A.N: Hello all - happy Sunday, I hope your weekend has gone well, and if you're in the UK, I hope you have a bank holiday off tomorrow too! Also, Eid Mubarak if it's Eid for you tomorrow (or Tuesday)!

Onto our next chapter. We have some Tom-Halley interactions in this one so I know some of you will be excited for that. I also just want to say a massive THANK YOU to the people who commented on the last chapter. You both made my day :D


Chapter 30: Stuck in reverse


Halley didn't know what was happening. The bleary fog that lodged itself in the base of her mind and was slowly eating away at anything other than sheer mystery and terror was slowly, oh so slowly, receding back to wherever it came from. But it took a long time, and the big round eyes were still looking back at her fearfully.

Then they looked up and to the left, and Halley followed its eyeline.

"This is a bad place," it whimpered. "Mitzy would like to be going now, please."

"Not just yet, Mitzy."

She knew that voice, but she'd never heard it like that before.

Halley looked up, angling her head in an incredibly uncomfortable way, to get a better look at Riddle, and he looked down at her with a stare she'd never seen on his face before.

It was relaxed, almost like he was on the verge of falling asleep. But that didn't seem quite right either. The more she stared, the more Halley thought that Riddle looked like he was sure that everything was going to work out. Like there was nothing that could go wrong.

He looked peaceful.

The word was difficult to grasp in her state; Halley didn't often see peace, and when she did it was in fleeting moments that she managed to catch a glimpse of.

But the look was alien on Riddle's face. His usual harsh lines were now just chiselled. Those stormy eyes just seemed calm now, and there was a youth to his face that made her realise that he was only seventeen years old. Only four years older than she was.

"Your friend is gone," Riddle said. His voice was soft and laid back. Relaxed, and on the brink of not really being present. And it cut sharply against the words he'd spoken.

Halley spun around to check that Rowle was there - that he'd been brought with her. He was there, laying on the floor, breathing long and slow breaths.

She rested her hand on his shoulder and shook him. "Are you alright?"

He didn't answer, so Halley shook him again. Rowle's eyes were open, staring unblinkingly at the sky, and a sense of dread filled the space where relief had once been. Halley shook him again.

"Rowle!"

Still nothing.

His head lolled to and fro with her shaking, but Rowle didn't respond. Halley called out his name, choking on it.

"I told you, he's gone."

No, no. Nothing had happened to Rowle. He was just tired - or unconscious - or something! Something normal that wasn't dead.

"He's not dead," Riddle said.

"Then fix him," she spat. If there was ever a time to lord his power over her, it could be now. When it actually mattered and he could save someone.

Riddle hummed. "There's no cure for a Dementor's Kiss, Halley. You know that."

Halley shook her head, breathing hard. "No, no! Because if he got kissed then it means -"

"That it was your fault? If you want to view it that way, you can," he said. He was so casual about it. So…so calm. And there was a dead man underneath her hands.

It felt like Weasley all over again, except a thousand times worse. This time it was her fault.

Rowle wouldn't have followed her if she'd just talked to him like he'd been trying to get her to. And he wouldn't have been around the Dementors if she wasn't so useless and weak. If she'd just been able to cast a Patronus like a normal person, then none of this would have happened.

And if it wasn't for her, there wouldn't have been so many Dementors. Lupin had told her they were drawn to her.

He should have run when he had the chance. But he'd helped her.

And she'd killed him.

Halley let out a grunt of anger and started hitting herself. Again and again, her arms, her chest, her head - harder and harder - because she deserved it. It was her fault. Hers.

"Hurt, Freak. If you won't fix yourself, then we'll beat it out of you. Beat the evil out of you until you fix it yourself."

Fix it. Fix it herself.

She'd always tried - always tried to stop the freakish behaviour that her uncle hated so much. But she never could.

And she couldn't now. Nothing would. Nothing could change the past -

Time turner.

