A/N: Oh my god. Seventeen reviews? Are you kidding?

I have NEVER gotten that many reviews on a chapter before. EVER.

I know. Sad, isn't it?

I couldn't put this story on hold or discontinue it if so many people like it, now can I?

C'mon. Even I'M not that cruel.

So without further ado, I present to you: Chapter Two!

Chapter Two

"Where's Harry?" Remus demanded… perhaps a bit too aggressively.

"Harry?" Lily asked, an unasked question in her eyes. James, on the other hand, shrugged.

"Probably still upstairs in his room sulking," James commented. "He's probably just bitter Rosie got so many presents and he didn't get any."

Remus frowned. "First off, I gave him a present," he snapped at his friend and fellow Marauder. "Second, it was Harry's birthday yesterday too. And third of all, I've already checked his bedroom. He's not there."

"Oh." James waved a hand dismissively. "Then he may be taking a walk outdoors or something. Who knows with that kid? He's always so quiet and withdrawn. I have no idea what goes on in his head."

Remus gritted his teeth. "James, that kid is your son."

"No, really? I hadn't noticed," James replied sarcastically. "Of course I know he's my kid."

"What about your son? Is he your son?"

"Son, kid… what's the difference?"

Remus chose not to dignify that question with an answer. Instead, he tried a different approach. "Well, son or kid, you should be worried about him. If Rosie disappeared, would you automatically assume she was out taking a walk?"

"No, because Rosie doesn't like taking walks outside without an adult to supervise," James responded automatically.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Remus retorted, frustrated.

"Remus, James… drop it," Lily interrupted. "Arguing isn't going to help find Harry."

"C'mon, he must be taking a walk!" James cajoled. "I told you, he'll be back soon."

"You don't know that for sure," Remus argued back.

"Look," Lily cut in. "Let's not worry right now. If Harry isn't back by the end of the day, we'll search for him."

Remus did not find this very reassuring, but seeing as it was two against one, he relented.

"All right then."

By the end of the week, Harry Potter was officially declared missing by the Ministry of Magic.

( - )

Harry Potter, however, knew perfectly well where he was. Well, he didn't know exactly where it was… but he knew what the place looked like.

It was an old, rather run-down mansion. The floorboards creaked, the shutters were rusty, and the paint on them was peeling. Basically, it fitted the description of a haunted mansion.

Harry looked around, slightly frightened. He had never seen a place as dark and foreboding as this mansion before.

The person—Lord Voldemort—who had taken him away from the forest and his home… no, not home, house… was not frightened in the least. (But then again, nothing ever frightened the Dark Lord.)

"Come along now," Voldemort ordered, grabbing Harry rather roughly by one arm and leading him into the mansion.

Harry gaped around at everything. It looked so… old. Cobwebs were hanging off the ceiling rafters, and the floorboards creaked and groaned with every step he took.

"Stop staring and walk," Voldemort snapped, not sounding too annoyed.

Harry obliged, wondering what was going to happen to him. He had heard stories about Lord Voldemort—how he was an evil person who went around killing and torturing innocent people. But this man with the red eyes didn't seem evil. He just seemed like a rather impatient person who owned a snake, and had heard of Harry Potter.

Well, OK, he had threatened to kill Harry at the beginning of their little conversation in the woods. And he had thrown some weird spell at him that made him glow black. But still, he hadn't seemed that bad.

"Stay here for a moment," Voldemort told Harry, and left the room.

Harry blinked and looked up with a start, just to realize that Voldemort had just left him… somewhere. In a room. It was a room that looked just as old and abandoned as the rest of the house, but it was an improvement, when you considered the high-backed, ornate chairs, cabinets full of… things that Harry didn't know of, and the crackling fire in the fireplace.

Harry didn't know just how long he stood there, until Voldemort swept back into the room.

"Well?" he demanded. "Why aren't you sitting?"

"Er… I didn't know I was supposed to," Harry muttered. "Wouldn't I have to ask for permission or something?"

"Of course not, you stupid brat," Voldemort retorted. "This is your home now."

Harry gaped at him.

"No, it's not!" he sputtered. "You… why did you kidnap me?"

Voldemort waited patiently (or as patiently as a sadistic Dark Lord who like torturing and killing people for fun could wait) until Harry finally fell silent.

"I thought you said you didn't like your home," Voldemort said.

There was a pause.

"Well… I don't," Harry admitted.

"So why not stay here?"

There was another pause before Harry finally spoke again. "You're supposed to be evil…" he tried to explain.

"And who told you that?" Voldemort asked. "Your parents?"

