Woo-hoo! I have a feeling this is gonna get over 100 reviews! Yay me! Okay, thanks to all my reviewers who think this is a good story so far…and happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Harry Potter, sadly…

Chapter Two – Past and Present Doings

Voldemort was seated in the simple hut that belonged to Kaede. The old woman had at first thought Kagome had brought some sort of demon to her village and attempted to shoot a pointed stick at him. Voldemort had dodged the arrow, but Kagome held him back from killing the old woman.

The flap was waved aside and Inuyasha came stomping in. "Oi, wench!" he yelled, plopping himself down beside Kaede. "I want to go hunting for jewel shards and if you want to, bring your…friend…along!"

Kagome's eyes flashed and she shot back, "Who gave you the right to order me around?!"

"I did, that's who!" Inuyasha said.

"Well, I'm not gonna listen to you!" she shouted back. "I don't want to hunt for any more shards until I feel like it, is that okay with you?"

"No, it's not okay! If we sit here and dawdle, Naraku will get all the shards before we do and he'll kill us with his…well, he could probably kill us with his eyebrows alone!" Inuyasha growled.

Kagome looked at him really weirdly. "If he could kill us with his eyebrows, wouldn't he have plucked 'em off and threw them at us by now?" she asked.

Inuyasha was fuming. He snorted, "Ridiculous! Fine, we'll go on without you! I can always ask Kikyo to help me."

Kagome was angry now. Inuyasha shivered as he feel her murderous aura reach across the room. "Then again, I can always wait, although my patience would run thin by then…" he said nervously. Oh shit, that hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Save it, you big fat traitor! You like her! You like Kikyo more than me! I'll just go hunting for shards on my own then! If that's fine with you, I'll find the shards with Voldy and I'll kill Naraku without your help!" she screamed, balling her hands into fists. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Inuyasha groaned. He had made her cry again. "Now, K-Kagome, you a-aren't serious, a-are you?" he stuttered, trying find the right words to say.

Kagome glared at him angrily. Voldemort was angry too. This inhuman creature was insulting his friend, then trying to comfort her. He wasn't doing well.

"Inuyasha, I just want to say…goodbye…" she whispered, a lone tear escaping her eye and dripping to the ground. She took Voldemort's hand and her bag and ran out of the hut.

Inuyasha and Kaede stared at the place where the flap had been opened for the last time by a hand they knew…Inuyasha got up slowly, not daring to believe that Kagome had run out on him. He opened the flap and stared. They had disappeared.

XXX

Voldemort had only taken Kagome in Side-Long Apparation. Kagome had told him to think of a castle, a magnificent white castle with hundreds of demon soldiers in training and a tough demon guard at the gates and around the castle.

When they got there, Kagome noticed just whose castle it was. Damn it, why'd I make Tom come to Sesshomaru's castle, of all castles in this era? She screamed silently in her head.

Kagome said, "Tom…or Voldy–"

"Don't call me that," Voldemort said.

"Don't call you what?" Kagome asked, looking at him. Voldemort's eyes narrowed when he saw faint blue stripes on her cheeks. He held up her hand and saw the saw faint stripes on her wrist. Her eyes were a hazy shade of violet with a slit. Her hair was becoming lighter.

Kagome frowned when she saw Voldemort examining her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"You're changing," he stated.

Kagome said, "I'm what? Conjure a mirror for me, please."

Voldemort conjured a mirror out of thin air and handed it to Kagome. She looked at herself and her eyes widened.

Every passing second she was slowly changing from human to demon…Her eyes were violet, her hair was bluish-silver, she had claws and blue stripes on her wrists and cheeks…she had a shape like a pointed cross (like Bankotsu) that was indigo.

Her clothes were changing, too. Instead of the indecent, skimpy school uniform she liked to wear, there was a white kimono with pink sakura blossoms dotting it. She wore a baby-blue sash that wrapped around her snugly. It was tied into a bow at the back.

Voldemort stared at the woman who now had taken the place of the teenage girl that was his friend. She was a beautiful and breath-taking young demoness. She was just about as confused as he was.

Kagome looked at herself in the mirror. "Wow, I sure am a looker," commented herself, turning this way and that.

Voldemort said, "So, Kagome, it appears you never were a human. You were just disguised as one."

Kagome turned away from the mirror to look at him. "Yeah, why? Do you want me to make you a demon like me?" she asked.

