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Tom strode through the corridors, turning corner after corner. He didn't have a lot of time and he was taking a risk, but he needed a connection that stood outside Dumbledore's influence. His feet took him in the direction of the Slytherin house and stopped mid-step when he heard a muffled moan. 'Guess I found them,' he decided and walked to the classroom where the sound came from. His ear picked up another moan, this time a name and now he was certain of who was occupying the room. He walked to the next classroom and pulled one of the chairs to the door before sitting down on it. 'They better end it soon!' Tom thought a little pissed. Waiting on someone wasn't something he did regularly, but he couldn't risk Neville noticing him – the Gryffindor would tell Harry and make sure the Malfoy kept his mouth shut. No, he needed the Slytherin to be not aware of who he was or more precisely from which time he came. To his relief, he heard the door open and a voice got clearer.
"No, Draco, I have to go!" he heard Neville say and sneaked a peak through the small opening of the door. The Slytherin and Gryffindor kissed before the dark blond quickly ran off and Draco disappeared in the classroom again. This was the future Dark Lord's cue. He left his hiding place and quietly walked to the other room. Quietly, he stepped through the doorway and closed the door while taking in how the blond was putting on his robe.
"You've seemed to have enjoyed yourself," Tom stated, and Draco twirled around pointing his wand at him.
"Who..." His greyish eyes got a look of recognition, but the wand didn't drop. "What do you want? Shouldn't you be dominating your toy boy?" That actually made the black-haired teen's eyebrow rise in surprise.
'Potters and Malfoys will never get along, will they?' he briefly wondered. "I'll be doing that later," he answered wanting to relax the other a little. 'Give them the feeling of control and they won't work against me.' A chuckle got suppressed. "And I see you've just done the same thing to your... toy boy, you called it." Draco raised his head with an air of superiority and Tom had to suppress another chuckle. 'Just like Abraxas.' "What I wanted to talk to you about. I'm certain you're connected to..." 'Which name would I be using?' "...Voldemort," he chose his alias and knew he had made the right choice when the greyish eyes widened. "I wish to speak with him." The eyes narrowed and Draco took a defensive pose.
"Why? You're going to ask him to leave Potter alone?" the blond said with spite.
'I must have openly expressed my interest in him,' Tom decided, not finding that odd. "No, never." 'Like I'm going to stop myself from protecting him.' The Malfoy looked confused and his defence weakened.
"Are-are you working for our Lord?"
"You could say that." Now the future Dark Lord did chuckle, and a smirk grew on the blond's face.
"Oh, now I see, but couldn't you use your Dark Mark to contact him?" The black-haired teen stopped his eyebrows from rising in wonder.
'Dark Mark?' "I can't, to risky." Hopefully that was enough, and Draco nodded in understanding, taking his doubt away.
"Of course, being so close to the Boy-Who-Lived," the blond smirked at him and he memorized that name – it was important. "I understand why you would come to me – we Malfoys always have had a good relationship with our Lord, but I suggest you go see professor Snape. He'll help you." Another name to memorize. Tom nodded his head and now Draco took the time to take him in. "How come I haven't seen you before? Not in Hogwarts or by our Lord's side," the blond frowned in thought.
"I'm good at keeping a low profile," Tom shrugged, and Draco seemed to accept it. "I should be getting back," the future Dark Lord ended their conversation and the Malfoy nodded like a good boy. As he made his way back to his room, Tom wondered why Harry was referred to as the Boy-Who-Lived and when he had created the Dark Mark.
-THTH-
"I've heard you made a short walk during lunch," Harry said as Tom leaned forward to kiss him. The boy had just entered the room and the black-haired teen had the sudden urge to hold him close. He guessed it had to do with his reasoning of how the youngster got the name of the Boy-Who-Lived. He suspected it had to do with his parents' dead and now it also made sense why the murderer was still after Harry.
'Who told him?' he wondered, still trying to get the boy in his arms. "I didn't want to be caught up between these four walls for another lunch without you." Especially the last two words seemed to ease the Gryffindor a little.
"Still, what if someone saw you?"
"Nobody saw me, I kept to the empty corridors and I got back pretty quickly." Harry frowned at his excuses.
"Tomorrow I'll come eat lunch with you," he decided, and Tom couldn't hide his smile. Finally, he succeeded in kissing his boy and pulled him flush against him.
