Brand New Day

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Chapter 08
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The trip to the Diagon Alley was uneventful, they floo from the Grimmaud 12 strait in to the twins store, who had apparated just a minute before to set the fire. Mrs. Weasley left them at the store while she ran to do her shopping after they all promised to met her and Mr. Weasley at the Leaky Cauldron for Harry’s birthday lunch and, let’s face it, being inside that store before it was open to the general public was like having a childhood dream came true.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and even Tonks where stocking up for the whole year, no matter how many times Remus reminded Tonks that she wasn’t going anywhere and that they could came back whenever she wanted, and Hermione kept telling the others that most of that stuff was prohibited at Hogwarts anyway and they were just wasting money.

The fact that Hermione was being her usual ‘by-the-book” charming self didn’t spoil their mood, that was just Hermione being Hermione. Remus told her to loosen up a bit before moving over to Tonks who was checking some innocent looking marble balls on a counter. Harry smiled to himself as he suddenly realised that those two were spending a lot of time together lately.

The twins came from the back of the store holding a large bag.

“Harry, dear...”

“... you know we always loved you like a brother...”

“...well, no the way Ron is loving you lately...”

“... but we love you anyway...”

Harry could feel his face blushing more and more. Thank all the Gods the store was closed.

“... and since you manage to shag your way in to this family...”

“Fred!”

“George!”

“Boys!”

- Thank Gods the store is closed -

“...we would like to proudly present you...”

“... the Deluxe Weasley Bag of Fun...”

“... we hope you like it.” They finished placing the bag at Harry’s hand.

“Wow, Thank you” said Harry smiling from ear to ear.

“We added a few special products...” they said leaning closer and whispering.

“... from the adult part of the shop...”

“Do tell how do you like them” they added in sync.

Harry gulped looking down at the bag... \" Oh, Gods!\"

*****

The ten of them were siting at a specially decorated room at the Leaky Cauldron and Harry couldn’t remember a time when he was happier... well, in public anyway. The room was full of balloons enchanted to dance around the whole time and everybody was wearing silly party hats that shot serpentines every now and then.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a set of Wizards Chess on Gryffindor’s colours, Hermione had brought a defence against the dark arts book with incredible fighting techniques, Ginny gave him a box of chocolate frogs, Tonks gave him three books on the life and training of auros and Remus gave him a set of runes made of moon stone (“to guide you while I\'m not there” – according to him).

Lunch was a noisy affair with everybody talking and laughing at the same time.

After lunch Mr. Weasley and the twins had to go back to work and the rest of then decide to have ice cream for desert. As they sat at the Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, Harry notice that he had forgotten the twins gift.

“Everything all right, love?” asked Ron.

“Sure, I’ll just run back inside and get the bag” Harry answered giving Ron a pointed look.

\"What bag...\" Ron started but soon his eyes widened as he remembered \"Yes, the bag, hurry back then, we\'ll save you a sit\".

Harry quickly made his way back to the party room, hoping nobody when up there to clean and only to find the bag and the gods only knew what the twins had put in there. He climbed the stairs jumping two steps at the time and hurrying inside the room only to see it was still empty.

Harry found the bag at the corner where he had left it in order not to caught Mrs. Weasley’s attention and hastily checked the contents to see if anything was missing. He heard the door closing behind him and smiled, Ron had come after him... his smile quickly vanished as he looked at the window in the wall in front of him and saw Ron sitting at the table outside.

“actio wand” said a voice behind him, Harry felt his wand flying out of his pocket and spun around trying to catch it before it was too late, he missed it.

{“Harry, I’m afraid I just missed the party, but I hope is not to late to wish you a happy birthday”} said a all too familiar voice in parceltongue from the door.

Harry quickly looked around measuring his options. \"well, here I am, after all these years of training, facing Voldemort. Who happens to be standing on the only way out with three Death Eaters and my wand... way to go, Harry. Wonder what my tomb stone will say\"

{“Why don’t we sit down and have a drink?”} asked Voldemort.

{“Excuse me?”} Harry blinked, switching to parceltongue as well without noticing that invitation was not what he was expecting to hear. \"Very smart answer Harry, way to go\"

{“A drink. Boy. Why don’t we sit down and have a drink?”} Voldemort repeated sitting at the table. Oddly enough he was smiling.

Harry sat down at the further chair from Voldemort. He was trying to be brave but he knew the others could see his hands shaking.

\"I’m dead, I’m dead. He won’t even make it fast, he’ll torture me first... I have to get out of here. How? What can I do?\"

The sound of a voice talking to him called his attention back.

{“So, how is your birthday so far?”} Voldemort was saying as if they had been friends all along.

{“Fine, It has been fun”} Harry was willing to talk all Voldemort wanted, maybe it would get him some time to work something up, maybe someone from downstairs would miss him and came looking for him... \"oh! Gods! It would probably be Ron. I have to get out of there fast.