The thought pushed past the panic, and memories of Granger's conversation pounded against her head. Granger had a time turner. And if she could get it, she could fix it.

Halley got to her feet shakily and gave Riddle a hard stare. "I'm going to fix this," she said. The words sounded like a promise to her, and she didn't make those lightly. "Keep him safe."

Riddle cocked a brow. "Where are you going?"

"Just -"

"Sure. I'll take care of him," Riddle said suddenly.

Halley didn't have time to sit there and wonder what the sudden change in approach was for, or whether Riddle actually meant what he said.

It wouldn't matter anyway. When she got the time turner, everything would be alright.


Air struggled to get from her lips to her lungs. Her muscles burned and begged for her to stop, but Halley kept walking. The image of Rowle just lying there kept her moving.

The castle was in her line of sight. The door couldn't have been more than 100 metres away. She kept walking.

Occasionally, Halley would hear the sounds of a wolf howl somewhere close to the Forbidden Forest. She swallowed back bitterness whenever she heard it, knowing that it was Lupin making the noise.

He was a werewolf.

He had lied.

"Halley." A voice rasped from behind her and Halley screamed. Spinning on the spot she looked around frantically until she saw who had called her name.

Sirius Black staggered towards her, his already dirty body now shimmering in the moonlight with what she could only assume was blood. He was limping heavily, and had a hand clasped over his left arm. That crazy look was still in his eyes.

She didn't have time for this.

"Halley -" he called out again. "Left you - I left you - you're in trouble."

"Where's Lupin?" she asked. Black had been the one that was supposed to take care of him in the Shack, but as a loud howl punctuated the sky again, it was clear that Lupin was still roaming the grounds somewhere.

Halley hoped that there weren't any other students out tonight, and that the groundskeeper wasn't stupid enough to go out searching for the werewolf that was howling.

"Forbidden Forest. Like you told me. Animals to eat -"

Well, better there than here.

"The Wizard is doing something to you -" he stumbled as he tried to get closer, and held out his hands to steady himself. A large scratch was weeping blood and it dripped onto the ground. "He's hurting you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said as firmly as she could. Given the circumstances, the answer still came out shaky.

"Dumbledore can help! We can go to Dumbledore and we can -"

"You're not sane. I've heard about the Black Madness, and Azkaban probably made it worse. You need to go to a mind healer." She was trying to move away, but Black kept advancing.

"No - Dumbledore. Dumbledore will help!"

As slyly as she could, Halley reached her hand behind her for her wand and withdrew it. If he came any closer, she would have to knock him out - and he would just have to hope that no Dementors would find him. She didn't have time to do this.

Slowly, Black kept stumbling forwards, and Halley did what she had to do.

"Alright," she said, pausing and softening her tone. "Alright. We can go to Dumbledore so he can help you."

"Help you - "

She nodded. "We can both get help."

Black nodded his head quickly, looking down. His eyes were wide with relief and darting around. Some of his tension released too, and now a helpless looking man stood where a lunatic had been moments ago.

Halley took her chance.

She pulled out her wand as quickly as she could and cast the stunning spell.

Black crumpled to the floor - and for a moment she felt bad as she looked at him. His wound was still bleeding and he would surely lose too much blood if he was just left like this.

But Black was a dead man regardless. And if she could just get the time turner, then everything would be fine.


She didn't know where Granger was.

Halley hadn't realised it till she got back to the castle, but she didn't know where Granger was. And it wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact that she didn't have the map!

The clock said it was almost 10. Granger would probably be in the Gryffindor common room - or in bed - but that posed a whole other set of problems.

Namely, she knew that Gryffindor was in a tower, but not which one. And there was no way any of those stupid idiots would let her in. And she could run into any of the Weasleys or their friends.

She wanted to let out a cry of frustration - but what good would that do her? She hadn't run back to the castle just to break down at the first obstacle. No.

This time, she was going to think it through.

