The Not so Dark Hours (Tomarry)

CHAPTER 9

"Potter, wake up you imbecile." The droning of Severus Snape couldn't have annoyed me more if he tried, but nevertheless I open one eye slowly.

"Am I dead?" I ask.

"Obviously not." Snape answers and I continue:

"Are any of my friends dead?"

"No, Mr. Potter, your little friends have remained as obnoxiously alive as ever." He answers yet again and when I ask whether Dumbledore is dead I can almost see the vein at his temple pulsing. "What has the demise of anybody in your near vicinity got to do with you getting up from bed?"

"If there are no funerals to attend and no death to celebrate then I don't see why you would wake me. Everything else is irrelevant." I try to turn around again, but Snape grips my arm and throws me to the floor.

"However disturbing I find it that you would celebrate the headmaster's death," he pauses, "the Dark Lord wishes to see you at his death eater meeting and we are already late. If you are attached to your limbs and wish for it to remain so you better get moving. The dark Lord does not tolerate tardiness. Now get into the robes I left for you in the bathroom."

I huff and puff about Snape's insolence as I get ready, but cannot help but wonder why Voldemort would want me at a death eater meeting. Perhaps he wants to kill me in front of all his followers as a statement, but after yesterday I'm not sure whether he's out for my life any more. I just hope I don't see that filthy, sadistic witch, otherwise I cannot promise that I will keep my wits or wand to about me.

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"Enter." Voldemort's familiar drawl sounds from behind a huge, wooden double-door that I'm sure leads to an immense room. Snape whispers to me not to do anything stupid, something along the lines of "don't talk if you're not spoken to if you want to stay alive". Not that it would make a huge difference. 

I'm not stupid enough to try and escape. I've got Voldemort on my good side as far as I can tell and as far as he wasn't faking his entire personality yesterday. If I play my cards right I might get out of here without escaping. Not sure what I'll do then, but that is a future-Harry problem.

"Ah, Severus and I see you brought in our guest as per request." Voldy says almost seductively, then again, maybe it's just the way he talks. Instead of waiting for Snape I go to the empty seat next to Voldemort and plop down onto it. Sharp gasps are being taken and I look around questioningly when I notice that Lucius, who seems to have arrived at the same time as us, was just about to sit in my seat. Welp, that's his problem. Apart from Snape's seat this one was the only one left.

"Potter. Get. Out. Of. my. Seat." Lucius says threateningly and I roll my eyes.

"I think not. Has nobody ever taught you Lucy: You snooze, you lose." I reply as serious as I can when all I want to do is roll over the floor laughing at the face he pulls. Whether at my new nickname for him or my insolence I'm not sure, either way it's bloody hilarious.

I can hear some of the death eaters down the table cackling, much to Lucy's dismay. Even Voldy seems to fighting a smirk. Snape only looks like he's ready to commit suicide.

"My Lord, why don't you let me teach itty, bitty, baby Potter a lesson he won't forget." I will so hex that bitch!

"Ahhh Bella, fancy seeing you here, I would say I'm happy to see you but I'd shamelessly be lying. How about you go die. I'm not sure about the others but you'd be doing the world a favour if you just ceased existing." I sass at her and she jumps up, pulling her wand immediately.

"Cruci-" She begins.

"Don't you dare!" I hiss menacingly, seemingly waking up Harriet, who'd still been affected by whatever spell Dumbledore used to knock me out. Now she's hissing along with me about the disturbance. I have already stopped hissing after what I said to Bella, but now all the death eaters are staring at the moving lump underneath my robes, that's hissing aggressively. Thank god she's just hissing and not actually saying anything. Quickly I put an illusion on her to change her appearance. I take her out of my robes stroking her fluffy-looking head. "Sorry about my squirrel, she woke up on the wrong foot." I excuse the hissing and give Harriet a warning glance. Squirrels are the only innocent-looking animals that I could remember also hissing. Or maybe that was something else, but at least the death eaters aren't looking at me any more.

"Well, welcome to our cosy little round. My dear followers, I have recently sent Severus to tell Dumbledore that I have taken an interest in our young hero. And can you imagine: Without a second thought he let Severus take the child to me. Probably to convince me of joining the light!" Voldy jokes as if it's the funniest thing in the century. All death eaters are laughing viscously, except for Bella, who is still eyeing me with hatred. I sigh and lean back in my chair, this will take a while.

---

I listened to the whole meeting and must say that I am very shocked. All the things on their agenda don't have anything to do with geno- or homicide and are pretty reasonable. Their main goal is to make all magic equal, to reinstate some old wizarding traditions and make sure that all magic creatures are given the same rights as wizards. They even consider goblins and the merfolk! In addition, Voldy only crucioed two of his followers, and even then, only for saying that muggle-borns should be subdued and the other for calling me a man-whore and implying all the disgusting things he'd do to me if he was in charge.

Snape looks ready to kill me by now though, so I rush to Voldemort.

"Heyyy, great meeting really, can you tell me some more about your plans?" I hurry to say, while throwing glances at Snape over my shoulder. Voldemort chuckles and places his arm around my shoulder, motioning for me to follow him into the garden of the manor.

"Severus doesn't mean anything by it, that's just how he shows that he cares." Voldemort excuses his follower's actions and I snort. 'Yeah right, and Mad-Eye Moody is a fairy Princess', I think and say just that. "You'll understand some day. Severus has had a painful past and I can't say I've done much to ease his mind while I was... Not myself." He seems to regret how he acted before and lets go of my shoulder, although our arms are still touching as we stroll around the fancy gardens. I want to reach out and pat his head, as if he is a sad child, but I repress it. Instead I decide to console him with words:

"It's not your fault. Splitting the soul changes and warps a person immensely to the point of inhumanity. I don't think anyone could have remained sane with as many times as you split your soul. You're not a bad person, far from it, at least from what I've seen. Sure, you were a crazed lunatic before and you aren't exactly a teddy bear even now, but bad people don't acknowledge that they've even made a mistake, let alone try to fix. Look, I'm not exactly a good person either. I've been keeping all my friends at a distance, I am a very selfish person. I don't have the energy to fight this war so I gave up fighting: a good or strong person wouldn't give up."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard this year. Thank you for consoling me and I see your point, but you are not a bad person either, especially if I'm not. You are the best person I've ever met, much better than that headmaster of yours who sent you to a mass murderer just to save his own neck. You've always stood up for your friends and defended them even if that meant you were in danger, isn't that right? You've always put others before yourself and now your mind and body are tired and are demanding self care, which – I assure you – is completely natural. And about distancing yourself from your friends... have you ever stopped to think that your gut is trying to see who of your friends can be trusted and are real friends? It just seems to me like you're unconsciously emancipating yourself from the control of others. That is a good thing and I am happy for you. Thanks to you and my loyal followers I have regained my senses and will try and get my agenda through without using fear and intimidation. I have already gone to a mind healer at Saint Mungos' and got confirmed that any and all actions that I've committed after creating the first Horcrux were out of my hand. I am a free man. Now I will just have to make it up to the public before I announce my newfound freedom."

I am happy for him, which I express as we continue walking. Then he asks whether Harriet really is a squirrel, probably knowing the answer already, but I just give him what I hope looks like a mysterious smile.

We sit down on a bench and talk animatedly for hours on end and I must say: I haven't been this happy for a while now, I just hope this lasts.

A/N Hey everybody! Making up for my late publishing of the last chapter by publishing a second one :)  Hope everyone is doing well and that you liked the chapter – If you did please comment and vote!