Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. Thank you Ms Rowling for creating this wonderful sandbox for stories.**

**Chapter 1**

Harry hadnt slept through the night since the battle at the department of mysteries. He saw the clock on the opposite wall showing 2 AM. He couldnt bring himself to go back to sleep as he had just had a nightmare of Sirius falling through the veil. It had been exactly 30 days after Sirius had died.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face. Now fully awake he looked in to the mirror. His dripping wet hair stood on end allowing him to view the cursed lightning bolt scar in the centre of his forehead.

He knew Dumbledore was coming to pick him up today. He knew he should have packed but he just couldnt bring himself to do it. He had waited years and years for someone to rescue him from the dursleys but no one had ever come so he had stopped hoping. He just couldnt bring himself to believe it.

He was turning his face from the mirror when he saw his scar flash green from the corner of his eye. He turned back to the mirror and saw his face in the mirror moving independently

"Hi Harry, I have been trying to talk to you for a long time" said the mirror

"Who are you?" whispered Harry. He had experienced talking mirrors before, there was one at the Leaky Cauldron and one at the Burrow as well. He also remembered the Mirror of Erised from his first year.

"I am Tom"

Harry was horrified. He immediately tried to twist away from the mirror. The name Tom meant that nothing good was in store. Ever since Voldemort has tried possessing him in the Department of Mysteries. He hadnt had another it seemed Voldemort was trying to mess with his mind again.

He found he couldnt move. His whole body was paralysed. He tried closing his eyes but found himself unable to do even that.

"Please Harry! Please listen to me" pleaded Voldemort

'Huh? Voldemort did not plead'

"I am not Voldemort. You need to trust me. I want to help you defeat Voldemort."

"How can you help me?" Harry demanded. He knew about the Prophecy now. Kill or be killed. Riddle had always been arrogant. In the Chamber of Secrets, in the Graveyard and even in the Ministry, Riddle had always talked on and on. He would just keep Riddle talking. In the meanwhile, he would continue trying to escape.

"I can tell you how Voldemort survived that night he attacked you in the nursery. I can tell you how to kill him. I can also tell you what the prophecy means."

Harry stopped struggling against the magic holding him. He had a way out. He might be able to have a life

"Tell me"

"Voldemort managed to survive that night because he had performed a dark ritual granting him immortality. He split apart his soul and stored part of it into various objects anchoring him to the mortal world."

"Split apart his soul?" Harry was confused.

"Haven't you wondered why Voldemort's current body looks so inhuman, it is because he is less than human without his soul. Because he lacks a complete soul, he has become an unstable psychotic monster."

Harry was not surprised by this information. He had always known that Voldemort was not human. He had fought him and he knew Voldemort was a monster.

"Do you remember the diary in the chamber of secrets? That was one of Voldemort's Soul Anchors. You destroyed that Diary and the soul fragment in it."

Harry remembered the Tom from the chamber. 'She poured her soul into the Diary, I fed on it and grew stronger, Strong enough that I was able to pour a little of my Soul back into her'

Harry felt his horror grow inside. Harry whispered "You are another soul fragment arent you? Except you are located in my scar. You are the reason I have been having visions of Voldemort."

He remembered the mangled diary and the unerathly scream that escaped as he destroyed it. "I will need to kill myself to destroy you, wont I? That is the only way to get rid of you" He heard the whisper of the Prophecy 'Neither can live while the other survives.'

His world shattered as he took in this news. He suddenly found sitting on his bed. He thought that this was all a dream until he heard a voice whisper in his head.

"I am sorry Harry that it has to be like this, that your life was like this and that you suffered through so much for nothing. I want you to trust me Harry so that I can make it up to you even just a little"

Harry's rage erupted at the apology. This was all Voldemorts fault. It was his fault that his parents died. his fault that he ended up with the Dursleys, his fault that he now had a death sentence hanging over his head. Harry hissed "Why should I trust you? You are a soul fragment of Voldemort, the same as the diary. You probably want me to join him right? Make things easier for the dark side. You are probably just as evil as Voldemort."

"No, I have changed Harry, You changed me. I am no longer evil. Let me prove that you can trust me, Harry."

"How?"

"I will show you a memory Harry."

Harry suddenly found himself sitting in darkness. Suddenly without warning a bright light entered the darkness blind him for a moment. It was then he realised where he was. He was 6 years old and Uncle Vernon had come home drunk that night. Vernon pulled open the cupboard doors before dragging him out by his hair and throwing him on the carpet floor.

"Filthy no good freak" screamed Vernon "You embarrassed us today when you turned your teacher's hair blue. What will the other parents think of us for having a freak like you in the house?"

Vernon took his belt and began whipping Harry all the while screaming expletives "You devil spawn, You worthless piece of garbage. You filthy no good freak.". Petunia watched with satisfaction from the steps while Harry bled on the carpet. Suddenly he could take it no more. There was a flash of light and Vernon was thrown against the wall before falling on the floor unconscious.

Harry heard a hissing sound and felt a sudden heat spread through his body. He look at the cuts on his arms and legs and saw they were healing rapidly with blood inside steaming. He looked around and saw that Petunia had fainted in a pool of her own urine while Vernon was lying on the floor bleeding from his scalp.

