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Harry had no idea how he could have never realized. He wasn't sure how someone he trusted to give him all the tools he needed for his so called destiny could leave him completely in the dark. Having just watched Severus' memories, he was dumbstruck at the fact that he was expected to go to his death without a second thought. Knowing what he knows now he cannot even fathom that thought. Or the thought that he was expected to kill the man that he, quite literally, shared a soul with. He began to wonder if anyone but Snape and Dumbledore were aware of his situation. No one else could ever possibly understand now if he decided not to go through with the killing. Would the wizarding world turn on him, yet again? Did he even care anymore if they did? These were just a few of the millions of questions running through his mind at the moment. Who could he really trust anymore? Dumbledore left him to figure all this out knowing he could have helped more. He showed him all those memories of a young Tom Riddle, thinking surely, that Harry would see him for the sick and twisted monster that he eventually became. What Dumbledore didn't take into account was the fact that Harry and Toms' childhoods were more similar than different. With a flash of anger Harry realized that Dumbledore WOULD have known that if he had taken the time to listen to either boy when they had asked for help instead of spouting off the ridiculousness of blood wards and prejudice. The blood wards didn't even matter anymore, Voldemort quite literally had Harrys' blood running in his veins.
He was running out of time. He couldn't stay in the Headmasters office much longer. The chaos inside and outside of Hogwarts walls was getting louder and louder with each Death Eater that got through the doors. Harry had a choice to make and he had to make it fast. He could either ignore the fact that he had more information now than ever before on his situation or he could continue on the path that Albus had set him on and die for the world he loved.
Harry had made his decision. And he refused to talk to anyone else about it before he got the chance to talk to the one person who, in the entire time he had known him, had never sugar coated or hidden anything from him. He was going to find Voldemort. He knew his friends would try to stop them, but at this point he wasnt sure if they were on his side or on Dumbledores' so he didn't want to let them know that he now knew. Now he just had to figure out how to get Voldemort to stop and listen to him before he did something rash. Since Voldemort could send him images and visions he wondered if that ability worked both ways. He closed his eyes and searched, reached out to that feeling at the back of his skull and felt it thrumming. He pushed his message through.
"Tom, I have something very important to tell you, please listen." He knew that calling him Tom would at least make him stop for a moment. He felt the flare of pain in his scar and knew that the message had gotten through.
"And where would you have me meet you, boy? And why should I trust you? Why would you trust me? " Voldemorts voice was loud in his head and Harry breathed a sigh of relief that at least the beginnings of his plan was working. As for the rest of it, well that was still to be seen.
"Meet me in the Headmasters office, there is something you need to see and there are things we have to discuss. And I trust you not to kill me simply because you crave knowledge and information and this may be one of the most important things you ever learn."
Voldemort appeared in the middle of Dumbledores' office in a flurry of black smoke. He was the most terrifying man Harry had ever seen. It wasn't his appearance, but the feeling of power that always radiated off the man.
"What is the meaning of this, Potter?!" He rattled the windows in his anger and confusion.
"Look, we have both been lied to, both deceived. And I don't believe either of us should continue this war until we both have all of the information." Harry had a small ball of hope in his chest, like maybe this could turn out differently than he had been lead to believe. That maybe he wouldn't have to battle a wizard with far more magical knowledge than Harry could ever hope to achieve at only 17.
"What information could you possibly have that I am not already aware of child?" Voldemort hissed.
"Its in this pensive. Snape provided these memories to me right before he died. They explain what Dumbledore had planned for me, for you." Harrys' heart hurt with the realization that Dumbledore has always known what would have to happen to him and continued to let him go along like he had any hope that Harry would live through his final confrontation with Voldemort.
"I refuse to view these memories here, I will be at the mercy of the light", he sneered the title, "You and the pensive will come with me somewhere safe and I will see if this information is really valuable or if it is just another distraction." Harry figured he had nothing to lose really. He had to face Voldemort either way if he wouldn't listen to what Harry had to show him, and if he didn't come back Ron and Hermione knew what they had to do to defeat him.
"Fine." Harry said. And then everything in the office twirled out of existence.
When Harry opened his eyes again he was in a very large sitting room. Done in earthy tones he wasn't really sure where he could possibly be. But he knew he wasnt alone.
"Surprised Potter?" Voldemort had a sneer on his face that would rival Snapes.
