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lomonaaerenTitle: Lord Voldemort’s Life Consists of “What?”
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Mentions of Harry/OMC, otherwise gen
Content Notes: AU after the Third Task, discussion of violence and torture, mention of past character deaths, angst, humor
Wordcount: 3700
Summary: Even if Voldemort is keeping his presence secret from the British Ministry, it’s well-known to Dark-aligned groups on the Continent. Voldemort receives a letter from the head of a powerful vampire pack offering a political alliance and also a more personal one, by having Lord Voldemort’s “heir and Horcrux” betrothed to the vampire lord’s grandson. Voldemort has no idea who he’s talking about, but he will find out.
Author’s Notes: This is one of my “Songs of Summer” fics, one-shots being posted between the summer solstice and the first of August. Vampiric_mcd’s prompt asked for Harry visiting a Dark court with Neville and having the ruler of that court reach out to Voldemort because his grandson wants to court Voldemort’s heir and Horcrux. I will likely write a sequel at some point.
Lord Voldemort’s Life Consists of “What?”
“Bring them in, Lucius.”
Lord Voldemort leaned back on his throne of yew wood and frowned. Having a throne built of the same wood as his wand had been a suggestion he’d found in one of the ancient Dark Arts books in Malfoy Manor, one that would hopefully work on clearing and soothing his mind. It had worked, but not as well as he had hoped.
The madness was still there, hovering on the edge of his perceptions, whispering of the delightful effects of torture and pain—
Lord Voldemort snapped himself back to reality as the ambassador from the Riviera Pack stepped into the throne room, bowing. She was a tall vampire with the kind of stretched look—papery skin across ancient bones—that many of her kind achieved after their five hundredth year. Her fingernails were neatly-trimmed claws of pure bone, and she had unnatural blue eyes that interested Lord Voldemort. He suspected they had been transplanted into her head from a victim rather than being the ones she was born with.
Allying with the vampires would be worth it for their knowledge alone.
“Lord Voldemort.” The vampire prowled towards him, the blue robes she wore parting around her and shimmering with metallic silver thread in the light of the chandelier overhead. “My Lord Elfric is interested in allying with you.” She laid a heavy white stone in Lord Voldemort’s hand and stepped back.
He examined it. It was a stone tablet, inscribed with lines in bronze. Touching them made the message spring into the air and enlarge. It was said that Elfric, Vampire Lord of the Riviera Pack, had not been human even before he was turned, but one of the ancient Sidhe. At least he preferred to use the trappings of one.
“Lord Voldemort?”
Ah, yes, the ambassador was waiting for an answer. He needed not to become so distracted by interesting magic. Lord Voldemort touched the stone and watched as the message shimmered and incised itself across the air.
To Lord Voldemort of the Death Eaters,
A salute to you, as another immortal creature, from beyond death. Lord Elfric of the Riviera Pack proposes an alliance of sanctuary and responsibility.
It was less than Lord Voldemort had hoped for. His people would be able to shelter among the Riviera Pack if pursued and be defended by the vampires on their own lands, but the vampires would not join him as soldiers. Lord Voldemort hid his snarl and read on.
Lord Elfric also proposes an alliance that is rather more personal, and may become more in the future. Your Horcrux is visiting his Court, and his grandson in the blood, Lord Constantine, is taken with him. Lord Constantine would create a proposal of a betrothal to wait for your Horcrux to reach the human age of marriage, with the prospect of vampiric turning on offer if your Horcrux wishes for it. Lord Elfric would be willing to consider an alliance of strategy and power if this betrothal is agreed to.
As of yet, your Horcrux has no idea that Lord Constantine is interested in him. If you agree, we ask that you keep it secret from him, so that Lord Constantine may present the idea in his own time.
Lord Voldemort stared at the words hovering on the air and came very close to saying, “What?” aloud.
But of course he could not do that. Not only were his own people watching him and calculating, but the vampire ambassador was. Lord Voldemort could not reveal that he had no idea who his Horcrux was.
A Horcrux. A living one. How?
But then, he had known that such things were possible when he had placed a piece of his soul in Nagini. And he had created his other Horcruxes with the ability to defend themselves, to possess and influence and persuade. It seemed likely that someone had taken a Horcrux from its resting place, and was probably now possessed.
Lord Voldemort relaxed. He would find out who this was, but he would not ask the ambassador and reveal such an embarrassing weakness. He turned to the vampire. “How long does Lord Elfric grant me to consider his proposal?”
“A week, Lord Voldemort,” said the ambassador, and bowed in a way that bent her spine into an S-curve. Perhaps she had replaced some vertebrae as well, Lord Voldemort considered. It was not only blood that the most powerful packs took from their victims.
