Tom swirled his wand, his eyes bouncing from follower to follower. He was admittedly in a very bad mood, mostly because of the hurricane that had rocked the country. He was not clueless as to the source of the storm, no he could taste the magic that filled the air. It was a magic that he knew as well as the magic that raced through his own body.
Harry Potter had summoned a massive well of power that Tom had not seen him pull on before. Not in their world and not in this world. This was troubling for Tom, not because it reached his own endless ocean of power that was slowly being yolked back under his control, but because Harry had been standing up to him before this massive surge of power.
A prolonged battle with the Boy Who Lived was not the best course of action, not if this was how he was going to continue to develop. In the previous years, he had allowed Potter to grow, because he had thought very little of the boy. But now, he knew better than to think that. Potter had been a thorn in his side at every step of the way, He knew it would be better if he simply got rid of the boy.
But Tom knew better than everyone, he enjoyed the battles with Harry Potter. He was only as powerful as he had grown to be because of the manner in which Potter had pushed if you wanted any proof of Tom's belief that Harry had to go because he was worth more trouble than he would be alive, look no further than his magically regrown arm. Now, unless you were just super into painful regrowing bone and skin and muscle, this was not something you wanted to experience. But it did give Tom some ideas for torture should the occasion ever arise once more.
However, all good things must come to an end, his rivalry with a teenage boy was one of them. The question now, was how could he get Harry alone in a one on one duel so that he might properly kill his rival. The Prophecy bound the two of them, there would be no better way than assuring himself of his complete control than to kill Harry Potter.
His eyes landed on Snape, the bitter school teacher, and an idea started to form inside of his head. This Snape was not quite the exact same as the one from his home world, that one had been a slippery double agent who in the end had picked Team Voldemort. But this one? He was an endless well of emotionless masks and bitterly spoken words about his position inside of Hogwarts. And yet, he continued to provide Tom all of the information that he asked for without question.
Loyalty, such a fickle and meaningless word. Snape was probably not very loyal to him in any world, he was loyal to himself and his own causes. Did Snape growing up extremely racist towards Muggles due to a semi-abusive muggle father make him more amendable to Tom's own vision and causes, yes, but Tom was not under the delusion that any of these people in the room were really loyal to him. No, it was simply too late for any of them to quit, they were all known Death Eaters at this point. Except for Bellatrix, she was just fucking insane and that was coming from him, so you know she was really a lost cause for mental health sake.
But enough about hypothetical mental health, back to Snape. Tom needed to get Harry alone, no Dumbledore, no Lily Potter ready to sacrifice herself for him. Nothing but Tom and Harry until the death. And preferably that would be Harry's death because dying went against everything Tom believed in. Of course, Tom's biggest belief in life is that you should live as long as possible. Unless you were Harry Potter, then you should try to be as opposite of Tom as possible and just off yourself now.
Time to see how much Snape really loved living, Tom licked his lips at the thought of Snape betraying him. Oh, the feeling of ripping his spine out of his body would be pure bliss. Snape was a slippery little insect who had managed to avoid his wraith for years, back in his old world and in this new one based on Voldemort's memories, but all things based in luck must come to an end sooner or later.
"Severus" spoke Tom for the first time, his voice catching the attention of the entire room, "I believe that it is time that we use your place in Dumbledore's ear to our advantage"
"If you believe it is time" said Snape neutrally
"I would not have suggested it if I did not deem the time right" hissed Tom and the room grew colder as flakes of snow appeared on the ground, his anger was getting the best of him and he was tempted to just flick his wand and end Snape's worthless life.
"What shall him, my lord?" asked Snape
Tom smiled, but it did not reach his cold eyes. His eyes locked onto Snape and he couldn't pick up a single surface level thought from the pale potions maker. A mind guarded that tightly was holding onto some of the worse or most delicious secrets. The kind that people would probably kill for, but sadly he needed the man for at least another day or so.