"Where are we?" He asked while he took in his surroundings a little more. There was a fireplace the size of a small car with a healthy fire going. There were 2 overstuffed armchairs in a chocolate brown fabric with a glass top table between them right in front of the flames. There were bookshelves on every wall and a desk covered in papers and quills with an extremely large office chair behind it.
"This is my home." Voldemort said harshly. "Nowhere safer than here for me, and Nagini will be here to ensure that you don't try anything while I view these memories you think are so very important." he stated in a tone that relayed that he didn't believe anything could really be this important but he was going to humor Harry for his own curious purposes.
Nagini came into the room quiet as a mouse but Harry heard what she had to say to her master.
*Masster, have you finally brought me the boy as a snack? Ive been very patient*
*No snack here, terribly sorry*
If a snake could look shocked, that would be the way Nagini looked now, though that was nothing compared to the way Voldemort was looking at him now.
"I had heard rumors but couldn't believe it was true." Voldemort said with a look of disbelief on his face.
*Another ssssspeaker? This does make things interesting little one. I will watch him as you asked Master*
*Thank you Nagini, this shouldn't take long.*
Voldemort turned back to Harry with a skeptical look on his face. Like he couldn't really believe why he was giving Harry the time of day other than his curiosity had gotten the best of him, wouldn't really be the first time it had happened.
"Seems we have a lot to talk about, notwithstanding what it is you so desperately want me to see in this pensive."
He then lowered his head down into the basin and Harry slumped down into one of the armchairs and realized it was much more comfortable than it looked. When he was finally able to sit he realized how tired he was, he also realized how filthy he was. He cast a quick cleaning charm on himself and looked over to see that Nagini was watching him from her place in front of the fire.
*Why hassss Masster brought you here little one?*
*I have some information for him that I felt he needed to know.*
*You are like me*
Harry froze. He wasn't sure he heard her correctly.
*What do you mean, like you?*
*I can smell the piece of you thats like me, like Massster.*
Well at least this way he had someone else to vouch for him if Voldemort thought that the memories were a lie. He wasn't really sure what he was going to do when Voldemort came out of the pensive, he hadn't really been sure he was going to make it this far. Harry was still lost in his own musings in his head when he realized that Voldemort was no longer leaning over the pensive any longer. He looked shell shocked to say the least. Then he started furiously pacing. Nagini hissed and moved away from her manic master, doing her best to avoid being stepped on.
"This is unbelievable. I cant lose him." he mumbled so lowly under his breath Harry wasn't sure if he heard him right or not.
Harry just sat back in his chair and let Voldemort process this new information. Harry could barely believe it himself. And then he noticed something while Voldemort continued his pacing. It was almost like his whole form was shimmering. Harry thought he had finally cracked from all the pressure, but no. As Voldemort made one more turn, what Harry finally realized was a glamour finally dropped. All Harry could do was stare. He was the most handsome man Harry had ever seen. Somehow only looking a few more years older than the diary counterpart, stood Tom Riddle. Harry had realized during 4th year that he was most definitely not only interested in girls. He had talked to Hermione about it when Ron wasn't speaking to him and she assured him it was completely normal and he had come to accept that about himself, he just hadn't had any time since then to actually explore that side of himself. Pulling himself back to the present Harry realized that his mouth was open and he snapped it shut. At the noise of his teeth coming together Voldemort turned his head sharply in his direction and those red eyes locked onto Harrys' face and he was frozen.
"My unintentional horcrux," his gaze never leaving Harrys', "what to do now?" Harry had a few ideas but he blamed those completely on his hormones and had to remind himself that he still didn't know if he was going to make it out of this little impromptu meeting alive, regardless if he was a horcrux or not. Voldemort just continued to stare at him, and then started walking towards him with a strange look coming into his eyes as he got closer.
"Ive never heard of a human horcrux before, but this explains so much about you and I. I never even thought this was a possibility, but the mental connection, your ability to speak parseltongue, it all makes perfect sense now." Harry was still staring and didn't think that Voldemort had any idea that his appearance had completely changed. His mind was spiraling, Voldemort wasn't at all what he seemed and Harry wasn't sure where this new information left him, he just knew he was tired of trying to figure it out on his own.
