Tom Riddle X Harry Potter

Chapter 41

Harry's POV-
I walked down the stairs to the dungeons. It was cold, getting colder with every step. In some ways, I missed the warmth of Tom's embrace. He offered to come with me, to hold my hand through this, but I didn't want him to. This was something I had to do by myself. Holding the lantern ahead of me, I went down the corridor, the shadows looming around me. Eventually I found it, Albus' cell. 
"Mr Harry Potter. I had a feeling I would be seeing you again," he told me, smirking in his chains.
"Why?" I asked him. The question that had been on my mind for months. Part of me thinks I have been thinking it since I was eleven years old, and Hagrid turned up at the door of the random house the Dursleys had moved us to in the middle of nowhere.
"Why do you think, Harry?" He still seemed wise, with a sparkle in his eye. The sparkle that everyone had assumed was happiness, or thoughtfulness. It was nothing but a hunger for power. 
"You had lost. You had lost your power from defeating Grindewald, a man who thought you loved him, and you were losing power to Tom and you realised you had lost."
"You think I needed you for power?" He laughed. "I needed you to be a sacrificial animal."
"No winner needs to make sacrifices to stay a winner. Your Order was abandoning you. You needed Tom out of the picture. My parents trusted you, and you saw power."
"Sure. But I never needed you. I could have killed you."
"You needed hope. You couldn't confirm Tom was dead. You needed a light in the darkness, born from a regular wizarding family, who tragically died. You needed someone they could hope for. Then, you needed someone you could manipulate. So you gave me to people you knew would give me nothing, so you could give me everything. Make me indebted to you. You gave me friends who would influence me to your ideals, making me hate Slytherins, helping to hate who I am and how I feel."
"If that's what you think."
"If that's wrong, correct me."
He didn't. Instead, he said, "If you know all that, why would you come and talk to little old me?"
"I needed to see you lose."
"Oh, Harry-"
"Don't call me that."
"Fine. You really think you've won, kid?"
"Should I not?"
He just smiled. Then he lifted a hand, counting down on his fingers. 3. 2. 1. For me, nothing seemed to happen, but Dad came running down the stairs, towards me. His footsteps echoed down the stone walled hall. 
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO, OLD MAN?!?" he yelled frantically to Albus, who just kept smiling.
"Come on Harry, we need to go," Dad whispered to me, and the look on his face made sure I didn't protest. The minute I got out the dungeon, all I could hear were agonizing screams.