"You're in a good mood. Did you find another clue?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to spend time with you," Tom had decided not to talk about his newfound clues as it would remind his boy of his parents and hurt him.
"Well, that's all good and well, but I have a paper due," Harry said matter of fact.
"Why don't I help you?"
"I thought you were never going to ask," the Gryffindor chuckled.
-THTH-
Tom was looking through the newspaper McGonagall had brought him when Dumbledore re-entered the small room, he had assigned the future Dark Lord too in the morning. "Have you two found some clues?" The Headmaster asked the two occupiers, the time-traveller and the Head of the Gryffindor house. McGonagall shook her head in a negative way as answer. "Minerva, Severus will be spending the next hours with Tom," Dumbledore said to McGonagall, who nodded, all to glad to leave. At the mention of his new guard, brown eyes glanced upwards and fell on a gloomy, pale, black-haired man.
'Definitely a Slytherin,' the teen decided before looking back at the Headmaster.
"Tom, this is professor Snape."
'Snape, the one Malfoy recommended?!' he gave the gloomy man a nod of recognition and the man gave him one back. 'A man of few words, I like that.'
"Then I'll leave him in your hands, Severus. Good luck," Minerva turned from Snape to Tom and it didn't go unnoticed by the teen that the woman still didn't want to say his name. She had been doing that the entire morning. Dumbledore left together with McGonagall after exchanging some more words with Severus. Once alone Snape sat down on the chair his colleague had been previously occupying and Tom just watched him, not hiding his interest. The professor gave him an annoyed look back, but there was respect in it. 'He knows who I am, but on which side is he? Dumbledore trusts him or he wouldn't be here, but then that Malfoy also trusts him, making that maybe I also trust him.'
"Don't you have better things to do than stare at me?" Snape asked in a slow, stern voice that could give anyone the creeps – anyone who wasn't Tom.
"I was wondering," the teen started. "You know my older self." The professor gave a short nod. "I'm certain you understand I'd like proof." Snape stared at him, almost like he was expecting more, which made the future Dark Lord believe that he knew his older self. "In my time I don't get along well with Dumbledore and when I come here, we're suddenly best friends." Tom leaned backwards and let an air of superiority come over him. "If you're one of my trusted, then show me your Dark Mark." Snape looked blank for a moment before hiding his surprise behind his cold mask. 'Show me!' Suddenly the man moved and slowly rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. A snake wrapped around a skull pulled his attention and he congratulated himself on the design – it was entirely his taste. "You're trustworthy, I see. I'm surprised my older self hasn't tried to make contact." Snape rolled his sleeve back down before answering.
"He thought it would be better not to bring unwanted attention to you." Tom frowned mentally, while he nodded to give the impression he understood.
'There's no way that I wouldn't contact myself if it's about Harry,' he was certain that even now his boy was the most important person to him. 'They're all hiding something.' "Let's continue," he indicated to the newspapers before them and turned his eyes back to the article he had been reading. 'There seems to be a big secret I'm not allowed to know, and it has something to do with Harry being the Boy-Who-Lived.'
-THTH-
Two days later Harry was accompanying Tom to the library. The past three days the boy had eaten lunch with the future Dark Lord like promised, which he needed after being cooped up with professor Snape and newspapers. Brown eyes glanced at his boy's hand that was entwined with his.
"What are you looking at?" The youngster asked and Tom saw it as a sign to raise their hands.
'Does he have a Dark Mark?' he wondered once more – the same question running through his mind again. 'If he has one then he must be hiding it with a glamour charm.' Also, he didn't know how he had treated the younger Harry. He couldn't have shown his affection openly, but the youngster had gotten a crush on him, so they must have had some sort of connection. During their nightly activities, he had tried to get a good look of the boy's lower arm, but he had seen nothing, which didn't mean there wasn't anything.
"Tom?" the Gryffindor asked again, and brown eyes moved to green.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought."
"I can see that," the youngster smiled at him before they stopped before their destination. "I'll see you later," Harry said followed by a quick kiss and the black-haired teen watched him run off.
'Our roles are reversed,' he realised and frowned – he didn't like it. He stepped towards the door that lead to the library and suddenly stopped. 'I won't find answers in here,' he knew that all too well. Dumbledore had removed anything of interest, but there was a place the old man didn't have influence over.
