Harry paced in front of the fire, lost in thought. It had been almost an hour since Snape had retrieved him from his room; where was the Dark Lord? What was taking him so long? Still unsure of what he had been told, Harry weighed his options carefully.
The others, Remus, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny mostly, had seemed to know him well. The memories that they had tried to trigger had seemed so real to them. But what if they had only been lying? What if they had only been trying to use him; to manipulate him? After all, they had been very selective about what they had told him. They had told him a few names and a few events, but that was all. They were in the middle of a war, yet none of them had informed him of what position he held in it; what side he was on. They all seemed to have one; what was his?
Maybe it didn’t occur to them at the time, he tried to reason with himself. In all fairness, they were probably more concerned with his memory loss than telling him what side of the war he resided on… He mentally snorted. How could they possibly forget something so important?
Then again, he had felt so… comfortable with them. It had felt right to be in their presence, as if they really were who they said they were. They felt like friends even if he couldn’t remember any of them… But of course they did! When he woke up, the first people he saw were them. They were the ones that gave him his first pieces of information. So he had trusted them from the beginning, making them seem like friends to him.
These people that he was with now, though, were different. They seemed… darker, somehow. Then there was that tiny sense of distrust when it came to all of them, as well. Even without knowing Remus, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at first, he hadn’t felt this way toward them. He felt that it was right to trust them… this was different. This was instinctive, but he couldn’t quite find a way to rationalize this feeling. They had been kind enough to him so far; told him of his involvement in the war, which was more than he could say for the others. Other than that nagging feeling that he couldn’t quite shake, nothing seemed to be too out of place. Then, an even more disturbing thought came to him.
What if these people were the ones trying to fool him? What if they were the wrong side in the war? After all, ‘Death Eater’ didn’t sound like a very inviting title…
Before he could continue to examine both sides of his present situation, the door opened and Voldemort entered with Wormtail at his heels. The latter was carrying a tray laden with food. It was not until that moment that Harry realized that he was hungry, having not eaten since early in the previous evening. Voldemort conjured a table and two chairs, motioning for Wormtail to set the food down. The rat-faced little man did so and then bowed low to the Dark Lord, silently leaving the room. Voldemort sat, gesturing for Harry to do the same.
“Well, Harry, I take it that you slept well?” the Dark Lord asked conversationally, his voice deceptively friendly; he still had to keep up pretenses.
“Yes, sir.” Harry was still wary of the man sitting across from him and chose to take a bite of a sandwich rather than speak, trying to buy himself some time before the Dark Lord asked the inevitable. Voldemort ate an apple silently, pondering his next approach; apparently the boy was still uncertain of which side was telling him the truth. After a moment, he spoke again.
“Have you thought about our previous conversation at all?”
Harry hesitated a moment. “Yes, sir.”
“And?” Voldemort hissed, growing slightly impatient. This emotion caused Harry to feel an uncomfortable prickling in his scar. Attributing it to his confusion causing a headache, he shrugged it off and began to carefully consider his options one again.
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Severus Snape strode through the dark, dank corridors of the Dark Lord’s stronghold. His thoughts were a swirling mess as he considered the possible methods of finding the information that he needed. Then, another thought entered his mind, causing him to mentally snort.
Why am I concerned? In my opinion, the world would be much better off without yet another arrogant Potter. He pondered this a moment and then sighed to himself, admitting that the boy did seem to be at least a small percentage less conceited than his father before him.
Besides, he wasn’t doing this for the one student that he hated above all of the others; he was doing this for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. As Lupin had so kindly reminded him, it was his job to save Harry from whatever he was suffering or was going to suffer. Yet again.
So, pulling his mind away from the reasoning behind his actions, he again turned to pondering his next move. That was when he was Peter Pettigrew came around a corner up ahead and begin striding toward him.
Just what I need, Snape muttered to himself. Then it hit him; the stupid rat would certainly tell him that he wanted to know. A weak minded fool like him would boast about his capture of the boy and no doubt tell Snape everything that he wanted to know. Now, how to ask his questions without appearing suspicious… Before he could gather his plan completely, however, Wormtail was right on top of him.
