To Kill You With a Kiss

Chapter 18

"Let's go back to Malfoy Manor!" Harry turned to Tom.

Tom kissed him gently on the tip of the nose. "Absolutely not, my love. We will do no such thing. The entire purpose of going to Malfoy Manor in the first place was to establish whether Voldemort and I are two separate beings. We have now determined that we are. Now that we understand that, we should retreat to a safe distance - and by that I mean a distance some fifty years into the past - and come up with a plan."

"A plan for what?"

Tom sighed. "A plan for killing Voldemort, of course. What did you think I meant, Harry?"

Harry shook his head slowly. "No, Tom. That won't work at all. I'm not sure I want to kill him, you see."

Tom stared at him. "You don't want to kill him? But Harry, he murdered your parents! He tried to kill you! He has caused immeasurable harm to so many people. Of course we have to kill him."

Harry shook his head, stubbornly. "No. No, we don't. He's you. I thought he would be someone quite different, but he's you. I felt it when I met him. How could I ever wish to kill you?"

"He's not me." There was a flush on Tom's cheeks now. "He's that which I never want to become. If you love me, Harry, please understand that he needs to die."

Harry met Tom's silver gaze. He felt something twist, painfully, in his heart, but he nodded silently.

"I agree that Voldemort must be destroyed." Alphard's voice was calm. "But if we go back to Malfoy Manor and kill him now, nothing will have changed. Harry's parents will still be dead. And so will Sirius and Regulus. It doesn't make any sense to kill Voldemort in this time."

Tom nodded. "You are right, Alphard. It has to be another time, then. Right after he becomes Voldemort. Right after he stops being me."

"Right around the time when Regulus becomes a death eater." There was a slight tremor in Alphard's voice. "I believe that Regulus was the first person Voldemort murdered after his... transformation. If we could go back to that time, we could perhaps destroy the Dark Lord and save Regulus and all his later victims. Including Sirius and your parents, Harry."

Harry swallowed and nodded. I have always known that I would have to kill Voldemort in the end. It's my destiny. I have to do it for Sirius, for my parents, for Tom. So why does it suddenly feel like my heart is breaking at the thought?

"I will do it," said Tom softly. "Lend me the time turner, Alphard, and show me how it works."

"You want to kill yourself?" Alphard regarded him doubtfully.

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Tom smiled slightly. "Oh, don't look so worried, Harry. I will destroy him, but I will come back to you."

"I wonder what would happen if you succeeded?" said Ginny quietly. Her red hair was a flame in the golden glow from the streetlamp. Alphard's dark glance kept drifting back to the fiery tendrils of her hair. "If you killed Voldemort, Tom, and came back to live with Harry in the past, what would happen to Harry in the future? If there is no Voldemort, his parents would still be alive in this time. Would their son still be Harry? Would there be two Harries, one who had met Voldemort and one who hadn't? Would he exist both in the past and in the future?"

Harry reached for Tom's hand. "What a strange thought!" he whispered. "If Voldemort never killed my parents, I would no longer be a horcrux. I would no longer be a part of you, Tom. Or perhaps I would always be you horcrux; but maybe there would be a different Harry as well, one who was unconnected to you."

"Meddling with time always leads to strange and unexpected consequences." Alphard twirled one of Ginny's flaming curls between his fingers. "Thinking about it can drive you crazy. I don't even understand how your journey in time began, Harry. Dumbledore said something about an enchanted memory..."