Chapter 19: Bye, Old Tom
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Remember this is supposed to be a bit crackish.
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When Harry got back to Hogwarts, he let Hermione know all about what was going on at the kidnapping. He made sure to tell her about everything that happened between him, Tom and Old Tom. Even the events that led up to the kidnapping and what happened after.
"I can't believe you stood there and let him kidnap you," said Hermione as they walked between classes. They had about half an hour between their next class. Not that they were ambling towards their next class, they were just kind of walking around Hogwarts waiting for it to start.
"Well, I let Tom take the lead and I wanted to see what was going on," said Harry, with a casual shrug of his shoulders. His hands were in his pockets, and he was just kind of walking along next to her. He really wanted her input on what she was thinking, but he really didn't care one way or the other. Not that her opinion didn't matter, but what had happened had already happened, and there wasn't much that she could do about it. However, she had some really good insight on things, and she might see something that he and Tom missed.
"Yeah, but to let him kidnap you, that was just unbelievable," she said. She couldn't believe that Young Tom had let Old Tom kidnap them. What was the man thinking? Did he really think that the older Dark Lord was going to spill his plans? Did they really think the man was that far gone?
"Well, we did find out his plans, but now we're going to have to wait three days to see if he continues them," said Harry, surprising Hermione into finding out that, yes, the older Tom did spill his plans.
"Oh, I don't doubt that he's going to continue them," said Hermione, waving her hands dismissively. "He's that kind of a fool. Besides that, his Horcruxes have probably messed with his head." She didn't doubt that for a moment. In her research she discovered that the man's soul was so beyond repair that he was more than likely not thinking straight. But, to think that he was spilling secrets, that was unbelievable.
"You're probably right," her teenage male friend stated, nodding in agreement.
"I know I'm right," she stated, nudging him with her shoulder as they walked on. "I want to be there when he initiates his plans," she said out of the blue.
"How am I going to arrange that?" asked Harry, looking at her in a way that she couldn't interpret.
"I don't care how you arrange it," she said in a demanding way. "I'm just gonna stick by your side until he kidnaps you again. Or we can just stay in the graveyard until the plans happen." She was going to be there one way or another. There was no way she was going to let him do this all by himself, him or Tom. They were her best friends. She was going to stick by their sides, no matter what.
"Don't be daft," he said, poking her in the side. "We can't hang around the graveyard for three days." That wasn't even something he even plotted on doing. He was pulling his men from the graveyard as he was thinking. He already knew that the Dark Lord wasn't going to change his plans. There was no reason to keep those guys there as it was. He might keep one man there, but to keep the rest of his people there? That was unfathomable.
"No, you're right. But the second you disappear, I'm going to be at that graveyard," she persisted.
"If you insist. You're my right-hand man, after all, and we have been practicing for this," he said, thinking of all the gun practice they'd done. The hours and hours of practice they've done. It got kind of tedious after a while shooting at standstill targets.
"Damn right," the bushy-haired witch said. "Besides, I've been included in the pardon. I want my pound of flesh." She smacked one fist into the other.
"What has Voldemort ever done to you that you deserve a pound of flesh?" Harry asked incredulously. As far as he knew, Voldemort had never even looked in Hermione's direction.
"He went after my best friend," she said impertinently, as if it were a given.
"Ah, I didn't know you cared," he said, resting his head against her shoulder in a mocking fashion. He fluttered his eyelashes at her.
"You're such an idiot sometimes, Harry. I don't know why I put up with you," she said, shoving his head off her body.
"You're my best friend, Hermione. You're the only person in this entire castle that I put up with," he said, meaning every word of it. He had put up with a lot with the people in this castle, but she was the only one he tolerated.
"Well, the Weasley twins have taken a liking to you," she said, thinking hard about the students and how they treated Harry. Only the twins gave him the time of day with equality. Everyone else treated him with awe or like he was the devil himself who came to tempt them with sin. "Even after everything you did to their brother."
"Yeah, but they still distrust me," he said, pointing out the fact that they still didn't treat him completely with trust.
"Not as much as they used to," she pointed out. "I mean, they want to be there too, because they think that Voldemort is the reason that their brother disappeared, instead of you being that reason. That and they've taken a disliking of Dumbledore too, because they think he's part of the problem as well." She had had a long talk with the Weasley twins about what had gone on with their brother about the wish and Harry's involvement. They finally got to realize that the Dark Lord and Dumbledore were more at fault than Harry was. And while they weren't completely sold on the mini Dark Lord not being at fault, they were more prone to blame the older Dark Lord.
