Chapter 14: Double Talk
"I'll take your silence to indicate that we may continue without further incidence." Riddle said smugly. He waited for a reaction from Harry and when he saw none Tom sat comfortably back into his chair and crossed his arms and legs. "Potter you must be educated as to why the world has come to this violent struggle. Indeed it is about power, but power with purpose, and far more purpose than just the mindless destruction of life." Tom uncrossed his arms and placed them delicately on the armrest of his large leather chair, "I wouldn't drivel over such a useless task as killing without purpose." He waved his hand dismissively. "Instead this is about the power to strike justice upon those who believe that it is their privilege to decide the pecking order in this world; the power to bring justice to those pathetic muggles who live ignorantly under the delusion that this is their world; the power, Potter, to show the world that we are not the idle musings of fairy tales and children's bed time stories."
Harry narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "What is that? Is that supposed to be your grand justification, your amends to why my parents, along with so many others, are dead at your hands?" Harry looked away from Tom Riddle and huffed a sarcastic laugh, "Who the hell cares what muggles think or don't think about wizards? And whatever the hell you think about the whole ordeal is hardly a justification for the atrocious things you've done to this world."
A crooked smile adorned the Dark Lord's face, one that expressed how foolish he thought Harry's retort to be, "Potter there is so much that you do not know, so much that has intentionally been kept from you by that old man. Do you think it was unintentional that you spent the first eleven years of your life with a muggle family? Brought up to be ignorant to the knowledge that you were a wizard, shielded from the ideals and history so commonly known throughout the wizarding community. Does is not seem remarkably convenient that after eleven years of strife with a family that hated you along came Hogwarts and the world of wizardry to give your once aimless life purpose? You were introduced to Hogwarts so that you could only adore and love it, so that it would become a sanctuary from your terrible life; a life you were forced into."
Tom raised his hands in the air and waved them around gay fully, "Every boy's dream! To be swept away to a fairy tale land where everything is pure and everyone does the right thing. A place where you have remarkable talents and everyone accepts you. All of a sudden you go from the Boy-Under-the-Stairs to the Boy-Who-Lived." Tom lowered his hands and paused, waiting for Harry to look directly at him, "But haven't you ever wondered why you were sent to be raised by your muggle relatives? Obviously I've shown you that their home is no safe haven from me, which is undoubtedly what the headmaster would have you believe to be the reason for your imprisonment there."
Harry's eyes grew wide in disbelief and he instantly regretted what his expression might betray to his enemy. "So what, you're going to make it up to me?" Harry said quickly to divert attention away from his look. "All the things I never learned because I didn't have wizards for parents you're going to fill me in on? "Gee Tom, and to think all these years we thought you were just a raving lunatic, turns out you just wanted the chance to raise a boy of your own." Harry smirked as he saw his ridicules paint hatred across Riddle's face. "What's the matter, one of those transformations you underwent make it so you couldn't have little dark lords of your own?"
The rage apparent on the sixteen-year-old face of Voldemort looked like a boy staring up at the school bully. He clinched his fist and stared over Harry's head, "How easy was it for you to be told as a child that a dark and evil wizard was the only reason you suffered eleven years with your muggle family? How swiftly did they portray me as the only blight this perfect fairy tale world suffered," Tom diverted his stare back to Harry, "and of course, as the reason you couldn't be introduced to the world of wizardry sooner? Well Harry, you will quickly learn that things are never so black and white. No my dear boy, the world is always seen in shades of gray."
"Still trying to pass the blame? Even if I was encouraged to see Hogwarts as a sanctuary…as my true home, it's not like you haven't been trying since day one to ruin it for me. You did more than your share to contribute to me knowing just how evil you really are. After all, you did try to kill me during our first encounter."
Riddle smiled as though he had been expecting this response. "Did I Potter? As I recall I offered you my help, and even in my weakened state I asked to speak with you, to hold your company and try to explain things. I told you then that there was no good or evil, I offered to remedy my wrong to you, and to help return your parents. But as I said, it was obvious that the old fool and his clan of followers had already turned you against me. When you denied me my only chance at resurrection, attempting to spoil over eleven years of trying to return to life, what was I to do? Let you run and return the stone to Dumbledore? No Harry, I knew you were prophesized to have the power to vanquish me, and I couldn't let you just walk away with my only chance of returning to a corporeal state without losing a part of myself."
