Binaries

By BEWD Sorcerer

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, then we'd love it even more, but since I don't, we have to settle for fanfiction.

AN: #munches on a banana nut muffin# - Yummy muffins.

Formatting for this chapter is a little odd. T-T It looks so neat in pen and in Word, but... ff dot net makes it look plain. #pout# We've finally gotten into already written encounters. For the most part, they won't change like the dialogue, but Harry needs to sound out some people. The perspective is a little funny; please bear with me. T - T

Another set of plotbunnies have attacked me and I'll be writing and posting them soon enough. Hint: this time think dressy.

I'm assuming that everyone reading this has read HBP? Otherwise you are going to be so lost. This story is as canon as I can make it, weaving between the published word and what is assumed by us readers. XD

#flash#

/spell/

#thoughts#

"Out loud speech, English"

'Parseltongue' Parseltongue in a dream or memory will not be in italics.

:Link Speech: Note: not L337 speak

7. Familiar Face?

Voldemort's POV

A brother I don't remember, how can this be? I have two sets of memories, one true and one false. The question is: which is which? No one can lie to me and get away with it, not Snape nor Dumbledore, but especially not someone whose mind is an open book.

How could I forget Kieran? It pains me to remember all that happened. Everything was going fine until… something. I can't remember what happened.

#flash#

"Tom! What's going on? What's that noise? Are they coming to bomb us again? Tom!"

#back#

It was during an attack… on Hogwarts, but whom – hungry, red orange eyes – what attacked? Back then, who were they afraid of? Which – sharp, yellow teeth bared in a cruel smile – Dark wizard?

I can't remember and I become all the more confused the more I try to focus.

#flash#

"What are we going to do?" Kieran hisses so quietly so that the Beast cannot hear him, shivering, shuddering, quivering body of my little brother against mine.

#back#

The creature had found us and we were helpless, stood there, huddling together. It was so cold; he made it cold. We didn't stand a chance.

#flash#

The hungry wolf set upon us, knocking us out.

#back#

He took us out of Hogwarts, far out into the Forbidden Forest. Then he set up the ritual and secured the area. We woke up while he was off putting up wards.

#flash#

"Kieran! Wake up! WAKE UP!" My hissing must have finally woken him. Kieran's body spasms; he shakes his head, coming to, then he looks up so confused, blinking in the torchlight.

"Tom? What's going on? What – " His eyes go wide as he stares, horrified at something out of my field of vision. "Tom! He's behind you!"

#back#

He conducted the ritual; long incantations growled out in a slow, smug hum. By the end, there was blood everywhere; we were in such pain.

#flash#

Kieran tied to a stake with tears running down his face, reaching out with one free arm desperately trying to get across the clearing to Tom.

#back#

Then the pain worsened and everything went red, fading to black.

When we woke, we were in the infirmary. Dumbledore had found us and killed our kidnapper, but we still didn't trust him. He always has been a manipulator.

#flash#

"I'm so glad that I was able to get there in time before one of you was killed; what is one twin without the other?" Dumbledore hovered triumphantly over Tom's hospital bed, where Kieran and Tom huddle under the sheets.

#back#

I could never forget – red, red everywhere; pouring from Kieran whose whole right shoulder to neck dripped the scarlet liquid – what happened that night, even to the point of continuous nightmares where he went further, where he took from me what is most precious.

Retracting within myself, I went on, slipping further and further away from everything and everyone.

They all noticed, but only Kieran would – could – did something about it. He was there – worried, green eyes – for me, comforting and warm. That's when we started sleeping in the same bed again, just like we had when we were younger.

#flash#

So close together that if someone had seen us, they wouldn't have been able to tell us apart. They never could, but they'd really have no chance now.

#back#

Some of Hogwarts inhabitants had the impression that I had been the slightly more dominant or extroverted one, so when Kieran played the part most couldn't tell the difference.

Not long after that I started having blackouts just a few at first, then increasing in number and length, making Kieran worry all the more.

#flash#

"Do you have any clue why that happened?" Kieran asks, sitting on the bed beside his twin.

"I got… a headache… like someone had driven a pike through the back of my scull and then there was this hissing – "

"What! Like Parseltongue?" Tom winced when he shook his head.

"No, like a human hissing in my ear. It was going on and on about how it had failed, but was given a second chance because of it's quick thinking and something about a horcrux?" They both looked puzzled.

"What's a horcrux?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we should ask anyone. We should check the library first." Together they nod decisively, then Kieran helps Tom up so they can go check out the library.

#back#

Until the day he finally took over. Only now do I see what happened, all the horrible things he's done in my body. There are too many to count, especially to Kieran.

