Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Potterverse belongs to J.K. Rowling and all related labels.
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A/N: This story basically takes place during DH. And it should be canon compliant except for the epilogue. It will eventually become Lord Voldemort - Tom Riddle/Hermione, as per usual.
In the some parts of the story, some of the paragraphs were taken directly from Deathly Hallows or paraphrased. By no means do I mean to plagiarize, but in this fic, it's necessary for those parts to be added.
Huge thanks to my beta, Lauremir Bennet!
This is just a one-shot for now, but I do plan to flesh out this first chapter and add more chapters to this.
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Chapter 1
"Ron, stab it, STAB IT!" Harry yelled.
The redhead watched with anger and pain bubbling in his heart as the young man and woman in front of him locked lips.
Was this what he wanted? Did he return to this place just to witness the love of his life and his best friend become a pair?
"You can change all of that," a voice whispered in his mind as his eyes stayed on the pair in front of him.
For an instant, Ron's eyes took on a tinge of red, but quickly transformed back to their regular blue color, though possibly darker than normal.
"You have to try better than that, Riddle," Ron thought, grinding his teeth together.
"Do I really need to try? You know as well as I do what they were doing while you were back at the Burrow," Riddle laughed.
Ron remained silent.
"Do you really think that I would actually care if you destroyed just one Horcrux out of the many I've made?" the voice replied. He laughed again. "They're not the only precaution I've made to ensure my immortality, anyway."
Ron was breathing harder now, as though he needed extra amounts of oxygen to keep himself alive. His face contorted in anger and sadness as he held Gryffindor's Sword with his hands high above his head.
"Fine, it's your choice. I was just simply offering you a chance to win the heart of the woman you love."
Mentally, Ron jeered at the voice. He knew Hermione and Harry well enough. They would not do that to him.
"Are you sure? Go ahead then. Destroy my Horcrux."
He raised the sword a bit higher, but doubt clouded his mind. How much did Riddle know about him? How much did he know about Hermione and Harry?
"A lot more than you do," Riddle chuckled again. "Perhaps I should be glad that I don't have to help you. It would be too tedious of a job with too little of a reward at the end. And I will have to deal with ridiculous things like love and courtship."
"What do you know?" Ron asked mentally, unable to resist his curiosity and fears.
It was Riddle's turn to remain silent. Insecurity filled Ron's heart.
"What do you know?" he asked again.
"I think you better not know about it. It might break your fragile little heart, Ronald—better known as the friend who couldn't even cast a spell properly. At least Harry dearest knew his Defense Against the Dark Arts well. When have you done something mildly productive, Ronald? Where would you be if Harry hadn't decided to become your best friend?" the voice asked mockingly. "It's better for someone like you to live in the unknown, Ronald. Isn't that what you've submitted yourself to? To live a life of lies and to die in the arms of a person who doesn't love you as much as you think she does?"
He did not know. He did not know just how much Hermione loved him.
Riddle continued after a short pause, after the thoughts had sunk into Ron's mind. "Even Potter knows how ... useless you are, or he wouldn't have given you the easy job of destroying my Horcrux. Did you really think it was a heroic deed? Stabbing something that wasn't moving at all? Your delusions of grandeur amuse me in more ways than one, Ronald."
Ron's eyes flickered, his arms slightly shaking but he was unable to plunge the sword into the locket.
"Go on then. Destroy the Horcrux and be on your way. Lord Voldemort's waiting," the voice laughed again.
The laughter continued to ring in Ron's head long after it had stopped.
"Do it, Ron!" But Harry's voice was somewhere in the background, muffled by the uncertainty in Ron's mind and heart.
His blue eyes momentarily flashed red again as his gaze wandered around, looking at anything but the locket.
"What should I do?" the redhead asked, completely distraught.
"Are you sure about this, Ronald? After all, Miss Granger 'affectionately' refers to you as a coward in her mind. Sure you're not going to chicken out on me?" Riddle asked in a mocking tone.
"I'm not a coward," Ron replied through gritted teeth, "and I will not chicken out."
Riddle chuckled before replying, "I'll help you win Miss Granger, but in order for me to do that ... I, will have to monitor your moves."
"Monitor my ... " Ron didn't know what that entailed.
"I may be an extraordinary wizard, but it will be impossible for me to change your entire behavior with a simple spell, Ronald. Either you accept my proposal or just continue being Potter's little sidekick," Riddle answered with a certain finality in his words.