Harry's mind raced as it recalled the events Tom spoke of. He tried to think of a reply, something that would poke a glaring hole through the story that his enemy was fabricating; but he faltered. He wouldn't willingly accept that Voldemort was capable of speaking an ounce of truth, even though he couldn't formulate a thought that could deny the possibility. Without the words to defy the Dark Lord, he summoned a glare of hate and disrespect that would have rivaled Severus Snape.
Tom felt the confusion and anger welling up in Harry, information gleamed from the Legilimens curse he held on the young wizard's mind. "I see that you are confused Potter, ideally this would be pleasing to me, but I have come to accept your incompetence thus it's hardly a rewarding feat." Riddle smiled smugly and then sat forward in his chair. "Put it aside for now, and don't let our past experiences concern you. I'm afraid if you try to focus on them and all else that I have come to share, your simple mind may cave in."
Harry saw the look of satisfaction on Tom's face, a look he wouldn't willingly allow to remain. "Past experience tells me that my incompetence managed to keep you from being no more than a wisp of smoke for over fourteen years. I think I'll manage to not put that aside as I listen to more of your senseless ranting." Harry said as he gave his own smug smile and sat forward in his chair as well.
"Do you need a refresher in proper manners?" Tom said with a sneer and raised his wand at Harry. He immediately picked up on the sense of fear that his words invoked. "I didn't think so."
Harry tensed as he anticipated another unseen blast of some obscure curse. Thankfully it never came. But it didn't add up, he was sure that sometime during the course of his constant rudeness he was going to earn some more pain. "I didn't think so?" Tom's comment replayed through his mind again. What didn't he think? It suggested that the Dark Lord had noticed Harry's moment of fear, though Harry was sure he hadn't let his face betray his true emotions. "I can taste your fear" Voldemort had told him that the last time he violated Harry's mind. Taste my fear…what does that mean? Harry thought.
The confusion flowing through Harry's mind was exactly what Riddle was waiting for, he sensed it before, but now he knew it was coursing through the boy's thoughts. If in fact he were beginning to make the boy question his loyalties it would be best for him to not let this fade. Fortunately for Harry, Riddle wasn't able to discern exactly why Harry was confused, only that he was.
Without delay Tom carried on, "I'm sure in your hasty arrival to the wizarding world the Headmaster never found the time to explain to you the wonderful dynamics of our kind's history. Though, one does wonder if Dumbledore maintains the services of that apathetic ghost to keep all of Hogwarts' pupils in the dark. History is an interesting subject, it is forever changing depending on which perspective is doing the writing. Most often, the popular account is written by the victorious, though no telling is ever a true account of what really happened, rather a smattering of facts to support how a particular party would like to remember everything." Tom paused to make sure that Harry was keeping up with the change in topic. "And so with my downfall fifteen years ago, the history of wizarding kind was unsurprisingly written to only reflect the sentiments of those who opposed me."
The dry topic didn't disturb Harry from trying to resolve what Voldemort was able to gleam from his mind. Though it was obvious that he wasn't a strong enough Occlumens to keep Voldemort out, Harry wasn't going to reduce the effort to maintain whatever shields he could muster. However, without any background in the topics Tom was talking about, he could only continue with his defiant sarcasm so as not to relinquish whatever little hold he had in this dispute. "Practicing for a teaching job now are we. This is really getting interesting Tom. First we find out that you want to be a father figure, now a teacher too, and to think we had you pegged as a ruthless murderer." Harry said with a sarcastic honesty.
Ignoring the sarcasm, Tom continued, "However, despite the half truths there are some…artistic liberties which are easily refuted, in particular the information regarding the nature of my followers. Since you are obviously ignorant to this topic, I'll have to make my point through the use of a question." Riddle sneered, knowing that Harry believed he was going to score an insult without receiving a retort. "Do you really think that most pureblood wizards hate muggles and mudbloods because of some genetic trait, or maybe you'd like to dismiss it as another amazing coincidence? Do you think it possible that some genetic malfunction passed its way through generations of the oldest families in Europe? Or is it possible Potter that like the heritage passed through old bloodlines, the memories of past wrongs isn't allowed to wane away."
