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The First Horcrux	By : magentasouth Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Tom Views: 27247 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from any part of the Harry Potter universe.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
��WHAT do you think
you�re bloody doing here?!!� she demanded.�
�NAKED!� In my BED!!�� HOW did you get in here?!��

The brown eyes flashed with sudden vague memory and then brightened even more
in fury.� �WHAT DID YOU CAST ON
ME?!!� WHAT DID YOU DO?!!�

The wand moved away for only a moment as she cast Priori Incantatum
before it was pressed against his artery even harder.

�I know that curse� she growled
threateningly.� �Tell me.. exactly..
what you did.. or I swear to
God � I�m going to call Harry and encourage
him to bloody finish you off!�

�
He sat up, uncaring of the wand pressing into his flesh,
ready to challenge her, the covers falling away from his small chest.� Hermione�s eyes darted down for a split
second before widening and being dragged back up to meet his own as a small
blush erupted high on her cheeks.�

�Oh my GOD..cover yourself up!� I don�t want to see you naked!� For your information
I have no paedophilic
tendencies.�� She flicked the wand in her
hand and the blankets leapt up to his neck and forced him down onto the
mattress.�

He scowled, resisting the temptation to release the charm wandlessly, and
turned onto his side toward her, making the best of it and snuggling down under
the covers.�
�Well?!� WHAT
did you do!� You had me under the lesser imperius!� If you
don�t tell me i�ll... I�ll tell Professor Dumbledore!�
He smirked.�

�While I am certain that he would use
legilimency upon me to attempt to
determine what went on � I rather doubt you could ever be certain whether he
found the truth or whether what he told you he found was what he saw.�

He would most likely tell you that nothing
happened � in order for you to remain here.�
And he would impose further irritating measures upon me � which would
place me in a somewhat less tolerant disposition toward you.�
The girl seemed to consider this for a moment.� He watched as her brows furrowed
slightly.� Obviously she accepted the
implication that Dumbledore lied when
it suited his purposes.�

�I�ll get veritaserum..� she tried uncertainly.
He laughed openly. �Not that I doubt Dumbledore has any �
but how exactly do you intend to explain to him that you require some?�

Perhaps you are capable of successfully breaking into and stealing from the
portrait-guarded headmaster�s chambers � I know I never attempted it, and Dippet was rather oblivious and harmless
in comparison with Dumbledore.�

...Or will you go to that suspicious looking fellow �Snape� � he did not seem
particularly accommodating when I met him briefly.� I doubt he�d be inclined to dispense a
ministry controlled substance to a student.. but perhaps you and he have an understanding that I am unaware of.�

His gaze travelled down the front of her white cotton nightdress.� It was too loose to really make out the
contours of her luscious body but he could
see that her small nipples were slightly pebbled.
�You little pig!�
she snarled, noticing where his eyes were fixed and folding her arms in front
of her chest.� She realised almost
immediately that this prevented her from levelling the wand at him and unfolded
them again, her incensed glare deepening further.� With a few flicks she summoned and slipped on
a large, shapeless, badly-knitted pullover in garish red with a large golden H
on the front.�

He looked at it in distaste.

�Well.. that�s certainly an improvement� he muttered dryly.

The tiny blush reappeared high on her cheeks again as she snarled again.� �Tell me what you did to me when I was under
the spell or I�ll.. I�ll..�
Growing tired of the game now he cut her
off - �Nothing.� I did nothing to
you.� Why?� Should I have?��
Hermione�s eyes flared in anger again and she raised the
wand threateningly.� He rolled his eyes,
dismissing it.
�I brought you in here and put you to bed.� And then later-...��

He hesitated.� He had no intention of
letting Hermione know that Draco had been here.�

�...It was so quiet and empty in my room.. and downstairs too � it reminded me of the diary...� I sought...another face..to
remind me that I was not alone.� I came in.�
You were asleep.�

You looked so..soft..and warm.. I thought it might be acceptable to join you
for...a very short while. It was not my intention to remain here.� I was merely so comfortable...� I fell asleep.� I don�t know how.� I certainly didn�t expect to.

Nothing at all happened to you.� I did
not... fondle or mishandle you in any
way.� I slept.� I...I have been
having difficulty persuading my body to sleep, as you may or may not have
realised.�
The girl looked slightly off balance at his explanation and
a quick concerned, sympathetic, look flashed across her face before it was once
again replaced by the dubious expression.

