*A thank you to sydni for betaing this for me*
Sorry for the long wait...
Note:
Harry = the one that was already in the past
other Harry = the one that showed up in the Room
Chapter 3
The room was silent. Harry briefly wondered if it was ever proven true that a pin dropping can be heard in a quiet room. Behind him, Tom had stopped resisting and was currently staring at the bed with his mouth wide open.
"W-What?" The Harry on the bed was staring at them wide-eyed. "1943?" Hoping that he wouldn't be pissed at him, Harry decided to take the opportunity to shove the distracted Tom out of the room and slammed the door shut. While he couldn't hear anything, he was pretty sure Tom was banging on the door, and using his rather colossal spell lexicon to try and open the door. He wanted explanations, but going from the horrified look on the other Harry's face, he needed the explanation first. Harry took a few steps forward, and his counterpart pushed himself away from him. Harry sighed.
"Look, calm down," Harry said in what he hoped was a comforting voice. "If you start freaking out, everything will go from bad to worse."
"Hasn't it already?" the other Harry said hysterically, looking at him fearfully. "If someone meets with themselves in the past, don't they erase themselves?" Harry tried to get closer, but the other Harry yelled at him. "Stay away!"
"Calm down," Harry repeated, walking towards him. The other Harry collided with the wall. Harry stood next to the bed and stared at him. Reaching out, Harry gripped the shoulder of the other Harry who flinched slightly. After a minute, the fear and concern left his face to be replaced by confusion.
"What are you doing?" Harry removed his hand and stared at him again.
"Do you or I look insane or vanished at all?" The other Harry blinked.
"No…"
"Then, forget what Hermione said about the Time Turner," Harry said dryly. "You didn't even get here using a Time Turner, right?" The other Harry nodded.
"No, but I am in the past now, right?" Harry nodded. "How?" Harry shrugged.
"I guess it had something to do with the Room," Harry said, indicating his surroundings.
The other Harry looked at him curiously before his eyes widened. Harry assumed he remembered what was said earlier.
"You said welcome to 1943?" Harry, patiently, nodded. Was he always this slow?
"Yeah, that's the year you ended up in." The other Harry looked at him horrified again.
"So, that person was Tom Riddle?" The other Harry started shaking. "What are you doing with Voldemort?" Harry shook his head.
"That's not Voldemort," he said earnestly. "His name is Tom Riddle, not Voldemort."
"Well, not yet," the other Harry shot back. "He will be." Harry shook his head.
"He is not Voldemort. He will never be Voldemort."
"What makes you say that?"
"I changed him." The other Harry looked surprised.
"You changed him?" Harry nodded. "So that was why you were here in this time?" Harry nodded again. The other Harry clutched the blanket tighter. "How do you know?" he asked. Harry's lips twitched.
"I've been with him for the last six years." Harry suddenly frowned. "I'm not exactly sure what changed him. It might have something to do with him not being alone." The other Harry looked at him in disbelief.
"He did all those horrible things in the future because he was 'lonely'?" Harry shrugged slightly.
"If you have something better, feel free to share." Harry glanced at the door. The other Harry looked up as the door shook a little.
"Is he trying to get in?" The other Harry asked, worried.
"No doubt in my mind," Harry replied bluntly, causing the other Harry to whimper. Harry gave him an odd look. Why was he acting so wimpy?
"What?" the other Harry defended himself. "I won't believe you until I see it for myself that he changed. He'll still be the Riddle that tried to kill me in my— our second year." At the look on Harry's face, he quickly added, "At least for now." Harry shook his head.
"That wasn't it, though thank you for actually giving him a chance. I mean about your behavior."
"What's wrong with the way I act?" the other Harry shot back. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, ignoring how the door slightly shook again. The other Harry gave the door a cautious look before facing Harry. "What's your problem with me?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about the way you keep cowering or flinching whenever Tom is mentioned," the other Harry stared at him in shock.
"What do you want me to do when facing the person who grows up to murder my— our parents?" the other Harry said rather calmly, his eyes giving away the annoyance he was feeling.
"Well, to start, how about not acting like a coward," Harry replied, his face giving away his own annoyance. "You were sorted into Gryffindor, weren't you?"
"What house people get sorted in does not 100% describe a person."
"So that means you're not brave?" Harry deadpanned. Harry was now positive he had never acted like this in the future.
