Forgotten Lullaby

Title: Forgotten Lullaby

Author: WhimsicalBalderdash

Beta(s): None

Fandom: Harry Potter

Rating: M

Pairing: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle(Lord Voldemort); Severus Snape/Draco Malfoy/Remus Lupin (more to be announced at a later date)

Genre: AU, Romance, Drama

Word Count: 1,762

Warnings: Slash (m/m sex), graphic violence, character death (not HP/TR). Dumbledore, Ron bashing.

Summary: Harry Potter has given up. Beaten to an inch of his life during the summer before his sixth year at Hogwarts, he retreats into his mind in an effort to escape the heavy demands placed on him. There, he finds a refuge in a surprising place. There he receives an offer that he simply can't refuse. But when Dumbledore tells him that this is the dark lord attempting to manipulate and control him, will he ignore the comforting lullaby of the darkness that holds him, or will he delve deeper for the answers he never wanted to face?

Notes: Still unbeta'd so any errors are my own. I'm an affable sort, I'd not take offense if you tell me I misspelled something or the like. Please tell me if you spot something wrong or need more explanations or whatever, I don't mind.

And now, on with the show. Explanations and questions answered here, for the most part. It seems Severus has a story to tell. Who knew?

Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter…I hate repeating myself.

-(-)-

It was painful, looking at Harry in the state he was in. He could see the outline of Sirius, superimposed on him, the blank stare, the unforgiving shape of his body that screamed of agony and despair. Harry looked much like Sirius had when he'd finally run from Azkaban. Blinking hard to clear the memory away, Remus watched Harry quietly.

For the boy he considered a son, Remus felt he'd done very little to stop the abuse that was heaped on his small shoulders. When had Harry been a boy? When had he last been a child, free of the pressures and demands of the Boy-Who-Lived? Remus wanted nothing more than to curl around his cub and protect him from the life he'd lived so far. The helpless rage that he'd felt, carrying the far too light body in his arms away from Number 4 Privet Drive had suffocated him.

It had also blinded him to the machinations of the enigmatic potion's master sitting not far from him. And he had no doubt that the darker man had counted on it. During the last few months since the debacle of the Department of Mysteries, where Remus had lost the last of his confidants, his truest friend, he'd taken to cloistering himself away. Perhaps that too, in addition to his protectiveness and rage for Harry, had helped Severus push him in the direction he'd wanted Remus to go in.

He couldn't help but feel a modicum of respect for the Slytherin.

A part of him, the part that was still struggling with the death of Sirius, was screaming at him to take Harry and run. Just run. Run from Dumbledore, who'd been on the last threads of Remus' trust for some time now; run from Voldemort, who'd killed those precious to him and decimated any chance that Harry or Remus could be happy in their lives. Run from it all. Hide away and nurse their wounds in private, away from everyone else who would use them for their own gain.

He'd been so caught up in rescuing Harry that he hadn't questioned twice about who'd brought him the information. Amber eyes were steady on onyx, questions flittering about inside his head.

"Maybe I should have," Remus answered the darker man's snappish question with a gentle nod of his head. "However, getting Harry out was far more important than asking how or why you came about the information. So…how did you know?"

"I received information about Harry's condition from one of my …informants." Snape began, leaning back into the plush chair and eyeing the two males emotionlessly. "When I was told of his injuries and the situation, I went to Lupin, and brought him along. The End."

"Oh Severus…" Remus breathed, a smile twitching on his full lips as he shook his head. "'The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way'*…"

"I assure you, I have no idea what you're referring to."

"Quite," Remus drawled in a way very similar to Severus' tone. "Why don't you try again, Severus? Perhaps this one with the whole truth, rather than a partial one."

Severus glared at Remus, challenge in his every movement. Before he could attempt to argue for the truth, however, Severus glanced at Harry and sighed. A long fingered, pale hand rubbed over his face as he appeared to struggle with some inner demon.

"It's not like we can report to Dumbledore, Severus," Remus reasoned out loud and watched the lanky frame of the potion's master tense up. "Both you and I deserted him, and I sincerely doubt that Harry will be running off to tattle on our escapades anytime soon."

"If ever."

Both Remus and Severus turned and looked at Harry, who stared back mulishly. It was a strangely …odd expression to see on such a battered, sick face. If he wasn't mistaken either, Harry had his lower lip out too, as if he were pouting. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the raised eyebrow on Severus' face.

"Oh?" Severus drawled. "And I just take your word on that? As if the mere word of a Gryffind-"

"I, Harry James Potter, …do hereby swear to not reveal to …Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore anything …associated with and of the discussion between Remus Lupin, …Severus Tobias Snape and …myself. I so swear." Harry managed to rasp out, and the threads of his vow encircled them all.

