Just Tom

Long story short, Voldemort was gone.

The end. Yay. Everyone celebrate.

That's all they cared about. That was the important bit.

But the important bit to Harry was the long story.

"He's gone? Really gone? Voldemort is gone?"

Annoyed, Harry stood and answered curtly. "Yes."

He got it. People wanted to hear the important part. Hear for certain, to know and finally let it sink in that the war was over. Voldemort was no longer. Would no longer be doing things. Would no longer be… Except. While Voldemort was gone, it was sinking into Harry's head that Tom Riddle was still very much here. Laying stunned up in a sectioned off area of the hospital wing so that 'no one would mess with the body' and 'the proper authorities would deal with it'.

How?

'Who's Voldemort?'

Kill a man who had no idea, no memory of doing any of the things he had done?

It sat wrong in Harry's gut.

The man who killed his parents. Killed many. Struck fear into the mass majority. For years.

Harry's stomach rolled uncomfortably.

And him. The Boy-Who-Lived. Updated to the Boy-Who-Conquered. The boy who stopped a war and took care of the man who headed a whole side of that war. The boy prophesized to…

Harry shoved a hand through his messy hair, grasping tight to the back of his neck. He yanked it down, hand slapping at his thigh, fisting the pants there. And then he strode across the Great Hall. Through all the people. Somewhere, he briefly registered Ron and Hermione standing and hurriedly following him as he powered across the space.

What even made up Tom Riddle without Voldemort? A name Tom had penned for himself from at least his last few years at Hogwarts? A man that was a boy. A boy that, from those memories Harry had seen, was not the best of kids out there. A boy who thought himself powerful, special. Only for that to be slapped in his face. Then strove to be powerful and special in this new world. To prove himself. To…

It wouldn't be the first time Harry had felt him and Tom were similar. Harry couldn't say he'd ever go as far as Tom had, but he understood the feeling of wanting to be powerful and something feared. After all, he had taken the knowledge of being special and used it to his advantage at times in the Dursley household, struck fear into Dudley and sent his cousin running. It had felt empowering and addictive after years of being powerless.

What were they going to do? Stun the man and keep stunning him until he passed on? That could only work so long before Tom would probably fake still being stunned and bolt for it. And having reason to not like and do something to those placing him in a position of being powerless. Tom would become Voldemort again. A person wanting to take down the current system and put himself on top.

And if they didn't keep stunning Tom Riddle, then what?

Even if Tom had no memory of being Voldemort and whom Voldemort was and what Voldemort stood for, people would treat him as such. Tossed in Azkaban? Maybe?

Harry ran a hand through his hair again.

Still, a man who was a boy and a boy who had done none of those things, a boy who wasn't the best kid out there, but still, a kid. Tom Riddle without any memory of Voldemort. A, pretty much, innocent kid. Well, innocent of whatever charges Voldemort would have on him. Which would be a lot.

Dementor? Getting his soul sucked out?

Harry stopped midstride. The image rushed into his head. Tom Riddle, no memory of being Voldemort, crying out and pleading and trying to escape, a Dementor swooping down and just… He shivered. Ugh. He hated Dementors.

He shook his head. No. No, not that. A soul was… And with how much Voldemort had damaged and twisted it… No. That definitely did not sit right with Harry.

With how he felt about them and then with Sirius…

The weight settled onto him. Sirius. Gone. Remus and Tonks. Both gone. As of today. Little Teddy an orphan. There was Fred for the Weasley family and others.

Near the edge of the Great Hall, Harry looked across it all, that same feeling of warmth filling him up again at spotting the Malfoy family. Together. Intact. No one missing.

And Harry standing there. No parents. No godfather. No close family friends left. Those who had filled something of a void for him in having no one looking out for him, those adults, gone.

He swallowed, thickly. Well. At least there were still some with him. Ron and Hermione would always have his back. Ron's mum, Molly, she had always…their whole family. But just, not Harry's family. Not anyone who had been close to his parents, part of those who had come closest to filling up that family void for Harry. The only one left was…Aunt Petunia. And she, well, never really filled any of that void Harry felt with his parents being gone.

