Lies and Second Thoughts
'I will strangle the old goat with his own beard', Tom raged as Harry snuck through the dark corridors. 'That old bastard and his little plots - it's a wonder no one has snapped on him yet!'
Harry rolled his eyes. 'What are you going on about?', he asked, slightly annoyed at the rants.
'That bloody meddler put that damned mirror in the room on purpose - he must have known we'd go this way, and he wanted to see how you'd react to the damned thing', Tom grumbled angrily. 'He must've hidden himself under a Disillusionment Charm while watching you - us.'
'Why would he do that?', Harry wondered.
'The buggerer probed your mind during the conversation - only one reason he'd do that.'
'He was looking for you', Harry realized. 'But why? It can't simply be because he's always been suspicious of you - which, might I add, considering you killed your father and grandparents, may not have been unfounded.'
'Oh, like you never thought about killing your relatives', Tom grumbled. 'I wish I knew why he'd look for me - only thing that makes sense is that he knows more about me than I do now.'
'That still doesn't explain anything, though', Harry stated, choosing to ignore Tom's comment on the Dursleys. 'What could be worth all this trouble?'
The image Tom had seen in the mirror came back up - the shadowy figure with red eyes walking forward, shrinking as it did and revealing itself to be Tom's old body.
'I don't know', Tom said. 'And I hate that feeling.'
'Makes two of us', Harry grumbled. 'Different question: how did Dumbledore even know I was out? I thought my presence cannot be detected if I'm under the cloak.'
'It's possible he placed a tracking charm...', Tom mused. 'I did not think to check... bah, that old joker.'
'What?'
'He probably tracked you through the Hogwarts Wards - some of'em track everyone throughout the castle. It's what he meant when he said that it's his task as headmaster to always know what his wards are up to, I bet.'
'I thought I couldn't be detected under the cloak', Harry said, confused.
'Not using regular detection charms', Tom explained. 'But the thing is, they usually don't search for souls - unlike the Hogwarts Wards.'
'So my soul is what gave away my position?', Harry wondered.
'As far as I know, yes. The wards are downright ancient - created by all four Founders, and I don't think they've been replicated anywhere else', Tom explained.
'But if these wards track souls, how come no one seems to know for sure that you're around?'
'I'm not a full soul, remember? I think there just isn't enough for me to be picked up on in the first place, and even if there was, whatever wards are placed around the scar are keeping me hidden', Tom answered, sounding rather smug again.
'Well, that certainly comes in handy', Harry replied. 'Alright - what do we do now? About... about the Stone, I mean.'
Tom was silent as Harry passed a few snoring portraits. 'You're having second thoughts', he eventually stated.
Harry winced. 'I do', he admitted. 'I mean, even if we get the Stone, what happens then? I mean, we figure out a way to fix you, but what do we do after that? Do we destroy it? Do we use it for more? But if we do, we'd probably get caught or something - the Stone disappearing is bound to be noticed, and...'
'And you don't know if it's worth ruining both our lives over', Tom completed.
'Yeah', Harry admitted.
Tom was quiet again for a while. 'You're probably right', he finally admitted. 'I've been doing some thinking myself lately, about... about how I may have ended up in this state, and the more I think on it, the clearer it becomes that... that I messed up somewhere.'
'What do you mean?'
Tom sighed. 'Meddling with the soul is considered dangerous for a reason - one wrong move and you end up dead or worse. I... I suspect that I took at least one wrong turn somewhere, and that this ultimately caused my downfall, be it because I blew myself to pieces in a Faustian experiment of sorts, or because of... because of Voldemort taking an interest in me.'
'You mean you... what's the expression again? You flew to close to the sun?', Harry asked, trying to recall his greek mythology.
'Essentially, yes', Tom admitted. 'I don't know for certain, though, and... and until I do, I'm not sure it's a good idea to try anything involving the Stone.'
'Because you're afraid that if we do use it, you'll just start all over again and make the same mistake again', Harry deducted.
'Yes', was all that Tom responded, sounding deep in thought.
'But what of Quirrell?', Harry asked. 'I doubt he has the same qualms that we do right now.'
Tom grunted in annoyance. 'I can't believe I'm saying this', he answered as Harry approached the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower. 'But let's have Dumbledore deal with Quirrell. The old goat might as well make himself useful for a change.'
'Works for me', Harry said as he yawned. 'Damn, I'm tired.'
He pulled off the cloak before the (thankfully still awake) Fat Lady, who merely rolled her eyes, grumbled something about rulebreakers, and asked for the password, which Harry swiftly provided before he snuck back into his bed. Thankfully, no one else was up, and sleep quickly overtook him.
By some surprise, the next morning, no one mentioned the alarm charm that had gone off. Apparently, it had been fairly limited, only going off in the general vicinity of the third floor corridor, though it had still alarmed the faculty members to the breach.
'My guess is that it was tied in to some other spell with that exact purpose', Tom speculated.
Of course, some people still knew, including the prefects. Harry found out about this the hard way, when Percy approached him and sternly asked if he knew anything about it. Harry did not say that he had caused the alarm, though he did admit to having been awake and outside the Tower - supposedly to test out his cloak and explore the castle a bit.