{“Did you get a lot of gifts?”}

{“Yes. Quite a few”}

{“Really? And what did you get?”}

\"what the hell is he playing at?\"

{“Oh! This bag of tricks from the twins joke shop - \" maybe there is something in here I can use... did they gave me any fireworks?\" - a book, a set of wizards chess, some chocolate frogs and a set of runes”}

{“That is not a lot”} said Voldemort, but his tone was not ironic or aggressive. Harry was getting more and more worried, wondering when would the attack came.

{“That is plenty, thank you very much”}

{“My, my. So aggressive”} Voldemort made a gesture and the Death Eater behind him put a beautiful wooden box on the table.

\" Ah! Here it comes\" though Harry.

{“I would like to give you something as well”}

{“Of course. Will it be the same thing you gave my parents or it is a new thing?”}

Voldemort hesitated but didn\'t seem angry. he seemed... almost sad, Harry was even more at lost. \"What is going on in here?\"

{“Let’s not talk about the past today. Let’s just talk about the present”} said Voldemort opening the box. A black snake came from inside it. Voldemort started to speak in parceltongue {“This is Shadow, she is a very special creature, very dear to me. Her mother has been with me for years”}

{“Nagini”} said Harry also in parceltongue before he could stop himself.

{“Yes, our connection has served you well”} Voldemort smiled {“but that is the past, the present however needs attention. As we speak a group of people very dear to you is sitting just below that window behind you eating ice cream...”} Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck standing up {“also, in the same store, there are 12 of my followers just waiting for my order to attack. Which bring us to your choice.”}

{“What choice?”}

{“Accept my gift or they all die”}

{“What is your gift, then?”} said Harry trying to stall the conversation as much as he could.

{“Shadow is my gift”}

{“What?”} Harry looked at the beautiful snake in front of him {“So, instead of killing me yourself you want me to accept being bit by your snake and dying like a good boy?”}

{\"Shadow\'s bite won\'t kill you, Harry. It will bind Shadow to you. I would never kill you in such a common manner\"}

{“Oh, How rude of me to assume that. Let me rephrase that: So, instead of killing me you will just try to control me through some bond? Nice plan, won’t work though. Dumbledore will figure it out as soon as he sees your gift. He is to good to be fooled by your pet”}

Harry was hoping to infuriate Voldemort and forcing him to commit a mistake. They were talking in parceltongue the whole time, hopefully the Death Eaters would take a few seconds to react since they didn’t understand what was being said. Voldemort laughed.

{“Your confidence in the old fool in remarkable, but so you know, there is a lot he is not telling you, a mistake that I don’t intend to make. And I can assure you that from my part is not a trick of any sort. The spell to bond the two of you together can only be accessed by someone from the same family. If we are not related as family I’ll never be able to use it to see how your doing or where you’re going. You see, it’s not the same bond that we share right now because of that little ritual back in your forth year, that is a complete different matter”}

Voldemort was happy with his game of words. He said the truth but manage to keep the key facts hidden from the boy, like them being family. He would find that out soon enough. He would tell him as soon as the boy grew fond of the snake, so he wouldn’t try to break the bond, something that was possible in the early stages of it.

{“and I should believe all you\'re saying and play along with it because I know for a fact that you are a very nice person who would never lie to me and that can always be trusted, right?”}

{“No”} Voldemort was laughing even harder {“by all means no. although I never lied to you. You’ll play along, as you say, because I can kill all your friends before they finish their desert and you don’t have to believe me, but think about it. What reason do I have to lie? If I wanted I would bond you and Shadow together and do it in a way that you prevent you from ever saying a word to anybody... or I could simply bond you to me, making you my slave for the rest of your life. You are not in a position were you would be able to resist. Isn’t it right?”}

{“All right. Let’s do it”} \" and so dies Harry Potter\" Harry knew for a fact he was done for, he just hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much.

The snake crawled to him and climbed up his arm. Harry tried to stay still and show no fear, Voldemort seemed amused by it.

{“Don’t worry, master, It won’t hurt and we’ll be together forever”} hissed the snake before biting him near his collarbone. Harry felt the poison burning in to him not to painfully for almost a minute before the world went black.

*****

Harry woke up with his head resting on the table and a soft hiss at his ear.

{“Wake up, master, there are people outside the door”} he heard Shadow.

{“How long was I out?”} asked Harry looking around. He was alone and the bag of tricks was by his feet.

{“About five minutes”} said Shadow hiding under his shirt as a cleaning lady walked in.

“Oh, I though the room was empty”

“It’s alright” said Harry getting to his feet \"what happen? How come I’m alive?” “I’m leaving”

Harry hurried outside and made an excuse of having to look for the bag to explain his delay. There was no need to get everybody worried until he knew exactly what had happened upstairs and the secrets Dumbledore was hiding but Voldemort was willing to tell.