"You are going to tell him the truth, tell him everything. Tell him that in 7 days, we are going to launch a series of attacks all over the Magical world and that we will be stretched far and thin trying to cause as much damage as possible. You are also to tell them that I will not be joining in on the chaos as I work on a ritual to summon Harry Potter directly to me at Riddle Manor's graveyard" said Tom
"Are you sure that is wise? They could ignore the distractions and target you?" questioned Snape
"Which is exactly what I want them to do" said Tom
With Harry:
Harry was mediating, floating several feet off the ground, a tight constant gust encircling his body. It was utterly amazing how much better it felt with his complete pool of magic at his control once again. It was as if he had been dying of thirst for day after day until finally he found a waterfall of water. But deep down, Harry knew that it still feel short of what Tom had to pull on.
Luckily, Harry had the Elder Wand and Tom did not, because with the return of what felt like 25 to 30 percent of his magic plus the amplification properties of the Elder Wand, Harry felt that he would be in position to hold his own in any duel. However, there was the question that was worth more than any amount of money, whether wizard or muggle.
What had Tom been doing since their last duel?
There had been no reported sightings of him in the newspapers, there had been no hushed about whispers from the children of death eaters, the Order had not been talking about any battles hidden or public. All of which was not a good sign to Harry or Dumbledore. A silent, unseen Tom was much worse than one that was flexing his magical power and patting himself on the back with every breath that he took.
So, what had Tom been doing? He couldn't have been that hurt by Harry. Harry was sure of that because while he had gotten his couple of good shots in and ripped off Tom's arm, that wasn't enough actual damage to keep Tom down for long. Harry knew that because he once had all the bones in his arm vanished and all that took was an overnight stay in the hospital wing. Of course, it hurt like a bitch and he would never allow that shit to happen to him again, but maybe if he was in desperate need of info from a prisoner, he might use it on them.
He felt a presence nearing his body, that was actually the purpose of the gust of wind, it was filled with his magic and allowed him to have a decent sense of the world without losing his mediation. It went hand in hand with the exercise of the mediation, he was focusing on controlling them magic that was pumping through his body and yet he was also focusing on controlling the magic that he was actively pumping out of his body through the wind as well.
It was like getting arms and legs with one exercise at the gym to put it in muggle terms.
Harry opened his eyes and slowly floated back down to the ground, as the gust of wind that had been surrounding his body started to die down and before he dropped completely to the ground, his legs unfolded and he was standing up.
"Hello, Draco, this is quite the surprise" greeted Harry as he laid eyes on the blond haired Slytherin boy.
"I have come to provide you some information, as agreed upon" said Draco, his tone sounding like he would rather be anywhere else but in front of Harry. Whether it was because of the nasty red pulsing scar on Harry's face from his last bout with Voldemort or because Harry brutally murdered his father in the middle of the streets of Diagon Alley was unknown to Harry nor did he really care.
"Well, don't let me stop you from speaking" said Harry "Spit it out"
"I come with some news from what the Dark Lord is planning, listening and recording runes placed in my dining room. Now that nobody is there, he's taken my home for his own. My mother is said to be dead and you disposed of my father, it was the easy to inscribe them on the bottom of my dining room table" explained Draco
"Very interesting, great work, but I care little for the how you managed to do it and much more about the what you heard" hissed Harry, reminding Draco of Voldemort the few times that the blond had met him, "Now, spit it out if you can do so please"
The word please was said in such a taunting manner that Draco had to bit his lip physically to keep himself from retorting against Harry. This was not the Harry Potter from this world and he knew it. This was a Harry Potter who had a nasty pulsing red crescent scar on his face, the only sign of injury on him after he dueled the Dark Lord to a draw and ripped off his arm.
Also, this version of the messy raven haired asshole had managed to kidnap his mom and keep her hidden away from everyone with ease. Not someone Draco wanted to get on the bad side of, if he was being honest.
"The Dark Lord has a plan coming up where he hopes to lure you into a direct one on one duel to the death. It's going to be taking place at the Riddle's Manor graveyard in about one week. He's going to have Snape tell Dumbledore all of this, but he waited until Snape left to tell other members of the inner circle that he will spending the week setting up wards to keep you contained there and runes to negate your magical ability" said Draco in a hushed tone, his words spoken quickly but Harry still heard them as he hung onto every word.
