Chapter Text
When Harry woke up again, he found himself still in the same hall. He hadn’t been unconscious for long; he had been given another dose of magic-restricting potion and was tightly bound with the Binding Curse.
"And also, your access to the castle will be revoked," Voldemort said with a victorious expression. He had already removed that terrifying snake-faced mask, revealing his handsome true face.
"How...?" Harry was really confused... Hadn’t he already escaped? The Time-Turner had indeed worked, hadn’t it? How had he been caught again?
Voldemort's smile broadened, a triumphant smile that made him look even more handsome.
He continued to explain, "I knew you had a Time-Turner... How could I be tricked by the same thing twice, Harry? Future me would send you a message, luring you here to save someone. I know your level of magic—if you want to save your friends, you can't fend off the Dark Lord’s magic... You didn’t have time to open a portal for yourself, did you? So you thought your only way to escape was to use that little hourglass in your hand and go back a few hours, didn’t you?"
Harry was stunned. He was still a bit confused; which point in time was this Dark Lord from?
"So Lord Voldemort came here early to wait for you. Harry, see how important you are, making the Dark Lord come personally to greet you?"
Voldemort was playing with a small brass item in his slender fingers. Harry recognized it—it was the Time-Turner. Voldemort examined the scale on the hourglass closely: "Three turns. So I will send you a message in three hours, luring you to the castle to save someone. Then you will turn the Time-Turner and obediently come here to be caught by me."
Harry finally confirmed that he had indeed returned to three hours earlier; the Time-Turner had not failed. The person in front of him was from three hours ago. However, the Dark Lord spoke of future events so clearly that Harry couldn’t help but be shocked by his elaborate scheme.
He had even calculated their positions during the fight, so when Harry returned three hours ago, he was ambushed from behind, completely unable to resist.
Three hours... He suddenly understood why about three hours ago his scar suddenly stopped hurting, and the Dark Lord seemed to be in a better mood. It wasn’t because his father had captured his classmates but because he had successfully captured Harry himself...
Harry saw the whole trap clearly now; he was like prey walking straight into a net, with no escape.
"So, you should reflect well on what you've done," Voldemort said loftily.
####
The group of Muggle classmates who passed through the portal were met by the famous white wizard, Albus Dumbledore. The elderly man with a white beard, dressed in a somewhat garish purple robe, stood in the wooded area of falling leaves, personally welcoming them. In the distance, the open lake and castle looked like something out of a fairy tale.
The old man handed over a long, thin broken umbrella. Everyone was confused but heard Dumbledore briefly explain, "Grab hold of this. It’s a Portkey. Harry asked me to take you to a safe place." Then everyone was transported to a residence, one of the Order of Phoenix's safe houses, which Voldemort presumably couldn't find.
"Professor Dumbledore, will Harry... will he be alright?" Jess, who knew Dumbledore, asked first.
"All we can do now is wait. Harry and I agreed that he would contact us if he managed to escape."
"He... fought with You-Know-Who. Who is he exactly?" A classmate asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.
"Harry... is a Potter child," Dumbledore blinked, avoiding the real answer they wanted, "As you can see, he took great risks to save you. Let’s hope... he can escape successfully."
However, they waited for a long time and still did not hear from Harry. The atmosphere grew heavier. Until late that night, Dumbledore sighed deeply, his blue eyes lacking their usual cheerful sparkle and looking somewhat sad.
"Will Harry be killed?" Claire asked, even she had put aside her excitement over the grand unifying theory, worried about that child.
"I don't know, Ms. Byran," Dumbledore shook his head and sighed.
####
After the classmates were successfully rescued, Harry was transferred to the Dark Lord’s bedroom by Voldemort. His father's room was still familiar to Harry; this was Harry’s third time here... each time his state of mind was completely different. This time, he was utterly the Dark Lord’s prisoner.
"Lord Voldemort’s decisions are not for you to question, you just need to obey. Besides... now you have no choice but to obey. You are no longer the master of the castle, don’t dream of escaping."
Harry knew that the Slytherin castle had been moved by dark magic to an isolated space. An isolated space means it’s indeed on Earth, but cannot be found anywhere on Earth. The only way in and out is through a portal opened with master permissions. Now that Harry no longer had master permissions for the castle, he was trapped in this small space, unable to escape. There were also many deadly traps outside. He couldn’t even move around freely in the castle.
"So... I no longer belong here." Harry felt a deep sense of desolation in his heart. After all, this place... had always been considered his home, with distant blood ties and close familial bonds. It was the place he grew up.
"Perhaps you will belong here forever," Voldemort raised an eyebrow.
But Harry knew he no longer had a home.