"Well, they should have thought of that ages ago," pouted Harry. "I'm not sure how much I like them." They hadn't exactly treated him well since he'd come to Hogwarts.
"I'd give them a chance if I were you. They're all right, blokes," she tried to cajole. Since she couldn't seem to talk their way into the final battle, maybe she could talk him into being friends in the end.
"We'll see. I mean, they haven't done me any harm, but they haven't done me any right either," the boy hero conceded. He'd see. He didn't see any harm in picking up more friends after it was all said and done.
"We'll get with them after this is all over and see what happens after that. I mean, if you think about it, you are the reason their brother disappeared," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. She'd done what she started out to do. It would work its way out one way or another.
"It's his own fault," said Harry forcefully. "He's the one that made the blasted wished to begin with." He was not going to take the blame for what that boy did. Ron is the one that made the wish. Ron is the one that made this universe. Ron is the one that was going to take the blame.
"Yeah, but if he hadn't, think of how your life would have been," she said in a consolatory tone.
"Too right," said Harry, feeling better by her words.
"Anyway, we'd better get to class," Hermione stated, seeing what time it was and the fact that they were on the other side of the castle.
The two of them set off to class, feeling better that they had talked things over. Harry knew that he was going to have to fight the Dark Lord soon, and Hermione now knew that she was going to be there for him.
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On the other side of town, the mini Dark Lord was telling his minions about his kidnapping and how things were going to be going from then on. He wanted to make sure that they were going to stay loyal to him, and if they were not that they were going to face death by his hand. He wanted to think that they were going to stay by his side, but he was a pragmatic person by nature.
"I know some of you are going to go to the Dark Lord side when he comes into power, and I will tell you here and now, if you do, I will take you out with great prejudice," he stated calmly as he walked back and forth in front of his minions who were all bowing before him. He was pacing on his small stage, in front of his not quite throne.
"Oh, no, master, we're on your side," said a great deal of them. They all seem quite shocked that he would think this of them. He felt the sense of accomplishment at their words.
"Balderdash," said the mini Dark Lord, not wanting to believe them, but wanting to believe them at the same time. "Most of you crave power, and I know you think that an older version of me will be more powerful. Well, I'm telling you here and now that he is not. I am the more powerful one, I am younger, I am stronger, and I'm prettier." He threw that in there to confuse them. He wanted to see how they would react. That and he wanted to be a teenager. He thinks Harry's rubbing off on him. He was feeling a bit crackish.
"Prettier?" said a few of them, confusion laced their tone. They didn't understand what prettier had to do with power.
"That's right. Prettier," Tom said, standing taller and preening a bit. As if he were looking in a mirror.
"Forgive me for asking, sir," said Crabbe, "but what does prettier have to do with it?" He was very confused by this change of direction in conversation. He understood what power had to do with it, but he did not understand what the Dark Lord's looks had to do with it.
"Absolutely nothing," said Tom with a dismissive wave of his hand "I just thought I'd throw that in there." He then laughed uproariously at the looks on the faces of his minions.
They were all looking at each other with queer looks on their faces, as if the Dark Lord had lost his mind. They were quite unsure of what to think about this. Then they brushed it off. They weren't about to get the torture curse.
"Alright," said Crabbe, shrugging his shoulders, this was a teenager after all, but he wasn't going to question it. This was his master, and he wasn't going to get the Cruciatus Curse for asking a question.
"Now then. When I get kidnapped, and I'm going to be kidnapped, you are to come after me and fight whoever is on the other Dark Lord side," the mini Dark Lord said, looking at them expectedly.
"How will we know who's turned?" one minion asked, looking at his neighbor minion as if he was the one who was going to change sides. They were all looking at each other as if they were the one who was going to turn traitor.
"That's easy. If they're firing spells at you, then you fire spells back at them," Tom said. Then he looked at all of them, realizing that this might be a problem. If they didn't trust each other, then who is he going to trust?
"But, master, how do we know who's on your side?" came the question from the back.
"Let's suss this out. If you're on my side, you will stand by me," said Tom, making a waving motion as if they were so stand by his side. "If you're on his side, you will stand by him. If you're on Harry's side, you will stand by Harry. Anybody standing on my side and Harry's side will fire at the Dark Lord." He looked at each of them to see if they were registering what he was saying. He noted that most of them got it.
"Ah," came the collective response.
"Is that easy enough to understand?" he questioned. He wanted to make sure that they understood.
"Yes, master."
"Good, now that we understand all that, are there any questions?" he asked, really hoping that there weren't, because if they had questions about such simple instructions, he didn't have much hope for their survival.
"No, master."
