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Hidden in a forest in the middle of the otherwise small, hilly village plastered with countless identical brick houses, was another old brick house. Superficially and disregarding its unusual location, there was nothing that hinted how special that house really was – or rather its inhabitant. While the other villagers were used to living a life of mediocrity, the man in the forest remained a living mystery. Little did the others know about him, other than the usual tales children used to tell each other whenever they are confronted with warnings from their parents who forbid them to enter the forest, because something bad might happen. For most children it was a natural thing to cultivate the habit of making a game out of everything. So it was not really factual knowledge that was being spread around.
To be fair, it is rather unusual to live a life of total social absence. The villagers were quite sure that there must be something utterly unethical and wrong about that man who so strictly chose to ignore their presence. Surely, he must be a murderer or something of its kinsfolk. Of course, there had been brave men in the past who had dared to approach the murder house, in order to confront the probably scrawny, unhygienic old man that must live there. Over the years, the amount of visits came to be ever-decreasing because the men returned with no memories about the house whatsoever. When it came about that the last one of them died, people slowly started to forget about the house. It wasn‘ t mentioned any more in the stories the ancestors told about the old village but somehow it remained that nobody dared to step foot into the dark, scary forest.
That was at least what the muggles knew about that house which came in handy for Mattie Merton Silvers himself, who knew the truth and liked to think of himself as a great wizard. By choosing the honourable career path of an auror, he gained assuredness of making his parents proud. A stable income, his pregnant wife Muriel Carolina and his cat Arabella completed the picture of a successful man in his early thirties and his family. Even better he had felt about himself, when he excitedly told his parents at lunch about the new case he had been assigned to: The capture of Tom Riddle. He had become very serious after that for a moment, demanding total secrecy of them because actually, he wasn‘ t allowed to talk about it quite yet. “Oh, of course, dear“, his mother had sworn to him, while his father‘ s chest swelled with pride. Of course he was not the only auror assigned to the case, that would have been highly unprofessional of the Head of Magical Law Enforcement – Corban Yaxley. His parents didn‘ t need to know all the details. On Monday, May 13, 1994, he found himself hidden with an Invisibility charm, accompanied by three of his colleagues, in the town of Tillington, 53 miles south-west of London in the middle of a dark forest. Riddle was a case that required complete accuracy and concentration. The man had been silently accused of practising Dark Magic for over a year now but he understood himself well enough in hiding the evidence. What hid behind the facade of the friendly, handsome and young apprentice working in Borgin & Burke‘ s antique shop located at 13B, Knockturn Alley by day, turned out to be a maniac and necromancer by night.Silvers‘ fingers prickled with excitement as he looked at his colleague, Hummingbird, that glanced back with a slight smirk plastered on his face. They had placed multiple anti-apparitation wards upon the whole area and their wands were pointed at the door. “Game over, Tom Marvolo Riddle“, Orion Chalks whispered and nodded to Hummingbird, Silvers and Hornbeam. It was their sign indicating the start of the operation. Slowly and with a hunched posture, they closed the distance between themselves and the house. Chalks signalled his colleagues which area to guard and opened the door by his lonesome with a whispered “Alohomora“. The door creaked open but he had casted a Muffliato in preparation which concealed every sound they made. Chalks stepped in and what he saw humoured him. The house‘ s interior looked quite homely and welcoming, almost cosy, he thought, as he stood still in the hallway where a fluffy, bordeaux carpet had been laid out. “Point me – Tom Riddle“, he said as his wand laid flat in his palm. It turned only slightly to his left, indicating which room to go in. Chalks crouched down to get the marble out of his pocket, his team used for communication. He pressed his thumb onto its surface and its colour changed from a soft blue to a green as intense as the light of the Killing Curse.But then his wand started to move. Very slightly. Almost trembled. Startled, Chalks wanted to make his way into the room before him to see what was going on, when a pair of worn out leather shoes came to a halt in front of him. He glanced up abruptly – staring into the blue eyes of his target, Tom Riddle. “Now, I wouldn‘ t want to take up too much of your time, Mr. Auror. What‘ s your name? I know that an introduction won‘ t need to take place, here. I know why you are here as well as you do“, the young man said with a cold snare on his face. The other aurors started to dart in from different directions, one coming from a window, one from the little door that was the entrance to the attic and another one from behind Chalks. They all but stared at the intimidating man in front of them but neither of them dared to speak a word. Riddle‘ s expression started to melt off and became more of an amused smirk. “Are you newbies, or something? Make it quick, you are wasting our time!