Unlike Harry's second year, his third was incredibly eventful. Between fending off Dementors, learning that Sirius Black was his godfather, and the time traveling he had to do to save everyone he loved, Harry was exhausted. But Tom was there for him every step of the way. Harry could easily say that he had three best friends now instead of two.

It was getting harder and harder to justify keeping Tom a secret from Ron and Hermione, but every time he considered revealing the journal to them he could easily picture how the scenario would go down. First, they'd be hurt that Harry had kept such a big secret from them for two whole years. Then they'd lecture him until his ears began to bleed. When he thought of it like that, he figured he was doing everyone involved a favor by keeping this secret to himself.

Harry was at the Dursley's again but his stay this summer would be blissfully short. Ron had invited him to the Quidditch World Cup and for reason's Harry did not know, his Uncle had agreed to let him go. Today, however, was his birthday. His birthday's had always been a source of depression for Harry, though Ron and Hermione's gifts every year definitely softened the blow of spending them alone. After doing a bit of his homework, Harry decided to spend the remainder of his birthday talking with Tom. He'd been having awfully strange dreams lately.

'Sleep well?' Harry started.

'Incredibly so. Happy birthday, Harry.'

'You remembered!'

'I live in a book, Harry. There's very little that I have to keep track of.' Harry had long ago gotten used to Tom's sassy attitude. It actually amused him quite a bit.

'Yes well, I'm 14 now. Soon enough I'll be older than you.'

'That's an odd thought, isn't it?' It really was. When Harry first found the journal, Tom's age had been intimidating. Harry had sometimes felt like Tom was an older brother figure. Now that he was getting older, however, he was starting to feel like he and Tom were on the same page maturity wise.

'Technically you'll always have 50 years on me. Anyway, you know how I told you about my scar a few months ago? I had a dream about the dark wizard who gave it to me last night. When I woke up, my scar was burning. It hasn't hurt me like that since first year when I came into contact with him.' Harry had been purposely vague in regards to his connection with Voldemort when he spoke with Tom. Voldemort's existence always felt like a dark cloud looming over him and he hated talking about it. The time he spent with Tom felt like a much needed break from the fact that a madman wanted Harry dead.

'I recall you mentioning someone hurt you as a baby. Why does your scar hurt when this person is around? Was the scar created through magic?' This conversation was starting to go in a direction Harry didn't like. It's not that he wanted to keep that part of his life from Tom, it was just nice having someone who didn't know him as the boy who lived. It had been two years, however, so Harry decided it was finally time to let Tom know about his past.

'I have to tell you something. Promise you won't get mad?' Harry wrote hesitantly.

'In the nearly two years we've known each other, have I gotten upset with you even once?'

'One time you got a little annoyed because I didn't say goodbye before shutting the journal. But other than that... nope.'

'Yes well, that's because it was annoying. What do you have to say to me?' Tom inquired.

'There's a lot more to my scar than I've led on. I'm sort of famous in the wizarding world for outliving the dark wizard that gave it to me.' Harry stopped there, waiting to see how Tom took the information.

'...What?' Harry frowned. This wasn't going to be easy.

'When I was just a baby, a powerful, evil man decided he had to kill me. My parents went into hiding, but he found us. Remember last year when we found out that Sirius hadn't been the one to cause my parents death? It was actually Ron's rat, Peter? Well, Peter betrayed my parents and the madman found us. He killed my father, then my mother died trying to protect me... The scar on my forehead is there because he used Avada Kedavra on me. Something about my mothers sacrifice made the blast bounce back and kill him instead. I'm famous for surviving the killing curse and for accidentally killing the most powerful wizard at the time.' Harry could have gone into more detail, but he didn't want Tom to think he was fishing for sympathy.

'Harry... why didn't you tell me all of this a long time ago?'

'It's not that I didn't trust you or anything like that. It was just nice not having to talk about it.'

'I understand. I'm not mad. Can I ask a few questions though?' Harry smiled and sat back in his chair. Only Tom could hear all of that and still respond reasonably.

'Yes, go ahead. Ask whatever you want.'

'Well, you said you fought this dark wizard in your first year at Hogwarts. How is it you fought him if you killed him as a baby?'

'Oh, yeah I guess that doesn't make sense. We're still not entirely sure how, but I guess he was powerful enough to figure out a way to keep himself from dying. When I finally came face to face with him in my first year, you couldn't even call him human. He'd attached himself to the back of the head of one of his minions. So he's still out there somewhere, he just doesn't seem to have a permanent body.' Harry explained.

'So your scar. It keeps the two of you connected? You feel pain when he's around or when you dream of him?'

'Yes, exactly.' Tom was catching on quickly.

'So then this connection could have given you some of his power, right? Or perhaps some aspects of him?'

'Erm... Sure. In theory. That's actually why my friends and I think I'm a pareseltongue. The dark wizard who tried to kill me was one as well.' Harry expected Tom to get excited about this information since they so often talked about their shared ability to speak to snakes. Because of Tom, Harry intended on asking Dumbledore if he could have one as a pet as well as Hedwig. Snakes weren't on the list of pets allowed at Hogwarts, but Harry thought Dumbledore might make an exception for Harry. He'd done it so often in the past, may as well abuse it once in a while.

To Harry's surprise, it took a few minutes for Tom to respond. When he finally did, it was just one short question.

'What was the wizards name?'

'I don't think he was a big deal in your timeline so you probably won't know his name. He goes by Lord Voldemort, but these days people act like his name is a dirty word.' Harry said flippantly.

Then something happened that had never happened before.

Tom didn't respond. Harry gave it a few minutes before prodding him.

