The Claws Of Depression

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry I took so long to post this chapter, but my Internet has been down. (I accidentally tripped over the Internet cable and broke it.)

I want to thank you all again for reading my story and also for all your kind reviews, I really appreciate it :)!

I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter!

Rating: M, just to be safe.

Pairings: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle.

Warnings: Contains swearing, depression, suicide attempts, and self-harm.

Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, a depressed Harry commits suicide, wanting nothing more but to rest in peace. But someone has other plans for him. Harry is instead sent to the year 1944, where he is reunited with his old arch nemesis, Tom Riddle. Will this experience heal him, or forever break him?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter Three:

Being Reunited with One's Archenemy

Harry was frozen in pure horror. This couldn't be happening! Voldemort was still alive! All he wanted to do was die, but instead he got sent into the past, and on top of that, to the period of his future arch enemy's school days. This was a nightmare!

Just the thought of meeting Tom Riddle sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't bear to see the face of the person that would end up destroying the Wizarding World and killing innocent people.

The guilt he felt was consuming him and was killing him from the inside. He didn't want to be forced to relive every moment of it just by looking into his eyes. It sounded like pure torture to him.

Harry could say that fate was being a right bitch towards him, but he knew deep down that he deserved this punishment.

Whether he had wanted it or not, he had been entrusted with the fate of the Wizarding World. But he hadn't taken it seriously. And when he had finally realized the importance of his role, the damage had been long done.

And when he had realized the importance of it all, he still didn't do much to help. He had been so self-centered at the time. He had only thought of himself and had taken everything for granted. If he had tried harder, then he could have destroyed Voldemort a lot earlier and therefore, prevented numerous deaths.

He was supposed to be their savior, but instead he felt like their slayer. He had condemned them all to years of suffering. Those were years that they would never get back. He was responsible for ruining everyone's lives.

It was selfish of him, but Harry didn't want a reminder of everything that happened. It was too painful for him.

Harry got pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Professor Slughorn gazing at him worriedly.

"Harry? Are you alright, my boy?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm still a bit tired, is all," Harry replied, sheepishly.

He was hoping that Slughorn was going to buy the terrible excuse. He didn't feel like explaining everything that happened. He knew for a fact that the man wouldn't believe him. He already thought he had time traveled on purpose. He didn't want to make things worse.

Fortunately he was in luck as he saw the man nodding sympathetically.

"Well, you were out of it for three days, so it's understandable. Even our famous Time Traveler needs to rest," he said brightly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The way he said it made Harry wonder if he meant it as a joke, or if he was really serious. He sincerely hoped that it was the former and not the latter.

"You'll need to take it easy for a couple of days," the man then advised him.

The rest of the trip was done in silence. Or at least he thought so. The professor could have been talking to him, but he was too preoccupied with this newest development to really pay attention.

Harry was desperately looking for a way out of this situation. He usually possessed some type of talent to get himself out of sticky situations. But this time, it proved to be useless. Nothing was coming to mind.

His stomach was filled with dread. In a couple of minutes, he was going to be face to face with Tom Riddle and there was nothing he could do about it.

All too soon he was standing in front of the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. Unlike the Gryffindor entrance, it didn't have a portrait guarding it, but a stone wall.

Slughorn said the password and the wall slid to the right, revealing the passage to the Common Room.

The Potions professor motioned for him to go through first. Resisting the urge to run away, he stepped into the room.

He repressed a shudder at the cold atmosphere of the room. He'd only been in there once, back in his second year at Hogwarts, so he'd forgotten how uncomfortable it was.

He wasn't overly surprised though when he noticed that Riddle wasn't in the Common Room. After all, It was still early, so he was most likely still sleeping.

He barely managed to stop a hysterical giggle from escaping his lips. He found it weird that a future Dark Lord would need something so basic as sleep. It just seemed so... human.

Harry saw Professor Slughorn make his way to where he assumed were the seventh year Slytherin dorm. He waited anxiously, his heart hammering in his chest.

A couple of seconds later, the man reemerged from the room, a disappointed expression on his face.

