Chapter Text
Chapter 2-
Eight years have passes since Harry and his older twin brother, Andrew, were left on their aunt and uncle's front door. Eight years since Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were forced to take in Harry and Andrew. And seven years since they started treating Andrew as if he were theirs, and Harry as a slave. Right now Harry was lying outside on the cool lawn of the Dursley's back yard nursing a bruised rib from where Andrew and Dudley had punched him, and doing not only his homework but also theirs. Harry Potter was a very gifted boy, not only in smarts but in other aspects too. He was much more gifted than his brother and his cousin, but he had to hide his cleverness, and his other gifts, other wise his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would hurt him for showing that he was smarter than their precious 'Duddykins' and 'Andiekins'.
He had tried to enlist help from his teacher, the school nurse, his headmaster, and a policeman to end the abuse, but all it did was kill his trust in people. One day, while seeking a refuge from Dudley, Andrew, and their gang, he had gone to his teacher, who's name had been Mrs. Middleford. He told her all about his situation at home, but as he had been in the middle of informing her an old man had popped up and waved a strange stick at Mrs. Middleford. Harry had been very upset when he found out that Mrs. Middleford had forgotten all about what he had just revealed to her.
It happened again when he told the school nurse about his home life after she asked why he wasn't eating. And again when he told the school's headmaster when he had been called to his office. And the last try was three months ago, he had been running from Dudley and Andrew and bumped into a police man. He had told him, but he conveniently forgot just like the others as soon as the weird man appeared. Harry decided then and there that no one could be trust. Harry's only friends were the snakes that he talked to everyday, he was happy that his gifts included the ability to talk to snakes.
Harry groaned as he tried to breath, pain radiated throughout his body from his bruised rib. Harry turned his head toward a beautiful black and silver snake when he heard it hiss at him. "Hello there Tom Riddle, how are you this fine morning?" Harry hissed back smiling as he pet the snake then turned to work on the homework.
Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, had been watching his archenemies Andrew and Harry the whole time that they had been living there. He grew angry as he watched how Harry's relatives had started treating him like a house elf while they spoiled Andrew. The way his relatives treated him reminded him of how the Muggle orphanage that he had grown up in had treated him a lot like that. He also watched as Harry grew more cunning and intelligent than Andrew, he could also sense how powerful Harry was. He had possessed a snake to speak with the young boy after he had found that Harry had the ability to speak with them, and was happy to note that Andrew did not have that ability.
He had been there every time Harry had tried to tell someone about the abuse he was receiving at his relatives house, he had been pissed every time Dumbledore had shown up and wiped their memory, it was after the last try that he had decided to make Harry his apprentice. He just needed to get the boy used to him in his true form, well true form for now at least, and hope that the boy would trust him. Today was the day he decided to tell him who he was. "I am fine Harry, I see you are not though." Voldemort hissed as a snake.
"It is nothing that I am not used to." Harry muttered as he wrote the correct answer on one of Dudley's math problems. Voldemort narrowed his eyes and hissed in anger, "It is fine Tom."
"It is not fine Harry, you should not have to be used to this." Voldemort all but yelled as a snake, before remembering what he had originally come to talk to the boy about today. He closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths before opening them and watch Harry answer a few more of Dudley's math problem. "There is something I want to ask you." Harry stopped and looked at his friend, this was unusual, usually it was Harry that asked him something, never the other way around.
"What is it? I'll try and answer your question as best as I can." Harry said.
"Before I ask you, I must first show you my true self." Voldemort said.
"True self?" Harry asked half confused and half mad, his only friend had been lieing about who he truly was, did this mean that his snakes couldn't even be trusted? Harry's eyes widened as he watched as a fog rose from the snake's body and combined to form a tall almost see-through man with short, black hair and dark red-brown eyes. Harry quickly stood up and started to back away from the man glaring at him.
