Hiya! Excited for the new chapter? I've been serving you a few cliffhangers and frankly, I'm enjoying watching you all freak out, lol!

Some of you have expressed confusion or curiosity about how the diary managed to posses Peter in the short amount of time he held it during the fight between the Marauders and Snape's friends in the bathroom. This chapter should clear up a few things, and the author's note at the end should help. You're not wrong, right now it DOES seem odd that it took just a touch to sink its claws into him.

But maybe that's because more than a touch occurred...

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter Eighty-Four: And So Riddle Appears

"Peter!" Marlene cried breaking away from the group.

"Marlene, wait," Lily shouted in a panic.

Marlene paid her no mind. Sprinting down the damp path down the middle of the waterway, she skidded to a halt at Peter's side, dropping down beside him.

"Peter," she called, cupping the boy's pale, ashen face, "Can you hear me?"

Peter remained unsettlingly still upon the cold hard floor.

"Peter," Marlene repeated a little more desperately, "Please, open your eyes."

The others raced over as quickly as possible, everyone's wands up, looking in all directions for any sign of a threat.

Lily was the first to approach Marlene and Peter. Carefully, she held a hand over Peter's face, hovering inches above his mouth.

"Is he…" Marlene couldn't bring herself to finish her question, not wanting to entertain the horrible possibility.

After several agonizing moments, a slight breath slipped past Peter's lips, warm against the cold of Lily's skin.

"He's alive," she confirmed, causing everyone to sag with relief.

"Why isn't he waking up, then?" Marlene asked worriedly.

Nesme dropped down next to Peter's prone form pulling her bag from her shoulder, "Check to see if he's injured. Thea come help me with this."

The girls all carefully prodded Peter's chest, feeling for any wounds, checking his arms and legs for lacerations. They found nothing, not a single scratch.

"Maybe he's been poisoned," Nesme reasoned, rummaging around in her bag, "A bezoar will fix most what ails you."

While the girls continued to fuss over Pettigrew, Severus chanced a look around the large room surrounding them.

It was far brighter than what would make any sense, being presumably miles underground. And yet the ceiling cascaded down a sunny glow as if from skylights. That should be all but impossible; if any part of the chamber did extend above ground, even the roof, surely something above ground would have stumbled across long before now.

Clearly some sort of magic was at work and a vain one at that; the only foreseeable reason to create fake sunlight would be so that the carving of Salazar remained well illuminated in all it's glory for all who entered here.

Remus nudged Severus pointing to something on the floor nearby, "Look, there's the diary."

Severus bent down and picked the accursed book up, "We have the wretched thing back, now what to do with it?"

"Found it!" Nesme declared triumphantly, producing a small bezoar from her bag, "Daadee said I may need this someday. Looks like she was right."

"Let's get him sitting up," she suggested, "It'll go down easier."

Marlene and Lily eased Peter up into a reclined position as Nesme slipped the bezoar passed his lips and over his tongue. Rubbing Peter's throat, Nesme coaxed the unconscious boy to swallow before letting the other rest him back down on the floor.

As Lily eased Peter back down, she noticed something odd, "What's that in his hand?"

Sure enough, something was sticking out of Peter's partly closed fist.

Carefully loosening Peter's grasp, Lily held up the extracted object, perplex to find it was little more than the plain, torn edge of a piece of worn paper.

"Wonder why he had this?" Lily mused aloud.

Frowning, Severus squinted at the paper, "Is that…?" he held up the diary sideways, allowing gravity to help him quickly flip through every page, "There!"

Flipping back a page or two, Severus pointed to a tear in the right hand corner.

"It must have torn off during the fight in the bathroom," Severus theorized, "Pettigrew might even have known he had it; it could have fallen into his bag while he was holding the book."

"That makes no sense," Simone pointed out, raising a brow, "The diary can't be destroyed by normal means, so how can it be ripped so simply?"

"Because…because that was part of it's plan," Severus declared, staring down at the diary in horrified amazement.

"Pardon?" Simone asked.

Severus jabbed a finger at the book, "The diary is designed to store a part of Riddle's soul. Clearly whatever it's been trying to do with us when it tried to control us had to do with getting the soul out of the diary. Think about it; a horcrux must need some sort of ritual or spell for that soul piece to become alive again."

"But we couldn't be controlled," Severus said, "Too strong willed or protected by each other when it tried to enthrall us. So it needed another way to reach out to someone, a way that would leave it in someone's possession long enough for it to possess them. Guys…I think the diary allowed itself to be ripped."