�I don�t believe you.� She gritted out through her teeth.��
�That is your prerogative� he responded, closing his
eyes.� �Nevertheless � it is what
happened.�

He ignored his senses which were screaming at him that an angry witch had a wand pointed at him which he should certainly take away from her now.
�Get out of my bed!� Hermione growled, unmoved. �Go back to
your room and never.. ever.. let yourself in here without my permission again!� If you are unhappy sleeping alone � I am sure
we can get you a..a.. teddy bear or something.� I
am neither your mother nor your security blanket and if i�m
not hexing you right now it�s only
because I don�t believe in using corporal punishment upon children.�

Now MOVE!�
His eyes had flicked open at the first demand he leave and
by the end of her little rant he was sorely provoked.� She had called him a child yet again.� It was becoming more than tedious.� He considered hexing her wandlessly.. he considered taking the wand
from her and using it upon her.. he considered simply
launching himself at her and overpowering her as he had before.�

He did none of those things.� Instead he
looked at the blankets pointedly.� Hermione,
realising her earlier charm prevented him from vacating the bed, released
it.� He threw back the covers from his
body carelessly, noting the quick once-over he received from the young witch,
and sat up, stretching and rolling his shoulders.�

He could almost taste her impatience behind him and took the extra time in
rising slowly, absolutely certain that he would find her face red as a tomato
if he glanced back over his shoulder.
He crouched gracefully to retrieve the towel he had
discarded on the floor last night and shook it before fastening it around his
waist and pacing in confident unhurried fashion toward the bathroom.� Although he didn�t look back, he could
somehow feel her eyes on him. She gave him no reason to pause or turn and he
closed the door behind him.�

He was almost at the door into his own room when he heard her venting her
irritation in a slightly muffled roar.�
He imagined her pressing her face into the pillow and screaming in
frustrated anger.�

Smiling he altered course and turned on the shower, discarding the towel again
on the floor before stepping inside.� He
took his time, enjoying himself, knowing that she generally liked to shower as
soon as she woke and would now have to wait for the bathroom to be free.�

Thoughtfully he sniffed at several of her brightly coloured shampoo bottles
until he found one that was not too
girly and used a decent amount upon his own hair, massaging it in with his eyes
closed.� It was wonderful to feel the sensations of his body so
strongly.� He thought again on the events
of the previous night.. how
disappointingly Draco had behaved, ruining everything when the experience could
have been so much more satisfying..� A waste.� He had given
the wretched creature his first kiss.. and to have Draco attempt to force himself upon him.. It was more displeasing than words could
express.� He hoped his other self had
punished the youngest Malfoy severely for his impudence.
When he was finished washing his hair he took the time to
squeeze all of the non peach scented shampoos down the drain, replacing the
empty bottles in their places with a smile.

He had an idea on how he might find his way permanently into the little mudblood�s bed, without threats or drama.� Indeed Dumbledore himself would order her to
allow it.
Whistling contentedly he finished drying his body and
sauntered into his room, the towel over his head, drying his hair.
The cough was neither polite nor
soft.� It sounded horrified and managed
somehow to convey disapproval, disdain and disgust at once.�� He did not flinch although he cursed himself
for his inattention.� He had been in such
a wonderful mood after the shower that he hadn�t noticed the little tingle in
his mind.� He noticed it now however.� He could even identify it.� It felt so
similar to Draco.� Similar
but not exactly the same.� And
obviously the voice was all wrong for that
boy.� No.�
he�d stake money on the identity of the man in
his room.�

Lowering the towel from his head he found himself faced with the miserable
looking �Severus Snape�
�Get dressed.�

The man put more icy venom into the two words than Tom
would have ever thought possible to inject into the spoken word.� He raised an eyebrow questioningly, making no
move to comply.� Let the man look upon
him naked if it made him so
uncomfortable.� This was his room.. He
could hardly be expected to emerge from the bathroom fully dressed.� Serve the fellow right for intruding
uninvited into this place.
At seeing the absence of shame and his distinct
disinclination to obey, the crow of a man seemed to become even more sour.�

�I wish to speak with you.� Clothing is not optional.� Move..Mr Riddle.� Unlike yourself � I do
not have all day to waste.� He ground out between gritted teeth.
Tom allowed the other eyebrow to follow the first on its
upward journey.� �It was not I that invited myself
into your bedroom.� You heard me in the bathroom no doubt.� Did you think to put me on the defensive
immediately?�� He patted at his hair with
the towel a last time and folded the soft fluffy fabric carefully, walking to
the bathroom door and dropping it on the side.�
The elves would collect it the minute he stepped out of the room.�

The older wizard, who one had to assume possessed only a single set of robes,
since he was wearing the same the last time Tom had seen him, seemed to stew
slightly.� Apparently he had been
correct.� The man had thought to throw
him off balance with embarrassment at being exposed in front of a Professor.��

He smiled genially, not seeking to hide his body at all, and walked past Snape,
opening the wardrobe and inspecting the contents as if he had all the time in
the world.� Inwardly he was wondering
what exactly the man was here for.� Would
he be interrogating him today instead of Dumbledore?� Had he been made aware through some kind of monitoring
spell.. whether on the
chambers or the necklace, of what exactly Tom had done last night with Draco
and Hermione?�

Surely if there were such a spell in place, someone would have
intervened?!�
Perhaps he had been mistaken about the Malfoy boy�s affiliations.� Just because he carried a Mark did not mean
necessarily that he was entirely loyal.

