The Meaning Of Family

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A/N: Sorry I haven't updated for a long time but I haven't been in the right frame of mind since my father's birthday on the 15TH of October, because he passed away, so I'm sorry if my story won't make anymore sense after the 7TH Chapter because my mind drifts off during conversations and other things and sometimes I don't even notice. I will check my Chapters like I did before but I still can't make any promises that I know what I'm doing anymore sorry if this little or long AN doesn't make any sense, I was thinking about writing a story when I've learnt how to write better but I don't know anymore because he won't be able to read it now, anyway sorry again I know it's a depressing AN but I can't help it and now I'm just rambling so I will go and try to write Chapter 8 now.

Thank you to all my reviewers.

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Chapter 8

The Unexpected Letter

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To my Dearest husband,

It has been almost a decade and still no reply from you. I know why, but I would have thought at least one of your incompetent followers would have done something about it by now, but I guess not.

I have waited too long and know what I must do for you my sweet husband, for all of us.

I know you will get these letters I have been sending to you for the past decade and I will see you soon my love.

Your Loving Wife.

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June 21st 1991

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Harry was sitting in his bedroom looking out his window, it was nearing nightfall and the sun was almost setting, after looking out over the country side and noticing an owl in the distance, he went into his bathroom to have a shower.

Once he was finished in the shower he got into his pyjamas ready for bed, drying his hair he walked into his room and looked up at the sound of a hoot, and was startled to find a black owl sitting on his bed with a black envelope tied to his leg.

"Where did you come from?" Harry asked no one in particular, as he dropped his towel on the bed next to the owl.

Harry slowly removed the letter from the owl's leg and gave it a gentle rub on it's chest, the owl hooted in contentment, and stayed on the bed next to Harry.

Harry looked the envelope over on the front and turned it over to see the back, where there was the Slytherin emblem on an emerald wax seal, which was a silver snake in the shape of an 'S' wrapped around a shield with a picture of a castle, with it's head facing forward and it's emerald eyes looking as if it was looking directly through whoever looked at it, that Harry had seen before in books that he read in the Black's family library, puzzled by this, Harry then turned it to the front and sat there on his bed staring at the name written neatly with long slanting silver lettering, it read 'Harry Potter', sensing nothing suspicious with the letter Harry opened the envelope, to see the same emblem in an emerald ink and the same slanting writing done with silver ink. After puzzling over who it could be from for a good two minutes Harry finally started to read the letter, it read;

'To Dear Harry Potter,

You may not know who I am, my name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, although I am better known as Lord Voldemort.

Now please don't throw this letter away, because I have some information for you that will very much change your life forever, so to start of with, I won't be writing down certain things in this letter, because to be honest it's just better for life changing news to be done face to face, instead of in a letter, so I won't be putting it here.

Now I will say that I can guarantee that you have a lot of questions about certain things that have, and are happening to you, that you probably haven't told anyone about, but you know that it's different from most other people and that the only reason you are still reading this is because you know I am speaking the truth and you know that I have the answers to those questions (which I do) so if you want the answers to your questions you will have to meet me.

I have given you a port-key that will only activate with a password said by you and you alone, but I will understand if you want to bring someone with you, I also know that you are in America so just to let you know the port-key won't be noticed by the British or the American ministry.

I know your in hiding and I know who you are with and I must admit that I'm glad, because I know you are in safe hands, especially away from Dumbledore, but I won't get into that right now.

I know you have no reason to trust or believe me, but I ask this of you, as it's concerning both our lives, if you don't want to take the port-key and wish to extend an invitation to your home I would be more than happy to except and I assure you I will come alone, in fact none of my followers know about any of what I have to tell you.

So if you could send your reply with the owl that delivered this letter it would be much appreciated.

Harry please meet me, I won't hurt you and if you need or want a Wizards oath I will happily give it to you.

I know this is a long letter so I will end it here with one last plead as this is very important and I'm sure you will regret it for the rest of your life if you refuse.

