Three Can Keep A Secret - Tumblr Posts

hi, i’d like to introduce my fic

The anatomy of a young Dark Lord is complicated. That of a mysteriously-alive Obscurial, doubly so. In which Tom Riddle manages to trap himself in his own Horcrux, Harry Potter has a (mostly) cooperative sister and a parasitic magical force that’s trying to kill him, the diary falls into the wrong hands, and Lord Voldemort has a plan.

My current WIP (well, one of my current ones) is Running From My Destiny.

Genre: Drama, with some hints of Suspense and Mystery

Rating: M, for the later books and portraying Death Eaters up close

Where: FFN or AO3!

Update schedule: Saturdays, ~1-2 PM EST

It’s a (hopefully) new spin on a few popular fanfic tropes, the combination of which I’m pretty sure I haven’t stumbled across yet: Harry Potter has a twin sister, and he’s an Obscurial, and Tom Riddle screws up the Diary Horcrux, and gets stuck, awake for fifty years, because a student experimenting with Dark magic can’t possibly go wrong... can it? 

Oh, and the sister has nothing to do with the prophecy, so there’s no double Chosen One or WBWL subplot, for better or for worse.

It’s intended to be a plot-driven, full canon divergence/rewrite, exploring magical lore, morality and the path to evil, taking canon too literally and featuring a scarier-than-canon Voldemort, with influences from child psych and attachment theory, and free will. A lot of the first arc will be devoted to the missing scenes in the Riddle-era leading up to Myrtle’s murder, also. 

Everyone is sympathetic if you get to know them well enough, but not everyone is good, and that’s okay.

P.S. I also did this mostly-canon character analysis of Tom/Voldemort a few weeks ago. And here’s another one where I mostly complain that he’s a badly written villain and pull character motivations out of nowhere.

First Year related posts and excerpts here. 

Second Year related posts and excerpts here.

Third Year related posts and excerpts here.

Fourth Year related posts and excerpts here.

Lockhart Slander (TCKS, Chapter 2)

I have two modes: writer's block and writer's vomit. The good news is that I'm ~7 chapters ahead. The bad news is that I'll eventually run out of steam and it won't be pretty.

"Gilderoy Lockhart's our professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts!" said Hermione. "Professor Dumbledore announced it at the end of the ceremony; isn't it—"

"—Deplorable," interrupted Mafalda Prewett, crossing her arms and frowning. "I'm telling you; the man's a fool."

"He's not a fool!" said Hermione.

Mafalda sighed, annoyed. "Try having an idiot teaching your N.E.W.T. level classes, and see how you feel."

Hermione looked miffed, and Mafalda continued:

"Fine. If you can't get over a little crush on Mr. Colgate Toothpaste, you will once you spend an hour in his presence. Had to sit next to the moron on the train; that's time I'll never get back."

More Lockhart Slander (TCKS, Chapter 2)

Soon after classes, Ron familiarised everyone with the phrases 'Harry Potter Fan Club' and 'Cornish Pixies' as well as why they now elicited a long-suffering sigh from Harry himself.


Of course, the perpetrator of both crimes was none other than Gilderoy Lockhart.


"Do you think if we asked Mafalda to push him down the stairs, she could make it look like an accident?" asked Ruby as they made their way to the Great Hall.


"Oh, don't say that!" protested Hermione. "He's done nothing—"


"—Nothing but be an irritating git, you mean," said Ron.

"Can we please just stop talking about Lockhart?" asked Harry, who had been cross the whole day.

"Cornish Pixies," said Anthony, laughing when Harry groaned. "I can't help it," he explained. "It's a perfect conditioned response."

Excerpt (Three Can Keep A Secret, Chapter Five)

"I know not right or wrong. Only what is, and what is not."

"You're infuriating."

The Hat sounded as if it were smirking. "And you have Salazar's gift, Mr. Potter."

"I don't want it, can't I take it back?" pleaded Harry.

"Tsk, tsk, Harry Potter, haven't you learned your lesson? Be careful what you wish for."

"But I—"

"Yes... you were particularly difficult to place. But I stand by what I said before — you would have done well in Slytherin." The Hat laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" snapped Harry, annoyed.

"Nothing, nothing, simply a bit of dark humour. I am really too old for this. But you are so very similar. The minute we met I knew where he would go, but I couldn't help but have a nosy. It is a terrible shame things turned out the way that they did."

"What things? Who are you talking about?"

"Someone great but terrible, but never you mind, child. Go away, now. I need my rest."

