Guile

Through his old pale eyes, Dumbledore looked at the trio. They sat lifelessly, awaiting perhaps an explanation, maybe a continuation of what he was saying. Whatever they wanted, they weren't getting. Dumbledore stood up, and Fawkes flew to his fingers. He petted Fawkes on the head, and turned to Harry.

"Fawkes here was a Phoenix I found. I raised him, and he became quite resourceful. I later found out that Fawkes was the very same Phoenix that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff."

Harry wanted to say, "Helga Hufflepuff had a Phoenix?" but didn't bother to.

"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore said as if he was reading his mind. "Helga Hufflepuff had a Phoenix. She was also quite a hick, and was the owner of that ax you brought up on Halloween."

"Slytherin had the staff," said a person in a chair backed to the trio. "Ravenclaw was quite a pervert, and owned the bow, and Gryffindor had his trusty war blade." The person got up from their chair and turned around. It was Tom. "Nice to see you all again."

"Tom!" said Hermione cheerfully.

"Sit down, Mudblood," he snapped at her.

Ron rose to this, and Hermione looked very shocked at this, as he hadn't called her a Mudblood since the night in the library. Tom walked towards her, and thrust Hermione down in a chair, and then he slapped her. Hermione began to cry, and Tom strut across the room back to Dumbledore's desk, pushing Ron into a chair on his way.

"Something the matter, Hermione?" asked Dumbledore mockingly. "You don't look very happy to see your boyfriend..."

"You and Hermione were dating?" Ron said after an extended period of golden silence.

He turned to Harry, who was equally as shocked. Hermione turned red, and began fidgeting in her seat.

"And they remained oblivious to it until about five seconds ago..." said Tom to himself. "Amazing you didn't figure out why Hermione and I were being so intimate on your own..."

"So, that day you asked us if we cared," said Harry. "You were talking about the relationship between you and her?"

"Yes."

Harry slapped himself on the forehead.

"I can't believe how gullible you all were to me," said Tom. "Especially you, Hermione. You had to have suspected something when Lord Voldemort, he who hates Mudbloods, not only kisses you but has sex with you in a library. I had you so mellowed into my hands you didn't suspect anything."

Hermione fidgeted in her chair, and Harry and Ron both looked ready to kill Tom.

"How... dare... YOU!" yelled Ron. He leaped up to punch Tom, but Tom knew how to work strings.

"Interesting you'd be standing up for them," he told Ron loudly. "I thought you hated them both anyway."

Ron backed off, and sat down in his chair grumpily. He looked at Harry, then Hermione, and then hung his head. Dumbledore laughed a bit at the situation. It was the first time Dumbledore had laughed in front of Harry, and he laughed very awkwardly. It didn't sound like it fitted the kind Headmaster at all, however, it did fit Grindelwald.

"With Hermione practically on a dog leash for me," continued Tom, "I distracted her from finding anything..... and the guys... wouldn't suspect much at all... they're too lame."

"So," said Harry. "That's it, huh? You were just tricking us into something, Tom? And I presume having to go through the Ministry to have you stay here was just a front?"

"Yep," Tom replied carelessly. "I've already hoodwinked you into something, and you didn't even realize it. All I had to do was make you trust me, and you were contributing to my diary, giving me life. To cut to the point, I've been living at Hogwarts regaining my power.

"Lucius Malfoy gave my diary back to his master. Thus, Voldemort was the original life source for me when I came out this summer. He stopped writing when I strong enough to come out the diary on my own, and I've been taking yours ever since."

"Oh," said Harry. "Well, that's nice of you!"

"Your welcome," sighed Tom.

"What about the new teachers?" asked Hermione slowly.

"Death Eaters," said Tom. He smiled a bit.

"Anything else you'd like to tell us?" snapped Harry.

Tom and Dumbledore both looked at each other. "Ragnarok?" asked Tom. Dumbledore nodded his head. "Go ahead."

