Chapter 52:

Hermione had shot him disapproving looks all through Transfiguration.

McGonagall had docked him twenty points for his lateness. He figured the only reason she hadn't given him a detention was because she felt sorry for him and his apparent expression of depression and desperation. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He didn't want nor need pity. But, he supposed, he didn't want a detention either.

As such, he wasn't even the slightest bit surprised when she, and by default Ron (who looked torn between worry and sheepishness), dragged him aside the second the class finished. He was really getting sick of being dragged around by people wanting to talk to him.

They had Herbology next, so at least it would be quick…it was Hermione after all. Tom was very scholarly, just like Hermione, but not as compliant to rules and expectations. Ergo, Hermione would be in time for lessons regardless of her own curiosity towards Harry, whereas Tom would stick a wand at his chest and not let him leave for lessons until his own selfish interests were satisfied. He preferred Hermione's methods. Best get it over with; hopefully he could wrap this up in the time it took to walk to the greenhouses. He waited for her to start, impassively.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "What's going on, Harry?"

He wondered pensively if he should tell her, before realising with a start that he'd never thought about keeping secrets from his best friends before. Not really, not when they asked so openly. Sometimes, he worried he'd spent too long amongst the shadows and the snakes. When both Hermione's and Ron's faces fell, their features closing, he realised he'd been silent for too long.

"It's Riddle, isn't it," Ron said, disgustedly. It wasn't a question.

Harry suppressed a sigh, opening his mouth to say 'partially, but not solely.' Ron continued before he had the opportunity. "Can't you see what he's doing?" That made Harry's brows shoot up…he didn't see, but he would dearly have loved to. Was he missing something obvious? Ron's scowl deepened.

"No," he replied finally, "I don't see. But, by all means, point it out."

Hermione's lips pursed with exasperation. It must have been really obvious.

"He's dragging you away from us!" Ron said. Harry blinked once…twice. Oh. That was…anticlimactic and disappointing. He laughed, incredulously.

"That makes no sense! I'm with you now!" Harry said. Hermione was darting looks at Ron.

"And how much time before that? You spend more time with him and the snakes then you do with us," the red head accused. Harry had the feeling that this issue wasn't going to be resolved in the walk down to Herbology.

"And you agree with this?" he asked Hermione, a tad irritably. She bit her lip, nodding. Right. "But you seemed fine with it a couple of days ago!" he paused. "Or is it only when I missed a lesson that you decided it was an issue?" Colour flooded her cheeks. Harry instantly felt bad. "Hermione-" he began helplessly.

"Can't you see how much you've changed? I used to think that this was a good thing for you - you seemed happier - but now I'm not sure!" she snapped tightly. "You're obsessing Harry! Most the time you've recently spent with me is talking about him. You look utterly miserable and you're shutting out all of your friends…" she seemed to inhale a calming breath. "I don't understand what you seem in them, in him." Harry turned away, speeding up his pace.

"You wouldn't understand," he said.

"Then make us," she challenged. Harry's jaw clenched.

"I'm not, I'm," he started and stopped for what seemed like an infinite amount of time.

"Spit it out," Ron muttered.

"I'm trying to save him!" he regretted the words as quickly as he said them. Ron's features grew weary and Hermione's pitying.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione began. He narrowed his eyes.

She stopped, uncertain, eyeing him as if he were a stranger. All of a sudden, it felt like he was. He frantically tried to remember when they'd grown this distant. They used to be able to explain and talk through everything. She seemed to make an effort to compose herself and be logical.

"And what are his intentions?" she asked, swallowing visibly. "Because I don't think they're as honourable. He's a psychopath, Harry, how do you know he isn't just going to mimic the change he knows you want to see to pull you further into his webs? How do you know he's not just indulging you for now? Because," here she hesitated. "From where I'm standing, you've turned grey, but he hasn't changed from darkness. He's, he's changing you and, just sometimes, I'm not sure I like the new Harry very much."

Harry sighed, his anger draining out of him. How could he be angry when they only voiced fears that already spun round in his head? She seemed to notice, and continued.

"He's isolating you, cutting your ties to the light…if things go wrong, he's going to have an army and you're going to have no one."

"And what," he replied carefully, regarding them both, "would you have me do? I can't give up. I can't just sit by and watch as he becomes…he's not Voldemort. He's not."

Hermione swallowed again, biting her lip. Ron looked mulish, but concerned. They approached the Green House.

Today, they were working with Snarglepuffs. Professor Sprout was waving them cheerfully into the lesson, dirt smudging her sun creased features.

"Tell you what," Harry suggested. "You say I'm spending too much time with them, well, this coming weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend, isn't it?" He wasn't sure, he'd had a lot on his mind.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Though the keeper tryouts are on too."

"Then, after the tryouts, I'm spending the entire day, and the next, with you two. No talking about the war, or Tom, or anything like that. Okay?"

The sudden brighteness of Hermione's smile, and Ron's awkward but happy grin made the obvious repercussions of ignoring Tom for two days worth it.

The break would do him good anyway. He needed some distance to assess the situation..

Horcruxes…

**FATE'S FAVOURITE***

"Tom," he started, a couple of days later, the night before the Hogsmeade weekend.

The other looked up, arching a brow in question. As Harry had guessed, Tom had been smothering. Harry had barely had a minute to himself and it was getting tiring. Not to mention, if Tom was possessive and oddly protective before, he was a nightmare now.

He'd almost taken Abraxas' head off his shoulders when the Malfoy had accidently knocked into him in the heaving corridor, causing him to stumble slightly. "Do you think you're going to become him?" Now that he had begun to watch for it, he felt the smallest tinge of surprise that wasn't his own.

"Why the sudden question?" Tom questioned, eyes casting back to his book as if to dismiss the absurdity of his asking. Harry wasn't fooled. Tom's attention was still sharply on him, however casual he might appear.

"Curiosity," he replied flippantly. That gaze flicked up again for a moment.

"You've got your Keeper trials tomorrow, don't you? Are you coming to Hogsmeade after?"

"Yeah, but I'm spending the weekend with Ron and Hermione so I'm going with them, maybe the Quidditch Team too…I think Angelina wants to take us out for some 'team bonding' or something to see how we mesh," he replied.

Tom's fingers whitened on his book.

"On your own?"

"No," he said, smiling. "With my friends. But anyway, you didn't answer the question?"

"I don't think I will," Tom said, not even bothering to try and read now. "I learn from my mistakes"

"The remembrall suggests otherwise," he pressed, ruthlessly. "Isn't that your theory?" Tom's eyes darkened, and a throb ran through his left arm.

"And I distinctly recall that you were very keen to point out that it was only a theory," the Slytherin Heir replied.

"And I distinctly recall your scepticism, so I just wonder," he shrugged. Tom was silent, studying him intently.

"Those Gryffindors are a bad influence on you. They make you paranoid."

There was a rather ominous ring to his tone.

Things were only just beginning. This wasn't over.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and favourites. I am ecstatic you like the story so much. I'm not really happy with this chapter, so I apologise for the crappy quality. Next one, hopefully, will be back to my normal okayish standards =)

Oh well, story is at about a half point soon…I think.