...?"
"When I was fifteen, I was a moody little jerk. Pretty much all year. I destroyed Dumbledore's office in a fit. Although, too be fair, I'd just lost Sirius," Harry explained. "And I'd spent the year being called a liar by the press and being tortured in detentions by a professor." He blinked. "That reminds me, I should hunt down and kill Umbridge."
"Right." Riddle gave him an odd look, then shook his head. "Your friends... I know from Lucius' spawn that you're friends with the mudblood, Granger, and Longbottom, but not the Weasleys." He frowned a bit.
Harry understood where he was going. "I very much doubt any of my old friends will accept my choices in this life," he offered. "Hermione and Neville were... I suppose you could say my friendship with them was by chance and I'm honestly not certain how's it's lasted this long. I never thought I'd have their friendship again, but I intend to treasure it while I still can. And, yes, that is ridiculously Gryffindor of me, but I spent most of my life with them by my side, and Hermione is practically a sister to me. I'm doing this – coming back and taking out what mundanes I can – for them. Even if they'll never understand why."
Riddle sighed. "Have you never thought of explaining the truth to them?"
Harry laughed. "Tell Neville and Hermione that I'm going to kill all the mundanes? No. Neville might be able to understand to some degree, but Hermione will never understand why we can't all just get along. For all that she didn't have a single friend before coming to Hogwarts, she's still remarkably naïve when it comes to the ways of the world. She died preaching about the rights of all humans, even after two years of war.
"I don't even know where to start with Ron and Ginny. It took a war and the death of his brother before Ron got past his occasional bouts of jealousy for my fame. And Ginny had this terrible crush on me that circumstances that won't happen this time around put to an end. Ron and Ginny simply aren't the people I knew them as in my world, and I can't make them those people. Their lives are their own, even if it means we're nothing more than passing acquaintances."
"So you intend to go through the rest of your life with the knowledge that, once you come out as a muggle-killer, all of your friends will disown you?" Riddle asked. "Forgive me, but that doesn't seem like the Potter I've gotten to know."
Harry smiled a bit and shook his head. "My old friends may disown me, but I've made new friends who might not. Well, Terry and Li might, but Lillian is right next to me. And Luna..." He chuckled. "Luna is a creature all her own. She became my friend, knowing what I intend to do. I doubt she'd ever actually kill someone, but she understands my reasons and is my friend in spite of everything."
"You're content with two friends?" Riddle replied disbelievingly.
Harry snorted. "I'm ninety-seven years old, I won't cry if my friends abandon me."
Riddle blinked, then chuckled and shook his head. "I suppose that's true," he agreed.
"Anyway, Barty and I have a strange little friendship going–"
"You scare the magic right out of him and you call that a friendship?"
"And you and I are...something," Harry continued, ignoring the Dark Lord. "I think that's a fair amount of friendships."
Riddle glanced up at the ceiling. "Merlin save me from Gryffindors and their 'everyone is my friend' mentality."
Harry laughed and stood from his chair. "I should get back. Oh! I told your Death Eaters that you were busy with other business, hence why I dismissed them instead of you. Lucius and Barty figured something was up so they know you were in bed. And Lucius knows who Xerosis is."
Riddle grunted and dragged himself out of bed. "Very well. Go to class and leave me to curse my minions."
"Have fun!" Harry chirped before ducking into a dark corner and shadowing to the space under his bed. He pulled out his time-turner and turned it back five hours, before any of his roommates might be up, then climbed into his bed and snuggled under his blankets. There was nothing wrong with dozing until the others started getting up.
-0-
Remus apparently did get around to striking up a conversation with Sirius, as the dog animagus asked Harry in one letter about his ability to spot non-humans. He also asked whether or not Snape was part bat, to which Harry replied, 'How should I know? I can catch vampires and werewolves, but animal forms are beyond me. Cast an animagus revealing spell on him and leave me out of it.'
The werewolf was still wary of him in class, but he stopped completely ignoring Harry and offered to let him try his hand against a boggart after Christmas, which Harry turned down. He much preferred facing his boggart inside Remus' end-of-the-year obstacle course, when the only person who would see it would be himself.
Christmas came and went and Harry enjoyed his holiday with Sirius. The Malfoys weren't holding a Christmas Ball that year, due to their manor being full of escaped Death Eaters, so Harry didn't have to try sneaking out after tea like he had last year.
Before he knew it, second term was over and he was trudging down to the train with Luna, helping her carry her shaking trunk from the carriage – the thestrals who'd brought them down were eyeing them a bit suspiciously – and onto the train.
"What–?" Hermione asked before Li could cover her mouth.
"Don't. Ask," the Chinese girl ordered. She'd seen a couple of Luna's roommates on the way down and the horrified looks on their faces told her they were better off not knowing.
"You're no fun," Harry told his friend as Luna let go of the trunk. He hefted it up into the luggage rack without a grunt, ignoring the weird looks everyone but Luna shot him. Honestly, he'd sort of let that cat out of the bag back in first year. He was still waiting for one of his friends to demand he explain what he was, but other than Hermione's brief question back on that first train-ride, they kept their mouths shut.
"It's a pity Professor Lupin won't be back next year," Neville commented as Harry took a seat, Luna happily curling up between his legs on the floor.
"Snape is a real jerk," Terry muttered.
Hermione cleared her throat. "Luna, uhm..." She shook her head. "Never mind."
Luna considered Hermione with perpetually wide eyes. "Yes?"
