Tom Riddle Lives
~*Tom Riddle's flashback*~
It was the very end of Harry's second year. Tom was given a room that he could stay in so none of the other students would see him. Harry had stopped by, occasionally, to give him things like new clothes and books and such, since Tom had none. Tom could feel that Harry was slightly uncomfortable in his presence. He didn't exactly seem to know how to act around the past form of his tormenter. Tom always studied Harry carefully, his eyes never leaving his form. For some reason, Harry interested Tom, and not just because Harry had spared him and given him a life force.
"You're tense," Tom said on Harry's fourth visit, his arms full with new robes the Headmaster had ordered for Tom.
"Good of you to notice," Harry said sarcastically, though not cruelly.
"Why are you so tense? Are you afraid of me?"
Harry had expected to hear Tom's voice mocking, or pleased at the prospect of still being able to frighten his future downfall. But to Harry's immense surprise, Tom had spoken it as an honest question. He was regarding Harry curiously, and he seemed slightly nervous about Harry's answer.
"Yes and no," Harry finally said. "I'm not afraid of you, right now at least. I'm just afraid of what you might become." Tom blinked at Harry's honesty.
"Do you think that I'll become another Voldemort?"
"I don't know. You said in the Chamber that you intended on rejoining him, but due to current events, I'm not sure if you've changed your mind." Harry finished and looked at Tom, who was now silent. "I need to go now, Ron and Hermione are waiting for me. I'll be back tomorrow to say goodbye."
"Ron and Hermione?"
"Two of my best friends. Ron's little sister is the one you tried to kill."
"Oh." Tom again was silent, and Harry took this as a dismissal. He stood up and turned to leave. As he reached the door, Tom spoke one more time.
"Wait." Harry turned around, slightly surprised, and waited for Riddle to say whatever was on his mind. "You promise?"
"Promise what?"
"That you'll come by again tomorrow before you go."
Harry's lips formed a smile. "Sure I will. I'll bring Ron and Hermione with me too. I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Harry paused and finally asked a question he had been wondering about for a while. "Will you be staying at Hogwarts?"
"All summer," Tom said, disdainfully. "Under the supervision of the Headmaster and a few of the professors. At least it's better than the orphanage was. . ." Harry's expression was troubled at those last words. Tom expected to see the look of sympathy that everyone had always given him, that look that angered him and made him want to curse them into oblivion. Instead, he saw Harry's look was one of understanding. Tom wasn't sure if this should disturb him or console him.
*** *** ***
The summer had passed by exceedingly slow for Tom Riddle. He had been allowed out of his room to roam the castle freely. Only Dumdbledor, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout knew Tom's true identity. They had all been quite stunned, and in Snape's case infuriated, but they accepted the Headmaster's orders to let the boy be. The rest of the staff were told that Tom was a new student who was orphaned by Voldemort's attacks. Technically, it was true, Tom had mused, since he did kill his own father.
Often Tom had thought about what he should do. He thought about how he could escape the professor's ever-watchful presence so he could flee and rejoin his future self. But then he'd think of Harry, and his words. Did Tom really want to become a Dark Lord now? Did he really want to give up this chance at a new life? And even more, he knew that if he found his future self, Harry would be as good as dead. Did Tom really want to kill the boy that had saved him, the same boy that could be a potential friend? He constantly shook his head at these thoughts. He had always known what he wanted in the past, but now he was not so sure. So he allowed himself to temporarily be confined to the castle, until he knew what he wanted.
The start of term approached, and Tom was waiting in the Great Hall, at the Slytherin table, for the other students to arrive. He felt somewhat anxious, he had some questions for Harry. Students started to file into the hall, each one sitting at their respective tables. A blonde haired boy, who looked to be about Harry's age, sat next to Tom, and two rather large looking boys sat to his right.
"Hello, I haven't seen you before. What's your name?" the blonde boy asked.
"Riddle. Tom Riddle. I'm a transfer student. What's your name?"
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. So you're a Slytherin?"
"Yes, naturally. The best house out of the four, wouldn't you say?"
Draco smirked. "Most definitely. It's good to see someone else has enough common sense to know what they should go for in life, unlike those Gryffindors." Draco said the word with such disgust, that Tom knew that the boy must have had a personal vendetta against at least one of them.
