Voldemort often wondered these days if he was becoming soft.

Not even five years ago would he have even humoured the thought of taking a child to see a muggle film in a muggle theatre, to be surrounded by their putrid squabbling ilk. What perhaps was more irritating was how he had ended up here.

Simply put, he had lost a bet.

It was meant to be a teaching moment for his charge. On the severity and consequences of magical had made a wager with the boy, unconcerned about the stakes, sure that he could twist things to his favor in the end. As it happened, Harry had all but assured his win before he'd even asked Voldemort for a demonstration. And perhaps that should have been his first warning that the child had something up its sleeve. He had long since instilled in the boy the habit of not putting himself at a disadvantage to anyone, no matter how much he may trust them. He could admit to himself that he was proud of Harry, but that was mostly drowned out by his displeasure of being beaten by a child barely out of toddlerhood.

The lights began to dim and the flimsy excuse for parents around him began attempting to hush their children. To his right, Harry sat with wide eyes at the screen. He had a large bucket of popcorn in his lap, a coke and a few packs of gummy worms (he had been understandably disappointed that they didn't wriggle in his mouth, but seemed to enjoy them all the same). When the film started out with a box of strays, he observed the sympathetic frown on the child's face, only to turn into a grin when the stray cat started following the singing dog through the muggle city. Voldemort sighed. It would be a long two hours.

By the time it had ended, the only positive comment he could give it was that animation had much improved since he last saw a muggle film. Harry, on the other hand, had plenty to say about it. "'Im happy Oliver, but its sad that he had to leave his other family."

"Hardly Harry. Between the young rich girl who pampered him, and the vagrant, who was no doubt desease ridden, there is no debate, he made the right choice."

"But they both loved him."Voldemort sighed. The boy insisted on clinging to such flimsy concepts.

"Exactly."

Harry still looked puzzled by that reasoning, but that was often the norm between them so Voldemort did not bother to elaborate. He was starting to attract appraising looks from the unattached muggle women. Many had snuck unsubtle glances at his ringless hand Harry was grasping, and when one made her way towards them he decided that it was high time to leave.

When they arrived back at the manor, Harry dropped his hand and made a passing comment about going to look for Severus. Good riddance. Voldemort felt he had given the boy more than enough attention for the day. And it would serve his potions master right for having informed the brat of muggle films in the first place. Before he took more than a few steps, he turned back and looked at the Dark Lord with a startlingly sharp glint in his eyes.

"Voldemort?"

"Yes child?"

"We're going to be together, right? Forever, just you and me?" The words struck a chord with Voldemort. This was why he bothered with these senseless outings. To foster an unparalleled devotion in the child, and insure his loyalty. He found himself staring at the mark on the child's forehead, a devilish grin spreading on his lips.

"Yes of course, Harry. Forever."

In a flash, the look was gon from the boy's face, and his usual impish grin was in its place.

"I knew it!" He turned, skipping away. The sound of him singing one of the tunes from that wretched film echoed in the halls as he got further and further away.

"You and me together we'll be; Forever you'll see; We two can be good company; You and me"

His eyebrow twitched. No matter. The boy was Severus' problem now.

Uh, there we go? It's only been, what? A month? Progress. Still pants at endings.

Half way through this, i could see Voldemort taking Harry to some horror movie or something rated R rather than make the effort of picking out a kids film and had myself a laugh.