WARNING:
Tom Riddle's entire existence

❝You've been such a good pet lately. If you continue to behave so well, I might just reward you. Would you like that?❞

»»-----　♡　-----««

(Y/N) sighed, stretching their arms as walked up to their room. The day went by without a hitch, aside from the fact that Colin kept following Harry around during their free time. Every time the young black haired boy would try to approach (Y/N), Colin would randomly pop out of nowhere and ask for a simple photo. Either that or he takes a picture of him from a distance with his flash on unknowingly.

For (Y/N), it was funny to see Harry get increasingly annoyed of Colin, but on the other hand, they understood his frustration and would also want a fan to leave them alone for once every time their vacant hours were in sync. They took a mental note to themselves to tell off Colin as nicely as they could when they see him annoying Harry once again.

"Finally, I can get some rest." They yawned loudly before opening the door to their room and stumbling towards their four-poster bed, tossing their bag somewhere in the vicinity.

"At least take your robes off, (Y/N)." lectured Alem, who was following behind them, while he removed his own robes and hanging it neatly next to his bed. The older Rosewood could only groan tiredly in response as they crashed onto their bed, sighing in relief at the comfort of the soft mattress and cotton pillows.

Alem, knowing that he wouldn't be able to tell (Y/N) to do something when they're exhausted, gave up and started to prepare his desk for his homework.

The Rosewood twins enjoyed this brief moment of solitude to themselves in their shared room. It hasn't even been an hour when after a few minutes, the door to their room opened once more. Draco slid inside the room and scanned the area for a few seconds before keeping his attention at the resting (Y/N) on the bed.

He paused for a moment, a small blush tinting his pale cheeks once he thought about being able to talk to them again without being monitored by a bunch of students. It relieved him to say the least.

"(Y/N)," He called out and walked over to them. "You forgot this."

"Hm?" (Y/N) lazily turned their head over to Draco without sitting up.

Lowering his arms down, Draco let Sophie jump down next to (Y/N). The black cat purred and rubbed her head on her owner, circling them as if she was glad to see them again after a few hours of not being with them.

(Y/N) gasped, finally sitting up and hugged the black cat. "Sophie!" They cooed and laughed, petting the cat lovingly.

Alem's eyebrow raised upon seeing Sophie in the Malfoy's arms. "Why do you have Sophie?" He questioned the boy.

"Calm down, I didn't steal her." Draco rolled his eyes and went over to his bed. "It was a pain to have that cat hidden in my bag, you know. You should really keep an eye on your pets more."

Alem didn't question the boy further and instead turned his attention to (Y/N), who looked up at Draco with a smile. "Thanks, Draco! I was really worried! I thought Filch would find her." said (Y/N).

A blush lightly dusted Draco's cheeks. He turned away, making sure his blushing face wasn't visible to neither of the twins. "D-Don't thank me. Just keep an eye on her and don't let her out of the room."

"I can't believe you let her out. You didn't even tell me she was missing." Alem pouted. "Also, isn't that not allowed? To bring your pets out, I mean."

"Was I supposed to?" (Y/N) shrugged and retracted their hug away from Sophie, letting the feline roam around the room freely. "Besides, I didn't want to hear you nag for the entire day."

Alem said nothing as he rolled his eyes and rummaged through his bag, retrieving a roll of parchment and some books, mostly the ones from Lockhart. "Don't forget we have homework, (Y/N)."

The older Rosewood twin groaned at this and covered their face with their pillow, showing their disdain for school work in general. They thought it was interesting at first – learning magic and all that – but the more work the professors put on them, the more they started to become lazy and demotivated, reflecting on what they were in school back in real life.

Of course, even if (Y/N) complained, they still did their best. They can't submit any half-assed work and get bad marks. They wanted a bit of some academic validation considering this is Hogwarts. They don't see themselves as an inept student considering that they still get their work done as best as they could, mostly with Alem's help since he's always checking to see if they did it right, but regardless, they can work by themselves sometimes.

'Maybe I'll just take a nap.' thought (Y/N) before they drifted off to sleep to the sounds of Alem's quill scribbling and Sophie's small bell ringing with every motion she did.

»»-----　♡　-----««

Harry smiled to himself as he tucked away the blue earmuffs that (Y/N) used earlier this morning during Herbology inside his drawer while he listened to Ron ramble on and on about how incompetent Lockhart was, to which Seamus agreed with a hum at the far end of the room.

