welcome back to part 4... thanks again for the reviews and for everyone who joined in with favorites and follows (I'm very happy) but beware the madness!

To guest: Thanks for the review. If you want me to use another word/phrase to say the same thing please give me an example... as English isn't my main language I can't really distinguish between old/new sounding words but I'm grateful to learn something new, just help me out and tell me how you would phrase things. Again everything concerning writing/grammar would be best given to a beta reader (is that an offer?). On the other hand I could argue that someone wearing blue robes with golden suns on it couldn't redeem himself through talking and you probably could also argue that Dumbledore does such things on purpose like telling the first years (book): "...after all of us are watered and fed."

#

4) Melting

Harry couldn't help but be scared, not that anyone would blame him. Who wouldn't be scared if the murderer of their parents would be stuck in their head. Not that he was able to understand this thoroughly he only knew that the voice was the same voice that had laughed as his mother had screamed and now he was alone without his family. The little boy was terrible scared it didn't help that the feelings of the other presence in his mind was fear too, even if Voldemort was scared for different reasons. It took a while for the soul shard to really process the range of affect that those changes in his life would mean for him. He was stuck inside a child that was only a bit older than one year. Harry of course could already walk and talk (a bit) but Voldemort had no control over the child. He tried a few times to take over Harry's body movement or tried to use magic but it wouldn't work. He could only be dragged along and watch life unfolding in front of him. His only way of doing anything was influencing Harry but that alone proved difficult for several reasons. One of the more difficult ones was that the boy feared/hated/mistrusted him and rightfully so. On the other side was the boy not really grown enough to really understand any of his wishes.

Oh the irony of that situation, the mighty dark lord brought down to a shivering, fearful one year old child. He had sworn to himself to never be so vulnerable, to rather be feared than ever experience fear himself again. Now all his plans and mighty walls lay crumbled at the floor of the nursery in Godric's hollow. What was left of him? A tiny shard of a former great wizard... nothing more than a magical fingerprint of the greatest force magical Britain had to encounter in the last century. To be able to put his current state in the back of his mind, Voldemort searched his memories for whom he could blame for all of this... Snape and his cursed prophecy, on the other hand he was quite sure that it was rather Dumbledore's scheme than Snape's doing. His potion's master had quite the bright mind but wasn't near any of the brilliance of himself or Dumbledore. Dumbledore... could the old coot have planned his downfall, he hated that man. It was annoying that he probably had played directly in the old monster's hands as he had killed the boy's family. Dumbledore cared as much for those loyal to him as he cared for his Death eater's. Not that he minded killing the Potter's but it left a sour taste in his imaginary mouth that he had blindly followed the old man's plans again.

"Haven't I sworn to myself to never get caught inside of Dumbledore's web? Didn't all my dark rituals and diving into the most evil magic only serve the purpose to get away from the path Dumbledore had planned for him? Hadn't the old fool wanted him to be his next puppet? At best a nice silent chess piece that would be moved through the Wizengamoth and allow Dumbledore to rule things from the backseat?"

He could still remember the words the old man had spoken as they discussed his career options.

#

Flashback

"My dear boy, I don't think that it would be wise for you to stay at Hogwarts as teacher. You need to go out into the world and make your own experience."

Tom could clearly see the twinkle in the teacher's eye. He would have loved to blast the beard from his face but knew that such a thing would ruin his last chance to sway Dippet.

"Professor Dumbledore I'm quite thankful for your advice but I think this would be the decision of the headmaster."

His voice remained as calm and polite as always but inside of him a cold fury started to unleash... how dared this old fool to try and ruin his job interview. With his last hope he turned back to the headmaster and waited for the decision. It was clearly to see how the headmaster had gotten unsure about appointing Tom Riddle as the new Defence teacher. Always his misfortune that Dumbledore had to "coincidently" appear ten minutes after he had brought his request forward. As Dippet formulated an answer, Tom had to shut his eyes for a moment to not let his anger show.

