Year Six: Chapter Twenty-Four

By the time Tom stepped through the floo to Grimmauld Place, Ron was looking incredibly harassed. "FINALLY!" the boy shouted as everyone else filed out of the floo. "Explain things, please?"

Tom glanced at Potter.

"You killed Dumbledore!" Potter accused in lieu of explanation, like it was the most relevant topic.

Tom rolled his eyes. "It was hardly more than assisted suicide at that point, really. Nothing to get worked up over."

Potter didn't appear mollified. "You hated him."

"Yes," Tom said agreeably. "And I hate him even more now for denying me the chance to kill him in a spectacularly painful and satisfying manner. Your point?"

Ron slapped his face with a groan, but Potter didn't seem more upset at least, and surely that counted for something. Gryffindors were supposed to like the truth anyway, so Tom really didn't know what Ron wanted from him.

Hermione stepped in, putting a hand on Tom's arm and giving Potter a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Harry. I know this is really overwhelming and, well, weird from your point of view." She shot a scathing glare at Ron. "Which is why I wanted to wait until everyone was here to talk to you."

"Hey! You try occupying him for hours without accidentally mentioning anything important! I told you I wouldn't be able to do it, so don't blame me," Ron retorted.

Tom nodded at him. That was fair. If your minion tells you they can't do something and you tell them to do it anyway, it isn't reasonable to get mad at them for failing. Even so, he wasn't going to bother explaining that to Hermione. She'd just be mad at him then, and what point would that serve?

Potter sighed. "Look, I more or less get that it… wasn't… the ideal situation. So if you had to work with… him… I kind of… I don't agree, but I'm not upset.. exactly. But from what Ron said, it sounds like you're actually, what, dating him? Or something?"

Hermione pinked. "I don't know that we've ever put it in quite those terms but essentially, yes," she said.

"But he's also dating two other girls?" Potter pressed.

"Well, sort of. I mean, it's more that we needed to make these bonds to keep him stable, and for some of us, that ended up becoming just… more than just a necessity?" she said, wringing her hands together. "I know you have every reason to disapprove, but, well, I hope you can maybe give him a chance?"

As amusing as a flustered Hermione could be, Tom supposed he should put an end to her suffering. He sighed. "Potter, come here." Without waiting for a response, he strode up the stairs to the room he'd been staying in. To his (slight) surprise, it was still as it had been the last time he'd seen it. He'd somewhat thought Sirius might move his real godson into it and leave Tom to find lodging elsewhere. A perhaps undeserved suspicion, but Tom still had completely reasonable doubts about guardian figures.

Once Potter had entered and closed the door, Tom pulled out two wands. "Take these one at a time."

Despite looking annoyed and confused, Potter took the first wand, expressing softening involuntarily as it sparkled cheerful gold and red sparks of magic at his touch. Tom watched with only a tiny bit of envy. "Now take the other," he said, and handed over Voldemort's wand. The moment Potter took it, it spat out a single green spark and fell quiet. "...okay?" Potter said, frowning. "So?"

"So hand them back, same order."

Looking extremely reluctant, the boy held out the first wand - Potter's wand - and let Tom take it. A small but healthy series of red sparks shot out. Then came Voldemort's wand, and as Tom already knew would be the case, only a sad glow lit the end before the wand gave it up as a bad job and quit.

Tom smiled bitterly, gave Potter back his wand, and threw Voldemort's wand on the bedside table. "You know who those wands belong to, right? So there. Proof for you. I'm not Voldemort anymore."

Potter looked at his wand dubiously. "Maybe," he allowed. "But that doesn't have anything to do with you playing around with three different girls. If you really loved them, you'd pick one."

Tom snorted. "Would I? Honestly Potter, I'd be happy to have a full debate about how narrow-minded I find that statement, but for now we'll focus on the more accurate and, let's face it, relevant part. You're right. I don't love any of them the way they deserve to be loved. Never will. I'm incapable of it." He frowned. "I am… in this one, very small way, your inferior." Not that he thought Potter could love them as much as they deserved either. He'd certainly be capable of coming closer, but Tom doubted it was possible for anyone to love any of them as much as they truly deserved.

"But," Tom stressed, "they chose me. They know exactly who and what I am. I'm not deceiving them. None of them are harboring any delusions about our relationship. Each one has already considered it and made this choice for themselves, and I will not allow you to hurt them by trying to make them unhappy with me."