“, he said and held out his wrists to the man that had frozen in place in front of him. Chalks and the others quickly came back to life and wrapped the magical bonds around their target‘ s wrists immediately. Silvers grabbed his arm and they all apparated back into the Ministry. His curiosity was peaked, meanwhile neither came to the realization that Riddle had wanted for them to come all along. He was too brilliant to let himself get caught for such minor occurrences. No, Tom Marvolo Riddle had given himself to them willingly because he had a plan.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
May 13, 1994, Day 1
“Come on, Riddle. Time to get into a cell”, Orion Chalks instructed. A change in the auror’s demeanour could be observed now that he found himself to be standing in the familiar territory that was the ministry. Chalks’ re-established authority had the tall man, he was clutching, emitting sober mirth. Riddle knew very well how uneasy people in his proximity became once they discovered the real him and he usually wasn’t one for letting his guards down as quickly as he had done, though it was out of necessity. He couldn’t afford watching the four men in front of him making a fool out of themselves anymore; nevertheless, he got his amusement out of it. This had Chalks who was aware of his pitiful performance of the professional auror and was lacking the dominance and authority requested of him, brooding on revenge as he dragged him into one of the dark, concrete cells that immediately formed an invisible wall as soon as stepped out of it.“Let’s get Yaxley”, Silvers suggested. “To finally finish this case; I want lunch.” Silvers has always been the laziest out of the four but nobody openly questioned how he had made it through auror training. His duelling skills outmatching even Hummingbird’s who had been working in the department for almost thirty years now, made up for his lack of eagerness to spend long hours working. What none of them expected though was for the new convict who had yielded to have objections against Silvers’ demands. “I don’t think so. I won’t talk to anyone but Harry Potter.”Hummingbird who had been rather quite thus far observed him carefully.
“Why?”, he asked. “What’s your business with that little twink? Do you honestly think that you are important enough to request anything? It’s over for you, you’ll spend a lifetime in Askaban. And one thing I can assure you of-”, his grew even more intimidating at this, “slender, gawky boys like you won’t survive a week in there without losing their minds.”Riddle who took great effort in preserving his calm attitude, ran his left hand through his brown locks. He wasn’t able to hide his twitching eyebrow. “My, I find it rather funny how openly you present the fact that you don’t know who you are dealing with. Nevermind, I’ll let your little display of disrespect slide this time because I still need you to get Potter over here. But … What would Yaxley say if he heard you talking about him like that? I’m pretty sure he has an affinity for ‘little twinks’, you know?”
This took the aurors off guard. “What are you implying?”, Hornbeam requested to know.“A little bird told me that sometimes during lunchtime, when he grows especially lonely, he takes care of his urgent needs while watching the boy sitting at his table. Didn’t he just demand for Harry Potter’s office to be moved right in front his? The only two offices with built-in windows, right?”Silvers who was a loyal man, wanted to dart his arm out at that to grab his wand but was quickly stopped by Hummingbird. “Think before you act, Mattie. Clearly, he has some sort of spy in the ministry. He knows about the location of the office. You know that the knowledge of that his hidden to public because of the assassination attempts on Corban. We should do as he says, there is no harm in that, right?”“Right”, Silvers acknowledged. “Let’s just get Potter then and he can finish it off. He is too nice to decline any offer.” That’s exactly what they did and it was out of question whether Harry would help or not because of course he would.Exhausted Harry, seated in a comfortable chair in his office, had been taking a large gulp out of his freshly made hot coffee, when suddenly Kale Hummingbird came rushing in. He had always found the man’s surname to be a funny affair. What he didn’t find as funny as that, was the coffee he was choking on that momentarily started dripping from his chin onto his favourite shirt of “The Black Sisters”. “Hullo”, he managed to press out in between his little coughing fit while opening several drawers in search of a napkin.