"I don't know what caused the alarm", he lied. "I was close to the corridor, though, and I did see someone run out - no idea who, though, the person wore a cloak."
"And the reason you didn't alert anyone was...", Percy asked, visibly displeased.
Harry winced. "I... may have run into Professor Dumbledore shortly after", he admitted. "Told him what I saw, and he sent me off."
Percy nodded. "I guess I can't bemoan you wanting to explore the castle", he grumbled. "Or testing out that cloak, for that matter - and I do appreciate your honesty in the matter."
"Am I in trouble?", Harry asked.
Percy shook his head. "If the headmaster didn't see fit to punish you, I don't see why I should", he replied. "Just... remember my warning, next time you sneak out."
Harry nodded, determined to forget it the next time he left the Common Room - though he did feel a bit bad for betraying Percy's trust like that.
Someone else who apparently knew - though she had likely put two and two together herself - was, unsurprisingly, Hermione.
"Are you insane?!", she whisper-shouted. "You could've died - or worse, you could've been expelled!"
Both Harry and Tom couldn't help it, they had to at least chuckle at that statement - well, Harry chuckled. Tom on the other hand roared with laughter.
"Sorry, sorry", Harry said when Hermione hit him with her notebook - thankfully, it wasn't too big, so it didn't hurt. "Just... did you just insinuate that being expelled is a fate worse than death?"
Hermione blushed at that. "Not the topic right now", she deflected. "What were you thinking?!"
"Look, it wasn't my plan to enter the corridor", Harry lied - this he hated, but how the hell should he explain the truth?
'Well, I could always come out for a chat', Tom cheekily suggested.
'Yeah, because that'll make her trust me', Harry replied and rolled his eyes innerly.
"But you still snuck out after curfew!", Hermione hissed. "What if Filch had caught you?"
Harry winced at that. "I didn't think that far", he admitted. "But I was under the cloak the whole time, so he couldn't have spotted me."
"Yes, but he could've bumped into you, or something similar", Hermione insisted.
Harry groaned. "You're not going to let me have the last word in this, will you?", he asked.
Hermione simply grinned. "No, I won't", she answered.
'I like her', Tom said. 'Reminds me of - '
'Someone you knew?', Harry cheekily suggested.
'I was gonna say of myself', Tom replied just as cheekily.
Then, Harry mentioned the Mirror of Erised, and prepared himself for another scolding from his friend. It never came; instead, Hermione voiced her opinions on wizarding artifacts and how dangerous some of them were. Unsurprisingly, Tom agreed with these opinions.
"What... what did the mirror show you?", she eventually asked.
Harry had to prevent himself from tearing up as he described what he had seen, from his parents to his extended family. "It's crazy", he said. "I... until then, I barely knew what they looked like. I mean, I know I look like my dad, everyone says so, and that I got my mum's eyes, but..." His voice broke at that point.
Hermione opened her mouth, as if to say something, but nothing came. Instead, she simply pulled Harry in for a warm hug, one which he reciprorated. It was crazy, in a way; Harry did not like being touched in any way, barely tolerating the slaps on the back the Quidditch team gave after practice, but with Hermione... it was different. It was... nice.
Still, it didn't last (not that Harry minded), and eventually, Hermione pulled away again. "Sorry", she flushed. "I know you..."
"It's fine", Harry replied. "I... I liked it."
They both shared a smile, and fell into an awkward silence of sorts - surprisingly, not even Tom had anything snarky to add - until Hermione spoke up again.
"Is it wrong that I am somewhat curious what the mirror would've shown me?", she wondered.
Harry chuckled again. "Guess not", he answered. "I figure it'd show you with top exam results in every subjects."
Unsurprisingly, Hermione hit him with her notebook again at that, though this time, she grinned at his joke.
Tom didn't quite know why this bothered him so much. He was no stranger to lying - he'd done it for about as long as he could think - and it was something he was good at, almost disturbingly good. He had never once before had had a problem with it, either... until now.
Granted, maybe lying was a bit much - for him to be lying would have meant that he actually knew the truth with any degree of certainty, which he didn't... or at least he didn't think he did.
He hadn't lied about his reasons for wanting the shelve the plan to steal the Stone, at least; there was too much he didn't know about himself, about the circumstances of his current predicament... and about what had happened after 1945. Sure, there were flashes, and he had memories dating to the fifties, but there were massive gaps in them, and what was there lacked cohesion, and some of it was... disturbing in their implications.
The thing he had seen in that damned mirror had him thinking; that shadowy figure with the red eyes, turning back into his old appearance. He knew it meant something, and he had something of an idea of what that something was, but... it could not be - there just wasn't any way he'd lose it like that.
And yet! All these coincidences, the wand, that image, that weird feeling he got from Quirrell... there had to be some connection, one he just couldn't see - and the alternative just wasn't something that was (should be) possible.
And until he knew what that connection was, it was best to not make a move for the Stone - even if it meant letting it slip through their fingers. He was smart, he could find a different way... one which would guarantee that even in the very small case of the alternative, that alternative would not be the one to come back.