Everyone shared confused, baffled looks with each other.

"How exactly could a diary control whether it can be ripped or not?" Davis asked skeptically.

Severus huffed, frustrated, "Because we're not dealing with a book; this is someone's soul! A living part of someone. A sentient life, hidden within these pages. Who knows what it is capable of."

"Look," Severus said, "Whatever this particular horcrux needs to revive the soul inside, it needed someone it could control. We wouldn't give it that, so is it really so hard to believe that it utilized a backup plan?"

"I suppose the diary acting on it's own isn't much stranger than it housing a soul," Simone conceded. She looked down at Peter, "Shouldn't the bezoar be working by now?"

"What if the poison is one a bezoar can't fix?" Marlene fretted, "Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"Without knowing what's wrong, any healing potion would be more harmful than good right now," Nesme explained, "You don't wanting to risk treating someone for something they don't have; too risky with potions."

"Wake up, Peter," Marlene ordered, grasping hold of the boy's robes and shaking him, "Wake up."

"It's probably not wise to shake him," Severus advised

Marlene didn't seem to hear, determined to rouse her friend.

"Wake up," Marlene tried again, becoming more frantic with each passing minute the boy didn't respond.

"Move out of the way," Severus ordered, crouching down. Reaching into his robes, Severus pulled out his vial and poured the remainder down Pettigrew's throat.

Lily stared at the bottle suspiciously, "Is that…?"

"Pettigrew is going to need all the luck he can get," Severus said in lieu of an answer.

"So you didn't take the luck potion?" Lily squawked, "Are you mad? We barely stand a chance against a basilisk with the potion and you skipped it?"

"Pettigrew's the one without a flying chance in hell," Severus insisted, "I figured it would be better utilized with him."

"So your own safety doesn't matter?" Lily argued, infuriated.

"Guys, maybe now is not the time," Remus interjected.

Lily glared at Severus, "This isn't over," she warned.

Everyone was too preoccupied to notice the form slowly slinking up from the shadows.

"Peter, I know you can hear me," Marlene insisted, "This isn't funny; open your eyes!"

Lily tried to pry Marlene's hands from Peter's robes, "Try and stay calm, Marlene."

"He won't wake."

Severus and Remus whipped around, wands held out defensively in front of them, Simone and Davis quickly following suit.

A boy no older than fifteen stepped forward from the shadow of the nearest columns. Tall and fair skinned, his face was handsome and enigmatic, smooth, elegant features shaping the cut of his jaw and nose. His eyes were dark as his hair, glittering with a vast intelligence beyond his years, though they held no warmth.

It was a face that peered back at them many a time as they ruminated over their notes. A face from a pilfered photograph in Slughorn's office.

Before them stood Tom Riddle.

"How did you get in here," Severus demanded, pointing his wand at Riddle, "There's no way you got into the school unnoticed."

"He's alive," Tom said, ignoring Severus as he gestured to Peter, "Only barely though."

"What did you do to him?" Marlene demanded, "Fix him!"

Tom shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't do that. For you see, as his life fades away, I grow stronger."

"Undo your spell, Riddle," Severus ordered, leveling his wand at Tom, "Now."

"Do you all intend to fight me?" Tom asked; he seemed to take an eerie sort of amusement from the notion. Slowly, he drew a wand from his sleeve; Peter's wand.

"Give that back," Marlene cried, glaring at Tom, "That isn't yours."

Tom laughed, rotating the wand in his hands, "Trust me, I'd prefer any wand other than this one. It's nature is too much like it's owner. Weak…malleable…"

"So you did possess Pettigrew," Severus deduced, "How did you get a hold of him so fast?"

Tom shrugged, the nonchalance of the gesture disconcerting as Peter's life hung on the line, "It wasn't hard. The boy was already weak minded to begin with. So desperate for acceptance, for guidance. I sensed it the moment he picked up the diary; his will was already breaking down with the growing divide between his friends. The fight shattered what little he had left."

Remus dropped his gaze guiltily for a moment.

"After that," Riddle continued, "The whispering sunk in, pulling at his mind, taunting him, beckoning. It's like sickness, growing unchecked until it takes over everything else. Eventually he felt compelled to find me."

"So you had him cast Fiendfyre," Simone said darkly, "You'd kill off everyone in your former House all so you can have a convenient pawn in your games."

"Come now, Simone," Tom chided, "I'd hardly call my worthy cause a game."

Simone froze, "How do you know my name?"