If you are willing to meet me, then I will reply to you with a time and date and also the password for the port-key.

Sincerely,

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Sirius" Harry called, after reading the letter two more times. He decided it would be best if Sirius read the letter before he made any move to reply, he knew the letter gave him more questions than what he had before reading it, and he also knew that he would only get them if he agreed one way or the other to either meet him somewhere or take the port-key, or invite him to their home, so he was pretty sure he would end up meeting him, but he was still weary, as it was the Dark Lord after all, but he needed answers, he always knew there was something different about him but never knew what, and never asked Sirius, he didn't even think Sirius would know anyway.

Sirius knocked on the door, then entered Harry's room and stopped in his tracks when he noticed the black owl sitting next to Harry. "Harry, whats going on?" Sirius asked perplexed.

"Well that's why I called you, I received this letter, and I thought it would be best if you read it too"

"You mean you already opened it?" Sirius asked surprised, then looking at the open envelope sitting on Harry's bed, "I don't know how that owl could have gotten through the wards though."

Harry shrugged his shoulders and handed the letter to Sirius.

As Sirius was reading the letter Harry watched his face expressions change from shock, to confusion, to anger, then back to shock again. Sirius just sat there staring at the letter in his hands after he finished reading it.

"I think I'm going to reply with a yes, Sirius" Harry said, after studying Sirius' face for a few more minutes, wondering what he was thinking and how he was going to talk to Sirius about this.

"What questions was he talking about Harry?"

"Surely you've noticed a few different things about me Sirius, I mean after living with me for this long you have never noticed anything?" Harry asked, cautiously.

"We'll no not really."

Harry just raised an eyebrow to Sirius' reply.

"I mean, I just thought that it was something Voldemort did to you with that curse, through your scar when you were a baby." Sirius whispered, not really sure what it could be that was so different about Harry other than what he had always believed. 'How could there be anything else, no there can't be, it has to be because of Voldemort, that's the only thing.'

"That has to be it Harry, what else could it be?"

"No Sirius, it's more than that, I have a lot of questions that need answers and I know that Tom can give me those answers, I just know it." Harry said, shaking his head.

"Since when have you started calling him, Tom?" Sirius asked perplexed.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders, "I need to meet him Sirius, so what I want to know from you is where?"

"I don't know Harry, I mean there's a lot to consider, we have to make sure...."

"No, Sirius you read the letter, we will be safe no matter which option we choose, all we have to do is get Tom to give us a wizards oath and make arrangements for where to meet, it's that simple, personally I think we should meet him somewhere familiar to us, that way if anything did go wrong, which I don't think anything will, but just in case we will have a head start by knowing our way around." After waiting for a response from Sirius, and not getting one Harry added, "what do you think Sirius?"

After giving it some thought Sirius had to agree that Harry's plan sounded the best way to go. "Are you sure you want to do this Harry?"

Harry just nodded his head.

"OK, if your sure then I guess we'll have to think of somewhere we feel comfortable with, but also private enough not to be seen or heard."

"What about that forest area, near the town square, it's private, so we shouldn't get anyone coming near there, besides we do have protection charms and spells we can use, I'm sure Tom will have plenty of spells also, maybe even ones we don't know about."

"You seem to admire Voldemort a bit too much Harry." Sirius said, with a look of worry in his eyes.

"Well he is the most feared wizard to live Sirius, maybe even more so than Salazar Slytherin himself, whats not to admire with that?" Harry asked, with admiration clear in his voice.

"That maybe so Harry, but don't forget what that man, if you can even call him that, did to a lot of people especially what he did to your family."

"How can I forget that Sirius, I'm not stupid, but he has done many great things also, for example he managed to get dragons talking to wizards again, well at least one wizard, and also helped to bring them back from almost extinction, not an easy task, you told me that yourself Sirius, and he has many other great things to his name."

"Yes I know, but that doesn't excuse what he did to a lot of families, he has done awful things Harry, things you couldn't even begin to imagine."

