Disclaimer: I don't own HP

XXX

Harry watched the faces in the portrait as he told of the uncommon happenings of late. He was glad to see that there was no real alarm in the Founder's expressions.

"It could be anything really," Gryffindor said as he focused on the chess board before him. He and Slytherin had found it in another painting and had been playing chess often. But from the slight grimace on Gryffindor's face, Harry assumed that his opponent had the upper hand.

"That's true," Ravenclaw agreed. "I'm sure that once the reason for the attacks is found, it will seem very silly."

Only Hufflepuff remained silent, but when pressed she smiled reassuringly. "It's nothing," she agreed.

Harry walked back to the common room feeling much better about the situation. The war's over, he assured himself, and whatever the reason for these attacks, you don't have to deal with it.

The gryffindor was so focused on his thoughts, he wasn't looking when he turned the corner and ran into a solid form. He stumbled back a few steps with a mild curse. Harry looked up and his cheeks turned slightly pink when he saw Tom Riddle looking back at him.

"You should be more careful," Tom said with a raised eyebrow.

Harry stood up straighter and tried not to bristle at the remark. "Sorry," he replied briskly and went to step around the older man.

A hand grabbed his elbow and he looked cautiously at Tom.

"What do you make of these attacks?" Tom asked, his hand warm on Harry's arm.

Harry stepped back and Tom released his arm. "It's probably some weird wizard's spell gone wrong. That's all."

Harry didn't like the sober expression on the handsome man's face. "I hope so, but I'm not certain."

A chill went down Harry's back. "What else could it be?"

Impatience flashed in Tom's eyes. "What do you think?" His voice lowered slightly and he leaned closer to Harry, "This looks like the work of the Sea King."

Harry gave a weak smile. "How could it be him?" he asked, "You didn't unseal him."

"I didn't, but it's not unreasonable to think that the Beast King might have."

Harry stayed silent for a moment as he gazed despondently at his feet. A grim sort of resolution settled in his heart. He ignored the voice in his head that told him that his job was done.

"How do we find out for sure?" He raised his eyes back to Tom's.

Tom raised his eyebrow slightly at the we, but answered none the less. "We'd simply need to find out whether or not the Sea King is still in his crystal."

Harry nodded. "Okay, let's go." He grabbed Tom's sleeve and continued walking down the hall.

The corner of Tom's lips started to twitch. "Just where exactly are you dragging me?"

Harry looked back at him with the slightest hint of exasperation. "We're going to the cave."

"Do you know where it is?"

"No."

"Do you know how you would travel there?"

"No"

Tom gave in and just smiled. "Then I have to ask again, where are we going?"

Harry paused, and then started walking in the other direction.

"We should go tell Dumbledore we're going to go check something out," Harry reasoned. "If we just disappear, he might jump to conclusions."

"I really don't think he's going to let me leave here," Tom sighed.

But to Tom's surprise (and to Harry's surprise once he stopped and thought about it) Dumbledore gave them permission to go.

"Straight there and straight back," he said with a twinkle in his eye. He also encouraged them to leave as soon as they could; if there was a threat, it needed to be assessed as soon as possible.

So it wasn't long before Harry and Tom found themselves in front of the fireplace in Dumbledore's office. Tom was explaining to the other boy what their next step would be.

"The cave and the surrounding area can't be apparated into. We're going to have to floo to the closest place we can and then fly," he said as he grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fire. "Millah Inn," he said firmly before taking a step into the now green flames.

The flames rose up around him and he vanished. Harry wasn't long in following him.

Dumbledore sat down at his desk and waited for the coming questions.

"Why on Earth did you let them go alone?" one of the old headmasters queried. Several others looked on in interest.

Dumbledore smiled softly. "Harry's more than capable of taking care of Tom. And also," he paused and stroked his beard, "I can't help but think that those two have come together for a reason." But then his smile brightened and he took a lemon drop from the tray, "But maybe I'm just an old fool."

XXX

Harry tumbled into the inn quite ungracefully. He looked up to see Riddle smirking at him. Harry noted with no small annoyance that Tom managed to look impeccable even after emerging from a fireplace.

He stood up and looked around with a little interest. It was a small place, and as far as he could tell it was empty. It did seem to be inhabited though, Harry could smell something delicious cooking.