“He will have his answer,” Lord Voldemort said, and waved his hand. She nodded and withdrew from the room.
That will give me enough time to check up on the possible Horcrux locations.
“Lucius, bring me the book that I once left in your possession for safekeeping,” Lord Voldemort commanded, and narrowed his eyes when Lucius turned paler still.
*
It was now three days into the week that the vampire Lord had given Lord Voldemort to consider the proposals, both of them, and Lord Voldemort was shaken. The ring was still safe in the Gaunt shack, Bellatrix’s vault still held the cup as far as he knew—he could not enter it, and he was not yet ready to break her out of Azkaban—and presumably the diadem still sheltered itself in the Room of Hidden Things in Hogwarts.
But the diary was gone entirely, destroyed by something that could only be a basilisk fang, and the locket in its bowl of potion on the hidden island was a fake, left by Regulus Black. Lord Voldemort had attempted to seek out Black’s house-elf, the only living creature who might know what had happened to the locket (if it was still living), but had been stymied. Apparently it was at a hidden house under the Fidelius and not communicating with anyone.
Two Horcruxes out of six lost was not a fact he could live with. And now there was this unknown seventh Horcrux walking about.
A living one.
Lucius, after a round of interrogation in which Lord Voldemort had made him suffer, had admitted that he’d used the diary as a pawn in his games with Arthur Weasley. So it was most likely that the Horcrux now inhabited the youngest Weasley daughter. Lord Voldemort had at first considered it unlikely when he had read Elfric’s proposal, since it spoke of the Horcrux as “he,” but then again, the essence of Tom Riddle would shine through a schoolgirl’s body.
The locket could have possessed anyone. Lord Voldemort did not know how to pursue that pathway, so he assigned Severus, his cleverest snake, to the task of examining the Weasley girl.
“You are to examine her memories of the Chamber and bring me an account of what you find there,” he instructed Severus, who was crouched obediently before the throne with his head lowered. “It does not matter what excuse you must manufacture to get close to her, this must be done. Do you understand, Severus?”
“Yes, my lord,” said Severus, expressionless as always. He stood and glided from the room.
Lord Voldemort sneered at Lucius, who looked at the floor. “Severus is an obedient servant, Lucius,” he said. “Would that you were.”
Lucius did everything but kick the floor with a foot. He had recovered from his Cruciatus torture for losing the diary and now looked like a sullen schoolboy.
Sullen schoolboy. Wasn’t Lucius’s son at Hogwarts with the Weasley girl? Perhaps Lord Voldemort would ask Lucius to instruct the boy to watch over her if Severus brought back interesting news from her memories.
*
“I have examined the girl, my lord. Did you wish me to place my memories in a Pensieve?”
Lord Voldemort nodded. There was one already standing nearby, his own personal one with a grey stone rim and obsidian chips worked into the sides. He had stored it long ago before he went after the Potters, and no one had found this cache, at least. “As clear as you can make secondhand memories, Severus.”
“Yes, my lord.” Severus closed his eyes and spent a moment tugging the memory strands out. Lord Voldemort stepped forwards to plunge his face into them almost before they had finished swirling.
For all the inconveniences it had caused, he was eager to see how his Horcrux had defended itself, how it had possessed the girl.
The result, however, was disappointing. There were blurred and fragmented memories of the girl killing roosters and hissing open the sink that led to the Chamber of Secrets, then closing it behind her when she descended for the last time. However, she was unconscious during the battle with the basilisk, and only came to to find a large and smoking hole in the diary. If she had been possessed, there was no sign of it.
Lord Voldemort stepped away with a hiss. “Did you find any sign that she was possessed, Severus?”
“No, my lord.” As usual, Severus didn’t turn a hair.
Lord Voldemort frowned at the Pensieve one more time, and then a suspicion so strange and terrible struck him that his eyes widened. Severus watched him without moving, but Lord Voldemort still turned away to try and get some control of himself.
There had been another person in the Chamber, one whose memories Severus had not had time to examine.
Could Harry Potter be his Horcrux?
It was impossible. Ridiculous. Perhaps the most ridiculous thing about it was the idea that Potter might have been able to fight back against the Horcrux and keep it from overwhelming him. He certainly had seemed defiant when he fought Lord Voldemort in the graveyard.
Lord Voldemort scowled. Or perhaps that explained Potter’s survival. It was better than the theory that he was simply supernaturally lucky and Lord Voldemort’s equal. His mother’s sacrifice had been what had protected him the night Lord Voldemort had come for him as a child and when Lord Voldemort was possessing Quirrell. But the other times he had met with the diary and in the graveyard?
