Summary: A thoroughly impossible freak accident transports our favorite attractive psychopath forward in time from 1942 to 1996. Harry Potter/Tom Riddle slash. Tom and Harry meet again, and Dumbledore explains all – well, a little. Kind of.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Tom Riddle, or any other people, places or objects that may appear in this humble work of fiction.
Warnings: Possible spoilers up to the fifth book. M/M, obviously. Rating is down as T for now but may, possibly, increase to M as things progress.
Author's Note: Thank you once again for reviewing. Some of this chapter was originally intended for the last one. Yes, I'm sure you think I'm evil for withholding it (please don't hurt me), but I liked where the last chapter finished off, and I wouldn't have this chapter title, otherwise. Hehehe…

Chapter Six: The Inexplicable Pants

Harry sat in a chair directly in front of the Headmaster's desk, waiting for him to arrive. The office was deadly silent; the portraits did not speak, and Harry wasn't tempted to start a conversation, even if he had been waiting for what felt like ages.

The office door opened, and Harry turned in his seat to see Dumbledore come in. To Harry's surprise, however, it was not Dumbledore, or even another teacher.

'Ginny?' Harry said in surprise.

Ginny looked just as surprised to see him. 'Harry?' She shut the door behind her. 'What's going on? Professor Trelawney took me out of Charms.' Ginny took the seat next to Harry and looked at him questioningly. 'She said Professor Dumbledore wanted to speak with me. Do you know why? She wouldn't say.'

Harry was wondering the same thing: what did Ginny have to do with any of this? He realized that it must have something to do with the fact that she was possessed by Riddle's diary in her first year at Hogwarts, but he couldn't imagine why Dumbledore would want her, of all people, knowing that another version of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle was on the loose.

'I'm not sure how much I should tell you,' he said awkwardly. 'I mean, Professor Dumbledore should be back soon, and I'm not entirely sure why he wants you involved.'

'Wants me involved in what? Tell me, Harry,' she said in a demanding tone.

Harry hesitated. Riddle could be walking through the door at any moment; at the very least, Ginny should be warned. He felt a bit cross with Dumbledore for putting him in this position, because he really didn't know how to explain it, himself.

However, no sooner did Harry open his mouth, about to tell her everything he could, than the door opened again.

'1996! And what do you mean about me not being able to go back?'

'I will explain as much as I can, but there are two other students waiting for us in my office as we speak, and I would prefer to not have to repeat myself,' Dumbledore replied. He stood up and beckoned to Tom. 'Come with me, Mr. Riddle.'

'Why do you have to explain it to them? I'm the one affected! What do they have to do with anything?' he snapped.

'I will explain when we reach my office,' Dumbledore said again, sterner than before.

He walked with Dumbledore some way. They went down a flight of stairs, and Tom tried to go down another, but Dumbledore stopped him. 'My office is this way, now,' he said.

'What?' Tom said. 'Oh.' Bloody hell. The only place we could be going from here is the Headmaster's office. This day just keeps getting better! If Dumbledore was the Headmaster now, then Tom had no protection from him at all, not even the feeble sort that his Head of House and Dippet had provided. This is a nightmare. Dumbledore obviously has more than mere suspicions against me – who knows what he could have learned in 54 years!

A moment later, a Hufflepuff girl began walking down the hall towards them. 'That girl is wearing trousers!' Tom exclaimed loudly, stopping and pointing. The girl looked at him in astonishment. 'And what is that thing on her back?' he asked, indicating the large bag she had strapped over both shoulders. At this point, Dumbledore grabbed Tom's arm to drag him along and tipped his wizard's hat to the girl as they walked quickly by, Tom staring at her until she hastily turned the corner, looking back at him in alarm.

'Please try to refrain from pointing and speaking until we reach my office.'

'Yes, sir, but –'

'Hush.'

Dumbledore walked into the room. There was someone hidden behind him, and Harry was sure that it was Riddle; Ginny was trying to peer around the Headmaster to see who it was. Harry and Ginny both began to speak at once, but Dumbledore held up his hand. 'I would ask you both to agree not to pull out your wands during this meeting. Is that acceptable?' Harry and Ginny both nodded, though Harry did so with greater reluctance, since he knew who it was that Dumbledore was protecting.

Then Dumbledore stepped inside and Riddle appeared behind him. Ginny gasped and grabbed for her wand.

'Miss Weasley, no wands,' Dumbledore said, reminding her of what she had agreed to moments before.

'How can you expect me not to hex him?' she shrieked, getting to her feet. She did not, however, pull out her wand, though her hand was clutched around it inside her robes and she was shaking with fury.

'What did I do?' Riddle asked indignantly. 'I don't even know you! I don't know either of you! And you!' he spat at Harry, 'You're the one who Stunned me!'

'Calm down, all of you!' Dumbledore said loudly. No one spoke, though Riddle looked extremely put out, and Ginny was staring daggers at him. 'Please sit back down, Miss Weasley.'