"Wait Harry, hear me out before you jump to conclusions." Voldemort said and Harry stopped confused. He hadn't been jumping to conclusions, had he? Knowing that he couldn't trust this man because he had lied to him for the last three years wasn't jumping to conclusions, right?
"Who are you?" Harry asked.
"My true name is Tom Riddle, but everyone knew me as Lord Voldemort because I changed my name when I became the Dark Lord, only my close friends may call me by my true name." Voldemort said then slowly sat down, he didn't want to move to fast and scare Harry away. He bit back a smirk as a thought hit him, 'It's almost as if I'm moving cautiously to keep a poisonous snake from attacking me.'
"Why were you pretending to be a snake?" Harry asked still glaring at him.
"I will not lie to you Harry. I have been watching both you and your twin brother for as long as you have been here. I possessed that snake to get close to you after I found that you had the ability to talk to them. I needed away to get close to you." Voldemort said.
"Why?" Harry asked, taking a couple steps closer, "Why did you want to get close to me?"
"Because, Harry, you and I are a lot alike." Voldemort said and Harry was shocked.
"What? How?" He asked.
"I grew up with no parents in an orphanage that treated me like dirt, no worse than dirt and all because I was a little different, I could do things that they couldn't. I could make things disappear, I could make things shrink, I could transport myself, and I could talk to snakes." Voldemort said then looked Harry in the eye, "Just like you." He could see Harry remembering the time at the zoo when the exhibit window for a Boa Constrictor had mysteriously vanished after Harry had been pushed to the ground by Andrew, he also remembered that before he had been pushed to the ground he had had a small conversation with the Boa.
Another time, he remembered Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.
On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley, Andrew, and their gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmaster telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash
cans outside the kitchen doors.
"Alright," Harry said after a moment of silence before he moved to sit in front of Voldemort who was smiling at him, "I trust you. What is it that you wanted to ask me?"
"Well, actually there are a few questions that I wanted to ask, but they are all related to each other." Voldemort said and Harry nodded, "First question, do you believe in magic?" Harry's eyes widened and he looked around in fear, as if waiting for his Uncle or Aunt to come barging out of the house and beat him and force the man to leave him, just because he said the 'M' word.
"My aunt and uncle says that magic isn't real." Harry whispered finally looking and sounding his age. Voldemort glared at the house beside them before looking back at Harry with a softer look.
"If magic wasn't real then how were you, we, able to do all that we did?" Voldemort asked.
"But-" Harry said looked over at the house with a scared look.
"Look at me," Voldemort said as he firmly grabbed Harry's chin, being careful not to be to firm and hurt the young boy, and forced him to look at him, "Your relatives have lied to you about other things, why would they not about the magic?" Voldemort watched as Harry thought about what he said.
"Yes," He whispered, "I do believe in magic." Voldemort smirked and let go of Harry's chin. "Why did you ask me if I believed in magic?"
"Because Harry, you and your brother are wizards." Voldemort said and frowned when he saw the disbelief shining in Harry's eyes. "Do you not believe me? If you believe in magic then why do you not believe in wizards?"
"I-I believe in wizards." Harry said.
"But?" Voldemort asked knowing there was going to be a big one.
"But I can't be a- a wizard. I just can't." Harry said and Voldemort was about to disagree, but stopped when he saw the look in Harry's eyes as he once again remembered every weird and unexplainable things that happened around him, but this time in a different light, "But I am, I am a wizard. I made all that happen."
"Yes Harry, you are a wizard, and a very powerful one at that." Voldemort said happy to see how easily Harry was accepting everything that he was being told.
"And you're a wizard too?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I am, or was, well will be one again." Voldemort said confusing Harry. "You see Harry, I was a wizard when I was alive."
"You're dead? I'm talking to a ghost?" Harry asked.
"Yes and no. I'm not dead, but I'm not alive. There was, still is, a war going on in the wizarding world between the Dark side, my side, and the Light side, Dumbledore's side." Voldemort started.
