Chapter Text
My name is Harry Potter.
Hello Harry Potter. I am Tom Riddle.
Harry found the diary by accident, in the girl’s loo when Moaning Myrtle was crying and flooding the bathroom.
It was such a nice diary, the leather smooth and dark, with little gold stitches in the corners, and Tom Marvolo Riddle embossed on the back. The pages were creamy and thick.
Harry had never owned something so nice before. He hid it away in his bag, not telling his friends of his find. It wasn’t that he wanted to keep secrets, but Harry liked having nice things, even if they didn’t always belong to him at first. He kept his treasures wrapped with care in a secret compartment of his trunk, that only he could get into. His photo album, cloak, broom, and a collection of trinkets he would nick from time to time - a lovely white peacock quill, a silver cloak clasp in the shape of a raven, a variety of individual gobstones in various gem-like colors.
He liked having nice things. And he always took care of his belongings.
Late at night, when the other boys in his dorm slept, he pulled out his best peacock quill, and a pot of shimmery emerald ink, and in his best handwriting, wrote in the journal.
He had intended to start keeping his thoughts written down. So many things had happened since he joined the wizard world, things that didn’t make sense. He wanted to figure out what was going on.
But then, the diary wrote back.
At first he was hesitant, but as they spoke more, he poured more and more of his frustrations and confusion regarding the world around him into the ivory pages. Tom at first was distantly polite, but the more they spoke, the more he opened up as well, and he helped Harry understand more than he ever thought he would. He helped him find supplemental textbooks for his classes, and his potions grades increased. He explained how to owl order so he was able to have nicer clothing, and about heirships and goblin culture. He explained about the Wheel of the Year, and that it was not normal to be returned to an abusive home.
Nothing made Tom angrier than Harry talking about his relatives.
Finally, a couple weeks before the end of the year, Tom confessed to Harry that he was trapped in the diary. He would never be able to leave, without absorbing someone’s life force, but he cared too much about Harry to do that to him.
But this gave Harry an idea. And so he and Tom plotted and planned.
The end of the year came, and Harry packed all of his belongings in his trunk, and shrunk it, tucking it in the mokeskin pouch Tom encouraged him to buy to keep his things safe. Tom’s diary was in there as well. When he disembarked the train, and left the family area, he saw his Uncle Vernon, flushed and irritated looking. He took a deep breath, and walked up to his uncle.
He and Tom had a plan. Tom would be whole, and Harry would be free.
7 years later
“You know Tommy, when I said wanted some more excitement, this isn’t exactly what I meant.”
A dark haired man rolled near him, casting silently, a slew of flashing colors flying at the hooded figures across the room.
”What, is this not fun enough for you my darling?” The man grinned, a flash of teeth bright against the shadows cast on his face.
Harry rolled his eyes, then cast a dark shield to cover Tom’s side as a sickly yellow curse flew at him. “Can we just get the artifact and leave? Preferably before the old man shows?”
Harry and Tom faced off against a dozen wixen in deep purple robes, masks hiding their identities. They had been on the run for 6 months, ever since Tom realized Albus planned on killing Harry to defeat his insane older self. The order had been trying to catch them for months.
Harry ran towards a doorway, they were lost in the bowels of the ministry, supposedly there was an artifact that could mask their magical signatures, so they could hide until the two lunatics killed each other. Harry was beginning to question the source of this information, as this was clearly a trap.
Harry and Tom darted through the new doorway, casting spells and covering for each other in a synchronized dance, perfectly matched with one another.
The new room was eerily still. Harry slammed the door shut and looked around to what appeared to be a stone amphitheater. The sounds of the battle from the other side of the door were muffled, and in the stillness, Harry could hear faint whispers. Frantically, he whipped his head around to see who was speaking, only to be panicked when he saw Tom drifting close to a stone archway at the bottom of the stairs.
“Tom! Tommy! Stop!” He ran towards his soulmate, grabbing his shoulders. Looking into Tom’s burgundy eyes, he saw what looked like a gray mist covering them. Shaking him, the mist seemed to clear.
“Tom, we need to leave. Something is off about this place.” Harry whispered frantically, looking around for an exit.
”Quite right my boy. The veil of death. I think that should do quite nicely however.” Harry looked up in horror. Albus stood at the top of the stairs, garrish robes painfully bright in the dim room.
Tom’s focus zeroed in on the threat of their old headmaster, and the two raised their wands.
The three cast a flurry of spells, none striking true, but the two were slowly edged back dodging the increasingly dark spells the leader of the light was casting at them.
“Together” Harry whispered.
Albus Dumbledore cast a whip of fire at the two, at the same time both men shouted expelliarmus.
The whip hit them both in the chest causing them to fly backwards, but the combined power of their spells also hit Dumbledore, throwing him back into a wall and knocking him unconscious. His wand flew to them, and Harry with his seeker reflexes, caught the aged wand, just as they both hit the tattered fabric of the veil.
Tom and Harry landed on top of each other, knocking the wind out of their lungs. Breathing heavily, Harry rolled off of Tom and looked around. It was dark out, but a full moon shone brightly above them. They appeared to be in a clearing in the forest.
A growl sounded nearby and Harry immediately crouched into a fighting position, slowly stepping closer to Tom who appeared to be unconscious. His eyes carefully examined their surroundings, when he was suddenly hit, a creature roaring in his face.
Flat on his back, the heavy weight of the creature on top of him, he tried to get his wand up, but his arm was pinned down, and his head was dazed. The creature looked like a man crossed with a bear and Harry sucked in a breath in fear as the face rippled and changed, appearing wolflike. The creature sniffed into Harry’s hair then neck, pressing his weight down, just before he growled and bit him over the heart.
Harry screamed in agony, and the creature roaring over him his blood dripping from its face onto Harry.
A green light flashed, and the creature’s weight dropped fully on Harry, making him cry out again.
The body flew off him, cracking into a tree loudly, and Tom was there frantically casting diagnostic spells. He reached into the mokeskin pouch he had around his neck and murmured accio potion kit. Harry’s whole body ached, and his chest was on fire where he was bitten. He whimpered, tears in his eyes while Tom poured potions down his throat, and then coated his chest in salve.
“Tom…Tom…what if there are more….we need to get out of here…” Harry gasped through the pain.
”No. I am not moving you far, and I am not risking apparating you. The tent and wards will be sufficient.” Tom’s mouth was set as he continued to summon items from the bag. Once he had the tent out, he waved his wand and set it up right next to them. Levitating Harry, he placed him on a bed in a room in the tent, before going back out and casting every ward he knew. After he was finished, breathing heavily from the constant drain on his magic for the past several hours, he looked over at the creature that he had killed protecting harry. Snarling he stomped over and cast a powerful cutting curse at the body. Transfiguring the body parts into leaves, he scattered them around the clearing, then worked on erasing his magical signature. It wouldn’t do to have his counterpart or the Order find them.
He headed back to the tent, he and Harry needed food and rest, and to make plans for their next steps.