08 – The Art Of Persuasion

The dormitory was finally quiet. Despite the fact that it was well past midnight, Harry lay awake in bed. He couldn't sleep. It was a Wednesday night, four days after Harry had found the Dark Arts books waiting beside his bed without warning. These books had been weighing upon his mind, causing him to be nervous ever since their appearance, which he was sure made Ron and Hermione eager to keep a closer watch on him. Tonight was the first night Harry felt brave enough to get rid of the books; Ron sounded fast asleep. Harry got out of bed.

He had moved all of the books into a spare rucksack yesterday at lunch. He slid the bag out from under his bed as quietly as he could, having to haul it over his shoulder with a bit of effort due to its weight. He hadn't heard any news throughout the school reporting that these books were missing, but he realised and remembered that these weren't the sort of books that were often sought after by any of the students or professors. Even Madam Pince didn't go to that part of the Library often.

Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and left the dormitory promptly, his heart racing. He heard and saw no one on his way through the Common Room, so he didn't have to be too cautious as he climbed out of the portrait hole, being gentle enough to not alarm the fat lady (though she did mutter a bit in confusion and disapproval, doubtlessly knowing there was someone there). He was just heading in the direction of the library, when he stopped.

There would be no way to return these books without Madam Pince realising that they had been taken at some point. If Harry was to leave them in the library or even to attempt putting them back in that part of the Restricted Section, she would know. There would be an inquiry about it by tomorrow morning and Harry knew he wasn't a good enough liar to pretend he hadn't been a part of it, if asked directly. If he hid the books elsewhere, on the other hand, who knows how long it would be before anyone realised they were gone...

At this, Harry's mind was made up. He headed for the Room of Requirement instead, feeling that this was by far a better idea. He was there after a few minutes, meeting no one else on his way there. 'I need a place to hide these books...' he thought three times, pacing past the plain stretch of wall that would open up into a bigger room. He was scared at the thought of being stopped again, but Tom was no where to be seen. With an honest need for the room to appear, it did so willingly. Harry entered.

It was just like Harry had seen the room in his 'dream'. There were rows and rows of towering shelves around him, packed with strange broken, cursed, neglected, stolen, or dead objects and things. Harry didn't want to go far into the room. It was dark and he feared he might get lost if he wandered too much. He took the heavy bag off of his shoulder and lowered it to the ground unkindly, intent upon stashing it under a thin-legged table that carried various pots and containers full of old keys, odd powders, strange twisted metal, and things of the sort.

Before he had turned away after pushing the bag fully under the table with this foot, however, a shaking voice called, "Who's there?"

Malfoy appeared around a corner. He was quite far away from Harry, in fear, but Harry stood frozen. He didn't want to be heard even if he couldn't be seen. Malfoy's face was pale and frightened, staring around shakily for signs of who had made that noise. Harry felt an odd desire to show himself. He wanted to talk to Draco, to find out what he was doing with that cupboard, but even now Harry understood it wasn't a wise idea. Malfoy would only fight him, or would find out he was hiding these books by seeing the rucksack that hadn't been here before. He surely knew the room well.

Malfoy, after seemingly deciding there was no one here, turned away, leaving Harry in the darkness once more as his wand-light faded. Harry was tempted to follow him so he could watch him fix that cupboard, but he didn't want to be out of bed for too long, least he should be found missing. Harry turned to the exit of the room, wanting to go sleep peacefully now that he could. He was on his way out, opening the door as quietly as he could, when it finally happened: Tom had appeared once more.

The shock of seeing Tom here wasn't any better the second time. Harry was startled, nearly shouting in fear and letting the door slam shut behind him. He caught the door in time, however, and saved himself from letting Draco know completely who had entered the Room of Requirement. Tom stood patiently, watching him. Harry felt a little embarrassed by the intensity of his stare; apparently Invisibility Cloaks did nothing to stop Tom from seeing him. The door behind Harry faded into the wall, leading a silence to fall.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked defensively, trying to sound anything but scared. He pulled the cloak off, wanting to see Tom better in the darkness. He lit his wand.

"I felt as though I needed to check up on you," Tom responded softly. "I didn't want a repeat of the last time you visited this place in search of Draco."

