Curse of Fate

Title: Curse of Fate
Author: Mistress Nika
Rating: PG-13
Rating: PG-15 (Yes, 15. That's somewhere between PG-13 and R)
Summary: Thousands of years into the future, vampire Harry only wants to join his loved ones in death. However, his curse of immortality is absolute. Therefore he sends himself back into the body of his infant self, vowing to this time refuse eternity. When do things ever go according to plan? Unexpected changes to the timeline, people who aren't as they once were and more send his life spiraling out of his control.
Pairings: Harry/Lucius(main), possible Harry/Severus, possible Lucius/Severus, possible Harry/Lucius/Severus, Sirius/Remus, Theo/Hermione, possible Theo/Blaise, possible Hermione/Ginny, Draco/Luna, possible one-sided Harry/Luna on Luna's part, possible Hermione/Pansy, Cedric/Eleanor(OC), past Harry/Ginny
Warnings: AU, het, slash, angst, language, violence, time travel, VampireHarry, DarkLordHarry
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter Three:
He first saw him just before his ninth birthday. Having been banished outdoors as Petunia went about her latest cleaning frenzy, he was sitting on the grass, conversing with a small garden snake that had taken up residence in a rose bush. To any passersby, he appeared to be talking to himself in low whispers, which of course lended credibility to the Dursley's claims to the neighbors that he wasn't quite sane.

A dog barked once, causing him to glance up absently. Just as he did, what could have passed for a shadow slipped behind a tree with a soft rustle of cloth.

He was being watched.

It was a still day, with no wind to carry the watcher's scent to him for identification. Now that he knew they were there, he could sense the faint aura of a wizard. Whoever it was had thoroughly hidden themselves and suppressed their magic.

He bowed his head, as if in thought, and hissed to his serpentine acquaintance, 'I don't mean to impose, but could you do me a favor?' At the snake's nod, he continued, 'I am being watched by someone, but I can't tell who. Could you go through the bushes to the right of that far tree and tell me what you see?'

The snake slithered off without hesitation, moving silently through the grass towards it's destination.

Harry was glad for his rapport with snakes. As long as he respected them and was polite, they wouldn't hesitate to help in any way they could. They had been his only real companions since his return to the past.

He was correct in his assumption that he would be teased and taunted at school. It had started out well enough. His teachers praised him for his intelligence and moved him up two years in as many weeks. This got him away from his cousin and allowed him to make a few friends.

It was when Dudley finally figured out that Harry's 'tricks' weren't normal that things went downhill. He, of course, told his parents and they did their best to make Harry's life miserable. He was no longer ignored at home or accepted at school. The Dursleys refused to feed him for over a month and had he been mortal, he would most likely have ended up dead. They tripled his load of chores, but of course Harry continued to complete them in a timely fashion with a knowing smile on his face. All in all, the Dursleys were fuming that they had failed to destroy his spirit as well as his magic.

Harry didn't blame the children at school for shunning him. It wasn't their fault. They were young and naive. All it took was for Dudley to spread rumors that he had some communicable disease, cooties worked just fine, for them to turn their backs on him. He wasn't mourning their loss. Honestly, he had never really been a child and couldn't connect with them on their level. Still, it had been nice to have some friendly company.

Harry Hunting had finally been invented. He let them catch him every so often and pound him as hard as they liked. They actually managed to bruise him once, though it could be attributed more to the large rock they used than their fists. Usually, he just ran or disappeared just before they spotted him, which he was quite good at. He refused to fight back on the principle that he could seriously injure them. He had yet to really test his new vampiric abilities and would hate to underestimate himself and land one of them in the hospital.

The return of the small, green snake drew him out of his thoughts.

'What did you see?' he asked quietly.

It responded with, 'A man in black clothes with a hood and half a white face. His boots are hard and shiny black and smell of the flesh of a large magical animal. They make my tongue tingle and would probably hurt a lot if they kicked me. They carry only the scent of their wearer and are most likely rarely worn outdoors.'

Harry smirked. Trust a creature that lives within centimeters of the ground to be fascinated by shoes. However, it was the first part of the description that interested him the most. Half a white face could only be a Death Eater's mask.

'Thanks.' he replied to the snake gratefully.

