Albus Dumbledore had a grim expression on his face as young Tom finished telling the story of all he knew about horcruxes of the dark lord. Suddenly ministry reports about the events and Azkaban and Gringotts made more sense on what was happening. And with Sirius taking care of another dark lord's body as well that only left two… no three of them alive. Former headmaster glanced Tom's way - after all he too was one of the horcruxes.

"I am afraid I am still too weak to confront any of the remaining two…. " - Dumbledore glanced around the room, noticed disappointed and sad expressions on Order of Phoenix members and a few others that gathered here today. Finally stopping his eyes on Riddle once again - "Now I better understand that prophecy Trelawney had a few years ago… and it's vision of you wielding my wand… perhaps this is fate" - he stretching his hand forward, holding his wand as his eyes twinkled - "Go on take it"

Tom Riddle waved his hand as wandless expelliarmus broke the barely held wand to his palm. It felt strong, powerful, unmatchable. Perhaps with this he would be able to match the older bodies of the dark lord… knowing they likely had no good wands on hand - original Voldemort's wand was still in his pocket.

"Now not to worry" - Albus, fished in his pocket, bringing out another wand - "clearly not as powerful as the one I used for all those years, but my first wand is still decent" - his eyes twinkled as he glanced around the room - "perhaps I am too weak to face Voldemorts, yet his minions, death eaters, magical creatures or those golems should be doable" - finally he turned to Kingsley - the newest member of the order, the one who helped with capturing of Crouch Jr - "When exactly is ministry planning on raiding the school?"

The auror grumbled, not too comfortable sharing details of a so called 'secret' operation - yet he knew not all aurors were on their side - undoubtedly some were dark lord's undercover minions, hence the knowledge would reach his ears one way or another - "Tomorrow noon".

"Good! Let us end this meeting today, we had a few days of rest, I am sure a bit more sleep would be good for us"

As the dawn arose Tom Riddle could not really sleep due to anticipation of the events to come - ministry notified that another Voldemort too was at Hogwarts - did the two join hands? It was hard to tell, but this was likely to be the final battle….

"Can't sleep either?" - turning around Tom noticed Ginny Weasley walking towards him with silent steps, in her hand was a familiar cloak - Harry's invisibility cloak! The girl pushed it towards him - "Here, I thought it would help you out - you know " - she rolled her eyes - "for whatever reason they are not letting minors participate, even the capable ones, Harry told me to pass it to you, he said something like having a feeling you would need it"

"Thank you, Ginny" - now cape in hand Tom realised he somehow got possession of two out of three deathly hallows - and the thirds one was known to be on one of Voldemort's fingers… Perhaps there would be a chance to snatch it… But were the legends really true? Does collecting all three really make one master of death? What if it's a hoax and those are just magical artefacts made by the Peverell family?

Hogwarts wards stirred as hundreds of aurors and hit-wizards bombarded the shields in quick succession - soon they would break, anyone could tell that. Both Voldemorts overlooked the incoming swarm of enemies they had to face - they could see goblins, aurors, hit-wizards, some hooded figures from the Department of Mysteries as well the Order of Phoenix coming along.

They have agreed to a truce of sorts - yet knowing each other well, it was only a matter of time before they turned against each other - after all, the world was too small for two dark lords. Diadem-mort smirked, he had already made preparation for potential backstabbing beforehand, still perhaps the other him should have done the same…

Tom Riddle silently stepped inside the school - leaving the chaos behind him. Various magical creatures from forbidden forest, dementors, death eaters and golems were facing the others that came with him.

Having tested Harry's cloak earlier he realised it was even more amazing than simply being an ever-lasting invisibility cloak. He found out that simply channelling some of his magic inside it would make it even more undetectable - in his short time he confirmed that he left no smell while walking, no sound could be heard from under the cloak - as well as no magical wards seemed to trigger when he passed them - he truly was invisible!

With silent steps he walked towards the headmaster's office - surely that would be the place Voldemort would like to be in, to oversee the ongoing battle below.