Harry ran out of the house. He was determined to escape from that hell. When he ran a few blocks, he paused to catch his breath. His feet were aching because he had run barefoot through the snowy streets. He was freezing now.

That was when Dumbledore appeared. This was no twinkle eyed Headmaster. No this man had a hardness in face and body. The last thing Harry remembered was jet of red light heading towards him before he lost consciousness.

Harry found himself back in his body. He was stunned speechless. That memory could not possibly be real. The Dursleys were awful yes but they had never beaten or abused Harry. No matter how he felt about them, he was grateful to them for that except that it had now turned out that they had abused him.

And Dumbledore. Harry clearly remembered the first time he had heard about Dumbledore was after he turned eleven and the first time he had seen Dumbledore in person was at Hogwarts.

What then was Dumbledore doing in Surrey when he was six years old and that spell at the end, That was surely a stunner. Did this mean that Dumbledore had stunned him and taken him back to the Dursleys?

Harry tried clearing his head. He tried to stay calm and remember that he was dealing with Voldemort here. A Voldemort inside his head. Voldemort could send him terrifyingly real visions like the one of Sirius in the Department of Mysteries. There was no reason to believe this memory.

"I am sorry Harry but that was a true memory. Dumbledore obliviated you but he could never get rid of the copies of the memory I hold. That's the reason I remember while you dont.

I always made sure to help you heal while giving you as much of my energy as possible. I also tried to help you with your malnourishment so you wouldn't be as bad as you might have been when you finally entered Hogwarts.

So Please believe me, Harry. I saw you grow up. I practically lived your life along side you and have grown to care for you. Please trust me."

Harry could not bring himself to believe ill about the headmaster, the man he had come to see as a grandfather figure and mentor. This all had to be a lie. There was no way this could be the truth.

"You don't have to believe me. You can use me instead. Even if you want nothing to do with me, you can still use my power and knowledge I posses to help you in defeating Voldemort."

He couldn't understand what fragment in his head was gaining out of this offer. Riddle was a Slytherin after all. This offer was something that would definitely appeal to anyone but no Slytherin ever gave up something with getting something in return.

The voice in his head slowly chuckled "I see. You don't believe what I am saying because I am offering to help you for nothing in return. By trying to consider what I am gaining out this arrangement, you are trying to work out my motives from there. That's very Slytherin of you, Harry. I am truly and deeply impressed."

Voldemort's praise made Harry feel sick to his stomach. He wished the voice in his head would shut up and leave him alone.

"I can see that you are not ready to believe what I have to say. So I wont speak to you for now. Instead why don't you test if what I have told you so far is true or not with a simple experiment?"

"How?" asked Harry in head.

"Go to Gringotts first today and ask the goblins about Sirius's will. You will see what happens after that."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Harry was getting ready to leave the house. He had considered the implications of that disturbing memory and he had decided to trust the voice in his head for now. Voldemort-

'Stop calling me Voldemort. Call me Tom instead. I think we trust each other enough now that you can atleast do me this small courtesy.'

Tom he amended had outlined a plan for him to visit Gringotts.

Following the plan, he had placed his pillows in the shape of a human body on his bed to make it seem as though he was still sleeping there. The Dursleys had never bothered to get him a jacket to wear, so he simply wore one of Dudley's over sized shirts over the one he was currently wearing.

He had no money on him to take either the normal bus or the knight bus so he decided to fly to Diagon Alley on his firebolt. It was still early enough so he was sure that nobody would spot him. When he was about to walk out of the front door, Tom's voice warned him against it.

'You can't walk out that way without being detected Harry. Dumbledore has placed warning charms on the front door'

Harry's vision instantly faded to black with glowing motes tracing the outline of the door. He could see other motes around the house. Some were muffled by his cupboard door. He hesitantly walked towards the cupboard.

'Not now, we can reminisce about the past later. If we walk through the front door, Dumbledore will know. Lets go to the kitchen instead.'

As he entered the kitchen, Harry noted that while his vision had returned, the colors were somehow greyed out, Out of curiosity he asked "How did you change my vision like that?"

'I am in your head, you know, I can choose what kind of information I share and how I share it. Right now what I am doing is an elaborate illusion. I am simply overlaying what you would normally see with highlighted magical signatures for the wards and charms while muting the rest of the colors.'

A flash of what seemed like pure information seemed to follow this explanation. Most of the information seemed to flow over Harry's head. He was sure that Hermione would understand what was being shown but he doubted that he would ever get it.

'You would be surprised' Harry didnt know what to make of that. 'I will explain more after we go to Gringotts' Tom muttered in response to Harry's non-verbalised curiosity.

The kitchen door was similarly warded but the window was unwarded. Harry cautiously crept out through the window and then in one smooth motion jumped on to his Firebolt like he would on the Quidditch pitch.

The joy of flight blasted most of the concerns from Harry's mind. He reveled in the thrill of flight while Tom's voice simply chuckled. Harry felt something akin to sorrow as he landed in the alley way behind the Leaky Cauldron. It was just 4 AM.

Tom's voice mentally commanded the broom to shrink. To Harry's surprise the broom began shrinking till he could put it in his pocket. He entered Diagon Alley. The usually crowded street was completely empty, even the shopkeepers were asleep. They would only awake two hours later to open their shops. The only building still open was Gringotts.

