The next great adventure

Chapter 3: Tom Riddle

He'd given permission for Nagini to hunt, so he'd been alone in that dark, curtained room lit by a single branch of candles – the curtains in that room are never drawn, day or night – flicking through the morning edition of the Daily Prophet, to see what it had to say about Harry Potter, and he'd been pleased with what he'd read, the wizarding world is getting impatient with the lack of action by the Boy Who Lived, the wizarding world is getting tired of the so-called Chosen One, because Potter seems to have vanished into thin air. The Order of the Phoenix have Potter well hidden, and he still doesn't have a source of information within the Order ... when the new regime is established, any surviving members of the Order will of course receive the Kiss. And under the new regime, the Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly and the Wizarding Wireless Network will be under his direct control, they'll be run by a new Department of the Ministry – the Quibbler is a rag, it will no longer be published.

The final victory is tantalisingly close now, the Ministry has been in complete disarray since the raid on Gringotts, in the very heart of Diagon Alley. The goblins have no love for wizards, but respect and fear go hand in hand and when he negotiates with Ragnok, it will be from a position of strength. And tomorrow the Hogwarts Express leaves from Platform Nine and Three-quarters, and he's going to demonstrate that Hogwarts without Dumbledore isn't safe, that there is no fortress that's safe against his Death Eaters. He'll send Severus to drag every Mudblood off the train and kill them, the half-bloods will be spared but there will be no more matings between Muggles and wizardkind ...

He'd thought, amused, that's a job that would have been right up dear departed Bella's street, if she hadn't been so foolish as to try to cast the Cruciatus Curse on my little half-blood, and Bella disappointed me too many times, she couldn't even kill Potter's Muggle family for me - and when I can spare Severus from more important tasks, I'll send him after the Muggle relatives, none of Lily Evan's blood shall escape me ...

But perhaps he won't kill Lily's son after all, every one of his Horcruxes is precious to him, they're his protection against death. The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the snake – and Harry Potter, not the Horcrux that he'd intended to make at Godric's Hollow, but still a precious vessel for a portion of his soul. And Harry Potter doesn't seem to be any real danger, in a way Potter has been something of a disappointment to him, Potter hasn't manifested any extraordinary magical power - the boy has survived this long through sheer luck and more talented friends, his crucio in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic was pitiful, and Potter didn't even attempt the Killing Curse against Severus! So maybe he won't kill Harry Potter, maybe he'll keep his Horcrux alive in some secret place, dosed with the Draught of Living Death - because he's already lost one of his other Horcruxes.

And he still feels anger when he thinks of the diary, Lucius Malfoy had destroyed something that was precious to his master, and he'd decided then and there that the punishment would fit the crime, he'd destroy something precious to Malfoy – his only son and heir - and young Malfoy had been no loss, he hadn't the nerve or the ability for the Unforgiveable Curses. Still, the boy had been clever, clever enough to find a way to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts - and he'd enjoyed again the memory of what had happened on the Astronomy Tower that he'd seen in Severus' mind, the old fool begging for his life, Severus, please ...

According to Severus, Dumbledore had said once, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure, but Dumbledore had still begged for his life, and if there could be anything more satisfying than killing the Muggle-loving old fool personally, it was knowing that Dumbledore had died at the hands of a man he trusted. He'd thought, did Dumbledore really think that he'd tamed my hawk? That savage creature is tame to my hand alone, I thought once that he'd left me for ever, but I was wrong, because only I can offer him so much scope for his powers and his pleasures ... and Severus can never betray me now, the Aurors and the Order will never deal with the killer of Albus Dumbledore.

And then he'd thought, generously, I owe Dumbledore something, because Dumbledore taught me that the wizarding world is just like the Muggle world, it's all about power, the power to inspire fear ... and Dumbledore showed me real power, he showed me what you can do with a wand.

He'd been frightened when the tall man with the auburn beard had made his wardrobe burst into flames, but his fear had been nothing compared with his determination to possess such power for himself, and the school the man had mentioned, Hogwarts, that was the way to get such power. And Dumbledore had been easy enough to fool, Dumbledore had been concerned about him - when Dumbledore had said, best not to roam the corridors these days, he'd had to struggle not to laugh out loud. Him, the Heir of Slytherin! Afraid to walk the corridors of Slytherin's own school!

And then he'd heard the shouts and screams, and felt the discharges of aggressive magic - for a moment he'd felt fear, have the Aurors found him? He can't die, but he could lose his body again, and he well remembers the pain of being torn from his flesh, of becoming a creature of shadow and vapour ... but it would take greater wizards than the likes of Shacklebolt or Dawlish to break through the barrier that protects the building, no one who doesn't bear the Dark Mark can pass that barrier.