Tom's voice no longer calm, carried began to carry the tone of someone preaching, "It is because the pureblooded families remember the atrocities that muggles put our kind through, they remember the hate and prejudice muggles are capable of. Pureblooded families have maintained the knowledge that their ancestors faced murder, and war because fear filled MUGGLES attempted to eradicate our kind without impunity or regard for individual intentions! Those families remember the crimes that led wizard-kind into seclusion from the world. They remember how MUGGLES chose to start war on us, and to hate us without discretion, but only because of what we are! And those families remember how we were forced flee from our homes and our lives in order to save our kind from extinction. Most importantly, the pureblooded families remember how they remained vigilant to keeping the wizard bloodline pure. How they wouldn't give in and pollute their children, their heritage, with the blood of those MUGGLES who oppressed us!
Harry watched with some satisfaction as Tom became more enraged as he spat the words of his speech. He got the impression that Riddle felt his growing rage would somehow strike fear in Harry, but in truth, the image of a sixteen year old losing his temper wasn't all that intimidating. "What does this have to do with you Voldemort" Harry spat the name confidently despite the image of Tom Riddle in front of him. "Or have you forgotten that you're not a pureblood, regardless of what you'd have your sheep believe" Harry smiled as another thought came to mind, "And it would seem that the fact you're not a pureblood proves mummy Voldemort didn't think too much of the ideals you're now preaching."
Voldemort fought against the rage he felt from Harry's insult, he knew that there was a fine line he needed to walk between asserting his presence and convincing the boy that there was more than one truth. "But it seems that my heritage was enough to condemn me Potter, both from muggles and wizards alike." He stated calmly. "And nothing was more poignant to that fact then my mother, the heir of Slytherin, giving her life to bear the child of a filthy muggle."
Harry couldn't believe that Riddle had just let his insult roll off of him like that. "Your nutters Tom, you're telling me all of the preaching about purebloods and oppression boils down to the fact that you have a grudge against your parents? Well join the club, but you don't see every Slytherin who got a spanking he didn't deserve becoming a raving mad man."
Tom shot out of his chair and pointed his finger sharply at Harry causing the boy to flinch, "What do you know boy! What do you know of a life where your muggle father's poisoned seed destroys the only link you have to your true heritage? What do you know of having a father who's too indecent to accept his newborn son and the sacrifice that his wife gave for him? No child, this is so much more than a grudge, my life is the epitome of the oppression and prejudice that muggles have imposed on our kind. When that muggle denied his only son, the only child of his dead wife simply because I was a wizard, he embodied the very nature of prejudice that their kind is incapable of transcending!" Spit shot out of Tom's mouth and stuck to his chin as he finished yelling.
Harry too jumped to his feet, a movement he forced to counter his earlier show of fear, and yelled defiantly back at the enraged man, "You're right, I wouldn't know about my mother and father, you made sure of that didn't you!"
"I spent my life surrounded by people who hated me because they were less than me, serving me one injury after the other." Tom replied as if the argument had escalated to a spitting contest of who had a worse childhood. "And all the while I tolerated it because the wizarding world declared this was to be the way; to weak and afraid to stand up for the fact that we should rule the world. Instead a great wizard should suffer the hatred and beatings of muggles so that the secrecy of our kind is maintained." Tom wiped the spit from his chin.
"Come off it already, your life was so bad. It's not like living with the Dursleys has been a parade either, but you don't see me running around trying to kill everyone who doesn't agree with what I think." Harry said.
"I tried it their way Potter, I swallowed my pride and admitted that the muggles at the orphanage beat and abused me even though I could kill them with a simple wave of my wand. They knew that my father abandoned me and who my mother was. They knew that I had no remaining connection to my mother's past, but their response was to scorn my pleadings and send me back to that disgusting muggle orphanage. So I could continue to be hated and punished for being different, for being a greater form of life than them. Yet still I relented. I went to the venerable Albus Dumbledore, champion of the wizarding world and defeater of the great Lord Grindewald. I begged him to help, believing that he must understand what it is to suffer a world where everyone treats you differently because you are greater than them."
"Obviously you're as dumb as you look if you believed that Professor Dumbledore would look down on everyone like you do." Harry said without looking at the man.
Without a word of warning Tom snapped his wand at Harry, "Pugnus Igneus!" A thick jet of crimson and orange light shot from his wand and hit Harry in the middle of his chest. Harry was thrown violently back into his chair and both he and the leather seat toppled over. To Harry the blast of the curse felt like a scolding sledgehammer hit him in the chest. He reflexively put his hands over the wound and was startled when he felt charred skin where he expected to feel the fabric of his black t-shirt. He looked down and saw a round hole the size of a cannon ball burned through his shirt, and the exposed skin was charred and blistered. Harry turned his gaze affront and stared at the gray space above him as he lay on his back in pain. He heard Tom's voice speak from the direction of his feet.