"I'm fine how I am, although maybe being a demon would be a little better than being stuck in this mutilated body of mine," Voldemort said, glaring at his hand.

Kagome lightly touched him with her finger and sent a bright white light at him. Pain erupted from his body and he could feel the changes beginning.

His hood was blown off as long black hair sprouted from his pale scalp and lengthened until it reached midway down his back. His eyes widened and had slitted pupils that were red. His black cloak changed into a white haori and dark blue hakamas. He had claws with green stripes on his cheeks and wrists and other places. He was barefoot now.

When he was finished changing, Kagome said, "So…how does it feel to be a demon?"

Voldemort searched for his precious wand. He found it lying on the ground at Kagome's feet. He picked it up and pointed it at a passing guard. "Avada Kedavra!" he whispered.

A jet of green light shot out and hit the guard, but Voldemort was surprised when he didn't fall dead. The guard looked around suspiciously and saw the two demons standing in front of his lord's castle.

"Halt, you! What business do you have here?" the guard shouted.

"Erm…is Sesshomaru here?" Kagome asked timidly.

"Are you another whore one of the minor lords has sent as a concubine for m'Lord?!" the guard yelled.

"Why you! I'm no concubine! I just came to ask him something!" Kagome shouted, very pissed off at the insult.

"Identification?" the guard asked, holding out his hand.

"I am Kagome Higurashi, formerly a friend of his brother, traveling with another friend of mine whom we call wizard, although I made him a demon," Kagome said. "His name is Voldemort."

"I'm sorry, but Lord Sesshomaru is not here at the moment," the guard said, bowing. "Seek him elsewhere, please."

Kagome narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at the guard. "Do you know where he is?" she hissed.

The guard regarded her finger with a cold glance. "I will not betray Lord Sesshomaru's position to a demon wench like you," he replied, crossing his arms.

"Then burn. I'll wish you good luck in hell," Kagome said. The guard raised an eyebrow.

A jet of white fire burst from Kagome's finger and engulfed the guard. Screams of pain rang into the air as the guard was incinerated. Kagome hmphed and walked away, muttering angrily. Voldemort followed her, wondering who this Sesshomaru person was.

XXX

Harry came back to Hogwarts after Christmas break. He was eager to tell Dumbledore what he had discovered, if you could count that as discovered. Hedwig, along with hundred of other owls, soared under the roof and landed in front of their masters.

Harry was delighted to find that Dumbledore wanted to have another lesson with him the next night. "Yes! There's my chance!" he said quietly to himself.

XXX

Harry hurried along the empty corridor, his black Hogwarts robe fluttering behind him. He hissed, "Lemon Drop!" The gargoyle beckoned him to the moving stairway. He leaped on to the first step and let himself rise to Dumbledore's door.

He knocked on the great wooden door. It swung open and Harry rushed in. He saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk, looking tired. His blackened hand was clasped with his good hand.

He got up and took a flask from his robes. "Now, we shall find out more about Voldemort," he said, his tired eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles.

He uncorked the flask and poured it into the Pensieve. He motioned to Harry, who complied without a second to lose. He leaned forward until the tip of his nose brushed the surface and he was whirled into the world of memories.

Second later, his feet hit the ground; he opened his eyes and found that he and Dumbledore were standing in a bustling, old-fashioned street in London.

"There I am," Dumbledore said brightly, pointing ahead of them to a tall figure crossing the road in front o a carriage.

The younger Albus Dumbledore had long hair and a beard that were auburn. He strode along the pavement, drawing many curious glances due to the flamboyant cut suit of plum velvet he was wearing.

"Nice suit, sir," Harry said, before he could stop himself, but Dumbledore chuckled as they followed his younger self.

They passed through a set of iron gates into a bare courtyard that fronted a rather grim, square building surrounded by high railings. He mounted a few steps leading to the front door and knocked once. After a moment or two, the door was opened by a scruffy girl wearing an apron.

"Good afternoon. I have an appointment with Mrs. Cole, who, I believe, is the matron here?"

"Oh," said the bewildered girl, taking in Dumbledore's eccentric appearance. "Um…just a mo'…MRS. COLE!" she bellowed over her shoulder.

Harry heard a distant voice shouting something in response. The girl turned back to Dumbledore. "Come in, she's on 'er way."

