Harry didn't know what to think.

Was Tom trying to give him a heart attack? Because it was certainly working.

Hell, he didn't know how to even react to such news, let alone what to think .

He was a Horcrux.

Voldemort's Horcrux.

Wait.

"Was that the reason why you agreed on this allegiance?" he all but hissed at the other wizard. Harry had no idea what he would do if this turned out to be true. "How very convenient."

"I had no idea you were my Horcrux then" Voldemort didn't look all that bothered at Harry's accusatory tone, although he rarely did. Man had a perfect mask when he wanted. "If I knew, I wouldn't have tried to kill you. I would have tried to strike a deal first and if that didn't work out, locked you up."

"Then how long have you known then?" he asked, ignoring the part about locking him up, thoughts of bloody Rapunzel invading his mind and Harry shuddered.

"A few weeks" Tom turned around to lean on the table. "I figured it out the day I asked if you knew what a Horcrux was. That's why we have that connection. That's how you saw my memories. Certainly, there's more to it. As far as my research goes, there's never been a living Horcrux. This is a whole new territory, even for me."

Dread washed over Harry for a completely different reason.

"Was… Wait, is that what all the 'we are so alike' speech was about? Is your soul piece slowly possessing me?!" Harry shouted in raising panic, eyes wide. He couldn't recall any blackouts, but how can he be sure?

"No, I don't think it is. I believe the soul piece is too small for such a thing; it only gives us a connection of sorts, a mental link…" Voldemort moved closer, his eyes trained on Harry's scar. "We are alike, there is no denying that. But the soul piece has nothing to do with it - that was all you ." He looked way too smug for teen's liking.

Harry looked conflicted.

Voldemort may not be lying, but it was still shocking to be told you're carrying a piece of someone's soul.

Not just someone's. The Dark Lord's.

"You, however, are the first ever human Horcrux. Fascinating ." The wizard looked at Harry as if he was the most precious treasure he just happened to stumble upon. It made Harry want to squirm away from the intense gaze that was bestowed upon him and relish at it at the same time.

"Not the word I'd use."

"Oh, don't look so conflicted, Harry, dear. It just makes you all that more precious to me." Voldemort's eyes glinted possessively as he slid through the room closer to the young wizard. "You are powerful and one of a kind all on your own. This is just an added bonus."

Goosebumps ran all the way through Harry with these words.

His logic was telling him to move away from Voldemort and his impending stare, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the Dark Lord's. Harry felt captivated.

And he was captivated, in a way. There is no chance in hell the Dark Lord will let him go now.

"And as long as you live - I'll live. Neither of us will die." Tom was right in front of him now, his eyes glinting madly in the dim light. His words were spoken like a prophecy - absolute truth of the future no one can change. It was a promise . "And together, we'll be unstoppable ." They were standing chest to chest now, Tom leaning in even closer; so close, in fact, that Harry could feel the breath near his lips, while he himself felt suddenly breathless. "We'll rule the magical world forever, darling." Tom took Harry's hand into his, eyes bearing seemingly straight into his very soul, and brought them to his lips, pressing a soft kiss. "For being my temporary downfall, Harry, you gave me something I've been seeking for for years."

Harry was barely breathing with emotions running a muck inside him, his eyes never leaving Tom's.

How was this even real?

His face flushed and he gulped, not being able to tear off his eyes away from Tom's. He felt flustered and completely out of sorts.

This moment felt important, somehow. Intimate .

Life changing.

"What are the chances of Dumblefuck knowing?" Harry asked, his voice barely above the whisper, as if afraid to shatter the moment

Tom stepped back, seemingly just as affected as Harry, brows furrowed.

"Did you ever tell him something that could lead to that connection?"

"No, but as much as I hate to admit it, he might have pieced it together just by the events of that night." Harry gulped. If Dumbledore did, he'd have no reason not to go after him. "Wait, is that how you're… back to normal? Did you consume your other pieces?"

Tom smiled.

"You're catching up. Yes, I did. Two, however, were missing" the Dark Lord seethed. He was still unsure of what happened and it was driving him to a murderous rage. After all, those pieces held his soul .