"So, his plan is to set the stage for a fight that is tilted in his favor and then use that to defeat me, that's actually rather brilliant if I do say so myself" admitted Harry
"How can you say that about a plan to murder you?" asked Draco
"Because if given the chance to lure Tom to his death, I would do the exact same thing" answered Harry
He held up his hand and the shrunken trunk that Draco's mom was living in shot out of the window by his bed and into his hand in a blur of black. He caught it with the skills that had made him such a good Seeker for years before presenting it to Draco.
"Your mom is living inside of this trunk, you can take her with you. You've earned the right to hold onto her. If you want to continue to help me, it will be because you want to" said Harry
"You'd give up your leverage just like that?" questioned Draco
"I can still kill you with a flick of my wand" laughed Harry, "Actually not even that. I could flare my magic and rip all of the air right out of your lungs and you'd drop to the ground dead before you even know what happened"
Draco paled and thanked Harry for the trunk, which he was holding like it was the most fragile egg in the world. Not that Harry blamed him, it was holding his mother after all.
"Malfoy ... Draco, thank you for the information, I know you risked a lot ... mostly your life to get it. So take this warning, don't go home for the Holidays, don't lift your wand for their cause. The same way that I hid your mom, I can hide you. Chose my side and keep living" said Harry
Draco was already starting to walk away from Harry, but when he heard that line, he stop. Turning his head over his shoulder, "The Dark Lord sent my father to his death, claimed to have killed my mother, and wanted me to take on the task of trying and failing to kill you. The tosser will never find aid from me, besides I've already gotten stuck on your side, I'm sure your next duel with the ass will reveal that"
As Harry watched the retreating form of Draco, he was left with a sense of relief that he was not expecting to feel from hearing about the plot to murder him. It was nice to know that Tom was thinking about him, even when he was with his followers, that was the kind of thing that warmed his heart. It was also the kind of thing that made Harry all the more willing to rip out Tom's heart.
Also he had never expected Draco to be of any value, but this was actually a nice pay off for him. He had just expected him to give him nothing as he bullied him into being a respectable responsible member of society.
Harry mused over what to do now that he actually knew that Tom had a plan and it was going to be 'leaked' to the Order by Snape. The half of the plan that would get leaked would be enough for them to make their move as Snape would no doubt give them all the info they needed to prevent the worst of the attacks. But that wasn't what he needed to focus on at the moment, Tom was preparing some kind of warding for him. And if Draco heard correctly, runes that would be able to negate his magical abilities.
That honestly raised the biggest question, where the fuck did Tom manage to learn that?
Had Harry been slacking on his schooling? Dumbledore had taught him as much as he could before he died. What did Harry know about runes, objectively quite a bit but how could he use that to his advantage? That would be the main topic of his research for the week. He would probably, should probably reach out to this Dumbledore to see if he knew anything about the topic of warding and runes. Who was he kidding, this Dumbledore was just as old as the Dumbledore in his world, there was zero doubt in his mind that the ancient wizard was probably an expert on the topic.
One week? That was equally not a lot of time and yet was seemingly too much time for Harry. It didn't feel like enough time to prepare for a potential battle to the death against Tom. But it also felt like too much time, he could drive himself insane trying to think of all the things that could go wrong vs all the things that could go right.
Tom was an evil son of a bitch, but he was smart. Leaking plans with just enough time to do nothing but complain about how you don't have enough time to do anything in response. A cunning plan, however Harry was going to do his best to slip around this upcoming deadline.
He started walking back towards the castle when he stopped, his head tilting to the left and he smiled, "I had no idea that blondes were that attracted to me"
Fleur dropped her disillusion charm and came into the world, appearing about 7 feet to the left of Harry. And based on the soft scowl on her face, she was not happy with him. But then again, who was consistently happy with him anymore?
"I saw that nasty blond connard approach you, what did he tell you?" asked Fleur, her anger at Draco causing her to slip into her native tongue to insult him.
