A/N: This chapter is a lot shorter than I intended to put out but I am really really sick, not covid but still just dying very slowly with body chills and a strep throat.
Harry woke up early for the first time in ... Merlin knows how long. He glared at the tiny sliver of light that dared to slip through a crack in the curtains and bathe the room in a soft golden hue. Ripping the blankets off of his body, Harry summoned his wand into his hand and transfigured clothes onto his nude form. He glanced towards his trunk where Narcissa was being kept and thought about entertaining himself with her at the moment, but decided against it.
Instead he lumbered down the stairs, mentally still wishing to be in bed, but atlas, life was full of disappointments. Yawning, Harry made his way out of the common room and towards the Great Hall. The only thing on his mind was breakfast and as much of it as possible.
As he entered the Great Hall, Harry was greeted to the sight of the entire school or close to it inside the eating room, but weirdly enough, nobody was actually eating. No, instead of partaking in the beauty that was food, they all had their faces buried inside of newspapers.
Harry slid into a seat next to Hermione who was busy reading as well and started to stack toast and eggs on his plate. Summoning some seasoned tomatos from down the table. Placing the tomato on the egg, Harry placed the mountain of eggs with the twin slices of tomato on top of some toasted bread and smashed it down. A bit of egg oozed out the sides but Harry bit at it, refusing to let any of the egg fall.
"Are you happy with yourself?" asked Hermione as Harry bit in to the tomato and egg sandwich. Harry chewed on the big bite that he had in his mouth before swallowing.
"I mean the sandwich is alright, could have used some bacon or maybe some honey, but yeah" said Harry as he held up the sandwich in his hand.
"No, do you know about this?" asked Hermione as she waved the newspaper in her hand.
"That is a newspaper, but I imagine that you're referring to what's written on it" replied Harry
Hermione growled but Harry just continued to eat.
"Harry Potter sends The Dark Lord and His Followers Packing" hissed Hermione as she read the title of the article to Harry.
"A little wordy but not completely inaccurate, Fleur was there as well" added Harry
"Fleur was there as well" repeated Hermione with an edge of something in her voice, "And do tell me as to what you were doing with her outside the castle on a school night Harry"
"I was on a date with her" replied Harry without pause
"On a date with her" repeated Hermione as she glared at him with renewed anger.
"I had no idea you were picking up a job as an echo" retorted Harry dryly.
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Harry held up his hand to stop her from speaking.
"Listen, i get that you were this protective older sister figure for this world's Harry, but I'm not him. I'm older, I'm stronger, and I can take care of myself" said Harry as he locked eyes with her.
Harry slid out from his seat, "Tell the professors that I am not feeling well"
Hermione watched him leave and frowned, "It's Saturday, there aren't any classes"
Harry made his way back to his bed and collapsed in it as he felt his body shiver as he suddenly felt very cold.
Climbing under the covers, Harry cast a warming charm on himself and his blanket, only to still feel the icy chills roam up and down his body.
The first that Harry saw upon entering the chamber was a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.
Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkey-ish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor
"Ah, so the hero comes to save the girl" were the words that greeted Harry as he along with the sorting hat that he was wearing, as he ventured further into the chamber of secrets.
"huh?" came the ultra-intelligent answer from Harry, while the Hat wished it had hands to slap Harry.
'That is Tom Riddle boy, he's the one that put you in the coma remember' said the Sorting Hat in Harry's head.
"Tom Riddle?" asked Harry, not to the voice but to the hat.
'You don't remember him? I can clearly see him in your memories' stated the Hat
'Not all that good with faces' replied Harry
The tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window.
He pointed his mist covered finger at Harry and said "I don't know how you do it. First, you manage to survive the Basilisk attack by being a Parselmouth yourself. Then you managed to touch this mere shadow of a body and force me to start all over in acquiring a true body again."
Harry made a face at the ranting teens words and replied with "I didn't want to do any of that stuff, you came after me, remember. I didn't even know that you were attacking people until you got me accused of it."
"YOU LIE!" roared the misty boy, his face twisting into an angry snarl "YOU ARE JUST LIKE DUMBLEDORE! ALWAYS LYING TO MAKE YOURSELF THE MORE FAVORABLE FIGURE."
