A Little Help from a Snake // Tomarry

24: Tiny Blond Fucker

"They're very rare," Draco said. "And to interfere would mean to go against her, which is one of the worst things you can do."

Pansy nodded. "Also, contrary to popular belief, it's not always romantic or sexual. It's often based off of magical compatibility." She looked at Tom. "So you and Harry are soulmates, I presume?"

"We are," Tom said.

"But who are you?"

"His name is Tom Riddle," Harry said, "also known as Tomling, Tommy, Tomalonga—"

"Not this again!" Tom groaned. "You may be more familiar with the title Lord Voldemort."

"Say what?" Draco looked like he was about to faint.

"Isn't the Dark Lord a— you know— an adult?" Pansy asked.

"Well, that's where things get complicated," Harry said, sitting down.

The other Slytherins exchanged baffled looks before also sitting down. "So when did the Dark Lord lose his pretty face?" Pansy asked.

"And his nose?" Draco added, averting his gaze when Tom whipped around and scowled fiercely.

"When he decided being insane was a good idea," Harry replied.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Get a move on, Harry."

"All right, all right. So as you have figured out, he and I are soulmates. I found out when I first went to Gringotts."

"And I found out after this was made about fifty years ago," Tom told them, gesturing toward the diary.

"But how are you still a kid?" Draco wondered.

"There was a ritual I performed," Tom said. "It split my soul and somehow seemed to free me from all the shit Dumbledore put me under."

"Dumbledore?!" Draco and Pansy exclaimed.

"But if all that was fifty-some odd years ago, then that means Dumbledore has been doing this since..." Pansy trailed off, looking like she was about to lose her lunch.

"Practically as long as he has held some kind of power," Harry finished for her.

"Do you think your parents knew?" Draco asked.

"Sirius said they did, which is most likely why Dumbledore took measures to make sure they were dead."

"Sirius? As in Sirius Black?" Pansy said. "But he led the Dark Lord to your parents! Isn't he on Dumbledore's side?"

"No, he was framed," Harry told her, not elaborating. "As for Professor Lupin, I'm unsure. He should be."

"Have Dobby or Azure keep an eye on him," Draco suggested.

"Good idea," Harry said, mentally berating himself for not thinking of that before. "Dobby!"

The house-elf popped into view. "What can Dobby do for Master Harry?"

"We think Lupin may be under Dumbledore's influence. Keep an eye out but don't be caught."

"Yes, Master Harry." He popped out of sight.

"You should have told us sooner," Pansy said. "We could all train down here."

"Yeah, especially considering we don't know how long Lupin will be teaching," Draco added.

Tom stood up. "You're here now, get your wands out."

The third years jumped up at once, eyes alight.

Later that evening, Harry spotted Professor Snape back in his office. "So? How did it go?" he asked after tossing up the wards.

"It went just how I expected," Snape said grimly. His feelings toward James and his group and Gryffindors in general had been magnified greatly, and Dumbledore used key words like Lily to make sure he did as was expected. His initial disdain of anything Potter related had clashed with his growing respect for Harry, making it very difficult to not lash out in the first two years.

Harry nodded. "Well, a deal's a deal. Do you want to see Salazar Slytherin's library?"

Snape perked up. "Yes."

"Great." Harry's eyes gleamed. "Come on. Tom's waiting for us." He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak. "Let's go."

Snape had to crouch down slightly to get underneath and let him take the lead.

"A girl's bathroom?" he said skeptically as they reached it.

"Apparently so." Harry softly hissed out the password. 'Stairs,' he added, and the smooth slide transformed. "Here we go."

They walked down and reached the chamber that led to the library.

"Athanasia is somewhere else in the chamber, so you don't have to worry about her."

"Athanasia?"

"The Basilisk," Harry said casually.

"Basilisk?" Snape thought he sounded like an idiot for echoing everything Harry said, but after the confirmation that Dumbledore had altered his state of mind and the removal of the compulsions, he was not feeling like himself at all.

"She won't hurt us. Plus, she has an extra set of eyelids to prevent killing anyone accidentally." Harry walked up to the statue and hissed again. "Shall we go?"

Snape had to force himself not to race inside. He walked in, staring at the large room.

"The potion lab is in there," Tom said, lazily pointing behind him. He was petting Azure, who was hissing in pleasure. "There are also ingredients inside, magically preserved for centuries."

"Here," Harry said, holding out a book to Snape. "I looked through it a bit. There's a lot of potions that I bet you'd love to try."

Feeling dazed, Snape took the book and sat down. "Thank you," he said hoarsely.

"You're welcome, Professor," Harry said, smiling at him as he took a seat next to Tom.

"When we're not in class, you can call me Severus," Snape said. "But no ridiculous nicknames."

"Too late for that," Harry said. "Azure already calls you Sevvie."

Severus glared down at the snake, who stared back innocently. With a very resigned eye roll, he opened the book and began reading.

Moments later, he was quite literally fidgeting until he couldn't take it anymore and all but bolted into the potions lab. Screw his dignity, he had potions to experiment with.

"He'll be in there for a while," Harry predicted. He grinned as Tom let out a short laugh.

Draco and Pansy have joined the anti-Dumbles team. And the next chapter should be up tomorrow