Halley couldn't alert the teachers, and she couldn't just walk up to random towers. That would waste too much time, and the professors would want to know what she'd been doing outside. If they found out about Riddle then things would get even further out of her control.

So, the only resources she had was her cloak and herself - maybe one of the Elves, but they probably weren't allowed to tell her where Common Rooms were.

Think, Halley! Think!

If she could just locate Granger, she could find a way to get to her. Hogwarts had numerous secret tunnels - the Chamber had proven that -

The Chamber of Secrets! Snakes. She could use snakes .

Ones in portraits!

Frantically, she rushed to the dungeons. There were enough portraits of people holding snakes there, and while she'd never heard them speak, she could at least try.

Halley opened the door to an empty classroom where she distinctly remembered seeing a large snake draped around an old man. "Lumos." The spell lit up the path to take to avoid banging into chairs and tables, and Halley made a beeline to it.

The man in the portrait was asleep, but the light shining in his eyes woke him up.

"I say - shut that off right now ," he said.

"Snake - are you awake?" she hissed, ignoring the man.

The snake blinked lazily.

"Speak to me - please. A speaker needs your help."

Again, it just blinked. And then it slithered off the portrait's shoulders and out of frame, leaving the man looking angry and intrigued.

"Come back! Please!"

"You speak the language of the Snakes," he said. "I suppose I should tell the headmaster."

Halley barely paid any attention to the portrait - most were just nosy gossiping things that had nothing better to do with their imprinted lives, but he wouldn't have been able to see her with the Lumos being cast at him. That much she'd made sure of.

The most he would be able to tell Dumbledore was that it was a female student. And sure, Dumbledore would probably be able to guess it was Halley, but it was a risk she would make.

Except that it had been for nothing. The snake had gone off.

"What were you asking her to do?" the portrait asked.

She didn't answer. No need to further incriminate herself.

"Come now, child. I would not betray a descendant of Salazar in such a trivial way. Why, I heard the Chamber had been opened last year, but I don't tend to make a habit of hoping."

Halley wouldn't fall for that trap. She wasn't stupid enough to think that Dumbledore didn't have some sway over the castle, imbued with magic and possibly sentient or not. He was the headmaster. He was tied into the castle wards and protection.

"Very well. My familiar shall be back soon with her friends."

She didn't believe him - but only a moment later hisses met her ears. Halley looked up, and even though the snake was back in the portrait, the sound was coming from behind her.

Halley spun around and saw multiple snakes slithering towards her. There were too many to count in the light, but they all began circling her.

Unease trickled down her spine as the voices washed over one another - all curious to see the Speaker.

"I told you," the portrait said from behind her.

Halley looked behind her. The man was stroking the snake's scales softly as its unblinking dark eyes looked at her. Its forked tongue flickered in and out slightly.

"Khala is incredibly clever - even if she is only a shadow of herself in this portrait."

"Speaker is here?"

"Speaker is a snakelet. Barely hatched."

"Speaker is powerful. I can taste."

She looked back at the snakes and they were all moving closer, closing what little space there had been left and she positioned her wand, fighting the instinct to shoot a spell at them. She needed their help.

Instead, Halley licked her suddenly dry lips. "Thank you for coming. I need some help."

A blast of words came at her from all directions - some happy to help, some wanting some sort of payment, and some not impressed by her at all.

"Please - I need an item - or a student."

"Why should Snakes help?"

Halley was thrown by the question. She'd not thought that she would have to prove herself in any way - Riddle seemed to get snakes to do what he wanted just by asking.

"I - "

"Speaker thinks speaker is important. Speaker does not understand."

A change came over the snakes after that was said. They started moving closer towards her, lifting themselves up and flicking their tongues out at her. Halley panicked.

Closer and closer and closer.

"Stop!" she yelled. "I don't want to hurt you."

