Chapter VII

Our Once Upon A Time

"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule."

―Buddha

When Dumbledore and the professors finally managed to clear the rubble, they were greeted by the snout of the Monster of Slytherin. They would have begun shooting hexes and curses at the beast if it were not for the fact that the saw Harry standing right beside the beast speaking in Parseltongue. What was even more surprising was the fact that the beast had its eyes closed.

"Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore began cautiously. "Would you mind explaining what is going on?"

"Certainly Headmaster," Harry nodded. "But can we first let Ouroboros outside?" he asked, motioning to the Basilisk.

"I hope you know what you're doing my boy," Albus said in a worried tone.

"I do sir. You see, Ouroboros is dying. His final wish is to finally breathe the air under the sky," he explained in a sorrowful tone. "I want to fulfill that wish for him before he passes."

Albus Dumbledore peered at the young boy over his half-moon spectacles curiously, gauging the boy's sincerity, not that he doubted it. What he doubted was the Basilisk obeying Harry for its remaining life, however long that might be. He nodded once and motioned for Harry to continue forward.

"I trust you saved young Ginevra?" Albus asked hopefully.

"I did sir," Harry said with conviction. He then sighed sadly and regarded the Headmaster with his piercing green eyes, doing his best to gauge how the wizened professor would react to the news he was about to share with him. Mustering up his mental fortitude, he also added on, "And I also saved Tom Riddle from himself."

"What was that my boy?" Albus asked practically shell shocked. What on earth was the boy talking about? He expected Harry to say he had released the shade from his cursed existence to save Ginevra, but he did not expect him to say he had 'saved' Tom Riddle, least of all from himself.

"I think, I might be able to explain a little further into Tom Riddle Headmaster." Turning around, the professor regarded the ghost of Myrtle Henderson. "There is much that he kept secret from public, one of which was him courting me."

"What?" Now he was more than likely to go comatose at the information overload. "Ah, um, yes," the Headmaster stuttered, a sight that had all the professors gaping. "Why don't we take this conversation into my office," he said as he led the pack. After the professors, Myrtle and the Headmaster were Harry and the Basilisk with a still unconscious Ginny Weasley on its back as they made their way back up to the castle.

Before Harry and the Basilisk departed from the group, the young boy pulled out a black diary from his robe pockets and handed to the wizened professor. He then nodded at Professor Dumbledore's expectant look and then bowed to Myrtle leaving them behind for the grounds of Hogwarts.

"I think it's best if we allow Mr. Potter to tend to… Ouroboros for the time being," Albus said as he sat down behind his desk in his office. The four other professors had the conjured themselves seats so that they may rest their bodies after that ordeal they had gone through. "If you may, Ms. Henderson," Dumbledore motioned with his hand for her to come forward, "May you please give unto us the information you have of young Tom Riddle."

Nibbling the bottom of her lip and looking away from the professors, Myrtle contemplated what she was doing at the moment. She had been a ghost for nearly forty years, what with it taking a near decade for her spirit to become visible to the living, and despite being in Ravenclaw, she did not necessarily have an eidetic memory. For so long she had wondered why she still clung to this mortal plane, what had caused her to linger here in the world of the living and not go onto the next great adventure.

Now she knew. She wanted to give one final farewell to Tom; tell him she loved him from the depths of her heart. Tell him that she loved him despite the darkness that seemed to surround him. That she would love him and wait for him in heaven.

That had all changed with the events in the Chamber of Secrets.

Her new task was to recover the light within one Lord Voldemort, no matter how feeble and hopeless it seemed. She would have to try. She needed to free him from the darkness that consumed him after her accidental death at his own hands. Because Tom was never told it was not his fault by anyone. She needed to absolve him of that hatred that had gathered within him due to the darkness of their magical world.

She needed to free him because she loved him. Still loved him. And would love him and want to be with him in heaven.

Turning back to the professors, Myrtle began her tale of how she had met Tom Marvolo Riddle. Of how they began to grow closer. And what lead to her death.

A young Myrtle Henderson sat alone in one of the more secluded sections of the Hogwarts library. She always came to this section after she had discovered it not too many months ago after having arrived at Hogwarts. Now rather far into the year, she would come to her own little spot during her free periods or off days. She was surprised when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see an older student lingering near the corner of one of the bookcases looking at her intently.

