Full Circle(Tomarry)

Chapter 8.

Harry didn't like to show anger. His first life as Harry Potter had him going through extreme emotions as a teenager, and after getting married he had sworn to reign in his rather volatile temper, especially around the children. More than once people had commented how he inherited Lily's temper, and only as an adult did he really find out how bad her temper had been. (It surprised him that Snape didn't end up getting eviscerated after calling her a Mudblood, but he puts it down to shock.) And he carried that control well enough throughout all his lifetimes, really.

Until now.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Harry hissed loudly. His vision flashed red when Lockhart turned in surprise, only to give him a smug look that looked different from the usual sparkly one. It looked wrong, warped.

It had only been a week since Harry's last visit to the Chamber, which had been right after hearing about Hermione's attack. The school had done a complete 180 towards him because even if he was a Parselmouth and quite possibly an Heir of Slytherin, one thing everyone knew for a fact that Harry Potter valued his friends more than anything. And the thought of him attacking Hermione contradicted everything they knew about him.

But he visited the Chamber again tonight with the intention of asking Sasha more questions, only to be confronted by this . Lockhart had no reason to even know where the Chamber was, much less have the ability to open and enter it and control the basilisk, but there he was in front of him, stroking a dazed looking Sasha and speaking whispered Parseltongue.

"Harry, my, my, what a surprise," Lockhart smiled, but it looked stiff and unusual. "So the rumors weren't unfounded, after all."

"Just some," Harry scowled darkly as Lockhart chuckled. "But fancy meeting you here, professor ."

"I'm only doing a dear friend a favor," the older man replied. "He's helped me with my successes so far, it was only fair I repaid him somehow." In an almost absent minded gesture, Lockhart grasped something hanging from his chest.

Harry froze as he recognized the distinct design of Slytherin's Locket.

"You really have got to be fucking kidding me," He breathed in disbelief. "That's impossible."

Because Kreacher guarded the one that hosted Voldemort's soul with insane fanaticism and the fake Regulus Black had made hung by the fireplace at his and Tom's cottage in France. This one though, this one looked exactly the same as the other two and had dark magic oozing out of it, different from the horcruxes' unique aura but similar.

"I do apologize, however," Lockhart's voice cut into Harry's running thoughts. The professor frowned, and the fact that there was something completely off about him was as blatant as the sun. "But as much I personally like you, Harry, I can't let you leave this place alive."

"Is that you or your master talking?" Harry wryly asked, fingering his wand idly. His fingers itched in anticipation.

"Your body would make a wonderful vessel, boy," An otherworldly voice echoed in unison to Lockhart's, and there was no doubt that there was a soul parasite akin to a horcrux in that locket.

"That's too bad," Harry grinned sharply, "You hurt my friend. Therefore, I can't let you leave this place alive."

.

Tom didn't shoot up awake, but it was a near thing. He didn't even bother being quiet as he made his way out his dorm room, ignoring a roommate's half-awake grumble of "Gaunt?" when Tom passed by him.