"How did Dumbledore even appoint him as a teacher, for Merlin's sake?" complained Ron as he sat on the bed with a huff. "Right, Harry?"

The black haired boy quickly slammed the drawer shut and turned to look at his friend, not wanting him to see what was on his drawer. "Huh? Yeah... I-I don't know either." He stammered as he forced up a small strained smile.

Ron quirked an eyebrow upwards, wondering why Harry's acting suspicious all of a sudden. Even so, he decided to drop the issue and not ask his friend about it, thinking that it's probably something he shouldn't bother to know about.

"Creevey's been trying to follow you around the school, hasn't he?" commented Ron, changing the subject as he laid down on his bed.

"Yeah, you'd think Potter's got himself a personal photographer," snickered Seamus from the other side of the room while he combed his hair. "Do you reckon he takes pictures of Potter while he's in the bathroom?"

"Shut up, Finnigan." Harry grumbled at the joke, not finding it funny. All of a sudden, he blinked his emerald green eyes once an idea popped up in his mind. When the idea started to sink in, he silently smiled to himself and felt his heart race in excitement.

While his Gryffindor friends continued to talk to each other about things Harry could care less about, he stole a quick glance at the drawer where (Y/N)'s blue earmuffs were before walking over to the door.

Ron, noticing his best friend about to leave the room, tore his attention away from Seamus. "Where are you going?"

Harry could only flash the Weasley a small smile as he twisted the door knob. 

"I'm just going to find Colin."

»»-----　♡　-----««

It was somewhere around 12 AM when (Y/N) decided to wake up from their nap. When they fluttered their eyes open, they were greeted by the dimly lit room that they shared with four other Slytherins, including their brother.

Groaning, (Y/N) sat up on their bed and rubbed their eyes. 'How long was I out for?' They thought to themselves before they slipped out of bed groggily, slipping their slippers into their feet and removing their Slytherin robes, leaving them in their school uniform that they still haven't gotten out of.

When their eyes scanned the room, everyone else were sleeping peacefully on their bed. Draco lightly snored, Alem completely covered himself from head to toe with his blanket, while Crabbe and Goyle's limbs were spread out across their bed. Sophie was sleeping next to (Y/N)'s bed and she didn't seem to wake up when they left the bed, indicating that they were in a deep sleep at the moment.

(Y/N), who was still half-asleep, walked over to the bathroom that's connected to their room and quickly did their business. Turning on the sink, (Y/N) was about to wash their hands until they saw something red on their hands.

Their eyes lightly widened once they saw stains of blood sticking from their wrist. How they were not able to notice this until now, no idea. They didn't even feel anything wet when they woke up. Rolling the sleeve of their blazer up, which was already stained by the dry blood, they immediately sobered up once they realized that the bleeding has stopped for a while now.

'How in the hell...?' (Y/N) thought to themselves, but were too tired to even panic or care about why they were bleeding in the first place. 'Maybe Sophie scratched me while I was asleep or something...' Not wanting to think any further, (Y/N) thoroughly washed their hands, wiping off the dried blood.

Maybe if they checked what was underneath Malfoy's bed.

When they walked out of the bathroom, now feeling a bit awake, they glanced over to their desk where Tom Riddle's ominous diary sat. Thinning their lips, (Y/N) slowly walked over and sat down with a sigh. They wondered if they should talk to him now or wait until the timing felt right.

Ginny's face popped up in their mind and they shook their head, grabbing their quill and their inkwell with slight annoyance. 'If it wasn't for Ginny, I wouldn't even do something like this.' They thought spitefully before flipping the diary open to a random page.

They lightly tapped their quill on the table for a moment, thinking of what to say to the Slytherin heir.

'What do you want?'

(Y/N) wasn't in the mood to play any games with Tom Riddle tonight.

'Ah, good evening, (Y/N). I was wondering when you would come around to finally talk to me.'

'It's only been a day.'

'Oh, I have been looking forward to this. You have no idea.'

'You told me that you'd leave Ginny alone if I took the diary. She didn't seem like herself this morning.'

'Do not worry – I am merely keeping her as collateral.'

The (H/C) haired Rosewood silently sighed in annoyance, running their fingers through their hair.

'I asked you; what do you want?'

'Well, I do have a lot of questions I'd like to ask you, (Y/N).'

