Disclaimer: See prologue

A.N. So I've started college, so updates may be slow for awhile.

Warnings: This story is unbetaed, couple of oc's later on, and Tom Riddle developing emotions. & Female Harry

Rated T: for Tom Riddle's presence in this story...okay it's because I'm paranoid but whatever.

Updates: Hopefully on Saturdays, otherwise whenever I get the motivation to write for it, we'll have to see.

For your reference unless otherwise stated:

"Speech"

Thought

"Parseltongue"

"In head conversations"

Chapter 2 Gaunt Family Ring

Tom wasn't sure what he expected to see upon finding the first of the seven soul pieces he would have to unite with his own eighth piece but this most certainly wasn't what he had expected. There was something about seeing his soul piece sitting at a pub that just didn't make sense to him; he didn't drink often and the most he had ever drank was a glass of wine, maybe once in a blue moon he'd have a fire-whiskey but other than that…nothing that could justify his horcrux being in a pub drinking…a muggle pub at that.

Tom wasn't sure what worried him the most, the fact his soul piece was drinking in a muggle pub, the fact that he was surrounded by muggle girls or the fact that he appeared to be corporal, he'd just ignore the fact he was also dressed like a muggle; after all Tom couldn't complain seeing as the only outfit he had was the one he woke up in and that was very much muggle clothes.

Tom sighed as he considered the situation, there was no way he could do this subtly he'd have to get his horcrux alone, and he knew his horcrux would fight him on that. Luckily he at least would never suspect me of trying to rejoin with him. But as this thought came to Tom another problem occurred to him, in order to undo a horcrux, one had to feel true remorse for the murder they had used to create it.

Out of all the murders Tom had used in order to create his horcruxes, the one he had used to create this particular Horcrux was the one he had wanted the most. He had used the murder of his muggle father, and Tom knew that he would not be able to feel true remorse for that, but he needed this horcrux. After all if he didn't get it now he may not be able to find it again, and it would give him enough power to get control over the majority of his other horcruxes.

Putting the concern of how he was going to merge with his soul piece to the back of his mind, Tom put on his most charming smile and he walked over to where his soul piece was sitting. As soon as he was close enough he cleared his throat gaining the attention of both his horcrux and the four girls that were fawning over him. His soul piece managed to keep from showing any worry or shock instead he broke out into a wide grin.

"Tommy; who's this?" At the name Tommy both Tom and his soul piece got a dangerous glint their eyes, how dare some worthless muggle call them that sickening name. Tom quirked a brow at his horcrux and shook his head, while the soul piece just leaned back in his chair while one of the muggle girl's moved to sit on his lap kissing his cheek, Tom rolled his eyes at that.

"Ladies, this is my twin brother Albus; Albus this is Monica, Annie, Amber and Jessica." Tom narrowed his eyes at his so called twin brother; he was going to kill him, he didn't know how he was going to do it, but he was going to do it. He absolutely did not want to be called Albus, not after everything in his life that had involved the old wizard.

"Sorry to break up the fun, but I need to have a little chat with my brother here, in private preferably, surely you can understand ladies." The girls all frowned but they did get up and leave, the horcrux narrowed his eyes at the main soul piece but Tom just crossed his arms and narrowed his own eyes in turn, unaware of the fact that they had flashed red.

"You're ruining my fun Tom; why you got to do that; kick back relax and have a beer; we're free now, you're dead, learn to have fun; it's what I did. Well I'll admit not completely but I mean I'm enjoying all of these girls I got to admit. Surely even you of all people can learn to appreciate something as simple as beautiful girls."

Tom just looked at his horcrux with disgust; he just could not understand how his soul piece could possibly be acting so…repulsively. He had done several things in his years but to go so far as to flirt with muggles, to be seated in a rather unsavory muggle pub; no these were not things Tom would do without very, very good motivation, he would be either searching for something, or someone, perhaps information, but this…this did not add up.

"I find it rather repulsive actually, to think that one of my own soul pieces could be in a place like this." His horcrux seemed confused for the briefest of seconds if even that before he seemed to comprehend exactly what was being said. The ring just smirked and suddenly Tom had a feeling he wasn't going to like what would come from his mouth next.

