Chapter 24

Warning: Some violence in the form of torture towards the end of this chapter. It's not exceptionally graphic and hardly gory at all, but it's there in a way in which it hasn't exactly been previously. Do with that what you will.

The attacks went on for nearly two weeks, and Harry began to wonder if Voldemort had changed his mind and was going to kill him after all. Harry had been allowed to roam the wing of the manor his room was in, which gave him access to a library and the kitchen where he could visit some house elves that made Sirius' house elf Kreacher seem cheerful and polite.

But the freedom quickly became more of a curse than a blessing, as he would be sitting in the library reading and suddenly Snape, Lucius, and Bella would appear out of nowhere and draw him into an overly dramatic battle.

Harry sat in the dining room with Voldemort one evening in mid July eating dinner when he fell to the ground, having been hit by a crucio.

Harry raised a hand and blindly threw a stupefy in the direction that the pain had first come from. It had been decided that Harry could only use light approved spells about a week ago, preferably vocally and with a wand, although the current situation did not warrant that, as it would raise even less suspicion, although anyone who knew Harry knew his willingness to use either light or dark magic so far in no way related to his allegiance. Voldemort didn't care for Harry's reasoning though, and so Harry had given up on creativity and his arsenal of spells became limited to Stupefy, Expelliarmus, and the occasional Reducto, if applicable. It was about as innocent as defense magic could get, much to Harry's displeasure. He had spent years learning all sorts of curses, practicing bending his magic to his will, only to have himself be ordered to stop using any sort of magic that Ron Weasley could not do.

After managing to fire off a couple more stunners, one of them finally seemed to hit the target and the pain stopped. All Harry wanted to do was lie on the floor in exhaustion, but he knew that only one of his attackers was down, and if he did not move quickly the pain would return.

Harry flung his body up onto the table and grabbed the knife that he had happily been using to carve his steak moments before and turned around, flinging it at toward the first thing that moved.

Lucius Malfoy dodged the knife, but fell right into the stupefy that Harry flung at him.

Harry turned to find his last opponent and found Snape throwing what must have been some sort of nasty curse at him. Harry raised a shield before he disarmed Snape, catching the potion masters wand.

"This is getting ridiculous." Harry muttered as he sat back down at the table, summoning the knife he had thrown across the room, and tossed Snape his wand back.

"I liked the knife throwing." Voldemort said as he plucked his napkin from his lap and tossed it onto his empty plate.

"Well, when trying to convince one that you aren't a servant to a muggle hating Dark Lord it is very convincing to use muggle style fighting." Harry muttered as he took a bite of his meal.

"Well, consider yourself in luck, Harry, because I have received news that the Order believes that they have discovered your location and are planning on rescuing you by the end of the week.

"They've found the location of the manor?" Harry gasped.

"Of course not. They have determined that you are being hidden in an extraneous Black estate that was thought to have been abandoned."

"But I'm not staying at a Black manor."

"No, but you will be by the end of the week."

"I see." Harry muttered, taking another bite of his meal and chewing slowly.

"You're dismissed." Voldemort said and Harry looked at the Dark Lord and raised his eyebrows. "Go. Now. Before I change my mind about letting you leave." Voldemort said coldly.

Harry sighed and shook his head slightly as he looked down at the food remaining on his plate longingly before grabbing a piece of bread off the table and stalking out of the room, picking at the bread as he went.

The next day Harry was left alone, with nothing other than a couple visits from house elves who ever so graciously delivered him some food. At this point though, Harry was so paranoid that he could not enjoy the day off. By that evening he sat in the library engulfed in a cloud of dark magic that occasionally stormed with a bolt of light magic lightening, just to make sure that anyone stayed away from him.

"Well someone is feeling a little defensive now, aren't they?" An unfamiliar voice hissed.

Harry looked up to see one of the largest snakes that he had ever seen slithering towards him.

"Oh, Nagini. I haven't seen you much in my time here." Harry said as he twirled the dark magic into a funnel cloud as sent it twisting over the snake before coming back to storm around its master.

"I have been busy. Do that again. It feels nice. Warm." The snake hissed haughtily.

"Oh good, I'm glad snakes like it too. And no. If you want it you can come and sit next to me in my chair. I'll try not to strike you with any light magic." Harry muttered in Parseltongue before returning to the book that he had been reading.

Nagini grumbled as well as a snake can before wrapping herself over the back of the armchair that Harry had curled himself into.