"I think she's asking why you insist on sitting between my legs when there's a seat for you," Harry offered drily, pulling a book out of his pocket.
"I like it here," Luna replied with a distracted smile. "Are you jealous?"
"Am I what?!" Hermione squeaked, cheeks turning a faint pink.
"If you want to sit between Harry's legs, I'll trade you places," Luna continued.
Hermione's mouth fell open and a squeak came out.
Harry absently reached down and placed a hand on top of Luna's head, nose in his book. "She's not ready for you to torment her yet, Luna. Maybe next year."
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.
Li coughed and looked away while Terry waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Hermione and Neville sank down in his seat, as red as the engine starting to pull them towards London. Luna just smiled a bit absently and started braiding a bit of her hair, humming quietly to herself.
"Harry," Hermione growled, pulling out her wand.
Harry turned a page. "Hmm?"
"Aguamenti," Hermione intoned.
Harry let out a surprised shout and dropped his book into Luna's lap as he was suddenly soaked. Luna and Terry both also got wet and Terry shot an offended look at the Gryffindor girl, but Luna went right on braiding her hair and humming as if nothing had happened.
"Was that really necessary?" Harry wondered, leaning around Luna to grab his book from her lap.
"You were ignoring my plight," Hermione insisted as Harry cast a drying charm on the compartment, much to Terry's relief.
"Next time I'll just laugh instead," Harry replied, carefully looking over his book for any damage. Finding none, he set it gently to one side and looked back at Hermione, who was puffing up to snap at him. "Honestly, Hermione, it's just a bit of fun. I'm sorry if Luna sitting at my feet bothers you, but she could care less. Anyway, we both know there's no meaning behind it, right, Luna?"
Luna blinked up at him. "You mean I'm not your favourite minion, my Lord?" she asked.
There was a moment of silence while everyone blinked at the youngest member of their compartment, then the others all laughed.
Harry rested a gentle hand on top of Luna's head. "Of course you are," he agreed before picking up his book to read again.
Still chuckling a bit, the others pulled out books or cards to play a quiet game.
Harry smiled to himself for the rest of the ride; he'd never had a minion before.
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A/N: Not sure how I feel about the ending, but...meh.
And I'm sorry if the end of the chapter seems a bit rushed but, uh, it was. And I didn't have a great deal else to write about. Maybe another attack or two, but there wasn't going to be a lot to say about them. Just assume a few more happened in there somewhere.
There were one or two questions about why Death dislikes vampires so much, especially since they kill so many people? Well, for the same reason as he dislikes someone having Horcruxes: They won't die. Those people they kill would have gone and died anyway, since that's the way of the world, but those people with their gimmicks and curses to make them immortal won't die.
Hope that helped.
Next chapter will involve the TriWizard Tournament! And the revelation of Voldemort's return at long last!
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
Pro - If We Could Only Turn Back Time / 1 - Long Road
2 - Never As It Seems ||| 3 - The Bad Man, the Sad Man |||4 - Armies of Robbers and Thieves
5 - Fear Falls Like Rain ||| 6 - Rage Like Fire ||| 7 - Born From Conflict
8 - Reach Any Star ||| 9 - Cold Fields ||| 10 - Ice Inside Your Soul
11 - King of Anything
Author:
batsutousai Beta:
tsuki_no_suzu & magickmaker17Rating: T
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (post-Harry/Ginny)
Warnings: SLASH, AU, character death, super!Harry, Dark!Harry
Summary: Harry's world ends at the hands of those he'd once fought to save. An adult-Harry goes back to his younger self fic. Super!Harry
Chapter Four, Part One
By the end of the first week of school, Harry had won the bet about their new professor. He put his winnings to one side, fully intending to use them during their first Hogsmeade visit to buy everyone some chocolate. In the meantime, he simply enjoyed having Remus Lupin as a professor again, for all that he was mildly ticked that the man was avoiding him. He'd been avoiding Sirius, too, from what little he could get from Sirius. (Getting anything about Remus from his godfather was proving quite the chore, as Sirius was avoiding thinking of the man after his first four letters went unanswered.)
Finally, a month into term, Harry got sick of the dance and pulled out the Map and Cloak to stalk the werewolf. He wasn't quite certain what he'd say to the man, but he was going to catch him and Remus was going to damn-well explain himself.
The werewolf smelled him before Harry was close enough and sped up to get away. But Harry would have none of it and, using his vampire speed, which he usually avoided, quickly caught up to the man and grabbed his arm. "You are, quite possibly, the most obnoxious non-human I've had to deal with," Harry grumbled as Remus tried tugging his arm out of the teenager's grip.
Remus froze, complexion fading to white. "Did Sirius–"
"No, Sirius isn't going around blabbing your secret to everyone," Harry snapped, pulling his Cloak off. "I can sense whether or not people are human. I can tell you, for example, that there's a sixth year Slytherin with diluted veela blood, for all that I've never even met him. I don't know why I can do it, but it's useful. And you have been avoiding both myself and my godfather. I want to know why."
Brown eyes darted around the hallway for a moment before saying, "Someone might..." His voice died off when Harry held up the Map, which showed that no one was anywhere near them. "Where did you–?"
"Stole it from the Weasley twins," Harry answered, scowling a bit. "Look, I really don't care that you're going out of your way to avoid me. Really, I don't. I don't even care that you wouldn't let me have my turn with the boggart because, honestly, I don't want to know what it turns into. But all this avoiding Sirius? You're the last friend he has left. Hell, he's the last friend you have left! So why aren't you responding to his letters?"
