Summary: Fourteen year old Harry Potter is sick of the wizarding world and everyone it. Well, almost. With the help of a sixteen year old Tom Riddle, Harry shows the world it's time to treat him with a little respect.

Rating: M. For a reason folks.

Characters: Harry Potter. Tom Riddle. Draco Malfoy.

Warnings: Violence. Vengeance. Dark Magic. Backstabbing. Mental and Emotional Abuse. Pureblood Politics. Possessed Diaries. Teenage Dark Lords. Manipulation.

Got Questions? Put them in your review! If I can I'll answer them.

'Cause I have faith in you, that you're gonna make it through another night

Stop thinking about the easy way out, there's no need to go and blow the candle out

Because you're not done, you're far too young

If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out, to let you know that you're not alone

And if you can't tell,

I'm scared as Hell

"Dumbledore's been casting some other separation spell, that's what started the pains, for Tom at least, and Ginny got the stronger incantation from me this morning right after her confrontation with Harry at the chamber entrance.."

Ron looked over. "The Chamber of Secrets?"

"...Ginny goes to Dumbledore's office, they argue, she give's in some time after I ran off, which is about the time Harry came to me in the library, she goes to the hall and he goes after, Dumbledore says the incantation, Tom leaves when the pain in his chest intensifies, Harry Leaves the library, the walls start shaking..."

"Yes I noticed the shaking."

"...So let's see, let's see..."

"Don't mind me," Said Ron, grinning, "I'll just dodge falling debris and try not to focus on my friend's future-self rambling next to me..."

Hermione didn't answer, busy speaking to herself trying to figure out where in the time-line they should be. To get this right she really needed to warn Tom somehow, but she couldn't without breaking her vow. This is ridiculous she knew when to warn him, she had the means, but she couldn't say a single word! Not if she didn't want to die. How the hell was she supposed to help Harry if his stupid oath kept her from saying anything? She couldn't even write it in a note or something. What she needed was more time.

Time.

"I should be trying to get out of the library right now so we have a bit of time before I run into Malfoy and we find Harry and Tom. I can't keep Dumbledore from showing up because it's already happened..or will happen? I don't even know how to say that. I'll think on it later...I'll need to slow everyone down to give me enough time to get Harry and Tom out of there..."

"Tom? Who's Tom?" Hermione glanced over, remembering her companion.

"It's a-"

"Long story. Got it."

She nodded. "Okay do something to slow down anyone who follows after us please."

"When did I get elected master spellcaster?"

"When you stopped having the intellectual value of a turnip. And anyway I have to focus on things you don't know about yet, it's easier for me to have someone sharing the burden."

Ron sighed. "Fine."

The red head turned, running backward, and began waving his wand at the stairs behind them. His wand weaved in intricate patterns, then stopped and made sharp jabs at each staircase they passed, whether they took it or not as he didn't know which way whoever was going to follow them was coming from. Hermione hadn't said and he knew better than to interrupt her again.

"Incomoda! Movere Non Nimis Cito! Incomoda!"

"How on earth are managing to run backward like that?"

He looked at her, "What?" And fell over spectacularly.

Hermione grimaced and helped him up. "That was my fault."

"Well? Where now?" He glanced around. "I don't even know where I am right now."

She took a couple steps forward, hand against the wall to stay upright. "think it was over this-"

"Shh! Hear that?"

Hermione tilted her head. "Harry."

They walked forward, bones crunching beneath their feet, following his voice until it was loud enough for them to understand what he was saying. The world still shook down here but the roaring, grinding noise was muted, and the shaking was slower. The magic probably grew the further from Harry it got, like waves in the ocean. A ripple effect.

"...be angry with me. Hurt me. Curse me. Insult me. Tell me I'm an idiot and tell me you'll never speak to me again. Look me in the eye and then walk away without a word, keep your forgiveness and let me suffer. Only, only do not leave me in this abyss where I can not find you! One can not live without oxygen, without their soul. So bring them back to me."

Hermione paused outside the right door, pushing it open slowly, swallowing. She'd never heard Harry say anything so personal or emotional. Ever. He just wasn't that sort of person. Sure he smiled and he laughed and everything...but emotions were always so forced and strained coming from him. It was almost like he didn't know how to feel...or he was afraid to. And yet...

And yet here he was. On his knees beside the boy who would grow up to be his enemy. His magic spiraling away from him in golden strings she could just make out in the air. In the distance she heard the rumbling grow louder and someone, somewhere gave a shriek. She hoped everyone was okay.

"Part of me wants to set you on fire and hold you while the flame consumes us both, to eat your heart so I know that only I will ever possess it entirely. I want your focus on me and only me, your thoughts and your words. I don't want you to have any other friends you care for or hate us much you care for and hate me. I want to be the only one who makes you feel these things and makes you angry enough you curse me just a bit too hard and then you mend me because you care for me and you hate it so you ignore me afterward and I never resent you for it because I hate you so much I want to lock you in a cage and keep you to myself because I couldn't bear to share that emotion with anything else. Only you."