"He's not there. He must have gone to the library."

Relief washed over him. Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. But his relief was short lived, however, as Slughorn suddenly cheered up. He could easily tell that he had an idea, but also that he wasn't going to like what it entailed.

"I'll go look for young Tom in the library," he announced, seemingly pleased with himself for coming up with the idea.

Harry paled.

"NO!" he blurted out, a little too quickly. He mentally cursed himself when he saw the bewildered look on the other's face. "I mean that it won't be necessary," he then said, more calmly. "I was thinking of taking a nap anyway, so I can just meet him when he returns to the Common Room."

The professor was once again sporting the disappointed look. Harry felt slightly irritated at this. He knew that the man just wanted to show him off, like he was just some possession.

Slughorn didn't push the issue though, for which Harry was glad.

"Well, if you're sure... Have a nice rest, I'll check up on you later," he told him, before exiting the room.

Harry trudged up the stairs and opened the door to his new dorm. He then flung himself onto one of the beds, his mind reeling.

If only he had been in Gryffindor Tower. He could have opened the window in his dorm and jumped.

He also wasn't so stupid as to leave the Common Room and try to jump off the Astronomy Tower in broad daylight. If someone caught him then things wouldn't bode well for him.

He could already tell that Dumbledore was suspicious about the conditions of his arrival, and so that he would be watching him closely. No, Harry had to be smart about this. He had to do it when he was sure nobody was looking, but before the old headmaster found out about his suicidal tendencies.

Harry sighed. He had managed to postpone briefly the meeting between him and Riddle, but he resigned himself to the fact that in the end, there was no escaping it. He needed a plan.

He thought about just murdering the man the moment he laid eyes upon him, but he knew that he couldn't bring himself to do that. While he had no qualms about killing Voldemort, the younger version of him was another case. He was a horrible person, no doubt about that, but he technically hadn't committed any of the horrible crimes he was responsible for in the future yet.

"Coward," a little voice in the back of Harry's head said to him.

He was only looking for excuses not to do it, and he knew it. He was too much of a wimp to kill him again. Well, If you thought about it, he wasn't really the one who had killed Voldemort the first time. He had been killed by his own rebounding curse.

Harry covered his face with his hands and groaned. He had no idea what to do.

Tom Riddle was frustrated. He was making no progress whatsoever. The books he had found concerning Horcruxes weren't any help to him. And the problem was that there weren't a lot of books on this subject, so this made his studying a lot more complicated.

These mood swings he was experiencing were getting tiresome. He had no doubt that it was one of the side effects of creating Horcruxes. But certainly there was a way to get rid of this inconvenience. Tom Riddle simply could not be emotionally unstable.

The only wizard who was publicly known for successfully creating one was Herpo the Foul, and that was thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, no one knew if he was still alive or not, so Tom couldn't track him down.

He could feel the anger boiling inside of him. He knew that if he didn't release any of it soon then he would end up hurting someone.

So he was making his way to the Slytherin Common Room where he knew that he would be alone.

Tom Riddle practically hissed the password and stepped into the Common Room. Within seconds he had opened the door to his dorm and stepped into the room.

He stopped in his tracks though when he saw that there was another person there with him, a man more precisely. He was lying on his bed and his eyes were closed. His hand went immediately to his wand. He pointed it at the intruder, ready to defend himself if necessary.

The other person though didn't seem to notice he was there.

He cautiously approached him, while keeping his wand elevated. Now that he was able to get a closer look at his face, he noticed that the man was in fact the one that had appeared at Hogwarts three days ago.

"What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

The effect was instantaneous. The man's eyes shot open in pure shock. Panicking, he rolled off the bed and fell head first onto the floor. Tom knew that must have hurt. But he raven haired man jumped to his feet and faced him, seemingly ignoring the pain.

Tom's anger was now replaced by amusement. He loved having that king of reaction on others.

But Tom quickly noticed that there was something off about him. He could see all types of emotions flowing in his eyes. He first saw shock, then hate and weariness, and finally resignation.