"He was just holding up his end of a deal with me, I had been protecting his mother for him from Tom. I was returning her to him after he provided me some information" answered Harry
"You plan on keeping that info to yourself or do you plan on sharing with me?" questioned Fleur
"Since I killed Papa Malfoy and captured Mama Malfoy, Tom has taken over the Malfoy Manor from Draco as his main base of operations" said Harry, telling Fleur part of what he learned from Draco
"And that is worth handing over his mother?"
Harry paused at her question because it was actually a good one, Harry was not known for his bleeding heart. But at the same time, it was not out of the blue for him to be a little nice.
"It was a gesture of good faith, he had no reason to provide me the info that I was requesting without even a hint of the ability to deliver on my end" countered Harry, "Besides he's not going to be a death eater, I already told him that I would kill him instantly if he tried anything"
Fleur stepped closer to him, her body's warmth felt so good, so tempting for him. He felt goosebumps pop up along his body and he leaned into her presence, the world becoming a little brighter than before. A smile appeared on his face as they now walked shoulder to shoulder, his right hand in her left hand.
"What's with the smile?"
Harry gave a fake gasp of shock, "Am I smiling?"
"Very funny" she said with a huff
"You, I'm smiling because I'm with you. I can't help it" admitted Harry
"You're just saying that" tsk'd Fleur
Harry stopped walking and pulled Fleur into dip, looking down at deep blue beautiful eyes, taking in her surprised face before leaning forward, his lips stopping right before her own.
" I had never felt this way about everyone else before" whispered Harry as he finished his lean in and kissed Fleur.
One Week Later: Riddle's Manor Graveyard
Tom stood there alone in the graveyard, his wand spinning in his hands as he checked on the series of Harry Potter keyed wards and runes, his eyes scanning the surrounding area.
Harry was supposed to be here anymore now, he had sent his followers to carry out their distracting attacks, he wanted nothing more than his duel to the death with Harry Potter to begin now.
This was a rather important event that he wanted to get underway as quickly as possible. Because if he won, he would not have to deal with the threat of Harry Potter anymore and he was sure that the rest of the world would simply give up. On the other hand, let's say that for some reason he lost because he like he tripped and fell breaking his neck, it would be better to get this over with as soon as possible. No point in wasting his time, effort, and life because he was actually mortal now and if his life was going to come to an end, it better be worthwhile.
Tom while waiting started humming to himself before long starting to quietly sing some lyrics to himself. This was the biggest difference between Tom and Voldemort to be honest. Voldemort was less about complete world domination and more about Magic is Might, which was just a thinly veiled racism. Voldemort wanted the pureblood wizards to be on top, no caring about any thing but blood purity, which didn't even make sense to Tom since they were both Half Bloods.
Tom didn't give a single squirt of piss if you were a muggleborn, half blood, vampire, half giant, werewolf, or a pure blood. He just wanted to control the entire world, it had nothing to do with him thinking he was better because of what was in his blood. Now did he think he was better than you because of how more powerful he was than the next person? Yes and if you wanted to change his mind on it, duel him to the death.
"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" sung Tom to himself as he continued to wait for Harry to appear.
"I had no idea you were so in touch with your muggle side Tom" said the person Tom had been waiting on, appearing in the middle of the graveyard, dressed in normal day to day plain black robes without a care in the world. His hair was messy as if he had just woken up, his eyes were dull, lifeless green orbs, the angry pulsing red scar on his face was still there, Harry Potter had arrived right on time to die at his hands, just went Tom was starting to get bored too.
"I wouldn't say that I am in touch with my muggle side, but I can appreciate a catchy little tune as much as next person. That particular one just so happens to be one that I heard in the muggle world" answered Tom, "I really appreciate you coming here so promptly too, I was worried Snape let on that this was a trap, that I was bringing you here to face me alone, without the safety net of Dumbledore. I mean, you really are brave Harry, walking to face certain death without fear, something better men than you would be scared to do"
"Try not to pat yourself on the back too hard Tom, you wouldn't want to break it reaching" sassed Harry as his eyes light up with amusement, "How is the arm?"
