Author's Note:

Really have the writing bug lately and I think a large part of that comes with the increasing amount of time that I spend in the air; those fourteen-hour flights don't entertain themselves! Regardless of the reason, I'm thankful to feel so inspired to keep this fic up. Hope it continues as I have some fantastic ideas on where to take this and most of my energies in the past month have been spent drafting out the next few years.

Anyways, hope that your Holidays were fun and festive and a continued thanks for sticking with this.

Feel free to leave comments (your thoughts really do help me sometimes when I am stuck).

Here is my disclaimer that says I do not own anything Harry Potter related. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, except in universe 47837. Probably.

Tom, Tom Riddle.

Harry had lost track of how many times that enchanting name had rolled off his tongue over the course of the winter holidays.

There was just something right about the way that he connected to the name and the person who bore it. But at the same time, this attraction that he felt was unlike anything that he could remember experiencing before; it was almost like his magical core needed to experience this Tom Riddle in person and allow both of their magics to mingle for Harry to be able to figure out and understand the next step.

Whatever that may be.

It was different than how he knew that his boys belonged next to him; for he could see and understand the obvious strength that they provided – even if he was still at a loss as to why his magic almost required him to have … followers.

Altogether, his newfound fascination with this mysterious figure took up a majority of his time over the break. Whether he was in the library trying to find out just what a Horcrux was and how it was created or thinking about how he would use Ginny Weasley when she returned to go through all of her memories, his mind was fixated on anything and everything that had to do with Tom Riddle in some form or another.

But that preoccupation had a limit, even if it was all he could do to keep away from the second-floor bathroom. Because as much as he wanted to get to know who this boy was, Harry knew that he wasn't ready.

Tom had several more years of magical study than he did under his belt and there was always the chance that Tom would not feel the same way that Harry did. Which was confusing because Harry didn't even know how he felt!

Therefore, Harry steeled himself against traversing that part of the castle and instead focused his time on ferreting out all of the information that he could in the library so that he could better understand and be better prepared for whatever came his way next. Besides, if devoting himself further to mastering magic also enabled him to meet Tom sooner, then so be it.

In addition to the library, Harry had made several large purchases, including a wide assortment of advanced books that he hoped would contain some of the answers to his many questions. Or at the very least lead him in the right direction to find them out somewhere else. At any rate, he was certainly going to expand his knowledge base rapidly – and that was never a bad thing.

Also, now that he was quite sure that it was safe again to roam the castle given that the Basilisk no longer had a master that could free it from its keep, Harry took to taking long walks around the empty hallways during the day.

For while he knew that the attacks were over, he still had to pretend that they weren't finished yet. Nothing good would come from Dumbledore wondering why he was traipsing about the castle at night. Besides, he did his best reading at night and could now take thorough advantage of not having to work his schedule around classes and the dreadfully boring busywork that some of the professors were so fond of assigning.

However, sometimes he couldn't help himself and was quite fond of taking the long way back to Hufflepuff after dinner and it was during one of these sojourns that he stumbled upon Hogwarts' trophy room.

And nothing could have prepared Harry for what he was about to experience.

Harry's stomach was comfortably full as he took a leisurely stroll back to his room, where he had a tome that had just come via Owl-Order on magical ways to extend one's life waiting for him. He didn't know if a Horcrux could extend one's life but it could certainly preserve it and this was the closest text on the subject that he had been able to find.

In fact, he was just running through that very topic in his mind when he was about to take the familiar path down the stairs and towards his dorm when he realized that there was a room that he walked by every single day and yet had never been inside of.

As he changed the direction of his steps he supposed that perhaps this alcove had eluded his thought process before since he remembered glancing inside of the room when he had first walked by very early on during his first year and hadn't seen anything of interest.

But this time was different, for when he poked his head in he realized that there was a curved wall to the far right that he would not have been able to see with just a casual peek into the room. This rounded wall was filled with all sorts of medals and trophies encased in glass that looked to date back several decades. In fact, Harry was positive that some of the shelves within the frames were over a hundred years old.

Curious as to what some of the glass cabinets held, Harry fully entered the room and took a few minutes to look about each shelf, which were arranged from the most recent of Hogwarts' classes to the oldest.

As Harry made his way back in time, his eyes passed over very few names that he knew personally considering that he had only been there for a year and a half. Still, he knew the previous' years Head Boy and Girl and remembered something about which house had won the last Quidditch Cup. Beyond that, he only recognized some of the more familiar magical names until he came across a plaque dedicated to his parents, who had shared Head Girl and Boy responsibilities during the same academic year a few years before he was born.

