Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Harriet sat on the Chamber of Secrets' stone floor with the water gently sloshing beside the tiles as Tom contemplated all she had revealed to him.
"That's why you and I simply…….can't be." She frowned, "Don't you understnad, Tom? We're destined to destroy each other."
Tom grinned as he stood to his feet and looked around.
"Is something about this funny?" She asked.
"How can you speak of destiny when there is no such thing, Harriet Snape?" He chuckled bitterly.
Harriet narrowed her eyes, "Have you not heard what I've just told you? The prophecy said-"
"I don't give a damn what the prophecy said!" Tom roared.
His rageful shout echoed off the Chamber's cavernous walls as he hunched towards Harriet with his jaw clenched in anger.
She gazed at him with wide eyes as she studied him closely.
For just a moment, she finally saw a hint of her old friend.
"Forgive my outburst, sweetling." Tom sighed as he straightened himself and passed a hand through his dark, curly hair.
"You're not proving your point very well." Harriet retorted, "That's exactly what your other part would have done."
"The thought of being separated from you forever fills me with rage." Tom admitted before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, Harriet frowned at the flickering darkness she saw in his black gaze.
"I dunno how that's preventable." She shrugged after a long moment, "...I understand what I must do, but how can we possibly forge a path together, Tom? Now? With everything that's already happened? You aren't even a real boy, you're…….you're just one portion of a whole?"
"And who is to say that a portion cannot become the whole?" Tom smirked.
Harriet frowned, "What are you talking about?"
Tom's smirk remained on his handsome face as he mused, "Deep in my memories, I can see it clear as day…….The moment I asked Professor Slughorn about horcruxes. You mentioned those earlier, did you not?"
"I did." Harriet nodded.
"And the larger piece of me has made six?" He asked.
"Seven, including you." She replied.
"Very well, six besides me." Tom said with a nonchalant motion of his hand, before he grinned, "Suppose they were all destroyed and I was the only one left…….Then I would no longer be a part, I would become the new whole……..I would be all that's left, anyway."
"...Is that how it works?" Harriet frowned.
Tom blinked.
"I mean, you're the one who knows about this sort of thing." Harriet nodded, "I only know what I've been told."
Tom opened his mouth but she quickly added, "-This isn't exactly the material they cover in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Tom."
"I can't be certain……not at this moment." Tom admitted with an irritated frown, "I can, however……conduct an experiment and find out."
"Really?" Harriet asked, "How's that?"
"Simple." Tom grinned, "I'll find one of my other pieces, destroy it, and see what happens."
"What if that hurts you?!" Harriet gasped.
"I doubt that will happen." Tom arrogantly shrugged, "I've already been removed from my full self……the other parts have as well. I think we should destroy them all…...including him."
Harriet's eyes widened.
"...And then there will be no more him, no more Dark Lord, no more Voldemort." Tom smirked, "There will only be me……Tom….and you, Harriet Snape….us, a bonded pair forever, until our dying day."
"Tom…….." Harriet said with a mirthless chuckle, "From…..From my understanding, Dumbledore already has a plan in mind to hunt and destroy the other bits of you."
"Good." Tom nodded, "Then take me to the headmaster so that I may accompany him on his quests. Not only that, I will do the work myself, all he needs to do is lead the way."
"You don't have any sense of where the other horcruxes might be?" Harriet frowned.
"I only have my memories and my knowledge of what I see here and now." Tom nodded, "I woke in this Chamber and until I had reason to, I never imagined I would leave it."
"Didn't you mention once that you can't?" Harriet pouted, "How are we going to get you out?"
Another smirk curled Tom's lips as he nodded, "You're right, Harriet. It would have been impossible for me to leave before. There was a weakness in me that kept me chained here, shallow, thinning, useless……..But you've given me purpose and reason, sweetling. I'm no longer a jar of canned lacewing flies waiting for use. I have a name…..and a life…..and a love. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain I am able to walk out of here and go into the world."
Harriet threw him a skeptical glance.
"...That is, of course, if I may have a bit of your assistance?" Tom smiled, "From what you've told me, you seem to be on decent terms with the headmaster, are you not? Perhaps you'd be kind enough, Harriet, to let the three of us discuss our next set of plans."
"Tom, no!" Harriet cried, "He'll- He'll——!."
"...Dumbledore will be receptive if he learns about my willingness to help." Tom grinned, "Years ago, when I was whole and my memories were…..the present time….I was Head Boy, after all."
