In My Father's House
Dorian helped where he could. His mind flowed back to the hallway that held the bodies of dead Aurors, who had once been his brother's guards, as he did his tasks. 'Do I hate him? They were my father's and godfather's colleagues. They easily could have been my father or my uncles.' Dorian pondered reflectively. He felt cold after he reached his answer. 'I don't hate him, even after this. He is just as confused.'
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Madam Pomfrey levitating the body of Lavender Brown into the Grand Hall, which had become a headquarters of sorts. It was the hospital, morgue, and a meeting location. Slowly, he walked toward the six year's body certain that she was dead. Madam Pomfrey met his gaze, and smiled briefly.
"She's alive, though I am not certain if she can be revived from the coma." The school nurse paused. "In the confusion, she fell from the staircase. Miss Brown is lucky to be alive."
Dorian nodded, as he pulled his attention away from the pallid face that had once been so full of life. At the entrance, he heard wailing that almost sounded like laughter, but Dorian knew better then to mistake it. Hermione Granger's trembling body came into view with Neville Longbottom supporting her. Her eyes were blurred with tears as her sobs raked her young body. Certainty filled Dorian's heart. 'Ron is dead. His body most have been badly disfigured if they did not bring him here.' He thought numbly when the three remaining Weasleys and Hermione embraced. 'So many are dead. Professors Flitwick and Sprout are dead. Lavender is closer to death then life. Then there are the many wounded.'
Dorian did not even notice his mother's presence until her frantic embrace. Her shaking hand touched his face, checking for any injuries.
"I'm fine." Dorian stated to ease his mother's fear.
"Your neck is bruised." Her voice sounded extremely shaky.
His hazel eyes gleamed slightly. "I would have the bruise rather then its alternative." Dorian said hoarsely.
Lily's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, Dorian."
"Don't worry yourself, mom." Dorian said soothingly as he returned his mother's embrace.
"Harry has escaped, hasn't he?" Lily asked quietly, being sure that Dorian would be the only one to hear her question.
"Yes." Dorian was not surprise to see his mother's eyes began to water. "I would not give up on him, mom. Not just yet."
His mother met his eyes. Her emerald eyes fought against the hope that she desperately wanted to feel. "Why, Dorian?"
"He saved me." Dorian continued to hold the invisible connection that flowed between his eyes and those of his mother's. "We might never be together as a family, but there is still hope for Harry."
"I don't understand." Lily whispered as she gazed intently at her youngest son.
"When you truly care about some one, you have to let them go. Harry was in pain while he was here at Hogwarts." Dorian paused. "We have no right to ask him to remain here."
Lily gasped not at Dorian's simple proclamation, but at the looming form of Albus Dumbledore. The old man just continued to peer serenely at the pair over the rims of his glass.
"Dorian," Dumbledore began. "You gave Harry the password to get into my study."
The young boy met the Headmaster's gaze evenly. "I did."
Dumbledore looked extremely disappointed. "The ministry will most likely take legal actions against you for this action, Dorian. With the current state of affairs, I am afraid they might even charge you with knowing of the attack beforehand."
"Albus, surely there is something you can do!" Lily pleaded just Dorian answered the headmaster's question.
"I had no idea." The fourteen year stated calmly, keeping his voice hushed. "I would never allow this to happen." He waved at the battered student body that lined the Great Hall.
"I believe you, yet there is so much evidence against you."
Dorian's mouth dropped. "What evidence?"
"In the days prior to the attack, you were seen in Harry's company quite frequently." The Headmaster's brow creased.
"He's my brother!"
Dumbledore shook his head. "He is only Voldemort's puppet. If Tom Riddle pulls the right string, Harry will kill you. Give up any hope of his return."
Dorian's eyes burned in defiance. "He saved my life, killing a Death Eater."
The older man sighed. "He did so to trick you into giving him the password so he could enter my private study."
The adolescent stubbornly shook his head. "You're wrong!" His shout bringing everyone's attention to their conversation.
