JBlaise just fukken siiiiighs. Then facepalms.

 

Or when you get tired of the mercury. Yech!

 

You want to be the murdering rapist of the deeps?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but human beings generally need quite a bit of social interaction, and intelligent social interaction is the best sort. Pretty sure them whales aren't into intriguing games of chess or anything, but you're welcome to try Banner.

 

I'm a little late to the party here, but I was under the impression that McGonagall, Slughorn, and Shacklebolt (the three I seem to remember dueling Voldemort into a corner) were three of the strongest wizards/witch in Britain according to canon.

 

Yes, they were. But if it were possible to defeat Voldemort by putting three normally strong wizards against him, then he wouldn't have ever got as far as he did (by "normally strong" I mean as strong as you get without being a prodigy such as Dumbledore, Voldemort or Grindelwald). It seems to me that in any duel with someone not Dumbledore (or HP), Voldemort just swipes the opposition away. I mean, already in that short duel with McGonagall, Slughorn and Shacklebolt he defeated all of them several times over - the only problem being that his curses had no effect.

 

You just reminded me why I hated the ending of the series, and why while I read books 1-6 probably 5 times apiece, I read the 7th only once.

Damn.

 

This is a bunny that intrigued me enough to write a scene, but I doubt I could write the whole story well.

Name: Riddle's Reprise
Concept: Why is it that the good guys are sent back into the past? Doesn't it seem like Tom Riddle got the short end of the stick? Or maybe someone in the greater mechanism sees it as more profitable to address the issue at the source.



Tom Riddle stands in the empty way-station between worlds.

"How in the name of the nine Hells did I lose?"

A small black-haired girl dressed as a first-year Hogwarts student approaches him as he begins to pace, fuming over his ignominious defeat. "I bet they're just singing his praises right now!"

"Yup, they are. He hates it though. Harry Potter never wanted to fight you, but you made it necessary. So he won."

"Yes, but WHY?"

The little girl shrugs and looks up at Tom.

"Good always triumphs over evil?"

Tom scowls back at the girl, noting without reaction that her eyes are completely black- the one oddity in an otherwise very commonplace-looking person.

"I don't know you but I can tell that you know better. The strong rule the weak. That's it. No 'good' or 'evil'; just weaklings with limitations on what they can accomplish because they've been trained to think safely."

"Really? Well, why did you lose, then? Are you weak? Were you weaker than Harry?"

Tom stands in thought for a moment, dismissing his irritation at the girl's innocent-sounding questions to take in his current situation.

"Who are you?"

"Y'know, if the circumstances were reversed I think Harry would have started with that question."

Tom grabs the girl by the lapels of her work robes and shakes her a moment.

"Answer the question, girl, or I'll make you wish for oblivion!"

The girl looks at Tom's hands on her clothing and slowly turns her endless gaze upwards at the angry man.

"Threatening me, when you're dead and I'm the only one talking to you? That's probably clue number one. You assume too much. I could be God, one of His angels, Death, or even the Devil come to strike a deal. Sorry. Now you'll have to work from a disadvantage."

Tom releases the girl and steps back, his brow furrowing in concern.

"I used to be better at this... when did I become so reactive?"

"You lost part of yourself when you shredded your soul in an attempt to outrun death. You've been losing more and more ever since."

Tom's expression becomes more hurt and he gives an imploring look to his short conversationalist.

"I'm... lost and confused. I don't know what's happening or what went wrong. Would you please help me to understand?"

The girl smiles with a squint of delight.

"That's the Tom you used to be! Seductive, wily and willing to work his victim however he needed to in order to accomplish his goals! You were born to win; not as a bold conqueror but as a puppet-master. You became drunk with power over your early victories. If you had kept more disciplined you might have remade the world as you wished. So what did you want?"

"What?"

"What was the point? What did you want? You worked for decades accumulating knowledge and power. What was the end goal?"

"I didn't want to die. I didn't want to feel weak or alone anymore." Tom suddenly convulses in what appears to be self-revulsion. "Arghh! Sanctimonious crap! I WAS born to rule! I should never have let that old fool throw me off my game!"

"The old fool was gone for a year before you died."

Tom steps back defensively. "Fate stood against me. A prophesy was spoken about my defeat."

"Yeah, I heard that one. 'Lo, and a child is born to a defiant couple. Their child shall rise alone with a power to vanquish the orphan-maker. His gift is mystery, unfathomable to the nemesis that spawned his own undoing. Once recognized, these two shall face off until only one remains on the board. The child comes at the eve of the first harvest.' Something like that? Doesn't mention your defeat- just that this kid would have the means, motive and plenty of opportunities since you wouldn't leave him alone."

"I was not privy to the whole prophesy and what I had heard doesn't match your wording, but that seems to fit the message as I had heard it. So, Harry was destined to have a power I knew not?"

"That's more specific than the source, but obviously that's how it played out."

Tom steps forward. "What was his power?"

The little girl starts to walk around the cement platform, walking heel-to-toe as if on a balance beam.