At the base of the tower he could already hear a heated battle coming from inside - they really are in conflict, as Dumbledore suspected might happen! Young Riddle quickly rushed up the staircase - he could not waste this opportunity.

Young Tom waited for the right moment as he watched two grown up versions of him exchange spells back and forth with rapid speed.

Ring-mort had an extra year of studying in Hogwarts and on his own in his advantage, while diadem-mort had quite a few extra years on top of that - which made it clear which was the more dangerous version to the onlooker.

As various spells flew around, Tom Riddle sighed - as thankfully the invisibility cloak seemed to be working fine, no matter the dust and flying spells, he was as if he was not even here. Yet from the tests he did he was sure that it would be undone the moment he intervened.

Seeing wounds on ring-mort build up, he gritted his teeth and focused his mind on dark thoughts - the mindset required for the killing curse. Slowly inching towards the diadem-mort along the way.

As he cast the spell he could see shock and surprise flash briefly in his opponents eyes, yet the spell did not land as intended, a pop followed and diadem-mortred to the side, while the spell landed on the ringmort.

As ring-mort let out his final breath, collapsing, Tom Riddle was barely dodging the spells from his older self. Who was seemingly more relaxed - he knew best that he was not that great yet during sixth year of Hogwarts, surely knowing some fancy spells, but nothing too fancy.

With a smirk on his face, he blasted the young Tom to the wall, along with the dead body of the ring-mother, seeing Tom drop his wand and spit out blood he put his attacks on hold.

"It seems we are the only ones left, yet Britain does not need more than one dark lord, don't you think so? It was quite foolish of you to turn against death eaters in the graveyard, but speaking to my younger self… I was quite foolish at such a young age. "

Tom Riddle's trembling hand reached for the wand closest to him - the one ring-mort recently used, he unknowingly touched the ring on the dead hand as he clutched the wand with difficulty, his vision fuzzy.

"Farewell. Avada Kedavra!"

A green spell flew straight and hit young Tom straight in the head, then his dead body laid on the floor.

'All this struggle to escape the book, then to only die by Voldemort's hands… The final fragments…'

Tom Riddle abruptly opened his eyes as he realised the weirdness of the situation - he was dead, yet could think?

Glancing around all he saw was a white room, shockingly similar to the one he had seen during his reincarnation, yet there was no wheel there, in fact everything was white and without details.

Or so he thought as he saw a black figure in the distance. Not knowing what it was he walked towards it and soon it entered his eyes, it was… Tom Riddle, who wore a friendly smile and waved towards him - "Fancy seeing you there, Tom."

Not knowing what to make out of this, young Tom just stood there mouth agape, before his black counterpart resumed the speech.

"You see, I have been watching you, initially I was upset that you were stealing my body… Yet later I got access to memories. Your memories. Realising I was but a character in the story I was even more upset, and somewhat happy what you made - no longer did this part of me was on the path to complete destruction.

Images flashed all around them - as if screens he was used to seeing inside the book. It showed him when he was stuck inside. His thoughts. His feelings. His actions.

"One day, that angel you saw visited me there, she told me that as I was unfairly put away for someone's reincarnation, she offered to put me in one on my own." - now the screens showed this white space and the meeting he was talking about - "I agreed, yet she insisted I must first wait, as based on the future she had seen, you would come here too, and here you are"

"So, what happens now? Am I dead?"

The other Riddle chuckled before answering - "You simply have a choice - you see by collecting all three relics of Ms Death you became a 'master of death' - this is such a fancy title from the fairy tale, yet all it does is allows you to choose - whether you die here and now, or you wake up back in your body there. Mind you, wounds would not be healed - in case someone burns you, you will just be a walking skeleton!"

Tom pondered for just a second - but he knew what he must choose, there were so many lifes at stake, all of them counting on him to get rid of the dark lord!

More chuckles followed - "I see the answer from your eyes, farewell then, my 'twin', for I am about to go on an adventure of my own.

