Just A Riddle

Part 1

Harry runs out of the maze in fright. He knew it, he just knew it. He's back, he's back and Cedric is dead!

Before he can actually run out the maze, a hand stops him. Harry turns around to face the creepy, morphing face of Tom Riddle and Voldemort. He's become much more humanlike. It's daunting. 

Harry spits out "What do you want?!" Voldemort replies with "I have plans Harry. Do not fret. Things will be different. Better." Then he apparates away before anyone outside the maze can get to him. 

With Voldemort's ominous words still in his head, Harry walks calmly out the maze. He comes face to face with Dumbledore. In his grandfather like manner, Dumbledore says "Harry my boy, you were right. He-who-must-not-be-named is back. It appears that he is stronger than ever." 

He ignored everyones stares as he listened to what had to be said. All Harry could do was say "I need to just be alone to think headmaster." And with that Harry walks to the common room and just stares into the fire. What did Voldemort mean? 

Meanwhile, at Riddle Manor....

Tom ignores Wormtail's quivering submission as he waits for the death eaters to show up. 

One by one they all apparate in, until they were all present. 

Tom speaks loudly "I am back! I am strong! I humbly thank all of my followers who stayed true to me in my absence. To the ones who have been unfaithful....Severus come here." 

Snape walked up to his lord and when they made eye contact, Snape summoned a whole case of vials. 

Tom said "Every one of you will be taking veritasserum to find out who are my real followers." One by one, Tom's followers took a sip and answered one question, "Who are you faithful to" The ones who answered correctly were allowed to relax, but the 10 who answered wrong were immediately killed. 

Tom said "Now that I know who I can truly trust, you all may go except for the inner circle. Within five minutes, the only ones left were Tom, Snape, Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, the Lestrange's and the Carrow twins. 

Before Tom began to speak, he took down his glamour, revealing to his inner circle his new appearance. What Harry saw was the transition, but now he looks like the 22 year old Tom Riddle he's supposed to look like. When he was brought back with the spell, it was actually able to overturn his snake-like appearance, to look like Tom and it also reversed the years he spent as a mad man, giving him the years back that he missed. He admits that he's quite handsome. 

His followers gasped at seeing their lord like this. The two girls in the room swooned at him, prompting Tom to roll his eyes. 

He says "I do not want to kill Harry Potter anymore. No, my new plan is to take over the ministry. I have wasted too much time trying to kill a..a..a child! Not anymore!" 

Before his followers had a chance to reply he continued "I plan to legally adopt Harry Potter." Gasps heard all around the room. "Once I take over the ministry, there will be nobody to stop me from gaining legally custody of the boy."

Snape was the first to speak up. "My lord. Why do you wish to adopt Potter?" 

Tom replied, almost sadly "In his first year, with occlumency, I looked into his head and saw firsthand how his relatives treated him, it reminded me of my childhood. I could not do much then because I did not have a plan, and I was still a mad man. Now that I seem to have my humanity back, I will take advantage." 

Lucius asked "When do we take over the ministry my lord?" 

"Tomorrow night." 

In Hogwarts....

Hermione runs up to Harry "Harry we have been looking for you! What happened?" She asks frantically. 

He replies "Voldemort's back! I was right! I even was transported to a graveyard and watched the death eaters kill Cedric to bring back Voldy. Then, he transported me back....without even trying anything on me. Then when I was leaving the maze, the stopped me and told me he won't kill me and he has plans for me."

Harry watched as his friends' faces turned mortified at these events. For the past four years, Harry has been told that Voldemort will kill him any chance he gets. He just came face to face with Voldemort, only to have him transport Harry to safety. 

Hermione, with all her logic says, "Let's not bother with it until he actually tries something, or we get more information." 

They walked up to the castle, unaware of Tom's custody plans. 

At Riddle Manor, Tom and his inner circle concoct their plans to overtake the ministry, and gain custody of the Boy who lived.