Void Of A Lullaby

Pairing(s): Tom Riddle x Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort x Harry Potter

Rating: M

Author's Note: Contains SLASH, or boy/boy. Don't like, don't read.

This will be Deathly Hallows compliant! Meaning, the search for the Horcruxes is still on, most of the deaths are the same, and Harry and Voldemort will still want to kill each other. The only difference is that there's two manifestations of Voldemort alive at the same time. So Tom may or may not help to destroy his darker self, I haven't completely decided yet. We'll see. :)

Summary: AU. DH compliant. In the distant past, Tom Riddle gets a terrifying vision of what he will become after the attack on baby Harry Potter, and wants the Boy Who Lived to stop him from becoming Lord Voldemort, no matter what the cost. TR/HP, HP/LV.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter - JK Rowling does.

His scarlet eyes were burning.

Or perhaps they weren't his; they seemed too unrecognizable, too far beyond human, to be his. And yet, he knew they were his eyes. His deep red eyes that were like a scorching sun, or a flowing abyss of hot, wet red. Red as blood.

He felt fear - and Tom Riddle did not feel fear.

He could not look away, not even for a second. The gaze petruding from those crimson orbs seemed to have left his own stare fixed, so fixed he was not aware of his surroundings. Then the eyes that belonged to the dark-robed figure that were locked on him shifted, and for the first time, Tom realized he was not in his four-poster bed at Hogwarts anymore.

He was standing in front of a small cottage, surrounded by autumn leaves that were dispersed on the sidewalk and cold, putrid air. He shivered, and watched as the robed figure he recognized to be himself started towards the house. Curious, he crept behind the man, careful to keep a long distance between them. The other either did not sense him, or otherwise ignored him. But Tom had a feeling that the man could not see him, not completely, and it was a consoling one.

Suddenly, the man stopped, directly in front of the window. Tom moved slightly closer, and frowned once he located what the man was looking at. A red-haired woman was laughing, holding a small, giggling, black-haired baby boy. Beside her, only his head visible as he was seated on the floor, was a black-haired man that closely resembled the child. A family. A little, peaceful, family of three. He wondered what what the elder male wanted with such a seemingly innocent family, who were minding their own business.

"It's time to be rid of the Potter brat, before he can grow and become stronger."

He heard the robed figure murmur softly, and Tom almost tripped himself, startled. The man's voice was like... fear itself, if there were such a thing. High, cold, and terrifying, and it wasn't until the other blasted the door to the small house off its hinges and green light and screams exploded from the inside that he realized his eyes were widened as if pried open.

"Lily, it's him, take Harry and go! I'll hold him off -!"

Not even a split second later, the black-haired male that had ushered his wife and son upstairs had come racing down the steps into the hallway, only to be met with the same green light from before and a cruel cackle as he dropped like a fly to the floor. Feeling helpless, Tom felt his legs move of their own accord, and what was he doing? There was nothing he could do to stop it, the man was already dead and he - no, the other version of him - was already up the steps that lead into the upstairs, presumably the child's bedroom. Realizing his heart was thumping crazily in his throat, he launched himself forward, taking the steps two at a time, and hoping, hoping, he could get to the woman and boy before it was too late. He'd reached the landing when he heard the unmistakable sound of the other male's voice.

"Stand aside! Stand aside, girl!"

"Not Harry!" The red-haired woman cried. "Please, not Harry."

A sickening smirk. He would not falter under her pathetic cries. "Stand aside, you silly girl."

"No, please," The woman tried again, grasping her son's small hand, who was seated in the crib behind her, his expression curious and yet strangely calm. "Take me. Kill me instead.."

"Stand aside," The man demanded again, but when the girl did not move, he smirked wider and gave something like a short chuckle. "Well, then. Suit yourself. I was perfectly prepared to spare your life but you refused my generous offer. It will not matter either way. Nothing you can do will save your son."

Tom watched from the doorway as he raised his wand, and then the woman was lying on the floor, and all was left was the little boy now standing in his crib, clutching at the bars, unknowing of what was happening, what would happen to him any second now. Why, why, wasn't he, Tom, stopping this?