"Who's Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"That old man that always shows up when you try to tell people about the abuse here." Voldemort said and Harry's eyes widened before narrowing, "Now where was I? Eight years ago, I went to your parents, for the third time, to get them to join my side. But they declined and tried to kill me, so I killed them first. I was still angry that your parents not only denied me for the third time, but also tried to kill me so I went into yours and your brother's room to kill you too. But something happened and one of you was able to break my magic and force my soul out of my body."
"It had to be Andrew, he has a lightning shaped scar that no one can explain how he got." Harry said.
"That doesn't necessarily mean that he was the one who stopped me, it could just mean that because he was the one I had my wand pointed at that the backlash of my magic breaking hit him and bound him to me. But because the bond was created while I was trying to kill him, it may hurt him whenever I am near, as if to warn him that I am near and should be prepared." Voldemort said.
"Is the fact that you are neither alive nor dead why you said 'will be once again'?" Harry asked.
"Yes, since I am not dead I will be able to rise and become a wizard once more." Voldemort said then looked at Harry with a sad look, "I am also the reason that you and your brother now live here."
"Because you killed our parents." Harry said.
"Not only that, but because Dumbledore wanted to protect your brother from my Death Eaters," Harry looked confused at that so Voldemort decided to elaborate, "My followers. My Death Eaters are looking for your brother to kill him for 'killing' me. Dumbledore knew that your brother would be safe here because of the blood wards." Once again Harry looked confused, "Blood wards are protective barriers that protect people that share the same blood and live in the same house. And the reason that you are here is because Andrew is your twin brother, and he couldn't just leave Andrew here to be protected and have you living at an orphanage or in another house away from him, it would cause too many questions, so he left you here too."
"What are the other questions?" Harry asked after a minute of silence.
"As you know I was once a wizard, and seeing that I do not have a body I cannot preform magic, but I can still teach it. My second question is, would you like to become my apprentice and learn to control your magic?" Voldemort asked, Harry looked at him with masked look so that Voldemort couldn't read what he was thinking.
"I would love to be your apprentice." Harry said and Voldemort let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, though he didn't need to breath he still did of of habit. "Is this how it is done?"
"What?" Voldemort asked.
"Is this how you learn how to be a wizard? Being the apprentice of another wizard?" Harry asked.
"Not any more no, a long time ago a young untrained wizard would become the apprentice to a much older and trained wizard and get trained by them. Now a days, young wizards, trained or not, go to a magical school at the age of 11. There are many different wizard school, but the school you and your brother will be going to is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it is located in Scotland. All magical children in Britain go to that school. Hogwarts is sadly run by Albus Dumbledore. At Hogwarts the students are split into four different Houses, the house you are put into become like your family."
"Great, sounds awesome, I don't want to go." Harry said.
"You misunderstood me Harry. When I say they become like your family I don't mean like your relatives, I mean like a true family. You create a bond with your Housemates, you care for them like you would with a true family, you help them when they need it. And sometimes you may even find your soul-mate within your Housemates." Voldemort said trying to ease Harry's worry.
"What are the names of these Houses?" Harry asked.
"The Houses are named Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor, the Houses were named after the four founders of Hogwarts, their names are Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Godric Gryffindor. The Slytherin House values ambition, cunning, resourcefulness, the House colors are emerald-green and silver, their mascot is a Snake. The Ravenclaw House values wit, wisdom intelligence, and creativity, the House colors are royal blue and bronze, their mascot is a Raven. The Hufflepuff House values hard work, loyalty, and fair play above all else, their House colors are canary yellow and black, their mascot is a Badger. And the Gryffindor House values courage, chivalry, and stupidity, their House colors are maroon and gold, their mascot is a Lion." Voldemort said.
"What House were you in?" Harry asked.
"I was in Slytherin." Voldemort said.
"So, only wizards can go to a magical school?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but Harry, you should know that there are different statuses of wizard blood." Voldemort said.
