Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Tom Riddle was a murderer, liar, and thief.
The night of the Yule Ball though, Tom Riddle became Harriet's rescuer.
She knew nothing about his misdeeds.
She remained ignorant that he and Voldemort were the same person.
After she and young Tom Riddle spent the rest of the night talking and snogging, by the time he returned her to the second floor lavatory, Harriet was in a state of dreamy bliss.
Her disastrous evening had been salvaged.
That was enough to send her to her dormitory with ginger steps and a happy smile.
Exhausted from hours of fruitless wandering, while the adults continued their search for Harriet, Hermione slept with a worried frown on her face.
Harriet crept past her in the dark while she headed to her own bed, careful not to disturb any of her roommates who snored softly through their slumber.
As Harriet closed her eyes and drifted off, a smile formed on her lips while peasant dreams drifted through her mind.
Beside her bed, the amazing dress Tom had given her slowly vanished.
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Hermione alerted Severus, Lily, and the rest of Hogwarts' staff as soon as she woke the next morning and found Harriet peacefully asleep in her bed.
"Harriet!"
"Harriet!"
Harriet groaned as a sudden, unwelcome jolt forced her to open her eyes prematurely.
She frowned as she blinked at the blurry faces hovering around her bed.
Her arm shot out to reach for her glasses on the nightstand, which she pulled onto her face only to find her mother, father, and best friend staring down at her, along with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.
"Oh, my darling!" Lily cried as she swept Harriet into a tight hug of relief.
Severus frowned at his daughter before he exchanged suspicious glances with Dumbledore.
"Mum…..Dad….." Harriet stammered as she glanced around, "...Hermione?"
"Where….have…..you been?" Severus asked in a cutting tone.
Harriet glanced at her father wide-eyed for a single second.
Instantly, Severus used nonverbal Legilimency to reach into her mind and discover exactly what had happened to his daughter the night before.
Usually a master of maintaining his calm exterior and burying his true emotions from any sort of outward detection, he couldn't stop his mouth from falling open as he observed Harriet's recollection of the evening.
He nearly fainted when a much younger, but nonetheless evil Tom Riddle appeared in her memories.
And held her hands……..
And kissed her lips……
Severus staggered backwards before Lily caught him and asked, "Sev?...Are you alright?"
Harriet's eyes remained wide as her father shot her an accusatory glare before he loudly announced, "Headmaster, my wife and I should like to speak to you in your office, immediately."
Dumbledore blinked as he looked over at Severus, along with McGonagall and Lily.
"Immediately!" Severus insisted with a violent nod of his head.
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McGonagall sent for Madam Pomfrey to come and examine Harriet while she and Hermione stayed at her bedside.
As Harriet spoke to her teacher and best friend, her headmaster stared at her parents as they stood in front of his desk with frowns of deep concern on their faces.
After Severus finished explaining what he had seen in Harriet's memories, Lily looked as though she may scream in mournful terror.
Severus held Dumbledore's gaze as the two men frowned at each other in silent horror.
"You're certain of what you saw, Severus?...That it was actually Tom Riddle with Harriet last night?" Dumbledore asked.
"What would I gain by lying about such a matter?" Severus scowled, "Have I not asked again and again to have the diary removed from her possession?...Now we see the result of this faulty plan!"
"I would hardly call it faulty, Severus." Dumbledore replied as Lily rushed towards her husband.
Severus pulled his flower into his arms as Lily laid her head on his chest while Dumbledore went on, "Actually, I'd say it's going rather well…..Harriet's managed to befriend him and gain access to the Chamber of Secrets."
"That was where she went?!" Lily asked through her tears, "...The Chamber of Secrets?"
"I believe so, Lily, yes." Dumbeldore nodded.
A dry cry escaped her lips as she contemplated the horrible truth.
Severus supportively held her as he grit his teeth while he asked Dumbledore, "And what are we to do now?...We've never mentioned the Dark Lord's birth name to Harriet, per your suggestion…..Shall I reveal the truth to her this morning?"
"You shall not reveal anything to her, Severus." Dumbledore frowned, "Not now……For the time being, let us allow her friendship with Tom Riddle to continue. Perhaps he may divulge information about where to find the other parts of himself. We can then use that knowledge to destroy him."
"...That's…..your answer?" Severus growled as he clenched his jaw.
"Headmaster, please!" Lily pleaded, "She's only a girl! She doesn't understand!"
Dumbledore ignored Lily's cry as he stared at Severus and nodded confidently, "Yes, Severus, that is my answer. You are aware your daughter cannot disguise her feelings as well as you. If you reveal the truth to her, Tom will see her for who and what she is…..soon…..Too soon."
Lily quieted as she and Severus contemplated Dumbledore's chilling statement.
"...We all know Harriet is not ready to face him yet." Dumbledore wisely nodded.
Severus cradled Lily against him while Dumbledore spoke words he hoped would assuage the worried parents, "However, Harriet is no fool. Her heart may become a casualty in these next months, but is it not better for her feelings to be sacrificed instead of her life?"
"There is no guarantee the younger version of the Dark Lord will not slake his bloodlust on her at any moment!" Severus shot back, "She should be included in our discussion and the diary should be destroyed!...Immediately!"