"Would the diary be one of them?" Harry asked carefully, intently watching the other wizard's reaction, ready to jump out of the way from a curse.

Immediately, Voldemort's eyes flashed red and he was pinned with a furious stare, the hand that was still holding his squeezed painfully.

"How do you know about the diary?!" he demanded, all previous fondness gone in a flash.

"Calm down." Harry tugged on his arm unsuccessfully. The man was strong. "So, the events of my second year might have been… slightly different from the way I told them." He held out his hand in surrender. Horcrux or not, it didn't stop Voldemort from cursing him silly before, he certainly won't stop now.

Voldemort impatiently motioned for him to continue, finally letting go - his poor fingers felt crushed. Harry sat back down and sighed deeply.

"Ginevra Weasley got the hang of it, as you may know, which started a whole set of events. Except when I got my hands on the diary, I could feel the dark magic radiating from it. I was always rather sensitive to magic, and even though it appeared as a normal book, there was still some sort of a… smell. Taste. I was intrigued, so I wrote inside and then, obviously, a younger version of you wrote back. You didn't feel threatening, now I know why. I can go as far as to say it felt safe. Familiar. Then with the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco, it didn't take me long to piece it all together, that the Moaning Myrtle was the victim and what would a basilisk do in the girl's lavatory? I investigated of course, found the entrance" Harry smirked smugly to a surprised looking Tom. "The Basilisk told me who woke her up, and 'lo and behold my surprise when it was a Weasley ." Distaste was clear in his voice. She had no business in a place such as the chamber. "Things didn't add up. She isn't a parselmouth. How could she open the chamber? Then that bitch stole the diary back, by cutting my bag. So stupid for a pureblood, she should know not to trust talking diaries" Harry mocked, still feeling slighted over what happened, even if it worked out in the end. "I, naturally, followed her for a few days and then waited under my clock for her to show up in the Chamber - a wonderful place, really. It wasn't hard from there. I simply cut off the link between the two of you - don't look at me like that, if you would've killed her, they would've closed the school and probably blamed me. Especially when I wasn't around when she disappeared and I actually was the heir, not that it was a public knowledge back then. Instead, I got the applause for saving the girl and killing the Basilisk - the trust in the Golden Boy was restored."

A bewildered look passed the man's face. " You killed the basilisk ?" he hissed.

"Of course not." Harry looked insulted. "I still go visit her sometimes actually. But I didn't want Dumbledore demanding to see the Chamber if he knew there was a monster running around in school."

Tom nodded, somewhat stiff.

"And the diary?"

"In Salazar's Chambers" Harry smirked at Riddle. "Wasn't expecting this, were you?"

"Certainly not" Tom looked conflicted, but pleased nonetheless. This was more than he expected. After all, he punished Lucius for losing his diary. Severely. "However, I didn't expect your deception to run so deep."

Harry snorted.

"I think nobody expected the Golden Boy to be dark either" he chuckled. "Not that they know. I act my part. It's not my fault they made up this almost holy persona for me when I was with muggles, without ever meeting me. It only made me hate it more."

This time, Riddle did smile, somewhat proudly.

"Yes, indeed. For the longest time you had me duped as well."

Harry tilted his head. "Wasn't that the point?"

"I think it's more for Dumbledore now."

Harry frowned.

"Yes… but he does seem wary of me at times. I mean, obviously, I'm a slytherin, with friends whose parents are your supporters. Already shady. Then this whole me denying you coming back thing is clearly grating on his senile nerves. He might be suspicious, but I haven't done anything bad that he can prove. It's only suspicion on his part. I'm a model student" Harry chuckled, smiling proudly at Tom, but then frowned. "And while his compulsion charms are useless, the constant legilimency probing is annoying."

Tom stood up straighter.

"Old coot, back to his old tricks" he cursed, looking immensely annoyed. "How good is your Occlumency?"

Harry shrugged.

"I don't know, decent? He wasn't able to see anything, but he wasn't really trying either. If he really, really wanted to know what I was hiding, he probably could."