"Mr. Riddle it is truly unheard of students to immediately start teaching after their own graduation and Professor Dumbledore had spoken some hours with me only yesterday to reassure me that even the highest positions in the Ministry would be open to you. So maybe you should think about gathering some real life experience and come back for this post in some years."

"With all due respect Headmaster, my references are outstanding and I love teaching. I don't want to apply for a post in the ministry."

He heard a soft chuckle from Dippet and knew that the man actually really liked him and his passion for the subject of Defence. He still had hope to maybe convince him. That hope faded as Dumbledore spoke the next words.

"Ahh my boy, it will be better for you if you get the chance to see the world and encounter some real adventures before coming back. Hogwarts will always be open to you and with your skill its undoubtedly that you will fill out your post very well, the world will need young brilliant minds like yours. We couldn't take that away from you that would be selfish and you would regret it maybe not today but in a few years. It's better to live and enjoy all life has to offer while you are young. I'm sure that the headmaster would also be more content with seeing you happy and reaching your full potential so politics would be a great chance for you. You would even have the opportunity to represent Hogwarts in the ministry if its your wish to still work for the school."

It sounded like Dumbledore offered a great cookie to a beloved but little dumb child and Tom had to pull in all of his magic and seal his aura to not blow up the entire office. He could see it in Dippet's eyes how he believed Dumbledore's words and how he started to think that Tom maybe really should go into politics completely disregarding Tom's former announcement that the he didn't want to work for the ministry.

End Flashback

#

That day Voldemort had been born. Of course he had used the pseudonym before because it was useful to enforce fear and respect inside his own dorm and even the school. Tom as muggle name would have never worked for him, his fellow snakes would have continued to bully him for his heritage no matter if he was descendent of Slytherin or not. What changed that day was that he decided to use his new identity to return the magical world to his former glory, to remove the corruption that had even settled in Hogwarts itself. He never wanted to work in the ministry but he had decided that he wouldn't sit back and let an old fool rule all the future of magical Britain simply by manipulating it's future generations. Dumbledore wanted the wizarding world ignorant and blind towards it's own history and towards the Muggles. Oh he had known what would happen if Dumbledore would become the new headmaster... sadly his predictions had been too accurate.

Even today Voldemort couldn't believe how the curriculum of Hogwarts had become more outdated and inaccurate with every passing year. Alone with Binns as history teacher people were bound turn away from history... it was funny he hadn't thought about those things for years now. When had he stopped caring about his original plans? He had been so caught up in preparing for war and revolution and yet he hadn't thought about his goals anymore. The only thing important had been to remove the ministry and Dumbledore. The old manipulator, with all his preparations and fail safes he still had simply been caught into the old man's trap.

How could he change fate now that he was trapped into Harry's body?

Hopefully Dumbledore doesn't know what has happened or else I would be dead as soon as they checked on the boy. Why did they give him to an orphanage?

Those thoughts weighted heavily on Voldemort's mind. He couldn't explain why the "saviour" of all Britain would be send to Muggles of all things. It was like they wanted the child out of the way but for what reason? The more Voldemort thought about the entire situation he got a really bad feeling for Harry/himself he couldn't get rid of the feeling that there were even more webs of lies and manipulation in place for the boy.

But why the muggles?

It didn't help, he wouldn't find any answers at this place and there were more urgent problems to solve. Like killing those Muggles and disappear before anyone is any wiser.

###

Meanwhile at the police station the officers had gotten some nice results from all the tests they had ordered. The DNA test result was probably the most useful as they had found the name: Lily Jane Evans. Even with only having a birth certificate and some basic school certificates from primary school it was still enough to find out that while Lily had vanished at the age of elven, she still had a sister called Petunia. All in the department smiled as they found Petunia Dursley nee Evans living in Private Drive Number 4, Surrey. As expected there were no clues about any abnormal activities in any records concerning the Dursleys. For everyone they were the perfect small middle class family. A husband with a well paying job at a larger company, a housewife and their one year old son.

