Author's Note: So, I decided that it would be a nice surprise if I published two chapters in one day. I'm grateful for the reviews, and shall write again soon. Enjoy!
The Experiments of Tom Marvolo Riddle – Chapter 4
Written By YT12J
When Harry had finished explaining to Tom all of the events that had taken place in his Hogwarts years, he was scared of just looking at his face. Tom did not show any emotion, though it wasn't especially hard to tell how angry he was at hearing all of that. Harry was silently praying that the obviously upcoming torture would not be too bad, and that he would at least survive from it, and not be permanently scarred – again.
"Well, quite an interesting recount of your life, Potter. I can now see exactly why you have people risking their necks just to keep you alive. However, don't think that you got away with telling me this without any punishment. That, however, shall not happen until tomorrow, as I am tired, and I wish to plan out exactly how I am going to mutilate you."
Harry gulped. It was bad enough to just have to sit there and recount the traumatizing things that happened to him, but the fact that Tom was openly threatening him was even worse. Then he suddenly had a horrible thought.
"You're – you're not going to hand me over to Voldemort, are you?"
Tom glared at him, and then said "First of all, when you speak about my future self, you will say the Dark Lord. Not You-Know-Who, not Voldemort, the Dark Lord. You should hold some degree of respect towards the greatest wizard this world has ever seen. And second of all, no. While I would love to do just that, I still need you as long as I stay here. Also, I don't think that my future self would appreciate his younger self helping him out when he is perfectly capable of capturing you himself."
Before he could stop himself, Harry had muttered "Apparently not." Immediately, the Cruciatus Curse hit him, and he started screaming in pain, silently begging for the curse to end quickly.
When Riddle finally dropped the curse, Harry collapsed to the ground, moaning from the unbelievable amount of pain that the curse had inflicted upon him. Apparently, the angrier the caster was, the more pain the victim was in. He didn't particularly like this new discovery.
"One more comment, and I'll curse your little friends instead." whispered Tom. Even though his voice was quiet, the venom in it, and the glare that he was giving Harry made it clear that he was being extremely serious."
"You promised to leave my friends alone!" cried Harry. "You can't just take it back!"
"I promised to not let them find out about me." Said Tom. "I never said anything about torturing them, so you should be very careful. I won't care about torturing them, so if you provoke me in any way, you can say goodbye to them.
Harry felt anger at this comment, but he knew that if he said anything at all, then he would probably find out just how serious Riddle was. For that reason, he was just going to leave it.
"Good, you seem to understand your position. I shall now revive them, and you can do whatever you like for now. I'll be staying here while you eat, which should be relatively soon considering how long you have been here."
After saying this, he waved his wand at Ron and Hermione, muttered a couple of words, and then walked to the corner of the room, conjuring a chair for himself, and sitting down to read a book that he had brought with him from his time.
As Ron and Hermione got up, Harry tried to think of a way to explain what had just happened. Before he could say anything, however, Hermione said "So, what else do you want to know about the Order, Harry?"
Deciding to just ignore the fact that they had no recollection of being stunned, he asked "Erm… How many members are there?"
Just as Ron was about to answer for him, a shout came from downstairs. "Ron, Harry, Hermione, dinner is ready!"
Ron muttered "That's weird. I thought it would be a while longer before we ate dinner. You know what, I don't care actually. I'm hungry!"
After Hermione gave him a look, the three of them walked through the doorway, heading for the stairs. Tom, true to his word, stayed there, still reading his book. However, just before they left, he sent a smirk towards Harry, making him feel uneasy all of a sudden.
When he got downstairs, he walked into the dining room. In there was Remus Lupin, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Fred and George, and Ginny. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the back. Turning around, he saw Sirius Black.
"Sirius! It's so good to see you, after all this time."
Sirius just grinned, and then leaned forward to hug him, and when they pulled apart, Sirius led him to the table, and said "You can sit next to me Harry."
Harry sat down, piled several things on his plate, and then began eating. The twins took this as an opportunity to speak.
