A/N: Just for clarification, Harry and Alex are biological twins. They are not Horcruxes. While the idea is intriguing, that isn't how this story is going to go.

Chapter 21

"Everything."

Alex's words were met with silence. Tom stared at him for several long seconds before turning away.

"I see...he is truly a frightening force, your twin," the Horcrux murmured.

Tom looked back at him.

"You care about him a lot," he said.

"I could care less about him. He is useful for father's cause; that is why I haven't killed him yet. The second Harry becomes useless, I'll kill him myself," Alex said coldly.

A wry smile found its way onto Tom's face.

"You lie to yourself, Alexander Riddle," he said. "You hide behind a mask of cold indifference, pretending you don't care about anything. But that is true; you don't care about anything...except for one thing. You've attached yourself to your twin because he is the only one who will listen to you, can understand you...perhaps because he is even more unstable than you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Alex asked, frowning slightly.

"When I still possessed Ginny, I would observe every student. I noticed you always sat next to Harry every single meal. He barely ate anything except when you forced him to eat. He's borderline anorexic and has insomnia. In fact, he's not even human anymore. I can see it in his eyes. But you ground him, like he grounds you. You two are connected as twins, whether you accept it or not. Harry...he is extremely unstable. One day, he will break completely...and nobody will be able to stop it."

Tom pointed to Alex.

"And I have a feeling it will be because you will either be severely injured or killed," he concluded.

"It is true Harry is severely unstable. He has moments of psychotic rage and I'm the only one that get close enough to calm him down." Alex said. "But that is nothing more than keeping him out of trouble so he doesn't disturb father."

"My future self would've killed him the moment he saw Harry as too much to handle, but instead, you keep him grounded enough to prevent him getting killed. You're the only obstacle between Harry and death." Tom said. "That alone tells me you care a great deal about your twin. You are nothing without him. Don't bother denying it."

"Believe what you want; you're just a Horcrux," Alex said.

"I may be, but I am a version of your father, aren't I?" Tom asked. "I can easily tell my future self about what occurred here and he'll kill Harry."

Alex stiffened slightly, almost too small to be seen, but Tom saw it. He smirked.

"Don't worry," He said silkily. "I won't say anything for now. You should make yourself scarce now. If Potter and his friend come back and find you just standing here, it won't end well."

Alex scoffed, his hackles raising. Something about the Horcrux's words was off. He didn't trust it.

"If they ask, I will tell them I was hiding the entire time." Alex said as scrambling footsteps echoed closer and closer.

Without another word, Alex slipped into the shadows.

Eric finally defeated the basilisk using Godric Gryffindor's sword. He didn't come out unscathed though; one of the basilisk's fangs had impaled his arm when he slipped on the diary. The venom was working quickly. Ron helped him back over to Ginny.

"Bloody hell, the venom is working too fast," Eric muttered. "Ron, you have to take Ginny and get her to the hospital wing. Forget about me."

"No way, mate!" Ron exclaimed. "I can't leave you here to die!"

Eric crumbled to the ground, his legs having given out. He weakly grasped the basilisk fang from his arm and tore it out.

"Looks like you will die alongside the girl," Tom said, still twirling Ginny's wand in his hands.

"Not if I have anything to say about that," Alex said as he stepped out of the shadows.

A black object flashed through the air and landed in front of Eric.

"Stab it, Potter," Alex commanded, pointing at the book.

Eric's eyes drifted down to the diary. He reached forward and grabbed it.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked curiously.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to take you with me," Eric grunted with a pained smile.

He lifted the fang up and pierced the diary with it, ink spilling out and staining his hands. Tom's eyes widened in something that looked to be a mix of shock and betrayal.

"What... NO!" He screeched and rushed forward only to be stopped by an unseen force.

Tom screamed as he was torn asunder in a burst of white light. Eric sighed in relief.

"How did you know that would work?" Eric asked Alex as his vision blurred.

"I didn't," Alex said emotionlessly. "That wound doesn't look so good."

"Yes, I don't feel so good either," Eric said, his head spinning. He laid down flat on the cold chamber floor.

Ron was starting to panic when they heard Fawkes's cry once more. The phoenix swooped down to land near Eric and leaned over the puncture wound. Fawkes let his tears fall onto his forearm. The wound hissed and sizzled before closing up, leaving no indication there had ever been a wound.

"Phoenix tears; they can heal anything," Ron said in awe.

Ginny stirred and her eyes opened.

"Ginny!" Eric exclaimed, sitting up.

"Ginny! You're okay!" Ron exclaimed, hugging his little sister.

"Ron? Eric? What happened?" Ginny asked, sitting up.

"You're safe now," Ron said, pulling back and smiling. "You're safe."

Suddenly Ginny inhaled sharply. She looked around frantically and scrambled for her wand before hastily pointing it at Alex.

"Don't, Ginny," Eric reached forward and slapped her arm down. "He helped save you."

"But he's a Slytherin," Ginny said with confusion.

"A Slytherin who saved you," Alex said dryly, not batting an eye at the girl's wish to hex him.

It was rather amusing. He doubted she knew anything more complex than the Tickling Charm. He calmly walked over and knelt down to pick up the diary, taking out the fang as he did so.