"Maybe, but I still think he's the greatest wizard of our time, I mean to be able to talk to snakes and have the respect of dragons, not to mention all his followers, if so many people believe in him, there must be a good reason for it."

"Maybe that reason is from fear only Harry, not respect."

"What about the dragons I doubt they would fear him Sirius."

"Well a promise of revenge probably would've been enough for them to agree to anything he wanted not respect for a wizard, after being hunted by wizards."

"That might have something to do with it, but I feel there is a lot more to it, I don't think the dragons would follow someone just because they are promised revenge, because they were in hiding at the time and were growing in numbers anyway, all they would've had to do is stay that way until they had a lot in numbers and get there own revenge when they where ready, with enough dragons they would've been able to, so there must be more to it then what other people know, so maybe one day Voldemort will be able to tell me, or better yet a dragon will be able to tell me."

"Your a dreamer sometimes Harry," Sirius said, shaking his head, with a small smile on his face, "dragons still don't talk to people, only one wizard has the privilege of talking to dragons, and I wouldn't advise asking him questions about it either."

"Hm maybe." Harry nodded slightly.

"OK, well anyway, you better respond to the letter then."

Harry grabbed some ink and parchment from the draw of his bedside table and started to write his letter.

'Dear Tom,

I have thought over your offer, and have decided to give you a chance, but only after a few things are agreed on; first is the wizards oath, I think it would be stupid of me not to have that done first and that's one thing I will not be, 'stupid'.

Second; I think it would be best if you were to meet us near our town square in America, which I will be happy to give you more details about after your wizards oath.

Third; we will send you a port-key with a password, once again after the wizards oath. That is mainly for our own safety as we can limit it to just one person, and we will be charming the name of the place of our meeting so you can't tell anyone where it is and have them turn up after you have arrived to see if we are there, we have to take precautions for our safety so I hope you understand that you will have to promise this in your wizards oath.

I look forward to hearing from you, with your oath, and a time that suits you. Then we will contact you with the place and port-key to get you there at your chosen time.

Kindly

Harry Potter.'

"There, does that sound alright?" Harry asked, giving Sirius the letter to read over one last time before he sent it with the owl, that was still sitting next to Harry on the bed waiting patiently.

"Yeah it sounds fine." Sirius nodded, he got out his wand and placed a charm on it, "that's to make sure no one can read it if it gets intercepted and so it can't be traced back to here."

"It should be safe enough to send it now, but are you really sure you want to do this Harry, what if something goes wrong?" Sirius handed the letter back to Harry.

"Nothing is going to go wrong if we get the wizards oath from Tom, and take all the precautions we can, you know placing charms on us, and the area we will be meeting Tom, what can go wrong?"

"Well, maybe Voldemort will find out a way to attack you, without his followers, and through our precautions, I'm sure he can do it himself without them, what if this is a way to get you out of hiding so he can kill you, it's not like he hasn't tried before, and you said it yourself Voldemort probably knows spells and charms we haven't even heard of, not to mention ways of breaking ours."

"You worry too much Sirius, we'll be fine I just know it, and I really want to find out what is so important that he needs to talk to me." Harry replied, rolling the letter small enough to be tied to the owls leg.

"Hm maybe you don't worry enough." Sirius responded, getting up off the bed, "well we should see where this may take us once you send your reply and receive Voldemort's in turn, lets hope we won't regret it." Sirius said, walking out the door.

Harry watched Sirius leave his room, then turned around to tie the letter to the owls leg, once it was done the owl hooted once, then sat there staring at Harry. Harry reached out a hand and hesitantly patted the owl's chest, he couldn't believe how friendly the owl was, and how soft the feathers where.

"Your a gorgeous owl you know, but I think it's time you were on your way, don't you?" The owl hooted once more in response, spread it's beautiful black wings open and took flight out the window.

Harry shook his head with a chuckle and watched the owl fly away.