He'd stormed into the anteroom, stumbled over Greyback's dead body stretched on the floor, seen Severus with his wand raised – for a moment he'd thought it was nothing more serious than a private grudge, and he'd been furious, favourite or no favourite, Severus will get a beating for this!

And then he'd seen Nagini, and howled with anguish - his beloved Nagini, more loyal than any phoenix, dead, and there were other bodies scattered around the anteroom ... what in hell was going on? He'd disarmed Severus with a flick of his wand, demanded an explanation, although he'd been so enraged that he could barely speak, and Avery had cringed and babbled something about Snape going mad.

He could hardly believe that the half-blood he'd raised from the gutter had turned against him, it made no sense at all, and no one who bears his Mark can raise hand or wand against him ... but when he'd looked into those defiant black eyes he'd seen that it was true, the tool he'd fashioned has turned in his own hand and cut him, his trusted favourite has betrayed him - and his first impulse had been to have Crabbe and Goyle beat the traitor to a pulp, Muggle-fashion, because sometimes crucio just doesn't hurt enough ...

But he'd restrained his rage, he needed to question Snape – and while he took care not to damage his servants, it didn't matter if Snape was a gibbering idiot by the time he'd raked through his mind – Snape was food for the Dementors or a werewolf, if he could wait until full moon to kill the faithless creature.

But Snape isn't even trying to guard his mind, he's offering up the memory of Sybill Trelawney's harsh, hoarse tones, The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ...

Now he's panicking, this is terrifying news, if he'd only known the full prophecy he would never have toyed with Potter in the graveyard at Little Hangleton, or wasted the last year playing mind-games with Dumbledore ...

The Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, he knows what that means, the lightning-shaped scar on Potter's forehead, and he's got to kill Potter as soon as he can, before Potter discovers the power the Dark Lord knows not - and he can't even begin to imagine what that could be - because either must die at the hand of the other ...

And Snape is in league with Potter, he's taken Potter as his new master – though why Snape has done so isn't important right now - and now Snape is showing him something else, the white dome of the reactor containment building at Sizewell B, and he knows what that is, he knows very well that the Muggles wield a power that can destroy magic itself, and there is no end to Snape's treachery, Potter has the locket and the cup ...

But Snape has blundered, he can use this information - and he can use Snape to get close to Potter, and without risking his precious new body. He steps into Snape's body, focuses on that white dome – Destination, Determination, Deliberation – feels the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a thick rubber tube, and now he can hear the wail of sirens, he can see a little group of four people, and there is the one he seeks, the teenage boy with the messy black hair and glasses.

He strides up to the group, throws Snape's body down on its knees, the very picture of an obedient servant reporting to his master, but even as he's sliding to his knees, he plunges his hand into his robes and pulls out his wand. The wand is pointed at Potter's forehead, straight between the eyes, straight at the scar, but the red-haired girl is rushing forward, trying to get between them, he won't get a clear shot now, but unbelievably Potter isn't reaching for his wand – Potter is pushing the girl away, even as he casts the Avada Kedavra and the green light bursts from the wand in his hand.

Now there's another flash of green light, he abandons Snape's body just in time, the whole world has turned green, and he knows that time has stopped, not just slowed down, and he's alive, he's won ... it's Potter and Snape who are dead, it's Potter and Snape who are going to vanish into the darkness, into the abyss, into the nothingness of death.

But his enemies haven't gone yet, they're lingering in this brief moment between life and death, and Potter is saying something nonsensical about being glad that he hadn't used the Killing Curse – and he seizes this last chance to triumph over Potter, because Potter hadn't learned anything since they first met in the dungeons of Hogwarts, Potter was too weak to seize power when it was offered to him, and now that the prophecy has been fulfilled nothing stands between Lord Voldemort and mastery of the whole of the wizarding world. And once he controls the Ministry, once he has access to the secrets of the Department of Mysteries, he'll find a way to achieve immortal life, a body that will live forever, or a series of bodies, there must be some way to achieve immortality ...

Now Potter is saying something else, telling him that he sets too much store on the prophecy, telling him that he'll never be safe because he's destroyed the last of his Horcruxes – and the green light is fading, he can't stay any longer, he needs to flee back to his own body. And while this can't be true, he still has one last Horcrux, the ring with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone, he still feels an eviscerating fear, because why would a dead man lie to him?

Note: for the purposes of this story, I've assumed that Voldemort can't split his soul into more than seven parts. Whether this is supported by canon we won't know until Book 7 is published, but although Voldemort knows that the diary has been destroyed, he doesn't appear to have made any attempt to replace it.