Chapter Two

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Things are very wrong. I can feel the cool air of the hallway, I can smell the musty dust ridden castle - this isn't right. I'm supposed to be watching everything that will happen to me, I'm supposed to travel through time in a wisp of smoke, unnoticed by all; but I'm not; I'm here in the flesh, and someone is talking to me. When you travel as a Seer you travel as a spirit, a physical entity; but I'm flesh, blood, mind, body and soul, all right here, standing where I'd assume the Room of Requirement used to be in my time at Hogwarts.

I can't tell what I look like, but I know my clothing is the same; and I know there is an older woman, shockingly pale who is leaning against a wall looking as if I'm the bloody grim reaper here to collect her soul. Her hand is covering her mouth, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing her as the woman Dumbledore has around his office as a trainee. I think it's Dumbledore's girlfriend, fifty years older.

She hasn't moved since she's first caught sight of me, she hasn't made a sound, maybe she died of a heart attack and I just don't know it. But her eyes are on me, a splash of fear I've never seen the likes of before.

I try to remember her name, but everything is a bit much. I'm really not supposed to be here!

She finally lets out a shaky gasp that is so alike her expression that I even become a little afraid; she's coming to her senses, I can tell because she's rummaging through her robes to find her wand, but she's fumbling awful badly.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I say. I say this to calm the pitiful looking woman, but she ignores me as she drops her wand.

I step on it as it rolls towards me, and she looks from her wand up to me, eyes full of horror.

"How did you get in here?" she asks, her voice quivering, but she's started to get a hold of herself.

I'm not quite sure how to answer her, so I don't.

"What year is this?" I ask.

Her mouth falls open a little, staring at me hard, "You can't be- Can't be him."

"Tom Riddle?" I ask in a low voice. She recognizes me, but from where? Surely not just Dumbledore's classes.

She slowly nods, "Riddle? "

"I am," I say. "Now could you tell me what year it is?"

She thinks she's helpless, because I have a wand out from the spell, and her wand is under my foot. I'm really not certain why she's afraid of me, but if that's the only way I'd get answers, then I'd go with it.

"How...are you here?"

"Listen, lady," I say fed up with her confusion at my being here. I'm more confused then she is - well by look on her face, maybe not. "I just want to know what year it is."

"19...1998…" She says slowly.

!998, and my year is 1945. I'm a long way from home I guess, fifty-three years away. 'How am I here?' that's actually a question I'm really started to wonder about.

Maybe Dumbledore knows, maybe he's stuck around in Hogwarts for the past fifty-three years, he would, it would be so like him. But did I really want to rush off to Dumbledore? I hated him, I didn't want him to know what sort of mess I had gotten myself into, because the truth is, I have no idea how to get home, I never thought of this happening.

If I swallow my pride what would happen if Dumbledore saw me? Would his reaction be quite like this woman's?

I screw pride, mostly because I want to know what's going on here, and Dumbledore always knows, because he can't keep his nose out of anything.

"Can you tell me where I can find Professor Dumbledore?" I ask her.

If I thought she looked frightened before this was nothing to the horror and now, confusion that filled her face this time.

I give her an annoyed look, and she mutters, "Al-Albus i-is dead..."

Dead? That's a shocker, but the real thing that shocks me the most is how she said this, as if I was the one who caused his death.

"Dead," I say simply, watching for her reaction.

She winces.

"Well, if he can't tell me what's going on here, then maybe you can," I say to her.

She looks at me, sternly, "May I have my wand back?"

There's a squeak in her voice, because she's still afraid, but I think she's come to figure out that I don't know why she's afraid of me.

I look at her blank faced, she's under my power, all I have to do is use that. I scoop up the wand, and twirl it in my had for a moment, and then turn my eyes towards her.

"What happened to Dumbledore?" I ask coolly.

She doesn't answer right away, and I'm just about to tap my wand, to remind her who's in charge, but I hear footsteps coming, and as I glance over she catches me off guard, in one bold movement, she snatches her wand from me and yells, "Stupify!"

Black. Still. Nothingness.

I wake up, the room is fuzzy, and when things start to come in I realize I'm on a couch, in a house. My confusion is only matched by my anger when I realize I can't move.

