Tom Riddle's True Love

So, initially, this is a story I wrote in French a while back and I recently decided to translate it in English. I've changed a few things and it's a bit bigger but it should still be 12 chapters long. I should stick to the initial story I wrote but I might still change important facts... Those of you who write know how these things can go...

Please give it a chance and let me know what you think of it.

Lorelei Candice Black

"You mean to tell us that if this Helena hadn't been killed by her crazy grandfather a few days after her birth, Tom Riddle wouldn't have become Lord Voldemort and all those who died because of him would be… alive? They would have never died?" Harry asked Dumbledore.

The two of them were in the middle of another of their 'get to know Voldemort so you can destroy him better' sessions in his office and the young wizard couldn't even begin to understand how the school's headmaster had managed to find out this information but he had learned not to question the old man's words. They were often true.

"She would have been the only one capable of touching his heart Harry. It's going to seem a bit too romantic and girly for a young man like you, though maybe your relationship with Miss Weasley might help you understand, but she was destined to be his soul mate." The old man had spoken with nostalgia in his tone and Harry wondered if the powerful wizard had ever known and lost Love.

He refrained from asking though and decided to ask another question he had on his mind:

"I'm sorry Sir but… How can you know that she was his Soul Mate if they've never met?" Harry did his best to keep doubt from his voice but he was sure that he had failed. The old man was too smart for him.

"Well Harry, I met a seer one day, a real one. She died not too long ago but she had the luxury of being in direct contact with the Fates, also known as the Weavers of Fate. When the three sisters of Fate told my friend what I was about to start with you, they allowed her to see the different ends that were, or had been, at some point, possible, so she could help us sort this complicated and dangerous situation out." Dumbledore stopped talking for a while, letting his words settle on the young wizard's mind, curious to see how he would react to this.

"But Professor… It's in the past, isn't it? It's not really a possible end, not anymore. Right?" Harry asked him and the old man smiled.

"Not really." Albus smirked playfully.

"I'm not sure I understand where you want to go with this professor…" Harry shook his head in confusion.

"I seem to remember that you were able to prevent someone from dying once, by changing the path destiny and fate had meant for them." The headmaster had a familiar twinkle in his eyes and was now waiting to see if Harry was going to get to the point on his own.

"You want to change the past… How? All the Time-Turners were destroyed in the battle of the Ministry last year, weren't they?" Harry asked him and in the back of his head he wondered why, if it was possible to go back in time, nobody used it to save his parents.

"That's true Harry and the Time Turners wouldn't have been powerful enough to take us so far back anyway. I was thinking of using another very ancient form of magic. It's very rare and I only managed to find the right spell last week-end, carved on the wall of an old and isolated cave hidden in the Sahara desert. It can only be used under certain circumstances and by certain people but it would allow us to send one person, you in our case, back in time for a few minutes. Long enough to save Helena's life and change everything. It's extremely difficult and you'll need to plead our cause to the Guardian of Time, whom you nor us will see anyway. He's the one who'll decide whether or not you'll deserve to go back in time and change this key moment in history." The headmaster explained everything, as clearly as possible so the young man would understand him.

"Does it really have to be me? You know so much more than I do…" Harry asked him.

"I'm a very old man Harry and as you guessed it when you first saw my hand, my health isn't what it used to be." Albus showed his blackened hand to the young man so he could prove his point.

"I don't think that's the real reason why you're sending me sir." Harry shook his head, ignoring the complains of some of the portraits behind him.

"You're a smart boy… The person we send back to plead with the Guardian of Time, the one who'll be able to change the past, and the future, will need to be pure of heart, selfless. I'm not those things. I know that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on Tom and his future, I'll be too busy thinking of my own past and all the ways that I can fix the many mistakes I've made, especially with my little sister… I'd waste our one opportunity Harry, but you won't. When it comes to this, you're much stronger than I am." As his headmaster confessed to having weaknesses, something Harry didn't think was possible, he began to blush under the compliments he was getting.

.

The decision was taken quite quickly after this and Harry helped the headmaster prepare everything that was necessary to perform this ancient ritual. The young man was allowed to share his new task with Hermione, Ron and Ginny and on the night of the big change, Harry realized that Professor Snape, a man he hated and that hated him, was also present on top of the Astronomy tower.

Harry didn't question it, he knew that his ex potion professor was a powerful and gifted man who could very well help for this and since Dumbledore was so sure of his loyalty, he decided to trust him as well.

What worried Harry was that if this worked, everything would change while he was gone and that he would come back to a completely different world but he concentrated on the fact that in this new world, his parents and godfather would be alive and that he wouldn't be a celebrity anymore, that he's be a normal boy, with parents. That was something he had craved for his entire life and he was happy to finally have the opportunity to make it true.

"Are you sure that we have everything? I'm sure that at this point, waiting another month would be fine…" Hermione asked the headmaster in a concerned voice.

"Unfortunately Miss Granger, we can't afford to wait another month. It seems that Mister Malfoy's plan to kill me is coming closer, despite his many attempts to delay himself." Dumbledore replied.