They didn't stop. Instead, they started swaying - almost in unison - side to side with their eyes locked on her. Any direction she turned, Halley was met with the piercing eyes of a snake, her reflection glinting in the darkness.

Then one began thrusting its head towards her and they all copied. They kept getting closer and closer still, until Halley felt the rough scale of a snake against her bare leg and she screamed.

Halley kicked the snake away, and as her foot came down, it came down on one of the bigger snakes - piercing its skin and crushing it. She heard and felt the wet blood squelch into her shoe and she bit her tongue to hold back another scream.

The snakes began hissing angrily - but they backed away.

"Stop! Now!" she ordered.

Animalistic snarls came through their mouths but she pointed her wand at them.

"Speaker is strong. Speaker is powerful."

"Speaker will not ask for help. Speaker is stronger."

"What - what do you mean?" Halley asked.

But the snakes only repeated themselves, and Halley realised that they were just animals, and like any animal, they fought for dominance. For territory. For everything - and she couldn't just ask them and expect them to do something for her if she was the weaker one. She needed to take it.

"There's a girl in Gryffindor Tower. Bushy hair and usually on her own or with the ghost in the toilets on the second floor. She has something I need. Do any of you know where she is?"

For the first time there was quiet, but then one of the snakes slithered forward and around the remains of the one she'd stepped on.

" Snakelet can show you. Speaker must follow snakelet."

She didn't know enough about time turners to know what to do, but she spun the little dial on the side twice, hoping that would be enough. If she really needed to, she could spin more.

The bright lights of the corridor dissolved into blurs and Halley felt like she was flying backwards too quickly. As if someone had made the world spin in the opposite direction.

Blurred shapes and colours rushed past and through her. Her ears pounded, and when she tried to yell it felt like her throat had been squeezed - and then she felt the solid ground under her feet again, and everything came into focus.

But she was still in the same place she had left.

Halley looked around frantically, looking for some clue that it had worked.

A Ravenclaw careened around the corner and startled when he almost bumped into Halley. "Watch where you're going!" he said, annoyed.

"What's the time?" she asked.

"What?

"What. Is. The. Time?!"

"Just gone 8.10," he said.

She hadn't managed to check the time before she'd left - but she knew that sunset would have been roughly 8.40, and the moon would have come up around 9 - so she had just over an hour to get Rowle out of there.

But for some reason, Halley had expected to be taken back to where she was at that time. That she'd be in her own body - or near enough to it that it wouldn't matter.

She should have known better though. Granger had always been out of breath when she'd popped up in the Arithmancy classroom. Like she'd been running. Which meant that Halley had just over an hour to get herself back to the exact place she'd been - and she didn't have the map to find them!

"Fuck!" she yelled.

The Ravenclaw looked disapprovingly at her, but Halley ignored it. What was she going to do?

Assuming she wasn't in her body, she would need to get back there without being seen by anyone. And in as quick a time as possible. But she couldn't move too quickly. The adrenaline of the Dementor attack was wearing off, and Halley was starting to feel shaky and weak.

She needed to get there easily.

She needed a broom.

If she could get one of the school brooms and use the tunnel from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, she could potentially cut the time in half. The broom could be used to carry Rowle out of there. And if she used that route, she could possibly get the map as well!

Halley took off.

The shed was locked with an old lock and key combo. Alohamora didn't work, so Halley tried a Bombarda. The spell flew a little wide, and she'd put too much power in it in her haste to get it open, so a good chunk of the door came off as well as the lock.

Halley grabbed the nearest broom she could and rushed back to the second floor. She got some odd looks, and a few Prefects tried to stop her, but Halley just kept on going. They wouldn't be able to find her if she could just get to the portrait.

She didn't acknowledge Moaning Myrtle's screeching, and she didn't look back to see if anyone was following. Halley hissed 'open' and jumped in as quickly as she could.