Harry walked in to Gringotts. If the goblins were surprised at a Wizard, no less Harry-Potter-the-boy-who-lived, entering the bank so early, they didnt show it. Most of the tellers were idle, so he walked to the nearest teller.

"Mr Potter, To what do we owe the honor of your visit?"

'Let me handle this' Tom then began speaking through his voice

"How rude of a Goblin to use a clients name, especially one of a noble and ancient house, without offering his own in return?"

The goblin grimaced as if he was caught committing some gross indecency.

"My apologies, Heir Potter, I am Grishnakh, How may I assist you today?"

"I am here for the reading of the will of the late Sirius Black, my Godfather"

"As you wish Heir Potter, Blugnar!" the teller called out. "Direct Heir Potter to the Diamond Sitting Room. I will be there shortly with a reader"

Harry followed the indicated goblin to the sitting room. The Diamond sitting room turned out to be a vast room capable of accommodating atleast 40 People. Harry sat down in the front row near the middle where it was closest to the Dias.

Grishnakh came in followed by an older goblin.

"Greetings Heir Potter, I am Reader Fangrip, May your gold always flow"

Tom completed the customary greeting "and May your own enemies fall before you

Please read and execute the Private Will of my Godfather, Lord Sirius Orion Black."

The goblin began reading in a surprisingly deep voice for one so old.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, herewith leave all my possessions including the title of Lord Black and all it entails to my heir and adopted son, Harry James Potter, Heir to the house of Potter"

Harry stopped listening then and there as the Goblin seemed to drone on and on. While Tom seemed to be intently listening to what was being said. Harry was barely paying attention, Sirius was referring to Harry as his son. Suddenly the grief of losing Sirius loomed large in his mind. Harry spent the better part of the next half hour regaining control over his emotions.

"In summary, Harry James Potter, henceforth known as Lord Harry James Sirius Potter-Black will have complete control over the Black Title and Estate.

As you are now Lord Black Do you have any wishes as to the execution of the Public Will?" queried the Goblin

"Yes, I would like to stay the execution of the Public Will. Reader Fangrip, Please invite a Ritual Master so that I may be formally sworn in as Lord Black and a Litigator so that we may go over and change the terms of the Public will before its execution."

'What is going on?' Harry whispered in his mind.

'What we attended just now was your Godfathers Private Will Reading.

A Wizards Will, especially the will of a Lord of an Ancient and Noble house is often composed of two components, a Private will and a Public will.

The Private Will is used to declare the Lord's Successor and grant him title of the Lord as well as control of the house and its assets. It is called a Private will because it is done is secret so as to avoid the assassination of the Heir apparent before he can assume the title of the Lord and the protections it entails.

The Private Will must be executed within 30 Days of a Wizards the Private Will is executed, then the new Lord has control over the terms and execution of the Public Will of his predecessor. If not then the Private will is suppressed and the Public Will is executed by default.'

Harry was not stupid. He processed this information along with the fact that Dumbledore had advised him to stay in his relatives place till Dumbledore would come to pick him up this evening. He wouldn't be surprised if Tom could hear Cog Wheels slowly turning in head as he came to his final conclusion.

"Son of a Bitch" Harry whispered.

'Yes, If you had followed Dumbledore's Plans, you would have most surprisingly and coincidentally missed the deadline for the reading of the Private Will. Now I hope you can see that Dumbledore is plotting against you.'

'Wait till we see the Public Will and then we can decide if I should believe you or Dumbledore' Harry thought harshly

'Even so, there was no reason for Dumbledore to withhold this from you. This is something private between you and your adoptive father. Yes, Your father, not your Godfather, Dumbledore never even mentioned that Sirius adopted you. This atleast proves that Dumbledore does not have your best interests at heart. Even someone as thick as you can't ignore this' countered Tom scornfully.

Harry had no answer to this. Tom did not speak and neither did Harry. They both waited in mental silence till Fangrip returned with two Goblins, one wearing gold and crimson robes and the other wearing a black an white tunic.

The goblin wearing gold and crimson robes introduced itself as Ritual Master Bloodmaw. Harry completed the ritual for being sworn in as Lord Black.

He had to drink seven drops of Sirius's Blood while swearing various oaths. He then had to cut his hand and allow seven drops of blood to be collected while asking for a series of oaths from his future successor.

Once again Tom seemed to answer his unasked curiosity as to what he had done. 'Your successor would then swear oaths to accept the title from you and then proceed to set up the next series of oaths for his successor and thus the cycle continues' explained Tom

He then turned to the other Goblin who introduced himself as Litigator Gutrip. Together they went over the Public will. Unlike the Private Will which emancipated Harry and granted him the title of Lord Black immediately as well as control over the Black Estate, the Public will was instead operating under the assumption that Harry was being forcibly detained or already killed by Voldemort which is why the Private Will couldnt be executed.

Thus while granting Harry the title of Lord Black upon his becoming of age if alive, the estate was instead left in the hands of Albus Dumbledore for use to fund the Order of the Phoenix in the war against Voldemort.

He asked the Goblins to leave while he reviewed the wills in private. He began using this time to think.