'Such as?'

'Have we met before?'

(Y/N) paused for a moment, confused as to why Tom had asked such a weird question. It's not like they've met before – Tom didn't appear in their first year.

Hesitatingly, they scribbled on the pages of the diary.

'No, I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before.'

'Strange. I remember meeting a Slytherin with your name before. Perhaps I've gotten it all mixed up.'

'I've literally never seen you before and I'm sure you haven't seen me either.'

Tom didn't reply to the Rosewood for a couple of seconds, leading (Y/N) to think that he was pondering on what to say next.

'Well, no matter. I've plenty of uses for a Slytherin such as yourself.'

The Rosewood grumbled, not replying to Tom.

'Of course, I could have just used Ginny Weasley to do my bidding, but you're more useful than that sad prepubescent girl – always complaining about how inferior she feels when it comes to her brothers. It was boring.'

'You could've just stopped replying to her.'

'Oh, no. I couldn't. I had to keep my charade up because I needed to use her. Well, of course until she mentioned you.'

'Mentioned me?'

'She recalled two twins, apart from her brothers, being friends with the famous Harry Potter. Despite them being in Slytherin, she comments that they were 'different' and did not expect them to be as kind, much to the contrary of how others perceive our house.'

(Y/N) rolled their eyes at that statement, finding the whole house prejudice ridiculous when Ginny expected them and Alem to be the stereotypical Slytherin just because they're in that house.

'How is being a decent human being supposed to be perceived as something honorary, when that's just the standard of what a person should be? I don't blame her for thinking that way, but come on.' They thought with a grumble as they watched Tom Riddle continue to talk.

'When I recalled that the person who talked to me a few weeks earlier was a Slytherin, naturally, I was intrigued. I wanted to know if she was talking about you. To my relief, she was. She told me you were in her room that day – of course, I'd know it's you. The rest is history, (Y/N) - I planned to bring this diary over to you.'

'Anyone else could've entered her room that day. How'd you know it's me?'

'Well, you're the only Slytherin who entered her room that day.'

(Y/N) bit the insides of their cheek, staring at the page for a few seconds.

'You can rest easy, (Y/N). Ginny will be alright as long as you keep this diary with you and as long as you do what I say.'

'She better be. I don't want anything to happen to her.'

»»-----　♡　-----««

Within the abyss of the diary, Tom Riddle smiled to himself as (Y/N)'s words appeared in his mind. The Rosewood just told him that they needed to work on their homework, which they should've done earlier before napping.

The Slytherin heir found it a bit funny – they did not expect them to be this big of a procrastinator. Not a lot of Slytherins are like that. At least not the ones who are academically smart – he definitely never crammed or procrastinated when it came to his school works.

While leaving (Y/N) to their own devices, he sat down. As he waited for them to finish, he felt himself being strengthened significantly by (Y/N)'s magical power when they wrote to him just a few minutes ago. He was right – something is definitely feeding them small amounts of magic every second. Compared to the last time he and (Y/N) talked, the Rosewood got stronger.

Tom looked down at the palm of his hands, his ruby red eyes glimmering in the darkness in anticipation. With this enough power, he would be able to get out of the diary sooner than he expected. He would be able to take their soul and get a body of his own.

He trembled in excitement, thinking about consuming (Y/N)'s soul in order to strength himself and receive the same destructive potential that they're hiding deep inside their body. He could come back as a better wizard than he was before. He would no longer be able to limit himself and he could be free.

However, the thought of not being able to see (Y/N) anymore somewhat... disturbed him. He couldn't put a finger on it, but his inner child threw a tantrum when he thought about using (Y/N)'s soul. His body gradually felt excited at the idea of being able to touch them, being able to see them, and being able to talk to them physically, to the point that he slightly shivered and almost cracked a genuine smile for once.

It felt foul. Tom had a bitter resentment for anything that resembled love. To him, it felt nothing but a useless emotion that drives people to do stupid and reckless decisions that could ultimately get them in situations that they wouldn't have been in if it wasn't for love. Feeling discomforted at the idea of using (Y/N) and discarding them like what he should be doing almost made him want to die. There was no way he could be thinking of something like this.

Yet his mind urged him to recall something. Something that was supposed to be unfamiliar to him.