The two stared at one another, both blinking every now and again, giving the other very curious looks.

"Would it be terrible of me to ask if I can sit at your table?" the boy asked. He then blushed and quickly added, "But far away from you! Not that I don't want to sit near you or anything! I just want to give you some room. You seemed content to sit here by yourself and I thought I would give you some company and I'm really messing this up aren't I?" he finished with a goofy grin on his face as he scratched the back of his head.

When the boy had begun to talk, Myrtle was somewhat thunderstruck that the boy would want to sit near her of all people. But her face formed a smile when the boy had finished and ended up looking like a cute fool.

"It's fine, you can sit anywhere you want at the table," Myrtle said, motioning to the table. "I like to think of this as my own little place, but it's not necessarily mine. You can have it too."

The boy just smiled as he walked over with a small stack of books in hand and plopped down right across from Myrtle.

"My name's Tom," the now named Tom said, extending his hand across the table.

"Myrtle," the Ravenclaw introduced herself, shaking his hand.

"That's a nice name," Tom complimented with a smile. It turned in a frown when he saw the frown mar her face. "What's wrong?"

"Some people would disagree that it's a nice name," Myrtle muttered. "Some people have even called me Mudblood because of how Muggle my name is," she explained glumly.

The boy across from her just smiled sadly and took her hand in his own and held it. "Your name is unique at least," he chuckled. "There are many men in the Muggle world named Tom, so I'm probably one of a million." He smiled brightly. "Besides, the name comes from an evergreen shrub that was sacred to the Goddess Venus as a symbol of love. So you see? Your name can mean love."

"Ummm… thank you," Myrtle muttered as she felt his large hand around her smaller one. "No one's really ever complimented me like that," she finished as her face flushed red.

"I was hoping to make you happy by telling you the meaning of your name," Myrtle began, hiding the bottom half of her face from her friend, "But all I would out was that the name Tom came from, Thomas, means twin!" she squeaked out.

"That's fine," Tom shrugged as he continued on to work on his Transfiguration homework for Professor Dumbledore.

"I wondered why there was a heart on the paper evenly split down the middle with TR and MH." He wilted slightly at the glare the ghostly girl leveled on him before continuing.

"You're not mad that your name pretty much says you're a twin?" Myrtle asked curiously as she peered over the book she was holding at her friend.

"As the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, 'Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.'" Tom then smiled at the girl across from him when he saw her duck her once more behind the book she held in her hands. "Some people think he meant 'Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies," he added offhandedly.

He was rewarded with Myrtle stammering out this and that about love as a blush engulfed her entire face.

"You really are pretty," he commented. He then reached over and undid her pigtails and allowed her hair to flow over her shoulders. Lifting his wand and muttering something under his breath, she felt her hair tie up into a low ponytail.

"There," he said after he put his wand away. "Now you're beautiful, the image of beauty."

He laughed heartily at the now beet-red Myrtle who, despite herself, smiled in happiness at the kind gesture displayed by her friend turned crush.

"Is it true?" Myrtle asked Tom when she confronted the seated Tom Riddle in their spot. She was now a second year half way through the year while Tom was a Prefect since the beginning of his fourth.

"Is what true Myr?" Tom asked as he looked up from his schoolwork. In the amount of time the two had spent together, Tom had come up with the nickname Myr for Myrtle. Though at first the girl had hated it since it did not make a lick of sense to her, it had grown on her Tom had embraced her at the end of last year and kissed her cheek when they were at King's Cross Station while whispering, "I'll see you again after summer Myr; take care of yourself."

Myrtle fumed as she threw up a silencing barrier around their section of the library, for she planned to blow her top on Tom. "That I'm nothing more than your whore! That all I am is just a practice girl for the real women!" she roared in fury. She continued, ignoring the pale Tom Riddle, "That I'm just some Mudblood who's lucky to be in Tom Riddle's mere presence! And that when you're done with me, you'll pass me around to your gang for them to use me as they please!"

There were now tears in her eyes as she continued her tirade. "Am I really a Mudblood to you?! I thought we were friends! I loved you!" she hiccupped. "I thought you loved me too," she whispered as she crumpled to ground, her knees giving out beneath her.