Alive. Made it. Voldemort defeated, of sorts. So now what? What was Harry going to do now that it was all over? Except, well, there was that long story. Important bit. Because it had always seemed that Harry was the one to deal with Voldemort. And even though Voldemort was no more, just an orphan boy trapped in a man's body with years of life gone, Harry knew he had to deal with this. Figure out, now what? What was he going to do about Tom Riddle?

"Harry?"

He turned at Hermione's cautious voice, seeing the worry on both her and Ron.

"Is everything all right?"

"No. He's still alive. I mean, not Voldemort." Harry's hands moved, his face pinched and eyebrows furrowed, words and worry spilling out from him. "But Tom. Who has no idea. Of anything! Just, well, just a kid suddenly in a man's body, a kid who everyone hates. For reasons Tom will have no clue. It doesn't seem right to sentence him for anything, have him sent to Azkaban or killed or soul sucked out by a Dementor. And we can't just keep stunning him. No one would like that. Especially Tom with how he was as a kid, he clearly hated being powerless. It'd just be asking for him to become Voldemort again or worse. And I clearly can't just agree with letting him go and live his life, because people are going to hold that against him and they're not wrong because Voldemort did terrible things, but Tom hasn't done any of that. Which is messed up and all sorts of weird thinking about it, but Tom Riddle has no memory of Voldemort. He'd be forever treated as such and from personal experience of being the 'Boy-Who-Lived', it sucks. Argh! Even more messed up is that he's the reason I went through that, but he has no bloody idea! What am I supposed to do?"

"Let the adults handle this for once mate," Ron said. Hermione's head swiveled, brown eyes wide at that coming out of his mouth. "You did your part. But I will say I'd be perfectly fine with him being killed. For good."

Hermione nodded. "He's stunned right now. There's time to figure this out Harry. And others who can help in figuring out what the right thing to do is. I can… I can see your point. That it doesn't feel right to hold him accountable for any of the things he did as Voldemort if he really doesn't remember. Maybe St. Mungo's like Lockhart?"

"Do you think those there would be able to tend to him? To Tom? Or treat him like Voldemort and have him more likely to going back to doing those things? Those working there treated and encouraged Lockhart as the celebrity he once was," Harry pointed out. "Not to mention the one worker being sent a dangerous plant. Who's to say anyone here wouldn't do something like that?"

"No skin off my back," Ron muttered. And he shook his head. "You're overthinking this, trying to do the right thing. This was war. People die. He killed your parents. He's the reason my mum lost her brothers. That I lost… That we lost…"

"It's over. For you. You defeated Voldemort. You…" Hermione trailed off and smiled.

Harry turned fully at that, curious. "What?"

"That's just like you Harry. I was going to say you don't have to worry about Tom, but that doesn't sound like you at all."

Ron scowled, nose wrinkling. "You're right."

He didn't sound happy about admitting that or realizing Hermione was right. Ron huffed. Then shrugged.

"All right. We're here with you. We're here to help. Er, right, Hermione?"

"Right. We're here for you Harry."

He offered a smile, glad for that and glad to hear that. "Thanks." Even if he had no idea what to do about Tom.

Hermione was rattling off ideas. Suggestions. Ron's opinions cutting through every now and again. And Harry watched his two friends, taking in the words and ideas and support, a certain sense of certainty rushing through him. Whatever crazy thing life threw at him, whatever crazy things he pulled, Harry could nearly always count on them. When it mattered, always.

"I mean, if they were screened to not treat him like he used to, St. Mungo's may work. With a couple aurors on site. For just in case? But then." Hermione paused, teeth worrying at her bottom lip, a habit she never quite grew out of from when she had buck teeth. "There's still the case of the public. I'm sure they take the long term patients out from time to time. And if he still has enough left to not need the long term care, the ability to take care of himself…it'd prove a little difficult to get him to stay. I mean, it's not like they would be able to tell him exactly why without the fear and worry of him possibly remembering something or triggering enough to have…"

"Basically, he needs a watcher. But without letting him know he's being watched or that gets him to wondering why and figuring things out," Ron said. "Someone who can treat him not like Voldemort, but still knowing. As well as being able to take care of him if he goes dark side again."