Glimpses of a tired (H/C) haired Slytherin with an oversized robe pushing him away and slapping his hand away caused Tom to let out a small shaky breath. He doesn't remember any of this. More like, he shouldn't. But, why did it feel so familiar?

Snapping out of his seemingly foolish thoughts, Tom wrote to (Y/N), hoping that they would take notice of his message and reply. His curiosity got the best of him at the moment.

'(Y/N), I'd like to ask you something.'

Tom waited, but (Y/N) never replied. He quietly clicked his tongue, knowing that there's nothing much he can do if they didn't see his message on the diary. He speculated that the Slytherin fell asleep somehow or just closed the diary while they were working.

For the first time, the young dark lord wanted to go back to sleep, hoping to forget that these memories and feelings existed in the first place.

»»-----　♡　-----««

"...so I'm just supposed to sit here and do nothing!?"

"...you wanted, right?"

"No, it isn't!"

Two voices echoed around me. I felt a splitting headache almost tear my skull in half as my eyes opened, revealing... the Hogwarts hallway?

I sat up instantaneously, shocked and confused as to how I managed to get here. My panicked (E/C) eyes scanned the area. I didn't even properly acknowledge the two figures in the distance, who now stopped bickering and looked at me.

I'm definitely in a random Hogwarts hallway right now. But, how is that possible? I know I fell asleep on my desk at the Slytherin common room. I couldn't have just randomly transported to a random location in the school, could I?

"(Y/N)," A familiar voice startled me, causing my shoulders to jump. "Get up. You can't be seen here." They said, extending their hand out for me to take.

I look up then almost choked on my spit upon seeing Erised standing in front of me. The peach-colored haired being simply smiled, attempting to give me some sort of reassurance considering that they're the only person who I know at the moment. However, I couldn't bring myself to be comforted as Erised looked vastly different than what they looked like just a few months ago when we last talked.

Their messy hair reached down to their back. Their orange hoodie was oversized and looked way bigger on them. Their facial features were more adult-ish, making them look a lot more mature. Obviously, considering that they looked older now, they became taller. It was different as to how I usually perceived them. Their presence was different as well – I felt neither annoyed or nonchalant when I saw them again. Rather, I felt a slight twinge of warmth from the familiarity their presence gave me, which was a first.

"Eri?" I manage to question, wondering if that was actually them. "Is that really you?"

Erised lightly chuckled before nodding. "Yeah. Now come on, get up." Still confused but not wanting to make a fool out of myself in a random hallway, I grab Erised's hand and pulled myself up with a grunt.

As soon as I stabilized myself, my eyes shifted over towards the person that Erised talked to. My breath hitched and I started to panic once more, not knowing how to process the situation at the moment.

The person who was standing right in front of me was none other than... myself.

Although, they clearly looked older than me and obviously very rugged – it's like they haven't bathe or eaten in days. Their pale, chapped lips were visible. Their deep sunken (E/C) eyes almost terrified me. But the thing that terrified me the most were the small glimpses of dried-up blood on their fingers.

My mind raced, now realizing that when I first entered the castle just two days ago, this (Y/N) wore the exact same clothes that I did in my hallucination.

...It was a vision?

I didn't know what to say. Instead, I kept staring at them like I saw a ghost. I heard Erised sigh next to me as they walked over to the older (Y/N).

"(Y/N) (L/N), meet (Y/N) Rosewood." introduced Erised. "The real (Y/N) Rosewood."

(L/N)... it's been a while since I've heard that name again. I've gotten so used to people calling me 'Rosewood' now that I've thoroughly forgotten that that was my actual surname.

To be honest, I didn't even want to remember that surname. I didn't want to associate myself with my father and I've always ignored the fact that I even had that. However, forgetting is better than ignoring it – at least, I stopped acknowledging it.

"...What do you mean the real (Y/N) Rosewood?" I asked, taking a step forward while still keeping my eyes at the older version of myself.

"I'll tell you what it means." Rosewood spoke up spitefully to my surprise, their (E/C) eyes now narrowing. "The body that you're in right now is my body back to when I was still in Hogwarts. Back when the battle still didn't happen."

Rosewood turned over to Erised, stomping over to the being with a scowl. "And I want it back."

"Listen, Rosewood." sighed Erised, shoving the older (Y/N) away from them. "We made a deal; I save him, you don't interfere. It's simple."