"Well there was this fire at the strip club, so it's not reopened yet; so this is where I've been finding my entertainment." Tom did not believe that for one second, not even a hundredth of a second; he didn't care what the horcrux claimed, and people could laugh all they want; Tom knew the stories would still be stuck in the mind of his horcrux, the stories about going blind…he most certainly had trouble forgetting them, even if he had never really believed it, when he was younger he would take no such risk as to go blind; that and he had no desire for such things.

"I'm not even going to pretend to believe that; you're pathetic though I will admit it, hanging around a muggle pub, flirting with muggle women. I know for certain when I was you I would have never have even so much as entertained the thought but I suppose we're both far from the person I was when I created you; though it seems one of us has come further than the other."

"Oh right you are; tell me how was it, being Lord Voldemort was it everything you dreamed of, or were you so caught up in the insanity you threw yourself into by splitting your soul into a total of eight pieces that you had completely forgotten what it was that you had in mind. The fear of the name Voldemort, I remember that being in the original plans, killing innocent children. That was never in the plans Tom; and the purebloods? You used to scoff at LeStrange when he suggested killing off the muggleborns."

"I made my mistakes and now I am being given one chance at avoiding hell, and that is by gathering and uniting the pieces of my soul. I haven't exactly worked out how I'll do that as of yet. As we all know there is one murder I'll never feel remorse for. But that is beside the point, the point is I'm going to need your help in tracking and capturing the other horcruxes."

"Let me get this straight, you want me to come with you to help capture the other freed horcruxes so you can merge with us and get some get out of hell free card. I don't think so, I have my own life now and I have absolutely no intentions of letting you screw it up; just leave things how they are, live and let live and all those other weird sayings. My point is…fuck off Riddle, I'm staying right here and there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it."

Tom wished he could say that he didn't let his horcrux get to him, but the truth of the matter was, he was annoyed and he had no intentions of allowing his horcrux to think he was in control. Tom Riddle never lets others have control, he takes it whenever possible. Tom also wished that he hadn't thrown the first punch, but then he would be lying, just as he would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the fact he had broken the soul piece's nose.

The ring for his part managed to maintain his composure, even after being punched in the face, but the vindictive look on the former Dark Lord's face did not leave the horcrux feeling very good. It probably would have been wiser had he chosen to be the better person and walked away; but horcrux or not he was still Tom Riddle, and that meant he had the same survival instincts from the orphanage.

Before learning to use his magic, Tom's only choice in the orphanage was to run and hide or stand and fight; eventually he chose to stand and fight; though it was rare that he did once he found his magic. Some would be shocked that the heir of Slytherin would choose to stand and fight like a Gryffindor, but he was a Slytherin through and through and knew that if you establish yourself well then there is nothing to fear; and he had always been better than the pathetic muggles; it was fight or die in the orphanage because if you did not fight, you did not eat…at least amongst the boys.

So it was with that ingrained into his mind that he aimed a punch at his counterpart's face, only for it to be dodged and get himself a knee to the stomach. His response was to try sweeping his opponent's legs out from beneath him but Tom Riddle was Voldemort and he had too much battle experience to let something trip him up; whether it was magical or muggle fighting.

The former Dark Lord's next move was to flip his horcrux over his shoulder; he then picked him up and slammed him against the wall. Tom put an arm in front of his counterpart's throat, he made it so that he couldn't get away; the horcrux struggled for a few minutes before he stilled choosing to instead glare at his counterpart. Tom in turn smirked, there was nothing that he loved more than when he was victorious, no matter what the situation was and in this situation he needed to put his horcrux in his place. Tom narrowed his eyes into an icy glare; there was no feeling in them, and his face left no room for arguments.

"No. You listen here, you listen now, and you listen well. You will come with me to find the rest of the soul pieces and you will keep your mouth shut. If I hear any complaints then I will rearrange that pretty face of yours, don't think because you were a part of me once, that you are a part of who I am; that it means I won't hurt you. I have fucked up my life in so many ways and this…this is my one shot to stay out of hell and I will not let you fuck it up; understood?"

His tone was dark, it left no room for argument, were it anyone else they probably would have peed their pants; but this wasn't just anyone, it was a part of who Tom was. His voice was calm and collected, and that was what made it intimidating, it would likely intimidate the Death Eaters far more than the quiet hissing voice that Tom had developed later in his years. This voice didn't intimidate the younger soul piece though, instead he laughed as though he were Bellatrix LeStrange.

