Chapter Five

The Clock Tower Courtyard was silent as a grave when Harry put away his wand. Then several things started happening all at once.

- We have a winner, - Sirius's father said calmly, and Augustina screamed in rage, running up to Abraxas lying on the ground unconscious.

- You! - she pointed at Malfoy's cronies, - Take him to the Hospital Wing, now!

Then Harry saw Damian Shacklebolt marching up to where Riddle and Black were standing.

- He used the Cruciatus Curse! Malfoy used an Unforgivable Curse! - he shouted.

- Yes, - Orion answered, just as calmly, - Yes, he has.

- Well?! Is that all?! You're the Head Boy, do something about it!

- Get yourself together, Shacklebolt, - Black was getting irritated.

- He's getting away with it again?!

Potter ran up to the Hufflepuff grabbing his shoulder.

- It's ok, mate, I'm not hurt.

- He has to pay! - Shacklebolt sounded determined.

Orion Black stepped closer to Damian.

- You are going to keep silent about this, - he said in a hushed voice that betrayed no emotion, - Or your father will know about the blood status of your love interest.

Something changed in Shacklebolt's expression.

Orion stepped in the middle of the Courtyard.

- Listen up, everyone. No one will let it slip to any of the adults anywhere that Abraxas Malfoy used the Cruciatus Curse. He was desperate and made a mistake, and he paid for it in the end.

He walked around the Courtyard, eying everyone attentively, and then continued.

- What happened today must stay here. If any of you start talking, please remember that I, as the Head Boy, and my prefects, have collected enough information on all of you to provide severe consequences. Not to mention the network of influential contacts Malfoy's family has. Is that clear?

He examined the crowd again. The apprehensive silence ensued in the Courtyard.

Harry felt anger bubbling up in him. This man was nothing like Sirius Black.

- You may go now, - finished Orion and turned back to Harry and Damian, the crowd silently melting away behind his back.

- So, you solve your problems with blackmail? - Harry asked Black through gritted teeth.

Orion came up close.

- Granger, do you even realize what you have gotten yourself into? Attacking Malfoy with a stag...

- It was a duel! - Harry shot back.

Riddle stepped in.

- Orion, Granger is right.

The Head Boy's lips formed a thin line. He slowly turned to young Voldemort, who, as Potter noticed now, was eating Harry up with his eyes.

- He will face consequences with the Malfoy family now, - Orion objected.

- No, he will not, - Riddle answered finally looking at Black.

- And how are you planning to prevent that? - Orion asked Tom in a cold voice.

Riddle smirked.

- Leave that to me, - he turned to Harry, - Granger, come with me.

He started walking without checking whether Potter was following. Harry looked at a confused Damian, shrugged and went after Riddle.

They were walking through the hallways in silence. Tom - twenty footsteps ahead, Harry - cautiously keeping behind. Something has changed in Riddle's posture. It looked like he was about to burst into a run. Like he was extremely excited. "Well, finally", - Harry thought, "Here comes the big talk". At last, Tom was following the logical path Harry thought he would, as opposed to being busy getting his lip bitten. Harry snorted, feeling a weird sense of relief.

Riddle paused suddenly, looking back and frowning slightly at the boy.

Harry caught up with him.

- A corporeal patronus, huh? And strong enough to fight. That could not be very easy, - Tom said.

- I've had a lot of practice, - Harry answered. Suddenly, a weird curiosity struck him. - Can you do one?

Riddle looked away and resumed his walk. Harry followed silently. Of course he couldn't. To make a full patronus you should be capable of harnessing an immense amount of hope and love inside yourself. Could you possibly do that AND be Voldemort?

They stopped abruptly, and Harry felt a rush of adrenaline. He knew this place all too well. They were on the second floor, by the girl's lavatory.

- No! - Harry turned to Riddle, - I'm not going into the Chamber of Secrets!

Tom raised an eyebrow in question.

- So, you also know its location. Just as I thought. Why not, Harry?

It was the first time Tom called him by his name. A different voice, but the same intonation. Just like at the graveyard the night Voldemort returned to power, just like at the Ministry of Magic only a couple of months ago. What an eerie feeling.

- I'm not going inside so you could unleash your Basilisk on me!

A smile crossed Riddle's handsome features.

- I have no plans on doing that, Harry. Actually, it's the last thing I want to do.

Harry stared at him in distrust. His nemesis rolled his eyes at that.

- I'm not summoning the Basilisk, - he repeated in a firm voice, - But I would like to see you open the Chamber.

- And why on earth would I do that?

Tom let out a constricted breath. His eyes blazed desperately.

- I have never met another parselmouth in my life, Harry.

Oh. That. Harry almost forgot.

- Let's talk there, - Riddle came up close, staring into Harry's eyes, almost pleadingly. It was magnetizing, near irresistible. No wonder young Voldemort garnered so many supporters - he was a talented manipulator. - There's so much I want to ask you.

