I am so sorry, I swear I am. A million things had just suddenly sprung up from who knows where! Oh, and sorry if my style of writing became different, I went through a lot of things in life and I had a bit of a personality change- I hope it's for the best though. Anyway, please don't lose hope in this story 'coz I'm certainly NOT giving up on it. I have to reread the things I've written over and over again and now, I can't even feel that it's written by me. It just sounds so different from my writing style of today, and I don't know why. Oh well, I hope my writing isn't so bad. I'm going to revise some of the things I've written, though I won't change my plot. I still love my plot, although I can't say the same with my writing… Oh well, I hope you enjoy this! XD

Chapter 10

He was back….

Images kept floating in Harry's head. Ginny's deathly pale face, Ron's desperation, Lockhart's shiny teeth and attempt at obliviation, the fifty-foot Basilisk…and one that he didn't need to image in his head.

Tom Riddle.

Cunning.

Handsome.

Powerful.

And even more dangerous than before.

Harry sighed. Perfect. Notice the sarcasm, please.

Harry concentrated on driving those images away, fearing that he'd ruin the ritual they are going to do just because of something as simple as bad memories….

Presently, Tom was drawing circles and lines on the ground ("They're runes," said Tom dryly while looking at him with a raised eyebrow after he asked what Tom was scribbling- It was an idiotic question, but who cares? I'm nervous!). Harry observed their surroundings curiously since he hadn't been able to observe it properly before. Its structure, he found, was like three boxes that were connected to each other, with the left and right boxes smaller than the one in the middle. The ceiling looked very much like a big ancient churches', arching upward and it had large numerous cracks, some water are dripping down on the corner, making the pool-like puddle on his far left bigger. There were pointed arches that looked to be very detailed that separated the three spaces. The chamber was very cold, the walls were marble and were gothic in design, there were huge columns that dropped down from the ceiling to the floor at an astounding height, and the numerous small bones littered the floor, and in the middle where you expect the altar in the church would be, there stood the colossal marble statue of Salazar Slytherin. The statue was actually quite eye-catching- Harry bet it would have been a favorite muggle tourist spot if Hogwarts had let muggle tourists in and they somehow found the chamber.

Nah, this is Salazar Slytherin's chamber. The Chamber of Secrets. The Basilisk would have had a great number of people to eat.

The chamber wasn't that beautiful, but it was historical just like the rest of Hogwarts and it was majestic.

Tom stood up straight, dusted the dust off his robes, and turned to him.

"We begin." Tom said simply.

Harry nodded, but deep within him he knew there was nothing simple going to happen here. Not simple at all.

Tom had drawn seven detailed circles on the ground. There was a huge white circle- the biggest circle of all in the middle of the cold, stone floor. Tom said it was white because the color of magic was supposed to be white, and only white. Harry asked why black magic existed if magic was supposed to be white, and Tom said that it is because stupid fools named it black magic. The circle had two animals drawn with black chalk as ends: an augurey and a phoenix. Tom told Harry that the drawings of the animalswere important- Harry doesn't know why though. Inside the circle, there are three circles overlapping with each other. The circle on the left was a dark red color, the color of blood. The circle on the right was green, the color of souls. The one on the middle was black, the color of ashes. Inside the red circle was another white circle, where Harry stood. Inside the green circle, there was also another white circle, but this time Tom stood in it. Tom said that it was their rightful places because Harry was the source of Tom's blood while a part of Tom's soul was inside Harry. Harry in the circle of blood while Tom in the circle of souls.

Tom raised his wand and pointed it at Harry. Harry did the same.

"In blood we are the same", they chanted together.

"In soul we are connected",

"Heaven and Earth, hear our request!"

Magic filled the chamber, the temperature dropped, and smoke appeared around them.

-What is your request, dear phoenix?- a whisper in the air queried.

"To be bound to the being in front of me", Harry whispered, head bowed, wand still raised.

Harry's whole body began to increasingly glow red. A golden light shot through his wand towards Tom, and it hit Tom's wand. Tom, in turn, began to glow red as well.

-What is your request, mighty augurey?- this time, Tom answered it.

"To be bound to the being in front of me"

Tom's glowing body was blanketed by silver and that silver flowed through his wand, mixed with the gold and also blanketed Harry's body.

Together, they chanted

"We who share both Blood and Soul

Mind and Magic

be bound forever more!"

The world turned black and they knew no more.

Harry woke up on the ground.