She did not hit the floor however as Tom had jumped from his seat when he saw her about to collapse and caught her in his arms. Cradling her in his embrace, he began to mutter sorry over and over again as he kissed her head.

"I hate you Tom Riddle," she sniffed, slightly put out at his display. Peering up at him with narrowed eyes, she quietly asked, "Who are you really? Are you Tom Riddle, leader of the Death Eaters?" Tom froze when he heard that and stared at her, completely horrified. Her eyes softened as she raised her hand and caressed his cheek.

"Or are you my Tom? The one who's quiet and funny, who makes me feel special and loved above all others." Her eyes began to shine with tears as she looked upon his saddened face. "Who are you really? Was, was the man I feel in love with real? Or was he just a façade, a front meant to get something from me?"

Minutes passed between the two of them as silence descended. Myrtle watched in rapt attention as Tom averted his eyes from him and saw conflicting emotions race past his eyes. After a while, she began to lose hope that she would learn the truth and would have to return a lonely life. She was stopped however when Tom said, "What I'm about to tell you, promise me you'll let me finish. Whatever you do after… I'll accept."

"And so he explained to me that he had singled me out of a number of Muggleborn students to power the sacrifice for the ritual to create a Horcrux." She held up her hand when she saw the Headmaster open his mouth to speak. "Please, let me finish. I gave Tom the benefit of the doubt to tell me what was on his mind." She smiled when the Headmaster acquiesced to her condition.

"He then explained that he didn't expect to fall in love with me, just as his mother had fallen in love with his father. But he was afraid, because his father and left his mother pregnant with him and run off. He was afraid I would do the same to him." She then looked off into the distance. "He told me that after spending so much time with me, that he had truly fallen in love with me, and that he knew deep within his heart that I would not leave him."

"I would never leave you Tom," Myrtle murmured as she stared up at her friend, interrupting his explaination. "You know me well enough to know that."

"I know," he said as a smile graced his lips.

Maneuvering herself so that she was upright, Myrtle then turned and embraced Tom to her chest. Tom seemed startled, as he froze at the new form of contact between the two of them.

"Listen to my heart Tom," she whispered in a loving voice. "What does it say to you?" She heard no reply come from the boy, but soon felt him shake slightly in her grasp. Myrtle then closed her eyes and allowed tears to fall from her eyes as she heard Tom murmur quietly, "I love you," over and over again as sobs racked his body.

The two of them just sat there, one embracing the other with all the love in their heart and the other receiving love, pure, unconditional and unadulterated love, after having gone so long without it while drowning in despair, hatred and revenge.

"I swear to you Myr, I will never go down that path again. When I'm around you, I feel like life is colorful and beautiful. I want that. I've lived too long alone and in hatred. I don't want to anymore." He then raised his head and looked down at the younger girl. "I just want a life with you in it by my side."

She smiled sweetly and leaned forward, capturing his lips in a tender, loving kiss. "And you'll have me by your side, now and forever," she whispered to Tom before once more locking lips with him.

"But Tom would still at times lash out in wrath when it came to me," Myrtle whispered. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she had dug once more into her memory and recalled her loving relationship with Tom Riddle. "I always told him they weren't worth it, that I did not care about what they said about me. They didn't matter, all that mattered was Tom."

"I believe you can stop there, Ms. Henderson," Dumbledore said soothingly.

He knew the next part of the story. The story of how a group of pureblood girls had begun to mercilessly tease her at the start of her third year of Hogwarts. He and the other professors at the time had received the reports of a gang of girls harassing others, targeting half-bloods and Muggleborns. A repeat victim of the harassment was Ms. Henderson. At the time it seemed strange that Tom Riddle was always the Prefect coming forward with her case.

It now all made sense now. He had wondered for the longest time why Tom had nearly pulled his wand on the gang, curse on the tip of his tongue. Albus now understood that Riddle had no longer cared if they were pureblood or not. Harm Myrtle in anyway and there would be hell to pay.

"I take it then, that Tom did not mean to kill you?" the Professor asked mournfully.

"He told me, down in the Chamber, that he meant to unleash the Monster of Slytherin on them to teach those who had harmed me a lesson." Tears were once more streaming down her eyes. "But his revenge hurt me! He told me he was sorry! That he never meant to hurt! That he still loved me!" Not wanting to continue anymore on the painful subject, Myrtle let loose a painful soul shattering wail before diving into the floor to escape, more than likely back to her bathroom. At the same time Snape had beat a hasty exit from Dumbledore's office without nary a word.