Ron swallowed and after some quick thinking, finally made his decision.
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The sword flashed and plunged down: Harry threw himself out of the way; there was a clang of metal and a long, drawn-out scream.
Both young men remained quiet for a while, relishing in the silence that followed after what had happened.
The only sound was Ron's heavy breathing and the shriek of some unknown bird in the distance.
Harry slowly walked up to his best friend, picked up the Horcrux, and was examining it when Ron dropped the sword, sunk to his knees, and buried his head in his arms.
The dark-haired young man continued speaking to him, but Ron could not—did not hear him. In fact, he almost felt as if it were an out-of-his-body experience; he saw himself talking to Harry, hugging Harry, and walking back to the tent, but he could not feel himself doing it.
And in the Chosen One's moment of happiness, he had failed to see the flash of red that appeared behind those familiar blue eyes.
Ron Weasley was relishing in the enormity of the power that was flowing through him at the moment. He never knew that a person could wield so much power.
It was exhilarating—overwhelming—intoxicating.
"We shall allow him a few moments of glory. In order to achieve a greater goal, minor sacrifices are needed," the cold voice in his head lectured him.
Ron would have nodded enthusiastically if the soul piece now residing inside him could have seen him. However, in their situation, he merely listened eagerly, much like a student waiting for instructions from his favorite teacher. Even the meeting with Hermione went surprisingly better than he had expected. Sure, she was still rather cold to him, but it could have been a lot worse.
And with each move Tom Marvolo Riddle taught him, Ron's trust and reliance on him only continued to increase.
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They watched as Harry hurried out of the room towards Ravenclaw Tower.
"Tell her to go to the Chamber of Secrets with you, quietly, without the rest of the people hearing you," Tom's voice resounded in Ron's mind.
"Why?"
"You obviously still need a method to destroy my Horcrux, don't you?" Tom asked, his voice laced with amusement.
"But how will going to the Chamber of Secrets help?" Ron inquired, raising his eyebrows in surprise. It was a good thing no one was looking at him, or else it would have looked rather strange.
"The basilisk, Ronald. The basilisk skeleton still remains in the Chamber of Secrets. The venom in the teeth should destroy the cup, but the soul piece needs to be preserved in another object first." Tom paused, before continuing. "You are to keep the pieces of the cup after destroying it. When stabbing the cup, do not stab the jewels. I shall connect with my soul piece in the cup and isolate it within one of them."
Ron internally struggled with himself upon hearing this. On the one hand, he was wary about what would happen in the end if he assisted Tom Riddle. On the other hand ... his eyes slid over to the Muggle-born witch standing beside him.
"Ronald, I will not tolerate it if you waste my time again."
"I know, I know," Ron immediately replied, a bit frantically. As his reliance on Tom Riddle increased with each passing day, so did his fear of the man. "I didn't mean ... I'll ... okay," he said, before slowly turning around to face Hermione. He gently pulled on her sleeve and motioned for her to follow him to one of the less occupied corners of the room. When they reached there, he spoke in a low voice, "We need to go down to the Chamber of Secrets."
"Wha- Why?" Hermione asked softly.
"The basilisk's teeth, Hermione. We can use them to destroy the Horcrux."
Hermione froze for a second before she tilted her head upwards, her expression half in amazement and half in disbelief.
"That's ... that's brilliant," she whispered before a frown settled on her forehead. "But how are we going to get into it? We don't know Parseltongue."
A frown appeared on Ron's face, too. How were they going to open the Chamber of Secrets? It was impossible without Harry there with them.
"Tell her you can imitate Potter speaking it," said Tom.
Ron nearly nodded, but caught himself before doing so.
"I can copy what ... Harry did when he was opening the locket," he told Hermione. "I ... I think I still remember it."
She nibbled on her lower lip, the frown not lightening at all. In the end, however, she nodded.
"It's worth a try. It's better than sitting around here, not doing anything at all."
Ron quickly nodded, and after reassuring the rest of the people in the room that they would be careful and be back soon, they exited the Room of Requirement and headed to Myrtle's toilet. Thankfully, they did not see anyone along the way.
When they were finally at the entrance of the Chamber, Ron waited for instructions, yet, Tom did not say anything.