"Are you shitting me, you are absolutely full of it, you aren't doing this because you fucked our life up, you loved every minute of it. You just don't want to go to hell, I'm not a fool Tom, Death he made that same offer to all of us, why do you think he can't find any of us, or left you with no resources other than a wand. It's because the rest of us took our cash, our galleons or whatever and hit the road. He wants you to collect us, so that he doesn't have to, and so he can sentence us all to hell."

"He wouldn't have given all of you the task, or have you forgotten, one of you would have had to have been first?" At this the horcrux laughed in a way that would have sent shivers up the spines of any onlookers, as it was between the silencing charm and the notice-me-not; it was rather hard for anyone to be able to hear or see them; which worked perfectly for Tom, after all he didn't need for anyone to notice anything they shouldn't have.

"The mother fucking Diary Tom, he ditched Death and has been on the run ever since, he is crazy, he's got half of our soul Tom. He escaped and Death can't find him, he's why we're all here, Death just wants him caught, and he's willing to sacrifice you in order to do it, but it won't happen." Tom narrowed his eyes but his horcrux didn't seem intimidated by this, rather he seemed to find it amusing, Tom just glared, he wasn't happy about any of his situation.

"You truly don't realize what I am capable of, we were sixteen when we created our first horcrux, a mere fifth year. When we killed Myrtle and created that diary, I was seventeen when I created you, curious isn't how one year makes you think you can't take on the diary. I lived seventy-one years, people dared not to speak my name and no I was not invincible, and I may deserve hell as much as I hate to admit it, but you see; I'm not going down without a fight."

"You won't be able to do it, you won't have what it takes to piece your soul back together, so I don't know why you would even consider trying, it's over Riddle, time to move on. You can join the club and flee Death like the rest of us, there is a reason he has been unable to gather us, and if you think that it's changed then you're wrong. You see the only one capable of tracking us is us, I can only track the Diary, the locket can track us both, then the cup, the diadem, and so and so forth. You're the only one who can track us all Tom."

"And you are a fool if you think that I cannot be tracked by another; do you not understand that Harry Potter has the Deathly Hallows, I may have been locked away, but I've learned enough to know that Harry Potter can find every one of us. So should Death need aid in tracking us, which I sincerely doubt that he would then it is the boy-who-lived who he will go to, he killed us all once, he can do it again."

The ring looked at his counterpart curiously, briefly wondering if what he said was true, then he sighed knowing that it had to be, Harry Bloody Potter would be able to track them all and turn them over to Death. Their only hope was with Tom being able to track them all down, and some way, somehow figure out a way in which to unite them all into one soul piece or they would face hell together.

"I hate the fact that you're right; Potter would be able to track us, and given how things ended between the two of you, I don't think he'd be all that keen to help us avoid our sentence to hell. Very well, I will tag along, but you must convince the others on your own accord, and don't think I won't laugh when you fail and find yourself in hell and the rest of us flee to the outreaches of the world once again."

"Believe what you will, I succeed in all of my endeavors, and you will see that soon." The ring just scoffed, he knew that he didn't succeed in achieving immortality and he sure as hell didn't succeed in killing Harry Potter, but he knew it would be pointless to stand there and argue about that with his main piece, he knew he was stubborn and prideful.

"Fine; whatever you say, but we're not going until tomorrow, I have plans with those muggle girls you made walk away and I am going to have my fun with them, whether you like it or not." Tom narrowed his eyes at the ring; there was no way in hell that he was going to let his horcrux do that. He would not allow for it to happen.

"Not happening." The horcrux frowned and seemed to weigh his options before he attempted to walk away, Tom immediately grabbed him by the throat and slammed him back into the wall. Tom smirked as his horcrux glared at him, Tom may have been the smaller soul piece, and therefor was supposed to be weaker, but he was also the main one and he had not lazed around like his horcruxes.

"You're a real prat do you know that?" Tom glared at his horcrux his eyes glowing a bright red, he hated when he was disrespected and his horcrux was more disrespectful to him than even Harry Potter had been, and that…that was saying a lot. But then Tom smirked, he may have been older than his horcrux but he was more powerful and he was not going to let his horcrux forget that anytime soon.

Tom increased the pressure around the ring's throat and soon the horcrux was gasping for breath, clawing at Tom's hand as he tried to break free. Tom smirked at his soul piece vindictively, and as his horcrux gained a purple color he dropped him to the ground and watched the horcrux grab at his throat as he gasped for air, rapidly, coughing as he did so, trying to catch his breath.

