A fate worse than death

Lord Voldemort had been pacing in his study for hours when he suddenly turned and grabbed a book off a shelf nearby. He had a sudden thought. It flashed through his head and disappeared within a moment and left his stomach curling uncomfortably. He flipped through the pages and stopped to stare at a single image on the thin paper. A thought crossed his mind. One single idea. A horrible, wonderful idea. He stared at the image of the creature clothed in darkness. He could almost hear the wretched gasping of the monster as it unhinged its jaw. His skin formed gooseflesh as he imagined the unbearable cold. He smiled at the image forming in his mind. Yes, he thought, Harry Potter deserves a fate worse than death. For death was too easy, too simple, and there were ways of coming back from the afterlife. Oh yes, Harry Potter did not deserve the relief of death. He summoned his servant Draco Malfoy and told him what to do. As Draco paled at his orders, Voldemort smiled a cruel smile.

"Don't let me down, Draco."

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Harry had been making his way through Weasleys Wizzard Wheezes when a familiar blonde boy grabbed his arm. The grip tightened a clock struck eight and Harry felt a familiar pull just under his navel.

 Harry felt his feet slam on marble and fell to his knees, hissing as the skin tore.

"Draco, what the bloody hell?" He shouted, wincing at the pain.

"I had no choice... I am so sorry, Harry. You do believe me don't you? You know I didn't want to, right?"

"Draco, what the fuck, man? Didn't want to do what? Where are we?" The room was too dark to make much out and Harry felt a powerful aura surround him. Draco let out a little whimper and with a last 'I'm so sorry' disaparated. Harry looked around suddenly afraid and saw Voldemort standing above you.

"Now Harry, there is no reason to kneel." He whispered, leaning down to lift Harry's chin. "We both know you are already so far beneath me. You mustn't give up so easily. Where is that Gryffindor bravery?"

Harry jerked his face out of the harsh grip and glared at the elder man. He stood up and grabbed his wand.

"Are you going to fight me Harry?" He loosely pointed his wand at Harry "Come now Harry surely you do not want a repeat of what happened to that Diggory boy do you? You were lucky then but you won't be so lucky this time."

Feeling disgust at the sound of Cedrics' name coming from such a despicable man, Harry lashed out. Flashes of color flying throughout the room.

"How" flash! "Dare" flash! "You" crash as the spell shattered the wall "Say" debri goes flying towards Voldemort "His" Voldemort smiles and the spells get weaker "Name!"

"Come now Harry surely you didn't forget your manners. First we must bow." He bowed slightly and sneered as Harry threw stronger spells at him. His shield weakening. "I said bow!"

Harry gritted his teeth and refused to succumb to the force of the Imperious curse.

"No!" Harry yelled "I will never bow to you! I will always fight you! I will never stop fighting you!"

"Come now, Potter. You are going off script,"

"Just shut up Tom! You think you scare me? You think fear is the way to win?" Harry spat "You will never win! Fear only makes us stronger. Even if you kill me today someone else will take my place!"

Voldemort laughed and Harry felt a small fraction of doubt in his mind.

'Why isn't he fighting back?' He thought.

"You think I don't know that, you foolish boy? You think I am going to kill you? Oh no. You are not the one to die tonight" Harry didn't notice the change in the man's voice nor the small changes in his skin "Harry Potter, orphan, hated by all. You have a choice. Die a martyr for a world that never appreciated you"

"Or." Harry spat staring into those red eyes with hatred.

"Or be the hero they want so desperately and kill me now."

A small voice in Harry's mind screamed no, but overwhelmed with hatred Harry spat the words and Voldemort crashed to the ground dead. Harry felt a tearing inside off him and screamed in agony as a piece of his soul ripped from his body and flew into a locket nearby. Sagging to his knees in horror he vaguely registered that the crumpled body had transformed into the body of Wormtail. A skeletal hand picked up the silver locket and pulled it over a bald head.

"Well done Harry" Voldemort said softly.

"Why?" Harry whispered "Why make me kill him?"

"Make you? Oh dear dear Harry no. I didn't make you do anything. No. You wanted to. You wanted to kill him, the spell would not have worked had you not. Do not blame me for your choices. There is a darkness in you. Don't lie to yourself anymore." Without another word he reached down and grabbed Harry's wand, which had rolled out of Harry's hand as Voldemort spoke, and abruptly snapped it in two. He left and Harry lied down on the floor suddenly exhausted.

When he awoke he could already feel the temperature dropping at an abnormally fast rate. He searched his pockets for his wand and his eyes widened in fear when he couldn't find it anywhere. The cloaked being appeared in front of Harry. Harry turned into the fetal position and closed his eyes tight.

"Expecto patronum..." he whispered over and over, feeling the space between the two disappear.

The dementors mouth clamped down over Harry's and Harry could feel painful tearing as his soul was swallowed by the creature of darkness. All the feeling seeped out of him and Harry stared blankly into space. Everything was so beautiful and he happily watched from inside his head as the world passed in front of him.

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Lord Voldemort kneeled in front of the slight body in front of him. He gently picked up the shaking figure and held him close as he walked to his personal chambers.

"Let's go home Harry." he smiled when the boy slumped into his neck and whispered "You are mine Harry. Forever. You will live forever trapped in an eternity of nothing. You will watch as your family dies. As your friends die. You will watch as the world burns and you won't be able to save it. That is your punishment. That is your fate worse than death."

Voldemort roughly kissed Harry, Harry staring blankly back at him not even a flicker of emotion in his eyes, just a single tear running down his cheek.

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Dumbledore sat in his office, his head in his hands. He had not seen Harry Potter in a week. No one had and he feared the worst for poor Harry. He looked up as a black owl landed on his desk and dropped a package. It promptly flew away. After scanning the package for any harmful charms Dumbledore opened the black box. There inside, wrapped in a swath of black satin, sat a wand of Holly, snapped in half. A red feather sticking out halfway through. A single note sat on top of it. Dumbledore read the note and sobbed as he realized that Death had not come for poor Harry Potter. In fact he had seemed to forget the boy all together. Dumbledore cried for the loss of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

"A fate worse than death.

Sealed with a kiss and a single tear, Harry Potter, Voldemort's forever."