"Are there any Gryffindors I should know about?" Tom asked, offhandedly.
"Yes," Draco replied instantly. "First there's the 'famous Harry Potter'. The fool, he's nothing but trouble. Everything about him is horrible. Then there's the Mudblud friend of his, Hermione Granger. She's a Mudblud, so enough said. Then there's the muggle loving fool Ron Weasley. He's a pureblood, but he doesn't appreciate the importance of pure blood dominancy like Salazar Slytherin did. It's best to try to upset those three, make them miserable for the things they'll never understand. Merlin, I wish Potter had died along with his parents."
Tom gritted his teeth slightly. Since when did he care when someone insulted Harry? Speaking of which, Tom started looking towards the Gryffindor table. He couldn't find Harry or his bushy haired and red head friend.
"Where IS Harry?" Tom asked, scanning the heads of the students.
"Potter?" Draco asked. "Probably went running to the hospital wing. When the Dementors came on the train, he had a fit and passed out!" Draco evidently loved this fact, but Tom could understand why Harry would react like that to a Dementor. Tom also knew that if a Dementor ever came near him, he'd probably pass out too.
Tom sat at the Slytherin table, listening to Malfoy's talk about really anything, and kept looking around for any sign of Harry. Finally, at the end of the sorting, he saw three figures, two of which he had only seen once, make there way to the Gryffindor table. Harry's gaze turned to the Slytherin table and they locked eye contact for a moment. He shot Tom a warm, brief smile before turning his attention back to what was going on with his friends. Tom found this oddly comforting.
Tom's first meeting with Ron and Hermione had been interesting. Hermione seemed a bit leery around him, especially since he HAD been responsible for paralyzing her. Harry had had to calm down Ron at first, since he had not forgiven or forgotten what Tom had done to Ginny. Eventually, they had managed to have a pretty civilized, though slightly tense, conversation.
"Are you alright?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, and he turned to see the blonde boy called Malfoy giving him a quizzical look. "You keep staring off. Are you ill?"
"No," Tom replied. "I'm fine. Just thinking." Draco shrugged and continued with his meal. At the end of the meal, Tom felt a pang of jealousy as he watched Harry leave with his Gryffindor friends. For some reason, he wanted Harry's friendship all to himself.
Tom gasped at his own thoughts. ::So, I've decided then,:: he thought, somewhat amusedly to himself. ::I won't rejoin my future self.:: He didn't know why, but for some strange reason, he felt particularly drawn to the Boy-Who-Lived.
*** *** ***
"Riddle," a deep voice said from behind him. Tom Riddle was just about to enter the Slytherin dungeons, until he heard his name. He turned around to face Professor Snape, who was still barely able to keep his temper in check around the former tyrant.
"Yes Professor," Tom answered, neutrally.
"In order for your schedule to be made, we need to know what year you will be in. I believe it is seventh, correct?"
Tom knew this was true, but suddenly found he didn't wish to be in seventh year. "I'd like to retake third year," he answered, confidently. Snape snorted.
"Please, be serious Mr. Riddle. At the very least, I'd think you'd take fifth year. But third year? That'd be child's play for you."
"I want to be in third year." Tom said, firmly. "I don't care what you say, I want to be in third year." Snape regarded him for a moment before nodding.
"Fine. It's your brain to waste. What will your two extra classes be?"
Tom thought for a moment. "Divination and Care of Magical Creatures." Without saying another word, both of them left to go their separate ways.
*** *** ***
That night, Tom found that sleep was not going to come easy to him. The Slytherin rooms now felt unfamiliar and strangely disturbing. The room he had been in was a Gryffindor one, and, angry as he was to admit it, he wished he could be sleeping in the Gryffindor room, or even better, in the room that Harry and his friends shared. It'd feel so safe in there. . .
Tom felt disgusted with himself. He was a Slytherin. He was the HEIR of Slytherin. Never ever EVER would he be caught as a Gryffindor. . . right?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom stopped his memories again, as he heard a slight whimper come from Harry's bed. He glanced worriedly at the figure under the white sheets in the hospital wing, and finally sat by the chair next to his bed to perch worriedly over it. He could tell right away that Harry was going to start having another nightmare. Instantly, Tom starting stroking his friend's hair, murmuring words of comfort, though they would prove useless. He hoped that Harry's nightmare's wouldn't be too severe tonight.