"Come on," Tom urged, turning away from Harry, "Let's get this done with." Harry quickly stood up and followed Tom out the door.

The burst of cold air made Harry pause for a second. He was more than glad he had layered up before leaving Hogwarts. Harry then took two broomsticks out of his pocket and restored them to their normal size. Tom grabbed one and was quickly in the air. Harry mounted the broom and followed the other boy.

Harry tried not to shiver too badly. As cold as it was on the ground, the wind higher up was going right through his clothes. He tightened his grip, even though his fingers felt frozen. He looked up at Tom. He couldn't see the other boy shivering, but he had to be cold. Harry cast a warming spell on himself and sighed with the pleasure of being warm. He increased his speed and pulled up alongside Tom. He cast the warming spell on the older boy (to which Tom raised an eyebrow) and then fell back slightly. Tom didn't have his wand and Harry was pretty sure he couldn't do wandless magic.

Time passed slowly for Harry; the scenery seemed to be the same for miles. Lots and lots of snow. There were a few times when he almost fell off his broom because he got so lost in his thoughts. But when he saw a large mound of snow in the distance, he quickly sat up straight and looked to see if Tom was slowing down.

To Harry's great relief, Tom did slow down. He halted a few yards in front of the mound and jumped off his broom. Harry quickly followed suit and then peered more closely at the mound.

Well, it wasn't exactly a mound, Harry mentally revised. It was obviously not a natural structure, its walls were straight and smooth. It appeared to be a large hexagon, with the edges meeting in crisp corners. It looked like it was made of ice, but Harry doubted it was the ordinary kind.

While Harry had been glancing up at the structure, Tom had been running his fingers along it. When he muttered a soft oath Harry returned his attention to the older man.

"What're you looking for?" he asked as he looked over Tom's shoulder. The other man murmured his answer without thinking.

"The door." Harry nodded his head at the logic of the statement.

Tom let out a soft sound of excitement and a moment later Harry could see shadows twisting in the ice. The shadows, random at first, quickly began to group together and stretch out. He watched fascinated, as the outline of a door was outlined in the ice. The outline darkened as a shard of ice, the doorknob, Harry realized, began to come out of the door. The shard seemed to melt and remelt as its shape became like that of a regular doorknob.

The whole process went by quickly and when it was finished Tom didn't hesitate in opening the door wide open. He stepped in confidently and Harry couldn't see what lay in the darkness ahead. Harry wasted no time and followed.

And promptly tripped as the ground beyond the door dropped He almost managed to knock Tom down, but luckily for the both of them, Tom kept his balance and grabbed the other boy. Harry paused for a moment to regain his breath and footing. He glanced around with curiosity. They were on an ice staircase, but he couldn't see the bottom. A strange and soft light was emanating from the ice and the glow let Harry see Tom's face glance with something like concern at him.

"You alright?" he asked leaning close to Harry. He quickly straightened at Harry's nod. "Well then let's go and see what we came to see." And with that he continued down the ice stairs.

The stairs eventually ended and the pair found themselves walking down a familiar tunnel. Harry didn't doubt for a second that this was the place he had seen in his vision; he could even feel the magic in the air increase as he continued to walk forward. His anticipation also increased with each step; Merlin, he hoped that there were two intact columns in there.

When the two finally reached the main chamber the tension was severe. But even so, Harry couldn't help the immense awe he felt at the sight of the chamber. It was even more breathtaking in person. But all the awe left as quickly as if there had been a dementor there when he glanced down. A deep chill seeped into his body as he stared at the two broken columns. Tom's glance was impassive, but there was worry deep within his eyes. Worry and anger.

Tom was the first to break the silence.

"We should be heading back," he said as he started to turn, "Dumbledore needs to know about this. We need to make a plan." He stopped when Harry grabbed his sleeve.

"We'll go back," Harry said as his eyes met Tom's, "But first there are some things I want to know."

XXX

I'm so sorry that this took forever to upload. I'm a lazy lazy one.

Also, this story was supposed to be eight chapters long. I only had eight titles because that's how many lines there were in the chorus. So now I'm just going to use the rest of the song. And it's now going to make any sense. Just FYI.