"Why are you here anyway?" Harry asked, not looking up from his book.

"My Master has sent me with a message."

"Which would be?"

"You are to meet this tomorrow in his study at ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Tell him I will see him there."

"May I say for a while?" The snake hissed as it settled down around Harry's shoulders.

"Do as you please, as long as you do not disrupt my reading or kill me." Harry muttered, eyes still glued into the book.

"Master would not like if I ate you. He told me not to, specifically. Master rarely does that."

"Well, that's encouraging I suppose." Harry muttered.

"I do not mind you anyway though. You speak to me and you make funny warm clouds for me to lie in." Nagini hissed in Harry's ear, her tongue flicking against Harry's earlobe.

"The cloud was not meant to please you, if was meant to keep others away."

"Whatever." The snake sighed contentedly.

Harry went back to reading for a while longer as he felt the snake rippling its scales across the back of his neck peacefully. The silence was broken after only a few more minutes.

"What are you doing with my snake?" Harry looked up from his book to see Voldemort standing in the door of the library.

"Master, he is very useful indeed." Nagini hissed as she wrapped herself tighter around Harry's shoulders, much to Harry's discomfort.

"Nagini, I have a task for you, come." The snake did not make any effort to move. "Now." He commanded. "Who do I have to kill to get some respect around here?" He muttered and Harry grinned at the comment which was about as close to humanity as the Dark Lord ever got.

The snake slithered off of Harry and out of the library, Voldemort gliding behind it, completely ignoring Harry.

Harry sighed at the antics and put his book down; deciding now was a fine time to retire for the night.

"Tom." Harry called as he knocked on Voldemort's study door, and received no response. "My dearest Lord Voldemort." Harry sighed, trying a different tactic, and the door swung open.

Harry made his way into the study to find most of the furniture that filled it the last time he had been there gone, leaving a surprisingly respectable bit of floor space for a study.

"Today, Harry, we are going to duel."

"Is that really a good idea, Tom?" Harry asked slowly.

"You think you can beat me, Harry?" Voldemort asked incredulously.

"I don't think either of us should risk it." Harry muttered.

"Risk what, Harry, what happens if you defeat me?"

"Er, the whole world order is changed and/or you start actually trying to kill me." Harry muttered again. "Or something." He added, not actually wanting to think too much about what could happen if this ended badly.

"Harry, even if you were to prove yourself more powerful than me, it would hardly change anything. You are aware that I am still weaker than I was years ago, but I will continue to grow stronger." Voldemort said with resolve. Harry wasn't quite sure how much stronger Voldemort could get in recovering from an accident that happened a decade ago, but Harry was sure that there were things that Voldemort hadn't told him about that mysterious night all of those years ago.

"Even if you defeated me today, it would not mean that you would defeat me tomorrow. And what would you do if you won, Harry? Would you fight me and my death eaters out of here? Would you go and try to build up your own army of followers? Would you go back sobbing to Dumbledore? What are your options, really, Potter? And anyway Harry, we are still practicing for a duel in a more public arena, which means I get to throw unforgivables while you get you will try your best to disarm me."

"Great." Harry spat.

"Crucio." Voldemort called in response, and Harry flung himself out of the way.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, but Voldemort stepped out of the curses way with ease. He had fallen into the habit of announcing spells and using his wand, and he wasn't particularly pleased with it. It was far below him, and it made him look weaker. His parents and Dumbledore would love it, him using normal magic. Damn it, Harry thought angrily at himself.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry barely registered the words before his stomach dropped and Harry dropped with it, as he dodged the fatal curse.

"Tom! What the hell are you doing?" Harry screamed as he threw another disarming charm.

"Harry, wouldn't it curious if the merciless Dark Lord tried to kill everyone in battle except for poor little Harry Potter? Avada Kedavra!" Harry sprinted across the room, which was suddenly feeling very small trying to dodge the unforgivables.

"But you could at least purposely try to miss!" Harry panted as he threw yet another disarming charm at Voldemort.

"Harry, someone could notice. That damn Moody is obnoxiously clever like that. Crucio."

The curse hit Harry and he fell to the ground. Harry could see Voldemort standing over him, and Harry frantically flailed his legs, succeeding in side swiping Voldemort so that he stumbled backwards, dropping the curse off of Harry.

Harry jumped up from the ground, ignoring the lingering pain and threw a chain of light magic at Voldemort, wrapping it around Voldemort before the Dark Lord could even raise his wand.