Author's Notes: Well, it's nice to see that so far all the reviews are positive! Heh, that's always a good thing. Now, as I said, this is going to basically be about the friendship of Tom and Harry. They couldn't instantly be friends, that would be too ooc for Tom, so I'm going to show how they gradually come to depend on each other. It won't take too long, just long enough to make it convincing. Also, the majority of this will take place in flashbacks of Tom remembering events from the end of second year through the end of fourth year. Then it'll return to what's happening in the present and how Tom's going to deal with it.
Now, thanks go out to:
Kneaha Minerva: Thank you! This is looking like it'll be a pretty long fanfic, probably the longest I'm going to write, so you'll be getting tons more.
lady sakura: Naturally, I'll keep writing more. Thanks for the compliment, and the review is greatly appreciated.
Sophie W.: Eep! Ok! I promise, this fic will probably be updated a lot more than my others since I'm actually happy about this one, so I'll keep updating!
Emmasi: Lol, keep reading and you'll see what happens. As for Voldemort, you'll hafta see if he attacks. And in answer to your question, yeah Voldemort still exists even though Tom does too. Basically, everything happened close to the same as in all the books, just Tom altered some things slightly. I'm glad you like it so far!
chibijed: As I said before, don't worry this will have MANY chapters. Lol. And I know what you mean. All the Tom Riddle fics I ever saw were either about Tom Riddle going through the transformation from Riddle to Voldemort, or they were a slash of somesort. I wanted to have a fic where Tom could go to school WITH Harry and the others, without it being a slash. Since I couldn't find any of those, I decided to take matters into my own hands *grins*.
Envy Greeneyed: Thanks! And I'll update again really soon!
Padfoot Rocks: And the genius author has made another appearance! *bows* And yes, I do like the idea of Tom and them becoming a sort of family unit. It frustrates me that there aren't ANY of those out there really, so that's why I was so glad when you took up my Harry adopts little Tom challenge! Thank you for forgiving me for not updating Terrible Shock, my concience feels so much better, lol. The bright side about this fic is that there is no PABAM to torment us! *suddenly looks terrified when PABAM gets an evil smirk* Uh oh...
~*Tom Riddle's flashback*~
It was the very end of Harry's second year. Tom was given a room that he could stay in so none of the other students would see him. Harry had stopped by, occasionally, to give him things like new clothes and books and such, since Tom had none. Tom could feel that Harry was slightly uncomfortable in his presence. He didn't exactly seem to know how to act around the past form of his tormenter. Tom always studied Harry carefully, his eyes never leaving his form. For some reason, Harry interested Tom, and not just because Harry had spared him and given him a life force.
"You're tense," Tom said on Harry's fourth visit, his arms full with new robes the Headmaster had ordered for Tom.
"Good of you to notice," Harry said sarcastically, though not cruelly.
"Why are you so tense? Are you afraid of me?"
Harry had expected to hear Tom's voice mocking, or pleased at the prospect of still being able to frighten his future downfall. But to Harry's immense surprise, Tom had spoken it as an honest question. He was regarding Harry curiously, and he seemed slightly nervous about Harry's answer.
"Yes and no," Harry finally said. "I'm not afraid of you, right now at least. I'm just afraid of what you might become." Tom blinked at Harry's honesty.
"Do you think that I'll become another Voldemort?"
"I don't know. You said in the Chamber that you intended on rejoining him, but due to current events, I'm not sure if you've changed your mind." Harry finished and looked at Tom, who was now silent. "I need to go now, Ron and Hermione are waiting for me. I'll be back tomorrow to say goodbye."
"Ron and Hermione?"
"Two of my best friends. Ron's little sister is the one you tried to kill."
"Oh." Tom again was silent, and Harry took this as a dismissal. He stood up and turned to leave. As he reached the door, Tom spoke one more time.
"Wait." Harry turned around, slightly surprised, and waited for Riddle to say whatever was on his mind. "You promise?"
"Promise what?"
"That you'll come by again tomorrow before you go."
Harry's lips formed a smile. "Sure I will. I'll bring Ron and Hermione with me too. I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Harry paused and finally asked a question he had been wondering about for a while. "Will you be staying at Hogwarts?"