"The same as the old one, little more stiff around the elbow to be honest" answered Tom
"Ah, haven't had the chance to break it in with the latest issue of Penthouse huh?" tsk'd Harry, "I heard Michelle Collins was on the cover for this month's issue. Really missing out Tom"
(A/N: November 1995 issue if anyone is really curious)
Tom allowed a crackle of laughter to leave his mouth, a moment of enjoyment between two bitter rivals as their relationship came to an end.
"I am going to miss this Harry, you've got this annoying little charm about you that I just can't help but like. But all good things must come to an end or so they say, I wouldn't know" said Tom
"Is that why your life is absolute shite? Because it just keeps on going and going and going, yet never improves" retorted Harry as he drew his wand
"You little annoying shit, I take back the charming comment" snarled Tom as he kept his wand pointed at the ground, his eyes locked onto Harry's wand, He looked completely calm even as he continued not to raise his own wand in reaction to Harry.
"You talk way too much Tom, I would say that I'm going to miss you, but I am pretty my mom wouldn't want me to lie" said Harry as he leveled his wand as if he was about to cast a spell.
The tip of his wand glowed bright blue but the spell never left his wand, his magic fizzling out as it failed to maintain the shape and control needed to be a spell.
"What the fuck" whispered Harry as he looked at the Elder Wand in surprise before Tom threw his head back and laughed with giggly excitement like a common school girl.
"Why do you think that you are really here Harry? Do you think I would simply bring you here for an duel without some level of reassure for myself?" asked Tom, "Things end for you tonight, I have taken extra measures to assure my victory and you willingly walked into my trap"
Harry frowned "What did you do?"
"I have Anti-Portkey and Anti-Apparation wards set over the graveyard keyed onto your magical signature, you cannot escape. As for the duel, it is little more than farce, you never were and never will get a single spell off against me. The entire graveyard is covered in runes to prevent anyone who is not me from casting a spell, it is actively draining the magic of any spell attempted to being cast. You willing walked into here, without ever knowing that you stood no chance of winning" explained Tom with a look of pure glee on his face
"Oh no, I have been defeated" said Harry with a dry tone
Tom stopped laughing and looked at Harry, noticing the lack of concern on his face for the first time, his relaxed body language, his wand still extended and the amusement in his eyes, the tone of his voice.
"Usually people are not this calm in the face of death" said Tom, "Perhaps you've gone completely full circle and have come to calm acceptance that you are going to die"
Harry shrugged, "Maybe I have something up my sleeve to counter this, you never know Tom, I am rather resourceful myself"
Tom scoffed dismissively "You cannot bluff your way out of this one Harry like you have so many times in the past. The plan was perfect this time around, Dumbledore is not coming to your rescue now or ever again"
"I mean you saw those last couple of fights right, I've been saving him" muttered Harry and they both shared a short couple of chuckles.
"Ok, I'm going to kill you now" said Tom as he finally raised his wands and pointed it at Harry, "Any last words?"
"More of a last action really" said Harry as he tugged on the necklace he was wearing, it was a small blue orb that was filled with a moving series of swirling lines, but nothing overly special or expensive.
"Do you want me to give this to a former or something?" asked Tom, because believe it or not, he was quite respectful and kind of nice provided you absolutely kissed his ass
"Or something" said Harry as he slammed it down on the ground and the orb shattered before unleashing a massive wave of magic that shattered the warding over the graveyard and overloaded all of the runes.
Tom was blasted off his feet from the backlash as it was his magic that powered both and he hissed as Harry waved his wand and he felt new warding appear over the graveyard and he knew that he was now trapped.
"You knew" hissed Tom, "But how? Snape was not part of the meeting where I revealed the secret twist of my plan"
"Your inner circle is more open than you think Tom" spat Harry, "But it doesn't matter much as you thought that I was trapped in here with you. No, you snake face bastard, it is you who is stuck in here with me, Now climb onto your feet and die like a the sick parody of a man that you pretend to be"
Tom slowly rose to his feet, his eyes locked onto Harry and he crackled once again, "You pulled a trick on me while letting me think that I was the one pulling the trick. There truly is nobody else who could have been my equal besides you. How did you do it?"