It wouldn't help as the officers had no choice but to interrupt the perfect life of the Dursley as they had questions about many things and some of them came directly from analysing the handwriting of the letter. The results spoke of a man of older age that used his right hand and a quill of all things (wasn't the only baffling thing related to the letter). The constant pressure which led to a very accurate and neat looking impression told them of an amazing calligraphy skill, as if the person wrote his entire life only with quills. It also implied that said person had a lot of time to improve those skills so it could be something related to the job (maybe an artist) or a person with enough free time (because the followers would do any actual work) so if the person was employed it was probably a high paying job, were most things would be delegated. Those things correlated with the content of the letter as the author obviously was used that people did his bidding without questioning him.

Of course those results weren't only straight forward and pointing in one direction (they never were), contradicting to the straight forward and demanding tone of the content were the bows and curves used on the g,q and other letters. Those spoke of grandeur and eccentric, they spoke of a causal and patronizing tendency. Like a grandfather figure but the scientists of the lab were quite sure that those were actually used as mask to conceal the more forcing parts and distract the reader.

Beyond the handwriting, the materials used for the letter were also baffling. It was actual parchment and handmade ink which contained substances that weren't used since the 19th as more practical binders had been developed since. The wax also lacked any kind of industrial mark, it was completely won of natural components no paraffin could be found in it. One of their teams was already looking for all kind of companies that would produce such materials but there always was the chance that those people produced those things on their own without selling them in large numbers.

###

"Mrs. Dursley?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"This is my partner officer Rook and I'm officer Detnell, we have some questions could we come inside?"

Both policemen noticed how the eyes of the woman in front of them widened in fear. She seemed suddenly very scared and looked left and right to the neighbour houses.

"Of course please come inside. May I ask what this visit is about?"

"Of course but it would be better to continue inside, this may take a while."

The woman which had her small son on her hip showed them inside. Her lips were still pressed to a thin line and she continued to throw nervous glances around her. Petunia didn't know what to think about the officers. She couldn't think of anything that had happened that would require the presence of the police. She sighed heavily she had that clouded feeling that she had already encountered more trouble in the last days. She felt worn down but couldn't remember why. With another sigh she closed the front door behind her "guests" and led them to the living room, where all of them settled down.

"Mrs. Dursley we are here because we are currently working on a delicate case on child endangerment and we found proof that your sister is involved in it."

Petunia froze in place, the vase with flowers she had removed from the coffee table dropped to the floor and crashed into hundred of splinters. She didn't care.

They know of Lily? How?

Both police officers had known that things would be difficult but hadn't counted on such a strong reaction to only the mentioning of her sister.

"Are you allright?"

"Yes, yes of course I'm alright it's just that I haven't spoken of my sister in years. I thought no one knew that I had a sister."

"I see, so your relationship isn't the best?"

The woman snorted (very unladylike).

"Not the best? Hell I pretend I don't have a sister and I don't want anything to do with her or her kind, those are all freaks and crazy people, so if it's about them then you can leave. In this house, this street non of this freakishness is welcome, please leave."

The officers were confused by how drastically Petunia's behaviour had shifted but they guessed she was scared. Maybe those "freaks" threatened her or her family in some way?

"Mrs. Dursley we are sorry that we have to inform you that your sister is dead and that her small son was found abandoned in an adventure park and we are now looking into his case. If you feel threatened by those people who are behind all of this then we will station an officer at the house for your protection."

It seemed that Mrs. Dursley was frozen again.

Lily is dead. She is dead. What did they mean with her son?

"She is dead?"

"Yes we found out that she was one of the listed victims in the gas explosion at Godric's hollow on Halloween. As there was so much trouble currently we got only now notified. Again I regret that you have to learn about it in such a way."

Petunia only nodded and silently sat down at the couch. She needed to sort through her brain. Everything felt foggy and not real... shouldn't she at least have remembered that Lily had a son. She knew that she had possessed that knowledge and the more she thought about it... she thought his name was Harry... maybe.