"I'm tired of this moronic light magic act, Tom. If I wanted you, I could've had you dead weeks ago. It's a two way street Tom, don't think that it is not. You have the followers and the ambition, but that can change if you push me, you have to know that, Tom. You can't mark me like cattle and assume to own me forever." Harry pulled the magic tighter. "I'm done with this. I don't want to fight you Tom. If you want me fighting you, everything is going to go to hell faster than you can say that damn favorite curse of yours, do you understand me?" Harry walked towards the door. "I'm done with this shit." He muttered rather ineloquently in frustration as he opened the door. He turned back to face Voldemort and pulled his magic back, spinning Voldemort out like a top as he slammed the door behind him.

Harry sat in his room alone for several days. He had found the door locked, preventing him from going down to the kitchen and finding food. Harry could have blasted the door away, but Harry didn't want to eat anything of Voldemort's anyway. On the third day, a house elf showed up with a cup of tea and some toast for him, and Harry slowly picked at the toast because while he was starving, he did not want to accept anything from Voldemort anymore.

On the fourth day, Harry heard a click at the door and the door opened revealing one Lucius Malfoy.

"The Dark Lord demands your presence." He stated.

"What if I don't want to go?" Harry asked, sounding much too like the stubborn teenager he technically was from his own preferences.

"It is not an option." Lucius said. "And take off the robe."

Harry sighed, not bothering to even question as he dropped the black death eater robe, leaving him in trousers and a t-shirt that he had been surprised to find begin to start appearing in the wardrobe about a week ago and followed the blond from the room.

"What happened to Snape?" Harry asked suddenly, remembering that the dark haired man was the one to usually retrieve him from his room, and that he had not in fact seen the potions master in several days.

"He has been busy elsewhere." The Malfoy muttered.

Harry didn't say anything in response and continued to follow the man to the dining room.

The double doors opened and Harry found Voldemort sitting at the end of the long table, eating, a spot for Harry set at his side.

"Come eat Harry, we are moving you today." Voldemort said far to casually considering the incident that had occurred the last time they had spoken.

Harry cautiously made his way to the table and began to pick at the food before him. He was starving and the Dark Lord clearly had some sort of ulterior motive, as his voice dripped with that sweetness that Harry knew could not sincerely belong to the man.

They ate in silence and until Voldemort rose from the table.

"Are you ready to return home, Harry?"

Harry could do nothing but nod and Voldemort gripped his shoulder and Harry felt himself be pulled away from his meal and from the God awful manor, but unfortunately not its owner.

Harry felt his feet become planted onto the ground again and he doubled over as he choked back the contents of his stomach, fighting to keep them in their place. Harry could apparate by himself without problems, but side along apparition was still miserable to him.

"Here we are." Voldemort murmured and Harry looked up to see himself standing in a dungeon.

"Are we at the manor? There are no anti-apparition wards on it?" Harry asked, expecting to find himself standing out in front of the manor, not already deep within the bowels of it.

"Not for anyone who bares my mark." Voldemort responded, a far away, distracted look in his eye that Harry found exceptionally unsettling.

"What is this exactly?" Harry said, looking at the complex looking chains that hung from the dungeon walls.

"Well the light certainly shouldn't know that you've been staying in a comfortable suite at my manor this past month, can they?" Voldemort said softly.

"Well, I suppose not." Harry said slowly, not at all pleased with where this was going.

"So, Bella and Lucius here will happily help you into your temporary outfit." Voldemort said in an exceptionally dark tone that caused Harry's stomach to drop and Harry looked around the realize that the two Death Eaters had come with them.

Harry stumbled forwards as Lucius dragged him over to the wall and Bella locked chains around his ankles.

"Ball your hands into fists." Lucius commanded.

"W-What?" Harry asked in alarm and confusion.

"Your magic, Harry, come out of your palms the strongest, I have observed. I have several wards up that should make the use of magic nearly impossible without disassembling them from the outside, but I'm known for my overkill, am I not? Even if knowing that range of your powers, that would hardly make a difference if you were given enough time or the proper motivation, Dumbledore will only know what you tell him. And if you say that you couldn't do magic, then he has no reason to doubt you. So do as Lucius says."

