Ignorant

A Trigger

Hermione PoV

A blinding flash of light and all of them were thrown to the leafy ground. Hermione quickly covered her eyes after throwing a glance at Ron and Harry- they were both looking at Riddle with terrified eyes "COVER YOUR EYES!" Hermione shouted. These two idiots were gonna get themselves blinded. But she had to admit she was also curious as to what exactly was happening. Hermione slowly opened a gap between her fingers and peeked through. The light that came through was already enough to blind her, but she squinted and saw Riddle on the ground.
Funny, how he quickly became Riddle not Voldemort, but then again her scarce human capacity to imagine things hindered her from placing this young man and the noseless serpent-like man under the same name. Not to mention Riddle had no idea about his past and was currently just as lost as they all were.

Tom Riddle lay on the ground, halfway shielding his eyes with his arm, but also looking at the misty form that appeared out of the locket.
Hermione turned to look at what was terrifying him so much.

It was Voldemort himself- well out of mist.
The white color of the fog around him made his normally undead complexion even paler. His mouth was opened wide and his snake-like eyes bugging put of his head. It looked like he was screaming, but instead of his voice it was Tom's.

Hermione looked quickly at Tom. He was withering on the ground and yelling in agony, the veins in his neck very visible. Hermione was sure his vocal cords would be temporarily damaged and he probably wouldn't be able to use- oh, not the time, Hermione!

Tom was crawling at the ground with his eyes clenched. Whatever was happening to him, it was obviously similar to if not worse than hell.

Hermione stood up and was making her way towards Tom "Hermione! What the hell are you doing?" Harry grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "What's happening to him?" She wasn't exactly concerned, but seeing someone, who just helped them, suffer like that...That just didn't go well with her.
"I don't know. I have no idea what'll happen to him" Harry shouted over the pained screams of Tom.

He just destroyed a part of Voldemort's soul, of course Harry didn't know.
Even she -the smartest witch of her age- didn't know. Tom and Voldemort were officially the same person. So what happens if a person destroyed a part of their soul from 40 years in the future?

Hermione couldn't dwell on that question for long, because suddenly the misty Voldemort disappeared and instead three maximised snake-like faces replaced them and floated directly at Tom.

Tom's screaming ceased all of a sudden as all three forms consumed him and the second they dissipated, his body went completely still.

****
"You did well, my great serpent. Next time I promise I'll let you attack and devour these wretched mudbloods" An enormous snake was standing in front of him in what looked to be a bathroom.

"Who's there? This is a girls' bathroom." A girl sniffed from inside one of the cubicles.
"Can't you read?" They girl flushed the toilet.

"I think one is already there, voluntarily walking right in our grasps." The snake hissed and slithered towards the noise of a lock opening.

"I told you, leave or I'll-" whatever the girl was about to say, stayed with her. She dropped dead and for a moment he might have wondered whether she died of the basilisk's gaze or of shock.

****

Harry PoV

"Oh, come on, Hermione. You can't expect me to have known that would happen." Harry said, trying -and failing miserably- to defend himself, but he wasn't the only one who had to do it.

"I don't get it, Hermione. Why do you care so much if that bastard dies?" Ron asked, his face probably redder than his hair.

"Ronald Weasley, do not give me that tone. Obviously, the problem isn't him dying, but Harry's complete lack of consideration when it comes to the consequences of his extremely obscene actions. Riddle was helping us and he showed complete devotion in those couple of hours and I thought that's why Harry kept him instead of killing him and now, Harry, you just throw him out like a lab rat and don't even care what'll happen. Why did you keep him alive then, so his death will be torturous?" Hermione was obviously beyond herself. Her face was -if possible- also redder than Ron's hair and hands flailing with many exasperated gestures.

Harry understood that Hermione went by the morals and everything, but that was Tom Riddle they were talking about.
Sure, Harry would prefer if he stayed alive. Maybe he could help them find the other horcruxes and destroy them with his evil Slytherin power, but him dying wasn't actually one of Harry's main concerns.

"Hermione's right." Ron informed Harry.

"What?" Both Hermione and Harry asked.
"Hermione's right. Harry, you should've thought what would happen after this. Who knows, maybe the current rabbit will get some of his memories back and turn back to the evil snake he really is.

What if this is some kind of trigger for his memories?"

****
"Look, Riddle. You've got a special visit from Dumbledore. Aren't you a special guy?" A plump boy sneered while passing Tom's bed and snatched his book away from him.

"Maybe they're on a date! I heard Dumble swings the other way...Riddle so obviously does, too." A taller boy came up next to the plump one and took the book from him, inspecting it from all angles and deciding it wasn't worthy enough, he started ripping it.

Half the book was shredded, when the sound of paper being torn switched to a rusty cupboard being opened.

"This is for you, Tom" Dumbledore was sitting in front of him, a black notebook in his hands. Dumbledore handed it to him and he hesitantly inspected it.

It was made of black leather with the words 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' written on the bottom of the diary in gold.

"I don't keep diaries", he bit out. He was already being made fun of "Sir", he added.

"I know, Tom. Hardly anyone does anymore, but I want you to keep your best memories in it. So when you leave Hogwarts, they would still be there." The old man's eyes were twinkling.

****
Tom woke up with a start. He couldn't breathe at all. All air was sucked from around him. Was he in a vacuum?

"Memories!" He choked, before fighting back for breath.

A/N

Hello and welcome to a new chapter (finally!)
I'm sorry for the delay.

Also, don't worry if things are confusing right now, they'll get clearer.