Harry huffed. "Me."

"Us," Ron responded to that. "It sounds like we need to give him an everyday life, so he doesn't clue in on something being wrong and start piecing things together. That'd have to be some story to give him, because there are going to be people reacting to Voldemort when he's walking around. Even with whoever is his watcher. Whoever is watching is going to have to be with him, play peacemaker with everyone, but not… Can't we just toss him into Azkaban?"

It was going to have to be Harry. In what Ron was suggesting. Harry would be the one keeping an eye on Tom. Everyone trusted and believed Harry to be the one to take care of Voldemort. Ever since he was a babbling baby. Sometimes, a lot actually, Harry felt the truth far too often in Hermione's words of wizards not having much for logic.

Always him.

Harry huffed again.

Then his eyes fell onto George.

And a crazy idea struck him. So crazy he snorted. Let out a bark of laughter. The sharpness of it reminding him of Sirius and had him laughing harder as he walked, stumbled, over to George.

He reached George, who'd stepped closer in confusion at Harry's strange manner, motioning for them to step off to the side. As Harry worked to get his breath back, Ron and Hermione joined them. Still sputtering at the idea rolling around in his head, Harry motioned them closer.

"Evil twin," he managed out. And then he snorted up into laughter again.

Concerned, George asked, "Are you all right there, Harry?" And turned to Ron. "Is he okay?"

"It'd explain people being weird around him," Ron breathed out.

Hermione's eyes had gone wide to match Ron's set. "Oh, that's brilliant, Harry. A bit like an awful soap plotline, but brilliant."

Harry looked up, green eyes bright and sparkling, looking fit to laugh again. "Family," he said simply. And then shook his head. "Crazy. Utterly crazy. Oh, I'm crazy, the whole idea is crazy, and if it works it'll be crazier. And like some really insane prank. But it fits with Ron's strategy for dealing with the problem."

"What fits?"

Harry paused, eyes going up to actually think it over. Then nodded to himself. "Yeah. Yeah, it works. For having a watcher Tom won't question, because…family. He's always wanted it. I get it. Same boat. Because of him. Which makes it insane, but…"

Ron's head spun, an incredulous understanding dawning on his face. "Wait a minute, mate. You said you for taking care of if he went dark again. Harry, you can't mean…. You are bloody insane! That's Voldemort!"

"Tom," Harry corrected.

"That's." Hermione paused, eyebrows furrowing down, and hummed. "Well. It would give Tom a connection and a sense of belonging, after years at the orphanage and the likely let down of finally finding that family with what you said of them… But Harry, it is a bit, well—"

"It's insane, that's what it is, Hermione!"

"Any of you three want to explain to me?" George intersected in. "Voldemort? Tom? From the Leaky Cauldron?"

"So, George," Harry began.

And he explained the crazy idea that struck him just a bit ago. It wasn't until he finished explaining, that it settled in about really doing it and perhaps it was not the best way to go about it. He trailed off, the humor leaving him a bit as he got enough wit about him to fully take in the faces around him, shrugging.

"Er, well, it technically works with what Ron said would have to be done. But I suppose it is crazy. Insane, really. At least it was a good laugh?"

Three sets of eyes stared.

Then George leaned over, body shaking, arms wrapped around to hold himself steady. Air moved loudly through George. Like he was having a hard time breathing. Ron stiffened, quickly moving to his brother's side, worried. Yet uncertain of what to do, hands hovering a distance, remaining silent.

Harry stepped cautiously closer, sharing a bewildered look with Ron, not sure what to do to fix what he'd caused.

"He's still alive?"

