Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Violet Potter and the Shredded Soul

Violet didn't know what she expected to come out of the giant cauldron. A pale demon of some sort hell bent on destroying them all. She was almost certain she was going to die.

But then a boy stepped out.

He seemed around her age and looked so familiar that Violet started shaking in her ropes. It wasn't a monster Pettigrew was summoning. It was Tom Riddle.

But it wasn't. Pettigrew was shaking almost as much as she was, but Riddle didn't seem to recognize his loyal servant. He looked… confused, like he didn't know where he was, even though his cold voice was hissing orders to Pettigrew just moments ago.

His dark eyes focused on her and flashed with anger. So he did remember. "What is the meaning of this?"

Or not. Pettigrew trembled. "M-My lord?"

Riddle stepped out of the cauldron, only to freeze when he realized he was naked. Violet looked away as Pettigrew handed him a robe with a shaking hand. "What are you talking about?" he demanded as he snatched the robe out of his hand. "What did you do to this girl?"

Violet gulped. This had to be a trap. The only question was how she was going to get out of it?

"Albus," Severus whispered as the crowd started muttering in confusion. Potter and Diggory were nowhere to be seen.

"Wait," was all the headmaster would say, thinking that his Mark was acting up again. That wasn't it at all, actually. The Mark was surprisingly numb.

No one was watching. No one important anyway. Lucius was staring, but Severus knew he was having the same problem. Almost roughly, he dragged Albus out of the Quidditch Stand. They didn't speak a word until they were nearly at that oaf Hagrid's hut.

"Look." Severus lit up the area with his wand to show Albus his left arm. Pieces of the Dark Mark were gone, like it was shredded to pieces. He couldn't help but be terrified and ridiculously hopeful at the same time. Could it be disappearing?

"Oh dear…" For once, Albus seemed speechless, but only momentarily. His blue eyes turned hard but did not lose their twinkle like they usually did when something horrible happened. "It would seem… that like Lily, Violet is incapable of pure hatred. It seems to have caused quite the problem for Voldemort."

Severus waited, but Albus's words didn't become clear until Potter returned, with the Dark Lord.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tom pointed his wand at the man who foolishly gave it to him. There was a dull ache in his chest that wouldn't seem to go away. The last thing he remembered was finishing up his classes… on an evening in November. It wasn't nearly cold enough to be November.

"My lord," the pathetic man begged. Tom tried not to look at his bleeding stump of a hand. "Please!"

The girl in the ropes tried to use the opportunity of the man's distraction to inch her way to another boy, who was lying motionlessly on the ground. She froze when Tom pointed his wand at her. Their eyes met, and although he saw fear, he also saw an angry defiance.

Tom didn't move his wand. "Explain. What did this man do to us?"

She turned watery eyes to the other boy. "Cedric…"

He walked over to her and crouched down to see that the boy was dead. For some reason, the ache in his chest intensified to the point that it was briefly unbearable. "… I'll let you go if you tell me. Where are we?"

The girl swallowed as if she could push her fear down her throat where she could ignore it. "I'm not stupid," she said through gritted teeth. "I know you're going to try to kill me!"

She was tied up, and he had a wand, but she still used the word "try." If he was trying to kill her, there would be no trying. She would already be dead.

"What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?" the man cried to himself as he cradled his butchered arm. If Tom was going to kill anyone, it was going to be him.

"Listen," Tom lowered his voice, trying to be soothing, which was something he had never tried before in his life. No one who knew him would ever believe he was capable of it. "He obviously kidnapped me as well. What is he doing to us?"

"Stop it!" the girl sobbed as she struggled in her ropes. "You killed my parents! Stop trying to make me think you won't kill me!"

Again, there was that shattering pain in his chest as the girl became hysterical. Tom forced himself to stand. "I am," he somehow managed to croak, "not who you think I am."

The girl stopped her struggles. "Tom Riddle," she snarled, disgusted to be saying his name. "Don't you remember me from two years ago? And the year before that?"

No. Tom was sure he would remember such a lunatic. Where her parents even dead? Perhaps the quivering man drove her mad with whatever depraved activities he put her through.

Since he was at a loss, Tom did something stupid. He pointed his wand at her ropes and severed them. The girl had a fragility about her that he confused with weakness. He didn't expect her to pounce on him as soon as she was free.

