Within a month Draco relayed that there were talks amongst the Ministry about Harry Potter's interest with his godfather. And among those talks, the mention of Sirius Black's lack of trial. The combination of this information had taken the Ministry by storm. Ron also confided his father was being the most ecstatic to spread the news to anyone willing to listen.
Soon the Quidditch trials were around the corner. Harry gave it all the best he got. Word got around that the captain was at a loss between Draco and Harry. Eventually it all came down to talent instead of bribery, and thus Harry was chosen as Slytherins new Seeker.
Harry didn't have time to celebrate when the messages written in blood began to show up. With them there was a victim that was petrified. The first two happened to be the ghost Nearly Headleas Nick and Mrs. Norris.
Alas, one of my horcruxes is at work. However, he can't be doing this alone. So, then, who has it?
What is it should I be looking for? Harry wondered.
Could be any of them. However, if I would hazard a guess, the diary. It harbors the piece of my sixteen year old self who opened the Chamber of Secrets.
All right. I will be keeping an eye out for it.
Harry didn't have to wait for long. One evening he noticed the splish splash of flooding water on the floor. Curious, Harry followed to the source. It happened to be the girls bathroom. Harry saw that it was a toilet, but laying in front of it was a familiar book.
He picked it up and quickly shoved it inside his school bag. Harry hurried to the common room to his bed. He drew the curtains and set a ward to prevent any eavesdropping. Then he pulled out the still wet diary.
Harry used a charm to dry it. Then he opened it to find all the pages blank. Harry reached into his bag for a quill and ink bottle and began writing.
Hello. My name is Harry Potter.
It took a moment for the ink to disappear. Then in neat, calculative handwriting, a message appeared where Harry's writing was.
Hello Harry Potter. My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Harry dipped his quill pen to write his response.
Good. I knew what you were. You are a horcrux. Just like I am. I have to inform you that your attempts in the future failed, and now your soul pieces have split and for the most part, they are acting irrationally.
The piece within me wishes to reunite all of the pieces together. Oh, and we're soul bounded. The piece within me figured that out last year.
Harry paused and waited. It took some minutes for Diary Tom to process all of the information. When he got over his shock the neat handwriting appeared again.
How can I trust you, Harry Potter? That you are telling the truth?
"Tom? What do I do?" Harry asked aloud for the one in his head.
Describe to him the memory of meeting Dumbledore.
And so Harry did. He described how Tom felt during the whole interaction. When he was done he wondered if this would actually work. It took several minutes of nothing. So Harry decided to keep going. He went on to describe how students bullied Tom and his pet snakes.
As he went into great detail of how one of the snakes was cut up into pieces did the neat handwriting return.
All right! I understand. You speak the truth. Forgive me for being skeptical at first.
So then will you help me? Harry replied.
Yes. I will. In fact, I may have a means to come back with my own body. It requires a sacrifice, however.
What do you mean? Harry was horror stricken as he wrote.
The life force of whoever writes within this book.
"Tom? What do we do?" Harry gulped.
Allow it to be me. Tom in his head said without hesitation.
"But - but how? Only I can write in the book!" Harry stammered for words.
Allow me to try something, if you will. I want you to relax. Allow me the chance to take control over your hand. Tom whispers.
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. And so he relaxed and evened out his breathing. He watched with a mix of amazement and horror as his own hand began to write of its own accord.
Hello.
How peculiar. Diary Tom replied. Once again Harry's hand moved in smooth motions to write.
You sense it is me, correct?
The responses were instant. And the words showed below the question. The handwriting the same.
Yes. I believe I understand what it is you're thinking. You will be the sacrifice. And in doing so we will be reunited.
"Can that actually work?" Harry wondered, growing slightly afraid.
We shall see. Tom remained hopeful.
So there was a routine set. Harry focused on his studies and Quidditch practice during the day. At night he spent as much as he could allow for Tom to write. He described a lot of what happened between sixteen year old to present.
This of course spent many late nights. Which in turn reduced Harry's sleep schedule. And of course his friend group immediately took notice.
"You feeling all right, mate? You don't look so good." Ron asked one morning.
"I'm fine." Harry knew he didn't sound so convincing.
"You sure you're up to the challenge of playing Quidditch? You can barely drag your feet." Hermione studied him up and down.
"No, I intend to see this through. At least for my first match. Draco is named as the back up Seeker. If anything he can take over if it's too much for me." Harry admitted.
"If you're so sure." His friends were skeptical but didn't pressure him.
I can sneak the diary out and write between classes. Harry had a thought one day.
No. That increases the chances of it being stolen from us by whoever had it last.
Oh, right. Who had it, then?
They asked Diary Tom later that evening. And the answer surprised them both.
Ginny Weasley.
"Really? But she's only a first year! How did she get her hands on the diary?" Harry was appalled. Tom in his head relayed the question.
Lucius Malfoy had this diary. I insisted he hand me over to someone naive. It was his decision to choose the girl.
"So he's acting with Voldemort's interest to bring him back? To what end? Bring back the old days where they terrorized everyone?" Harry frowned.
I suspected as much that this would happen with some of the Death Eaters that escaped conviction.
"But what do we do with them?"
I will have to think on this issue.
xXx
Almost a month after Halloween, the morning of Harry's first Quidditch match, the Daily Prophet released the headlines of the decade.
BLACK RELEASED FROM AZKABAN
It has been determined that Sirius Black had been wrongly accused of murder and thrown into Azkaban without trial. By that action alone Black is proven innocent and has been immediately released into St. Mungo's care due to the complications of being in Azkaban for the better of eleven years.
This has only come to light recently due to the fact that Black's godson, Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, began inquiring about his godfather. Upon learning that Black was imprisoned, Potter believed whole heartedly that his godfather was innocent. Thus a chain reaction followed into the matter and the Ministry realized, much to their horror, that Black was imprisoned without trial.
Pending investigation into the matter at hand as to how this has happened. In the meantime we would like to wish both Potter and Black the best of wishes for this touching story.
Harry was beside himself. He glanced up and was actually grinning. Draco actually shared a smile with him. Across the table Hermione and Ron were equally ecstatic. However they were the only ones to celebrate.
The rest of the school was in murmurs. Could Black really be innocent? They all grew up with the stories. So of course there was huge doubt. Even the teachers didn't understand how to present themselves, nor were they prepared with the amount of questions on the matter.
But none of that mattered to Harry. The happy mood set him up for the Quidditch match. It was them against Hufflepuff. In the end, Slytherin won. Finally Slytherin House accepted Harry as one of their own that night as they celebrated his first win as their Seeker.
Once the celebration was done and over no thanks to Snape interrupting that it was past bed time, Harry slumped into his bed and got to work. It didn't matter to him how tired he was. He was on a mission.
"How are you feeling, Tom?" He whispered.
I am feeling my strength waning.
"So this is working." Harry wasn't sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, it meant that Tom could have his own body. On the other hand, it also meant Tom will forever be absent within Harry's head.
Do not concern yourself with that. With my own body, we can spend the rest of our lives together.
"Can we really? How are we going to explain your existence?"
Oh I've got a few ideas to try out.