Remus trembled ever so slightly. "I-I left the country and–"
"Don't you dare tell me you didn't get news outside Brit–"
"I left!" Remus snapped, something in him lighting at Harry's assumption. "I didn't question anything, I let them put Sirius in Azkaban, I left you to..." Remus swallowed and looked away.
Harry let go of the arm he'd still been holding, understanding in his eyes. "Guilty conscience," he murmured, nodding when Remus flinched. "Ah, I love Gryffindors. You should hear Sirius go on about how he and my father had thought you were the spy and he needed to apologise–"
"Why would he–"
"You two are funny," Harry decided. "First Hogsmeade visit is on Hallowe'en. Go visit my godfather. Get drunk. Do something. I'm tired of him moping around the house when he thinks I'm not paying attention." He turned away, pulling the Cloak back on. "And stop avoiding me, would you? You're making my friends suspicious, and when one of my friends is a Slytherin, well..." He chuckled to himself before starting back down the hallway.
He should have known it was a Gryffindor thing. Now all he had to do was talk Hermione into using her time-turner to get some extra sleep, preferably without letting her know that he knew what she had.
"Murder and mayhem, two of my favourite things," Xerosis commented as he as Voldemort walked down to the ballroom, where all the Death Eaters but Snape had gathered. "You know, I don't usually like Hallowe'en, but this year might just be awesome."
" 'Awesome'?" Voldemort repeated, amused.
Xerosis waved a hand at him. "I spend all day surrounded by teenagers. Shush."
The Dark Lord chuckled and swept into the ballroom, followed by the slighter figure. They walked together up to the head of the room, neither missing the distrustful looks the apparent vampire received. "This is Lord Xerosis," Voldemort announced to the Death Eaters. "He is a valuable ally, and you will treat his words as if they were my own." Voldemort cast a sharp glance over his people, picking out those he thought would give the boy at his side any trouble. Xerosis had already assured the Dark Lord that he could easily handle any trouble, and Voldemort didn't doubt it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try and keep his people in line.
"Due to the nature of this attack and the need to keep under the Ministry's radar for a while longer, there will be no Dark Marks cast. However, you may have whatever fun you wish. Use this attack to stretch your magic and apply your creativity once again. These muggles are worthless, and it was time we reminded them that we are the greater species!"
Under the sound of the Death Eaters' cheers, Xerosis murmured, "Don't get too cocky."
Voldemort glanced at him. "No, but do you honestly think they would believe that muggles might one day wipe us out?"
"Hmm... Good point."
As the Death Eaters finally calmed, Voldemort gently took Xerosis' arm – taking care to touch only cloth, as neither of them wanted to test the weakening protection that still lingered – and apparated them both to just outside the research lab Voldemort had targeted. The Dark Mark acted as something like a portkey when the Dark Lord wished it to, so all his people appeared moments after them.
Despite the late hour, the lab was still quite active, as the scientists were dedicated to their research. And Xerosis had used his time-turner to bring him back to just before the feast, so they had more time for the attack.
When Voldemort motioned his Death Eaters forwards, it was rather like watching a black tide of destruction. They all flowed forward, blasting their way into the building and grabbing whatever mundane they could.
Voldemort and Xerosis let the Death Eaters go first, content to just watch the destruction for a moment.
"How long are you giving them?" Xerosis wondered.
Voldemort shrugged one shoulder. "Most of them aren't recovered enough for more than twenty minutes or so. I'll give them a little over half an hour before dragging them back." He glanced down at the teen. "You'll take care of the building?"
Xerosis nodded a bit absently. "Yes. It's not hard to make it look like something exploded and set off a chain reaction; it just requires you to be familiar with the layout of the experiments. I did my homework a couple days ago."
Voldemort snorted. "Ravenclaws," he replied, then swept into the lab to find his own target.
Xerosis chuckled to himself and shadowed to the part of the lab where he intended to start the explosions. The Death Eaters hadn't gotten that far yet, so he slipped around, occasionally stealing souls or using Dark spells to destroy mundanes' bodies.
The first couple of Death Eaters he saw either didn't see him or glanced at him, then hurried past without a word. Xerosis was mostly amused by their reactions, though he was curious if anyone would dare challenge him.
Xerosis was just finishing off another mundane when a curse hit him in the back. He bit back a shout of pain and turned on the offending Death Eater, who had the most peculiar expression of disbelief on his face. A quick jab of Legilimency made Xerosis bare his lengthened teeth in fury; the spell he'd been hit with was supposed to kill a vampire as soon as it hit. "You son of a mundane," Xerosis spat, slamming the man against an opposing wall. The air around them practically froze with his fury and the Death Eater in his grasp choked, nightmares flashing through his eyes.
"Why are you manhandling my Death Eater?" Voldemort wondered a bit idly from behind him.
"He tried to kill me," Xerosis growled. "I'm debating the best way to punish him."
Voldemort snorted and turned away. "Have fun," he called over his shoulder.
Xerosis' lips twisted with an evil smile. "There's this wonderful spell," he commented cheerfully to his victim as his power backed off a bit, "that drains the magic out of someone. It's useless against mundanes, but used on a squib or witch or wizard..." He chuckled a bit, eyes flashing, and let go of the Death Eater, who crumpled to the floor without the apparent vampire's support.
"No, please. My Lord, please!" the Death Eater cried, eyes wide behind his mask.
