Chapter 22.

The Man of Many Names

6:21 am, June 28th, 1993

In a luxurious modern apartment near the Square Mile of London, a middle-aged man sat by a large office table in the study. Lamplight reflected off of his balding head as he stared at the past year's collection of the Daily Prophet over his brown moustache, his face bearing an expression of complete disbelief. His left hand fumbled awkwardly for his long-forgotten coffee on the table, as if it was only a prosthetic hand made of metal and plastic; and his right hand waved a black wand with amazing deftness and precision. "Accio Quibbler."

-This has to be kidding. Not even that boy could be this stupid, not even Dumbledore could reach this level of insanity. And if what the paper said is true, how is the world not on fire?

After flipping through The Quibbler, American Mage, Toronto Magical Tribune, and Magical Pravda, the middle-aged man, known to some as Alexander Chernyshov, others as Jeremy Jaffe, some as Matsumoto Taro, while a certain boy might recognize him by magical resonance as Tom Riddle, sighed in complete frustration.

-I know I was an exceptional idiot when I was twelve, I know Dumbledore is completely insane, and I have studied the minds of delusional patients in St. Mungo's, but what the boy did is beyond my wildest imagination. Providing service of the Stone to the entire wizarding world, what was he thinking?! Every powerful wizard in the world, no matter what they pretend to be or whether they consider themselves as Light or Dark, would drop their masks and pursue it! Perenelle was only able to keep the Stone for six hundred years because she pretended that the power of the Stone had great limitations, such as only being able to extend your life for a few decades, and spreading rumors such as infertility after using the Stone - as evidenced by the fact that she and Flamel never had any kids. And now, after a bunch of dying witches and wizards successfully had babies after returning to their twenties by the Stone, is there anything left that can prohibit the mundane idiots from wanting it?

And as the man turned to his next obvious question, he felt a worse headache than he'd had last night when he saw Crystal Camblebunker's petrified body and found Nagini missing: why is the world still standing today?

The man could easily envision hundreds of ways how the world and maybe even the universe might come to the end - the books that boy lent him gave him some extra ideas - but he could not even figure out one reason why magical Britain was still largely intact today.

-Surely, some powerful lords in the world would be wise enough to reach agreements with each other while the others were still squabbling. They can always rob the Stone from Azkaban/Hogwarts/Department of Mysteries first, and try to kill each other later. Or, is my estimation of human nature too optimistic again?

There was also the question that what the hell happened on that night. Being a Version 1.0 horcrux as the boy might name him, the man only knew what Tom Riddle did and intended to do as of 6:26 am, June 13th, 1992, but he had no idea what really happened after that.

The man knew for sure that the ridiculous story given by the "vision" of the Boy-Who-Lived was something made up by the younger Tom Riddle in great haste. Although he did plan to revive the Granger girl, he had no plan to sacrifice all the Death Eaters, so that part must be the hand of that boy. He could hardly fathom how the simultaneous beheadings could be done if certain books given to him by that boy hadn't given him some ideas.

-Probably the boy transfigured some anesthetic/poisonous gas that he himself had antidote, and then he did the beheadings later. Or maybe Mad-Eye Moody did it for him.

And thinking along that line, it was easy to explain why his Version 2.0 horcruxes were not activated the moment Tom Riddle was vanquished - because he didn't die, per se. Perhaps Moody had crucioed the original Tom Riddle into insanity, or obliviated him, or used some other magic, or made him brain-dead as called by the muggle medical book, or all of the above.

That could also partially explain Lucius Malfoy's sudden reappearance. He remembered his plan to force the boy to take an Unbreakable Vow that he would not destroy the world, and Lucius would be the binder. The Daily Prophet said that Lucius' reluctance for the sacrifice the Dark Lord asked was the reason the ritual failed, and Lucius was a snake animagus.

-Then things make sense now. The younger Tom Riddle is an heir of Slytherin as well. The treacherous Malfoy had already signed a deal with the Boy-Who-Lived, and these two might know that they could communicate in Parseltongue. So while the original Tom Riddle thought that Parseltongue conversation was private and safe, if Potter wanted Lucius to understand what the two Tom Riddles conversed in Parseltongue, Lucius could. Therefore, the boy and the elder Malfoy might have coordinated their moves, the boy used the magical resonance between Tom Riddles to temporarily disable the Dark Lord, while Lucius would use some gas or magical device to disable the other Death Eaters.