"What now?" Harry asked, his voice sounding worn down and small. At this point he was ready to just leave whatever was next up to Voldemort. The way he was staring at Harry was starting to make heat pool in Harrys' stomach and he cursed his teenage hormones again and wished Voldemort hadn't dropped his glamour.
"Whats next is now you belong to me, you house a piece of my soul and I cannot lose you." The way his voice sounded when he said that sent Harrys heart pounding in his chest. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about being talked about like a possession but he also had seen first hand how Tom was about his things. To distract himself from this line of thinking he asked the only other thing he could think of right at this moment.
"Why do you wear a glamour?" Voldemort started like he had heard a loud noise. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts while still staring at Harry.
"My glamour strikes fear into the masses, makes them pay attention to what I say. Without it all they see is the pretty face and don't listen to whats important." Harry had to agree with that, he was falling victim to the pretty face himself.
"If you wanted people to listen to you why have you been spouting things that make no sense?!" Harry said loudly, tired of his mind and his cock distracting him.
"In the events that have transpired since that night in Godric's Hollow my message and plans have gotten lost in the whirlwind of your fame and my infamy. Things were never supposed to be this way. Magical blood was never supposed to be lost like this.There needed to be a ministry overhaul and new rules put in place for the protection from muggles. Magic is might no matter how or why someone got their magic." Harry is honestly dumbfounded.
"What was all the pureblood rot then??" Not really believing what he is hearing.
"To gain a following Harry you have to play the game. The most influential wizards, the ones at the very top, are all purebloods who believed that they were far superior to muggleborns and halfbloods. Since no one knew where I came from, and I made sure of that, I played to that prejudice to get the right connections to move me up the ladder so to speak. When I split my soul I did not realize that doing it so many times effected my mind in such extreme ways that I started to believe my own lies and it spiraled from there. I have you to thank for this mental clarity strangely enough. When you destroyed the horcruxes it sent those pieces of my soul back to me, if my body had been destroyed they would have had nowhere to go and they would have died along with their vessel, but since I do have my body back they one by one returned to me so now all im missing is the diary, Nagini," he paused here and looked Harry directly in the eyes, "and you. Now I have my sanity back and realize that even though I still do not know the whole prophecy I am the one who caused the chain of events that has lead you and I to this room, and I must say that I am so very sorry about that."
Harry felt like he couldn't breathe. How had this all come to this point? Voldemort admitting he was wrong? Declaring that he was sane again and SORRY?
"What do you mean you're sane?!" Harry screamed at him. "Why the bloody hell are we still fighting if you have your sanity back? Why have you not called everything off and stopped the fighting?" Harry couldn't believe that any sane person would have allowed this war to continue to go on if they knew that what he was fighting for was all a lie.
"I had no idea how to stop it. No idea how to tell my Death Eaters that I was wrong, that my insanity had taken over and I changed my thinking. They never would have believed. They would have taken me for a traitor to my own cause and killed me, and I REFUSE to die." Voldemorts face was fierce and determined and oh so beautiful.
"Well you're going to have to." Harry stated plainly. The absolute look of terror on Voldemorts' face tugged at Harrys heartstrings but he continued. "Voldemort is going to have to die, and Tom Riddle will take his place. You will reform the Wizarding World the right way and you will use the defeat of Voldemort to build your political empire. This war cannot continue, the Boy Who Lived will defeat you again and take up an alliance with Tom Riddle and we can fix the Ministry from the inside out with no more magical blood having to be spilled." Harry finished his pitch with his heart in his throat. The look in Voldemorts eyes was doing something funny to Harrys chest but he refused to think about that any longer. This was the most important conversation of his life and he couldn't be distracted now.
"We will?" There was a hungry look in Voldemorts eyes now and Harry was once again distracted.
"Yes. It's the only way this can work."
"Dumbledore did his best to destroy me, and you. Are you sure that he hasnt told anyone else about our soul?" The change of topic had Harrys head spinning for a moment.
"No I don't believe so. He only told Snape because he knew he wouldn't be alive to deliver the good news to me himself. So I cannot imagine that he shared the information with anyone else, probably didn't want people to know that there is actually a way to be immortal." Voldemort scoffed.
"Not everyone can be as smart as I am." He stated boldly, knowing he was right.
"Speaking of immortality, I need to bind the horcrux to you, that should stop the pain you experience." And he raised his wand. Harry dove behind the chair, not entirely sure he could trust that he was no longer in danger here.