Xerosis silently cast the spell, seeing no reason to let his small audience know the incantation. The spell had been discovered when he was in his forties by an Unspeakable who'd been trying to replicate the effects of dementors. She'd never managed to create a spell version of the infamous Kiss, but she created any number of spells that drained other things, such as magic or blood. The benefit to using the magic-draining spell was that it gave the caster the victim's magic, which was great on the battlefield, not so good among friends.
He turned from the sobbing wizard and cast cold pale eyes over his audience. "Anyone else want to debate my leadership?" he offered with a twisted little smile.
The watching Death Eaters fled.
Xerosis looked back at the magicless-wizard and debated between leaving him alive and aware – at least until the building exploded – or taking his soul. While he might very well have knowledge Harry didn't have, the idea of leaving him to suffer was...
"I do believe you've sufficiently cowed my minions," Voldemort said from behind him. "What did you do?"
"I stole his magic," Xerosis replied absently.
"You can do that?"
The apparent vampire glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the horrified look on the Dark Lord's face. "Certainly. An Unspeakable trying to re-create the Dementor's Kiss created it."
"Why not just use a dementor?" Voldemort wondered, sweeping closer to Xerosis and the still-whimpering Death Eater.
"They were destroyed. The Minister decided they were more trouble than they were worth, and I hated them." Xerosis reached forward and removed the mask from the magicless-wizard. "Still do, actually."
"For all that you're practically one yourself," the Dark Lord muttered, watching the boy's actions a bit suspiciously. "Are you going to Kiss him?"
Xerosis made a face. "Ugh. My brain just combusted."
Voldemort snorted.
"And, yes, I think I will." So saying, he opened his mouth and sucked the Death Eater's soul down. "Hmm. Tasted a bit like two-day-old mouse..."
"That was a little disturbing to watch," the Dark Lord decided as Xerosis left the body to slump to the ground. "And when have you had two-day-old mouse?"
"Small rodents survived the radiation fall out longer than the larger animals," Xerosis reported, glancing around. "You already sent the Death Eaters back?"
"Yes. I am... curious about this explosion you intend to start."
Xerosis shot the Dark Lord a smirk, then crooked his finger in a 'come hither' gesture before leading the way to where the most explosive experiments were being carried out. "A basic knowledge of chemistry helps a lot in knowing where the best explosion has the chance of happening," he offered, winding his way through the counters to the storage room in the back. "None of their experiments are particularly explosive, unlike some other labs I've blown in the past, but they do keep quite a few chemicals near each other in the storage rooms. Mundanes are always stupid like that."
The door had a passcode on it, but Xerosis just shorted it with a burst of magic, then pulled the door open. Inside were shelves and shelves of powders, liquids and gases. "I'd take my shoulder or arm, if I were you," he warned as he gingerly moved a couple of bottles forward on the shelf so they were teetering a bit. "You're not going to be fast enough to apparate out of here before everything goes 'boom'."
Voldemort placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, then watched as he pulled a bottle forward, apparating them just before the bottle connected with the next thing on the shelf below. They appeared on a small hill a short distance from the lab and watched as, slowly but surely, a series of explosions rocked the building, each one setting off another and another until the lab was little more than a burning pile of rubble.
"That was impressive," a voice commented from behind the two wizards and they both spun, wands out. Death stood behind them, leaning on his scythe. "You mortals are cute."
Xerosis sighed and slipped his wand away. "To what do we owe the dubious pleasure of your presence?" he wondered.
"Counting souls," Death replied. "After the Death Eaters got through, and not counting the ones you took out before the explosions, that finished... twenty-seven. Just in case you're keeping track."
"I'm not," Xerosis admitted. "I'm leaving that to you."
Voldemort cleared his throat. "Counting souls?"
"I gave him his dementor ability in return for a promise for him to match the number of people he killed during his last life," Death explained, turning his head up to the Dark Lord. "You. Your Horcruxes."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on his wand. "What of them?"
"I don't like them," Death declared. "They're cheats."
Xerosis snickered.
The Dark Lord spared a brief scowl for the teen before looking back at Death. "Well I'm not about to get rid of them."
Death huffed a bit and picked up his scythe to hold it threateningly towards the Dark Lord. "I'll hunt them down."
"You can't hunt them down," Xerosis commented with amusement. "If you could, the ability to make them never would have existed."
"You have had far too much time to think about things," Death decided.
"You set me the task of decimating the ranks of vampires because you don't like them," the apparent vampire pointed out. "I figure, if you hated them that much and could affect things, you'd have done them all in yourself. Instead, you get mortals to do it."
"Don't make me take your gift back," Death threatened.
Xerosis held up his hands in surrender. "I'm silent as the grave."
Death turned back to Voldemort, swinging his scythe back to rest over his shoulder. "You can have one Horcrux, the one in him. Get rid of the others."
"Why should I?" Voldemort asked, finally slipping his own wand away. "What would I get out of only having Potter as a Horcrux?"
"My eternal thanks for ending your perversion of the world."
Xerosis covered his mouth and quickly turned away, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
"What do I care for that while I'm immortal?" Voldemort replied, smirking a bit.
Death let out an irritated sigh. "I really hate mortals," he told them. "You all spend your lives avoiding me like I'll never get you. You create Philosopher's Stones and Horcruxes and make deals with vampires just to keep from ever meeting me. I mean, what did I ever do to you, anyway?"