"Good. There will be one more practice between now and the Summer Solstice, and then by that time the plan should go into effect and one of us will be kidnapped, or both of us will be kidnapped and the plan should take effect," he said in one breath, hoping to get it over with. He was really getting tired of talking and wanted to just sit down and relax for a while. It had been a long couple of days. And having to put up with his minions was quite a trying task.
"Yes, master."
"You are dismissed until later tonight, when we will get in that last practice," he said dismissively, waving them away.
"Yes, master."
With that, the minions scattered to do what they did when they were not around the mini Dark Lord. Which was mostly going home and spending time with their families or plotting against one another to take over this or that. He didn't really much care.
"I really hate working with minions. It's like tending to a bunch of toddlers," Tom groused, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But without them I couldn't get anything done," the older teen mumbled to himself. He took himself off to his bedroom, where he laid down and put a wet cloth over his eyeballs and went to sleep. He had to get up later tonight to do another practice run with him and his minions and Harry. But until then, he was just going to take a nice little nap. Ah, it was good being a Dark Lord.
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Three days later, Harry's group and Tom's group were meeting at the warehouse waiting for the kidnapping. Their collective groups were out of sight, and it was just Harry and Tom that were practicing in plain view. They decided to make it easy on Wormtail and took a walk outside. Once again, they were stunned, and this time woke up in the graveyard.
They were each tied to a tombstone. Harry was tied to one that said Tom Riddle. While young Tom was tied to one that said Thaddeus Riddle.
"See, I told you he wouldn't change his plans," said Harry as he winked at young Tom. He was acting as if he woke up every day tied to a tombstone. They were in the graveyard. There was a large cauldron sitting in the middle of said graveyard. It was positioned on top of a small fire. There was a forest around the tombstones. And most of the tombstones had the word Riddle written on them. So, it must have been a family plot.
"I already knew that," said Tom, shrugging the best he could in his binds. "That's why we let him kidnap us, remember?" He wanted to make sure that Old Tom knew that they let him kidnap them.
"Yeah, but I wanted to point it out," said Harry with a laugh.
"Shut it, both of you," said the angry Dark Lord. He was still in his toddler form, but he was much weaker now because Nagini was dead. He had nothing good to nurse on now that he no longer had her venom. Wormtail had found another snake, so there was some venom, but it was not Nagini's.
"We were just pointing out that you were an idiot for sticking to your plans," said Harry, still laughing that crazy laugh of his.
"You'll see who's an idiot when I come back to my former glory," said Old Tom in that small, squeaky voice. He wasn't pulling off the feared Dark Lord very well. "Wormtail, start the ritual," he demanded, waving his tiny arms about, looking like a tiny toddler throwing a tantrum over a bottle.
"Yes, master," said the rat like man. He picked up the toddler like Dark Lord and took him to the Cauldron. He went to the grave and took the bones of the father and put it in the cauldron. He then cut off his hand and added it to the potion. He then took some blood from Harry and stirred it into the concoction.
Harry let him do this because he wanted to see what would happen.
In the woods, the two groups had formed and were thinking of ways to disrupt a ritual when Hermione threw some ingredients in the cauldron without Wormtail even knowing she was there. She didn't know how it would disrupt the ritual, but she knew that it would make things different.
The cauldron sputtered and sparkled as Peter placed in the baby Dark Lord. Instead of turning the golden color it was supposed to, it turned silver. And while the ritual did perform… somewhat, out stepped a small scrunched up man instead of a full-grown man. It was like comparing a garden gnome to a troll.
"Wormtail, what have you done to me?" the man yelled, looking down at his tiny hands in horror. They were small and shriveled and boney, and it looked as if they had been pickled instead of full and plump like they should have been. He stood about three feet tall. He looked like he had been a victim of a concentration camp. He was hunched. He couldn't stand his full height. His nose was hooked, his eyebrows scrunched. His mouth was pursed, as if he sucked a lemon and couldn't get it unstuck.
"Master, I do not know what happened," Peter said, wringing his hands in frustration and not knowing how to undo what he didn't know he had done. He had followed his instructions to the tee. He didn't want the Cruciatus Curse to rain down on him.
"Look at me. Look at me," Old Tom said in abject horror. "How could this have happened?" he asked. "I am the most feared Dark Lord there is. This cannot be happening to me."
"Ha ha. Look at you," Harry laughed at him. He would have pointed his finger at him, but he was still pretending like he couldn't get untied.
"Oh my," said young Tom. He too started laughing. Heck, everybody started laughing. Even those in the woods started laughing, though they kept their stifle because they were still trying to stay hidden.
"Your arm," said the Dark Lord to Wormtail. He was going to call his minions to him, and they were going to show these two who were in charge.