Harry lifted the Sorting Hat off his head and set it down on the table; he was trembling.

Someone great but terrible.

Great but terrible. You are so very similar.

"It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."

"You sold Lord Voldemort his wand?"

"Long ago, when he went by a different name. I sold it to him when he was the same age as you both, more than fifty years ago. He did great things with that wand; terrible, yes, but great."

Out loud, Harry said, to reassure himself, "I'm not like Voldemort. I'm nothing like him."

But he was a Slytherin (nearly), a Parselmouth, was in possession of dark powers, had killed someone, and shared a wand core with the Dark Lord.

It didn't take much thinking to realise that the evidence was beginning to stack up against him.

ꪻꫝ᥅ꫀꫀ ᥴꪖꪀ ᛕꫀꫀρ ꪖ ᦓꫀᥴ᥅ꫀꪻ

Second year starts on Saturday (August 28) at AO3|FFN!

And Lord Voldemort returns... very... much... alive

Quirrell really messed us up, didn't he?

No. Not Quirrell. Voldemort.

Two months ago, Lord Voldemort succeeded in stealing the Philosopher's Stone. Harry Potter lost control of his Obscurial form, and Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers, went missing. Tee, the amnesiac student trapped inside Ruby Potter's diary, claims that he can help, and maybe, just maybe, she believes him. But maybe he's cursed for a reason. Maybe he's condemned to be awake and imprisoned for all eternity in penance for some horrible crime. Maybe he's evil. Meanwhile, Harry's worried about the monster threatening to ‘rip... kill...” everything in sight, but only he can hear it. Just like how only he can see the shadows threatening to tear him apart and only he can understand the snakes who assure him that there will be blood this time; by the time Voldemort gets to him, he might be dead already.

I'd love to hear the director's cut on Ruby and Tom's dynamic... Or is it Tee?

Oooh, that’s a good question.

I think it’s evident from the summary that (1) Ruby gets the diary, (2) Tom has lost a significant portion of his memory, which isn’t surprising, considering that he’s been awake for a very long time in the diary, and (3) he’s getting out permanently at some point. Two Voldemorts, here we come.

Thankfully, he’s written ’T.M. Riddle’ in pencil, so it didn’t get erased when he vanished the ink in the diary. ’T’ phonetically, is of course ‘Tee.’ Which also allows the distinction between pre-diary Riddle (Tom), post-diary Riddle (Tee), and adult Riddle (Voldemort).

RE your actual question: Ruby and Tee.

It became clear to me during early drafts of RFMD that Tee could not be the main villain of second year. Nor could he possess Ruby like he possessed Ginny. (Mind you, there is a main villain in second year, it’s just not Tee.)

Ruby didn’t believe in magic at first, so she’s going to find it quite difficult to believe that a real human being is stuck inside the diary.

In fact, she finds it supremely creepy. Tee is quite pleased to meet her — after all, he hasn’t spoken to anyone in fifty years, and he’s not altogether convinced she’s not a hallucination.

And when, of course, it becomes clear that there is no better explanation for certain things that occur, she’s understandably horrified.

Tee, for all his memory loss, knows an opportunity when he sees one. And does Ruby trust him to follow through on his promise? Well, what can he do to harm her — he is trapped inside a book, after all.

Besides, she’s really desperate. And he can help her.

But of course, a genie wants to be let out of the lamp.

I’m afraid I can’t say a whole lot of what does happen in detail, as second year has a few major twists at the end and will play out very differently from HP+COS.

But (1) neither Ruby nor Tee know he is one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, (2) Ruby does not get possessed, (3), Tee doesn't know who Harry Potter is, (4), Ruby and Tee do not have an exploitative/abusive dynamic like Ginny and Tom in canon, (5) and they may end up trusting? each other?

Chapter 1: Into the Maelstrom

Lucius Malfoy did not look pleased.

"I have just come back from a meeting with Dumbledore, in which he begged me to stop Hogwarts from closing, on account of you. The man is too foolish to admit his own mistakes ― or deny his own considerable ego."

Somehow, Harry couldn't imagine Dumbledore begging anyone for anything.

Lucius sniffed. "Hmph. Aren't you a little miracle, Mr. Potter… in so many ways." He produced a large, boring-looking book from the depths of his cloak (it was a warm, summer day). "All that is known about Obscurials. Required reading for Mr. Potter."

He all but threw the book at Harry, who only barely managed to catch it before it nearly knocked him over.

"Good day."