Tom smirked, "I know who all of you are. You did enough talking to me when you were foolishly trying to uncover my secrets; as if I'd ever tell you the truth."

"But what really helped me," Tom went on, "Was all the handy little information that hapless fool," he pointed at Peter, "gave me when he wrote in me. He really does love to talk. About his fears, his hopes, about his friends….about the people he blames for taking them all away."

"Release Peter," Marlene commanded hotly, still hovering over Peter's body, "Surely he's of no use to you."

"Oh but he is," Tom stated, "Haven't you all figured it out yet? Without Peter, I wouldn't be standing here before you. His life is in exchange for mine; it's the only way I could get out of the diary. Without him…I'd remain nothing but a memory."

"So you aren't the true Tom Riddle," Severus concluded, "Not the real one."

"I find that term to be subjective," Tom replied, "True, I may not be the Tom who left this school, the one's you've been so eager to find, but I'm a part of him. I came into being from a time in his life, stored away to rise from the depths of that book when the time was right."

"Explains why he looks so young," Simone muttered.

Davis frowned at Riddle, eyes narrowed, "How did you preserve yourself in a book? That's no magic I've ever heard of."

"I doubt you would," Tom admitted, studying his nails lazily, completely unperturbed by the number of wands pointing at him, "Ravenclaws are so studious, so rigid in following the rules. You'd never come across the sort of magic I sought."

"So it's dark magic," Remus said, "That's no surprise."

"Of course you'd call it that," Tom mused, "I'd hardly expect any of you to understand the knowledge I've discovered. Is it really so wrong to seek to extend one's life? To ensure you're legacy will always live on, to carry on your work for centuries to come?"

The awe and devotion on Tom's face spoke of fanaticism, an imbalanced reverence that disturbed Severus and the others.

Tom paid them no paid, "Of course, to achieve such a feat, sacrifices must be made. One life for another, as the saying goes; their life for mine."

"That's what a horcrux is," Thea said suddenly, looking sick, "You guys, that's what he did; what my mother's book talked about. He killed Myrtle to make the diary. He split a piece of his soul!"

Everyone turned horrified eyes upon Riddle.

Riddle only smiled benignly, unconcerned with their revulsion, "Myrtle was a necessary sacrifice, though an easy one. I intended to send the basilisk out to find another muggleborn, one I could utilize for my purpose. I wasn't expecting one to waiting so conveniently at the mouth of the chamber. It was most…fortunate."

"That's somebody's life your talking about," Marlene gasped in horror, "Someone's child, their family. How can you just throw them away to make some…sick abomination?"

"Abomination?" Riddle hissed dangerously, "No cause is ever fought without loses, my dear girl. In order for my goals to be achieved for the good of wizards and witches everywhere, the filth must be weeded out. I needed a way to ensure my continued existence. Myrtle's graciously offering of her life was exactly what I needed."

"Her life wasn't offered," Lily growled, "It was taken."

Riddle turned his cold, calculating eyes on her, "I wouldn't expected a mudblood to understand…you're concept of magic is so…pityingly low."

"That's enough Riddle," Severus snarled, "Release Peter this instant."

Riddle took in the group with perverse bemusement, "I suppose you intend to try and make me? Severus, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

"I know you control the basilisk," Severus challenged, "Doesn't mean I intend to give you the chance to use it on us."

"I doubt you could stop me," Riddle drawled.

He turned to Marlene crouched protectively over Peter's body.

"Why do you cling to him?" he asked curiously, "A wizard of such poor caliber is no wizard at all. He's practically a squib."

"And I suppose you're some sort of prize?" Marlene shot back, glaring at him.

Tom stood tall with pride, "But of course. A true descendant of the noble house of Salazar Slytherin compared to any of you is hardly a contest."

"You're half the man Peter is," Marlene bit out harshly, "And I'd choose him every time."

Tom smiled pityingly at her, "Love is truly for the foolish."

Severus took a step closer to Riddle, brandishing his wand in warning, "I mean it, Tom. This ends now."

"You're right," Tom replied, "It does. And how fortunate for me, it ends with you, someone I have been quite eager to meet."

Severus narrowed his eyes suspiciously "Why is that?"

"Peter wrote often of you," Tom revealed, "You're a source of great contention for him, as well as confusion. So long has he hated you at the behest of his friends, so sure of where your allegiance lied. And yet, you surprised him, turning your back on everything you stood for…all for some ill-bred mudblood."