"You said that this was about the son of my sister?"

"Yes, little Harry was found abandoned and we now need to find out what had happened and who is responsible, we really hope you will help us with this?"

It took them a long time until Petunia had overcome her shock and hatred enough to speak about their childhood and how Lily had been suddenly accepted at the boarding school for special children. The officers listened carefully and Petunia had a hard time to phrase things in a way that wouldn't sound like magic. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life in clinic for mentally instable people. She tried her best to explain everything she could about Hogwarts and Headmaster Dumbledore, of course she couldn't tell them where the school was located and such things but what she could give them on characteristics about Dumbledore seemed to fit to whatever kind of knowledge they already had.

It was a long conversation and it was already time to start dinner before the officers finally left but both parties seemed very satisfied about their accomplishments. The officers had gained enough knowledge to get an idea on how large that secret society was (they had their own school of all things) and how effective they were with remaining hidden (again they concealed an entire school). Petunia on the other hand was also very satisfied as the officers told her that she wouldn't have to look after Harry and that they would make sure that she and her family would be protected from possible visitors from the sect. They made sure that one of their officers would always watch number 4 and that they would remain in civil as to not shy away possible suspects.

As Petunia started to cook she felt better than in years. Finally she had done something about the madness and even if she couldn't speak about magic, the police drew their own conclusions and in her opinion the "sect thing" wasn't far from the truth. She could only hope that now that things started to proceed that she wouldn't have to face anymore of those freaks close to her or her family.

###

Voldemort's mood dropped from worse to hell. There was only one more step left on the range and that was "make Satan look like the nice guy" but contrary to usual circumstances this time his feeling was accompanied with fear. It wasn't just the normal fear but this fear was like "they will grab the freak and starts experiments on him now" kind of fear. It actually really was a life and death situation for him. Caused was everything by Jane, she had noticed how distressed small Harry had behaved and how he hadn't started to play with the other children in the group. Voldemort would never understand how those clues led her to the hellish idea of injecting him with a calming drug... so he would able to sleep. He only knew that if he ever gained control back this woman would die, slowly and in the most painful way and that wouldn't be only from crucios oh no...

As the nurse came with the syringe in her hand he knew that he had only a mere seconds left to do something. If he didn't do something now then they would drug him and use him for experiments. He wouldn't let this happen to him...again. With all the power the spirit had he tore down the mist around him. It was exhausting and he felt how more and more of his conscious started to become instable. Then he collided full force with Harry's mind/soul/being. From there on everything went wrong, instead of gaining control over the child and apperating them away he suddenly felt as if something sucked at him. His spirit weakened with every second until it got lost.

Harry didn't understand what happened but he didn't mind that Jane took him into her arms. Everything was so confusing him even more so as those powerful feelings of hatred and rage cursed through his body. As Jane told him that he would only need a long nap and that she would give him a medicine he couldn't understand why the feelings inside of him seemed to explode. Then he felt something in his head like the voice he had heard before but something very odd happened as he tried to look at it more closely. Harry didn't know what happened but before he felt the needle piercing him and him becoming more and more drowsy something inside him changed.

Jane carried the sleeping boy to his bed, hoping that the stress of the child would fade away now. No one knew that while his body slept, the magic inside the child was very active. As the alien presence had torn down the protective walls of the child the inner magic had started to defend itself and in that process absorbed the other force. Slowly the two minds fused to one and the aura and magical signature of Harry James Potter changed forever. While his blood remained the same, his magic didn't and the world wouldn't be prepared for who he would be, now that he wasn't Harry Potter any longer but also was Tom Riddle.

Fate tried to not show of her huge grin but she couldn't help it as she looked at Doom's shocked face. Doom couldn't believe it but her sister had stolen her latest victim from her. She had taken Tom Riddle and changed his fate forever. Of course she would get her revenge... maybe she should doom Harry Potter if she couldn't get Tom Riddle anymore.

#

:) hope you had fun with the chapter and are prepared for what is coming next (evil laughter).