"That won't do" Tom stalked closer, his posture somewhat rigged. "I'll teach you."

Harry gulped.

He was well aware of what teaching entailed.

"Want to peek into my head, Riddle?"

Tom smirked.

"Doesn't everyone? Harry Potter, Golden Boy turned Dark. So mysterious ."

Harry just hummed, sitting up uneasily.

It wouldn't be above Tom to try and sneak attack his mind right now, while he was unsuspecting.

"We've been here for quite some time, so you shall be going back now. I hope you know the theory behind Occlumency? And practice?"

"Yes, I'm not an amateour, you know."

"We'll see" Dark Lord smiled like a shark. "We'll start these lessons tomorrow. It's imperative for your mind to be guarded off completely."

The young wizard gulped.

He knew that look. It meant nothing good, not for him.

This ought to be fun.

It wasn't.

Once again, Harry was reminded what a complete and utter bastard Riddle really was and cursed him with all his might.

His head was pounding something horrible.

Riddle was ruthless - he attacked again and again, and then some more and Harry refused to back down or show any weakness whatsoever.

Voldemort has to admit, his Occlumency skills weren't terrible, per se, but there was room for improvement. Harry had to make his walls stronger; after all, if he was able to penetrate them, so could others - not that others were as good as him, Tom added smugly.

Oh, Tom was proud of himself and held himself superior to others - he made no secret of it, and honestly, Harry knew it was well earned.

Tom knew magic from all over the world, in different languages too - some that didn't even exist anymore. He had hundreds upon hundreds of books; invaluable, ancient tomes and scrolls that Harry couldn't even read. Harry didn't delude himself into thinking he could win against him in a duel, no matter how good or creative he was, he didn't have the experience and knowledge that Tom possessed. And with that knowledge Riddle could, if he really wanted, make Harry wish he was dead a hundred times over. Of that the boy was certain.

As of now, the occlumency lessons weren't that hard for Harry - he was quite skilled at Legilimency and a natural one at that, but it was still tiring keeping someone out after constant vicious attacks.

His fingers were white from gripping the chair handles so hard and he was panting heavily, when a vile with potion was thrust into his hand.

He didn't even ask what it was, but downed it, and felt his murderous headache easing slowly.

"You did good," Tom said, and Harry felt his chest warming.

Tom rarely gave positive feedback, but when he did it was well earned. And getting a praise from the Dark Lord himself was uplifting. He never actually heard him say that to anyone else, but on the other hand, he was the Dark Lord, he didn't have to. After all, he expected the best and nothing less.

"Perhaps you should glamour yourself and go teach DADA for a year. I mean, you're bloody brilliant, and you did teach for an entire year - well, Quirrel did, but you were there as well and nobody suspected. Except Snape. At least we'd have a decent teacher for a year."

Tom had a pleased expression on his face. He rather liked it when Harry praised him for his brilliance. He knew, of course, but hearing something like that from his nemesis felt different. Harry, unlike others, never felt a need to kiss his ass to gain favor. The boy simply didn't care.

It was refreshing.

"Oh, how you please me" Tom purred, wicked smile on his face. "But I already have too much work that can't be put off for a year, just so I could teach. Besides, I like seeing Dumbledore struggle finding a teacher this year. Well, and each year" he added, after a pause.

"Send Barty again. He was good." Harry suggested, and he wasn't wrong. Even when pretending to be an auror, he was a brilliant teacher. Annoying at times, but that was just to keep up the act.

"Barty's busy. I could ask but… do you know if our dear headmaster found anyone? I think the Ministry might send someone of their own this year." Tom wondered, and with the way the Ministry was acting towards the old fool, it would be someone horrible.

Fudge was certain that Dumbledore was conspiring against him and wanted to take his post as a minister, so he'll make sure to have someone who is anti-Dumbledore as a teacher.

"No clue, it's not like I'm corresponding with the old coot. What would I write him? 'Hey Dumbles, found a new teacher yet? No? Sucks. Your own fault though, brought this on yourself for not hiring Tom Riddle in the first place, you old bastard. Might I suggest Voldemort? Heard he's brilliant."

