Yo! Ages ago I received an anon review asking why Number Four Privet Drive was between Numbers Two and Three. It isn't. One and Three are next to one another across the street, and Two and Four are next to one another on the other side. The houses are numbered in a sort of...diagonal manner. So one side of the street will have houses One, Three, Five, Seven and so on, and the other side will have houses Two, Four, Six, Eight and so on. That's how it is where I live. It might be different in other cities or countries or whatever. Thank you to all readers so far!

Harry wasn't really sure what to feel. This was easily the most frightening Riddle had been these last two or three days, and it was unnerving, to say the least.

Slowly, Harry backed off a little further, but Riddle made no move to attack him. He returned to his spot on the couch, but kept his eyes on Riddle. It didn't look like he was in pain anymore, so that was probably good, right? He stayed quiet though, waiting for Riddle to speak first, unsure of his mood. He'd been crucioed before, and he really didn't want to go through that again.

It looked like the storm outside was starting to die down.

"What do you know about my side in this war, Harry?"

Harry was a little startled by the sudden question, and frowned slightly, feeling a bit confused. The question seemed kind of unrelated to everything else, so it took him a second to realize what he'd been asked. Then he shrugged. "I only know what Dumbledore and the Order have told me," he said. "You want to make a better world for Purebloods by killing all Muggles and Muggleborns, or something stupid like that."

"I see." Riddle brought his fingers up to his chin. "Have you heard the prophecy in its entirety?"

"I have, yeah."

"Did you take divination at Hogwarts?"

Even more confused by the even more random question, Harry just nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Why did you choose to take it when you had at least three other options?" asked Riddle.

"Ron-er, a friend suggested I take it because he was, so we could be in the same class together," said Harry with another shrug, "and it sounded like it'd be pretty easy. Easier than ancient runes and arithmancy, at least."

"Then you have no actual belief in divination?"

"Not really," said Harry with a shake of his head. "It might have something to do with how the professor predicts my death in literally every class though. But…" Harry hesitated, then said, "At the end of my third year, she made a prediction that sounded...different than all her usual ones."

"Different?"

"I don't really know how to describe it," said Harry. "She just sort of went into a trance, and didn't seem to be aware of where she was or that I was still in the room. And when she came out of it, she seemed like she had no idea what happened and had no memory of saying the stuff she did. I told Dumbledore about it later on, and he mentioned that it was her second real prediction. Figured that meant the prophecy about us was her first one."

"Did Dumbledore say that?"

"No, I just guessed, since we were talking about prophecies and stuff."

"Then tell me, Harry, what would you say if I told you that both of those prophecies are false and we have been manipulated into thinking otherwise?" said Riddle calmly, crimson eyes on Harry.

"Man-manipulated? By Dumbledore, you mean?"

"Yes." Riddle crossed his legs neatly. "The initial war didn't go quite the same way as you have been told. I was doing much of what you've heard, of course, but along with all of that, I fed many of my followers into the Ministry to take a more political angle as well."

Harry frowned. "Political?"

Riddle smiled wryly. "Not everything can be accomplished with torture and murder-you said as much yourself. Pain and death cannot solve everything. No, some things require a more...subtle hand."

Harry supposed that made sense. Fear could get a lot of things, but loyalty wasn't one of them. "So, how'd it all go?"

"Unfortunately, not well. Not for long, at least." Riddle drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. "While it was true I had many affluent Purebloods on my side, it wasn't enough to counter Dumbledore's incredible influence. Every time the Dark took a step forward, our goal was pushed away-we were pushed away."

"But...what were you trying to do in the first place?" asked Harry cautiously.

"Create change." Riddle looked out of the window, and Harry noted sunlight peeking through the clouds. "I wished to change the way wizards from the Muggle world and magical creatures were treated, and I wished to make changes in the way Hogwarts was run." He looked at Harry again.

"Magical creatures are treated as if they are diseased, and those entering the wizarding world from the Muggle world, whether they are Muggleborn or not, are treated no better. They will never find help at Hogwarts."

The words were said with a cool calm that Harry almost envied, but at the same time, he didn't doubt them at all. Hadn't he already seen proof of the prejudice? Hermione had been called a mudblood more than once, Remus had been forced to quit multiple jobs due to being a werewolf, people had begun treating Fleur as nothing but an object the second they'd learned she had some veela blood in her. And how many wizards treated house-elves like slaves? Too many, he was sure.