Harry could see a damning picture of Albus Dumbledore. He began cursing under his breath. He had trusted Dumbledore, seen him as a grandfather, a mentor, a role model even. Dumbledore was someone he would judge his actions against and always found them lacking. Now that man was revealed to be manipulating and controlling him for his own selfish benefit.

Dumbledore was the one who put him with the Dursleys. The same Dumbledore who interceded again and again on Snape's behalf. Dumbledore who never punished Malfoy for any of the slurs that Malfoy spouted. Dumbledore who let Snape rip his mind into pieces. Dumbledore who did nothing about Umbridge and her vile detentions. It was as if all the rage he had against Dumbledore suddenly exploded out at once.

'Now you see what Albus Dumbledore really is. However this is more to it than this.

Remember your meeting with the Weasleys. How had forgotten the platform name. Is 9 3/4 a platform number you would forget?

The Hogwarts express always leaves from the same Platform. Molly Weasley would have dropped all her children off at the same platform year after year for a decade before you came there. She herself had attended Hogwarts and taken the Hogwarts express from there. The same as I did in my childhood. There is no way she could have forgotten the Platform number.

Also What about her shouting at the top of her voice about Muggles in the middle of the crowded Platform? No this clearly was a set up to attract your attention.

Ron Weasley meeting up with you train and coincidentally becoming you first and only wizarding friend? Another set up.

Malfoy may be an arrogant toerag but had you been alone you would have treated his offer of friendship more carefully like you did in Madam Malkin's. Instead Weasley makes you an instant enemy of Malfoy, he has made more friends than enemies with his slurs about the other houses. The Weasleys aren't really the people you should trust or be friends with Harry.'

Tom seemed to be striking while the iron was hot. He was directing Harry's rage and suspicion against the Weasleys. Harry knew he was being manipulated by Tom yet he could not refute the truth in Tom's words. It hurt Harry to think that his best mate for the past 5 years was actually using and betraying him.

Tom seemed to sense Harry's pain. He spoke softer now but his next words twisted the knife even further

'I am sorry Harry for the next few things I am about to say. I hope you can see the truth in them and forgive me for bring these suspicions out in the open. I believe that Dumbledore's manipulations did not begin with you. I think they stretched even further back.

How did James the Rule-breaker/Prankster suddenly become Headboy in his final year at Hogwarts? How did the brilliant Muggleborn Lily Evans who had clearly loathed and rejected James date him in their seventh year?

I believe that Dumbledore had designs for the Potter fortune as well.'

Harry almost hated Tom for putting these doubts in his head. For casting aspersions against the wonderful images he had of his parents. But that is what they were just images, Harry had never really met them or interacted with them. Even the smoky ghosts that came out of Voldemort's wand were just Echos.

'Tom, I am sorry but this is too much to take. Right now I can't trust anybody. I can't trust what people say about my parents. I can't trust the Weasleys who were like family to me. I can't trust Dumbledore. I can't even trust you because despite all you have said and shown me so far as you are still a part of Voldemort.'

'Harry, I know you want to be alone right now but we need to do this immediately before Dumbledore gets wind of what we are doing here. We need to secure your future here. You can do it Harry, you have faced worse than this.'

Images of the Basilisk in the chamber, the spiders in the forest, the Horntail and the Skrewt flickered through Harry's mind. Rather than feeling sapped by these images, Harry slowly began to draw strength from these scenes.

'Yes Harry that is your true nature. You are a survivor. Dumbledore put you at the Dursleys thinking they would crush your spirit, instead you have survived and have grown all the stronger for it. Not even the Imperious could take away your will. It took Snape over a year of weakening your Natural Occlumency Barriers before Voldemort could send a vision through them.'

Harry leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. As soon as he closed them, Harry found himself facing what initially looked like an older version of the Tom Riddle from the Diary seated there. Curiously his eyes were green rather than blue and his features had a little bit of Harry in them.

Leaning forward, Tom stretched out his right hand which Harry took with his own.

As they began shaking hands as if to seal their alliance, Harry spoke in a quiet voice that somehow seemed to echo despite the words not being said aloud.

'Tom, I will take revenge on Dumbledore and Voldemort for ruining my life.

You have told me that you have lived through my life beside me. I trust you for now.

You have told me that you want to destroy Voldemort. I believe you for now.

But if you betray me...'

Harry let the threat hang. He knew it was foolish to make threats, what could he do against an enemy that was within his head. Tom held all the cards, he knew it, Tom knew it too.

'At last biting back like the snake you are on the inside. I always felt that you would do well in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat is surprisingly insightful' Tom smiled

Strangely these words no longer hurt Harry like they used to. Harry knew that for the kind of revenge he wanted, he would have to act like a Slytherin.

'You will be surprised what you are capable of, Harry, the Black fortune while sizable is not your greatest asset at all.'

Harry under Tom's directions began calling for Bloodmaw and Gutrip again. He had a lot of discussions to be had with the Goblins right now as well as in the future. Right now he would settle for gaining control of his wealth and consolidating his hold over his assets but sooner or later he would broach the topic of an alliance with the Goblins.

His thoughts began cycling between Dumbledore, the Weasleys and the Dursleys.

'Watch out all of you, I will have my revenge on you all for taking apart my life and using me for your own selfishness. By the time I get through with you, even death will be preferable.'


