During the holidays, Draco spent a few days and nights at Harry's. But Harry stayed at the Malfoy Manor a lot. He also spent a lot of time with Remus and Sirius, not doing much, just enjoying spending time with them. He was currently at Malfoy Manor. It is around midnight and Harry is restless. The guest bedroom he is staying in is much to his taste, but there aren't any books in there. Meaning on nights like tonight when he can't sleep, he just has to lay there bored. He casts a quick tempus, thankful that he found a way to remove the tracker from his wand. Exactly midnight. Harry considers casting accio to get a book, but after thinking about the possibility that it could hit someone in the head if they're up and about, he decides against it. Instead, he decides to sneak into the library to retrieve a few books.
Rolling over, he quietly places his feet on the ground and grabs his wand. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he tiptoes out of his room. He follows the hallway towards the library. As he turns a corner, he comes across a dimly lit room with the door slightly ajar. Harry hides in the shadows and tries to peak through the gap. Lucius's office. Suddenly he notices a voice speaking, not one he recognises. Then another voice speaks up. One that he does recognise. As he racks his brain, trying to remember the voice, he doesn't notice the dim light being blocked by the shadow of a man.
"Come on in, Harry." Lucius says quietly.
Harry jumps at the voice before giving a quick nod and following the man into his office. As the door is shut behind him, he looks around and his eyes land on Quirrel. His turban was unravelled and placed in a heap next to him.
"Oh Merlin." Harry gasps.
The second face on Quirrels head registers in Harry's mind.
"Hello, Mr Potter. Nice of you to join us." The face says in a low voice.
He stares at the face, taking in the details. His dark brown eyes that are like melted chocolate. Then he notices the tiny gold flecks through the irises. The slight frown lines between his brows. The clearing of a throat brings Harry out of his thoughts.
"Oh! Sorry, who are you?"
The face chuckles, slight smile lines forming around his eyes.
"I'm Tom Riddle. You can call me Tom. You may know me by what Albus prefers to call me. I am the so called 'Dark Lord Voldemort'. As you can see, I am not in my own body and that is because of Albus. When he killed your parents, I went after him. Well, I had been going after him since I graduated from Hogwarts. But the night he killed your parents, he managed to kill me. But fortunately I was prepared for the occasion, but I won't go into details about that now. I was staying in the woods for years. Hoping that someone adequate would come along and let me use their body. And that's how I got here." Tom explains.
"Wait, so I assume it was you who stole the philosophers stone?"
"Yes. How did you know about that?"
"I used legilimency on Dumbledore."
Tom looks at Harry with an impressed expression on his face.
"So, now that you have the stone, how are you going to get your body back?"
"That's the problem. We tried the ritual with the stone, and it clearly didn't work. So, now we are trying to figure out a new ritual. But no one has found one yet."
"Let me help."
"Really? Aren't you only eleven? Maybe F
"Your point being?"
"Well if adults can't find one, then you surely wouldn't."
"I assure you, I will find one before anyone else does. Lucius, I will be in your library. Tom, lovely to meet you. Quirrel, have a good night."
And with that, Harry left the room, flicking his wand so the door shuts behind him.
***
Harry spends the rest of his night studying books of rituals. A question he needs the answer to forms in his mind. He casts a quick tempus to see it reveal the time as 5:30am. He races out of the library and back to Lucius's office. He knocks once before letting himself in. Much to his dismay, Lucius is the only one in there.
"Where's Tom?"
"He's staying in the guest room across from yours."
Harry says a quick 'thank you' before rushing towards his room. He finally gets there and knocks on the door opposite his.
"Come in."
Harry quickly enters the room, shutting the door behind him. Quirrel turns so that Tom can face Harry.
"What can I do for you, Harry?"
"Well I need to know exactly why you survived Albus before. It's hard to find a ritual without knowing the details."
"Oh yes. I had not thought of that. Well, while I was at Hogwarts, I read about Horcruxes. So I asked my potions Professor how you would go about making them. He told me. So after I graduated, I split my soul into three. I must say it was an awfully unpleasant thing to do. Although I absolutely hated myself for going through with it, I would not be here now if it weren't for my horcruxes. So, it was definitely a good thing I pushed through the process."
"Okay. I'll continue looking for rituals with horcruxes."
"Let me know if you find anything."
"I will."
Harry began to walk towards the door before turning around once more.
"May I ask what the process was exactly."
Tom shook his head, a grimace on his face.
"No. It brings back too many memories I'm afraid."
Harry nodded before opening the door and stepping out. As he was closing the door, he heard toms voice, so he popped his head through the gap.
"Oh, and Harry! I cannot thank you enough for this. You're truly amazing for helping me."
A faint blush formed on Harry's cheeks as he tried to keep his neutral expression.
"Anything for you, Tom."