"What are you standing there for, my boy?" the subject of his thoughts suddenly stood beside.
"Just thinking," Tom mumbled before entering the room before him. 'It won't be easy to get there after my last stunt.'
-THTH-
"Show me your arm!" Tom all of a sudden demanded as they were making Harry's homework.
"Excuse me?" The boy blinked surprised.
"You're left arm, please," he tried to sound less forceful and the youngster still gave him a weird expression but did raise his arm. Tom accepted it and rolled up his boy's sleeve. With his fingertips, he ran over the skin, concentrating on an unevenness. He especially studied the place Snape had his Dark Mark.
"What are you doing?" Harry's voice sounded reserved.
"You have something here, don't you?" The future Dark Lord asked, and green eyes narrowed.
"What have you heard?"
"Nothing, I've just read about Dark Marks," the Slytherin played innocent and green eyes widened in disbelieve.
"You think I have a Dark Mark?"
"I was just wondering."
"I don't have a Dark Mark," Harry stated while he grabbed his wand.
"But I am hiding something, a scar," he confessed while dispelling the charm and the older teen took in the long mark that appeared.
'Such a straight line – it looks like it was made by a knife.' "How did you get this?!" he demanded feeling his possessiveness surface.
"It-it was an accident... during potions," Harry answered a little too quickly for his liking. "It's embarrassing. I don't want to talk about it." Tom decided to humour him – he was clearly lying, but he respected his choice and he knew he could get it out of him in a couple of days.
"All right," the youngster nodded and quickly charmed his arm again.
'There's a story behind that scar,' Tom decided. 'It can't be a coincident that it's on the same place as the Dark Mark of Snape. No, that scar must have been made intentionally. The question is by who.'
"What do you know of Billywig?" Harry pulled his attention back to his homework.
-THTH-
Quietly Tom was sneaking through the corridors. He had waited until he had been left alone in the library under supervision of the librarian. Then it hadn't been hard to sneak out, but he needed to get to the room of requirement before Dumbledore noticed his disappearance and knowing him, he would know fast, too fast. In time he reached the corridor he was looking for and stepped before the invisible door. 'I need information to protect Harry. I need information to protect Harry. I need information to protect Harry.' Like expected the door started to appear and once whole, he disappeared inside the secret room. He was surrounded by racks of books and newspapers, but what got his attention the most where the posters. Especially one got his attention. It showed the picture of a screaming black-haired man with familiar features and when he got closer, he read the name. "Sirius Black. Must be family of Walburga," he mumbled while studying the man's face. His attention got pulled to the racks beside the wall and he pick a black book. "Behind the scenes of the war," he read the title aloud before flipping the cover open. There was an entire chapter on You-Know-Who, but it didn't really teach him anything about his identity. He found out it was a man and he went to Hogwarts, like hundred others.
After the book he decided to go for the newspapers. The most present one was one of the year 1997 and he wondered if that was the year he was visiting. The article stated that Harry Potter was a liar, You-Know-Who hadn't returned. Tom frowned at this. 'Harry had such close interaction with a murderer!' His heart thumped and he realised a shiver ran up his spine. He had been that close to lose him, to never meet him. Taking the next paper, he found another article about the same subject and he decided to go back a year, but again it was the same. 'Think Tom, which year?' he looked at the newspapers before him. "Harry's parents got killed when he was one," he mumbled. "If it is the year 1997 and Harry must be sixteen, so the year 1981 or 1980," he nodded to himself and searched for newspapers from those years. They quickly appeared in his hands and the articles were more promising. A lot of deaths of important figures who opposed You-Know-Who were writing out in detail, but nothing about the Potters. Eventually he did find a picture of a corpse with people standing around it and there was one man who looked like a Potter. He had some features of Harold and Harry. 'If that's Harry's father then he was still alive in December 1980,' he picked the papers of the next year and flipped through them until he reached the first of November. Suddenly the title he had been looking for, jumped at him.
"You-Know-Who defeated by the Boy-Who-Lived!" he read aloud, and his brain went in overdrive. 'Harry killed him!' Tom wondered as his eyes were already pulled to the text beneath it.