Tom snickered. He'd love to see the expression on the coot's face if he got a message like that from his Golden Boy.

"Yes, better not."

Harry beamed at him, actually enjoying his company.

He sometimes wondered where would they be if he gave Quirrel the stone. Would they still be getting on like this? He doubted that. That Voldemort had more than a few screws loose.

"What's on your mind?" Riddle looked curious when Harry looked lost in his thoughts for a few minutes.

"Your Horcruxes. You said two were missing. What's the second?" Since the diary was 'found', perhaps so could the second one.

"A locket. A Slytherin locket, in fact."

Harry frowned. It sounded familiar. What was the chance he's already stumbled upon it? With the luck he had, it wouldn't be entirely out of reach.

"Well, what happened to it?"

Voldemort sat down in his chair, lost in thought, but Harry could tell he was seething under the surface.

"I went to retrieve it. However, I could feel that the locket inside wasn't a Horcrux."

"So, a fake one?"

Tom nodded.

"Did you take it?"

"What for? It's useless."

"Because it might give you a clue of who might have taken it? Merlin, Tom."

The Dark Lord looked perplexed.

"Oh, would you look at that " Harry smiled triumphantly. "I outsmarted the Dark Lord himself ."

"Shut it, you brat. I shall go to retrieve it."

"I want to come with"

Voldemort stared at him for a long moment.

Harry wasn't that patient.

"If you start sprouting the same nonsense as Dumblefuck, that it's too dangerous and that I'm too youn-"

"Fine" he was abruptly cut off and a bit taken aback with what he heard.

"Did you just-"

"Do keep quiet if you wish to go, Potter"

Harry abruptly shut his mouth, but smiled broadly. He's finally getting to go somewhere! With Voldemort , no less.

"You look like an idiot." His remark didn't diminish Harry's enthusiasm. If anything, his smile got even broader. Tom just sighted. "I'll go tonight. Say, 2am, middle of the night, no one shall bother you at that time. You will come to the Riddle Manor and we'll proceed from there."

Harry just nodded eagerly.

Honestly, he was going slightly insane not being able to go outside, even if coming here and staying in his study was refreshing, it wasn't the same.

He felt cagey.

"However, you shall obey me at all times. If you're going to start wrecking havoc, you won't like the consequences'' Tom's eyes narrowed in warning.

That meant getting cursed, most likely.

Harry still nodded.

There's not a chance in hell he's missing this.

"You may go now. I have things to take care of"
Harry stood up, feeling uplifted somehow.

Would his younger self ever believe him?

Tom looked serious once Harry showed up.

It wasn't hard for Harry to sneak out. Barely anyone bothered him these days, mostly Sirius pestering him for reading too much, but a good hex or two tended to do the trick.

He did like spending time with his godfather, but Sirius was still so childish, or more like, a gryffindor , that Harry ended up setting him up with the twins to wreck havoc on others when he got too annoyed.

Voldemort apparated them to a cave near the… ocean?

Harry was star struck for a moment and stared at the waves crashing to the shore, mesmerized.

"It's like you haven't seen an ocean before" Tom's mocking tone pierced through the haze.

"That's cause I haven't" teenager's voice was so low that Tom barely heard it. There was some sort of emotion he couldn't quite place in his voice, something bordering on painful, but they didn't have time for it right now.

It was, however, weird, that he hadn't seen it before. In his whole 15 years, did nobody take him?

"Let's move" Tom said instead, choosing to deal with this later or not at all.

After a short walk they reached the wall, which was engraved in runes, hiding the entrance.

"Can you sense anything?" Voldemort asked, curious to see if the young wizard would pick anything up.

Harry shot him a wary look but stepped closer to the wall. Inhaling a deep, long breath and concentrating, reaching out to touch the wall both; with his hand and with his magic. It took a minute.

"Runes. Powerful. And is that… blood magic?" Harry was muttering to himself, choosing to open his eyes only to see Tom grinning.

"Indeed it is. How did you pick it up?"