Dumbledore stepped into a hallway tiled in black and white; the whole place was shabby but spotlessly clean. Harry and the older Dumbledore followed. Before the front door had closed behind them, a skinny, harassed-looking woman came scurrying toward them. He had a sharp-featured face hat appeared more anxious than unkind, and she was talking over her shoulder to another aproned helper as she walked toward Dumbledore.

"…and take the iodine upstairs to Martha, Billy Stubbs has been picking his scabs and Eric Whalley's been oozing all over his sheets–chicken pox on top of everything else," she said to nobody in particular, then her eyes fell upon Dumbledore and she stopped dead in her tracks, looking as astonished as if a giant giraffe had crossed her threshold.

"Good afternoon," said Dumbledore, holding out his hand.

Mrs. Cole simply gaped.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. I sent you a letter requesting an appointment and you very kindly invited me here today."

Mrs. Cole blinked. Apparently deciding that Dumbledore was not a hallucination, she said feebly, "Oh yes. Well–well then you'd better come into my room. Yes."

He led Dumbledore into a very small room that seemed part sitting room, part office. It was as shabby as the hallway and the furniture was old and mismatched. She invited Dumbledore to sit on a rickety chair and seated herself behind a cluttered desk, eyeing him nervously.

"I am here, as I told you in my letter, to discuss Tom Riddle and arrangements for his future," said Dumbledore.

"Are you family?" asked Mrs. Cole.

"No, I am a teacher," said Dumbledore. "I have come to offer Tom a place at my school."

"What school's this, then?"

"It is called Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.

"And how come you're interested in Tom?"

"We believe he has qualities we are looking for."

"You mean he's won a scholarship? How can he have done? He's never been entered for one."

"Well, his name's been down for our school since birth–"

"Who registered him? His parents?"

There was no doubt that Mrs. Cole was an inconveniently sharp woman. Apparently Dumbledore thought so too, for Harry now saw him slip his wand out of the pocket of his velvet suit, at the same time picking up a piece of perfectly blank paper from Mrs. Cole's desktop.

"Here," said Dumbledore, waving his wand once as he passed her the piece of paper, "I think this will make everything clear."

Mrs. Cole's eyes slid out of focus and back again as she gazed intently at the blank paper for a moment.

"That seems perfectly in order," she said placidly, handing it back. Then her eyes fell upon a bottle of gin and two glasses that had certainly not been present a few seconds before.

"Er–may I offer you a glass of gin?" she said in an extra-refined voice.

"Thank you very much," said Dumbledore, beaming.

It soon became clear that Mrs. Cole was no novice when it came to gin drinking. Pouring both of them a generous measure, she drained her own glass in own gulp. Smacking her lips frankly, she smiled at Dumbledore for the first time, and he didn't hesitate to press his advantage.

"I was wondering whether you could tell me anything of Tom Riddle's history? I think he was born here in the orphanage?"

"That's right, "Said Mrs. Cole, helping herself to more gin. "I remember it clear as anything, because I'd just started here myself. New Year's Eve and bitter cold, snowing, you know. Nasty night. And this girl, not much older than I was myself at the time, came staggering up the front steps. Well, she wasn't the first. We took her in, and she had the baby within the hour. And she was dead in another hour."

Mrs. Cole nodded impressively and took another generous gulp of gin.

"Did she say anything before she died?" asked Dumbledore. "Anything about the boy's father, for instance?"

"Now, as it happens, she did," said Mrs. Cole, who seemed to be rather enjoying herself now, with the gin in her hand and an eager audience for her story. "I remember she said to me, 'I hope he looks like his papa,' and I won't lie, she was right to hope it, because she was no beauty–and then she told me he was to be named Tom, for his father, and Marvolo, for her father–yes, I know, funny name, isn't it? We wondered whether she came from a circus–she said the boy's surname was to be Riddle. And she died soon after that without another word.

"Well, we named him just as she'd said, it seemed so important to the poor girl, but no Tom nor Marvolo nor any kind of Riddle ever came looking for him, nor any family at all, so he stayed in the orphanage and he's been here ever since."

Mrs. Cole helped herself, almost absentmindedly, to another healthy measure of gin. Two pink spots had appeared high on her cheekbones. The she said, "He's a funny boy."

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "I thought he might be."

"He was a funny baby, too. He hardly ever cried, you know. And then, when he got older, he was…odd."

"Odd in what way?" asked Dumbledore gently.