Potter took a step back. "Er, what?"

"What I'm saying, Potter, is that I'd like you to respect their decision. Your friendship is important to them - even Luna for some reason I'm sure I don't want to hear explained - and I refuse to watch you hurt them by implying that they're the kind of idiots who'd fall in love with a psychopath like me for no other reason than that I'm in possession of your former body. If you want to check in on them and make sure I'm treating them reasonably well, then that's… acceptable, but I won't allow you to hurt them. I would burn the world for any one of them. Removing a single idiot boy would be hardly any effort. Understood?"

Potter blinked several times, opened his mouth, closed it again, and frowned. "Why?"

Tom cocked his head to the side. "Why what?"

"Why do you care if they get hurt?"

Was Potter completely stupid? "Because they're mine, of course," Tom said matter-of-factly. At Potter's skeptical look, he added, purposely grudgingly because that's what Potter would expect, "And even if I don't love them, I do care about them." Tom took a breath, hating having to expose any of himself to this boy, but after countless nights debating it with himself, he'd concluded that unwilling honesty would net the best response from Potter. With any luck, the boy might erroneously conclude that Tom was dumb enough to have fallen in love without realizing it. Tom could tolerate a certain amount of amused pity if it made life easier.

Potter bit his lip. "I don't know that I believe you," he said at last. "But… if Ron and Hermione and Ginny all agree that you're okay, I'll… I can believe in them, I guess. For now, anyway."

"Right." Tom shook off the conversation. "Glad we had that talk," he lied. "Now let's get back before they decide I've had a change of heart and murdered you." He ignored Potter's snort and headed back downstairs.

Luna greeted him first, kissing him on the cheek, then stepping around to offer her hand to Potter. "My name is Luna Lovegood," she said, smiling. "And you're Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you properly, and I'm looking forward to our friendship."

Potter shook her hand. "Er, right. You too?"

Ginny laughed. "Don't worry about it, Harry." She studied him for a moment, then shook her head, smiling wryly. "It's good to see you again. I'm glad Tom's ritual to fix up your new body seems to have worked, but if there's anything that doesn't seem right, please let us know. We'll get him to fix it." Tom pinched her, and she jumped before smacking him. "Promise. He's a pain, but he'll do it, if only to show off how clever he is."

Hermione, watching them and shaking her head, gave Potter a worryingly watery smile. "I'm…" Her voice wavered. "I'm just…It's been so…" Suddenly she launched herself at Potter, who held her carefully, eyes wide. When she started sobbing, Potter looked at Tom in alarm.

Tom pretended he hadn't noticed. "I'm going to go talk to Sirius about dinner," he said, completely ignoring Potter's plight.

A second later, Ron wrapped his arms around Harry too and said, voice rough, "We're so glad you're back. You just - you can't imagine how much we missed you." And if it sounded like Ron was crying too, Harry decided he didn't want to comment on it. He just rubbed Hermione's back awkwardly until she finally took a step back and the trio settled onto a settee.

"What was it like?" Hermione asked, wiping her eyes. "Do you remember anything?"

Harry frowned. He didn't really want to talk about it yet. "It's kind of like when you wake up knowing you had a dream the night before, but you can't remember anything about the dream. Except it was more of a nightmare." He shuddered. Thinking about it made him feel like the world was growing darker. The feeling that the very fabric of his being was slowly dissolving into nothingness had been worse than anything else he could imagine. It was worse than even the Cruciatus in a way, despite not being precisely painful (largely on account of having had no nerves, he was sure).

Sirius appeared from around a corner, Tom suspiciously not in tow. "Hermione, are you seriously asking Harry that already? He hasn't even been back for a day!"

She blushed and looked down. "Sorry, Harry."

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "It's fine. I mean, I'm here now, aren't I? Ron says that's thanks to you. So you don't have anything to apologize for."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Even falling in love with Tom?"

Harry stared at her. He'd kind of hoped she'd tell him that had been nothing but a ruse. "So you really… I mean, it's definitely love? For you, I mean?" He had to bite back his real question, which was just why?

"For all of us," Hermione answered gently. "And it's not like it's just with Tom. I spend a lot of time with Ginny and Luna too. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily in love with them, but I definitely love them too." Her smile turned a bit impish. "Actually, I've probably snogged the two of them more than I have Tom."

Harry spluttered. "You - I mean - what?"