"Now the whole of you is the most notorious murderer in the wizarding world." Harriet scoffed as she accepted the hand Tom offered her and stood.
Slowly, side by side, they began to walk towards the Chamber of Secrets' entrance.
"Dumbledore will remember my student days with fondness." Tom confidently insisted.
Harriet cast him a sideways glance as they ventured out of the Chamber and began their journey to Hogwarts' surface world.
Tom's handsome face seemed almost eerily tranquil, without the shadow of doubt or the slightest hint of fear.
Harriet had prided herself on her own courage throughout her life, yet as they stepped into the girls' lavatory and began to meander through the castle, she wished she could one day learn to embody Tom's unashamed bravado.
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Dumbledore sat at his desk as he stared down at a certain document under his review when a knock fell on his door.
He blinked as he glanced up over his half-moon spectacles in wonder at who could have come by at such a late hour.
He had no scheduled visitors for the evening.
"...Come in." He called.
In his lap, he secretly clutched his wand, ready to defend himself if necessary.
During Dumbledore's long life, he had come to despise surprises above all else.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harriet called as she burst into the room, "Professor Dumbledore!"
"Harriet….." Dumbledore nodded as his grip on his wand loosened, "Are you alright? Has a staff member come with you? What brings you up here this late? Curfew starts in thrifty minutes."
"Sorry, Professor, I don't have a staff member with me!" Harriet exclaimed as she gasped for breath, "I do have someone, though, and he urgently wants to speak with you."
"...Oh?" Dumbledore asked.
"May I bring him in?" Harriet asked.
Too perplexed to reply, Dumbledore nodded silently.
Harriet walked back over to the door and stuck her head into the hallway beyond the headmaster's office.
Dumbledore listened to a brief exchange of hurried whispers before Harriet stepped back into the room and with her, a boy whom he easily recognized.
"Professor Dumbledore," Harriet began, "This is-"
"-Hello, Tom." Dumbledore nodded at his unexpected guest with a solemn frown.
"Hello, Professor. How many years has it been? Fifty now?" Tom asked with a smug smirk.
Dumbledore knew Tom Riddle well enough, although he wisely discerned that the being, the entity, whatever stood in front of him, was not exactly Voldemort.
"We've come to have a chat." Harriet nodded.
Dumbledore calmly gestured to the chairs in front of his desk as he asked, "Very well……Won't you two sit down?"
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Tom placed little value on being subtle.
As he sat next to Harriet while they spoke to the headmaster, he proudly clasped her hand in his to blatantly display his affection for her.
Dumbeldore chose not to address that signal of mutual attachment, at least not at first.
Regardless, as Harriet and Tom grasped hands while they conducted their discussion, Dumbledore carefully kept his affected fingers hidden, to avoid exposing the truth of his condition.
Unlike Harriet, Dumbledore was wise enough not to put his faith in a snake.
"Headmaster, I understand you must have a plethora of suspicions against me." Tom nodded, "However, I implore you to hear what I have to say….I have no memory of any part of my whole's life past age sixteen. I myself did not assist in my whole's wicked deeds or the creation of the six abominations that followed me. My whole self used to believe that love and emotion were things incomprehensible to us, but Harriet Snape has shown me otherwise. I assure you, Professor, my love for her is as real and as true as any in the world."
Dumbeldore listened before Harriet interjected, "Tom thinks he can access Voldemort's thoughts if he tries hard enough! He's growing stronger each day. Sir, I know about the horcruxes. I know the hunt is coming, if it hasn't already been done! Let us help! Please, we can find them! Ron and Hermione would join us, I know they would!"
Dumbledore eyed the couple for a long moment before he spoke, "You do not need to beseech me, Harriet, I am well aware of the Dark Lord's movements. Be that as it may, I hope you realize that I hardly deem Tom…… trustworthy."
"Of course, headmaster." Tom nodded, "But as I said-"
"-As I said, Tom," Dumbledore interrupted, "Each horcrux must be destroyed…..That includes you, unfortunately."
"What if there's another way?" Harriet asked.
Dumbledore frowned, "...I beg your pardon, Harriet?"
"What if the other parts are destroyed and Tom is left as the survivor? Instead of Voldemort?" Harriet asked.
Dumbledore glanced over at Tom, who nodded at him with a charming smile.
As his eyes flickered back to Harriet, Dumbledore suddenly found himself recalculating the strategy he had taken years to painstakingly develop.