Little Hangleton was looking better and better as time went by, it had even started to rival Greater Hangleton in terms of size and industry, with one man to thank for that.
Harry Potter was making his way through the village, saying hello to anyone who crossed his path, on his way up to the Riddle House, or just Tom's House, as the locals now called it.
He felt the faint tingle of magic as he walked into Tom's garden, which was filled with beautiful plants, with small orchids and orange trees on the outside, providing free oranges to anyone who wanted to take them. That was just on the side of the path that the house was on, to Harry's right was a sprawling field with factories at the far end and decently sized houses in the field next to it.
Tom's House itself was under very powerful defensive charms and wards, designed to be unobtrusive to the Muggle inhabitants of Little Hangleton, but strong enough to protect the house from all but a nuclear bomb.
Long past the need to use the doorbell, Harry pulled out a key and inserted it into the lock, announcing his presence verbally, though he knew Tom already would be aware of his arrival.
Ignoring the guest room, Harry made his way into the house, placing his hand onto a slightly protruding piece of the wall, which faded away to reveal the far from mundane, mirrored version of the house, full to the brim with artifacts, both magical and mundane, as well as rooms that simply didn't exist in the Muggle version of Tom's House.
The need for such privacy was mandated by the presence of two dragons, namely Sors'Dzala and Lily, who had visited Harry in search of sanctuary and had been sent here.
Much like last year, Harry was away from home for a ritual, though this time he was only a passive observer. In the two weeks that had passed in July so far, more specifically the week since Hogwarts let out, Harry had brokered a proper introduction between Tom Riddle and Marvolo Gaunt. The initial meeting filled Harry with dread and unease. Even though he trusted both men, he expected them to fight. Instead when they had met they greeted each other as if they were old friends and revealed to Harry that the two had been in correspondence since before Christmas, and that Tom had personally contributed some of the scrolls he had obtained over the year.
"So, what is this ritual you mentioned?" Harry opened as he entered the workshop, a much larger room than a workshop had any right to be, and saw his Professor and his ally sitting down with a third cushion for Harry to sit on.
"You told me about Fate's words, 'when the two become one', and your fear that it meant you and Voldemort would become one, however, Marvolo and I believe it refers to us," Tom explained as Harry took his seat, forming a triangle with the other two.
"You're here to witness the joining of us into a single person," Marvolo began. "We have both been obsessed with becoming whole, as you may remember from our conversations at Hogwarts, and have come to realise that combining would bring us closer to that end, while also making us more powerful."
"How exactly do you begin this?"
"Oh Harry- we've already begun- the final step will come soon- we only have to let go." The two began speaking in a similar manner to Fred and George, sharing a brain in a more literal sense.
"Which one of you will be more present?" Harry questioned, earning himself matching grins from the two men.
"We have absolutely- no idea." Having said that, the two men started the ritual and began to glimmer and shine, changing colours in much the same way that Dudley did in his Thunderbird form, before the light on Tom's seat vanished and Marvolo Gaunt remained.
"Hello Harry," was the first thing he said upon regaining his bearings.
"Are you more Professor Gaunt or Tom?" Harry asked after a short moment.
"I am a new person technically, I have the memories of both and their perspectives and personalities, but I also have my own perspective and beliefs."
"Okay… what happens now?"
"Now, Mr Potter? Now I begin to help destabilise Voldemort's power base, one day I shall contain Him, purify Him, and absorb Him into myself, he shall exist as just a soul for as long as it takes to remove all traces of being and sentience from the soul shard, which, unlike a Horcrux, won't have the ability to contain the mindset of the soul shard and it will simply evaporate away over time."
"It doesn't sound easy to reduce someone to just a soul," Harry pointed out, with Lord Gaunt flashing him a dark smile.
"It won't be, but it has to happen like that. I believe this completely, more now that I have experienced this type of merge. I can't imagine retaining the insanity of Him."
"You're going to teach me how to do this. If we both know how it works then we both have a shot at taking Him down."
"I would have it no other way."
/_-_^_^_-/
"I'm sorry, Albus, if you had informed me sooner maybe I could have bought you more time, as it stands I've managed to contain the curse to your hand as of now, but-".
"How long, Severus?"
"A year at most, I can try to restrict the progression as it spreads, but it would only buy you a few extra months. I'm sorry, Albus."
"Fear not, Severus, it was my own foolhardiness that led to this poor turn of circumstances."
"How did you even obtain this Ring? It's not everyday one comes across such a dangerous and powerful artifact," Snape questioned the one man he respected more than any in the world.
"Sirius Black purchased it from Borgin and Burkes, wearing it for all of ten minutes before a Muggle attempted to steal it, killing the Muggle and inspiring Sirius to contact me. As morbid as it sounds, that man gave his life to push forward a chain of events that may possibly lead us to victory. We have a place for the Order to meet, our forces are growing rapidly, Tom Riddle has promised to help fund us in part." Albus sounded more hopeful than Severus had heard him in a long time.
"I just hope you know what you're doing, Albus."
"So do I, Severus, so do I. We just have to have hope and remember the power of love."
"Right… forgive me for not holding as much faith in the power of love as you do, I'd trust my potions over anything else."
"About that. I have enlisted your old mentor, Professor Slughorn, to teach at Hogwarts." Before Severus could express any opinion there was a tapping at the window signaling the arrival of a post owl.
"It appears," Dumbledore announced after reading the letter.. "that our Professor Gaunt and Tom Riddle are now one and the same person. We shall keep an eye on this development. Severus, my boy, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask too much of you once again."