I'm not sure what this chapter is, except the meeting, so skip it if you want. P.S A person cannot create a Patronus if they are under the Imperius Curse or some similar enchantment.

Enjoy if you read it! x

Harry's POV

"So," Scrimgeour said, putting his fingertips together. "Why in the world would the Headmistress of Hogwarts, the boy who survived the Killing Curse and a random bystander request an audience with the Minister for Magic. I can only guess."

"Before you hear what we have to say, you will want to know that we two are ourselves and we are not under any influences" replied McGonagall, drawing her wand her wand.

She indicated for me to do the same and I pulled my own out, watching the Minister twitch his hand towards his wand. Auror training had made him wary. I regarded McGonagall as she produced her feline Patronus. Scrimgeour nodded and turned to me.

"Expecto Patronum"

A gleaming silver stag erupted from the end of my wand and stood tall in the middle of the room. I noted with some satisfaction that McGonagall looked a bit proud. The Minister was slightly taken aback at the appearance of the large mammal.

"Well, Mr Potter. You must possess great power to produce a corpreal Patronus that large and clear." Scimgeour complimented. "I can see that you are both in your right minds and now can we please go on and into the issue you wish to discuss."

He sounded impatient as he shifted in his chair.

"Who is this gentleman?" he growled, gesturing to a Tom Riddle in disguise.

The Polyjuice Potion had taken effect forty five minutes ago, so we wouldn't have to wait too long to prove anything to the man we came to see. He was a lot shorter, even than me and had blonde hair and big, brown eyes, making him appear young and innocent.

"Sir," Tom said cautiously. "My name is Tom Riddle."

His eyes darted to Scrimgeours wand, which the aging wizard snatched up and pointed it at the speaker, jumping up from his leather chair. Riddle held his hands in the air, showing he was not a threat.

"Otherwise known as-" he continued, but was cut off by a very pale Minister.

"Lord Voldemort."

Scrimgeour sat behind the desk again, keeping his wand steadily trained at the former Dark Wizard.

"And how, exactly, do I know you are telling the truth?" he choked.

"Polyjuice potion" I answered. "In about ten minutes, he will return to normal for you to see. We only did that so no one would panick when we came in. Otherwise, you would have a lot more problems."

I shuddered, thinking of the amount of press there would have been. I remembered the Triwizard Tournament, when I had been practically stalked by a nosy reporter by the name of Rita Skeeter. It was thanks to Hermione that the blonde wasp had not ruined so many lives lately. Not that mine was perfect in the first place, but anyway.

"Why did you bring him here?" spat Scrimgeour, slowly regaining the colour in his cheeks.

"Now, Minister, you are supposed to keep an open mind" chided McGonagall. "Mr Riddle wishes to turn himself in-"

"Well I have no problem with that," snarled the Minister. "I'll just send for some some aurors."

"Let me finish!" cried McGonagall. "To St. Mungo's."

The older man's eyes widened.

"Why the hospital?"

Tom spoke up.

"I am ashamed to admit that I have created several Horcruxes. I assume you know what those are?" Scrimgeour nodded sharply. "Well, I have seven. One of which was destroyed four years ago in the Chamber of Secrets by Potter here."

"I stabbed the diary of sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle after I killed the Basilisk to save Ginny Weasley." I confirmed.

"There are six others. A ring, the family heirloom of the Gaunt's which I hid in my mother's old house. She was Merope Gaunt. The second is the Locket of Salazar Slytherin. I acquired this from a certain Hepzibah Smith, a customer of Borgin and Burke's. The Cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw seemed like a good choice after that. I wouldn't touch the Sword of Godric Gryffindor even if it did shy away from those unworthy. Nagini, my snake is also one. She is a good friend and I would appreciate it if I could keep her after the Horcrux is removed. Unfortunately, the last was unexpected and unplanned." Riddle paused. "Harry Potter."

The Minister for Magic let out a yelp and stared at me.

"I knew that animals could be used as carriers, but humans?" he growled, eyes darting between me and Tom.

"This doesn't mean that he has any control over me whatsoever." I said hurriedly. "It just means I can speak Parseltounge and communicate with him in my head. We can send images and feelings back and forth."

Scrigeour shivered.

"I don't need to know that, I only need to know he has no influence over you. You still haven't explained why you chose to give up, now of all times."

"I''m less inclined to kill people because I'm starting to see what other people see in the world" Tom sighed. "Harry said something to me last year that changed my perspective of life completely. He told me I would never know love, or friendship, and he was sorry for me. When I left that night, those words kept rolling round in my mind. The blooming relationship between Draco Malfoy and Miss Granger helped me see that I was not doing any good to anyone. Except, perhaps Bellatrix Lestrange, but she is insane anyway and needed something to root for. She actually creeps me out."

I chuckled and then stopped quite suddenly when the cackle of that deranged witch echoed through my head.

I killed Sirius Black! Hahaha!

Anger clouded my brain as I remembered the look of glee on her face as she murdered my only magical family. I closed that memory away and refocused on the matter at hand.

"Is there a way to get rid of the Horcruxes?" asked Scrimgeour, a little less wary.

"Two" said Tom. "One is excruciating, the other even more so. If you kill a Horcrux, like Potter did with the diary, you feel an eternity's pain in a few minutes. I'd rather not do that. The other method reattaches the piece of soul to the original and is only very painful and lasts for however long it needs to. This would be preferable to losing a part of my soul to the eternal void."

Scrimgeour nodded. He looked up just as the Polyjuice potion wore off. Tom's young face bubbled and changed. His hair retracted and disappeared, leaving his scalp smooth, skin pale. His nose flattened and disappeared and his eyes became that of a snakes. Lord Voldemort stared the Minister for Magic down.