Harry reluctantly balled his hands into fists and spherical metal handcuffs were placed were placed over his fists, not allowing him to unclench them. Harry tried out of curiosity to release some of his magic, but the magic couldn't seem to penetrate the cuffs, which were probably cursed in some way to make them impenetrable to magic, considering Voldemort was going for overkill. He watched as his arms were stretch out to his sides so that his fists were level with his head and so he was spread out against the wall. In growing panic over his defenseless position, Harry pushed his magic out with all the force he could muster, but the only a puff of dark magic could be seen at the wrists of the cuffs.

"Now, Harry, clearly I wouldn't have just left you alone this whole time, would I? You may leave now, Lucius, Bella." Harry heard Bellatrix grumble on the way out about missing all of the fun and Harry's stomach twisted and he wanted to throw up as it began to dawn on him exactly what Voldemorts intentions were.

"I'll try to leave your chest alone, Potter. We don't want that damned Hogwarts healer to see that mark of yours, do we?"

"Tom, come on, I've already got a couple marks from the duels the past few weeks."

"You mistake me for someone who has mercy, Harry." Voldemort hissed and pointed his wand at Harry and Harry watched, grinding his teeth together as slash wounds appeared first on his shoulder, then across his cheek. He finally screamed as a particularly long and deep one was marred into his shin.

And then there was just pain as a crucio fell upon him. Harry screamed until he couldn't anymore and then it finally stopped, and Harry realized that he had awkwardly sunk half way down the wall, as his feet which had been thankfully been kept on the floor when he was bound, had lost interest in supporting his weight and he had slumped forwards in a way that would have brought his to his knees if it were not for the bindings on his arms. His neck hung forwards into his chest, and we he tried to raise it to face Voldemort, he found that he could not muster the strength to do so.

"Now for something a little more creative, shall we." Harry heard the man hiss, his voice seeming to start as if the man were down a well and ending as if he were screaming in Harry's ear. Harry watched as the ground seemed to also move closer and farther from him and was overcome by nausea and he vomited onto the ground before him. He closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to combat his disorientation.

"Petrificus Totalus." Voldemort whispered and Harry body straightened up against the wall as his knees locked and he found himself able to release another screech as his arms which were unable to snap to his sides because of his bindings were ripped out of their sockets.

Harry could now look at Voldemort once again and he saw the man smirking darkly. Harry tried to open his mouth, but remembered he was paralyzed. He and Voldemort just stared at each other, Harry's eyes wide from the pain he was in before the paralysis and Voldemort smirking darkly back at him. Harry blinked as the curse began to wear off, apparently not being a very strong one. Harry felt the numbness fade from his lips and he spoke.

"Have you had your revenge?" Harry rasped out of his raw throat.

"Yes, for now, Potter. And I'd just like to remind you where your loyalty lies." Voldemort said softly and Harry's side began to feel as if it were on fire. "If I find that you have changed your mind, you will face so much pain that even someone as proud as yourself will beg for death. And then maybe just before have nearly bleed to death as a result of your injuries, I will grant it. Do you understand me, Harry?"

Harry ground his teeth as the very outlines of a plan he had made a month ago repeated like a mantra in his head. You will betray him once you have the upper hand.

"Yes," Harry coughed weakly. "My Lord." He added softly before the curse wore off further allowing his neck to fall forwards.

"Your rescue party should be here by tomorrow morning. Oh, and your wand is being kept in a study upstairs. I know you don't need it, but you're welcome to grab it on the way out if you want. I'll be in touch when it becomes necessary. Until then, it's probably best to assume that whatever happens to you is happening on purpose." And with that, footsteps echoed far louder than they should have in his ear, and Voldemort left Harry alone in the dungeons.

The rest of the curse wore off and Harry could only muster a groan as he fell forwards and his injured shoulders bore the majority of his weight.

And then, much to his relief, Harry was overcome by darkness.

"Oh, Merlin, Harry." Harry heard a voice gasp and he groaned as pain came flooding back to him. He was clearly still hanging from the wall, as his shoulders felt like the Cruciatus curse had been focused on them for hours. Harry then noticed the smell of his sick on the ground with some faint undertones of the metallic smell of blood. Then his head began to throb and the room seemed to begin to spin and Harry began a series of dry heaves, the few contents that were in his stomach already coating the stone floors of the dungeon.

"How do we get him down?" Harry heard a voice ask that he knew he should have recognized, but couldn't place as his head seemed to spin off of his misplaced shoulders and he heaved again.

"It would take too long to get the wards down that are screwing with our magic."

