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The Gift

Severus Snape was a dead man. Harry Potter was his soulmate. Harry Potter was also the soulmate of Lord Voldemort, his master. Oh yes, Severus knew he was dead the moment Voldemort discovered this little bit of information, and it wouldn't take long after the hot-headed Weasel woke up for all the little Death Eater wannabe's to learn about Harry's soulmates. In fact, they probably already knew. Which meant Voldemort knew. Severus was most certainly a dead man. But that didn't stop him from crouching in front of Harry and hesitantly placing their lips together as if to make sure the whole thing wasn't a dream. If he was going to die, he might as well die happy. They broke off the kiss, both unsure of what to do next.

"Professor Sn-Severus," Harry corrected, out of sorts at referring to his soulmate by his given name instead of title, "what are we going to do? When I had set this all up, I had no idea...I didn't plan for anything like this to happen!"

"I don't know Harry," somehow Severus managed to respond calmly, "I don't know what we are going to do. I'm afraid it's something that you'll have to work out on your own, though I will be here to answer any questions you have. I just hope we have enough time to figure something out before the Dark Lord discovers our bond. He doesn't like to share what is his, and you most certainly are his now. Your father would certainly be rolling in his grave if he knew what was going on right now."

A deep hurt filled Harry's eyes at these last words and Severus suddenly realized that he had made it sound like he would give Harry up to Voldemort, wouldn't fight to keep him, and he had brought James Potter in between them again. A single tear spilled from Harry's glistening emerald eyes and splashed into the open palm Severus had raised pleadingly towards Harry the moment he realized his mistake. But Harry gave him no time to rectify his blunder, gave him no time to blunt words uttered unconsciously in this alien territory. Harry fled, and Severus would have gone after him, but he was transfixed by the single perfect tear that had hardened the moment it touched his palm. What magic was this?

~~ ~~ ~*~

Angrily Harry kicked a stone into the lake, not feeling sorry at all when the Giant Squid made a pained noise. They were soulmates, but Severus didn't want him. He obviously wasn't worth enough in Severus' eyes, but the kisses...no! He wouldn't think of them, couldn't think of them. It had all been Severus toying with him, taking twisted revenge upon the son of James Potter. And Harry had let him, had given him the ammunition needed, had opened himself up to the hurt. He had thought Severus might have actually seen him for once, not his father, but him. It appeared he had been wrong.

After fleeing Severus' rooms he had instinctively sought out Ron and Hermione only to be repulsed by their glares (Ron), and hurt looks (Hermione); Ron had even gone as far to hiss something about him being a filthy Death Eater. Dumbledore was pissed at him as well, glaring at him in disappointment and disgust. Many in the school were looking at him oddly, not knowing how to treat him as the news slowly beginning to spread through the Hogwart's grapevine. Even the Slytherin's seemed not to know how to treat him. They waivered between their usual animosity and a respect akin to fear. Many of them would follow Voldemort when they were old enough to take the mark, and he was their prospective master's soulmate. It went against their nature to be civil to him, but to antagonize them could also mean the wrath of the Dark Lord upon their heads. Harry wasn't even sure how Voldemort was dealing with all of this, he had no doubt Tom knew the significance of the fairy dust, their link was firmly closed off.

It was well after dark when Harry finally stopped kicking stones into the lake, the Squid having long retreated to the far shore to hide in deeper water, and his heart broke. Severus hadn't come out for him, no one had come. It seemed that no one cared. These thoughts were Harry's haunting company as he made his way to Gryffindor Tower, running into no one, not even Filch. He was hoping to be able to slip up silently to his dorm, no one would likely be awake this late in the Tower, but it appeared all of the Gryffindor sixth-years had decided to have a late night gossip session centered on him.

"What are you doing here," Harry had never heard such hate in the voice of any Gryffindor when it was directed at him, not even when he had caused them to lose over a hundred points in a day, "get out of here. You're not welcome."