-Oh, if everything went as planned, the boy still had one more hour in his Time-turner, so he could plan ahead with Lucius, and all Lucius needed was some cue from the boy, then he could act. And Lucius probably didn't die at all. He just laid low for a year, then came out again as the boy needed some blatantly stupid bait to get Bellatrix.

-Well, maybe the bait isn't that stupid if I let Bellatrix run loose like the last time. She might think whatever the boy said in the newspaper is a new order for her, and just turn herself in. Or, she might break into the Ministry of Magic to kill Lucius for revenge. It is so hard to balance your servants' loyalty and their intelligence.

-Maybe the younger Tom Riddle told Lucius that I was behind the attempted murder of his son, and I have planned to use that attempted murder to frame him, in Parseltongue, of course. Lucius might seek revenge. Moreover, the reward for Lucius' treason is also quite obvious: Narcissa. Hmm, I have never thought Lucius would care so much about his wife. Did he hold grudge against me when I refused to enact revenge for Narcissa's supposed death?

-Ordinary fools, Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape alike. Admittedly, Bellatrix is pretty much like that as well. On the other hand, this part of human nature is something that I have not fully comprehended, and therefore not fully exploited earlier.

-And since Lucius presented himself as the Number Two enemy of the Dark Lord, and a bait for Bellatrix, I will surely grant his wish after I get my power back and after I have killed the younger Tom Riddle. I will make sure to kill his wife and son slowly and creatively in front of him, and then enjoy some other creative ways on Lucius. But that can wait.

With one of the biggest mysteries solved, the man turned to the next impending question: how can I get my power back?

Before making this particular horcrux with Helga Hufflepuff's cup, Tom Riddle had thought of the fact that a Version 1.0 horcrux would not be able to understand the powerful magic that he wielded, so he had transferred all his knowledge to his basilisk pet Nagini, and arranged Crystal to look after it. He had to order Nagini not to petrify or kill Crystal, of course. However, when he went to Dean Forest last night, he had only found a stone statue of Crystal, and Nagini was no longer there. He caught a snake nearby, and asked what had happened.

The stupid non-magical creature answered: "The Crown of Sserpent ordered all ssnakess to tell all bassilisskss and powerful magical ssnakess to go to Hogwartss discreetly. The caretaker woman tried to sstop Nagini, sso Nagini killed her."

Tom Riddle immediately killed the snake and used a vanishing spell on the body, for any snake might report to the younger Tom Riddle, and he doubted if the memory charms that he could manage at this time could fool the minions of his younger self.

-It seems that boy has overcome his reluctance in creating sapient beings, and began to utilize snakes as messengers. Hmm, he might want to gather all powerful magical snakes, and to see if any of them has the same knowledge as Herpo did. A very logical and clever approach indeed.

-Ah, the boy might have figured out my backup plan as to use the combination of a Version 1.0 horcrux and a basilisk from there. Nagini must have just got Hogwarts, for the boy only started to use Lucius as a bait a few days ago.

-Damn, I have ordered Nagini not to give knowledge to anyone but me, yet the boy is another Tom Riddle, and another Heir of Slytherin. The boy must know the secrets of a lot of powerful magics by now. I need to kill that boy before he tells the secrets to more people. However, considering the boy's exceptional stupidity in dealing with the Stone, maybe even Lucius has been taught some protection spells that I created by now.

-I need to regain my power, fast.

-Hmm, since any of my orders can be overridden by the younger Tom Riddle, if I get a hold on Nagini, I can override the boy's orders as well. Yeah, the boy has probably figured this out already, and he may think Nagini is a more subtle bait for me, and have arranged traps for me in Hogwarts. However, I never said that I only have one pet snake, did I? As I'm going to Albania soon, the stupid Nagini can wait for its punishment. I just need to get to the Dark Forest before the boy's order gets there. But before that, I need a place to plan and prepare.

Therefore, the man was now in his luxurious condo in a modern apartment complex near the Center of London, where it was least likely to contain the spying eyes of snakes. He needed to plan more carefully this time round, and he needed some more physical strength before the long-distance portkey traveling.

-The potions to remove Bellatrix's character from her body did work, but that woman had certainly skipped quite a number of meals and had lost the track of time in the meanwhile. And now, I am temporarily trapped in this weakened body as an unpleasant side effect. Also, if she had grabbed onto my cup earlier, I might have be able to catch Nagini before the stupid snake got to Hogwarts.

The man sighed, and continued his planning.

The next Chapter will be up at 6 pm (EDT), 04/23/2015.