“Wormtail,” Snape sneered in acknowledgement. Perhaps baiting would work… “Still haven’t found a useful task to perform for the Dark Lord, I see.” The smaller man’s face went red.
“Actually, I have managed to find something. In fact, it is something that you have not been able to achieve with five years of opportunity!” He seemed rather self-satisfied with his answer and seemed to think that Snape should be insulted, angry, anything! Snape, however, merely smirked.
“Oh, really? And what might that be?” Wormtail frowned.
“I brought him Harry Potter.”
“Oh, you did that?” Snape asked carelessly, picking a piece of dirt out from under his thumbnail. This worked perfectly, aggravating Wormtail even further.
“I performed the task that was crucial for the Dark Lord’s new plan!” he exclaimed indignantly. They were getting warmer now.
“A new plan, eh? Now, what, I wonder, could that be? Torturing the boy first or skipping the formalities and killing him immediately?” Snape, knowing of Wormtail’s ignorance of Snape himself being Harry’s escort and guard, could see the pathetic rat falling into his trap spectacularly.
“More brilliant than that,” he replied impatiently, waving off Snape’s suggestions. He lowered his voice conspiratorially although there was no one else around the pair, causing Snape to raise an eyebrow in mock interest. “He plans to use the boy against the Order of the Phoenix. The Dark Lord is convincing him of his loyalty to our side as we speak. When the boy begins fighting alongside us, he will be the ultimate weapon. Those fools in the Order of the Phoenix will be too busy trying not to hurt him that they will be unable to stop us!” he finished, looking quite pleased with the plan that he had just revealed. Snape sneered in response.
“Well, let us hope that this plan is as flawless as it seems to be.” With that, the Potions Master turned on his heel and walked away, now having the vital information that the Order needed.
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Harry had finally come to a decision. This man sitting in front of him had given him his identity, unlike the other people. He’d done more than just tried to trigger memories that may not have even existed and gave him more than just names. So, ruthlessly squashing down his doubts and owing them to his previous uncertainties, he looked up at the Dark Lord.
“What you said makes sense,” he began slowly. “You told me a lot more about myself than just my past.” He paused, not sure what exactly to say next. This, however, seemed to be enough for Voldemort, who looked utterly and rather morbidly pleased with Harry’s decision.
“Excellent, my boy,” he nearly hissed. “Excellent. Tonight, we shall induct you once again into my ranks.” He stood. “Until then, you may return to your room. Severus?” Snape entered, taking in Voldemort’s apparent pleasure with some trepidation. Looking for a moment at Harry, his face hardened slightly for no apparent reason. He bowed low to the Dark Lord, making sure to keep his face impassive and his mind closed.
“Yes, my lord?”
“I would like you to take Harry back to his quarters,” Voldemort ordered as Snape stood, Harry following suit.
“As you wish, my lord.” Snape and Harry left the room, closing the door behind them. Neither of them heard the hiss from inside that was obviously meant to be a triumphant cackle.
And there you have chapter nine! It really isn’t much of a cliffie, but I’m sure that the suspense must still be there. By the way, the banner for the story is up on my profile and I hope that you will stop by to see it! And this chapter is dedicated to nuw255, the maker of the banner, since this is the chapter that he ultimately (and without knowing it at the time) made it to debut with. Thanks a ton, Nuw! Thanks for reading and I hope you aren’t too angry with me for putting Harry through all of this! Please review and I will see you at the next chapter!
~Moony
Cruciatus Cursed by Moony 62442
Chapter Notes: Congratulations! You have made it to chapter nine! For those of you who were reading before this was deleted, here is the first chapter you haven’t read yet! I know; it’s like a dream come true, isn’t it? ; ) It is all Jo’s as I am broke and therefore cannot buy the rights to Harry Potter from her… darnit… Ah, well. Please review and enjoy the chapter!