“You are a wizard, aren’t you, Potter?”, Kale Hummingbird remarked. “Scourgify”, he said and made a show out of forming an S-shape with his wand. The coffee stains vanished and with it the liquid on Potter’s chin. Ashamed, he muttered a quick “Thank you.” and continued to look at the man that was the size of a hooker expectantly. “We have captured this slim boy, a necromancer, and he oh-so-dearly requests your charming presence”, Harry was informed. He asked for a name but Hummingbird claimed that he had forgotten. With a frown, he continued to probe the older auror: “And why does he request so?”“Boy, as if I know. Just do as you are told, fine? Do me a quick favour here.”Harry knew that whoever convict his colleague was referring to, would be kept under lock and key. There was nothing to fear, even though the idea of someone toying with death and the resurrection of corpses still send a chill down his spine. Still he assured: “I’ll do it.” He stood up from his chair, put his wand up his sleeve and followed Kale out of the small office. Yaxley who happened to just come out of his office too, greeted him with a friendly wink. Harry gulped. The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had the reputation of being a rather heartless, ignorant prick and Harry had always wondered why he chose to handle him with more delicacy than his colleagues. That didn’t mean, he didn’t keep a watchful eye on the very step Harry took. Never would he willingly give up control like that which was the reason why the appreciative Minister, Barty Crouch Sr., seemingly worshipped the ground Yaxley was walking on. The day Yaxley would be taken out of office, was the day, Harry would willingly accept Dumbledore’s offer of teaching DADA at Hogwarts. Which was never because Harry couldn’t possibly deal with adolescents on a daily basis and he didn’t aspire to become as unapproachable as dear Severus Snape.They wandered down the corridor and stepped into the lift. The cells for the wizards and witches that were yet due to go on trial were on the last floor. The lift came to a halt and visible became a snoring Mattie Silvers leaning against the brick wall in front of one of the cells. Harry had always found the chubby man to be rather endearing. At the sound of their footsteps, he woke and gave an apologetic smile. Hummingbird didn’t react. Harry threw a quick glance into the cell and immediately felt shaken up as he regarded the lithe form in front of him with disbelief. He looked as handsome as ever with his slacks and the white shirt he was wearing. His shoulders had broadened quite a bit since Hogwarts and his facial features had grown more masculine while his jawline had sharpened. Both sleeves were rolled up to his elbow, the left arm leaving the familiar, black skull tattoo exposed. It had been four years since Harry had seen him for the last time. Four years since he had felt himself exposed to the mocking, piercing glare of the man in front of him.
“Riddle?”, he shrieked out. Tom stared in him intensely with his blue eyes widening a notion and nodded. “Harry.”
“What in Merlin’s name did you do to end up here? Your N.E.W.T.s were as good as Hermione’s. Straight O’s, right? If you don’t mind getting compared to a Mudblood”, he started his tirade with venom.For the hundredth time that day, Tom Riddle managed to rile things up again and smirked.“Harry, now you’re just being vile. Why would I ever call her that? What a prejudiced thing to say, I hope that the other Slytherins you have encountered so far have not been met with that particular characteristic of yours”, he provoked which made Harry blush in embarrassment, even though he believed himself to be in the right place with his accusations.“You don’t know shit about me, Riddle. Don’t act as if you were an innocent Puff. You don’t know how many people my friends and I had to soothe because our perfect Head Boy made a great show of being the biggest arse in Hogwarts while licking the teachers' boots to get recognition!”
“Well, sometimes I really couldn’t help it. But I never said anything to you, did I Harry?”, his smirk grew even wider.“Shut up! And stop calling me ‘Harry’ as if we are friends!”, Harry barked. The smugness truly angered him beyond understanding. “Don’t make me feel as if you spared me, I wouldn’t have listened to you breathe standing next to me!”
Riddle’s pretty face pulled into a grimace after that.“I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if I thought that you are worthless and a Mudblood, Harry.”
“And you wouldn’t be standing here if you were as innocent as you’re trying to plead!”, he replied. Harry remembered quite well his first encounter with Tom Marvolo Riddle. It was in first year on the train ride to the castle, when Harry had sat in one of the compartments by his lonesome. A lady had come by to sell him candy and chocolate, so he spent a rather large sum on Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Fudge Flies and other things. At the Dursley’s, chocolate had been a luxury, mostly because his Aunt Petunia chose to feed it all to her round like a ball son Dudley instead. Every once in a while, he had managed to sneak a little something into the cupboard under the stairs, they were keeping him; usually when he had been assigned to clean up the kitchen while she was preoccupied with spoiling her son rotten. Harry had always liked that saying because his cousin’s bad character had been a perfect reflection of his mother’s butchered attempt at making a respectable man out of him. Dudley was a rotten boy. Because sweets were always special to him, Harry’s mood lightened instantly and for a moment he forgot how lonely he felt. Life in 4 Privet Drive had been hard and he toiled, toiled and toiled but the hard work did have some positive aspects to it: It didn’t make him dwell in solitude. Even at nights, when the dark thoughts usually creep in, he was fast asleep, having passed out from exhaustion. His sleep was mostly dreamless. The days left him silently longing for love and friendship.The door to his compartment slid open forcefully and a taller boy came in. Harry jumped slightly.