"Felt familiar. Has a similar… taste as blood wards. Blood magic usually does."

Now Tom looked curious.

"And where, pray tell, did you practise blood magic?"

"It's not that I actively practiced it, it's just… I've come across it. I may have done a thing or two, but nothing too drastic. I'd rather not tickle the sleeping dragon just yet."

Riddle snorted.

"Hogwarts' motto, how… fitting. Anyhow, it requires blood. A sacrifice." Now Tom was grinning at him like a shark that spotted its prey.

Harry shifted uneasily. It never meant anything good when a Dark Lord bestowed this kind of look on you. His eyes suddenly widened with realization. Then he was furious.

"You're a bloody bastard, you know that? What, brought me here only to be your sacrificial lamb?"

"Of course, not, Harry. What gave you that idea?" Riddle looked even more amused at Harry's little outburst. "But it has to be fresh human blood, and you're the only one available."

"Use your own."

"No. In case of something happening, I'm the one apparating us out of here and I can't be weakened. And you did agree to obey my orders." Riddle was clearly getting way too much amusement from riling Harry up. "Come on, dear."

Harry huffed angrily and held out his hand.

Fucking smug sly bastard, he thought, narrowing his eyes at the other wizard and pouting a little. He's going to curse all of his hair Gryffindor red the first chance he gets.

Riddle, surprisingly gently, pushed up his sleeve, running his long fingers over Harry's pale skin. Then, without further ado pulled out a dagger and slashed deeply across his veins, blood pouring out immediately.

Harry gasped.

Tom pressed the young wizard's hand to the wall and held tightly, waiting for something.

Just when Harry was starting to feel dizzy, there was a clicking sound and a door inside the wall opened.

Riddle let go, staring intently ahead.

Fuck, that was a lot of blood, Harry cursed inwardly. His sleeve was soaking in blood.

While Harry was busy staring at it, a hand gripped his and the cut healed itself slowly, leaving only a faint scar.

"Let's move." That was Voldemort's voice commanding him, face hard. He wasn't looking at Harry at all.

They walked a narrow side of the cliff. Harry could make out water down below, stones, calculating that the thirty something feet fall would kill him instantly.

He gripped the wall tighter.

With how dizzy he was, falling down wasn't off the table.

But he was the one who wanted to come with so he won't complain. Fuck that.

Harry was so deep in his thoughts he didn't realize Tom had stopped and slammed into his back. Before he could ask why the hell wasn't he moving, Tom pointed at the little island surrounded by eerily still water.

"Not creepy at all" Harry muttered to himself, but Tom still heard. "How are we suppose to get there?"

The Dark Lord smirked.

"Excellent question, isn't it? Oh, I wouldn't touch the water, if I were you" he said, when Harry staggered closer to the shore to stare at it.

Then he saw a hand floating just near the surface, before it disappeared.

Harry blinked.

Was his mind playing tricks on him? As far as he knew, blood loss didn't cause hallucinations.

Tom chuckled.

"That's Inferi" he went on explaining and Harry furrowed his nose in disgust. "Ah, you know what it is. How?"

"Well, the champions had a free range of the library when preparing for the tasks. Restricted section included" he smirked to himself. Oh, he read most of them, but he knew for a fact that Dumble's has taken a lot of books out during his time. Bastard. "It was only a mention, but let's just say the Black library is very informative."

Tom chuckled again, slightly impressed.

"Indeed. But we are going to take a boat." Riddle leaned towards the water, speaking something, then pushed his hand inside, pulling out a chain.

"You said not to touch the water."

"I'm the one who created them. They won't attack me."

"Well, I'm your Horcrux, and you were resurrected with my blood."

Riddle stopped momentarily, shooting him a surprised look.

"Interesting theory. Regardless, I'd rather not test if my Inferi would kill you or not today. Now come on. Climb in" he pointed towards the little boat that emerged from the water.

Harry staggered forward, feeling as if he was drunk.