Yes. It made sense that perhaps the Horcrux was biding its time in the back of Potter’s mind, since any change in his behavior would be noticed immediately.
But then Lord Voldemort ran into another problem. If Harry Potter was his Horcrux but not possessed, what was he doing visiting a vampire court?
*
“I request a personal communication with Lord Elfric.”
The vampire ambassador stared at him. Shifting shadows filled her blue eyes and drifted through them like debris settling to the bottom of the ocean. “Such things are not standard when an alliance has not been agreed upon, Lord Voldemort.”
“I intend to make sure of his grandson’s intentions towards my Horcrux.”
The vampire paused for a long moment, as if consulting silently with someone. Unlikely, since she and Lord Voldemort were the only ones in the throne room at the moment, but it did not pay to underestimate the abilities of vampires.
“Very well,” she said at last. “I shall bring you a stone tablet that Lord Elfric granted me in case I had need to contact him.”
Lord Voldemort understood the threat behind the words. Since she would be sacrificing her chance to contact her lord quickly, none of the Death Eaters had better do anything that threatened her or made it imperative for her to communicate quickly with her lord.
“You need not fear,” said Lord Voldemort, and smiled. “I will not allow my people to harm a member of the court that my Horcrux may marry into.”
*
The message that appeared in shimmering lines on the ambassador’s tablet not long after Lord Voldemort had sent off his own was enlightening, to say the least.
Lord Constantine will swear any oath you like, including one in blood, that he has no hostile intentions towards your Horcrux, Lord Voldemort. He is drawn to him because Harry Potter has faced death multiple times and survived. It increases the potency of his magic, his life-force, and his soul-force, all of which influence the taste of the blood. He also is drawn to the young man’s beauty and what he promises to become in the future. You may be proud of your Horcrux and assured of his safety from harm.
Lord Voldemort stared at the ceiling when he had read the message. He was alone, and for once, the arched, delicately vaulted roof above him, in one of the most ancient parts of Malfoy Manor, did not reassure him. He felt as though he had once again seen the reference to a living Horcrux for the first time.
Why would the Horcrux not have taken Potter over by now? Or revealed itself to him when they were dueling and Lord Voldemort had used the Killing Curse? The theory that Potter’s behavior might have changed and revealed it too soon did not make sense in the light of that, now that Lord Voldemort thought about it. Taking over Potter when he was distant from the school and surrounded by Death Eaters would be a good move, so that it could be folded into Lord Voldemort’s protection and never alert the fools left behind as to what had happened.
There were things here that Lord Voldemort did not understand. That he needed to understand, without revealing that he had no idea of Potter’s Horcrux status before now.
He sent another message back to Elfric, asking for a message from Lord Constantine. Once again, the lines did not take long to form on the tablet.
Lord Voldemort, this is Lord Constantine. I will bleed onto a parchment spelled for honesty and send it to you, to conduct what tests you need. I swear I have nothing but the best of intentions towards your Horcrux, and that I am willing to wait as long as needed for him to accept me. I know that he is very young right now. And while my desires are personal, I am not blind to the political view. The Heirs of two powerful Dark courts will make a strong combination.
Lord Voldemort was alone, so he said, “What?” aloud, and stared at the tablet.
Yes, Potter was his Horcrux; the evidence was overwhelming. But it seemed ridiculous to call him an Heir. He was not Lord Voldemort’s child. And the part of soul he bore had come from Lord Voldemort. It was not a different one.
He sent back a carefully-worded message about how he had not yet formally designated Harry Potter his Heir, and the response was forming before the last bronze traceries of his own had faded.
Lord Voldemort, I would not presume to offer any advice on how you conduct the internal affairs of your own Court, but I would think that you could hardly find a finer Heir than Harry. His magical strength speaks for itself, as does the likeness between your souls, but I have also heard him wield Parseltongue. From what he has said to me, the chance to speak that language and use more powerful magic was one of the reasons that he accepted the invitation to visit the court along with his friend, Neville Longbottom. He seems to believe he needs to prove his battle readiness against you.
“What?” Lord Voldemort said again.
*
This time, at least, Lucius could offer useful information. Yes, his son had said something about Potter proving himself a Parselmouth in his second year. Lord Voldemort supposed it made sense. The boy would have been hard-put to open a way into the Chamber otherwise.
A Parselmouth.
The Horcrux could not have granted him that ability. Not when he had had it before the diary had been destroyed and the wraith had climbed inside him.
Or had it, at all?
Lord Voldemort sat in the gardens behind Malfoy Manor, watching idly as Nagini chased peacocks, and pondered it.