For that matter.. he had no
concrete assurances about the leanings of the beaky �Severus Snape� who even
now was trying to flay the flesh from his bones with a glare.� The man carried a mark � he could feel that
faint throb in the back of his mind.�
Nevertheless.. Dumbledore seemed very confident
in him.� Either way he was a deceitful
individual.� He would have to be cautious
with him.�
�What was it you wanted?� he asked idly, fingering a pale
blue cotton shirt with long sleeves.��
Ignoring the more garish garments he located a soft grey pullover vest
and a pair of black trousers.� He pulled
them all out and hung them on the door.�
The man behind him did not respond immediately.� Snape stood stock still, not a hair betraying
his thoughts or emotions.� It was
unnerving. Tom made every effort to ignore him.�
In a drawer he picked out another brand new pair of the clingy little
boxer shorts he had been given and slipped them on, fingering his slightly damp
hair discontentedly and looking at the shirt.�

�Would you mind?� he enquired politely of the other wizard and gesturing at his
hair.� He could dry it himself wandlessly
with no effort whatsoever but he was not supposed to be able to and had the
feeling that asking the other wizard to do it for him would irritate him no
end.�

Proving his intuition correct, Severus Snape�s eyes narrowed infinitesimally
before he reluctantly withdrew his hand from his pocket, where it had almost
certainly already been holding his wand, and cast the drying charm
wordlessly.� Tom ran his fingers through
his hair combing it into the angles and falls he preferred.
Once he was dressed he asked again, with marginally less
patience �There � I assume this is adequate?�
Now get to the point of why you felt it necessary to interrupt me when
you could reasonably assume I would be in an unclothed state.
The severe wizard stepped forward agressively,
till he towered over him, looking down his nose.� Tom forced himself not to frown as he wanted
or to step away and betray his discomfort with the looming proximity of the
man.

�Do not employ that insolent tone with me, Mr Riddle.. Tell me ...Is there
anything you would like to disburden yourself of regarding last night?� Any event that might be considered... unusual..or disagreeable?...� The man�s eyebrows raised in a cruel
query as he sneered.�
Tom experienced the tiny flutter and speeding of his
thoughts that always accompanied the circumstance that he had done something
against the rules for which he might possible be imminently caught.� Obviously the man knew something.. there
was no way of knowing exactly how much however.�
And one of the basic tenets of Slytherin house was to lie, obfuscate, detract
and deny unless certain that the incriminating evidence existed. It was
unthinkable for a Slytherin to confess to anything voluntarily.� They would only admit to wrongdoing when it
was proven incontestably and thus the confession unnecessary.
�I do not believe so.�
Why?� Is there something you think
I have I have done that you find
disagreeable...Severus?�
The man�s gaze sharpened and he tilted his head slightly.

�Do not test me Mr Riddle.� Did you
imagine we would not discover it?� Your
every move is observed.� And you will
address me as Professor Snape!� I am your
elder, your better and we are not on
such intimate terms with one another. Do not make it any worse for yourself than it already is!�
Tom felt something that had been tight within him relax
marginally.� The man was probing.� He did not
know everything that had happened.� He had realised nonetheless that Tom was
guilty of something..
Perhaps he hoped that he would behave as the typical fourteen year old and err on the side of �not making it worse for
himself�.

He paused, thoughtfully, wavering between playing with the man and trying to
get rid of him.

�Actually you are at least twenty years my junior.� Whether I am your better is a matter we might avoid debating at present.� Was this why you sought me out this
morning...Professor?!� Because you believe I have done...something?..��
The Professor�s face did not flicker for a moment.� He extended and deepened the oppressive
silence no doubt designed to extract the truth from children.
�Well.. as
you do not seem willing to inform me what you believe I have done, we have reached an impass
� perhaps we might discuss something else.�
You are, after all, a Potions
Master, I gather.�� I am having
difficulty sleeping � can you recommend anything that would allow me to do so
without addicting me or inflicting unacceptable side effects?
The other man�s face twisted into a sneer.� Tom was surprised that he gave away so much
emotion at this.
�You do not look particularly sleep deprived, mr Riddle.�
Tom considered it.� No
doubt the girl would tell someone
that he had let himself into her room.. into her bed.� And Severus
obviously thought he had done something.. Perhaps a
confession would.. but
no.� No.. He
couldn�t know what the man suspected him of.�
He might simply be adding more fuel to the fire.

�Last night was indeed unusual.� For the first time, I slept for longer than
an hour.� However, I cannot reasonably
expect those circumstances to repeat � therefore I am asking you � do you know
of any potion or spell I might use on a regular basis without negative effects?
�No.�

The sound was like mausoleum doors slamming.