'Tom?'

Silence.

'Tom? Are you there?'

Nothing.

Why had he vanished? Normally if Tom was getting worn out he'd tell Harry. He'd never just disappeared. Was it something he'd said?

After writing in the journal a few more times, Harry gave up and put the book to the side. He kept it open in hopes that he'd glance over and see Tom's pretty script. He decided to write Sirius and tell him about his dreams while he waited. If it was possible that these dreams were anything more than just dreams then he had to take it seriously. Perhaps his godfather would be more responsive than Tom had been that night.

After he finished writing his letter and sent Hedwig off with it, he sat down in front of the journal once again. The pages were still blank.

'Goodnight Tom.'

Harry tried tirelessly to get Tom to speak with him over the next few weeks. He was confused, concerned, and he was starting to get increasingly irritated. Tom's magic better have run out because if Harry found out that Tom was purposely ignoring him he was going to give book boy a piece of his mind.

So much had happened that he wanted to talk to Tom about. Normally he and Tom would have talked well into the night about the events that happened at the Quidditch World Cup, and now he also desperately wanted to talk about how earlier that day his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. Talking to Tom had become part of Harry's routine and without him he just felt... lost.

Everyone around Harry was eating dinner and celebrating the fact that the champions had been chosen for the Triwizard Tournament, but Harry couldn't help but notice the stares and whispers directed at him. Even Ron, his best friend in the world besides Tom, wouldn't look him in the eye. They all thought he'd entered himself. Harry quietly excused himself and rushed from the Great Hall. He made his way back to his dorm and collapsed into bed. He stared at the ceiling for a while before deciding to try and get Tom to respond for the hundredth time. He lifted his mattress and removed the old book. Harry ran his thumb along the spine, pondering the planeness of the book for a moment. How had something so seemingly average become such a big part of his life?

Harry opened it, dipped his quill in ink and began.

'Hey Tom. Figured it was time to try again. I really don't know if the book stopped working or if you're just... sick of me. I guess talking to the same person for 2 years straight would get tiring, so I get that. It's just that you sort of became my best friend and it feels wrong not talking to you. I miss you.' Harry finished lamely. He watched the ink disappear and wondered if that meant the magic that bound Tom was still there. If the book stopped working the words would just sit on the paper instead of disappearing, right? That kept Harry's hope alive.

'A lot has happened since we last spoke. I think I might be in danger again this year. Not really surprising, right? The only quiet year I've had at Hogwarts was my second year when I met you. But I think someone put my name into the Goblet of Fire. Someone wants me to be in the tournament and I don't know why. I'm scared, but I can't tell anyone I'm scared. I wish you were here." That last part was especially true. He'd give just about anything to have Tom physically with him at that moment. He just needed someone to be there for him since Ron didn't seem to want to be and Hermione simply didn't know how.

'Are you there, Tom? I'm so sorry if something I said upset you. If you respond now, I promise I won't be mad.'

Harry waited.

He waited longer.

And longer.

'You really won't be mad?' Harry had never in his life been so simultaneously relieved and angry.

'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN' Harry wrote furiously.

'I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to worry you. I just... had a lot to think about.'

'Well you couldn't think about it without freaking me out for WEEKS?! It's been weeks Tom! I thought you were gone!' Harry was so angry that he didn't notice he was crying.

'I know I can't ask you to forgive me, but can I explain?'

'You fucking better.' Harry hardly ever swore but the occasion seemed to call for it.

'Harry, I think I was supposed to hurt you.' Tom started.

'Okay, so since you got this random idea that a book boy could hurt me, you dropped off the map?' Harry raged.

'Harry, after you told me about the wizard who tried to kill you, I came to a couple conclusions. Lucius is one of Lord Voldemort's followers, yes? We know for a fact that he wanted to use me to hurt you and the muggle-borns at your school. It's the only thing that makes sense. And I used Dark Magic to put myself in this book. I've been getting stronger Harry... Sometimes my dreams feel more like visions. I see you all the time. And I get flashes of things I've done in the past... I wasn't a good person in my time, Harry. I hurt people. I really, really don't want to hurt you." Tom's explanation did nothing but add to Harry's building anger.

'The only thing you've ever done that hurt me is ignore me for these past weeks. I don't understand how you could do that.'

'I needed to make some decisions.'

'So what miraculous conclusion did you come to?'

'I'm not ever going to hurt you.' This made Harry pause. He'd always known the book was dark, and they'd assumed for a while now that Lucius had intended for Tom to negatively effect him somehow. But not once did Harry seriously think that Tom was capable of harming him.

'I trust you, Tom. You didn't have to drop off just because of that.' Harry hated himself for it, but his anger was starting to dissipate. He missed Tom too much not to forgive him.

'I'm so sorry Harry. Can you ever forgive me?' Tom asked.

'Of course I can. But you have to make me a promise.'

'Anything.'

'NEVER disappear without warning me ever again.'

'Done.' Tom responded without a moments hesitation.

'...Fine. I guess I won't throw you into the giant squids lake like I'd planned.' Harry teased. He was still upset, but he wanted so badly for things to go back to normal.

'Harry?'

'Yes Tom?'

'Will you tell me what happened while I was gone?' Harry smiled as the words vanished before him.

'Yes Tom.'

Two chapters in one night! Wooooo! A few people have asked whether or not I intend to stick to the basic plot line of the Harry Potter books. I do intend to stick to it closely. A few things may change as he gets older since Tom's influence is involved, but the big key points will stay the same. Also, now that I've closed the age gap a little, things may start to get a little bit steamy. Fair warning ;)

~Tiddle~