"Careful, dear" Riddle grabbed him by the arm, steadying him. "If you fancy going for a swim, I'd rather it not be here." The older wizard climbed in after Harry, who got even dizzier after rolling his eyes at Riddle, and the boat started to move on its own.

The teen felt almost hypnotized by the view. It's not that it was breathtaking, it was more of a trance like state that the boat and blood loss induced.

Quite smart, seeing as if someone came in alone, they'd likely fall into the lake and be drowned.

"We're here" Tom's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Voldemort climbed out first, offering him a hand with a sly smile on his face that Harry still took, his pride be damned.

The thing holding a fake locket was glowing faintly.

"Now, this potion here… the only way to get rid of it is to drink it"

"What horror did you cook up this time?" Harry asked, knowing well enough that it's exactly what Voldemort would do.

"It makes the drinker paranoid to the point of slight insanity, makes them relive their worst nightmares. And thirsty, of course, so they'd drink the lake water and be drowned by the Inferi."

Harry had to give it to the man, it was quite a brilliant plan.

"I'm not drinking it" he stated firmly, knowing he wouldn't be able to do anything if Voldemort decided to make him.

"You won't have to, since I'm the creator, I can get rid of it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so lucky"

Voldemort produced a vile with something black simmering in it and poured it over.

The potion started sizzling, then disappeared altogether, leaving a locket behind.

Voldemort took it, looking it over. Then clicked it open, pulling out a note.

He became increasingly more angry when reading it. Harry could feel it.

"Bloody traitor" he hissed in parsel, snarling.

Harry just looked questioningly at him.

"Your damned godfather's brother Regulus" Voldemort snarled at him, then started pacing around angrily. "How the hell did he manage to find this place?!"

The boy was deep in his thoughts, and even though he wanted to shoot a snarky remark, it would only get him cruciod at the moment.

"Regulus…" he whispered to himself. "Well, would you have felt it if it was destroyed?"

"Destroying a Horcrux is almost impossible. I doubt he managed that, but he did find this place. But the locket had to be opened, even to be destroyed. In parsel. So it's probably lost somewhere." Voldemort was getting even more worked up. Harry needed to do something before he ended up with a migraine from hell.

"What if it's in the house of Black? Or even his room? I am staying in his room."

Voldemort froze and turned to stare at Harry.

"What?" Harry shrugged. "It's possible."

He seemed to be calming down.

"Well, then it's good you have free access to it. Search the place when you get back."

Harry just nodded, sensing the common for what it was.

It's not like he had a choice, did he?

"Well, let's go back. There's nothing else to do here." Tom dropped the locket back inside the bowl-like thing and it filled itself with potion. "In case someone else comes snooping" he smirked.

Once again, he held out a hand to Harry, helping him in and out of the boat. Especially when standing up too quickly made him black out for a second.

They scrambled back, but even with Harry walking much slower than before, his breaths were coming in short gasps and his head was spinning a little. But he wasn't about to complain. He'll just lie down when he gets back.

Once they reached the wall, the entrance wasn't there.

Tom held out his hand, waiting for Harry to give his again.

Well, if it needed as much blood as the last time, he would pass out for sure.

Should've eaten something before coming here, Harry pondered. He only had lunch.

"Don't worry. This time it doesn't need as much" Tom said, as if reading his thoughts.

Once more, his sleeve was rolled up and Tom slashed his wrist open, holding it to the cave wall.

After what seemed like ages, the doors clicked open.

Tom healed the cut almost immediately, shooting a look at Harry.

"We have to walk a bit before I can apparate."

Harry didn't offer an answer: he felt somewhat nauseous.

They walked in silence, Harry using all his willpower to remain upright and walk straight.

Honestly, he might not have been all that successful, seeing as Tom took a firm hold of his elbow and was steering him.

Harry walked in some sort of daze, it felt like a dream; the crashing of waves and his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. He wasn't sure if it was his own vision darkening or it was simply dark, but time was losing meaning.

At some point he felt Tom's arm sliding around his waist and gripping him tightly.

For a moment, he wanted to ask what was he doing, but for one, he felt much steadier and two, a minute later he felt a tug of apparition and then everything went dark.