A/N: After years, I tried to cook up a new story to flex my brain muscles. Hopefully it's to your liking. If there's any errors, I'll revise them whenever the mood strikes, I don't have a beta reader nor am I patient enough to comb the my work more than a few times.
Pairings: (Maybe) Eventual Tom/Harry, Ron/Hermione, Sirius/Remus
Tags: Alive!Sirius, Minor Dumbledore bashing, misguided Dumbledore, Good(ish) Tom, Voldemort is like a demon that possessed Tom.
I don't own Harry Potter.
Sirius and Bellatrix were engaged in a deadly dance, the mysterious room in the Department of Mysteries lit up by the spells the two flung at each other. They both cackled madly at each other as they dodged and fired, the adrenaline making them both giddy.
"Is that all you got, you stupid bint?"Sirius chortled, standing dangerously close to the Veil. Bellatrix snarled and flung a sickly yellow spell at him that Harry had never seen before the same time Lucius attempted to fire a Bone Breaking Curse at Tonks but the girl dodged, the curse landing at hit on Sirius' right leg, causing him to lose focus on Bellatrix and let out a bloodcurdling scream as lost his balance and fell down the steps.
"Sirius!"Harry and Remus yelled simultaneously from behind the column of stone they'd taken shelter behind. Remus got up and tried to carry Sirius to their spot without jostling him too much and not getting injured himself from the barrage of spells flying through the air.
Harry took in inky haired man's sorry state. His right leg was bent at an awkward angle due to the Bone Breaker and Bellatrix's curse had left half (quite literally) of Sirius looking like his skin had been carefully peeled off, a meaty mess being the only thing being visible with the stench of copper forcing itself into Harry's nostrils. The boy felt his stomach turning as he slowly registered the state of his godfather.
Before he could even ask if Sirius was going to be okay, Bellatrix's mad cackle echoed in the DoM. Harry snapped his head in her direction, his teeth clenched as he watched her try to slink off into the darkness of the exit she stood at.
Before he knew it, his legs were carrying him towards her, his wand clasped tightly in his hands. Harry was deaf to the panicked yelling for him to come back.
Bellatrix's laughter rang loudly in Harry's ears as he chased her, zigzagging through the Department of Mysteries. He raised his wand, when he finally got a clear view of her when they'd made it to the Atrium.
Harry shivered as he felt coldness seep into his body. He knew — he knew — something was wrong when he felt a presence behind him.
"Come now,"a soft masculine voice whispered to him seductively. "You've finally got her. You won't let her get away, will you?"it asked, a seemingly invisible hand taking Harry's wand arm and aiming it more steadily for him. "You want her to hurt, don't you? Make her hurt. You know the spell."
Harry flinched as he saw the graveyard from last year appear before his eyes briefly. A flash of red accompanied the memory.
"See? You do know what I'm talking about. Now do it, Harry,"the voice repeated kindly.
Harry could feel the rage that had slowly built up all year bubble up as he looked at Bellatrix's back properly. The voice was right. That woman needed to be punished — she's gone and cost him the chance of a family. If Sirius dies, it'll be her fault and he won't be able to make her pay if he passes up this chance.
The boy's lip quivered before turned into a snarl. "CRUCIO!"he screamed.
A jet of red light hit Bellatrix's retreating back, causing the woman to let out a shriek of pain and convulse a little. The spell lasted only a few moments before Harry stopped it, startled by what had come over him.
He watched with wide eyes as the woman crumpled to the ground, twitching occasionally where she lay.
"Why did you stop? Weren't you having fun?"the voice asked. Harry could practically hear the pout. "Why don't we go again? Bellatrix is still down. Come on, Harry. Remember, she might've killed poor Sirius. Why don't we hurt her some more then we go back and check on him, hm?"
"You won't be making young Harry do anything of the sort, Tom,"Dumbledore's voice declared, echoing around the Atrium.
Harry turned around to see the snake-like visage of Voldemort appear from behind him, an oddly serene smile on his lipless face. "Oh well, it seems our play time's been put on hold."