Riddle smiled sardonically. "Dumbledore has always had a...problem, shall we say?-with me. I noticed it the first time I met him. He came to me to inform me that I was a wizard, and I thought even then that his behaviour was odd. It only worsened with time. He liked to watch me, it seems."

Harry frowned again. "You mean, when you opened the Chamber of Secrets? It was mentioned at some point that he was always watching you then."

"No, he watched me from the very beginning. I happened to mention my ability as a Parselmouth to him the first time I met him, and he watched me closely ever since, though it did get worse after the Chamber incident. That was when his watching escalated into him following me."

Harry blinked, surprised. "Following? You mean around the castle?"

"Yes, all around the castle," said Riddle. "It never seemed to matter where I was, he would always appear nearby a few minutes later. He would even make excuses for entering classrooms during any of my lessons when he had a free period."

Harry just stared. "That's...really creepy. Did the stalking at least stop after you left Hogwarts?"

"It did," Riddle confirmed, "but only because he was still teaching. He still found many ways to inconvenience me however."

"What do you mean?"

"I should have been welcomed into many positions at the Ministry upon my graduation, but every time I attempted to get into one, I found myself blocked by a known comrade of his."

"So, he stopped you from getting any job at the Ministry?" said Harry. "Was he really that worried about what you'd do there?"

"I suppose he was. I took a job in a shop in Knockturn Alley, but even then, Dumbledore made efforts to keep tabs on me."

"Wait, hang on," said Harry, sitting up a little straighter. "Didn't you try to get a job at Hogwarts? As the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?" Wasn't that why there was a curse on the position now?

"I did try that, yes," said Riddle with a nod. "Dippet, the Headmaster at the time, refused to hire me because I was too young, though he offered for me to try again a few years later. By the time I returned, Dippet was dead and Dumbledore had become the new Headmaster. Of course, he refused to hire me as well."

So that was what happened. Weird. "What did you do then? When Dumbledore didn't hire you?"

"I fell deeper into the dark arts," said Riddle. "I admit that. I did continue funnelling my followers into the Ministry, but the results never changed. Dumbledore has too much power, both in the Ministry and at Hogwarts."

"Oh, I think I heard he has some control over some of the laws that get passed or something?"

"Yes, his position gives him that power. One of those powers is that he can call a trial for any convicted criminal at any time. It seems he seldom uses that power though."

Riddle hadn't said it, but Harry had a feeling he knew where he was going with this. "You're saying he could have given Sirius a trial but chose not to. Why?"

"And here we return to the crux of the issue-the prophecies." Riddle uncrossed his legs, and then crossed them the other way. "One thing you must remember is that it is very easy to be manipulated when you are so entrenched within and addicted to the dark arts. It is so incredibly easy to be sent spiraling out of control."

Harry watched as Riddle felt silent and looked out of the window, where the sun shone brightly, almost all of the clouds having drifted away after the storm passed. It was so strange that they were having this conversation right now. It was even stranger that Harry believed everything he was being told. He had no real reason to believe any of it, but he still did. He believed every word, and he had no idea why.

Yeah, strange definitely wasn't a good enough word to describe it.

"I believe Dumbledore realized very early on that I would be some sort of threat to him, and he took measures to ensure that wouldn't happen," said Riddle suddenly, eyes still focused on something outside.

"What-what did he do?" asked Harry hesitantly. It was odd to think of a time-any time, where Voldemort wasn't in control of the situation around him.

"When I was a child, long before I was able to develop any protective barriers in my mind, Dumbledore planted certain...suggestions within me. They had little effect at the time, as I was still new to the wizarding world, but those suggestions remained locked deep within my mind.

"As I grew older, those suggestions changed how I reacted to certain things, what I said at certain times, what I did in certain moments. And decades later, when I finally began reaching the goals I worked so hard towards, I heard the beginning of the prophecy."

Harry said nothing, and Riddle looked at him now, as if sensing his growing confusion. He continued speaking, an emotion in his voice that Harry couldn't recognize.