"Try using dark magic." Harry rasped. "Voldemort tortured me—" Harry paused as he broke into a fit of coughs. "After he mentioned the wards. And my magic, only the dark magic worked." Harry pieced together remembering the puff of dark smoke that came from the cuffs without the yellow glow that usually accompanied it, before his brain protested the logical thought by beginning a series of stabbing pains and he broke out into another fit of coughs that was only stopped by another dry heave.

"Can't we do it the muggle way?" A voice asked and Harry realized that there were two different voices, a man's and a woman's.

"Damn it, Molly! The boy's dying and you want to file away his chains instead of using a few slashing curses?"

Mrs. Weasley? She wasn't usually on a front line situation like this. Harry thought in curiosity.

Harry heard some curses mumbled before he fell forwards, thankfully landing in a warm pair of arms instead on onto the cold, hard, sick covered floor.

"Can you walk boy?" The man's voice asked with a distinct gruffness that Harry knew that he would have recognized instantly if his senses were working with his brain properly.

Harry tried to place his feet under himself, but felt himself falling as a searing pain overtook his shin. An arm caught him around the shoulder and Harry yelped, and the noise startled whoever had grabbed onto his shoulder as he found himself face planting into his own rotting vomit.

Of course, Harry thought to himself as he felt himself being lifted from the ground and found his eyes finally focusing on the face of Mad-Eye Moody before he closed them again as Molly Weasley's hand rubbed at his face with a clothe, trying to remove the stomach contents from it.

His face was cleaned and Harry opened his eyes as Moody began moving, and he quickly shut them as he heaved again as nausea overtook him.

"Cover me, Molly." Moody barked.

Harry felt movement again and thought the waves of nausea.

"My wand. It's in a study upstairs." Harry muttered as his body was jostled up and down as Moody made his way up the staircase out of the dungeon.

"Remus and Sirius should still be in here somewhere, I'll send them a patronus once we get out of the dungeon and my magic works again, dear. Right now we need to get you out of the wards of the manor so that you can be apparated out." Molly murmured.

"Remus and Sirius are here? Where are my parents?" Harry whispered.

"Dumbledore thought it would be best if they stay behind. He was worried about their behavior becoming rash depending on the condition that you were found in."

"Why are you," Harry began, but stopped when he began coughing.

"Why am I here? Lily insisted that someone go to balance out the strategy trained mind of an Auror, someone to tell you that you'll be alright. Which you will, by the way dear, alright that is. We've got you now. It's the only reason she agreed not to come herself."

"You're just here for me?" Harry asked.

"Remus and Sirius were in charge of calling back up in if it was needed, but we didn't expect Voldemort to be here with you, just a few Death Eaters, we assume he has another manor somewhere where he spends the majority of his time and meets with most of his followers. But even finding this property is a huge step. You've done wonderfully so far Harry. I'm so sorry that this happened to you to get us the first contact with Voldemort anyone on the light has had in years face to face, but the war is beginning again Harry, and now we can finally end it." Molly babbled.

Harry didn't say anything, and a breeze surrounding him gave him reason not to, as he gasped at the fresh air.

"Can you apparate him away, Molly? I'll go back in and check on the boys and find Harry's wand." Moody barked and Harry felt himself be transferred into a new set of arms and his current lack of dignity occurred to him, being carried around as he was, but he couldn't muster up the strength to rectify the situation.

"Merlin, Harry, you're so light! Have you eaten at all since you were taken? The second we get back to the burrow, I'll make you something to eat. You like treacle tart, don't you? And how about some roast?" Harry managed to nod absent mindedly, not really caring about food.

"Okay, Harry, brace yourself, dear." Mrs. Weasley murmured before Harry felt himself being sucked away. He wasn't sure what was better, the solitary agony of the dungeon behind him, or the constant fussing that would surely await him at the burrow that lay ahead.

A/N: KIND OF IMPORTANT: Harry still needs a date to the Yule Ball, and as I have not gotten any suggestions, he is currently going to be going with Ginny Weasley, because she is really the only other eligible character that I have introduced so far. If you find even such a minor instance of this canon pairing horrifying, please offer a suggestion, so I can set it up, so to speak. Either way, it's not going to be a remotely romantic thing or the beginning of any sort of relationship either way, but people still sometimes seem to care about that sort of thing. Requirements for suggestions were listed at the end of the last chapter if you just ignore my A/N's (which I understand…)

Up Next: Harry's back at school and away from Voldemort. Which is probably a good thing.