[HP]Timepiece Countdown

It wasn't until the two returned to the invisible room on top of the shop that Harry managed to recover his voice. "Why do you..." He opened his mouth, but he was not sure whether he should ask——

Had Voldemort been following him since he'd gone out?

The worry mixed with anger was probably written all over his face, as Voldemort smirked. "No." He pointed out bluntly, "If you remember, we have a magic contract as a premise here. If anything happens to you, it will be my responsibility."

Harry knew about the existence of magical contracts, Dumbledore had mentioned it to him.But he didn't understand all of it, just as he didn't know why Voldemort used that damn excuse to the Muggle cashier, and that damn face—

Oh, wait, the other person's face changed back under his gaze.

"Okay," he nodded curtly, looking away, "that was in the supermarket just now—" he waved his hand casually, "it's your revenge for me going out without authorization, isn't it?"

"Revenge?" Voldemort asked softly, slowly narrowing his eyes, but Harry didn't notice. "Do you think it's easier to modify the memories of all the Muggles present, or is it easier to have a Transformation Charm and a Confusion Charm?"

Harry imagined a situation where Voldemort swaggered in public with a snake face on his face. He was not sure which one would be more panicked, the Muggle world or the wizarding world, or who would have a heart attack first, the Muggle Prime Minister or the Minister of Magic.He reluctantly agreed with the reason given by the other party, but he still had a fresh memory of the gasping sound from the surrounding crowd at that time——

A small part is probably surprised by the relationship between the two shown in Voldemort's words, and the rest must be admiration for the man's handsome face.

Harry couldn't help but glanced at the snake's face again, unable to figure out what Voldemort's intentions were for the one hundred and first time.While he still had some complaints about Voldemort's phrasing—"my dear", ha, the Dark Lord must be deliberately disgusting him—he also thought that there would be no better answer for sticking to it; at least not Make him happier, and he really doesn't need any more negativity now.

"Well, at least we have the ingredients for eggnog." Harry perfectly avoided the previous question with this sentence, and walked towards the kitchen with his shopping bag.As he passed the dining room, he noticed that the tables were empty.

Were those foods eaten, or disappeared?

Harry paused slightly.The idea of ​​asking Voldemort for proof flashed across his mind, but he immediately gave up.Although the situation was unknown, his steps became imperceptibly brisk for the rest of the short distance.

When the boy's back disappeared, Voldemort immediately found himself the most comfortable looking sofa.His temple was still throbbing, but it was much better than before.

So diverting the boy's attention is an effective way, he thought sullenly, hoping that Dumbledore would teach the boy Occlumency quickly—

Yes, he could indeed predict that Dumbledore had this plan.

As he had declared to Snape, he was less surprised by Dumbledore's proposal.Because, when Harry suffers from the side effects of a soul mate, he suffers the same, just not quite the same—

Occlumency can effectively prevent his emotions and thoughts from being perceived by Harry; but from another direction, Harry's emotions and thoughts have been flowing to him continuously, most likely through the dual way of connecting soul fragments with his partner.

This reason, combined with his usual keen insight, was the source of his confidence that he could know what Harry was thinking without using Legilimency.The advantages are obvious, and he knows the boy well; the disadvantages are also clearly there, and he accepts the boy's anger, anxiety, and, so much, the sadness that the boy instinctively avoids.

Voldemort couldn't help pinching the bridge of his nose where it should be, closed his eyes, and leaned back on the soft square pillow.When Harry was still at Hogwarts, he started to suffer from headaches from time to time, especially when Umbridge put Harry in confinement; the effect was obviously exacerbated by the lengthening of time and shortening of space, because he My head hurts more than ever.Moreover, for a moment, the pain intensified, and the connection distance between them suddenly became farther away, as if separated by a thick fog, which made him lose his sense of Harry's trace.

Voldemort was about to explode when he could throw something under his nose.So as soon as that moment passed, he took action, only to Apparate near the boy in the blink of an eye.He watched the boy go into the sweater store and come out again, he watched the boy look at the family of three with hidden envy, he watched the boy choose brandy without remembering the Muggle rules...

Seeing that Harry was about to be refused payment by the cashier, Voldemort appeared without thinking.Even a bit of unwhipped eggnog is better than another wave of pain, right?

All in all, Harry's idea that he did it out of revenge and to disgust him on purpose is completely nonsense.But it's normal for a boy to think so, he doesn't have the slightest desire to defend himself.

The fact that the boy knows means that Dumbledore knows, and God knows if Dumbledore will use it to attack him in the future——

As long as you can get rid of this damn headache, it doesn't matter if you go too far on the spot——

Heck, why can't Avada Kedavra solve this? !

Voldemort wiped his face almost manically.Originally, he thought that there was nothing worse than death; but facing the current mess of death, he began to doubt what to do in the future.None of his tough tactics could be used on Harry, and he didn't even want the boy to suffer any harm (if at all possible, because he had to suffer with him); however, even if Dumbledore didn't know about his headache, he would certainly Guessing that he couldn't kill Harry, the next step must be to train Harry to fight him.