He resisted the urge to frown. Why would he hate him? They didn't even know each other, did they? It was just like a couple of days earlier where he thought he saw some type of recognition flash in his eyes moments before he collapsed. It was odd.

"You startled me," the man uttered, meeting his gaze.

He seemed to relax, but Tom knew better. In fact, if he hadn't spent years studying each person's body language, then he would have fallen for it. The man was far too tense to be relaxed. It was as if he was expecting him to unexpectedly attack him. Another thing he found extremely odd.

"Clearly," Tom stated, not bothering to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Silence followed that statement. Tom noted that even though the other's gaze hadn't wavered, he was fidgeting slightly. He was uncomfortable in his presence.

"Name?" Tom inquired.

"What?" the other said stupidly.

"Your name," he repeated calmly. "It's polite to introduce yourself when you meet someone new."

"Oh." He blushed slightly. "Harry Potter."

"Potter? I can't say I've heard of a Harry Potter before. Are you related to Charlus Potter by any chance?

The man hesitated. "In a way," he then conceded.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the non-answer, but didn't comment on it.

"Well Potter, I'm afraid that you haven't answered my first question. What are you doing here?"

"I... Uh..." Potter shuffled his feet slightly. "I got sorted here. The headmaster said I should stay at Hogwarts until he finds a way to send me back."

"Send you back where?"

Potter didn't say anything for a moment. He seemed to be looking for his words.

"To my time," he finally said.

Tom's eyes widened in surprise before he could stop himself. A time traveler? It wasn't unheard of, but it remained extremely rare. The last person who had managed to time travel was over two hundred years ago.

It seemed far fetched for Tom. But Potter's eyes held no lies in them. That could mean two things. Either he was an excellent actor, or else he was telling the truth. But by looking closely at Potter, Tom was thinking more the latter.

"Prove it," he ordered.

Tom saw him stiffen even more. A sign that he was getting angry. He obviously hated when others gave him orders.

"Why?" he retorted.

"Do you really need me to answer that question, Potter?"

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"I'm not asking you to believe me."

He took a couple of steps towards Potter, until he was standing right in front of him. This was an intimidation tactic he used often on his Death Eaters. While most of them would have backed away, Potter stood his ground.

"I take it you're not going to give me any proof, so I can only conclude that you're lying. And I don't take well to liars," he told him in a menacing voice.

"I'm not scared of you."

Tom found him amusing. A lot more amusing than his followers in fact. It was just like having a disobedient pet whom he had to train. And that's exactly what he intended to do.

"Oh, but you will be," he promised reaching out to touch Potter's cheek, only for him to jerk out of the way."You will be."

Tom then stepped away from him and made his way to the door. He put his hand on the handle and glanced back at his new housemate.

"Oh and by the way Potter, that was my bed you were lying on earlier."

Potter blushed furiously in response. He looked away from him, visibly flustered. Tom smirked. This was going to be fun.

Harry spent most of the day in his new dorm, in order to avoid Riddle. He had talked to him for literally ten minutes and it was pure torture. He was arrogant and narcissistic, everything he hated. And on top of that a murderer, a sadistic and prejudiced git.

He wondered what the Death Eaters saw in him to respect and remain loyal to him during all these years. It was a complete mystery to him.

Riddle seemed to be sure that in time, he was going to be terrified of him. Well, he was going to be in for a nasty surprise. Harry used to fear Voldemort, there was no use in denying it, but his fear was rapidly triumphed by the unadulterated hatred he felt towards him.

And this younger version of Voldemort didn't scare him either. The only thing he had succeeded in doing was making him a slight bit uncomfortable, but everyone had that effect on him to a certain extent when they stared at him.

But he had noticed that Riddle's stare was different from the others. It held a more sinister edge. He had looked at him like he was some lab rat he wanted to dissect, and he didn't like that one bit.

He had known from the start that he was going to attract Riddle's attention, just with the fact that he was new.

He had also known that when he told him that he was a time traveler. Whether he believed him or not wasn't the issue. In any case, he didn't win. If he believed him, then he would be pestering him for information concerning the future, and if he didn't, then he would be a liar and his life would be made more difficult for it. So he had been reluctant to tell him.