All sleep potions are either addictive, cognitively dulling or both, as you may
or may not be aware, Mr Riddle.� You will
have to reconcile your intermittent insomnia via other methods.� Might I suggest warm milk before bed.
Tom ignored the jibe.�
It was becoming clear to him that he could not remain in the body of a
fourteen year old indefinitely.� He would
lose his patience and hex someone for implying he was a child.
�I despise milk.. but thank you..Professor.�� He said
and turned away, moving to his bed and climbing onto it, reaching for the book
on elemental magic that he had found in the downstairs bookshelves.� It was one of the few there that he hadn�t
read a hundred times already whilst in the diary.� It seemed to him that Dumbledore was probably
directing his reading through selective positioning of newer books among a
large selection of dated ones that he could expect Tom had read.� Which meant that he no
doubt wished him to read this book.�
This was the reason that he had brought it upstairs.� He had not however made any move to actually read it.�
There were innumberable spells one could place
upon books to alter the reader�s thought processes.� He had read about such spells at length with
great interest.� He would not read
anything that Dumbledore had placed here for him, irrespective how friendly or
obliging the man might act.�

The Professor seemed to ruffle slightly at his polite thanks and his eye skated
over the book Tom held.�
�I will require access to your mind� he said abruptly.� Tom�s eyes flicked up to him warily.� Another legilimens then.� That could be troublesome.� He debated trying to refuse but if he said
that he had only agreed to allow Dumbledore into his mind, no doubt the old
goat would be here in person in a matter of minutes and would officially extend
all of the promises he�d made to the Potions Master.

He needed to take the time to practice legilimency upon the girl.� There was unfortunately no one he could trust
enough to allow him to explore the limits of occlumency.
�Now?� he delayed disingenuously.�

The potions master nodded curtly.�
Tom felt a frisson of panic.�
He had no idea how strong or how practiced the older wizard was in the
art � he couldn�t be sure his forbidden forest occlumentic
layer would hold up.� The last thing he
needed was the other man finding out about Draco..

No one should know about that.� He hoped
his other self had obliviated the boy himself of the
knowledge after he�d cursed him.

And further.. if he found out
about Draco, he�d find out that Tom had a wand hidden, disillusioned, inside
the lintel outside the room on the balcony.
�Very well.�

There was nothing else he could say.� Refusal
would only alert the man further that he had something important to hide.� He had to hope that he was capable enough to
deflect suspicion.
Snape approached him slowly, wand in hand.� He raised it and levelled it upon him.�

Something in the man�s eyes told him that the potion�s master was tempted right
now to use a different spell.� Like Harry Potter, this was a man who
desperately wished to erase him from existence.�
He strained against his desire to evade the wand and looked up
calmly.�

The man did not utter the incantation out loud.. Tom
simply found himself suddenly dealing with an assault upon his mind.� He whirled and retreated defensively to the
forbidden forest.
He could feel the man inside it.. swirling around.. investigating..

Retreating further into the forest that went on infinitely he felt the Professor
follow.� The man was using the same
method that he himself had used upon Draco.. sensing the strength and the complexity of the illusion
looking for the key.�

He would not succeed that way in Tom�s forest however.� The same book that had suggested a rich
complex illusory world had also cautioned against attempting to disguise or
defend the key.� No..
it should be a small insignificant thing among a vast
number of similar things.� In Tom�s case
it had been a brown, curled autumn leaf, no less than three metres to the right
of the Professor when he�d entered the forest.�
The deeper he moved, following the misleading
trail of complexity and strength, the farther he distanced himself from it. �Tom had already moved beyond the shield and
was populating the misleading cache of �acceptable� memories with more recent
exemplars that he could accept the Potion�s Master discovering:�� Himself reading in
his room.� The mudblood
coming in and speaking with him.� The mudblood leaving
again, her back retreating from the room.� He omitted the knock on the door and any view
of her face that might display her spell induced state.�

After some thought he added himself passing into the bathroom and showering, allowing
the feeling of diffuse disappointment and loneliness to seep into the
memory.� He added the memory of himself
entering her room where she seemed to be sleeping peacefully and slipping into
bed beside her.. the feeling
of warmth and comfort and resignation.
Her scent which did not evidence any trace of muddiness.�� Himself drifting into
sleep, holding her and then this morning, waking up with a wand in his face.�� He omitted most of the conversation and
shifted straight to her demand that he get out, her insults, his calm retreat
and shower.. and the Professor�s
interruption.�

And then he retreated further and waited for the man to find them and pick
through them.
He was not disappointed.�
Snape found the fake key, a triangular stone upon the ground in a large
clearing.� He set upon it.. passed through it.. Not even
attempting to communicate with Tom or cajole him � single mindedly
he drove into the memories, picking through them to find the more recent
additions, pulling them out one by one.�
Tom could feel nothing of his
reaction to them.
Then he doubled back...
Tom panicked.. He could feel the
presence retreating back to the forest.�

If the man were finished he�d simply withdraw.�
It meant that he did not believe what he had seen.� He knew
that it was a distraction from the true core of Tom�s mind.��

He was probing at random parts of the illusion.�
It would take a very long time for him to find the leaf but he would find it.� He had to stop him!�
He pulled back from the shield layer and reached for the
throb in the back of his mind, lighting it to a bright hum.�
A hiss informed him that he�d succeeded in activating the
mark.� In the next moment the man
withdrew jarringly from his mind.
Tom found himself panting.�
He�d fallen down on the bed, slumped, in the course of the legilimentic attack.�
He looked up, surprised at his own exhaustion, and feigned confusion as
best he was able.