"Well, he–"

But Mrs. Cole pulled up short, and there was nothing blurry or vague about the inquisitorial glance she shot at Dumbledore over her gin glass.

"He's definitely got a place at your school, you say?"

"Definitely," said Dumbledore.

"And nothing I say can change that?"

"Nothing," said Dumbledore.

"You'll be taking him away, whatever?"

"Whatever," repeated Dumbledore gravely.

She squinted at him as though deciding whether or not to trust him. Apparently she decided she could, because she said in a sudden rush, "He scares the other children. Except…except for one girl here."

"You mean he is a bully?" asked Dumbledore.

"I think he must be," said Mrs. Cole, frowning slightly, "but it's very hard to catch him at it. There have been incidents….Nasty things…"

Dumbledore did not press her, though Harry could tell that he was interested. She took yet another gulp of gin and her rosy cheeks grew rosier still.

"Billy Stubb's rabbit…well, Tom said he didn't do it and I don't see how he could have done, but even so, it didn't hang itself from the rafters, did it?"

"I shouldn't think so, no," said Dumbledore quietly.

"But I'm jiggered if I know how he got up there to do it. All I know is that he and Billy had argued the day before. And then–" Mrs. Cole took another swig of gin, slopping a little over her chin this time– "on the summer outing–we take them out, you know, once a year, to the countryside or to the seaside–well, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop were never quite right afterwards, and all we ever got out of them was that they'd gone into a cave with Tom Riddle. He swore they'd just gone exploring, but something happened in there, I'm sure of it. And, well, there have been a lot of things, funny things…"

She looked around at Dumbledore again, and though her cheeks were flushed, her gaze was steady. "I don't think many people will be sorry to see the back of him."

"You understand, I'm sure, that we will not be keeping him permanently?" said Dumbledore. "He will have to return here, at the very least, every summer."

"Oh, well, that's better than a whack on the nose with a rusty poker," said Mrs. Cole with a slight hiccup. She got to her feet, and Harry was impressed to see that she was quite steady, even though two-thirds of the gin was now gone. "I suppose you'd like to see him?"

"Very much," said Dumbledore, rising too.

She led him out of her office and up the stone stairs, calling out instructions and admonitions to helpers and children as she passed. The orphans, Harry saw, were all wearing the same kind of grayish tunic. They looked reasonably well-cared for, but there was no denying that this was a grim place in which to grow up.

"Here we are," said Mrs. Cole, as they turned off the second landing and stopped outside the first door in a long a long corridor. She knocked twice and entered.

"Tom? You've got a visitor. This is Mr. Dumberton–sorry, Dunderbore. He's come to tell you–well, I'll let him do it. And Kagome, if you would let Mr. Dumterbore talk to Tom in peace–"

"No!" a girl's voice said angrily. "I wanna stay with Tom!"

Mrs. Cole gave a sigh and said, "As you wish, but don't disturb them."

Harry and the two Dumbledores entered the room, and Mrs. Cole closed the door on them. It was a small bare room with nothing in it except an old wardrobe and an iron bedstead. A boy was sitting on top of the gray blankets, his legs stretched out in front of him, holding a book. He was looking over the book to talk with a girl about his age.

There was no trace of the Gaunts in Tom Riddle's face. Merope had got her dying wish: He was his handsome father in miniature, tall for eleven years old, dark-haired, and pale. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took in Dumbledore's eccentric appearance. There was a moment's silence.

The girl was sitting on the floor, her hands folded in her lap, glaring at Dumbledore. Dumbledore gave her a little smile, but her gaze was just ever so much more fiercer. Tom scrambled off the bed to sit with the girl. He too was glaring at Dumbledore.

"How do you do, Tom? And you Kagome?" said Dumbledore, walking forward and holding out his hand.

The boy hesitated. He wasn't sure if he could trust this man. Kagome looped her arm into his and held out her other hand to shake Dumbledore's. "I don't know if I can trust you," she said, "but something tells me I can."

After Kagome finished shaking hands with Dumbledore, Tom hesitated, ten shook the hand that was offered to him. Dumbledore motioned for the children to sit on the bed, and drew up a chair for himself on the side.

"I am Professor Dumbledore."

"'Professor'?" repeated Riddle. He looked wary. "Is that like 'doctor'? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?"

He was pointing at the door through which Mrs. Cole just left.

"No, no," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"I don't believe you," said Riddle. "She wants me looked at, doesn't she? Tell the truth!"