Had he been watched by Death Eaters the first time around? He didn't think so, but if they hid themselves this well, it was doubtful he would have known. Had he not been a vampire and known about magic, he most likely wouldn't have noticed or at least passed it off as a trick of the light. They couldn't come any closer without encountering the wards so he had nothing to fear from them. Perhaps they were merely curious about the one who defeated their Lord?

If that were the case, he would give them a show.

Casting out his senses, he searched for the family of mice that lived in one of Petunia's flower beds. Seven quick heartbeats reached his ears and he turned his attention back to the snake. Not bothering to keep his hisses quiet, he asked, 'Are you hungry? You haven't eaten since that rat took a bite out of you.'

He almost laughed as he felt the enormous surprise that washed over him from the unknown wizard's direction.

'I could eat.' the snake responded.

They had done this before. Harry would ask some small favor and then return it by catching the snake's meal for him.

Standing, Harry brushed off his backside casually and offered his hand to the snake, which promptly slithered up to rest on his shoulder.

'Lazy.' Harry hissed with a laugh.

He strode over to the flower bed hidden behind a fence from sidewalk observers and window peepers alike, while still in view of the tree where the shadowy figure hid. He then went as if to weed the flowers. Five of the little gray mice fled their burrow as the earth shook around them, one running apart from the others and across the grass. Harry shot out a hand and a small flash of green light dropped the creature in an unmoving heap. With a flick of his hand, he summoned the mouse and tossed it to the snake who immediately set upon it, devouring it whole.

A strange, almost insane giggle forced it's way past his lips and the Death Eater quickly disapparated with a muffled pop.

'Let's see what they make of that.' he thought as the mad giggling turned to chuckles. 'Dudley Baiting no longer works and I've gotten bored. Perhaps it's time for a new game.'

-SCENE BREAK-

A handful of black cloaked figures congregated in a clearing late at night. A single wand illuminated the gathered forms, acting as a beacon for the stragglers.

They were confused. Each of them had received a mysterious letter bearing the Dark Mark instructing them to meet here at midnight. Only the fear and respect of their master's mark made them comply. Who had summoned them? Who would dare and why?

Only a few wore masks, the others having discarded them long ago. It didn't matter. Those present already knew each other well enough.

They were getting anxious and slightly angry.

"This had better be important!"

"Why are we here?"

"If this is a trick, I swear I'll kill whoever's responsible!"

"Where's Malfoy? I don't see him here."

"Neither is Pettigrew or Snape! You don't see me complaining!"

"Silence!"

A commanding voice brought all conversation to a halt as a shadowed figure emerged from the trees. A couple faltered, old instincts making them begin to kneel before they remembered that Voldemort was gone.

Lucius Malfoy smirked at the sight of his wary cohorts. "I called you all here for a matter of utmost importance." he drawled dramatically.

"Well, spit it out, Malfoy! We don't have all night!"

Lucius glared at the offending Death Eater, but stated simply, "Our Lord has returned."

Near chaos followed his revelation. Shocked whispers erupted, some hopeful and others wary.

"Well, where is he?" one bravely asked.

"Number four Privet Drive, Little Winging, Surrey." Lucius replied. Not waiting for conversations to begin or questions to be asked, he continued, "Today I witnessed nine year old Harry Potter speaking Parseltongue. A rare gift, as we all know, restricted to those of the Slytherin line. He then performed the Killing Curse, wordlessly and wandlessly. No child should be able to even cast an Unforgivable, much less in such a manner. My only conclusion is that somehow the Dark Lord transferred himself into Potter's body the night he supposedly met his end."

While the others appeared disbelieving, one looked thoughtful. "That makes a strange kind of sense." he said.

"What are you talking about, Nott?" another questioned him.

"Our Lord was far too powerful to simply die. Wouldn't it make more sense if he took possession of the boy?"

Silence followed as they all processed the fact that the war was far from over. Their Master was a child, but he was alive and would someday return to lead them.

-SCENE BREAK-

Harry's birthday came and went without much fanfare at first. He rose, performed various chores and dodged yet another attempt at Harry Hunting. It was around four that evening that he decided to bully Vernon into giving him Dudley's second bedroom. He figured it would be an appropriate gift to himself.

The three Dursleys sat in the living room, sipping tea or watching television while stuffing their face depending on who was who. Harry strode confidently into the room with a devilish smile upon his face. Nothing irked them more than to see him happy and defiant.