He looked at Ron, who just looked resigned. "Ginny's the same, not that I'd mind if she'd stop, but…"

From around the corner, Sirius laughed, stepping into view. "Well, as much as I'd love to hear more, it's about time for dinner, after which we have some things to discuss, Prongslet."

Dinner should have been awkward for Harry, who found himself sitting with Luna and Ron on either side of him. Across from him sat… Tom… who seemed to be discussing exams of all things with Hermione. Ginny and Sirius were quietly discussing the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts, as it was apparently already being called, and Professor Lupin, who'd appeared as they were sitting down, was simply watching everyone with a small smile on his face. So it should have been awkward.

"Would you recommend Dementors as a means of time travel?" Luna asked him, appearing entirely serious. "Not that it'd be effective, since Tom killed them all, but we could use the base idea to design our own means of traveling to the future."

Harry blinked owlishly. "I can't say I would, no." He paused. "Wait, what do you mean he killed them?"

"Oh," Luna said. "I thought that was fairly self-explanatory. Tom killed the Dementors. Meaning there are no more." She smiled and patted his hand. "Don't worry. He kept your soul in a crystal until it was time to transfer it over."

Harry wasn't sure why he'd have been worried, but he nodded anyway.

After dinner, Sirius pulled him aside, bringing him to a bedroom across from Tom's. The other boy followed them, leaning against the door frame as Harry looked around in awe. It was decorated in Gryffindor colors, with pictures of his parents framed and set about. Harry looked back to Sirius, touched, then stiffened. Tom was eying the room with his lip curled in disdain. Harry bit his lip and ignored the other boy. "Thank you Sirius," he said, looking around again.

The Marauder smiled broadly and pulled Harry into a brief hug. "Of course, Prongslet. Now, as for what I called you here for." He looked from Harry to Tom and back again. "You're both my responsibility." He held up his hand before Tom could say anything. "Your parents might never have met me, and they certainly didn't appoint me anything, but you've been living as my godson all this time, and if you intend to remain 'Harry Potter,' you'll continue being my godson."

"What about me?" Harry asked. He'd meant to sound angry, but his voice instead only sounded small and frightened.

Sirius gave him a warm, reassuring smile. "You're my godson too, of course, but I have an offer if you want to take it." He hesitated, visibly nervous, then said, "Tom made the alterations to Voldemort's body using his - your - blood and mine. So if you want… If you'd be alright with it… I'd like to adopt you as my son."

Harry stared at him, a small hope he'd never let himself seriously entertain suddenly flaring to life. "You.. so you'd be… you want to be my… dad?"

Sirius nodded, eyes bright. "If you want. I mean, you don't have to call me that if you don't want to, and I get if you'd rather not because, you know, I'm not trying to replace James or anything but I thought it might be, I mean, there's no pressure, but I'd love -"

"Yes!" Harry lunged at Sirius, wrapping him in the tightest hug Harry'd ever experienced, let alone given. "Yes, yes, yes." He cut himself off, annoyingly aware that Tom was watching him, and he really didn't want to start bawling in front of him, but then Sirius was crying and suddenly Harry didn't mind so much.

Tom watched the pair and ignored the burning pit of jealousy in his chest. He turned to leave and caught Remus watching from the doorway. He ignored the werewolf and left.

Remus followed. "Sirius loves you too," he said lightly.

Tom didn't flinch. "We'll see."

An irritating smile answered him. Remus added after a moment, "I wanted to thank you for keeping your word."

"I didn't do it for you," Tom snapped.

"I know." Remus nodded toward the stairs. "I believe Miss Weasley is looking for you. I have some things to do, so if I don't see you again tonight, good night."

Tom scowled at the man's back before descending downstairs and into the kitchen where Ginny was, indeed, standing and waiting for him. She held out her hand, and he took it, feeling infinitely better already.

Ginny pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. When at last, she pulled away, cheeks flushed and lips swollen, she beamed at him. "I love you, Tom Riddle. Forever and always. Understand?"

Tom leaned his forehead against hers. "Thank you," he murmured. The bond felt hot and bright in his mind, and he took a minute to just relax, pulling energy from the feeling.

A throat clearing startled the pair apart. It was Sirius, with Potter standing just behind him looking incredibly awkward.

"What is it?" Tom asked, pretending he hadn't just been feeling anything at all.

Sirius glanced between Tom and Ginny with far too much amusement, then shook his head. "Nevermind. It's getting late, so don't stay up too much longer, alright? Hermione and Luna are in the library, so let them know too, if you don't mind."