Tentative, Harry answered. "Yes? But not… Voldemort is gone. Far as Madam Pomfrey can tell…"

"And the first idea, this is the first one right? Is to—"

George's head snapped back, body still shaking, arms still wrapped around himself. There were tears rolling down his face. And he was laughing? Up from his stomach, deep and echoing laughs roared up out of George. Bending back down, an arm came free to slap up around Harry's shoulders, as George hooted.

"Oh man, Harry. Harrykins."

George shook his head. Smile on his face, quivering. While his eyes still had humor sparkling in them, there was also something sad in there too.

"Fred would have loved this."

There was a beat. But George didn't let the quiet stand. Or give any of them time to say anything about Fred.

"And if you, we," he stressed on that word. A new fresh tear rolled down George's cheek. "Don't go through with your crazy idea and pull off the prank to end all pranks, for you know, strictly keeping the peace and nothing to do with the magnitude at all, Fred would come back and never give us peace about giving him unfinished business after...after moving on."

George swallowed. Thickly. Audibly. And grinned.

"It is insane. And coming from you. Fred would have been all over it. Let's do it."

At the declaration, Harry's chin jerked up, green eyes blinking at George. The crazy insane idea that popped up in his head had some desired effect. It got a good laugh. But to actually, and George to—

"Let's make Voldemort into his own twin brother, switch up the joke of 'you must have an evil twin', and make him into your grandfather. Hell." George snorted, still grinning as he gave a shake of his head. "No one really knows or digs into Voldemort's history, they'd probably believe it."

"What!" Ron yelped loudly. "George, you can't be serious. Harry had a crazy idea and—"

"Right about now, everyone will believe him." George nodded. "Good point, Ron. We're definitely doing this. You're good at strategy, at least for chess, so that'll come in handy. And Hermione's got research of making sure things line up. Harry, we'll need your family history. Forging and manipulating things will be on me for any paperwork. I've improved since the days of Doug the Ravenclaw and Edgar the Slytherin from first year."

"Who?"

Ron groaned. "Don't ask."

"Why Douglas and Edgar Weasley of course," George said. "Didn't Ron tell you about them? For shame, Ron. Never speaking of all your brothers to Harry and Hermione."

Ron rolled his eyes and filled in for Harry and Hermione's confusion. "They don't exist. During first year, they switched up their house uniforms and had everyone believing, for nearly the entire school year, that there were Weasley quadruplets. Blamed everything on the two in Gryffindor so the extra two never had post sent to Mum and Dad. And somehow, Percy never noticed, but Bill and Charlie thought it was hilarious."

"As long as we kept up on our grades," George said. Then quickly tagged on, "All four of us. The Slytherin quidditch players were really unhappy about losing Edgar."

Brown eyes wide at George, Hermione breathed out something inaudible under her breath. As the closest one to her, Ron's head swiveled to her, wide eyed in shock and amazement. He let out a guffaw and opened his mouth. But before he could speak, Hermione swatted him and pinned him with a glare.

"This is bloody insane," he said instead. To Harry. And to George. "Bloody insane. We can't just—"

"Why not?" George interrupted. "Harry's idea is crazy, but it's Harry. After this. People will believe it. I mean, people as a whole are pretty much idiots. He says it does work with the strategic points you brought up. Unless it doesn't cover all of them. I mean, the cover of family for the one keeping an eye on…Tom is good. Especially with Harry. Being orphaned and all of this tragedy going on? It'd make sense for Harry going with him everywhere. And Harry is literally prophesized to handle Voldemort, if Tom does remember."

Harry's eyebrows flew upwards. "Oh! Good point! Hey, Ron. That means it works even better, right?"

"Well, yeah, but… I'll think of something. Past all my bloody shock." Exasperated, Ron turned fully toward Harry. "You do realize how bat crazy this is, right, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. Carelessly. With a lopsided grin.

"Everything else in my life has been. Might as well go with it. 'sides, in visiting me when I died, Dumbledore said I should pity the living who live without love. Who knows? Crazy things happen with me. And he'd be happy about there being more love in the world."

Ron shook his head.

"Mental. Just mental."