"I have never cared for divination, Harry. I never believed in it. Not before Hogwarts, not at Hogwarts, and not after Hogwarts. Not until I heard that prophecy. Do you understand why?"

Harry started to shake his head, only to stop as the realization hit him. "Those-those suggestions. The ones Dumbledore planted. That's why, isn't it?"

Slowly, Riddle inclined his head. "The moment I heard that prophecy, even though it was through a third party, it was as if something in my mind...snapped. Suddenly I was obsessed with finding this prophecy child and taking their life to secure my own."

"So if it hadn't been for those weird suggestions, you wouldn't have believed or cared about the prophecy?" said Harry with a frown. "You wouldn't have killed my parents or tried to kill me?"

Riddle fixed him with an odd look. "I can say little on the subject of your parents. It is very possible that I might have killed them regardless. We were enemies-I the Dark Lord and they being members of the Order. But I would have had no qualms with you. Infant or not, you posed no threat to me. I will not apologize for any of it, as you and I both know it will mean nothing. As it stands however, I did believe in it all, and I did attack you, and doing so could have ended my own life."

Harry nodded as he readjusted himself on the couch. They'd been sitting here talking for ages now, and he really wanted to get up and move a bit, but he didn't want to distract Riddle, or himself, for that matter. "What about the second prophecy?" he asked instead. "The one from my third year?"

"Ah, here I must speculate again," said Riddle. "In this instance, I believe it possible that Dumbledore never intended for you to learn the truth about Black's innocence. I think it possible, and even likely that he wished to keep the two of you as separated as he could. It would be easy enough to achieve this if you thought Black was one of my followers."

"But what was his plan once I did find out?" said Harry, feeling confused.

"His plan was to ensure the public never found out about Black's innocence," said Riddle. "If they learned about his innocence and that he'd been subjected to imprisonment for over a decade, there would be an outcry for justice. And once he received that justice and things settled down, you would be allowed to live with him. There would be no reason to stop it, at any rate. But you see, there is a problem with this-with you being with Black."

"There is? Or, was, I guess?"

"Your godfather was a Black, and Blacks are generally followers of the Dark."

Harry's frown only deepened. "But Sirius hated all of that!" he exclaimed.

"Did he really?"

Harry started to answer, stopped, and gave Riddle a look of confusion, not sure what he meant.

"After spending so many years in a heavily guarded cell in Azkaban, it is very likely that Black wasn't as mentally sound as assumed. How often was he left alone with Dumbledore? Do you realize how easily he could have been manipulated? Every barrier in his mind would have broken down years ago. It was only his ability as an animagus that allowed him to keep even a shred of his sanity."

That was pretty shocking to hear, mostly because Harry hadn't really ever put any thought into it before. But at the same time, Sirius' behaviour had never been quite...right, had it? He'd always acted awfully young-young like a lot of the older students at Hogwarts often acted. He'd still been caught up in his childhood prejudices against Snape, generally doing most of the instigating there, and how many times had he called him James instead of Harry?

"It is possible," Riddle continued slowly, as if carefully considering each word, "that Black managed to catch on to what Dumbledore was doing. Perhaps his mind had begun to heal itself, restoring the old barriers and memories and that was what alerted him to it."

"Okay," said Harry, his brow furrowed, "I get that, but what does it have to do with keeping us apart?"

"If Black regained his memories, and his sanity along with it, he would have been an influence on you. A positive influence in many opinions, but a negative one in Dumbledore's eyes. From what I am aware, Black was more neutral than he was Light. It was only assumed otherwise because he was such close friends with your father, who was Light. Wormtail has told me Black was the type to question things, and that was something he no doubt would have told you to do as well had he had the chance. Dumbledore does not want that to happen."

And now Harry finally understood. "Because if I started questioning things, I'd start realizing just how...wrong all of this really is. So he made sure Sirius would stay locked up, both in Azkaban and in the Order headquarters, and maybe if he didn't think that was good enough, he said something or did something that made him leave and caused him to-" Harry broke off, forcing himself to swallow the sob building in his throat.

"We have been manipulated, Harry," said Riddle softly. "Both of us, and your godfather as well, along with so many others."

Harry smiled a very unfriendly looking smile. "Guess it's time for us to repay the favour, then."

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!