"You're not listening Potter, I no longer take chastisement from those who are lesser than me. Or did you not get that?" Tom said calmly. "You should feel grateful, I usually aim that curse for the face as I find it does wonders for the complexion." With an effortless flick of his hand, Harry and the chair returned upright, though Riddle left the burned shirt and skin as a reminder.
Tom returned to his chair and in a much calmer demeanor he spoke, "As I was saying, I pleaded with that manipulative old man to remove me from the orphanage. I told him how they hated and abused me, how the caregivers constantly denied me the same rights as the rest of the children. How I couldn't prevent them from it because I would be expelled from Hogwarts, which I saw as my true home. But he did nothing to help; he only offered his cryptic blathering and double talk. I'm sure you're familiar with all this Harry, as I know that the old man has ensured you suffer a similar fate." Tom waited for the words to sink in, "It was then that I began to realize Potter; I began to understand. If the great Albus Dumbledore, champion of the light wasn't substantial enough to undo the wrongs of this world through his constant practice of tolerance, then maybe someone should invoke change through intolerance."
Harry sat recovering from the pain in his chest while listening to the now calm voice. The thought of shooting off another smart remark was far from his mind. He actually thought about how much more pain he would be in had the curse actually been aimed for his face. Riddle was talking in such a collected manner after the attack that his words seemed strangely more potent. Harry sat unwilling to acknowledge that he was listening, but also afraid to speak another insult.
"For years I struggled with the hate, both my own and that of the students who surrounded me. Unbeknownst to Dumbledore, it wasn't until he tried to placate me with the title of prefect that I came to understand the solace that came from the assertion of power. It was also the year that I became aware of the Chamber of Secrets and about the true history of my ancestor Salazar Slytherin. I learned how he stood up for his ideals and for the pride of the wizarding world. How he wouldn't simply overlook the fact that the muggles who had cast wizards from their peaceful lives were beginning to taint our kind with their judgmental blood. But the other founders wouldn't listen. Instead they chose to ignore the violation and openly accepted a new race of mudblood wizards into our schools and governments, corrupting us from the inside out. It was then that I realized my calling in this world; that combination of power and knowledge that led me to this rightful cause."
That's not to say that I wasn't encouraged by the rest of the wizarding world around me. By the Slytherins who hated me because I was a mixed blood yet possessed power and knowledge they only dreamed of. By the prideful Gryffindors, who despite being champions for muggles and mudblood alike, hated me because I was ambitious enough to see a future where our kind assumed it's rightful position in the world. And by Dumbledore who lied to me profusely, he knew what power I possessed and did his all to ensure that I never know the true nature of my past, or the destiny that awaited me."
Harry willed himself to sit upright in his chair, and every movement he made to do so set the large burn in his chest afire with pain. Without a single wince to acknowledge how much it hurt him to move Harry fixed a stare straight into Tom Riddles eyes, "I don't care." He said it methodically and without emotion.
Tom fell loosely into his chair and placed his hand over his brow and eyes. "I too looked up to that old man, like you do Harry. I sought out his advice and trusted him to help me find my way out of the hell that was my life. But instead of seeing me as a person, as a child that was struggling to find meaning and justice in this unfair world, he only saw me as a piece of my ancestry. As a person who may one day rise to challenge his grasp on the wizard community, an opponent to his control over how it should be run. It was he Potter, Dumbledore, who was the symbol of good and the embodiment of wisdom and justice, that taught me through his actions that there is no good or evil, only power, and those who are willing to use it. He held the power, the knowledge, and used it to manipulate me from learning of my past. He who so many consider to be good, who was so evil to me because of my ancestry, and he who so willingly used his power to try and prevent me from ever carrying on the cause of Salazar Slytherin."
Tom took his hand from his head, and sat upright in his chair. "But when I discovered the Chamber I found my own source of knowledge and power. Dumbledore knew then that I was lost to him, that he could no longer prevent what I would become. Ever since that realization I have endured his slander and lies. And through that rhetoric I have been made me out to be the bane of the wizarding world, and as the wizarding world so unquestionably accepted his side of the story, I embraced the role. In truth it only helped me to more quickly obtain my goals. But I ask you to consider this Potter, if all that Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix says is true, if I am unquestionably the bad guy here, then why is it that so many wizards, in fact those of the most prominent wizard families in Europe, have sided with me? I know it's history's opinion that these are just power hungry individuals clinging to my own power so they could further their selfish desires, but can you do so as well. Do you believe that families of inscrutable wealth and heritage would risk their lives and reputations for a few more galleons in the vault? Do you think they would suffer imprisonment and exile in order to flaunt their wealth more publicly? Or does it make more sense that they believe in this fight, that they have seen the futile efforts of the current regime, and they know that if there is to be justice than only a change in that regime will provide it? Think about it Mr. Potter, think about it well.