"You do not understand Harry and his capabilities." Dumbledore said sadly. "I made the same mistake, Dorian. Do not allow him to trick you as he did me. It just might lead you to your death."
"You still underestimate him."
"I will not do so again."
Lily shaking stepped away from the Headmaster. "You're going to kill my son? This is your fault!"
Dumbledore shook his head and quickly tried to placate the terrified woman. "I will do all in my power to take Harry alive."
Lily snorted. "You promised you would save my son from Voldemort! Your words mean nothing to me! When James recovers from the Wizards Bane that I assume Harry used to save him from this attack, he will speak with you on your conduct."
"I truly am sorry that this did not end better, Lily. You must believe me."
"Leave us. And stop your meddling in our affairs."
Dumbledore bowed to Lily before he left. Lily was shaking in rage. "We will get your brother back."
"No, mom, we can't." Dorian paused. "Harry told me before he left that we are not to come after him. He would have no other choice but to kill us. We should not let all his work to keep us alive go to waste. Besides keeping Harry with us would be like putting him in a gilded cage."
"It scares me to see you acting so mature." Lily whispered. "It is a sign of the horrible days to come."
Dorian smiled briefly. "Everything will work out, though to us it might not appear to be the best ending. It's not for us to decide."
"I am proud of you." Lily whispered. "Your father and I will not let the Ministry take you away."
Dorian's eyes became distant. "The Ministry has other items to occupy their minds."
Lily nodded her head. "Especially with the closure of Hogwarts." Lily looked sadly at her son. "It's official now. Hogwarts is to shut down until Voldemort is no longer a threat."
"I never thought I would see the day."
"With the war, it was bound to happen eventually." Lily smiled wistfully as she peered at the Grand Hall's ceiling that showed the bright shining stars over head. "The strongest foothold against Voldemort has been breached. On what should be a very dark night the stares are shining so bright." Tears welled up in her eyes as she wrapped her arm around Dorian's shoulder. "It seems fitting, however."
The darkness was oppressive as it shrouded the contents of the large room that Harry knew as his father's study. Never in his memories had the room been so menacing to him. Usually, the study had been a place of comfort after long days of studies. His legs ached from the period of time that he had stood upon them. How long had been standing there, he could not even fathom. He did not dare stretch his muscles that would only signal weakness. To his left, he heard Nagini as she slithered across obsidian tiled floor. No doubt was in his mind that she was moving to his father's side. The Dark Lord had been in the room from the beginning. Harry knew this for he had felt his father's presence even as he had opened the door to enter the study. 'How long will he wait before he reveals himself?' Harry wondered silently.
It was almost as if his father had heard his thoughts. "It seems so long, Harry."
Harry's eyes shifted to the vicinity where the voice had emitted from. "It does seem like years."
There was silence once more. Fear rose up in Harry's chest for the first time that he had been in his father's presence.
"I am still loyal to you, father." Harry spoke aloud to the shadows as he sought to ebb his father's concerns. "I will still do as you wish." The fear that he felt seeped into his voice as he spoke.
"Loyalty," Voldemort whispered. "Where was your loyalty when you allowed the Potters to live? They are my enemies. They would have me dead."
Harry could almost touch his father's anger and hatred that seemed to imbue the room. "That is not why I allowed them to live."
"Why, Harry?" Voldemort hissed. "Prove to me that you still understand the meaning of loyalty."
"I don't know." Harry cried expressively.
Out of the shadows, Voldemort entered into his view. Carefully, he cupped his hands under Harry's chin, raising the youth's haunted eyes to meet his own. "What have they done to you? Such pain in your eyes… never have I seen them so troubled."
Harry opened his mouth to respond, but his father shook his head.
"There is no need for a response, Harry." He whispered. His hands returned to his sides. "I can make the pain end."
Understanding flashed into Harry's eyes. "Let me stand by your side."
The Dark Lord turned away unable to meet his son's eyes. "Then explain your actions that have led to the death of one of my Death Eaters."
"He refused to obey me."