Violet didn't know how she was going to get to Hogwarts. All she knew was that she had to knock out Voldemort and get the hell out of here. Pettigrew was too cowardly to try to fight her without protection from his master. She kicked, bit, and clawed at him as soon as they stumbled to the ground. And then his hands were around her throat.

He didn't squeeze, but Violet foolishly held her breath as she waited for him to. They stared into each other's eyes, and for a brief second, she thought she saw her own.

"I do not know you," he said firmly. His cloak was ripped, and his lip was bleeding from the fight. Besides his adrenaline charged panting, he didn't move. "I am a victim of…" He turned his head to Pettigrew's direction. Violet followed his gaze to see that the rat had finally fled. "Of…"

"You are no victim!" Violet spat before kneeing him in the chest. "You killed my parents!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" he coughed out loudly. Even though she was on top of him, Voldemort eased the grip on her throat and said, "I'm going to let go. Don't run."

I should run, she thought as she slowly backed away. Somehow, she knew Voldemort— or was it Riddle?— was telling the truth. She just knew. It was almost as if, she was talking, she was the one telling the truth.

"What day is it?" Voldemort asked, sounding genuinely curious and almost friendly, like he was requesting the weather forecast. "The last I remember, it was November."

"June 24th." Violet paused. He looked like Riddle from the diary in second year, only a little younger. "1995."

He thought she was a loon. Violet could tell. He shook his head and said slowly, gently, "It's 1941."

Forty years before he killed her parents. Two years before he killed Moaning Myrtle. If he was telling the truth, he wasn't a killer. Not yet anyway.

"We have to go back to Hogwarts. To see Professor Dumbledore." Violet figured that Dumbledore would know what to do. He always did. But this was also a test. Dumbledore was the only one Voldemort feared. If he really didn't remember, he wouldn't object. If he did, well, there was still time to run.

Distaste flitted across Voldemort's features, but otherwise, he didn't seem bothered. "Let's go."

The girl was beautiful. Tom didn't notice until they portkeyed back to Hogwarts, and she started shaking the dead boy, stupidly thinking her sobs could bring him back to life. There was an odd, childish innocence about her. An innocence that had clearly been threatened many times, but somehow was never able to be destroyed. She didn't shut up until the dead boy's father found his way to them.

"What happened to my boy?" he wailed over the terrified murmurs of the crowd. The girl turned white as a ghost, and Tom gripped his chest as he felt that horrible pain again. It didn't go away until there was some distance between them. An old man with a false eye was leading her away.

"Stupid," Tom muttered. He followed because there was nothing else he could do. There was no one in sight that he recognized, and it wouldn't matter if he did. He cared about no one. Or so he thought.

He followed at a distance. This man, like the quivering bloody one, gave Tom an eerily terrible feeling. Something bad was going to happen. Only this time, he would be ready.

The man was raving like a lunatic, and the girl actually accepted a cup of tea from him. She was stupider than he thought.

"Cedric's dead," the girl cried. "I-I don't know what happened."

"The Dark Lord," the man desperately demanded. "Did he rise? Is he alive?"

"I…" The girl froze as the man grabbed her and squeezed her arms. Tom tightened the grip on his wand. He was hidden in the shadows, watching silently. "Yes."

"And the Death Eaters?" He squeezed so hard she flinched. "Were they forgiven?"

The girl gulped but held her ground. She was braver than Tom thought she would be. "Forgiven for what?"

"For abandoning him!" the man snarled. "Traders! Cowards! They were only in it for themselves! They did not care about the Cause! They—"

"It was you." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it silenced the madman. "You-you're one of them."

"I AM NOT ONE OF THEM!" the man screamed. "THEY ARE NOT WORTHY OF SERVING HIM! THEY ARE—"

"Stupefy!" Tom smirked, satisfied by the thud of the man hitting the floor. The girl stared, open mouthed. "…You're welcome."

She stopped gapping, only to frown. "He was talking about you."

"There you are, Violet." Dumbledore. He sounded grim, but it was definitely his teacher. Tom turned around, only to see a much older version of the man he had in mind. The girl couldn't possibly be right. Dumbledore gazed at him as if he was forcing himself to look at an opponent. "Tom."

"We have to kill him!"