"Let's start from the beginning," said Tom. Binds were suddenly wrapped around Harry, Ron and Hermione's bodies, disabling them from moving in their chairs. "Quite some time ago, say one thousand years ago, two witches, Caslux and Poltor, created the Ragnarok. It is an all-powerful weapon capable of doing almost anything the user wants it to do.

"However, in order to put magic and a will that strong into a weapon, there had to be a sacrifice made, a human sacrifice. Poltor walked away from the project, saying a weapon of mass destruction wasn't worth human life. However, Caslux managed to trick Poltor in being the Ragnarok's sacrifice. Ever since then, Caslux and Poltor's bloodlines have continued, each with a mutual feeling of brutality."

"Does this story go somewhere?" asked Ron impatiently.

"Shut up or I'll kill you slower," snapped Tom. "Now, the Ragnarok was easily identified as a threat. Caslux was hung for killing Poltor and creating the Ragnarok, and wizards and witches from all the corners of the world decided to see if they could break this weapon. But no one could, and so, the Ragnarok was placed in the care of four powerful people capable of making sure no one found it... those four were Helga Hufflepuff, Gordic Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and, Caslux's son, Salazar Slytherin."

This fact was met by gasps from Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Was Hogwarts made... because of the Ragnarok?" asked Harry, struggling with his binds.

"Indeed it was," said Tom. "Hogwarts is a pretty protective place. Unplottable location. Forbidden Forest. Trapdoors. Trap walls. Trap staircases. Lake with monsters. Gee, if you ask me, I didn't think they wanted anyone here at all."

"We didn't ask you," muttered Ron.

Tom frowned, and ignored Ron's remark. "They hid the Ragnarok here, and set up traps. Helga made the Forbidden Forest... she and Rowena had natural affinities with creatures, and allowed them stay inside the Forest.

"We ran into Gordic Gryffindor's trap, the Lions Den, on Halloween. Rowena's Ravens Nest is high above Hogwarts, past a fake illusion of clouds incase anyone were to look up there. She also made a fair amount of the traps and fake staircases Mr. Longbottom runs into... literally."

"Which leaves Slytherin," Harry said nervously.

"The Chamber of Secrets," said Tom. "The rubbish about Slytherin leaving it behind to kill Mudbloods were just created to lure more people into the Chamber. I truly am Slytherin's Heir, but anyone would be able to control the Basilisk as long as they were a Parseltounge.

"Now... to the point, only those who have the blood of both Caslux and Poltor can use the Ragnarok. Though it might not sound like it, there are very few who do."

"So, that means you have both bloods?" asked Harry.

"Quite right," answered a high pitched voice. The owner of the voice came through the fire. Out stepped a tall, hooded person.

It was Voldemort.

"So we meet again, Potter."

~ ~ ~
Ron and Hermione had never seen Voldemort before. They didn't want to see Voldemort, especially after how Harry had described him. But the minute he walked in, they were immediately able to put a name to a face.

"You-Know-Who," they both gasped.

"Quite right," he said lightly. "Hello, Tom."

"Hello, self," replied Tom.

Voldemort swiftly moved around the office. "What are doing standing around?"

"Telling these three a little story," said Dumbledore. He pointed towards Tom. "Tom was just getting to part about Caslux and Poltor's interesting bloodlines."

Voldemort smirked. "I suppose it'd better take over since Tom doesn't know my life from age sixteen."

Tom had no problem passing the story-teller stick to him. "Be my guest."

Voldemort leaned against Dumbledore's desk, and started his portion of the story. "I helped Grindelwald fake his death in 1945. I used a Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be Grindelwald, while Dumbledore 'defeated' me. I went off to study the Dark Arts, and ultimately become Voldemort.