It did seem as though the wraith was unlikely to have possessed Potter, after all. Lord Voldemort had watched Severus’s memories of Ginny Weasley’s memories in the Chamber again. The diary had spent a year draining her. If anything, that was probably a factor in the way Potter had defeated it. With its strength so anchored in Weasley’s magic, the diary could not have claimed Potter as a host so soon.
But Elfric and Constantine both seemed utterly convinced that Potter was a Horcrux, even if they had not connected the Parselmouth abilities to his status.
Lord Voldemort had only one conclusion to reach. He had made Potter a Horcrux the night he had tried to kill the boy, what seemed to be an act of pure accident.
“What?” Lord Voldemort whispered, and stared at the moon.
Nagini slithered back towards him, trailing blood and white feathers behind her. “You are troubled, Master,” she said, and settled herself in a wreath of coils about his feet. “Tell me what it is and I will kill it.”
“You cannot kill this.”
“You could make my venom more potent.”
Lord Voldemort smiled and stroked her scales, watching the way she preened. Since he had placed the Horcrux inside her, he thought that a subtle glow radiated from her, sometimes silvery, sometimes golden. He wondered absently if the same glow pervaded his human Horcrux, and how he would react if it did. If perhaps that was what made a dangerous vampire Lord’s grandson want to court Harry Potter.
The boy was not impressive on other counts.
Resisting my Imperius? Surviving encounter after encounter with me? Yes, he is.
Lord Voldemort had to reluctantly admit that was true, even if his mother’s sacrifice had played into their first two meetings. And perhaps he should be proud. He had a human Horcrux, unique in history. He had someone who could be an heir.
Not that Lord Voldemort intended to let Potter claim that coveted spot without a further test of his worthiness.
“You have not told me what troubles you.”
“Nagini, how would you like another living Horcrux to be around?”
“If you have put one in another snake, no.”
She sounded as if she were on the verge of sulking, which was usual for her if she thought he was paying attention to another reptile. Lord Voldemort subdued his laughter with difficulty. The clamor of longing for pain and blood in the back of his mind calmed briefly.
“No. This would be a human.”
“Why did you place a Horcrux in a human, Master?”
“I did not intend to.” Only to Nagini would Lord Voldemort ever make such a confusion. “But it is there now, and it is the young boy whose blood brought me back to life. Would you like him to be around?”
“I thought I would get to eat him.”
Lord Voldemort ran a hand down her back again. “We will find you someone else to eat.”
Nagini clearly thought about it, shifting her tail back and forth on the leaf litter of the ground. Then she looked up at Lord Voldemort and flickered her tongue out. “I would like it,” she said. “Does he speak the language of the serpent?”
“He does.”
“I would like it.”
*
“Lord Elfric will be glad of the deepened alliance, Lord Voldemort.”
“As I will be of his,” Lord Voldemort said formally, and held out the scroll for the ambassador to take. She accepted it with a bob of her head and a bend of her spine in another curve not possible for anything human. “And I would appreciate delivery of this letter to my Horcrux as well.” He extended a small envelope with one of Nagini’s scales sealing it. He would know in an instant, no matter from what distance, when it had been opened, and whether or not a Parselmouth had opened it.
The ambassador did not flinch or show any surprise. She nodded and tucked the letter away into her flowing robes. “It will be done, my lord. Do you wish me to bring his reply when he sends one?”
Lord Voldemort had to smile at the idea of himself and Harry Potter exchanging letters by vampire.
On the other hand, it would certainly be more secure than to do so by owl, and the boy was visiting a pack of vampires. His true reason he had for being there, Lord Voldemort had still not determined; it would not do to betray his lack of knowledge by asking, even in the letter, and vampires were immune to Legilimency, as was anything with a brain that had once died. “If he wishes to communicate with me that way.”
The vampire bowed and held the bow until someone would probably have remarked on it, had there been anyone else in the throne room. Then she turned and flowed out the door.
Lord Voldemort looked after her, and wondered what would happen when Harry Potter opened the letter, what he would think, what he would say. If his eyes would widen, and he would decide that it was fake.
But on the other hand, how could it be? It would come from the hand of a vampire ambassador herself, and Potter would probably know better than to question their honor.
Probably.
Lord Voldemort shook his head. His Horcrux was young still, and foolish, and stubborn. He might do it, at that.
Still, Lord Voldemort would educate him better, when he had Potter with him. Because he was a Horcrux, and a Parselmouth, and he had changed the tide of the war. Was already changing it, given his position in the vampire court and the fact that Elfric was willing to enter an alliance with Lord Voldemort.
Since his resurrection, Lord Voldemort had been many things: enraged, irritated, satisfied, curious, impatient. But he had never been as interested as he was right now.
If nothing else, he expected his human Horcrux would keep him from getting bored.