"There are different blood statuses?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes, and to be a true wizard you must know, and understand all the blood statuses. The first blood status are the Pure-blood Wizards, a Pure-blood is a wizard,or witch, that was born from two magical parents. Most Pure-blood families marry other Pure-blood families to keep their blood pure, one such family is the Malfoy family, you will met the youngest Malfoy at Hogwarts. And then there are some Pure-blood families that don't care about Pure-blood status, like the Weasely family. Then there is the Half-bloods which, most of the time, are wizards that are born from one magical parent and one non-magical parent, but that is not always the case. In the case with you and your brother, you two are technically Pure-bloods since you were born from two magical parents, but since your mother was a Muggleborn you two are considered to be Half-bloods. Now Muggleborns are wizards that are born from two non-magical parents, this is not an uncommon occurrence. After Muggleborns we have Squibs, a Squib is someone non-magical that is born from two magical parents, this, too, is not an uncommon occurrence; at Hogwarts there is a Squib by the name of Flinch, he is the care taker." Voldemort said and Harry nodded, "Oh yes, you must know that true Pure-blood families, like the Malfoys and the Parkinsons, look down on Squibs and Muggleborns, they call the Muggleborns 'Mudbloods', this is an insult that literally means 'Dirty Blood'."
"You keep saying 'Muggleborn', what is a 'Muggle'?" Harry asked.
"A Muggle is what we call someone that is non-magical." Voldemort said. "Now that the history lesson is over, would you like to learn some magic?"
"Yes please." Harry said.
"Alright first, close your eyes and clear your mind," Harry closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, "Take deep, even breaths, and focus only on your breathing." After a minute Voldemort noticed that Harry sitting still and seemed to be in a trance. "Good, good, now focus only on my voice. Now look deep within yourself and try to find your magical core." Voldemort didn't know if Harry would be able to find his magical core yet, but given with how powerful Harry was already who knew. Voldemort smirked darkly when he watched a silver glow come off Harry skin, light and almost unnoticeable at first but soon it was bright and blinding. "Wonderful Harry, in your mind form your magical core into a thin, flat sheet and cover it over any part of your body that hurts." Voldemort watched as the light brightened a little bit more before fading, a second later Voldemort saw noticed that Harry's breathing became a lot easier. "Good, now gently let go of your magical core and come back to me." A minute later Harry opened his eyes, Voldemort could see that Harry was tired. "Good job, Harry, you just learned how to heal yourself."
"Why am I so tired?" Harry asked, his words a little slurred from his tired-ness.
"It is always like that when you first use your magic." Voldemort said.
"I wasn't tired after I used it before." Harry said.
"Because Harry, you didn't technically use it before, your magic just reacted to your emotions and lashed out. What you just did, right now, was took control of your magic and bent it to your will and you made it do exactly what you wanted it to. That Harry, is what being a wizard is all about. Don't worry, the more you use your magic, the less tired you will be." Voldemort said.
"Okay, that's good." Harry murmured.
"Go get some rest." Voldemort said.
"Okay." Harry stood up, he bent and started to pick up the homework before he stopped and looked at Voldemort with a curious look. "What do I call you now?"
"What?" Voldemort asked.
"Well, you told me that you only allow certain people to call you by your true name, and seeing as people think you are dead I can just call you 'Lord Voldemort', so what do I call you now?" Harry asked.
"You can call me 'Master'." Voldemort said after a moment.
"Okay, Master, goodnight." Harry said as he finished picking up the homework and then stumbled into his house. He walked over to his cupboard and fell onto his little cot, he tiredly reached over and closed the door before he fell into a deep, and restful sleep. As he slept he dreamed of a young boy, roughly about the same age as him with sort light-blond hair and beautiful gray-blue eyes. The boy smiled at him and held his had out to him, Harry took his hand and was shocked when the boy pulled him close and whispered in his ear.
"Wait for me just a little longer my Precious, wait for me and I will find you. After I find you, I will protect you from any and all things that wish to harm you. Wait for me my Precious, I am on the path that will lead me to you."