Harry dejectedly shuffled a sneaker (or trainer… c'mon, people, tell me! Is it trainers or sneakers???) and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah."

"So if they don't seem to like you, why do you think they would bother to tell you the truth?"

"That's true," Harry said slowly, as if he were contemplating the idea.

"Yes. So you are going to live here now. Are you fine with that?" As if he disagreed, Voldemort would do otherwise, anyway.

"Yes," Harry agreed slowly. "Yes, I am."

"All right. First of all." (A/N: OK, that doesn't sound like Voldemort… I'm not good at Voldemort characterization.) "You are very powerful. Did you know that?"

"Er… no…"

"Well, you are."

"Er… how powerful?"

"Perhaps almost as powerful as that old fool Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes, Albus Dumbledore. Living with those two"—here Voldemort called Harry's parents something rather uncomplimentary— "Lily and James Potter, you must have met him sometime."

"Er… yeah, I did," Harry confessed. "Isn't he old, with a long white beard, and he has glasses?"

Voldemort's lip curled in disdain, a twisted sneer on his face that was so reminiscent of Lucius Malfoy that it was just scary.

"Yes, he is," he said with distaste.

"He seemed nice," Harry offered weakly.

Voldemort chose not to dignify that comment with an answer.

"All right," Voldemort said, ignoring the comment Harry had just made. "Since you are very powerful, and you are going to be living in this house, you will be my heir."

There was a silence.

"Er… heir?"

"Yes, heir," Voldemort snapped, tired of having to explain everything to this impertinent brat. "That means I will train you."

"Er… right. OK."

( - )

"Parry, you stupid boy! Parry!"

It was the first full day Harry was staying at in the mansion with Voldemort. (A/N: Virtual cookies to anyone who can guess what exactly this mansion is, and where!) And Voldemort was trying to teach Harry to use a sword.

"Why a sword?" Harry couldn't help whining. "Why not magic first?"

"Because I say so," Voldemort had ground out. "You are my heir, and you shall do as I say!" He ignored the fact that the retort "Because I say so" was rather childish, and very un-Voldemort-like.

Now Harry was wielding a rather large, heavy, deadly-looking silver sword… a sword that didn't seem to like him much, if the way it was refusing to cooperate in Harry's hands had any say in the matter.

"Lunge!" Voldemort barked. "Lunge! Now parry!"

"I'm trying!" Harry shot back.

If anyone but the Dark Lord's heir had dared to speak to him like that, Voldemort would have killed him or her on the spot. But seeing as it wouldn't be wise to kill his heir on their first day of training, Voldemort gritted his teeth and decided to bear it… for now, anyway. Once the stupid Potter boy… no, not the stupid Potter boy, his heir, had spent more time with Voldemort, Voldemort would become harsher and stricter and not let him get away with whining and talking back all the time.

One day with Harry James Potter and Lord Voldemort was already beginning to grow tired of him. How would he ever survive all the years that were sure to come with training the boy?

But then again, Harry was probably the only other Parselmouth, besides Voldemort himself. It wouldn't really do any good to kill him. The only other way to transfer the ability of Parseltongue to someone else would be to use a blood ritual. And not only would that take a long time, but it would also be immensely painful for the boy. Not that Voldemort cared how the boy felt, of course.

Then Voldemort came up with a good solution. After perhaps a few months or so, he could get one of his Death Eaters to train the boy! Probably someone in his Inner Circle…

Bellatrix Lestrange was out of the question. She would probably kill the boy five minutes into the lesson.

Lucius Malfoy was not a good idea either. He was very rich and aristocratic, and could probably use a sword well, as well as being a fine potions-brewer, but his over-inflated ego would get in the way of the training.

Severus Snape? Hmm… He had gone over to the Light Side (as in Dumbledore's pathetic band of merry men also known as the Order of the Phoenix) to spy for the Dark Lord. Severus currently held the position of Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and despite being a halfblood, he was meticulously precise and skilled in the fine art of potions-brewing.

Yes, Voldemort decided. Severus Snape would help him train the boy.

He just hoped Severus wouldn't actually recognize the brat as a Potter…

A/N: Well, there's the second chapter! A bit shorter than the first, but OK nonetheless. I hope so, anyway. It's a bit rushed… in fact, I think the events are happening way too fast, but I haven't really read many other Dark Harry fanfics, so I wouldn't know what other Dark Harry fanfics are like. And I don't want to read one right now, because they're all so much better than mine, and then whenever I try to think up ideas, whatever it is that happened in a good Dark Harry fanfic I read will pop up in my mind, and I will never get good ideas in. So, sorry for the rush, and please review!

–WeRtheWinx