"My wrath continued, and I stayed away from Hogwarts out of respect for Grindelwald. Meanwhile, he stayed here at Hogwarts and collected as much intelligence as he could. In the midst of his research and thorough checks through the Castle, he also discovered a few others who had both Caslux and Poltor's bloods. James Potter was one of the them."

Harry looked up at the sound of his Father's name. Had his father gotten involved with this Ragnarok mess?

"I killed all the others with both bloods. As for James, Grindelwald wasn't sure at first," continued Voldemort. "But after thorough research after James had graduated from Hogwarts, he found he did indeed have both bloods. That's where I came in. He instructed me to kill James, and his wife Lily. He also heard they'd had a child, which would like James have both bloods."

"So you tried to kill me because of THAT?" asked Harry in astonishment. Ron kicked him, trying to make him shut up, but Harry continued. "But what's my blood have to do with anything at all!?"

All this time, it had been his belief that there was an entirely larger picture that he was missing. He also found it odd that Voldemort would pretty much deticate his entire life to killing Harry, there had to be an incredible reason why. But something like blood seemed quit unimportant and silly to him.

Harry's sudden outburst was met with a Silencing Charm. He tried to talk, but found no words coming out of his mouth. Voldemort suddenly leaned over to Harry until he was practically right in his face.

"So call me a monomaniac," Voldemort whispered at him. He then stood up and spoke louder. "Only the bloods of Caslux and Poltor can hold and use the Ragnarok. I killed all the people with both bloods prior to your family. The more people with both bloods that live, the less powerful is the one person who wields the Ragnarok, and there are less people who can wield it as well."v "And by an intense amount of research on my half," spoke up Tom, "it's proven you'd take the Ragnarok."

Harry eyed Tom suspiciously, wondering how in Gods name he knew Harry could or would take the Ragnarok. Voldemort acknowledged Tom, and looked to Harry, continuing with his tale.

"After I failed to defeat you, my obsession over killing you became more a lust type thing than it did mission. Only recently do I realize that I should've killed your mother first. Bloody wench," he spat bitterly.

Harry furiously tried to lean towards Voldemort to kick him for calling his mother a wench, but Voldemort snickered at his feeble attempts. Harry found he could barely move with the binds on him, and being silent didn't help him much either.

"Wait," said Ron bravely in a low meek voice. He didn't dare look up, and continued to look at his feet. "Why didn't you just kill Harry, Dumbledore?"

"I would've," said Dumbledore. "But Voldemort's lust to kill the only one who survived his Avada Kedavra took over his mind." Voldemort growled at this. "I left him to take care of Harry, and simply pretended to be Harry's friend and Voldemort's enemy, slowly helping Harry into his demise. Notably, all three of his plans have failed."

Voldemort once more growled. "I don't see you doing anything revolutionary."

Dumbledore paused, as if to say something, then stopped. It was very clear there was a sense of animosity between the two. Even Tom looked annoyed by this, as he was shaking his head in disgrace.

"Point is," said Tom quickly. "Dumbledore is Grindelwald, Voldemort and I are Voldemort and I, and that's that."

"Why," squeaked Hermione, "do you bother to tell us your plans?"

"Oh, well, it's simple really," replied Tom. "So you know why you were killed when you died. Makes you feel special, eh?"

Harry stomped his feet around and tried to move his chair. But still, no one would counter-curse him.

"No, actually, it doesn't," muttered Hermione.

Tom leaned over towards Hermione, and lifted her chin up. "So what're you going to do about it, Mudblood?"

Ron went psycho when Tom called Hermione a Mudblood, and also tried to move around in his chair. Unfortunately for Voldemort, Tom and Grindelwald, Ron still had a mouth.

"DON'T CALL HER A MUDBLOOD!" roared Ron. For the first time, he looked up. He gulped slightly at Voldemort's appearance, then steered his eyes to Tom. "I can't believe you!"

"What'd I do now?" asked Tom carelessly.

"You called her a- a Mudblood!" snapped Ron.

