Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Characters: Harry Potter, Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Rubeus Hagrid, Barty Crouch Jr., Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Cornelius Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, Vampires and Thralls and Other Dark Creatures, Various Aurors, Various Other Ministry Employees and Foreign Dignitaries
Additional Tags: Soulmates AU, Vampire Tom Riddle, Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Though It Looks a Bit Different Than You Might Expect, Post-War, A Rather Boring Peace Summit That Turns Out To Be Anything But, Nurmengard Castle (Harry Potter), Mourning For Something You Never Had, Dramatic Irony, Mutual Pining, Manipulative Tom Riddle, Possessive Tom Riddle, Tom Riddle is His Own Warning, Identity Porn
Summary:
Looking up as the view over the mountainous path ahead of him finally starts to reveal those spiraling dark towers hidden amidst snowy white peaks, Harry reflects again on all the other little moments of his life that have led up to this one, and whether there was anything he could ever have done differently to end up someplace else. He wonders what awaits him in the sunless days ahead and whether all of the hardship he endured on this journey will have been worth it by the end.
What is possibly most damning of all is that he is not thinking of his parents right now as he trudges alongside his companions up to Voldemort’s eerie castle. He is thinking instead, as he often does, of a name that burns too brightly on his wrist in the pre-dawn light. He is thinking of what could have been, what has never been, what will never be.
He is wondering if somehow the fruitless tugging on his heart means that somewhere, some way, Tom is watching over him. He wonders what his faceless ghost would think of him if he could see him now.