The broom wasn't very stable and it would be difficult getting Rowle out of there with it, but she would make do. All she really needed to do was get him away from the Dementors either before she'd tripped, or just before they'd been surrounded. Halley could do that.

For now, she focused on trying to keep the broom steady as possible in the low-roofed tunnel.

But she did it, and she got to the shack's entrance in half the time it usually took her.

The only problem now was trying to figure out what the time was.

Up the stairs and in the little corridor, Halley listened as best she could to see if people were still inside. Sure enough, she could hear the tail end of Black's confession and Pittegrew's snivelling.

And then she heard the first crack that symbolised Lupin's change. Halley tensed, knowing that she would have to move so she wouldn't be seen, but the corridor was open and easy to see from all angles.

Her only hope would be to slip behind the door when it opened and pray that no-one saw her.

But - but Lupin would definitely try to attack her.

Halley cursed, and frantically tried to think of a new plan. There wasn't much time left now before Rowle and past her started running - and then there wouldn't be much time before the Dementors.

Without any warning, the door slammed open almost hitting her in the face, and two figures ran out of the room. One behind the other.

Now was her chance.

Get the map, get out and get to Rowle.

Halley came out from behind the door and crept to the entrance of the room. Black seemed to be wrestling with Lupin, who was snarling and growling in the corner of the room. But the map was on the floor where she must have dropped it earlier. She could see it.

She stepped inside, and the floor creaked.

Both men turned and stared at her. Lupin's eyes had turned a golden yellow and he'd grown fangs. He snarled, and spit dripped from his muzzle as another loud crack sounded through the room.

"I told you to run!" Black yelled at her.

Halley stuttered out a shuddering breath at the wolf turning into a man, and looked at the map.

"What about Professor Snape?" she asked.

He was still unconscious. She didn't want him to die either.

"Halley -"

"Take him to the forbidden forest. He can hunt animals there," she said. It was the only thing that she could think of. If Lupin was allowed to hunt there, he may not want to hunt humans.

But Black looked like he was struggling to hold onto Lupin now. The man was more werewolf than human, and whatever strength the animal possessed was making it incredibly difficult for Black to keep him trapped.

Lupin looked at her with feral eyes and gave a long, deep sniff.

"He's got your scent - GO!"

Halley reached forwards and snatched the map from the floor and turned to run. The broom was still outside so she got on and tried to fly down the stairs as fast as she could.

A howl pierced through the night air, and just as quickly was cut off. Like something had knocked into Lupin.

He'd not come after her last time and he must have gotten her and Rowle's scent before.

She pushed her broom further forwards trying to use what little core muscle she had to keep the wobbling thing steady. If Halley could get far enough away, then maybe Lupin wouldn't be drawn to her scent.

Something entered her line of sight, and Halley barely doged it in time. Turning back, she saw a billowing black figure reach out its hand to her, and with dread, she knew it had been a Dementor.

She must have been close.

Suddenly she had to dodge again.

They seemed to be coming from all directions - and then, in the distance, she heard a yell.

"Expecto patronum!"

It was faint over the wind rushing past her ears, but Halley recognised Rowle's voice. She was so close.

Halley pushed the broom harder, but the old wood wasn't responding well. The broom began to shudder and jerk about under the strain of her motion. But she was so close! She could see them now, human figures only about 20 metres away.

Bright lights were coming off Rowle's wand as he tried to cast the Patronus again as a wall of Dementors split apart to avoid it.

An almighty jerk jolted her to the side, and Halley felt herself touch something cold.

Undiluted emptiness brushed up against the side she'd touched, filling her with a sheer nothingness that paralysed her for a painfully long second, and at the same time the broom gave out.

For one breathless moment, Halley was suspended in mid-air. And then she was free-falling, tumbling to the hard ground and rolling over and over, hitting her head in the process.

She gasped for air, trying to get up.

Rowle was so close - she could save him if she could just get his attention -

Halley got up and began running as quickly as she could towards the clearing. She could see him through the curtain of Dementors as he pushed her past self down, and she knew what was about to happen.