"I don't know why you stopped me that time either. You were fine with me seeing him before."

"It's unwise to involve Weasley in this. The less people who know, the better."

This annoyed Harry. "I thought you said you weren't Voldemort?"

Tom was surprised. "I'm not."

"Then why don't you want anyone to know about Malfoy? Everyone should know!"

"With the little evidence we have gathered, you believe it would be easy to prove that Draco is committing these crimes?"

"He has a Dark Mark, doesn't he? Everyone involved with the Order know what that means!"

"If you were to go in there with Weasley and scare Malfoy, he would never go near the Room of Requirement nor that cabinet again. As for the Dark Mark, I believe Draco would sooner flee the school in any way he can than reveal his left forearm before the eyes of any student or teacher here."

Harry wished this wasn't true. He wanted to get Malfoy, he wanted to prove to everyone that Malfoy was up to something before something worse happened...

"What is more, your reputation isn't quite what it once was, Harry, even amongst your closer friends and guardians."

"Yeah, well, it hardly helps when you ruin my only chance to prove to Ron that I'm not mad."

Tom watched him carefully, seeing his annoyance. "I'm sorry it happened that way... but I cannot risk us scaring Draco so soon."

"Why not?"

"I know you wish to prove that Draco is a Death Eater, that he is working for Lord Voldemort," Tom said softly. "I want you to have solid proof, to redeem your reputation so that your friends and teachers will respect you once more. I understand this is what you desire."

Harry was surprised. He didn't know why Tom was being so considerate about what he wanted, but suddenly this made sense to Harry. Even if it took a little longer, he would be able to bring solid evidence to Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore if he gathered more information on Malfoy first...

"I guess you're right," he said, his annoyance gone. He waited to see signs to indicate what Tom was thinking, but his face was blank. Then, before Harry could help it, he asked, "Why haven't there been any more 'dreams'?"

"That has finished," Tom answered simply.

"Don't you have anything else to show me? Or to talk about?"

"Not anywhere beyond Hogwarts, no. Yet I'm here now, am I not?"

It certainly looked so to Harry, who's mind kept questioning if this was real life or yet another dream.

"If you wish to learn more about me, I am afraid I cannot supply you with information satisfactorily, for I wish to avoid overwhelming you."

"So, you can't tell me anything more about you?"

"No. However, I assume you have not forgotten what Albus Dumbledore requested from you... If you wish to understand why I am here, you must convince Slughorn to give up his memory. He has information that will make this clear."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"I want you to see the information for yourself. I want you to know I am not lying to you."

This made sense, Harry thought. After all, he wasn't even sure if Tom could be trusted... He wished everyone would stop bothering him to get this memory, but he knew he had to do it. He had to find a way...

"Can you help me get the memory?"

"No. You will succeeded, whether I help you or not."

"But if you helped me, I could know what he's hiding so much sooner. You know how he works, he adored you when you were a stu-"

"What're you doing?"

Harry stopped dead. Tom was gone. Ron was standing down the corridor, watching him.

"Parseltongue won't open the Room of Requirement," Ron said slowly. "Why were you using it?"

Harry's mouth was suddenly very dry. "I... I thought it was worth a shot."

Ron didn't seem very convinced. He shifted where he stood, looking around warily as if he indeed expected to see someone else there.

"I'm surprised you found me here," Harry said after a moment, to catch Ron's attention.

"Well, it was pretty obvious where you went. I saw you weren't sleeping."

This managed to irritate Harry, but in honestly he was just worried about Ron catching him speaking with Tom. "Why did you follow me?"

"We're mates," Ron said defensively, "we're supposed to be looking out for each other, aren't we? I've been a bit worried about, well.. your whole obsession with Malfoy, to be honest."

Harry glared before he could help it. "It's not an obsession – whatever Malfoy's up to, it can't be good. Someone has to find out what he's up to and why, it's too important!"

"Look," said Ron, "if Malfoy's really up to something, don't you think Dumbledore, or McGonagall, or someone else from the Order would have realised something's up? Dumbledore himself said you shouldn't worry about it."

"It's not like there's much else I have to do."

"Well, you should be focusing on getting that memory from Slughorn, first of all."