The more people spoke, the more confused Tom became. The black haired girl's name was Violet, which he supposed suited her. She seemed delicate like a flower, and like violets, there seemed to be something about her that had a healing quality. Or perhaps it was only him. Everyone else seemed to think that she was only the fragile flower. They didn't see the fighter.

"Sirius…" There was a pleading, confused tone in her voice. "He doesn't know."

"What?" Sirius spat, causing Violet to shrink into herself. "That he killed your parents?"

"Sirius." Nothing about Dumbledore was pleading. He was requiring attention, and this Sirius fellow was all too willing to give it to him.

"No!" he shouted. "Don't you dare listen to her! She has Lily's heart, but she doesn't have her spine!"

"If Tom dies, he will return again, without a piece of Violet in him," Dumbledore said slowly, letting the words sink in. No one understood at first, but he did. That pain in his chest. It was hers. "The potion that was being used to resurrect him required the blood of an enemy."

"We are enemies," Violet said. She glanced at him, almost in apology. Tom smirked, almost to himself. So much for enemies.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius suddenly became concerned. He looked at Tom in disgust. "A piece of Violet in him."

Dumbledore frowned and glanced at a man with greasy black hair, who was hovering in the background, occasionally trading dirty looks with Sirius. The greasy man nodded, almost reluctantly. "I believe that Voldemort was creating horcruxes."

"What?" Tom asked at the same time as the wretch Sirius. Violet didn't say anything, but it was clear by her blank look that she didn't know either.

"His soul is shredded into several pieces," Dumbledore lectured. No it wasn't! Why the hell would he do something like that? "And attached to objects. Like a diary." Violet paled. "He can use them to return if his current body is destroyed. The potion Peter tried to brew relied on Violet hating Voldemort like an enemy. Because she didn't, her blood caused part of her soul to mesh with this piece of Voldemort's. That is why they are currently the exact same age."

"I hate him," Violet said instantly. "He killed my parents! I hate him!"

"For the last time," Tom yelled, sick of being called a murderer, "I did not kill your parents!"

"Do you, Violet?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling infuriatingly. "How exactly does he make you feel?"

"Sad…" Violet paused, trying to put her emotions into words. "Scared… Alone."

"I didn't do anything!" Tom didn't know why it mattered. Nothing else made sense here, and usually, when something bad happened, he was involved. He didn't understand it until he was about eight, but he knew he was capable of terrible things. Perhaps the small child in him was still hurt at the thought of being blamed for something he didn't do.

Dumbledore ignored him. They went on talking about him as he wasn't there. "Not angry, vengeful?"

She looked at her feet. "That won't bring them back."

"Stop playing word games, Dumbledore!" Sirius spat, and for once, Tom agreed.

The greasy haired man finally joined the conversation, but only because he didn't like Violet's answers. "What do you expect of the girl, Albus? She is incapable of standing up for herself! The only time she doesn't cower and whimper like an infant is if she thinks her friends are in danger!"

"That's not true." Finally, they all looked at him. Tom gritted his teeth, not knowing why the verbal assault on the girl bothered him so much. What was wrong with him?

And then they went back to talking about him like he wasn't there. Dumbledore announced, "He'll stay with me. Until we know how to destroy the horcruxes."

"And then what?" See. She wasn't weak. Despite the cut on her arm and having to deal with two depraved madmen, Violet balled her fists and glared at Dumbledore, prepared to stand up to him.

Dumbledore smiled his infuriating, all-knowing smile. "Tom gets to see what having humanity is like."

Two days later and Tom still didn't know what the hell was going on. He was forced to live in Dumbledore's office. Since he didn't have friends or family, he was forced to remain prisoner like some sort of criminal. Because he was severely outnumbered, he had to give up his wand, but at least he had a steady supply of books. He had a feeling these idiots didn't know what to do with him.

"You didn't even ask what he meant by that. Dumbledore." Violet. She was out of the hospital, and Tom was quick to learn that she was incredibly annoying. "Sirius says you're a sociopath. Or, you were."

"Don't you have bunnies to cuddle or something?" She seemed like the type. Tom snapped his alchemy textbook shut and reached for another. "A puppy to rescue."

She shook her head. "Sirius left. Bunnies make me sneeze."

Of course they did. She probably had a tiny, adorable sneeze too. Violet tilted her head to the side when his cheeks burned at the thought. "Leave me alone."

