Author's Note: We've waited for this climactic moment for so many chapters. Ever since Tom began the construction of his horcruxes...we've waited for him to find out that Dumbledore had always been one step ahead of him (through Harry). And now he knows. Here it is, boys and girls, the chapter where Tom finally figures it out. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all rights and characters belong to J.K Rowling. I am simply having fun with my imagination. Thanks

Dedication: Bellatrix. Giggles, I know you've been looking forward to this moment the most so enjoy this chapter, because it's entirely for you!

...Tom was too lost for words or actions. He was too confused. Lucius' mind had clearly shown Tom that Harry Potter and his friends had broken into a very specific vault at Gringotts and stolen something…and the fact that this vault belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange was not a good sign for dear Bella…or Tom, for that matter...

CHAPTER 46: DISCOVERED

"I have something I need you to keep," he said, quietly. "Something that is very important to me and I want it to stay safe with you."

Bellatrix turned around in the blankets and looked up at Tom, beaming. She was happy with anything he had to tell her, but knowing that there was a secret he had to share with her and her only, made her feel incredibly special. And Tom knew it.

"I will," she said immediately.

"You do understand, don't you?" said Tom, cautiously. "It is very important to me and should anything happen to it, I will kill you."

Bellatrix gulped loudly.

"I will destroy you," Tom continued, "Without hesitation."

"I promise," said Bellatrix quickly. "I promise I will keep it safe—whatever it is—my lord. I promise."

Tom continued to pace up and down the room as his mind raced. Downstairs, the Death Eaters were cleaning up the mess with those unfortunate Gringotts workers and goblins. Bellatrix was still moaning at the pain of the Cruciatus curse. Narcissa was shouting orders at the various house members. Feeling overwhelmed with his thoughts, Tom sank into a chair and breathed.

"I have reason to believe that you may know something, Tom."

Dumbledore's voice seemed to ring in his ears again, echoing from the long-forgotten past. He was back in his office, sitting across from the old man with the half-moon spectacles, eyeing him nervously.

"I know what you are up to, Tom," he'd said, in his usual accusatory voice, "Don't think that I don't because I do."

At the time, it had been so easy to assume that Dumbledore was talking about the Chamber of Secrets and Tom being the much sought for Heir of Slytherin. Could it be that he had actually overlooked an important detail in what Dumbledore was saying to him, all those times he'd called him for another interrogation? Could it be that, even then, the old fool had known about Tom's developing interest in horcruxes? Or was Tom's paranoia now getting the best of him?

"Perhaps, you have been looking in the wrong places," Dumbledore's voice echoed again.

Tom buried his face in his hands and rocked himself in the chair back and forth, thinking. His leg was tapping nervously against the hardwood floors. His heart was beating unusually fast. Where was Nagini—his voice of reason—when he needed her? Probably downstairs, feasting on some of Tom's latest victims…He sighed and closed his eyes again.

"I feel sure that one day, Dumbledore will be at your knees," said the ghost of Nott's voice on a cold winter night.

"Cut it out," mumbled Tom into his ice white hands.

Dumbledore's ghostly face appeared before his eyes again.

"The time is long gone when I could frighten you with a burning wardrobe and force you to make repayment for your crimes. But I wish I could, Tom…I wish I could…"

"Stop it!" hissed Tom.

"This is very dark stuff, Tom, very dark indeed."

"Which is why I came to you."

Tom jumped from the chair and began to pace the room again.

"Tell me about horcruxes."

"Very dark stuff, oh yes."

His fingers tapped nervously against his leg as he walked. His breathing was hard and heavy now. The sweat was back. Unbelievable. He was officially panicking.

"…to rip the soul into seven pieces!..."

"This is very dark stuff, Tom, very dark indeed."

"It'll be our little secret."

Tom found that his knees were buckling beneath him and he was lowering himself onto the floor.

"People wouldn't like to think we've been chatting about...horcruxes."

He gently settled himself down, sitting with his back leaning against the large four-poster bed.

"But it is harmless?"

"Merlin's Beard! Seven!"

He placed his head in his hands again, but kept his eyes wide open this time as he let the realisation of the situation sink in.

They knew. Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. They knew his greatest secret. They'd known all along. Or rather, Dumbledore had known all along and clued Potter in on it just recently, before his death. Or did he find out much later in his life? Did he know what Tom had been plotting since Tom's Hogwarts years or during the first war? Or was it the second war?

"Very dark stuff."

"Which is why I came to you."

"Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places."

"I know what you are up to, Tom."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Tom, and he let the Elder Wand slip from his fingers, emitting sparks of red light that sent the entire wall to the right crumbling down.

Tom distinctly heard the Death Eaters' gasps and yells of surprise from the first floor, but was too emotionally overwhelmed at the moment to care about the damage he'd caused.

Albus Dumbledore: the master of meddling, in both life and death. Amazing.

"Master," hissed Nagini as she finally made her way into the room and over to the spot on the floor where Tom sat. "Is everything alright, master?"

"I need to leave, Nagini," said Tom, and just like that, he disapparated from Malfoy Manor.

Tom paced up and down the familiar old cliff in the early hours of the morning, with the sunlight shimmering above him. He was still trying to wrap his mind around it. Harry Potter knew. This good-for-nothing, arrogant little teenager—a fetus!—knew Tom's deepest, most darkest secret...the secret that he had guarded for the longest time...the secret that not even his most trusted Death Eaters (not even Severus!) knew.

And then, it all hit Tom.

Regulus had known. Regulus had gone to that cave to destroy Slytherin's locket. But he'd died trying to do it. Did he actually manage it? What about the diary? That had been destroyed down in the Chamber of Secrets just recently, and Tom had felt nothing. Did this mean that the other Horcruxes had already been destroyed as well? But Tom was sure he'd feel something, wouldn't he? At least with the later Horcruxes, that is. And now he knew that Harry Potter was on this search—this quest—for his precious, beloved Horcruxes. How many he'd found or destroyed, Tom did not know. He'd felt absolutely nothing. Did that mean that he was immune to pain and injury by now, and therefore incapable of feeling anything stronger than the Avada Kedavra?

He could picture Harry Potter now, laughing with Dumbledore over a couple of ruddy butterbeers and pathetic little lemon drops. They sure had him fooled. This was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. It was worse than every single time that Potter had thwarted him. It was the sudden, unforgettable realisation that his secret had been betrayed. It no longer belonged to just him. It had been exposed years ago without his knowledge, and he was only just catching up with it now.

Tom stopped his pacing suddenly and looked around the familiar old cliff. It was time. He was going to go back to the source—to the very beginning. And once he figured out just how damaging the situation was, he was going to come for Harry Potter and have that final duel, once and for all, whether Potter was ready for it or not.

Please let me know if you thought I'd paid enough justice to this crucial moment in the story. As always, I am open to suggestions and going back in my work. Thanks

P.S. the next chapter marks the beginning of the legendary Battle of Hogwarts! I didn't realise the near-end would come so soon :'(

Oh, and before I forget, a little explanation: yes, this chapter was fairly short...as were the last two. This is in preparation for the next four chapters which will be fairly long as they depict the epic finale. So be patient