"Over a Potter, you killed him. What was the importance off saving the wretch?"
'All life is priceless.' Harry swallowed hard. "I need him to live. I need them to live."
Voldemort head tilted toward Harry as his son struggled for the words that would help his father to understand.
"You need them to live for what, Harry? What can they possible give you that I have not already provided?"
"I need them to be an image. Like the one I saw that night on Longbottoms' wall." Harry whispered. "I am happy to be with you… I just need that image."
The Dark Lord frowned. "I don't understand."
"Neither do I."
Voldemort walked to a chair that sat beside his fire place. Slowly, he sat into its comforting confines. "In the end, Harry, their can be no in between. You have to commit full-heartedly, or you will slowly destroy yourself. It is said that killing tears a person's soul into many pieces. Killing is a much kinder way of breaking a soul for a soul can be broken many ways. Indecisiveness will destroy a person's soul just as surely as killing." Voldemort's voice trailed off. "If you remain with me, would you be able to kill the Potters if they choose to destroy me?"
Harry hesitated slightly, and silently prayed his father would not notice. "I would gladly kill or die for you."
The only sound that could be heard was the movements of Nagini. Her presence calming Harry's racing heart.
"Hmph." Voldemort murmured. "You say that, yet you have given a piece of my soul to Dumbledore."
The color drained from Harry's face. "I did not give it to Dumbledore-." Unbelievable pain filled Harry's body as he crumpled to the floor. It was the first time his father had ever used the Cruciatus Curse on him, and he was completely unprepared. "Please-."
The curse lifted. "You gave it to his puppet, thus giving it to Dumbledore."
"I had too." Harry whispered desperately, even as the pain returned with another casting off the curse.
"Did they put a wand to your head?" Voldemort asked quietly. "Or did you break the chain and hand it to the bumbling Boy Who Was Allowed to Live? Be truthful, Harry."
Even as he struggled to his feet once more Harry looked pleadingly at his father. "I gave it to him. I killed his parents-."
"I killed his parents, Harry." His father's voice took a softer tone.
"There was a moment." Harry began once his composure and voice had returned. "When-."
"The Imperius Curse lifted slightly." Voldemort finished Harry's sentence.
"I remember her face… her words." Harry paused deep in his own thoughts. "At that moment I made a promise to her, though I did not speak it aloud. I'm sorry, father."
No curse was hurled at Harry, and he felt surer of his situation.
"Is your promise to her fulfilled?" His father asked evenly.
"Yes."
Even though he could not see his father, Harry was certain his father nodded his head. "I have always taught you the importance of keeping your word, and being true to your station in life. Despite the set back that you have caused me, I am proud of you."
"You shouldn't be." Harry muttered. "I should not have been so easily taken. That alone should make you embarrassed of me. I shamed your teachings. I allowed Dumbledore entry into my mind. If he had not been so intent in my past, he could have discovered many of your plans."
"That is enough, Harry." His father's voice sounded surprisingly calming. "What is done is done. Now I need your answer… Do you stand by me? And do not answer until you are certain for once you decide there will be no returning."
"I stand by you."
Voldemort pulled himself from the chair, though his back returned turned toward Harry. "In my mind, I can assume the words that Dumbledore has told you." Voldemort paused. "We are not villains, Harry. We do not kill without reason." His father walked to the door, which led to his private quarters. The door opened revealing a sparsely decorated room that contained no windows. Instead, it drew its light from a solitary fireplace that could not be used for Floo. "Come with me, Harry."
His feet carried into the room after his father. The Dark Lord opened the door to the cabinet that rested by a bed, revealing one of Harry's dagger sets. His father's slender skeleton like hand grasped the leather container and held it level with Harry's face.