"Yes, my lord," said the rat like man holding out his severed arm. He was hopeful that his lord would stop the bleeding, and he wouldn't bleed to death.
"Your other arm," said the Dark Lord, not caring if the sniveling man died.
"Yes, my lord," Peter said, though he did see that the bleeding had stopped enough that he would not die. He was still miffed that his lord did not stop the bleeding.
The Dark Lord used the Dark Mark to call his servants to see who would come to his calling. Much to his surprise, only five men showed up. Young Tom smirked sadistically. This wasn't going to be the big fight that they thought it was going to be. None of these men were his men. They must be more loyal than he thought.
"I am very disappointed," said the Dark Lord, looking at the five men that showed up. He noted that Severus Snape was not there. He wondered if the man was still spying at Hogwarts. He'd have to give him pardon.
"Oh, I'm not," said Harry, who had finally gotten himself under control. He was still finding it funny as hell that the man looked like a shriveled-up garden gnome. But he was happy as heck that only five men showed up.
"Nobody asked your opinion, boy," Old Tom said, pointing his finger at the young man.
"I don't give a fuck what you asked," said Harry, as only an impertinent teenager can say. He stuck his nose into the air and rolled his eyes.
"Cut him down, Wormtail," the older Dark Lord said, pointing to young Harry. "I will kill this young man while the young Dark Lord watches. Then I will take on my younger self, and then I will rule magical England."
"Are you sure, my lord?" Pettigrew asked, still trying to stave off his bleeding. He had gotten it to a slow trickle now.
"Don't question me," said the Dark Lord, glaring at the sniffling man. It only took one look and the rat like man was scurrying over to cut down the young man. The Dark Lord might look like a gnome, but he still smelled of magic.
"Yeah, cut me down, Wormtail," said Harry, mockingly. He could get himself down any time, he didn't need Wormtail to cut him down. But he stood there and let the rat like man cut his bonds. And once the sniveling man did, he landed in a crouch in front of the gravestone. He then took out his wand and held it in his hand and waited.
"Do you know how to duel, Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked, bowing at the waist. He held his hand, and his wand up to his face. He looked absolutely ridiculous, being the tiny little thing that he was.
"No, but I know how to fight, Old Tom," Harry said, holding his wand straight out in front of him. Harry looked absolutely stunning being the muscle-bound teenager that he was. The contrast was amazing.
"Fine, then, let's fight," Old Tom sneered.
With that, the two of them started trading curses. The decrepit old man was in a losing battle from the start because he had very little power and young Harry had a lot. It wasn't even a fight; it was a slaughter from the get-go. Harry was toying with the man. It was like a very large cat playing with a very small mouse.
"Come on, Tommy-boy, you're not even playing with a full deck here," Harry said, laughing at the man. He danced over to him, bopped him on the head, danced back and then pointed his wand at him and turned his robes pink. Pranks were the only thing he was doing. It was laughable and sad.
"Blast you, Harry Potter," Voldemort said, turning the Cruciatus Curse on Harry Potter, which he already knew didn't work on the boy. Young Tom had to wonder why he didn't just use the Killing Curse.
"Quit playing with him, Harry," said Tom, still hanging in his bindings. Unlike Harry, he did not know how to release himself from his bonds. He was waiting for Harry to finish toying with the man.
"Oh, but I'm having so much fun," said Harry, dancing around the gnome like man.
"I agree with Tom," said Hermione as she stepped out of the forest. "Quit playing with him. This is ridiculous." She was shaking her head sadly.
Everybody else in the forest stepped out with their wands raised, pointing at the five minions of Old Tom's. Those five men were just standing there with their hands raised above their heads, unsure of what the hell was going on. They had come to the call of their old master to find the shriveled gnome, and Wormtail. They didn't come to see this mockery of a battle.
"Oh, let me have my fun, you two," Harry said, still bouncing around the battlefield.
"No, this is just sad," said Hermione as she casts the Killing Curse at the decrepit old man, and he fell like a rock.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. He wanted to be the one to cast the Killing Curse on the man, but he wanted to have his fun first. Besides, wasn't that what the prophecy said?
"What? This was just sad," she stated, folding her arms across her chest as if he was going to question her.
"Yeah, but I was having fun," said Harry with a bit of a pout.
"You were being sadistic," said Hermione, glaring at him as if he were the one being stupid.
"Can you please cut me down?" asked Tom, exasperated by their byplay, wanting to be cut off from the gravestone, he was still hanging on.
"Stop!" said Dumbledore as he came into the graveyard. He was being followed by the Order of the Phoenix and Amelia Bones and her Aurors.