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Since in the stories, Ron was a good enough friend to get bashed by stone chessmen for Harry, attack the ministry with Harry etc and Dumbledore was presented as being irresponsible and senile at best and manipulative but good at worst, I think this work can be declared as AU. Since this fic is now AU, some events never happened in this fic and others were changed or altered to make the characters more inline with their behavior in this story. These changes will be quite minor and will be revealed as the story progresses.**

**For people reading the other story "Revenge of the Squib", Sorry for the delay in updating, I was busy travelling last week and right now this story has really captured my imagination. I will update "Revenge of the Squib" soon.**

**For people who like the idea of the Horcrux helping Harry, look for the story "Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge". That story is what inspired this one.**

******Chapter 3:**

After finishing their discussions with the Goblins. Harry had managed to get back to the Dursley's before 9AM. It was a Saturday and none of the Dursleys would be downstairs before 10. He had not bothered cooking for the Dursleys this Summer. He truly couldnt bring himself to care after losing his godfather. The Dursleys had initially been their rude and obnoxious selves but after discovering that he didnt respond to their jibes, they left him alone.

He decided to go to his bed for rest. He knew the Dursleys wouldnt bother to call him down for breakfast so he wasnt worried about being disturbed. As he lay down on his bed, He pondered on the results of his discussions with the goblins.

Harry and Tom had found out that Harry's grandparents Charlus Potter and Dorea Potter nee Black had frozen the Potter accounts till James turned 21 or the next heir after James claimed them.

They both smirked at that, it seemed that while James had been content to follow Dumbledore like the rest of the Marauders, his grandparents did not trust Dumbledore enough to let James have access to the Potter Vaults and Estate while he was still under Dumbledore's control. It was for this reason that Lily and James stayed in Godric's Hollow instead of Potter Manor.

Acting on Tom's suspicions, Harry had found out that in addition to being Lord Potter and Lord Black, He was now Lord Gryffindor and Lord Slytherin as well. Tom explained that only the true heir of Gryffindor could call forth Gryffindors sword. Harry was also the heir of Slytherin by conquest due to defeating Voldemort three times.

Tom had known a lot about being a heir of a Hogwarts founder, Voldmort had after all tracked down and eliminated the last heir of Hufflepuff to eliminate competition when it came to taking control of Hogwarts. He also knew that Ravenclaw's line had died out with her daughter.

The goblins had seemed very interested in Gryffindors sword due to it being goblin made. Using that a starting point, Tom had drawn the goblins into an uneasy partnership. While the goblins were neutral to the war i.e they were not on Voldemort's or Dumbledores side, they would become the personal allies of one Harry James Potter-Slytherin-Black-Gryffindor in exchange for Gryffindors Sword.

Tom had urged Harry to accept the offer and Harry had. Tom explained the secret behind the making of the sword to Harry. After learning the secret, Harry had to agree that the sword did rightfully belong to Goblins. He told the goblins that he would get it as soon as he could and bring it down to Gringotts upon which the goblins would change their alliegance to him and him alone.

The goblins had seemed surprised that for a brash Gryffindor, he could bargain like the most cunning Slytherin, that more than anything had given him an edge on the Goblins in the deal. It had also taught Harry that misleading appearances and misinformation can provide more of an advantage than the biggest weapon could.

As part of the deal, he had asked the goblins to hide any all traces of his visit to Gringotts and keep it a secret from both Dumbledore and Voldemort to which they had agreed.

With the financial matters behind them, Harry was shocked to find out that there was a betrothal contract drawn up by Dumbledore between him and Ginny. Harry was horrified while Tom had chuckled at it. Thankfully Tom had assured Harry that he could get Harry out of the contract.

Thinking of contracts and forced marriages, Harry had pondered about his parents. Had his mother truly loved his father or had she been potioned or charmed or otherwise forced into marrying him? Did they even want him? Is that why he had suffered throughout his life?

"No Harry" Tom interrupted his dark thoughts "Your parents did want you and love you. Your father stood against Voldemort to protect you and your mother. Your mother selflessly sacrificed herself to save you."

As Tom said these words, his voice seemed strained almost as it it hurt him to speak these words. Hearing Toms words, Harry remembered the worst moments of his life, but they did not hurt anymore, rather they healed something inside him now. Harry blinked some tears out his eyes, he hadnt known he was crying.

"There is one more person we must seek revenge against Harry" Tom hissed with anger. Harry was startled. Tom began to sound a lot like Voldemort in his anger. "Severus Snape, He was the one who brought the prophecy to Voldemort's attention, probably under Dumbledore's orders, after all Dumbledore already knew or suspected who the Death Eaters were. He would definitely not have called Snape for a job interview. Snape and Dumbledore are really the ones who made you an orphan and placed you with Dursleys."

Toms anger seemed to spill over and reach Harry, Harry found his wrath blazing. He remembered another incident from his fifth year where he had peaked into the pensieve. "Tom, Why did I see that particular memory of my father bullying Snape? Surely there were more important things to hide like the orders plans or information about the prophecy. I think he placed that memory because he wanted to destroy the faith I had in my father."