Seeing the names of his parents meant very little to him since he hadn't known them and would never know them. It was hard for someone like Harry to have an opinion on something just because he was expected to, and he had already been through the rounds as to how he felt about their absence.

But at least his parents had been talented.

Going back further in time, Harry only began to recognize those names that he had come across in learning about the wizarding war with Voldemort. Nevertheless, he committed to at least looking over every name in case something stood out. For instance, he had yet to find out anything more about Tom Riddle and his name on one of these plaques could at least serve to give Harry a more precise time frame within that seventy-year span that Dumbledore had been at Hogwarts.

His eyes though had nearly glazed over as he journeyed further into the past, but his diligence paid off as the name Tom Riddle finally registered as passing through his optic nerve.

And the best part was that there were two separate entries. The first denoted that he had been Head Boy during the nineteen forty four to nineteen forty five school year, while the second simply listed his name next to an award for special services to the school. It didn't say what Tom had done to earn the award, but Harry was just glad to get an exact year on when Tom had come through the school.

That he could work with.

His hand had just begun to inch up and trace the outline of Tom's name when a soft voice sounded over his shoulder.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

Harry's magic was instantly on edge. His first instinct was to unleash his wrath on the intruder, but his quick-thinking mind told him to hold off.

For one, it would go against everything that he had worked so hard to achieve to put his prodigious talents on display without knowing who it was. Not even a second later he was glad that he had such a tight control over his magic and mind because he surprisingly found that his magic calmed down just as quickly as it had flared up.

And a large part of that was how the other person made him feel.

Whoever had said that hadn't meant him any ill-will, as far as he could detect, and so he turned slowly around to face this new person.

To his surprise it was the little girl with blond hair from Ravenclaw, whose magic was unlike anything that Harry had ever felt before.

"You okay?" the girl asked while Harry eyed her carefully up and down.

"Just surprised is all; it isn't everyday that someone is able to sneak up on me."

He felt oddly comfortable around her; much like he did with his boys but this was different for his magic just couldn't seem to connect with hers.

"Yes, I suspect the Blibbering Humdingers help to shield me. Quite useful, really."

Harry just kept staring at her since he got the distinct impression that she was serious even though it was all nonsense to him.

"It's all right if you don't believe me," the girl then said as she moved closer to Harry and ran her finger over the same glass cases that he had just looked at.

"I'm used to people looking at me like you do."

She stopped when she was right in front of him.

"You are unusual," Harry agreed with an odd smile.

Regardless of what a Blibbering Humdinger was his magic had not detected the girl's presence. And that, in and of itself, was reason enough to warrant his continued attention and interest in her and this conversation.

"My apologies," Harry said while extending his hand.

"My name is Harry Potter and I do not believe that we have met."

The girl accepted Harry's invitation for a handshake.

"Charmed to meet you, Harry Potter. My name is Luna Lovegood and, no, we have not met. Unless you count behind Death's shield, which I don't think you do."

Harry couldn't help it, he laughed.

This Luna was just so unpredictable and Harry found himself enjoying her presence, even if he didn't quite understand half of what she was talking about. What the hell was a Blibbering Humdinger or Death's shield?

When his amused chuckles subsided, he turned his attention back to the glass case that housed Tom Riddle's name. Luna simply followed his lead and the pair stood shoulder-to-shoulder in silence for a few moments.

While Harry debated how to continue with this girl, he couldn't help but notice the further oddities that surrounded her. As if to make his point, she soon began to sway her body from side to side that went with the rhythm and melody of an unknown tune that she softly began to hum.

It was then that Harry realized that she had been about to say something when she had first disturbed him, and so he brought up the topic again.

"Sorry, but you didn't finish your earlier comment. What did you think was interesting?"

Luna stopped moving her head and turned to look at Harry, blinking several times like concentrating took a great deal of effort.

"Oh, that," she said as if it were nothing.

"I just find it interesting how sometimes when we look to the past we can discover our future, but knowing the future can also change the past. Most people forget that, you know."

Harry didn't know how to respond.

He took a moment to contemplate her statement while he continued to stare forward, still looking at Tom Riddle, Head Boy.

Was it possible that Luna was telling him something about why he was here in the Trophy Room looking into the past? Only, Harry wanted to believe that it was impossible for Luna to have any inkling about what he was doing here and how he was desperately trying to find out about who Tom Riddle was.

And yet, while his magic began to rile up and leak out of his body, he still could not feel the girl beside him. Perhaps it was very possible that his first impression of the girl had been correct after all. Maybe she was a different sort of magical being altogether.

So Harry decided to see what else she could tell him.

"And what would you know about why I am looking into the past?"

It was a gamble, but a well-calculated one in Harry's opinion; Luna was not one that he would call a risk in opening up to.