The two wizards traded looks. Xerosis snorted and started silently laughing again while Voldemort looked back at Death like he was the insane one of the three of them. "Do you really want an answer to that?"
"You're not funny," Death declared, pointing his scythe at the Dark Lord. Then he turned to Xerosis. "And, you, stop laughing."
Xerosis coughed and turned back around, covering a smile with one hand. "He's not going to just give up his Horcruxes," he pointed out. "Can't you make a deal with him, like you did with me? You gave me this ability, I kill, erm..."
"Three thousand, nine hundred fifty-seven," Death intoned.
"Yes, I kill that many people."
Voldemort gave Xerosis an impressed look. "Seriously?"
"I have mad skillz," Harry replied drily. "I also blew up a lot of buildings."
"How many of them were muggles?" the Dark Lord wanted to know.
"Most of them. I never really bothered with magical people, since we're already so few."
"You bring your Horcruxes down to one," Death interrupted, "I'll absorb any Killing Curses that would hit you until you've either got the magical world under your thumb, or he finishes his end of our bargain, whichever comes last." He paused for a moment, then turned to Xerosis. "You can't die until you finish your end of the bargain, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that."
"Must have slipped your mind," Xerosis replied drily.
"Only Killing Curses?" Voldemort wondered, but his eyes sparkled with victory.
"What do you think I am, some sort of god?" Death snarked. "I can stop instant death, but anything else you'll have to resurrect from in your usual pathetic mortal way. Deal or no deal?"
"Deal," Voldemort agreed without pause. He'd take what he could get.
Death nodded and waved his scythe in Voldemort's direction. After a moment, all the items holding Horcruxes were surrounding them, including one very irate snake. "I don't trust you to behave yourself," Death commented at the Dark Lord's frown. Then he waved his scythe again and disappeared as all the broken pieces of soul jumped out of their receptacles and back into Voldemort.
Voldemort screamed in pain and fell to a ball on the ground, his snake-like visage fading away to the more human body. The pain was... He didn't have a word for it. It felt like his whole body was being simultaneously torn apart and put back together again while also being held under the Cruciatus. It was, without a doubt, the worst pain he'd ever been in.
Harry dropped to his knees next to the Dark Lord, his own fake face falling away. Wide green eyes watched on in fear as Riddle gasped and wheezed, tear-tracks marking his cheeks.
:What is happening to Master?: Nagini whispered as she slithered over to Harry and sat next to him to watch her master in concern.
:He made a deal with Death,: Harry replied, gently stroking the serpent's head. :Death was...not kind.:
:Death is never kind,: Nagini pointed out.
Harry thought about running through a forest, surviving by the skin of his teeth. About celebrating the finding of a two-day-old mouse or searching through dying berry bushes just for something to eat. :Sometimes,: he murmured, :Death is kind. When he's all that's left; when it's dying and finding peace or living forever and being tortured every day...:
Nagini bobbed her head. :Death is many things,: she decided.
Riddle gasped and tipped forward as the pain finally faded away. Harry grabbed him around the shoulders and braced him as he shuddered. The Dark Lord buried his face against Harry's neck, finding comfort in his equal and falling asleep before he even realised he was tired.
Harry tightened his grip on the Dark Lord as he heard the man's breathing even into sleep. :We need to take him back to the manor,: he told Nagini quietly.
:Don't forget his treasures,: Nagini reminded him, raising her head so she could slither part of her body into the boy's lap.
Harry nodded and summoned the ex-Horcruxes into one of the pockets of his robe, then shadowed them to the Dark Lord's bedroom. Once Nagini had moved, he hefted the man into his arms and carried him to the bed, silently thanking his vampire strength. He removed Riddle's shoes and outer robe, then pulled the covers over him and helped Nagini onto the bed. :I need to see to the Death Eaters. Stay with him?:
:You needn't ask,: Nagini replied, curling up at Riddle's side. :He is my chosen, my master.:
Harry smiled at her, then quickly cast the series of complicated glamours that made him look like the vampire Xerosis. A step backwards into a shadow shortly found him in the ballroom, where all the Death Eaters had gathered. They were getting restless and Xerosis sighed silently. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with them, but they had to be dismissed and the Dark Lord was in no condition to handle them.
He took a fortifying breath, then stalked up to the head of the room, smirking a bit as the men and women in the room quieted. Once they were silent and he was in the Dark Lord's usual spot, he turned to them. "Lord Voldemort is currently busy with other matters, so I get to debrief you." He smiled darkly at them. "I hope there are no problems with that?"
A quiet murmur of agreement went around the room.
"Excellent. Everything went as we'd planned. Good work. For now, I'm sure many of you are wobbling on your feet, so you're dismissed." He waved them away and they all turned to the doors to leave.
All but two, who came up to him and removed their masks to show them to be Lucius and Barty. "Is my Lord okay?" Barty asked, his eyes dark with concern.
"We were not aware of any other matters he had to attend to," Lucius added, holding himself stiffly.
Xerosis glanced past them to where the door had fallen closed, the other Death Eaters gone. As he faded back into Harry Potter, much to Lucius' surprise, he commented, "He's fine. An old... companion of mine stopped by for a visit and he and Voldemort don't really get on. He's just a little drained, so I helped him to bed."
Lucius shook his head. "You're thirteen," he commented.
"And you're thirty-nine," Harry retorted, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "What of it?"
"You're–"
"He defies all explanation," Barty helpfully cut in before Lucius could tick off the teenager. "And he won't tell me why. It's not worth the headache."