"Yea, well, I've called her a Mudblood plenty of times," he said with a hint of mockery in his voice. "So, are you just delaying the time until we kill you, or what?"

Ron looked grim. "We're trying to."

"Ah, well, it worked for about two seconds," replied Tom.

"Thanks for letting us know," moaned Ron. "So, Harry, Hermione, do you guys have back-up?"

Harry cocked his head up at Ron with longing eyes, and clunked his head down onto his lap. Hermione glared at Ron with a paralyzing stare, and then finally moved her eyes around in a full rotation.

At that moment, someone, or something from the first glance of it, burst into Dumbledore's office. It was Draco and Ginny being chased by Voldemort's snake, Nagini. She hissed at the Draco, Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and then her eyes shifted towards Tom.

Dumbledore rose to Draco and Ginny. "How did you two get in here?"

"She heard those three use the password and a giant snake was chasing us so-" stuttered Draco.

Ron yelled, "DON'T TRUST DUMBLEDORE!" and Hermione added in, "Or Tom!" Ginny mentioned only an idiot would trust Tom, and though Ginny didn't notice this, Ron happily laughed at Hermione. She couldn't kick or hit him with anything, and she tried moving her chair over, but there was no luck.

Draco looked up, around the room, and his jaw dropped when he say Lord Voldemort. It was really him. Draco had never seen Voldemort before, but from first glance, he simply knew it was him. Ginny, whom had been quiet this whole time, looked up towards the Fireplace with Draco, and saw Voldemort. She screamed, and began walkings backwards to the Gargoyle, but tripped on the carpet, and found herself falling onto the floor.

"You're... the Dark Lord," said Draco. He pointed at Voldemort as he said, "aren't you?"

"Yes I am," replied Voldemort.

He eyed Draco suspicious with one of his red eyes until Tom interrupted them.

"It's Lucius's God foreshaken child," said Tom with a drolling voice. It became apparent he was quite bored. "Let's kill him and Ron's little sister along with these three."

"Can do," Grindelwald said outloud.

"Voldemort..." Draco whispered.

Ron tried to kick Draco in the back. "CAST THE SEVERING CHARM!"

"Voldemort..." Draco continued to whisper.

"CAST THE SEVERING CHARM!" Ron continued to yell.

All the while, Ginny was unconscious on the floor, and Harry was trying to get Draco's attention as well. Grindelwald smirked at their feeble childish attempts, as did Voldemort. Tom however seemed to be more interested in his pet snake, Nagini.

"SEVERING CHARM!" Ron screamed, and finally, Draco re-entered the realm of the living, and suddenly yelled "SEVERITIS!" at the trio's binds. They cut in a nice line, and Hermione leapt out of her chair, and punched a very suprised Tom.

Harry, still muted, picked up Ginny and dashed down the stairs and out the doorway, Voldemort looked like he was about to interfere, but Grindelwald put his arm out and said, "let them run." Voldemort scowled and looked to Tom, but Tom was stroking Nagini lovingly. Voldemort looked disgusted at his younger self, and took the liberty of hitting him on the head.

So, Draco followed Harry, and Ron followed Draco, and Hermione followed Ron and they continued to run for their lives.

~ ~ ~
Hermione was the first to notice that everyone else at the school was dead as she stepped inside a classroom which doors were wide open. She gasped at the sight, and didn't bother to tell the boys, she just ran after them until they had burst out through the Entrance Hall, where none other than Crookshanks was running around frantically.

"CROOKSHANKS!" yelled Hermione. Her beloved cat jumped into her arms, and she held him tightly. Hermione looked at the boys, and yelled, "To the Forest!"

"Are you NUTS?!" bellowed Draco. Harry and Ron also thought it was a perfectly insane idea to goto the Forbidden Forest, but as Hermione pointed out, "there's nowhere else to go!" Ron brought up Hogsmeade then she snapped at him that Grindelwald would think they'd probably go there.