Not only do I have my hands, legs and feet all tied up in silvery looking rope, but I also have the full body bind curse upon me, a silencing spell, and a dozen other spells around me that I can sense but can't identify.

I forced to stare directly at a empty fireplace, and I'm laying on my side, it's really rather uncomfortable.

I hear voices behind me, I can make out that there is a mob of people, I can't count how many because they're voices run together, and all of them are talking as if panicked.

"Harry, what's your call?" I hear a man ask someone.

"Get a Veritaserum," Harry says in the distance.

My guess is he's using that potion on me to get me to tell him what I know; of course to his disappointment I won't be able to explain what he thinks I'll be able to. Oh well, that's not my problem; what is, is getting out of this place, out of this time, well, after I find out what happened to me of course. I didn't travel all this way for nothing.

Two guys, one older with brown hair and shabby robes and the other about my age, black hair and glasses over green eyes, pull up chairs and sit in front of me.

The older guy removes my silencing charm.

"What's the big idea?" I ask, they think I'm playing dumb – but really I'm not.

"Open your mouth," the boy says to me; he looks at me with a look of pure disgust and hatred.

I do as he says as I see the Veritaserum in his hand, he opens the bottle and dumps a few drops into my mouth, I swallow it.

"Riddle?" the boy asks me.

"Yes," I say by force, though I would have told him anyway.

"Do you know who I am?" he asks eyeing me.

"I really don't know who you are," I say. "You don't even look remotely familiar, but then again you were born after my time."

He turns to the older man, giving him a confused look.

"Is this stuff any good?" he asks.

"The best," the older man frowns. "He's telling the truth."

"Blimey," the guy whispers. "How did you get into Hogwarts?"

"Traveled through time," I say. "I've been working since my fifth year to discover a way to travel through time. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this, I wasn't supposed to actually go through time, I was just supposed to see it."

"Why?"

"I wanted to see what became of me," I say. "In my future."

Duh.

"I've been curious ever since I uncovered the secret of the Chamber of Secrets; when I learned of what I was capable of being."

The two stare at me dumbfounded as if I'm some test subject that's turned blue when I'm supposed to turn green.

"What year are you from?" the other guy asks.

"1945, I'm a seventh year at Hogwarts School," I say. "I did my spell in the room of requirement, that's why I was in the castle."

"Is that the only reason you traveled through the future?" glasses guy asks.

"Yes," I say. "I just wanted to see myself. I didn't plan on actually interacting with my future; I was going to be a passerby as I traveled as a Seer."

This truth serum, though strong at first, was beginning to wearing off now.

"Will you undo these spells now?" I ask. "It's awful uncomfortable."

The older man gives a heavy laugh, saying "Uncomfortable."

The older man walks away, going to talk to the people in the background.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm Harry Potter," he says.

If this was supposed to register anything in my mind, it didn't – but that was how Harry was looking at me.

"Well, Harry," I say. "Could you please at least the body bind?"

Harry just stares at me; his green eyes are still full of seething hatred.

Clearly, whatever I have done has warranted me a few enemies over the years.

"I don't think so, Tom," he says.

"Why?" I ask.

He looks at me like I'm mad.

"Bloody hell!" he runs a hand through his hair. "I don't trust you is why."

"You put a bloody truth potion on me, what else do you want?" I ask.

"I don't trust your word," he says. "I know what you're capable of."

"I know what I'm capable of too! And believe me; I'm not going to go around cursing anyone here or anything."

The look he gives me tells me he really doubts this.

"I just want to find out about me, and then I want to go home," I say. "That's it, I swear."

"Why do you want to find out about you?" Harry asks.

"Because I want to know I've become something powerful, someone memorable."

"Oh," Harry says bluntly. "You are."

What did that mean? – I had to know, I had to get him to untie me.

"Listen, I don't know what I've done to you, or what I've done at all for that matter," I say. "So either explain it to me or let me go, because I don't have anything more I can tell you."

"Shut up," he hisses at me.

He infuriates me, mostly because he reminds me of me.

Harry turns to shout to someone, "Oiy, Malfoy!"

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Author's Message:

Please R&R, and thanks for reading, and thanks to all those who have reviewed.