Harry shot Barty an amused look. "So I'm a headache, am I?"
"You're often the cause behind mine," Barty agreed cheerfully. "And, if you'll forgive me, you look like crap."
Harry's lip curled with a tired smile. "It's been a long day," he allowed, "and it's still too early for me to return to Hogwarts."
"Too early?" Lucius repeated.
"I have a time-turner. I believe I am currently debating shield spells with Anthony, Terry and Padma in the Ravenclaw common."
Lucius blinked, then shook his head. "I can lend you a room to rest in until you can return?" he offered, grimacing a bit.
Harry shook his head. "Thank you, but no. I'll make sure Voldemort is resting and not being his usual obnoxious self." He waved a hand over his shoulder, then stepped into a shadow and faded away as the two Death Eaters offered him faint good-byes.
Up in Riddle's room, Harry pulled the chair closer to the Dark Lord's bed and sunk down into it. He'd just rest for a moment, then shadow back to Hogwarts...
He woke to the sounds of voices quietly conversing. He groaned and straightened, his neck aching from the strange angle. The voices stopped and he opened his eyes to find Riddle and Nagini watching him. Nagini looked as pleased as a snake ever could, while Riddle looked a bit uncertain. "Erm, hi?" Harry asked, absently casting a silent tempus and glancing at the numbers. "Ten in the morning... Shit!" He jumped to his feet. "Classes started an hour ago!"
"Sit down, Potter," Riddle ordered drily. "You have a twelve-hour time-turner."
Harry flushed and sat back in the chair. "Oh, yeah. I, uh, forgot." He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.
Riddle shook his head and leaned back against his headboard. "You weren't required to stay," he commented neutrally.
Harry shrugged. "I hadn't meant to sleep that long. I still had to wait a bit before I could go back, so I thought I'd take a quick nap, and, well..." He trailed off and grimaced. "I can leave now, if you want?"
Riddle frowned. "I don't..." He shook his head and glanced up at Harry. "Nagini said you have my..."
"Treasures?" Harry offered when the Dark Lord couldn't find a word for the ex-Horcrux receptacles. He pulled everything out of his pocket and held them out.
Riddle carefully collected everything, setting all but the ring to one side, which he studied. "So, this is one of the mythical Hallows..."
Harry relaxed back in his chair and watched Riddle examine the ring. "I called the shades of my parents and Sirius when I was walking to my death," he offered. "It had even been broken in half at the time. It's the real thing."
"Walking to your death?" Riddle repeated, glancing up at the teen.
Harry shrugged. "The only way to remove the Horcrux in my scar was to be killed. The soul fragment passed on, I returned to my body."
Riddle gave him a disbelieving look. "I'd ask if you're suicidal, but you picked life over death..."
"I was a tragic hero," Harry replied drily. "The archetype says I have to lose everything important to me before I can defeat the villain."
Riddle snorted and covered his mouth with one hand. "Sorry."
Harry grinned at him. "You should have seen my reaction when Hermione forced me to realise that. Ron had to be force-fed a calming potion, he was laughing so hard."
Riddle snorted again and shook his head. "Who fed him the potion?"
"Hermione, of course. I was too busy trying to excuse my behaviour," Harry replied, old enough that he was comfortable with the faults of his youth. He'd been a bit of a fool back then, but he was past most of it. He still occasionally had to save people, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself or put up with people's shit.
The Dark Lord shot him a considering look. "I have a question, but I'm not sure how you'll receive it."
"My hormones haven't kicked in yet," Harry replied with a smile, "so I should be fine."
"Your... hormones...?"
"When I was fifteen, I was a moody little jerk. Pretty much all year. I destroyed Dumbledore's office in a fit. Although, too be fair, I'd just lost Sirius," Harry explained. "And I'd spent the year being called a liar by the press and being tortured in detentions by a professor." He blinked. "That reminds me, I should hunt down and kill Umbridge."
"Right." Riddle gave him an odd look, then shook his head. "Your friends... I know from Lucius' spawn that you're friends with the mudblood, Granger, and Longbottom, but not the Weasleys." He frowned a bit.
Harry understood where he was going. "I very much doubt any of my old friends will accept my choices in this life," he offered. "Hermione and Neville were... I suppose you could say my friendship with them was by chance and I'm honestly not certain how's it's lasted this long. I never thought I'd have their friendship again, but I intend to treasure it while I still can. And, yes, that is ridiculously Gryffindor of me, but I spent most of my life with them by my side, and Hermione is practically a sister to me. I'm doing this – coming back and taking out what mundanes I can – for them. Even if they'll never understand why."
Riddle sighed. "Have you never thought of explaining the truth to them?"
Harry laughed. "Tell Neville and Hermione that I'm going to kill all the mundanes? No. Neville might be able to understand to some degree, but Hermione will never understand why we can't all just get along. For all that she didn't have a single friend before coming to Hogwarts, she's still remarkably naïve when it comes to the ways of the world. She died preaching about the rights of all humans, even after two years of war.
"I don't even know where to start with Ron and Ginny. It took a war and the death of his brother before Ron got past his occasional bouts of jealousy for my fame. And Ginny had this terrible crush on me that circumstances that won't happen this time around put to an end. Ron and Ginny simply aren't the people I knew them as in my world, and I can't make them those people. Their lives are their own, even if it means we're nothing more than passing acquaintances."