"Dumbledore prides himself for not taking life, once he deems it worthy of life. He trusts in love. The esteemed headmaster deems me incapable of love, and as such there is no chance for my redemption. The only alternative is my death." His father gazed at the daggers. "I, however, kill for the Wizarding World, in hopes of saving it from the corruption that flows through it veins. A corruption that Dumbledore and others seek to maintain." He handed the daggers to Harry, and just as the youth was about to pull them away, Voldemort's grip tightened. His red eyes bore into Harry. "I will tell you an ultimate truth that Dumbledore will never come to grasp because he can not see the flaws in love, Harry. Love can kill. If love can kill, then surely hate can save. We will save the Wizarding world with our hatred."
The daggers were now freely in Harry's hand. 'If love can kill, then surely hate can save.' His father's words echoed through his mind. 'Does it really work that way?' Harry's brow further creased.
"You look ill." His father's voice said quietly.
Harry eyes focused. "I am just tired."
"Your room is ready for you."
"Thank you." Harry mumbled, fatigue finally winning over the adrenalin that had flowed through his veins earlier.
Voldemort watched on as his son left the room. His face set in a grim façade. His hand came to rest on the bed. His fingers toyed idly with the velvety fabric. His heart hardened as he did so. He knew that it must before the end arrived. Gradually, he sat on the bed, eagerly accepting its support.
The door opened. Voldemort half expected to see Harry standing in the doorway. Instead, a still Bellatrix Lestrange stood. Her face was pinched. "My Lord." She murmured as she bowed. "I hope you will forgive me this intrusion."
By this time, Voldemort had risen once more. "Just this once, Bellatrix, and never again."
Lestrange quickly nodded her head. "What do you think, my Lord?"
Voldemort turned his back to his servant. "The damage is done." Voldemort chuckled mirthlessly. "Dumbledore has shattered the boy more then even I could do."
"He will still fight with us?" Bellatrix prodded carefully.
Voldemort smiled. "He will follow me to the gates of hell, however-." His voice trailed off refusing to finish the sentence.
"But what?"
Voldemort peered over his shoulder at the woman. "At the beginning, Bellatrix, I warned you to not become attached to the boy. I warned us both. Yet we both did not heed that warning." Voldemort moved into the study. "At the end of this war, Harry will cease to exist."
"You will end his life after all he has done to serve you?" Bellatrix's voice rose threateningly.
The Dark Lord remained silent, as he gazed upon his books. "Did you not see it in his eyes, Bellatrix?"
Bellatrix looked mutely at her Lord.
"He is dieing, Bellatrix." Voldemort grasped a chair that was near him and flung it to the other side of the room. "I fashioned for myself a weapon. The perfect weapon, however, now I have seen its flaw. He is human... still an adolescent." He stared impassively at the broken chair. "Harry has never seen another side before now. He is naïve, because I have kept him that way." Voldemort peered down at his hands. "I have caused this."
Bellatrix frowned. "We never expected Dumbledore to get his hands on him."
"No, I never conceived Harry being placed in the fool's hands." Voldemort said as he vainly sought to relieve his pounding head by rubbing his temples. "Now because of Dumbledore's interference, Harry will slowly die inwardly, leaving only a shell." 'Dumbledore perfected my weapon,' Voldemort thought faintly. 'No, not perfected.'
"My Lord?"
"Leave me, Bellatrix." He whispered.
Wordlessly, she did so. With effort Lestrange closed the door, trying not to make a sound. For the most part she was successful. Effortlessly, Voldemort conjured a new chair and slumped into it. He was exhausted. However, he remained in the chair for hours, instead of returning to his room.
'I intend to love him.' The words echoed through his mind. When he had spoken them those many years ago, he had not meant them. He had never loved. People were just pawns… pawns with desires, emotions, and essence. One toddler had started out as such, however the child had etched himself onto Voldemort's very soul. Voldemort sneered coldly. 'You assume to know me, Dumbledore. Once you endeavored to save me, however you soon abandoned that attempt. I was beyond this concept you call love. Then how is it, fool, that I feel this emotion toward this adolescent I call my son?' Leaning back into the chair, he sighed loudly. 'I tried to deny it but now I know the truth… I would do anything to see my son's eyes blaze with life once more.'