"Rowle!" She pushed herself faster, trying to get to him, to warn him.

He must have heard her, because he frowned and looked towards her. His face looked confused and he opened his mouth.

And then a Dementor attacked.

The same one he'd just ducked under returned with another fully, angry swoop. Its hand was outstretched. Gently - without any force - it touched the back of his neck, and Rowle fell down with a scream.

"NO!" Halley yelled.

She watched, barely able to comprehend the thought swirling around her head. Rowle looked at her. She'd called him . He'd been distracted by her call.

It was her fault.

Just like before, Halley felt the tug at her body. And just like before, she was pulled forwards into the unexpected arms of Riddle.

"That's a surprise."

He looked between Halley and her past self, clinging onto Rowle drearily, and pushed her behind him. She didn't even see his hand before black encompassed her vision.


Tom hadn't expected to accio two Potters, but nevertheless there were two sandwiching him. One very unconscious, and one very, very distraught. And the distraught one was somehow going to find a way to go back in time. He would need to ask the unconscious one how she'd done that, because he couldn't have her running all over the place messing with time like she had just tried to do.

"Your friend is gone," he told the distraught one. He'd seen the Dementor go to attack. The only reason he'd intervened was because Potter was about to get Kissed and Felix had suggested that was a very bad idea. Without Felix, he probably would have just let her go. Then at least he wouldn't have to worry about the stupid girl messing with his plans constantly.

But he listened to Felix, and accio'd the girl over.

Now, though, the distraught one was getting more distraught. She was shaking the Kissed boy as if that would do anything, shouting his name.

Her thoughts were screaming out in guilt that she'd killed him. "He's not dead." Tom said it as if it would do anything, but he hated stupidity. And if she couldn't understand that he was basically a soulless husk of a body, then he'd tell her. If only to get this whole thing on with.

He had the other potter to deal with, and he was starting to feel the effects of the potion were off slightly. He wasn't getting as many prompts as he'd gotten before.

"Then fix him," she spat.

Now was not the time to be a petulant teenager about death. He told her there wasn't a cure for being Kissed and she was starting the beginnings of the panic attack he'd come to associate with Potter.

"No, no! Because if he got kissed then it means -"

"That it was your fault?"

Her eyes dulled with the realisation, and Tom got that distinct thrill he got when he locked onto a person's insecurities - not that it was hard with Potter. She was his open book.

But just as quickly as they'd dulled, determination flickered her eyes back to life and Potter got to her feet shakily. With a hard stare, she declared that she would fix her mistake. Tom assumed that she'd come up with whatever plan had left her lying unconscious behind him and the Elf.

Potter pointed to the boy. "Keep him safe."

She had the audacity to order him to do it as well. He cocked a brow in amusement. She was lucky he was on Felix. "Where are you going?" he asked instead.

She seemed agitated. "Just -"

Riddle looked at the boy. What was it he'd thought earlier? It was just a husk of a body. And the arm in his sling still felt lifeless after all of their experimental treatments. And he refused to have a metal arm no matter how well crafted it was in Goblin metal.

"Sure," he said, interrupting her. "I'll take care of him." It wasn't like the boy would be using his body anymore. Waste not, want not . His old Matron had drummed that particular lesson into him rather painfully.

Halley took off running, leaving him with two bodies.

"We be leaving now?" the Elf pleaded.

Tom had all but forgotten about it. He turned to look at the pathetic thing as he felt the last of the effects of Felix Felicis wash away. It was a useful potion, to be sure. He'd need to get Lysander to get more so he would always be in supply.

He hummed. "I believe I have a promise to keep."

The Elf nodded frantically, and then with the intuition of a creature that had served its entire life, it came into the middle of the three-person circle Tom had unintentionally created and snapped its bony fingers.