The End.
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Mentions of Harry/OMC, otherwise gen
Content Notes: AU after the Third Task, discussion of violence and torture, mention of past character deaths, angst, humor
Wordcount: 3700
Summary: Even if Voldemort is keeping his presence secret from the British Ministry, it’s well-known to Dark-aligned groups on the Continent. Voldemort receives a letter from the head of a powerful vampire pack offering a political alliance and also a more personal one, by having Lord Voldemort’s “heir and Horcrux” betrothed to the vampire lord’s grandson. Voldemort has no idea who he’s talking about, but he will find out.
Author’s Notes: This is one of my “Songs of Summer” fics, one-shots being posted between the summer solstice and the first of August. Vampiric_mcd’s prompt asked for Harry visiting a Dark court with Neville and having the ruler of that court reach out to Voldemort because his grandson wants to court Voldemort’s heir and Horcrux. I will likely write a sequel at some point.
Lord Voldemort’s Life Consists of “What?”
“Bring them in, Lucius.”
Lord Voldemort leaned back on his throne of yew wood and frowned. Having a throne built of the same wood as his wand had been a suggestion he’d found in one of the ancient Dark Arts books in Malfoy Manor, one that would hopefully work on clearing and soothing his mind. It had worked, but not as well as he had hoped.
The madness was still there, hovering on the edge of his perceptions, whispering of the delightful effects of torture and pain—
Lord Voldemort snapped himself back to reality as the ambassador from the Riviera Pack stepped into the throne room, bowing. She was a tall vampire with the kind of stretched look—papery skin across ancient bones—that many of her kind achieved after their five hundredth year. Her fingernails were neatly-trimmed claws of pure bone, and she had unnatural blue eyes that interested Lord Voldemort. He suspected they had been transplanted into her head from a victim rather than being the ones she was born with.
Allying with the vampires would be worth it for their knowledge alone.
“Lord Voldemort.” The vampire prowled towards him, the blue robes she wore parting around her and shimmering with metallic silver thread in the light of the chandelier overhead. “My Lord Elfric is interested in allying with you.” She laid a heavy white stone in Lord Voldemort’s hand and stepped back.
He examined it. It was a stone tablet, inscribed with lines in bronze. Touching them made the message spring into the air and enlarge. It was said that Elfric, Vampire Lord of the Riviera Pack, had not been human even before he was turned, but one of the ancient Sidhe. At least he preferred to use the trappings of one.
“Lord Voldemort?”
Ah, yes, the ambassador was waiting for an answer. He needed not to become so distracted by interesting magic. Lord Voldemort touched the stone and watched as the message shimmered and incised itself across the air.
To Lord Voldemort of the Death Eaters,
A salute to you, as another immortal creature, from beyond death. Lord Elfric of the Riviera Pack proposes an alliance of sanctuary and responsibility.
It was less than Lord Voldemort had hoped for. His people would be able to shelter among the Riviera Pack if pursued and be defended by the vampires on their own lands, but the vampires would not join him as soldiers. Lord Voldemort hid his snarl and read on.
Lord Elfric also proposes an alliance that is rather more personal, and may become more in the future. Your Horcrux is visiting his Court, and his grandson in the blood, Lord Constantine, is taken with him. Lord Constantine would create a proposal of a betrothal to wait for your Horcrux to reach the human age of marriage, with the prospect of vampiric turning on offer if your Horcrux wishes for it. Lord Elfric would be willing to consider an alliance of strategy and power if this betrothal is agreed to.
As of yet, your Horcrux has no idea that Lord Constantine is interested in him. If you agree, we ask that you keep it secret from him, so that Lord Constantine may present the idea in his own time.
Lord Voldemort stared at the words hovering on the air and came very close to saying, “What?” aloud.
But of course he could not do that. Not only were his own people watching him and calculating, but the vampire ambassador was. Lord Voldemort could not reveal that he had no idea who his Horcrux was.
A Horcrux. A living one. How?
But then, he had known that such things were possible when he had placed a piece of his soul in Nagini. And he had created his other Horcruxes with the ability to defend themselves, to possess and influence and persuade. It seemed likely that someone had taken a Horcrux from its resting place, and was probably now possessed.
Lord Voldemort relaxed. He would find out who this was, but he would not ask the ambassador and reveal such an embarrassing weakness. He turned to the vampire. “How long does Lord Elfric grant me to consider his proposal?”
“A week, Lord Voldemort,” said the ambassador, and bowed in a way that bent her spine into an S-curve. Perhaps she had replaced some vertebrae as well, Lord Voldemort considered. It was not only blood that the most powerful packs took from their victims.