Harry tried to imagine growing a beard the size of Dumbledore's but realized the attention that it drew would never be worth it.
"I am nothing like Dumbledore, I care not from multi-colored robes, weirdly shaped glasses, or a beard that probably itches like crazy" retorted Harry
The Hat stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.
"Are you a ghost?" asked the Sorting Hat, the ancient object speaking out loud for the first time.
"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
"Diary?" muttered Harry as he began to look around for a diary. It was only then that he spotted a small red haired girl who was clutching a small black diary.
"Oh, did you have company over before we came?" asked Harry pointing at the girl on the ground
"She is who you have come to rescue, have you not?" asked Tom
"Rescue? I am here for revenge. Do you have any idea of what you did to me?" questioned Harry
"Oh, so you absorbed more than just the sliver of knowledge that led you to this location from me in that hallway." Commented Tom, looking excited.
"So, you felt that as well? For the briefest of moments, our minds were like two sides to the same piece of paper" said Harry
'Keep him talking, I am going to look through his memories in your head and see if I can find a weakness' said the Sorting Hat inside of Harry's mind
Harry agreed mentally as he looked at Tom, who was looking more and more solid by the minute.
"So, what is your end game here, Tom?" asked Harry
Tom Riddle didn't respond at first, just watching Harry while twirling a wand who probably belonged to the girl on the ground, between his long fingers.
"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."
"Oh really?" asked Harry "Now, why would you want that?"
"Well, what can I say? I heard a lot about you from Ginny. She had the biggest crush on you, The Boy Who Lived." Explained Tom as he pointed the wand in his hands at the girl on the ground
'Ginny? Why does that name seem familiar?' Harry asked the Sorting Hat
'She is the younger sister of Ronald Weasley' answered the magical hat
'Oh, so she is the younger sister of the annoying red haired male in my year' replied Harry
"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked looking at the extremely pale girl unconscious on the ground.
"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"What are you talking about?" said Harry.
"The diary," said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, were some of the normal topics that we talked about."
Tom smirked as he body stopped being misty around the edges "However there was a special topic that we talked about; how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her"
"I mean to be completely honest, I don't really like anyone. I mean have you ever met another person. They will talk, they will complain, they will try to hug you, try to drag you into their issues. I don't feel interested in any of that." Replied Harry
Tom sneered "You shouldn't have said that. Now poor Ginny will be heartbroken to learn that Harry Potter will never like her"
"I think that she will be sadder to learn that Tom Riddle is nothing more than life essence stealing piece of shit" retorted Harry, enjoying the glare that Tom sent him.
"Anyway, like I was saying before It was very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl. But I nothing if not patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket..."
Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.
"So, you live in a diary?" asked Harry
"There is more to it than that, but you wouldn't understand it at this moment. Let's just say that I am more than a ghost but less than a real person. It is actually sad how long It took a for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it, trying to flush it in a toilet. Of all the people who could have picked it up, I had hoped that you would find it. Instead Ginny returned to collect it again, but I still had hope that the very person I was most anxious to meet, you, would manage to stumble across me"
"And why did you want to meet me?" questioned Harry for like the 5th time.
"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could."
"Oh, I get it, you're the man in the van with candy" stated Harry with a look of understanding on his face
"Man … in the van … Candy" mumbled Tom as he struggled to put it together until his face twisted into one of pure anger. "You will regret that comment Potter"
"Careful Riddle, your muggle side is showing" taunted Harry as he wand slid into his hand, his eyes never leaving the form of Tom. Harry continued on with his taunting, trying to unbalance Tom emotionally, "I bet Dumbledore saw right through you, Tom. Your cold exterior didn't create a warm layer of trust, did it?"
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, I haven't been paying attention to who you were getting arrested or who was getting attacked, but I don't think that someone dying in the school wouldn't have reached my ears, my classmates never shut up"
"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been you."
"I am beginning to think that you have a serious issue Tom" replied Harry "Why are you so interested in me?"
"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you — a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent — managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.
"How would I know something like that? I was a baby in case you haven't noticed" said Harry slowly. "Besides, Voldemort was after your time, why do you care?"
"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter..."
He pulled Ginny's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, that dream was not how things had played out in his world. The weird dream plus suddenly feeling sick? What was going on?