The potions master looked both furious and indecisive.� Obviously he was suspicious of the very
convenient timing of his call.�
�What is it?� Tom managed in a weak voice. �Are you
finished?�
�For now� the growled reply came.� �If I am to believe what I saw � you have
last night assaulted Miss Granger � a witch who was, against my vociferous objections, placed here to ensure you
remained safe and well.� She will come
with me now and if I have anything to say about it � she will not be returning to these quarters.� It is as I told the Headmaster � you cannot
be trusted.� Any student left in your
presence is in the gravest danger.� I
will not allow this farce to continue.�
Tom sighed long sufferingly.� �I didn�t harm her.� I simply..�
�Silence!� the dour wizard hissed viciously.� �It does not interest me in the slightest
whether you believe that you have
wronged her.� Your sense of right and
wrong are skewed.� You are a blight, Mr Riddle � upon the entire wizarding world but I
will not allow you to destroy that witch!�

He turned upon the ball of his foot and marched out of the room, slamming the
door after him.

Tom swallowed, trying to recover.� He wondered whether Dumbledore had been
�gentle� with his mind in some way.. or only more subtle.�
It had been far more demanding to face Severus Snape than it had the
headmaster.� Logic dictated that that was
impossible.� Dumbledore had been a
proficient legilimens when Snape was only a glimmer in his father�s eye.�

Something in the man�s tone also.. He had not
seriously considered that Hermione might have any kind of untoward arrangement
with Snape � and from her reaction it had been obvious that she did not.� He, on the other hand, had sounded more
specifically protective of her than of any vulnerable student.� He would not allow him to destroy her.. particularly.��

Perhaps that could be useful..under the right
circumstances.

On the other hand..If they were to actually take Hermione
away.. there would be no one
to open the door and invite Draco inside � he would not receive any word back
from his other self.�

He scowled and cursed himself for taking the chance and adding the memories of
where he�d slept last night to the false cache.�
He had already warned himself not to allow the man to know that but had
added it in the arrogant confidence that whatever happened � Snape would show
the memory to Dumbledore, who would in all likelihood view it as encouraging and when he could not sleep
alone...
But he had not realised that Snape had some kind of
particular preference for the girl.� If
he were to successfully persuade Dumbledore to remove her...
He did not throw the book across the room as he might have
wished to.� Nor did he exercise his
wandless magic to riot and destroy the room.�
Neither course of action would be of any benefit
whatsoever and he was not a child.� He was not a teenager.� Even if he might
have experienced the momentary desire to have a tantrum..
he would not.

Instead he abandoned the elemental magic book upon the bed and paced tensely,
thinking of how best to proceed from here.�
What his options were should the girl be obliged to remain.. what he might do if she should
be removed...� From the bathroom door to
the balcony door back and forth he walked, hands clasped at his back till
finally, after perhaps twenty minutes of this, he stopped at the balcony and
let himself out into the drab overcast day.� The wind was chilly.� Down by the lake he could see students
walking, alone and in small groups.�

He remembered walking there not so long ago.. but it was stale.� The
water was without sensation.. without
wetness.. there was no tang in the air.. no hush of the wind through the trees..

Absently, he climbed up onto the thick stone wall surrounding the balcony.� He could feel dense wards from here.� Jumping would obviously be futile, even if he
were of a mind to do so.�

He was not.�

He was of a mind to escape this cage
and explore the world outside.

Feeling the wards tentatively he determined that neither owls nor any other
living being would successfully pass through them to reach his balcony.� This would likely not be his best option
should he attempt to escape.� The floo
downstairs would be similarly useless to him � he had no floo powder and it was
probably warded from this direction unless a �guest� had recently flooed in.�

The door then..�
But only the mudblood could open it.�
He would need to examine the charms upon it more carefully tonight.� With this thrice damned dog collar around his
neck, he wouldn�t be surprised if attempting to pass through the doorway might
be an intensely painful experience.� He
needed to remove the necklace.. or
deactivate it somehow..

But first things first.� He needed to ensure that the Potions Master
could not return later this evening and find his way into all of the memories
he did not wish him to see.

He calmed his breathing and settled his gaze upon the distant dark spikes of
the forbidden forest.� He would take this
time to improve his occlumentic defences.�

It was obvious that he would require a lot more than the basic shielding he had
set in place thus far.
He stirred from his meditative state when the door to his
room closed quietly.� He would not allow
himself to be surprised by Dumbledore again.�
He did not move or turn from his position on the wall of the balcony but
was surprised to realise from the sound of the steps that it was not Dumbledore
after all.� No..
he knew that
tread.. that pace...
�I take it I was right..� he said
in as neutral a tone as he could manage
�Yes� she grudgingly said, sounding disgusted.�
He smiled to himself.�
He could hear she had come closer.. she was standing by the door to the Balcony.� He wondered briefly whether she might be
considering pushing him, before abandoning the thought.� If she couldn�t hex him this morning then she
certainly wouldn�t attempt to push him off a sixth floor balcony.� Besides.. she was probably informed about the wards.