"Harry, I no longer wish you harm. You are one of my last ties to immortality and I refuse to have you in danger. You are under my protection now and have nothing further to fear from me." Harry peaked from behind the fluffy chair and could see the sincerity on Voldmorts face. He came out and slowly approached his former enemy wondering exactly how today had done a complete turn around to end up where they are now.
"Im going to do a couple spells, one to bind the horcrux to you and one to protect you from attack, physical or mental." Voldemort said in a soft voice that made Harrys knees a little weak. The way Voldemorts eyes kept raking over his entire form through this whole conversation was making blood go to places it shouldn't and Harry couldn't stop his mind from wandering while Voldemort circled him chanting in Latin. As soon as the spells were done Voldemort was standing directly in front of Harry, staring directly into his eyes. He slowly lifted his hand, the one without the wand, and placed his pointer finger on the lightning bolt curse scar he had given him 16 years prior. Harry flinched back expecting the same pain he felt in the graveyard, but instead of pain there was a flash of completeness and wholeness that he had never felt before in his life, it was what he imagined going home felt like. He gasped and heard Voldemorts sharp intake of breath. They both stood frozen, basking in the feelings that they were sharing through their link, which felt stronger than it ever had before. As they were standing there the feelings began to change and Harry couldnt tell if it was him that changed them or if it was Voldemort but he knew they could both feel it. Harrys eyes snapped open and Voldemorts face was inches from his own, pupils blown wide with what Harry could feel was lust. Harry, in usual Gryfindor fashion, didn't think. He launched himself at the older wizard, not being able to handle the strong feelings that were rushing through him.
Voldemort didn't miss a beat and caught Harry as he flung himself into his arms.
{Voldemorts POV}
His mind and body were thrumming with feelings that he was not familiar with nor had any real idea what to do with. This was all so new and all of the information he had learned in the last hour was still running through his mind as he stared into his horcruxes eyes. His HORCRUX. How he had managed that was still a mystery to him but he couldn't honestly say that he wasn't happy about it. Harry Potter would be an ally that would get him far if they went with the boys idea of ministry takeover. He wasn't happy though with the thought of having to publicly kill Voldemort off. And there would have to be discussions with the sane members of his inner circle and get them on board and up to speed on these new developments. But he could see far more positives in Potter, no Harrys, plan. He could admit, even if it was just to himself, that the loss of his sanity had really ruined everything he had ever worked towards. Yes, something needed to be done about muggles but killing muggleborns was not the way to do it. They needed the fresh, strong magic that they brought into the wizarding world and purebloods were so inbred at this point that they were producing squibs at an alarming rate. All of this was running through his mind while he cast the spells on Harrys still form. When he got finished he wanted to test his theory about the pain and was not prepared for what he felt. A rush of warmth he wasn't sure he had ever felt anywhere other than Hogwarts filled his body and mind and he was temporarily unable to speak. He drew in a sharp breath as he heard the boy gasp and could suddenly feel everything Harry was feeling as well. He couldn't imagine ever wanting to destroy the boy ever again after this. He was HIS and that alone transformed everything he was feeling into a sudden need he wasn't sure he had ever felt before. He felt the same feelings coming through the link and he opened his eyes to stare into the pools of green in front of him, though his pupils were blown so wide barely any green was visible. Before he could stare too much longer his arms were suddenly full of the teen and it was so simple to catch him and bring him closer. The height difference was no problem as he leaned his head down and met the soft lips of the only person who would ever matter to him again.
As their lips met there was a surge of possessiveness from both sides of the bond and that shocked him, he wouldn't have expected it from the teen. Their kiss was a little clumsy at first but after they both got used to the other it was as if they were made for this. Voldemort couldn't imagine ever letting the boy go after this. And he wouldn't. Nothing would come between him and his precious horcrux ever again. As the kiss deepened he pulled Harry as close to him as he could and felt a thrill when the boy willingly moved closer. There was nothing that could compare to this feeling. He couldn't quite put a name on it but that wasn't important as he felt the warm tongue slowly stroke his own and all logical thought fled his mind as he lost himself in his boy. After an unknown amount of time had passed, he wasn't sure how long they had stood there enjoying each other, they finally pulled apart. As he looked down into his souls eyes he felt the world shift. Harry pulled his head back a little further and said something that would change both of their lives forever.
"Lets go kill Lord Voldemort."