"It is not simple, Eris." said Rosewood, venom and frustration laced within their voice before pointing a finger at me while keeping their eye contact on Erised. "That (Y/N) is going to get him killed again! What can they do? They don't know anything about protecting him! You've seen how incompetent they are!"

"I'm not that bad!" Offended, I spoke up, which earned me a death glare from the real (Y/N) Rosewood.

"Shut up, you barely know how to ride a broom, for Merlin's sake!" snapped Rosewood before turning their attention back to Erised. "I know you like torturing me so badly because of how cruel I treated you, but even for you, Eris, this is too far!"

"'Too far'? That's stupid." Erised scoffed and crossed their arms. "If I could, I wouldn't have even brought Alem back, you know."

'Wait... They said something about someone getting killed...' Shocked, I glance over at the two of them and raised my hand up.

"Hold on, I'm confused – who dies?" I interject and stared at Rosewood and Erised with a very concerned look on my face. "If it's Cedric, I'm already determined to save him." I asked again.

(Y/N) Rosewood didn't say anything and instead crossed their arms and looked away, not wanting to answer my question. Erised sighed and didn't answer my question and simply looked away.

"I can't tell you that – it's against the deal." Erised walked away as they said that, tucking their arms on the pockets of their hoodie.

"Great, don't tell the stupid version of myself on how to save him when that's literally the point why they're here." Rosewood sarcastically brought their hands up to the air, almost scoffing at how unfair Erised was being. "That means my whole existence is nothing but a big fat joke, Eris."

"You know that's not the reason why (L/N) is here – you're just delusional to think that I guaranteed his safety." Erised snapped at Rosewood, tilting their head back to look at my older self. "Then again, you've always been delusional. On top of that, you're so goddamn stubborn."

"Alright alright, stop it." I intervened once more, getting myself in between Rosewood and Erised, who looked like they were about to kill each other. "Look, you can't just... bring me over here, start arguing, make me confused, and then start killing each other while I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with all of this new information."

"That's rich – we didn't 'bring' you over here and we didn't want you to be a part of this conversation anyway." (Y/N) Rosewood scoffed and looked away.

"What do you mean you didn't bring me over here? Why else would I be out of the dorms at night?" I asked.

"Neither of us brought you here, (L/N)." Erised spoke up. "It's Tom Riddle. You went back in time."

It took me a while to process the thing that Erised just said. I almost choked on my saliva when I heard 'Tom Riddle' and 'went back in time'.

"...What?" I managed to squeak out, blinking in disbelief.

"You're still in your dorm room, (L/N). At least, your actual body is in your dorm room." explained Erised with a sigh. "Since Riddle took a huge amount of magic from your body, he was able to influence you unconsciously and bring your consciousness back to the time when he was still in Hogwarts. The two of you are basically linked now – you gave a piece of yourself to him; he gave you a piece of himself."

"...So, I'm in a dream?" I asked.

"Basically, yes."

"What do you mean huge amount of magic from my body, even? Like what the real Rosewood said, I can barely lift and fly a broom from the way I am right now." I shook my head, still confused. "Tom wouldn't be able to get much out of me – I'm weak."

"Well, you might not know this but (Y/N) Rosewood here is actually a powerful witch/wizard, considering that they're a pureblood and they're from the Sacred Twenty-Nine." Erised pointed at the real Rosewood, who was still grumpy and annoyed. "The thing is; you were originally a muggle. It'd only make sense as to why you're weak and not used to being in a body where magic is abundant and destructive."

I nod, following the things that Erised said.

"When you first came here, your magic is so low that you can barely lift up your broom. You remember that, don't you? Your mind can't keep up with the fact that there's actually an abundance of magic inside you, therefore, it made your body think that you're weaker than you actually are and lost the majority of what (Y/N) Rosewood had, especially since you were a muggle." Erised continued to explain. "What I did was that I slowly and gradually allowed you to fully take over (Y/N) Rosewood's body. You noticed having red eyes at some points, don't you? Especially during your first nights in Hogwarts?"

I look down, now staring at the palm of my... well, (Y/N) Rosewood's hands. I couldn't believe that this was actually a real person's life I just took over.

"That was me. That was also you – changing and gradually taking over. You're slowly becoming the real (Y/N) Rosewood, well, power-wise, at least." added Erised. "Once you've fully taken over, the real (Y/N) Rosewood will die. I mean, they're also already dead, but I mean that they won't exist anymore."