In the meantime, Luna had returned to humming her quirky tune, but she paused briefly to answer him.

"It doesn't matter whether or not the chicken or the egg came first, a circle has no starting point, Harry Potter, and you should know that."

"Why should I know that a circle has no beginning or an end… and how would that relate to the past," Harry ventured cautiously.

But Luna just smiled at him.

"Because not everything has a reason, Harry Potter, and some things just are."

Harry found himself getting slightly irritated with the conversation now.

"Do you ever answer a direct question?" He said breathlessly.

"Do you ever ask one?" Luna responded very matter-of-factly.

Which at first made him even more irritated but that gave way to him teetering on the verge of contemplation. Had he been not asking the right questions or wasting whatever odd opportunity that this was with her by playing one of his games? Could she really answer a direct question if he took a chance?

Was that even possible?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Fine. Are you a seer, Luna?"

"Not exactly, I think," she quipped.

"Well…?" Harry nudged her.

"I see things as they are and have been, and possibly might be but I cannot be certain about any distinct events in the future. Or even the past when it comes down to it."

Again, Harry found himself getting annoyed by her anything but concrete answers and decided to take a more drastic approach that had served him well in the past.

At once, he turned to face her and unleashed his magic towards her mind.

However, from the moment that he entered her mind he regretted it.

Simply put, Harry was unprepared for what he saw and found his own consciousness getting lost in the myriad images that flitted past at dizzying speeds.

Her mindscape was endless and there would not have been enough time to organize everything that he saw, even if a person had an eternity in which to do so.

And despite his quite advanced and capable mind, Harry couldn't even keep up with the images that were pouring into Luna's mind.

It soon became apparent that Luna's previous statement had been completely and utterly accurate. For within Luna's mind were visions of the Pyramids of Giza, students learning magic, and of a dying star engulfing an aged and desolate world that had long lost its ability to support life.

And that was only a single thread among the countless possibilities stored within her mind. In others he was able to briefly glimpse a powerful sorcerer surrounded by seven warriors that stood together against an unseen force. But that scene changed just as quickly into a blond woman shielding herself in front of a blond child as some form of an explosion blinded Harry's eyes.

As his consciousness brushed against each thread, the sheer weight of the onslaught of unfathomable possibilities threatened to overwhelm him.

Therefore, Harry severed his connection within her, and he needed a moment to rest his head against the glass as his external senses calmed from their overstimulation.

"Do you resent not getting a break from that?" Harry asked in a softer voice upon finally realizing the endless and excessive stimulation that she likely received during every waking minute of her life.

For that reason, his irritation over his perception of her not being direct with him dissipated, and he found himself empathizing with her more so than he had ever done with another person.

In that moment he questioned how she even retained her sanity.

"How can I resent what I am? Just the same as how you cannot help but be anything other than who you are."

Her reply made complete sense to Harry, and so he added with his own take on her meaning.

"The only thing you can do is to work with what you have in order to get what you want."

"Yes, the Nargles would agree with you there."

Harry let that odd confirmation of his statement pass.

"So tell me, Harry Potter. What is it that you want?"

It was a very direct question and he took a moment to respond truthfully because seeing what he had seen inside her mind had changed him. Rather, it had focused him and allowed him to recognize that Luna was unique and being honest with her was not like being honest with others.

"Greatness," he replied softly, like he could taste the inevitable success on his lips.

"I want to push the limits of magic and be free to set my own course, wherever that may lie and without restraint."

Harry turned his head and he was no longer glancing at Tom Riddle's name.

He wanted to be great, and in this moment he thought back to the Sorting Hat and how it had told him that his abilities had demanded it. But ever since then, there was so much that had seemed to pile up in his way; events and information far outside of his control that he knew would dictate some portion of his life for quite a while.

How much easier would his path be if he didn't have to deal with others and could focus on himself?

But even as he lamented for a few moments, his head began to clear and he was able to see things more clearly. Perhaps it was an after-effect of seeing the chaos swirl within Luna.

True, he had been dealing with a lot and so couldn't exactly focus on the bigger picture, except that when he looked at the bigger picture it included all of these other obstacles that were before him. From that vantage point, if he were able to successfully navigate them then he could achieve more than he could have had they not been there in the first place.

The expectation that came with being the Boy Who Lived had necessitated that he think about his potential sorting options and hadn't he gone into Hufflepuff to fade into the background for the explicit purpose of achieving everything that he, Harry Potter, had wanted? And if he hadn't of chosen that path, would Harry have been able or willing to allow others to join him on his way to greatness? He now explicitly recognized that without the adversity he never would have added to his power by interacting with his boys, his followers.