Kagome withdrew her arm to grip his hand instead. "He sure doesn't look like a doctor, Tom," she murmured in the boy's ear.

Tom squeezed her hand tightly. He didn't want to be separated from his friend. She was his only friend, but besides that, he liked her…or could say, starting to love her…

"Who are you?"

"I have told you. My name is Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have come to offer you a place at my school–your new school, if you would like to come."

Riddle's reaction to this was most surprising. He leapt from the bed, still gripping Kagome's hand, and backed away from Dumbledore, looking furious. Kagome's angry blue eyes never left Dumbledore's face.

"You can't kid me! The asylum, that's where you're from, isn't it? 'Professor', yes, of course–well, I'm not going, see? That old cat's the one who should be in the asylum. I never did anything to little Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop, and you can ask them, they'll tell you!"

"I am not from the asylum," said Dumbledore patiently. "I am a teacher and, if you will sit down calmly, I shall tell you about Hogwarts. Of course, if you would rather not come to the school, nobody will force you–"

"I'd like to see them try," sneered Riddle.

"He doesn't trust you!" shouted Kagome. "Leave him alone, you can't trick him into going to…to some dismal, dreaded place with you!"

Tom squeezed her hand as thanks to standing up for him. Harry was bewildered at this and stared at the older Dumbledore. He smiled and motioned for him to get back to watching the memory.

"I have told you, I'm not from the asylum. Hogwarts is a school for people with special abilities–" Dumbledore continued, ignoring Tom's last words.

"I'm not mad, you old coot!"

"I know you are not mad. Hogwarts is not a school for mad people. It is a school of magic."

There was silence. Riddle had frozen, his face expressionless, but his eyes flickering back and forth between each of Dumbledore's, as though trying to catch one of them lying.

"Magic, you say? Do you mean you're going to take him away from me just to teach him a few of your silly little card tricks?!" said Kagome.

"Card tricks?" repeated Dumbledore, looking amused. "No, this magic is done with a wand."

"Fine, you'll be taking him to this Hogwarts school to teach him how to sprout rabbits out of the end of a fairy wand?" said Kagome, rolling her eyes.

Tom was silent for a moment, listening to the small conversation, and repeated in a whisper, "Magic?"

"That's right," said Dumbledore.

"It's…it's magic, what can I do?"

"What is it that you can do?"

"All sorts," breathed Riddle. A flush of excitement was rising up his neck into his hollow cheeks; he looked fevered. I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to."

His legs were trembling. He stumbled forward, pulling Kagome close to him, and sat down on the bed again. "You trust him, Tom?" asked Kagome.

"I see that old cat didn't send him from the asylum. I think maybe this magic school is real, Kagome," Tom said.

He stared at Dumbledore. "I always knew I was different," he whispered. "I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something."

"Well, you were quite right," said Dumbledore, who was no longer smiling but watching the pair of them intently. "You are a wizard."

Riddle lifted his head. His face was transfigured: There was a wild happiness upon it, yet for some reason it did not make him better looking; on the contrary, his finely carved features seemed somehow rougher, his expression almost bestial.

"Are you a wizard too?"

"Yes, I am."

"Prove it," Riddle said at once, in the same commanding tone he had used when he had said, "Tell the truth."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "If, as I take it, you are accepting your place at Hogwarts–"

"Of course I am!"

"Tom? You're…you're going to this school and leaving me?" asked Kagome, her face pale.

Riddle looked at her, then back at Dumbledore. "Can't she come with me too?"

"I'm afraid she cannot, unless she proves that she can do things like you," said Dumbledore gravely.

Tom clenched his fist, then said abruptly, "Then I change my mind. I'm not going."

"That will do," said the white-haired Dumbledore by Harry's side. They soared through the darkness back to the office through the Pensieve.

Harry looked at Dumbledore. "Who was that girl? And…didn't Voldemort go to Hogwarts anyway?" he asked, staring at the old headmaster.

"Yes, he did, but I'm afraid he has turned cold ever since he discovered that she was gone," Dumbledore said. "Mrs. Cole said that a couple from Japan came and adopted her before Riddle came home. She left him a note, although I'm sure Voldemort has never been the same since."

That left something for Harry to think about as he headed back to his dormitory.

XXX

Wow, that was pretty long for a memory. I shortened it a bit, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. 13 reviews already, yay me!

MF15