"So you intend to go through the rest of your life with the knowledge that, once you come out as a muggle-killer, all of your friends will disown you?" Riddle asked. "Forgive me, but that doesn't seem like the Potter I've gotten to know."
Harry smiled a bit and shook his head. "My old friends may disown me, but I've made new friends who might not. Well, Terry and Li might, but Lillian is right next to me. And Luna..." He chuckled. "Luna is a creature all her own. She became my friend, knowing what I intend to do. I doubt she'd ever actually kill someone, but she understands my reasons and is my friend in spite of everything."
"You're content with two friends?" Riddle replied disbelievingly.
Harry snorted. "I'm ninety-seven years old, I won't cry if my friends abandon me."
Riddle blinked, then chuckled and shook his head. "I suppose that's true," he agreed.
"Anyway, Barty and I have a strange little friendship going–"
"You scare the magic right out of him and you call that a friendship?"
"And you and I are...something," Harry continued, ignoring the Dark Lord. "I think that's a fair amount of friendships."
Riddle glanced up at the ceiling. "Merlin save me from Gryffindors and their 'everyone is my friend' mentality."
Harry laughed and stood from his chair. "I should get back. Oh! I told your Death Eaters that you were busy with other business, hence why I dismissed them instead of you. Lucius and Barty figured something was up so they know you were in bed. And Lucius knows who Xerosis is."
Riddle grunted and dragged himself out of bed. "Very well. Go to class and leave me to curse my minions."
"Have fun!" Harry chirped before ducking into a dark corner and shadowing to the space under his bed. He pulled out his time-turner and turned it back five hours, before any of his roommates might be up, then climbed into his bed and snuggled under his blankets. There was nothing wrong with dozing until the others started getting up.
Remus apparently did get around to striking up a conversation with Sirius, as the dog animagus asked Harry in one letter about his ability to spot non-humans. He also asked whether or not Snape was part bat, to which Harry replied, 'How should I know? I can catch vampires and werewolves, but animal forms are beyond me. Cast an animagus revealing spell on him and leave me out of it.'
The werewolf was still wary of him in class, but he stopped completely ignoring Harry and offered to let him try his hand against a boggart after Christmas, which Harry turned down. He much preferred facing his boggart inside Remus' end-of-the-year obstacle course, when the only person who would see it would be himself.
Christmas came and went and Harry enjoyed his holiday with Sirius. The Malfoys weren't holding a Christmas Ball that year, due to their manor being full of escaped Death Eaters, so Harry didn't have to try sneaking out after tea like he had last year.
Before he knew it, second term was over and he was trudging down to the train with Luna, helping her carry her shaking trunk from the carriage – the thestrals who'd brought them down were eyeing them a bit suspiciously – and onto the train.
"What–?" Hermione asked before Li could cover her mouth.
"Don't. Ask," the Chinese girl ordered. She'd seen a couple of Luna's roommates on the way down and the horrified looks on their faces told her they were better off not knowing.
"You're no fun," Harry told his friend as Luna let go of the trunk. He hefted it up into the luggage rack without a grunt, ignoring the weird looks everyone but Luna shot him. Honestly, he'd sort of let that cat out of the bag back in first year. He was still waiting for one of his friends to demand he explain what he was, but other than Hermione's brief question back on that first train-ride, they kept their mouths shut.
"It's a pity Professor Lupin won't be back next year," Neville commented as Harry took a seat, Luna happily curling up between his legs on the floor.
"Snape is a real jerk," Terry muttered.
Hermione cleared her throat. "Luna, uhm..." She shook her head. "Never mind."
Luna considered Hermione with perpetually wide eyes. "Yes?"
"I think she's asking why you insist on sitting between my legs when there's a seat for you," Harry offered drily, pulling a book out of his pocket.
"I like it here," Luna replied with a distracted smile. "Are you jealous?"
"Am I what?!" Hermione squeaked, cheeks turning a faint pink.
"If you want to sit between Harry's legs, I'll trade you places," Luna continued.
Hermione's mouth fell open and a squeak came out.
Harry absently reached down and placed a hand on top of Luna's head, nose in his book. "She's not ready for you to torment her yet, Luna. Maybe next year."
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked.
Li coughed and looked away while Terry waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Hermione and Neville sank down in his seat, as red as the engine starting to pull them towards London. Luna just smiled a bit absently and started braiding a bit of her hair, humming quietly to herself.
"Harry," Hermione growled, pulling out her wand.
Harry turned a page. "Hmm?"
"Aguamenti," Hermione intoned.
Harry let out a surprised shout and dropped his book into Luna's lap as he was suddenly soaked. Luna and Terry both also got wet and Terry shot an offended look at the Gryffindor girl, but Luna went right on braiding her hair and humming as if nothing had happened.
"Was that really necessary?" Harry wondered, leaning around Luna to grab his book from her lap.
"You were ignoring my plight," Hermione insisted as Harry cast a drying charm on the compartment, much to Terry's relief.
"Next time I'll just laugh instead," Harry replied, carefully looking over his book for any damage. Finding none, he set it gently to one side and looked back at Hermione, who was puffing up to snap at him. "Honestly, Hermione, it's just a bit of fun. I'm sorry if Luna sitting at my feet bothers you, but she could care less. Anyway, we both know there's no meaning behind it, right, Luna?"
Luna blinked up at him. "You mean I'm not your favourite minion, my Lord?" she asked.
There was a moment of silence while everyone blinked at the youngest member of their compartment, then the others all laughed.
