Harry Potter and the Sympathy of Souls

VII) "The Meeting"

PART THREE: SOULCRUX

Voldemort found Harry in his dreams the night after Nicolas destroyed the goblet horcrux. Harry received quite a shock when he looked at him. The reabsorption of the goblet Horcrux had affected his looks. With his nose back in place and his cheeks filled out, he looked incredibly handsome.

"I've been looking for you," he said, much to Harry's surprise, "and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to dream of you just by wanting to, but it seemed to work."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were doing your best to avoid dreaming of me. What changed?"

"The goblet was the horcrux that I thought was best protected of all. The fact that you managed to get at it, and escape riding on the back of a dragon no less, made me realize that I had underestimated your abilities. Perhaps, maybe I would be better served in changing my tactics."

"So you've decided you want to help me find your horcruxes now?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, don't be ridiculous. I still can't help showing you my Horcruxes when we meet in our dreams, but that wasn't the reason I searched you out tonight. I wanted to request a meeting with you. A waking meeting, not a dream one."

"Why should I want to do that? Why would you want to do that?"

"I think we can work out a deal between us." Voldemort said, "You're obviously more of the threat to me than I first anticipated, so I want to negotiate."

"How do I know you won't just kill me when I show up?" Harry asked, indignant that Voldemort would think he was thick enough to fall for something like that.

"If that was what I was planning, I would never ask you to meet me in our dreams." Voldemort said, sounding slightly insulted, "Haven't I always helped you and protected you when I was in this state? Didn't I warn you about the curse on the ring when I showed you that Horcrux? If I thought it would lead you to harm, I wouldn't ask you to meet when I was in my dreams. If anything, I'd send you an owl. I sincerely do want to just meet."

There was truth in that statement, Harry thought. Itt occurred to him that even if Voldemort did change his mind and decide to kill him, he would simply tell him about the seventh piece of soul, the one that was inside Harry. Harry was pretty sure that would stop Voldemort if it came down to it.

"Alright," he said, "I'll have the easiest time sneaking out during the weekend, so we can meet up on Saturday. Where would we meet, though?"

"I'll send you a portkey by house-elf." Voldemort told him. "Will it be alright if I set it off to activate at five p.m.?"

"No problem." Harry replied.

"Alright, just make sure to be well outside Hogwarts' protections by then, or the portkey won't work. I've been informed by Severus that you're constantly being found in places you have no business being, so I'll assume you're up to the task of sneaking out of school unnoticed."

Harry noted that Voldemort's helpfulness extended beyond revealing horcrux locations, to revealing spies. Of course, Harry already knew of Snape's supposed status as a 'double agent', but it was an interesting observation nevertheless.

"I don't think I'll need to leave Hogwarts in order for the Portkey to work." Harry told Voldemort, "You managed to portkey me out of there back in my fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament. Remember?"