"The night of 31 October You-Know-Who had traced down his nemesis, the boy who would save us all. Last Monday night he entered the house of James and Lily Potter, the parents of one-year old Harry James Potter. James was the first one to encounter the Dark Lord as he entered their home and met with a Killing Curse – he paid with his life. Next You-Know-Who moved upstairs to the baby's room, where Lily protected her baby with her life. Again, the Killing Curse had ended another life. Who can imagine what went through the Dark Lord's mind when he finally stood before the small baby, who was destined to destroy him? He had pointed his wand at young Harry's forehead and said his favourite spell for a third time, but unlike the two previous times a miracle happened, the spell rebounded. You-Know-Who got hit and killed by his own spell, making that the prophecy came true. Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived defeated You-Know-Who. Poor Harry lost his parents that night and his forehead got marked with a one of a kind lightning bolt-shape scar, the proof he's the only one who has ever survived the Killing Curse."
Tom's eyes stood as wide as they could. 'Prophecy, he wanted to kill Harry, because of some stupid prophecy?' His hands started to shake, and he didn't know what he was feeling any longer. Fear, hatred, helplessness... 'I need to find out who he is.' The paper he had been holding fell from his hands and he searched for one from a year before that. After that another one a year before that. He continued until the devastating news of the war was gone. Then he went back forward in time until he found the paper that reported the first rise of the Dark Lord. It frustrated him that there was no name, but they were also not talking about You-Know-Who yet. He searched through months until his mouth fell open, completely bewildered. 'Deaths have been claimed! Dark Lord goes by name of Voldemort!' His heart accelerated and he didn't even notice the newspaper falling from between his fingers. 'Dark Lord goes by name of Voldemort!' he repeated in his head, but he couldn't accept it.
"No, NO!" he yelled and grabbed the paper from the ground, ripping it to pieces. He searched for the next one and again his alias name preached on the cover page. "No, no, I would never hurt Harry," he mumbled as he searched for the next one. "Where is it?!" he demanded to no one. "There has to be a mistake! It's a setup!" he told himself but after an hour, he was sitting surrounded by newspapers and books, which told him otherwise. He felt empty as he stared around him and the words seemed to spit at him. 'Voldemort, the Dark Lord, You-Know-Who, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, prophecy, lightning bolt-shape scar,...' he closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again one word pulled his attention. "Dumbledore!" he hissed finally feeling something. "Harry knew, he knew from the start." His vision got red spots and he jumped up in rage. As he repeated their first encounter in his head, he remembered the fear the boy had showed. "He was scared, there was no love... He didn't have a crush on me. He feared for his life." Angry he grabbed his wand and screamed hex after hex at one of the bookracks. Ten minutes later the entire room had been destroyed and Tom was leaning forward, trying to catch his breath. "He never loved me! He wants to stop me, but I won't let him!" he hissed a couple curses in Parseltongue before straightening himself. "He's a liar, who'll pay with his life! Destined to destroy me? Don't make me laugh!" he said the last with scorn.
-THTH-
Tom was striding up and down in his room, waiting for Harry to arrive after his last class. The bell had already rung, so it wouldn't take that long anymore for the youngster to arrive. 'I'll look him in the eye as I kill him, the Boy-Who-Lived won't survive the Killing Curse a second time!' Feeling his rage rise again, his grip on his wand tightened and he heard the door handle move. He stopped spacing in the middle of the room and watched how his boy entered the room with his arms full books.
"Oh, Tom, you're back already!" Harry called out and he seemed to radiate in the black-haired teen's eyes.
'No, focus!' he watched the youngster move closer to him and ordered his armed hand to rise, but it refused. Too quickly the boy had reached him, and he felt those lips pressed against his. The kiss was bitter.
"Tom? What's wrong?" Harry asked when he noticed the other wasn't kissing him back. Brown eyes glared hateful at him and the youngster took a step backwards. "Tom?"
"Voldemort!" the future Dark Lord spat, and green eyes widened in shock. "I go by the name of Voldemort, don't I?" It wasn't a question. "Or is You-Know-Who more familiar?" Finally, his hand moved, and his feet stepped closer to the boy, who moved synchronic backwards.
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Harry played dumb but it didn't go unnoticed that he took a defensive position.
"You know bloody well what I'm talking about! You," Tom spat, and Harry's wand moved forty-five degree upwards, "the Boy-Who-Lived. What were you planning? Getting close enough to find out my plans and then kill me?" His wand pointed dangerously at the boy's chest.
"What, no, Tom-!"