"All summer," Tom said, disdainfully. "Under the supervision of the Headmaster and a few of the professors. At least it's better than the orphanage was. . ." Harry's expression was troubled at those last words. Tom expected to see the look of sympathy that everyone had always given him, that look that angered him and made him want to curse them into oblivion. Instead, he saw Harry's look was one of understanding. Tom wasn't sure if this should disturb him or console him.
*** *** ***
The summer had passed by exceedingly slow for Tom Riddle. He had been allowed out of his room to roam the castle freely. Only Dumdbledor, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout knew Tom's true identity. They had all been quite stunned, and in Snape's case infuriated, but they accepted the Headmaster's orders to let the boy be. The rest of the staff were told that Tom was a new student who was orphaned by Voldemort's attacks. Technically, it was true, Tom had mused, since he did kill his own father.
Often Tom had thought about what he should do. He thought about how he could escape the professor's ever-watchful presence so he could flee and rejoin his future self. But then he'd think of Harry, and his words. Did Tom really want to become a Dark Lord now? Did he really want to give up this chance at a new life? And even more, he knew that if he found his future self, Harry would be as good as dead. Did Tom really want to kill the boy that had saved him, the same boy that could be a potential friend? He constantly shook his head at these thoughts. He had always known what he wanted in the past, but now he was not so sure. So he allowed himself to temporarily be confined to the castle, until he knew what he wanted.
The start of term approached, and Tom was waiting in the Great Hall, at the Slytherin table, for the other students to arrive. He felt somewhat anxious, he had some questions for Harry. Students started to file into the hall, each one sitting at their respective tables. A blonde haired boy, who looked to be about Harry's age, sat next to Tom, and two rather large looking boys sat to his right.
"Hello, I haven't seen you before. What's your name?" the blonde boy asked.
"Riddle. Tom Riddle. I'm a transfer student. What's your name?"
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. So you're a Slytherin?"
"Yes, naturally. The best house out of the four, wouldn't you say?"
Draco smirked. "Most definitely. It's good to see someone else has enough common sense to know what they should go for in life, unlike those Gryffindors." Draco said the word with such disgust, that Tom knew that the boy must have had a personal vendetta against at least one of them.
"Are there any Gryffindors I should know about?" Tom asked, offhandedly.
"Yes," Draco replied instantly. "First there's the 'famous Harry Potter'. The fool, he's nothing but trouble. Everything about him is horrible. Then there's the Mudblud friend of his, Hermione Granger. She's a Mudblud, so enough said. Then there's the muggle loving fool Ron Weasley. He's a pureblood, but he doesn't appreciate the importance of pure blood dominancy like Salazar Slytherin did. It's best to try to upset those three, make them miserable for the things they'll never understand. Merlin, I wish Potter had died along with his parents."
Tom gritted his teeth slightly. Since when did he care when someone insulted Harry? Speaking of which, Tom started looking towards the Gryffindor table. He couldn't find Harry or his bushy haired and red head friend.
"Where IS Harry?" Tom asked, scanning the heads of the students.
"Potter?" Draco asked. "Probably went running to the hospital wing. When the Dementors came on the train, he had a fit and passed out!" Draco evidently loved this fact, but Tom could understand why Harry would react like that to a Dementor. Tom also knew that if a Dementor ever came near him, he'd probably pass out too.
Tom sat at the Slytherin table, listening to Malfoy's talk about really anything, and kept looking around for any sign of Harry. Finally, at the end of the sorting, he saw three figures, two of which he had only seen once, make there way to the Gryffindor table. Harry's gaze turned to the Slytherin table and they locked eye contact for a moment. He shot Tom a warm, brief smile before turning his attention back to what was going on with his friends. Tom found this oddly comforting.
Tom's first meeting with Ron and Hermione had been interesting. Hermione seemed a bit leery around him, especially since he HAD been responsible for paralyzing her. Harry had had to calm down Ron at first, since he had not forgiven or forgotten what Tom had done to Ginny. Eventually, they had managed to have a pretty civilized, though slightly tense, conversation.
"Are you alright?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, and he turned to see the blonde boy called Malfoy giving him a quizzical look. "You keep staring off. Are you ill?"
"No," Tom replied. "I'm fine. Just thinking." Draco shrugged and continued with his meal. At the end of the meal, Tom felt a pang of jealousy as he watched Harry leave with his Gryffindor friends. For some reason, he wanted Harry's friendship all to himself.