“Would it bother you too much to share this compartment with me?”, the boy asked politely.
“No”, Harry responded and tried a friendly smile. The boy didn’t show a reaction and turned around to close the door again. He took a seat in front of Harry.
“Do you want a Chocolate Frog?”, he offered, to which the boy declined with a rapid shake of his head.
Harry was too shy to ask the boy for his name after that and the boy didn’t initiate a conversation too. It felt like hours until they arrived at the place that would turn their lives upside down in a matter of seconds. Nobody spoke a word in that compartment and Harry stopped eating immediately because he would have felt rude to continue to do so with the boy watching. He would never act like Dudley. He spent the time avoiding to look at the boy in front of him, gazing out of the window instead to watch the green, rocky landscape go by and wondered how someone like the boy in front of him could find comfort in solitude and utter silence. He found out that the boy was called “Tom Marvolo Riddle” during the Sorting as Harry sat next to Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley whom he had just met at the Gryffindor table. They welcomed him warmly and Harry's heart had started to pound like crazy at the thought of finally being able to make friends. The hat had not even directly touched the boy’s head as it roared “SLYTHERIN!” to which Harry’s housemates only grumbled.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Still: May 13, 1994, Day 1
Harry felt a hand touch his shoulder. “You should calm down, Potter. He must be someone's prawn. After all, he's just working in an antique shop. How important can he really be?”, Silvers asked conciliatorily.Harry took a deep breath at that, not averting his eyes from Riddle who was still watching him angrily. He nodded. “It doesn’t get us anywhere to start discussing the house rivalry now. Or our personal rivalry, at that matter. Why did you wish to speak to me?” “Make them go away and I will tell you”, Riddle requested while pointing with his chin to the two men standing behind Harry. “We will go”, Hummingbird declared and grabbed the stumbling Silvers by the sleeve before he could mouth a protest. “Do not get caught up in Hogwarts drama, boy.”
“Yeah, yeah”, Harry snorted and watched them stroll away. “Is there any possibility for someone to listen to what we will be talking about, Harry? Some sort of bug? A listening charm?” He shook his head in response. “They don't bother listening to anything the people in the cells have to say. If you're sitting in one of those cells, that means that they have enough evidence to declare you a danger to the public. Most of your lot lands in Azkaban anyway. I mean, we are standing next to a courtroom. You are as good as dead to them.”“I won't go to Azkaban though,” Riddle declared, slightly tilting his head to the side. “Why, of course you will. Necromancy is illegal. I wouldn't bother asking you whether you were successful or not. It doesn't matter, even trying is illegal”, Harry exclaimed, shaking his head in amusement. He took of his glasses and wiped them clean with his shirt. What would have 17 year old Harry Potter said if he had been told that Tom Riddle would be naive enough to believe, he could trick his way out of prison just like that?“I won't go to Azkaban because you will be asking Yaxley not to. There is something going on with wizarding politics in Britain right now, Harry. And I am the only person who knows that is not a part of it. And now you know too. I cannot tell you everything because too much knowledge right now would only be counterproductive for the cause.”
Riddle spoke calmly as if he hadn’t just mentioned the existence of some sort of political intrigue and Harry was immediately alerted. What was he talking about? The last few weeks had been the most boring workdays of his life. Nothing was happening. One of the hardest cases he had been assigned to, was the rescue of Mr. Silvers' cat that had managed to disappear from his home. Did Tom Riddle have a motive that would explain him lying to Harry? Harry had his doubts. He was a man in a cell.“W-, But- ... What do you mean?”, he asked rather ineloquently and wasn't able to completely hide the tremor in his voice. “It’ll be easiest if I show you.” The man in the cell put his finger on his temple. Harry understood. He took out his wand and pointed it at Riddle's head, thus pulling out a silvery string from it. “You could have manipulated your memories, Riddle. This is hardly evidence.” “You will see that what I am showing to you is something no imaginative mind could come up with on a whim. Just look at it. There is no reason for me to go this far and let myself get caught for something as stupid as simple necromancy.”“You believe necromancy to be simple? Maybe this is also just your ego talking that doesn’t want to admit to the fact that you have been arrested and now you are trying to smooth talk your way out of it.” Harry had his objections.“Do not insult me like that, Harry Potter. I am too intelligent to be caught off guard by your shrimps.” Riddle smiled at him.
“Fuck you”, Harry said and admitted defeat.Harry let the string enter his brain through his temple.
The lights were dim in the small restaurant Tom’s mind was showing him. It was nearly empty, except for the bartender that was busy polishing already polished glasses and the two figures sitting opposite from each other in a corner that was only barely visible to the passers-by. It looked like a murder scene before the murder.