"See, I told you he was up to something!" Harry exclaimed to Hermione who shook her head and went back to placing the ingredients of the ritual in the right places.

"Are you sure about this Albus? Are you absolutely sure that this can work? Potter has never killed anyone and I haven't sacrificed everything to protect Lilly's son so he could get himself killed in the past." The potion Master whispered to the older wizard, unaware that the wind had carried his words and that Harry and Ginny had heard everything.

"What? How… What do you mean?" Harry asked, shocked by the soft voice his feared teacher used to speak his mother's name.

"Bloody wind." Snape snapped and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"It's a very long and complicated story Harry but Severus and your mother used to be very good friend. When she died, he decided to do everything in his power so that her son, you, would stay safe." Albus intervened, ignoring Severus' glares.

"It was for you… It must be…" Harry whispered.

Snape was a Death-eater after all, so it made sense to the young man. If his potion master had been loyal to Voldemort... If he had been a good enough servant to deserve a favor from the Dark lord himself...

"What are you talking about Harry?" Ginny asked him softly.

"You… You asked Him not to kill her, didn't you?" Harry asked Snape and his girlfriend didn't get offended when he didn't answer her, she knew he would later.

"What do you know about this?" Severus growled at Harry, not liking that one of his student, especially James' son, could know something that had potential to hurt him.

"Ever since our third year… I… When the dementors are close to me, I can hear Voldemort killing my parents. First it's my father, telling mom to take me and run, then he gets killed and we're in what I think is my room. Then He tells my mom to get out of the way… When I first saw this part, I asked Lupin about it because he was there, helping me learn the dementors repelling spell, but he didn't know why Voldemort would try to spare my mother so I brushed it off for the moment but I was still curious about it... He told her to move out of the way a few times, telling her that she didn't have to die while she begged him not to kill me… Ever since that moment I wondered why he tried to spare her when he killed my father so easily and was ready to do the same for me…" Harry explained and they all saw, for a brief moment, Snape's humanity behind his mask.

At this moment, Severus decided to share with the young wizard something that was private to him and so he conjured his Patronus and allowed Harry Potter to see his doe.

"Harry… It's a doe… You're father was…" Hermione started saying but Harry cut her before she could say more.

"I know what he was Hermione. I know what this means."

"He loved her." Ron whispered, surprised to know that the strict professor could love.

"No, he loves her Ron. Otherwise his Patronus would have changed." Harry shook his head while Severus looked away.

"Wow… He does hate you because you're your father's son!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well, I'm very happy that this secret was finally revealed tonight but before we start outing more time consuming secrets, we should go back to what we came here to do or we'll lose the moon and we'll have lost our one chance to make things right for everyone." Dumbledore exclaimed, changing the subject.

Quickly, everyone got to work and completed their appointed tasks. Then they settled where they were supposed to stand and prepared to speak the words they had learned by heart and rehearsed to make sure they could pronounce it right.

Harry stood in the center of a perfect circle of fire and, knowing that there was a chance that he wouldn't come back at all, he said goodbye to his friends and kissed his girlfriend, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time and that whatever would change in the new world, wouldn't change his relationships with them.

"Love… Just like his father, he needed a fiery and strong willed red-haired girl." Albus whispered in a giggle he kept for himself.

Of course the couple, and the others, had heard him but they decided to ignore it and to start on their plan before it was too late. They all started their incantation, spoken in an antic language they didn't really understand and after a few minutes, a blinding light appeared all around Harry.

They all heard a grave and penetrating voice saying:

"Why have you called upon the Guardian of time? If you invoked me in vain, the Fates will severe your thread and end your life and all of its potential in the future but also in the past."

It was a not so subtle way of saying that if they angered him, Harry would be killed and that nothing would be able to save him, not even a Time-Turner. Bravely, Harry stood up straighter and said what they had prepared:

"My intentions are pure and my only intention is to save lives and bring love to a very lonely man. My mind if open to you, Great Guardian of Time."

They all held their breaths as Harry felt a presence in his head. He was grateful to the fact that this one didn't feel as bad as Snape's did. Once the Guardian of Tim and assured that, indeed, Harry's intentions were pure, noble and honorable, he spoke:

"To save the life of Helena Jenkins, I allow one Harry James Potter 10 minutes in the past, right before she's murdered. The portal will stay open behind you, nobody but you will be able to cross it and once your task is accomplished, you'll have to return to it. People will be able to see you so be careful and if something else threatens the life of the young lady before her final hour has come, you'll have the rest of the time to fix it, which is why going back into the portal as soon as your job is done is very important. If you're killed in your mission, you'll stay dead for all times. Do you accept?" The voice asked.

"I do. I accept the risks. Thank you." Harry nodded.

As the light that had appeared with the voice lessened, Harry saw what could only be the time portal opening in front of him, like a very colorful circle of possibilities in the middle of the cold dark night. Without looking back to his friends and after taking his wand in his hand, Harry walked right through it, ready to save the woman that would, later, ensure his family's, and so many others, safety.

So, what did you think of this first chapter?

Please leave me a review to let me know what you think if it.

Lorelei Candice Black