Tom rolled his eyes. He hardly needed a bedtime, but finding Hermione and Luna sounded better than staying here with Potter. "Night then, Sirius," he said.

"Good night, Sirius. Good night, Harry," Ginny said with a bright smile.

"Good night, um, Tom," Potter offered.

Tom gave him an irritated look, but gave him a grudging nod at Ginny's sharp elbow in his side. Once they were past the boy, he turned to her and hissed, "Why are you so bony? Eat more or something."

"Yes, my lord," she returned with a mock salute.

Harry watched them bicker all the way up the stairs. "You're sure he's not just pretending to be…" He was going to say 'good,' but the other teen honestly didn't seem particularly good, pretending or not.

"Not totally irredeemably evil?" Sirius guessed.

"That works."

Sirius hummed. "I can't be positive, no." He stood there, watching until Tom was entirely out of sight. Suddenly, he said, "I saw him fighting Voldemort, you know. He was having fun. I think that, if he'd had the option, he would have preferred to keep the bastard around just so he would have someone he could justifiably murder without upsetting anyone." Sirius sighed. "I doubt he'll ever be totally happy if he can't engage in a bit of death and mayhem from time to time, but he's the type who, once he commits to something, that's the end of it, and he's committed now to taking the mostly legal route to power." He saw Harry's aghast expression and laughed. "Yeah, I know. And I don't expect you to get along with him. He'd probably see it as some sort of attack if you tried. But I want to take care of both of you, and I think that he'll do alright as Minister of Magic one day."

"You want a psychopath running the country?" Harry demanded, faintly horrified by the idea.

Sirius shrugged. "Sometimes it's helpful if your minister is a bit scary. Really, between Fudge and Tom, who do you think would do a better job?"

Harry scowled. He didn't like that answer, because it really did make Tom seem like a reasonable choice. No Lucius Malfoys were going to convince Tom to send innocents to Azkaban just 'to be seen doing something.' Of course, Tom would probably happily send innocents to Azkaban just because it was funny or whatever evil people thought, but still. Although… "How did he kill the dementors?" he asked with a frown. "I didn't think that was possible."

Now Sirius could only shake his head. "No idea, Prongslet. Maybe that's why they followed Voldemort though. Maybe they knew he could kill them. Too bad for him that he didn't realize he was actually fighting one of his horcruxes" He snickered. "Imagine splitting off a bunch of bits of your soul to live forever only for one of them to kill you."

It was ironic, Harry allowed. Nothing less than Voldemort deserved. "But still, Minister?" he grumbled.

"Better than headmaster, yeah?"

Harry shuddered. "Fair enough."

And anyway, as much as he wanted to hate Tom, he couldn't.

He'd lied, earlier, to Hermione. Over the course of the day, the time between had gotten clearer and clearer in his memory. And there was something that hadn't made much sense to him until talking to Luna at dinner. He remembered being in the middle of one long, neverending nightmare. Occasionally he'd felt something brushing against his consciousness that eased it a bit, but for the most part it'd been terrible.

Then, suddenly, it'd been replaced. Something freezing cold had enveloped him. He'd been terrified, but also relieved. He'd felt instinctively that this was the end, and while he didn't want to die, he also thought that'd be better than continuing on. It hadn't taken him like he'd expected though. He'd heard it telling him to hold out just a little longer, and then he'd felt safe. He hadn't had a body yet, but the nightmare had already ended, and he'd been wrapped safely in cool but comforting magic that, unfortunately, felt a lot like Tom.

So he'd give him a chance. He thought back to watching the boy with Ginny. That hadn't looked fake. That'd actually looked a lot like someone in love to Harry's admittedly limited experience. He wondered with some amusement if Tom had actually managed to fall in love without realizing it. He snorted and shook his head. Time would tell, he supposed.

AN: Only the epilogue left after this. It's been fun to write, but honestly there's a lot I would change if I went back and edited it. I probably will, eventually. Right now, I'm writing my second book, and I'd like to finish it before I go back and start trying to fix up the hot mess this turned into, but I expect I'll get frustrated with the book at some point, so look forward to a proper edit! It's quite different posting something and seeing comments after each chapter. Sometimes I read the comments and go "yay!" and sometimes "well that was rude" and sometimes "huh?" and sometimes "... yeah…. You're right…." but I value all of them because all of them are your honest opinions, and they'll help me do a better job next time.