Harry didn't want to think about it, all of the pain and exhaustion from this conversation with Voldemort had taken its toll on him. He could no longer argue with the Dark Lord, and despite his efforts to remain insolent, he didn't have the required knowledge to argue with him. He realized that Voldemort would surely know this, coward, he thought. Regardless of his enemies character, he did have many questions, and he was indeed curious to know about the history behind the struggle, the reason that muggles were so hated, and the justification for why he was apparently kept in the dark about it all. However, right now they were all questions for which he couldn't formulate his own answer. And he wasn't at all sure whom he wanted to get the answers from. In the end he knew that it would ultimately be Dumbledore he had to question about these things. After all, it was the Headmaster who had been responsible for all decisions regarding his life after the death of his parents. But he wouldn't risk facing Dumbledore the same as he had been forced to face Voldemort – like a foolish, uneducated child. The one nagging thought he couldn't free from his mind was regarding the prophecy. If any of what Voldemort had said was true, if Dumbledore had been keeping certain information from him, then the fact that he had withheld the prophecy from his him for so long may have been more than a mistake, it could have been intentional.
Voldemort sensed doubt and confusion from Harry, and for the first time he gleamed a word that Harry's mind had been protecting, "Prophecy". The word peaked his curiosity, but the doubt that Harry was feeling was more important to Voldemort at the moment. There would be time in the future for him to pry more from Harry's mind regarding the prophecy.
"One more thing for you to consider young Harry. As I have explained it was Dumbledore who saw me as an object rather than a person. Figuring out Dumbledore's true feelings for me was the last disappointment I would allow anyone to impose on my life. But you should know he let us both down in that regard. As he unwisely helped to make me who I am today, he set forth a chain of events that fated you and I against one another. He is therefore just as much responsible for your burdened life as I am; just as responsible for the creation of our prophecy. Do not think it a coincidence that it was the Headmaster who the prophecy was originally foretold. The stars have a unique way of bringing things full circle and maybe that is why you should care."
Voldemort returned to his true form and stared at Harry as he pulled out of the boy's mind. As Harry disappeared from view, the vision of the Dark Lord's dungeon returned to his eyes. Despite the façade he maintained in Harry's mind the Dark Lord was visibly weakened from the affair. Voldemort lurched onto the side of his throne, barely able to support himself.
"Were you able to achieve your goals in the boy's mind, master?" A short chubby man asked in a cautious tone.
"I would measure it as a success my servant, the boy has trained his mind, and I was only able to sense emotions rather than capture actual memories. However, I know the smell of doubt and confusion," he turned a disgusted look down to Peter Pettigrew, "being that you wear it like a cheap cologne. This evening it seems that you and Potter share that in common."
"Of course my Lord. Then you have shown the boy that it is useless to defy you?" Peter asked.
"I have shown him that there is more than one way to break your enemy, though he doesn't know I have planted that seed in him." Voldemort waived his hand indicating that his servant should rise. "Tell the others to commence with my plans immediately, I want to help convince Potter that my focus is as narrow as I've led him to believe." He turned his red gaze down to the trembling Death Eater, "Now get out of my sight, you stink worse than that insolent child."
The Dark Lord watched as Pettigrew scrambled out of his chambers. The room filled with his high-pitched laugh as he recalled the one thought that he had gleamed from Harry's mind. Prophecy.
AN: As always a note that I respond to all reviews on the review page. So if you are of the response reading persuasion feel free to check that out. I also have a Yahoo group for the fic in case you're having trouble accessing it here, or want more immediate responses to your comments. The link is in my bio page and the group is called HP_FOL.
I apologize for the lengthy delay between updates, this chapter has been by far the most difficult to write, and it has suffered many revisions. I know it's not all that long either but the upside is that I'm back to having material written in advance and that will ensure quicker updates in the future.
Voldemort is truly in arse huh?
I look forward to your thoughts and input regarding the chapter. Thank you for reading.
~Omagic