Till Death Do Us Part?

dizzydreamer on AO3 clown in real life 🤍

[dizzydreamerao3]

Welcome!

The internet calls me Dizzy <3 I write as dizzydreamer on AO3, and you can find lots of Tomarry content there.

Here's some of my work, which I will explain to you with zero degrees of seriousness:

Strings of Fate

Tom Riddle isn't interested in anyone. Well, not until the new transfer student touches him, and he suddenly feels alive for the very first time.

Soulmate AU (or is it?) in which Tom finally gets a boner and then proceeds to make it everyone's problem.

Especially Orion.

Blood of The Covenant

Harry shows up to Hogwarts with the ability to speak Parseltongue, and Tom deduces they must be related. Good thing incest is a Gaunt family tradition!

Lovers by chance, siblings by choice. (Just don't tell Tom Harry isn’t actually his cousin—he’d be devastated.)

For I Am With You

The first time a young Tom Riddle meets Harry Potter, he decides the man must be his guardian angel. How else could a man so clearly made of magic—and here to save him—know Tom's name?

What follows isn't very holy, however, especially considering Harry is fresh off killing Voldemort the first time he appears in front of the kid. Still, maybe he can fix this!

Oh, and Harry isn't exactly stuck in the past. Or the present. It's... well, it's complicated.

Steps to Parnassus

Tom and Harry are students at a prestigious conservatory in Europe. Both musical prodigies, Harry and Tom, on paper, seem to have a lot in common.

Too bad The Incident threw a wrench in Tom's carefully laid plans. Well, if he can't make Harry see they're destined for each other, he might as well spent the next six years stalking him. Right?

(Later, in his final year at the academy, he'll think Dumbledore forcing him to share a room with Harry Potter is the last test of his resolve before he graduates.

He will be very, very wrong.)

The Pursuit of Greatness

Tom Riddle is slaving away at Borgin and Burke's. The greatest mind to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts has graduated, and... he's miserable. It's fine, though! It'll all be worth it some day.

He tells himself this a lot, and it works until a mysterious stranger walks through the door (and into Tom's bed.)

Sex with Harry is wonderful. Almost too wonderful, in fact, considering it was meant to be nothing but a quick diversion. If only he’d quit distracting Tom from his plans, which are—well, what does greatness even mean, anyway?

The Burden Of Kings

Tom Riddle was once Britain's youngest chess prodigy. Unfortunately, so was Harry Potter.

Their rivalry started as children, and over a decade later, it's ruined more tournaments (and hotel lobbies) than either would publicly admit. Tom takes it all personally. After all, how could falling in love be anything but sabotage to him?

Too bad their careers—and lives—keep colliding, or Tom might stand a chance at resisting him. As it is, the only endgame left might be each other.

And here's some stuff exclusive to Tumblr:

AITA: Tom [16M] Is Not In The Wrong For Trying To Fuck The Transfer Student. Right?

Part One Part Two Part Three

And a bit of meta for my beloved blorbo <3

I Don't Buy Into Heartless Tom Riddle

Tom Riddle Could Only Ever Die The Way Stars Do

Narcissism Is A Bandaid Over Tom’s Self Reproach

Failure In Great Packages

I don't always remember, but I try to tag my asks with ‘ask dizzy’ so they're searchable! If you're reading this, I love you, thanks for making it all the way to the bottom :)

[fairy-of-divorce]

[Tom and Harry sometime after the end of @dizzydreamerao3's Steps to Parnassus, probably]

Ron: I will never understand what you see in that little freak.

Harry: His swagless looks and cringe fail personality have captivated me.

[dizzydreamerao3]

yeah that’s canon ❤️❤️❤️

[dizzydreamerao3]

Strings of Fate: [XXI]

“When I touch you,” Tom says, bitterness clinging to every syllable, “I feel whole.”

[zangoonse]

i love the phrase "cruel and unusual." not only is what you're doing mean but it's also quite frankly fucking bizarre

[evilyuniaa]

[dizzydreamerao3]

For I Am With You: Part XI

[LINK]

[dizzydreamerao3]

For I Am With You: Part X [Link]

”Are you my angel?” Tom whispers.