Hermione felt Ron next to her and turned her head to see what he thought of it. Her friend was unusually serious, face betraying no thoughts. Eyes, suddenly more clever than before, watching the scene before him, taking in the details, piecing it together.

Ron took in a strange, crooked breath and looked at her. "That's Riddle, isn't it?" He whispered.

Hermione didn't bother answering.

He gave a nod. "Alright then. Let's do the relocation spell."

No arguments. No tantrums. No words of denial. No excuses. He just accepted it and was willing to do what needed to be done.

Hermione wondered when she'd become so self-absorbed with her own mental superiority that she stopped noticing such things in those around her. Was she really that arrogant? Was it noticeable? Was this why no one liked her? Why they mocked her and teased her and whispered behind her back? Because this boy she'd always felt smarter than, whom she'd always felt more mature than, who always lost his temper easier than her...he stood straight and strong as Harry's friend, even when he was upset with him. Hermione'd considered betraying him to Dumbledore...she'd been disrespectful to Tabbris whom she knew Harry was fond of...she'd thought ill things of them for stealing her Harry from her. These people who gave him a place to belong and understood him in ways she'd never bothered to try.

She wasn't nearly as clever as she thought she was.

And even though Ron lost his temper and showed his anger and displeasure more readily than her...that was his strength in moments like this. He was in tune with his emotions, he understood losing control of them. He could understand where Harry was coming from. Hermione, who had never considered doing anything that might make people dislike her more, didn't have any experience with standing up and going against the grain and doing as she wanted with hardly a damn given to the consequences.

Harry's courage now, regardless of her uneasiness about his choices, was amazing. As was Ron's. And in the midst of these people she'd thought she was better than...Hermione came to the painful conclusion that it was herself who was lacking.

"You're my best-friend Tom. Didn't you know?"

She'd thought Harry mad for what he was doing...but mad was sometimes just a term used to describe a man who is obsessed with one idea and nothing else. For Harry it was certainly freedom...freedom from the bonds the world placed on him and...for whatever reason...Harry saw Tom as the sole representation of that freedom.

A tear slide down Hermione's cheek. She had wanted to destroy this and if things had turned differently she might have been up there with Dumbledore and Ginny, causing this. As it was it was her spell that made Harry hurt so.

She could hardly bear it.

Hermione might not believe in Dark Magic or in hurting other people to get what she wanted or any of the things she'd heard about Voldemort. She didn't know anything about the sort of life Harry lived before Hogwarts or what it was like to be someone like him, how it felt or what he must be going through. She didn't believe in blood purity or manipulation or dark curses... But she believed in the laws of friendship. She believed in loyalty.

She believed in Harry.

And if she backed down now, there wouldn't be a Harry anymore. It was frightening. How clearly she could see it now. This connection between them. Like their entire world revolved around the other...like they'd been missing pieces of themselves until they met and Harry couldn't allow that piece to go missing again. So he'd go along with it.

"Anger and Jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love." She said, softly.

Ron caught her eye, she wiped her face and nodded. He threw the invisibility cloak around them. Together they pointed their wands at the two boys before her.

"The Chamber." Instructed Hermione.

"Right."

Together they said. "Pariter Alibi."

Everything went very still, very quiet. A light grew around Harry and Tom, so bright Hermione had to cover her eyes.

She saw her past self and the others run up, Ron pulling her out of the way so they didn't get run into. Harry and Tom disappeared into the floor. Malfoy and past-Hermione walked into, followed by the others. She could see someone heading down the hall. That must be Dumbledore.

Thinking quickly Hermione unraveled a thin chain about her neck, pulled it off, twisted the small medallion hanging from it, and put it in Ron's hand.

"Warn Tom."

Hermione darted into the room around Dumbledore, ready to take the place of her past-self. Ready to deal with the consequences of her actions, and the ramifications of everything she'd learned. To face truths that were unpleasant and friends who were foes that you helped anyway and stood by because they were your friends.

"What is that?"

Dumbledore and Malfoy turned to look out the door, her past-self disappeared.

Hermione took a breath, stepped into place and took off the invisibility cloak. She caught Malfoy's eye when he turned back into the room. She willed him to understand her intentions, to trust her.

"Let's go to the seventh floor. No point hiding." She said aloud, enough for Dumbledore to hear.

He looked at her, pleased. "Very good Ms Granger, you want to help you friend don't you? Why don't you show me what's on the seventh floor." He walked out, expecting them to follow.

Mlafoy studied her a moment, a small smirk growing on his face. He nodded, gave a mock bow and walked out.

She followed after, hoping the clever Slytherin understood where she was going with this, hoping Ron managed to warn Tom, hoping Harry would be okay until she got to him, hoping Malfoy would figure out what to do.

Hoping that putting her faith in a Slytherin would pay off. It seemed to work for Harry.

And it was a mad, mad world.