Ginny sat down slowly, her eyes never leaving Riddle as she did so. 'Mr. Riddle, please take the seat next to Mr. Potter.' Dumbledore gestured to the chair next to Harry, and Riddle sulked over to it. He sat down and began drumming his fingers on the arms of the chair as Dumbledore made his way to sit behind his desk.

Riddle glanced over at Ginny. 'It's rude to stare, you know.'

'Quiet!' Dumbledore glared at him. Riddle glared right back, but said nothing. 'Now, if I might have your full attention for a few moments, Miss Weasley,' Ginny took her eyes off Riddle and stared at Dumbledore, crossing her arms. Dumbledore continued. 'It appears that there has been an accident which has resulted in Mr. Riddle's presence. Mr. Riddle has already given me his account of what happened, Mr. Potter, and I would like to hear yours, as well.' Dumbledore gave him an encouraging smile and then leaned back in his chair, wove his fingers together and waited for him to begin. Harry looked to either side of him and saw that Ginny and Riddle were looking at him expectantly, as well.

Harry recounted what had happened to him, staring studiously ahead to a spot behind Dumbledore. He heard Ginny let out several gasps, and Riddle shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Dumbledore, however, didn't seem to be surprised at all, but increasingly displeased as the story progressed. Finally, when Harry was finished, all three of them rounded on Dumbledore, who appeared to be deep in thought.

'It is as I feared, then,' he said. 'It appears that Mr. Riddle is, indeed, who he appears to be. Furthermore, he cannot be sent back to 1942.'

'Why not?' Harry asked. 'I mean, doesn't he have to be sent back? How will he –' Harry glanced at Riddle, who was looking back at him pensively, 'you know, grow up, in the past, if he's here?'

'The Tom Riddle that is in our midst is not the Tom Riddle we know, Mr. Potter. This young man,' he gestured at Riddle, 'and he were one and the same, up until the moment when he touched that crystal. You, Mr. Potter,' Dumbledore said, 'for reasons we are both aware of, were mistaken by that artifact for the Tom Riddle of this time period.'

'Now, I cannot say for sure, but I believe, based on both your descriptions of events, that the artifact was some form of time portal. It felt the same person calling to it at the same place and the same time, but in different years. I cannot say why this resulted in Mr. Riddle's presence here, but I do know, based upon the fact that another Mr. Riddle, the one we know, continued to exist in 1942, that you, Tom,' he nodded to Riddle, 'cannot possibly go back without creating a paradox and destroying reality as we know it.'

'But how can there be two of me?' Riddle asked. 'And why would the crystal mistake him,' he inclined his head towards Harry, 'for me?'

'I'm afraid that, in this instance, I do not have all the answers,' Dumbledore shrugged. 'Time travel is a great mystery, even to witches and wizards. I would theorize that this reality, in an effort to protect its own existence, allowed there to be two of you. In that case, it would not only be inadvisable to send you back to your own time, but impossible.'

Riddle didn't seem to notice, yet, that his second question had not been answered, and Dumbledore pressed this advantage. 'Class will be over in ten minutes. I will escort you out of my office, Mr. Riddle, and I will be back to speak with you two further.'

'You're going to talk about me, aren't you? I insist on staying, if that is the case,' Riddle said, glaring at Dumbledore.

'You are in no position to insist on anything. You will cooperate with me or face unpleasant consequences.' Dumbledore's tone made it clear that these consequences were not something that any of them wanted to know of. Riddle, apparently resigned for the moment, allowed himself to be led off, though he gave Dumbledore dirty looks the whole way out, which Ginny repaid to Riddle in full.

As soon as the door shut, Ginny said, 'I can't believe this is happening! He can't possibly intend to keep that monster here! He should be sent to Azkaban, or be given the Dementor's Kiss!'

Harry nodded. 'I know. I don't know what Dumbledore's playing at, but he can't seriously expect either of us to go along with it. I don't see why he doesn't just kill him here and now, if it's not going to disrupt our reality.'

'Why did he even ask me to come here? What was the point?'

'I don't know. I don't really understand what's going on. This seems like an awful lot of horrible luck, or a bad dream.'

'Bad dream? It's a nightmare! One of him is bad enough! Now there are two, and we can't get rid of either!'

Their conversation continued in this vein until Dumbledore's return. They both stayed quiet as Dumbledore went back behind his desk and sighed.

'It appears that Mr. Riddle is here in this time to stay,' he said, peering at both of them in turn over his half-moon spectacles. 'Now we must decide what to do with him.'

Shattered Diamond: Voldemort will definitely be more than curious about how his younger self ended up there – once he finds out. However, he won't necessarily connect this with a defective magical object that made a funny noise when he touched it over fifty years ago. It's not really very obvious from his end of the stick.

DARKMARKLV: Tom will find out about his past history eventually, but not right away. I have a good scene plotted out for that, and I will say no more!

dairygirl: Harry has to be nice to Tom at some point, doesn't he? ;)