Harry knew he was right, just like Hermione, just like Tom... "Yeah, well, I don't even know how I'm supposed to pull that off."

"We'll think of something," Ron said. His voice was losing it's forceful tone in exchange for reassurance as he carried on, "You just have to keep trying. At any rate, Slughorn will get used to you asking eventually – maybe then he'll see it's more important than burying the past, and he'll give you the memory."

"Yeah, maybe..."

Harry wondered whether Ron saw this as his chance to make friends with him again.

"It'll be alright," he said once more, "you've got me and Hermione to help, anyway. We'll work it out."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, finding this oddly comforting. "Thanks, Ron."

Ron smiled, seeming to forget how odd it was that Harry had been standing here muttering Parseltongue to himself. On their way back to the dormitory there was a new spring in Ron's step that Harry highly doubted had been there before. They talked the whole way back about possible ways to trick Slughorn into handing Harry the memory. They didn't talk about Malfoy, nor Tom. Harry didn't want to ruin Ron's good mood and he didn't want to worry him. After getting rid of those books and seeing Ron acting normal again, Harry felt far better than he could have expected so soon.

-X-

For the remaining half of the week, Harry stayed close to Ron and Hermione. The two of them didn't seem quite as eager to interrogate him about what he was thinking in relation to Tom and what he was doing by following Malfoy around, so Harry felt more comfortable talking to them. Mostly, however, he thought that if he stayed around the two of them more often, maybe Tom would stop appearing altogether. It wasn't that Harry necessarily hated to see Tom, but the thought often made him feel uncomfortable and the sight of Tom scared him... He felt safe around his friends.

Hermione was a little more suspicious of Harry's behaviour than Ron was, however. Harry was sure this was because Ron could more openly ignore everything odd that happened before in his attempt to befriend Harry again. Hermione wanted to be Harry's friend too, but she couldn't ignore his unusual behaviour. She couldn't pretend it wasn't odd that Harry had drifted from them recently, yet she didn't seem able to communicate her concern without sounding both annoyed and frustrated. This resulted in many conversations ending in arguments.

It was Sunday when Harry and Hermione argued so much, Harry left for his dormitory around 8pm. He knew she, like he, had become irritable after a long day of finishing off the homework they needed to hand in tomorrow morning, and although they had finished their work early, this was hardly a consolation to their moods. Even as Ron attempted to smooth out their bitter comments, there was no way they could get along this evening. Harry regretted spending time with them these last few days; all he wanted now was to be alone.

Apparently this was asking for too much, however. When he arrived in the dormitory he didn't find Neville, nor Dean, nor Ron, nor Seamus waiting for him, he found Tom. He was sitting on Harry's bed, his hands folded in his lap neatly as he waited. When he saw Harry, he smiled, as if this was an agreed meeting. Harry might have been fine with this if it weren't for one thing: several books were strewn on the bed beside Tom, their pages open with clear with instruction of the gruesome and horrid magic that lay within them.

The colour drained from Harry's face so quickly, he felt faint. What if Ron was to follow him up here, to check if he was okay after his argument? What if any of the other three boys sharing this room decided to pay it a visit, only to find Harry had the Dark Arts written everywhere in sight, waiting patiently for his return?

"Hello," Tom said politely, a look of confusion crossing his face at Harry's blatant terror.

"What are you doing here?" Harry demanded in panic.

Tom's head tilted to the side a little. "Do you wish for me to leave?"

"You can't leave these books there! You can't keep them around – nevermind open!"

"You left them in the Room of Requirement," Tom said calmly. "I returned them to you."

"I didn't leave them there, I wanted them to stay there! I can't believe this..."

Harry was already closing the books with haste, his heart drumming against his chest heavily. All the while, he was aware that Tom watched him. He began putting the books into a pile, lifting them off the bed in two or three stacks to hide them in his trunk again. There seemed to be more than before.

"Your friends won't know what they are, even if they saw these books," Tom told him placidly. "Many books look vaguely the same, after all."

"And if they read them?" Harry asked irritably. "Anyone can see they're Dark Arts books, Tom!"

Harry saw Tom's mouth twitch at the sound of his name. Tom said nothing.