He filed that thought away, although he doubted very much that she would know
anything about them.
�Did you really expect him to behave otherwise?� Tom asked,
curiously.� �You are, after all, the
representative for all those of lesser blood � Dumbledore was probably
positively thrilled that I deigned to
speak with you.. sought to be
nearer to you � to touch you.. that I allowed myself
to lower my guard sufficiently to sleep
in your presence.�

It is, after all, what he wishes.� To
challenge my beliefs.. to rehabilitate me... To
transform me into a tool that he might use against my other self.�

The last part came out rather more bitterly than he might have wished.

He heard the witch take another two tentative steps toward him.
�I�m...not sorry.. for reacting the way I did this morning.� You cannot
just take my wand and hex me when you see fit � and I don�t want you letting
yourself into my room -or Merlin forbid, my bed.. either.�� I appreciate
that you have been having trouble sleeping but that is just not
acceptable.� Do you understand?�
Tom shrugged.� He
understood.� He merely disagreed.
�I mean it!� she said with more fire.� �If you do it again, I�ll insist that he let
me leave, no matter what he might say.�
Tom smirked and turned, swinging his legs up over the stone
wall and jumping off lightly onto the balcony.�
He paced close to her, again irritated with the way he had to look up at
her.� She shouldn�t be taller than him.� It was improper that he should have to look
up at a mudblood.
�I promise nothing� he said softly.� �And, truly, you did not expect me to.� If you are still here..
it means that you have accepted that I will do as I wish.�
...perhaps you even like it..� he reached out a hand and traced it over the soft skin
of her forearm at her side.� She pulled
it away with a stricken expression.
�That�s not
true!� I�m here because I was asked to
stay � because there are some things that are more important than one person�s
preferences.� I�m not here because i�m inviting your nasty
little advances.� If you don�t stop it �
I will hex you!�
Tom just smiled again.�
�We�ll see.�

He moved to walk past her into the room and tossed back over his shoulder �I
rather suspect that I will not be able to sleep at all without you beside me, Hermione.� We shall see in a few days whether Dumbledore
would rather persuade Professor Snape to relent and give me a potentially
harmful potion, or simply encourage you toward a more open mind regarding
sleeping arrangements.�
He heard her hurried steps pursuing him and then a hand on
his shoulder spun him roughly.

�You can�t do that!� He�ll never believe
it!� He�ll know you�re just staying awake stubbornly to get your own way.� I WON�T
allow it!� No
matter what guilt treatment he might use!�
Tilting his head slightly he considered her before laughing
softly.

�And the delightful part is that you know
that you are not telling the truth.� You
know that in three days time.. four
at the most.. Dumbledore will virtually order you to invite me into your bed.. and you�ll comply.�� He smirked at her, knowing it was adding
insult to injury. �You could save us all the trouble and relent now.� You know I�ll get what I want eventually.�
He watched her waver indecisively.� She could see the probabilities herself,
obviously � and it seemed she had committed
herself to achieving whatever Dumbledore wanted to achieve here.�

�No..� she insisted stubbornly.�

He shrugged, walking away again.� �Suit
yourself.� I�d like you to bring me some
books from the library today, if you would.��
Nothing older than 1970 � the topics i�ll
leave entirely up to you.�
Her bristling was almost tangible in the temperature of the
air.� �Why would I bring you something
you could use to keep yourself awake and distracted.� It would probably
be in my best interests to remove all the books from these chambers and
force you into boredom so you�ll sleep.�
He turned back and offered her a piercing gaze.� �At present � you have no idea what is in your best interests Hermione.� Bring me the books and don�t be cheeky.� I will expect your return no later than three
this afternoon.� If you are late, I shall
be...disappointed in you.� I would also prefer you did not squander the
time visiting the red headed buffoon.�
You may leave now.�
Greatly enjoying her appalled indignant gape he tossed
himself onto the bed and picked up the book on elemental magic once more.�

When she still hadn�t moved he glanced up at her and raised his eyebrows.� �You are still here.� And on your own time too.� I�m flattered.� However, if you don�t leave now I will have
to assume you wish to invite me to further explore the uses for that pretty
little O you�re making.

Her mouth snapped shut and she virtually dashed from the room, furiously.

He heard the door downstairs slam loudly�
Satisfied, he wriggled down in the bed and, keeping his eyes
blankly fixed on the open book before him, slowly let himself slip back down
into the recesses of his mind.� He had
built four defensive layers in the preceding hours.. but he suspected he needed
more.� He needed something that was not
written about extensively in dated books; something of his own.� For a moment he wished fervently that he
could speak with his other self.� No
doubt he had already thought along
these lines and had developed effective protections.