Harry kills Voldemort, and the next thing he knows, he’s being dragged back in time—again and again—to Tom Riddle’s childhood.

Tom’s all alone in a world that doesn’t care about him. With every return, his obsession with Harry grows.

Tom’s convinced Harry’s there to save him—that he’s meant to be his. And the boy who will become a monster?

He’ll stop at nothing to keep him.

[dizzydreamerao3]

Steps to Parnassus: Part X [Link]

He’s been fixated on Harry Potter since he first saw him play: dark hair curling over the tips of his ears, violin tucked neatly under his chin.

In the competitive world of the Conservatory, their final year brings them an unexpected twist.

What happens when Harry gets too close to uncovering the depth of Tom’s affection?

(Harry believes they’re rivals.

Tom knows the truth is far worse than that.)

[waviitian]

[dizzydreamerao3]

if you choose door number three, let me know what you’d be interested in!

in honor of sof hitting a quarter million hits, i’d like to write a little thank you fic! vote for your fave :)

omega tom

figure skating au

a secret third thing ❤️

Voting ended onApr 27

[knifeprincesss]

(touching your open wound) damn you’re so wet

[golden-biro]

Harry loves quidditch. Tom loves Harry.

[galaxywarp]

so, me and the cursed amulet have been talking. well, he’s been talking. I’ve been listening. anyway we think you’re plotting against us.

[dizzydreamerao3]

You write Tom POV so well, but all the Tom’s in your stories still feel distinct? How do you do that?? I could not even write him normally (not that Tom is normal ever) let alone versions of him that all feel like him but are slightly different for each story T.T

this is so nice, thank you so much!

i find the first trick is isolating your character’s core traits. then, once you have a sense of their most integral parts, you can fiddle with external stuff (environment, relationships, etc) without losing their integrity

for au’s especially (where the question becomes “how do i make my character, whose entire sense of self was shaped by something—like the existence of magic—feel like himself without that thing”) this is actually super fun if you enjoy character work!!

it starts similarly enough to rebuilding anything, really. if you’re going to take an object apart and put it back together with different pieces, you have to find substitutions that can fit where the originals did

sorry for my metaphor, pfft, but consider the ‘existence of magic’ we mentioned earlier. so much of tom’s character motivation stems from that—so, without magic, does he just cease to exist?

no! that’s anti fanfic propaganda!!!

we just have to give him some narrative equivalent that he can treat the same way (like chess in tbok, or piano in steps, for example)

he’s an obsessive, controlling, ambitious sorta guy, and without that, he wouldn’t feel like tom! so redirecting those traits can make him seem authentic even when the original motivation is gone

making him prodigious, giving him that tom-like superiority complex, feels canonical because it is. and shifting these traits onto something other than magic is what gives you room to play with what, exactly, that thing is

for my fics that still feature magic—which is, admittedly, most of them—i think the distinctions in tom come from 1.) their current circumstances in that moment of time, and 2.) the destabilization harry ends up doing to them

people change over the course of their lives, and different phases give me a lot to work with! is he young, and more malleable, like in fiawy? then his fixation on harry, his possessiveness, etc, can branch into so many logical changes over time

and as long as you keep the spirit of their canonical traits alive, they’re going to become distinct from your other work on their own, because the things that happen over the course of a fic should show up in their interior world!

its just like you and me. our experiences leave a mark, and shape us going forward, in ways you don’t even need to consciously try for :)

i will say that other people have less character focused ways of writing—my povs are very interior—so i can’t help much out of my wheelhouse, sorry! i’m sure you could write a wonderful tom, though <3

i’m answering this a little high, i gotta be honest, and i did not realize i had written so much 😁👍 but i hope any of this is helpful, and i love you!