"Can't you see I don't want these?" Harry asked, still panicked and nervous, yet somehow embarrassed now, under Tom's gaze.

"Draco could have found them," Tom mentioned idly, watching Harry kneeling by the trunk, piling as many books as he could back in. He watched Harry pause as it didn't all fit in. "You need to learn the magic, not anyone else."

"Yeah, and why's that?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.

Tom did not answer immediately. Harry had to take out some of his school robes to make room for the last two books, worrying where he was supposed to put his robes now. His second rucksack hadn't been returned with the books. "There are many reasons. To help me, to help you, to discover more information... You want to learn more about Draco first of all, do you not?"

"I don't see the connection."

"There are many interesting pieces of magic in these books," Tom said. "There is magic that could, if used properly, help you to extract information you otherwise could not extract."

"Like what?"

"Like what's going on in that mind of Draco's."

Harry scowled. "Yeah, liked I'd be able to find out what he's -"

He realised, then, what Tom was saying.

"Do you mean Legilimency?" he asked quickly.

A soft smile caught Tom's lips. "I'm glad to see you've understood."

Harry looked back down at the books in his hands in a mix of finding Tom's smile odd and finding this information intriguing. He ran his hand over the cover slowly, thinking. He was sure he hadn't seen a book about Occlumency or Legilimency on their first trip to the library, yet Tom had blatantly given him more books this time. It wasn't dark magic, even if it was somewhat illegal. If he could see what Draco was thinking...

"I could teach you the art of Occlumency and Legilimency," Tom told him softly. "You would be both more protected and more able to gain the information you need."

Harry looked up into his dark grey eyes. "You'd do that for me?"

The smile returned. "Of course..."

"I'd love to see what Malfoy's thinking," Harry commented quietly, thinking deeply again. This was magic that Dumbledore had wanted him to learn anyway, and he was sure Tom would be a far better teacher than Snape ever was. "So we could start soon?"

"The sooner the better."

"Brilliant," Harry said, smiling a little too. "Though... I can't exactly keep going somewhere without Ron and Hermione getting suspicious."

"I thought of that. Perhaps we should have lessons at a time when no one else is around... for example, in one of our 'dreams'?"

"Would that work?"

"Naturally. If, of course, you don't mind sleeping for an hour or so less every few days."

"No, it'd be worth it. If I can finally see what's happening... I just don't know what Malfoy's up to."

"Well," Tom said slowly, softly as he thought, "we know he is spending quite a lot of time alone with that cabinet. What we need to find out now is why the cabinet is of such importance, why Draco is so very stressed, and, in relation to your theories, why he appears to have poisoned your friend after almost murdering a young student for touching a cursed necklace."

Harry felt a little uncomfortable at the whole idea. Draco was sending deadly presents around, not even caring who was hurt by them first... He wondered for a moment if he was Draco's target. Surely it would be easier than that to try and kill Harry, though? All he'd have to do is take some Polyjuice Potion and dress up like Ron or Hermione before killing him in the Common Room, or curse a Bludger to make it go after him at a Quidditch match, like Dobby once did. Unless it was someone else he was after...

"I don't see why Dumbledore doesn't just stop him," Harry mentioned, "surely he knows that he's dealing with something more than just random attacks. He knows Malfoy could easily be replacing his father – he asked Snape to keep a watch on the Slytherins, anyway."

Tom's head tilted to the side a little. "How do you know that?"

"Hagrid mentioned it," Harry said, surprised Tom wasn't there. "He said Snape was arguing with Dumbledore, talking about how Snape had to make more investigations on the Slytherins."

"Why did they argue over this?"

"I don't know. It's odd though, either Snape's not listening to Dumbledore, or Dumbledore just isn't satisfied with how Snape has been trying to find out who's behind these attacks."

"If Dumbledore does not believe that Draco is the one behind all of this, why would he insist that Slytherin is a suspicious House? Moreover, why would he argue at all?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "It doesn't make any sense – I can't imagine Dumbeldore argued with the other Heads of House. It's obvious Malfoy's a Death Eater, how could Dumbledore miss that... It's like he wants something bad to happen."

"You think so?"

"No, not really," Harry admitted, "but it's just... it's mad."