Tom gasped at his own thoughts. ::So, I've decided then,:: he thought, somewhat amusedly to himself. ::I won't rejoin my future self.:: He didn't know why, but for some strange reason, he felt particularly drawn to the Boy-Who-Lived.
*** *** ***
"Riddle," a deep voice said from behind him. Tom Riddle was just about to enter the Slytherin dungeons, until he heard his name. He turned around to face Professor Snape, who was still barely able to keep his temper in check around the former tyrant.
"Yes Professor," Tom answered, neutrally.
"In order for your schedule to be made, we need to know what year you will be in. I believe it is seventh, correct?"
Tom knew this was true, but suddenly found he didn't wish to be in seventh year. "I'd like to retake third year," he answered, confidently. Snape snorted.
"Please, be serious Mr. Riddle. At the very least, I'd think you'd take fifth year. But third year? That'd be child's play for you."
"I want to be in third year." Tom said, firmly. "I don't care what you say, I want to be in third year." Snape regarded him for a moment before nodding.
"Fine. It's your brain to waste. What will your two extra classes be?"
Tom thought for a moment. "Divination and Care of Magical Creatures." Without saying another word, both of them left to go their separate ways.
*** *** ***
That night, Tom found that sleep was not going to come easy to him. The Slytherin rooms now felt unfamiliar and strangely disturbing. The room he had been in was a Gryffindor one, and, angry as he was to admit it, he wished he could be sleeping in the Gryffindor room, or even better, in the room that Harry and his friends shared. It'd feel so safe in there. . .
Tom felt disgusted with himself. He was a Slytherin. He was the HEIR of Slytherin. Never ever EVER would he be caught as a Gryffindor. . . right?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom stopped his memories again, as he heard a slight whimper come from Harry's bed. He glanced worriedly at the figure under the white sheets in the hospital wing, and finally sat by the chair next to his bed to perch worriedly over it. He could tell right away that Harry was going to start having another nightmare. Instantly, Tom starting stroking his friend's hair, murmuring words of comfort, though they would prove useless. He hoped that Harry's nightmare's wouldn't be too severe tonight.
Author's Notes: Well, it's nice to see that so far all the reviews are positive! Heh, that's always a good thing. Now, as I said, this is going to basically be about the friendship of Tom and Harry. They couldn't instantly be friends, that would be too ooc for Tom, so I'm going to show how they gradually come to depend on each other. It won't take too long, just long enough to make it convincing. Also, the majority of this will take place in flashbacks of Tom remembering events from the end of second year through the end of fourth year. Then it'll return to what's happening in the present and how Tom's going to deal with it.
Now, thanks go out to:
Kneaha Minerva: Thank you! This is looking like it'll be a pretty long fanfic, probably the longest I'm going to write, so you'll be getting tons more.
lady sakura: Naturally, I'll keep writing more. Thanks for the compliment, and the review is greatly appreciated.
Sophie W.: Eep! Ok! I promise, this fic will probably be updated a lot more than my others since I'm actually happy about this one, so I'll keep updating!
Emmasi: Lol, keep reading and you'll see what happens. As for Voldemort, you'll hafta see if he attacks. And in answer to your question, yeah Voldemort still exists even though Tom does too. Basically, everything happened close to the same as in all the books, just Tom altered some things slightly. I'm glad you like it so far!
chibijed: As I said before, don't worry this will have MANY chapters. Lol. And I know what you mean. All the Tom Riddle fics I ever saw were either about Tom Riddle going through the transformation from Riddle to Voldemort, or they were a slash of somesort. I wanted to have a fic where Tom could go to school WITH Harry and the others, without it being a slash. Since I couldn't find any of those, I decided to take matters into my own hands *grins*.
Envy Greeneyed: Thanks! And I'll update again really soon!
Padfoot Rocks: And the genius author has made another appearance! *bows* And yes, I do like the idea of Tom and them becoming a sort of family unit. It frustrates me that there aren't ANY of those out there really, so that's why I was so glad when you took up my Harry adopts little Tom challenge! Thank you for forgiving me for not updating Terrible Shock, my concience feels so much better, lol. The bright side about this fic is that there is no PABAM to torment us! *suddenly looks terrified when PABAM gets an evil smirk* Uh oh...