"Yes you are right Harry" Tom agreed after some thought "He took his grudge against a dead man get so far to the point of ruining what little memories you had of your father. If he had succeeded, you would have lost confidence in you abilties and your ability to conjure your patronus as it represents your faith in your father to protect you."

Harry shivered lightly thinking about dementors and what would happen to him if he couldnt conjure his patronus anymore. He mentally added Snape to his list of people to kill.

As Harry drifted off to sleep, he found himself seated across a table facing Tom in an empty white world.

"We need to discuss what we plan to do next, Harry. I am prepared to die if it means Voldemort can be killed but if I manage to kill myself, I am not sure what will happen to you. Our souls are too tightly bound to each other. There is a very good chance you will die along with me."

"I know Tom, But what have I got to show of this life except lies and betrayals? It is probably better to end it this way as well. I am not interested in fighting Voldemort for the fickle wizarding world and my manipulators. I want to fight Voldemort because he killed my parents and Sirius. Otherwise, I just want to get revenge on all the people who ruined my life before I die."

Harry had accepted his death but Tom secretly swore he would find a way to help the boy who had so little through out his life. They began discussing how Harry could get his revenge.

"Dumbledore had put a lot of tracking, binding and compulsion spells on you. I managed to remove most of the tracking spells but you still have a lot of compulsions such as to selflessly sacrifice your life to save others, to trust Dumbledore and tell him the truth and also one to not get romantically involved with anyone. I think he felt that if you ever loved somebody he didnt approve of, he might not be able to control you and get you to sacrifice yourself later on.

He has also bound 75% of you magic power. The way it is bound is such that he has turned you into a magical suicide bomber. If Voldemort ever managed to kill you, your magic core would detonate in an explosion big enough to level Hogwarts."

"Is there anything we can do to get rid of the compulsions and bindings?" Harry seethed inwardly as he asked

"Yes but it will take some time. The compulsions will take a month and you will have a debilitating headache while I am clearing them all out. The binding is more tricky, If I release the spell suddenly, you may very well explode with the additional magical energy. We need to prepare your body to recieve the additional energy. Also the energy release cannot be all at once, so I might need to layer another binding on top of you to limit the energy release. It might take more than a year atleast for all this to be done. Even then there is still a good risk that you may expode and level of a mountain while you are at it."

Harry slammed his fist on the table "A year is time we dont have, Tom, We will be going back to Hogwarts in about a month where we will be completely under Dumbledores control."

"Really Harry, think about it? Is there any point in attending Hogwarts right now since we are expecting this to be a suicide run? If you want knowledge, I can transfer my own knowledge to you. What we lack is time, time to prepare ourselves, time we can get by not attending Hogwarts"

"Tom, We cant not go to Hogwarts for two reasons. One, Dumbledore and his order will start searching for us if we go missing for a year and Two, We need to stay close to Dumbledore and Snape and keep an eye on them to prevent them from causing even mroe trouble for us." Harry disagreed

Tom sighed saying "Fine Harry, there is a way we can get ready and attend Hogwarts this year but it will definitely be riskier for us. We will need to get inside the Chamber of Secrets."

"Why Tom? The last time I was there, I didnt find anything beyond the basilisk"

"There is more than just the basilisk there, Harry. The chamber was my ancestor's masterpiece, a true magnum opus for dark magic. Gaining access to the chambers true functions is what made Voldemort so strong. The chamber can help us get ready to fight both Voldemort and Dumbledore if we can get there."

Tom and Harry began discussing their immediate movements before Harry lapsed into true sleep. A few hours later Harry woke up. It was 1 in the afternoon and the sweltering heat in the room had woken him up as much as Tom's mental alarm had. He had about 5 hours before Dumbledore came in, he still had not packed but now that did not matter. He just need to escape before Dumbledore reached here.

He quickly wrote letters to Dumbledore, Hermione and Ron feeding them lies as to where he was going before sending the letters off with Hedwig telling her to delay their delivery for atleast 2 days.

He picked up his wand, the marauders map and his firebolt which he mentally commanded to shrink like Tom had. He wrapped his invisibility cloak tightly around himself before sneaking out of the house. As soon as they were out of sight of the house, he let Tom take control of his body and magic to apparate them to Hogsmeade.

When Dumbledore reached Privet Drive that evening, he would find an abandoned room and no clue where Harry Potter had gone. When they received his letters in 2 days, they would think he had run off to get some peace and that he would be returning to Hogwarts at the start of September.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Harry had managed to sneak into the chamber of secrets

"Behold the chamber of secrets" Tom manipulated Harry's vision again to show the chamber as brightly lit room.

Previously Harry could not make out the symbols on the walls as they were shadowed by the darkness and the grime but now he could see the etchings. As he looked around, even though he had never studied runes, he could make out their meaning but here and there he saw a single word repeated over and over again that he could not understand. He could still read it though. 'Ouroboros'.

"It is my doing. I using my knowledge of runes to translate them and feed their meaning directly to you."

"Thank you Tom" Harry muttered "What is the meaning of this word?" He indicated the word 'Ouroboros'..

"That word, Harry, is Ouroboros. I am not surprised that you havent heard of it. Ouroboros is a name for the serpent that eats its own tail. It symbolizes immortality and cyclicality. Think of it as the serpentine counterpart of the Phoenix. Its name is often invoked in the darkest of dark magics.