No matter.� If he had come up with them
once, he could do so again.

At three pm by his wandless tempus all was still in the head
boy and girl�s chambers.� He had roused
himself a short while before, relatively content with the complexity and degree
of innovation of his occulementic defences, and
ventured downstairs to wait for the mudblood to return.�

He hadn�t expected her to be back in time after the way she fumed out of the
chambers earlier, so it did not surprise him to find himself waiting, but he
wanted to make absolutely certain when she returned in order to inform her of
exactly how late she was and set her punishment accordingly.� Thus he waited in the chair by the fire,
turning his thoughts to the necklace he wore.�
He could not help probing it magically while he waited - like a chipped tooth that the tongue returns to again and again.�

With increasing focus on the necklace he grew impatient for the dratted girl to
return so that he could deal with her, get through the evening as quickly as
possible and then, when she was sleeping, retrieve Draco�s wand and work with
more precision on the matter at hand.
He was eating a thick creamy mushroom soup that an elf had
brought when the door finally opened.� He
laid it aside and looked up.

Although it was possible that the girl had shrunk the books he had requested
and had them in the rather tight pocket of her trousers, he thought it more
likely that she had simply refused to bring them out of temper.� He added it to her tote of transgressions as
she stopped in the doorway, their eyes meeting � his calm and evaluating, hers
narrowed and challenging.�

Another figure stepped into the doorway behind her.�

The green eyed boy.�
His enemy.�
Harry Potter.��

She had disobeyed him thrice then.
Late.. without what she had
been sent for.. and with company that she had
specifically been told not to bring here.

He acknowledged it silently and then laid the ire aside.� While the boy was here he would be polite and
non-confrontational.� Harry Potter had
already shown a propensity to hex him unhesitatingly.
�No books then?� he asked, sounding disappointed.
�No.� she said shortly and stepped aside for Harry to
enter.� The boy was wearing a grey
tee-shirt and dark blue jeans that were snug on his hips.� Tom supposed he should at least be glad that
the redhead hadn�t come along.
Outside the door, Harry had worn a fairly amiable expression
� the moment he stepped in however it turned thunderous like day to night.� Tom raised an eyebrow questioningly and then
scrambled out of the chair in an undignified manner as a hex sped toward
him.� He heard the door close quietly
�Now listen to me you twisted little runt � I might not be
able to talk her out of this insanity
� but I can hurt you every time I
hear you�ve done something I don�t like.��
Tom peered around the chair at Harry just in time to catch
an orange bolt to the forehead.� Either Harry had brilliant timing and aim or he was
extraordinarily lucky.� A horrible dull
thudding migraine exploded in his head from the hex.�
�And I don�t like it when you touch her!..��
Tom skittered backwards on hands and feet as the chair he
was crouched behind moved swiftly away from him, steered by Harry�s wand.� His head was pounding.� He scrambled behind the sofa, narrowly
avoiding another hex and concentrated to wandlessly remove the first curse.

�Harry!� That�s enough now.� Stop!� Hermione was
demanding, sounding more than a little worried.
�I don�t like it when you threaten her!�

A hex struck the fireplace over his head and broke off the edge of the carved
stone, sending fragments of the ravenclaw eagle�s tailfeathers flying. Tom swallowed.� This was getting serious.�
�I don�t even like you looking
at her!� Harry yelled, incensed.

He felt the entire sofa behind him shifting as the boy, who he now realised
must be far more powerful than he appeared, levitated it away and to the side.
Obviously, if Dumbledore or anyone was monitoring this
place, they either didn�t detect anyone else�s hexes, or weren�t inclined to
step in and stop this before someone got hurt.
Making up his mind he turned and summoned Hermione�s
wand.� The girl squeaked and grabbed at
it fruitlessly as it was pulled from her hand. �HARRY!� MY WAND!!� She
yelped, alerting him to the danger.�

The wand sailed smoothly into Tom�s hand and he felt it quiver unhappily in his
grip.� Nevertheless, it obeyed.� Much like the girl herself he mused briefly.�

In one move he stood and flicked off a strangulation hex in the direction of
the green eyed boy.� Said green eyes
widened as he leapt out of the way and responded in kind.�

Tom smiled wider, throwing up a shield that harmlessly absorbed the blasting
hex, growing stronger from the foreign magic.�
This he had spent a considerable amount of time working on.. certainly months.� It was not as effective as it eventually
would be when he perfected it.� At
present he could only reclaim circa forty percent of the energy of the captured
spell.�

The slow wasting hex he sent in answer was dispelled with a quick basic-level protego.�

Tom blinked, amused at the clumsy defense,
his shield effortlessly absorbing the next two spells the boy sent at him.� They were powerfully cast but rather simple
hexes in nature.�� He stepped aside for
the next � which he didn�t recognise.�
The purple stream passed him with a hiss.� It would probably have been equally well
handled by his shield but it didn�t pay to take chances with unknown
spells.� He cast three rather nasty hexes
in quick succession, anticipating where the boy would try to dodge and catching
him in a crouch on the third.� Harry gave
a cry and collapsed, shaking and cramping.�

Good.� He had intended that one to catch him.�
He would be unable to use a wand for hours.�
It seemed that Harry was realising this himself as he tried
to force his unresponsive fingers to pick up the wand that had clattered to the
floor beside him.�

Tom was privately impressed that the boy had enough self control to even move
his arms.� He was perhaps familiar with tolerating
pain.� His arms were visibly cramping and quavering and still he was brushing his
fingers over the wooden shaft of his wand, trying to make them bend enough to
grip.� His teeth were gritted tightly.
Stalking toward him slowly, wand trained on Hermione, who
was standing like a stunned mullet looking horrified, he considered the boy
critically.� He was quite powerful.. but apparently his repertoire of
spells was rather slim and he was defensively weak.�

Actually that was an understatement � the boy virtually lacked any defensive
capability at all.� He was quick.. but Tom wondered why he hadn�t
even tried to erect a simple shield
�As I understand it � you are my mortal enemy� he commented
conversationally.� Hermione chose that
moment to dive for Harry�s wand.�

He had expected it from the way she had been tensing her body.� Curious what she might produce, he allowed
her to snatch the wand from where Harry�s dead fingers were scrabbling over it
futilely.�

She seemed surprised that he hadn�t hexed her yet but steeled herself and
concentrated.� A pale yellow flash raced
toward him.� He was pleased that she was
able to cast silently, although he supposed he shouldn�t be � she was after all
in her seventh year.� One would expect a
modicum of ability at seventeen � particularly from one touted as �the greatest
mind to pass through Hogwarts since his own time�.�� He took the second, in which the spell
seared through the air toward him, to modify his shield.� When the hex struck he could identify it as a
strong tranquilizing spell.� It would
likely bring down a manticore if cast well.� It was weaker than it should have been
though.� The yellow should have been
vibrant.� The washed out colour suggested
to him that Harry�s wand was not
obeying her adequately.�
She looked shattered that the spell had failed � unsure what
to do now.�� He saw the answer dawn on
her and stunned her just as she was beginning the wandwork
to summon a patronus.�
Considerately, he caught her with an immobilus
before she could crumple bonelessly to the floor and possibly crack her skull
open on the stones.� It would be a waste
if she were concussed and unable to appreciate her punishment later. She
drifted down slowly as he lowered her gently to the ground.
Harry was struggling to produce more than inarticulate
growls and sounds.�
�Trying to speak is pointless.� You have surely realised that by now?!�� Your vocal chords are affected by the
hex.� Never fear however.. we can still communicate.�� He moved close to the violently shaking and spasming boy who was unfortunately probably going to have
to die.� It seemed a waste really.� Harry was far
more attractive than Draco.� Inwardly he
sighed and raised Hermione�s wand to cast legilimens.

As if Harry knew what he thought to
do he clenched his eyes closed and shook his head.
::Don�t:: he managed to hiss
faintly.� It was no more than a breath
Tom quirked in delight.� He�d never heard another person speak the
language � well.. other than
in Draco Malfoy�s memory.� It sounded different when Harry was so close.. and in so much pain.� He leaned closer.

::Why not?:: he hissed back � primarily interesting in
making the boy speak some more.
::just don�t:: Harry barely
whispered.
::Open your eyes or I will slice
off your eyelids:: he threatened in a friendly tone.� The boy twisted his head away. ::Let her go first::
Tom laughed and spoke� �Hermione belongs to me, whether or
not she realises it yet.� If she�d simply
done as I instructed and brought me something to read from the library this
afternoon then I would have been quite content.�
Instead she defied me, obliged me to wait several hours for her, and to
make matters worse � brought you
here.� I�ll remind you that it was you who attacked me...� No..
I will have to discipline her for her behaviour tonight.� However.. she is an intelligent girl.��
No doubt she will learn quickly.��

Harry emitted a grunt of pain as a particularly nasty cramp across his abdomen
bent him like a whip.�

::not.. yours..� mine..� i�ll
..protect her... from you..:: Harry hissed with great
difficulty.
Tom laughed, honestly amused.� Harry was more foolish than he had seemed
initially.� Didn�t he realise he was
going to die?�

That thought reminded him.. it
would be wise not to waste too much time dithering with the boy, even as
fascinating as it was to hear him speak the serpent language..

it would be frustrating to be stopped by Dumbledore or
Snape in the last minute.� Nevertheless,
against his own better judgement he continued provoking the boy.

�How will you protect her?!� You did not
stand a chance in that duel.� I could
have put you down with my first hex, had I wanted to - and I am disadvantaged
by a foreign wand.� You would not even
have won, had I been wandless. I have
no idea how you imagine you are to defeat my other self who will be fighting
with my wand and an army of well
trained soldiers.��

Author note.
Review replies can be found at
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The First Horcrux