Harry screamed, tripping over himself as he tried to back away. A spell flew over Harry's head, directed at Voldemort. The Dark Lord disappeared in black smoke, the spell hitting the statue of the Ministry's water fountain.
A loud yelp escaped Harry's lips as he felt his body sail through the air and placed behind the walls of one of the entrances that he and Bellatrix had come through.
Harry sat himself in a better position to better see the battle and saw Dumbledore appear, using a glowing blue shield to protect himself from Voldemort's flinging of reptiles made of fire from his wand.
"Come now, Albus. Surely you jest,"Voldemort jeered. "Am I not worthy enough to get a glimpse of what you really have stocked up in your artillery? There's only so many times your silly shield can take a hit and absorb Fiendfyre."
Dumbledore didn't bother to grace him with an answer, choosing to seal Voldemort in a sphere of water sourced from the fountain.
"Are you alright there, Harry? You haven't been injured, have you?"the wizened wizard asked, his eyes fixated on the trapped Dark Lord.
"I… I'm just a bit cold, Professor…"Harry replied quietly, surprised that Dumbledore had even bothered to speak to him after being avoided all year.
Harry noticed the sphere harden and crack, bits of… glass … flying everywhere. A few scratched at his face before gusts of wind started rotating, pulling Harry from his hiding place and sucking him into the little tornado before being flung onto the glass littered floor at Voldemort's feet.
With a pained groan, Harry opened his eyes to find himself staring a red, slitted eyes. He barely had the chance to scream as black smoke forced its way into his body through his mouth and nostrils.
Harry groaned as he cracked open his eyes, squinting them when light shone onto them. He covered them with a hand before flopping over onto his side to lay down in the grass.
Wait — Grass-?
Harry shot straight up and looked around, frowning as he found himself in a meadow. He looked to his side and saw Voldemort out cold in a little nest of marigolds and tulips, nude as the day he was born. Well — he couldn't exactly call the person he saw Voldemort anymore. After all, it seemed that Harry was staring at the same version of the man he'd seen in his Second Year.
The only difference between Memory-Tom and the Riddle he saw now was age. Memory-Tom was just a bit older by a margin whilst this one looked a bit younger and softer, other than that, the chocolate coloured hair, alabaster skin and angelic features were still the same. Harry knew that behind the slumbering Riddle's eyelids, the icy blue eyes that had pierced through him then were the same as well.
When he noticed he was staring far too long, Harry flushed with shame and looked away. When he noticed his own state of dress (or lack of it), his cheeks only grew redder as he crossed he hugged his knees in a bid to hide himself in the safety of the long grass of the flowery meadow.
He wondered why they were here. Had his time run out and he was sent to some strange place to engage Riddle in some freakish last battle? He didn't see his wand, so it must mean they had to fight Muggle style. Harry could do that, he'd had lots of practice dealing with Dudley and his cronies. And Riddle showed no sign of waking soon, so it'd be easy to win.
The boy was snapped out of his musings when a shadow was cast over him. He looked up and saw a tanned red headed woman dressed in a white shirt, denim overalls and a straw sunhat grinning cheekily at him before plopping herself down on the grass in front of him.
The boy was snapped out of his musings when a shadow was cast over him. He looked up and saw a tanned black haired woman dressed in a white shirt, denim overalls and a straw sunhat grinning cheekily at him before plopping herself down on the grass in front of him. If Harry didn't know better, he'd say she were a relative if not his carbon copy.
"Nah, technically you're a bit wrong there, laddie,"the woman replied as she took off her bright pink gardening gloves.
How did she -?
"Hear your thoughts?"the woman finished with a raised eyebrow. "That's just a neat little thing my domain can do."
Harry swallowed thickly, eyeing the woman warily. "You..."he began. "I... Who are you?"
"I'm a gardener, reaping what I sow,"she replied cryptically.
"I.. that doesn't answer my question but ...alright."