"We should take this to the headmaster," he said, turning it over in his hands. "He'll know what it is."

"How are we going to get out of here? We fell down a tunnel." Eric said.

Fawkes trilled in response and fluttered his tail. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"I think he's saying he can carry us out," Ron said. "Can he even lift us?"

"Phoenixes are known to be capable of carrying immense loads using their tails," Alex said. "That does include the weight of five people."

"Five?" Ginny asked.

"Indeed," Alex said. "We can't forget about our dear Professor Lockhart, right?"

"You're the one who kicked him down here in the first place!" Eric exclaimed.

"It would take too much trouble to explain why he is down here in the first place and why he didn't come back up with us," Alex said. "We'll collect Lockhart before letting Fawkes carry us back to the castle."

Soon, the five of them were flying out of the chamber and towards the castle.

It was the end of year feast. Alex sighed in boredom and irritation. While he had hoped Hogwarts would've shut down from all the attacks, it wouldn't do for the mission. He would have to bear with it a little while longer until Voldemort made his move.

Alex sighed again as he stabbed a potato and chewed on it.

Suddenly, a pair of pale hands covered his eyes. Alex froze, barely containing the impulse to hex the person with the darkest curse he knew.

"Guess who~" a familiar voice sang.

"Stop playing, Harry," Alex said.

The hands lowered and Harry sat down next to him.

"Killjoy," he pouted.

Harry leaned in to whisper into his twin's ear.

"So...did you get it?" he asked.

"Yes...your plan worked well," Alex muttered, breaking eye contact for a moment.

Any normal person wouldn't be able to hear his voice as low as it was along with the loud chattering in the hall. But Harry was no ordinary person and heard his words clearly.

Harry grinned, his pupils slitting briefly. His sickly green eyes seemed luminous with the dim candlelight that lit up the Great Hall.

"Good~" he purred. "My plans haven't failed before. Where is it now?"

"I will give it to you on the train," Alex muttered, eating an asparagus. "We'll have to find an empty compartment and seal it first though."

"Done and done," Harry said, smirking crazily.

Harry pulled away and poured himself a cup of tea.

They boarded the train after the feast ended. Alex and Harry found an empty compartment quickly and claimed it, sealing it off. They closed all the curtains, ensuring nobody could see in. A few minutes later, the train began moving out of the station.

Harry looked to Alex expectantly. Alex reached into his cloak and pulled out the diary. He held it out and Harry took it. He trailed his pale, long, slightly clawed fingers over the diary's surface in a gentle almost tender way.

"Now we have three," he said, smirking. "I will retrieve the diadem next year."

Harry frowned and looked down at the diary. Something felt off about the magic surrounding it. The dark, malevolent energy of the Horcrux was no longer present in it. He looked at Alex and narrowed his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"What happened, Alex? This isn't the diary," Harry said.

"It isn't? Then what is it?" Alex asked, looking at his twin steadily.

"You never did switch the diaries, did you," Harry stated. "Tell me the truth."

"...I did switch them at first...but then the Horcrux threatened to tell father about everything...about you," Alex said. "I merely got rid of something that could hinder your plan; that's all."

"Father will not be happy about this," Harry said.

"If I remember correctly, you told me the fake diary was an exact replica of the Horcrux. Father will never be able to tell the different unless you tell him," Alex shrugged. "If you're that worried about it, we can pour more dark magic into it."

Harry was silent, studying Alex with a piercing gaze. Finally, he turned away, cracking a smile.

"And here I thought you didn't like my plan," he said.

"I don't," Alex said. "But if you want it to work, we can't have anything disrupting it, not even a Horcrux."

Harry looked at the fake diary.

"This will fool father for the time being," he said. "We'll just have to keep quiet about the real one."

Alex grunted.

"What about the locket? You have plans for retrieving the diadem, but the locket is still in the grasp of the Order, even if they don't know it," Alex said. "But they'll find it sooner or later."

"Don't worry," Harry said. "We'll start on the plan to infiltrate the order next year. After all, we've just gained the trust of the golden trio, yes?"

"I suppose so," Alex said.

"Once we trap one of them, we trap the other two. We've trapped Granger. You've begun to gain Potter and Weasley's trust by helping them figure out where the chamber was and saving Ginny. All that and you still managed to get the diary as well as switching them two times without them noticing anything. I am impressed, Alex," Harry said.

"They made it too easy," Alex said. "When the basilisk attacked, they forgot about me and ran for it. It was easy for me to switch the diaries the first time, almost child's play."

"How ironic since we are still children~" Harry said, giggling.

"You should've stayed petrified." Alex said emotionlessly. "At least that way, I didn't have to hear your annoying voice."

Harry pouted.

"You're so mean," he exclaimed.

Alex rolled his eyes. Harry frowned.

"Although it is sad that the basilisk is dead now," he said. "Hmm...perhaps I'll go down sometime next year and collect ingredients from its body. It'll be useful for something that way."

Alex tched and stared out the window.

"Annoying as usual," he said.

Harry tilted his head and smiled cat-like, but he said nothing else.

Alex looked in the reflection of the window. Harry had pulled out a book. Hedwig was curled up in his lap sleeping. Harry was stroking her soft fur.

Alex smiled a ghost smile, feeling the tiniest bit of relief...something he immediately squashed.