"Who does he think he is?" asked Ruby as Lucius Malfoy began to walk off, his dark cloak swirling behind him. "Do you think he uses a spell to make his cloak swish like that? Lavender says there's some for dress robes."

"Dunno," said Harry irritably, staring at Comprehensive History of a Moste Unfortunate and Unspeakable Afflyction as if the book's mere existence was offensive towards him (it was). "I've got to read all this before term starts?"

"Ask Dumbledore," said Ruby, laying back down and shutting her eyes.

For his part, Harry flicked through the book, which was littered with gruesome drawings, omens of destruction, and reminders that being an Obscurial was a death sentence sooner or later.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN

Second year begins...

Chapter Two: The Diary of Nostradamus

"What are we doing here, anyway?"

"I'll read your fortunes," said Lavender, pulling a pack of cards from the pocket of her pyjamas.

"I don't believe in that stuff," said Ruby, scoffing. She cast an admiring look at the professors' table, eyes lingering on Dumbledore's chair.

"Oh, yeah? You'll believe me when that dead boy from Walpurgis Night turns up."

Ruby shivered instinctively, remembering the harrowing sight. Could it really come to pass? To be honest, during the Welcoming Feast, she had looked carefully at anyone who bore a resemblance to the mirror-reflection through the puddle but did not find him.

Scrying, she knew, was purportedly possible; an ancient art popularized in Europe by Nostradamus himself.

Nostradamus... but... the diary... how strange. It couldn't be anything real; she didn't know how to scry, didn't believe in it, and furthermore, what could Borgin possibly know?

"He won't turn up, Lav, 'cause he's dead!" she retorted before the thought grew too worrying.

"Read mine!" said Parvati.

Lavender then picked three cards, things she described as The High Priestess or The Hermit or The Hanged Man, and then began to come up with all sorts of explanations for them, which seemed ridiculous to Ruby.

"That's not even real Divination," she said, jumping off the table. "Real Seers have to go into a trance."

Term begins, snakes speak, suspicions grow, and drama is ever-present.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

Chapter Three: Planchette Writing

"Potter!" someone snapped, and she looked up, knocking her tea over with her elbow by accident and staining the open book. Ruby scowled as she picked up the soggy book, but strangely, as she picked it up, she realised that the pages had not been harmed. She gave it a shake, and tea ran off the ancient paper as if it were laminated, splattering onto the floor.

Furthermore, it rattled.

That's weird.

Pansy lunged for the book, snatching it out of her hands while she was distracted.

"Hey, give it back!"

"No," said Pansy, flipping through the pages with a greedy smile. "It's mine now. Let's find out what Potter writes in her diary, shall we?"

"Give it back, Parkinson!" shouted Ruby, leaping to her feet. "Stand up, Greengrass, I want my book back—"

"You're both acting like kids," scoffed Daphne, who was sitting between them and primly cutting her toast into triangles. "Pansy, stop being a brat and give Potter her book back. Potter, kindly stop shoving and sit down; I'm not a sliding door."

The diary from Borgin and Burkes... speaks? It can't be kept a secret for long. Meanwhile, Harry has some misgivings about the fate of the school year.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

Chapter Four: The Pawn, Once More

"Hiya Harry, Ron!" called Anthony cheerfully. He wiped his ink-stained hands on his trousers, leaving black smears, and wiped his forehead, leaving another black smear. "Colin Creevey asked me for help with developing his pictures into proper ones — magical ones, I mean. It's hard going, I have to say. I'd show you, but—" He looked regretfully back at the cloth "—but I barely fit under there by myself without knocking things over."

"Yeah, well, could we borrow you for a second?" asked Harry. "We need your help."

As Ron took the vial of hair out from his pocket, Harry scanned the room. It couldn't have belonged to anyone in here, either.

"Of course," said Anthony, taking the vial from Ron, handling it carefully. "Cool, what kind of animal is it? Looks kind of like Demiguise hair — how did you get a hold of this stuff? It costs like an arm and leg! Unless you bought it on the black market, in which case it's probably Hag hair—"

"Human," said Ron. "Well, we think."

"Anthony's knowledge of normal human behaviour is somewhat lacking, so he might not be much help," said Terry nastily, and Harry shot him a glare. For once, he was glad of being an Obscurial because Terry shrank back in fear.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

Chapter Five: There Will Be Blood

"Maybe it's just your imagination," Hermione offered.

"Yeah," Harry said half-heartedly. "Maybe."