“He will have his answer,” Lord Voldemort said, and waved his hand. She nodded and withdrew from the room.
That will give me enough time to check up on the possible Horcrux locations.
“Lucius, bring me the book that I once left in your possession for safekeeping,” Lord Voldemort commanded, and narrowed his eyes when Lucius turned paler still.
*
It was now three days into the week that the vampire Lord had given Lord Voldemort to consider the proposals, both of them, and Lord Voldemort was shaken. The ring was still safe in the Gaunt shack, Bellatrix’s vault still held the cup as far as he knew—he could not enter it, and he was not yet ready to break her out of Azkaban—and presumably the diadem still sheltered itself in the Room of Hidden Things in Hogwarts.
But the diary was gone entirely, destroyed by something that could only be a basilisk fang, and the locket in its bowl of potion on the hidden island was a fake, left by Regulus Black. Lord Voldemort had attempted to seek out Black’s house-elf, the only living creature who might know what had happened to the locket (if it was still living), but had been stymied. Apparently it was at a hidden house under the Fidelius and not communicating with anyone.
Two Horcruxes out of six lost was not a fact he could live with. And now there was this unknown seventh Horcrux walking about.
A living one.
Lucius, after a round of interrogation in which Lord Voldemort had made him suffer, had admitted that he’d used the diary as a pawn in his games with Arthur Weasley. So it was most likely that the Horcrux now inhabited the youngest Weasley daughter. Lord Voldemort had at first considered it unlikely when he had read Elfric’s proposal, since it spoke of the Horcrux as “he,” but then again, the essence of Tom Riddle would shine through a schoolgirl’s body.
The locket could have possessed anyone. Lord Voldemort did not know how to pursue that pathway, so he assigned Severus, his cleverest snake, to the task of examining the Weasley girl.
“You are to examine her memories of the Chamber and bring me an account of what you find there,” he instructed Severus, who was crouched obediently before the throne with his head lowered. “It does not matter what excuse you must manufacture to get close to her, this must be done. Do you understand, Severus?”
“Yes, my lord,” said Severus, expressionless as always. He stood and glided from the room.
Lord Voldemort sneered at Lucius, who looked at the floor. “Severus is an obedient servant, Lucius,” he said. “Would that you were.”
Lucius did everything but kick the floor with a foot. He had recovered from his Cruciatus torture for losing the diary and now looked like a sullen schoolboy.
Sullen schoolboy. Wasn’t Lucius’s son at Hogwarts with the Weasley girl? Perhaps Lord Voldemort would ask Lucius to instruct the boy to watch over her if Severus brought back interesting news from her memories.
*
“I have examined the girl, my lord. Did you wish me to place my memories in a Pensieve?”
Lord Voldemort nodded. There was one already standing nearby, his own personal one with a grey stone rim and obsidian chips worked into the sides. He had stored it long ago before he went after the Potters, and no one had found this cache, at least. “As clear as you can make secondhand memories, Severus.”
“Yes, my lord.” Severus closed his eyes and spent a moment tugging the memory strands out. Lord Voldemort stepped forwards to plunge his face into them almost before they had finished swirling.
For all the inconveniences it had caused, he was eager to see how his Horcrux had defended itself, how it had possessed the girl.
The result, however, was disappointing. There were blurred and fragmented memories of the girl killing roosters and hissing open the sink that led to the Chamber of Secrets, then closing it behind her when she descended for the last time. However, she was unconscious during the battle with the basilisk, and only came to to find a large and smoking hole in the diary. If she had been possessed, there was no sign of it.
Lord Voldemort stepped away with a hiss. “Did you find any sign that she was possessed, Severus?”
“No, my lord.” As usual, Severus didn’t turn a hair.
Lord Voldemort frowned at the Pensieve one more time, and then a suspicion so strange and terrible struck him that his eyes widened. Severus watched him without moving, but Lord Voldemort still turned away to try and get some control of himself.
There had been another person in the Chamber, one whose memories Severus had not had time to examine.
Could Harry Potter be his Horcrux?
It was impossible. Ridiculous. Perhaps the most ridiculous thing about it was the idea that Potter might have been able to fight back against the Horcrux and keep it from overwhelming him. He certainly had seemed defiant when he fought Lord Voldemort in the graveyard.
Lord Voldemort scowled. Or perhaps that explained Potter’s survival. It was better than the theory that he was simply supernaturally lucky and Lord Voldemort’s equal. His mother’s sacrifice had been what had protected him the night Lord Voldemort had come for him as a child and when Lord Voldemort was possessing Quirrell. But the other times he had met with the diary and in the graveyard?