Tom's vision darkened as he realised he was now back from… whatever that place was. He was breathing again. He could hear the relaxed voice of a dark lord monologuing nearby him, besides him various death eaters splayed on the ground. Others struggled their last breaths - clearly seeing their saviour Voldemort dead took a blow to them, yet they could not match the remaining dark lords might.

Tom steeled his will and raised the elder wand which somehow felt more comfortable in his hands. He could not do many spells wand-lessly, yet he did not need to. There was just one which he actually knew wandlessly and would help at the moment - a silent full body - which he shot and dark lord fell to the floor, his eyes widening, his wand dropping on the ground. He was in fact about to use his own wandless magic to break free of those magical chains, yet before he could a green beam hit him in the back.

As Tom RIddle tiredly stood up and overlooked the dead bodies and a few still breathing death eaters, a bunch of aurors broke into the room.

"It's him! He looks younger but he is the dark lord!"

He could only curse and run as various lethal spells headed his way. Yes the terror of the dark lord was now over, but what would happen to him?

Thankfully a few staircases down he saw a familiar bird, extending its wing towards him.

He quickly murmured a thanks before reaching out and touching the bird - "Thank you, Fawkes"

And just like that they disappeared in flames.

Just in time as various lethal spells passed the place he had just been.

It did not take long to clean up the castle afterwards - the golems stopped as soon as Voldemort died. The magical creatures were thrown into chaos without a leader, slaughtering each other, before fleeing back into the forest.

All order of phoenix members were quite good at patronus charm - which managed to help the ministry regain control of the creatures. And send them back to the prison, along with the captured death eaters.

Of course this was a temporary solution - recently the Department of Mysteries announced they found a way to destroy dementors - hence those foul creatures would be dealt with before transferring the prisoners to Nurmengard or even building a proper magical prison in Britain.

Sirius Black grinned as his cuffs were finally undone.

"We have finished interrogating Peter Pettigrew, you are free to go lord Black, it seems we have wronged you quite a lot for all those years…"

Sirius did not want to spend more time on pointless bickering as he rushed off to find his godson or perhaps he should visit Tonks family first? Or should he give Amanda a call…?

Dumbledore sighed as he looked at the auror who stood in daze, based on SIrius reputation he expected to be cursed a few times, but clearly the once most wanted man in Britain had other plans.

"Apologies Mr. Dumbledore." - another click sounded as more magical cuffs dropped to the ground. - "After reviewing all events it seems we have nothing to fault you with… While the sole remaining dark lord used your wand, investigation showed you were disarmed. As for your phoenix helping it get away… surely it can't be put against you as well… Even familiars can be controlled with Imperius ..."

The old man chuckled - "All is good that ends well, but what about To… no I mean the dark lord?"

Auror looked downcast - "He murdered a bunch of death eaters and a few dark lords himself. Even if we both know those are good deeds, according to British laws he would be wanted and if he gets caught… it's imprisonment for a lifetime for him…"

Former headmaster sighed - at least Fawked took him out of the country… Perhaps it was time for him to retire as well…

Tom Riddle awoke and surveyed the unfamiliar location. It seemed he was on some sort of an island? Glancing around he saw his wand nearby, the ring and cloak got lost in the chaos - hopefully the cloak was back in Potter's hands.

He noticed a note peeking out of his pocket, slightly burnt - from Albus he realised, then quickly unfolded and gave it a read.

"It seems I will not be able to visit Britain for any foreseeable future… but Japan huh,,, well Albus does have some good connections" - looking into his other pocket he saw a neatly folded parchment - a recommendation for a tutor position in Mahoutokoro.

Then he felt a burning sensation in another of his pockets - he chuckled - just how many notes Fawkes put inside?

Fishing it out it was a page with a familiar texture, his eyes widened - no way!

Unfolding the parchment he saw another note falling down - *I helped Ginny fix this from what I found in the graveyard. I am sure it will be useful for you. - A. D.*

He thanked the old man and transfigured nearby sand into a pen before putting down a greeting.

*Hello Ginny, how are you?*

*Hi Tom!* - He felt a breath of relief leave him as he saw familiar cursive write him back - his friend was fine, and now it seemed they had a lot to discuss…