By the end of his vow, he looked even more exhausted than he had been beforehand. Remus could see the faint blue lines of his veins under the paleness of his skin and unable to help himself, he lifted the blanket higher onto Harry's torso. Both men gaped in shock – and Remus had to admit it looked even odder on Severus' face than Harry's defiant pout. Somehow, the werewolf didn't believe that the vow was what Severus was expecting. However, he was unable to change it, or have Harry take it back. Only one thing came to mind.

"Why?"

"Let's not get off track so soon, Lupin." Severus said, his voice filled with curiosity and intrigue. He stared at Harry like a new specimen of potion's ingredient.

"Who is your informant, Professor?" Harry asked, his green eyes focused and intense on Severus' dark ones.

The man hesitated only briefly before answering.

"The Dark Lord informed me of your predicament, Potter."

"What?" Remus said, leaping to his feet in shock and fury. "That bastard told you that Harry was in trouble and you just swallowed it whole?"

Without looking away from Harry, Severus continued, "He informed me of a lot of things, Lupin. One of which was the fact that Harry and he had come to an agreement. They've been in contact for most of the summer, it seems."

"What?" Lupin struggled to hold onto the thread of the conversation valiantly. "How is that possible? Why would he care? How-"

"The connection with Voldemort works both ways, Remy…" Harry rasped, glancing at his godfather, ignoring the two flinches at the name.

"Apparently, this truce works so that the Dark Lord can't harm Harry, or those taking care of him. Both are to meet and discuss the war and the many things that are being held away from Harry." Severus continued, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

"How do you know all of this?" Remus asked, still not sitting down. "How is it he knew to tell you to help Harry?"

Severus shifted uncomfortably in the chair and rolled his eyes at Harry's knowing smirk.

"I made a vow to protect Harry's life at all costs and the Dark Lord knew of it. And to be quite honest, Lupin, he knew that I would know where you are. Everyone knows of your closeness with Harry and it was…understood that I was to find you, the last of those he considered family." Severus paused a moment, before flicking his eyes in Remus' direction before focusing on the boy that seemed so lost in the bed linens. "With my vow…and with the Dark Lord's mission to liberate you from your Muggle family's clutches, I am also under the flag of your truce."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked, shifting on the bed.

Before he could blink, Remus had moved forward to help him settle against the bedding. Harry sighed softly at the help, but wasn't about to make a fuss about it – the truth was that he felt as weak as a newborn kitten, and he was already tiring again. A part of him was already regretting staying awake past Remus' warnings that he needed rest, but he knew that he'd never really and truly sleep easy if he didn't know at least something about his rescue.

For certain, he was confused about everything that had happened. He'd thrown in the towel, so to speak. After the beatings of his Uncle and the strange …well. Attacks, he guessed he could call them, of the bright light in his dreams, he simply hadn't wanted to do it anymore. Nothing seemed worthwhile.

None of his friends had written him this summer, not even a cursory 'I'm not allowed to contact you, but we're alright,' which he'd been more than certain Hermione would have done. It was painful to feel forgotten and simply discarded after school, when the Headmaster had no use for him. Nothing seemed to happen over the summer that seemed to need Albus Dumbledore's focused attention on Harry Potter and anything that had to do with Harry Potter.

Then he'd been shocked to find Lord Voldemort in the shadows of his mind, and instead of trying to wipe Harry Potter from the face of the earth, the Dark Lord had offered a safe haven for which Harry to heal and recuperate. It was more than shocking to discover that he indeed felt safe and protected while in the darkest corners of his mind, in the comfort of his enemy. The man who killed his parents. The man who had gone out of his way to attempt to kill him.

How strange it was to discover that he wanted nothing more than to feel that way again.

"It means that until you have the energy to confront Voldemort on equal grounds to discuss this issue, we are safe from his plans and Death Eaters." Snape replied, eyeing the young man with interest and curiosity. "Albus has no knowledge of this, so we are in a slight predicament if he finds out where you were taken."

"He won't find out from me," Harry replied, turning to stare at the dour man. "He left me there, with them. I want nothing to do with him."

"But Harry, the war…" Remus started before Harry cut him off.

"I don't know what's going to happen." Harry said tonelessly, the gaping pauses in his speech seemingly gone as he spoke without inflection. "I don't want to know what's going to happen. If Voldemort and I can come to some kind of terms, then perhaps the fighting will stop. All I know is that Dumbledore doesn't give a damn about me. None of them do. So why should I care about them and their wishes?"

Both Remus and Severus glanced at each other before turning to face Harry.

"What's a bloke gotta do to get some food around here?" Harry whined, giving the Ever Effective Eyes tm to Remus and throwing Severus a smirk at the dour man's eye roll.

*Samuel Butler English composer, novelist, & satiric author (1835 - 1902)