"Not as family, but as a prisoner?" Harry asked sarcastically, slightly raising his hand, the metal shackles on his wrist clinking. The shackles were heavy for the physically weak Harry, and his small arm fell back to the bedside.
"Why pretend to be sentimental, Harry? This is your own choice, isn’t it?" Voldemort was unmoved. "So stubborn. After you went to the Muggle world, the Dark Lord carefully planned so many things to teach you... but you remained even more stubborn in those foolish ideas... You betrayed the Dark Lord for those irrelevant people, betrayed your great master, betrayed the father who raised you... Ah, speaking of which, I should be the one feeling sad. It turns out our years together were worth nothing to you."
"It's not worth nothing, I... wait, your careful planning? So those things I encountered—"
"Bullying by classmates, exorcism by the church, and those news stories, I did so much for you, but what about you? Still foolishly unaware."
Harry suddenly remembered that the nurse said it was normal for Christine’s car to crash into him... It turned out magic had made it lose control and crash. And the Death Eater attack, a boy named Tom specifically asked Harry for help finding a cat, keeping Harry away, allowing the Death Eaters to take control and letting Harry return to see people killing each other.
"The Death Eater attack wasn’t an accident; you sent them?"
"I designed it to keep you away, to give you a chance to see a good show, to teach you about human nature."
"You really... went to great lengths." Now seeing the full picture, Harry felt like he had been played with all along. No wonder his controlling father had agreed to let him go; he had never escaped his father's control... his father had been watching him all along through Jess’s eyes. He had always been prey caught in a net.
"Sadly, all my efforts were in vain... Why be so stubborn and choose to be a fool? And now we’re here, you’re a prisoner, perhaps the price of being a fool."
"To be honest, seeing those things you orchestrated, I did waver... I thought a lot, but then I realized. The problem isn’t human nature itself, but the environment and rules that need changing."
Harry was glad he had figured it out. At least the layers of the net hadn’t ensnared his heart.
"You were so good before, so obedient, always completing what I wanted you to do... Why are you becoming more disobedient now?"
"Because I have my own mind. If this is the real me? Or perhaps, you never really knew me..."
"What’s the point of your insistence? What do you think you can gain? Haven’t you thought about it... you killed their friends, the Potter family hates you, the Ministry of Magic is hunting you, you know the serious crimes you've committed. Isn’t it too late to switch to the light side now... you’re the most dangerous dark wizard, a wanted man, the Dark Prince, you have no way out..."
"I’ve thought about it. Their hatred and killing are what I deserve, I don’t mind." Harry's words carried a trace of unobtrusive sadness.
"You don’t mind them doing this? Yet you choose to give up everything you have and betray me?" The elder paused, then continued, "The result is just that you’re imprisoned here. What other outcome could there be... Harry, you don’t think... you can stop Lord Voldemort?"
"If I could, I wouldn’t want to betray you—but I, I just hope the war can end."
"The child I raised wants to become my enemy, right?"
Hearing this, Harry felt even more sorrowful, but he truly couldn’t go against his heart to continue aiding and abetting evil: "I’m sorry... Father."
The fifteen-year-old boy looked at his father's familiar face, thinking of his past loyalty and admiration, then lowered his eyes. "Actually, if father wanted to, he could have killed me directly... If you hadn't saved me back then, I would have died long ago. I owe you my life."
"You wish," Voldemort retorted without hesitation.
"Why don't you kill me?"
"Because I love you, dear Harry," Voldemort said sarcastically, as if it were the funniest thing in the world. "How could I bear to let you die?"
"Oh... because I'm still useful, right?" Harry said coolly. He wasn't foolish enough to believe such words anymore.
"Hmph. It seems our Harry has made some progress and now starts to despise that rhetoric?"
Harry turned his face away, unwilling to answer. But Voldemort continued, "Sending Death Eaters to visit you was just part of it. More importantly, you've been recuperating in the Muggle world for long enough. My plan needs to continue, so I staged that accident... Didn't everything happen so smoothly and naturally? The Dark Lord didn't want you to have any doubts."
"I won't work for you anymore. What use am I to you now?" Harry quickly reviewed their past in his mind, then thought for a moment. "Is it because of the final step of that ritual?"
Lord Voldemort squinted at him, thinking that since victory was in his grasp, there was no need to be so guarded. He paused before continuing, "In the final step of that ritual, I will also gain your mysterious power."
"What mysterious power...?" Harry didn't understand.
"I thought you might have summarized some successful experiences. The final step of the immortality ritual was completed by you... the power required, you know it." Voldemort coaxed, observing Harry's reaction.
"Maybe I was just lucky?"
"Don't lie to Lord Voldemort, he will know."