"Indeed..."

A silence fell. As it did, Harry closed the trunk, pushing it back under his bed as he realised that by talking to Tom he had become far less worried. He stood up and sat on the bed, far enough away from Tom so they didn't touch. "Hagrid was nervous though," Harry mentioned, "he definitely messed up by saying anything to me and Hermione."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Not really... he just said something about how Snape 'didn't want to do it anymore'."

"Do what?"

"Hagrid didn't know. Or, well, he didn't say."

Tom seemed interested, very interested by this point. "This is when they were arguing?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't think Hagrid heard much of the conversation, so they must have argued the whole time he listened."

"Was this before or after they talked of the Slytherin students?"

"Er – before, I think. He wasn't really clear about it."

Tom was thinking deeply. He seemed to see this as somehow relevant to what they had been discussing.

"What are you thinking?" Harry asked.

Tom took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Dumbledore is a very complicated wizard... It is suspicious that he dismisses your theories on what Draco is up to and it is curious that he would, despite this, demand that Snape keeps a closer watch over his House... I doubt this was in consideration for your nerves alone, for he does not lie so bluntly unless it is of great importance..."

Harry wasn't quite sure how Tom made so many assessments about Dumbledore like this, but he didn't think about it too much. He was more interested in whether or not Tom had discovered a plausible theory.

"Then again, it isn't as though Dumbledore hasn't kept secrets like this in the past," Tom said, apparently talking to himself as much as to Harry. "He seems to hold things back when he believes you, or others, aren't able to endure it... An example of this would be last year, when he admitted that he hadn't told you for five solid years that you inevitably had to defeat Voldemort, that you had been marked as his equal..."

It took Harry a moment to work out how it was possible that Tom had witnessed that. "That's true..." Perhaps Tom had followed him around like a ghost, never showing himself to Harry yet. Harry wondered what it might have been like if he had met Tom then instead. Or earlier. Tom would have been a good friend to him all those years he was alone in the Muggle world...

"It is clear that he will not fully explain how you must defeat Voldemort, despite the urgency for you to learn the magic you will need," Tom then said. "After all, he has neither taught you any new defensive magic or powerful spells at all, nor has he fully explained to you in any of your lessons why you are watching these memories... You are yet to know what a Horcrux is..."

"So you know, then?" Harry asked sharply. "You know what a Horcrux is?"

Tom watched him carefully. After a long pause he said,"I cannot lie that I don't..."

Harry couldn't believe that he hadn't asked Tom about Horcruxes before. After all, he didn't just know about Dark Magic and promote it, he was Tom Riddle, he knew what memory Slughorn was hiding.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"I don't want to scare you."

"You think I'd be less scared learning about Horcruxes by seeing that memory?"

"You trust Dumbledore," Tom said softly, "you trust him and Slughorn to give you information of worth and truth."

"I trust you more," Harry said quietly. They watched each other for a moment. "You haven't lied to me for years about having to defeat Voldemort, you didn't refuse to believe me about how Draco's a Death Eater. And anyway, Slughorn can't really be trusted, he tried to give Dumbledore a fake memory, to keep secrets on how to defeat Voldemort. You're more trustworthy than them."

Tom gave no fast response. He examined Harry's face as if looking for signs to suggest why he had said this. He didn't smile. "I'm sorry I can't give you more information more quickly..."

Harry shrugged, attempting to brush it off. He was still a little annoyed. "It's alright."

The next thing Harry knew, there was a muffled 'bang' and the sound of locks clicked as his mattress shook. The trunk under Harry's bed had opened and soaring out came two books bound in black and brown. They landed on Tom's lap, but soon he lifted them out for Harry to take.

"These will help you with Occlumency and Legilimency," Tom told him. "I'm afraid I must go for now, but you can read them in the meantime."

"Thank you."

Harry took the books from Tom's hands, almost touching his fingers in the process. For some odd reason this made Harry's stomach leap. He felt a little embarrassed again as Tom watched him closely. He looked away.

"In the other books, will there be any information about Horcruxes?"

"Take a look for yourself, if you wish."

"Which ones would -" but Harry stopped.

Tom was already gone. Harry sat with the two books as his only company. He began to read.