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Slytherin Castle

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Voldemort was sitting at the dinner table, having a nice quiet meal whilst he awaited the return of his owl, he had sent him yesterday afternoon, and was starting to wonder if he was going to return any time soon.

Just as he finished his meal and started to stand his owl came through the open balcony door and landed on the table hooting quietly, Voldemort removed the tightly rolled up parchment from the birds leg and fed him the remainder of his dinner, hooting in thanks the owl nibbled on the left over bits of chicken.

Voldemort sat back down gracefully, opened the letter and read the neatly written script. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at Harry's words, he definitely wasn't stupid, but then again he knew Harry would be smart. It was only natural of course.

After reading the letter, he folded it and put it in his pocket. Getting up from the table he gracefully walked to his potion's lab and retrieved the two little vials, one filled with the crimson of his blood, the other a deep purple of the potion needed for the wizards oath, that he had prepared for this moment, as he was almost certain Harry would agree to meet him, and this was just in case he did.

Once that was done he walked to his study to write his reply to Harry, for he wanted to meet him as soon as he could, he didn't want Harry getting his Hogwarts letter first, he knew Harry wouldn't be planning on going there but he also knew that Dumbledore would send his letter anyway, he wanted the chance to talk to him before that happened. Finishing the letter he called his owl and told him to deliver the letter and the small vials back to where he had just came from, the owl hooted then spread his big black wings and took flight out the large open window.

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Harry was sleeping soundly in bed, until he heard the faint sound of tapping, not really in the mood to get up yet he turned his back to the window, grumbling about the rudeness of early risers.

After hearing the same tapping getting louder with each tap he eventually gave up thinking that ignoring the noise would make it go away, it just wasn't meant to be.

Grumbling once more he finally got out of bed and opened the window to see the same black owl from before, freezing his butt off in only his boxers, he let the owl in his room knowing who it was from but not expecting it so soon after he sent his reply.

Shrugging his shoulders he took the letter from the owls leg and noticed two small vials clutched in the owls claws, removing them from his clutches, Harry sat back down on his bed.

"Sorry I don't have any food up here but you can have a drink from the bathroom if you like."

The owl looked at Harry as if to say 'I don't think so' before hooting his disdain and perching himself next to Harry on his bed, making himself comfortable.

Harry shook his head and chuckled at the owl, "Well I can ask the house elf to bring some food for you if you need it."

The owl sat there staring at Harry for a short minute before nodding his head slightly at him.

"Daffy." Harry called

"What can Daffy be doing for master Harry sir?" Daffy asked bowing, after popping in the room.

"Can you bring some food or owl treats for this beautiful owl, please?"

Daffy looked at the owl for a minute before nodding his head and popping out of the room.

A minute later and Daffy was back and putting a tray of bacon, eggs and toast on the bedside table and some owl treats as well before popping out of the room again, Harry just sat staring at the spot where Daffy had been for a moment, wondering why the house elf didn't want to stay for a little chat as they usually did whenever seeing each other, before shrugging it off and opening the letter.

To Dear Harry,

I am glad that you have agreed to meet and I accept your terms for meeting with me, in fact I would have been disappointed if you didn't have any terms of your own or precautions set in place.

There for I have sent you a small vial of my blood with a potion for my Wizards oath, all you have to do is mix a drop of your blood with mine, then mix the blood with the potion and drink it, that's all there is to it.

You can test both my blood and the potion to see if I'm honest with you if you so choose, which personally I would be glad if you did, but you will see I am being honest and it is what I say it is.

As for when; I would like to meet you before your birthday, but I will leave the exact date for you to decide.

I look forward to your reply for place, date and port-key.

Sincerely

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Is that your reply from Voldemort?"

Harry had sensed Sirius there so wasn't surprised by his sudden question.

Looking up from the letter, to Sirius Harry nodded and held the letter out for Sirius to take so he could read it.

"Daffy told me there was an owl in here, and I figured that since the only owl to have been able to get through the wards was Voldemort's and that he had sent you his reply." Sirius said, by way of explanation of him knowing, whilst sitting next to Harry to read the letter.