I glanced over at Rosewood, who started looking more bitter and sour at the thought of not existing. I shot them a worried look before casting my gaze downwards, feeling guilty at the thought of taking over this person's body.

This was a life I stole from someone because I wished for it, yet it happened because they also wished to save someone else. I know I'm most likely not at fault here, but I can't help but think that I partially have some faults as well.

Erised, who probably noticed my discomfort, placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself." They spoke. "If anything, you were just dragged into this mess... well, you technically wished for it anyway."

I couldn't say anything as they retracted their hand away. "Well, we best be going now, (L/N)." They said, walking towards Rosewood. "We shouldn't stay here anyway – this is your dream."

I was about to open my mouth to speak, but in a blink of an eye, Rosewood and Erised were already gone. It's like they vanished into nothingness. I turned around, trying to look for the two, but I couldn't find them.

Once I made sure they were actually gone, I aimlessly started to walk through these old hallways. 'Who's dying? Alem? Erised didn't confirm that but what if it's him?' I thought, feeling a twinge of fear and sadness for him. He might not be my actual brother, but I still ended up caring for him as if he was my own brother. I don't want anything to happen to him, and I know the real Rosewood doesn't too.

'I'm not gonna let anything happen to him.' I narrowed my (E/C) eyes, keeping my head down as I felt determined to keep Alem out of danger just in case. 'I'm not gonna let anything happen to me either. I'm not gonna die.'

I can use my knowledge on this story to my advantage. I can save a lot of people with this, even saving the ones that didn't deserve to die.

Just as I started to feel confident about myself being able to keep Alem and myself out of harm, I felt my body crash into someone else's. "Ow." I muttered, then looked up while rubbing the bridge of my nose. I felt my breath almost get taken away once I came face to face with an incredibly handsome boy. He was tall, had semi-curly black hair, and dark brown eyes.

I couldn't stop staring. I immediately knew who this was, but Salazar, I really can't stop staring. Why wouldn't you? People often said that Tom Riddle was handsome, and I mean, very handsome. But I didn't expect him to be as handsome as this.

"I heard noises coming from this hallway. What are you doing out of bed?" The younger version of Tom Riddle asked, an aura of authority hanging over his shoulders as he loomed over me like a hawk. It almost made me quiver and cry. There's just something about his presence that made me both attracted and fearful of him.

"I-I... um..." I couldn't even speak properly. I kept stammering, trying to think of what to say to the Slytherin prefect.

"You seem awfully young. Second year or first year?" He paid no attention to my stammering and instead, focused his attention to my small form. When I realized that I was not supposed to be out of bed around this hour, I blinked and regained my composure.

"Second year. I'm sorry. I think I must've been sleepwalking." I tried to lie while thinking of stupid stuff like dancing bananas in case he was trying to read my mind. "It's a... uh... a thing that I do."

Tom looked at me curiously, wondering if I was even telling the truth. I held my breath as I felt small underneath his calculating gaze. "You sleepwalk with your uniform on?" asked Tom.

"Oh," I nervously looked down at my slightly disheveled Slytherin uniform. "I uh... forgot to change." Well, technically, I wasn't lying.

Sighing, Tom placed his hand on my shoulder, causing me to slightly flinch. "Calm down," he said, noticing my discomfort. "You're not in trouble – you should be lucky you bumped to me."

I didn't say anything and let Tom lead the way, presumably to the Slytherin dorm room. I let out an exhale as I scanned the walls and the floor of the hallways that we passed through. It was eerily quiet – all I could hear were the sounds of our school shoes clicking on the stone floor.

The school was also dimly lit. The only source of light that could bring any sort of comfort for me from the darkness was from the moon.

Walking towards the Slytherin dorm room was incredibly awkward and silent. Neither of us said anything, but I personally wanted to keep it that way. Even if I talked to Tom, I know he wouldn't be interested in whatever a random second year student has to say.

To distract myself, I just kept staring at random objects on the wall or maybe a random bug crawling on the floor. It's better than just aimlessly following Tom Riddle, at least.

When we finally reached the Slytherin common room, which was still in the dungeons, he finally turned to look at me. "I trust you know where to go from here, yes?" He asked.

I nodded hesitatingly, pulling up a strained smile. Although I can tell Tom wasn't convinced with what I said, he walked away without saying another word to continue his nightly patrol as a prefect.