Harry rested a gentle hand on top of Luna's head. "Of course you are," he agreed before picking up his book to read again.
Still chuckling a bit, the others pulled out books or cards to play a quiet game.
Harry smiled to himself for the rest of the ride; he'd never had a minion before.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Not sure how I feel about the ending, but...meh.
And I'm sorry if the end of the chapter seems a bit rushed but, uh, it was. And I didn't have a great deal else to write about. Maybe another attack or two, but there wasn't going to be a lot to say about them. Just assume a few more happened in there somewhere.
There were one or two questions about why Death dislikes vampires so much, especially since they kill so many people? Well, for the same reason as he dislikes someone having Horcruxes: They won't die. Those people they kill would have gone and died anyway, since that's the way of the world, but those people with their gimmicks and curses to make them immortal won't die.
Hope that helped.
Next chapter will involve the TriWizard Tournament! And the revelation of Voldemort's return at long last!
~Bats ^.^x
Pro - If We Could Only Turn Back Time / 1 - Long Road
2 - Never As It Seems ||| 3 - The Bad Man, the Sad Man |||
5 - Fear Falls Like Rain ||| 6 - Rage Like Fire ||| 7 - Born From Conflict
8 - Reach Any Star ||| 9 - Cold Fields ||| 10 - Ice Inside Your Soul
11 - King of Anything
.
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Date: 2/6/11 18:12 (UTC)I love your voldemort (poor death eater, they don't know what will happen with Harry).
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Date: 2/6/11 18:18 (UTC)And owl!Lucius, of course. XD
Glad you enjoyed it!!
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Date: 2/6/11 19:17 (UTC)Also: breaking Death Eaters' brains FTW!
I like how Harry 'fessed up too. That was pretty sweet.
Luna is sheer awesomesauce. ♥
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Date: 2/6/11 19:50 (UTC)The Death Eaters just make it too easy. (Wait 'til Harry gets his hands on Sev. XD)
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Date: 2/6/11 22:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3/6/11 08:30 (UTC)Aww, the Harry/Voldie interaction is soo cute! Now I'm rubbing my hands and cackling in glee for when harry finally gets a hold of Sev! Muahahahaha. I'm evil! XD
Love Minion!Luna! She's so cute! And haha, Death. Nice to see him again! Poor Owl!Lucius and Headache!Barty. Here, here, have a cookie. Lol.
I always get high after reading another chapter of Xerosis! XD Must be the talented author! ;P Good luck with the rest of the fic!
Just one question, are the years going to be one chapter each or getting longer starting from next chapter? Just curious.
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Date: 3/6/11 08:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3/6/11 18:54 (UTC)Aw. You're making me blush!!
Next chapter has all of fourth year in it – it's something like 18,000 words, though – but fifth year might get broken up, considering how much is happening. ^.^"
And you're welcome for the friend. I always get around to it, eventually.
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Date: 4/6/11 03:17 (UTC)Ohh, looking forward to it then! :D
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Date: 3/6/11 20:19 (UTC)Such an awesome fic. Crazy!Harry is ALWAYS fun. And I adore what you do with the DE's. Can't wait until the male Lestrange's make an appearance. And I can't wait to see what side Sev chooses. You write such an Awesome Sev.
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Date: 4/6/11 04:12 (UTC)Why Rabastan and Rodolphus? I mean, I know I use them a lot, but... Why them, specifically?
Poor Sev. I'm going to do terrible, terrible things to him. XD
Glad you enjoyed it!
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Date: 4/6/11 10:34 (UTC)And a bit of Sev torture is always good as long as you don't LEAVE him tortured. You know you love him too much.
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Date: 4/6/11 17:56 (UTC)^.^" I remember that scene. Lot of fun.
I do love him too much. (And if I didn't,
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Date: 4/6/11 04:25 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/6/11 17:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5/6/11 03:19 (UTC)I love it! Crazy!Harry is one of my all time faves, especially when his friends learn to just deal with it. I love that Barty's brain is broken, and that Luna is a minion. This Luna is truly spectacular. I love her.
And I love your Death. (Which is a creepy thing to say to someone, but whatever.) I can't wait for the next chapter. :)
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Date: 9/6/11 04:13 (UTC)Luna is completely rocking. ^.~
XD
New chapter should be up tomorrow.
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Date: 6/6/11 05:36 (UTC)Bahaha I caught the quote from a reviewer >.< "I have mad skillz," Nice. Also Owl!Lucius, love it. I don't think I read anything similar to this :) And wow, there was a lot of crack! Love it.
Whoa, took me longer to read this chapter. I was multitasking with other fics and kdramas >.<
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Date: 9/6/11 04:15 (UTC)You and your kdramas. XD
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Date: 6/6/11 07:28 (UTC)Loved this your Voldie/Harry stories are always wonderful
Oh and... Whens the next Dr. Who/Harry crossover chapter coming out. I love that too.
~Liz
Elizabeth Marie Jones
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Date: 9/6/11 04:17 (UTC)Glad you liked the fic!!
Next chapter of Perfect Sky is Torn will be up as soon as the season is over.
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Date: 10/6/11 06:33 (UTC)god that's sweet. amazing chapter. sorry, i only now came around to reading it, but i had to finish my bachelor thesis when this came out and i didn't have time before now.
great work! i'll read the next part sometime this evening.
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Date: 10/6/11 17:07 (UTC)no subject
Date: 22/9/12 07:22 (UTC)