Master-Servant Contract

After mentioning her rebirth, Harry told Dumbledore a long story.

Her account went on until late at night.

At the beginning of the story, she was a boy named Harry Potter, who lived in the little room under the stairs at his aunt's house. Day after day, he served as the family's servant, until that day.

The day Hagrid braved a rainstorm to bring him into the magical world.

The starlight outside the window gradually faded, and the Honeydukes sweets melted into a pool of sticky syrup on the porcelain plate. When she came to the final battle, Fred's cold hands, Lupin's and Sirius's eyes that would never close again, Snape lying in a pool of blood, his body purple...

Her voice finally choked up, and she could go no further.

After a long silence, Dumbledore's voice came as softly as a sigh. "So in the end, although we paid a terrible price, we still defeated Voldemort, is that right?"

"Yes." Harry scrubbed fiercely at her eyes with her sleeve.

The old man suddenly smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes smoothing out like a spiderweb in the sunlight. "Then that's enough, Harry."

That familiar form of address, unheard for so long, was like a blunt knife, slowly and precisely prying open the hardest shell around her heart. Tears blurred her vision in an instant, and she saw the silver instruments on the desk distort into a glittering river of stars through them.

"Old lunatic!" The little snake on the desk suddenly sprang up, flicking his tongue with a hiss. "You think sacrifice is something to celebrate? Those corpses-"

"Shut up!" Harry seized him by the tail and lifted him upside down. The little snake writhed wildly, his scales scraping the web between her thumb and forefinger. "Fawkes!"

The phoenix gave a cheerful cry and swooped down, taking the snake's body in his beak. Voldemort's curses immediately became muffled. "You'll regret this! Filthy... phoenix droppings..."

Dumbledore watched the scene, amusement glimmering in his blue eyes behind his Half-moon Spectacles. "Did he come back with you?"

"I don't know, Professor." Harry watched the little snake being tossed back and forth like a toy by Fawkes, and suddenly remembered the snake pattern on her abdomen. "Perhaps he did."

Her fingers unconsciously went to her lower abdomen. The light of the Philosopher's Stone, the mingled blood, that bizarre contract... The fragments of memory suddenly came together into a terrifying conjecture, and she jerked her head up. "Could it be because we-"

"It's all right. Lift your head, my child." Dumbledore gently waved his wand, and a cup of hot cocoa floated over to her. "Since fate brought you both back together, and since the Philosopher's Stone linked you..." He paused, the sugar spoon clinking against the rim of the cup. "Since things happened this way, there must be a purpose to it."

The little snake finally escaped Fawkes's beak and landed with a plop on the Daily Prophet, covered in phoenix saliva.

"Ah... but I have a suggestion, Harry. I think you might give it a try," Dumbledore said. For some reason, Harry couldn't shake a bad feeling.

"Please, go ahead," Harry said.

She stared at the shimmering stars and moons on Dumbledore's cuffs, and as she heard the absurd arrangement the old man proposed, her teacup suddenly clinked sharply against its saucer.

"You mean... let him," Harry swallowed with difficulty, "stay at Hogwarts legally?"

"Theoretically speaking, he's your pet now." Dumbledore adjusted his Half-moon Spectacles, his blue eyes narrowing slightly behind the lenses. "Of course, you would need to take responsibility for... keeping him under control."

Voldemort the Basilisk suddenly let out a hissing laugh. "Hear that? Potter, you're my guardian now-"

"Professor!" Harry sprang to her feet, overturning her teacup onto the parchment. Dark tea stains spread over the contract pattern she had just drawn. "You can't expect me to...!"

"A Master-Servant Contract." Dumbledore waved the Elder Wand gently, and the tea stains instantly turned into glittering gold lines. "Blood as the guide, the Philosopher's Stone as the medium. For instance, right now..." He suddenly winked at Harry. "You could ask him to do a tap dance."

The little snake's body went rigid.

"You're joking," Harry said flatly, but when she saw the mischievous, childlike gleam in Dumbledore's eyes, she hesitated.

Harry's gaze moved to Voldemort. The little snake was writhing on the desk, his tail stiff, clearly extremely uncomfortable with Dumbledore's suggestion.

After a few seconds of silence, Harry spoke. "Do a dance?"

"Potter, don't you dare-"

The snake's body suddenly reared upright against his will, the tip of his tail tapping out a rapid rhythm on the floor. More absurdly, a miniature top hat appeared out of nowhere on his head, and his slender body twisted into exaggerated waves.

"Stop!" she blurted out, and the little snake immediately collapsed on the desktop. The tips of Harry's ears burned, while the murderous intent in the snake's eyes was almost tangible.

Dumbledore cheerfully popped a Sherbet Lemon into his mouth. "It seems the contract is more powerful than I imagined."

"In that case, I'll leave this little snake to you, Harry." Having made the decision so hastily, Dumbledore sent Harry out of the Headmaster's Office.

In a daze, Harry obediently left the Headmaster's Office as Dumbledore had instructed. Even when she reached the door, she was still in a trance.

Voldemort was coiled around her wrist, disguised as an old-fashioned snake bracelet. His scales lay cold against her skin, his head resting on her wrist bone, and his golden slit pupils stared at her darkly, as if threatening her without a word: Just try anything.

A Master-Servant Contract...?

The term echoed in her mind, carrying an absurd sense of unreality.

The corner of Harry's mouth twitched involuntarily.

She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist, and Voldemort immediately spoke in a sinister voice. "Look at me again and I'll bite through your wrist."

Harry's face was expressionless. "Turn around three times."

"You-!"

The little snake's body immediately wound three times around her wrist against his will. His head swayed dizzily, and finally he bit his own tail in fury.

Harry: "..."

What on earth was this supposed to be!!

But things had already come to this, and Harry couldn't just throw Voldemort away.

After all, although his body was only this tiny now, he was a Basilisk, a dangerous creature whose gaze could kill a person on the spot or, at best, petrify them.

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the Gryffindor dormitory. Hermione had already returned, and as soon as she heard Harry come in, she jumped off her bed and gave her a hug. "Harry, you're back!" She looked down and saw the little snake on Harry's wrist. "Your new bracelet is quite unusual."

Harry: "...Thanks."

The little snake sneered on her wrist.

Hermione leaned closer curiously. "He looks so lifelike, and his eyes even move!"

Voldemort hissed, "Get away, Mud-"

Harry clamped his mouth shut. "Shut up, or I'll make you dance ballet in front of the whole school."

The little snake went rigid.

Hermione blinked. "...Did he just speak?"

Harry: "...You imagined it."

After giving Hermione a brief explanation and finally getting her to believe her, Harry collapsed onto her bed and stared at the curtains of her four-poster, with only one thought in her mind:

My life is completely ruined.