"Um... knowing more about wands, I guess. Or maybe he was empowered with a defense against your favorite attack spell and like many madmen you assumed that it was the tool causing the problem and not the user. Did it not occur to you that hitting Potter with the Killing Curse had already failed you twice? I mean, aren't you supposed to be smart or something?"

"It's the perfect attack. I point, they die. Elegant in it's clean simplicity."

Pretend balance beam walking turns into hopscotch over an invisible diagram.

"So really, the unfathomable secret is that you don't like to get dirty. Even Reducto would have served you better than the Killing Curse."

"Why?"

"Well, it would have hit what it was aimed at, for starters."

"I don't like you."

The girl stops hopping about to face Tom, her hands at her hips.

"Quelle suprise! You don't like anyone. That's why no one you knew had the balls to tell you how many mistakes you were making. You studied Machiavelli and Sun Tzu, but still you tortured your own troops when things didn't work out right. They all knew you had become a petulant whining brat, but with your nuclear fists flailing around, none of them could put you over their knee to spank the stupid away."

"Either you're here to tease me or you have an offer to make. Which is it?"

"Both. I'm here to help you sort yourself before we go back and give it another run through. I plan to enjoy myself, as you're so full of fun. Or rather, you will be fun for me because I can talk to you without you ever being able to shut me up or hurt me. I'm your best assistant and worst nightmare: a girl that won't shut up, telling you what you're doing wrong. You're finally getting married!"

"What shall I call you?"

"Pick a name. It'll define our relationship."

"Slave."

"Ah! Then my name is Mistress Verity. You schmuck. I'm going to give you a second chance to get it right and the first thing you do is try to subjugate me? What a waste. Deal's off. Have fun with your holy reckoning..."

"Wait! Mistress Verity, I apologize."

"Yeah, I bet you do!"

***

 

MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

^ This. It's a great idea. Also, I love the picture!

 

"Pick a name. It'll define our relationship."

"Slave."

^ Fucking lol.

That could be an incredibly interesting idea.

 

In all honesty I was watching Invader Zim: Career Day when I came up with that bit.

I'm torn with where to take it from here, though. One version has Ms Verity taking Tom back to earlier and earlier junctures to make a change and having her extrapolate a more unsatisfying defeat for each change, until we get to the point where Tom accepts that the life he lived was the most fun possible for him. A variant of that is one where they finally get a decent outcome by Tom not treating his strangling of a puppy at age six as a moment of empowerment and instead is a transformative moment of empathy. This option is awfully sappy.

Another spur would be for him to take the more traditional 'same brain in 11 year-old main character' route and see what Tom might want to leverage from his own early Hogwarts experiences.

Who Verity truly represents hinges entirely on how the story is resolved.

Even these are just possibilities and I'm willing to foster this out to anyone willing to take the idea for a satisfying spin.

Also, @ Rin: excellent pic!

 

How about Tom as a reluctant "scrooge" ala Christmas carol , sees but cannot change past, present, future. Where he went wrong, in the past, at that time, then learns where it went from there on. His increduilty at an potter child named Albus Severus would be priceless.

 

The little girl is Dumbledore, isn't it?

 

That's not a bad notion, though I was deliberately vague to leave the options open.

I was more thinking along the lines of Artemis the Huntress, trying to outdo Nemesis and Tyche on their reknitting attempts on a wager. After all, changing Harry's life isn't very effective, as he wasn't motivated to succeed despite having a knife to his throat. Better by far to try re-routing the prodigy that went so wrong. The huntress knows that love is nothing but a distraction.

 

Thanks, but I just entered "MOAR!" into google image search. There's some other funny ones as well.

I think this might be slightly funnier if you could somehow rework this to the effect of:

Anyway, that's just me, and seems exactly like the sort of thing some uber-powerful being would do.

Also, make it Merope Gaunt.

 

I wouldn't give her credit for the cunning- at most she would try to orchestrate his early suicide.

No, for the mortal dead to act as Tom's shoulder imp I would expect maybe Snape, Albus, Lily, Amelia Bones, Mad-Eye Moody or Ariana Dumbledore.

Bellatrix would be too busy creaming over realizing her fangirl fantasy to properly snark on her Dark Lord's choices.

Again, the actual identity of Verity is more a choice related to what the result of the story might be. If Riddle is led to a better power-play, then none of the mortal voices are appropriate (except maybe Snape, but his ego would require him to identify himself as Riddle's invulnerable critic, little-girl form or not).

Of course now we've got three bunnies to raise- one where dead characters get to rag on Tom for his failures; one where Snape or his stand-in gets to snark on the Dark Lord while they replay his life from Hogwarts forward (though what he did to deserve that cherry opportunity I can't imagine); or the original- turn Riddle into a better good guy (or at least an instrument of revolution) through careful guidance by a godling with an agenda.

(ya start one of these things and suddenly they're spawning everywhere)

 

I just suggested Merope as a joke. :awesome

 

Oh, I know. It just spun my thoughts so I took it for a thought-causer.