Chapter Text
Harry
It's Dudley's birthday, we went to the zoo, I've always wanted to go to the zoo and now I can finally go. I looked at the multitude of animals with sparkling eyes. Until a certain animal caught my eye. I watched the big snake behind the glass, fascinated. Of course, my cousin didn't like the fact that the animal was just lying in one place, he tried to wake it up, but the snake didn't even move its tail. When Dudley left the terrarium, I stood in front of it and smiled at the animal.
The snake raises its head and to my surprise, the animal seems intelligent, it's locked up just like me. I understand exactly what it's going through. However, since the snake moved, Dudley immediately rushed back, successfully pushing me to the ground, I look at him angrily. Then suddenly a scream fills the space, the glass wall disappears, and the snake quickly slides out of its place, says thank you to me and rushes away. As it disappears I look back at Dudley, who has fallen into the boa constrictor's water and is now trying to climb out, but he can't because the glass wall has returned to its place.
~ That was clever, Harry! You showed that fat pig what a dirty muggle gets if he starts with a parselmouth wizard! ~ My eyes suddenly widen, influenced by the strange voice in my head, I swallow hard.
~ Aunt Petunia was right, I really have gone crazy. I hear voices in my head. ~ I swallow hard.
~ Harry, can you hear me? ~ Comes the surprised answer.
~ Yes! ~ I answer, although I'm starting to question my sanity.
~ Believe me, I want to talk to you more, but the muggles are coming. ~ When I look up, I see Uncle Vernon's angry face and I swallow hard.
I already suspected that I could expect a big punishment once we got home. That's what I got, in the form of the longest wardrobe imprisonment of my life, which began that day. I didn't even get dinner, they just locked me in the wardrobe, saying that I would be let out in the morning. I started to cry softly, when I thought that no one would see me.
~ Now, calm down Harry! Everything will be fine! Don't worry! ~ I stop crying immediately at the sudden voice, I forgot that he was here. ~ Dry your tears anyway. Don't cry about those wormy muggles! ~
"Why do you call them muggles? What is a muggle? Some kind of term for family?" I ask, surprising myself with my inquisitive tone. "I'm completely out of my mind, I'm talking to the voice in my head." I shake my head.
~ I have a name and I'm not a voice! ~ Comes the angry answer, before I start blinking in front of myself. ~ And muggle doesn't mean family at all. Muggles are people who are good for nothing without magic, who walk past the superior world of wizards with their eyes closed. ~ At these words I first open my mouth, then shake my head.
"What's your name?" I ask the more important question, and when he doesn't answer I continue. "Are there really wizards? Isn't it all just a fairy tale?"
~ Are you seriously asking if it's a fairy tale, after what happened today? ~ I feel awkward and scratch my neck in embarrassment, before he starts laughing. ~ Yes Harry there are wizards! A lot of them. I'm a wizard too, and as for my name... ~ He pauses for a moment, then continues. ~ Tom Marvolo Riddle, but call me Marvolo. ~
"Okay Marvolo." I nod. "How did you get into my head?"
~ It's a long story, I'll tell you the whole story one day. For now, let's just say that there was a wizard who wanted to protect you and the only way to do that was to give you a part of his soul. And that would be me. ~ I can't answer, I just gape for a long moment, looking like a duck, when I can speak again.
"What did you have to protect me from, Marvolo?" My voice is so quiet that I can barely hear it. I feel happiness overflowing inside me, coming straight from the scar on my forehead.
~ From a hypocritical wizard who wanted get his hands on you and manipulate you. I couldn't let him do that. ~ My new friend explains, because that's what I think of him, I only met him today and he's only in my head, but even then it's like I've known him and believed him for a long time.
"Why did this wizard want to manipulate me? I'm just a muggle." At my words, Marvolo laughs in my head, a happy warm laugh that makes me smile too.
~ Harry Potter is a simple muggle! This is the joke of the decade! ~ He groans in the midst of laughter. ~ No, Harry, you're not a muggle! You're a wizard. Probably a very powerful wizard. ~
"I'm a wizard?" When I get an affirmative answer, I shake my head. "No way, then I wouldn't be so unlucky."
~ You can't control magic yet. That's what wizarding schools are for. In the meantime, if you don't want to believe that you are a wizard, I can prove it to you. ~ I hear something mysterious in his voice, as if there is something he is not telling.
"How?" I ask back.
~ Let's start with a proper dinner, we need to open the lock on the door. Put your hand on the door. ~ I do as he asks and await further instructions . ~ Now imagine the lock opening. Just focus on that. ~ I start to concentrate hard and I can almost see the lock opening in my mind's eye. ~ Now say it after me. Alohomora! ~ A tingle runs through me as he says that word.
"Alohomora!" I repeat the command and to my greatest surprise I hear the lock click. I stare at the door with wide eyes, I just push it a little and it opens easily. A wide smile spreads across my face.
~ That was perfect, you were perfect! Now, the plain is yours Harry! Get something to eat and come back! Then we'll close that damn door and we can talk. ~ I can hear in his voice that he's proud of me, which is a bit of a strange feeling, no one has ever been proud of me before, but this feeling makes me feel really good. I carefully stick my head out the door and start to smile wider when I see only darkness.
"Thank you, Marvolo, thank you very much." A strange mixture of surprise and confusion overwhelms me for a moment, which I can only attribute to feeling Marvolo's feelings, although I don't understand why he feels that way.
~ It's really nothing, Harry! ~ I shiver at the kind voice, I can almost imagine a young man standing before me smiling, his eyes sparkling kindly, but before his figure can be more clearly defined, I shake my head and sneak into the kitchen, only to return to the wardrobe a few minutes later with a small portion of food, the door of which I close behind me with Marvolo's help. I carefully put away part of my dinner and happily ate the rest while listening to my new friend tell me about the beauties and disadvantages of the wizarding world. I knew that something important had happened then, I just didn't know what it was yet.