Yes. It made sense that perhaps the Horcrux was biding its time in the back of Potter’s mind, since any change in his behavior would be noticed immediately.
But then Lord Voldemort ran into another problem. If Harry Potter was his Horcrux but not possessed, what was he doing visiting a vampire court?
*
“I request a personal communication with Lord Elfric.”
The vampire ambassador stared at him. Shifting shadows filled her blue eyes and drifted through them like debris settling to the bottom of the ocean. “Such things are not standard when an alliance has not been agreed upon, Lord Voldemort.”
“I intend to make sure of his grandson’s intentions towards my Horcrux.”
The vampire paused for a long moment, as if consulting silently with someone. Unlikely, since she and Lord Voldemort were the only ones in the throne room at the moment, but it did not pay to underestimate the abilities of vampires.
“Very well,” she said at last. “I shall bring you a stone tablet that Lord Elfric granted me in case I had need to contact him.”
Lord Voldemort understood the threat behind the words. Since she would be sacrificing her chance to contact her lord quickly, none of the Death Eaters had better do anything that threatened her or made it imperative for her to communicate quickly with her lord.
“You need not fear,” said Lord Voldemort, and smiled. “I will not allow my people to harm a member of the court that my Horcrux may marry into.”
*
The message that appeared in shimmering lines on the ambassador’s tablet not long after Lord Voldemort had sent off his own was enlightening, to say the least.
Lord Constantine will swear any oath you like, including one in blood, that he has no hostile intentions towards your Horcrux, Lord Voldemort. He is drawn to him because Harry Potter has faced death multiple times and survived. It increases the potency of his magic, his life-force, and his soul-force, all of which influence the taste of the blood. He also is drawn to the young man’s beauty and what he promises to become in the future. You may be proud of your Horcrux and assured of his safety from harm.
Lord Voldemort stared at the ceiling when he had read the message. He was alone, and for once, the arched, delicately vaulted roof above him, in one of the most ancient parts of Malfoy Manor, did not reassure him. He felt as though he had once again seen the reference to a living Horcrux for the first time.
Why would the Horcrux not have taken Potter over by now? Or revealed itself to him when they were dueling and Lord Voldemort had used the Killing Curse? The theory that Potter’s behavior might have changed and revealed it too soon did not make sense in the light of that, now that Lord Voldemort thought about it. Taking over Potter when he was distant from the school and surrounded by Death Eaters would be a good move, so that it could be folded into Lord Voldemort’s protection and never alert the fools left behind as to what had happened.
There were things here that Lord Voldemort did not understand. That he needed to understand, without revealing that he had no idea of Potter’s Horcrux status before now.
He sent another message back to Elfric, asking for a message from Lord Constantine. Once again, the lines did not take long to form on the tablet.
Lord Voldemort, this is Lord Constantine. I will bleed onto a parchment spelled for honesty and send it to you, to conduct what tests you need. I swear I have nothing but the best of intentions towards your Horcrux, and that I am willing to wait as long as needed for him to accept me. I know that he is very young right now. And while my desires are personal, I am not blind to the political view. The Heirs of two powerful Dark courts will make a strong combination.
Lord Voldemort was alone, so he said, “What?” aloud, and stared at the tablet.
Yes, Potter was his Horcrux; the evidence was overwhelming. But it seemed ridiculous to call him an Heir. He was not Lord Voldemort’s child. And the part of soul he bore had come from Lord Voldemort. It was not a different one.
He sent back a carefully-worded message about how he had not yet formally designated Harry Potter his Heir, and the response was forming before the last bronze traceries of his own had faded.
Lord Voldemort, I would not presume to offer any advice on how you conduct the internal affairs of your own Court, but I would think that you could hardly find a finer Heir than Harry. His magical strength speaks for itself, as does the likeness between your souls, but I have also heard him wield Parseltongue. From what he has said to me, the chance to speak that language and use more powerful magic was one of the reasons that he accepted the invitation to visit the court along with his friend, Neville Longbottom. He seems to believe he needs to prove his battle readiness against you.
“What?” Lord Voldemort said again.
*
This time, at least, Lucius could offer useful information. Yes, his son had said something about Potter proving himself a Parselmouth in his second year. Lord Voldemort supposed it made sense. The boy would have been hard-put to open a way into the Chamber otherwise.
A Parselmouth.
The Horcrux could not have granted him that ability. Not when he had had it before the diary had been destroyed and the wraith had climbed inside him.
Or had it, at all?
Lord Voldemort sat in the gardens behind Malfoy Manor, watching idly as Nagini chased peacocks, and pondered it.