He, unlike Ron, didn't think that a monster was going to jump out at them. Maybe the voice was in his head.

Plip. It was raining outside. Fat, loud raindrops. Plip plip plip.

Was this what going mad felt like?

Plip plip.

Rip, kill, blood.

"Hungry..."

Was it speaking to him?

Harry placed his palms against the wall and whispered: "Who are you?"

"Harry? Harry, are you alright?"

He turned; Ron and Hermione were both giving him strange looks.

"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. The voice did not answer him.

There had been something distinctly hissy and self-satisfied about the voice, Harry thought. And those attributes were familiar.

"But I need to speak to someone," said Harry.

"It can wait until lunch," said Hermione huffily. "You'll be late for Charms."

The thing is, I'm not quite sure if I care about being late for Charms.

Harry's Parseltongue can't stay a secret for long. Theodore Nott repays a favour, and T.M. Riddle has been speaking to someone else.

Hearing voices is never a good idea... even in the magical world.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

Chapter Six: World, Stay Still

"Enjoying your evening walk, Potter?"

She turned around very slowly.

There stood Snape, black robes, sneer, and all.

"Points from Slytherin, sir?" she asked, tucking the diary under her arm and safely out of sight, slowly beginning to back away.

"Not so fast, Potter. Detention tomorrow."

Ruby didn't think she'd ever heard Snape quite so gleeful.

"Yes, sir," she said, and hurried off, lest her presence invoke yet more vitriol.

"You're more trouble than you're worth, you know," whispered Ruby.

As if the diary could hear her. But soon, she was safe back in bed and far below ground in the dormitory, emerald curtains drawn tight.

Can't you just explain what's going on?

I don't understand myself, completely.

However, if you want to know the twelve uses of dragon blood, I can provide you with that.

Funnily enough, I don't want to know the twelve uses of dragon blood.

Then how do I know that I'm not supposed to worry about it?

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

Riddle me this. A cursed diary, an XXXXX wizard killer, and an Obscurial. What do they have in common? Even Nicholas Flamel has no clue how this happened.

Chapter Seven: Nigredo

"How's Anthony, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Not much better, poor thing," said Madam Pomfrey, making a sympathetic face. "Mr. Goldstein has reached out to his contacts, Professor Dumbledore has advised Professor Kettleburn to look into it... and Hagrid, as well. As soon as we find out what attacked him before the venom poisons his organs, we'll cure him."

Pomfrey looked down at Anthony's expressionless face, seeming withdrawn.

"Never seen anything like it in fifty years," she muttered, glancing between Harry and Anthony. "A monster in Hogwarts, once more. I shudder to even think it."

"And what was the monster last time?" asked Harry.

"No one knows," said Madam Pomfrey, smoothing her apron.

"How is that possible?"

Madam Pomfrey was quiet for a long time.

"It is not the same monster," she said, pressing her lips together. "That one attacked a very specific type of person for a very specific reason. And it did not leave marks. Victims were either Petrified or... or killed."

She turned away and began aggressively fluffing pillows, so both Harry and Ruby correctly took that to mean that the conversation was over.

With Harry seriously injured and no answers as to what exactly happened to Anthony Goldstein, Flamel and Dumbledore search for answers. Tee plots an exit... for a price.

Read from the beginning at AO3|FFN!

the gremlin returns?

as classes have re-started and my existential despair (which apparently powers my limited supply of creativity) continues after my university's decision to be online for the first two weeks due to continued SARS-CoV-2 bullshittery, I am probably going to once again be active on this lovable hellsite.

am i still writing/have i still been writing? apart from a three-week period where uni+research was absolutely destroying me, yes. RFMD is still being updated and Year Two has only four chapters left to go. I'm not sure as of yet whether I'm going to post here when new chapters are up as they are on a weekly schedule. would love to update the Juniper Tree AU buuuuutttt I want to finish Year Two first and finalise the planning/schedule for Year Three (The Night Guardian)

this is ever so slightly cursed looking but also v incredible. +1 goes to computers

panel a == harry (trauma, shadows and kindness), panel b == tom (red death, white torture, and a disjointed sense of self), panel c == ruby (poison flowers, murder, and unconditional love)

generated on https://www.wombo.art/

What if after everything I’ve been through, something’s gone wrong… inside me? What if I’m becoming bad?

The anatomy of a young Dark Lord is complicated. That of a mysteriously-alive Obscurial, doubly so. Of course, Lord Voldemort has a plan; but Harry Potter has a nosy Slytherin sister.

FFN|AO3