I know it's taken a long time to start updating again, and I have to warn you that the chapters will be slow in coming, and by slow I mean around one chap per month, but hey, at least it's getting updated. I have no intention of just leaving this story unfinished.

...Any way! Thanks so much everyone who reviewed! Reviews really fuel me! Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, for the long wait! I'll never do it again I promise, but nevertheless here's the next chapter!

CHAPTER FIVE

Tom stared determinedly into his hands, waiting for someone to speak. The silence dragged on for what seemed like hours and unable to help himself Tom chanced a glance at the red haired girl sitting on the other side of Harry. It was hard to tell, but from here it looked like she was shaking.

The girl's parents were standing silently at her side shooting concerned glances in their direction, Dumbledore smiling jovially behind his desk.

"I'm so glad to see all of you together," he said. Five sets of eyes watched him stonily. "Harry," he said. "I heard you and Tom had a conversation earlier?" He looked from Harry to Tom when neither answered nor moved.

This was ridiculous. Tom didn't want to sit there biting his lips while Dumbledore attempted to entertain them; the tension in the room was so thick you could slice through it with a knife. The dusty confines of the library suddenly seemed very appealing.

Dumbledore sighed.

"I see this is not the time for light conversation," he said. "Very well." The other five in the room edged forward expectantly. "This is a very serious matter," he started. He looked directly at Harry and Ginny. "The two of you are the only ones who will recognize Tom besides me and a few of the staff. It is of utmost importance that both of you tell no one, that you act indifferent to Tom's presence, that you pretend he's someone else. To the best of our knowledge Voldemort himself knows none of this," Tom caught all three of the Weasley's flinch at the name, "and we need to keep it this way."

"But Voldemort would—."

"Why are you protecting—."

"But I thought you said—."

"Please, one at a time!" Dumbledore said loudly holding up his hands as each of the teenager's broke into speech.

"I thought you said that Voldemort was in 'my' time?"

"Of course he's not, he's right here."

Tom turned to Ginny who stared at him angrily. For the first words to come out of the girl they weren't very encouraging. She looked away.

"That's not who I am," he said.

"But you will be." Harry looked at him for the first time since they'd gotten there and Tom found himself frozen to the spot. "Besides, Voldemort would know you're here," he continued, never turning away.

"According to our sources, Voldemort knows nothing of this."

Tom shook his head.

"No, Harry's right. He would know. He was the one who brought me here, he would know." He looked at Dumbledore. "It doesn't make any sense," he said. "If he's here, then why am I here too?"

Finally everyone fell silent.

In the sudden quiet, a thousand questions shot through his head, each one getting lost as the next flew to the forefront of his mind, until the most important one pressed a release.

"What's going to be done with me?" he asked.

Dumbledore considered him for a long moment as though just deciding what exactly he was going to do with the boy.

"We're going to keep you hidden of course. We'll keep you at the school for your own protection and keep Voldemort away from you."

What felt like an iron fist clenched around Tom's heart and he found himself unable to breathe.

"I can't go back." The silence of the room was suddenly crushing. He stood up, his only attempt at control. "Can't you send me back?" he asked. He flinched at the desperation in his voice.

"I'm afraid that's not possible Tom," Dumbledore said.

"No, it has to be. I have to go back, I hate it here—." His voice died in his throat at the coldness that had crept into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Tom," he said. "Have you gone through enough of the library to understand the horror and destruction caused by Voldemort and his followers over the years?" He smiled. "Just reading books, you could never understand." Tom stepped back, the back of his knees hitting his chair. "Even if you know the truth is otherwise, at this time you are responsible, because in fifty years that will be you." Tom shuddered. "All of the murders, torture, pain and devastation. You will tear babies from their mother's arms simply to watch them squirm." He was going to be sick. "Is that what you want?"

"Stop it!" Harry was suddenly on his feet next to him. He stepped in front of him, as though shielding him. "What are you doing?" he demanded facing Dumbledore.

"Right now," Dumbledore said ignoring him fully. "Tom Riddle is the source of all of this, but having you here… if we don't let Voldemort get to you, then maybe—."

"Stop it, leave him alone!"

Tom realized that he hadn't been breathing and gasped in air as Harry's voice broke through the penetrating words coming from Dumbledore.

Ginny was watching Dumbledore her eyes wide, while her parents exchanged glances.

Her father stepped up.

"Alright then Harry we should get going," he said uneasily. "Thank you for the tea Albus."

"Not at all," he said, and Tom was shocked at how quickly he was his usual cheerful self again.

"Wait—." Harry glanced furtively from the Weasley's, to Dumbldore, to Tom. "I was going to ask, before I came even, I just—can I stay?"

There was a moment's silence before Mrs. Weasley bustled forward smiling uneasily.

"Oh, Harry I don't think that's a good idea, what's Ron going to say when we show up at home without you?"

He shook his head.

"I'll explain, I'll write to him, it's just—." He looked at Tom who was still staring at him and turned red in the face. "Well—," he looked at Dumbledore. "Can I?"

Dumbledore considered him, sparing a long look at Tom. Finally he nodded.

"I think that would be best," he said.

In what felt like a trance they left the office and tramped down the spiral stair case to the hall. Tom found himself walking the same way as the others as they made their way to the grounds, but left them as soon as they began their goodbyes at the front doors, which mostly consisted of Mrs. Weasley insisting that Harry write letters everyday.

He quickly found himself in the library which was becoming something of a safe haven.

He pulled himself up to one of the windows and pressed his forhead against the cool glass, trying to sort through everything that had been said. Two things stuck out in his mind, one being that Dumbledore thought his being in the future would somehow fix all that had happened or change things somehow, and the second being that Harry wanted to stay.

Someone cleared their throat gently and he turned to find Harry standing nervously behind him.

"Uh, are you okay?" he asked. "I've never seen him go like that before."

It took Tom a moment to realize that he was talking about Dumbledore.

"Maybe he's not as nice to people he doesn't like." Harry fidgeted uncomfortably, searching for something to say. "It's okay," Tom said. "The feeling's mutual."

Harry stepped up to him, sharing the spot at the window and gazing onto the grounds.

Tom couldn't stop watching him.

"I'm surprised you're still willing to speak to me," he said.

Harry smiled.

"In second year—that's when Ginny found the diary—I spent a long time pouring over your writing, and I remember wishing that I could really talk to you," he said quietly. Tom felt the need to stop breathing for fear of not hearing the next words. "The reason I hated you so much afterwards… was because I had really liked you." he glanced at Tom uncomfortably, and then looked away again, his eyes fastening onto the grass below the window.

Tom found his throat unable to move. The silence dragged on, Harry becoming more uncomfortable by the minute, a deep blush scorching his neck and climbing to his cheeks at Tom's silence.

With a last fleeting glance at Tom he turned to leave. Tom's hand shot out of its own accord and grasped the back of Harry's shirt, yanking him to a stop.

He turned and looked at Tom in surprise.

"Why did you stay?" The words were out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying but even so, Harry looked relieved.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I just knew it would be a colossal mistake to leave."