As the vision got clearer and clearer almost as if Harry had managed to put his glasses on, he was able to recognize the two men at the table.
It was Lucius Malfoy and Barty Crouch Senior that were enjoying a full course meal with each other. It appeared as if the place wasn’t small just by chance but most likely purposefully so, because Malfoy and Crouch Sr. seemed to be having a conversation that shouldn't be overheard.
Several Muffliatos had been casted but the importance of the subject matter didn't allow the two men to be careless.
Better save than sorry.
Lucius Malfoy put aside his cutlery to thoughtfully stare at his long, milky white fingers with the Malfoy ring on his ring finger.
“The next election of the Minister of Magic is in August. That will be in six months.” His voice sounded drained.
Barty Crouch snorted. “You don't expect me to win?”
Malfoy mustered him up carefully, head to torso, while folding his hands.
“Why would I, when you have done nothing, I mean, absolutely nothing to secure your position?”, he asked provocatively and with a cold sneer on his face.
The man sitting opposite from him gulped at that. “Did the Lord send you to warn me, Lucius?”
The blonde only smiled at him. “Let's quiz you a little, shall we? Tell me, Barty, which are the three houses of the Wizengamot that have a claim on the most seats?”
“The Selwyns own 32 seats. And the Malfoys, of course. I think, the Potters too”
“And what do you think, who will vote for you out of those three?”, Malfoy questioned further. “You will. I'm not sure about the Selwyns. Probably not, Cassilda didn't seem to be too fond of Barty Crouch Senior's new found favouritism of Corban Yaxley. The Potters won't, of course..”
“Very good!” Lucius Malfoy's smile broadened at that. “Don't you think that it's time to do some-, let's say, persuasion? You haven’t been praised by our Lord for a long time. He has been rather angry at you. Don’t you yearn to be in good graces with him?”
Barty Crouch Senior, the Minister of Magic, seemed lost in thought, as he almost drooled on the tablecloth. “Yes,” He hissed. “But Harry Potter is too far on the light side. I think I know who my target will be, don’t I, Lucius?”
The handsome blonde smiled pleased with his teeth glinting dangerously in the dimmed light.
The memory blurred out until Harry Potter found himself back in front of the cell. He was at a loss for words for a few seconds as Riddle watched him expectantly. Then everything came rushing in like a flood. “How come that you were able to overhear this, Tom? Are you a part of this?” He couldn't glamour his exasperation. “I have my ways, it doesn't matter. They certainly were not aware of my presence during this little get-together. Aren't there more important questions to ask?” “Why is Lucius Malfoy involved in helping our Minister with the election? They don’t really seem to have the same aims.”
“Lucius Malfoy and the man who sent him may have something like a personal motivation for keeping the man who calls himself Barty Crouch Senior in charge.”
“And who is the man that sent Lucius Malfoy?" Surprisingly, Riddle who had almost been staring at Harry, averted his eyes from Harry's face to the floor and slowly shook his head. "I cannot tell you, Harry, not yet. But it’s someone very dangerous. You might’ve noticed how they have addressed him.” He looked back into Harry's eyes. “What exactly is this about then?”
“Corruption. There is a group of people lead by a Dark Lord that wants to overthrow the government,” Tom Riddle answered. A frown found its way into Harry's face.
“Overthrow? Weren't they talking about Crouch getting re-elected?” And then Tom Riddle dropped the bomb. “If only the man sitting at that table was Barty Crouch Senior.” Again, Harry found himself shivering and at a loss for words. “There aren't many things I can tell you at this rate. I will, eventually, do so of course. This is for your own good, Harry.” He stopped forward, coming closer to the invisible ward between them. “Right now, you must prioritise the safety of Cassilda Selwyn. She is supposed to be the first victim.” “I will talk to Yaxley about it”, Harry confirmed.“No!”, Tom Riddle blurted out. “Don’t you understand that this must, I repeat, must stay between the both of us? Nobody can be trusted. You must take things into your own hands.”“But what am I supposed to do? What about your trial? You will be in Azkaban in a matter of days if I don’t talk to anyone about it!”“Yaxley mustn’t know about Cassilda Selwyn. I am sure that you can think of a way to persuade the man. I must stay in this very cell, Harry.”
Harry finally understood.“This cell isn’t meant to keep you in, isn’t it? It is meant to keep you safe from the outside because you are the only person that knows the full story about Crouch.”“You finally caught on, Harry.”