What a stupid situation Harry has gotten himself into by using parseltongue. He was so concentrated on beating Malfoy that in that moment he didn't think of the consequences. How was he going to get Riddle off his back now? Of course the man wants to know more.

Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Riddle's heart. The pleading look left the prefect's face, changing into a grin.

- If you try to pull something. If you try to hurt me or summon your snake monster...

- Harry, we had a deal. I'm upholding my end of it, if you haven't noticed.

- I've noticed. Only you were angry with me just yesterday morning.

Riddle gave Harry a stern look, as if that question was plain stupid.

- Well, imagine being cornered in your own bed, threatened with exposure, losing precious sleep over it, wondering all night if your assailant is the only one who knows your secret. And to top that, having to keep the whole damn school off his neck afterwards. Can you really be surprised I was angry?

- Was? Are we good now?

Young Voldemort took a pause, examining Harry closely.

- I'm not angry anymore, if that is what concerns you. And I would like us to be... "good", but that's up to you now.

Harry sighed. If he was stuck in nineteen forty-three, waiting for Dumbledore to invent a time portal, he might as well do some investigating and find out more about the future Dark Lord. Besides, he has fought him before. He could technically do it again. Still, he had a feeling he wouldn't need it.

Harry walked into the lavatory. He quickly found the sink he needed and concentrated on the little snake engraved on it.

- Open, - he hissed, and the sink went in motion.

Riddle watched silently, his pupils so wide his eyes looked black. Harry felt a shiver run down his back, but gathered himself together and jumped down the opened entrance. After a few pitch dark seconds he crash-landed on the floor and stood up, brushing the debris off his clothes. Riddle landed next to him gracefully, straightening his robes, as if what they just did was as normal as entering the Great Hall.

- How did you know the Chamber entrance was there? Who told you? - he asked Harry suddenly.

Potter wondered if all future questions would be as uncomfortable.

- I'm not telling you.

- Is this your idea of fixing a relationship? - Tom looked at him mockingly.

- I can't tell you. I'm sort of bound here.

Riddle sighed and started walking down the corridor, making a gesture for Harry to follow.

- Bound by whom?

Potter rolled his eyes. Here comes the interrogation.

- Can't tell you.

- Do I know him at least?

- Still can't tell you, Riddle.

- Somehow I'm sure it's Dumbledore.

- Professor Dumbledore to you, Tom.

It was Riddle's turn to roll his eyes.

- Listen, - Harry said, choosing his words carefully, - I'll be frank with you. I can't let you know the details and I don't want to lie, either. Can we just skip this whole thing?

The future Dark Lord looked as if he was just offered a tasty treat and then had it taken from him.

- Can I at least tell you my version of this story? - he asked, - And you will confirm if it's right or wrong.

Potter stiffened. He was afraid his nemesis might have figured everything out after Harry told him so much the night before, but either way it was best to hear it from him.

- You can try.

- You're my relative.

That was the last thing Harry thought he would hear. He nearly laughed.

- You're my relative from the pure-blood line of my family. That's why you were confused when you first came here and attacked me in the hallway. Because I look exactly like my father, and I know that my pure-blood line was strongly against his relationship with my mother.

Harry didn't know much about Tom's family. Only what Voldemort told him in the graveyard the day he returned back to power.

- And then, when your family heard about the attacks last year, they must have understood that there is a Slytherin descendant at Hogwarts and that he summoned the Basilisk. And that's how you knew it was me.

Potter was struck by how well this version could have fitted as a disguise for his appearance in the past. If he wanted to lie, of course, and Harry felt repulsed by the notion. Voldemort was not a man you could easily fool, and Harry knew he wasn't that good a liar.

- Only it doesn't add up with you having the last name "Granger"... And never correcting anyone in their assumptions that you are muggle-born. But then again, you must have reasons you're hiding your real family name and the reason behind your dramatic appearance, and that intrigues me very much.

They came up to the entrance to the main chamber.

- Open, - this time Riddle said it himself. The snakes holding the door slid away, opening the entrance, and Harry followed Tom inside the painfully familiar place. The presence of a nearby Basilisk made Harry's flesh crawl.

- Any other versions? - he asked, half trying to distract himself from the thoughts of the horrible snake monster that was currently very much alive.

Riddle went to the centre of the Chamber of Secrets, moving in a relaxed way as if it was his living room. He stopped, looking over the Statue of Salazar Slytherin drowning in floodwater.

- My other versions are even harder to believe and have too much blank spots. Besides, if I could be honest with you... I've always wanted to have a family, so I'm eager about this one.

Harry suddenly felt pity for the young man in front of him. He used to wonder sometimes what had to happen in your life to make you Voldemort. Was it the lack of friends? The lack of a family? Was it a case of some constant gnawing loneliness and pain?