Now please go forward and touched the my ancestors statue"

Despite his stomach clenching slightly in unease at the mention of Dark Magic, Harry still followed Toms Instructions. The statue began shifting as though liquid and began reforming itself into a gigantic stone serpent that seemed to look deeply at Harry before hissing.

_"Welcome Master. What do you wish of me?"_

Ignoring the serpent, Tom began hissing inside Harry's head._"Only the Lord Slytherin and his heirs can access this feature of the Chamber of Secrets. _

_This is the chamber of secrets true power. An enchantment that stretches time within the chamber so that a day within the chamber is just an hour outside. This is what allowed Voldemort to grow so strong so quickly. Its magic is the reason why he covets Hogwarts so badly._

_This what will help us free you from your bindings and correct the deficiencies of your body. Let me take control of your body now"_

Harry surrendered control of his body to Tom who then began hissing to the chamber at large

_"Come to me, O vassals of my house, I, the last of the line of the serpent lords, call for you my loyal followers."_

The hisses of a hundred snakes could be heard echoing through the chamber walls. Soon the entire floor of the chamber was filled snakes coiling over one another, each snake was different from the other.

_"O Lord, we await your command"_

Tom then began outlining his plan to Harry.

_"Harry, I will begin the process of breaking the magical bindings placed upon you. To do this I am going to enact another ritual of binding."_

_"How can a ritual of binding help me, Tom?" _questioned Harry

Tom began chuckling darkly _"The binding ritual we are going to enact is a type of power increasing ritual. _

_All rituals involve a sacrifice. The sacrifice for this ritual is to bind a portion of your magic for a year to gain thrice the magical power when the binding is released. The ritual can only be performed before the wizard comes of age. This ritual is a secret ritual of the House of Slytherin that I rediscovered._

_I will link your bindings to the release of the ritual. When the ritual ends, your bindings will break at the same time and the excess power will be transferred back into your body as part of the ritual itself."_

_"Is this how Voldemort became so strong?" Harry asked_

_"Yes Harry" _Toms expression slowly darkened _"During the summer before his-my seventh year, I hid myself in the castle while the others left. I had already created my first horcrux and was immortal._

_When you create a horcrux, you no longer live, you exist like a ghost, you lose your human needs like sleep, hunger, thirst & libido. At that age, I counted those as distractions I would well be rid off. I had no need for food, water or any requirements such as comfort._

_I entered the chamber and then enacted the ritual. I gave up all my magical power as my sacrifice and bided my time within the chamber. This was how I increased my power enough to become the strongest wizard in the world."_

Harry had not forgotten that Tom was once a part of Voldemort. While he had decided to trust Tom, he still remembered that the voice in his head was once the same as the voice he heard in his nightmares of the graveyard,to hear Tom reminisce something that he had done when he was still a part of Voldemort was terrifying.

Tom continued on with his lecture ignoring Harry's thoughts

_"I have an alternative method for you to survive your time in the chamber instead. When you were bitten by the basilisk within the chamber, you managed to survive because of the phoenix. The result was that your blood is extremely poisonous and magical. It was the reason why Voldemort needed your blood to revive himself in the graveyard. Your blood would make him stronger than anyone else._

_We can use that to our advantage here. The serpents I have summoned can sustain your body by injecting nutrients into you while you are immobilized by the ritual. You wont be harmed by their venom due to your bloods poisonous nature._

_In the meanwhile, I will fix the deficiencies caused by malnutrition and untreated fractures by calling upon the magic in your blood to transform it into a variant of the resurrection potion that was used in the graveyard to heal your body and allow you to handle the excess energy from the ritual wihout exploding._

_Do you understand and agree to what we are about to do Harry?"_

Harry considered Toms words. He had already sworn revenge against Dumbledore and Snape. To step back now, was to ignore what they had done to him, to his parents, to his childhood. More than that to back out now would mean he would have to go back to living under their control as well as watching out for Voldemort for the rest of his admittedly short life. This way he atleast had a chance to get back at them and the choice of how and when to die.

_"I do, Tom, lets begin the ritual."_

He let Tom take control of his body. Tom began instructing the snakes on what to do. After he was done with them, he turned to the stone snake and asked it to activate the chambers enchantment. He then stripped naked before going to the Basilisk corpse and breaking of a fang from its skull. He used the fang to puncture the basilisks eyes and use the blood there for painting the runes for the power ritual.

Tom did not let Harry's hands shake while painting the runes. Harry did his best not to scream while Tom spread the acidic blood on their skin. Once that was done, Tom lay their body down on a bed of snakes and spoke the activation phrases for the ritual.

Harry fell unconscious as soon as the ritual began. He woke up in the white empty world with Tom.

"Why are we here Tom?" Harry questioned Tom

Tom looked back at him with something akin to concern.

"Harry, the damage done to you was not only physical and magical. It was also mental and spiritual. It is not good on my part to fix your body alone and not your mind. Moreover you will need both your body and mind for your revenge.

Remember when I said that you would be surprised at what you could understand. I meant it. The bindings Dumbledore put on your were stunting you not only physically but also mentally.

He has reduced your intelligence to make you less suspicious of the Weasleys and make you less able to survive when you do face Voldemort. He doesnt want you to defeat Voldemort, rather he thinks that it would be best if you and Voldemort both took each other out.