Unfortunately, so far, Voldemort hadn't seen an opportunity to lure the boy to his side through non-violent means.

He agreed to Dumbledore's proposal, so it can't be said that he didn't have any extravagant hopes, but the facts proved that this conclusion was so simple that he didn't need to think about it at all. It was as sure as Lily and James were dead, impossible and irreversible.

To put it mildly, he had a good tolerance for emotions like anger, but Harry was much weaker than he was; he hardly worried about anyone, and he never felt sad for anyone...

This difference may be the main reason for his pain.

It seems that Dumbledore can only be counted on to be an excellent Occlumency teacher...

Voldemort thought again, fighting back the urge to lose his temper.Feeling helpless sucks; worse, though he'll never admit it, somewhere in his head tells him with uncanny clarity that he's to blame for it all.

**

Neither of them was in a good mood, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was extremely silent.When Harry caught Voldemort walking towards him again after dinner, he leaned back and unconsciously put his left hand behind his back.

The resistance under the dodge could not be more obvious, and Voldemort stopped, with an indescribable expression on his face.After a while, just when Harry thought that the Dark Lord was about to lose his temper, the man finally said, "Take out your wand."

"What?" Harry wondered.He looked up at the Dark Lord's face, but saw nothing - it was just like his tone, calm and indifferent.

"I say, take out your wand," Voldemort stated simply, as if he didn't seem to care how Harry reacted. "I absolutely cannot accept those marks, and I'm sure you will too. If you behave better later, the question It will be completely resolved today."

The prospects here sounded good, but Harry was a little skeptical. "Really?" He felt that the other party must have some subtext.For example, if the battle can be resolved quickly, the two of them don't have to force themselves to endure each other, and they can completely avoid seeing each other or speaking for the remaining two days.Anyway, the two of them will quarrel when they meet, maybe simply staying in the same house is more conducive to eliminating side effects than communicating.

Voldemort responded with a lift of his chin. "Move now," he reminded impatiently, "don't make me say it a third time."

For Harry himself, he didn't like any of the marks on him at the moment."I must not lie" on the hand, the lightning scar on the forehead, and Avada Kedavra on the chest.When Voldemort said "those traces", he seemed to be referring specifically and generally, but either way, their attitudes may indeed be the same.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, his tone a little loose.

"Learn a healing spell and use it on yourself," Voldemort explained, not stingy nor enthusiastic, "If the information is correct, when you and I cast that spell at the same time, the effect will be more than doubled." .”

Harry frowned; he'd never heard of such a thing.But looking at the yew wand that had already appeared in Voldemort's hand, he suddenly thought of the sparks that burst from the tip when the other party picked up the holly wand for the first time. "Is it something to do with the wand?" he asked tentatively.

"Regarding this, I believe you can get more detailed answers from Dumbledore." When Dumbledore's name was mentioned, Voldemort's nose fluttered slightly, as if suppressing his disgust, "Look carefully, my patience is limited."

For the next half hour, Harry tried very hard to remember how Voldemort's hands moved and how the syllables stopped.As he had guessed before, the spell was very, very difficult.

But Voldemort obviously didn't expect him to master it in a moment.Just after Harry managed to cast the spell the right way, the Dark Lord motioned for him to stick out his left hand: "Try."

Harry was terribly guilty.Never before had he wished he had Hermione's brains so he wouldn't look so stupid. "I think..." He wanted to practice more and try again, but when he met the impatience flashing in those scarlet eyes, he immediately swallowed his words back, and swore in his heart that he had to do it once success!

Soon, two wands were in place, lighting where the scar began and where it ended. "I'll start counting three, two, one," said Voldemort, staring momentarily at the tip of his own wand. "Three—two—one—now—"

The two wands drew the same complicated trajectory in the air, and fell down at the same time.When Harry saw only a little white light from the tip of his wand, Harry's heart sank - Voldemort must be angry now, the white light brought by the Dark Lord's spell can be said to be more than a hundred times that of his - but then In an instant, those white lights were attracted to each other, and they flew across the distance of the stick tip; they were tightly interlinked like two semicircles, and then burst open——

The light was so bright that Harry had to close his eyes.He seemed to hear the singing of the phoenix again, ethereal and mysterious.More evident, however, was a heat he already knew what it was: menacing, overwhelming, and he was horrified to feel his jeans tense in an instant, without hesitating for a second—

Why didn't he expect that stronger spells and faster speed would mean stronger physical reactions?

Thinking of the situation now, Harry didn't even have the courage to open his eyes to face all this.This is so outlandish, and it should never have happened...

"Okay." Voldemort's voice sounded, the same as before.

This interrupted Harry's desire to be an ostrich.Frightened, he rolled his eyelids just in time to see Voldemort turn around.He didn't have time to catch the other person's expression, and the Dark Lord was wearing his usual black robe, which was too loose to notice anything unusual.

It wasn't until the shadow disappeared that Harry realized he was staring in disbelief at the stairwell.He withdrew his gaze, looked down at himself, and rushed into the nearest bathroom as fast as he could.