"Dumbledore thinks you have a conscience now." She lowered her voice into a whisper. "But he doesn't know I'm here."

She sounded like she thought she was doing something really bad. Like steal from the poor bad. Hopefully that meant she would leave soon. She made him feel… uncomfortable, to say the least.

Her jaw set, and she just sat there, staring at him, like she was waiting for something. Tom did his best to ignore her. No matter how much he read, he couldn't figure out how to get back to his own time, if he even time traveled. Dumbledore made it seem like he was reborn. He didn't know why it mattered so much to him. All he really had was school, his studies. The books were still here, only now there were more of them.

"You killed my parents," she whispered.

"No, I didn't," he said as he turned the page. It was almost automatic now.

If he didn't look up, he wouldn't have to acknowledge the tears pooling in her eyes. "If you have a conscience now, you'll feel bad. You'll apologize."

If you have a conscience now… He was a good actor. The pains in his chest were a result of the potion. A physical side effect, not an emotional one. He really should request a healer look over his heart. He didn't care about anyone. He said what was necessary when he needed something, and now, he needed her to go away. "I don't care about your parents," he said coldly. "And I never will. Are you really as pathetic as everyone makes you out to be?"

He wasn't even that harsh, but she still backed away as if burned. Her pale skin turned cream colored as she backed away from him and his mountain of books. She ran away crying, but Tom didn't care.

"Fawkes told me what happened." Dumbledore stroked his bird, barely looking at Tom as he became violently ill for the second time that evening. He didn't dare put down the rubbish bin. "One thing you should know about Violet is that she is incredibly dependent on others. Friends, teachers, anyone who she attaches herself to. She depends on them for validation, for courage… I don't think she would be able to do anything without her friends. I didn't think she would make it through the Triwizard Tournament until she befriended the late Mr. Diggory."

"So?" Tom asked. He didn't dare lift his head from the rubbish bin.

Dumbledore looked down on him, sickly satisfied. "So… She's attached herself to you."

"I killed her parents," Tom said sarcastically as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"Until recently," Dumbledore went on as if he hadn't spoken, "you only provided her with permission to feel self-pity. Now she wants you to give her permission to stop mourning for what she never had."

"Bullshit." Everything about this was bullshit. Tom wanted nothing more than to throw the sick filled rubbish been at Dumbledore but no… He gave up such fits of rage when he learned he was a wizard.

Dumbledore chuckled as if it were funny. "Violet naively assumes everyone has a heart until they prove to her otherwise. You, my boy, are currently feeling what she is. The disappointment, the self-pity, the hurt. But… I think the guilt is what is making you sick."

Tom glared at him. "She has nothing to feel guilty about."

Dumbledore smiled. For years, Tom had fantasized about ripping those twinkling eyes out. Now, the thought only made him feel more sick. "No. But you do."

Violet didn't tell Hermione, who would abandon her for the library, or Ron, who would insist on breaking into Dumbledore's office to finish Riddle off, what. She needed her friends to tell her that Cedric didn't die because of her. She needed them to listen to her cry and say everything was going to be alright. She just needed them.

"I don't know what to say to Mr. and Mrs. Diggory," Violet said for the thousandth time this week. If she whined enough, Hermione would tell her, give her a well-rehearsed speech to let the Diggorys know how she felt guilty, sad, and incredibly confused. Hermione was better with words.

Hermione sighed but gave her a sad look that made Violet feel perversely better. "I don't think anything you can tell them will be right, Vi. Just say how you feel. That you're sorry and you'll miss Cedric."

"Nothing I can say will be right," Violet parroted back. "I feel sorry, and I miss Cedric."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times, not entirely sure what to say. She looked almost thankful when someone behind Violet caught her eye. "H-Hello."

"I need to speak to Violet. Alone," a terse, now familiar voice said from behind her. Violet felt her insides freeze. Not knowing who it was, Hermione bobbed her head up and down, snatched up her book, and hurried out of her seat. Violet rose to follow her.

"I have to go." Now was the perfect time to tell Hermione. Then, they could come up with a plan. She would fight Riddle if Hermione thought it was the right thing to do.

"No you don't." Tom gripped her shoulders and forced her back into her chair. When he was sure she wasn't going to flee, he sauntered to the seat across from her and sat down. "Even Dumbledore thinks you're a submissive little mouse."