"Hello, Vernon. Aunt Petunia. Dudley." he quipped merrily. He refused to acknowledge any sort of familial relationship with Vernon and had not once called him Uncle.

"What do you want, freak?" the beefy man asked petulantly.

"Oh, the world, for one." Harry replied playfully. "You lot cowering at my feet. Certain people's heads on pikes. A blood bank to spontaneously open next door. Socks for Christmas. My photo album which now technically never existed full of pictures of people losing bets; Severus doing twirls in the red and gold tutu most notably. To see a random Death Eater attempt to breach the wards by running at them really fast. Quirrel to drop dead of testicle rot before I begin school and Lockhart to be mauled savagely by angry pixies. Oh, how ironic that would be."

At each sentence the Dursley's eyes had widened just a bit more. They all now stared at him with open mouths, Dudley drooling slightly.

"Now, if you mean in the immediate sense, I'd like Dudley to move all of his crap out of the smallest bedroom so I can move in by the end of the day."

Stunned silence met his statement. Petunia finally snapped out of it enough to close Dudley's mouth and mop up the saliva that had begun to pool on the sofa. Vernon began turning that oh so lovely shade of violent purple he was so famous for.

"How dare you?" he shouted, his chins quivering like a bowl full of jelly in a not so merry way. "We feed you! We clothe you! We put a roof over your head and this is how you repay us!?"

"No, Vernon." Harry stated, his voice dripping ice. His eyes narrowed coldly at the man as he dropped his cheerful act. "How I repay you for your 'generosity' is to slowly torture you to death in the most painful ways imaginable. By the time I'm through, you will be begging at my feet, pleading with me to end it. But I won't. I'll just laugh and start anew. There are horrors I will inflict upon you such as you could never imagine. Hell will seem a welcome release. And when I'm done, I shall pin you up on the side of your house for all the neighborhood to see."

You could hear a pin drop.

"Dudley, go clean out your second bedroom." Vernon finally squeaked out, a noise directly incongruous to his size.

"I don't want to!" Dudley whined back, obviously not understanding over half the words Harry had used. "I'm not giving that little freak my room! Mummy, tell Daddy I don't have to!"

"Shut up, Dudley." Petunia snapped. "Do as your father said. Now!"

Obviously, grave concern for their own well being overrode their patronizing of their son.

Dudley proceeded to throw the largest tantrum to date. Eventually Harry's amusement at the scene the large boy was making ran out and he threw a stunner at him, turned on his heel and left the room with a parting, "I'll do it myself."

None of the Dursleys moved for the next three hours and then only for dinner, which consisted of hastily made reservations at the restaurant the farthest away from Harry as possible.

The best thing about it, other than being able to incinerate all of Dudley's broken toys with a fit of maniacal laughter, was that Lucius Malfoy had seen and heard everything.

Harry thought the Death Eaters were growing sloppy. The conveniently placed fly which never moved from it's place on the ceiling was really quite obvious. However, he didn't bother with crushing the fly and ending the eavesdropping spells that had been placed as they were really quite helpful.

Walking outside after the Dursley's left, Harry laughed at the hastily made attempt of the black cloaked figure to hide. All of the street lamps had long since been broken by Harry himself as to aid him in his nightly wanderings, but really, that trash can was only half Lucius' size. He'd have to be blind not to see him.

"Come to grant my birthday wish, Lucius?" he called gaily into the night. "I honestly would like to see what might happen should you throw yourself at the wards. It might be amusing."

Hesitantly, the figure stepped into view, watching him a moment before dropping to one knee.

"Master." Lucius intoned respectfully.

Outwardly, Harry played the part of the Dark Lord perfectly while inside he was giggling insanely. Hey, thousands of years as a dark creature hadn't left him entirely unblemished. He remembered Hermione telling him more than once that he was mad as a hatter with a twisted sense of humour. But then, you had to be slightly insane to face all that he had and escape relatively intact.

Harry quirked an eyebrow at at Lucius. "I shall never lack for entertainment with you around, Lucius." he said with a smirk and stepped through the wards to the blonde's side. He patted him on the head and said, "Like a good little dog, you've come running back to your master. Now tell me what I've missed in my exile."

Lucius fell back into his old role quickly and began reporting everything he thought relevant. When he got to the facts following that fateful night and Sirius Black's capture by the Ministry, he was brought up short by an angry cry.