"I thought he would do that, he did seem a little surprised, he didn't say anything after he brought the tray in."

Sirius looked at the tray of food on the table and nodded his head, "not to worry."

Harry was stroking the owl waiting for Sirius to finish reading the letter, and once he was he handed it back to Harry and took the vials from next to him on the table and cast several spells on it to check they were what they were suppose to be. Once satisfied he handed them to Harry also.

Harry grabbed his wand and transfigured a quill into a small blade, Sirius had been training Harry in magic since he got his wand when he was seven, and Occlumency since he was nine, which he was as surprised as Sirius was when he found it quite easy, he just figured it must be something to do with whatever Tom had done to him, when he was a baby.

Harry took the cork out of the vial of blood, nostrils flaring at the assault of the beautiful smell coming from it and inhaled deeply, the smell alone was making his senses spike and his knees go weak from the slight euphoria he felt, for some reason he couldn't wait to taste it.

Feeling something or someone shaking him from next to him, he looked over to his right, to a worried Sirius shaking him.

"Harry, what are you doing?"

Shaking his head slightly, "Nothing Sirius, don't.." He stopped talking in surprise at how his voice sounded slightly deeper and more sensual and silkier then usual.

"Harry are you feeling alright, maybe i missed something when I was checking those vials." Sirius said, worry evident in his voice.

Clearing his throat, Harry shook his head at Sirius and tried again to speak, "Don't worry Sirius, I'm fine." glad that his voice was back to normal and his body felt normal again, he had never felt so much pleasure before, 'I'm sure that feeling was illegal as sin' Harry thought shaking his head slightly again to clear it of his thoughts.

He had always had a good sense of smell, he often could smell Sirius' scent and loved it but he never much about it as he got use to it, but the smell of blood was so sweet, 'I wonder if that's what I smell so strongly with Sirius.' He knew he didn't much like the smell of Daffy though, but being a house elf he could see why.

"Are you sure, you had me worried there you know, it's like you weren't even aware of anything around you, the way you were just staring at the vial of blood." Sirius said, worry still on his face but his voice calming down.

"Yes I'm sure Sirius." Harry replied smiling at Sirius, "It was nothing." Harry assured.

Harry grabbed the small blade with his right hand and made a small cut on the tip of his finger and let his blood drip into the small vial filled with Tom's blood the smell assaulting his senses again but not so bad this time seeing as though he was trying not to breath in too deeply or too much, trying to hold his breath as much as possible.

Once that was done he healed his finger easily, which was another thing he noticed he could do with ease, and replaced the cork in the vial and mixed it around a bit. Then he mixed the blood with the potion and watched as the potion went from a deep purple to black.

Watching it change Harry suddenly didn't want to drink the potion with Sirius there, not knowing what effect it might have on him after what happened just from him smelling it. 'Maybe I can drink it in the bathroom,' thought Harry.

"Sirius I'm going to drink it in the bathroom in case it makes me sick and I don't have time to make it to the toilet."

"I don't know Harry I would rather you drink it with me around you in case something goes wrong with it." Sirius said, not liking the thought of Harry being alone, whilst drinking something from Voldemort.

"I'll be fine Sirius, stop worrying about it, you have already checked it yourself and there was nothing wrong with it, are you trying to tell me that your examination isn't good enough?" Harry said, getting irritated that Sirius wouldn't drop it about Tom, he may be Voldemort and done many things but Harry just some how knew he could trust him, and Harry always trusted his instincts.

Sirius was taken aback at the bite in Harry's tone and the slight jab at his abilities, "I'm sorry Harry, I just want you to be safe, and I don't trust Voldemort."

Feeling slightly guilty at hurting Sirius, Harry took his hand and said softly, "I don't mean to bite your head off Sirius, I know you have no reason to trust Tom, but for some reason I do, so just trust me on this OK, I know you are just looking out for me but I just know it."