What if Harry was stuck with the Dursleys forever? What if there were no Ron and Hermione? No Hagrid? No Sirius?

What if Harry went to a school where prefects collected information just to blackmail you in favour of pure-bloods? Would he desperately want to prove himself in such a world? Would he want his name to instil fear among all wizardkind? Would he want the proud pure-bloods to serve him, crawling up to his feet and kissing the tails of his cloak?

- I'm sorry, Tom. I'm pretty sure I'm not your relative. Not a close one, at least. And I most certainly have never seen your father or any of your family members.

Riddle turned to face him, frowning as if slightly disappointed.

- Then how are you a parselmouth?

Harry sighed. He had to give the man at least something.

- It was a dark wizard. He attacked me when I was just a baby. He killed my parents and tried to kill me, but couldn't. His magic sort of backfired, killing him and giving me some of his powers.

Riddle examined him closely.

- Then that person must have been my relative.

- I guess he was.

- Do you know anything about him?

- Well… I was only a baby at the time.

- He must have had a reason to attack you.

- As far as I know, he considered my family an enemy.

- And that is all you know?

- I've been trying to find the answer to this all my life. Why he chose to attack us. Why he resorted to killing a baby.

Tom let out a frustrated breath. He turned away, as if restraining the urge to shout at Harry.

- I wonder why he had to kill you… - young Voldemort's voice was so cold, Harry felt the urge to cast a blocking spell just in case, - This can only mean you are somehow connected to my family. You are certainly not telling me something very important.

They were silent for a while. Then Riddle turned to face Harry again and spoke, now feigning compassion.

- I'm sorry about your parents.

Harry snorted. Tom widened his eyes at him.

- Are you really?

- Of course I am – Tom looked positively appalled at that - I know exactly how it feels.

He crossed his arms, as if building up a barricade between the intruder and his inner demons.

- My mother died right after giving birth to me. And my father never showed up.

There it came again. Pity. Harry's parents couldn't come for him - they were dead. But he never questioned their love. After all, they both died protecting him. And although Riddle's stories were so similar to his, they were simultaneously completely different.

- Did you grow up in an orphanage too? - Tom asked Harry, examining him closely.

- No. No, it was a foster family.

Riddle frowned.

- Where are they now? Do they know you're here? What are they like?

Great, another shower of questions. Riddle was catching every twitch of Harry's facial muscles. He felt like some peculiar bacteria being examined under a microscope. And the last thing Potter wanted to do is talk about the Dursleys. He didn't want to give the future Dark Lord even more reasons to despise muggles.

- I don't really want to talk about them, - he said quietly, - They're nothing special, if you must know.

- Muggles, aren't they?

- Yes, - Harry sighed, preparing to defend himself from Riddle's pressing.

- Are you ashamed of them?

- Tom, for Merlin's sake!

For a minute Riddle looked furious. Then his face softened. This man was a storm of emotions.

- It's fine, - he said finally, - It doesn't look like you like them very much.

Damn it.

- What gave you that idea?

- Your face is practically screaming it out. I'm just collecting the truth from you in little bits and pieces.

- What makes you so sure you... "read" me correctly?

Tom smiled and sat down on the Chamber floor, bending one of his long legs.

- I had to spend hours reading in between the lines in the Orphanage and my first years in Hogwarts. All of my years, to be exact. Trying to find out what the heirs of all the noble pure-blood houses were thinking. Whether they were trying to mock me. What the matrons back at the orphanage were hiding. Whether they were trying to send me off to a madhouse.

Harry sat down next to him slowly, keeping an arm's distance between them. The information he was receiving from Riddle felt precious. Felt like the exact thing he needed to know to defeat him in the end, one way or another.

- Were they giving you a hard time in the orphanage?

- When I was smaller, yes. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I always felt different from everyone else.

Tom changed his sitting position, crossing his legs. Suddenly Harry could see the small boy he was a long time ago.

- I remember the Catholic child services coming to see how we were doing. I was scared of them. I didn't make the furniture move on purpose. The woman was frightened to death, scaring me even more in turn, making everything spiral out of control. She kept screaming that I was possessed by a demon. She and the matrons even tried to get an authorization from Vatican to perform an exorcism on me.

He turned to face Potter.

- Do you know what that is, Harry? Adults sometimes die from exorcisms, and they wanted to perform it on a child. I heard them talking about it, discussing what would happen if I die. I was afraid of making any accidental magic for half a year after that, and do you know how hard it is when you don't even know what magic is? I felt it around me, always scared it would show, not understanding the nature of it or how to use it.

Harry was shocked to hear something like this. Sure, the Dursleys hated him and called him a freak, but they never attempted to try anything that harmful on him.

A thought crossed Harry's mind. What if this young man still had a choice? What if he wasn't Voldemort yet?

- I'm sorry, Tom.