"So Harry, have you heard –"
"We can do magic now –"
"That includes apparating –"
"And levitating –"
"And –"
"Ok guys, I get the message, you're both all-powerful wizards who can do anything. No need to go into so much detail."
They both grinned at him, and then carried on eating. Harry smiled. He had missed the twins. In fact, he had missed everybody on the table.
"So, Harry" said Sirius from beside him. "I would've thought that when you came here, you might have quite a few questions, about the Order perhaps, but mainly about Voldemort."
Everyone winced at the name; however all of the adults seemed a lot tenser all of a sudden. "Sirius!" Mrs Weasley angrily said. "I hardly think that it is appropriate for Harry to be worrying about –"
"I think it's perfectly appropriate, Molly. Of all people, Harry has more of a right to know about these things."
"Yeah!" Harry quickly said. "I want to know what's going on!"
Mr Weasley hesitantly said "Sirius has a point, Molly. Harry does have a right to know." He flinched, however, when Mrs Weasley turned to glare at him. "Arthur! He's only a boy. He's already been through so much; I don't think that he should have to be involved in more than he already has."
Lupin suddenly decided to speak up. "While he has been through a lot, Molly, he still deserves to know. I think we should tell him a bit, though not necessarily everything. He deserves that at least."
Mrs Weasley seemed to be at a loss for words so Mr Weasley said "Fred, George, the two of you are of age, you can stay and listen. I would say that Ron and Hermione shouldn't, but I have no doubt that Harry would tell them anyway. But Ginny, you'll have to go. You're too young to stay."
It was clear that Ginny wanted to object to this, but a stern look from her father told her that she should go, so she did, albeit grudgingly. The other five eagerly listened, however, curious as to what they would be told.
"So, Harry, what do you want to know?"
Harry thought for a moment, and then replied to Sirius by asking "Is he aiming to do anything specific at the moment, or is he just recruiting?"
Lupin answered for him. "He is recruiting Harry, but at the same time he is after a valuable item that we are protecting from him."
"What is it?" he asked. Lupin hesitated, then said "Well, I'm afraid that I can't tell you exactly what it is Harry, though I can tell you that it is a weapon, one that Voldemort must never get his hands on, for if he did, the consequences would be disastrous."
Harry nodded, wanting to know more about the weapon, but knowing that Mrs Weasley was about to lose it completely. It was a miracle that she hadn't screamed at them yet.
Feeling tired, he said "Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I'm heading upstairs now, come on Ron, Hermione."
They all said goodbyes, and then the three of them headed upstairs. Once Harry and Ron were in their room, Hermione said goodnight and then headed off to her own room, which she shared with Ginny.
"So, what d'you think that weapon is, Harry?"
Harry thought over this question for a few moments, and then said "I have no idea. Anyway, time to go to bed. Goodnight, Ron."
Ron muttered a "Goodnight" as well, and then climbed into bed. Harry scanned the room, and then noticed Riddle. The bed that he was lying down on must have been conjured, as it wasn't there before. It also must have been charmed so that no one but him and Harry could see it.
Climbing into bed, Harry wondered what would happen tomorrow. Hopefully nothing major would happen, but with Riddle there as well, anything could happen. Then he remembered that Riddle was going to punish him tomorrow. He silently groaned. This was not going to go well. The way Riddle had said it, it sounded like this torture was going to be more than just the Cruciatus and that was saying something, considering how bad that curse was.
Hopefully he would not do anything to harm Ron and Hermione. If he did, Harry would not be able to do anything about it, considering the fact that the curse would stop it. He would rather take twice the amount of pain the Cruciatus causes then have to watch his best friends being tortured.
He yawned. Before he fell asleep, he thought 'I have got to do something about Riddle'
Author's Note: Anyway, this chapter was even shorter, but I started writing it as soon as I published the previous one, which was a couple of hours ago, so it's to be expected. Please review! I won't write again for a few days at least. Bye!