Inside the Forbidden Forest, which the trio seemed to take yearly trips to, there were all sorts of dangerous and ferocious creatures. But the Centaurs lived in the Forbidden Forest, and they weren't the wrong sorts of creatures. They were quite nice, though a bit starstruck.

Harry pointed as his mouth, in need of a counter-curse. Hermione gained her breath when they were well into the forest, and finally casted it on him. He yelled, "FINALLY!" and set Ginny down on the ground.

Draco leaned over and casted Ennervate causing Ginny to awaken screaming.

"GINNY SHUT UP!" yelled Ron hastily.

Ginny whimpered, and looked up at her seniors. The bushes near her shook, and the five quickly turned, wands ready. A large beast came out, and on further inspection, Harry recognized the beast.

"Firenze?" asked Harry.

Sure enough, it was one of the Centaurs Harry had met his first year, Firenze. Firenze had saved him from Voldemort, and brought him back to safety. Along with Hermione, he had met two other Centaurs, Bane and Ronan, but they didn't really say much except how bright Mars was.

"Harry Potter!" he spoke suddenly. "What brings you here?"

"Me and my friends are uhm..." he began, "well, we're really not doing well...."

"What has happened?" Firenze asked.

"A lot," Harry said shortly. "Do you know of any safe places in the Forest where we could maybe hide?"

Firenze asked not why, but slowly pondered Harry's request.

"There is one," he said slowly. "There is the Centaur Village. Centaurs don't usually enjoy humans company, but we shall see."

~ ~ ~
Grindelwald led Tom and Voldemort into a corridor. Nagini happily slithered after the three of them, and stopped when they stopped in a large empty room. The walls were white, the floor was white, everything was white. Dust and cobwebs decorated the corners, and Tom looked at the room in disgust as he entered.

"So this is the Ether room, eh?" asked Tom, obviously not impressed.

"Don't let it fool you," said Grindelwald. "It might be very plain but it's the room of the most concentrated amount of magical power... if you've both fully restored your powers, and Tom's body is complete, you should be able to do what you're trying to do."

"What's the point of it?" asked a female voice. Nagini stood in human form, looking disapprovingly at the men. She stalked over to Tom, and put her hand on his shoulder. "No point to it."

"No one asked you," said Voldemort.

Voldemort turned to Nagini, and watched as she ran her fingers through Tom's hair. Tom was a bit oblivious to the definition of "rape" since he was a 16-year-old from the 1940's, but Voldemort quickly grabbed the human form of his pet snake by her arm, and tore her away from Tom.

"I don't mind doing this," said Tom. "Handling the Ragnarok won't be easy." He paused, and looked at the elders.

Grindelwald looked to Voldemort and Tom. "You two know what to do?" he asked. "Yes," they replied in unison, and Grindelwald left with Nagini following.

~ ~ ~
"You're such a bastard," hissed Nagini. She folded her arms and tapped her black painted nail on her upper arm impatiently. "If Tom's spoiled, I'll eat you."

"I'm sure I'll taste quite excellent," said Grindelwald.

Nagini leered at him, and "hmph"ed. She leaned against the wall, and licked her lips at the thought of dinner.

~ ~ ~
"NO HUMANS ALLOWED!" the Elder Centaur, Eltenn, roared.

His loud voice shook all of the Ancient Centaur Village. Deep within the Forbidden Forest, all Centaurs lived there. It was hidden by many spells, and no humans or other forest creatures could enter unless a Centaur opened the way for them.

"But sir-" Firenze began weakly.

"Firenze," said Bane. "You have already broken Centaur conduct by allowing the boy to ride on you previoiusly."

"Indeed," said Ronan. "They cannot stay!"

"The Ragnarok!" Harry suddenly yelled. "Do you know of it?"

Eltenn looked suprised by the mention of Ragnarok. "Of course we know if it, human! How do you?"

