The Darkening of Your Soul

Chapter 26

Quirrell had been able to catch Crouch Sr unawares outside his own home, stun him in the back and dose him with an undetectable poison he’d picked up in Knockturn Alley hours earlier. Tom had warned Quirrell to not confront Crouch Sr in any way, shape or form, since Crouch Sr was an accomplished dualist and would wipe the floor with Quirrell if given the chance. And Tom had no desire to end up as an interesting specimen to experiment with deep in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. Thankfully, Quirrell had managed to dispose of Crouch Sr without any trouble and Barty had been freed. It took Barty a week or two to regain most of his personality after having spent years under the Imperius curse, but right from the start he’d recognized his Lord and vowed to do whatever his Lord needed of him.

Before long Tom found himself occupying a homunculus, and while far from ideal, it was a hell of a lot better than riding along on the back of someone’s head.

And then Harry had decided to visit and Tom had been perplexed by his adversary, his vanquisher, his murderer. Harry, barely a man stuck in a child’s body, decided to treat Tom as an old friend, regaling him with tales of his own betrayal and untimely death, while Tom kept wondering when Harry would raise his wand and finish the job. Tom was mortal, or so he thought. And he’d accepted that, he’d vowed to himself, once he regained his senses, that he’d never make a horcrux again, no matter how short his second life might be.

And then Harry casually informed him that he was in charge of Tom’s life, that he decided how long or short Tom would live this time around.

Rage had consumed Tom, alongside dread and disbelief. This child, this incompetent nobody had somehow gained control over Tom’s entire existence?

And then Tom remembered Harry as he stood before him in the clearing in the Forbidden Forest, ready to sacrifice everything no matter how terrified he was. And yes, Harry had been filled with fear and doubt, Tom had read it all in his eyes, yet Harry stood there, defiant and strong and more powerful than Tom could ever hope to be because Harry mastered the fear that Tom never could and had led to Tom’s downfall so many years ago.

And in the Great Hall, when Harry stood before him again, fearless this time, a confident smile on his lips, certain he knew something Tom didn’t, but yet again utterly willing to stand in the way of a killing curse. It was incomprehensible to Tom, how such an ordinary child could hold so much strength and power and not even realize it.

If someone had to have control over Tom’s life, it really could only be the person whose life had always been entwined with Tom’s, who had seen to it that Tom got to have a second life in the first place. Tom had accepted it as best he could, privately vowing to keep a very close eye on Harry and manipulate him where he could to improve his own existence.

Well, Tom had tried to manipulate Harry, but sooner rather than later his calculated conversations with Harry had turned into genuine talks he actually looked forward to. The horror! Tom shook his head as he tied his shoes and remembered the utter shock he’d felt once he realized he’d actually become friends with Harry bloody Potter. He wasn’t even sure when it had happened, just that he’d noticed it after he’d ordered Barty to drop everything and rush to a muggle bookstore to get Harry some helpful books after Harry told him about having a panic attack in Snape’s classroom.

And there was another conundrum.

Severus Snape and his utter betrayal of Tom and the fact that he was still living and breathing. Tom liked to blame Harry for this. He found that blaming Harry for everything and anything he refused to acknowledge as his own fault was quite convenient, but truthfully Severus’s fate was equally his own doing.