Alternate Universe - brothers Draco & Harry

Chapter 2 - the Prequel

His eyes opened and he breathed in as much air as he possible could before starting to cough. For a moment, he thought he'd die again. Looking around, the boy noticed where he was. He was back in Hogwarts, and in the boys dorm. Around him were three desks, three wardrobes, and three beds, all covered by Slytherin green sheets. The room had stone walls and it was quite warm. In the corner by the window sat his old white owl, eyes closed, sleeping.

'What is going on?' he thought. 'Am I alive? Did they bring me here after killing me? This has to be some joke...'

Turning, he looked straight into a silver mirror hanging on the wall, and shock quickly spread over his very pale face. "This... WHAT IS THIS?" 

Voldemort was alive once more, returned as Tom Riddle himself, back in his old body. 'What is this magic... Am I in a come or just dreaming? No... wait. It can't be!' he thought, touching his face and nose.

Tom quickly ran over to the mirror, checking his face closer. 'I must be no more than 16 years old... Yes. I have done it... I have actually returned,' he thought to himself, staring at the reflection, eyes wide open. It was really him, his old face gifted to him by his muggle father, his dark brown hair, his stupid fathers features all together again. He was standing tall, slender, muscular, wearing his green school robes. 

'Did it really work?'

Years before Voldemort had split his soul for the 5th time, he had gone to a very powerful mage. The mage, in exchange for a favour, performed an ancient magic ritual, promising that in the rarest of circumstances, if Voldemort did die, this ritual would bind his soul together once more, bringing him back to life. Each mage can only perform this ritual once and never again.

'I thought I'd be brought back anew in the same world... Not brought back to the past!'

He took a few steps back, unable to decide if he was really okay with all this, how he felt. His soul was together in one place, yet the boy had never felt such weakness. Without his horcruxes, protecting pieces of his soul, he felt vulnerable. Other things turned too. He felt his human urges come back, he wanted to eat, he wanted to drink, he could actually feel his heart beat. He also had a deep urge to see a woman naked, but he held that one back, refusing to acknowledge the desire. 

'Harry Potter killed me...' he thought, staring at the ground, his dark brown eyes growing quite cold. 'Harry fucking Potter. And Severus Snape betrayed me. The Malfoys abandoned me. But the boy who lived... he killed me. Will he kill me again? Wait...'

Realization dawned upon him, 'If I'm back, back so early in my life... That means I'm the only person here with the knowledge of what will happen in the future. That means I hold in my hand the means of redoing it all! But how... I can't change everything, I must only change a few smaller events, otherwise the whole story will be rewritten from start. I only need it to end differently.'

Very slowly, Riddle began to plan. It took him months, but he did. He decided to access the Secret Chamber just like before, killing the muggle-born just like before, and blaming Hagrid just like before.

"If I am to win," he noted, mumbling aloud, "I must only change a few events to make the big difference. If I do everything completely different, the future will change and I won't know the next events that are to happen."

Tom, adjusting his fluffy hair, sat alone in his room, plotting. Other students were busy partying, drinking down in the common room but Tom just plotted. It had been weeks, he was tired but the desire to redo it all kept him going. 

"I must again place my soul in the notebook, but this time the notebook will be given by the Malfoys to... Neville Longbottom. He. Must. Die." Leaning back in his chair, draping his arms to the side, he slipped into deep thought, 'Neville is a complete underdog. The problem was that I assumed a boy like him was weak. He was in Gryffindor, he was brave. I failed to see it. His speech that motivated the students, his act of killing my horcrux, snake Nagini... I need to hide her better, that's for sure. Can't have her out in the open battle field. But Longbottom, he needs to die whilst he's still young.'