"We're educated," Ron said, smiling.

"Oh, a witty little one," moaned Eltenn. "We kill him first."

Ron's eyes rose to this. "They're not kidding, are they?" he asked Hermione slowly.

"Humans don't deserve to know about the Ragnarok," said another Centaur, Recthel. "It's because of them it was created. It's because of their useless, stupid selves."

"Who got you here!" barked Hermione. "I belive it t'was Helga Hufflepuff was indeed a human!"

"Actually," said Ronan slowly, "Hufflepuff was part Phoenix. She had incredible natural communication skills with them. So we asked her about it one day, and she told us she was a Human and Phoenix hybrid."

None of the children bothered to ask why or how Hufflepuff was a Human/Phoenix hybrid. If they'd learn anything that day, it was that keeping your mouth shut was usually a good idea.

"You KNEW the founders?" asked Draco.

"We are many, many years old," said Eltenn. "And we've lived long enough to know that Ragnarok doesn't belong in anyone's hands."

"There's people at Hogwarts who're going to try and take it," said Harry. "We've got to stop them!"

"You cannot stop a person from taking it," said Eltenn. "That one persons ambitions is what will lead them to the Ragnarok. Nothing can shatter that..."

They stood in silence, until Eltenn finally asked, "what will happen to you if you do not stay here?"

"We'll probably get killed," came Harry's flat reply.

"By the guys who want the Ragnarok," Ron added in.

"Elder," said Firenze. "He is Harry Potter, the boy who, who the stars-"

"Yes, I know," said Eltenn. "Who stars predicted will take the Ragnarok?"

"Yes, him," said Firenze. Harry looked up at the Centaurs, and at Firenze. "He is a good human. He would not do harm even if he could get it."

"I don't have any reason to take the Ragnarok in the first place!" said Harry. "You said it was a persons ambitions that drives them to the Ragnarok... I don't want it! I haven't any ambition to get it."

Eltenn sighed, and looked at the faces of the centaur and five humans.

"They may stay," he said finally. His actions were met with a sound of shock and suprise and murmurs through the Centaurs.

"Thank you," said Harry pleasently.

"Thank me not," replied Eltenn gruffly. He walked off in silence, his four hooves making "clunk" noises on the wooden ground as he went. He turned around, and looked at the five humans. "After all, you've got the Sorcerer's Stone."

A lightbulb went off in Ron's head and he pulled out the small blood red stone. "Hey, we do!"

"Yes, you do," said Eltenn sarcastically.

~ ~ ~
Flashes of brillant light spew from the room which Tom and Voldemort were left in. Nagini was leaning uncomfortably against the wall, and Grindelwald watched the room observantly. A loud scream was heard from within as the light show died down, and Nagini immediately flung the door open.

She ran into the room, and saw Tom and only Tom lying lifelessly on the ground. Grindelwald entered after her, and kneeled down. Nagini carefully scooped Tom up into her arms, and looked to Grindelwald.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" she snapped.

"Nothing," Grindelwald replied calmly. "Sleep is just a side effect of the merge..."

Tom's head slumped on Nagini's shoulder, and he slowly awoke. In his somnolence, Tom looked from Nagini to Grindelwald, then to the wall. He stood up, very weary, and walked a few steps, flexing his hands.

"...... did it work?" he asked them finally, in a chilling voice that did no belong to Tom.

Nagini slowly stood up, weak in her knee's. "Yes," she said in a whisper of a voice.

Tom turned around, and looked at Nagini and Grindelwald. His eyes were red, his skin was practically white, his voice was different. He wasn't Tom, he wasn't Voldemort, he was both.

Voldemort began to leave the room, when Grindelwald asked him where he was going.

"We need to get the Sorcerer's Stone still," said Voldemort bitterly. "And I've got a pretty good idea how..."

~ ~ ~
All the while, Ron Weasley slept with the Sorcerer's Stone still in his robe pocket.