The honorable end of a Horcrux
It was a normal day at number 4 privet drive. Except Aunt Petunia and Dudley had gone out shopping for Halloween, and Vernon had called Harry into the master bedroom.
Tom watched from inside Harry's head. His precious harry. Tom no longer thought of himself as Voldemort. There was no point he was stuck here. He had spent countless hours going over his memories after the incident.
He had killed Harry's parents in order to get to Harry and protect himself. He had failed! His fear of death had destroyed him and forever harmed others. Not just in the act of killing Harry's parents. But in most actions since the 4th horcrux. He didn't know if his current existence was that of a horcrux or a partial possession or what, but what he did know was that Harry was precious.
His actions put Harry through a childhood that up to this age compared to his life was worse than his own. Harry had not gone through an exorcism yet or met a priest, but Tom was not subjected to either of those until he was 8. Harry was only 7.
At first he hated Harry for the his disembodiment but as he watched him grow he grew to care for the little angel. His hatred of Harry's relatives treatment slowly grew tom's guilt and empathy towards Harry. The dursley's were worse than the matron. Harry had to do the chores he had split with all the orphans by himself. He had to learn to cook food perfectly and yet not eat any of the food. No orphan lived in a cupboard. Harry should not be in these conditions and he was partially to blame!
When Harry was 4 and spoke to his first snake Tom cheered. Harry deserved the gift. He was under worse conditions than Tom but he still was a kind soul. Listening to Harry's precious first hissed conversation made Tom wonder if Harry was related to Salazar and if their possible relationship of heir and lord made the Slytherin family magic backlash reflecting the curse. But upon reviewing his mindscape Tom came to the decision that while that was a possibility there was a much more likely reason.
Severus Snape was right to ask for him to save Lily Potter, but that request was probably his downfall. When he agreed to not kill the redhead he inadvertently made a binding magical agreement since at the time he truly meant to honor that agreement. When he gave Lily Potter three chances to step aside he inadvertently activated old magic and strengthened the protection ritual she had made.
He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand . . . and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the last sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead. . . . “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!” “Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside now.” “Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—” “This is my last warning—” “Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy. . . . Not Harry! Not Harry! Please— I’ll do anything— ” “Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!” He could have forced her away from the crib, but it seemed more prudent to finish them all. . . . "So be it" The green light flashed around the room with a strange snapping sound and she dropped like her husband. The child had not cried all this time. He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib and he looked up into the intruder’s face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty light, and his mother would pop up any moment, laughing. . .
That snap was his vow to Snape excepting the change in conditions. He had no longer agreed to save her but instead agreed to take her life in exchange for Harry's. So when he attacked Harry the protection of his mother's ritual channeled through the sowilo rune combined with his broken vow channeled the curse at himself but he could not die. So a piece joined Harry and watched how his actions turned a happy childhood into a worse torment then his own.
Not that it was all his fault Albus Dumbledore was just as much to blame; he chose these muggles even if it was to maximize Lily's protective magic against him. Dumbledore could have at least once come and checked on him in person not leave him to be watched by that batty, kneazle loving, old squib. She did nothing to help!
^^^^
Vernon was about to go further in hurting Harry than he ever did in the past. As Harry entered the bedroom Vernon muttered something about how “the bloody freak will finally earn his keep”, and proceeded to push Harry's face down onto the bed, while pulling down his trousers.
The trousers had belonged to Dudley first, so they were far too large and held up with string. They were easy to pull down. Harry wasn’t wearing underpants, because he had none that even vaguely fit him. But when a part of Vernon started to breach Harry’s anus, some kind of electrical discharge or something happened. Golden light surged out all over Harry, and a weird yanking feeling happened to the scar on his forehead.
Tom knew exactly what was happening. He’d been raped often enough by the priest at the church, before, after, and during the regular exorcisms he had endured as a child. It was why he’d learned wandless magic in the first place, to be able to defend himself without setting off the trace over the summer.
"Hell No!" Harry was not going to experience this.
He half turned around and cast a wandless, wordless “Confringo” with everything that he had at the muggle’s head. The muggle was pushed back and then his head exploded. It was approximately in the middle of the room when it happened. The mess went everywhere. Blood, pieces of bone, grey matter and various other more or less liquid substances. The headless body slumped to the floor. Tom cringed, and thought “somewhere safe!” as he forced all that he was into apparating somewhere safe. His last thought was "He needs to be safe".