In a second, they had shifted and were back in Lysander's home. Very conveniently, back from the same room they'd left from. The same room he needed to be in. "Find your master and tell him to come to me," Tom ordered.

The Elf nodded, and then Tom was alone with the unconscious Potter.

He debated waking her up now, but he thought against it; it would only cause more problems if she was able to identify Lysander later on.

Besides, the man would have enough to do.

Lysander came just as quickly as Tom expected him to, but the older man refused to look him in the eye as he acknowledged him.

"What can I do for you, My Lord?"

He was in different robes too, Tom noted. It took a moment to remember why, and what he'd done to Flamel.

"How much of Flamel's alchemy do you know?" he asked.

Lysander twitched. "It depends on the topic, my Lord."

"Can you switch my body with that of a soulless vessel?"

Tom watched carefully as Lysander swallowed. He looked up and then, finally noticing the Kissed boy, looked at Tom.

Interest breathed into his face, and Lysander was hooked by the new prospect of Soul study. But there was still some reservation there.

"You seemed to know a fair bit in the dungeon."

Another twitch flickered through Lysander's muscles, and Tom smiled at the man. Well, well. It seemed like Lysander was finally coming to realise that Tom wasn't some project to mould and mentor. That, even as he was not the half-brained idiot Voldemort, he was not to be messed with.

Good.

"Yes, My Lord."

"I have here a boy Kissed by Dementors. Would you be able to transfer my soul into his body?"

Lysander hesitated. He looked between the body and Tom. "It would have been easier if I still had access to Flamel."

"Can you implement the theory or not?" he asked.

"I believe I can. Though it may take more power than I'm capable of."

Tom felt the Philosopher's Stone still warm in his left hand. "I wouldn't worry about that. Flamel yielded the stone easily enough." The stone hummed, seemingly in agreement, and Tom wondered if it was sentient. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch seeing as it was the soul of hundreds of people.

Sentience would be the least of its abilities.

"Take the body to the training room and focus as much time as you need to make sure the theory can be acted on. When you're ready, you will explain it to me."

It was all well and good knowing that he had the Vow over Lysander and his grandson, but the look Lysander had given him earlier was one he'd have to keep an eye on. People got desperate when they were threatened.

Like Potter.

Evidently, he now had to deal with her being in the manor, and he would need to get her back to Hogwarts before a nation-wide search began for the brat.

But Tom couldn't be bothered dealing with the inevitable panic attack.

She was wearing on his last nerve. He'd extended Occlumency as a branch to have her start trusting him, and to shield her thoughts from the likes of Dumbledore and Severus Snape. But it was taking too long.

And he had the power to fix that now.

His own Legillimency could give him access to her mind, and the Stone could bypass the natural limitations of Legilimency to tamper with Potter's mind.

All he had to do was do it.

With a smile, Tom walked towards the unconscious girl. So many possibilities and she was at his mercy. Just the way he liked it.

Legillimency usually needed eye contact, but the Stone hummed and pulsed, and with it between his fingers, Tom reached out and touched her forehead.

A pulling sensation swept over him - almost like vertigo - and then he opened his eyes.

It was different from the dream he'd had with Potter. But here, in her mindscape, it was becoming increasingly clear that it hadn't just been a dream. It was something more. Because he could feel that tender connection to her again.

A yearning, that even now, called for him to be whole.

And he could follow that thread to see where it led if he wanted to. Her mind was so malleable that it would let him go wherever he wanted if he so wished - though Tom did note that there was a touch more resistance to his movements through her memories than last time.

Where it had been a smooth road, it was now grainy - shifting under his feet like sand. It wasn't difficult to walk through, but it would make him use fractionally more concentration to do so.

And Tom could work with that minuscule improvement. She wanted him to work with it.

"I don't."

The voice came from nowhere, but she had been there the entire time. He knew that.

"Are you sure?"