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Why was it you? Answer me!" The red eyes met the green ones, and the Legilimency spell pierced into Harry's brain through the windows of his soul.
"I said I don't know." Harry didn't avoid the eye contact, nor was he overly defensive. Merlin as his witness, Harry was telling the truth—he really didn't know. He was puzzled too. Why did he succeed in the final step of that eternal magic ritual when his father didn't? His father's magic was no weaker than his, even stronger. It made no sense. Dumbledore had asked the same question last time... Why did they all think it was worth asking? Could it not really be just that Harry was lucky and happened to succeed?
The deep red gaze peered into those bright green eyes, through the ripples of emerald waters to see the clear, bright sky. Voldemort sifted through Harry's past experiments, notes, reading, and material searches in his mind. The storm raged, ravaging the rose bushes in the garden, leaving only tender, broken petals scattered on the path to be trampled by passersby.
The Legilimency session ended. Voldemort paused for a few seconds before squinting his eyes, regaining his composure. "No matter. I already have a way to solve the problem. I don't need your answer."
####
Harry thought he would be tortured in the dungeon like last time, but his father didn't treat him that way. This made Harry relieved, yet he also worried that his father might have other plans.
The barrier around the castle was large, including not just the castle but also a lake, grasslands, and a large forest, similar to Hogwarts. The ancestors who built this castle initially designed the blueprint modeled after Hogwarts.
Voldemort had created a separate clearing on the grounds, moving the house they had lived in the Muggle world entirely over, even including the rose garden Harry had planted in the front yard.
Harry lived in the same house as before. Food and water appeared on the dining table daily. When Harry drank the water, he could taste the anti-magic potion mixed in. Sometimes Voldemort would bring him some snacks from the magical world, like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans or Sugar Quills (but no Chocolate Frogs). However, Harry had little appetite and no interest in tending to the roses in front of the window. Those flowers had originally been a bouquet from his father, which Harry had then planted with magic. Harry once thought they symbolized love, but now he knew it was all a lie.
The crystal ball filled with sand, which Harry had once given his father, sat on the mantelpiece as an ornament. When shaken, the sand glimmered faintly like snow in the firelight, then settled back into the shape of the castle, just as they had built it together on the beach. Harry vividly remembered his feelings when he had given the crystal ball to his father.
Yet the intimacy between him and his father hadn't lasted as long as the relationships between those grains of sand...
At that time, his father must have been mocking Harry for being so foolish. Wasn't he always acting?
Now, living in this house, the more unchanged the surroundings were, the more clearly they reminded Harry that everything in the past was a lie...
Harry pushed open the slightly ajar door, walked through the rose bushes he had once planted, crossed the yard, and arrived at the white picket fence. The gate was unlocked, but outside the fence was a circle of confinement magic, preventing Harry from leaving the house. When Harry reached out and touched the wall of confinement magic, his fingers felt a sharp pain as if electrocuted, instinctively making him withdraw his hand.
This was nothing more than a prison for him, its remnants a stark contrast to the vibrant life it once held.
November had arrived, and the weather was gloomy. The outdoor wind was cold. Harry wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, took one last look at the towering castle in the distance, and returned to his room, sitting in the armchair by the fireplace. The two candy wrappers that had been on the table earlier had now been cleaned up. The crystal ball Harry had carelessly thrown aside was once again placed neatly on its stand.
Harry's thoughts turned, and he called out, "Talis? Are you there?"
However, there was no response.
As expected... Harry had lost the authority of the castle's master, and the house-elf no longer obeyed him. Perhaps his father had also ordered the house-elf not to contact Harry.
"Sigh... If you are here, Talis, I miss you too. Don't punish yourself... It's not your fault that you can't see me," Harry said, wondering if he was being sentimental. Maybe Talis wasn't even there and couldn't hear him.
Did he deserve anyone's love and loyalty? His classmates... they must hate him now. If they hadn't been unlucky enough to know Harry, they wouldn't have suffered torment and pursuit, forced to seek refuge with Dumbledore. They could have gone to school and lived their lives peacefully.
He was a cursed existence, bringing misfortune to everyone around him.
Harry thought, perhaps his father forbade the house-elf from contacting him because the castle's house-elves always had the authority to open portals. Since they would go out shopping, it wasn't possible to ask Voldemort for help every time.
But Harry thought sarcastically, didn't his father foresee this? Even if Talis was willing to open a portal for him, would Harry dare to leave? He didn't want to get Talis killed. He had already caused the deaths of too many innocent lives.
"If you're there, Talis, listen to your master and don't worry about me anymore... I don't want to harm you. Also, don't punish yourself... I'm no longer the master and can't order you, this is a request as a friend," he said, not knowing if anyone could hear him. His words echoed in the lonely air.