"I'm plenty brave. I'm just repeating what Aunt Petunia said when I got into Gryffindor, not Hufflepuff, the other Harry said hotly. Harry laughed.
"Well, Aunt Petunia could just— wait what?" Harry blinked. "A-Aunt Petunia?" The other Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. She said I shouldn't base my personality on what house I'm in." Harry stared at him, stunned.
"Why would Aunt Petunia give any sort of advice to you?" It didn't make any sense. Aunt Petunia couldn't care less about whatever happened to him, especially if it involves the Wizarding World. The other Harry glared at him.
"Because she is my— our aunt," he said, annoyed. Harry shook his head.
"You're lying," Harry whispered. The other Harry blinked.
"Why would I be lying?" When Harry didn't answer, the other Harry looked at him in concern.
"Why—" The door behind them slammed open, and a pissed off Tom stalked in, glaring at them furiously. Next to Harry, the other Harry flinched and ducked behind Harry. Noticing this, Tom calmed down somewhat, and gave Harry a glance.
"He's not going to do anything to you," Harry said in amusement; however his smile didn't reach his eyes. The other Harry blushed, and stepped away from Harry to face Tom, though he still stayed behind Harry. Tom's eyes flickered between them both.
"What happened?" he finally asked. Both Harrys looked at each other.
"Explain." The other Harry hesitated slightly.
"Should I say everything?" Harry nodded.
"I trust him." Tom raised an eyebrow at the other Harry's hesitation, but didn't comment. The other Harry took a deep breath, and turned to face him.
"I'm not exactly sure what happened. I was in this room in the future. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was here with you guys." When he stopped speaking, Tom stared at him.
"That's it?" Tom said skeptically.
"What was the last thing that happened before you ended up here?" Harry asked, curiously. To his surprise, the other Harry's lips started trembling; his eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Department of Mysteries," he whispered. Harry froze. That meant—
"Sirius…" The other Harry nodded. Harry closed his eyes. It had been years since he thought about that day. Tom was looking at them in concern.
"Are you alright?" he asked, directing the question to the two of them. Harry blinked a few times before nodding. The other Harry stared at the ground, and gave no response.
"My godfather," Harry told him. Tom's eyes widened in understanding. The other Harry looked at him in alarm.
"He knows?" he hissed at Harry. Harry gave him a small smile.
"I trust him," Harry repeated, in a tone that reminded the other Harry of Dumbledore. Tom looked bothered.
"I apologize if I unknowingly did something wrong, but could you please explain to me what was it exactly that I did?" The other Harry looked at him in shock, while Harry looked away guiltily.
"You didn't say anything to him?" Harry shook his head. Tom looked at them, confused.
"What didn't you say to me?" Harry still didn't look at him, while the other Harry was looking between them both.
"Do you who know Voldemort is? The other Harry asked, slowly. Tom looked at him in surprise before nodding.
"He was the Dark Lord from the future, I believe," Tom responded, looking at Harry for confirmation. Harry, however, was determined to look at anything but him. The other Harry nodded.
"That is correct." The other Harry glanced at Harry again, trying to gauge his reaction. He was trembling right now. "Do you know who he is?" Tom shook his head. Harry stiffened.
"Who was he?" Tom was giving the other Harry his full attention, missing the frantic look on Harry's face. The other Harry hesitated at seeing Harry shaking his head, a horrified look in his eyes. Tearing his eyes away from him, the other Harry focused on Tom, determined to reveal the information. "Is he someone I know?" Tom asked.
"Yes, you know him." Tom looked thoughtful.
"Is it— no, can't be," Tom started mumbling to himself. He straightened up and looked at the other Harry again. "Who was he?" he repeated. The atmosphere became almost suffocating for Harry. Still trembling, he slowly made his way towards the door. His fingers curled around the doorknob. On the other side of the room, the other Harry pulled out his wand, and, mimicking Tom Riddle from the Chamber of Secrets, wrote out, TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE.
"This is your name, right?" the other Harry asked, taking a step so he was standing next to Tom.
"Yes…" he said slowly, frowning. Harry turned the doorknob, and the door opened silently.
"An anagram." The other Harry waved his wand, and the letters shifted to make, I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. Tom's face paled. Turning around, Tom opened his mouth, but stopped.
Harry was long gone.
Again, sorry for the long wait...
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