"It's his nature. Fundamentally, he isn't a person, not really. He's a mistake that was weaponized. The real Tom Riddle put a part of himself in the diary, and that's all it is, a shard of a real person, a shadow, that somehow evolved into something more. He possessed you because it was what he was made to do, what he was designed for you. I don't know if he truly cared about you but the goal he was designed to do came first," Harry explained.
"I don't understand," Luna stated.
Harry forgot what he was talking to an eleven year old girl for a second and decided to change his approach, "Do you know the tale of the frog and the scorpion?"
She looked confused for a second and shook her head. Harry continued, "Well, it goes like this. A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog then agrees, but midway across the river, the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: 'I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's in my nature.' Tom is like that scorpion, he was made to open the Chamber of Secrets, and no matter how much he liked you or not, he will do it."
"But he was so real," Luna protested, "He was understanding when I talked about the difficulties I had about being lost in my clairvoyance. The creatures I created interpret my visions without me being overwhelmed all the time, but I still get lost in my head sometimes. I told him about my mother, about my father's obsession with his newspaper. And he comforted me, he told me that everything was going to be alright, and I could tell that he was being truthful."
"Maybe he was. He's more than a painting but less than a person. He's like half a person that was put in a diary, but half of him is still missing."
"Yes, but he's a diary. How could he grab himself?"
Harry sighed, "He's smart. And when I mean smart, I mean a veritable genius when it comes to politics and mind games. He created a network of people that he's controlling somehow. It's more subtle than possession, it's more like selective compulsion charms when he wants them to have. He could have had one of them just stun you in the back and get the Diary before he made this magical projection for our confrontation. It was probably a backup plan in case it was a trap since I was able to take him by surprise and find you. I never got that close before in our little game and he probably panicked. It's just like him to be paranoid. So, please try to remember anything about who attacked you."
Yeah, that magical projection was insane. Honestly, the Potter scion had no idea how the hell Riddle pulled off creating a bastardized version of a poltergeist that was powered by his Diary's energy, and that he possessed to create a virtual body for himself. This was some bullshit magic right there. You know, they said that Riddle was a prodigy among prodigies, but Harry never conceptualized just how advanced he was until then. And his control over Fiendfyre using an obviously unsuited wand, with limited magical reserves, was just insane. Like seriously, an actual Tom Riddle with a real body would wipe the floor with him.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember anything."
Harry sighed in exasperation, "Damn it, I'll have to start from scratch. At least I have a couple of months until he's recharged enough to start attacking again with his new victim. Alright, I'm sorry I bothered you, Luna, but I really need to sleep. As you probably noticed, I'm kinda hurt now."
Yeah, Harry was practically limping away, with cuts on his face and arms, burned robes and a few patches. It wasn't that big of a deal, especially considering that he was near Fiendfyre of all things, but the young Slytherin was just tired.
As he made his way to leave, Luna caught his arm and stopped him, "I want to help you."
"Luna, you don't know what you're asking. We'll probably end up fighting a thousand year old monster."
"I don't care. He used me. I bared my soul to him, and he broke my trust," she looked down and croaked, "I thought that I had finally had a friend."
This was just too sad, and Harry instinctively hugged the young Ravenclaw, repressing a hiss as she touched his burns, "Fine, you can help, but only in the research department."
The girl looked up at him and grinned, "Thank you."
An idea struck Harry, "you said you were a clairvoyant, right? Does that mean that you can tell if someone is under Riddle's control?"
"Maybe. When someone is acting oddly, I can see Wrackspurts around their head. They're in a different pattern. I saw it when we tried using cheering charms in class. But it's hard to see from far. I don't mind trying though, but I need a reference to see."
"Lockhart is one of them if you need a reference," Harry answered.
"Ah, I remember. He's very fuzzy when he teaches, like there's something else giving the instruction. I just thought he separated himself into two personas, the warrior and the performer. Like he was damaged enough by his conflict that he didn't want to show it to the public somehow."
Harry shook his head, "No, that was entirely Tom's doing. He's just a performer, as far as I can tell, at least."
Luna shrugged, "I'll look into it. What else do you need me to do."
"Nothing right now. I bought us some time to plan things out without worrying about students being accidentally killed like Tom did when he was a student. We'll regroup later, while I'm not on the verge of passing out, and we'll plan then. Now, I need to get to the infirmary."
"Here, let me help you," the Ravenclaw responded while grabbing Harry's arm.
And thus, a friendship was born. The very next day, people were stupefied to see Harry Potter, the star student of his year, talk to Luna Lovegood, the known oddball that was nicknamed Loony. But neither of them really cared about the opinions of others, focusing entirely on their goal of stopping Tom Riddle and destroying the Diary.
It was the talk of the school for the entire day, at least until the announcement that Gilderoy Lockhart was opening a public duelling club of his own. Apparently, the man's fame and the general fear of another attack had made most of the school sign up. Harry though, decided to attend for a single reason. After all, if things went according to Canon, he would have his first experience with Parseltongue, and that could be useful. Yes, very useful indeed.
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