Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 24 The Truth ( 1 March 1995 )

~Harry (as Dimitri)~

Dimitri froze before forcing himself to relax, but it was too late, he’d actually meant that he’d returned to Britain, but Voldemort had latched onto that bit of information and decoded it in no time at all, and with Voldemort watching him like a hawk, he knew that denying it would only make things worse, so he sighed and nodded instead.

He looked down at their hands and tried not to concentrate on how it felt to finally be so close to his mate…or how stupid he’d been for trying to stay away while still seeking ways to connect with his mate through gifts and letters.

Would it really be so bad if he told Voldemort everything? Well, almost everything…

He thought about everything that had happened and suddenly the urge to seek a little comfort from his mate was too strong and holding hands just wasn’t going to cut it.

He lifted the hand that he was still holding and turned his body until he was pressing into his mate’s side with his mate’s arm coming down his back and their hands still joined together at his hip. He felt Voldemort freeze, but barely a heartbeat later the man was pulling him even closer to him, and Dimitri felt his breath catch at how safe he felt in the other man’s arms.

Unfortunately, he still had a lot to reveal before he could just relax and enjoy the feeling of his mate’s arms around him.

He felt Voldemort take a deep breath as if he was wary of the question he was about to ask…or as if he didn’t expect an answer, “Is Dimitri your real name?”

Dimitri blinked twice before he shook his head truthfully, “Dimitri is the alias I used to be able to act as Harry’s guardian. When I returned he was still living where Dumbledore had placed him.”

He felt Voldemort rest his cheek against his hair, “And who did Dumbledore place him with? Severus told me about the abuse, but he never mentioned where Harry had lived before.”

Dimitri grimaced at the reminder, but he knew what would happen if Voldemort found out about the Dursleys…especially now that he learned that ‘Harry’ was his Horcrux. He had to pick his words carefully because as much as he wanted to reveal everything, he still wanted Voldemort to get to fully get to know him. The whole ‘unconditional love’ thing with mates might be true…but they weren’t your everyday mates, and it didn’t hurt to maybe leave a few hints…maybe Voldemort wouldn’t be too angry if he figured it out himself.

“Harry didn’t want to reveal their location after he broke ties with them. If I hadn’t come back then he would still be living with them until the so-called ‘protection wards’ fell. There never were any, maybe in the past, sure, but he didn’t feel safe there so they didn’t last.” Dimitri sighed as he absentmindedly tightened his fingers.

Voldemort stayed quiet though, allowing him to continue.

“I was in the same situation as he was in my own past so I removed him from his muggle guardians almost immediately after my return…”, he trailed off as he felt Voldemort’s arms tighten around him in a death grip. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to mention it so soon.

Dimitri waited for the man to calm down, but when he didn’t, he decided to steer the conversation to a slightly different topic.

“In the past…well…in the other future, Dumbledore got his claws into Harry as a so-called ‘grandfatherly’ figure, but he never really helped him unless it was to simply lead him into more danger. Dumbledore also completely kept him in the dark about being a Horcrux, and instead, he filled his head with the belief that he was the only one that can defeat you. Not that he fully believed it though, he was usually too busy trying to survive so he didn’t get time to think about it.” Dimitri sighed as the memories of his foolishness assaulted his mind.

He gave a bitter laugh, “In the end, Severus killed Dumbledore after he activated the curse you placed on your ring and Dumbledore couldn’t die knowing that you would survive, so he had his minions plan everything out so that he would kill you. You were quite…insane…by then.”

He felt Voldemort stiffen before he pulled away to face him, “The insanity…did it have anything to do with the Horcruxes? And did it include a ritual set with a cauldron in the middle of a graveyard and end with me trying to duel Harry?”

Dimitri nodded in shock, “Yes, but how…?”

Voldemort gave a self-deprecating chuckle as he laid back and once more pulled Dimitri into his side, “During the ritual, Death showed me what I would’ve become if you hadn’t sent me the Philosopher's Stone. It makes sense now that, with you being the Master of Death, he would show the past that affected you. Coincidentally it was also the moment I realized that you were mine, and it frustrated me to know ‘who’ you were but not where after you disappeared.”

Dimitri stayed quiet as Voldemort tipped his head up so that he would look at him, “Why did you come back to this time? I know it isn’t because I died, because you didn’t even know that we were mates until I sent you the ritual.”

Dimitri sighed and snuggled deeper into Voldemort’s side as he lowered his head once more, he couldn’t bear to see his mate’s disappointment, “After the war, I felt like I had lost my purpose, and I simply did what everyone expected of me. I became an Auror and married the girl that everyone expected me to marry…”, he felt Voldemort stiffen, “but we never made time for each other.”

He felt Voldemort relax a little, but it was clear that the man didn’t like knowing that his mate had been married to someone else and Dimitri hurried to reassure him, “…we never had a chance to start an intimate relationship though because directly after the wedding she caught an international portkey to go play her first match as the newest seeker of the Cannons. Later I found out that she had only married me for my inheritance and that she had been cheating on me because she’d known from the beginning that I was gay.”

He instinctively looked up as a spark of magic from Voldemort’s hand tingled across his skin. It didn’t hurt, quite the opposite actually, but he wanted to see why the man’s magic was suddenly acting up. Voldemort’s face betrayed nothing, but the bright glow of the man’s now-red eyes clearly revealed his fury, at what Dimitri didn’t know, so he waited for the man to either calm down or speak.

“As happy as I am to hear that you were never…intimate…I hate the thought that someone hurt you like that. What happened then?” Voldemort sounded almost apprehensive and Dimitri grimaced as he remembered the visit to the bank.

“She divorced me after I found her cheating and she set her eyes on one of my Lordships. Unfortunately for her, I never got around to merging all my assets into one as I had said I’d done during one of her floo rants, so she got the account that Dumbledore had dipped his hand quite deep in while he was my Magical Guardian.” Dimitri was a little torn between laughing vindictively and cursing, so he settled for waiting for Voldemort’s reaction.

Voldemort gave a slight laugh at that before he became serious once more. “And then you came back?”

Dimitri nodded and glanced to the side before wandlessly lighting a fire in the hearth to ward off the coldness of the room. Voldemort was warm by his side, but it was still quite cold in the evenings. “Yes, I came back. At that point, I was frustrated and angry, and I simply wanted to disappear. So Death gave me a choice and I decided that it was worth it to watch the world burn, well, without my few loyal friends burning with it of course.”

Silence enveloped them as Dimitri gave Voldemort some time to process everything. It didn’t take the man very long to think things over though, and Dimitri felt the man’s attention shift back to him, “Are you ever going to reveal your identity to me?”

Dimitri gave a sheepish laugh and closed his eyes, “I will, but to be honest, even though I would have been about 29-years-old right now, I had to take over my younger body when I came back, so my physical age is still quite young. I will reveal myself when I regain my previous form on Harry’s 17th birthday though. I used a special potion…”, he abruptly opened his eyes and sat up in excitement before he turned to Voldemort with a wide grin.

Voldemort watched him warily, “You either just remembered something very important, or you are about to do something…which is it?”

Dimitri felt his grin grow wider, “How would you like to meet Salazar Slytherin?”