#flash#

The twins are sitting in the common room, doing homework when they are approached by a group of their seedy looking peers. Kieran notices them first.

'Tom?'

"Hm?" He looks up at his twin, following his gaze to the group. "Oh, have a seat." They do so, making Kieran lean over to hiss in Tom's ear.

'Tom! What are you talking about? These are the bastards who cause us so much grief!' He stops to glare at the other Slytherins.

'They've seen the error of their ways and have apologized. They're not so bad.' Tom doesn't even pause in his work.

'You swore you'd never let them live it down after they covered our beds in stinksap first year. You said they'd rot in hell before you made polite conversation with them after they stole our book bags and hung them like mistletoe at the doors of the Great Hall in second year. When they locked us out of the castle in third year, you were ready and willing to tear down the entrance to get at them but Professor Merrythough happened by and let us in.' Kieran narrows his eyes, looking over his twin critically. 'Fine, but don't let them hurt you.' He snatches up his things, leaving the common room completely.

"What's with him?" One of the Slytherins asks, but Tom just shrugs, leaning forward.

"He's just being anti-social. Now, what have you got?"

#shift#

'There you are. Come, my queen basilisk. We must continue Salazar Slytherin's noble work.' Tom turns away.

'Tom! What the hell is wrong with you! You're a completely different person. It's almost as if you're… possessed.' Kieran stops to think about his realization. #Could… could he be possessed? But by what? Whom?# He waits just a little too long.

"That's enough! /Stupefy/" A red jet of magic hits Kieran in the chest, causing him to collapse.

#back#

All the things…

#flash#

Kieran approaches Tom in a deserted common room. "Tom, you've changed." He watches as his brother works jerkily.

"As have you," Tom snaps, still working.

"Yes, but I for the better and you for the worse."

"What's wrong? Can't stand how you used to be?"

"I was never cold or distant to you. I never snapped at you for nothing. What happened? Everything has changed since G - " His mouth continued, but the sound of the word was gone like someone had stolen the word. " - was defeated." Tom finally quits working, glaring up at Kieran.

"Well, of course everything's changed! A great dark lord – " Kieran's eyes widen and Tom quickly forges on. " - a tyrant has been brought down. You expect a peaceful time to be the same as wartime?"

"Tom, you're planning on becoming the next dark lord!" Tom has looked away and Kieran is shaking slightly in his shock. "I know you think mum was weak to have succumbed to death, but going so far as to hurt other people unnecessarily, to create more orphans to crowd those shit-holes we had to grow up in. What could have happened to have changed your mind so drastically that you'd toss aside all your morals you so rigorously upheld all your life until – you met G - " He paused, putting together the pieces.

"So glad you finally figured it out – for the second time, that is. When Blunderbore destroyed my body I had already made Tommy-boy here into my horcrux. His will is of no importance to me; I am the one in control, but I can't let you go blabbing and no matter how many times I obliviate you, you will probably always come to the realization that, no, I'm not Tommy, your darling big brother, so /obligatus/. You now can't speak to anyone unless I give you that privilege, not that it will matter much. We're graduating in two days and you're not exactly the most forthcoming to anyone besides your dear brother. You also can't leave any building without me, so prepare yourself to live with me and die with me and since I have gone farther than anyone else to achieve immortality that's not going to be anytime soon." Tom-not-Tom smirks as Kieran scowls darkly.

"You better find something quick or you'll end up quite dead much sooner than you expect." Tom-not-Tom growls, pulling Kieran to him by the front of his shirt.

"Is that a threat?" He growls, staring hatefully into angry, green eyes.

"So glad you can still recognize me as what I am." Kieran snarls right back, glaring into eyes no longer like his own.

"You won't be for much longer."

"Can't kill me as my twin and bound to me, dumbass."

"Kill? No, that'd be too merciful."

#back#

I spent all my time when I was myself trying to protect him. Even now he is still all I have. If – When he remembers everything, will he be able to forgive me? All of these transgressions… - Kieran chained to the bed, crying out - can he? I've done such horrible things… - blood running in rivers down Kieran's back - because of him.

& You would have done that anyway. &

No, I wouldn't! He's my brother!

& You had already done some things that normal brothers don't do by the time you lost control. &

I wouldn't have forced him! He's all I have… all I had.

& He'll come back to you; if you but ask, I'm sure. &

I…

& Ask him. He'll come running back to our open arms. &

#Wait a minute… # Our?

&…&

You! You're the one who made all these bad things happen! Get! Out!