"Let me make one thing very clear to you, I don't care who you think you are, you are just a horcrux and you are pathetic. You have no authority over me and you'll do well to remember that the next time you try insulting me. I was merciful with you this time, but I am not above choking the life out of my own horcrux, after all, you are already dead. Though I suppose if I did that you'd be immediately transported back to Thanatos, and you don't want that do you?"

"You're a sick bastard." Tom just shook his head as he kicked his horcrux in the stomach, he knew he was being what would be considered cruel, but he needed his horcrux to obey him so that he would have fewer issues in gathering his other soul pieces, if this was how it would have to be with all of them. Then that was something that Tom was willing to do, he was not going to hell.

"I suggest you learn now before we have to have another lesson, Lord Voldemort does not forgive." With that Tom turned from his horcrux and exited the muggle pub before leaning on the wall beside the door, he would give his horcrux ten minutes to come out. He knew he wouldn't try to run, the ring had learned his lesson about getting on Tom's bad side and knew he would be able to track him again.

Not that Tom wanted to have to track down his horcrux again, he was quite content with just getting his horcruxes as soon as he found them, but he knew himself well enough to know there was a good chance the horcrux would flee. But he also knew his self-preservation would win out in the end, it almost always did, it's how he survived as Voldemort so long, it was only when it came to Harry Potter he seemed to lack in self-preservation, thus why his downfall came to be.

Sure enough right at the ten minute mark the ring horcrux exited the pub still rubbing at his throat, Tom smirked t that. Perhaps this horcrux would be wise enough to warn all the others not to cross him, though he knew his own stubbornness well, he would never admit to being second best, not even to himself against himself. Just like he would never share with anyone, himself included.

"So what's the plan exactly." Tom smirked at that, he could tell his horcrux that there was no plan, he was certain that tidbit of information would go unappreciated, but he didn't have any reason to tell his horcrux anything, after all he made it more difficult than necessary when they were in the pub. His horcrux needed to learn obedience, to him and him alone.

"The plan for now is not any of your concern, perhaps try asking again later when I am in a more pleasant mood, as it is you have forced my hand to muggle violence and now I'm not feeling all that generous, should you bold enough to step out of line again, I will end my mercy and send you back to Thanatos, to reserve us a spot in hell; is that understood?"

"You wouldn't send me to hell." Tom quirked a brow, the ring most definitely didn't sound all that confident in his words, this of course satisfied Tom. He didn't want his horcrux to be confident, to feel that he was safe, no he wanted his horcrux to be nervous and on edge, make the others more jumpy when they found them. He was going to use his treatment of this horcrux to his advantage.

"Well if you're certain go ahead and test me, but you should know as well as I, that I do not bluff, but what would I know?" The ring seemed to go quiet at that, as he glared daggers at the main soul piece, Tom smirked as he began walking away from the pub, so far everything was going better than he had initially thought.

If Tom was being honest with himself he would have thought that his horcrux would have put up much more of a fight. He would have thought the ring would be more of a challenge being the second largest piece of his soul, he was mistaken and Tom hated when he was mistaken. He remembered when he had been mistaken and thought that he was mistaken about Harry Potter showing up in the woods.

The Potter brat did show up, he even stood still while Tom as Lord Voldemort cast the killing curse upon him. He was mistaken to trust anyone but himself to check that the Potter boy was indeed dead, he was mistaken to believe that after all that time Harry Potter would die from the very curse that began all of his troubles in the first place.

No Tom did not like it when he was mistaken and therefor would do his best to avoid being mistaken again, mistakes after all, were what led to his downfall. He had mistook Lily Potter nee Evans for just another muggleborn witch; just another mother, he had underestimated her love for Harry; that love in combination with the courage of James Potter is what led to the protection over Harry Potter. James Potter was the epitome of a Gryffindor, he went to face the most powerful Dark Lord in history, without a wand.

It was Gryffindors that always caused Tom the most trouble as Lord Voldemort, first Dumbledore all throughout his schooling, the Potter family, and Pettigrew. The biggest thorn in his side had always been Harry Potter though, the brat-who-lived. It was his death that Tom had wanted even more than Dumbledore's and when he finally had it, the boy just had to come back to life.