Severus stepped in front of Lily, shielding her from view, "What concern is it to you?"

"It is of every concern to me," Tom answered back, "I knew I had to meet you. I had to know why," he stepped closer, "Why you would throw everything away for some muggleborn and betrayed the greatest wizard who ever lived?"

"You're just a memory," Severus snapped, "One before You-Know-Who's rise. You shouldn't even know who that is!"

Tom stared imperiously down at Severus.

"Voldemort," Tom said, clearly relishing the shudder that went through them at the name, "Is my past, present, and future."

Raising Peter's wand, Tom wrote out his name in large, glowing red letters in the air. They huge there ominously for a moment before Tom waved his hands and the letters began rearranging themselves.

"An anagram?" Davis questioned.

"You guys," Nesme whimpered, clutching hold of Davis's robes, eyes wide with fear, "I think I know who's horcrux this really is…"

Everyone watched in horrified realization as the letters spelled out one terrible sentence.

I am Lord Voldemort.

"Impossible…" Remus croaked.

"It all makes sense," Davis stammered, taking a wary step back, "The reason we couldn't find any more records of Tom; when Tom Riddle vanished is when Voldemort appeared…."

Severus kept his wand pointed firmly at Riddle, "This changes nothing. He hasn't become that man yet; he's still little more than a child."

Tom cocked his head with a smirk, "A child who holds more power than you could ever possibly perceive."

"That has yet to be seen," Severus shot back.

"I don't understand," Lily cried, "You're a halfblood, why try and wipe out part of who you are and everyone like you?"

Tom glared at her, "Did you really think I'd keep my filthy mudblood father's name? The man whose blood mars my perfect lineage, who abandoned my foolish mother."

"Your mother was little more than a loved starved rapist," Severus spat, "and your glorious lineage nothing more than an inbred cesspit of violence and madness."

Tom's eyes narrowed dangerously, "I'd hold my tongue if I were you."

"Do your followers know your true lineage?" Severus braved on, "Doubtful they'd follow you if they knew. Even with Salazar's blood running through your veins, you're little more than the last in a line of inbred savages that besmirch the precious ideal of a pureblood. All they'd see is the product of a muggle lover's mistake trying to move in on a birthright they wouldn't think he deserved. What would they do if they knew the truth?"

Tom didn't look the least but worried, "Thankfully, we'll never have to find out."

He turned sharply towards the giant carving of his ancestor, a sinister hiss leaving him.

The room shook, leaving everyone unsteady on their feet. The mouth of Salazar began to open, his gaping maw revealing a deep, hidden passage.

Like some macabre horror show, a large, monstrous snake slithered from the depths of the opening out of Salazar's mouth, making Severus realize just where Voldemort got his inspiration for the Dark Mark he'd heard his classmates furtively whisper about.

"Don't look at it!" Severus shouted, turning around to push everyone towards the exit, "Don't look into its eyes."

"It's of no use," Tom intoned, "No matter where you go, the beast will find you."

Remus scrambled to drag Peter's body up with Marlene's help as they backed away from the snake, their eyes all kept low to the ground.

"Any plans?" Simone asked Severus.

"Other than to run?" Severus quipped with far more bravado than he felt, "None."

"I've got one," Nesme said, rummaging in her bag, "Here!"

She flung a stoppered vial high into the air at the basilisk.

The bottle broke against the creature's scaly hide and a cloud of black smoke burst forth from within it. The cloud drifted upwards, almost like ooze, clinging to the beasts face and obscuring its vision.

"A blinding agent?" Davis asked, amazed, "Where on earth did you get that?"

"I stole it from Slughorn's office a year ago," Nesme confessed, "I thought it would work the same as a smoke bomb; figured I'd save it for a dramatic exit…does this seem dramatic enough?"

"It won't last very long," Severus warned, watching the basilisk thrash and shake it's head to no avail, "We need to act quickly."

Severus immediately shot a hex at Tom, only for the boy to parry it with ease.

"You won't stop me that easily," Tom said, raising his wand.

A jet of green light shot past Severus, narrowing missing his ear.

"He's playing for keeps, Snape!" Simone shouting, sending off a volley of hexes Tom's way, "Don't let your guard down!"

The group began launching attack after attack at Riddle, dueling him with all they had, searching for any opening.

It was Lily who finally managed to breach Tom's defenses, a cutting hex grazing Tom's arm, making him recoil with a curse.

In Remus's arms, Peter stirred feebly before slipping back under.