& I don't think so, Tom. I've settled down so nicely and have already made a name that everyone fears with your looks. Just because you've demanded it, doesn't mean you're going to get it, child. I'm not your darling little brother, after all. &

Don't talk about him like that! I'm no child and if you don't get out, then I'll make you leave!

& You think you can? Your body has accepted me as a part of you. There's no chance that you could force me out. &

I'll find a way! #When we possessed Kieran, I shook loose his hold even if it was for just a little while. I bet if we merged again Kieran could eradicate him.#

High-pitched laughter echoes. & That's rich, but enough dawdling; it's time to put you asleep again. &

What? I won't let you do that! #Salazar! Who is he!#

& Too bad. Goodnight, Tommy-boy. &

#Oh no. He's G - #

'Harry's POV

"Oh dear. Oh dear, dear, dear."

I wrench my head up from where it had leant while I had zoned out. Something really bad had happened to Tom and now I have a few more hints.

Someone – no, something had possessed Tom, forcing him into unconsciousness for sixty-odd years. Now I just have to figure out how he did it, who he is, and how to force a merging. Could I possibly possess Voldemort? How dare that beast take the name we had so cheerfully chosen for Tom! It was just going to be a joke, but now…

"Wand out and follow me, Harry." Bumblebore's command breaks me from my thoughts. Up the garden path and through the doorway we go and then down the hallway to a door on the left leading to a sitting room.

Devastation meets our eyes. Broken glass and wood splinters everywhere. There's blood on the wall, a smashed grandfather clock and an overturned piano litter the room with more glass and keys. Feathers from pillows and overturned chairs lay scattered across the room.

At first glance I believe there to be no one here, but then a breathing chair catches my attention. Upon closer inspection I see that the 'chair' is really a rather familiar (if much older) person. This someone had been a source of information and praise to us when we first went to Hogwarts. Maybe he'll be of some assistance now as well…

The man is still pretending to be an overturned chair, so Dumbles plunges the tip of his wand into the 'seat' of the 'chair,' causing 'it' to jerk and yell, "Ouch!"

His pretense of being a chair vanished as he remained crouched if a bit aggravated and stunned at the casual gall the Headmaster had in greeting him so calmly.

I remain calm as the enormously fat, bald, old man and Dumbles chat despite the itching desire to pounce and do anything even strangle the ex-potions teacher to get the information about Tom's predicament if I have to. If anyone besides Dumblefuck and the Beast knew what is wrong with Tom, it will be this fat pushover fixing what he has just broken to try and avoid any wizards.

Finally he sees me and recognizes me by my scar.

#No one will ever recognize who I really am. No one except Tom really knew. I am not Harry Potter, but I will defeat the Dark Lord just not for the reasons they believe. I will get my brother back and neither Bumblebore nor his Roasting Chickens will get in my way. All I need to know is if Slughorn, Ron, Hermione, and Lupin can or will help me.#

I flick some hair out of my face, making my scar more visible.

#If you don't recognize me for me, then I will use my famous facade to lure you in and swear/coerce you into assisting me, whether you know it or not!#

I follow Slughorn's eyes to Dumbledore's injured hand and internally sneer.

#I hope that is hurting you badly, old man. You'll be hurting much more when I'm through with you. The Beast wouldn't have come hunting in Hogwarts if you hadn't been there.#

Then I notice the ring on the Headmaster's uninjured hand.

#No! The Gaunts' ring, why - how - where did he find that? The ring that Tom - no, the Beast mascarading as Tom came back with after killing our Uncle Morfin and the Riddles.#

I ignore Dumblefuck's not-so-subtle manipulations. It will be much easier to trick Slughorn into giving up illegal information if he returns to Hogwarts anyway.

"Professore Umbridge ran afoul of our centaur herd. I think you, Horace, would have known better than to stride into the forest and call a horde of angry centaurs 'filthy half-breeds'."

"That's what she did, did she?" Idiot woman. Never liked her." So maybe it isn't just the all the teachers and the entire student body of Hogwarts sans the Slytherins, though I did catch many of the Slytherins giving her dirty looks behind her back, even after being made part of the Inquisitorial Squad.

I chuckle, causing the other two wizards to look round at me and I immediately shift from evilly amused to pleasantly surprised at being amused. The other two give me a scrutinizing look to which I remain innocent.

"Sorry, it's just - I didn't like her either." Dumbledork must have taken this as a sign to let me work my charm as he stands, leaving a disappointed Slughorn to my care, to go to the bathroom.

Slughorn's uneasy resistance makes me smile, though internally I am frantically thinking of how I can steer a conversation that hasn't even stared yet onto the subject of brilliant old students. He finally notices something other that the famous lightening bolt scar.