We need to get rid of your mental conditionings and rebuild your mental defenses. We also need to improve your magical knowledge."

"To do that, I will train you in here" Tom gestured out to the empty white world "I will impart all my knowledge and skills to you. I will raise you into a wizard that stands head and shoulders above Voldemort and Dumbledore."

**-Break-**

Dumbledore was cursing under his breath. Harry Potter had disappeared. The boy had run away like a coward even though he had ordered the boy not to leave his relatives place. Without his weapon, he could not face Tom.

The boy running away had also negated all the efforts he had made into making Harry look like a hero with the Daily Prophet. All this would make Dumbledore look like a fool.

To make matters worse, Sirius had granted the title of Lord Black to Harry but had declared the Black assets frozen till Harry came of age. With Sirius's death, the fidelius over the property became inactive since it was created to hide him. They could not restablish the fidelius without Harry's permission since the house now belonged to him.

Still the situation was not totally unsalvageable, thankfully they would no longer need to operate in secret like they had before due to Voldemort revealing himself.

The Order now needed to vacate their headquarters. The Weasleys would be most unhappy but they would have to give up their house for the greater good.

Thinking of the Weasleys, he felt the beginnings of a headache, Molly would be screaming about the marriage contractand access to the Potter Vault, with Harry no longer present, there was no way to ensure her that Dumbledore had control over the situation.

Her buffoon of a son, Ronald was asked to stay close to Harry and to make sure Harry did not do something like this. Yes, he would point out her sons failure to her, claim it was all their fault for not observing him and ensure her obedience by offering her the chance at getting Harry under her thumb again. Yes, that would work.

**-2 Weeks Later-**

Harry had woken up in the chamber of secrets. The snakes had ensured that his muscles did not atrophy by coiling around his body and massaging his muscles from the outside.

The potion formed out of his blood was already renewing his skin. His older skin, the one riddled with scars from the dursleys, the basilisk, the triwizard tournament and the ministry battle was slowly peeling away from his body almost as though he was shedding his skin like a snake.

His body looked much healthier and stronger than before.

He smiled. Not just because his body no longer bore the scars of his childhood. He smiled because for the first time in years, his mind was free. He had confidence now. He no longer felt the need to blame himself for everything that had happened before. Together he and Tom had worked through all his issues, his guilt and the psychic damage inflicted on him by Dumbledore and Snape.

Tom had delivered on his promise. He had taught Harry all the secrets of magic he knew. Their relationship had started out as a teacher-student and slowly evolved to become a mentor-apprentice and then finally became an advisor-friend relationship. They were very close now.

He could scarcely believe the amount of time that had passed. To him it was 5 years, to his body it was just 1 year and to everyone else, it would be just 2 weeks.

This will be the greatest prank ever. What they will be expecting and what they will be getting will be completely different. He and Tom laughed together at that.

"Well Tom, I thinks its time we left the chamber."

"Yes Its finally time to begin ripping them apart for what they did to you"

He and Tom had already decided their punishments. It was now just a matter to declaring them guilty and then executing them. Life would soon be getting very uncomfortable for the Weasleys.

**-Aug 30-**

Molly Weasley was very unhappy right now. Harry had not been sighted in a month, Even Dumbledore could not find him.

While she did not have enough money to buy the full list of school books for this year without Harry's vault to supplement her income, She did not have to worry right now as it was just Ron and Ginny going to Hogwarts this year.

Ron had chosen very few subjects and was just getting three books for Charms, Transfiguration and DADA while Ginny had just taken Rons old books. They were still fairly new, in fact, she was proud of her son for taking good care of his books but what she did not know was that Ron had not bothered opening the books till the day of the OWLS which is why they still looked new.

This year she had again provided Ron and Ginny with Love Potions so that they could get close to Hermione and Harry.

She wanted Hermione in her family because she was the only female that could truly be a competition for Harry's affections and thus needed to be taken away and she was a powerful talented witch despite being a Muggleborn. She would be a good match for her darling, Ron.

Ginny was already obsessed with Harry since her childhood, he was already her hero after saving her from the chamber of secrets. This would help her make Harry notice her.

**-Break-**

Dumbledore had searched high and low for Harry these past 2 weeks to no avail. He had experienced disaster after disaster without Harry. First He tried going after the Resurrection Stone Horcrux but someone had already gotten there and removed it. He hoped it wasnt Tom catching on that somebody knew about his Horcruxes or worse someone after the Deathly Hallows.

When he returned to his office, the place had been ransacked. All of Hogwarts monitoring wards and charms had somehow been disabled, the thief had stolen Godric Gryffindor's Sword which he needed to destroy the Horcruxes, the Philosophers Stone he had taken from the Flamels and finally his entire personal library.

After casting spell after spell with Elder Wand and finding no clues to the identity of the thief, he sat down in his chair and pulled out a Lemon Drop from his drawer to suck on. He promptly spat it out after realising it was bitter. Considering all the disappointments of the day, he finally began laughing and he kept continuing to laugh till the Deputy Headminstress found him there struggling to breathe will continuing to laugh as hard as possible.

Someone had dosed him with the Laughing Death Poison.


End file.
