Chapter 10. Tom Riddle
It was a dream unlike any other. Harry felt like himself…alive, awake even. But he wasn't alone.
"Hello Harry."
The world shifted and Harry found himself in a room with cold stone floors, dark mahogany walls, and a long lacquered table, the kind Harry had often seen in Death Eater meetings. Tom Riddle, young, handsome, human looking, sat at the table, his hands folded calmly before him.
"Sit, Harry. You have nothing to fear from me. We are allies."
Harry quickly scanned the dream room for a way out, but finding none, cautiously took a seat across from the man. Tom Riddle always was so handsome.
"Voldemort," Harry said, his mouth dry. "Why have you summoned me here?"
"Here? We are in your mind, Harry, and I haven't become Voldemort, yet. I am still Tom Riddle. Intelligent, strong, wise. Model student. Head boy, in fact. Graduated with top honors, intent to change the world. I have not yet lost my complete sanity."
He was right. This Tom was older than the one in the Chamber, but not nearly as old as the Voldemort now. This was the horcrux in his scar.
"Ah, I see you understand." Tom gave him a smile that was devoid of any mockery. "Such as intelligent boy. Even Severus doesn't see you as I see you, does he, Harry?"
Harry pressed his lips together. If Tom thought he was just going to spill his secrets, then he wasn't as intelligent as he thought.
"Harry, there's no need to keep secrets between friends, hmm? I am a part of you and you are a part of me. We complete each other. I would never wish you harm. I have seen too much and lived through too much to wish you harm. For instance, Moody is very lucky he is already dead right now."
Harry startled. "You know…" Then the game was well and truly up.
"Of course I know. I lived through it with you, helped you block the memories even, before Dumbledore thought to invoke the Aegis to keep those memories at bay…"
"So if you know, Voldemort knows everything," Harry said aloud. That Severus was a traitor. That Harry could not break. That the Aegis bound him to…
"NO!" Tom shouted, slamming his hand against the table. Magic flared around them, making Harry shrink back, knowing he could not use magic to defend himself here. Not with the things around his wrists. "No," he repeated, much calmer.
Harry tilted his head to the side. "Why…?"
"We may have the same source, but he is not I. It is rather like having another predator in the room," Tom confessed. "I've become more sentient than he would like."
"You're worried Voldemort will destroy you?" Harry asked, shaking his head. "That doesn't make sense. He's been absorbing the other horcruxes as far as I can tell…Except, of course, for you. I don't even think he wants to absorb you."
Tom gave him another smile. It made Harry's heart flutter despite himself. "That is where you're wrong. Voldemort is very much interested in absorbing me, but he won't unless he's sure it won't kill you. Because, you see, Draco was right. He's very much obsessed with you." Tom reached across the table and lightly played with the silver chain around his wrist.
"And you?" Harry asked breathlessly.
"What do you think, Harry? It is one of the reasons he is so intent on absorbing me. He knows what he is, what I am. He knows I won't stop until you're mine…He knows he is obsessed, but he can't understand it. His capacity to love, Harry, was taken from him with his creation of me." Tom brushed his lips against the back of Harry's hand. "Why else do you think he has taken on Draco? It is to practice how to be gentle. He thinks he wants you broken, but he doesn't understand that what makes you Our perfect match is your spirit. He's taken on Draco, but he doesn't fully understand why."
"But Severus…?" Harry asked.
"Hmm? What about dear Severus?"
"He can't break me. He doesn't even want to. You know this. He's going to get me out of here," Harry said with conviction.
"Oh yes," Tom said. "The Severus who claimed you had occlumency shields? Who brought the prophecy that killed your parents to Voldemort's attention? Who lured you here with his patronus? Who is, at this moment, brewing the potion to allow Voldemort to absorb me into his soul? That Severus?"
"He said it was to remove the Dark Mark," Harry said in a very small voice, convinced by now that Tom already knew this, and was therefore not at risk of giving anything away.
"Of course he did. And he told you he went by himself to the Chamber of Secrets too to retrieve Salazar's book, even though you know that is a lie. He used the imperious curse on you the first night you were here and made you take him to the chamber. Your mind was under the influence. Mine was not."
Tom was a liar. Hadn't he always been a liar? He was charming and manipulative and…Harry knew that he was right. "That doesn't matter," Harry protested. "So what if he wants to remove you? That's all the better then. I don't want you in me! And as for the book, well, that just shows how much he cares. Voldemort gave us a deadline, you know! Severus was only doing what he had to…"
Tom smirked at Harry then, his cold fingers running along Harry's arm, sliding the cold bracelet up to reveal Harry's wrist. Tom rubbed the unblemished skin gently, watching Harry's face all the while.
"It wouldn't be because of the Aegis that you feel so suddenly protective of Severus now, is it?" Tom laughed as Harry began to look uncertain. "Don't worry, Harry, the Aegis will transfer easily enough. You know he can't break you, won't even think about touching you, even to save his own hide. Soon, you'll feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings for me too." He pressed a kiss to the inside of Harry's wrist, where the Aegis mark had not yet come in, but would surely become more visible with each passing day. Noticeable, if one moved the chain and knew what to look for… "Because you're not planning on telling dear Severus about the Aegis, are you?" Tom stated, more than asked.
Knowing he was defeated, Harry lowered his eyes. He couldn't lie to himself. "No. Severus cannot know."
Tom knew him too well. Harry could attempt to buy them time, could strive to keep them both alive, could even hope Severus was still on his side and could free him from Tom and Voldemort and the Aegis…but those plans would all be flung out the window the second Severus learned of the bond between them. Who knew how he'd react? What he might decide to do in light of this information? What the bond might force him to do once he was aware? Severus might attempt to wield its protective properties as a weapon, or decide to bind Harry to him for life…and he wasn't even entirely sure of the man's motivations. Especially not now with all of Tom's revelations swirling in his head. Severus had cast the imperius on him…
"Will you be telling Voldemort about the Aegis?" Harry had to ask, knowing he could not stop Tom from doing as he wished, but needing to know the answer. His emerald eyes bored into Tom's.
Tom looked uncertain for a moment as if weighing the odds of whether or not doing so could possibly work in his favor. "No, I won't…" Tom finally said, holding fast to Harry's hand. "I think this should be our little secret…"