'Ouch', thought Harry as he gingerly touched his sore head. 'Damn, we could've thought of putting cushioning charms' sigh. Like they say, regret only comes second. 'Of course, when does Harry bloody Potter not faint? ', he thought sarcastically. Harry flinched. Damn, maybe that was quite true after all.

Harry sat up, looking at his surroundings. Unlike all the other times he had woken up, he wasn't in the hospital wing. He was still in the Chamber. He saw Tom's unmoving form and stood up. 'Why am I not drained?' Harry wondered to himself. He felt perfectly well-rested despite the pain in the back of his head and he still felt that his magical core was as full as before. He moved and kneeled beside Tom whose body was curled to his left side. Harry was going to reach out to him, but then stopped.

There Tom Riddle lay ('I think I saw that phrase on a gravestone somewhere….'), his eyes closed in peaceful slumber, his face relaxed and a slight smile on his face- looking like an angel in peace. Harry smiled and instead of waking him up, he levitated him instead and threw a notice-me-not charm and an invisibility charm on the both of them so that even if they meet some students along the hallway, no one will question why the older boy was unconscious. And so Harry levitated him out of there with utmost care and walked through the hallways and found his path through the dungeons and preventing some Slytherin accidentally hitting Tom and sneakily went inside the Slytherin Dorms, and gently laid him down his bed.

Harry stared a bit more at the sleeping dark lord, taking in the serene atmosphere that surrounded the image. Harry gently tilted Tom's head to the side, inspecting the swelling on Tom's head. With a few whispered words, Harry healed the pain away. After that, Harry gently took off Tom's shoes and tucked him in. Then Harry bent down and whispered in Tom's ear in parseltongue, saying "sleep well, Tom. Oh, and advanced happy birthday as well."

And without hesitation, Harry placed a soft kiss on Tom's forehead.

Harry snuck away with a genuine, contented smile on his face.

Tom was warm. Very, very warm. And tingly. And comfortable. Despite Harry's assumption, Tom was awake. He was awake when Harry was levitating him along the chilling-than-usual dungeons, wherein Harry put a warming charm on him. He was awake when some careless Slytherin boy threw a slashing curse that headed towards him and Harry blocking it with his own left hand because he didn't have the time to procure a shield, effectively protecting him. He was there when Harry sneaked into the Slytherin dorms, being very careful not to bump Tom's levitated form against anyone, and then saw him heal the swelling on his head, staring at him then removing his shoes, tucking him in and also heard the whispered words.

'Damn, If only Harry knows what he does to me.

If only Harry had not only seen the swelling on the back of his head, but also how much his actions made Tom's heart suddenly appear when he thought he lost it.

No one had EVER done that to him before. Not his minions, not his numerous willing former bed partners, not Mrs. Cole, not the caretakers, not his muggle father, not his squib mother….. NO ONE.' The people he had considered close to him had always given him material things- the necklace Harry had given him cannot even compare to the price of those things. He wanted none of those.

Tom laughed ironically. Of all the people in the world, his greatest enemy, The Great Harry James Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, was the first and only person to give the only gift that he craved.

Flashback:

He was eight; he had just got doted upon by a mass of parents for being so clean and cute and polite. Now he was on his bed, preventing the tears from spilling.

And no, he is definitely not teary-eyed just because he was unsuccessful in getting a couple to adopt him. That had happened for so many times already. It was so much more than that...

Oh no, he was teary-eyed because of a certain jealous, cruel bastard on his bed…. On top of him, straddling his waist and tying his hands behind his back.

"Please stop, I'll do anything… I'll give you my breakfast, anything…please…" little Tom Riddle pleaded.

The teenager on top of him laughed mockingly. "What, little whore? You said you wished you had parents to hug and care and kiss you and tuck you in, right? Well here I am, going to do soo much more…" he raised his eyebrows in a meaningful manner.

The teenager ripped the clothes off him impatiently while Tom winced as his cleanest clothes he wore in front of the parents wanting to adopt a child were torn to shreds right in front of him. His underwear was eagerly pulled off him and thrown out of the window. He opened the zipper of his pants and brought his penis out. Tom felt something hard poke his naked thigh.

Tom closed his eyes. At that moment, he vowed to never hope again.

End of Flashback

Tom shook his head, clearing it out of bad memories. He reveled himself in the warm feeling that Harry gave him instead.

just made some changes. thanks for all those who reviewed by the way! Hope you like it! please read and review!