"The connection's weakening," Severus observed, "The more alive Tom becomes, and faster Pettigrew dies. If we kill Tom, we can save Pettigrew."

"Way ahead of you," Simone sneered, lobbying another round of curses at Tom.

Tom cast a shield at the least minute, protecting himself from the majority of the attack.

Peter moaned, eyelids fluttering.

"Peter," Marlene cried, grasping Peter's hand, "its Marlene. Can you hear me?"

"Ughh," Peter groaned.

"Look out!" Thea screamed suddenly.

The basilisk's thrashing had brought it dangerous close to the fight, it's lengthy body whipping around madly in an effort to dislodge the ink mass covering its eyes.

Its tail whipped past the group, sending everyone ducking for cover.

Severus crouched low to the ground, dodging another swing of the beast's tail. His eyes searched for Tom.

Riddle wasn't paying them any attention though, his eyes fixed lower down on the snake, low to the ground.

The basilisk snapped it's might jaws, saliva dribbling from its mouth as it seethed in rage. A dollop of liquid dropped from one of it's fangs and plummeted to the floor.

"No!" Riddle shouted taking a step forward before pausing as the venom narrowly missed the diary. Something akin to relief passed over his face.

Everything fell into place at once.

Severus sprinted towards the snake, ignoring his friends' cries of alarm.

'The venom can destroy it,' Severus thought, mind racing as fast as his feet, 'if we can destroy the diary, Tom will die!'

Tom seemed to catch on to Severus's thinking.

"You won't win, Snape," he growled, preparing to fire his wand, "I cannot be defeated so easily."

An unexpected blast shot him off his feet, sending him sprawling across the floor.

Lily raced towards Severus.

"Are you mad?" she yelled furiously.

"The venom's the answer, Lily," Severus explained in a rush, "It can destroy Riddle."

"What, so you were just going to ask the basilisk to loan you some?" Lily questioned angrily, grabbing Severus's hand to pull him back, "You don't have luck on your side, Sev, you'll be killed."

Severus wrench his hand out of Lily's grasp, "Lily, it's the only way."

He ran towards the basilisk ducking its swinging tail and thrashing body.

Lily was hot on his heels, "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Finally, the diary was in sight, mere feet from Severus. Just as he reached for it, however, the basilisk gave a thunderous growl, its efforts doubling as the smoke around its face began to dissipate.

"Severus!" Lily shrieked, grabbing hold of Severus.

Severus clutched Lily to him and closed his eyes as the beast's mighty tail hurtled towards them.

Something smacked painfully into Severus stomach, but not nearly as hard as he was expecting. It felt smaller than the basilisk's tail, softer.

Severus landed on his back with a thud, winded. Blinking the stars away from his eyes, his vision was blanketed by a mass of brown curls.

"Mary?" Lily asked, amazed.

"Are you both utterly crazy?" Mary squawked, kneeling over the pair, "That thing could have killed you."

Severus blinked at Mary, rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head.

Behind them, the others were doing their best to keep Tom and the semi-blinded basilisk at bay with a flurry of magic.

"Mary, what are you doing here?" he asked, puzzled, "Did you get Dumbledore?"

Mary smiled sheepishly, "I didn't actually make it that far…"

"Then why in Merlin's name are you down here?" Severus bawked.

Mary scratched her neck, "You see…I was on my way to his office when I…I bumped into someone and…" Mary trailed off guiltily.

"And what?" Severus asked in frustration, "Mary, who did you find?"

His answer came in the form of a large stag barreling down the pathway and stabbing the basilisk with its antlers as the howl of a dog echoed through the air.

Daadee, the word Nesme uses, means grandmother in India. just thought I'd explain that in case you were curious.

So I may be playing fast and loose with the rules of the horcruxes, but frankly there DON'T seem to be many rules. Aside from what outside force can destroy it, how its made, and how wearing it affects you, little else is really explained about them. We hardly even know all the ways a horcrux can be used by the maker to resurrect them. Riddle just sort of manifests as a spirit right out of the diary, while what horcux used to keep Voldy alive until book four required a whole ritual to give him a true, usable body again instead of a wraith-like infantile husk.

So, is it really that unbelievable that these individual parts of his soul can act on their own to ensure their resurrection? The diary took initiative on its own in canon to possess someone and drain their lifeforce to give itself life and a body. So maybe it could 'allow' part of itself to separate and latch unto a potential target, to control them into using the diary and giving over their life force?

Also, how'd you like this chapter's cliffhanger, XD

Review please :)