[dizzydreamerao3]

if narcissism is a veneer, voldemort’s a bandaid over tom riddle’s self-reproach.

look at all that shame, that loathing. how deep the revulsion must have run, to invent a whole new identity.

still just a little boy playing serpent: as if shedding his skin could unwrite his past.

can a new name cauterize the memory, tom?

will voldemort cover up your sins?

he’d say he was born perfect—born a god—but voldemort was made from tom riddle’s rib. so how could he be anything but eve: derivative, fashioned, dressed in borrowed divinity?

no, god is the father. you play very different games, tom.

instead, you’re cain in the field, standing over abel,

(and he wears your old face.)

or you’re isaac, turning the knife back on abraham,

(didn’t all the lights in riddle manor disappear one day?)

in your daddy’s eyes, your first sin was existence. your birth a violation. a sickness forced upon the world, calling itself love.

and you’d tell merope there’s no intimacy in coercion. only cold machinery; indifference dressed up as creation. but you can’t tell her anything—she abandoned you too, didn’t she?

in the end, you built a monument over your rot, tom riddle, and named it after your fears.

vol • de • mort

and it’s certainly a fancy way of saying you’re running away, but even you can’t outfly death, icarus-child.

you say you want the world to worship you—but how many pieces? can we kneel at the feet of the locket, of the ring?

is the diary half of you—still half-worthy of exaltation—or is voldemort all that’s left to be proud of?

how many parts of yourself do you have to remove before you’re finally

great, tom?

to be untouchable, you made yourself smaller.

you divided yourself to conquer.

(and now you’re nothing but a bunch of broken trinkets.)

[1dyll1c-ao3]

No words can accurately describe my reaction to this magnificent post.

[dizzydreamerao3]

tysm 🥹🥹

[cursedlxcket]

The more you dehumanize Tom Riddle, the more OOC he becomes.

One of his biggest dilemmas is that despite being incredibly handsome, intelligent, and gifted, Tom will never be able to outrun his humanity. He can split his soul, he can participate in dark magic rituals, or swallow down all of his feelings and humanly desires—it’s useless.

Tom was never flawless. At the orphanage he already stuck out, yes he was bullied, but he was also a kleptomaniac, and showed antisocial tendencies even at his young age. At Hogwarts he was a model student, but if Dumbledore saw through him, I am sure so did a few others. Tom Riddle knows what others want him to say, and can say lies without hesitation—but his eyes? They give him away. When someone laughs at your joke with eyes devoid of any joy? That’s unnatural. It’s creepy.

Tom can act well, but he can’t conceal his true identity from everyone. Portraying him as this perfect guy isn’t realistic, because nobody never fails. Give Tom a few slip ups, let him have a bad hair day, or drop his feather and have him be annoyed internally by it.

[dizzydreamerao3]

what’s really interesting is that tom riddle as a character is almost defined by failure. a lot of the most significant experiences in his life are also his most outrageous fuck ups

killing myrtle. creating his horcruxes. an inability to understand love, and the underestimation of his own humanity. his obsession with hogwarts. his failure to accept his own origins

and arrogance—the same trait people often use to fuel a version of tom who is perfect. there, you see him as he sees himself, and not the terrifying and tragic loss of potential he really was

he genuinely could have lived forever if he hadn’t been so obsessed with a prophecy that he tried to kill a baby—and then FAILED!

at every turn, tom riddle is stronger and smarter than most of the people around him. and at nearly every opportunity, he chooses the worst fucking way to go about things

he wanted immortality, and then died at an age muggles could easily surpass him. he hated everything about where he came from—the orphanage, the dirty blood and useless last name, the poverty and war he grew up in—so, in a textbook case of continuing the cycles of abuse, he brought war to the doorstep of yet another society that had rejected him

and then he fucking lost!!

twice!!!

in the end, his legacy was a name people wouldn’t speak, and a presumably unmarked grave. he died in a way he would’ve considered the greatest of failures.

(like he meant nothing)

[dizzydreamerao3]

Strings of Fate: Part XX

“When I touch you,” Tom says, bitterness clinging to every syllable, “I feel whole.”

Read The Update Here!