Harry was too tired to care at that point, emotional exhaustion having taken its toll, and attempted to avoid the confrontation by heading up to his dorm. He hadn't counted on his dorm mates to stand in his way. Ron, Dean, Seamus, even Neville blocked his way, their faces set in glares of disgust. For a moment he was almost surprised until he realized that each had a reason for standing there. Ron stood there out of bigotry, Dean and Seamus were half-bloods and therefore a possible target of Voldemort, and because of Voldemort's followers Neville's parents were insane. They believed that he had betrayed them, when they were really the ones betraying him.

"Move out of my way," Harry's voice was weary, he didn't want a confrontation right now.

"No," it was Neville who spoke up, and Harry was shocked to see actual hatred in his eyes.

"I don't want to deal with this now," it took all Harry's willpower not to go for his wand considering he was faced with at least four in front of him and could sense more pointed at his back.

"Don't want to deal with what?" This time it was Ron who spoke, "The fact that you betrayed us all, or the fact that you're soulmates with you-know-who and let him escape today so he could kill more innocent people?"

"Would you have me stoop to his level, murder in cold blood," Harry's voice was near breaking, "would you have me become like him?"

"You already are like him," Hermione had joined the fray, tears shimmering in her eyes even as she stood against him, "I just don't know how I've missed it all these years."

"Is this what our friendship means to you," Harry's shoulders slumped in desolation, "I would lay my life down for yours, have laid my life down for yours, and you compare me to Voldemort."

"We could never be friends with the likes of you," Ron spat, various agreements ringing out from all over the common room, "you are you-know-who's whore! Even Dumbledore sees it now."

Harry's breaking heart finally shattered and memories began to consume him as if someone had let a dementor loose in side his head.

His aunt shrieking at him in laughter when he asked if she loved him, "Freak...who could ever love a freak like you..."

Malfoy sneering at him superiorly, "Bet you loved that, eh, Potter..."

Ron's face red with rage, "I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace..."

Hermione holding him after a vision as his body trembled, "I'll always be here for you Harry..."

Severus' kisses, "we're soulmates, bound to each other now...Your father would certainly be rolling in his grave...you most certainly are his now...we're soulmates...you most certainly are his now...his now..."

Countless other incidents ran through his head; Dudley punching on him, Vernon kicking him in the ribs and mocking him for being weak, the fearful looks when everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin...His confrontations with Voldemort. Unbidden a phrase surfaced in his mind.

"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..."

Harry was tired of being weak, sick of being betrayed, one minute thought of as righteous and good before being turned on for being evil in the next. Voldemort had never lied to him, had never tried to hide the fact that Harry would either join him or die. Voldemort was his soulmate, and if he still wished to kill him, then at least Harry would die knowing that these fools had bought their own fate by betraying him. Harry's body began to tremble, his eyes glowing an unearthly green as he finally stopped hiding in fear from himself.

"Power/," the word was a soft whisper, but everyone in the room heard it as it escaped Harry's lips "/that is what I possess and you lack. You have sealed your own fate. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak and cowardly to seek it..."

Wind whipped up unseen around Harry, pushing back the others in the room, flinging spells back at their caster as Harry's belongings rushed down the stairs towards him, drawn by the surging power. A loud crack thundered throughout the room and for a moment everyone in the common room would have sworn the castle was cracking apart around them, but then the wind died down and peace reigned. Harry was gone, disproving Hermione's closely held to rule that apparition was impossible inside Hogwart's grounds. What disturbed them most though, was the mocking words of 'Merry Christmas' that Harry had uttered right before he had disappeared.

~~ ~~ ~*~

Voldemort leaned forward to claim what was his, a thrill running through him as he crushed the young lips beneath his own. He would have to call a Death Eater meeting soon, there was much to do. This most certainly had been the best Christmas ever, no gift would ever be able to top the one he had just received upon that last stroke of midnight.