Just like the dream, he watched her watch her memories. But there wasn't any interaction with them this time. No threads to manipulate and pull. Her mind was more tangible than her dreams, but infinitely more delicate.

"You told me you want to feel how I feel," he said.

Halley watched the memory of her failing. "You want me to feel nothing. You want me to lock it all up. It's a bad idea."

She was right. There were cracks everywhere - hastily patched up and holding back memories and emotions that would flood out at the barest pressure.

The sandy resistance was there too, keeping them locked in. But it would crumble if nothing was done, and the more she pushed things back - the more she tried to shove inside with her rudimentary Occlumency lessons - the less stable it would become.

"Would you rather continue being unstable then?" he asked.

"No."

"Your plan was flawed. You ignored the signs showing you it wasn't working."

"I thought time worked differently."

"You could have asked me."

"I don't trust you."

Lie.

"Perhaps. But you need me, don't you?"

The memory sped up to where she was trying to run for the boy, and Tom felt her crushing fear and guilt at everything.

He gritted his teeth and pushed it back till he was feeling only his emotions again, and Halley looked at him.

"I want that," she said.

"So let me in."

She looked at him intensely, and he thought she would give in. That now was the moment that Halley Potter became his.

But Potter froze, whispering away into the memory. Tom took a step back in shock - what was that?!

"Not yet."

This voice was younger - and with it came a little girl who had wild and unruly hair that hadn't been brushed, and eyes wet with tears that were always being shed.

"Who are you?"

"She - we - she has better defences than you think. I guess I'm her…instincts? She doesn't listen to me very often, but I think your Stone woke me up a little more. It's strong!"

The little girl gave him a sweet smile that Tom was unaccustomed to seeing and he immediately knew it was going to be harder to do what he had planned. That feeling was justified when the little girl looked down at the sling.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing."

"I think you hurt it."

Tom felt anger rush to the surface, but he tried to hold it at bay. He didn't want to destroy her mind, just control it. Unfortunately, the little…thing in front of him was not making it easy to do.

"She doesn't want you to control her, but you're right. She can't go through life like that anymore."

She pointed to the memories - shaking and fearful, unable to do anything but watch as again and again, people took control of her life and hurt her - a fat man and skinny woman - The Dursleys - attacked her, threw her to the ground and beat her, watching.

People shut her up - Greengrass and Parkinson micromanaging her life. Mrs Figg telling her to be grateful there was somewhere she could go for an afternoon.

People locking her away - in a cupboard. In Hogwarts. In the Chamber. In her mind.

People abusing her - Riddle thinking that because she was young, she could be manipulated with pain or kind words.

People dying on her - a ginger woman and a mop of hair falling at a green light, and a wand pointing at her face with the intent to kill.

"She can't be that person anymore. But Halley won't be yours, Tom. So do what you need to do to keep my emotions controlled. But no more than that. And if you do that - and only that - She'll trust you. She'll play your game and learn your lessons."

He sneered. "Why should I care?"

The girl walked over the memory of herself and reached out for his hand. The damaged one. When she touched it, he felt something shift - and for the first time since he woke up in the darkness of the diary, Tom Riddle felt whole .

"Because something connects us, and I have a feeling it'll keep the both of us safe."

He slapped her hand away and the wholeness went with it. He wanted it back immediately and the little impish thing smiled like she knew what he was feeling.

"So, do we have a deal?" she asked.

"A deal," he said, nodding.

"Good. I'm going to go then. Keep your promise, Tom. Halley will be watching."


AN: Ooh boy. So...yeah. Sorry Rowle, but it had to be done.

Fun fact: it was originally going to be Theo. His grandfather was going to be that stereotypical bad guy Slytherin who didn't care much for his grandson, but as I wrote Lysander, it just stopped working. So a new person had to be put in his place. Enter Rowle. It's kinda sad because I've really enjoyed writing him. But...what has happened has happened now.

Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you all in a couple of weeks time.