16 November 1992, Hogwarts
Whatever Riddle had done, it absolutely destabilized the ritual which turned off. There was also some kind of mental attack that came with it. This was all Harry could think of before he realized that he was actually physically pushed into the air, and he crashed into a few broken tables. It didn't take long for him to black out after that.
When Harry woke up, it was easy to notice that he wasn't alone. Yes, his eyes were bleary, and he was very disoriented, but there was a presence that just wasn't there before. There was this shift in atmosphere that Harry just didn't know how to explain. He was still in the Room of Hidden Things, of course, but before he could gather his surrounding, he heard a familiar voice, "You're awake. It's earlier than I expected but it should still be enough for this."
"Riddle," Harry snarled back.
The older boy looked unconcerned and was twirling a wand in his hand, Harry's wand to be specific, "So, Harry, you found out who I was possessing. I have to say that I'm impressed. Sure, you were led around with my trick with Lockhart, and I was sure that I fooled you into dismissing your initial list of suspects from the express, that you were going to keep narrowing down. But you went above and beyond what I expected from you, and for that, you have my respect. Bravo."
Harry shook his head, "You never said that I had to play on your rules."
"Yes, who would have expected Divination of all things to be my downfall? I always hated the uncertainty of it. It's always so easy to fool, to misdirect. Hogwarts is already practically immune to scrying, but you managed to get past that haven't you? You used a connection that's stronger than anything else I could stop. It took some time for me to realize where you were, and I definitely didn't expect you to be in a special room of mine, with another Horcrux close by too."
Harry grinned as he stood back up. Riddle was still pointing his wand at him, but the Potter scion wasn't really concerned about it. His wand was his. Its allegiance was his own, and it would not hurt him, "The thing about Horcruxes is that for them to work, there has to be a connection between them. No one has ever made more than one, but I'm guessing you didn't change the ritual. Soul magic is notoriously finicky, and people made sure that no mention of it exist, so I guessed that for your other self to be a functioning human being, his entire soul had to be connected like a network. I just used one to get another."
"I bet you think you're pretty damn clever," Riddle hissed, "you're not, you caught a lucky break."
"Maybe I did, but you're here, aren't you?" Harry responded.
"Yes," the older boy murmured, "I never expected you to go this far, this quickly. But needs must."
"You also said that you wouldn't cause any more deaths, that you learnt from Myrtle," Harry interjected, "So, tell me, why did Filch's cat die?"
"It was a mistake!" Riddle bellowed out.
"Yes, it was. But didn't you say that Myrtle was also a mistake? So, tell me, what's stopping you from making even more blunders? What if you kill a first year the next time? It's already bad enough what you're doing to Luna."
"Don't involve her with this," the older boy gritted out.
Oh, Harry had found a weakness and like a good Slytherin, he pounced on it, "What an interesting reaction. Luna Lovegood is supposed to mean nothing to you, be just a meat puppet. That is what you alluded to, when you talked about the victim you were possessing. But that's not true, is it? The lonely girl with an innocent heart exposed her soul to you and you couldn't help but admire her."
Riddle twitched and the Potter scion continued, "No, more than that. You started to like her. I have to admit that I can see why you would. That kind of wonder and kindness is just amazing."
The older boy sighed with a resigned expression on his face, "She was unlike anything I have ever seen, a miracle child that suffered yet all that pain forged her into a kind soul. A girl with a broken gift, whose clairvoyance emerged when she saw her own mother die. The way she saw the world was just so different."
"And you couldn't help but be entranced," the young Potter continued, "You couldn't stay away from her and yet you knew that you were hurting her. You need to stop Tom. This isn't a game; you're seriously going to hurt someone."
"There's a winner and a loser," Riddle said, "That makes it a game."
"What about Luna? Will she win, or will she lose?"
The older boy stayed silent at that, and Harry decided to press on, "Why are you even doing this, Tom? What's the purpose of all this? I don't buy that Dumbledore is your end goal. You know that he's politically invincible. He supported every business that came out of Hogwarts, he put people into contact in the ministry, and two whole generations passed where they saw him as this godly being that was their kindly headmaster. Dumbledore isn't going anywhere, and you know it. Your attacks literally have no meaning."
The older boy refused to answer, and Harry decided to go for the killing blow, "You know what I think. I think you don't really care about Luna at all, that you're using her in a vain effort to absorb her life force and live a mockery of life."
"HOW DARE YOU?" Riddle exclaimed with madness in his eyes.
"Then explain why you are going through all of this. Are you seriously letting Luna suffer like this for no reason?"
"I'm doing this for her," the fidgety boy answered, "I am creating something beautiful, something wonderful. I want to forge a new world, one without pain, without loss, without death. Is that such a horrible thing to strive for?"
"It does sound like a good ambition to have. But the question is how does possessing Luna, absorbing her life force, and petrifying muggleborns and squibs, help in any of that?"
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