"What?" Harry raged. "That idiot! I told him not to go after Wormtail!"

"Master," Lucius said, bowing his head to escape Harry's wrath. "No one knew Black was one of us. Had we known, we would have stopped him, as per your orders."

Harry was livid. The first thing he had tried to do was save his godfather from Azkaban and here he found the man had spent the last eight years there. "I'll string him up by his heels!" he continued ranting. "I'll--! I'll--!" Harry could feel his bloodlust rearing it's head, brought on by the surge of dark emotions of the day. He hadn't fed in three weeks and the maximum time possible between meals was dropping steadily. He lowered his glamours, all the better to terrify Lucius.

Lucius watched in morbid fascination as his Master glared at an invisible enemy and felt the glamours fall away, his eyes slowly fading into red.

"Get out of the way, Malfoy." Harry growled before pushing him off the sidewalk and stalking down it in purposeful strides. Harry had to admit, he could stride pretty impressively for a child. Pausing, he glanced back over his shoulder at Lucius picking himself up off the grass and smirked. "Coming, Lucius?" he asked sweetly.

Lucius stared in wonder for a moment as light from a porch glinted off a white fang protruding over Harry's bottom lip. Realizing his lord had given him an indirect order, he quickly rose and joined him just as Harry began walking again.

"You have questions, I know." Harry said, not bothering to look at him. "They'll have to wait, however. I find myself in need of sustenance. I should just take it from you, but I need your assistance and it would be disadvantageous for you to faint."

"Yes, Master." Lucius replied reflexively.

Harry led the way down the sidewalk towards number nine, wherein dwelt Miss Quick Snack, a rather pretty young woman who lived alone and went into work early and therefore went to sleep early as well. Whenever he was too busy to seek out a proper meal, meaning someone who wouldn't be missed and was suitably far enough away from number four, he would visit her.

The locks clicked open at his approach and the door swung inward without a sound. Harry imagined it was going to be hard to restrain himself from purely thought driven magic when he would once again be forced to use a wand for normality's sake.

Climbing the stairs silently, Harry could feel Lucius' confusion and curiosity at his back, but he refused to simply explain. No doubt the blond Death Eater thought they were going to torture some hapless muggle. Honestly, Harry had credited him with far more imagination than that.

Inside the large second floor bedroom, he found the woman sound asleep, tangled in the blankets, one arm dangling invitingly off the bed almost as if she were waiting for him. With a wicked smirk, he crossed the room and knelt by the bed, casting a mild sleeping charm over her as he did so. It would do no good if she were to awaken and scream bloody murder, which it would become should she see his face. Taking the delicate wrist in his hands, he lowered his lips to the tanned flesh and scraped an elongated fang across the large vein, bringing forth a steady flow of blood.

As Harry drank, Lucius watched with rapt attention.

It was possibly the most eerie thing he had ever seen. This pale, fragile looking young boy in baggy jeans and a too large t-shirt frayed at the edges, almost the picture of childhood innocence if not for the crimson eyes full of intelligence and dark experiences, bent over with his lips pressed as if in a gentle kiss to the woman's wrist while the moonlight fell through the curtains, blanketing him in undulating shadow and silvery light.

The boy raised his eyes, pinning Lucius with an almost demonic gaze, then drew his mouth slowly away from the woman's wrist, lips stained with her blood and twisted into a wicked smirk. Lucius shivered. In that moment, he forgot who the boy was and saw only sinful darkness in the deceitful body of a child. The dark child ran his tongue over his lips, removing every bit of evidence before standing and approaching him.

"She'll awake with a headache and nothing more." Harry stated offhandedly and started back down the stairs.

Lucius glanced back to note that not a drop of blood had been spilt and the wound on the woman's wrist had been closed. Turning, he quickly caught up with his Master and they left the house together.

Inside, Harry was giggling again. He couldn't play the Dark Lord forever. Best to have Lucius fear him as Harry Potter as well, making almost certain he would never be betrayed. When Voldemort returned, Harry intended to make sure not a single Death Eater remained loyal to him. His enemies would become his allies.

Back on the darkened sidewalk, Harry put a hand on Lucius' arm and was pleased to note the flinch in response.

"Apparate us through the wards to your home." he commanded. "I doubt they are set to accept me in my present form and I have much to discuss with you."

"Yes, my lord." he replied immediately.

With a pop, they were gone.