"Believe us now?" I said critically. "Especially seeing as he was the informant who ever-so-nicely helped us catch all those Death Eaters."

"So when do you want to be submitted? I'll arrange it all myself and everyone who knows your identity will sign a magical contract. and take the unbreakable vow" Scrimgeour mumbled resignedly.

"Anytime you're ready" replied Tom. "Send word to Harry and I'll let you know."

"Next week? I'll also organize a plastic surgeon for you, if you want to look presentable" the Minister sighed. "Potter, will you be able to stay in a wizarding household? It would be easier to reach you."

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I can stay with the Weasleys if that's okay with them."

Scrimgeour nodded and flourished his wand, looking very pleased when Riddle flinched. A shimmering rhino burst from the tip of his wand and charged away. A few minutes later, a silver tigress pounced through the door.

"Of course, Minister." Mrs Weasley said through the gleaming predator. "We would love to have Harry for the summer. He can come here straight away and Arthur will collect his belongings."

Scrimgeour nodded and flicked his wand. The apparition dissolved into thin air as the Minister for Magic dismissed us. We left the Ministry after Tom had retaken the potion and apparated to the middle of nowhere. Riddle turned to me.

"Thank you" he said. "You've done a lot for me already, despite what I've done to do. But I just want to ask, why did you do all this."

I sighed heavily.

"It was the right thing to do" I explained. "Holding a grudge against you and refusing what you asked would ultimately lead to more harm, to you, me and the world. You have a bit of an anger issue."

Tom rubbed his forehead.

"I know, I'm working on it. For now, I have very important things to be researching."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows.

"What will you be researching?" she asked, still slightly skeptical of the situation.

To my surprise, Riddle smiled.

"You'll find out soon enough, Minerva" he replied and with a loud CRACK, disapparated.

I blinked, uncertain at what he had meant. McGonagall sighed wearily.

"Come on, Potter. Let's go."

She held out her arm and I felt the familiar sucking sensation of apparating. We landed neatly outside the Burrow and McGonagall knocked briskly. Almost immediately, the door flew open and a beaming Mrs Weasley ushered us in.

"Oh, Harry dear! It's so good to see you. Dinner is in half an hour, why don't you go and see Ron and sort out his room while I speak to Professor McGonagall?" she gushed.

I nodded and smiled at her motherly aura. The Burrow was my second home, after Hogwarts, because I was always welcome, no matter what the circumstances. I ran up the first flight of stairs and almost crashed into Ginny.

"Harry!" she cried, giving me a huge huge hug, which I returned. "What are you doing here?"

I grinned.

"I'm here for the summer. Scrimgeour needs me to be in a wizarding house so he can get to me easily."

Her brow creased slightly.

"Why would he need you to be easily accessable?"

At that moment, I was saved by a certain pair of twins.

"Harry" they chorused. "Just the test subject we needed!"

"Hey, guys" I laughed. "I'm fresh out of testability. Why don't you ask Ron?"

Fred sighed dramatically.

"We tried, but the last time we used him, he got really fat. He was practically round and we had to roll him to mum."

"She wasn't best pleased" concluded George happily.

"Ha," I snorted. "Well, until you get that sorted, I'm gonna be very careful about what you offer me."

"Good choice, Harry" muttered Ginny. "Most of their products are okay, but some leave you wondering what happened. See you later."

She meandered off and I stared longingly after her.

"You ought to get that seen to" smirked George.

"It could get you into all sorts of trouble" agreed Fred.

"Bye, Harry" they called simultaneously.

"Bye" I answered and carried on up to Ron's room.

I knocked and didn't wait for an answer, going straight in.

"I'm tidying, I'm... Harry!" exclaimed my best friend.

"No, you're Ron, I'm Harry" I snickered. "Get it right, mate."

"What're you doin' here?" Ron said, clapping me on the back.

"We got him in. Scrimgeour is going to arrange it all and then he's got to tell me so I can tell Riddle." I concluded. "He didn't think that sending me a magical message at the Dursleys would be very well accepted."

"Too right" agreed Ron. "Remember when we had to come get you?"

"Ha! Yeah, the good old times" I grinned.

"Riddle?"

Ron and I jumped up at the voice of the youngest Weasley.

"Ginny!" Ron gasped. "What are you doing up here?"

"Coming to tell Harry that dad's just got back with all his stuff" she snarled, crossing her arms. "What's this about you telling Riddle something?"

She looked so formidable, just like Mrs Weasley, that we told her everything.

"You really shouldn't let him in your head Harry" she scolded. "Last time I did that, I almost died!"

A burning pain suddenly appeared between my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to understand what Tom was trying to say. I knew that the sooner I knew the message, the sooner the pain would go away.

"Harry" Ron sounded concerned. "What's wrong?"

I've been listening. Can she be trusted?

"It's him. He was listening and wants to know if Ginny can keep the secret. Even from the rest of your family" I informed them.

Ginny went white and narrowed her eyes.

"I can keep secrets better than Hermione can" she said sarcastically.

Tell her I apologize for what a part of me did to her five years ago. I had no control over what that bit did.

I repeated the message to Ginny who just nodded with pursed lips, just like Aunt Petunia when I did or said something related to magic.

"What happens now?" she asked.

Ron folded his arms around her and murmured something in her ear. Her already wide eyes became saucer-like as she turned her gaze on me. She whispered something back and flounced out of the room.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"You'll find out. Probably sooner than later."

Ron looked very tired all of a sudden. I patted his shoulder and winced as Mrs Weasley shouted that dinner was ready. Ron was up in a flash and out of the room. I laughed and followed, stomach grumbling for the infamous cooking of Molly Weasley. But one question swam round and round my mind like a goldfish.

What did Ron say to Ginny?