"Don't tell me you bloody love me. You let me fuck you, so you could stab me in the back!" he hissed enraged and his hand started shaking.
"No, Tom, it's not like that!" the Gryffindor stated but the future Dark Lord wouldn't listen to him.
"Run, make me like the chase!" he spat and fired a Crucio at the wall beside the boy. Green eyes pleadingly stared at him, but before the next hex again collided with the bricks the boy was running for his life.
-THTH-
'How the hell did he find out?!' Harry thought sprinting away from the one he loved. 'I need to get to the tower and please 'Mione have that spell ready!' His hand hooked around the support of the first stairs he reached, and he twirled his body towards the first steps. He had never thought that the way to the Gryffindor's common room had ever been that long. Finally, the portrait of the fat lady came in view and he was already yelling the password.
"No running in the halls, Mr Potter!" The lady lectured him displeased and Harry came to a brusque stop.
"Please let me enter!" he sounded forceful and the painting gave him a weird expression before finally opening the door. The youngster found his friends sitting on the couch before the fireplace. "Tom found out!" he yelled as they looked confused at him before they shot into action.
"What!" Ron yelled but the green eyes were focused on the bushy haired girl beside him.
"Please tell me you finished that spell."
"Luna and I have some suggestions that could work, but we never tested it." A sudden crash and burning smell announced the arrival of the future Dark Lord.
"You're going to get your chance pretty soon. Neville get everyone in the dormitories!" The dark blond nodded and started with the youngest years.
"So predictable," Tom hissed a little disappointed as he entered, and the golden trio pointed their wands to him.
"Tom, you need to listen!" Harry tried, but those brown eyes looked like they wanted to combust him. They kept staring at each other, building the tension in the room until all the other Gryffindors had been evacuated by Neville. The dark blond clearly wanted to stay, but one look of Harry forced him to safety. Next everything happened so fast. The future Dark Lord made it look like he was attacking Harry, but instead directed his hex to the Weasley. Hermione noted his plan just in time and pulled Ron behind the couch. Then a one on one fight started between the future Dark Lord and the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry sent another Petrificus Totalus his lover's way before hiding behind a small table he knocked down. 'He hasn't used the Killing Curse yet,' he realised and glanced at the Slytherin who was defending himself. His two friends were attacking the future Dark Lord with all of their power and he noted Hermione glancing at a crumbled paper. 'Are that her suggestions?' he wondered before jumping up and trying to knock out their attacker. Tom blocked almost every spell that was sent his way, it were the girl's spells that sometimes reached him, but until now they weren't successful. Suddenly the couch, Ron and Hermione were hiding behind, caught fire and both seized their attack to protect themselves first. In one swift movement the future Dark Lord's wand aimed at Harry and the youngster recognized the tightening of the Slytherin's cheek. 'He's going for the kill!' His heart seemed to stop.
"Ava-" Tom didn't get further as green eyes stared helplessly into brown and the youngster dropped his wand.
"Tom?" he asked with sadness colouring his voice. The future Dark Lord shook his head and glared at the other.
"I'll kill you before you get born!" he hissed while his hand moved to the bracelet decorating his wrist.
"Hermione!"
"Obliviate Tempus![1]" The girl yelled a second later and Tom got hit the moment the bracelet fell to the floor. Helplessly Harry watched how his archenemy and the one he loved disappeared from his sight. A deadly silence hung over the three friends, all of them waiting for something.
"It worked?" Ron asked uncertainly and Hermione bit her lip.
"I-I don't know."
'He's gone,' Harry realised, and a sharp pain shot through his heart. "I'm still alive," he whispered while glancing at the others.
"Then it must have worked! You're safe, mate!" The Weasley started laughing as Neville appeared in the common room.
"How strong was that spell?" The dark blond asked and Hermione looked apologizing at the others.
"I don't know."
"So, there's a chance he doesn't remember me?" Harry felt his eyes brim with tears and Neville quickly stood beside him.
"I'm sorry," Hermione apologised as the dark blond rested his hand on the youngster's shoulder.
"Everything that happened between us..." Harry stammered and pushed his friends away as they wanted to comfort him. "I..." he didn't know what to say and just left. His feet carried him to the room where the fight had started not even twenty minutes ago and felt his knees give out. Green eyes stared at the crumbled sheets on the bed before him and the first tears fell.
R&R
[1] Memory alternation through time.