When Tom finally left, I let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the nearest sofa to calm myself down. I don't think there's any point in going to my room in this dream, considering that I 'went back in time'. I'm pretty sure there's going to be someone different in my room.

When all of the tension that I pent up from these past few minutes started to subside, I eventually felt exhausted. As I dropped on the sofa, I raised my hand up to the dark ceiling of the common room as if I was trying to grab it. 'I have to work harder to save anyone.' I thought before dropping my arm to my sides and closing my eyes, letting the exhaustion take over my body and allow me to rest for the night.

"Oh shit... my homework..." I muttered softly to myself drowsily before falling asleep.

»»-----　♡　-----««

As (Y/N) fell asleep, the Slytherin common room was silent for a few minutes. Only the crackling sounds of the fire from their fireplace can be heard and occasional moans and taps on the glass from some mermaids at the bottom of the lake.

While (Y/N) was getting themselves comfortable to the point that they started to lightly snore, a certain Slytherin prefect came back to the common room and silently made their way inside. He said nothing as he noticed the same (H/C) haired Slytherin sleeping on the sofa. It irked him a bit – seeing a fellow housemate disregarding rules and now sleeping on places where they shouldn't be sleeping.

He knew something felt off about (Y/N); who randomly sleepwalks at night with their uniform on and be nervous when asked if they knew where their room was? It's not like he encounters these types of people every day in Hogwarts at night.

Armando Dippet, the headmaster of Hogwarts during that time, wouldn't want that. He was fairly strict when it came to implementing and following the rules of the school. He trusted Tom to make sure that his fellow housemates were in check. If Dippet were to see this, he would be disappointed.

Tom didn't want that. The idea of people lowering their expectations when it came to him annoyed him to no end. The black-haired boy made his way to the sleeping student, ready to wake them up and force them to go to their respective room.

However, just as Tom was about to shake their shoulder awake when he reached out his hand, in a blink of an eye, (Y/N) was nowhere to be seen. Almost as if they weren't there in the first place and the encounter he had with them wasn't real at all. It definitely caught Tom off guard; did they just mysteriously disappear out of thin air?

Tom took a cautious step back as soon as his brain registered that they randomly disappeared, his brown eyes narrowing at the now empty space of the sofa with extreme skepticism. He eventually leaned down and pressed his hand on the sofa – it was warm, indicating that someone was, indeed, just here a few seconds ago and Tom wasn't losing his mind.

Intrigued, when Tom retracted his hand away, he put his finger underneath his chin as he started to think. He was definitely curious about the (H/C) haired Slytherin and wanted to find out more, but he couldn't do that if he didn't even know their name.

He probably should've asked.

Tom couldn't even read their mind properly earlier to know what they were actually up to, which he felt a bit shocked about. What was running on (Y/N)'s mind were absurd little things, such as; dancing bananas, kittens accompanied with loud music that Tom never even knew actually existed, or just them screaming from inside their mind.

It almost hurt his brain, considering that they were essentially screaming in him, but he couldn't say that out loud.

Knowing that there's nothing else he can do at the moment, Tom shook his head and took a mental note to himself;

To try and find (Y/N) the next day, wherever they might be if they were even real at all.

Maybe he shouldn't care in the first place. Maybe Tom should've just acknowledged that maybe (Y/N) was a ghost after all and he was just hallucinating the entire encounter with them. After all, he has better things to focus more on than a Slytherin with an oversized robe, right?

Tom started having second thoughts. He felt stupid for trying to even find them in the first place. Why should a random child get this much attention from him anyway? He's an aspiring dark lord, for Merlin's sake.

Grumbling, the Slytherin prefect walked away once more and continued his nightly patrol on the school grounds, feeling stupid about himself, which he rarely does. Only a few hours more until he's free to go back to his dorm and rest.

'I'll just settle for a name.' He thought as he reassured himself. 'Just a name.'

Again, Tom grumbled. This is so out of character for him.

»»-----　♡　-----««

A/N:

Another fairly short chapter! I think this is just more of a lore dump-type of chapter and also bringing up some mysteries. Again, nothing out of the ordinary again, but I've said it again and again;

I'm happy to be writing for this fanfic again. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading as always!

PS. Please send me some brain cells because it's been destroyed after I've spent hours trying to understand analytical chem (don't take biology if you want to be happy jk)