"You look very like your father."

"That is what I've been told," I sigh. Of course that would be what this old buffer would start a conversation with.

"Except for your eyes. You've got - "

"My mother's eyes," I sit forward a bit. "I've seen someone else with very similar eyes though. It was in my second year. Did you happen to hear about that?" Slughorn looks pale as he nods his head slowly and I put on an innocently surprised face.

"You heard about the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets? About how a diary possessed a girl and had her set the basilisk upon the muggleborns?" Slughorn nods again, looking slightly sick but unable to wrench his gaze from my face.

"I'm confident that you know how Tom managed that? you were one of his teachers back then, weren't you?" More numb nodding from the old potions teacher makes me smile again.

"Please tell me, sir. If you have any information that could help me defeat the Dark Lord, please give it to me. I need all the help I can get and if you told me something that was helpful, I'd be eternally grateful... " Having the 'Boy-Who-Lived' in debt to him, what a juicy fly more succulent than any other coming the spider's way, but still Slughorn hesitates.

"Think about it, but in the mean time you should come back to Hogwarts. I'm sure plenty of students will be interested in what Snape has to say about the Dark Arts." Slughorn shifts uncomfortably. "You taught my parents, didn't you?" He nods, brightening.

"You shouldn't have favorites as a teacher, of course, but she was one of mine. your mother," Slughorn seems not to notice my sigh. "Lily Evans. One of the brightest I ever taught. Vivacious, you know. Charming girl. I used to tell her she ought to have been in my House. Very cheeky answers I used to get back too." It might not be so bad if Lily had been my mother, but the Beast took that from me too. Slughorn goes on to talk about Sirius, but a memory decides to make its appearance.

#flash#

Slughorn sitting behind his desk, eating crystallized pineapple, Tom and me on the other side.

"You two are the stars of my collection, the crown jewels. Neither is greater than the other; both revolving together to shine equally, like binaries." Tom and I smile at each other.

"Twin stars, sir?" Slughorn beams at us.

"Yes, twin stars. There's an old legend about twins, you know. It says that twins will have everything equal whether it be power, beauty, prestige, whatever. Both will be equal."

#back#

"Thought she must have been pure-blood, she was so good."

"One of my best friends is Muggle-born and she's the best in our year." #I wonder if I'll be able to say that when they know... will they stick with me? Or will they believe me insane and side with Dumbledork?#

"Funny how that sometimes happens, isn't it?" says Slughorn.

"Not really," I say coldly. #I don't know their position currently, but they're still my friends, despite some of our fights.#

Slughorn looks down at me in surprise. "You mustn't think I'm prejudiced! No, no, no! Haven't I just said your mother was one of my all-time favorite students? And there was Dirk Cresswell in the year after her too - now Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, of course - another Muggle-born, a very gifted student, and still gives me excellent inside information on the goings-on at Gringotts!"

He bounces up and down a little, smiling in a self-satisfied way, and pointed at the many glittering photograph frames on the dresser, each peopled with tiny moving occupants.

"All ex-students, all signed. You'll notice Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet, he's always interested to hear my take on the day's news. And Ambrosius Flume, of Honeydukes - a hamper every birthday, and all because I was able to give him a introduction to Ciceron Harkiss, who gave him his first job! And at the back - you'll see her if you just crane your neck - that's Gwenog Jones, who of course captains the Holyhead Harpies... People are always astonished to hear I'm on first-name terms with the Harpies, and free tickets whenever I want them!"

This thought seems to cheer him up enormously. He really hasn't changed in all these years.

"And all these people know where to find you, to send you stuff?" I ask slyly, knowing that his response will be negative since there haven't been any Death Eater visits. If the Beast remembers, then Slughorn will definitely be a dead man since he was the one who told us about horcruxes. I sigh internally because I know asking him a second time will be much harder than the first, especially since Tom was the one to ask the first time around.

His smile slides from his face not unlike the blood had less than an hour ago.

"Of course not," he finally says, looking down at me. "I have been out of touch with everybody for a year." He seems rather shocked and unsettled by this forced realization.

"Still... the prudent wizard keeps his head down in such times. All very well for Dumbledore to talk, but taking up a post at Hogwarts just now would be tantamount to declaring my public allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix! And while I'm sure they're very admirable and brave and all the rest of it, I don't personally fancy the mortality rate - " It sounds just like something he'd say with all his self-preservation instincts, but back then he had been the only one trustworthy.