Of course Tom knew now what he hadn't known then, Harry Potter was immortal, he was not born that way, but when the killing curse rebounded he gained a second life by becoming a living horcrux. When he gathered the Deathly Hallows, that was when he became immortal, even now that the horcrux was gone, Harry Potter would never be able to die.

Tom was glad that his horcrux had shut up so that he could get lost within his thoughts, he had been doing that a lot lately. When one is placed in one of Death's holding cells, one learns to think a lot as there are few other ways in which one could occupy there time. Tom needed a plan, something to tell the horcrux when he became persistent in his asking.

Tom wasn't a fool, he knew his horcrux would attempt to goad him into telling him his plans, and he also knew that sooner or later he would give in and reveal that he had no plans. That was if he didn't come up with a plan between now and then. It wasn't impossible to do, he was Tom Riddle after all, if there was thing he was good at; it was planning…it was the Slytherin thing to do after all.

"So where are we going anyways?" Tom sighed, he had enjoyed the silence while it lasted, but he didn't expect for his much younger horcrux to have the same appreciation for the silence that he held. Sure he had always enjoyed the silence even as a small child, but at that age he had loved to hear himself talk as loath as he was to admit it. He had no doubt that the ring still very much loved to hear himself talk.

He supposed it was better than Malfoy, after all there was nobody on the planet, more conceited, more selfish, more prideful, more in love with themselves than a Malfoy. He had originally just thought it was Abraxas, but then he met his classmate's father and began to rethink his analysis. Then came Lucius, just as bad as Abraxas, if not worse. Then there was Draco, the spoiled little prince, who had daddy issues.

Tom briefly wondered how it was that the Potter brat never accused him of having daddy issues, it was a thought that was almost worth looking into…almost. "If you must know, we are going, and that is all that you need to know, now shut up unless you want to see what I can do when I involve magic in my fighting." The horcrux immediately silenced himself, no doubt not wanting to find out, after all he had already learned the hard way that Tom was a formidable opponent within a muggle fight.

Most people would assume that the former Dark Lord who campaigned for blood surpremist would never stoop so low as to use muggle methods of fighting. Perhaps there was a time when that statement was true, but Tom knew that without a wand most opponents in the wizarding world were helpless, and a muggle fight would be easy to win. Yet still there were a select few wizards that knew how to fight as a muggle, these ones were the most dangerous and so Tom did not laze around, and honed his muggle fighting skills just as much as he had his magic.

Not that he would ever admit that aloud to anyone, after all it couldn't get out that the Dark Lord knew how to fight like a muggle; it would be valuable blackmail material in some circles. Morgana knew that Narcissa often would blackmail Lucius into doing all kinds of things he didn't want to because she knew about the time he and Arthur Weasley started to fight…like muggles…and the worst part…Lucius lost.

Of course it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that Lucius lost, he was after all a Malfoy, and then there was Arthur Weasley, usually more of a pacifist. However he had seven children, six of which were sons, and amongst them there was the dragon tamer, the curse breaker and the Weasley Twins. Enough was said with the Weasley twins for anyone to understand how Arthur had won that fight. Anyone who could handle the Weasley twins deserved respect, even if they were blood traitors.

Fred and George Weasley reminded Tom of a much friendlier version of Rodolphus and Rabastan LeStrange, and just as their name implied; they were strange. He had always silently took amusement in the fact their last name practically meant the strange…especially with Bellatrix. Bellatrix the Strange couldn't have been a more true statement. Though her husband and brother-in-law were nearly just as strange as her, they were just not quite as strange as Bella.

Not of course that Tom would admit to finding something amusing; there were somethings that were best left not known to the world. The fact that the former Dark Lord Voldemort could find humor in things other than torture was not one such thing that should be shared with the world. He shuddered to know what people like Rita Skeeter would do with such information.

He almost wished that he could pop in on the annoying reporter and have a little torture session, but he knew that he couldn't. Not at least if he didn't want to go to hell, otherwise he had a feeling that he was more than welcome to do anything exactly as he pleased. Tom briefly wondered how much longer his horcrux would remain silent, but soon decide to banish the thought from his mind less he cause the horcrux to speak up again.

It was getting late, and they would soon need to make camp for the night; he supposed it would be then his horcrux would find out how under-supplied they would be for their trip. But there was nothing Tom could do; he had no money, little access to his magic currently.