The legend of Medusa

OS

Deep in the forest lives a creature of legends. A being with snake hair and a petrifying gaze. He lives in a cave, in miserable solitude. His origins are a mystery, and he has been alone for as long as he can remember. The only thing she knows is that his name is Harry.

He learned his name from the terrible dark wizard, Voldemort. Who is always wrapped in dark cloth, coming on the nights of the new moon to exchange petrified statues for meat or books. He was the one who taught him to read, and thanks to that, he understood the name written on his blanket.

Voldemort was always dry, and he never stayed too long, it was as if he depended on having no moon.

Despite his visits, Harry was miserable, and each failed attempt at contact that ended with a new statue made him more and more depressed.

One day, he heard screams in the forest, and as he approached to see he witnessed the most beautiful creature in the world. He was a young man with a white complexion and silver hair who looked like a living statue. Harry instantly fell in love with the boy. He looked like a fairytale prince, mounted on a horse, with elegant clothes and a haughty bearing.

He followed him furtively throughout his walk through the forest, and watched sadly as he returned to the human village. From that day on, he looked for him in the woods, and every so often he found him. Always taking care not to be seen so as not to damage him.

One day, the young man fell into a hunter's trap: a huge hole in the ground. Harry brought a rope and threw it into the well, helping him out, pulling hard. When he succeeded, he covered himself well with his hood and prepared to flee. The young man chased after him yelling to wait. Harry responded by yelling at him not to follow him.

In panic he reached his lair and there he made a decision. He waited for the new moon, when Voldemort appeared and made his request:

"Take away these murderous eyes, I will give you whatever you want."

The dark wizard agreed and led him to his lair. A huge cave with several rooms, and strangely not a single statue. Voldemort opened a door that was filled with preserves as far as Harry could see and emerged with a jar of eyes.

"Try not to yell too much," Voldemort pointed out before taking a spoon and gouging out Harry's eyes poking into their sockets with the spoon.

Their low magical chants were drowned out by screams of agony. Harry had tried to remove his eyes before, but they always healed. However, now he felt something burning and terrible.

He heard him open the jar and felt him place something cold, one by one, in his sockets.

After a few minutes of sobbing on the floor, the pain faded and he was able to open his eyes. It came blurry and somewhat red, but Voldemort was making a rat look at him, and it wasn't turning to stone.

Harry laughed and cried with joy. And when he asked for the price, Voldemort showed him his gouged eyes, and he kept them.

Harry came back happy, and when the young man finally appeared in the forest, he jumped to meet him. The young man screamed and called him a monster, and Harry returned hopelessly to the wizard's lair.

"Take these snakes from me, I'll give you whatever you want," he begged again.

Voldemort nodded.

"They will die, one by one."

Harry trembled and cried, but finally nodded.

Voldemort took a knife and, with a wave of his hand, paralyzed the snakes. He plunged the knife into the skin and carved deep, nipping one of the snakes at the root. Blood flowed down his face. Their screams were intermingled with those of the snakes that were killed one by one.

The night passed in screams and blood. Harry passed out in the middle. When he woke up he was in a bed and on his head there was hair.

He was not as happy as he expected, but still he returned to the forest and searched for the young man. This time he was welcomed with open arms, and he spent the happiest months of his life.

Until the young man left him, since he had to marry someone of his level, chosen by his family. So Harry returned to the forest, more alone than ever. No whispers of snakes to keep him company.

Some days later, some hunters went into his cave. Friendly first, bestial later. Unable to defend himself without his eyes, he was beaten and abused in terrible ways until he managed to flee.

In the cave Voldemort took him in his arms without saying anything and healed him. It took him a few days to be able to speak well again, but the first thing he said was:

"Kill me, I'll give you what you want."

"Do you want to die for a bad choice?"

Only then did it occur to Harry that for as long as he could remember, Voldemort had been there. Visiting regularly, providing, caring, and he had never seen his face.

He reached out and slowly lowered the hood. Terrible red eyes and an appearance between serpentine and human surprised him.

"I also made bad decisions sometimes. But thanks to that no snake can petrify me, not even you."

And Harry wept for his missed opportunities and for what he had sacrificed. Voldemort let him cry and asked if he wanted them back.

Harry nodded and Voldemort probed his eyes with a spoon, carving his scalp with a knife. Screams of pain echoed through the cave, and blood washed over him.

It would take a few days of regeneration, Voldemort explained, but his eyes and hair would be restored. But as payment, Harry had to live there for a while.

Harry didn't care, he had learned that the one he should trust was Voldemort, and if he could look at him for what he was without suffering, Harry wished he could too. This time it was Harry's turn to marry someone of his level.

And despite having no eyes, no skin on his head, he smiled happily and responded to Voldemort's dinner call. Unable to see that the meat on his plate had a couple of platinum blonde hairs.