Likewise, would he have seen to mastering his ability with magic as early as he had if he hadn't needed it to use it to survive the abuse of the Dursleys? Or how about the machinations of Professor Dumbledore, which included using him as bait and attempting to prepare him for a prophecy with inept professors charged with teaching him defense?

Furthermore, it was doubtful that he would have been able to then see into the minds of others without all of the above and therefore he would not know about the Chamber of Secrets or even about Tom Riddle, let alone the prophecy. From there it was only right to conclude that he might still be in the dark that there was another person out there that made him feel stronger than he had ever felt or could ever hope to feel by himself or with his followers.

Finally, he questioned whether he would even be having this conversation if none of that had taken place.

The answer to all of them was a likely no, or at the very least they wouldn't have happened until much, much later.

As Harry stood there processing this revised way of looking at his life, he thought back to how distracted he had become. It didn't matter in this moment that there was a very good reason for why his mind had been on other matters.

The only thing that was important in this instance was that he was able to take the very deep breath that his soul had needed to get a new perspective on things.

Little by little, he could feel some of the tension leaving his body, and while he would still have to deal with all of what had distracted him before, he felt better about it.

Just like a switch being turned on, his magic felt stronger and it seemed to flow even easier throughout his body, helping to reenergize him even more.

When he turned to look at Luna, her eyes were slightly glazed and Harry was surprised to finally be able to feel her magic mingle with his own.

'Of course,' he silently realized to himself.

"I just needed a new perspective on how to feel other sorts of magic."

His whispered epiphany focused Luna's eyes and she captured his green eyes with her silvery gray orbs.

"You have my thanks, Luna, for helping me to see with eyes that I didn't realize that I had."

Just then, he sent out a tendril of his magic to surround Luna and he expressed his gratitude with a lick of his power.

Her magic responded to his and Harry realized just how warm and receptive her magic was to his. He also understood why her magic didn't have a pulse as it instead flowed out of her core in a continued stream, informing Harry that he had never detected her magic before because he had only been looking for the pulses.

"Is there anything that I can do for you, Luna?"

Harry felt more like himself than he had in quite some time and really did feel like he owed her, something that he was surprisingly okay with.

"Not at the moment, Harry Potter," Luna smiled at him.

"Though, I suspect that our paths will cross again and perhaps then you'll be ready."

"Ready?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, ready. I'm not quite sure about that future yet, but I think there is a place for me by your side as well."

Did Luna just inform him that he was going to gain another follower? For that matter, why did he need followers? Were there more coming his way?

"Luna, do you know something about that?"

But she just smiled at him and twirled her hair with her wand and then placed it on her ear again before responding.

"My mum always said that the things we lose have a way of coming back to us, just not in the way that we expect. Why should magic be any different?"

"Uh huh," Harry sighed, resigned to no doubt continuing this discussion at a later date.

"Well, I'm off to get some pudding. I hope they haven't stopped serving it yet."

With that, she turned and skipped out of the room. However, no matter the confusing and likely roundabout way that his questions had been answered, Harry felt more able to deal with what was coming. His mind was refocused and he thought that it was time to begin introducing himself little by little to the world.

Standing there by himself in the now-empty room, Harry's magic settled within his chest and he cleared his mind in preparation to properly catalogue the conversation and experience that had jut taken place.

However, in doing so Harry became aware that his magic had changed. It was stronger now, and had begun to resemble some shape – though he could also tell that it was not complete. Before his moment of clarity, his magic had been an amorphous mass that in many ways reminded him of a blob, and while parts of it still had no distinct shape, there were two very prominent points that had taken form. In addition to those defined regions, there was another area to his magical core that kept taking a clear shape only to disperse and then reform over and over again.

And Harry knew what these magical peaks represented for as he concentrated on each section he was immediately reminded of the magical aura of Neville, Justin, and the comatose Cedric.

In that moment he felt them just as clearly as if they were standing in front of him. He may not have known exactly why they had this connection to him, but as he focused on their bond he could feel his own magic grow.

Smirking to himself while he left the room, Harry's magical core pulsed like it was a beating heart and as he made his way to Hufflepuff that pulse rippled outward and into the night.

Luna is my favorite character and I just couldn't resist adding her take on things. I know that her unusualness has been incorporated in many wonderful stories, and I just hope that I did her justice in mine.

I know this chapter was a little shorter but I wanted to give Luna the respect that she deserves. Next Chapter will see some more of Tom.

On a more serious note, please realize that you matter and that there are people in this world that will fight for your rights. I haven't given up and I never will and you shouldn't either. WE are stronger together and fear and hate will not divide us.