More importantly, why did he feel the need to stop it? He was Tom Riddle; he did not show compassion. He did not spare the lives of the innocent. He killed. He murdered. So why did this man he knew as himself frighten him so? Why was he afraid of something he already was, and had long ago accepted, embraced even? Wasn't this, wasn't this what he'd always wanted? And if this child was indeed the one person who could stop him, why wasn't he relieved the little brat would be dead in a moment? Why did he feel the child's life should be spared? Why had he felt the need to stop this from the very beginning? Why..?

"My destroyer," He heard his older self murmur slowly, his tone indifferent. He stepped forward so that he was directly in front of the toddler's crib, a pale hand reaching out to seize a handful of the little boy's very short black hair roughly, causing the child to whine, tilting his head back painfully. "You're a mere child. A boy no older than a year. An infant. You have no power. Helpless, unable to kill me. You are weak, and unprotected without your mummy and daddy here to save you.." He tilted and pulled further, harder, finally causing the boy to cry. "No matter how much you whine, nothing is going to save you. Heh. I wonder if you even know what's happening, little Harry Potter." He pulled his hand away from the boy's hair to his small, round face, grasping tightly. The child began crying harder, scared of the man hurting him.

Tom hardly dared breathe; why was his other self toying with the boy like this? Just end it and be done with it, wasn't the parents's friends alerted, possibly the ministry by now ? Why didn't he - no, the man, just kill the boy and go? It didn't make sense. If he wanted his enemy dead, why didn't he just do it now, before reinforcements arrived?

"It doesn't matter," His older self whispered, smiling evily at the baby's bubbly face, his little cheeks puffy and red, his green eyes wet with tears and widened in terror. "It will never matter, whether you understood or not. For you will never live to wonder it." He raised his wand, and pointed it directly at the child's face, who responded with a hysterical wail. "Be silent, Harry Potter. Be eternally silent. I, Lord Voldemort, only I... can live forever."

And he shouted the curse. The green light resonated.

But the child did not fall. Instead, he fell, flying onto his back, and feeling undendurable pain that was blinding and tearing at him like claws. He heard the boy screaming, but it did not matter, because the brat was not dead and he could not stay here, where ministry officials were surely on their way and with the last of his strength, fled, far, far, away into the forest, searching desperately for any way to survive, until he could one day find the boy again, and destroy him.

Tom Marvolo Riddle awoke with a start, and through the sticky sweat he was covered in and the panic-stricken thumping of his heart, and the pain that surged through him as it had surged through the man, he was consciously aware of one thing.

He had to find Harry Potter, and get his help, before he turned into the incomplete and sinister monster that was Lord Voldemort.

Author's Note # 2: That's it for this chapter. :) Hope you enjoyed.

Now, just in case anyone is confused; Yes, this Tom Riddle is the one from the Chamber. But, while the Riddle in the diary had met Harry before (COS), and Harry had destroyed him, a small part of him survived. Not enough to become a threat, or even a physical form. He's barely existing at all, and is withering away. And while this Tom IS becoming Lord Voldemort, with this sequence he observed, he understands the hole he's going to get himself into should he continue, and figures he can prevent this if he stops himself becoming LV. Hope that makes sense.

Now why he needs Harry's help - well, he's Harry Potter. He's the one person who can destroy Voldemort. So while Tom may not care, or even like Harry at the moment, that is going to change, and even now while his goals are selfish, he'll find his feelings for Harry changing slowly but surely.

Also, Tom won't stay as he is in this chapter. This is just a prologue. He'll be his cocky, smart-ass, rude self in the next one, and for most of the story as he learns the correct path and what love truly is. Corny, I know, but hey. It's gotta happen. He's not gonna become an adorable goody-goody overnight. ;)

And Voldemort? Well... he definitely doesn't like it when he's got just Harry to worry about, but now he's got Harry and himself! He will be pissed! XD And maybe just a little bit frightened. :) Which will cause him to act a little differently, but not in a completely bad way. He won't like the changes Harry is gonna make in Tom, himself, and will try to figure out how to break out from under it.

As for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, they're doing the "Horcrux: Search & Destroy" as usual, and it will stay this way. Ron and Hermione's feelings will stay the same, and Harry and Ginny's as well for just a little bit before he and Tom start hitting it off.

That's all for now, please read and review~!

- Koschei_xSigma