"It's not required that you be in the Order to teach at Hogwarts. It wasn't like that fifty odd years ago, nor anytime after that. Most of the teachers aren't in it, and none of them have ever been killed - well, unless you count Quirrell, and he got what he deserved seeing as he was working with the Dark Lord." Slughorn gave me an odd look for calling him the name normally only heard from his followers.

"And it's not like you're going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts; that's going to be Snape's job this year, isn't it?" Slughorn nods, looking a little bemused.

"The staff are safer than most people while Dumbledore's headmaster; he's supposed to be the only one the Dark Lord every feared, isn't he?" Dumblefuck is a trouble magnet, but hearing me say this will encourage Slughorn and keep Dumbfuck confident in his delusional belief that I am on his side.

Slughorn gazes of into space for a moment or two, seeming to be thinking over my words.

"Well, yes, it is true that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has never sought a fight with Dumbledore," he murmurs grudgingly and I resist snarling. He was never scared of saying the Beast's real name, but he can't utter a name he knows that we jokingly made up. He probably doesn't want to remember that time we told him about it, a happy time with the future puppet of the Dark Lord and his tragic brother. I resist all outside reactions to these thoughts.

#flash#

"Voldemort? Where did that come from, if I may ask?" Slughorn wears a bemused smile as I clap a hand over my mouth to hold in the laughter.

"I wanted a more original name and after a bit of research - " Tom starts explaining.

" - using my lovely invention - " I hold up my Language Dictionary, handing it over to allow Slughorn to look it over.

" - we found that an anagram - "

" - of 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' that didn't sound like complete - " Tom cuts in.

" - idiocy, so I have decided that if I should ever lose my marbles - " I had been about to say something else, but that works, too.

" - or get really mad at Dumbledork - " Slughorn looks up a little shocked at my disrespect for the well-respected Transfiguration teacher. Well-respected to all but the Slytherin students and several choice wizards in the school and out in the Wizarding world.

" - and I decide that I am going to do something so stupid as to become - " Smiling, I jump in.

" - the next Dark Lord, then he's going to call himself - " Tom elbows me and I allow his grande finale.

" - Voldemort, which means 'Flight of Death'." Slughorn shakes his head, clearly amused.

"Kieran, this is brilliant and Tom, if you ever want to become a Dark Lord you'll have to first defeat G - "

#back#

Dumbledork re-enters the room, causing Slughorn to jump as though he had forgotten he was in the house.

"Oh, there you are, Albus. You've been a very long time. Upset stomach?"

"No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines. I do love knitting patterns. Well, Harry, we have trespassed upon Horace's hospitality quite long enough; I think it is time for us to leave."

Personally, I'd rather stay here and ply him for more information and get more flashes of memory yet still foggy, but I get up stiffly. I don't want to go with Dumblefuck. Slughorn seems taken aback.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes, indeed. I think I know a lost cause when I see one."

"Lost... ?" Slughorn fidgets agitatedly, twiddling his fat thumbs as he watches Dumbledork fasten his traveling cloak and me zip up my jacket.

"Well, I'm sorry you don't want the job, Horace," says Dumbledore, raising his uninjured hand in a farewell salute. "Hogwarts would have been glad to see you back again. Our greatly increased security notwithstanding, you will always be welcome to visit, should you wish to."

"Yes... well... very gracious... as I say..."

"Good-bye, then."

"Bye," I tell him, staring at him regretfully. I know he won't last. Just another little push...

We get to the front door when we hear a shout from behind us.

"All right, all right, I'll do it!" Dumbledork turns to see Slughorn standing breathless in the doorway to the sitting room.

"You will come out of retirement?"

"Yes, yes," says Slughorn impatiently. "I must be mad, but yes."

"Wonderful," Dumbledore says, beaming. "Then, Horace, we shall see you on the first of September."

"Yes, I daresay you will," grunts Slughorn. His eyes keep darting over to stare at me and I have to repress a grin.

As we set off down the garden path, Slughorn's voice floats after us, "I'll want a pay rise, Dumbledore!"

TBC...

AN: Because I'm sure you don't want to read anymore of this and I really hate writing between such narrow lines, I've weaved a little further off course and will continue to, dragging you all off on the path of my choosing.

To you who still don't know who 'G' is, this is a bit more teasing. 'Harry' is going to have to ask Slughorn in private what the Beast's name is. This is in no way Beauty and the Beast by the way, Disney version or otherwise unless the Beast rapes Beauty? Wtf? Yeah right, anyway, chapter 8 already in progress. This is what I do in school when I'm not working, after all.

By the way, who actually went and looked up binaries when they started reading this?