Riddle turned and looked in Harry's eyes intensely. It struck Potter how vulnerable he looked at that moment.

- I'm sorry you had to go through this. No child ever should. But muggles are not all like that.

Tom suddenly laughed. The vulnerability in his eyes vanished, as if it never was there.

- Not all, Harry? We're in the middle of the muggle war. Did you see the weapons they are using?

Harry felt dumbstruck. With all his problems he completely forgot what was going on in the world in nineteen forty-three. Tom continued.

- I was in London at the time of the bombings. I saw it very close. Dead bodies everywhere, ripped into pieces. Houses destroyed to the ground. An Avada Kedavra Curse wouldn't do anything close to that sort of damage.

Harry's face grew cold at the sound of the unforgivable curse. Riddle didn't seem to notice. He frowned as if remembering something, rubbing the ring with a black rock on his finger.

- May I tell you a secret, Harry? - he asked suddenly, - Something you don't know about me yet. Something very important.

This was it, wasn't it? What Harry came for.

- Sure.

- Do you promise not to tell anyone?

Riddle turned to him with blazing eyes.

- I think you now know firsthand how hard it is to interrogate someone like me, - Harry answered, trying not to give direct promises while he could avoid it.

- Then you can certainly prove it by doing an Unbreakable Vow with me.

So, that didn't work. This was getting harder and harder. But Harry had to know, and thus he had to agree.

- Fine, - he exhaled.

Tom moved in, closing the distance between them. He stood on his knees reaching out for Potter's right hand, his fingers gripping it firmly. Harry was surprised to find him so warm, almost as if Riddle had a fever. Tom took his wand with his left hand.

- Usually a third person is needed for the ritual, but I assure you I will do just fine, - he said.

- I certainly trust your skills, - Harry said without thinking and caught a glimpse of a flattered smile on Riddle's face.

Tom pointed his wand at their hands.

- Do you promise to keep what I'm about to tell you, my secret, safe no matter the circumstances? To keep silent about it forever?

Thin lines of white fire streamed out of Riddle's wand, tying themselves around their joined hands.

- I promise.

Tom finished the spellwork and put his wand aside, catching Harry's left hand too. He brushed his thumb on the red words "I must not tell lies" still fresh from last year, frowning at the scar.

- I have performed the Avada Kedavra Curse, you know.

Harry felt his heart rate rising.

- Not on Myrtle Warren. On my father. And my grandparents. Just this summer.

- What..? - Harry whispered.

- Yes, I had to kill them. And it was so easy. One moment they're staring at me, saying they didn't want anything to do with me. And the next moment they're dead. And everything is silent.

Riddle raised his gaze back at Harry.

- No blood, no ripped out limbs. Clean. This is humane. Not what muggles do. Not even close.

- But it's wrong either way.

Tom sighed.

- Well, my family deserved it. They rejected me. They had to pay.

Harry certainly had more than an inkling on how complicated the man is. Potter remembered Voldemort saying he killed his own father. Nevertheless, it was still too shocking to hear it from this handsome young man, who looked nothing like the monster he would become, kneeling on the floor before him and still holding his hands. He said it himself just ten minutes ago - he always wanted a family. Was he so insecure he couldn't handle a rejection? Was it too late for him already?

- I've met lots of people who made me miserable, and you are right - my foster family is cruel and hates me, but I never as much as thought of killing any of them. It's not the way to solve things, you know.

Riddle dropped Harry's hands.

- Are you trying to give me a sermon? Because I don't need one. I'm not taking advice from a person who mysteriously appeared for Merlin knows what reason in Hogwarts and is not bothering to explain any of it to me.

That felt like a slap to the face. Potter stood up on his feet abruptly.

- Oh, the things I wish I could tell you!

- Then tell me!

- Damn it, Riddle, I can't!

Tom stood up too.

- Then get out of my Chamber, - he hissed.

Harry didn't need to be asked twice. He turned around and stormed away, gripping his wand tight in case he had to defend himself. What did he expect? To fix Tom Riddle, just like that? That man was possibly the cruellest wizard in history.

But then... why did he suddenly open up to Harry?

Author's note.

HUGE WARNING: next chapter will have explıcıt content. The rating of the fic was M from the beginning, so you have been long warned, and if for some reason you are less than 18 - unfortunately, this is your queue. Although, you are always welcome to return after you pass this crucial age number in your life.

Next: I have been caught red-handed by one of my precious reviewers. It turns out I have been forming the dialogues in a non-English way :( That thought never crossed my mind, as well as my Editor's mind. However, I shall continue forming the dialogues like "-" this as we're now five chapters in. Please bear with me (: Wanna guess what country we're from? ;) There's a huge clue in my deserted Tumblr blog (shehonessky's the handle).

Thank you for each and every review and follow, you make my heart sing.

My Editor rocks.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.