Blinking back tears as he realized what was going through Snape's mind, Dumbledore finally realized where all the darkness had appeared from and why it had appeared. He could now see with clarity why Tom Riddle had fallen so hard and so fast after fifth year and become Voldemort.

"I believe," Dumbledore said, just barely holding back tear, "Now is a good time for us to adjourn." Without another word to his heads of house, Dumbledore rose from his chair and made his way to his room to ruminate in his bed before sleep would come.

Looking at one another in shock, Filius, Pomona and Minerva could not believe the tale that was laid bare before them. Yet it was all true, as it was told from one who had lived, and died, during the period of time. What was even more unbelievable was the sorrowful state they saw Dumbledore take. Not knowing what to truly do next, the three departed from the office of their esteemed Headmaster. When they went their separate ways, they promised that they would meet the next day in the Headmaster's office to discuss what steps needed to be taken to prevent such a tragedy from occurring once more.

As Severus Snape stormed from the Headmaster's office, his mind raged a thousand miles a minute as a hot, red fury descended before his eyes.

The startling parallels he had discovered between not only himself and Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort, were not only startling but right on the spot. He then added on the fact that Harry Potter was just as well a half-blood as he and Tom Riddle were, and you could see the parallels practically glare back at you.

They had all loved a muggleborn who was a bright and exceptional woman who had brightened their gloomy world. He understood that as he saw a true and free smile on Harry's face when he had finally admitted his love to Gr- Hermione Granger, that Harry had just as bad a family life as he had.

They were all exceptional wizards. One could even argue that if things had turned out differently, that they would all be mentors and students to each other.

But what tied them all together was the fact that the pureblood society, in its bigotry and stupidity, had stolen away the women they cherished most. Except that Harry was able to save his from dying. That Tom had inadvertently killed his own in crossfire. And that… he had inadvertently killed his own due to his petty jealousy.

Severus Snape knew then and there, that even if he vowed to kill Voldemort himself, he would never be absolved the sins he had committed to others in this world. He realized that the only way to do that was to destroy this society. It held no love, happiness or light within it and had bred the monster in Tom Riddle that would become Voldemort, leading to deaths untold on both sides, and had grown another within his very own heart that caused his loved one to be torn from his arms.

And as he theorized from the evidence of this year, the pureblood society had already sown the seeds of a third monster in the depths of one Harry Potter.

He stopped then, when he remembered what Harry had said in the Great Hall not too many days ago. His brow set into a thin line and looked to the heavens, as a powerful conviction shone forth from his eyes and finally realized what he needed to do.

'I must protect Harry Potter and Hermione Granger,' he vowed within his mind 'They will be the ones who can break this cycle of hatred. Those two are the only ones who can save this world… or very well bring everything to ruin.'

He then remembered the love he felt from Lily once upon a time. He then slowly let it leave his heart, but no disappear from, so that he could finally move forward.

'They will be the ones to return love, happiness and light to our world.'

Harry and Ouroboros lay under the stars just outside of Hagrid's cabin, lounging lazily there with the young boy leaning against the great beast. He then felt the great beast give on last breath before going still. "Goodbye Ouroboros," Harry whispered silently as tears streamed down his eyes as he was one of the two sole witnesses of the passing of the Monster of Slytherin.

'Don't worry Harry,' Hermione's voice said in a soothing manner. 'He passed peacefully. Thank you for not seeking revenge Harry.'

'You're worth it though 'Mione.'

'Don't let us repeat Myrtle and Tom's tragedy, love.' Her presence embraced him when he went stock still. 'Tom was a misguided man who made one mistake that spiraled completely out of control. I don't want to see you turn into that just for revenge.'

'I don't know what I'd do 'Mione. I just don't know what I'd do without you.'

'Live with love in your heart. So long as I never leave your heart, I'll never have left you.'

'Promise me 'Mione.'

She knew what he asked of her, and she would answer truthfully from the depths of her heart.

'I promise, my love.'

Would you believe me if I said I pumped this out in two hours including editing?

Everything is now planned out for future chapters, in my head. Expect at least a chapter everyday or two. Or maybe two everyday or two. Who knows?