It did seem as though the wraith was unlikely to have possessed Potter, after all. Lord Voldemort had watched Severus’s memories of Ginny Weasley’s memories in the Chamber again. The diary had spent a year draining her. If anything, that was probably a factor in the way Potter had defeated it. With its strength so anchored in Weasley’s magic, the diary could not have claimed Potter as a host so soon.
But Elfric and Constantine both seemed utterly convinced that Potter was a Horcrux, even if they had not connected the Parselmouth abilities to his status.
Lord Voldemort had only one conclusion to reach. He had made Potter a Horcrux the night he had tried to kill the boy, what seemed to be an act of pure accident.
“What?” Lord Voldemort whispered, and stared at the moon.
Nagini slithered back towards him, trailing blood and white feathers behind her. “You are troubled, Master,” she said, and settled herself in a wreath of coils about his feet. “Tell me what it is and I will kill it.”
“You cannot kill this.”
“You could make my venom more potent.”
Lord Voldemort smiled and stroked her scales, watching the way she preened. Since he had placed the Horcrux inside her, he thought that a subtle glow radiated from her, sometimes silvery, sometimes golden. He wondered absently if the same glow pervaded his human Horcrux, and how he would react if it did. If perhaps that was what made a dangerous vampire Lord’s grandson want to court Harry Potter.
The boy was not impressive on other counts.
Resisting my Imperius? Surviving encounter after encounter with me? Yes, he is.
Lord Voldemort had to reluctantly admit that was true, even if his mother’s sacrifice had played into their first two meetings. And perhaps he should be proud. He had a human Horcrux, unique in history. He had someone who could be an heir.
Not that Lord Voldemort intended to let Potter claim that coveted spot without a further test of his worthiness.
“You have not told me what troubles you.”
“Nagini, how would you like another living Horcrux to be around?”
“If you have put one in another snake, no.”
She sounded as if she were on the verge of sulking, which was usual for her if she thought he was paying attention to another reptile. Lord Voldemort subdued his laughter with difficulty. The clamor of longing for pain and blood in the back of his mind calmed briefly.
“No. This would be a human.”
“Why did you place a Horcrux in a human, Master?”
“I did not intend to.” Only to Nagini would Lord Voldemort ever make such a confusion. “But it is there now, and it is the young boy whose blood brought me back to life. Would you like him to be around?”
“I thought I would get to eat him.”
Lord Voldemort ran a hand down her back again. “We will find you someone else to eat.”
Nagini clearly thought about it, shifting her tail back and forth on the leaf litter of the ground. Then she looked up at Lord Voldemort and flickered her tongue out. “I would like it,” she said. “Does he speak the language of the serpent?”
“He does.”
“I would like it.”
*
“Lord Elfric will be glad of the deepened alliance, Lord Voldemort.”
“As I will be of his,” Lord Voldemort said formally, and held out the scroll for the ambassador to take. She accepted it with a bob of her head and a bend of her spine in another curve not possible for anything human. “And I would appreciate delivery of this letter to my Horcrux as well.” He extended a small envelope with one of Nagini’s scales sealing it. He would know in an instant, no matter from what distance, when it had been opened, and whether or not a Parselmouth had opened it.
The ambassador did not flinch or show any surprise. She nodded and tucked the letter away into her flowing robes. “It will be done, my lord. Do you wish me to bring his reply when he sends one?”
Lord Voldemort had to smile at the idea of himself and Harry Potter exchanging letters by vampire.
On the other hand, it would certainly be more secure than to do so by owl, and the boy was visiting a pack of vampires. His true reason he had for being there, Lord Voldemort had still not determined; it would not do to betray his lack of knowledge by asking, even in the letter, and vampires were immune to Legilimency, as was anything with a brain that had once died. “If he wishes to communicate with me that way.”
The vampire bowed and held the bow until someone would probably have remarked on it, had there been anyone else in the throne room. Then she turned and flowed out the door.
Lord Voldemort looked after her, and wondered what would happen when Harry Potter opened the letter, what he would think, what he would say. If his eyes would widen, and he would decide that it was fake.
But on the other hand, how could it be? It would come from the hand of a vampire ambassador herself, and Potter would probably know better than to question their honor.
Probably.
Lord Voldemort shook his head. His Horcrux was young still, and foolish, and stubborn. He might do it, at that.
Still, Lord Voldemort would educate him better, when he had Potter with him. Because he was a Horcrux, and a Parselmouth, and he had changed the tide of the war. Was already changing it, given his position in the vampire court and the fact that Elfric was willing to enter an alliance with Lord Voldemort.
Since his resurrection, Lord Voldemort had been many things: enraged, irritated, satisfied, curious, impatient. But he had never been as interested as he was right now.
If nothing else, he expected his human Horcrux would keep him from getting bored.
The End.