Looking at the hand holding his Sirius couldn't help but think that Harry seemed a lot older than what he really was, and decided to trust Harry on this knowing that he was taking precautions to make sure he wasn't fooled not to mention the fact that he himself had checked it all over and couldn't find anything wrong or untruthful about the potion or the blood. "I trust your judgement on this Harry, so if that's what you want then I will support you in anything OK?"

Harry smiled at Sirius and brought the hand he was still holding up to his lips and gave it a small peck, and then let the hand flop to the bed and grabbed the small vial of potion and blood and went to the bathroom and closed the door, leaving a stunned Sirius behind him, staring at the bathroom door.

Harry stood in front of the sink, he pulled the cork from the vial and took a deep breath, immediately being assaulted by the smell of blood but now it wasn't as strong, as it had the potion mixed with it but still noticed the sweet smell only now mixed with his own blood as well.

Taking another deep breath to get use to the smell and to brace himself for whatever would happen next, Harry took one last look at the vial before drinking it all in one mouthful. As soon as the liquid hit his tongue he felt the most pleasurable feeling he had ever felt, his sense of smell had heightened not mention all his other senses had become more sensitive, and he could feel himself trembling, his blood in his veins felt like they were on fire but it felt unbearably good, and when he looked in the mirror he noticed his eyes were a brighter then normal but darker green, and his pupils were blacker then black bottomless pits, he ran an experimental hand over his chest and gasped at the feeling it enticed, he looked down at himself and noticed he was hard.

'Wow, I didn't even think that was possible at my age,' Harry thought.

He felt better then he ever had before and wondered if that was ment to happen with this potion, but thought it probably wasn't. 'It's probably because I'm more sensitive than most people and the effect blood seems to have on me, not to mention the fact that it was a mix of my blood and Tom's.'

Once the feeling was gone and he felt normal again 'well as normal as he ever did' he checked himself in the mirror again to see his eyes were back to his usual bright emerald eyes, he opened the bathroom door and walked back into his bedroom and sat on his bed.

"No problems then, Harry?" Sirius asked, watching Harry walk gracefully to the bed and sit back down.

"Nah, I told you, you didn't have to worry Sirius." Harry said, not really wanting to tell Sirius what had happened to him after drinking the potion, not wanting to worry him anymore, or him wondering why it happened in the first place.

"Good, I can't help it though Harry, your like a son to me."

Harry stiffened at the words Sirius said. He had never thought of Sirius as a father figure, and didn't like the fact that Sirius thought of him like a son.

Noticing Harry tense Sirius immediately said, "Not that I'm trying to take your Dad's place or anything like that Harry." Completely oblivious to the reason Harry was so tense.

Harry didn't want to talk about it anymore so decided to change the subject.

"Now that I have the Wizards oath, I think we can make our plans to meet Tom, so would mind making and charming the port-key for me whilst I write the letter back with the time, date and place, please." Harry said, avoiding eye contact with Sirius whilst getting up and getting some ink, a quill and a piece of parchment.

Sirius looked at Harry then shrugged it off as another of one of Harry's bad moods, and set to work on the port-key and charms so Voldemort couldn't bring anyone with him.

Harry wrote the letter to Tom, and told him to meet them at 'The Enchanted Forest' the forest next to the Magical Square in Salem, on the 6th of July, in two weeks time, at 11pm. It would be better at night because not many people would be around, and who were wouldn't know they were there anyway.

Once Sirius was finished and Harry had the letter done he tied it to the owls leg, and once the owl had the package in his claws he spread his wings and took flight once more.

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Thanks everyone for being patient with me, I'm sorry if this chapter isn't that good, I've not been myself for a long while and had to force this chapter out, it might seem a bit rushed but it couldn't be helped an as shit as I feel, I'm not giving up on this fic, so please continue o be patient with me. Also about the Wizards oath it might sound stupid and your probably right, but it made sense to me at the time and it's only one way of doing the wizards oath in my story, so there you have it, lol.

Please read and review it means a lot to me, thanks again everyone.