Harry sighed. If he stayed in here any longer, then someone would come and drag him out of there by force.

He opened the dorm door and stepped out of the room.

"Harry, my boy!" Professor Slughorn's voice boomed, making Harry jump violently.

The professor was sitting on one of the settees in the Common Room. Riddle was sitting on the other one.

"Hi Professor," he greeted, forcing a smile on his lips. He wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"I feel great, thank you sir," he lied.

"Brilliant!" the man exclaimed. "I trust you've met Tom here?" he continued, gesturing Riddle with his hand.

Harry nodded.

"Come! Join us!" Slughorn invited him, who was now beckoning him to come closer. "We were just talking about you."

Harry reluctantly joined them. He sat down next to Slughorn, who was now transfiguring a quill into a cup.

"Tea?" he offered.

"Please."

The cup was quickly filled with tea and shoved into his hands. Harry thanked him and took a quick sip. He glanced at Riddle. He looked awfully calm for someone who had spent a while talking to Slughorn.

Riddle, probably sensing that he was being looked at, turned his head slightly and locked eyes with him. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Riddle diverted his gaze once more.

"So, Harry, how are you settling in?" the professor asked him.

"Well, as good as anyone who'd be in my situation, I suppose," he answered honestly.

The man chuckled.

"How is it you managed to time travel?" Riddle asked him, keeping his expression neutral. But Harry could tell he was curious.

"I don't really know," Harry replied, resisting the urge to beat him senseless. "The last thing I remember is falling through a veil."

He knew he was forced to stick with the same story he told Professors Dumbledore and Dippet. After all, he couldn't really go and invent a new story now. These types of things would end up catching back to him in the end, as everything tended to do with him.

"A veil?" Slughorn said, frowning in confusion. Harry guessed that he had never heard of the veil in the Department of Mysteries. He wondered vaguely if he was going to ask about it. But he didn't. "But you said that it's the last thing you remember, surely you must know how you came here."

Harry gritted his teeth.

"Professor, I know you think that I came here on purpose, but I can assure you I didn't. What satisfaction do you think I can have with time traveling? I didn't want this!" he retorted, fighting to keep the venom out of his voice.

Apparently he didn't succeed well enough.

"Hey, now no need to get angry, my boy!" the man told him, lifting his hands in surrender.

"Sorry," he muttered, even though he didn't mean it.

Professor Slughorn beamed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I came here to tell you that someone would be taking you to Diagon Alley tomorrow so that you can get some school supplies. Now usually we would order them by owl, but the headmaster told me that apparently you've lost your wand."

"Yeah, someone took it away from me just before I came here."

"Then be at the headmaster's office by noon, you'll be flooing there. And as soon as that's settled you'll be able to start catching up on your work. Tom has agreed to help you out a little," the man announced happily.

Harry's stomach dropped.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, Tom here will be tutoring you until you're up do date, and there's a lot of work for you to catch up on. But he's a stellar student, so no worries."

Harry didn't want to be forced to spend anymore time than necessary with Riddle.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be an imposition," he said, choosing his words carefully.

"Nonsense!"

"It's no trouble I assure you Potter," Riddle then said, a charming smile plastered on his face. But Harry could see the evil glint in his eyes lingering underneath his mask.

"Excellent, well then I'll take my leave. I'll see you both tomorrow," the professor declared, standing up.

The man left the room, leaving the two Slytherins together.

Harry closed his eyes and laid his head back on the sofa.

Today had exhausted him both physically and mentally. Finding out he'd time traveled to the past, and also being reunited with your old archenemy had taken a lot out of him.

He had had enough. He could only hope that it would end soon. He had a feeling that he'd go mad if this went on for too long.

Harry knew he was being stared at, but he was too tired and depressed to take any notice. He stood up and made his way back up to the dorm. He made sure to lie down on his own bed this time. He took off his glasses and put them on the bedside table.

He was asleep within seconds.

A/N: Well, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter.

Please pop in a review! I love hearing (or, technically, reading) your opinions :).

Have a nice day or evening ! Until next chapter!