"Well? Aren't you going to try?" Hermione asked, her eyes darting around for any signs of other people. She was shifting nervously in her position, and Ron could tell that she was worried about everything that was happening around them. What if Hogwarts had already fallen in Voldemort's hands?
"Uh ... yes," Ron gulped.
Mentally, he tried to call to Tom again, but he still received no answer. Opening his mouth, he tried to recall what Harry did for the locket, but the strangled hissing noises had no effect. The sink did not so much as move.
Hermione took a step forward and peered at the sink. "Try it again."
Ron took a deep breath and tried again. A string of muttered curses left his mouth when it still did not work. Furrowing his eyebrows, he tried a few more times, but to no avail.
Hermione's shoulder slumped down, disappointed that it had not worked.
"It's useless. Harry's the only one who could speak Parseltongue," she shook her head, staring at the sink as if it was her worst enemy.
Heaving a sigh, Ron was about to agree with her when he suddenly felt as if he was pushed out of his body and looking at himself from a stranger's perspective. His mouth opened and a string of something foreign and, at the same time, haunting passed through his lips. With a rumble, the sink started to move under Hermione very shocked eyes, and Ron was back in his body again.
"Th- I- Oh- Ron! That's brilliant!" she whispered, still staring at the now opened entrance.
With his ears turning red and his chest puffing out proudly, he gave her a lopsided grin and gestured at the pipe in front of him.
"I suppose I should go first, since you've never been down there," he offered, putting on a brave front.
Hermione peeked down the pipeline and nodded hesitantly.
"There ... aren't any dangers down there, are there?" she asked, an alarmed expression on her face. Apparently, she was worried that there might be other things down there.
Ron shook his head.
"No, unless snake skin starts strangling me and the destroyed soul of You-Know-Who starts pelting stones at me," he joked.
"Not funny," she frowned while he snorted. "Give me an okay when you reach the bottom, so that I'll know when to jump down. The last thing we want is to lie unconscious beneath Hogwarts while Harry's busy fighting You-Know-Who," she added with a a grimace.
With a firm nod, Ron gave her another smile and let himself fall down the pipeline connecting Hogwarts to the Chamber of Secrets.
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Ron watched as his body reach the diadem before Hermione and Harry. His wand flashed across one of the random objects next to him and a duplicate of the tiara was created. Quickly and quietly, a few more spells were cast on the fake diadem—no doubt to make it react and seem like the real Horcrux—and the two objects were exchanged, one staying right on top of the pockmarked stone warlock, and the other slipped safely into his pocket. It was a strange feeling, ogling at himself from afar, and although he still had doubts about Tom Riddle's intentions, Ron knew he had to trust him.
He no longer protested when Tom Riddle told him what to do, because he knew that in the end, all of it would only lead him, Ronald Weasley, to success and a bright future.
Ronald Weasley, former Head of the Aurors and Minister of Magic—that certainly had a nice ring to it.
A big grin appeared on Ron's face as Hermione threw her arms around him just as everyone started to surround the Boy Who Lived and Vanquished Lord Voldemort.
And later on, while walking out of the Headmaster's Office, he was even more certain about his decision. He did not need to confide in Harry or Hermione about what really did happen that night when he stabbed the locket of Salazar Slytherin—not just simply because of his selfishness, but also because of fear. He was afraid of how Harry and Hermione would look at him after his confession. So no, he definitely would not tell them what happened. Besides, if Harry could live with a soul piece of Lord Voldemort for seventeen years, why couldn't he?
Even if Tom's soul piece wanted to do something, he was stronger than one-seventh of a soul piece—he had a complete soul. He could easily destroy the last Horcrux and then the soul piece of Tom Riddle if things go bad. He kept a few basilisk's teeth with him, just in case.
Additionally, Harry and Hermione weren't harmed in any way, yet, were they? And seeing that the Horcrux was created way before Tom Riddle became all reptilian and stuff, perhaps the agendas of the two Lord Voldemorts were different. Not to mention the fact that nobody knew everything about Horcruxes. Even Dumbledore was not sure about some finer details. Perhaps each soul piece had a different personality.
He did earn Hermione's affections with Tom's help, didn't he? She kissed him voluntarily because of what the soul piece taught him to do.
Therefore, he listened.
And at the break of dawn, while everyone was rejoicing the downfall of Lord Voldemort, Ron Weasley was silently celebrating about a secret.
A secret that nobody else knew.
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