Violet only looked at him blankly. She heard some variation of that a lot. Hermione and Ginny said it shouldn't bother her, so it didn't. She wouldn't have survived four years with Snape otherwise. "Okay…"

"I know that's not true." Riddle's dark eyes scanned the room. So Dumbledore didn't know he was here. Or he was pretending not to know. Violet was sure it was the latter. Riddle's eyes flickered to her Gryffindor badge. "What a sly Gryffindor you are. No one can punish or fault you if you don't make a decision yourself. Poor Violet just didn't know… Poor Violet was just scared. More like poor Violet knows how to escape a beating."

Violet's eyes widened, but otherwise, she didn't react. That wasn't true. She just had trouble making decisions because she knew she'd mess everything up. But when it counted…

"But when it counts," Riddle went on, "like when they were talking about killing me… Poor Violet suddenly has a voice. Stupid Gryffindor. They aren't going to believe you can do anything if you always act like you can't."

"I-I can," Violet said feebly. It sounded like she was asking a question, and she hated herself for it.

Riddle leaned forward, causing Violet to lean away. "Prove it."

She was easy to manipulate. One short conversation and he was going to get what he wanted. Dumbledore didn't trust him, and he wasn't even allowed to know why. The old man was going to regret it.

"He can't remember," Violet said boldly. "And you said that he has part of me in his soul, that he has a conscience. So why can't he be in our class next year?"

But Dumbledore had a few tricks up his sleeve. Tricks that Tom wasn't aware of. "Do you think that is fair to Miss Weasley? Surely she will recognize him."

That stumped Violet. Guilt flooded her green eyes and she chewed on her bottom lip nervously. "She-But he can't remember. To him, it didn't happen at all. Ginny…"

"Almost died at Tom's hands," Dumbledore finished for her. "And lost a year of her life. I don't think it is wise, Violet."

"I…" Violet almost backed down. She cast her eyes down to her shiny black shoes. Tom thought she was surely going to give up, and he would have to spend a few days berating her to get her to start up the conversation again. But then, she glanced at him and used his disapproval to go on. "He could go in disguise. What did you think was going to happen? That he would spend the rest of his life in your office? You act all smug, saying that Riddle isn't Voldemort and that he has a heart, but you're still treating him like he doesn't!"

Excellent. Dumbledore was taunting him for having a heart? Well he himself had a weak one. One so weak that he would give in to the naïve demands of a childish girl. "Perhaps… we can break a few rules."

"A few?" Violet asked. Tom remained silent, not wanting Dumbledore to become suspicious.

With a chuckle, Dumbledore conjured a quill into a large pair of sunglasses. "You, Tom, are going to have a seeing dog named Padfoot."

"A what?" Tom dared to ask as Violet's green eyes lit up. At least he wouldn't be trapped in the office.

Dumbledore smiled. "Part of your disguise. You will say that you are joining us for your fifth year because during you first four years, you were homeschooled. Your parents feared that your blindness would impede your ability to get around the castle. However, now that you have Padfoot, they have full confidence in you."

"Sirius will be in the castle!?" Violet asked happily, like she couldn't believe her ears. Sirius was Padfoot. Oh no… "The whole school year?!"

"Yes." Dumbledore patted her head like an adoring grandfather. "Why don't you write him the good news? I'll get you some parchment."

Tom supposed he should feel outfoxed as Dumbledore headed to the upper part of his office, but he didn't. It may take a few months, but he would find a way to get rid of the "dog" or babysitter was more like it. Maybe he could even trick Violet into sending him away.

"Thank you!" He sounded so genuine that he almost believed himself. Violet was positively glowing with excitement, even though the last he saw Sirius, he called her spineless. It may be harder than he thought to turn her against him. He would have to take a risk.

He kissed her without giving it much thought. She was greedily fed on attention from anyone who so much as smiled at her, so he knew he wouldn't be rejected. When she started kissing him back, Tom expected to feel superiority and a sense of accomplishment. He gasped when realized he felt something else, something he almost didn't recognize.

For the first time in his life, Tom felt… happy.

So… what do you think? I normally don't like this pairing, so I don't know what possessed me to write it. I'm more of a fem!Harry x Draco fan, so I'd like to hear what you guys think of fem!Harry x Tom. :)