Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 23

Riddle was seething but managed to calm down. "To business, Harry" said Riddle. "In your past and in my future, we have met. And I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk, the longer you stay alive."

Harry thought about it. He had no problem with revealing how brilliant his mother had been; it was a fact that made him swell with pride to have been privileged enough to be born as her son. But he needed to know what that diary was. It was important.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But first, why don't you tell me what that diary really is?" asked Harry slowly.

Riddle smiled widely. "That is something I don't mind since you won't be leaving the chamber alive anyway. After all, I'm very proud of its creation. That, my dear Harry, is a Horcrux" he boasted.

When Riddle uttered the word 'Horcrux', many memories suddenly rammed into Harry's conscious mind. Harry winced in pain as he did his best to push those memories under his mental shields. That was probably the most important information of all, and he couldn't watch them now. Thankfully, Riddle hadn't noticed Harry's sudden pain, as he was still basking in the glory of what he had achieved.

"Fine, I'll tell you the story of how I survived. The fact of the matter is that my mother saved my life" said Harry quietly.

"Ah, so your mother died to save you. A mother's love" spat Riddle. "That defeated - "

"Oh please!" said Harry, rolling his eyes and interrupting Riddle. "What are you, Albus Dumbledore? Do you think that by a mother loving and dying for her child could save the baby from certain death? Think, you idiot! You might as well believe in the tales of Beedle the Bard, the way you're going!" said Harry exasperated.

"My mother was a parselmouth" said Harry as he watched Riddle's eyes go wide. "She created a ritual based on sacrificial magic in order to save my life. This ritual had to be performed in parseltongue, and in advance. So unless you know that the person's life is in imminent danger, the ritual is useless and you can't use it to save your own life either. It can only be used to protect another person who you share your blood with. That scar you spoke of? The one on my forehead was just the one of many runes carved all over my body by my mother with her blood. She then laid a trap for you, and you walked right into it. For the ritual to be completed, my mother had to sacrifice her life; that was the only way to save mine. And your counterpart killed her, finishing the ritual. So when Voldemort tried to kill me, the Killing Curse which should have killed me, backfired and hit Voldemort instead. Poetic justice don't you agree? Ironic, that a – what was the word again? Oh yes, a filthy mudblood was able to device a way to stop the Avada Kedavra curse that eluded witches and wizards for thousands of years! And the saviour of the pureblood cause and the so-called most powerful wizard in the world was defeated by a mere muggleborn!" said Harry, and laughed a loud, mocking laugh. It was unnerving.

"You know what I think? You really don't care about purebloods at all. I'm pretty sure you're hatred of muggles was due to you having a bad childhood. You were an orphan were you not? That means you probably grew up in an orphanage, and the muggles there didn't treat you well. And you took that hatred and let it consume you, making you hate muggleborns as well. I can see that your robes are Slytherin, so when you were sorted there, you were ridiculed by the rest of your housemates for being a muggleborn. So you decided to attack and intimidate them to rise to the top of the food chain, didn't you? That's why you changed your name as well. Several years later, you came back as Voldemort and started killing everyone, purebloods, halfbloods and muggleborns alike. You couldn't gain the Slytherin Lordship as it wasn't passed on to you, and unless you get the family ring and its magic accepts you, you can't get a permanent seat on the Wizengamot. You didn't like contesting in elections because I'm pretty sure you don't like begging people for votes. So in order to reach the top of the ladder, you killed everyone that stood in your way! Your own supporters were treated like slaves, but that was your revenge against the purebloods, wasn't it? I'm shocked that you even managed to get as much power as you did! What did you finally achieve in the end? Nothing! You're counterpart is hiding somewhere too weak to carry on. What kind of life is that?" asked Harry, his magic swirling around him as he spoke.