"That's where you're wrong, Severus." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye, "Tom has become fascinated with her for some reason. You've told me, shown me through memories…..Why, I can't imagine, but her murder would make no sense to him currently. Can you not see?"
Lily sniffled as Severus gently stroked her crimson hair while Dumbledore grinned, "As it stands now, Tom Riddle doesn't want to kill Harriet………Tom Riddle simply wants her."
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"You don't remember anything at all about where you went last night?" Hermione scowled at her friend as Madam Pomfrey finished the last diagnostic exam.
"Er, no……" Harriet stammered while she shook her head, "I…..I don't. Sorry Hermione, it really is very foggy when I try to think of it."
It made Harriet uncomfortable to fib to her best friend, but she saw few other options.
She intended to keep her visit with Tom a secret in hopes of seeing him again very soon.
"She appears perfectly healthy." Madam Pomfrey nodded at McGonagall, who stood anxiously by her bedside. Hogwarts' healer turned to look at Harriet as she frowned and said, "You gave everyone a decent scare last night, Miss Snape."
"I'm sorry…." Harriet frowned, "I….I didn't mean to frighten anyone. I ran off after Malfoy's prank and….I don't know what I was thinking."
"It's understandable you were upset." McGonagall nodded, "It is baffling though, Miss Snape, as to where you could have possibly gone!"
Harriet frowned as she stared at her professor.
She had never been fond of lying, but the reward it offered her then was too great to refuse.
Harriet couldn't wait to be back in Tom's arms, to hear his smooth voice, to feel his elegant hands on her hips again…………
If seeing Tom once more meant feigning a bit of memory loss, then Harriet determined that to be a small price to pay.
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Severus and Lily stared at each other with frowns of equal worry while they stood in Severus's office after their meeting with Dumbledore.
"I may vomit, Sev." Lily warned as she swallowed thickly.
"I may join you, my love." He drawled.
"Did……." Lily asked as she swallowed again and nodded in visible disgust, "Did you see if they-"
"-A kiss and nothing further." Severus said quickly as he put his wife's worst fears to rest.
Lily let out a shaky breath as she nodded, "Alright……that's good, I suppose…..No matter though, I think we should pull her out of school."
Severus furrowed his brow, "You wish to unenroll Harriet from Hogwarts?"
"If she's going to fall in love with Tom Riddle, Sev, then yes! I want her sent home before lunch today! She already idolizes Voldemort! Can you imagine the danger of her being lured off by his younger self?" Lily snapped.
Severus calmly began to reason with his distraught wife, "My love, Dumbledore believes-"
"-I don't care what Dumbledore believes!" Lily hissed.
Severus quieted as she glared at him with her green eyes flashing, "I believe that I know the child I grew inside myself, Sev! Harriet is headstrong and daring, she is young and impressionable and easily able to be persuaded! I know! I was a teenage girl once too! Look what happened there!...You do realize her conception was a complete accident on my end, right? I don't know if James planned it or not, but that's my point! Suppose she goes to the Chamber of Secrets again and comes back with his child in her belly! Can you imagine?!"
Severus's heart lurched as he considered the vile possibility Lily mentioned.
"My love……" Severus whispered as he opened his arms.
Lily made a noise of irritation at their confounding situation before she rushed into Severus's embrace and placed her head against his chest with a sigh.
As Severus held his flower close, he bent down and gave her a soft, comforting kiss.
"Think on it a moment longer, my love," Severus whispered against Lily's lips as their kiss continued, "A moment, that's all I ask before we do anything rash. Harriet is my daughter as well, but you are her mother and if you wish, we will indeed take her home today and never allow her to walk these halls again."
Lily sighed into their kiss, relieved and comforted to know that she had her husband's support.
Silently, Severus wished Tom Riddle had never been born.
He couldn't help but marvel at how much simpler his life would have been if the one who would become the Dark Lord had never existed.
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"You seem very happy today, Harriet Snape." Anuman hissed while Harriet tended him later that morning.
"I am pretty happy, actually." Harriet hissed as she cleaned the bars of his cage, "I met the boy in the diary last night. He was handsome and kind and…….and lovely, really, he was lovely."
Although Anuman's heart sank into the bottom of his scaly body, his instincts whispered to him that something wasn't quite right.
"Did he take you to the ball?" He asked, "The boy from the diary?"
"Oh……no, no he didn't." Harriet frowned as she shook her head.
"Then where did you meet him?" Anuman pressed.
Harriet blinked as she thought, "I…..Well, he brought me to this underground room. Then he gave me a beautiful dress and-"
"-And this boy is good? A good person?" Anuman asked.
"Well, yes, he's a good person." Harriet smiled, "We had the entire evening to ourselves, away from everyone! It was brilliant!"
Anuman flicked his tongue while he stared at Harriet with his cold, serpentine eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked as she furrowed her brow.
"If this boy is so good, Harriet Snape, then why does he hide underground with you?" Anuman asked as he slithered back inside his cage and wound himself in loose coils on its floor.
He lamented the fact that he could not weep in his current form, but the unsure expression on Harriet's face gave him hope.
She continued to clean his cage, but instead of her happy, naive smile, a doubtful frown twisted her lips.