"You know, normally I'd scold you seven ways through to Sunday and back for mucking around in my flowers but I suppose I'll forgive since you did me a big favour,"the woman drawled, prattling on as if she hadn't heard Harry.
"A favour?"
The gardener nodded. "Mhm. You see that twat over there?"she said, pointing at sleeping Riddle.
"Riddle?"Harry asked with a frown.
"No, the abomination housing itself inside him,"she huffed, gripping Harry's chin and turning his head to look at Riddle. At first, his body had been flawless but now that Harry managed to get a good look, at least six handprints were on his body. They looked like some type of rust or dried blood that blemished the Riddle's skin.
"What the...bloody hell..."Harry gasped.
"Bloody hell, indeed,"the gardener replied with an irritated sigh. "You know, Tom was one of my favourite flowers until he decided to be very stupid!"she grumbled, ripping out a handful of grass in a fit of rage. "Of course that vile bastard went and messed with my hard work. It's not like I didn't spend 15 long years tending to Tom so he wouldn't turn into an ugly weed like that sorry sod of a mother, you know! Of course he just had to pick the flower I liked the most to be his little container and wreak havoc like the repulsive weed he is. He better watch his back! I'll shove pesticide down his throat!"the gardener grumbled, her bright green eyes darkening as she mimed a violent action.
"I...I'm not sure what you mean..."Harry stammered.
"Doesn't matter what I meant,"the gardener replied gruffly as she stood up and made her way over to Riddle, squatting beside him. "I have the ball in my court and you, Mr Potter, are going to help me do some damage control. It won't be unpaid of course,"she mumbled, staring at Riddle intently.
"Damage... control? Payments?"
"Yes. Once I remove the parasite leeching off Tom, I'm going to to need you to act as his leash of sorts, since this is a delicate issue. Essentially, a bastard convinced Tom to split his soul, thinking he'd be immortal but the idiot made the torn soul pieces too weak to fight against the invasion of his body by something else... thus creating Voldemort. That was Tom's mistake. The death and destruction after that can't really be pinned on him-"
"That's because he's your favourite flower can do no wrong, hm?"Harry asked drily.
"However!"the garden continued, raising her voice slightly. "However. I can rectify this situation by putting the pieces back together."
"And what do you expect me to do about that? Where am I supposed to come in?"Harry asked, crossing his arms.
"You're going to help me locate the pieces. Putting everything back together is the easy part."
"Don't you think that Riddle will just rampage before then?"
"I was going to get to that, you know. I factored that into the equation. You're going to play babysitter on top of helping me find the pieces. He won't attack you if I have anything to say about it, Harry."
The longer Harry listened to the gardener, the less sane he felt. With the way things were going, he'd be just as batty as she was. Parasites? Flowers? This was an insane game of make-believe!
"I've been checked, so don't you worry about that. I'm being very serious. In repayment for helping me out, I'll tip the scales in your favour the best I can. You'll know my handiwork when you see it,"the gardener replied, placing one of her hands on Riddle's chest. The other reached out, waiting for Harry to shake it. Harry eyed it suspiciously, choosing to not take it.
"You're being very vague about... all of this. Babysitting? How am I supposed to babysit Riddle when I have to deal with the Dursleys? They'd lose their minds if another 'freak' were with me -- that is if Dumbledore and the Order doesn't get him first."
"Dumbledore won't be a problem, I've had a chat with him already. The weeds who call themselves Dursley will be handled. All you need to do try and work with Albus. Two heads are better than one at the moment. Hopefully he recognises that,"the gardener replied. When she saw Harry's reluctance, she sighed. "Just trust me, Harry,"she stressed. "This is light work in comparison to what Fate had in store for you. Doing this'll cull the death and destruction your original path had."
Harry pursed his lips and looked at Riddle. After a few moments of silence, he tentatively reached out his hand and shook the gardener's. Vines sprouted from thin air and wrapped themselves around the joined hands, thorns digging into their skin and drawing blood, causing Harry to flinch as the vines glowed, flashing three times before disappearing as quickly as they'd come.
Just what sort of mess had he gotten himself into this time?