Harry eyed the wand in Tom's hand, "I knew about the wards and the runes for about a week and while I thought about how to get around them, I realized that runes and wards need to be powered. The warding was a little bit more tricky because one of them is more like a net keeping things in while the other is like a dome keeping things out. The runes are like all other runes, they can simply be overloaded with enough magic, Knowing the runes you were going to use were designed to absorb magic, I figured they would have a cap of around what you could produce yourself. So I drew up runes to simply store as much magic as possible and dumped day after day into it, knowing that a magical explosion would tear down the wards and overload the runes at the same time"
Tom nodded "A plan so simply, yet effective. I don't think I could think of something better suited for the situation myself. But we did not come here to talk about how brilliant ours plans are, now did we?"
Harry gave a small nod "Correct, we came to end this here and now tonight, let's do this Tom"
"Let's do this Harry" said Tom, "A bow for the respect of a worthy opponent. I refuse to cheap shot you and I know you wouldn't do the same to me"
Harry licked his lips but ultimately agreed, "No, I wouldn't attack during a moment like that, I may not like you but I do have a healthy level of respect for your ability. Maybe half a decade of battling someone does that to you. So, a bow of respect and then our duel to the death"
"On three" agreed Tom and Harry nodded.
"One" echoed both of them
"Two" Harry gripped his wand preparing for everything that might come, the surprise attack that Tom swore wouldn't come, yet it never did come. Neither Tom or him wanted to end this in such a manner.
"Three" they said together and Tom could feel the begging of his magic to unleash a volley of spells at this moment, to try and overwhelm Harry before he had a chance to cast a single spell.
They both bowed until they were at a right angle before rising up at the same time, Tom gestured with his off hand for Harry to raise his wand, Harry doing the same.
Both of their wands were raised and a moment of silence passed over them, a final moment of peace before Harry slashed his wand sending an angry purple at Tom and Tom blasted out a Killing Curse at Harry.
The Purple Spell and the Green Killing Curse slammed into each other in the middle and the graveyard shook from the force of the two spells before exploding in a massive gust of wind, that Harry killed with a flare of magic.
As the wind died down, Tom flared his own magic and the sky filled with clouds in an instant before the cold flakes of fresh snow started to fall immediately after. The air grew warmer around Harry's body as he controlled the wind. No more words were spoken as they stood across from each, a final duel.
A/N: Ok, I don't really have much else to say, I wanted to get this chapter over and done with and I did. Not to say that I did anything to make this chapter quality worse, but I want to get to the final duel between Tom and Harry which will span about 3-4 chapters, it is about 20k words.
Also, allow me to address some of the comments, I am not changing any aspect of this story, unless it is a crazy grammar or spacing of paragraphs issue, there will be no edits or changes made to the past chapters.
So, allow me to double down on some things, Harry WAS a playboy in his previous world, but has not actively pursued multiple women in this world because 1, He wasn't sure if he was going to remain here, 2, He's here to fight a Tom not get some ass. 3, He never met someone that he's had feeling for like Fleur in the last world because his world was consumed by training to fight Tom.
Harry is not more magically powerful than Tom in this story, he's much stronger than Canon Harry, but without the Elder Wand amplifying his magic at this point, he would be getting put on a T-Shirt. Harry has grown stronger over the course of the story and at the time of this chapter, he's the strongest he's been. On the flip side as much of this story has been, Tom is not at his absolute most powerful state either, he has not adjusted to his new body and his magic is not all of his own to control. But even 85 percent of Tom is more than Harry can handle, hence the manner in which Harry was given a new scar by Tom, Tom is more powerful.
The flashbacks were mostly for world building, so that you could see a bit of what this Harry went through to show you that he's different, he has different feats. I get that you don't like them, but you also wanted to know more about his story. But I am not removing them.
There is only about 7 more chapters at this point, let's just enjoy them as they come out people.
If you actually like this story and/or any of my other ones, my discord chat is popping with a bunch of nice people from different places who generally just vibe with each other.
You can join using invite code 38KKMGPV or going to (slash) 38KKMGPV
Until Next Time, HighKey_Mars out
